Welcome to Knowledge Base!

KB at your finger tips

This is one stop global knowledge base where you can learn about all the products, solutions and support features.

Storage and Backups-Nutanix

Hyper-V Administration for Acropolis

AOS 6.5

Product Release Date: 2022-07-25

Last updated: 2022-09-20

Node Management

Logging on to a Controller VM

If you need to access a Controller VM on a host that has not been added to SCVMM or Hyper-V Manager, use this method.

Procedure

Log on to the Hyper-V host with Remote Desktop Connection and start PowerShell.
Log on to the Controller VM.
```
> ssh nutanix@192.168.5.254
```
Accept the host authenticity warning if prompted.

Placing the Controller VM and Hyper-V Host in Maintenance Mode

It is recommended that you place the Controller VM and Hyper-V host into maintenance mode when performing any maintenance or patch installation for the cluster.

Before you begin

Migrate the VMs that are running on the node to other nodes in the cluster.

About this task

Caution: Verify the data resiliency status of your cluster. You can only place one node in maintenance mode for each cluster.

To place the Controller VM and Hyper-V host in maintenance mode, do the following.

Procedure

Log on to the Controller VM with SSH and get the CVM host ID.
```
nutanix@cvm$ ncli host ls
```
Run the following command to place the CVM in maintenance mode.
```
nutanix@cvm$ ncli host edit id=host_id enable-maintenance-mode=true
```
Replace host_id with the CVM host ID
Log on to the Hyper-V host with Remote Desktop Connection and pause the Hyper-V host in the failover cluster using PowerShell.
```
> Suspend-ClusterNode
```

Shutting Down a Node in a Cluster (Hyper-V)

Shut down a node in a Hyper-V cluster.

Before you begin

Shut down guest VMs that are running on the node, or move them to other nodes in the cluster.

In a Hyper-V cluster, you do not need to put the node in maintenance mode before you shut down the node. The steps to shut down the guest VMs running on the node or moving them to another node, and shutting down the CVM are adequate.

About this task

Caution: Verify the data resiliency status of your cluster. If the cluster only has replication factor 2 (RF2), you can only shut down one node for each cluster. If an RF2 cluster would have more than one node shut down, shut down the entire cluster.

Perform the following procedure to shut down a node in a Hyper-V cluster.

Procedure

Log on to the Controller VM with SSH and shut down the Controller VM.
```
nutanix@cvm$ cvm_shutdown -P now
```
Note:
Always use the cvm_shutdown command to reset, or shutdown the Controller VM. The cvm_shutdown command notifies the cluster that the Controller VM is unavailable.
Log on to the Hyper-V host with Remote Desktop Connection and start PowerShell.
Do one of the following to shut down the node.
- ```
> shutdown /s /t 0
```
- ```
> Stop-Computer -ComputerName localhost
```
See the Microsoft documentation for up-to-date and additional details about how to shut down a Hyper-V node.

Starting a Node in a Cluster (Hyper-V)

After you start or restart a node in a Hyper-V cluster, verify if the Controller VM (CVM) is powered on and if the CVM is added to the metadata.

About this task

Perform the following steps to start a node in a Hyper-V cluster.

Procedure

Power on the node. Do one of the following:
- Press the power button on the front of the physical hardware server.
- Use a remote tool such as iDRAC, iLO, or IPMI depending on your hardware.
Log on to Hyper-V Manager and start PowerShell.
Determine if the Controller VM is running.
```
> Get-VM | Where {$_.Name -match 'NTNX.*CVM'}
```
- If the Controller VM is off, a line similar to the following should be returned:
```
NTNX-13SM35230026-C-CVM Stopped -           -             - Opera...
```
  Make a note of the Controller VM name in the second column.
- If the Controller VM is on, a line similar to the following should be returned:
```
NTNX-13SM35230026-C-CVM Running 2           16384             05:10:51 Opera...
```
If the CVM is not powered on, power on the CVM by using Hyper-V Manager.

Log on to the CVM with SSH and verify if the CVM is added back to the metadata.

nutanix@cvm$ nodetool -h 0 ring

The state of the IP address of the CVM you started must be Normal as shown in the following output.

nutanix@cvm$ nodetool -h 0 ring
Address         Status State      Load            Owns    Token                                                          
                                                          kV0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000   
XX.XXX.XXX.XXX  Up     Normal     1.84 GB         25.00%  000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000   
XX.XXX.XXX.XXX  Up     Normal     1.79 GB         25.00%  FV0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000   
XX.XXX.XXX.XXX  Up     Normal     825.49 MB       25.00%  V00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000   
XX.XXX.XXX.XXX  Up     Normal     1.87 GB         25.00%  kV0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Power on or failback the guest VMs by using Hyper-V Manager or Failover Cluster Manager.

Enabling 1 GbE Interfaces (Hyper-V)

If 10 GbE networking is specified during cluster setup, 1 GbE interfaces are disabled on Hyper-V nodes. Follow these steps if you need to enable the 1 GbE interfaces later.

About this task

To enable the 1 GbE interfaces, do the following on each host:

Procedure

Log on to the Hyper-V host with Remote Desktop Connection and start PowerShell.

List the network adapters.

> Get-NetAdapter | Format-List Name,InterfaceDescription,LinkSpeed

Output similar to the following is displayed.

Name                 : vEthernet (InternalSwitch)
InterfaceDescription : Hyper-V Virtual Ethernet Adapter #3
LinkSpeed            : 10 Gbps

Name                 : vEthernet (ExternalSwitch)
InterfaceDescription : Hyper-V Virtual Ethernet Adapter #2
LinkSpeed            : 10 Gbps

Name                 : Ethernet
InterfaceDescription : Intel(R) 82599 10 Gigabit Dual Port Network Connection
LinkSpeed            : 10 Gbps

Name                 : Ethernet 3
InterfaceDescription : Intel(R) 82599 10 Gigabit Dual Port Network Connection #2
LinkSpeed            : 10 Gbps

Name                 : NetAdapterTeam
InterfaceDescription : Microsoft Network Adapter Multiplexor Driver
LinkSpeed            : 20 Gbps

Name                 : Ethernet 4
InterfaceDescription : Intel(R) I350 Gigabit Network Connection #2
LinkSpeed            : 0 bps

Name                 : Ethernet 2
InterfaceDescription : Intel(R) I350 Gigabit Network Connection
LinkSpeed            : 1 Gbps

Make a note of the Name of the 1 GbE interfaces you want to enable.

Configure the interface.

Replace interface_name with the name of the 1 GbE interface as reported by Get-NetAdapter .
1. Enable the interface.
```
> Enable-NetAdapter -Name "interface_name"
```
2. Add the interface to the NIC team.
```
> Add-NetLBFOTeamMember -Team NetAdapterTeam -Name "interface_name"
```
  If you want to configure the interface as a standby for the 10 GbE interfaces, include the parameter -AdministrativeMode Standby
Perform these steps once for each 1 GbE interface you want to enable.

Changing the Hyper-V Host Password

The cluster software needs to be able to log into each host as Admin to perform standard cluster operations, such as querying the status of VMs in the cluster. Therefore, after changing the Administrator password it is critical to update the cluster configuration with the new password.

About this task

Tip: Although it is not required for the Administrator user to have the same password on all hosts, doing so makes cluster management and support much easier. If you do select a different password for one or more hosts, make sure to note the password for each host.

Procedure

Change the Admin password of all hosts.
Perform these steps on every Hyper-V host in the cluster.
1. Log on to the Hyper-V host with Remote Desktop Connection.
2. Press Ctrl+Alt+End to display the management screen.
3. Click Change a Password .
4. Enter the old password and the new password in the specified fields and click the right arrow button.
5. Click Ok to acknowledge the password change.
Update the Administrator user password for all hosts in the cluster configuration.

Warning: If you do not perform this step, the web console no longer shows correct statistics and alerts, and other cluster operations fail.
1. Log on to any CVM in the cluster using SSH.
2. Find the host IDs.
  On the clusters running the AOS release 4.5.x, type:
```
nutanix@cvm$ ncli host list | grep -E 'ID|Hypervisor Address'
```
  On the clusters running the AOS release 4.6.x or later, type:
```
nutanix@cvm$ ncli host list | grep -E 'Id|Hypervisor Address'
```
  Note the host ID for each hypervisor host.
3. Update the hypervisor host password.
```
nutanix@cvm$ ncli managementserver edit name=host_addr \
 password='host_password' 
nutanix@cvm$ ncli host edit id=host_id \
 hypervisor-password='host_password'
```
  - Replace host_addr with the IP address of the hypervisor host.
  - Replace host_id with a host ID you determined in the preceding step.
  - Replace host_password with the Admin password on the corresponding hypervisor host.
  Perform this step for every hypervisor host in the cluster.

Changing a Host IP Address

Perform these steps once for every hypervisor host in the cluster. Complete the entire procedure on a host before proceeding to the next host.

Before you begin

Remove the host from the failover cluster and domain before changing the host IP address.

Procedure

Configure networking on the node by following Configuring Host Networking for Hyper-V Manually.
Log on to every Controller VM in the cluster and restart genesis.
```
nutanix@cvm$ genesis restart
```
If the restart is successful, output similar to the following is displayed.
```
Stopping Genesis pids [1933, 30217, 30218, 30219, 30241]
Genesis started on pids [30378, 30379, 30380, 30381, 30403]
```

Changing the VLAN ID for Controller VM

About this task

Perform the following procedure to change the VLAN ID of the Controller VM.

Procedure

Log on to the Hyper-V host with the IPMI remote console and run the following PowerShell command to get the VLAN settings configured.
```
> Get-VMNetworkAdapterVlan
```
Change the VLAN ID.
```
> Set-VMNetworkAdapterVlan -VMName cvm_name -VMNetworkAdapterName External -Access -VlanID vlan_ID
```
Replace cvm_name with the name of the Nutanix Controller VM.
Replace vlan_ID with the new VLAN ID.

Note: The VM name of the Nutanix Controller VM must begin with NTNX-

Configuring VLAN for Hyper-V Host

About this task

Perform the following procedure to configure Hyper-V host VLANs.

Procedure

Log on to the Hyper-V host with the IPMI remote console.
Start a PowerShell prompt and run the following command to create a variable for the ExternalSwitch.
```
>$netAdapter = Get-VMNetworkAdapter -Name "ExternalSwitch" -ManagementOS
```
To set a new VLAN ID for the ExternalSwitch.
```
>Set-VMNetworkAdapterVlan -VMNetworkAdapter $netAdapter -Access -VlanId vlan_ID
```
Replace vlan_ID with the new VLAN ID.

You can now communicate to the Hyper-V host on the new subnet.

Configuring Host Networking for Hyper-V Manually

Perform the following procedure to manually configure the Hyper-V host networking.

About this task

Note: Do not add any other device (including guest VMs) to the VLAN to which the CVM and hypervisor host are assigned. Isolate guest VMs on one or more separate VLANs.

Procedure

Log on to the Hyper-V host with the IPMI remote console and start a Powershell prompt.

List the network adapters.

> Get-NetAdapter | Format-List Name,InterfaceDescription,LinkSpeed

Output similar to the following is displayed.

Name                 : vEthernet (InternalSwitch)
InterfaceDescription : Hyper-V Virtual Ethernet Adapter #3
LinkSpeed            : 10 Gbps

Name                 : vEthernet (ExternalSwitch)
InterfaceDescription : Hyper-V Virtual Ethernet Adapter #2
LinkSpeed            : 10 Gbps

Name                 : Ethernet
InterfaceDescription : Intel(R) 82599 10 Gigabit Dual Port Network Connection
LinkSpeed            : 10 Gbps

Name                 : Ethernet 3
InterfaceDescription : Intel(R) 82599 10 Gigabit Dual Port Network Connection #2
LinkSpeed            : 10 Gbps

Name                 : NetAdapterTeam
InterfaceDescription : Microsoft Network Adapter Multiplexor Driver
LinkSpeed            : 20 Gbps

Name                 : Ethernet 4
InterfaceDescription : Intel(R) I350 Gigabit Network Connection #2
LinkSpeed            : 0 bps

Name                 : Ethernet 2
InterfaceDescription : Intel(R) I350 Gigabit Network Connection
LinkSpeed            : 0 bps

Make a note of the InterfaceDescription for the vEthernet adapter that links to the physical interface you want to modify.

Start the Server Configuration utility.
```
> sconfig
```
Select Networking Settings by typing 8 and pressing Enter .
Change the IP settings.
1. Select a network adapter by typing the Index number of the adapter you want to change (refer to the InterfaceDescription you found in step 2) and pressing Enter .
  
  Warning: Do not select the network adapter with the IP address 192.168.5.1 . This IP address is required for the Controller VM to communicate with the host.
2. Select Set Network Adapter Address by typing 1 and pressing Enter .
3. Select Static by typing S and pressing Enter .
4. Enter the IP address for the host and press Enter .
5. Enter the subnet mask and press Enter .
6. Enter the IP address for the default gateway and press Enter .
  The host networking settings are changed.
(Optional) Change the DNS servers.
DNS servers must be configured for a host to be part of a domain. You can either change the DNS servers in the sconfig utility or with setup_hyperv.py .
1. Select Set DNS Servers by typing 2 .
2. Enter the primary and secondary DNS servers and press Enter .
  The DNS servers are updated.
Exit the Server Configuration utility by typing 4 and pressing Enter then 15 and pressing Enter .

Joining a Host to a Domain Manually

About this task

For information about how to join a host to a domain by using utilities provided by Nutanix, see Joining the Cluster and Hosts to a Domain . Perform these steps for each Hyper-V host in the cluster to manually join a host to a domain.

Procedure

Log on to the Hyper-V host with the IPMI remote console and start a Powershell prompt.
Join the host to the domain and rename it.
```
> Add-Computer -DomainName domain_name -NewName node_name `
 -Credential domain_name\domain_admin_user -Restart -Force
```
- Replace domain_name with the name of the join for the host to join.
- Replace node_name with a new name for the host.
- Replace domain_admin_user with the domain administrator username.
The host restarts and joins the domain.

Changing CVM Memory Configuration (Hyper-V)

About this task

You can increase the memory reserved for each Controller VM in your cluster by using the 1-click Controller VM Memory Upgrade available from the Prism Element web console. Increase memory size depending on the workload type or to enable certain AOS features. For more information about CVM memory sizing recommendations and instructions about how to increase the CVM memory, see Increasing the Controller VM Memory Size in the Prism Web Console Guide .

Hyper-V Configuration

Before configuring Nutanix storage on Hyper-V, you need to ensure that you meet the requirements of Hyper-V installation. For more information, see Hyper-V Installation Requirements. After you configure all the pre-requisites for installing and setting up Hyper-V, you need to join the Hyper-V cluster and its constituent hosts to the domain and then create a failover cluster.

Hyper-V Installation Requirements

Ensure that the following requirements are met before installing Hyper-V.

Windows Active Directory Domain Controller

Requirements:

For a fresh installation, you need a version of Nutanix Foundation that is compatible with the version of Windows Server you want to install.
Note: To install Windows Server 2016, you need Foundation 3.11.2 or later. For more information, see the Field Installation Guide.
The primary domain controller version must at least be 2008 R2.
Note: If you have Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) based backup tool (for example Veeam), functional level of Active Directory must be 2008 or higher.
Active Directory Web Services (ADWS) must be installed and running. By default, connections are made over TCP port 9389, and firewall policies must enable an exception on this port for ADWS.
To test that ADWS is installed and running on a domain controller, log on by using a domain administrator account in a Windows host other than the domain controller host that is joined to the same domain and has the RSAT-AD-Powershell feature installed, and run the following PowerShell command. If the command prints the primary name of the domain controller, then ADWS is installed and the port is open.

> (Get-ADDomainController).Name

The domain controller must run a DNS server.
Note: If any of the above requirements are not met, you need to manually create an Active Directory computer object for the Nutanix storage in the Active Directory, and add a DNS entry for the name.
Ensure that the Active Directory domain is configured correctly for consistent time synchronization.
Place the AD server in a separate virtual or physical host residing in storage that is not dependent on the domains that the AD server manages.
Note: Do not run a virtual Active Directory domain controller (DC) on a Nutanix Hyper-V cluster and join the cluster to the same domain.

Accounts and Privileges:

An Active Directory account with permission to create new Active Directory computer objects for either a storage container or Organizational Unit (OU) where Nutanix nodes are placed. The credentials of this account are not stored anywhere.
An account that has sufficient privileges to join a Windows host to a domain. The credentials of this account are not stored anywhere. These credentials are only used to join the hosts to the domain.

Additional Information Required:

The IP address of the primary domain controller.
Note: The primary domain controller IP address is set as the primary DNS server on all the Nutanix hosts. It is also set as the NTP server in the Nutanix storage cluster to keep the Controller VM, host, and Active Directory time synchronized.
The fully qualified domain name to which the Nutanix hosts and the storage cluster is going to be joined.

SCVMM

Note: Relevant only if you have SCVMM in your environment.

Requirements:

The SCVMM version must be at least 2016 and it must be installed on Windows Server 2016. If you have SCVMM on an earlier release, upgrade it to 2016 before you register a Nutanix cluster running Hyper-V.
Kerberos authentication for storage is optional for Windows Server 2012 R2 (see Enabling Kerberos for Hyper-V), but it is required for Windows Server 2016. However, for Kerberos authentication to work with Windows Server 2016, the active directory server must reside outside the Nutanix cluster.
The SCVMM server must allow PowerShell remoting.
To test this scenario, log on by using the SCVMM administrator account in a Windows host and run the following PowerShell command on a Windows host that is different to the SCVMM host (for example, run the command from the domain controller). If they print the name of the SCVMM server, then PowerShell remoting to the SCVMM server is not blocked.

> Invoke-Command -ComputerName scvmm_server -ScriptBlock {hostname} -Credential MYDOMAIN\username

Replace scvmm_server with the SCVMM host name and MYDOMAIN with Active Directory domain name.

Note: If the SCVMM server does not allow PowerShell remoting, you can perform the SCVMM setup manually by using the SCVMM user interface.
The ipconfig command must run in a PowerShell window on the SCVMM server. To verify run the following command.
> Invoke-Command -ComputerName scvmm_server_name -ScriptBlock {ipconfig} -Credential MYDOMAIN\username

Replace scvmm_server_name with the SCVMM host name and MYDOMAIN with Active Directory domain name.
The SMB client configuration in the SCVMM server should have RequireSecuritySignature set to False. To verify, run the following command.
> Invoke-Command -ComputerName scvmm_server_name -ScriptBlock {Get-SMBClientConfiguration | FL RequireSecuritySignature}

Replace scvmm_server_name with the SCVMM host name.

This can be set to True by a domain policy. In this case, the domain policy should be modified to set it to False. Also, if it is True, this can be configured back to False, but might not get changed throughout if there is a policy that reverts it back to True. To change it, you can use the following command in the PowerShell on the SCVMM host by logging in as a domain administrator.

Set-SMBClientConfiguration -RequireSecuritySignature $False -Force

If you are changing it from True to False, it is important to confirm that the policies that are on the SCVMM host have the correct value. On the SCVMM host run rsop.msc to review the resultant set of policy details, and verify the value by navigating to, Servername > Computer Configuration > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Local Policies > Security Options: Policy Microsoft network client: Digitally sign communications (always). The value displayed in RSOP must be, Disabled or Not Defined for the change to persist. Also, the group policies that have been configured in the domain to apply to the SCVMM server should to be updated to change this to Disabled, if the RSOP shows it as Enabled. Otherwise, the RequireSecuritySignature changes back to True at a later time. After setting the policy in Active Directory and propagating to the domain controllers, refresh the SCVMM server policy by running the command gpupdate /force . Confirm in RSOP that the value is Disabled .
Note: If security signing is mandatory, then you need to enable Kerberos in the Nutanix cluster. In this case, it is important to ensure that the time remains synchronized between the Active Directory server, the Nutanix hosts, and the Nutanix Controller VMs. The Nutanix hosts and the Controller VMs set their NTP server as the Active Directory server, so it should be sufficient to ensure that Active Directory domain is configured correctly for consistent time synchronization.

Accounts and Privileges:

When adding a host or a cluster to the SCVMM, the run-as account you are specifying for managing the host or cluster must be different from the service account that was used to install SCVMM.
Run-as account must be a domain account and must have local administrator privileges on the Nutanix hosts. This can be a domain administrator account. When the Nutanix hosts are joined to the domain, the domain administrator accounts automatically takes administrator privileges on the host. If the domain account used as the run-as account in SCVMM is not a domain administrator account, you need to manually add it to the list of local administrators on each host by running sconfig .
- SCVMM domain account with administrator privileges on SCVMM and PowerShell remote execution privileges.
If you want to install SCVMM server, a service account with local administrator privileges on the SCVMM server.

IP Addresses

One IP address for each Nutanix host.
One IP address for each Nutanix Controller VM.
One IP address for each Nutanix host IPMI interface.
One IP address for the Nutanix storage cluster.
One IP address for the Hyper-V failover cluster.

Note: For N nodes, (3*N + 2) IP addresses are required. All IP addresses must be in the same subnet.

DNS Requirements

Each Nutanix host must be assigned a name of 15 characters or less, which gets automatically added to the DNS server during domain joining.
The Nutanix storage cluster needs to be assigned a name of 15 characters or less, which must be added to the DNS server when the storage cluster is joined to the domain.
The Hyper-V failover cluster must be assigned a name of 15 characters or less, which gets automatically added to the DNS server when the failover cluster is created.
After the Hyper-V configuration, all names must resolve to an IP address in the Nutanix hosts, the SCVMM server (if applicable), or any other host that needs access to the Nutanix storage, for example, a host running the Hyper-V Manager.

Storage Access Requirements

Virtual machine and virtual disk paths must always refer to the Nutanix storage cluster by name, not the external IP address. If you use the IP address, it directs all the I/O to a single node in the cluster and thereby compromises performance and scalability.
Note: For external non-Nutanix host that needs to access Nutanix SMB shares, see Nutanix SMB Shares Connection Requirements from Outside the Cluster topic.

Host Maintenance Requirements

When applying Windows updates to the Nutanix hosts, the hosts should be restarted one at a time, ensuring that Nutanix services comes up fully in the Controller VM of the restarted host before updating the next host. This can be accomplished by using Cluster Aware Updating and using a Nutanix-provided script, which can be plugged into the Cluster Aware Update Manager as a pre-update script. This pre-update script ensures that the Nutanix services go down on only one host at a time ensuring availability of storage throughout the update procedure. For more information about cluster-aware updating, see Installing Windows Updates with Cluster-Aware Updating.
Note: Ensure that automatic Windows updates are not enabled for the Nutanix hosts in the domain policies.

General Host Requirements

Hyper-V hosts must have the remote script execution policy set at least to RemoteSigned . A Restricted setting might cause issues when you reboot the CVM.

Note: Nutanix supports the installation of language packs for Hyper-V hosts.

Limitations and Guidelines

Nutanix clusters running Hyper-V have the following limitations. Certain limitations might be attributable to other software or hardware vendors:

Guidelines

Hyper-V 2016 Clusters and Support for Windows Server 2016

VHD Set files (.vhds) are a new shared Virtual Disk model for guest clusters in Microsoft Server 2016 and are not supported. You can import existing shared .vhdx disks to Windows Server 2016 clusters. New VHDX format sharing is supported. Only fixed-size VHDX sharing is supported.
Use the PowerShell Add-VMHardDiskDrive command to attach any existing or new VHDX file in shared mode to VMs. For example: Add-VMHardDiskDrive -VMName Node1 -Path \\gogo\smbcontainer\TestDisk\Shared.vhdx -SupportPersistentReservations .

Upgrading Hyper-V Hypervisor Hosts

When upgrading hosts to Hyper-V 2016, 2019, and later versions, the local administrator user name and password is reset to the default administrator name Administrator and password of nutanix/4u. Any previous changes to the administrator name and/or password are overwritten.

General Guidelines

Note: Do not add any other device (including guest VMs) to the VLAN to which the CVM and hypervisor host are assigned. Isolate guest VMs on one or more separate VLANs.
If you are destroying a cluster and creating a new one and want to reuse the hostnames, failover cluster name, and storage object name of the previous cluster, remove their computer accounts and objects from AD and DNS first.

Limitations

Intel Advanced Network Services (ANS) is not compatible with Load Balancing and Failover (LBFO), the built-in NIC teaming feature in Hyper-V. For more information, see the Intel support article, Teaming with Intel® Advanced Network Services .
Nutanix does not support the online resizing of the shared virtual hard disks (VHDX files).

Configuration Scenarios

After using Foundation to create a cluster, you can use the Nutanix web console to join the Hyper-V cluster and its constituent hosts to the domain, create the Hyper-V failover cluster, and enable Kerberos.

Note: If you are installing Windows Server 2016, you do not have to enable Kerberos. Kerberos is enabled during cluster creation.

You can then use the setup_hyperv.py script to add host and storage to SCVMM, configure a Nutanix library share in SCVMM, and register Nutanix storage containers as file shares in SCVMM.

Note: You can use the


     setup_hyperv.py

script only with a standalone SCVMM instance. The script does not work with an SCVMM cluster.

The usage of the setup_hyperv.py script is as follows.

nutanix@cvm$ setup_hyperv.py flags command
commands:
register_shares
setup_scvmm

Nonconfigurable Components

The components listed here are configured by the Nutanix manufacturing and installation processes. Do not modify any of these components except under the direction of Nutanix Support.

Nutanix Software

Modifying any of the following Nutanix software settings may inadvertently constrain performance of your Nutanix cluster or render the Nutanix cluster inoperable.

Local datastore name.
Configuration and contents of any CVM (except memory configuration to enable certain features).

Important: Note the following important considerations about CVMs.

Do not delete the Nutanix CVM.
Do not take a snapshot of the CVM for backup.
Do not rename, modify, or delete the admin and nutanix user accounts of the CVM.
Do not create additional CVM user accounts.
Use the default accounts ( admin or nutanix ), or use sudo to elevate to the root account.
Do not decrease CVM memory below recommended minimum amounts required for cluster and add-in features.
Nutanix Cluster Checks (NCC), preupgrade cluster checks, and the AOS upgrade process detect and monitor CVM memory.
Nutanix does not support the usage of third-party storage on the host part of Nutanix clusters.
Normal cluster operations might be affected if there are connectivity issues with the third-party storage you attach to the hosts in a Nutanix cluster.
Do not run any commands on a CVM that are not in the Nutanix documentation.

Hyper-V Settings

Cluster name (using the web console)
Controller VM name
Controller VM virtual hardware configuration file (.xml file in Hyper-V version 2012 R2 and earlier and .vmcx file in Hyper-V version 2016 and later). Each AOS version and upgrade includes a specific Controller VM virtual hardware configuration. Therefore, do not edit or otherwise modify the Controller VM virtual hardware configuration file.
Host name (you can configure the host name only at the time of creating and expanding the cluster)
Internal switch settings (internal virtual switch and internal virtual network adapter) and external network adapter name
Two virtual switches are created on the Nutanix host, ExternalSwitch and InternalSwitch. Two virtual network adapters are created on the host corresponding to these virtual switches, vEthernet (ExternalSwitch) and vEthernet (InternalSwitch).

Note: Do not delete these switches and adapters. Do not change the names of the internal virtual switch, internal virtual network adapter, and external virtual network adapter. You can change the name of the external virtual switch. For more information about changing the name of the external virtual switch, see Updating the Cluster After Renaming the Hyper-V External Virtual Switch.
Windows roles and features
No new Windows roles or features must be installed on the Nutanix hosts. This especially includes the Multipath IO feature, which can cause the Nutanix storage to become unavailable.

Do not apply GPOs to the Nutanix nodes that impact Log on as a service. It is recommended not to remove the default entries of the following service.

NT Service\All Services

NT Virtual Machine\Virtual Machines
Note: This best practice helps keep the host operating system free of roles, features, and applications that aren't required to run Hyper-V. For more information, see the Hyper-V should be the only enabled role document in the Microsoft documentation portal.
Controller VM pre-configured VM setting of Automatic Start Action
Controller VM high-availability setting
Controller VM operations: migrating, saving state, or taking checkpoints of the Controller VM

Adding the Cluster and Hosts to a Domain

After completing foundation of the cluster, you need to add the cluster and its constituent hosts to the Active Directory (AD) domain. The adding of cluster and hosts to the domain facilitates centralized administration and security through the use of other Microsoft services such as Group Policy and enables administrators to manage the distribution of updates and hotfixes.

Before you begin

If you have a VLAN segmented network, verify that you have assigned the VLAN tags to the Hyper-V hosts and Controller VMs. For information about how to configure VLANs for the Controller VM, see the Advanced Setup Guide.
Ensure that you have valid credentials of the domain account that has the privileges to create a new computer account or modify an existing computer account in the Active Directory domain. An Active Directory domain created by using non-ASCII text may not be supported. For more information about usage of ASCII or non-ASCII text in Active Directory configuration, see Internationalization (i18n) .

Procedure

Log on to the Web Console by using one of the Controller VM IP address or by using cluster virtual IP address.
Click the gear icon in the main menu and select Join Cluster and Hosts to the Domain on the Settings page.

Figure. Join Cluster and Hosts to the Domain
Click to enlarge
Enter the fully qualified name of the domain that you want to join the cluster and its constituent hosts to in the Full Domain Name box.
Enter the IP address of the name server in the Name Server IP Address box that can resolve the domain name that you have entered in the Full Domain Name box.
In the Base OU Path box, type the OU (organizational unit) path where the computer accounts must be stored after the host joins a domain. For example, if the organization is nutanix.com and the OU is Documentation, the Base OU Path can be specified as OU=Documentation,DC=nutanix,DC=com
Specifying the Base OU Path is optional. When you specify the Base OU Path, the computer accounts are stored in the Base OU Path within the Active Directory after the hosts join a domain. If the Base OU Path is not specified, the computer accounts are stored in the default Computers OU.
Enter a name for the cluster in the Nutanix Cluster Name box.
The maximum length of the cluster name should not be more than 15 characters and it should be a valid NetBIOS name.
Enter the virtual IP address of the cluster in the Nutanix Cluster Virtual IP Address box.
If you have not already configured the virtual IP address of the cluster, you can configure it by using this box.
Enter the prefix that should be used to name the hosts (according to your convention) in the Prefix box.
- The prefix name should not end with a period.
- The maximum length of the prefix name should not be more than 11 characters.
- Should be a valid NetBIOS name.
  For example, if you enter prefix name as Tulip, the hosts are named as Tulip-1, Tulip-2, and so on, in the increasing order of the external IP address of the hosts.
If you do not provide any prefix, the default name of NTNX- block-number is used. Click Advanced View to see the expanded view of all the hosts in all the blocks of the cluster and to rename them individually.
In the Credentials field, enter the logon name and password of the domain account that has the privileges to create a new or modify an existing computer accounts in the Active Directory domain.
Ensure that the logon name is in the DOMAIN\USERNAME format. The cluster and its constituent hosts require these credentials to join the AD domain. Nutanix does not store the credentials.
When all the information is correct, click Join .
The cluster is added to the domain. Also, all the hosts are renamed, added to the domain, and restarted. Allow the hosts and Controller VMs a few time to start-up. After the cluster is ready, the logon page is displayed.

What to do next

Create a Microsoft failover cluster. For more information, see Creating a Failover Cluster for Hyper-V.

Creating a Failover Cluster for Hyper-V

Before you begin

Perform the following tasks before you create a failover cluster:

Join the hosts to the domain as described in Adding the Cluster and Hosts to a Domain .
Ensure that the Windows failover cluster IP address and hypervisor or host IP address are in the same subnet.

Perform the following procedure to create a failover cluster that includes all the hosts in the cluster.

Procedure

Log on to the Prism Element web console by using one of the Controller VM IP addresses or by using the cluster virtual IP address.
Click the gear icon in the main menu and select Configure Failover Cluster from the Settings page.

Figure. Configure Failover Cluster
Click to enlarge
Type the failover cluster name in the Failover Cluster Name text box.
The maximum length of the failover cluster name must not be more than 15 characters and must be a valid NetBIOS name.
Type an IP address for the Hyper-V failover cluster in the Failover Cluster IP Address text box.
This address is for the cluster of Hyper-V hosts that are currently being configured. It must be unique, different from the cluster virtual IP address and from all other IP addresses assigned to the hosts and Controller VMs. It must be in the same network range as the Hyper-V hosts.
In the Credentials field, type the logon name and password of the domain account that has the privileges to create a new account or modify existing accounts in the Active Directory domain.
The logon name must be in the format DOMAIN\USERNAME . The credentials are required to create a failover cluster. Nutanix does not store the credentials.
Click Create Cluster .
A failover cluster is created by the name that has been provided and it includes all the hosts in the cluster.

For information on manually creating a failover cluster, see Manually Creating a Failover Cluster (SCVMM User Interface).

Manually Creating a Failover Cluster (SCVMM User Interface)

Join the hosts to the domain as described in Adding the Cluster and Hosts to a Domain in the Hyper-V Administration for Acropolis guide.

About this task

Perform the following procedure to manually create a failover cluster for Hyper-V by using System Center VM Manager (SCVMM).

If you are not using SCVMM or are using Hyper-V Manager, see Creating a Failover Cluster for Hyper-V.

Procedure

Start the Failover Cluster Manager utility.
Right-click and select Create Cluster , and click Next .
Enter all the hosts that you want to add to the Failover cluster, and click Next .
Select the No. I do not require support from Microsoft for this cluster, and therefore do not want to run the validation tests. When I click Next continue creating the cluster option, and click Next .

Note:
If you select Yes , two tests fail when you run the cluster validation tests. The tests fail because the internal network adapter on each host is configured with the same IP address (192.168.5.1). The network validation tests fail with the following error message:
Duplicate IP address
The failures occur despite the internal network being reachable only within a host, so the internal adapter can have the same IP address on different hosts. The second test, Validate Network Communication, fails due to the presence of the internal network adapter. Both failures are benign and can be ignored.
Enter a name for the cluster, specify a static IP address, and click Next .
Clear the All eligible storage to the cluster check box, and click Next .
Wait until the cluster is created. After you receive the message that the cluster is successfully created, click Finish to exit the Cluster Creation wizard.
Go to Networks in the cluster tree and select Cluster Network 1 and ensure it is in the internal network by verifying the IP address in the summary pane. The IP address must be 192.168.5.0/24 as shown in the following screen shot.

Figure. Failover Cluster Manager Click to enlarge
Click the Action tab on the toolbar and select Live Migration Settings .
Remove Cluster Network 1 from Networks for Live Migration and click OK .

Note: If you do not perform this step, live migrations fail because the internal network is added to the live migration network lists. Log on to SCVMM, add the cluster to SCVMM, check the host migration setting, and ensure that the internal network is not listed.

Changing the Failover Cluster IP Address

About this task

Perform the following procedure to change your Hyper-V failover cluster IP address.

Procedure

Open Failover Cluster Manager and connect to your cluster.
Enter the name of any one of the Hyper-V hosts and click OK .
In the Failover Cluster Manager pane, select your cluster and expand Cluster Core Resources .
Right-click select the cluster, and select Properties > IP address .
Change the IP address of your failover cluster using the Edit option and click OK .
Click Apply .

Enabling Kerberos for Hyper-V

If you are running Windows Server 2012 R2, perform the following procedure to configure Kerberos to secure the storage. You do not have to perform this procedure for Windows Server 2016 because Kerberos is enabled automatically during failover cluster creation.

Before you begin

Join the hosts to the domain as described in Adding the Cluster and Hosts to a Domain.
Verify that you have configured a service account for delegation. For more information on enabling delegation, see the Microsoft documentation .

Procedure

Log on to the web console by using one of the Controller VM IP addresses or by using the cluster virtual IP address.
Click the gear icon in the main menu and select Kerberos Management from the Settings page.

Figure. Configure Failover Cluster Click to enlarge
Set the Kerberos Required option to enabled.
In the Credentials field, type the logon name and password of the domain account that has the privileges to create and modify the virtual computer object representing the cluster in Active Directory. The credentials are required for enabling Kerberos.
The logon name must be in the format DOMAIN\USERNAME . Nutanix does not store the credentials.
Click Save .

Configuring the Hyper-V Computer Object by Using Kerberos

About this task

Perform the following procedure to complete the configuration of the Hyper-V Computer Object by using Kerberos and SMB signing (for enhanced security).

Note: Nutanix recommends you to configure Kerberos during a maintenance window to ensure cluster stability and prevent loss of storage access for user VMs.

Procedure

Log on to Domain Controller and perform the following for each Hyper-V host computer object.
1. Right-click the host object, and go to Properties . In the Delegation tab, select the Trust this computer for delegation to specified services only option, and select Use any authentication protocol .
2. Click Add to add the cifs of the Nutanix storage cluster object.
Figure. Adding the cifs of the Nutanix storage cluster object Click to enlarge
Check the Service Principal Name (SPN) of the Nutanix storage cluster object.
```
> Setspn -l name_of_cluster_object
```
Replace name_of_cluster_object with the name of the Nutanix storage cluster object.

Output similar to the following is displayed.

Figure. SPN Registration Click to enlarge

If the SPN is not registered for the Nutanix storage cluster object, create the SPN by running the following commands.
```
> Setspn -S cifs/name_of_cluster_object name_of_cluster_object
> Setspn -S cifs/FQDN_of_the_cluster_object name_of_cluster_object
```
Replace name_of_cluster_object with the name of the Nutanix storage cluster object and FQDN_of_the_cluster_object with the domain name of the Nutanix storage cluster object.

Example
```
> Setspn -S cifs/virat virat
> Setspn -S cifs/virat.sre.local virat
```
[Optional] To enable SMB signing feature, log on to each Hyper-V host by using RDP and run the following PowerShell command to change the Require Security Signature setting to True .
```
> Set-SMBClientConfiguration -RequireSecuritySignature $True –Force
```
Caution: The SMB server will only communicate with an SMB client that can perform SMB packet signing, therefore if you decide to enable the SMB signing feature, it must be enabled for all the Hyper-V hosts in the cluster.

Disabling Kerberos for Hyper-V

Perform the following procedure to disable Kerberos.

Procedure

Disable SMB signing.
Log on to each Hyper-V host by using RDP and run the following PowerShell command to change the Require Security Signature setting to False .
```
Set-SMBClientConfiguration -RequireSecuritySignature $False –Force
```
Disable Kerberos from the Prism web console.
1. Log into the web console by using one of the Controller VM IP address or by using cluster virtual IP address.
2. From the gear icon, click Kerberos Management .
3. Set Kerberos Required button to disabled.
4. In the Credentials field, type the logon name and password of the domain account that has the privileges to create modify the virtual computer object representing the cluster in the Active Directory. The credentials are required for enabling Kerberos.
  This logon name must be in the format DOMAIN\USERNAME . Nutanix does not store the credentials.
5. Click Save .

Setting Up Hyper-V Manager

Perform the following steps to set up Hyper-V Manager.

Before you begin

Add the server running Hyper-V Manager to the allowlist by using the Prism user interface. For more information, see Configuring a Filesystem Whitelist in the Prism Web Console Guide .
If Kerberos is enabled for accessing storage (by default it is disabled), enable SMB delegation.

Procedure

Log into the Hyper-V Manager.
Right-click the Hyper-V Manager and select Connect to Server .
Type the name of the host that you want to add and click OK .
Right-click the host and select Hyper-V Settings .
Click Virtual Hard Disks and verify that the location to store virtual hard disk files is same that you have specified during storage container creation.
For more information, see Creating a Storage Container in the Prism Web Console Guide .
Click Virtual Machines and verify that the location to store virtual machine configuration files is same that you have specified during storage container creation.
For more information, see Creating a Storage Container in the Prism Web Console Guide .

After performing these steps, you are ready to create and manage virtual machines by using Hyper-V Manager.
Warning: Virtual machines created by using Hyper-V should never be defined on storage using IP-based SMB share location.

Cluster Management

Installing Windows Updates with Cluster-Aware Updating

With storage containers that are configured with a replication factor of 2, Nutanix clusters can tolerate only a single node being down at a time. For such clusters, you need a way to update nodes one node at a time.

If your Nutanix cluster runs Microsoft Hyper-V, you can use the Cluster-Aware Updating (CAU) utility, which ensures that only one node is down at a time when Windows updates are applied.

Note: Nutanix does not recommend performing a manual patch installation for a Hyper-V cluster running on the Nutanix platform.

The procedure for configuring CAU for a Hyper-V cluster running on the Nutanix platform is the same as that for a Hyper-V cluster running on any other platform. However, for a Hyper-V cluster running on Nutanix, you need to use a Nutanix pre-update script created specifically for Nutanix clusters. The pre-update script ensures that the CAU utility does not proceed to the next node until the Controller VM on the node that was updated is fully back up, preventing a condition in which multiple Controller VMs are down at the same time.

The CAU utility might not install all the recommended updates, and you might have to install some updates manually. For a complete list of recommended updates, see the following articles in the Microsoft documentation portal.

Recommended hotfixes, updates, and known solutions for Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper-V environments
Recommended hotfixes and updates for Windows Server 2012 R2-based failover clusters

Revisit these articles periodically and install any updates that are added to the list.

Note: Ensure that the Nutanix Controller VM and the Hyper-V host are placed in maintenance mode before any maintenance or patch installation. For more information, see Placing the Controller VM and Hyper-V Host in Maintenance Mode.

Preparing to Configure Cluster-Aware Updating

Configure your environment to run the Nutanix pre-update script for Cluster-Aware Updating. The Nutanix pre-update script is named cau_preupdate.ps1 and is, by default, located on each Hyper-V host in C:\Program Files\Nutanix\Utils\ . To ensure smooth configuration, make sure you have everything you need before you begin to configure CAU.

Before you begin

Review the required and recommended Windows updates for your cluster.
See the Microsoft documentation for information about the Cluster-Aware Updating feature. In particular, see the requirements and best practices for Cluster-Aware Updating in the Micorosoft documentation portal.
To enable the migration of virtual machines from one node to another, configure the virtual machines for high availability.

About this task

To configure your environment to run the Nutanix pre-update script, do the following:

Procedure

If you plan to use self-updating mode, do the following:
1. On each Hyper-V host and on the management workstation that you are using to configure CAU, create a directory such that the path to the directory and the directory name do not contain spaces (for example, C:\cau ).
  
  Note: The location of the directory must be the same on the hosts and the management workstation.
2. From C:\Program Files\Nutanix\Utils\ on each host, copy the Nutanix pre-update file cau_preupdate.ps1 to the directory you created on the hosts and on the management workstation.
A directory whose path does not contain spaces is necessary because Microsoft does not support the use of spaces in the PreUpdateScript field. The space in the default path ( C:\Program Files\Nutanix\Utils\ ) prevents the cluster from updating itself in the self-updating mode. However, that space does not cause issues if you update the cluster by using the remote-updating mode. If you plan to use only the remote-updating mode, you can use the pre-update script from its default location. If you plan to use the self-updating mode or both self-updating and remote-updating modes, use a directory whose path does not contain spaces.
On each host, do the following.
1. Unblock the script file.
```
> powershell.exe Unblock–File -Path 'path-to-pre-update-script'
```
  Replace path-to-pre-update-script with the full path to the pre-update script (for example, C:\cau\cau_preupdate.ps1 ).
2. Allow Windows PowerShell to run unsigned code.
```
> powershell.exe  Set-ExecutionPolicy remoteSigned
```

Accessing the Cluster-Aware Updating Dialog Box

You configure CAU by using the Cluster-Aware Updating dialog box.

About this task

To access the Cluster-Aware Updating dialog box, do the following:

Procedure

Open Failover Cluster Manager and connect to your cluster.
In the Configure section, click Cluster-Aware Updating .

Figure. Cluster-Aware Updating Dialog Box Click to enlarge

The Cluster-Aware Updating dialog box appears. If the dialog box indicates that you are not connected to the cluster, in the Connect to a failover cluster field, enter the name of the cluster, and then click Connect .

Specifying the Nutanix Pre-Update Script in an Updating Run Profile

Specify the Nutanix pre-update script in an Updating Run and save the configuration to an Updating Run Profile in the XML format. This is a one-time task. The XML file contains the configuration for the cluster-update operation. You can reuse this file to drive cluster updates through both self-updating and remote-updating modes.

About this task

To specify the Nutanix pre-update script in an Updating Run Profile, do the following:

Procedure

In the Cluster-Aware Updating dialog box, click Create or modify Updating Run Profile .
You can see the current location of the XML file under the Updating Run profile to start from: field.
Note: You cannot overwrite the default CAU configuration file, because non-local administrative users, including the AD administrative users, do not have permissions to modify files in the C:\Windows\System32\ directory.
Click Save As .
Select a new location for the file and rename the file. For example, you can rename the file to msfc_updating_run_profile.xml and save it to the following location: C:\Users\administrator\Documents .
Click Save .
In the Cluster-Aware Updating dialog box, under Cluster Actions , click Configure cluster self-updating options .
Go to Input Settings > Advanced Options and, in the Updating Run options based on: field, click Browse to select the location to which you saved the XML file in an earlier step.
In the Updating Run Profile Editor dialog box, in the PreUpdateScript field, specify the full path to the cau_preupdate.ps1 script. The default full path is C:\Program Files\Nutanix\Utils\cau_preupdate.ps1 . The default path is acceptable if you plan to use only the remote-updating mode. If you plan to use the self-updating mode, place cau_preupdate.ps1 in a directory such that the path does not include spaces. For more information, see Preparing to Configure Cluster-Aware Updating.

Note: You can also place the script on the SMB file share if you can access the SMB file share from all your hosts and the workstation that you are configuring the CAU from.
Click Save .

Caution: Do not change the auto-populated ConfigurationName field value. Otherwise, the script fails.

The CAU configuration is saved to an XML file in the following folder: C:\Windows\System32

What to do next

Save the Updating Run Profile to another location and use it for any other cluster updates.

Updating a Cluster by Using the Remote-Updating Mode

You can update the cluster by using the remote-updating mode to verify that CAU is configured and working correctly. You might need to use the remote-updating mode even when you have configured the self-updating mode, but mostly for updates that cannot wait until the next self-updating run.

About this task

Note: Do not turn off your workstation until all updates have been installed.

To update a cluster by using the remote-updating mode, do the following:

Procedure

In the Cluster-Aware Updating dialog box, click Apply updates to this cluster .
The Cluster-Aware Updating Wizard appears.
Read the information on the Getting Started page, and then click Next .
On the Advanced Options page, do the following.
1. In the Updating Run options based on field, enter the full path to the CAU configuration file that you created in Specifying the Nutanix Pre-Update Script in an Updating Run Profile .
2. Ensure that the full path to the downloaded script is shown in the PreUpdateScript field and that the value in the CauPluginName field is Microsoft.WindowsUpdatePlugin .
On the Additional Update Options page, do the following.
1. If you want to include recommended updates, select the Give me recommended updates the same way that I receive important updates check box.
2. Click Next .
On the Completion page, click Close .
The update process begins.
In the Cluster-Aware Updating dialog box, click the Log of Updates in Progress tab and monitor the update process.

Updating a Cluster by Using the Self-Updating Mode

The self-updating mode ensures that the cluster is up-to-date at all times.

About this task

To configure the self-updating mode, do the following:

Procedure

In the Cluster-Aware Updating dialog box, click Configure cluster self-updating options .
The Configure Self-Updating Options Wizard appears.
Read the information on the Getting Started page, and then click Next .
On the Add Clustered Role page, do the following.
1. Select the Add the CAU clustered role, with self-updating mode enabled, to this cluster check box.
2. If you have a prestaged computer account, select the I have a prestaged computer object for the CAU clustered role check box. Otherwise, leave the check box clear.
On the Self-updating schedule page, specify details such as the self-updating frequency and start date.
On the Advanced Options page, do the following.
1. In the Updating Run options based on field, enter the full path to the CAU configuration file that you created in Specifying the Nutanix Pre-Update Script in an Updating Run Profile .
2. Ensure that the full path to the Nutanix pre-update script is shown in the PreUpdateScript field and that the value in the CauPluginName field is Microsoft.WindowsUpdatePlugin .
On the Additional Update Options page, do the following.
1. If you want to include recommended updates, select the Give me recommended updates the same way that I receive important updates check box.
2. Click Next .
Click Close .

Moving a Hyper-V Cluster to a Different Domain

This topic describes the supported procedure to move all the hosts on a Nutanix cluster running Hyper-V from one domain to another domain. For example, you might need to do this when you are ready to transition a test cluster to your production environment. Ensure that you merge all the VM checkpoints before moving them to another domain. The VMs fail to start in another domain if there are multiple VM checkpoints.

Before you begin

This method involves cluster downtime. Therefore, schedule a maintenance window to perform the following operations.

Procedure

Note: If you are using System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) to manage the cluster, remove the cluster from the SCVMM console. Right-click the cluster in the SCVMM console, and select Remove .
Destroy the Hyper-V failover cluster using the Failover Cluster Manager or PowerShell commands.
Note:
- Remove all the roles from the cluster before destroying the cluster by doing either of the following:
  - Open Failover Cluster Manager, and select Roles from the left navigation pane. Select all the VM's, and select Remove .
  - Log on to any Hyper-V host with domain administrator user credentials and remove the roles with the PowerShell command Get-ClusterGroup | Remove-ClusterGroup -RemoveResources -Force .
- Destroying the cluster removes any non-VM role permanently. This does not impact the VMs, and the VMs are visible in Hyper-V manager only.
- Open Failover Cluster Manager, right-click select the cluster, and select More Actions > Destroy Cluster .
- Log on to any Hyper-V host with domain administrator user credentials and remove the cluster with the PowerShell command Remove-Cluster -Force -CleanupAD , which ensures that all Active Directory objects (all hosts in the Nutanix cluster, Hyper-V failover cluster object, Nutanix storage cluster object) and any corresponding entries are deleted.
Log on to any controller VM in the cluster and remove the Nutanix cluster from the domain by using nCLI; ensure that you also specify the Active Directory administrator user name.
```
nutanix@cvm$ ncli cluster unjoin-domain logon-name=domain\username
```

Log on to each host as the domain administrator user and remove the domain security identifiers from the virtual machines.

> $d = (Get-WMIObject Win32_ComputerSystem).Domain.Split(".")[0]
> Get-VMConnectAccess | Where {$_.username.StartsWith("$d\")} | `
  Foreach {Revoke-VMConnectAccess -VMName * -UserName $_.UserName}

Caution:

Ensure all the user VM's are powered off before performing this step.
Log on to any controller VM in the cluster and remove all hosts in the Nutanix cluster from the domain.
```
nutanix@cvm$ allssh 'source /etc/profile > /dev/null 2>&1; winsh "\$x=hostname; netdom \
  remove \$x /domain /force"'
```
Restart all hosts.

If a controller VM fails to restart, use the Repair-CVM Nutanix PowerShell cmdlet to help you recover from this issue. Otherwise, skip this step and perform the next step.

Log on to the Hyper-V host with Remote Desktop Connection and start PowerShell.

Start the controller VM repair process.

> Repair-CVM

The CVM will be shutdown. Proceed (Y/N)? Y

Progress is displayed in the PowerShell command-line shell. When the process is complete, the controller VM configuration information is displayed:

Using the following configuration:

Name                           Value
----                           -----
internal_adapter_name          Internal
name                           cvm-host-name
external_adapter_name          External
processor_count                8
memory_weight                  100
svmboot_iso_path               C:\Program Files\Nutanix\Cvm\cvm_name\svmboot.iso
nutanix_path                   C:\Program Files\Nutanix
vm_repository                  C:\Users\Administrator\Virtual Machines
internal_vswitch_name          InternalSwitch
processor_weight               200
external_vswitch_name          ExternalSwitch
memory_size_bytes              12884901888
pipe_name                      \\.\pipe\SVMPipe

What to do next

Add the hosts to the new domain as described in Adding the Cluster and Hosts to a Domain.

Recover a Controller VM by Using Repair-CVM

The Repair-CVM PowerShell cmdlet can repair an unusable or deleted Controller VM by removing the existing Controller VM (if present) and creating a new one. In the Nutanix enterprise cloud platform design, no data associated with the unusable or deleted Controller VM is lost.

About this task

If a Controller VM already exists and is running, Repair-CVM prompts you to shut down the Controller VM so it can be deleted and re-created. If the Controller VM has been deleted, the cmdlet creates a new one. In all cases, the new CVM automatically powers on and joins the cluster.

A Controller VM is considered unusable when:

The Controller VM is accidentally deleted.
The Controller VM configuration is accidentally or unintentionally changed and the original configuration parameters are unavailable.
The Controller VM fails to restart after unjoining the cluster from a Hyper-V domain as part of a domain move procedure.

To use the cmdlet, log on to the Hyper-V host, type Repair-CVM, and follow any prompts. The repair process creates a new Controller VM based on any available existing configuration information. If the process cannot find the information or the information does not exist, the cmdlet prompts you for:

Controller VM name
Controller VM memory size in GB
Number of processors to assign to the Controller VM

Note: After running this command, you need to manually re-apply all the custom configuration that you have performed, for example increased RAM size.

Procedure

Log on to the Hyper-V host with Remote Desktop Connection and start PowerShell.

Start the controller VM repair process.

> Repair-CVM
The CVM will be shutdown. Proceed (Y/N)? Y

Progress is displayed in the PowerShell command-line shell. When the process is complete, the controller VM configuration information is displayed:

Using the following configuration:

Name                 Value
----                           -----
internal_adapter_name          Internal
name                           cvm-host-name
external_adapter_name          External
processor_count                8
memory_weight                  100
svmboot_iso_path               C:\Program Files\Nutanix\Cvm\cvm_name\svmboot.iso
nutanix_path                   C:\Program Files\Nutanix
vm_repository                  C:\Users\Administrator\Virtual Machines
internal_vswitch_name          InternalSwitch
processor_weight               200
external_vswitch_name          ExternalSwitch
memory_size_bytes              12884901888
pipe_name                      \\.\pipe\SVMPipe

Connect to a Controller VM by Using Connect-CVM

Nutanix installs Hyper-V utilities on each Hyper-V host for troubleshooting and Controller VM access. This procedure describes how to use Connect-CVM to launch the FreeRDP utility to access a Controller VM console when a secure shell (SSH) is not available or cannot be used.

About this task

FreeRDP launches when you run: > Connect-CVM .

Procedure

Log on to a Hyper-V host in your environment and open a PowerShell command window.
Start Connect-CVM.
```
> Connect-CVM
```
In the authentication dialog box, type the local administrator credentials and click OK .
Log on to the Controller VM at the FreeRDP console window.
Login to the Controller VM by using Controller VM credentials.

Changing the Name of the Nutanix Storage Cluster

The name of the Nutanix Storage clusters cannot be changed by using the Web console.

About this task

To change the name of the Nutanix storage cluster, do the following:

Procedure

Log on to the CVM with SSH.
Unjoin the existing Nutanix storage cluster object from the domain.
```
ncli> cluster unjoin-domain logon-name=domain\username
```
Change the cluster name.
```
ncli> cluster edit-params new-name=cluster_name
```
Replace cluster_name with the new cluster name.

Create a new AD object corresponding to the new storage cluster name.

nutanix@cvm$ ncli cluster join-domain cluster-name=new_name domain=domain_name \
external-ip-address=external_ip_address name-server-ip=dns_ip logon-name=domain\username

Restart genesis on each Controller VM in the cluster.
```
nutanix@cvm$ allssh 'genesis restart'
```
A new entry for the cluster is created in \Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts on the Hyper-V hosts.

Changing the Nutanix Cluster External IP Address

About this task

To change the external IP address of the Nutanix cluster, do the following.

Procedure

Log on to the Controller VM with SSH.
Run the following command to change the cluster external IP address.
```
nutanix@cvm$ ncli cluster edit-params external-ip-address external_ip_address
```
Replace external_ip_address with the new Nutanix cluster external IP address.

Fast Clone a VM Based on Nutanix SMB Shares by using New-VMClone

This cmdlet provides for fast-cloning virtual machines that are based off of Nutanix SMB shares. This cmdlet provide options for creating one or more clones from a given virtual machine.

About this task

Run Get-Help New-VMClone -Full to get detailed help on using the cmdlet with all the options that are available.

Note: This cmdlet does not support creating clones of VMs that have Hyper-V checkpoints.

Procedure

Log on to the Hyper-V host with a Remote Desktop Connection and open a PowerShell command window.

The syntax to create single clone is as follows.

> New-VMClone -VM vm_name -CloneName clone_name -ComputerName computer_name`
 -DestinationUncPath destination_unc_path -PowerOn`
-Credential prism_credential common_parameters

The syntax to create multiple clones is as follows.

> New-VMClone -VM vm_name -CloneNamePrefix  clone_name_prefix`
-CloneNameSuffixBegin clone_name_suffix_begin -NCopies n_copies`
-ComputerName computer_name -DestinationUncPath destination_unc_path -PowerOn`
-Credential prism_credential -MaxConcurrency max_concurrency common_parameters

Replace vm_name with the name of the VM that you are cloning.
Replace clone_name with the name of the VM that you are creating.
Replace clone_name_prefix with the prefix that should be used for naming the clones.
Replace clone_name_suffix_begin with the starting number of the suffix.
Replace n_copies with the number of clones that you need to create.
Replace computer_name with the name of the computer on which you are creating the clone.
Replace destination_unc_path with path on the Nutanix SMB share to store the clone on.
Replace prism_credential with the credential to access the Prism (the Nutanix Management service).
Replace max_concurrency with the number of clones that you need to create in parallel.
Replace common_parameters with any additional parameters that you want to define. For example, -Verbose flag.

Change the Path of a VM Based on Nutanix SMB shares by using Set-VMPath

This cmdlet provides for repairing the UNC paths in the metadata of the VMs that are based off of Nutanix SMB shares and has the following two forms.

About this task

Replaces the specified IP address with the supplied DNS name for every occurrence of the IP address in the UNC paths in the VM metadata or configuration file.
Replaces the specified SMB server name with the supplied alternative in the UNC paths in the VM metadata without taking the case into consideration.

Note: You cannot use the Set-VMPath cmdlet in 4.5 release. You can use this cmdlet for 4.5.1 or later releases.

Procedure

Log on to the Hyper-V host with a Remote Desktop Connection and open a PowerShell command window.

The syntax to change the IP address to DNS name is as follows.

> Set-VMPath -VMId vm_id -IPAddress ip_address -DNSName dns_name common_parameters

The syntax to change the SMB server name is as follows.

> Set-VMPath -VMId vm_id -SmbServerName smb_server_name`
-ReplacementSmbServerName replacement_smb_server_name common_parameters

Replace vm_id with the ID of the VM.
Replace ip_address with the IP address that you want to replace in the VM metadata or configuration file.
Replace dns_name with the DNS name that you want to replace the IP address with.
Replace smb_server_name with the SMB server name that you want to replace.
Replace replacement_smb_server_name with the SMB server name that you want as a replacement.
Replace common_parameters with any additional parameters that you want to define. For example, -Verbose flag.

Note: The target VM must be powered off for the operation to complete.

Nutanix SMB Shares Connection Requirements from Outside the Cluster

For external non-Nutanix host that needs to access Nutanix SMB shares must conform to following requirements.

Any external non-Nutanix host that needs to access Nutanix SMB shares must run at least Windows 8 or later version if it is a desktop client, and Windows 2012 or later version if it is running Windows Server. This requirement is because SMB 3.0 support is required for accessing Nutanix SMB shares.
The IP address of the host must be allowed in the Nutanix storage cluster.
Note: The SCVMM host IP address is automatically included in the allowlist during the setup. For other IP addresses, you can add those source addresses to the allowlist after the setup configuration is completed by using the Web Console or the nCLI cluster add-to-nfs-whitelist command.
For accessing a Nutanix SMB share from Windows 10 or Windows Server 2016, you must enable Kerberos on the Nutanix cluster.
If Kerberos is not enabled in the Nutanix storage cluster (the default configuration), then the SMB client in the host must not have RequireSecuritySignature set to True. For more information about checking the policy, see System Center Virtual Machine Manager Configuration . You can verify this by running Get-SmbClientConfiguration in the host. If the SMB client is running in a Windows desktop instead of Windows Server, the account used to log on into the desktop should not be linked to an external Microsoft account.
If Kerberos is enabled in the Nutanix storage cluster, you can access the storage only by using the DNS name of the Nutanix storage cluster, and not by using the external IP address of the cluster.

Warning: Nutanix does not support using SMB shares of Hyper-V for storing anything other than virtual machine disks (e.g VHD, VHDX files) and their associated configuration files. This includes, but is not limited to, using Nutanix SMB shares of Hyper-V for general file sharing, virtual machine and configuration files for VMs running on outside of the Nutanix nodes, or any other type of hosted repository not based on virtual machine disks.

Updating the Cluster After Renaming the Hyper-V External Virtual Switch

About this task

You can rename the external virtual switch on your Hyper-V cluster to a name of your choice. After you rename the external virtual switch, you must update the new name in AOS so that AOS upgrades and VM migrations do not fail.

Note: In releases earlier than AOS 5.11, the name of the external virtual switch in your Hyper-V cluster must be ExternalSwitch .

See the Microsoft documentation for instructions about how to rename the external virtual switch.

Perform the following steps after you rename the external virtual switch.

Procedure

Log on to a CVM with SSH.
Restart Genesis on all the CVMs in the cluster.
```
nutanix@cvm$ genesis restart
```
Refresh all the guest VMs.
1. Log on to a Hyper-V host.
2. Go to Hyper-V Manager, select the VM and, in Settings , click the Refresh icon.
See the Microsoft documentation for the updated instructions about how to refresh the guest VMs.

Upgrade to Windows Server Version 2016, 2019, and 2022

The following procedures describe how to upgrade earlier releases of Windows Server to Windows Server 2016, 2019, and 2022. For information about fresh installation of Windows Server, see Hyper-V Configuration.

Note: If you are upgrading from Windows Server 2012 R2 and if the AOS version is less than 5.11, then upgrade to Windows Server 2016 first and then upgrade to AOS 5.17. Proceed with upgrading to Windows Server 2019 if necessary.

Hyper-V Hypervisor Upgrade Recommendations, Requirements, and Limitations

This section provides the requirements, recommendations, and limitations to upgrade Hyper-V.

Recommendations

Nutanix recommends that you schedule a sufficiently long maintenance window to upgrade your Hyper-V clusters.

Budget sufficient time to upgrade: Depending on the number of VMs running on a node before the upgrade, a node could take more than 1.5 hours to upgrade. For example, the total time to upgrade a Hyper-V cluster from Hyper-V 2016 to Hyper-V 2019 is approximately the time per node multiplied by the number of nodes. Upgrading can take longer if you also need to upgrade your AOS version.

Requirements

Note:

You can upgrade to Windows Server 2022 Hyper-V only from a Hyper-V 2019 cluster.
Upgrade to Windows Server 2022 Hyper-V from an LACP enabled Hyper-V 2019 cluster is not supported.
Direct upgrade to Windows Server 2022 Hyper-V from Hyper-V 2016 or Windows Server 2012 R2 is not supported.

For Windows Server 2022 Hyper-V, only NX Series G6 and later models are supported.
For Windows Server 2022 Hyper-V, SET is the default teaming mode. LBFO teaming is not supported on Windows Server 2022 Hyper-V.
For Hyper-V 2019, if you do not choose LACP/LAG, SET is the default teaming mode. NX Series G5 and later models support Hyper-V 2019.
For Hyper-V 2016, if you do not choose LACP/LAG, the teaming mode is Switch Independent LBFO teaming.
For Hyper-V (2016 and 2019), if you choose LACP/LAG, the teaming mode is Switch Dependant LBFO teaming.

The platform must not be a light-compute platform.
Before upgrading, disable or uninstall third-party antivirus or security filter drivers that modify Windows firewall rules. Windows firewalls must accept inbound and outbound SSH traffic outside of the domain rules.
Enable Kerberos when upgrading from Windows Server 2012 R2 to Windows Server 2016. For more information, see Enabling Kerberos for Hyper-V .
Note: Kerberos is enabled by default when upgrading from Windows Server 2016 to Windows Server 2019.
Enable virtual machine migration on the host. Upgrading reimages the hypervisor. Any custom or non-standard hypervisor configurations could be lost after the upgrade is completed.
If you are using System Center for Virtual Machine Management (SCVMM) 2012, upgrade to SCVMM 2016 first before upgrading to Hyper-V 2016. Similarly, upgrade to SCVMM 2019 before upgrading to Hyper-V 2019 and upgrade to SCVMM 2022 before upgrading to Windows Server 2022 Hyper-V.
Upgrade using ISOs and Nutanix JSON File
- Upgrade using ISOs. The Prism Element web console supports 1-click upgrade ( Upgrade Software dialog box) of Hyper-V 2016, 2019, or 2022 by using metadata upgrade JSON file. This file is available in the Nutanix Support portal Hypervisor Details page and the Microsoft Hyper-V ISO file.
- The Hyper-V upgrade JSON file, when used on clusters where Foundation 4.0 or later is installed, is available for Nutanix NX series G4 and later, Dell EMC XC series, or Lenovo Converged HX series platforms. You can upgrade hosts to Hyper-V 2016, 2019 (except for NX series G4) on these platforms by using this JSON file.

Limitations

When upgrading hosts to Hyper-V 2016, 2019, and later versions, the local administrator user name and password is reset to the default administrator name Administrator and password of nutanix/4u. Any previous changes to the administrator name and/or password are overwritten.
VMs with any associated files on local storage are lost.
- Logical networks are not restored immediately after upgrade. If you configure logical switches, the configuration is not retained and VMs could become unavailable.
- Any VMs created during hypervisor upgrade (including as part of disaster recovery operations) and not marked as HA (High Availability) experiences unavailability.
- Disaster recovery: VMs with the Automatic Stop Action property set to Save is marked as CBR Not Capable if they are upgraded to version 8.0 after upgrading the hypervisor. Change the value of Automatic Stop Action to ShutDown or TurnOff when the VM is upgraded so that it is not marked as CBR Not Capable
Enabling Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP) for your cluster deployment is supported when upgrading hypervisor hosts from Windows Server 2016 to 2019.

Upgrading to Windows Server Version 2016, 2019, and 2022

About this task

Note:

It is possible that clusters running Windows Server 2012 R2 and AOS have time synchronization issues. Therefore, before you upgrade to Windows Server 2016 or Windows Server 2019 and AOS, make sure that the cluster is free from time synchronization issues.
Windows Server 2016 also implements Discrete Device Assignment (DDA) for passing through PCI Express devices to guest VMs. This feature is available in Windows Server 2019 too. Therefore, DiskMonitorService, which was used in earlier AOS releases for passing disks through to the CVM, no longer exists. For more information about DDA, see the Microsoft documentation.

Procedure

Make sure that AOS, host, and hypervisor upgrade prerequisites are met.
For more information, see Hyper-V Hypervisor Upgrade Recommendations, Requirements, and Limitations and the Acropolis Upgrade Guide.
Upgrade AOS by either using the one-click upgrade procedure or uploading the installation files manually. The Prism web console performs both procedures.
- After upgrading AOS and before upgrading your cluster hypervisor, perform a Life Cycle Manager (LCM) inventory, update LCM, and upgrade any recommended firmware. For more information, see the Life Cycle Manager documentation .
- For more information, including recommended installation or upgrade order, see the Acropolis Upgrade Guide.
Do one of the following if you want to manage your VMs with SCVMM:
1. If you register the Hyper-V cluster with an SCVMM installation with a version that is earlier to 2016, do the following in any order:
  - Unregister the cluster from SCVMM.
  - Upgrade SCVMM to version 2016. See Microsoft documentation for this upgrade procedure.
    Note: Do the same when upgrading from Hyper-V 2016 to 2019. Upgrade SCVMM to version 2019 and register the cluster to SCVMM 2019. Similarly, when upgrading to any higher version, upgrade SCVMM to that version and register the cluster to the upgraded SCVMM.
2. If you do not have SCVMM, deploy SCVMM 2016 / 2019/2022. See Microsoft documentation for this installation procedure.
Regardless of whether you deploy a new instance of SCVMM 2016 or you upgrade an existing SCVMM installation, do not register the Hyper-V cluster with SCVMM now. To minimize the steps in the overall upgrade workflow, register the cluster with SCVMM 2016 after you upgrade the Hyper-V hosts.
If you are upgrading from Windows Server 2012 R2 to Windows Server 2016, then enable Kerberos. For more information, see Enabling Kerberos for Hyper-V.
Upgrade the Hyper-V hosts.
After the cluster is up, add the cluster to SCVMM 2016. The procedure for adding the cluster to SCVMM 2016 is the procedure used for earlier versions of SCVMM. For more information, see Registering a Cluster with SCVMM.
Any log redirection (for example, SCOM log redirection) configurations are lost during the hypervisor upgrade process. Reconfigure log redirection.

System Center Virtual Machine Manager Configuration

System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) is a management platform for Hyper-V clusters. Nutanix provides a utility for joining Hyper-V hosts to a domain and adding Hyper-V hosts and storage to SCVMM. If you cannot or do not want to use this utility, you must join to hosts to the domain and add the hosts and storage to SCVMM manually.

Note: The Validate Cluster feature of the Microsoft System Center VM Manager (SCVMM) is not supported for Nutanix clusters managed by SCVMM.

SCVMM Configuration

After joining cluster and its constituent hosts to the domain and creating a failover cluster, you can configure SCVMM.

Registering a Cluster with SCVMM

Perform the following procedure to register a cluster with SCVMM.

Before you begin

Join the hosts in the Nutanix cluster to a domain manually or by following Adding the Cluster and Hosts to a Domain.
Make sure that the hosts are not registered with SCVMM.

Procedure

Log on to any CVM in the cluster using SSH.

Verify that the status of all services on all the CVMs are Up.

nutanix@cvm$ cluster status

If the Nutanix cluster is running properly, output similar to the following is displayed for each node in the Nutanix cluster.

CVM:host IP-Address Up
                                Zeus   UP       [9935, 9980, 9981, 9994, 10015, 10037]
                           Scavenger   UP       [25880, 26061, 26062]
                              Xmount   UP       [21170, 21208]
                    SysStatCollector   UP       [22272, 22330, 22331]
                           IkatProxy   UP       [23213, 23262]
                    IkatControlPlane   UP       [23487, 23565]
                       SSLTerminator   UP       [23490, 23620]
                      SecureFileSync   UP       [23496, 23645, 23646]
                              Medusa   UP       [23912, 23944, 23945, 23946, 24176]
                  DynamicRingChanger   UP       [24314, 24404, 24405, 24558]
                              Pithos   UP       [24317, 24555, 24556, 24593]
                          InsightsDB   UP       [24322, 24472, 24473, 24583]
                              Athena   UP       [24329, 24504, 24505]
                             Mercury   UP       [24338, 24515, 24516, 24614]
                              Mantle   UP       [24344, 24572, 24573, 24634]
                          VipMonitor   UP       [18387, 18464, 18465, 18466, 18474]
                            Stargate   UP       [24993, 25032]
                InsightsDataTransfer   UP       [25258, 25348, 25349, 25388, 25391, 25393, 25396]
                               Ergon   UP       [25263, 25414, 25415]
                             Cerebro   UP       [25272, 25462, 25464, 25581]
                             Chronos   UP       [25281, 25488, 25489, 25547]
                             Curator   UP       [25294, 25528, 25529, 25585]
                               Prism   UP       [25718, 25801, 25802, 25899, 25901, 25906, 25941, 25942]
                                 CIM   UP       [25721, 25829, 25830, 25856]
                        AlertManager   UP       [25727, 25862, 25863, 25990]
                            Arithmos   UP       [25737, 25896, 25897, 26040]
                             Catalog   UP       [25749, 25989, 25991]
                           Acropolis   UP       [26011, 26118, 26119]
                               Uhura   UP       [26037, 26165, 26166]
                                Snmp   UP       [26057, 26214, 26215]
                   NutanixGuestTools   UP       [26105, 26282, 26283, 26299]
                          MinervaCVM   UP       [27343, 27465, 27466, 27730]
                       ClusterConfig   UP       [27358, 27509, 27510]
                            Aequitas   UP       [27368, 27567, 27568, 27600]
                         APLOSEngine   UP       [27399, 27580, 27581]
                               APLOS   UP       [27853, 27946, 27947]
                               Lazan   UP       [27865, 27997, 27999]
                              Delphi   UP       [27880, 28058, 28060]
                                Flow   UP       [27896, 28121, 28124]
                             Anduril   UP       [27913, 28143, 28145]
                               XTrim   UP       [27956, 28171, 28172]
                       ClusterHealth   UP       [7102, 7103, 27995, 28209,28495, 28496, 28503, 28510,	
28573, 28574, 28577, 28594, 28595, 28597, 28598, 28602, 28603, 28604, 28607, 28645, 28646, 28648, 28792,	
28793, 28837, 28838, 28840, 28841, 28858, 28859, 29123, 29124, 29127, 29133, 29135, 29142, 29146, 29150,	
29161, 29162, 29163, 29179, 29187, 29219, 29268, 29273]

Add the Nutanix hosts and storage to SCVMM.

nutanix@cvm$ setup_hyperv.py setup_scvmm

This script performs the following functions.

Adds the cluster to SCVMM.
Sets up the library share in SCVMM.
Unregisters the deleted storage containers from SCVMM.
Registers the new storage containers in SCVMM.

Alternatively, you can specify all the parameters as given in the following steps as command-line arguments. If you do so, enclose the values in single quotation marks since the Controller VM shell does not otherwise correctly interpret the backslash (\).

The utility prompts for the necessary parameters, for example:

Getting the cluster configuration ... Done
Getting information about each host ... Done
The hosts are joined to domain hyperv.nutanix.com

Please enter the domain account username that has local administrator rights on
the hosts: hyperv.nutanix.com\Administrator
Please enter the password for hyperv.nutanix.com\Administrator:
Verifying credentials for accessing localhost ... Done

Please enter the name of the SCVMM server: scvmmhyperv
Getting the SCVMM server IP address ... 10.4.34.44
Adding 10.4.34.44 to the IP address whitelist ... Done

Please enter the domain account username (e.g. username@corp.contoso.com or
CORP.CONTOSO.COM\username) that has administrator rights on the SCVMM server
and is a member of the domain administrators group (press ENTER for hyperv.nutanix.com\Administrator):
Verifying credentials for accessing scvmmhyperv ... Done

Verifying SCVMM service account ... HYPERV\scvmm

All nodes are already part of the Hyper-V failover cluster msfo-tulip.
Preparing to join the Nutanix storage cluster to domain ... Already joined
Creating an SCVMM run-as account ... hyperv-Administrator
Verifying the DNS entry tulip.hyperv.nutanix.com -> 10.4.36.191 ... Done
Verifying that the Hyper-V failover cluster IP address has been added to DNS ... 10.4.36.192
Verifying SCVMM security settings ... Done
Initiating adding the failover cluster to SCVMM ... Done
Step 2 of adding the failover cluster to SCVMM ... Done
Final step of adding the failover cluster to SCVMM ... Done
Querying registered Nutanix library shares ... None
Add a Nutanix share to the SCVMM library for storing VM templates, useful for deploying VMs using Fast File Copy ([Y]/N)? Y
Querying the registered library servers ... Done
Using library server scvmmhyperv.hyperv.nutanix.com.
Please enter the name of the Nutanix library share to be created (press ENTER for "msfo-tulip-library"):
Creating container msfo-tulip-library ... Done
Registering msfo-tulip-library as a library share with server scvmmhyperv.hyperv.nutanix.com in SCVMM ... Done
Please enter the Prism password:
Registering the SMI-S provider with SCVMM ... Done
Configuring storage in SCVMM ... Done
Registered default-container-11962

Type the domain account username and password.
This username must include the fully-qualified domain name, for example hyperv.nutanix.com\Administrator .
Type the SCVMM server name.
The name must resolve to an IP address.
Type the SCVMM username and password if they are different from the domain account; otherwise press Enter to use the domain account.

Choose whether to create a library share.

Add a Nutanix share to the SCVMM library for storing VM templates, useful for
 deploying VMs using Fast File Copy ([Y]/N)?

If you choose to create a library share, output similar to the following is displayed.

Querying the registered library servers ... Done
Add a Nutanix share to the SCVMM library for storing VM templates, useful for deploying VMs using Fast File Copy ([Y]/N)? Y
Querying the registered library servers ... Done
Using library server scvmmhyperv.hyperv.nutanix.com.
Please enter the name of the Nutanix library share to be created (press ENTER
 for "NTNX-HV-library"):
Creating container NTNX-HV-library ... Done
Registering NTNX-HV-library as a library share with server scvmmhyperv.hyperv.nutanix.com ... Done

Finally the following output is displayed.

Registering the SMI-S provider with SCVMM ... Done
Configuring storage in SCVMM ... Done
Registered share ctr1

Setup complete.

Note: You can also register Nutanix Cluster by using SCVMM. For more information, see Adding Hosts and Storage to SCVMM Manually (SCVMM User Interface).

Warning: If you change the Prism password, you must change the Prism run as account in SCVMM.

Adding Hosts and Storage to SCVMM Manually (SCVMM User Interface)

If you are unable to add hosts and storage to SCVMM by using the utility provided by Nutanix, you can add the hosts and storage to SCVMM by using the SCVMM user interface.

Before you begin

Verify that the SCVMM server IP address is on the cluster allowlist.
Verify that the SCVMM library server has a run-as account specified. Right-click the library server, click Properties , and ensure that Library management credential is populated.

Procedure

Log into the SCVMM user interface and click VMs and Services .
Right-click All Hosts and select Add Hyper-V Hosts and Clusters , and click Next .
The Specify the Credentials to use for discovery screen appears.
Click Browse and select an existing Run As Account or create a new Run As Account by clicking Create Run As Account . Click OK and then click Next .
The Specify the search scope for virtual machine host candidates screen appears.
Type the failover cluster name in the Computer names text box, and click Next .
Select the failover cluster that you want to add, and click Next .
Select Reassociate this host with this VMM environment check box, and click Next .
The Confirm the settings screen appears.
Click Finish .
Warning: If you are adding the cluster for the first time, the addition action fails with the following error message.
```
Error (10400)
Before Virtual Machine Manager can perform the current operation, the virtualization server must be restarted.
```
Remove the cluster that you were adding and perform the same procedure again.
Register a Nutanix SMB share as a library share in SCVMM by clicking Library and then adding the Nutanix SMB share.
1. Right-click the Library Servers and click Add Library Shares .
2. Click Add Unmanaged Share and type the SMB file share path, click OK , and click Next .
3. Click Add Library Shares .
  If all the parameters are correct, the library share is added.
Register the Nutanix SMI-S provider.
1. Go to Settings > Security > Run As Accounts and click Create Run As Account .
2. Enter the Prism user name and password, de-select Validate domain credentials , and click Finish .
  
  Note:
  Only local Prism accounts are supported and even if AD authentication in Prism is configured, SMI-S provider cannot use it for authentication.
3. Go to Fabric > Storage > Providers .
4. Right-click Providers and select Add Storage Devices .
5. Select SAN and NAS devices discovered and managed by a SMI-S provider check box, and Click Next .
6. Specify the protocol and address of the storage SMI-S provider.
  - In the Protocol drop-down menu, select SMI-S CIMXML .
  - In the Provider IP Address or FQDN text box, provide the Nutanix storage cluster name. For example, clus-smb .
    Note: The Nutanix storage cluster name is not the same as the Hyper-V cluster name. You should get the storage cluster name from the cluster details in the web console.
  - Select the Use Secure sockets layer SSL connection check box.
  - In the Run As Account field, click Browse and select the Prism Run As Account that you have created earlier, and click Next .
  Note: If you encounter the following error when attempting to add an SMI-S provider, see KB 5070:
```
Could not retrieve a certificate from the <clustername> server because of the error:
The request was aborted: Could not create SSL/TLS secure channel.
```
7. Click Import to verify the identity of the storage provider.
  The discovery process starts and at the completion of the process, the storage is displayed.
8. Click Next and select all the SMB shares exported by the Nutanix cluster except the library share and click Next .
9. Click Finish .
  The newly added provider is displayed under Providers. Go to Storage > File Clusters to verify that the Managed column is Yes .
Add the file shares to the Nutanix cluster by navigating to VMs and Services .
1. Right-click the cluster name and select Properties .
2. Go to File Share Storage , and click Add to add file shares to the cluster.
3. From the File share path drop-down menu, select all the shares that you want to add, and click OK .
4. Right-click the cluster and click Refresh . Wait for the refresh job to finish.
5. Right-click the cluster name and select Properties > File Share Storage . You should see the access status with a green check mark, which means that the shares are successfully added.
6. Select all the virtual machines in the cluster, right-click, and select Refresh .

SCVMM Operations

You can perform the operational procedures on a Hyper-V mode by using SCVMM such as placing a host in the maintenance mode.

Placing a Host in Maintenance Mode

If you try to place a host that is managed by SCVMM in maintenance mode, by default the Controller VM running on the host is placed in the saved state, which might create issues. Perform the following procedure to properly place a host in the maintenance mode.

Procedure

Log into the Controller VM of the host that you are planning to place in maintenance mode by using SSH and shut down the Controller VM.
```
nutanix@cvm$ cvm_shutdown -P now
```
Wait for the Controller VM to completely shut down.
Select the host and place it in the maintenance mode by navigating to the Host tab in the Host group and clicking Start Maintenance Mode .
Wait for the operation to complete before performing any maintenance activity on the host.
After the maintenance activity is completed, bring out the host from the maintenance mode by navigating to the Host tab in the Host group and clicking Stop Maintenance Mode .
Start the Controller VM manually.

Migration Guide

AOS 6.5

Product Release Date: 2022-07-25

Last updated: 2022-07-25

This Document Has Been Removed

Nutanix Move is the Nutanix-recommended tool for migrating a VM. Please see the Move documentation at the Nutanix Support portal.

