NCSE-Core Sample Questions Answers

Problem Analysis:

The prospect experiences unplanned downtime due to hardware failures.

Notifications from their SNMP-based monitoring solution have been ignored due to communication issues.

Nutanix Pulse:

Pulse provides proactive support and monitoring for Nutanix clusters.

It automatically sends cluster health and performance data to Nutanix support, enabling quick issue resolution.

This feature can ensure critical alerts and notifications are not missed, improving overall system reliability.

Conclusion:

Highlighting Pulse helps address the key pain points of unplanned downtime and missed notifications, ensuring better system management and support.

References:

Nutanix Pulse feature documentation.

Nutanix support and monitoring best practices.

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.

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.

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​

The certified configuration for Oracle Linux and Oracle VM via iSCSI uses Nutanix Acropolis Block Services (ABS). ABS allows Nutanix storage to be presented as iSCSI targets to external servers, enabling the use of Nutanix storage in conjunction with Oracle environments.

This feature ensures high performance and reliability for Oracle workloads while leveraging Nutanix’s advanced storage capabilities.

References:

Nutanix documentation and the Oracle HCL list provide details on certified configurations and the use of ABS for integrating Nutanix storage with Oracle environments.

The Curator service in a Nutanix cluster is responsible for distributing storage optimization tasks. This includes managing and distributing tasks such as disk balancing, proactive scrubbing, compression, deduplication, and erasure coding.

Task Distribution: Curator runs on every node and is controlled by an elected Curator Leader who is responsible for task and job delegation.

Scan Types: Curator performs full scans every six hours and partial scans every hour to ensure optimal storage performance and resource utilization.

Optimization Activities: The service ensures efficient data placement and storage utilization across the cluster.

References:

Nutanix Bible: Provides an in-depth explanation of Curator and its role in the cluster​​.

Nutanix Documentation: Further details on the operations and management of Curator tasks.

Three valid configuration scenarios for deploying Prism Central include:

Environments use Network Address Translation (NAT): Prism Central can be deployed in environments where NAT is used to manage network addresses.

Prism Elements and Prism Central are in different subnets: It is possible to configure Prism Central and Prism Elements in different subnets as long as network connectivity is maintained.

Environments do not have Internet access: Prism Central can be deployed and operated in environments that do not have direct Internet access, relying instead on internal network configurations and management​​.

Concerns Addressed:

Product Supportability: Addressing the prospect's concerns about support and partnership is critical.

TSAnet:

TSAnet(Technical Support Alliance Network) is an industry cooperative that provides multi-vendor support. Nutanix's participation in TSAnet ensures coordinated support efforts across vendors, including HPE (Nutanix Support Resources)​​.

Nutanix Software Only HCL:

TheNutanix Software Only Hardware Compatibility List (HCL)provides a comprehensive list of supported hardware, ensuring that Nutanix software can be reliably deployed on HPE servers. This official documentation helps counter FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt) by verifying compatibility (Nutanix HCL)​​.

Conclusion:

Leveraging TSAnet and the Nutanix Software Only HCL provides credible and verifiable evidence to overcome concerns about product supportability and partnership with HPE.

References:

Nutanix TSAnet information

Nutanix Software Only HCL

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​​​​.

D. Case Detail:

On portal.nutanix.com, open cases can be directly escalated from the "Case Detail" page. This page provides specific details about the case, including the ability to escalate it if necessary.

The "Case Detail" page contains all relevant information about the case, making it the appropriate place to manage and escalate cases.

For highly active SQL workloads that write I/Os in 2 MB chunks to a vDisk, compression is the most suitable storage optimization technology. Compression works well with larger I/O sizes and can significantly reduce the storage footprint, providing better capacity optimization. This approach ensures that the large chunks of data are compressed efficiently, maximizing storage utilization and performance​​.

