You can configure FlexCache volumes. FlexVol volumes are supported as origin volumes and FlexGroup volumes are supported as FlexCache volumes. Both FlexVol volumes and FlexGroup volumes are supported as origin volumes. The supported features and protocols for the origin volume and the FlexCache volume vary.

Cache volumes and origin volumes can interoperate as long as both are running on a supported version of ONTAP. Keep in mind that features are supported only when both the cache and the origin are running at least the ONTAP version where support was introduced or a later ONTAP version.

ONTAP version support between FlexCache volumes and origin volumes

The recommended ONTAP version supported between origin volume and the cache volume is no more than four versions earlier or four versions later. For example, if the cache is using ONTAP 9.14.1, the earliest version the origin can be using is ONTAP 9.10.1.

Supported protocols

Protocol	Supported at the origin volume?	Supported at the FlexCache volume?
NFSv3	Yes	Yes
NFSv4	Yes To access cache volumes using NFSv4.x protocol, both the origin and cache clusters must be using ONTAP 9.10.1 or later. The origin cluster and FlexCache cluster can have different ONTAP versions, but both should be ONTAP 9.10.1 and later versions, for example, the origin can have ONTAP 9.10.1, and the cache can have ONTAP 9.11.1.	Yes Supported beginning with ONTAP 9.10.1. To access cache volumes using NFSv4.x protocol, both the origin and cache clusters must be using ONTAP 9.10.1 or later. The origin cluster and FlexCache cluster can have different ONTAP versions, but both should be ONTAP 9.10.1 and later versions, for example, the origin can have ONTAP 9.10.1, and the cache can have ONTAP 9.11.1.
NFSv4.2	Yes	No
SMB	Yes	Yes Supported beginning with ONTAP 9.8.

Protocol

Supported at the origin volume?

Supported at the FlexCache volume?

NFSv3

Yes

NFSv4

Yes

To access cache volumes using NFSv4.x protocol, both the origin and cache clusters must be using ONTAP 9.10.1 or later. The origin cluster and FlexCache cluster can have different ONTAP versions, but both should be ONTAP 9.10.1 and later versions, for example, the origin can have ONTAP 9.10.1, and the cache can have ONTAP 9.11.1.

Yes

Supported beginning with ONTAP 9.10.1.

NFSv4.2

Yes

SMB

Yes

Supported beginning with ONTAP 9.8.

Supported features

Feature

Supported at the origin volume?

Supported at the FlexCache volume?

Autonomous ransomware protection

Yes

Supported for FlexVol origin volumes beginning with ONTAP 9.10.1, and supported for FlexGroup origin volumes beginning with ONTAP 9.13.1. See Autonomous Ransomware Protection use cases and considerations.

Antivirus

Yes

Not applicable

If you configure antivirus scanning at the origin, it is not required on the cache. The origin antivirus scanning detects files infected with viruses before writes are committed, regardless of the write source.

Auditing

Yes

You can audit NFS file access events in FlexCache relationships using native ONTAP auditing. For more information, see Considerations for auditing FlexCache volumes

Yes

You can audit NFS file access events in FlexCache relationships using native ONTAP auditing. For more information, see Considerations for auditing FlexCache volumes

Cloud Volumes ONTAP

Yes

Compression

Yes

FabricPool

Yes

FlexCache DR

Yes

Supported beginning with ONTAP 9.9.1, with NFSv3 protocol, only. FlexCache volumes must be in separate SVMs or in separate clusters.

FlexGroup volume

Yes

FlexVol volume

Yes

FPolicy

Yes

Supported for NFS beginning with ONTAP 9.7. Supported for SMB beginning with ONTAP 9.14.1.

MetroCluster configuration

Yes

Microsoft Offloaded Data Transfer (ODX)

Yes

Aggregate Encryption (AE)

Yes

Supported beginning with ONTAP 9.12.1

QoS

Yes

File-level QoS is not supported for FlexCache volumes.

Qtrees

Yes

Quotas

Yes

Quota enforcement on FlexCache origin volumes is supported for users, groups, and qtrees.

With FlexCache writearound mode (the default mode), writes on the cache are forwarded to the origin volume. Quotas are enforced at the origin.

Remote quota (rquota) is supported at FlexCache volumes.

SMB Change Notify

Yes

SMB Change Notify is supported at the cache.

SnapLock volumes

SnapMirror asynchronous relationships*

Yes

*FlexCache origins:

You can have a FlexCache volume from an origin FlexVol
You can have a FlexCache volume from an origin FlexGroup
You can have a FlexCache volume from an origin primary volume in SnapMirror relationship.
A SnapMirror secondary volume can be a FlexCache origin volume. The SnapMirror secondary volume must be idle with no active SnapMirror updates; otherwise, FlexCache creation fails.

SnapMirror synchronous relationships

SnapRestore

Yes

Snapshots

Yes

SVM DR configuration

Yes

You can have FlexCache volumes in primary SVMs, but not in secondary SVMs. Any FlexCache volume in the primary SVM is not replicated as part of the SVM DR relationship.

Storage-level Access Guard (SLAG)

Thin provisioning

Yes

Volume cloning

Yes

Volume move

Yes

Yes (only for volume constituents)

Moving volume constituents of a FlexCache volume is supported.

Volume rehost

vStorage API for Array Integration (VAAI)

Yes

ONTAP 9 Manuals ( CA08871-402 )

Supported and unsupported features for ONTAP FlexCache volumes

ONTAP version support between FlexCache volumes and origin volumes

Supported protocols

Supported features

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