An administrator must configure a fan-out SnapMirror architecture from an on-premises, four-node cluster to highly available instances of Cloud…

This scenario describes a fan-out replication topology from one source cluster to two separate destination clusters in different public clouds. For robust network design, security, and routing isolation between distinct cloud environments, it is a best practice to use a dedicated set of intercluster LIFs on the source cluster for each peer relationship.

On-premises cluster (4 nodes): Requires 4 intercluster LIFs for the Azure peer relationship and another 4 intercluster LIFs for the GCP peer relationship. Total = 8 LIFs.

Azure CVO HA (2 nodes): Requires 2 intercluster LIFs.

GCP CVO HA (2 nodes): Requires 2 intercluster LIFs.

The total number of required intercluster LIFs is the sum from all clusters: 8 (on-prem) + 2 (Azure) + 2 (GCP) = 12.

A. 8: This calculation incorrectly assumes the on-premises cluster uses a single set of 4 LIFs for both cloud destinations, which is not a best practice for network segmentation in a multi-cloud architecture.

B. 3: This number represents the quantity of clusters involved, not the required number of network interfaces (LIFs) which are configured on a per-node basis.

D. 6: This number does not correspond to a valid calculation for the required intercluster LIFs based on the number of nodes in the specified topology.

1. NetApp ONTAP 9 Network Management Guide, "Overview of IPspaces": This guide details the use of IPspaces to create distinct IP address spaces within a single cluster. This feature is fundamental to segregating network traffic, such as intercluster traffic destined for different cloud providers (Azure vs. GCP), which necessitates separate sets of LIFs.

2. NetApp Technical Report 4182, "SnapMirror Configuration and Best Practices Guide for ONTAP 9.8", Page 11, Section "Intercluster Networking": This document establishes the fundamental best practice for intercluster connectivity: "For intercluster replication, you must create at least one intercluster LIF on each node in the cluster." This principle is applied to each node in all three clusters.

3. NetApp Product Documentation, "Create intercluster LIFs": The official documentation for creating intercluster LIFs states, "You must create at least one intercluster LIF on each node that will communicate with the remote cluster." Applying this rule to the fan-out scenario, the 4 on-premises nodes communicate with two separate remote clusters, justifying a set of LIFs for each relationship.