NCP-MCA Nutanix Certified Professional - Multicloud Automation (NCP-MCA v6.5) Exam Questions and Answers

 In order to add users to a Project, the Prism Central administrator must first configure an Authentication Directory. This is a service that provides user authentication and authorization for Prism Central, such as Active Directory or OpenLDAP. By configuring an Authentication Directory, the administrator can enable users to log in to Prism Central using their existing credentials and assign them roles and permissions based on their group membership. The administrator can also create local user accounts for users who do not belong to any Authentication Directory.

References:

Nutanix Certified Professional - Multicloud Automation (NCP-MCA) Exam Blueprint Guide, Section 2, Objective 2.5

Nutanix Multicloud Automation Administration (NMCAA) Course, Module 2, Lesson 2.2

Configuring Authentication | Nutanix Community

A Category in Nutanix is a grouping of entities (such as VMs, hosts, clusters, etc.) into a key-value pair. Categories are used to organize and manage resources more effectively by tagging them with meaningful identifiers.

References:

Nutanix documentation on Categories.

Nutanix Best Practices for Using Categories.

Runtime variables are variables that can be modified by the Consumer during the deployment of a Blueprint or after the deployment is complete. They allow the Consumer to customize the attributes of the infrastructure and applications according to their needs. Runtime variables can be defined in the Blueprint settings or in the Blueprint YAML file. They can also be used in the Blueprint tasks to pass dynamic values to the scripts or commands. Runtime variables can be of different types, such as text, number, boolean, list, or password. They can also have default values, constraints, and descriptions to guide the Consumer.

References:

Nutanix Certified Professional - Multicloud Automation (NCP-MCA) Exam Blueprint Guide, Section 2, Objective 2.1

Nutanix Multicloud Automation Administration (NMCAA) Course, Module 4, Lesson 4.3

Nutanix Calm User Guide, Chapter 4, Section 4.2

Autopilot is a feature of Nutanix Calm that allows the administrator to automate the execution of playbooks based on predefined conditions or triggers. Autopilot can optimize the performance, availability, and cost of applications by applying the appropriate actions in response to events or metrics. Before configuring autopilot, the administrator must be aware of the following limitations12:

Autopilot never waits for approvals. This means that the administrator must ensure that the playbooks are tested and verified before enabling autopilot. Autopilot will execute the playbooks without any human intervention or confirmation.

Autopilot feature only applies to metric-based alerts as triggers. This means that the administrator can only use metrics from the Nutanix Prism Central or the Nutanix Karbon clusters as the conditions for triggering the playbooks. Autopilot does not support other types of triggers such as schedules, webhooks, or manual triggers. References: Nutanix Certified Professional - Multicloud Automation (NCP-MCA) Exam Blueprint Guide, page 10; Nutanix Calm SaaS User Guide, section 4.3.

To launch application deployments on any remote Prism Central (PC) from the PC hosting Calm Global, the administrator must create a Nutanix account for each remote PC on the local PC (the one hosting Calm Global) and add these accounts to the relevant project. This setup allows Calm to manage and orchestrate resources across multiple Prism Central instances.

References:

Nutanix Calm documentation on Multi-Cluster Management.

Nutanix Best Practices for Global Deployments.

Test Script is a feature of Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) Self-Service that allows users to test or validate scripts before deployment. Test Script enables users to run scripts on a VM without creating a blueprint or a runbook. Users can select a VM, choose a script type, enter the script content, and execute the script. The output of the script is displayed in the Test Script window. Test Script can be used to troubleshoot errors, verify functionality, or preview the results of a script before using it in a blueprint or a runbook. References: Nutanix Certified Professional - Multicloud Automation (NCP-MCA) Exam Blueprint Guide, page 14, section 3.1. Nutanix Multicloud Automation Administration (NMCAA) course, module 3, lesson 4. Validate Your Nutanix Cloud Manager Self-Service Skills + Access Special Offer.

Before a Single-VM Blueprint in Self-Service (formerly Calm) can be published to the Marketplace, it is necessary to create both a project and an environment. A project defines the scope and access control for the blueprint, while the environment provides the necessary configurations and settings for the deployment, such as network, credentials, and other resources.

References:

Nutanix Calm documentation on Project Creation.

Nutanix Calm documentation on Environment Setup.

The most optimal way to correct the failed deployment is to retry the failed deployment. This option allows the administrator to resume the deployment from the point of failure, without having to redeploy the entire application or create a new runbook. Retrying the failed deployment also preserves the application state and configuration, and avoids creating duplicate resources or conflicts.

