Deployment, Installation, and Initial Configuration
What the exam tests
This domain covers deployment prerequisites, NDB server placement, initial registration, and first-run configuration.
Core rules
- Confirm DNS, NTP, IP addressing, and management network reachability before deployment. Time skew breaks agent registration and certificate validation.
- The NDB server needs Prism credentials with sufficient rights to create and manage VMs, snapshots, and networks.
- Register the AHV cluster, networks, and storage before provisioning. Agents must reach the NDB server and Prism.
- Add engine images or software profiles that match supported database versions.
- Configure authentication, projects, SLAs, and notifications before handing the service to users.
- Validate with a small provisioning test, not only a server login.
Worked example
After deploying the NDB VM, an administrator registers the AHV cluster, confirms the VLAN for database VMs, maps an AD group to a project, creates a bronze SLA with daily snapshots, and provisions a test PostgreSQL instance. The test proves server-to-Prism, server-to-agent, DNS, and NTP paths. If the agent fails to register, check time sync and network ACLs first.
Traps
Do not treat deployment as finished when the UI loads. Do not use a Prism account with expired credentials. Do not skip NTP because database VMs and the NDB server must agree on time. Do not create projects before deciding which networks and clusters they may use; project scope controls later provisioning choices.