BlueXP tiering is the NetApp technology designed specifically to address this scenario. It automatically identifies inactive, or "cold," data blocks on a high-performance tier (typically SSDs) within an on-premises ONTAP cluster. It then transparently moves these blocks to a lower-cost object storage tier, such as an on-premises NetApp StorageGRID system or a public cloud provider (e.g., Amazon S3, Azure Blob). This process frees up valuable space on the primary storage system. Access to the tiered data remains seamless for users and applications; if the data is requested, ONTAP automatically retrieves it from the object store.

A. BlueXP backup and recovery is a data protection solution. It creates separate backup copies for recovery purposes, rather than tiering inactive data from the primary active volume.

B. Cloud Volumes ONTAP is a full version of ONTAP software running on public cloud infrastructure. It is a potential destination for data, not the tiering mechanism itself.

D. Cloud Volumes Service refers to cloud-native file services (like Azure NetApp Files). It is a storage service to be consumed in the cloud, not a feature for managing on-premises data.

1. NetApp BlueXP Documentation, "What is BlueXP tiering": "BlueXP tiering moves inactive data from your on-premises ONTAP clusters to low-cost object storage in the cloud. This can help you reduce your on-prem storage costs by up to 80%." This source directly states the function of BlueXP tiering aligns with the question's requirements.

2. NetApp Technical Report TR-4598, "FabricPool Best Practices": Section 1, "Introduction to FabricPool," states, "FabricPool is a NetApp ONTAP data-tiering technology that enables you to automatically tier cold data from a high-performance all-flash (all-SSD) aggregate to a low-cost object storage tier either on the premises or in the cloud." (Note: FabricPool is the underlying ONTAP technology managed by BlueXP tiering).

3. NetApp BlueXP Documentation, "Learn about BlueXP backup and recovery": "BlueXP backup and recovery enables you to back up and restore data from on-premises ONTAP clusters... for long-term archival and disaster recovery." This reference clarifies that its purpose is data protection, not freeing up primary storage space via tiering.