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Nutanix Cloud Platform Software Options

Nutanix Cloud Platform packages are available in several editions to meet your infrastructure needs with the right set of capabilities.

Looking for our legacy software options? Click here.

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI)

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) is a complete software stack to unify your hybrid cloud infrastructure including compute, storage and network, hypervisors and containers, in public or enterprise clouds; all with built-in resilience, self-healing, disaster recovery capabilities, and security. It includes enterprise data services and consolidated storage, data protection and disaster recovery, native virtualization and container management, networking and security.

NCI Overview NCI-D Overview

NCI Software Editions

  STARTER PRO ULTIMATE
  Core set of software functionality Rich data services, resilience and management features The full suite of Nutanix software capabilities to tackle complex infrastructure challenges
Ideal For Small-scale deployments with a limited set of workloads (on-prem only) Running multiple applications or large-scale single workload deployments (on-prem or in public clouds) Multi-site deployments and advanced security requirements (on-prem or in public clouds)
Enterprise Data Services
  STARTER PRO ULTIMATE
Max Cluster Size 12 >12* >12*
Heterogeneous Clusters      
VM-centric Snapshots & Clones      
Data Tiering      
Online Cluster Grow/Shrink      
Data Path Redundancy      
Tunable Redundancy Factor 2 2 or 3 2 or 3
Availability Domains Node Node, Block, Rack Node, Block, Rack
Basic Compression (LZ4) - Inline and post process      
Deep Compression (LZ4HC) - Greater efficiency for cold data      
Cache Deduplication
     
Capacity Deduplication      
Erasure Coding (EC-X)      
VM Centric Storage QoS      
VM Flash Mode      
Consolidated Storage Services
Volume Groups - for in-cluster VMs1      
Volume Groups - external access      
Files/Objects Storage (included capacity) 1 TiB Free Capacity 1 TiB Free Capacity 1 TiB Free Capacity
Data Protection and Disaster Recovery
Async Replication (RPO = 1 hr or greater)      
Application Consistent Snapshots      
Self-Service Restore      
Multiple Site DR (many to one, one to many, many to many)      
Metro Availability2   Adv Replication add-on license  
Sync Replication (RPO = 0)2   Adv Replication add-on license  
NearSync Replication (RPO = 1-15 min)1   Adv Replication add-on license  
Advanced Orchestration with Runbook Automation2   Adv Replication add-on license  
Security
Client Authentication      
Cluster Lockdown      
Data-at-Rest Encryption (Software-based & SED)3   Security add-on license  
Native KMS3   Security add-on license  
Enterprise Compute
Nutanix AHV Virtualization      
Credential Guard      
vGPU and GPU Passthrough      
HA Guaranteed Failover      
Nutanix Kubernetes Engine Limit two managed Kubernetes clusters per NCI cluster Limit three managed Kubernetes clusters per NCI cluster, expand to unlimited with Cloud Native add-on license  
VM-Host Affinity Policies      
Cross-Cluster Live Migration   Adv Replication add-on license  
Data Services for Kubernetes
App Centric local snapshots and restore
  Nutanix Data Services for Kubernetes add-on Nutanix Data Services for Kubernetes add-on
App Centric Asynchronous DR (RPO > 1 hr)   Nutanix Data Services for Kubernetes add-on Nutanix Data Services for Kubernetes add-on
Networking and Network Security
Overlay Networking      
Microsegmentation   Security add-on license  
Nutanix Security Central4   Security add-on license  
Management and Analytics
Multi-Cluster management with Prism Central      
Infrastructure management, monitoring and health      
Enterprise authentication and RBAC      
REST APIs      
Comprehensive search      
Insights      
LCM      
Foundation      
Foundation Central      

* Refer to Nutanix Configuration Maximums on the Nutanix portal

1: NUS licenses are not needed for external access to Volume Groups if the storage is deployed on an NCI-Pro/Ultimate Cluster. For NCI-Starter licenses, Volume Group access is only supported for VMs running within the cluster.

2 For any model on the hardware compatibility list, an Advanced Replication SKU is available as an add-on for the Pro licensing tier. This add-on license is applicable to Advanced Orchestration (Multiple Boot Stages, Script Execution, Re-IP, Test Failover), Metro Availability, Sync or NearSync Replication (RPO = or RPO = 1-15 min.).

