NCP-MCA Nutanix Certified Professional - Multicloud Automation (NCP-MCA) v6 Exam Questions and Answers

To create a custom alert policy, the administrator needs to specify the entity type, the impact, the severity, the condition, and the notification method. In this case, the entity type is VM, the impact is performance, the severity is warning, the condition is CPU usage > 70%, and the notification method is email. Additionally, the administrator can use categories to filter the entities that are affected by the alert policy. By selecting the category Env:Production, the administrator can limit the alert policy to only apply to the production VMs.

References:

Nutanix

https://www.bing.com/th?id=OSK.rK3sz-kbZCnJ9cwhAmYELm3vDpqzAZFHBIZFgLsHbGQ &pid=cdx&w=128&h=128&c=7

• Nutanix Certified Professional - Multicloud Automation (NCP-MCA) v6.5, Section 2 - Deploy and Configure Self-service and Related Components, Objective 2.5 - Identify required configuration settings for a Self-Service deployment

• How to create custom alert policies | Prism central | Nutanix Community

Showback is a feature in Calm that allows administrators to track and report the costs of running applications and projects on different cloud platforms. Showback can be enabled in the Setting menu of Calm, under the Showback tab. There, the administrator can configure the cost models, cloud accounts, and currency for Showback. Showback can also be accessed from the Dashboard menu, where the administrator can view the cost reports and charts for different applications and projects. References: 

https://www.nutanix.com/support-services/training-certification/certifications/certification-details-nutanix-certified-professional-multicloud-automation-v6-5\

https://www.nutanix.com/content/dam/nutanix/resources/support/ebg-ncp-mca-6.pdf

The Restart Action of a Service allows the developer to define custom tasks that will be executed when the service is restarted. An Execute Task can run any script or command on the target VM, such as restarting the IIS service. This way, the Operator can use the Self-Service Portal to restart the service without logging into the VM or using another tool.

References:

• Nutanix Certified Professional - Multicloud Automation (NCP-MCA) v6.5, Section 2, Objective 2.1: Given a scenario, create a blueprint to deploy infrastructure and applications using Self-Service.
• Nutanix Certified Professional Multicloud Automation (NCP-MCA) 6 Exam, Page 11, Section 2, Objective 2.1: Given a scenario, create a blueprint to deploy infrastructure and applications using Self-Service.

The best option to automate the installation of the local agent on all Linux VMs is to create an Endpoint that includes all Linux VMs and include the Endpoint in a Runbook that executes a shell script for agent installation. This way, the administrator can leverage the Calm Runbook feature, which allows orchestrating tasks across multiple VMs without the need of a blueprint or an application. The administrator can also filter the VMs by name, tag, or other criteria to select the target VMs for the Endpoint. The shell script can be added as a task in the Runbook and run on the selected Endpoint.

Option A is not correct because a Brownfield deployment is used to create an application from existing VMs and an existing blueprint. It is not suitable for automating tasks across multiple VMs without a blueprint. Moreover, a Brownfield deployment cannot attach to post-Calm created VMs, as they are already managed by Calm.

Option C is not correct because creating a new golden image and deploying all VMs again is a very time-consuming and disruptive process. It also requires the administrator to migrate the data and configuration of the existing VMs to the new ones. This option does not leverage the Calm automation capabilities and is not recommended. References: Nutanix Calm Runbooks & API Automation, Nutanix Support & Insights, Calm 3.0 is Here!, Nutanix Cloud Manager

The port 5986 is used for PowerShell Remoting over HTTPS, which is a secure way of executing PowerShell commands on a remote Windows VM. Calm uses PowerShell Remoting to run scripts on Windows VMs as part of the blueprint actions. Therefore, the port 5986 needs to be opened on the VM firewall to allow the communication between Calm and the VM. The other ports are not related to PowerShell Remoting, as they are used for SQL Server (1433), Remote Desktop Protocol (3389), and PowerShell Remoting over HTTP (5985). References: Nutanix Certified Professional - Multicloud Automation (NCP-MCA) 6.5 Exam Blueprint Guide, page 10; Nutanix Certified Professional - Multicloud Automation (NCP-MCA), section 3; Nutanix Calm User Guide,page 93.

