It’s that time of the year, AOS 5.19 is here! Another feature packed Nutanix AOS and AHV release. Nutanix AOS 5.19 is the latest version of the 5.x release. AOS stands for Acropolis Operating Software and is the core software of the Nutanix platform. We have made a quick summary of the most important features. We’ll expect some of our resident subject matter experts in the local NL team to follow-up with feature deep dives for the specifics. Let’s get reading!
AOS 5.19 is a Short Term Support (STS) release meaning that this release is only supported for a limited time (release +1) and that the release contains new features. In reference, the next release will most likely be a 5.20 Long Term Support (LTS) release that is based on this 5.19 release when it is field proven and will have bug and security fixes only. These differences are further fully described in KB5505 on our support portal.
A limited overview of the most prominent new features in 5.19 grouped;
Core Enhancements
- vDisk / VM move between containers
Move a vdisk of a VM between containers on AHV. You need to use the API to Prism Element (ACLI with vm.update_container) or Prism Central for now to do this. You can move a single virtual disk or all disks attached to the VM where you move the VM on a object level. - Storage over-provisioning ratio reporting
A new widget has been added to the Prism Element summary page which shows storage over-provisioning ratio’s. This includes threshold based alerting capability. - New form factors
Two new hardware form factors have been introduced. Lenovo has release the Lenovo HX1021 platform suited for wall, desk and rack mounting including horizontally. Our Nutanix hardware line has been expanded with an edge server as well, the NX-1120S-G7.
Disaster Recovery
- AHV Cross Cluster Live Migration
With this release it is now possible to migrate a VM between two Nutanix AHV clusters while the VM remains operational. Either as part of a planned failover or grouped as part of a Recovery Plan group.
- Multi-Site Replication
Our disaster recovery options have now been expanded with the capability to replicate to multiple destinations. These destinations or better formulated as replication targets can be anywhere. In the rack right next to the source cluster to public cloud targets like Nutanix Clusters on AWS. But just as easy in any other datacenter of your choosing. Or by using the Nutanix solution Xi Leap DRaaS as a target. Or a combination of all of these, or all! And you can even define per target RPO objectives. It’s an exciting feature for sure.
X-Play expanded with X-Pilot
- X-pilot
Pronounced Cross-Pilot, this is a new enhancement to X-Play. Cross-Play is our If This, Then That tooling, also referred to as playbooks. Not to be confused with our runbook, process automation and Infrastructure as Code solution named Calm.
Cross-Pilot is a result based engine that will allow the operator to use a measurement range as desired state result. If the result is not the intended one, it will automatically take appropriate actions in order to get there and will check like rerun. See example below for a VM starting to consume more memory then defined in the preferred KPI range.
Networking
- Bridge management
It is now possible to create and manage uplinks and bridges from the UI. This was previously restricted to REST API or CLI interfaces. - VPC
Nutanix networking is being extended with GENEVE based overlay technology. This will IP overlap between Virtual Private Clouds. Introducing a similar to public cloud like network construct. Although included in the release this is only available under Technical Preview or Early Access for now. - Advanced Network Controller
As part of the advanced networking addition to our virtualized network capabilities an advanced Network Controller or ACN for short has been added. This new microservices based service features resiliency against container, VM or Node failure. - VPNs
This features allows the extension of a VPC through the use of site to site VPNs. This feature is tied to VPC functionality and as such only available under Technical Preview or Early Access in this release. - DHCP options
For both VLAN backed and Overlay subnets the DHCP options DNS, Domain Name, Domain Search List, TFTP server and Boot Filename have been added.
Security
- Microsoft Credential and Device Guard
Support has been added for Microsoft Credential and Device Guard. Requires secure boot for the user VM to be enabled. - Native Key Management Server (remote)
Adds support for 1 and 2 node clusters to run the native KMS. As well as the ability to secure a native KMS with a remote registered Prism Central.
- Flow enhancements
Flow support applying security policies based on AD groups. The GUI now supports grouping and filtering so you can quickly find what you need. You can also add a description to a policy that is now send alone with the log entry. - Multiple syslog servers
You can now add multiple syslog servers to a cluster. Main use case here is to send runtime logs to a log collection server and security audit events to a security collector or SIEM.
