Nutanix Data Lens is now available as an on-premises solution, complementing our existing SaaS-based offering. With this we thought it a good idea to start a new forum here on the community site. If you’re an existing File Analytics user, a Data Lens customer, or are evaluating Data Lens today, this forum is for you.
In case you’re not familiar, Nutanix Data Lens provides global visibility, analytics, and security for unstructured data on Nutanix Unified Storage, and Amazon S3. It offers ransomware resilience, audit trails, permissions visibility, and data lifecycle management by identifying threats, monitoring user behavior, and optimizing storage through insights into data age and access patterns, all from a single console. It delivers proactive security by detecting anomalies with signature-based and behavioral algorithms, integrates with SIEM/messaging tools like CrowdStrike Falcon® Next-Gen SIEM, and helps manage data growth for cost savings and better governance
For many organizations, especially those in highly regulated industries like finance, healthcare, and government, the "cloud vs. on-prem" decision is often dictated by strict digital sovereignty and compliance requirements.
Choosing SaaS or On-Prem?
Whether you need the scale of the cloud or the strict containment of an air-gapped environment, Nutanix Data Lens now has a deployment model that fits your needs.
Nutanix Data Lens (On-Prem)
This new deployment option is built for organizations where data, including metadata, cannot leave the security perimeter. It runs entirely within your datacenter, providing the same core analytics and security capabilities as our SaaS offering, but with zero external metadata transmission. Highlights include:
- Assisting Digital Sovereignty: All collected metadata and audit logs remain 100% within your infrastructure.
- Dark Site Support: Ideal for federal, and other sectors that commonly operate in disconnected or air-gapped environments.
- Local Ransomware Defense: Detect and block threats in minutes, all managed locally.
- Upgrade from File Analytics: Data Lens provides an on-premises replacement for File Analytics. It has a much broader feature set, including deeper analytics, broader ransomware protection, and permission monitoring to name a few.
Nutanix Data Lens (SaaS)
For most customers, our SaaS offering remains the recommended path. It offers the fastest time-to-value and centralized scalability. This includes:
- Unlimited Scale: Effortlessly manage analytics for billions of files and objects across global locations.
- Multi-Region Visibility: Get a single global dashboard view of your data estate, no matter where your clusters are located.
- Rapid Innovation: Receive the latest features and threat intelligence updates instantly without manual patching.
How to Get Started
Getting started with Nutanix Data Lens is simple, regardless of which deployment path you choose. Both options offer a free trial, so you can experience the value firsthand before committing.
Getting Started with Data Lens (On-Prem)
Deployment is handled directly through your existing Prism Central interface.
- Log in to Prism Central (PC): Ensure you are running a compatible version (PC 7.5 or later).
- Navigate to Marketplace: Go to the Prism Central Marketplace.
- Select Data Lens: Find the "Nutanix Data Lens" application and click to install.
- Deploy: Follow the guided workflow to deploy the application on your cluster. The workflow will help you determine the required resource sizing.
- Launch: Once deployed, access the Data Lens interface directly within Prism Central to begin enabling your local file servers.
Getting Started with Data Lens (SaaS)
Onboarding takes just minutes and leverages your existing telemetry connection.
- Enable Pulse: Ensure "Pulse" health monitoring is enabled on your Nutanix Unified Storage clusters.
- Log in to Cloud Services: Go to my.nutanix.com and log in with your credentials.
- Launch Data Lens: Scroll to "Cloud Services," find the Nutanix Data Lens tile, and click "Get Started."
- Connect Clusters: Once you’re connected to Data Lens, enable your file servers or object stores to begin the Initial metadata scans.
With Nutanix Data Lens, you now have the flexibility to secure your unstructured data in the way that best aligns with your business goals and regulatory needs. If you don’t have an existing environment to start a trial, take the Simplify Data Management test drive to learn more.