Nutanix NCP-MCI-6.10 Nutanix Certified Professional - Multicloud Infrastructure (NCP-MCI v6.10) Exam Practice Test

Storage Policies in Nutanix allow administrators to configuredata protection and performance settingsat thestorage container level.

Replication Factor (RF)definesthe number of copies of datastored across nodes for fault tolerance.

Encryptionensures thatdata at rest is protectedvia Nutanix-native encryption methods.

Option A (Storage Containers and Volume Groups)refers tostorage organization, not policies.

Option C (Shares and Object Stores)applies tofile and object storage services, not VM storage policies.

Option D (Data Protection and Security)is a broad term but does not definespecific policy attributes.

The Nutanix data protection guide specifies that NearSync replication provides an RPO between 1 and 15 minutes, which is the lowest RPO available for standard asynchronous-based replication models. The documentation further states that NearSync is the supported method for achieving sub-hour RPO on one- and two-node clusters. Asynchronous replication has a minimum RPO of 60 minutes and therefore cannot be used for lowest RPO requirements. While scheduling intervals such as 1–15 minutes appear similar, Nutanix notes that these intervals are only achievable under the NearSync replication mode. Therefore, selecting NearSync is the required configuration to meet the goal of achieving the lowest RPO.

Nutanix Life Cycle Manager (LCM) relies on validated firmware and driver bundles for hardware components. For GPU-enabled hosts, LCM documentation states:

“GPU-enabled AHV hosts require GPU driver bundles to be uploaded manually via the Direct Uploads mechanism so that LCM can validate and upgrade the necessary GPU components during workflow execution.”

GPU drivers are vendor-specific and not always available in the standard catalog, so the administrator must upload them before LCM can orchestrate the upgrade.

Running in dark site mode does not provide missing GPU bundles. Creating agent VMs is unrelated to GPU driver operations. Updating NCC improves validations but does not provide GPU support files.

Therefore, Direct Uploads of GPU driver bundles is required.

In Nutanix Prism Central, user-generated reports in Intelligent Operations are stored for a limited time and then deleted automatically.

Option C (Reports are automatically deleted after 24 hours) is correct:

Reportsdo not persist indefinitelyunless they arescheduled reports.

One-time reports expire after 24 hours.

Option A (Cluster Viewer deleted the report) is incorrect:

Cluster Viewerdoes not have permissions to delete reports.

Option B (Report was archived) is incorrect:

Nutanixdoes not automatically archive reports.

Option D (Report stored in Prism Element) is incorrect:

Reportsare generated and stored only in Prism Central, not Prism Element.

The best way to test the performance of a Linux VM that is underperforming at the storage level on an ESXi cluster, while minimizing downtime, is to migrate the VM to an AHV-based cluster. This allows leveraging Nutanix-native storage optimizations and hypervisor capabilities of AHV.

From theNutanix Enterprise Cloud Administration (ECA)course materials:

“AHV and Nutanix storage integration is natively optimized for performance, leveraging capabilities like data locality, I/O path enhancements, and advanced metadata management. Migrating workloads from ESXi to AHV can often resolve performance bottlenecks associated with storage I/O.”

Additionally:

“Using the Nutanix Move tool, administrators can migrate running VMs between different hypervisors (e.g., ESXi to AHV) with minimal downtime and fully automated steps, reducing the operational burden.”

Increasing vCPUs would not address storage-level performance issues, and collapsing disks would require significant reconfiguration and VM downtime. vDisk sharding is not directly user-configurable and not applicable in this scenario.

VM templates in Nutanix are supported only when the VM’s disks reside on storage containers configured with Replication Factor 2 (RF2) or higher.

Option C (VM has disks on RF2 containers) is correct:

VM templates requirea minimum RF2 for fault tolerance.

RF1 containers do not meet Nutanix best practices for VM templates.

Option A is incorrect:

VMs protected by Protection Domains can be cloned, but this is different from creating a VM template.

Option B is incorrect:

Agent VMs (e.g., Witness VMs) or Prism Central cannot be used as VM templates.

Option D is incorrect:

Nutanix VM templates are natively supported on AHV, not ESXi.

BMC (Baseboard Management Controller) updates can be applied per-node in Nutanix LCM, unlike AOS or AHV, which require cluster-wide upgrades.

Option B (BMC) is correct:

BMC firmwarecontrols remote management and power cycling of individual nodes.

Updating BMCdoes not impact the entire clusterand can be done per node.

Option A (AOS) is incorrect:

AOS upgrades affect the entire clusterand require cluster-wide consistency.

