Free and Premium Nutanix NCP-MCA Dumps Questions Answers

To automate a remediation action (like restarting a VM) based on a specific performance threshold (like CPU usage > 90%), the administrator must useIntelligent Operations (X-Play)with an event-driven trigger.

Alert-Based Trigger:The administrator first ensures there is an Alert Policy in Prism Central for "VM High CPU" configured with a threshold of 90%.

Playbook Configuration:The administrator then creates a Playbook and selects theAlerttrigger (orAlerts Matching Criteriatrigger). They link this trigger to the specific CPU alert policy.

Action:The administrator adds theVM Reboot(or Power Cycle) action to the Playbook.

Result:As soon as the system detects the CPU exceeding 90%, the Alert fires, which immediately triggers the Playbook to reboot the VM without human intervention.

Options A (Scheduled) and C (Manual) do not meet the requirement of "whenever it exceeds," which implies real-time reaction. Option B is incorrect because Project Quotas manage resource allocation limits, not runtime performance monitoring or remediation.

In a Nutanix Self-Service Blueprint, actions that affect theentire application lifecycleor its structural configuration are defined asProfile Actions.

Application Profile Actions:These are operations that run at the level of the Application Profile.

Custom Profile Actions:To enable capabilities likeScale Out(adding more replicas),Scale In(removing replicas), orUpgrade(updating the application software across the deployment), the developer createsCustom Profile Actions.

These actions are distinct from "Service Actions" (which apply to a single VM/Service, like "Restart Apache").

Once defined, these Custom Profile Actions appear as buttons on the "Manage" tab of the deployed application, allowing the application admin to trigger the scaling or upgrade workflows defined by the developer.

To successfully enable and deploy Nutanix Self-Service (formerly Calm), thePrism Centralinstance must have a configuredFully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN).

Requirement:The Self-Service engine (Calm) runs as a set of containerized microservices. These services rely on internal certificates for secure communication and ingress routing.

Validation:During the enablement of the Self-Service feature, Prism Central validates that an FQDN is configured. If only an IP address is used, the enablement process may fail or the services may not function correctly because the certificate generation process requires a valid hostname to establish trust.

Contrast:While Network Segmentation (A) and SNMP (C) are supported features, they are not mandatory prerequisites for the basic deployment of the Self-Service engine.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation

Blueprint tasks in Calm run at specificlifecycle stages:

Pre-create→ Tasks executedbeforeVM creation

Post-create→ Tasks executedafterVM creation butbefore power-on

Pre-delete→ Tasks executed before VM deletion

Post-delete→ Tasks executed after removal

Nutanix documentation states:

Actions that must occurbetween VM provisioning and first power-onshould be added to thePre-createorPost-createstage depending on their dependency.

AD OU assignment requires the VM to exist in inventory butbefore power-on, which aligns with:

✔Pre-create– This is used to configure environment-specific metadata, directory placement, and provisioning adjustmentsprior to initial VM startup.

Correct answer:B

In Nutanix Intelligent Operations (X-Play), a Playbook action can have a status of"Skipped"in the execution history. This status is specific and distinct from "Failed."

Conditional Execution:Administrators can configureConditionson individual Playbook actions (e.g., "Only run this step if the Alert Severity == Critical" or "Only if entity name contains 'Prod'").

The Cause:If the Playbook triggers successfully but the specific criteria for the notification step are not met during execution, X-Playskipsthat specific action while effectively completing the Playbook run.

If the service were down (Option B) or the configuration invalid (Option A), the step would typically report a"Failed"status, not "Skipped."

ThePolicy Engineis the core component in Prism Central that enables governance and scheduling capabilities for Self-Service.

Requirement:According to the Administration Guide, thePolicy Enginemust be enabled to useQuotas,Approvals, andSchedulerfeatures.

Function:The Scheduler relies on the Policy Engine to enforce timing and execution rules for Application Actions and Runbooks. Without this engine running, the Scheduler tab and functionality are unavailable.

According to the Nutanix Prism Central Admin Guide, a category is a grouping of entities into key-value pairs. Categories are used to group entities (such as VMs, hosts, or subnets) based on specific criteria (e.g., Department: Marketing or Environment: Production).

Once entities are assigned to a category, administrators can link policies (such as security, protection, or automation playbooks) to the category rather than to individual entities. This allows for scalable and dynamic management, as any new entity tagged with that category will automatically inherit the associated policies.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation

Self-Service platform sync allows Prism Central to periodically collect updates from external providers.

