At least 40 GB of free Solid State Drive (SSD) space per node for optimal performance. Supported Hypervisors VMware Workstation Pro / Player (Windows/Linux) VMware Fusion (macOS on Intel processors) VMware ESXi (Enterprise lab environments) Step 1: Access the NetApp Support Site
Running the simulator on a mechanical HDD will result in sluggish performance and high latency. Always use an NVMe or SATA SSD.
Search for or navigate directly to the NetApp ONTAP Simulator download page. netapp ontap 9 simulator download free
Solid State Drive (SSD) is strongly recommended, with at least 40 GB of free space per simulator instance. Supported Hypervisors
: Download the .ova file and import it into your VMware environment. At least 40 GB of free Solid State
NetApp has done the storage community a solid by making this available at no cost. It bridges the gap between reading a PDF and managing a $100,000 storage array.
Intel or AMD 64-bit processor with virtualization enabled (Intel VT-x or AMD-V) in the BIOS. Search for or navigate directly to the NetApp
(also known as Simulate ONTAP) is a powerful tool for storage administrators to test ONTAP features, practice CLI commands, and build lab environments without requiring physical hardware. It runs as a virtual machine on common hypervisors like VMware Workstation VMware Player NetApp Knowledge Base How to Download the ONTAP 9 Simulator for Free
Select the version of ONTAP 9 you wish to run (e.g., ONTAP 9.13, 9.14, or the latest available release).
Before powering it on, right-click the VM and select to verify that the network adapters are correctly mapped (usually mapped to Host-Only or NAT networks depending on your lab design). Step 4: Initial Boot and Node Setup