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

The correct answer isC. 4

Erasure Coding (EC-X)in Nutanix is a data efficiency feature that replaces multiple replicas with parity data to reduce storage overhead while still protecting against failures. Theminimum node requirementfor enabling Erasure Coding is4 nodes, due to the need to distribute data and parity across multiple failure domains.

Details:

RF2 with EC-Xrequires at least4 nodes.

RF3 with EC-Xrequiresat least 6 or 8 nodes, depending on configuration.

Prism UI Navigation Path:

Storage > Storage Containers > Enable EC-X

Official Reference:

Nutanix Bible – Erasure Coding Section

Nutanix Storage Admin Guide

Excerpt: “A minimum of 4 nodes is required in a Nutanix cluster to enable Erasure Coding (EC-X) with RF2.”

The correct answer isB. Internal NTP sources.

Nutanix strongly recommends configuringreliable internal NTP sources(e.g., enterprise-managed NTP servers or domain NTP servers) to ensure:

Time consistency across all nodes and CVMs

Accurate logging, monitoring, authentication (e.g., Kerberos), and cluster operations

Avoiding dependency onexternal/public NTPsources, which may berate-limited, unavailable, or blockedby firewalls

Clarifications:

A (Windows time sources):Generally discouraged unless they are configured to use a stratum 1/2 reliable upstream source.

C (Rate-limited sources):Not recommended; can result in dropped or inconsistent time updates.

D (External ISP NTP):Not preferred for production clusters due to reliability concerns.

Prism UI Navigation Path:

Settings > NTP Servers

Official Reference:

Nutanix Best Practices Guide – NTP Configuration

Excerpt: “Use reliable and consistent internal NTP servers for all Nutanix clusters to maintain time synchronization.”

Answer: B

Nutanix Metro Availability provides the best Recovery Time Objective (RTO) because it enables synchronous replication between two sites. In the event of a failure at one site, VMs can be instantly restarted on the other site with minimal disruption. This setup ensures zero data loss and near-instantaneous recovery.

A. Async:Provides high RPO (Recovery Point Objective) but has a longer RTO compared to synchronous replication methods.

B. Availability Zone:This term refers to a general site setup, not specific to recovery objectives.

C. Metro Availability:Correct, as it uses synchronous replication for near-zero RTO.

D. NearSync:Provides better RPO than Async but does not match the RTO of Metro Availability.

The correct answer isB. Create an RF1 storage container.

In Nutanix architecture,Replication Factor (RF)is set at thestorage container levelto optimize redundancy and performance for specific workloads. When an application hasits own internal redundancy, such as database clustering or distributed file systems, the administrator may choose toreduce Nutanix’s redundancy to RF1, which stores onlyone copy of datain the cluster. This reduces overhead and maximizes usable capacity, but isnot fault-tolerantat the Nutanix level.

Key clarifications:

RF1 is not enabled by default.Nutanix clusters default toRF2 or RF3depending on the configuration and number of nodes.

RF1 must beexplicitly setwhen creating a storage container.

There isno separate "enable RF1"setting outside of selecting RF1 at container creation; once selected, it applies directly.

Prism UI Navigation Path:

Storage > Storage Containers > Create Storage Container > Data Redundancy Level → Select "RF1"

Official Reference:

Nutanix Bible – Storage Layer and RF Explanation

Nutanix Storage Administration Guide – "Creating Containers with Specific Replication Factor"

Excerpt: "RF1 is typically used for workloads with native redundancy. It must be selected explicitly during container creation."

Conclusion:Onlyoption Baccurately reflects this process.

Answer: B

To allow Nutanix Support to gather logs automatically without requiring manual intervention, the administrator should enablePulse. Pulse is a telemetry service that collects and sends system health, log, and usage data to Nutanix Support securely.

Steps:

Navigate toPrism Central > Settings > Pulse.

Enable the service and configure as required for your environment.

Other options:

Self-Service: Refers to role-based access for users, unrelated to log collection.

Proxy Server: Used for network communication, not log gathering.

NKP: Refers to Nutanix Cluster Protocol, unrelated to telemetry.

The correct answer isB. Acropolis Dynamic Scheduling (ADS).

Acropolis Dynamic Scheduling (ADS)is a core component in Nutanix AOS responsible for:

Monitoring real-time resource utilization.

Identifying hotspotssuch as CPU/memory/storage contention.

Automatically initiatingVM migration (live)tobalance workloadsacross hosts in the cluster.

Clarification of Other Options:

A. Cerebro:Responsible for replication, snapshots, and consistency.

C. Chronos:Manages scheduling of distributed tasks (not resource balancing).

D. CVM:Hosts the AOS services butdoes not perform workload balancing.

Official Reference:

Nutanix Bible – Acropolis Dynamic Scheduling

Nutanix AOS Architecture Guide

Excerpt: “ADS monitors resource utilization across the cluster and performs live VM migrations to mitigate hotspots and balance performance.”

