NS0-185 Questions and Answers

Alternate Control Path (ACP) provides anout-of-band management pathto disk shelves, allowing ONTAP to monitor and reset SAS expanders nondisruptively. It does not carry data traffic and does not assign shelf IDs.

During post-installation and handover, NetApp provides diagnostic and guidance tools through the support dashboard. Two critical widgets used to identify and resolve issues areGuide MeandActive IQ.

Guide Meprovides step-by-step workflows, recommended actions, and guided troubleshooting based on system state. It helps administrators follow NetApp best practices during deployment, validation, and issue resolution.

Active IQdelivers proactive analytics, risk detection, configuration validation, and health insights. It identifies potential issues before they impact operations and provides corrective recommendations.

Contracts and Warranties is administrative, and ASE Corner is informational, not operational.

Thus, the correct answers areA and B.

A 2-node switchless cluster is limited to two nodes and uses direct connections for cluster LIFs. Before adding additional nodes, ONTAP requires converting the environment into aswitched cluster.

This conversion involves installing cluster interconnect switches andmigrating the cluster LIFsfrom direct connections to the new cluster interconnect switches. Data LIFs are not involved in cluster communication and do not need migration for cluster expansion.

Direct connect cannot support more than two nodes, and converting to a single-node cluster is invalid.

Therefore, the correct answer isC.

In ONTAP SAN concepts, SAN LIFs (used for iSCSI, FC, NVMe/FC) behave differently from NAS LIFs. SAN access relies on multipathing at the host level, not LIF failover within the storage system. Because of this architectural design, SAN LIFs are configured with a failover policy of disabled.

When a SAN LIF goes offline, ONTAP does not move the LIF to another port. Instead, the host multipathing software (such as ALUA for iSCSI or FC multipath drivers) redirects I/O to another available path. This design ensures predictable path behavior and avoids unexpected changes that could confuse host multipathing logic.

Failover policies such as broadcast-domain-wide or local-only are valid only for NAS or management LIFs. The system-defined option is not a valid failover policy value.

Therefore, the only valid failover policy for a SAN LIF is disabled, making A the correct answer.

During cluster setup, nodes usecluster interconnect LIFs, which are automatically assignedlink-local IP addresses in the 169.254.x.x range. Management IP addresses (192.168.x.x) are not used for node join operations.

The address169.254.212.198corresponds to node02’s cluster LIF and would therefore be used to join the cluster.

To verify failover in a two-node ONTAP configuration, you must confirm both cluster-level HA state (for two-node clusters) and storage failover state (takeover/giveback readiness) for the HA pair.

The commandcluster ha showis used to verify the cluster HA status, which is especially relevant in two-node clusters where cluster HA can affect whether services remain available when one node is halted/rebooted. ONTAP documentation notes behaviors specific to two-node clusters and cluster HA, including the importance of proper HA configuration to avoid both nodes stopping data service under certain halt/reboot conditions.

The commandstorage failover showis the primary command to verify HA pair readiness, showing takeover/giveback capability, partner connectivity, and status indicators needed to confirm that storage failover is configured correctly.

Option C (cluster ring show) is a cluster database/ring status diagnostic command; while it can be useful in troubleshooting quorum or RDB-related issues, it is not the standard command pair for verifying HA failover configuration correctness after installation. Option D (storage failover show-takeover) is not the common baseline verification command cited for confirming general failover configuration; it is more takeover-output oriented rather than providing the full readiness overview that storage failover show provides.

Therefore, the two commands that accomplish correct failover verification in this scenario areA. cluster ha showandB. storage failover show.

Within ONTAP SAN concepts, logical interfaces (LIFs) are assigned specific roles, and each role has predefined networking and security behaviors. Among all LIF types, thecluster LIFis unique because it has afixed firewall policythat cannot be modified by administrators.