Nutanix documentation states that the providers supportingplatform sync with a 20-minute update windoware:

Nutanix (AHV)

VMware (vSphere)

AWS

These environments support the metadata collection necessary for tracking:

IP changes

Disk resizing

VM availability

Thus, the valid set isNutanix, VMware, and AWS, makingOption Ccorrect.

To satisfy specific ordering requirements around IP assignment (before VM existence) and Security Group assignment (after VM existence but before use), the administrator usesPre-createandPost-createtasks.

Pre-Create Task (IP Address):This task executesbeforethe VM provisioning call is made to the provider. The developer uses this phase (e.g., an HTTP task or Script) to request a specific IP from an external IPAM solution. The IP is stored in a variable and passed to the VM configuration.

VM Provisioning:The VM is created (using the IP from step 1) but is configured in the blueprint to stay in aPowered Offstate initially.

Post-Create Task (Security Group):This task executesimmediately afterthe VM resource is created (so the VM UUID/NIC exists) but before the application logic starts. The developer uses this phase to make an API call (e.g., to Flow or NSX) to place the VM into the required Security Group.

Power On:A subsequent task (or manual action) powers on the VM, ensuring it boots up with the correct IP and within the correct security boundary.

Option C is the only combination that covers both the "Before Creation" and "After Creation" phases required.

In Nutanix Self-Service Runbooks, tasks that execute scripts (such as Shell for Linux or PowerShell for Windows) require a target destination. This target is defined as an Endpoint.

AnEndpointconfigures the connection details (IP address, port, connection protocol, and credentials) required to communicate with the remote machine where the script will run. Without selecting a valid Endpoint, the Runbook engine does not know where to send the script for execution.

When configuring aNutanix(AHV) provider account within Self-Service (formerly Calm) to deploy infrastructure, the fundamental artifact required for VM provisioning is anAHV Image.

AHV Image:Nutanix AHV uses theImage Serviceto manage disk images (typically in QCOW2 or ISO format) that serve as the base for virtual machines. Before a Blueprint can be designed or deployed on a Nutanix account, a validDisk Imagemust be uploaded to the Prism Central Image Service. This image is then referenced in the Blueprint's VM configuration (Substrate) as the "Disk Image" source.

Contrast with other Providers:

VMware Template (Option B):This is the required artifact for theVMware vSphereprovider.

VHD (Option A):Typically associated with Hyper-V or Azure.

OVA (Option C):An export format, not a direct provisioning source for the Nutanix provider within Self-Service.

Therefore, ensuring anAHV Imageexists and is available on the cluster is the specific pre-configuration requirement for the Nutanix provider.

For users to successfully deploy Marketplace Blueprints to a specific infrastructure, the Project must have a configuredEnvironment.

The Gap:Merely adding the Account and whitelisting the Cluster in the Project settings (the "Infrastructure" tab) onlyauthorizesaccess. It does not tell the Self-Service enginehowto use that infrastructure (e.g., which Networks to attach, which Storage Containers to use, or what sizing policies to apply).

The Solution:The administrator must go to theEnvironmentstab within the Project andCreate a New Environmentmapped to the new Account and Cluster.

Marketplace Logic:Marketplace blueprints are typically "Environment Agnostic." When a user launches one, they are prompted to select a destination Environment. If no Environment exists for the new cluster, the user cannot select it as a target for deployment.

The feature within Nutanix Self-Service (Calm) designed specifically for publishing blueprints to end-users is theMarketplace.

Marketplace:This component acts as an app store for the organization. Administrators and developers create Blueprints and thenpublishthem to the Marketplace.

Process:The "Marketplace and Application Management" capability encompasses the workflow of submitting a blueprint for approval, versioning it, and making it visible to users based on their Project entitlements.

Consumption:Once published, users do not access the raw blueprint design canvas; instead, they access the Marketplace Item to launch (consume) the application.

While "Unified Multi-Cloud Orchestration" describes the platform's broad goal, and "DSL" is a method for creating code-based blueprints, "Marketplace" is the specific functional area for publishing and consumption.

To create or configure aCustom Providerin Nutanix Self-Service (Calm), the administrator typically defines the provider's schema (endpoints, variables, and actions) using theSelf-Service DSL(Domain Specific Language) or by constructing a definition file.

