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reviewer2183316 - PeerSpot reviewer
Expert Offering Engineer at a media company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Good documentation, easy to extend, and offers high availability
Pros and Cons
  • "It offers high availability and consistency."
  • "The solution could be more user-friendly."

What is our primary use case?

We wanted to optimize our process. We were going into a cloud architecture, so we wanted to see how we could leverage the existing Nutanix framework instead of manually managing the servers. 

We currently have a physical VM set up. We had slowly wanted to migrate to the cloud. Since we are already using Nutanix, my senior architect gave me some access to play around with the solution and explore how we can deploy code as a platform as a service instead of writing our own scratch code. If we want to use it as an independent platform in the future, and as a core developer, I wanted to write code to make sure it is interoperable in any of the cloud services we might use.

What is most valuable?

The scaling is good. We now have dynamic scaling and other scaling policies set up.

In a physical server, we have to define our items upfront, and then we are stuck. With this solution, we can increase it dynamically and define the threshold, and auto-enhance the features. 

We cannot say the traffic is always the same. Over the weekends, it's slow. Over the weekdays, it's higher. They gave us some configurations so that if it is idle, we run on one part, and if there is more traffic, we can run on multiple parts.

The local automation is good. We've seen a huge improvement in our code. I personally worked with the performance teams to compare the product with old physical VM architecture versus the cloud architecture, and I see the difference. I was not able to break it. It was very scalable. While my physical VM crashed at some point in time, the cloud ran fine.

It offers high availability and consistency. We have a lot of batch jobs running and handling that data, so we need a pretty good service. Instead of horizontally scaling, they are scaling vertically. 

What needs improvement?

I like Cloud Manager from AWS more based on the handling of the UI. This solution could be more user-friendly. The UI could be better. It would be nice if it offered a simple GUI where we would have one view.

We'd like the solution to be a one-stop shop. We have a requirement of having a single GUI setup. Nutanix is like an ocean. We'd like everything tied all together. 

For how long have I used the solution?

We've used the solution for a couple of months for running some POCs.

Buyer's Guide
Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM)
August 2025
Learn what your peers think about Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM). Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: August 2025.
867,676 professionals have used our research since 2012.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is very scalable, and we like the configuration options. You can pick and choose. You don't just have a standard way of doing things. It's pretty dynamic. 

How are customer service and support?

I have not had a chance to speak with support. Our infrastructure team manages to troubleshoot items. 

Recently, we have had one physical server managed by Nutanix that had a snapshot issue (in that the server was not taking snapshots for two months). It's a production server. They sent us a proactive email. There was pretty smooth communication in that regard. They did have pretty quick support for that issue. They are rebuilding the image and archiving the data based on the fact that there are backup issues. That said, when it comes to production servers, they should have a 24-hour turnaround and not 72 hours. Support in these cases has to happen fast. 

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I previously used AWS Cloud Manager in my previous organization. Currently, based on the sensitivity of the data, we are moving to a hybrid approach. Many are still using physical VMs. In my new organization, a lot of my team is already on Nutanix. We were the first team to head into the cloud, and I was handling the project. 

How was the initial setup?

The setup is pretty quick, like all the clouds. The ease of use could be improved a bit more. There is pretty good documentation that helps make the learning curve smaller. My approach is to go to the documentation first before jumping in. The person I was working with provided good information, and we built our own documentation on top of that as well. 

As an application team, it was easy to implement. Maybe it was easy since we didn't get into too much complexity. The APIs are playing a good role. The configuration is pretty straightforward. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I did not handle the pricing or licensing aspect of the project. 

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I did not evaluate other options. We are only licensed for OpenShift and Nutanix at this point. 

What other advice do I have?

We use OpenShift on top of Nutanix, and all the physical servers are cloud servers, and they are all managed by our team. 

As for the built-in playbooks, I haven't done much exploration. One of my team members did more work in this area. He helped me and did all the configuration. He explained what he was doing. However, I was not involved in the playbook at all. 

I'd rate the solution nine out of ten. It needs to be easier to use. However, it is improving. The market has shifted. A lot of companies are trying to get in. Yet Nutanix is doing a great job in collaborating with so many organizations. It's going to provide us with a one-stop solution that helps us avoid running around between vendors. 

I would advise people to read the documentation. That will definitely help. It's pretty sophisticated. Reading the documentation and following up with Nutanix support will keep you from stumbling into the process blindly. Get in touch with an account manager. They can help you understand the requirements first and then look into your options. If you have an expert that can guide you, you won't be wasting too much time.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Kyle Naidoo - PeerSpot reviewer
Systems Engineer at Tsogo
Real User
Nutanix gave us three and a half hours back
Pros and Cons
  • "Nutanix Cloud Manager has increased our productivity higher than what it used to be. We used to spend four hours on server checking. Nutanix gave us three and a half hours back from those four hours to do normal work."
  • "Recently, I have had quite a few issues with Nutanix Guest Tools (NGT). When you do a full update from LCM, your NGT doesn't automatically install on your VMs. You need to go back to Prism Central and select a list of VMs, then install NGT. You need to go to each of those VMs, then restart them to get the NGT installed. Also, there are some VMs that we have on our system that we used to run on an old environment, which was Hyper-V. Previously, we had VMware, so some of our VMs are Windows 7 32-bit and Windows 7 64-bit. However, the NGT no longer allows for installations on those."

