Team Leader - Nutanix Technology Champion - Nutanix NTC Storyteller

Julien DUMUR
Infrastructure in a Nutshell

Guides-en

Maxi Best of Nutanix CLI: checking VMs

Published: 28 October 2025
Written by Julien D.
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Categories: AHV, Guides-en, HowTo, HowTo-AHV, Nutanix
nutanix ahv cli reference guide

In this new blog post, we’ll cover all the main Nutanix AHV CLI commands that allow you to perform some checks on your virtual machines using the command line.

All the commands in this article can be run via SSH from any CVM in the cluster.

Display the list of virtual machines

To display the list of virtual machines on the Nutanix cluster, simply run the following command:

acli vm.list

This will show you all the VMs present on the cluster, without the CVMs:

nutanix@NTNX-S348084X9211699-B-CVM:192.168.84.22:~$ acli vm.list
VM name VM UUID
LINUX 88699c96-11a5-49ce-9d1d-ac6dfeff913d
NTNX-192-168-84-200-PCVM-1760699089 f659d248-9ece-4aa0-bb0c-22a3b3abbe12
vm_test 9439094a-7b6b-48ca-9821-a01310763886

As you can see, I only have two virtual machines on my cluster:

  • My Prism Central
  • A newly deployed “LINUX” virtual machine
  • A test virtual machine

A handy command to quickly retrieve all virtual machines and their respective UUIDs. Now let’s see how to retrieve information about a specific virtual machine.

Retrieving Virtual Machine Information

To display detailed information about a virtual machine, use the following command:

acli vm.get VM_NAME

Using the example of my “LINUX” virtual machine, this returns the following information:

nutanix@NTNX-S348084X9211699-B-CVM:192.168.84.22:~$ acli vm.get LINUX
LINUX {
config {
agent_vm: False
allow_live_migrate: True
apc_config {
apc_enabled: False
}
bios_uuid: "88699c96-11a5-49ce-9d1d-ac6dfeff913d"
boot {
boot_device_order: "kCdrom"
boot_device_order: "kDisk"
boot_device_order: "kNetwork"
hardware_virtualization: False
secure_boot: False
uefi_boot: True
}
cpu_hotplug_enabled: True
cpu_passthrough: False
disable_branding: False
disk_list {
addr {
bus: "ide"
index: 0
}
cdrom: True
device_uuid: "fae2ee55-8736-4f3a-9b2c-7d5f5770bf33"
empty: True
iso_type: "kOther"
}
disk_list {
addr {
bus: "scsi"
index: 0
}
cdrom: False
container_id: 4
container_uuid: "2ead3997-e915-4ee2-b9a4-0334889e434b"
device_uuid: "f9a8a84c-6937-4d01-bfd2-080271c44916"
naa_id: "naa.6506b8def195dc769b32f3fe47100297"
storage_vdisk_uuid: "215ba83c-44cb-4c41-bddc-1aa3a44d41c7"[7] 0:python3.9* "ntnx-s348084x9211699-" 21:12 21-Oct-25 vmdisk_size: 42949672960
vmdisk_uuid: "42a18a62-861a-497a-9d73-e959513ce709"
}
generation_uuid: "9c018794-a71a-45ae-aeca-d61c5dd6d11a"
gpu_console: False
hwclock_timezone: "UTC"
machine_type: "pc"
memory_mb: 8192
memory_overcommit: False
name: "LINUX"
ngt_enable_script_exec: False
ngt_fail_on_script_failure: False
nic_list {
connected: True
mac_addr: "50:6b:8d:fb:a1:4c"
network_name: "NUTANIX"
network_type: "kNativeNetwork"
network_uuid: "7d13d75c-5078-414f-a46a-90e3edc42907"
queues: 1
rx_queue_size: 256
type: "kNormalNic"
uuid: "c6f02560-b8e6-4eed-bc09-1675855dfc77"
vlan_mode: "kAccess"
}
num_cores_per_vcpu: 1
num_threads_per_core: 1
num_vcpus: 2
num_vnuma_nodes: 0
power_state_mechanism: "kHard"
scsi_controller_enabled: True
vcpu_hard_pin: False
vga_console: True
vm_type: "kGuestVM"
vtpm_config { is_enabled: False
}
} is_ngt_ipless_reserved_sp_ready: True
is_rf1_vm: False
logical_timestamp: 1
state: "kOff"
uuid: "88699c96-11a5-49ce-9d1d-ac6dfeff913d"

