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Back to NCP-MCI-6.5 Exam

This 4-week study plan is designed using the Pomodoro Technique (25 minutes of focused study followed by 5 minutes of rest) and the Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve for periodic reviews. Each week has clear goals, daily learning tasks, and active hands-on practices to solidify the concepts.

Goals of the Study Plan

  1. Master the NCP-MCI-6.5 knowledge domains, including cluster management, storage, networking, performance tuning, and VM deployment.
  2. Hands-On Proficiency: Gain practical experience through Nutanix Community Edition (CE) for real-world configuration and troubleshooting.
  3. Build a Solid Knowledge Base: Understand concepts, master procedures, and optimize systems through practice.
  4. Exam Readiness: Regularly revise the content, address weak areas, and simulate test environments using practice exams.

Daily Study Structure

  • Focused Study Blocks: 4-6 Pomodoro sessions daily (25 minutes study + 5 minutes break). After 4 Pomodoros, take a 20-minute break.
  • Content Focus: One major topic per day to maintain focus and avoid cognitive overload.
  • Review Time: Dedicate 15-30 minutes at the end of each day for active recall and notes review.
  • Weekly Review: Perform a cumulative review every 7th day to reinforce learning and identify knowledge gaps.

Week 1: Manage Cluster, Nodes, and Features

Objective: Master Nutanix cluster deployment, node management, and key cluster features (HA, data resilience, RBAC).

Day 1: Initial Cluster Deployment and Configuration

Tasks:

  1. Learn the basics of Nutanix clusters:

    • Understand Foundation Tool and its role in deploying Nutanix clusters.
    • Key steps in cluster setup:
      • Installing Controller Virtual Machines (CVMs).
      • Assigning static IPs to CVMs, hypervisors, DNS, and NTP.

  2. Perform hands-on lab:

    • Deploy a 3-node Nutanix cluster using Nutanix Community Edition (CE):
      • Configure Foundation Tool.
      • Assign IP addresses and verify connectivity.
      • Access Prism Element for cluster initialization.

  3. Document the process: Write down each step with screenshots for future reference.

Pomodoros: 6 sessions (3 hours).
Review: Summarize the steps for deploying the Nutanix cluster.

Day 2: Cluster Nodes Management

Tasks:

  1. Learn node management concepts:

    • Adding new nodes to a cluster.
    • Safely removing nodes while maintaining data availability.
    • Performing cluster health checks.

  2. Understand Life Cycle Management (LCM):

    • Learn how LCM simplifies updates for firmware, AOS, and hypervisors.
    • Study the impact of upgrades on nodes and workloads.

  3. Perform hands-on lab:

    • Add a new node to your existing cluster.
    • Simulate a node removal scenario (maintenance mode).
    • Run LCM updates for a node or a test cluster.

  4. Document and troubleshoot: Note down any errors during node addition/removal and learn how to resolve them.

Pomodoros: 6 sessions.
Review: Revisit LCM and node health-check concepts.

Day 3: High Availability (HA) and Data Resilience

Tasks:

  1. Learn the principles of High Availability (HA):

    • How HA automatically restarts VMs on healthy nodes after failures.
    • Conditions for HA to function (replication factor, sufficient resources).

  2. Understand Data Resilience:

    • Learn about Replication Factor (RF) and its importance in maintaining data copies (RF-2 and RF-3).
    • Study data rebalancing during node or disk failures.

  3. Perform hands-on lab:

    • Enable and test HA in your lab environment.
    • Simulate a node failure to observe VM failover behavior.
    • Verify data balancing and replication across nodes.

  4. Take notes: Summarize the differences between RF-2 and RF-3 and their real-world implications.

Pomodoros: 6 sessions.
Review: Recap the HA configuration steps and test your understanding.

Day 4: Data Protection and Automatic Data Balancing

Tasks:

  1. Learn data protection mechanisms:

    • Understand how Nutanix balances data across nodes during:
      • Node addition/removal.
      • Node or disk failures.

