# Silvio Balduzzi CTO · Solution Architect - Site: https://www.silviobalduzzi.com/ ## Nutanix Move without VDDK: DirectPath, what’s new in 6.x and the multihomed setup - Link: https://www.silviobalduzzi.com/en/2026/11/nutanix-move-directpath-without-vddk-multihomed/ - Published: 2026-11-03T18:44:15+01:00 - Author: balduz84 _Until a few weeks ago, every VMware migration with Nutanix Move started the same way: download the VDDK from the Broadcom portal and upload it to the appliance. Since the end of August that download is gone, and Nutanix has answered with Move 6.3.3 and a new migration method, DirectPath. Let’s look at how it works, what it requires, what the rest of the 6.x family brought and, while we’re at it, how to configure Move when it has more than one network adapter._ ## The problem: you can’t download the VDDK anymore The Virtual Disk Development Kit (VDDK) is the VMware library that third-party products use to read VM disks on ESXi. Move relied on it for years to copy the disks of the source VMs, but the VDDK is not part of Move: since version 5.3.0 you have to download it from the Broadcom portal and upload it to the appliance before adding an ESXi environment as a source, picking the right version for your ESXi release (7.0.3.1 or 8.0.3.2 with the most recent versions of Move). At the end of August 2026 Broadcom removed the public VDDK download pages. Customers who opened a ticket were told that the kit is no longer available for general use and is now reserved for technology partners, for backup and recovery products. This isn’t just a Nutanix issue: Red Hat MTV, Azure Migrate and several tools that migrate to KVM depend on the VDDK too. For anyone planning their exit from VMware, this is a real roadblock: without the VDDK, Move up to 6.3 can’t copy disks from ESXi. ## DirectPath: how it works Move 6.3.3, whose release notes are dated October 13, 2026, introduces **DirectPath**: a method that transfers VM disk data directly from ESXi to AHV, without the VDDK. Nutanix calls it a special release, already GA, designed for ESXi-to-AHV migrations and for ESXi to ESXi on AOS. According to the Nutanix technical blog, this is how it works: 1. Move takes a snapshot of the source VM’s disk. 2. The snapshot disk is attached to the Move appliance as a local block device. 3. Move reads the data at block level, regardless of the guest operating system’s file system, and copies it to the target cluster together with the VM configuration. 4. Once the copy is complete, Move detaches the snapshot disk from the appliance. If you come from the vSphere backup world, you’ll recognize a pattern similar to the hot-add mode of backup proxies: an appliance that lives in the same environment and reads disks from snapshots. The Move workflow stays the same as always: you add vCenter or the ESXi host as a source, create the migration plan, sync and run the cutover. Only the VDDK step disappears: no download, no upload, no version to match with ESXi. ## Requirements and constraints to know The flip side is that the appliance must be able to reach the disks directly. That leads to a few constraints you should know before you start: * **Move runs in the source vSphere environment.** The appliance is deployed as a VM on ESXi, and the datastore holding the disks of the VMs to migrate must be accessible from the host where Move runs. With multiple clusters or non-shared datastores, you need to think about where to place the appliance, or how many appliances to deploy. * **New deployments only.** 6.3.3 can’t be installed as an upgrade from an earlier version, and upgrading from 6.3.3 to a later version isn’t supported either. For now the appliance is only available for ESXi: there is no AHV image. * **No free-licensed ESXi.** Hosts with a free license are not supported. * **Two vCenter privileges to check.** The account Move uses needs _Provisioning› Allow virtual machine download_ and _Cryptographic Operations › Direct Access_. If the role dedicated to Move was created for an earlier version, review it. * **Reserved networks.** Move uses `172.17.0.0/16` and `172.18.0.0/16` internally: if they are part of your addressing plan, take that into account. ### Compatibility | Component | Versions supported by Move 6.3.3 | | Nutanix AOS | 6.10, 7.0, 7.3, 7.5, 7.6 | | Prism Central | pc.2024.3, pc.7.3, pc.7.5, pc.7.6 | | VMware ESXi | 6.5, 6.7, 7.0 (Update 1–3), 8.0 (Update 1 and 3) | | VMware vCenter | 6.7, 7.0 (Update 1–3), 8.0, 8.0 Update 3, 9.0 | | Nutanix VirtIO | 1.2.5 | ### Known issues * **Datastores with the same name.** If two clusters in the same datacenter have datastores with the same name but different contents, a DirectPath migration can fail. The fix is to use unique names. * **Cutover and cluster resources.** If the target VM needs more resources than the cluster has available, the cutover fails and resizing it may not be enough: before retrying, delete the target VM that was already created from Prism. * **CentOS 8.4 and 8.5 with Secure Boot.** These VMs may not boot on AHV: you can disable Secure Boot or reset its keys from the boot manager. One piece of data is still missing: a performance comparison with the VDDK. Nutanix hasn’t published one, so you’ll have to measure the timings in the field. ## What else is new in the 6.x family DirectPath is the headline feature, but the 6.x releases brought other interesting changes too. ### Move 6.0 (September 2025) * In-place upgrade from 5.6.0; from 5.4.x and 5.5.x you move forward with a migration to the new appliance instead. * Migration of VMware NSX security policies to Flow Network Security. * The View Metrics dashboard, with the appliance’s health and performance in real time. ### Move 6.3 (July 2026) * Direct migration into Prism Central Projects 2.0, together with the security policies. * Zero-copy migration from ESXi to AHV with supported external storage, and new arrays: Dell PowerStore and Pure Storage FlashArray. * Windows VMs keep their WINS settings and, on non-English systems too, their IPv6 settings. * A migration plan completes even if a single VM hits a problem during cutover. * Management from Prism Central 7.6, data migration to Federated Files Server, Nutanix GC2 on AWS GovCloud as a target, and CyberArk integration for credentials, in technical preview. A practical note: 6.3 can be upgraded in place only from 6.0.x, 6.1.x and 6.2.0, while 6.3.3, as we’ve seen, is always a new deployment. ## Move in a multihomed environment ### When you need it In many infrastructures the vSphere management network and the Nutanix CVM network are separate, and the firewall between them doesn’t let NFS traffic through. The natural solution is to give the Move appliance two network adapters: one facing vCenter and the ESXi hosts, one facing the CVMs of the target cluster. With DirectPath this scenario becomes even more common, because the appliance has to live in the vSphere environment but write to Nutanix storage. Nutanix is clear, though: Move does not support multihomed environments. There is a workaround, documented in the Move 6.0 guide, that replaces with two manual steps what Move normally sets up on its own: allowing the Move IP on the target container through the filesystem whitelist, and mounting the container on the appliance at the path Move uses to write to it. ### What to prepare * the second network adapter of the Move VM, already added and configured following the guide for your version; * the IP address Move uses to reach the CVMs, usually the one on the second adapter, and its subnet mask; * the CVM IP address; * name and UUID of the target container; * access to Prism Element and the password of the Move admin user. ### The procedure, step by step **1. Create the migration plan.** Log in to the Move UI, create a new migration plan choosing the target container, and save it without starting it. **2. Note the container UUID.** If you don’t have it at hand, you can get it from a CVM, in the `Uuid` field of the output: ```wp-block-code ncli ctr ls name= ``` **3. Allow Move on the container.** In Prism Element, choose _Storage_ from the top menu and switch to the _Storage Container_ view. Select the container, click _Update_, open _Advanced Settings_ and scroll down to the _Filesystem Whitelists_ field. Enter the Move IP with its subnet mask, in the `/` format, and save. If you use more than one Move appliance, separate the addresses with a comma. To allow only the appliance, and not its whole network, I use the `255.255.255.255` mask: ```wp-block-code 192.168.20.50/255.255.255.255 ``` **4. Log in to the appliance as root.