Update	Description
Multi-admin verification	Cluster administrator can explicitly enable multi-admin verification on a cluster to require quorum approval before some SnapLock operations are executed.
Enhanced support for managing consistency groups including volume move and geometry	You can move volumes between consistency groups, modify the geometry of hierarchical consistency groups, and gain capacity insights into consistency groups. ONTAP System Manager supports creating a consistency group with new NAS volumes or NVME namespaces.
NDMP restore with SnapMirror Synchronous	NDMP restore is supported with SnapMirror synchronous.
SnapMirror active sync enhancements	Non-disruptively add volumes to a consistency group with an active SnapMirror active sync relationship. Utilize NDMP restore with SnapMirror active sync.
Asynchronous SnapMirror support with a single consistency groups	Consistency groups support Asynchronous SnapMirror configurations, allowing vaulting of SnapMirror backups for single consistency groups.

Update

Description

Multi-admin verification

Cluster administrator can explicitly enable multi-admin verification on a cluster to require quorum approval before some SnapLock operations are executed.

Enhanced support for managing consistency groups including volume move and geometry

You can move volumes between consistency groups, modify the geometry of hierarchical consistency groups, and gain capacity insights into consistency groups. ONTAP System Manager supports creating a consistency group with new NAS volumes or NVME namespaces.

NDMP restore with SnapMirror Synchronous

NDMP restore is supported with SnapMirror synchronous.

SnapMirror active sync enhancements

Asynchronous SnapMirror support with a single consistency groups

Consistency groups support Asynchronous SnapMirror configurations, allowing vaulting of SnapMirror backups for single consistency groups.

File access protocols

Update	Description
NFSv4.x storepool support	A few clients consume too many NFSv4.x storepool resources leading to other NFSv4.x clients getting blocked due to unavailability of NFSv4.x storepool resources. You can have the option to enable denying and blocking of clients who consume a lot of NFSv4.x storepool resource in their environments.

Update

Description

NFSv4.x storepool support

A few clients consume too many NFSv4.x storepool resources leading to other NFSv4.x clients getting blocked due to unavailability of NFSv4.x storepool resources. You can have the option to enable denying and blocking of clients who consume a lot of NFSv4.x storepool resource in their environments.

MetroCluster

Update	Description
Mediator-assisted automatic unplanned switchover (MAUSO) is triggered for an environmental shutdown	If one site shuts down gracefully due to an environmental shutdown, MAUSO is triggered.
Eight-node MetroCluster IP configurations support	You can upgrade the controllers and storage in an eight-node MetroCluster IP configuration by expanding the configuration to become a temporary twelve-node configuration and then removing the old DR groups.

Update

Description

Mediator-assisted automatic unplanned switchover (MAUSO) is triggered for an environmental shutdown

If one site shuts down gracefully due to an environmental shutdown, MAUSO is triggered.

Eight-node MetroCluster IP configurations support

You can upgrade the controllers and storage in an eight-node MetroCluster IP configuration by expanding the configuration to become a temporary twelve-node configuration and then removing the old DR groups.

Networking

Update	Description
Expanded hardware support for RDMA cluster interconnect	ONTAP supports for cluster interconnect RDMA with an X91153A cluster NIC, helping to reduce latency, decrease failover times, and accelerate communication between nodes.
Increased data LIF limits	ONTAP provides greater flexibility by increasing data LIF scaling limits for both HA pairs and clusters.
IPv6 support during cluster setup on the ETERNUS HX6100 platforms	On the ETERNUS HX6100 series, you can use the ONTAP CLI to create and configure new clusters in IPv6-only networking environments.

Update

Description

Expanded hardware support for RDMA cluster interconnect

ONTAP supports for cluster interconnect RDMA with an X91153A cluster NIC, helping to reduce latency, decrease failover times, and accelerate communication between nodes.

Increased data LIF limits

ONTAP provides greater flexibility by increasing data LIF scaling limits for both HA pairs and clusters.

IPv6 support during cluster setup on the ETERNUS HX6100 platforms

On the ETERNUS HX6100 series, you can use the ONTAP CLI to create and configure new clusters in IPv6-only networking environments.

S3 object storage

Update	Description
S3 bucket lifecycle management	S3 object expiration actions define when objects in a bucket expire. This capability enables you to manage object versions so you can meet retention requirements and manage overall S3 object storage effectively.

Update

Description

S3 bucket lifecycle management

S3 object expiration actions define when objects in a bucket expire. This capability enables you to manage object versions so you can meet retention requirements and manage overall S3 object storage effectively.

SAN

Update	Description
Support for NVMe/FC on AIX hosts	ONTAP supports the NVMe/FC protocol on AIX hosts. Please contact technical support personnel for supported configurations.

Update

Description

Support for NVMe/FC on AIX hosts

ONTAP supports the NVMe/FC protocol on AIX hosts. Please contact technical support personnel for supported configurations.