What is our primary use case?

Prism Pro is the heart of our organization. If Prism Pro dies, then our system dies.

We are in the gaming industry with approximately 85 servers. This solution increased our productivity and reduced our time performing server checks.

We also use Prism Central for our monitoring on the administrative side.

How has it helped my organization?

Nutanix Cloud Manager has increased our productivity higher than what it used to be. We used to spend four hours on server checking. Nutanix gave us three and a half hours back from those four hours to do normal work.

The system gives you an aggregate of how you will be using the system.

What is most valuable?

I really appreciate the Life Cycle Manager (LCM) feature, which provides upgrades to clusters. Offers a single-touch upgrade, where you just click "upgrade", then do nothing else.

The dedupe is amazing and reduces space. For example, if you have a file server with a document named April 2013, then somewhere else in your file system, there is another file called April 2013 with similar information, it will combine those two files. If there are two files that are one gig each containing the same content, then Nutanix analyzes that data and makes it into one document. Therefore, instead of using two gigs of storage, you are only using one. It can also combine multiple files from different global locations.

What needs improvement?

Recently, I have had quite a few issues with Nutanix Guest Tools (NGT). When you do a full update from LCM, your NGT doesn't automatically install on your VMs. You need to go back to Prism Central and select a list of VMs, then install NGT. You need to go to each of those VMs, then restart them to get the NGT installed. Also, there are some VMs that we have on our system that we used to run on an old environment, which was Hyper-V. Previously, we had VMware, so some of our VMs are Windows 7 32-bit and Windows 7 64-bit. However, the NGT no longer allows for installations on those.

We constantly get packet drops. We are actually looking at upgrading them in the future. While Windows 7 is not supported anymore from a Microsoft perspective, Nutanix could allow NGT to still be installed since people still use Windows 7. I have five VMs currently running on Windows 7. This is not a major issue. The VMs still work, but you get an alert in the mornings, saying, "Hey, NGT is not installed." When we go there, we try to install NGT, but it won't allow us since Windows 7 is not allowed anymore.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using Prism Pro for three to four years and the Nutanix Cloud Manager version for the past few months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Even if you forget about Nutanix for five days, Nutanix will take care of itself. This takes the strain off the business since you don't constantly need to worry about Nutanix this or Nutanix that when monitoring an environment. You get an email or a report at the end of the day, saying, "Something is not working," or, "Some system services stopped here," or, "Storage is running low here," or, "Memory is not being utilized properly."

The stability is very good. In the past three years, it has not shut down. Maintenance is not really required, as long as you do your LCM updates every two to three months. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We can scale it.

Currently, there are about 980 users on all nine of our casino properties. 

We can go a few more years with the package that we currently have. Right now, the solution is running perfectly. We may have to look at increasing memory in the next year or so. While our CPU and space are fine, it is the memory where we need a bit more. Right now, we have about 28 terabytes but are using about seven.

How are customer service and support?

I deal a lot with the Nutanix support, especially if I don't understand something, I just start a call with them. They have local support in South Africa. So, if there are any issues or problems during the upgrade, their support team can be contacted with just one email, and they respond immediately.

From a support perspective, no other solution comes close to it. If you have a support issue, Nutanix is there. Obviously, they don't come onsite, but they log into your system and do full checks. On top of that, they help you understand the problem. They don't just go and fix it, then say, "Okay, it is done." Instead, they are like, "This is not the problem. This is what caused it. You could have had a power dip (or whatever) that could have prompted this."

I would rate Nutanix technical support as 10 out of 10 because they are well-versed in the solution. I have had plenty of experiences with the support. If they don't know something, you are guaranteed within the next hour that they will learn it and get back to you. I've had plenty of experiences with them and the support is top level. 

Nutanix has a strong community called Test Drive, is a community forum for people who use Nutanix. If you have a problem, there is a whole knowledge based on everything. You just type the word and it brings up all the articles on that subject, giving you step-by-step instructions.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We previously used Microsoft Hyper-V and were on physical. With Hyper-V, if a shift was nine hours, then it took up four hours of time from the person who did server checks. This means logging onto every server, checking resources, CPU usage, space, and the events monitor. 

With Nutanix, there are no server checks anymore. You just log into your environment for ten minutes in the morning, then you get a report saying something like a VM is high on CPU usage and another VM is high on memory usage. You can then investigate those particular VMs. You don't really have to go through everything, due to the reporting on Nutanix's side. It shows you everything that you need to know about every server in your environment. 