Nutanix provides a documented process to seed Github based scripts into the Calm Task Library, which allows users to import and use custom tasks from the Nutanix public Github repository or any other Github repository. This process is described in the Nutanix Calm DSL User Guide and the Nutanix Calm DSL Tutorial.

Nutanix also publishes official vetted blueprints and tasks to Nutanix’s public Github Calm repository, which is located at https://github.com/nutanix/blueprints . These blueprints and tasks are created and maintained by Nutanix engineers and can be used as reference or templates for building Calm applications. Some examples of these blueprints and tasks are:

• Kubernetes Cluster: A blueprint that deploys a Kubernetes cluster on Nutanix AHV using Calm.
• MySQL HA: A blueprint that deploys a MySQL cluster with high availability on Nutanix AHV using Calm.
• Windows Server: A blueprint that deploys a Windows Server 2019 VM on Nutanix AHV using Calm.
• [Install Python]: A task that installs Python on a Linux VM using Calm.

Calm’s public repository does not contain Nutanix-vetted custom scripts created and published by community members. These scripts are hosted in a separate repository called [Automation], which is a centralized repo for community driven Nutanix automation. These scripts are not officially supported or endorsed by Nutanix and may not be compatible with the latest versions of Calm or Nutanix products.

Nutanix does not provide documented processes to seed scripts from any source repository. Users can only import scripts from Github repositories using the Calm Task Library. Other source repositories are not supported by Calm.

References:

• Nutanix Calm DSL User Guide
• Nutanix Calm DSL Tutorial
• Nutanix Calm Blueprints
• Kubernetes Cluster
• MySQL HA
• Windows Server
• [Install Python]
• [Automation]

Test Script is a feature of Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) Self-Service that allows users to test or validate scripts before deployment. Test Script enables users to run scripts on a VM without creating a blueprint or a runbook. Users can select a VM, choose a script type, enter the script content, and execute the script. The output of the script is displayed in the Test Script window. Test Script can be used to troubleshoot errors, verify functionality, or preview the results of a script before using it in a blueprint or a runbook. References: Nutanix Certified Professional - Multicloud Automation (NCP-MCA) Exam Blueprint Guide, page 14, section 3.1. Nutanix Multicloud Automation Administration (NMCAA) course, module 3, lesson 4. Validate Your Nutanix Cloud Manager Self-Service Skills + Access Special Offer.

 In order to enable the developer to complete the requested task, AWS and Azure Providers need to be created (Option A). This is because, in the context of Nutanix Calm, providers are integrations with public and private cloud infrastructures. The developer is trying to deploy an application on AWS and Azure clouds but currently only has Nutanix as a configured provider. After creating the providers, they need to be added to the project (Option B) so that applications can be deployed on them. Option C is incorrect because environments are not required for multicloud deployments. Option D is also incorrect because Calm version 3.2.x is not relevant to the question.

References: The information can be verified from Nutanix official training and certification documents available at Nutanix Training & Certification. You can also check out the Nutanix Certified Professional - Multicloud Automation (NCP-MCA) 6.5 Exam guide for more details on the exam objectives and format. Additionally, you can watch the Nutanix Calm - Multicloud Automation playlist on YouTube for some video tutorials on Nutanix Calm features and functionalities.

 Runtime variables are used to pass information between different components of a Blueprint, such as VMs, services, tasks, and replicas. They can be defined in the Blueprint YAML file or in the UI. By setting the mount_path as a runtime variable, the administrator can ensure that both database VMs use the same value for the mount_path during the deployment. This way, the backup files can be hosted on the same location for both VMs. References:

• Nutanix Certified Professional - Multicloud Automation (NCP-MCA) 6.5 Exam, page 25, section 2.1.1: “Runtime Variables”
• [Nutanix University: NCP-MCA 6.5 Exam Prep - Runtime Variables], video 2: “Runtime Variables”