3: Encryption support is subject to export laws. Contact your account representative to confirm eligibility. For any model on the hardware compatibility list, an Encryption SKU is available as an add-on for the Pro licensing tier. This add-on license includes data-at-rest-encryption required for Self Encrypting Drives (SED) or software-based encryption. License includes an optional native Key Management Service (KMS).

4: Scope included for Nutanix Security Central in NCI Ultimate and Security Add-on for NCI Pro is infrastructure running Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure. Public cloud capability requires NCM Security Central SaaS SKU.

Nutanix supports freedom of choice of hypervisor and container platform, by offering a version called NCI Data that delivers rich data and storage services but does not include Nutanix compute and networking capabilities (grey rows in the table above are not included in NCI Data). Support for Hypervisor specific features, such as GPU support on ESXi, is not impacted by NCI Data licensing tiers.

NCI licenses are purchased and applied on the number of physical CPU cores capacity in your deployment. Licenses are portable across hardware platforms and are available in 1 through 5-year term options.

Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) and Nutanix Database Service (NDB) can also be added to clusters running NCI (minimum Pro version required to add NDB, no minimum version to add NUS).

Nutanix Central

All tiers of Nutanix Cloud Platform (NCP) now include Nutanix Central.

  • Nutanix Central delivers a unified, cloud-based console to manage your hybrid multicloud. Get centralized visibility across clusters and access all Nutanix products through one platform. The integrated marketplace streamlines the deployment of Nutanix and partner apps across domains. Centralized administration simplifies user, license, and lifecycle management at scale.
  • Customers on PnP 2.0 are entitled to Nutanix Central when they have any Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) tier license and Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) license.
  • Customers on PnP 1.0 are entitled to Nutanix Central when they have any AOS tier license and a Prism Pro, Prism Ultimate or Calm license.

Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM)

Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) offers our customers simplicity and ease of use to build and grow their cloud deployments faster and realize rapid ROI, by providing intelligent operations, self service and orchestration, visibility and governance of spend, security and teams, all through a unified Multi-cloud management solution.

NCM Overview

NCM Software Editions:

  Starter Pro Ultimate
Ideal for Infrastructure AIOps: monitoring, planning, rightsizing and low code automation IaaS across private and public clouds, plus cost governance Enterprise deployments, supporting complex app automation, security features and governance workflows
Intelligent Operations
Reporting      
Customizable dashboard      
Capacity Forecast and Planning      
Resource Inefficiency Detection and Right-sizing      
Support for ESXi on non-NCI Environments      
Low-code/No-code Operations Automation      
SQL Server Monitoring for IT Ops      
Application Discovery      
Self-tuning with Machine Learning      
Cost Governance
Cost Metering for Private Cloud Resources      
Cloud Visibility and Optimization1      
Budgeting and Chargeback      
Self-Service
Self-Service Marketplace      
IaaS (Single VM) Blueprints      
Advanced Orchestration Runbooks      
App (Multi VM)  Blueprints      
Governance (Approvals & Scheduler) 
     
Security Compliance
Security Monitoring & Remediation      
Network Security Planning      
Regulatory Compliance      

1 Scope included for Cost Governance in NCM Pro and NCM Ultimate is infrastructure running Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure. Multi-cloud capability requires NCM Cost Governance SaaS SKU

NCM licenses can be purchased and applied on the number of physical CPU cores capacity in your deployment. Licenses are portable across hardware platforms and are available in 1 through 5-year term options.

Nutanix Central

All tiers of Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) now include Nutanix Central.

  • Nutanix Central delivers a unified, cloud-based, console to manage your hybrid multicloud. Get centralized visibility across clusters and access all Nutanix products through one platform. The integrated marketplace streamlines the deployment of Nutanix and partner apps across domains. Centralized administration simplifies user, license and lifecycle management at scale.
  • Customers on PnP 1.0 are entitled to Nutanix Central when they have any AOS tier license and either a Prism Pro, Prism Ultimate or Calm license.

