NCSE-Core Nutanix Certified Systems Engineer-Core (NCSE-Core 6.8) Questions and Answers

To size a new project that requires offsite backup using Veeam with an RPO of 24 hours and the ability to restore from the past 7 days of backups, while considering the data change rate of 1%, the SE should configure the Nutanix Sizer with the following parameters:

Backup Frequency: Since the required RPO is 24 hours, a daily backup schedule should be set.

Retention Policy: The retention policy should be set to retain daily backups for 7 days. This means that each backup is kept for a week before it is overwritten.

Data Change Rate: The data change rate is 1%. This information is crucial for sizing the backup storage. A 1% daily change rate indicates that each daily backup will be approximately 1% of the total data size.

Backup Target: Veeam should be configured to send backups to an offsite location. This can be an external storage repository or a cloud target.

Storage Calculation: Calculate the total backup storage requirement. If the total data size is D, then the daily backup size will be 0.01D. Over 7 days, the storage requirement will be approximately 0.07D.

The SE should enter these details into the Nutanix Sizer to ensure the configuration aligns with the prospect's requirements.

References:

Nutanix documentation on configuring backup policies and retention in Veeam.

Standard practices for backup retention and RPO configurations in data protection solutions.

To get timely notifications of significant product issues, customers should register for Field Advisories email notifications. This ensures that they receive updates directly and promptly, keeping them informed about any critical issues or advisories related to Nutanix products.

References:

Nutanix support resources and customer documentation provide guidance on how to register for email notifications for Field Advisories, ensuring customers are kept up to date with important product information.

C. When deploying an Oracle RAC database:

Shadow clones should be explicitly disabled when deploying an Oracle RAC database. Oracle RAC requires highly consistent and low-latency storage access, and enabling shadow clones can introduce additional latency and potential inconsistencies that are unsuitable for such databases.

Shadow clones are designed to enhance performance for read-heavy workloads by caching frequently accessed data locally. However, Oracle RAC’s stringent requirements for data consistency and latency make this feature inappropriate for its deployment.

When setting up Acropolis File Service (AFS) for the first time on a Nutanix cluster, the system creates three file services VMs by default. These VMs are distributed across different nodes in the cluster to ensure high availability and load balancing of the file services.

References:

Nutanix Bible

Nutanix Community Edition Getting Started Guide​

To provide users with the ability to restore individual files from snapshots in an AHV environment, the minimum level of licensing required is the "Pro" tier. The Pro tier includes advanced data protection features such as file-level recovery from snapshots, which allows users to restore individual files without needing to restore entire VMs or volumes.

References:

Nutanix Bible

Nutanix and SAP Partnership:

Explanation: Nutanix is recognized as a SAP Global Technology Partner, indicating a strong, collaborative relationship with SAP for providing integrated solutions.

A prospective customer wants to build a private cloud and provision workloads across multiple public cloud providers but lacks the time and skillset for on-premises infrastructure management. Here is the detailed explanation of the features qualifying this project as a Nutanix opportunity:

Requirement Analysis:

Private cloud setup.

Provisioning across multiple public clouds.

Limited time and skillset for managing on-premises infrastructure.

Feature Analysis:

Flow: Provides network micro-segmentation and security, but does not directly address cloud management or simplicity in operations.

Calm: Nutanix Calm provides application automation and lifecycle management, enabling easy provisioning and management of applications across private and public clouds.

Cloud Connect: Facilitates backup and recovery to public clouds, not specifically for provisioning and ongoing management.

All Flash Nodes: Improves performance but does not address cloud management or ease of use.

Prism 1-Click operations: Offers simplified, automated management and operational tasks through a single interface, reducing the complexity and time required for infrastructure management.

Conclusion:Nutanix Calm and Prism 1-Click operations are the most relevant features as they enable seamless multi-cloud provisioning and management while simplifying the management of on-premises infrastructure.

References:

Nutanix Calm documentation​​

Nutanix Prism documentation​

https://portal.nutanix.com/page/documents/details/?targetId=Web_Console_Guide-Prism_v4_7:lic_licensing_managing_c.html

Reclaiming Licenses (Including License Renewal)

You can reclaim and optionally re-apply licenses for nodes in your clusters:

You must reclaim licenses when you plan to destroy a cluster. First reclaim the licenses, then destroy the cluster. You do not need to reclaim Starter licenses. These licenses are automatically applied whenever you create a cluster, including after you have destroyed a cluster.

Return licenses to your inventory when you remove one or more nodes from a cluster. Also, if you move nodes from one cluster to another, first reclaim the licenses, move the nodes, then re-apply the licenses.

