In one of my previous articles, I talked about my Nutanix Foundation installation on my Steamdeck. Unfortunately, I hadn’t yet had the opportunity to run an installation with the setup due to a lack of a server to image.
But things have changed since I recently acquired a Supermicro SuperServer 5019D-FN8TP! I also wrote an article about implementing Nutanix Foundation on unofficially supported hardware:
To be able to image my node with Nutanix Foundation from my Steamdeck, I absolutely needed to be connected to the network via RJ45, a type of connection missing from Valve’s console…
So I purchased an external dock with several USB ports and an RJ45 port that can be connected via USB-C.
I made the following connections:
Connecting the external dock to the Steamdeck’s USB-C port
Connecting the power supply to the dock’s USB-C port
Connecting the network cable to the dock’s RJ45 port
Connecting the external SSD (on which Windows is installed) to one of the dock’s USB ports
This allowed me to boot the Steamdeck from the SSD to start Windows 11!
Nutanix Foundation for a Node with a Steamdeck
As I mentioned in the previous article, I already have Nutanix Foundation installed, so I won’t dwell on that part and will move directly to the Foundation section!
For this Foundation, I used the latest version available, namely Foundation 5.9 with AOS 10 and AHV 7!
The Foundation process starts flawlessly as expected and the process completes after a while:
As you can see, imaging a node with the Steamdeck is possible! Is it relevant? No certainty, but I can at least say that “I did it!”
Whether you’re selling the cluster to a third party or repurposing it for another purpose, sometimes you need to destroy a Nutanix cluster. Here’s how to do it…
Preparing the Cluster for Destruction
Before destroying a cluster, some preparations must be made.
Among the necessary prerequisites, it is imperative that there are no longer any virtual machines running on the cluster. Make sure to migrate/shutdown/delete (as desired) all virtual machines on the cluster.
Note: All the commands in this article must be entered on one of the cluster’s CVMs.
Once this prerequisite is met, we begin by checking the cluster’s status:
cluster status
You should get a return like this:
nutanix@NTNX-5f832032-A-CVM:192.168.84.22:~$ cluster status
2025-07-24 07:20:18,663Z INFO MainThread zookeeper_session.py:136 Using multithreaded Zookeeper client library: 1
2025-07-24 07:20:18,666Z INFO MainThread zookeeper_session.py:248 Parsed cluster id: 4439894058604263884, cluster incarnation id: 1753169113232129
2025-07-24 07:20:18,666Z INFO MainThread zookeeper_session.py:270 cluster is attempting to connect to Zookeeper, host port list zk1:9876
2025-07-24 07:20:18,676Z INFO Dummy-1 zookeeper_session.py:840 ZK session establishment complete, sessionId=0x198310781ce5e38, negotiated timeout=20 secs
2025-07-24 07:20:18,678Z INFO MainThread cluster:3303 Executing action status on SVMs 192.168.84.22
2025-07-24 07:20:18,682Z INFO Dummy-2 zookeeper_session.py:940 Calling c_impl.close() for session 0x198310781ce5e38
2025-07-24 07:20:18,683Z INFO Dummy-2 zookeeper_session.py:941 Calling zookeeper_close and invalidating zhandle
The state of the cluster: start
Lockdown mode: Disabled
CVM: 192.168.84.22 Up, ZeusLeader
Xmount UP [459073, 459235, 459236, 459311]
IkatProxy UP [458789, 458917, 458918, 458919]
Zeus UP [454133, 454189, 454190, 454191, 454201, 454218]
Scavenger UP [459084, 459296, 459297, 459298]
SysStatCollector UP [464017, 464089, 464090, 464091]
IkatControlPlane UP [464039, 464218, 464219, 464220]
SSLTerminator UP [464170, 464323, 464324]
SecureFileSync UP [464362, 464646, 464647, 464648]
Medusa UP [468604, 469223, 469224, 469395, 470062]
DynamicRingChanger UP [476814, 476897, 476898, 476920]
