Free Nutanix NCP-US-6.10 Practice Exam with Questions & Answers | Set: 2

When deploying Nutanix Objects in amulti-cluster environment, Prism Central coordinates deployment across clusters.

In the NUSA deployment module, it’s emphasized:

“Prism Central requires a Fallback Virtual IP (VIP) on the cluster it manages to ensure management traffic can be redirected even if a CVM or Prism Element service fails.”

Thus, theFallback Virtual IP on the cluster where Prism Central is deployedis a critical additional IP address for:

Ensuring management continuity

Supporting Object service deployment across clusters

The other options (like IPv6 or DSIP on Prism Central’s cluster) are not required specifically for Nutanix Objects deployment.

File Analytics (part of Data Lens) collects metadata only for AD-authenticated SMB shares. It scans file attributes (size, owner, extensions) for analysis.

Options A/B: Object buckets (S3) and NFS shares are unsupported.

Option C: iSCSI Volumes use block storage; file-level metadata is inaccessible.

The error message indicates that an upgrade of a Nutanix Files instance (referred to as "file server NUTANIX") on an ESXi-based Nutanix cluster failed due to connectivity issues with the ESX hosts. The exhibit likely shows the network configuration details of the cluster, including the IP ranges used for various components such as ESXi hosts, Controller Virtual Machines (CVMs), File Server Virtual Machines (FSVMs), and management interfaces. The task requires identifying the network that needs to be added to the vSphere Web Client firewall to allow connectivity for the Nutanix Files upgrade process.

TheNutanix Unified Storage Administration (NUSA)course explains that “Nutanix Files upgrades require communication between the ESXi hosts, CVMs, and FSVMs, typically over the management network and the storage network where FSVMs reside.” In an ESXi-based Nutanix cluster, the FSVMs (which power Nutanix Files) communicate with the ESXi hosts for operations like upgrades, using the network configured for the FSVMs. The error suggests that the ESXi hosts’ firewall is blocking this communication, likely because the FSVM network is not allowed in the vSphere firewall rules.

TheNutanix Certified Professional - Unified Storage (NCP-US)study guide further details that “Nutanix Files FSVMs typically use a dedicated network for client and internal communication, often in the 192.168.5.0/24 range by default in Nutanix environments, unless reconfigured.” This network, known as the internal FSVM network, is used for communication between FSVMs, CVMs, and ESXi hosts during operations like upgrades. The default range of 192.168.5.0/24 is commonly assigned to FSVMs in Nutanix AHV and ESXi environments to isolate file server traffic from other network traffic, such as management or VM traffic.

Since the error indicates a connectivity failure between the ESXi hosts and the Nutanix Files instance during the upgrade, the most likely cause is that the ESXi hosts’ firewall is blocking traffic from the FSVM network (192.168.5.0/24). The administrator needs to add this network to the vSphere Web Client firewall rules to allow inbound and outbound traffic, ensuring that the ESXi hosts can communicate with the FSVMs during the upgrade process.

The other options are incorrect based on typical Nutanix network configurations:

192.168.2.0/24: This range is often used for management traffic (e.g., Prism Element or ESXi management IPs) but is not typically the network for FSVMs.

192.168.3.0/24: This range may be used for VM traffic or other purposes, but it is not the default for FSVM communication.

192.168.4.0/24: This range is not commonly associated with FSVMs or Nutanix Files in standard configurations.

The NUSA course documentation emphasizes that “during Nutanix Files upgrades, ESXi hosts must have network connectivity to the FSVMs, typically on the 192.168.5.0/24 network, and firewall rules must be updated to allow this traffic to prevent connectivity failures.” The administrator should add the 192.168.5.0/24 network to the vSphere Web Client firewall to allow communication on the necessary ports (e.g., TCP 2049 for NFS, TCP 445 for SMB, and others used for FSVM-CVM communication).

