NCP-MCI-6.10 Nutanix Certified Professional - Multicloud Infrastructure (NCP-MCI v6.10) Questions and Answers

The best way to test the performance of a Linux VM that is underperforming at the storage level on an ESXi cluster, while minimizing downtime, is to migrate the VM to an AHV-based cluster. This allows leveraging Nutanix-native storage optimizations and hypervisor capabilities of AHV.

From theNutanix Enterprise Cloud Administration (ECA)course materials:

“AHV and Nutanix storage integration is natively optimized for performance, leveraging capabilities like data locality, I/O path enhancements, and advanced metadata management. Migrating workloads from ESXi to AHV can often resolve performance bottlenecks associated with storage I/O.”

Additionally:

“Using the Nutanix Move tool, administrators can migrate running VMs between different hypervisors (e.g., ESXi to AHV) with minimal downtime and fully automated steps, reducing the operational burden.”

Increasing vCPUs would not address storage-level performance issues, and collapsing disks would require significant reconfiguration and VM downtime. vDisk sharding is not directly user-configurable and not applicable in this scenario.

Nutanix AHV networking documentation explains that high-connection-count workloads can saturate a single network queue, causing receive-side bottlenecks. VirtIO-Net supports Multi-Queue with Receive-Side Scaling (RSS), allowing the VM to distribute packet processing across multiple vCPUs. The documentation states, “Enabling RSS Multi-Queue improves performance for workloads handling a large number of simultaneous network flows by parallelizing packet handling.”

Trunk mode does not solve per-queue packet processing limitations. Adding vNICs is not recommended because the bottleneck is at the queue level, not the number of interfaces. Using the e1000 adapter results in lower performance compared to VirtIO and is discouraged. Therefore, enabling RSS Multi-Queue is the correct performance optimization for a VM handling thousands of client connections.

Multicast traffic can generate unnecessary overhead if it is not properly managed.IGMP Snooping (Option C)ensures thatmulticast packets are only sent to VMs that have requested them, rather than broadcasting to all VMs.

Option C (IGMP Snooping) is correct:

Itreduces unnecessary multicast trafficby ensuring that only subscribed VMs receive the packets.

It is supportednatively in AHV networking.

Option A (LACP) is incorrect:

Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP)improves bandwidth and redundancy but doesnot control multicast traffic.

Option B (UDP) is incorrect:

UDP (User Datagram Protocol) is a transport protocol, not a network optimization feature.

Option D (Network Segmentation) is incorrect:

Segmentation (VLANs, VPCs) isolates networksbut does not optimizemulticast traffic specifically.

The Nutanix ECA course provides guidance on performance monitoring and troubleshooting for VMs, including metrics to analyze when determining whether additional vCPUs are needed. The scenario involves a VM experiencing performance issues, with the cluster performing well overall, suggesting the issue is VM-specific.

Extract from Nutanix Enterprise Cloud Administration (ECA) Course Documents:

Module: Performance Monitoring, Section: VM Performance Metrics"To determine if a VM requires additional vCPUs, analyze VM CPU Usage and VM CPU Ready Time. High CPU Usage indicates the VM is under heavy load, while high CPU Ready Time suggests the VM is waiting for CPU resources, both justifying additional vCPUs."

Module: Troubleshooting, Section: VM Performance Issues"When a VM experiences performance issues, VM CPU Usage and VM CPU Ready Time are critical metrics. CPU Usage shows demand, while CPU Ready Time indicates contention or scheduling delays, helping determine if more vCPUs are warranted."

Explanation of Options:

A. VM CPU UsageThis is correct. VM CPU Usage measures the percentage of CPU resources the VM is consuming. High CPU Usage (e.g., consistently above 80–90%) indicates that the VM is under heavy load and may benefit from additional vCPUs to handle the workload. The ECA course emphasizes:"VM CPU Usage is the primary metric to assess whether a VM’s CPU allocation is sufficient for its workload."