Pithos UP [476843, 477058, 477060, 477086]
InsightsDB UP [476918, 477131, 477132, 477155]
Athena UP [477152, 477270, 477271, 477273]
Mercury UP [513735, 513803, 513804, 513808]
Mantle UP [477391, 477551, 477552, 477562]
VipMonitor UP [485663, 485664, 485665, 485666, 485670]
Stargate UP [477857, 477995, 477996, 477997, 477998]
InsightsDataTransfer UP [478768, 478929, 478930, 478934, 478935, 478936, 478937, 478938, 478939]
GoErgon UP [478834, 479020, 479021, 479039]
Cerebro UP [478950, 479138, 479139, 479306]
Chronos UP [479088, 479286, 479287, 479310]
Curator UP [479234, 479406, 479407, 483968]
Prism UP [479436, 479600, 479601, 479650, 480643, 480885]
Hera UP [479602, 479917, 479918, 479919]
AlertManager UP [479860, 480436, 480438, 480555]
Arithmos UP [480751, 481566, 481567, 481765]
Catalog UP [481670, 482699, 482700, 482701, 483502]
Acropolis UP [483575, 484493, 484494, 488301]
Castor UP [484403, 484877, 484878, 484911, 484972]
Uhura UP [484912, 485066, 485067, 485300]
NutanixGuestTools UP [485132, 485254, 485255, 485284, 485611]
MinervaCVM UP [491046, 491263, 491264, 491265]
ClusterConfig UP [491188, 491361, 491362, 491363, 491381]
APLOSEngine UP [491374, 491650, 491651, 491652]
APLOS UP [495252, 496063, 496064, 496065]
PlacementSolver UP [497033, 497330, 497331, 497332, 497341]
Lazan UP [497256, 497568, 497569, 497570]
Polaris UP [498016, 498620, 498621, 498911]
Delphi UP [498765, 499238, 499239, 499240, 499332]
Security UP [500506, 501578, 501579, 501581]
Flow UP [501478, 502168, 502169, 502171, 502178]
Anduril UP [510708, 511248, 511249, 511252, 511335]
Narsil UP [502382, 502472, 502473, 502474]
XTrim UP [502488, 502629, 502630, 502631]
ClusterHealth UP [502656, 502774, 503156, 503158, 503166, 503174, 503183, 503351, 503352, 503359, 503384, 503385, 503396, 503401, 503402, 503420, 503421, 503444, 503445, 503468, 503469, 503474, 503752, 503753, 503785, 503786, 503817, 503818, 528495, 528533, 528534, 530466, 530467, 530468, 530469, 530474, 530475, 530488, 530512, 530522, 530571, 530576, 530684, 530773, 530791, 531349, 531357]
2025-07-24 07:20:20,740Z INFO MainThread cluster:3466 Success!
Since the cluster is currently started, I first need to stop it with the following command:
cluster stop
Please note: to shut down the cluster, there must be no virtual machines running on the cluster except the CVM.
The command will shut down the cluster and associated services after you confirm the operation with “I agree” and should return something like this:
The state of the cluster: stop
Lockdown mode: Disabled
CVM: 192.168.84.22 Up, ZeusLeader
Xmount UP [1761344, 1761418, 1761419, 1761475]
IkatProxy UP [458789, 458917, 458918, 458919]
Zeus UP [454133, 454189, 454190, 454191, 454201, 454218]
Scavenger UP [459084, 459296, 459297, 459298]
SysStatCollector DOWN []
IkatControlPlane DOWN []
SSLTerminator DOWN []
SecureFileSync DOWN []
Medusa DOWN []
DynamicRingChanger DOWN []
Pithos DOWN []
InsightsDB DOWN []
Athena DOWN []
Mercury DOWN []
Mantle DOWN []
VipMonitor UP [485663, 485664, 485665, 485666, 485670]
Stargate DOWN []
InsightsDataTransfer DOWN []
GoErgon DOWN []
Cerebro DOWN []
Chronos DOWN []
Curator DOWN []
Prism DOWN []
Hera DOWN []
AlertManager DOWN []
Arithmos DOWN []
Catalog DOWN []
Acropolis DOWN []
Castor DOWN []
Uhura DOWN []
NutanixGuestTools DOWN []
MinervaCVM DOWN []
ClusterConfig DOWN []
APLOSEngine DOWN []
APLOS DOWN []
PlacementSolver DOWN []
Lazan DOWN []
Polaris DOWN []
Delphi DOWN []
Security DOWN []
Flow DOWN []
Anduril DOWN []
Narsil DOWN []
XTrim DOWN []
ClusterHealth DOWN []
2025-07-24 07:23:57,716Z INFO MainThread cluster:2194 Cluster has been stopped via 'cluster stop' command, hence stopping all services.
2025-07-24 07:23:57,716Z INFO MainThread cluster:3466 Success!
Now we can move on to destroying the cluster.