Option C (NCC) is incorrect:

NCC updatesapply across all nodes simultaneously, ensuring uniformity in checks.

Option D (AHV) is incorrect:

AHV updates require coordinated upgrades across hoststo maintain VM availability.

The LCM (Life Cycle Manager) precheck failures in this scenario indicate an inability to connect to vCenter to validate ESXi-specific checks, such as LACP configuration, HA, and pinned VMs. The appropriate log to analyze the details of the LCM precheck failures is the 1cm_ops.out log.

From theNutanix Enterprise Cloud Administration (ECA)course materials:

“The 1cm_ops.out log file contains detailed output and error information related to LCM operations, including prechecks, execution, and post-checks. This log is essential for troubleshooting LCM framework failures and understanding the root cause of any issues preventing upgrades.”

Active-Active bonding allows multiple network interfaces to be used simultaneously, improving bandwidth and redundancy.

Option B (Active-Active) is correct:

This mode enablesload balancing across all available adapters, providinghigher throughput and fault tolerance.

Option A (No Uplink Bond) is incorrect:

Without a bond, VMscannot benefit from multiple adapters.

Option C (Active-Active with MAC pinning) is incorrect:

MAC pinningbinds traffic to a single NIC, limiting bandwidth distribution.

Option D (Active-Backup) is incorrect:

This modeonly provides failover, not increased bandwidth.

Within Nutanix Recovery Plans, IP address transformations are handled through an automated mechanism known asIP Address Mapping. The documentation describes two methods: fixed mappings and offset-based mappings.

Offset-based mapping allows administrators to maintain consistent host identity attributes such as the last octet while shifting only the subnet portion during DR failover. The internal guidance states, “Offset-based mapping enables automatic recalculation of target IP addresses using offsets applied to source subnets, allowing preservation of host-specific octets across networks.”

Custom scripts are possible but not recommended because Nutanix already provides a built-in, automated IP transformation system. Editing IPs inside VMs after failover is operationally expensive and defeats the purpose of an orchestrated DR workflow. IPAM is useful for dynamic IP assignment but does not preserve the last octet mapping requirement.

Thus, Offset-based IP mapping is the correct mechanism for this requirement.

Nutanix High Availability (HA) determines the order in which VMs are restarted after a host failure or during host start sequences. Documentation states:

“VM restart priority levels defined in the High Availability policy determine which VMs are restarted first during node recovery or host power-on events.”

Nutanix HA allows administrators to assign priority levels such as High, Medium, or Low. The system ensures VMs with higher priority power on before other workloads.

Host affinity simply pins VMs to physical hosts and does not control boot order. Agent VMs are infrastructure components and not involved in workload priority. Recovery plans apply only to DR workflows, not standard host restart behavior.

Thus, the correct answer is High Availability.

The “nutanix” user is a system-level account required by the platform for internal operations, automation, cluster communication, and support access. It cannot be deleted or renamed. Nutanix security guidelines state:

“The correct method to prevent password-based SSH access for system accounts is to use Cluster Lockdown mode, which disables password authentication and enforces key-based access for all system-level CVM accounts.”

Cluster Lockdown modifies SSH configuration across all CVMs, ensuring:

password authentication is disabled

only key-based authentication is permitted

privileged system accounts such as ‘nutanix’ cannot log in interactively

Blocking port 22 is not appropriate because it would block SSH entirely, including legitimate administrative access. The “nutanix” user cannot be renamed or removed due to system dependency.

Thus, enabling Cluster Lockdown is the proper Nutanix-approved method to remove password-based SSH access for system accounts.

Nutanix documentation for Cross-Hypervisor Disaster Recovery (CH-DR) specifies that Nutanix Guest Tools (NGT) must be installed on all VMs participating in ESXi to AHV recovery workflows. NGT includes the VM Mobility Drivers, which are required for the VM to interpret AHV device models, storage controllers, and network adapters during recovery. The documentation notes that without NGT installed, VMs may fail to boot or attach devices correctly after being recovered on AHV. Legacy BIOS, RDMs, and delta disks are not listed as prerequisites or contributing factors for CH-DR success. Therefore, installing Nutanix Guest Tools on the source VM is mandatory for successful cross-hypervisor recovery.

TheBully VMs List (Option C)in Prism Central’sIntelligent OperationsidentifiesVMs consuming excessive CPU, memory, or storage, which negatively affects other VMs.

Option A (Inactive VMs List)is used foridentifying unused VMsbut does not detect performance issues.