You can reclaim licenses for nodes in your clusters in cases where you want to make modifications or downgrade licenses. For example, applying an Ultimate license to all nodes in a cluster where some nodes are currently licensed as Pro and some nodes are licensed as Ultimate. You might also want to transition nodes from Ultimate to Pro licensing.

You must reclaim licenses when you renew licenses. First reclaim the expired licenses, then apply new licenses.

A. 1-Node and 2-Node Clusters:

Nutanix offers 1-node and 2-node cluster configurations, which are ideal for small remote locations with limited hardware requirements. These configurations are cost-effective and provide the necessary compute and storage resources for small workloads, addressing the cost concerns for the prospect’s remote sites.

D. AHV:

AHV (Acropolis Hypervisor) is included with Nutanix at no additional licensing cost, which can significantly reduce the total cost of ownership compared to environments that require separate hypervisor licenses (such as VMware vSphere). Highlighting the cost savings of using AHV can help address the prospect's concerns about pricing.

References:

Nutanix documentation on small cluster configurations and the benefits of AHV in reducing costs and simplifying management for remote and edge locations.

Understanding Prism Central Requirements:

Prism Central is used to manage multiple Nutanix clusters, providing a centralized management interface for large-scale environments such as a financial institution planning to manage 8000 VMs.

Sizing Guidelines for Prism Central:

C. ABS (Acropolis Block Services):

Acropolis Block Services (ABS) enables Nutanix storage to be used by external servers, providing the performance and benefits of Nutanix’s distributed storage fabric while allowing the customer to continue using their existing investment in Oracle servers.

ABS allows the integration of all-flash storage with the existing Oracle environment, addressing the prospect's preference for all-flash arrays while leveraging Nutanix’s advanced storage capabilities.

References:

Nutanix documentation on ABS describes its features and benefits, particularly its ability to integrate Nutanix storage with external servers and support high-performance applications like Oracle databases.

B. B (Manual Mode Selection):

In the exhibit, selecting "Manual" mode allows the SE to manually adjust the configuration to fit specific requirements, such as accommodating a specific number of physical host-based software licenses.

D. D (Limit Max Node Count Per Cluster):

Using the "Limit Max Node Count Per Cluster" option, the SE can specify the maximum number of nodes per cluster, ensuring that the configuration does not exceed the number of available licenses.

References:

The Nutanix Sizer tool provides various options to customize the sizing to meet specific requirements, including manual adjustments and limiting the number of nodes in a cluster.

Understanding the Prospect's Current Setup:

The prospect relies on RAID 10 for redundancy and full capacity utilization, requiring immediate response to disk failures due to the lack of hot spares.

Nutanix Replication Factor (RF):

Automatic Data Re-Protection:

Explanation: Nutanix's RF automatically re-protects data across the cluster using available capacity. This means if a disk fails, the system automatically redistributes the data, maintaining redundancy without manual intervention.

To evaluate the performance impact of failing a node while running workloads on the cluster, the systems engineer should use X-Ray, Nutanix's benchmarking and testing tool.

X-Ray Overview: X-Ray is a comprehensive tool designed to simulate various failure scenarios and measure their impact on performance. It is specifically built for testing Nutanix clusters.

Failing a Node: The tool can simulate node failures and provide detailed metrics on how the cluster and workloads are affected.

Performance Metrics: X-Ray provides insights into performance degradation, recovery times, and overall cluster resilience under failure conditions.

References:

Nutanix X-Ray Documentation: Detailed instructions and capabilities of X-Ray for simulating failures.

Nutanix Community: User experiences and best practices for using X-Ray.

During a 1-click, non-disruptive upgrade on a 3-node Nutanix cluster, if a VM on Node A overwrites an existing block of data while the CVM on Node A is rebooting, Nutanix AOS ensures data integrity by writing two copies of the data across the remaining nodes. This approach maintains data resiliency by ensuring that multiple copies of the data are available even when one of the nodes is temporarily unavailable​​​​.

When an HDD fails, Nutanix's high availability (HA) system ensures the continuation of VM operations by initiating an HA event. The affected VMs will be restarted on a node that contains the replica data, ensuring minimal downtime and data availability​​.

C. 48GB:

Based on the provided exhibit, the SE should enter the total amount of RAM required for the entire workload into the Sizer tool. The exhibit shows multiple VMs with different memory allocations.

Summing up the memory allocations: 8GB (VM1) + 8GB (VM2) + 8GB (VM3) + 8GB (VM4) + 8GB (VM5) + 8GB (VM6) = 48GB

Therefore, the SE should input 48GB as the total RAM required for the workload.

References:

Nutanix Sizer tool documentation and guidelines for entering raw input workloads and calculating total memory requirements.

The status shown in the exhibit within the Hardware Diagram section indicates a critical hardware issue that needs immediate attention.