Destroying the Cluster
Destroying the cluster requires running the following command:
cluster destroy
The system will then ask you for confirmation before proceeding to delete all configurations and data:
2025-07-24 07:35:45,898Z INFO MainThread zookeeper_session.py:136 Using multithreaded Zookeeper client library: 1
2025-07-24 07:35:45,900Z INFO MainThread zookeeper_session.py:248 Parsed cluster id: 4439894058604263884, cluster incarnation id: 1753169113232129
2025-07-24 07:35:45,900Z INFO MainThread zookeeper_session.py:270 cluster is attempting to connect to Zookeeper, host port list zk1:9876
2025-07-24 07:35:45,916Z INFO Dummy-1 zookeeper_session.py:840 ZK session establishment complete, sessionId=0x198310781ce5e6e, negotiated timeout=20 secs
2025-07-24 07:35:45,918Z INFO Dummy-2 zookeeper_session.py:940 Calling c_impl.close() for session 0x198310781ce5e6e
2025-07-24 07:35:45,918Z INFO Dummy-2 zookeeper_session.py:941 Calling zookeeper_close and invalidating zhandle
2025-07-24 07:35:45,921Z INFO MainThread cluster:3303 Executing action destroy on SVMs 192.168.84.22
2025-07-24 07:35:45,922Z WARNING MainThread genesis_utils.py:348 Deprecated: use util.cluster.info.get_node_uuid() instead
2025-07-24 07:35:45,928Z INFO MainThread cluster:3350
***** CLUSTER NAME *****
Unnamed
This operation will completely erase all data and all metadata, and each node will no longer belong to a cluster. Do you want to proceed? (Y/[N]): Y
The cluster destruction operation will take a few minutes, during which time all remaining data will be completely erased.
Once the cluster destruction is complete, a “cluster status” will allow you to verify that AHV is waiting for the cluster to be created:
nutanix@NTNX-5f832032-A-CVM:192.168.84.22:~$ cluster status
2025-07-24 07:42:50,694Z CRITICAL MainThread cluster:3242 Cluster is currently unconfigured. Please create the cluster.
There you have it, your cluster is destroyed and all you have to do is recreate it.
For those who prefer to follow the procedure via video, here’s my associated YouTube video:
This is one of the operations I recommend performing on an OVHcloud cluster immediately after delivery: replacing the pre-deployed gateway that will allow your cluster to connect to the internet.
In this article, we’ll see how to deploy a Palo Alto PA-VM and how to perform its basic configuration so that it’s ready to be connected to the OVHcloud RTvRack (which will be the subject of another article).
Prerequisites
Here is the list of prerequisites for deployment:
A Nutanix OVHcloud cluster deployed
The required subnets created on the cluster
A backup VM deployed on the cluster
A Palo Alto account with access to image downloads
The disk to add is the one downloaded in qcow2 format from the Palo Alto website.
Also select the subnets that will be connected to your gateway. The first interface you add will always be the PA-VM’s management interface, so make sure you select the correct subnet, which ideally will be a subnet dedicated to management interfaces. Your backup VM must have an interface in this subnet to access the PA-VM’s web interface. Here, for example, is what I would recommend for configuring the interfaces:
Management
ethernet1/1 (subnet 0 created by default on the cluster, for the WAN output)
ethernet1/2 (internal subnet 1, often the one corresponding to your Nutanix infrastructure)
ethernet1/3 (internal subnet 2)
…
It’s important to select “Legacy BIOS Mode” when creating the VM, otherwise it won’t boot!
Select “Use this VM as an Agent VM” so that it boots first.
Validate the settings, the virtual machine is ready to be started.
Initializing the PA-VM
Start the VM and launch the console from the Nutanix interface. Wait while the operating system boots.
The first login is via the CLI with the following credentials:
Username: admin
Password: admin
The system will ask you to change the password.de passe par défaut. On passe ensuite en mode configuration :
configure
Next, configure the management IP in static mode:
set deviceconfig system type static
Configuring the management interface parameters:
set deviceconfig system ip-address <Firewall-IP> netmask <netmask> default-gateway <gateway-IP> dns-setting servers primary <DNS-IP>
At this point, the firewall can be accessed from the bounce machine’s web browser at: https://<Firewall-IP>
CAUTION: This only works if the bounce VM has a pin in the same subnet as the Management interface.
Don’t forget to commit, either from the web interface or from the command line:
commit
You can now continue the configuration on the web interface.
Basic PA-VM Configurations
Let’s start with the basic PA-VM configuration.
On the web interface, in “Device > Setup”, edit the “General Settings” widget to enter at least the Hostname and the Timezone:
Then go to the “Services” tab and edit the “Services” widget to add DNS servers and NTP servers:
All that’s left is to commit the changes; the basic configuration of the Palo Alto gateway is complete.
I want to point out that this is a basic configuration, and there are many other configuration points to complete to ensure a perfectly configured and secure gateway that allows your cluster to access the internet, including authentication, password complexity, VPN, firewall rules, and more.
In a future article, we’ll see how to connect your Palo Alto PA-VM gateway to the OVHcloud RTvRack to allow your cluster to access the internet.
Nutanix X-Ray is a testing and benchmarking tool designed by Nutanix to evaluate the performance and resilience of hyperconverged infrastructures (HCI). It allows companies to simulate real-world workloads and test the robustness of their infrastructures before deploying them in production.