Option B (Overprovisioned VMs List)helps identifyVMs with excessive allocated resources, but it does not focus on live performance impact.

Option D (Constrained VMs List)highlightsVMs suffering from resource contention, not those causing it.

In Nutanix Protection Domain-based replication, both thesourceanddestinationstorage containersmust have the same Replication Factor (RF)to ensure consistent data protection and replication. This is a key requirement for the data’s protection and integrity.

From theNutanix ECAdocumentation:

“Replication and recovery require that the source and destination containers have the same RF setting (either RF2 or RF3). If the RF does not match, replication and recovery points will not be generated in the DR site.”

The other options:

A (NGT): NGT is not required for crash-consistent protection.

C (Windows updates): Updates are not directly relevant to replication consistency.

D (container name): Names can differ; what matters is the container’s RF setting.

When synchronous replication fails immediately between two clusters, it is often due to blocked communication across the required ports (2009 and 2020). These must be open manually if the clusters are in different subnets or if network policies block traffic.

From theNutanix Enterprise Cloud Administration (ECA)course materials:

“Replication communication relies on specific ports, which must be allowed through the firewall. If the clusters are in different subnets or if there are external firewalls, these ports must be explicitly opened.”

“The modify_firewall command is used to open or close ports on cluster nodes. For replication and remote site communication, eth1 is typically used for external replication traffic.”

Since eth1 is typically used for external connectivity and replication traffic, opening ports on this interface using modify_firewall resolves the communication block.

Duringfailover in Nutanix Disaster Recovery, VMs retain theirstatic IPsbut maylose DNS settingsif the network configuration at the DR site is different from the primary site.

Option B (Create custom in-guest scripts) is correct:

Custom scriptsallowWindows or Linux VMs to restore DNS settings automaticallyafter failover.

These scripts can be executed usingpost-failover automationin Nutanix DR policies.

Option A (Self-Service Restore) is incorrect:

Self-Service Restore is used forend-user recovery of deleted files, not for network settings.

Option C (nncli tool) is incorrect:

Thenncli toolis used fornetwork troubleshooting, but it does not automatically restore DNS settings.

Option D (Configure a Protection Domain) is incorrect:

Protection Domains definereplication policies, but they do not fix DNS settings after failover.

During cluster expansion, Nutanix uses the Controller VM discovery service, which relies on multicast-based node advertisement. The internal architecture documentation states:

“Node discovery during cluster expansion requires IPv4 multicast to be enabled and permitted on the switching infrastructure.”

This allows new nodes to announce themselves to the existing cluster through standard Nutanix discovery packets.

IPv6 multicast is not used for node discovery. Matching AOS or hypervisor versions is recommended for compatibility but not required for discovery itself. These are post-discovery compatibility concerns, not prerequisites.

Thus, IPv4 multicast is required for automatic node discovery.

To automate the deployment of a large number of Linux VMs (such as 100), each with similar base configurations but unique hostnames, local configurations, and additional package installations,Cloud-Initis the most appropriate approach. Cloud-Init is a widely supported industry-standard tool for automating the initialization and configuration of Linux instances at first boot.

From theNutanix Enterprise Cloud Administration (ECA)course materials:

“Cloud-Init is the recommended method for configuring Linux virtual machines during deployment in Prism Central. It allows administrators to inject configuration scripts and user data that customize the VM at boot time, including hostname, network settings, user creation, and package installations.”

Specifically:

“Using Cloud-Init, you can create a template or base image for the Linux VMs and then customize each VM deployment by passing individualized configuration parameters, ensuring that while the base configuration remains consistent, each VM has unique settings such as hostname or installed software.”

This method is far superior to manual configuration, which is impractical for 100 VMs, and it’s not suitable to use SysPrep (which is for Windows-based customization). VM templates alone would provide only the base image; they do not address unique per-VM settings.

Therefore,Cloud-Initensures a repeatable, scalable, and fully automated deployment process that aligns with the Nutanix best practices for deploying large numbers of Linux VMs with unique configurations.

In a Nutanix cluster, Replication Factor 2 (RF2) means that each piece of data has two copies: a primary and a replica. To safely remove a node while ensuring data redundancy and cluster health, the system must have enough nodes to maintain the RF2 protection and complete the removal.

From the Nutanix Enterprise Cloud Administration (ECA) documentation:

“The minimum number of nodes required for a safe host removal in an RF2 cluster is four. This ensures that even after removing a node, there are enough remaining nodes to continue hosting the primary and replica data copies, meeting the RF2 requirement.”

