To establish a SnapMirror relationship between a Data ONTAP 8.1 Cluster-Mode system and an ONTAP 9.5 cluster, an upgrade of the source cluster is mandatory. The modern and recommended SnapMirror engine, Extended Data Protection (XDP), was introduced in ONTAP 8.3. The source cluster must be running a version of ONTAP that supports XDP to create this type of relationship. Therefore, the customer must upgrade the Data ONTAP 8.1 cluster to a minimum of ONTAP 8.3. Direct replication, even using the older DP type, is not supported across such a wide version gap.

A. Direct DP (version-dependent) SnapMirror is not supported between Data ONTAP 8.1 and ONTAP 9.5 due to the large version difference. An upgrade is required.

B. While upgrading to ONTAP 9.1 would work, it is not the minimum requirement. The minimum version needed to support the required XDP replication engine is ONTAP 8.3.

D. The XDP SnapMirror type was introduced in ONTAP 8.3. Data ONTAP 8.1 does not have the capability to create or manage XDP relationships.

1. NetApp ONTAP 9.5 Documentation, "Data Protection Guide": In the section "Data protection compatibility with earlier ONTAP versions," the guide states, "You can create a SnapMirror relationship between a system running ONTAP 9 and a system running Data ONTAP 8.3 or later." This establishes ONTAP 8.3 as the minimum compatible version for creating modern SnapMirror relationships with ONTAP 9.5.

2. NetApp Technical Report TR-4015, "SnapMirror Configuration and Best Practices Guide for ONTAP 9.5": Section 2.1, "SnapMirror Version-Independent and Version-Dependent Relationships," specifies, "Version-independent SnapMirror replication was introduced in clustered Data ONTAP 8.3. It is the basis for all SnapMirror replication relationships in ONTAP 9." This confirms that to use the modern, version-flexible (XDP) replication, the source must be at least ONTAP 8.3.

3. NetApp Interoperability Matrix Tool (IMT): Checking for SnapMirror compatibility between ONTAP 8.1.x and ONTAP 9.5 confirms that no direct version-dependent (DP) or version-independent (XDP) replication path is supported. This substantiates the requirement for an upgrade on the source cluster. (Note: The IMT is a dynamic tool, but its data consistently shows large version gaps are unsupported for SnapMirror).