David Blackwell

David is a twenty year IT veteran who has been an admin for just about every aspect of a DataCenter at one time or another. Currently he is the Technical Marketing Engineer for OpenStack at NetApp. When not working, or tinkering with new software at home, David spends most of his free time on his hobby of 3D printing.

Getting Started with NetApp and Ansible: Complete Workflow

Automation and configuration management are indispensable to an efficient DevOps driven environment. NetApp supports Ansible modules for ONTAP and Element software.  So, let’s get right to it and see how all this worksby building a complete workflow while adding in some fancy features. Complete Workflow If you have been following along in the series so far, … Read more

Getting Started with NetApp and Ansible: First Playbook Example

Automation and configuration management are indispensable to an efficient DevOps driven environment.  NetApp supports Ansible modules for ONTAP and Element software.  So, let’s get right to it and see how all this works.  First Playbook Example  Now that we have Ansible installed, and have reviewed what makes a playbook, we will create our first playbook.  … Read more

Getting Started with NetApp and Ansible: Understanding Playbooks

Automation and Configuration Management are indispensable to an efficient DevOps driven environment. NetApp supports Ansible modules for ONTAP and Element software .  So, let’s get right to it and see how all this works. Understanding Playbooks Now that we have Ansible installed, let’s understand the special file that makes things happen.  This file is called a ‘playbook’.  … Read more

Getting Started with NetApp and Ansible: Updating NetApp Modules

Automation and Configuration Management are indispensable to an efficient DevOps driven environment. NetApp has supported Ansible modules for ONTAP and Element software.  So, let’s get right to it and see how all this works! Update NetApp Modules Occasionally, there will be updates to the NetApp modules ahead of the full releases of Ansible. These updates can be … Read more

Getting Started with NetApp and Ansible: Install Ansible

Automation and Configuration Management are indispensable to an efficient DevOps driven environment. NetApp has supported Ansible modules for ONTAP and Element software.  So, let’s get right to it and see how all this works. Part 1. Install Ansible If you don’t have Ansible already installed, getting it is very easy.  There are multiple ways to get … Read more

Element SW Shines in Second Major Ansible Module Release

Thank you to everyone who’s provided feedback and comments on the Ansible ONTAP modules we released this past May. Your input has helped us with everything from bugs and fixes to ideas for new enhancements and new functionality. We have been listening to your feedback and our new releases incorporate many of your suggestions along … Read more

Consuming WFA Resources from Ansible

Configuration management and Infrastructure as Code are very hot topics these days.  The faster you can configure, provision and present your operations resources, the faster you can meet customer needs.  NetApp has released new and improved Ansible modules for ONTAP and we are working on covering more of the NetApp family of products. However, what do … Read more

Sample Ansible Playbook: ONTAP NFS Export Provision and Present

Undeniably, Ansible helps you spend less time managing the configuration of your datacenter by grouping tasks together into a single playbook, configurations can be deployed across a variety of systems simply and easily. NetApp’s new and improved Ansible modules for ONTAP allow configuration management and automation of all ONTAP9 systems using Ansible. NetApp and Ansible … Read more

Ansible support receives massively expanded ONTAP modules

Ansible users rejoice. Today NetApp is proud to announce the release of 33 new and updated ONTAP modules for Ansible. Ansible is an open source IT automation framework, initiated and managed by Red Hat, which acts as a layer for connecting automation across DevOps services and tooling. It was created to help developers and IT … Read more

Reducing Risk in OpenStack with NetApp Part 1: Encryption 

Welcome to part one of a series on reducing risk in OpenStack with NetApp.  Whether you are already running OpenStack, or are considering running it, the security of your data should always be at the forefront of your thoughts.  NetApp has many features that work in concert with our OpenStack drivers to give you piece … Read more