MCP Tools Reference¶

The NetApp ActiveIQ MCP Server provides a comprehensive set of tools that enable AI assistants to interact with NetApp storage infrastructure through the Model Context Protocol.

Tool Categories¶

🔍 Information & Discovery¶

get_clusters - List and query cluster information
get_nodes - Get cluster node details
get_svms - List Storage Virtual Machines
get_volumes - Query volume information
get_aggregates - List storage aggregates
test_connection - Test NetApp API connectivity

📊 Monitoring & Performance¶

get_cluster_performance - Cluster performance metrics
get_volume_performance - Volume performance data
get_events - System events and alerts
get_capacity_info - Storage capacity information

⚙️ Management Operations¶

create_svm - Create Storage Virtual Machine
create_volume - Create new volume
modify_volume - Modify volume settings
create_snapshot - Create volume snapshot

🚨 Event Management¶

acknowledge_event - Acknowledge system events
resolve_event - Resolve events
get_active_alerts - Get active alerts

Tool Definitions¶

get_clusters¶

List and query NetApp cluster information.

{
  "name": "get_clusters",
  "description": "Retrieve information about NetApp ONTAP clusters",
  "inputSchema": {
    "type": "object",
    "properties": {
      "fields": {
        "type": "array",
        "items": {"type": "string"},
        "description": "Specific fields to return",
        "default": ["name", "uuid", "version", "state", "management_ip"]
      },
      "query": {
        "type": "string",
        "description": "Filter clusters using query syntax (e.g., 'name:prod*')"
      },
      "max_records": {
        "type": "integer",
        "description": "Maximum number of records to return",
        "default": 20
      }
    }
  }
}

Example Usage:

# Get all clusters with basic info
result = await mcp_client.call_tool("get_clusters", {})

# Get production clusters only
result = await mcp_client.call_tool("get_clusters", {
    "query": "name:prod*",
    "fields": ["name", "version", "state", "nodes"]
})

Response:

{
  "clusters": [
    {
      "name": "prod-cluster-01",
      "uuid": "12345678-1234-1234-1234-123456789012",
      "version": {"full": "9.12.1"},
      "state": "up",
      "management_ip": "10.1.1.100",
      "nodes": 4
    }
  ],
  "total_records": 1
}

get_svms¶

List Storage Virtual Machines (SVMs) with filtering options.

{
  "name": "get_svms",
  "description": "Retrieve Storage Virtual Machine information",
  "inputSchema": {
    "type": "object",
    "properties": {
      "cluster_name": {
        "type": "string",
        "description": "Filter by cluster name"
      },
      "state": {
        "type": "string",
        "enum": ["running", "stopped", "starting", "stopping"],
        "description": "Filter by SVM state"
      },
      "protocols": {
        "type": "array",
        "items": {"type": "string"},
        "description": "Filter by supported protocols (nfs, cifs, iscsi, fcp)"
      },
      "fields": {
        "type": "array",
        "items": {"type": "string"},
        "default": ["name", "uuid", "state", "cluster", "protocols"]
      }
    }
  }
}

get_volumes¶

Query volume information with detailed filtering and sorting options.

{
  "name": "get_volumes",
  "description": "Retrieve volume information and capacity details",
  "inputSchema": {
    "type": "object",
    "properties": {
      "svm_name": {
        "type": "string",
        "description": "Filter by SVM name"
      },
      "cluster_name": {
        "type": "string",
        "description": "Filter by cluster name"
      },
      "state": {
        "type": "string",
        "enum": ["online", "offline", "mixed"],
        "description": "Filter by volume state"
      },
      "size_threshold": {
        "type": "object",
        "properties": {
          "operator": {"type": "string", "enum": ["gt", "lt", "gte", "lte"]},
          "value": {"type": "integer"},
          "unit": {"type": "string", "enum": ["bytes", "kb", "mb", "gb", "tb"]}
        },
        "description": "Filter by volume size"
      },
      "utilization_threshold": {
        "type": "number",
        "minimum": 0,
        "maximum": 100,
        "description": "Filter volumes above utilization percentage"
      },
      "order_by": {
        "type": "string",
        "enum": ["name", "size", "available", "used_percentage"],
        "default": "name"
      }
    }
  }
}

create_svm¶

Create a new Storage Virtual Machine with specified configuration.

{
  "name": "create_svm",
  "description": "Create a new Storage Virtual Machine (SVM)",
  "inputSchema": {
    "type": "object",
    "required": ["name", "cluster_name"],
    "properties": {
      "name": {
        "type": "string",
        "description": "Name for the new SVM"
      },
      "cluster_name": {
        "type": "string",
        "description": "Target cluster name"
      },
      "protocols": {
        "type": "array",
        "items": {"type": "string", "enum": ["nfs", "cifs", "iscsi", "fcp", "nvme"]},
        "default": ["nfs"],
        "description": "Protocols to enable"
      },
      "language": {
        "type": "string",
        "default": "c.utf_8",
        "description": "Language setting"
      },
      "security_style": {
        "type": "string",
        "enum": ["unix", "ntfs", "mixed"],
        "default": "unix",
        "description": "Security style"
      },
      "aggregates": {
        "type": "array",
        "items": {"type": "string"},
        "description": "List of aggregate names to assign"
      },
      "dns_config": {
        "type": "object",
        "properties": {
          "domains": {
            "type": "array",
            "items": {"type": "string"}
          },
          "servers": {
            "type": "array",
            "items": {"type": "string"}
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

get_events¶

Retrieve system events with filtering and sorting capabilities.

