Key details for this exam, checked against the published exam outline
Each question shows the correct answer and an explanation of why it is right
An administrator started an LCM upgrade of the AHV hosts but realized that the upgrade would exceed the planned maintenance window.
Which feature should be leveraged to prevent additional updates from occurring?
When performing a Life Cycle Manager (LCM) upgrade, the recommended way to stop the process is to use the ''Stop Update'' feature in LCM (Option D).
Option A (Cancel via Ergon ecli) is not a recommended approach since manually interfering with running tasks can cause inconsistencies.
Option B (lcm_task_cleanup.py script) is used for post-upgrade cleanup but does not stop ongoing updates.
Option C (Restarting Genesis) does not stop an LCM upgrade and can cause instability.
References:
Nutanix Life Cycle Manager (LCM) User Guide
Nutanix KB: Best Practices for Stopping and Restarting LCM Tasks
Nutanix Prism Central LCM Feature Documentation
An administrator using a dark site deployment for LCM is attempting to upgrade to the latest BIOS.
After completing an inventory scan, the administrator does not see the expected BIOS version available for upgrade.
What is the most likely reason the latest BIOS is not shown?
In a dark site deployment, LCM does not automatically fetch updates from the internet. The administrator must manually upload compatibility bundles.
Option B (The latest compatibility bundle has not been uploaded) is correct:
The compatibility bundle contains firmware mappings, allowing LCM to detect the correct BIOS version.
Option A is incorrect:
AOS does not need to be upgraded first for a BIOS update.
Option C is incorrect:
The BMC firmware does not always need updating before BIOS updates.
Option D is incorrect:
In a dark site deployment, LCM does not rely on an internet connection, so webserver access is not required.
References:
Nutanix LCM Guide Using Compatibility Bundles in Dark Sites
Nutanix KB Troubleshooting Firmware Updates in Dark Site Deployments
An administrator is configuring Protection Policies to replicate VMs to a Nutanix Cloud Cluster (NC2) over the internet.
To comply with security policies, how should data be protected during transmission?
Data-in-Transit Encryption ensures that replication traffic is encrypted while being sent over the internet.
Option D (Enable Data-in-Transit Encryption) is correct:
This encrypts replicated data between clusters, ensuring security against man-in-the-middle attacks.
Option A (Self-encrypting drive) is incorrect:
This protects data at rest, not during transmission.
Option B (UEFI Secure Boot) is incorrect:
Secure Boot prevents unauthorized OS modifications, but does not encrypt network traffic.
Option C (Data-at-Rest Encryption) is incorrect:
This encrypts stored data but does not secure replication traffic.
References:
Nutanix Security Guide Configuring Data-in-Transit Encryption
Nutanix KB Protecting Replication Traffic Over Public Networks
An administrator needs to create a storage container named TestData with the following conditions:
Replication Factor (RF) = 1 (RF1)
Inline Compression enabled
Deduplication disabled
Maximum storage capacity = 100 GiB
How should the administrator complete this task?
When creating a storage container in Nutanix, the administrator must configure the correct capacity settings:
Option A (Prism Element with Advertised Capacity of 100 GiB) is correct:
Advertised Capacity defines logical limits for the container (i.e., how much space it reports as available).
Inline Compression can be enabled directly in Prism Element.
Option B (Create in Prism Element without Advertised Capacity) is incorrect:
Without specifying Advertised Capacity, the container may consume unlimited storage.
Option C (Create in Prism Central with Reserved Capacity) is incorrect:
Reserved Capacity applies to Quality of Service (QoS) policies, not storage limits.
Option D (Create in Prism Central without capacity limits) is incorrect:
Prism Central can manage storage but does not directly enforce RF1 and compression policies.
References:
Nutanix Storage Management Guide Creating and Managing Storage Containers
Nutanix Bible Replication Factor (RF) and Data Optimization
Nutanix KB Inline Compression Best Practices in Nutanix AOS
An administrator is managing an environment based on two different AHV-based and ESXi-based clusters. Workloads are evenly distributed and in a healthy state.
