The Nutanix Certified Professional – Multicloud exam has been updated to version 7.5, which means updating the prep guide to the latest document versions.
This guide describes the methodology I am using in preparing for certification exams, and it could be used for other Nutanix exams as well.
The Nutanix Certified Professional (NCP) is the second level in the Nutanix certification path. It requires solid theoretical and practical knowledge of Nutanix solutions. While it spans multiple tracks (MCI, CN, AI, BC, NS, US, MCA, DB, CI, and EUC), I recommend starting with the NCP-MCI, as Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure serves as the foundation for all other Nutanix products.
In this article, we will look at the main topics from the Nutanix Certified Professional – Multicloud Infrastructure (NCP-MCI) exam version 7.5, and I will also share materials that you can use to prepare yourself.
Briefly about the exam and the passing procedure:
The exam consists of 75 multiple-choice and multiple-response questions. 120 minutes are given for answers. The maximum number of points that can be scored in the exam is 6000. The passing score is 3000. Questions have different weights, which means that simply answering half of them may not be enough.
The cost of the exam is $200, but sometimes you can get a promo code for a 50% or even 100% discount, so you should stay tuned for news on next.nutanix.com. Usually, you can see a discount on Pi Day, on Halloween, you may see that Nutanix Technology Champions are sharing vouchers during the year. So stay tuned!
You can take the exam either at the PSI test center or online. Since I took the exam online, I will briefly describe the requirements:
- You must have a document confirming your identity. The first and last name must be in Latin;
- Having a computer/laptop with a webcam and microphone is mandatory;
- Stable Internet connection;
- There should be nothing unnecessary in the room, especially behind the workplace where the exam is being taken. Preferably, a completely free table with only a keyboard and mouse. Additional displays, TVs, etc. will need to be turned off;
- Of course, there should be no one in the room, and it should be quiet.
Let’s move on to preparation:
Nutanix recommends taking this exam for specialists with at least two years of experience in IT infrastructure maintenance and at least one year of experience working with Nutanix solutions, in particular.
The candidate must be well-versed in configuring clusters, support, and maintenance. Skills in identifying faults and troubleshooting are also required.
When preparing for any exam, you should begin by studying the official document that lists the topics that will be covered in the exam.
The Blueprint Guide for the NCP-MCI 7.5 exam can be found here.
In addition to the topics that will appear on the exam, Blueprint provides a list of recommended documents for preparing for each topic, as well as general preparation guidelines.
The exam is based on AOS 7.5, AHV 11.0, and Prism Central pc7.5
Let’s look at the sections from Blueprint:
- Manage Clusters within a Nutanix Multicloud Environment – Deploying and configuring Nutanix Clusters and Prism Central. Configuring Storage and Network. Managing cluster secutiry;
- Manage Workloads in a Multicloud Environment – Deploying and managing Virtual Machines, Storage Containers, Security, and Migrations;
- Perform DR and Data Protection in a Multicloud Environment – Data protection and Disaster recovery in Prism Central and Prism Element. Prism Central backup;
- Perform Operations and Monitoring in a Multicloud Environment – Managing Performance and Capacity. Cluster maintenance and updates.
Above I described the main, but not all, topics from the blueprint, so be sure to check it out.
You may notice that exam objectives are kind of different from objectives from the NCP-MCI 6.10 exam. Many objectives in this exam are based on features provided by Prism Central, and you need to be sure that you are familiar with Prism Central before taking the exam.
Having understood the list of topics, you can build a preparation plan for the exam.
Online courses:
The main course that covers most of the exam objectives is the Enterprise Cloud Administration (ECA) Online course. And I recommend starting your preparation for the exam with this. The course covers most parts of the exam objectives, and it’s right where you need to start preparing.
The course is available online absolutely free of charge at Nutanix University.
If you have the time and desire, I would also recommend jumping ahead a little and taking the Advanced Administration & Performance Management (AAPM) Online course. This course is recommended in preparation for the Nutanix Certified Master certification, but it will be useful to study in this case. By the moment of reading, this course could be updated to the recent versions.
The course is also available online absolutely free of charge at Nutanix University.
Literature:
I assume that you are familiar with The Nutanix Cloud Bible. The book has been translated into several languages, but the most relevant information always appears first in the English version, and it is recommended to read it.
This book is recommended reading for everyone involved in Nutanix, regardless of whether they are currently passing the exam or not.
When preparing for the exam, you should definitely read The Basics: Compute, Storage, and Networking and Hybrid Multicloud sections.
Official documentation:
When preparing for the NCP-MCI exam, I recommend reading some of the documents. By the way, they are often referred to in the Blueprint guide.
AHV Administration Guide – The main document covering AHV administering;
Security Guide – Document dedicated to security;
Disaster Recovery Guide – Data protection in Nutanix;
Prism Central Guide – A document describing work in Prism Central and covering PC features;
Prism Web Console Guide – Working in the Prism Web Interface.
The last two documents are quite lengthy, so I recommend that you read only necessary topics where you feel a lack of knowledge.
Let me remind you that each section of the Blueprint Guide contains links to recommended literature on the topic.
For example, in the blueprint “Objective 2.2: Perform storage container management”, you are not sure how to define storage policies. Below, you will find reference literature used when developing exam questions, and you can see a link to the documentation with the information related to the storage policies.
Video:
For those who like to learn through video, I can recommend visiting the Nutanix University YouTube channel, where you can find many videos on all sorts of topics. There are also thematic playlists here.
One of these playlists was compiled specifically for preparing for the exam and is called NCP-MCI Certification Exam Prep.
Practice:
The best recommendation to practice without damaging a production cluster is Nutanix Community Edition (Nutanix CE). You can even deploy Nutanix CE on a virtual machine; it’s not difficult and free.
With one or even multiple Nutanix CE clusters, you can practice virtually every aspect of cluster management, including Prism Central, data protection, replication, and backup.
Let me remind you that I have an article on my website on how to deploy Nutanix Community Edition 2.0 in a VMware vSphere environment. I also have two guides on how to deploy Prism Central on Nutanix Community Edition 2.0 using the 1-Click Internet Method and how to deploy Prism Central on Nutanix Community Edition 2.1 using offline bundle.
Both articles are a bit outdated, but following those instructions, you can easily deploy the lab and update it to the latest version using LCM.
In addition to getting hands-on experience with Nutanix, I want to mention the Nutanix Test Drive. Nutanix Test Drive is a series of realistic simulations that demonstrate the specific functionality of various products from the ecosystem.
Check of knowledge:
A great way to test your knowledge and understand the gaps is to take the NCP-MCI 7.5 Practice Exam on the Nutanix University portal.
The questions in the exam are as close as possible to the real ones and will help you understand your weaknesses before the exam, and you will have time to master those areas.
In a conclusion:
When studying, I strongly recommend writing down what you didn’t know before in a special cheat sheet. This will help you quickly repeat what you need the day before the exam and refresh your memory.
I wish everyone good luck. I hope someone may find this material useful in their preparation.