B. VM CPU Ready TimeThis is correct. VM CPU Ready Time measures the time a VM is ready to run but waiting for CPU resources from the hypervisor due to contention or oversubscription. High CPU Ready Time (e.g., above 5–10%) suggests that the VM is not getting enough CPU cycles, and adding vCPUs could alleviate the issue. The ECA course notes:"High VM CPU Ready Time indicates CPU contention, often resolved by adding vCPUs or optimizing resource allocation."

C. Host Memory Swap Out RateThis is incorrect. Host Memory Swap Out Rate indicates memory pressure on the host, causing memory pages to be swapped to disk. While this can affect VM performance, it is unrelated to CPU performance and does not justify adding vCPUs. The ECA course states:"Host Memory Swap Out Rate is relevant for memory-related issues, not CPU allocation decisions."

D. Host CPU UsageThis is incorrect. Host CPU Usage measures the overall CPU utilization of the host, not the specific VM. Since the cluster is performing well overall, high Host CPU Usage is unlikely, and it does not directly indicate whether the VM needs more vCPUs. The ECA course clarifies:"Host CPU Usage is a cluster-wide metric and less relevant for diagnosing VM-specific CPU performance issues."

Additional Context from ECA:

Performance Monitoring Tools: In Prism Element or Prism Central, VM CPU Usage and CPU Ready Time can be monitored underVM > Monitoror through dashboards. These metrics provide insight into the VM’s CPU demand and contention.

Adding vCPUs: The ECA course advises caution when adding vCPUs, as over-allocation can increase CPU Ready Time due to scheduling overhead. However, if both CPU Usage and Ready Time are high, adding vCPUs is justified.

Supporting Reference from Web Results:

The Nutanix Bible (https://www.nutanix.com/go/the-nutanix-bible) supports: "For VM performance issues, analyze VM CPU Usage and CPU Ready Time to determine if additional vCPUs are needed, as these metrics directly indicate CPU demand and contention."

TheBully VMs Listview in Prism Central’sIntelligent Operationsidentifies VMs that are consumingexcessive resources(CPU, memory, or storage IO) and causing resource starvation for other VMs.

From theNutanix ECA documentation:

“Bully VMs List identifies virtual machines with high resource consumption, enabling administrators to investigate and take action to prevent performance degradation in other VMs.”

The other options:

A (Constrained VMs): Shows VMs that are being starved of resources.

C (Inactive VMs): Shows VMs that are using little to no resources.

D (Overprovisioned VMs): Shows VMs with allocated resources beyond actual usage.

VM templates in Nutanix are supported only when the VM’s disks reside on storage containers configured with Replication Factor 2 (RF2) or higher.

Option C (VM has disks on RF2 containers) is correct:

VM templates requirea minimum RF2 for fault tolerance.

RF1 containers do not meet Nutanix best practices for VM templates.

Option A is incorrect:

VMs protected by Protection Domains can be cloned, but this is different from creating a VM template.

Option B is incorrect:

Agent VMs (e.g., Witness VMs) or Prism Central cannot be used as VM templates.

Option D is incorrect:

Nutanix VM templates are natively supported on AHV, not ESXi.

Categories in Nutanix are used to group resources and require only a name and a value for definition.

Option A (A name and a value) is correct:

Categoriesrequire a name (e.g., "Production VMs")and a value (e.g., "Tier 1").

These are then applied to VMs, storage, and other resources forpolicy-based management.

Option B (Policy and Entity) is incorrect:

Policiesuse categories but are not required to define a category.

Option C (Service and Scope) is incorrect:

Categoriesdo not require servicesor a defined scope.

Option D (Catalog and Template) is incorrect:

These apply toself-service provisioning, not categories.

https://portal.nutanix.com/page/documents/details?targetId=Nutanix-Security-Guide-v6_10:mul-configure-data-in-transit-encryption-pc-t.html

"Ensure that port 2009 is open between the Prism Central instances for the KMS cluster to communicate."This is explicitly stated in the "Firewall rules for Data-in-Transit Encryption" section for Prism Central.

Technical Context:

Port 2009 is used by ZooKeeper (the coordination service for the KMS cluster) in Scale-Out Prism Central deployments.

