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Julien DUMUR
Infrastructure in a Nutshell

Nutanix AHV EN

Nutanix AHV : Deploy Nutanix Move

Published: 23 February 2024
Written by Julien D.
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Categories: Nutanix AHV EN, Nutanix EN

Nutanix Move : Introduction

With the surge in prices for VMWare licenses linked to the company’s acquisition by Broadcom, many customers are looking for alternative solutions to ESXi in order to avoid a hefty bill.

Among the alternatives, there is obviously Nutanix among the alternatives but customers are quite cautious regarding the migration from VMWare ESXi to Nutanix AHV, a task which can be tedious if the VMs have to be migrated one by one.

This is where Nutanix Move comes in. Nutanix Move is a tool made available by Nutanix to facilitate the migration of virtual machines to any cloud.

What will interest us is mainly a migration from ESXi or Hyper-V to Nutanix AHV.

Nutanix Move: virtual machine download

To retrieve the virtual machine image, you must connect to the Nutanix Support portal: https://portal.nutanix.com/ then go to the “Downloads” section:

Click on “Move” and download on the “Move QCOW2 file for AHV” button:

Direct link to download page: https://portal.nutanix.com/page/downloads?product=move

Deploying the Nutanix Move VM on AHV

Once the image has been downloaded, you must upload it to your cluster. To do this, I invite you to follow one of my previous articles: https://juliendumur.fr/nutanix-ahv-telecharger-une-image-sur-son-cluster/

To deploy the Nutanix Move virtual machine, go to VMs, click on “Create VM” and complete the virtual machine creation form:

In the Disks section, add a disk of type “DISK”, in operation select “Clone from Image Service” and select the previously downloaded image:

Click on “Add” then add a network interface, the virtual machine is deployed.

Access to Nutanix Move

Nutanix Move is accessible via http via the IP assigned to it:

The first step is to change the access password:

Nutanix Move is now deployed, we will see in a future article how to add target environments.

Official documentation

Nutanix Move Official Documentation: https://portal.nutanix.com/page/documents/details?targetId=Nutanix-Move-v5_1:Nutanix-Move-v5_1

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HYCU : Add a Nutanix Cluster

Published: 5 February 2024
Written by Julien D.
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Categories: Backup EN, HYCU EN, Nutanix AHV EN, Nutanix EN

In my previous tutorial, I showed you how to deploy the HYCU solution on your Nutanix cluster. It is now time to add your cluster to the software administration interface so that you can backup it.

Nutanix: Create a dedicated user

It is strongly recommended to create a dedicated user on your Nutanix cluster to manage the backup part with HYCU. To do this, go to “Settings” > “Local Users Management” and click on “New User”:

Complete the form with “Cluster Admin” and “Backup” rights:

The rights must be configured with “Cluster Admin” and “Backup”. The “Backup” right alone will not allow the HYCU solution to function correctly. Save, we can now add the cluster to HYCU.

HYCU: Add a new source

To add a new source to HYCU, you must visit the toothed wheel at the top right of the interface, then click on “Source”:

In the window that appears, there are 4 tabs available:

  • Hypervisor: this is where we add the Nutanix or VMWare hypervisors which are to date the only compatible HYCU hypervisors
  • Cloud: to back up your Google Cloud or Azure environments
  • File Servers: intended for file servers including Nutanix Files, NetApp OnTap or Dell PowerScale
  • Physical Machines: to backup physical servers

The tab that interests us here is “Hypervisor”, click on “New” then fill in the different available fields:

Enter the URL of your cluster either in IP format as in my screenshot, or in HTTP format: https://ip-address:9440, as well as the login and password of the account previously created on your cluster.

Click “Next” to access the optional addition of Prism Central login information, fill out the form with Prism Central “admin” authentication information if desired, then click “Next”:

If you have correctly filled in the information from the previous forms, a validation message appears and you can save the configuration:

Your cluster is now added to your HYCU solution and you can start backing up your virtual machines:

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Nutanix AHV: configure anti-affinity between 2 VMs

Published: 25 January 2024
Written by Julien D.
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Categories: Nutanix AHV EN, Nutanix EN

For a customer case, I had to configure the anti-affinity between 2 virtual machines.

Anti-affinity: what is it?

First, I’ll give some context so the foundations are laid. For one of our clients, I am deploying 2 Palo Alto virtual machines to set up a cluster which will manage flows between its different networks.

In order to ensure maximum redundancy in the event of any failure, it is essential that the virtual machines be hosted on different hosts. Indeed, if they were hosted on a single host, in the event of a host failure, the Palo Alto cluster would be out of service.