** The documentation says to connect over SSH as root: in practice you log in as the `admin` user and switch to the root shell with `rs`, which asks for the admin password again. ```wp-block-code ssh admin@ rs ``` **5. Create the mount directory.** Compared with the documentation I add `-p`, so the CVM folder is created too if it doesn’t exist yet. ```wp-block-code mkdir -p /opt/xtract-vm/datamover/CVM_/ ``` **6. Mount the target container** and check that the mount is active: ```wp-block-code mount :/ /opt/xtract-vm/datamover/CVM_/ df -h | grep datamover ``` **7. Start the migration.** Log out of the appliance and start the plan from the Move UI. ### A few more tips * **The mount doesn’t survive a reboot.** It’s a manual mount, not written to `/ etc/fstab`: if you restart the appliance, redo it before resuming the migrations. * **One mount per container.** The path includes the container UUID: if you migrate to more than one container, repeat steps 2 to 6 for each of them. * **The container whitelist replaces the global one.** Once it’s set, only the container whitelist applies to that container, not the cluster one. If the container is already exposed over NFS to other systems through the global whitelist, for example a backup proxy, add their addresses as well. * **Clean up at the end.** Once the migration is complete, unmount the container with `umount` and remove the Move IP from the whitelist: one less NFS access to keep an eye on. * **It’s still a workaround.** The procedure is in the Move 6.0 guide: check that it also appears in the guide for the version you use, or ask Nutanix Support to confirm, and try it first with a pilot VM. ## How I would set it up in a project * **New vSphere-to-AHV projects:** Move 6.3.3 with DirectPath as the first choice, with a dedicated appliance in the source vSphere environment. * **Existing appliances with the VDDK already uploaded:** no rush to change. 6.3.3 can’t be upgraded, so I would treat it as a project appliance, deployed for the migration and decommissioned at the end. * **Before the bulk migration:** a pilot with representative VMs, Windows and Linux, with Secure Boot and with large disks, measuring sync and cutover times. * **Preparation:** a vCenter role updated with the two privileges, unique datastore names, no overlap with the 172.17 and 172.18 networks and, if the appliance has two adapters, the multihomed workaround ready. With DirectPath, Nutanix removes the most fragile dependency on the path from VMware to AHV. The price is a special release with its own constraints: knowing them in advance makes the difference between a pilot that runs smoothly and one that gets stuck at the first migration plan. ## References * [Nutanix Move 6.3.3](https://next.nutanix.com/product-updates/nutanix-move-6-3-3-45958): announcement and release notes summary (Nutanix Community) * [Flexible VM Migrations to the Nutanix Cloud Platform with Move DirectPath](https://www.nutanix.com/blog/flexible-vm-migrations-to-the-nutanix-cloud-platform-with-move-directpath)( Nutanix blog) * [Move 6.0: Setting Up a Multihomed Environment](https://portal.nutanix.com/page/documents/details?targetId=Nutanix-Move-v6_0:top-set-up-multihome-t.html)( Nutanix Portal) * [Nutanix Move 6.3](https://next.nutanix.com/product-updates/nutanix-move-6-3-45782) and [Nutanix Move 6.0](https://next.nutanix.com/product-updates/nutanix-move-6-0-44839)( Nutanix Community) ## How we collect data from Nutanix: a journey through API v2 and v3 - Link: https://www.silviobalduzzi.com/en/2026/01/how-we-collect-data-from-nutanix-api-v2-v3/ - Published: 2026-01-06T17:26:55+01:00 - Author: balduz84 _When I started working on the Nutanix integration for a new project I’m developing, I had no idea how many surprises their APIs had in store for me. Here’s what I learned._ ## Nutanix: not just storage For those who aren’t familiar with it, Nutanix is one of the most widely used hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) platforms in the world. In practice, it combines compute, storage and virtualization in a single solution. When our customers asked us to monitor their Nutanix clusters as well, I knew it was going to be an interesting adventure. ## Prism Central: the entry point The first thing to understand is that Nutanix has two management interfaces: * **Prism Element**: manages a single cluster * **Prism Central**: manages multiple clusters from a single place For an enterprise monitoring solution, Prism Central is the only real choice. From a single endpoint you can collect data from all the registered clusters, without having to configure multiple connections. ## The API dilemma: v2 vs v3 And this is where the fun begins. Nutanix offers two versions of its REST APIs: ### API v2 – Old but reliable The v2 APIs were Nutanix’s workhorse for years. They’re simple, straightforward and… on their way to deprecation. They use endpoints like: ```wp-block-code GET /api/nutanix/v2.0/clusters GET /api/nutanix/v2.0/vms GET /api/nutanix/v2.0/hosts ``` They return data in flat JSON format, which is easy to parse. The catch? Nutanix is gradually replacing them. ### API v3 – The modern (and complex) approach The v3 APIs represent the future. They use an approach called “intent-based”, where you don’t simply ask “give me the VMs”, but send a POST request with filter criteria: ```has-small-font-size POST /api/nutanix/v3/vms/list { "kind": "vm", "length": 500, "filter": "power_state==on" } ``` The good part is that you can paginate, filter and request only the fields you need. The bad part? The structure of the responses is much more complex, with three levels of nesting: `metadata`, `spec` and `status`. ## My choice: API v3 with a trick After various experiments, we decided to use the v3 APIs for the main data collection. But there’s a secret you won’t easily find in the documentation: the **Groups API**. ### Groups API: the hidden superpower The `/api/nutanix/v3/groups` endpoint is probably the most powerful and least documented feature of Prism Central. It lets you: 1. **Aggregate metrics** for any entity (cluster, host, VM) 2. **Request specific attributes** without downloading useless data 3. **Get real-time statistics** with a single call Here’s an example of how we use it for cluster metrics: ```has-small-font-size POST /api/nutanix/v3/groups { "entity_type": "cluster", "group_member_count": 500, "group_member_attributes": [ { "attribute": "cluster_name" }, { "attribute": "storage.capacity_bytes" }, { "attribute": "storage.usage_bytes" }, { "attribute": "hypervisor_cpu_usage_ppm" }, { "attribute": "hypervisor_memory_usage_ppm" }, { "attribute": "controller_num_iops" } ] } ``` With a single call we get storage, CPU, memory and IOPS for all the clusters. Magic. ## Units of measurement: PPM and other oddities One thing that cost me a few hours: Nutanix expresses many metrics in **PPM** (Parts Per Million), not as a percentage. So when you see `hypervisor_cpu_usage_ppm: 450000`, it doesn’t mean the CPU is at 450000%. You need to divide by 10,000 to get 45%. The same goes for I/O latency, which is expressed in microseconds (`controller_avg_io_latency_usecs`): divide by 1000 to get milliseconds. Every 60 seconds I collect: * Cluster list with AOS version and number of nodes * Hosts with CPU, memory, hypervisor * VMs with state, vCPU, RAM, disk * Storage containers with capacity and usage * Networks (subnets) with VLAN and IP configuration * Performance metrics (IOPS, latency, CPU%, memory%) ## The challenges we faced ### 1. Pagination With hundreds of VMs, pagination is essential. The v3 APIs support `offset` and ` length`, but watch out: the default for `length` is 20, not unlimited! ### 2. Timeouts Requests to the Groups API can be slow on heavily loaded clusters. We had to implement generous timeouts and retries with exponential backoff. ### 3. SSL certificates Many production Prism Central instances use self-signed certificates. My client supports disabling SSL verification (only in controlled environments, of course). ### 4. Multi-cluster A single Prism Central can manage dozens of clusters. My architecture has to correctly map each entity to the cluster it belongs to. ## Conclusions Integrating Nutanix wasn’t trivial, but the result is worth the effort. Today I can monitor Nutanix clusters with my own custom solution. If you’re working on a similar integration, my advice is: start with the v3 APIs and get familiar with the Groups API. It’s the key to getting rich data without overloading the