FlexPod hybrid cloud for enterprise Kubernetes applications

FlexPod^® is a proven and trusted enterprise solution from NetApp and Cisco. IT leaders who need to run business-critical applications appreciate its robustness, scalability, ease of management, and hybrid cloud capabilities. Recently many customers have begun to expand their enterprise IT environments with Kubernetes for cloud native workloads. Enterprise-grade data services are an important requirement for managing Kubernetes solutions — and they can be as simple as managing existing FlexPod environments.

NetApp^® Astra^® is an innovative application-aware data lifecycle management service that offers a consistent experience for Kubernetes applications across on-premises and hybrid cloud, enabling IT to deliver cloud-native workloads with ease and confidence.

So what do you get when you team up FlexPod with Astra for Kubernetes?

You get an enterprise-grade converged Kubernetes platform for container applications that require persistent file and block storage.

Using Astra with FlexPod, customers can enjoy application-aware data management services for Kubernetes workloads across hybrid cloud and on premises. It leverages the rich capabilities of ONTAP^® technology for NetApp Snapshot™ copies, backup. cloning, replication, migration, and disaster recovery. The consistent data management experience between ONTAP and Astra improves control and makes IT operations significantly simpler. And even more importantly, it helps to connect previously siloed projects into a common environment.

In 2021, FlexPod hybrid cloud have delivered multiple validated Kubernetes solutions utilizing Astra Trident to provision persistent data store for Kubernetes cluster seamlessly with ONTAP storage.

FlexPod with Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform (OCP) features Trident dynamic ONTAP storage provisioning for OpenShift cluster in a FlexPod bare-metal configuration. The complete solution deployment is further simplified with integrated Ansible automation capability from NetApp and Red Hat. See FlexPod OCP Ansible playbook for detail.

FlexPod with Cisco Intersight Kubernetes Services (IKS) provides detail information on how to deploy containerized application on-premises and in the cloud. Additionally, IT can centrally manage FlexPod on-premises and FlexPod hybrid cloud with Intersight lifecycle management services from a single pane of glass. See FlexPod IKS demo for more information.

Coming next in the FlexPod hybrid cloud journey is expanded integration and validation with Astra Control. This new solution will enable IT to deploy and run business critical Kubernetes workloads with enterprise-grade data and storage management functionality that they expect from NetApp for traditional workloads. The Kubernetes application will always be protected no matter where it’s running, on premises or in the cloud. And Snapshot technology makes it simple and easy to clone and migrate Kubernetes applications across environments.

To further enhance the experience, Cisco Intersight and NetApp Cloud Insight are additional tools that enable IT to streamline Kubernetes application management with a single pane of glass and to optimize performance of Kubernetes clusters with data intelligence.  

• FlexPod.com
• FlexPod Design Guides
• Cisco Intersight
• NetApp Astra