The archived application logs within Prism Central can be found under Services > Calm > Settings. Calm automatically archives run logs of the deleted applications and custom actions that are older than three months. The administrator can download the archives within 7 days from the time of archive creation. For a running application, data is not archived for the system-generated Create actions. References: Nutanix Support & Insights

When launching Calm blueprints, there are two view options available: Developer and Consumer. The Developer view allows you to create, edit, and manage blueprints, as well as access advanced features such as macros, actions, and scripts. The Consumer view allows you to launch and manage applications from the Marketplace, as well as access basic features such as variables, tasks, and alerts. The view option is determined by the role assigned to the user in the project. Users with the Project Admin or Project Auditor role can switch between the Developer and Consumer views, while users with the Project User role can only access the Consumer view. References:

• Nutanix Certified Professional - Multicloud Automation (NCP-MCA) v6.5, Section 1 - Describe and Differentiate Automation Concepts and Principles, page 3
• Nutanix Multicloud Automation Administration (NMCAA), Module 2 - Nutanix Calm, Lesson 2.1 - Nutanix Calm Overview, page 9
• Nutanix Calm User Guide, Introduction to Nutanix Calm, Nutanix Calm User Interface

The error message in the exhibit indicates a mismatch between the number of network settings and the number of NICs on the VM. This is a common validation error when saving Calm Blueprints for VMware, where it is essential to ensure that these configurations match to avoid issues with VM deployment and operation1. References: 1: Nutanix NCP-MCA Certification Exam Sample Questions2

 The best way to automate the entire database and application deployments is to use a combination of Nutanix Calm and Nutanix Era. Nutanix Calm is a multicloud automation platform that allows you to create blueprints to deploy and manage infrastructure and applications across different cloud environments. Nutanix Era is a database management platform that allows you to provision, clone, patch, refresh, and restore databases in a simplified and automated way. By creating a Calm blueprint that deploys applications and calls Era APIs to automate database deployments, you can achieve faster and consistent releases, as well as reduce the manual effort and complexity involved in the process. You can also leverage the features of Calm and Era, such as self-service, governance, showback, backup, and recovery, to enhance the efficiency and security of your deployments. References: 

https://www.nutanix.com/support-services/training-certification/certifications/certification-details-nutanix-certified-professional-multicloud-automation-v6-5

https://www.nutanix.com/content/dam/nutanix/resources/support/ds-ncp-mca.pdf

The Task Library is a centralized repository of tasks that can be reused across multiple blueprints. The administrator can publish a task to the Task Library by clicking on the Publish icon in the task editor. The task will then be available in the Task Library tab under the Tasks section in the Calm UI. The administrator can select the task from the TaskLibrary and drag and drop it into another blueprint. This way, the administrator can reuse the task with the least amount of effort.

References:

• Nutanix Certified Professional Multicloud Automation (NCP-MCA) 6 Exam, page 11
• Nutanix University - NCP-MCA 6 Exam Prep - Tasks and Task Library

The administrator should assign the VMs to an Inactive:VM category as an action and trigger a playbook on alert with the Inactive VM alert policy. By doing this, they can create a custom category to group and identify the inactive VMs and use a custom alert policy to trigger a playbook that can perform automated actions on them, such as powering them off, deleting them, or sending notifications. This is based on the general practices in managing VMs in a multicloud environment, as well as the specific features and requirements of Nutanix X-Play and Nutanix Calm. References:

• How to create custom categories | Prism central | Nutanix Community
• Nutanix Certified Professional - Multicloud Automation (NCP-MCA) v6.5 Exam Blueprint Guide, Section 1: Describe and Differentiate Automation Concepts and Principles, Objective 1.4: List how to implement categories for the appropriate use cases
• Nutanix Multicloud Automation Administration (NMCAA) course, Module 3: Nutanix X-Play, Lesson 2: Nutanix X-Play Playbooks
• Nutanix Multicloud Automation Administration (NMCAA) course, Module 4: Nutanix Calm Governance, Lesson 2: Nutanix Calm Alerts

 The error code 1314 indicates that the user does not have the required privilege to perform the requested operation. This means that the credentials provided in the Calm Blueprint are not valid or do not have enough permissions to run the script on the Windows machine. To fix this issue, the administrator should verify the credentials and ensure that they have the appropriate rights to execute the script, such as local administrator or domain administrator privileges. References: Nutanix Certified Professional - Multicloud Automation (NCP-MCA) Exam Blueprint Guide, page 15, section 3.3. Nutanix Multicloud Automation Administration (NMCAA) course, module 5, lesson 2. Nutanix NCP-MCA Certification Exam Sample Questions, question 25.

