How does ONTAP support virtualization platforms?

• A. Provides NFS/SMB for file access and iSCSI/FC for block access, enabling integration with virtualization stacks.
• B. Only NFS access.
• C. Only iSCSI access.
• D. No virtualization support.

Answer: (A)

ONTAP supports virtualization platforms by exposing both file and block storage protocols, letting hypervisors connect in the way that fits their workload. For file-level storage, NFS and SMB provide shares that hosts can mount for VM files, templates, or ISO libraries. For block-level storage, iSCSI and Fibre Channel present LUNs that virtualization hosts can use as datastores. This dual-protocol capability gives the flexibility to use either a file-backed or a block-backed datastore, aligning with performance, scalability, and feature needs such as snapshots and cloning. Choosing only one protocol or claiming no virtualization support would miss how ONTAP integrates with virtualization stacks.