---
title: "Nutanix Private Cloud"
slug: "nutanix-private-cloud"
updated: 2025-12-22T20:15:48Z
published: 2025-12-22T20:15:48Z
canonical: "kb.expedient.com/nutanix-private-cloud"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://kb.expedient.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Nutanix Private Cloud

**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.

Expedient offers Nutanix Private Cloud with two types of storage configuration:

- **Nutanix Private Cloud HCI**
  - The host contains all compute, storage, and networking in one hardware chassis and is managed through unified a software platform.
  - The storage is Nutanix’s native AOS Storage.
- **Nutanix Private Cloud with External Storage**
  - The host switches to a three-tiered architecture, separating the storage layer completely.
  - The external storage is currently available with Pure Storage.

### Licensing

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

See [Nutanix Cloud Platform Software Options](https://www.nutanix.com/products/cloud-platform/software-options#ncm) 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.
- 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
  - For Nutanix HCI:
    - 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.

> [!WARNING]
> For Nutanix Private Cloud with Pure
> 
> - Direct access to the Pure Storage management plane in shared arrays will not be provided
> - The ability to view/create/remove/manage storage containers in Prism Central will remain available

### 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.