YAML Definition:The standard workflow for creating complex custom providers involves defining the provider logic in Python (via the DSL) and compiling it into aYAMLfile, or writing the YAML definition directly.

Import/Update:This YAML file is then uploaded to the Self-Service interface to create or update the Provider definition. This allows the administrator to extend Self-Service capabilities to any infrastructure or service that has an API, beyond the native supported providers.

Note:While the question option phrasing ("Update the blueprint...") may be imprecise, the action of uploading aYAML fileis the specific mechanism associated with defining Custom Providers and DSL-based constructs in Nutanix Self-Service.

InIntelligent Operations (X-Play) Playbooks, the syntax for string interpolation (using parameters) differs from Self-Service (Calm).

Playbook Syntax:X-Play uses thedouble curly bracesyntax {{ ... }} to reference parameters.

Example:To reference the name of the entity that triggered the playbook, the correct parameter string is {{trigger[0].source_entity_info.name}} or {{trigger[0].alert_entity_info.name}} depending on the trigger type.

Contrast:@@{...}@@ (Option B) is the syntax used inSelf-Service (Calm)macros, not X-Play Playbooks.

The most efficient and scalable method for managing user access in Nutanix Self-Service Projects is leveraging existing Identity Providers (such as Active Directory).

Add an Active Directory group to a role:When adding users to a Project, the administrator can select an entireDirectory Group(AD Group) and assign a specific Project Role (e.g., Developer, Consumer, Operator) to that group.

Result:All users currently in that AD group, and any users added to that AD group in the future, automatically inherit the assigned Project Role. This eliminates the need to manually manage individual user accounts (Option D) or maintain separate local groups (Option A) within Prism Central.

When a Playbook fails to fire despite an Alert occurring, the most common and "likely" cause is a mismatch in theTriggerconfiguration logic.

Trigger Precision:X-Play Triggers are precise. If the administrator selected theAlerttrigger, they must select asingle specificAlert Policy (e.g., "Host High Memory"). If the high-severity alert that occurred was "VM High Memory" (a different policy), the Playbook will not trigger, even if both are "High Severity."

Alerts Matching Criteria:To coverallhigh-severity alerts, the administrator must use theAlerts Matching Criteriatrigger and filter by Severity == Critical. If they used the specific "Alert" trigger or configured the criteria incorrectly (e.g., wrong entity type), the system is "working as implemented" (ignoring non-matching events), but the logic does not match the user's intent.

Autopilot (Option C):While X-Play has an Autopilot feature for KPI optimization, it is not a mandatory requirement for standard alert-based remediation playbooks to function.

The image typically shows the distinction between the "Alert" trigger (Select one policy) and "Alerts Matching Criteria" trigger (Select filters like Severity/Entity), illustrating how a configuration error here leads to the issue described in Question 40.

To ensure a Playbook executes at a specific resource threshold (95% Memory), the administrator must link the Playbook to anAlert Policydefined with that specific threshold.

Relationship between Alerts and Playbooks:In Nutanix Intelligent Operations (X-Play), Playbooks are typically event-driven. The most common trigger is theAlerttrigger. The Playbook itself does not define the threshold (e.g., "95%"); rather, it waits for an Alert to fire.

Configuration:The administrator must configure a specific Alert Policy (e.g., "Critical Memory Usage") in Prism Central to trigger when Memory Usage exceeds 95%.

The Solution:By selecting"Change Trigger to be based off Critical Memory Usage Alert"(Option B), the administrator ensures the Playbook reacts specifically to the alert that corresponds to the 95% threshold. If the system was previously alerting at 100%, it implies the Playbook was linked to a different or default policy. Switching the trigger to the correct "Critical" policy (configured for 95%) solves the issue.

Autopilot (Option A):Autopilot is used totuneinfrastructure limits (like adding CPU/Memory) based on KPI targetsaftera playbook runs; it does not trigger the initial remediation playbook itself.

Among the options provided, calm_unique is the standard built-in macro provided by the Self-Service engine.

Purpose:The @@{calm_unique}@@ macro generates a unique, short alphanumeric string at runtime.

Use Case:It is widely used in Blueprints to ensure uniqueness for VM names, hostname prefixes, or other resources that cannot have duplicate identifiers within the infrastructure (e.g., naming a VM Web-@@{calm_unique}@@ to prevent naming collisions).

Other Options:calm_date, calm_generate_uuid, and calm_math are not standard built-in macro names in the Self-Service macro library (though calm_time and calm_now exist for time-based operations).