Reseat Disks/Nodes: While reseating might help with connectivity issues, it should be performed with caution and typically after consulting support to avoid data loss or further complications.

Resolve Alerts and Re-import Disks: This step is useful but secondary to ensuring that applications are not negatively impacted. Immediate action should focus on stability and minimizing downtime.

Restart CVMs: Restarting CVMs might help but could also disrupt services and should be a last resort after consulting with support.

Application Status and Support: Checking the status of applications ensures that any critical services are not interrupted, and calling support provides access to Nutanix's expertise to address the hardware issue effectively.

Given the critical nature of hardware issues and the potential impact on the cluster, contacting support while checking the application status is the best course of action to ensure a safe and effective resolution.

References:

Nutanix Bible, Troubleshooting Hardware Issues​​.

Nutanix-NDB-User-Guide, Handling Critical Hardware Alerts​​.

A prospect evaluating Nutanix for a large number of Oracle RAC deployments, prioritizing time to deployment and utilizing an in-house self-service tool, would benefit most from Nutanix's REST API capabilities. Here is a detailed explanation:

Requirement Analysis:The prospect needs a solution that allows rapid deployment of Oracle RAC environments and integrates with their existing self-service deployment tool. This means the feature should support automation and programmatic control.

Feature Analysis:

Calm: While Nutanix Calm can orchestrate and automate application deployments, including complex multi-tier applications, the existing self-service tool of the prospect may make Calm redundant for this specific need.

Xtract for Databases: This tool assists in migrating databases to Nutanix but is not directly involved in deploying new Oracle RAC instances.

ABS (Acropolis Block Services): ABS provides block storage services to external physical and virtual machines but is not focused on deployment automation.

REST API: Nutanix’s REST API offers extensive programmatic control over various functions, including provisioning, managing, and configuring Nutanix environments. It allows the integration of custom tools to automate and expedite deployments effectively.

Conclusion:Given the requirement for rapid deployment through an existing self-service tool, Nutanix REST API is the most appropriate feature to discuss. It provides the necessary flexibility and integration capabilities for automated deployments.

References:

Nutanix REST API documentation

Nutanix community and user guides highlighting automation use cases

To ensure that an RF2 (Replication Factor 2) cluster can survive a complete rack failure without negatively affecting workload performance, it is important to have sufficient nodes distributed across multiple racks to maintain data availability and redundancy.

Current Cluster Configuration:

30 nodes distributed as 10 nodes per rack across three racks.

40TB usable storage per node (total 1.2 PB).

Current utilization: 900TB.

Surviving a Complete Rack Failure:

With RF2, data is replicated to two nodes. To survive a complete rack failure, each rack should have enough nodes to ensure that data can be replicated across the remaining racks.

Adding 3 additional nodes per rack (total 9 nodes) ensures that the cluster can still function with 27 nodes across three racks, maintaining redundancy and performance.

Avoiding Single Points of Failure:

Ensuring that each rack has a balanced number of nodes helps avoid single points of failure and ensures that workloads can continue to operate without performance degradation.

By expanding the cluster to 39 nodes (13 nodes per rack), the administrator ensures that the cluster can handle a complete rack failure while maintaining sufficient storage capacity and performance.

References:

Nutanix Bible, Cluster Resiliency and RF2 Configurations​​.

Nutanix-NDB-User-Guide, Guidelines for Adding Nodes to a Cluster​​.

For network switch discovery in Prism, the following settings are required:

Switch Management IP Address: This is necessary to access and manage the network switch.

AHV Host IP address: This helps in identifying the hosts connected to the network.

SNMP Community Name: This is used for SNMP protocol to monitor and manage the network devices​​​​.

To help decrease storage costs for a workload primarily involving an imaging application storing scanned JPEG images, the following Nutanix capabilities should be leveraged:

Erasure Coding: This technology reduces the storage overhead by distributing data and parity across multiple nodes, thus requiring less physical storage while maintaining data resiliency.

Compression: This reduces the storage footprint by compressing the data, which is particularly effective for data like JPEG images that can benefit significantly from compression​​​​.

The Nutanix Collector provides performance data over the previous 7 days. This allows for a comprehensive analysis of the environment's performance trends and helps in making informed sizing and configuration decisions.

Data Collection:

Nutanix Collector gathers data points related to CPU, memory, storage, and network usage over a 7-day period.

Analysis Period:

A 7-day data collection period ensures that the analysis captures the variability and peak usage patterns, providing a reliable basis for infrastructure planning.

Usage:

This period is user-friendly and sufficient to identify performance bottlenecks, resource utilization patterns, and to validate that the proposed solution will meet the customer’s requirements.

References:

Nutanix Collector documentation and usage guidelines.

Best practices for performance monitoring and analysis.