Redeploying the application is not the best option, because it requires the administrator to delete the existing application and launch a new one from scratch. This option wastes time and resources, and may result in data loss or inconsistency.

Creating a runbook to retry is also not the best option, because it requires the administrator to write a custom script or workflow to handle the retry logic. This option adds complexity and overhead to the automation process, and may not be compatible with the original blueprint or application.

Rewriting the blueprint to have error handling is a valid option, but it is not the most optimal one. This option requires the administrator to modify the blueprint code and add logic to handle different types of errors and exceptions. This option improves the robustness and reliability of the blueprint, but it does not correct the failed deployment itself. The administrator still has to redeploy the application or retry the failed deployment after rewriting the blueprint.

References:

Nutanix Calm User Guide: Chapter 6: Managing Applications

Nutanix Calm DSL User Guide: Chapter 4: Blueprints

Nutanix Certified Professional - Multicloud Automation (NCP-MCA) Exam Blueprint Guide: Section 3: Validate Blueprints, Runbooks, Playbooks, and Automation Settings

The error message indicates that customization of the guest operating system is not supported. This issue often arises because open-vm-tools is not installed or not running on the Redhat Enterprise Linux VM. open-vm-tools is necessary for vSphere to perform guest customization tasks, such as setting the hostname, IP configuration, and other initialization tasks.

References:

Nutanix documentation on Guest Customization Requirements.

VMware documentation on Installing Open VM Tools.

The administrator should modify the alert by adding the correct category and assign the category Environment:Development to development VMs. By doing this, they can filter out alerts for development VMs that are expected to have memory constrained alerts and focus on those that are critical, such as production VMs. This is based on the general practices in managing alerts in a multicloud environment, as well as the specific features and requirements of Nutanix Calm and Prism Central. References:

How to create custom alert policies | Prism central | Nutanix Community

Nutanix Certified Professional - Multicloud Automation (NCP-MCA) v6.5 Exam Blueprint Guide, Section 3: Validate Blueprints, Runbooks, Playbooks, and Automation Settings, Objective 3.1: Determine the causes of a Blueprint or Runbook deployment failure

Nutanix Multicloud Automation Administration (NMCAA) course, Module 4: Nutanix Calm Governance, Lesson 1: Nutanix Calm Governance

The error message indicates that the password parameter is not a secret parameter, which means it is not encrypted and stored securely in the Calm database. This can happen when a Playbook is cloned from another Playbook that has a password parameter defined as a secret parameter. The cloned Playbook will inherit the password value from the original Playbook, but it will not be a secret parameter. To resolve this issue, the administrator needs to either delete the password parameter and create a new one as a secret parameter, or edit the password parameter and mark it as a secret parameter. References:

Nutanix Certified Professional - Multicloud Automation (NCP-MCA) Exam Blueprint Guide, page 15, section 4.2.1

Nutanix Calm Playbooks

Nutanix Calm Parameters

The archived application logs within Prism Central can be found under Services > Calm > Settings. Calm automatically archives run logs of the deleted applications and custom actions that are older than three months. The administrator can download the archives within 7 days from the time of archive creation. For a running application, data is not archived for the system-generated Create actions. References: Nutanix Support & Insights

From the exhibit, it is clear that Prism Central needs to communicate with Calm managed target Linux VMs via SSH and with Calm managed target Windows VMs via PowerShell or Shell scripts. The appropriate ports to open for these communications are:

TCP 22: This port is used for SSH, which is necessary for managing Linux VMs.

TCP 5985 and 5986: These ports are used for PowerShell remoting, which is essential for managing Windows VMs.

References:

Nutanix Calm documentation on Network Ports.

Best practices for Nutanix Network Configuration.

To ensure the VMs are properly remediated, the Playbook actions should be added in the following order: Take a VM Snapshot, VM add Memory, Resolve Alert. This is because Memory Hot Add allows the administrator to increase the memory allocation of a running VM without powering it off. Taking a VM snapshot before adding memory provides a backup point in case of any issues. Resolving the alert after adding memory clears the notification and updates the status of the VM. Powering off the VM is not necessary and may cause downtime or disruption to the applications running on the VM. References: Nutanix Certified Professional - Multicloud Automation (NCP-MCA) Exam Blueprint Guide, page 11; Nutanix Calm SaaS User Guide, section 4.2.3.

In Nutanix Self-Service (formerly known as Calm), substrates refer to the combination of the underlying cloud infrastructure and the virtual machine instances. Substrates define the environment where applications will be deployed and managed, encompassing cloud providers, virtualization platforms, and the associated VM configurations.

References:

Nutanix Calm documentation on Substrates.