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 A time trigger is a type of playbook trigger that allows the user to specify a schedule for running a playbook. This trigger is useful for automating tasks that need to be performed periodically or at a specific time. A manual trigger requires the user to initiate the playbook execution manually, which is not ideal for a recurring task. A report trigger is a type of playbook trigger that allows the user to run a playbook when a specific report is generated. However, this trigger does not guarantee that the report will be generated on the first of every month, as it depends on the report settings. A wait until day of month action is a type of playbook action that pauses the playbook execution until a specified day of the month. This action is unnecessary if the playbook already has a time trigger that specifies the desired schedule.

References:

• Nutanix Multicloud Automation Administration (NMCAA) course, Module 4: Playbooks, Lesson 4.1: Playbook Triggers
• Nutanix Certified Professional - Multicloud Automation (NCP-MCA) 6.5 Exam Blueprint Guide, Section 3.1: Create a playbook to automate IT operations using X-Play

In the context of deploying an application with Calm, if a customer receives an error for a Linux VM, it could be due to the absence of network adapters selected for the Address box in the Connection section within the blueprint. This means that there is no specified network connection for the VM, leading to a failure in script execution. References: Ifound some references from Nutanix Multicloud Automation (NCP-MCA) Learning documents or resources that might be helpful for you:

• Nutanix Certified Professional - Multicloud Automation (NCP-MCA) Exam Blueprint Guide: This is the official exam blueprint guide that covers the objectives, topics, and skills required for the certification. It also provides some sample questions and answers. The question you asked is similar to the one in section 3.1.1.
• Nutanix Multicloud Automation Administration (NMCAA): This is a training course that teaches you the skills needed to install, configure, operate, and manage Nutanix X-Play and Nutanix Calm. It includes topics such as blueprint creation, connection configuration, and script execution.
• Nutanix Calm User Guide: This is a user guide that explains how to use Nutanix Calm to automate the deployment and management of applications across different environments. It includes topics such as connection settings, blueprint validation, and error handling.

The hercules.log file is the log file for the Calm service, which is responsible for managing the integration with various cloud providers, including Azure. The administrator can check this log file to troubleshoot any issues related to the Azure integration, such as authentication, configuration, or communication errors. The other log files are not relevant for the Azure integration. The sytx.log file is the log file for the Sytx service, which is responsible for managing the Calm UI and API. The durga.log file is the log file for the Durga service, which is responsible for managing the Calm Marketplace and blueprints. The arjun.log file is the log file for the Arjun service, which is responsible for managing the Calm runbooks and playbooks.

References:

• Nutanix Certified Professional - Multicloud Automation (NCP-MCA) v6.5, Section 2 - Deploy and Configure Nutanix Calm and Related Components, Objective 2.4 - Identify required configuration settings for a Nutanix Calm deployment
• [Troubleshooting Calm | Nutanix Community]

https://portal.nutanix.com/page/documents/details?targetId=Nutanix-Calm-Admin-Operations-Guide-v3_6_2:nuc-macros-variables-overview-c.html

The image is unavailable for deployment on the cluster because the cluster and the image do not have the proper categories assigned for the placement policy. A placement policy is a set of rules that determines which clusters and images are available for VM deployment based on the categories and values assigned to them. If the cluster and the image do not match the placement policy criteria, they will not be shown as options for VM deployment. Therefore, the administrator needs to assign the appropriate categories and values to the cluster and the image to make them compatible with the placement policy. References: Nutanix Certified Professional - Multicloud Automation (NCP-MCA) Exam Blueprint Guide, page 12; Nutanix NCP-MCA Questions, question 111.

