Pass the Nutanix Nutanix Certified Professional (NCP) NCP-DB Questions and answers with CertsForce

In an NDB HA (High Availability) setup, when planning an electrical maintenance window requiring the clusters hosting NDB to be powered off, the administrator must follow a controlled shutdown sequence to preserve data integrity and minimize disruption. After shutting down the load balancer server (HAProxy), the next step is to shut down the API standby node. In an NDB HA configuration, the API leader node handles active operations, while the standby node provides redundancy. Shutting down the standby node first ensures the leader remains operational, allowing ongoing management tasks to continue until the final shutdown of the leader node.

Option A (In the sudo systemctl stop patroni command) is incorrect because Patroni is used for PostgreSQL HA, not NDB HA node management.

Option B (Shutdown the API standby node) is correct as it follows the recommended HA shutdown order, preserving active services.

Option C (Run the high-availability list command) is incorrect because this is a diagnostic command, not a shutdown step.

Option D (Shutdown the API leader node) is incorrect because the leader should be the last node shut down to maintain service availability.

This sequence ensures a graceful shutdown of the NDB HA environment.

References

Nutanix Database Service (NDB) User Guide, Chapter 3: Configuring an NDB Environment, Section: Managing HA Shutdown Procedures

Nutanix Support & Insights, Knowledge Base Article: "Shutting Down NDB HA During Maintenance"

Nutanix Certified Professional - Database Automation (NCP-DB) v6.5 Blueprint, Section 3: Configure an NDB Environment

When registering a Nutanix cluster with the Nutanix Database Service (NDB), the Prism Element user account used for registration must have sufficient privileges to perform cluster-level operations. The recommended role for this task is Cluster Admin. The Cluster Admin role in Prism Element provides the necessary permissions to manage cluster resources, including storage, networking, and integration with external services like NDB. This role is required because registering a cluster with NDB involves tasks such as establishing connectivity, validating configurations (e.g., Data Services IP), and ensuring that NDB can interact with the cluster’s Controller VMs and storage infrastructure.

The default administrative account in Prism Element (typically "admin") often serves as the initial Cluster Admin user. However, if an administrator needs to remove or replace this default account for NDB operations, a new user with the Cluster Admin role must be created and used instead. Other roles listed have different purposes:

Super Admin: This is not a standard role in Prism Element; it may refer to elevated privileges in other contexts but is not specifically defined for Nutanix cluster registration.

User Admin: This role is limited to managing users and permissions, lacking the broader cluster management capabilities needed for NDB registration.

Backup Admin: This role is specific to backup-related tasks and does not encompass the full scope of cluster management required for NDB integration.

Therefore, the Cluster Admin role is the recommended and verified choice for registering a Nutanix cluster with NDB, ensuring seamless operation and management.

Official Nutanix Database Automation References

Nutanix Database Management & Automation (NDMA) course, Module 2: Deploying and Configuring an NDB Solution, Lesson 2.3: Registering a Nutanix Cluster with NDB.

Nutanix Certified Professional - Database Automation (NCP-DB) v6.5 Knowledge Objectives, Section 2: Deploy and Configure an NDB Solution, Objective 2.2: Register a Nutanix cluster in NDB (applicable to v6.10 with no significant role changes documented).

Nutanix Prism Element Guide: "Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)" section, detailing Cluster Admin privileges.

When restoring a PostgreSQL HA instance in NDB, if the standby node fails to restore but the primary node is successfully restored and ready to serve application traffic, NDB considers the database operational from the perspective of the primary node. In this scenario, NDB leaves the database in an "ONLINE" state, reflecting that the primary node is functional and capable of handling requests, even though the HA configuration is not fully intact due to the standby failure. The administrator would need to address the standby node separately (e.g., by re-provisioning or troubleshooting), but the database’s state is determined by the primary node’s readiness.

Option A (PAKFIAL.READY) appears to be a typo and is not a valid NDB state.

Option B (OFFLINE) is incorrect because the primary node is operational, so the database is not offline.

Option C (ONLINE) is correct as it reflects the primary node’s ability to serve traffic.

Option D (RECOVERY PENDING) is incorrect because the primary node has completed recovery and is active, not pending.

This behavior aligns with NDB’s focus on maintaining service availability where possible.