I used to use HP 370s. If I had to do an update within HP, it would take me about five hours of work. This meant that I had to mount an ISO for set up, put my VMs in maintenance mode and then ensure afterwards that the maintenance mode has been turned back off, update my VMs, and then make sure that the software is working. Now, with LCM, we do an inventory check for available software and firmware. It updates without affecting our environment. I don't have to do anything. Nutanix does it for me, in terms of migrating VMs and switching clusters off from maintenance mode.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was simple. You get a completely blank Nutanix environment. You just install your Nutanix software. You give it your IP addresses, communicate to your environment, and that is it. It is so advanced that it can take your whole Hyper-V environment and migrate it into your Nutanix environment via Move-VM. From that Move-VM, there is a communication point between Hyper-V and Nutanix so you can make a connection from your Hyper-V onto Move-VM as well as from your Nutanix onto Move-VM. So, you can pull all your VMs through with no downtime, which is amazing.

What about the implementation team?

We bought it from a partner who supplied us with experts. 

What was our ROI?

It has saved us a lot to focus on other tasks since you can really let Nutanix run itself. Employees can focus on other projects, so productivity has increased immensely.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The pricing was quite competitive and a lot lower compared to other solutions. It wasn't cheap, but it was not as expensive.

You get many functions by just buying one solution. You don't need to continuously add in this or that, then next week you need to add more storage or space. Instead, it is always there. It is economical compared to other products. For example, HPE is all about add-ons. Whereas, Nutanix comes as a whole solution. They aren't coming up with a new monthly cost. 

If you send them an email, which says, "I would like to investigate the reporting of this tool where we monitor only the memory usage of the device." They don't come up with another story about, "Oh, that is an add-on service. You have to pay for that." It is a complete solution. You get everything at once.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

There was a good pitch to move towards Nutanix. I was part of the panel. They were cost-effective compared to the other solutions that we looked at. 

We looked at Microsoft Hyper-V, Azure, and had VMware previously, but we disconnected from both those solutions. We had a 3PAR solution from HPE, so we also looked at them. However, Nutanix was the most economical solution and its functions were way above Hyper-V in terms of adding resources, monitoring VMs, reporting wise, and latency. Deduplication was the main thing that we looked at since file service plays a major role in our environment.

We did look a lot deeper into Azure. In fact, certain divisions of our business, from a head office level, started using Azure for more complex stuff, such as linking with Smartsheet. For the unit casino level, we all have Nutanix.

I have worked on Hyper-V quite extensively, but it doesn't come close to Nutanix. Nutanix has a completely informative dashboard to view your entire environment on one page. You don't need to go to a server, then pop up your resource monitor and have a look at whatever. Using Nutanix, you have a health page and homepage. Your homepage will give you your full description of the health of your environment. If you want to run a health check, then it tells you about your services, password checks, and VM utilization. That check runs for about five minutes, then it gives you the full rundown of your entire environment. From your home page, you can see everything in your environment. Whereas, with Hyper-V, you need to click on each cluster, then from each cluster, you need to look for your resources. That takes awhile. But, with Nutanix, it is quick.

I also like Azure, but Azure is a bit more complicated to use than Nutanix. From a user perspective, Nutanix helps the user. They don't complicate the user with 5,000 functions. If you get a good product, you just want to know what it does. You don't need to know where the info is from. Nutanix brings the full functionality to you, and everything works.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate this solution as a strong nine out of 10. 

Don't look any further. Nutanix is second to none.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM)
August 2025
Learn what your peers think about Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM). Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: August 2025.
867,676 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Consultant Infrastructure at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Consultant
Top 20
Saves time and has a low learning curve but needs more integration with GPT
Pros and Cons
  • "Its resilience and performance are excellent."
  • "If they integrated more with GPT, that would be ideal."

What is our primary use case?

We use the solution between different customers. Each has their own use case.

How has it helped my organization?

There's not one use case in particular. However, it does offer resiliency. The optimization and self-healing aspects are great. There are a lot of features. It offers a great infrastructure for our clients. 

What is most valuable?

The time savings is very good. It's one click to upgrade, for example. There's no interruption or impact, either. It's very simple. 

Its resilience and performance are excellent.

Using NCM's playbooks has helped free up our IT team's time to focus on other tasks. Sometimes, you can spend so much time writing your own playbooks, however, NCM has automation built-in that helps save time. Otherwise, we have to spend to save. If there are just two to five playbook executions a month, it doesn't make sense to write your own.

The learning curve is low. It's easy to learn and simple to use. It's very competitive in terms of ease of use. 

What needs improvement?

We haven't noted any features that may be missing. 

If they integrated more with GPT, that would be ideal. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using the solution for three years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

All Nutanix platforms and products are stable. If there is an issue, it's due to the fact that someone didn't follow Nutanix best practices.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability is very good. 