In Nutanix Files, there is a built-in feature calledFile Quarantine. When certain suspicious or malicious activity is detected—often through integrations with file scanning tools or security alerts—the file isquarantined. In a quarantined state, access to the file isblockeduntil an administrator manually reviews and decides to eitherunquarantineordeletethe file.

The NCP-US and NUSA courses highlight this term as follows:

“Files that are detected to have potential issues or threats are placed in a quarantined state by Nutanix Files. This quarantined state restricts user access to ensure security and requires manual administrative action to restore access.”

Thus, the correct term isQuarantined.

Self-Service Restore (SSR)in Nutanix Files is a feature that allows end users or administrators torestore previous file versionsdirectly from share snapshots without requiring direct administrator intervention.

Key details from the NUSA training:

Does not require Nutanix Guest Tools (NGT):

“SSR operates entirely at the file server share level, leveraging share snapshots created by the Nutanix Files service. It does not depend on NGT or VM-level backups, which simplifies deployment and reduces dependencies.”

15-minute snapshots:

“While Nutanix supports snapshot intervals down to 1 hour, the minimum interval is not typically 15 minutes for standard file share snapshots.”

Windows and Linux:

“SSR is primarily supported for Windows SMB shares. NFS/Linux-based shares do not integrate with SSR in the same manner.”

Starter license support:

“SSR is part of advanced Nutanix Files functionality not included in the Starter license tier.”

Thus, the definitive statement:Does not require NGT on the VM.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation from Nutanix Unified Storage (NCP-US) and Nutanix Unified Storage Administration (NUSA) course documents:

In the exhibit, the iSCSI target connection string is shown. It includes:

Thetarget IP address and port(10.1.216.192 3260)

TheiSCSI Qualified Name (IQN)for the target (iqn.2010-06.com.nutanix:vg1-...)

TheVolume Group identifier(vg1-5ff34411...)

And finally, "AIXforyou@123"

In Nutanix Unified Storage, when configuring iSCSI connections for Volume Groups,CHAP (Challenge-Handshake Authentication Protocol)is used for secure authentication between the iSCSI initiator (host) and the target (Volume Group). TheCHAP Secretis a shared secret (password-like string) configured on both sides to authenticate the connection.

In the NCP-US and NUSA course materials, it’s explained:

“The CHAP secret is a string that is entered by the administrator to authenticate iSCSI initiator and target communication. It must match exactly on both sides (initiator and target) to successfully establish the connection.”

In this exhibit,“AIXforyou@123”is clearly acting as theCHAP Secretconfigured for the iSCSI target. It is not a Volume Group name (that’s specified earlier in the IQN), nor is it the name of a Volume or an iSCSI host.

Therefore, the correct identification is:

CHAP Secret– the shared password used for iSCSI target authentication.

This conclusion is directly supported in the Unified Storage Administration course where iSCSI target setup with CHAP authentication is demonstrated step by step, showing that theCHAP Secretis always specified as a final text string in the connection configuration.

To meet the requirement of acommon namespacefor two Nutanix Objects instances located in New York and London, managed by separate Prism Central instances with availability zone pairing and IAM replication, the administrator shouldcreate a Global Namespace. A global namespace in Nutanix Objects allows multiple object store instances to share a unified namespace, enabling consistent access to buckets and objects across geographically distributed sites using a single naming convention.

TheNutanix Unified Storage Administration (NUSA)course explains that “Nutanix Objects supports a global namespace to provide a unified view of buckets across multiple object store instances, which is critical for distributed environments requiring consistent data access.” This feature ensures that applications and users can access objects using the same bucket names and paths, regardless of the physical location of the object store (e.g., New York or London). The global namespace is particularly useful in scenarios involving availability zone pairing, where data consistency and accessibility across regions are required.

TheNutanix Certified Professional - Unified Storage (NCP-US)study guide further details that “enabling a global namespace in Nutanix Objects requires configuring the object stores to share a common namespace, which is supported when Prism Central instances are paired for availability zones and IAM replication is enabled.” This configuration allows the New York and London object stores to present a unified namespace, meeting the requirement for a common namespace.