The policy engine is a single VM setup for the single or scale-out Prism Central. When you enable the policy engine for your Calm instance, a new VM is created and deployed for the policy engine. All you need is an available IP address that belongs to the same network as that of your Prism Central VM for the policy engine VM. You do not need to provide any public or private keys, or any Prism Central virtual IP addresses for this task. References: Nutanix Support & Insights, Calm on ESXi Deployment | Nutanix Community

A Branch Condition is a type of action in X-Play that allows you to create conditional logic based on the output of a previous action or a custom expression. A Branch Condition can have multiple branches, each with a different condition and a different set of actions to execute if the condition is met. The minimum number of actions required in a Branch Condition is two: one for the condition itself, and one for the action to perform if the condition is true. If the condition is false, the Branch Condition will skip to the next action in the Playbook. You can add more branches to a Branch Condition, but you cannot have less than two. References: Nutanix Calm: Playbooks - Read the Docs and Nutanix Calm: Branch Condition - Read the Docs.

 The Snapshot tab allows you to view the captured snapshots, restore applications from snapshots, and delete the snapshots for an application. Use this tab to create snapshots of single VM applications that are running with Nutanix as the provider1. You can also view the date and time, and the name of the snapshot, and perform actions like Delete, Clone, Restore2. The AMIS tab is for Amazon Machine Images, the Recovery point tab is for Calm applications, and the Manage tab is for day 2 actions3. References: Nutanix Support & Insights, List VMs with snapshots on Nutanix AHV, Nutanix Calm: Introducing Snapshot and Restore Actions

A provider is a configuration that allows Nutanix Calm to interact with a public cloud platform, such as AWS, Azure, or GCP. A provider contains the credentials, settings, and policies required to deploy and manage VMs on the public cloud. Before creating a blueprint for a new public cloud environment, the administrator should create a new provider for AWS and specify the region, access key, secret key, and other parameters. This will enable the administrator to select the AWS provider as the deployment location for the blueprint and configure the VM attributes accordingly. References: Nutanix Multicloud Automation Administration (NMCAA), page 15; Nutanix Certified Professional - Multicloud Automation (NCP-MCA), section 2.

You can upgrade Nutanix Calm or Epsilon (the orchestration engine used by Nutanix Calm) by using the Life Cycle Manager (LCM) from the Prism Central. LCM allows you to upgrade Calm or Epsilon independently or simultaneously. You can also select the version that you want to upgrade to and perform the update from the Options list. For more information, see the Nutanix Calm Upgrades section in the Nutanix Calm Admin and Operations Guide1 and the Performing Inventory and Upgrading Calm with Life Cycle Manager article2. References:

• Nutanix Calm Admin and Operations Guide1
• Performing Inventory and Upgrading Calm with Life Cycle Manager2

To create and execute a scaling action using Calm, the administrator should create the action under the service profile section of the blueprint and the application profile section of the blueprint. The service profile section defines the properties and actions of each service in the blueprint, such as the VM configuration, the scripts to run, and the scaling parameters. The application profile section defines the properties and actions of the entire application, such as the number of instances, the dependencies, and the scaling triggers. The administrator can then execute the scaling action in the Overview tab or the Services tab of the application, depending on the scope of the scaling action. References:

• Nutanix Certified Professional - Multicloud Automation, Page 18
• Nutanix Calm User Guide
• Nutanix Calm User Guide
• Nutanix Calm User Guide
• Nutanix Calm User Guide

The administrator should use a conditional playbook and create a playbook using alert to accomplish this task. A conditional playbook is a type of playbook that allows the administrator to define different actions based on certain conditions or criteria1. A playbook using alert is a type of playbook that is triggered by an alert policy that monitors the VM status2. By using these two features, the administrator can create a playbook that checks if the rebooted VM is the mission-critical VM and sends a notification to the on-call administrator, or else sends an email to the Operations team.

