Product Updates

AOS integrates storage, compute and networking resources into a scalable, secure, resilient and easy-to-use software-defined infrastructure.AOS 6.0 has various new features and notably enables advanced disaster recovery capabilities for organizations of all sizes and expands workload support for leading big data and analytics applications. Additionally, has other workload acceleration and enterprise grade features, such as resiliency improvements to gain insights and control over the self-healing process and ability to reserve capacity.Please review the release notes before deploying AOS 6.0Here is a sample of the latest features:Disaster RecoveryNear-Sync Autonomous Schedules: Native near-zero always-on data loss solution for applications running on Nutanix HCI. Available with Protection Domain DR Dashboard: Provides global visibility into DR landscape with LEAP. Gives team one place to monitor and manage their ability to keep business operations functional in the face of disaster. Brings observability to DR for meeting/maintaining RPO SLAs, Recovery Readiness and DR Reports DR Traffic Encryption: Encrypt DR traffic across WAN links without the need for dedicated encryption hardware or VPN.Native SSL based encryption is now integrated with Nutanix AOS, enabling secure replication even where VPN tunnels are unavailable. Available with Protection Domain DR Replication Performance: DR Replication Performance: Next gen architecture for data mobility across clouds with improved performance and tight SLAs Instant Restore for AHV: Instantly recover the workload even though the disk data for the workload are not locally available in the underlying AOS cluster. Migrate the disk data back to (seed) the AOS cluster without interruption to the recovered workloadCore Data PathOption to reserve rebuild(spare) capacity for a cluster: The Reserve Rebuild Capacity feature simplifies cluster resiliency management by allowing you to reserve storage capacity required to recover and rebuild from failures. AOS calculates, reserves, and dynamically manages capacity required for self-healing after a failure. Rebuild progress indicator and ETA: The new Rebuild progress indicator in Prism enables administrators to better manage cluster resiliency by providing additional insight into the self-healing process such as the rate of progress, expected time of completion and other details for rebuild operations Brownfield AES: Provides ability to convert existing pre-AES containers to AES Support mix storage capacity for HW Swap: This feature adds support mixing storage drive capacity for drive RMA and node capacity increase use-cases. Improve performance (e.g.: metadata re-warming) after failures/CVM restart/change of vdisk host: This feature helps mitigate potential application performance impact during certain CVM restarts or live migrations by proactively pre-filling the metadata cacheAHVP2P intra cluster VM live migration: While VM live migration is in progress if the migrate task restarts, VMs can be left in a paused state or killed in certain scenarios causing downtime, this feature overcomes these issues ADS vGPU Support: We now have Acropolis Dynamic Scheduling (ADS) support for VMs with virtual GPUs (vGPUs) Nvidia vGPU Console Support: Provide GPU support for our VM console (Also part of 5.20) Scale out PE Lazan: With this feature, cluster state capture phase is distributed among every Lazan slave to make it faster and more scalable. Each slave then sends the captured state to Lazan master making anomaly detection faster and the CPU usage to compute the cluster state is also distributed among the nodes. PC UI using v3 APIs: The goal was to upgrade the APIs used for VM operations for our Prism UI, while preserving the existing feature set and workflowsPlease take a moment to read the release notesBe sure to share your upgrade experience in the community forums.Register for our annual .NEXT user conference happening September 20-23, 2021 online. It’s Cloud on your terms.