Nutanix Best Practices for Application Deployment.

 The best way to automate the entire database and application deployments is to use a combination of Nutanix Calm and Nutanix Era. Nutanix Calm is a multicloud automation platform that allows you to create blueprints to deploy and manage infrastructure and applications across different cloud environments. Nutanix Era is a database management platform that allows you to provision, clone, patch, refresh, and restore databases in a simplified and automated way. By creating a Calm blueprint that deploys applications and calls Era APIs to automate database deployments, you can achieve faster and consistent releases, as well as reduce the manual effort and complexity involved in the process. You can also leverage the features of Calm and Era, such as self-service, governance, showback, backup, and recovery, to enhance the efficiency and security of your deployments. References: 

https://www.nutanix.com/support-services/training-certification/certifications/certification-details-nutanix-certified-professional-multicloud-automation-v6-5

https://www.nutanix.com/content/dam/nutanix/resources/support/ds-ncp-mca.pdf

 A Playbook is a collection of tasks that can be executed based on a trigger, such as a time, a webhook, or a manual action. A Playbook can be used to automate workflows across different systems and services, such as Nutanix Prism, VMs, hosts, and external APIs. A Playbook can also use variables, conditions, and loops to customize the execution logic and data.

In this scenario, the administrator wants to automate the batch processing application on the Linux VM, which can only be controlled by a command on the VM console. The application should run only outside of business hours, and the VM should send REST API calls to Prism to report its status.

The best way to configure a Playbook for this process is to use a Time Trigger, which allows the administrator to specify a schedule for the Playbook execution, such as daily, weekly, or monthly. The Time Trigger can also be configured to run only on certain days or hours, such as weekdays or nights. This way, the administrator can ensure that the Playbook runs only outside of business hours, without requiring any manual intervention.

The Playbook should then have two VM SSH tasks, one to initiate the batch processing application, and one to terminate it. A VM SSH task is a task that executes a command or script on a target VM using SSH. A VM SSH task can be used to control applications or services that do not have a programmatic interface, such as the batch processing application in this scenario. The VM SSH task can also use variables to pass data to or from the command or script, such as the VM name, IP address, or output.

The Playbook should also have a Wait for Some Time task, which is a task that pauses the Playbook execution for a specified duration or until a condition is met. A Wait for Some Time task can be used to ensure that the batch processing application has enough time to complete its work, or to wait for a certain event or state to occur, such as a file creation, a service status, or a VM power state.

The Playbook should also have two REST API tasks, one before and one after the Wait for Some Time task. A REST API task is a task that executes an HTTP request to a specified URL, with optional headers, body, and authentication. A REST API task can be used to interact with external systems or services that expose an API, such as Nutanix Prism in this scenario. The REST API task can also use variables to pass data to or from the HTTP request, such as the VM name, IP address, or response.

The REST API tasks should be configured to send the VM status to Prism, such as the start and end time of the batch processing, the CPU and memory usage, or the output of the application. This way, the administrator can monitor and manage the VM and the application from Prism, without having to connect to the VM console.

The Playbook configuration should look something like this:

Time Trigger: Set the schedule to run daily, only on weekdays, and only at night (e.g., 10 PM to 6 AM).

VM SSH: Set the target VM to the Linux VM, and set the command or script to initiate the batch processing application (e.g., ./batch.sh start).

REST API: Set the URL to the Prism API endpoint, and set the HTTP method, headers, body, and authentication as required. Use variables to pass the VM name, IP address, and start time of the batch processing to the HTTP request (e.g., {"vm_name": "{{vm_name}}", "vm_ip": "{{vm_ip}}", "start_time": "{{start_time}}"}).

Wait for Some Time: Set the duration to the expected time for the batch processing to finish, or set a condition to wait until a certain event or state occurs (e.g., wait until file /tmp/batch.done exists).

REST API: Set the URL to the Prism API endpoint, and set the HTTP method, headers, body, and authentication as required. Use variables to pass the VM name, IP address, end time, and output of the batch processing to the HTTP request (e.g., {"vm_name": "{{vm_name}}", "vm_ip": "{{vm_ip}}", "end_time": "{{end_time}}", "output": "{{output}}"}).

VM SSH: Set the target VM to the Linux VM, and set the command or script to terminate the batch processing application (e.g., ./batch.sh stop).

References: 

https://www.nutanix.com/content/dam/nutanix/resources/datasheets/ds-ncp-mca-6-5.pdf

https://www.nutanix.com/content/dam/nutanix/resources/support/ds-ncp-mca.pdf

When a VM managed by Self-Service (formerly Calm) is deleted manually from Prism Central, the associated application in Self-Service cannot be deleted using the standard delete action because the substrate is no longer present. In this scenario, the administrator should use the "Soft Delete" action in Self-Service, which will remove the application from management without requiring the substrate to be present.