Cluster LIFs are used exclusively forinternal cluster communication, including replication of configuration databases, cluster heartbeat traffic, and distributed data access coordination. Because of their critical role, NetApp enforces a fixed firewall policy to protect cluster integrity and prevent accidental or malicious changes that could disrupt cluster operations.

Data LIFs, cluster management LIFs, and intercluster LIFs all allow configurable firewall policies. Administrators can adjust these policies to permit or restrict protocols such as NFS, SMB, iSCSI, HTTPS, SSH, or SnapMirror traffic depending on deployment requirements.

By contrast, cluster LIF firewall settings are locked to ensure that only cluster-related traffic is permitted. This design ensures predictable behavior and prevents misconfiguration during installation or troubleshooting.

Therefore, the only LIF with a fixed firewall policy is thecluster LIF, makingCthe correct answer.

Using ports from different NICs protects against single NIC failure, while using the same chipset ensures consistent performance characteristics. This combination maximizes resiliency and performance.

NVMe access in ONTAP is controlled throughNVMe subsystems, not igroups. A namespace must be explicitly mapped to a subsystem to allow host access. If the namespace is not added to the subsystem, the host cannot discover or connect to it.

Additionally, NVMe access control relies onNQNs (NVMe Qualified Names). If the subsystem is configured with an incorrect host NQN, authentication fails and the host is denied access.

Igroups are used for iSCSI and FC, not NVMe, making options B and C incorrect.

Therefore, the correct answers areA and D.

In ONTAP SAN concepts, aLogical Interface (LIF)represents a logical network access point used by clients, hosts, or internal cluster services to communicate with storage. A LIF is not a physical port; rather, it is an abstraction that allows ONTAP to provide network resiliency and flexibility.

A LIF can be defined as either anIP address(used for NAS, management, and intercluster traffic) or aWorld Wide Port Name (WWPN)(used for SAN protocols such as FC and FCoE). Each LIF is associated with a physical port but can fail over to other ports based on defined policies, ensuring continuous access during failures or maintenance.

Broadcast domains define Layer 2 network groupings for ports, but they do not contain pools of IP addresses. IP address pools are defined insubnets, not broadcast domains. Physical ports provide connectivity, but they do not represent LIFs themselves. Separating network domains is handled byIPspaces, not LIFs.

Therefore, the correct description of a LIF is that it isan IP address or WWPN associated with a port, making optionCcorrect.

Actors areexternal users interacting with the system. Kennel assistants, customers, and the quality manager directly interact with the system. The organization itself and managing director are stakeholders, not actors.

AutoSupport verification requires checking history and generating a test message. The history command confirms delivery, and invoke sends a test AutoSupport. Therefore,A and Dare correct.

After installing a NetApp storage system, it is critical to validate the environment for configuration and cabling errors.Config Advisoris the NetApp-recommended tool specifically designed for this purpose.

Config Advisor performs automated checks against NetApp-supported configuration rules, including hardware cabling, HA setup, disk ownership, shelf connectivity, network configuration, and firmware compatibility. It identifies misconfigurations that could lead to operational issues if left unresolved.

FilerView and BNA are legacy or unrelated tools, and Synergy is not used for ONTAP installation validation.

Therefore, the correct answer isD (Config Advisor).

Alternate Control Path (ACP) is a recommended butoptionalfeature in ONTAP installations. Config Advisor flags ACP-related warnings when ACP is partially cabled or not detected, but this does not automatically place the system in an unsupported state.

NetApp installation policy requires that when customers choose not to deploy ACP, the decision must beexplicitly acknowledged and documented. This ensures the customer understands the operational implications and accepts responsibility for reduced out-of-band shelf management visibility.

Additionally, installation best practices require that this decision becommunicated to the sales team or account team. This ensures alignment across NetApp stakeholders and prevents future support disputes.

The system does not become unsupported solely because ACP is not used, provided the customer acknowledgment process is followed. Therefore, options implying an unsupported or nonfunctional state are incorrect.