AOS integrates storage, compute and networking resources into a scalable, secure, resilient and easy-to-use software-defined infrastructure.LTS / STS Release TypesTo determine your cluster's current release type (LTS or STS) from the nCLI command line.Is LTS: true indicates an LTS release. Is LTS: false indicates an STS release.Acropolis 5.20 Software BundleAOS 5.20 NCC 4.0.1 NGT 2.1.2 Foundation 4.6.2 AHV-20201105.2030For a detailed listing please check out the product release notes in our support portal.Here are a brief summary of the updates to this release:AHV-managementResolved an issue where saving the VM configuration boot order set to network interface in the Prism UI resets the guest VM boot order to default. Resolved an issue where after an AOS upgrade to 5.19.1 and later releases, you are unable to use Prism Central to manage VMs created in AOS 5.15.x.Data ProtectionResolved an issue where no application consistent groups are available after crash consistent snapshots are taken during failover to Xi.Infrastructure / ServicesResolved an issue where pre-upgrade checks fail to progress due to incorrect handling of exceptions. Column name validation added to resolve an issue where silent disk or network corruption results in corruption of the stats and Pithos column family leading to cluster-wide degradation. Resolved an issue where during attempts to upgrade to Hyper-V 2019 through the web console Upgrade Software page, the page did not allow you to select the Hyper-V SKU type leading to the upgrade operation to either stall or install Hyper-V Datacenter Core incorrectly.Linux KernelThe latest kernel update resolves an issue where the mdadm raid value shows unrealistic numbers. Updated Linux Kernel to kernel version 3.10.0-1160.24.1.el7 that includes a fix for a kernel panic issue.NetworkingThe OVS rules limit increased to 32768.Security-AOSNew certificate regeneration script added to resolve an issue where attempts to restart the cluster fail due to an expired encryption certificate. The ctrl + alt + del option is not displayed in the GUI to avoid its usage while PC is in middle of first-boot-after-upgrade script as it might result in the PC to restart and break PC permanently.Be sure to share your upgrade experience in the community forums.Register for our annual .NEXT user conference happening September 20-23, 2021 online. It’s Cloud on your terms.

Nutanix Files is a software-defined scale-out file server. It can be used as the repository for unstructured data like home directories, user profiles, departmental shares, and application logs.Nutanix Files Release: 3.7.3.1 is out and available for download.The following are the resolved and updated in this release.Files 3.7.3.1 includes resolved issues and security-vulnerability fixes Updated sizing configurations to prevent certain workloads from overloading I/O operations, which caused mount issues and temporary unavailability of shares.Be sure to register for our annual .NEXT user conference happening September 20-23, 2021 online. It’s Cloud on your terms.

Nutanix Era enables you to provision complex database environments in a single click, incorporating your standard configurations with Nutanix best practices.Nutanix Era Version: 2.1.1.2 is out and available for download.Era is a database as a service (DBaaS) that automates and simplifies database administration, bringing one-click simplicity and invisible operations to database provisioning and life-cycle management.The following are the resolved issues in this release.Era Server: Resolved the issue wherein a replicated protection domain gets deleted when multiple databases are sharing the same protection domain. Resolved the Era Server IP issue that occurs when in spite of changing the IP address, Era still uses the old IP address to connect to a database server VM. Oracle: Era now supports Oracle databases having storage with nested mount points. SQL Server: Resolved the database server VM provisioning issue that occurs when special characters are used in the VM administrator password. PostgreSQL: Resolved the Postgres HA patching issue wherein one or more nodes are excluded from automatic failover.Be sure to register for our annual .NEXT user conference happening September 20-23, 2021 online. It’s Cloud on your terms.

Nutanix Move is a cross-hypervisor mobility solution to move VMs with minimal downtime. This release includes the following new features and enhancements.Download the latest release today.What's New in Release 4.0.0New platform support for migration: Azure to AOS (AHV and ESXi): Move now supports migration from Azure to AOS. Uninstall VMware Tools after migration: Move can automatically uninstall VMware tools from target VMs after migration. Real time logs on Move UI: You can now check real time logs directly from the Move user interface. Support for new RHEL version: You can now migrate RHEL 8.3 VMs from ESXi to AHV. Support for clusters (ESXi Hypervisor) having storage-only nodes: Move now supports clusters with storage-only nodes. Move memory updated to 8 GiB: The default memory of Move VM is updated from 4 GiB to 8 GiB.If you have questions or want to connect with others using Move, be sure to join the discussion on our Nutanix Move forum.Be sure to register for our annual .NEXT user conference happening September 20-23, 2021 online. It’s Cloud on your terms.

