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 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 Platform5 | NKP Starter | NKP Starter | |
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.
5: Nutanix Kubernetes Platform Pro and Ultimate can be purchased as add-on licenses to any NCI cluster. Refer to the Nutanix Kubernetes Platform section below for license tier details.
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 Kubernetes Platform
Starter | Pro | Ultimate | |
---|---|---|---|
Ideal for | The fastest, easiest way to run Kubernetes on Nutanix | An enterprise-ready stack ready to take applications in a cluster to production | True fleet management for clusters running on premises, in the cloud, or anywhere |
CSI | |||
RBAC & SSO | |||
Load Balancing | |||
Bring-Your-Own-OS | No: Rocky Linux only | ||
Deployment Options | NCI | NCI, vSphere, bare metal, public cloud | NCI, vSphere, bare metal, public cloud |
Observability Stack | |||
Service Mesh/Serverless | |||
AI Navigator Chatbot | |||
NDK | on NCI | on NCI | |
Fleet Management | |||
K8s Multitenancy & Insights | |||
K8s Catalog & Cost Mgmt. |
NKP licenses can be purchased and applied on either the number of physical CPU cores if running on bare-metal, or the number of vCPUs in your deployment if running on VMs (including in the public cloud). Licenses are portable across hardware platforms and are available in 1 through 5-year term options.
NKP can either be purchased on its own for deployments on NCI, on vSphere, on public cloud, or on bare-metal, or it can be purchased as a Full Stack SKU that includes NCI, NKP, as well as NDK, NUS, and NDB for Pro and Ultimate editions.
A separate “NKP Cloud Kubernetes” SKU is available for managing Amazon EKS or Azure AKS clusters. This is an NKP Ultimate SKU designed specifically for managing the EKS or AKS environments.
Nutanix Kubernetes Platform Full Stack Editions
Starter | Pro | Ultimate | |
---|---|---|---|
NCI | NCI Starter | NCI Pro | NCI Ultimate |
NKP | NKP Starter | NKP Pro | NKP Ultimate |
NDK | |||
NUS | NUS Pro 50 TiB (per cluster) | NUS Pro 50 TiB (per cluster) | |
NDB | NDB 20 vCPUs (per cluster) | NDB 20 vCPUs (per cluster) |
NKP Full Stack 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 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 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.
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.
- “Basic Tier” comprises limited capabilities that are available free for NUS Pro customers
- “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.
- 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
- 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.
- Nutanix system VMs (CVMs, PCVMs, FSVMs) do not require NCI-Edge licenses. However, non-Nutanix system VMs (e.g., vSphere vCLS) must be licensed.
- 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.