The correct answers areB and C.

AFF A250 systems are not supported on CN1610 cluster switches. Therefore, they cannot be added to an existing cluster that uses those switches. Valid options are to either create a new switched cluster using the CN1610 switches (if supported for that configuration) or deploy the AFF A250 as a switchless 2-node cluster.

Understanding hardware components is a core requirement within ONTAP SAN concepts. The exhibit highlights several key components on a FAS9000 system that are essential to system operation and high availability.

The large central components shown are the controllers, which house the CPUs, memory, and network interfaces responsible for data processing and cluster operations. Adjacent to the controllers are the NVRAM modules, which are critical for write caching and data integrity. NVRAM ensures that incoming write operations are safely logged and protected in the event of power loss or controller failover.

The exhibit also highlights the serial ports, which are used for low-level system access during installation, troubleshooting, or recovery scenarios. Serial ports are especially important during initial setup or when network access is unavailable.

Finally, the highlighted FlashCache modules provide read caching functionality. FlashCache accelerates read-intensive workloads by caching frequently accessed data on flash memory, improving overall system performance.

Other options are incorrect because they either include components not highlighted in the exhibit (such as power supplies or USB ports) or misidentify the flash modules. Therefore, the correct set of components shown in the exhibit is NVRAM-Module, Controller, Serial-Port, FlashCache-Module.

A Service Event Report (SER) is used to document installation, maintenance, or corrective actions performed on NetApp systems. Thenode serial numberis the primary identifier used to associate the report with specific hardware.

Other identifiers such as case ID, project number, or sales order number are supplementary and may not always exist at the time the SER is created.

Therefore, the correct answer isC (the node serial number).

ONTAP 9.x defaults toRAID-DPfor SATA, NL-SAS, SAS, and SSD aggregates unless specific conditions require RAID-TEC. RAID-DP provides double-parity protection, allowing the system to withstand two simultaneous disk failures, which is essential for large-capacity SATA drives such as 10 TB disks.

RAID-TEC is reserved for very large aggregates with higher disk counts and is not the default. RAID4 and RAID1 are not used as default aggregate RAID types in ONTAP 9.

Therefore, the aggregate will be created withRAID-DP.

Within the ONTAP SAN solution assessment domain, NetApp emphasizes the creation of accurate and reusable documentation immediately after system installation. One of the supported tools for this purpose is NetAppDocs, which is designed to collect system configuration data and generate standardized inventory and design documentation. According to NetApp Storage Installation concepts and objectives, inventory reports must be produced in formats that support both technical review and customer handoff, while remaining editable and auditable.

NetAppDocs is explicitly described in NetApp documentation as supporting Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and PDF outputs for inventory-style reports. These formats align with operational best practices defined in installation and assessment workflows. Word (.docx) files are used to present structured design narratives and annotated configuration details. Excel (.xlsx) files are used to present tabular inventory data such as controllers, disk shelves, ports, adapters, WWPNs, and LIF assignments, which are critical for SAN assessment and future expansion planning. PDF (.pdf) files are used as finalized, non-editable deliverables suitable for compliance records, customer signoff, and archival purposes.

Formats such as HTML and PostScript (.ps) are not identified in NetApp Storage Installation objectives as supported NetAppDocs inventory outputs. These formats do not align with NetApp’s standardized documentation deliverables and are not referenced in official installation or assessment documentation. As a result, they are excluded.

From a SAN-focused assessment perspective, the ability to generate Word, Excel, and PDF reports ensures consistency across deployment teams, simplifies validation of ONTAP SAN configurations, and supports accurate lifecycle documentation. These formats are repeatedly reinforced in NetApp installation guidance as the approved and supported inventory report outputs.

Therefore, the correct answers are A (.docx), C (.pdf), and E (.xlsx), as they are the only formats verified and supported for NetAppDocs inventory reporting within NetApp Storage Installation concepts and domains provided by NetApp.