When addressing the prospect's need to refresh their environment with a small budget, it is crucial to highlight Nutanix's capabilities that can efficiently utilize their resources and manage their widespread satellite offices. The core data center's low utilization indicates room for improvement in resource management and cost-effectiveness. Here's a detailed explanation of the selected capabilities:

A. Multi-site management:

Nutanix Prism Central allows centralized management of multiple sites, including satellite offices. This capability is essential for managing infrastructure across the prospect's 25 satellite offices efficiently.

Centralized management reduces the complexity and operational overhead associated with maintaining multiple disparate systems. This leads to better resource utilization and easier scalability.

To resolve an SSL error when connecting to a Nutanix cluster, the administrator should:

Generate a New SSL Certificate:

The administrator should create a new SSL certificate for the cluster. This certificate should be signed by a trusted Certificate Authority (CA), such as an Active Directory (AD) certificate authority.

Install the Certificate on the Cluster:

Once the certificate is generated and signed, it needs to be installed on the Nutanix cluster. This ensures that the certificate is trusted by the clients connecting to the cluster.

Update Trust Stores:

Ensure that the clients and workstations connecting to the Nutanix cluster trust the CA that signed the new SSL certificate. This can often be achieved by updating the trusted root certificate authorities on the client systems.

Creating a new SSL certificate signed by an AD certificate authority ensures that the certificate is recognized and trusted within the organization, thereby resolving the SSL errors and establishing secure connections.

References:

Nutanix Security Best Practices

Nutanix Documentation on SSL Certificate Management

Nutanix Sizer can import outputs from the following collection tools:

Live Optics: This tool provides detailed insights into the current environment's workload, helping to accurately size the Nutanix infrastructure.

RVTools: This tool captures data from VMware environments, providing essential information for sizing and planning Nutanix deployments​​.

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 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.

To migrate a VM configured for UEFI-boot from a Nutanix Hyper-V cluster to AHV, the recommended method is to use Nutanix Move. Nutanix Move is a migration tool designed to streamline the process of moving VMs between different hypervisors, including from Hyper-V to AHV. It supports UEFI-boot VMs and ensures that the VM's configuration and data are migrated efficiently and with minimal downtime.

References:

Nutanix Move Documentation

Nutanix Community Edition Getting Started Guide

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.

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.

Problem Analysis:

The customer needs to perform a sizing discovery in a mixed environment running both VMware ESXi and Nutanix AHV.

Tool Selection:

Collector: Nutanix Collector is a tool specifically designed for gathering data from existing environments to assist with sizing and capacity planning.

It supports both VMware ESXi and Nutanix AHV environments.

Explanation:

The Collector tool can collect data on resource utilization, performance metrics, and workload characteristics.

It helps in generating reports that can be used for accurate sizing of Nutanix solutions.

Outcome:

Using the Collector tool will provide the necessary insights to perform a comprehensive sizing discovery in the customer's mixed environment.

References: For detailed usage instructions, refer to the Nutanix Collector documentation.

1 x 480GB SSD:

For a hybrid cluster running both general-purpose VMs and an ERP application with a 500GB database, having a single 480GB SSD may lead to performance bottlenecks.

Nutanix best practices recommend using multiple SSDs for better I/O performance and redundancy​​​​.

2 x 1GB NIC:

The network interface cards (NICs) with only 1GB capacity each are insufficient for a production environment expected to handle significant data and application traffic.

Nutanix typically recommends 10GB NICs for adequate bandwidth and performance in such scenarios​​.

References:

Nutanix Community Edition Hardware Recommendations​​.

Nutanix Bible - Network and Storage Configuration Best Practices​​​​.

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.

Shadow Clones is the AOS feature that provides enhanced read performance specifically for virtual desktop environments. This feature allows frequently read data to be cached locally on each node, reducing read latency and improving performance in environments with multiple virtual desktops accessing the same data​​.

POC Requirements:

Measure recovery time from power loss, the impact of running multiple workloads, and peak storage performance.

The results need to be presented to the CIO.

Tool Selection:

X-Ray: Nutanix X-Ray is a comprehensive testing and benchmarking tool designed specifically for Nutanix environments. It includes pre-defined scenarios for various testing requirements.

