NCP-CN Nutanix Certified Professional - Cloud Native (NCP-CN-6.10) Free Practice Exam Questions (2025 Updated)

TheKonvoy Image Builderrequires a64-bit Linux or MacOS environment(x86_64 architecture) to build and customize the OS images.

According to theNKPA 6.10 documentation, the critical system components for NKP nodes are:

kubelet

containerdThese components are deployed in the standard Linux path:/var/lib.

Exact extract from the documentation:

“The kubelet and containerd services require disk space in /var/lib on the host operating system. It’s essential to allocate sufficient storage in /var/lib to accommodate these core Kubernetes components.”

According to theNKPA 6.10 documentation, thePre-provisioned infrastructure provider (CAPPP)requires the user to provide aninventory fileof the servers that will become the cluster nodes. This inventory file contains connection information (IP addresses, credentials, etc.) for each pre-provisioned node, enabling the Cluster API to connect and configure these servers directly during cluster creation.

The NKPA course outlines the specifics of integrating Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) with NKP, focusing on fleet management and the deployment architecture. The correct statements are:

Existing AKS clusters must be attached to the Management cluster (Option A):NKP does not provision AKS clusters directly because AKS is a managed Kubernetes service. Instead, NKP attaches existing AKS clusters to its management plane for centralized management. The Nutanix Cloud Native (NCP-CN) 6.10 Study Guide states: “For AKS integration, existing AKS clusters must be attached to the NKP Management cluster using the Attach Cluster functionality, as NKP does not provision AKS clusters.” This involves creating a service account with cluster-admin permissions in the AKS cluster and providing its kubeconfig to NKP.

NKP Management cluster with the Kommander component must be installed before installing NKP on AKS cluster (Option C):The Kommander component is part of the NKP Management cluster and provides the centralized management plane for fleet management, including AKS clusters. The NKPA course specifies that an NKP Management cluster with Kommander must be deployed before attaching or managing external clusters like AKS. The NCP-CN 6.10 Study Guide notes: “An NKP Management cluster with Kommander must be installed prior to integrating AKS clusters, as Kommander enables the fleet management capabilities for external clusters.”

Incorrect Options:

B. AKS best practices encourage building customized images: AKS best practices recommend using the default node images provided by Azure, which are optimized for AKS features like autoscaling and security. Custom images can lead to loss of functionality, as noted in previous questions (e.g., Q91).

D. AKS clusters can be deployed as Management or Pro NKP clusters: AKS clusters are attached, not deployed, by NKP. Additionally, AKS clusters cannot serve as NKP Management clusters; the Management cluster must be deployed on supported infrastructure like Nutanix AHV, AWS, or vSphere. “Pro NKP clusters” is not a valid term in NKP documentation—Pro refers to a license tier, not a cluster type.

The NKPA course details the process for upgrading an NKP-managed Kubernetes cluster, such as one running on AWS from version 1.28.1 to 1.29.9. Upgrading a Kubernetes cluster involves two distinct steps: upgrading the control plane nodes and upgrading the worker nodes, ensuring minimal disruption and maintaining compatibility. The NKP CLI provides specific commands to handle these upgrades separately for AWS clusters.

Upgrade Control Planes with nkp update controlplane aws --cluster-name=${CLUSTER_NAME} --ami AMI_ID --kubernetes-version=v1.29.9 (Option B):The control plane must be upgraded first to the target Kubernetes version (1.29.9). The nkp update controlplane aws command updates the control plane nodes, specifying the cluster name, the new Kubernetes version, and an updated AMI (Amazon Machine Image) that supports the target version. The Nutanix Cloud Native (NCP-CN) 6.10 Study Guide states: “To upgrade an NKP cluster on AWS, first update the control plane using nkp update controlplane aws --cluster-name --ami --kubernetes-version to ensure the control plane runs the desired Kubernetes version.” The --ami flag is required to specify a compatible image for the upgraded control plane nodes.