The correct answer isB. Run Nutanix Cluster Check (NCC).

Before performingany upgrade procedure(AOS, Foundation, LCM, etc.), it is strongly recommended torun the Nutanix Cluster Check (NCC). This tool performs acomprehensive health assessmentof the cluster and validates its readiness for the upgrade, including:

Disk integrity

Network configuration

CVM health

Cluster services status

Prism UI Navigation Path:

Health > Run NCC Check (via Actions menu)

Command Line Alternative:

bash

CopyEdit

ncc health_checks run_all

Clarifications:

A (Put hosts into maintenance mode): Not required before upgrades; LCM handles host management automatically.

C (Put CVMs into maintenance mode): Not correct. CVMs must be operational during upgrades.

D (Clear all alerts): Irrelevant unless the alerts indicate upgrade-blocking issues, which NCC identifies.

Official Reference:

Nutanix Upgrade Guide – Pre-upgrade Checklist Section

Excerpt: “It is strongly recommended to run NCC prior to starting the upgrade process to detect any cluster issues.”

Answer: B

TheRecycle Binin Nutanix clusters temporarily stores deleted VMs for 24 hours, allowing administrators to recover them if needed. This feature helps protect against accidental deletions by providing a grace period for recovery before permanent deletion occurs.

A. Stores the OpLog's most recent deleted data in case of a CVM failure:Incorrect, as the OpLog pertains to write operations, not VM deletion.

B. Keeps deleted VMs for 24 hours for recovery:Correct, as the Recycle Bin's purpose is temporary VM recovery.

C. Allows administrators to undo the last five actions:Incorrect, as there is no such feature for undoing multiple actions in Prism.

D. Centralizes the deleted data from the different VMs in the cluster:Incorrect, as the Recycle Bin is specifically for deleted VMs, not generalized data centralization.

The correct answer isB. 1

Nutanix Prism Central provides the ability to create and manage support casesdirectly from the UI, but this functionality requiresat least one clusterto be registered to Prism Central. The Support option becomes active onceone or more clustersare managed.

Important distinctions:

Zero clusters(Option A): With no clusters registered, Prism Central is effectively disconnected from any environment and thus cannot associate logs or telemetry with a support case.

One cluster(Option B): Enables access to support features, including log bundle generation and direct case submission.

Options C and D (2 or 3 clusters) are incorrect; they arenot a requirementfor enabling support case functionality.

Prism Central UI Navigation Path:

Settings (gear icon) > Support > Create Support Case

Official Reference:

Nutanix Prism Central Guide – Support Integration Section

Excerpt: "To open a support case through Prism Central, ensure at least one cluster is registered. Support features become available once a cluster is connected."

Conclusion:Only one cluster is required to activate the support case workflow in Prism Central.

Answer: B

The correct answer isB. Group of physical disks.

In Nutanix architecture:

AStorage Poolis theaggregation of physical storage devices(SSD, HDD) across all nodes in a cluster.

Each storage pool backs one or moreStorage Containers, which are logical partitions used for data placement.

Storage poolscannot span clustersand are always confined to the cluster in which they are defined.

Clarifications:

A (Storage Containers): These are logical groupingswithinstorage pools.

C (Boot Drives): These are not part of the pool.

D (vDisks): These exist within VMs and are backed by containers, not pools directly.

Prism UI Navigation Path:

Storage > Storage Pools

Official Reference:

Nutanix Bible – Storage Pool Definition

Nutanix Storage Admin Guide

Excerpt: “A storage pool is made up of physical disks from one or more nodes and serves as the physical storage foundation for containers.”

Answer: B

TheNutanix Moveutility is specifically designed for migrating VMs between hypervisors, including from ESXi to AHV. It automates the migration process while ensuring minimal downtime. Nutanix Move supports pre-migration assessments and automates data transfer and VM configuration for AHV.

A. Move:Correct, as it is the Nutanix tool for hypervisor migrations.

B. acli:Incorrect, as acli is used for command-line configuration and management within AHV, not migration.

C. Flow:Incorrect, as Nutanix Flow focuses on network security and micro-segmentation.

D. Ncli:Incorrect, as Ncli is a command-line utility for cluster management, not migration.

When command-line access is unavailable, Nutanix administrators can use the Prism UI to generate an NCC (Nutanix Cluster Check) output. The steps are:

Configure the email settings inAlert Settingsunder the Prism UI.

Navigate to theHealth Dashboard, where the "Run Health Checks" option can be used.

Provide the administrator's email address to send the health report, which includes NCC outputs.

This method enables the administrator to share diagnostic information with Nutanix Support directly via email.

