Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE [EOL] Reviews

I have been working with the Nutanix Kubernetes platform for the past five years.

Currently, I am supporting JetBlue Airlines in America, which uses a Nutanix environment and Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE. I am managing their infrastructure for around 2,500 VMs and over 200 Nutanix nodes.

We are supporting a Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE with around eight production clusters. The client is using it for API management. There's a project coming up to upgrade from NKE to NKP, the Nutanix Kubernetes platform. I am managing those eight Kubernetes clusters regarding infrastructure, including upgrades of the Kubernetes version when new ones are released and managing computer resources. If the DevOps team requires more resources, I deploy new worker nodes to add more CPU, RAM, and storage resources for them.

Recently, we deployed a few clusters for API management, where we used some kubectl extension commands that allow us to connect to the NKE cluster easily from the jump host without direct login, which is a newly added feature.

We implement RBAC for the Kubernetes clusters, connecting through a jump host from which the clusters are accessible by the DevOps team, application team, and infrastructure team. Each team has different RBAC levels; for example, the application team has read-only access, while the DevOps team has full admin privileges.

Recently, we deployed four Nutanix clusters, initially connecting to the Kubernetes cluster required downloading files from Prism Central. We requested Nutanix for an alternate connection method, which led to implementing the kubectl extension. The client is pleased with this solution as it eliminates the need to download files each time due to expiration concerns.

The upgrading happens in a rolling fashion, so one node reboots at a time and VMs are migrated to other nodes seamlessly, contributing to its strengths as a platform.

Regarding the Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE, I find it to be a stable platform, especially in terms of upgrading clusters. The process does not lead to downtime at the application or pod level, which I appreciate.

I have heard there are many features added in NKP that are not available in Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE, such as load balancer features.

The unified control plane feature is not being used in Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE.

We are currently using a third-party tool for load balancing, but going forward, NKP will include load balancer, ingress, and egress features, making infrastructure management much easier.

There is no auto-scaling feature in Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE; however, NKP offers it. In NKE, we created additional worker nodes and increased CPU and RAM capacity, but it required manual intervention.

Concerning policy-driven governance in Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE, we have the ability to implement RBAC at the cluster level, which helps maintain security by not granting full admin privileges to every end user, thus restricting access effectively.

I have been working with the Nutanix Kubernetes platform for the past five years.

I did not face any issues or complexities in the initial setup of Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE.

I have not experienced any downtimes, crashes, or stability issues with Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE; only connectivity issues have arisen occasionally, such as when etcd services do not come up. I have resolved these by restarting services and renewing expired SSL certificates, but I have never faced cluster crash issues.

I have not worked with any other Kubernetes engines; I only began supporting Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE.

My experience with Nutanix's technical support is excellent. Whenever I open a case, I receive great support from them, regardless of whether it is low or high priority.

Positive

I have not worked with any other Kubernetes engines; I only began supporting Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE.

I did not face any issues or complexities in the initial setup of Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE.

Recently, we deployed a few clusters for API management, where we used some kubectl extension commands that allow us to connect to the NKE cluster easily from the jump host without direct login, which is a newly added feature.

Since I am from Tata Consultancy Services, we function as consultants supporting the infrastructure, but we do not involve ourselves in costing discussions.

I have not seen any time-saving, cost-saving, or resource-saving from the Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE solution, as I am an infrastructure person who does not directly engage in those aspects.

The end client manages the licensing aspects.

Recently, we deployed four Nutanix clusters, initially connecting to the Kubernetes cluster required downloading files from Prism Central. We requested Nutanix for an alternate connection method, which led to implementing the kubectl extension.

Every six months, we upgrade AOS on all the clusters. I manage around 25 plus Nutanix clusters, which includes upgrading Prism Central and utilizing Lifecycle Manager (LCM) for the Nutanix clusters.

After 10:00 PM Eastern Time, we have a maintenance window to implement changes. For critical application servers, we coordinate with the application team to get approvals and create change requests (CR) to proceed during off-business hours.

