If you already have experience with administering a Nutanix environment, this course will extend, deepen, and broaden your knowledge as you grow in your career as a Nutanix administrator. Designed with Prism Central as the focal point, this course illustrates the breadth and depth of Nutanix’s centralized management capabilities and allows you to explore the wide variety of features that are available in this one, single web console.
ECA is divided into four topic areas:
1. Understanding core Nutanix concepts, such as hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) and the various Nutanix cloud solution packages. Also, the basic configuration of a cluster and the components that are needed to create and manage VMs – namely, networks and images.
2. Creating and managing VMs, working with Projects, how to protect VMs and their data, how to apply storage optimization features at the VM level, and how to migrate your workloads to a Nutanix environment.
3. Learn about alerts, events, log collection, reporting, and how to use various features in Prism Central to identify, analyze, and remediate performance issues.
4. Learn how to set up a cluster for maintenance activities – such as starting and stopping nodes and clusters – and how to upgrade installed software and firmware with just a few clicks.
Audience
• Administrators, engineers, and others who manage Nutanix clusters in the datacenter • Managers and technical staff seeking information to drive purchase decisions • Anyone seeking the Nutanix Certified Professional – Multicloud Infrastructure (NCP-MCI) certification
Course Outline
1: Getting Started with a Nutanix Cluster • Understand three-tier and HCI • Understand the Nutanix product portfolio • Understand nodes, blocks, clusters, and cluster services • Get started with Prism Central and Prism Element • Understand when to use Prism Central and Prism Element Hands-on-Labs oConnecting to and exploring Prism Element oAdding data services IP, an NTP server, and a name server in Prism Element oConnecting to, exploring, and configuring Prism Central
2: Configuring Cluster Networking • Understand AHV networking terminology • Use Prism Central to monitor cluster networks • Use Prism Element to explore the Network Visualizer • Create and update subnets and virtual switches • Understand subnet extension and network segmentation Hands-on Labs oCreating unmanaged and managed networks oExploring the AHV network configuration oViewing virtual switches from Prism Element
3: Managing Images • Understand the image service • Use Prism Central to monitor, upload, import, and manage images Hands-on Labs oUploading and importing images to Prism Central oConfiguring an image placement policy
4: Creating VMs • Use Prism Central to create VMs • Use Prism Central’s self-service capabilities to create VM templates • Use Projects in Prism Central • Install and enable Nutanix Guest Tools Hands-on Labs oCreating Windows and Linux VMs oInstalling Windows and Linux operating systems oInstalling Nutanix Guest Tools on Windows and Linux oCreating a Project oExploring the Self Service Dashboard in Prism Central
5: Managing VMs • Update, clone, customize, export, and apply placement rules to VMs • Create and apply storage policies to VMs • Create playbooks to automate common VM administrative tasks Hands-on Labs oUpdating a VM oAssign categories to a VM oCreating a snapshot and restoring a VM oCreating a template and a clone oExporting a VM as an Open Virtual Appliance (OVA) file oCreating and running a playbook
6: Configuring and Managing Cluster Storage • Understand AOS Storage • Understand key storage concepts such as storage pools, storage containers, redundancy factor, replication factor, capacity reservation, and snapshots • Understand fault tolerance and failure handling mechanisms • Create and update storage containers • Create and update volume groups • Use various capacity optimization features Hands-on Labs oExploring the Storage dashboard oCreating containers with and without compression oComparing data in a compressed vs uncompressed container oConfiguring volume groups oMigrating vdisks between storage containers
7: Data Protection and Disaster Recovery • Understand data protection terms and concepts • Understand synchronous and asynchronous replication capabilities • Create snapshots and recovery points • Use Prism Element to configure local and remote backup and DR • Use Nutanix Disaster Recovery to create protection policies and recovery plans • Back up and restore Prism Central Hands-on Labs oBacking up and restoring Prism Central oConfiguring Self Service Restore oCreating protection domains and local VM restore oCreating containers for replication oConfiguring remote sites and creating protection domains oPerforming VM migration and migrating back to primary
8: Securing a Nutanix Cluster • Understand Nutanix’s approach to security • Use the Security Dashboard in Prism Central • Use Prism Central to configure authentication, users, and RBAC • Implement hardening features for AHV and the CVM • Understand policies in Flow Network Security • Understand Data-at-Rest Encryption Hands-on-Labs oExploring the Security Dashboard oAdding a local user oAdding Active Directory Authentication oConfiguring Role Mapping oVerifying a new user account oCluster lockdown
9: Migrating Workloads with Nutanix Move • Understand, install, and upgrade Nutanix Move • Use Move to migrate VMs • Download Move logs Hands-on Labs oPreparing a VM for migration oDeploying a Move VM oConfiguring Move and a migration plan
10: Monitoring Cluster Performance • Understand performance monitoring features in Prism Central • Create sessions, charts, and reports • View and manage project resource utilization • Create custom dashboards in Prism Central • Resource planning and capacity runway Hands-on Labs oCreating a Prism Central performance monitoring dashboard oCreating charts to analyze metrics using Prism Central oCreating and managing reports
11: Monitoring Cluster Health • Understand health monitoring features in Prism Central and Prism Element • Get summarized and detailed health information from Prism • Use Nutanix Cluster Check • Collect and forward logs Hands-on Labs oUsing Nutanix Cluster Check health checks oCollecting logs for Support oVerifying cluster health
12: Maintaining and Upgrading a Cluster • Perform a health check • Use node maintenance mode • Understand hardware upgrade and replacement tasks • Start and stop nodes and clusters • Add and remove nodes • Understanding and exploring Life Cycle Manager (LCM) • Using LCM to perform inventory and upgrades Hands-on Labs • Using node maintenance mode • Performing upgrades with LCM (with and without internet access)
13: Investigating and Remediating Performance Issues • Understand alerts and events and the associated dashboards in Prism Central • Troubleshooting issues with protection policies, LCM, security, performance, and so on • Identify problematic or inefficient VMs • Potential methods of remediating problematic VMs Hands-on Labs oWorking with Alerts oExploring Events Software Versions • AOS 6.10 • Prism Central 2024.1.0.2