I/O in a Flash - Evolution of ONTAP to Low-Latency SSDs

Explore the evolution of NetApp's ONTAP storage system in this 22-minute conference talk from USENIX FAST '24. Delve into the challenges and solutions involved in adapting a storage architecture originally designed for spinning drives to accommodate low-latency SSDs. Learn about the crucial changes made to the read I/O path over several years, presented chronologically alongside performance analysis. Gain insights into how NetApp transformed ONTAP into an all-SSD system capable of leveraging sub-millisecond latency I/O. Understand the software optimizations required to fully utilize flash-based persistent storage media and their impact on overall system performance.