As you can see, this returns all the information about a virtual machine. It is possible to filter some of the information returned with certain commands. Here are the ones I use most often:

acli vm.disk_get VM_NAME : to retrieve detailed information of all disks of a virtual machine

nutanix@NTNX-S348084X9211699-B-CVM:192.168.84.22:~$ acli vm.disk_get LINUX
ide.0 {
addr {
bus: "ide"
index: 0
}
cdrom: True
device_uuid: fae2ee55-8736-4f3a-9b2c-7d5f5770bf33
empty: True
iso_type: "kOther"
}
scsi.0 {
addr {
bus: "scsi"
index: 0
}
cdrom: False
container_id: 4
container_uuid: "2ead3997-e915-4ee2-b9a4-0334889e434b"
device_uuid: f9a8a84c-6937-4d01-bfd2-080271c44916
naa_id: "naa.6506b8def195dc769b32f3fe47100297"
storage_vdisk_uuid: 215ba83c-44cb-4c41-bddc-1aa3a44d41c7
vmdisk_size: 42949672960
vmdisk_uuid: 42a18a62-861a-497a-9d73-e959513ce709
}

acli vm.nic_get VM_NAME : to retrieve the detailed list of network cards attached to a virtual machine

nutanix@NTNX-S348084X9211699-B-CVM:192.168.84.22:~$ acli vm.nic_get LINUX
50:6b:8d:fb:a1:4c {
connected: True
mac_addr: "50:6b:8d:fb:a1:4c"
network_name: "NUTANIX"
network_type: "kNativeNetwork"
network_uuid: "7d13d75c-5078-414f-a46a-90e3edc42907"
queues: 1
rx_queue_size: 256
type: "kNormalNic"
uuid: "c6f02560-b8e6-4eed-bc09-1675855dfc77"
vlan_mode: "kAccess"
}

acli vm.snapshot_list VM_NAME : to retrieve the list of snapshots associated with a virtual machine

nutanix@NTNX-S348084X9211699-B-CVM:192.168.84.22:~$ acli vm.snapshot_list LINUX
Snapshot name Snapshot UUID
SNAPSHOT_BEFORE_UPGRADE e7c1e84e-7087-42fd-9e9e-2b053f0d5714

You now know almost everything about verifying your virtual machines.

For the complete list of commands, I invite you to consult the official documentation: https://portal.nutanix.com/page/documents/details?targetId=Command-Ref-AOS-v7_3:man-ncli-c.html

In the next article, we’ll tackle a big task: creating virtual machines using CLI commands.

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Nutanix on OVHcloud: redeploy your cluster

Published: 11 September 2025
Written by Julien D.
No comments
Categories: AHV, Guides-en, Nutanix
nutanix on ovhcloud hosted private cloud

In this article, I share my complete feedback on the complete reinstallation of a Nutanix cluster at OVHcloud.

Once logged in to the OVHcloud management interface, go to “Hosted Private Cloud”:

In the left drop-down menu, click on the cluster you want to redeploy:

On the page that appears, click on “Redeploy my cluster”: 

Click on “Continuer” :

Automatic redeployment

The first option is to revert to the default settings provided by OVHcloud to completely reinstall the cluster in its basic configuration:

A summary of the settings is displayed before you finally confirm the reinstallation of your cluster:

Custom redeployment

You can fully customize your cluster’s IP network configuration during its installation phase. When choosing the cluster deployment method, select “Customize configuration” and click “Next”:

Fill in the various fields with the information you want to assign to your cluster and click on “Redeploy”:

Type “REDEPLOY” in the field provided and click “Confirm” to start the reinstallation procedure:

On your cluster’s overview page, a message indicates that cluster redeployment is in progress: 

All that’s left is to wait until the cluster is completely redeployed. All the basic configurations are already done, you just have to finalize the specific ones such as authentication, SMTP relay, monitoring, etc.