References:

Nutanix documentation on Soft Delete.

Nutanix Best Practices for Managing Self-Service Applications.

When configuring Playbooks to automate the scaling of CPU and memory resources for VMs, the administrator should consider the following prerequisites:

CPU can be added to a powered on VM if the guest OS supports it. This is also known as hot-plug CPU. The administrator should check the compatibility of the guest OS and the hypervisor before enabling this feature. For example, Windows Server 2019 supports hot-plug CPU on AHV, ESXi, and Hyper-V, but not on XenServer1.

Memory can be removed from a powered on VM if the guest OS supports it. This is also known as hot-unplug memory. The administrator should check the compatibility of the guest OS and the hypervisor before enabling this feature. For example, Linux supports hot-unplug memory on AHV, ESXi, and XenServer, but not on Hyper-V2.

VM must be powered off to add CPU if the guest OS does not support hot-plug CPU. This is also known as cold-plug CPU. The administrator should plan for the downtime required to power off and power on the VM after adding CPU.

VM must be powered off to reduce memory if the guest OS does not support hot-unplug memory. This is also known as cold-unplug memory. The administrator should plan for the downtime required to power off and power on the VM after reducing memory. References: Nutanix Multicloud Automation Administration (NMCAA), page 10; Nutanix Certified Professional - Multicloud Automation (NCP-MCA), section 3; Nutanix Support Portal - Guest OS Compatibility Matrix

Nutanix provides a documented process to seed Github based scripts into the Calm Task Library, which allows users to import and use custom tasks from the Nutanix public Github repository or any other Github repository. This process is described in the Nutanix Calm DSL User Guide and the Nutanix Calm DSL Tutorial.

Nutanix also publishes official vetted blueprints and tasks to Nutanix’s public Github Calm repository, which is located at https://github.com/nutanix/blueprints . These blueprints and tasks are created and maintained by Nutanix engineers and can be used as reference or templates for building Calm applications. Some examples of these blueprints and tasks are:

Kubernetes Cluster: A blueprint that deploys a Kubernetes cluster on Nutanix AHV using Calm.

MySQL HA: A blueprint that deploys a MySQL cluster with high availability on Nutanix AHV using Calm.

Windows Server: A blueprint that deploys a Windows Server 2019 VM on Nutanix AHV using Calm.

[Install Python]: A task that installs Python on a Linux VM using Calm.

Calm’s public repository does not contain Nutanix-vetted custom scripts created and published by community members. These scripts are hosted in a separate repository called [Automation], which is a centralized repo for community driven Nutanix automation. These scripts are not officially supported or endorsed by Nutanix and may not be compatible with the latest versions of Calm or Nutanix products.

Nutanix does not provide documented processes to seed scripts from any source repository. Users can only import scripts from Github repositories using the Calm Task Library. Other source repositories are not supported by Calm.

References:

Nutanix Calm DSL User Guide

Nutanix Calm DSL Tutorial

Nutanix Calm Blueprints

Kubernetes Cluster

MySQL HA

Windows Server

[Install Python]

[Automation]

Substrates are the components of a blueprint that define the cloud resources and configurations for deploying VMs or applications. Substrates can be associated with different cloud accounts, such as AWS, Azure, GCP, or Nutanix, to enable multicloud deployments. By using substrates, an administrator can create a blueprint that can deploy VMs to multiple clouds, depending on the availability, cost, or performance requirements.

References:

Nutanix Multicloud Automation Administration (NMCAA) course, Module 3: Blueprints, Lesson 3.2: Substrates1

Nutanix Certified Professional - Multicloud Automation (NCP-MCA) Exam Blueprint Guide, Section 2.1: Create a blueprint to deploy infrastructure and applications using Nutanix Calm2

When configuring Calm to use Kubernetes as a provider, the administrator can choose between two Kubernetes types: Karbon and Vanilla. Karbon is Nutanix’s own Kubernetes distribution that is integrated with Prism and AHV. Vanilla is any other Kubernetes distribution that is not Karbon, such as OpenShift, Rancher, or EKS. The administrator needs to provide the Kubernetes API endpoint and credentials for the Vanilla type, while the Karbon type is automatically discovered by Calm. References: Nutanix Certified Professional - Multicloud Automation (NCP-MCA) Exam Blueprint Guide, page 14; Nutanix NCP-MCA Questions, question 102.