Why use Nutanix X-Ray?
The primary reason for using X-Ray is to evaluate performance before deployment. Indeed, before putting a hyperconverged infrastructure into production, it is essential to ensure that it meets the performance requirements defined upstream of the project.
Nutanix X-Ray addresses this first issue by offering concrete scenarios that allow you to:
Simulate real-world workloads, such as those in a data center or a hybrid cloud environment.
Measure performance in terms of IOPS, latency, and throughput.
Identify potential bottlenecks and areas for improvement.
Thanks to these tests, companies can validate their technological choices before investing heavily in an HCI solution.
The second reason to use X-Ray is to test a cluster’s resilience, a crucial characteristic for avoiding service interruptions. With Nutanix X-Ray, it is possible to:
Simulate node, disk, or network failures to see how the infrastructure reacts.
Test failover and recovery mechanisms.
Measure the time required to restore a service in the event of a failure.
These tests help ensure high availability and service continuity even in the event of a major problem once the cluster is in production.
X-Ray also allows you to compare several HCI infrastructures and choose the most appropriate one based on your needs. To this end, it allows you to:
Comparative benchmarks between different solutions (e.g., Nutanix vs. VMware vSAN).
A neutral and impartial performance analysis.
A better understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of each infrastructure.
The results collected will enable companies to make the right decisions regarding the evolution or replacement of their infrastructure.
The results provided by X-Ray will also facilitate the optimization of HCI environments by:
Adjusting configurations to maximize performance.
Identifying potential improvements in storage, network, and CPU.
Planning infrastructure upgrades based on future needs.
The tool thus helps reduce costs and improve operational efficiency by reducing errors in sizing or technology choices.
As you can see, Nutanix X-Ray is an essential tool for any company wishing to test, compare, and optimize its HCI infrastructure before and after deployment.
In the next article, I will explain how to implement the tool on a Nutanix cluster.
I worked with a customer who has a large number of fairly old nodes in production at their remote sites. Unfortunately, they are facing a problem performing AOS and AHV installations on them because the hardware is not officially supported by Nutanix. Having recovered a few identical nodes, I looked into the problem to find a solution…
Node Hardware Configuration
These nodes are Supermicro SuperServer 5019D-FN8TP nodes:
They are perfect for creating home labs with their 1U form factor and half-depth design, allowing them to fit into any home rack.
Did I tell you these knots are perfect for home labs?
First Foundation Tests
For my first Foundation tests, I chose to start with a very old version of Foundation: 4.6.
Software-wise, I also started with an old version, with version 5.5.9.5 and the AHV bundled in the package. Since most of the client nodes were also running older versions, I figured it should work.
First failure… of a long series!
I tested many possible combinations with Foundation versions 4.6 / 5.0 / 5.4 / 5.9, AOS versions 5.5.9.5 / 5.6.1 / 5.20 / 6.10, AHV bundled, not bundled… and even a custom Phoenix image generated from one of the recovered nodes… And absolutely no success, often with error messages that differed depending on the combinations used.
But one message still came up more frequently than the others…
Hardware Compatibility Check
During the Foundation process, there is a step in which the Phoenix system generates a hardware configuration file for the node(s) to be imaged: hardware_config.json.
Once this file is generated, Foundation compares it to its list of known hardware to verify that it is a node capable of imaging… And this is where my problem arises:
2025-06-17 11:55:58,642Z foundation_tools.py:1634 INFO Node with ip 192.168.84.22 is in phoenix. Generating hardware_config.json
2025-06-17 11:55:58,942Z foundation_tools.py:1650 DEBUG Running command .local/bin/layout_finder.py local
2025-06-17 11:56:02,383Z foundation_tools.py:334 ERROR Command '.local/bin/layout_finder.py local' returned error code 1
stdout:
stderr:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/root/.local/bin/layout_finder.py", line 297, in <module>
write_layout("hardware_config.json", 1)
File "/root/.local/bin/layout_finder.py", line 238, in write_layout
top = get_layout(node_position)
File "/root/.local/bin/layout_finder.py", line 130, in get_layout
vpd_info = vpd_info_override or get_vpd_info(system_info_override)
File "/root/.local/bin/layout_finder.py", line 249, in get_vpd_info
module, model, model_string, hardware_id = _find_model_match(
File "/root/.local/bin/layout_finder.py", line 78, in _find_model_match
raise exceptions[0]
__main__.NoMatchingModule: Raw FRU: FRU Device Description : Builtin FRU Device (ID 0)
Chassis Type : Other
Chassis Part Number : CSE-505-203B
Chassis Serial : C5050LH47NA0950
Board Mfg Date : Wed Oct 31 16:00:00 2018
Board Mfg : Supermicro
Board Serial : ZM18AS036679
Board Part Number : X11SDV-8C-TP8F
Product Manufacturer : Supermicro
Product Name :
Product Part Number : SYS-5019D-FN8TP-1-NI22
Product Version :
Product Serial : S348084X9211699
Product Name: SYS-5019D-FN8TP-1-NI22
Unable to match system information to layout module. Please refer KB-7138 to resolve the issue.