NCM Cloud Add-ons

By default, NCM provides coverage for all Nutanix and on-prem VMWare environments, metered per core. For supporting public cloud environments using the same NCM deployment, customers should purchase appropriate NCM Cloud SKUs as add-ons. There are three public cloud focused add-ons available as SKUs- NCM Self-Service add-on for Public Cloud SKU, NCM Cost Governance SaaS SKU and NCM Security Central SaaS SKU. These add-ons are metered by the number of Virtual Machines (VM) managed in the public cloud. Note: For on-prem environments, Cost Governance is available for AHV and ESXi on AOS and Security Central is available for AHV.

NCM SaaS (Software as a Service) 

NCM is also available as a fully managed Software as Service Option. Customers can experience multi-cloud self-service, app automation, governance, and security compliance capabilities, without requiring to run any on-prem Nutanix software. The NCM SaaS offering is available to purchase as à la carte SaaS licenses for these four NCM SaaS modules:

  • NCM SaaS – Operations (in development) 
  • NCM SaaS – Self-Service
  • NCM SaaS – Cost Governance
  • NCM SaaS – Security Central

NCM SaaS licenses are metered by the number of Virtual Machines (VM) managed in the public cloud.

Nutanix Cloud Platform (NCP) Bundles

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) and Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) can be purchased together in 3 ‘better together’ Nutanix Cloud Platform (NCP) bundles:

Nutanix Cloud Platform (NCP) Edition Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) Edition included Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) Edition included
NCP Starter NCI Pro NCM Pro
NCP Pro
NCI Ultimate NCM Pro
NCP Ultimate
NCI Ultimate
NCM Ultimate

Nutanix Unified Storage

Nutanix Unified Storage is a software-defined data services platform that consolidates file, object, and block storage services. Built on top of Nutanix Cloud Platform, Unified Storage is built for scale and performance with a rich set of advanced data services. NUS offers agility, flexibility, and simplicity to deploy and manage modern applications and services at the core, in the cloud, or edge.

NUS Overview

Nutanix Unified Storage can be deployed in two possible ways:

  • Mixed Mode: Applications and storage services run on the same cluster. When running in mixed mode, NCI or NCP licenses are needed in addition to NUS licenses.
  • Dedicated Mode: Cluster is used only for storage with applications running on external servers. Only NUS licenses are needed when running in dedicated mode.

When running in dedicated mode, a max of 1 user/application VM is allowed per node in the cluster excluding any system VMs (CVM and FSVMs). If more user/application VMs are needed, the cluster must be configured in mixed mode with the appropriate NCI or NCP licenses.

Nutanix Unified Storage is licensed per usable TiB.

Nutanix Unified Storage Editions:

  Starter Pro
Ideal for Low-cost capacity-optimized files and objects use cases such as Backup, Archive and Video Surveillance All general-purpose and performance use cases such as AI/ML, HPC, Big Data Analytics, Manufacturing, Healthcare and Home Directories
Storage Services
Nutanix Files Archive use cases only with >500TiB per cluster and no/low random IO requirement  
Nutanix Objects    
Nutanix Volumes    
Performance and Efficiency
Server Type Hybrid only All-Flash and Hybrid
Performance Optimization Throughput only Throughput and Random IOPS
Erasure Coding    
Inline Data Compression and Deduplication    
Files and Objects Tiering to Cloud/Objects Data Store    
User/Group Quotas for Files and Objects    
S3 Select    
Objects Multi-cluster    
Management
Prism Central    
File Analytics    
Objects Browser    
Global S3 Namespace    
Kubernetes CSI and COSI Support    
Data Protection
Metro File Server Sync (Zero RPO with automatic failover)   Advanced Replication add-on
Smart DR File Share Snapshots and Replication (Few mins RPO    
Streaming Object Replication    
Change-file Tracking (CFT) Backup    
Security
Data-at-Rest Encryption (Software-based and SED) Security add-on Security add-on
Flow Microsegmentation Security add-on Security add-on
Files VPC    
Role-based Access Control (RBAC)    
Compliance
WORM Compliance for Files and Objects    
S3 Object Locking    
Object Versioning    
Anti-virus Software Integration    
Data Migration and Mobility
Built-in File Migration from 3rd Party (NFS and SMB)    
Smart Sync File Share Consolidation    

1:  A cluster has a single identity; Starter and Pro cannot be applied to the same cluster.
2: NUS licenses are not needed for Volume Groups if the storage is deployed on an NCI-Pro/Ultimate Cluster. For NCI-Starter licenses, Volume Group access is only supported for VMs running within the cluster.

