An administrator needs to set up a FlexCache volume on a Cloud Volumes ONTAP HA pair. The origin cluster is an AFF HA pair at a company data center…

For intercluster relationships such as cluster peering for FlexCache, NetApp best practices require at least one intercluster logical interface (LIF) on each node that will participate in the communication. The scenario describes two sites, each with an HA pair (two nodes). Therefore, to establish a resilient and highly available peering connection, each site must have a minimum of two intercluster LIFs—one for each node in the respective HA pair. This ensures that if one node fails, the other can maintain the intercluster connection.

A. 8: This is incorrect. Eight intercluster LIFs (four per site) would provide more bandwidth but is not the minimum requirement for establishing the connection.

B. 6: This is incorrect. Six intercluster LIFs (three per site) is not a standard configuration for a two-node HA pair and exceeds the minimum requirement.

D. 4: This is incorrect. While four is the total minimum number of LIFs for both sites combined (two at origin + two at cache), the question specifically asks for the number required "at each site".

1. NetApp ONTAP 9 Documentation, Network management, "Create intercluster LIFs":

"You must create at least one intercluster LIF on each node that will communicate with the remote cluster. For a two-node cluster, you must create two intercluster LIFs, one for each node." This directly confirms that for an HA pair (a two-node cluster), two intercluster LIFs are required for that site.

2. NetApp Technical Report TR-4743, "FlexCache Technology in ONTAP", Page 10, Section 3.1 "FlexCache Networking":

"For cluster peering, you must create at least one intercluster LIF on each node in the cluster." This statement reinforces the requirement of having an intercluster LIF on every node involved in the FlexCache relationship, which translates to two LIFs for each HA pair.

3. NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP Documentation, "Networking for HA pairs in a single AWS Availability Zone":

The documentation illustrates the network architecture for a Cloud Volumes ONTAP HA pair, showing dedicated network interfaces for different traffic types, including intercluster traffic. It states, "An intercluster LIF is created on each node," confirming the requirement of two intercluster LIFs for the HA pair in the cloud.