NCSE-Core Nutanix Certified Systems Engineer-Core (NCSE-Core 6.8) Questions and Answers

Manual Sizing Considerations:

Switching to manual mode requires a more detailed consideration of various factors to ensure the configuration meets the desired requirements.

Key Considerations:

N + 1 Availability:

Explanation: Ensures high availability and fault tolerance by adding redundancy. This means the system can tolerate the failure of one node without impacting the overall system availability.

Concerns Addressed:

Product Supportability: Addressing the prospect's concerns about support and partnership is critical.

TSAnet:

TSAnet(Technical Support Alliance Network) is an industry cooperative that provides multi-vendor support. Nutanix's participation in TSAnet ensures coordinated support efforts across vendors, including HPE (Nutanix Support Resources)​​.

Nutanix Software Only HCL:

TheNutanix Software Only Hardware Compatibility List (HCL)provides a comprehensive list of supported hardware, ensuring that Nutanix software can be reliably deployed on HPE servers. This official documentation helps counter FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt) by verifying compatibility (Nutanix HCL)​​.

Conclusion:

Leveraging TSAnet and the Nutanix Software Only HCL provides credible and verifiable evidence to overcome concerns about product supportability and partnership with HPE.

References:

Nutanix TSAnet information

Nutanix Software Only HCL

The Nutanix Collector provides performance data over the previous 7 days. This allows for a comprehensive analysis of the environment's performance trends and helps in making informed sizing and configuration decisions.

Data Collection:

Nutanix Collector gathers data points related to CPU, memory, storage, and network usage over a 7-day period.

Analysis Period:

A 7-day data collection period ensures that the analysis captures the variability and peak usage patterns, providing a reliable basis for infrastructure planning.

Usage:

This period is user-friendly and sufficient to identify performance bottlenecks, resource utilization patterns, and to validate that the proposed solution will meet the customer’s requirements.

References:

Nutanix Collector documentation and usage guidelines.

Best practices for performance monitoring and analysis.

The Prism Dashboard's "Analysis" section should be used to collect CPU, Memory, and Disk I/O statistics over time. This dashboard provides detailed performance analysis for clusters and managed objects, enabling administrators to monitor and analyze various metrics over a specified period. The Analysis section is designed to help identify trends, performance bottlenecks, and potential issues by offering a comprehensive view of the system's performance data.

References:

Nutanix Bible​

Current User Metrics:

The financial institution has 5000 named VDI users.

Peak concurrent users are 2800.

Growth Factor Calculation:

To account for growth, an additional 10% needs to be added to the peak concurrent users.

Calculation: 2800 concurrent users * 1.10 = 3080 users.

Conclusion:

The SE should size the VDI environment for 3080 VMs to accommodate current and near-future needs.

References:

VDI sizing guidelines from Nutanix best practices.

Growth factor considerations from industry standards.

To address the customer's concern about meeting storage requirements without significantly increasing the number of ESXi hosts and licenses, the systems engineer should review the capability of positioning storage-only nodes.

Storage-Only Nodes: Nutanix allows the addition of storage-only nodes to a cluster. These nodes contribute additional storage capacity without requiring extra ESXi licenses since they do not run VMs.

Seamless Integration: Storage-only nodes integrate seamlessly into the existing Nutanix cluster, providing additional storage while leveraging the same management interface.

Cost Efficiency: By adding storage-only nodes, the customer can meet their storage requirements without increasing the number of compute nodes and thus avoid additional ESXi licensing costs.

References:

Nutanix Storage Solutions: Detailed explanation of storage-only nodes and their integration.

Nutanix Community Documentation: Examples and best practices for adding storage-only nodes to a cluster.

To maintain optimal metadata balance and data availability, and to meet the requirements for storage capacity, memory, and CPU cores, the recommended configuration should align closely with the existing node configurations while providing the necessary resources.

A. 2x NX-3060-G5 - 2x E5-2620v4 processors, 128GB RAM, 2x 960GB SSDs, 4x 2TB HDDs:

Adding two additional NX-3060-G5 nodes with the same specifications as the existing nodes ensures uniformity and maintains metadata balance and data availability.

This configuration provides enough additional storage capacity, memory, and CPU cores to accommodate the new workloads.

References:

Nutanix documentation on cluster expansion and the importance of maintaining uniform node configurations for optimal performance and reliability.

Shadow Clones:

Shadow Clones are a Nutanix feature designed to enhance performance for read-heavy workloads like VDI during peak operations such as boot storms.