Erasure Coding (EC-X) is an efficient method to save storage space, particularly for data that is infrequently accessed. Given the characteristics of the VM, such as generating large, sequential writes, needing long-term data retention, and infrequent access, post-process compression is the most suitable feature.

Large Sequential Writes: Post-process compression is well-suited for large, sequential writes because it can significantly reduce the storage footprint after the data has been written to disk. It is more efficient for sequential data patterns compared to inline compression, which might add latency during write operations.

Long-term Data Retention: Since the data needs to be stored for years and is only accessed occasionally, post-process compression can help save storage space over time without impacting the performance of current write operations. This method compresses data after it has been written to storage, optimizing storage usage for long-term retention.

Infrequent Access: Data that is rarely accessed benefits from post-process compression because the slight delay in accessing compressed data is acceptable compared to the significant storage savings.

Comparison with Other Options:

Inline Compression: This compresses data as it is written, which can add latency and is less efficient for large, sequential writes.

Flash Mode: This option is intended for performance optimization by pinning data in the flash tier, which is not relevant for space saving.

Cache Dedup: This reduces the footprint of redundant data in the cache, which is not directly relevant to long-term storage optimization.

Post-process compression aligns well with the characteristics and requirements of the VM described, providing optimal storage efficiency for large, sequential writes and long-term data retention.

References:

Nutanix Bible, Section on Data Reduction Techniques, particularly the comparison between inline and post-process compression​​.

Nutanix-NDB-User-Guide, Guidelines on data storage optimization​​.

D. 2400 Users:

The number of users (2400) directly impacts the performance and scalability requirements of the Nutanix Files (AFS) deployment. High user counts can lead to increased demand for resources and necessitate additional nodes to ensure optimal performance and responsiveness.

References:

Nutanix Files (AFS) documentation and sizing guidelines highlight user count as a critical factor in determining the resource requirements for file workloads.

To run a VM on a single NUMA node, it is important to ensure that the entire CPU and memory requirements of the VM fit within the resources of a single NUMA node. Given the application’s requirements of 256GB RAM and 12 CPU cores at over 80% utilization, the configuration should consider high core count and high frequency to handle the high transaction load efficiently.

Using CPUs with 10 cores each at 3.4GHz, for a total of 20 cores, would provide sufficient resources to meet the VM's needs while ensuring optimal performance. This configuration strikes a balance between core count and CPU frequency, providing a robust solution for the business-critical application.

References:

Nutanix Bible​

Understanding FIPS 140-2 Level 2 Requirements:

FIPS 140-2 is a U.S. government standard that specifies security requirements for cryptographic modules. Level 2 adds requirements for tamper-evidence and role-based authentication.

Required Items for FIPS 140-2 Level 2 Compliance:

Self-Encrypting Drives (SEDs):

Explanation: SEDs automatically encrypt data at rest, meeting the encryption standards required by FIPS 140-2 Level 2.

Understanding Customer Requirements:

The customer needs to run z/Virtual Machine (z/VM) for mission-critical workloads.

Nutanix Support:

z/OS and z/VM Support: Nutanix currently does not support IBM mainframe environments, including z/OS and z/VM.

Nutanix clusters can use software encryption for data protection regardless of the underlying hardware configuration. Software encryption is implemented at the software level and provides flexibility as it does not depend on specific hardware features like self-encrypting drives (SEDs). This allows for consistent data encryption across different hardware platforms.

References:

Nutanix Bible

Nutanix Security Best Practices

A. Data Locality:

The concept of data locality in Nutanix ensures that data is always kept close to the VM that uses it, typically on the same node. This reduces latency and provides high performance comparable to, or exceeding, traditional 16Gb Fibre Channel SAN solutions.

Data locality minimizes the need for data to travel over the network, effectively leveraging 10Gb Ethernet for low-latency and high-throughput operations, addressing the storage administrator’s concerns.

Understanding the Need for a Centralized Gateway:

A centralized gateway provides a single point of access for all necessary resources, making it easier for customers and partners to manage their interactions with Nutanix.

Portal.nutanix.com:

Explanation: The portal.nutanix.com website is designed to be the single gateway for various Nutanix-related activities, including deal registrations, forums, software downloads, product documentation, product alerts, and support interactions.

Current Challenges:

The prospect is facing a VMware ELA renewal.

Management directive to move to public cloud for cost savings.

Virtualization team struggles with application refactoring for AWS.

Considering VXRail and VMware ELA renewal due to these challenges.

Nutanix AHV:

AHV is Nutanix's built-in hypervisor that eliminates the need for VMware licenses, reducing costs significantly.

Seamless integration with Nutanix's HCI platform simplifies management and reduces operational overhead.

Cloud Connect:

Cloud Connect enables seamless data backup and disaster recovery between on-prem Nutanix clusters and public clouds.

