The industry's most respected NetApp data management credential — validating your expertise in ONTAP cluster administration, storage provisioning, NAS and SAN protocols, data protection, security hardening, and performance management across AFF, FAS, and Cloud Volumes ONTAP environments.
The NS0-163 exam earns the NetApp Certified Data Administrator, ONTAP (NCDA) credential — one of the most valued certifications in enterprise storage and data management. It validates your ability to administer NetApp ONTAP storage clusters, including configuration, SVM management, storage provisioning, NAS/SAN protocol setup, data protection using SnapMirror and SnapVault, security hardening, and performance monitoring.
NCDA is also a prerequisite for advanced NetApp specialist credentials including MetroCluster (NS0-014), SAN Implementation Engineer (NS0-184/NS0-194), and Data Protection (NS0-175). With ONTAP running in AWS, Azure, GCP, and on-premises — and with AI-driven storage infrastructure seeing massive enterprise investment — NCDA certified professionals are in high demand across financial services, healthcare, cloud service providers, and managed service providers globally.
Administer ONTAP storage platforms — physical AFF/FAS, software-defined ONTAP Select, Cloud Volumes ONTAP — including cluster configuration, node management, and upgrade/scaling
Manage core ONTAP operations — System Manager and CLI administration, HA pairs, Storage Virtual Machines (SVMs), LIF configuration, and cluster health monitoring
Configure ONTAP storage — aggregates, FlexVols, FlexGroup, FlexClone, qtrees, quotas, and NetApp storage efficiency features (deduplication, compression, compaction, thin provisioning)
Configure and troubleshoot ONTAP networking — IPspaces, broadcast domains, subnets, failover groups, LIFs, and ONTAP S3 object storage
Manage SAN and NAS protocols — FC/FCoE igroups and LUN mapping, iSCSI initiator setup, NFS exports, SMB/CIFS shares, and ONTAP S3 buckets and policies
Implement ONTAP security — protocol security (Kerberos, NFS sec), at-rest and in-flight encryption (NVE, NAE, TLS), RBAC with System Manager and CLI, and anti-ransomware (ARP) detection
Configure ONTAP data protection — SnapMirror (async, sync, business continuity), SnapVault, Snapshot policies, SnapLock WORM, and BlueXP Backup and Recovery
Monitor and troubleshoot ONTAP performance — Active IQ Digital Advisor, System Manager performance dashboards, QoS policies, and storage system performance troubleshooting
Storage administrators and NetApp system engineers with 6–12 months ONTAP experience who want to formally validate their expertise with the NCDA credential
IT professionals targeting advanced NetApp specialist certifications (NS0-014 MetroCluster, NS0-175 Data Protection, NS0-184 SAN) which require NCDA as a prerequisite
Storage team members at enterprises, managed service providers, cloud service providers, and NetApp partners who manage AFF, FAS, or Cloud Volumes ONTAP infrastructure
Virtualisation, cloud, and backup engineers who work with ONTAP-integrated solutions — VMware SRM with ONTAP, Veeam with SnapMirror, or Azure/AWS/GCP ONTAP-native services
Zetlan Technologies covers all 8 exam domains with hands-on ONTAP examples, CLI and System Manager walkthroughs, and exam-focused practice questions.
Click any domain to explore all topics covered in the NS0-163 NCDA ONTAP exam.
From cluster admin and SVM management to SnapMirror, anti-ransomware, and performance tuning — master all 8 NCDA exam domains with Zetlan Technologies.