Nutanix AHV is a modern, enterprise-grade hypervisor developed by Nutanix. It is built directly into the Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) platform, meaning it is not a separate product you have to install or license. It provides the core virtualization capabilities—creating and managing virtual machines (VMs)—and is fully integrated with the platform's storage, networking, and management services, all managed through a single interface called Nutanix Prism.
AHV
Modern Virtualization, No Boundaries
Nutanix AHV is a modern and secure virtualization platform that powers VMs for applications in the datacenter, at the edge and in public clouds.
Hypervisor without the hassle
Streamline applications with a full-featured modern hypervisor built for the hybrid cloud, trusted by governments, financial institutions, and healthcare organizations around the world.
Ease of management
Intuitive tools and automated workflows to simplify day to day administration of VMs and containers.
Full enterprise features
Includes all the advanced enterprise capabilities your business relies on to meet demanding SLAs.
Lower operational costs
Spend less time deploying and managing VMs and containers and benefit from license-free virtualization.
Your modern infrastructure begins with AHV
Scalable architecture
Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure with AHV allows for easy scaling of resources as your business workloads grow.
Continuous innovation
AHV is continuously updated with new features and improvements, ensuring your infrastructure remains cutting edge.
Seamless multicloud operations
AHV supports hybrid and multicloud environments, allowing for easy workload migration across different cloud platforms.
Your future free of VMware begins with AHV
Integrated software stack
AHV delivers high performance with features like optimized storage paths and self-healing security configurations.
Lower operational costs
Simplified management and automation helps reduce the need for specialized IT staff, boosting efficiency and cost control.
Migrations made easy
Make the move to AHV from multiple sources including enterprise hypervisors and public cloud providers utilizing Nutanix Move.
Your hybrid multicloud begins with AHV
Unified management
Nutanix Prism provides a unified management interface for managing on-premises, edge, and public cloud environments, simplifying operations and reducing complexity while 1-click upgrades and automated data protection streamline routine tasks and enhance efficiency.
Workload portability
AHV supports seamless workload migration across different cloud environments without the need for refactoring or replatforming applications. This flexibility allows for optimal placement of workloads, letting you run them in the most suitable environment based on performance, cost, and compliance requirements
Flow security and networking
AHV integrates seamlessly with existing network infrastructures, providing robust virtual networking capabilities in addition to built-in security features such as software-defined firewalls, microsegmentation and automated compliance reporting, enhancing the overall security posture.
Everything you need
without the cost and complexity
AHV is a modern virtualization solution that delivers self-healing security, automated data protection with disaster recovery, rich analytics, and more. No software bloat, no costly shelf-ware and no hidden costs.
Other capabilities
Nutanix is trusted by 29,000+ customers
Additional resources
Related solutions
Nutanix AHV FAQ
AHV is not sold or licensed as a standalone product. Instead, its use is included with the purchase of a Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) software license.
AHV is managed entirely through Nutanix Prism, the same HTML5-based web console used to manage the entire Nutanix cluster (compute, storage, and networking). You do not need any separate clients or specialized tools. This unified management is a core benefit, making infrastructure operations, including firmware and software upgrades, a simple "one-click" process.
Absolutely. AHV is a robust, enterprise-class hypervisor designed and certified to run demanding, business-critical workloads. It includes all the essential features required for high performance and availability:
High Availability (HA): If a physical host fails, its VMs are automatically restarted on other healthy hosts in the cluster with minimal downtime.
Live Migration: VMs can be moved between hosts in a cluster without any disruption to the application or end-users, which is essential for performing maintenance.
Native Disaster Recovery (DR): Nutanix provides built-in tools for asynchronous and synchronous replication to protect applications against site failure.
Performance: AHV is designed to work closely with the Nutanix Distributed Storage Fabric (DSF), ensuring optimal I/O performance for applications.
Nutanix AHV is certified for major enterprise applications from vendors like Microsoft (SQL Server, Exchange), Oracle, SAP, and many others.
Nutanix provides a dedicated, free tool called Nutanix Move to simplify and automate the migration of virtual machines from other sources onto AHV. This tool is designed to make the transition as seamless and non-disruptive as possible. Nutanix Move is a powerful tool that de-risks the migration process, supporting migrations from VMware ESXi, Microsoft Hyper-V, and even public clouds like AWS.
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