It is important to understand that security styles do not determine what client types can or cannot access data. Security styles only determine the type of permissions ONTAP uses to control data access and what client type can modify these permissions.

For example, if a volume uses UNIX security style, SMB clients can still access data (provided that they properly authenticate and authorize) due to the multiprotocol nature of ONTAP. However, ONTAP uses UNIX permissions that only UNIX clients can modify using native tools.

FlexVol volumes support UNIX, NTFS, and mixed security styles. When the security style is mixed or unified, the effective permissions depend on the client type that last modified the permissions because users set the security style on an individual basis. If the last client that modified permissions was an NFSv3 client, the permissions are UNIX NFSv3 mode bits. If the last client was an NFSv4 client, the permissions are NFSv4 ACLs. If the last client was an SMB client, the permissions are Windows NTFS ACLs.

The show-effective-permissions parameter to the vserver security file-directory command enables you to display effective permissions granted to a Windows or UNIX user on the specified file or folder path. In addition, the optional parameter -share-name enables you to display the effective share permission.