Nutanix NCS-Core - Nutanix Certified Services Core Infrastructure Professional (NCS-Core 6.8)

Nutanix AHV uses Open vSwitch (OVS) for network configuration. When bond modes are misconfigured, network instability can occur.

Option A (balance-slb) sets the bond mode to Source Load Balancing (SLB), which is an active-active mode without LACP.

Option D (balance-tcp with LACP) enables active-active mode with LACP, improving failover and bandwidth utilization.

Option B (setting VLAN tag=0) is unrelated to bond mode configuration.

Option C (disabling virtual switch) would disrupt network connectivity.

Given that the customer is using a Cisco Nexus 9k switch and wants to deploy ESXi with a vSphere Distributed Switch while using LACP, the consultant should ensure that the customer configures:

D. no lacp suspend-individual: This command ensures that LACP doesn't suspend the individual port if it does not receive LACP PDUs from the other side, which is crucial in environments where continuous connectivity is required for all member links of the port-channel to maintain uninterrupted network services.

References:

Nutanix Bible (https://www.nutanixbible.com ), where it discusses ESXi configurations and switch settings.

Cisco Nexus configuration guides, referred through Nutanix’s training materials, which recommend settings for optimal integration with Nutanix environments.

The issue of VMs not being able to ping the default gateway from a newly created VM network on VLAN 20, while the Nutanix cluster uses VLAN 10, most likely stems from the switch port configuration. For the VMs on VLAN 20 to communicate outside their local network, the switch port to which the Nutanix nodes are connected must be configured as a trunk. This configuration allows multiple VLANs to coexist on the same physical port and enables routing between them. Without the trunk setup, the VLAN 20 traffic is restricted and cannot reach the network beyond the switch, including the default gateway.References: Nutanix Network Configuration Guide, Best Practices for VLAN Configurations.SZXCDESX

In a Nutanix Files deployment within a 20-node AHV cluster, the consultant can deploy a maximum of 16 FSVMs (File Server Virtual Machines). This limitation is based on Nutanix's best practices and design considerations for scalability and performance. The number of FSVMs that can be effectively managed and maintained without degrading the performance of the file-serving operations or the underlying storage infrastructure dictates this maximum.

References:

Nutanix Certified Services - Core (NCS-Core) Learning Documents

Nutanix Bible: https://www.nutanixbible.com

Nutanix University Videos: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAHgaS9IrJecs_AcQT3Y7vSsKT2mjz3Iu

If ESXi 6.5 is not available as one of the choices for hypervisor during the Foundation process, the consultant should upload the ESXi image to the specific directory where Foundation expects to find hypervisor images. The correct path for this operation is /home/Nutanix/foundation/isos/hypervisor/esx. This allows the Foundation tool to detect and use the ESXi image for installation on the nodes.References: Nutanix Foundation Guide, Nutanix Support Documentation.

Ref: https://support-portal.nutanix.com/page/documents/details?targetId=Web-Console-Guide-Prism-v5_10:wc-prote ction-domain-wc-c.html

In the deployment of a two-node cluster at a remote branch office, the presence of a Witness VM is essential to manage the cluster quorum and data integrity in case one of the nodes fails or becomes unreachable. The Witness VM acts as an external arbitrator that helps prevent data unavailability and split-brain scenarios in a situation where the cluster nodes cannot communicate with each other. This configuration is necessary because with only two nodes, there isn't a third node to maintain quorum natively.References: Nutanix Bible, Nutanix University

To ensure that the Foundation Applet is up-to-date across all nodes, the best approach is to use the Foundation VM. The Foundation VM allows consultants to manage and upgrade Foundation on all nodes centrally. This method avoids the necessity of manual upgrades on each node individually, thus ensuring a more efficient and error-free process, aligning with Nutanix's best practices for scalability and management of infrastructure.References: The Nutanix Bible, the Nutanix University's NCS-Core 6.8 materials, and official Nutanix documentation on the Foundation VM.

To ensure the latest version of Foundation is used for imaging to support the latest hardware and software hypervisor configurations, the consultant should utilize the Foundation VM. This tool allows for upgrading the Foundation on all nodes simultaneously, ensuring consistency across the cluster. It streamlines the process by leveraging the existing Foundation infrastructure rather than requiring manual updates via a crash cart or the limited capabilities of the Foundation Applet for single node upgrades.

References:

Nutanix Foundation Documentation: https://portal.nutanix.com

Nutanix Upgrade Guide: Nutanix Foundation Upgrade Process

When a task to place an ESXi host into maintenance mode is stuck and the CVM (Controller Virtual Machine) is not shutting down automatically, the consultant should manually shut down the CVM. The command shutdown -h now is used to halt the system safely. Before executing this command, it is important to ensure that all virtual machines hosted on the CVM have been properly shut down or migrated to avoid any data loss or corruption.

References:

Nutanix Community: CVM maintenance and Host maintenance1

Nutanix Support & Insights documentation on Cluster Management Commands2

Nutanix Support & Insights on AHV Host Maintenance Mode3