Read article

vSphere Administration Guide for Acropolis

AOS 6.5

Product Release Date: 2022-07-25

Last updated: 2022-12-08

Overview

Nutanix Enterprise Cloud delivers a resilient, web-scale hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) solution built for supporting your virtual and hybrid cloud environments. The Nutanix architecture runs a storage controller called the Nutanix Controller VM (CVM) on every Nutanix node in a cluster to form a highly distributed, shared-nothing infrastructure.

All CVMs work together to aggregate storage resources into a single global pool that guest VMs running on the Nutanix nodes can consume. The Nutanix Distributed Storage Fabric manages storage resources to preserve data and system integrity if there is node, disk, application, or hypervisor software failure in a cluster. Nutanix storage also enables data protection and High Availability that keep critical data and guest VMs protected.

This guide describes the procedures and settings required to deploy a Nutanix cluster running in the VMware vSphere environment. To know more about the VMware terms referred to in this document, see the VMware Documentation.

Hardware Configuration

See the Field Installation Guide for information about how to deploy and create a Nutanix cluster running ESXi for your hardware. After you create the Nutanix cluster by using Foundation, use this guide to perform the management tasks.

Limitations

For information about ESXi configuration limitations, see Nutanix Configuration Maximums webpage.

Nutanix Software Configuration

The Nutanix Distributed Storage Fabric aggregates local SSD and HDD storage resources into a single global unit called a storage pool. In this storage pool, you can create several storage containers, which the system presents to the hypervisor and uses to host VMs. You can apply a different set of compression, deduplication, and replication factor policies to each storage container.

Storage Pools

A storage pool on Nutanix is a group of physical disks from one or more tiers. Nutanix recommends configuring only one storage pool for each Nutanix cluster.

Replication factor: Nutanix supports a replication factor of 2 or 3. Setting the replication factor to 3 instead of 2 adds an extra data protection layer at the cost of more storage space for the copy. For use cases where applications provide their own data protection or high availability, you can set a replication factor of 1 on a storage container.

Containers: The Nutanix storage fabric presents usable storage to the vSphere environment as an NFS datastore. The replication factor of a storage container determines its usable capacity. For example, replication factor 2 tolerates one component failure and replication factor 3 tolerates two component failures. When you create a Nutanix cluster, three storage containers are created by default. Nutanix recommends that you do not delete these storage containers. You can rename the storage container named default - xxx and use it as the main storage container for hosting VM data.

Note: The available capacity and the vSphere maximum of 2,048 VMs limits the number of VMs a datastore can host.

Capacity Optimization

Nutanix recommends enabling inline compression unless otherwise advised.
Nutanix recommends disabling deduplication for all workloads except VDI.
For mixed-workload Nutanix clusters, create a separate storage container for VDI workloads and enable deduplication on that storage container.

Nutanix CVM Settings

CPU: Keep the default settings as configured by the Foundation during the hardware configuration.
Change the CPU settings only if Nutanix Support recommends it.

Memory: Most workloads use less than 32 GB RAM memory per CVM. However, for mission-critical workloads with large working sets, Nutanix recommends more than 32 GB CVM RAM memory.

Tip: You can increase CVM RAM memory up to 64 GB using the Prism one-click memory upgrade procedure. For more information, see Increasing the Controller VM Memory Size in the Prism Web Console Guide .

Networking: The Nutanix CVM uses the standard Ethernet MTU (maximum transmission unit) of 1500 bytes for all the network interfaces by default. The standard 1500 byte MTU helps deliver enhanced excellent performance and stability. Nutanix does not support configuring the MTU on a network interface of CVMs to higher values.

Caution: Do not use jumbo Frames for the Nutanix CVM.

Caution: Do not change the vSwitchNutanix or the internal vmk (VMkernel) interface.

Nutanix Cluster Settings

Nutanix recommends that you do the following.

Map a Nutanix cluster to only one vCenter Server.
Due to the way the Nutanix architecture distributes data, there is limited support for mapping a Nutanix cluster to multiple vCenter Servers. Some Nutanix products (Move, Era, Calm, Files, Prism Central), and features (disaster recovery solution) are unstable when a Nutanix cluster maps to multiple vCenter Servers.
Configure a Nutanix cluster with replication factor 2 or replication factor 3.

Tip: Nutanix recommends using replication factor 3 for clusters with more than 16 nodes. Replication factor 3 requires at least five nodes so that the data remains online even if two nodes fail concurrently.
Use the advertised capacity feature to ensure that the resiliency capacity is equivalent to one node of usable storage for replication factor 2 or two nodes for replication factor 3.
The advertised capacity of a storage container must equal the total usable cluster space minus the capacity of either one or two nodes. For example, in a 4-node cluster with 20 TB usable space per node with replication factor 2, the advertised capacity of the storage container must be 60 TB. That spares 20 TB capacity to sustain and rebuild one node for self-healing. Similarly, in a 5-node cluster with 20 TB usable space per node with replication factor 3, advertised capacity of the storage container must be 60 TB. That spares 40 TB capacity to sustain and rebuild two nodes for self-healing.
Use the default storage container and mounting it on all the ESXi hosts in the Nutanix cluster.
You can also create a single storage container. If you are creating multiple storage containers, ensure that all the storage containers follow the advertised capacity recommendation.
Configure the vSphere cluster according to settings listed in vSphere Cluster Settings Checklist.

Software Acceptance Level

The Foundation sets the software acceptance level of an ESXi image to CommunitySupported by default. If there is a requirement to upgrade the software acceptance level, run the following command to upgrade the software acceptance level to the maximum acceptance level of PartnerSupported .

root@esxi# esxcli software acceptance set --level=PartnerSupported

Scratch Partition Settings

ESXi uses the scratch partition (/scratch) to dump the logs when it encounters a purple screen of death (PSOD) or a kernel dump. The Foundation install automatically creates this partition on the SATA DOM or M.2 device with the ESXi installation. Moving the scratch partition to any location other than the SATA DOM or M.2 device can cause issues with LCM, 1-click hypervisor updates, and the general stability of the Nutanix node.

vSphere Networking

vSphere on the Nutanix platform enables you to dynamically configure, balance, or share logical networking components across various traffic types. To ensure availability, scalability, performance, management, and security of your infrastructure, configure virtual networking when designing a network solution for Nutanix clusters.

You can configure networks according to your requirements. For detailed information about vSphere virtual networking and different networking strategies, refer to the Nutanix vSphere Storage Solution Document and the VMware Documentation . This chapter describes the configuration elements required to run VMware vSphere on the Nutanix Enterprise infrastrucutre.

Virtual Networking Configuration Options

vSphere on Nutanix supports the following types of virtual switches.

vSphere Standard Switch (vSwitch): vSphere Standard Switch (vSS) with Nutanix vSwitch is the default configuration for Nutanix deployments and suits most use cases. A vSwitch detects which VMs are connected to each virtual port and uses that information to forward traffic to the correct VMs. You can connect a vSwitch to physical switches by using physical Ethernet adapters (also referred to as uplink adapters) to join virtual networks with physical networks. This type of connection is similar to connecting physical switches together to create a larger network.

Tip: A vSwitch works like a physical Ethernet switch.

vSphere Distributed Switch (vDS): Nutanix recommends vSphere Distributed Switch (vDS) coupled with network I/O control (NIOC version 2) and load-based teaming. This combination provides simplicity, ensures traffic prioritization if there is contention, and reduces operational management overhead. A vDS acts as a single virtual switch across all associated hosts on a datacenter. It enables VMs to maintain consistent network configuration as they migrate across multiple hosts. For more information about vDS, see NSX-T Support on Nutanix Platform.

Nutanix recommends setting all vNICs as active on the port group and dvPortGroup unless otherwise specified. The following table lists the naming convention, port groups, and the corresponding VLAN Nutanix uses for various traffic types.

Table 1. Port Groups and Corresponding VLAN
Port group	VLAN	Description
MGMT_10	10	VM kernel interface for host management traffic
VMOT_20	20	VM kernel interface for vMotion traffic
FT_30	30	Fault tolerance traffic
VM_40	40	VM traffic
VM_50	50	VM traffic
NTNX_10	10	Nutanix CVM to CVM cluster communication traffic (public interface)
Svm-iscsi-pg	N/A	Nutanix CVM to internal host traffic
VMK-svm-iscsi-pg	N/A	VM kernel port for CVM to hypervisor communication (internal)

All Nutanix configurations use an internal-only vSwitch for the NFS communication between the ESXi host and the Nutanix CVM.This vSwitch remains unmodified regardless of the virtual networking configuration for ESXi management, VM traffic, vMotion, and so on.

Caution: Do not modify the internal-only vSwitch (vSwitch-Nutanix). vSwitch-Nutanix facilitates communication between the CVM and the internal hypervisor.

VMware NSX Support

Running VMware NSX on Nutanix infrastructure ensures that VMs always have access to fast local storage and compute, consistent network addressing and security without the burden of physical infrastructure constraints. The supported scenario connects the Nutanix CVM to a traditional VLAN network, with guest VMs inside NSX virtual networks. For more information, see the Nutanix vSphere Storage Solution Document .

NSX-T Support on Nutanix Platform

Nutanix platform relies on communication with vCenter to work with networks backed by vSphere standard switch (vSS) or vSphere Distributed Switch (vDS). With the introduction of a new management plane, that enables network management agnostic to the compute manager (vCenter), network configuration information is available through the NSX-T manager. To collect the network configuration information from the NSX-T Manager, you must modify the Nutanix infrastructure workflows (AOS upgrades, LCM upgrades, and so on).

The Nutanix platform supports the following in the NSX-T configuration.

ESXi hypervisor only.
vSS and vDS virtual switch configurations.
Nutanix CVM connection to VLAN backed NSX-T segments only.
The NSX-T Manager credentials registration using the CLI.

The Nutanix platform does not support the following in the NSX-T configuration.

Network segmentation with N-VDS.
Nutanix CVM connection to overlay NSX-T segments.
Link Aggregation/LACP for the uplinks backing the NVDS host switch connecting Nutanix CVMs.
The NSX-T Manager credentials registration through Prism.

NSX-T Segments

Nutanix supports NSX-T logical segments to co-exist on Nutanix clusters running ESXi hypervisors. All infrastructure workflows that include the use of the Foundation, 1-click upgrades, and AOS upgrades are validated to work in the NSX-T configurations where CVM is backed by the NSX-T VLAN logical segment.

NSX-T has the following types of segments.

VLAN backed: VLAN backed segments operate similar to the standard port group in a vSphere switch. A port group is created on the NVDS, and VMs that are connected to the port group have their network packets tagged with the configured VLAN ID.

Overlay backed: Overlay backed segments use the Geneve overlay to create a logical L2 network over L3 network. Encapsulation occurs at the transport layer (which is the NVDS module on the host).

Multicast Filtering

Enabling multicast snooping on a vDS with a Nutanix CVM attached affects the ability of CVM to discover and add new nodes in the Nutanix cluster (the cluster expand option in Prism and the Nutanix CLI).

Creating Segment for NVDS

This procedure provides details about creating a segment for nVDS.

About this task

To check the vSwitch configuration of the host and verify if NSX-T network supports the CVM port-group, perform the following steps.

Procedure

Log on to vCenter sever and go to the NSX-T Manager.
Click Networking , and go to Connectivity > Segments in the left pane.
Click ADD SEGMENT under the SEGMENTS tab on the right pane and specify the following information.

Figure. Create New Segment Click to enlarge
1. Segment Name : Enter a name for the segment.
2. Transport Zone : Select the VLAN-based transport zone.
  This transport name is associated with the Transport Zone when configuring the NSX switch .
3. VLAN : Enter the number 0 for native VLAN.
Click Save to create a segment for NVDS.
Click Yes when the system prompts to continue with configuring the segment.
The newly created segment appears below the prompt.
Figure. New Segment Created Click to enlarge

Creating NVDS Switch on the Host by Using NSX-T Manager

This procedure provides instructions to create an NVDS switch on the ESXi host. The management and CVM external interface of the host is migrated to the NVDS switch.

About this task

To create an NVDS switch and configure the NSX-T Manager, do the following.

Procedure

Log on to NSX-T Manager.
Click System , and go to Configuration > Fabric > Nodes in the left pane.

Figure. Add New Node Click to enlarge
Click ADD HOST NODE under the HOST TRANSPORT NODES in the right pane.
1. Specify the following information in the Host Details dialog box.
  
  Figure. Add Host Details Click to enlarge
  - 1. Name : Enter an identifiable ESXi host name.
    2. Host IP : Enter the IP address of the ESXi host.
    3. Username : Enter the username used to log on to the ESXi host.
    4. Password : Enter the password used to log on to the ESXi host.
    5. Click Next to move to the NSX configuration.
2. Specify the following information in the Configure NSX dialog box.
  
  Figure. Configure NSX Click to enlarge
  - 1. Mode : Select Standard option.
      Nutanix recommends the Standard mode only.
    2. Name : Displays the default name of the virtual switch that appears on the host. You can edit the default name and provide an identifiable name as per your configuration requirements.
    3. Transport Zone : Select the transport zone that you selected in Creating Segment for NVDS.
      These segments operate in the way similar to the standard port group in a vSphere switch. A port group is created on the NVDS, and VMs that are connected to the port group have their network packets tagged with the configured VLAN ID.
    4. Uplink Profile : Select an uplink profile for the new nVDS switch.
      This selected uplink profile represents the NICs connected to the host. For more information about uplink profiles, see the VMware Documentation .
    5. LLDP Profile : Select the LLDP profile for the new nVDS switch.
      For more information about LLDP profiles, see the VMware Documentation .
    6. Teaming Policy Uplink Mapping : Map the uplinks with the physical NICs of the ESXi host.
      Note: To verify the active physical NICs on the host, select ESXi host > Configure > Networking > Physical Adapters .
      
      Click Edit icon and enter the name of the active physical NIC in the ESXi host selected for migration to the NVDS.
      
      Note: Always migrate one physical NIC at a time to avoid connectivity failure with the ESXi host.
    7. PNIC only Migration : Turn on the switch to Yes if there are no VMkernal Adapters (vmks) associated with the PNIC selected for migration from vSS switch to the nVDS switch.
    8. Network Mapping for Install . Click Add Mapping to migrate the VMkernels (vmks) to the NVDS switch.
    9. Network Mapping for Uninstall : To revert the migration of VMKernels.
Click Finish to create the ESXi host to the NVDS switch.
The newly created nVDS switch appears on the ESXi host.
Figure. NVDS Switch Created Click to enlarge

Registering NSX-T Manager with Nutanix

After migrating the external interface of the host and the CVM to the NVDS switch, it is mandatory to inform Genesis about the registration of the cluster with the NSX-T Manager. This registration helps Genesis communicate with the NSX-T Manager and avoid failures during LCM, 1-click, and AOS upgrades.

About this task

This procedure demonstrates an AOS upgrade error encountered for a non-registered NSX-T Manager with Nutanix and how to register the the NSX-T Manager with Nutanix and resolve the issue.

To register an the NSX-T Manager with Nutanix, do the following.

Procedure

Log on to the Prism Element web console.
Select VM > Settings > Upgrade Software > Upgrade > Pre-upgrade to upgrade AOS on the host.

Figure. Upgrade AOS Click to enlarge
The upgrade process throws an error if the NSX-T Manager is not registered with Nutanix.

Figure. AOS Upgrade Error for Unregistered NSX-T Click to enlarge

The AOS upgrade determines if the NSX-T networks supports the CVM, its VLAN, and then attempts to get the VLAN information of those networks. To get VLAN information for the CVM, the NSX-T Manager information must be configured in the Nutanix cluster.
To fix this upgrade issue, log on to the Prism Element web console using SSH.
Access the cluster directory.
```
nutanix@cvm$ cd ~/cluster/bin
```
Verify if the NSX-T Manager was registered with the CVM earlier.
```
nutanix@cvm$ ~/cluster/bin$ ./nsx_t_manager -l
```
If the NSX-T Manager was not registered earlier, you get the following message.
```
No MX-T manager configured in the cluster
```

Register the NSX-T Manager with the CVM if it was not registered earlier. Specify the credentials of the NSX-T Manager to the CVM.

nutanix@cvm$ ~/cluster/bin$ ./nsx_t_manager -a
IP address: 10.10.10.10
Username: admin
Password: 
/usr/local/nutanix/cluster/lib/py/requests-2.12.0-py2.7.egg/requests/packages/urllib3/conectionpool.py:843:
 InsecureRequestWarning: Unverified HTTPS request is made. Adding certificate verification is strongly advised. 
See: https://urllib3.readthedocs.io/en/latest/advanced-usage.html#ssl-warnings
Successfully persisted NSX-T manager information

Verify the registration of NSX-T Manager with the CVM.
```
nutanix@cvm$ ~/cluster/bin$ ./nsx_t_manager -l
```
If there are no errors, the system displays a similar output.
```
IP address: 10.10.10.10
Username: admin
```
In the Prism Element Web Console, click the Pre-upgrade to continue the AOS upgrade procedure.

The AOS upgrade is completed successfully.

Networking Components

IP Addresses

All CVMs and ESXi hosts have two network interfaces.

Note: An empty interface eth2 is created on CVM during deployment by Foundation. The eth2 interface is used for backplane when backplane traffic isolation (Network Segmentation) is enabled in the cluster. For more information about backplane interface and traffic segmentation, see Security Guide.

Interface	IP address	vSwitch
ESXi host vmk0	User-defined	vSwitch0
CVM eth0	User-defined	vSwitch0
ESXi host vmk1	192.168.5.1	vSwitchNutanix
CVM eth1	192.168.5.2	vSwitchNutanix
CVM eth1:1	192.168.5.254	vSwitchNutanix
CVM eth2	User-defined	vSwitch0

Note: The ESXi and CVM interfaces on vSwitch0 cannot use IP addresses in any subnets that overlap with subnet 192.168.5.0/24.

vSwitches

A Nutanix node is configured with the following two vSwitches.

vSwitchNutanix
Local communications between the CVM and the ESXi host use vSwitchNutanix. vSwitchNutanix has no uplinks.

Caution: To manage network traffic between VMs with greater control, create more port groups on vSwitch0. Do not modify vSwitchNutanix.

Figure. vSwitchNutanix Configuration Click to enlarge
vSwitch0
All other external communications like CVM to a differnet host (in case of HA re-direction) use vSwitch0 that has uplinks to the physical network interfaces. Since network segmentation is disabled by default, the backplane traffic uses vSwitch0.

vSwitch0 has the following two networks.
- Management Network
  HA, vMotion, and vCenter communications use the Management Network.
- VM Network
  All VMs use the VM Network.
Caution:
- The Nutanix CVM uses the standard Ethernet maximum transmission unit (MTU) of 1,500 bytes for all the network interfaces by default. The standard 1,500-byte MTU delivers excellent performance and stability. Nutanix does not support configuring the MTU on a network interface of CVMs to higher values.
- You can enable jumbo Frames (MTU of 9,000 bytes) on the physical network interfaces of ESXi hosts and guest VMs if the applications on your guest VMs require them. If you choose to use jumbo Frames on hypervisor hosts, ensure to enable them end-to-end in the desired network and consider both the physical and virtual network infrastructure impacted by the change.
Figure. vSwitch0 Configuration Click to enlarge

Configuring Host Networking (Management Network)

After you create the Nutanix cluster by using Foundation, configure networking for your ESXi hosts.

About this task

Procedure

On the ESXi host console, press F2 and then provide the ESXi host logon credentials.
Press the down arrow key until Configure Management Network highlights and then press Enter .
Select Network Adapters and then press Enter .
Ensure that the connected network adapters are selected.
If they are not selected, press Space key to select them and press Enter key to return to the previous screen.

Figure. Network Adapters Click to enlarge
If a VLAN ID needs to be configured on the Management Network, select VLAN (optional) and press Enter . In the dialog box, provide the VLAN ID and press Enter .

Note: Do not add any other device (including guest VMs) to the VLAN to which the CVM and hypervisor host are assigned. Isolate guest VMs on one or more separate VLANs.
Select IP Configuration and press Enter .

Figure. Configure Management Network Click to enlarge
If necessary, highlight the Set static IP address and network configuration option and press Space to update the setting.
Provide values for the following: IP Address , Subnet Mask , and Default Gateway fields based on your environment and then press Enter .
Select DNS Configuration and press Enter .
If necessary, highlight the Use the following DNS server addresses and hostname option and press Space to update the setting.
Provide values for the Primary DNS Server and Alternate DNS Server fields based on your environment and then press Enter .
Press Esc and then Y to apply all changes and restart the management network.
Select Test Management Network and press Enter .
Press Enter to start the network ping test.
Verify that the default gateway and DNS servers reported by the ping test match those that you specified earlier in the procedure and then press Enter .

Ensure that the tested addresses pass the ping test. If they do not, confirm that the correct IP addresses are configured.

Figure. Test Management Network Click to enlarge

Press Enter to close the test window.
Press Esc to log off.

Changing a Host IP Address

About this task

To change a host IP address, perform the following steps. Perform the following steps once for each hypervisor host in the Nutanix cluster. Complete the entire procedure on a host before proceeding to the next host.

Caution: The cluster cannot tolerate duplicate host IP addresses. For example, when swapping IP addresses between two hosts, temporarily change one host IP address to an interim unused IP address. Changing this IP address avoids having two hosts with identical IP addresses on the cluster. Then complete the address change or swap on each host using the following steps.

Note: All CVMs and hypervisor hosts must be on the same subnet. The hypervisor can be multihomed provided that one interface is on the same subnet as the CVM.

Procedure

Configure networking on the Nutanix node. For more information, see Configuring Host Networking (Management Network).
Update the host IP addresses in vCenter. For more information, see Reconnecting a Host to vCenter.
Log on to every CVM in the Nutanix cluster and restart Genesis service.
```
nutanix@cvm$ genesis restart
```
If the restart is successful, output similar to the following is displayed.
```
Stopping Genesis pids [1933, 30217, 30218, 30219, 30241]
Genesis started on pids [30378, 30379, 30380, 30381, 30403]
```

Reconnecting a Host to vCenter

About this task

If you modify the IP address of a host, you must reconnect the host with the vCenter. To reconnect the host to the vCenter, perform the following procedure.

Procedure

Log on to vCenter with the web client.
Right-click the host with the changed IP address and select Disconnect .
Right-click the host again and select Remove from Inventory .
Right-click the Nutanix cluster and then click Add Hosts... .
1. Enter the IP address or fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of the host you want to reconnect in the IP address or FQDN under New hosts .
2. Enter the host logon credentials in the User name and Password fields, and click Next .
  If a security or duplicate management alert appears, click Yes .
3. Review the Host Summary and click Next .
4. Click Finish .
You can see the host with the updated IP address in the left pane of vCenter.

Selecting a Management Interface

Nutanix tracks the management IP address for each host and uses that IP address to open an SSH session into the host to perform management activities. If the selected vmk interface is not accessible through SSH from the CVMs, activities that require interaction with the hypervisor fail.

If multiple vmk interfaces are present on a host, Nutanix uses the following rules to select a management interface.

Assigns weight to each vmk interface.
- If vmk is configured for the management traffic under network settings of ESXi, then the weight assigned is 4. Otherwise, the weight assigned is 0.
- If the IP address of vmk belongs to the same IP subnet as eth0 of the CVMs interface, then 2 is added to its weight.
- If the IP address of vmk belongs to the same IP subnet as eth2 of the CVMs interface, then 1 is added to its weight.
The vmk interface that has the highest weight is selected as the management interface.

Example of Selection of Management Network

Consider an ESXi host with following configuration.

vmk0 IP address and mask: 2.3.62.204, 255.255.255.0
vmk1 IP address and mask: 192.168.5.1, 255.255.255.0
vmk2 IP address and mask: 2.3.63.24, 255.255.255.0

Consider a CVM with following configuration.

eth0 inet address and mask: 2.3.63.31, 255.255.255.0
eth2 inet address and mask: 2.3.62.12, 255.255.255.0

According to the rules, the following weights are assigned to the vmk interfaces.

vmk0 = 4 + 0 + 1 = 5
vmk1 = 0 + 0 + 0 = 0
vmk2 = 0 + 2 + 0 = 2

Since vmk0 has the highest weight assigned, vmk0 interface is used as a management IP address for the ESXi host.

To verify that vmk0 interface is selected for management IP address, use the following command.

root@esx# esxcli network ip interface tag get -i vmk0

You see the following output.

Tags: Management, VMmotion

For the other two interfaces, no tags are displayed.

If you want any other interface to act as the management IP address, enable management traffic on that interface by following the procedure described in Selecting a New Management Interface.

Selecting a New Management Interface

You can mark the vmk interface to select as a management interface on an ESXi host by using the following method.

Procedure

Log on to vCenter with the web client.
Do the following on the ESXi host.
1. Go to Configure > Networking > VMkernel adapters .
2. Select the interface on which you want to enable the management traffic.
3. Click Edit settings of the port group to which the vmk belongs.
4. Select Management check box from the Enabled services option to enable management traffic on the vmk interface.
Open an SSH session to the ESXi host and enable the management traffic on the vmk interface.
```
root@esx# esxcli network ip interface tag add -i vmkN --tagname=Management
```
Replace vmkN with the vmk interface where you want to enable the management traffic.

Updating Network Settings

After you configure networking of your vSphere deployments on Nutanix Enterprise Cloud, you may want to update the network settings.

To know about the best practice of ESXi network teaming policy, see Network Teaming Policy.
To migrate an ESXi host networking from a vSphere Standard Switch (vSwitch) to a vSphere Distributed Switch (vDS) with LACP/LAG configuration, see Migrating to a New Distributed Switch with LACP/LAG.
To migrate an ESXi host networking from a vSphere standard switch (vSwitch) to a vSphere Distributed Switch (vDS) without LACP, see Migrating to a New Distributed Switch without LACP/LAG.
.

Network Teaming Policy

On an ESXi host, NIC teaming policy allows you to bundle two or more physical NICs into a single logical link to provide more network bandwidth aggregation and link redundancy to a vSwitch. The NIC teaming policies in the ESXi networking configuration for a vSwitch consists of the following.

Route based on originating virtual port.
Route based on IP hash.
Route based on source MAC hash.
Explicit failover order.

In addition to the earlier mentioned NIC teaming policy, vDS uses an extra teaming policy that consists of - Route based on physical NIC load.

When Foundation or Phoenix imaging is performed on a Nutanix cluster, the following two standard virtual switches are created on ESXi hosts:

vSwitch0
vSwitchNutanix

On vSwitch0, the Nutanix best practice guide (see Nutanix vSphere Networking Solution Document) provides the following recommendations for NIC teaming:

vSwitch. Route based on originating virtual port
vDS. Route based on physical NIC load

On vSwitchNutanix, there are no uplinks to the virtual switch, so there is no NIC teaming configuration required.

Migrate from a Standard Switch to a Distributed Switch

This topic provides detailed information about how to migrate from a vSphere Standard Switch (vSS) to a vSphere Distributed Switch (vDS).

The following are the two types of virtual switches (vSwitch) in vSphere.

vSphere standard switch (vSwitch) (see vSphere Standard Switch (vSwitch) in vSphere Networking).
vSphere Distributed Switch (vDS) (see vSphere Distributed Switch (vDS) in vSphere Networking).

Tip: For more information about vSwitches and the associated network concepts, see the VMware Documentation .

For migrating from a vSS to a vDS with LACP/LAG configuration, see Migrating to a New Distributed Switch with LACP/LAG.

For migrating from a vSS to a vDS without LACP/LAG configuration, see Migrating to a New Distributed Switch without LACP/LAG.

Standard Switch Configuration

The standard switch configuration consists of the following.

vSwitchNutanix: vSwitchNutanix handles internal communication between the CVM and the ESXi host. There are no uplink adapters associated with this vSwitch. This virtual switch enables the communication between the CVM and the host. Administrators must not modify the settings of this virtual switch or its port groups. The only members of this port group must be the CVM and its host. Do not modify this virtual switch configuration as it can disrupt communication between the host and the CVM.

vSwitch0: vSwitch0 consists of the vmk (VMkernel) management interface, vMotion interface, and VM port groups. This virtual switch connects to uplink network adapters that are plugged into a physical switch.

Planning the Migration

It is important to plan and understand the migration process. An incorrect configuration can disrupt communication, which can require downtime to resolve.

Consider the following while or before planning the migration.

Read Nutanix Best Practice Guide for VMware vSphere Networking available here.
Understand the various teaming and load-balancing algorithms on vSphere.
For more information, see the VMware Documentation .
Confirm communication on the network through all the connected uplinks.
Confirm access to the host using IPMI when there are network connectivity issues during migration.
Access the host to troubleshoot the network issue or move the management network back to the standard switch depending on the issue.
Confirm that the hypervisor external management IP address and the CVM IP address are in the same public subnet for the data path redundancy functionality to work.
When performing migration to the distributed switch, migrate one host at a time and verify that networking is working as desired.
Do not migrate the port groups and vmk (VMkernel) interfaces that are on vSwitchNutanix to the distributed switch (dvSwitch).

Unassigning Physical Uplink of the Host for Distributed Switch

All the physical adapters connect to the vSwitch0 of the host. A live distributed switch must have a physical uplink connected to it to work. To assign the physical adapter of the host to the distributed switch, unassign the physical adapter of the host and assign it to the new distributed switch.

About this task

To unassign the physical uplink of the host, do the following.

Procedure

Log on to vCenter with the web client.
Go to the Hosts and Clusters view and select the Nutanix cluster from the left pane.
Click Configure , and go to Networking > Virtual Switches .
Click MANAGE PHYSICAL ADAPTERS tab and select the active adapters from the Assigned adapters that you want to unassign from the list of physical adapters of the host.

Figure. Managing Physical Adapters Click to enlarge
Click X on the top.
The selected adapter is unassigned from the list of physical adapters of the host.
Tip: Ping the host to check and confirm if you are able to communicate with the active physical adapter of the host. If you lose network connectivity to the ESXi host during this test, review your network configuration.

Migrating to a New Distributed Switch without LACP/LAG

Migrating to a new distributed switch without LACP/LAG consists of the following workflow.

Creating a Distributed Switch
Creating Port Groups on the Distributed Switch
Configuring Port Group Policies

Creating a Distributed Switch

Connect to vCenter and create a distributed switch.

About this task

To create a distributed switch, do the following.

Procedure

Log on to vCenter with the web client.
Go to the Networking view and select the host from the left pane.

Figure. Distributed Switch Creation Click to enlarge
Right-click the host, select Distributed Switch > New Distributed Switch , and specify the following information in the New Distributed Switch dialog box.
1. Name and Location : Enter name for the distributed switch.
2. Select Version : Select a distributed switch version that is compatible with all your hosts in that datacenter.
3. Configure Settings : Select the number of uplinks you want to connect to the distributed switch.
  Select Create a default port group checkbox to create a port group. To configure a port group later, see Creating Port Groups on the Distributed Switch.
4. Ready to complete : Review the configuration and click Finish .
A new distributed switch is created with the default uplink port group. The uplink port group is the port group to which the uplinks connect. This uplink is different from the vmk (VMkernel) or the VM port groups.
Figure. New Distributed Switch Created in the Host Click to enlarge

Creating Port Groups on the Distributed Switch

Create one or more vmk (VMkernel) port groups and VM port groups depending on the vSphere features you plan to use and or the physical network layout. The best practice is to have the vmk Management interface, vmk vMotion interface, and vmk iSCSI interface on separate port groups.

About this task

To create port groups on the distributed switch, do the following.

Procedure

Log on to vCenter with the web client.
Go to the Networking view and select the host from the left pane.

Figure. Creating Distributed Port Groups Click to enlarge
Right-click the host, select Distributed Switch > Distributed Port Group > New Distributed Port Group , and follow the wizard to create the remaining distributed port group (vMotion interface and VM port groups).
You would need the following port groups because you would be migrating from the standard switch to the distributed switch.
- VMkernel Management interface . Use this port group to connect to the host for all management operations.
- VMNetwork . Use this port group to connect to the new VMs.
- vMotion . This port group is an internal interface and the host will use this port during failover for vMotion traffic.
Note: Nutnaix recommends you to use static port binding instead of ephemeral port binding when you create a port group.

Figure. Distibuted Port Groups Created Click to enlarge

Note: The port group for vmk management interface is created during the distributed switch creation. See Creating a Distributed Switch for more information.

Configuring Port Group Policies

To configure port groups, you must configure VLANs, Teaming and failover, and other distributed port groups policies at the port group layer or at the distributed switch layer. Refer to the following topics to configure the port group policies.

Configuring Policies on the Port Group Layer
Configuring Policies on the Distributed Switch Layer
Adding ESXi Host to the Distributed Switch

Configuring Policies on the Port Group Layer

Ensure that the distributed switches port groups have VLANs tagged if the physical adapters of the host have a VLAN tagged to them. Update the policies for the port group, VLANs, and teaming algorithms to configure the physical network switch. Configure the load balancing policy as per the network configuration requirements on the physical switch.

About this task

To configure the port group policies, do the following.

Procedure

Log on to vCenter with the web client.
Go to the Networking view and select the host from the left pane.

Figure. Configure Port Group Policies on the Distributed Switch Click to enlarge
Right-click the host, select Distributed Switch > Distributed Port Group > Edit Settings , and follow the wizard to configure the VLAN, Teaming and failover, and other options.

Note: For more information about configuring port group policies, see the VMware Documentation .
Click OK to complete the configuration.
Repeat steps 2–4 to configure the other port groups.

Configuring Policies on the Distributed Switch Layer

You can configure the same policy for all the port groups simultaneously.

About this task

To configure the same policy for all the port groups, do the following.

Procedure

Log on to vCenter with the web client.
Go to the Networking view and select the host from the left pane.

Figure. Manage Distributed Port Groups Click to enlarge
Right-click the host, select Distributed Switch > Distributed Port Group > Manage Distributed Port Groups , and specify the following information in Manage Distributed Port Group dialog box.
1. In the Select port group policies tab, select the port group policies that you want to configure and click Next .
  
  Note: For more information about configuring port group policies, see the VMware Documentation .
2. In the Select port groups tab, select the distributed port groups on which you want to configure the policy and click Next .
3. In the Teaming and failover tab, configure the Load balancing policy, Active uplinks , and click Next .
4. In the Ready to complete window, review the configuration and click Finish .

Adding ESXi Host to the Distributed Switch

Migrate the management interface and CVM of the host to the distributed switch.

About this task

To migrate the Management interface and CVM of the ESXi host, do the following.

Procedure

Log on to vCenter with the web client.
Go to the Networking view and select the host from the left pane.

Figure. Add ESXi Host to Distributed Switch Click to enlarge
Right-click the host, select Distributed Switch > Add and Manage Hosts , and specify the following information in Add and Manage Hosts dialog box.
1. In the Select task tab, select Add hosts to add new host to the distributed switch and click Next .
2. In the Select hosts tab, click New hosts to select the ESXi host and add it to the distributed switch.
  
  Note: Add one host at a time to the distributed switch and then migrate all the CVMs from the host to the distributed switch.
3. In the Manage physical adapters tab, configure the physical NICs (PNICs) on the distributed switch.
  Tip: For consistent network configuration, you can connect the same physical NIC on every host to the same uplink on the distributed switch.
  - 1. Select a PNIC from the On other switches/unclaimed section and click Assign uplink .
      Figure. Select Physical Adapter for Uplinking Click to enlarge
      
      Important: If you select physical NICs connected to other switches, those physical NICs migrate to the current distributed switch.
    2. Select the Uplink in the distributed switch to which you want to assign the PNIC of the host and click OK .
    3. Click Next .
4. In the Manage VMkernel adapters tab, configure the vmk adapters.
  - 1. Select a VMkernel adapter from the On other switches/unclaimed section and click Assign port group .
    2. Select the port group in the distributed switch to which you want to assign the VMkernel of the host and click OK .
      Figure. Select a Port Group Click to enlarge
    3. Click Next .
5. (optional) In the Migrate VM networking tab, select Migrate virtual machine networking to connect all the network adapters of a VM to a distributed port group.
  - 1. Select the VM to connect all the network adapters of the VM to a distributed port group, or select an individual network adapter to connect with the distributed port group.
    2. Click Assign port group and select the distributed port group to which you want to migrate the VM or network adapter and click OK .
    3. Click Next .
6. In the Ready to complete tab, review the configuration and click Finish .
Go to the Hosts and Clusters view in the vCenter web client and Hosts > Configure to review the network configuration for the host.

Note: Run a ping test to confirm that the networking on the host works as expected.
Follow the steps 2–4 to add the remaining hosts to the distributed switch and migrate the adapters.

Migrating to a New Distributed Switch with LACP/LAG

Migrating to a new distributed switch without LACP/LAG consists of the following workflow.

Creating a Distributed Switch
Creating Port Groups on the Distributed Switch
Creating Link Aggregation Group on Distributed Switch
Creating Port Groups to use the LAG
Adding ESXi Host to the Distributed Switch

Creating Link Aggregation Group on Distributed Switch

Using Link Aggregation Group (LAG) on a distributed switch, you can connect the ESXi host to physical switched by using dynamic link aggregation. You can create multiple link aggregation groups (LAGs) on a distributed switch to aggregate the bandwidth of physical NICs on ESXi hosts that are connected to LACP port channels.

About this task

To create a LAG, do the following.

Procedure

Log on to vCenter with the web client.
Go to the Networking view and select the host from the left pane.
Right-click the host, select Distributed Switch > Configure > LACP .

Figure. Create LAG on Distributed Switch Click to enlarge
Click New and enter the following details in the New Link Aggregation Group dialog box.
1. Name : Enter a name for the LAG.
2. Number of Ports : Enter the number of ports.
  The number of ports must match the physical ports per host in the LACP LAG. For example, if the Number of Ports two, then you can attach two physical ports per ESXi host to the LAG.
3. Mode : Specify the state of the physical switch.
  Based on the configuration requirements, you can set the mode to Active or Passive .
4. Load balancing mode : Specify the load balancing mode for the physical switch.
  For more information about the various load balancing options, see the VMware Documentation .
5. VLAN trunk range : Specify the VLANs if you have VLANs configured in your environment.
Click OK .
LAG is created on the distributed switch.

Creating Port Groups to Use LAG

To use LAG as the uplink you have to edit the settings of the port group created on the distributed switch.

About this task

To edit the settings on the port group to use LAG, do the following.

Procedure

Log on to vCenter with the web client.
Go to the Networking view and select the host from the left pane.
Right-click the host, select Management port Group > Edit Setting .
Go to the Teaming and failover tab in the Edit Settings dialog box and specify the following information.

Figure. Configure the Management Port Group Click to enlarge
1. Load Balancing : Select Route based IP hash .
2. Active uplinks : Move the LAG under the Unused uplinks section to Active Uplinks section.
3. Unused uplinks : Select the physical uplinks ( Uplink 1 and Uplink 2 ) and move them to the Unused uplinks section.
Repeat steps 2–4 to configure the other port groups.

Adding ESXi Host to the Distributed Switch

Add the ESXi host to the distributed switch and migrate the network from the standard switch to the distributed switch. Migrate the management interface and CVM of the ESXi host to the distributed switch.

About this task

To migrate the Management interface and CVM of ESXi host, do the following.

Procedure

Log on to vCenter with the web client.
Go to the Networking view and select the host from the left pane.

Figure. Add ESXi Host to Distributed Switch Click to enlarge
Right-click the host, select Distributed Switch > Add and Manage Hosts , and specify the following information in Add and Manage Hosts dialog box.
1. In the Select task tab, select Add hosts to add new host to the distributed switch and click Next .
2. In the Select hosts tab, click New hosts to select the ESXi host and add it to the distributed switch.
  
  Note: Add one host at a time to the distributed switch and then migrate all the CVMs from the host to the distributed switch.
3. In the Manage physical adapters tab, configure the physical NICs (PNICs) on the distributed switch.
  Tip: For consistent network configuration, you can connect the same physical NIC on every host to the same uplink on the distributed switch.
  - 1. Select a PNIC from the On other switches/unclaimed section and click Assign uplink .
      Important: If you select physical NICs connected to other switches, those physical NICs migrate to the current distributed switch.
    2. Select the LAG Uplink in the distributed switch to which you want to assign the PNIC of the host and click OK .
    3. Click Next .
4. In the Manage VMkernel adapters tab, configure the vmk adapters.
  Select the VMkernel adapter that is associated with vSwitch0 as your management VMkernel adapter. Migrate this adapter to the corresponding port group on the distributed switch.
  Note: Do not migrate the VMkernel adapter associated with vSwitchNutanix.
  
  Note: If the are any VLANs associated with the port group on the standard switch, ensure that the corresponding distributed port group also has the correct VLAN. Verify the physical network configuration to ensure it is configured as required.
  - 1. Select a VMkernel adapter from the On other switches/unclaimed section and click Assign port group .
    2. Select the port group in the distributed switch to which you want to assign the VMkernel of the host and click OK .
    3. Click Next .
5. (optional) In the Migrate VM networking tab, select Migrate virtual machine networking to connect all the network adapters of a VM to a distributed port group.
  - 1. Select the VM to connect all the network adapters of the VM to a distributed port group, or select an individual network adapter to connect with the distributed port group.
    2. Click Assign port group and select the distributed port group to which you want to migrate the VM or network adapter and click OK .
    3. Click Next .
6. In the Ready to complete tab, review the configuration and click Finish .

vCenter Configuration

VMware vCenter enables the centralized management of multiple ESXi hosts. You can either create a vCenter Server or use an existing vCenter Server. To create a vCenter Server, refer to the VMware Documentation .

This section considers that you already have a vCenter Server and therefore describes the operations you can perform on an existing vCenter Server. To deploy vSphere clusters running Nutanix Enterprise Cloud, perform the following steps in the vCenter.

Tip: For a single-window management of all your ESXi nodes, you can also integrate the vCenter Server to Prism Central. For more information, see Registering a Cluster to vCenter Server

1. Create a cluster entity within the existing vCenter inventory and configure its settings according to Nutanix best practices. For more information, see Creating a Nutanix Cluster in vCenter.

2. Configure HA. For more information, see vSphere HA Settings.

3. Configure DRS. For more information, see vSphere DRS Settings.

4. Configure EVC. For more information, see vSphere EVC Settings.

5. Configure override. For more information, see VM Override Settings.

6. Add the Nutanix hosts to the new cluster. For more information, see Adding a Nutanix Node to vCenter.

Registering a Cluster to vCenter Server

To perform core VM management operations directly from Prism without switching to vCenter Server, you need to register your cluster with the vCenter Server.

Before you begin

Ensure that you have vCenter Server Extension privileges as these privileges provide permissions to perform vCenter registration for the Nutanix cluster.

About this task

Following are some of the important points about registering vCenter Server.

Nutanix does not store vCenter Server credentials.
Whenever a new node is added to Nutanix cluster, vCenter Sever registration for the new node is automatically performed.
Nutanix supports vCenter Enhanced Linked Mode.
When registering a Nutanix cluster to a vCenter Enhanced Linked Mode (EHM) enabled ESXi environment, ensure that Prism is registered to the vCenter containing the vSphere Cluster and Nutanix nodes (often the local vCenter). For more information about vCenter Enhanced Linked Mode, see vCenter Enhanced Linked Mode in the vCenter Server Installation and Setup documentation.

Procedure

Log into the Prism web console.
Click the gear icon in the main menu and then select vCenter Registration in the Settings page.
The vCenter Server that is managing the hosts in the cluster is auto-discovered and displayed.
Click the Register link.
The IP address is auto-populated in the Address field. The port number field is also auto-populated with 443. Do not change the port number. For the complete list of required ports, see Port Reference.
Type the administrator user name and password of the vCenter Server in the Admin Username and Admin Password fields.

Figure. vCenter Registration Figure 1 Click to enlarge
Click Register .
During the registration process a certificate is generated to communicate with the vCenter Server. If the registration is successful, relevant message is displayed in the Tasks dashboard. The Host Connection field displays as Connected, which implies that all the hosts are being managed by the vCenter Server that is registered.
Figure. vCenter Registration Figure 2 Click to enlarge

Unregistering a Cluster from the vCenter Server

To unregister the vCenter Server from your cluster, perform the following procedure.

About this task

Ensure that you unregister the vCenter Server from the cluster before changing the IP address of the vCenter Server. After you change the IP address of the vCenter Sever, you should register the vCenter Server again with the new IP address with the cluster.
The vCenter Server Registration page displays the registered vCenter Server. If for some reason the Host Connection field changes to Not Connected , it implies that the hosts are being managed by a different vCenter Server. In this case, there will be new vCenter entry with host connection status as Connected and you need to register to this vCenter Server.

Procedure

Log into the Prism web console.
Click the gear icon in the main menu and then select vCenter Registration in the Settings page.
A message that cluster is already registered to the vCenter Server is displayed.
Type the administrator user name and password of the vCenter Server in the Admin Username and Admin Password fields.
Click Unregister .
If the credentials are correct, the vCenter Server is unregistered from the cluster and a relevant message is displayed in the Tasks dashboard.

Creating a Nutanix Cluster in vCenter

Before you begin

Nutanix recommends creating a storage container in the Prism Element running on the host or using the default container to mount NFS datastore on all ESXi hosts.

About this task

To enable the vCenter to discover the Nutanix clusters, perform the following steps in the vCenter.

Procedure

Log on to vCenter with the web client.
Do one of the following.
- If you want the Nutanix cluster to be in an existing datacenter, proceed to step 3.
- If you want the Nutanix cluster to be in a new datacenter or if there is no datacenter, perform the following steps to create a datacenter.
  Note: Nutanix clusters must be in a datacenter.
1. Go to the Hosts and Clusters view and right-click the IP address of the vCenter Server in the left pane.
2. Click New Datacenter .
3. Enter a meaningful name for the datacenter (for example, NTNX-DC ) and click OK .
Right-click the datacenter node and click New Cluster .
1. Enter a meaningful name for the cluster in the Name field (for example, NTNX-Cluster ).
2. Turn on the vSphere DRS switch.
3. Turn on the Turn on vSphere HA switch.
4. Uncheck Manage all hosts in the cluster with a single image .
Nutanix cluster ( NTNX-Cluster ) is created with the default settings for vSphere HA and vSphere DRS.

What to do next

Add all the Nutanix nodes to the Nutanix cluster inventory in vCenter. For more information, see Adding a Nutanix Node to vCenter.

Adding a Nutanix Node to vCenter

Before you begin

Configure the Nutanix cluster according to Nutanix specifications given in Creating a Nutanix Cluster in vCenter and vSphere Cluster Settings Checklist.

About this task

Note: To ensure that vCenter managed ESXi hosts are accessible through vCenter only and are not directly accessible, put the vCenter managed ESXi hosts in lockdown mode. Lockdown mode forces all operations through the vCenter Server.

Tip: Refer to KB-1661 for the default credentials of all cluster components.

Procedure

Log on to vCenter with the web client.
Right-click the Nutanix cluster and then click Add Hosts... .
1. Enter the IP address or fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of the host you want to reconnect in the IP address or FQDN under New hosts .
2. Enter the host logon credentials in the User name and Password fields, and click Next .
  If a security or duplicate management alert appears, click Yes .
3. Review the Host Summary and click Next .
4. Click Finish .
Select the host under the Nutanix cluster from the left pane and go to Configure > System > Security Profile .
Ensure that Lockdown Mode is Disabled because Nutanix does not support lockdown mode.
Configure DNS servers.
1. Go to Configure > Networking > TCP/IP configuration .
2. Click Default under TCP/IP stack and go to TCP/IP .
3. Click the pencil icon to configure DNS servers and perform the following.
  - 1. Select Enter settings manually .
    2. Type the domain name in the Domain field.
    3. Type DNS server addresses in the Preferred DNS Server and Alternate DNS Server fields and click OK .
Configure NTP servers.
1. Go to Configure > System > Time Configuration .
2. Click Edit .
3. Select the Use Network Time Protocol (Enable NTP client) .
4. Type the NTP server address in the NTP Servers text box.
5. In the NTP Service Startup Policy, select Start and stop with host from the drop-down list.
  Add multiple NTP servers if necessary.
6. Click OK .
Click Configure > Storage and ensure that NFS datastores are mounted.

Note: Nutanix recommends creating a storage container in Prism Element running on the host.
If HA is not enabled, set the CVM to start automatically when the ESXi host starts.

Note: Automatic VM start and stop is disabled in clusters where HA is enabled.
1. Go to Configure > Virtual Machines > VM Startup/Shutdown .
2. Click Edit .
3. Ensure that Automatically start and stop the virtual machines with the system is checked.
4. If the CVM is listed in Manual Startup , click the up arrow to move the CVM into the Automatic Startup section.
5. Click OK .

What to do next

Configure HA and DRS settings. For more information, see vSphere HA Settings and vSphere DRS Settings.

Nutanix Cluster Settings

To ensure the optimal performance of your vSphere deployment running on Nutanix cluster, configure the following settings from the vCenter.

vSphere General Settings

About this task

Configure the following general settings from vCenter.

Procedure

Log on to vCenter with the web client.
Go to the Hosts and Clusters view and select the Nutanix cluster from the left pane.
Click Configure , and go to Configuration > General .
1. Under General , set the Swap file location to Virtual machine directory .
  Setting the swap file location to the VM directory stores the VM swap files in the same directory as the VM.
2. Under Default VM Compatibility , set the compatibility to Use datacenter setting and host version .
  Do not change the compatibility unless the cluster has to support previous versions of ESXi VMs.
  Figure. General Cluster Settings Click to enlarge

vSphere HA Settings

If there is a node failure, vSphere HA (High Availability) settings ensure that there are sufficient compute resources available to restart all VMs that were running on the failed node.

About this task

Configure the following HA settings from vCenter.

Note: Nutanix recommends that you configure vSphere HA and DRS even if you do not use the features. The vSphere cluster configuration preserves the settings, so if you later decide to enable the features, the settings are in place and conform to Nutanix best practices.

Procedure

Log on to vCenter with the web client.
Go to the Hosts and Clusters view and select the Nutanix cluster from the left pane.
Click Configure , and go to Services > vSphere Availability .
Click Edit next to the text showing vSphere HA status.

Figure. vSphere Availability Settings: Failures and Responses Click to enlarge
1. Turn on the vSphere HA and Enable Host Monitoring switches.
2. Specify the following information under the Failures and Responses tab.
  - 1. Host Failure Response : Select Restart VMs from the drop-down list.
      This option configures the cluster-wide host isolation response settings.
    2. Response for Host Isolation : Select Power off and restart VMs from the drop-down list.
    3. Datastore with PDL : Select Disabled from the drop-down list.
    4. Datastore with APD : Select Disabled from the drop-down list.
      Note: To enable the VM component protection in vCenter, refer to the VMware Documentation.
    5. VM Monitoring : Select Disabled from the drop-down list.
3. Specify the following information under the Admission Control tab.
  
  Note: If you are using replication factor 2 with cluster sizes up to 16 nodes, configure HA admission control settings to tolerate one node failure. For cluster sizes larger than 16 nodes, configure HA admission control to sustain two node failures and use replication factor 3. vSphere 6.7, and newer versions automatically calculate the percentage of resources required for admission control.
  
  Figure. vSphere Availability Settings: Admission Control Click to enlarge
  - 1. Host failures cluster tolerates : Enter 1 or 2 based on the number of nodes in the Nutanix cluster and the replication factor.
    2. Define host failover capacity by : Select Cluster resource Percentage from the drop-down list.
    3. Performance degradation VMs tolerate : Set the percentage to 100.
      For more information about settings of percentage of cluster resources reserved as failover spare capacity, see vSphere HA Admission Control Settings for Nutanix Environment.
4. Specify the following information under the Heartbeat Datastores tab.
  
  Note: vSphere HA uses datastore heart beating to distinguish between hosts that have failed and hosts that reside on a network partition. With datastore heart beating, vSphere HA can monitor hosts when a management network partition occurs while continuing to respond to failures.
  
  Figure. vSphere Availability Settings: Heartbeat Datastores Click to enlarge
  - 1. Select Use datastores only from the specified list .
    2. Select the named storage container mounted as the NFS datastore (Nutanix datastore).
      If you have more than one named storage container, select all that are applicable.
    3. If the cluster has only one datastore, click Advanced Options tab and add das.ignoreInsufficientHbDatastore with Value of true .
5. Click OK .

vSphere HA Admission Control Settings for Nutanix Environment

Overview

If you are using redundancy factor 2 with cluster sizes of up to 16 nodes, you must configure HA admission control settings with the appropriate percentage of CPU/RAM to achieve at least N+1 availability. For cluster sizes larger than 16 nodes, you must configure HA admission control with the appropriate percentage of CPU/RAM to achieve at least N+2 availability.

N+2 Availability Configuration

The N+2 availability configuration can be achieved in the following two ways.

Redundancy factor 2 and N+2 vSphere HA admission control setting configured.
Because Nutanix distributed file system recovers in the event of a node failure, it is possible to have a second node failure without data being unavailable if the Nutanix cluster has fully recovered before the subsequent failure. In this case, a N+2 vSphere HA admission control setting is required to ensure sufficient compute resources are available to restart all the VMs.
Redundancy factor 3 and N+2 vSphere HA admission control setting configured.
If you want two concurrent node failures to be tolerated and the cluster has insufficient blocks to use block awareness, redundancy factor 3 in a cluster of five or more nodes is required. In either of these two options, the Nutanix storage pool must have sufficient free capacity to restore the configured redundancy factor (2 or 3). The percentage of free space required is the same as the required HA admission control percentage setting. In this case, redundancy factor 3 must be configured at the storage container layer. An N+2 vSphere HA admission control setting is also required to ensure sufficient compute resources are available to restart all the VMs.
Note: For redundancy factor 3, a minimum of five nodes is required, which provides the ability that two concurrent nodes can fail while ensuring data remains online. In this case, the same N+2 level of availability is required for the vSphere cluster to enable the VMs to restart following a failure.

Table 1. Minimum Reservation Percentage for vSphere HA Admission Control Setting For redundancy factor 2 deployments, the recommended minimum HA admission control setting percentage is marked with single asterisk (*) symbol in the following table. For redundancy factor 2 or redundancy factor 3 deployments configured for multiple non-concurrent node failures to be tolerated, the minimum required HA admission control setting percentage is marked with two asterisks (**) in the following table.
Nodes	Availability Level
	N+1	N+2	N+3	N+4
1	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
2	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
3	33*	N/A	N/A	N/A
4	25*	50	75	N/A
5	20*	40**	60	80
6	18*	33**	50	66
7	15*	29**	43	56
8	13*	25**	38	50
9	11*	23**	33	46
10	10*	20**	30	40
11	9*	18**	27	36
12	8*	17**	25	34
13	8*	15**	23	30
14	7*	14**	21	28
15	7*	13**	20	26
16	6*	13**	19	25
Nodes	Availability Level
	N+1	N+2	N+3	N+4
17	6	12*	18**	24
18	6	11*	17**	22
19	5	11*	16**	22
20	5	10*	15**	20
21	5	10*	14**	20
22	4	9*	14**	18
23	4	9*	13**	18
24	4	8*	13**	16
25	4	8*	12**	16
26	4	8*	12**	16
27	4	7*	11**	14
28	4	7*	11**	14
29	3	7*	10**	14
30	3	7*	10**	14
31	3	6*	10**	12
32	3	6*	9**	12

The table also represents the percentage of the Nutanix storage pool, which should remain free to ensure that the cluster can fully restore the redundancy factor in the event of one or more nodes, or even a block failure (where three or more blocks exist within a cluster).

Block Awareness

For deployments of at least three blocks, block awareness automatically ensures data availability when an entire block of up to four nodes configured with redundancy factor 2 can become unavailable.

If block awareness levels of availability are required, the vSphere HA admission control setting must ensure sufficient compute resources are available to restart all virtual machines. In addition, the Nutanix storage pool must have sufficient space to restore redundancy factor 2 to all data.

The vSphere HA minimum availability level must be equal to number of nodes per block.

Note: For block awareness, each block must be populated with a uniform number of nodes. In the event of a failure, a non-uniform node count might compromise block awareness or the ability to restore the redundancy factor, or both.

Rack Awareness

Rack fault tolerance is the ability to provide a rack-level availability domain. With rack fault tolerance, data is replicated to nodes that are not in the same rack. Rack failure can occur in the following situations.

All power supplies in a rack fail.
Top-of-rack (TOR) switch fails.
Network partition occurs: one of the racks becomes inaccessible from the other racks.

With rack fault tolerance enabled, the cluster has rack awareness and guest VMs can continue to run even during the failure of one rack (with replication factor 2) or two racks (with replication factor 3). The redundant copies of guest VM data and metadata persist on other racks when one rack fails.

Table 2. Rack awareness has minimum requirements, described in the following table.
Replication factor	Minimum number of nodes	Minimum number of Blocks	Minimum number of racks	Data resiliency
2	3	3	3	Failure of 1 node, block, or rack
3	5	5	5	Failure of 2 nodes, blocks, or racks

vSphere DRS Settings

About this task

Configure the following DRS settings from vCenter.

Procedure

Log on to vCenter with the web client.
Go to the Hosts and Clusters view and select the Nutanix cluster from the left pane.
Click Configure , and go to Services > vSphere DRS .
Click Edit next to the text showing vSphere DRS status.

Figure. vSphere DRS Settings: Automation Click to enlarge
1. Turn on the vSphere DRS switch.
2. Specify the following information under the Automation tab.
  - 1. Automation Level : Select Fully Automated from the drop-down list.
    2. Migration Threshold : Set the bar between conservative and aggressive (value=3).
      Migration threshold provides optimal resource utilization while minimizing DRS migrations with little benefit. This threshold automatically manages data locality in such a way that whenever VMs move, writes are always written on one of the replicas locally to maximize the subsequent read performance.
      
      Nutanix recommends the migration threshold at 3 in a fully automated configuration.
    3. Predictive DRS : Leave the option disabled.
      The value of predictive DRS depends on whether you use other VMware products such as vRealize operations. Unless you use vRealize operations, Nutanix recommends disabling predictive DRS.
    4. Virtual Machine Automation : Enable VM automation.
3. Specifying anything under the Additional Options tab is optional.
4. Specify the following information under the Power Management tab.
  
  Figure. vSphere DRS Settings: Power Management Click to enlarge
  - 1. DPM : Leave the option disabled.
      Enabling DPM causes nodes in the Nutanix cluster to go offline, affecting cluster resources.
5. Click OK .

vSphere EVC Settings

vSphere enhanced vMotion compatibility (EVC) ensures that workloads can live migrate, using vMotion, between ESXi hosts in a Nutanix cluster that are running different CPU generations. The general recommendation is to have EVC enabled as it will help you in the future where you will be scaling your Nutanix clusters with new hosts that might contain new CPU models.

About this task

To enable EVC in a brownfield scenario can be challenging. Configure the following EVC settings from vCenter.

Procedure

Log on to vCenter with the web client.
Go to the Hosts and Clusters view and select the Nutanix cluster from the left pane.
Shut down all the VMs on the hosts with feature sets greater than the EVC mode.
Ensure that the Nutanix cluster contains hosts with CPUs from only one vendor, either Intel or AMD.
Click Configure , and go to Configuration > VMware EVC .
Click Edit next to the text showing VMware EVC.
Enable EVC for the CPU vendor and feature set appropriate for the hosts in the Nutanix cluster, and click OK .
If the Nutanix cluster contains nodes with different processor classes, enable EVC with the lower feature set as the baseline.
Tip: To know the processor class of a node, perform the following steps.
- 1. Log on to Prism Element running on the Nutanix cluster.
  2. Click Hardware from the menu and go to Diagram or Table view.
  3. Click the node and look for the Block Serial field in Host Details .
Figure. VMware EVC Click to enlarge
Start the VMs in the Nutanix cluster to apply the EVC.
If you try to enable EVC on a Nutanix cluster with mismatching host feature sets (mixed processor clusters), the lowest common feature set (lowest processor class) is selected. Hence, if VMs are already running on the new host and if you want to enable EVC on the host, you must first shut down the VMs and then enable EVC.

Note: Do not shut down more than one CVM at the same time.

VM Override Settings

You must exclude Nutanix CVMs from vSphere availability and resource scheduling and therefore tweak the following VM overriding settings.

Procedure

Log on to vCenter with the web client.
Go to the Hosts and Clusters view and select the Nutanix cluster from the left pane.
Click Configure , and go to Configuration > VM Overrides .
Select all the CVMs and click Next .
If you do not have the CVMs listed, click Add to ensure that the CVMs are added to the VM Overrides dialog box.

Figure. VM Override Click to enlarge
In the VM override section, configure override for the following parameters.
- DRS Automation Level: Disabled
- VM HA Restart Priority: Disabled
- VM Monitoring: Disabled
Click Finish .

Migrating a Nutanix Cluster from One vCenter Server to Another

About this task

Perform the following steps to migrate a Nutanix cluster from one vCenter Server to another vCenter Server.

Note: The following steps are to migrate a Nutanix cluster with vSphere Standard Switch (vSwitch). To migrate a Nutanix cluster with vSphere Distributed Switch (vDS), see the VMware Documentation. .

Procedure

Create a vSphere cluster in the vCenter Server where you want to migrate the Nutanix cluster. See Creating a Nutanix Cluster in vCenter.
Configure HA, DRS, and EVC on the created vSphere cluster. See Nutanix Cluster Settings.
Unregister the Nutanix cluster from the source vCenter Server. See Unregistering a Cluster from the vCenter Server.
Move the nodes from the source vCenter Server to the new vCenter Server.
See the VMware Documentation to know the process.
Register the Nutanix cluster to the new vCenter Server. See Registering a Cluster to vCenter Server.

Storage I/O Control (SIOC)

SIOC controls the I/O usage of a virtual machine and gradually enforces the predefined I/O share levels. Nutanix converged storage architecture does not require SIOC. Therefore, while mounting a storage container on an ESXi host, the system disables SIOC in the statistics mode automatically.

Caution: While mounting a storage container on ESXi hosts running older versions (6.5 or below), the system enables SIOC in the statistics mode by default. Nutanix recommends disabling SIOC because an enabled SIOC can cause the following issues.

The storage can become unavailable because the hosts repeatedly create and delete the access .lck-XXXXXXXX files under the .iorm.sf subdirectory, located in the root directory of the storage container.
Site Recovery Manager (SRM) failover and failback does not run efficiently.
If you are using Metro Availability disaster recovery feature, activate and restore operations do not work.
Note: For using Metro Availability disaster recovery feature, Nutanix recommends using an empty storage container. Disable SIOC and delete all the files from the storage container that are related to SIOC. For more information, see KB-3501 .

Run the NCC health check (see KB-3358 ) to verify if SIOC and SIOC in statistics mode are disabled on storage containers. If SIOC and SIOC in statistics mode are enabled on storage containers, disable them by performing the procedure described in Disabling Storage I/O Control (SIOC) on a Container.

Disabling Storage I/O Control (SIOC) on a Container

About this task

Perform the following procedure to disable storage I/O statistics collection.

Procedure

Log on to vCenter with the web client.
Click the Storage view in the left pane.
Right-click the storage container under the Nutanix cluster and select Configure Storage I/O Controller .
The properties for the storage container are displayed. The Disable Storage I/O statistics collection option is unchecked, which means that SIOC is enabled by default.
1. Disable Storage I/O Control and statistics collection.
2. Disable Storage I/O Control but enable statistics collection.
3. Disable Storage I/O Control and statistics collection: Select the Disable Storage I/O Control and statistics collection option to disable SIOC.
  Uncheck Include I/O Statistics for SDRS option.
4. Click OK .

Node Management

This chapter describes the management tasks you can do on a Nutanix node.

Node Maintenance (ESXi)

You are required to gracefully place a node into the maintenance mode or non-operational state for reasons such as making changes to the network configuration of a node, performing manual firmware upgrades or replacements, performing CVM maintenance or any other maintenance operations.

Entering and Exiting Maintenance Mode

With a minimum AOS release of 6.1.2, 6.5.1 or 6.6, you can only place one node at a time in maintenance mode for each cluster. When a host is in maintenance mode, the CVM is placed in maintenance mode as part of the node maintenance operation and any associated RF1 VMs are powered-off. The cluster marks the host as unschedulable so that no new VM instances are created on it. When a node is placed in the maintenance mode from the Prism web console, an attempt is made to evacuate VMs from the host. If the evacuation attempt fails, the host remains in the "entering maintenance mode" state, where it is marked unschedulable, waiting for user remediation.

When a host is placed in the maintenance mode, the CVM is placed in the maintenance mode as part of the node maintenance operation. The non-migratable VMs (for example, pinned or RF1 VMs which have affinity towards a specific node) are powered-off while live migratable or high availability (HA) VMs are moved from the original host to other hosts in the cluster. After exiting the maintenance mode, all non-migratable guest VMs are powered on again and the live migrated VMs are automatically restored on the original host.

Note: VMs with CPU passthrough or PCI passthrough, pinned VMs (with host affinity policies), and RF1 VMs are not migrated to other hosts in the cluster when a node undergoes maintenance. Click View these VMs link to view the list of VMs that cannot be live-migrated.

See Putting a Node into Maintenance Mode (vSphere) to place a node under maintenance.

You can also enter or exit a host under maintenance through the vCenter web client. See Putting the CVM and ESXi Host in Maintenance Mode Using vCenter.

Exiting a Node from Maintenance Mode

See Exiting a Node from the Maintenance Mode (vSphere) to remove a node from the maintenance mode.

Viewing a Node under Maintenance Mode

See Viewing a Node that is in Maintenance Mode to view the node under maintenance mode.

Guest VM Status when Node under Maintenance Mode

See Guest VM Status when Node is in Maintenance Mode to view the status of guest VMs when a node is undergoing maintenance operations.

Best Practices and Recommendations

Nutanix strongly recommends using the Enter Maintenance Mode option to place a node under maintenance.

Known Issues and Limitations ESXi

The Prism web console enabled maintenance operations (enter and exit node maintenance) are currently supported on ESXi.
Entering or exiting a node under maintenance using the vCenter for ESXi is not equivalent to entering or exiting the node under maintenance from the Prism Element web console.
You cannot exit the node from maintenance mode from Prism Element web console if the node is placed under maintenance mode using vCenter (ESXi node). However, you can enter the node maintenance through the Prism Element web console and exit the node maintenance using the vCenter (ESXi node).

Putting a Node into Maintenance Mode (vSphere)

Before you begin

Check the cluster status and resiliency before putting a node under maintenance. You can also verify the status of the guest VMs. See Guest VM Status when Node is in Maintenance Mode for more information.

About this task

As the node enter the maintenance mode, the following high-level tasks are performed internally.

The host initiates entering the maintenance mode.
The HA VMs are live migrated.
The pinned and RF1 VMs are powered-off.
The CVM enters the maintenance mode.
The CVM is shutdown.
The host completes entering the maintenance mode.

For more information, see Guest VM Status when Node is in Maintenance Mode to view the status of the guest VMs.

Procedure

Login to the Prism Element web console.
On the home page, select Hardware from the drop-down menu.
Go to the Table > Host view.
Select the node that you want to put under maintenance.
Click the Enter Maintenance Mode option.

Figure. Enter Maintenance Mode Option Click to enlarge
On the Host Maintenance window, provide the vCenter credentials for the ESXi host and click Next .

Figure. Host Maintenance Window (vCenter Credentials) Click to enlarge
On Host Maintenance window, select the Power off VMs that cannot migrate check box to enable the Enter Maintenance Mode button.

Figure. Host Maintenance Window (Enter Maintenance Mode) Click to enlarge

Note: VMs with CPU passthrough, PCI passthrough, pinned VMs (with host affinity policies), and RF1 are not migrated to other hosts in the cluster when a node undergoes maintenance. Click View these VMs link to view the list of VMs that cannot be live-migrated.
Click the Enter Maintenance Mode button.
- A revolving icon appears as a tool tip beside the selected node and also in the Host Details view. This indicates that the host is entering the maintenance mode.
- The revolving icon disappears and the Exit Maintenance Mode option is enabled after the node completely enters the maintenance mode.
  Figure. Enter Node Maintenance (On-going) Click to enlarge
- You can also monitor the progress of the node maintenance operation through the newly created Host enter maintenance and Enter maintenance mode tasks which appear in the task tray.
Note: In case of a node maintenance failure, certain roll-back operations are performed. For example, the CVM is rebooted. But the live-migrated VMs are not restored to the original host.

What to do next

Once the maintenance activity is complete, you can perform any of the following.

View the nodes under maintenance, see Viewing a Node that is in Maintenance Mode
View the status of the guest VMs, see Guest VM Status when Node is in Maintenance Mode
Remove the node from the maintenance mode Exiting a Node from the Maintenance Mode (vSphere))

Viewing a Node that is in Maintenance Mode

About this task

Note: This procedure is the same for AHV and ESXI nodes.

Perform the following steps to view a node under maintenance.

Procedure

Login to the Prism Element web console.
On the home page, select Hardware from the drop-down menu.
Go to the Table > Host view.
Observe the icon along with a tool tip that appears beside the node which is under maintenance. You can also view this icon in the host details view.

Figure. Example: Node under Maintenance (Table and Host Details View) in AHV Click to enlarge
Alternatively, view the node under maintenance from the Hardware > Diagram view.

Figure. Example: Node under Maintenance (Diagram and Host Details View) in AHV Click to enlarge

What to do next

You can:

View the status of the guest VMs, see Guest VM Status when Node is in Maintenance Mode.
Remove the node from the maintenance mode Exiting a Node from the Maintenance Mode (vSphere) .

Exiting a Node from the Maintenance Mode (vSphere)

After you perform any maintenance activity, exit the node from the maintenance mode.

About this task

As the node exits the maintenance mode, the following high-level tasks are performed internally.

The host is taken out of maintenance.
The CVM is powered on.
The CVM is taken out of maintenance.

After the host exits the maintenance mode, the RF1 VMs continue to be powered on and the VMs migrate to restore host locality.

For more information, see Guest VM Status when Node is in Maintenance Mode to view the status of the guest VMs.

Procedure

On the Prism web console home page, select Hardware from the drop-down menu.
Go to the Table > Host view.
Select the node which you intend to remove from the maintenance mode.
Click the Exit Maintenance Mode option.

Figure. Exit Maintenance Mode Option - Table View Click to enlarge

Figure. Exit Maintenance Mode Option - Diagram View Click to enlarge
On the Host Maintenance window, provide the vCenter credentials for the ESXi host and click Next .

Figure. Host Maintenance Window (vCenter Credentials) Click to enlarge
On the Host Maintenance window, click the Exit Maintenance Mode button.
Figure. Host Maintenance Window (Enter Maintenance Mode) Click to enlarge
- A revolving icon appears as a tool tip beside the selected node and also in the Host Details view. This indicates that the host is exiting the maintenance mode.
- The revolving icon disappears and the Enter Maintenance Mode option is enabled after the node completely exits the maintenance mode.
- You can also monitor the progress of the exit node maintenance operation through the newly created Host exit maintenance and Exit maintenance mode tasks which appear in the task tray.

What to do next

You can:

View the status of node under maintenance, see Viewing a Node that is in Maintenance Mode.
View the status of the guest VMs, see Guest VM Status when Node is in Maintenance Mode.

Guest VM Status when Node is in Maintenance Mode

The following scenarios demonstrate the behavior of three guest VM types - high availability (HA) VMs, pinned VMs, and RF1 VMs, when a node enters and exits a maintenance operation. The HA VMs are live VMs that can migrate across nodes if the host server goes down or reboots. The pinned VMs have the host affinity set to a specific node. The RF1 VMs have affinity towards a specific node or a CVM. To view the status of the guest VMs, go to VM > Table .

Note: The following scenarios are the same for AHV and ESXI nodes.

Scenario 1: Guest VMs before Node Entering Maintenance Mode

In this example, you can observe the status of the guest VMs on the node prior to the node entering the maintenance mode. All the guest VMs are powered-on and reside on the same host.

Scenario 2: Guest VMs during Node Maintenance Mode

As the node enter the maintenance mode, the following high-level tasks are performed internally.
1. The host initiates entering the maintenance mode.
2. The HA VMs are live migrated.
3. The pinned and RF1 VMs are powered-off.
4. The host completes entering the maintenance mode.
5. The CVM enters the maintenance mode.
6. The AHV host completes entering the maintenance mode.
7. The CVM enters the maintenance mode.
8. The CVM is shut down.

Scenario 3: Guest VMs after Node Exiting Maintenance Mode

As the node exits the maintenance mode, the following high-level tasks are performed internally.
1. The CVM is powered on.
2. The CVM is taken out of maintenance.
3. The host is taken out of maintenance.
After the host exits the maintenance mode, the RF1 VMs continue to be powered on and the VMs migrate to restore host locality.

Nonconfigurable ESXi Components

The Nutanix manufacturing and installation processes done by running Foundation on the Nutanix nodes configures the following components. Do not modify any of these components except under the direction of Nutanix Support.

Nutanix Software

Modifying any of the following Nutanix software settings may inadvertently constrain performance of your Nutanix cluster or render the Nutanix cluster inoperable.

Local datastore name.
Configuration and contents of any CVM (except memory configuration to enable certain features).

Important: Note the following important considerations about CVMs.

Do not delete the Nutanix CVM.
Do not take a snapshot of the CVM for backup.
Do not rename, modify, or delete the admin and nutanix user accounts of the CVM.
Do not create additional CVM user accounts.
Use the default accounts ( admin or nutanix ), or use sudo to elevate to the root account.
Do not decrease CVM memory below recommended minimum amounts required for cluster and add-in features.
Nutanix Cluster Checks (NCC), preupgrade cluster checks, and the AOS upgrade process detect and monitor CVM memory.
Nutanix does not support the usage of third-party storage on the host part of Nutanix clusters.
Normal cluster operations might be affected if there are connectivity issues with the third-party storage you attach to the hosts in a Nutanix cluster.
Do not run any commands on a CVM that are not in the Nutanix documentation.

ESXi

Modifying any of the following ESXi settings can inadvertently constrain performance of your Nutanix cluster or render the Nutanix cluster inoperable.

NFS datastore settings
VM swapfile location
VM startup/shutdown order
CVM name
CVM virtual hardware configuration file (.vmx file)
iSCSI software adapter settings
Hardware settings, including passthrough HBA settings.
vSwitchNutanix standard virtual switch
vmk0 interface in Management Network port group
SSH
Note: An SSH connection is necessary for various scenarios. For example, to establish connectivity with the ESXi server through a control plane that does not depend on additional management systems or processes. The SSH connection is also required to modify the networking and control paths in the case of a host failure to maintain High Availability. For example, the CVM autopathing (Ha.py) requires an SSH connection. In case a local CVM becomes unavailable, another CVM in the cluster performs the I/O operations over the 10GbE interface.
Open host firewall ports
CPU resource settings such as CPU reservation, limit, and shares of the CVM.
Caution: Do not use the Reset System Configuration option.
ProductLocker symlink setting to point at the default datastore.
Do not change the /productLocker symlink to point at a non-local datastore.

Do not change the ProductLockerLocation advanced setting.

Putting the CVM and ESXi Host in Maintenance Mode Using vCenter

About this task

Nutanix recommends placing the CVM and ESXi host into maintenance mode while the Nutanix cluster undergoes maintenance or patch installations.

Caution: Verify the data resiliency status of your Nutanix cluster. Ensure that the replication factor (RF) supports putting the node in maintenance mode.

Procedure

Log on to vCenter with the web client.
If vSphere DRS is enabled on the Nutanix cluster, skip this step. If vSphere DRS is disabled, perform one of the following.
- Manually migrate all the VMs except the CVM to another host in the Nutanix cluster.
- Shut down VMs other than the CVM that you do not want to migrate to another host.
Right-click the host and select Maintenance Mode > Enter Maintenance Mode.
In the Enter Maintenance Mode dialog box, check Move powered-off and suspended virtual machines to other hosts in the cluster and click OK .

Note:
In certain rare conditions, even when DRS is enabled, some VMs do not automatically migrate due to user-defined affinity rules or VM configuration settings. The VMs that do not migrate appear under cluster DRS > Faults when a maintenance mode task is in progress. To address the faults, either manually shut down those VMs or ensure the VMs can be migrated.

Caution: When you put the host in maintenance mode, the maintenance mode process powers down or migrates all the VMs that are running on the host.

The host gets ready to go into maintenance mode, which prevents VMs from running on this host. DRS automatically attempts to migrate all the VMs to another host in the Nutanix cluster.
The host enters maintenance mode after its CVM is shut down.

Shutting Down an ESXi Node in a Nutanix Cluster

Before you begin

Verify the data resiliency status of your Nutanix cluster. If the Nutanix cluster only has replication factor 2 (RF2), you can shut down only one node for each cluster. If an RF2 cluster has more than one node shut down, shut down the entire cluster.

About this task

You can put the ESXi host into maintenance mode and shut it down either from the web client or from the command line. For more information about shutting down a node from the command line, see Shutting Down an ESXi Node in a Nutanix Cluster (vSphere Command Line).

Procedure

Log on to vCenter with the web client.
Put the Nutanix node in the maintenance mode. For more information, see Putting the CVM and ESXi Host in Maintenance Mode Using vCenter.

Note: If DRS is not enabled, manually migrate or shut down all the VMs excluding the CVM. The VMs that are not migrated automatically even when the DRS is enabled can be because of a configuration option in the VM that is not present on the target host.
Right-click the host and select Shut Down .
Wait until the vCenter displays that the host is not responding, which may take several minutes. If you are logged on to the ESXi host rather than to vCenter, the web client disconnects when the host shuts down.

Shutting Down an ESXi Node in a Nutanix Cluster (vSphere Command Line)

Before you begin

About this task

Procedure

Log on to the CVM with SSH and shut down the CVM.
```
nutanix@cvm$ cvm_shutdown -P now
```
Log on to another CVM in the Nutanix cluster with SSH.
Shut down the host.
```
nutanix@cvm$ ~/serviceability/bin/esx-enter-maintenance-mode -s cvm_ip_addr
```
Replace cvm_ip_addr with the IP address of the CVM on the ESXi host.

If successful, this command returns no output. If it fails with a message like the following, VMs are probably still running on the host.
```
CRITICAL esx-enter-maintenance-mode:42 Command vim-cmd hostsvc/maintenance_mode_enter failed with ret=-1
```
Ensure that all VMs are shut down or moved to another host and try again before proceeding.
```
nutanix@cvm$ ~/serviceability/bin/esx-shutdown -s cvm_ip_addr
```
Replace cvm_ip_addr with the IP address of the CVM on the ESXi host..

Alternatively, you can put the ESXi host into maintenance mode and shut it down using the vSphere web client. For more information, see Shutting Down an ESXi Node in a Nutanix Cluster.
If the host shuts down, a message like the following is displayed.
```
INFO esx-shutdown:67 Please verify if ESX was successfully shut down using ping hypervisor_ip_addr
```
hypervisor_ip_addr is the IP address of the ESXi host.
Confirm that the ESXi host has shut down.
```
nutanix@cvm$ ping hypervisor_ip_addr
```
Replace hypervisor_ip_addr with the IP address of the ESXi host.

If no ping packets are answered, the ESXi host shuts down.

Starting an ESXi Node in a Nutanix Cluster

About this task

You can start an ESXi host either from the web client or from the command line. For more information about starting a node from the command line, see Starting an ESXi Node in a Nutanix Cluster (vSphere Command Line).

Procedure

If the node is off, turn it on by pressing the power button on the front. Otherwise, proceed to the next step.
Log on to vCenter (or to the node if vCenter is not running) with the web client.
Right-click the ESXi host and select Exit Maintenance Mode .
Right-click the CVM and select Power > Power on .
Wait approximately 5 minutes for all services to start on the CVM.
Log on to another CVM in the Nutanix cluster with SSH.
Confirm that the Nutanix cluster services are running on the CVM.
```
nutanix@cvm$ ncli cluster status | grep -A 15 cvm_ip_addr
```
Replace cvm_ip_addr with the IP address of the CVM on the ESXi host.
Output similar to the following is displayed.
```
    Name                      : 10.1.56.197
    Status                    : Up
    ... ... 
    StatsAggregator           : up
    SysStatCollector          : up
```
Every service listed should be up .
Right-click the ESXi host in the web client and select Rescan for Datastores . Confirm that all Nutanix datastores are available.

Verify that the status of all services on all the CVMs are Up.

nutanix@cvm$ cluster status

If the Nutanix cluster is running properly, output similar to the following is displayed for each node in the Nutanix cluster.

CVM:host IP-Address Up
                                Zeus   UP       [9935, 9980, 9981, 9994, 10015, 10037]
                           Scavenger   UP       [25880, 26061, 26062]
                              Xmount   UP       [21170, 21208]
                    SysStatCollector   UP       [22272, 22330, 22331]
                           IkatProxy   UP       [23213, 23262]
                    IkatControlPlane   UP       [23487, 23565]
                       SSLTerminator   UP       [23490, 23620]
                      SecureFileSync   UP       [23496, 23645, 23646]
                              Medusa   UP       [23912, 23944, 23945, 23946, 24176]
                  DynamicRingChanger   UP       [24314, 24404, 24405, 24558]
                              Pithos   UP       [24317, 24555, 24556, 24593]
                          InsightsDB   UP       [24322, 24472, 24473, 24583]
                              Athena   UP       [24329, 24504, 24505]
                             Mercury   UP       [24338, 24515, 24516, 24614]
                              Mantle   UP       [24344, 24572, 24573, 24634]
                          VipMonitor   UP       [18387, 18464, 18465, 18466, 18474]
                            Stargate   UP       [24993, 25032]
                InsightsDataTransfer   UP       [25258, 25348, 25349, 25388, 25391, 25393, 25396]
                               Ergon   UP       [25263, 25414, 25415]
                             Cerebro   UP       [25272, 25462, 25464, 25581]
                             Chronos   UP       [25281, 25488, 25489, 25547]
                             Curator   UP       [25294, 25528, 25529, 25585]
                               Prism   UP       [25718, 25801, 25802, 25899, 25901, 25906, 25941, 25942]
                                 CIM   UP       [25721, 25829, 25830, 25856]
                        AlertManager   UP       [25727, 25862, 25863, 25990]
                            Arithmos   UP       [25737, 25896, 25897, 26040]
                             Catalog   UP       [25749, 25989, 25991]
                           Acropolis   UP       [26011, 26118, 26119]
                               Uhura   UP       [26037, 26165, 26166]
                                Snmp   UP       [26057, 26214, 26215]
                   NutanixGuestTools   UP       [26105, 26282, 26283, 26299]
                          MinervaCVM   UP       [27343, 27465, 27466, 27730]
                       ClusterConfig   UP       [27358, 27509, 27510]
                            Aequitas   UP       [27368, 27567, 27568, 27600]
                         APLOSEngine   UP       [27399, 27580, 27581]
                               APLOS   UP       [27853, 27946, 27947]
                               Lazan   UP       [27865, 27997, 27999]
                              Delphi   UP       [27880, 28058, 28060]
                                Flow   UP       [27896, 28121, 28124]
                             Anduril   UP       [27913, 28143, 28145]
                               XTrim   UP       [27956, 28171, 28172]
                       ClusterHealth   UP       [7102, 7103, 27995, 28209,28495, 28496, 28503, 28510,	
28573, 28574, 28577, 28594, 28595, 28597, 28598, 28602, 28603, 28604, 28607, 28645, 28646, 28648, 28792,	
28793, 28837, 28838, 28840, 28841, 28858, 28859, 29123, 29124, 29127, 29133, 29135, 29142, 29146, 29150,	
29161, 29162, 29163, 29179, 29187, 29219, 29268, 29273]

Starting an ESXi Node in a Nutanix Cluster (vSphere Command Line)

About this task

You can start an ESXi host either from the command line or from the web client. For more information about starting a node from the web client, see Starting an ESXi Node in a Nutanix Cluster .

