Achieving High Availability for Windows Workloads on AWS with NetApp ONTAP and WSFC

Overview

In today’s cloud-driven IT environments, ensuring high availability for mission-critical applications is non-negotiable. Enterprises running Windows workloads in AWS often need failover solutions to maintain uptime and performance. Combining AWS NetApp ONTAP with Windows Server Failover Clustering (WSFC) provides a resilient, enterprise-ready architecture designed to maximize uptime and maintain consistent performance for critical workloads.

This blog explores how AWS NetApp ONTAP integrates with WSFC, its advantages, and how it helps organizations meet stringent high availability (HA) requirements.

Introduction

Windows Server Failover Clustering (WSFC) is a built-in Windows Server feature that enables high availability and disaster recovery by allowing multiple servers to work together to maintain application and service continuity during failures. It allows multiple servers (nodes) to work together as a cluster to ensure that if one node fails, another takes over with minimal disruption.

NetApp ONTAP, a storage operating system, offers advanced data management features like deduplication, compression, cloning, snapshots, and high availability. When ONTAP is deployed on AWS (using Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP), it extends these capabilities to the cloud, enabling enterprises to build HA architectures for Windows workloads using WSFC.

NetApp ONTAP on AWS with WSFC

Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP

Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP is a fully managed AWS service that lets you run NetApp’s ONTAP file system in the cloud. It supports industry-standard protocols such as SMB, NFS, and iSCSI, and provides enterprise-level data services including snapshots, replication, tiering, and multi-protocol support.

ONTAP with WSFC

When you deploy Windows Server Failover Clustering in AWS, persistent shared storage is essential. Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP supports SMB shares and iSCSI LUNs, which are required for hosting WSFC cluster shared volumes (CSVs) or witness disks.

This setup enables:

• Automatic failover of workloads between Windows instances
• High availability of SQL Server, file shares, and other clustered roles
• Integrated snapshots and backups for data protection
• Scalability without performance trade-offs

Typical Architecture

1. Two or more Amazon EC2 Windows instances in a WSFC setup across multiple Availability Zones (AZs).
2. FSx for NetApp ONTAP provides the shared storage (via iSCSI LUNs or SMB shares).
3. The cluster witness disk is stored on ONTAP to help with quorum management.
4. Amazon Route 53 or Elastic IPs for IP failover support.

Key Benefits

• High Availability (HA): Leveraging the resilience of EC2 instances spread across AZs and FSx ONTAP’s inherent storage, HA ensures that workloads remain operational even during failures.
• Data Protection: Built-in snapshot and replication features protect data against corruption, ransomware, and accidental deletion.
• Operational Efficiency: Fully managed service offloads infrastructure management, letting teams focus on application logic.
• Cost Optimization: Pay-as-you-go pricing with automated tiering helps manage storage costs effectively.
• Enterprise Integration: FSx for ONTAP supports Active Directory, Kerberos, and other Windows-native protocols, making adopting seamless without re-architecting applications.

Use Cases

• SQL Server Failover Cluster Instances (FCIs): Ideal for organizations that want SQL Server HA without the complexity or licensing of Always On Availability Groups. FSx ONTAP provides the shared storage required for FCIs.
• File Server Clusters: Deploying Windows file servers in a clustered configuration with shared SMB storage ensures users can always access enterprise file shares.
• Custom Application Servers: Legacy or custom applications that require shared state or shared disk access can benefit from this setup.
• Hybrid Deployments: FSx for ONTAP’s support for SnapMirror enables syncing with on-premises NetApp environments for hybrid HA and DR setups.

Conclusion

With FSx for ONTAP’s rich storage features and WSFC’s failover capabilities, businesses can ensure service continuity, data protection, and scalable performance, all within a managed AWS environment.

This combination is ideal for organizations migrating enterprise Windows applications to the cloud without sacrificing the resilience they expect from on-prem solutions.

Drop a query if you have any questions regarding AWS NetApp ONTAP and we will get back to you quickly.

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