Introduction
At Nutanix, we're continuously evolving our Disaster Recovery (DR) capabilities to help organisations protect their applications, simplify operations, and recover fast when disruptions occur.
Over the years, many customers have relied on legacy Protection Domain Disaster Recovery running on Prism Element. While Protection Domains effectively manage replication, they do not model application intent or lifecycle. Modern DR platforms simplify operations by making the application the primary object, unifying protection and recovery policies, and reducing manual administration. That's exactly the experience Nutanix has delivered via a powerful and flexible approach through Prism Central-based DR.
Today, Prism Central-based DR is the strategic platform for disaster recovery on Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure platform, delivering centralized management, advanced orchestration, richer networking capabilities, and support for future DR innovations.
To help customers transition with confidence, Nutanix is introducing the Protection Domain (PD) to Prism Central-based DR Migration Tool—an automated utility designed to simplify and accelerate the migration from legacy Protection Domain-based DR to modern Prism Central-based DR.
Migration made easy with PD to EC Migration Tool
Introducing the Protection Domain to the Prism Central-based DR Migration Tool
The Protection Domain to modern Prism Central-based DR Migration Tool helps reduce the complexity from migrating disaster recovery configurations.
Available as both a command-line interface (CLI) and an integrated Prism Central workflow, the tool automates what was previously a manual and time-consuming process.
The migration tool intelligently converts existing Protection Domain configurations into modern Nutanix DR constructs, including:
- Categories
- Protection Policies
- Recovery Plans
Most importantly, the tool preserves your existing protection intent, allowing you to transition without having to redesign your disaster recovery strategy from scratch.
Why Move to Prism Central-based Nutanix DR?
Migrating to Prism Central-based DR is more than a technology refresh. It's an opportunity to modernise your disaster recovery strategy and unlock capabilities that are not available in traditional Protection Domain-based environments.
As environment needs/workloads grow, managing DR and maintaining enhanced security across multiple clusters from Prism Central is highly efficient when compared to logging into individual Prism Elements.
Prism Central-based DR unlocks granular RBAC and advanced recovery plans that automate boot sequencing, IP address changes, and script execution features that are far more limited or non-existent in PE-based PDs.
Staying on legacy PDs while the rest of your Nutanix environment evolves creates a 'technical debt' silo. Moving to Prism Central-based Nutanix DR aligns your DR with the rest of your modern Nutanix stack, simplifying troubleshooting and day-to-day management.
What You Gain with Prism Central-based DR
By migrating to Prism Central-based DR, organisations gain greater operational efficiency, improved security, recovery flexibility, and access to future Nutanix DR innovations.
Key Benefits of using the Migration tool
Streamlined Migration
Move from Protection Domain-based DR to Prism Central-based DR with minimal disruption to existing protection workflows.
Fast and Simple Operations
Automate migration using either a guided Prism Central experience or a CLI-driven workflow for large-scale deployments.
Preserves Existing Protection Intent
The tool automatically maps legacy PD configurations to Prism Central-based DR constructs while maintaining the original protection objectives.
Built-In Validation and Rollback
Pre-migration validation checks identify potential issues before migration begins. If a migration encounters a problem, an automatic rollback mechanism restores protection back to the original Protection Domain.
Unlock Modern DR Capabilities
Help take advantage of advanced recovery orchestration, centralized management, RBAC, and synchronous replication.
How the Migration Works
The migration process has been designed to be straightforward and predictable.
1. Select the Source Cluster
Choose the Prism Element cluster containing the Protection Domains you want to migrate.
2. Validate
Run a pre-migration validation to confirm that your environment and Protection Domains are eligible for migration.
Validation checks include:
- Version compatibility
- Prism Central connectivity
- DR enablement
- Configuration compatibility
- Protection policy and recovery plan limits
This "dry run" process helps identify issues before any changes are made.
3. Configure
Select the Protection Domains to migrate and review any migration-specific choices, such as handling mixed-consistency Protection Domains.
