The Nutanix AOS kid on the block

Nutanix AOS makes it possible to modularize VMware. By that, I mean you just add nodes, because the storage and networking are all abstracted from the hosts. Most of this centers around storage - the Nutanix CVM that lives on each host serves as a data mover, handling hypervisor disk operations. This could be great for some people; you don't need a dedicated storage admin, and a lot of other management tasks are simplified using this approach.

On the occasion that I've worked with the Nutanix AOS team, they're knowledgeable and quick to assist. Their support ranks higher than most and is what you can and should expect of an enterprise-class product.

We've had significant challenges with backup performance, and VM snapshots seem to take longer. We're currently in the process of reviewing Best Practices to make sure storage performance is optimal. It's a very different approach than in previous, more traditional architectures involving a SAN, outboard switching/networking, and so forth. Still up in the air as to how much benefit this provides, but on the whole, it works pretty well.