How does ONTAP behave when the external key manager is not accessible?

Applies to

• ONTAP 9
• NetApp Volume Encryption (NVE)
• NetApp Aggregate Encryption (NAE)

Answer

• When ONTAP is booting:
  • NVE system: encrypted volumes remain offline
  • NSE system: ONTAP will refuse to boot, see the ONTAP Documentation for Encryption
• When creating a key:
  • The key is not created
• When running the following commands:

security key-manager query command: key IDs are shown if cache is filled

security key-manager restore command: command will fail

security key-manager show -status command: command will show unavailable

Additional Information

FAQ: NetApp Volume Encryption and NetApp Aggregate Encryption