This feature ensures that frequently accessed data is available locally on all nodes, significantly reducing latency and improving read performance during boot operations​​​​.

Implementation Benefits:

Minimizes the boot time for linked clone desktops during shift changes.

Enhances overall user experience by reducing the I/O bottleneck during mass reboots

When using the Sizer in Automatic mode, it can provide various configurations based on the specified workload and capacity requirements. The following configurations are possible:

6x NX-8055-G7:

Each node has 2 x 7.68TB SSDs and 10x 6TB HDDs.

This configuration balances high-performance SSDs with large-capacity HDDs, suitable for mixed workload environments.

4x NX-1075S-G7 + 4x NX-8035-G7:

NX-1075S-G7 nodes have 4x 3.85TB SSDs each.

NX-8035-G7 nodes have 6x 3.84TB SSDs each.

This combination provides high SSD storage capacity across different node types, optimized for performance-intensive workloads.

References:

Nutanix Sizer Documentation: Details on how the Sizer tool calculates and recommends configurations.

Nutanix Hardware Specifications: Specifications for different node models and their storage capabilities.

Understanding Critical Requirements:

For critical business operations, high availability, performance, and redundancy are essential to ensure minimal downtime and robust performance.

NX-1065S-G5 Node Specifications:

C. Inline compression:

Inline compression compresses data as it is written to the storage, reducing the amount of storage used and improving capacity utilization immediately. This is highly effective for reducing the storage footprint of a Splunk workload.

D. Capacity tier de-duplication:

Capacity tier de-duplication eliminates duplicate copies of data, further reducing the storage requirements. This is particularly useful for environments with repetitive data patterns, like log files generated by Splunk.

References:

Nutanix documentation and best practices on storage capacity optimization highlight the use of inline compression and de-duplication as key techniques for reducing storage usage and improving overall storage efficiency.

To tolerate the simultaneous failure of two nodes or drives, the Nutanix cluster must have a minimum of 5 nodes configured with a cluster redundancy factor (RF) of 3 and a container RF of 3. This configuration provides sufficient redundancy to withstand multiple concurrent failures while maintaining data availability and integrity​​.

For a prospective customer concerned about the suitability and design of using Nutanix for an Avaya IP Office migration, the appropriate document to provide is a Reference Architecture.

Definition:

A Reference Architecture document provides a detailed technical blueprint, including the design, configuration, and deployment guidelines specific to an application or solution.

Content Relevance:

It includes validated configurations and best practices that have been tested and recommended by Nutanix for running Avaya IP Office.

This document will address concerns about performance, reliability, and integration specific to Avaya IP Office.

Design Validation:

Reference Architectures are created based on real-world implementations and are designed to ensure that the proposed solution will meet the customer’s requirements.

References:

Nutanix Reference Architecture documents and guidelines.

Avaya IP Office deployment guides on Nutanix platforms.

Customer Concern:

The concern is that VMs may be forced to repeatedly migrate between nodes during a Nutanix cluster upgrade.

Nutanix Feature:

CVM Autopathing: This feature ensures continuous VM operation by dynamically rerouting I/O and network traffic during node maintenance or upgrades.

Explanation:

CVM Autopathingallows VMs to remain on their current hosts while the Controller VM (CVM) handles the necessary I/O redirection.

This minimizes the need for VM migrations, thereby reducing the operational impact during upgrades.

Outcome:

VMs can remain on their original hosts throughout the AOS upgrade process, ensuring minimal disruption and maintaining performance stability.

References: For more details on CVM Autopathing and its operational benefits, refer to Nutanix documentation on cluster maintenance and upgrade best practices.

Three valid configuration scenarios for deploying Prism Central include:

Environments use Network Address Translation (NAT): Prism Central can be deployed in environments where NAT is used to manage network addresses.

Prism Elements and Prism Central are in different subnets: It is possible to configure Prism Central and Prism Elements in different subnets as long as network connectivity is maintained.

Environments do not have Internet access: Prism Central can be deployed and operated in environments that do not have direct Internet access, relying instead on internal network configurations and management​​.

CVM (Controller VM) Autopathing allows workloads to continue running on the host during an AOS (Acropolis Operating System) upgrade. This feature ensures that the I/O operations are redirected to other healthy CVMs in the cluster if the local CVM is temporarily unavailable during the upgrade process. This seamless redirection ensures that there is no disruption to the workloads, maintaining continuous operations and high availability during upgrades.