Procedure

Log on to a running CVM in the Nutanix cluster with SSH.
Start the CVM.
```
nutanix@cvm$ ~/serviceability/bin/esx-exit-maintenance-mode -s cvm_ip_addr
```
Replace cvm_ip_addr with the IP address of the CVM on the ESXi host.

If successful, this command produces no output. If it fails, wait 5 minutes and try again.
```
nutanix@cvm$ ~/serviceability/bin/esx-start-cvm -s cvm_ip_addr
```
Replace cvm_ip_addr with the IP address of the CVM on the ESXi host.
.
If the CVM starts, a message like the following is displayed.
```
INFO esx-start-cvm:67 CVM started successfully. Please verify using ping cvm_ip_addr
```
cvm_ip_addr is the IP address of the CVM on the ESXi host.

After starting, the CVM restarts once. Wait three to four minutes before you ping the CVM.

Alternatively, you can take the ESXi host out of maintenance mode and start the CVM using the web client. For more information, see Starting an ESXi Node in a Nutanix Cluster

Verify that the status of all services on all the CVMs are Up.

nutanix@cvm$ cluster status

If the Nutanix cluster is running properly, output similar to the following is displayed for each node in the Nutanix cluster.

CVM:host IP-Address Up
                                Zeus   UP       [9935, 9980, 9981, 9994, 10015, 10037]
                           Scavenger   UP       [25880, 26061, 26062]
                              Xmount   UP       [21170, 21208]
                    SysStatCollector   UP       [22272, 22330, 22331]
                           IkatProxy   UP       [23213, 23262]
                    IkatControlPlane   UP       [23487, 23565]
                       SSLTerminator   UP       [23490, 23620]
                      SecureFileSync   UP       [23496, 23645, 23646]
                              Medusa   UP       [23912, 23944, 23945, 23946, 24176]
                  DynamicRingChanger   UP       [24314, 24404, 24405, 24558]
                              Pithos   UP       [24317, 24555, 24556, 24593]
                          InsightsDB   UP       [24322, 24472, 24473, 24583]
                              Athena   UP       [24329, 24504, 24505]
                             Mercury   UP       [24338, 24515, 24516, 24614]
                              Mantle   UP       [24344, 24572, 24573, 24634]
                          VipMonitor   UP       [18387, 18464, 18465, 18466, 18474]
                            Stargate   UP       [24993, 25032]
                InsightsDataTransfer   UP       [25258, 25348, 25349, 25388, 25391, 25393, 25396]
                               Ergon   UP       [25263, 25414, 25415]
                             Cerebro   UP       [25272, 25462, 25464, 25581]
                             Chronos   UP       [25281, 25488, 25489, 25547]
                             Curator   UP       [25294, 25528, 25529, 25585]
                               Prism   UP       [25718, 25801, 25802, 25899, 25901, 25906, 25941, 25942]
                                 CIM   UP       [25721, 25829, 25830, 25856]
                        AlertManager   UP       [25727, 25862, 25863, 25990]
                            Arithmos   UP       [25737, 25896, 25897, 26040]
                             Catalog   UP       [25749, 25989, 25991]
                           Acropolis   UP       [26011, 26118, 26119]
                               Uhura   UP       [26037, 26165, 26166]
                                Snmp   UP       [26057, 26214, 26215]
                   NutanixGuestTools   UP       [26105, 26282, 26283, 26299]
                          MinervaCVM   UP       [27343, 27465, 27466, 27730]
                       ClusterConfig   UP       [27358, 27509, 27510]
                            Aequitas   UP       [27368, 27567, 27568, 27600]
                         APLOSEngine   UP       [27399, 27580, 27581]
                               APLOS   UP       [27853, 27946, 27947]
                               Lazan   UP       [27865, 27997, 27999]
                              Delphi   UP       [27880, 28058, 28060]
                                Flow   UP       [27896, 28121, 28124]
                             Anduril   UP       [27913, 28143, 28145]
                               XTrim   UP       [27956, 28171, 28172]
                       ClusterHealth   UP       [7102, 7103, 27995, 28209,28495, 28496, 28503, 28510,	
28573, 28574, 28577, 28594, 28595, 28597, 28598, 28602, 28603, 28604, 28607, 28645, 28646, 28648, 28792,	
28793, 28837, 28838, 28840, 28841, 28858, 28859, 29123, 29124, 29127, 29133, 29135, 29142, 29146, 29150,	
29161, 29162, 29163, 29179, 29187, 29219, 29268, 29273]

Verify the storage.
1. Log on to the ESXi host with SSH.
2. Rescan for datastores.
```
root@esx# esxcli storage core adapter rescan --all
```
3. Confirm that cluster VMFS datastores, if any, are available.
```
root@esx# esxcfg-scsidevs -m | awk '{print $5}'
```

Restarting an ESXi Node using CLI

Before you begin

Shut down the guest VMs, including vCenter that are running on the node or move them to other nodes in the Nutanix cluster.

About this task

Procedure

Log on to vCenter (or to the ESXi host if the node is running the vCenter VM) with the web client.
Right-click the host and select Maintenance mode > Enter Maintenance Mode .
In the Confirm Maintenance Mode dialog box, click OK .

The host is placed in maintenance mode, which prevents VMs from running on the host.
Note: The host does not enter in the maintenance mode until after the CVM is shut down.
Log on to the CVM with SSH and shut down the CVM.
```
nutanix@cvm$ cvm_shutdown -P now
```
Note: Do not reset or shutdown the CVM in any way other than the cvm_shutdown command to ensure that the cluster is aware that the CVM is unavailable.
Right-click the node and select Power > Reboot .
Wait until vCenter shows that the host is not responding and then is responding again, which takes several minutes.

If you are logged on to the ESXi host rather than to vCenter, the web client disconnects when the host shuts down.
Right-click the ESXi host and select Exit Maintenance Mode .
Right-click the CVM and select Power > Power on .
Wait approximately 5 minutes for all services to start on the CVM.
Log on to the CVM with SSH.
Confirm that the Nutanix cluster services are running on the CVM.
```
nutanix@cvm$ ncli cluster status | grep -A 15 cvm_ip_addr
```
Replace cvm_ip_addr with the IP address of the CVM on the ESXi host.
Output similar to the following is displayed.
```
    Name                      : 10.1.56.197
    Status                    : Up
    ... ... 
    StatsAggregator           : up
    SysStatCollector          : up
```
Every service listed should be up .
Right-click the ESXi host in the web client and select Rescan for Datastores . Confirm that all Nutanix datastores are available.

Rebooting an ESXI Node in a Nutanix Cluster

About this task

The Request Reboot operation in the Prism web console gracefully restarts the selected nodes one after the other.

Perform the following procedure to restart the nodes in the cluster.

Procedure

Click the gear icon in the main menu and then select Reboot in the Settings page.
In the Request Reboot window, select the nodes you want to restart, and click Reboot .

Figure. Request Reboot of ESXi Node Click to enlarge

A progress bar is displayed that indicates the progress of the restart of each node.

Changing an ESXi Node Name

After running a bare-metal Foundation, you can change the host (node) name from the command line or by using the vSphere web client.

To change the hostname, see VMware Documentation. .

Changing an ESXi Node Password

Although it is not required for the root user to have the same password on all hosts (nodes), doing so makes cluster management and support much easier. If you do select a different password for one or more hosts, make sure to note the password for each host.

To change the host password, see VMware Documentation .

Changing the CVM Memory Configuration (ESXi)

About this task

You can increase the memory reserved for each CVM in your Nutanix cluster by using the 1-click CVM Memory Upgrade option available from the Prism Element web console.

Increase memory size depending on the workload type or to enable certain AOS features. For more information about CVM memory sizing recommendations and instructions about how to increase the CVM memory, see Increasing the Controller VM Memory Size in the Prism Web Console Guide .

VM Management

For the list of supported VMs, see Compatibility and Interoperability Matrix.

VM Management Using Prism Central

You can create and manage a VM on your ESXi from Prism Central. For more information, see Creating a VM through Prism Central (ESXi) and Managing a VM (ESXi).

Creating a VM through Prism Central (ESXi)

In ESXi clusters, you can create a new virtual machine (VM) through Prism Central.

Before you begin

See the requirements and limitations section in vCenter Server Integration in the Prism Central Guide before proceeding.
Register the vCenter Server with your cluster. For more information, see Registering vCenter Server (Prism Central) in the Prism Central Guide .

About this task

To create a VM, do the following:

Procedure

Go to the List tab of the VMs dashboard (see VM Summary View in the Prism Central Guide ) and click the Create VM button.
The Create VM wizard appears.
In the Configuration step, do the following in the indicated fields:
1. Name : Enter a name for the VM.
2. Description (optional): Enter a description for the VM.
3. Cluster : Select the target cluster from the pull-down list on which you intend to create the VM.
4. Number of VMs : Enter the number of VMs you intend to create. The created VM names are suffixed sequentially.
5. vCPU(s) : Enter the number of virtual CPUs to allocate to this VM.
6. Number of Cores per vCPU : Enter the number of cores assigned to each virtual CPU.
7. Memory : Enter the amount of memory (in GiBs) to allocate to this VM.
Figure. Create VM Window (Configuration) Click to enlarge
In the Resources step, do the following.

Disks: To attach a disk to the VM, click the Attach Disk button. The Add Disks dialog box appears. Do the following in the indicated fields:

Figure. Add Disk Dialog Box Click to enlarge
1. Type : Select the type of storage device, Disk or CD-ROM , from the pull-down list.
2. Operation : Specify the device contents from the pull-down list.
  - Select Clone from NDSF file to copy any file from the cluster that can be used as an image onto the disk.
  - [ CD-ROM only] Select Empty CD-ROM to create a blank CD-ROM device. A CD-ROM device is needed when you intend to provide a system image from CD-ROM.
  - [Disk only] Select Allocate on Storage Container to allocate space without specifying an image. Selecting this option means you are allocating space only. You have to provide a system image later from a CD-ROM or other source.
  - Select Clone from Image to copy an image that you have imported by using image service feature onto the disk.
3. Bus Type : Select the bus type from the pull-down list. The choices are IDE , SCSI , PCI , or SATA .
4. Path : Enter the path to the desired system image.
5. Clone from Image : Select the image that you have created by using the image service feature.
  
  This field appears only when Clone from Image Service is selected. It specifies the image to copy.
  
  Note: If the image you created does not appear in the list, see KB-4892.
6. Storage Container : Select the storage container to use from the pull-down list.
  
  This field appears only when Allocate on Storage Container is selected. The list includes all storage containers created for this cluster.
7. Capacity : Enter the disk size in GiB.
8. When all the field entries are correct, click the Add button to attach the disk to the VM and return to the Create VM dialog box.
9. Repeat this step to attach additional devices to the VM.
Figure. Create VM Window (Resources) Click to enlarge
In the Resources step, do the following.

Networks: To create a network interface for the VM, click the Attach to Subnet button. The Attach to Subnet dialog box appears.

Do the following in the indicated fields:

Figure. Attach to Subnet Dialog Box Click to enlarge
1. Subnet : Select the target virtual LAN from the pull-down list.
  
  The list includes all defined networks (see Configuring Network Connections in the Prism Central Guide ).
2. Network Adapter Type : Select the network adapter type from the pull-down list.
  
  For information about the list of supported adapter types, see vCenter Server Integration in the Prism Central Guide .
3. Network Connection State : Select the state for the network that you want it to operate in after VM creation. The options are Connected or Disconnected .
4. When all the field entries are correct, click the Add button to create a network interface for the VM and return to the Create VM dialog box.
5. Repeat this step to create more network interfaces for the VM.
In the Management step, do the following.
1. Categories : Search for the category to be assigned to the VM. The policies associated with the category value are assigned to the VM.
2. Guest OS : Type and select the guest operating system.
  
  The guest operating system that you select affects the supported devices and number of virtual CPUs available for the virtual machine. The Create VM wizard does not install the guest operating system. For information about the list of supported operating systems, see vCenter Server Integration in the Prism Central Guide .
  
  Figure. Create VM Window (Management) Click to enlarge
In the Review step, when all the field entries are correct, click the Create VM button to create the VM and close the Create VM dialog box.

The new VM appears in the VMs entity page list.

Managing a VM (ESXi)

You can manage virtual machines (VMs) in an ESXi cluster through Prism Central.

Before you begin

See the requirements and limitations section in vCenter Server Integration in the Prism Central Guide before proceeding.
Ensure that you have registered the vCenter Server with your cluster. For more information, see Registering vCenter Server (Prism Central) in the Prism Central Guide .

About this task

After creating a VM (see Creating a VM through Prism Central (ESXi)), you can use Prism Central to update the VM configuration, delete the VM, clone the VM, launch a console window, power on (or off) the VM, enable flash mode for a VM, assign the VM to a protection policy, create VM recovery point, add the VM to a recovery plan, run a playbook, manage categories, install and manage Nutanix Guest Tools (NGT), manage the VM ownership, or configure QoS settings.

You can perform these tasks by using any of the following methods:

Select the target VM in the List tab of the VMs dashboard (see VM Summary View in the Prism Central Guide ) and choose the required action from the Actions menu.
Right-click on the target VM in the List tab of the VMs dashboard and select the required action from the drop-down list.
Go to the details page of a selected VM (see VM Details View in the Prism Central Guide ) and select the desired action.

Note: The available actions appear in bold; other actions are unavailable. The available actions depend on the current state of the VM and your permissions.

Procedure

To modify the VM configuration, select Update .

The Update VM dialog box appears, which includes the same fields as the Create VM dialog box. Make the desired changes and then click the Save button in the Review step.

Figure. Update VM Window (Resources) Click to enlarge
Disks: You can add new disks to the VM using the Attach Disk option. You can also modify the existing disk attached to the VM using the controls under the actions column. See Creating a VM through Prism Central (ESXi) before you create a new disk for a VM. You can enable or disable the flash mode settings for the VM. To enable flash mode on the VM, click the Enable Flash Mode check box. After you enable this feature on the VM, the status is updated in the VM table view.
Networks: You can attach new network to the VM using the Attach to Subnet option. You can also modify the existing subnet attached to the VM. See Creating a VM through Prism Central (ESXi) before you modify NIC network or create a new NIC for a VM.
To delete the VM, select Delete . A window prompt appears; click the OK button to delete the VM.
To clone the VM, select Clone .
This displays the Clone VM dialog box, which includes the same fields as the Create VM dialog box. A cloned VM inherits most the configurations (except the name) of the source VM. Enter a name for the clone and then click the Save button to create the clone. You can optionally override some of the configurations before clicking the Save button. For example, you can override the number of vCPUs, memory size, boot priority, NICs, or the guest customization.
Note:
- You can clone up to 250 VMs at a time.
- You cannot override the secure boot setting while cloning a VM, unless the source VM already had secure boot setting enabled.
Figure. Clone VM Window Click to enlarge
To launch a console window, select Launch Console .

This opens a Virtual Network Computing (VNC) client and displays the console in a new tab or window. This option is available only when the VM is powered on. The VM power options that you access from the Power On Actions (or Power Off Actions ) action link below the VM table can also be accessed from the VNC console window. To access the VM power options, click the Power button at the top-right corner of the console window.

Note: A VNC client may not function properly on all browsers. Some keys are not recognized when the browser is Chrome. (Firefox typically works best.)

Figure. Console Window (VNC) Click to enlarge
To power on (or off) the VM, select Power on (or Power off ).
To disable (or enable) efficiency measurement for the VM, select Disable Efficiency Measurement (or Enable Efficiency Measurement ).
To disable (or enable) anomaly detection the VM, select Disable Anomaly Detection (or Enable Anomaly Detection ).
To assign the VM to a protection policy, select Protect . This opens a page to specify the protection policy to which this VM should be assigned. To remove the VM from a protection policy, select Unprotect .

Note: You can create a protection policy for a VM or set of VMs that belong to one or more categories by enabling Leap and configuring the Availability Zone.
To migrate the VM to another host, select Migrate .

This displays the Migrate VM dialog box. Select the target host from the pull-down list (or select the System will automatically select a host option to let the system choose the host) and then click the Migrate button to start the migration.

Figure. Migrate VM Window Click to enlarge

Note: Nutanix recommends to live migrate VMs when they are under light load. If they are migrated while heavily utilized, migration may fail because of limited bandwidth.
To add this VM to a recovery plan you created previously, select Add to Recovery Plan . For more information, see Adding Guest VMs Individually to a Recovery Plan in the Leap Administration Guide .
To create VM recovery point, select Create Recovery Point .

This displays the Create VM Recovery Point dialog box. Enter a name of the recovery action for the VM. You can choose to create an App Consistent VM recovery point by enabling the check-box. The VM can be restored or replicated from a Recovery Point either locally or remotely in a state of a chosen recovery point.

Figure. Create VM Recovery Point Window Click to enlarge
To run a playbook you created previously, select Run Playbook . For more information, see Running a Playbook (Manual Trigger) in the Prism Central Guide .
To assign the VM a category value, select Manage Categories .

This displays the Manage VM Categories page. For more information, see Assigning a Category in the Prism Central Guide .
To install Nutanix Guest Tools (NGT), select Install NGT . For more information, see Installing NGT on Multiple VMs in the Prism Central Guide .
To enable (or disable) NGT, select Manage NGT Applications . For more information, see Managing NGT Applications in the Prism Central Guide .
The VM is registered with the NGT service. NGT is enabled and mounted on the selected virtual machine. A CD with volume label NUTANIX_TOOLS gets attached to the VM.
Note: If you clone a VM, by default NGT is not enabled on the cloned VM. You need to again enable and mount NGT on the cloned VM. If you want to enable NGT on multiple VMs simultaneously, see Enabling NGT and Mounting the NGT Installer on Cloned VMs in the Prism Web Console Guide .

If you eject the CD, you can mount the CD back again by logging into the Controller VM and running the following nCLI command.
```
ncli> ngt mount vm-id=virtual_machine_id
```
For example, to mount the NGT on the VM with VM_ID=00051a34-066f-72ed-0000-000000005400::38dc7bf2-a345-4e52-9af6-c1601e759987, type the following command.
```
ncli> ngt mount vm-id=00051a34-066f-72ed-0000-000000005400::38dc7bf2-a345-4e52-9af6-
c1601e759987
```
Note:
- Self-service restore feature is not enabled by default on a VM. You need to manually enable the self-service restore feature.
- If you have created the NGT ISO CD-ROMs on AOS 4.6 or earlier releases, the NGT functionality will not work even if you upgrade your cluster because REST APIs have been disabled. You need to unmount the ISO, remount the ISO, install the NGT software again, and then upgrade to a later AOS version.
To upgrade NGT, select Upgrade NGT . For more information, see Upgrading NGT in the Prism Central Guide .
To establish VM host affinity, select Configure VM Host Affinity .

A window appears with the available hosts. Select (click the icon for) one or more of the hosts and then click the Save button. This creates an affinity between the VM and the selected hosts. If possible, it is recommended that you create an affinity to multiple hosts (at least two) to protect against downtime due to a node failure. For more information about VM affinity policies, see Affinity Policies Defined in Prism Central in the Prism Central Guide .

Figure. Set VM Host Affinity Window Click to enlarge
To add a VM to the catalog, select Add to Catalog . This displays the Add VM to Catalog page. For more information, see Adding a Catalog Item in the Prism Central Guide .
To specify a project and user who own this VM, select Manage Ownership .
In the Manage VM Ownership window, do the following in the indicated fields:
1. Project : Select the target project from the pull-down list.
2. User : Enter a user name. A list of matches appears as you enter a string; select the user name from the list when it appears.
3. Click the Save button.
Figure. VM Ownership Window Click to enlarge
To configure quality of service (QoS) settings, select Set QoS Attributes . For more information, see Setting QoS for an Individual VM in the Prism Central Guide .

VM Management using Prism Element

You can create and manage a VM on your ESXi from Prism Element. For more information, see Creating a VM (ESXi) and Managing a VM (ESXi).

Creating a VM (ESXi)

In ESXi clusters, you can create a new virtual machine (VM) through the web console.

Before you begin

See the requirements and limitations section in VM Management through Prism Element (ESXi) in the Prism Web Console Guide before proceeding.
Register the vCenter Server with your cluster. For more information, see Registering a Cluster to vCenter Server.

About this task

When creating a VM, you can configure all of its components, such as number of vCPUs and memory, but you cannot attach a volume group to the VM.

To create a VM, do the following:

Procedure

In the VM dashboard (see VM Dashboard), click the Create VM button.
The Create VM dialog box appears.
Do the following in the indicated fields:
1. Name : Enter a name for the VM.
2. Description (optional): Enter a description for the VM.
3. Guest OS : Type and select the guest operating system.
  The guest operating system that you select affects the supported devices and number of virtual CPUs available for the virtual machine. The Create VM wizard does not install the guest operating system. For information about the list of supported operating systems, see VM Management through Prism Element (ESXi) in the Prism Web Console Guide .
4. vCPU(s) : Enter the number of virtual CPUs to allocate to this VM.
5. Number of Cores per vCPU : Enter the number of cores assigned to each virtual CPU.
6. Memory : Enter the amount of memory (in GiBs) to allocate to this VM.
To attach a disk to the VM, click the Add New Disk button.
The Add Disks dialog box appears.
Figure. Add Disk Dialog Box Click to enlarge

Do the following in the indicated fields:
1. Type : Select the type of storage device, DISK or CD-ROM , from the pull-down list.
  The following fields and options vary depending on whether you choose DISK or CD-ROM .
2. Operation : Specify the device contents from the pull-down list.
  - Select Clone from ADSF file to copy any file from the cluster that can be used as an image onto the disk.
  - Select Allocate on Storage Container to allocate space without specifying an image. (This option appears only when DISK is selected in the previous field.) Selecting this option means you are allocating space only. You have to provide a system image later from a CD-ROM or other source.
3. Bus Type : Select the bus type from the pull-down list. The choices are IDE or SCSI .
4. ADSF Path : Enter the path to the desired system image.
  This field appears only when Clone from ADSF file is selected. It specifies the image to copy. Enter the path name as / storage_container_name / vmdk_name .vmdk . For example to clone an image from myvm-flat.vmdk in a storage container named crt1 , enter /crt1/myvm-flat.vmdk . When a user types the storage container name ( / storage_container_name / ), a list appears of the VMDK files in that storage container (assuming one or more VMDK files had previously been copied to that storage container).
  Note: Make sure you are copying from a flat file.
5. Storage Container : Select the storage container to use from the pull-down list.
  This field appears only when Allocate on Storage Container is selected. The list includes all storage containers created for this cluster.
6. Size : Enter the disk size in GiBs.
7. When all the field entries are correct, click the Add button to attach the disk to the VM and return to the Create VM dialog box.
8. Repeat this step to attach more devices to the VM.
To create a network interface for the VM, click the Add New NIC button.
The Create NIC dialog box appears. Do the following in the indicated fields:
1. VLAN Name : Select the target virtual LAN from the pull-down list.
  The list includes all defined networks. For more information, see Network Configuration for VM Interfaces in the Prism Web Console Guide .
2. Network Adapter Type : Select the network adapter type from the pull-down list.
  
  For information about the list of supported adapter types, see VM Management through Prism Element (ESXi) in the Prism Web Console Guide .
3. Network UUID : This is a read-only field that displays the network UUID.
4. Network Address/Prefix : This is a read-only field that displays the network IP address and prefix.
5. When all the field entries are correct, click the Add button to create a network interface for the VM and return to the Create VM dialog box.
6. Repeat this step to create more network interfaces for the VM.
When all the field entries are correct, click the Save button to create the VM and close the Create VM dialog box.
The new VM appears in the VM table view. For more information, see VM Table View in the Prism Web Console Guide .

Managing a VM (ESXi)

You can use the web console to manage virtual machines (VMs) in the ESXi clusters.

Before you begin

See the requirements and limitations section in VM Management through Prism Element (ESXi) in the Prism Web Console Guide before proceeding.
Ensure that you have registered the vCenter Server with your cluster. For more information, see Registering a Cluster to vCenter Server.

About this task

After creating a VM, you can use the web console to manage guest tools, power operations, suspend, launch a VM console window, update the VM configuration, clone the VM, or delete the VM. To accomplish one or more of these tasks, do the following:

Note: Your available options depend on the VM status, type, and permissions. Unavailable options are unavailable.

Procedure

In the VM dashboard (see VM Dashboard), click the Table view.
Select the target VM in the table (top section of screen).
The summary line (middle of screen) displays the VM name with a set of relevant action links on the right. You can also right-click on a VM to select a relevant action.
The possible actions are Manage Guest Tools , Launch Console , Power on (or Power off actions ), Suspend (or Resume ), Clone , Update , and Delete . The following steps describe how to perform each action.

Figure. VM Action Links Click to enlarge
To manage guest tools as follows, click Manage Guest Tools .
You can also enable NGT applications (self-service restore, volume snapshot service and application-consistent snapshots) as part of manage guest tools.
1. Select Enable Nutanix Guest Tools check box to enable NGT on the selected VM.
2. Select Mount Nutanix Guest Tools to mount NGT on the selected VM.
  Ensure that VM has at least one empty IDE CD-ROM or SATA slot to attach the ISO.
  
  The VM is registered with the NGT service. NGT is enabled and mounted on the selected virtual machine. A CD with volume label NUTANIX_TOOLS gets attached to the VM.
3. To enable self-service restore feature for Windows VMs, click Self Service Restore (SSR) check box.
  The self-service restore feature is enabled of the VM. The guest VM administrator can restore the desired file or files from the VM. For more information about the self-service restore feature, see Self-Service Restore in the Data Protection and Recovery with Prism Element guide.
4. After you select Enable Nutanix Guest Tools check box the VSS and application-consistent snapshot feature is enabled by default.
  After this feature is enabled, Nutanix native in-guest VmQuiesced snapshot service (VSS) agent is used to take application-consistent snapshots for all the VMs that support VSS. This mechanism takes application-consistent snapshots without any VM stuns (temporary unresponsive VMs) and also enables third-party backup providers like Commvault and Rubrik to take application-consistent snapshots on Nutanix platform in a hypervisor-agnostic manner. For more information, see Conditions for Application-consistent Snapshots in the Data Protection and Recovery with Prism Element guide.
5. To mount VMware guest tools, click Mount VMware Guest Tools check box.
  The VMware guest tools are mounted on the VM.
  Note: You can mount both VMware guest tools and Nutanix Guest Tools at the same time on a particular VM provided the VM has sufficient empty CD-ROM slots.
6. Click Submit .
  The VM is registered with the NGT service. NGT is enabled and mounted on the selected virtual machine. A CD with volume label NUTANIX_TOOLS gets attached to the VM.
  Note:
  - If you clone a VM, by default NGT is not enabled on the cloned VM. If the cloned VM is powered off, enable NGT from the UI and start the VM. If cloned VM is powered on, enable NGT from the UI and restart the Nutanix guest agent service.
  - If you want to enable NGT on multiple VMs simultaneously, see Enabling NGT and Mounting the NGT Installer on Cloned VMs in the Prism Web Console Guide .
  If you eject the CD, you can mount the CD back again by logging into the Controller VM and running the following nCLI command.
```
ncli> ngt mount vm-id=virtual_machine_id
```
  For example, to mount the NGT on the VM with VM_ID=00051a34-066f-72ed-0000-000000005400::38dc7bf2-a345-4e52-9af6-c1601e759987, type the following command.
```
ncli> ngt mount vm-id=00051a34-066f-72ed-0000-000000005400::38dc7bf2-a345-4e52-9af6-
c1601e759987
```
  Caution: In AOS 4.6, for the powered-on Linux VMs on AHV, ensure that the NGT ISO is ejected or unmounted within the guest VM before disabling NGT by using the web console. This issue is specific for 4.6 version and does not occur from AOS 4.6.x or later releases.
  
  Note: If you have created the NGT ISO CD-ROMs prior to AOS 4.6 or later releases, the NGT functionality will not work even if you upgrade your cluster because REST APIs have been disabled. You must unmount the ISO, remount the ISO, install the NGT software again, and then upgrade to 4.6 or later version.
To launch a VM console window, click the Launch Console action link.
This opens a virtual network computing (VNC) client and displays the console in a new tab or window. This option is available only when the VM is powered on. The VM power options that you access from the Power Off Actions action link below the VM table can also be accessed from the VNC console window. To access the VM power options, click the Power button at the top-right corner of the console window.
Note: A VNC client may not function properly on all browsers. Some keys are not recognized when the browser is Google Chrome. (Firefox typically works best.)
To start (or shut down) the VM, click the Power on (or Power off ) action link.
Power on begins immediately. If you want to shut down the VMs, you are prompted to select one of the following options:
- Power Off . Hypervisor performs a hard shut down action on the VM.
- Reset . Hypervisor performs an ACPI reset action through the BIOS on the VM.
- Guest Shutdown . Operating system of the VM performs a graceful shutdown.
- Guest Reboot . Operating system of the VM performs a graceful restart.
Note: The Guest Shutdown and Guest Reboot options are available only when VMware guest tools are installed.
To pause (or resume) the VM, click the Suspend (or Resume ) action link. This option is available only when the VM is powered on.
To clone the VM, click the Clone action link.
This displays the Clone VM dialog box, which includes the same fields as the Create VM dialog box. A cloned VM inherits the most the configurations (except the name) of the source VM. Enter a name for the clone and then click the Save button to create the clone. You can optionally override some of the configurations before clicking the Save button. For example, you can override the number of vCPUs, memory size, boot priority, NICs, or the guest customization.
Note:
- You can clone up to 250 VMs at a time.
- In the Clone window, you cannot update the disks.
Figure. Clone VM Window Click to enlarge
To modify the VM configuration, click the Update action link.
The Update VM dialog box appears, which includes the same fields as the Create VM dialog box. Modify the configuration as needed (see Creating a VM (ESXi)), and in addition you can enable Flash Mode for the VM.
Note: If you delete a vDisk attached to a VM and snapshots associated with this VM exist, space associated with that vDisk is not reclaimed unless you also delete the VM snapshots.
1. Click the Enable Flash Mode check box.
  - After you enable this feature on the VM, the status is updated in the VM table view. To view the status of individual virtual disks (disks that are flashed to the SSD), go the Virtual Disks tab in the VM table view.
  - You can disable the Flash Mode feature for individual virtual disks. To update the Flash Mode for individual virtual disks, click the update disk icon in the Disks pane and deselect the Enable Flash Mode check box.
  Figure. Update VM Resources Click to enlarge
  
  Figure. Update VM Resources - VM Disk Flash Mode Click to enlarge
To delete the VM, click the Delete action link. A window prompt appears; click the OK button to delete the VM.
The deleted VM disappears from the list of VMs in the table. You can also delete a VM that is already powered on.

vDisk Provisioning Types in VMware with Nutanix Storage

You can specify the vDisk provisioning policy when you perform certain VM management operations like creating a VM, migrating a VM, or cloning a VM.

Traditionally, a vDisk is provisioned with specific allocated space (thick space) or with space allocated on an as-needed basis (thin disk). The thick disks provisions the space using either lazy zero or eager zero disk formatting method.

For traditional storage systems, the thick eager zeroed disks provide the best performance out of the three types of disk provisioning. Thick disks provide second best performance and thin disks provide the least performance. However, this does not apply to modern storage systems found in Nutanix systems.

Nutanix uses a thick Virtual Machine Disk (VMDK) to reserve the storage space using the vStorage APIs for Array Integration (VAAI) reserve space API.

On a Nutanix system, there is no performance difference between thin and thick disks. This means that a thick eager zeroed virtual disk has no performance benefits over a thin virtual disk.

Nutanix uses thick disk (VMDK) in its configuration and the resulting disk will be the same whether the disk is a thin or a thick disk (despite the configuration differences).

Note: A thick-disk reservation is required for the reservation of the disk space. Nutanix VMDK has no performance requirement to provision a thick disk. For a single Nutanix container, even when a thick disk is provisioned, no disk space is allocated to write zeroes. So, there is no requirement for provisioning a thick disk.

When using the up-to-date VAAI for cloning operations, the following behavior is expected:

When cloning any type of disk format (thin, thick lazy zeroed or thick eager zeroed) to the same Nutanix datastore, the resulting VM will have a thin disk regardless of the explicit choice of a disk format in the vSphere client.
Nutanix uses a thin provisioned disk because a thin disk performs the same as a thick disk in the system. The thin disk prevents disk space from wasting. In the cloning scenario, Nutanix disallows the flow of the reservation property from the source to the destination when creating a fast clone on the same datastore. This prevents space wastage due to unnecessary reservation.
When cloning a VM to a different datastore, the destination VM will have the disk format that you specified in the vSphere client.
Important: A thick disk will be shown as thick in ESXi, and within NDFS (Nutanix Distributed File System) it is shown as a thin disk with an extra field configuration.

Nutanix recommends using thin disks over any other disk type.

VM Migration

You can migrate a VM to an ESXi host in a Nutanix cluster. Usually the migration is done in the following cases.

Migrate VMs from existing storage platform to Nutanix.
Keep VMs running during disruptive upgrade or other downtime of Nutanix cluster.

In migrating VMs between Nutanix clusters running vSphere, the source host and NFS datastore are the ones presently running the VM. The target host and NFS datastore are the ones where the VM runs after migration. The target ESXi host and datastore must be part of a Nutanix cluster.

To accomplish this migration, you have to mount the NFS datastores from the target on the source. After the migration is complete, you must unmount the datastores and block access.

Migrating a VM to Another Nutanix Cluster

Before you begin

Before migrating a VM to another Nutanix cluster running vSphere, verify that you have provisioned the target Nutanix environment.

About this task

The shared storage feature in vSphere allows you to move both compute and storage resources from the source legacy environment to the target Nutanix environment at the same time without disruption. This feature also removes the need to do any sort of file systems allow lists on Nutanix.

You can use the shared storage feature through the migration wizard in the web client.

Procedure

Log on to vCenter with the web client.
Select the VM that you want to migrate.
Right-click the VM and select Migrate .
Under Select Migration Type , select Change both compute resource and storage .
Select Compute Resource and then Storage and click Next .
If necessary, change the disk format to the one that you want to use during the migration process.
Select a destination network for all VM network adapters and click Next .
Click Finish .
Wait for the migration process to complete. The process performs the storage vMotion first, and then creates a temporary storage network over vmk0 for the period where the disk files are on Nutanix.

Cloning a VM

About this task

To clone a VM, you must enable the Nutanix VAAI plug-in. For steps to enable and verify Nutanix VAAI plug-in, refer KB-1868 .

Procedure

Log on to vCenter with the web client.
Right-click the VM and select Clone .
Follow the wizard to enter a name for the clone, select a cluster, and select a host.
Select the datastore that contains source VM and click Next .

Note: If you choose a datastore other than the one that contains the source VM, the clone operation uses the VMware implementation and not the Nutanix VAAI plug-in.
If desired, set the guest customization parameters. Otherwise, proceed to the next step.
Click Finish .

vStorage APIs for Array Integration

To improve the vSphere cloning process, Nutanix provides a vStorage API for array integration (VAAI) plug-in. This plug-in is installed by default during the Nutanix factory process.

Without the Nutanix VAAI plug-in, the process of creating a full clone takes a significant amount of time because all the data that comprises a VM is duplicated. This duplication also results in an increase in storage consumption.

The Nutanix VAAI plug-in efficiently makes full clones without reserving space for the clone. Read requests for blocks shared between parent and clone are sent to the original vDisk that was created for the parent VM. As the clone VM writes new blocks, the Nutanix file system allocates storage for those blocks. This data management occurs completely at the storage layer, so the ESXi host sees a single file with the full capacity that was allocated when the clone was created.

vSphere ESXi Hardening Settings

Configure the following settings in


    /etc/ssh/sshd_config

to harden an ESXi hypervisor in a Nutanix cluster.

Caution: When hardening ESXi security, some settings may impact operations of a Nutanix cluster.

HostbasedAuthentication no
PermitTunnel no
AcceptEnv
GatewayPorts no
Compression no
StrictModes yes
KerberosAuthentication no
GSSAPIAuthentication no
PermitUserEnvironment no
PermitEmptyPasswords no
PermitRootLogin no

Match Address x.x.x.11,x.x.x.12,x.x.x.13,x.x.x.14,192.168.5.0/24
PermitRootLogin yes
PasswordAuthentication yes

ESXi Host Upgrade

You can upgrade your host either automatically through Prism Element (1-click upgrade) or manually. For more information about automatic and manual upgrades, see ESXi Upgrade and ESXi Host Manual Upgrade respectively.

This paragraph describes the Nutanix hypervisor support policy for vSphere and Hyper-V hypervisor releases. Nutanix provides hypervisor compatibility and support statements that should be reviewed before planning an upgrade to a new release or applying a hypervisor update or patch:

Compatibility and Interoperability Matrix
Hypervisor Support Policy- See Support Policies and FAQs for the supported Acropolis hypervisors.

Review the Nutanix Field Advisory page also for critical issues that Nutanix may have uncovered with the hypervisor release being considered.

Note: You may need to log in to the Support Portal to view the links above.

The Acropolis Upgrade Guide provides steps that can be used to upgrade the hypervisor hosts. However, as noted in the documentation, the customer is responsible for reviewing the guidance from VMware or Microsoft, respectively, on other component compatibility and upgrade order (e.g. vCenter), which needs to be planned first.

ESXi Upgrade

These topics describe how to upgrade your ESXi hypervisor host through the Prism Element web console Upgrade Software feature (also known as 1-click upgrade). To install or upgrade VMware vCenter server or other third-party software, see your vendor documentation for this information.

AOS supports ESXi hypervisor upgrades that you can apply through the web console Upgrade Software feature (also known as 1-click upgrade).

You can view the available upgrade options, start an upgrade, and monitor upgrade progress through the web console. In the main menu, click the gear icon, and then select Upgrade Software in the Settings panel. You can see the current status of your software versions and start an upgrade.

VMware ESXi Hypervisor Upgrade Recommendations and Limitations

To install or upgrade VMware vCenter Server or other third-party software, see your vendor documentation.
Always consult the VMware web site for any vCenter and hypervisor installation dependencies. For example, a hypervisor version might require that you upgrade vCenter first.
If you have not enabled DRS in your environment and want to upgrade the ESXi host, you need to upgrade the ESXi host manually. For more information about upgrading ESXi hosts manually, see ESXi Host Manual Upgrade in the vSphere Administration Guide .
Disable Admission Control to upgrade ESXi on AOS; if enabled, the upgrade process will fail. You can enable it for normal cluster operation otherwise.

Nutanix Support for ESXi Upgrades

Nutanix qualifies specific VMware ESXi hypervisor updates and provides a related JSON metadata upgrade file on the Nutanix Support Portal for one-click upgrade through the Prism web console Software Upgrade feature.

Nutanix does not provide ESXi binary files, only related JSON metadata upgrade files. Obtain ESXi offline bundles (not ISOs) from the VMware web site.

Nutanix supports the ability to patch upgrade ESXi hosts with versions that are greater than or released after the Nutanix qualified version, but Nutanix might not have qualified those releases. See the Nutanix hypervisor support statement in our Support FAQ. For updates that are made available by VMware that do not have a Nutanix-provided JSON metadata upgrade file, obtain the offline bundle and md5sum checksum available from VMware, then use the web console Software Upgrade feature to upgrade ESXi.

Mixing nodes with different processor (CPU) types in the same cluster

If you are mixing nodes with different processor (CPU) types in the same cluster, you must enable enhanced vMotion compatibility (EVC) to allow vMotion/live migration of VMs during the hypervisor upgrade. For example, if your cluster includes a node with a Haswell CPU and other nodes with Broadwell CPUs, open vCenter and enable VMware enhanced vMotion compatibility (EVC) setting and specifically enable EVC for Intel hosts.

CPU Level for Enhanced vMotion Compatibility (EVC)

AOS Controller VMs and Prism Central VMs require a minimum CPU micro-architecture version of Intel Sandy Bridge. For AOS clusters with ESXi hosts, or when deploying Prism Central VMs on any ESXi cluster: if you have set the vSphere cluster enhanced vMotion compatibility (EVC) level, the minimum level must be L4 - Sandy Bridge .

vCenter Requirements and Limitations

Note: ENG-358564 You might be unable to log in to vCenter Server as the /storage/seat partition for vCenter Server version 7.0 and later might become full due to a large number of SSH-related events. See KB 10830 at the Nutanix Support portal for symptoms and solutions to this issue.

If your cluster is running the ESXi hypervisor and is also managed by VMware vCenter, you must provide vCenter administrator credentials and vCenter IP address as an extra step before upgrading. Ensure that ports 80 / 443 are open between your cluster and your vCenter instance to successfully upgrade.
If you have just registered your cluster in vCenter. Do not perform any cluster upgrades (AOS, Controller VM memory, hypervisor, and so on) if you have just registered your cluster in vCenter. Wait at least 1 hour before performing upgrades to allow cluster settings to become updated. Also do not register the cluster in vCenter and perform any upgrades at the same time.
Cluster mapped to two vCenters. Upgrading software through the web console (1-click upgrade) does not support configurations where a cluster is mapped to two vCenters or where it includes host-affinity must rules for VMs.
Ensure that enough cluster resources are available for live migration to occur and to allow hosts to enter maintenance mode.

Mixing Different Hypervisor Versions

For ESXi hosts, mixing different hypervisor versions in the same cluster is temporarily allowed for deferring a hypervisor upgrade as part of an add-node/expand cluster operation, reimaging a node as part of a break-fix procedure, planned migrations, and similar temporary operations.

Upgrading ESXi Hosts by Uploading Binary and Metadata Files

Before you begin

See General Hypervisor Upgrade Recommendations , VMware ESXi Hypervisor Upgrade Recommendations and Limitations, and Recommended Upgrade Order .
To install or upgrade VMware vCenter server or other third-party software, see your vendor documentation.

About this task

Do the following steps to download Nutanix-qualified ESXi metadata .JSON files and upgrade the ESXi hosts through Upgrade Software in the Prism Element web console. Nutanix does not provide ESXi binary files, only related JSON metadata upgrade files.

Procedure

Before performing any upgrade procedure, make sure you are running the latest version of the Nutanix Cluster Check (NCC) health checks and upgrade NCC if necessary.
Run NCC as described in Run NCC Checks .
Log on to the Nutanix support portal and navigate to the Hypervisors Support page from the Downloads menu, then download the Nutanix-qualified ESXi metadata .JSON files to your local machine or media.
1. The default view is All . From the drop-down menu, select Nutanix - VMware ESXi , which shows all available JSON versions.
2. From the release drop-down menu, select the available ESXi version. For example, 7.0.0 u2a .
3. Click Download to download the Nutanix-qualified ESXi metadata .JSON file.
Figure. Downloads Page for ESXi Metadata JSON Click to enlarge
Log on to the Prism Element web console for any node in the cluster.
Click the gear icon in the main menu, select Upgrade Software in the Settings page, and then click the Hypervisor tab.
Click the upload the Hypervisor binary link.
Click Choose File for the metadata JSON (obtained from Nutanix) and binary files (obtained from VMware), respectively, browse to the file locations, select the file, and click Upload Now .
When the file upload is completed, click Upgrade > Upgrade Now , then click Yes to confirm.
[Optional] To run the pre-upgrade installation checks only on the Controller VM where you are logged on without upgrading, click Upgrade > Pre-upgrade . These checks also run as part of the upgrade procedure.
Type your vCenter IP address and credentials, then click Upgrade .
Ensure that you are using your Active Directory or LDAP credentials in the form of domain\username or username@domain .
Note: AOS can detect if you have uploaded software that is already installed or upgraded. In this case, the Upgrade option is not displayed, because the software is already installed.

The Upgrade Software dialog box shows the progress of your selection, including status of pre-installation checks and uploads, through the Progress Monitor .
On the LCM page, click Inventory > Perform Inventory to enable LCM to check, update and display the inventory information.
For more information, see Performing Inventory With LCM in the Acropolis Upgrade Guide .

Upgrading ESXi by Uploading An Offline Bundle File and Checksum

About this task

Do the following steps to download a non-Nutanix-qualified (patch) ESXi upgrade offline bundle from VMware, then upgrade ESXi through Upgrade Software in the Prism Element web console.
Typically you perform this procedure to patch your version of ESXi and Nutanix has not yet officially qualified that new patch version. Nutanix supports the ability to patch upgrade ESXi hosts with versions that are greater than or released after the Nutanix qualified version, but Nutanix might not have qualified those releases.

Procedure

From the VMware web site, download the offline bundle (for example, update-from-esxi6.0-6.0_update02.zip ) and copy the associated MD5 checksum. Ensure that this checksum is obtained from the VMware web site, not manually generated from the bundle by you.
Save the files to your local machine or media, such as a USB drive or other portable media.
Log on to the Prism Element web console for any node in the cluster.
Click the gear icon in the main menu of the Prism Element web console, select Upgrade Software in the Settings page, and then click the Hypervisor tab.
Click the upload the Hypervisor binary link.
Click enter md5 checksum and copy the MD5 checksum into the Hypervisor MD5 Checksum field.
Scroll down and click Choose File for the binary file, browse to the offline bundle file location, select the file, and click Upload Now .

Figure. ESXi 1-Click Upgrade, Unqualified Bundle Click to enlarge
When the file upload is completed, click Upgrade > Upgrade Now , then click Yes to confirm.
[Optional] To run the pre-upgrade installation checks only on the Controller VM where you are logged on without upgrading, click Upgrade > Pre-upgrade . These checks also run as part of the upgrade procedure.
Type your vCenter IP address and credentials, then click Upgrade .
Ensure that you are using your Active Directory or LDAP credentials in the form of domain\username or username@domain .
Note: AOS can detect if you have uploaded software that is already installed or upgraded. In this case, the Upgrade option is not displayed, because the software is already installed.

The Upgrade Software dialog box shows the progress of your selection, including status of pre-installation checks and uploads, through the Progress Monitor .

ESXi Host Manual Upgrade

If you have not enabled DRS in your environment and want to upgrade the ESXi host, you must upgrade the ESXi host manually. This topic describes all the requirements that you must meet before manually upgrading the ESXi host.

Tip: If you have enabled DRS and want to upgrade the ESXi host, use the one-click upgrade procedure from the Prism web console. For more information on the one-click upgrade procedure, see the ESXi Upgrade.

Nutanix supports the ability to patch upgrade the ESXi hosts with the versions that are greater than or released after the Nutanix qualified version, but Nutanix might not have qualified those releases. See the Nutanix hypervisor support statement in our Support FAQ.

Because ESXi hosts with different versions can co-exist in a single Nutanix cluster, upgrading ESXi does not require cluster downtime.

If you want to avoid cluster interruption, you must complete upgrading a host and ensure that the CVM is running before upgrading any other host. When two hosts in a cluster are down at the same time, all the data is unavailable.
If you want to minimize the duration of the upgrade activities and cluster downtime is acceptable, you can stop the cluster and upgrade all hosts at the same time.

Warning: By default, Nutanix clusters have redundancy factor 2, which means they can tolerate the failure of a single node or drive. Nutanix clusters with a configured option of redundancy factor 3 allow the Nutanix cluster to withstand the failure of two nodes or drives in different blocks.

Never shut down or restart multiple Controller VMs or hosts simultaneously.
Always run the cluster status command to verify that all Controller VMs are up before performing a Controller VM or host shutdown or restart.

ESXi Host Upgrade Process

Perform the following process to upgrade ESXi hosts in your environment.

Prerequisites and Requirements

Note: Use the following process only if you do not have DRS enabled in your Nutanix cluster.

If you are upgrading all nodes in the cluster at once, shut down all guest VMs and stop the cluster with the cluster stop command.
Caution: There is downtime if you upgrade all the nodes in the Nutanix cluster at once. If you do not want downtime in your environment, you must ensure that only one CVM is shut down at a time in a redundancy factor 2 configuration.
If you are upgrading the nodes while keeping the cluster running, ensure that all nodes are up by logging on to a CVM and running the cluster status command. If any nodes are not running, start them before proceeding with the upgrade. Shut down all guest VMs on the node or migrate them to other nodes in the Nutanix cluster.
Disable email alerts in the web console under Email Alert Services or with the nCLI command.
```
ncli> alerts update-alert-config enable=false
```
Run the complete NCC health check by using the health check command.
```
nutanix@cvm$ ncc health_checks run_all
```
Run the cluster status command to verify that all Controller VMs are up and running, before performing a Controller VM or host shutdown or restart.
```
nutanix@cvm$ cluster status
```
Place the host in the maintenance mode by using the web client.
Log on to the CVM with SSH and shut down the CVM.
```
nutanix@cvm$ cvm_shutdown -P now
```
Note: Do not reset or shutdown the CVM in any way other than the cvm_shutdown command to ensure that the cluster is aware that the CVM is unavailable.
Start the upgrade using vSphere Upgrade Guide or vCenter Update Manager VUM.

Upgrading ESXi Host

See the VMware Documentation for information about the standard ESXi upgrade procedures. If any problem occurs with the upgrade process, an alert is raised in the Alert dashboard.

Post Upgrade

Run the complete NCC health check by using the following command.

nutanix@cvm$ ncc health_checks run_all

vSphere Cluster Settings Checklist

Review the following checklist of the settings that you have to configure to successfully deploy vSphere virtual environment running Nutanix Enterprise cloud.

vSphere Availability Settings

Enable host monitoring.
Enable admission control and use the percentage-based policy with a value based on the number of nodes in the cluster.
For more information about settings of percentage of cluster resources reserved as failover spare capacity, vSphere HA Admission Control Settings for Nutanix Environment.
Set the VM Restart Priority of all CVMs to Disabled .
Set the Host Isolation Response of the cluster to Power Off & Restart VMs .
Set the VM Monitoring for all CVMs to Disabled .
Enable datastore heartbeats by clicking Use datastores only from the specified list and choosing the Nutanix NFS datastore.
If the cluster has only one datastore, click Advanced Options tab and add das.ignoreInsufficientHbDatastore with Value of true .

vSphere DRS Settings

Set the Automation Level on all CVMs to Disabled .
Select Automation Level to accept level 3 recommendations.
Leave power management disabled.

Other Cluster Settings

Configure advertised capacity for the Nutanix storage container (total usable capacity minus the capacity of one node for replication factor 2 or two nodes for replication factor 3).
Store VM swapfiles in the same directory as the VM.
Enable enhanced vMotion compatibility (EVC) in the cluster. For more information, see vSphere EVC Settings.
Configure Nutanix CVMs with the appropriate VM overrides. For more information, see VM Override Settings.
Check Nonconfigurable ESXi Components. Modifying the nonconfigurable components may inadvertently constrain performance of your Nutanix cluster or render the Nutanix cluster inoperable.

Read article

Security Guide

AOS Security 5.20

Product Release Date: 2021-05-17

Last updated: 2022-12-14

Audience & Purpose

This Security Guide is intended for security-minded people responsible for architecting, managing, and supporting infrastructures, especially those who want to address security without adding more human resources or additional processes to their datacenters.

This guide offers an overview of the security development life cycle (SecDL) and host of security features supported by Nutanix. It also demonstrates how Nutanix complies with security regulations to streamline infrastructure security management. In addition to this, this guide addresses the technical requirements that are site specific or compliance-standards (that should be adhered), which are not enabled by default.

Note:

Hardening of the guest OS or any applications running on top of the Nutanix infrastructure is beyond the scope of this guide. We recommend that you refer to the documentation of the products that you have deployed in your Nutanix environment.

Nutanix Security Infrastructure

Nutanix takes a holistic approach to security with a secure platform, extensive automation, and a robust partner ecosystem. The Nutanix security development life cycle (SecDL) integrates security into every step of product development, rather than applying it as an afterthought. The SecDL is a foundational part of product design. The strong pervasive culture and processes built around security harden the Enterprise Cloud Platform and eliminate zero-day vulnerabilities. Efficient one-click operations and self-healing security models easily enable automation to maintain security in an always-on hyperconverged solution.

Since traditional manual configuration and checks cannot keep up with the ever-growing list of security requirements, Nutanix conforms to RHEL 7 Security Technical Implementation Guides (STIGs) that use machine-readable code to automate compliance against rigorous common standards. With Nutanix Security Configuration Management Automation (SCMA), you can quickly and continually assess and remediate your platform to ensure that it meets or exceeds all regulatory requirements.

Nutanix has standardized the security profile of the Controller VM to a security compliance baseline that meets or exceeds the standard high-governance requirements.

The most commonly used references in United States to guide vendors to build products according to the set of technical requirements are as follows.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology Special Publications Security and Privacy Controls for Federal Information Systems and Organizations (NIST 800.53)
The US Department of Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) Security Technical Implementation Guides (STIG)

SCMA Implementation

The Nutanix platform and all products leverage the Security Configuration Management Automation (SCMA) framework to ensure that services are constantly inspected for variance to the security policy.

Nutanix has implemented security configuration management automation (SCMA) to check multiple security entities for both Nutanix storage and AHV. Nutanix automatically reports log inconsistencies and reverts them to the baseline.

With SCMA, you can schedule the STIG to run hourly, daily, weekly, or monthly. STIG has the lowest system priority within the virtual storage controller, ensuring that security checks do not interfere with platform performance.

Note: Only the SCMA schedule can be modified. The AIDE schedule is run on a fixed weekly schedule. To change the SCMA schedule for AHV or the Controller VM, see Hardening Instructions (nCLI).

RHEL 7 STIG Implementation in Nutanix Controller VM

Nutanix leverages SaltStack and SCMA to self-heal any deviation from the security baseline configuration of the operating system and hypervisor to remain in compliance. If any component is found as non-compliant, then the component is set back to the supported security settings without any intervention. To achieve this objective, Nutanix has implemented the Controller VM to support STIG compliance with the RHEL 7 STIG as published by DISA.

The STIG rules are capable of securing the boot loader, packages, file system, booting and service control, file ownership, authentication, kernel, and logging.

Example: STIG rules for Authentication

Prohibit direct root login, lock system accounts other than root , enforce several password maintenance details, cautiously configure SSH, enable screen-locking, configure user shell defaults, and display warning banners.

Security Updates

Nutanix provides continuous fixes and updates to address threats and vulnerabilities. Nutanix Security Advisories provide detailed information on the available security fixes and updates, including the vulnerability description and affected product/version.

To see the list of security advisories or search for a specific advisory, log on to the Support Portal and select Documentation , and then Security Advisories .

Nutanix Security Landscape

This topic provides highlights on Nutanix security landscape and its highlights. The following table helps to identify the security features offered out-of-the-box in Nutanix infrastructure.


Topic	Highlights
Authentication and Authorization	Support for Authentication types and directories Role Permissions Password Complexity Support with standard Pluggable Authentication Module (PAM) library
Network segmentation	VLAN-based, data driven segmentation
Security Policy Management	Implement security policies using Microsegmentation.
Data security and integrity	Cluster access control SSL certificate management Data-at-rest (DAR) encryption
Hardening Instructions	Hardening AHV Hardening Controller VM TCP Wrapper Integration
Log monitoring and analysis	Cluster-wide log shipping Documenting the log fingerprint See Pulse Health Monitoring in the Prism Web Console Guide
Flow Networking	See Flow Networking Guide
UEFI	See UEFI Support for VMs in the AHV Administration Guide
Secure Boot	See Secure Boot Support for VMs in the AHV Administration Guide
Windows Credential Guard support	See Windows Defender Credential Guard Support in AHV in the AHV Administration Guide
RBAC	See Controlling User Access (RBAC)

Hardening Instructions (nCLI)

This chapter describes how to implement security hardening features for Nutanix AHV and Controller VM.

Hardening AHV

You can use Nutanix Command Line Interface (nCLI) in order to customize the various configuration settings related to AHV as described below.

Table 1. Configuration Settings to Harden the AHV
Description	Command or Settings	Output
Getting the cluster-wide configuration of the SCMA policy.	Run the following command: `nutanix@cvm$ ncli cluster get-hypervisor-security-config`	Enable Aide : false Enable Core : false Enable High Strength P... : false Enable Banner : false Schedule : DAILY
Enabling the Advanced Intrusion Detection Environment (AIDE) to run on a weekly basis.	Run the following command: `nutanix@cvm$ ncli cluster edit-hypervisor-security-params enable-aide=true`	Enable Aide : true Enable Core : false Enable High Strength P... : false Enable Banner : false Schedule : DAILY
Enabling the high-strength password policies (minlen=15, difok=8, maxclassrepeat=4).	Run the following command: `nutanix@cvm$ ncli cluster edit-hypervisor-security-params \` `enable-high-strength-password=true`	Enable Aide : true Enable Core : false Enable High Strength P... : true Enable Banner : false Schedule : DAILY
Enabling the defense knowledge consent banner of the US department.	Run the following command: `nutanix@cvm$ ncli cluster edit-hypervisor-security-params enable-banner=true`	Enable Aide : true Enable Core : false Enable High Strength P... : true Enable Banner : true Schedule : DAILY
Changing the default schedule of running the SCMA. The schedule can be hourly, daily, weekly, and monthly.	Run the following command: `nutanix@cvm$ ncli cluster edit-hypervisor-security-params schedule=hourly`	Enable Aide : true Enable Core : false Enable High Strength P... : true Enable Banner : true Schedule : HOURLY
Enabling the settings so that AHV can generate stack traces for any cluster issue.	Run the following command: `nutanix@cvm$ ncli cluster edit-hypervisor-security-params enable-core=true` Note: Nutanix recommends that Core should not be set to true unless instructed by the Nutanix support team.	Enable Aide : true Enable Core : true Enable High Strength P... : true Enable Banner : true Schedule : HOURLY
When a high governance official needs to run the hardened configuration.	The settings should be as follows: Enable Aide : true Enable Core : false Enable High Strength P... : true Enable Banner : false Schedule : HOURLY
When a federal official needs to run the hardened configuration.	The settings should be as follows: Enable Aide : true Enable Core : false Enable High Strength P... : true Enable Banner : true Schedule : HOURLY Note: A banner file can be modified to support non-DoD customer banners.
Backing up the DoD banner file.	Run the following command on the AHV host: `[root@AHV-host ~]# sudo cp -a /srv/salt/security/KVM/sshd/DODbanner \ /srv/salt/security/KVM/sshd/DODbannerbak`
Modifying the DoD banner file.	Run the following command on the AHV host: `[root@AHV-host ~]# sudo vi /srv/salt/security/KVM/sshd/DODbanner` Note: Repeat all the above steps on every AHV in a cluster.
Setting the banner for all nodes through nCLI.	Run the following command: `nutanix@cvm$ ncli cluster edit-hypervisor-security-params enable-banner=true`

The following options are configured or customized to harden the AHV:

Enable AIDE : Advanced Intrusion Detection Environment (AIDE) is a Linux utility that monitors a given node. After you install the AIDE package, the system will generate a database that contains all the files you selected in your configuration file by entering the aide -–init command as a root user. You can move the database to a secure location in a read-only media or on other machines. After you create the database, you can use the aide -–check command for the system to check the integrity of the files and directories by comparing the files and directories on your system with the snapshot in the database. In case there are unexpected changes, a report gets generated, which you can review. If the changes to existing files or files added are valid, you can use the aide --update command to update the database with the new changes.
Enable high strength password : You can run the command as shown in the table in this section to enable high-strength password policies (minlen=15, difok=8, maxclassrepeat=4).
Note:
- minlen is the minimum required length for a password.
- difok is the minimum number of characters that must be different from the old password.
- maxclassrepeat is the number of consecutive characters of same class that you can use in a password.
Enable Core : A core dump consists of the recorded state of the working memory of a computer program at a specific time, generally when the program gets crashed or terminated abnormally. Core dumps are used to assist in diagnosing or debugging errors in computer programs. You can enable the core for troubleshooting purposes.
Enable Banner : You can set a banner to display a specific message. For example, set a banner to display a warning message that the system is available to authorized users only.

Hardening Controller VM

You can use Nutanix Command Line Interface (nCLI) in order to customize the various configuration settings related to CVM as described below.

Run the following command to support cluster-wide configuration of the SCMA policy.

nutanix@cvm$ ncli cluster get-cvm-security-config

The current cluster configuration is displayed.

Enable Aide : false
Enable Core : false
Enable High Strength P...: false
Enable Banner : false
Enable SNMPv3 Only : false
Schedule : DAILY

Run the following command to schedule weekly execution of Advanced Intrusion Detection Environment (AIDE).

nutanix@cvm$ ncli cluster edit-cvm-security-params enable-aide=true

The following output is displayed.

Enable Aide : true
Enable Core : false
Enable High Strength P... : false
Enable Banner : false
Enable SNMPv3 Only : false
Schedule : DAILY

Run the following command to enable the strong password policy.

nutanix@cvm$ ncli cluster edit-cvm-security-params enable-high-strength-password=true

The following output is displayed.

Enable Aide : true
Enable Core : false
Enable High Strength P... : true
Enable Banner : false
Enable SNMPv3 Only : false
Schedule : DAILY

Run the following command to enable the defense knowledge consent banner of the US department.

nutanix@cvm$ ncli cluster edit-cvm-security-params enable-banner=true

The following output is displayed.

Enable Aide : true
Enable Core : false
Enable High Strength P... : true
Enable Banner : true
Enable SNMPv3 Only : false
Schedule : DAILY

Run the following command to enable the settings to allow only SNMP version 3.

nutanix@cvm$ ncli cluster edit-cvm-security-params enable-snmpv3-only=true

The following output is displayed.

Enable Aide : true
Enable Core : false
Enable High Strength P... : true
Enable Banner : true
Enable SNMPv3 Only : true
Schedule : DAILY

Run the following command to change the default schedule of running the SCMA. The schedule can be hourly, daily, weekly, and monthly.

nutanix@cvm$ ncli cluster edit-cvm-security-params schedule=hourly

The following output is displayed.

Enable Aide : true
Enable Core : false
Enable High Strength P... : true
Enable Banner : true
Enable SNMPv3 Only : true
Schedule : HOURLY

Run the following command to enable the settings so that Controller VM can generate stack traces for any cluster issue.
```
nutanix@cvm$ ncli cluster edit-cvm-security-params enable-core=true
```
The following output is displayed.
```
Enable Aide : true
Enable Core : true
Enable High Strength P... : true
Enable Banner : true
Enable SNMPv3 Only : true
Schedule : HOURLY
```
Note: Nutanix recommends that Core should not be set to true unless instructed by the Nutanix support team.

When a high governance official needs to run the hardened configuration then the settings should be as follows.

Enable Aide : true
Enable Core : false
Enable High Strength P... : true
Enable Banner : false
Enable SNMPv3 Only : true
Schedule : HOURLY

When a federal official needs to run the hardened configuration then the settings should be as follows.
```
Enable Aide : true
Enable Core : false
Enable High Strength P... : true
Enable Banner : true
Enable SNMPv3 Only : true
Schedule : HOURLY
```
Note: A banner file can be modified to support non-DoD customer banners.

Run the following command to backup the DoD banner file.

nutanix@cvm$ sudo cp -a /srv/salt/security/CVM/sshd/DODbanner \

/srv/salt/security/CVM/sshd/DODbannerbak

Run the following command to modify DoD banner file.
```
nutanix@cvm$ sudo vi /srv/salt/security/CVM/sshd/DODbanner
```
Note: Repeat all the above steps on every CVM in a cluster.

Run the following command to backup the DoD banner file of the PCVM.

nutanix@pcvm$ sudo cp -a /srv/salt/security/PC/sshd/DODbanner \

/srv/salt/security/PC/sshd/DODbannerbak

Run the following command to modify DoD banner file of the PCVM.
```
nutanix@pcvm$ sudo vi /srv/salt/security/PC/sshd/DODbanner
```
Run the following command to set the banner for all nodes through nCLI.
```
nutanix@cvm$ ncli cluster edit-cvm-security-params enable-banner=true
```

TCP Wrapper Integration

Nutanix Controller VM uses the tcp_wrappers package to allow TCP supported daemons to control the network subnets which can access the libwrapped daemons. By default, SCMA controls the /etc/hosts.allow file in /srv/salt/security/CVM/network/hosts.allow and contains a generic entry to allow access to NFS, secure shell, and SNMP.

sshd: ALL : ALLOW
rpcbind: ALL : ALLOW
snmpd: ALL : ALLOW
snmptrapd: ALL : ALLOW

Nutanix recommends that the above configuration is changed to include only the localhost entries and the management network subnet for the restricted operations; this applies to both production and high governance compliance environments. This ensures that all subnets used to communicate with the CVMs are included in the /etc/hosts.allow file.

Common Criteria

Common Criteria is an international security certification that is recognized by many countries around the world. Nutanix AOS and AHV are Common Criteria certified by default and no additional configuration is required to enable the Common Criteria mode. For more information, see the Nutanix Trust website.

Note: Nutanix uses FIPS-validated cryptography by default.

Security Management Using Prism Element (PE)

Nutanix provides several mechanisms to maintain security in a cluster using Prism Element.

Configuring Authentication

About this task

Nutanix supports user authentication. To configure authentication types and directories and to enable client authentication or to enable client authentication only, do the following:

Caution: The web console (and nCLI) does not allow the use of the not secure SSLv2 and SSLv3 ciphers. There is a possibility of an SSL Fallback situation in some browsers which denies access to the web console. To eliminate this, disable (uncheck) SSLv2 and SSLv3 in any browser used for access. However, TLS must be enabled (checked).

Procedure

Click the gear icon in the main menu and then select Authentication in the Settings page.
The Authentication Configuration window appears.
Note: The following steps combine three distinct procedures, enabling authentication (step 2), configuring one or more directories for LDAP/S authentication (steps 3-5), and enabling client authentication (step 6). Perform the steps for the procedures you need. For example, perform step 6 only if you intend to enforce client authentication.
To enable server authentication, click the Authentication Types tab and then check the box for either Local or Directory Service (or both). After selecting the authentication types, click the Save button.
The Local setting uses the local authentication provided by Nutanix (see User Management) . This method is employed when a user enters just a login name without specifying a domain (for example, user1 instead of user1@nutanix.com ). The Directory Service setting validates user@domain entries and validates against the directory specified in the Directory List tab. Therefore, you need to configure an authentication directory if you select Directory Service in this field.
Figure. Authentication Types Tab Click to enlarge

Note: The Nutanix admin user can log on to the management interfaces, including the web console, even if the Local authentication type is disabled.
To add an authentication directory, click the Directory List tab and then click the New Directory option.
A set of fields is displayed. Do the following in the indicated fields:
1. Directory Type : Select one of the following from the pull-down list.
  - Active Directory : Active Directory (AD) is a directory service implemented by Microsoft for Windows domain networks.
    Note:
    
    Users with the "User must change password at next logon" attribute enabled will not be able to authenticate to the web console (or nCLI). Ensure users with this attribute first login to a domain workstation and change their password prior to accessing the web console. Also, if SSL is enabled on the Active Directory server, make sure that Nutanix has access to that port (open in firewall).
    
    An Active Directory user name or group name containing spaces is not supported for Prism Element authentication.
    
    Active Directory domain created by using non-ASCII text may not be supported. For more information about usage of ASCII or non-ASCII text in Active Directory configuration, see the Internationalization (i18n) section.
    
    Use of the "Protected Users" group is currently unsupported for Prism authentication. For more details on the "Protected Users" group, see “Guidance about how to configure protected accounts” on Microsoft documentation website.
    
    The Microsoft AD is LDAP v2 and LDAP v3 compliant.
    
    The Microsoft AD servers supported are Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2016, and Windows Server 2019.
  - OpenLDAP : OpenLDAP is a free, open source directory service, which uses the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), developed by the OpenLDAP project. Nutanix currently supports the OpenLDAP 2.4 release running on CentOS distributions only.
2. Name : Enter a directory name.
  This is a name you choose to identify this entry; it need not be the name of an actual directory.
3. Domain : Enter the domain name.
  Enter the domain name in DNS format, for example, nutanix.com .
4. Directory URL : Enter the URL address to the directory.
  The URL format is as follows for an LDAP entry: ldap:// host : ldap_port_num . The host value is either the IP address or fully qualified domain name. (In some environments, a simple domain name is sufficient.) The default LDAP port number is 389. Nutanix also supports LDAPS (port 636) and LDAP/S Global Catalog (ports 3268 and 3269). The following are example configurations appropriate for each port option:
  Note: LDAPS support does not require custom certificates or certificate trust import.
  - Port 389 (LDAP). Use this port number (in the following URL form) when the configuration is single domain, single forest, and not using SSL.
```
ldap://ad_server.mycompany.com:389
```
  - Port 636 (LDAPS). Use this port number (in the following URL form) when the configuration is single domain, single forest, and using SSL. This requires all Active Directory Domain Controllers have properly installed SSL certificates.
```
ldaps://ad_server.mycompany.com:636
```
    Note: The LDAP server SSL certificate must include a Subject Alternative Name (SAN) that matches the URL provided during the LDAPS setup.
  - Port 3268 (LDAP - GC). Use this port number when the configuration is multiple domain, single forest, and not using SSL.
  - Port 3269 (LDAPS - GC). Use this port number when the configuration is multiple domain, single forest, and using SSL.
    Note: When constructing your LDAP/S URL to use a Global Catalog server, ensure that the Domain Control IP address or name being used is a global catalog server within the domain being configured. If not, queries over 3268/3269 may fail.
    
    Note: When querying the global catalog, the users sAMAccountName field must be unique across the AD forest. If the sAMAccountName field is not unique across the subdomains, authentication may fail intermittently or consistently.
  Note: For the complete list of required ports, see Port Reference .
5. (OpenLDAP only) Configure the following additional fields:
  1. User Object Class : Enter the value that uniquely identifies the object class of a user.
  2. User Search Base : Enter the base domain name in which the users are configured.
  3. Username Attribute : Enter the attribute to uniquely identify a user.
  4. Group Object Class : Enter the value that uniquely identifies the object class of a group.
  5. Group Search Base : Enter the base domain name in which the groups are configured.
  6. Group Member Attribute : Enter the attribute that identifies users in a group.
  7. Group Member Attribute Value : Enter the attribute that identifies the users provided as value for Group Member Attribute .
6. Search Type . How to search your directory when authenticating. Choose Non Recursive if you experience slow directory logon performance. For this option, ensure that users listed in Role Mapping are listed flatly in the group (that is, not nested). Otherwise, choose the default Recursive option.
7. Service Account Username : Enter the service account user name in the user_name@domain.com format that you want the web console to use to log in to the Active Directory.
  
  A service account is created to run only a particular service or application with the credentials specified for the account. According to the requirement of the service or application, the administrator can limit access to the service account.
  
  A service account is under the Managed Service Accounts in the Active Directory server. An application or service uses the service account to interact with the operating system. Enter your Active Directory service account credentials in this (username) and the following (password) field.
  
  Note: Be sure to update the service account credentials here whenever the service account password changes or when a different service account is used.
8. Service Account Password : Enter the service account password.
9. When all the fields are correct, click the Save button (lower right).
  This saves the configuration and redisplays the Authentication Configuration dialog box. The configured directory now appears in the Directory List tab.
10. Repeat this step for each authentication directory you want to add.
Note:
- The Controller VMs need access to the Active Directory server, so open the standard Active Directory ports to each Controller VM in the cluster (and the virtual IP if one is configured).
- No permissions are granted to the directory users by default. To grant permissions to the directory users, you must specify roles for the users in that directory (see Assigning Role Permissions).
- Service account for both Active directory and openLDAP must have full read permission on the directory service. Additionally, for successful Prism Element authentication, the users must also have search or read privileges.
Figure. Directory List Tab Click to enlarge
To edit a directory entry, click the Directory List tab and then click the pencil icon for that entry.
After clicking the pencil icon, the Directory List fields reappear (see step 3). Enter the new information in the appropriate fields and then click the Save button.
To delete a directory entry, click the Directory List tab and then click the X icon for that entry.
After clicking the X icon, a window prompt appears to verify the delete action; click the OK button. The entry is removed from the list.
To enable client authentication, do the following:
1. Click the Client tab.
2. Select the Configure Client Chain Certificate check box.
  
  Client Chain Certificate is a list of certificates that includes all intermediate CA and root-CA certificates.
  Note: To authenticate on the PE with Client Chain Certificate the 'Subject name’ field must be present. The subject name should match the userPrincipalName (UPN) in the AD. The UPN is a username with domain address. For example user1@nutanix.com .
  
  Figure. Client Tab (1) Click to enlarge
3. Click the Choose File button, browse to and select a client chain certificate to upload, and then click the Open button to upload the certificate.
  
  Note: Uploaded certificate files must be PEM encoded. The web console restarts after the upload step.
  
  Figure. Client Tab (2) Click to enlarge
4. To enable client authentication, click Enable Client Authentication .
5. To modify client authentication, do one of the following:
  Note: The web console restarts when you change these settings.
  - Click Enable Client Authentication to disable client authentication.
  - Click Remove to delete the current certificate. (This also disables client authentication.)
  - To enable OCSP or CRL based certificate revocation checking, see Certificate Revocation Checking.
  Figure. Authentication Window: Client Tab (3) Click to enlarge
Client authentication allows you to securely access the Prism by exchanging a digital certificate. Prism will validate that the certificate is signed by your organization’s trusted signing certificate.
Client authentication ensures that the Nutanix cluster gets a valid certificate from the user. Normally, a one-way authentication process occurs where the server provides a certificate so the user can verify the authenticity of the server (see Installing an SSL Certificate). When client authentication is enabled, this becomes a two-way authentication where the server also verifies the authenticity of the user. A user must provide a valid certificate when accessing the console either by installing the certificate on their local machine or by providing it through a smart card reader. Providing a valid certificate enables user login from a client machine with the relevant user certificate without utilizing user name and password. If the user is required to login from a client machine which does not have the certificate installed, then authentication using user name and password is still available.
Note: The CA must be the same for both the client chain certificate and the certificate on the local machine or smart card.
To specify a service account that the web console can use to log in to Active Directory and authenticate Common Access Card (CAC) users, select the Configure Service Account check box, and then do the following in the indicated fields:

Figure. Common Access Card Authentication Click to enlarge
1. Directory : Select the authentication directory that contains the CAC users that you want to authenticate.
  This list includes the directories that are configured on the Directory List tab.
2. Service Username : Enter the user name in the user name@domain.com format that you want the web console to use to log in to the Active Directory.
3. Service Password : Enter the password for the service user name.
4. Click Enable CAC Authentication .
  
  Note: For federal customers only.
  
  Note: The web console restarts after you change this setting.
The Common Access Card (CAC) is a smart card about the size of a credit card, which some organizations use to access their systems. After you insert the CAC into the CAC reader connected to your system, the software in the reader prompts you to enter a PIN. After you enter a valid PIN, the software extracts your personal certificate that represents you and forwards the certificate to the server using the HTTP protocol.
Nutanix Prism verifies the certificate as follows:
- Validates that the certificate has been signed by your organization’s trusted signing certificate.
- Extracts the Electronic Data Interchange Personal Identifier (EDIPI) from the certificate and uses the EDIPI to check the validity of an account within the Active Directory. The security context from the EDIPI is used for your PRISM session.
- Prism Element supports both certificate authentication and basic authentication in order to handle both Prism Element login using a certificate and allowing REST API to use basic authentication. It is physically not possible for REST API to use CAC certificates. With this behavior, if the certificate is present during Prism Element login, the certificate authentication is used. However, if the certificate is not present, basic authentication is enforced and used.
Note: Nutanix Prism does not support OpenLDAP as directory service for CAC.
If you map a Prism role to a CAC user and not to an Active Directory group or organizational unit to which the user belongs, specify the EDIPI (User Principal Name, or UPN) of that user in the role mapping. A user who presents a CAC with a valid certificate is mapped to a role and taken directly to the web console home page. The web console login page is not displayed.
Note: If you have logged on to Prism by using CAC authentication, to successfully log out of Prism, close the browser after you click Log Out .
Click the Close button to close the Authentication Configuration dialog box.

Assigning Role Permissions

About this task

When user authentication is enabled for a directory service (see Configuring Authentication), the directory users do not have any permissions by default. To grant permissions to the directory users, you must specify roles for the users (with associated permissions) to organizational units (OUs), groups, or individuals within a directory.

If you are using Active Directory, you must also assign roles to entities or users, especially before upgrading from a previous AOS version.

To assign roles, do the following:

Procedure

In the web console, click the gear icon in the main menu and then select Role Mapping in the Settings page.

The Role Mapping window appears.
Figure. Role Mapping Window Click to enlarge
To create a role mapping, click the New Mapping button.

The Create Role Mapping window appears. Do the following in the indicated fields:
1. Directory : Select the target directory from the pull-down list.
  
  Only directories previously defined when configuring authentication appear in this list. If the desired directory does not appear, add that directory to the directory list (see Configuring Authentication) and then return to this procedure.
2. LDAP Type : Select the desired LDAP entity type from the pull-down list.
  
  The entity types are GROUP , USER , and OU .
3. Role : Select the user role from the pull-down list.
  There are three roles from which to choose:
  - Viewer : This role allows a user to view information only. It does not provide permission to perform any administrative tasks.
  - Cluster Admin : This role allows a user to view information and perform any administrative task (but not create or modify user accounts).
  - User Admin : This role allows the user to view information, perform any administrative task, and create or modify user accounts.
4. Values : Enter the case-sensitive entity names (in a comma separated list with no spaces) that should be assigned this role.
  The values are the actual names of the organizational units (meaning it applies to all users in those OUs), groups (all users in those groups), or users (each named user) assigned this role. For example, entering value " admin-gp,support-gp " when the LDAP type is GROUP and the role is Cluster Admin means all users in the admin-gp and support-gp groups should be assigned the cluster administrator role.
  Note:
  
  Do not include a domain in the value, for example enter just admin-gp , not admin-gp@nutanix.com . However, when users log into the web console, they need to include the domain in their user name.
  
  The AD user UPN must be in the user@domain_name format.
  
  When an admin defines user role mapping using an AD with forest setup, the admin can map to the user with the same name from any domain in the forest setup. To avoid this case, set up the user-role mapping with AD that has a specific domain setup.
5. When all the fields are correct, click Save .
  This saves the configuration and redisplays the Role Mapping window. The new role map now appears in the list.
  Note: All users in an authorized service directory have full administrator permissions when role mapping is not defined for that directory. However, after creating a role map, any users in that directory that are not explicitly granted permissions through the role mapping are denied access (no permissions).
6. Repeat this step for each role map you want to add.
  You can create a role map for each authorized directory. You can also create multiple maps that apply to a single directory. When there are multiple maps for a directory, the most specific rule for a user applies. For example, adding a GROUP map set to Cluster Admin and a USER map set to Viewer for select users in that group means all users in the group have administrator permission except those specified users who have viewing permission only.
Figure. Create Role Mapping Window Click to enlarge
To edit a role map entry, click the pencil icon for that entry.
After clicking the pencil icon, the Edit Role Mapping window appears, which contains the same fields as the Create Role Mapping window (see step 2). Enter the new information in the appropriate fields and then click the Save button.
To delete a role map entry, click the "X" icon for that entry.
After clicking the X icon, a window prompt appears to verify the delete action; click the OK button. The entry is removed from the list.
Click the Close button to close the Role Mapping window.

Certificate Revocation Checking

Enabling Certificate Revocation Checking using Online Certificate Status Protocol (nCLI)

About this task

OCSP is the recommended method for checking certificate revocation in client authentication. You can enable certificate revocation checking using the OSCP method through the command line interface (nCLI).

To enable certificate revocation checking using OCSP for client authentication, do the following.

Procedure

Set the OCSP responder URL.
ncli authconfig set-certificate-revocation set-ocsp-responder=<ocsp url> <ocsp url> indicates the location of the OCSP responder.
Verify if OCSP checking is enabled.
ncli authconfig get-client-authentication-config
The expected output if certificate revocation checking is enabled successfully is as follows.
```
Auth Config Status: true
File Name: ca.cert.pem
OCSP Responder URI: http://<ocsp-responder-url>
```

Enabling Certificate Revocation Checking using Certificate Revocation Lists (nCLI)

About this task

Note: OSCP is the recommended method for checking certificate revocation in client authentication.

You can use the CRL certificate revocation checking method if required, as described in this section.

To enable certificate revocation checking using CRL for client authentication, do the following.

Procedure

Specify all the CRLs that are required for certificate validation.


          ncli authconfig set-certificate-revocation set-crl-uri=<uri 1>,<uri 2> set-crl-refresh-interval=<refresh interval in seconds>

The above command resets any previous OCSP or CRL configurations.
The URIs must be percent-encoded and comma separated.
The CRLs are updated periodically as specified by the crl-refresh-interval value. This interval is common for the entire list of CRL distribution points. The default value for this is 86400 seconds (1 day).