Life Cycle Manager (LCM) is out and ready for download!The Life Cycle Manager (LCM) tracks and upgrades both software and firmware versions of all entities in the cluster, completely in-band with Nutanix Prism Element and Prism Central.Firmware Versus Software UpdatesLCM supports software updates for any platform running Nutanix software.LCM supports firmware updates only for platforms from the following vendors.Nutanix (NX) Dell XC / XC Core Lenovo HX / HX Ready HPE DX Fujitsu XF Intel DCB HPE DL (G10) Inspur InMerge   Table 1: Platforms That Support Firmware Updates Through LCMIndividual component firmware support differs among hardware vendors, so check the RIM bundle for your hardware vendor for details.New FeaturesStop Update button: LCM 2.4.0.3 adds the ability to stop most in-progress LCM updates by using the Stop Update button. When you click Stop Update, LCM automatically chooses a safe point to stop the update. Not all updates can stop after they have begun. Username logging: For security reasons, LCM 2.4.0.3 logs the username for every update attempt.Download LCM today and join the conversation in the How it works forums and find out how others are taking advantage of LCM. Be sure to tag you LCM posts with LCM.

File Analytics 3.0 is out and ready for downloadFile Analytics provides data and statistics on the operations and contents of a file server.Once deployed, Nutanix Files adds a File Analytics VM (FAVM) to the Files cluster. A single File Analytics VM supports all file servers in the cluster; however, you must enable File Analytics separately for each file server. File Analytics protects data on the FAVM, which is kept in a separate volume group.Once you deploy File Analytics, a new File Analytics link appears on the file server actions bar. Use the link to access File Analytics on any file server that has File Analytics enabled.Features and Updates | File Analytics 3.0Nested Share Support: File Analytics supports data collection from nested shares and exports. Refer to the Nutanix Files Guide for information on the nested shares feature. Data Age Capacity Explorer: Clicking the explore link on "Data Age" widget in the main dashboard opens the data age details view, which includes a granular overview of data age and a data heat widget. Use the default data heat values for hot, warm, and cold data, or configure the levels to your preference. Generating Reports: Use the reports tab to configure, view, and generate reports. You can create a custom report template, or use one of the pre-canned report templates. View the reports in the reports dashboard or download them as JSON or CSV files. Ransomware Protection: File Analytics blocks files that include common ransomware extensions. Enable ransomware protection to initiate real-time ransomware scans and receive notifications of possible threats. You can add more extensions to the ransomware list of blocked file types. See "Ransomware" in the File Analytics Guide for more details. This feature requires Nutanix Files 3.8, AOS 5.19, and FSM 2.0.1. Caution: Ransomware protection helps detect potential ransomware. Nutanix does not recommend using the File Analytics ransomware feature as an all-encompassing ransomware solution. Graceful FAVM Shutdown: Gracefully shut down and bring up File Analytics VMs (FAVMs) to perform maintenance. Use the guest shutdown or guest reboot options in Prism Element (PE). Anomaly and File Operations Widget Updates: UI updates to the anomaly and file operations widgets include: a graph for viewing anomaly distribution by type in the anomaly dashboard and a donut chart for viewing file operation distribution by type for the file operations widget.Download and give File Analytics a try and join the conversation in the Nutanix Files discussion forum and learn how best to use File Analytics.

