SMB over QUIC support | NetApp | Page 1

slow ether Feb 18, 2025, 10:25 AM

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Hi all, SMB over QUIC is supported or will be supported in ontap ? I'm not able to find any NetApp document about. I know the possibility to have a Windows Server in the middle communication in ontap just with smb. Still, I would like to know if is it foreseen any native support about.

shell beacon Feb 18, 2025, 10:55 AM

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not supported at the moment. As for when/if it will ever be supported, I don't know, but I guess the chances are pretty slim unless some real-world usecases for QUIC pop up

slow ether Feb 18, 2025, 12:58 PM

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shell beacon not supported at the moment. As for when/if it will ever be supported, I don't k...

Thank you Darkstar for your quick answer. it might be a nice feature and we are receiving requests about. this is the reason why I'm asking. Meanwhile we are doing some tests with a windows server 2025 + w11 🙂

shell beacon Feb 18, 2025, 2:02 PM

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why is it a nice feature? I mean what advantages does it have? (genuine question - I have only ever heard of QUIC, never looked into the details much)

slow ether Feb 18, 2025, 2:09 PM

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what can I say... the advantage is not about QUIC per se, it's just to use smb as you are used to; but over http+tls1.3 (QUIC). therefore "remote" users can access the shares just with a browser.

chrome spruce Feb 18, 2025, 2:28 PM

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access shares without the need for a vpn is the most common thing.
But it also is a much more secure transport due to http/3+tls1.3/etc

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/deep-dive-smb-over-quic-file-sharing-konstantinos-xanthopoulos-5xkyf/

A Deep Dive on SMB over QUIC File Sharing

Hi everyone, and welcome to this edition of Tech Talk Unleashed! Today, we're diving deep into SMB over QUIC, a game-changing technology for file sharing. Without further ado, let's jump right in.

shell beacon Feb 18, 2025, 2:47 PM

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SMB3 can use AES encryption already, which should be pretty secure. The web thingy is neat though

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so it's basically like WebDAV just with CIFS tunneled over HTTP instead of HTTP directly

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I guess with the move to "foo over TLS" for everything (NFS over TLS, NVME/TCP over TLS, etc.) it is entirely possible that CIFS over TLS (aka QUIC) might show up as well... you'd need to ask NetApp for an NDA insight into their roadmap though to be sure

mystic widget Feb 18, 2025, 3:07 PM

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@obsidian ivy or we could just ask “the man” 😎

obsidian ivy Feb 18, 2025, 3:15 PM

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@slow ether I don't think it works like you think it does. QUIC is a transport similar to TCP & UDP. It is used with several Layer5 protocols (HTTP, SMB, etc), but it does not change the protocol that's used to access the data. When using QUIC as the transport, SMB data is still only accessed via the SMB protocol. It does not enable a WebDAV-like change in data access. QUIC only provides a "TLS tunnel" to access data. There's no HTTP in there. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/storage/file-server/smb-over-quic?tabs=windows-admin-center%2Cpowershell2%2Cwindows-admin-center1

SMB over QUIC in Windows

Describes the SMB over QUIC feature in Windows Server and Windows client.

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As @shell beacon mentioned, SMB3 with in-flight AES encryption is secure already. We are certainly entertaining the possibility of adding QUIC support to ONTAP for the SMB protocol, but as of this moment, the demand in the field is rather lackluster. If you want to register your demand, please have your NetApp account team file an FEPVR and describe the business use case of why you need SMB/QUIC.

#SMB over QUIC support