Nutanix Certified Associate Practice Exam

What is the main function of Zookeeper in a Nutanix cluster?

1. Data Backup and Recovery

2. Configuration Management

3. Coordination and Synchronization of Services

4. Resource Allocation

The correct answer is: Coordination and Synchronization of Services

Zookeeper plays a crucial role in a Nutanix cluster by providing coordination and synchronization of services. This component is vital for managing distributed applications, as it ensures that various services within the cluster can work together harmoniously. Zookeeper maintains configuration information, naming, synchronization, and providing group services which are important for service orchestration in a clustered environment. It acts as a centralized service for maintaining metadata about the cluster services and helps in managing the state of these services effectively. The coordination capabilities prevent conflicts and allow for fault tolerance, as Zookeeper can track node states and handle failures efficiently. This ensures that the services can continue to operate smoothly in a distributed environment. Without such coordination, managing the various components of the Nutanix cluster would be significantly more complex and prone to errors. In contrast, the other options do not directly align with Zookeeper’s core functionality within a Nutanix environment. For example, data backup and recovery primarily involve mechanisms and processes to safeguard data rather than service coordination. Configuration management pertains to managing and maintaining the configurations of systems, while resource allocation focuses on the distribution of resources like CPU and memory across different tasks and services, which are different objectives that Zookeeper does not directly handle.