An alert indicating that entities cannot be protected within a Consistency Group is commonly triggered when a constituent entity, such as a Virtual Machine (VM) or Volume Group (VG), has been deleted from the source cluster. The protection policy or recovery plan references this entity, but during the replication schedule, the system cannot locate it. This discrepancy causes the protection job to fail for the entire Consistency Group, generating an alert that requires administrative intervention, typically by removing the deleted entity from the protection configuration.

A. A VM or VG can only be part of a single recovery plan. This is a configuration constraint enforced by Prism Central during setup, which would prevent the creation of the second plan, rather than causing a recurring protection alert.

C. Inconsistent logical timestamps are a symptom of an underlying replication issue, often with synchronous or near-synchronous replication, not a root cause for why an entity is unprotectable from the outset.

D. All VMs and Volume Groups contain essential state metadata. The presence of this metadata is normal and necessary for operation and protection; it is not a cause for a protection failure alert.

1. Nutanix Disaster Recovery Guide v6.5

Troubleshooting Data Protection and Disaster Recovery > Alerts for Data Protection

Section: A130103 - Protection rule failed to protect one or more entities. This alert is triggered when a protection rule fails

and a common cause is that a VM included in the protection rule has been deleted.

2. Nutanix Disaster Recovery Guide v6.5

Recovery Plan Management > Recovery Plan Constraints. The documentation explicitly states

"A guest VM can be part of only one recovery plan." This confirms that option A describes a configuration block

not a runtime protection failure alert.

3. Prism Central Alerts and Events Reference Guide

Alert A130154 - Entity is not protectable. The guide lists potential causes for this alert

including the deletion of the entity from the inventory

which directly supports the correct answer.

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.

Nutanix Files disaster recovery (DR) and data protection policies are managed centrally through Prism Central. The Files view in Prism Central provides the necessary interface to configure granular, share-level protection. This allows an administrator to create distinct policies with different Recovery Point Objectives (RPOs) and replication schedules for individual shares or groups of shares within the same Files cluster. This method directly addresses the requirement to apply unique policies to different shares, offering flexibility beyond protecting the entire file server as a single entity.

A. Create a protection domain in the Data Protection view in Prism Element.

Protection Domains in Prism Element protect the entire set of File Server VMs (FSVMs), not individual shares. This does not allow for unique policies per share.

B. Configure data protection polices in File Server view in Prism Element.

The File Server view in Prism Element is used for local management of a single file server, but advanced, policy-based DR for shares is a centralized function managed via Prism Central.

C. Create a protection domain in the Data Protection view in Prism Central.

Similar to option A, Protection Domains in Prism Central protect VMs. This is not the correct method for applying granular, share-level data protection policies for Nutanix Files.

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1. Nutanix Files v4.4 Guide: In the "Disaster Recovery" section

it states

"You can configure Files disaster recovery (DR) to a remote site from Prism Central. Files DR supports asynchronous

and nearsync replication schedules." It further details the process of selecting a file server in Prism Central and adding shares to a protection policy. (Reference: Nutanix Files v4.4 Guide > Data Protection and Recovery > Disaster Recovery).

2. Prism Central Guide (pc-v2023.4): The guide details the procedure for protecting a file server. It specifies navigating to the Files application through the Prism Central UI (Services > Files)

selecting the file server

and then using the "Protect" action to configure policies for specific shares. (Reference: Prism Central Infrastructure Guide > File Server Management > Protecting a File Server).

3. Nutanix University

Nutanix Unified Storage Administration (NUSA) v6.5 Courseware: The "Protecting Nutanix Files" module explicitly teaches that share-level replication for disaster recovery is configured and managed through Prism Central

allowing for different RPOs to be set for different shares. (Reference: NUSA v6.5 Student Guide

Module 6: Protecting Nutanix Files).

Configuring Nutanix Objects Smart Tiering requires establishing a secure, authenticated connection to a remote S3-compatible object store. The primary mechanism for authentication with the S3 API is a key-based system. Therefore, providing a valid Access Key and its corresponding Secret Key is a mandatory criterion. These credentials grant the Nutanix Objects cluster the necessary permissions to access the target bucket and perform tiering operations, such as writing and retrieving data. Without these keys, the connection to the remote tier cannot be authenticated, and the configuration will fail.

A. VPC name: A Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) is a networking construct within a cloud provider and is not a direct configuration parameter for the Smart Tiering endpoint itself.

B. Target URL over HTTP: Secure communication using HTTPS is the standard for connecting to remote object stores. An unencrypted HTTP URL is not a mandatory or recommended configuration.

C. Certificate: A CA certificate is only required if the remote S3-compatible endpoint uses a private or self-signed certificate. It is not mandatory for public cloud targets like AWS S3.

1. Nutanix Objects 4.2 User Guide

Section: Tiering to a Remote (External) Object Store (Smart Tier)

Subsection: Adding a Remote Tier. This section details the configuration wizard for adding a remote tier. For all S3-compatible targets (including AWS S3

Azure Blob

Wasabi

and Generic S3)

the guide explicitly lists Access Key and Secret Key as required fields for authentication.

