Nutanix Certified Associate Practice Exam

What is the minimum size Nutanix cluster that can be expanded without an outage?

1. 4

2. 3

3. 2

4. 1

The correct answer is: 3

A minimum size Nutanix cluster of three nodes is required for expansion without experiencing an outage. This is because Nutanix employs a distributed architecture that relies on mechanisms such as data replication and availability for continuous operation. Having at least three nodes ensures that there is sufficient redundancy and fault tolerance. In the event that one node goes offline during an expansion or maintenance activity, the remaining two nodes can still maintain the cluster’s operations and uphold data redundancy. This is essential for environments where high availability and minimal downtime are critical. A cluster with only two nodes lacks the necessary quorum to maintain operations during a node failure or maintenance, which may lead to outages. Thus, three nodes create a balanced and resilient environment where the cluster can grow seamlessly while maintaining ongoing workloads.