Explanation:

X-Ray Scenarios: X-Ray comes with built-in scenarios that cover various aspects of performance, resiliency, and workload impact. This ensures that the tests are standardized and reliable.

PDF Report: X-Ray generates detailed PDF reports that can be directly presented to stakeholders, such as the CIO, providing a clear and professional summary of the test results.

Outcome:

Using X-Ray with its included scenarios will provide the most reliable and comprehensive testing environment, reducing the room for error and ensuring the results are presented in a professional format.

References: Refer to Nutanix documentation on X-Ray and its usage for performance testing and benchmarking.

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​​.

To address concerns about restoring data locality for VMs after they migrate during an AHV upgrade, it should be highlighted that AHV's built-in scheduler automatically restores data locality. This means that after the VM migration, the scheduler ensures that the VM data is moved to the local storage of the destination node, thereby maintaining optimal performance and data locality​​.

C. ABS (Acropolis Block Services):

Nutanix ABS (Acropolis Block Services) provides the ability to use Nutanix storage with external servers while leveraging the benefits of Nutanix’s distributed storage fabric.

This feature is particularly beneficial for Oracle environments where the organization has invested significantly in servers to save on licensing costs. ABS allows these existing servers to utilize Nutanix's all-flash storage without moving workloads entirely onto Nutanix nodes.

ABS can provide high performance and low latency storage which is critical for Oracle databases and helps address the customer's preference for all-flash arrays.

Terminology

Availability Zone – it is represented by all resources (Nutanix Clusters) connected to Prism Central or Xi Leap Availability zone. Depends on the architecture, Availability zone can represent geographic territory, datacenter or server room in the datacenter. Protection policies – in protection policies you set up (RPO, Retention), rules to auto-apply policies to virtual machines

https://vmwaremine.com/2019/02/08/nutanix-leap-runbooks-part-1/#sthash.V wrzSzhQ.dpbs

Stargate is the CVM service responsible for providing storage to the hypervisor. It manages I/O operations, handles data distribution, replication, deduplication, compression, and other storage-related tasks. Stargate ensures that data is read and written efficiently, maintaining high performance and reliability within the Nutanix Distributed Storage Fabric (DSF).

References:

Nutanix Bible

To tolerate up to 2 simultaneous disk failures across different nodes, the minimum number of nodes required is 5. This configuration ensures that there are enough nodes to maintain data redundancy and availability in the event of multiple disk failures, leveraging Nutanix's Resiliency Factor (RF) mechanisms ​​.

Understanding the requirements: The SQL Server database currently runs on a physical server with 256GB of RAM and 12 CPU cores at > 80% utilization. The VM must run on a single NUMA (Non-Uniform Memory Access) node to maintain performance.

NUMA Node Configuration:

NUMA nodes are designed to optimize memory access and CPU utilization.

Keeping the VM within a single NUMA node ensures low latency and high performance.

Processor Options:

Option A (Intel E5 2680v4): 14 cores each @ 2.4GHz, 28 cores total. This exceeds the core count for a single NUMA node.

Option B (Intel E5 2620v4): 8 cores each @ 2.1GHz, 16 cores total. Lower clock speed and fewer cores might not meet the performance requirements.

Option C (Intel E5 2643v4): 6 cores each @ 3.4GHz, 12 cores total. Matches the current core count but has higher clock speed; however, total cores might limit future scalability.

Option D (Intel E5 2667v4): 8 cores each @ 3.2GHz, 16 cores total. This provides a good balance of cores and clock speed, aligning with current and future performance needs.

Performance Consideration:

The SQL Server is highly transactional, requiring both high core count and high clock speed for optimal performance.

Option D (Intel E5 2667v4) offers a suitable compromise with 8 cores at 3.2GHz, totaling 16 cores. This configuration will fit within a single NUMA node, providing the necessary performance and maintaining efficient memory access.

References:

General CPU configuration guidelines from Nutanix documentation.

NUMA architecture and performance optimization best practices.