DiTE in Prism Central relies on a dedicated KMS cluster that synchronizes encryption keys across PC instances using this port.

Firewall blocks on port 2009 break KMS quorum, preventing key exchange and causing DiTE to fail.

Understanding the Exhibit & the Alert

The alert states:

"The cluster is using password-based SSH access for the CVM."

"Password-based remote login is enabled on the cluster."

"It is recommended to use key-based SSH access instead of password-based SSH access for better security."

This means that the nutanix user can log in to Controller VMs (CVMs) using a password, which is a security risk.

Corrective Action: Enabling Cluster Lockdown

✅(C) Enable Cluster Lockdown. (Correct Answer)

Cluster Lockdown Mode restricts password-based SSH access and forces key-based authentication.

This prevents users from logging into CVMs using passwords, enhancing cluster security.

To enable Cluster Lockdown:

Go to Prism Central or Prism Element.

Navigate to Settings → Security → Cluster Lockdown.

Enable Cluster Lockdown Mode.

Evaluating the Other Answer Choices

❌(A) Rename the nutanix user. (Incorrect)

The nutanix user is a built-in system account required for cluster operations.

Renaming the user will not prevent SSH access via password.

❌(B) Block port 22 on the CVM firewall. (Incorrect)

Blocking port 22 (SSH) will completely disable SSH access, including key-based authentication.

This may break cluster management and troubleshooting operations.

❌(D) Delete the nutanix user. (Incorrect)

The nutanix user is a critical system account required for cluster functionality.

Deleting the account will cause serious issues with cluster management.

Multicloud Infrastructure References & Best Practices

Nutanix Security Best Practices:

Always use key-based SSH authentication instead of password-based logins.

Enable Cluster Lockdown Mode to enforce security policies.

Regularly audit user access to ensure security compliance.

Cluster Lockdown Benefits:

Prevents unauthorized SSH access via passwords.

Enforces public key authentication, reducing brute-force attack risks.

Strengthens CVM security against potential exploits.

A single vCPU is likely causing a bottleneck, limiting the VM’s ability to process I/O requests efficiently.

Option D (Increase the VM’s number of vCPUs) is correct:

Windowsrequires sufficient CPU resourcesto handle disk and network operations.

Adding more vCPUs allows the VM to process more I/O operations simultaneously, improving performance.

Option A is incorrect:

AdditionalvSCSI controllers are only useful for very high disk I/O workloads.

Option B is incorrect:

Balance-TCP applies to network traffic, not storage performance.

Option C is incorrect:

CVM resources do not directly affect individual VM performance.

Before performing any LCM (Life Cycle Manager) updates on a Nutanix cluster, it is essential to ensure that the AOS (Acropolis Operating System) is updated to the required or recommended version. AOS updates provide foundational enhancements, security patches, and compatibility improvements, which are critical for the successful execution of LCM updates.

From theNutanix Enterprise Cloud Administration (ECA)course materials:

“LCM updates depend on the underlying AOS version. Before proceeding with any hardware or software updates through LCM, administrators must ensure that the cluster is running a supported AOS version. This step ensures compatibility and prevents issues that can arise from dependencies between AOS and the update components.”

Additionally:

“AOS upgrades should be performed first to bring the cluster to a version that supports the desired LCM updates for components like BIOS, firmware, and hypervisors. This aligns the management stack with the latest features and security enhancements.”

Therefore, updating AOS before performing LCM updates is a mandatory prerequisite to ensure stability and supportability for the entire cluster lifecycle management process.

In Nutanix AHV-based clusters, when you want to ensure that a specific VM (e.g., a critical VM like a domain controller) is powered on before other VMs during a host startup or failover scenario, you use the Agent VM configuration setting.

Here’s the exact explanation from the Nutanix ECA course:

“Agent VMs are special VMs that are automatically powered on before other user VMs during host startup or recovery. This ensures that critical VMs, such as those that provide essential services, are always available first.”

In contrast:

✅Recovery Plan (A) — This is used in the context of DR and failover, typically with Nutanix Leap.

✅Host Affinity (B) — Host affinity rules control placement policies of VMs but not startup priority.

