What is the maximum number of nodes supported for a cluster serving only NAS protocols?

1 node is the minimum viable single-node cluster, not the maximum, and does not leverage clustering benefits at scale.

2 nodes form a single HA pair, which is a baseline cluster configuration and far below the supported NAS maximum.

4 nodes (two HA pairs) is a valid small-scale cluster configuration but represents only a fraction of the supported maximum.

8 nodes is a mid-range cluster size and still well below the 24-node maximum supported for NAS-only clusters.

16 nodes is a large configuration but still falls short of the 24-node maximum supported for NAS-only ONTAP clusters.

NetApp ONTAP supports up to 24 nodes in a cluster when serving NAS protocols, enabling organizations to build very large-scale NAS environments within a single cluster namespace. This maximum is specific to NAS-only configurations and is defined in the ONTAP hardware and software limits documentation. Reaching this maximum provides the aggregate capacity and throughput of all 24 controllers under unified management.