Nutanix AHV Virtualization Reviews

We are hosting our mission-critical applications on the Nutanix cluster.

Because of our business needs and application requirements, we have some limitations in terms of migrating our services to the cloud. As a hospital, we need ultra-low latency applications that are very critical for patient care. We need our solution within the same building so that latency requirements can be met. We have a huge amount of data and accessing it is more easily feasible within the data center within our building.

The main advantage we have now, using Nutanix AHV Virtualization, is that it has helped us reduce downtime. Earlier, we were on a three-tier infrastructure, with separate server, storage, and network. Opting to go with Nutanix SDI over the last two years has resulted in zero downtime. Even if there is maintenance is going on for upgrades, there is zero downtime. DR runbooks and snapshots have both helped us.

In addition, the security features have helped reduce operational challenges. Out-of-the-box, the security of AHV is already hard-coded and hardened. As a customer, I don't have to worry about the security or about adding another layer of security.

It is super easy to manage and doesn't require any specific technical skills to operate. We can provision new infrastructure on-demand with a few clicks. Because of that, it has reduced our IT administration overhead by up to 85 percent. If we compare provisioning network and storage and servers separately with the way that is done in Nutanix, it takes that much less time to provision new servers and resources. That is a big gift.

It has reduced the burden on our administrators. That 85 percent of time is available for an administrator to do other things, rather than providing and monitoring the resources. This is the big takeaway that we have achieved.

And in terms of consolidation, we have placed all of our high-I/O-latency and critical applications on Nutanix SDI. Initially, they were on legacy hardware from different OEMs, like Dell and HPE. Managing those older solutions required multiple skill sets, in Dell and HPE. Now that we have migrated these critical applications to Nutanix, there is no backend. The technology is working in the backend and, as an administrator, I don't have to do a deep dive into the technology. This consolidation was critical and that's why we moved to Nutanix.

We removed a legacy SAN from our environment. Initially, we had separate servers and then the SAN switches. With the SDI consolidation, we don't need any additional SAN boxes or switches to run the applications or servers. We bought our Nutanix solution with enough storage so that we could eliminate the SAN part, and it has helped us with performance as well, because the storage is directly attached to the Nutanix boxes.

The hypervisor AHV itself is the most valuable because it is almost invisible, from an administrative point of view. There's nothing to maintain or learn about the hypervisor technology Nutanix has used.

The feature that has had the most impact is data locality. That is a feature that makes Nutanix different from other hypervisors. It helps us to get application performance that is probably double what we got with the legacy, three-tier architecture.

It also supports all platforms, like Microsoft, Linux, and other OVF templates. It is kike other hypervisors in that it is equally capable and enterprise-class. And another very helpful aspect, from a cost point of view, is that it's free.

And when it comes to application visibility and performance, we can see it all in a single window. We get a realistic view of our application performance and security.

Nutanix has a Prism Central flavor and a Prism Element flavor. Prism Element is the very basic level. It provides management for Nutanix AHV. If we have to opt for a high level of capacity planning and need more analytics—like deciding on new purchases or budgeting, or if we need additional resources in the near future—we need to pay for Prism Central. I would suggest that Nutanix improve a bit on the analytics part of Prism Element so we can calculate those kinds of things within that flavor.

We bought it in December 2019 and it was in production in the first quarter of 2020, so we have been using Nutanix AHV Virtualization for more than two years.

It is super stable. I have used ESXi and Microsoft Hyper-V in addition to AHV. I have experience on all three platforms and they are equally stable. AHV is an enterprise-class hypervisor.

The solution is very scalable. We can scale horizontally. If we need memory, we can buy a memory-intensive node and add it to the cluster in the same way we would for compute or storage.

We have around 1,500 users in our organization. All of them use the applications that are hosted on Nutanix.

The technical support is very good. We have a variety of services from different OEMs. What I admire about Nutanix is that they really have very good support. That is one of the greatest things that puts Nutanix ahead of its competitors. It is 24x7 support, and its SLAs are very defined. Their guys are super technical and they take ownership of a case. In fact, as a customer, if I miss something, they will reach out to me. That is something I have not seen with many OEMs.

They also have something called Nutanix Insight. It is an integrated platform. Suppose there is a hard drive failure in our cluster. Their support will automatically know and they will dispatch the part, without even raising a ticket.

