Unveiling NetApp SnapCenter 5.0

By Charles Hayes, product marketing manager, hybrid cloud solutions, NetApp, Inc.

Here I share information about the release of NetApp SnapCenter 5.0, the latest version of our data protection platform.

Since 2016, SnapCenter has provided the company’s customers with a unified, scalable platform for application-consistent data protection. It makes it easy for administrators to protect and manage enterprise workloads hosted on NetApp storage, on premises or in a public cloud. Now, SnapCenter 5.0 continues to build on the simplicity and effectiveness of data protection with NetApp with 5 new features.

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What’s new in SnapCenter 5.0
Let’s look at these new capabilities and why I think they represent such a strong step forward for data protection from the company.

1. Protect your business from ransomware attacks with SnapLock compliance software and Snapshot copy locking. We all know that ransomware poses an imminent risk, threatening the security of your valuable data and, in fact, your business. We’ve added Snapshot copy locking (also known as tamperproof snapshots) and SnapLock features to keep your data even safer. Storing copies of data in a SnapLock volume provides immutability on either primary or secondary storage, so that your copies can’t be deleted or changed by attackers. Data stored in the SnapLock volume remains unmodified and protected for the specified retention period, boosting your security and compliance. With SnapCenter, your data stays secure even if you’re targeted by ransomware.
2. Get easy, powerful backup and recovery for applications and VMs without interruption. Now, more than ever, enterprises require zero downtime for critical applications and virtual machines. SnapCenter 5.0 has the solution. With firm’s SnapMirror Business Continuity, you can create snapshots that protect and recover your applications and VMs, even during failover or failback. SnapCenter keeps your data protected and available, always.
3. Protect your data in Amazon FSx for ONTAP and Azure NetApp Files. The company is always looking for ways to build new experiences for our partners and our customers. With SnapCenter 5.0 offers the unified management and automation capabilities of SnapCenter to extend your protection beyond Cloud Volumes ONTAP hosted in AWS (Amazon Web Services) and Azure, into first-party services from AWS (Amazon FSx for ONTAP) and Microsoft (Azure NetApp Files). This SnapCenter update simplifies the management and protection of crucial data across a diverse storage infrastructure.
4. Safeguard your Linux data. Although we have always provided application-consistent protection for databases running on Linux, we saw the need for a tailored approach to protecting Linux data that considers factors such as the specific Linux distribution, file system types, and backup strategies. You can now safeguard critical Linux data by using the robust capabilities of SnapCenter 5.0, which supports Linux file systems hosted on Ontap, Cloud Volumes ONTAP, and Amazon FSx for NetApp Ontap storage.
5. Accelerate backup in VMware environments with tag-based protection. Managing backups for dozens, 100s, or even thousands of VMs can be not just complex, it can be impossible. With tag-based protection for VMware environments in SnapCenter 5.0, life just got easier for our customers. Tag-based protection allows easier categorization and organization of virtual machines, enabling more granular control over backup policies. This approach simplifies backup management in complex environments, especially those with a large number of virtual machines. Storage and data protection administrators will love it.

SnapCenter 5.0 makes it easy to protect crucial data
Upgrade to SnapCenter 5.0 today and experience enhanced data protection for your applications and virtual machines. With all these new capabilities, SnapCenter makes data protection easier and more effective.

Resources:
SnapCenter 5.0 DS
SnapCenter backup management software: Protection perfected