SnapMirror is NetApp's core technology for asynchronous data replication, designed for disaster recovery (DR) and data protection. A key feature of SnapMirror is its use of policies that allow for independent snapshot retention schedules on the source and destination volumes. This enables an administrator to keep a smaller number of recent snapshots on the primary (source) system for operational recovery (10 in this case) while maintaining a larger, long-term archive of snapshots on the secondary (destination) system for DR and compliance (120 in this case). This directly addresses all requirements of the scenario.

A. SnapMirror active sync: This is a synchronous replication solution for business continuity, providing a zero Recovery Point Objective (RPO). It is not designed for managing different snapshot retention policies for backup/DR.

B. XCP: XCP is a high-performance, host-based data migration tool used to move data to ONTAP systems from other storage arrays or older NetApp systems. It is not a continuous replication feature.

C. MetroCluster: This is a high-availability solution that provides synchronous replication for continuous data availability and automatic failover. It is not primarily used for managing distinct, long-term snapshot retention policies.

1. NetApp ONTAP 9.12.1 Documentation, Data protection overview: "SnapMirror technology replicates data for disaster recovery and other uses. You can configure SnapMirror to update the destination on a schedule that you define. You can also configure different Snapshot copy retention policies on the source and destination volumes."

Source: NetApp ONTAP 9.12.1 Documentation Center, "Data protection overview".

2. NetApp Technical Report 4523, SnapMirror Configuration and Best Practices Guide for ONTAP 9.8: "SnapMirror policies enable you to specify the number of Snapshot copies to retain at the destination. This number can be different from the number of Snapshot copies retained at the source."

Source: TR-4523, Section 2.3, "SnapMirror Policies".

3. NetApp Technical Report 4705, NetApp MetroCluster Solution Architecture and Design: "NetApp MetroCluster software is a unique high-availability and disaster recovery solution that combines array-based clustering with synchronous replication to deliver continuous availability..."

Source: TR-4705, Page 7, "Introduction".

4. NetApp Product Documentation, XCP File Analytics and Migration: "NetApp XCP is a software tool that is designed to migrate and synchronize data."

Source: NetApp XCP Documentation, "Overview of XCP".