NCSE-Core Nutanix Certified Systems Engineer-Core (NCSE-Core 6.8) Free Practice Exam Questions (2025 Updated)

Terminology

Availability Zone – it is represented by all resources (Nutanix Clusters) connected to Prism Central or Xi Leap Availability zone. Depends on the architecture, Availability zone can represent geographic territory, datacenter or server room in the datacenter. Protection policies – in protection policies you set up (RPO, Retention), rules to auto-apply policies to virtual machines

https://vmwaremine.com/2019/02/08/nutanix-leap-runbooks-part-1/#sthash.V wrzSzhQ.dpbs

Understanding the Prospect's Pain Points:

The prospect faces issues with application downtime during upgrades and struggles with infrastructure resource planning for a growing development environment.

Success Criteria Selection:

Integrated Reporting on Resource Utilization Trends:

Explanation: This helps the prospect in better planning and managing their infrastructure resources by providing insights into utilization trends and capacity planning.

To address the customer's concern about meeting storage requirements without significantly increasing the number of ESXi hosts and licenses, the systems engineer should review the capability of positioning storage-only nodes.

Storage-Only Nodes: Nutanix allows the addition of storage-only nodes to a cluster. These nodes contribute additional storage capacity without requiring extra ESXi licenses since they do not run VMs.

Seamless Integration: Storage-only nodes integrate seamlessly into the existing Nutanix cluster, providing additional storage while leveraging the same management interface.

Cost Efficiency: By adding storage-only nodes, the customer can meet their storage requirements without increasing the number of compute nodes and thus avoid additional ESXi licensing costs.

References:

Nutanix Storage Solutions: Detailed explanation of storage-only nodes and their integration.

Nutanix Community Documentation: Examples and best practices for adding storage-only nodes to a cluster.

Current User Metrics:

The financial institution has 5000 named VDI users.

Peak concurrent users are 2800.

Growth Factor Calculation:

To account for growth, an additional 10% needs to be added to the peak concurrent users.

Calculation: 2800 concurrent users * 1.10 = 3080 users.

Conclusion:

The SE should size the VDI environment for 3080 VMs to accommodate current and near-future needs.

References:

VDI sizing guidelines from Nutanix best practices.

Growth factor considerations from industry standards.

C. SX is limited to one 4-node cluster:

The Nutanix Xpress line is designed for smaller environments and is limited to a single 4-node cluster. This limitation makes it unsuitable for a prospect with multiple remote sites that need to replicate data to the main datacenter.

Nutanix handles node failures by immediately beginning the rebuild process. When two nodes fail within a short time frame, Nutanix automatically initiates the data replication and rebuild process to ensure data integrity and availability. The system leverages the remaining capacity and resources in the cluster to redistribute and rebuild the data from the failed nodes, minimizing the risk of data loss and maintaining cluster resilience.

References:

Nutanix Bible​

A prospective customer wants to build a private cloud and provision workloads across multiple public cloud providers but lacks the time and skillset for on-premises infrastructure management. Here is the detailed explanation of the features qualifying this project as a Nutanix opportunity:

Requirement Analysis:

Private cloud setup.

Provisioning across multiple public clouds.

Limited time and skillset for managing on-premises infrastructure.

Feature Analysis:

Flow: Provides network micro-segmentation and security, but does not directly address cloud management or simplicity in operations.

Calm: Nutanix Calm provides application automation and lifecycle management, enabling easy provisioning and management of applications across private and public clouds.

Cloud Connect: Facilitates backup and recovery to public clouds, not specifically for provisioning and ongoing management.

All Flash Nodes: Improves performance but does not address cloud management or ease of use.

Prism 1-Click operations: Offers simplified, automated management and operational tasks through a single interface, reducing the complexity and time required for infrastructure management.

Conclusion:Nutanix Calm and Prism 1-Click operations are the most relevant features as they enable seamless multi-cloud provisioning and management while simplifying the management of on-premises infrastructure.

References:

Nutanix Calm documentation​​

Nutanix Prism documentation​

Understanding POC Success Criteria:

A Proof of Concept (POC) must have clear, measurable success criteria to demonstrate the value and effectiveness of the proposed solution.

Measurable Criteria for POC:

Deployed 100 desktops on AHV using Citrix MCS plugin:

Explanation: Successfully deploying a significant number of desktops (100) using Citrix MCS on Nutanix AHV showcases the capability and scalability of the solution.

When using the Sizer in Automatic mode, it can provide various configurations based on the specified workload and capacity requirements. The following configurations are possible:

6x NX-8055-G7:

Each node has 2 x 7.68TB SSDs and 10x 6TB HDDs.

This configuration balances high-performance SSDs with large-capacity HDDs, suitable for mixed workload environments.

4x NX-1075S-G7 + 4x NX-8035-G7:

NX-1075S-G7 nodes have 4x 3.85TB SSDs each.

NX-8035-G7 nodes have 6x 3.84TB SSDs each.

This combination provides high SSD storage capacity across different node types, optimized for performance-intensive workloads.

References:

Nutanix Sizer Documentation: Details on how the Sizer tool calculates and recommends configurations.

Nutanix Hardware Specifications: Specifications for different node models and their storage capabilities.

Concerns Addressed:

Product Supportability: Addressing the prospect's concerns about support and partnership is critical.

TSAnet:

TSAnet(Technical Support Alliance Network) is an industry cooperative that provides multi-vendor support. Nutanix's participation in TSAnet ensures coordinated support efforts across vendors, including HPE (Nutanix Support Resources)​​.

Nutanix Software Only HCL:

TheNutanix Software Only Hardware Compatibility List (HCL)provides a comprehensive list of supported hardware, ensuring that Nutanix software can be reliably deployed on HPE servers. This official documentation helps counter FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt) by verifying compatibility (Nutanix HCL)​​.

