An administrator is asked to configure a container to support 2000 non-persistent linked clone desktops. What is the optimal configuration of this container?

For a large-scale, non-persistent linked clone VDI environment, the optimal configuration leverages storage efficiency features that target the workload's specific characteristics. Linked clones share a common base image, resulting in a massive amount of duplicate data blocks. Performance-tier deduplication (fingerprinting on write) and capacity-tier deduplication significantly reduce the storage footprint from these common blocks and improve cache hit rates (via Shadow Clones). Inline compression further reduces the storage footprint of unique data, such as user profiles and temporary files, providing a comprehensive efficiency strategy without a significant performance penalty.

A. Compression only addresses unique data but misses the massive space-saving opportunity from the duplicate blocks shared by the linked clones.
C. Deduplication only is not optimal because it forgoes the additional space savings that compression provides on the remaining unique data blocks.
D. While Erasure Coding (EC-X) saves space, it can add latency to random write I/O, which is common in VDI. For non-persistent VDI, performance is paramount, and the standard Replication Factor 2 (RF2) is often preferred for its superior random write performance.

1. Nutanix End-User Computing Design v6.5, Chapter: "Nutanix Storage for EUC", Section: "Storage Configuration". The guide explicitly recommends: "For both full-clone and linked-clone desktops, we recommend enabling inline compression and capacity-tier deduplication on the Nutanix containers."

2. Nutanix Best Practices Guide: Citrix on Nutanix, Section: "Storage Design". This guide states, "Enable inline compression and deduplication on the containers that host the base VMs and linked clones. These features provide the best storage optimization for VDI workloads." It prioritizes these two features as the core for VDI optimization.