Nutanix Certified Professional - Unified Storage is a professional certification in the unified storage field that enhances practitioners' expertise on the Nutanix platform.

1. Introduction to the NCP-US certification

The Nutanix Certified Professional - Unified Storage (NCP-US) is a certification offered by Nutanix to equip you with in-depth expertise and skills in unified storage operations within the Nutanix environment, thereby enhancing your professional and practical skills in this field.

Unified storage, as a key technology for integrating diverse storage types and meeting diverse business needs, has become crucial. The core of the NCP-US certification is to cultivate and certify professionals who are proficient in using the Nutanix unified storage platform to comprehensively manage diverse storage resources, including file, object, and block storage. This includes rationally planning storage architectures, accurately configuring storage parameters, efficiently monitoring storage performance, and properly handling storage failures.

These professionals are like the "guardians" of enterprise storage systems. They have deep insights into the diverse storage needs of enterprise businesses. Based on data characteristics and application scenarios, they leverage the powerful features and tools provided by Nutanix to effectively address various challenges such as storage capacity expansion, data read and write performance optimization, and storage security. This improves storage resource utilization, availability, and overall operational efficiency, thereby helping enterprises ensure secure storage and efficient access to data assets and support the smooth development of core businesses.

2. Why Earn Your NCP-US Certification?

As a leading company in hyperconverged infrastructure and enterprise cloud, Nutanix's NCP-US certification is highly respected and prestigious within the unified storage field. Obtaining this certification demonstrates that you have undergone professional assessment and possessed standardized knowledge and skills related to unified storage on the Nutanix platform. This makes you more attractive to employers when applying for positions at various levels within Nutanix unified storage.

The NCP-US certification focuses on the key area of unified storage on the Nutanix platform. Earning the NCP-US certification broadens your career path and often significantly increases your salary.

The process of preparing for and obtaining the certification encourages you to systematically and comprehensively acquire knowledge and skills related to unified storage on the Nutanix platform, from fundamental concepts to detailed understanding. This builds a solid foundation for further research and practical application in unified storage, facilitating future career development.

Storage technology and enterprise cloud-related fields are constantly evolving, with new storage architectures, data management methods, and security mechanisms emerging constantly. On the contrary, to stay abreast of industry developments, you need to continuously monitor industry trends, acquire new knowledge and skills, and master cutting-edge practical cases such as new application scenarios for distributed storage and trends in intelligent storage management. This ensures your professional expertise remains relevant to the evolving unified storage landscape, maintaining a competitive edge in your career development.

3. Core Components of the NCP-US Certification

The NCP-US certification builds a comprehensive knowledge base for unified storage management on the Nutanix platform, covering core skills from architecture design and resource configuration to data services and operational assurance. It's suitable for both experienced professionals and newcomers working in cloud storage management and enterprise IT architecture design.

Through this certification, you'll gain a deep understanding of the concept of unified storage—the integration of file, object, and block storage—and its significant impact on improving enterprise data management efficiency. You'll master the functionality of platform components and distributed collaboration mechanisms.

Secondly, you'll become more familiar with file sharing service setup, permission configuration, and performance monitoring and optimization methods. You'll master object storage bucket creation, policy configuration, and data lifecycle management operations. You'll also master block storage volume allocation, performance tuning, and common troubleshooting strategies. You'll establish a comprehensive monitoring system and implement resource adjustment and architecture optimization strategies.

Finally, you will master the configuration of the platform security mechanism, implement refined permission allocation and compliance management, formulate backup strategies based on RPO/RTO, master the automated recovery process, become familiar with storage fault diagnosis methods, and master automated operation and maintenance operations such as resource expansion and data verification.

4. What are the requirements to be a Nutanix Certified Professional-Unified Storage?

(1) Qualification prerequisites:

Nutanix generally recommends that you have some experience in storage management and operations. The knowledge and skills covered in the NCP-US certification are relatively in-depth and complex. Practical work experience helps you better understand and master these areas, integrating theoretical knowledge with practical application, and better prepare for the exam and apply what you've learned in real-world situations.

The NCP-US doesn't have strict educational requirements, but a college degree or higher will be beneficial for exam preparation. A background in a related field, such as computer science and technology, information management and information systems, or network engineering, will provide you with a solid foundation in theoretical knowledge, making it easier to understand unified storage concepts and principles and more quickly grasp key points. 

(2) Training and examinations:

The NCP-US exam typically lasts approximately 90 minutes and consists of a variety of questions, including single-choice, multiple-choice, and practical exercises. It tests your understanding, application, and analytical skills across all aspects of unified storage on the Nutanix platform, assessing your professional proficiency. The number of questions varies depending on the specific exam schedule.

According to Nutanix's official standards, candidates must achieve a certain score percentage to pass the exam. The exam fee is approximately $300. 

(3) Qualification maintenance:

The NCP-US certification is generally valid for two years, and to maintain the validity of the certification, you must accumulate a certain number of credits by participating in Nutanix-approved continuing education activities during the validity period.

5. Comparable Certifications to Nutanix Certified Professional-Unified Storage certification

• NetApp Certified Data Administrator, ONTAP (NCDA)
• IBM Certified Solution Advisor—Spectrum Storage
• Dell Technologies Information Storage and Management
• VMware Certified Data Center Virtualization (VCDX‑DCV)