Nutanix Certified Master – Multicloud Infrastructure 6.5 is the next certification level after NCP-MCI 6.5, and successful completion of this certification provides access to the NCX and NPX expert-level exams.
If we draw a parallel with the certifications of other vendors, this certification belongs to the Advanced Professional category and, for quite a long time, was called Nutanix Certified Advanced Professional (NCAP).
Since version 6.5, this exam has changed its format, and now it is not a familiar test, but a laboratory work with a certain number of scenarios and tasks that need to be performed on real clusters. Again, the closest analogies are VMware Certified Advanced Professional – Deploy or any of the Red Hat exams.
Next, we will look in more detail at what the exam is, the list of topics, as well as the preparation procedure.
Briefly about the exam:
The exam presents a set of scenarios and tasks that must be completed in a laboratory environment. The number of scenarios is from 16 to 20. The time allotted for the exam is 180 minutes. The maximum number of points that can be scored is 6000. The passing score is 3000. Scenarios have different weights, which means that simply answering half of them may not be enough.
The cost of the exam is $299, 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, as well as Twitter account Nutanix University.
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, and 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 third parties in the room and it should be quiet.
Pay attention to points 2 and 3. It is a practical exam, and completing tasks on a laptop with a small display will be extremely inconvenient, so I strongly recommend using a computer with a large display to take this exam. It will be much more convenient.
A stable Internet connection is also important because it directly affects the quality and speed of passing the exam. Considering that a remote desktop is provided to access the laboratory environment, it will not be very convenient to lose connection to it regularly.
What is the exam?
It is better to see once than to hear a hundred times. Nutanix University posted an excellent video on the YouTube channel that will introduce you to what the laboratory environment looks like, what the exam itself looks like, and the procedure for passing it. The video also shows an example of completing one of the exam tasks.
The author of the video, Joshua Andrews, is one of the developers of this exam.
When receiving remote access, a number of elements will be placed on the desktop:
- Browser to access the Prism, and Prism Central interfaces;
- A set of files that may be needed for some scenarios, there is also documentation here that can and should be used (for example, I didn’t think to look for documentation when I took the exam, so it was “more fun” to remember some commands);
- Exam instructions containing tasks, addresses, and access accounts;
- Postman for executing API requests;
- Putty for connecting via SSH.
The examination panel itself consists of three sections:
- Numbers of tasks, by switching between which we gain access to a specific task;
- Instructions for the task – what needs to be done and where. Each task specifies the cluster where the tasks need to be performed;
- Data for accessing the cluster – addresses and accounts.
An important, and not very convenient point related to the laboratory environment. According to the test center policy, the Ctrl+C/Ctrl+V key combination is not available. Copy and paste operations should be performed using the mouse. RMB-Copy, RMB-Paste.
Let’s move on to preparation:
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 NCM-MCI 6.5 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.
Nutanix recommends taking this exam to specialists with at least five years of experience in IT infrastructure maintenance and at least three years of experience working with Nutanix solutions, in particular.
The candidate must have a good understanding of configuring clusters, their support and maintenance, be able to work with command interfaces, as well as APIs, and apply security and data protection policies.
Well, don’t forget that in this case, all this will have to be proven in practice by completing the assigned tasks.
Unlike previous test prep articles, I will not post the main sections and topics from the Blueprint because there are too many of them. But let me remind you that to successfully pass the exam you need to understand everything or at least most of the topics, and in this case in a practical sense.
Please note that each topic listed in the Blueprint comes with links to documentation, which we strongly recommend that you read.
Additionally, you should carefully read Section 5 – Live Lab Exam Considerations. This section contains information about what the lab environment looks like, what documentation is available on the exam, as well as guidelines and helpful tips.
Theory and practice.
The exam requires good theoretical and practical preparation. You need to know how to complete the task and understand, based on the context of the question, how to do it in the most correct way.
Online courses:
Advanced Administration and Performance Management (AAPM) – free online course covering most of the theory, including best practices, disaster recovery, optimization, and troubleshooting.
You can take the course on the Nutanix University portal.
Practice:
Usually, in articles about preparing for theoretical exams, I have this section somewhere at the end of the article, but here it should definitely be at the very beginning.
In the context of this exam, you should open Blueprint and practice on the covered objectives. Haven’t configured log redirection and syslog? – It’s time to try. Haven’t worked with the API? – It’s time to practice.
The best recommendation to practice without damaging a productive cluster is Nutanix Community Edition (Nutanix CE). You can even deploy Nutanix CE on a virtual machine; it’s not difficult and absolutely free. Just recently, CE was updated to version 2.0, which corresponds to Nutanix AOS 6.5 and is just right for preparing for the exam.
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.
Video:
I’m not a big fan of watching videos to prepare for the exam, but this is a practical exam, and I want to recommend this method as one of the main ones when preparing for NCM-MCI 6.5.
As always, I would like to 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 NCM-MCI Certification Exam Prep.
Literature and official documentation:
Given the large number of topics that the exam covers, it will be difficult to recommend specific documentation. The advice here is traditional: open Blueprint, look at unfamiliar topics, each topic has a list of recommended literature. We use it in preparation.
Since access to documentation will be open during the exam, you should be able to navigate it well and understand in which document to look for the desired topic (well, or it’s good to use the search).
Check of knowledge:
At the moment, I have not seen any tests for the practical exam, but the portal next.nutanix.com periodically conducts the so-called Monday Masterclass NCM, where questions are published that are very similar to those that may be encountered in the exam. By the way, by sending correct answers you can win a branded suitcase.
At the time of writing, 5 such questions have been posted. After some time, the correct answers to them will be published:
As a conclusion:
Proper preparation, good practical skills, and knowledge of Nutanix functionality will be the key to passing this exam.
Before handing it in, pay special attention to your workplace and the quality of your Internet connection. As already mentioned, taking the exam on a laptop with a small screen is not the best idea.