References:

• Nutanix Multicloud Automation Administration (NMCAA) course, Module 3: Nutanix X-Play, Lesson 2: Nutanix X-Play Playbooks, Topic: Conditional Playbooks
• Nutanix Multicloud Automation Administration (NMCAA) course, Module 4: Nutanix Calm Governance, Lesson 2: Nutanix Calm Alerts, Topic: Alert Policies and Playbooks
• Nutanix Certified Professional - Multicloud Automation (NCP-MCA) v6.5 Exam Blueprint Guide, Section 1: Describe and Differentiate Automation Concepts and Principles, Objective 1.3: Define the components of X-Play

According to the Nutanix Multicloud Automation Administration (NMCAA) course, the recommended Prism Central VM size depends on the number of VMs that are managed by Calm and the number of concurrent users. For a large-scale environment with more than 5000 VMs and more than 100 concurrent users, the recommended size is 3 nodes Large - 10vCPU and 52GB Memory per node1. This size provides enough resources for the Prism Central cluster to handle the workload and performance requirements of Calm.

References:

• Nutanix Multicloud Automation Administration (NMCAA) course, Module 2: Nutanix Calm Installation and Configuration, Lesson 2: Nutanix Calm Installation and Configuration2
• Nutanix Certified Professional - Multicloud Automation (NCP-MCA) v6.5 Exam Blueprint Guide, Section 2: Deploy and Configure Self-service and Related Components, Objective 2.2: Identify required configuration settings for a Self-Service deployment3
• Scaling out Prism Central | Nutanix Community1

 The alert in Prism Central indicates that Calm showback is not able to reach the beam service. This could be due to network connectivity issues or incorrect configurations. The administrator should check the DNS configuration in Prism Central (Option A) to ensure that it is correctly configured to allow communication with the Beam service. Additionally, checking if Prism Element is configured with Proxy settings (Option C) is essential as it can also affect the communication between Calm and Beam. Pulse (Option B) and Flow (Option D) are not related to the Calm showback feature and do not impact its functionality.

References:

• Nutanix Certified Professional - Multicloud Automation (NCP-MCA) v6.5, Section 2 - Deploy and Configure Nutanix Calm and Related Components, Objective 2.4 - Identify required configuration settings for a Nutanix Calm deployment
• Enabling and Disabling Showback in Calm | Nutanix Community

 According to the Nutanix Multicloud Automation Administration (NMCAA) course1, you can create and configure multi-VM blueprints for the Nutanix, AWS, VMware, GCP, and Azure providers. However, according to the Nutanix Certified Professional - Multicloud Automation (NCP-MCA) Exam Blueprint Guide2, the exam objectives only cover Nutanix and AWS as the providers for multi-VM blueprints. Therefore, the correct answer is C. Nutanix and E. Amazon AWS. References: Nutanix Multicloud Automation Administration (NMCAA) course and Nutanix Certified Professional - Multicloud Automation (NCP-MCA) Exam Blueprint Guide

The error message indicates that the script failed to authenticate to the remote server using CredSSP. CredSSP is a security mechanism that allows a client to delegate its credentials to a remote server for authentication. To use CredSSP, both the client and the server need to enable it and configure the role and the trusted hosts. The command Enable-WSManCredSSP -Role Client enables CredSSP on the client side and specifies the remote server as a trusted host. This command should be added to the script before invoking the Invoke-Command cmdlet that runs the script block on the remote server. The other commands are either irrelevant or incorrect for this scenario. References: Nutanix Calm: PowerShell Scripts - Read the Docs and Enable-WSManCredSSP (Microsoft.PowerShell.Management) - PowerShell | Microsoft Docs.

To create an alert for idle VMs, the administrator needs to specify the following parameters:

• Scope: Select the category value Environment:Production to filter the VMs that are affected by the alert.
• Metric: Select CPU Usage (%) as the metric to monitor the VMs’ CPU utilization.
• Condition: Select Less Than as the operator and enter 5 as the threshold value to define the idle state.
• Duration: Enter 5 as the duration value and select Minutes as the unit to set the time period for the idle state.