✅High Availability (C) — HA ensures VMs are restarted on surviving hosts but does not control startup order.

Therefore, setting the VM as an Agent VM guarantees that it is powered on before the other VMs during host start-up. Let me know if you’d like steps on how to configure an Agent VM within Prism Central or Prism Element!

To create a custom Intelligent Operations report and run it across multiple Prism Central instances, administrators must export the report configuration from one Prism Central instance and then import it into the others. This process leverages the .rpt file format, which encapsulates the report’s configuration details, including data sources, visualization preferences, and thresholds.

From theNutanix Enterprise Cloud Administration (ECA)course materials:

“Administrators can create custom Intelligent Operations reports in Prism Central and export the configuration as a .rpt file. This exported file can then be imported into other Prism Central instances, ensuring consistency across environments without requiring manual recreation of the report’s details.”

Additionally:

“The export/import feature for reports ensures that custom dashboards and reports can be easily migrated or replicated across multiple Prism Central instances, enabling a standardized approach to monitoring and analytics in a multicloud environment.”

This clearly indicates that the recommended and supported method for sharing or replicating custom reports across multiple Prism Central instances is by exporting and importing the report configurations in .rpt format. This approach avoids the need for manual recreation and ensures that the reports maintain their intended configuration and layout across different instances.

The Nutanix AHV virtualization guide explains that vGPU-enabled VMs can be live migrated only when the destination host contains compatible GPU hardware and has available vGPU capacity matching the profile assigned to the VM. The documentation states that the VM must have "adequate and equivalent GPU resources on the target host" for migration to proceed. Host affinity is a limiting factor and not a requirement. Agent VMs are not designed to be migrated. Changing the vGPU profile is not necessary as long as the target host supports the currently assigned profile. Therefore, ensuring the destination host has sufficient compatible resources is the required condition.

Nutanix describes a special process for updating golden images or templates without modifying the original source object directly. The documentation states:

“Complete Guest OS Update creates a temporary, cloned instance of the template, boots it, and allows administrators to patch or update the operating system. Once updates are applied, the system recomposes the template with the modifications.”

This process ensures that templates remain clean and version-controlled while still allowing regular OS patching operations. Other options such as Create VM from Template merely instantiate running VMs and do not update the template source. Update Guest OS and Update Configuration refer to VM-level settings but do not create a temporary working copy for template lifecycle management.

Thus, Complete Guest OS Update is the correct feature.

Receive Side Scaling (RSS) VirtIO-Net Multi-Queue improves network performance by distributing network processing across multiple CPU cores.

Option C (Enable RSS VirtIO-Net Multi-Queue) is correct:

This settingreduces CPU bottlenecksby allowing multiple queues to handle network packets.

It isessential for high-throughput network applications.

Option A (Add more vCPUs) is incorrect:

CPU resources are important, butwithout enabling RSS, additional vCPUs will not optimize network traffic distribution.

Option B (Enable AHV Turbo Technology) is incorrect:

AHV Turbo improvesdisk I/O, notnetwork I/O.

Option D (Add more RAM) is incorrect:

RAM does not directly impact network performance.

Themost efficient wayto allow team leads to manage aspecific set of VMsis bycreating a Project (Option C)in Prism Central and assigning the team leads to that Project.

Nutanix Projects allow administrators to control VM accessbased on groups and permissions, ensuring that users only manage VMs assigned to their project.

Option A (Role Mapping)applies more broadly to roles but does not restrict access to specific VM groups.

Option B (VPC Admin)is related to network segmentation, not VM access control.

Option D (Security Policies)are used for network and firewall rules, not VM access control.

Nutanix Life Cycle Manager (LCM) relies on validated firmware and driver bundles for hardware components. For GPU-enabled hosts, LCM documentation states:

“GPU-enabled AHV hosts require GPU driver bundles to be uploaded manually via the Direct Uploads mechanism so that LCM can validate and upgrade the necessary GPU components during workflow execution.”

GPU drivers are vendor-specific and not always available in the standard catalog, so the administrator must upload them before LCM can orchestrate the upgrade.