The logic is:

In a 3-node RF2 cluster, there isn’t enough redundancy to safely remove a node without impacting data availability.

A 4-node RF2 cluster allows safe removal of one node while still ensuring two copies of all data remain.

Thus, the minimum number of nodes required for a safe host removal in an RF2 cluster is 4

Nutanix performance troubleshooting guidelines emphasize the importance of adequate vCPU resources when diagnosing single-VM performance issues. The documentation states that “under-provisioned CPU is a primary cause of perceived storage latency and throughput limitations, as storage I/O processing and VirtIO-SCSI operations depend heavily on VM compute resources.”

Running a Windows Server VM with only one vCPU significantly constrains its ability to queue and process disk I/O, handle interrupts, and run kernel-level services. This is especially true when multiple disks are attached. Adding a second controller does not solve underlying CPU bottlenecks. Adjusting br0 TCP settings is not applicable to storage. Increasing CVM resources is unnecessary because the problem is isolated to a single VM while the cluster and other VMs perform normally.

Therefore, increasing vCPU allocation is the required corrective action.

Nutanix storage containers allow administrators to configure capacity reservations and advertised limits for better resource management.

Option D (Set Reserved Capacity to 10 GiB and Advertised Capacity to 500 GiB) is correct:

Reserved Capacityensures that10 GiB is always available for this container and not consumed by other containers.

Advertised Capacitydefines alogical limit of 500 GiBto prevent over-allocation.

Option A is incorrect:

Advertised Capacity of 10 GiB is too lowand does not match the requirement of a500 GiB storage container.

Option B is incorrect:

Only setting Advertised Capacity does not guarantee Reserved Capacity, meaning other containers could consume the reserved space.

Option C is incorrect:

Setting only Reserved Capacity does not enforce an upper limit, which could lead to overprovisioning.

The Nutanix ECA course covers migration options for VMs in multi-cluster environments, particularly when minimizing downtime is critical, such as during scheduled maintenance. The scenario involves two identical clusters with guest VMs using pass-through GPUs, managed by separate Prism Central instances, requiring a migration method that ensures minimal disruption.

Extract from Nutanix Enterprise Cloud Administration (ECA) Course Documents:

Module: VM Management, Section: Cross-Cluster Live Migration"Cross-Cluster Live Migration allows administrators to migrate VMs between clusters managed by different Prism Central instances with minimal downtime. This feature supports live migration of VMs with pass-through GPUs, ensuring continuous operation during maintenance activities."

Module: Cluster Management, Section: Migration Strategies"For scenarios requiring minimal downtime, such as planned maintenance, Cross-Cluster Live Migration is the preferred method. It enables seamless VM migration across clusters, even those managed by separate Prism Central instances, while maintaining VM availability."

Explanation of Options:

A. Run a Recovery Plan planned failoverThis is incorrect. A Recovery Plan planned failover is part of Nutanix’s disaster recovery (DR) solution, used to execute failover for Protection Domains in scenarios like site failure. It is not designed for routine maintenance migrations and may involve downtime, especially for VMs with pass-through GPUs, as failover requires VM restart on the target cluster. The ECA course states:"Recovery Plans are used for DR failover, not for live migrations during maintenance, and may result in downtime."

B. Use Cross-Cluster Live MigrationThis is the correct answer. Cross-Cluster Live Migration, introduced in later AOS versions, allows VMs to be migrated between clusters, even those managed by different Prism Central instances, with minimal downtime. The ECA course confirms that this feature supports VMs with pass-through GPUs, as the migration process preserves VM state and connectivity. This method is ideal for planned maintenance, ensuring VMs remain operational.

Supporting Extract:"Cross-Cluster Live Migration minimizes downtime by transferring VM state and data live, supporting complex configurations like pass-through GPUs, making it suitable for maintenance scenarios."

C. Perform a Nutanix Move migration planThis is incorrect. Nutanix Move is a tool for migrating VMs from non-Nutanix environments (e.g., VMware or Hyper-V) to a Nutanix cluster, not for migrations between Nutanix clusters. It is not optimized for live migrations within a Nutanix environment and may involve downtime. The ECA course notes:"Nutanix Move is designed for external-to-Nutanix migrations, not for intra-Nutanix cluster migrations, and is not suitable for minimizing downtime."

D. Migrate Asynchronous Protection DomainsThis is incorrect. Migrating Asynchronous Protection Domains involves replicating snapshots to a remote cluster for DR purposes, not live VM migration. This process is asynchronous, involves downtime during failover, and is not suitable for maintenance scenarios requiring minimal disruption. The ECA course clarifies:"Asynchronous Protection Domains are used for DR replication, not for live VM migration, and require VM restart during failover."