Upgrade Workers with nkp upgrade nodepool aws ${NODEPOOL_NAME} --cluster-name=${CLUSTER_NAME} --kubernetes-version=v1.29.9 (Option C):After the control plane is upgraded, the worker nodes in each node pool must be upgraded to match the control plane version. The nkp upgrade nodepool aws command updates the specified node pool to the target Kubernetes version (1.29.9). The NKPA course notes: “Upgrade worker nodes using nkp upgrade nodepool aws --cluster-name --kubernetes-version , which performs a rolling update to ensure minimal downtime.” This command automatically handles the rolling update of worker nodes, replacing them with new nodes running the updated version. Note that the --ami flag is not required here, as NKP typically uses the same AMI as the control plane or retrieves a compatible one based on the version.

Incorrect Options:

A. nkp update nodepool aws: The correct command is nkp upgrade nodepool, not nkp update nodepool. The NKPA course uses upgrade for version changes to node pools.

D. nkp update cluster aws: This command is not the standard approach for upgrading Kubernetes versions in NKP. The course specifies separate commands for control plane and node pool upgrades to ensure a controlled process.

The NKPA course outlines the default behaviors of NKP when deploying workload clusters within a workspace, regardless of the provisioning environment (e.g., AWS, Nutanix, Azure). When a workload cluster is deployed in AWS, NKP ensures consistency across the workspace by applying the following default behaviors:

The NKP workload cluster will receive all of the GitOps sources that have been assigned to the NKP workspace (Option A): NKP uses GitOps with Flux to manage cluster configurations and applications. The course explains that GitOps sources (e.g., Git repositories) assigned to a workspace are automatically applied to all clusters in that workspace, ensuring consistent configuration and application deployment. The Nutanix Cloud Native (NCP-CN) 6.10 Study Guide states: “New workload clusters inherit all GitOps sources configured for the workspace, enabling Flux to synchronize configurations from the specified repositories.”

The NKP workload cluster will be deployed all of the applications that have been enabled on this NKP workspace (Option D): NKP Platform Applications (e.g., Prometheus, Rook Ceph) enabled in the workspace are automatically deployed to new workload clusters. The NKPA course notes: “When a workload cluster is created, NKP deploys all platform applications enabled in the workspace to ensure consistent functionality across clusters.”

Incorrect Options:

B. The NKP workload cluster will receive all of the NKP RBAC policy: RBAC policies are defined at the workspace or project level and applied to users or groups, not automatically to clusters. Clusters inherit RBAC through user access, not as a default deployment behavior.

C. The NKP workload cluster will also be assigned to all of the NKP projects: Clusters are assigned to specific projects manually, not automatically to all projects in a workspace.

As per theNKPA 6.10 documentation, the primary requirement for attaching external (self-managed) Kubernetes clusters to NKP isnetwork connectivity. Specifically, theNKP management cluster must be able to communicate with the Kubernetes API serverand relevant services of the target cluster. This allows NKP to collect metrics, perform health checks, and manage the attached cluster through Kommander and associated tools.

Exact extract:

“For attaching existing Kubernetes clusters, ensure the NKP management cluster can reach the Kubernetes API server of the target cluster and that the kubeconfig used has sufficient permissions.”

There is no requirement that the Kubernetes versions be exactly matched or within N-1, nor that an NKP admin account be directly established on the target clusters; the connectivity and valid kubeconfig file are the essential requirements.

As per theNKPA 6.10 documentation, the standard and supported approach for installing Kommander on an NKP cluster is using theNKP CLI. The CLI provides commands for deploying Kommander and associated platform components as part of the cluster lifecycle management workflow.

Key Reference:

“The recommended approach to deploy Kommander is by using the nkp CLI, which ensures compatibility and streamlined installation with the rest of the Nutanix Kubernetes Platform stack.”