NUS Add-ons

The following optional add-on licenses are available with NUS:

  • Advanced Replication add-on includes Metro File Sync Replication, Near-sync FSVM-level Replication. Advanced Replication add-on is available only with NUS Pro and is licensed per usable TiB.
  • Security add-on includes Data-at-Rest Encryption (Software-based and SED). Security add-on is available with both NUS Pro and NUS Starter and is licensed per usable TiB.
  • Nutanix Data Lens (NDL)
    • Data Lens Basic includes File and Object Data Analytics only. Data Lens Basic add-on is available only with NUS PRO
    • Data Lens Premium includes Ransomware Protection and Recovery, Permissions Risk Analysis, Auditing, Behavioral Analytics and Alerts, Active Risk Remediation. Data Lens Premium is available for both NUS Pro and NUS Starter

Depending on whether the cluster is deployed in mixed mode or dedicated mode, the appropriate NCI or NUS add-on license needs to be added as follows:

Capability NCI Mode Dedicated Mode
Advanced Replication NCI Advanced Replication Add-On NUS Advanced Replication Add-On
Security NCI Security Add-On NUS Security Add-On

NDL - Software Options

Nutanix Data Lens is a SaaS-based cyberstorage solution offering ransomware resilience and global data visibility for unstructured data on Nutanix Cloud Platform (NCP). This cloud-based data analytics service proactively assesses and mitigates data security risks by identifying anomalous activity, auditing user behavior, and adhering to compliance requirements. while enabling efficient data lifecycle management.

Nutanix Data Lens is currently offered through a “Freemium” licensing model, consisting of two tiers.

  1. “Basic Tier” comprises limited capabilities that are available free for NUS Pro customers
  2. “Premium Tier” comprises extended capabilities, including Ransomware security, and is licensed on a per TiB basis for all NUS customers.

Self-service onboarding for current Nutanix Unified Storage Customers through My Nutanix Portal

*For a limited time, NUS Pro customers may be eligible for a One Year No-Cost Premium License. Please visit www.nutanix.com/data-lens-promo for more information

Feature / Capability Basic** Premium
Support for Nutanix Files Storage, Object Storage
   
File metadata reporting (Data Aging, Duplicate data#, Consumption, File Type, Capacity)    
Data Growth Trend    
Activity Monitoring & Reporting    
Aggregated analytics (Server / Share/Bucket-based)     
Global Dashboard    
Reporting - Instant Reports    
Analytics Data retention 1 month Up to 3 years
Smart Tiering#    
Capacity Forecasting#    
Ransomware Protection$    
Anomaly Detection / Behaviour Analytics$    
Permissions / Access Risk Reporting*    
Reporting - Scheduled Reports$    
Tech-preview for Dell EMC PowerScale / Isilon - Limited (Activity monitoring, File metadata reporting)    

**Only For NUS Pro customers
$Available for Nutanix Files & Objects
#Available for Nutanix Files only
*Available for Nutanix Files’ CIFS/SMB shares only

Nutanix Mine Integrated Backup

Nutanix Mine is a dedicated storage platform for integrated data protection and backup solutions, providing both the compute and the storage for the data protection software to run and store its backups. 

Nutanix Mine is licensed on a per usable TiB basis. Please consult the below table to determine which Nutanix Unified Storage Tier.

Backup Vendor NUS Tier
Veeam Backup & Replication Primary Tier NUS Pro
All Other Supported ISVs and Veeam Capacity Tier NUS Starter

Existing Mine customers with Mine v2 licenses will be migrated to United Storage Pro and current Mine v3 licenses will be migrated to NUS Starter edition. Mine v2 licenses will be converted from TiB raw to TiB usable at a 50% conversion ratio (e.g. 100 TiB RAW will be migrated to a 50 TiB usable capacity license)

Nutanix Database Service

Nutanix Database Service (NDB) is a hybrid multicloud DBaaS that makes databases a seamless part of software development while reducing the administrative burden and delivering the performance, resilience and security needed for dev, test and production workloads.  NDB is purchased and licensed on a per core basis and is available in two license forms: NDB Platform and NDB Add-on for NCI. NDB Platform includes NCI Ultimate functionality in addition to database-specific capabilities and is licensed on a per-core basis.

