Nutanix Exam Nutanix NCA-5.15 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which Nutanix feature provides block storage volumes accessible via iSCSI to external servers or VMs?
- Nutanix Files
- Nutanix Volumes (ABS) (Correct answer)
- Nutanix Objects
- Nutanix Mine
Correct answer: Nutanix Volumes (ABS)
Nutanix Volumes (Acropolis Block Services) exposes distributed block storage over iSCSI for use by VMs or external servers that need raw block access.
Question 2: In Prism Central, what is the purpose of 'Categories' in a Nutanix environment?
- Group nodes by hardware generation
- Tag VMs and other entities for policy enforcement (security, protection, etc.) (Correct answer)
- Classify storage containers by tier
- Organize user roles in RBAC
Correct answer: Tag VMs and other entities for policy enforcement (security, protection, etc.)
Categories are key-value tags in Prism Central used to logically group VMs and resources so that policies (security, protection, QoS) can be applied at scale.
Question 3: Which Nutanix solution integrates with third-party backup vendors through an API to enable backup of VMs without agents?
- Nutanix Calm
- Nutanix Mine with HYCU or Veeam (Correct answer)
- Nutanix Karbon
- Nutanix Era
Correct answer: Nutanix Mine with HYCU or Veeam
Nutanix Mine integrates with certified backup partners like HYCU and Veeam via APIs to provide agentless VM backup using the Nutanix platform.
Question 4: What is the role of Nutanix Era in a Nutanix environment?
- Manages Kubernetes container clusters
- Automates database provisioning, patching, and lifecycle management (Correct answer)
- Provides SD-WAN connectivity
- Handles multi-cloud cost governance
Correct answer: Automates database provisioning, patching, and lifecycle management
Nutanix Era automates the provisioning, cloning, patching, and lifecycle management of databases such as Oracle, PostgreSQL, SQL Server, and MongoDB.
Question 5: Which network mode in AHV allows VMs to communicate directly on the physical network without going through a virtual switch bridge?
- Overlay (VXLAN)
- Managed (IPAM)
- Passthrough / Direct NIC assignment (SR-IOV) (Correct answer)
- Bond mode 1 (Active-Passive)
Correct answer: Passthrough / Direct NIC assignment (SR-IOV)
SR-IOV passthrough allows a VM to directly use a physical NIC's virtual function, bypassing the virtual switch for maximum network performance and minimal latency.
Question 6: What does the Nutanix 'One-Click' upgrade process ensure before upgrading AOS?
- It forces a full cluster shutdown
- It verifies cluster health via NCC and upgrades nodes in a rolling, non-disruptive manner (Correct answer)
- It requires manual VM migration before starting
- It upgrades all nodes simultaneously
Correct answer: It verifies cluster health via NCC and upgrades nodes in a rolling, non-disruptive manner
The one-click upgrade runs NCC health checks first, then performs a rolling upgrade that moves VMs off each node one at a time to maintain workload availability throughout.
Question 7: Which Nutanix capability allows you to set maximum IOPS or bandwidth limits on individual VMs to prevent storage noisy-neighbor issues?
- Erasure Coding policies
- Storage QoS (Quality of Service) on vDisks (Correct answer)
- Deduplication ratio settings
- Replication Factor override
Correct answer: Storage QoS (Quality of Service) on vDisks
Nutanix Storage QoS policies allow administrators to set IOPS and throughput limits on individual vDisks or VMs to prevent one workload from starving others of storage bandwidth.
Which Nutanix feature provides block storage volumes accessible via iSCSI to external servers or VMs?