How are customer service and support?

The customer support is amazing. It's the best support I've dealt with. When support is proactive and opens support cases on its own when it detects something wrong on your cluster, that's great. They'll email you and ask about your availability so they can fix the problem with you.  

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We do not choose NCM on our own. We rely on our customers to pick the product and then we play with it, figure it out, et cetera. 

I am aware of their solutions. The Nutanix deployment, for example, is much easier in comparison. Configurations at the start are straightforward as well. It's got an easy setup. For a developer, it's easier to learn and code code blueprints. 

How was the initial setup?

The setup is intuitive, and it's an easy solution to learn and use. 

Most of the time, it is deployed on-premises.

We provide our clients with the blueprints needed to ensure a successful setup. We tend to follow Nutanix best practices. 

What about the implementation team?

We're a consultant. We do reselling and service. We have an expert in our company that can assist with the deployment. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

It's an affordable solution. However, it depends on the size of your infrastructure. 

What other advice do I have?

We are partners, not customers. We're a dedicated Nutanix partner. We work with Nutanix based on our customer's needs. We're implementing and showing our customers how to use the product, and then we move on. We don't use Nutanix in our own day-to-day.

I'd rate the solution seven out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partners
PeerSpot user
System Administrator at Agence Pour Le Developpement Agricole
Real User
Top 20
Easy to use and monitor while also being affordable compared to competitors
Pros and Cons
  • "The tool is easy to use."
  • "The solution's dashboard is fine. In the product, the possibility of changing some of the icons in the dashboard configuration would be good since it is an area where the tool has shortcomings."

What is our primary use case?

I use the solution in my company for all of the created VMs. We have all of our systems in Nutanix. My company migrated from Veeam to VMware and then to Nutanix. In my company, we have Nutanix for all of our servers.

My company chose the tool since it is a very simple and good product. When I checked the comparison between VMware and Nutanix, I found the latter to be better, especially since it is very easy to monitor.

What is most valuable?

The tool is easy to use. My company learned how to use Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) in about six months.

What needs improvement?

For me, Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) is a very good tool. The solution's dashboard is fine. The possibility of changing some of the icons in the dashboard configuration would be good since it is an area where the tool has shortcomings. If I want to change the LAN connection or a configuration, it is difficult since I have to keep clicking and clicking the options in the solution. I want to have a one-click button for the network. With one click, I should be able to download three or more VMs with the help of the tool.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) since 2019, so it has been almost six years. I am an end-user of the tool.

How are customer service and support?

The technical support for the solution has been very, very good. With the support team, once you create a use case, you can automatically call and get access to the technical team in fifteen minutes. I rate the technical support a ten out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

The solution can be deployed in a period of two months. As per the contract, I know that my company had to migrate from VMware to Nutanix in two months.

What was our ROI?

With VMware, which we had for one year in our company, we paid 20,00,000 United Arab Emirates Dirhams. With Nutanix, in five years, our company has paid 83,000 United Arab Emirates Dirhams, which is very good and not as expensive as VMware. Time for creating VMs is very easy in Nutanix, compared to VMware, as it can be done in two to three minutes since all the templates are great. With VMware, the time required to create VMs is about ten minutes. In terms of time, Nutanix helps save 20 percent when compared to VMware.

What other advice do I have?

I don't use the automation options offered by Nutanix.

I rate the tool a ten out of ten.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
It architect at LKAB
Real User
Top 20
We can do a lot with little effort and APIs are very helpful for our automation
Pros and Cons
  • "The ability to use the APIs and talk to it through APIs is the most beneficial feature for us because we have to do automation."
  • "Its licensing can be better."

What is our primary use case?

It is a part of our automation tool.

How has it helped my organization?

It has helped us with our automation. That is the biggest benefit of it.

It is quite easy to get started and be up and running. I would rate it highly in that aspect because you can create lots of things with a small amount of effort or in a small amount of time. These faster outcomes are important for everybody. We do not have any special needs for speed, but everybody needs speed.

Nutanix Cloud Manager’s built-in playbooks have freed up time for our IT team to focus on other tasks or projects. You set it up and then you forget about it, but it is hard to provide any metrics because we have some work to do to use it all the way. We are expecting to have about 20 hours a week of time savings when we are done. That is the expectation, and let us see if we end up there.

Nutanix Cloud Manager is a part of our automation, so it needs to be there. It is important.

I can compare it to Azure. Nutanix is way simpler to start with. It is simple to use. It is not a simple tool, but it is simple to use.

What is most valuable?

The ability to use the APIs and talk to it through APIs is the most beneficial feature for us because we have to do automation.

What needs improvement?

Its licensing can be better.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Nutanix Cloud Manager for about two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is very stable. We have been using Nutanix for 13 years. We have not had any downtime because of Nutanix.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I have not thought about it. If Nutanix Cloud Manager scales with your cluster as a whole, it is then good.

