DTrace for NetApp? Please!
Rajeev asks Would DTrace make sense on ONTAP?” and concludes that yes, it would. I couldn’t agree more. DTrace is game changer, and with ONTAP GX being based on FreeBSD one can imagine that a DTrace port is at least *possible* in GX. Let’s assume it’s doable in GX, but not in “traditional” ONTAP. I think that’s a reasonable assumption. Let’s also assume that yes indeed increased observability is good for everyone involved for the obvious reasons (help customers solve problems).
I can think of a few extra reasons why NetApp should port DTrace:
- It would entice me to move to GX from “traditional” ONTAP.
- ZFS is a pretty compelling WAFL competitor, but for many people it isn’t enough of a game changer on its own to warrant a move away from NetApp. ZFS + DTrace probes for NFS and iSCSI, however? Now that’s a one-two knockout punch. Add DTrace to GX and you’ve ducked that knockout.
- Linux and Windows are probably never going to have DTrace. Clustered Linux Storage On The Cheap(tm) (and, to a far lesser extent, Microsoft’s storage server) will be NetApp’s biggest mid to long term competitive pressure IMO.
- Let’s see DTrace on an EMC Symmetrix or Clarion.. exactly.
So yeah, NetApp should absolutely do DTrace. It’s a wonderful thing that Sun’s opened up and now we have FreeBSD and OS X joining Solaris with DTrace implementations. I think it would a great competitive move to put DTrace into ONTAP GX. Customers would love it.
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