If the DevOps team faces any computer resource crunch, they open a request, and I increase computer resources by adding new worker nodes to the cluster. If they cannot connect to the cluster, there's a possibility that the client's SSL certificate could expire, so I renew the client SSL certificate for each cluster as part of my daily troubleshooting tasks.

I am not part of the DevOps team, as they handle application pod deployments and testing across different environments such as stage, development, and production. From my side as an infrastructure person, I solely manage the cluster level, not the application pods. However, I take care of Nutanix management pods, ensuring things like worker nodes or etcd nodes are operational.

I have not yet utilized NKP, as I am just learning about it since a project is coming up to upgrade from Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE to NKP.

The client has a minimal cloud footprint currently, but they plan to adopt NC2, the Nutanix Cloud Cluster, in the future, including moving some clusters from on-premises to the cloud. They also have a few Azure Kubernetes platforms but in very limited capacity, which the Windows team manages, so I do not have access to those environments.

On a scale of 1-10, I rate Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE a 9.

I have experience with OpenShift, Kubernetes, and Nutanix, as we are one of the largest Nutanix resellers in the Middle East. We handle Kubernetes on the cloud as well, so we manage most of the Kubernetes flavors, both on cloud and on-premises.

The Nutanix Kubernetes Platform is a fairly new story, as Nutanix started talking about it in the Middle East region sometime last year. Our engineers have deployed it in the lab, but we have not seen a lot of enterprise adoption yet.

We haven't seen a lot of traction in the market from enterprise customers yet, but I might have heard about a few customers in the region who has actually deployed the Nutanix Kubernetes Platform.

For Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE specifically, it makes more sense to see it on-premises. The very few use cases I've seen were on-premises, not on the cloud, and it's unlikely you'll buy Nutanix for the cloud due to the extra costs involved.

The idea behind Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE is to provide an end-to-end solution, as Nutanix is trying to replicate their success in the hyper-converged market and with virtualization. The whole idea is that they want to offer a solution that just works out of the box and comes with great support, but in reality, we're still not seeing a lot of traction from customers yet.

Nutanix is known for its good support, which is a good thing. The biggest challenge right now are customer use cases that do not involve new hardware or a tech refresh as part of the Kubernetes adoption. The NKP itself is not expensive, but if it has to come as part of the Nutanix ecosystem at a time where the customer is only looking to procure a Kubernetes platform, NKP becomes less competitive.

Based on feedback from my consulting and engineering teams who interact a lot with support, Nutanix is usually rated on the higher end compared to many other vendors, including VMware.

In terms of features, I cannot comment technically, but the real value is the consolidated out-of-the-box solution that Nutanix offers. Nutanix has built great branding and a lot of credibility and trust, and the key selling point is the larger Nutanix's ecosystem.

It's very difficult to answer this without a technical consultant performing a comparison, as I'm not hands-on.

We have been working with this solution since last year.

Nutanix is very stable and reliable, based on my experience with many customers, including large banks and telcos. They have been operating reliably and scaling since their deployment, so I expect Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE to be reliable as well.

The Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE is very scalable, as the core of hyper-converged infrastructure is the scalability with performance, which I expect for NKE too.

Nutanix is known for its good support, which is a positive aspect of the solution.

Neutral

I don't have a technical role, but we are a system integrator, so we sell solutions such as OpenShift and Kubernetes as part of the sales team. We are a reseller called eSky IT, and I serve as the Regional Manager. 

Our engineers have deployed Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE for testing purposes. The solution is very scalable, with the core of hyper-converged infrastructure being scalability with performance.

Nutanix is very stable and reliable, based on my experience with many customers, including large banks and telcos. They have been operating reliably and scaling since their deployment.

For Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE specifically, it makes more sense to implement it on-premises. The very few use cases I've seen were on-premises, not on the cloud, and it's unlikely you'll buy Nutanix on the cloud due to the extra costs involved. A valid use case I see is if you are running several on-prem NKP clusters and your cloud strategy is involves running some public cloud workloads as well. You want to be able to run a frictionless Kubernetes environment across all your sites, on-prem or cloud. You would opt in for NKP on a public cloud. Otherwise, it would be much more cost efficient to consume Kubernetes directly from your hyperscaler, such as EKS or AKS. 