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Maxi Best Of Nutanix CLI: storage containers

Published: 4 September 2025
Written by Julien D.
No comments
Categories: AHV, Guides-en, HowTo, HowTo-AHV, Nutanix
nutanix ahv cli reference guide

In the Maxi Best Of Nutanix CLI series, the previous two articles covered checking the network configuration of a Nutanix cluster and managing subnets.

In this new article, we’ll cover managing storage containers via CLI commands on your Nutanix clusters…

All the commands in this article must be executed from one of the cluster’s CVMs and work on a cluster running AOS 6.10+.

Check the containers

To check the status of your storage containers, the simplest command is:

ncli container list

This command will allow you to display all the information related to all the containers in your cluster.

If you want to display a specific container, you can pass the name (the simplest method) or the ID of your container if you have it as a parameter:

ncli container list name=NAME
ncli container list id=ID

Finally, one last command to display only the usage statistics of your containers:

ncli container list-stats

Renaming a Container

To rename a storage container, it must be completely empty.

Renaming a storage container can be done using the following command:

ncli container edit name=ACTUALNAME new-name=NEWNAME

On the default container, this would give for example the following command:

ncli container edit name=default-container-21425105524428 new-name=ntnx-lab-container

WARNING: There are two containers created by default when deploying your cluster: “SelfServiceContainer” and “NutanixManagementShare”. Do not attempt to rename them!

Creating a Container

It’s also possible to create storage containers using the CLI:

ncli container create name=NAME sp-name=STORAGE-POOL-NAME

The “name” and “sp-name” parameters are the only required parameters when running the command. This will allow you to create a base container on the selected storage pool with the following parameters:

  • No data optimization mechanism
  • No restrictions/reservations
  • The default replication factor

But the container creation command can be very useful if you need to create storage containers in batches, for example, if you’re hosting multiple clients on a cluster, each with an allocated amount of storage space!

For example, to create a storage container with the following parameters:

  • Container name “client-alpha”
  • Reserved capacity: 64GB
  • Maximum capacity: 64GB
  • With real-time compression enabled

Here’s the command you would need to run:

ncli container create name=client-alpha res-capacity=64 adv-capacity=64 enable-compression=true compression-delay=0 sp-name=default-storage-pool-21425105524428

A container with the associated characteristics will then be created:

Modifying Container Settings

An existing container can also be modified. You can modify almost everything in terms of settings, from data optimization mechanisms to reserved/allocated sizes, replication factors, and more.

For all the settings, please refer to the official documentation (link at the bottom of the page).

Deleting a Container

Deleting a container is quite simple, but requires that all files stored within it be deleted or moved first. Deleting a container is done using the following command:

ncli container remove name=NAME

It may happen that despite deleting or moving your VM’s vdisks, the deletion is still refused. This is often due to small residual files.

You must then add the “ignore-small-files” parameter to force the deletion:

ncli container remove name=NAME ignore-small-files=true

For example:

ncli container remove name=ntnx-lab-container ignore-small-files=true

WARNING: There are two containers created by default when deploying your cluster: “SelfServiceContainer” and “NutanixManagementShare”. Do not attempt to delete them!

Official Documentation

To learn more about some of the command options presented, please consult the official documentation: https://portal.nutanix.com/page/documents/details?targetId=Command-Ref-AOS-v6_10:acl-ncli-container-auto-r.html

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Maxi Best Of Nutanix CLI : Subnets Management

Published: 12 August 2025
Written by Julien D.
No comments
Categories: AHV, Guides-en, HowTo, HowTo-AHV, Nutanix
nutanix ahv cli reference guide

In the previous blog post on the Maxi Best Of Nutanix CLI menu, I presented you with the best commands for checking the entire network configuration of your Nutanix cluster.

In this new article, we’ll now see how CLI commands can help us create or modify networks in our Nutanix cluster…

All the commands in this article must be executed at one of the CVMs in the cluster.

