Installation & Configuration

Reliable and Accurate Time Sync is mandatory for distributed services to work in a reliable / efficient manner.Network Time Protocol (NTP) is used across different devices and services on a network to maintain reliability and integrity of services, data and other critical functions.Nutanix - AOS, built on web-scale engineering principles, distributes roles and responsibilities to all nodes within the system to form a large cluster of services working together. Accurate time sync becomes a vital requirement for all the different components to work reliably and help keep up system integrity.Accurate time sync, not just offers integrity and smooth operations but offers a lot of value even when things don’t work as they should. During troubleshooting of any service, timestamps are used to understand and co-relate root-cause, impact of the problem.In order for a distributed system such as Nutanix AOS to work smoothly - NTP is of critical importance. CVMs (Controller Virtual Machine) that co

Please consider the possibility of incorporating the existing IP scheme in the new infrastructure. If changing the IP address is the only option we can utilize a script to change the CVM IP address. You can use the external IP address reconfiguration script in the following scenarios: Change the IP addresses of the CVMs in the same subnet. Change the IP addresses of the CVMs to a new or different subnet.In this scenario, the external IP address reconfiguration script works successfully if the new subnet is configured with the required switches and the CVMs can communicate with each other in the new subnet. Change the IP addresses of the CVMs to a new or different subnet if you are moving the cluster to a new physical location.In this scenario, the external IP address reconfiguration script works successfully if the CVMs can still communicate with each other in the old subnet.  Following is the summary of steps that you must perform to change the IP addresses on a Nutanix cluster. 

You have a nice OVF or an OVA image and you are ready to deploy that virtual appliance to AHV. There is just one more step required. Well, maybe more than one. It is not possible to import OVA and OVF files to AHV. Extraction of the files of the image as well as upload of the VMDK files is required prior to deployment.Please follow instructions provided in KB-3621 AHV: Import OVA and OVF image

Nutanix VirtIO includes device drivers specifically used by Windows VMs hosted in the Nutanix environment to enhance their stability and performance. This concept is very similar to VMware Tools for ESXi environments.The VirtIO bundles various drivers including:Balloon Driver Ethernet Adapter RNG Device SCSI pass-through controller Serial Driver SCSI ControllerThe VirtIO package is found on the Support Portal under AHV (please select “VirtIO” from the corresponding drop-down menu).To note, the device driver versions contained within the various available Nutanix VirtIO packages may be the same if there have been no updates for the drivers between the package releases. To correlate the driver versions associated with each VirtIO package release, please reference KB 5491 in the Support Portal.Further to note, beginning with VirtIO package release version 1.1.6 all driver versions match the VirtIO package version.

after  change IPMI i found warning IPMI not match I see the reference https://portal.nutanix.com/page/documents/details?targetId=Hardware-Admin-Ref-AOS-v5_17:ipc-ipmi-ip-addr-change-t.html how to step genesis restartI must stop cluster before ?i can run command genesis restart when cluster start ? Thank for support 

Ports and ProtocolsThe Ports and Protocols Reference allows you to determine ports requirements for multiple Nutanix products and services in a single pane. This document is divided into several sections based on the required ports for each product or service.Ports and Protocols Reference covers detailed port information (like protocol, service description, source, destination, and associated service) for the following products and services.Note: Note: The existing port information in this document is based on the latest product release. Updates to this document is made with major release of products. 1-click Upgrade AHV AOS Calm Collector Portal Collector Tool Disaster Recovery - Leap Disaster Recovery - Metro Availability (ESXi and Hyper-V) Disaster Recovery - Metro Availability with Leap (AHV) Disaster Recovery - Metro Availability with Leap (AHV) - CCLM Disaster Recovery - Protection Domain Era File Analytics Files Files Manager Karbon Platform Service

Security is the backbone of any infrastructure, so it is always recommended to set a strong industry-standard password for different components in your environment.Let’s say you want to implement a strong security password policy and have a need to modify the CVM and IPMI password in your environment but confused from where to start.Let us break the components for you: Modifying the CVM PasswordLogin in to the CVM.Change the admin password using the commandadmin@cvm$ passwd After you have successfully changed the password, the new password is synchronized across all Controller VMs in the cluster so you only need to follow the steps on just one CVM. Want to know more about the Nutanix password policy guidelines and steps for the above procedure Modify the CVM password. Modifying the IPMI passwordLogin to the IPMI Web Interface Click Configuration -> Users -> Administrative UserClick Modify and modify the password by entering the new password. What if you don’t have access to IPMI

