Which data protection feature is primarily used for long-term retention of backups?

• A. SnapMirror is a backup target for long-term retention.
• B. NFS is used for long-term retention.
• C. iSCSI is used for long-term retention.
• D. SnapVault stores snapshots for long-term retention.

Answer: (D)

Long-term retention of backups is achieved by archiving historical snapshots to a secondary system. SnapVault creates a vault of backup snapshots on a secondary NetApp system and receives incremental updates from the primary, enabling extended retention with cost-effective storage. It’s specifically designed for archival backups and compliance, allowing older data to be kept for months or years. In contrast, SnapMirror is aimed at disaster recovery by maintaining a real-time or near-real-time replica for failover, while NFS and iSCSI are access protocols and do not provide built-in long-term retention capabilities.