system. And remember: PPM divided by 10,000 equals percentage. I’ve had it tattooed on my keyboard ⌊😛⌉ ## Hyper-V on Nutanix: The End of an Era and the Path to AHV - Link: https://www.silviobalduzzi.com/en/2025/12/hyper-v-on-nutanix-end-of-an-era-path-to-ahv/ - Published: 2025-12-14T10:03:31+01:00 - Author: balduz84 The virtualized infrastructure ecosystem is constantly evolving, and Nutanix has just sent its customers a clear message: the era of Hyper-V 2022 on the Nutanix platform is coming to an end. This is not a soft or gradual transition, but a clear- cut strategic choice. While support for earlier versions will continue, version 2022 faces three concrete limitations: it will no longer receive integration updates, it can no longer be installed on new systems, and it will permanently go out of support within a timeframe that has already been set. For customers who have built their infrastructure on this technology, this is not simply a technical notice to be filed away. Rather, it’s a strategic signal that calls for attention, understanding and action. It shows how Nutanix intends to evolve its platform, and anyone who misreads this message risks ending up in a difficult position in the medium term. **## A Clear Strategic Decision: Consolidating on AHV** Behind the scenes of this official announcement lies a deep, carefully considered decision by Nutanix leadership. The company has deliberately chosen to consolidate its development and innovation efforts around a single hypervisor: Acropolis Hypervisor, or AHV as it’s commonly known. This is not a choice made lightly or for purely technical reasons, but a well-calculated change of strategic direction. The rationale is complex but logical. Maintaining, updating and innovating around two different hypervisors within the same platform comes at a considerable cost. It’s not just about writing code, but about testing, certification, technical support, documentation and training. Every new feature of the Nutanix platform has to be validated on both hypervisors, which doubles development time and adds operational complexity. Since AHV is built specifically for Nutanix, it offers a native integration that Hyper-V, however mature, will never be able to fully match. AHV knows the Nutanix architecture inside out, can take advantage of kernel-level optimizations that other hypervisors can’t, and can access platform capabilities that remain off-limits to third-party solutions. This technical advantage translates into better performance, increased reliability and a cohesive user experience. In the converged infrastructure model that Nutanix stands for, this cohesion is not a side issue…it’s the heart of the added value. People who choose HCI do so because they want an integrated solution where compute, storage and networking work in perfect harmony. Keeping support for an external hypervisor goes against the grain of this philosophy and makes the platform less competitive over time. **## The Impact on Your Infrastructure** For customers who have built their environment on Hyper-V 2022 with Nutanix, this transition is a challenge that can’t be ignored. The first instinct might be to panic, but in reality the timeline isn’t immediate. Nutanix is offering a reasonable time window to plan and carry out the migration, but this window isn’t endless. In the short term, let’s say over the next 12 months, your installations will keep running and will receive support. This is the right time to start an in-depth assessment. You need to analyze in detail which workloads you’re running, what dependencies they have, what performance you’re getting and, above all, what issues a migration might bring. This isn’t the time to act, but to observe, document and understand. In the medium term, probably between 12 and 24 months from now, your situation will change significantly. If you started the assessment in the short term, you can now take the first concrete steps. This means migrating pilot workloads, validating how AHV behaves with your specific applications, identifying any incompatibilities and testing your backup, disaster recovery and management procedures. This period is crucial because it lets you tackle problems in a controlled environment, while you still have time to resolve any obstacles. Beyond 24 months, the situation becomes pressing. Support for Hyper-V 2022 on Nutanix is about to end. If you haven’t migrated by then, you’re faced with unpleasant choices: completing a migration on a tight schedule under pressure, or evaluating alternatives to the Nutanix platform itself. Neither of these options is ideal, so the timing of your action is essential. **## Why AHV Really Is the Answer** Many customers read this message and wonder: why can’t I just stay on Hyper-V, or look at other solutions? The answer lies in understanding what Nutanix really offers, and how AHV is the vehicle through which the benefits of this platform are delivered. AHV is not a generic hypervisor. It’s a hypervisor co-designed with the Nutanix infrastructure. This means that every optimization, every new feature, every performance improvement Nutanix introduces to the platform lands first, better and more completely on AHV. If Nutanix introduces innovative deduplication, smart caching or advanced network virtualization technology, AHV benefits from it immediately. Hyper-V (and the other hypervisors too, of course) benefits from these innovations only to the extent that Nutanix decides to invest effort in making them compatible. This creates a compounding effect over time. Today, perhaps, the differences between running Hyper-V on Nutanix and AHV on Nutanix are limited. But in 12 months, in 24 months, in 36 months? The gap will become more and more pronounced. Those who chose AHV will have access to innovations that those on Hyper-V won’t. In terms of performance, reliability, capabilities and operating costs, AHV will give you ever-growing advantages. From a cost perspective, AHV is included in the Nutanix license. Hyper-V requires additional licenses from Microsoft. Over time, this difference translates into significant savings, especially if you have large environments. On top of that, running the infrastructure on AHV is simpler because everything converges into a single platform, a single console and a single technical support team with unique, deep expertise. **## The Migration Path: How to Tackle the Change** Migrating from Hyper-V 2022 to AHV isn’t something you can improvise over a weekend. It requires methodical planning, disciplined execution and, above all, a clear understanding of your workloads and your operational constraints. The first phase is the assessment. Before you move a single workload, you need to understand what you’re actually running. Which virtual machines are critical and which ones could be migrated first? Which ones have particular performance requirements? Which ones have dependencies on specific software or on other virtual machines? Which ones have complex backup procedures or compliance requirements that could cause complications? This discovery and analysis phase could take 4-8 weeks and should involve not only the infrastructure team, but also the application owners. Once you have a clear map of your situation, you can start planning the actual migration path. Ideally, you identify a set of non-critical workloads to use as a pilot project. I’m not talking about production virtual machines delivering critical services, but rather test, development or training systems, or other services that wouldn’t cause incidents if something went wrong during the migration. Migrate this first batch to AHV, put it through rigorous testing, evaluate performance and verify that all your standard procedures work (backup, snapshots, monitoring, etc.). This pilot project is essential because it lets you learn without taking risks. You’ll find out how long a single virtual machine takes to migrate, which steps need special attention, which tools work well and which ones have limitations. You’ll have the opportunity to train your team in a controlled environment, to write documented migration procedures and to identify any software incompatibilities you hadn’t considered. Once the pilot has been completed successfully, you can start expanding gradually. Migrate subsequent batches of workloads, always keeping a methodical approach. For the most critical and complex systems, it may be appropriate to migrate during a planned maintenance window, with technical support teams on standby in case of problems. For less critical