Understanding Adaptive QoS and Service Levels in NetApp Keystone

Relevance of AQoS as a requirement for Keystone Subscriptions:

• AQoS is used by Keystone to ensure applications obtain consistent and predictable performance and dynamically maintain IOPS/TiB ratio based on volume size. 
  • General information on Storage QoS in Keystone, AQoS settings and configuration of policies

1.  Service Levels:

• Keystone subscriptions come with predefined service levels that dictate the performance characteristics of the storage volumes
  • These service levels are implemented through AQoS policies
• Each service level has a specific performance/TiB ratio, which AQoS uses to adjust the provisioned IOPs or throughput based on the volume size

2.  Performance Management:

• AQoS ensures that volumes receive the appropriate performance based on their size and subscribed service level
• AQoS policies help to prevent performance impact to other volumes residing within the same cluster
  • Understanding and Addressing ONTAP Performance Issues with Adaptive Quality of Service (AQoS) for NetApp Keystone Services

3.  Non-Compliant Volumes:

• Volumes that are not assigned to a Keystone-compliant AQoS policy assigned are considered non-compliant
  • Keystone volume shown as non-compliant on ActiveIQ 
• Any volume that is not associated with a Keystone-compliant AQoS policy will default to being metered at the highest contracted service level
  • Non-Compliant volumes result in consumption tracking at unintended service levels
  • Non-Compliant volumes result may lead to inconsistent performance and unexpected node utilization

4.  Consumption Monitoring:

• Active IQ Digital Advisor provides reporting on consumption and if SLA/SLOs are available, performance of Keystone subscriptions
• Reports include details on committed, consumed, and burst capacities, helping users monitor and manage their storage effectively
  • How to check the Keystone Usage on Active IQ