Which statement describes a core difference of Clustered ONTAP compared to 7-Mode ONTAP?

Which statement describes a core difference of Clustered ONTAP compared to 7-Mode ONTAP?

• A. It is a single storage system with no clustering
• B. It uses a non-clustered, multi-master architecture
• C. It cannot provide high availability
• D. It is a scale-out cluster of nodes with HA and DR capabilities

Answer: (D)

The key idea here is that Clustered ONTAP uses a scale-out cluster of multiple storage nodes that share a single namespace and provide high availability and disaster recovery across the cluster. This lets you add nodes to grow capacity and performance while keeping data protected and accessible even if part of the cluster fails. In contrast, 7-Mode ONTAP runs on a single system (or a fixed HA pair within that system) and does not offer a true cluster-wide scale-out or cross-site DR. So the statement that best describes the difference is that Clustered ONTAP is a scale-out cluster of nodes with HA and DR capabilities. The other options contradict how Clustered ONTAP is designed: it is not a non-clustered, single-system setup, it does provide high availability, and it is indeed a clustered solution.

The key idea here is that Clustered ONTAP uses a scale-out cluster of multiple storage nodes that share a single namespace and provide high availability and disaster recovery across the cluster. This lets you add nodes to grow capacity and performance while keeping data protected and accessible even if part of the cluster fails. In contrast, 7-Mode ONTAP runs on a single system (or a fixed HA pair within that system) and does not offer a true cluster-wide scale-out or cross-site DR. So the statement that best describes the difference is that Clustered ONTAP is a scale-out cluster of nodes with HA and DR capabilities. The other options contradict how Clustered ONTAP is designed: it is not a non-clustered, single-system setup, it does provide high availability, and it is indeed a clustered solution.