Nutanix Architecture and Concepts Flashcards

What is a key component of the Nutanix architecture?

Answer: Controller Virtual Machine (CVM)

CVMs run essential services on each node in a cluster.

What technology underpins Nutanix’s distributed storage?

Answer: Distributed Storage Fabric

The Nutanix Distributed Storage Fabric aggregates storage across nodes.

Which hypervisors are supported by Nutanix?

Answer: AHV, ESXi, Hyper-V

Nutanix supports AHV, VMware ESXi, and Hyper-V.

What is the purpose of the Acropolis Operating System (AOS)?

Answer: Manage core services and resources

The Acropolis Operating System (AOS) is the foundational software stack of Nutanix. Its primary purpose is to integrate compute, storage, and virtualization, providing a distributed platform that manages all core infrastructure services and resources within the cluster. This includes data management, storage services, and the hypervisor (AHV).

How does Nutanix scale?

Answer: Add more nodes to the cluster

Nutanix is designed for linear and modular scalability, allowing businesses to grow their infrastructure as needed. To scale, you simply add more nodes to the existing cluster. Each new node contributes additional compute, storage, and I/O capacity, which is automatically integrated into the distributed system.

What is Prism in Nutanix?

Answer: Nutanix management interface

Prism is the unified management interface for the Nutanix enterprise cloud platform. It provides a single pane of glass for managing all aspects of the Nutanix cluster, including virtual machines, storage, networking, and overall system health. Both Prism Element (per cluster) and Prism Central (multi-cluster) offer comprehensive monitoring and operational control.

Which Nutanix component handles I/O operations?

Answer: Stargate

Stargate is a critical component of the Nutanix software stack, running on each Controller VM (CVM). It is responsible for handling all data management operations, including data reads, writes, replication, and deduplication. Stargate ensures high performance and data integrity across the distributed storage fabric by efficiently processing all storage I/O requests from virtual machines.

What is metadata in Nutanix used for?

Answer: Track object and data location

In Nutanix, metadata is essential for the efficient operation of the Nutanix Distributed File System (NDFS). It stores vital information about the location of data blocks and objects across the cluster, their attributes, and replication status. This allows the system to quickly locate and retrieve data, ensuring optimal I/O performance and data availability.

Which file system does Nutanix use?

Answer: NDFS

Nutanix utilizes its proprietary distributed file system called NDFS (Nutanix Distributed File System). NDFS aggregates the local storage from all nodes in the cluster into a single, highly available storage pool, providing a resilient and scalable platform for virtual machines and applications. It handles data placement, replication, and other storage services across the cluster.