How can I update the maintenance window and apply the new features or new ONTAP version for FSx for ONTAP earlier than existing weekly maintenance window?

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Looking at the following release, I would like to apply the update the weekly maintenance window to apply new features as soon as possible, but the following 3 questions I have to streamline our operation.

Release Note: "You can now enable data compression for capacity pool storage in Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP file systems" https://aws.amazon.com/jp/about-aws/whats-new/2021/12/data-compression-amazon-fsx-netapp-ontap-file-systems/

Customers with existing file systems will get this support during an upcoming weekly maintenance window.

Questions:

  1. Is it possible to set the time zone of the maintenance window with local one?

Despite the operation in the Tokyo region, since it is in UTC, it is easy for operation mistakes to occur, such as accidentally setting in JST(For Japan local time) and starting maintenance at an unexpected time. increase. Is it possible to set the default setting according to the time zone of the region and the time zone as an option?

  1. When will weekly maintenance window changes be applied at the fastest?

In order to apply the new function as soon as possible, I would like to carry out maintenance as soon as possible. At what timing is it applicable? It can be set in 1 minute increments, but is it applicable when the time after 1 minute is set, for example, assuming that the time of the maintenance window will be after a few seconds?

  1. How can I check the maintenance did or not?

I guess that the new ONTAP version and some new feature requires to apply the weekly maintenance window as well in the future like this one. To keep our development and deployment pace, I would like to know the way to confirm before/after the maintenance window that the maintenance is done or not and what the contents of the update.

Information referring to the maintenance window of FSx for ONTAP in AWS website: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/fsx/latest/ONTAPGuide/maintenance-windows.html

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asked 2 years ago844 views
2 Answers
1
Accepted Answer

Hi,

Thank you for patience and most importantly your response.

Investigating this further on your behalf, I will again address your questions below:

Can I check the update contents before apply the maintenance window in the future?

Unfortunately as AWS FSx is a managed service, this information is not shared with our customers however do keep in mind that this content will always include product enhancements, updated feature requests that our wonderful AWS Customers have requested for, security updates and features, etc.

Is there any force auto upgrade or patch period for non-applied maintenance window?

As mentioned above, while it is theoretically possible to keep delaying the MW, I would not encourage this. The reason for this is due to missing out on critical product enhancements and security updates, all mentioned in the above question. If you are however concerned about the updates provided and the impact it will have to your production FSx ONTAP, what I would recommend is you launch another staging FSx ONTAP where you can keep MW updates enabled without delay and use this as your staging area where your end users can go in and confirm functionality to ensure there are no issues being flagged before you proceed to roll this into your Production FSx ONTAP.

If you do have any follow up questions please do let me know and again, I highly appreciate your patience.

AWS
SUPPORT ENGINEER
answered 2 years ago
  • Thank you!! I understand both of points and consider the staging area to confirm the update has no impact or not. If the release note include the information from what the day and time the new feature would be applied in maintenance window, it would be great help.

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Hi,

Thank you for your rePost question. My name is Ahmed - an AWS Support Engineer who will be addressing your inquiry today.

Investigating this further on your behalf, I will directly address your questions here:

Is it possible to set the time zone of the maintenance window with local one?

At this present moment in time, the default timezone being UTC cannot be changed. FSx for NetApp ONTAP does not support setting a custom time zone. Maintenance Windows must be specified using Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).

When will weekly maintenance window changes be applied at the fastest?

Investigating this in my lab, the maintanance window will execute seconds after the time of the configured maintenance window. If you do want to test this yourself, you can set this UTC + 10 minutes from now as documented here: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/fsx/latest/ONTAPGuide/maintenance-windows.html Additionally, you can look at configuring the maintenance window via AWS CLI Update-File-System operation (WeeklyMaintenanceStartTime parameter): https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/reference/fsx/update-file-system.html AND https://docs.aws.amazon.com/fsx/latest/APIReference/API_UpdateFileSystemOntapConfiguration.html

How can I check the maintenance did or not?

AWS FSx is a managed service so like every managed service it comes with a shared responsibility security model and some limitations. With this in mind, unfortunately at this point there are no public API’s that you can monitor in the event of a maintenance window execution. I have however raised this as a feature request with our backend service team on your behalf. While I am unable to comment on if/when this feature may get released, I request you to keep an eye on our What's New and Blog pages for any new feature announcements.

https://aws.amazon.com/new/

https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/

Please let me know if you require any further information and I will be more than happy to assist.

AWS
SUPPORT ENGINEER
answered 2 years ago
  • Hi Ahmed, Thank you for your clear answer.

    I understand your points and I have 2 more questions for maintenance window matter.

    1. Can I check the update contents before apply the maintenance window in the future? I confirmed that new FSx for ONTAP created now is ONTAP version 9.10.1 from last week. I wanted to upgrade current ONTAP 9.10.0 and tried this several times, but could not confirm it. To avoid this situation, I guess that it's better to get the update information in advance like DB auto upgrade notification or manually user can check it.

    2. Is there any force auto upgrade or patch period for non-applied maintenance window? I wonder if we can keep changing the maintenance window date later schedule and keep same ONTAP version forever.

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