Nutanix NCP-US study plan

Diagram the Nutanix unified storage stack from Prism Element/Prism Central down to the distributed storage fabric, labeling where Files, Objects, and Volumes each sit as services

Explain how Nutanix Files presents SMB and NFS exports from a Files VM group and describe the role of the FSVM, the share namespace, and the client access path

List the deployment prerequisites for a Files instance (cluster capacity, networking, DNS, NTP, VIP/subnet planning, licensing) and state why each matters

Differentiate Nutanix Volumes (block/iSCSI) from Files and Objects in terms of client protocol, consumption model, and typical workload

Build a one-page comparison table of the three storage services covering protocol, access control mechanism, redundancy model, and primary use case

Create a Files instance end to end in your lab or a simulator walkthrough, recording each screen's key decision (network, size, name service, protocol enablement)

Configure an SMB share with Active Directory integration, including domain join, computer account placement, and share-level permissions

Configure an NFS export with client IP/subnet allow lists and map UID/GID behavior to a specific test client

Set share-level and file-level permissions and verify effective access with at least two different user identities

Enable and validate SMB multichannel or protocol-specific tuning options, documenting the observed effect

Explain how Nutanix Objects is deployed as an object-store VM set and how it consumes capacity from the cluster

Create an S3-compatible bucket and an access key pair, then perform put/get/list/delete operations with an S3 CLI against the bucket endpoint

Distinguish bucket-level policies, access key scoping, and IAM-style user permissions, and apply the least-privilege option to a test user

Describe S3 API compatibility boundaries: which operations are supported, how versioning and object locking behave, and what to check before migrating an app

Compare Objects vs Files for a given unstructured-data workload and justify the choice in writing

Deploy a Nutanix Volumes configuration and attach an iSCSI-backed volume group to an external host or VM using the correct initiator IQDN/IQN and CHAP settings

Explain how a volume group is presented as iSCSI targets and how multipath I/O should be configured on the client

Troubleshoot a failed iSCSI login by checking initiator allow lists, network reachability, CHAP mismatch, and target discovery

Describe how Objects and Volumes each handle data placement and redundancy across the cluster

Document the operational limits and scaling considerations for volume groups and buckets

Explain how Nutanix snapshots work at the storage layer and why they are crash-consistent versus application-consistent depending on method

Create and restore a snapshot of a Files share and of a volume group, verifying data integrity after restore

Configure a protection domain or snapshot schedule with a defined RPO and describe replication to a remote cluster or availability zone

Differentiate local snapshots, remote replication, and backup to external targets, and map each to a recovery scenario

Draft a DR runbook that states RTO/RPO targets and the exact restore steps for Files, Objects, and Volumes

Use Prism monitoring views to identify latency, IOPS, and capacity trends for Files, Objects, and Volumes workloads

Interpret a performance chart to distinguish a client-side bottleneck from a cluster-side bottleneck

Collect and analyze logs for a Files issue (FSVM health, share access failure) and for an iSCSI disconnect

Describe the alert and health-check framework and configure a meaningful alert policy for capacity and service health

Practice a structured troubleshooting method: symptom, scope, hypothesis, test, resolution

Map the authentication and authorization chain for each service: AD/LDAP for Files, access keys and policies for Objects, CHAP and initiator groups for Volumes

Configure role-based access in Prism Central and verify a least-privilege role against a test user

Explain data-at-rest and in-flight encryption options and where each is enforced

Describe compliance-relevant controls: audit logging, immutability/object lock, retention, and secure erase

Perform a mock security review of your lab, listing findings and remediations

Re-derive the full unified storage architecture from memory and reconcile it against your week 1 diagram

Review weak areas identified in weeks 5 through 7 and re-test each with hands-on verification

Summarize the exam-weighted topics per domain (15/20/15/15/15/10/10) and confirm coverage of each

Complete a timed self-assessment of at least 60 original practice questions you write yourself from your runbooks

Finalize a one-page quick-reference sheet covering protocols, ports, limits, and recovery steps