Nutanix drew over 5,000 attendees to its NEXT conference earlier this month in Washington, D.C., where it unveiled the Nutanix Kubernetes Platform (NKP), an innovation with roots in Germany and a legacy of enterprise-grade cloud-native expertise.
Nutanix Kubernetes Platform gets new features
Version 2.14, released in March 2025, expands the number of validated and NKP-managed Kubernetes services to 13 by adding a Harbor-powered, production-ready image registry that allows customers to run enterprise-grade Kubernetes clusters. In addition, integration with the Nutanix Objects Storage solution has been added to enable a broader portfolio of data services for Kubernetes on the Nutanix Cloud Platform (NCP).
NKP also now provides a Container Object Storage Interface (COSI) driver for Nutanix Objects Storage that allows users to declaratively create and manage Nutanix Objects Storage buckets using Kubernetes Custom Resource Definitions (CRDs). With this integration, operators no longer need to manually create and manage storage buckets, making it much easier to utilize object storage for cloud-native applications.
Running NKP on Nutanix Cloud Clusters (NC2) can help with applications running in virtual machines (VMs) as well as containerized applications on Kubernetes. By default, Kubernetes clusters only support 110 pods per node. When scaling, there is a risk that larger nodes will waste resources. While it is possible to change the maximum number of pods supported per node, this requires expertise to ensure it works in production. Also, changing the pod cap may affect backward compatibility and operation of other open source projects.
With local NVMe/SSD storage on NC2 bare metal nodes, NC2 can ensure consistent performance. If containerized applications require many persistent volumes with guaranteed throughput and IOPS, customers will need to pay more for their hyperscaler.
Also, worker nodes get the same performance benefits when running pods. This also reduces configuration for containerized applications as NC2 can share the overall performance of the NC2 cluster instead of splitting it across cloud-based volumes. Nutanix storage also offers enterprise features such as compression and erasure encoding that reduce bare-metal costs.
Cloud Native AOS
The Nutanix Cloud Native AOS (CN-AOS) solution unveiled at Nutanix NEXT will extend the Nutanix Data Services for Kubernetes (NDK) solution released in March 2024. Cloud Native AOS builds on NDK and additionally addresses containerized workloads without the need for a hypervisor. It provides Nutanix AOS Storage as a set of microservices that run within Kubernetes. This enables the integration of data services into applications supported by a full-fledged enterprise storage system.
CN-AOS containerizes Nutanix storage, integrating enterprise resiliency, day-2 operations, and security into heterogeneous Kubernetes clusters deployed in public clouds or on bare-metal servers.
The integration of persistent data services in cloud-native application environments can now be done without a hypervisor. This enables seamless management and portability of containerized applications and their data with traditional virtualized data centers.
Data persistence for Kubernetes
Containerized applications consist of a collection of microservices that work together and are orchestrated by Kubernetes. Cloud-native microservices are typically stateless and deployed in controlled, monolithic hyperscaler environments with a separate data persistence layer provided by each hyperscaler.
Deploying containers in the hybrid cloud, including bare metal instances, requires a new approach to managing persistent data across different Kubernetes environments.
Applications created with a platform as a service (PaaS) data service can usually only be deployed in the public cloud of the respective provider. If an application is no longer available due to an outage at the Availability Zone (AZ), region or even public cloud level, the data persistence layer must also be present at the target location so that the application can be restored. This must be managed separately from the Kubernetes application, which can increase the risk of failover in the event of a disaster.
Storing persistent data within the Kubernetes application itself solves both of these challenges. This achieves one of the key benefits of microservices and Kubernetes: flexible deployment with reduced risk.
Expanded ecosystem
Nutanix is deepening its partnership with other technology providers. To this end, the company is joining forces with numerous cybersecurity partners and aligning itself with the NIST Cybersecurity Framework 2.0.
The new alliance with Pure Storage is particularly important: As part of this collaboration, the Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure, which is based on the Nutanix AHV hypervisor and Nutanix Flow Virtual Networking and Security, will be combined with Pure Storage FlashArray via NVMe/TCP. The solution will be available as early access in the summer and will be generally available by the end of the year.
The cooperation follows a similar partnership with Dell Technologies: Announced last year, the integration of Dell PowerFlex with the Nutanix Cloud Platform (NCP) is now generally available. Further collaborations are expected in the near future as Nutanix’s general strategy is to work with external storage vendors.
Nutanix proves itself as a VMware alternative
In view of the turbulence surrounding Broadcom/VMware, which has increased its prices considerably, Nutanix is positioning itself as an attractive and cost-effective alternative. Red Hat with Open Shift and Suse with Rancher are also attacking VMware in a similar way. (See also: Enterprises reevaluate virtualization strategies amid Broadcom uncertainty)
According to German Nutanix partners, Nutanix has some decisive advantages. Hamza Nadi, head of solution sales at SVA, admits that Broadcom remains an important partner for his company with more than 1,000 customers. At the same time, however, the company has already successfully migrated more than 200 customers to Nutanix in the last ten years and has more than 50 specialists for the provider. According to Nadi, Nutanix’s strengths lie in its platform and ecosystem. For example, SVA recently migrated a small company with 150 VMs in just one week. “It takes a little longer for larger customers because they require a maintenance window. The migration itself is highly automated with Nutanix Move, which is very stable and comprehensive,” explains Nadi.
“We have around 70 Nutanix customers and are currently saying goodbye to VMware,” reports Martin Schor, CEO of Swiss company Axians Amanox AG. There is a great deal of interest on the market in migrating away from VMware, although cost alone is not the reason, he states: “The added value of the technology is the key and Nutanix has a lot to offer here. We are also a Red Hat partner, but see it more as a complement.”
Johannes Hotz, Branch Manager Danube/Iller at Kramer & Crew, Nutanix’s oldest German partner, has a similar view: “Customers want an alternative to VMware, and Nutanix is the only one that makes sense. It is easier to install than the Linux alternatives. There are still no releases from some software manufacturers, otherwise there are no technical problems.”
Hotz does not understand the long migration times that are sometimes mentioned. “The Move tool works very well,” he explains. “For example, we migrated 150 VMs in one weekend, otherwise it often takes several weeks.”
Michael Hillewaert, CEO of the Metsi Group from Belgium, believes that the most important challenge is for the customer to adapt to Nutanix’s different mentality. The migration itself is easy, but changing habits is more difficult. At the same time, he points out that the acceptance of Nutanix is underestimated: “The motivation to switch is initially financial. But when customers see the tool, they recognize the value.”
Good ratings for NCP
IDC also gives Nutanix high marks. In a study, IDC investigated the benefits of using the NCP for companies. The result: NCP provides customers with improved scalability, reliability, and performance, while at the same time companies achieve cost savings through better resource utilization and greater personnel efficiency.
The companies were able to reduce their operating costs by an average of 41%, while the return on investment (ROI) over three years amounted to 391%. According to IDC, the investments in the technology paid off after just seven months.
This article originally appeared in ComputerWoche.
Source:: Network World