This is where anti-affinity comes into play and will allow me to ensure that the 2 virtual machines are never found on the same host.

Setting up anti-affinity

The implementation of the anti-affinity is to be carried out in command lines directly from one of the CVMs of the cluster and takes place in several stages:

  • Create a group: connect via SSH then type the following command:
nutanix@cvm$ acli vm_group.create group_name
  • Add the virtual machines to the group:
nutanix@cvm$ acli vm_group.add_vms group_name vm_list=vm_name1,vm_name2
  • Enable anti-affinity:
nutanix@cvm$ acli vm_group.antiaffinity_set group_name

After a while, virtual machines that were previously on the same host will then be spread across 2 different hosts.

In the event of failure of a host hosting one of the 2 virtual machines, the machine concerned will be restarted on one of the hosts in compliance with the anti-affinity rule.

Be careful, however, if you manually migrate a virtual machine or as part of the host being put under maintenance, the anti-affinity rule may not apply.

Official documentation

The official Nutanix documentation: https://portal.nutanix.com/page/documents/details?targetId=AHV-Admin-Guide-v6_7:ahv-vm-anti-affinity-t.html

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Nutanix AHV – Add subnet to your cluster

Published: 22 January 2024
Written by Julien D.
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Categories: Community Edition EN, Network, Nutanix AHV EN, Nutanix EN

To be able to deploy a virtual machine on your Nutanix cluster and have it reachable on your network, you will need to start by configuring the network(s) on your cluster.

Creating a network using Prism Element

Under Prism Element, in the “Settings > Network Configuration” menu is the list of all existing networks on the cluster, click on “Create Subnet”:

Then enter your network information, namely the name and vlan ID:

If you do not have a DHCP server, you can let Nutanix manage the addressing of the network created using the “Enable IP address management” option:

You will then need to complete all the options that would normally have been delivered by a traditional DHCP server:

Click “Save” once the settings are correct. Repeat for each VLAN you need on your infrastructure.

Creating a network using Prism Central

In Prism Central, network management is carried out in “Network & Security > Subnets”:

To add a new network, click “Create Subnet”:

It is then a form similar to that of Prism Element that must be completed by activating, or not, the “IP Address Management” option if you wish to leave the management of your addressing to Nutanix.

Official Nutanix documentation

Link to official documentation: https://portal.nutanix.com/page/documents/solutions/details?targetId=BP-2071-AHV-Networking:bp-ahv-network-management.html

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Nutanix AHV : Upload image to your cluster

Published: 8 January 2024
Written by Julien D.
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Categories: Community Edition EN, Nutanix AHV EN, Nutanix EN

To be able to deploy virtual machines on your cluster, you will need images that are available to launch your installations and here is the procedure to follow.

Before you start

An image uploaded via Prism Element can be imported to Prism Central. The reverse is not possible.

An image uploaded or imported via Prism Central is visible but not editable on Prism Element.

An image uploaded via Prism Element can only be used by the cluster to which it was uploaded.

An image downloaded via Prism Central can be used by all clusters managed by this Prism Central

Nutanix provides compatibility with images in the following formats:

  • RAW
  • VHD
  • VHDX
  • VMDK
  • VDI
  • OVA
  • ISO
  • QCOW2

Download via Prism Element

To upload an image via Prism Element, connect to the web interface using your credentials, then navigate to the “Settings > Image Configuration” menu:

Click Upload Image:

Complete the “Name”, “Image Type”, “Storage Container” fields, select the image you wish to transfer then click on “Save”:

Wait during the transfer and then while your image is processed by the cluster. Its status must be “ACTIVE” for it to be operational:

Download via Prism Central

The process for transferring an image through Prism Central is essentially identical to that of Prism Element.

Connect to the web interface then navigate to “Compute & Storage > Images” and click on “Add Image”:

Click on “Add File”, select the image you want to transfer, fill in the description then click on “Next”:

On the next screen, select the image placement mode based on your environment. In most cases, the default method “Place image directly on clusters” will do the trick, click “Next”:

Wait while the cluster transfers and processes the image.

Import images from Prism Element to Prism Central

On the image management page on Prism Central, click “Import Images”:

Then select the transfer method that suits you:

“All images” will repatriate all the images from all the clusters managed by Prism Central

“Images on a cluster” will allow you to select the cluster(s) and source image(s) on a case-by-case basis.

Official Nutanix documentation

Link to official documentation: https://portal.nutanix.com/page/documents/details?targetId=Web-Console-Guide-Prism-v6_7:wc-image-configure-acropolis-wc-t.html

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HYCU: Nutanix deployment

Published: 29 November 2023
Written by Julien D.
1 Comment
Categories: Backup EN, HYCU EN, Nutanix AHV EN, Nutanix EN

HYCU provides a free Community Edition version of its backup solution for owners of a Nutanix Community Edition installation. Here’s how to get it and deploy it on a cluster.

