NCS-Core Nutanix Certified Services Core Infrastructure Professional (NCS-Core 6.8) Free Practice Exam Questions (2025 Updated)

The proper network configuration to solve the described issue involves using tagged VLANs for the CVM (Controller Virtual Machine) and host, allowing these components to correctly interact with the customer's VLAN-configured network. For the IPMI (Intelligent Platform Management Interface), which is used for out-of-band management and does not require connectivity to multiple VLANs, setting it to access mode is appropriate. This configuration ensures that the IPMI only communicates over a single, untagged VLAN, effectively isolating its traffic from the production network.

References:

Nutanix Bible (https://www.nutanixbible.com ), particularly the sections on networking and VLAN configurations.

Nutanix University: NCS-Core 6.8 Training (https://university.nutanix.com ), where VLAN and network settings are covered.

Given the constraint of a 16-port switch for a 20-node cluster, the consultant cannot physically connect all nodes to the network simultaneously. VLAN tagging allows multiple virtual networks to be carried over the same physical network. However, the challenge here is not about VLANs but the physical limitation of ports. The practical approach would be to manually create the cluster, potentially in stages, as the full network capacity required for all nodes is not available.References:

Nutanix University - NCS-Core 6.8 Learning Path

The Nutanix Bible, Networking chapter (https://www.nutanixbible.com/ )

For the Exchange VM experiencing I/O performance issues, the recommended storage optimization change is Option A, "No data reduction." Exchange, as an application, is highly sensitive to latency and typically does not benefit significantly from data reduction technologies like deduplication or compression, which can introduce additional processing overhead and potentially worsen performance issues.

By configuring the container for Exchange with no data reduction, the system maximizes I/O performance by eliminating any additional processing that could delay data access. This setup ensures that Exchange has the fastest possible access to its data, which is crucial for its performance.

References:This recommendation aligns with best practices for Exchange storage on Nutanix, as detailed in the Nutanix best practices guide for deploying Microsoft Exchange, where it advises against using data reduction features for databases requiring high I/O throughput.

Ref: https://next.nutanix.com/installation-configuration-23/convert-existing-nutanix-vmware-cluster-to-nutanix- only-37600

When receiving a field advisory from Nutanix support regarding a rare problem that could destabilize the cluster, the recommended action is to update AOS. This can be done via Prism Element by selecting "Upgrade Software." This method ensures that any patches or updates that address the identified issue are applied directly to the AOS environment, mitigating any potential risks associated with the reported problem. Since the organization uses VMware vSphere, the update specifically targets the AOS to ensure the underlying infrastructure supporting vSphere remains stable.References: Nutanix Support Portal, Nutanix Field Advisories, Prism Element Guide.

When Foundation reports an error indicating the ISO is not supported:

Option B: Checking the MD5 checksum of the ISO file ensures that it matches the expected value listed by Nutanix, confirming the file's integrity and compatibility.

Option D: Downloading and updating the iso whitelist.json from the Nutanix Support Portal ensures that Foundation has the latest information on supported ISO files, potentially resolving compatibility issues.

References:

Nutanix Bible (https://www.nutanixbible.com ), especially sections on Foundation and ISO troubleshooting.

Nutanix University: NCS-Core 6.8 Training (https://university.nutanix.com ), which covers the setup and troubleshooting of Foundation.

Erasure coding is a method of data protection in which data is broken into fragments, expanded and encoded with redundant data pieces, and stored across a set of different locations or storage media. The goal of erasure coding is to enable data that becomes corrupted at some point in the disk storage process to be reconstructed by using information about the data that’s stored elsewhere in the array1.

In the context of Nutanix, erasure coding increases the usable capacity on a cluster. Instead of replicating data, erasure coding uses parity information to rebuild data in the event of a disk failure1. The capacity savings of erasure coding is in addition to deduplication and compression savings1.

Given the characteristics of the VM in the question (large/sequential writes, data kept for years, data accessed only at the end of the year), Post-Process Compression would be the most suitable feature to utilize to save space. This is because Post-Process Compression, as the name suggests, compresses data after it has been written to the storage, which is suitable for data that is not accessed frequently2.

References:

Erasure Coding | Nutanix Community

Nutanix Support & Insights

Introducing AOS 6.6: Enhanced data services and simplified … - Nutanix

During the deployment of a cluster using the Nutanix Foundation, ensuring all IP ranges are correctly configured is crucial for successful connectivity and deployment. "Range Autofill" is a feature in Foundation that automatically populates IP address fields based on the first IP provided, ensuring consistency and correctness across multiple nodes being deployed simultaneously. This feature helps avoid manual entry errors and ensures all nodes are configured with appropriate IP addresses that fall within the specified range. References: Nutanix University (https://university.nutanix.com/ )

When migrating an ESXi host to a vSphere Distributed Switch (vDS), it's crucial to correctly configure network adapters, including those for the Controller Virtual Machine (CVM). If the consultant migrated both the CVM backplane and the VM network adapter to the vDS, this could disrupt host-to-CVM connectivity if not configured correctly on the vDS. Such a setup requires precise configuration of network settings and VLAN tags to maintain seamless connectivity and avoid communication alerts in Prism Element.

The most straightforward approach for increasing security by disabling password authentication and moving to key-based SSH on a Nutanix cluster involves:

C. Enable Cluster Lockdown and provide an RSA key: Cluster Lockdown mode restricts management access to the cluster, ensuring that only key-based SSH authentication is used to access the CVM and AHV hosts, enhancing security by eliminating the use of passwords.

References:

Nutanix Bible (https://www.nutanixbible.com ), particularly sections discussing secure access and authentication methods.

Nutanix University: NCS-Core 6.8 Training (https://university.nutanix.com ), where security features like Cluster Lockdown are covered.

For continuing the cluster deployment without an NTP server immediately available: A. An NTP server is not required for the initial foundation process of the cluster and can indeed be added later. This allows the deployment to proceed without delays, although it's critical to add NTP synchronization as soon as possible post-deployment to ensure proper cluster time management. B. If an NTP server is to be provided using an FQDN, then a DNS server must indeed be available. This is because the FQDN needs to be resolved to an IP address, which requires DNS resolution services. Options C and D are not strictly required as per Nutanix deployment standards; a single NTP server can suffice initially, and there's no requirement for it to be external or in a comma-separated list unless specifically dictated by network or organizational policies.References: Nutanix Installation and Configuration Guide, Nutanix Foundation Tool documentation.