A Linux VM running on ESXi is not performing well at the storage level and is configured as follows:
* VCPU: 8
* VRAM: 32
* vDisk: 3, first 100 GB, second 250 GB, third 250 GB
What is the easiest way to test VM performance, while minimizing downtime?
The best way to test the performance of a Linux VM that is underperforming at the storage level on an ESXi cluster, while minimizing downtime, is to migrate the VM to an AHV-based cluster. This allows leveraging Nutanix-native storage optimizations and hypervisor capabilities of AHV.
From the Nutanix Enterprise Cloud Administration (ECA) course materials:
''AHV and Nutanix storage integration is natively optimized for performance, leveraging capabilities like data locality, I/O path enhancements, and advanced metadata management. Migrating workloads from ESXi to AHV can often resolve performance bottlenecks associated with storage I/O.''
Additionally:
''Using the Nutanix Move tool, administrators can migrate running VMs between different hypervisors (e.g., ESXi to AHV) with minimal downtime and fully automated steps, reducing the operational burden.''
Increasing vCPUs would not address storage-level performance issues, and collapsing disks would require significant reconfiguration and VM downtime. vDisk sharding is not directly user-configurable and not applicable in this scenario.
How can an administrator create a custom Intelligent Operations report, and run across multiple Prism Central instances?
To create a custom Intelligent Operations report and run it across multiple Prism Central instances, administrators must export the report configuration from one Prism Central instance and then import it into the others. This process leverages the .rpt file format, which encapsulates the report's configuration details, including data sources, visualization preferences, and thresholds.
From the Nutanix Enterprise Cloud Administration (ECA) course materials:
''Administrators can create custom Intelligent Operations reports in Prism Central and export the configuration as a .rpt file. This exported file can then be imported into other Prism Central instances, ensuring consistency across environments without requiring manual recreation of the report's details.''
Additionally:
''The export/import feature for reports ensures that custom dashboards and reports can be easily migrated or replicated across multiple Prism Central instances, enabling a standardized approach to monitoring and analytics in a multicloud environment.''
This clearly indicates that the recommended and supported method for sharing or replicating custom reports across multiple Prism Central instances is by exporting and importing the report configurations in .rpt format. This approach avoids the need for manual recreation and ensures that the reports maintain their intended configuration and layout across different instances.
An administrator wants to clean up inactive VMs using VM Efficiency in Nutanix.
The business requires that VMs must be inactive for 120 days before deletion.
A Playbook was created to delete Dead and Zombie VMs with a 99-day wait period after they are marked inactive.
How long will have passed before these VMs are deleted? (Choose two.)
Dead VMs and Zombie VMs are different classifications of inactive VMs in Nutanix, and their deletion timelines depend on Playbook configuration.
Dead VMs Considered inactive after 30 days, then must wait 99 more days before deletion.
Total time: 30 + 99 = 129 days.
(Option C is correct).
Zombie VMs Considered inactive after 30 days, then must wait 99 more days before deletion.
Total time: 30 + 99 = 129 days.
(Option B is correct).
References:
Nutanix Prism Central Guide Using VM Efficiency to Manage Inactive VMs
Nutanix KB Configuring Playbooks for Automatic VM Cleanup
Exam domains verified against: Official Nutanix NCP-MCI-6.10 exam guide, last checked October 2026.
Deploy and configure Nutanix clusters across multicloud environments using Prism Central as the central management interface. Perform network configuration, storage setup, and security controls to ensure cluster stability and compliance.
Sample question from this domain above: Q4
Deploy, configure, and monitor virtual machines across Nutanix clusters while managing storage containers and workload protection. Apply categories and policies for resource organization and implement security measures to protect workloads.
Sample question from this domain above: Q7
Configure Prism Central-based and Prism Element-based disaster recovery strategies using protection policies and recovery plans. Implement protection domains and metro replication to ensure data resilience across geographically dispersed sites.
Manage cluster capacity planning and resource allocation to optimize infrastructure performance. Perform platform maintenance tasks and monitor cluster health using operational dashboards and alerts.
Common questions about the exam itself