Running in dark site mode does not provide missing GPU bundles. Creating agent VMs is unrelated to GPU driver operations. Updating NCC improves validations but does not provide GPU support files.

Therefore, Direct Uploads of GPU driver bundles is required.

The NCC alert indicates connectivity failure to the remote site. Resolving this involves confirming network connectivity and re-establishing the remote site configuration if necessary.

From theNutanix Enterprise Cloud Administration (ECA)course materials:

“The primary ports used for replication between clusters are 2009 (for Prism Element API) and 2020 (for data replication). Ensuring these ports are open and reachable is critical for remote site connectivity.”

Also:

“If the remote site has been re-imaged or reconfigured, it may have a new cluster incarnation ID. In such cases, the remote site configuration must be recreated to align with the current cluster information.”

Steps like checking ping with MTU 9000 (D) are not directly related to remote site connectivity for replication, and NAT configurations (B) are generally not recommended unless explicitly required.

Active-Active bonding allows multiple network interfaces to be used simultaneously, improving bandwidth and redundancy.

Option B (Active-Active) is correct:

This mode enablesload balancing across all available adapters, providinghigher throughput and fault tolerance.

Option A (No Uplink Bond) is incorrect:

Without a bond, VMscannot benefit from multiple adapters.

Option C (Active-Active with MAC pinning) is incorrect:

MAC pinningbinds traffic to a single NIC, limiting bandwidth distribution.

Option D (Active-Backup) is incorrect:

This modeonly provides failover, not increased bandwidth.

The “nutanix” user is a system-level account required by the platform for internal operations, automation, cluster communication, and support access. It cannot be deleted or renamed. Nutanix security guidelines state:

“The correct method to prevent password-based SSH access for system accounts is to use Cluster Lockdown mode, which disables password authentication and enforces key-based access for all system-level CVM accounts.”

Cluster Lockdown modifies SSH configuration across all CVMs, ensuring:

password authentication is disabled

only key-based authentication is permitted

privileged system accounts such as ‘nutanix’ cannot log in interactively

Blocking port 22 is not appropriate because it would block SSH entirely, including legitimate administrative access. The “nutanix” user cannot be renamed or removed due to system dependency.

Thus, enabling Cluster Lockdown is the proper Nutanix-approved method to remove password-based SSH access for system accounts.

Nutanix storage container configuration guidance specifies that “Advertised Capacity” is the setting used to define a maximum limit for the container. This value enforces a hard cap on space usage. Reserved Capacity, in contrast, defines a minimum guarantee of space for the container and does not limit growth.

Prism Element is the correct interface for creating storage containers with specific data reduction settings such as compression and deduplication, as the container-level storage policies are applied directly at the cluster’s storage layer.

The documentation further clarifies that RF1, inline compression, and deduplication settings are configured within Prism Element under container creation. Therefore, to enforce the 100 GiB limit, the administrator must create the container in Prism Element and set the Advertised Capacity to 100 GiB.

Nutanix AHV networking documentation describes IGMP Snooping as a feature that enables the AHV virtual switch to learn which VMs have joined specific multicast groups through IGMP membership reports. The documentation states that with IGMP Snooping enabled, multicast traffic is forwarded only to VMs that are registered members of a multicast group, preventing unnecessary flooding of multicast packets across all ports. LACP is for NIC bonding, network segmentation is for isolating networks, and LLDP is for link layer device discovery. None of these selectively deliver multicast traffic. Only IGMP Snooping provides the optimized multicast forwarding described.

RF3 (Replication Factor 3) clusters require sufficient reserved capacity to tolerate failures without data loss.

Option C (Set Reserve Capacity for Failure to Auto Detect) is correct:

Auto Detect dynamically calculates the necessary reserved spacebased on cluster size and RF settings.

It ensures thatenough storage remains available in case of a node failure.

Option A (Set Reserve Storage Capacity to 20%) is incorrect:

The required storage reservationdepends on the number of nodes and RF level, not a fixed percentage.

Option B (Set Reserve Capacity for Failure to None) is incorrect:

Without reserved capacity,a node failure could lead to data unavailability.