A. Run Health Checks in the Alert Dashboard and enter an email to send it to:Incorrect. Health Checks are run from the Health Dashboard, not the Alert Dashboard.

B. Configure email in Alert Settings and Run Health Checks in the Health Dashboard:Correct. This provides the requested NCC output when the command-line is inaccessible.

C. Run Health Checks in the Event Dashboard:Incorrect. Health Checks are not run from the Event Dashboard.

D. Configure email in Alert Settings and Run Health Checks in the Alert Dashboard:Incorrect, as this is not the correct location for Health Checks.

To remove old VM snapshots, the task should be completed from theVM dashboardin Prism Element. This dashboard allows administrators to manage virtual machine-related operations, including snapshot creation, deletion, and restoration. Steps include:

Navigate toPrism Element > VM.

Select the VM for which snapshots need to be deleted.

Click onSnapshots, then delete the selected snapshots.

Nutanix Distributed Storage Fabric (DSF) provides storage access to an ESXi hypervisor using theNFS (Network File System)protocol. DSF abstracts the underlying storage hardware and exposes storage as an NFS datastore to ESXi hosts. This integration enables high performance, data protection, and scalability while simplifying storage management.

Other options:

LVM: Not used in Nutanix storage.

iSCSI: Used for specific use cases, not the default protocol for ESXi.

SMB: Not supported for ESXi environments.

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.

The correct answer isC. Large-scale, read heavy workloads.

NFS on Objectsis a Nutanix feature allowingNFS clients to interact with Nutanix Objects (S3-compatible object storage)by exposing object buckets viaNFS v3 protocol. This is ideal for workloads that require:

Large-scale access to unstructured data

High read concurrency

Cost-effective storage for infrequently changed files

Best Use Case:

Backup archives, analytics workloads, image repositories, or video streaming systems withread-heavy profiles.

Clarifications:

A (EUC workloads):Typically require fast, low-latency block storage (e.g., vDisks).

B (Transitory FS):Better suited for file services like Nutanix Files.

D (Frequent updates):Not ideal for object storage via NFS; performance will degrade under frequent write operations.

Official Reference:

Nutanix Objects with NFS Gateway – Best Practices

Nutanix Documentation Portal – Objects and NFS

Excerpt: “NFS on Objects is best suited for large-scale, read-heavy use cases where file system semantics are needed on top of object-based storage.”

The correct answer isA. Select the Auto resolve alerts checkbox and click Save.

When an alert policy is configured based on astatic threshold, it will generate an alert each time the condition is met unless it has beenauto-resolvedor manually acknowledged. By enablingAuto resolve alerts, the system willautomatically clear the alertonce the metric falls back within the acceptable range. This preventsduplicate alertswhen the threshold is exceeded repeatedly within a short timeframe (e.g., multiple times over 48 hours).

Explanation of Incorrect Options:

B (Disable policy):Not scalable or operationally sound.

C (Ignore anomalies):Applies only to behavioral anomalies, not static thresholds.

D (Trigger duration):Increases delay before alerting but does not suppress repeated alerts.

UI Location in Image:

✔“Auto resolve alerts” is visible just below "Impact Type."

Official Reference:

Nutanix Prism Central Guide – Alert Policies

Excerpt: “Enable ‘Auto resolve alerts’ to ensure alerts are cleared automatically once conditions normalize, avoiding duplicate alerts.”

To enableSelf Service Restore (SSR)on a Nutanix-hosted VM, the VM must haveNutanix Guest Tools (NGT)installed. NGT provides integration between the VM and the Nutanix cluster, allowing features like file-level restore, application-consistent snapshots, and SSR. Administrators can use Prism Central or Element to manage SSR after enabling NGT on the VM.

A. A Storage Container:Incorrect, as a storage container is required for storing snapshots but is not specific to SSR.

B. Nutanix Guest Tools:Correct, as NGT is essential for enabling SSR functionality.

C. Prism Central:Incorrect, as Prism Central helps manage SSR but is not directly required to enable it.

D. VMWare Tools:Incorrect, as this is specific to VMware environments and not Nutanix AHV.

The correct answer isC. Perform an inventory.

To ensure theLCM Frameworkand its associated component metadata are updated, the administrator must perform afresh LCM inventory. This process:

Retrieves the latest metadata and framework version from the Nutanix support portal (if the cluster is connected).

Detects current component versions and identifies available updates.

Clarifications:

A (Upgrade AOS):LCM is independent of AOS version updates.

B (Restart genesis):Unnecessary and not relevant to LCM framework versioning.

D (NCC):Useful for cluster health, but does not affect LCM updates.

Prism Central UI Navigation Path:

Operations > LCM > Perform Inventory

Official Reference:

Nutanix LCM Guide – Updating the LCM Framework

Excerpt: “To receive the latest framework version and component metadata, perform an LCM inventory on a connected cluster.”