References:

Nutanix Bible​

To confirm if a non-AHV hypervisor is supported on a specific AOS version, the information can be found on the Nutanix Support Portal under the Compatibility Matrix section. The Compatibility Matrix provides detailed information on supported hypervisor versions for different AOS versions.

Log in to the Nutanix Support Portal.

Navigate to the Compatibility Matrix:

The Compatibility Matrix is typically found under the "Support" or "Resources" section.

Select the AOS Version:

Choose the specific AOS version you are using or planning to upgrade to.

Check Supported Hypervisor Versions:

The matrix will list all compatible hypervisor versions for the selected AOS version. Verify that the desired hypervisor version is listed.

References:

Nutanix Support Portal documentation on compatibility and interoperability.

Nutanix Bible and official user guides for details on AOS and hypervisor support.

A. Self-healing infrastructure:

Nutanix provides a self-healing infrastructure that automatically detects and recovers from hardware failures, minimizing the need for on-site intervention. This is crucial for retail locations where on-site staff may not be qualified to handle hardware issues.

C. Prism Central:

Prism Central allows for centralized management of multiple Nutanix clusters across different locations. This simplifies management and reduces operational complexity, especially for environments with numerous sites like the 100 retail locations.

References:

Nutanix Prism documentation and self-healing infrastructure features provide detailed information on how these capabilities simplify management and enhance reliability for distributed environments

Nutanix Era is a tool that provides database management with one-click operations for provisioning, patching, and managing databases. It includes capabilities for self-service and lifecycle management for both Kubernetes containers and SQL databases, making it ideal for building a private cloud for internal developers. Era simplifies database operations and integrates seamlessly with Nutanix infrastructure to provide a comprehensive solution for database lifecycle management.

References:

Nutanix Bible​

Customer Requirement:

Failover capability to a secondary datacenter with an RPO and RTO of no more than 15 minutes.

Round trip latency between sites can reach up to 6ms.

Nutanix Feature:

NearSync: This feature provides a low RPO/RTO disaster recovery solution with support for low-latency inter-site communication.

Explanation:

NearSyncallows for frequent asynchronous replication with very low RPOs (as low as 1 minute) and ensures rapid recovery times.

It is designed to handle round trip latencies up to 6ms, making it suitable for the customer’s inter-site latency requirements.

Outcome:

NearSync will enable the customer to meet their stringent RPO and RTO requirements, ensuring that VMs can be powered on in the secondary datacenter quickly in the event of a primary datacenter failure.

References: For further details on NearSync capabilities and configuration, refer to Nutanix documentation on disaster recovery and NearSync features.

For a prospect interested in evaluating Nutanix at no cost for a few months using existing test hardware:

Requirement Analysis:

The prospect wants a free evaluation.

They intend to use their existing hardware.

Their focus is on experiencing platform management rather than performance.

Feature Analysis:

Nutanix NX POC: Provides a proof of concept using Nutanix hardware, which might not align with the prospect's desire to use existing hardware.

Nutanix Community Edition (CE): A free, fully functional version of Nutanix AOS that can be installed on existing hardware. It is intended for non-production use and allows users to experience the management features of Nutanix.

Nutanix Go: A subscription-based service providing Nutanix hardware and software, not suitable for a no-cost evaluation.

Nutanix Test Drive: Offers a short-term, hands-on experience in a hosted environment, but does not allow for an extended evaluation using the prospect's hardware.

Conclusion: Nutanix Community Edition is the best option for the prospect as it allows a no-cost, extended evaluation using their existing hardware and focuses on platform management capabilities.

References:

Nutanix Community Edition documentation​

Customer Concern:

The customer is concerned about having a single-pane-of-glass management interface being a single-point-of-failure.

Nutanix Prism Architecture:

Prism: The management interface for Nutanix clusters, designed to run on every Controller VM (CVM) in the cluster.

Explanation:

Distributed Architecture: Prism is not a single-point-of-failure because it runs on every CVM within the cluster.

High Availability: If one CVM fails, Prism services continue to operate on the remaining CVMs, ensuring continuous management availability.

Outcome:

The distributed nature of Prism running on every CVM mitigates the risk of a single-point-of-failure, addressing the customer's concern effectively.

References: For more details, refer to Nutanix documentation on Prism architecture and high availability features.

Evaluating the Situation:

The prospect has concerns about AHV due to FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt) and requires further validation despite a demo and case studies.