I rate Nutanix Kubernetes Platform NKP five out of 10. Not for the product, for the constraints it has in addressing more customers looking for an enterprise Kubernetes platform.

Neutral

The solution provides no downtime features. If we face issues, we create a new port, deploy it there, and then drop the existing one. This way, we avoid NKE downtime on our website.

One major issue we faced was that appliances couldn't migrate from VMware to the tool. However, this seems to be a common problem across platforms. We've seen the same issue when migrating from VMware to RHV or other solutions. It's not specifically a Nutanix problem but rather an issue migrating appliances from one VM infrastructure to another. Some kernel-level and storage-level issues impact this process.

We did contact Nutanix support during implementation but not for server-level application implementation. It was for a network-based implementation when we had uplink issues, which Nutanix resolved. We also faced a migration issue related to an agent that needs to run on the Nutanix VM. This agent runs on a specific port, which other applications on the VMware instance might use. We changed that particular port, and it's working fine now. It just took a two or three minute call to resolve.

Nutanix support responded quickly. We raised a call, and within half an hour to an hour, they joined on Webex. They checked our configuration and shared a document with changes that weren't persistent after the reboot. Later, they made process changes at the OS level, not on Nutanix. We needed to make some service-level changes on the OS, which were applied successfully. Now, after every reboot, we get the desired output.

Positive

We chose NKE over VMware and OpenShift because they are better feature-wise. The tool allows us to deploy legacy OS and appliances, which isn't impossible in OpenShift. While Tanzu was a good option, management decided against VMware due to licensing issues. NKE is more cost-effective for us.

We've resolved some legacy application issues that we faced in VMware. The NVMe in NKE gives us the speed we need for our mobile application, solving timeout and IO issues we had with VMware.

We're implementing NKE, but it's not fully done yet. It's a complex process involving DevOps, CICD pipeline, integration with Soap, and other stuff. We're building this from scratch. We've tested it on Docker but not on Kubernetes yet. We're still testing in the legacy environment before moving to containers. We haven't faced major issues, just some related to the legacy partner, which we're solving as we go.

For the legacy NKE implementation, it's pretty simple - just server and application deployment like Node.js. We're taking two approaches to containerize it. First, we're testing as a container, making ports for web architecture and applications. We build containers for different purposes, using the same or different ports for multiple applications. We also have an RDS-based service for our database that we're integrating. After testing and confirming it works, we'll move to Kubernetes architecture. We start by deploying on Docker, then moving to pods, and then testing again.

I rate the overall solution an eight out of ten. 

The robust support system provided by Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE has positively impacted our business by allowing us to concentrate on strategic and architectural aspects rather than being bogged down by day-to-day support issues. Leveraging the excellent support services has enhanced our service offerings, as we do not need to maintain a separate support team. This arrangement enables us to offer better value to our clients and strengthens our business relationships, with the support team handling issues efficiently and effectively.

The platform is valuable due to its ease of use and quick deployment capabilities. The platform allows users to set up a Kubernetes cluster with just a few clicks, making it practical for those with limited Kubernetes experience.

NKE could benefit from additional features that support more advanced Kubernetes functionalities and configurations. Improvements in scalability for larger, multi-tenant environments and enhanced capabilities for managing high-performance computing needs would be advantageous. For AI applications, incorporating tools to support initial phases, such as data ingestion and model training, would enhance its utility.

The product is suitable for smaller to medium-sized deployments. It could be better for large-scale or multi-tenant environments, where extensive scaling or multi-tenancy needs may be more appropriate.

The product's support services have been exceptional, both historically and currently. This high level of support is a significant factor in our continued partnership with Nutanix. 

As a partner, I rate Nutanix's support a 10. The rating might be around 9.5 as a customer, considering minor variations in support experiences.

Positive

The initial setup process is straightforward, allowing for quick deployment of Kubernetes clusters with just a few clicks. It is user-friendly and ideal for administrators seeking a simple setup. However, it might need more advanced features. 

The Kubernetes solution available through Nutanix is included at no additional cost if you already have a Nutanix license. While deploying Kubernetes clusters on Nutanix is cost-effective, there may be additional costs for remote branch offices where Kubernetes is less common.