systems, you can move faster. Throughout the migration phase, keep monitoring constantly. Performance, stability, resource consumption—all these parameters must be tracked carefully. If you find that AHV performs differently from Hyper-V for certain types of workloads, you still have time to investigate and fix any configuration issues. **## Practical and Strategic Considerations** In your planning, you need to consider not only the technical aspects but also the organizational and financial aspects of the transition. Your organization has built up Hyper-V skills over time. Migrating to AHV will also mean a skills transition— your team will need to get familiar with a new hypervisor, new management tools, and new approaches to troubleshooting and operational management. Consider investing in training for your team. Nutanix offers AHV certification programs that are widely recognized in the industry. Completing these certifications not only helps you with the technical transition, but also increases your team’s expertise and value in the job market. From a communication standpoint, it’s essential to involve the stakeholders. If you have teams that depend on these systems—application owners, business units responsible for critical services, compliance and security teams—you need to communicate the transition plan and reassure them that the migration will be handled in an orderly way, keeping downtime to a minimum. Build strong relationships with your Nutanix account team. These professionals have access to resources, best practices and sometimes even accelerated support for complex migration projects. In addition, Nutanix often has special programs or incentives for customers who complete their transition to AHV within specific time frames. **## Conclusion: Time to Act** Nutanix’s decision to discontinue Hyper-V 2022 integration is not a random notice, but a strategic statement about the platform’s priorities and direction. It’s the moment when Nutanix is telling its customers: “This is where we’re going, and this is your opportunity to join us on this journey.” For those who have invested in Hyper-V on Nutanix, the message may seem discouraging at first. But if it’s approached methodically and with proper planning, it’s an opportunity to modernize. Migrating to AHV is not just an operational necessity, but a gateway to the innovations Nutanix will keep developing in the years to come. The key is not to put it off. Those who wait until the last minute to start the assessment will end up with a narrow time window and will have to face the migration under pressure. Those who start today, calmly and methodically, will have time to glide toward AHV in a controlled way, to test properly, to train the team, and to complete the transition from a position of strength, not crisis management. The question is no longer “should I migrate to AHV?” Nutanix has already answered that one. The real question is: “when do I start the journey?” The recommended answer is: “as soon as possible.” ## Multicloud: A Journey Worth Taking - Link: https://www.silviobalduzzi.com/en/2025/12/multicloud-a-journey-worth-taking/ - Published: 2025-12-09T21:11:54+01:00 - Author: balduz84 You know when you decide to reorganize your home and think it’s going to be an impossible task, but then you discover that the process itself brings you unexpected benefits? Well, migrating to a multicloud architecture is a bit like that. ## It’s not just the destination, it’s the whole journey Many companies think multicloud is just about reaching the destination: having their workloads spread across multiple clouds. But the truth is that there are hidden benefits along the way, and they’re often underestimated. Think about it: when you start consolidating your cloud environments, you automatically start cleaning house. How many redundant tools are you using to manage different clouds in separate silos? Probably too many. Moving to multicloud forces you to rationalize, and that means less complexity and leaner operations. Then there’s the question of visibility. It’s like finally turning on the light in a dark room. With a unified monitoring solution, you start to really see where your data is, how much it’s worth and – surprise – you discover you have tons of useless duplicates that are costing you a fortune. ## Security is not an afterthought One of the best things about the migration is that it gives you the perfect opportunity to standardize security. Instead of having fragmented policies across different platforms, you can implement a unified approach. And when a security issue comes up? Well, it’s much easier to fix when you have a single system to manage instead of having to jump between different dashboards. ## Money matters (always) Let’s be honest: costs are always a hot topic. But with multicloud, once you have better visibility, you start to see where you’re wasting resources. Underused, duplicated or oversized resources pop up like mushrooms. And the best part? You can move workloads to wherever it makes the most sense, taking advantage of the providers’ special offers when they come along. ## You’ve arrived: now the fun begins Once you’ve set up your multicloud architecture, the real benefits emerge. It’s like when you finish assembling a piece of IKEA furniture and can finally use it. First of all, there’s resilience. If one provider has problems, your workloads can run somewhere else. No more total dependence on a single vendor and no more sleepless nights worrying about an outage. Then there’s freedom of choice. Want to use the cheapest service for a given workload? Done. Want to place an application closer to your users to reduce latency? No problem. It’s like having a buffet of options instead of a fixed menu. ## Automation and monitoring: your best friends This is where it gets interesting. Without automation, managing multicloud is like trying to conduct an orchestra while playing all the instruments at the same time. Impossible. Smart automation can orchestrate your workloads and put them in the right place at the right time, based on your company policies, costs and required performance. But be careful: the more precisely you define your real needs (not the “nice to haves”), the more value you’ll get from automation. And monitoring? Essential. Instead of having a million different dashboards giving you metrics that don’t talk to each other, you have a unified console. A “single pane of glass”, as the techies say, that gives you actionable insights. Not just data, but information about what’s happening, why it’s happening and what you should do about it. ## The future is AI (but used intelligently) With artificial intelligence advancing quickly, multicloud gives you the flexibility to adapt fast. Take AI inferencing as an example: at first you needed expensive GPUs, but today many models run perfectly well on modern CPUs or specialized accelerators. If you tie yourself too closely to a specific infrastructure, you risk limiting yourself and driving costs up. Multicloud lets you describe what you want to achieve rather than how to achieve it, leaving it to the system to find the best solution. ## The biggest obstacle? People And here comes the uncomfortable part. The biggest problem isn’t technical, it’s human. People get attached to their legacy systems, to the processes they know. It’s understandable: they’ve built their careers on them, so why change? But the world moves fast, and companies that cling to old strategies end up playing catch-up when regulatory changes or customer expectations force them to move. The key is having a continuous improvement mindset. Staying open and adaptable, and never assuming the initial plan was perfect. Technology will change, business needs will change, and that’s fine. ## The journey continues Getting to multicloud isn’t a finish line, it’s the start of a new phase. The companies that get the most value are the ones that embrace the journey as much as the destination. Through tool consolidation, unified monitoring, smart automation and a forward-looking approach to workload design, you can deliver on the real promise of multicloud: agility, resilience, performance and cost control. But the real differentiator isn’t the architecture itself. It’s a mindset that values flexibility and sees optimization as an ongoing opportunity to improve, to become faster and smarter. And that, in the end, is the essence of multicloud: not a technology, but a way of thinking. ## Nutanix Files: what it is and why it can transform file management