  NDB Add-on for NCI NDB Platform
NCI Ultimate Feature Set    
NDB Feature Set    

Nutanix Database Service (NDB) Feature Set

Provisioning
Provision single instance and highly available database clusters  
Integrated Best Practices  
Customized Images and T-shirt Sizes  
Support most popular Databases including Oracle, SQL Server, PostgreSQL, MySQL and MongoDB  
Data Protection
Point in Time Backups  
In Place and Side by Side Recovery  
Hybrid / Multi-cloud Backup tiering  
Patching and Upgrades
Rolling Database Patching for single instance and Database Clusters  
Major upgrade support for Oracle  
Data Management
Thin Database cloning
 
Scheduled clone refreshes  
Scaling
Online database storage scaling with best practices  
Database Fleet Management
Manage both new and already deployed Databases  
Full control over Database Servers  

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure - VDI

The NCI-VDI per user model offers hybrid cloud infrastructure capabilities appropriate for on-prem virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) and Desktop as a Service (DaaS) use cases with pricing based on a Maximum Concurrent User basis (maximum number of concurrently powered-on end-user VMs). VDI per user is an alternative to the core-based NCI licensing option and is designed to provide simple, transparent licensing for all VDI users, regardless of the underlying hardware, hypervisor, or cloud.

NCI-VDI Overview
  • Agnostic: Works with any EUC management platform including Citrix Virtual Apps & Desktops and VMware Horizon
  • Term license: 6 month through 5-year options
    •     Term license must run on a dedicated software licensed VDI cluster with no core-based licensing. Mixing of non-VDI workloads is not supported.
  • Unified Storage: Built-in and also available as a per TiB base add-on
  • No additional license cost for DR site
  • Portable across on-premises and public cloud, public cloud use requires Ultimate edition
  • Available in Starter, Pro, and Ultimate editions
  • Cloud Native and Database Service Add-ons not available with NCI VDI. Advanced Replication and Security Add-on features require NCI Ultimate edition
  VDI STARTER VDI PRO VDI ULTIMATE
NCI Feature Set Everything in NCI Starter Everything in NCI Pro* Everything in NCI Ultimate
Nutanix Unified Storage 1 TiB Free Capacity 50 GB Per User 100GB Per User

*No add-ons are supported on VDI Pro.

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure - Edge

NCI - Edge is an alternative to the core-based NCI licensing option and offers a per virtual machine pricing model appropriate for edge and remote office/branch office (ROBO) use cases.  NCI-Edge is restricted to small clusters running up to 25 concurrently powered-on VMs, with each VM limited to 96GB memory allocation. NCI-Edge provides the same hybrid cloud infrastructure capabilities and benefits as NCI in a pricing model suitable for small edge deployments..

  • Term license must run on a dedicated software licensed Edge cluster with no core-based licensing. Mixing of NCI license types in a cluster is not supported.
    • Term license: 6 month through 5-year options
  • Unified Storage: Built-in and also available as a per TiB base add-on
  • Disaster Recovery sites require separate licensing.
  • Portable across on-premises and public cloud, public Cloud deployment requires minimum Pro edition. NCI-Edge Starter is not eligible for public cloud deployment
  • Available in Starter, Pro, and Ultimate editions
  • Cloud Native and Database Service Add-ons not available with NCI Edge. Advanced Replication and Security Add-on features require NCI Ultimate edition
  NCI-EDGE STARTER NCI-EDGE PRO NCI-EDGE ULTIMATE
NCI Feature Set Everything in NCI Starter with the following restrictions Everything in NCI Pro* with the following restrictions Everything in NCI Ultimate with the following restrictions
Maximum no. of nodes in NCI-Edge cluster 5 5 5
Maximum no. of VMs in NCI-Edge cluster 25 25 25
Maximum memory allocation per VM in an NCI-Edge cluster 96GB 96GB 96GB
Maximum number of managed Kubernetes clusters per NCI-Edge cluster 1 2 2

*No add-ons are supported on NCI-Edge Pro.