Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) Reviews

I have worked on several Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) products, including Nutanix Prism, Nutanix CVMs, and Nutanix storage products. We had an on-premises infrastructure based on Nutanix hardware and the Nutanix hypervisor layer based on Acropolis. 

Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) is a new offering from Nutanix, whereas our setup had a small on-premises presence with Nutanix-based hypervisor servers managed using Nutanix Prism. This cloud manager comes as an offering on top of Nutanix Prism, where we can manage multiple Nutanix-related hardware and components. We used to host VDIs based on Citrix on the Nutanix hardware. Now that we have reached end of life on the hardware and Citrix front, we have moved all of our on-premises infrastructure to Azure.

The most important aspect of Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) is that it helps us manage the infrastructure as a hyperconverged infrastructure in HCI mode. If I have different physical servers, I can map them into a cluster and manage the storage together. It provides flexibility to make use of storage in a clustered format instead of using it in an individual storage endpoint.

We have the flexibility to have Nutanix-based licensing based on the core model, instead of having a specific cost on the cluster. The costing on a core model gives customers flexibility to add multiple cores to a single physical host and adjust the infrastructure accordingly, and we can scale up the cluster as needed.

While other cloud providers, AWS or Azure, are mostly into cloud-based solutions, and Azure has introduced Azure Stack HCI for managing on-premises infrastructure, Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) provides flexibility from day one. We can manage both on-premises and Azure solutions using a single pane of glass, eliminating the need to navigate different windows or screens. It provides a comprehensive view of the infrastructure and highlights specific areas through alerts, giving us good visibility of infrastructure conditions.

At the moment, I don't have specific feedback on Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) because I have been working on multiple clouds. While the majority of our workloads are on Azure, there aren't any immediate improvements I can recall. 

In terms of features, while other providers offer similar capabilities, Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) remains ahead of the curve with its decade-long strategy. It supports different hardware types without vendor lock-in, which is an advantage over Azure Stack HCI, which may only work with specific vendors such as HP or Dell.

In the recent past, we have moved all of our infrastructure to Azure cloud. I have used Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) for approximately 1.5 years.

Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) firmware upgrades, physical host issues, or hard disk failures may require maintenance. On a regular basis, firmware upgrades or version upgrades from version A to version B are the major maintenance considerations. Earlier versions could be buggy, and new versions improve the experience. Otherwise, operations run smoothly.

When a specific node goes down, we don't have to worry much because Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) performs automatic movement of VMs from one host to another within the cluster. When a new node is added to the cluster, it becomes seamless and the VM provisioning gets evenly load-balanced across nodes. This eliminates the need for an admin to worry about proper load balancing, as the algorithms handle this effectively.

I would rate their customer service as eight out of ten. We have an in-house Nutanix team that handles physical issues or specific troubleshooting needs. I have never directly interacted with Nutanix support because most issues are easy to handle since we have clusters managing the workloads. Even when a node goes down, it doesn't impact our infrastructure because it gets load-balanced between the available nodes.

Positive

The base infrastructure deployment took one to two weeks, but the VDI builds are done on a need basis. When a new team gets onboarded, it becomes an on-demand-based deployment. The base infrastructure is made available, and we build on top of it depending on the number of users that join the infrastructure. 

Our on-premises deployment had around 1,000 users across different regions, including the US, Canada, and Australia. Since we have moved all on-premises infrastructure to Azure cloud, everything is now cloud-based. When we initiated builds using Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM), provisioning 50 machines would take approximately 30 to 45 minutes. It was quick and provided the required VDIs to teams within an hour, allowing them to start using the system immediately.

I don't have specific feedback about Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) implementation because I have been working on multiple clouds. NCM is a package that can be used for both on-premises and cloud workloads, though our majority of wour orkloads are already on Azure.

The base infrastructure deployment was completed in one to two weeks. The VDI builds happen on a need basis. When a new team gets onboarded, it becomes an on-demand-based deployment. The base infrastructure is made available, and we build on top of it depending on the number of users that join the infrastructure.

I was not directly involved in the costing aspect, but I know that on-premises resources and physical servers are charged based on the number of cores used. This is a common pricing methodology used by different vendors, but I cannot provide exact cost details.

AWS or GCP don't currently have the same type of platform, but Azure Stack HCI is comparable to Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM). However, Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) is a more mature product compared to Azure Stack HCI. They have been managing multiple hybrid cloud environments for longer, while Azure Stack HCI was introduced only 3-4 years ago. This experience gives Nutanix additional flexibility and a higher rating.

I would rate Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) a 9 out of 10. The most valuable aspect is its ability to manage infrastructure as hyperconverged infrastructure in HCI mode. Multiple physical servers can be mapped into a cluster with combined storage management. The core-based licensing model provides flexibility for customers to scale their infrastructure according to needs.

Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) provides a ready-to-go runbook situation where inputting key variables allows quick infrastructure setup. It supports building ESX clusters or AHV clusters, though their infrastructure primarily uses Acropolis hypervisors.

The solution offers seamless integration when adding new nodes to existing clusters, pooling storage and related network components automatically. Automation requirements are targeted at specific clusters rather than individual nodes, making the process straightforward. The infrastructure supported around 1,000 VDI instances based on Citrix, providing a good user experience with persistent VDIs that were one-to-one mapped.

The use cases are related to infrastructure migration from VMware to Nutanix. I have exposure to the Dell XC series, which has a Nutanix hypervisor installed. It consists of containers along with the Nutanix infrastructure using Dell hardware.