We do not have plans to increase its usage for this use case.

How are customer service and support?

In general, Nutanix's customer service is good. It was better a couple of years ago, but we know that the company is growing. You can feel that as a user, but it is still good. When you get the right technician, you will always have things sorted.

We get the response on time. Sometimes, you might need to prioritize your ticket a bit, but it is working fine.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We did not use any other solution in the same way that we are using Nutanix Cloud Manager.

We are a heavy Nutanix customer, so we just ended up with it. Its ease of use was important because it made things easier.

How was the initial setup?

It was easy. We did the trial and started using it.

What about the implementation team?

We take care of the deployment. I am a consultant.

What was our ROI?

We have time savings, and time is money.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

It is a nightmare to keep up with all the licensing. I would prefer everything to be at one price.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We evaluate a lot of things.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate Nutanix Cloud Manager an eight out of ten. I have not yet explored everything in it. I am not sure about everything it can do. It might be a ten, but I do not have that much experience with it to give it a ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Private Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Technical Solutions Architect at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Helps teams address their current automation needs while planning for future expansion
Pros and Cons
  • "The best part of it is that when you use the product, there's no secret proprietary magic that you experience as a user. The real genius is under the covers, so it makes the user experience very straightforward and easy. It's a wonderful solution to teach partners about. The ease of use is something a lot of suppliers talk about, but Nutanix does it better than anyone else."
  • "Nutanix has room for improvement around the partner tools and making them approachable and easier to learn."

What is our primary use case?

I work at a distributor. We use it for partner-facing demos, and it has been really great. My mission is to help partners see the light with Nutanix, and that's where I use Nutanix Cloud Manager the most.

How has it helped my organization?

It's highly capable. In an organization, you can make it easy to use, but you still have advanced features. You're not simplifying or dumbing it down. You're still enabling an advanced user to design solutions and leverage the full product suite. It's highly capable, so you have that great ability to be successful for a lot of different users. You can have a very low-level, simplified user experience and you can also go advanced. In terms of organization, that's really key. As you get into hybrid cloud IT environments where there's a lot going on, Nutanix storage is very powerful.

The speed of the outcomes received using Nutanix Cloud Manager's low-code automation is very fast. The beauty of it is that because it's low code and no code, even as a beginner, I was able to go in and walk myself through it. I didn't need a lot of coaching or instruction to get there. It was fantastic.

In terms of the importance of these outcomes, it's not just about delivering an outcome. Anybody can deliver an outcome if you offer enough time, but delivering that outcome more reliably and faster enables that business to benefit a lot sooner. They then see the cost get lower. They see efficiency go up, and they start to really benefit from technology as opposed to seeing technology and IT in general as a cost center and as a liability.

It's awesome for helping teams address their current automation needs while planning for future expansion. That's because of the way that it enables a broad variety of users to accomplish what they want in a very efficient and simple way. It brings an iPhone user experience to IT, and that's a really powerful story right now.

What is most valuable?

The best part of it is that when you use the product, there's no secret proprietary magic that you experience as a user. The real genius is under the covers, so it makes the user experience very straightforward and easy. It's a wonderful solution to teach partners about. The ease of use is something a lot of suppliers talk about, but Nutanix does it better than anyone else.

What needs improvement?

Nutanix has room for improvement around the partner tools and making them approachable and easier to learn.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using this solution for about one year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's highly stable. I haven't had any issues. It's very easy to run, and it keeps running. I don't have to do much with it. That's the beauty of it.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The details around scaling, like Prism Central and scaling the resources, are highly technical and get highly specific per use case, but it's always scalable. You can always find the documentation very easily, and it's very straightforward to do so.

How are customer service and support?

Their support is terrific and world-class. Nutanix always talks about their NPS scores, their success, and their commitment to customer service, but I've seen its boots on the ground level. People try to help me even if it's outside of their role. Ever since I stepped into this role, it's been a really wonderful surprise to see Nutanix try so hard to help us. I'd rate their support a ten out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I supported other suppliers in different roles. In my IT career, I worked with a number of different suppliers, typically more on legacy three-tier work, such as fiber channel attachment and the like. All those suppliers struggled to evolve to support modern workloads, and that's where I feel that Nutanix has always been ahead of the game. I chose this role to support Nutanix on purpose. It wasn't by accident that I ended up here.

I can't say that I had this same level of experience with the competitors. We are an HPE shop. We have a huge HPE presence, which is great, and I have experienced a few other hyper-converged providers. I've done some VMware training over the years, but I haven't really gotten my hands on them in the administrative sense. It's not as deep as with Nutanix.

Simplicity is a key function for helping a customer really benefit from technology. You can have technology for technology's sake, but suppliers are really stuck in a world that's proprietary. Even to navigate an administrative tool, you see a lot of proprietary terms, whereas a generalist can sit down and run Nutanix very quickly.