  2. Focus on self-healing capabilities:

    • Learn how the cluster identifies and repairs corrupted or lost data.

  3. Perform hands-on lab:

    • Place a node into maintenance mode and monitor data movement.
    • Test the cluster’s behavior during a disk failure (mark a disk offline).

  4. Document findings: Write down how the cluster ensures data availability and protection.

Pomodoros: 6 sessions.
Review: Actively recall the role of automatic data balancing and protection.

Day 5: User Management and RBAC (Role-Based Access Control)

Tasks:

  1. Understand user roles and permissions:

    • Learn about Admin, Storage Admin, Read-only, and custom roles.
    • Explore how to assign roles and restrict access to different Nutanix components.

  2. Learn integration with external directories:

    • Study the steps to integrate with Active Directory (AD) and LDAP for centralized authentication.

  3. Perform hands-on lab:

    • Create multiple users with different roles.
    • Integrate Nutanix with a test AD setup and test role assignments.

  4. Document access control rules: Summarize the roles you configured and their permissions.

Pomodoros: 6 sessions.
Review: Quiz yourself on different user roles and their use cases.

Day 6: Practical Lab Day

Tasks:

  1. Deploy a full Nutanix environment from scratch:

    • Set up a cluster, add nodes, and configure HA.
    • Verify replication factor and data rebalancing.

  2. Perform node operations:

    • Add a node and remove it safely.
    • Test LCM updates and document observations.

  3. Configure user roles:

    • Create Admin and Read-only users.
    • Integrate with AD.

  4. Document and Troubleshoot: Note errors and resolutions for each lab task.

Pomodoros: 8 sessions (4 hours).
Review: Reflect on the tasks completed and note challenges faced.

Day 7: Weekly Review and Self-Assessment

Tasks:

  1. Review all topics:

    • Cluster deployment and initialization.
    • Node management, LCM updates, HA, and replication factor.
    • User roles and external directory integration.

  2. Active Recall:

    • Write down key concepts without looking at notes.
    • Explain HA and data protection concepts in your own words.

  3. Practice Questions:

    • Solve 20-30 practice questions related to:
      • Cluster deployment steps.
      • Node addition/removal.
      • HA, data balancing, and user roles.

  4. Identify Weak Areas:

    • Go back and revise topics you struggled with.

  5. Relax and Reflect: Take time to consolidate what you’ve learned and prepare for next week.

Pomodoros: 6 sessions.
Output: Summarized notes for Week 1 and completed practice questions.

Summary of Week 1

At the end of Week 1, you should:

  • Be able to deploy a Nutanix cluster using Foundation and Prism.
  • Understand and perform node management tasks (add/remove nodes, LCM upgrades).
  • Configure HA and data resilience mechanisms.
  • Manage user roles with RBAC and integrate external directories like AD.
  • Confidently answer questions related to cluster initialization, HA, and node management.

Week 2: Manage Cluster Storage & Configure Cluster Networking

Objective

By the end of this week, you will:

  1. Understand Nutanix storage architecture, storage pools, containers, and optimization techniques like deduplication, compression, and erasure coding.
  2. Master storage management tasks such as creating containers, monitoring capacity, and enabling data protection.
  3. Learn how to configure Nutanix networking, including VLANs, vNICs, network security, and advanced segmentation features.
  4. Practice hands-on tasks to strengthen your practical skills.
Day 8: Nutanix Storage Architecture Overview

Tasks:

  1. Learn the basics of Nutanix Distributed Storage Fabric (DSF):

    • Understand the components of DSF:
      • Storage Pools: Aggregation of physical storage across nodes.
      • Containers: Logical storage units within pools for storing VM data.
      • Extent Store and Metadata Store: Explore how Nutanix manages large sequential and metadata operations.

  2. Study storage protocols:

    • Learn the difference between iSCSI (block storage) and NFS (file-based storage).

  3. Perform hands-on lab:

    • Create a Storage Pool.
    • Create two containers with default configurations.
    • Assign a VM disk to one container.