Positive

We had legacy infrastructure, including physical servers, storage, and network switches, from different OEMs: Dell, Cisco, HPE. We removed all of them and opted for Nutanix AHV.

We have two clusters. One is our single-node DR cluster and one is our main, four-node hospital cluster, which is our main site. The clusters are in the same city, about 10 kilometers apart.

The initial deployment was straightforward for us. Nutanix has many partners in India and they aligned us with one of those partners. The partner came to us and assessed our existing infrastructure and then set up our environment by converting our physical infrastructure to the ESXi. From the ESXi, they migrated our servers to Nutanix AHV. There was hardly any downtime during the migration process, and everything went smoothly.

It took around three weeks to complete the deployment. There were two people involved, one from the OEM and me.

The maintenance it requires is super low. It has a feature called LCM (life cycle manager). As an administrator, I just have to just see if an update is available and then click on Update. It automatically updates. Nothing else is required from us. When maintenance has to happen, our applications will automatically migrate to other servers and they'll keep on running. End-users will never notice when maintenance going on. There isn't a single challenge with updating. It is super easy.

Adding compute and storage on-demand is also super easy. If I have to add compute, I just have to buy a node and expand the cluster. That's it. It will auto-discover the node and add it. It is a live procedure, so our existing workload is never impacted.

We have seen return on investment because we don't have to pay maintenance costs for the different legacy OEMs that we removed. It has saved us about 45 percent.

In terms of total cost of operations, Nutanix has also helped us a lot because, now, a single administrator can take care of network, server, and storage, because it is a consolidated box. Previously, we needed different guys, one for servers, an expert for storage, and another for network. One person is now doing the job of three people.

We assessed many solutions including SimpliVity from HPE, VxRail from Dell, and AHV from Nutanix. We did a comparison and we found that Nutanix AHV fit our budget and our feature requirements.

I definitely recommend it and have done so to many of my peers in the industry. A few of those colleagues were super excited when they got an overview of the product.

We use the solution to make virtual machines. 

The tool's most valuable feature is the snapshot feature. It is very useful and convenient. 

Nutanix AHV Virtualization is easy to integrate with other systems. 

I must change the memory cards in at least two to three weeks. 

I have been working with the product for seven years. 

Nutanix AHV Virtualization is stable. I rate the product's stability an eight out of ten. 

Nutanix AHV Virtualization is scalable. I rate the solution's scalability an eight out of ten. 

I am satisfied with the partner company. 

Positive

I also use VMware, which is strong. However, Nutanix AHV Virtualization's UI is convenient. It is easy to create and delete VMs. 

Nutanix AHV Virtualization's impact on our company is good. It helps to save 30 percent of time. 

Nutanix AHV Virtualization is expensive. I rate it a six out of ten. 

I rate the overall product an eight out of ten. 

Nutanix AHV Virtualization is used for the migration from the physical to the virtual.

Nutanix AHV Virtualization has good performance and can be used for backup and disaster.

It would be better if the solution's replication to another site could be efficiently optimized.

I have worked with Nutanix AHV Virtualization since 2015.

Nutanix AHV Virtualization is a stable solution.

Nutanix AHV Virtualization is a very scalable solution. Most of our customers for Nutanix AHV Virtualization are small and medium-level businesses.

The solution’s initial setup is easy.

Around 15 engineers are needed to deploy the solution.

Nutanix AHV Virtualization's Series 1000 is cheaper than other competitors. If you start to use the Series 3000, it'll be the same or sometimes higher. We have to pay a yearly licensing fee for the solution. Clients must pay for another license if they want to use more features.

VMware vSAN is better than Nutanix AHV Virtualization because it improves every year.

The solution's maintenance depends on the project, but I think one person is enough for one cluster.

Before choosing Nutanix AHV Virtualization, users should know their workload.

Overall, I rate Nutanix AHV Virtualization a seven out of ten.

The solution provides us with a platform to integrate all the hardware products. We can integrate the tool with VMware. Integration is the most valuable feature of the product.

The support must be improved. Other technologies like Dell have their own service centers and different types of SLAs. Nutanix’s support team is not very efficient compared to others.

I resell the solution.

I rate the product’s stability a nine out of ten.