in your company - Link: https://www.silviobalduzzi.com/en/2025/11/nutanix-files-what-it-is-and-why-it-can-transform-file-management/ - Published: 2025-11-29T14:18:34+01:00 - Author: balduz84 Nutanix Files is a native service of the Nutanix platform, designed to deliver file- based storage that is scalable, high-performing and easy to manage. It’s meant to replace or sit alongside traditional NAS solutions such as NetApp, Dell EMC or Windows File Server, removing complexity and introducing smart automation that cuts management time and operating costs. ## What is Nutanix Files It’s a distributed file server, delivered as a software service (SDS – Software Defined Storage), fully integrated with AHV or VMware. It supports standard protocols such as **SMB** and **NFS**, and lets you manage file shares for users, applications, enterprise workloads and VDI environments. ### In practice, it offers: * A scalable, highly available file server * Simplified management through Prism * Automation of maintenance tasks * Advanced monitoring with machine learning * Integration with Active Directory and security systems ## Why use Nutanix Files Companies often find themselves managing a mix of file servers that are hard to monitor and have static capacity. Nutanix Files removes these limitations with a modern approach: ### 1. **Instant scalability** You can increase capacity and performance in a few clicks, with no downtime and no complex migrations. ### 2. **Lower operating costs** There’s no longer any need to manage dedicated storage, firmware, physical controllers or separate appliances: everything lives on the same Nutanix infrastructure. ### 3. **Smart analytics and security** With features like **Files Analytics** you can: * Detect anomalous access * Identify potential ransomware * Analyze who is really using the storage * Find duplicate or unused files ### 4. **Multitenancy and isolation** Ideal for service providers or companies with multiple business units: each division can have its own shares with dedicated policies and quotas. ## Typical use cases Nutanix Files is very versatile and covers a range of real-world scenarios: * **Centralized corporate file server** * **Profiles and home directories for VDI environments** * **NFS shares for Linux applications** * **Data repositories for development or design teams** * **Backup target** (for some compatible software) In each of these cases it offers a high level of security, consistent performance and simplified control. ## Integration with Nutanix and its ecosystem As part of the Nutanix platform, Files integrates directly with: * **Prism Central** for management and monitoring * **Nutanix Data Services** for protection and replication * **Nutanix Flow** for isolation and micro-segmentation * **Nutanix Objects** and **Volumes** to build hybrid environments This gives you a single infrastructure that covers VMs, databases, files, objects and cloud services. ## Conclusions Nutanix Files is a modern, flexible solution for managing corporate file servers without having to invest in dedicated NAS infrastructure. Thanks to its scalability, native integration with the Nutanix platform and advanced analytics features, it’s ideal for anyone looking for file management that is reliable, secure and as simple as possible. If you’re already using Nutanix or are considering modernizing your storage, Files is definitely worth a try. ## My experience with Nutanix NC2 - Link: https://www.silviobalduzzi.com/en/2025/11/my-experience-with-nutanix-nc2/ - Published: 2025-11-20T10:06:00+01:00 - Author: balduz84 --- ##### Over the last few years I’ve seen loads of companies talk about “multicloud” as if it were the most natural thing in the world. In reality, in practice, it’s often a nightmare: different environments, different ways of managing VMs, networks that don’t talk to each other, a thousand control panels.⏎ It’s more or less in this context that Nutanix NC2 comes into play, and here I want to tell you **how I experienced it myself**, rather than rewriting the datasheet. --- ### What Nutanix NC2 is, from a user’s point of view If I had to explain it in a nutshell, I’d say that NC2 is: > “Classic” Nutanix, but running on the clouds of the big providers (like AWS or > Azure), with the idea of giving you the **same management experience** both on‑ > prem and in the cloud. In other words: you get the same Nutanix interface, concepts and way of working you already know from your datacenters, but you can also use them on top of public cloud infrastructure. For me the point isn’t so much “bringing Nutanix to the cloud” as **making the jump less traumatic** from on‑prem → cloud → hybrid. --- ### Why I wanted to try it In my case, the need was fairly typical: * on‑prem Nutanix environments already in production * my customers needing to use cloud resources for **extra capacity** (temporary bursts, testing, new projects) * a clear request from the business: no never-ending migration projects, no revolutions in the day-to-day management of the systems What I was looking for (and what my customers were asking me for), basically, was: * **consistent management** across on‑prem and cloud * avoiding, as far as possible, having to retrain the customers’ staff from scratch * a middle ground between “everything in-house” and “everything in the cloud” NC2 looked like a credible candidate, so we put it to the test. --- ### First impressions: “it really is Nutanix” The first thing I appreciated was almost trivial: once NC2 is deployed, you **really** feel at home, with the same Nutanix experience you already know. * the same Prism interface * the same concepts for clusters, storage and VM management * operational logic very similar to the on‑prem environment In practice, this drastically shortened the learning curve for the teams. There was no need to “evangelize” the cloud heavily: I could simply tell them: > “Whatever you know how to do on Nutanix in the datacenter, you do here too, but > the resources live in AWS/Azure.” For an IT team whose days are already full, that’s no small detail…plenty of engineers would have gladly “made me a saint”. --- ### What I actually did with NC2 To keep this from staying theoretical, let me tell you about some scenarios we handled with NC2. #### 1. Extending the environment for load peaks I have a customer whose applications every now and then need more resources (campaigns, temporary projects, POCs). Instead of adding on‑prem hardware, we: * created NC2 clusters in the cloud * moved or started some VMs there * used the cloud as a “pressure relief valve” for the peaks The same example can also apply to Citrix customers who need to extend into the Cloud for DR or for temporary periods during the year. From an operational point of view, the way we managed the VMs stayed familiar. The real advantage, in my opinion, was **mental**: you don’t get the feeling that you’re managing “two separate worlds”. #### 2. Less painful test/dev environments Test environments are often the first to end up in the cloud. With NC2 we created: * test environments that more faithfully replicate the on‑prem ones * the ability to power them on and off more easily, without buying dedicated hardware In practice, we used the cloud for what it does best (elasticity), but without having to change the operational stack and tools every time. #### 3. Gradual migrations instead of big‑bang Instead of the classic “everything to the cloud” or “everything to a new data center” migration, NC2 allowed us a more gradual approach: * moving specific groups of workloads * testing how they live in the cloud * keeping the option to roll back without drama I’m not saying it was all automatic and painless, but compared to more “rigid” migrations it was definitely more manageable. --- ### What I liked most Here I’ll go straight to my personal impressions. #### 1. Operational continuity for the team NC2’s strongest point, in my opinion, is **continuity**: * the same tools * the same way of thinking about clusters * the same logic for managing VMs and storage This greatly reduces internal resistance. You’re not telling the team: “starting tomorrow we work in a completely different way because we’re moving to the cloud”, but rather: > “Starting tomorrow some things run on AWS/Azure, but we manage them with the same > platform.” It makes a huge difference in terms of adoption. #### 2. Multicloud without the split personality The other thing I appreciated is how multicloud is handled. Not so much for “marketing” reasons, but for a practical