NetApp HCI User Manual

Release Notes
What’s new in NetApp HCI
NetApp periodically updates NetApp HCI to bring you new features, enhancements, and
bug fixes. NetApp HCI 1.8P1 includes Element 12.2 for storage clusters.
• The NetApp HCI 1.8P1 section describes new features and updates in NetApp HCI version 1.8P1.
• The Element 12.2 section describes new features and updates in NetApp Element 12.2.
NetApp HCI 1.8P1
NetApp HCI 1.8P1 includes security and stability improvements.
NetApp HCI documentation enhancements
You can now access NetApp HCI upgrading, expansion, monitoring, and concepts information in an easy-to-
navigate format here.
NetApp Element Plug-in for vCenter Server 4.5 availability
The NetApp Element Plug-in for vCenter Server 4.5 is available outside of the management node 12.2 and
NetApp HCI 1.8P1 releases. To upgrade the plug-in, follow the instructions in the NetApp HCI Upgrades
documentation.
NetApp Hybrid Cloud Control enhancements
NetApp Hybrid Cloud Control is enhanced for version 1.8P1. Learn more.
Element 12.2
NetApp HCI 1.8P1 includes Element 12.2 for storage clusters. Element 12.2 introduces SolidFire Enterprise
SDS, software encryption at rest, maintenance mode, enhanced volume access security, Fully Qualified
Domain Name (FQDN) access to UIs, storage node firmware updates, and security updates.
SolidFire Enterprise SDS
Element 12.2 introduces SolidFire Enterprise SDS (eSDS). SolidFire eSDS provides the benefits of SolidFire
scale out technology and NetApp Element software data services on the hardware of your choice that meets
the reference configuration for SolidFire eSDS. Learn more.
The following are new Element API methods related to SolidFire eSDS (Element 12.2 API information for
SolidFire eSDS has more information):
•
GetLicenseKey
•
SetLicenseKey
Software encryption at rest
Element 12.2 introduces software encryption at rest, which you can enable when you create a storage cluster
(and is enabled by default when you create a SolidFire Enterprise SDS storage cluster). This feature encrypts

NetApp HCI Specifications

General

Product Type	Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI)
Data Services	Data protection, encryption
Connectivity	10 GbE, 25 GbE, 40 GbE, 100 GbE
Hypervisor Support	VMware vSphere
Management Node	Included in the solution
Storage Media	SSD and HDD
Node Types	Compute nodes, storage nodes
Storage Protocols	iSCSI
Data Reduction	Deduplication, compression, thin provisioning
High Availability	Built-in redundancy