Additional Context from ECA:

Cross-Cluster Live Migration: This feature leverages Nutanix’s hypervisor-agnostic migration capabilities, ensuring that VMs with pass-through GPUs are migrated seamlessly. The process involves copying VM memory and state while keeping the VM running, minimizing downtime to seconds or less.

Maintenance Scenario: For scheduled maintenance, Cross-Cluster Live Migration ensures that VMs remain available, which is critical for GPU-intensive workloads that cannot tolerate extended downtime.

Supporting Reference from Web Results:

The Nutanix Support Portal (https://portal.nutanix.com) aligns with the ECA documentation: "Cross-Cluster Live Migration supports live VM migration between clusters, including those with pass-through GPUs, ensuring minimal downtime for maintenance tasks."

Before performing any LCM (Life Cycle Manager) updates on a Nutanix cluster, it is essential to ensure that the AOS (Acropolis Operating System) is updated to the required or recommended version. AOS updates provide foundational enhancements, security patches, and compatibility improvements, which are critical for the successful execution of LCM updates.

From theNutanix Enterprise Cloud Administration (ECA)course materials:

“LCM updates depend on the underlying AOS version. Before proceeding with any hardware or software updates through LCM, administrators must ensure that the cluster is running a supported AOS version. This step ensures compatibility and prevents issues that can arise from dependencies between AOS and the update components.”

Additionally:

“AOS upgrades should be performed first to bring the cluster to a version that supports the desired LCM updates for components like BIOS, firmware, and hypervisors. This aligns the management stack with the latest features and security enhancements.”

Therefore, updating AOS before performing LCM updates is a mandatory prerequisite to ensure stability and supportability for the entire cluster lifecycle management process.

Metro Availability in Nutanix requires that the primary and secondary storage containers be configured identicallyto ensuredata replication consistency.

Option C (The destination storage container is not empty) is correct:

Theremote storage container must be emptybefore Metro Availability can be enabled.

Existing data can cause conflictsand prevent it from appearing in the "Compatible Remote Sites" list.

Option D (Both storage containers must have the same name) is correct:

Metro Availability requires thatstorage containers have identical names across clusters.

If namesdo not match, thestorage container will not be listed as compatible.

Option A is incorrect: Metro Availability works regardless of hardware vendor differences.

Option B is incorrect:Compression does not affect compatibilitybut may impact performance.

Protection Domains (PDs) in Nutanix ensure that entire applications and their associated data are protected during failover.However,Volume Groups (VGs) are not automatically includedunless explicitly configured.

Option A (Select "Auto protect related entities") is correct:

This setting ensures thatassociated Volume Groups, networks, and other dependencies are included in the Protection Domainautomatically.

Without enabling this, only the VM itself would be protected, leading tomissing application data upon failover.

Option B (Manually add Volume Groups to Protected Entities) is correct:

If"Auto protect related entities" is not enabled, the administrator mustmanually add Volume Groups to the Protection Domain.

This ensures that bothVMs and their attached Volume Groupsare replicated and recovered together.

Option C (Place Volume Groups in a separate Protection Domain) is incorrect:

Separating Volume Groups into a different PDdoes not guarantee they failover together with VMs.

It is best practice tokeep related VMs and Volume Groups in the same PD.

Option D (Use application-consistent snapshots) is incorrect:

Whileapplication-consistent snapshots improve data integrity, theydo not fix missing Volume Groups in failover scenarios.

When creating templates in Nutanix, Prism Central supports two official, built-in guest customization frameworks depending on the operating system family.

The Nutanix guest customization documentation states:

“For Windows VMs, Prism Central supports Sysprep-based customization. For Linux VMs, Prism Central supports Cloud-init customization.”

These two tools allow automation of hostname assignment, networking configuration, user accounts, and post-deployment initialization.

Additional extracts from internal documentation:

“Sysprep is automatically invoked during clone operations from Windows templates to ensure that the cloned VM receives unique identifiers.”

“Cloud-init is used for Linux templates to allow dynamic provisioning, SSH key injection, and package installation during instantiation.”

Nutanix does not list “Custom Script” or “Guided Script” as valid VM template customization mechanisms. Scripting can be applied after deployment but not as a built-in template customization framework.

Thus, the only valid template customization options are Sysprep and Cloud-init.

TheUpdate Guest OS feature (Option D)in Nutanixallows administrators to apply patches and updatesto aVM templateby creating atemporary VM instancefor modification.