The licensing is much cheaper than other competitors such as VMware, Cisco UCS, or Microsoft Hyper-V for on-premises data centers. It is very user-friendly and can be managed through Prism Central, a centralized console that allows management of multiple clusters. 

Due to the recent conversion from VMware to Broadcom, Broadcom has increased their prices five times the existing rates. Most customers are transferring to Nutanix infrastructure because it is scalable, reliable, and performance-focused. The main differentiator from competitors is its cost-effectiveness, and customers have been running and upgrading their technologies for 10 to 15 years. In terms of client satisfaction, performance, upgrades, or protection against ransomware attacks and vulnerabilities, they are regularly releasing patches and upgrading the system. These activities contribute to customer satisfaction and differentiate them from competitors.

Nutanix needs more cloud collaborations.There are many cloud providers currently available. Integration with the Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) Unified Storage or Nutanix cloud platform should be improved for better containerization. This is a major drawback in configuration. Other competitors are developing solutions such as VMware on AWS, VMware on Google Cloud, and Azure VMware solutions. 

I have more than seven years of experience in Nutanix. My core expertise is in VMware and Nutanix.

It is highly scalable. Most customers utilize the scalability capabilities for running and expanding their IT infrastructure as needed. The key aspects include mix-match hardware and hyper-converged infrastructure, combining compute, storage, and network in a single platform. No other competitor provides such scalable infrastructure. It is software-defined, cloud-integrated, and simple to manage with automated one-touch upgrade capabilities.

They have their vendor site at support.nutanix.com. Users require an order ID or unique ID to log in, which can be individual or team-based. Support is available for software, hardware, upgrades, firmware, BIOS, Dell PT agent, and software entities through support.nutanix.com.

I would rate their support a nine out of ten because sometimes you struggle to get the engineers assigned to a particular issue, especially in situations like production downtime. Although there are Technical Account Managers (TAMs) and resident engineers available, they may not always be fully equipped to handle on-site troubleshooting effectively. Reducing resolution time would be beneficial for both the client and Nutanix.

We use external storage including Dell XtremIO, Data Domains, and I have exposure to VMware vSAN for storage solutions.

When comparing it to the other options, the licensing cost is significantly lower. It's a software-defined platform that offers block storage through a single management interface. Overall, this solution is more cost-effective than its competitors, which highlights the advantages of a unified storage platform.

With all details and resources available, including DNS entries, IPs, subnets, and subnet masks, the initial setup takes two hours from start to finish. Expansion of new containers takes approximately 40 to 45 minutes.

Implementation requires team effort. The process involves racking and stacking in the data center, network engineering according to cut sheet plans, cabling configuration, and hardware setup for HPE or Dell servers. After hardware setup, either AHV hypervisor or ESXi needs to be installed, followed by primary virtual machine configuration for Prism Central or Prism Element. The implementation scope depends on infrastructure size, whether it's a three-node, four-node, or six-node cluster, which is specified in the cut sheet. Separate teams handle costing, implementation, deployment, and operations.

Pricing is based on the Acropolis Operating System (AOS), not on the hypervisor level. While VMware costs depend on ESXi hypervisor pricing, the AHV hypervisor for Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) is free. Customers only pay for the AOS platform. This differs from other competitors such as Microsoft Hyper-V and Citrix, which have their own licensing costs for servers and cloud platforms.

There are currently many platforms available, particularly with Nutanix. We can utilize Nutanix with Kubernetes as well as on AWS. For automation purposes, we require DevOps and machine learning to automate tasks. For example, if you want to delete snapshots on servers, automation is necessary, and this can be achieved through machine learning or DevOps practices. In the current environment, there are various scripting options available, including PowerShell and other non-specified scripts. If we focus specifically on the DevOps perspective, it's essential for me to learn these new technologies.

Regarding machine learning, I don’t have much exposure specifically to unified storage. However, with Nutanix Cloud platform, I have experience with data services and secure data services. From an infrastructure standpoint, I have over seven years of experience in hybrid and multi-cloud environments on the Nutanix platform.

In terms of cybersecurity, there are multiple external appliances available for unified storage. To focus on the Nutanix platform specifically, Nutanix Unified Storage has several features. For instance, Nutanix Lens is one tool available. Moreover, when consolidating your Nutanix infrastructure, you have access to various data protection, data analytics, and secure backup options. It's a combined effort involving Data Lens and other tools available in the market.

Data Lens essentially helps manage big data access across various geopolitical areas through data centers. We need to ensure compliance with our policies regarding security, especially concerning ransomware. In essence, it's a security solution offering that addresses vulnerabilities, data resiliency, and analytical tools that we utilize for security purposes. I had the opportunity to work on Data Lens about two or three months ago for a project.

I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.

I use Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) to create virtual machines, connect them for storage. I use it for many other tasks, but mainly for servers or virtual machines, where I build different virtual machines, such as Windows and Linux, of all kinds.

The major attraction point of Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) is that everything is auto-scaling. For example, if we are trying to patch in Nutanix, when we go to the lifecycle manager and click on the patch, the VMs automatically migrate from one cluster to another cluster or one host to another host, and it starts getting patched. In other cloud setups, such as VMware, we need to do it manually, so Nutanix is more user-friendly than other cloud setups.