TheNKPA 6.10 documentationoutlines that in air-gapped environments where default pod network CIDR conflicts exist, the cluster manifest (created via the nkp create cluster command) should be updated to specify an alternate, non-conflicting pod CIDR block range before deployment.

The error states:

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error upgrading CAPI components: unable to upgrade CAPI components: deployment "capp-controller-manager" is not ready after 10m0s: failed to connect to the management cluster: context deadline exceeded

This clearly points to connectivity issues between the VM (or nodes) and themanagement cluster, typically caused byregistry communication issuesin air-gapped or private environments. When the VM cannot connect to the registry to pull required images or configuration, the CAPI (Cluster API) components cannot be initialized, causing a timeout.

Key Reference:

Nutanix Kubernetes Platform Administration (NKPA) 6.10 – “Air-Gapped and Registry Communication Issues”

NCP-CN 6.10 Study Guide – “Cluster API Upgrade Process and Network Prerequisites”

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As per theNKPA 6.10 documentationunder “NKP Insights Prerequisites”, one of the essential requirements for deploying NKP Insights is thatcert-manageris installed and properly configured in the target workload cluster. Cert-manager provides the necessary certificates for secure communication and observability between the cluster components and the NKP Insights platform.

The documentation specifies:

“NKP Insights requires cert-manager to be installed on the target workload cluster. If cert-manager is not enabled, the cluster will be shown as unavailable (grayed out) for NKP Insights deployment.”

Without cert-manager, the Insights operator cannot validate or securely deploy its components, resulting in the cluster being unavailable for selection during the Insights enablement process.

The NKPA course explains the role of a bootstrap cluster in NKP deployments, particularly in hybrid architectures involving Nutanix on-prem and Amazon EKS. A bootstrap cluster is a temporary Kubernetes cluster created during the deployment process to initialize Cluster API (CAPI) components, which manage the lifecycle of the target NKP clusters. The primary function of the bootstrap cluster is touse Cluster API for infrastructure-agnostic provisioning(Option D).

CAPI enables NKP to provision clusters across different infrastructures (e.g., Nutanix AHV, AWS EKS) in a consistent, infrastructure-agnostic manner. The bootstrap cluster runs the CAPI controllers (e.g., CAPX for Nutanix, CAPA for AWS) that orchestrate the creation of the target clusters, abstracting the underlying infrastructure details. The Nutanix Cloud Native (NCP-CN) 6.10 Study Guide states: “The bootstrap cluster in NKP uses Cluster API to provide infrastructure-agnostic provisioning, enabling consistent cluster creation across diverse environments like Nutanix AHV and Amazon EKS.” This ensures that the same CAPI-based workflow can deploy clusters on both on-prem Nutanix and cloud-based EKS.

Incorrect Options:

A. Increases security from a single point of entry: A bastion host, not a bootstrap cluster, provides a single point of entry for security. The bootstrap cluster is temporary and focuses on provisioning.

B. Simplifies the networking requirements for Kubernetes: Networking is managed by the target cluster’s CNI (e.g., Calico), not the bootstrap cluster.

C. Saves cost by minimizing resources required for provisioning: The bootstrap cluster is temporary and does not significantly impact costs; its purpose is provisioning, not cost-saving.

The NKPA course recommends using aS3-compatible APIfor backup and restore operations in production NKP environments, as it integrates with Velero, NKP’s backup and restore tool. Velero supports S3-compatible storage (e.g., AWS S3, Nutanix Objects, or MinIO) as a backup storage location, allowing persistent data, including volumes and cluster resources, to be backed up and restored during disaster recovery scenarios. This approach ensures compatibility with cloud-native backup workflows and provides scalability and reliability for production use cases.

The Nutanix Cloud Native (NCP-CN) 6.10 Study Guide states: “For production backup and restore in NKP, use Velero with an S3-compatible API to store backups, ensuring persistent data availability during disaster recovery.” Nutanix Objects, which provides an S3-compatible API, is often used in Nutanix environments for this purpose, but any S3-compatible storage (e.g., an off-site S3 bucket) can be configured.