  4. Document the configuration: Write step-by-step notes and take screenshots.

Pomodoros: 6 sessions.
Review: Summarize the DSF architecture and container creation process.

Day 9: Storage Features and Optimization

Tasks:

  1. Learn storage optimization techniques:

    • Compression: Difference between inline compression (real-time) and post-process compression.
    • Deduplication: Eliminating redundant data blocks at the container level.
    • Erasure Coding (EC-X): Understand its RAID-like benefits for cold data.

  2. Study use cases:

    • Identify when to enable compression, deduplication, or EC-X (e.g., VDI, databases, file storage).

  3. Perform hands-on lab:

    • Enable compression on a storage container.
    • Enable deduplication for another container.
    • Observe the effects on storage utilization in Prism Element.

  4. Analyze the results: Check how much storage space is saved.

Pomodoros: 6 sessions.
Review: Draw a diagram showing how storage optimization techniques work together.

Day 10: Storage Management Tasks

Tasks:

  1. Learn day-to-day storage management tasks:

    • Create and expand storage pools.
    • Create and configure containers with performance optimization policies.
    • Monitor storage usage and capacity thresholds.

  2. Perform hands-on lab:

    • Expand an existing Storage Pool by adding a new disk to the cluster.
    • Enable container-level QoS to limit IOPS for specific workloads.

  3. Practice monitoring tools:

    • Use Prism Dashboard to analyze IOPS, throughput, and latency.

  4. Document findings: Write notes on expanding storage pools, enabling QoS, and interpreting performance metrics.

Pomodoros: 6 sessions.
Review: Recap storage capacity management concepts.

Day 11: Data Protection – Snapshots and Replication

Tasks:

  1. Understand Nutanix data protection mechanisms:

    • Snapshots: Point-in-time backups at the VM and container levels.
    • Asynchronous Replication: How data is replicated between Nutanix clusters for disaster recovery.

  2. Perform hands-on lab:

    • Create VM-level snapshots and restore a VM to a previous state.
    • Configure asynchronous replication between two containers.

  3. Verify and test recovery:

    • Test recovery from snapshots and ensure replication consistency.

  4. Summarize key concepts: Write down the differences between snapshots and replication and their use cases.

Pomodoros: 6 sessions.
Review: Explain snapshot recovery and replication steps in your own words.

Day 12: Cluster Networking Overview

Tasks:

  1. Learn Nutanix network architecture:

    • Study how virtual switches (vSwitches) enable communication between VMs.
    • Understand Open vSwitch (OVS) in AHV.
    • Learn about VLANs, VLAN tagging, and network traffic isolation.

  2. Explore NIC configurations:

    • Learn how NIC bonding modes (Active-Active, Active-Backup) provide redundancy and performance.

  3. Perform hands-on lab:

    • Create two VLANs (e.g., VLAN 10 for apps, VLAN 20 for databases).
    • Attach vNICs to VMs and configure VLAN tagging.
    • Verify connectivity between VMs on the same VLAN.

  4. Document your setup: Write notes and draw diagrams for vSwitch and VLAN configurations.

Pomodoros: 6 sessions.
Review: Actively recall the networking concepts learned today.

Day 13: Network Segmentation and Microsegmentation

Tasks:

  1. Understand network segmentation:

    • Learn how VLANs are used to segment traffic (e.g., management, storage, and VM traffic).

  2. Learn about Nutanix Flow for Microsegmentation:

    • Understand how to use distributed firewall rules to control East-West traffic between VMs.
    • Study Flow security policies and their importance in securing workloads.

  3. Perform hands-on lab:

    • Create categories for VMs (e.g., Web Servers, Database Servers).
    • Define security policies to allow/block traffic between these categories.

  4. Test network policies:

    • Use ping or traceroute to confirm traffic is restricted/allowed based on the policies.

Pomodoros: 6 sessions.
Review: Reflect on the role of microsegmentation in securing virtualized environments.