Authentication Best Practices

The authentication best practices listed here are guidance to secure the Nutanix platform by using the most common authentication security measures.

Emergency Local Account Usage

You must use the admin account as a local emergency account. The admin account ensures that both the Prism Web Console and the Controller VM are available when the external services such as Active Directory is unavailable.

Note: Local emergency account usage does not support any external access mechanisms, specifically for the external application authentication or external Rest API authentication.

For all the external authentication, you must configure the cluster to use an external IAM service such as Active Directory. You must create service accounts on the IAM and the accounts must have access grants to the cluster through Prism web console user account management configuration for authentication.

Modifying Default Passwords

You must change the default Controller VM password for nutanix user account by adhering to the password complexity requirements.

Procedure

SSH to the Controller VM.
Change the "nutanix" user account password.
```
nutanix@cvm$ passwd nutanix
```
Respond to the prompts and provide the current and new root password.
```
Changing password for nutanix.
New password:
Retype new password:
passwd: all authentication tokens updated successfully.
```
Note:
- Changing the user account password on one of the Controller VMs is applied to all Controller VMs in the cluster.
- Ensure that you preserve the modified nutanix user password, since the local authentication (PAM) module requires the previous password of the nutanix user to successfully start the password reset process.
- For the root account, both the console and SSH direct login is disabled.
- It is recommended to use the admin user as the administrative emergency account.

Controlling Cluster Access

About this task

Nutanix supports the Cluster lockdown feature. This feature enables key-based SSH access to the Controller VM and AHV on the Host (only for nutanix/admin users).

Enabling cluster lockdown mode ensures that password authentication is disabled and only the keys you have provided can be used to access the cluster resources. Thus making the cluster more secure.

You can create a key pair (or multiple key pairs) and add the public keys to enable key-based SSH access. However, when site security requirements do not allow such access, you can remove all public keys to prevent SSH access.

To control key-based SSH access to the cluster, do the following:

Note: Use this procedure to lock down access to the Controller VM and hypervisor host. In addition, it is possible to lock down access to the hypervisor.

Procedure

Click the gear icon in the main menu and then select Cluster Lockdown in the Settings page.
The Cluster Lockdown dialog box appears. Enabled public keys (if any) are listed in this window.
Figure. Cluster Lockdown Window Click to enlarge
To disable (or enable) remote login access, uncheck (check) the Enable Remote Login with Password box.
Remote login access is enabled by default.
To add a new public key, click the New Public Key button and then do the following in the displayed fields:
1. Name : Enter a key name.
2. Key : Enter (paste) the key value into the field.
Note: Prism supports the following key types.
- RSA
- ECDSA
1. Click the Save button (lower right) to save the key and return to the main Cluster Lockdown window.
There are no public keys available by default, but you can add any number of public keys.
To delete a public key, click the X on the right of that key line.

Note: Deleting all the public keys and disabling remote login access locks down the cluster from SSH access.

Setup Admin Session Timeout

By default, the users are logged out automatically after being idle for 15 minutes. You can change the session timeout for users and configure to override the session timeout by following the steps shown below.

Procedure

Click the gear icon in the main menu and then select UI Settings in the Settings page.
Select the session timeout for the current user from the Session Timeout For Current User drop-down list.

Figure. Session Timeout Settings Click to enlarge
Select the appropriate option from the Session Timeout Override drop-down list to override the session timeout.

Password Retry Lockout

For enhanced security, Prism Element locks out the admin account for a period of 15 minutes after a default number of unsuccessful login attempts. Once the account is locked out, the following message is displayed at the logon screen.

Account locked due to too many failed attempts

You can attempt entering the password after the 15 minutes lockout period, or contact Nutanix Support in case you have forgotten your password.

Internationalization (i18n)

The following table lists all the supported and unsupported entities in UTF-8 encoding.

Table 1. Internationalization Support
Supported Entities	Unsupported Entities
Cluster name	Acropolis file server
Storage Container name	Share path
Storage pool	Internationalized domain names
VM name	E-mail IDs
Snapshot name	Hostnames
Volume group name	Integers
Protection domain name	Password fields
Remote site name	Any Hardware related names ( for example, vSwitch, iSCSCI initiator, vLAN name)
User management
Chart name

Caution: The creation of none of the above entities are supported on Hyper-V because of the DR limitations.

Entities Support (ASCII or non-ASCII) for the Active Directory Server

In the New Directory Configuration, Name field is supported in non-ASCII.
In the New Directory Configuration, Domain field is not supported in non-ASCII.
In Role mapping, Values field is supported in non-ASCII.
User names and group names are supported in non-ASCII.

User Management

Nutanix user accounts can be created or updated as needed using the Prism web console.

The web console allows you to add (see Creating a User Account), edit (see Updating a User Account), or delete (see Deleting a User Account) local user accounts at any time.
You can reset the local user account password using nCLI if you are locked out and cannot login to the Prism Element or Prism Central web console ( see Resetting Password (CLI)).
You can also configure user accounts through Active Directory and LDAP (see Configuring Authentication). Active Directory domain created by using non-ASCII text may not be supported.

Note: In addition to the Nutanix user account, there are IPMI, Controller VM, and hypervisor host users. Passwords for these accounts cannot be changed through the web console.

Creating a User Account

About this task

The admin user is created automatically when you get a Nutanix system, but you can add more users as needed. Note that you cannot delete the admin user. To create a user, do the following:

Note: You can also configure user accounts through Active Directory (AD) and LDAP (see Configuring Authentication).

Procedure

Click the gear icon in the main menu and then select Local User Management in the Settings page.
The User Management dialog box appears.
Figure. User Management Window Click to enlarge
To add a user, click the New User button and do the following in the displayed fields:
1. Username : Enter a user name.
2. First Name : Enter a first name.
3. Last Name : Enter a last name.
4. Email : Enter a valid user email address.
  
  Note: AOS uses the email address for client authentication and logging when the local user performs user and cluster tasks in the web console.
5. Password : Enter a password (maximum of 255 characters).
  A second field to verify that the password is not included, so be sure to enter the password correctly in this field.
6. Language : Select the language setting for the user.
  By default English is selected. You can select Simplified Chinese or Japanese . Depending on the language that you select here, the cluster locale is be updated for the new user. For example, if you select Simplified Chinese , the next time that the new user logs on to the web console, the user interface is displayed in Simplified Chinese.
7. Roles : Assign a role to this user.
  - Select the User Admin box to allow the user to view information, perform any administrative task, and create or modify user accounts. (Checking this box automatically selects the Cluster Admin box to indicate that this user has full permissions. However, a user administrator has full permissions regardless of whether the cluster administrator box is checked.)
  - Select the Cluster Admin box to allow the user to view information and perform any administrative task (but not create or modify user accounts).
  - Select the Backup Admin box to allow the user to perform backup-related administrative tasks. This role does not have permission to perform cluster or user tasks.
    
    Note: Backup admin user is designed for Nutanix Mine integrations as of AOS version 5.19 and has minimal functionality in cluster management. This role has restricted access to the Nutanix Mine cluster.
    
    Health , Analysis , and Tasks features are available in read-only mode.
    
    The File server and Data Protection options in the web console are not available for this user.
    
    The following features are available for Backup Admin users with limited functionality.
    
    Home - The user cannot a register a cluster with Prism Central. The registration widget is disabled. Other read-only data is displayed and available.
    
    Alerts - Alerts and events are displayed. However, the user cannot resolve or acknowledge any alert or event. The user cannot configure Alert Policy or Email configuration .
    
    Hardware - The user cannot expand the cluster or remove hosts from the cluster. Read-only data is displayed and available.
    
    Network - Networking data or configuration is displayed but configuration options are not available.
    
    Settings - The user can only upload a new image using the Settings page.
    
    VM - The user cannot configure options like Create VM and Network Configuration in the VM page. The following options are available for the user in the VM page:
    
    Launch console
    
    Power On
    
    Power Off
  - Leaving all the boxes unchecked allows the user to view information, but it does not provide permission to perform cluster or user tasks.
8. When all the fields are correct, click Save .
  This saves the configuration and the web console redisplays the dialog box with the new user-administrative appearing in the list.
Figure. Create User Window Click to enlarge

Updating a User Account

About this task

Update credentials and change the role for an existing user by using this procedure.

Note: To update your account credentials (that is, the user you are currently logged on as), see Updating My Account. Changing the password for a different user is not supported; you must log in as that user to change the password.

Procedure

Click the gear icon in the main menu and then select Local User Management in the Settings page.
The User Management dialog box appears.
Enable or disable the login access for a user by clicking the toggle text Yes (enabled) or No (disabled) in the Enabled column.
A Yes value in the Enabled column means that the login is enabled; a No value in the Enabled column means it is disabled.
Note: A user account is enabled (login access activated) by default.
To edit the user credentials, click the pencil icon for that user and update one or more of the values in the displayed fields:
1. Username : The username is fixed when the account is created and cannot be changed.
2. First Name : Enter a different first name.
3. Last Name : Enter a different last name.
4. Email : Enter a different valid email address.
  
  Note: AOS Prism uses the email address for client authentication and logging when the local user performs user and cluster tasks in the web console.
5. Roles : Change the role assigned to this user.
  - Select the User Admin box to allow the user to view information, perform any administrative task, and create or modify user accounts. (Checking this box automatically selects the Cluster Admin box to indicate that this user has full permissions. However, a user administrator has full permissions regardless of whether the cluster administrator box is checked.)
  - Select the Cluster Admin box to allow the user to view information and perform any administrative task (but not create or modify user accounts).
  - Select the Backup Admin box to allow the user to perform backup-related administrative tasks. This role does not have permission to perform cluster or user administrative tasks.
  - Leaving all the boxes unchecked allows the user to view information, but it does not provide permission to perform cluster or user-administrative administrative tasks.
6. Reset Password : Change the password of this user.
  Enter the new password for Password and Confirm Password fields. Click the info icon to view the password complexity requirements.
7. When all the fields are correct, click Save .
  This saves the configuration and redisplays the dialog box with the new user appearing in the list.
Figure. Update User Window Click to enlarge

Updating My Account

About this task

To update your account credentials (that is, credentials for the user you are currently logged in as), do the following:

Procedure

To update your password, select Change Password from the user icon pull-down list in the web console.
The Change Password dialog box appears. Do the following in the indicated fields:
1. Current Password : Enter the current password.
2. New Password : Enter a new password.
3. Confirm Password : Re-enter the new password.
4. When the fields are correct, click the Save button (lower right). This saves the new password and closes the window.
Figure. Change Password Window Click to enlarge

Note: You can change the password for the "admin" account only once per day. Please contact Nutanix support if you need to update the password multiple times in one day
To update other details of your account, select Update Profile from the user icon pull-down list.
The Update Profile dialog box appears. Update (as desired) one or more of the following fields:
1. First Name : Enter a different first name.
2. Last Name : Enter a different last name.
3. Email : Enter a different valid user email address.
4. Language : Select a language for your account.
5. API Key : Enter the key value to use a new API key.
6. Public Key : Click the Choose File button to upload a new public key file.
7. When all the fields are correct, click the Save button (lower right). This saves the changes and closes the window.
Figure. Update Profile Window Click to enlarge

Deleting a User Account

About this task

To delete an existing user, do the following:

Procedure

Click the gear icon in the main menu and then select Local User Management in the Settings page.
The User Management dialog box appears.
Figure. User Management Window Click to enlarge
Click the X icon for that user. Note that you cannot delete the admin user.
A window prompt appears to verify the action; click the OK button. The user account is removed and the user no longer appears in the list.

Certificate Management

This chapter describes how to install and replace an SSL certificate for configuration and use on the Nutanix Controller VM.

Note: Nutanix recommends that you check for the validity of the certificate periodically, and replace the certificate if it is invalid.

Installing an SSL Certificate

About this task

Nutanix supports SSL certificate-based authentication for console access. To install a self-signed or custom SSL certificate, do the following:

Important: Ensure that SSL certificates are not password protected.

Note:

Nutanix recommends that customers replace the default self-signed certificate with a CA signed certificate.
SSL certificate (self-signed or signed by CA) can only be installed cluster-wide from Prism. SSL certificates can not be customized for individual Controller VM.

Procedure

Click the gear icon in the main menu and then select SSL Certificate in the Settings page.
The SSL Certificate dialog box appears.
Figure. SSL Certificate Window Click to enlarge
To replace (or install) a certificate, click the Replace Certificate button.
To create a new self-signed certificate, click the Regenerate Self Signed Certificate option and then click the Apply button.
A dialog box appears to verify the action; click the OK button. This generates and applies a new RSA 2048-bit self-signed certificate for the Prism user interface.
Figure. SSL Certificate Window: Regenerate Click to enlarge

To apply a custom certificate that you provide, do the following:

Click the Import Key and Certificate option and then click the Next button.

Figure. SSL Certificate Window: Import Click to enlarge

Do the following in the indicated fields, and then click the Import Files button.

Note:

All the three imported files for the custom certificate must be PEM encoded.
Ensure that the private key does not have any extra data (or custom attributes) before the beginning (-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----) or after the end (-----END CERTIFICATE-----) of the private key block.

Private Key Type : Select the appropriate type for the signed certificate from the pull-down list (RSA 4096 bit, RSA 2048 bit, EC DSA 256 bit, or EC DSA 384 bit).
Private Key : Click the Browse button and select the private key associated with the certificate to be imported.
Public Certificate : Click the Browse button and select the signed public portion of the server certificate corresponding to the private key.
CA Certificate/Chain : Click the Browse button and select the certificate or chain of the signing authority for the public certificate.

In order to meet the high security standards of NIST SP800-131a compliance, the requirements of the RFC 6460 for NSA Suite B, and supply the optimal performance for encryption, the certificate import process validates the correct signature algorithm is used for a given key/cert pair. Refer to the following table to ensure the proper set of key types, sizes/curves, and signature algorithms. The CA must sign all public certificates with proper type, size/curve, and signature algorithm for the import process to validate successfully.

Note: There is no specific requirement for the subject name of the certificates (subject alternative names (SAN) or wildcard certificates are supported in Prism).

Table 1. Recommended Key Configurations
Key Type	Size/Curve	Signature Algorithm
RSA	4096	SHA256-with-RSAEncryption
RSA	2048	SHA256-with-RSAEncryption
EC DSA 256	prime256v1	ecdsa-with-sha256
EC DSA 384	secp384r1	ecdsa-with-sha384
EC DSA 521	secp521r1	ecdsa-with-sha512

Note: RSA 4096 bit certificates might not work with certain AOS and Prism Central releases. Please see the release notes for your AOS and Prism Central versions. Specifying an RSA 4096 bit certificate might cause multiple cluster services to restart frequently. To work around the issue, see KB 12775.

You can use the cat command to concatenate a list of CA certificates into a chain file.

$ cat signer.crt inter.crt root.crt > server.cert

Order is essential. The total chain should begin with the certificate of the signer and end with the root CA certificate as the final entry.

Results

After generating or uploading the new certificate, the interface gateway restarts. If the certificate and credentials are valid, the interface gateway uses the new certificate immediately, which means your browser session (and all other open browser sessions) will be invalid until you reload the page and accept the new certificate. If anything is wrong with the certificate (such as a corrupted file or wrong certificate type), the new certificate is discarded, and the system reverts back to the original default certificate provided by Nutanix.

Note: The system holds only one custom SSL certificate. If a new certificate is uploaded, it replaces the existing certificate. The previous certificate is discarded.

Replacing a Certificate

Nutanix simplifies the process of certificate replacement to support the need of Certificate Authority (CA) based chains of trust. Nutanix recommends you to replace the default supplied self-signed certificate with a CA signed certificate.

Procedure

Login to the Prism and click the gear icon.
Click SSL Certificate .
Select Replace Certificate to replace the certificate.
Do one of the following.
- Select Regenerate self signed certificate to generate a new self-signed certificate.
  Note:
  - This automatically generates and applies a certificate.
- Select Import key and certificate to import the custom key and certificate. RSA 4096 bit, RSA 2048 bit, Elliptic Curve DSA 256 bit, and Elliptic Curve DSA 384 bit types of key and certificate are supported.
The following files are required and should be PEM encoded to import the keys and certificate.
- The private key associated with the certificate. The below section describes generating a private key in detail.
- The signed public portion of the server certificate corresponding to the private key.
- The CA certificate or chain of the signing authority for the certificate.
Note:
You must obtain the Public Certificate and CA Certificate/Chain from the certificate authority.
Figure. Importing Certificate Click to enlarge
Generating an RSA 4096 and RSA 2048 private key

Tip: You can run the OpenSSL commands for generating private key and CSR on a Linux client with OpenSSL installed.

Note: Some OpenSSL command parameters might not be supported on older OpenSSL versions and require OpenSSL version 1.1.1 or above to work.
- Run the following OpenSSL command to generate a RSA 4096 private key and the Certificate Signing Request (CSR).
```
openssl req -out server.csr -new -newkey rsa:40966
        -nodes -sha256 -keyout server.key
```
- Run the following OpenSSL command to generate an RSA 2048 private key and the Certificate Signing Request (CSR).
```
openssl req -out server.csr -new -newkey rsa:2048
        -nodes -sha256 -keyout server.key
```
  After executing the openssl command, the system prompts you to provide more details that will be incorporated into your certificate. The mandatory fields are - Country Name, State or Province Name, and Organization Name. The optional fields are - Locality Name, Organizational Unit Name, Email Address, and Challenge Password.
Nutanix recommends including a DNS name for all CVMs in the certificate using the Subject Alternative Name (SAN) extension. This avoids SSL certificate errors when you access a CVM by direct DNS instead of the shared cluster IP. This example shows how to include a DNS name while generating an RSA 4096 private key:
```
openssl req -out server.csr -new -newkey rsa:4096 -sha256 -nodes 
-addext "subjectAltName = DNS:example.com" 
-keyout server.key 
```
For a 3-node cluster you can provide DNS name for all three nodes in a single command. For example:
```
openssl req -out server.csr -new -newkey rsa:4096 -sha256 -nodes 
-addext "subjectAltName = DNS:example1.com,DNS:example2.com,DNS:example3.com" 
-keyout server.key 
```
If you have added a SAN ( subjectAltName ) extension to your certificate, then every time you add or remove a node from the cluster, you must add the DNS name when you generate or sign a new certificate.
Generating an EC DSA 256 and EC DSA 384 private key
- Run the following OpenSSL command to generate a EC DSA 256 private key and the Certificate Signing Request (CSR).
```
openssl ecparam -out dsakey.pem -name prime256v1 –genkey 
openssl req -out dsacert.csr -new -key dsakey.pem -nodes -sha256 
```
- Run the following OpenSSL command to generate a EC DSA 384 private key and the Certificate Signing Request (CSR).
```
openssl ecparam -out dsakey.pem -name secp384r1 –genkey
openssl req -out dsacert.csr -new -key dsakey.pem -nodes –sha384 
```
Note: To adhere the high security standards of NIST SP800-131a compliance, requirements of the RFC 6460 for NSA Suite B, provide the optimal performance for encryption. The certificate import process validates the correct signature algorithm used for a given key or certificate pair.
If the CA chain certificate provided by the certificate authority is not in a single file, then run the following command to concatenate the list of CA certificates into a chain file.
```
cat signer.crt inter.crt root.crt > server.cert
```
Note: The chain should start with the certificate of the signer and ends with the root CA certificate.
Browse and add the Private Key, Public Certificate, and CA Certificate/Chain.
Click Import Files .

What to do next

Prism restarts and you must login to use the application.

Exporting an SSL Certificate for Third-party Backup Applications

Nutanix allows you to export an SSL certificate for Prism Element on a Nutanix cluster and use it with third-party backup applications.

Procedure

Log on to a Controller VM in the cluster using SSH.

Run the following command to obtain the virtual IP address of the cluster:

nutanix@cvm$ ncli cluster info

The current cluster configuration is displayed.

    Cluster Id           : 0001ab12-abcd-efgh-0123-012345678m89::123456
    Cluster Uuid         : 0001ab12-abcd-efgh-0123-012345678m89
    Cluster Name         : three
    Cluster Version      : 6.0
    Cluster Full Version : el7.3-release-fraser-6.0-a0b1c2345d6789ie123456fg789h1212i34jk5lm6
    External IP address  : 10.10.10.10
    Node Count           : 3
    Block Count          : 1
    . . . .

Note: The external IP address in the output is the virtual IP address of the cluster.

Run the following command to enter into the Python prompt:
```
nutanix@cvm$ python
```
The Python prompt appears.
Run the following command to import the SSL library.
```
$ import ssl
```

From the Python console, run the following command to print the SSL certificate.

$ print ssl.get_server_certificate(('virtual_IP_address',9440), ssl_version=ssl.PROTOCOL_TLSv1_2)

Example: Refer to the following example where virtual_IP_address value is replaced by 10.10.10.10.

$ print ssl.get_server_certificate(('10.10.10.10', 9440), ssl_version=ssl.PROTOCOL_TLSv1_2)

The SSL certificate is displayed on the console.

Controlling Cluster Access

About this task

Nutanix supports the Cluster lockdown feature. This feature enables key-based SSH access to the Controller VM and AHV on the Host (only for nutanix/admin users).

Enabling cluster lockdown mode ensures that password authentication is disabled and only the keys you have provided can be used to access the cluster resources. Thus making the cluster more secure.

To control key-based SSH access to the cluster, do the following:

Note: Use this procedure to lock down access to the Controller VM and hypervisor host. In addition, it is possible to lock down access to the hypervisor.

Procedure

Click the gear icon in the main menu and then select Cluster Lockdown in the Settings page.
The Cluster Lockdown dialog box appears. Enabled public keys (if any) are listed in this window.
Figure. Cluster Lockdown Window Click to enlarge
To disable (or enable) remote login access, uncheck (check) the Enable Remote Login with Password box.
Remote login access is enabled by default.
To add a new public key, click the New Public Key button and then do the following in the displayed fields:
1. Name : Enter a key name.
2. Key : Enter (paste) the key value into the field.
Note: Prism supports the following key types.
- RSA
- ECDSA
1. Click the Save button (lower right) to save the key and return to the main Cluster Lockdown window.
There are no public keys available by default, but you can add any number of public keys.
To delete a public key, click the X on the right of that key line.

Note: Deleting all the public keys and disabling remote login access locks down the cluster from SSH access.

Data-at-Rest Encryption

Nutanix provides an option to secure data while it is at rest using either self-encrypted drives or software-only encryption and key-based access management (cluster's native or external KMS for software-only encryption).

Encryption Methods

Nutanix provides you with the following options to secure your data.

Self Encrypting Drives (SED) Encryption - You can use a combination of SEDs and an external KMS to secure your data while it is at rest.
Software-only Encryption - Nutanix AOS uses the AES-256 encryption standard to encrypt your data. Once enabled, software-only data-at-rest encryption cannot be disabled, thus protecting against accidental data leaks due to human errors. Software-only encryption supports both Nutanix Native Key Manager (local and remote) and External KMS to secure your keys.

Note the following points regarding data-at-rest encryption.

Encryption is supported for AHV, ESXi, and Hyper-V.
- For ESXi and Hyper-V, software-only encryption can be implemented at a cluster level or container level. For AHV, encryption can be implemented at the cluster level only.
Nutanix recommends using cluster-level encryption. With the cluster-level encryption, the administrative overhead of selecting different containers for the data storage gets eliminated.
Encryption cannot be disabled once it is enabled at a cluster level or container level.
Encryption can be implemented on an existing cluster with data that exists. If encryption is enabled on an existing cluster (AHV, ESXi, or Hyper-V), the unencrypted data is transformed into an encrypted format in a low priority background task that is designed not to interfere with other workload running in the cluster.
Data can be encrypted using either self-encrypted drives (SEDs) or software-only encryption. You can change the encryption method from SEDs to software-only. You can perform the following configurations.
- For ESXi and Hyper-V clusters, you can switch from SEDs and External Key Management (EKM) combination to software-only encryption and EKM combination. First, you must disable the encryption in the cluster where you want to change the encryption method. Then, select the cluster and enable encryption to transform the unencrypted data into an encrypted format in the background.
- For AHV, background encryption is supported.
Once the task to encrypt a cluster begins, you cannot cancel the operation. Even if you stop and restart the cluster, the system resumes the operation.
In the case of mixed clusters with ESXi and AHV nodes, where the AHV nodes are used for storage only, the encryption policies consider the cluster as an ESXi cluster. So, the cluster-level and container-level encryption are available.
You can use a combination of SED and non-SED drives in a cluster. After you encrypt a cluster using the software-only encryption, all the drives are considered as unencrypted drives. In case you switch from the SED encryption to the software-only encryption, you can add SED or non-SED drives to the cluster.
Data is not encrypted when it is replicated to another cluster. You must enable the encryption for each cluster. Data is encrypted as a part of the write operation and decrypted as a part of the read operation. During the replication process, the system reads, decrypts, and then sends the data over to the other cluster. You can use a third-party network solution if there a requirement to encrypt the data during the transmission to another cluster.
Software-only encryption does not impact the data efficiency features such as deduplication, compression, erasure coding, zero block suppression, and so on. The software encryption is the last data transformation performed. For example, during the write operation, compression is performed first, followed by encryption.

Key Management

Nutanix supports a Native Key Management Server, also called Local Key Manager (LKM), thus avoiding the dependency on an External Key Manager (EKM). Cluster localised Key Management Service support requires a minimum of 3-node in a cluster and is supported only for software-only encryption. So, 1-node and 2-node clusters can use either the Native KMS (remote) option or an EKM. .

The following types of keys are used for encryption.

Data Encryption Key (DEK) - A symmetric key, such as AES-256, that is used to encrypt the data.
Key Encryption Key (KEK) - This key is used to encrypt or decrypt the DEK.

Note the following points regarding the key management.

Nutanix does not support the use of the Local Key Manager with a third party External Key Manager.
Dual encryption (both SED and software-only encryption) requires an EKM. For more information, see Configuring Dual Encryption.
You can switch from an EKM to LKM, and inversely. For more information, see Switching between Native Key Manager and External Key Manager.
Rekey of keys stored in the Native KMS is supported for the Leader Keys. For more information, see Changing Key Encryption Keys (SEDs) and Changing Key Encryption Keys (Software Only).
You must back up the keys stored in the Native KMS. For more information, see Backing up Keys.
You must backup the encryption keys whenever you create a new container or remove an existing container. Nutanix Cluster Check (NCC) checks the status of the backup and sends an alert if you do not take a backup at the time of creating or removing a container.

Data-at-Rest Encryption (SEDs)

For customers who require enhanced data security, Nutanix provides a data-at-rest security option using Self Encrypting Drives (SEDs) included in the Ultimate license.

Note: If you are running the AOS Pro License on G6 platforms and above, you can use SED encryption by installing an add-on license.

Following features are supported:

Data is encrypted on all drives at all times.
Data is inaccessible in the event of drive or node theft.
Data on a drive can be securely destroyed.
A key authorization method allows password rotation at arbitrary times.
Protection can be enabled or disabled at any time.
No performance penalty is incurred despite encrypting all data.
Re-key of the leader encryption key (MEK) at arbitrary times is supported.

Note: If an SED cluster is present, then while executing the data-at-rest encryption, you will get an option to either select data-at-rest encryption using SEDs or data-at-rest encryption using AOS.

Note: This solution provides enhanced security for data on a drive, but it does not secure data in transit.

Data Encryption Model

To accomplish these goals, Nutanix implements a data security configuration that uses SEDs with keys maintained through a separate key management device. Nutanix uses open standards (TCG and KMIP protocols) and FIPS validated SED drives for interoperability and strong security.

Graphical overview of the Nutanix data encryption methodology

This configuration involves the following workflow:

The security implementation begins by installing SEDs for all data drives in a cluster.
The drives are FIPS 140-2 validated and use FIPS 140-2 validated cryptographic modules.

Creating a new cluster that includes SEDs only is straightforward, but an existing cluster can be converted to support data-at-rest encryption by replacing the existing drives with SEDs (after migrating all the VMs/vDisks off of the cluster while the drives are being replaced).

Note: Contact Nutanix customer support for assistance before attempting to convert an existing cluster. A non-protected cluster can contain both SED and standard drives, but Nutanix does not support a mixed cluster when protection is enabled. All the disks in a protected cluster must be SED drives.
Data on the drives is always encrypted but read or write access to that data is open. By default, the access to data on the drives is protected by the in-built manufacturer key. However, when data protection for the cluster is enabled, the Controller VM must provide the proper key to access data on a SED. The Controller VM communicates with the SEDs through a Trusted Computing Group (TCG) Security Subsystem Class (SSC) Enterprise protocol.
A symmetric data encryption key (DEK) such as AES 256 is applied to all data being written to or read from the disk. The key is known only to the drive controller and never leaves the physical subsystem, so there is no way to access the data directly from the drive.

Another key, known as a key encryption key (KEK), is used to encrypt/decrypt the DEK and authenticate to the drive. (Some vendors call this the authentication key or PIN.)

Each drive has a separate KEK that is generated through the FIPS compliant random number generator present in the drive controller. The KEK is 32 bytes long to resist brute force attacks. The KEKs are sent to the key management server for secure storage and later retrieval; they are not stored locally on the node (even though they are generated locally).

In addition to the above, the leader encryption key (MEK) is used to encrypt the KEKs.

Each node maintains a set of certificates and keys in order to establish a secure connection with the external key management server.
Keys are stored in a key management server that is outside the cluster, and the Controller VM communicates with the key management server using the Key Management Interoperability Protocol (KMIP) to upload and retrieve drive keys.
Only one key management server device is required, but it is recommended that multiple devices are employed so the key management server is not a potential single point of failure. Configure the key manager server devices to work in clustered mode so they can be added to the cluster configuration as a single entity that is resilient to a single failure.
When a node experiences a full power off and power on (and cluster protection is enabled), the controller VM retrieves the drive keys from the key management server and uses them to unlock the drives.
If the Controller VM cannot get the correct keys from the key management server, it cannot access data on the drives.

If a drive is re-seated, it becomes locked.

If a drive is stolen, the data is inaccessible without the KEK (which cannot be obtained from the drive). If a node is stolen, the key management server can revoke the node certificates to ensure they cannot be used to access data on any of the drives.

Preparing for Data-at-Rest Encryption (External KMS for SEDs and Software Only)

About this task

Caution: DO NOT HOST A KEY MANAGEMENT SERVER VM ON THE ENCRYPTED CLUSTER THAT IS USING IT!

Doing so could result in complete data loss if there is a problem with the VM while it is hosted in that cluster.

If you are using an external KMS for encryption using AOS, preparation steps outside the web console are required. The information in this section is applicable if you choose to use an external KMS for configuring encryption.

You must install the license of the external key manager for all nodes in the cluster. See Compatibility and Interoperability Matrix for a complete list of the supported key management servers. For instructions on how to configure a key management server, refer to the documentation from the appropriate vendor.

The system accesses the EKM under the following conditions:

Starting a cluster
Regenerating a key (key regeneration occurs automatically every year by default)
Adding or removing a node (only when Self Encrypting Drives is used for encryption)
Switching between Native to EKM or EKM to Native
Starting, and restarting a service (only if Software-based encryption is used)
Upgrading AOS (only if Software-based encryption is used)
NCC heartbeat check if EKM is alive

Procedure

Configure a key management server.

The key management server devices must be configured into the network so the cluster has access to those devices. For redundant protection, it is recommended that you employ at least two key management server devices, either in active-active cluster mode or stand-alone.

Note: The key management server must support KMIP version 1.0 or later.
- SafeNet
  Ensure that Security > High Security > Key Security > Disable Creation and Use of Global Keys is checked.
- Vormetric
  Set the appliance to compatibility mode. Suite B mode causes the SSL handshake to fail.
Generate a certificate signing request (CSR) for each node in the cluster.
- The Common Name field of the CSR is populated automatically with unique_node_identifier .nutanix.com to identify the node associated with the certificate.
  Tip: After generating the certificate from Prism, (if required) you can update the custom common name (CN) setting by running the following command using nCLI.
```
ncli data-at-rest-encryption-certificate update-csr-information domain-name=abcd.test.com
```
  In the above command example, replace "abcd.test.com" with the actual domain name.
- A UID field is populated with a value of Nutanix . This can be useful when configuring a Nutanix group for access control within a key management server, since it is based on fields within the client certificates.
Note: Some vendors when doing client certificate authentication expect the client username to be a field in the CSR. While the CN and UID are pre-generated, many of the user populated fields can be used instead if desired. If a node-unique field such as CN is chosen, users must be created on a per node basis for access control. If a cluster-unique field is chosen, customers must create a user for each cluster.
Send the CSRs to a certificate authority (CA) and get them signed.
- Safenet
  The SafeNet KeySecure key management server includes a local CA option to generate signed certificates, or you can use other third-party vendors to create the signed certificates.
  
  To enable FIPS compliance, add user nutanix to the CA that signed the CSR. Under Security > High Security > FIPS Compliance click Set FIPS Compliant .
Note: Some CAs strip the UID field when returning a signed certificate.
To comply with FIPS, Nutanix does not support the creation of global keys.
In the SafeNet KeySecure management console, go to Device > Key Server > Key Server > KMIP Properties > Authentication Settings .

Then do the following:
- Set the Username Field in Client Certificate option to UID (User ID) .
- Set the Client Certificate Authentication option to Used for SSL session and username .
If you do not perform these settings, the KMS creates global keys and fails to encrypt the clusters or containers using the software only method.
Upload the signed SSL certificates (one for each node) and the certificate for the CA to the cluster. These certificates are used to authenticate with the key management server.
Generate keys (KEKs) for the SED drives and upload those keys to the key management server.

Configuring Data-at-Rest Encryption (SEDs)

Nutanix offers an option to use self-encrypting drives (SEDs) to store data in a cluster. When SEDs are used, there are several configuration steps that must be performed to support data-at-rest encryption in the cluster.

Before you begin

A separate key management server is required to store the keys outside of the cluster. Each key management server device must be configured and addressable through the network. It is recommended that multiple key manager server devices be configured to work in clustered mode so they can be added to the cluster configuration as a single entity (see step 5) that is resilient to a single failure.

About this task

To configure cluster encryption, do the following:

Procedure

Click the gear icon in the main menu and then select Data at Rest Encryption in the Settings page.
The Data at Rest Encryption dialog box appears. Initially, encryption is not configured, and a message to that effect appears.
Figure. Data at Rest Encryption Screen (initial) Click to enlarge
Click the Create Configuration button.
Clicking the Continue Configuration button, configure it link, or Edit Config button does the same thing, which is display the Data-at-Rest Encryption configuration page.
Select the Encryption Type as Drive-based Encryption . This option is displayed only when SEDs are detected.
In the Certificate Signing Request Information section, do the following:

Figure. Certificate Signing Request Section Click to enlarge
1. Enter appropriate credentials for your organization in the Email , Organization , Organizational Unit , Country Code , City , and State fields and then click the Save CSR Info button.
  The entered information is saved and is used when creating a certificate signing request (CSR). To specify more than one Organization Unit name, enter a comma separated list.
  Note: You can update this information until an SSL certificate for a node is uploaded to the cluster, at which point the information cannot be changed (the fields become read only) without first deleting the uploaded certificates.
2. Click the Download CSRs button, and then in the new screen click the Download CSRs for all nodes to download a file with CSRs for all the nodes or click a Download link to download a file with the CSR for that node.
  
  Figure. Download CSRs Screen Click to enlarge
3. Send the files with the CSRs to the desired certificate authority.
  The certificate authority creates the signed certificates and returns them to you. Store the returned SSL certificates and the CA certificate where you can retrieve them in step 6.
  - The certificates must be X.509 format. (DER, PKCS, and PFX formats are not supported.)
  - The certificate and the private key should be in separate files.
In the Key Management Server section, do the following:

Figure. Key Management Server Section Click to enlarge
1. Click the Add New Key Management Server button.
2. In the Add a New Key Management Server screen, enter a name, IP address, and port number for the key management server in the appropriate fields.
  The port is where the key management server is configured to listen for the KMIP protocol. The default port number is 5696. For the complete list of required ports, see Port Reference.
  - If you have configured multiple key management servers in cluster mode, click the Add Address button to provide the addresses for each key management server device in the cluster.
  - If you have stand-alone key management servers, click the Save button. Repeat this step ( Add New Key Management Server button) for each key management server device to add.
    Note: If your key management servers are configured into a leader/follower (active/passive) relationship and the architecture is such that the follower cannot accept write requests, do not add the follower into this configuration. The system sends requests (read or write) to any configured key management server, so both read and write access is needed for key management servers added here.
    
    Note: To prevent potential configuration problems, always use the Add Address button for key management servers configured into cluster mode. Only a stand-alone key management server should be added as a new server.
  Figure. Add Key Management Server Screen Click to enlarge
3. To edit any settings, click the pencil icon for that entry in the key management server list to redisplay the add page and then click the Save button after making the change. To delete an entry, click the X icon.
In the Add a New Certificate Authority section, enter a name for the CA, click the Upload CA Certificate button, and select the certificate for the CA used to sign your node certificates (see step 4c). Repeat this step for all CAs that were used in the signing process.

Figure. Certificate Authority Section Click to enlarge
Go to the Key Management Server section (see step 5) and do the following:
1. Click the Manage Certificates button for a key management server.
2. In the Manage Signed Certificates screen, upload the node certificates either by clicking the Upload Files button to upload all the certificates in one step or by clicking the Upload link (not shown in the figure) for each node individually.
3. Test that the certificates are correct either by clicking the Test all nodes button to test the certificates for all nodes in one step or by clicking the Test CS (or Re-Test CS ) link for each node individually. A status of Verified indicates the test was successful for that node.
Note: Before removing a drive or node from an SED cluster, ensure that the testing is successful and the status is Verified . Otherwise, the drive or node will be locked.
1. Repeat this step for each key management server.
Note: Before removing a drive or node from an SED cluster, ensure that the testing is successful and the status is Verified . Otherwise, the drive or node will be locked.

Figure. Upload Signed Certificates Screen Click to enlarge
When the configuration is complete, click the Protect button on the opening page to enable encryption protection for the cluster.
A clear key icon appears on the page.
Figure. Data-at-Rest Encryption Screen (unprotected) Click to enlarge

The key turns gold when cluster encryption is enabled.
Note: If changes are made to the configuration after protection has been enabled, such as adding a new key management server, you must rekey the disks for the modification to take full effect (see Changing Key Encryption Keys (SEDs)).

Figure. Data-at-Rest Encryption Screen (protected) Click to enlarge

Enabling/Disabling Encryption (SEDs)

Data on a self encrypting drive (SED) is always encrypted, but enabling/disabling data-at-rest encryption for the cluster determines whether a separate (and secured) key is required to access that data.

About this task

To enable or disable data-at-rest encryption after it has been configured for the cluster (see Configuring Data-at-Rest Encryption (SEDs)), do the following:

Note: The key management server must be accessible to disable encryption.

Procedure

Click the gear icon in the main menu and then select Data at Rest Encryption in the Settings page.
In the Cluster Encryption page, do one of the following:
- If cluster encryption is enabled currently, click the Unprotect button to disable it.
- If cluster encryption is disabled currently, click the Protect button to enable it.
Enabling cluster encryption enforces the use of secured keys to access data on the SEDs in the cluster; disabling cluster encryption means the data can be accessed without providing a key.

Changing Key Encryption Keys (SEDs)

The key encryption key (KEK) can be changed at any time. This can be useful as a periodic password rotation security precaution or when a key management server or node becomes compromised. If the key management server is compromised, only the KEK needs to be changed, because the KEK is independent of the drive encryption key (DEK). There is no need to re-encrypt any data, just to re-encrypt the DEK.

About this task

To change the KEKs for a cluster, do the following:

Procedure

Click the gear icon in the main menu and then select Data at Rest Encryption in the Settings page.
In the Cluster Encryption page, select Manage Keys and click the Rekey All Disks button under Hardware Encryption .
Rekeying a cluster under heavy workloads may result in higher-than-normal IO latency, and some data may become temporarily unavailable. To continue with the rekey operation, click Confirm Rekey .
This step resets the KEKs for all the self encrypting disks in the cluster.
Note:
- The Rekey All Disks button appears only when cluster protection is active.
- If the cluster is already protected and a new key management server is added, you must press the Rekey All Disks button to use this new key management server for storing secrets.
Figure. Cluster Encryption Screen Click to enlarge

Destroying Data (SEDs)

Data on a self encrypting drive (SED) is always encrypted, and the data encryption key (DEK) used to read the encrypted data is known only to the drive controller. All data on the drive can effectively be destroyed (that is, become permanently unreadable) by having the controller change the DEK. This is known as a crypto-erase.

About this task

To crypto-erase a SED, do the following:

Procedure

In the web console, go to the Hardware dashboard and select the Diagram tab.
Select the target disk in the diagram (upper section of screen) and then click the Remove Disk button (at the bottom right of the following diagram).

As part of the disk removal process, the DEK for that disk is automatically cycled on the drive controller. The previous DEK is lost and all new disk reads are indecipherable. The key encryption key (KEK) is unchanged, and the new DEK is protected using the current KEK.

Note: When a node is removed, all SEDs in that node are crypto-erased automatically as part of the node removal process.

Figure. Removing a Disk Click to enlarge

Data-at-Rest Encryption (Software Only)

For customers who require enhanced data security, Nutanix provides a software-only encryption option for data-at-rest security (SEDs not required) included in the Ultimate license.

Note: On G6 platforms running the AOS Pro license, you can use software encryption by installing an add-on license.

Software encryption using a local key manager (LKM) supports the following features:

For AHV, the data can be encrypted on a cluster level. This is applicable to an empty cluster or a cluster with existing data.
For ESXi and Hyper-V, the data can be encrypted on a cluster or container level. The cluster or container can be empty or contain existing data. Consider the following points for container level encryption.
- Once you enable container level encryption, you can not change the encryption type to cluster level encryption later.
- After the encryption is enabled, the administrator needs to enable encryption for every new container.
Data is encrypted at all times.
Data is inaccessible in the event of drive or node theft.
Data on a drive can be securely destroyed.
Re-key of the leader encryption key at arbitrary times is supported.
Cluster’s native KMS is supported.

Note: In case of mixed hypervisors, only the following combinations are supported.

ESXi and AHV
Hyper-V and AHV

Note: This solution provides enhanced security for data on a drive, but it does not secure data in transit.

Data Encryption Model

To accomplish the above mentioned goals, Nutanix implements a data security configuration that uses AOS functionality along with the cluster’s native or an external key management server. Nutanix uses open standards (KMIP protocols) for interoperability and strong security.

This configuration involves the following workflow:

For software encryption, data protection must be enabled for the cluster before any data is encrypted. Also, the Controller VM must provide the proper key to access the data.
A symmetric data encryption key (DEK) such as AES 256 is applied to all data being written to or read from the disk. The key is known only to AOS, so there is no way to access the data directly from the drive.
In case of an external KMS:
Each node maintains a set of certificates and keys in order to establish a secure connection with the key management server.

Only one key management server device is required, but it is recommended that multiple devices are employed so the key management server is not a potential single point of failure. Configure the key manager server devices to work in clustered mode so they can be added to the cluster configuration as a single entity that is resilient to a single failure.

Configuring Data-at-Rest Encryption (Software Only)

Nutanix offers a software-only option to perform data-at-rest encryption in a cluster or container.

Before you begin

Nutanix provides the option to choose the KMS type as the Native KMS (local), Native KMS (remote), or External KMS.
Cluster Localised Key Management Service (Native KMS (local)) requires a minimum of 3-node cluster. 1-node and 2-node clusters are not supported.
Software encryption using Native KMS is supported for remote office/branch office (ROBO) deployments using the Native KMS (remote) KMS type.
For external KMS, a separate key management server is required to store the keys outside of the cluster. Each key management server device must be configured and addressable through the network. It is recommended that multiple key manager server devices be configured to work in clustered mode so they can be added to the cluster configuration as a single entity that is resilient to a single failure.
Caution: DO NOT HOST A KEY MANAGEMENT SERVER VM ON THE ENCRYPTED CLUSTER THAT IS USING IT!!
Doing so could result in complete data loss if there is a problem with the VM while it is hosted in that cluster.

Note: You must install the license of the external key manager for all nodes in the cluster. See Compatibility and Interoperability Matrix for a complete list of the supported key management servers. For instructions on how to configure a key management server, refer to the documentation from the appropriate vendor.
This feature requires an Ultimate license, or as an Add-On to the PRO license (for the latest generation of products). Ensure that you have procure the add-on license key to use the data-at-rest encryption using AOS, contact Sales team to procure the license.
Caution: For security, you can't disable software-only data-at-rest encryption once it is enabled.

About this task

To configure cluster or container encryption, do the following:

Procedure

Click the gear icon in the main menu and then select Data at Rest Encryption in the Settings page.
The Data at Rest Encryption dialog box appears. Initially, encryption is not configured, and a message to that effect appears.
Figure. Data at Rest Encryption Screen (initial) Click to enlarge
Click the Create Configuration button.
Clicking the Continue Configuration button, configure it link, or Edit Config button does the same thing, which is display the Data-at-Rest Encryption configuration page
Select the Encryption Type as Encrypt the entire cluster or Encrypt storage containers . Then click Save Encryption Type .
Caution: You can enable encryption for the entire cluster or just the container. However, if you enable encryption on a container; and there are any encryption key issue like loss of encryption key, you can encounter the following:
- The entire cluster data is affected, not just the encrypted container.
- All the user VMs of the cluster will not able to access the data.
The hardware option is displayed only when SEDs are detected. Else, software based encryption type will be used by default.
Figure. Select encryption type Click to enlarge
Note: For ESXi and Hyper-V, the data can be encrypted on a cluster or container level. The cluster or container can be empty or contain existing data. Consider the following points for container level encryption.
- Once you enable container level encryption, you can not change the encryption type to cluster level encryption later.
- After the encryption is enabled, the administrator needs to enable encryption for every new container.
To enable encryption for every new storage container, do the following:
1. In the web console, select Storage from the pull-down main menu (upper left of screen) and then select the Table and Storage Container tabs.
2. To enable encryption, select the target storage container and then click the Update link.
  The Update Storage Container window appears.
3. In the Advanced Settings area, select the Enable check box to enable encryption for the storage container you selected.
  
  Figure. Update storage container Click to enlarge
4. Click Save to complete.
Select the Key Management Service.
To keep the keys safe with the native KMS, select Native KMS (local) or Native KMS (remote) and click Save KMS type . If you select this option, skip to step 9 to complete the configuration.
Note:
- Cluster Localised Key Management Service ( Native KMS (local) ) requires a minimum of 3-node cluster. 1-node and 2-node clusters are not supported.
- For enhanced security of ROBO environments (typically, 1 or 2 node clusters), select the Native KMS (remote) for software based encryption of ROBO clusters managed by Prism Central.
  Note: This is option is available only if the cluster is registered to Prism Central.
For external KMS type, select the External KMS option and click Save KMS type . Continue to step 5 for further configuration.
Figure. Select KMS Type Click to enlarge

Note: You can switch between the KMS types at a later stage if the specific KMS prerequisites are met, see Switching between Native Key Manager and External Key Manager.
In the Certificate Signing Request Information section, do the following:

Figure. Certificate Signing Request Section Click to enlarge
1. Enter appropriate credentials for your organization in the Email , Organization , Organizational Unit , Country Code , City , and State fields and then click the Save CSR Info button.
  The entered information is saved and is used when creating a certificate signing request (CSR). To specify more than one Organization Unit name, enter a comma separated list.
  Note: You can update this information until an SSL certificate for a node is uploaded to the cluster, at which point the information cannot be changed (the fields become read only) without first deleting the uploaded certificates.
2. Click the Download CSRs button, and then in the new screen click the Download CSRs for all nodes to download a file with CSRs for all the nodes or click a Download link to download a file with the CSR for that node.
  
  Figure. Download CSRs Screen Click to enlarge
3. Send the files with the CSRs to the desired certificate authority.
  The certificate authority creates the signed certificates and returns them to you. Store the returned SSL certificates and the CA certificate where you can retrieve them in step 5.
  - The certificates must be X.509 format. (DER, PKCS, and PFX formats are not supported.)
  - The certificate and the private key should be in separate files.
In the Key Management Server section, do the following:

Figure. Key Management Server Section Click to enlarge
1. Click the Add New Key Management Server button.
2. In the Add a New Key Management Server screen, enter a name, IP address, and port number for the key management server in the appropriate fields.
  The port is where the key management server is configured to listen for the KMIP protocol. The default port number is 5696. For the complete list of required ports, see Port Reference.
  - If you have configured multiple key management servers in cluster mode, click the Add Address button to provide the addresses for each key management server device in the cluster.
  - If you have stand-alone key management servers, click the Save button. Repeat this step ( Add New Key Management Server button) for each key management server device to add.
    Note: If your key management servers are configured into a master/slave (active/passive) relationship and the architecture is such that the follower cannot accept write requests, do not add the follower into this configuration. The system sends requests (read or write) to any configured key management server, so both read and write access is needed for key management servers added here.
    
    Note: To prevent potential configuration problems, always use the Add Address button for key management servers configured into cluster mode. Only a stand-alone key management server should be added as a new server.
  Figure. Add Key Management Server Screen Click to enlarge
3. To edit any settings, click the pencil icon for that entry in the key management server list to redisplay the add page and then click the Save button after making the change. To delete an entry, click the X icon.
In the Add a New Certificate Authority section, enter a name for the CA, click the Upload CA Certificate button, and select the certificate for the CA used to sign your node certificates (see step 3c). Repeat this step for all CAs that were used in the signing process.

Figure. Certificate Authority Section Click to enlarge
Go to the Key Management Server section (see step 4) and do the following:
1. Click the Manage Certificates button for a key management server.
2. In the Manage Signed Certificates screen, upload the node certificates either by clicking the Upload Files button to upload all the certificates in one step or by clicking the Upload link (not shown in the figure) for each node individually.
3. Test that the certificates are correct either by clicking the Test all nodes button to test the certificates for all nodes in one step or by clicking the Test CS (or Re-Test CS ) link for each node individually. A status of Verified indicates the test was successful for that node.
4. Repeat this step for each key management server.
Note: Before removing a drive or node from an SED cluster, ensure that the testing is successful and the status is Verified . Otherwise, the drive or node will be locked.

Figure. Upload Signed Certificates Screen Click to enlarge
When the configuration is complete, click the Enable Encryption button.
Enable Encryption window is displayed.
Figure. Data-at-Rest Encryption Screen (unprotected) Click to enlarge

Caution: To help ensure that your data is secure, you cannot disable software-only data-at-rest encryption once it is enabled. Nutanix recommends regularly backing up your data, encryption keys, and key management server.
Enter ENCRYPT .
Click Encrypt button.
The data-at-rest encryption is enabled. To view the status of the encrypted cluster or container, go to Data at Rest Encryption in the Settings menu.
When you enable encryption, a low priority background task runs to encrypt all the unencrypted data. This task is designed to take advantage of any available CPU space to encrypt the unencrypted data within a reasonable time. If the system is occupied with other workloads, the background task consumes less CPU space. Depending on the amount of data in the cluster, the background task can take 24 to 36 hours to complete.

Note: If changes are made to the configuration after protection has been enabled, such as adding a new key management server, you must do the rekey operation for the modification to take full effect. In case of EKM, rekey to change the KEKs stored in the EKM. In case of LKM, rekey to change the leader key used by native key manager, see Changing Key Encryption Keys (Software Only)) for details.

Note: Once the task to encrypt a cluster begins, you cannot cancel the operation. Even if you stop and restart the cluster, the system resumes the operation.

Figure. Data-at-Rest Encryption Screen (protected) Click to enlarge

Switching between Native Key Manager and External Key Manager

After Software Encryption has been established, Nutanix supports the ability to switch the KMS type from the External Key Manager to the Native Key Manager or from the Native Key Manager to an External Key Manager, without any down time.

Note:

The Native KMS requires a minimum of 3-node cluster.
For external KMS, a separate key management server is required to store the keys outside of the cluster. Each key management server device must be configured and addressable through the network. It is recommended that multiple key manager server devices be configured to work in clustered mode so they can be added to the cluster configuration as a single entity that is resilient to a single failure.
It is recommended that you backup and save the encryption keys with identifiable names before and after changing the KMS type. For backing up keys, see Backing up Keys.

To change the KMS type, change the KMS selection by editing the encryption configuration. For details, see step 3 in Configuring Data-at-Rest Encryption (Software Only) section.

After you change the KMS type and save the configuration, the encryption keys are re-generated on the selected KMS storage medium and data is re-encrypted with the new keys. The old keys are destroyed.

Note: This operation completes in a few minutes, depending on the number of encrypted objects and network speed.

Changing Key Encryption Keys (Software Only)

About this task

To change the KEKs for a cluster, do the following:

Procedure

Click the gear icon in the main menu and then select Data at Rest Encryption in the Settings page.
In the Cluster Encryption page, select Manage Keys and click the Rekey button under Software Encryption .

Note: The Rekey button appears only when cluster protection is active.

Note: If the cluster is already protected and a new key management server is added, you must press the Rekey button to use this new key management server for storing secrets.

Figure. Cluster Encryption Screen Click to enlarge

Note: The system automatically regenerates the leader key yearly.

Destroying Data (Software Only)

Data on the AOS cluster is always encrypted, and the data encryption key (DEK) used to read the encrypted data is known only to the AOS. All data on the drive can effectively be destroyed (that is, become permanently unreadable) by deleting the container or cluster. This is known as a crypto-erase.

About this task

Note: To help ensure that your data is secure, you cannot disable software-only data-at-rest encryption once it is enabled. Nutanix recommends regularly backing up your data, encryption keys, and key management server.

To crypto-erase the container or cluster, do the following:

Procedure

Delete the storage container or destroy the cluster.
- For information on how to delete a storage container, see Modifying a Storage Container in the Prism Web Console Guide .
- For information on how to destroy a cluster, see Destroying a Cluster in the Acropolis Advanced Administration Guide .
Note:
When you delete a storage container, the Curator scans and deletes the DEK and KEK keys automatically.

When you destroy a cluster, then:
- the Native Key Manager (local) destroys the master key shares and the encrypted DEKs/KEKs.
- the Native Key Manager (remote) retains the root key on the PC if the cluster is still registered to a PC when it is destroyed. You must unregister a cluster from the PC and then destroy the cluster to delete the root key.
- the External Key Manager deletes the encrypted DEKs. However, the KEKs remain on the EKM. You must use an external key manager UI to delete the KEKs.
Delete the key backup files, if any.

Switching from SED-EKM to Software-LKM

This section describes the steps to switch from SED and External KMS combination to software-only and LKM combination.

About this task

To switch from SED-EKM to Software-LKM, do the following.

Procedure

Perform the steps for the software-only encryption with External KMS. For more information, see Configuring Data-at-Rest Encryption (Software Only).
After the background task completes, all the data gets encrypted by the software. The time taken to complete the task depends on the amount of data and foreground I/O operations in the cluster.
Disable the SED encryption. Ensure that all the disks are unprotected.
For more information, see Enabling/Disabling Encryption (SEDs).
Switch the key management server from the External KMS to Local Key Manager. For more information, see Switching between Native Key Manager and External Key Manager.

Configuring Dual Encryption

About this task

Dual Encryption protects the data on the clusters using both SED and software-only encryption. An external key manager is used to store the keys for dual encryption, the Native KMS is not supported.

To configure dual encryption, do the following:

Procedure

Click the gear icon in the main menu and then select Data at Rest Encryption in the Settings page.
In the Cluster Encryption page, check to enable both Drive-based and Software-based encryption.
Click Save Encryption Type .

Figure. Dual Encryption Click to enlarge
Continue with the rest of the encryption configuration, see:
- Configuring Data-at-Rest Encryption (Software Only)
- Configuring Data-at-Rest Encryption (SEDs)

Backing up Keys

About this task

You can take a backup of encryption keys:

when you enable Software-only Encryption for the first time
after you regenerate the keys

Backing up encryption keys is critical in the very unlikely situation in which keys get corrupted.

You can download key backup file for a cluster on a PE or all clusters on a PC. To download key backup file for all clusters, see Taking a Consolidated Backup of Keys (Prism Central) .

To download the key backup file for a cluster, do the following:

Procedure

Log on to the Prism Element web console.
Click the gear icon in the main menu and then select Data at Rest Encryption in the Settings page.
In the Cluster Encryption page, select Manage Keys .
Enter and confirm the password.
Click the Download Key Backup button.

The backup file is saved in the default download location on your local machine.

Note: Ensure you move the backup key file to a safe location.

Taking a Consolidated Backup of Keys (Prism Central)

If you are using the Native KMS option with software encryption for your clusters, you can take a consolidated backup of all the keys from Prism Central.

About this task

To take a consolidated backup of keys for software encryption-enabled clusters (Native KMS-only), do the following:

Procedure

Log on to the Prism Central web console.
Click the hamburger icon, then select Clusters > List view.
Select a cluster, go to Actions , then select Manage & Backup Keys .
Download the backup keys:
1. In Password , enter your password.
2. In Confirm Password , reenter your password.
3. To change the encryption key, select the Rekey Encryption Key (KEK) box .
4. To download the backup key, click Backup Key .
Note: Ensure that you move the backup key file to a safe location.

Importing Keys

You can import the encryption keys from backup. You must note the specific commands in this topic if you backed up your keys to an external key manager (EKM)

About this task

Note: Nutanix recommends that you contact Nutanix Support for this operation. Extended cluster downtime might result if you perform this task incorrectly.

Procedure

Log on to any Controller VM in the cluster with SSH.
Retrieve the encryption keys stored on the cluster and verify that all the keys you want to retrieve are listed.
In this example, the password is Nutanix.123 . date is the timestamp portion of the backup file name.
```
mantle_recovery_util --backup_file_path=/home/nutanix/encryption_key_backup_date \
--password=Nutanix.123 --list_key_ids=true 
```

Import the keys into the cluster.

mantle_recovery_util --backup_file_path=/home/nutanix/key_backup \
--password=Nutanix.123 --interactive_mode

If you are using an external key manager such as IBM Security Key Lifecycle Manager, Gemalto Safenet, or Vormetric Data Security Manager, use the --store_kek_remotely option to import the keys into the cluster.
In this example, date is the timestamp portion of the backup file name.
```
mantle_recovery_util --backup_file_path path/encryption_key_backup_date \
 --password key_password --store_kek_remotely
```

Securing Traffic Through Network Segmentation

Network segmentation enhances security, resilience, and cluster performance by isolating a subset of traffic to its own network.

You can achieve traffic isolation in one or more of the following ways:

Isolating Backplane Traffic by using VLANs (Logical Segmentation)

You can separate management traffic from storage replication (or backplane) traffic by creating a separate network segment (LAN) for storage replication. For more information about the types of traffic seen on the management plane and the backplane, see Traffic Types In a Segmented Network.

To enable the CVMs in a cluster to communicate over these separated networks, the CVMs are multihomed. Multihoming is facilitated by the addition of a virtual network interface card (vNIC) to the Controller VM and placing the new interface on the backplane network. Additionally, the hypervisor is assigned an interface on the backplane network.

The traffic associated with the CVM interfaces and host interfaces on the backplane network can be secured further by placing those interfaces on a separate VLAN.

In this type of segmentation, both network segments continue to use the same external bridge and therefore use the same set of physical uplinks. For physical separation, see Isolating the Backplane Traffic Physically on an Existing Cluster.

Isolating backplane traffic from management traffic requires minimal configuration through the Prism web console. No manual host (hypervisor) configuration steps are required.

For information about isolating backplane traffic, see Isolating the Backplane Traffic Logically on an Existing Cluster (VLAN-Based Segmentation Only).

Isolating Backplane Traffic Physically (Physical Segementation)

You can physically isolate the backplane traffic (intra cluster traffic) from the management traffic (Prism, SSH, SNMP) in to a separate vNIC on the CVM and using a dedicated virtual network that has its own physical NICs. This type of segmentation therefore offers true physical separation of the backplane traffic from the management traffic.

You can use Prism to configure the vNIC on the CVM and configure the backplane traffic to communicate over the dedicated virtual network. However, you must first manually configure the virtual network on the hosts and associate it with the physical NICs that it requires for true traffic isolation.

For more information about physically isolating backplane traffic, see Isolating the Backplane Traffic Physically on an Existing Cluster.

Isolating service-specific traffic

You can also secure traffic associated with a service (for example, Nutanix Volumes) by confining its traffic to a separate vNIC on the CVM and using a dedicated virtual network that has its own physical NICs. This type of segmentation therefore offers true physical separation for service-specific traffic.

You can use Prism to create the vNIC on the CVM and configure the service to communicate over the dedicated virtual network. However, you must first manually configure the virtual network on the hosts and associate it with the physical NICs that it requires for true traffic isolation. You need one virtual network for each service you want to isolate. For a list of the services whose traffic you can isolate in the current release, see Cluster Services That Support Traffic Isolation.

For information about isolating service-specific traffic, see Isolating Service-Specific Traffic.

Isolating Stargate-to-Stargate traffic over RDMA

Some Nutanix platforms support remote direct memory access (RDMA) for Stargate-to-Stargate service communication. You can create a separate virtual network for RDMA-enabled network interface cards. If a node has RDMA-enabled NICs, Foundation passes the NICs through to the CVMs during imaging. The CVMs use only the first of the two RDMA-enabled NICs for Stargate-to-Stargate communications. The virtual NIC on the CVM is named rdma0. Foundation does not configure the RDMA LAN. After creating a cluster, you need to enable RDMA by creating an RDMA LAN from the Prism web console. For more information about RDMA support, see Remote Direct Memory Access in the NX Series Hardware Administration Guide .

For information about isolating backplane traffic on an RDMA cluster, see Isolating the Backplane Traffic on an Existing RDMA Cluster.

Traffic Types In a Segmented Network

The traffic entering and leaving a Nutanix cluster can be broadly classified into the following types:

Backplane traffic: Backplane traffic is intra-cluster traffic that is necessary for the cluster to function, and it comprises traffic between CVMs and traffic between CVMs and hosts for functions such as storage RF replication, host management, high availability, and so on. This traffic uses eth2 on the CVM. In AHV, VM live migration traffic is also backplane, and uses the AHV backplane interface, VLAN, and virtual switch when configured. For nodes that have RDMA-enabled NICs, the CVMs use a separate RDMA LAN for Stargate-to-Stargate communications.
Management traffic: Management traffic is administrative traffic, or traffic associated with Prism and SSH connections, remote logging, SNMP, and so on. The current implementation simplifies the definition of management traffic to be any traffic that is not on the backplane network, and therefore also includes communications between user VMs and CVMs. This traffic uses eth0 on the CVM.
Traffic on the management plane can be further isolated per service or feature. An example of this type of traffic is the traffic that the cluster receives from external iSCSI initiators (Nutanix Volumes iSCSI traffic). For a list of services supported in the current release, see Cluster Services That Support Traffic Isolation.

Segmented and Unsegmented Networks

In the default unsegmented network in a Nutanix cluster (ESXi and AHV), the Controller VM has two virtual network interfaces—eth0 and eth1.

Interface eth0 is connected to the default external virtual switch, which is in turn connected to the external network through a bond or NIC team that contains the host physical uplinks.

Interface eth1 is connected to an internal network that enables the CVM to communicate with the hypervisor.

In the below unsegmented network (see Unsegmented Network - ESXi Cluster , and Unsegmented Network - AHV Cluster images) all external CVM traffic, whether backplane or management traffic, uses interface eth0. These interfaces are on the default VLAN on the default virtual switch.

This figure shows an unsegmented network (AHV cluster).

In AHV, VM live migration traffic is also backplane, and uses the AHV backplane interface, VLAN, and virtual switch when configured.

If you further isolate service-specific traffic, additional vNICs are created on the CVM. Each service requiring isolation is assigned a dedicated virtual NIC on the CVM. The NICs are named ntnx0, ntnx1, and so on. Each service-specific NIC is placed on a configurable existing or new virtual network (vSwitch or bridge) and a VLAN and IP subnet are specified.

Network with Segmentation

In a segmented network, management traffic uses CVM interface eth0 and additional services can be isolated to different VLANs or virtual switches. In backplane segmentation, the backplane traffic uses interface eth2. The backplane network uses either the default VLAN or, optionally, a separate VLAN that you specify when segmenting the network. In ESXi, you must select a port group for the new vmkernel interface. In AHV this internal interface is created automatically in the selected virtual switch. For physical separation of the backplane network, create this new port group on a separate virtual switch in ESXi, or select the desired virtual switch in the AHV GUI.

If you want to isolate service-specific traffic such as Volumes or Disaster Recovery as well as backplane traffic, then additional vNICs are needed on the CVM, but no new vmkernel adapters or internal interfaces are required. AOS creates additional vNICs on the CVM. Each service that requires isolation is assigned a dedicated vNIC on the CVM. The NICs are named ntnx0, ntnx1, and so on. Each service-specific NIC is placed on a configurable existing or new virtual network (vSwitch or bridge) and a VLAN and IP subnet are specified.

You can choose to perform backplane segmentation alone, with no other forms of segmentation. You can also choose to use one or more types of service specific segmentation with or without backplane segmentation. In all of these cases, you can choose to segment any service to either the existing, or a new virtual switch for further physical traffic isolation. The combination selected is driven by the security and networking requirements of the deployment. In most cases, the default configuration with no segmentation of any kind is recommended due to simplicity and ease of deployment.

The following figure shows an implementation scenario where the backplane and service specific segmentation is configured with two vSwitches on ESXi hypervisors.

Here are the CVM to ESXi hypervisor connection details:

The eth0 vNIC on the CVM and vmk0 on the host are carrying management traffic and connected to the hypervisor through the existing PGm (portgroup) on vSwitch0.
The eth2 vNIC on the CVM and vmk2 on the host are carrying backplane traffic and connected to the hypervisor through a new user created PGb on the existing vSwitch.
The ntnx0 vNIC on the CVM is carrying iSCSI traffic and connected to the hypervisor through PGi on the vSwitch1. No new vmkernel adapter is required.
The ntnx1 vNIC on the CVM is carrying DR traffic and connected to the hypervisor through PGd on the vSwitch2. Here as well, there is no new vmkernel adapter required.

The following figure shows an implementation scenario where the backplane and service specific segmentation is configured with two vSwitches on an AHV hypervisors.

Here are the CVM to AHV hypervisor connection details:

The eth0 vNIC on the CVM is carrying management traffic and connected to the hypervisor through the existing vnet0.
Other vNICs such as eth2, ntnx0, and ntnx1 are connected to the hypervisor through the auto created interfaces on either the existing or new vSwitch.

Note: In the above figure the interface name 'br0-bp' is read as 'br0-backplane'.

The following table describes the vNIC, port group (PG), VM kernel (vmk), virtual network (vnet) and virtual switch connections for CVM and hypervisor in different implementation scenarios. The tables capture information for ESXi and AHV hypervisors:

Table 1.
Implementation Scenarios	vNICs on CVM	Connected to ESXi Hypervisor	Connected to AHV Hypervisor
Backplane Segmentation with 1 vSwitch	eth0: DR, iSCSI, andManagement traffic	vmk0 via existing PGm on vSwitch	Existing vnet0
Backplane Segmentation with 1 vSwitch	eth2: Backplane traffic	New vmk2 via PGb on vSwitch0 CVM vNIC via PGb on vSwitch0	Auto created interfaces on bridge br0
Backplane Segmentation with 2 vSwitches	eth0: Management traffic	vmk0 via existing PGm on vSwitch0	Existing vnet0
Backplane Segmentation with 2 vSwitches	eth2: Backplane traffic	New vmk2 via PGb on new vSwitch CVM vNIC via PGb on new vSwitch	Auto created interfaces on new virtual switch
Service Specific Segmentation for Volumes with 1 vSwitch	eth0: DR, Backplane, and Management traffic	vmk0 via existing PGm on vSwitch0	Existing vnet0
Service Specific Segmentation for Volumes with 1 vSwitch	ntnx0: iSCSI (Volumes) traffic	CVM vNIC via PGi on vSwitch0	Auto created interface on existing br0
Service Specific Segmentation for Volumes with 2 vSwitches	eth0: DR, Backplane, and Management traffic	vmk0 via existing PGm on vSwitch0	Existing vnet0
Service Specific Segmentation for Volumes with 2 vSwitches	ntnx0: iSCSI (Volumes) traffic	CVM vNIC via PGi on new vSwitch	Auto created interface on new virtual switch
Service Specific Segmentation for DR with 1 vSwitch	eth0: iSCSI, Backplane, and Management traffic	vmk0 via existing PGm on vSwitch0	Existing vnet0
Service Specific Segmentation for DR with 1 vSwitch	ntnx1: DR traffic	CVM vNIC via PGd on vSwitch0	Auto created interface on existing br0
Service Specific Segmentation for DR with 2 vSwitches	eth0: iSCSI, Backplane, and Management traffic	vmk0 via existing PGm on vSwitch0	Existing vnet0
Service Specific Segmentation for DR with 2 vSwitches	ntnx1: DR traffic	CVM vNIC via PGd on new vSwitch	Auto created interface on new virtual switch
Backplane and Service Specific Segmentation with 1 vSwitch	eth0: Management traffic	vmk0 via existing PGm on vSwitch0	Existing vnet0
	eth2: Backplane traffic	New vmk2 via PGb on vSwitch0 CVM vNIC via PGb on vSwitch0	Auto created interfaces on br0
	ntnx0: iSCSI traffic	CVM vNIC via PGi on vSwitch0	Auto created interface on br0
	ntnx1: DR traffic	CVM vNIC via PGd on vSwitch0	Auto created interface on br0
Backplane and Service Specific Segmentation with 2 vSwitches	eth0: Management traffic	vmk0 via existing PGm on vSwitch0	Existing vnet0
	eth2: Backplane traffic	New vmk2 via PGb on new vSwitch CVM vNIC via PGb on new vSwitch	Auto created interfaces on new virtual switch
	ntnx0: iSCSI traffic	CVM vNIC via PGi on vSwitch1 No new user defined vmkernel adapter is required.	Auto created interface on new virtual switch
	ntnx1: DR traffic	CVM vNIC via PGd on vSwitch2. No new user defined vmkernel adapter is required.	Auto created interface in new virtual switch

Implementation Considerations

Supported Environment

Network segmentation is supported in the following environment:

The hypervisor must be one of the following:
- For network segmentation by traffic type (separating backplane traffic from management traffic):
  - AHV
  - ESXi
  - Hyper-V
    Note: Only logical segmentation (or VLAN-based segmentation) is supported on Hyper-V. Physical network segmentation is not supported on Hyper-V.
- For service-specific traffic isolation:
  - AHV
  - ESXi
For logical network segmentation, AOS version must be 5.5 or later. For physical segmentation and service-specific traffic isolation, the AOS version must be 5.11 or later.
From the 5.11.1 release, you cannot enable network segmentation on mixed-hypervisor clusters. However, if you enable network segmentation on a mixed-hypervisor cluster running a release earlier than 5.11.1 and you upgrade that cluster to 5.11.1 or later, network segmentation continues to work seamlessly.
RDMA requirements:
- Network segmentation is supported with RDMA for AHV and ESXi hypervisors only.
- For more information about RDMA, see Remote Direct Memory Access in the NX Series Hardware Administration Guide .

Prerequisites

For Nutanix Volumes

Stargate does not monitor the health of a segmented network. If physical network segmentation is configured, network failures or connectivity issues are not tolerated. To overcome this issue, configure redundancy in the network. That is, use two or more uplinks in a fault tolerant configuration, connected to two separate physical switches.

For Disaster Recovery

Ensure that the VLAN and subnet that you plan to use for the network segment are routable.
Make sure that you have a pool of IP addresses to specify when configuring segmentation. For each cluster, you need n+1 IP addresses, where n is the number of nodes in the cluster. The additional IP address is for the virtual IP address requirement.
Enable network segmentation for disaster recovery at both sites (local and remote) before configuring remote sites at those sites.

Limitations

For Nutanix Volumes

If network segmentation is enabled for Volumes, volume group attachments are not recovered during VM recovery.
Nutanix service VMs such as Files and Buckets continue to communicate with the CVM eth0 interface when using Volumes for iSCSI traffic. Other external clients use the new service-specific CVM interface.

For Disaster Recovery

The system does not support configuring a Leap DR and DR service specific traffic isolation together.

Cluster Services That Support Traffic Isolation

In this release, you can isolate traffic associated with the following services to its own virtual network:

Management (The default network that cannot be moved from CVM eth0)
Backplane
RDMA
Service Specific Disaster Recovery
Service Specific Volumes

Configurations in Which Network Segmentation Is Not Supported

Network segmentation is not supported in the following configurations:

Clusters on which the CVMs have a manually created eth2 interface.
Clusters on which the eth2 interface on one or more CVMs have been assigned an IP address manually. During an upgrade to an AOS release that supports network segmentation, an eth2 interface is created on each CVM in the cluster. Even though the cluster does not use these interfaces until you configure network segmentation, you must not manually configure these interfaces in any way.

Caution:

Nutanix has deprecated support for manual multi-homed CVM network interfaces from AOS version 5.15 and later. Such a manual configuration can lead to unexpected issues on these releases. If you have configured an eth2 interface on the CVM manually, refer to the KB-9479 and Nutanix Field Advisory #78 for details on how to remove the eth2 interface.

Configuring the Network on an AHV Host

These steps describe how to configure host networking for physical and service-specific network segmentation on an AHV host. These steps are prerequisites for physical and service-specific network segmentation and you must perform these steps before you perform physical or service-specific traffic isolation. If you are configuring networking on an ESXi host, perform the equivalent steps by referring to the ESXi documentation. On ESXi, you create vSwitches and port groups to achieve the same results.

About this task

For information about the procedures to create, update and delete a virtual switch in Prism Element Web Console, see Configuring a Virtual Network for Guest VMs in the Prism Web Console Guide .

Note: The term unconfigured node in this procedure refers to a node that is not part of a cluster and is being prepared for cluster expansion.

To configure host networking for physical and service-specific network segmentation, do the following:

Note: If you are segmenting traffic on nodes that are already part of a cluster, perform the first step. If you are segmenting traffic on an unconfigured node that is not part of a cluster, perform the second step directly.

Procedure

If you are segmenting traffic on nodes that are already part of a cluster, do the following:
1. From the default virtual switch vs0, remove the uplinks that you want to add to the virtual switch you created by updating the default virtual switch.
  
  For information about updating the default virtual switch vs0 to remove the uplinks, see Creating or Updating a Virtual Switch in the Prism Web Console Guide .
2. Create a virtual switch for the backplane traffic or service whose traffic you want to isolate.
  Add the uplinks to the new virtual switch.
  For information about creating a new virtual switch, see Creating or Updating a Virtual Switch in the Prism Web Console Guide .
If you are segmenting traffic on an unconfigured node (new host) that is not part of a cluster, do the following:
1. Create a bridge for the backplane traffic or service whose traffic you want to isolate by logging on to the new host.
```
ovs-vsctl add-br br1
```
2. From the default bridge br0, log on to the host CVM and keep only eth0 and eth1 in br0.
```
manage_ovs --bridge_name br0 --interfaces eth0,eth1 --bond_name br0-up --bond_mode active-backup update_uplinks
```
3. Log on to the host CVM and then add eth2 and eth3 to the uplink bond of br1
```
manage_ovs --bridge_name br1 --interfaces eth2,eth3 --bond_name br1-up --bond_mode active-backup update_uplinks
```
  Note: If this step is not done correctly, a network loop can be created that causes a network outage. Ensure that no other uplink interfaces exist on this bridge before adding the new interfaces, and always add interfaces into a bond.

What to do next

Prism can configure a VLAN only on AHV hosts. Therefore, if the hypervisor is ESXi, in addition to configuring the VLAN on the physical switch, make sure to configure the VLAN on the port group.

If you are performing physical network segmentation, see Isolating the Backplane Traffic Physically on an Existing Cluster.

If you are performing service-specific traffic isolation, see Service-Specific Traffic Isolation.

Network Segmentation for Traffic Types (Backplane, Management, and RDMA)

You can segment the network on a Nutanix cluster in the following ways:

You can segment the network on an existing cluster by using the Prism web console.
You can segment the network when creating a cluster by using Nutanix Foundation 3.11.2 or higher versions.

The following topics describe network segmentation procedures for existing clusters and changes during AOS upgrade and cluster expansion. For more information about segmenting the network when creating a cluster, see the Field Installation Guide.

Isolating the Backplane Traffic Logically on an Existing Cluster (VLAN-Based Segmentation Only)

You can segment the network on an existing cluster by using the Prism web console. You must configure a separate VLAN for the backplane network to achieve logical segmentation. The network segmentation process creates a separate network for backplane communications on the existing default virtual switch. The process then places the eth2 interfaces (that the process creates on the CVMs during upgrade) and the host interfaces on the newly created network. This method allows you to achieve logical segmentation of traffic over the selected VLAN. From the specified subnet, assign IP addresses to each new interface. You, therefore, need two IP addresses per node. When you specify the VLAN ID, AHV places the newly created interfaces on the specified VLAN.

Before you begin

If your cluster has RDMA-enabled NICs, follow the procedure in Isolating the Backplane Traffic on an Existing RDMA Cluster.

For ESXi clusters, it is mandatory to create and manage port groups that networking uses for CVM and backplane networking. Therefore, ensure that you create port groups on the default virtual switch vs0 for the ESXi hosts and CVMs.
Since backplane traffic segmentation is logical, it is based on the VLAN that is tagged for the port groups. Therefore, while creating the port groups ensure that you tag the new port groups created for the ESXi hosts and CVMs with the appropriate VLAN ID. Consult your networking team to acquire the necessary VLANs for use with Nutanix nodes.
For new backplane networks, you must specify a non-routable subnet. The interfaces on the backplane network are automatically assigned IP addresses from this subnet, so reserve the entire subnet for the backplane network segmentation.

About this task

You need separate VLANs for Management network and Backplane network. For example, configure VLAN 100 as Management network VLAN and VLAN 200 as Backplane network VLAN on the Ethernet links that connect the Nutanix nodes to the physical switch.

Note: Nutanix does not control these VLAN IDs. Consult your networking team to acquire VLANs for the Management and Backplane networks.

To segment the network on an existing cluster for a backplane LAN, do the following:

Note:

In this method, for AHV nodes, logical segmentation (VLAN-based segmentation) is done on the default bridge. The process creates the host backplane interface on the Backplane Network port group on ESXi or br0-backplane (interface) on br0 bridge in case of AHV. The eth2 interface on the CVM is on CVM Backplane Network by default.

Procedure

Log on to the Prism web console, click the gear icon in the top-right corner, and then click Network Configuration in the Settings page.
The Network Configuration dialog box appears.
In the Network Configuration > Controller VM Interfaces > Backplane LAN row, click Configure .
The Create Interface dialog box appears.
In the Create Interface dialog box, provide the necessary information.
- In Subnet IP , specify a non-routable subnet.
  Ensure that the subnet has sufficient IP addresses. The segmentation process requires two IP addresses per node. Reconfiguring the backplane to increase the size of the subnet involves cluster downtime, so you might also want to make sure that the subnet can accommodate new nodes in the future.
- In Netmask , specify the netmask.
- If you want to assign the interfaces on the network to a VLAN, specify the VLAN ID in the VLAN ID field.
  Nutanix recommends that you use a VLAN. If you do not specify a VLAN ID, the default VLAN on the virtual switch is used.
Click Verify and Save .
The network segmentation process creates the backplane network if the network settings that you specified pass validation.

Isolating the Backplane Traffic on an Existing RDMA Cluster

Segment the network on an existing RDMA cluster by using the Prism web console.

About this task

The network segmentation process creates a separate network for RDMA communications on the existing default virtual switch and places the rdma0 interface (created on the CVMs during upgrade) and the host interfaces on the newly created network. From the specified subnet, IP addresses are assigned to each new interface. Two IP addresses are therefore required per node. If you specify the optional VLAN ID, the newly created interfaces are placed on the VLAN. A separate VLAN is highly recommended for the RDMA network to achieve true segmentation.

Before you begin

For new RDMA networks, you must specify a non-routable subnet. The interfaces on the backplane network are automatically assigned IP addresses from this subnet, so reserve the entire subnet for the backplane network alone.
If you plan to specify a VLAN for the RDMA network, make sure that the VLAN is configured on the physical switch ports to which the nodes are connected.
Configure the switch interface as a Trunk port.
Ensure that this cluster is configured to support RDMA during installation using the Foundation.

Procedure

Log on to the Prism web console, click the gear icon in the top-right corner, and then click Network Configuration in the Settings page.
The Network Configuration dialog box is displayed.
Click the Internal Interfaces tab.
Click Configure in the RDMA row.
Ensure that you have configured the switch interface as a trunk port.

The Create Interface dialog box is displayed.
Figure. Create Interface Dialog Box Click to enlarge
In the Create Interface dialog box, do the following:
1. In Subnet IP and Netmask , specify a non-routable subnet and netmask, respectively. Make sure that the subnet can accommodate cluster expansion in the future.
2. In VLAN , specify a VLAN ID for the RDMA LAN.
  A VLAN ID is optional but highly recommended for true network segmentation and enhanced security.
3. c. From the PFC list, select the priority flow control value configured on the physical switch port.
Click Verify and Save .
Click Close .

Isolating the Backplane Traffic Physically on an Existing Cluster

By using the Prism web console, you can configure the eth2 interface on a separate vSwitch (ESXi) or bridge (AHV). The network segmentation process creates a separate network for backplane communications on the new bridge or vSwitch and places the eth2 interfaces (that are created on the CVMs during upgrade) and the host interfaces on the newly created network. From the specified subnet, IP addresses are assigned to each new interface. Two IP addresses are therefore required per node. If you specify the optional VLAN ID, the newly created interfaces are placed on the VLAN. A separate VLAN is highly recommended for the backplane network to achieve true segmentation.

Before you begin

The physical isolation of backplane traffic is supported from the AOS 5.11.1 release.