Incorrect Options:

A. Protection Domain: Protection Domains are a Nutanix AOS feature for VM-level replication, not for Kubernetes backup/restore.

B. Rook Ceph: Rook Ceph provides persistent storage for NKP clusters but is not a backup solution; it can be backed up using Velero with S3 storage.

C. External Storage Class: Storage Classes define how volumes are provisioned, not how they are backed up or restored.

According to theNKPA 6.10 documentationunder the “Preparing for FIPS Compliance” section, the first step for enabling FIPS in an NKP environment is to ensure that the underlying operating system (OS) or OS images are correctly configured for FIPS mode. The Nutanix Kubernetes Platform can only leverage FIPS-compliant cryptographic modules if the underlying OS is already configured for FIPS operation.

Specifically, the documentation states:

"Before enabling FIPS in NKP, ensure that the OS or OS images are prepared and configured to operate in FIPS mode, following the vendor’s guidelines. Once the OS is in FIPS mode, the NKP cluster components can be provisioned with FIPS support."

This foundational step is critical to ensure cryptographic consistency and compliance throughout the NKP stack.

The Nutanix Kubernetes Platform (NKP) is designed to simplify the deployment and management of Kubernetes clusters on Nutanix infrastructure, including on-premises AHV-based clusters in dark site environments with no Internet connectivity. The requirements specified in the question—dark site, Nutanix-provided Rocky Linux VM image, and AHV-based cluster—point to a deployment scenario where the environment must be self-contained and rely on Nutanix-specific tools and resources to meet the air-gapped constraints.

According to the Nutanix Kubernetes Platform Administration (NKPA) course, deploying NKP in a dark site environment requires specific prerequisites to ensure all necessary components, such as container images, dependencies, and configuration files, are available without Internet access. The course emphasizes the use of anAir-Gapped Bundleand anexisting local container registryas critical components for such deployments.

Air-Gapped Bundle (Option B):

The NKPA course explains that for dark site deployments, Nutanix provides anAir-Gapped Bundle, which is a comprehensive package containing all the software components, container images, and dependencies required to deploy and manage an NKP cluster without Internet connectivity. This bundle includes the Kubernetes binaries, NKP platform applications (e.g., Rook Ceph, monitoring tools), and other necessary artifacts.

The Nutanix Cloud Native (NCP-CN) 6.10 Study Guide specifically states: “For air-gapped environments, the Nutanix Air-Gapped Bundle is required to provide all dependencies, including container images and installation files, to deploy NKP clusters.” This bundle is typically downloaded from the Nutanix Support Portal in an Internet-connected environment and then transferred to the dark site for deployment.

The bundle ensures that the Nutanix-provided Rocky Linux VM image, which serves as the base operating system for the Kubernetes nodes, can be provisioned with all required software components. The NKPA course further notes that the Air-Gapped Bundle is tailored for AHV-based clusters, ensuring compatibility with the Nutanix hypervisor.

Existing Local Container Registry (Option C):

In a dark site environment, a local container registry is a prerequisite to store and distribute container images required by the NKP cluster. The NKPA course highlights that NKP relies on container images for Kubernetes components, platform applications, and user workloads. In an air-gapped setup, these images cannot be pulled from public registries like Docker Hub or Quay.io.

The course instructs administrators to set up a local container registry (e.g., Harbor, Nexus, or a Nutanix-managed registry) and populate it with the container images included in the Air-Gapped Bundle. The Nutanix Cloud Bible reinforces this, stating: “In air-gapped deployments, a local container registry must be pre-configured to host all required images, which are provided as part of the Nutanix Air-Gapped Bundle.”

The local container registry ensures that the Kubernetes nodes, running on the Nutanix-provided Rocky Linux VM image, can access the necessary images during cluster bootstrapping and operation. The NKPA course provides guidance on configuring the registry and integrating it with the NKP deployment process.

