Improve file data management in Google Cloud with new Cloud Volumes Service capabilities and pricing

Now you can run file-based apps nearly anywhere in the world with the simplicity of a fully managed cloud-native service. Since we released our storage-as-a-service offering NetApp^® Cloud Volumes Service for Google Cloud a few years ago, we have made significant investments in this file storage service. NetApp and Google Cloud have introduced many major enhancements in the past 12 months, including new integrated data management capabilities like volume backup. And the number of Google Cloud regions that support Cloud Volumes Service (CVS) has nearly doubled.

We have added many new features to CVS-Performance, making it a much more complete data management service. For example, you get NFSv4 with Kerberos for added security, dual-protocol access enables NFS and SMB to simultaneously access the same data, and the volume replication feature facilitates interregional disaster recovery. And those are just a few of the new features.

Over 500 NetApp customers have chosen Google Cloud to move forward on their cloud journey. They’re implementing cloud solutions in creative new ways, as we continue to advance what’s possible. These achievements are only the beginning.

With this release of Cloud Volumes Service, you get several valuable new capabilities, such as storage pools, zone selection, and customer-managed encryption keys (CMEK). These features improve manageability and flexibility, particularly for app migration, Kubernetes, application availability, and data security.

To improve performance for small volumes, like the size that container-based applications use, the CVS service type manages volumes with storage pools. Volumes are created within the storage pool, and they can use the capacity and performance of that pool. A storage pool acts as a container for up to 50 volumes. At the same time, maximum throughput for the CVS service type has increased from 32MiBps per TiB to 128MiBps per TiB. So, you get 4 times higher performance with the new release.

For the CVS service type, you can now select specific zones for provisioning and failover of zone-redundant storage pools. With zone-redundant pools, you get a synchronous copy of the data in two zones. If there is an issue in one zone, then data is served from the failover zone. If you want to switch the roles of the zones, it’s easy to do with the Initiate Cross-Zone Move button. The failover zone then becomes the current zone, and the current zone becomes the failover zone. After the move has finished, volumes are served from the other zone.

Cloud Volumes Service encrypts your data with volume-specific keys. With CVS-Performance tier customer-managed encryption keys, those volume keys are wrapped by using keys from Google Cloud Key Management Service (KMS). So, even if your underlying storage devices undergo unauthorized physical access, your data is further protected from being read. This feature gives you control over the encryption keys, and you get the added security of storing the keys on a system or in a location different from the data.

Along with the new capabilities that enhance the added value of Cloud Volumes Service, we are announcing pricing adjustments for some CVS service levels. These changes promote a better product fit for our customers’ use cases across a wider array of workloads. They also better align with how other leading services charge for similar products, helping you more easily compare services between leading cloud providers.

Some of these price changes leave lower-cost options and features in place. Other changes raise prices for some service levels. Ultimately, our goal is to provide more flexible pricing models and options for how customers like you use our cloud file storage service. Read on for an overview of what you can expect.

The CVS service tiers Standard-SW and Zone Redundant Standard-SW are not changing. Also, optional add-on services like integrated backup and volume replication will remain the same. The price for CVS-Performance tiers Standard, Premium, and Extreme will increase.

On April 28, 2022 we sent customers a 1-month notice about the price changes, which go into effect on June 1, 2022. If you’re a customer with an existing private offer, pricing will not change until it’s time for renewal. Our goal is to help you manage any impact from these changes and to give you time to adjust or to modify your implementations.

If you’re a customer under contract, NetApp and Google Cloud account representatives are available to discuss these changes. Following is an example for the CVS-Performance level. For more details on our updates to service-level pricing, visit our pricing page.

As we continue to help customers adopt public cloud services through platform migrations and new service innovation, NetApp remains committed to providing industry-leading storage and data services to customers like you.

To learn more about how NetApp makes this goal a reality, check out the details on Cloud Volumes Service for Google Cloud.