Before you enable physical isolation of the backplane traffic, configure the network (port groups or bridges) on the hosts and associate the network with the required physical NICs.

Note: Nutanix does not support physical network segmentation on Hyper-V.

On the AHV hosts, do the following:

Create a bridge for the backplane traffic.
From the default bridge br0, remove the uplinks (physical NICs) that you want to add to the bridge you created for the backplane traffic.
Add the uplinks to a new bond.
Add the bond to the new bridge.

See Configuring the Network on an AHV Host for instructions about how to perform these tasks on a host.

On the ESXi hosts, do the following:

Create a vSwitch for the backplane traffic.
From vSwitch0, remove the uplinks (physical NICs) that you want to add to the vSwitch you created for the backplane traffic.
On the backplane vSwitch, create one port group for the CVM and another for the host. Ensure that at least one uplink is present in the Active Adaptors list for each port group if you have overridden the failover order.

See the ESXi documentation for instructions about how to perform these tasks.

Note: Before you perform the following procedure, ensure that the uplinks you added to the vSwitch or bridge are in the UP state.

About this task

Perform the following procedure to physically segment the backplane traffic.

Procedure

Log on to the Prism web console, click the gear icon in the top-right corner, and then click Network Configuration in the Settings page.
On the Controller VM Interfaces tab, in the Backplane LAN row, click Configure .
In the Backplane LAN dialog box, do the following:
1. In Subnet IP , specify a non-routable subnet.
  Make sure that the subnet has a sufficient number of IP addresses. Two IP addresses are required per node. Reconfiguring the backplane to increase the size of the subnet involves cluster downtime, so you might also want to make sure that the subnet can accommodate new nodes in the future.
2. In Netmask , specify the netmask.
3. If you want to assign the interfaces on the network to a VLAN, specify the VLAN ID in the VLAN ID field.
  A VLAN is strongly recommended. If you do not specify a VLAN ID, the default VLAN on the virtual switch is implied.
4. (AHV only) In the Host Node list, select the bridge you created for the backplane traffic.
5. (ESXi only) In the Host Port Group list, select the port group you created for the host.
6. (ESXi only) In the CVM Port Group list, select the port group you created for the CVM.
Note:
Nutanix clusters support both vSphere Standard Switches and vSphere Distributed Switches. However, you must mandatorily configure only one type of virtual switches in one cluster. Configure all the backplane and management traffic in one cluster on either vSphere Standard Switches or vSphere Distributed Switches. Do not mix Standard and Distributed vSwitches on a single cluster.
Click Verify and Save .
If the network settings you specified pass validation, the backplane network is created and the CVMs perform a reboot in a rolling fashion (one at a time), after which the services use the new backplane network. The progress of this operation can be tracked on the Prism tasks page.
Note: Segmenting backplane traffic can involve up to two rolling reboots of the CVMs. The first rolling reboot is done to move the backplane interface (eth2) of the CVM to the selected port group or bridge. This is done only for CVM(s) whose backplane interface is not already connected to the selected port group or bridge. The second rolling reboot is done to migrate the cluster services to the newly configured backplane interface.

Restart the Acropolis service on all the nodes in the cluster.

Note: Perform this step only if your AOS version is 5.17.0.x. This step is not required if your AOS version is 5.17.1 or later.

Log on to any CVM in the cluster with SSH.
Stop the Acropolis service.
```
nutanix@cvm$ allssh genesis stop acropolis
```
Note: You cannot manage your guest VMs after the Acropolis service is stopped.

Verify if the Acropolis service is DOWN on all the CVMs.

nutanix@cvm$ cluster status | grep -v UP

An output similar to the following is displayed:


nutanix@cvm$ cluster status | grep -v UP 

2019-09-04 14:43:18 INFO zookeeper_session.py:143 cluster is attempting to connect to Zookeeper 

2019-09-04 14:43:18 INFO cluster:2774 Executing action status on SVMs X.X.X.1, X.X.X.2, X.X.X.3 

The state of the cluster: start 

Lockdown mode: Disabled 
        CVM: X.X.X.1 Up 
                           Acropolis DOWN       [] 
        CVM: X.X.X.2 Up, ZeusLeader 
                           Acropolis DOWN       [] 
        CVM: X.X.X.3 Maintenance

From any CVM in the cluster, start the Acropolis service.
```
nutanix@cvm$ cluster start 
```

Reconfiguring the Backplane Network

Backplane network reconfiguration is a CLI-driven procedure that you perform on any one of the CVMs in the cluster. The change is propagated to the remaining CVMs.

About this task

Caution: At the end of this procedure, the cluster stops and restarts, even if only the VLAN is changed, and therefore involves cluster downtime.

To reconfigure the cluster, do the following:

Procedure

Log on to any CVM in the cluster with SSH.
Reconfigure the backplane network.
```
nutanix@cvm$ backplane_ip_reconfig [--backplane_vlan=vlan-id] \
[--backplane_subnet=subnet_ip_address --backplane_netmask=netmask]
```
Replace vlan-id with the new VLAN ID, subnet_ip_address with the new subnet IP address, and netmask with the new netmask.

For example, reconfigure the backplane network to use VLAN ID 10 and subnet 172.30.25.0 with netmask 255.255.255.0 .
```
nutanix@cvm$ backplane_ip_reconfig --backplane_vlan=10 \
--backplane_subnet=172.30.25.0 --backplane_netmask=255.255.255.0
```
Output similar to the following is displayed:
```
This operation will do a 'cluster stop', resulting in disruption of 
cluster services. Do you still want to continue? (Type "yes" (without quotes) 
to continue)
Type yes to confirm that you want to reconfigure the backplane network.
```
Caution: During the reconfiguration process, you might receive an error message similar to the following.
```
Failed to reach a node.
```
You can safely ignore this error message and therefore do not stop the script manually.
Note: The backplane_ip_reconfig command is not supported on ESXi clusters with vSphere Distributed Switches. To reconfigure the backplane network on a vSphere Distributed Switch setup, disable the backplane network (see Disabling Network Segmentation on an ESXi and Hyper-V Cluster) and enable again with a different subnet or VLAN.
Type yes to confirm that you want to reconfigure the backplane network.
The reconfiguration procedure takes a few minutes and includes a cluster restart. If you type anything other than yes , network reconfiguration is aborted.
After the process completes, verify that the backplane was reconfigured.
1. Verify that the IP addresses of the eth2 interfaces on the CVM are set correctly.
```
nutanix@cvm$ svmips -b
```
  Output similar to the following is displayed:
```
172.30.25.1 172.30.25.3 172.30.25.5
```
2. Verify that the IP addresses of the backplane interfaces of the hosts are set correctly.
```
nutanix@cvm$ hostips -b
```
  Output similar to the following is displayed:
```
172.30.25.2 172.30.25.4 172.30.25.6
```
The svmips and hostips commands, when used with the option b , display the IP addresses assigned to the interfaces on the backplane.

Disabling Network Segmentation on an ESXi and Hyper-V Cluster

Backplane network reconfiguration is a CLI-driven procedure that you perform on any one of the CVMs in the cluster. The change is propagated to the remaining CVMs.

About this task

Procedure

Log on to any CVM in the cluster with SSH.
Disable the backplane network.
- Use this CLI to disable network segmentation on an ESXi and Hyper-V cluster:
```
nutanix@cvm$ network_segmentation --backplane_network --disable
```
  Output similar to the following appears:
```
Operation type : Disable
Network type : kBackplane
Params : {}
Please enter [Y/y] to confirm or any other key to cancel the operation
```
  Type Y/y to confirm that you want to reconfigure the backplane network.
  
  If you type Y/y, network segmentation is disabled and the cluster restarts in a rolling manner, one CVM at a time. If you type anything other than Y/y, network segmentation is not disabled.
Verify that network segmentation was successfully disabled. You can verify this in one of two ways:
- Verify that the backplane is disabled.
```
nutanix@cvm$ network_segment_status
```
  Output similar to the following is displayed:
  2017-11-23 06:18:23 INFO zookeeper_session.py:110 network_segment_status is attempting to connect to Zookeeper
  Network segmentation is disabled
- Verify that the commands to show the backplane IP addresses of the CVMs and hosts list the management IP addresses (run the svmips and hostips commands once without the b option and once with the b option, and then compare the IP addresses shown in the output).
  Important:
```
nutanix@cvm$ svmips
192.127.3.2 192.127.3.3 192.127.3.4
nutanix@cvm$ svmips -b
192.127.3.2 192.127.3.3 192.127.3.4
nutanix@cvm$ hostips
192.127.3.5 192.127.3.6 192.127.3.7
nutanix@cvm$ hostips -b
192.127.3.5 192.127.3.6 192.127.3.7
```
  In the example above, the outputs of the svmips and hostips commands with and without the b option are the same, indicating that the backplane network segmentation is disabled.

Disabling Network Segmentation on an AHV Cluster

About this task

You perform backplane network reconfiguration procedure on any one of the CVMs in the cluster. The change propagates to the remaining CVMs.

Procedure

Shut down all the guest VMs in the cluster from within the guest OS or use the Prism Element web console.
Place all nodes of a cluster into the maintenance mode.
1. Use SSH to log on to a Controller VM in the cluster
2. Determine the IP address of the node you want to put into the maintenance mode:
```
nutanix@cvm$ acli host.list
```
  Note the value of Hypervisor IP for the node you want to put in the maintenance mode.
3. Put the node into the maintenance mode:
```
nutanix@cvm$ acli host.enter_maintenance_mode hypervisor-IP-address [wait="{ true | false }" ] [non_migratable_vm_action="{ acpi_shutdown | block }" ]
```
  Note: Never put Controller VM and AHV hosts into maintenance mode on single-node clusters. It is recommended to shutdown user VMs before proceeding with disruptive changes.
  
  Replace host-IP-address with either the IP address or host name of the AHV host you want to shut down.
  
  The following are optional parameters for running the acli host.enter_maintenance_mode command:
  - wait
  - non_migratable_vm_action
  Do not continue if the host has failed to enter the maintenance mode.
4. Verify if the host is in the maintenance mode:
```
nutanix@cvm$ acli host.get host-ip
```
  In the output that is displayed, ensure that node_state equals to EnteredMaintenanceMode and schedulable equals to False .
Disable backplane network segmentation from the Prism Web Console.
1. Log on to the Prism web console, click the gear icon in the top-right corner, and then click Network Configuration under the Settings .
2. In the Internal Interfaces tab, in the Backplane LAN row, click Disable .
  
  Figure. Disable Network Configuration Click to enlarge
3. Click Yes to disable Backplane LAN.
  
  This involves a rolling reboot of CVMs to migrate the cluster services back to the external interface.
Log on to a CVM in the cluster with SSH and stop Acropolis cluster-wide:
```
nutanix@cvm$ allssh genesis stop acropolis 
```
Restart Acropolis cluster-wide:
```
nutanix@cvm$ cluster start 
```
Remove all nodes from the maintenance mode.
1. From any CVM in the cluster, run the following command to exit the AHV host from the maintenance mode:
```
nutanix@cvm$ acli host.exit_maintenance_mode host-ip
```
  Replace host-ip with the new IP address of the host.
  
  This command migrates (live migration) all the VMs that were previously running on the host back to the host.
2. Verify if the host has exited the maintenance mode:
```
nutanix@cvm$ acli host.get host-ip
```
  In the output that is displayed, ensure that node_state equals to kAcropolisNormal or AcropolisNormal and schedulable equals to True .
Power on the guest VMs from the Prism Element web console.

Service-Specific Traffic Isolation

Isolating the traffic associated with a specific service is a two-step process. The process is as follows:

Configure the networks and uplinks on each host manually. Prism only creates the VNIC that the service requires, and it places that VNIC on the bridge or port group that you specify. Therefore, you must manually create the bridge or /port group on each host and add the required physical NICs as uplinks to that bridge or port group.
Configure network segmentation for the service by using Prism. Create an extra VNIC for the service, specify any additional parameters that are required (for example, IP address pools), and the bridge or port group that you want to dedicate to the service.

Isolating Service-Specific Traffic

Before you begin

Ensure to configure each host as described in Configuring the Network on an AHV Host.
Review Prerequisites.

About this task

To isolate a service to a separate virtual network, do the following:

Procedure

Log on to the Prism web console and click the gear icon at the top-right corner of the page.
In the left pane, click Network Configuration .
In the details pane, on the Internal Interfaces tab, click Create New Interface .
The Create New Interface dialog box is displayed.
On the Interface Details tab, do the following:
1. Specify a descriptive name for the network segment.
2. (On AHV) Optionally, in VLAN ID , specify a VLAN ID.
  Make sure that the VLAN ID is configured on the physical switch.
3. In Bridge (on AHV) or CVM Port Group (on ESXi), select the bridge or port group that you created for the network segment.
4. To specify an IP address pool for the network segment, click Create New IP Pool , and then, in the IP Pool dialog box, do the following:
  - In Name , specify a name for the pool.
  - In Netmask , specify the network mask for the pool.
  - Click Add an IP Range , specify the start and end IP addresses in the IP Range dialog box that is displayed.
  - Use Add an IP Range to add as many IP address ranges as you need.
    Note: Add at least n+1 IP addresses in an IP range considering n is the number of nodes in the cluster.
  - Click Save .
  - Use Add an IP Pool to add more IP address pools. You can use only one IP address pool at any given time.
  - Select the IP address pool that you want to use, and then click Next .
    Note: You can also use an existing unused IP address pool.
On the Feature Selection tab, do the following:
You cannot enable network segmentation for multiple services at the same time. Complete the configuration for one service before you enable network segmentation for another service.
1. Select the service whose traffic you want to isolate.
2. Configure the settings for the selected service.
  The settings on this page depend on the service you select. For information about service-specific settings, see Service-Specific Settings and Configurations.
3. Click Save .
In the Create Interface dialog box, click Save .
The CVMs are rebooted multiple times, one after another. This procedure might trigger more tasks on the cluster. For example, if you configure network segmentation for disaster recovery, the firewall rules are added on the CVM to allow traffic on the specified ports through the new CVM interface and updated when a new recovery cluster is added or an existing cluster is modified.

What to do next

See Service-Specific Settings and Configurations for any additional tasks that are required after you segment the network for a service.

Modifying Network Segmentation Configured for a Service

To modify network segmentation configured for a service, you must first disable network segmentation for that service and then create the network interface again for that service with the new IP address pool and VLAN.

About this task

For example, if the interface of the service you want to modify is ntnx0, after the reconfiguration, the same interface (ntnx0) is assigned to that service if that interface is not assigned to any other service. If ntnx0 is assigned to another service, a new interface (for example ntnx1) is created and assigned to that service.

Perform the following to reconfigure network segmentation configured for a service.

Procedure

Disable the network segmentation configured for a service by following the instructions in Disabling Network Segmentation Configured for a Service.
Create the network again by following the instructions in Isolating Service-Specific Traffic.

Disabling Network Segmentation Configured for a Service

To disable network segmentation configured for a service, you must disable the dedicated VNIC. Disabling network segmentation frees up the name of the VNIC. Disabling network segmentation frees up the vNIC’s name. The free name is reused in a subsequent network segmentation configuration.

About this task

At the end of this procedure, the cluster performs a rolling restart. Disabling network segmentation might also disrupt the functioning of the associated service. To restore normal operations, you might have to perform other tasks immediately after the cluster has completed the rolling restart. For information about the follow-up tasks, see Service-Specific Settings and Configurations.

To disable the network segmentation configured for a service, do the following:

Procedure

Log on to the Prism web console and click the gear icon at the top-right corner of the page.
In the left pane, click Network Configuration .
On the Internal Interfaces tab, for the interface that you want to disable, click Disable .

Note: The defined IP address pool is available even after disabling the network segmentation.

Deleting a vNIC Configured for a Service

If you disable network segmentation for a service, the vNIC for that service is not deleted. AOS reuses the vNIC if you enable network segmentation again. However, you can manually delete a vNIC by logging into any CVM in the cluster with SSH.

Before you begin

Ensure that the following prerequisites are met before you delete the vNIC configured for a Service:

Disable the network segmentation configured for a service by following the instructions in Disabling Network Segmentation Configured for a Service.
Observe the Limitation specified in Limitation for vNIC Hot-Unplugging topic in AHV Admin Guide .

you

About this task

Perform the following to delete a vNIC.

Procedure

Log on to any CVM in the cluster with SSH.
Delete the vNIC.
```
nutanix@cvm$ network_segmentation --service_network --interface="interface-name" --delete
```
Replace interface-name with the name of the interface you want to delete. For example, ntnx0.

Service-Specific Settings and Configurations

The following sections describe the settings required by the services that support network segmentation.

Nutanix Volumes

Network segmentation for Volumes also requires you to migrate iSCSI client connections to the new segmented network. If you no longer require segmentation for Volumes traffic, you must also migrate connections back to eth0 after disabling the vNIC used for Volumes traffic.

You can create two different networks for Nutanix Volumes with different IP pools, VLANs, and data services IP addresses. For example, you can create two iSCSI networks for production and non-production traffic on the same Nutanix cluster.

Follow the instructions in Isolating Service-Specific Traffic again to create the second network for Volumes after you create the first network.

Table 1. Settings to be Specified When Configuring Traffic Isolation
Parameter or Setting	Description
Virtual IP	(Optional) Virtual IP address for the service. If specified, the IP address must be picked from the specified IP address pool. If not specified, an IP address from the specified IP address pool is selected for you.
Client Subnet	The network (in CIDR notation) that hosts the iSCSI clients. Required If the vNIC created for the service on the CVM is not on the same network as the clients.
Gateway	Gateway to the subnetwork that hosts the iSCSI clients. Required If you specify the client subnet.

Migrating iSCSI Connections to the Segmented Network

After you enable network segmentation for Volumes, you must manually migrate connections from existing iSCSI clients to the newly segmented network.

Before you begin

Make sure that the task for enabling network segmentation for the service succeeds.

About this task

Note: Even though support is available to run iSCSI traffic on both the segmented and management networks at the same time, Nutanix recommends that you move the iSCSI traffic for guest VMs to the segmented network to achieve true isolation.

To migrate iSCSI connections to the segmented network, do the following:

Procedure

Log out from all the clients connected to iSCSI targets that are using CVM eth0 or the Data Service IP address.
Optionally, remove all the discovery records for the Data Services IP address (DSIP) on eth0.
If the clients are allowlisted by their IP address, remove the client IP address that is on the management network from the allowlist, and then add the client IP address on the new network to the allowlist.
```
nutanix@cvm$ acli vg.detach_external vg_name initiator_network_id=old_vm_IP
nutanix@cvm$ acli vg.attach_external vg_name initiator_network_id=new_vm_IP
```
Replace vg_name with the name of the volume group and old_vm_IP and new_vm_IP with the old and new client IP addresses, respectively.
Discover the virtual IP address specified for Volumes.
Connect to the iSCSI targets from the client.

Migrating Existing iSCSI Connections to the Management Network (Controller VM eth0)

About this task

To migrate existing iSCSI connections to eth0, do the following:

Procedure

Log out from all the clients connected to iSCSI targets using the CVM vNIC dedicated to Volumes.
Remove all the discovery records for the DSIP on the new interface.
Discover the DSIP for eth0.
Connect the clients to the iSCSI targets.

Disaster Recovery with Protection Domains

The settings for configuring network segmentation for disaster recovery apply to all Asynchronous, NearSync, and Metro Availability replication schedules. You can use disaster recovery with Asynchronous, NearSync, and Metro Availability replications only if both the primary site and the recovery site is configured with Network Segmentation. Before enabling or disabling the network segmentation on a host, disable all the disaster recovery replication schedules running on that host.

Note: Network segmentation does not support disaster recovery with Leap.

Table 1. Settings to be Specified When Configuring Traffic Isolation
Parameter or Setting	Description
Virtual IP	(Optional) Virtual IP address for the service. If specified, the IP address must be picked from the specified IP address pool. If not specified, an IP address from the specified IP address pool is selected for you. Note: Virtual IP address is different from the external IP address and the data services IP address of the cluster.
Gateway	Gateway to the subnetwork.

Remote Site Configuration

After configuring network segmentation for disaster recovery, configure remote sites at both locations. You also need to reconfigure remote sites if you disable network segmentation.

For information about configuring remote sites, see Remote Site Configuration in the Data Protection and Recovery with Prism Element Guide.

Segmenting a Stretched Layer 2 Network for Disaster Recovery

A stretched Layer 2 network configuration allows the source and remote metro clusters to be in the same broadcast domain and communicate without a gateway.

About this task

You can enable network segmentation for disaster recovery on a stretched Layer 2 network that does not have a gateway. A stretched Layer 2 network is usually configured across the physically remote clusters such as a metro availability cluster deployment. A stretched Layer 2 network allows the source and remote clusters to be configured in the same broadcast domain without the usual gateway.

See AOS 5.19.2 Release Notes for minimum AOS version required to configure a stretched Layer 2 network between metro clusters.

To configure a network segment as a stretched L2 network, do the following.

Procedure

Run the following command:


            network_segmentation --service_network --service_name=kDR
                        --ip_pool="DR-ip-pool-name" --service_vlan="DR-vlan-id"
                        --desc_name="Description" --host_physical_network='"portgroup/bridge"'
                        --stretched_metro

Replace the following: (See Isolating Service-Specific Traffic for the information)

DR-ip-pool-name with the name of the IP Pool created for the DR service or any existing unused IP address pool.
DR-vlan-id with the VLAN ID being used for the DR service.
Description with a suitable description of this stretched L2 network segment.
portgroup/bridge with the details of Bridge or CVM Port Group used for the DR service.

For more information about the network_segmentation command, see the Command Reference guide.

Network Segmentation During Cluster Expansion

When you expand a cluster on which service-specific traffic isolation is configured, ensure to meet the following prerequisites before adding new (unconfigured) nodes to the cluster:

Manually configure bridges for segmented networks on the hypervisor host of the new nodes. The bridges used for the segmented network should be identical to the other nodes. For information about the steps to perform on an unconfigured node, see Configuring the Network on a Host . The steps involve logging on to the host by using SSH and running the ovs-vsctl commands. For instructions about how to add nodes to your Nutanix cluster, see Expanding a Cluster in the Prism Web Console Guide .
Configure the network settings on the physical switch to which the new nodes connect are identical to the other nodes in the cluster. New nodes should be able to communicate with current nodes using the same VLAN ID for segmented networks.
Prepare new nodes imaged with AOS and hypervisor identical to the other nodes of the cluster. Reimaging the nodes as part of the cluster expansion is not supported if the cluster network is segmented.

Note: For ESXi clusters with vSphere Distributed Switches (DVS):

Before you expand the cluster, ensure that the node you want to add is part of the same vCenter cluster, the same DVS as the other nodes in the cluster, and is not in a disconnected state.
Ensure that the nodes that you add have more than 20 GB of memory.

Network Segmentation–Related Changes During an AOS Upgrade

When you upgrade from an AOS version which does not support network segmentation to an AOS version that does, the eth2 interface (used to segregate backplane traffic) is automatically created on each CVM. However, the network remains unsegmented, and the cluster services on the CVM continue to use eth0 until you configure network segmentation.

The vNICs ntnx0, ntnx1, and so on, are not created during an upgrade to a release that supports service-specific traffic isolation. They are created when you configure traffic isolation for a service.

Note:

Do not delete the eth2 interface that is created on the CVMs, even if you are not using the network segmentation feature.

Firewall Requirements

Ports and Protocols describes detailed port information (like protocol, service description, source, destination, and associated service) for Nutanix products and services. It includes port and protocol information for 1-click upgrades and LCM updates.

Log management

This chapter describes how to configure cluster-wide setting for log-forwarding and documenting the log fingerprint.

Log Forwarding

The Nutanix Controller VM provides a method for log integrity by using a cluster-wide setting to forward all the logs to a central log host. Due to the appliance form factor of the Controller VM, system and audit logs does not support local log retention periods as a significant increase in log traffic can be used to orchestrate a distributed denial of service attack (DDoS).

Nutanix recommends deploying a central log host in the management enclave to adhere to any compliance or internal policy requirement for log retention. In case of any system compromise, a central log host serves as a defense mechanism to preserve log integrity.

Note: The audit in the Controller VM uses the audisp plugin by default to ship all the audit logs to the rsyslog daemon (stored in /home/log/messages ). Searching for audispd in the central log host provides the entire content of the audit logs from the Controller VM. The audit daemon is configured with a rules engine that adheres to the auditing requirements of the Operating System Security Requirements Guide (OS SRG), and is embedded as part of the Controller VM STIG.

Use the nCLI to enable forwarding of system, audit, aide, and SCMA logs of all the Controller nodes in a cluster at the required log level. For more information, see Send Logs to Remote Syslog Server in the Acropolis Advanced Administration Guide

Documenting the Log Fingerprint

For forensic analysis, non-repudiation is established by verifying the fingerprint of the public key for the log file entry.

Procedure

Login to the CVM.
Run the following command to document the fingerprint for each public key assigned to an individual admin.
```
nutanix@cvm$ ssh-keygen -lf /<location of>/id_rsa.pub
```
The fingerprint is then compared to the SSH daemon log entries and forwarded to the central log host ( /home/log/secure in the Controller VM).

Note: After completion of the ssh public key inclusion in Prism and verification of connectivity, disable the password authentication for all the Controller VMs and AHV hosts. From the Prism main menu, de-select Cluster Lockdown configuration > Enable Remote Login with password check box from the gear icon drop-down list.

Security Management Using Prism Central (PC)

Prism Central provides several mechanisms and features to enforce security of your multi-cluster environment.

If you enable Identity and Access Management (IAM), see Security Management Using Identity and Access Management (Prism Central).

Configuring Authentication

Caution: Prism Central does not allow the use of the (not secure) SSLv2 and SSLv3 ciphers. To eliminate the possibility of an SSL Fallback situation and denied access to Prism Central, disable (uncheck) SSLv2 and SSLv3 in any browser used for access. However, TLS must be enabled (checked).

Prism Central supports user authentication with these authentication options:

Active Directory authentication. Users can authenticate using their Active Directory (or OpenLDAP) credentials when Active Directory support is enabled for Prism Central.
Local user authentication. Users can authenticate if they have a local Prism Central account. For more information, see Managing Local User Accounts.
SAML authentication. Users can authenticate through a supported identity provider when SAML support is enabled for Prism Central. The Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) is an open standard for exchanging authentication and authorization data between two parties: an identity provider (IDP) and Prism Central as the service provider.
If you do not enable Nutanix Identity and Access Management (IAM) on Prism Central, ADFS is the only supported IDP for Single Sign-on. If you enable IAM, additional IDPs are available. For more information, see Security Management Using Identity and Access Management (Prism Central) and Updating ADFS When Using SAML Authentication.
Local user authentication. Users can authenticate if they have a local Prism Central account. For more information, see Managing Local User Accounts .
Active Directory authentication. Users can authenticate using their Active Directory (or OpenLDAP) credentials when Active Directory support is enabled for Prism Central.

Adding An Authentication Directory (Prism Central)

Before you begin

Procedure

In the web console, click the gear icon in the main menu and then select Authentication in the Settings page.

The Authentication Configuration window appears.

Figure. Authentication Configuration Window Click to enlarge
To add an authentication directory, click the New Directory button.

A set of fields is displayed. Do the following in the indicated fields:
1. Directory Type : Select one of the following from the pull-down list.
  - Active Directory : Active Directory (AD) is a directory service implemented by Microsoft for Windows domain networks.
    Note:
    
    Users with the "User must change password at next logon" attribute enabled will not be able to authenticate to Prism Central. Ensure users with this attribute first login to a domain workstation and change their password prior to accessing Prism Central. Also, if SSL is enabled on the Active Directory server, make sure that Nutanix has access to that port (open in firewall).
    
    Use of the "Protected Users" group is currently unsupported for Prism authentication. For more details on the "Protected Users" group, see “Guidance about how to configure protected accounts” on Microsoft documentation website.
    
    An Active Directory user name or group name containing spaces is not supported for Prism Central authentication.
    
    The Microsoft AD is LDAP v2 and LDAP v3 compliant.
    
    The Microsoft AD servers supported are Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2016, and Windows Server 2019.
  - OpenLDAP : OpenLDAP is a free, open source directory service, which uses the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), developed by the OpenLDAP project.
    Note: Prism Central uses a service account to query OpenLDAP directories for user information and does not currently support certificate-based authentication with the OpenLDAP directory.
2. Name : Enter a directory name.
  
  This is a name you choose to identify this entry; it need not be the name of an actual directory.
3. Domain : Enter the domain name.
  
  Enter the domain name in DNS format, for example, nutanix.com .
4. Directory URL : Enter the URL address to the directory.
  The URL format is as follows for an LDAP entry: ldap:// host : ldap_port_num . The host value is either the IP address or fully qualified domain name. (In some environments, a simple domain name is sufficient.) The default LDAP port number is 389. Nutanix also supports LDAPS (port 636) and LDAP/S Global Catalog (ports 3268 and 3269). The following are example configurations appropriate for each port option:
  
  Note: LDAPS support does not require custom certificates or certificate trust import.
  - Port 389 (LDAP). Use this port number (in the following URL form) when the configuration is single domain, single forest, and not using SSL.
```
ldap://ad_server.mycompany.com:389
```
  - Port 636 (LDAPS). Use this port number (in the following URL form) when the configuration is single domain, single forest, and using SSL. This requires all Active Directory Domain Controllers have properly installed SSL certificates.
```
ldaps://ad_server.mycompany.com:636
```
  - Port 3268 (LDAP - GC). Use this port number when the configuration is multiple domain, single forest, and not using SSL.
  - Port 3269 (LDAPS - GC). Use this port number when the configuration is multiple domain, single forest, and using SSL.
    Note:
    
    When constructing your LDAP/S URL to use a Global Catalog server, ensure that the Domain Control IP address or name being used is a global catalog server within the domain being configured. If not, queries over 3268/3269 may fail.
    
    Cross-forest trust between multiple AD forests is not supported.
  For the complete list of required ports, see Port Reference.
5. [OpenLDAP only] Configure the following additional fields:
  - User Object Class : Enter the value that uniquely identifies the object class of a user.
  - User Search Base : Enter the base domain name in which the users are configured.
  - Username Attribute : Enter the attribute to uniquely identify a user.
  - Group Object Class : Enter the value that uniquely identifies the object class of a group.
  - Group Search Base : Enter the base domain name in which the groups are configured.
  - Group Member Attribute : Enter the attribute that identifies users in a group.
  - Group Member Attribute Value : Enter the attribute that identifies the users provided as value for Group Member Attribute .
6. Search Type . How to search your directory when authenticating. Choose Non Recursive if you experience slow directory logon performance. For this option, ensure that users listed in Role Mapping are listed flatly in the group (that is, not nested). Otherwise, choose the default Recursive option.
7. Service Account Username : Depending upon the Directory type you select in step 2.a, the service account user name format as follows:
  - For Active Directory , enter the service account user name in the user_name@domain.com format.
  - For OpenLDAP , enter the service account user name in the following Distinguished Name (DN) format:
    cn=username, dc=company, dc=com
    
    A service account is created to run only a particular service or application with the credentials specified for the account. According to the requirement of the service or application, the administrator can limit access to the service account.
    
    A service account is under the Managed Service Accounts in the Active Directory and openLDAP server. An application or service uses the service account to interact with the operating system. Enter your Active Directory and openLDAP service account credentials in this (username) and the following (password) field.
    
    Note: Be sure to update the service account credentials here whenever the service account password changes or when a different service account is used.
8. Service Account Password : Enter the service account password.
9. When all the fields are correct, click the Save button (lower right).
  
  This saves the configuration and redisplays the Authentication Configuration dialog box. The configured directory now appears in the Directory List tab.
10. Repeat this step for each authentication directory you want to add.
Note:
- No permissions are granted to the directory users by default. To grant permissions to the directory users, you must specify roles for the users in that directory (see Configuring Role Mapping).
- Service account for both Active directory and openLDAP must have full read permission on the directory service.
Figure. Directory List Fields Click to enlarge
To edit a directory entry, click the pencil icon for that entry.

After clicking the pencil icon, the relevant fields reappear. Enter the new information in the appropriate fields and then click the Save button.
To delete a directory entry, click the X icon for that entry.

After clicking the X icon, a window prompt appears to verify the delete action; click the OK button. The entry is removed from the list.

Adding a SAML-based Identity Provider

About this task

If you do not enable Nutanix Identity and Access Management (IAM) on Prism Central, ADFS is the only supported identity provider (IDP) for Single Sign-on and only one IDP is allowed at a time. If you enable IAM, additional IDPs are available. See Security Management Using Identity and Access Management (Prism Central) and also Updating ADFS When Using SAML Authentication.

Before you begin

An identity provider (typically a server or other computer) is the system that provides authentication through a SAML request. There are various implementations that can provide authentication services in line with the SAML standard.
If you enable IAM by enabling CMSP, you can specify other tested standard-compliant IDPs in addition to ADFS. See also the Prism Central release notes topic Identity and Access Management Software Support for specific support requirements..
Only one identity provider is allowed at a time, so if one was already configured, the + New IDP link does not appear.
You must configure the identity provider to return the NameID attribute in SAML response. The NameID attribute is used by Prism Central for role mapping. See Configuring Role Mapping for details.

Procedure

In the web console, click the gear icon in the main menu and then select Authentication in the Settings page.
To add a SAML-based identity provider, click the + New IDP link.

A set of fields is displayed. Do the following in the indicated fields:
1. Configuration name : Enter a name for the identity provider. This name will appear in the log in authentication screen.
2. Import Metadata : Click this radio button to upload a metadata file that contains the identity provider information.
  
  Identity providers typically provide an XML file on their website that includes metadata about that identity provider, which you can download from that site and then upload to Prism Central. Click + Import Metadata to open a search window on your local system and then select the target XML file that you downloaded previously. Click the Save button to save the configuration.
  
  Figure. Identity Provider Fields (metadata configuration) Click to enlarge
This completes configuring an identity provider in Prism Central, but you must also configure the callback URL for Prism Central on the identity provider. To do this, click the Download Metadata link just below the Identity Providers table to download an XML file that describes Prism Central and then upload this metadata file to the identity provider.
To edit a identity provider entry, click the pencil icon for that entry.

After clicking the pencil icon, the relevant fields reappear. Enter the new information in the appropriate fields and then click the Save button.
To delete an identity provider entry, click the X icon for that entry.

After clicking the X icon, a window prompt appears to verify the delete action; click the OK button. The entry is removed from the list.

Enabling and Configuring Client Authentication

Procedure

In the web console, click the gear icon in the main menu and then select Authentication in the Settings page.
Click the Client tab, then do the following steps.
1. Select the Configure Client Chain Certificate check box.
  
  The Client Chain Certificate is a list of certificates that includes all intermediate CA and root-CA certificates.
2. Click the Choose File button, browse to and select a client chain certificate to upload, and then click the Open button to upload the certificate.
  Note:
  - Client and CAC authentication only supports RSA 2048 bit certificate.
  - Uploaded certificate files must be PEM encoded. The web console restarts after the upload step.
3. To enable client authentication, click Enable Client Authentication .
4. To modify client authentication, do one of the following:
  Note: The web console restarts when you change these settings.
  - Click Enable Client Authentication to disable client authentication.
  - Click Remove to delete the current certificate. (This also disables client authentication.)
  - To enable OCSP or CRL based certificate revocation checking, see Certificate Revocation Checking.
Client authentication allows you to securely access the Prism by exchanging a digital certificate. Prism will validate that the certificate is signed by your organization’s trusted signing certificate.
Client authentication ensures that the Nutanix cluster gets a valid certificate from the user. Normally, a one-way authentication process occurs where the server provides a certificate so the user can verify the authenticity of the server (see Installing an SSL Certificate). When client authentication is enabled, this becomes a two-way authentication where the server also verifies the authenticity of the user. A user must provide a valid certificate when accessing the console either by installing the certificate on the local machine or by providing it through a smart card reader.
Note: The CA must be the same for both the client chain certificate and the certificate on the local machine or smart card.
To specify a service account that the Prism Central web console can use to log in to Active Directory and authenticate Common Access Card (CAC) users, select the Configure Service Account check box, and then do the following in the indicated fields:
1. Directory : Select the authentication directory that contains the CAC users that you want to authenticate.
  This list includes the directories that are configured on the Directory List tab.
2. Service Username : Enter the user name in the user name@domain.com format that you want the web console to use to log in to the Active Directory.
3. Service Password : Enter the password for the service user name.
4. Click Enable CAC Authentication .
  
  Note: For federal customers only.
  
  Note: The Prism Central console restarts after you change this setting.
The Common Access Card (CAC) is a smart card about the size of a credit card, which some organizations use to access their systems. After you insert the CAC into the CAC reader connected to your system, the software in the reader prompts you to enter a PIN. After you enter a valid PIN, the software extracts your personal certificate that represents you and forwards the certificate to the server using the HTTP protocol.

Nutanix Prism verifies the certificate as follows:
- Validates that the certificate has been signed by your organization’s trusted signing certificate.
- Extracts the Electronic Data Interchange Personal Identifier (EDIPI) from the certificate and uses the EDIPI to check the validity of an account within the Active Directory. The security context from the EDIPI is used for your PRISM session.
- Prism Central supports both certificate authentication and basic authentication in order to handle both Prism Central login using a certificate and allowing REST API to use basic authentication. It is physically not possible for REST API to use CAC certificates. With this behavior, if the certificate is present during Prism Central login, the certificate authentication is used. However, if the certificate is not present, basic authentication is enforced and used.
Note: Nutanix Prism does not support OpenLDAP as directory service for CAC.
If you map a Prism Central role to a CAC user and not to an Active Directory group or organizational unit to which the user belongs, specify the EDIPI (User Principal Name, or UPN) of that user in the role mapping. A user who presents a CAC with a valid certificate is mapped to a role and taken directly to the web console home page. The web console login page is not displayed.

Note: If you have logged on to Prism Central by using CAC authentication, to successfully log out of Prism Central, close the browser after you click Log Out .

Certificate Revocation Checking

Enabling Certificate Revocation Checking using Online Certificate Status Protocol (nCLI)

About this task

To enable certificate revocation checking using OCSP for client authentication, do the following.

Procedure

Set the OCSP responder URL.
ncli authconfig set-certificate-revocation set-ocsp-responder=<ocsp url> <ocsp url> indicates the location of the OCSP responder.
Verify if OCSP checking is enabled.
ncli authconfig get-client-authentication-config
The expected output if certificate revocation checking is enabled successfully is as follows.
```
Auth Config Status: true
File Name: ca.cert.pem
OCSP Responder URI: http://<ocsp-responder-url>
```

Enabling Certificate Revocation Checking using Certificate Revocation Lists (nCLI)

About this task

Note: OSCP is the recommended method for checking certificate revocation in client authentication.

You can use the CRL certificate revocation checking method if required, as described in this section.

To enable certificate revocation checking using CRL for client authentication, do the following.

Procedure

Specify all the CRLs that are required for certificate validation.


          ncli authconfig set-certificate-revocation set-crl-uri=<uri 1>,<uri 2> set-crl-refresh-interval=<refresh interval in seconds>

The above command resets any previous OCSP or CRL configurations.
The URIs must be percent-encoded and comma separated.
The CRLs are updated periodically as specified by the crl-refresh-interval value. This interval is common for the entire list of CRL distribution points. The default value for this is 86400 seconds (1 day).

User Management

Managing Local User Accounts

About this task

The Prism Central admin user is created automatically, but you can add more (locally defined) users as needed. To add, update, or delete a user account, do the following:

Note:

To add user accounts through Active Directory, see Configuring Authentication. If you enable the Prism Self Service feature, an Active Directory is assigned as part of that process.
Changing the Prism Central admin user password does not impact registration (re-registering clusters is not required).

Procedure

Click the gear icon in the main menu and then select Local User Management in the Settings page.

The Local User Management dialog box appears.

Figure. User Management Window Click to enlarge
To add a user account, click the New User button and do the following in the displayed fields:
1. Username : Enter a user name.
2. First Name : Enter a first name.
3. Last Name : Enter a last name.
4. Email : Enter a valid user email address.
5. Password : Enter a password (maximum of 255 characters).
  
  Note: A second field to verify the password is not included, so be sure to enter the password correctly in this field.
6. Language : Select the language setting for the user.
  
  English is selected by default. You have an option to select Simplified Chinese or Japanese . If you select either of these, the cluster locale is updated for the new user. For example, if you select Simplified Chinese , the user interface is displayed in Simplified Chinese when the new user logs in.
7. Roles : Assign a role to this user.
  There are three options:
  - Checking the User Admin box allows the user to view information, perform any administrative task, and create or modify user accounts.
  - Checking the Prism Central Admin (formerly "Cluster Admin") box allows the user to view information and perform any administrative task, but it does not provide permission to manage (create or modify) other user accounts.
  - Leaving both boxes unchecked allows the user to view information, but it does not provide permission to perform any administrative tasks or manage other user accounts.
8. When all the fields are correct, click the Save button (lower right).
  
  This saves the configuration and redisplays the dialog box with the new user appearing in the list.
Figure. Create User Window Click to enlarge
To modify a user account, click the pencil icon for that user and update one or more of the values as desired in the Update User window.

Figure. Update User Window Click to enlarge
To disable login access for a user account, click the Yes value in the Enabled field for that user; to enable the account, click the No value.

A Yes value means the login is enabled; a No value means it is disabled. A user account is enabled (login access activated) by default.
To delete a user account, click the X icon for that user.
A window prompt appears to verify the action; click the OK button. The user account is removed and the user no longer appears in the list.

Updating My Account

About this task

To update your account credentials (that is, credentials for the user you are currently logged in as), do the following:

Procedure

To update your password, select Change Password from the user icon pull-down list of the main menu.
The Change Password dialog box appears. Do the following in the indicated fields:
1. Current Password : Enter the current password.
2. New Password : Enter a new password.
3. Confirm Password : Re-enter the new password.
4. When the fields are correct, click the Save button (lower right). This saves the new password and closes the window.
Note: Password complexity requirements might appear above the fields; if they do, your new password must comply with these rules.

Figure. Change Password Window Click to enlarge
To update other details of your account, select Update Profile from the user icon pull-down list.
The Update Profile dialog box appears. Do the following in the indicated fields for any parameters you want to change:
1. First Name : Enter a different first name.
2. Last Name : Enter a different last name.
3. Email Address : Enter a different valid user email address.
4. Language : Select a different language for your account from the pull-down list.
5. API Key : Enter a new API key.
  
  Note: Your keys can be managed from the API Keys page on the Nutanix support portal. Your connection will be secure without the optional public key (following field), and the public key option is provided in the event that your default public key expires.
6. Public Key : Click the Choose File button to upload a new public key file.
7. When all the fields are correct, click the Save button (lower right). This saves the changes and closes the window.
Figure. Update Profile Window Click to enlarge

Resetting Password (CLI)

This procedure describes how to reset a local user’s password on the Prism Element or the Prism Central web consoles.

About this task

To reset the password using nCLI, do the following:

Note:

Only a user with admin privileges can reset a password for other users.

Procedure

Access the CVM via SSH.
Log in with the admin credentials.
Use the ncli user reset-password command and specify the username and password of the user whose password is to be reset:
```
nutanix@cvm$ ncli user reset-password user-name=xxxxx password=yyyyy
```
- Replace user-name=xxxxx with the name of the user whose password is to be reset.
- Replace password=yyyyy with the new password.

What to do next

You can relaunch the Prism Element or the Prism Central web console and verify the new password setting.

Deleting a Directory User Account

About this task

To delete a directory-authenticated user, do the following:

Procedure

Click the Hamburger icon, and go to Administration > Projects
The Project page appears. This page lists all existing projects.
Select the project that the user is associated with and go to Actions > Update Projects
The Edit Projects page appears.
Go to Users, Groups, Roles tab.
Click the X icon to delete the user.

Figure. Edit Project Window Click to enlarge
Click Save

Prism deletes the user account and also removes the user from any associated projects.

Repeat the same steps if the user is associated with multiple projects.

Controlling User Access (RBAC)

Prism Central supports role-based access control (RBAC) that you can configure to provide customized access permissions for users based on their assigned roles. The roles dashboard allows you to view information about all defined roles and the users and groups assigned to those roles.

Prism Central includes a set of predefined roles (see Built-in Role Management).
You can also define additional custom roles (see Custom Role Management).
Configuring authentication confers default user permissions that vary depending on the type of authentication (full permissions from a directory service or no permissions from an identity provider). You can configure role maps to customize these user permissions (see Configuring Role Mapping).
You can refine access permissions even further by assigning roles to individual users or groups that apply to a specified set of entities (see Assigning a Role).
Note: Please note that the entities are treated as separate instances. For example, if you want to grant a user or a group the permission to manage cluster and images, an administrator must add both of these entities to the list of assignments.
With RBAC, user roles do not depend on the project membership. You can use RBAC and log in to Prism Central even without a project membership.

Note: Defining custom roles and assigning roles are supported on AHV only.

Built-in Role Management

The following built-in roles are defined by default. You can see a more detailed list of permissions for any of the built-in roles through the details view for that role (see Displaying Role Permissions). The Project Admin, Developer, Consumer, and Operator roles are available when assigning roles in a project.


Role	Privileges
Super Admin	Full administrator privileges
Prism Admin	Full administrator privileges except for creating or modifying the user accounts
Prism Viewer	View-only privileges
Self-Service Admin	Manages all cloud-oriented resources and services Note: This is the only cloud administration role available.
Project Admin	Manages cloud objects (roles, VMs, Apps, Marketplace) belonging to a project Note: You can specify a role for a user when you assign a user to a project, so individual users or groups can have different roles in the same project.
Developer	Develops, troubleshoots, and tests applications in a project
Consumer	Accesses the applications and blueprints in a project
Operator	Accesses the applications in a project

Note: Previously, the Super Admin role was called User Admin , the Prism Admin role was called Prism Central Admin and Cluster Admin , and the Prism Viewer was called Viewer .

Custom Role Management

If the built-in roles are not sufficient for your needs, you can create one or more custom roles (AHV only).

Creating a Custom Role

About this task

To create a custom role, do the following:

Procedure

Go to the roles dashboard (select Administration > Roles in the pull-down menu) and click the Create Role button.

The Roles page appears. See Custom Role Permissions for a list of the permissions available for each custom role option.

Figure. Roles Page Click to enlarge
In the Roles page, do the following in the indicated fields:
1. Role Name : Enter a name for the new role.
2. Description (optional): Enter a description of the role.
  
  Note: All entity types are listed by default, but you can display just a subset by entering a string in the Filter Entities search field.
  
  Figure. Filter Entities Click to enlarge
3. App : Click the radio button for the desired application permissions ( No Access , Basic Access , or Set Custom Permissions ). If you specify custom permissions, click the Change link to display the Custom App Permissions window, check all the permissions you want to enable, and then click the Save button.
  
  Figure. Custom App Permissions Window Click to enlarge
4. VM : Click the radio button for the desired VM permissions ( No Access , View Access , Basic Access , Edit Access , or Set Custom Permissions ). Check the Allow VM Creation box to allow this role to create VMs. If you specify custom permissions, click the Change link to display the Custom VM Permissions window, check all the permissions you want to enable, and then click the Save button.
  
  Figure. Custom VM Permissions Window Click to enlarge
5. Recovery Plan : Click the radio button for the desired permissions for recovery plan operations ( No Access , View Access , Test Execution Access , Full Execution Access , or Set Custom Permissions ). If you specify custom permissions, click the Change link to display the Custom Recovery Plan Permissions window, check all the permissions you want to enable (see Custom Role Permissions), and then click the Save button.
  
  Figure. Custom Recovery Plan Permissions Window Click to enlarge
6. Blueprint : Click the radio button for the desired blueprint permissions ( No Access , View Access , Basic Access , or Set Custom Permissions ). Check the Allow Blueprint Creation box to allow this role to create blueprints. If you specify custom permissions, click the Change link to display the Custom Blueprint Permissions window, check all the permissions you want to enable, and then click the Save button.
  
  Figure. Custom Blueprint Permissions Window Click to enlarge
7. Marketplace Item : Click the radio button for the desired marketplace permissions ( No Access , View marketplace and published blueprints , View marketplace and publish new blueprints , or Set custom permissions ). If you specify custom permissions, click the Change link to display the Custom Marketplace Item Permissions window, check all the permissions you want to enable, and then click the Save button.
  
  Note: The permission you enable for a Marketplace Item implicitly applies to a Catalog Item entity. For example, if you select No Access permission for the Marketplace Item entity while creating the custom role, the custom role will not have access to the Catalog Item entity as well.
  
  Figure. Custom Marketplace Permissions Window Click to enlarge
8. Report : Click the radio button for the desired report permissions ( No Access , View Only , Edit Access , or Set Custom Permissions ). If you specify custom permissions, click the Change link to display the Custom Report Permissions window, check all the permissions you want to enable, and then click the Save button.
  
  Figure. Custom VM Permissions Window Click to enlarge
9. Cluster : Click the radio button for the desired cluster permissions ( No Access or Cluster Access ).
10. Subnet : Click the radio button for the desired subnet permissions ( No Access or Subnet Access ).
11. Image : Click the radio button for the desired image permissions ( No Access , View Only , or Set Custom Permissions ). If you specify custom permissions, click the Change link to display the Custom Image Permissions window, check all the permissions you want to enable, and then click the Save button.
  
  Figure. Custom Image Permissions Window Click to enlarge
Click Save to add the role. The page closes and the new role appears in the Roles view list.

Modifying a Custom Role

About this task

Perform the following procedure to modify or delete a custom role.

Procedure

Go to the roles dashboard and select (check the box for) the desired role from the list.
Do one of the following:
- To modify the role, select Update Role from the Actions pull-down list. The Roles page for that role appears. Update the field values as desired and then click Save . See Creating a Custom Role for field descriptions.
- To delete the role, select Delete from the Action pull-down list. A confirmation message is displayed. Click OK to delete and remove the role from the list.

Custom Role Permissions

A selection of permission options are available when creating a custom role.

The following table lists the permissions you can grant when creating or modifying a custom role. When you select an option for an entity, the permissions listed for that option are granted. If you select Set custom permissions , a complete list of available permissions for that entity appears. Select the desired permissions from that list.


Entity	Option	Permissions
App (application)	No Access	(none)
	Basic Access	Abort App Runlog, Access Console VM, Action Run App, Clone VM, Create AWS VM, Create Image, Create VM, Delete AWS VM, Delete VM, Download App Runlog, Update AWS VM, Update VM, View App, View AWS VM, View VM
	Set Custom Permissions (select from list)	Abort App Runlog, Access Console VM, Action Run App, Clone VM, Create App, Create AWS VM, Create Image, Create VM, Delete App, Delete AWS VM, Delete VM, Download App Runlog, Update App, Update AWS VM, Update VM, View App, View AWS VM, View VM
VM Recovery Point	No Access	(none)
	View Only	View VM Recovery Point
	Full Access	Delete VM Recovery Point, Restore VM Recovery Point, Snapshot VM, Update VM Recovery Point, View VM Recovery Point, Allow VM Recovery Point creation
	Set Custom Permissions (Change)	Abort App Runlog, Access Console VM, Action Run App, Clone VM, Create App, Create AWS VM, Create Image, Create VM, Delete App, Delete AWS VM, Delete VM, Download App Runlog, Update App, Update AWS VM, Update VM, View App, View AWS VM, View VM
	Note: You can assign permissions for the VM Recovery Point entity to users or user groups in the following two ways. Manually assign permission for each VM where the recovery point is created. Assign permission using Categories in the Role Assignment workflow. Tip: When a recovery point is created, it is associated with the same category as the VM.
VM	No Access	(none)
	View Access	Access Console VM, View VM
	Basic Access	Access Console VM, Update VM Power State, View VM
	Edit Access	Access Console VM, Update VM, View Subnet, View VM
	Set Custom Permissions (select from list)	Access Console VM, Clone VM, Create VM, Delete VM, Update VM, Update VM Boot Config, Update VM CPU, Update VM Categories, Update VM Disk List, Update VM GPU List, Update VM Memory, Update VM NIC List, Update VM Owner, Update VM Power State, Update VM Project, View Cluster, View Subnet, View VM
	Allow VM creation (additional option)	(n/a)
Blueprint	No Access	(none)
	View Access	View Account, View AWS Availability Zone, View AWS Elastic IP, View AWS Image, View AWS Key Pair, View AWS Machine Type, View AWS Region, View AWS Role, View AWS Security Group, View AWS Subnet, View AWS Volume Type, View AWS VPC, View Blueprint, View Cluster, View Image, View Project, View Subnet
	Basic Access	Access Console VM, Clone VM, Create App,Create Image, Create VM, Delete VM, Launch Blueprint, Update VM, View Account, View App, View AWS Availability Zone, View AWS Elastic IP, View AWS Image, View AWS Key Pair, View AWS Machine Type, View AWS Region, View AWS Role, View AWS Security Group, View AWS Subnet, View AWS Volume Type, View AWS VPC, View Blueprint, View Cluster, View Image, View Project, View Subnet, View VM
	Set Custom Permissions (select from list)	Access Console VM, Clone VM, Create App, Create Blueprint, Create Image, Create VM, Delete Blueprint, Delete VM, Download Blueprint, Export Blueprint, Import Blueprint, Launch Blueprint, Render Blueprint, Update Blueprint, Update VM, Upload Blueprint, View Account, View App, View AWS Availability Zone, View AWS Elastic IP, View AWS Image, View AWS Key Pair, View AWS Machine Type, View AWS Region, View AWS Role, View AWS Security Group, View AWS Subnet, View AWS Volume Type, View AWS VPC, View Blueprint, View Cluster, View Image, View Project, View Subnet, View VM
Marketplace Item	No Access	(none)
	View marketplace and published blueprints	View Marketplace Item
	View marketplace and publish new blueprints	Update Marketplace Item, View Marketplace Item
	Set Custom Permissions (select from list)	Config Marketplace Item, Create Marketplace Item, Delete Marketplace Item, Render Marketplace Item, Update Marketplace Item, View Marketplace Item
Report	No Access	(none)
	View Only	Notify Report Instance, View Common Report Config, View Report Config, View Report Instance
	Edit Access	Create Common Report Config, Create Report Config, Create Report Instance, Delete Common Report Config, Delete Report Config, Delete Report Instance, Notify Report Instance, Update Common Report Config, Update Report Config, View Common Report Config, View Report Config, View Report Instance
	Set Custom Permissions (select from list)	Create Common Report Config, Create Report Config, Create Report Instance, Delete Common Report Config, Delete Report Config, Delete Report Instance, Notify Report Instance, Update Common Report Config, Update Report Config, View Common Report Config, View Report Config, View Report Instance
Cluster	No Access	(none)
Cluster	View Access	View Cluster
Subnet	No Access	(none)
Subnet	View Access	View Subnet
Image	No Access	(none)
	View Only	View Image
	Set Custom Permissions (select from list)	Copy Image Remote, Create Image, Delete Image, Migrate Image, Update Image, View Image

The following table describe the permissions.

Note: By default, assigning certain permissions to a user role might implicitly assign more permissions to that role. However, the implicitly assigned permissions will not be displayed in the details page for that role. These permissions are displayed only if you manually assign them to that role.


Permission	Description	Assigned Implicilty By
Create App	Allows to create an application.
Delete App	Allows to delete an application.
View App	Allows to view an application.
Action Run App	Allows to run action on an application.
Download App Runlog	Allows to download an application runlog.
Abort App Runlog	Allows to abort an application runlog.
Access Console VM	Allows to access the console of a virtual machine.
Create VM	Allows to create a virtual machine.
View VM	Allows to view a virtual machine.
Clone VM	Allows to clone a virtual machine.
Delete VM	Allows to delete a virtual machine.
Export VM	Allows to export a virtual machine
Snapshot VM	Allows to snapshot a virtual machine.
View VM Recovery Point	Allows to view a vm_recovery_point.
Update VM Recovery Point	Allows to update a vm_recovery_point.
Delete VM Recovery Point	Allows to delete a vm_recovery_point.
Restore VM Recovery Point	Allows to restore a vm_recovery_point.
Update VM	Allows to update a virtual machine.
Update VM Boot Config	Allows to update a virtual machine's boot configuration.	Update VM
Update VM CPU	Allows to update a virtual machine's CPU configuration.	Update VM
Update VM Categories	Allows to update a virtual machine's categories.	Update VM
Update VM Description	Allows to update a virtual machine's description.	Update VM
Update VM GPU List	Allows to update a virtual machine's GPUs.	Update VM
Update VM NIC List	Allows to update a virtual machine's NICs.	Update VM
Update VM Owner	Allows to update a virtual machine's owner.	Update VM
Update VM Project	Allows to update a virtual machine's project.	Update VM
Update VM NGT Config	Allows updates to a virtual machine's Nutanix Guest Tools configuration.	Update VM
Update VM Power State	Allows updates to a virtual machine's power state.	Update VM
Update VM Disk List	Allows to update a virtual machine's disks.	Update VM
Update VM Memory	Allows to update a virtual machine's memory configuration.	Update VM
Update VM Power State Mechanism	Allows updates to a virtual machine's power state mechanism.	Update VM or Update VM Power State
Allow VM Power Off	Allows power off and shutdown operations on a virtual machine.	Update VM or Update VM Power State
Allow VM Power On	Allows power on operation on a virtual machine.	Update VM or Update VM Power State
Allow VM Reboot	Allows reboot operation on a virtual machine.	Update VM or Update VM Power State
Expand VM Disk Size	Allows to expand a virtual machine's disk size.	Update VM or Update VM Disk List
Mount VM CDROM	Allows to mount an ISO to virtual machine's CDROM.	Update VM or Update VM Disk List
Unmount VM CDROM	Allows to unmount ISO from virtual machine's CDROM.	Update VM or Update VM Disk List
Update VM Memory Overcommit	Allows to update a virtual machine's memory overcommit configuration.	Update VM or Update VM Memory
Allow VM Reset	Allows reset (hard reboot) operation on a virtual machine.	Update VM, Update VM Power State, or Allow VM Reboot
View Cluster	Allows to view a cluster.
Update Cluster	Allows to update a cluster.
Create Image	Allows to create an image.
View Image	Allows to view a image.
Copy Image Remote	Allows to copy an image from local PC to remote PC.
Delete Image	Allows to delete an image.
Migrate Image	Allows to migrate an image from PE to PC.
Update Image	Allows to update a image.
Create Image Placement Policy	Allows to create an image placement policy.
View Image Placement Policy	Allows to view an image placement policy.
Delete Image Placement Policy	Allows to delete an image placement policy.
Update Image Placement Policy	Allows to update an image placement policy.
Create AWS VM	Allows to create an AWS virtual machine.
View AWS VM	Allows to view an AWS virtual machine.
Update AWS VM	Allows to update an AWS virtual machine.
Delete AWS VM	Allows to delete an AWS virtual machine.
View AWS AZ	Allows to view AWS Availability Zones.
View AWS Elastic IP	Allows to view an AWS Elastic IP.
View AWS Image	Allows to view an AWS image.
View AWS Key Pair	Allows to view AWS keypairs.
View AWS Machine Type	Allows to view AWS machine types.
View AWS Region	Allows to view AWS regions.
View AWS Role	Allows to view AWS roles.
View AWS Security Group	Allows to view an AWS security group.
View AWS Subnet	Allows to view an AWS subnet.
View AWS Volume Type	Allows to view AWS volume types.
View AWS VPC	Allows to view an AWS VPC.
Create Subnet	Allows to create a subnet.
View Subnet	Allows to view a subnet.
Update Subnet	Allows to update a subnet.
Delete Subnet	Allows to delete a subnet.
Create Blueprint	Allows to create the blueprint of an application.
View Blueprint	Allows to view the blueprint of an application.
Launch Blueprint	Allows to launch the blueprint of an application.
Clone Blueprint	Allows to clone the blueprint of an application.
Delete Blueprint	Allows to delete the blueprint of an application.
Download Blueprint	Allows to download the blueprint of an application.
Export Blueprint	Allows to export the blueprint of an application.
Import Blueprint	Allows to import the blueprint of an application.
Render Blueprint	Allows to render the blueprint of an application.
Update Blueprint	Allows to update the blueprint of an application.
Upload Blueprint	Allows to upload the blueprint of an application.
Create OVA	Allows to create an OVA.
View OVA	Allows to view an OVA.
Update OVA	Allows to update an OVA.
Delete OVA	Allows to delete an OVA.
Create Marketplace Item	Allows to create a marketplace item.
View Marketplace Item	Allows to view a marketplace item.
Update Marketplace Item	Allows to update a marketplace item.
Config Marketplace Item	Allows to configure a marketplace item.
Render Marketplace Item	Allows to render a marketplace item.
Delete Marketplace Item	Allows to delete a marketplace item.
Create Report Config	Allows to create a report_config.
View Report Config	Allows to view a report_config.
Run Report Config	Allows to run a report_config.
Share Report Config	Allows to share a report_config.
Update Report Config	Allows to update a report_config.
Delete Report Config	Allows to delete a report_config.
Create Common Report Config	Allows to create a common report_config.
View Common Report Config	Allows to view a common report_config.
Update Common Report Config	Allows to update a common report_config.
Delete Common Report Config	Allows to delete a common report_config.
Create Report Instance	Allows to create a report_instance.
View Report Instance	Allows to view a report_instance.
Notify Report Instance	Allows to notify a report_instance.
Notify Report Instance	Allows to notify a report_instance.
Share Report Instance	Allows to share a report_instance.
Delete Report Instance	Allows to delete a report_instance.
View Account	Allows to view an account.
View Project	Allows to view a project.
View User	Allows to view a user.
View User Group	Allows to view a user group.
View Name Category	Allows to view a category's name.
View Value Category	Allows to view a category's value.
View Virtual Switch	Allows to view a virtual switch.

Granting Restore Permission to Project User

About this task

By default, only a self service admin or a cluster admin can view and restore the recovery points. However, a self service admin or cluster admin can grant permission to the project user to restore the VM from a recovery point.

To grant restore Permission to a project user, do the following:

Procedure

Log on to Prism Central with cluster admin or self service admin credentials.
Go to the roles dashboard (select Administration > Roles in the pull-down menu) and do one of the following:
- Click the Create Role button.
- Select an existing role of a project user and then select Duplicate from the Actions drop-down menu. To modify the duplicate role, select Update Role from the Actions pull-down list.
The Roles page for that role appears. In the Roles page, do the following in the indicated fields:
1. Role Name : Enter a name for the new role.
2. Description (optional): Enter a description of the role.
3. Expand VM Recovery Point and do one of the following:
  - Select Full Access and then select Allow VM recovery point creation .
  - Click Change next to Set Custom Permissions to customize the permissions. Enable Restore VM Recovery Point permission. This permission also grants the permission to view the VM created from the restore process.
4. Click Save to add the role. The page closes and the new role appears in the Roles view list.
In the Roles view, select the newly created role and click Manage Assignment to assign the user to this role.
In the Add New dialog, do the following:
- Under Select Users or User Groups or OUs , enter the target user name. The search box displays the matched records. Select the required listing from the records.
- Under Entities , select VM Recovery Point , select Individual Entry from the drop-down list, and then select All VM Recovery Points.
- Click Save to finish.

Configuring Role Mapping

About this task

After user authentication is configured (see Configuring Authentication), the users or the authorized directories are not assigned the permissions by default. The required permissions must be explicitly assigned to users, authorized directories, or organizational units using role mapping.

You can refine the authentication process by assigning a role with associated permissions to users, groups, and organizational units. This procedure allows you to map and assign users to the predefined roles in Prism Central such as, User Admin , Cluster Admin , and Viewer . To assign roles, do the following:

Procedure

Click the gear icon in the main menu and then select Role Mapping from the Settings page.

The Role Mapping window appears.

Figure. Role Mapping Window Click to enlarge
To create a role mapping, click the New Mapping button.

The Create Role Mapping window appears. Enter the required information in the following fields.

Figure. Create Role Mapping Window Click to enlarge
Directory or Provider : Select the target directory or identity provider from the pull-down list.
Only directories and identity providers previously configured in the authentication settings are available. If the desired directory or provider does not appear in the list, add that directory or provider, and then return to this procedure.
Type : Select the desired LDAP entity type from the pull-down list.
This field appears only if you have selected a directory from the Directory or Provider pull-down list. The following entity types are available:
- User : A named user. For example, dev_user_1.
- Group : A group of users. For example, dev_grp1, dev_grp2, sr_dev_1, and staff_dev_1.
- OU : organizational units with one or more users, groups, and even other organizational units. For example, all_dev, consists of user dev_user_1 and groups dev_grp1, dev_grp2, sr_dev_1, and staff_dev_1.
Role : Select a user role from the pull-down list.
You can choose one of the following roles:
- Viewer : Allows users with view-only access to the information and hence cannot perform any administrative tasks.
- Cluster Admin (Formerly Prism Central Admin): Allows users to view and perform all administrative tasks except creating or modifying user accounts.
- User Admin : Allows users to view information, perform administrative tasks, and to create and modify user accounts.
Values : Enter the entity names. The entity names are assigned with the respective roles that you have selected.
The entity names are case sensitive. If you need to provide more than one entity name, then the entity names should be separated by a comma (,) without any spaces in between them.
LDAP-based authentication
- For AD
  
  Enter the actual names used by the organizational units (it applies to all users and groups in those OUs), groups (all users in those groups), or users (each named user) used in LDAP in the Values field.
  
  For example, entering sr_dev_1,staff_dev_1 in the Values field when the LDAP type is Group and the role is Cluster Admin, implies that all users in the sr_dev_1 and staff_dev_1 groups are assigned the administrative role for the cluster.
  
  Do not include the domain name in the value. For example, enter all_dev , and not all_dev@<domain_name> . However, when users log in to Cluster Admin, include the domain along with the username.
  
  User : Enter the sAMAccountName or userPrincipalName in the values field.
  
  Group : Enter common name (cn) or name.
  
  OU : Enter name.
- For OpenLDAP
  
  User : Use the username attribute (that was configured while adding the directory) value.
  
  Group : Use the group name attribute (cn) value.
  
  OU : Use the OU attribute (ou) value.
SAML-based authentication:

You must configure the NameID attribute in the identity provider. You can enter the NameID returned in the SAML response in the Values field.

For SAML, only User type is supported. Other types such as, Group and OU, are not supported.

If you enable Identity and Access Management, see Security Management Using Identity and Access Management (Prism Central)
Click Save .

The role mapping configurations are saved, and the new role is listed in the Role Mapping window.

You can create a role map for each authorized directory. You can also create multiple role maps that apply to a single directory. When there are multiple maps for a directory, the most specific rule for a user applies.

For example, adding a Group map set to Cluster Admin and a User map set to Viewer for a few specific users in that group means all users in the group have administrator permission except those few specific users who have only viewing permission.
To edit a role map entry, click the pencil icon for that entry.
After clicking the pencil icon, the Edit Role Mapping window appears which is similar to the Create Role Mapping window. Edit the required information in the required fields and click the Save button to update the changes.
To delete a role map entry, click the X icon for that entry and click the OK button to confirm the role map entry deletion.
The role map entry is removed from the list.

Assigning a Role

About this task

In addition to configuring basic role maps (see Configuring Role Mapping), you can configure more precise role assignments (AHV only). To assign a role to selected users or groups that applies just to a specified set of entities, do the following:

Procedure

Select the desired role in the roles dashboard and then click the Role Assignment button in the details page.
Click the New Users button and enter the user or group name you want assigned to this role.

Entering text in the field displays a list of users from which you can select, and you can enter multiple user names in this field.
Click the New Entities button, select the entity type from the pull-down list, and then enter the entity name in the field.
Entering text in the field displays a list of entities from which you can select, and you can enter multiple entity names in the field. You can choose from the following entity types:
- AHV VM —allows management of VMs including create and edit
- Category —custom role permissons
- AHV Subnet —allows user to view subnet details
- AHV Cluster —allows user to view cluster details and manage cluster details per permissions assigned
Repeat for any combination of users/entities you want to define.

You can specify various user/entity relationships when configuring the role assignment. To illustrate, in the following example the first line assigns the my_custom_role to a single user (ssp_admin) for two VMs (normal_vm and test_andrey). The second line assigns the role to two users (locus1 and locus2) for a single category (4gcC1Z). The third line again assigns the role to the user locus1 but this time for all subnets.

Note: To allow users to create certain entities like a VM, you may also need to grant them access to related entities like clusters, networks, and images that the VM requires.

Figure. Role Assignment Page Click to enlarge
Click the Save button (lower right) to save the role assignments.

Displaying Role Permissions

About this task

Do the following to display the privileges associated with a role.

Procedure

Go to the roles dashboard and select the desired role from the list.

For example, if you click the Consumer role, the details page for that role appears, and you can view all the privileges associated with the Consumer role.

Figure. Role Summary Tab Click to enlarge
Click the Users tab to display the users that are assigned this role.

Figure. Role Users Tab Click to enlarge
Click the User Groups tab to display the groups that are assigned this role.
Click the Role Assignment tab to display the user/entity pairs assigned this role (see Assigning a Role).

Installing an SSL Certificate

About this task

Prism Central supports SSL certificate-based authentication for console access. To install a self-signed or custom SSL certificate, do the following:

Important: Ensure that SSL certificates are not password protected.

Note: Nutanix recommends that you replace the default self-signed certificate with a CA signed certificate.

Procedure

Click the gear icon in the main menu and then select SSL Certificate in the Settings page.
To replace (or install) a certificate, click the Replace Certificate button.

Figure. SSL Certificate Window
Click to enlarge
To create a new self-signed certificate, click the Replace Certificate option and then click the Apply button.

A dialog box appears to verify the action; click the OK button. This generates and applies a new RSA 2048-bit self-signed certificate for Prism Central.

Figure. SSL Certificate Window: Regenerate
Click to enlarge

To apply a custom certificate that you provide, do the following:

Click the Import Key and Certificate option and then click the Next button.

Figure. SSL Certificate Window: Import Click to enlarge

Do the following in the indicated fields, and then click the Import Files button.

Note:

All the three imported files for the custom certificate must be PEM encoded.
Ensure that the private key does not have any extra data (or custom attributes) before the beginning (-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----) or after the end (-----END CERTIFICATE-----) of the private key block.

Private Key Type : Select the appropriate type for the signed certificate from the pull-down list (RSA 4096 bit, RSA 2048 bit, EC DSA 256 bit, or EC DSA 384 bit).
Private Key : Click the Browse button and select the private key associated with the certificate to be imported.
Public Certificate : Click the Browse button and select the signed public portion of the server certificate corresponding to the private key.
CA Certificate/Chain : Click the Browse button and select the certificate or chain of the signing authority for the public certificate.

Note: Prism does not have any specific requirement or enforcement logic for the subject name of the certificates (subject alternative names (SAN)) or wildcard certificates.

Table 1. Supported Key Configurations
Key Type	Size/Curve	Signature Algorithm
RSA	4096	SHA256-with-RSAEncryption
RSA	2048	SHA256-with-RSAEncryption
EC DSA 256	prime256v1	ecdsa-with-sha256
EC DSA 384	secp384r1	ecdsa-with-sha384
EC DSA 521	secp521r1	ecdsa-with-sha512

You can use the cat command to concatenate a list of CA certificates into a chain file.

$ cat signer.crt inter.crt root.crt > server.cert

Order is essential. The total chain should begin with the certificate of the signer and end with the root CA certificate as the final entry.

Results

Note: The system holds only one custom SSL certificate. If a new certificate is uploaded, it replaces the existing certificate. The previous certificate is discarded.

Controlling Remote (SSH) Access

About this task

Nutanix supports key-based SSH access to Prism Central. Enabling key-based SSH access ensures that password authentication is disabled and only the keys you have provided can be used to access the Prism Central (only for nutanix/admin users). Thus making the Prism Central more secure.

To control key-based SSH access to Prism Central, do the following:

Procedure

Click the gear icon in the main menu and then select Cluster Lockdown in the Settings page.

The Cluster Lockdown dialog box appears. Enabled public keys (if any) are listed in this window.

Figure. Cluster Lockdown Window Click to enlarge
To disable (or enable) remote login access, uncheck (check) the Enable Remote Login with Password box.

Remote login access is enabled by default.
To add a new public key, click the New Public Key button and then do the following in the displayed fields:
1. Name : Enter a key name.
2. Key : Enter (paste) the key value into the field.
3. Click the Save button (lower right) to save the key and return to the main Cluster Lockdown window.
There are no public keys available by default, but you can add any number of public keys.
To delete a public key, click the X on the right of that key line.

Note: Deleting all the public keys and disabling remote login access locks down the cluster from SSH access.

Password Retry Lockout

For enhanced security, Prism Central and Prim Element locks out the default 'admin' account for a period of 15 minutes after five unsuccessful login attempts. Once the account is locked out, the following message is displayed at the login screen.

Account locked due to too many failed attempts

You can attempt entering the password after the 15 minutes lockout period, or contact Nutanix Support in case you have forgotten your password.

Security Policies using Flow

Nutanix Flow includes a policy-driven security framework that inspects traffic within the data center. For more information, see the Flow Microsegmentation Guide.

Security Management Using Identity and Access Management (Prism Central)

Enabled and administered from Prism Central, Identity and Access Management (IAM) is an authentication and authorization feature that uses attribute-based access control (ABAC). It is disabled by default. This section describes Prism Central IAM prerequisites, enablement, and SAML-based standard-compliant identity provider (IDP) configuration.

After you enable the Micro Services Infrastructure (CMSP) on Prism Central, IAM is automatically enabled. You can configure a wider selection of identity providers, including Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) based identity providers. The Prism Central web console presents an updated sign-on/authentication page

The enable process migrates existing directory, identity provider, and user configurations, including Common Access Card (CAC) client authentication configurations. After enabling IAM, if you want to enable a client to authenticate by using certificates, you must also enable CAC authentication. For more information, see Identity and Access Management Prerequisites and Considerations. Also, see the Identity and Access Management Software Support topic in the Prism Central Release Notes for specific support requirements.

The work flows for creating authentication configurations and providing user and role access described in Configuring Authentication are the same whether IAM is enabled or not.

IAM Features

Highly Scalable Architecture

Based on the Kubernetes open source platform, IAM uses independent pods for authentication (AuthN), authorization (AuthZ), and IAM data storage and replication.

Each pod automatically scales independently of Prism Central when required. No user intervention or control is required.
When new features or functions are available, you can update IAM pods independently of Prism Central updates through Life Cycle Manager (LCM).
IAM uses a rolling upgrade method to help ensure zero downtime.

Secure by Design

Mutual TLS authentication (mTLS) secures IAM component communication.
The Micro Services infrastructure (CMSP) on Prism Central provisions certificates for mTLS.

More SAML Identity Providers (IDP)

Without enabling CMSP/IAM on Prism Central, Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS) is the only supported IDP for Single Sign-on. After you enable it, IAM supports more IDPs. Nutanix has tested these IDPs when SAML IDP authentication is configured for Prism Central.

Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS)
Azure Active Directory Federation Services (Azure ADFS)
Okta
PingOne
Shibboleth
KeyCloak

Users can log on from the Prism Central web console only. IDP-initiated authentication work flows are not supported. That is, logging on or signing on from an IDP web page or site is not supported.

Updated Authentication Page

After enabling IAM, the Prism Central login page is updated depending on your configuration. For example, if you have configured local user account and Active Directory authentication, this default page appears for directory users as follows. To log in as a local user, click the Log In with your Nutanix Local Account link.

Sample Prism Central IAM Logon Page shows new credential fields

In another example, if you have configured SAML authentication instances named Shibboleth and AD2, Prism Central displays this page.

Note: After upgrade to pc.2022.9 if the Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) IDP is configured, you need to download the Prism Central metadata and re-configure the SAML IDP to recognize Prism Central as the service provider. See Updating ADFS When Using SAML Authentication to create the required rules for ADFS.

Identity and Access Management Prerequisites and Considerations

IAM Prerequisites

For specific minimum software support and requirements for IAM, see the Prism Central release notes.

For microservices infrastructure requirements, see Enabling Microservices Infrastructure in the Prism Central Guide .

Prism Central

Ensure that Prism Central is hosted on an AOS cluster running AHV.
Ensure that you have created a Virtual IP address (VIP) for Prism Central. The Acropolis Upgrade Guide describes how to set the VIP for the Prism Central VM. Once set, do not change this address.
Ensure that you have created a fully qualified domain name (FQDN) for Prism Central. Once the Prism Central FQDN is set, do not change it. For more information about how to set the FQDN in the Cluster Details window, see Managing Prism Central in the Prism Central Guide .
When microservices infrastructure is enabled on a Prism Central scale-out three-node deployment, reconfiguring the IP address and gateway of the Prism Central VMs is not supported.
Ensure connectivity between Prism Central and its managed Prism Element clusters.
Enable Microservices Infrastructure on Prism Central (CMSP) first to enable and use IAM. For more information, see Enabling Microservices Infrastructure in the Prism Central Guide .
IAM supports small or large single PC VM deployments. However, you cannot expand the single VM deployment to a scale-out three-node deployment.
IAM supports scale-out three-node PC VMs deployments. Reverting this deployment to a single PC VM deployment is not supported.
Make sure Prism Central is managing at least one Prism Element cluster. For more information about how to register a cluster, see Register (Unregister) Cluster with Prism Central in the Prism Central Guide .
You cannot unregister the Prism Element cluster that is hosting the Prism Central deployment where you have enabled CMSP and IAM. You can unregister other clusters being managed by this Prism Central deployment.

Prism Element Clusters

Ensure that you have configured the following cluster settings. For more information, see Modifying Cluster Details in Prism Web Console Guide .

Virtual IP address (VIP). Once set, do not change this address
iSCSI data services IP address (DSIP). Once set, do not change this address
NTP server
Name server

IAM Considerations

Existing Authentication and Authorization Migrated After Enabling IAM

When you enable IAM by enabling CMSP, IAM migrates existing authentication and authorization configurations, including Common Access Card client authentication configurations.

Upgrading Prism Central After Enabling IAM

After you upgrade Prism Central, if CMSP (and therefore IAM) was previously enabled, both the services are enabled by default. You must contact Nutanix Support for any custom requirement.

User Session Lifetime

Each session has a maximum lifetime of 8 hours
Session idle time is 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, a user or client is logged out and must re-authenticate.

Client Authentication and Common Access Card (CAC) Support

IAM supports deployments where CAC authentication and client authentication are enabled on Prism Central. After enabling IAM, however, Prism Central supports client authentication only if CAC authentication is also enabled. You can enable client authentication if you also enable CAC authentication.
Ensure that port 9441 is open in your firewall if you are using CAC client authentication.

Hypervisor Support

You can deploy IAM on an on-premise Prism Central (PC) deployment hosted on an AOS cluster running AHV. Clusters running other hypervisors are not supported.

Enabling IAM

Before you begin

IAM on Prism Central is disabled by default. When you enable the Micro Services Infrastructure on Prism Central, IAM is automatically enabled.
See Enabling Microservices Infrastructure in the Prism Central Guide .
See Identity and Access Management Prerequisites and Considerations and also the Identity and Access Management Software Support topic in the Prism Central release notes for specific support requirements.

Procedure

Enable Micro Services Infrastructure on Prism Central as described in Enabling Micro Services Infrastructure in the Prism Central Guide .
To view task status:
1. Open a web browser and log in to the Prism Central web console.
2. Go to the Activity > Tasks dashboard and find the IAM Migration & Bootstrap task.
The task takes up to 60 minutes to complete. Part of the task is migrating existing authentication configurations.
After the enablement tasks are completed, including the IAM Migration & Bootstrap task, log out of Prism Central. Wait at least 15 minutes before logging on to Prism Central.

The Prism Central web console shows a new log in page as shown below. This confirms that IAM is enabled.

Note:
Depending on your existing authentication configuration, the log in page might look different.

Also, you can go to Settings > Prism Central Management page to verify if Prism Central on Microservices Infrastructure (CMSP) is enabled. CMSP and IAM enablement happen together.

Figure. Sample Prism Central IAM Logon Page Click to enlarge

What to do next

Configure authentication and access. If you are implementing SAML authentication with Active Directory Federated Services (ADFS), see Updating ADFS When Using SAML Authentication.

Configuring Authentication

Prism Central supports user authentication with these authentication options:

SAML authentication. Users can authenticate through a supported identity provider when SAML support is enabled for Prism Central. The Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) is an open standard for exchanging authentication and authorization data between two parties: an identity provider (IDP) and Prism Central as the service provider.
With IAM, in addition to ADFS, other IDPs are available. For more information, see Security Management Using Identity and Access Management (Prism Central) and Updating ADFS When Using SAML Authentication.
Local user authentication. Users can authenticate if they have a local Prism Central account. For more information, see Managing Local User Accounts .
Active Directory authentication. Users can authenticate using their Active Directory (or OpenLDAP) credentials when Active Directory support is enabled for Prism Central.

Enabling and Configuring Client Authentication/CAC

Before you begin

If you have enabled Identity and Access Management (IAM) on Prism Central as described in Enabling IAM and want to enable a client to authenticate by using certificates, you must also enable CAC authentication.
Ensure that port 9441 is open in your firewall if you are using CAC client authentication. After enabling CAC client authentication, your CAC logon redirects the browser to use port 9441.

Procedure

In the web console, click the gear icon in the main menu and then select Authentication in the Settings page.
Click the Client tab, then do the following steps.
1. Select the Configure Client Chain Certificate check box.
2. Click the Choose File button, browse to and select a client chain certificate to upload, and then click the Open button to upload the certificate.
  
  Note: Uploaded certificate files must be PEM encoded. The web console restarts after the upload step.
3. To enable client authentication, click Enable Client Authentication .
4. To modify client authentication, do one of the following:
  Note: The web console restarts when you change these settings.
  - Click Enable Client Authentication to disable client authentication.
  - Click Remove to delete the current certificate. (This deletion also disables client authentication.)
  - To enable OCSP or CRL-based certificate revocation checking, see Certificate Revocation Checking.
Client authentication allows you to securely access the Prism by exchanging a digital certificate. Prism will validate that the certificate is signed by your organization’s trusted signing certificate.