Additional Options to Address FUD:

X-Ray:

Explanation: X-Ray is a Nutanix tool designed to simulate real-world scenarios and workloads, providing automated and comprehensive testing to validate the performance and capabilities of AHV.

The Curator service in a Nutanix cluster is responsible for distributing storage optimization tasks. This includes managing and distributing tasks such as disk balancing, proactive scrubbing, compression, deduplication, and erasure coding.

Task Distribution: Curator runs on every node and is controlled by an elected Curator Leader who is responsible for task and job delegation.

Scan Types: Curator performs full scans every six hours and partial scans every hour to ensure optimal storage performance and resource utilization.

Optimization Activities: The service ensures efficient data placement and storage utilization across the cluster.

References:

Nutanix Bible: Provides an in-depth explanation of Curator and its role in the cluster​​.

Nutanix Documentation: Further details on the operations and management of Curator tasks.

D. Automatic Workload Repository Report:

The Automatic Workload Repository (AWR) report provides comprehensive details about Oracle database performance, workload characteristics, and resource utilization. This report is crucial for accurately sizing an environment that includes production Oracle databases.

AWR reports contain historical data on system performance and are used to identify trends, workload patterns, and potential bottlenecks. This information is essential for determining the appropriate resources needed to support the Oracle databases in the Nutanix environment.

References:

Nutanix documentation and Oracle best practices for database sizing recommend using AWR reports for accurate performance and capacity planning.

Current Configuration:

The customer has a 3-node cluster configured for RF2 with 100TB of raw disk space.

Erasure Coding Requirements:

Erasure Coding (EC-X) improves storage efficiency by using a parity-based method to store data.

For EC-X to be enabled, a minimum of 4 nodes is required in the cluster.

Explanation:

RF2 (Replication Factor 2): Requires data to be replicated across at least two nodes.

Erasure Coding: Requires additional nodes beyond the replication factor to store parity information. In this case, a minimum of 4 nodes is needed to implement EC-X.

Required Change:

Add 1 Node: Adding one more node to the existing 3-node cluster will meet the minimum requirement of 4 nodes, allowing the customer to enable Erasure Coding.

Outcome:

By adding an additional node, the cluster will be able to utilize Erasure Coding, thereby gaining additional usable space.

A prospective customer wants to build a private cloud and provision workloads across multiple public cloud providers but lacks the time and skillset for on-premises infrastructure management. Here is the detailed explanation of the features qualifying this project as a Nutanix opportunity:

Requirement Analysis:

Private cloud setup.

Provisioning across multiple public clouds.

Limited time and skillset for managing on-premises infrastructure.

Feature Analysis:

Flow: Provides network micro-segmentation and security, but does not directly address cloud management or simplicity in operations.

Calm: Nutanix Calm provides application automation and lifecycle management, enabling easy provisioning and management of applications across private and public clouds.

Cloud Connect: Facilitates backup and recovery to public clouds, not specifically for provisioning and ongoing management.

All Flash Nodes: Improves performance but does not address cloud management or ease of use.

Prism 1-Click operations: Offers simplified, automated management and operational tasks through a single interface, reducing the complexity and time required for infrastructure management.

Conclusion:Nutanix Calm and Prism 1-Click operations are the most relevant features as they enable seamless multi-cloud provisioning and management while simplifying the management of on-premises infrastructure.

References:

Nutanix Calm documentation​​

Nutanix Prism documentation​

Terminology

Availability Zone – it is represented by all resources (Nutanix Clusters) connected to Prism Central or Xi Leap Availability zone. Depends on the architecture, Availability zone can represent geographic territory, datacenter or server room in the datacenter. Protection policies – in protection policies you set up (RPO, Retention), rules to auto-apply policies to virtual machines

https://vmwaremine.com/2019/02/08/nutanix-leap-runbooks-part-1/#sthash.V wrzSzhQ.dpbs

A. Data Locality:

The concept of data locality in Nutanix ensures that data is always kept close to the VM that uses it, typically on the same node. This reduces latency and provides high performance comparable to, or exceeding, traditional 16Gb Fibre Channel SAN solutions.

Data locality minimizes the need for data to travel over the network, effectively leveraging 10Gb Ethernet for low-latency and high-throughput operations, addressing the storage administrator’s concerns.

Scenario Understanding:

The administrator needs to verify if all network cards associated with Bridge0 are being utilized in a Nutanix AHV Cluster VDI environment.

Menus to Check Network Configuration:

Option A: Host NICs tab in Hardware menu:

This tab provides detailed information about the physical NICs on each host, including their status, speed, and which bridge they are associated with.