one: every cloud has its own strengths and its own costs. With NC2 you can: * choose where to run your workloads (on‑prem, cloud A, cloud B) * keep a more uniform management foundation * avoid multiplying tools and skills for every single environment It doesn’t eliminate the complexities of multicloud (they’re still there), but it makes them more manageable. #### 3. Less traumatic migration and reversibility I always shudder a bit when I hear “irreversible migration”: in reality, requirements change. NC2 puts you in a somewhat more comfortable position, because: * you can move workloads to the cloud * you can keep part of them on‑prem * you can rebalance over time based on cost and performance It’s not child’s play, but it’s more flexible than an “all or nothing” approach. --- ### Where I saw the limits (or the things to evaluate carefully) Obviously it’s not all perfect; in fact, there are aspects to consider carefully. #### 1. It’s not a shortcut to “understanding the cloud” NC2 makes your life easier on the **operational** side, but: * you still need a good understanding of the **costs and pricing** of the underlying cloud * you need to carefully design **networking, security and identity** in the cloud provider * you need to be clear about what makes sense to keep on‑prem and what doesn’t If you use it with the idea “this way I don’t have to learn the cloud”, you risk doing damage in terms of cost or architecture. #### 2. Overall complexity of the ecosystem Having NC2, on‑prem Nutanix and one or more clouds means: * more moving parts * the need for well-thought-out governance, monitoring and processes * particular attention to networking and security between environments It’s not a “set it and forget it” solution. It has to fit into a clear hybrid/multicloud strategy. #### 3. Not always the right choice for those who are 100% cloud‑native If you’re already: * all-in on a single cloud * running applications written in a cloud‑native way (serverless, microservices tightly integrated with the provider’s PaaS services) then using NC2 might make less sense. Its value really shows when you have a **mix** of on‑prem and cloud, or when you want to stay fairly provider-neutral. --- ### How I compare it with other options Without going into the details of every single competitor, here’s how I see NC2 compared to other routes I’ve seen/evaluated. **Compared to “rebuilding everything natively in the cloud”** * NC2 pros: less impact on the team, reuse of existing skills, more gradual migration * Cons: less suitable if your goal is to become super cloud‑native, taking advantage of every single managed service from the provider **Compared to plain “lift & shift” without a unified platform** * NC2 pros: more consistent management, less fragmentation, better overall visibility * Cons: you still need to invest time to properly put the platform and processes into practice **Compared to doing nothing and staying on‑prem only** * NC2 pros: the chance to take advantage of the cloud’s flexibility without turning everything upside down * Cons: it’s still a cultural and architectural change, so you need internal sponsorship and a clear roadmap --- ### My personal verdict on NC2 If I have to sum up my experience, I’d say that Nutanix NC2 is: > a powerful tool for those who really want to do **hybrid/multicloud the smart > way**, without forcing the team to completely change the way they work. I see it as particularly well suited when: * you already have Nutanix on‑prem * you want to start or expand your use of the cloud without leaping into the void * you need flexibility (bursts, testing, gradual migrations) but don’t want to manage a thousand different stacks Less suitable, on the other hand, if: * you’re already comfortable inside a single cloud and doing well there * your goal isn’t hybrid but going full cloud in the “purest” possible way All in all, when used with a clear strategy, NC2 can become a great ally for evolving your infrastructure without losing control and without stressing the team more than necessary. And, at least in my experience, this combination of **evolution** and** continuity** is perhaps its real strength. ## Nutanix AI: less “handcrafted” and more “product” - Link: https://www.silviobalduzzi.com/en/2025/11/nutanix-ai-less-handcrafted-more-product/ - Published: 2025-11-17T10:09:41+01:00 - Author: balduz84 Over the last two years, AI has gone from a “conference topic” to something companies really want to put into production: internal chatbots, support assistants, process automation, data analysis. The problem is that there’s a chasm between “doing a demo” and “going into production without getting hurt”. This is exactly the gap Nutanix AI steps into: a platform that tries to make enterprise AI less handcrafted and more of a “product”, building on the solidity of the Nutanix infrastructure that many people already know. In this post I’ll try to explain what Nutanix AI is, what convinces me about the solution, what I’d keep an eye on, and how I see it compared to other offerings on the market. --- ### What Nutanix AI is, in simple terms To put it very bluntly, Nutanix AI is an “AI layer” on top of the Nutanix infrastructure: * it lets you **host AI models (foundation models, LLMs, vision models, etc.)** close to your data, on‑prem or in hybrid environments; * it handles **deployment, scalability, security and governance** “enterprise” style, not lab style; * it integrates with the Nutanix ecosystem (storage, networking, cluster management) and with the main hyperscalers. What I appreciate is the fairly pragmatic approach: it’s not yet another dose of“ generative magic in the cloud”, but a platform that tries to answer the real questions companies have: * where do I put the models? * how do I keep costs under control? * how do I protect the data (compliance, sovereignty, privacy)? * how do I avoid getting tied hand and foot to a single provider? --- ### The architecture, without going into too much detail Nutanix AI builds on the same building blocks you already know if you’ve ever seen a Nutanix environment: * **hyperconverged infrastructure** (compute + storage) * centralized cluster management * the ability to work both **on‑prem** and in **multi‑cloud** On top of these building blocks, Nutanix AI introduces: * a layer for **model management** (loading, updating, versioning) * the **serving** part (APIs for using the models from internal applications) * integrations for **monitoring, logging, security, access** * tools for connecting the models to **enterprise data** (databases, files, data lakes, etc.) In practice, if I had to describe it to a CIO: it’s a way to bring AI close to the data and manage it with the same approach you already use for your critical applications. And personally, I think that’s a key point. --- ### Use cases that make sense A few scenarios where, in my opinion, Nutanix AI “sounds” particularly sensible: * **Internal chatbots on sensitive company data** Internal FAQs, technical documentation, HR procedures, manuals: all cases where you don’t want the data floating freely around the internet. Having the models close to your internal repositories, managed on infrastructure you control, is a real plus. * **Document analysis and back‑office automation** Extracting information from PDFs, contracts, legal or technical documentation. Here the combination of local compute power and fast access to storage really matters. * **AI in regulated environments (finance, healthcare, public sector)** Where compliance and data sovereignty aren’t a “nice to have” but a must. Being able to keep data and models within the company perimeter (or in specific regions) can make all the difference, even compared to cloud‑only solutions. * **Operational and IT optimization** From troubleshooting suggestions all the way to predictive performance analysis. Here, being able to leverage the data already flowing through the Nutanix infrastructure is an interesting advantage. --- ### What convinces me about Nutanix AI This is more personal opinion than brochure material. #### 1. Closeness to the data and “real” hybrid Many AI solutions tell you: “bring everything into our cloud, we’ll take care of it”. Convenient, as long as the data isn’t critical… but that’s not how the real world works. Nutanix plays a different card: **it brings AI to where your data lives**, whether that’s in the datacenter, in a specific cloud or in a hybrid scenario. This reduces: * **latency** issues * cloud **data egress** costs * friction with **compliance