Security

Feature	Description
Autonomous Ransomware Protection	Multi-admin verify functionality with Autonomous Ransomware Protection Automatic transition from learning to active mode FlexGroup support, including analytics and reporting for FlexGroup volumes and operations inlcuding expanding a FlexGroup volume, FlexVol to FlexGroup conversions, FlexGroup rebalancing.
SSH public key authentication with Active Directory	You can use an SSH public key as your primary authentication method with an Active Directory (AD) user, or you can use an SSH public key as your secondary authentication method after an AD user.
X.509 certificates with SSH public keys	ONTAP enables you to associate an X.509 certificate with the SSH public key for an account, giving you the added security of certificate expiration and revocation checks upon SSH login.
FPolicy file access failure notification	FPolicy supports notifications for access denied events. Notifications are generated for file operation failed due to lack of permission, which includes: failure due to NTFS permissions, failure due to Unix mode bits, and failure due to NFSv4 ACLs.
Multifactor authentication with TOTP (time-based one-time passwords)	Set up local user accounts with multifactor authentication using a time-based one-time password (TOTP). The TOTP is always used as the second authentication method. You can use an SSH public key or user password as your primary authentication method.

Feature

Description

Autonomous Ransomware Protection

Multi-admin verify functionality with Autonomous Ransomware Protection
Automatic transition from learning to active mode
FlexGroup support, including analytics and reporting for FlexGroup volumes and operations inlcuding expanding a FlexGroup volume, FlexVol to FlexGroup conversions, FlexGroup rebalancing.

SSH public key authentication with Active Directory

You can use an SSH public key as your primary authentication method with an Active Directory (AD) user, or you can use an SSH public key as your secondary authentication method after an AD user.

X.509 certificates with SSH public keys

ONTAP enables you to associate an X.509 certificate with the SSH public key for an account, giving you the added security of certificate expiration and revocation checks upon SSH login.

FPolicy file access failure notification

FPolicy supports notifications for access denied events. Notifications are generated for file operation failed due to lack of permission, which includes: failure due to NTFS permissions, failure due to Unix mode bits, and failure due to NFSv4 ACLs.

Multifactor authentication with TOTP (time-based one-time passwords)

Set up local user accounts with multifactor authentication using a time-based one-time password (TOTP). The TOTP is always used as the second authentication method. You can use an SSH public key or user password as your primary authentication method.

Storage efficiency

Update	Description
Change in reporting of primary data reduction ratio in ONTAP System Manager	The primary data reduction ratio displayed in ONTAP System Manager no longer includes Snapshot copy space savings in the calculation. It only depicts the ratio between used logical and used physical space. In prior releases of ONTAP, the primary data reduction ratio included significant space reduction benefits of Snapshot copies. As a result, when you upgrade to ONTAP 9.13.1, you will observe a significantly lower primary ratio being reported. You can still see data reduction ratios with Snapshot copies in the Capacity details view.
Temperature-sensitive storage efficiency	Temperature-sensitive storage efficiency adds sequential packing of contiguous physical blocks to improve storage efficiency. Volumes that have temperature-sensitive storage efficiency enabled will automatically have sequential packing enabled when systems are upgraded to ONTAP 9.13.1.
Logical space enforcement	Logical space enforcement is supported on SnapMirror destinations.
Storage VM capacity limits support	You can set capacity limits on a storage VM (SVM) and enable alerts when the SVM is approaching a percentage threshold.

Update

Description

Change in reporting of primary data reduction ratio in ONTAP System Manager

The primary data reduction ratio displayed in ONTAP System Manager no longer includes Snapshot copy space savings in the calculation. It only depicts the ratio between used logical and used physical space. In prior releases of ONTAP, the primary data reduction ratio included significant space reduction benefits of Snapshot copies. As a result, when you upgrade to ONTAP 9.13.1, you will observe a significantly lower primary ratio being reported. You can still see data reduction ratios with Snapshot copies in the Capacity details view.

Temperature-sensitive storage efficiency

Temperature-sensitive storage efficiency adds sequential packing of contiguous physical blocks to improve storage efficiency. Volumes that have temperature-sensitive storage efficiency enabled will automatically have sequential packing enabled when systems are upgraded to ONTAP 9.13.1.

Logical space enforcement

Logical space enforcement is supported on SnapMirror destinations.

Storage VM capacity limits support

You can set capacity limits on a storage VM (SVM) and enable alerts when the SVM is approaching a percentage threshold.