I rate the product’s scalability a nine out of ten.

The initial setup is easy and seamless. The deployment method depends on the customers’ requirements. We can deploy the solution both on the cloud and on-premise. The hardware is on-premise.

The solution’s pricing is relatively fair. It could be improved, though.

I will recommend the tool to others. It is hardware-agnostic and vendor-agnostic. We work with all technologies. The tool provides a platform to integrate all technologies together. Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

Our primary use case is virtualization and Citrix Workload (VDI and SBC). 

Less clicks, more time, and more holidays. ;)

The main benefits are that it is easy to use, automation, VM-centric view, is low cost, secure, and provides high performance. 

There is no USB mapping at the moment. 

I have been using this solution since 2013. So, it's been over ten years now. 

I would rate the stability a ten out of ten.

I would rate the scalability a ten out of ten. We have around a hundred end customers and thousands of users. 

The customer service and support are the best. 

Positive

We use VMware vSAN also but we prefer Nutanix solution. We work on both solutions but we try to quit VMware vSAN for Nutanix solution.

The initial setup was easy and straightforward for me. It took a couple of minutes. 

We are the system integrators. So, we also provide maintenance for the solution. We have a team of up to ten engineers for many customers.  

We have seen ROI in terms of stability, performance, cost-saving and time-saving. 

The solution's licensing cost is nearly the same as the other solution. I would rate the pricing a seven out of ten, with one being expensive and ten being cheap.

We did not evaluate any other solution as Nutanix is simply the best.

I highly recommend using Nutanix to other users. Overall, I would rate the solution a ten out of ten. 

Nutanix AHV works really well. It's much easier to administer and manage than VMware. Since we're not a large IT department within the finance sector, our team is relatively small. We don't have a huge team of IT professionals to manage all the other systems.

Everyone desires to maintain competitive AHV pricing. AI technology has made significant strides. However, AI also introduces complexities in terms of security. It seems to function but when considering security, it adds layers of management. Integrating AI involves managing IT processes and ensuring they don't compromise security or provide unauthorised access. Unforeseen events may occur due to AI implementation, which require careful consideration. While AI streamlines certain tasks, it doesn't offer a universal solution to improve everything instantly. Incorporating targeted AI solutions within competing products is advantageous. In terms of financial considerations and functionality, integrating AI and Microsoft components into half of the Nutanix AHV evaluation is beneficial. When it comes to the core networking infrastructure, stability and reliability are paramount.

I have been using Nutanix AHV Virtualization for four years.

The product is stable.

The solution’s scalability is very high.

I rate the solution’s scalability a ten out of ten.

Nutanix AHV wasn't difficult to complete compared to VMware. VMware can be quite complex. Shifting from one account to another, or from one platform to another, but making a direct comparison is challenging. Nutanix has adopted a similar approach. However, Veeam operates differently. Their focus is on delivering a fast and comprehensive product, like Spectrum. They aim to provide an all-in-one solution.

Nutanix is made up of many different components. Our approach varies, especially with larger virtualization setups, depending on your requirements. If you're a large organisation with thousands of users and hundreds of offices, then, it will be a better fit depending on the requirements. For a small organisation with just a few offices, Nutanix AHV might be easier and simpler to deploy, administer, noticing that it works for larger deployments. 

The initial setup is super easy and takes a couple of hours to complete. We deploy the Nutanix AHV virtualization product on major data centres. We'll back up and replicate our data there.

Deploying the hardware only takes a couple of hours to plug it in. There are other factors to consider from a production. We can't simply download databases, client applications, or live trading functionalities. These aspects need to be carefully managed through change control procedures. The migration was conducted systematically and methodically over a certain time period. If you condense the actual time it took to perform the migration. You have to consider the number of virtual machines. It could take a couple of hours. Therefore, it's unfair to categorise it solely as an economic trend because it depends on several factors.

If I had to pay for it personally, I wouldn't be able to afford it. Considering how much business we generate and how it aligns with current trends, it's worth it for the company. If you're only going to deliver one package once a month, buying a big truck would be expensive for you. But if you're delivering fifty packages every day and making money from it, the cost of a one-minute delay on the truck isn't very significant. Nutanix offers enterprise-class hardware and software. It's a solution tailored for enterprises and while it might be quite expensive for smaller businesses, it's well worth the investment. In the market segment it operates in, it offers competitive features.