In my role, I didn't really decide on Cloud Manager myself, but in talking to partners and end users, it's a very strong consideration. There are a lot of competitors in the space that Nutanix plays in, so the value that Nutanix brings has to be superior in order for them to be effective, and, of course, they are. That goes back to simplicity and the efficiency that comes with it.

How was the initial setup?

I was involved in its setup for our lab. It was very straightforward. We had some help from Nutanix. Nutanix is always falling all over themselves to help us, which is wonderful. It only took a little while. We just did it via a remote session, and it worked out great. I'm located in Minnesota. My lab is in Georgia. The help from Nutanix was in another place, and we had no issues at all. It was very smooth.

What was our ROI?

It's not necessarily from leveraging NCM or NCI itself just because of the way that it works for us, but our ROI is tied to our partners and to customers in a way. Their success is our success, and that's why we're gaining a lot of momentum with new partners. We're reactivating dormant partners and trying to broaden the Nutanix message. There are a few core partners that do it really well, and that's great, but we try to broaden things, and we have success with it.

For customers, the ROI is primarily around efficiency and simplicity. So as an example, Life Cycle Manager isn't just a great tool for updates and upgrades, it's a way to have happier staff. It's a way to give your staff weekends back, which is great for the staff. They're happy, but it also means you don't pay overtime. There's a win-win there. There's a great symbiosis if that happens when people adopt the technology.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I've never heard a customer ask for a higher price. Everyone says everything is expensive, and that's true. Nutanix is really smart to understand that the most important fact is the value to the customer, not the price tag. 

While you do get some sticker shock sometimes, as soon as you show this and you prove the value, all of a sudden, it looks exceptionally affordable. We've had wonderful success when we get a buying decision in front of an economic buyer, like a financial leader. They start to see the TCO benefits of Nutanix very, very quickly.

What other advice do I have?

Sometimes it's about the little things. It's about what your experience is like and how much time you spend trying to learn how to use the product. It's about how much time and money is it going to cost you to understand their proprietary terms for things as opposed to having a generalist sit down and be off to the races. That can save a lot of hassle and frustration but also time and money. With these projects, it is important to get outcomes, get that workload deployed, and enable a business or a customer to focus on what keeps their lights on, which is probably not managing infrastructure. That's how I see it. 

I'd rate it a nine out of ten. There's always room to improve, but as far as what's on the market today, it's a unique value add.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Reseller
PeerSpot user
reviewer2183850 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr. Infrastructure Engineer at a insurance company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Cost-effective, easy to use, and supports Layer 2 stretching across data centers
Pros and Cons
  • "The ability to do Layer 2 stretching across data centers is valuable. The migration of VMs from one location to the other is also valuable."
  • "There should be more APIs to integrate with different vendors and to integrate with the existing solutions that we use on-prem."

What is our primary use case?

Our first use case is for ransomware. We have two more use cases that we identified. The second one is going to be for DR, and the third one is going to be for capacity.

Currently, we do ransomware on-prem. We use a shared cluster in our disaster recovery site. With Nutanix Cloud Manager, we hope to use the NC2 clusters in Azure and move all the ransomware activities from on-prem to the cloud.

How has it helped my organization?

We are an insurance company. Data security is our top priority. We take ransomware very seriously. We always want to be careful and make sure that our data is secure, whether it's on-prem or in the cloud. We go through ransom activities at least once a month on-prem, and that's what we hope to do with Nutanix Cloud Manager as well. We hope to continue to provide data security to our business and to our customers.

We use Nutanix Cloud Manager's built-in playbooks. They absolutely freed up our team's time to focus on other tasks or projects. We were looking to use these playbooks for a while. From an automation perspective and from a day-to-day management perspective, creating these playbooks definitely freed up our engineers to focus on more strategic tasks and more solutions than day-to-day activities. They saved about 40% of their time. As we move forward and use more playbooks, we see more and more time freed up. It freed up at least six to seven percent of our engineers' time.

What is most valuable?

The ability to do Layer 2 stretching across data centers is valuable. The migration of VMs from one location to the other is also valuable.

What needs improvement?

There should be more APIs to integrate with different vendors and to integrate with the existing solutions that we use on-prem.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using this solution for about a year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We had some hiccups with Nutanix Cloud Manager, our on-prem networking solutions, and all that, but as we went on, we overcame all those issues. There has been no showstopper whatsoever. All the issues that we came across were just small things that we had to work through. Nutanix's support has been very helpful. They worked with us all the way to help us overcome all these issues, and so far, it has been great.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We are looking forward to it. We only have a small NCM platform built, but as we move forward, we look forward to using it for other use cases. We definitely want to explore expanding our NCM presence in Azure or in AWS.

How are customer service and support?