Problem Analysis:

The customer requires Disaster Recovery (DR) resources with an RPO of 6 hours.

The "Protect VMs and other Entities" setting is enabled, and Async is selected for the RPO.

Required Options:

Disaster Recovery: Must be enabled to configure and utilize DR resources for protecting VMs and other entities.

Remote Snapshot: Needs to be enabled to facilitate asynchronous replication and meet the specified RPO of 6 hours.

Explanation:

Disaster Recovery: Ensures that DR capabilities are available in the Sizer Scenario for the necessary failover and failback processes.

Remote Snapshot: Allows for creating remote snapshots at the required intervals to meet the 6-hour RPO, providing consistent and timely backups.

Outcome:

Enabling both Disaster Recovery and Remote Snapshot options will ensure the Sizer creates a DR cluster that meets the customer's RPO requirements.

References: For detailed steps and configurations, refer to Nutanix Sizer documentation and DR configuration guides.

Understanding Critical Requirements:

For critical business operations, high availability, performance, and redundancy are essential to ensure minimal downtime and robust performance.

NX-1065S-G5 Node Specifications:

To address the VP of Applications' initiative to transform IT from a cost center to a business enabler, the following key benefits should be reviewed:

On-Premises Cloud-Like Experience:

Benefit: Nutanix provides an infrastructure that delivers a cloud-like experience on-premises. This includes easy scalability, high availability, and efficient resource utilization, which helps in reducing the time and expenses related to meeting business deliverables.

Impact: This transformation ensures rapid deployment and management of applications, which in turn enhances business agility and reduces the dependency on slow IT response times.

Self-Service Portal:

Benefit: Nutanix offers a native and integrated Self-Service Portal that allows developers and business units to provision and manage resources on demand. This capability is crucial for reducing shadow IT and controlling unplanned spending on public cloud services.

Impact: By providing an easy-to-use, scalable portal, developers can quickly respond to business needs, reducing the time to market for new opportunities and innovations.

References:

Nutanix Documentation on Self-Service Portal and Cloud-Like Experience.

Nutanix Customer Success Stories on Transforming IT.

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​

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.

To achieve N+2 resiliency for the entire cluster, the configuration can be adjusted by:

Increasing the number of Nodes: Adding more nodes enhances the cluster's ability to tolerate failures by distributing data across a larger number of nodes.

Increasing the SSD capacity per Node: Higher SSD capacity per node can improve data distribution and redundancy, ensuring that the cluster can maintain performance and availability even during failures​​.

When an HA event causes a SQL virtual machine to restart on a different node, Nutanix's data locality feature ensures that the active VM data is localized to the new node. This means that the data associated with the VM will be migrated to the storage local to the new node, ensuring optimal performance by reducing the need for cross-node data access.

References:

Nutanix Bible​

To address the customer's concern about meeting storage requirements without significantly increasing the number of ESXi hosts and licenses, the systems engineer should review the capability of positioning storage-only nodes.

Storage-Only Nodes: Nutanix allows the addition of storage-only nodes to a cluster. These nodes contribute additional storage capacity without requiring extra ESXi licenses since they do not run VMs.

Seamless Integration: Storage-only nodes integrate seamlessly into the existing Nutanix cluster, providing additional storage while leveraging the same management interface.

Cost Efficiency: By adding storage-only nodes, the customer can meet their storage requirements without increasing the number of compute nodes and thus avoid additional ESXi licensing costs.

References:

Nutanix Storage Solutions: Detailed explanation of storage-only nodes and their integration.

Nutanix Community Documentation: Examples and best practices for adding storage-only nodes to a cluster.

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.

Customer Requirement:

Failover capability to a secondary datacenter with an RPO and RTO of no more than 15 minutes.

Round trip latency between sites can reach up to 6ms.

Nutanix Feature:

NearSync: This feature provides a low RPO/RTO disaster recovery solution with support for low-latency inter-site communication.

Explanation:

NearSyncallows for frequent asynchronous replication with very low RPOs (as low as 1 minute) and ensures rapid recovery times.

