NCA-6.10 Nutanix Certified Associate NCA v6.10 Questions and Answers

When a Nutanix cluster alert occurs, indicating maintenance mode issues, the most likely cause is that another node in the cluster is already in maintenance mode. Nutanix clusters enforce restrictions to prevent more than one node from entering maintenance mode simultaneously. This ensures the cluster can maintain resiliency and availability, adhering to the redundancy factor (RF) policy.

If another node is already in maintenance mode, the cluster cannot afford to have additional nodes enter maintenance without compromising data and service availability.

References:

Nutanix Cluster Best Practices Documentation - Maintenance Mode.

Nutanix Alerts and Events Guide, accessible via Prism UI.

Non-migratable VMs in a Nutanix cluster typically include those with attached Volume Groups. This is because such VMs leverage direct-attached storage via iSCSI, which ties them to a specific host, preventing live migration to another host. Volume Groups provide block storage to applications, and the iSCSI protocol does not support live migration of such connections.

Here's a breakdown of the options:

A. VMs without NGT:Nutanix Guest Tools (NGT) are used for guest-level integration but do not affect VM migratability.

B. VMs marked as an Agent:This setting does not inherently make VMs non-migratable. It primarily affects roles and tasks within certain configurations.

C. Memory Overcommitted:While memory overcommitment can affect performance, it does not make VMs non-migratable. Nutanix AHV handles memory allocation dynamically.

D. VMs with attached Volume Groups:Correct answer, as the iSCSI connections used by Volume Groups are host-specific and cannot migrate seamlessly.

References:

Nutanix AHV Administration Guide: Nutanix Documentation

Nutanix Support KB Article on Volume Groups and VM Migration Limitations.

Nutanix University Certification Materials, NCP and NCM course modules.

Deduplication is most effective withfull clone VMsbecause it reduces redundant data blocks stored on the cluster. Full clone VMs often contain identical OS and application files, making them ideal candidates for deduplication, which optimizes storage usage and improves efficiency.

Other options:

Server workloads: May benefit from deduplication but not as significantly as full clone VMs.

Linked Clone VMs: Already share base disk images, so deduplication offers limited benefits.

Cold data: Deduplication is less effective for data that isn’t accessed frequently.

References:

Nutanix Storage Optimization Best Practices Guide.

Nutanix Prism UI Documentation - Deduplication Settings.

In Prism Central, theImagessection within the Compute and Storage tab is used to upload ISO files, including Windows installation ISOs. Once uploaded, these images can be used to create or install VMs across clusters managed by Prism Central.

A. Catalog Items:Incorrect, as this is used to manage preconfigured application templates.

B. Templates:Incorrect, as this is used for VM templates, not ISO uploads.

C. Images:Correct, as it allows uploading and managing ISO and disk images.

D. OVAs:Incorrect, as this pertains to importing virtual appliances, not ISO files.

References:

Nutanix Prism Central Administration Guide: Image Management.

Nutanix University Course Content on VM Management.

The feature that ensures VMs automatically power on in a specific order at the DR site during a disaster is aRecovery Plan. Recovery Plans are part of Nutanix’s DR functionality and allow administrators to define startup sequences, dependencies, and priorities for VMs during failover scenarios.

Steps:

Create a Recovery Plan in Prism Central under the DR section.

Configure the VM power-on sequence and dependency rules.

Test the Recovery Plan to ensure it operates as intended.

References:

Nutanix Disaster Recovery Guide - Recovery Plan Configuration.

Nutanix Prism Central Documentation - DR Features.

In aRedundancy Factor 3 (RF3)cluster,5 copies of the metadataare maintained to ensure data durability and cluster resiliency. RF3 provides fault tolerance against up to two simultaneous failures (e.g., node or disk failures) and requires more metadata copies to achieve this level of protection.

Other redundancy factors:

RF2maintains 3 copies of metadata.

RF3 requires at least 5 metadata copies to protect against additional failures.

References:

Nutanix Storage Concepts Guide - Redundancy Factors.

Nutanix Metadata Management Documentation.

