How does a 2-node ONTAP cluster differ from larger deployments?

• A. A 2-node cluster uses a local HA pair with no external cluster interconnect, while larger clusters require a cluster interconnect and quorum disk
• B. A 2-node cluster supports more volumes than larger clusters
• C. A 2-node cluster uses a cluster interconnect but not a quorum disk
• D. A 2-node cluster has no high availability

Answer: (A)

Two-node ONTAP clusters are built as a local high-availability pair. The two nodes connect over a dedicated, internal interconnect to coordinate failover and keep services available, so there’s no need for an external cluster interconnect or a separate quorum disk. When you scale to larger deployments, you add more nodes and require a cluster interconnect that ties all nodes together, plus a quorum disk (or quorum device) to establish majority and prevent split-brain in partitions. This explains why the statement that a two-node cluster uses a local HA pair with no external cluster interconnect, while larger clusters require a cluster interconnect and quorum disk, is correct.