We've two Nutanix clusters that replicate between each other. One is production and another one is disaster recovery. It has higher availability clusters. We've three nodes on the side, and it's replicated between the two. One of the nodes goes down. The network capabilities of AHV is very good.

Everything would be connected. It's all on one singular platform, making management streamlined. There's no need for add-ons; everything you need comes with Nutanix. You won't find yourself constantly adding and using different add-ons, or dealing with the complexities of integrating with Linux.

The best implementation is to integrate the Nutanix AHV virtualization framework directly with the hardware and facility infrastructure. This allows you to quickly start using and building new virtual machines in just a couple of hours. It's a seamless process that significantly reduces deployment time.

Overall, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.

I've configured the solutions for two or three customers. It's my first time with Prism Central, Prism Element, and the CVM (Control Virtual Machine).

I haven't come across any limitations. Nutanix doesn't support externally attached storage through Fibre Channel.

However, Nutanix doesn't support Fibre Channel connectivity. This, in my opinion, is a weakness. For instance, it does not support Cyber Talent. To clarify, you cannot connect external Fibre Channel storage or NAS storage resources with Nutanix. However, VMware vSAN supports such solutions.

I have been using Nutanix AHV Virtualization for 2 to 3 years.

It is still working fine. However, when compared to VMware, I consider VMware to be more stable. I would rate the stability of Nutanix around 8.5 or 9 out of 10.

It is highly scalable, and I recommend it for larger companies. Adding nodes to expand clusters is straightforward. However, due to its cost, I don't recommend it for smaller companies as they might find it challenging to afford.

I'm highly satisfied with their support team.

My initial choice for high availability (HA) solutions is VMware ESXi. If someone asks for an alternative, my first recommendation is usually Dell EMC PowerFlex. In comparison to Nutanix AHV Virtualization, VMware ESXi has the advantage of supporting external storage, making it more flexible for integrating existing storage solutions. VMware ESXi is also perceived as more affordable than Nutanix AHV Virtualization.

They should make the product more competitive by working on their licensing model. Lowering the price would help make it more affordable.

I recommend using Nutanix AHV (Acropolis Hypervisor) for hyper-converged computing processes because of its simplicity in deployment and configuration. The platform also offers good support and is versatile, supporting various hypervisors such as VMware, Microsoft Hyper-V, and its native AHV. I would rate this product a 9.5 out of 10 overall.

There are a lot of use cases of Nutanix AHV Virtualization involving general IT workloads, I/O workloads, and big data workloads.

Most of the features provided by the solution are good, but in general, all of the product's features are identical. The performance and stability of the solution are good.

The integration capabilities of Nutanix AHV Virtualization is an area with certain shortcomings that need improvement.

Nutanix AHV Virtualization is still a new product in the market with which integrating many products, especially Citrix products, is not possible.

I have been using Nutanix AHV Virtualization for four to five years.

It is a stable solution. Stability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

My company caters to seven or eight customers who use Nutanix AHV Virtualization.

Whenever a customer reaches out to the technical support team with a problem, they understand the customer's use cases and suggest the most beneficial solution.

The initial setup of Nutanix AHV Virtualization is straightforward.

The solution can be deployed in two days maximum.

The solution is deployed on an on-premises model. The solution can be deployed on the cloud as well to get to the varying use cases.

The deployment process consists of mounting the upgraded framework and installing Nutanix's package to get it ready to function. Once you complete the aforementioned procedure, you install Nutanix vCenter and create the cluster. The solution doesn't require any extra hypervisors that need to be deployed.

Just a few technical people are required to deploy and maintain the solution.

Nutanix AHV Virtualization comes with a built-in hypervisor, so you don't need to buy an extra license from Nutanix if you already have other Nutanix products. Nutanix AHV Virtualization is an affordable product. I rate the product's price an eight on a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is costly. I don't think there are any extra costs in addition to the standard licensing fees of the solution.

I believe that Nutanix AHV Virtualization has good features, so the solution is in good shape in the market.

I recommend the solution to those who plan to use it. Nutanix AHV Virtualization mostly meets the requirements of its customers.

I rate the overall solution a nine out of ten.