Foundation is very kind to point out that there’s a KB available, as this is clearly a recurring problem!
The command will query the IPMI and return information about the hardwareriel :
Getting FRU ... Chassis Type (CT) = Other (01h) Chassis Part Number (CP) = CSE-505-203B Chassis Serial Number (CS) = XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Board mfg. Date/Time (BDT) = 2018/10/31 16:00:00 (A0 3E B7) Board Manufacturer Name (BM) = Supermicro Board Product Name (BPN) = Board Serial Number (BS) = XXXXXXXXXXXX Board Part Number (BP) = X11SDV-8C-TP8F Board FRU File ID = Product Manufacturer Name (PM) = Supermicro Product Name (PN) = Product PartModel Number (PPM) = SYS-5019D-FN8TP-1-NI22 Product Version (PV) = Product Serial Number (PS) = XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Product Asset Tag (PAT) = Product FRU File ID =
It is then possible to access each of the elements via different commands, for example:
Obviously, I replace “param” with the desired parameter. Now that I have a technique to “lie” to the system, I need to come up with a good lie…
Looking for the lost model…
The problem in our case is having a FRU that matches a piece of hardware on the compatibility list integrated into Phoenix…
I tested it randomly with similar hardware by replacing the existing PPM:
SYS-5019D-FN8TP-1-NI22 (the original one)
X11SDV-8C-TP8F (this is the model recognized by Nutanix on the client nodes)
NX-1120S-G7
NX-1065-G7
The first is not recognized during the Foundation process, the same goes for the second. For 2 suivants, ils sont bien reconnu mais c’est un message d’erreur légèrement différent qui s’affiche…
stderr:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/root/.local/bin/layout_finder.py", line 297, in
write_layout("hardware_config.json", 1)
File "/root/.local/bin/layout_finder.py", line 238, in write_layout
top = get_layout(node_position)
File "/root/.local/bin/layout_finder.py", line 146, in get_layout
module.populate_layout(layout_api, layout_api.discovery_info, layout,
File "/root/.local/lib/python3.9/site-packages/layout/modules/smc_gen11_4node.py", line 104, in populate_layout
data_hbas = api.find_devices(pci_ids=["1000:0097"], min_=1, max_=1,
File "/root/.local/lib/python3.9/site-packages/layout/layout_api.py", line 300, in find_devices
raise Exception(msg)
Exception: This node is expected to have exactly 1 SAS3008. But phoenix could not find any such device
2025-06-17 12:22:11,405Z imaging_step.py:123 DEBUG Setting state of ) @c2b0> from RUNNING to FAILED
2025-06-17 12:22:11,409Z imaging_step.py:123 DEBUG Setting state of ) @ca90> from PENDING to NR
2025-06-17 12:22:11,410Z imaging_step.py:182 WARNING Skipping ) @ca90> because dependencies not met, failed tasks: [) @c2b0>]
2025-06-17 12:22:11,412Z imaging_step.py:123 DEBUG Setting state of ) @c940> from PENDING to NR
2025-06-17 12:22:11,413Z imaging_step.py:182 WARNING Skipping ) @c940> because dependencies not met
2025-06-17 12:22:11,413Z imaging_step.py:123 DEBUG Setting state of ) @c2e0> from PENDING to NR
2025-06-17 12:22:11,414Z imaging_step.py:182 WARNING Skipping ) @c2e0> because dependencies not met
The node model is recognized by the Foundation process, but the node’s hardware configuration is also checked! Therefore, finding a similar model isn’t enough; the model AND the hardware configuration must be similar…
But how do I find the right model? And then I had an idea: search the Phoenix files mounted during installation to find out which models it expects to find…
A quick SSH into the node booted on Phoenix, whose installation failed, and here I am, wandering through the system’s intricacies to find what I’m looking for…
The information about supported templates is located in the /root/.local/lib/python3.9/site-packages/layout/modules folder. How do I know this? Because the logs generated during my previous attempts indicated:
File "/root/.local/lib/python3.9/site-packages/layout/modules/smc_gen11_4node.py", line 104, in populate_layout
And in this module folder, there is absolutely something for everyone:
Since the nodes in question are Supermicro, I focused my research on the “smc” prefix in order to reduce the range of possibilities:
In order to further reduce the number of possibilities, I eliminated everything that concerned more than 1 node (2 and 4 nodes therefore) which left me with only about ten possibilities and as I started in order, I immediately found the right template: smc_e300_gen11.py!
