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Nutanix Architecture and Concepts Flashcards

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  1. What is the minimum number of nodes required to form a Nutanix cluster with Replication Factor 2 (RF2)?

    Answer: 3

    RF2 requires a minimum of 3 nodes to ensure that the cluster can survive a single node failure while maintaining a quorum for metadata.

  2. Which Nutanix service is responsible for providing the Prism Element and Prism Central web interfaces?

    Answer: Prism

    The Prism service runs on each CVM and provides the management web interface (Prism Element) and connects to Prism Central for multi-cluster management.

  3. What happens to the Controller VM (CVM) I/O path when a node fails in a Nutanix cluster?

    Answer: Remote CVMs on surviving nodes take over I/O for the failed node's VMs via CVM autopathing

    Nutanix's CVM autopathing automatically redirects I/O from the failed node's CVM to remote CVMs on healthy nodes, ensuring continuous operation.

  4. In Nutanix's storage architecture, what is the 'Extent Store'?

    Answer: The persistent storage layer on HDDs or SSDs that stores vDisk data

    The Extent Store is Nutanix's persistent storage tier where actual vDisk data is written after being processed through the write buffer and cache layers.

  5. What is the Nutanix 'Shadow Clone' feature used for?

    Answer: Accelerating reads for frequently accessed vDisks by caching full copies on local SSDs

    Shadow Clones cache a full local copy of a vDisk on the requesting node's SSD tier when a vDisk is read frequently from multiple nodes, improving read performance.

  6. Which Nutanix component manages the overall health of the cluster and handles service restarts?

    Answer: Genesis

    Genesis is the cluster initialization and service management daemon that monitors CVM services and automatically restarts them if they fail.

  7. What is the purpose of 'Zookeeper' in a Nutanix cluster?

    Answer: Provides distributed coordination and a consistent configuration store across all CVMs

    Zookeeper provides distributed coordination services and maintains a consistent view of cluster configuration, leader election, and service discovery across all CVMs.

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Sources & references

Exam facts on this page (fees, format, dates, passing scores) are checked against these official sources; the date is our last check. Editorial policy

  1. nutanix.com — Eligibility, registration deadline, fees, exam format, passing score, renewal, time limit, score validity · verified Oct 2026
  2. psiexams.com — Test delivery · verified Oct 2026