NCP-MCA key terms

The Nutanix management plane that provides a single console across multiple clusters, hosting automation features such as Playbooks, Calm, and runbook execution alongside inventory and monitoring.

The per-cluster management interface in Nutanix, responsible for local cluster configuration, storage containers, and health, and registered as a resource that Prism Central can manage.

Key-value metadata labels assigned to VMs and other entities, used to scope Playbooks, policies, and reporting to specific groups of resources.

An event-driven automation definition in Prism Central that pairs a trigger with a sequence of actions, optionally gated by approval, to respond automatically to changes in the environment.

The event or condition that starts a Playbook, such as a VM power state change, an alert, a category change, or a scheduled time.

A single executable step inside a Playbook, such as sending email, running a script, invoking a REST API, or performing a VM operation.

A setting that pauses a Playbook or runbook before sensitive actions and requires a designated approver to accept or reject the pending execution.

A Playbook trigger type that fires when a monitored system event occurs, for example a VM being created or an alert being raised.

A Playbook trigger that responds to a specific Prism Central alert, commonly used to remediate conditions such as low disk space or a failed component.

The Nutanix self-service and application lifecycle management component that models multi-tier applications as blueprints and deploys them through projects and environments.

A reusable application definition in Calm describing services, their VM or container specifications, dependencies, and lifecycle actions used at deploy, start, stop, and delete.

A Calm construct that bundles users, roles, quotas, clusters, and networks so that self-service deployments are constrained to approved infrastructure and accountable to an owner.

A single tier or component within a Calm blueprint, defining its VM template, resource sizing, and scripts that run during the application lifecycle.

A hook attached to a blueprint or service that executes at a defined phase such as pre-create, post-create, or pre-delete, typically running a script or task.

The Nutanix catalog of prebuilt blueprints and applications that users can deploy through self-service, subject to their project permissions and quotas.

A limit on resource consumption, such as vCPUs, memory, or storage, enforced per project to prevent self-service deployments from exhausting cluster capacity.

A reusable sequence of automated and manual steps executed on demand or on a schedule, used for operational procedures like patching, health checks, or remediation.

A single instance of a runbook being run, tracking step status, output, approvals, and completion for audit and troubleshooting.

An individual unit of work within a runbook or lifecycle action, which may be an automated script, an API call, or a manual step awaiting human completion.

The Nutanix automation engine that supplies the action library behind Playbooks, offering reusable actions for VM operations, notifications, HTTP calls, and scripting.

The HTTP-based programmatic interface of Prism Central, used to create, read, update, and delete resources and to integrate external tools with Nutanix automation.

An outbound HTTP callback that automation sends to an external endpoint, carrying event or execution data so third-party systems can react in near real time.

The versioned path segment, such as v3 or v4, in Prism Central REST endpoints that determines request and response schemas and must match the client's expectations.

A command-line interface for managing Nutanix clusters, used to inspect and configure storage, networking, and cluster settings from a shell session.

The Acropolis command-line interface used to manage VMs and images on a cluster, including power operations, cloning, and listing VM inventory.

A notification generated by Prism Central when a monitored condition crosses a threshold or a fault is detected, often used as a trigger for automated remediation.

A governance rule in Prism Central that enforces configuration or protection requirements across scoped resources, such as protection domain assignment or category compliance.

The permission model that grants users roles scoped to projects or categories, determining which actions and resources they can access in Prism Central and Calm.

A chronological record of user and system actions in Prism Central, used to trace who changed what and to investigate automation failures.

A Prism Element cluster that has been added to Prism Central, making its VMs, hosts, and storage visible and manageable from the central console.

A Calm construct representing a target deployment context, such as development or production, that binds blueprints to specific clusters, networks, and credentials.

A stored username and secret used by automation actions and scripts to authenticate to endpoints, VMs, or external systems without hardcoding secrets in scripts.

A configured connection target, such as a REST URL or SSH host, that automation actions use to reach external systems or guest operating systems.

A runbook or Playbook step that halts execution until a human reviewer explicitly approves or rejects it, providing a control point for risky operations.