References

Nutanix Database Service (NDB) User Guide, Chapter 5: Configuring Time Machines, Section: Restoring HA Instances

Nutanix Support & Insights, Knowledge Base Article: "Handling Partial Restore Failures in PostgreSQL HA"

Nutanix Certified Professional - Database Automation (NCP-DB) v6.5 Blueprint, Section 5: Protect Databases Using Time Machine

In a high availability (HA) Nutanix Database Service (NDB) environment, custom SSL certificates are used to secure communication between clients (e.g., NDB GUI, API calls) and the NDB control plane. The HA Proxy VMs serve as the entry point for all external traffic, load balancing requests across the NDB API server VMs and providing secure SSL termination. When configuring custom SSL certificates, they must be updated on all HA Proxy VMs to ensure consistent and secure communication across the HA environment. Updating only a subset of servers or other components (like API or Repository VMs) would lead to inconsistencies or SSL handshake failures.

Option A (All API server VMs) is incorrect because the API servers do not directly handle external SSL termination; this is managed by the HA Proxy layer.

Option B (All HA Proxy VMs) is correct as these VMs are responsible for SSL termination and load balancing in an HA setup, requiring the custom certificates to be applied uniformly.

Option C (The API and Repository VMs running on the primary cluster) is incorrect because Repository VMs do not handle client-facing traffic, and the API servers rely on HA Proxy for SSL handling.

Option D (The primary API, Repository, and HA Proxy servers) is incorrect because it implies a single "primary" server focus, whereas in an HA setup, all HA Proxy VMs (not just a primary one) must be updated.

This aligns with NDB’s HA architecture, where HA Proxy VMs are the critical components for SSL certificate management.

References

Nutanix Database Service (NDB) User Guide, Chapter 3: Configuring an NDB Environment, Section: Configuring High Availability and SSL Certificates

Nutanix Support & Insights, Knowledge Base Article: "Configuring Custom SSL Certificates in NDB HA Environments"

Nutanix Certified Professional - Database Automation (NCP-DB) v6.5 Blueprint, Section 3: Configure an NDB Environment

 The correct answer is C because the NDB Database Agent service is responsible for scheduling and monitoring the NDB-related operations, such as provisioning, patching, cloning, and restoring databases. The NDB Database Agent service is deployed on the NDB server and on each of the database server VMs provisioned by NDB. It contains the tools required to perform each task and communicates with the NDB server through the NDB API. The other options are not correct because they describe different components or functions of the NDB solution. Option A is not correct because the transaction logs are not stored by the NDB Database Agent service, but by the NDB Time Machine service, which is a distributed file system that stores the database snapshots and logs. Option B is not correct because the source databases are not hosted by the NDB Database Agent service, but by the database server VMs, which are virtual machines that contain an instance of the database engine software and the database files. Option D is not correct because the NDB Database Agent service does not contain an instance of the database engine software, but only the tools required to perform the NDB-related operations. The database engine software is installed on the database server VMs, which are provisioned by NDB using the profiles defined by the administrator. References: Nutanix Database Management & Automation (NDMA) course, Nutanix Certified Professional - Database Automation (NCP-DB) certification, Nutanix NCP-DB Certification Exam Syllabus and Study Guide, Nutanix Support & Insights

Before registering a database server VM to NDB, an administrator must verify that all required software (e.g., database engine, OS dependencies) and configuration settings (e.g., WinRM for Windows, SSH for Linux) are in place. NDB provides a prerequisites script, which can be run on the target VM to check these dependencies automatically. This script ensures compatibility and readiness, reducing registration failures.

Option A (LCM - Lifecycle Manager) is incorrect because LCM is used for cluster upgrades, not VM prerequisite checks.

Option B (Upgrade Software) is incorrect as it applies to updating existing software, not initial dependency verification.

Option C (Prerequisites script) is correct as it is the designated tool for pre-registration validation.

Option D (NCC - Nutanix Cluster Check) is incorrect because NCC checks cluster health, not VM-specific software dependencies.

References

Nutanix Database Service (NDB) User Guide, Chapter 2: Deploying and Configuring an NDB Solution, Section: Preparing Database Server VMs

Nutanix Certified Professional - Database Automation (NCP-DB) v6.5 Blueprint, Section 2: Deploy and Configure an NDB Solution

To apply the latest OS security patches on a Windows server managed by NDB, the user should create and apply a Maintenance Plan within the NDB interface. NDB provides a Maintenance Plan feature that allows administrators to schedule and automate OS patching for database server VMs, ensuring patches are applied in a controlled manner without disrupting database operations. This includes validating the patch process, rolling back if needed, and maintaining compliance with security standards. The plan can be configured to target the specific Windows server and include the latest security updates from Microsoft.