Creating an Unmanaged Subnet on Nutanix AHV

To create a new unmanaged subnet (without IPAM) across the AHV cluster, the command is very simple:

acli net.create NAME vlan=VLAN_ID

Replace:

  • NAME with the name you want to assign to your subnet
  • VLAN_ID with the VLAN ID

Here’s an example command that creates the VLAN “NUTANIX” with the VLAN vlan id “84” :

acli net.create NUTANIX vlan=84

By default, the vlan will be created on the vswitch “vs0” but if you want to create it on another virtual switch, you can specify it as a parameter:

acli net.create NAME vlan=VLAN_ID virtual_switch=VSWITCH

In this case, replace:

  • NAME with the name you want to assign to your subnet
  • VLAN_ID with the VLAN ID
  • VSWITCH with the name of the bridge on which you want to create the subnet

Here is an example of a command that allows you to create the “NUTANIX” VLAN with comme vlan id “84 sur le vswitch “vs0” :

acli net.create NUTANIX vlan=84 virtual_switch=vs0

You can then run the “acli net.list” command and check that your new subnet appears in the list.

Creating a Managed Subnet on Nutanix AHV

This command creates a new managed subnet (using IPAM) across the AHV cluster with basic gateway and subnet mask options.

acli net.create NAME vlan=VLAN_ID virtual_switch=vs0 ip_config=GATEWAY/MASK

Replace:

  • NAME with the name you want to assign to your subnet
  • VLAN_ID with the VLAN ID
  • vs0 with the name of the bridge on which you want to create the subnet
  • GATEWAY with the IP address of the subnet’s gateway
  • MASK with the subnet mask

Here is an example of a command that creates the VLAN “NUTANIX” with a vlan id “84” on the vswitch “vs0”, with a gateway address “10.0.84.254” on the network “10.0.84.0/24”:

acli net.create NUTANIX vlan=84 virtual_switch=vs0 ip_config=10.0.84.254/24

Deleting an Existing Subnet

Deleting an existing subnet on a Nutanix AHV cluster is easy! Simply run the following command:

acli net.delete NAME 

You must replace NAME with the name of the subnet you wish to delete, which would give, for example, for the previously created subnet:

acli net.delete NUTANIX

Nothing could be simpler!

Bulk Subnet Creation/Deletion

To make it easier to import large quantities of subnets, I created several CSV files that I can then convert into a list of commands to create multiple subnets in batches.

Everything is on my Github: https://github.com/Exe64/NUTANIX

For unmanaged subnets: https://github.com/Exe64/NUTANIX/blob/main/nutanix-unmanaged-subnets.csv

For managed subnets: https://github.com/Exe64/NUTANIX/blob/main/nutanix-managed-subnets.csv

For deleting subnets: https://github.com/Exe64/NUTANIX/blob/main/nutanix-subnets-delete.csv

To learn more about using these files, I invite you to consult my dedicated article:

Nutanix AHV: Manage batch subnets via CLI

Official Documentation

Complete command documentation is available on the publisher’s official website: https://portal.nutanix.com/page/documents/details?targetId=Command-Ref-AOS-v6_10:man-acli-c.html

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Maxi Best Of Nutanix CLI: Checking Network Configuration

Published: 8 August 2025
Written by Julien D.
1 Comment
Categories: AHV, Guides-en, HowTo, HowTo-AHV, Nutanix
nutanix ahv cli reference guide

Whether you need to perform specific or repetitive operations, troubleshoot, or gain a more detailed view, the CLI commands for a Nutanix cluster will be your best allies.

In this article, I offer a summary of the best commands for performing all network configuration checks on a Nutanix cluster, whether at the cluster, host, CVM, or virtual machine level.

You must have an AOS 6.10+ cluster to execute some commands of this guide.

A. Using Nutanix acli commands from any CVM in the Nutanix AHV cluster

List the status of the host interfaces:

acli net.list_host_nic 192.168.84.11 @IP_HOST_AHV 

Result:

List all vSwitches currently configured on the cluster:

acli net.list_virtual_switch 

Result:

You can list the configuration of a particular vSwitch by passing it as an argument to the command:

acli net.list_virtual_switch vs1

List all subnets created on the cluster:

acli net.list 

Result:

List the VMs attached to a particular subnet:

acli net.list_vms SUBNET

B. Via the Nutanix manage_ovs script from any CVM in the Nutanix AHV cluster

List the interface status of an AHV host:

manage_ovs show_interfaces

Result:

You can also list the interface status of all hosts in the cluster:

allssh "manage_ovs show_interfaces"