TheLibrary(specifically theTask Library) is the designated repository in Nutanix Self-Service for creating and managing reusable automation building blocks.

Task Library:This feature allows administrators to define discrete tasks (such as Shell scripts, PowerShell scripts, HTTP requests, or Python scripts) once and store them centrally.

Reusability:These tasks serve as fundamental "building blocks" because they can be imported into multiple Blueprints and Runbooks across different Projects.

Differentiation:

Tasks (Option C):While "Tasks" are the actual units of work, the question askswherethey are created for the purpose of establishing them as foundational, reusable blocks. They are createdin the Library.

Projects (Option B):Projects are logical containers for users, quotas, and environments, not the repository for reusable script definitions.

Thus, theLibraryis the correct location for creating shared automation assets.

To enforce different configurations for different types of workloads within the same Project, Nutanix Self-Service usesEnvironments.

Environments:These are logical configurations within a Project that map to specific infrastructure settings. An administrator can define multiple environments (e.g., "Development" and "Production") within the "Engineering" project.

Category Assignment:Within each Environment configuration, the administrator can define specificVM Categoriesthat will be automatically applied to any VM provisioned into that environment.

Mapping:

Production Environment:Assign the category Protection: async_1hr_repl (Matches requirement: Asynchronous remote replication every 1 hour).

Development Environment:Assign the category Protection: snap_24_hr (Matches requirement: Daily snapshots).

Execution:When a user launches a blueprint, they select the target Environment (Dev or Prod). The system automatically tags the VMs with the categories defined in that environment, which in turn engages the Protection Policies associated with those tags.

Option B uses the wrong category values (sync_remote_repl instead of async). Options C and D suggest using Playbooks, but the native and most efficient method for applying deployment-time governance in Self-Service is via theProject Environmentsettings.

To efficiently identify the source Blueprint for every VM created during a test, the administrator should utilize the built-inBlueprint Name Macrowithin a Multi-VM structure.

Macro Usage:The macro @@{calm_blueprint_name}@@ automatically resolves to the name of the blueprint being deployed (e.g., "Test_BP_Version_A").

Efficiency:By using aMulti-VM blueprint(which creates all four VMs in one deployment action) and configuring theVM Namefield in the service definition to include this macro (e.g., VM-@@{calm_blueprint_name}@@-@@{calm_array_index}@@), the administrator ensures that every resulting VM is automatically tagged with its source blueprint name in the hypervisor (Prism Element/Central) list.

Why not others:

Option Ainvolves "Single VM Blueprint" and "cloning," which is a manual or secondary process that is less efficient than a native Multi-VM definition.

Option Cuses @@{calm_application_name}@@, which identifies the specificinstance(e.g., "App-1"), not theblueprint design(e.g., "Web-Server-v2") that is being tested.

To configure and enforce resource limits within a Nutanix Self-Service (formerly Calm) project, the specific governance component known as thePolicy Enginemust be active.2

According to the Self-Service Administration and Operations Guide regarding thePolicy Engine and Quotas Overview:

Enabling the Policy Engine:You enable and use the policy engine to enforce resource quota policies for infrastructure resources (compute, memory, and storage) on Nutanix and VMware accounts.3

Prerequisite status:Until the policy engine is enabled in the Admin Center Settings, Prism Central cannot perform any quota checks or validation on resource consumption.4

Availability:The options to define resource quota limits (such as vCPU, Memory, and Disk fields in the Project configuration)appear only when you enable the policy enginein your Prism Central instance.5If the policy engine is not enabled, the Quota section in the Projects pages remains unavailable.6

The "Environment" construct in Nutanix Self-Service is designed specifically to abstract infrastructure details from the end user while ensuring correct placement.

Within a single Project, an administrator can define multipleEnvironments(e.g., "Development" and "Production").

TheDevelopment Environmentis configured to map to theDevelopment Clusterand its associated networks.

TheProduction Environmentis configured to map to theProduction Clusterand its associated networks.

When a blueprint is launched, the user (or the application profile) simply selects the target Environment. The Self-Service engine then automatically directs the provisioning to the specific cluster defined in that Environment's settings, ensuring correct placement without requiring the user to know cluster details or manual intervention.

When creating a variable in a Nutanix Self-Service Blueprint or Runbook, the administrator must select aData Type. The standard supported data types areString,Integer,Date,Time, andDateTime.