{
  "name": "get_events",
  "description": "Get system events and alerts",
  "inputSchema": {
    "type": "object",
    "properties": {
      "severity": {
        "type": "string",
        "enum": ["emergency", "alert", "critical", "error", "warning", "notice", "informational", "debug"],
        "description": "Filter by event severity"
      },
      "state": {
        "type": "string",
        "enum": ["new", "acknowledged", "resolved"],
        "description": "Filter by event state"
      },
      "source_type": {
        "type": "string",
        "enum": ["cluster", "node", "svm", "volume", "aggregate"],
        "description": "Filter by source object type"
      },
      "time_range": {
        "type": "object",
        "properties": {
          "start": {"type": "string", "format": "date-time"},
          "end": {"type": "string", "format": "date-time"}
        }
      },
      "max_records": {
        "type": "integer",
        "default": 50
      }
    }
  }
}

test_connection¶

Test connectivity to NetApp ActiveIQ Unified Manager.

{
  "name": "test_connection",
  "description": "Test connection to NetApp ActiveIQ Unified Manager",
  "inputSchema": {
    "type": "object",
    "properties": {
      "include_details": {
        "type": "boolean",
        "default": false,
        "description": "Include detailed connection information"
      }
    }
  }
}

Advanced Tool Usage¶

Workflow Orchestration Tools¶

execute_temporal_workflow¶

Execute complex workflows using Temporal orchestration.

{
  "name": "execute_temporal_workflow",
  "description": "Execute a predefined Temporal workflow",
  "inputSchema": {
    "type": "object",
    "required": ["workflow_name"],
    "properties": {
      "workflow_name": {
        "type": "string",
        "enum": ["svm_creation", "volume_provisioning", "data_migration", "backup_workflow"]
      },
      "parameters": {
        "type": "object",
        "description": "Workflow-specific parameters"
      },
      "timeout": {
        "type": "integer",
        "default": 3600,
        "description": "Workflow timeout in seconds"
      }
    }
  }
}

Batch Operations¶

batch_operation¶

Execute multiple operations in a single request.

{
  "name": "batch_operation",
  "description": "Execute multiple NetApp operations in batch",
  "inputSchema": {
    "type": "object",
    "required": ["operations"],
    "properties": {
      "operations": {
        "type": "array",
        "items": {
          "type": "object",
          "required": ["tool", "arguments"],
          "properties": {
            "tool": {"type": "string"},
            "arguments": {"type": "object"},
            "id": {"type": "string"}
          }
        }
      },
      "fail_on_error": {
        "type": "boolean",
        "default": false,
        "description": "Stop batch if any operation fails"
      }
    }
  }
}

Error Handling¶

All tools follow consistent error response patterns:

{
  "success": false,
  "error": {
    "code": "NETAPP_API_ERROR",
    "message": "Failed to retrieve cluster information",
    "details": {
      "http_status": 401,
      "netapp_error": "Authentication failed"
    }
  }
}

Common Error Codes¶

AUTHENTICATION_FAILED - Invalid credentials
AUTHORIZATION_DENIED - Insufficient permissions
RESOURCE_NOT_FOUND - Requested resource doesn't exist
VALIDATION_ERROR - Invalid input parameters
NETAPP_API_ERROR - Error from NetApp API
TIMEOUT_ERROR - Operation timed out
CONNECTION_ERROR - Network connectivity issues

Tool Usage Examples¶

Natural Language Queries¶

With an AI assistant, you can use natural language:

"Show me all volumes that are more than 80% full"

# Translates to:
mcp_client.call_tool("get_volumes", {
    "utilization_threshold": 80,
    "fields": ["name", "svm", "size", "used_percentage"]
})

"Create a new SVM called 'dev-svm' on the production cluster with NFS protocol"

# Translates to:
mcp_client.call_tool("create_svm", {
    "name": "dev-svm",
    "cluster_name": "prod-cluster-01",
    "protocols": ["nfs"]
})

"What are the current critical alerts?"

# Translates to:
mcp_client.call_tool("get_events", {
    "severity": "critical",
    "state": "new"
})

Programmatic Usage¶

import asyncio
from mcp_client import MCPClient

async def storage_health_check():
    client = MCPClient("http://localhost:8080")

    # Get cluster status
    clusters = await client.call_tool("get_clusters", {})

    # Check for volumes with low space
    low_space_volumes = await client.call_tool("get_volumes", {
        "utilization_threshold": 90,
        "fields": ["name", "svm", "cluster", "used_percentage", "available"]
    })

    # Get recent critical events
    critical_events = await client.call_tool("get_events", {
        "severity": "critical",
        "state": "new",
        "max_records": 10
    })

    return {
        "clusters": clusters,
        "low_space_volumes": low_space_volumes,
        "critical_events": critical_events
    }

# Run health check
health_status = asyncio.run(storage_health_check())

Authentication¶

Tools automatically use the configured NetApp credentials. No additional authentication is required at the tool level.

Rate Limiting¶

Default rate limit: 100 requests per minute
Configurable per tool type
Automatic retry with exponential backoff
Queue management for burst requests

Caching¶

Automatic caching for read operations
Configurable TTL per tool type
Cache invalidation on write operations
Redis-based distributed caching

Next Steps¶

Architecture - Understand the underlying architecture
Examples - See practical usage examples
Error Handling - Learn about error handling patterns
Authentication - Configure authentication methods