Facilitates hybrid cloud deployments without the need for extensive application refactoring.

Supports cost-effective cloud storage and disaster recovery solutions, aligning with the management's directive.

Conclusion:

Highlighting AHV addresses cost concerns by removing the need for expensive VMware licenses.

Cloud Connect provides a practical solution for hybrid cloud integration, easing the transition to public cloud and supporting the current infrastructure.

References:

Nutanix AHV feature documentation.

Nutanix Cloud Connect best practices and implementation guides.

In Sizer, when creating a multi-cluster scenario, the Summary Failover Capacity indicator (N+0, N+1) shows the worst resiliency level of any cluster in the scenario. This helps in identifying the weakest link in terms of failover capacity across multiple clusters. If any cluster within the scenario has a lower failover capacity, the indicator will reflect this to ensure that the overall solution can handle the identified worst-case scenario​​.

To migrate database workloads from a 3-tier vSphere architecture to a Nutanix cluster while maintaining customer experience and minimizing costs, it is crucial to focus on maintaining similar processor speeds. Here’s a detailed explanation:

Workload Analysis:

The current environment consists of hosts with 256G RAM and Broadwell 2.8 GHz 12-core processors.

The largest database VM uses 64G of memory, and some databases are single-threaded but have acceptable performance.

Processor Consideration:

Database performance, especially for single-threaded workloads, is highly dependent on the CPU's clock speed.

Using processors with similar speed ensures that the performance characteristics remain consistent, minimizing the risk of performance degradation.

Avoiding Performance Bottlenecks:

Matching the CPU speed helps maintain the current acceptable performance levels.

This approach is more cost-effective than upgrading to higher-speed processors or increasing memory excessively.

Cluster Configuration:

Ensuring the new Nutanix cluster has processors with similar clock speeds to the existing environment will provide a smooth transition.

This consistency will also help in minimizing the need for extensive re-optimization or re-tuning of the databases post-migration.

References:

Nutanix documentation on CPU performance considerations for database workloads.

Best practices for migrating workloads to Nutanix and ensuring consistent performance.

A prospect is looking for a Nutanix solution for a mission-critical application that needs to sustain two simultaneous node outages and prefers the cluster to fully rebuild both data and metadata in the event of hardware issues. Here is the detailed explanation:

Requirement Analysis:

Sustain two simultaneous node outages.

Fully rebuild both data and metadata after hardware issues.

Feature Analysis:

Nutanix clusters use Replication Factor (RF) to ensure data protection and availability. For RF3 (Replication Factor 3), which protects against two simultaneous node failures, a minimum of 5 nodes is required.

To fully rebuild both data and metadata after failures, the system needs an additional node to ensure there is enough redundancy and performance.

Conclusion:To achieve RF3 and sustain two simultaneous node failures while allowing full rebuild of data and metadata, a minimum of 6 nodes is required.

References:

Nutanix documentation on cluster resiliency and RF configurations​

When using the Sizer in Automatic mode, it can provide various configurations based on the specified workload and capacity requirements. The following configurations are possible:

6x NX-8055-G7:

Each node has 2 x 7.68TB SSDs and 10x 6TB HDDs.

This configuration balances high-performance SSDs with large-capacity HDDs, suitable for mixed workload environments.

4x NX-1075S-G7 + 4x NX-8035-G7:

NX-1075S-G7 nodes have 4x 3.85TB SSDs each.

NX-8035-G7 nodes have 6x 3.84TB SSDs each.

This combination provides high SSD storage capacity across different node types, optimized for performance-intensive workloads.

References:

Nutanix Sizer Documentation: Details on how the Sizer tool calculates and recommends configurations.

Nutanix Hardware Specifications: Specifications for different node models and their storage capabilities.

Understanding the Requirements:

Replicating data offsite involves several key considerations to ensure data integrity, availability, and compliance with business needs.

Key Questions:

Retention Requirements: Determines how long the replicated data needs to be kept, which impacts storage needs and costs. This helps in defining the replication and retention policies (Nutanix Bible, Data Protection section)​​.

Data Volume: Knowing the amount of data to be replicated ensures proper sizing of network and storage resources. It also helps in understanding the replication bandwidth and storage capacity required (Nutanix-NDB-User-Guide)​​.

WAN Speed and Latency: The speed and latency of the WAN link between source and target sites affect replication performance and the ability to meet RPO (Recovery PointObjective) and RTO (Recovery Time Objective). High latency can impact data transfer rates and consistency (Nutanix-NDB-User-Guide, Network Requirements section)​​.

Conclusion:

Asking these questions ensures the SE can design a replication solution that meets the prospect's business continuity and disaster recovery needs effectively.