The best feature in Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM), from my perspective as a cloud engineer, is having hardware to private setup support by a single vendor, whereas with other cloud setups, we have different support. For a setup, we have a separate support for the cloud setup and a separate support for the hardware. The second feature is creating auto-scheduled snapshots; until today, we haven't found any other cloud setup for scheduling a snapshot onto a VM. These are the main points: getting full support from the Nutanix vendor, scheduling the snapshots, and auto patching are the three best features I can mention, though there may be many others.

It is easy to use. Even a school student can run Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) automation because it is extremely user-friendly. Not only developers or experts but even a college graduate can use Nutanix, as everything is understandable and the graphical user interface of Nutanix Prism is very attractive.

The areas that could be improved include the Nutanix Move tool, which is presently used for migrating VMs from one setup to a private cloud. It can be improved by adding some other setups, such as Citrix Xen, Red Hat Virtualization, and Red Hat OpenShift. There are many other cloud products that need to be added to the Nutanix Move tool, which would be really helpful for us in India, where we use different setups such as Red Hat Virtualization, OpenShift, Citrix XenCenter, Hyper-V, and VMware.

The second suggestion is regarding the different clusters in Nutanix. Although Nutanix is very user-friendly and codeless, the individual clusters cannot be logged in at the same time via Prism, which takes time and can be wasteful. We have multiple clusters within Nutanix. Prism serves as the central management interface, allowing us to access these different clusters. When we log in through Prism, it takes a certain amount of time—sometimes several minutes—to log into each individual cluster. This can be quite time-consuming.

Another important issue, especially for our customers in India and other data centers, is the need for proper VM tool reports. We require detailed information such as VM names, IP addresses, CPU assignments, and CPU utilization. This data should be exported in an Excel format. For example, if a virtual machine has four CPUs, the Excel report should include entries like: VM name, IP address, 4 CPUs, and current utilization (e.g., if 2 out of 4 CPUs are being used). We also need to capture other parameters, such as memory and disk configurations (e.g., hard disk 1 and hard disk 2), whether any ISOs are mounted (like CD/DVDs), USB drives attached to the VM, storage types (like NVM), and any RDMs associated with the VM. By extracting all this information into an Excel file, we would create a handy inventory for all the engineers. This detailed VM list would be extremely beneficial for cloud engineers and managers working with Nutanix.

I have been using Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) for the last two to two and a half years with substantial experience. I'm not an expert in automation, but the existing features are sufficient to manage effectively.

The stability of Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) is rated as eight out of ten.

For scalability, I would rate it as eight out of ten.

We are managing private clouds for different clients. We currently hold 1,800 customers on Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM), mostly medium customers, with approximately 100 enterprise customers and the remaining 1,700 being medium clients. 

I would rate Nutanix support as eight out of ten.

Positive

Having worked with approximately four to five different cloud setups including Nutanix, VMware, Hyper-V, and Red Hat OpenShift, I would rate both Nutanix and VMware similarly at four out of five as they provide similar features, but Nutanix is more attractive compared to VMware.

We are exclusively managing a private cloud. I work specifically with the private cloud, while a separate team handles the public cloud. However, I can confidently say that no one is currently using Nutanix as a public cloud solution; it is being utilized solely as a private setup.

Deploying Nutanix is straightforward, but as with any new system, it can be complex at the beginning.

In the past, we had vendor support during the initial stages, about two to two and a half years ago. The vendor would regularly visit our data center and provide guidance, which made it easier for us. However, understanding a new subject can still be challenging at first.

Considering my team, I have approximately ten experts working with Nutanix, while the rest are normal engineers handling basic tasks or support for Nutanix, VMware, or other clouds.

India is a hub for various customers seeking technology solutions. Many of these customers are looking for competitive pricing, but Nutanix's costs tend to be quite high. We primarily work with mid-level customers in India rather than enterprise clients. These mid-level customers are interested in services that are priced more moderately. In comparison, Nutanix's pricing is significantly higher than that of other setups. As a result, we have approximately 3,000 customers using VMware, while Nutanix has around 1,800 customers. The disparity in these numbers is quite striking: 3,000 customers for VMware versus 1,800 for Nutanix. Indian customers don't like high-priced hyper clouds, so they invest in VMware, which offers the same features at a lower base price.

I have seen a lot of improvements in Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM), but the package we are using has been the same for the last two to two and a half years.

I would definitely recommend Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) to other users or cloud engineers, but they may hesitate due to the pricing. In India, the market looks for minimal prices and best features.

I would rate Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) a nine out of ten.

We use Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) because we manage a multi-hybrid, multi-cloud environment, with some workloads on-premises, some workloads on Azure Cloud, some on AWS Cloud, and some on GCP Cloud, so that is where our use case is for managing a complete hybrid multi-cloud platform, and we use Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) as the management platform for that.

What I appreciate most about Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) is that it provides centralized management and automation, offering a unified platform to manage services across multiple clouds, reducing tool sprawl and simplifying complex infrastructure tasks. The single-click operations are best, offering simple one-click upgrade and scalability for the infrastructure, which significantly increases operational efficiency. Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) gives us basically a single pane of glass for management.

Next would be cost optimization and visibility with robust tools for cost metering, budgeting, and identifying underutilized resources, helping to optimize costs as well as the usage of the product and resources. It also includes intelligent operations offering machine learning-driven self-tuning, application discovery, and advanced reporting to enhance performance. Finally, there is security and compliance, providing robust security, including network planning and regulatory compliance monitoring.

