Erik,

Both the 5.3.x and the 6.x versions of ONTAP are supported with ClearCase. Moving to 6.x release should not cause a problem.

Victoria

-----Original Message----- From: Erik Feddersen [mailto:erikf@cadence.com] Sent: Thursday, May 17, 2001 9:45 AM To: Okoniewski, Linda Cc: 'Koepnick, Victoria'; 'Todd C. Merrill'; 'toasters@mathworks.com' Subject: Re: ClearCase "certified" filers

I have been using a 740 filer since March 26 running ClearCase 4.1 (Solaris host, now to patch12) with major sucess. We use Multisite to go SanJose from Boston. Things are going well.

I just want to know if migrating from the supported 5.3.6 ONTAP to version 6.x.x is going to cause a problem.

We have some interop issues running Legato and upgrading ONTAP may fix those.

But it has been working great, no real problems. Clearcase has been pushing enough patches that even my RH7 Linux people are running fine (viewserver on the Linux box, view storage on the netapp). Of course I now want to support the 2.4 kernel and move to 7.1.

So, can I upgrade Ontap on a 740 filer beyond the 5.3.6 version?

Erik

"Okoniewski, Linda" wrote:

Victoria is correct...please review the documentation regarding ClearCase and NAS configurations at URL http://www.rational.com/products/whitepapers/ccnas.jsp http://www.rational.com/products/whitepapers/ccnas.jsp .

Thanks for your continued support of ClearCase!

Regards, Linda O.

Linda Okoniewski Product Mgr. Rational Software Corporation lindao@rational.com 781-676-2585

-----Original Message----- From: Koepnick, Victoria [ mailto:victoria.koepnick@netapp.com mailto:victoria.koepnick@netapp.com ] Sent: Tuesday, May 15, 2001 2:33 PM To: 'Todd C. Merrill'; toasters@mathworks.com Cc: Linda Okoniewski (E-mail) Subject: RE: ClearCase "certified" filers

Todd,

As of March 28, 2001 NetApp filers are certified for the complete storage of the VOB and View databases in a Unix, Interop or Windows only Rational ClearCase environment. It is no longer necessary to have the databases reside on local disk and Rational supports placing the databases on filers. My guess is the last time you spoke to Rational folks was prior to March 28, in which case they gave you the correct information.

As you well know, filers natively support both CIFS and NFS making the use of Syntax TAS unnecessary. During our ClearCase certification testing there was no performance degradation when using a filer. In fact, we typically found the performance to be better than when using direct attached storage in ClearCase environments. We are currently working on performance benchmarks in order to document the performance gains achieved.

Your read of the statement in the brochure is correct. It is true that both restrictions have now been removed.

Using a filer with ClearCase also makes back-up and restore much easier due to NetApp SnapShots (not to be confused with the snapshot function in ClearCase). With SnapShots, the VOB database is locked for typically only a matter of seconds (exact time will depend on the size of the VOB).

The March 28th certification includes use of filers with ClearCase Multisite as well.

Hope this helps clear up any questions or concerns.

Victoria J. Koepnick Network Appliance Manager, Technical Markets 408-822-6465

-----Original Message----- From: Todd C. Merrill [ mailto:tmerrill@mathworks.com mailto:tmerrill@mathworks.com ] Sent: Tuesday, May 15, 2001 10:04 AM To: toasters@mathworks.com Subject: ClearCase "certified" filers

I just received in the mail a notice that NetApp filers are "certified" for use with Rational's ClearCase product. In particular, it says:

"Network Appliance delivers network-attached storage solutions *certified for ClearCase 4.x* for complete VOB and View storage in UNIX, Windows, and multiprotocol environments. You get true single-copy data sharing between UNIX and Windows clients, without emulation software."

Last time we asked the Rational folks if they had customers using NetApps, the answer was yes. But, Rational still recommended the VOB and View *databases* reside on local disk on the VOB or View servers. Is that recommended restriction now gone?

Also, when we delved into it some more, it turns out we would still have needed Syntax TAS servers to serve the data to the CIFS clients, even though the various pools were stored on a NetApp. That is, clients would still have to request data via the ClearCase daemons on the various ClearCase servers. In other words, to fetch a file from the cleartext pool, for example, the client could NOT directly fetch it from the filer. Needless to say, performance via the ClearCase daemons was "sub-optimal."

My read of the statement in the brochure is that both restrictions have now been removed (database storage and TAS servers). Is this true?

Until next time...

The Mathworks, Inc. 508-647-7000 x7792 3 Apple Hill Drive, Natick, MA 01760-2098 508-647-7001 FAX tmerrill@mathworks.com http://www.mathworks.com http://www.mathworks.com ---