Option B: Host view in Network menu:

This view offers a summary of the network configuration for each host, including the active bridges and the associated NICs. It allows administrators to see if all NICs are being used correctly and if Bridge0 is correctly configured across the hosts.

Evaluation of Other Options:

Option C: 1.0 Metrics tab VM menu:

This option is related to VM metrics and does not provide detailed information on the physical NICs or their utilization.

Option D: Network Configuration item in Setting menu:

This option is used for configuring network settings but does not provide detailed utilization information of the NICs associated with a specific bridge like Bridge0.

Conclusion:

The correct menus to check the current network configuration and utilization of NICs are the Host NICs tab in the Hardware menu and the Host view in the Network menu.

References: Nutanix documentation and guides on network configuration and monitoring in AHV clusters.

Understanding the Context:

The project to migrate to the public cloud was largely unsuccessful, indicating underlying issues that need to be identified.

Effective Open-Ended Questions:

What challenges triggered the public cloud initiative?:

Explanation: This question helps understand the initial pain points and motivations for the migration attempt, providing insight into what problems the company was trying to solve.

Understanding the Requirements:

To improve the performance of an existing Nutanix cluster, it's important to consider the nature of the workloads and the configuration of the virtual machines (VMs).

Workloads are Multi-threaded (Option A):

Multi-threaded workloads can take advantage of multiple CPU cores, which helps in parallel processing and improves overall performance.

Nutanix clusters benefit from workloads that can efficiently utilize multiple threads since the underlying hypervisor (AHV or ESXi) can allocate multiple vCPUs to VMs, enhancing their performance capabilities.

VMs have more than one vCPU (Option D):

Assigning more than one vCPU to VMs allows them to process multiple instructions simultaneously, leveraging the multi-core capabilities of the physical CPUs.

This configuration is particularly beneficial for performance-sensitive applications that require more computing power and can significantly improve the performance of VMs on the Nutanix cluster.

Analysis of Other Options:

Option B: VMs have one vCPU configured:

This option limits the VMs to a single CPU core, which can bottleneck performance for multi-threaded applications and is not optimal for performance improvement.

Option C: VMs have multi-queue disable:

Disabling multi-queue can reduce the network performance by limiting the ability of the VMs to handle multiple network queues, which can be detrimental to performance.

Conclusion:

Therefore, to achieve greater performance, ensuring that workloads are multi-threaded and VMs are configured with more than one vCPU are the optimal strategies.

References: Nutanix documentation emphasizes the importance of configuring VMs with multiple vCPUs and supporting multi-threaded workloads to maximize performance in Nutanix clusters.

Within RVtools, the "vDisk" tab provides actual utilization information on thick provisioned disks. This tab displays detailed information about the virtual disks, including their size, provisioning type, and utilization metrics. Administrators can use this information to analyze disk usage and plan capacity accordingly.

References:

Nutanix Community Edition Getting Started Guide​

Understanding RVTools Output:

RVTools provides detailed information on the storage usage of virtual machines, including provisioned, used, and free space.

Determining Storage Requirements:

Aggregate Workload Sizing: The SE must consider the total storage requirements, including current usage and future growth, to ensure the Nutanix Cluster can handle the workload.

Value Selection:

15 TB: Likely insufficient for a sizable environment.

24 TB: More significant but may still be insufficient for larger deployments.

37 TB: Appears to be a reasonable estimate for a substantial workload, considering both current usage and future growth.

39 TB: Very close but slightly overestimated compared to typical recommendations.

Conclusion:

The most accurate representation of the minimum required storage capacity for the aggregate workload in sizer is37 TB.

References:

Nutanix Sizing Guidelines.

RVTools Documentation.

Understanding the Requirement for Timely Notifications:

Customers need timely notifications about significant product issues to ensure they can take proactive measures to maintain the stability and security of their environments.

Field Advisory Notifications:

Explanation: Field advisories provide critical information regarding product issues, updates, and patches. Registering for email notifications ensures customers receive these advisories promptly and directly.

Register for Field Advisory Email Notifications:

Steps to Register:

Visit the Nutanix Support Portal: Customers should visit the Nutanix support portal at portal.nutanix.com.

Create or Log in to Account: Ensure they have an active account on the support portal.

Subscribe to Notifications: Navigate to the subscription section and register for email notifications for field advisories.

Other Options Considered:

Visit the nutanix.com website: Useful for general information but not specific for timely field advisories.

