Paths to a LIF hosted on the LUN's node are direct. Paths to a LIF on a different node in the cluster are indirect. Unoptimized paths are only used when no optimized paths are available. TR-4080: Best...Paths to a LIF hosted on the LUN's node are direct. Paths to a LIF on a different node in the cluster are indirect. Unoptimized paths are only used when no optimized paths are available. TR-4080: Best Practices for Modern SAN (netapp.com) (page 41-44) Asymmetric Logical Unit Access (ALUA) support on NetApp Storage - Frequently Asked Questions - NetApp Knowledge Base This differs on All SAN Arrays (ASA): Using Windows Server 2022 with ONTAP (netapp.com)