Day 14: Weekly Review and Self-Assessment

Tasks:

  1. Review all topics:

    • Nutanix storage architecture: Storage Pools, Containers, Extent Store.
    • Storage optimization: Compression, Deduplication, Erasure Coding.
    • Networking: VLANs, vSwitches, and Microsegmentation.

  2. Active Recall:

    • Write down the steps to:
      • Create and expand a storage pool.
      • Enable compression and deduplication on a container.
      • Configure VLANs and microsegmentation policies.

  3. Practice Questions:

    • Solve 20-30 questions related to storage and networking topics.

  4. Hands-On Practice:

    • Perform the following tasks again:
      • Expand a storage pool.
      • Configure VLANs.
      • Apply microsegmentation policies to secure traffic between VMs.

  5. Reflect and Relax:

    • Identify weak areas and plan for additional practice if needed.

Pomodoros: 6 sessions.
Output: Summarized notes, practice questions, and completed lab tasks for Week 2.

Summary of Week 2

At the end of Week 2, you should be able to:

  • Explain the components of Nutanix storage architecture and optimization features.
  • Perform core storage management tasks such as expanding pools, enabling compression, and configuring QoS.
  • Understand Nutanix networking concepts, VLANs, and microsegmentation using Nutanix Flow.
  • Confidently answer questions and perform hands-on tasks related to storage and networking.

Week 3: Analyze, Remediate Performance Issues, and Alerts

Objective

By the end of this week, you will:

  1. Master Nutanix performance analysis tools, including monitoring CPU, memory, storage, and network metrics.
  2. Learn to identify and remediate performance bottlenecks in virtual machines, storage, and network.
  3. Understand Nutanix alerting mechanisms and how to create and manage custom alerts.
  4. Gain hands-on skills in troubleshooting and root cause analysis (RCA) using Prism dashboards and tools.
Day 15: Prism Performance Analysis Tools

Tasks:

  1. Understand the performance dashboard:

    • Access Prism Element or Prism Central.
    • Explore real-time metrics for CPU, memory, storage, and network performance.
    • Learn key metrics:
      • IOPS (Input/Output Operations Per Second).
      • Latency: Storage response times.
      • Throughput: Network or storage data transfer rates.

  2. Explore the Resource Heatmap:

    • Identify overloaded nodes or underutilized resources.
    • Use the heatmap to locate VMs with performance issues.

  3. Perform hands-on lab:

    • Access Prism → Analysis → Performance.
    • Monitor resource utilization for a specific VM and node.
    • Document high-usage trends for CPU, memory, or storage.

  4. Review learning: Summarize key metrics and their importance in identifying bottlenecks.

Pomodoros: 6 sessions.
Review: Explain how IOPS, latency, and throughput are used to measure performance.

Day 16: Diagnosing CPU and Memory Bottlenecks

Tasks:

  1. Learn symptoms of CPU and memory issues:

    • CPU Ready Time: Indicates VMs are waiting for CPU resources.
    • Memory swapping: Signs of memory contention.

  2. Diagnose performance bottlenecks:

    • Use Prism to identify VMs with:
      • High CPU usage (>90%).
      • High memory utilization (>85%).

  3. Perform hands-on lab:

    • Adjust resources for a VM experiencing high CPU or memory contention:
      • Increase vCPU and vRAM allocations.
      • Verify changes using the performance dashboard.

  4. Practice workload balancing:

    • Migrate a VM to a node with lower resource usage using VM Placement.

  5. Document your findings: Write down metrics before and after resource changes.

Pomodoros: 6 sessions.
Review: Practice identifying CPU and memory bottlenecks in a sample lab environment.

Day 17: Diagnosing Storage Bottlenecks

Tasks:

  1. Understand symptoms of storage performance issues:

    • High latency during read/write operations.
    • Reduced IOPS causing slow VM performance.

  2. Diagnose storage issues using Prism:

    • Monitor IOPS, latency, and throughput for specific containers and VMs.
    • Identify potential causes:
      • Imbalanced data placement.
      • Resource contention due to shared workloads.