Open Prism Element > Gear icon Menu > Field Advisories: Provides access to advisories but does not facilitate proactive notifications.

Visit the Portal.nutanix.com website > Documentation Tab > Security Advisories: Accesses advisories but requires manual checking rather than receiving timely updates.

Conclusion:

To ensure timely and proactive notifications, customers shouldregister for Field Advisory email notifications.

References:

Nutanix Support Portal.

Field Advisories Notification Setup.

Industry Regulatory Compliance:

Nutanix SCMA automates the enforcement of security policies and compliance requirements across the infrastructure.

This reduces the manual effort required to maintain compliance with industry regulations, addressing the customer's concern about man-hour requirements​​​​.

SCMA Features:

Automates security configurations and monitoring.

Ensures consistent application of security policies and compliance requirements​​​​.

References:

Nutanix Security and Compliance Documentation​​.

Industry practices for automation in security management​​.

To address the VP of Applications' initiative to transform IT from a cost center to a business enabler, the following key benefits should be reviewed:

On-Premises Cloud-Like Experience:

Benefit: Nutanix provides an infrastructure that delivers a cloud-like experience on-premises. This includes easy scalability, high availability, and efficient resource utilization, which helps in reducing the time and expenses related to meeting business deliverables.

Impact: This transformation ensures rapid deployment and management of applications, which in turn enhances business agility and reduces the dependency on slow IT response times.

Self-Service Portal:

Benefit: Nutanix offers a native and integrated Self-Service Portal that allows developers and business units to provision and manage resources on demand. This capability is crucial for reducing shadow IT and controlling unplanned spending on public cloud services.

Impact: By providing an easy-to-use, scalable portal, developers can quickly respond to business needs, reducing the time to market for new opportunities and innovations.

References:

Nutanix Documentation on Self-Service Portal and Cloud-Like Experience.

Nutanix Customer Success Stories on Transforming IT.

To ensure the solution does not exceed 80% CPU utilization when a node is placed in maintenance mode, the SE should:

Access Sizer: Open the Nutanix Sizer tool.

Create New Scenario: Start a new scenario for the project.

Define Workload: Enter the details of the current workload, specifying resource requirements.

Customize CPU Threshold:

In the sizing options, customize the CPU threshold to 80%. This setting ensures that the calculated resources account for keeping CPU utilization at or below 80% when a node is taken out of the pool for maintenance (N+0).

Review Configuration: Verify that the proposed configuration meets the 80% CPU utilization requirement under maintenance conditions.

This approach ensures that the solution is appropriately sized to handle the specified workload without exceeding the desired CPU utilization threshold.

References:

Nutanix Sizer documentation and guides.

Best practices for configuring CPU thresholds and resource allocation.

Intermittent connectivity issues for Linux VMs connected to Nutanix Volumes can often be attributed to SCSI timeout settings. Windows VMs may have different default settings that are more forgiving under latency or connectivity issues.

SCSI Timeout: Adjusting the SCSI timeout value on Linux VMs ensures that temporary disruptions in connectivity do not result in immediate I/O errors. A longer timeout period allows the system to recover from transient issues without impacting the VM's operation.

Separate Subnet: Using separate subnets is more relevant for network traffic isolation and may not directly address the SCSI timeout-related issues.

Additional Disks: Adding more disks can help with capacity and IOPS but is unlikely to resolve intermittent connectivity issues.

Jumbo Frames: Utilizing jumbo frames can enhance network performance but typically requires end-to-end support and configuration, which may not directly address the connectivity issues.

By setting the SCSI timeout value to 60, the Linux VMs will be able to handle transient connectivity issues more gracefully, reducing the impact on performance and stability.

References:

Nutanix Bible, Best Practices for VM Configuration​​.

Nutanix-NDB-User-Guide, Configuring VM settings for connectivity​​.

Understanding FIPS 140-2 Level 2 Requirements:

FIPS 140-2 is a U.S. government standard that specifies security requirements for cryptographic modules. Level 2 adds requirements for tamper-evidence and role-based authentication.

Required Items for FIPS 140-2 Level 2 Compliance:

Self-Encrypting Drives (SEDs):

Explanation: SEDs automatically encrypt data at rest, meeting the encryption standards required by FIPS 140-2 Level 2.

The status shown in the exhibit within the Hardware Diagram section indicates a critical hardware issue that needs immediate attention.

Reseat Disks/Nodes: While reseating might help with connectivity issues, it should be performed with caution and typically after consulting support to avoid data loss or further complications.

