Which option reserves the entire specified space upfront in ONTAP provisioning?

• A. None
• B. Volume
• C. File
• D. Volume, File, or None

Answer: (B)

Space provisioning in ONTAP determines when and how storage is allocated. Reserving the entire specified space upfront is achieved by provisioning at the volume level, which is thick provisioning of the whole volume. When the volume is created with space reserved upfront, the system allocates the full requested capacity immediately, making that space unavailable to others and guaranteeing it for the volume even if data isn’t written yet. In contrast, reserving space at the file level reserves space as individual files are created, so not all of the specified space is tied up upfront. Therefore, the option that reserves the entire specified space upfront is the volume option.