What is an export policy in ONTAP and what does it control?

• A. An export policy defines which clients can access a volume via NFS/SMB and with what permissions; it is applied to LIFs and volumes.
• B. An export policy defines user passwords and authentication methods.
• C. An export policy is a hardware encryption key for data at rest.
• D. An export policy defines snapshot retention schedules.

Answer: (A)

An export policy in ONTAP is a set of access rules that defines which clients can reach a volume over NFS or SMB and what they’re allowed to do with that data. Each rule specifies the client’s address (or range), the protocol being used, and the level of access (for example read-only, read-write, or root access). ONTAP evaluates these rules in order and applies the first rule that matches the client’s connection. The policy is attached to a volume (and thus governs access via the associated LIFs), giving precise control over who can mount the volume and with what permissions. Other options listed don’t govern access to volumes via NFS/SMB or permissions in this way.