Nutanix File Analytics is deployed as a virtual machine (VM) on a Nutanix cluster. For clusters using the native Nutanix hypervisor, AHV, the standard virtual disk image format is QCOW2 (QEMU Copy On Write 2). The official deployment process for File Analytics requires downloading the binary software image, which is provided by Nutanix in the .qcow2 file format. This image is then uploaded to the Prism Element image service before the File Analytics VM can be created and deployed.

A. JSON: A JSON file is provided with the binary, but it contains metadata for the VM configuration, not the binary disk image itself.

C. ISO: An ISO file is an optical disc image format, primarily used for software installation media, not as the virtual hard disk for an appliance.

D. VMDK: This is the virtual disk format used by VMware ESXi. While Nutanix clusters can run ESXi, the native binary image provided for File Analytics deployment on AHV is QCOW2.

1. Nutanix File Analytics Deployment Guide v4.2: In the "Prerequisites" section under "Deploying File Analytics

" the guide states

"Download the File Analytics binary and metadata files. The binary file is in .qcow2 format and the metadata file is in .json format." This directly confirms that the binary image extension is QCOW2.

2. Prism Element Web Console Guide v6.8: In the "Image Service" chapter

under the section "Image Management

" the guide specifies that for AHV

you can upload disk images in formats like QCOW2

VHD(X)

and VMDK. However

it clarifies that native Nutanix appliance images

such as File Analytics

are provided in the QCOW2 format for deployment on AHV.

3. Nutanix University: Nutanix Unified Storage Administration (NUSA) v6.5 Courseware: The module on "Deploying and Managing File Analytics" details the deployment steps

which include uploading the QCOW2 image file and the corresponding JSON metadata file to Prism Element.