List the status of an AHV host’s uplinks (bonds):

manage_ovs show_uplinks

Result :

You can also list the uplink (bond) status of all AHV hosts in the cluster:

allssh "manage_ovs show_uplinks"

Display LLDP information of an AHV host’s interfaces:

manage_ovs show_lldp

Result:

You can also view LLDP information for the interfaces of all AHV hosts in the cluster:

allssh "manage_ovs show_lldp"

Show currently created bridges on an AHV host:

manage_ovs show_bridges

Result :

You can also view the bridges currently created on all AHV hosts in the cluster:

allssh "manage_ovs show_bridges"

Show the mapping of CVM interfaces to those of AHV hosts:

manage_ovs show_cvm_uplinks_map

Result :

You can also view the interface mapping of CVMs on all AHV hosts in the cluster:

allssh "manage_ovs show_cvm_uplinks_map"

 

C. Using the Open vSwitch command from any host in a Nutanix AHV cluster

List the existing bridges of an AHV host:

ovs-vsctl list-br

Result :

List all interfaces attached to a particular bridge of an AHV host:

ovs-vsctl list-ifaces br0

Result:

Display the configuration of an AHV host’s port bond:

ovs-vsctl list port br0-up

Result :

Display the configuration and status of a bond on an AHV host:

ovs-appctl bond/show br0-up

Result:

Display information about the status of a LACP-configured bond on an AHV host:

ovs-appctl lacp/show br1-up

Many thanks to Yohan for the article idea and the helping hand!

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Nutanix on OVHcloud : Presentation of the solution

Published: 5 June 2025
Written by Julien D.
No comments
Categories: AHV, Guides-en, Nutanix

More and more businesses are adopting multicloud infrastructures to benefit from flexibility, agility, and security. To meet this need, OVHcloud has partnered with Nutanix to offer optimized solutions for managing hybrid cloud solutions.

I invite you to discover the Nutanix offerings on OVHcloud and how they can help transform business infrastructures.

OVHcloud and Nutanix: A Strategic Collaboration

OVHcloud, a major European cloud provider, and Nutanix, a leader in hyperconverged solutions, are collaborating to offer high-performance, secure, and enterprise-grade services. This partnership aims to provide an integrated and secure cloud platform, allowing businesses to focus on their applications without worrying about managing the underlying infrastructure.

Integrating Nutanix solutions into the OVHcloud cloud creates a simplified multi-cloud environment, offering IT teams greater flexibility. Customers can deploy their applications across hybrid and multi-cloud environments while benefiting from unified management, enhanced security, and reduced operational costs.

Nutanix solutions at OVHcloud

Nutanix offerings on OVHcloud include several essential services for businesses looking to modernize and simplify their infrastructure:

Nutanix Cloud Platform on OVHcloud: This platform provides a scalable and integrated cloud infrastructure with a Nutanix hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) solution. It can run a variety of workloads, such as databases, productivity applications, and mission-critical applications, while ensuring high security and optimal performance.

HYCU Backup: OVHcloud also offers a backup solution for your Nutanix infrastructure through the HYCU Backup solution, a comprehensive backup software solution that is seamlessly integrated with Nutanix.

The advantages of OVHcloud’s Nutanix offerings

Adopting Nutanix offerings on OVHcloud offers several advantages:

Simplicity and centralized management: Nutanix solutions provide a centralized management interface allowing IT teams to manage their resources in a multicloud environment without additional complexity.

Data sovereignty: OVHcloud complies with European data protection standards. Combined with Nutanix solutions, businesses benefit from high levels of security and enhanced access controls.

Licensing flexibility: All hardware and software licenses can be provided by OVHcloud, helping to eliminate complexity and hidden costs, or you can bring your own Nutanix license to facilitate the provisioning of OVHcloud resources.

Performance and scalability: Nutanix solutions on OVHcloud offer a high-performance and scalable infrastructure, adapted to the growing needs of businesses. With the flexibility of Nutanix solutions, businesses can easily adjust their resources as needed by adding nodes on demand to increase the hardware resources of their clusters.

Cost Reduction: Nutanix’s hyperconverged infrastructure reduces operational costs by simplifying infrastructure management and reducing the need for physical servers. OVHcloud customers can thus optimize their IT spending while benefiting from high performance.