We see the benefits of Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) immediately, particularly with unified multi-cloud management as a true single pane of glass across on-premises and public clouds, which includes AWS and Azure. As we experienced their customer support over time, we found it to be very superior with a consistent high level of customer satisfaction. The simplicity and speed of deployment are much faster and easier compared to other solutions we have used. On the cost management side, we realized it has a stronger ROI, being very cost-effective, with pricing models beneficial for multi-cloud environments, quantifying to a 425% three-year return on investment, a 21% higher developer productivity, and 88% less planned downtime.

Some downsides of Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) are that it has very high cost and licensing complexity, particularly for smaller environments, making it more suited for larger environments. On the learning curve and support, while Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) is user-friendly in some areas, the initial setup is complex and sometimes requires very specialized expertise, creating a steep learning curve. There is also limited third-party integration, as it has very limited non-native integrations compared to competitors. The documentation has gaps, particularly for advanced features, requiring some improvement, and certain advanced configurations and troubleshooting still require heavy reliance on the command-line interface rather than having a GUI.

I have been working with Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) for around one year.

I have not seen any lagging, crashing, or downtime.

Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) is hugely scalable, and that is one of the biggest advantages of the product.

I have contacted Nutanix customer support. Both the speed and quality of the support I have experienced are fantastic.

Positive

It took us more than a month to fully set up Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) for the first time, but after we became familiar with the product, we started using it and seeing how it helps us.

One person cannot do the deployment; we definitely need a team.

We see the benefits of Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) immediately, particularly with unified multi-cloud management as a true single pane of glass across on-premises and public clouds, which includes AWS and Azure. As we experienced their customer support over time, we found it to be very superior with a consistent high level of customer satisfaction. The simplicity and speed of deployment are much faster and easier compared to other solutions we have used. On the cost management side, we realized it has a stronger ROI, being very cost-effective, with pricing models beneficial for multi-cloud environments, quantifying to a 425% three-year return on investment, a 21% higher developer productivity, and 88% less planned downtime.

In my current field, I have been working for more than 30 years. In my experience comparing Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) with other cloud management solutions, I find it far ahead in terms of the functionality it offers as compared to its competitors, both in ease of management and the way it makes things extremely easy with a single pane of glass to manage. Its main advantages are ease of use, automation, and cost-effectiveness, also offering unified control across private and public clouds. It has superior support with a Net Promoter Score of over 90. Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) is very simple to deploy and has comprehensive native integrations, often outperforming niche or complex solutions on cost efficiency when compared to competitors like VMware Cloud Foundation, ServiceNow ITOM, Azure Arc, AWS Outposts, or Google Distributed Cloud.

The playbooks, often referred to as X-Play, have been very useful, really freeing up a lot of our time, making it the right strategy to enhance their product and make it more user-friendly. These playbooks provide a low-code and no-code automation engine within Prism Central, streamlining routine IT tasks and auto-remediating issues. They use triggers such as alerts, manual, and time-based to initiate actions such as VM management, third-party notifications, or scripts. Various features within their playbooks that we have used include trigger types that are alert-based, where, for example, if your VM memory usage crosses 70%, you can set a threshold value, again manual or time-based. Over 30 native actions are available, including VM power operations, snapshot management, and script execution. Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) playbooks support integration with REST APIs, allowing connection with external tools such as ServiceNow, Jira, or Ansible. Use cases we have applied include auto-remediation, such as automatically adding memory to a VM if it hits a utilization alert, automated maintenance to start or stop AWS EC2 instances based on a schedule, alerting to send notifications to Slack when a new VM is created, and playbooks can be imported, exported, and monitored via the Plays tab to track execution history.

I would rate this product a 9 out of 10.

Our main use case for Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) was initially to run away from the high cost of VMware, and after that, we realized that if we compare apples and apples, there is a technical advantage in Nutanix. The technology is newer regarding storage management, and we appreciate the path that Nutanix was taking with NKE. Now with Nutanix, we know the path we are taking for NKP, whereas VMware's Tanzu was proprietary, requiring us to fully commit to VMware or nothing.

The best features of Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) start with the combination of cost and what is really under the hood, and it basically does the same thing that VMware does. The cost is better, and we appreciate the options available for storage—it allows for object storage, and the management of the storage underneath Nutanix is much more flexible than VMware. Additionally, we can have another platform as a service that is not available in VMware.

Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) assists my team in addressing our current automation needs while planning for future expansion by allowing us to use Ansible for automation and configuration management. We are planning to gradually replace VMware with Nutanix and are using the same tools, such as Ansible, to deploy. Although we are not using the native blueprint automation from Nutanix, we plan to integrate open-source tools such as Terraform for Kubernetes automation while using Nutanix native tools for implementations.

In my opinion, Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) can be improved as the NKP product needs to mature a little more. This is a natural process, and while the hypervisor is mature, I would like to see more maturity in the products on top of the hypervisor, such as databases and object storage. The main reason I give it an 8 or 9 rating is that a few things need to mature, such as NKP and the object storage. While our primary reason for choosing Nutanix was for mission-critical applications and Kubernetes, I believe there are issues that need addressing. However, I see they have a roadmap for improvements, especially with the hypervisor itself, which I would rate a perfect 10, while the new products and plugins need enhancement.

I have two years of experience with Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) in real production.

Regarding stability, I find Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) to be very stable and suitable for running mission-critical applications.

I evaluate the scalability of Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) and find it very scalable, with no limitations encountered at the moment.

In terms of the speed of outcomes from Nutanix's low-code automation, it is almost the same as what we experienced with VMware. In case of issues, I find that Nutanix offers more personalized support since it is smaller now. We have easier access to high-level engineers compared to VMware, where you have to navigate multiple channels for support. Both support systems are good, and while I do not complain about VMware support, the feeling might change as Nutanix grows. I would rate the support for Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) around a nine on a scale of one to ten, as it is really good.

With Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM), we could run multiple solutions, such as SUSE, NKP, and OpenShift. The learning curve of Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) is more simple compared to VMware, as we were coming from a VMware environment, and it was something new for us. There is a lot of free material available to help us start learning Nutanix.

The built-in playbooks of Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) have indeed freed up time for our IT team, which is noteworthy considering we previously had a problematic setup with a combination of SimpliVity and VMware. We faced complications due to two vendors blaming each other for firmware issues, which was a nightmare. Now, we have one place to ask questions, and Nutanix works closely with a short list of certified hardware vendors. If I have an issue, I call Nutanix, and they handle communication with the vendors, whereas with VMware, the problems are isolated to my world. Last year, our group spent about 40% of its time fixing issues related to VMware, but now things are much smoother with Nutanix.

Overall, I would rate Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) an 8 or 9, as it has its strengths and some areas for improvement.

My main use case for Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) is for my IT infrastructure both on-premises and in AWS, Azure, and other ways where I can plug in operationally. AI-driven insights are also used for Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM); we can go with the playbook, no-code workflow that automates and fixes common problems such as increasing the CPU, RAM, and hitting the limits, and the OS monitoring should be scaled up accordingly. Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) handles governance well, including confidential matters and is certified for compliance audit for ISO 27001, PCI, HIPAA, and all, making it quite good compared to VMware.

My use cases highlight that Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) is quite good in virtualization, with more RAID configured for their clusters. In case of a disaster affecting any physical instance or server used in virtualization, we can restore all processes within this RAID and other configurations. Additionally, whenever we want quick snapshots or VM backups, it takes only five to ten seconds to process, which is quite good for my use case.

The feature I find myself using the most day-to-day is deploying for any of the customers or internal use for the application team or team members utilizing these services. Any of the VMs or virtualization has a compute dependent on user and developer sides, targeting sectors such as finance, security, or IT operations. This allows us to efficiently use auto-scaling through Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM), receiving alerts for workflows not aligning with scenarios, such as new requirements or database interaction compromises, enabling us to analyze through alerts. Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) also has a good support team; we can log cases and have troubleshooting done effectively.

The automation through playbooks and no-code workflows has changed my daily operations because whenever the resource is getting more utilized or peak traffic is coming up, we can go into the playbooks and design workflow to get the virtual scale up and horizontal scaling for that resource. It helps our business impacts and operational activities to function properly while ensuring compliance part due to no manual interruptions and processes being secure under zero trust policies.

The best features Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) offers include AIOps functionality and storage-based capabilities, allowing us to identify seasonal patterns within the database peaks and generate reports to managers for deeper understanding of the solution. It is self-service and orchestrated, enabling the development of application blueprints and a standardized development environment for useful features, including a marketplace where we can access new blueprints, deploying them in just ten minutes. For instance, if we require a Linux VM with an SQL database and web service, we can select the LAMP stack blueprint from the marketplace and deploy it swiftly, surpassing previous traditional days that were tedious and time-consuming.

Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) has positively impacted my organization through cost-cutting, significantly reducing the need for manual interruptions, and allowing us to schedule VM backups during disasters. It essentially focuses on whether our engines are functioning properly and building effective workflows.

Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) can be improved by ensuring updates align with new circumstances. We should consider integrating shadow AI, as well as addressing CLI gaps; for instance, while using Prisma Central, improvements in CLI commands are needed for seamless operation. I have faced instances where, after several failed password attempts, the account locks, necessitating a CLI login to unlock; implementing MFA would enhance security and usability.

Additional improvements for Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) include the need for better reporting; when VMs are involved, it is essential to have forecasting based on data. Dashboards representing forecasted functions could be developed to monitor or change workflows accordingly, enhancing user potential integrations.

I have used the solution for about five years.

Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) is stable.

The scalability of Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) is robust, allowing us to integrate and scale as required based on hardware availability.

Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) has a good support team; we can log cases and have troubleshooting done effectively.

Customer support with Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) is very good.

Positive

Before utilizing Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM), we used various solutions, including Apache CloudStack and AWS Outposts; we switched due to high costs and inadequate support from those teams, which Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) addresses effectively.

The setup, learning curve, and ease of use of Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) were crucial factors in deciding on this cloud management solution; it effectively automates disaster recovery processes, making it the best choice for us.

We did not purchase Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) through the AWS Marketplace; instead, our sales team assists us in the acquisition process by coordinating with account managers.

For return on investment (ROI) from Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM), I can quantify it as a reduction of 50% in workload, allowing other resources not to be completely dependent on monitoring and instead work on concurrent projects.

Pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) are contingent on use cases; negotiations with sales representatives can help reduce costs based on whether hardware is supplied by Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) or owned by the customer.

I always consider Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) as my primary option, with no evaluation of other alternatives.

I would rate Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) overall as 9.5, considering the competitive landscape, especially against VMware and others.

The reason I chose 9.5 is due to the limitations in GPU hyperscaler integrations; Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) currently lacks adequate plugins for monitoring GPU aspects, and enhancing this could elevate the rating to a perfect 10.

My advice for others considering Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) is to integrate AVH and Prism to enhance cloud management processes effectively.

I think Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) is good and strong in the market; my only suggestion is that it should explore possibilities in hyperscaler metrics and work on upgrades for improved functionalities. My overall review rating for Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) is 9.5.