2. Nutanix Objects 4.2 User Guide

Section: Tiering to a Remote (External) Object Store (Smart Tier)

Subsection: Adding a Remote Tier. The same section clarifies that the CA Certificate field is optional and only needed "if the remote tier uses a certificate that is not signed by a public Certificate Authority." This confirms that a certificate is not a universally mandatory criterion.

The Arithmos service is the core component responsible for data protection orchestration in Nutanix, managing protection policies, schedules, and replication tasks. The alert VolumeGroupProtectionFailed directly indicates a failure within this data protection workflow. Therefore, the arithmos.ERROR log, which specifically captures critical error messages from the Arithmos service, is the most appropriate and direct place to investigate the root cause of the protection failure. Reviewing this log will provide detailed information on why the data protection job for the volume group did not succeed.

A. solver.log: This log is for the Solver service, which is part of the Cluster Resource Manager (CRM). It handles resource placement and load balancing, not data protection replication orchestration.

1. Nutanix Prism Central Guide (pc-v2023.3): In the "Prism Central Services" section

Arithmos is described as the service responsible for "protection policy and recovery plan orchestration." This directly links the service to the function mentioned in the alert.

2. Nutanix Support Portal - KB-4590

"NCC Health Check: arithmoschecks": This knowledge base article details health checks for the Arithmos service

stating it is "responsible for managing Data Protection." This confirms that failures in data protection are investigated through Arithmos.

3. Nutanix Troubleshooting Guide (v6.5): The section on "Log Collection and Examination" maps services to their log files. It specifies that logs beginning with arithmos (including arithmos.ERROR) belong to the Arithmos service

which manages data protection policies.

Multiprotocol access in Nutanix Files allows both SMB and NFS clients to access the same share. This functionality requires a unified permissions model, which relies on mapping NFS user identities (UID/GID) to Windows user identities (SIDs). Nutanix Files uses Microsoft Active Directory (AD) as the central identity and authentication source to perform this mapping. If the file server has not been joined to an AD domain, the necessary infrastructure for identity mapping is absent. Consequently, the option to "Enable multiprotocol accounts for NFS clients" will not be available during share creation, as its primary prerequisite is not met.

B. The file server instance was only configured with SMB.

A file server can be deployed with both protocols enabled, yet the multiprotocol option for a specific share can still be unavailable if authentication prerequisites are not met.

C. The incorrect Files license has been applied.

Standard multiprotocol access is a core feature of Nutanix Files and is not gated by a specific license tier. Advanced features may require higher licenses, but not this fundamental capability.

D. NFS configured to use unmanaged authentication.

While using unmanaged authentication for NFS is incompatible with multiprotocol access, the root cause is the lack of an AD connection, which is required to enable the necessary managed authentication options in the first place.

1. Nutanix Files User Guide v4.4

Creating a Share or Export (Nutanix Files Console)

Section: "Multiprotocol Access". The documentation explicitly states as a prerequisite: "You must have Active Directory configured." This confirms that the absence of an AD connection prevents the configuration of multiprotocol access.

2. Nutanix University

Nutanix Unified Storage Administration (NCP-US) 6.5 Student Guide

Module 3: Nutanix Files

Lesson: "Configuring Nutanix Files". The courseware details that for multiprotocol access

Active Directory is mandatory as it serves as the lookup source for mapping user SIDs

UIDs

and GIDs

which is essential for unified permissions.

3. Nutanix Files Tech Note

Identity and Access Management

Section: "Multiprotocol". The document explains the architecture

stating that "For multiprotocol

Files uses AD as the name service provider to resolve the user mapping between Windows and Linux." This highlights the foundational role of AD in the feature's operation.

Durable File Handles is a feature of the SMB 2.x and 3.x protocols that allows a client to transparently reconnect to a file share if the connection is temporarily lost. This is crucial during transient network issues or a file server failover event. When enabled, the file server preserves the state of the open file handle, allowing the client session to be re-established without interrupting the user or application. This directly addresses the user complaint of having to manually reconnect after network disruptions.

B. Multi-Protocol Shares: This feature allows both SMB (Windows) and NFS (Linux/Unix) clients to access the same data on a share, but it does not manage session resilience or auto-reconnection.

C. Connected Shares: This is a general term describing the state of an active share connection, not a specific, configurable Nutanix Files feature that ensures session persistence through network failures.

D. Workload Optimization: This refers to tuning the file server's performance characteristics for specific use cases (e.g., VDI, general purpose), not for managing client session stability or reconnection logic.

1. Nutanix University

Nutanix Unified Storage Administration (NUSA) v6.0

Module 4: Nutanix Files High Availability. The courseware explains that SMB Transparent Failover

which prevents I/O disruption

relies on features like persistent and durable handles. It states

"SMB 2.1 introduced durable handles

which allow connections to be reestablished after a temporary disconnection." This directly supports the function described in the question.