Option D (Set Reserve Memory Capacity to 20%) is incorrect:

This setting applies toRAM, notstorage resiliency.

Nutanix Capacity Planning and Runway calculations analyze CPU, memory, and storage growth trends independently. The “Overall Runway” metric reflects the shortest runway across these three resources. The Capacity Planning documentation explains that “the scenario result may show the cluster in a healthy state if the most critical resource remains sufficiently available, even when the overall runway falls below longer-term thresholds.”

Storage is often the dominant factor in determining long-term viability. If the storage runway remains strong, the system may indicate that the environment is in good shape even though the overall runway appears shorter due to CPU or memory projections. Because the question refers to the scenario still indicating a good cluster state, the most accurate interpretation is that storage runway remains healthy, and thus the system does not consider the cluster at risk.

The Nutanix ECA course covers the use of Playbooks in Prism Central to automate responses to specific events or conditions, such as VM protection failures. The task requires creating an alert for VMs in theCriticalApps:Alertscategory when a VM Protection Failed Alert is triggered, with notifications sent to on-call personnel.

Extract from Nutanix Enterprise Cloud Administration (ECA) Course Documents:

Module: Automation, Section: Playbooks"Playbooks in Prism Central can be configured with an Alert Matching Criteria trigger to respond to specific alerts, such as VM protection failures. This trigger allows filtering by entity categories, ensuring the Playbook only acts on VMs matching the specified category, and can send notifications to designated personnel."

Module: Intelligent Operations, Section: Alert Management"To create an alert for specific VMs based on a category, use a Playbook with an Alert Matching Criteria trigger. This allows precise targeting of alerts (e.g., VM Protection Failed) for VMs in a category like CriticalApps:Alerts, with actions such as sending email notifications to on-call teams."

Explanation of Options:

A. Create a Playbook with a Manual triggerThis is incorrect. A Manual trigger requires an administrator to manually initiate the Playbook, which does not meet the requirement for automatic alerting when a VM Protection Failed Alert is triggered. The ECA course states:"Manual triggers are used for ad-hoc Playbook execution, not for automated responses to alerts."

B. Create a Playbook with an Alert Matching Criteria triggerThis is the correct answer. An Alert Matching Criteria trigger allows the Playbook to respond automatically to specific alerts, such as VM Protection Failed, and can be filtered to apply only to VMs in theCriticalApps:Alertscategory. The Playbook can then execute an action, such as sending an email notification to on-call personnel. The ECA course highlights this as the most precise method for alert-based automation.

Supporting Extract:"The Alert Matching Criteria trigger enables Playbooks to filter alerts by type and entity category, ensuring targeted responses, such as notifying on-call personnel for VM protection failures in specific categories."

C. Create a Playbook with an Event-based triggerThis is incorrect. Event-based triggers respond to system events (e.g., VM power-on or cluster events) rather than specific alerts like VM Protection Failed. They are less precise for this use case, as they do not allow filtering by alert type or category. The ECA course notes:"Event-based triggers are suited for general system events, not for targeted alert responses like VM protection failures."

D. Create a Playbook with an Alert-based triggerThis is incorrect. The term “Alert-based trigger” is not a standard option in Nutanix Playbooks. The correct terminology isAlert Matching Criteria trigger, which is specifically designed for alert-driven automation. The ECA course does not reference a generic “Alert-based trigger” option.

Additional Context from ECA:

Playbook Configuration: In Prism Central, a Playbook is created underOperations > Playbooks > Create Playbook. Select theAlert Matching Criteriatrigger, specify theVM Protection Failedalert, and filter by theCriticalApps:Alertscategory. Add an action to send an email notification to the on-call team.

Category Filtering: Categories (e.g., CriticalApps:Alerts) are key-value pairs assigned to VMs for organization and policy enforcement, making them ideal for targeting specific VMs in Playbooks.

Supporting Reference from Web Results:

The Nutanix Bible (https://www.nutanix.com/go/the-nutanix-bible) supports: "Playbooks with Alert Matching Criteria triggers allow precise automation for alerts, such as VM protection failures, filtered by VM categories, with actions like sending notifications."

