What is Multicloud Snapshot Technology (MST)?

Nutanix introduced Multicloud Snapshot Technology (MST) as a purpose-built storage stack designed for high-performance snapshot management in hybrid multi-cloud environments. It helps enterprises maintain deep snapshot chains in S3-compliant object stores to offload primary hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) clusters and manage costs for Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery (BCDR).

Why is MST critical for air-gapped or darksite environments?

Isolated darksite environments face restrictive data protection constraints and cannot offload cold data tiers to external cloud repositories. MST addresses these challenges by seamlessly moving long-term snapshot retention to local S3 targets, providing snapshot management through a localized microservices-based architecture without external cloud connections, and supporting data sovereignty objectives by storing historical snapshot chains locally.

How does MST optimize primary storage in air-gapped sites?

Since air-gapped sites cannot burst to public cloud storage tiers, MST optimizes primary storage by moving long-term snapshot retention to cost-effective, local S3 targets like Nutanix Objects Storage. This approach helps keep more expensive all-flash primary storage free for active workloads.

What is involved in the local bundle preparation phase for a darksite MST deployment?

The local bundle preparation phase involves gathering necessary artifacts, such as the MST deployment bundle from the Nutanix Portal, and placing them on a local Life Cycle Manager (LCM) web server accessible to the air-gapped Prism Central. This includes initializing the web server, extracting core LCM and MSP darksite bundles, and untarring the MST payload and its core archives.

How do you configure Prism Central for a darksite MST deployment?

To configure Prism Central in darksite mode, administrators must log in to the Prism Central Admin Center, navigate to the LCM menu, select Prism Central, and click on Settings. From there, select the LCM Web Server option, enter the URL matching the local root directory, and save the configuration to prepare Prism Central for ingesting local bundles.

How is the final MST deployment executed in an air-gapped environment?

After preparing the infrastructure and metadata paths, the final MST deployment mirrors a standard connected installation. Administrators navigate to the Marketplace catalog inside the Prism Central console, search for MST, click launch, and proceed with the wizard installation as they would in a standard environment.

Air-Gapped Resilience: Deploying MST in Darksite Environments

Q: What are the three primary operational phases for deploying MST in a darksite?

The deployment of MST in an air-gapped environment involves three main operational phases: bundle preparation, Prism Central target configuration, and the final MST deployment from the marketplace.

Introduction

Nutanix introduced Multicloud Snapshot Technology (MST), a purpose-built storage stack designed for high-performance snapshot management in hybrid multi-cloud environments. MST empowers enterprises to maintain deep snapshot chains in S3-compliant object stores, offloading primary hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) clusters and helping manage costs for Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery (BCDR).

However, many enterprise customers particularly those in highly regulated sectors like government, healthcare, and finance operate in strict "darksite" or air-gapped environments where direct internet access is completely restricted. To help support these mission-critical environments and leverage MST’s scalability, performance, and cost-efficiency, this post details the end-to-end workflow for an entirely offline, darksite MST deployment.

The Darksite Paradox: Why MST is Critical for Air-Gapped Infrastructure?

Isolated darksite environments face highly restrictive data protection and storage constraints. Because these datacenters are completely cut off from the public cloud, administrators cannot offload cold data tiers to external cloud repositories. Maximizing the efficiency of every single gigabyte hosted on the local primary cluster becomes paramount. MST addresses these localized challenges through three darksite-focused capabilities:

Bypassing the Cloud Safety Valve: Air-gapped sites lack the option to burst to public cloud storage tiers when local capacity fills up. MST optimizes primary storage by seamlessly moving long-term snapshot retention to cost-effective, local S3 targets like Nutanix Objects Storage, helping to keep more expensive all-flash primary storage free for active workloads.
No External Dependencies: MST delivers native integration with the Nutanix BCDR stack entirely within a localized microservices-based architecture (MSP), providing advanced snapshot management without any external cloud connection.
Air-Gapped Data Sovereignty: Highly regulated darksites can be bound by strict legal mandates requiring long-term data retention that cannot leave the physical perimeter. MST enables deep historical snapshot chains to be stored on local, air-gapped S3 targets (like Nutanix Objects Storage), supporting customer data sovereignty objectives without bloating expensive primary cluster storage.

The 3-Phase Darksite Deployment Workflow

Deploying MST in an air-gapped environment process is broken down into three primary operational phases: bundle preparation, Prism Central target configuration, and the final MST deployment from the marketplace.

Phase 1: Local Bundle Preparation

The first phase involves gathering the necessary artifacts and placing them on a local Life Cycle Manager (LCM) web server that is accessible to your air-gapped Prism Central

Download the Deployment Bundle: Acquire the necessary software components by downloading the MST deployment bundle directly from the Nutanix Portal. This standalone bundle contains all the artifacts required for a local installation in an air-gapped environment.
Initialize the Web Server: Provision a local web server within your darksite network that is capable of hosting files via standard HTTP.
Extract Core Bundles: Download and untar both the LCM and MSP Darksite Bundles into the root directory of your local web server.
Process the MST Payload: Untar the MST Darksite Bundle into the root directory. This creates an ltss-<version> directory containing three core files: manifest.json, charts.tar, and images.tar.
Final Extraction: Untar both the charts.tar and images.tar archives directly within that ltss-<version> directory.

Directory Structure

To help with successful discovery by LCM and the underlying Service Manager, the local darksite web server must include the MST sub-directory (e.g., /ltss-<version>/) within the configured release path. This layout allows Prism Central to correctly locate and pull the manifest, charts, and images during deployment:

Directory Structure for Dark Sites


http://<webserver-ip-or-fqdn>/release/
|---- <lcm_artifacts>
|---- builds
    |---- msp_builds
        |---- host-images/
        |---- msp-services/
|---- ltss-<version>/
    |---- manifest.json
    |---- ltss-<version>-charts-bundle/
    |---- ltss-<version>-images-bundle/

Phase 2: Prism Central Configuration

With the local web server fully staged, you must configure your air-gapped Prism Central (PC) deployment to look at the local HTTP server rather than trying to contact the public Nutanix Portal.
Log in to the Prism Central user interface and navigate directly to the Admin Center.
Under the LCM menu, select Prism Central, and then click on Settings.
Select the LCM Web Server option and enter the URL matching your local root directory (e.g., http://<webserver-ip-or-fqdn>/release/).
Click Save. Prism Central is now successfully configured in darksite mode and ready to ingest the local bundles.

Phase 3: Final Deployment via Marketplace

With the underlying infrastructure and metadata paths prepared, the installation mirrors a standard connected deployment:

Navigate directly to the Marketplace catalog inside the Prism Central console.
Search for MST in the repository listings.
Click launch and proceed with the wizard installation exactly as you would in a standard connected environment.

Conclusion

By following this deployment process, enterprises operating in air-gapped environments can unlock the full potential of Multicloud Snapshot Technology. This allows highly secure, isolated sites to achieve modern operational resilience and transform their long-term data management strategies without compromising their strict security posture.

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Air-Gapped Resilience: Deploying MST in Darksite Environments