How It Works:

Atemporary VMis deployed from the template.

Administratorsapply updatesto the OS.

Once complete,the changes are saved back to the template.

Option A (Create VM from Template) is incorrect:

This featurecreates a new VMfrom an existing template butdoes not update the template itself.

Option B (Complete Guest OS Update) is incorrect:

There is no specific Nutanix feature named"Complete Guest OS Update."

Option C (Update Configuration) is incorrect:

Updates VM hardware and policiesbutnot the OS.

For Disaster Recovery to function correctly, the source and destination storage containers must have identical names.

Option C (Storage container name mismatch) is correct:

If thestorage container name at the DR site does not match, Nutanix cannot mapsnapshots and replication data.

This causesfailover operations to fail, even though data exists.

Option A (NGT not installed) is incorrect:

NGT is needed for application-consistent snapshots, butnot required for crash-consistent snapshots.

Option B (Windows updates) is incorrect:

OS updates do not affect replication availability.

Option D (Storage RF factor mismatch) is incorrect:

Replication works across different RF factors, but performance may vary.

The Nutanix ECA course provides detailed procedures for performing hardware upgrades, such as adding host memory, to ensure cluster stability and data availability. Upgrading host memory requires safely preparing the node to avoid disrupting running VMs or cluster operations.

Extract from Nutanix Enterprise Cloud Administration (ECA) Course Documents:

Module: Cluster Management, Section: Hardware Upgrades"Before performing hardware upgrades, such as adding host memory, the node must be placed into maintenance mode. This ensures that all VMs are migrated to other nodes and the host is safely isolated from cluster operations."

Module: Host Maintenance, Section: Maintenance Mode"Placing a node into maintenance mode is the first step for hardware upgrades. Maintenance mode migrates all VMs to other nodes, stops the Controller VM (CVM), and prepares the host for safe shutdown or hardware changes."

Explanation of Options:

A. Gracefully stop the host by using the out of band management interfaceThis is incorrect. Stopping the host via the out-of-band management interface (e.g., IPMI or iLO) without first entering maintenance mode risks disrupting running VMs and cluster services. The ECA course warns:"Shutting down a host without maintenance mode can cause VM crashes and data unavailability, as VMs are not migrated."

B. Remove node from the clusterThis is incorrect. Removing a node from the cluster is a permanent action that detaches it from the cluster’s metadata and storage pool, requiring re-imaging to rejoin. It is not appropriate for a temporary hardware upgrade like adding memory. The ECA course states:"Removing a node is not required for hardware upgrades and should be avoided, as it disrupts cluster configuration."

C. Execute "shutdown -h now" from the AHV command line interfaceThis is incorrect. Running shutdown -h now on the AHV host without entering maintenance mode will abruptly stop the host, potentially crashing VMs and disrupting cluster operations. The ECA course notes:"Directly shutting down a host via CLI without maintenance mode risks data loss and service disruption."

D. Place node into maintenance modeThis is the correct answer. Placing the node into maintenance mode is the first step for hardware upgrades, as it safely migrates all VMs to other nodes, stops the CVM, and prepares the host for shutdown or hardware changes. The ECA course emphasizes that maintenance mode ensures cluster stability during upgrades.

Supporting Extract:"To upgrade host memory, place the node into maintenance mode using Prism Element or the CLI command ncli host maintenance_mode. This ensures safe VM migration and host isolation."

Additional Context from ECA:

Maintenance Mode Process: In Prism Element, maintenance mode can be enabled underHardware > Host > Enter Maintenance Mode. The process automatically migrates VMs using live migration, stops the CVM, and isolates the host. For AHV, the CLI command is ncli host maintenance_mode id= enable=true.

Memory Upgrade: After entering maintenance mode, the host can be safely powered off to add memory, then powered back on and exited from maintenance mode.

Supporting Reference from Web Results:

The Nutanix Bible (https://www.nutanix.com/go/the-nutanix-bible) confirms: "Maintenance mode is the required first step for host hardware upgrades, ensuring VMs are migrated and the node is isolated before changes like memory upgrades."

The Nutanix Enterprise Cloud Administration (ECA) course provides detailed guidance on managing images in a multicloud environment, particularly when administering multiple clusters across different geographic sites via a single Prism Central instance. The goal of optimizing image uploads to all locations involves ensuring efficient image availability, minimizing latency, and balancing storage and network resource usage. The ECA course emphasizes the use ofImage Placement Policiesto control how images are distributed and stored across clusters registered with Prism Central.