Resolve Alerts and Re-import Disks: This step is useful but secondary to ensuring that applications are not negatively impacted. Immediate action should focus on stability and minimizing downtime.

Restart CVMs: Restarting CVMs might help but could also disrupt services and should be a last resort after consulting with support.

Application Status and Support: Checking the status of applications ensures that any critical services are not interrupted, and calling support provides access to Nutanix's expertise to address the hardware issue effectively.

Given the critical nature of hardware issues and the potential impact on the cluster, contacting support while checking the application status is the best course of action to ensure a safe and effective resolution.

References:

Nutanix Bible, Troubleshooting Hardware Issues​​.

Nutanix-NDB-User-Guide, Handling Critical Hardware Alerts​​.

In the provided scenario, to meet the performance requirements and avoid any reduction in performance of the web servers, the systems engineer needs to adjust the CPU configuration. By switching to manual sizing and changing the CPUs of the node configuration to a dual 10 core model, the CPU resources will be sufficient to handle the workload without performance degradation​

Understanding Customer Requirements:

The customer needs to run z/Virtual Machine (z/VM) for mission-critical workloads.

Nutanix Support:

z/OS and z/VM Support: Nutanix currently does not support IBM mainframe environments, including z/OS and z/VM.

To address concerns about restoring data locality for VMs after they migrate during an AHV upgrade, it should be highlighted that AHV's built-in scheduler automatically restores data locality. This means that after the VM migration, the scheduler ensures that the VM data is moved to the local storage of the destination node, thereby maintaining optimal performance and data locality​​.

For network switch discovery in Prism, the following settings are required:

Switch Management IP Address: This is necessary to access and manage the network switch.

AHV Host IP address: This helps in identifying the hosts connected to the network.

SNMP Community Name: This is used for SNMP protocol to monitor and manage the network devices​​​​.

To address the performance concerns of a prospective customer evaluating a hybrid configuration versus an all-flash array, the following Nutanix features should be discussed:

Data Locality:

Nutanix ensures that data is kept local to the node where the VM is running. This reduces latency and increases performance by minimizing the distance data must travel over the network.

Automatic Data Tiering:

Nutanix can automatically move frequently accessed data to faster storage tiers (e.g., SSDs) and less frequently accessed data to slower storage tiers (e.g., HDDs). This ensures that critical data gets the performance benefits of faster storage without the need for an entirely all-flash array.

References:

Nutanix Bible​

To decrease costs and increase efficiency by eliminating NAS silos and adopting a cloud-like mindset, Nutanix Files is the appropriate product. Nutanix Files provides scalable, distributed file storage that integrates with the Nutanix ecosystem, offering efficient management and eliminating the need for separate NAS devices​​.

Federal Government Encryption Requirements:

Compliance with strict encryption standards such as FIPS 140-2 is mandatory.

Required Items:

Self-Encrypting Drives (SEDs): Provide hardware-level encryption ensuring data at rest is encrypted.

Supported Key Management Server (KMS): Manages encryption keys in a secure and compliant manner.

Licensing and Software:

Nutanix Acropolis Pro Licensing: Necessary for certain advanced features but not directly related to meeting encryption standards.

Nutanix Software Encryption: Useful but hardware encryption (SEDs) and a supported KMS are essential for compliance.

References:

Nutanix documentation on security and compliance.

Federal encryption standards and best practices.

In addition to the total number of physical CPU cores, the cost of Capacity Based Licensing for a Nutanix Cluster is calculated using the RAW total storage in TiB. This approach ensures that both computational and storage resources are accounted for when determining the licensing costs.

Physical CPU Cores: The number of physical CPU cores is the primary factor in the licensing cost calculation.

Raw Total Storage: This includes the total raw capacity of all storage devices (both SSDs and HDDs) present in the cluster, measured in tebibytes (TiB).

References:

Nutanix Licensing Guide: Details the parameters considered for capacity-based licensing.

Nutanix Community and Support Documentation: Provides insights into licensing models and their components.

A. Option A:

To configure Sizer for a scenario that requires offsite backup but not remote disaster recovery, with an RTO of 48 hours, RPO of 4 hours, and the ability to restore from the past 5 days of backups, the SE needs to ensure that the Sizer settings reflect these requirements.

Given the prospect's data change rate of 1%, the SE should configure Sizer to handle the daily backup data and the total data retention period. Option A likely represents the configuration that meets these parameters.