It is designed to handle round trip latencies up to 6ms, making it suitable for the customer’s inter-site latency requirements.

Outcome:

NearSync will enable the customer to meet their stringent RPO and RTO requirements, ensuring that VMs can be powered on in the secondary datacenter quickly in the event of a primary datacenter failure.

References: For further details on NearSync capabilities and configuration, refer to Nutanix documentation on disaster recovery and NearSync features.

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.

For a prospective customer concerned about the suitability and design of using Nutanix for an Avaya IP Office migration, the appropriate document to provide is a Reference Architecture.

Definition:

A Reference Architecture document provides a detailed technical blueprint, including the design, configuration, and deployment guidelines specific to an application or solution.

Content Relevance:

It includes validated configurations and best practices that have been tested and recommended by Nutanix for running Avaya IP Office.

This document will address concerns about performance, reliability, and integration specific to Avaya IP Office.

Design Validation:

Reference Architectures are created based on real-world implementations and are designed to ensure that the proposed solution will meet the customer’s requirements.

References:

Nutanix Reference Architecture documents and guidelines.

Avaya IP Office deployment guides on Nutanix platforms.

To migrate ESXi VMs to a Nutanix AHV cluster, the administrator needs to import the VM’s –flat.vmdk files using the Image Service. This process involves uploading the VMDK files to the Image Service in Nutanix AHV and then creating new VMs using these disk images. The steps ensure that the VMs are correctly imported and recognized by the AHV environment​​.

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

When the cluster RF is increased to 3, the resiliency factor for data becomes 3. This means that the system can tolerate up to 2 failures for data components. However, Zookeeper, which is a metadata component, typically maintains a separate RF. In Nutanix clusters, the default RF for Zookeeper remains 1 even if the cluster RF is increased to 3. Therefore, the values in the data resiliency dashboard for FAILURES TOLERABLE will be:

Zookeeper = 1

Extent Groups = 2​​.

Manual Sizing Considerations:

Switching to manual mode requires a more detailed consideration of various factors to ensure the configuration meets the desired requirements.

Key Considerations:

N + 1 Availability:

Explanation: Ensures high availability and fault tolerance by adding redundancy. This means the system can tolerate the failure of one node without impacting the overall system availability.

To calculate the minimum amount of required SSD storage for the active working set:

Determine the active working set size:

The data growth pattern shows an increase of 1TB per month.

Considering the most recent data point (May: 14TB), the active working set can be approximated as the difference between the highest and the lowest value in the given period.

Consider the read/write ratio:

Average Read/Write Ratio: 75/25

Typically, write operations require more SSD space for better performance.

SSD storage calculation:

Given the active working set and growth pattern, a prudent estimate would be to ensure sufficient SSD space to handle peak loads and ensure performance.

Based on the pattern and industry best practices, 6TB of SSD storage would be a reasonable minimum to accommodate the active working set and ensure performance.

References:

Nutanix Sizer guidelines and industry best practices for SSD storage estimation in virtualized environments.

To configure alerts to notify the administrator before VM CPU utilization hits 90%, follow these steps:

Open the Health dashboard in the Prism web console.

Locate the VM CPU Check alert configuration.

Adjust the alert threshold to a value below 90%, such as 80% or 85%.

Save the changes to ensure that the alert will trigger when VM CPU utilization reaches the newly set threshold.

By lowering the alert threshold, the administrator will receive notifications before CPU utilization becomes critical, allowing for proactive management and mitigation of potential performance issues.

References:

Nutanix Prism Web Console Guide

Nutanix Health Dashboard Documentation

The Automatic sizing option in Nutanix Sizer provides a solution that meets the provided requirements and includes a default 25% growth capacity. This ensures that the initial configuration can handle current workloads and accommodate future growth without immediate additional investments​​.

Customer Requirement:

Data-at-Rest-Encryption for all data.

License Options:

Pro with the Encryption SKU: This option allows customers to add encryption capabilities to the Pro tier.

Ultimate: This tier includes built-in encryption features, providing comprehensive data security.

