Which NetApp product offers hardware encryption capabilities?

• A. NetApp Storage Encryption (NSE)
• B. NVME self-encrypting drives (SED)
• C. NetApp Aggregate Encryption (NAE)
• D. NetApp Volume Encryption (NVE)

Answer: (B)

Hardware encryption happens where the data is actually written on the disk. NVMe self-encrypting drives have a built‑in crypto engine and per-drive keys, so the encryption process is performed inside the drive itself. This lets data at rest be protected with minimal impact on host or controller CPU, and the keys are managed by the drive or a connected key management solution.

NetApp’s encryption options like NetApp Storage Encryption and NetApp Volume Encryption are implemented in the software layer (ONTAP) and rely on software-based encryption with external key management. They protect data at rest without using the drive’s hardware encryption engine. Therefore, for true hardware-level encryption capability, the NVMe self-encrypting drives are the correct choice.