Incorrect Options:

Konvoy Image Builder (Option A):

Konvoy Image Builder is a tool associated with D2iQ’s Konvoy platform, used to create custom machine images for Kubernetes deployments. While it can be used to build images for Kubernetes nodes, it is not a Nutanix-specific tool nor a prerequisite for NKP deployments. The NKPA course and NCP-CN 6.10 Study Guide do not mention Konvoy Image Builder, as NKP uses the Nutanix-provided Rocky Linux VM image, which is pre-configured for AHV-based clusters. This option is irrelevant to the Nutanix ecosystem.

Self-managed AWS cluster (Option D):

A self-managed AWS cluster is unrelated to the requirements of deploying NKP on an AHV-based cluster in a dark site. The question specifies an AHV-based cluster, which is Nutanix’s Acropolis Hypervisor running on-premises, not a cloud-based AWS environment. The NKPA course focuses on Nutanix infrastructure (AHV, Prism Central) for NKP deployments and does not include AWS as a supported platform for this scenario. This option is incorrect as it contradicts the deployment environment.

Deployment Context:

The Nutanix-provided Rocky Linux VM image is a pre-configured operating system image optimized for NKP deployments on AHV. The NKPA course notes that this image includes the necessary kernel settings, drivers, and configurations to run Kubernetes nodes efficiently on Nutanix infrastructure.

The AHV-based cluster requirement indicates that the deployment leverages Nutanix’s hypervisor, managed through Prism Central, to provision and manage the Kubernetes nodes. The Air-Gapped Bundle and local container registry ensure that all software components are available in the dark site, aligning with the NKPA course’s guidelines for air-gapped deployments.

The NKPA course explains that NKP provides a role-based access control (RBAC) system to manage permissions within its platform, in addition to Kubernetes-native RBAC. For a development team needing limited permissions to perform specific tasks (deploying applications, scaling deployments, viewing logs and metrics) within a specific namespace, the appropriate access type in the NKP GUI is anNKP Role.

NKP Roles are predefined or custom roles within the NKP platform that map to Kubernetes RBAC permissions but are managed through the NKP UI for ease of use. They allow granular control over actions within a workspace or namespace, ensuring the team can perform their tasks (e.g., deploy, scale, get logs) without having access to other environments or cluster-wide resources. For example, an NKP Role like “Developer” or a custom role can be configured to grant edit permissions in the team’s namespace while restricting access elsewhere. The Nutanix Cloud Native (NCP-CN) 6.10 Study Guide states: “In the NKP GUI, configure an NKP Role to grant limited permissions to a development team, allowing actions like deploying applications and viewing logs within their namespace while preventing unauthorized changes in other environments.”

Incorrect Options:

B. Cluster Role: A Kubernetes Cluster Role grants permissions across all namespaces, which is too broad for the team’s limited access requirement.

C. Cluster Admin: This grants full administrative access to the entire cluster, far exceeding the team’s needs and violating the principle of least privilege.

D. Kommander Role: Kommander is a management component in NKP, but “Kommander Role” is not a specific access type in the NKP GUI for this purpose.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract of Nutanix Kubernetes Platform Administration (NKPA) Course:

The NKPA course outlines the process of adding GPU-enabled worker nodes to an existing NKP-managed Kubernetes cluster, such as the production cluster in this scenario. The first step in this process is to ensure that a GPU-compatible OS image is available for the new worker nodes, as GPU support requires specific drivers and configurations (e.g., NVIDIA drivers) that are not included in standard OS images.