Client authentication ensures that the Nutanix cluster gets a valid certificate from the user. Normally, a one-way authentication process occurs where the server provides a certificate so the user can verify the authenticity of the server. When client authentication is enabled, this becomes a two-way authentication where the server also verifies the authenticity of the user. A user must provide a valid certificate when accessing the console either by installing the certificate on the local machine or by providing it through a smart card reader.

Note: The CA must be the same for both the client chain certificate and the certificate on the local machine or smart card.
To specify a service account that the Prism Central web console can use to log in to Active Directory and authenticate Common Access Card (CAC) users, select the Configure Service Account check box, and then do the following in the indicated fields:
1. Directory : Select the authentication directory that contains the CAC users that you want to authenticate.
  This list includes the directories that are configured on the Directory List tab.
2. Service Username : Enter the user name in the user name@domain.com format that you want the web console to use to log in to the Active Directory.
3. Service Password : Enter the password for the service user name.
4. Click Enable CAC Authentication .
  
  Note: For federal customers only.
  
  Note: The Prism Central console restarts after you change this setting.
The Common Access Card (CAC) is a smart card about the size of a credit card, which some organizations use to access their systems. After you insert the CAC into the CAC reader connected to your system, the software in the reader prompts you to enter a PIN. After you enter a valid PIN, the software extracts your personal certificate that represents you and forwards the certificate to the server using the HTTP protocol.

Nutanix Prism verifies the certificate as follows:
- Validates that the certificate has been signed by your organization’s trusted signing certificate.
- Extracts the Electronic Data Interchange Personal Identifier (EDIPI) from the certificate and uses the EDIPI to check the validity of an account within the Active Directory. The security context from the EDIPI is used for your PRISM session.
- Prism Central supports both certificate authentication and basic authentication in order to handle both Prism Central login using a certificate and allowing REST API to use basic authentication. It is physically not possible for REST API to use CAC certificates. With this behavior, if the certificate is present during Prism Central login, the certificate authentication is used. However, if the certificate is not present, basic authentication is enforced and used.
If you map a Prism Central role to a CAC user and not to an Active Directory group or organizational unit to which the user belongs, specify the EDIPI (User Principal Name, or UPN) of that user in the role mapping. A user who presents a CAC with a valid certificate is mapped to a role and taken directly to the web console home page. The web console login page is not displayed.

Note: If you have logged on to Prism Central by using CAC authentication, to successfully log out of Prism Central, close the browser after you click Log Out .

Updating ADFS When Using SAML Authentication

With Nutanix IAM enabled, to maintain compatibility with new and existing IDP/SAML authentication configurations, update your Active Directory Federated Services (ADFS) configuration - specifically the Prism Central Relying Party Trust settings. For these configurations, you are using SAML as the open standard for exchanging authentication and authorization data between ADFS as the identity provider (IDP) and Prism Central as the service provider.

About this task

In your ADFS Server configuration, update the Prism Central Relying Party Trust settings by creating claim rules to send the selected LDAP attribute as the SAML NameID in Email address format. For example, map the User Principal Name to NameID in the SAML assertion claims.

As an example, this topic uses UPN as the LDAP Attribute to map. You could also map the email address attribute to NameID. See the Microsoft Active Directory Federation Services documentation for details about creating a claims aware Relying Party Trust and claims rules.

Procedure

In the Relying Party Trust for Prism Central, configure a claims issuance policy with two rules.
1. One rule based on the Send LDAP Attributes as Claims template.
2. One rule based on the Transform an Incoming Claim template
For the rule using the Send LDAP Attributes as Claims template, select the LDAP Attribute as User-Principal-Name and set Outgoing Claim Type to UPN .
For User group configuration using the Send LDAP Attributes as Claims template, select the LDAP Attribute as Token-Groups - Unqualified-Names and set Outgoing Claim Type to Group .
For the rule using the Transform an Incoming Claim template:
1. Set Incoming claim type to UPN .
2. Set the Outgoing claim type to Name ID .
3. Set the Outgoing name ID format to Email .
4. Select Pass through all claim values .

Adding a SAML-based Identity Provider

About this task

Before you begin

An identity provider (typically a server or other computer) is the system that provides authentication through a SAML request. There are various implementations that can provide authentication services in line with the SAML standard.
If you enable IAM by enabling CMSP, you can specify other tested standard-compliant IDPs in addition to ADFS. See also the Prism Central release notes topic Identity and Access Management Software Support for specific support requirements..
Only one identity provider is allowed at a time, so if one was already configured, the + New IDP link does not appear.
You must configure the identity provider to return the NameID attribute in SAML response. The NameID attribute is used by Prism Central for role mapping. See Configuring Role Mapping for details.

Procedure

In the web console, click the gear icon in the main menu and then select Authentication in the Settings page.
To add a SAML-based identity provider, click the + New IDP link.

A set of fields is displayed. Do the following in the indicated fields:
1. Configuration name : Enter a name for the identity provider. This name will appear in the log in authentication screen.
2. Import Metadata : Click this radio button to upload a metadata file that contains the identity provider information.
  
  Identity providers typically provide an XML file on their website that includes metadata about that identity provider, which you can download from that site and then upload to Prism Central. Click + Import Metadata to open a search window on your local system and then select the target XML file that you downloaded previously. Click the Save button to save the configuration.
  
  Figure. Identity Provider Fields (metadata configuration) Click to enlarge
This completes configuring an identity provider in Prism Central, but you must also configure the callback URL for Prism Central on the identity provider. To do this, click the Download Metadata link just below the Identity Providers table to download an XML file that describes Prism Central and then upload this metadata file to the identity provider.
To edit a identity provider entry, click the pencil icon for that entry.

After clicking the pencil icon, the relevant fields reappear. Enter the new information in the appropriate fields and then click the Save button.
To delete an identity provider entry, click the X icon for that entry.

After clicking the X icon, a window prompt appears to verify the delete action; click the OK button. The entry is removed from the list.

Restoring Identity and Access Management Configuration Settings

Prism Central regularly backs up the Identity and Access Management (IAM) database, typically every 15 minutes. This procedure describes how to restore a specific IAM backup instance.

About this task

The IAM restore process restores any authentication and authorization configuration settings from the IAM database. You can choose an available time-stamped backup instance when you run the shell script in this procedure.

Procedure

Log in to the Prism Central VM through an SSH session as the nutanix user.
Run the backup shell script restore_iamv2.sh
```
nutanix@pcvm$ sh /home/nutanix/cluster/bin/restore_iamv2.sh
```
The script displays a numbered list of available backups, including the backup file time-stamp.
```
Enter the Backup No. from the backup list (default is 1):
```
Select a backup by number to start the restore process.
The script displays a series of messages indicating restore progress, similar to:
```
You Selected the Backup No 1
Stopping the IAM services
Waiting to stop all the IAM services and to start the restore process
Restore Process Started
Restore Process Completed
...
Restarting the IAM services
IAM Services Restarted Successfully
```
After the script runs successfully, the command shell prompt returns and your IAM configuration is restored.
To validate that your settings have been restored, log on to the Prism Central web console and go to Settings > Authentication and check the settings.

Accessing a List of Open Source Software Running on a Cluster

Use this procedure to access a text file that lists all of the open source software running on a cluster.

Procedure

Log on to any Controller VM in the cluster as the admin user by using SSH.

Access the text file by using the following command.

less /usr/local/nutanix/license/blackduck_version_license.txt

Read article

Security Guide

AOS Security 6.5

Product Release Date: 2022-07-25

Last updated: 2022-12-14

Audience & Purpose

Note:

Nutanix Security Infrastructure

Nutanix has standardized the security profile of the Controller VM to a security compliance baseline that meets or exceeds the standard high-governance requirements.

The most commonly used references in United States to guide vendors to build products according to the set of technical requirements are as follows.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology Special Publications Security and Privacy Controls for Federal Information Systems and Organizations (NIST 800.53)
The US Department of Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) Security Technical Implementation Guides (STIG)

SCMA Implementation

The Nutanix platform and all products leverage the Security Configuration Management Automation (SCMA) framework to ensure that services are constantly inspected for variance to the security policy.

Note: Only the SCMA schedule can be modified. The AIDE schedule is run on a fixed weekly schedule. To change the SCMA schedule for AHV or the Controller VM, see Hardening Instructions (nCLI).

RHEL 7 STIG Implementation in Nutanix Controller VM

The STIG rules are capable of securing the boot loader, packages, file system, booting and service control, file ownership, authentication, kernel, and logging.

Example: STIG rules for Authentication

Security Updates

To see the list of security advisories or search for a specific advisory, log on to the Support Portal and select Documentation , and then Security Advisories .

Nutanix Security Landscape

This topic provides highlights on Nutanix security landscape and its highlights. The following table helps to identify the security features offered out-of-the-box in Nutanix infrastructure.


Topic	Highlights
Authentication and Authorization	Support for Authentication types and directories Role Permissions Password Complexity Support with standard Pluggable Authentication Module (PAM) library
Network segmentation	VLAN-based, data driven segmentation
Security Policy Management	Implement security policies using Microsegmentation.
Data security and integrity	Cluster access control SSL certificate management Data-at-rest (DAR) encryption
Hardening Instructions	Hardening AHV Hardening Controller VM TCP Wrapper Integration
Log monitoring and analysis	Cluster-wide log shipping Documenting the log fingerprint See Pulse Health Monitoring in the Prism Web Console Guide
Flow Networking	See Flow Networking Guide
UEFI	See UEFI Support for VMs in the AHV Administration Guide
Secure Boot	See Secure Boot Support for VMs in the AHV Administration Guide
Windows Credential Guard support	See Windows Defender Credential Guard Support in AHV in the AHV Administration Guide
RBAC	See Controlling User Access (RBAC)

Hardening Instructions (nCLI)

This chapter describes how to implement security hardening features for Nutanix AHV and Controller VM.

Hardening AHV

You can use Nutanix Command Line Interface (nCLI) in order to customize the various configuration settings related to AHV as described below.

Table 1. Configuration Settings to Harden the AHV
Description	Command or Settings	Output
Getting the cluster-wide configuration of the SCMA policy.	Run the following command: `nutanix@cvm$ ncli cluster get-hypervisor-security-config`	Enable Aide : false Enable Core : false Enable High Strength P... : false Enable Banner : false Schedule : DAILY
Enabling the Advanced Intrusion Detection Environment (AIDE) to run on a weekly basis.	Run the following command: `nutanix@cvm$ ncli cluster edit-hypervisor-security-params enable-aide=true`	Enable Aide : true Enable Core : false Enable High Strength P... : false Enable Banner : false Schedule : DAILY
Enabling the high-strength password policies (minlen=15, difok=8, maxclassrepeat=4).	Run the following command: `nutanix@cvm$ ncli cluster edit-hypervisor-security-params \` `enable-high-strength-password=true`	Enable Aide : true Enable Core : false Enable High Strength P... : true Enable Banner : false Schedule : DAILY
Enabling the defense knowledge consent banner of the US department.	Run the following command: `nutanix@cvm$ ncli cluster edit-hypervisor-security-params enable-banner=true`	Enable Aide : true Enable Core : false Enable High Strength P... : true Enable Banner : true Schedule : DAILY
Changing the default schedule of running the SCMA. The schedule can be hourly, daily, weekly, and monthly.	Run the following command: `nutanix@cvm$ ncli cluster edit-hypervisor-security-params schedule=hourly`	Enable Aide : true Enable Core : false Enable High Strength P... : true Enable Banner : true Schedule : HOURLY
Enabling the settings so that AHV can generate stack traces for any cluster issue.	Run the following command: `nutanix@cvm$ ncli cluster edit-hypervisor-security-params enable-core=true` Note: Nutanix recommends that Core should not be set to true unless instructed by the Nutanix support team.	Enable Aide : true Enable Core : true Enable High Strength P... : true Enable Banner : true Schedule : HOURLY
Configuring security levels for the nutanix user for ssh login to the Nutanix Cluster.	Run the following command: `nutanix@cvm$ ncli cluster edit-cvm-security-params ssh-security-level=limited`
Enabling locking of the security configuration.	Run the following command: `nutanix@cvm$ ncli cluster edit-cvm-security-params enable-lock-status=true`
When a high governance official needs to run the hardened configuration.	The settings should be as follows: Enable Aide : true Enable Core : false Enable High Strength P... : true Enable Banner : false Enable SNMPv3 Only : true Schedule : HOURLY Enable Kernel Mitigations : false SSH Security Level : LIMITED Enable Lock Status : true Enable Kernel Core : true
When a federal official needs to run the hardened configuration.	The settings should be as follows: Enable Aide : true Enable Core : false Enable High Strength P... : true Enable Banner : true Enable SNMPv3 Only : true Schedule : HOURLY Enable Kernel Mitigations : false SSH Security Level : LIMITED Enable Lock Status : true Enable Kernel Core : true Note: A banner file can be modified to support non-DoD customer banners.
Backing up the DoD banner file.	Run the following command on the AHV host: `[root@AHV-host ~]# cp -a /etc/puppet/modules/kvm/files/issue.DoD \ /etc/puppet/modules/kvm/files/issue.DoD.bak` Important: Any changes in the banner file are not preserved across upgrades.
Modifying the DoD banner file.	Run the following command on the AHV host: `[root@AHV-host ~]# vi /etc/puppet/modules/kvm/files/issue.DoD` Note: Repeat all the above steps on every AHV in a cluster. Important: Any changes in the banner file are not preserved across upgrades.
Setting the banner for all nodes through nCLI.	Run the following command: `nutanix@cvm$ ncli cluster edit-hypervisor-security-params enable-banner=true`

The following options are configured or customized to harden the AHV:

Enable AIDE : Advanced Intrusion Detection Environment (AIDE) is a Linux utility that monitors a given node. After you install the AIDE package, the system will generate a database that contains all the files you selected in your configuration file by entering the aide -–init command as a root user. You can move the database to a secure location in a read-only media or on other machines. After you create the database, you can use the aide -–check command for the system to check the integrity of the files and directories by comparing the files and directories on your system with the snapshot in the database. In case there are unexpected changes, a report gets generated, which you can review. If the changes to existing files or files added are valid, you can use the aide --update command to update the database with the new changes.
Enable high strength password : You can run the command as shown in the table in this section to enable high-strength password policies (minlen=15, difok=8, maxclassrepeat=4).
Note:
- minlen is the minimum required length for a password.
- difok is the minimum number of characters that must be different from the old password.
- maxclassrepeat is the number of consecutive characters of same class that you can use in a password.
Enable Core : A core dump consists of the recorded state of the working memory of a computer program at a specific time, generally when the program gets crashed or terminated abnormally. Core dumps are used to assist in diagnosing or debugging errors in computer programs. You can enable the core for troubleshooting purposes.
Enable Banner : You can set a banner to display a specific message. For example, set a banner to display a warning message that the system is available to authorized users only.

Hardening Controller VM

You can use Nutanix Command Line Interface (nCLI) in order to customize the various configuration settings related to the Controller VM as described below.

For the complete list of cluster security parameters, see Edit the security params of a Cluster in the Command Reference guide.

Run the following command to support cluster-wide configuration of the SCMA policy.

nutanix@cvm$ ncli cluster get-cvm-security-config

The current cluster configuration is displayed.

Enable Aide               : false
    Enable Core               : false
    Enable High Strength P... : false
    Enable Banner             : false
    Enable SNMPv3 Only        : false
    Schedule                  : DAILY
    Enable Kernel Mitigations : false
    SSH Security Level        : DEFAULT
    Enable Lock Status        : false
    Enable Kernel Core        : false

Run the following command to schedule weekly execution of Advanced Intrusion Detection Environment (AIDE).

nutanix@cvm$ ncli cluster edit-cvm-security-params enable-aide=true

The following output is displayed.

Enable Aide               : true
    Enable Core               : false
    Enable High Strength P... : false
    Enable Banner             : false
    Enable SNMPv3 Only        : false
    Schedule                  : DAILY
    Enable Kernel Mitigations : false
    SSH Security Level        : DEFAULT
    Enable Lock Status        : false
    Enable Kernel Core        : false

Run the following command to enable the strong password policy.

nutanix@cvm$ ncli cluster edit-cvm-security-params enable-high-strength-password=true

The following output is displayed.

Enable Aide               : true
    Enable Core               : false
    Enable High Strength P... : true
    Enable Banner             : false
    Enable SNMPv3 Only        : false
    Schedule                  : DAILY
    Enable Kernel Mitigations : false
    SSH Security Level        : DEFAULT
    Enable Lock Status        : false
    Enable Kernel Core        : false

Run the following command to enable the defense knowledge consent banner of the US department.

nutanix@cvm$ ncli cluster edit-cvm-security-params enable-banner=true

The following output is displayed.

Enable Aide               : true
    Enable Core               : false
    Enable High Strength P... : true
    Enable Banner             : true
    Enable SNMPv3 Only        : false
    Schedule                  : DAILY
    Enable Kernel Mitigations : false
    SSH Security Level        : DEFAULT
    Enable Lock Status        : false
    Enable Kernel Core        : false

Run the following command to enable the settings to allow only SNMP version 3.

nutanix@cvm$ ncli cluster edit-cvm-security-params enable-snmpv3-only=true

The following output is displayed.

Enable Aide               : true
    Enable Core               : false
    Enable High Strength P... : true
    Enable Banner             : true
    Enable SNMPv3 Only        : true
    Schedule                  : DAILY
    Enable Kernel Mitigations : false
    SSH Security Level        : DEFAULT
    Enable Lock Status        : false
    Enable Kernel Core        : false

Run the following command to change the default schedule of running the SCMA. The schedule can be hourly, daily, weekly, and monthly.

nutanix@cvm$ ncli cluster edit-cvm-security-params schedule=hourly

The following output is displayed.

Enable Aide               : true
    Enable Core               : false
    Enable High Strength P... : true
    Enable Banner             : true
    Enable SNMPv3 Only        : true
    Schedule                  : HOURLY
    Enable Kernel Mitigations : false
    SSH Security Level        : DEFAULT
    Enable Lock Status        : false
    Enable Kernel Core        : false

Run the following command to enable the settings so that Controller VM can generate stack traces for any cluster issue.

nutanix@cvm$ ncli cluster edit-cvm-security-params enable-core=true

The following output is displayed.

Enable Aide               : true
    Enable Core               : false
    Enable High Strength P... : true
    Enable Banner             : true
    Enable SNMPv3 Only        : true
    Schedule                  : HOURLY
    Enable Kernel Mitigations : false
    SSH Security Level        : DEFAULT
    Enable Lock Status        : false
    Enable Kernel Core        : true

Note: Nutanix recommends that Core should not be set to true unless instructed by the Nutanix support team.

Run the following command to configure security levels for the nutanix user for ssh login to the Nutanix Cluster.

nutanix@cvm$ ncli cluster edit-cvm-security-params ssh-security-level=limited

The following output is displayed.

Enable Aide               : true
    Enable Core               : false
    Enable High Strength P... : true
    Enable Banner             : true
    Enable SNMPv3 Only        : true
    Schedule                  : HOURLY
    Enable Kernel Mitigations : false
    SSH Security Level        : LIMITED
    Enable Lock Status        : true
    Enable Kernel Core        : true

Run the following command to enable to locking of the security configuration.

nutanix@cvm$ ncli cluster edit-cvm-security-params enable-lock-status=true

The following output is displayed.

Enable Aide               : true
    Enable Core               : false
    Enable High Strength P... : true
    Enable Banner             : true
    Enable SNMPv3 Only        : true
    Schedule                  : HOURLY
    Enable Kernel Mitigations : false
    SSH Security Level        : LIMITED
    Enable Lock Status        : true
    Enable Kernel Core        : true

Note: If set true, the configuration settings can not be edited by the user and a support call will need to be made to unlock this configuration.

Scenario-Based Hardening

When a high governance official needs to run the hardened configuration then the settings should be as follows.

Enable Aide               : true
    Enable Core               : false
    Enable High Strength P... : true
    Enable Banner             : false
    Enable SNMPv3 Only        : true
    Schedule                  : HOURLY
    Enable Kernel Mitigations : false
    SSH Security Level        : LIMITED
    Enable Lock Status        : true
    Enable Kernel Core        : true

When a federal official needs to run the hardened configuration then the settings should be as follows.

Enable Aide               : true
    Enable Core               : false
    Enable High Strength P... : true
    Enable Banner             : true
    Enable SNMPv3 Only        : true
    Schedule                  : HOURLY
    Enable Kernel Mitigations : false
    SSH Security Level        : LIMITED
    Enable Lock Status        : true
    Enable Kernel Core        : true

DoD Banner Configuration

Note: A banner file can be modified to support non-DoD customer banners.

Run the following command to backup the DoD banner file.

nutanix@cvm$ sudo cp -a /srv/salt/security/CVM/sshd/DODbanner \

/srv/salt/security/CVM/sshd/DODbannerbak

Run the following command to modify DoD banner file.
```
nutanix@cvm$ sudo vi /srv/salt/security/CVM/sshd/DODbanner
```
Note: Repeat all the above steps on every Controller VM in a cluster.

Run the following command to backup the DoD banner file of the Prism Central VM.

nutanix@pcvm$ sudo cp -a /srv/salt/security/PC/sshd/DODbanner \

/srv/salt/security/PC/sshd/DODbannerbak

Run the following command to modify DoD banner file of the Prism Central VM.
```
nutanix@pcvm$ sudo vi /srv/salt/security/PC/sshd/DODbanner
```
Run the following command to set the banner for all nodes through nCLI.
```
nutanix@cvm$ ncli cluster edit-cvm-security-params enable-banner=true
```

TCP Wrapper Integration

sshd: ALL : ALLOW
rpcbind: ALL : ALLOW
snmpd: ALL : ALLOW
snmptrapd: ALL : ALLOW

Common Criteria

Note: Nutanix uses FIPS-validated cryptography by default.

Securing AHV VMs with Virtual Trusted Platform Module (vTPM)

Overview

A Trusted Platform Module (TPM) is used to manage cryptographic keys for security services like encryption and hardware (and software) integrity protection. AHV vTPM is software-based emulation of the TPM 2.0 specification that works as a virtual device.

Note: AHV vTPM does NOT require OR use a hardware TPM.

You can use the AHV vTPM feature to secure virtual machines running on AHV.

Note: You can enable vTPM using aCLI only.

vTPM Use Cases

AHV vTPM provides virtualization-based security support for the following primary use cases.

Support for storing cryptographic keys and certificates for Microsoft Windows BitLocker
TPM protection for storing VBS encryption keys for Windows Defender Credential Guard

See Microsoft Documentation for details on Microsoft Windows Defender Credential Guard and Microsoft Windows BitLocker.

Tip: Windows 11 installation requires TPM 2.0, see Microsoft website for Windows 11 specs, features, and computer requirements.

Considerations for Enabling vTPM in AHV VMs

Requirements

Supported Software Versions:

AHV version 20220304.242 or above
AOS version 6.5.1 or above

VM Requirements:

You must enable UEFI on the VM on which you want to enable vTPM, see UEFI Support for VM.
You must enable Secure Boot (applicable if using Microsoft Windows BitLocker), see Secure Boot Support for VMs.

Limitations

All Secure Boot limitations apply to vTPM VM.
Disaster recovery is not supported for vTPM VMs.

Creating AHV VMs with vTPM (aCLI)

About this task

You can create a virtual machine with the vTPM configuration enabled using the following aCLI procedure.

Procedure

Log on to any Controller VM in the cluster with SSH.
At the CVM prompt, type acli to enter the Acropolis CLI mode.
Create a VM with the required configuration using one of the following methods.
- Create a VM using Prism Element or Prism Central web console. If you choose to create the VM using Prism Element or Prism Central, proceed to Step 4 .
  Note: For simplicity, it is recommended to use Prism Element or Prism Central web console to create VMs, see Creating a VM.
- Create a VM using aCLI. You can enable vTPM at the time of creating a VM. To enable vTPM during VM creation, do the following and proceed to step 5 (skip step 4 ).
  
  Use the "vm.create" command with required arguments to create a VM. For details on VM creation command ("vm.create") and supported arguments using aCLI, see "vm" in the Command Reference Guide.
```
acli> vm.create <vm-name> machine_type=q35 uefi_boot=true secure_boot=true virtual_tpm=true <argument(s)>
```
  Replace <vm-name> with the name of the VM and <argument(s)> with one or more arguments as needed for your VM.
Enable vTPM.
```
acli> vm.update <vm-name> virtual_tpm=true
```
In the above command, replace "<vm-name>" with name of the newly created VM.
Start the VM.
```
acli> vm.on <vm-name>
```
Replace <vm-name> with the name of the VM.

vTPM is enabled on the VM.

Enabling vTPM for Existing AHV VMs (aCLI)

About this task

You can update the settings of an existing virtual machine (that satisfies vTPM requirements) to enable vTPM using the following aCLI procedure.

Procedure

Log on to any Controller VM in the cluster with SSH.
At the CVM prompt, type acli to enter the acropolis CLI mode.
Shut down the VM to enforce an update on the VM.
```
acli> vm.shutdown <vm-name>
```
Replace <vm-name> with the name of the VM.
Enable vTPM.
```
acli> vm.update <vm-name> virtual_tpm=true
```
Replace <vm-name> with the name of the VM.
Start the VM.
```
acli> vm.on <vm-name>
```
Replace <vm-name> with the name of the VM.

vTPM is enabled on the VM.

Security Management Using Prism Element (PE)

Nutanix provides several mechanisms to maintain security in a cluster using Prism Element.

Configuring Authentication

About this task

Nutanix supports user authentication. To configure authentication types and directories and to enable client authentication or to enable client authentication only, do the following:

Procedure

Click the gear icon in the main menu and then select Authentication in the Settings page.
The Authentication Configuration window appears.
Note: The following steps combine three distinct procedures, enabling authentication (step 2), configuring one or more directories for LDAP/S authentication (steps 3-5), and enabling client authentication (step 6). Perform the steps for the procedures you need. For example, perform step 6 only if you intend to enforce client authentication.
To enable server authentication, click the Authentication Types tab and then check the box for either Local or Directory Service (or both). After selecting the authentication types, click the Save button.
The Local setting uses the local authentication provided by Nutanix (see User Management) . This method is employed when a user enters just a login name without specifying a domain (for example, user1 instead of user1@nutanix.com ). The Directory Service setting validates user@domain entries and validates against the directory specified in the Directory List tab. Therefore, you need to configure an authentication directory if you select Directory Service in this field.
Figure. Authentication Types Tab Click to enlarge

Note: The Nutanix admin user can log on to the management interfaces, including the web console, even if the Local authentication type is disabled.
To add an authentication directory, click the Directory List tab and then click the New Directory option.
A set of fields is displayed. Do the following in the indicated fields:
1. Directory Type : Select one of the following from the pull-down list.
  - Active Directory : Active Directory (AD) is a directory service implemented by Microsoft for Windows domain networks.
    Note:
    
    Users with the "User must change password at next logon" attribute enabled will not be able to authenticate to the web console (or nCLI). Ensure users with this attribute first login to a domain workstation and change their password prior to accessing the web console. Also, if SSL is enabled on the Active Directory server, make sure that Nutanix has access to that port (open in firewall).
    
    An Active Directory user name or group name containing spaces is not supported for Prism Element authentication.
    
    Active Directory domain created by using non-ASCII text may not be supported. For more information about usage of ASCII or non-ASCII text in Active Directory configuration, see the Internationalization (i18n) section.
    
    Use of the "Protected Users" group is currently unsupported for Prism authentication. For more details on the "Protected Users" group, see “Guidance about how to configure protected accounts” on Microsoft documentation website.
    
    The Microsoft AD is LDAP v2 and LDAP v3 compliant.
    
    The Microsoft AD servers supported are Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2016, and Windows Server 2019.
  - OpenLDAP : OpenLDAP is a free, open source directory service, which uses the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), developed by the OpenLDAP project. Nutanix currently supports the OpenLDAP 2.4 release running on CentOS distributions only.
2. Name : Enter a directory name.
  This is a name you choose to identify this entry; it need not be the name of an actual directory.
3. Domain : Enter the domain name.
  Enter the domain name in DNS format, for example, nutanix.com .
4. Directory URL : Enter the URL address to the directory.
  The URL format is as follows for an LDAP entry: ldap:// host : ldap_port_num . The host value is either the IP address or fully qualified domain name. (In some environments, a simple domain name is sufficient.) The default LDAP port number is 389. Nutanix also supports LDAPS (port 636) and LDAP/S Global Catalog (ports 3268 and 3269). The following are example configurations appropriate for each port option:
  Note: LDAPS support does not require custom certificates or certificate trust import.
  - Port 389 (LDAP). Use this port number (in the following URL form) when the configuration is single domain, single forest, and not using SSL.
```
ldap://ad_server.mycompany.com:389
```
  - Port 636 (LDAPS). Use this port number (in the following URL form) when the configuration is single domain, single forest, and using SSL. This requires all Active Directory Domain Controllers have properly installed SSL certificates.
```
ldaps://ad_server.mycompany.com:636
```
    Note: The LDAP server SSL certificate must include a Subject Alternative Name (SAN) that matches the URL provided during the LDAPS setup.
  - Port 3268 (LDAP - GC). Use this port number when the configuration is multiple domain, single forest, and not using SSL.
  - Port 3269 (LDAPS - GC). Use this port number when the configuration is multiple domain, single forest, and using SSL.
    Note: When constructing your LDAP/S URL to use a Global Catalog server, ensure that the Domain Control IP address or name being used is a global catalog server within the domain being configured. If not, queries over 3268/3269 may fail.
    
    Note: When querying the global catalog, the users sAMAccountName field must be unique across the AD forest. If the sAMAccountName field is not unique across the subdomains, authentication may fail intermittently or consistently.
  Note: For the complete list of required ports, see Port Reference .
5. (OpenLDAP only) Configure the following additional fields:
  1. User Object Class : Enter the value that uniquely identifies the object class of a user.
  2. User Search Base : Enter the base domain name in which the users are configured.
  3. Username Attribute : Enter the attribute to uniquely identify a user.
  4. Group Object Class : Enter the value that uniquely identifies the object class of a group.
  5. Group Search Base : Enter the base domain name in which the groups are configured.
  6. Group Member Attribute : Enter the attribute that identifies users in a group.
  7. Group Member Attribute Value : Enter the attribute that identifies the users provided as value for Group Member Attribute .
6. Search Type . How to search your directory when authenticating. Choose Non Recursive if you experience slow directory logon performance. For this option, ensure that users listed in Role Mapping are listed flatly in the group (that is, not nested). Otherwise, choose the default Recursive option.
7. Service Account Username : Enter the service account user name in the user_name@domain.com format that you want the web console to use to log in to the Active Directory.
  
  A service account is created to run only a particular service or application with the credentials specified for the account. According to the requirement of the service or application, the administrator can limit access to the service account.
  
  A service account is under the Managed Service Accounts in the Active Directory server. An application or service uses the service account to interact with the operating system. Enter your Active Directory service account credentials in this (username) and the following (password) field.
  
  Note: Be sure to update the service account credentials here whenever the service account password changes or when a different service account is used.
8. Service Account Password : Enter the service account password.
9. When all the fields are correct, click the Save button (lower right).
  This saves the configuration and redisplays the Authentication Configuration dialog box. The configured directory now appears in the Directory List tab.
10. Repeat this step for each authentication directory you want to add.
Note:
- The Controller VMs need access to the Active Directory server, so open the standard Active Directory ports to each Controller VM in the cluster (and the virtual IP if one is configured).
- No permissions are granted to the directory users by default. To grant permissions to the directory users, you must specify roles for the users in that directory (see Assigning Role Permissions).
- Service account for both Active directory and openLDAP must have full read permission on the directory service. Additionally, for successful Prism Element authentication, the users must also have search or read privileges.
Figure. Directory List Tab Click to enlarge
To edit a directory entry, click the Directory List tab and then click the pencil icon for that entry.
After clicking the pencil icon, the Directory List fields reappear (see step 3). Enter the new information in the appropriate fields and then click the Save button.
To delete a directory entry, click the Directory List tab and then click the X icon for that entry.
After clicking the X icon, a window prompt appears to verify the delete action; click the OK button. The entry is removed from the list.
To enable client authentication, do the following:
1. Click the Client tab.
2. Select the Configure Client Chain Certificate check box.
  
  Client Chain Certificate is a list of certificates that includes all intermediate CA and root-CA certificates.
  Note: To authenticate on the PE with Client Chain Certificate the 'Subject name’ field must be present. The subject name should match the userPrincipalName (UPN) in the AD. The UPN is a username with domain address. For example user1@nutanix.com .
  
  Figure. Client Tab (1) Click to enlarge
3. Click the Choose File button, browse to and select a client chain certificate to upload, and then click the Open button to upload the certificate.
  
  Note: Uploaded certificate files must be PEM encoded. The web console restarts after the upload step.
  
  Figure. Client Tab (2) Click to enlarge
4. To enable client authentication, click Enable Client Authentication .
5. To modify client authentication, do one of the following:
  Note: The web console restarts when you change these settings.
  - Click Enable Client Authentication to disable client authentication.
  - Click Remove to delete the current certificate. (This also disables client authentication.)
  - To enable OCSP or CRL based certificate revocation checking, see Certificate Revocation Checking.
  Figure. Authentication Window: Client Tab (3) Click to enlarge
Client authentication allows you to securely access the Prism by exchanging a digital certificate. Prism will validate that the certificate is signed by your organization’s trusted signing certificate.
Client authentication ensures that the Nutanix cluster gets a valid certificate from the user. Normally, a one-way authentication process occurs where the server provides a certificate so the user can verify the authenticity of the server (see Installing an SSL Certificate). When client authentication is enabled, this becomes a two-way authentication where the server also verifies the authenticity of the user. A user must provide a valid certificate when accessing the console either by installing the certificate on their local machine or by providing it through a smart card reader. Providing a valid certificate enables user login from a client machine with the relevant user certificate without utilizing user name and password. If the user is required to login from a client machine which does not have the certificate installed, then authentication using user name and password is still available.
Note: The CA must be the same for both the client chain certificate and the certificate on the local machine or smart card.
To specify a service account that the web console can use to log in to Active Directory and authenticate Common Access Card (CAC) users, select the Configure Service Account check box, and then do the following in the indicated fields:

Figure. Common Access Card Authentication Click to enlarge
1. Directory : Select the authentication directory that contains the CAC users that you want to authenticate.
  This list includes the directories that are configured on the Directory List tab.
2. Service Username : Enter the user name in the user name@domain.com format that you want the web console to use to log in to the Active Directory.
3. Service Password : Enter the password for the service user name.
4. Click Enable CAC Authentication .
  
  Note: For federal customers only.
  
  Note: The web console restarts after you change this setting.
The Common Access Card (CAC) is a smart card about the size of a credit card, which some organizations use to access their systems. After you insert the CAC into the CAC reader connected to your system, the software in the reader prompts you to enter a PIN. After you enter a valid PIN, the software extracts your personal certificate that represents you and forwards the certificate to the server using the HTTP protocol.
Nutanix Prism verifies the certificate as follows:
- Validates that the certificate has been signed by your organization’s trusted signing certificate.
- Extracts the Electronic Data Interchange Personal Identifier (EDIPI) from the certificate and uses the EDIPI to check the validity of an account within the Active Directory. The security context from the EDIPI is used for your PRISM session.
- Prism Element supports both certificate authentication and basic authentication in order to handle both Prism Element login using a certificate and allowing REST API to use basic authentication. It is physically not possible for REST API to use CAC certificates. With this behavior, if the certificate is present during Prism Element login, the certificate authentication is used. However, if the certificate is not present, basic authentication is enforced and used.
Note: Nutanix Prism does not support OpenLDAP as directory service for CAC.
If you map a Prism role to a CAC user and not to an Active Directory group or organizational unit to which the user belongs, specify the EDIPI (User Principal Name, or UPN) of that user in the role mapping. A user who presents a CAC with a valid certificate is mapped to a role and taken directly to the web console home page. The web console login page is not displayed.
Note: If you have logged on to Prism by using CAC authentication, to successfully log out of Prism, close the browser after you click Log Out .
Click the Close button to close the Authentication Configuration dialog box.

Assigning Role Permissions

About this task

If you are using Active Directory, you must also assign roles to entities or users, especially before upgrading from a previous AOS version.

To assign roles, do the following:

Procedure

In the web console, click the gear icon in the main menu and then select Role Mapping in the Settings page.

The Role Mapping window appears.
Figure. Role Mapping Window Click to enlarge
To create a role mapping, click the New Mapping button.

The Create Role Mapping window appears. Do the following in the indicated fields:
1. Directory : Select the target directory from the pull-down list.
  
  Only directories previously defined when configuring authentication appear in this list. If the desired directory does not appear, add that directory to the directory list (see Configuring Authentication) and then return to this procedure.
2. LDAP Type : Select the desired LDAP entity type from the pull-down list.
  
  The entity types are GROUP , USER , and OU .
3. Role : Select the user role from the pull-down list.
  There are three roles from which to choose:
  - Viewer : This role allows a user to view information only. It does not provide permission to perform any administrative tasks.
  - Cluster Admin : This role allows a user to view information and perform any administrative task (but not create or modify user accounts).
  - User Admin : This role allows the user to view information, perform any administrative task, and create or modify user accounts.
4. Values : Enter the case-sensitive entity names (in a comma separated list with no spaces) that should be assigned this role.
  The values are the actual names of the organizational units (meaning it applies to all users in those OUs), groups (all users in those groups), or users (each named user) assigned this role. For example, entering value " admin-gp,support-gp " when the LDAP type is GROUP and the role is Cluster Admin means all users in the admin-gp and support-gp groups should be assigned the cluster administrator role.
  Note:
  
  Do not include a domain in the value, for example enter just admin-gp , not admin-gp@nutanix.com . However, when users log into the web console, they need to include the domain in their user name.
  
  The AD user UPN must be in the user@domain_name format.
  
  When an admin defines user role mapping using an AD with forest setup, the admin can map to the user with the same name from any domain in the forest setup. To avoid this case, set up the user-role mapping with AD that has a specific domain setup.
5. When all the fields are correct, click Save .
  This saves the configuration and redisplays the Role Mapping window. The new role map now appears in the list.
  Note: All users in an authorized service directory have full administrator permissions when role mapping is not defined for that directory. However, after creating a role map, any users in that directory that are not explicitly granted permissions through the role mapping are denied access (no permissions).
6. Repeat this step for each role map you want to add.
  You can create a role map for each authorized directory. You can also create multiple maps that apply to a single directory. When there are multiple maps for a directory, the most specific rule for a user applies. For example, adding a GROUP map set to Cluster Admin and a USER map set to Viewer for select users in that group means all users in the group have administrator permission except those specified users who have viewing permission only.
Figure. Create Role Mapping Window Click to enlarge
To edit a role map entry, click the pencil icon for that entry.
After clicking the pencil icon, the Edit Role Mapping window appears, which contains the same fields as the Create Role Mapping window (see step 2). Enter the new information in the appropriate fields and then click the Save button.
To delete a role map entry, click the "X" icon for that entry.
After clicking the X icon, a window prompt appears to verify the delete action; click the OK button. The entry is removed from the list.
Click the Close button to close the Role Mapping window.

Certificate Revocation Checking

Enabling Certificate Revocation Checking using Online Certificate Status Protocol (nCLI)

About this task

To enable certificate revocation checking using OCSP for client authentication, do the following.

Procedure

Set the OCSP responder URL.
ncli authconfig set-certificate-revocation set-ocsp-responder=<ocsp url> <ocsp url> indicates the location of the OCSP responder.
Verify if OCSP checking is enabled.
ncli authconfig get-client-authentication-config
The expected output if certificate revocation checking is enabled successfully is as follows.
```
Auth Config Status: true
File Name: ca.cert.pem
OCSP Responder URI: http://<ocsp-responder-url>
```

Enabling Certificate Revocation Checking using Certificate Revocation Lists (nCLI)

About this task

Note: OSCP is the recommended method for checking certificate revocation in client authentication.

You can use the CRL certificate revocation checking method if required, as described in this section.

To enable certificate revocation checking using CRL for client authentication, do the following.

Procedure

Specify all the CRLs that are required for certificate validation.


          ncli authconfig set-certificate-revocation set-crl-uri=<uri 1>,<uri 2>
                        set-crl-refresh-interval=<refresh interval in seconds>
                        set-crl-expiration-interval=<expiration interval in seconds>

The above command resets any previous OCSP or CRL configurations.
The URIs must be percent-encoded and comma separated.
The CRLs are updated periodically as specified by the crl-refresh-interval value. This interval is common for the entire list of CRL distribution points. The default value for this is 86400 seconds (1 day).
The periodically updated CRLs are cached in-memory for the duration specified by value of set-crl-expiration-interval and expired after the duration, in case a particular CRL distribution point is not reachable. This duration is configured for the entire list of CRL distribution points. The default value for this is 604800 seconds (7 days).

Authentication Best Practices

The authentication best practices listed here are guidance to secure the Nutanix platform by using the most common authentication security measures.

Emergency Local Account Usage

Note: Local emergency account usage does not support any external access mechanisms, specifically for the external application authentication or external Rest API authentication.

Modifying Default Passwords

You must change the default Controller VM password for nutanix user account by adhering to the password complexity requirements.

Procedure

SSH to the Controller VM.
Change the "nutanix" user account password.
```
nutanix@cvm$ passwd nutanix
```
Respond to the prompts and provide the current and new root password.
```
Changing password for nutanix.
New password:
Retype new password:
passwd: all authentication tokens updated successfully.
```
Note:
- Changing the user account password on one of the Controller VMs is applied to all Controller VMs in the cluster.
- Ensure that you preserve the modified nutanix user password, since the local authentication (PAM) module requires the previous password of the nutanix user to successfully start the password reset process.
- For the root account, both the console and SSH direct login is disabled.
- It is recommended to use the admin user as the administrative emergency account.

Controlling Cluster Access

About this task

Nutanix supports the Cluster lockdown feature. This feature enables key-based SSH access to the Controller VM and AHV on the Host (only for nutanix/admin users).

Enabling cluster lockdown mode ensures that password authentication is disabled and only the keys you have provided can be used to access the cluster resources. Thus making the cluster more secure.

To control key-based SSH access to the cluster, do the following:

Note: Use this procedure to lock down access to the Controller VM and hypervisor host. In addition, it is possible to lock down access to the hypervisor.

Procedure

Click the gear icon in the main menu and then select Cluster Lockdown in the Settings page.
The Cluster Lockdown dialog box appears. Enabled public keys (if any) are listed in this window.
Figure. Cluster Lockdown Window Click to enlarge
To disable (or enable) remote login access, uncheck (check) the Enable Remote Login with Password box.
Remote login access is enabled by default.
To add a new public key, click the New Public Key button and then do the following in the displayed fields:
1. Name : Enter a key name.
2. Key : Enter (paste) the key value into the field.
Note: Prism supports the following key types.
- RSA
- ECDSA
1. Click the Save button (lower right) to save the key and return to the main Cluster Lockdown window.
There are no public keys available by default, but you can add any number of public keys.
To delete a public key, click the X on the right of that key line.

Note: Deleting all the public keys and disabling remote login access locks down the cluster from SSH access.

Setup Admin Session Timeout

Procedure

Click the gear icon in the main menu and then select UI Settings in the Settings page.
Select the session timeout for the current user from the Session Timeout For Current User drop-down list.

Figure. Session Timeout Settings Click to enlarge
Select the appropriate option from the Session Timeout Override drop-down list to override the session timeout.

Password Retry Lockout

Account locked due to too many failed attempts

You can attempt entering the password after the 15 minutes lockout period, or contact Nutanix Support in case you have forgotten your password.

Internationalization (i18n)

The following table lists all the supported and unsupported entities in UTF-8 encoding.

Table 1. Internationalization Support
Supported Entities	Unsupported Entities
Cluster name	Acropolis file server
Storage Container name	Share path
Storage pool	Internationalized domain names
VM name	E-mail IDs
Snapshot name	Hostnames
Volume group name	Integers
Protection domain name	Password fields
Remote site name	Any Hardware related names ( for example, vSwitch, iSCSCI initiator, vLAN name)
User management
Chart name

Caution: The creation of none of the above entities are supported on Hyper-V because of the DR limitations.

Entities Support (ASCII or non-ASCII) for the Active Directory Server

In the New Directory Configuration, Name field is supported in non-ASCII.
In the New Directory Configuration, Domain field is not supported in non-ASCII.
In Role mapping, Values field is supported in non-ASCII.
User names and group names are supported in non-ASCII.

User Management

Nutanix user accounts can be created or updated as needed using the Prism web console.

The web console allows you to add (see Creating a User Account), edit (see Updating a User Account), or delete (see Deleting a User Account (Local)) local user accounts at any time.
You can reset the local user account password using nCLI if you are locked out and cannot login to the Prism Element or Prism Central web console ( see Resetting Password (CLI)).
You can also configure user accounts through Active Directory and LDAP (see Configuring Authentication). Active Directory domain created by using non-ASCII text may not be supported.

Note: In addition to the Nutanix user account, there are IPMI, Controller VM, and hypervisor host users. Passwords for these accounts cannot be changed through the web console.

Creating a User Account

About this task

The admin user is created automatically when you get a Nutanix system, but you can add more users as needed. Note that you cannot delete the admin user. To create a user, do the following:

Note: You can also configure user accounts through Active Directory (AD) and LDAP (see Configuring Authentication).

Procedure

Click the gear icon in the main menu and then select Local User Management in the Settings page.
The User Management dialog box appears.
Figure. User Management Window Click to enlarge
To add a user, click the New User button and do the following in the displayed fields:
1. Username : Enter a user name.
2. First Name : Enter a first name.
3. Last Name : Enter a last name.
4. Email : Enter a valid user email address.
  
  Note: AOS uses the email address for client authentication and logging when the local user performs user and cluster tasks in the web console.
5. Password : Enter a password (maximum of 255 characters).
  A second field to verify that the password is not included, so be sure to enter the password correctly in this field.
6. Language : Select the language setting for the user.
  By default English is selected. You can select Simplified Chinese or Japanese . Depending on the language that you select here, the cluster locale is be updated for the new user. For example, if you select Simplified Chinese , the next time that the new user logs on to the web console, the user interface is displayed in Simplified Chinese.
7. Roles : Assign a role to this user.
  - Select the User Admin box to allow the user to view information, perform any administrative task, and create or modify user accounts. (Checking this box automatically selects the Cluster Admin box to indicate that this user has full permissions. However, a user administrator has full permissions regardless of whether the cluster administrator box is checked.)
  - Select the Cluster Admin box to allow the user to view information and perform any administrative task (but not create or modify user accounts).
  - Select the Backup Admin box to allow the user to perform backup-related administrative tasks. This role does not have permission to perform cluster or user tasks.
    
    Note: Backup admin user is designed for Nutanix Mine integrations as of AOS version 5.19 and has minimal functionality in cluster management. This role has restricted access to the Nutanix Mine cluster.
    
    Health , Analysis , and Tasks features are available in read-only mode.
    
    The File server and Data Protection options in the web console are not available for this user.
    
    The following features are available for Backup Admin users with limited functionality.
    
    Home - The user cannot a register a cluster with Prism Central. The registration widget is disabled. Other read-only data is displayed and available.
    
    Alerts - Alerts and events are displayed. However, the user cannot resolve or acknowledge any alert or event. The user cannot configure Alert Policy or Email configuration .
    
    Hardware - The user cannot expand the cluster or remove hosts from the cluster. Read-only data is displayed and available.
    
    Network - Networking data or configuration is displayed but configuration options are not available.
    
    Settings - The user can only upload a new image using the Settings page.
    
    VM - The user cannot configure options like Create VM and Network Configuration in the VM page. The following options are available for the user in the VM page:
    
    Launch console
    
    Power On
    
    Power Off
  - Leaving all the boxes unchecked allows the user to view information, but it does not provide permission to perform cluster or user tasks.
8. When all the fields are correct, click Save .
  This saves the configuration and the web console redisplays the dialog box with the new user-administrative appearing in the list.
Figure. Create User Window Click to enlarge

Updating a User Account

About this task

Update credentials and change the role for an existing user by using this procedure.

Procedure

Click the gear icon in the main menu and then select Local User Management in the Settings page.
The User Management dialog box appears.
Enable or disable the login access for a user by clicking the toggle text Yes (enabled) or No (disabled) in the Enabled column.
A Yes value in the Enabled column means that the login is enabled; a No value in the Enabled column means it is disabled.
Note: A user account is enabled (login access activated) by default.
To edit the user credentials, click the pencil icon for that user and update one or more of the values in the displayed fields:
1. Username : The username is fixed when the account is created and cannot be changed.
2. First Name : Enter a different first name.
3. Last Name : Enter a different last name.
4. Email : Enter a different valid email address.
  
  Note: AOS Prism uses the email address for client authentication and logging when the local user performs user and cluster tasks in the web console.
5. Roles : Change the role assigned to this user.
  - Select the User Admin box to allow the user to view information, perform any administrative task, and create or modify user accounts. (Checking this box automatically selects the Cluster Admin box to indicate that this user has full permissions. However, a user administrator has full permissions regardless of whether the cluster administrator box is checked.)
  - Select the Cluster Admin box to allow the user to view information and perform any administrative task (but not create or modify user accounts).
  - Select the Backup Admin box to allow the user to perform backup-related administrative tasks. This role does not have permission to perform cluster or user administrative tasks.
  - Leaving all the boxes unchecked allows the user to view information, but it does not provide permission to perform cluster or user-administrative administrative tasks.
6. Reset Password : Change the password of this user.
  Enter the new password for Password and Confirm Password fields. Click the info icon to view the password complexity requirements.
7. When all the fields are correct, click Save .
  This saves the configuration and redisplays the dialog box with the new user appearing in the list.
Figure. Update User Window Click to enlarge

Updating My Account

About this task

To update your account credentials (that is, credentials for the user you are currently logged in as), do the following:

Procedure

To update your password, select Change Password from the user icon pull-down list in the web console.
The Change Password dialog box appears. Do the following in the indicated fields:
1. Current Password : Enter the current password.
2. New Password : Enter a new password.
3. Confirm Password : Re-enter the new password.
4. When the fields are correct, click the Save button (lower right). This saves the new password and closes the window.
Note: You can change the password for the "admin" account only once per day. Please contact Nutanix support if you need to update the password multiple times in one day

Figure. Change Password Window Click to enlarge
To update other details of your account, select Update Profile from the user icon pull-down list.
The Update Profile dialog box appears. Update (as desired) one or more of the following fields:
1. First Name : Enter a different first name.
2. Last Name : Enter a different last name.
3. Email : Enter a different valid user email address.
4. Language : Select a language for your account.
5. API Key : Enter the key value to use a new API key.
6. Public Key : Click the Choose File button to upload a new public key file.
7. When all the fields are correct, click the Save button (lower right). This saves the changes and closes the window.
Figure. Update Profile Window Click to enlarge

Resetting Password (CLI)

This procedure describes how to reset a local user's password on the Prism Element or the Prism Central web consoles.

About this task

To reset the password using nCLI, do the following:

Note:

Only a user with admin privileges can reset a password for other users.

Procedure

Access the CVM via SSH.
Log in with the admin credentials.
Use the ncli user reset-password command and specify the username and password of the user whose password is to be reset:
```
nutanix@cvm$ ncli user reset-password user-name=xxxxx password=yyyyy
```
- Replace user-name=xxxxx with the name of the user whose password is to be reset.
- Replace password=yyyyy with the new password.

What to do next

You can relaunch the Prism Element or the Prism Central web console and verify the new password setting.

Exporting an SSL Certificate for Third-party Backup Applications

Nutanix allows you to export an SSL certificate for Prism Element on a Nutanix cluster and use it with third-party backup applications.

Procedure

Log on to a Controller VM in the cluster using SSH.

Run the following command to obtain the virtual IP address of the cluster:

nutanix@cvm$ ncli cluster info

The current cluster configuration is displayed.

    Cluster Id           : 0001ab12-abcd-efgh-0123-012345678m89::123456
    Cluster Uuid         : 0001ab12-abcd-efgh-0123-012345678m89
    Cluster Name         : three
    Cluster Version      : 6.0
    Cluster Full Version : el7.3-release-fraser-6.0-a0b1c2345d6789ie123456fg789h1212i34jk5lm6
    External IP address  : 10.10.10.10
    Node Count           : 3
    Block Count          : 1
    . . . . .

Note: The external IP address in the output is the virtual IP address of the cluster.

Run the following command to enter into the Python prompt:
```
nutanix@cvm$ python
```
The Python prompt appears.
Run the following command to import the SSL library.
```
$ import ssl
```

From the Python console, run the following command to print the SSL certificate.

$ print ssl.get_server_certificate(('virtual_IP_address',9440), ssl_version=ssl.PROTOCOL_TLSv1_2)

Example: Refer to the following example where virtual_IP_address value is replaced by 10.10.10.10.

$ print ssl.get_server_certificate(('10.10.10.10', 9440), ssl_version=ssl.PROTOCOL_TLSv1_2)

The SSL certificate is displayed on the console.

Deleting a User Account (Local)

About this task

To delete an existing user, do the following:

Procedure

Click the gear icon in the main menu and then select Local User Management in the Settings page.
The User Management dialog box appears.
Figure. User Management Window Click to enlarge
Click the X icon for that user. Note that you cannot delete the admin user.
A window prompt appears to verify the action; click the OK button. The user account is removed and the user no longer appears in the list.

Certificate Management

This chapter describes how to install and replace an SSL certificate for configuration and use on the Nutanix Controller VM.

Note: Nutanix recommends that you check for the validity of the certificate periodically, and replace the certificate if it is invalid.

Installing an SSL Certificate

About this task

Nutanix supports SSL certificate-based authentication for console access. To install a self-signed or custom SSL certificate, do the following:

Important: Ensure that SSL certificates are not password protected.

Note:

Nutanix recommends that customers replace the default self-signed certificate with a CA signed certificate.
SSL certificate (self-signed or signed by CA) can only be installed cluster-wide from Prism. SSL certificates can not be customized for individual Controller VM.

Procedure

Click the gear icon in the main menu and then select SSL Certificate in the Settings page.
The SSL Certificate dialog box appears.
Figure. SSL Certificate Window Click to enlarge
To replace (or install) a certificate, click the Replace Certificate button.
To create a new self-signed certificate, click the Regenerate Self Signed Certificate option and then click the Apply button.
A dialog box appears to verify the action; click the OK button. This generates and applies a new RSA 2048-bit self-signed certificate for the Prism user interface.
Figure. SSL Certificate Window: Regenerate Click to enlarge
To apply a custom certificate that you provide, do the following:
1. Click the Import Key and Certificate option and then click the Next button.
  
  Figure. SSL Certificate Window: Import Click to enlarge
2. Do the following in the indicated fields, and then click the Import Files button.
  Note:
  - All the three imported files for the custom certificate must be PEM encoded.
  - Ensure that the private key does not have any extra data (or custom attributes) before the beginning (-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----) or after the end (-----END CERTIFICATE-----) of the private key block.
  - See Recommended Key Configurations to ensure proper set of key types, sizes/curves, and signature algorithms.
  - Private Key Type : Select the appropriate type for the signed certificate from the pull-down list (RSA 4096 bit, RSA 2048 bit, EC DSA 256 bit, or EC DSA 384 bit).
  - Private Key : Click the Browse button and select the private key associated with the certificate to be imported.
  - Public Certificate : Click the Browse button and select the signed public portion of the server certificate corresponding to the private key.
  - CA Certificate/Chain : Click the Browse button and select the certificate or chain of the signing authority for the public certificate.
  Figure. SSL Certificate Window: Select Files Click to enlarge
  In order to meet the high security standards of NIST SP800-131a compliance, the requirements of the RFC 6460 for NSA Suite B, and supply the optimal performance for encryption, the certificate import process validates the correct signature algorithm is used for a given key/cert pair. See Recommended Key Configurations to ensure proper set of key types, sizes/curves, and signature algorithms. The CA must sign all public certificates with proper type, size/curve, and signature algorithm for the import process to validate successfully.
  Note: There is no specific requirement for the subject name of the certificates (subject alternative names (SAN) or wildcard certificates are supported in Prism).
  You can use the cat command to concatenate a list of CA certificates into a chain file.
```
$ cat signer.crt inter.crt root.crt > server.cert
```
  Order is essential. The total chain should begin with the certificate of the signer and end with the root CA certificate as the final entry.

Results

Note: The system holds only one custom SSL certificate. If a new certificate is uploaded, it replaces the existing certificate. The previous certificate is discarded.

Recommended Key Configurations

This table provides the Nutanix recommended set of key types, sizes/curves, and signature algorithms.


Key Type	Size/Curve	Signature Algorithm
RSA	4096	SHA-256, SHA-384 or SHA512
RSA	2048	SHA-256, SHA-384 or SHA512
EC DSA 256	prime256v1	ecdsa-with-sha256
EC DSA 384	secp384r1	ecdsa-with-sha384
EC DSA 521	secp521r1	ecdsa-with-sha512

Note:

Client and CAC authentication only supports RSA 2048 bit certificate.
RSA 4096 bit certificates might not work with certain AOS and Prism Central releases. Please see the release notes for your AOS and Prism Central versions. Specifying an RSA 4096 bit certificate might cause multiple cluster services to restart frequently. To work around the issue, see KB 12775.
Certificate import fails if you attempt to upload SHA-1 certificate (including root CA).

Replacing a Certificate

Procedure

Login to the Prism and click the gear icon.
Click SSL Certificate .
Select Replace Certificate to replace the certificate.
Do one of the following.
- Select Regenerate self signed certificate to generate a new self-signed certificate.
  Note:
  - This automatically generates and applies a certificate.
- Select Import key and certificate to import the custom key and certificate.
The following files are required and should be PEM encoded to import the keys and certificate.
- The private key associated with the certificate. The below section describes generating a private key in detail.
- The signed public portion of the server certificate corresponding to the private key.
- The CA certificate or chain of the signing authority for the certificate.
Note:
You must obtain the Public Certificate and CA Certificate/Chain from the certificate authority.
Figure. Importing Certificate Click to enlarge
Generating an RSA 4096 and RSA 2048 private key

Tip: You can run the OpenSSL commands for generating private key and CSR on a Linux client with OpenSSL installed.

Note: Some OpenSSL command parameters might not be supported on older OpenSSL versions and require OpenSSL version 1.1.1 or above to work.
- Run the following OpenSSL command to generate a RSA 4096 private key and the Certificate Signing Request (CSR).
```
openssl req -out server.csr -new -newkey rsa:4096
        -nodes -sha256 -keyout server.key
```
- Run the following OpenSSL command to generate an RSA 2048 private key and the Certificate Signing Request (CSR).
```
openssl req -out server.csr -new -newkey rsa:2048
        -nodes -sha256 -keyout server.key
```
  After executing the openssl command, the system prompts you to provide more details that will be incorporated into your certificate. The mandatory fields are - Country Name, State or Province Name, and Organization Name. The optional fields are - Locality Name, Organizational Unit Name, Email Address, and Challenge Password.
Nutanix recommends including a DNS name for all CVMs in the certificate using the Subject Alternative Name (SAN) extension. This avoids SSL certificate errors when you access a CVM by direct DNS instead of the shared cluster IP. This example shows how to include a DNS name while generating an RSA 4096 private key:
```
openssl req -out server.csr -new -newkey rsa:4096 -sha256 -nodes 
-addext "subjectAltName = DNS:example.com" 
-keyout server.key 
```
For a 3-node cluster you can provide DNS name for all three nodes in a single command. For example:
```
openssl req -out server.csr -new -newkey rsa:4096 -sha256 -nodes 
-addext "subjectAltName = DNS:example1.com,DNS:example2.com,DNS:example3.com" 
-keyout server.key 
```
If you have added a SAN ( subjectAltName ) extension to your certificate, then every time you add or remove a node from the cluster, you must add the DNS name when you generate or sign a new certificate.
Generating an EC DSA 256 and EC DSA 384 private key
- Run the following OpenSSL command to generate a EC DSA 256 private key and the Certificate Signing Request (CSR).
```
openssl ecparam -out dsakey.pem -name prime256v1 –genkey 
openssl req -out dsacert.csr -new -key dsakey.pem -nodes -sha256 
```
- Run the following OpenSSL command to generate a EC DSA 384 private key and the Certificate Signing Request (CSR).
```
openssl ecparam -out dsakey.pem -name secp384r1 –genkey
openssl req -out dsacert.csr -new -key dsakey.pem -nodes –sha384 
```
In order to meet the high security standards of NIST SP800-131a compliance, the requirements of the RFC 6460 for NSA Suite B, and supply the optimal performance for encryption, the certificate import process validates the correct signature algorithm is used for a given key/cert pair. See Recommended Key Configurations to ensure proper set of key types, sizes/curves, and signature algorithms. The CA must sign all public certificates with proper type, size/curve, and signature algorithm for the import process to validate successfully.
Note: There is no specific requirement for the subject name of the certificates (subject alternative names (SAN) or wildcard certificates are supported in Prism).
You can use the cat command to concatenate a list of CA certificates into a chain file. $ cat signer.crt inter.crt root.crt > server.cert

Order is essential. The total chain should begin with the certificate of the signer and end with the root CA certificate as the final entry.
If the CA chain certificate provided by the certificate authority is not in a single file, then run the following command to concatenate the list of CA certificates into a chain file.
```
cat signer.crt inter.crt root.crt > server.cert
```
Note: The chain should start with the certificate of the signer and ends with the root CA certificate.
Browse and add the Private Key, Public Certificate, and CA Certificate/Chain.
Click Import Files .

What to do next

Prism restarts and you must login to use the application.

Exporting an SSL Certificate for Third-party Backup Applications

Nutanix allows you to export an SSL certificate for Prism Element on a Nutanix cluster and use it with third-party backup applications.

Procedure

Log on to a Controller VM in the cluster using SSH.

Run the following command to obtain the virtual IP address of the cluster:

nutanix@cvm$ ncli cluster info

The current cluster configuration is displayed.

    Cluster Id           : 0001ab12-abcd-efgh-0123-012345678m89::123456
    Cluster Uuid         : 0001ab12-abcd-efgh-0123-012345678m89
    Cluster Name         : three
    Cluster Version      : 6.0
    Cluster Full Version : el7.3-release-fraser-6.0-a0b1c2345d6789ie123456fg789h1212i34jk5lm6
    External IP address  : 10.10.10.10
    Node Count           : 3
    Block Count          : 1
    . . . . .

Note: The external IP address in the output is the virtual IP address of the cluster.

Run the following command to enter into the Python prompt:
```
nutanix@cvm$ python
```
The Python prompt appears.
Run the following command to import the SSL library.
```
$ import ssl
```

From the Python console, run the following command to print the SSL certificate.

$ print ssl.get_server_certificate(('virtual_IP_address',9440), ssl_version=ssl.PROTOCOL_TLSv1_2)

Example: Refer to the following example where virtual_IP_address value is replaced by 10.10.10.10.

$ print ssl.get_server_certificate(('10.10.10.10', 9440), ssl_version=ssl.PROTOCOL_TLSv1_2)

The SSL certificate is displayed on the console.

Controlling Cluster Access

About this task

Nutanix supports the Cluster lockdown feature. This feature enables key-based SSH access to the Controller VM and AHV on the Host (only for nutanix/admin users).

Enabling cluster lockdown mode ensures that password authentication is disabled and only the keys you have provided can be used to access the cluster resources. Thus making the cluster more secure.

To control key-based SSH access to the cluster, do the following:

Note: Use this procedure to lock down access to the Controller VM and hypervisor host. In addition, it is possible to lock down access to the hypervisor.

Procedure

Click the gear icon in the main menu and then select Cluster Lockdown in the Settings page.
The Cluster Lockdown dialog box appears. Enabled public keys (if any) are listed in this window.
Figure. Cluster Lockdown Window Click to enlarge
To disable (or enable) remote login access, uncheck (check) the Enable Remote Login with Password box.
Remote login access is enabled by default.
To add a new public key, click the New Public Key button and then do the following in the displayed fields:
1. Name : Enter a key name.
2. Key : Enter (paste) the key value into the field.
Note: Prism supports the following key types.
- RSA
- ECDSA
1. Click the Save button (lower right) to save the key and return to the main Cluster Lockdown window.
There are no public keys available by default, but you can add any number of public keys.
To delete a public key, click the X on the right of that key line.

Note: Deleting all the public keys and disabling remote login access locks down the cluster from SSH access.

Data-at-Rest Encryption

Encryption Methods

Nutanix provides you with the following options to secure your data.

Self Encrypting Drives (SED) Encryption - You can use a combination of SEDs and an external KMS to secure your data while it is at rest.
Software-only Encryption - Nutanix AOS uses the AES-256 encryption standard to encrypt your data. Once enabled, software-only data-at-rest encryption cannot be disabled, thus protecting against accidental data leaks due to human errors. Software-only encryption supports both Nutanix Native Key Manager (local and remote) and External KMS to secure your keys.

Note the following points regarding data-at-rest encryption.

Encryption is supported for AHV, ESXi, and Hyper-V.
- For ESXi and Hyper-V, software-only encryption can be implemented at a cluster level or container level. For AHV, encryption can be implemented at the cluster level only.
Nutanix recommends using cluster-level encryption. With the cluster-level encryption, the administrative overhead of selecting different containers for the data storage gets eliminated.
Encryption cannot be disabled once it is enabled at a cluster level or container level.
Encryption can be implemented on an existing cluster with data that exists. If encryption is enabled on an existing cluster (AHV, ESXi, or Hyper-V), the unencrypted data is transformed into an encrypted format in a low priority background task that is designed not to interfere with other workload running in the cluster.
Data can be encrypted using either self-encrypted drives (SEDs) or software-only encryption. You can change the encryption method from SEDs to software-only. You can perform the following configurations.
- For ESXi and Hyper-V clusters, you can switch from SEDs and External Key Management (EKM) combination to software-only encryption and EKM combination. First, you must disable the encryption in the cluster where you want to change the encryption method. Then, select the cluster and enable encryption to transform the unencrypted data into an encrypted format in the background.
- For AHV, background encryption is supported.
Once the task to encrypt a cluster begins, you cannot cancel the operation. Even if you stop and restart the cluster, the system resumes the operation.
In the case of mixed clusters with ESXi and AHV nodes, where the AHV nodes are used for storage only, the encryption policies consider the cluster as an ESXi cluster. So, the cluster-level and container-level encryption are available.
You can use a combination of SED and non-SED drives in a cluster. After you encrypt a cluster using the software-only encryption, all the drives are considered as unencrypted drives. In case you switch from the SED encryption to the software-only encryption, you can add SED or non-SED drives to the cluster.
Data is not encrypted when it is replicated to another cluster. You must enable the encryption for each cluster. Data is encrypted as a part of the write operation and decrypted as a part of the read operation. During the replication process, the system reads, decrypts, and then sends the data over to the other cluster. You can use a third-party network solution if there a requirement to encrypt the data during the transmission to another cluster.
Software-only encryption does not impact the data efficiency features such as deduplication, compression, erasure coding, zero block suppression, and so on. The software encryption is the last data transformation performed. For example, during the write operation, compression is performed first, followed by encryption.

Key Management

The following types of keys are used for encryption.

Data Encryption Key (DEK) - A symmetric key, such as AES-256, that is used to encrypt the data.
Key Encryption Key (KEK) - This key is used to encrypt or decrypt the DEK.

Note the following points regarding the key management.

Nutanix does not support the use of the Local Key Manager with a third party External Key Manager.
Dual encryption (both SED and software-only encryption) requires an EKM. For more information, see Configuring Dual Encryption.
You can switch from an EKM to LKM, and inversely. For more information, see Switching between Native Key Manager and External Key Manager.
Rekey of keys stored in the Native KMS is supported for the Leader Keys. For more information, see Changing Key Encryption Keys (SEDs) and Changing Key Encryption Keys (Software Only).
You must back up the keys stored in the Native KMS. For more information, see Backing up Keys.
You must backup the encryption keys whenever you create a new container or remove an existing container. Nutanix Cluster Check (NCC) checks the status of the backup and sends an alert if you do not take a backup at the time of creating or removing a container.

Data-at-Rest Encryption (SEDs)

For customers who require enhanced data security, Nutanix provides a data-at-rest security option using Self Encrypting Drives (SEDs) included in the Ultimate license.

Note: If you are running the AOS Pro License on G6 platforms and above, you can use SED encryption by installing an add-on license.

Following features are supported:

Data is encrypted on all drives at all times.
Data is inaccessible in the event of drive or node theft.
Data on a drive can be securely destroyed.
A key authorization method allows password rotation at arbitrary times.
Protection can be enabled or disabled at any time.
No performance penalty is incurred despite encrypting all data.
Re-key of the leader encryption key (MEK) at arbitrary times is supported.

Note: If an SED cluster is present, then while executing the data-at-rest encryption, you will get an option to either select data-at-rest encryption using SEDs or data-at-rest encryption using AOS.

Note: This solution provides enhanced security for data on a drive, but it does not secure data in transit.

Data Encryption Model

This configuration involves the following workflow:

The security implementation begins by installing SEDs for all data drives in a cluster.
The drives are FIPS 140-2 validated and use FIPS 140-2 validated cryptographic modules.

Creating a new cluster that includes SEDs only is straightforward, but an existing cluster can be converted to support data-at-rest encryption by replacing the existing drives with SEDs (after migrating all the VMs/vDisks off of the cluster while the drives are being replaced).

Note: Contact Nutanix customer support for assistance before attempting to convert an existing cluster. A non-protected cluster can contain both SED and standard drives, but Nutanix does not support a mixed cluster when protection is enabled. All the disks in a protected cluster must be SED drives.
Data on the drives is always encrypted but read or write access to that data is open. By default, the access to data on the drives is protected by the in-built manufacturer key. However, when data protection for the cluster is enabled, the Controller VM must provide the proper key to access data on a SED. The Controller VM communicates with the SEDs through a Trusted Computing Group (TCG) Security Subsystem Class (SSC) Enterprise protocol.
A symmetric data encryption key (DEK) such as AES 256 is applied to all data being written to or read from the disk. The key is known only to the drive controller and never leaves the physical subsystem, so there is no way to access the data directly from the drive.

Another key, known as a key encryption key (KEK), is used to encrypt/decrypt the DEK and authenticate to the drive. (Some vendors call this the authentication key or PIN.)

Each drive has a separate KEK that is generated through the FIPS compliant random number generator present in the drive controller. The KEK is 32 bytes long to resist brute force attacks. The KEKs are sent to the key management server for secure storage and later retrieval; they are not stored locally on the node (even though they are generated locally).

In addition to the above, the leader encryption key (MEK) is used to encrypt the KEKs.

Each node maintains a set of certificates and keys in order to establish a secure connection with the external key management server.
Keys are stored in a key management server that is outside the cluster, and the Controller VM communicates with the key management server using the Key Management Interoperability Protocol (KMIP) to upload and retrieve drive keys.
Only one key management server device is required, but it is recommended that multiple devices are employed so the key management server is not a potential single point of failure. Configure the key manager server devices to work in clustered mode so they can be added to the cluster configuration as a single entity that is resilient to a single failure.
When a node experiences a full power off and power on (and cluster protection is enabled), the controller VM retrieves the drive keys from the key management server and uses them to unlock the drives.
If the Controller VM cannot get the correct keys from the key management server, it cannot access data on the drives.

If a drive is re-seated, it becomes locked.

If a drive is stolen, the data is inaccessible without the KEK (which cannot be obtained from the drive). If a node is stolen, the key management server can revoke the node certificates to ensure they cannot be used to access data on any of the drives.

Preparing for Data-at-Rest Encryption (External KMS for SEDs and Software Only)

About this task

Caution: DO NOT HOST A KEY MANAGEMENT SERVER VM ON THE ENCRYPTED CLUSTER THAT IS USING IT!

Doing so could result in complete data loss if there is a problem with the VM while it is hosted in that cluster.

The system accesses the EKM under the following conditions:

Starting a cluster
Regenerating a key (key regeneration occurs automatically every year by default)
Adding or removing a node (only when Self Encrypting Drives is used for encryption)
Switching between Native to EKM or EKM to Native
Starting, and restarting a service (only if Software-based encryption is used)
Upgrading AOS (only if Software-based encryption is used)
NCC heartbeat check if EKM is alive

Procedure

Configure a key management server.

The key management server devices must be configured into the network so the cluster has access to those devices. For redundant protection, it is recommended that you employ at least two key management server devices, either in active-active cluster mode or stand-alone.

Note: The key management server must support KMIP version 1.0 or later.
- SafeNet
  Ensure that Security > High Security > Key Security > Disable Creation and Use of Global Keys is checked.
- Vormetric
  Set the appliance to compatibility mode. Suite B mode causes the SSL handshake to fail.
Generate a certificate signing request (CSR) for each node in the cluster.
- The Common Name field of the CSR is populated automatically with unique_node_identifier .nutanix.com to identify the node associated with the certificate.
  Tip: After generating the certificate from Prism, (if required) you can update the custom common name (CN) setting by running the following command using nCLI.
```
ncli data-at-rest-encryption-certificate update-csr-information domain-name=abcd.test.com
```
  In the above command example, replace "abcd.test.com" with the actual domain name.
- A UID field is populated with a value of Nutanix . This can be useful when configuring a Nutanix group for access control within a key management server, since it is based on fields within the client certificates.
Note: Some vendors when doing client certificate authentication expect the client username to be a field in the CSR. While the CN and UID are pre-generated, many of the user populated fields can be used instead if desired. If a node-unique field such as CN is chosen, users must be created on a per node basis for access control. If a cluster-unique field is chosen, customers must create a user for each cluster.
Send the CSRs to a certificate authority (CA) and get them signed.
- Safenet
  The SafeNet KeySecure key management server includes a local CA option to generate signed certificates, or you can use other third-party vendors to create the signed certificates.
  
  To enable FIPS compliance, add user nutanix to the CA that signed the CSR. Under Security > High Security > FIPS Compliance click Set FIPS Compliant .
Note: Some CAs strip the UID field when returning a signed certificate.
To comply with FIPS, Nutanix does not support the creation of global keys.
In the SafeNet KeySecure management console, go to Device > Key Server > Key Server > KMIP Properties > Authentication Settings .

Then do the following:
- Set the Username Field in Client Certificate option to UID (User ID) .
- Set the Client Certificate Authentication option to Used for SSL session and username .
If you do not perform these settings, the KMS creates global keys and fails to encrypt the clusters or containers using the software only method.
Upload the signed SSL certificates (one for each node) and the certificate for the CA to the cluster. These certificates are used to authenticate with the key management server.
Generate keys (KEKs) for the SED drives and upload those keys to the key management server.

Configuring Data-at-Rest Encryption (SEDs)

Before you begin

About this task

To configure cluster encryption, do the following:

Procedure

Click the gear icon in the main menu and then select Data at Rest Encryption in the Settings page.
The Data at Rest Encryption dialog box appears. Initially, encryption is not configured, and a message to that effect appears.
Figure. Data at Rest Encryption Screen (initial) Click to enlarge
Click the Create Configuration button.
Clicking the Continue Configuration button, configure it link, or Edit Config button does the same thing, which is display the Data-at-Rest Encryption configuration page.
Select the Encryption Type as Drive-based Encryption . This option is displayed only when SEDs are detected.
In the Certificate Signing Request Information section, do the following:

Figure. Certificate Signing Request Section Click to enlarge
1. Enter appropriate credentials for your organization in the Email , Organization , Organizational Unit , Country Code , City , and State fields and then click the Save CSR Info button.
  The entered information is saved and is used when creating a certificate signing request (CSR). To specify more than one Organization Unit name, enter a comma separated list.
  Note: You can update this information until an SSL certificate for a node is uploaded to the cluster, at which point the information cannot be changed (the fields become read only) without first deleting the uploaded certificates.
2. Click the Download CSRs button, and then in the new screen click the Download CSRs for all nodes to download a file with CSRs for all the nodes or click a Download link to download a file with the CSR for that node.
  
  Figure. Download CSRs Screen Click to enlarge
3. Send the files with the CSRs to the desired certificate authority.
  The certificate authority creates the signed certificates and returns them to you. Store the returned SSL certificates and the CA certificate where you can retrieve them in step 6.
  - The certificates must be X.509 format. (DER, PKCS, and PFX formats are not supported.)
  - The certificate and the private key should be in separate files.
In the Key Management Server section, do the following:

Figure. Key Management Server Section Click to enlarge
1. Click the Add New Key Management Server button.
2. In the Add a New Key Management Server screen, enter a name, IP address, and port number for the key management server in the appropriate fields.
  The port is where the key management server is configured to listen for the KMIP protocol. The default port number is 5696. For the complete list of required ports, see Port Reference.
  - If you have configured multiple key management servers in cluster mode, click the Add Address button to provide the addresses for each key management server device in the cluster.
  - If you have stand-alone key management servers, click the Save button. Repeat this step ( Add New Key Management Server button) for each key management server device to add.
    Note: If your key management servers are configured into a leader/follower (active/passive) relationship and the architecture is such that the follower cannot accept write requests, do not add the follower into this configuration. The system sends requests (read or write) to any configured key management server, so both read and write access is needed for key management servers added here.
    
    Note: To prevent potential configuration problems, always use the Add Address button for key management servers configured into cluster mode. Only a stand-alone key management server should be added as a new server.
  Figure. Add Key Management Server Screen Click to enlarge
3. To edit any settings, click the pencil icon for that entry in the key management server list to redisplay the add page and then click the Save button after making the change. To delete an entry, click the X icon.
In the Add a New Certificate Authority section, enter a name for the CA, click the Upload CA Certificate button, and select the certificate for the CA used to sign your node certificates (see step 4c). Repeat this step for all CAs that were used in the signing process.

Figure. Certificate Authority Section Click to enlarge
Go to the Key Management Server section (see step 5) and do the following:
1. Click the Manage Certificates button for a key management server.
2. In the Manage Signed Certificates screen, upload the node certificates either by clicking the Upload Files button to upload all the certificates in one step or by clicking the Upload link (not shown in the figure) for each node individually.
3. Test that the certificates are correct either by clicking the Test all nodes button to test the certificates for all nodes in one step or by clicking the Test CS (or Re-Test CS ) link for each node individually. A status of Verified indicates the test was successful for that node.
Note: Before removing a drive or node from an SED cluster, ensure that the testing is successful and the status is Verified . Otherwise, the drive or node will be locked.
1. Repeat this step for each key management server.
Note: Before removing a drive or node from an SED cluster, ensure that the testing is successful and the status is Verified . Otherwise, the drive or node will be locked.

Figure. Upload Signed Certificates Screen Click to enlarge
When the configuration is complete, click the Protect button on the opening page to enable encryption protection for the cluster.
A clear key icon appears on the page.
Figure. Data-at-Rest Encryption Screen (unprotected) Click to enlarge

The key turns gold when cluster encryption is enabled.
Note: If changes are made to the configuration after protection has been enabled, such as adding a new key management server, you must rekey the disks for the modification to take full effect (see Changing Key Encryption Keys (SEDs)).

Figure. Data-at-Rest Encryption Screen (protected) Click to enlarge

Enabling/Disabling Encryption (SEDs)

About this task

To enable or disable data-at-rest encryption after it has been configured for the cluster (see Configuring Data-at-Rest Encryption (SEDs)), do the following:

Note: The key management server must be accessible to disable encryption.

Procedure

Click the gear icon in the main menu and then select Data at Rest Encryption in the Settings page.
In the Cluster Encryption page, do one of the following:
- If cluster encryption is enabled currently, click the Unprotect button to disable it.
- If cluster encryption is disabled currently, click the Protect button to enable it.
Enabling cluster encryption enforces the use of secured keys to access data on the SEDs in the cluster; disabling cluster encryption means the data can be accessed without providing a key.

Changing Key Encryption Keys (SEDs)

About this task

To change the KEKs for a cluster, do the following:

Procedure

Click the gear icon in the main menu and then select Data at Rest Encryption in the Settings page.
In the Cluster Encryption page, select Manage Keys and click the Rekey All Disks button under Hardware Encryption .
Rekeying a cluster under heavy workloads may result in higher-than-normal IO latency, and some data may become temporarily unavailable. To continue with the rekey operation, click Confirm Rekey .
This step resets the KEKs for all the self encrypting disks in the cluster.
Note:
- The Rekey All Disks button appears only when cluster protection is active.
- If the cluster is already protected and a new key management server is added, you must press the Rekey All Disks button to use this new key management server for storing secrets.
Figure. Cluster Encryption Screen Click to enlarge

Destroying Data (SEDs)

About this task

To crypto-erase a SED, do the following:

Procedure

In the web console, go to the Hardware dashboard and select the Diagram tab.
Select the target disk in the diagram (upper section of screen) and then click the Remove Disk button (at the bottom right of the following diagram).

As part of the disk removal process, the DEK for that disk is automatically cycled on the drive controller. The previous DEK is lost and all new disk reads are indecipherable. The key encryption key (KEK) is unchanged, and the new DEK is protected using the current KEK.

Note: When a node is removed, all SEDs in that node are crypto-erased automatically as part of the node removal process.

Figure. Removing a Disk Click to enlarge

Data-at-Rest Encryption (Software Only)

For customers who require enhanced data security, Nutanix provides a software-only encryption option for data-at-rest security (SEDs not required) included in the Ultimate license.

Note: On G6 platforms running the AOS Pro license, you can use software encryption by installing an add-on license.

Software encryption using a local key manager (LKM) supports the following features:

For AHV, the data can be encrypted on a cluster level. This is applicable to an empty cluster or a cluster with existing data.
For ESXi and Hyper-V, the data can be encrypted on a cluster or container level. The cluster or container can be empty or contain existing data. Consider the following points for container level encryption.
- Once you enable container level encryption, you can not change the encryption type to cluster level encryption later.
- After the encryption is enabled, the administrator needs to enable encryption for every new container.
Data is encrypted at all times.
Data is inaccessible in the event of drive or node theft.
Data on a drive can be securely destroyed.
Re-key of the leader encryption key at arbitrary times is supported.
Cluster’s native KMS is supported.

