NCP-EUC Questions and Answers

ersistent virtual machines are those that retain all the user’s personal settings, files, and customizations after each session12. Non-persistent virtual machines are those that reset to a predefined state after each session and do not save any user data12. MCS (Machine Creation Services) is a Citrix feature that allows administrators to create and manage multiple virtual machines from a single master image3. Remote Desktop Services (RDS) is a Microsoft feature that allows users to access applications ordesktops hosted on a remote server4. Citrix Virtual Apps is a Citrix feature that allows users to access applications hosted on a remote server or cloud5

Citrix Workspace includes several components that can replace or integrate with the traditional Citrix infrastructure components, such as:

• Citrix Cloud Services, which provide management and orchestration capabilities for Citrix Workspace, such as Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service, Citrix Gateway service, Citrix Endpoint Management service, etc.
• Citrix Workspace app, which is a client software that enables users to access their apps and desktops from any device.
• Citrix Cloud Connectors, which are software agents that establish a secure connection between Citrix Cloud Services and the on-premises or cloud-based resources, such as Active Directory, hypervisors, VDAs, etc.

According to Citrix documentation2, an administrator who chooses to move all of the backend Citrix infrastructure to be managed as a service by Citrix can use the following components:

• Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service, which replaces the Citrix Delivery Controllers and provides centralized management and delivery of virtual apps and desktops.
• Citrix Studio, which is still available as a web-based console for configuring and managing the virtual apps and desktops environment.
• Citrix Gateway service, which replaces the Citrix NetScaler and provides secure remote access to virtual apps and desktops through a single URL.
• Citrix StoreFront, which is still available as an optional component for providing users with self-service access to their apps and desktops through a web portal or native receiver.

 Nutanix recommends using separate containers for persistent and non-persistent VMS. For persistent VMS, enable compression and deduplication. For non-persistent VMS, enable compression only1

According to Nutanix documentation, it is recommended to use multiple containers, with each container representing an individual performance workload. This allows for better performance isolation and easier management. For example, one container could be used for VDI workloads, while another container could be used for general-purpose workloads.

As for compression and deduplication, it is recommended to enable them for all VMs. Compression reduces the amount of storage space required and increases the performance of the system, while deduplication reduces the amount of duplicate data stored on the system. Erasure coding can also be used as an alternative to replication for data protection.

There are two types of Launchpads that exist in Frame: Application Launchpad and Desktop Launchpad2.

• An Application Launchpad is a representation of the applications that are available for streaming. Users can launch any application they have access to from this Launchpad. An example of an Application Launchpad is shown below:

• A Desktop Launchpad is a representation of the desktops that are available for streaming. Users can launch any desktop they have access to from this Launchpad. An example of a Desktop Launchpad is shown below:

https://www.nutanix.com/blog/work-from-home-anywhere-in-five-easy-steps

Frame is a cloud-native desktop-as-a-service platform that delivers virtual apps and desktops from multiple public clouds1. Frame allows administrators to manage various components of their cloud accounts easily from the Frame console1.

A cloud account is a logical grouping of resources that are associated with a specific cloud provider (such as AWS, Azure, or Google) and region1. A cloud account can have multiple virtual networks, master images, and instance types that can be used to create and run virtual apps and desktops1.

To configure AWS, Azure, and Google accounts within Frame, an administrator needs to go to the Cloud Accounts section of the Frame console1. There, the administrator can add new cloud accounts or edit existing ones by providing the required credentials and settings for each cloud provider12.

https://docs.frame.nutanix.com/platform/infrastructure/byo/cloud-accounts/

Storage Efficiency features that will provide better storage efficiency and performance improvement for a mix of full clones and non-persistent desktops deployed via Citrix MCS on a three-node cluster are Compression and Deduplication. Compression is a technology that reduces the size of data blocks by removing redundant information. Deduplication is a technology that eliminates duplicate blocks of data and reduces storage consumption. Both Compression and Deduplication can be enabled on a per-container basis and can provide significant savings for Citrix virtual desktop deployments that use cloning technologies such as MCS2.