Storage resource management enhancements

Update	Description
Increase in maximum number of inodes	ONTAP will continue to automatically add inodes (at the rate of 1 inode per 32 KB of volume space) even if the volume grows larger than 680 GB. ONTAP will continue adding inodes until it reaches the maximum of 2,147,483,632.
Support for specifying a SnapLock type during FlexClone creation	You can specify one of three SnapLock types, either compliance, enterprise, or non-SnapLock, when creating a FlexClone of a read/write volume.
Enable File System Analytics by default	Set File System Analytics to be enabled by default on new volumes.
SVM disaster recovery fanout relationships with FlexGroup volumes	The fanout restriction of SVM DR with FlexGroup volumes is removed. SVM DR with FlexGroup includes support for SnapMirror fanout relationships to eight sites.
Single FlexGroup rebalancing operation	You can schedule a single FlexGroup rebalancing operation to begin at a date and time in the future that you specify.
FabricPool read performance	FabricPool provides improved sequential read performance for single and multi-stream workloads for cloud-resident data and tiering throughput. This improvement can send a higher rate of GETs and PUTs to the back end object store. If you have on-premises object stores, you should consider performance headroom on the object store service and determine whether you might need to throttle FabricPool PUTs.
Adaptive QoS policy templates	Adaptive QoS policy templates enable you to set throughput floors at the SVM level.

Update

Description

Increase in maximum number of inodes

ONTAP will continue to automatically add inodes (at the rate of 1 inode per 32 KB of volume space) even if the volume grows larger than 680 GB. ONTAP will continue adding inodes until it reaches the maximum of 2,147,483,632.

Support for specifying a SnapLock type during FlexClone creation

You can specify one of three SnapLock types, either compliance, enterprise, or non-SnapLock, when creating a FlexClone of a read/write volume.

Enable File System Analytics by default

Set File System Analytics to be enabled by default on new volumes.

SVM disaster recovery fanout relationships with FlexGroup volumes

The fanout restriction of SVM DR with FlexGroup volumes is removed. SVM DR with FlexGroup includes support for SnapMirror fanout relationships to eight sites.

Single FlexGroup rebalancing operation

You can schedule a single FlexGroup rebalancing operation to begin at a date and time in the future that you specify.

FabricPool read performance

FabricPool provides improved sequential read performance for single and multi-stream workloads for cloud-resident data and tiering throughput. This improvement can send a higher rate of GETs and PUTs to the back end object store. If you have on-premises object stores, you should consider performance headroom on the object store service and determine whether you might need to throttle FabricPool PUTs.

Adaptive QoS policy templates

Adaptive QoS policy templates enable you to set throughput floors at the SVM level.

SVM management enhancements

Update Description

Update	Description
SVM data mobility	Increases support for migrating SVMs containing up to 200 volumes.
Support for recreating SVM directories	The new CLI command `debug vserver refresh-vserver-dir -node node_name` recreates missing directories and files. For more information and command syntax, see the ONTAP Command Reference.

SVM data mobility

Increases support for migrating SVMs containing up to 200 volumes.

Support for recreating SVM directories

The new CLI command debug vserver refresh-vserver-dir -node node_name recreates missing directories and files. For more information and command syntax, see the ONTAP Command Reference.

ONTAP System Manager

Beginning with ONTAP 9.12.1, ONTAP System Manager is integrated with BlueXP.

Update	Description
Change in reporting of primary data reduction ratio	The primary data reduction ratio displayed in ONTAP System Manager no longer includes Snapshot copy space savings in the calculation. It only depicts the ratio between used logical and used physical space. In prior releases of ONTAP, the primary data reduction ratio included significant space reduction benefits of Snapshot copies. As a result, when you upgrade to ONTAP 9.13.1, you will observe a significantly lower primary ratio being reported. You can still see data reduction ratios with Snapshot copies in the Capacity details view.
Tamperproof Snapshot copy locking	You can use ONTAP System Manager to lock a Snapshot copy on a non-SnapLock volume to provide protection from ransomware attacks.
Support for external key managers	You can use ONTAP System Manager to manage external key managers to store and manage authentication and encryption keys.
Troubleshooting hardware problems	ONTAP System Manager users can view visual depictions of additional hardware platforms in the "Hardware" page, including ASA platforms and ETERNUS AC series platforms. Support for ETERNUS AC series platforms is also included in the latest patch releases of ONTAP 9.12.1, ONTAP 9.11.1, and ONTAP 9.10.1. The visualizations identify problems or concerns with platforms, providing a quick method for users to troubleshoot hardware problems.

Update

Description

Change in reporting of primary data reduction ratio

Tamperproof Snapshot copy locking

You can use ONTAP System Manager to lock a Snapshot copy on a non-SnapLock volume to provide protection from ransomware attacks.

Support for external key managers

You can use ONTAP System Manager to manage external key managers to store and manage authentication and encryption keys.

Troubleshooting hardware problems

ONTAP System Manager users can view visual depictions of additional hardware platforms in the "Hardware" page, including ASA platforms and ETERNUS AC series platforms. Support for ETERNUS AC series platforms is also included in the latest patch releases of ONTAP 9.12.1, ONTAP 9.11.1, and ONTAP 9.10.1. The visualizations identify problems or concerns with platforms, providing a quick method for users to troubleshoot hardware problems.