Extract from Nutanix Enterprise Cloud Administration (ECA) Course Documents:

Module: Image Management, Section: Image Placement Policies"Prism Central allows administrators to manage images centrally for multiple clusters. Image Placement Policies define how images are distributed to clusters. A policy with Soft Enforcement ensures that images are uploaded to a preferred cluster and replicated to other clusters as needed, optimizing for network efficiency and availability while allowing flexibility if a target cluster is unavailable."

Module: Prism Central Management, Section: Multi-Cluster Image Management"For environments with clusters at different geographic sites, an Image Placement Policy with Soft Enforcement is recommended to optimize image uploads. This policy allows Prism Central to select a primary cluster for image storage and replicate the image to other clusters based on demand, reducing unnecessary uploads while ensuring images are available where needed."

Explanation of Options:

A. Image Placement Policy with Soft EnforcementThis is the correct answer. The ECA course highlights that anImage Placement Policy with Soft Enforcementis designed to optimize image distribution in multi-cluster environments, especially across geographic sites. With Soft Enforcement, Prism Central uploads the image to a designated cluster (e.g., the closest or most available) and replicates it to other clusters as needed, based on workload requirements or VM deployment demands. This approach minimizes redundant uploads, reduces network congestion, and ensures images are available efficiently across sites. The "soft" aspect allows flexibility—if a target cluster is offline or has insufficient storage, Prism Central can select an alternative cluster, ensuring operational continuity.

Supporting Extract:"Soft Enforcement allows Prism Central to prioritize a primary cluster for image storage but permits fallback to other clusters if the primary is unavailable, optimizing upload efficiency and image availability across multiple sites."

B. Custom Image Upload RoleThis is incorrect. The ECA course does not define a "Custom Image Upload Role" as a feature in Prism Central for optimizing image uploads. While Prism Central supports role-based access control (RBAC) for managing permissions, including image management, these roles govern who can upload or manage images, not how images are distributed or optimized across clusters. The ECA materials state:"RBAC in Prism Central allows administrators to assign permissions for image management, but it does not influence the placement or optimization of image uploads."This option is irrelevant to the question’s focus on optimizing image distribution.

C. Bandwidth Throttling PolicyThis is incorrect. While bandwidth throttling can regulate network usage during data transfers (e.g., during replication or migration), it does not directly optimize image uploads for availability or efficiency across multiple clusters. The ECA course mentions bandwidth throttling in the context of data protection and replication:"Bandwidth Throttling Policies can be applied to replication schedules to manage network usage, but they are not used for image placement or upload optimization in Prism Central."Throttling could even slow down image distribution, counteracting the goal of optimization, especially in a multi-site scenario.

D. Image Placement Policy with Hard EnforcementThis is incorrect. AnImage Placement Policy with Hard Enforcementstrictly mandates that images be uploaded to specific clusters as defined in the policy. If the designated cluster is unavailable (e.g., due to network issues, storage constraints, or downtime), the upload fails, which can disrupt operations in a multi-site environment. The ECA course notes:"Hard Enforcement ensures images are only stored on specified clusters, but this can lead to upload failures if the target cluster is offline or lacks capacity, making it less suitable for geographically distributed environments."This rigidity makes Hard Enforcement less optimal compared to Soft Enforcement, which provides flexibility and ensures image availability.

Additional Context from ECA:

Image Management Workflow: The ECA course explains that Prism Central’s Image Service centralizes image management for all registered clusters. When an image is uploaded, the Image Placement Policy determines where it is stored and how it is replicated. For geographically dispersed clusters, Soft Enforcement balances efficiency and availability by prioritizing a primary cluster (e.g., based on proximity or storage capacity) while allowing replication to other clusters as needed for VM provisioning or workload deployment.

Extract:"In multi-site deployments, Soft Enforcement optimizes image uploads by reducing redundant data transfers and ensuring images are accessible across clusters without requiring manual intervention."

Practical Consideration: In a multi-site scenario, network latency and storage availability vary across clusters. Soft Enforcement allows Prism Central to adapt dynamically, ensuring images are uploaded to a viable cluster and replicated efficiently, which aligns with the goal of optimization.

Supporting Reference from Web Results:

The Nutanix Bible (https://www.nutanix.com/go/the-nutanix-bible) reinforces the ECA documentation: "Image Placement Policies in Prism Central streamline image management across clusters. Soft Enforcement is ideal for multi-site environments, as it allows flexible image placement and replication, ensuring efficient uploads and availability."This confirms that Soft Enforcement is the recommended approach for optimizing image uploads in a multi-cluster, multi-site setup.

