Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) vs Spacelift comparison

Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) is a cloud management tool that drives consistent governance across private and public clouds for its users. The solution brings simplicity and ease of use to managing and building cloud deployments by providing a unified multicloud management that addresses common cloud adoption challenges.

Nutanix Cloud Manager offers four key value drivers:

• Intelligent operations: They include monitoring, insights, and automated remediation.
  
  
• Self-service and orchestration: This capacity category of the product includes tools for managing application and infrastructure workloads across multicloud environments.
  
  
• Cost governance: NCM offers cost governance through accurate visibility into public and private cloud metering, cost optimization, and chargeback.
  
  
• Security central: The solution facilitates users' security operations through alert automations with intelligent analysis and compliance controls.

Nutanix Cloud Manager provides coverage for Nutanix private clouds as well as for VMware's. The solution also supports several popular public cloud providers, including Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP). NCM provides additional flexibility for users, as it is also available as a fully managed Software as a Service (SaaS). This product allows companies to benefit from all of Nutanix multicloud self-services, application automation, security compliance, and governance, without depending on Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure.

Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) Features

Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) has features in the four key categories already mentioned. Some of the main capacities of the solution include:

• Codeless task automation: This Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) feature allows IT teams to build automation and improve productivity with zero coding required.
  
  
• Automated optimization: This feature detects the performance of VM deviates and raises an anomaly alert automatically without the need for configuration.
  
  
• Capacity usage and scenario analysis: This feature’s runways enable pay-as-you-grow scaling and improves capacity usage with optimizations.
  
  
• Self-service provisioning: This feature allows users to publish blueprints directly to end users through Nutanix Marketplace.
  
  
• Application lifecycle management: Through this NCM feature, users can provision, configure, scale, upgrade, and delete applications across cloud environments as well as provide access to multiple teams at a time.
  
  
• Hybrid multicloud orchestration: This Nutanix Cloud Manager feature allows users to automate the provisioning of hybrid cloud architectures from a single control plane.
  
  
• Showback, chargeback, and budgeting: Nutanix Cloud Manager uses this feature to allow users to automatically create cloud consumption reports, define chargeback policies, and set up budget alerts.
  
  
• Automated right-sizing and intelligent purchases: Through leveraging machine learning (ML) algorithms, users can benefit from the automatic detection of anomalous spending patterns.
  
  
• Security monitoring and remediation: This feature of Nutanix Cloud Manager allows users to utilize over 250 audits for public clouds and over 500 for Nutanix on-premises.

Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) Benefits

Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) provides its users with several benefits. These include:

• Nutanix Cloud Manager offers intelligent operations through the automation of operational tasks.
  
  
• NCM gives users self-service opportunities and centralized role-based IT governance, which allows them the freedom to control their processes better.
  
  
• Companies can benefit from cost and security governance with intelligent analysis and regulatory compliance.
  
  
• The product has been made available across all regions in 2022, allowing worldwide access to its services without limitations.
  
  
• NCM is suitable for beginners, as it offers low to no code actions.
  
  
• Nutanix Cloud Manager provides real-time security, ensuring the cloud data of companies is protected at all times.

Reviews from Real Users

An IT Operations at an energy/utilities company likes Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) because the product provides visibility, simplifies operations, and saves time and cost.

Drew P., a network systems administrator at Moda Health, rates NCM highly because the product saves man-hours with excellent speed on outcomes and provides a continuous validation process.

Spacelift provides a sophisticated infrastructure management platform with key features such as Drift Detection and Terraform integration, simplifying complex deployments and enhancing user workflows through an intuitive interface.

Spacelift excels in modernizing infrastructure management by integrating smoothly with Terraform, using a pull request-based approach for visibility into logs. It automates change detection using GitOps from GitHub and supports AWS connectivity with credential management. Despite its strengths, some users find room for improvement in supporting smaller enterprises and offering more seamless cloud integrations with self-hosted versions. Handling of HashiCorp Vault secrets and cumbersome notification webhooks may require additional setup effort.

• Drift Detection: Ensures user edits are managed effectively, reducing configuration discrepancies.
• Terraform Integration: Seamless compatibility with Terraform for robust infrastructure management.
• GitOps: Automates change detection from GitHub, ensuring efficient workflows.
• Compliance Policies: Helps maintain infrastructure within regulatory guidelines.
• Stack Execution: Enables runs with label attachments for organized operations.

• Improved Deployment Control: Default plan prompts support structured and controlled deployments.
• Streamlined Terraform Management: Enhanced visibility into logs aids in transparent and efficient operations.
• Efficient AWS Interactions: Credential management simplifies connections, making operations more fluid.
• Dynamic Infrastructure Handling: Supports significant projects by replacing tools like Terraform Enterprise.

In specific industries, Spacelift is primarily utilized for infrastructure management and deployment across platforms like AWS, Azure, and GCP. In banking architecture, it replaces Terraform Enterprise, ensuring secure and efficient operations. Projects like Google Fiber benefit from its capability to import and manage data effectively, engaging users with HashiCorp Language and GitHub for CI/CD integration.