Nutanix NCA flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Nutanix Cloud Platform

Nutanix Cloud Platform combines AOS distributed storage, AHV virtualization, Prism management, and optional services such as Flow, Calm, Files, and Objects to run enterprise workloads.

Hyperconverged infrastructure

HCI integrates compute, storage, and virtualization into the same node; capacity and performance scale out by adding nodes rather than expanding a central storage array.

Prism Central vs Element

Prism Element manages a single Nutanix cluster, while Prism Central manages multiple clusters and provides centralized categories, policies, RBAC, and dashboards.

Controller VM role

The Controller VM runs AOS on each node and handles storage I/O, metadata, replication, and cluster services, pooling local disks into a distributed storage fabric.

Cluster VIP

The cluster virtual IP provides access to Prism Element and cluster services; it is separate from individual Controller VM and hypervisor management IP addresses.

Replication factor RF2

RF2 keeps two copies of data across nodes and tolerates one node or disk failure; RF3 keeps three copies and tolerates two failures.

AOS core services

AOS includes Stargate for I/O, Curator for scans, Cassandra for metadata, Zookeeper for cluster configuration, and Genesis for cluster management.

Cluster expansion

Adding a node to a Nutanix cluster automatically rebalances stored data across all nodes; no manual LUN expansion or disk group creation is required.

AHV

AHV is Nutanix's native KVM-based Type-1 hypervisor; it uses the cluster distributed storage fabric for VM disks rather than external SAN or NAS.

Nutanix Guest Tools

NGT is installed inside a guest OS and enables VSS quiescing, self-service restore, and file-level restore for AHV or supported hypervisors.

VM high availability

AHV high availability restarts protected VMs on surviving hosts after a host failure, subject to available capacity and admission control settings.

Storage container

A storage container is a policy boundary in AOS that defines replication factor, compression, deduplication, and encryption for the VMs and datastores that use it.

Distributed storage fabric

DSF pools local SSD and HDD from all cluster nodes into one distributed datastore and places VM disk extents across nodes for performance and resiliency.

Erasure coding EC-X

EC-X reduces storage overhead by striping data and parity across nodes, typically for less active data; it is not a substitute for replication on hot data.

Volume Groups

Volume Groups present block storage from the Nutanix cluster over iSCSI to external hosts or VMs that require raw block devices.

AHV virtual switch

AHV uses Open vSwitch on each host to connect VM NICs to VLAN-backed virtual networks and physical uplinks; br0 is the default bridge.

Nutanix Flow

Flow provides distributed firewall and microsegmentation for AHV; security policies are applied at VM NICs and can use categories to define groups.

VLAN tagging

VLAN tagging separates traffic on AHV virtual networks; VM NICs and host uplinks must be configured consistently with the physical switch access or trunk ports.

Protection domain

A protection domain groups VMs and defines snapshot and replication schedules, retention, and remote targets for local backup and disaster recovery.

Asynchronous replication

Asynchronous replication sends scheduled snapshots from a source cluster to a remote cluster; the RPO equals the schedule interval, typically minutes to hours.

Metro Availability

Metro Availability provides synchronous replication between two sites in a stretched cluster, enabling near-zero RPO and automated failover for protected VMs.

Nutanix Leap

Leap automates disaster recovery orchestration with runbooks that define VM boot order, network changes, testing, and one-click failover or failback.

NCC health checks

Nutanix Cluster Check runs automated health checks on cluster services, disks, networking, and replication; it is recommended before upgrades and during troubleshooting.

Pulse telemetry

Pulse sends diagnostic and telemetry data from the cluster to Nutanix support; it can be enabled or disabled and does not interrupt cluster operation.

Prism alerts

Prism alerts report cluster conditions with severity levels; notifications can be sent by email, SNMP traps, or syslog to configured recipients.

RBAC in Prism

Prism role-based access control assigns roles to local or AD/LDAP users; Prism Central roles can span clusters while Prism Element roles apply to one cluster.

Categories

Categories are key-value pairs assigned to VMs and used by Prism Central policies for placement, protection, and security; they are not a standalone security boundary.

Data-at-rest encryption

Nutanix can encrypt stored data using self-encrypting drives or software encryption; enabling it requires key management configuration and planning.

LCM

Lifecycle Manager automates inventory, compatibility checks, and firmware or software updates for Nutanix components and supported partner firmware.

AOS rolling upgrade

AOS upgrades are non-disruptive and rolling: one node is upgraded at a time while the cluster remains available, provided health checks pass.

Pre-upgrade NCC

Before upgrading, run NCC and verify LCM compatibility; unresolved health issues or incompatible component versions can cause upgrade failure.

Prism Central upgrade

Prism Central has its own upgrade path and must remain compatible with managed Prism Element clusters; upgrade planning includes checking interoperability.