Nutanix NCS-Core Questions Answers

Before starting the Foundation process, the consultant should prepare the network by:

• On Nutanix NX Series, connect the IPMI port and any one of the data ports to the switch: This ensures that the IPMI (for management and remote access) and at least one data port (for cluster communication and data traffic) are connected and operational, facilitating a smooth foundation process.

References:

• Nutanix Bible (https://www.nutanixbible.com), especially sections on initial hardware setup and network preparations.
• Nutanix Hardware Setup Guide from Nutanix University (https://university.nutanix.com), detailing the specific steps for networking configurations during initial setup.

The Best Practices guide for vSphere Networking can be found under the "Software Documentation" section of the Nutanix Support Portal. This section typically houses comprehensive guides and detailed documentation on various software components, including best practices for configuring and managing vSphere networking in a Nutanix environment.

References:

• Nutanix Support Portal: https://portal.nutanix.com
• Nutanix Documentation on vSphere Integration: Nutanix Software Documentation

The issue of VMs not being able to ping the default gateway from a newly created VM network on VLAN 20, while the Nutanix cluster uses VLAN 10, most likely stems from the switch port configuration. For the VMs on VLAN 20 to communicate outside their local network, the switch port to which the Nutanix nodes are connected must be configured as a trunk. This configuration allows multiple VLANs to coexist on the same physical port and enables routing between them. Without the trunk setup, the VLAN 20 traffic is restricted and cannot reach the network beyond the switch, including the default gateway.References: Nutanix Network Configuration Guide, Best Practices for VLAN Configurations.SZXCDESX

Given the symptoms where two nodes correctly failover but lose communication with the third node after an SFP+ is removed, the first action should be to:

• Validate the SFP+ is fully plugged into the node and switch: This is critical because a loose or partially connected SFP+ can cause intermittent network issues, which seems to be the problem based on the scenario described.

References:

• Nutanix Bible (https://www.nutanixbible.com), particularly the network troubleshooting sections.
• Nutanix Field Installation Guide, which provides detailed steps on how to ensure hardware components like SFPs are correctly installed.