Other options are incorrect or insufficient:

A. Reboot the system: A reboot alone does not apply patches; it may only activate previously installed updates.

C. Update the database: This focuses on database software, not OS security patches.

D. Use update functionality directly on the VM: Manual updates bypass NDB’s control, risking inconsistency and potential downtime without proper validation.

Thus, the verified answer is B, leveraging NDB’s centralized maintenance capabilities.

Official Nutanix Database Automation References

Nutanix Database Management & Automation (NDMA) course, Module 6: Maintenance and Patching, Lesson 6.3: Creating Maintenance Plans.

Nutanix Certified Professional - Database Automation (NCP-DB) v6.5 Knowledge Objectives, Section 6: Optimize NDB Solutions, Objective 6.3: Manage Maintenance Plans (applicable to v6.10).

Nutanix NDB Administration Guide: "Maintenance Plans for OS Patching" section.

 The database parameters profile is used to define the initialization variables for different types of database engines and workloads, such as OLTP and DW. The database parameters profile allows the database administrator to customize the configuration settings for each database engine, such as Oracle, SQL Server, PostgreSQL, and MySQL. The database parameters profile can also be applied to different database operations, such as provisioning, cloning, and patching. The database parameters profile helps to optimize the performance and functionality of the databases according to the specific requirements and best practices of each database engine and workload.

The software profile version is used to define the software version and edition for each database engine, such as Oracle 19c Enterprise Edition or SQL Server 2019 Standard Edition. The software profile version is required for provisioning new databases and patching existing databases. The software profile version helps to ensure the compatibility and compliance of the databases with the supported software versions and editions.

The network profile is used to define the network configuration and security settings for the database server VMs and the databases, such as the IP address, subnet mask, gateway, DNS, firewall rules, and SSL certificates. The network profile is required for registering new database server VMs and provisioning new databases. The network profile helps to ensure the connectivity and protection of the database server VMs and the databases within the network environment.

The compute profile is used to define the compute resources and storage policies for the database server VMs and the databases, such as the CPU, memory, disk size, disk type, compression, deduplication, and replication factor. The compute profile is required for provisioning new databases and cloning existing databases. The compute profile helps to ensure the availability and efficiency of the database server VMs and the databases within the Nutanix cluster.

References:

Nutanix Database Management & Automation Training Course, Module 4: Nutanix Era Configuration, Lesson 4.1: Nutanix Era Configuration, slides 6-9.

Nutanix Database Management & Automation Training Course, Module 5: Nutanix Era Operations, Lesson 5.1: Nutanix Era Operations, slides 5-8, 11-12, 15-16.

 In Nutanix Era, the ability to add a new VLAN or IP Pool is typically associated with the role of an Infrastructure Administrator12. This role has the necessary permissions to manage network configurations, including the creation of VLANs and IP Pools12. It’s important to note that the exact permissions may vary depending on the specific configuration and policies of your organization12.

NDB supports PostgreSQL HA software profiles for provisioning PostgreSQL databases with high availability. PostgreSQL HA software profiles consist of three components: etcd, HAProxy, and Patroni.

etcd is a distributed key-value store that provides a reliable way to store configuration data across a cluster of machines. etcd is used by Patroni to store and synchronize the cluster state and configuration.

HAProxy is a load balancer that distributes incoming requests to the PostgreSQL nodes. HAProxy is used to expose a single endpoint for database connections even as the roles of the individual nodes change.

Patroni is a template for PostgreSQL high availability. Patroni is responsible for managing the state of the cluster and handling failover. Patroni uses etcd as the distributed configuration store and relies on HAProxy for load balancing.

Therefore, the software component that manages the state of the cluster and handles failover is Patroni.

References:

Nutanix Database Automation (NCP-DB) Course Details, Section 2.4: Provisioning PostgreSQL Databases

Nutanix Database Automation (NCP-DB) Certification Details, Objective 2.4: Provision PostgreSQL Databases

Nutanix Database Automation (NCP-DB) YouTube Playlist, Video 2.4: Provisioning PostgreSQL Databases

[Nutanix Database Automation (NCP-DB) User Guide], Section 2.4: Provision PostgreSQL Databases

[PostgreSQL High Availability: Under the Hood – Nutanix.dev]