The NPX Design Review (NDR) has a 90 minute “Solution Design Presentation” where the NPX candidate presents their design submission to the examiners. This post is an enhancement of the presentation strategy I developed for VCDX and customised for NPX.
Tag: NPX
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NPX – The Journey to Number 8
VCDX and NPX sound great (how can so few letters be so difficult to achieve?), but it is very, very hard work with many hours of effort and stress, including juggling a day-job that bleeds into your personal life. I have to profoundly thank my wife and children for putting up with my passion (or obsession?) for knowledge and learning.
At VMworld US 2014, I first heard rumblings that Nutanix was planning an elite certification for HCI under the mentorship of Mark Brunstad. My opinion is that HCI is the future of data center infrastructure and legacy, three tier infrastructure will eventually die out, just like Token-Ring and Novell Netware (what is that?). Right there, I made the promise to myself that I would be one of the first to attempt (and hopefully pass) NPX once it became publicly available. And who better to align my efforts with than the inventor and leader of the HCI space?
NPX – Controller VM Sizing
The Nutanix Controller VM has some sizing guidelines that are published in the official documentation, but the majority of the sizing logic is embedded within Foundation (and Phoenix) which is applied during the node deployment process.
As a customer you can ignore this under the guise of “invisible infrastructure”, but as an NPX candidate you need to understand the details. Be aware that Nutanix is constantly trying to optimise the CVM code to “do more with less” and leverage the CPU features of each new generation of Intel processors. Continue reading NPX – Controller VM Sizing
NPX – Sizing a Nutanix Cluster
If you are used to sizing traditional 3-tier infrastructure, you will have to alter your methodology to correctly size a Nutanix Cluster. The major difference is the selection of the correct appliance hardware and sub-options for the cluster (Vendor, Sockets, Cores, GHz/core, RAM, SSD, HDD, SED, GPU, 1GbE, 10GbE, Rack Units, Power, Cooling) and allow for the correct sizing of the Controller VM (vCPU and RAM) per Node/Host. Continue reading NPX – Sizing a Nutanix Cluster
NPX – Mock Panel Timer
Following the style of “VCDX Timer” by Andrew Mitchell, I have created the same for NPX Candidates wanting to perform mock panel defences with the NPX Certification Program. Many thanks to Andrew who has graciously allowed me to use his HTML/CSS code as a base template.
NPX – Preparation Strategy for D-Day
The NPX blueprint is quite a challenge because it requires the mastery of two hypervisors, the Nutanix XCP eco-system (including Dell OEM appliances) and the silos of Enterprise Information Technology (Compute, Network, Storage, Backup/Recovery, Security, etc.).
Once you have submitted your NPX document set, you have 60 days to get ready for your defence, with the belief that you will receive your invitation to defend on day 30.
The questions you should be asking yourself are, “How do I prepare myself for the day of the defence?” and “How do I get through this massive amount of material?”
Nutanix NPX by the Numbers
Visit the official Nutanix NPX Directory as the single source of truth.
vcdx133.com 