Note: In case of mixed hypervisors, only the following combinations are supported.

ESXi and AHV
Hyper-V and AHV

Note: This solution provides enhanced security for data on a drive, but it does not secure data in transit.

Data Encryption Model

This configuration involves the following workflow:

For software encryption, data protection must be enabled for the cluster before any data is encrypted. Also, the Controller VM must provide the proper key to access the data.
A symmetric data encryption key (DEK) such as AES 256 is applied to all data being written to or read from the disk. The key is known only to AOS, so there is no way to access the data directly from the drive.
In case of an external KMS:
Each node maintains a set of certificates and keys in order to establish a secure connection with the key management server.

Only one key management server device is required, but it is recommended that multiple devices are employed so the key management server is not a potential single point of failure. Configure the key manager server devices to work in clustered mode so they can be added to the cluster configuration as a single entity that is resilient to a single failure.

Configuring Data-at-Rest Encryption (Software Only)

Nutanix offers a software-only option to perform data-at-rest encryption in a cluster or container.

Before you begin

Nutanix provides the option to choose the KMS type as the Native KMS (local), Native KMS (remote), or External KMS.
Cluster Localised Key Management Service (Native KMS (local)) requires a minimum of 3-node cluster. 1-node and 2-node clusters are not supported.
Software encryption using Native KMS is supported for remote office/branch office (ROBO) deployments using the Native KMS (remote) KMS type.
For external KMS, a separate key management server is required to store the keys outside of the cluster. Each key management server device must be configured and addressable through the network. It is recommended that multiple key manager server devices be configured to work in clustered mode so they can be added to the cluster configuration as a single entity that is resilient to a single failure.
Caution: DO NOT HOST A KEY MANAGEMENT SERVER VM ON THE ENCRYPTED CLUSTER THAT IS USING IT!!
Doing so could result in complete data loss if there is a problem with the VM while it is hosted in that cluster.

Note: You must install the license of the external key manager for all nodes in the cluster. See Compatibility and Interoperability Matrix for a complete list of the supported key management servers. For instructions on how to configure a key management server, refer to the documentation from the appropriate vendor.
This feature requires an Ultimate license, or as an Add-On to the PRO license (for the latest generation of products). Ensure that you have procure the add-on license key to use the data-at-rest encryption using AOS, contact Sales team to procure the license.
Caution: For security, you can't disable software-only data-at-rest encryption once it is enabled.

About this task

To configure cluster or container encryption, do the following:

Procedure

Click the gear icon in the main menu and then select Data at Rest Encryption in the Settings page.
The Data at Rest Encryption dialog box appears. Initially, encryption is not configured, and a message to that effect appears.
Figure. Data at Rest Encryption Screen (initial) Click to enlarge
Click the Create Configuration button.
Clicking the Continue Configuration button, configure it link, or Edit Config button does the same thing, which is display the Data-at-Rest Encryption configuration page
Select the Encryption Type as Encrypt the entire cluster or Encrypt storage containers . Then click Save Encryption Type .
Caution: You can enable encryption for the entire cluster or just the container. However, if you enable encryption on a container; and there are any encryption key issue like loss of encryption key, you can encounter the following:
- The entire cluster data is affected, not just the encrypted container.
- All the user VMs of the cluster will not able to access the data.
The hardware option is displayed only when SEDs are detected. Else, software based encryption type will be used by default.
Figure. Select encryption type Click to enlarge
Note: For ESXi and Hyper-V, the data can be encrypted on a cluster or container level. The cluster or container can be empty or contain existing data. Consider the following points for container level encryption.
- Once you enable container level encryption, you can not change the encryption type to cluster level encryption later.
- After the encryption is enabled, the administrator needs to enable encryption for every new container.
To enable encryption for every new storage container, do the following:
1. In the web console, select Storage from the pull-down main menu (upper left of screen) and then select the Table and Storage Container tabs.
2. To enable encryption, select the target storage container and then click the Update link.
  The Update Storage Container window appears.
3. In the Advanced Settings area, select the Enable check box to enable encryption for the storage container you selected.
  
  Figure. Update storage container Click to enlarge
4. Click Save to complete.
Select the Key Management Service.
To keep the keys safe with the native KMS, select Native KMS (local) or Native KMS (remote) and click Save KMS type . If you select this option, skip to step 9 to complete the configuration.
Note:
- Cluster Localised Key Management Service ( Native KMS (local) ) requires a minimum of 3-node cluster. 1-node and 2-node clusters are not supported.
- For enhanced security of ROBO environments (typically, 1 or 2 node clusters), select the Native KMS (remote) for software based encryption of ROBO clusters managed by Prism Central.
  Note: This is option is available only if the cluster is registered to Prism Central.
For external KMS type, select the External KMS option and click Save KMS type . Continue to step 5 for further configuration.
Figure. Select KMS Type Click to enlarge

Note: You can switch between the KMS types at a later stage if the specific KMS prerequisites are met, see Switching between Native Key Manager and External Key Manager.
In the Certificate Signing Request Information section, do the following:

Figure. Certificate Signing Request Section Click to enlarge
1. Enter appropriate credentials for your organization in the Email , Organization , Organizational Unit , Country Code , City , and State fields and then click the Save CSR Info button.
  The entered information is saved and is used when creating a certificate signing request (CSR). To specify more than one Organization Unit name, enter a comma separated list.
  Note: You can update this information until an SSL certificate for a node is uploaded to the cluster, at which point the information cannot be changed (the fields become read only) without first deleting the uploaded certificates.
2. Click the Download CSRs button, and then in the new screen click the Download CSRs for all nodes to download a file with CSRs for all the nodes or click a Download link to download a file with the CSR for that node.
  
  Figure. Download CSRs Screen Click to enlarge
3. Send the files with the CSRs to the desired certificate authority.
  The certificate authority creates the signed certificates and returns them to you. Store the returned SSL certificates and the CA certificate where you can retrieve them in step 5.
  - The certificates must be X.509 format. (DER, PKCS, and PFX formats are not supported.)
  - The certificate and the private key should be in separate files.
In the Key Management Server section, do the following:

Figure. Key Management Server Section Click to enlarge
1. Click the Add New Key Management Server button.
2. In the Add a New Key Management Server screen, enter a name, IP address, and port number for the key management server in the appropriate fields.
  The port is where the key management server is configured to listen for the KMIP protocol. The default port number is 5696. For the complete list of required ports, see Port Reference.
  - If you have configured multiple key management servers in cluster mode, click the Add Address button to provide the addresses for each key management server device in the cluster.
  - If you have stand-alone key management servers, click the Save button. Repeat this step ( Add New Key Management Server button) for each key management server device to add.
    Note: If your key management servers are configured into a master/slave (active/passive) relationship and the architecture is such that the follower cannot accept write requests, do not add the follower into this configuration. The system sends requests (read or write) to any configured key management server, so both read and write access is needed for key management servers added here.
    
    Note: To prevent potential configuration problems, always use the Add Address button for key management servers configured into cluster mode. Only a stand-alone key management server should be added as a new server.
  Figure. Add Key Management Server Screen Click to enlarge
3. To edit any settings, click the pencil icon for that entry in the key management server list to redisplay the add page and then click the Save button after making the change. To delete an entry, click the X icon.
In the Add a New Certificate Authority section, enter a name for the CA, click the Upload CA Certificate button, and select the certificate for the CA used to sign your node certificates (see step 3c). Repeat this step for all CAs that were used in the signing process.

Figure. Certificate Authority Section Click to enlarge
Go to the Key Management Server section (see step 4) and do the following:
1. Click the Manage Certificates button for a key management server.
2. In the Manage Signed Certificates screen, upload the node certificates either by clicking the Upload Files button to upload all the certificates in one step or by clicking the Upload link (not shown in the figure) for each node individually.
3. Test that the certificates are correct either by clicking the Test all nodes button to test the certificates for all nodes in one step or by clicking the Test CS (or Re-Test CS ) link for each node individually. A status of Verified indicates the test was successful for that node.
4. Repeat this step for each key management server.
Note: Before removing a drive or node from an SED cluster, ensure that the testing is successful and the status is Verified . Otherwise, the drive or node will be locked.

Figure. Upload Signed Certificates Screen Click to enlarge
When the configuration is complete, click the Enable Encryption button.
Enable Encryption window is displayed.
Figure. Data-at-Rest Encryption Screen (unprotected) Click to enlarge

Caution: To help ensure that your data is secure, you cannot disable software-only data-at-rest encryption once it is enabled. Nutanix recommends regularly backing up your data, encryption keys, and key management server.
Enter ENCRYPT .
Click Encrypt button.
The data-at-rest encryption is enabled. To view the status of the encrypted cluster or container, go to Data at Rest Encryption in the Settings menu.
When you enable encryption, a low priority background task runs to encrypt all the unencrypted data. This task is designed to take advantage of any available CPU space to encrypt the unencrypted data within a reasonable time. If the system is occupied with other workloads, the background task consumes less CPU space. Depending on the amount of data in the cluster, the background task can take 24 to 36 hours to complete.

Note: If changes are made to the configuration after protection has been enabled, such as adding a new key management server, you must do the rekey operation for the modification to take full effect. In case of EKM, rekey to change the KEKs stored in the EKM. In case of LKM, rekey to change the leader key used by native key manager, see Changing Key Encryption Keys (Software Only)) for details.

Note: Once the task to encrypt a cluster begins, you cannot cancel the operation. Even if you stop and restart the cluster, the system resumes the operation.

Figure. Data-at-Rest Encryption Screen (protected) Click to enlarge

Switching between Native Key Manager and External Key Manager

Note:

The Native KMS requires a minimum of 3-node cluster.
For external KMS, a separate key management server is required to store the keys outside of the cluster. Each key management server device must be configured and addressable through the network. It is recommended that multiple key manager server devices be configured to work in clustered mode so they can be added to the cluster configuration as a single entity that is resilient to a single failure.
It is recommended that you backup and save the encryption keys with identifiable names before and after changing the KMS type. For backing up keys, see Backing up Keys.

To change the KMS type, change the KMS selection by editing the encryption configuration. For details, see step 3 in Configuring Data-at-Rest Encryption (Software Only) section.

Note: This operation completes in a few minutes, depending on the number of encrypted objects and network speed.

Changing Key Encryption Keys (Software Only)

About this task

To change the KEKs for a cluster, do the following:

Procedure

Click the gear icon in the main menu and then select Data at Rest Encryption in the Settings page.
In the Cluster Encryption page, select Manage Keys and click the Rekey button under Software Encryption .

Note: The Rekey button appears only when cluster protection is active.

Note: If the cluster is already protected and a new key management server is added, you must press the Rekey button to use this new key management server for storing secrets.

Figure. Cluster Encryption Screen Click to enlarge

Note: The system automatically regenerates the leader key yearly.

Destroying Data (Software Only)

About this task

To crypto-erase the container or cluster, do the following:

Procedure

Delete the storage container or destroy the cluster.
- For information on how to delete a storage container, see Modifying a Storage Container in the Prism Web Console Guide .
- For information on how to destroy a cluster, see Destroying a Cluster in the Acropolis Advanced Administration Guide .
Note:
When you delete a storage container, the Curator scans and deletes the DEK and KEK keys automatically.

When you destroy a cluster, then:
- the Native Key Manager (local) destroys the master key shares and the encrypted DEKs/KEKs.
- the Native Key Manager (remote) retains the root key on the PC if the cluster is still registered to a PC when it is destroyed. You must unregister a cluster from the PC and then destroy the cluster to delete the root key.
- the External Key Manager deletes the encrypted DEKs. However, the KEKs remain on the EKM. You must use an external key manager UI to delete the KEKs.
Delete the key backup files, if any.

Switching from SED-EKM to Software-LKM

This section describes the steps to switch from SED and External KMS combination to software-only and LKM combination.

About this task

To switch from SED-EKM to Software-LKM, do the following.

Procedure

Perform the steps for the software-only encryption with External KMS. For more information, see Configuring Data-at-Rest Encryption (Software Only).
After the background task completes, all the data gets encrypted by the software. The time taken to complete the task depends on the amount of data and foreground I/O operations in the cluster.
Disable the SED encryption. Ensure that all the disks are unprotected.
For more information, see Enabling/Disabling Encryption (SEDs).
Switch the key management server from the External KMS to Local Key Manager. For more information, see Switching between Native Key Manager and External Key Manager.

Configuring Dual Encryption

About this task

Dual Encryption protects the data on the clusters using both SED and software-only encryption. An external key manager is used to store the keys for dual encryption, the Native KMS is not supported.

To configure dual encryption, do the following:

Procedure

Click the gear icon in the main menu and then select Data at Rest Encryption in the Settings page.
In the Cluster Encryption page, check to enable both Drive-based and Software-based encryption.
Click Save Encryption Type .

Figure. Dual Encryption Click to enlarge
Continue with the rest of the encryption configuration, see:
- Configuring Data-at-Rest Encryption (Software Only)
- Configuring Data-at-Rest Encryption (SEDs)

Backing up Keys

About this task

You can take a backup of encryption keys:

when you enable Software-only Encryption for the first time
after you regenerate the keys

Backing up encryption keys is critical in the very unlikely situation in which keys get corrupted.

You can download key backup file for a cluster on a PE or all clusters on a PC. To download key backup file for all clusters, see Taking a Consolidated Backup of Keys (Prism Central) .

To download the key backup file for a cluster, do the following:

Procedure

Log on to the Prism Element web console.
Click the gear icon in the main menu and then select Data at Rest Encryption in the Settings page.
In the Cluster Encryption page, select Manage Keys .
Enter and confirm the password.
Click the Download Key Backup button.

The backup file is saved in the default download location on your local machine.

Note: Ensure you move the backup key file to a safe location.

Taking a Consolidated Backup of Keys (Prism Central)

If you are using the Native KMS option with software encryption for your clusters, you can take a consolidated backup of all the keys from Prism Central.

About this task

To take a consolidated backup of keys for software encryption-enabled clusters (Native KMS-only), do the following:

Procedure

Log on to the Prism Central web console.
Click the hamburger icon, then select Clusters > List view.
Select a cluster, go to Actions , then select Manage & Backup Keys .
Download the backup keys:
1. In Password , enter your password.
2. In Confirm Password , reenter your password.
3. To change the encryption key, select the Rekey Encryption Key (KEK) box .
4. To download the backup key, click Backup Key .
Note: Ensure that you move the backup key file to a safe location.

Importing Keys

You can import the encryption keys from backup. You must note the specific commands in this topic if you backed up your keys to an external key manager (EKM)

About this task

Note: Nutanix recommends that you contact Nutanix Support for this operation. Extended cluster downtime might result if you perform this task incorrectly.

Procedure

Log on to any Controller VM in the cluster with SSH.
Retrieve the encryption keys stored on the cluster and verify that all the keys you want to retrieve are listed.
In this example, the password is Nutanix.123 . date is the timestamp portion of the backup file name.
```
mantle_recovery_util --backup_file_path=/home/nutanix/encryption_key_backup_date \
--password=Nutanix.123 --list_key_ids=true 
```

Import the keys into the cluster.

mantle_recovery_util --backup_file_path=/home/nutanix/key_backup \
--password=Nutanix.123 --interactive_mode

If you are using an external key manager such as IBM Security Key Lifecycle Manager, Gemalto Safenet, or Vormetric Data Security Manager, use the --store_kek_remotely option to import the keys into the cluster.
In this example, date is the timestamp portion of the backup file name.
```
mantle_recovery_util --backup_file_path path/encryption_key_backup_date \
 --password key_password --store_kek_remotely
```

Securing Traffic Through Network Segmentation

Network segmentation enhances security, resilience, and cluster performance by isolating a subset of traffic to its own network.

You can achieve traffic isolation in one or more of the following ways:

Isolating Backplane Traffic by using VLANs (Logical Segmentation)

The traffic associated with the CVM interfaces and host interfaces on the backplane network can be secured further by placing those interfaces on a separate VLAN.

In this type of segmentation, both network segments continue to use the same external bridge and therefore use the same set of physical uplinks. For physical separation, see Physically Isolating the Backplane Traffic on an AHV Cluster.

Isolating backplane traffic from management traffic requires minimal configuration through the Prism web console. No manual host (hypervisor) configuration steps are required.

For information about isolating backplane traffic, see Isolating the Backplane Traffic Logically on an Existing Cluster (VLAN-Based Segmentation Only).

Isolating Backplane Traffic Physically (Physical Segementation)

For more information about physically isolating backplane traffic, see Physically Isolating the Backplane Traffic on an AHV Cluster.

Isolating service-specific traffic

For information about isolating service-specific traffic, see Isolating Service-Specific Traffic.

Isolating Stargate-to-Stargate traffic over RDMA

For information about isolating backplane traffic on an RDMA cluster, see Isolating the Backplane Traffic on an Existing RDMA Cluster.

Traffic Types In a Segmented Network

The traffic entering and leaving a Nutanix cluster can be broadly classified into the following types:

Backplane traffic: Backplane traffic is intra-cluster traffic that is necessary for the cluster to function, and it comprises traffic between CVMs and traffic between CVMs and hosts for functions such as storage RF replication, host management, high availability, and so on. This traffic uses eth2 on the CVM. In AHV, VM live migration traffic is also backplane, and uses the AHV backplane interface, VLAN, and virtual switch when configured. For nodes that have RDMA-enabled NICs, the CVMs use a separate RDMA LAN for Stargate-to-Stargate communications.
Management traffic: Management traffic is administrative traffic, or traffic associated with Prism and SSH connections, remote logging, SNMP, and so on. The current implementation simplifies the definition of management traffic to be any traffic that is not on the backplane network, and therefore also includes communications between user VMs and CVMs. This traffic uses eth0 on the CVM.
Traffic on the management plane can be further isolated per service or feature. An example of this type of traffic is the traffic that the cluster receives from external iSCSI initiators (Nutanix Volumes iSCSI traffic). For a list of services supported in the current release, see Cluster Services That Support Traffic Isolation.

Segmented and Unsegmented Networks

In the default unsegmented network in a Nutanix cluster (ESXi and AHV), the Controller VM has two virtual network interfaces—eth0 and eth1.

Interface eth0 is connected to the default external virtual switch, which is in turn connected to the external network through a bond or NIC team that contains the host physical uplinks.

Interface eth1 is connected to an internal network that enables the CVM to communicate with the hypervisor.

In the below unsegmented network (see figure Unsegmented Network - ESXi Cluster , and Unsegmented Network - AHV Cluster ) all external CVM traffic, whether backplane or management traffic, uses interface eth0. These interfaces are on the default VLAN on the default virtual switch.

This figure shows an unsegmented network AHV cluster.

In AHV, VM live migration traffic is also backplane, and uses the AHV backplane interface, VLAN, and virtual switch when configured.

Network with Segmentation

The following figure shows an implementation scenario where the backplane and service specific segmentation is configured with two vSwitches on ESXi hypervisors.

Here are the CVM to ESXi hypervisor connection details:

The eth0 vNIC on the CVM and vmk0 on the host are carrying management traffic and connected to the hypervisor through the existing PGm (portgroup) on vSwitch0.
The eth2 vNIC on the CVM and vmk2 on the host are carrying backplane traffic and connected to the hypervisor through a new user created PGb on the existing vSwitch.
The ntnx0 vNIC on the CVM is carrying iSCSI traffic and connected to the hypervisor through PGi on the vSwitch1. No new vmkernel adapter is required.
The ntnx1 vNIC on the CVM is carrying DR traffic and connected to the hypervisor through PGd on the vSwitch2. Here as well, there is no new vmkernel adapter required.

The following figure shows an implementation scenario where the backplane and service specific segmentation is configured with two vSwitches on an AHV hypervisors.

Here are the CVM to AHV hypervisor connection details:

The eth0 vNIC on the CVM is carrying management traffic and connected to the hypervisor through the existing vnet0.
Other vNICs such as eth2, ntnx0, and ntnx1 are connected to the hypervisor through the auto created interfaces on either the existing or new vSwitch.

Note: In the above figure the interface name 'br0-bp' is read as 'br0-backplane'.

Table 1.
Implementation Scenarios	vNICs on CVM	Connected to ESXi Hypervisor	Connected to AHV Hypervisor
Backplane Segmentation with 1 vSwitch	eth0: DR, iSCSI, andManagement traffic	vmk0 via existing PGm on vSwitch	Existing vnet0
Backplane Segmentation with 1 vSwitch	eth2: Backplane traffic	New vmk2 via PGb on vSwitch0 CVM vNIC via PGb on vSwitch0	Auto created interfaces on bridge br0
Backplane Segmentation with 2 vSwitches	eth0: Management traffic	vmk0 via existing PGm on vSwitch0	Existing vnet0
Backplane Segmentation with 2 vSwitches	eth2: Backplane traffic	New vmk2 via PGb on new vSwitch CVM vNIC via PGb on new vSwitch	Auto created interfaces on new virtual switch
Service Specific Segmentation for Volumes with 1 vSwitch	eth0: DR, Backplane, and Management traffic	vmk0 via existing PGm on vSwitch0	Existing vnet0
Service Specific Segmentation for Volumes with 1 vSwitch	ntnx0: iSCSI (Volumes) traffic	CVM vNIC via PGi on vSwitch0	Auto created interface on existing br0
Service Specific Segmentation for Volumes with 2 vSwitches	eth0: DR, Backplane, and Management traffic	vmk0 via existing PGm on vSwitch0	Existing vnet0
Service Specific Segmentation for Volumes with 2 vSwitches	ntnx0: iSCSI (Volumes) traffic	CVM vNIC via PGi on new vSwitch	Auto created interface on new virtual switch
Service Specific Segmentation for DR with 1 vSwitch	eth0: iSCSI, Backplane, and Management traffic	vmk0 via existing PGm on vSwitch0	Existing vnet0
Service Specific Segmentation for DR with 1 vSwitch	ntnx1: DR traffic	CVM vNIC via PGd on vSwitch0	Auto created interface on existing br0
Service Specific Segmentation for DR with 2 vSwitches	eth0: iSCSI, Backplane, and Management traffic	vmk0 via existing PGm on vSwitch0	Existing vnet0
Service Specific Segmentation for DR with 2 vSwitches	ntnx1: DR traffic	CVM vNIC via PGd on new vSwitch	Auto created interface on new virtual switch
Backplane and Service Specific Segmentation with 1 vSwitch	eth0: Management traffic	vmk0 via existing PGm on vSwitch0	Existing vnet0
	eth2: Backplane traffic	New vmk2 via PGb on vSwitch0 CVM vNIC via PGb on vSwitch0	Auto created interfaces on br0
	ntnx0: iSCSI traffic	CVM vNIC via PGi on vSwitch0	Auto created interface on br0
	ntnx1: DR traffic	CVM vNIC via PGd on vSwitch0	Auto created interface on br0
Backplane and Service Specific Segmentation with 2 vSwitches	eth0: Management traffic	vmk0 via existing PGm on vSwitch0	Existing vnet0
	eth2: Backplane traffic	New vmk2 via PGb on new vSwitch CVM vNIC via PGb on new vSwitch	Auto created interfaces on new virtual switch
	ntnx0: iSCSI traffic	CVM vNIC via PGi on vSwitch1 No new user defined vmkernel adapter is required.	Auto created interface on new virtual switch
	ntnx1: DR traffic	CVM vNIC via PGd on vSwitch2. No new user defined vmkernel adapter is required.	Auto created interface in new virtual switch

Implementation Considerations

Supported Environment

Network segmentation is supported in the following environment:

The hypervisor must be one of the following:
- For network segmentation by traffic type (separating backplane traffic from management traffic):
  - AHV
  - ESXi
  - Hyper-V
- For service-specific traffic isolation:
  - AHV
  - ESXi
For logical network segmentation, AOS version must be 5.5 or later. For physical segmentation and service-specific traffic isolation, the AOS version must be 5.11 or later.
RDMA requirements:
- Network segmentation is supported with RDMA for AHV and ESXi hypervisors only.
- For more information about RDMA, see Remote Direct Memory Access in the NX Series Hardware Administration Guide .

Prerequisites

For Nutanix Volumes

For Disaster Recovery

Ensure that the VLAN and subnet that you plan to use for the network segment are routable.
Make sure that you have a pool of IP addresses to specify when configuring segmentation. For each cluster, you need n+1 IP addresses, where n is the number of nodes in the cluster. The additional IP address is for the virtual IP address requirement.
Enable network segmentation for disaster recovery at both sites (local and remote) before configuring remote sites at those sites.

Limitations

For Nutanix Volumes

If network segmentation is enabled for Volumes, volume group attachments are not recovered during VM recovery.
Nutanix service VMs such as Objects worker nodes continue to communicate with the CVM eth0 interface when using Volumes for iSCSI traffic. Other external clients such as Files use the new service-specific CVM interface.

For Disaster Recovery

The system does not support configuring a Leap DR and DR service specific traffic isolation together.

Cluster Services That Support Traffic Isolation

You can isolate traffic associated with the following services to its own virtual network:

Management (The default network that cannot be moved from CVM eth0)
Backplane
RDMA
Service Specific Disaster Recovery
Service Specific Volumes

Configurations in Which Network Segmentation Is Not Supported

Network segmentation is not supported in the following configurations:

Clusters on which the CVMs have a manually created eth2 interface.
Clusters on which the eth2 interface on one or more CVMs have been assigned an IP address manually. During an upgrade to an AOS release that supports network segmentation, an eth2 interface is created on each CVM in the cluster. Even though the cluster does not use these interfaces until you configure network segmentation, you must not manually configure these interfaces in any way.

Caution:

Configuring the Network on an AHV Host

About this task

For information about the procedures to create, update and delete a virtual switch in Prism Element Web Console, see Configuring a Virtual Network for Guest VMs in the Prism Web Console Guide .

Note: The term unconfigured node in this procedure refers to a node that is not part of a cluster and is being prepared for cluster expansion.

To configure host networking for physical and service-specific network segmentation, do the following:

Procedure

If you are segmenting traffic on nodes that are already part of a cluster, do the following:
1. From the default virtual switch vs0, remove the uplinks that you want to add to the virtual switch you created by updating the default virtual switch.
  
  For information about updating the default virtual switch vs0 to remove the uplinks, see Creating or Updating a Virtual Switch in the Prism Web Console Guide .
2. Create a virtual switch for the backplane traffic or service whose traffic you want to isolate.
  Add the uplinks to the new virtual switch.
  For information about creating a new virtual switch, see Creating or Updating a Virtual Switch in the Prism Web Console Guide .
If you are segmenting traffic on an unconfigured node (new host) that is not part of a cluster, do the following:
1. Create a bridge for the backplane traffic or service whose traffic you want to isolate by logging on to the new AHV host.
```
ovs-vsctl add-br br1
```
2. From the default bridge br0, log on to the host CVM and keep only eth0 and eth1 in br0.
```
manage_ovs --bridge_name br0 --interfaces eth0,eth1 --bond_name br0-up --bond_mode active-backup update_uplinks
```
3. Log on to the host CVM and then add eth2 and eth3 to the uplink bond of br1.
```
manage_ovs --bridge_name br1 --interfaces eth2,eth3 --bond_name br1-up --bond_mode active-backup update_uplinks
```
  Note: If this step is not done correctly, a network loop can be created that causes a network outage. Ensure that no other uplink interfaces exist on this bridge before adding the new interfaces, and always add interfaces into a bond.

What to do next

Prism can configure a VLAN only on AHV hosts. Therefore, if the hypervisor is ESXi, in addition to configuring the VLAN on the physical switch, make sure to configure the VLAN on the port group.

If you are performing physical network segmentation, see Physically Isolating the Backplane Traffic on an Existing Cluster.

If you are performing service-specific traffic isolation, see Service-Specific Traffic Isolation.

Network Segmentation for Traffic Types (Backplane, Management, and RDMA)

You can segment the network on a Nutanix cluster in the following ways:

You can segment the network on an existing cluster by using the Prism web console.
You can segment the network when creating a cluster by using Nutanix Foundation 3.11.2 or higher versions.

Isolating the Backplane Traffic Logically on an Existing Cluster (VLAN-Based Segmentation Only)

Before you begin

If your cluster has RDMA-enabled NICs, follow the procedure in Isolating the Backplane Traffic on an Existing RDMA Cluster.

For ESXi clusters, it is mandatory to create and manage port groups that networking uses for CVM and backplane networking. Therefore, ensure that you create port groups on the default virtual switch vs0 for the ESXi hosts and CVMs.
Since backplane traffic segmentation is logical, it is based on the VLAN that is tagged for the port groups. Therefore, while creating the port groups ensure that you tag the new port groups created for the ESXi hosts and CVMs with the appropriate VLAN ID. Consult your networking team to acquire the necessary VLANs for use with Nutanix nodes.
For new backplane networks, you must specify a non-routable subnet. The interfaces on the backplane network are automatically assigned IP addresses from this subnet, so reserve the entire subnet for the backplane network segmentation. See the Configuring Backplane IP Pool topic to create an IP pool for backplane interfaces.

About this task

Note: Nutanix does not control these VLAN IDs. Consult your networking team to acquire VLANs for the Management and Backplane networks.

To segment the network on an existing ESXi and Hyper-V clusters for a backplane LAN, do the following:

To segment the network on an existing AHV cluster for a backplane LAN, follow the procedure described in the Physically Isolating the Backplane Traffic on an AHV Cluster topic.

Note:

Procedure

Log on to the Prism web console, click the gear icon in the top-right corner, and then click Network Configuration in the Settings page.
The Network Configuration dialog box appears.
In the Network Configuration > Internal Interfaces > Backplane LAN row, click Configure .
The Create Interface dialog box appears.
In the Create Interface dialog box, provide the necessary information.
- In Subnet IP , specify a non-routable subnet.
  Ensure that the subnet has sufficient IP addresses. The segmentation process requires two IP addresses per node. Reconfiguring the backplane to increase the size of the subnet involves cluster downtime, so you might also want to make sure that the subnet can accommodate new nodes in the future.
- In Netmask , specify the netmask.
- If you want to assign the interfaces on the network to a VLAN, specify the VLAN ID in the VLAN ID field.
  Nutanix recommends that you use a VLAN. If you do not specify a VLAN ID, the default VLAN on the virtual switch is used.
Click Verify and Save .
The network segmentation process creates the backplane network if the network settings that you specified pass validation.

Isolating the Backplane Traffic on an Existing RDMA Cluster

Segment the network on an existing RDMA cluster by using the Prism web console.

About this task

Before you begin

For new RDMA networks, you must specify a non-routable subnet. The interfaces on the backplane network are automatically assigned IP addresses from this subnet, so reserve the entire subnet for the backplane network alone.
If you plan to specify a VLAN for the RDMA network, make sure that the VLAN is configured on the physical switch ports to which the nodes are connected.
Configure the switch interface as a Trunk port.
Ensure that this cluster is configured to support RDMA during installation using the Foundation.

Procedure

Log on to the Prism web console, click the gear icon in the top-right corner, and then click Network Configuration in the Settings page.
The Network Configuration dialog box is displayed.
Click the Internal Interfaces tab.
Click Configure in the RDMA row.
Ensure that you have configured the switch interface as a trunk port.

The Create Interface dialog box is displayed.
Figure. Create Interface Dialog Box Click to enlarge
In the Create Interface dialog box, do the following:
1. In Subnet IP and Netmask , specify a non-routable subnet and netmask, respectively. Make sure that the subnet can accommodate cluster expansion in the future.
2. In VLAN , specify a VLAN ID for the RDMA LAN.
  A VLAN ID is optional but highly recommended for true network segmentation and enhanced security.
3. c. From the PFC list, select the priority flow control value configured on the physical switch port.
Click Verify and Save .
Click Close .

Physically Isolating the Backplane Traffic on an Existing Cluster

By using the Prism web console, you can configure the eth2 interface on a separate virtual switch if you wish to isolate the backplane traffic to a separate physical network.

If you do not configure as separate virtual switch, the backplane traffic uses another VLAN in the default switch for VLAN-based traffic isolation.

A virtual switch is known as the following in different hypervisors.


Hypervisor	Virtual Switch
AHV	Virtual Switch
ESXi	vSwitch
Hyper-V	Hyper-V Virtual Switch

Network segmentation process creates a separate network for backplane communications on the new virtual switch. The segmentation process places the CVM eth2 interfaces and the host interfaces on the newly created network. Specify a subnet with a network mask and, optionally, a VLAN ID. From the specified subnet or an IP Pool assign IP addresses to each new interface in the new network. You require a minimum of two IP addresses per node.

If you specify the optional VLAN ID, the newly created interfaces are placed on VLAN.

Nutanix highly recommends a separate VLAN for the backplane network to achieve true segmentation.

Requirements and Limitations

Ensure that physical isolation of backplane traffic is supported by the AOS version deployed.
Ensure that you configure the network (port groups or bridges) on the hosts and associate the network with the required physical NICs before you enable physical isolation of the backplane traffic.
For AHV, see Configuring the Network on an AHV Host. For ESXI and Hyper-V, see VMware and Microsoft documentation respectively.
Segmenting backplane traffic can involve up to two rolling reboots of the CVMs. The first rolling reboot is done to move the backplane interface (eth2) of the CVM to the selected port group, virtual switch or Hyper-V switch. This is done only for CVM(s) whose backplane interface is not already connected to the selected port group, virtual switch or Hyper-V switch. The second rolling reboot is done to migrate the cluster services to the newly configured backplane interface.

Physically Isolating the Backplane Traffic on an AHV Cluster

Before you begin

On the AHV hosts, do the following:

From the default virtual switch vs0, remove the uplinks (physical NICs) that you want to add to a new virtual switch you create for the backplane traffic in the next step.
Create a virtual switch for the backplane traffic.
Add the uplinks to the new bond when you create the new virtual switch.

See Configuring the Network on an AHV Host for instructions about how to perform these tasks on a host.

Note: Before you perform the following procedure, ensure that the uplinks you added to the virtual switch are in the UP state.

About this task

Perform the following procedure to physically segment the backplane traffic on an AHV cluster.

Procedure

Shut down all the guest VMs in the cluster from within the guest OS or use the Prism Element web console.
Place all nodes of a cluster into the maintenance mode.
1. Use SSH to log on to a Controller VM in the cluster
2. Determine the IP address of the node you want to put into the maintenance mode:
```
nutanix@cvm$ acli host.list
```
  Note the value of Hypervisor IP for the node you want to put in the maintenance mode.
3. Put the node into the maintenance mode:
```
nutanix@cvm$ acli host.enter_maintenance_mode hypervisor-IP-address [wait="{ true | false }" ] [non_migratable_vm_action="{ acpi_shutdown | block }" ]
```
  Note: Never put Controller VM and AHV hosts into maintenance mode on single-node clusters. It is recommended to shutdown user VMs before proceeding with disruptive changes.
  
  Replace host-IP-address with either the IP address or host name of the AHV host you want to shut down.
  
  The following are optional parameters for running the acli host.enter_maintenance_mode command:
  - wait
  - non_migratable_vm_action
  Do not continue if the host has failed to enter the maintenance mode.
4. Verify if the host is in the maintenance mode:
```
nutanix@cvm$ acli host.get host-ip
```
  In the output that is displayed, ensure that node_state equals to EnteredMaintenanceMode and schedulable equals to False .
Enable backplane network segmentation.
1. Log on to the Prism web console, click the gear icon in the top-right corner, and then click Network Configuration in the Settings page.
2. On the Internal Interfaces tab, in the Backplane LAN row, click Configure .
3. In the Backplane LAN dialog box, do the following:
  - In Subnet IP , specify a non-routable subnet that is different from the subnet used by the AHV host and CVMs.
    The AOS CVM default route uses the CVM eth0 interface, and there is no route on the backplane interface. Therefore, Nutanix recommends only using a non-routable subnet for the backplane network. To avoid split routing, do not use a routable subnet for the backplane network.
    
    Make sure that the backplane subnet has a sufficient number of IP addresses. Two IP addresses are required per node. Reconfiguring the backplane to increase the size of the subnet involves cluster downtime, so you might also want to make sure that the subnet can accommodate new nodes in the future.
  - In Netmask , specify the network mask.
  - If you want to assign the interfaces on the network to a VLAN, specify the VLAN ID in the VLAN ID field.
    Nutanix strongly recommends configuring a separate VLAN. If you do not specify a VLAN ID, AOS applies the untagged VLAN on the virtual switch.
  - In the Virtual Switch list, select the virtual switch you created for the backplane traffic.
4. Click Verify and Save .
  If the network settings you specified pass validation, the backplane network is created and the CVMs perform a reboot in a rolling fashion (one at a time), after which the services use the new backplane network. The progress of this operation can be tracked on the Prism tasks page.
Log on to a CVM in the cluster with SSH and stop Acropolis cluster-wide:
```
nutanix@cvm$ allssh genesis stop acropolis 
```
Restart Acropolis cluster-wide:
```
nutanix@cvm$ cluster start 
```
Remove all nodes from the maintenance mode.
1. From any CVM in the cluster, run the following command to exit the AHV host from the maintenance mode:
```
nutanix@cvm$ acli host.exit_maintenance_mode host-ip
```
  Replace host-ip with the new IP address of the host.
  
  This command migrates (live migration) all the VMs that were previously running on the host back to the host.
2. Verify if the host has exited the maintenance mode:
```
nutanix@cvm$ acli host.get host-ip
```
  In the output that is displayed, ensure that node_state equals to kAcropolisNormal or AcropolisNormal and schedulable equals to True .
Power on the guest VMs from the Prism Element web console.

Physically Isolating the Backplane Traffic on an ESXi Cluster

Before you begin

On the ESXi hosts, do the following:

Create a vSwitch for the backplane traffic.
From vSwitch0, remove the uplinks (physical NICs) that you want to add to the vSwitch you created for the backplane traffic.
On the backplane vSwitch, create one port group for the CVM and another for the host. Ensure that at least one uplink is present in the Active Adaptors list for each port group if you have overridden the failover order.

See the ESXi documentation for instructions about how to perform these tasks.

Note: Before you perform the following procedure, ensure that the uplinks you added to the vSwitch are in the UP state.

About this task

Perform the following procedure to physically segment the backplane traffic.

Procedure

Log on to the Prism web console, click the gear icon in the top-right corner, and then click Network Configuration in the Settings page.
On the Internal Interfaces tab, in the Backplane LAN row, click Configure .
In the Backplane LAN dialog box, do the following:
1. In Subnet IP , specify a non-routable subnet.
  If you do not specify a secure non-routable subnet, AHV uses the routable subnet on the default gateway. AOS does not route packets from the backplane network. Therefore, Nutanix recommends only using a secure non-routable subnet for the backplane network. Do not use a routable subnet for this purpose.
  Make sure that the subnet has a sufficient number of IP addresses. Two IP addresses are required per node. Reconfiguring the backplane to increase the size of the subnet involves cluster downtime, so you might also want to make sure that the subnet can accommodate new nodes in the future.
2. In Netmask , specify the network mask.
3. If you want to assign the interfaces on the network to a VLAN, specify the VLAN ID in the VLAN ID field.
  Nutanix strongly recommends configuring a separate VLAN. If you do not specify a VLAN ID, AOS applies the default VLAN on the virtual switch.
4. In the Host Port Group list, select the port group you created for the host.
5. In the CVM Port Group list, select the port group you created for the CVM.
Note:
Nutanix clusters support both vSphere Standard Switches and vSphere Distributed Switches. However, you must mandatorily configure only one type of virtual switches in one cluster. Configure all the backplane and management traffic in one cluster on either vSphere Standard Switches or vSphere Distributed Switches. Do not mix Standard and Distributed vSwitches on a single cluster.
Click Verify and Save .
If the network settings you specified pass validation, the backplane network is created and the CVMs perform a reboot in a rolling fashion (one at a time), after which the services use the new backplane network. The progress of this operation can be tracked on the Prism tasks page.

Physically Isolating the Backplane Traffic on a Hyper-V Cluster

Before you begin

On the Hyper-V hosts, do the following:

Create a Hyper-V Virtual Switch for the backplane traffic.
From the default External Switch, remove the uplinks (physical NICs) that you want to add to the backplane Virtual Switch you created for the backplane traffic.
On the backplane Virtual Switch, create a subnet and, optionally, assign a VLAN.

See the Hyper-V documentation on the Microsoft portal for instructions about how to perform these tasks.

Note: Before you perform the following procedure, ensure that the uplinks you added to the backplane Virtual Switch are in the UP state.

About this task

Perform the following procedure to physically segment the backplane traffic.

Procedure

Log on to the Prism web console, click the gear icon in the top-right corner, and then click Network Configuration in the Settings page.
On the Internal Interfaces tab, in the Backplane LAN row, click Configure .
In the Backplane LAN dialog box, do the following:
1. In Subnet IP , specify a non-routable subnet.
  If you do not specify a secure non-routable subnet, AHV uses the routable subnet on the default gateway. AOS does not route packets from the backplane network. Therefore, Nutanix recommends only using a secure non-routable subnet for the backplane network. Do not use a routable subnet for this purpose.
  Make sure that the subnet has a sufficient number of IP addresses. Two IP addresses are required per node. Reconfiguring the backplane to increase the size of the subnet involves cluster downtime, so you might also want to make sure that the subnet can accommodate new nodes in the future.
2. In Netmask , specify the network mask.
3. If you want to assign the interfaces on the network to a VLAN, specify the VLAN ID in the VLAN ID field.
  Nutanix strongly recommends configuring a separate VLAN. If you do not specify a VLAN ID, AOS applies the default VLAN on the virtual switch.
4. In the Bridge list, select the Hyper-V switch you created for the backplane traffic.
Click Verify and Save .
If the network settings you specified pass validation, the backplane network is created and the CVMs perform a reboot in a rolling fashion (one at a time), after which the services use the new backplane network. The progress of this operation can be tracked on the Prism tasks page.
Note: Segmenting backplane traffic can involve up to two rolling reboots of the CVMs. The first rolling reboot is done to move the backplane interface (eth2) of the CVM to the selected port group or virtual switch. This is done only for CVM(s) whose backplane interface is not already connected to the selected port group or bridge virtual switch. The second rolling reboot is done to migrate the cluster services to the newly configured backplane interface.

Reconfiguring the Backplane Network

Backplane network reconfiguration is a CLI-driven procedure that you perform on any one of the CVMs in the cluster. The change is propagated to the remaining CVMs.

About this task

Caution: At the end of this procedure, the cluster stops and restarts, even if only the VLAN is changed, and therefore involves cluster downtime.

To reconfigure the cluster, do the following:

Procedure

Log on to any CVM in the cluster using SSH.
Reconfigure the backplane network.
```
nutanix@cvm$ backplane_ip_reconfig [--backplane_vlan=vlan-id] \
[--backplane_ip_pool=ip_pool_name]
```
Replace vlan-id with the new VLAN ID, and ip_pool_name with the newly created backplane IP pool.

See Configuring Backplane IP Pool to create a backplane IP pool.

For example, reconfigure the backplane network to use VLAN ID 10 and newly created backplane IP pool.
```
nutanix@cvm$ backplane_ip_reconfig --backplane_vlan=10 \
--backplane_ip_pool=NewBackplanePool
```
Output similar to the following is displayed:
```
This operation will do a 'cluster stop', resulting in disruption of 
cluster services. Do you still want to continue? (Type "yes" (without quotes) 
to continue)
Type yes to confirm that you want to reconfigure the backplane network.
```
Caution: During the reconfiguration process, you might receive an error message similar to the following.
```
Failed to reach a node.
```
You can safely ignore this error message and therefore do not stop the script manually.
Note: The backplane_ip_reconfig command is not supported on ESXi clusters with vSphere Distributed Switches. To reconfigure the backplane network on a vSphere Distributed Switch setup, disable the backplane network (see Disabling Network Segmentation on an ESXi and Hyper-V Clusters) and enable again with a different subnet or VLAN.
Type yes to confirm that you want to reconfigure the backplane network.
The reconfiguration procedure takes a few minutes and includes a cluster restart. If you type anything other than yes , network reconfiguration is aborted.
After the process completes, verify that the backplane was reconfigured.
1. Verify that the IP addresses of the eth2 interfaces on the CVM are set correctly.
```
nutanix@cvm$ svmips -b
```
  Output similar to the following is displayed:
```
172.30.25.1 172.30.25.3 172.30.25.5
```
2. Verify that the IP addresses of the backplane interfaces of the hosts are set correctly.
```
nutanix@cvm$ hostips -b
```
  Output similar to the following is displayed:
```
172.30.25.2 172.30.25.4 172.30.25.6
```
The svmips and hostips commands, when used with the option b , display the IP addresses assigned to the interfaces on the backplane.

Disabling Network Segmentation on an ESXi and Hyper-V Clusters

Backplane network reconfiguration is a CLI-driven procedure that you perform on any one of the CVMs in the cluster. The change is propagated to the remaining CVMs.

About this task

Procedure

Log on to any CVM in the cluster using SSH.
Disable the backplane network.
- Use this CLI to disable network segmentation on an ESXi and Hyper-V cluster:
```
nutanix@cvm$ network_segmentation --backplane_network --disable
```
  Output similar to the following appears:
```
Operation type : Disable
Network type : kBackplane
Params : {}
Please enter [Y/y] to confirm or any other key to cancel the operation
```
  Type Y/y to confirm that you want to reconfigure the backplane network.
  
  If you type Y/y, network segmentation is disabled and the cluster restarts in a rolling manner, one CVM at a time. If you type anything other than Y/y, network segmentation is not disabled.
  
  This method does not involve cluster downtime.
Verify that network segmentation was successfully disabled. You can verify this in one of two ways:
- Verify that the backplane is disabled.
```
nutanix@cvm$ network_segment_status
```
  Output similar to the following is displayed:
  2017-11-23 06:18:23 INFO zookeeper_session.py:110 network_segment_status is attempting to connect to Zookeeper
  Network segmentation is disabled
- Verify that the commands to show the backplane IP addresses of the CVMs and hosts list the management IP addresses (run the svmips and hostips commands once without the b option and once with the b option, and then compare the IP addresses shown in the output).
  Important:
```
nutanix@cvm$ svmips
192.127.3.2 192.127.3.3 192.127.3.4
nutanix@cvm$ svmips -b
192.127.3.2 192.127.3.3 192.127.3.4
nutanix@cvm$ hostips
192.127.3.5 192.127.3.6 192.127.3.7
nutanix@cvm$ hostips -b
192.127.3.5 192.127.3.6 192.127.3.7
```
  In the example above, the outputs of the svmips and hostips commands with and without the b option are the same, indicating that the backplane network segmentation is disabled.

Disabling Network Segmentation on an AHV Cluster

About this task

You perform backplane network reconfiguration procedure on any one of the CVMs in the cluster. The change propagates to the remaining CVMs.

Procedure

Shut down all the guest VMs in the cluster from within the guest OS or use the Prism Element web console.
Place all nodes of a cluster into the maintenance mode.
1. Use SSH to log on to a Controller VM in the cluster
2. Determine the IP address of the node you want to put into the maintenance mode:
```
nutanix@cvm$ acli host.list
```
  Note the value of Hypervisor IP for the node you want to put in the maintenance mode.
3. Put the node into the maintenance mode:
```
nutanix@cvm$ acli host.enter_maintenance_mode hypervisor-IP-address [wait="{ true | false }" ] [non_migratable_vm_action="{ acpi_shutdown | block }" ]
```
  Note: Never put Controller VM and AHV hosts into maintenance mode on single-node clusters. It is recommended to shutdown user VMs before proceeding with disruptive changes.
  
  Replace host-IP-address with either the IP address or host name of the AHV host you want to shut down.
  
  The following are optional parameters for running the acli host.enter_maintenance_mode command:
  - wait
  - non_migratable_vm_action
  Do not continue if the host has failed to enter the maintenance mode.
4. Verify if the host is in the maintenance mode:
```
nutanix@cvm$ acli host.get host-ip
```
  In the output that is displayed, ensure that node_state equals to EnteredMaintenanceMode and schedulable equals to False .
Disable backplane network segmentation from the Prism Web Console.
1. Log on to the Prism web console, click the gear icon in the top-right corner, and then click Network Configuration under the Settings .
2. In the Internal Interfaces tab, in the Backplane LAN row, click Disable .
  
  Figure. Disable Network Configuration Click to enlarge
3. Click Yes to disable Backplane LAN.
  
  This involves a rolling reboot of CVMs to migrate the cluster services back to the external interface.
Log on to a CVM in the cluster with SSH and stop Acropolis cluster-wide:
```
nutanix@cvm$ allssh genesis stop acropolis 
```
Restart Acropolis cluster-wide:
```
nutanix@cvm$ cluster start 
```
Remove all nodes from the maintenance mode.
1. From any CVM in the cluster, run the following command to exit the AHV host from the maintenance mode:
```
nutanix@cvm$ acli host.exit_maintenance_mode host-ip
```
  Replace host-ip with the new IP address of the host.
  
  This command migrates (live migration) all the VMs that were previously running on the host back to the host.
2. Verify if the host has exited the maintenance mode:
```
nutanix@cvm$ acli host.get host-ip
```
  In the output that is displayed, ensure that node_state equals to kAcropolisNormal or AcropolisNormal and schedulable equals to True .
Power on the guest VMs from the Prism Element web console.

Service-Specific Traffic Isolation

Isolating the traffic associated with a specific service is a two-step process. The process is as follows:

Configure the networks and uplinks on each host manually. Prism only creates the VNIC that the service requires, and it places that VNIC on the bridge or port group that you specify. Therefore, you must manually create the bridge or /port group on each host and add the required physical NICs as uplinks to that bridge or port group.
Configure network segmentation for the service by using Prism. Create an extra VNIC for the service, specify any additional parameters that are required (for example, IP address pools), and the bridge or port group that you want to dedicate to the service.

Isolating Service-Specific Traffic

Before you begin

Ensure to configure each host as described in Configuring the Network on an AHV Host.
Review Prerequisites.

About this task

To isolate a service to a separate virtual network, do the following:

Procedure

Log on to the Prism web console and click the gear icon at the top-right corner of the page.
In the left pane, click Network Configuration .
In the details pane, on the Internal Interfaces tab, click Create New Interface .
The Create New Interface dialog box is displayed.
On the Interface Details tab, do the following:
1. Specify a descriptive name for the network segment.
2. (On AHV) Optionally, in VLAN ID , specify a VLAN ID.
  Make sure that the VLAN ID is configured on the physical switch.
3. In Bridge (on AHV) or CVM Port Group (on ESXi), select the bridge or port group that you created for the network segment.
4. To specify an IP address pool for the network segment, click Create New IP Pool , and then, in the IP Pool dialog box, do the following:
  - In Name , specify a name for the pool.
  - In Netmask , specify the network mask for the pool.
  - Click Add an IP Range , specify the start and end IP addresses in the IP Range dialog box that is displayed.
  - Use Add an IP Range to add as many IP address ranges as you need.
    Note: Add at least n+1 IP addresses in an IP range considering n is the number of nodes in the cluster.
  - Click Save .
  - Use Add an IP Pool to add more IP address pools. You can use only one IP address pool at any given time.
  - Select the IP address pool that you want to use, and then click Next .
    Note: You can also use an existing unused IP address pool.
On the Feature Selection tab, do the following:
You cannot enable network segmentation for multiple services at the same time. Complete the configuration for one service before you enable network segmentation for another service.
1. Select the service whose traffic you want to isolate.
2. Configure the settings for the selected service.
  The settings on this page depend on the service you select. For information about service-specific settings, see Service-Specific Settings and Configurations.
3. Click Save .
In the Create Interface dialog box, click Save .
The CVMs are rebooted multiple times, one after another. This procedure might trigger more tasks on the cluster. For example, if you configure network segmentation for disaster recovery, the firewall rules are added on the CVM to allow traffic on the specified ports through the new CVM interface and updated when a new recovery cluster is added or an existing cluster is modified.

What to do next

See Service-Specific Settings and Configurations for any additional tasks that are required after you segment the network for a service.

Modifying Network Segmentation Configured for a Service

About this task

Perform the following to reconfigure network segmentation configured for a service.

Procedure

Disable the network segmentation configured for a service by following the instructions in Disabling Network Segmentation Configured for a Service.
Create the network again by following the instructions in Isolating Service-Specific Traffic.

Disabling Network Segmentation Configured for a Service

About this task

To disable the network segmentation configured for a service, do the following:

Procedure

Log on to the Prism web console and click the gear icon at the top-right corner of the page.
In the left pane, click Network Configuration .
On the Internal Interfaces tab, for the interface that you want to disable, click Disable .

Note: The defined IP address pool is available even after disabling the network segmentation.

Deleting a vNIC Configured for a Service

Before you begin

Ensure that the following prerequisites are met before you delete the vNIC configured for a Service:

Disable the network segmentation configured for a service by following the instructions in Disabling Network Segmentation Configured for a Service.
Observe the Limitation specified in Limitation for vNIC Hot-Unplugging topic in AHV Admin Guide .

you

About this task

Perform the following to delete a vNIC.

Procedure

Log on to any CVM in the cluster with SSH.
Delete the vNIC.
```
nutanix@cvm$ network_segmentation --service_network --interface="interface-name" --delete
```
Replace interface-name with the name of the interface you want to delete. For example, ntnx0.

Service-Specific Settings and Configurations

The following sections describe the settings required by the services that support network segmentation.

Nutanix Volumes

Follow the instructions in Isolating Service-Specific Traffic again to create the second network for Volumes after you create the first network.

Table 1. Settings to be Specified When Configuring Traffic Isolation
Parameter or Setting	Description
Virtual IP	(Optional) Virtual IP address for the service. If specified, the IP address must be picked from the specified IP address pool. If not specified, an IP address from the specified IP address pool is selected for you.
Client Subnet	The network (in CIDR notation) that hosts the iSCSI clients. Required If the vNIC created for the service on the CVM is not on the same network as the clients.
Gateway	Gateway to the subnetwork that hosts the iSCSI clients. Required If you specify the client subnet.

Migrating iSCSI Connections to the Segmented Network

After you enable network segmentation for Volumes, you must manually migrate connections from existing iSCSI clients to the newly segmented network.

Before you begin

Make sure that the task for enabling network segmentation for the service succeeds.

About this task

To migrate iSCSI connections to the segmented network, do the following:

Procedure

Log out from all the clients connected to iSCSI targets that are using CVM eth0 or the Data Service IP address.
Optionally, remove all the discovery records for the Data Services IP address (DSIP) on eth0.
If the clients are allowlisted by their IP address, remove the client IP address that is on the management network from the allowlist, and then add the client IP address on the new network to the allowlist.
```
nutanix@cvm$ acli vg.detach_external vg_name initiator_network_id=old_vm_IP
nutanix@cvm$ acli vg.attach_external vg_name initiator_network_id=new_vm_IP
```
Replace vg_name with the name of the volume group and old_vm_IP and new_vm_IP with the old and new client IP addresses, respectively.
Discover the virtual IP address specified for Volumes.
Connect to the iSCSI targets from the client.

Migrating Existing iSCSI Connections to the Management Network (Controller VM eth0)

About this task

To migrate existing iSCSI connections to eth0, do the following:

Procedure

Log out from all the clients connected to iSCSI targets using the CVM vNIC dedicated to Volumes.
Remove all the discovery records for the DSIP on the new interface.
Discover the DSIP for eth0.
Connect the clients to the iSCSI targets.

Disaster Recovery with Protection Domains

Note: Network segmentation does not support disaster recovery with Leap.

Table 1. Settings to be Specified When Configuring Traffic Isolation
Parameter or Setting	Description
Virtual IP	(Optional) Virtual IP address for the service. If specified, the IP address must be picked from the specified IP address pool. If not specified, an IP address from the specified IP address pool is selected for you. Note: Virtual IP address is different from the external IP address and the data services IP address of the cluster.
Gateway	Gateway to the subnetwork.

Remote Site Configuration

After configuring network segmentation for disaster recovery, configure remote sites at both locations. You also need to reconfigure remote sites if you disable network segmentation.

For information about configuring remote sites, see Remote Site Configuration in the Data Protection and Recovery with Prism Element Guide.

Segmenting a Stretched Layer 2 Network for Disaster Recovery

A stretched Layer 2 network configuration allows the source and remote metro clusters to be in the same broadcast domain and communicate without a gateway.

About this task

See AOS Release Notes for minimum AOS version required to configure a stretched Layer 2 network.

To configure a network segment as a stretched L2 network, do the following.

Procedure

Run the following command:


            nutanix@cvm$ network_segmentation --service_network --service_name=kDR
                            --ip_pool=
            
             DR-ip-pool-name
            
            --service_vlan=
            
             DR-vlan-id
            
            --desc_name=
            
             Description
            
            --host_physical_network=
            
             portgroup/bridge
            
            --stretched_metro

Replace the following: (See Isolating Service-Specific Traffic for the information)

DR-ip-pool-name with the name of the IP Pool created for the DR service or any existing unused IP address pool.
DR-vlan-id with the VLAN ID being used for the DR service.
Description with a suitable description of this stretched L2 network segment.
portgroup/bridge with the details of Bridge or CVM Port Group used for the DR service.

For more information about the network_segmentation command, see the Command Reference guide.

Configuring Backplane IP Pool

This procedure shows how to create an IP pool for backplane interfaces using the new CLI.

About this task

Network Segmentation for backplane traffic previously required an entire subnet even if a cluster has a small number of nodes. This resulted in inefficient use of IP addresses. The backplane IP pool feature enables you to provide a small IP pool instead of an entire subnet.

You can create an IP address pool using the new network_segmentation ip_pool command. The named IP pool includes one or more IP ranges. For example, an IP address from 172.16.1.100 to 172.16.1.105 can be one IP range and 172.16.1.120 to 172.16.1.125 can be another IP range within the same named IP pool and same IP subnet.

At present in the Prism interface, there is no option to create an IP address pool for backplane segmentation. However, the Prism interface allows creating small IP address pools for service-specific traffic such as Volumes and DR. You can use the new network_segmentation ip_pool CLI to create IP address pools for Backplane, Volumes, and DR as well. You can also manage (edit, delete, and update) IP address pools that are created for Backplane, Volumes and DR using the new CLI.

Procedure

Log on to any CVM in the cluster using SSH

Create a new IP pool and define the IP ranges

nutanix@cvm$ network_segmentation --ip_pool_name=IP-Pool-name --ip_pool_netmask=netmask 
--ip_ranges="[(‘First-IP-Address', ‘Last-IP-Address'), (‘First-IP-Address', ‘Last-IP-Address')]" 
ip_pool create

Replace:

IP-Pool-name with a user defined IP pool name
Netmask with a network mask in dotted decimal mask notation
First-IP-Address with the first IP Address in the range
Last-IP-Address with the last IP Address in the same range

For example:

nutanix@cvm$ network_segmentation --ip_pool_name=BackplanePool --ip_pool_netmask=255.255.255.0 
--ip_ranges="[('172.16.1.100', '172.16.1.105'), ('172.16.1.120', '172.16.1.125')]" 
ip_pool create

Enable Network Segmentation for backplane using the new IP pool

nutanix@cvm$ network_segmentation --backplane_network --ip_pool=BackplanePool --backplane_vlan=1234
--host_virtual_switch=vs1

Enabling Backplane Network Segmentation on a Mixed Hypervisor Cluster

This procedure shows how to enable Backplane Network Segmentation on a mixed hypervisor cluster.

About this task

You can enable Backplane Network Segmentation on a mixed hypervisor cluster containing:

ESXi and AHV storage only nodes.
Hyper-V and AHV storage only nodes.

Procedure

Log on to any CVM in the cluster using SSH.
Enable network segmentation for backplane traffic
On a cluster containing ESXi and AHV storage only nodes:
```
nutanix@cvm$ network_segmentation --backplane_network 
--ip_pool=IP-pool-name  
--backplane_vlan=VLAN-ID  
[--esx_host_physical_network=ESXi-host-portgroup-name ]
[--esx_cvm_physical_network=ESXi-cvm-portgroup-name ]
[--ahv_host_physical_network=AHV-network-name ]
```
On a cluster containing Hyper-V and AHV storage only nodes:
```
nutanix@cvm$ network_segmentation --backplane_network 
--ip_pool=IP-pool-name  
--backplane_vlan=VLAN-ID 
[--hyperv_host_physical_network=HyperV-host-network-name ] 
[--ahv_host_physical_network=AHV-network-name ]
```
In the above command replace:
- IP-Pool-name with a user defined IP pool name
- VLAN-ID with a backplane VLAN ID
- ESXi-host-portgroup-name with the ESXi host network name
- ESXi-cvm-portgroup-name with the ESXi CVM network name
- AHV-network-name with the AHV storage only node bridge name
- HyperV-host-network-name with the Hyper-V switch name
For example, enable network segmentation on a mixed hypervisor containing ESXi and AHV storage only nodes:
```
nutanix@cvm$ network_segmentation --backplane_network 
--ip_pool=BackplanePool 
--backplane_vlan=1234 
--esx_host_physical_network=host-pg 
--esx_cvm_physical_network=cvm-pg 
--ahv_host_physical_network=br1
```

Updating Backplane Portgroup

You can update the backplane portgroups that are assigned to CVM and host nodes. Earlier, to change a portgroup that is assigned to a CVM and host, you had to disable Network Segmentation and re-enable with new portgroups.

This feature is only supported on a cluster running ESXi hypervisor.

Updating backplane portgroups helps you to:

Move from one vSphere Standard Standard Switch (VSS) portgroup to another VSS portgroup within the same virtual standard switch
Move from one VSS portgroup to another VSS portgroup in a different Virtual Standard Switch
Move from a VSS portgroup to a vSphere Distributed Switch (VDS) portgroup
Move from a VDS portgroup to a VSS

Note:

For renaming existing VSS or VDS portgroups, you must manually perform the rename operation from the vCenter application or use the ESXi CLI and run the update operation with the new portgroup. This is to ensure the configuration stored in the Nutanix internal database is up to date.

Limitations of Updating Backplane Portgroup

Consider the following limitations before updating backplane portgroups:

This feature is not supported on clusters running on the AHV and Hyper-V hypervisors.
This feature does not support updating any other configuration such as VLAN ID, and IP address.

Note: This feature does not perform any network validation on the new portgroups. Hence the user must ensure the portgroup settings are accurate before proceeding with the portgroup update operation. If the settings are not accurate, the CVM on that node may not be able to communicate with its peers and this results in a stuck rolling reboot.

Updating Backplane Portgroup

This procedure shows how to update backplane portgroups:

About this task

You can update the backplane portgroups that are assigned to CVM and host nodes

Procedure

Log on to any CVM in the cluster using SSH
Update the CVM and host portgroups
```
nutanix@cvm$ network_segmentation --backplane_network 
--host_physical_network=new-host-portgroup-name 
--cvm_physical_network=new-cvm-portgroup-name
--update 
```
In the above command replace:
- new-host-portgroup-name with the new host portgroup name
- new-cvm-portgroup-name with the new CVM portgroup name
For example:
```
nutanix@cvm$ network_segmentation --backplane_network 
--host_physical_network=new-bp-host-pgroup 
--cvm_physical_network=new-bp-cvm-pgroup 
--update
```
For creating a port group, see Creating Port Groups on the Distributed Switch in vSphere Administration Guide for Acropolis .

IP Address Customization for each CVM and Host

This procedure shows how to create custom IP addresses for each CVM and host for network segmentation.

About this task

IP Address customization for each CVM and host feature enables you to allocate an IP address manually to a CVM and host. This helps in maintaining similarity between external and segmented IP addresses. This feature is supported while configuring backplane segmentation, service specific traffic isolation for Volumes, and service specific traffic isolation for Disaster Recovery.

Procedure

Create a JSON file with a mapping of IP Addresses

You must manually define the mapping of the CVM external IP address to the new segmented IP address in a JSON file. The segmented IP addresses should belong to the same IP address pool that is created from the Prism UI or the CLI command before starting the Network Segmentation operation. You can create and save the JSON file in any CVM in the cluster.

Here is the example of JSON file format:

JSON file format for Backplane Segmentation:

{
  "svmips": {
    `cvm_external_ip1`: `cvm_backplane_ip1`,
    `cvm_external_ip2`: `cvm_backplane_ip2`,
    `cvm_external_ip3`: `cvm_backplane_ip3`
  },
  "hostips": {
    `host_external_ip1`: `host_backplane_ip1`,
    `host_external_ip2`: `host_backplane_ip2`,
    `host_external_ip3`: `host_backplane_ip3`
  }
}

For example:

{
  "svmips": {
    "10.47.240.141": "172.16.10.141",
    "10.47.240.142": "172.16.10.142",
    "10.47.240.143": "172.16.10.143"
  },
  "hostips": {
    "10.47.240.137": "172.16.10.137",
    "10.47.240.138": "172.16.10.138",
    "10.47.240.139": "172.16.10.139"
  }
}

JSON file format for Service Segmentation:

{
  "svmips": {
    `cvm_external_ip1`: `cvm_service_ip1`,
    `cvm_external_ip2`: `cvm_service_ip2`,
    `cvm_external_ip3`: `cvm_service_ip3`
    }
}

For example:

{
  "svmips": {
    "10.47.240.141": "10.47.6.141",
    "10.47.240.142": "10.47.6.142",
    "10.47.240.143": "10.47.6.143"
  }
}

Log on to the CVM in the cluster where the JSON file exists using SSH

Enable Service Specific Traffic Isolation for Volumes using the JSON file

nutanix@CVM:~$ network_segmentation --service_network 
--ip_pool=pool1 --desc_name="Volumes Seg 1" 
--service_name=kVolumes 
--host_physical_network=dv-volumes-network-1 
--service_vlan=151 
--ip_map_filepath=/home/nutanix/ip_map.json

Enabling Physical Backplane Segmentation on Hyper-V Using CLI

This procedure shows how to enable physical backplane segmentation on a cluster containing Hyper-V node using CLI.

About this task

Physical backplane segmentation support is now available on a cluster containing Hyper-V nodes. Earlier, the support was available on AHV and ESXi nodes.

Procedure

Log on to any CVM in the cluster using SSH

Enable backplane segmentation on a Hyper-V node

nutanix@CVM:~$ network_segmentation --backplane_network
--ip_pool=IP-Pool-name 
--backplane_vlan=VLAN-ID 
--host_physical_network=hyperv_host_physical_network

In the above command replace:

IP-Pool-name with a user defined IP pool name
VLAN-ID with a backplane VLAN ID
hyperv_host_physical_network with the Hyper-V switch name

For example:

nutanix@CVM:~$ network_segmentation --backplane_network 
--ip_pool=BackplanePool 
--backplane_vlan=1234 
--host_physical_network=BackplaneSwitch

Network Segmentation during Cluster Expansion

When expanding a cluster:

If you enable the backplane network segmentation, Prism allocates two IP addresses for every new node from the backplane IP Pool.
If you enable service-specific traffic isolation, Prism allocates one IP address for every new node from the respective (Volumes or DR) IP pools.
If enough IP addresses are not available in the specified network, the Prism Element web console displays a failure message in the tasks page. To add more IP ranges to the IP pool, see Configuring Backplane IP Pool.
If you cannot add more IPs to the IP pool, then reconfigure that specific network segmentation. For more information about how to reconfigure the network, see Reconfiguring the Backplane Network.
The network settings on the physical switch to which the new nodes are connected must be identical to the other nodes in the cluster. New nodes communicate with current nodes using the same VLAN ID for segmented networks. Otherwise, the expand cluster task will fail in the network validation stage.
After fulfilling the earlier points, you can add nodes to the cluster. For instructions about how to add nodes to your Nutanix cluster, see Expanding a Cluster in the Prism Web Console Guide .

Network Segmentation–Related Changes During an AOS Upgrade

Note:

Do not delete the eth2 interface that is created on the Controller VMs, even if you are not using the network segmentation feature.

Firewall Requirements

Log management

This chapter describes how to configure cluster-wide setting for log-forwarding and documenting the log fingerprint.

Log Forwarding

Documenting the Log Fingerprint

For forensic analysis, non-repudiation is established by verifying the fingerprint of the public key for the log file entry.

Procedure

Login to the CVM.
Run the following command to document the fingerprint for each public key assigned to an individual admin.
```
nutanix@cvm$ ssh-keygen -lf /<location of>/id_rsa.pub
```
The fingerprint is then compared to the SSH daemon log entries and forwarded to the central log host ( /home/log/secure in the Controller VM).

Note: After completion of the ssh public key inclusion in Prism and verification of connectivity, disable the password authentication for all the Controller VMs and AHV hosts. From the Prism main menu, de-select Cluster Lockdown configuration > Enable Remote Login with password check box from the gear icon drop-down list.

Security Management Using Prism Central (PC)

Prism Central provides several mechanisms and features to enforce security of your multi-cluster environment.

If you enable Identity and Access Management (IAM), see Security Management Using Identity and Access Management (Prism Central).

Configuring Authentication

Caution: Prism Central does not support the SSLv2 and SSLv3 ciphers. Therefore, you must disable the SSLv2 and SSLv3 options in a browser before accessing Prism Central. This avoids an SSL Fallback and access denial situations. However, you must enable TLS protocol in the browser.

Prism Central supports these user authentication options:

SAML authentication. Users can authenticate through a supported identity provider when SAML support is enabled for Prism Central. The Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) is an open standard for exchanging authentication and authorization data between two parties: an identity provider (IDP) and Prism Central as the service provider.
If you do not enable Nutanix Identity and Access Management (IAM) on Prism Central, ADFS is the only supported IDP for Single Sign-on. If you enable IAM, additional IDPs are available. For more information, see Security Management Using Identity and Access Management (Prism Central) and Updating ADFS When Using SAML Authentication.
Local user authentication. Users can authenticate if they have a local Prism Central account. For more information, see Managing Local User Accounts .
Active Directory authentication. Users can authenticate using their Active Directory (or OpenLDAP) credentials when Active Directory support is enabled for Prism Central.

Adding An Authentication Directory (Prism Central)

Before you begin

Procedure

In the web console, click the gear icon in the main menu and then select Authentication in the Settings page.

The Authentication Configuration window appears.

Figure. Authentication Configuration Window Click to enlarge
To add an authentication directory, click the New Directory button.

A set of fields is displayed. Do the following in the indicated fields:
1. Directory Type : Select one of the following from the pull-down list.
  - Active Directory : Active Directory (AD) is a directory service implemented by Microsoft for Windows domain networks.
    Note:
    
    Users with the "User must change password at next logon" attribute enabled will not be able to authenticate to Prism Central. Ensure users with this attribute first login to a domain workstation and change their password prior to accessing Prism Central. Also, if SSL is enabled on the Active Directory server, make sure that Nutanix has access to that port (open in firewall).
    
    Use of the "Protected Users" group is currently unsupported for Prism authentication. For more details on the "Protected Users" group, see “Guidance about how to configure protected accounts” on Microsoft documentation website.
    
    An Active Directory user name or group name containing spaces is not supported for Prism Central authentication.
    
    The Microsoft AD is LDAP v2 and LDAP v3 compliant.
    
    The Microsoft AD servers supported are Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2016, and Windows Server 2019.
  - OpenLDAP : OpenLDAP is a free, open source directory service, which uses the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), developed by the OpenLDAP project.
    Note: Prism Central uses a service account to query OpenLDAP directories for user information and does not currently support certificate-based authentication with the OpenLDAP directory.
2. Name : Enter a directory name.
  
  This is a name you choose to identify this entry; it need not be the name of an actual directory.
3. Domain : Enter the domain name.
  
  Enter the domain name in DNS format, for example, nutanix.com .
4. Directory URL : Enter the URL address to the directory.
  The URL format is as follows for an LDAP entry: ldap:// host : ldap_port_num . The host value is either the IP address or fully qualified domain name. (In some environments, a simple domain name is sufficient.) The default LDAP port number is 389. Nutanix also supports LDAPS (port 636) and LDAP/S Global Catalog (ports 3268 and 3269). The following are example configurations appropriate for each port option:
  
  Note: LDAPS support does not require custom certificates or certificate trust import.
  - Port 389 (LDAP). Use this port number (in the following URL form) when the configuration is single domain, single forest, and not using SSL.
```
ldap://ad_server.mycompany.com:389
```
  - Port 636 (LDAPS). Use this port number (in the following URL form) when the configuration is single domain, single forest, and using SSL. This requires all Active Directory Domain Controllers have properly installed SSL certificates.
```
ldaps://ad_server.mycompany.com:636
```
  - Port 3268 (LDAP - GC). Use this port number when the configuration is multiple domain, single forest, and not using SSL.
  - Port 3269 (LDAPS - GC). Use this port number when the configuration is multiple domain, single forest, and using SSL.
    Note:
    
    When constructing your LDAP/S URL to use a Global Catalog server, ensure that the Domain Control IP address or name being used is a global catalog server within the domain being configured. If not, queries over 3268/3269 may fail.
    
    Cross-forest trust between multiple AD forests is not supported.
  For the complete list of required ports, see Port Reference.
5. [OpenLDAP only] Configure the following additional fields:
  Note:
  The value for the following variables depend on your OpenLDAP configuration.
  - User Object Class : Enter the value that uniquely identifies the object class of a user.
  - User Search Base : Enter the base domain name in which the users are configured.
  - Username Attribute : Enter the attribute to uniquely identify a user.
  - Group Object Class : Enter the value that uniquely identifies the object class of a group.
  - Group Search Base : Enter the base domain name in which the groups are configured.
  - Group Member Attribute : Enter the attribute that identifies users in a group.
  - Group Member Attribute Value : Enter the attribute that identifies the users provided as value for Group Member Attribute .
  Here are some of the possible options for the fields:
  - User Object Class: user | person | inetOrgPerson | organizationalPerson | posixAccount
  - User Search Base: ou=<organizational unit>, dc=<domain>
  - Username Attribute: uid
  - Group Object Class: posixGroup | groupOfNames
  - Group Search Base: ou=<organizational unit>, dc=<domain>
  - Group Member Attribute: member | memberUid
  - Group Member Attribute Value: uid
6. Search Type . How to search your directory when authenticating. Choose Non Recursive if you experience slow directory logon performance. For this option, ensure that users listed in Role Mapping are listed flatly in the group (that is, not nested). Otherwise, choose the default Recursive option.
7. Service Account Username : Depending upon the Directory type you select in step 2.a, the service account user name format as follows:
  - For Active Directory , enter the service account user name in the user_name@domain.com format.
  - For OpenLDAP , enter the service account user name in the following Distinguished Name (DN) format:
    cn=username, dc=company, dc=com
    
    A service account is created to run only a particular service or application with the credentials specified for the account. According to the requirement of the service or application, the administrator can limit access to the service account.
    
    A service account is under the Managed Service Accounts in the Active Directory and openLDAP server. An application or service uses the service account to interact with the operating system. Enter your Active Directory and openLDAP service account credentials in this (username) and the following (password) field.
    
    Note: Be sure to update the service account credentials here whenever the service account password changes or when a different service account is used.
8. Service Account Password : Enter the service account password.
9. When all the fields are correct, click the Save button (lower right).
  
  This saves the configuration and redisplays the Authentication Configuration dialog box. The configured directory now appears in the Directory List tab.
10. Repeat this step for each authentication directory you want to add.
Note:
- No permissions are granted to the directory users by default. To grant permissions to the directory users, you must specify roles for the users in that directory (see Configuring Role Mapping).
- Service account for both Active directory and openLDAP must have full read permission on the directory service.
Figure. Directory List Fields Click to enlarge
To edit a directory entry, click the pencil icon for that entry.

After clicking the pencil icon, the relevant fields reappear. Enter the new information in the appropriate fields and then click the Save button.
To delete a directory entry, click the X icon for that entry.

After clicking the X icon, a window prompt appears to verify the delete action; click the OK button. The entry is removed from the list.

Adding a SAML-based Identity Provider

Before you begin

An identity provider (typically a server or other computer) is the system that provides authentication through a SAML request. There are various implementations that can provide authentication services in line with the SAML standard.
You can specify other tested standard-compliant IDPs in addition to ADFS. See the Prism Central release notes topic Identity and Access Management Software Support for specific support requirements and also Security Management Using Identity and Access Management (Prism Central).
IAM allows only one identity provider at a time, so if you already configured one, the + New IDP link does not appear.
You must configure the identity provider to return the NameID attribute in SAML response. Prism Central uses the NameID attribute for role mapping.

Procedure

In the web console, click the gear icon in the main menu and then select Authentication in the Settings page.
To add a SAML-based identity provider, click the + New IDP link.

A set of fields is displayed. Do the following in the indicated fields:
1. Configuration name : Enter a name for the identity provider. This name appears in the logon authentication screen.
2. Group Attribute Name (Optional) : Optionally, enter the group attribute name such as groups . Ensure that this name matches the group attribute name provided in the IDP configuration.
3. Group Attribute Delimiter (Optional) : Optionally, enter a delimiter that needs to be used when multiple groups are selected for the Group attribute.
4. Import Metadata : Click this option to upload a metadata file that contains the identity provider information.
  
  Identity providers typically provide an XML file on their website that includes metadata about that identity provider, which you can download from that site and then upload to Prism Central. Click + Import Metadata to open a search window on your local system and then select the target XML file that you downloaded previously. Click the Save button to save the configuration.
  
  Figure. Identity Provider Fields (metadata configuration) Click to enlarge
This step completes configuring an identity provider in Prism Central, but you must also configure the callback URL for Prism Central on the identity provider. To configure the callback URL, click the Download Metadata link just below the Identity Providers table to download an XML file that describes Prism Central and then upload this metadata file to the identity provider.
To edit an identity provider entry, click the pencil icon for that entry.

After clicking the pencil icon, the relevant fields reappear. Enter the new information in the appropriate fields and then click the Save button.
To delete an identity provider entry, click the X icon for that entry.

After clicking the X icon, a window prompt appears to verify the delete action; click the OK button. The entry is removed from the list.

Enabling and Configuring Client Authentication

Procedure

In the web console, click the gear icon in the main menu and then select Authentication in the Settings page.
Click the Client tab, then do the following steps.
1. Select the Configure Client Chain Certificate check box.
  
  The Client Chain Certificate is a list of certificates that includes all intermediate CA and root-CA certificates.
2. Click the Choose File button, browse to and select a client chain certificate to upload, and then click the Open button to upload the certificate.
  Note:
  - Client and CAC authentication only supports RSA 2048 bit certificate.
  - Uploaded certificate files must be PEM encoded. The web console restarts after the upload step.
3. To enable client authentication, click Enable Client Authentication .
4. To modify client authentication, do one of the following:
  Note: The web console restarts when you change these settings.
  - Click Enable Client Authentication to disable client authentication.
  - Click Remove to delete the current certificate. (This also disables client authentication.)
  - To enable OCSP or CRL based certificate revocation checking, see Certificate Revocation Checking.
Client authentication allows you to securely access the Prism by exchanging a digital certificate. Prism will validate that the certificate is signed by your organization’s trusted signing certificate.
Client authentication ensures that the Nutanix cluster gets a valid certificate from the user. Normally, a one-way authentication process occurs where the server provides a certificate so the user can verify the authenticity of the server (see Installing an SSL Certificate). When client authentication is enabled, this becomes a two-way authentication where the server also verifies the authenticity of the user. A user must provide a valid certificate when accessing the console either by installing the certificate on the local machine or by providing it through a smart card reader.
Note: The CA must be the same for both the client chain certificate and the certificate on the local machine or smart card.
To specify a service account that the Prism Central web console can use to log in to Active Directory and authenticate Common Access Card (CAC) users, select the Configure Service Account check box, and then do the following in the indicated fields:
1. Directory : Select the authentication directory that contains the CAC users that you want to authenticate.
  This list includes the directories that are configured on the Directory List tab.
2. Service Username : Enter the user name in the user name@domain.com format that you want the web console to use to log in to the Active Directory.
3. Service Password : Enter the password for the service user name.
4. Click Enable CAC Authentication .
  
  Note: For federal customers only.
  
  Note: The Prism Central console restarts after you change this setting.
The Common Access Card (CAC) is a smart card about the size of a credit card, which some organizations use to access their systems. After you insert the CAC into the CAC reader connected to your system, the software in the reader prompts you to enter a PIN. After you enter a valid PIN, the software extracts your personal certificate that represents you and forwards the certificate to the server using the HTTP protocol.

Nutanix Prism verifies the certificate as follows:
- Validates that the certificate has been signed by your organization’s trusted signing certificate.
- Extracts the Electronic Data Interchange Personal Identifier (EDIPI) from the certificate and uses the EDIPI to check the validity of an account within the Active Directory. The security context from the EDIPI is used for your PRISM session.
- Prism Central supports both certificate authentication and basic authentication in order to handle both Prism Central login using a certificate and allowing REST API to use basic authentication. It is physically not possible for REST API to use CAC certificates. With this behavior, if the certificate is present during Prism Central login, the certificate authentication is used. However, if the certificate is not present, basic authentication is enforced and used.
Note: Nutanix Prism does not support OpenLDAP as directory service for CAC.
If you map a Prism Central role to a CAC user and not to an Active Directory group or organizational unit to which the user belongs, specify the EDIPI (User Principal Name, or UPN) of that user in the role mapping. A user who presents a CAC with a valid certificate is mapped to a role and taken directly to the web console home page. The web console login page is not displayed.

Note: If you have logged on to Prism Central by using CAC authentication, to successfully log out of Prism Central, close the browser after you click Log Out .

Certificate Revocation Checking

Enabling Certificate Revocation Checking using Online Certificate Status Protocol (nCLI)

About this task

To enable certificate revocation checking using OCSP for client authentication, do the following.

Procedure

Set the OCSP responder URL.
ncli authconfig set-certificate-revocation set-ocsp-responder=<ocsp url> <ocsp url> indicates the location of the OCSP responder.
Verify if OCSP checking is enabled.
ncli authconfig get-client-authentication-config
The expected output if certificate revocation checking is enabled successfully is as follows.
```
Auth Config Status: true
File Name: ca.cert.pem
OCSP Responder URI: http://<ocsp-responder-url>
```

Enabling Certificate Revocation Checking using Certificate Revocation Lists (nCLI)

About this task

Note: OSCP is the recommended method for checking certificate revocation in client authentication.