Node management LIFs are used to manage individual nodes within an ONTAP cluster. These LIFs are designed to remain on the node they manage and are not intended to move during failover events.

By default, a node management LIF uses thelocal-onlyfailover policy. This ensures that the LIF remains bound to ports on the same node and does not migrate to other nodes. This behavior preserves administrative clarity and prevents confusion when accessing node-specific management interfaces.

Other failover policies, such as broadcast-domain-wide or sfo-partner-only, are used for data or cluster management LIFs where mobility is required for availability. System-defined is not a failover policy type.

Therefore, the correct answer isC (local-only).

SAN LIFs (iSCSI, FC, NVMe) donot use LIF migration. Instead, host multipathing handles path redundancy. Therefore, iSCSI LIFs do not migrate during storage failover.

After a support case has been created, NetApp’s support workflow requires thatcase visibility and status trackingbe performed through the NetApp Support site using thecustomer’s credentials, not partner credentials. Customer credentials ensure proper access to systems registered under the customer’s support account, including entitlement visibility, serial numbers, and case ownership. Partner credentials may not have permission to view customer-owned cases unless explicitly granted.

Once logged in, theMy Casessection of the support site provides a centralized dashboard showing all active and historical cases associated with the customer’s company. From this view, cases are listed with details such as case number, product, symptom, status, and last updated timestamp. Selecting the specific case number (in this scenario,41747189) opens the detailed case view, where the customer can monitor progress, read engineer updates, upload logs, and add comments.

The option “Create a Case” is used only when opening anewcase and does not allow viewing the status of an existing case. Therefore, it does not satisfy the requirement. Using partner credentials is also incorrect because case tracking is intended to be performed by the customer organization that owns the system and support entitlement.

Thus, the correct steps are tolog in using customer credentialsandopen My Cases and select the existing case number.

This scenario is about iSCSI SAN path visibility after cluster expansion. ONTAP usesSelective LUN Map (SLM)concepts so that hosts do not automatically see every LUN through every node, which would create unnecessary paths. ONTAP documentation explains that with SLM, when a LUN map is created, the LUN is accessible through paths on the node that owns the LUN and its HA partner, and this behavior is controlled through thereporting-nodeslist.

If you wantadditional paths(including non-optimized paths) from newly added nodes, you must ensure the new nodes can be included in the reporting scope for those LUN mappings. ONTAP provides an explicit mechanism for this: the lun mapping add-reporting-nodes command is used before or after data mobility events to add nodes to the reporting-nodes list for a LUN mapping. This directly matches optionC (reporting nodes).

However, even if reporting-nodes is expanded, hosts only gain usable iSCSI access if the target LIFs are reachable/allowed. ONTAP documentation describes thatportsetscan be used with SLM to further restrict access, and when using SLM with portsets, LUNs are accessible on the set of LIFs included in the portset (on the owning node and its HA partner). Therefore, to “allow non-optimized paths from the AFF A250 nodes,” you must verify whether portsets are being used and that the appropriate new iSCSI LIFs are included (or that no restrictive portset blocks them). That makes optionA (port sets)the second correct configuration item.

Option B (switch zoning) applies to FC fabrics, not iSCSI. Option D (failover groups) affects NAS/management LIF failover behavior and does not control SAN LUN reporting visibility in the way SLM/reporting-nodes and portsets do.

NetAppDocsprovides official installation documentation, posters, and step-by-step guidelines. It is the correct resource for resolving disk ownership and installation workflow issues.

Secure multitenancy in ONTAP requires complete separation of network traffic, routing tables, and IP addressing.IPspacesprovide this level of isolation by creating independent network stacks within a single ONTAP cluster.

Failover groups, VLANs, and broadcast domains organize network paths but do not isolate routing domains. Only IPspaces ensure tenants cannot access each other’s network traffic.

Thus,IPspacesenable secure multitenancy.