Explanation:

Pro with the Encryption SKU: Customers using the Pro tier can enhance their security by purchasing the additional Encryption SKU, which enables Data-at-Rest-Encryption.

Ultimate: This tier natively includes encryption, offering an all-in-one solution for customers requiring high levels of data security without additional SKUs.

Outcome:

Customers can choose either of these two licensing options to meet their Data-at-Rest-Encryption requirements, ensuring that all their data is securely encrypted.

References: For detailed licensing information and encryption capabilities, refer to Nutanix documentation on security features and licensing tiers.

Scenario Analysis:

The customer does not have access to vCenter or ESXi hosts on ACME Public Cloud.

ACME replicates copies of virtual disks to external storage.

Migration Feasibility:

Without access to vCenter or ESXi, tools like Xtract for VMs cannot directly access and migrate the VMs.

Nutanix Community Edition would not be feasible as it cannot replicate VMs directly without vCenter access.

Calm is used for automation and orchestration but not for direct VM migration from unsupported platforms.

Best Method:

Using the replicated VM copies on external storage provides a direct and viable migration path.

Import the VMs from external storage to the local Nutanix cluster, ensuring a smooth transition.

References:

Nutanix documentation on VM migration strategies.

Best practices for migrating VMs from external storage to Nutanix clusters.

Customer Concern:

The customer is concerned about having a single-pane-of-glass management interface being a single-point-of-failure.

Nutanix Prism Architecture:

Prism: The management interface for Nutanix clusters, designed to run on every Controller VM (CVM) in the cluster.

Explanation:

Distributed Architecture: Prism is not a single-point-of-failure because it runs on every CVM within the cluster.

High Availability: If one CVM fails, Prism services continue to operate on the remaining CVMs, ensuring continuous management availability.

Outcome:

The distributed nature of Prism running on every CVM mitigates the risk of a single-point-of-failure, addressing the customer's concern effectively.

References: For more details, refer to Nutanix documentation on Prism architecture and high availability features.

Current Configuration:

The customer has a 3-node cluster configured for RF2 with 100TB of raw disk space.

Erasure Coding Requirements:

Erasure Coding (EC-X) improves storage efficiency by using a parity-based method to store data.

For EC-X to be enabled, a minimum of 4 nodes is required in the cluster.

Explanation:

RF2 (Replication Factor 2): Requires data to be replicated across at least two nodes.

Erasure Coding: Requires additional nodes beyond the replication factor to store parity information. In this case, a minimum of 4 nodes is needed to implement EC-X.

Required Change:

Add 1 Node: Adding one more node to the existing 3-node cluster will meet the minimum requirement of 4 nodes, allowing the customer to enable Erasure Coding.

Outcome:

By adding an additional node, the cluster will be able to utilize Erasure Coding, thereby gaining additional usable space.

To ensure the solution does not exceed 80% CPU utilization when a node is placed in maintenance mode, the SE should:

Access Sizer: Open the Nutanix Sizer tool.

Create New Scenario: Start a new scenario for the project.

Define Workload: Enter the details of the current workload, specifying resource requirements.

Customize CPU Threshold:

In the sizing options, customize the CPU threshold to 80%. This setting ensures that the calculated resources account for keeping CPU utilization at or below 80% when a node is taken out of the pool for maintenance (N+0).

Review Configuration: Verify that the proposed configuration meets the 80% CPU utilization requirement under maintenance conditions.

This approach ensures that the solution is appropriately sized to handle the specified workload without exceeding the desired CPU utilization threshold.

References:

Nutanix Sizer documentation and guides.

Best practices for configuring CPU thresholds and resource allocation.

Nutanix handles node failures by immediately beginning the rebuild process. When two nodes fail within a short time frame, Nutanix automatically initiates the data replication and rebuild process to ensure data integrity and availability. The system leverages the remaining capacity and resources in the cluster to redistribute and rebuild the data from the failed nodes, minimizing the risk of data loss and maintaining cluster resilience.

References:

Nutanix Bible​