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NS0-304 study materials
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NS0-304 study plan

NS0-304 · Give each week a clear focus.

8 weeks · About 7 hours per week

Week 1

ONTAP Cluster Fundamentals and Administration

  • Describe the ONTAP cluster architecture, including nodes, HA pairs, epsilon, and quorum, in your own words without notes

  • Identify the CLI privilege levels and demonstrate entering advanced privilege to run a diagnostic command

  • Use the ONTAP CLI to inspect cluster health: show cluster, show nodes, and show aggregates, and interpret each output field

  • Configure cluster-wide settings such as time zone, NTP server, and DNS, then verify them with the corresponding show commands

  • Explain how ONTAP uses a cluster-wide namespace and SVMs to separate tenants and data traffic

Your checkpoint

A one-page labeled diagram of an ONTAP HA pair with written notes on quorum, epsilon, and SVM boundaries, plus a CLI transcript of the health checks you ran

Week 2

Storage and Aggregate Management

  • Explain the difference between aggregates and volumes and how physical disks are assigned to aggregates

  • Create an aggregate with a specified RAID type and disk count, then verify its layout with storage aggregate show and storage disk show

  • Describe RAID-DP versus RAID-TEC and state when each is appropriate based on disk size and count

  • Identify the roles of root aggregates, spare disks, and disk ownership, and demonstrate reassigning a disk to a node

  • Interpret aggregate capacity output, including usable space, snapshot reserve, and reserved space

Your checkpoint

A lab report showing an aggregate you created, its RAID layout output, and a capacity table comparing usable versus raw space with your explanation of the gap

Week 3

Volume and LUN Provisioning

  • Create a volume with a specified junction path and verify it appears in the SVM namespace with volume show and volume show -junction

  • Explain thin provisioning, autogrow, and snapshot reserve, and configure each on a test volume

  • Create a LUN and an igroup, map the LUN to the igroup, and verify the mapping with lun mapping show

  • Describe the difference between a FlexVol volume and a FlexGroup volume and state a workload where FlexGroup is preferred

  • Resize a volume and a LUN and confirm the new sizes are visible from the client or host side

Your checkpoint

A provisioning runbook you wrote covering volume creation, LUN creation, igroup mapping, and resizing, validated by executing it end to end in a lab

Week 4

Networking and Client Access (NFS, SMB, SAN)

  • Configure an SVM with a data LIF, then verify connectivity with network interface show and network ping

  • Export an NFS volume, mount it from a Linux client, and confirm read/write access with the expected permissions

  • Configure an SMB share with a share ACL and a file ACL, then test access as two different users

  • Explain how LIF failover and role-based LIFs support HA and which LIF types carry which traffic

  • Describe the SAN data path from host initiator through the igroup to the LUN, including how zoning and LIF placement affect it

Your checkpoint

A working lab environment with one NFS export and one SMB share reachable from clients, documented with configuration commands and client-side proof of access

Week 5

Data Protection and SnapMirror/SnapVault

  • Explain snapshot policy schedules and snapshot reserve, and create a custom policy applied to a volume

  • Configure a SnapMirror relationship between two SVMs, initialize it, and verify the mirrored state with snapmirror show

  • Configure a SnapVault relationship for backup retention and explain how it differs from SnapMirror DR

  • Perform a planned failover and a resync in a lab and record the commands and resulting states

  • Describe how SnapLock and tamperproof snapshots support compliance retention without breaking restore workflows

Your checkpoint

A protection matrix listing each volume in your lab with its snapshot policy, SnapMirror or SnapVault destination, retention, and the result of a tested failover

Week 6

Performance, Monitoring, and Troubleshooting

  • Read and interpret the output of statistics show, qos statistics, and system performance commands for a busy volume

  • Identify the top latency contributors on an aggregate and explain whether the bottleneck is disk, CPU, or network

  • Configure a QoS policy group with a throughput ceiling and verify it is enforced under load

  • Diagnose a simulated client access failure using event log show, network interface show, and export policy checks

  • Explain how ONTAP Autosupport, EMS events, and Unified Manager differ in what they report and when to use each

Your checkpoint

A troubleshooting write-up of one simulated incident: symptom, evidence gathered, root cause, fix, and the commands you would run first next time

Week 7

Security, Access Control, and Compliance

  • Configure role-based access control by creating a login role limited to specific commands and assigning it to a user

  • Create an export policy and a share ACL that enforce least privilege for a defined group of users

  • Enable and verify ONTAP auditing of file access, then locate the audit records produced by a test action

  • Explain how ONTAP handles encryption at rest with NSE or NVE and what happens on volume move or key rotation

  • Describe how to protect the cluster management interface with certificate-based access and multifactor authentication

Your checkpoint

A security configuration checklist you wrote and applied in the lab, with evidence that a restricted user is denied commands outside their role and that audit records exist

Week 8

Automation, Scripting, and Cloud Integration & ONTAP Cluster Fundamentals and Administration & Data Protection and SnapMirror/SnapVault

  • Use the ONTAP REST API to create a volume and retrieve its state, and save the working request as a reusable script

  • Use the ONTAP PowerShell toolkit or Ansible modules to automate a snapshot policy assignment

  • Explain how Cloud Volumes ONTAP or FSx for ONTAP extends the same ONTAP administration model into the cloud

  • Review weak domains from earlier weeks and re-run the labs for any domain where you scored below your target

  • Complete a timed practice set covering all eight domains and review every missed question to its root cause

Your checkpoint

A working automation script that provisions a volume and applies a snapshot policy via the REST API, plus a scored practice exam summary with a remediation list

Milestones

Week 2: Without notes, explain RAID-DP and RAID-TEC, and show an aggregate you created whose layout matches the RAID type you intended

Week 4: A Linux client mounts your NFS export and a Windows client opens your SMB share, both with the permissions you designed, and you can explain each LIF on the SVM

Week 5: You complete a SnapMirror initialize, a planned failover, and a resync in the lab, and can state the relationship state after each step

Week 7: A restricted role user is denied an out-of-role command and audit records exist for a test file access, both demonstrated with command output

Week 8: Your REST API script provisions a volume with a snapshot policy on a clean SVM, and your timed practice score shows no domain below your target threshold