References:

Nutanix Bible on Data Protection

Nutanix NDB User Guide on Network Requirements and Best Practices

To describe Nutanix hardware refreshes to a prospective customer, the SE should emphasize the seamless process of adding new hardware to an existing cluster and decommissioning old hardware:

Add New Nodes: New nodes can be added to the existing Nutanix cluster without downtime. This allows the cluster to temporarily expand its capacity and resources.

Migrate Workloads: Once the new nodes are operational, workloads can be migrated from the old nodes to the new nodes using live migration features (e.g., AHV, vMotion).

Decommission Old Nodes: After all workloads have been successfully migrated, the old nodes can be gracefully removed from the cluster.

Minimal Downtime: This process ensures minimal to no downtime and allows for hardware refreshes without significant disruptions to operations.

This streamlined approach significantly reduces the complexity and time required for hardware refreshes compared to traditional SAN-based environments.

References:

Nutanix documentation on adding and removing nodes from a cluster.

Best practices for performing hardware refreshes in Nutanix environments.

When using Live Optics to assist with sizing a partial infrastructure refresh, it's crucial to capture data that accurately reflects the peak usage periods to ensure the sizing will accommodate the highest demands placed on the infrastructure. Here are the detailed steps and reasons:

Peak Utilization:

Capturing data during peak utilization provides a realistic picture of the maximum load the infrastructure needs to handle.

It ensures that the proposed sizing can accommodate the highest performance and capacity demands, reducing the risk of undersizing.

24-hour Window:

A 24-hour window captures a full day’s cycle, including peak and off-peak hours, providing a comprehensive view of the utilization patterns.

This duration helps in understanding not only the peak loads but also the variations and average loads throughout the day.

Combining these two factors, the most accurate and comprehensive data for sizing would be gathered during 24-hour windows at periods of peak utilization.

Problem Analysis:

The customer needs to replace an existing 200TB filer with a Nutanix solution.

The filer is used for storing archived images, requiring maximum storage density.

The proposal includes using RF2 and Erasure Coding with a stripe size of 4/1 (data/parity).

Erasure Coding Requirements:

Erasure Coding (EC-X) in Nutanix improves storage efficiency by distributing data and parity across multiple nodes.

A 4/1 stripe size means 4 data blocks and 1 parity block.

To implement a 4/1 Erasure Coding stripe, a minimum of 5 nodes is required to ensure the distribution of data and parity blocks.

Explanation:

RF2 (Replication Factor 2): Requires at least two copies of the data to be stored on different nodes.

Erasure Coding with a 4/1 Stripe: Requires 5 nodes to ensure there are enough blocks to store the 4 data and 1 parity blocks.

Outcome:

The minimum number of nodes required to support the maximum Erasure Coding stripe size of 4/1 is 5 nodes.

References: For more detailed information, refer to the Nutanix documentation on Erasure Coding and storage policies.

Nutanix Value Propositions:

Nutanix offers several key value propositions that distinguish its solutions in the market.

One-Click Infrastructure Management:

One-Click Operations: Nutanix provides simplified management of the entire infrastructure stack through one-click operations for upgrades, troubleshooting, and management tasks.

This reduces operational complexity and administrative overhead.

Rapid Time to Value:

Quick Deployment: Nutanix solutions are designed for rapid deployment, enabling customers to achieve faster time-to-value.

Ease of Use: The intuitive management interface and streamlined processes help organizations start benefiting from their investment quickly.

Outcome:

These value propositions ensure that Nutanix provides a compelling solution that simplifies infrastructure management and accelerates time-to-value for customers.

References: For more details, refer to Nutanix's marketing and product documentation on value propositions and benefits.

To confirm if a non-AHV hypervisor is supported on a specific AOS version, the information can be found on the Nutanix Support Portal under the Compatibility Matrix section. The Compatibility Matrix provides detailed information on supported hypervisor versions for different AOS versions.

Log in to the Nutanix Support Portal.

Navigate to the Compatibility Matrix:

The Compatibility Matrix is typically found under the "Support" or "Resources" section.

Select the AOS Version:

Choose the specific AOS version you are using or planning to upgrade to.

Check Supported Hypervisor Versions:

The matrix will list all compatible hypervisor versions for the selected AOS version. Verify that the desired hypervisor version is listed.

References:

Nutanix Support Portal documentation on compatibility and interoperability.

Nutanix Bible and official user guides for details on AOS and hypervisor support.

Prism Central can forward logs to an external syslog server, enhancing the monitoring and troubleshooting capabilities for administrators. The two log modules capable of forwarding messages are:

API Audit

The API Audit log module captures and forwards logs related to API access and actions within the Nutanix environment. This is crucial for security and audit purposes, allowing administrators to track API usage and detect any unauthorized or suspicious activities.