To ensure that checks can be implemented in a single task while creating an application using NDB (Nutanix Database Service), the administrator should run an eScript task. eScript tasks allow for more complex scripting and logic to be executed, including performing checks, handling conditions, and interacting with APIs.

References:

Nutanix Calm documentation on eScript Tasks.

Nutanix Best Practices for Automating Database Management.

To manage and optimize the performance of virtual machines (VMs) within a playbook, administrators often need to adjust the resources allocated to VMs. Here are the appropriate actions:

VM Add Memory Action: This action allows the administrator to increase the memory allocation to a VM, which can be essential for applications requiring more RAM.

VM Add CPU Action with limits: Adding CPUs with defined limits ensures that the VM receives the necessary CPU resources without exceeding the cluster's capacity.

These actions enable the dynamic scaling of resources, improving VM performance and ensuring resource availability.

References:

Nutanix documentation on Playbook Actions.

Nutanix Best Practices for Resource Allocation.

The error message in the exhibit indicates a mismatch between the number of network settings and the number of NICs on the VM. This is a common validation error when saving Calm Blueprints for VMware, where it is essential to ensure that these configurations match to avoid issues with VM deployment and operation1. References: 1: Nutanix NCP-MCA Certification Exam Sample Questions2

The correct macro syntax in Nutanix Calm is @@{and}@@. This syntax is used to reference variables and parameters within blueprints and tasks, allowing for dynamic substitution of values during execution.

References:

Nutanix Calm documentation on Macro Syntax.

Nutanix Best Practices for Using Macros.

The Plays dashboard in Prism Central provides a centralized view of all the Playbooks that have been executed across the clusters registered with Prism Central. It shows the status, duration, and output of each Playbook run, as well as the details of the triggers, targets, and actions involved. An administrator can use the Plays dashboard to troubleshoot why a Playbook failed to grow the memory of a VM by checking the error messages, logs, and output of the Playbook run. The other options are not the correct places to check for Playbook failures, as they do not provide the same level of information and visibility as the Plays dashboard. References: Nutanix Certified Professional - Multicloud Automation (NCP-MCA) v6.5, Nutanix Certified Professional - Multicloud Automation (NCP-MCA) 6 Exam, Nutanix Exam NCP-MCA Topic 4 Question 20 Discussion

Playbooks are a feature of X-Play that allow you to automate tasks based on events or alerts. You can use the actions gallery to select from a variety of actions that can be executed by a playbook. These actions are categorized into three types: VM, alert, and communication1. VM actions allow you to perform operations on virtual machines, such as power on, power off, snapshot, clone, etc. Alert actions allow you to create, update, or close alerts in Prism Central. Communication actions allow you to send messages to various channels, such as email, Slack, or Microsoft Teams2. Therefore, the correct answer is B. References:

1: Nutanix Certified Professional - Multicloud Automation (NCP-MCA) Exam Blueprint Guide

2: Playbooks – Nutanix.dev

The administrator should use a conditional playbook and create a playbook using alert to accomplish this task. A conditional playbook is a type of playbook that allows the administrator to define different actions based on certain conditions or criteria1. A playbook using alert is a type of playbook that is triggered by an alert policy that monitors the VM status2. By using these two features, the administrator can create a playbook that checks if the rebooted VM is the mission-critical VM and sends a notification to the on-call administrator, or else sends an email to the Operations team.

References:

Nutanix Multicloud Automation Administration (NMCAA) course, Module 3: Nutanix X-Play, Lesson 2: Nutanix X-Play Playbooks, Topic: Conditional Playbooks

Nutanix Multicloud Automation Administration (NMCAA) course, Module 4: Nutanix Calm Governance, Lesson 2: Nutanix Calm Alerts, Topic: Alert Policies and Playbooks

Nutanix Certified Professional - Multicloud Automation (NCP-MCA) v6.5 Exam Blueprint Guide, Section 1: Describe and Differentiate Automation Concepts and Principles, Objective 1.3: Define the components of X-Play

In Nutanix, Categories can be assigned to various entities to help organize and manage resources. The two entities that can be assigned categories are:

Hosts: Categories can be used to tag and manage hosts within the infrastructure.

VMs: Categories can also be assigned to virtual machines, allowing for better organization and management based on specific attributes or requirements.

References:

Nutanix documentation on Category Management.

Nutanix Best Practices for Using Categories.

In Approval Policies within Nutanix Calm, "Conditions" are used to set the criteria for an approval to be triggered. Conditions define the specific circumstances under which an approval process should be initiated, such as specific actions or threshold limits.

References:

Nutanix Calm documentation on Approval Policies.

Nutanix Best Practices for Defining Conditions.