The other options are incorrect:

Create a Federated Namespace: Nutanix Objects does not use the term “Federated Namespace.” This concept is more relevant to other platforms or technologies and is not applicable to Nutanix Objects.

Create a File System Namespace: A file system namespace is relevant to Nutanix Files (e.g., for SMB or NFS shares), not Nutanix Objects, which is an object storage solution.

Create a Kubernetes Namespace: A Kubernetes namespace is used to organize resources in a Kubernetes cluster and is unrelated to Nutanix Objects or its namespace requirements.

The NUSA course documentation notes that “a global namespace in Nutanix Objects is configured through Prism Central, leveraging availability zone pairing and IAM replication to ensure consistent bucket naming and access across distributed object stores.” The administrator should configure the global namespace in the Nutanix Objects settings for both the New York and London instances, ensuring that the Prism Central instances are properly paired and IAM replication is active.

The performance issue for the database VM is related to large block-size I/O operations over iSCSI, which connects to a Nutanix volume group. The VM has a dedicated NIC for iSCSI traffic, but a single NIC can become a bottleneck for large I/O operations, especially for a high-performance workload like a database. To improve performance, the administrator shouldadd an additional NIC for iSCSI connectivity and enable MPIO (Multipath I/O). This approach allows the VM to use multiple network paths for iSCSI traffic, increasing throughput and reducing latency for large block-size I/O operations.

TheNutanix Unified Storage Administration (NUSA)course states, “For high-performance workloads using Nutanix Volumes over iSCSI, enabling MPIO with multiple NICs on the VM can significantly improve I/O performance, especially for large block-size operations.” MPIO allows the VM to establish multiple iSCSI sessions to the Nutanix volume group, distributing I/O traffic across the available NICs and Controller Virtual Machines (CVMs) in the cluster. This is particularly effective for database workloads, which often involve large sequential I/O operations.

TheNutanix Certified Professional - Unified Storage (NCP-US)study guide further elaborates that “adding a second NIC for iSCSI traffic and configuring MPIO ensures load balancing and failover for iSCSI sessions, optimizing performance for VMs with high I/O demands, such as databases.” By adding another NIC, the VM can establish additional iSCSI paths to the volume group’s iSCSI Data Services IP (DSIP), leveraging the cluster’s distributed architecture to handle large block-size I/O more efficiently.

The other options are incorrect:

Add additional virtual disks to the volume group: Adding more virtual disks does not address the network bottleneck caused by a single iSCSI NIC and may not improve performance for large block-size I/O operations.

Increase the iSCSI adapter maximum transfer length: Adjusting the maximum transfer length (MTU) might help with network efficiency, but it does not address the fundamental issue of a single NIC being a bottleneck for large I/O operations. MPIO with multiple NICs is a more effective solution.

Locate the iSCSI NIC on the same VLAN as the cluster DSIP: While placing the iSCSI NIC on the same VLAN as the DSIP can reduce latency by avoiding inter-VLAN routing, the primary issue here is the single NIC bottleneck, not VLAN configuration. MPIO with multiple NICs provides a better performance improvement.

The NUSA course documentation emphasizes that “for VMs with large block-size I/O requirements, such as databases, using MPIO with multiple iSCSI NICs ensures optimal performance by distributing traffic across multiple paths to the Nutanix volume group.”

Smart DR requires port 7515 (TCP) for communication between source/target clusters and Prism Central. If blocked:

Policies fail to synchronize with PC.

Policies become "invisible" in the UI.

Other options are unrelated:

A: Share permissions don’t affect policy visibility.

B: Initial replication progress appears in UI even if incomplete.

C: AD/local login affects permissions, not policy discovery.

Smart DR (Disaster Recovery) is a feature within Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS), specifically designed to facilitate data replication and disaster recovery for Nutanix Files, which is the file storage service component of NUS. Nutanix Unified Storage integrates file, object, and block storage services, but Smart DR is primarily associated with the file storage functionality provided by Nutanix Files. To determine the level of granularity at which Smart DR operates, we need to examine how it handles replication within this context.