To create a VM template from an existing VM in Nutanix, the VM must be powered off. This ensures that the template is consistent and does not include any transient data or activity from the VM. Once the VM is powered off, the administrator can use the Prism UI to take a snapshot and designate it as a template.

A. Sysprep or Cloud-init script:These are optional for post-deployment configuration, not mandatory for creating a template.

B. The VM is powered on:This is incorrect, as the VM must be powered off.

C. Windows OS is installed:The OS type is irrelevant for creating a template.

D. The VM is powered off:Correct, as creating a template requires the VM to be in a powered-off state.

References:

Nutanix AHV Administration Guide: Nutanix Documentation

Nutanix University Certification Content for NCP and NCM.

Log files requested by Nutanix Support can be collected from theSettingsdashboard in Prism Element. Within Settings, administrators can access the "Export Logs" or "Support" section to collect and upload diagnostic data directly to Nutanix Support.

A. Settings:Correct, as logs are collected and uploaded via the Settings dashboard.

B. Alerts:Incorrect, as Alerts display system issues but do not provide log collection options.

C. Health:Incorrect, as the Health dashboard focuses on system checks and cluster status.

D. Analysis:Incorrect, as the Analysis dashboard provides performance monitoring, not log collection.

References:

Nutanix Administration Guide: Collecting and Uploading Logs.

Nutanix Support KB Article on Log Collection in Prism

TheReserved Capacityoption in a storage container explicitly reserves a portion of cluster storage for that container. This reservation reduces the amount of storage available for other containers. Reserved Capacity ensures that specific workloads have guaranteed storage resources, preventing resource contention or overcommitment.

Other options:

Advertised Capacity: Defines the storage limit displayed to users but does not reserve storage.

Erasure Coding: Optimizes storage efficiency but does not reduce available capacity.

Capacity Deduplication: Reduces space consumption by eliminating duplicate data but does not affect other containers' storage.

References:

Nutanix Storage Best Practices Guide.

Nutanix Prism UI Help - Storage Container Configuration.

WSZC

Redundancy Factor 3 (RF3) requires a minimum of five nodes in the cluster to ensure that data can be distributed across enough nodes to tolerate the failure of two nodes. If the cluster has fewer than five nodes, RF3 cannot be enabled.

A. Check that the cluster has been properly licensed:Licensing is not directly related to enabling RF3.

B. Check that the cluster has five or more nodes:Correct, as RF3 requires at least five nodes.

C. Check hardware availability of the nodes:While hardware health is important, it does not determine RF3 eligibility.

D. Check AOS version and upgrade, if needed:RF3 requirements are not specific to an AOS version.

References:

Nutanix Best Practices Guide for RF2 and RF3.

Nutanix Support KB Article on RF Configuration Requirements.

To rerun only the health checks that previously failed or issued warnings, the administrator can select theOnly Failed and Warning Checksoption in Prism Element. This targeted approach helps verify that resolved issues have been addressed without rerunning all checks unnecessarily.

Steps:

Navigate toPrism Element > Health > NCC Checks.

Filter forOnly Failed and Warning Checksand rerun them.

Other options:

A. Run LCM Pre-Upgrade: Runs pre-upgrade checks, not related to health check validation.

B. Runncc health_checks run_all: Executes all checks, not just failed ones.

C. Select Run Check for each check worked: Requires manual execution for each check.

References:

Nutanix Administration Guide - Health Checks.

Nutanix Cluster Check (NCC) Documentation.

The OpLog (Operational Log) in Nutanix serves as apersistent write bufferfor incoming I/O operations. It temporarily stores write requests to ensure fast acknowledgment to clients and better performance. The data is later coalesced and written to the Extent Store for long-term storage.

A. Persistent write buffer:Correct, as the OpLog optimizes write performance by buffering writes temporarily.

B. Persistent data storage:Incorrect, as this describes the Extent Store, not the OpLog.

C. Global metadata:Incorrect, as metadata operations are handled by the Metadata Store.

D. Dynamic read cache:Incorrect, as read caching is managed separately, often involving SSD-based caches.

References:

Nutanix Bible: Explanation of OpLog and Extent Store.

Nutanix University: NCP Certification Study Materials.