  3. Perform hands-on lab:

    • Enable QoS (Quality of Service) on a VM:
      • Limit IOPS for non-critical workloads.
      • Prioritize storage performance for critical VMs.
    • Test the impact of QoS policies on I/O performance.

  4. Optimize storage features:

    • Enable compression or deduplication on storage containers to reduce storage pressure.

  5. Document your troubleshooting process: Write down how QoS and storage features improved performance.

Pomodoros: 6 sessions.
Review: Actively recall storage troubleshooting steps.

Day 18: Diagnosing Network Bottlenecks

Tasks:

  1. Learn symptoms of network issues:

    • Packet loss and latency spikes.
    • Slow traffic between VMs or external services.

  2. Analyze network performance:

    • Use Prism dashboards to monitor network metrics:
      • Throughput (Mbps/Gbps).
      • Packet errors and drops.

  3. Troubleshoot NIC and VLAN issues:

    • Verify NIC bonding configurations:
      • Active-Active for load balancing.
      • Active-Backup for redundancy.
    • Validate VLAN tagging and traffic isolation.

  4. Perform hands-on lab:

    • Simulate network bottlenecks by generating test traffic.
    • Use QoS to prioritize bandwidth for critical workloads.

  5. Document your findings: Summarize troubleshooting steps for resolving network issues.

Pomodoros: 6 sessions.
Review: Explain the importance of NIC bonding and VLANs in resolving bottlenecks.

Day 19: Configuring Alerts and Notifications

Tasks:

  1. Learn default alerts:

    • Study preconfigured Nutanix alerts (Critical, Warning, Informational).

  2. Create custom alert policies:

    • Define conditions to trigger alerts:
      • CPU usage >90% for 5 minutes.
      • Storage utilization >80%.

  3. Configure email notifications:

    • Set up SMTP settings to send alerts to administrators.

  4. Integrate with external tools:

    • Integrate alerts with Syslog for centralized log management.
    • Configure SNMP for monitoring tools like Nagios.

  5. Perform hands-on lab:

    • Create a custom alert policy in Prism.
    • Simulate a trigger condition (e.g., high CPU usage) and verify notifications.

  6. Document the process: Write down steps for creating and testing alerts.

Pomodoros: 6 sessions.
Review: Recall the steps to create custom alerts and enable notifications.

Day 20: Performing Root Cause Analysis (RCA)

Tasks:

  1. Learn the process of RCA:

    • Identify the impacted VMs, nodes, or storage components.
    • Analyze performance trends using Prism dashboards.
    • Correlate metrics to pinpoint the root cause.

  2. Study common issues:

    • CPU and memory contention.
    • Storage latency and network drops.

  3. Perform hands-on lab:

    • Simulate an issue:
      • For example, create high CPU load on a VM.
    • Use Prism to analyze:
      • Heatmaps, performance trends, and event logs.
    • Document the RCA process and resolution steps.

  4. Reflect and summarize: Write down a structured approach for RCA.

Pomodoros: 6 sessions.
Review: Recap the key steps to perform an RCA.

Day 21: Weekly Review and Self-Assessment

Tasks:

  1. Review all topics:

    • Performance analysis tools (CPU, memory, storage, and network).
    • Diagnosing and resolving bottlenecks.
    • Configuring and managing alerts and notifications.
    • Performing RCA using Prism.

  2. Active Recall:

    • Write down the step-by-step process for:
      • Identifying performance bottlenecks.
      • Optimizing storage performance with QoS.
      • Setting up custom alerts and notifications.

  3. Practice Questions:

    • Solve 20-30 questions on:
      • Diagnosing CPU/memory, storage, and network issues.
      • Configuring alerts and performing RCA.

  4. Hands-On Lab Practice:

    • Repeat key tasks:
      • Create custom alerts.
      • Diagnose performance issues for a VM.
      • Resolve a storage bottleneck using QoS.