Understanding the Options

Volume: In Nutanix terminology, a volume typically refers to a logical storage unit used in block storage services (e.g., Nutanix Volumes). It can contain multiple files or datasets and is managed at a higher abstraction level.

Bucket: A bucket is a container used in object storage (e.g., Nutanix Objects) to store objects, akin to a directory but specific to object-based storage systems.

Share: In Nutanix Files, a share refers to a file share (accessible via SMB or NFS protocols), which contains files and directories that are made available over a network for user access.

File: This represents an individual file, the smallest unit of data within a storage system.

Smart DR’s purpose is to ensure data availability and consistency for disaster recovery scenarios, which implies that the replication granularity should support recovering cohesive sets of data rather than fragmented pieces that could lead to inconsistencies.

Smart DR and Nutanix Files

According to the Nutanix Unified Storage documentation, Smart DR is specifically tailored for Nutanix Files to enable replication of file shares for disaster recovery. The key evidence comes from the NCP-US and NUSA course materials, which state:

"NUS also offers Smart DR to facilitateshare-level data replicationand file server-level disaster recovery."

(Reference: Nutanix Unified Storage Administration (NUSA) Study Guide, Section on Disaster Recovery Features for Nutanix Files)

This excerpt explicitly indicates that Smart DR performs replication at theshare level. In Nutanix Files, a share is a logical entity that groups files and directories together, accessible via protocols like SMB (Server Message Block) for Windows environments or NFS (Network File System) for UNIX/Linux environments. When configuring Smart DR, administrators select specific shares to replicate to a remote site, ensuring that the entire share—including all its files and directory structures—is replicated as a single unit. This approach maintains data consistency and simplifies recovery by allowing the entire share to be restored in a disaster scenario.

Why Not the Other Options?

Volume: While Nutanix Volumes (block storage) supports replication through features like Protection Domains or asynchronous replication, Smart DR is not documented as a feature for block storage replication. Protection Domains, for instance, operate at the VM or volume group level, not under the Smart DR umbrella. Thus, "Volume" is not the correct granularity for Smart DR.

Bucket: In Nutanix Objects (object storage), replication can occur at the bucket level, but this is managed through different mechanisms, such as object replication policies, not Smart DR. The documentation does not associate Smart DR with bucket-level replication, making "Bucket" incorrect.

File: Replicating individual files would be highly granular and impractical for disaster recovery, as it risks inconsistencies (e.g., missing related files or directory structures). While Nutanix Files supports file-level operations, Smart DR does not allow administrators to configure replication for individual files within a share. The replication unit is the share itself, ruling out "File."

Configuration in Practice

In the Nutanix Prism interface, when setting up Smart DR for Nutanix Files, administrators define replication policies by selecting specific file shares. The process involves:

Identifying the source file server and the shares to replicate.

Configuring a remote target (e.g., another Nutanix Files instance).

Scheduling replication to ensure data is copied to the DR site.

This is consistent with the NUSA course, which emphasizes that:

"Smart DR enables administrators to configure replication at the share level, ensuring that all data within the share is protected and recoverable."

(Reference: Nutanix Unified Storage (NCP-US) Study Guide, Module on Configuring Disaster Recovery)

Clarifying Scope

While Nutanix Unified Storage encompasses file, object, and block services, Smart DR is distinctly a feature of Nutanix Files. For object storage (Nutanix Objects), replication is handled at the bucket level via separate features, and for block storage (Nutanix Volumes), replication uses mechanisms like synchronous or asynchronous replication at the volume group level. However, the question specifically pertains to Smart DR, and the documentation consistently ties this feature to share-level replication.

Conclusion

The level of granularity for Smart DR replication is theshare, as it replicates entire file shares within Nutanix Files to ensure data consistency and effective disaster recovery. Among the provided options—Volume, Bucket, Share, and File—the correct answer is "Share," corresponding to option C.