Nutanix Files 3.8 is out and ready for download.Nutanix Files (Files) lets you share files in a centralized and protected location to eliminate the requirement of a third-party file server.Files uses a scaleout architecture that provides file services to clients through the Server Message Block (SMB) or Network File System (NFS) protocol. Files consists of one or more file server VMs (FSVMs) combined into a logical file server instance sometimes referred to as a Files cluster. You can create multiple file server instances within a single Nutanix cluster.Files creates a volume group (VG) for every FSVM to provide stable storage for persistent states and audit events. During a service outage, the states, storage, and events of a VG fail-over to another FSVM.Features and Updates | Files 3.8Smart Disaster Recovery (DR): Smart DR is a share-level data protection service available through the Files Manager on Prism Central (PC). Smart DR includes an overview of protected file servers and shares, options to create and manage protection policies, and dashboards for reviewing replication jobs. The Files Manager User Guide provides a description of Smart DR capabilities and configuration procedures. Smart DR requires the Files Manager 2.0. Improvements to Load-Balancing Recommendations: Before initiating performance optimization, a dialog-box message prompts you to acknowledge the impact of load-balancing operations on existing client connections. When possible, perform load-balancing operations during maintenance windows, as scaleout and rebalancing disrupts existing connections. LCM Upgrade Support for the Files Manager: Upgrade the Files Manager using the Life-Cycle Manager (LCM). For upgrade instructions, refer to the Life-Cycle Manager Guide. Support for Solaris 10 with the NFSv3 Unmanaged Protocol: Nutanix has qualified the use of the Oracle Solaris 10 operating system with the NFSv3 protocol and unmanaged authentication. Support for NFS v4.1 and NFS v4.2: Nutanix has qualified the use of NFS versions 4.1 and 4.2 for Files. Support for SMB3 Directory Leasing: Directory leasing can improves performance on SMB sessions. SMB clients cache the directory content on the client side and reduce round-trips of SMB requests. File Name Pattern Blocking: The file blocking feature includes options to block files based on part of a file name or extension, a single-character match, or a multi-character match. See the "File Blocking" section in the Nutanix Files Guide for more details. Connected Shares Under Distributed and Nested Shares: You can submount shares under distributed or nested shares. Previously, connecting shares required submounts under standard shares. Connecting distributed shares distributes data across FSVMs.Download Nutanix Files today and join the discussion happening in the Nutanix Files discussion forums, it’s always best to learn from others in the community.

X-Ray 3.10.1 is out and ready for download.X-Ray is an automated testing framework and benchmarking application for enterprise-grade datacenters. The X-Ray testing framework is a downloadable virtual machine (VM) with a user interface and complete documentation. Once installed, X-Ray can test and analyze several different systems and report comparable information for your use.X-Ray provides test scenarios for hyperconverged platforms that demonstrate variations in areas such as performance, data integrity, and availability.This version is primarily a bugfix release with the following important updates:Nutanix systems with NVME devices target addition issue fixed. Setting IPMI to None no longer raises an issue on vSphere clusters that don’t have IPMI configured. User is now informed when the incorrect out of band management protocol is used. Occasional test hangs due to pulse data fixed. Version reporting in the UI is fixed.Download and give it a try today. Join the discussion in the X-Ray community forums and learn how others are using it.

Out today Foundation Central Release 1.1Foundation Central is the Nutanix service used to create clusters from factory-imaged nodes remotely from Prism Central.Foundation Central Release 1.1Foundation Central can create clusters with reimaging the factory-imaged nodes that are running Foundation 4.5.1 or higher. You can image the nodes with any version of AOS and hypervisor. Foundation Central supports imaging and creating clusters out of factory nodes shipped with DiscoveryOS version 4.5.2 or higher. Supported AOS versions on the remote nodes are AOS 5.15 or higher. These AOS versions have Foundation 4.5.1 or higher bundled with it.New Features and EnhancementsThis release includes the following enhancements:Imaging nodes on a VLAN is now supported via Foundation Central. VLAN is supported only for nodes with CVMs installed on it and not supported for nodes installed with DiscoveryOS. The Foundation Central UI has several fixes and improvements. Some major changes are: Improvements to the discovered node details: Grouping nodes by API key, block serial or host subnet. Grouping nodes that are being discovered and those that are already discovered and available for cluster creation. The node attributes that have to be displayed can be configured. Improvements to the Deployment History page: Improved UX experience and additional details for the cluster creation request are displayed. Foundation Central now supports RDMA NIC passthrough. IAMv2 is now supported on Foundation Central 1.1. Foundation Central does not allow the creation of more than 50 API keys and hence minimizing any security vulnerabilities. Foundation Central allows the creation of only one API key per second to avoid any Denial of Service (DOS) attack.Get it now in the support portal Foundation Central and read the release notes along with the user guide.