Flow

The Flow log module deals with network monitoring and security within the Nutanix environment. It captures and forwards logs related to network traffic, flow policies, and security events, helping administrators to monitor network activities and enforce security policies effectively.

These modules can be configured in Prism Central to ensure that relevant log data is sent to external syslog servers for centralized logging and analysis.

References:

Nutanix Prism Central Documentation

Nutanix Bible

B. Review budgetary pricing:

The Sizer BOM (Bill of Materials) provides a breakdown of the components and their costs, allowing the SE to review budgetary pricing and ensure the solution fits within the prospect’s financial constraints.

C. Review workload sizing details:

The Sizer BOM includes detailed workload sizing information, which helps the SE verify that the proposed solution meets the performance and capacity requirements for the SQL Server workload running on Cisco C240 M4 servers.

References:

Nutanix Sizer tool documentation explains how to use the BOM for reviewing pricing and workload sizing details.

To enable prospective customers to gain hands-on experience with Nutanix without the need for support from a systems engineer or Nutanix, the following resources are available:

Test Drive:

Nutanix Test Drive provides a hands-on, guided tour of Nutanix solutions in a live environment. It allows customers to explore and interact with Nutanix features and functionalities, simulating real-world scenarios and workflows.

Community Edition (CE):

Nutanix Community Edition is a free version of Nutanix AOS that customers can deploy on their own hardware. It allows users to test and evaluate Nutanix software in a non-production environment, providing full access to Nutanix features and capabilities for learning and experimentation.

References:

Nutanix Community Edition Getting Started Guide

Understanding Network Planning for POC:

A Proof of Concept (POC) requires meticulous planning, especially concerning network configurations. This ensures seamless integration and evaluation within the customer's existing infrastructure.

VLAN Tags:

Explanation: VLAN (Virtual Local Area Network) tags are crucial for segregating network traffic, ensuring that the different types of traffic (management, storage, VM traffic) do not interfere with each other.

Customer Concern:

The concern is that VMs may be forced to repeatedly migrate between nodes during a Nutanix cluster upgrade.

Nutanix Feature:

CVM Autopathing: This feature ensures continuous VM operation by dynamically rerouting I/O and network traffic during node maintenance or upgrades.

Explanation:

CVM Autopathingallows VMs to remain on their current hosts while the Controller VM (CVM) handles the necessary I/O redirection.

This minimizes the need for VM migrations, thereby reducing the operational impact during upgrades.

Outcome:

VMs can remain on their original hosts throughout the AOS upgrade process, ensuring minimal disruption and maintaining performance stability.

References: For more details on CVM Autopathing and its operational benefits, refer to Nutanix documentation on cluster maintenance and upgrade best practices.

C. Inline compression:

Inline compression compresses data as it is written to the storage, reducing the amount of storage used and improving capacity utilization immediately. This is highly effective for reducing the storage footprint of a Splunk workload.

D. Capacity tier de-duplication:

Capacity tier de-duplication eliminates duplicate copies of data, further reducing the storage requirements. This is particularly useful for environments with repetitive data patterns, like log files generated by Splunk.

References:

Nutanix documentation and best practices on storage capacity optimization highlight the use of inline compression and de-duplication as key techniques for reducing storage usage and improving overall storage efficiency.

Understanding the Application Requirements:

The application is very transactional with a 28/72 random, read/write ratio. This indicates a high write intensity, which necessitates optimized storage configurations to handle the I/O load efficiently.

Add Multiple Virtual Disks:

Option B: Add a minimum of four virtual disks to each VM and aggregate them on guest OS level:

By adding multiple virtual disks and aggregating them within the guest OS, the I/O operations can be spread across multiple disks. This can significantly improve I/O performance by leveraging parallelism and reducing I/O contention on a single disk.

This approach also helps in better utilizing the underlying storage infrastructure, which can include multiple SSDs and HDDs managed by Nutanix Distributed Storage Fabric (DSF)​​.

Analysis of Other Options:

Option A: Add one large SSD to each node and enable Flash Mode for the VMs:

Adding a single large SSD may not fully leverage the parallel I/O capabilities needed for high transactional workloads.

Option C: Add a minimum of four SSDs to each node to ensure all writes go to the SSDs:

While this improves performance, it focuses on node-level configuration rather than optimizing VM-level disk I/O distribution.

Option D: Add one large virtual disk to each VM and use it for all application data:

This creates a bottleneck as all I/O operations are directed to a single virtual disk, limiting performance improvements.

Conclusion:

For optimal performance of a highly transactional application with a high write ratio, adding multiple virtual disks and aggregating them within the guest OS is the most effective solution.

References: Nutanix best practices for VM and storage configuration.