What is HYCU?

HYCU is a backup software for hyperconverged IT environments. The HYCU solution provides data protection for platforms such as Nutanix, Google Cloud Platform and VMware by supporting backup, recovery and

data management for these specific environments. HYCU offers a simplified approach to data backup and recovery compared to the competition.

Here are the main key features of HYCU:

Simplified backup and recovery: HYCU simplifies the data backup and restoration process by automating recurring tasks. This helps reduce administration by teams and speeds up recovery when needed.

Integration with specific environments: HYCU is designed to integrate seamlessly with platforms such as Nutanix, VMware and Google Cloud Platform, providing a solution optimized for these environments.

Backup policy management: Setting custom backup policies based on specific business needs, such as backup frequency, data retention, etc.

Application backup: HYCU now offers to backup your SaaS applications such as Office 365, Jira, Okta, and many others.

Resource optimization: HYCU has been designed and optimized to have a minimal impact on the overall performance of the environment.

Reporting and Monitoring: The tool offers reporting and monitoring tools to track backup status, policy compliance, and overall backup system health.

Disaster Recovery: HYCU provides options for rapid and reliable recovery with the ability to quickly restore data in the event of a disaster or major outage.

Now that the introductions are done, let’s get down to business!

Setup files download

We will start by retrieving the files necessary for deploying the HYCU solution directly from the publisher’s site.

To do this, go to: https://www.hycu.com/get/trial-start

Then select “Nutanix” in the Private Cloud & Data Center category:

You will then need to complete the following form:

Select Nutanix again from the list of available environments:

Then select the type of hypervisor installed on your cluster, in our case it is obviously the Nutanix AHV hypervisor:

PLEASE NOTE: I remind you that this tutorial shows how to deploy HYCU on a Nutanix Community Edition environment for homelab use. If you wish to put this solution into production, I invite you to contact a distributor of the solution in order to obtain a quote for a license adapted to your environment.

Finally click on “download .qcow2” to start downloading the image:

Now that the file is recovered, we can move on to the installation.

Prerequisites for deployment

Before deploying, we will ensure that our Nutanix cluster is ready to receive HYCU.

For sizing the virtual machine, you will need the following resources:

Given that we are in a lab context, the smallest sizing will be largely necessary. Make sure you have these resources available on your cluster before deploying.

A service account on the Nutanix cluster with “cluster admin” rights will also be required. On the Prism Element interface, in “Settings > Local User Management”, click New User:

Then complete the form before validating, remembering to check “Cluster Admin” in the “Roles” section:

Configuring the Data Services IP is also recommended. In “Settings > Cluster Details”, fill in the ISCSI Data Services IP field with a dedicated IP address (that is not yet assigned to other hardware):

You also need internet access and an available IP address for your HYCU virtual machine.

As for specific ports and other particularities, I will leave you the pleasure of going through the documentation: https://download.hycu.com/ec/v4.8.1/help/en/HYCU_UserGuide.pdf

Deploying the HYCU virtual machine

The deployment of HYCU is very simple and is divided into 4 steps:

To upload the image previously downloaded to your cluster, on Prism Element in “Settings > Image configuration”, click on “Upload Image”:

Remplissez le formulaire en veillant impérativement à nommer l’image créée comme le .qcow2 que vous téléchargez (dans le cas présent, il faut la nommer hycu-4.8.1-274) et cliquez sur Save :

You now have to wait while the image downloads. As soon as it is finished, in the “VM” menu, in the Table display, click on “Create VM”:

Complete the form fields as follows:

In the “Disks” section, click “Add new disk”, select “Clone from Image Service” and find the previously downloaded image:

Then add a second 32Gb disk:

Finally, in the “Network Adapters (NIC)” section click on Add New NIC and select a VLAN to which to connect the VM network card:

Now click on “Save”, the VM is now created, start it then open a console on it. On the first screen, select “HYCU Backup Controller”

On the following screen, fill in the requested information:

The software then applies the configuration provided and proceeds to finalize the installation of the VM. This may take a few minutes and the system will notify you once the installation is complete.

Then enter the IP address that you entered during configuration in your browser like this: https://ip-du-serveur:8443

Log in using admin/admin credentials to access the administration console.

Votre HYCU Backup Controller est désormais déployé. Nous verrons dans un prochain article comment réaliser les configurations de base (ajout du cluster, définition d’une destination, création d’une policies…).

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