 A time trigger is a type of playbook trigger that allows the user to specify a schedule for running a playbook. This trigger is useful for automating tasks that need to be performed periodically or at a specific time. A manual trigger requires the user to initiate the playbook execution manually, which is not ideal for a recurring task. A report trigger is a type of playbook trigger that allows the user to run a playbook when a specific report is generated. However, this trigger does not guarantee that the report will be generated on the first of every month, as it depends on the report settings. A wait until day of month action is a type of playbook action that pauses the playbook execution until a specified day of the month. This action is unnecessary if the playbook already has a time trigger that specifies the desired schedule.

References:

Nutanix Multicloud Automation Administration (NMCAA) course, Module 4: Playbooks, Lesson 4.1: Playbook Triggers

Nutanix Certified Professional - Multicloud Automation (NCP-MCA) 6.5 Exam Blueprint Guide, Section 3.1: Create a playbook to automate IT operations using X-Play

A post-create task is a task that runs after a blueprint or runbook deployment is completed. A post-create task can be used to perform additional configuration or automation on the deployed resources. An HTTP task is a task that executes an HTTP request to a specified URL, with optional headers, body, and authentication. An HTTP task can be used to trigger an API call to another system or service, such as creating a front end application. A predefined task is a task that uses a predefined script or command to perform a common operation, such as installing a package or running a service. A predefined task cannot be used to trigger an API call to another system or service. An eScript task is a task that executes a custom script written in JavaScript or Python. An eScript task can be used to perform complex logic or operations that are not available in predefined tasks. However, an eScript task requires more coding skills and testing than an HTTP task. A simple task is a task that executes a simple command or script on the target VM or host. A simple task cannot be used to trigger an API call to another system or service. References: 

https://www.nutanix.com/content/dam/nutanix/resources/support/ebg-ncp-mca-6.pdf

https://www.nutanix.com/support-services/training-certification/certifications/certification-details-nutanix-certified-professional-multicloud-automation-v6-5

Calm Runbooks are a way to automate workflows that span across multiple applications, services, or platforms. They can be used to perform actions such as provisioning, scaling, backup, restore, etc. Calm Runbooks can be added to the Library and reused in different Blueprints or Projects. A Post VM Delete Task is a special type of Task that is executed after a VM is deleted from a Blueprint. By creating Calm Runbooks for each of the manual steps required to decommission a VM, and adding them to the Library, the administrator can simplify the VM Decommission Process by consuming them inside of a Post VM Delete Task. This way, the application owners only need to delete the application from the Calm project, and the rest of the steps will be automated by the Runbooks. References:

Nutanix Certified Professional - Multicloud Automation (NCP-MCA) Exam Blueprint Guide, page 16, section 4.3.1

Nutanix Calm Runbooks

Nutanix Calm Library

Nutanix Calm Tasks

The Blueprint Editor in Nutanix Calm is the graphical interface that allows users to visualize and configure components and their dependencies within an environment. This tool provides a visual representation of application blueprints, enabling users to design, configure, and manage application deployments with ease.

References:

Nutanix Calm documentation on Blueprint Editor.

Nutanix Best Practices for Designing Blueprints.

A Prism Admin or Super Admin role can perform the following operations related to X-Play and Nutanix Calm12:

Create, read, update, or delete an action template in the action gallery

Create, read, update, delete, enable, and run playbooks

Create, read, update, delete, enable, and run blueprints and runbooks

Manage applications and projects

Configure endpoints and plug-ins

Access the library and categories Option A is incorrect because the action gallery does not support automation of action templates. Option C is incorrect because only a Prism Admin or Super Admin role can enable and run playbooks, not a Prism User role3. References:

Nutanix Certified Professional - Multicloud Automation (NCP-MCA) v6.5

Nutanix Multicloud Automation Administration (NMCAA)

Prism user permissions – what are the options?

To reduce the manual effort for the NOC personnel, the administrators can create a new Action that contains the custom Python script as an Execute task with a script type of EScript. This will allow the NOC personnel to run the script on any VM from the Calm UI or API without logging into each VM. To ensure the process is repeatable across all applications, the administrators can create a new Runbook that contains the same Action and assign it to the relevant Projects. This will enable the NOC personnel to run the script on multiple VMs across different applications in a single workflow. To provide audit history for management of the actions, the administrators can view the Execution History tab under the Runbook page for audit purposes. This will show the details of each Runbook execution, such as the status, duration, user, and logs. Alternatively, the administrators can also view the Audit tab under the Application view for audit purposes. This will show the history of all actions performed on the application, such as launch, update, delete, and run actions. References: Nutanix Certified Professional - Multicloud Automation (NCP-MCA) Exam Blueprint Guide, page 18, section 4.2.1. 

