Nutanix NCP-CN study guide
Nutanix NCP-CN · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The Nutanix Certified Professional - Cloud Native (NCP-CN) is a professional-level credential aimed at engineers who run Kubernetes and containerized workloads on Nutanix infrastructure. It sits at the intersection of two skill sets: the platform side (Nutanix Kubernetes Platform, formerly NKP, cluster creation and lifecycle, networking and load balancing) and the data side (Nutanix CSI and Volumes for persistent storage, Nutanix Database Service for stateful workloads). The Nutanix NCP-CN study guide has 6 sections and about 1,975 words.
01NKP Architecture and Cluster Lifecycle
NCP-CN treats NKP as a Cluster API-driven platform, not a single Kubernetes distribution. Questions probe how the management cluster differs from workload clusters, which provider does what, and the order of lifecycle operations.
336 words, about 2 min02Kubernetes Networking and Load Balancing with Nutanix
Kubernetes networking on Nutanix is two layers: AHV's virtual network and the Kubernetes stack NKP installs on top. The exam checks that you can trace a packet from pod to Service IP and know who assigns each address.
358 words, about 2 min03Persistent Storage: Nutanix CSI, Volumes, and Data Services
Nutanix CSI is the bridge between Kubernetes PVCs and Nutanix storage. The exam asks which storage type fits an access mode, how snapshots and clones are declared, and where CSI stops and Data Services begins.
312 words, about 2 min04Nutanix Database Service for Cloud-Native Data
NDB (formerly Era) is Nutanix's database-as-a-service control plane. For NCP-CN the focus is how cloud-native teams consume it: self-service provisioning, clones for dev/test, Time Machine protection, and API-driven automation.
294 words, about 1 min05NC2 and Hybrid/Multicloud Operations
NC2 runs the Nutanix AHV stack on bare metal inside AWS or Azure, so the same Prism Central, APIs, and CLI manage cloud capacity. The exam tests where the boundary sits between Nutanix-managed and cloud-provider-managed, and how traffic returns on-prem.
339 words, about 2 min06Observability, Security, Backup, and DR
Cloud-native operations need three lenses: can you see it, can you prove who did what, and can you get it back? NCP-CN checks that you use Kubernetes-native tooling alongside Prism rather than treating either as sufficient alone.
336 words, about 2 min