My main use case for Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) has been around hybrid cloud governance and infrastructure lifecycle management, and I have typically looked at it from an architectural perspective, focusing on things such as centralizing operations, automations, and sometimes capacity planning, simplifying day-to-day management across the on-prem and the cloud environment. This has helped and has especially been useful for me and the organization when we want a single control plane for virtualization and cost visibility.

One of the examples was during a hybrid infrastructure modernization initiative where I had on-prem Nutanix workloads alongside Azure resources, and what we did is we used Nutanix Cloud Manager primarily for lifecycle visibility and governance. This involved monitoring capacity, managing upgrades, and maintaining operational consistency across the clusters. From an architectural perspective, I leveraged it to standardize policies, review the resource utilizations, and help the operations teams plan upgrades while ensuring alignment with our broader cloud governance strategies.

Nutanix Cloud Manager's biggest value has been around simplifying day-to-day operations and giving teams better visibility into the hybrid environment. I have mainly used it for an architectural and governance standpoint, helping standardize lifecycle processes.

From a day-to-day perspective, the self-service automation capabilities of Nutanix Cloud Manager have helped me reduce the dependency on manual provisioning. Instead of the infrastructure teams building the environment each time, it has helped standardize blueprints and automation workflows, allowing me and my team to deploy resources in a controlled way while we still follow the governance and policies.

In our organization, we have a hybrid cloud setup where the main requirement was to have something as a private cloud to connect between our different locations. We also have some on-prem integration with Nutanix, so it is more a private cloud and to some extent a hybrid cloud.

Nutanix Cloud Manager is an intelligent operations platform. The features include self-service automation, cost governance, and centralized security visibility, which I particularly appreciate, and I appreciate how it brings hybrid cloud operations into a single control plane. Additionally, I can also get capacity forecasting, automation workflows, and financial governance without needing to use multiple tools.

Nutanix Cloud Manager has helped us by improving operational visibility and simplifying lifecycle management across cloud environments. I remember that we had 10 different locations and we wanted something for a private cloud, so it gave the teams a more centralized way to monitor capacity and automate routine tasks while maintaining governance policies without adding extra operational overhead.

One of the biggest outcomes from using Nutanix Cloud Manager is operational efficiency. With the self-service automation and centralized lifecycle visibility, routine provisioning and upgrade planning have become more streamlined, and we achieved this goal with less manpower. It also reduced the amount of manual coordination between teams, which was beneficial. In the hybrid projects, this translates into faster turnaround for environment deployments and fewer operational escalations.

The built-in playbooks of Nutanix Cloud Manager definitely help reduce the repetitive operational work and assist with tasks such as routine health checkups and lifecycle actions.

I do not have any inputs for Nutanix Cloud Manager as of now because I understand that it is a different product with different features, and I enjoy working on Nutanix.

I do not see many opportunities in the market for Nutanix. I have been working since 2018, but I hardly find any opportunities for me to work or explore more on Nutanix as of now.

I have been working since 2018.

Nutanix Cloud Manager is stable for us.

Regarding scalability, it is quite scalable because it is built to manage distributed environments through a centralized control plane. As the infrastructure grows, whether adding more clusters or workloads or hybrid cloud integration, Nutanix Cloud Manager scales by extending policy-based automation and governance across the environments.

Customer support is good.

Negative

If I compare Nutanix with Azure, I find that both are different; the concepts are similar, but I enjoy working on both platforms because they provide good learning opportunities. Nutanix is generally much easier for day-to-day operations compared to Azure or other tools, and the GUI is quite good once the environment is set up and running, which simplifies lifecycle tasks and governance. However, the initial setup and learning curve can vary based on the scenario, especially for teams coming from VMware or public cloud.

When asking about return on investment from using Nutanix Cloud Manager, the focus is more on operational efficiency rather than direct cost reduction alone. Automation and lifecycle management help the team spend less time on repetitive provisioning, health checks, and upgrade coordination, which illustrates the value Nutanix Cloud Manager brings.

The main products I have used alongside Nutanix Cloud Manager are AHV for virtualization, Prism Central for centralized management, and Flow for network security and micro-segmentation. These products integrate well with Nutanix Cloud Manager in our operations, and I have seen value in their use and integration.

We use Azure alongside our hybrid or private cloud setup.

Nutanix is good. I have enjoyed working on Nutanix, and as a technical professional, I find it interesting to explore something new, and it has been beneficial for me.

I did not handle the purchase; it was done by the company I am working for, so I am not aware of the marketplace or the procurement process.

Nutanix Cloud Manager did make things noticeably faster for my team with its low-code automation.

Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) is used for infrastructure management of the client environment, where Nutanix hosts are deployed to manage hundreds of thousands of VMs on those hosts.

The best features of Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) include the software update functionality that allows managing everything in one place, where you can go to the software and update everything tab by tab, such as LCM, inventory, AOS, hypervisor, and file server. Prism Central and Prism Element allow checking all clusters on one page, and if you want to jump to a specific cluster, you can go into Prism Element. The support that Nutanix provides is also excellent, as they monitor the backend. The type of support depends on the package you select.

Using the built-in playbooks in Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) has freed up a lot of time for my IT team and me, allowing us to focus on other tasks. In terms of time saved, if I calculate my weekly workload, we save around 70 to 72 hours per week, which allows us to handle other tasks.

The speed of outcomes using low-code automation is very smooth, and I have not found any significant issues while updating the LCM and all the other components. It is really valuable to have the firmware bundled and directly downloaded to the environment without requiring manual intervention. Although other companies have started adopting similar firmware delivery methods, Nutanix has truly revolutionized this.