 Runtime variables are used to pass information between different components of a Blueprint, such as VMs, services, tasks, and replicas. They can be defined in the Blueprint YAML file or in the UI. By setting the mount_path as a runtime variable, the administrator can ensure that both database VMs use the same value for the mount_path during the deployment. This way, the backup files can be hosted on the same location for both VMs. References:

Nutanix Certified Professional - Multicloud Automation (NCP-MCA) 6.5 Exam, page 25, section 2.1.1: “Runtime Variables”

[Nutanix University: NCP-MCA 6.5 Exam Prep - Runtime Variables], video 2: “Runtime Variables”

A Calm Developer is a role that allows a user to create, update, and execute Playbooks in Calm. A Playbook is a collection of Tasks that can be executed on one or more Targets, such as VMs, applications, or services. A Calm Developer can also create and use Runbooks, Blueprints, and Library items in Calm. A Prism Admin is a role that allows a user to manage the Prism Central instance and its features, such as users, roles, alerts, policies, etc. A Calm Admin is a role that allows a user to manage the Calm service and its settings, such as endpoints, credentials, projects, etc. A Project Admin is a role that allows a user to manage a specific project and its resources, such as applications, Blueprints, Runbooks, etc. References:

Nutanix Certified Professional - Multicloud Automation (NCP-MCA) Exam Blueprint Guide, page 14, section 4.1.1

Nutanix Calm Roles and Permissions

Nutanix Calm Playbooks

Protection Domains are a Nutanix feature that allows you to replicate data across clusters or to a remote site. You can use Protection Domains to replicate images from one cluster to another, and then use them for workload automation. This is one of the methods documented in the Nutanix Solutions Portal for Citrix MCS on Nutanix AHV1. Alternatively, you can also use Prism Central to manage multiple clusters and use Protection Policies to replicate images across clusters2. However, this option is not listed in the question, so the best answer is A. References:

1: Multi Cluster Image Replication for Citrix MCS on Nutanix

2: Nutanix Certified Professional - Multicloud Automation (NCP-MCA) Exam Blueprint Guide

 To view the last two actions taken by a single VM blueprint, the administrator should go to the History Tab. This tab shows the history of all the actions performed on the blueprint, such as launch, update, delete, etc. The administrator can filter the history by date, action, status, and user. The history tab also provides details of each action, such as the start time, end time, duration, and logs.

The other three options are not correct because:

The AMIS tab shows the list of Amazon Machine Images (AMIs) that are available for the blueprint. The administrator can use this tab to select an AMI for the blueprint or create a custom AMI.

The service tab shows the list of services that are part of the blueprint. The administrator can use this tab to add, edit, or delete services, as well as configure the dependencies, tasks, and variables for each service.

The Metrics tab shows the performance metrics of the blueprint, such as CPU, memory, disk, and network usage. The administrator can use this tab to monitor the health and performance of the blueprint and its services. References:

Nutanix Certified Professional - Multicloud Automation (NCP-MCA) 6.5 Exam, page 18

Nutanix Calm User Guide, section “Blueprint History”

A playbook REST API action allows the administrator to send an HTTP request to a specified endpoint, such as the Prism Central API, to perform an operation, such as deleting a VM. A playbook webhook action allows the administrator to send a payload to a specified URL, such as a ServiceNow webhook, to trigger an event, such as an approval flow. Both of these actions can be used to automate the deletion of VMs from a ServiceNow approval flow, where the developers can request and confirm the removal of their environments. A playbook webhook trigger and a playbook REST API trigger are not valid options, as they are used to initiate a playbook based on an external event, not to perform an action within a playbook. References: Nutanix Certified Professional - Multicloud Automation (NCP-MCA) 6.5 Exam Blueprint Guide, page 10; Nutanix Certified Professional - Multicloud Automation (NCP-MCA), section 4; NCP-MCA Exam Dumps - Nutanix Certified Professional - Multicloud …, question 70.

The policy engine is a single VM setup for the single or scale-out Prism Central. When you enable the policy engine for your Calm instance, a new VM is created and deployed for the policy engine. All you need is an available IP address that belongs to the same network as that of your Prism Central VM for the policy engine VM. You do not need to provide any public or private keys, or any Prism Central virtual IP addresses for this task. References: Nutanix Support & Insights, Calm on ESXi Deployment | Nutanix Community

When creating a Category in Nutanix, the "Purpose" field is optional. The mandatory fields are "Name" and "Value". The "Purpose" field is used to provide a description or context for the category but is not required for the category creation.