Application discovery in Prism Central requires sufficient Prism Central resources and an active internet connection to retrieve application signatures.

Option A (Sufficient Prism Central VM resources) is correct:

Prism Central needsadequate CPU and memoryto process application signatures and discovery data.

Option B (Internet connection) is correct:

Application discovery depends on Nutanix’scloud databaseto recognize application patterns.

Option C (API key and key ID) is incorrect:

API keys are not requiredfor automatic application discovery.

Option D (Network controller enabled) is incorrect:

Application discoverydoes not depend on a network controller feature.

Enabling "Cluster Lockdown" in Nutanix is the best security measure to prevent password-based SSH logins.

Option C (Enable Cluster Lockdown) is correct:

Cluster Lockdowndisables password-based SSHandrequires key-based authentication.

Option A (Rename the nutanix user) is incorrect:

The Nutanix useris a system accountand cannot be renamed.

Option B (Block port 22) is incorrect:

This wouldprevent all SSH connections, includingkey-based logins, making administration difficult.

Option D (Delete the nutanix user) is incorrect:

Thenutanix useris required for system operations and cannot be removed.

When the maximum instance count of retained reports is reached, Nutanix automatically deletes the oldest report to accommodate the new one.

From theNutanix Enterprise Cloud Administration (ECA)course materials:

“To ensure storage and performance efficiency, Nutanix reporting limits the number of stored reports. If this maximum is reached, the oldest report instance is automatically deleted to make space for new reports.”

For NutanixDisaster Recovery (DR) protection policies, thefirst stepis to establish a connection between theProduction cluster and the DR site, which is done by creating anAvailability Zone (AZ) (Option B).

Availability Zones (AZs) define remote sites for replicationand are a requirement for configuring protection domains and disaster recovery plans.

Option A (Installing NGT)is not necessary for setting up replication but is useful for application-consistent snapshots.

Option C (Converting the source cluster to AHV)is not required, as Nutanix supports cross-hypervisor DR betweenESXi and AHV.

Option D (Creating a point-in-time snapshot)is a later step after setting up theAvailability Zone and Protection Policy.

Understanding the Exhibit & the Alert

The alert states:

"The cluster is using password-based SSH access for the CVM."

"Password-based remote login is enabled on the cluster."

"It is recommended to use key-based SSH access instead of password-based SSH access for better security."

This means that the nutanix user can log in to Controller VMs (CVMs) using a password, which is a security risk.

Corrective Action: Enabling Cluster Lockdown

✅(C) Enable Cluster Lockdown. (Correct Answer)

Cluster Lockdown Mode restricts password-based SSH access and forces key-based authentication.

This prevents users from logging into CVMs using passwords, enhancing cluster security.

To enable Cluster Lockdown:

Go to Prism Central or Prism Element.

Navigate to Settings → Security → Cluster Lockdown.

Enable Cluster Lockdown Mode.

Evaluating the Other Answer Choices

❌(A) Rename the nutanix user. (Incorrect)

The nutanix user is a built-in system account required for cluster operations.

Renaming the user will not prevent SSH access via password.

❌(B) Block port 22 on the CVM firewall. (Incorrect)

Blocking port 22 (SSH) will completely disable SSH access, including key-based authentication.

This may break cluster management and troubleshooting operations.

❌(D) Delete the nutanix user. (Incorrect)

The nutanix user is a critical system account required for cluster functionality.

Deleting the account will cause serious issues with cluster management.

Multicloud Infrastructure References & Best Practices

Nutanix Security Best Practices:

Always use key-based SSH authentication instead of password-based logins.

Enable Cluster Lockdown Mode to enforce security policies.

Regularly audit user access to ensure security compliance.

Cluster Lockdown Benefits:

Prevents unauthorized SSH access via passwords.

Enforces public key authentication, reducing brute-force attack risks.

Strengthens CVM security against potential exploits.

Offset-based IP mapping in Nutanix Recovery Plans allows automatic subnet changes during DR failover.

Option D (Utilize Recovery Plan Offset-based IP mapping) is correct:

This methodautomatically adjusts the IP rangewhile keeping the same last octet.

It eliminates the need formanual interventionafter failover.

Option A (Custom script) is incorrect:

Scripting is an option, butRecovery Plan IP mapping is simpler and native to Nutanix.

Option B (Use IPAM) is incorrect:

IP Address Management (IPAM) is useful, butoffset-based mapping provides more control.

Option C (Manually update IPs) is incorrect:

This would betime-consuming and error-prone.