and sovereignty** For complex hybrid architectures, this is no small difference compared to many AI platforms that were born cloud‑only. #### 2. Governance and security in line with the enterprise world One piece that is often underestimated in the “cooler” but less mature solutions is governance: who can do what, how I track access, where the logs end up, how I handle patches and updates. Nutanix AI inherits a lot from the maturity of the underlying platform: unified management, roles, integration with corporate directories, centralized logs. For whoever has to answer to audits and compliance checks, it’s a relief compared to a DIY patchwork of scattered AI services. #### 3. Less lock‑in (for real, not just in the slide deck) Everyone claims to reduce lock‑in, but then you end up with services that are very specific to a single cloud provider. Nutanix’s approach is more “agnostic”: * it doesn’t force you to use a single set of models * it lets you manage models that you can host on‑prem or on different clouds * it lets you preserve the **portability** of the underlying infrastructure It isn’t magic (you never get rid of lock‑in 100%), but it’s objectively a more open position than many solutions that are tightly coupled to a specific ecosystem. --- ### How it compares with the competition: pros and cons Covering the competition in great detail would be impossible in just a few lines, but I can make some general observations by comparing Nutanix AI with the three big families of alternatives: 1. **Native AI platforms from the big cloud providers** (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud) 2. **On‑prem AI “appliance” or “box” solutions** 3. **Pure‑play MLOps/AI API platforms** #### Versus the cloud providers’ AI platforms Nutanix AI’s advantages, in my view: * better handling of **hybrid and multi‑cloud** scenarios without being married to a single vendor * it’s easier to keep data and models **on‑prem** when you need to * continuity with your existing Nutanix infrastructure, if you already have it in-house Where the cloud providers remain strong, on the other hand: * a huge ecosystem of AI services (ready-made models, vertical services, marketplaces) * native proximity to other cloud services (data warehouses, integration services, etc.) * innovation that’s often faster when it comes to models managed “as‑a‑service” In short: if you’re already 100% on a single cloud and sovereignty constraints aren’t a problem, a cloud-native AI platform may be all you need. But if you really live in a hybrid, multi‑cloud world, Nutanix AI becomes very interesting. #### Versus “turnkey” on‑prem AI appliances Many solutions promise: “I’ll bring a box full of GPUs into your datacenter, with everything already configured inside”. Convenient, but often not very flexible. Points I see in Nutanix AI’s favor: * **more elastic scalability**: you’re not tied to a single monolithic appliance * more natural integration with the rest of the infrastructure, rather than a separate“ silo” * better alignment with existing IT processes (monitoring, backup, DR, etc.) On the other hand, some highly specialized appliances can offer: * extremely high performance on specific tasks (e.g. massive inference on dedicated GPUs) * quicker “plug & play” paths if all you need is one very vertical use case #### Versus specialized MLOps / AI API platforms Here the comparison is more about “philosophy” than about individual features. Nutanix AI puts the emphasis on: * solid infrastructure, enterprise management, hybrid/multi‑cloud * using AI models as an “internal service” within the company Pure‑play MLOps platforms tend to push hard on: * experimentation, model lifecycle, collaboration between data scientists * very deep integrations with data science tools, feature stores, etc. Personally, I see Nutanix AI as an excellent “production engine” that you can pair with specialized MLOps tools if needed, rather than as a complete replacement for them. --- ### What it isn’t (and where to be careful) The way I see it, Nutanix AI **is not**: * a magic wand for “putting AI everywhere in two clicks” * a complete replacement for the cloud providers’ AI services * a complete MLOps platform for every phase of the model lifecycle It’s a strong platform for those who: * already have, or want to have, **Nutanix as their infrastructure backbone** * live in a non-trivial hybrid/multi‑cloud scenario * have serious **data protection** and **governance** requirements Aspects to evaluate carefully: * how broad the **ecosystem** is (partners, connectors, supported models) compared to the big clouds * the degree of **specialization** required in some use cases (e.g. AI for very vertical industries) * the maturity of the internal team: a platform like this has to be run by people who understand both AI and infrastructure --- ### My overall opinion If I had to sum up Nutanix AI in one sentence: > it’s a platform designed to bring AI inside the company, close to the data and > into existing IT processes, without forcing you to live only in someone else’s > cloud. I see it as particularly well suited for: * **enterprise** organizations that are already Nutanix customers * organizations with strict policies on **data and compliance** * companies that don’t want a future completely locked in to a single cloud Less suitable, on the other hand, if: * you’re an all‑cloud startup living happily inside a single hyperscaler * your main challenge is **rapid experimentation** across lots of different models, rather than going into production in a way that’s integrated with your on‑prem infrastructure All in all, I find Nutanix AI a solid, fairly concrete proposition, focused on the real problems of IT teams and of the people responsible for data. It’s not the perfect solution for everyone, but in many real-world scenarios it strikes an interesting balance between control, flexibility and cost management. ## Developing together with AI - Link: https://www.silviobalduzzi.com/en/2025/10/developing-together-with-ai/ - Published: 2025-10-31T15:43:41+01:00 - Author: balduz84 I’ve often talked about how much fun it is for me to work on small software projects in my “spare” time, and over time some of these projects have become small pieces of software deployed for customers or made freely available to the communities ( mainly Citrix and Nutanix). A few months ago I discovered a way of developing that was new to me and that has turned the way I approach development upside down; this new approach involves using Visual Studio Code, integrated with Copilot Pro+ and the various AI agents (in particular Claude Sonnet 4 and 4.5). AI is certainly not my discovery…these days the web talks about nothing else; so a couple of months ago I decided that the time had come for me too to try developing with the help of AI. At first my approach was cautious and skeptical…my previous experiences with AI had been interesting, yes, but limited to ChatGPT-style chatbots (mostly the free tiers). Once I made up my mind to try Copilot Pro+, my experience changed COMPLETELY. I discovered how convenient it is to develop with Visual Studio Code using the agent mode of the various AI models, which let me truly appreciate the benefits of having AI at hand, from handing it the job of analyzing code to hunt for bugs, all the way to asking it to write entire functions and important pieces of code completely( or largely) on its own. Unlike my first experiences with AI, where I just had it analyze pieces of code I had written so it could debug them, agent mode now completely changes the approach, letting the human focus on thinking about what they want to build and leaving much of the code writing to the AI. I realize this approach can be “scary”, since the inherent risk is that developers no longer know the code they have developed (or maybe DIDN’T develop??), but the result is a truly mind-blowing paradigm shift, especially for people like me who don’t do development as their main job. Over these months I’ve been able to take on projects in programming languages I didn’t know (and who would have found the time to study them??), and I’ve built small pieces of software (web ones too) that I would never have been able to build on my own; all with mind-blowing simplicity, with nothing more than the will to do it and clear ideas in my head. In the past I often found myself held back by my limited development skills (again, I do it in my “spare time”) and I was left with ideas “in my head” that I couldn’t“ turn into reality”; today there is a way