Understanding the Prospect's Goals:

The prospect aims to replace a mainframe environment, reduce the datacenter footprint, and enhance disaster recovery for mission-critical applications.

Relevance of Document Collections:

Nutanix Bible: Provides comprehensive technical details and architecture insights but may not directly address business outcomes and real-world success stories.

Knowledge Base Articles: Offer troubleshooting and technical guidance but are not focused on high-level strategic goals and outcomes.

Case Studies: Present real-world examples of how other organizations have successfully implemented Nutanix solutions to achieve similar goals, providing a persuasive and relatable narrative.

Best Practices Guide: Offers guidelines and recommendations for optimal usage but may lack the impactful, real-world validation that case studies provide.

Recommendation:

Case Studies: These documents highlight successful implementations, showing how Nutanix has helped other organizations achieve goals similar to those of the prospect. They provide practical examples, detailed results, and customer testimonials, making a compelling case for the effectiveness of Nutanix solutions.

Conclusion:

To demonstrate how Nutanix can help the prospect reach their goals, the SE should useCase Studies.

References:

Nutanix Case Studies.

Nutanix Customer Success Stories.

To report on any alerts generated by a Nutanix cluster that affected the cluster's availability over the past 10 days, the administrator should use the Alerts dashboard in Prism. The steps are as follows:

Navigate to the Alerts dashboard in the Prism web console.

Use the filter options to select the Impact Type, specifically filtering for alerts that impact cluster availability.

Set the desired Time Range to the past 10 days to view relevant alerts within this period.

Review the filtered alerts to identify any that affected the cluster's availability.

This method provides a focused view of alerts related to cluster availability and allows for efficient reporting and analysis.

References:

Nutanix Prism Web Console Guide

Nutanix Alerts Dashboard Documentation

Understanding the Context:

The project to migrate to the public cloud was largely unsuccessful, indicating underlying issues that need to be identified.

Effective Open-Ended Questions:

What challenges triggered the public cloud initiative?:

Explanation: This question helps understand the initial pain points and motivations for the migration attempt, providing insight into what problems the company was trying to solve.

Current Environment Analysis:

The existing AHV cluster has 7 NX-3060-G6 nodes with Intel Skylake processors.

These nodes are distributed across two blocks.

The customer needs to add three more NX-3060-G7 nodes with Intel Cascade Lake processors.

Objective:

Efficiently utilize additional resources by integrating new nodes into the existing infrastructure.

Recommendations:

Expand the existing cluster: The goal is to enhance resource utilization and maintain cluster simplicity by adding the new nodes to the current cluster.

Add a new block populated with the three additional nodes: This approach provides several benefits:

It ensures the new nodes are integrated into the existing management and operational framework.

It leverages the existing network and storage configurations, minimizing setup complexities.

By adding a new block, the existing two blocks remain unchanged, maintaining their current configuration and workloads.

Implementation:

Order and prepare the new nodes: Ensure that the three additional NX-3060-G7 nodes are ready for deployment.

Add the new block to the existing cluster:

Physically rack and connect the new block with the three NX-3060-G7 nodes.

In the Nutanix Prism interface, initiate the process to add the new block to the existing cluster.

The cluster expansion process will automatically incorporate the new nodes into the existing cluster, ensuring seamless integration.

Outcome:

The customer will achieve an efficient expansion of their AHV cluster, utilizing the new resources effectively.

This method ensures minimal disruption and maintains operational consistency across the cluster.

References: For further details on cluster expansion and node addition processes, refer to the Nutanix documentation on cluster management and node integration.

When selecting a remote site to Prism, the valid targets include:

XI Cloud Services: This allows integration with Nutanix's cloud services for remote management and disaster recovery.

Physical Cluster: This option enables management and failover to another physical Nutanix cluster, ensuring high availability and business continuity​​.

Document Purpose:

AReference Architectureprovides a comprehensive framework for designing, implementing, and managing a solution. It includes validated configurations, best practices, and deployment guidelines tailored to specific applications or workloads.

Suitability for Avaya IP Office Migration:

This type of document is ideal for addressing concerns about the suitability and design of using Nutanix for Avaya IP Office migration as it includes detailed technical guidance and architecture designs that ensure compatibility and performance (Nutanix Bible, Architecture Overview section)​​.

Conclusion:

Providing a Reference Architecture will address the prospect’s concerns with a detailed, validated approach for deploying Avaya IP Office on Nutanix, ensuring a reliable and efficient migration.

References:

Nutanix Reference Architecture documents

Nutanix Bible on Architecture Overview

In Prism Central, the Alerts dashboard is used to audit recent alerts on the cluster. This dashboard provides detailed information on all the alerts, their severity, status, and occurrences, allowing the administrator to generate comprehensive reports for management​​.