Use cases: How do businesses benefit from Nutanix on OVHcloud offerings?

Nutanix on OVHcloud offerings are particularly suited for the following use cases:

Use cases reinforced by the options offered by OVHcloud:

Conclusion

Nutanix on OVHcloud offers a comprehensive solution for businesses looking to efficiently manage their multicloud infrastructures. By combining the performance of Nutanix solutions with the flexibility and security of OVHcloud, businesses can benefit from a scalable, high-performance infrastructure that complies with European regulations.

By adopting Nutanix on OVHcloud solutions, businesses can simplify their infrastructure, strengthen their security, optimize their costs, and focus on growth.

Add to this additional services such as KMS key management and the HYCU backup solution, and we clearly have a serious European competitor to Google Cloud, AWS, and Azure.

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HYCU Backup : Upgrade Path

Published: 25 March 2025
Written by Julien D.
No comments
Categories: AHV, Guides-en, HowTo-HYCU, HYCU, Nutanix
nutanix hycu

LAST UPDATE : 24/03/2025

As I mentioned in my article about updating the HYCU controller, you can’t upgrade from version 4.7.0 to 5.1.0, for example. To reach the latest version, you’ll have to follow upgrade paths…

And to determine these upgrade paths, you’re forced to sift through each Release Note for each version, which can be tedious in the long run… If you’d like me to make things easier for you, follow the guide!

Version table

Actual VersionNext Version
4.0.04.0.1
4.0.14.0.2
4.0.24.0.3
4.0.34.1.0
4.1.04.1.1
4.1.14.1.2
4.1.24.1.3
4.1.34.2.0
4.2.04.2.1
4.2.14.3.0
4.3.04.3.1
4.3.14.5.0
4.5.04.5.1
4.5.14.6.0
4.6.04.7.0
4.7.04.7.1
4.7.14.8.0
4.8.04.8.1
4.8.14.9.0
4.9.05.0.0
5.0.05.1.0
5.1.0TBA

How do I read the table and determine its upgrade path? It’s very simple. For example, if you’re currently on 4.5.1 and want to update your controller to 5.1.0, you’ll need to go through 4.6.0 > 4.7.0 > 4.7.1 > 4.8.0 > 4.8.1 > 4.9.0 > 5.0.0 > 5.1.0 :

This article will be regularly updated with the release of new versions of the software.

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Backing up your Nutanix cluster with HYCU – Data restoration

Published: 18 March 2025
Written by Julien D.
No comments
Categories: AHV, Guides-en, HowTo-HYCU, HYCU, Nutanix
nutanix hycu

I accidentally deleted one of the virtual machines in my cluster. Luckily, I can restore it with HYCU!

Restore a full virtual machine

I accidentally deleted the VM-DEMO-HYCU:

By clicking on it, I can access all the available restore points:

To restore the virtual machine, I select the restore point that interests me and click on “Restore”:

I select “Virtual Machine Options” to access the restoration options:

Restore VM allows you to restore the virtual machine in place of an existing virtual machine.

Clone VM allows you to restore the machine without touching the existing virtual machine using a clone.

Validate VM Backup allows you to create a copy of the virtual machine to verify the status of the restore point.

In my case, I select “Restore VM” and click “Next”:

In my case, I leave everything as default because it corresponds to the configurations I want to apply. If you wish, you can customize the destination storage container, the source of the restore point (backup or snapshot), and even the virtual machine configuration if you want it to be different from the original one.

Once the process is launched, you can follow its progress in the “Jobs” menu:

A few minutes later (or a little longer depending on the volume of data to be restored and the origin of the backup point), your virtual machine will be operational.

On your Nutanix Prism interface, you will see that the description of the restored machine has been entered:

Restore a specific file or folder

You can also restore a specific folder or file instead of restoring the entire virtual machine. To do this, select the desired restore point and click “Restore Files”:

Then leave the default value “AUTOMATIC” and click “Next”:

Wait while the restore point is read, the tree structure will then be displayed on the left:

Select the item(s) to restore, and click “Next”:

Then you have 3 options to choose from:

“Restore to Virtual Machine” allows you to restore files to their original location.

