The Nutanix ECA course addresses data protection mechanisms, including how to safeguard disaster recovery (DR) snapshots from inadvertent or malicious deletion. Ensuring that DR snapshots are protected while providing notification requires a policy-based approach to control and monitor deletion actions. The ECA course emphasizes the use ofApproval Policiesin Prism Central to enforce oversight on critical operations like snapshot deletion.
Extract from Nutanix Enterprise Cloud Administration (ECA) Course Documents:
Module: Data Protection, Section: Approval Policies"Approval Policies in Prism Central allow administrators to enforce review and approval for operations such as snapshot deletion. By creating an Approval Policy for DR snapshots, administrators can ensure that deletion requests are reviewed by designated approvers, preventing unauthorized or accidental deletions and providing notifications to relevant stakeholders."
Module: Prism Central Management, Section: Policy Engine"To protect critical resources like DR snapshots, an Approval Policy can be applied to require approval for deletion actions. This ensures that no snapshot is deleted without explicit authorization, and notifications are sent to approvers to maintain oversight."
Explanation of Options:
A. Create and Apply an Approval PolicyThis is the correct answer. An Approval Policy in Prism Central is the best way to protect DR snapshots from inadvertent or malicious deletion. The policy requires designated approvers to review and authorize snapshot deletion requests, ensuring oversight and preventing unauthorized actions. Notifications are sent to approvers, meeting the requirement for awareness of deletion attempts. The ECA course highlights:"Approval Policies are ideal for protecting critical data assets, such as DR snapshots, by enforcing a mandatory review process before deletion."
B. Create and Apply an Alert PolicyThis is incorrect. Alert Policies in Nutanix are used to notify administrators of system events or thresholds (e.g., high CPU usage or disk failures) but do not prevent actions like snapshot deletion. While an Alert Policy could notify administrators after a deletion occurs, it does not provide proactive protection or require approval, failing to meet the question’s requirements. The ECA course states:"Alert Policies are reactive and designed to notify administrators of events, not to control or prevent actions like snapshot deletion."
C. Assign DR Admin Role to usersThis is incorrect. Assigning a DR Admin Role grants users permissions to manage DR operations, including snapshot deletion, but does not add protection or notification mechanisms. In fact, it could increase the risk of deletion by granting more users access. The ECA course notes:"The DR Admin Role provides administrative privileges for data protection tasks but does not enforce approval workflows or protect against unauthorized deletions."
D. Create a Playbook to alert on eventThis is incorrect. Playbooks in Nutanix Flow or Prism Central are used to automate responses to events (e.g., scaling resources or sending alerts), but they are not designed to prevent snapshot deletion or enforce approval workflows. A Playbook could alert administrators after a deletion event, but it lacks the proactive control provided by an Approval Policy. The ECA course clarifies:"Playbooks are suited for automated remediation or notifications but cannot enforce approval for actions like snapshot deletion."
Additional Context from ECA:
Approval Policy Workflow: In Prism Central, an Approval Policy can be created underPolicies > Approval Policies, specifying DR snapshots as the target resource and defining approvers. When a user attempts to delete a protected snapshot, the request is queued for approval, and notifications are sent to approvers via email or Prism Central’s interface.
Use Case: For DR snapshots, which are critical for recovery, Approval Policies ensure that only authorized personnel can approve deletions, reducing the risk of data loss.
Supporting Reference from Web Results:
The Nutanix Bible (https://www.nutanix.com/go/the-nutanix-bible) supports the ECA documentation: "Approval Policies in Prism Central provide granular control over operations like snapshot deletion, ensuring critical DR resources are protected through mandatory approval workflows."