NCP Nutanix Architecture and Concepts 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which Nutanix component is responsible for handling distributed metadata and ensuring data consistency across the cluster?
- Cassandra (Correct answer)
- Stargate
- Curator
- Medusa
Correct answer: Cassandra
Cassandra is Nutanix's distributed metadata store that maintains consistency across all nodes using a ring-based architecture.
Question 2: In a Nutanix cluster, what is the purpose of the 'Curator' service?
- Manages VM snapshots exclusively
- Performs background distributed operations like disk balancing and garbage collection (Correct answer)
- Handles network I/O between nodes
- Provides user authentication for Prism
Correct answer: Performs background distributed operations like disk balancing and garbage collection
Curator is responsible for background maintenance tasks including disk usage rebalancing, data compression, deduplication, and garbage collection.
Question 3: What does the Nutanix 'Stargate' service primarily handle?
- Cluster-wide configuration management
- All data I/O operations including reads, writes, and caching (Correct answer)
- VM lifecycle management
- Network packet routing between nodes
Correct answer: All data I/O operations including reads, writes, and caching
Stargate is the data I/O gateway that handles all read and write operations, manages the tiered storage system, and implements data protection.
Question 4: Which Nutanix feature allows the cluster to continue operating even when a node fails, by maintaining multiple copies of data?
- Metro Availability
- Replication Factor (RF) (Correct answer)
- Erasure Coding
- Stretched Cluster
Correct answer: Replication Factor (RF)
Replication Factor (RF) determines how many copies of data are maintained across nodes, allowing the cluster to tolerate node failures without data loss.
Question 5: In Nutanix AOS, what is a 'vDisk'?
- A physical disk in a node's storage bay
- A logical disk abstraction that represents VM storage in the Nutanix DSF (Correct answer)
- A dedicated SSD used only for caching
- A network-attached storage volume
Correct answer: A logical disk abstraction that represents VM storage in the Nutanix DSF
A vDisk is a logical representation of a virtual disk within the Nutanix Distributed Storage Fabric, storing VM data across the cluster.
Question 6: What is the role of the 'Acropolis' layer in the Nutanix stack?
- It is the hypervisor management layer that provides compute virtualization and VM lifecycle control (Correct answer)
- It manages only network configurations
- It handles backup and DR operations exclusively
- It is the storage layer responsible for caching
Correct answer: It is the hypervisor management layer that provides compute virtualization and VM lifecycle control
Acropolis is Nutanix's native hypervisor and compute management platform, providing VM management, networking (AHV), and storage integration.
Question 7: Which Nutanix technology enables deduplication to occur inline during write operations rather than as a post-process?
- Erasure Coding
- Content-Based Read Cache (CBRC)
- Shadow Clones
- Inline Deduplication with fingerprinting (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Inline Deduplication with fingerprinting
Nutanix uses SHA-1 fingerprinting during write operations to perform inline deduplication, eliminating redundant data before it is persisted to disk.
NCP Nutanix Architecture and Concepts 2
Which Nutanix component is responsible for handling distributed metadata and ensuring data consistency across the cluster?