References:

Nutanix documentation on Category Management.

Nutanix Best Practices for Defining Categories.

An HTTP task is a type of task that can be added to a blueprint or a runbook to perform REST API calls to external systems. An HTTP task can be used to reserve an IP address in the IPAM system before deploying a VM or an application, by sending a POST request with the required parameters and headers. The HTTP task can also capture the response from the IPAM system and store it as a variable for later use. This is the simplest and most efficient way to integrate with an IPAM system, as it does not require any additional configuration or scripting.

References:

Nutanix Multicloud Automation Administration (NMCAA) Course, Module 2: Self-Service, Lesson 2.4: Creating and Managing Blueprints, Slide 23: HTTP Task

Nutanix Certified Professional - Multicloud Automation (NCP-MCA) Exam Blueprint Guide, Section 2: Deploy and Configure Self-service and Related Components, Objective 2.1: Given a scenario, create a blueprint to deploy infrastructure and applications using Self-Service

To run a resource-intensive script on separate test environments at different times, the administrator should publish a Runbook. Runbooks allow for the automation of tasks across multiple environments and can be scheduled to run at specific times. Additionally, they can be modified by the development team as needed to adapt to changes in the script.

References:

Nutanix Calm documentation on Runbook Publishing.

Nutanix Best Practices for Automation and Scheduling.

Alerts are a way of monitoring the health and performance of the Nutanix cluster and the VMs running on it. Alerts can be triggered by various metrics, such as CPU usage, memory usage, disk space, network traffic, etc. Alerts can also be configured to send notifications to the administrator or other recipients via email, Slack, PagerDuty, etc. To satisfy the request from the Accounting department, the administrator should create an Alert with the following settings:

Trigger: CPU Usage (%) > 90 OR Memory Usage (%) > 90

Scope: VM

Category: LOB:Accounting

Notification: Email to accounting@company.com This way, the Alert will only apply to the VMs that belong to the Accounting department, and will send an email notification to the Accounting department when any of their VMs exceed the specified thresholds. References: Nutanix Multicloud Automation Administration (NMCAA), page 9; Nutanix Certified Professional - Multicloud Automation (NCP-MCA), section 1; [Nutanix Prism Central Guide - Alerts]

Within a Calm blueprint, an administrator can apply two actions to a Service under the Guest Customization section: Apply a Cloudinit Script and Apply a Sysprep file. These actions allow the administrator to customize the configuration and behavior of the virtual machines that are provisioned from the blueprint. A Cloudinit Script is a set of commands or scripts that run on Linux-based virtual machines during the boot process. A Sysprep file is a configuration file that specifies the Windows settings and options for the virtual machines. These actions can be used to perform tasks such as setting the hostname, network configuration, user accounts, software installation, and more. References:

Nutanix Certified Professional - Multicloud Automation (NCP-MCA) v6.5, Section 2 - Deploy and Configure Nutanix Calm and Related Components, page 3

Nutanix Multicloud Automation Administration (NMCAA), Module 2 - Nutanix Calm, Lesson 2.2 - Blueprint Management, page 9

Nutanix Calm User Guide, Blueprint, Guest Customization

 According to the Nutanix Multicloud Automation Administration (NMCAA) course1, you can create and configure multi-VM blueprints for the Nutanix, AWS, VMware, GCP, and Azure providers. However, according to the Nutanix Certified Professional - Multicloud Automation (NCP-MCA) Exam Blueprint Guide2, the exam objectives only cover Nutanix and AWS as the providers for multi-VM blueprints. Therefore, the correct answer is C. Nutanix and E. Amazon AWS. References: Nutanix Multicloud Automation Administration (NMCAA) course and Nutanix Certified Professional - Multicloud Automation (NCP-MCA) Exam Blueprint Guide

After upgrading Self-Service (formerly Calm) from version 3.3 to 3.6, the administrator noticed that Policy Engine scheduled jobs were failing and an alert was being presented in Prism Central. This issue is likely due to a version mismatch between the upgraded components. The recommended solution is to use Lifecycle Manager (LCM) to upgrade the Policy Engine to ensure compatibility with the new version of Self-Service.

References:

Nutanix documentation on Upgrading Components with LCM.

Nutanix Best Practices for Managing Upgrades.

The "Allow Collaboration" setting in a project enables a project administrator or user to view and manage VMs and applications of other users within the same project. This setting fosters collaboration and sharing of resources among users who are part of the same project.

References:

Nutanix Calm documentation on Project Collaboration.

Nutanix Best Practices for Managing Projects.