Hi,
I have worked with Commvault, so may be I can highligth further on this.
During my CommVault days, I had come across text/wordings which weren't always interpreted correctly and had to request the documentation team to make the correction. They were quick to correct it as well.
You have made a valid and a very good observation : First of all, wordings used in CommVault documentation are wrong from the onset.
1) ONTAP word is used from 9.x onwards, before that it was called cDOT and the word 'Data Ontap' only refers to 7-mode: In cDOT/ONTAP, Data is served using LIFs and no longer using Physical ethernet Ports. But, they have used 'ONTAP' in capital which means they are refering to 9.x releases, however they contradict it by using words like e0A & e0B which are physical ports.
2) In cDOT/ONTAP: We have node-scope & svm-scope (recommended) : svm-scope is govered by '-preferred-interface-role', once a LIF that matches the criteria is found, NDMP attempts to make the data connection.
The default value for this option is intercluster,data for data vServers, and intercluster,cluster-mgmt,node-mgmt for admin vServers.
3) The intentions were good, but not very well documented for example : Use e0A or e0B, instead of using the management port (for example, e0M) : This only applies to 7-mode filers. In CommVault/SnapProtect, you can do NDMP or IntelliSnap backups. For NDMP backups, when the NDMP Client is added, usually it is the Hostname (Management IP), and it is usually e0M. However, they haven't given proper reason, why you shouldn't use e0M. The reason, is e0M is for management purpose which could be 100Mbps port and when you start the NDMP backup, it uses the e0M for both Control and Data pipe. This could lead to performance issues. Therefore, they insist on using Data Ports, e0a or e0b, or for that sake anything except e0M.
As far as 7-mode NDMP client is concerned, you can use e0M port to detect the NDMP Host in the CommVault nothing wrong here, however it is important that you further configure the DATA PAIR (DPIP) so that NDMP Data connection is established using the 'e0a' and the Backup applicaiton.
I usually suggest writing to CommVault doc team and bring it to their attention. Even if you open a ticket with them, you can ask them to raise a concern with Documentation team.
I am bit out of touch NDMP stuff, but it's a very interesting subject.
Thanks!