Inside the file, I immediately spot the same motherboard: X11SDV-8C-TP8F
It comes in two models: the SMC-E300-2, which has two drives, and the SMC-E300-4, which has four. So, it’s the first one that interests me, and while searching online, I came across another Supermicro motherboard, the SuperServer E300-9D-8CN8TP: https://www.supermicro.com/en/products/system/Mini-ITX/SYS-E300-9D-8CN8TP.cfm
Extremely similar to the motherboard I own, I think I’ve finally found the right model! I note the important details and shut down my motherboard:
X11SDV-8C-TP8F (board part number)
SMC-E300-2 (model)
CSE-E300 (chassis part number)
The final stretch: the custom FRU
Now that I have the missing information, I need to modify my FRU to match the model Foundation expects.
Then I relaunched a Foundation 5.9 with an AOS 6.10.1.6 and an AHV 20230302.103014 in order to validate that what I found works:
2025-06-18 07:35:49,786Z foundation_tools.py:1634 INFO Node with ip 192.168.84.22 is in phoenix. Generating hardware_config.json 2025-06-18 07:35:50,071Z foundation_tools.py:1650 DEBUG Running command .local/bin/layout_finder.py local 2025-06-18 07:35:54,153Z imaging_step_misc_hw_checks.py:168 DEBUG Not an NX G7+ node with RAID boot drives. Skipping RAID checks. 2025-06-18 07:35:54,156Z imaging_step.py:123 DEBUG Setting state of ) @dee0> from RUNNING to FINISHED 2025-06-18 07:35:54,157Z imaging_step.py:162 INFO Completed ) @dee0> 2025-06-18 07:35:54,159Z imaging_step.py:123 DEBUG Setting state of ) @deb0> from PENDING to RUNNING 2025-06-18 07:35:54,162Z imaging_step.py:159 INFO Running ) @deb0> 2025-06-18 07:35:54,165Z imaging_step_pre_install.py:364 INFO Rebooting into staging environment 2025-06-18 07:35:54,687Z cache_manager.py:142 DEBUG Cache HIT: key(get_nos_version_from_tarball_()_{'nos_package_path': '/home/nutanix/foundation/nos/nutanix_installer_package-release-fraser-6.10.1.6-stable-a5f69491f9523eef80d3c703f2ad4d2156e71eeb-x86_64.tar.gz'}) 2025-06-18 07:35:54,690Z imaging_step_pre_install.py:389 INFO NOS version is 6.10.1.6 2025-06-18 07:35:54,691Z imaging_step_pre_install.py:392 INFO Preparing NOS package (/home/nutanix/foundation/nos/nutanix_installer_package-release-fraser-6.10.1.6-stable-a5f69491f9523eef80d3c703f2ad4d2156e71eeb-x86_64.tar.gz) 2025-06-18 07:35:54,691Z phoenix_prep.py:82 INFO Unzipping NOS package
It passed the hardware validation without a hitch, and the installation eventually went through.
Of course, this is a patch to allow my client to redeploy their nodes and extend their lifespan. The ideal solution would have been to be able to create a custom .py file that perfectly matches my model without me having to modify it, which, to my knowledge, is unfortunately currently impossible.
One problem persists, however: the cluster can be created in RF2, but Data Resiliency will be critical… I’m still looking for a solution to this problem…
Thanks to Théo and Jeroen for their ideas, which showed me the beginning of the path that led me to the solution!
In the previous blog post, I explained how to monitor your Centreon cluster using SNMP v2c.
In this new blog post, I’ll explain how to monitor your Nutanix cluster using Centreon using SNMP v3.
Prerequisites
There are a few prerequisites you must meet to add your Nutanix cluster to the Centreon solution. Here’s a list of what you need:
A Nutanix cluster with admin access to the web interface
A running Centreon server with the Nutanix connector installed
SSH access to the Centreon VM
Streams must be open in the firewall
Configuring SNMP v3 on the Nutanix Cluster
To configure SNMP on your Nutanix cluster, start by connecting to the Prism Element and then going to “Settings > SNMP”. Check “Enable SNMP” and click “+ New Transport” to add port 161 in UDP:
Then, in “Users” click on “New User”, enter a username as well as a private key pair in AES and authentication key in SHA:
In my case, I’ve entered the following information because it’s for lab purposes only, but I recommend you enter much more complex information:
Username: snmp-centreon
Priv Key: snmp-priv-key
Auth Key: snmp-auth-key
Make a note of the Username, Priv Key, and Auth Key; we’ll need them later. The configuration is complete on the Nutanix side; now let’s move on to the Centreon configuration..