You can then:

  • Select the original location or a different location
  • Select the action to perform if the files already exist
  • Choose whether or not to restore the original permissions

“Restore to External Share” allows you to restore files to a different share

You can then:

  • Select the sharing type
  • Indicate the shared path
  • Select the action to perform if the files already exist

“Download” allows you to download the selected files

There you go, now you know how to restore your precious data in just a few clicks.

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Backing up your Nutanix cluster with HYCU – Virtual machine protection

Published: 13 March 2025
Written by Julien D.
1 Comment
Categories: AHV, Guides-en, HowTo-HYCU, HYCU, Nutanix
nutanix hycu

Everything has been configured to allow the backup of the virtual machines in our cluster, we will now see how to protect the virtual machines using the backup policies that we have just created.

Manual protection

The most classic protection method is the manual protection of virtual machines from the HYCU interface.

To do this, connect to the management interface of your HYCU and go to “Virtual Machines”. You should have the list of all the virtual machines present on the Nutanix cluster that you previously added:

Select the virtual machine(s) to protect and click on “Set policy” at the top right:

Then select the backup policy you want to apply to your virtual machine and click “Assign”:

Your virtual machine is now protected, the first backup will take place during the backup time slot you previously defined. If you want to force the first backup, select the protected virtual machine and click “Backup” at the top right:

Then click on “Yes”:

If everything goes as expected, you will then have Compliance and Protection in a Green status:

Automated protection via categories under Nutanix

We have seen how to protect virtual machines manually from the Nutanix interface. But it is possible to do it directly from the Nutanix Prism Central interface.

To do this, it is important to set up the necessary prerequisites and the first is to create categories to which the virtual machines will be assigned. Connect to Prism Central, go to “Administration > Categories”:

Then click on “New Category”:

Name your category, give it a value and click “Save”. For simplicity, I put the same value:

Then log in to HYCU and edit the previously created backup policy and check “Auto-assignment”:

Below, new fields are now accessible. Fill in the values ​​of the category you created previously and click on “Add”:

Back on Prism Central, on the list of my virtual machines, we can see that no virtual machine belongs to a category:

The only virtual machine protected at the moment is the VM-DEMO-HYCU that I protected manually in the first part of this article. So I will now select the VM-DEMO-LAB virtual machine, click on the menu “Action > Other Actions > Manage categories”:

I select the category to assign to my virtual machine and I validate:

Back on my HYCU interface, I can see that my virtual machine is now part of the BACKUP policy. It was automatically assigned to this backup policy when I assigned it the corresponding category, an operation confirmed by the Events in HYCU:

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Backing up your Nutanix cluster with HYCU – Creating backup jobs

Published: 7 March 2025
Written by Julien D.
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Categories: AHV, Guides-en, HowTo-HYCU, HYCU, Nutanix
nutanix hycu

Now that our HYCU controller is configured and up to date, we now need to protect our virtual machines…

Cleaning the default policies

We will start by deleting the backup policies created by default. To do this, in the side menu go to “Policies” and delete all policies except “Exclude”:

Once the cleaning is done, we can get down to business.

Creating the backup time slot

In order for our backups to run outside working hours, it is imperative to set up the time slots during which HYCU will back up your virtual machines. Still in the “Policies” menu, click on “Time Windows”:

Normally, nothing is created, click on “New”:

Then, you will have the choice between 2 options:

  • Backup Window to define the time range during which the backup will be executed
  • Copy Window to define the time range during which the backup copies can be made

We will choose the “Backup Window”:

In my case, I kept it simple by naming it “HNO” for Non-Working Hours, I indicated the Timezone corresponding to my geographic location and then I selected the time slots that interested me, namely from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. from Monday to Sunday:

Creating the backup policy

To create a backup policy, in the “Policies” menu, click on “New”:

  • Name your backup policy
  • Leave “Backup” checked
  • Enter the frequency of backups in hours/days/weeks/months (which will correspond to the targeted RPO)
  • Enter the restoration period (which will correspond to the targeted RTO)
  • Enter the retention period of your backups
  • Select the backup target (in my case, the Synology)
  • Check “Use backup window” and select the backup time slot previously created

Click on “Save”.

Your backup policy is now created, the next step is to protect the VMs in your cluster.

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