NCP-MCA Exam Dumps - Nutanix Certified Professional (NCP) Questions and Answers

To troubleshoot why a post-deployment automation workflow (Playbook) is not executing, the administrator should investigate the specific execution records and the trigger configuration:

Check Playbook Execution History (C):The Playbook "Plays" or execution history (found in the Intelligent Operations or Self-Service Audit tab depending on the specific type of playbook used) provides the definitive record of whether the system attempted to run the automation. If the playbook appears in the history with a "Failed" status, the logs will indicate which specific step (e.g., HTTP task or API call) failed. If it does not appear at all, the issue lies in the trigger.

Verify Invocation (D):If the playbook is intended to run "post-deployment," it must be explicitly triggered.

ForX-Play Playbooks, this involves verifying theTriggerlogic (e.g., ensuring the "VM Created" event filter matches the specific Project Categories assigned to the new VMs).

ForSelf-Service (Calm) Runbooks, this involves verifying that the blueprint's "Post-Create" or "Profile" actions are correctly configured to call the Runbook.

Confirming these settings ensures the automation is properly "hooked" into the deployment lifecycle.

Reviewing VM creation logs in Prism Element (Option B) only confirms the VM was built (which is already known), and reassigning the project (Option A) is a destructive test that does not isolate the automation logic.

Nutanix Self-Service governance supportsApproval Policiesthat enforce control over resource consumption and automation actions. Nutanix documentation states that approval policies:

Apply toblueprint deployments,runbook executions,day-2 actions, orresource scale-up requests.

Requireexplicit authorizationfrom a designated approver before the action proceeds.

Provide governance to ensure resource usage aligns with organizational policies.

Thus, Approval Policies existspecifically to require authorization before a user-triggered task is executed, makingOption C correct.

Options A, B, and D are unrelated to approval workflows.

In Nutanix Self-Service (Calm), Macros are used to reference variables and properties dynamically using the syntax @@{Entity.Attribute}@@.

Servicesare a primary supported entity for macros. You can reference properties of other services within the same application blueprint. For example, a web server service might need the IP address of a database service. This can be achieved using a macro like @@{Database_Service.address}@@. This allows for dynamic orchestration where values are populated at runtime based on the actual deployment details of the Service entity.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation

Nutanix Self-Service requires aTunnel VMto establish communication between Prism Central and VPC-isolated workloads.

Documentation states that:

TheTunnel VM must be able to reach Prism Centralover a routable external network.

Anexternal subnetmust exist so the Tunnel VM can initiate outbound connectivity to PC.

Thus, the correct configuration is:

Create an external subnet to allow the Tunnel VM to reach Prism Central.

Therefore,Option Bis correct.

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.

To fully validate the integration between a Self-Service Project and a Playbook, the administrator must perform a test deploymentwithin the specific Project context.

Project Context:Playbooks often rely on triggers (like Categories) or parameters that are applied specifically by the Project's environment settings. Running the Playbook independently (Option A) only tests the script logic, not the trigger or the project-specific inputs.

End-to-End Validation:By deploying the blueprint associated with the Project (Option D), the administrator confirms:

The Project correctly provisions the resources (Quotas/Environment).

The Resources receive the correct Categories/Tags from the Project.

The Playbook Trigger successfully fires upon detecting these specific Project-derived events.

The Playbook executes successfully.

This is the only method that validates "both the Project and Playbook configurations" as a unified workflow.

According to the Self-Service Blueprint and Task configuration settings, the specific parameter that enables and controls the number of retries for a failed task is theRetry Count.

Retry Count:This integer value determines how many times the system will attempt to re-execute the task if it returns a failure status. If this is set to 0 (default in some views), no retries occur. Setting it to a value of 1 or higher enables the retry logic.

Retry Interval (Option A):This setting defines thewait time(in seconds) between the attempts, but without a positiveRetry Count, the interval is irrelevant.

Timeout (Option B):This defines how long the system waits for a single attempt to complete before marking it as failed.

When troubleshooting or optimizing blueprints where complex operations (like Provisioning combined with detailed Network Configuration) frequently fail, the recommended best practice is to split the steps into smaller tasks.

In Nutanix Self-Service (Calm), theAudittab provides a sequential log of every task executed during an application's lifecycle. If provisioning and network configuration are bundled into a "single step" (e.g., a large script or a single package install), a failure makes it difficult to determine if the issue was with the VM creation, the OS boot, or the specific network parameter application.

By splitting the logic into distinct tasks (e.g., Task 1: Provision VM, Task 2: Configure Network), the administrator can:

Isolate the failure:The Audit log will clearly show "Provision VM: Success" and "Configure Network: Failed".

Validate inputs:It ensures the VM is fully available before attempting configuration.

Improve Auditing:Granular logs allow for faster root cause analysis of the "misconfigured parameters."

Retrying (Option B) or adding delays (Option D) are reactive measures that do not address the root cause of configuration errors, and disabling logging (Option C) hinders troubleshooting.

In Nutanix Prism Central Disaster Recovery, when a Prism Central instance fails over to a recovered site, several automation components—including Playbooks—must be revalidated. Nutanix documentation clearly states:

Playbooks store encrypted credentials locally in the Prism Central database.

When Prism Central is recovered on a DR site, the credential encryption keys donottransfer.

As a result,any credentials previously stored in Playbooks become invalidand must be manually re-entered.

This requirement ensures that the scripts, tasks, remediation sequences, and integrations invoked by the Playbook can authenticate properly after recovery.

Therefore:

Playbookscannot automatically use previously stored credentialsafter a DR failover.

Administrators mustre-enter all credentialsin enabled Playbooks so the automation continues functioning.

Hence, OptionCis correct.

Options A and D are incorrect because Playbooks donotautomatically retain functional credentials after DR recovery.

Option B is incorrect because the presence or absence of a credential provider does not change the need to re-enter credentials.

AProjectin Nutanix Self-Service (formerly Calm) acts as a logical container that defines the scope of operations for a group of users.

Primary Capability:The core purpose of a Project, once Self-Service is enabled, is to allow the users assigned to that project (Consumers, Developers, Operators) todeploy Blueprints(launch applications) andmanage the lifecyclesof the resulting workloads (VMs/Applications).

Scope:The Project restricts these users to specific Infrastructure (Clusters/VPCs), Environments, and Quotas defined by the administrator.

Exclusions:

Changing cluster-wide networking (A) and modifying global user roles (D) arePrism Admintasks, not capabilities granted to a Self-Service Project.

Managing global image repositories (B) is a Prism Central infrastructure task; Projectsconsumeimages but do not manage the global repository itself.