Adding a Nutanix Cluster to Centreon
To add your Nutanix cluster to Centreon, log in to your monitoring system’s web interface, go to “Configuration > Hosts” and click “Add”:
On the page that appears, there is a first block of information to fill in:
1: Cluster name
2: Cluster IP address
3: SNMP version 3
4: The Centreon server that will monitor the cluster
5: The time zone associated with your cluster
6: The templates you wish to add
7: Check “Yes” to ensure that all services associated with the previously added templates are automatically created
On the second part of the page, there are a few things to configure, including the amplitude and frequency of checks, and especially the “SNM” field.
The command line syntax to enter in SNMPEXTRAOPTIONS is:
Remember to check the “Password” box to hide sensitive information:
Once all the information has been entered, confirm so that the new host is created on the server. You must then export the configuration to the pollers. To do this, click on “Pollers” in the top left corner, then on “Export configuration”:
Then click on “Export & Reload” in the small window that appears:
To check that your host is being taken into account, go to “Monitoring > Resources Status”, your first checks should start to come up:
If all goes as planned, you should have all your probes green within minutes!
Troubleshooting
If you unfortunately have a monitor that looks like this:
Continuously monitoring your cluster is the best option to ensure everything is running as you expect.
In this blog post, I’ll explain how to monitor your Nutanix cluster on Centreon using SNMP v2c.
Prerequisites
There are a few prerequisites you must meet to add your Nutanix cluster to the Centreon solution. Here’s a list of what you need:
A Nutanix cluster with admin access to the web interface
A running Centreon server with the Nutanix connector installed
SSH access to the Centreon VM
Flux must be open in the firewall
Configuring SNMP v2c on the Nutanix Cluster
To configure SNMP on your Nutanix cluster, start by connecting to the Prism Element and then going to “Settings > SNMP”. Check “Enable SNMP” and click “+ New Transport” to add port 161 in UDP:
Then, under “Traps,” click “+ New Trap Receiver” and fill in the following fields:
Receiver Name: The name you wish to assign to your Receiver
Check v2c
Community: Indicate the SNMP community you wish to use
Address: The address of your Centreon server
Port: 161
Transport protocol: UDP
Click “Save” to save the configuration.
Adding a Nutanix Cluster to Centreon
To add your Nutanix cluster to Centreon, log in to your monitoring system’s web interface, go to “Configuration > Hosts” and click “Add”:
On the page that appears, there is a first block of information to fill in:
1: Cluster name
2: Cluster IP address
3: The community you specified on the trap receiver
4: SNMP version 2c
5: The Centreon server that will monitor the cluster
6: The time zone associated with your cluster
7: The templates you wish to add
8: Check “Yes” to ensure that all services associated with the previously added templates are automatically created.
On the second part of the page, there are a few things to configure, including the amplitude and frequency of the checks:
Once all the information has been entered, confirm so that the new host is created on the server. You must then export the configuration to the pollers. To do this, click on “Pollers” in the top left corner, then on “Export configuration”:
Then click on “Export & Reload” in the small window that appears:
To check that your host is being taken into account, go to “Monitoring > Resources Status”, your first checks should start to come up:
If all goes as planned, you should have all your probes green within minutes!
Troubleshooting
If you unfortunately have a monitor that looks like this:
I recommend checking the following:
Opening SNMP streams (port 161/UDP) in the firewall
Configuring the Traps Receiver on the Nutanix cluster
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.
In the last blog post, I told you about my second day at .NEXT 2025, but there is one element I intentionally omitted to mention…
The “Champions Power Lunch”
On Thursday afternoon, Angelo organized a lunch for us with all the Nutanix Technology Champions present at the event and other members of various internal programs. It was the perfect opportunity to connect and chat over a delicious meal.
But Angelo didn’t stop there, as he also invited three distinguished guests: Rajiv Ramaswami, Thomas Cornely, and Jason Longpre!
They participated in the Q&A session, and they were well catered for! There were quite a few questions, which they answered with complete transparency. Unfortunately, the session was somewhat marred by a number of questions and near-complaints about the quality of the support, which some found to be degraded.
It’s a shame to have wasted time on such a topic when we’re lucky enough to have these three publishers in front of us, but that’s how it is. I hope to have another Q&A session at the next Tech Connect in San Jose!
Nutanix Trophy Awards
This year, after lunch, Nutanix decided to reward three people for their involvement in the community with three trophies:
Nutanix Community Excellence
Nutanix NTC Storyteller
Nutanix User Group Champion
The Nutanix User Group Champion trophy was won by Kevin Kimball for his personal involvement in the Nutanix User Groups.
The Nutanix Community Excellence trophy was awarded to my dear Jeroen Tielen for his involvement in the community forums.mmunautaires, une récompense bien méritée compte tenu de son activité incroyable sur les forums !