Their support was excellent. I'd rate them a nine out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We used Azure's cloud-native management. We still use it to some point to manage our Azure entities in the public cloud. Other than that, we haven't used any solution.

How was the initial setup?

The setup was easy. We had help from Nutanix support, which was excellent. We got wonderful support from people who gave us a hand along the way. It wasn't very difficult, and within two or three days, we were fully functional to some extent. As far as the ease of use goes, our engineers love it. They use it every single day. I've not heard any complaints from our users. The user experience that we always look for has been great so far.

Learning is wonderful. There's so much available on Nutanix's portal in terms of the KB articles, knowledge base, user guides, and admin guides for Nutanix Cloud Manager. To have all that available to our engineers online is a great help.

What was our ROI?

I'm sure we will see an ROI. We've only been doing it for a year. It takes time, but I'm very confident that as we grow and mature, we will definitely see some positive returns.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

https://www.peerspot.com/produ...When we started to look at Nutanix Cloud Manager, the cost was a major factor. Management comes into play. Hosting on-prem is getting expensive. We did find a lot of cost benefits to using the NCM and NC2 clusters in Azure. Being a Microsoft partner, we always get a big discount. When we use Nutanix Cloud Manager in Azure or AWS, there is an ease of management. We have a single pane of glass to look through and manage our on-prem entities and Nutanix Cloud Manager. It becomes very easy.

The pricing was very good. We were very pleased with what we were offered by our account manager. Because of that, we expanded Nutanix Cloud Manager, and we hope to expand even more. Right now, we are in Azure, and as we build up more and more within the NCM platform, we hope to expand into AWS as well.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We chose Nutanix Cloud Manager because of the pricing. Also, the features and the capabilities that it offers within the Nutanix ecosystem were very attractive. We've been using Nutanix on-prem for almost six years, and to be able to extend them on the cloud was a no-brainer.

We use Calm for on-prem automation, and we are looking to use Calm for our cloud automation as well. We have PoC flow for Microsec on-prem, and we hope to extend that out to the cloud as well as we segregate the traffic between on-prem and cloud entities.

Nutanix Cloud Manager is very easy to use. Our users and engineers have become very knowledgeable in a very short time, and as far as the cost goes, it has been very effective.

What other advice do I have?

We only started using it about a year ago, and there's a lot more we need to use Nutanix Cloud Manager for. We haven't fully explored all its capabilities from an automation, AI, or machine learning perspective. We hope to use all the built-in features within Nutanix Cloud Manager.

Overall, I would rate Nutanix Cloud Manager a nine out of ten.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Ian Wayne - PeerSpot reviewer
Cloud and IT services manager at Ertech Pros
Real User
User-friendly, attractive features, unified platform, with several automation capabilities
Pros and Cons
  • "One of the solution's greatest strengths is its "Single pane of glass" feature, which allows users to access all pertinent data in one location immediately upon logging in. Additionally, the solution's ease of deployment and mobility are notable aspects that I personally find appealing."
  • "Our sister company currently uses an outdated database technology, Sybase, which presents challenges in migrating to a newer database. Despite our efforts to encourage them to move to a different database, the company's 25 years of code and data basic make it difficult to do so. We are open to any level of support or guidance that can help us manage the Sybase database, even if it's not a fully managed solution. Direction on how to scale, improve, and optimize tables and queries within Sybase would be greatly appreciated."

What is our primary use case?

We have a group of sister companies with different types of applications, from web-based to server-installed. 

We segment our clusters into different areas for each company to use, from development to staging to production. 

Currently, we mainly use the production area, and our staging is off. With the new NCM, we may use a different hardware or environment. 

Since moving to Nutanix, the development and support teams prefer it more.Due to differences in hardware and workload deployments.

What is most valuable?

One of the solution's greatest strengths is its "Single pane of glass" feature, which allows users to access all pertinent data in one location immediately upon logging in. Additionally, the solution's ease of deployment and mobility are notable aspects that I personally find appealing.

During my attendance at Nutanix, I personally discovered a significant benefit. Although we currently operate a separate division for our public cloud infrastructure, we have yet to leverage the potential of integrating it with Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) or Nutanix Clusters (NC). 

What I've learned is that we can seamlessly migrate and manage the details displayed on NCM's dashboards, consolidating everything into a unified environment. 

While we haven't taken advantage of this opportunity yet, I am eager to take full advantage of it in the future.

What needs improvement?

Our sister company currently uses an outdated database technology, Sybase, which presents challenges in migrating to a newer database. Despite our efforts to encourage them to move to a different database, the company's 25 years of code and data basic make it difficult to do so. 

We are open to any level of support or guidance that can help us manage the Sybase database, even if it's not a fully managed solution. 

Direction on how to scale, improve, and optimize tables and queries within Sybase would be greatly appreciated.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) for less than a year.