Nutanix offers flexibility with NKE, allowing you to start with one hardware vendor, such as Lenovo, and later extend the cluster using a different vendor, like Dell. However, NKE supports only up to two different vendors in the same cluster and only accommodates that. Additionally, it is designed to support processes other than the initial phases of AI application development, such as data ingestion and model training, which often require large-scale data processing. However, it can be useful for managing and deploying AI models once trained and operational.

I rate it a seven.

I use Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE in my company for systems related to production, development, and testing.

The most valuable features of the solution are storage virtualization, network virtualization, and compute virtualization, which are good.

The product lacks some virtualization capabilities, making it an area for improvement where the solution can focus on providing users with more virtualization capabilities related to disk systems.

I have been using Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE for six years. My company is a customer of the solution. I use the solution's enterprise version.

The tool is very simple to use. Stability-wise, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

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

Around 1,000 users in my company use the solution as we operate in a commercial enterprise.

My company uses the solution on a daily basis.

I rate the technical support an eight out of ten.

Positive

There weren't any solutions before Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE was used in our company.

I rate the product's initial setup phase an eight on a scale of one to ten, where one is a difficult setup phase, and ten is an easy setup phase.

The solution is deployed on an on-premises model.

The solution can be deployed in a day or two.

The product's implementation phase is taken care of by three people in my company, consisting of a constructor, an engineer, and a support person.

My company did seek the help of an integrator to take care of the product's deployment phase.

From an ROI perspective, my company was able to save time with the use of the solution. The product is good for the performance that it offers for its cost.

I rate the product price a five on a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive.

My company easily makes payments towards the licensing costs attached to the solution.

My company did not evaluate any other options available in the market against Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE since we were okay with it.

Two engineers are required to take care of the product's maintenance phase.

I rate the overall tool an eight out of ten.

We utilize NKE to create these clusters, configuring components to meet specific business requirements.

The most valuable features of the Nutanix Kubernetes Engine (NKE) are its simplicity and efficiency during the initial cluster creation phase.

Areas for improvement in Nutanix Kubernetes Engine (NKE) include upgrading management capabilities and enhancing the user interface for improved usability. While basic tasks like cluster creation and scaling are straightforward, advanced functionalities such as replication and recovery may need to be performed optimally. 

Future versions of NKE should address these limitations to enhance functionality, particularly in troubleshooting, replication, and disaster recovery scenarios where NKE may fall short compared to other platforms like OpenShift.

We have been using Nutanix Kubernetes Engine (NKE) for a year and a half.

We've encountered challenges in backup functionalities, leading us to explore other solutions, such as a custom backup engine. While NKE fulfills more than 50% of our needs, it falls short in critical areas like backup and disaster recovery, making it incomplete for our requirements.

I rate the stability an eight out of ten.

The platform's scalability is around eight. It is capable of scaling to meet various use cases. However, the limitation lies in the richness of features and advanced functionalities within NKE.

In our case, we primarily serve government clients, offering applications hosted on our platform. While there are a few developers internally, we work with public clients who utilize Kubernetes solutions. Our main focus is hosting applications and platforms for public institutes, with occasional development projects. Our activities revolve around hosting applications for various clients, including small, medium, and enterprise businesses.

Our experience with customer service and support has been mixed. While our local enterprise handles our platform, their support for NKE hasn't been as robust as that of other Nutanix products like Prism. We understand that efforts are being made to improve support, but we have yet to engage with them to assess the improvements directly. Overall, there could be quicker and more efficient services that meet our requirements.

Neutral

The initial setup of Nutanix Kubernetes Engine (NKE) was complex, as we didn't acquire a full-stack cloud solution. Instead, we integrated various components, which posed challenges in seamlessly working together. While creating and managing clusters was efficient, tasks like troubleshooting and disaster recovery proved more difficult.

NKE could be more user-friendly, partly due to the complexity of the entire platform. However, if we had deployed a full-stack cloud solution, the setup process might have been smoother due to increased automation and integration capabilities.