This article contains IPMI commands for checking and setting interfaces to dedicated or shared mode. For example, after a BMC upgrade, the IPMI might not be accessible. So, you need to verify and change the interfaces to dedicated or shared mode. Note: To run ipmitool commands on an ESXI host, prefix all commands with a forward slash (/). Note: To run ipmitool commands from a remote system such as the CVM (Controller VM), add the "-I lanplus", "-H <IPMI IP>", "-U <username>" and "-P <password>" parameters to the ipmitool command. For example: nutanix@cvm$ ipmitool -I lanplus –H x.x.x.x –U ADMIN –P <password> <command>     Quanta Platform Use these commands for an NX-3400 (Quanta) platform. All commands are executed dynamically and a restart is not required. Check the status. [root@host]# ipmitool raw 0x0c 0x02 0x01 0xff 0 0 An output similar to the following is displayed.1100           :00 - Shared port 1101           :01 - D

Hello all,I’ve just finished the basic installation of a new 3 nodes Nutanix Cluster (NX-1065-G7 node). When i try to enter the IPMI password nothing happens. It seems the password is wrong. I have tried the default ADMIN/ADMIN password but it doesn’t worked (also admin/admin).Did the default password change with the release 5.15.x of AOS ?For information, the cluster has been created with the following parameters : AOS 5.15.2 Foundation VM 4.5.4.1 ESXi 6.7U3The “ipmitool user list” show me an “ADMIN” user with ID 2, so i think the account is correctly created. I ve tried on each of the 3 nodes and it’s still the same. So if the password set is ADMIN by default and is not working, can i safely change it with the ipmitool command ? Thx for your answers :)

If you ever need to present storage to your Guest OS directly via ISCSI here is some useful information for you. To provide access to cluster storage, Volumes utilizes an iSCSI data services IP address to clients for target discovery which simplifies external iSCSI configuration on clients. This iSCSI data services IP address acts as an iSCSI target discovery portal and initial connection point. Nutanix does not recommend configuring iSCSI client sessions to connect directly to Controller VM IP addresses. The data services address is owned by one Controller VM at a time. If the owner Controller VM becomes unavailable, the address moves to another Controller VM, ensuring that it is always available. This IP address is also used as a cluster-wide address by clients configured as part of Nutanix Files and other products. This IP address: Should be in the same subnet as the cluster Controller VM IP eth0 network interface addresses Helps load balance storage requests Enables path optimizati

Hi, I'm deploying a Nutanix cluster with three Dell nodes. The question rose about what timezone should be selected in the iDRAC. It was at first hard for me to undertsand how was the time set into the DRAC and the Bios, and I finally go this: Set Both NTP and Time zone In this method user will configure NTP and Time zone. In this case iDRAC will sync the time with NTP server and selected Time zone will be also applied. iDRAC will sync NTP server’s UTC/GMT time, so it is important that you configure correct time zone while configuring NTP on iDRAC. You can configure up to three NTP servers. It is always recommended to configure all three NTP servers for accuracy. We support IPv4, IPv6 and FQDN format for configuring NTP server address When NTP mode is enabled and iDRAC has received time through this interface, iDRAC will ignore any attempts to set iDRAC time through the server (BIOS, Open Manage, etc.) or CMC (for blade servers). Therefore, what I understand is that once the Ti

If your cluster has no direct access to the internet, you can use the Dark Site LCM bundle, which you can put on a local web server and use it as a source for the LCM downloads.The web server can be a virtual machine on the same Nutanix cluster that you want to upgrade or any other machine that the cluster will have access to. In this topic we will be creating a web server on a Windows machine and we will be using Microsoft IIS (Internet Information Services), so you will not need to download and install any third party software. Note that this guide is for absolute beginners, so you will not need any prior experience with this technology. So, first, we need to enable the IIS. Type the “Server Manager” in the Windows search and launch it.In the Server Manager click Manage in the top right corner and select “Add Roles and Features”. Click Next until you get to the Server Roles. In the list of Server Roles, select Web Server and click Next. The default options are sufficient. Click Next

We just purchased Nutanix ( 2 Appliances , 3 nodes on each ) , we are planning to use VMware Enterprise plus on them. I've few questions, I would be more than happy if I get the answers: 1- if we used VMware, all Nutanix functions will be applied ? ( for example, if one HD failed, the data will be transfered to another Hard disk? ) 2- If I'm using 3 nodes, and I'm utlizing all the CPU and Memory and HD capabilities for all three, once one node goes down, how the VMs on this node will go to the other nodes while we are utlizing their full capacity? 3- if one node fail, the VMware VMs on this Node will be Automatically moved to another Node ? 4- In general, is there any difference if we used Acropolies or VMware ? will we get the same functions on Nutanix?

