A customer wants a storage solution with a zero RPO and near-zero RTO for all their NAS workloads. Which NetApp solution meets these needs?

NetApp MetroCluster is a high-availability and disaster recovery solution that provides continuous data availability for mission-critical workloads. It uses synchronous replication between two geographically separated sites, which guarantees a zero Recovery Point Objective (RPO=0), meaning no data is lost during a failure. In the event of a site disaster, MetroCluster facilitates an automatic, non-disruptive switchover to the secondary site. This automated process delivers a near-zero Recovery Time Objective (RTO), typically measured in seconds to a few minutes. MetroCluster supports all major storage protocols, including NAS (NFS/SMB), fulfilling all the customer's requirements.

A. storage VM disaster recovery (SVM DR): This solution typically uses asynchronous SnapMirror, resulting in a non-zero RPO. Even with synchronous replication, the failover is a manual or scripted process, not providing a near-zero RTO.

C. SnapMirror Business Continuity (SMBC): This solution is specifically designed for SAN workloads (LUNs) and does not support NAS volumes, making it unsuitable for the customer's stated requirement.

D. SnapMirror Synchronous (SM-S): While SM-S provides a zero RPO, the failover process must be manually initiated or scripted. This does not meet the near-zero RTO requirement of an automated, immediate switchover.

1. NetApp MetroCluster Solution Architecture and Design (TR-4705)

Page 6, Section 1.1, What Is MetroCluster?: "NetApp MetroCluster software is a unique high-availability and disaster recovery solution... It combines synchronous replication and automatic switchover capabilities... This configuration provides RPO=0 and a very short RTO."

Page 10, Section 1.3, Supported Protocols: "MetroCluster supports all NetApp storage protocols, including FC, FCoE, iSCSI, NFS, pNFS, and SMB."

2. SnapMirror Business Continuity Technical Report (TR-4742)

Page 5, Introduction: "SnapMirror Business Continuity (SM-BC) protects business-critical applications running on SAN-attached storage from storage system and site failures." This document consistently refers to SAN applications and LUNs, not NAS.

3. SnapMirror Configuration and Best Practices Guide for ONTAP (TR-4015)

Section 3.2.3, Failover and Resynchronization (for SnapMirror Synchronous): "The failover process is manually initiated from the destination cluster..." This confirms that SM-S does not provide the automatic, near-zero RTO of MetroCluster.