We are happy to announce that AOS 5.19 (STS), along with AHV-20201105-12, NCC 3.10.1.2, Foundation 4.6, and LCM 2.3.4.2 are all available for download on the Nutanix Portal. Please refer to the release notes in the portal for a deeper explanation.Some new and notable updates and features:Note: Nutanix highly recommends updating NCC to version 3.10.0.5 or later versions for updated checks compatible with AOS 5.19 and later versions.New and Updated Features | AOS 5.19Support for Multi-Site Replication with Leap: You can now create protection policies to replicate the recovery points to one or more recovery availability zones. You can replicate the recovery points to at most two different AHV or ESXi clusters at the same or different availability zones. Support for Cross cluster live migration with Leap: You can now perform live migration of the guest VMs protected with Synchronous replication schedule. Live migration offers zero downtime of your protected guest VMs during a planned failover event to the recovery availability zone License Manager / Licensing as a Service: License Manager introduces licensing as a service for Prism Element and Prism Central clusters. It is updated independently from Nutanix software such as AOS, Prism Central, Nutanix Cluster Check, and so on. Storage Capacity Reporting Enhancement: Storage Over-provisioning widget enhancement- The Storage Provisioning Ratio Widget is now enhanced with color-coded alerts. See "Storage Overview View" in the Web Console Guide for details. Native Key Manager Support for ROBO Clusters: The Native KMS (remote) option allows you to secure your encryption keys with a registered remote Prism Central. This feature is available for clusters of all sizes for software encryption, in addition to ROBO clusters.New and Updated Features | AHVWindows Defender Credential Guard Support in AHV: AHV enables you to use the Windows Defender Credential Guard security feature on Windows guest VMs. Live vDisk Migration Across Storage Containers: vDisk migration allows you to change the container of a vDisk. You can migrate vDisks across storage containers while they are attached to guest VMs without the need to shut down or delete VMs (live migration). Virtual Network Switches Management: Virtual switches are used to manage multiple bridges and uplink ports. The VS configuration is designed to provide flexibility in configuring virtual bridge connections. A virtual switch defines a collection of AHV nodes and the uplink ports on each node. Support for Cross cluster live migration with Leap: You can now perform live migration of the guest VMs protected with Synchronous replication schedule. Live migration offers zero downtime of your protected guest VMs during a planned failover event to the recovery availability zone.Technical Preview | Flow NetworkingThis feature is currently in technical preview. You need to enter a secret passphrase to enable Flow networking. To participate in this technical review, contact your Nutanix account team to enable Flow networking.Do not use technical preview features in a production environment.Flow Networking delivers the following benefits:Simplified workflow to deploy App-driven network virtualization with turnkey built into Prism Central. Secure multi-tenancy with per-tenant isolation using virtual private cloud (VPC) based network segmentation and namespace isolation. VPN-based seamless connectivity across multiple sites with an automated VPN lifecycle. IP Address retention and policy based routing for stretched subnets. NAT-based secure egress to networks external to a VPC. Self-service networking services for applications through REST APIs. Enhanced networking to facilitate more effective disaster recovery.Detail information can be found in the following Release Notes:Acropolis 5.19 Family Release Notes AOS 5.19 Release Notes AHV-20201105.12 Release NotesI would love to hear what you think once you upgrade. If you have written a blog post the link in the comments below and lets helps others in the community grow and learn.