The correct first step is tocreate a GPU-compatible OS imageusing the command:

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nkp create image nutanix --gpu \

--gpu-name=${GPU_NAME} \

--cluster=${NUTANIX_CLUSTER_NAME} \

--endpoint=${NUTANIX_PC_ENDPOINT} \

--subnet=${NUTANIX_SUBNET} ubuntu-22.04

(Option D). This command uses the NKP CLI to create a machine image based on Ubuntu 22.04, tailored for Nutanix AHV infrastructure (nutanix) with GPU support enabled (--gpu). The --gpu-name flag specifies the GPU type (e.g., NVIDIA GPU model), and other parameters define the Nutanix cluster, Prism Central endpoint, and subnet for image creation. The resulting image includes the necessary NVIDIA drivers and dependencies, making it suitable for GPU-enabled worker nodes. The Nutanix Cloud Native (NCP-CN) 6.10 Study Guide states: “Before adding GPU-enabled workers to an NKP cluster on Nutanix, the first step is to create a GPU-compatible OS image using nkp create image nutanix --gpu, ensuring the image includes the required GPU drivers for the target infrastructure.”

This image is then used in subsequent steps (like Option A) to create a node pool with GPU-enabled workers. Without this image, the node pool creation in Option A would fail due to the lack of a suitable --vm-image.

Incorrect Options:

A. Create a nodepool of workers with GPU: This step requires a pre-existing GPU-compatible OS image (specified via --vm-image). Since the question does not indicate that such an image already exists, creating the image (Option D) must happen first.

B. Add the GPU Operator to the new workers: The NVIDIA GPU Operator can be installed to manage GPU resources, but this step occurs after the GPU-enabled workers are added to the cluster, not as the first step.

C. Configure Multi-Instance GPU (MIG): MIG configuration is an advanced GPU setup step that occurs after the workers are added and the GPU Operator is installed, not as the first step.

When an attached cluster (e.g., an external cluster like EKS) is stuck in a 'deleting' state in the NKP UI, it indicates an issue with the reconciliation process in the NKP management cluster. The NKPA course explains that attached clusters are represented in NKP as KommanderCluster custom resources in the management cluster. To resolve a stuck deletion, the engineer must manually delete the KommanderCluster resource using kubectl in the context of the NKP management cluster.

The correct command iskubectl delete kommandercluster, executed in the context of the NKP management cluster (not the attached cluster). For example: kubectl delete kommandercluster -n . The Nutanix Cloud Native (NCP-CN) 6.10 Study Guide states: “If an attached cluster is stuck in a ‘deleting’ state, delete the corresponding KommanderCluster resource in the NKP management cluster using kubectl delete kommandercluster to remove it from management.” This ensures the cluster is fully detached and removed from the UI.

Incorrect Options:

A. kubectl delete cluster: There is no cluster resource type in this context; the correct resource is kommandercluster.

B. nkp delete kommandercluster: The nkp CLI does not have a delete kommandercluster subcommand.

D. nkp delete cluster in the attached cluster: This command is for deleting NKP-managed clusters, not detaching external clusters, and it should be run from the management cluster context.

The NKPA course explains that NKP supports auto-scaling for clusters using Cluster API (CAPI), which manages the lifecycle of Kubernetes nodes. When auto-scaling is enabled, NKP monitors cluster workloads and automatically adjusts the number of nodes based on demand. The behavior involvesCAPI creating or deleting nodesas needed to scale the cluster up or down, ensuring optimal resource utilization.

The Nutanix Cloud Native (NCP-CN) 6.10 Study Guide states: “NKP auto-scaling uses Cluster API to dynamically create or delete nodes in response to workload demands, ensuring the cluster scales efficiently.” For example, if the workload increases, CAPI provisions additional worker nodes; if demand decreases, CAPI deletes nodes to reduce costs.

Incorrect Options:

A. CPU is hot-added or hot-removed: Hot-adding/removing CPU is not a Kubernetes auto-scaling behavior; scaling involves adding/removing nodes.

B. Memory is hot-added or hot-removed: Similar to CPU, memory scaling at the node level is not supported in this context.

C. Power-On Status/Mode of a node is changed: Auto-scaling does not involve changing node power states; it adds or removes nodes.