There can be legitimate cases where access to external storage, such as massive tape libraries, massive disk archives is needed to some, but not all VMs running in a Nutanix cluster.  These VMs would be ideally under the AHV hypervisor, but is ESXi is an acceptable alternative.  These external storage systems would likely support 10GbE iSCSI (and faster) and/or 8 gbit fibre channel or faster. I understand that supporting such external access would make the VM “special” and would restrict VM mobility to other specific nodes that were configured for similar external access. The mobility issues are a later discussion, if external storage access is possible. If the external storage was a NAS device, running NFS and/or SMB, I believe it would be straigntforward … just define the external IP address in the VM, and access the data from the VM.  The same technique could be used for external iSCSI devices, for Ethernet iSCSi.   In many cases, if the external storage needed very high performance

Hi Does anywhere can be find the ESXi version and AOS version interoperaability or compatibility? I found that in the foundation iso_whitelist file, there is some ESXi version has min_nos requirements. but differnet OEM partner has different requiremnts. But from VMware compability web site. ESXi is compatibility with most of the AOS version as the link. For example: ESXi 6.5 U3 --Dell has no min_nos requirements --Lenovo min_nos is 5.10.6 --Fujitsu has no min_nos requirements --HPE min_nos is 5.10.7 So if it is old enviroment, Does the ESXi version must meet the AOS version requirement in the whitelist?

Hello guys,   currently i deployed a new hpe hardware Hypervisor version is  ESXi VERSION 6.7.0   I need a vcenter to deploy some VMs in Nutanix, so i downloaded the vcenter applicane and tried to run the setup with admin rights.   I have currently no dns server, so i used the gateway. NTP server is currently not available, because the environment is completly new, so i used the Time-synchronisation: Synchronize time with the ESXi hostSynchronize time with NTP servers    Its activated with http://de.pool.ntp.org/; but is only temp.   The vcenter appliance setup 1 is running fine, the step 2 is very slow and need much time. After 2hours on 50% i canceled it.   The error:   No file found matching /etc/vmware-vpx/vc-extn-cisreg.prop cmd "/usr/bin/python /usr/lib/vmidentity/tools/scripts/lstool.py list --url http://localhost:7080/lookupservice/sdk" timed out after 60 seconds due to lack of progress in last 30 seconds (0 bytes read)     but why? Should I try another vcen

In certain instances, it may be necessary to change IP address of IPMI. This post explains how to achieve the outcome and where to look for help. Ther are three methods of configuring the IP address. In any case, there are only two simple steps: 1. Configure the IPMI IP addresses by using either the IPMI web interface or the hypervisor host command-line interface via one of the below: IPMI Web Interface Command Line (ipmitool - available on AHV and ESXi hypervisor hosts) BIOS For nodes from other hardware vendors, see the manufacturer instructions. 2. Log on to Controller VM on the same node in the cluster and restart Genesis service. For specific instructions, commands and examples see:NX Series Hardware Administration Guide: Changing an IPMI IP Address.KB-1486 [ESXi] How to re-configure IPMI using ipmitool - also includes instructions and examples on local user accounts management.

How can I reset a node to factory configuration after using the fundation process

What is Foundation? Foundation is a Nutanix provided tool leveraged for bootstrapping, imaging and deployment of Nutanix clusters. The imaging process will install the desired version of the AOS software as well as the hypervisor of choice.   By default Nutanix nodes ship with AHV pre-installed (depending on your country), to leverage a different hypervisor type you must use foundation to re-image the nodes with the desired hypervisor. NOTE: Some OEMs will ship directly from the factory with the desired hypervisor.   The figure shows a high level view of the Foundation architecture:     To use a different hypervisor (ESXi or Hyper-V) on factory nodes or to use any hypervisor on bare metal nodes, the nodes must be imaged in the field. Foundation service is included on CVMs and can be accessed at port 8000 on a running CVM that is not in a cluster, or if the CVM IP address is not yet configured the Foundation Portable software can automatically discover the nodes. Check out the prism web

Let’s say you are running AOS version 5.10.7, and want to upgrade to a different Nutanix Files version or confused regarding which Prism Central version you should install or upgrade to?Nutanix gives you a feature, Software Product Interoperability, to easily identify the compatible versions between software like Prism Central and Nutanix files with the AOS.All we need to do is first select the Software Type(AOS, Nutanix Files or Prism Central) and then the target software type and then we can find the AOS version compatible.Points to be taken into consideration Prism Central does not follow the Long Term Support Release (LTS) and Short Term Support Release (STS) tracks. Nutanix Files (formerly known as AFS) does not follow the Long Term Support Release (LTS) and Short Term Support Release (STS) tracks. Refer to the following link to know more about LTS and STS tracksLTS/STS InformationInterested to know more?How upgrades happen in Nutanix environment  Let’s learn about upgrades Prism