2. Nutanix Files v6.0 Documentation

High Availability for Nutanix Files. This section details the mechanisms for maintaining service continuity. It describes how

during a failover

"For SMB 3.0 shares with the continuously available property

clients transparently reconnect to another FSVM... without any disruption." This continuous availability is built upon the concept of persistent and durable handles

which preserve the session state.

3. Nutanix Files v6.0 Solution Guide

SMB Features. The guide discusses the capabilities of the SMB protocol supported by Nutanix Files. It implicitly covers features that ensure connection resilience

such as SMB 3.0 Transparent Failover

of which durable handles are a foundational component for handling temporary network interruptions.

The name of a Nutanix Objects store is an immutable property defined at the time of its creation. Nutanix Prism does not provide a direct "rename" function for an existing object store. Consequently, if a name change is required, the administrator must perform a destructive operation: delete the existing object store and then create a new one with the correct name. Since the request came immediately after creation, no data would be lost in this specific scenario.

A. Enabling or disabling versioning is a feature that applies to data within buckets and has no impact on the core properties, such as the name, of the object store itself.

B. The management capabilities of Nutanix Objects are consistent across supported hypervisors (AHV and ESXi). The inability to rename an object store is a platform limitation, not a hypervisor-specific one.

1. Nutanix Objects 4.0 User Guide

Section: Creating an Object Store. This section outlines the deployment process where the name is a mandatory

initial configuration parameter. The guide does not list the name as a modifiable attribute post-deployment.

2. Nutanix Objects 4.0 User Guide

Section: Managing an Object Store. This section details the available management tasks for an object store

which include updating capacity

managing alerts

and deletion. A "rename" or "edit name" operation is conspicuously absent from the list of supported actions

confirming its immutability.

3. Nutanix University - Nutanix Unified Storage Administration (NUSA) v6.5

Module: Deploying and Managing Nutanix Objects. The courseware demonstrates the object store creation wizard and subsequent management tasks. The labs and materials show that to change a fundamental deployment parameter like the name

the resource must be redeployed.

The correct task order for creating an object store is:

Select ObjectStore Service and click Enable

Click Create Object Store to start creating the first Object store

Click Download Creation Checklist to download the list of prerequisites for deploying an Object store

The first step is to enable the ObjectStore Service, which is a service that allows users to create and

manage object storage clusters on a Nutanix cluster. The second step is to create an Object store,

which is an object storage cluster that provides S3-compatible access to buckets and objects for

various applications and users. The third step is to download the Creation Checklist, which is a

document that lists the prerequisites and configurations that are required for deploying an Object

store, such as cluster details, network details, storage details, etc. The administrator should review

and complete the Creation Checklist before proceeding with the deployment of the Object store.

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Nutanix Files is the correct solution as it is a software-defined, scale-out file storage service designed to address the specified requirements. It provides a distributed file system that can be scaled out by adding more nodes. It supports both Server Message Block (SMB) for Windows clients and Network File System (NFS) for Linux clients. Crucially, it integrates with Microsoft Active Directory for authentication and access control, which is a key requirement for managing permissions in a mixed-workstation environment. This combination of features directly matches the company's needs for a distributed, AD-integrated, and scalable file storage solution.

A. Mine: Nutanix Mine is a secondary storage solution for data protection and backup, not a primary file storage service for end-user workstations.

B. Objects: Nutanix Objects is an S3-compatible object storage platform. It is not a traditional file system and does not support native SMB or NFS protocols for workstation access.

C. Volumes: Nutanix Volumes provides scale-out block storage via the iSCSI protocol. It presents storage as raw block devices (LUNs), not as a file system with shares or exports.

1. Nutanix Files v4.4 Documentation: In the "Nutanix Files Solution Guide

" the introduction states

"Nutanix Files is a software-defined

scale-out file storage solution that provides a repository for unstructured data... Nutanix Files supports Server Message Block (SMB) and Network File System (NFS) protocol versions... Nutanix Files supports user authentication with Microsoft Active Directory (AD)." (Section: Introduction to Nutanix Files)

2. Nutanix University - Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) 6.5 Administration: The course material describes Nutanix Files as a service that "provides a highly available and scalable file storage solution for a wide range of use cases... It supports SMB... and NFS... protocols" and highlights its "integration with Active Directory for authentication." (Module: Nutanix Files Architecture)

3. Nutanix Volumes Guide v6.8: "Nutanix Volumes provides block-based storage and exposes it to the guest virtual machines or physical hosts through the iSCSI protocol." (Section: Volumes Overview

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4. Nutanix Objects User Guide v4.2: "Nutanix Objects is a software-defined Object Store solution that is S3-compatible... You can store and retrieve objects from anywhere on the web by using the S3 API." (Section: Objects Overview

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5. Nutanix Mine with HYCU Administration Guide v6.8: "Nutanix Mine with HYCU is an integrated data protection solution for applications running on Nutanix." (Section: About Nutanix Mine with HYCU

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