The company has been using Nutanix for the past four or five years and has gone through different versions. However, we have been using NCM for about a year to a year and a half.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I am satisfied with the stability of the system. Our engineers have had no issues accessing it and I have not received any reports of bugs or accessibility problems.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

This solution effectively addresses our current automation requirements, especially with regard to repetitive tasks that the team needs to learn how to automate. 

As our company expands, we are interested in shifting the bulk of our workloads away from the public cloud and into our private cloud clusters.

Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) offers a lot of automation capabilities that we can take advantage of in the future. While there are already some basic automation features like Nutanix Move, there is significant potential for additional automation within NCM. 

This automation will greatly assist us in scaling our operations without the need for manual repetition. As we continue to explore NCM and prepare for transitioning away from the public cloud, we can leverage a substantial amount of automation to streamline our processes.

The scalability of the system is straightforward, even from a hardware standpoint. 

Simply adding servers to the data center and integrating them into the cluster is a remarkably effortless process. 

I have not come across a solution that offers such ease of scalability.

How are customer service and support?

I have had the opportunity to engage with Nutanix support through various channels, including email, meetings, and post-installation calls. Even when we added two nodes to our infrastructure last year, Nutanix engineers were on-site to install the cluster, and I must say, they provided excellent service.

The support we received from Nutanix through emails has been excellent, with detailed and concise information provided.

Our experiences with Nutanix's account management and technical account management calls in early 2019 were extremely productive. They were highly focused, aiming to gather detailed information about our environment and workloads. This allowed them to effectively assist with scaling out, gaining a thorough understanding of our environment, and troubleshooting as needed. The level of support provided by Nutanix has been consistently outstanding.

Although I am not directly involved, from my observations, everything has been great, including the engineers who assisted us in adding nodes to our cluster. They were very helpful and knowledgeable.

I would rate the technical support a nine and a half out of ten.

On a personal level, I would rate Nutanix at a nine and a half. However, this rating is based on my limited direct involvement and is not a comprehensive assessment from a Nutanix perspective. Taking into account the algorithm used to evaluate performance, my interactions with Nutanix have been highly positive.

How was the initial setup?

I did not participate in the initial setup process.

What was our ROI?

We have experienced a significant return on investment (ROI) through our implementation of Nutanix. Initially, we started with two Nutanix systems, using them in our staging environment. However, as COVID-19 emerged in 2019, we acquired six additional nodes and deployed them in our production environment. Almost immediately after putting them into operation, we witnessed the tangible value they brought. The returns generated from this implementation have been substantial.

We initiated a gradual migration process, gradually transferring workloads into the Nutanix environment. As our workload demands grew, we reached capacity in the system by the end of last year. To accommodate this expansion, we have already acquired and installed a new cluster. Additionally, we have a dedicated disaster recovery (DR) site, and our objective is to transform this DR site into a fully operational production site by deploying another new cluster there.

On one side, we have our production environment, while on the other side, we have our disaster recovery (DR) setup. As we continue to witness the positive impact and returns on investment (ROI), we anticipate further growth in our Nutanix infrastructure. Initially, there was some hesitation and uncertainty, but once we experienced the immediate benefits and ROI, we realized the immense value Nutanix brings to our operations.

Implementing Nutanix brings both cost and time benefits. With an initial investment, the focus shifts toward recovering and maximizing the value of that investment. In contrast, when relying solely on the public cloud, there is a constant ongoing investment and potential challenges in controlling costs. While efforts are made to maintain control, it can still be a never-ending endeavor. However, by adopting Nutanix, engineers can quickly grasp and adapt to the system, making informed decisions and judgment calls more efficiently. This ease of learning and system familiarity empowers them to navigate and optimize the infrastructure with confidence.

With the ease of use and automation provided by Nutanix, our engineers can make informed decisions on workload management such as migration, reduction, or scaling up. This saves them time and provides opportunities for personal and professional development.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We evaluated AWS as a file management system, and it appears to be a possible solution.

When it comes to setup, both AWS and Nutanix offer attractive features from a management perspective. However, AWS can sometimes be a bit confusing, requiring repetitive actions and causing potential challenges. 

On the other hand, Nutanix, particularly with the support of NCM and its accompanying university resources, simplifies the transition from learning to live environments. 

The comprehensive coverage in the university program facilitates easier implementation in the actual environment, further aided by features like the test drive, which allows for experimentation without concerns about breaking anything. This emphasis on ease of use was the primary topic of discussion.

From my personal preference, having everything consolidated in a single pane of glass is important, and Nutanix excels in this aspect. 

While AWS has recently introduced cost statistics upon login, Nutanix had already implemented this feature earlier. 

Not only does Nutanix provide a comprehensive overview, but it also allows for effortless navigation into deeper insights with just a click. In contrast, AWS requires more extensive digging or clicking to access detailed information, making the process less user-friendly compared to Nutanix.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) a ten out of ten.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: August 2025
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.