To create a Playbook with the alert as the trigger, the administrator needs to do the following steps:

• Name: Enter a descriptive name for the Playbook, such as Idle VM Alert.
• Trigger: Select Alert as the trigger type and choose the alert that was created for idle VMs.
• Action: Select Email as the action type and enter the recipient email address, subject, and message for the notification.

The Playbook will run whenever the alert is triggered and send an email to the administrator informing them about the idle VMs.

References:

• Nutanix Certified Professional Multicloud Automation (NCP-MCA) 6 Exam, page 9
• Nutanix University - NCP-MCA 6 Exam Prep - Alerts and Playbooks

 A Playbook is a collection of tasks that can be executed based on a trigger, such as a time, a webhook, or a manual action. A Playbook can be used to automate workflows across different systems and services, such as Nutanix Prism, VMs, hosts, and external APIs. A Playbook can also use variables, conditions, and loops to customize the execution logic and data.

In this scenario, the administrator wants to automate the batch processing application on the Linux VM, which can only be controlled by a command on the VM console. The application should run only outside of business hours, and the VM should send REST API calls to Prism to report its status.

The best way to configure a Playbook for this process is to use a Time Trigger, which allows the administrator to specify a schedule for the Playbook execution, such as daily, weekly, or monthly. The Time Trigger can also be configured to run only on certain days or hours, such as weekdays or nights. This way, the administrator can ensure that the Playbook runs only outside of business hours, without requiring any manual intervention.

The Playbook should then have two VM SSH tasks, one to initiate the batch processing application, and one to terminate it. A VM SSH task is a task that executes a command or script on a target VM using SSH. A VM SSH task can be used to control applications or services that do not have a programmatic interface, such as the batch processing application in this scenario. The VM SSH task can also use variables to pass data to or from the command or script, such as the VM name, IP address, or output.

The Playbook should also have a Wait for Some Time task, which is a task that pauses the Playbook execution for a specified duration or until a condition is met. A Wait for Some Time task can be used to ensure that the batch processing application has enough time to complete its work, or to wait for a certain event or state to occur, such as a file creation, a service status, or a VM power state.

The Playbook should also have two REST API tasks, one before and one after the Wait for Some Time task. A REST API task is a task that executes an HTTP request to a specified URL, with optional headers, body, and authentication. A REST API task can be used to interact with external systems or services that expose an API, such as Nutanix Prism inthis scenario. The REST API task can also use variables to pass data to or from the HTTP request, such as the VM name, IP address, or response.

The REST API tasks should be configured to send the VM status to Prism, such as the start and end time of the batch processing, the CPU and memory usage, or the output of the application. This way, the administrator can monitor and manage the VM and the application from Prism, without having to connect to the VM console.

The Playbook configuration should look something like this:

• Time Trigger: Set the schedule to run daily, only on weekdays, and only at night (e.g., 10 PM to 6 AM).
• VM SSH: Set the target VM to the Linux VM, and set the command or script to initiate the batch processing application (e.g., ./batch.sh start).
• REST API: Set the URL to the Prism API endpoint, and set the HTTP method, headers, body, and authentication as required. Use variables to pass the VM name, IP address, and start time of the batch processing to the HTTP request (e.g., {"vm_name": "{{vm_name}}", "vm_ip": "{{vm_ip}}", "start_time": "{{start_time}}"}).
• Wait for Some Time: Set the duration to the expected time for the batch processing to finish, or set a condition to wait until a certain event or state occurs (e.g., wait until file /tmp/batch.done exists).
• REST API: Set the URL to the Prism API endpoint, and set the HTTP method, headers, body, and authentication as required. Use variables to pass the VM name, IP address, end time, and output of the batch processing to the HTTP request (e.g., {"vm_name": "{{vm_name}}", "vm_ip": "{{vm_ip}}", "end_time": "{{end_time}}", "output": "{{output}}"}).
• VM SSH: Set the target VM to the Linux VM, and set the command or script to terminate the batch processing application (e.g., ./batch.sh stop).

References: 

https://www.nutanix.com/content/dam/nutanix/resources/datasheets/ds-ncp-mca-6-5.pdf

https://www.nutanix.com/content/dam/nutanix/resources/support/ds-ncp-mca.pdf