References:

Nutanix Sizer tool guidelines and documentation on configuring backup and data retention settings provide the necessary steps to ensure the configuration meets the specified RTO and RPO requirements.

Understanding the Prospect's Current Setup:

The prospect relies on RAID 10 for redundancy and full capacity utilization, requiring immediate response to disk failures due to the lack of hot spares.

Nutanix Replication Factor (RF):

Automatic Data Re-Protection:

Explanation: Nutanix's RF automatically re-protects data across the cluster using available capacity. This means if a disk fails, the system automatically redistributes the data, maintaining redundancy without manual intervention.

In Nutanix Files (formerly known as Acropolis File Services or AFS) 3.5, home shares require a multi-FSVM deployment to function correctly. A single FSVM deployment does not support the configuration of home shares.

Single FSVM Limitation: A single FSVM deployment lacks the necessary redundancy and performance capabilities required for supporting home shares. Home shares require multiple FSVMs to provide high availability and load balancing, which is essential for managing user home directories effectively.

Home Shares Configuration: Home shares are designed to distribute user data across multiple nodes to ensure availability and performance. This distribution requires at least three FSVMs in a typical deployment setup.

Troubleshooting: When home shares cannot be configured, one of the first checks is to ensure that the deployment consists of the required number of FSVMs. In this case, the deployment having only a single FSVM directly explains the issue.

References:

Nutanix Bible, Section on File Services and Multi-FSVM requirements​​.

Nutanix-NDB-User-Guide, Network Requirements for Nutanix File Deployments​​.

Customer Requirement:

Data-at-Rest-Encryption for all data.

License Options:

Pro with the Encryption SKU: This option allows customers to add encryption capabilities to the Pro tier.

Ultimate: This tier includes built-in encryption features, providing comprehensive data security.

Explanation:

Pro with the Encryption SKU: Customers using the Pro tier can enhance their security by purchasing the additional Encryption SKU, which enables Data-at-Rest-Encryption.

Ultimate: This tier natively includes encryption, offering an all-in-one solution for customers requiring high levels of data security without additional SKUs.

Outcome:

Customers can choose either of these two licensing options to meet their Data-at-Rest-Encryption requirements, ensuring that all their data is securely encrypted.

References: For detailed licensing information and encryption capabilities, refer to Nutanix documentation on security features and licensing tiers.

Oracle Database Performance:

Oracle databases can benefit from higher CPU clock speeds as database operations are often CPU-intensive.

Best Practice Consideration:

Higher Clock Speed: Ensuring the nodes have CPUs with higher clock speeds can improve the performance of the Oracle database, particularly for operations that are single-threaded or depend on faster processing speed.

Fewer Cores: While core count is important, the clock speed has a more significant impact on Oracle database performance due to the nature of database operations.

Explanation:

CPU Selection: Nodes with higher clock speeds and fewer cores can provide better performance for Oracle databases compared to nodes with more cores but lower clock speeds.

This is because Oracle databases often benefit more from faster CPU cycles for transactional and query processing.

Outcome:

Choosing nodes with higher clock speeds and fewer cores will ensure optimal performance for the Oracle database deployment on Nutanix.

References: Refer to Nutanix best practices for database performance optimization and Oracle database deployment guidelines.

When calculating the required cluster resources with only the Raw input workload type for a multi-VM workload in Sizer, the following items are considered:

The vCPU

ratio applied for specific VMs: This ratio helps determine the number of physical cores needed based on the virtual CPU requirements of the VMs.

Large VM NUMA requirements: Non-Uniform Memory Access (NUMA) requirements ensure that large VMs are allocated memory and CPU resources in a way that optimizes performance and resource utilization .

A. Native convergence of traditional infrastructure:

Start by explaining how Nutanix converges traditional server, storage, and networking into a single platform, simplifying infrastructure management and reducing complexity.

Scalable distributed system:

Next, highlight the scalable nature of Nutanix’s distributed system, which can easily expand to meet the growing needs of the prospect’s environment.

Data locality and distributed data:

Discuss the benefits of data locality and distributed data management, ensuring high performance and efficient resource utilization.

Application automation with Calm:

Introduce Nutanix Calm for application automation, streamlining the deployment and management of applications across the infrastructure.

Xi Cloud Services:

Conclude with Nutanix Xi Cloud Services, providing additional flexibility and extending the capabilities of the on-premises infrastructure to the cloud.

References:

Nutanix First Customer Presentation guidelines and best practices for presenting Nutanix’s value proposition to prospects.