Nutanix NCP-MCI-6.5 - Nutanix Certified Professional - Multicloud Infrastructure (NCP-MCI) v6.5 exam

According to the Nutanix Community1, host maintenance mode is used to safely migrate all the user virtual machines (VMs) in the host and make sure no VMs are running on the node. If a VM can’t be migrated to another host, you need to shut down the VM for the host to enter into maintenance mode.

According to The Virtualist2, a storage container is a logical segmentation of a storage pool that can be mounted as an NFS datastore on ESXi hosts. You can choose a replication factor (RF) for each storage container, which determines how many copies of data are stored across different nodes.

The output in the exhibit indicates that the node's network interfaces (eth0-eth3) are bonded together using LACP (Link Aggregation Control Protocol) with 'balance-tcp' as the bonding mode and LACP speed set to 'fast'. For LACP to function correctly, the switch ports to which the node is connected must also be configured to support LACP. If the ports on the upstream switch are not configured for LACP, the bond will not be able to establish properly, and the node will not communicate effectively on the network, making it undiscoverable when attempting to expand the cluster.

The absence of an operational LACP configuration could prevent the new node from joining the existing cluster as the node's network interfaces would not be able to pass traffic correctly. This can be verified by checking the switch configuration to ensure that the ports are set to participate in an LACP bond.

The other options, such as a firewall blocking discovery traffic (Option A) or the node being on different VLANs (Option C), are possible causes for a node not being discovered, but given the specific command output provided, the most likely cause is related to the switch port configuration for LACP. Option D, regarding completing LACP configuration after cluster expansion, is not correct because LACP needs to be operational for the node to communicate with the cluster during the expansion process.

Proper LACP configuration is critical for network communication in a Nutanix AHV cluster, and this is covered in detail in the Nutanix AHV and Networking documentation. It outlines the steps for configuring network bonds and LACP on both the AHV hosts and the connecting network infrastructure.

The node is automatically re-imaged using the software currently running in the cluster. This is because Nutanix supports a feature called Auto Re-Image that allows adding nodes with different AOS versions to an existing cluster without manual intervention. The Auto Re-Image feature detects the AOS version mismatch and automatically downloads and installs the same AOS version as the cluster on the new node. This ensures that the cluster remains in a consistent state and avoids any compatibility issues.

API Explorer page will launch when an administrator presses the letter A on the keyboard after logging into Prism Element. This is one of the keyboard shortcuts that Prism Element provides for accessibility and ease of use1. API Explorer is a tool that allows users to explore and test Nutanix REST APIs within Prism Element1.

https://www.nutanixbible.com/3b-book-of-prism-navigation.html

The critical alerts listed are indicating that the default passwords are still in use for IPMI, the host, and the Controller Virtual Machine (CVM). This suggests that the passwords for these components were not changed from the default during the initial cluster configuration and deployment process, which is a critical security practice.

A. CVM password changes: The alert for the CVM using the default password indicates that the CVM password has not been changed. It is a standard security measure to change default passwords to prevent unauthorized access.

C. Host password changes: Similarly, the alert for the host using the default password indicates that the default password for the host has not been updated. This applies to the passwords used to access the hypervisor host directly.

Changing default passwords is a critical step in securing the Nutanix environment. This is highlighted in Nutanix's best practices and security guidelines, which recommend changing default passwords as part of the initial configuration to ensure that the environment is not left vulnerable to unauthorized access due to known default credentials. This process is typically part of the initial setup procedures outlined in the Nutanix documentation for cluster deployment and security configuration.

The IPMI alert also points to the need for changing default passwords, but since IPMI (Intelligent Platform Management Interface) is not specifically mentioned in the provided options, it falls under the broader category of host-level password changes, which would be covered by option C.

BIOS password changes (Option B) and Password policy changes (Option D) are also important but were not directly flagged by the alerts mentioned. BIOS password changes are usually a separate task and not indicated by the alerts given, while password policy changes are related to the policies governing password complexity and rotation rather than the initial password setup.

According to the web search results, Prism Central is a multi-cluster manager that provides a single, centralized management interface for Nutanix environments12. One of the features of Prism Central is multi-cluster Single Sign On (SSO), which allows users to log in once and access multiple clusters without re-entering credentials3.

inline compression is a technique that compresses all incoming write I/O operations over 4 KB inline in the persistent write buffer (oplog)23. This approach enables you to use oplog capacity more efficiently and helps drive sustained performance2. From AOS 5.18 onward, inline compression (compression delay=0) is enabled by default for all new containers24.

https://portal.nutanix.com/page/documents/solutions/details?targetId=TN-2032-Data-Efficiency:TN-2032-Data-Efficiency

Prism is the central service control used by Nutanix to manage the clusters. It provides a unified view of the entire system, and it is used to control the HTML5 UI, the nCLI, and the REST API. Prism is used to manage the resources of the system, such as the nodes, storage, and networks, as well as to monitor the performance of the system and the applications running on it.

https://www.nutanixbible.com/2f-book-of-basics-cluster-components.html

PrismKey Role: UI and API

·  Prism is the management gateway for components and administrators to configure and monitor the Nutanix cluster.  This includes Ncli, the HTML5 UI, and REST API. 

·  Prism runs on every node in the cluster and uses an elected leader like all components in the cluster. All requests are forwarded to the leader using Linux Iptables. This allows access to PRISM using any CVM Ip address.

·  Prism communicates with Zeus for cluster configuration data and Cassandra for statistics to present to the user. It also communicates with the ESXi hosts for VM status and related information

 

These are only some of the essential services that make up the CVM functionality. For more information on all the services and various Nutanix Cluster components, refer to the portal documentation.