  5. Reflect and Relax: Identify any weak areas for further practice.

Pomodoros: 6 sessions.
Output: Complete notes, practice results, and lab tasks for Week 3.

Summary of Week 3

At the end of Week 3, you should:

  • Be proficient in using Prism to monitor and analyze performance metrics.
  • Diagnose and resolve CPU, memory, storage, and network bottlenecks.
  • Create and manage alerts to proactively monitor the Nutanix cluster.
  • Perform Root Cause Analysis (RCA) effectively to troubleshoot and resolve issues.

Week 4: Manage VM Deployment and Configuration

Objective

By the end of this week, you will:

  1. Master the deployment, cloning, and configuration of virtual machines (VMs).
  2. Learn resource management, storage optimization, and networking for VMs.
  3. Understand how to balance workloads, optimize VM performance, and configure snapshots for data protection.
  4. Gain hands-on experience through comprehensive labs and cumulative practice.
Day 22: Deploying Virtual Machines

Tasks:

  1. Learn the VM creation process:

    • Steps to create a new VM in Prism Element or Prism Central:
      • Assign vCPUs and vRAM.
      • Attach disks to the VM (select appropriate containers).
      • Assign virtual NICs (vNICs) and configure VLANs.
      • Boot the VM using an ISO image uploaded to the Image Service.

  2. Understand resource planning:

    • Analyze how to size resources (vCPU, vRAM, disk) based on the workload type (e.g., database, web server).

  3. Perform hands-on lab:

    • Create a VM from scratch with the following specifications:
      • Name: TestApp01
      • vCPUs: 2
      • Memory: 8 GB
      • Disk: 50 GB on a Storage Container
      • Network: Attach a vNIC to VLAN 10
      • Boot using a Linux ISO uploaded to the Image Service.

  4. Verify and test the VM:

    • Power on the VM, install the OS, and confirm its connectivity to the network.

  5. Document the steps: Write detailed notes and screenshots for future reference.

Pomodoros: 6 sessions.
Review: Summarize the steps for VM creation and resource planning.

Day 23: Image Management and VM Cloning

Tasks:

  1. Learn Nutanix Image Service:

    • Understand how to upload, manage, and organize images (ISO, VMDK, QCOW2) for deployments.

  2. Study VM cloning:

    • Difference between Full Clone (independent copy) and Linked Clone (shared base disk).
    • Learn the use cases:
      • Full Clone: Production workloads.
      • Linked Clone: Rapidly deploying test environments or VDI.

  3. Perform hands-on lab:

    • Upload a Windows Server ISO to the Image Service.
    • Clone an existing VM using both Full Clone and Linked Clone methods.
    • Compare the storage usage between the two clones.

  4. Test and validate the cloned VMs:

    • Power on the cloned VMs and confirm proper functionality.

  5. Document the process: Summarize cloning differences and record lab results.

Pomodoros: 6 sessions.
Review: Recall the benefits of Linked Clones vs. Full Clones.

Day 24: VM Resource Management

Tasks:

  1. Learn to manage VM resources dynamically:

    • Adjust vCPU and vRAM allocation based on workload demands.
    • Expand existing VM disks or attach new storage volumes.

  2. Understand resource policies:

    • CPU and memory reservations: Ensure dedicated resources for critical VMs.
    • Configure Storage QoS: Limit IOPS for non-critical workloads.

  3. Perform hands-on lab:

    • Edit an existing VM to:
      • Increase vCPUs from 2 to 4.
      • Add 8 GB of memory to the VM.
      • Expand the disk size from 50 GB to 100 GB.
    • Enable QoS on a storage container to limit IOPS for a test VM.

  4. Test VM performance:

    • Monitor resource usage in Prism Performance Dashboard before and after the changes.

  5. Document findings: Write step-by-step notes on resource adjustments and the results.

Pomodoros: 6 sessions.
Review: Actively recall resource adjustment methods.