In terms of areas for improvement, I believe there is a need for redesigning some aspects on the storage level, as physical and virtual storage currently operate under different parameters in Nutanix. The space allocated should be more aligned between physical storage and the initial disk attached to the host, depending on the kind of host being used.

I have been using Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) for six or seven years, and I have worked on Nutanix since 2019.

In terms of stability, I would rate Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) at eight or nine.

For scalability with Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM), I believe it is a scalable solution, and I would rate it a six or seven.

When it comes to technical support for Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM), I would rate it as good, around a seven or eight. Since a 7.5 rating is not available, I would say the technical support is between seven to eight.

Positive

I have tested other solutions such as VMware and Azure, but I prefer Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) because it provides a better learning experience, and many things are still under the control of the client using it. This is unlike Azure or AWS, where there is very limited visibility in the backend, with only 50 percent access while more than half of the control is maintained by Microsoft or Amazon. Nutanix Cloud is quite different and more user-friendly, feeling a combination of on-premises and cloud.

When comparing Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) to other solutions regarding setup, learning curve, and ease of use, I find it good because it is smoother than other setups and not very complicated. It feels very direct and straightforward.

Deployment with Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) is easy and not very complex. It takes some time, but it is easy to understand and implement quickly.

The deployment duration for Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) depends on the project. It typically takes two to three months to set up from scratch, including all approvals, with timelines ranging from one week to two weeks.

Regarding the pricing of Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM), I would rate it at a four or five, as it is not very costly and presents good value.

My clients utilizing Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) include all types, such as small, medium, and enterprise businesses, depending on the client strength and infrastructure.

Assessing Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) for helping my team meet current automation needs while planning for future expansion, it depends on the client side regarding their automation requirements, and we move forward accordingly.

I work with various industries while using Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM), including insurance, FMCG, and banking, depending on the client environment and whether they are using it.

The number of users in my company that work with Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) varies from project to project, with a minimum of 100, but it can go up to 1,000 or 2,000 depending on the project size and client environment.

My overall rating for this review is 7.

Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) is very easy to use. If you want to learn about Nutanix products, it is very easy to access the information. On university.nutanix.com, you can learn about Nutanix and their operations-related training. They have substantial training available on their website.

Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) has positively impacted my organization. I am using it for my Citrix infrastructure. With Nutanix HCI, it is benefiting me in terms of IOPS. I am not experiencing much latency for the IOPS, and the performance is also much better than older traditional infrastructure solutions.

I have been using Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) for the last four years. It is a very good product for virtualization and HCI, which is basically a hyper-converged solution they provide.

Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) is a suite of tools for the Nutanix product. You can deploy your virtual machines, analyze them, and protect them with DR. You can also create a self-service portal. Basically, it is a competitor to VMware. Right now, because Nutanix has its own hypervisor, which is AHV, it is pretty competitive with VMware nowadays.

Using these features in Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) reduces time in my daily operations. If you were doing some VM deployment manually, you do not have to worry about deploying it yourself. You can create recipes that function as infrastructure as code where you can do the coding, and it will provide the self-service portal to the customer. They can just mention what CPU they want, RAM they want, and what flavor of OS they want. Then, based on approval, it gets automatically deployed in the Nutanix cluster.

Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) is more than just a management tool for daily use. If you try it, it is a very nice product. You do not have to worry about how a virtual machine is getting built or how to manage it. It simplifies the management because it has Prism Central and Prism Element for management. For patching, you do not have to worry. Nutanix has its own patching portal, LCM, where you can do the patching of the hypervisor, HCI, and firmware. Everything gets managed by Prism Central and Prism Element, so you do not have to go anywhere or worry about the process. If you want any detail about how you should go with the patching or what version you should consider before patching, it is very well explained in their portal at portal.nutanix.com. They have all the details there, including libraries and documentation, so it is very simple. Anyone with basic knowledge can deploy and manage it.

The best features Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) offers include two options. One is NCI, which is Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure, and the second is NCM, Nutanix Cloud Manager. In the cloud infrastructure, you will get your hypervisor as AHV, then AOS as a software application, and you can manage the on-premises data center by yourself. But in NCM, you will get a bunch of software including Nutanix Calm, Nutanix Era, Nutanix Objects, and many other bundles they have in Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM). You can easily manage your day-to-day data center operations. If you have any issue with the VM or with the host, you can easily analyze it with the application provided by Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM).

Using NCM's low-code automation has made many things faster for my team. It is a really nice product. Using NCM's built-in playbooks has freed up time for my IT team to focus on other tasks or projects. Because many things have gotten automated, my team is more focused on other things rather than just the day-to-day operations.

I do not have anything to add about improvements for Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) based on my experience. I choose nine out of ten for Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) because I would expect some improvement. There are chances for improvement, and that is my assumption.

I have been using Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) for the last four years.

Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) is very stable.

Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM)'s scalability is very convenient. For example, if you want to add more servers, more disks, or anything else, you can do it very easily. It will not impact your current setup. If you have a two-node cluster in your environment but you want to add two or three more, they have the cluster expansion feature. With that, you can do it without any downtime or affecting your current setup.

Customer support for Nutanix is also pretty good. You just have to create the ticket on portal.nutanix.com with your severity, P1, P2, or P3. Depending on that, they will check your case and contact you as soon as possible.

Positive

I previously used VMware. We were using VMware over the Cisco FlexPod, where we were using the Cisco UCS server with NetApp storage. It was basically a traditional setup with VMware.

