Nutanix Private Cloud

  • Updated on Apr 15, 2025
  • Published on Oct 24, 2024

Nutanix Private Cloud is managed infrastructure-as-a-service on a single-tenant Nutanix/AHV platform. Expedient maintains the hardware, software updates, licensing, and ongoing maintenance as a managed service. Clients have full admin access to their virtual machines, along with the ability to perform many of the same operations as their on-premises environments.

New to Nutanix? Here are a few of the core components to get you started…

  • Prism - The management console for Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure.

    • Prism Element - The management console for 1 cluster.

    • Prism Central - The management console for multiple clusters.

  • AOS (Acropolis Operating System) - The underlying OS for virtualization management.

  • AHV (Acropolis Hypervisor) - Nutanix’s hypervisor.

    • AHV is based on KVM and extends its base functionality to include features like HA, live migration, and IP address management.

  • AOS Storage - The underlying storage component of Nutanix.

    A node is a server with compute and storage resources and a cluster is a grouping of nodes.

    At Expedient, our standard is a minimum of 3 nodes with a replication factor of 2 in an N+1 configuration.

Looking for more?

  • We recommend creating an account at my.nutanix.com to access more resources, including Nutanix Software Documentation and Nutanix University.

  • We recommend Nutanix University’s Nutanix Hybrid Cloud Fundamentals (NHCF) Online course for admins, technicians, or engineers looking to gain more familiarity with the platform.

  • You can also checkout Nutanix in 3 Minutes: A brief overview of Nutanix hybrid multi-cloud solutions for a quick overview.

Licensing

Expedient’s Nutanix Private Cloud comes with NCI Ultimate and NCM Starter

See Nutanix Cloud Platform Software Options for more details.

Support Summary

Activity

Expedient

Client

Co-Managed

Platform Infrastructure Monitoring

X

Platform Infrastructure Break/Fix

X

Firmware Updates

X

Platform Licensing

X

Platform Updates/Patches

X

Virtual Machine Management

X

Operating System Licensing

X

Operating System Management

X

Replication Software Configuration

X

Replication Monitoring (Success/Failure)

X

Disaster Recovery Runbook

X

Replication Failure Remediation

X

Workload Protection Configuration

X

Declaration of Disaster Recovery Enactment

X

Failover of VMs to Secondary Site

X

Failback of VMs to Primary Site

X

Validation of Application Functionality

X

Note: Co-Managed tasks can be performed by Expedient or client, based on preference, but will require input and direction for configuration.

When Expedient will “Assist”

  • Items where Expedient will provide “assistance” typically require clients to complete defined tasks on external platforms not controlled or owned by Expedient.

  • “Assisting” a client consists of providing appropriate documentation and general guidance with the option to run live walkthroughs for additional help.

  • Assistance will be offered during the delivery phase but will also be available from the operation support center after implementation.

Deployment

  • Expedient will deploy private cloud instances in Expedient data centers including hardware and physical networking.

  • Expedient will apply Prism Central and Prism Element licensing. Section Link.

  • Expedient will provision hosts, storage, and deploy Prism Central and Prism Element clusters for the client to our most recent standards.

    • Reserve Rebuild Capacity Disabled

    • Compression Enabled

    • Deduplication: Disabled

    • The Cluster and Storage container will be set to RF2 for clusters with up to 20 nodes for N+1 and a Fault Tolerance of FT1.

    • The Cluster and Storage container will be set to RF3 for clusters with more than 20 nodes for N+2 and a Fault Tolerance of FT2.

      • A cluster set to RF3 cannot be downgraded to RF3.

  • VM HA Availability enabled

  • Encryption

    • Expedient will use the native KMS for cluster encryption.

      • External and Cloud KMS solutions are client supported and may impact Expedient's ability to maintain the platform.

  • Networking

    • Expedient will configure our multi-cloud firewall solution (if applicable).

  • Expedient will create any requested client networks in AHV.

    • VPC Self-Service capabilities to be test.

  • Expedient will grant networks access to cloud data protection environment (if applicable).

Management Plane

  • Prism Central – Expedient will provide all clients access to Prism Central UI and configure access via existing Active Directory or LDAP.

    • Client’s will have admin permissions in Prism Central to:

      • Manage and configure networking, storage, and compute resources.

      • Create, modify, delete, and manage virtual machines.

      • Add, remove, or modify user accounts.

      • Access logs and analytical data.

      • Set up and manage backup schedules and perform recovery operations.

    • Prism Central will be maintained and updated by Expedient.

    • Two-Factor authentication will be configured with OneLogin.

      • Additional third-party authentication is not supported by Expedient.

  • API and CLI – Clients can utilize Nutanix’s API, SDK, and CLIs

    • Expedient support is limited to ensuring that Nutanix’s aCLI, nCLI and API components are available for use and updated along with Prism Central and AOS.

    • Nutanix SDKs are maintained by Nutanix and available on GitHub.

Authentication

  • Expedient will provide access and authenticate to Prism Central.

    • Expedient will connect an existing Active Directory domain to Prism Central.

    • Two-factor authentication will be provided through OneLogin (required addon).

  • Expedient requires Prism Centrals to be accessed behind a VPN. This can be via a BYOB solution or Expedient’s multi-cloud firewall option.

Maintenance and Monitoring

  • Platform Infrastructure and Supporting Hardware Monitoring

    • Service tickets are created from Nutanix Cluster Check (NCC) alerts in Prism Central.

  • Infrastructure and Supporting Hardware Break/Fix

  • Firmware Updates

    • Firmware updates will be part of routine updates through Nutanix LCM.

  • Software Updates

    • AOS upgrades will be routine and include recommended AHV and Prism Central version upgrades.

Nutanix Move

  • Server migration services are available for to assist clients relocating workloads to Nutanix Private Cloud.

  • At this time, we will only assist in Nutanix-to-Nutanix migrations for Files (ESXi or AHV).

Definitions

  • Node - An x86 server with compute and storage resources.

  • Clusters - A logical grouping consisting of multiple nodes.

    • An Expedient cluster contains a minimum of 3 nodes.

  • AOS (Acropolis Operating System) - The underlying OS for managing infrastructure virtualization, including compute, storage, and networking.

  • AHV (Acropolis Hypervisor) - The AOS hypervisor.

  • Prism - The management plane for AOS.

    • Prism Element – The management plane for a single cluster.

    • Prism Central – The consolidated management plane for multiple clusters.

  • AOS Storage - The underlying, unified storage component of AOS.