In an ONTAP unified storage system, what is the ALUA state of a host accessing a LUN from the storage controller?

In an ONTAP unified storage system, the ALUA (Asymmetric Logical Unit Access) state refers to how hosts perceive the access paths to Logical Units (LUNs) based on their configuration in relation to the storage controller. The correct answer, "Active/Optimized," indicates that the LUN is accessible and that the host has a preferred path for accessing the LUN that is operationally optimized for performance.

When a host is in the "Active/Optimized" state, it means that the host has paths to the LUN, and the storage system recognizes one or more of those paths as optimized for access, providing the best performance based on current configurations or conditions. This setup might involve load balancing and redundancy, allowing the host to utilize the most effective connections.

The other states would indicate different configurations or situations. For instance, "Active/Active" generally refers to setups where multiple paths are active but does not specify the optimized status, while "Passive/Standby" and "Inactive/Offline" would suggest that the LUN is either not available for use or not the main path for data access, thus lacking the active or optimized characteristics needed by the host in this context.