We have already mentioned some helpful resources relevant to SNMP configuration. This time we will take a look at examples, logs location and connectivity testing. Important:Nutanix appliances support only SNMP v2c and v3 (support for v2c in AOS 5.5 and higher). Starting from AOS version 4.1, auth-type MD5 is no longer supported. With SNMP v2c Nutanix support SNMP TRAP instead of SNMP GETFollow trough to KB-1333 Configuring and Troubleshooting SNMP monitoring for commands and examples.The article also reference two more KB articles as well as SNMP related PowerShell commands:KB-2448 How to import MIB in zenossKB-2028 Integrating Nutanix with Solarwinds

Should you need to access container’s content directly, upload files to or download files from a container on AHV there is a simple guide with few things to remember: Do not delete any data from the container via WinSCP or any similar tool. Appropriate Prism or CVM command line workflows should be leveraged for doing the cleanup if needed. Deleting VM disk files directly from Nutanix container may affect Acropolis service, which can result in inability to manage user VMs.How to upload VM disk files from your workstation to Nutanix containerUsing WinSCP, connect to a CVM using SFTP protocol and port 2222 using Prism element credentials. Enable the option to show hidden files by going to Options > Preferences > Panels and then selecting the “Show hidden files”  option under the common settings. Select desired Nutanix container and upload file. How to download VM disk files from Nutanix container to your workstationPower off user VM, which disks will be exported, to avoid data corru

hi, i am trying to create a cluster manually. 3 cvms, all pinging each other, ssh to each other OK, network access OK nutanix@NTNX-xxx-B-CVM:xxx:~$ cluster -s a,b,c create2015-01-29 02:34:48 INFO cluster:1663 Executing action create on SVMs a,b,c2015-01-29 02:34:48 WARNING genesis_utils.py:325 Failed to reach a node where Genesis is up. Retrying... (Hit Ctrl-C to abort)2015-01-29 02:34:49 WARNING genesis_utils.py:325 Failed to reach a node where Genesis is up. Retrying... (Hit Ctrl-C to abort)2015-01-29 02:34:50 WARNING genesis_utils.py:325 Failed to reach a node where Genesis is up. Retrying... (Hit Ctrl-C to abort)2015-01-29 02:34:51 WARNING genesis_utils.py:325 Failed to reach a node where Genesis is up. Retrying... (Hit Ctrl-C to abort)2015-01-29 02:34:52 WARNING genesis_utils.py:325 Failed to reach a node where Genesis is up. Retrying... (Hit Ctrl-C to abort esxi 5.5 u2 nos 4.0.2.2 I ve done a lot of install of 4.0.2.2, first time I see this error. vinny

Hello all, I’ve tried to install ESX 6.7.0 and AOS 5.15 onto my Nutanix but it keeps erroring out. It looks like it’s trying to mount a phoenix.iso but that file does not exist and isn’t being created during the install. Leading to Foundation to be unable to SSH to it after boot. Please assist. Thank you. Installation failed. Click here to learn how to retry the failed nodes. Node ProgressDownload Log Bundle IPMI IPHOST IPCVM IPPROGRESSLOG192.168.1.5 192.168.2.5 192.168.2.6 fatal: Waiting for installer to boot up Log Reset • Review Configuration • Version 4.5.3 Node LogRaw text log 20200513 10:59:08 DEBUG Setting state of <ImagingStepValidation(<NodeConfig(192.168.2.6) @d8d0>) @dc90> from PENDING to RUNNING20200513 10:59:08 INFO Running <ImagingStepValidation(<NodeConfig(192.168.2.6) @d8d0>) @dc90>20200513 10:59:08 DEBUG Cache MISS: key(<function common_validations at 0x03D2E8F0>_()_{'global_config': <foundation.config_manager.GlobalConfig object at

There could be many reasons why an administrator would want to perform a factory reset of the IPMI/BMC module. Whatever the reason maybe, knowing the different options and its differences is important.Using ipmitool, we can perform 3 types of resets each with its own implication. Reset BMC  Partial factory reset (IPMI and BMC reset but will preserve Network settings) Full factory Default reset (Potential to lose IPMI network settings)Before you execute any of these commands, note the IP_Addr, Net mask and GW IP_Addr for the IPMI. ipmitool lan printUsage note: On VMware ESXi hypervisor, place a leading "/" in front of "ipmitool", for example, "/ipmitool". The executable is located at the top-level root directory.Check out the KB-8123 for detailed instructions.