After a Prism Central upgrade, IAM authentication settings may require reconfiguration.

Option D (Log in with a local admin account) is correct:

If IAM authentication fails, thelocal admin account must be usedto check domain settings.

Option A (Ping the Domain Controller) is incorrect:

Network connectivity is important, but theissue is likely related to IAM settings, not network reachability.

Option B (Check firewall port 9441) is incorrect:

Port 9441 is used forSSO authentication, butport issues usually result in login delays, not complete failures.

Option C (Validate signing certificate) is incorrect:

While certificates can cause issues,local admin login should always work.

When Life Cycle Manager (LCM) reports thata newer framework version is available, thecorrect actionis toperform an inventory scan (Option C).

Performing an inventory scan updates the available firmware/software versionsand allows LCM to download required updates.

Option A (Run an AOS upgrade)is unrelated to the LCM framework update process.

Option B (Run an AHV upgrade)is a separate component update and does not affect the LCM framework.

Option D (Download manually from a CVM)is not necessary because LCM updates are automatically pulled after an inventory scan.

LCM (Life Cycle Manager) fetches software updates from Nutanix’s repositories, requiring access to specific URLs.

Option A (download.nutanix.com) is correct:

This domainhosts all software update filesfor AOS, AHV, and other Nutanix components.

Option C (release-api.nutanix.com) is correct:

This domain is used forLCM to fetch update metadataand check for new versions.

Option B (mynutanix.com) is incorrect:

This domain is used foraccount management, not LCM updates.

Option D (portal.nutanix.com) is incorrect:

TheNutanix support portal is not used for automated LCM updates.

To ensureVM high availability (HA) in the event of a node failure, the administrator mustenable HA Reservation (Option B)in Prism Element.

High Availability (HA) in Nutanix ensures that VMs restart on another available node if the host they are running on fails.

Option A (Redundancy Factor 3)affectsstorage redundancy, not VM failover.

Option C (Protection Domains)is related todisaster recovery (DR), not local HA failover.

Option D (RF1 Storage Container)would reduce fault tolerance and is not recommended for production environments.

BMC (Baseboard Management Controller) updates can be applied per-node in Nutanix LCM, unlike AOS or AHV, which require cluster-wide upgrades.

Option B (BMC) is correct:

BMC firmwarecontrols remote management and power cycling of individual nodes.

Updating BMCdoes not impact the entire clusterand can be done per node.

Option A (AOS) is incorrect:

AOS upgrades affect the entire clusterand require cluster-wide consistency.

Option C (NCC) is incorrect:

NCC updatesapply across all nodes simultaneously, ensuring uniformity in checks.

Option D (AHV) is incorrect:

AHV updates require coordinated upgrades across hoststo maintain VM availability.

Nutanix AHV networking supports multiple bond types that determine how traffic is distributed across physical NICs. The detailed guidance in the AHV networking section states:

“Active-Active bonding provides load distribution of outbound traffic across all interfaces in the bond, allowing aggregate throughput beyond a single physical adapter.”

Active-backup keeps only one NIC active at a time and provides no throughput gain. Active-Active with MAC pinning distributes VMs across NICs but does not aggregate the total throughput for a single VM and is typically used with switch-independent designs.

Because the requirement is to “take advantage of bandwidth beyond a single adapter,” only the standard Active-Active bond type satisfies this, as it truly aggregates available bandwidth.

Therefore, the correct bond type is Active-Active.

Storage Policies in Nutanix are applied through Categories, allowing policy-based automation and enforcement.

Option D (Assign the VM or VG to the same Category as the Storage Policy) is correct:

Nutanixapplies Storage Policies based on VM Categories, enablingflexibility in policy enforcement.

Option A is incorrect:

Storage Policies are not directly assigned at the VM or VG level—they apply through Categories.

Option B is incorrect:

Policies must be assigned toCategories, not directly to individual VMs/VGs.

Option C is incorrect:

Migrating to a storage container does not automatically apply a Storage Policy.