Conclusion:

Leveraging TSAnet and the Nutanix Software Only HCL provides credible and verifiable evidence to overcome concerns about product supportability and partnership with HPE.

References:

Nutanix TSAnet information

Nutanix Software Only HCL

Current Environment Analysis:

The existing AHV cluster has 7 NX-3060-G6 nodes with Intel Skylake processors.

These nodes are distributed across two blocks.

The customer needs to add three more NX-3060-G7 nodes with Intel Cascade Lake processors.

Objective:

Efficiently utilize additional resources by integrating new nodes into the existing infrastructure.

Recommendations:

Expand the existing cluster: The goal is to enhance resource utilization and maintain cluster simplicity by adding the new nodes to the current cluster.

Add a new block populated with the three additional nodes: This approach provides several benefits:

It ensures the new nodes are integrated into the existing management and operational framework.

It leverages the existing network and storage configurations, minimizing setup complexities.

By adding a new block, the existing two blocks remain unchanged, maintaining their current configuration and workloads.

Implementation:

Order and prepare the new nodes: Ensure that the three additional NX-3060-G7 nodes are ready for deployment.

Add the new block to the existing cluster:

Physically rack and connect the new block with the three NX-3060-G7 nodes.

In the Nutanix Prism interface, initiate the process to add the new block to the existing cluster.

The cluster expansion process will automatically incorporate the new nodes into the existing cluster, ensuring seamless integration.

Outcome:

The customer will achieve an efficient expansion of their AHV cluster, utilizing the new resources effectively.

This method ensures minimal disruption and maintains operational consistency across the cluster.

References: For further details on cluster expansion and node addition processes, refer to the Nutanix documentation on cluster management and node integration.

Nutanix Value Propositions:

Nutanix offers several key value propositions that distinguish its solutions in the market.

One-Click Infrastructure Management:

One-Click Operations: Nutanix provides simplified management of the entire infrastructure stack through one-click operations for upgrades, troubleshooting, and management tasks.

This reduces operational complexity and administrative overhead.

Rapid Time to Value:

Quick Deployment: Nutanix solutions are designed for rapid deployment, enabling customers to achieve faster time-to-value.

Ease of Use: The intuitive management interface and streamlined processes help organizations start benefiting from their investment quickly.

Outcome:

These value propositions ensure that Nutanix provides a compelling solution that simplifies infrastructure management and accelerates time-to-value for customers.

References: For more details, refer to Nutanix's marketing and product documentation on value propositions and benefits.

D. 2400 Users:

The number of users (2400) directly impacts the performance and scalability requirements of the Nutanix Files (AFS) deployment. High user counts can lead to increased demand for resources and necessitate additional nodes to ensure optimal performance and responsiveness.

References:

Nutanix Files (AFS) documentation and sizing guidelines highlight user count as a critical factor in determining the resource requirements for file workloads.

To determine the best configuration, we need to calculate the required storage, including the additional 20% growth and the capacity to re-protect in the event of a node failure:

Initial Storage Requirement:

Usable storage required: 15 TiB

Additional storage for 20% growth: 15×0.2=3 TiB15 \times 0.2 = 3 \text{ TiB}15×0.2=3 TiB

Total storage required: 15+3=18 TiB15 + 3 = 18 \text{ TiB}15+3=18 TiB

Storage with Re-protection:

To ensure data protection and availability, Nutanix typically uses a replication factor (RF) of 2, meaning each piece of data is stored twice.

Therefore, the total raw storage needed: 18 TiB×2=36 TiB18 \text{ TiB} \times 2 = 36 \text{ TiB}18 TiB×2=36 TiB

Given these calculations, we should look for a configuration that provides at least 36 TiB of raw storage. Based on typical Nutanix node configurations, Option D provides the best balance of cost and capacity, ensuring that the requirement for 36 TiB of raw storage is met.

X-rayis a performance testing tool designed by Nutanix to simulate real-world application workloads and provide detailed performance metrics. It can effectively demonstrate the performance of Microsoft SQL Server on Nutanix compared to the existing infrastructure.

Xtractsimplifies the migration process by automating the migration of workloads from existing infrastructure to Nutanix, reducing the effort and time required for the POC.

By using these tools, the SE can provide the customer with comprehensive performance data without the need for a lengthy POC, thereby addressing their concerns more efficiently.

C. What is your process for evaluating new methodologies and technologies?

This open-ended question helps initiate a broader discussion about the customer's approach to technology adoption and evaluation. It allows the SE to understand the customer's decision-making process and criteria for adopting new technologies beyond their current VDI workload.

By understanding the evaluation process, the SE can tailor the conversation to introduce Nutanix's capabilities in other areas such as cloud integration, database management, and application development, thus expanding the scope of Nutanix solutions within the customer’s infrastructure.

To achieve N+2 resiliency for the entire cluster, the configuration can be adjusted by:

Increasing the number of Nodes: Adding more nodes enhances the cluster's ability to tolerate failures by distributing data across a larger number of nodes.

Increasing the SSD capacity per Node: Higher SSD capacity per node can improve data distribution and redundancy, ensuring that the cluster can maintain performance and availability even during failures​​.

To logically separate management and data traffic on a Nutanix cluster, the administrator should use Network Segmentation. This feature allows for the isolation of different types of traffic, ensuring that management and data operations do not interfere with each other and enhancing security and performance​​.

Nutanix Era is a tool that provides database management with one-click operations for provisioning, patching, and managing databases. It includes capabilities for self-service and lifecycle management for both Kubernetes containers and SQL databases, making it ideal for building a private cloud for internal developers. Era simplifies database operations and integrates seamlessly with Nutanix infrastructure to provide a comprehensive solution for database lifecycle management.

References:

Nutanix Bible​