And finally, the Nutanix NTC Storyteller Award was awarded to me for my “insightful and impactful contributions to the Nutanix community through my thought leadership and blog posts. My expertise and storytelling have enriched conversations and inspired innovation.”
I thank Nutanix for awarding me this prize, which recognizes my investment in the blog, Slack channels, and social media.
After a rather busy first day, I took advantage of the time difference to be at the convention center as soon as it opened to make the most of the second day.
This allowed me to spend some time with my NTC colleagues in the Community Lounge over coffee while waiting for the keynote!
The motto: demos, a few announcements, and more demos!
Lee Caswel kicked off the keynote by thanking all the event’s partners and welcoming us to .NEXT 2025.
He then quickly went on to summarize the first day, including support for Dell Powerflex and Pure Storage external storage, the Omnissa VDI solution, AOS cloud native, and Agentic AI.
Today’s keynote program:
Modern Hybrid Cloud
Simplicity at Scale
Air Gapped Cyber Resilience
Cloud Native Anywhere
Lee is then joined on stage by Thomas Cornely, who takes over for a series of demos.
Modern Hybrid Cloud
We’re used to it: the queen of demos, Laura Jordana, joins Thomas on stage to give us a first demonstration of the integration of Dell Powerflex with Nutanix.
The wow factor:
3-click integration
Direct access to the PowerFlex console from Prism
Demonstration of a workload migration via Move to a Dell PowerFlex cluster
Simple, fast, and effective, the demo allowed us to see how amazingly simple it is to integrate Dell Powerflex into a Nutanix environment.
To avoid creating jealousy, the same demo was performed for Pure Storage and the same conclusion was reached: it’s simple, fast, and effective!
Barely time to catch our breath, Laura continues with a demonstration of Omnissa Horizon 8 on AHV and the demonstration alone made me want to test the solution… I’ll have to wait until this summer to access the beta but stay tuned!
Finally, the last demonstration of this first part focused on the support of Flow Virtual Networking on Google Cloud for seamless migration between on-prem and GC infrastructure.
Simplicity at Scale
Laura Jordana gives up her place on stage to Artur Krzywdzinski who will deliver the Simplicity at Scale portion of the keynote.
And it starts with centralized management thanks to Nutanix Central!
Automated deployment with zero-touch provisioning, multi-cluster updates via LCM, it’s all there! Or how to revolutionize the management and administration of our Nutanix environments in a single interface! It’s a dream, believe me!
Air Gapped Cyber Resilience
Jason Burns takes Artur’s place on stage to talk about security, particularly in isolated environments. We’re starting with Flow Network Security, featuring its “Next Gen” version in Flow Virtual Networks!
But security doesn’t stop there, and snapshots also benefit from two innovations:
immutable snapshots in NUS Files
multi-cloud snapshots in NUS Objects bunker
A new version of Data Lens on-prem, capable ofétecter les menaces en moins de 6 minutes a également été annoncée pour la fin de l’année 2025.
Cloud Native Anywhere
Without transition, we’ll move on to José Gomez on stage, who will talk to us about fleet management on the Nutanix Kubernetes Platform, which allows you to centralize updates and simplify provisioning!
Agentic AI
It was then Ashwini Vasanth’s turn to give us a demonstration of agentic AI, including the translation of an uploaded document into several languages and the verification of the conformity (tone, language, compliance with codes, etc.) of an uploaded video.
This demonstration was truly amazing because everything happened almost instantly!
Express Certification!
I signed up to revalidate my Unified Storage 6.10 certification, and I must say it was a breeze, as I was able to earn my certification in just 26 minutes! Obviously, the main reason was that I didn’t want to miss the last keynote of the show…
The Final Keynote
For the final keynote of the event, Tarkan Manner kicked off the show with thanks to the various sponsors before handing over to Evy Pompouras, a former Secret Service agent, who gave us a talk on communication and how to use it to maintain control during discussions.
A very interesting topic, during which she offered a wealth of advice on how to improve our verbal and non-verbal communication.
Finally, the long-awaited moment of the last keynote arrived: the announcement of the next destination for .NEXT!
Chicago has therefore been chosen to host the next edition of the event, which will take place from April 7 to 9, 2026!
Nutanix .NEXT Party
Since a .NEXT without a .NEXT Party isn’t really a .NEXT, the publisher organized an impressive closing party as usual.
DJs, bars, buffets… There were even stands where you could get a temporary tattoo or even get a cap personalized by graffiti artists!
Unfortunately, the evening often ends around 9 p.m., but we didn’t let it get us down! We went out for one last meal with the entire Mikadolabs team, the Nodelink and HYCU teams, and even Brad, one of my NTC colleagues!
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