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Nutanix is that the licensing is much easier and more flexible than any other competitor available in the market. Many competitors in the market right now are moving from their current hypervisor to Nutanix because it is easy to use and they have very competitive pricing compared to any other solution.

Before choosing Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM), we evaluated other options, including many POCs such as Dell VxRail, but we went with Nutanix. We found it very promising and more convenient for us.

Nutanix Files is basically for creating Windows-based file servers. In Nutanix, you do not have to worry about it. It will create it by itself and make a replica of itself. It is managed by itself. If any VM of that file server goes down, it will not matter because there will be two or three more copies of the VM handling that file server.

Nutanix Objects is the same as an AWS S3 bucket. You will get that facility in Nutanix Objects. Other products Nutanix offers include Nutanix Database, and Nutanix Carbon is basically a Nutanix Kubernetes solution. There are many things you can consider. It is a bunch of software you can utilize for your infrastructure and for the application.

The backup solutions and the snapshots are also managed by Nutanix. It has the near-sync, async, and the metro availability feature, which can help you with the backup and recovery of the VM based on your needs. Metro availability is taking the snapshot in real-time. Async is five-minute data, and near-sync is nearly a one-minute delay on the sync of data. It depends on you what you want and how you want to utilize the services.

Right now, I cannot give the details about specific metrics because it is on a real-time basis. But you can absolutely see the result if you move to HCI and Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) rather than the older VMware traditional options.

Right now, in my current organization, I am not using any other Nutanix product. However, I have worked on Nutanix Objects, Files, and Nutanix Carbon. It is good. If you want to go with Nutanix, they have two models of licensing: NCI, which you can use if you just want to deploy your infrastructure and run the VMs without any additional automation. You can go with NCI. But if you want the new automation, the analysis, and a more detailed use of the other Nutanix features, then you have to go with NCM. They have a very simple licensing setup.

I would advise others looking into using Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) that it is very competitive in the market. They have been in the market for the last ten to fifteen years, and it is a very good product. They have a very good history with virtualization and management. My review rating for Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) is nine out of ten.

Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) is used to provide applications to users worldwide, which Deutsche Bank requires to ensure accessibility for their end user environment, whether through official laptops or end user devices like mobile and BYOD.

We are responsible for providing the image for their devices, and we ensure different profiles are created based on their roles, granting access accordingly based on their roles and responsibility on respective applications as defined with Deutsche Bank.

One of the best features of NCM is that it provides a very stable environment. If you plan it properly, you can achieve a very robust environment where, from a security point of view, it is extremely good with minimal downtime.

Over the last four to five years, we hardly had any downtime, which is attributable to Nutanix.

This stems from the guidelines provided to us, and by following proper R2 security factors and right disaster recovery processes with appropriate configurations, backups, and screenshots, the environment remains stable.

I find the service and support from Nutanix to be very good compared to other OEM vendors.

I assess the speed of outcomes we receive using low-code automation as not extensively utilized on the automation part, but my team was capable of implementing some based on customer requirements.

We had architects from our side suggesting implementations, and we implemented patiently, creating a very good environment for the customer where their specific requirements were captured, keeping the customer happy and ensuring they felt they were in the right hands.

In terms of improvement areas for NCM, I strongly believe they need to train people on their environment, similar to how Azure provides free coupons for service providers to build strong support teams.

This would ensure resources are well-trained to support Nutanix.

Additionally, quicker response times from local service provider resources could greatly enhance customer satisfaction and confidence, especially during issues or downtimes, preventing business loss.

I have been using Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) for almost four years for one of my customers called Deutsche Bank.

Over the last four to five years, we hardly had any downtime, which is attributable to Nutanix.

For scalability, considering we have large clients, I would rate it a nine.

I would rate the technical support from NCM at a five.

While the technical staff are good, their process of transferring issues from one person to another has ample room for improvement.

Positive

Initially, our clients used Atos data centers, but due to costs, we decided to move them to AWS.

When comparing NCM to other solutions in terms of setup, learning curve, and ease of use, the setup involved Deutsche Bank, our old customer looking for a secured and stable environment.

We had two architects aligned for this account, and from the delivery side, I was aligned as well.

We configured the entire architecture with the help of Nutanix's suggestions, resulting in one of the most stable environments I have encountered in my twenty-five years of experience.

My team was capable of implementing solutions based on customer requirements.

We had architects from our side suggesting implementations, and we implemented patiently, creating a very good environment for the customer.

I do not have detailed figures available about how much time Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) saves, as architects are responsible for that, but I believe there is an estimated difference of at least ten to twenty percent.

On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I would rate Nutanix at around three or four.

When comparing Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) to other vendors or solutions such as VMware, IBM, Cisco, and Morpheus, I find Nutanix much more cost-effective.

As premium costs rise along with the growth of their environments, we are actively trying to convert customers to Nutanix due to its better cost efficiency compared to EMC and others.

My clients are global enterprises, with Deutsche Bank being one of the renowned banks in Europe and having a significant presence everywhere.

When comparing NCM to other solutions in terms of setup, learning curve, and ease of use, the setup involved Deutsche Bank, our old customer looking for a secured and stable environment.

We had two architects aligned for this account, and from the delivery side, I was aligned as well.

We configured the entire architecture with the help of Nutanix's suggestions, resulting in one of the most stable environments I have encountered in my twenty-five years of experience.

My final rating for the product is nine out of ten, but not for support.