Overall, I rate the initial setup process around a six on a scale of one to ten.

The platform is averagely priced. I rate the pricing as four out of ten.

NKE is straightforward for basic tasks. Integration can be beneficial when combining various tools, but in our case, as government service providers, we prioritize having a full-stack solution with NKE at the core. This approach ensures a comprehensive solution with a validated architecture covering Kubernetes, databases, AI, software-defined storage, networks, and computing.

I rate it a seven out of ten.

We use Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE to manage our next-generation applications hosted on Nutanix platform.

The product integrates well with our infrastructure.

There have been challenges related to software bugs, especially regarding long-term licensing options and issues within our customer network. They should test the software to resolve the issues before the next release.

The stability is good.

We have enterprise companies as our customers for Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE. It is a scalable platform.

Our technicians are quite happy with the technical support services.

Positive

We used the IBM Domino and HCL Notes platforms before. We moved to NKE to work with a new software stack altogether. It provides a hybrid cloud model that can run applications on both Nutanix platform in the data center and Azure. It allows customers to choose the location or platform depending on their requirements.

The initial setup process is straightforward. Our technical specialists were able to execute the process without assistance. However, the deployment team involves skilled professionals with around 20 years of experience.

The product's licenses are included in the software version deployed in our data center. We have an SEO Ultimate version. The pricing aligns with our budget, considering the use cases.

The applications are running smoothly. It provides a high-availability platform managed with good tools. I rate Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE a nine out of ten.

My client uses applications that require large network bandwidth. They use the solution to leverage it. 

We can do a lot of provisioning. 

I have issues with the product's interoperability. 

I have been working with the product for two years. 

I rate NKR's stability an eight out of ten. 

NKE's deployment is easy and can be completed in a few days. 

I rate NKE's pricing a six out of ten. 

I recommend the product to enterprise customers. I rate it a seven out of ten. 

We use the solution to create and deploy a cluster. We deploy workloads from different solutions under this cluster. We use it in a DevOps environment and use it, for example, for API management and other in-house applications. 

We currently have many legacy monolithic platforms. Kubernetes allows us to leverage both backend and front-end functionality. Developers can work without conflicts.

Managing the load automatically is very easy.

If anything goes down, we have the ability to put it back up automatically. It has very good availability.

It's easy to create and work with clusters.

The solution allows for the use of two nodes without any intervention. We can manage the cluster without interrupting any existing workloads. It scales easily without disruption.

The setup is simple. 

Technical support is helpful.

It is very stable. 

The product overall is a good solution. It's easy to use. 

We can add some add-ons and plugins to the product if we need to. 

We have Oracle in production. We need a backup of production clusters. We need to ensure if something goes down, we have a backup ready to go that can handle the workload. We'd prefer Kubernetes would offer this instead of us having to go to a third-party solution.

When we create clusters with two loads, the capacity is limited. If we want to override memory, we cannot.

I've used the solution for three years. I started using the solution in 2020.

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten. The stability is very good. 

The solution is pretty scalable. I'd rate the ability to scale six out of ten. If we can assign nodes, we don't have to scale the clusters.

We have 17 people using the product. They are developers and integrators as well as systems admins. 

We do plan to increase usage. We want to integrate all of our specific workloads through the Kubernetes cluster. 

Technical support is very helpful and responsive. They are crucial. 

Positive

We've only used Nutanix. 

The initial setup is very easy. I'd rate the ease of setup ten out of ten. It was not complex at all.

The deployment itself takes about two or three hours. It doesn't take too long.

Before creating a cluster, you do need to open the ports. We handle anything related to optimization. Once all the elements are ready, we can launch a cluster pretty quickly.

As an admin, I take charge of all sets of clusters.  To deploy a cluster, you only need two people. We had network security engineers. We also need two people to manage the solution with active Nutanix support.

We handled the deployment in-house. We did not need outside assistance. 

We have witnessed some ROI. I'd rate the ability to get ROI while using the solution seven out of ten. 

The pricing is very good. However, I don't know too many details related to licensing. 

We are customers and end-users. 

I'd recommend the solution to others. It's a very good solution.

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.