String (Single-line):This is the fundamental text data type (typically just labeled "String" in the UI). It is used for standard alphanumeric inputs.

Input Options:While a String variable can be configured with an attribute to accept "Multi-line" input (useful for SSH keys or scripts), the base data type itself isString(which defaults to single-line).

Invalid Options:"Multi-line integer" is not a valid type. "Year Month Day" is a format description, not the name of theDatedata type. Therefore,Single-line string(representing the standard String type) is the correct available option among the choices.

In Nutanix Self-Service (Calm), the Marketplace Manager is the specific administrative view used to govern the publication of blueprints.

When a developer submits a blueprint for publication, it enters a "Pending Approval" state. An administrator must access theMarketplace Manager, navigate to theApproval Pendingtab, and explicitly approve the blueprint. Only after this approval does the blueprint become visible to end-users in the standard Marketplace.

"Approval Policies" (Option C) refer to runtime restrictions (e.g., requiring approval toprovisiona VM), not the pre-publication governance of the blueprint design itself.

In Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) Intelligent Operations (formerly Prism Pro/X-Play), the primary method for troubleshooting and validating Playbook behavior is through the Plays view in Prism Central.

When a Playbook is reported as not executing as expected, the administrator must examine thePlaystab (Execution History). This view provides a detailed log of all playbook activity, including:

Status:Whether the playbook succeeded, failed, or is in progress.

Trigger Details:Information regarding what specific event or alert triggered the playbook. If the playbook is not running at all, the administrator needs to verify if the "Idle VM" trigger conditions (e.g., CPU usage threshold, duration) are actually being met by the VMs in question.

Step-by-Step Execution:If the playbook triggered but failed during execution, the history details exactly which step failed and provides error messages (e.g., permission issues or API failures).

Options such as rebooting Prism Central or increasing quotas do not address the need to diagnose why specific automation logic failed to fire or complete. Modifying the execution context is a potential fix onlyafterthe execution history reveals a permission error, but checking the history is the mandatory first step to validate the configuration.

Nutanix Prism Central includesPredefined Playbooks(System Playbooks) that cover common use cases (e.g., "Email on Alert"). These system playbooks are protected templates.

Immutability:You cannot directly edit or modify a Predefined Playbook (making Option D incorrect).

Cloning Workflow:To customize a Predefined Playbook—such as adding an additional action step like "Slack Notification" or "VM Snapshot" at the end—the administrator mustClonethe playbook.

Process:Select the Predefined Playbook -> Click "Clone" -> Save as a new User Playbook. The administrator can then fully edit triggers and actions in this new copy.

While this effectively creates a "new" playbook (Option B), the specific mechanism provided in the interface and documentation to leverage the existing definition isCloning.

To "compile a list" of entities using Intelligent Operations (X-Play) without manually tracking them, the administrator should leverage theCategorizationfeature, which acts as a dynamic tagging system.

Trigger (Event):The restoration of a VM from a snapshot generates a systemEvent(e.g., "VM Restored" or "Clone from Snapshot"). The Playbook must be configured with theEvent Triggerto detect this specific action immediately when it occurs.

Action (Assign Category):The Playbook should then execute theAssign Categoryaction. The administrator can define a specific category, such as Recovery:Restored.

Result:As the administrator restores the VMs (either manually or via script), the Playbook automatically tags each one with the Recovery:Restored category. The administrator can then simply filter the Prism Central VM list by this category to see the compiled list of all recovered VMs.

Options B and D are incorrect because a successful snapshot restoration is anEvent, not anAlert(which indicates a fault or threshold breach). Option C is incorrect because a Time Trigger cannot react to the specific action of a restore operation.

Nutanix Disaster Recovery usesProtection Policiesto automate replication. These policies are applied to VMs dynamically based onCategories. To protecteveryVM from both blueprints described, the administrator must select a category that iscommon to bothsets of VMs.

Blueprint 1 Categories:OSType: Windows, AppType:IIS

Blueprint 2 Categories:OSType: Windows, Environment:Dev

Commonality:The category OSType: Windows is assigned in both blueprints.

Configuration:By creating a Protection Policy that targets the category OSType: Windows, any VM deployed fromeitherblueprint will automatically inherit this tag. Consequently, the Disaster Recovery engine will immediately detect the new VM and begin replicating it according to the policy (Asynchronous, 1 hour) without manual intervention.

Options B and D would only protect a subset of the VMs (only IIS servers or only Dev workstations, respectively).