to get past these difficulties! I’m not saying it’s a cure-all, or that serious developers won’t be needed anymore, but people like me who have ideas and want to try to make them happen can now give it a go! I’ll leave it to those who are more of a developer than I am to judge the quality of the code I’ve written this way; but code that, on my own, I (in several cases) wouldn’t have been able to write at all (neither well written nor badly written). Oh, one more thing: have you ever tried hooking AI up to a server to have it figure out why the server is misbehaving? It sounds surreal, but AI can understand logs and error events at a speed that we humans will NEVER be able to match…and the result? You can now solve problems much faster!! Here too, I’m not saying sysadmins (the role that best describes me) won’t be needed anymore, but a sysadmin who has access to AI (and knows what to ask it and how to interpret its answers) can do their job at unmatched speed. Relax! Don’t think I’m crazy…I’m not handing my customers’ information over to AI… I would NEVER allow myself to connect my customers’ servers to public AIs (like ChatGPT, Claude, etc…) because I know very well what that would mean; but when I was able to connect it to my own lab servers, it helped me solve problems that would otherwise have cost me a lot more time. As I said above, I don’t see it as a cure-all, but as an IMPORTANT opportunity to raise the level of us humans, by handing the less “brainy” tasks over to AI…and what’s wrong with that? Nothing, I think. ## Upgrading Nutanix CE from AOS 7.0.1.6 to AOS 7.3.0.5 - Link: https://www.silviobalduzzi.com/en/2025/08/upgrading-nutanix-ce-from-aos-7-0-1-6-to-aos-7-3-0-5/ - Published: 2025-08-08T14:14:52+02:00 - Author: balduz84 A few days ago I reinstalled Nutanix CE on my lab workstation and, after upgrading it automatically via LCM to AOS 7.0.1.6, I now want to go ahead with the upgrade to AOS 7.3.0.5 (the latest version available as of today). In LCM the latest available release is AOS 7.0.1.6, so to upgrade to AOS 7.3.0.5 you need to download the package manually from the Nutanix website (you have to log in with an account that has access to the downloads area) and upload it to the cluster you want to upgrade. ![](https://i0.wp.com/www.silviobalduzzi.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/image.png? resize=760%2C260&ssl=1) After downloading the AOS LCM Bundle 7.3.0.5 package, just go to the LCM–>Direct Upload section to upload the package to the cluster: ![](https://i0.wp.com/www.silviobalduzzi.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/image-1. png?resize=760%2C297&ssl=1) ![](https://i0.wp.com/www.silviobalduzzi.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/image-2. png?resize=760%2C297&ssl=1) Select the package and wait for it to be uploaded. ![](https://i0.wp.com/www.silviobalduzzi.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/image-3. png?resize=760%2C107&ssl=1) Once the upload is complete, a new Software update will be available: ![](https://i0.wp.com/www.silviobalduzzi.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/image-4. png?resize=760%2C157&ssl=1) Select the package to upgrade and proceed with applying the upgrade: ![](https://i0.wp.com/www.silviobalduzzi.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/image-5. png?resize=760%2C157&ssl=1) ![](https://i0.wp.com/www.silviobalduzzi.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/image-6. png?resize=760%2C206&ssl=1) The process will run several prechecks to make sure everything can be upgraded correctly, and once they are done the actual upgrade process will start. In my case the CE cluster consists of a single node, so I won’t have access to the environment during the process. ![](https://i0.wp.com/www.silviobalduzzi.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/image-7. png?resize=760%2C238&ssl=1) ![](https://i0.wp.com/www.silviobalduzzi.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/image-8. png?resize=760%2C238&ssl=1) ![](https://i0.wp.com/www.silviobalduzzi.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/image-9. png?resize=760%2C238&ssl=1) Wait until the upgrade is complete. Once the upgrade has finished, this is what you’ll see: ![](https://i0.wp.com/www.silviobalduzzi.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/image-10. png?resize=760%2C238&ssl=1) Now you need to run a new LCM Inventory to check for further automatic updates, because Prism will report that AHV is running a version that isn’t compatible with AOS 7.3.0.5. ![](https://i0.wp.com/www.silviobalduzzi.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/image-11. png?resize=760%2C238&ssl=1) LCM will offer a new Software update: ![](https://i0.wp.com/www.silviobalduzzi.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/image-12. png?resize=760%2C238&ssl=1) ![](https://i0.wp.com/www.silviobalduzzi.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/image-13. png?resize=760%2C238&ssl=1) Proceed with the automatic AHV upgrade; this time there’s no need to upload the package manually, as LCM will download it automatically. ![](https://i0.wp.com/www.silviobalduzzi.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/image-14. png?resize=760%2C238&ssl=1) The AHV upgrade process requires a reboot of the node, so the wait will be longer than for the AOS upgrade. While the node is powering back on after the AHV upgrade, you can connect to the CVM and check the status of the services (obviously once the CVM responds to PING). When all the services are up, you’ll be able to connect to Prism via the web again. Enjoy your CE with all the latest features of AOS 7.3.0.5 and AHV 10.3.0.1!! ## Nutanix Certifications - Link: https://www.silviobalduzzi.com/en/2025/05/nutanix-certifications/ - Published: 2025-05-11T10:34:24+02:00 - Author: balduz84 During Nutanix .NEXT I had the chance to sit a few exam sessions, to try to earn some of the certifications I was still missing. Unlike last year at .NEXT in Barcelona, where I had managed to pass only one exam, this year I achieved far more significant results; no fewer than 4 certifications earned in 3 days: * NCM-MCI 6.5 (Nutanix Certified Master – Multi Cloud Infrastructure 6.5) * NCP-US 6 (Nutanix Certified Professional – Unified Storage 6) * NCP-DB 6 (Nutanix Certified Professional – Database Automation 6) * NCS-Core 6 (Nutanix Certified Services – Core Associate 6) ![](https://i0.wp.com/www.silviobalduzzi.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/NCM-MCI. png?resize=680%2C680&ssl=1) ![](https://i0.wp.com/www.silviobalduzzi.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/NCP-DB.png? resize=680%2C680&ssl=1) ![](https://i0.wp.com/www.silviobalduzzi.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/NCP-US.png? resize=680%2C680&ssl=1) ![](https://i0.wp.com/www.silviobalduzzi.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/NCS-Core. png?resize=680%2C680&ssl=1) The most important of the 4, as you can easily tell from its name, is the **NCM- MCI**: a Master-level certification covering the skills needed to manage Multi Cloud environments (focused on Nutanix topics, of course). In particular, this certification is earned through an exam made up of hands-on tasks, so it’s quite different from the usual multiple-choice exam. Given the different type of exam, the time available is also much longer than for the usual exams, going from 2 hours to 4 hours. I have to say it wasn’t particularly easy to pass this exam, mainly because the questions range across many topics and require advanced skills (running commands via CLI, Flow, etc…). For me, **NCP-US** turned out to be a fairly easy exam. I’ve been working with Nutanix Unified Storage for quite some time (although, to date, I haven’t yet had the chance to try out all of its features in the field), and what I know proved enough to pass the exam comfortably and without much effort. **NCP-DB** is an exam on the features of Nutanix DBaaS; I didn’t find it particularly easy, even though I passed it, since so far I haven’t had much to do with this kind of environment; still, having passed it gives me the confidence to talk to customers about these solutions without the risk of talking “nonsense”. **NCS-Core**, on the other hand, was a renewal for me. I earned the previous version, NCS-Core 5, more than a year ago and it felt right to renew it, since it’s a prerequisite certification for delivering Nutanix professional services. Nothing too different from the previous one, but not a trivial certification either.