4. Migrate
The tool automatically:
- Creates Categories
- Creates Protection Policies
- Creates Recovery Plans
- Moves workloads from Protection Domain-based protection to Prism Central-based DR protection
5. Verify
Post-migration validation confirms that workloads are successfully protected.
Availability
The CLI-based Migration Tool is available through KB 20989 and can be used immediately to perform migrations.
The fully integrated UI-based migration experience is available in Prism Central 7.6, providing a guided workflow directly within the Prism Central interface.
Before You Begin
To help support a successful migration, verify the following:
Minimum Versions
Requirements
- DR must be enabled on source and remote Prism Central instances
- Source and remote Prism Central instances must be paired
- PC admin, Super admin, or DR admin permissions are required
- Migration should be scheduled during non-business hours
Important Considerations
While the migration tool supports the vast majority of DR deployments, some scenarios are not currently supported:
- Protection Domains with multiple schedules
- Protection Domains with more than two remote sites
- Empty Protection Domains
- Protection Domains with RPOs greater than 14 days
- Nutanix Files Storage workloads and File-Level Restore (FLR)
- Bandwidth throttling configurations
- ESX Metro and VMware SRM environments
Legacy PD snapshots are preserved after migration and remain available through Prism Element.
Planning Your Migration
We recommend the following approach:
- Assess your current Protection Domain landscape.
- Validate environment readiness.
- Perform a migration dry run.
- Schedule migration during a maintenance window.
- Review and test Recovery Plans after migration.
- Monitor replication and protection status in Prism Central.
Following these steps will help support a smooth transition designed for minimal operational disruption.
Prefer Automation? Use the CLI Tool
For customers who want to start migrating immediately or automate migrations at scale, the CLI Migration Tool is available today through KB 20989.
The CLI tool guides administrators through the migration process, including environment validation, Protection Domain selection, migration execution, and post-migration verification. It supports both validation-only "dry runs" and full migrations, allowing customers to identify potential issues before making any changes.
Built-in safeguards such as pre-migration checks, detailed reporting, and automatic rollback help support a safe and predictable migration experience. The CLI tool is particularly well-suited for larger environments, scripted workflows, and customers who prefer a command-line experience while the integrated Prism Central UI workflow is available in Prism Central 7.6.
Protection Domain to Entity Centric CLI Tool
Prefer a Guided Experience? Use the Prism Central UI
Protection Domain to Entity Centric UI available on PC UI v7.6 and later
For customers who prefer a graphical, step-by-step workflow, the UI Migration Tool is integrated directly into the Prism Central web console. Available in Prism Central 7.6, the UI-based migration experience simplifies the transition from Protection Domain-based DR to Prism Central-based DR through an intuitive wizard-driven workflow.
The migration wizard guides administrators through the entire process—from selecting Protection Domains and running pre-migration checks to creating Categories, Protection Policies, and Recovery Plans. Built-in validations help identify unsupported configurations and migration prerequisites before any changes are made, helping to support a smooth migration experience.
During migration, the tool automatically converts each Protection Domain into its Prism Central DR equivalent constructs while preserving existing replication schedules and protection intent. Recovery Plans can be created automatically as part of the workflow, allowing customers to immediately take advantage of advanced recovery orchestration capabilities available in Nutanix Disaster Recovery.
The wizard also provides visibility into migration progress and status directly from Prism Central, making it easy to monitor and manage the transition. Once complete, migrated Protection Domains are available as Protection Policies within Prism Central, enabling centralised DR management and access to the latest Nutanix DR innovations.
Modernise Your Disaster Recovery Strategy
Prism Central-based DR represents the future of disaster recovery on Nutanix.
The Protection Domain to Prism Central-based Migration Tool helps provide an automated and efficient path for customers to modernise their existing DR deployments while preserving their current protection strategy.
Whether you prefer the flexibility of automation through the CLI or the simplicity of a guided Prism Central experience, the migration tool helps you move to the next generation of Nutanix Disaster Recovery with confidence.
If you prefer a guided tour, try our PD to EC DR UI tool.
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