Day 25: VM Networking Configuration

Tasks:

  1. Learn networking for VMs:

    • Understand vNICs and how to assign them to VMs.
    • Configure VLAN tagging for traffic isolation.
    • Apply QoS for vNICs to prioritize network bandwidth for critical VMs.

  2. Understand microsegmentation:

    • Use Nutanix Flow to create policies controlling East-West traffic between VMs.

  3. Perform hands-on lab:

    • Assign multiple vNICs to a VM and configure:
      • VLAN 10 for application traffic.
      • VLAN 20 for database traffic.
    • Apply microsegmentation rules to block traffic between test VMs while allowing specific ports (e.g., TCP 3306).

  4. Test and validate network traffic:

    • Use ping and traceroute to confirm traffic isolation.

  5. Document configurations: Summarize VLAN and microsegmentation rules.

Pomodoros: 6 sessions.
Review: Explain how VLAN tagging and microsegmentation enhance VM security.

Day 26: VM Placement and Performance Tuning

Tasks:

  1. Learn VM placement techniques:

    • Use Affinity Rules to keep related VMs together.
    • Use Anti-Affinity Rules to prevent resource contention by separating critical VMs.

  2. Study performance monitoring:

    • Analyze VM performance metrics:
      • CPU, memory, disk IOPS, and latency.
    • Identify underperforming VMs and resolve bottlenecks.

  3. Perform hands-on lab:

    • Apply anti-affinity rules to keep two database VMs on separate nodes.
    • Use Prism Performance Dashboard to identify a VM with high CPU usage and adjust its vCPU allocation.

  4. Optimize storage placement:

    • Ensure critical VMs are placed on SSD-enabled storage containers.

  5. Document the lab results: Write detailed notes on workload balancing and performance tuning.

Pomodoros: 6 sessions.
Review: Summarize key steps for optimizing VM performance.

Day 27: VM Snapshots and Backups

Tasks:

  1. Understand data protection:

    • Learn the purpose of VM Snapshots as point-in-time backups.
    • Automate snapshot schedules for critical workloads.

  2. Explore third-party integrations:

    • Understand how to integrate with tools like Veeam or Commvault for comprehensive backups.

  3. Perform hands-on lab:

    • Take a snapshot of a running VM and test recovery.
    • Automate snapshot schedules using Protection Policies:
      • Daily snapshot retention for 7 days.
    • Integrate with Veeam (if available) and schedule a full VM backup.

  4. Test recovery:

    • Roll back a VM to an earlier snapshot and validate data integrity.

  5. Document snapshot policies: Write down step-by-step procedures for snapshots and recovery.

Pomodoros: 6 sessions.
Review: Reflect on the importance of VM snapshots in disaster recovery.

Day 28: Final Review and Mock Exam Simulation

Tasks:

  1. Review all topics from Weeks 1-4:

    • Cluster management, storage optimization, networking, performance troubleshooting, and VM deployment.

  2. Active Recall:

    • Write down the steps for key tasks:
      • Cluster deployment.
      • VM creation and resource adjustment.
      • Storage and networking optimizations.

  3. Solve full-length mock exams:

    • Complete 2 full-length practice exams (65 questions each).
    • Time yourself and simulate a real exam environment.

  4. Review mock exam results:

    • Identify incorrect answers, understand the concepts, and revise weak areas.

  5. Relax and Reflect:

    • Go through your summarized notes and focus on confidence-building.

Pomodoros: 8 sessions.
Output: Completed mock exams, corrected answers, and strengthened knowledge.

Summary of Week 4

At the end of Week 4, you should be able to:

  • Deploy, clone, and configure VMs effectively.
  • Adjust VM resources and optimize performance.
  • Manage VM networking, VLANs, and microsegmentation.
  • Use snapshots and backups for VM data protection.
  • Confidently complete mock exams and identify areas for improvement.

Final Words

Stay consistent, focus on practical learning, and use the provided labs and reviews to reinforce your understanding. With dedication and hands-on practice, you will master the NCP-MCI-6.5 exam content and achieve success.