Writable AppVolumes are a feature of VMware App Volumes that provides users with a dedicated virtual disk for storing user profile data and user-installed applications1. Writable AppVolumes are stored as VMDK files on a datastore2.

To protect Writable AppVolumes during a disaster in a Nutanix environment, one possible solution is to use asynchronous DR between two sites. Asynchronous DRallows you to replicate VMs and their associated data from one site to another at regular intervals using protection domains and remote sites3.

https://www.nutanix.com/blog/vmware-app-volumes-on-nutanix

https://docs.frame.nutanix.com/platform/admin/account-creation/

The Public Network option provides access to the Frame environment over the public internet, while the Private Network with VPN option allows for a secure connection to the Frame environment over a private network using a VPN.

Nutanix and Citrix provide a turnkey validated VDI infrastructure solution that allows 10x faster deployments, cuts management time by 70% and significantly reduces the number of support calls. Nutanix eliminates the complexity of managing discrete storage, servers and separate virtualization and networking stacks.

https://webobjects2.cdw.com/is/content/CDW/cdw/on-domain-cdw/brands/bitdefender/vdi-application-virtualization.pdf

an action that the administrator should take to enable Shadow Clones for a VMWare Horizon Solution on AHV is Connect to Prism Central and execute the cluster enable –cluster_cluster_uuid 0xxx – show_clones=true command. Shadow Clones are a feature that helps decrease read latency by creating local copies of frequently accessed data blocks on each host2. To enable Shadow Clones, the administrator needs to connect to Prism Central and run a cluster command with the appropriate parameters1.

regarding replicating AppStacks between Nutanix clusters, it is likely that the correct answer would involve configuring some form of replication or disaster recovery technology on the Nutanix clusters themselves.

https://portal.nutanix.com/page/documents/solutions/details?targetId=BP-2135-VMware-App-Volumes:BP-2135-VMware-App-Volumes

The schedule has two rows: one for Weekdays and one for Tuesday and Thursday.

Each row has a column for Instances, which indicates how many instances should be running during that time range.

Each row also has a column for Time Range, which indicates the start and end time for running the instances.

The time range is expressed in 24-hour format, where 00:00 means midnight and 24:00 means midnight of the next day.

According to the exhibit, the schedule Dev has the following settings:

• On Weekdays (Monday to Friday), five instances are running from 09:00 am till 05:00 pm.
• On Tuesday and Thursday, five instances are running from 00:00 am till 24:00 pm.

According to the certification details1, one of the objectives is to “Configure and manage security features such as role-based access control (RBAC), SSL certificates, encryption at rest, and data protection.”

This answer seems to align with the security team’s feedback and the objective of managing security features using Nutanix technologies.

one of the possible causes of poor performance in a VDI deployment is power management, which can affect CPU frequency and performance. Therefore, it is recommended to disable any power saving features on the BIOS level, such as C-states and P-states.

Another possible cause of poor performance is network configuration, which can affect network throughput and latency. Therefore, it is recommended to update network drivers and firmware on the Dell XC nodes with ESXi23, and ensure that they are compatible with Nutanix software.

vCenter can execute approximately 640 concurrent operations before incoming requests are queued, and can support up to 2,000 concurrent sessions1. VMware Horizon 8 can support up to 120,000 active sessions in a Cloud Pod Architecture pod federation23. Therefore, if the environment has 10,000 virtual desktops, one vCenter instance might not be enough to handle all the operations and sessions efficiently. The recommended number of vCenter instances in this configuration is B (2).

non-persistent VDI desktops are virtual desktops that do not save any changes made by the user after they log off or shut down12. They rely on a master image that contains the OS, configuration settings, and other customizations that replicate to multiple virtual desktops1.

Nutanix Files is a software-defined, scale-out file storage solution that provides a repository for unstructured data, such as home directories, user profiles, departmental shares, applicationlogs, backups, and archives1. Nutanix Files also provides high availability and a unified single namespace for easy management2.