You can use the CRL certificate revocation checking method if required, as described in this section.

To enable certificate revocation checking using CRL for client authentication, do the following.

Procedure

Specify all the CRLs that are required for certificate validation.


          ncli authconfig set-certificate-revocation set-crl-uri=<uri 1>,<uri 2>
                        set-crl-refresh-interval=<refresh interval in seconds>
                        set-crl-expiration-interval=<expiration interval in seconds>

The above command resets any previous OCSP or CRL configurations.
The URIs must be percent-encoded and comma separated.
The CRLs are updated periodically as specified by the crl-refresh-interval value. This interval is common for the entire list of CRL distribution points. The default value for this is 86400 seconds (1 day).
The periodically updated CRLs are cached in-memory for the duration specified by value of set-crl-expiration-interval and expired after the duration, in case a particular CRL distribution point is not reachable. This duration is configured for the entire list of CRL distribution points. The default value for this is 604800 seconds (7 days).

User Management

Managing Local User Accounts

About this task

The Prism Central admin user is created automatically, but you can add more (locally defined) users as needed. To add, update, or delete a user account, do the following:

Note:

To add user accounts through Active Directory, see Configuring Authentication. If you enable the Prism Self Service feature, an Active Directory is assigned as part of that process.
Changing the Prism Central admin user password does not impact registration (re-registering clusters is not required).

Procedure

Click the gear icon in the main menu and then select Local User Management in the Settings page.

The Local User Management dialog box appears.

Figure. User Management Window Click to enlarge
To add a user account, click the New User button and do the following in the displayed fields:
1. Username : Enter a user name.
2. First Name : Enter a first name.
3. Last Name : Enter a last name.
4. Email : Enter a valid user email address.
5. Password : Enter a password (maximum of 255 characters).
  
  Note: A second field to verify the password is not included, so be sure to enter the password correctly in this field.
6. Language : Select the language setting for the user.
  
  English is selected by default. You have an option to select Simplified Chinese or Japanese . If you select either of these, the cluster locale is updated for the new user. For example, if you select Simplified Chinese , the user interface is displayed in Simplified Chinese when the new user logs in.
7. Roles : Assign a role to this user.
  There are three options:
  - Checking the User Admin box allows the user to view information, perform any administrative task, and create or modify user accounts.
  - Checking the Prism Central Admin (formerly "Cluster Admin") box allows the user to view information and perform any administrative task, but it does not provide permission to manage (create or modify) other user accounts.
  - Leaving both boxes unchecked allows the user to view information, but it does not provide permission to perform any administrative tasks or manage other user accounts.
8. When all the fields are correct, click the Save button (lower right).
  
  This saves the configuration and redisplays the dialog box with the new user appearing in the list.
Figure. Create User Window Click to enlarge
To modify a user account, click the pencil icon for that user and update one or more of the values as desired in the Update User window.

Figure. Update User Window Click to enlarge
To disable login access for a user account, click the Yes value in the Enabled field for that user; to enable the account, click the No value.

A Yes value means the login is enabled; a No value means it is disabled. A user account is enabled (login access activated) by default.
To delete a user account, click the X icon for that user.
A window prompt appears to verify the action; click the OK button. The user account is removed and the user no longer appears in the list.

Updating My Account

About this task

To update your account credentials (that is, credentials for the user you are currently logged in as), do the following:

Procedure

To update your password, select Change Password from the user icon pull-down list of the main menu.
The Change Password dialog box appears. Do the following in the indicated fields:
1. Current Password : Enter the current password.
2. New Password : Enter a new password.
3. Confirm Password : Re-enter the new password.
4. When the fields are correct, click the Save button (lower right). This saves the new password and closes the window.
Note: Password complexity requirements might appear above the fields; if they do, your new password must comply with these rules.

Figure. Change Password Window Click to enlarge
To update other details of your account, select Update Profile from the user icon pull-down list.
The Update Profile dialog box appears. Do the following in the indicated fields for any parameters you want to change:
1. First Name : Enter a different first name.
2. Last Name : Enter a different last name.
3. Email Address : Enter a different valid user email address.
4. Language : Select a different language for your account from the pull-down list.
5. API Key : Enter a new API key.
  
  Note: Your keys can be managed from the API Keys page on the Nutanix support portal (see Licensing) . Your connection will be secure without the optional public key (following field), and the public key option is provided in the event that your default public key expires.
6. Public Key : Click the Choose File button to upload a new public key file.
7. When all the fields are correct, click the Save button (lower right). This saves the changes and closes the window.
Figure. Update Profile Window Click to enlarge

Resetting Password (CLI)

This procedure describes how to reset a local user's password on the Prism Element or the Prism Central web consoles.

About this task

To reset the password using nCLI, do the following:

Note:

Only a user with admin privileges can reset a password for other users.

Procedure

Access the CVM via SSH.
Log in with the admin credentials.
Use the ncli user reset-password command and specify the username and password of the user whose password is to be reset:
```
nutanix@cvm$ ncli user reset-password user-name=xxxxx password=yyyyy
```
- Replace user-name=xxxxx with the name of the user whose password is to be reset.
- Replace password=yyyyy with the new password.

What to do next

You can relaunch the Prism Element or the Prism Central web console and verify the new password setting.

Deleting a Directory User Account

About this task

To delete a directory-authenticated user, do the following:

Procedure

Click the Hamburger icon, and go to Administration > Projects
The Project page appears. This page lists all existing projects.
Select the project that the user is associated with and go to Actions > Update Projects
The Edit Projects page appears.
Go to Users, Groups, Roles tab.
Click the X icon to delete the user.

Figure. Edit Project Window Click to enlarge
Click Save

Prism deletes the user account and also removes the user from any associated projects.

Repeat the same steps if the user is associated with multiple projects.

Controlling User Access (RBAC)

Prism Central includes a set of predefined roles (see Built-in Role Management).
You can also define additional custom roles (see Custom Role Management).
Configuring authentication confers default user permissions that vary depending on the type of authentication (full permissions from a directory service or no permissions from an identity provider). You can configure role maps to customize these user permissions (see Configuring Role Mapping).
You can refine access permissions even further by assigning roles to individual users or groups that apply to a specified set of entities (see Assigning a Role).
Note: Please note that the entities are treated as separate instances. For example, if you want to grant a user or a group the permission to manage cluster and images, an administrator must add both of these entities to the list of assignments.
With RBAC, user roles do not depend on the project membership. You can use RBAC and log in to Prism Central even without a project membership.

Note: Defining custom roles and assigning roles are supported on AHV only.

Built-in Role Management


Role	Privileges
Super Admin	Full administrator privileges
Prism Admin	Full administrator privileges except for creating or modifying the user accounts
Prism Viewer	View-only privileges
Self-Service Admin	Manages all cloud-oriented resources and services Note: This is the only cloud administration role available.
Project Admin	Manages cloud objects (roles, VMs, Apps, Marketplace) belonging to a project Note: You can specify a role for a user when you assign a user to a project, so individual users or groups can have different roles in the same project.
Developer	Develops, troubleshoots, and tests applications in a project
Consumer	Accesses the applications and blueprints in a project
Operator	Accesses the applications in a project
VPC Admin	Manages VPCs and related entities. Agnostic of the physical network/infrastructure. VPC admin of a Nutanix deployment.

Note: Previously, the Super Admin role was called User Admin , the Prism Admin role was called Prism Central Admin and Cluster Admin , and the Prism Viewer was called Viewer .

Custom Role Management

If the built-in roles are not sufficient for your needs, you can create one or more custom roles (AHV only).

Creating a Custom Role

About this task

To create a custom role, do the following:

Procedure

Go to the roles dashboard (select Administration > Roles in the pull-down menu) and click the Create Role button.

The Roles page appears. See Custom Role Permissions for a list of the permissions available for each custom role option.
In the Roles page, do the following in the indicated fields:
1. Role Name : Enter a name for the new role.
2. Description (optional): Enter a description of the role.
  
  Note: All entity types are listed by default, but you can display just a subset by entering a string in the Filter Entities search field.
  
  Figure. Filter Entities Click to enlarge
3. Select an entity you want to add to this role and provide desired access permissions from the available options. The access permissions vary depending on the selected entity.
  For example, for the VM entity, click the radio button for the desired VM permissions:
  - No Access
  - View Access
  - Basic Access
  - Edit Access
  - Set Custom Permissions
  If you select Set Custom Permissions , click the Change link to display the Custom VM Permissions window, check all the permissions you want to enable, and then click the Save button. Optionally, check the Allow VM Creation box to allow this role to create VMs.
  Figure. Custom VM Permissions Window Click to enlarge
Click Save to create the role. The page closes and the new role appears in the Roles view list.

Modifying a Custom Role

About this task

Perform the following procedure to modify or delete a custom role.

Procedure

Go to the roles dashboard and select (check the box for) the desired role from the list.
Do one of the following:
- To modify the role, select Update Role from the Actions pull-down list. The Roles page for that role appears. Update the field values as desired and then click Save . See Creating a Custom Role for field descriptions.
- To delete the role, select Delete from the Action pull-down list. A confirmation message is displayed. Click OK to delete and remove the role from the list.

Custom Role Permissions

A selection of permission options are available when creating a custom role.


Entity	Option	Permissions
App (application)	No Access	(none)
	Basic Access	Abort App Runlog, Access Console VM, Action Run App, Clone VM, Create AWS VM, Create Image, Create VM, Delete AWS VM, Delete VM, Download App Runlog, Update AWS VM, Update VM, View App, View AWS VM, View VM
	Set Custom Permissions (select from list)	Abort App Runlog, Access Console VM, Action Run App, Clone VM, Create App, Create AWS VM, Create Image, Create VM, Delete App, Delete AWS VM, Delete VM, Download App Runlog, Update App, Update AWS VM, Update VM, View App, View AWS VM, View VM
VM Recovery Point	No Access	(none)
	View Only	View VM Recovery Point
	Full Access	Delete VM Recovery Point, Restore VM Recovery Point, Snapshot VM, Update VM Recovery Point, View VM Recovery Point, Allow VM Recovery Point creation
	Set Custom Permissions (Change)	Abort App Runlog, Access Console VM, Action Run App, Clone VM, Create App, Create AWS VM, Create Image, Create VM, Delete App, Delete AWS VM, Delete VM, Download App Runlog, Update App, Update AWS VM, Update VM, View App, View AWS VM, View VM
	Note: You can assign permissions for the VM Recovery Point entity to users or user groups in the following two ways. Manually assign permission for each VM where the recovery point is created. Assign permission using Categories in the Role Assignment workflow. Tip: When a recovery point is created, it is associated with the same category as the VM.
VM	No Access	(none)
	View Access	Access Console VM, View VM
	Basic Access	Access Console VM, Update VM Power State, View VM
	Edit Access	Access Console VM, Update VM, View Subnet, View VM
	Full Access	Access Console VM, Clone VM, Create VM, Delete VM, Export VM, Update VM, Update VM Boot Config, Update VM CPU, Update VM Categories, Update VM Description, Update VM Disk List, Update VM GPU List, Update VM Memory, Update VM NIC List, Update VM Owner, Update VM Power State, Update VM Project, View Cluster, View Subnet, View VM.
	Set Custom Permissions (select from list)	Access Console VM, Clone VM, Create VM, Delete VM, Update VM, Update VM Boot Config, Update VM CPU, Update VM Categories, Update VM Disk List, Update VM GPU List, Update VM Memory, Update VM NIC List, Update VM Owner, Update VM Power State, Update VM Project, View Cluster, View Subnet, View VM.
	Set Custom Permissions (select from list)	Granular permissions (applicable if IAM is enabled, see Granular Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)) for details. Allow VM Power Off, Allow VM Power On, Allow VM Reboot, Allow VM Reset, Expand VM Disk Size, Mount VM CDROM, Unmount VM CDROM, Update VM Memory Overcommit, Update VM NGT Config, Update VM Power State Mechanism
	Allow VM creation (additional option)	(n/a)
Blueprint	No Access	(none)
	View Access	View Account, View AWS AZ, View AWS Elastic IP, View AWS Image, View AWS Key Pair, View AWS Machine Type, View AWS Region, View AWS Role, View AWS Security Group, View AWS Subnet, View AWS Volume Type, View AWS VPC, View Blueprint, View Cluster, View Image, View Project, View Subnet
	Basic Access	Access Console VM, Clone VM, Create App,Create Image, Create VM, Delete VM, Launch Blueprint, Update VM, View Account, View App, View AWS AZ, View AWS Elastic IP, View AWS Image, View AWS Key Pair, View AWS Machine Type, View AWS Region, View AWS Role, View AWS Security Group, View AWS Subnet, View AWS Volume Type, View AWS VPC, View Blueprint, View Cluster, View Image, View Project, View Subnet, View VM
	Full Access	Access Console VM, Clone Blueprint, Clone VM, Create App, Create Blueprint, Create Image, Create VM, Delete Blueprint, Delete VM, Download Blueprint, Export Blueprint, Import Blueprint, Launch Blueprint, Render Blueprint, Update Blueprint, Update VM, Upload Blueprint, View Account, View App, View AWS AZ, View AWS Elastic IP, View AWS Image, View AWS Key Pair, View AWS Machine Type, View AWS Region, View AWS Role, View AWS Security Group, View AWS Subnet, View AWS Volume Type, View AWS VPC, View Blueprint, View Cluster, View Image, View Project, View Subnet, View VM
	Set Custom Permissions (select from list)	Access Console VM, Clone VM, Create App, Create Blueprint, Create Image, Create VM, Delete Blueprint, Delete VM, Download Blueprint, Export Blueprint, Import Blueprint, Launch Blueprint, Render Blueprint, Update Blueprint, Update VM, Upload Blueprint, View Account, View App, View AWS AZ, View AWS Elastic IP, View AWS Image, View AWS Key Pair, View AWS Machine Type, View AWS Region, View AWS Role, View AWS Security Group, View AWS Subnet, View AWS Volume Type, View AWS VPC, View Blueprint, View Cluster, View Image, View Project, View Subnet, View VM
Marketplace Item	No Access	(none)
	View marketplace and published blueprints	View Marketplace Item
	View marketplace and publish new blueprints	Update Marketplace Item, View Marketplace Item
	Full Access	Config Marketplace Item, Create Marketplace Item, Delete Marketplace Item, Render Marketplace Item, Update Marketplace Item, View Marketplace Item
	Set Custom Permissions (select from list)	Config Marketplace Item, Create Marketplace Item, Delete Marketplace Item, Render Marketplace Item, Update Marketplace Item, View Marketplace Item
Report	No Access	(none)
	View Only	Notify Report Instance, View Common Report Config, View Report Config, View Report Instance
	Full Access	Create Common Report Config, Create Report Config, Create Report Instance, Delete Common Report Config, Delete Report Config, Delete Report Instance, Notify Report Instance, Run Report Config, Share Report Config, Share Report Instance, Update Common Report Config, Update Report Config, View Common Report Config, View Report Config, View Report Instance, View User, View User Group
Cluster	No Access	(none)
	View Access	View Cluster
	Update Access	Update Cluster
	Full Access	Update Cluster, View Cluster
Subnet	No Access	(none)
Subnet	View Access	View Subnet, View Virtual Switch
Image	No Access	(none)
	View Only	View Image
	Set Custom Permissions (select from list)	Copy Image Remote, Create Image, Delete Image, Migrate Image, Update Image, View Image
OVA	No Access	(none)
	View Access	View OVA
	Full Access	View OVA, Create OVA, Update OVA and Delete OVA
	Set custom permissions Change	View OVA, Create OVA, Update OVA and Delete OVA
Object Store	No Access	(none)
	View Access	View Object Store
	Full Access	View Object Store, Create Object Store, Update Object Store and Delete Object Store
	Set custom permissions Change	View Object Store, Create Object Store, Update Object Store and Delete Object Store
Analysis Session	No Access	(none)
	View Only	View Analysis Session
	Full Access	Create Analysis Session, Delete Analysis Session, Share Analysis Session, Update Analysis Session, View Analysis Session, View User and View User Group
Dashboard	No Access	(none)
	View Only	View Dashboard
	Full Access	Create Dashboard, Delete Dashboard, Share Dashboard, Update Dashboard, View Dashboard, View User and View User Group
Capacity Scenario	No Access	(none)
	View Only	View Capacity Scenario
	Full Access	Create Whatif, Delete Whatif, Share Whatif, Update Whatif, View Whatif, View User and View User Group

The following table describe the permissions.


Permission	Description	Assigned Implicilty By
Create App	Allows to create an application.
Delete App	Allows to delete an application.
View App	Allows to view an application.
Action Run App	Allows to run action on an application.
Download App Runlog	Allows to download an application runlog.
Abort App Runlog	Allows to abort an application runlog.
Access Console VM	Allows to access the console of a virtual machine.
Create VM	Allows to create a virtual machine.
View VM	Allows to view a virtual machine.
Clone VM	Allows to clone a virtual machine.
Delete VM	Allows to delete a virtual machine.
Export VM	Allows to export a virtual machine
Snapshot VM	Allows to snapshot a virtual machine.
View VM Recovery Point	Allows to view a vm_recovery_point.
Update VM Recovery Point	Allows to update a vm_recovery_point.
Delete VM Recovery Point	Allows to delete a vm_recovery_point.
Restore VM Recovery Point	Allows to restore a vm_recovery_point.
Update VM	Allows to update a virtual machine.
Update VM Boot Config	Allows to update a virtual machine's boot configuration.	Update VM
Update VM CPU	Allows to update a virtual machine's CPU configuration.	Update VM
Update VM Categories	Allows to update a virtual machine's categories.	Update VM
Update VM Description	Allows to update a virtual machine's description.	Update VM
Update VM GPU List	Allows to update a virtual machine's GPUs.	Update VM
Update VM NIC List	Allows to update a virtual machine's NICs.	Update VM
Update VM Owner	Allows to update a virtual machine's owner.	Update VM
Update VM Project	Allows to update a virtual machine's project.	Update VM
Update VM NGT Config	Allows updates to a virtual machine's Nutanix Guest Tools configuration.	Update VM
Update VM Power State	Allows updates to a virtual machine's power state.	Update VM
Update VM Disk List	Allows to update a virtual machine's disks.	Update VM
Update VM Memory	Allows to update a virtual machine's memory configuration.	Update VM
Update VM Power State Mechanism	Allows updates to a virtual machine's power state mechanism.	Update VM or Update VM Power State
Allow VM Power Off	Allows power off and shutdown operations on a virtual machine.	Update VM or Update VM Power State
Allow VM Power On	Allows power on operation on a virtual machine.	Update VM or Update VM Power State
Allow VM Reboot	Allows reboot operation on a virtual machine.	Update VM or Update VM Power State
Expand VM Disk Size	Allows to expand a virtual machine's disk size.	Update VM or Update VM Disk List
Mount VM CDROM	Allows to mount an ISO to virtual machine's CDROM.	Update VM or Update VM Disk List
Unmount VM CDROM	Allows to unmount ISO from virtual machine's CDROM.	Update VM or Update VM Disk List
Update VM Memory Overcommit	Allows to update a virtual machine's memory overcommit configuration.	Update VM or Update VM Memory
Allow VM Reset	Allows reset (hard reboot) operation on a virtual machine.	Update VM, Update VM Power State, or Allow VM Reboot
View Cluster	Allows to view a cluster.
Update Cluster	Allows to update a cluster.
Create Image	Allows to create an image.
View Image	Allows to view a image.
Copy Image Remote	Allows to copy an image from local PC to remote PC.
Delete Image	Allows to delete an image.
Migrate Image	Allows to migrate an image from PE to PC.
Update Image	Allows to update a image.
Create Image Placement Policy	Allows to create an image placement policy.
View Image Placement Policy	Allows to view an image placement policy.
Delete Image Placement Policy	Allows to delete an image placement policy.
Update Image Placement Policy	Allows to update an image placement policy.
Create AWS VM	Allows to create an AWS virtual machine.
View AWS VM	Allows to view an AWS virtual machine.
Update AWS VM	Allows to update an AWS virtual machine.
Delete AWS VM	Allows to delete an AWS virtual machine.
View AWS AZ	Allows to view AWS Availability Zones.
View AWS Elastic IP	Allows to view an AWS Elastic IP.
View AWS Image	Allows to view an AWS image.
View AWS Key Pair	Allows to view AWS keypairs.
View AWS Machine Type	Allows to view AWS machine types.
View AWS Region	Allows to view AWS regions.
View AWS Role	Allows to view AWS roles.
View AWS Security Group	Allows to view an AWS security group.
View AWS Subnet	Allows to view an AWS subnet.
View AWS Volume Type	Allows to view AWS volume types.
View AWS VPC	Allows to view an AWS VPC.
Create Subnet	Allows to create a subnet.
View Subnet	Allows to view a subnet.
Update Subnet	Allows to update a subnet.
Delete Subnet	Allows to delete a subnet.
Create Blueprint	Allows to create the blueprint of an application.
View Blueprint	Allows to view the blueprint of an application.
Launch Blueprint	Allows to launch the blueprint of an application.
Clone Blueprint	Allows to clone the blueprint of an application.
Delete Blueprint	Allows to delete the blueprint of an application.
Download Blueprint	Allows to download the blueprint of an application.
Export Blueprint	Allows to export the blueprint of an application.
Import Blueprint	Allows to import the blueprint of an application.
Render Blueprint	Allows to render the blueprint of an application.
Update Blueprint	Allows to update the blueprint of an application.
Upload Blueprint	Allows to upload the blueprint of an application.
Create OVA	Allows to create an OVA.
View OVA	Allows to view an OVA.
Update OVA	Allows to update an OVA.
Delete OVA	Allows to delete an OVA.
Create Marketplace Item	Allows to create a marketplace item.
View Marketplace Item	Allows to view a marketplace item.
Update Marketplace Item	Allows to update a marketplace item.
Config Marketplace Item	Allows to configure a marketplace item.
Render Marketplace Item	Allows to render a marketplace item.
Delete Marketplace Item	Allows to delete a marketplace item.
Create Report Config	Allows to create a report_config.
View Report Config	Allows to view a report_config.
Run Report Config	Allows to run a report_config.
Share Report Config	Allows to share a report_config.
Update Report Config	Allows to update a report_config.
Delete Report Config	Allows to delete a report_config.
Create Common Report Config	Allows to create a common report_config.
View Common Report Config	Allows to view a common report_config.
Update Common Report Config	Allows to update a common report_config.
Delete Common Report Config	Allows to delete a common report_config.
Create Report Instance	Allows to create a report_instance.
View Report Instance	Allows to view a report_instance.
Notify Report Instance	Allows to notify a report_instance.
Notify Report Instance	Allows to notify a report_instance.
Share Report Instance	Allows to share a report_instance.
Delete Report Instance	Allows to delete a report_instance.
View Account	Allows to view an account.
View Project	Allows to view a project.
View User	Allows to view a user.
View User Group	Allows to view a user group.
View Name Category	Allows to view a category's name.
View Value Category	Allows to view a category's value.
View Virtual Switch	Allows to view a virtual switch.

Granting Restore Permission to Project User

About this task

To grant restore Permission to a project user, do the following:

Procedure

Log on to Prism Central with cluster admin or self service admin credentials.
Go to the roles dashboard (select Administration > Roles in the pull-down menu) and do one of the following:
- Click the Create Role button.
- Select an existing role of a project user and then select Duplicate from the Actions drop-down menu. To modify the duplicate role, select Update Role from the Actions pull-down list.
The Roles page for that role appears. In the Roles page, do the following in the indicated fields:
1. Role Name : Enter a name for the new role.
2. Description (optional): Enter a description of the role.
3. Expand VM Recovery Point and do one of the following:
  - Select Full Access and then select Allow VM recovery point creation .
  - Click Change next to Set Custom Permissions to customize the permissions. Enable Restore VM Recovery Point permission. This permission also grants the permission to view the VM created from the restore process.
4. Click Save to add the role. The page closes and the new role appears in the Roles view list.
In the Roles view, select the newly created role and click Manage Assignment to assign the user to this role.
In the Add New dialog, do the following:
- Under Select Users or User Groups or OUs , enter the target user name. The search box displays the matched records. Select the required listing from the records.
- Under Entities , select VM Recovery Point , select Individual Entry from the drop-down list, and then select All VM Recovery Points.
- Click Save to finish.

Configuring Role Mapping

About this task

Procedure

Click the gear icon in the main menu and then select Role Mapping from the Settings page.

The Role Mapping window appears.

Figure. Role Mapping Window Click to enlarge
To create a role mapping, click the New Mapping button.

The Create Role Mapping window appears. Enter the required information in the following fields.

Figure. Create Role Mapping Window Click to enlarge
Directory or Provider : Select the target directory or identity provider from the pull-down list.
Only directories and identity providers previously configured in the authentication settings are available. If the desired directory or provider does not appear in the list, add that directory or provider, and then return to this procedure.
Type : Select the desired LDAP entity type from the pull-down list.
This field appears only if you have selected a directory from the Directory or Provider pull-down list. The following entity types are available:
- User : A named user. For example, dev_user_1.
- Group : A group of users. For example, dev_grp1, dev_grp2, sr_dev_1, and staff_dev_1.
- OU : organizational units with one or more users, groups, and even other organizational units. For example, all_dev, consists of user dev_user_1 and groups dev_grp1, dev_grp2, sr_dev_1, and staff_dev_1.
Role : Select a user role from the pull-down list.
You can choose one of the following roles:
- Viewer : Allows users with view-only access to the information and hence cannot perform any administrative tasks.
- Cluster Admin (Formerly Prism Central Admin): Allows users to view and perform all administrative tasks except creating or modifying user accounts.
- User Admin : Allows users to view information, perform administrative tasks, and to create and modify user accounts.
Values : Enter the entity names. The entity names are assigned with the respective roles that you have selected.
The entity names are case sensitive. If you need to provide more than one entity name, then the entity names should be separated by a comma (,) without any spaces in between them.
LDAP-based authentication
- For AD
  
  Enter the actual names used by the organizational units (it applies to all users and groups in those OUs), groups (all users in those groups), or users (each named user) used in LDAP in the Values field.
  
  For example, entering sr_dev_1,staff_dev_1 in the Values field when the LDAP type is Group and the role is Cluster Admin, implies that all users in the sr_dev_1 and staff_dev_1 groups are assigned the administrative role for the cluster.
  
  Do not include the domain name in the value. For example, enter all_dev , and not all_dev@<domain_name> . However, when users log in to Cluster Admin, include the domain along with the username.
  
  User : Enter the sAMAccountName or userPrincipalName in the values field.
  
  Group : Enter common name (cn) or name.
  
  OU : Enter name.
- For OpenLDAP
  
  User : Use the username attribute (that was configured while adding the directory) value.
  
  Group : Use the group name attribute (cn) value.
  
  OU : Use the OU attribute (ou) value.
SAML-based authentication:

You must configure the NameID attribute in the identity provider. You can enter the NameID returned in the SAML response in the Values field.

For SAML, only User type is supported. Other types such as, Group and OU, are not supported.

If you enable Identity and Access Management, see Security Management Using Identity and Access Management (Prism Central)
Click Save .

The role mapping configurations are saved, and the new role is listed in the Role Mapping window.

You can create a role map for each authorized directory. You can also create multiple role maps that apply to a single directory. When there are multiple maps for a directory, the most specific rule for a user applies.

For example, adding a Group map set to Cluster Admin and a User map set to Viewer for a few specific users in that group means all users in the group have administrator permission except those few specific users who have only viewing permission.
To edit a role map entry, click the pencil icon for that entry.
After clicking the pencil icon, the Edit Role Mapping window appears which is similar to the Create Role Mapping window. Edit the required information in the required fields and click the Save button to update the changes.
To delete a role map entry, click the X icon for that entry and click the OK button to confirm the role map entry deletion.
The role map entry is removed from the list.

Granular Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)

Granular Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) allows you to assign fine-grained VM operation permissions to users based on your specific requirements. This feature enables you to create custom roles with finer permission entities like "Allow VM Power On" or "Allow VM Power Off" as compared to the broader permissions categories like "Update VM".

The procedure to configure Granular RBAC to users is similar to the procedure outlined in Creating a Custom Role. For the complete list of available permissions, see Custom Role Permissions.

Note:

Granular RBAC is supported for VMs running on an AHV cluster.
Ensure that IAM is enabled, see Enabling IAM for details.
You must be running Prism Central version pc.2021.9 and AOS version 6.0.1 or above.

Cluster Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)

Cluster role-based access control (RBAC) feature enables a super-admin user to provide Prism Admin and Prism Viewer roles access to one or more clusters registered with Prism Central. A user with Prism Central admin or viewer role is able to view and act on the entities like VM, host, container, VM recovery points, and recovery plans from the allowed clusters.

Cluster RBAC is currently supported on an on-prem Prism Central instance hosted in a Prism Element cluster running AHV or ESXi. After you enable the Micro Services Infrastructure feature on Prism Central, the Cluster RBAC feature is then automatically enabled.

This feature supports clusters that are hosted on AHV and VMware ESXi.

Note: The Prism Central supports assigning up to 15 clusters to any user or user group.

Configuring Cluster RBAC

About this task

To configure Cluster RBAC in Prism Central for users or user groups, do the following.

Procedure

Log on to Prism Central as an admin user or any user with super admin access.
Configure active directory settings.

Note: You can skip this step if an active directory is already configured.
Go to Prism Central Settings > Authentication , click + New Directory and add your preferred active directory.
Click the hamburger menu and go to Administration > Roles .
The page displays system defined and custom roles.
Select Prism Admin or Prism Viewer role, then click Actions > Manage Assignment .
Click Add New to add a new user or user groups or OU (IDP users or user groups) to this role.

Figure. Role Assignment Click to enlarge

You will add users or user groups and assign clusters to the new role in the upcoming steps.
In the Select Users or User Groups or OUs field, do the following:
1. Select the configured AD or IDP from the drop-down.
  The drop-down displays a list of available types of user or user group such as Local User, AD based user or user groups, or SAML based user or user groups. Select Organizational Units or OU for AD or directories that use SAML based IDP for authentication.
  Figure. User, User Group or OU selection Click to enlarge
2. Search and add the users or groups in the Search User field.
  
  Typing few letters in the search field displays a list of users from which you can select, and you can add multiple user names in this field.
In the Select Clusters field, you can provide cluster access to AD users or User Groups using the Individual entity option (one or more registered clusters) or ALL Clusters option.

Figure. Select Clusters Click to enlarge
Click Save .
AD or IDP users or User Groups can log on and access Prism Central as a Prism Admin or Prism Viewer, and view or act on the entities like VM, host, and container from the configured clusters.

Cluster RBAC for Volume Group

Cluster role-based access control (RBAC) for Volume Group feature enables a super-admin user to provide Prism Admin and Prism Viewer roles access to one or more clusters registered with Prism Central. A user with Prism Admin role can view and update the entities like volume groups, virtual disks, and storage containers from the allowed clusters. However, a user with Prism Viewer role can only view the entities.

Cluster RBAC is currently supported on an on-prem Prism Central instance hosted in a Prism Element cluster running AHV. After you enable the Micro Services Infrastructure feature on Prism Central, the Cluster RBAC feature is then automatically enabled.

Cluster RBAC for Volume Group feature is supported on AHV and ESXi clusters.

Note: Prism Central supports Cluster RBAC for VG feature from PC.2022.6 release.

Table 1. List of Permissions for Prism Admin and Prism Viewer Roles
Role	Privileges
Prism Admin	Full administrator privileges except for creating or modifying the user accounts
Prism Viewer	View-only privileges

Configuring Cluster RBAC for Volume Group

About this task

To configure Cluster RBAC for Volume Group in Prism Central for users or user groups, do the following.

Procedure

Log on to Prism Central as an admin user or any user with super admin access.
Configure Active Directory settings.

Note: You can skip this step if an Active Directory is already configured.
Go to Prism Central Settings > Authentication , click + New Directory and add your preferred Active Directory.
Click the hamburger menu and go to Administration > Roles .
The page displays system defined and custom roles.
Select Prism Admin or Prism Viewer role, then click Actions > Manage Assignment .

Figure. Prism Central Roles Click to enlarge

For illustration purpose, the Prism Admin role is selected in this step.
Click Add New to add a new user or user groups to this role.

Figure. Role Assignment Click to enlarge

You will add users or user groups and assign clusters to the Prism Admin or Prism Viewer role in the upcoming steps.
In the Select Users or Groups field, do the following:
1. Select the configured active directory (AD) from the drop-down.
2. Search and add the users or user groups.
To search a user or user group, start typing few letters and the system will automatically suggest the names.
In the Select Clusters field, you can provide cluster access to AD users or User Groups using the Individual entity option (one or more registered clusters) or ALL Clusters option.

Figure. Select Clusters Click to enlarge
Click Save .
AD users or User Groups can log on and access Prism Central as a Prism Admin or Prism Viewer. They can view or act on the available entities in the configured clusters such as volume groups, virtual disks, and storage containers.

Assigning a Role

About this task

Procedure

Log on to Prism Central as "admin" user or any user with "super admin" access.
Configure Active Directory settings.

Note: You can skip this step if an active directory is already configured.
Go to Prism Central Settings > Authentication , click + New Directory and add your preferred active directory.
Click the hamburger menu and go to Administration > Roles .
The page displays system defined and custom roles.
Select the desired role in the roles dashboard, then click Actions > Manage Assignment .
Click Add New to add Active Directory based users or user groups, or IDP users or user groups (or OUs) to this role.

Figure. Role Assignment Click to enlarge

You are adding users or user groups and assigning entities to the new role in the next steps.
In the Select Users or User Groups or OUs field, do the following:
1. Select the configured AD or IDP from the drop-down.
  The drop-down displays a list of available types of user or user group such as Local User, AD based user or user groups, or SAML based user or user groups. Select Organizational Units or OU for AD or directories that use SAML based IDP for authentication.
  Figure. User, User Group or OU selection Click to enlarge
2. Search and add the users or groups in the Search User field.
  
  Typing few letters in the search field displays a list of users from which you can select, and you can add multiple user names in this field.
In the Select Entities field, you can provide access to various entities. The list of available entities depends on the role selected in Step 4.

This table lists the available entities for each role:

Table 1. Available Entities for a Role
Role	Entities
Consumer	AHV VM, Image, Image Placement Policy, OVA, Subnets: VLAN
Developer	AHV VM, Cluster, Image, Image Placement Policy, OVA, Subnets:VLAN
Operator	AHV VM, Subnets:VLAN
Prism Admin	Individual entity (one or more clusters), All Clusters
Prism Viewer	Individual entity (one or more clusters), All Clusters
Custom role (User defined role)	Individual entity, In Category (only AHV VMs)

This table shows the description of each entity:

Table 2. Description of Entities
Entity	Description
AHV VM	Allows you to manage VMs including create and edit permission
Image	Allows you to access and manage image details
Image Placement Policy	Allows you to access and manage image placement policy details
OVA	Allows you to view and manage OVA details
Subnets: VLAN	Allows you to view subnet details
Cluster	Allows you to view and manage details of assigned clusters (AHV and ESXi clusters)
All Clusters	Allows you to view and manage details of all clusters
VM Recovery Points	Allows you to perform recovery operations with recovery points.
Recovery Plan (Single PC only)	Allows you to view, validate, and test recovery plans. Also allows you to clean up VMs created after recovery plan test.
Individual entity	Allows you to view and manage individual entities such as AHV VM, Clusters, and Subnets:VLAN

Repeat Step 5 and Step 6 for any combination of users/entities you want to define.

Note: To allow users to create certain entities like a VM, you may also need to grant them access to related entities like clusters, networks, and images that the VM requires.
Click Save .

Displaying Role Permissions

About this task

Do the following to display the privileges associated with a role.

Procedure

Go to the roles dashboard and select the desired role from the list.

For example, if you click the Consumer role, the details page for that role appears, and you can view all the privileges associated with the Consumer role.

Figure. Role Summary Tab Click to enlarge
Click the Users tab to display the users that are assigned this role.

Figure. Role Users Tab Click to enlarge
Click the User Groups tab to display the groups that are assigned this role.
Click the Role Assignment tab to display the user/entity pairs assigned this role (see Assigning a Role).

Installing an SSL Certificate

About this task

Prism Central supports SSL certificate-based authentication for console access. To install a self-signed or custom SSL certificate, do the following:

Important: Ensure that SSL certificates are not password protected.

Note: Nutanix recommends that you replace the default self-signed certificate with a CA signed certificate.

Procedure

Click the gear icon in the main menu and then select SSL Certificate in the Settings page.
To replace (or install) a certificate, click the Replace Certificate button.
To create a new self-signed certificate, click the Replace Certificate option and then click the Apply button.

A dialog box appears to verify the action; click the OK button. This generates and applies a new RSA 2048-bit self-signed certificate for Prism Central.

Figure. SSL Certificate Window: Regenerate
Click to enlarge
To apply a custom certificate that you provide, do the following:
1. Click the Import Key and Certificate option and then click the Next button.
  
  Figure. SSL Certificate Window: Import Click to enlarge
2. Do the following in the indicated fields, and then click the Import Files button.
  Note:
  - All the three imported files for the custom certificate must be PEM encoded.
  - Ensure that the private key does not have any extra data (or custom attributes) before the beginning (-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----) or after the end (-----END CERTIFICATE-----) of the private key block.
  - See Recommended Key Configurations to ensure proper set of key types, sizes/curves, and signature algorithms.
  - Private Key Type : Select the appropriate type for the signed certificate from the pull-down list (RSA 4096 bit, RSA 2048 bit, EC DSA 256 bit, or EC DSA 384 bit).
  - Private Key : Click the Browse button and select the private key associated with the certificate to be imported.
  - Public Certificate : Click the Browse button and select the signed public portion of the server certificate corresponding to the private key.
  - CA Certificate/Chain : Click the Browse button and select the certificate or chain of the signing authority for the public certificate.
  Figure. Importing Certificate Click to enlarge
  In order to meet the high security standards of NIST SP800-131a compliance, the requirements of the RFC 6460 for NSA Suite B, and supply the optimal performance for encryption, the certificate import process validates the correct signature algorithm is used for a given key/cert pair. See Recommended Key Configurations to ensure proper set of key types, sizes/curves, and signature algorithms. The CA must sign all public certificates with proper type, size/curve, and signature algorithm for the import process to validate successfully.
  Note: There is no specific requirement for the subject name of the certificates (subject alternative names (SAN) or wildcard certificates are supported in Prism).
  You can use the cat command to concatenate a list of CA certificates into a chain file.
```
$ cat signer.crt inter.crt root.crt > server.cert
```
  Order is essential. The total chain should begin with the certificate of the signer and end with the root CA certificate as the final entry.

Results

Note: The system holds only one custom SSL certificate. If a new certificate is uploaded, it replaces the existing certificate. The previous certificate is discarded.

Controlling Remote (SSH) Access

About this task

To control key-based SSH access to Prism Central, do the following:

Procedure

Click the gear icon in the main menu and then select Cluster Lockdown in the Settings page.

The Cluster Lockdown dialog box appears. Enabled public keys (if any) are listed in this window.

Figure. Cluster Lockdown Window Click to enlarge
To disable (or enable) remote login access, uncheck (check) the Enable Remote Login with Password box.

Remote login access is enabled by default.
To add a new public key, click the New Public Key button and then do the following in the displayed fields:
1. Name : Enter a key name.
2. Key : Enter (paste) the key value into the field.
3. Click the Save button (lower right) to save the key and return to the main Cluster Lockdown window.
There are no public keys available by default, but you can add any number of public keys.
To delete a public key, click the X on the right of that key line.

Note: Deleting all the public keys and disabling remote login access locks down the cluster from SSH access.

Security Policies using Flow

Nutanix Flow includes a policy-driven security framework that inspects traffic within the data center. For more information, see the Flow Microsegmentation Guide.

Data-in-Transit Encryption

Data-in-Transit Encryption allows you to encrypt service level traffic between the cluster nodes. Data-in-Transit Encryption, along with Data-at-Rest Encryption, protects the entire life cycle of data and is an essential countermeasure for unauthorized access of critical data.

To enable Data-in-Transit Encryption, see Enabling Data-in-Transit Encryption.

Note:

Data-in-Transit Encryption can have an impact on I/O latency and CPU performance.
Intra-cluster traffic encryption is supported only for the Stargate service.
RDMA traffic encryption is not supported.
When a Controller VM goes down, the traffic from guest VM to remote Controller VM is not encrypted.
Traffic between guest VMs connected to Volume Groups is not encrypted when the target disk is on a remote Controller VM.

Enabling Data-in-Transit Encryption

About this task

Data-in-Transit Encryption allows you to encrypt service level traffic between the cluster nodes. To enable Data-in-Transit Encryption, do the following.

Before you begin

Ensure that the cluster is running AOS version 6.1.1 and Prism Central version pc.2022.4.
Ensure that you allow port 2009, which is used for Data-in-Transit Encryption.

Procedure

Log on to the Prism Central and click the gear icon.
Go to Hardware > Clusters > Actions and select Enable Data-In-Transit Encryption .
The following confirmation dialog box is displayed.
Figure. Enable Data-in-Transit Encryption Click to enlarge
Click Enable to confirm.

What to do next

You can disable Data-in-Transit Encryption after you have enabled it. To disable Data-in-Transit Encryption, see Disabling Data-in-Transit Encryption.

Disabling Data-in-Transit Encryption

About this task

You can disable Data-in-Transit Encryption after you have enabled it. To disable Data-in-Transit Encryption, do the following.

Procedure

Log on to the Prism Central and click the gear icon.
Go to Hardware > Clusters > Actions and select Disable Data-In-Transit Encryption .
The following confirmation dialog box is displayed.
Figure. Disable Data-in-Transit Encryption Click to enlarge
Click Disable to confirm.

Password Retry Lockout

Account locked due to too many failed attempts

You can attempt entering the password after the 15 minutes lockout period, or contact Nutanix Support in case you have forgotten your password.

Security Management Using Identity and Access Management (Prism Central)

The work flows for creating authentication configurations and providing user and role access described in Configuring Authentication) are the same whether IAM is enabled or not.

IAM Features

Highly Scalable Architecture

Based on the Kubernetes open source platform, IAM uses independent pods for authentication (AuthN), authorization (AuthZ), and IAM data storage and replication.

Each pod automatically scales independently of Prism Central when required. No user intervention or control is required.
When new features or functions are available, you can update IAM pods independently of Prism Central updates through Life Cycle Manager (LCM).
IAM uses a rolling upgrade method to help ensure zero downtime.

Secure by Design

Mutual TLS authentication (mTLS) secures IAM component communication.
The Micro Services infrastructure (CMSP) on Prism Central provisions certificates for mTLS.

More SAML Identity Providers (IDP)

Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS)
Azure Active Directory Federation Services (Azure ADFS)
Note: Azure AD is not supported.
Okta
PingOne
Shibboleth
Keycloak

Users can log on from the Prism Central web console only. IDP-initiated authentication work flows are not supported. That is, logging on or signing on from an IDP web page or site is not supported.

Updated Authentication Page

In another example, if you have configured SAML authentication instances named Shibboleth and AD2, Prism Central displays this page.

Identity and Access Management Prerequisites and Considerations

Make sure you meet the requirements listed before you enable the microservices infrastructure, which enables IAM.

IAM Prerequisites

For specific minimum software support and requirements for IAM, see the Prism Central release notes.

For microservices infrastructure requirements, see Enabling Microservices Infrastructure in the Prism Central Guide .

Prism Central

The Microservices Infrastructure and IAM is supported on clusters running AHV or ESXi only. For ESXi clusters you may need to enter your vCenter credentials (user name and password) and a network for deployment.
The host cluster must be registered with this Prism Central instance.
During installation or upgrade, ensure that you allocate a Virtual IP address (VIP) for Prism Central. For information about how to set the VIP for the Prism Central VM, see Installing Prism Central (1-Click Method) in the Acropolis Upgrade Guide . Once set, do not change this address.
Ensure that you have created a fully qualified domain name (FQDN) for Prism Central. Once the Prism Central FQDN is set, do not change it. For more information about how to set the FQDN in the Cluster Details window, see Managing Prism Central in the Prism Central Guide .
When microservices infrastructure is enabled on a Prism Central scale-out three-node deployment, reconfiguring the IP address and gateway of the Prism Central VMs is not supported.
Ensure connectivity between Prism Central and its managed Prism Element clusters.
Enable Microservices Infrastructure on Prism Central (CMSP) first to enable and use IAM. For more information, see Enabling Microservices Infrastructure in the Prism Central Guide .
IAM supports small or large single PC VM deployments. However, you cannot expand the single VM deployment to a scale-out three-node deployment once CMSP has been enabled.
IAM supports scale-out three-node PC VM deployments. Reverting this deployment to a single PC VM deployment is not supported.
Make sure Prism Central is managing at least one Prism Element cluster. For more information about how to register a cluster, see Register (Unregister) Cluster with Prism Central in the Prism Central Guide .
You cannot unregister the Prism Element cluster that is hosting the Prism Central deployment where you have enabled CMSP and IAM. You can unregister other clusters being managed by this Prism Central deployment.

Prism Element Clusters

Ensure that you have configured the following cluster settings. For more information, see Modifying Cluster Details in Prism Web Console Guide .

Virtual IP address (VIP). Once set, do not change this address
iSCSI data services IP address (DSIP). Once set, do not change this address
NTP server
Name server

IAM Considerations

Existing Authentication and Authorization Migrated After Enabling IAM

When you enable IAM by enabling CMSP, IAM migrates existing authentication and authorization configurations, including Common Access Card client authentication configurations.

Upgrading Prism Central After Enabling IAM

After you upgrade Prism Central, if CMSP (and therefore IAM) was previously enabled, both the services are enabled by default. You must contact Nutanix Support for any custom requirement.

User Session Lifetime

Each session has a maximum lifetime of 8 hours
Session idle time is 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, a user or client is logged out and must re-authenticate.

Client Authentication and Common Access Card (CAC) Support

IAM supports deployments where CAC authentication and client authentication are enabled on Prism Central. After enabling IAM, if you want to enable a client to authenticate by using certificates, you must also enable CAC authentication.
Ensure that port 9441 is open in your firewall if you are using CAC client authentication.

Hypervisor Support

You can deploy IAM on an on-premise Prism Central (PC) deployment hosted on an AOS cluster running AHV or ESXi. Clusters running other hypervisors are not supported.

Enabling IAM

Before you begin

IAM on Prism Central is disabled by default. When you enable the Micro Services Infrastructure on Prism Central, IAM is automatically enabled.
See Enabling Microservices Infrastructure in the Prism Central Guide .
See Identity and Access Management Prerequisites and Considerations and also the Identity and Access Management Software Support topic in the Prism Central release notes for specific support requirements.

Procedure

Enable Micro Services Infrastructure on Prism Central as described in Enabling Micro Services Infrastructure in the Prism Central Guide .
To view task status:
1. Open a web browser and log in to the Prism Central web console.
2. Go to the Activity > Tasks dashboard and find the IAM Migration & Bootstrap task.
The task takes up to 60 minutes to complete. Part of the task is migrating existing authentication configurations.
After the enablement tasks are completed, including the IAM Migration & Bootstrap task, log out of Prism Central. Wait at least 15 minutes before logging on to Prism Central.

The Prism Central web console shows a new log in page as shown below. This confirms that IAM is enabled.

Note:
Depending on your existing authentication configuration, the log in page might look different.

Also, you can go to Settings > Prism Central Management page to verify if Prism Central on Microservices Infrastructure (CMSP) is enabled. CMSP and IAM enablement happen together.

Figure. Sample Prism Central IAM Logon Page Click to enlarge

What to do next

Configure authentication and access. If you are implementing SAML authentication with Active Directory Federated Services (ADFS), see Updating ADFS When Using SAML Authentication.

Configuring Authentication

Caution: Prism Central does not support the SSLv2 and SSLv3 ciphers. Therefore, you must disable the SSLv2 and SSLv3 options in a browser before accessing Prism Central. This disabling avoids an SSL Fallback and access denial situations. However, you must enable TLS protocol in the browser.

Prism Central supports user authentication with these authentication options:

SAML authentication. Users can authenticate through a supported identity provider when SAML support is enabled for Prism Central. The Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) is an open standard for exchanging authentication and authorization data between two parties: an identity provider (IDP) and Prism Central as the service provider.
With IAM, in addition to ADFS, other IDPs are available. For more information, see Security Management Using Identity and Access Management (Prism Central) and Updating ADFS When Using SAML Authentication.
Local user authentication. Users can authenticate if they have a local Prism Central account. For more information, see Managing Local User Accounts .
Active Directory authentication. Users can authenticate using their Active Directory (or OpenLDAP) credentials when Active Directory support is enabled for Prism Central.

Enabling and Configuring Client Authentication/CAC

Before you begin

To enable a client to authenticate by using certificates, you must also enable CAC authentication.
Ensure that port 9441 is open in your firewall if you are using CAC client authentication. After enabling CAC client authentication, your CAC logon redirects the browser to use port 9441.

Procedure

In the web console, click the gear icon in the main menu and then select Authentication in the Settings page.
Click the Client tab, then do the following steps.
1. Select the Configure Client Chain Certificate check box.
2. Click the Choose File button, browse to and select a client chain certificate to upload, and then click the Open button to upload the certificate.
  
  Note: Uploaded certificate files must be PEM encoded. The web console restarts after the upload step.
3. To enable client authentication, click Enable Client Authentication .
4. To modify client authentication, do one of the following:
  Note: The web console restarts when you change these settings.
  - Click Enable Client Authentication to disable client authentication.
  - Click Remove to delete the current certificate. (This deletion also disables client authentication.)
  - To enable OCSP or CRL-based certificate revocation checking, see Certificate Revocation Checking.
Client authentication allows you to securely access the Prism by exchanging a digital certificate. Prism validates if the certificate is signed by the trusted signing certificate of your organization.

Client authentication ensures that the Nutanix cluster gets a valid certificate from the user. Normally, a one-way authentication process occurs where the server provides a certificate so the user can verify the authenticity of the server. When client authentication is enabled, this process becomes a two-way authentication where the server also verifies the authenticity of the user. A user must provide a valid certificate when accessing the console either by installing the certificate on the local machine, or by providing it through a smart card reader.

Note: The CA must be the same for both the client chain certificate and the certificate on the local machine or smart card.
To specify a service account that the Prism Central web console can use to log in to Active Directory and authenticate Common Access Card (CAC) users, select the Configure Service Account check box. Then do the following in the indicated fields:
1. Directory : Select the authentication directory that contains the CAC users that you want to authenticate.
  This list includes the directories that are configured on the Directory List tab.
2. Service Username : Enter the user name in the user name@domain.com format that you want the web console to use to logon to the Active Directory.
3. Service Password : Enter the password for the service user name.
4. Click Enable CAC Authentication .
  
  Note: For federal customers only.
  
  Note: The Prism Central console restarts after you change this setting.
The Common Access Card (CAC) is a smart card about the size of a credit card, which some organizations use to access their systems. After you insert the CAC into the CAC reader connected to your system, the software in the reader prompts you to enter a PIN. After you enter a valid PIN, the software extracts your personal certificate that represents you and forwards the certificate to the server using the HTTP protocol.

Nutanix Prism verifies the certificate as follows:
- Validates that the certificate has been signed by the trusted signing certificate of your organization.
- Extracts the Electronic Data Interchange Personal Identifier (EDIPI) from the certificate and uses the EDIPI to check the validity of an account within the Active Directory. The security context from the EDIPI is used for your PRISM session.
- Prism Central supports both certificate authentication and basic authentication in order to handle both Prism Central login using a certificate and allowing REST API to use basic authentication. It is physically not possible for REST API to use CAC certificates. With this behavior, if the certificate is present during Prism Central login, the certificate authentication is used. However, if the certificate is not present, basic authentication is enforced and used.
If you map a Prism Central role to a CAC user and not to an Active Directory group or organizational unit to which the user belongs, specify the EDIPI (User Principal Name, or UPN) of that user in the role mapping. A user who presents a CAC with a valid certificate is mapped to a role and taken directly to the web console home page. The web console login page is not displayed.

Note: If you have logged on to Prism Central by using CAC authentication, to successfully log out of Prism Central, close the browser after you click Log Out .

Updating ADFS When Using SAML Authentication

With Nutanix IAM, to maintain compatibility with new and existing IDP/SAML authentication configurations, update your Active Directory Federated Services (ADFS) configuration - specifically the Prism Central Relying Party Trust settings. For these configurations, you are using SAML as the open standard for exchanging authentication and authorization data between ADFS as the identity provider (IDP) and Prism Central as the service provider. See the Microsoft Active Directory Federation Services documentation for details.

About this task

In your ADFS Server configuration, update the Prism Central Relying Party Trust settings by creating claim rules to send the selected LDAP attribute as the SAML NameID in email address format. For example, map the User Principal Name to NameID in the SAML assertion claims.

As an example, this topic uses UPN as the LDAP attribute to map. You could also map the email address attribute to NameID. See the Microsoft Active Directory Federation Services documentation for details about creating a claims aware Relying Party Trust and claims rules.

Procedure

In the Relying Party Trust for Prism Central, configure a claims issuance policy with two rules.
1. One rule based on the Send LDAP Attributes as Claims template.
2. One rule based on the Transform an Incoming Claim template
For the rule using the Send LDAP Attributes as Claims template, select the LDAP Attribute as User-Principal-Name and set Outgoing Claim Type to UPN .
For User group configuration using the Send LDAP Attributes as Claims template, select the LDAP Attribute as Token-Groups - Unqualified-Names and set Outgoing Claim Type to Group .
For the rule using the Transform an Incoming Claim template:
1. Set Incoming claim type to UPN .
2. Set the Outgoing claim type to Name ID .
3. Set the Outgoing name ID format to Email .
4. Select Pass through all claim values .

Adding a SAML-based Identity Provider

Before you begin

An identity provider (typically a server or other computer) is the system that provides authentication through a SAML request. There are various implementations that can provide authentication services in line with the SAML standard.
You can specify other tested standard-compliant IDPs in addition to ADFS. See the Prism Central release notes topic Identity and Access Management Software Support for specific support requirements and also Security Management Using Identity and Access Management (Prism Central).
IAM allows only one identity provider at a time, so if you already configured one, the + New IDP link does not appear.
You must configure the identity provider to return the NameID attribute in SAML response. Prism Central uses the NameID attribute for role mapping.

Procedure

In the web console, click the gear icon in the main menu and then select Authentication in the Settings page.
To add a SAML-based identity provider, click the + New IDP link.

A set of fields is displayed. Do the following in the indicated fields:
1. Configuration name : Enter a name for the identity provider. This name appears in the logon authentication screen.
2. Group Attribute Name (Optional) : Optionally, enter the group attribute name such as groups . Ensure that this name matches the group attribute name provided in the IDP configuration.
3. Group Attribute Delimiter (Optional) : Optionally, enter a delimiter that needs to be used when multiple groups are selected for the Group attribute.
4. Import Metadata : Click this option to upload a metadata file that contains the identity provider information.
  
  Identity providers typically provide an XML file on their website that includes metadata about that identity provider, which you can download from that site and then upload to Prism Central. Click + Import Metadata to open a search window on your local system and then select the target XML file that you downloaded previously. Click the Save button to save the configuration.
  
  Figure. Identity Provider Fields (metadata configuration) Click to enlarge
This step completes configuring an identity provider in Prism Central, but you must also configure the callback URL for Prism Central on the identity provider. To configure the callback URL, click the Download Metadata link just below the Identity Providers table to download an XML file that describes Prism Central and then upload this metadata file to the identity provider.
To edit an identity provider entry, click the pencil icon for that entry.

After clicking the pencil icon, the relevant fields reappear. Enter the new information in the appropriate fields and then click the Save button.
To delete an identity provider entry, click the X icon for that entry.

After clicking the X icon, a window prompt appears to verify the delete action; click the OK button. The entry is removed from the list.

Restoring Identity and Access Management Configuration Settings

Prism Central regularly backs up the Identity and Access Management (IAM) database, typically every 15 minutes. This procedure describes how to restore a specific time-stamped IAM backup instance.

About this task

You can restore authentication and authorization configuration settings available from the IAM database. For example, use this procedure to restore your authentication and authorization configuration to a previous state. You can choose an available time-stamped backup instance when you run the shell script in this procedure, and your authentication and authorization configuration is restored to the settings in the point-in-time backup.

Procedure

Log in to the Prism Central VM through an SSH session as the nutanix user.
Run the backup shell script restore_iamv2.sh
```
nutanix@pcvm$ sh /home/nutanix/cluster/bin/restore_iamv2.sh
```
The script displays a numbered list of available backups, including the backup file time-stamp.
```
Enter the Backup No. from the backup list (default is 1):
```
Select a backup by number to start the restore process.
The script displays a series of messages indicating restore progress, similar to:
```
You Selected the Backup No 1
Stopping the IAM services
Waiting to stop all the IAM services and to start the restore process
Restore Process Started
Restore Process Completed
...
Restarting the IAM services
IAM Services Restarted Successfully
```
After the script runs successfully, the command shell prompt returns and your IAM configuration is restored.
To validate that your settings have been restored, log on to the Prism Central web console and go to Settings > Authentication and check the settings.

Accessing a List of Open Source Software Running on a Cluster

As an admin user, you can access a text file that lists all of the open source software running on a cluster.

About this task

Perform the following procedure to access a list of the open source software running on a cluster.

Procedure

Log on to any Controller VM in the cluster as the admin user by using SSH.

Access the text file by using the following command.

less /usr/local/nutanix/license/blackduck_version_license.txt

Read article

Beam User Guide

Beam Hosted

Last updated: 2022-10-31

Beam Overview

Beam is a Cost Governance SaaS product offering by Nutanix that helps cloud-focused organizations to gain visibility into cloud spend across multiple cloud environments.

The following are a few of the key functionalities that help you with the cost management:

Provides you with deep visibility and rich analytics detailing cloud consumption patterns.
One-click cost optimization across your cloud environments.
Proactively identifies idle and underutilized resources, delivers specific recommendations to resize infrastructure services, and ensure optimal cloud consumption.

Beam provides the following capabilities:

Visibility into cloud consumption : Provides businesses with deep visibility into their multi-cloud consumption at an aggregate and granular level. Beam also automatically identifies cost anomalies to ensure cloud operators can immediately identify when spending deviations happen.
Optimization of Cloud Consumption : Provides cloud operators with a one-click feature and optimization recommendations to easily right-size cloud resources. Beam uses machine intelligence to continuously suggest optimal purchase plans for reserved instances that drive deep cost savings.
Control over Cloud Consumption : Helps you to set policies that continuously maintain high levels of cloud cost efficiency by automating various cost-saving actions. You can also create budgets for various teams or projects, track the spending against allocated budgets, and get alerts when a budget exceeds.

Cost Management for Nutanix On-Prem

Beam application enables you to take control of your cloud spend on the Nutanix on-premises resources. The application supports Nutanix enterprise cloud deployments to extend cost visibility capability into the multi-cloud cost governance portfolio.

Beam provides cost visibility into the on-premises clusters and resources. The costs are modeled to reflect the true cost of owning an on-prem infrastructure including Nutanix hardware, software, facilities, administration, and so on. The holistic cost visibility helps you to understand and control the overall cost associated with the Nutanix private cloud environment.

Nutanix cost management supports the following features.

True cost of running on-premises infrastructure with the help of a Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) model.
Metering and cost visibility of Nutanix clusters and resources on a daily and monthly granularity.
Enable financial governance by creating chargeback reports and budget alerts.

The application obtains the purchase and consumption data from Nutanix sales databases, MyNutanix Portal account, and Pulse .

Note: The historical spend reported in Beam is delayed by at least 24 hours as the cost metering is updated only once in 24 hours.

Multicloud Views

Apart from providing cost visibility and optimization recommendations for individual clouds, the application also provides cost visibility and optimization recommendations for entities with multiple clouds (Nutanix, AWS, Azure, and GCP). You can configure two types of multicloud entities - Financial and Scope.

Financial is a hierarchical structure comprising of Business units and Cost Centers used for Chargeback. Chargeback allows you to group cloud resources across multiple clouds (Nutanix, AWS, Azure, and GCP) within Cost Centers and Business units. By design, a cloud resource cannot be part of different cost centers or business units. For more information, see Chargeback.

Scope is a custom resource group with resources across multiple clouds (Nutanix, AWS, Azure, and GCP). Scopes are useful in providing visibility to logical resource groups like applications, project teams, cross-functional initiatives, and so on. Hence, by design, a cloud resource can be part of multiple Scopes. For more information, see Scopes.

User Interface Layout

This section provides information on the layout and navigation of the Beam console.

The Beam console provides a graphical user interface to manage Beam settings and features.

View Selector

When you log on to the Beam for the first time, the View Selector pop-up appears. The View Selector pop-up allows you to search for an account by typing the account name in the search box or navigate and select a cloud account, business unit or cost center, and custom scope.

The Dashboard is the welcome page that appears after logging and selecting a view in Beam.

For the subsequent logins, the last visited page for the last selected view (account, business unit or cost center, and scope) appears. You can click View in the top-right corner to open the View Selector pop-up and select a different view.

Table 1. Available Views
View	Description
All Clouds	Select this view to get total cost visibility for AWS-, Azure-, GCP-, and Nutanix-accounts for which you have access.
Nutanix	Allows you to select Nutanix-accounts.
Financial	Allows you to select business units or cost centers you created for the chargeback.
Scopes	Allows you to select the custom scopes you created.

Beam Console

The Beam Console screens are divided into different sections, as described in the following image and table.

Table 2. Beam Console Layout
Menu	Description
Hamburger icon	Displays a menu of features on the left. When the main menu is displayed, the hamburger icon changes to an X button. Click the X button to hide the menu.
Alerts	The Alert option allows you to see system-generated alert notifications. Click the bell icon from the main menu bar to view alerts. Click See More to view the complete list of notification.
User Menu	The user drop-down menu has the following options. Profile - Displays your account information, timezone and email preferences, and Product Access (read/write) for Beam. What's New - Displays the recent product updates. Terms of Service Privacy Policy Responsible Disclosure Log out - Click to log out of the Beam console.
Help Menu	You can click the question mark icon in the top-right corner of the Console to view the following: Read Documentation - Redirects you to the Beam documentation. Guided Tours - Opens the list of walkthrough videos that helps you to navigate through various tasks and workflows in Beam.
Widgets Section	The widgets section displays the informational and actionable widgets corresponding to the feature that you have selected from the main menu. For instance, the Dashboard page display widgets like Spend Overview , Spend Analysis , Spend Overview - TCO Cost Heads , and Spend Overview - Virtual Machines .
View option	Click View in the top-right corner to open the View Selector pop-up.

Main Menu

Clicking the Hamburger icon displays a menu of features on the left. When the main menu is displayed, the Hamburger icon changes to an X button. Click the X button to hide the menu.

The following table describes each feature in the main menu.

Table 3. Main Menu - Available Features
Feature	Description
Dashboard	Displays the Dashboard page (see Dashboard (Nutanix)).
Analyze	Displays the Analyze page (see Cost Analysis (Nutanix)). Analyze allows you to track cost consumption across all your cloud resources at both the aggregate and granular level. You can drill down cost further based on your services, accounts, or application workload.
Chargeback	Displays the Chargeback page (see Chargeback). Enables the financial control of your cloud spends by providing the ability to allocate cloud resources to departments based on definitions. It provides a consolidated view across all your cloud accounts in a single pane for Finance views.
Budget	Displays the Budget page (see Budget). A budget allows you to centralize the budget at the business unit, cost center, or scope levels to ensure that your consumption is within the budget that you have defined.
Reports	Displays the Reports page (see Cost Reports). Beam generates reports to track cost consumption across all your cloud accounts at both aggregate and granular levels, like a functional unit, workloads, and applications. The reports are generated automatically and are available to view, download, or share from the Beam console.
Configure menu	The Configure menu allows you to do the following operations. Add and manage Nutanix accounts in Beam. For more information, see Onboarding Nutanix Account. Manage Beam users Chargeback Scopes Nutanix Cost Configuration

Administration and User Management

Beam allows you to do the following administrative controls.

Add and manage users accessibility to various cloud accounts in Beam.
Two types of access can be granted to a user.
- Admin Access - The user gets read and write access to all cloud accounts added in your Beam account.
- User Access - The administrator can grant Read Only or Read & Write permissions on selected cloud accounts to a user, thus allowing the administrator to exercise the principle of least privilege.

Adding a Beam User

You can add and manage users using the Beam console.

About this task

To add a user in Beam, do the following.

Procedure

Click the Hamburger icon in the top-left corner to display the main menu. Then, click Configure > User Management . Click Add User .
In the Details page, enter the user details and change the timezone as desired. Then, click Next to go to the Permissions page.
In the Permissions page, you can choose Admin Access or User Access .
Click Admin Access if you want to give administrator rights to the user. See User Roles for details on types of users. Then, click Save to complete the task.
Click User Access if you want to grant Read Only or Read & Write permissions on selected cloud accounts to the user.
1. Select the required access ( No Access , Read Only , and Read & Write ) across clouds.
  The No Access option is selected by default.
2. Select the AWS Payer Account and Linked Accounts, Azure Billing Accounts and Subscriptions, Nutanix accounts, and GCP Billing Accounts and Projects for which you want to provide access. Then, click Save to complete the task.
Figure. User Management - Granting Permissions Click to enlarge

User Roles

This section helps you to understand all the different roles in Beam and when you would use each.

Owner Role

When a user creates a Beam Subscription , a tenant is triggered and the user becomes the owner of that tenant.  An owner is shown as Admin (Owner) in the User Management page. The owner role has the following attributes.

Create other users with or without administrative privileges.
Access billing subscription information.
Access to licensing information. For more information on licensing for Nutanix on-prem accounts, see Licensing.
Access to all features.
View the admin menu.
Perform all the read or write operations.
Create or edit budgets.
View, create, edit, or delete cost centers.
Restrict access to a limited number of cloud account for a user.

Note:

My Nutanix Account Administrators are considered as Owner in Beam.
You can't create an owner role in Beam. However, you can create as many as three Beam owners from My Nutanix. Only My Nutanix Account Administrators have the necessary permissions to create Beam owners. For more information on My Nutanix user management, see Cloud Services Administration Guide .
Only My Nutanix Account Administrators or Beam Owners are able to manage billing and renewals of Beam subscription. For more information on managing billing and renewals, see Cloud Services Administration Guide .

Administrator Role

An administrator is shown as Admin in the User Management page. The administrator role has the following attributes.

Access to all features.
View the admin menu.
Add other users.
Perform all the read or write operations.
Create or edit budgets.
View, create, edit, or delete cost centers.
Restrict access to a limited number of cloud account for a user.

User Role

A user role is created by granting read-only or read & write permission for selected accounts.

An account having a user role cannot create other users.
An account having a user role with read-only permission can view the cost data.
Read-only or read & write permission can be granted on the selected Nutanix accounts.

ADFS Integration

Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS) is a Single Sign-On (SSO) solution that you can use for implementing single sign-on in Beam. To integrate ADFS with Beam, log on to your MyNutanix account, and perform the integration. See SAML Authentication for details. To log on to your Beam account using ADFS, see Logging into Xi Cloud Services as an SAML User .

User Management

You can configure the following user group types in ADFS.

Administrator user - Users added to this group have administrator access.
Beam user - Users added to this group can perform operations based on the access policy assigned by the administrator user.

Note:

If you are a part of the Beam user group and logging into Beam through ADFS for the first time, you will not have access to any cloud account. Contact your account administrator to get access to an account.
If you are a part of the administrator user group and logging into Beam through ADFS, you cannot add and delete users using the Beam user management. You can perform these actions in ADFS.
If you are logging into Beam through ADFS, you cannot change roles (administrator to user or user to administrator). You can perform these actions in ADFS.

Support

If you log on to Beam through ADFS, you can get access to Nutanix Support only if your MyNutanix account was used to add your Beam user account. However, if your Beam user account was not added using your MyNutanix account, you do not get access to support.

Starting Beam Free Trial

Beam is a multi-cloud cost governance SaaS product that provides a free, full-featured, 14-day trial period. During the free trial period, you can configure your Nutanix On-premises and public cloud accounts (AWS, Azure, and GCP) in Beam to evaluate the features. It takes about 15 minutes to configure your cloud accounts in Beam.

About this task

The following section describes the procedure to start a free trial.

If you have access to the MyNutanix account, perform Step 1 .
If you do not have access to the MyNutanix account, perform Step 2 .

Procedure

If you have access to the MyNutanix account, do the following.
1. Login to your MyNutanix account.
2. In the Dashboard, scroll down to find the Beam application. Then, click Launch to open the Beam application and start your free trial.
  
  Figure. MyNutanix Dashboard - Launching Xi-Beam Click to enlarge
If you do not have an existing MyNutanix account, do the following.
1. Open the Beam webpage.
2. Click Start Free Trial and fill the form that appears. Then, click Submit .
  
  Figure. Free Trial - Form Click to enlarge
  
  Your MyNutanix account gets created. Also, you will receive a verification email that contains a link for logging into the Beam application.

What to do next

You can add your Nutanix, AWS, Azure, and GCP accounts in Beam.

Onboarding Nutanix Account

You can add your Nutanix account in Beam application. The application allows you to track your cloud expenses, optimize your cloud cost, and achieve visibility into your spend.

Before you begin

Ensure that you meet the following prerequisites:

License ID of a Nutanix asset. Refer to Nutanix Support Portal.
Beam administrator access.

About this task

To add your Nutanix account in Beam, do the following.

Procedure

In the Beam console, click the Hamburger icon in the top-left corner to display the main menu. Then, click Configure > Nutanix Accounts .
Enter your License Key or Asset Serial Number .

Figure. Add Nutanix Account Page Click to enlarge
Note: This step can give an error message in the following scenarios.
- The serial number or license key is invalid.
- The serial number is valid but does not belong to your Nutanix account.
Once validated, Beam fetches the account name automatically. Optionally, update the account name.
Click Save to complete.

Note: You can set up only one Nutanix account for each Beam account.

What to do next

After you add the Nutanix account, do the following for the cluster on-boarding.

You must enable Pulse 4K for the clusters for which you want cost visibility. You can enable Pulse from the Prism console for the clusters that need cost visibility. The version of NCC must be 3.6.4 or higher. To enable Pulse for your cluster, see Pulse Health Monitoring and Support.
Note:
- Beam for Nutanix on-premises only works when Pulse is enabled.
- There are some known data inconsistencies for clusters with AOS versions 5.10.10, 5.10.11, and 5.15. It is recommended to upgrade the AOS version to 5.15.1 or higher for cluster costing and resource level metering to work in Beam.
- Beam recommends upgrading NCC to 3.10 to get accurate cost visibility for snapshots (Protection Domain). There are some known data inconsistencies for clusters with NCC version 4.3.0.1. Hence, it is recommended to upgrade the NCC version to 4.4.0 or higher. For more information about upgrading NCC, see Nutanix Cluster Check (NCC) Guide.
To view the cluster names and VM names, you must enable additional support information. To enable additional support information, see Configuring Pulse.
Beam supports the cost visibility for Objects and it requires the version of Prism Element to be 5.11.2 or higher and Prism Central to be 5.17.1 or higher.

Note: The cost of VM does not depend on the utilization of resources (for example, CPU, RAM, storage). It depends on the allocated resources to a VM.

Beam Gov(US) Cost Governance

Beam Gov(US) is an isolated instance running in AWS GovCloud (US) region to cater specific regulatory compliance requirements of the US government agencies at federal, state, and local levels, government contractors, educational institutes, and other US customers who run sensitive workload in AWS GovCloud and Azure Government Cloud, and want to bring Cost Governance for their cloud infrastructure, gain visibility, optimize and control their spend. Beam Gov(US) provides a single plane consolidated view for Cost Governance.

The onboarding process for Beam Gov(US) users differs from the onboarding process for commercial account users.

Separate Beam instance is deployed in the AWS GovCloud region (US-West) with a separate login URL for Beam Gov(US) users.
Beam Gov(US) supports the cost governance for AWS, Azure, GCP, and Nutanix On-premises in the GovCloud.
Beam Gov(US) also supports commercial cloud accounts along with the GovCloud.

Note: Beam Gov(US) Cost Governance is an early access feature. For more information, contact Nutanix Support .

Beam Gov(US) Sign up

The Beam Gov(US) sign up includes two steps.

Beam Gov(US) Sign up Request Approval - The sign up request approval process involves the following steps.
- Sign-up Request
  Contact the sales team expressing an interest in using Beam Gov(US).
- Customer Verification
  The request is forwarded for verification to the Nutanix GovCloud Security team. As part of the verification, you will receive a form through DocuSign that you must fill and send back.
- Beam Account Activation
  Once the request passes through the verification, Customer Service initiates the account creation process, and the primary user is notified with login details through an email. The email contains verification link, upon verifying email, the user can login to the Beam Gov(US).
Account Registration Completion - In the Beam Gov(US) login page, create a password and select a timezone. Then login into the Beam console. You can enable or disable the MFA from the Profile page in the Beam console. For more information on enabling or disabling the MFA, see User Management.

Note: After you complete the sign-up steps, perform the Nutanix account onboarding. There are no changes in the onboarding steps for Beam Gov(US). For more information, see Onboarding Nutanix Account.

User Management

You can add and manage users for GovCloud using the Beam console.

You can perform the following operations in Beam Gov(US).

Add a user
To go to the User Management page, click the Hamburger icon in the top-left corner to display the main menu. Then, click Configure > User Management . To add a user, see Adding a Beam User.

In the case of AWS user management, the user may have access to the commercial account but no access to the GovCloud account linked to the commercial account. To give AWS GovCloud account access to a user, you must select the GovCloud account linked to the commercial account.

Figure. User Management - GovCloud Account Click to enlarge
Resetting Password and MFA Management
Configuring Single Sign-On

Resetting Password and MFA Management

You can reset your password and enable or disable MFA from the Profile page in the Beam console.

About this task

To go to the Profile page, click the user drop-down menu on the top-right corner and select Profile .

To change your password, click the Change Password link.

Figure. Profile Page - Change Password Link Click to enlarge

To enable MFA, do the following.

Procedure

In the Profile page, click the Enable MFA link.

The Enable Multi-factor Authentication page appears.
Do one of the following.
- Scan the QR code by using the virtual MFA application (Google or Microsoft Authenticator).
- Click the secret code link to get the secret code. Enter the secret code in your virtual MFA application.
  
  Figure. Enable Multi-factor Authentication Page Click to enlarge
  
  The virtual MFA application starts generating codes.
Enter the codes in Code 1 and Code 2 boxes. Then click Set MFA to enable MFA.

To disable MFA, click the Disable MFA link in the Profile page.

In the case your MFA device is lost or not accessible, click Login via OTP (for lost MFA)? link. Beam sends an OTP to your registered email id. Enter the OTP to login to Beam.

Figure. Beam Login Page - Lost MFA Link Click to enlarge

Configuring Single Sign-On

The following section describes how to configure the single sign-on feature for Beam Gov(US).

About this task

To configure the single sign-on feature, do the following.

Procedure

Log on to the Beam Console.
Click the user drop-down menu on the top-right corner and select Single Sign On .
In the Single Sign On page, in the Application Id box, enter the application id.

Note: To get the Application Id, contact Nutanix Support .

A success message appears, displaying that the single sign-on is successfully configured.
Log out from the Beam Console to go to the login page.
In the Login page, click Login with Single Sign On .
In the Email box, enter your email id.
In the case of conflict, while logging through the email address, you can click Try with Application ID to login with the application id.
Click Login .

You are redirected to your organization’s single sign-on application page.

Enter your credentials and login to Beam Gov(US).

Getting Started With Configurations

After you onboard your Nutanix accounts in Beam, the following information becomes available for you to consume:

Dashboard - Get a graphical view of your overall spend, spend analysis, spend overview - TCO cost heads, and spend overview - virtual machines.
Analyze - Provides a deep visibility into your projected and current spend and allows you to track spend across Nutanix resources both at an aggregate and granular level. You can drill down the cost further based on your Clusters, Services, Service Types, Cost Centers, and Tags (Prism Categories are considered as Tags).

The following are the configurations to perform so that you can begin controlling your Nutanix On-premises consumption:

Verify and update Nutanix cost - The Product Portfolio tab allows you to view all the Nutanix products purchased to date, their capacity, and assumed market prices. Beam calculates the spend data based on the assumed market prices of the Nutanix product. You can verify and reconfigure the system assumed cost of your purchased Nutanix products or licenses manually.
Configure the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) model - The Cluster tab provides a list of all the clusters along with the monthly cost for each cluster. Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of a cluster is considered as its cost across Beam. This model covers all the cost considerations of running Nutanix Enterprise Cloud in your datacenter. You can view the details of different cost heads for a specific cluster and edit the industry-specific TCO assumptions to the actual TCO inputs for your cluster.
Select the Resource Metering Model - The Resource Metering tab allows you to select the resource metering model for individual clusters. Resource metering provides a granular view of the cost of running a resource within a Nutanix cluster. The granular resource level costing helps in understanding the cost incurred to run a Nutanix resource that can be used for Chargeback. Resource metering is done by allocating the amortized cost of the cluster proportionally to the resources that are running in the cluster. You can select between Actual Virtual Capacity and Target Virtual Capacity models.
Create Business Units and Cost Centers for Chargeback – You can define a business unit by combining a group of cost centers. Chargeback is built on the business unit and cost center configuration construct that you define for the resources across all your Nutanix accounts.
Create Budget Alerts - A budget allows you to centralize the budget at the business unit, cost center, or scope levels to ensure that your consumption is within the budget that you have defined.

Nutanix Cost Configuration

Beam allows you to define configuration settings for your cloud cost data. Cost Configuration is a set of rules that allow you to update cost inputs manually, and also select cost presentation options, allocation model options, and reporting rules that define how the cost of cloud resources get reported in Beam.

Cost metering in Beam involves the following three step process to provide a detailed view of the existing spend on the resources based on the purchased products and deployed clusters.

Cluster Costing - is where the cost of purchased Nutanix, Third-party, or OEM hardware and software is added to the Total Cost Ownership (TCO) model to calculate the monthly amortized cost of the cluster. For more details about the TCO configuration of a cluster, see the Cluster - TCO Configuration section of this user guide.
Resource Metering - is where the monthly amortized cost of the cluster is split on a daily granularity to the virtual resources used within the cluster, based on their usage. For more details about resource metering and resource metering model, see the Resource Metering section of this user guide.
Service Costing - is where the blended resource (such as guest VMs, Snapshots, Files, and Objects) cost is calculated by including cost of their usage and overheads such as the software cost and the hidden shared platform cost. For example, for Nutanix VM, the cost of vRAM, vStorage, and vCPU along with the amortized cost of management license (such as Prism, Flow, and Calm) and the platform (PC) are included.

Beam supports only Pulse enabled clusters. Any cluster with Pulse not enabled is considered as not onboard for Beam and is not shown in the Cluster tab. If pulse is not available due to some reason for a particular day then the cluster cost incurred for that day is known as Unmetered cluster cost

You can configure the cost for Nutanix Product Portfolio, Cluster, and Resources.

To go to the Cost Configuration page, click the Hamburger icon in the top-left corner to display the main menu. Then, click Configure > Nutanix Cost Configuration .

In the Nutanix Cost Configuration page, you can view the following tabs.

Product Portfolio - The Product Portfolio tab is a comprehensive repository of all the Nutanix products purchased to date, their capacity, and assumed market prices.
Cluster - The Cluster tab provides a list of all the clusters and monthly costs for each cluster. TCO model is the cost allocation basis for the clusters. You can edit the TCO details for each cluster.
Resource Metering - The Resource Metering tab provides a list of clusters along with the resource metering model selected for each cluster. The resource metering model allocates the amortized cost of the cluster proportionally to the resources that are running in the cluster. The proportional allocation can be based on the actual virtual capacity or target virtual capacity. You can configure the allocation type at a cluster level.

Nutanix Cost - Verify and Update

The Product Portfolio tab is a comprehensive repository of all the Nutanix products purchased to date, their capacity, and assumed market prices.

The Product Portfolio tab allows an administrator to visualize the following.

Filter a product by the name or view the active or expired products.
View the list of products that Beam considers for the cost calculations. Beam considers only the products with active terms for amortized cost calculations.
View the assumed costs for each product or license purchase.

In the top-right corner of the Product Portfolio tab, select the depreciation period from the Depreciation Schedule drop-down list and click Apply . The Hardware costs and any perpetual licenses are amortized based on the depreciation period you select. This impacts the amortized cost calculations within the product.

You can filter the products according to the product type (software or hardware) and product status (active or expired).

Configuring Nutanix Products Cost

You can reconfigure the system assumed cost of your purchased Nutanix products or licenses manually.

About this task

Beam calculates the spend data based on the assumed market prices of the Nutanix product. The spend data shown in Beam may not be the actual price that you may have paid as a Nutanix customer.

You can configure the cost in any of the following ways.

Inline cost editing : This option allows you to edit the cost of individual products. You can filter a subset of products using the search and individually overwrite the price with the desired price you want to use in the calculation.
Note: In case you reconfigure the price for a line item more than once, Beam considers the latest update for all calculations.
Upload and Import : This option allows you to import the cost of individual Nutanix products with a Nutanix cost configuration file.

You can download the Nutanix cost configuration file (in XLS format) of the product portfolio to edit the price and terms of individual products in an offline mode. You can upload and import the cost configuration file in Beam after you update the file with the new cost and term inputs.

To configure the cost of your purchased Nutanix products, do the following.

Procedure

Click the Hamburger icon in the top-left corner to display the main menu. Then, click Configure > Nutanix Cost Configuration .
The Product Portfolio tab appears.
In the Product Portfolio tab, click Configure Cost .
The Cost Configurations page appears.
You can select Inline cost editing or Upload and Import .
If you select Inline cost editing , do the following.
- In the Cost column, enter the new cost value for the products you want. Then click Save to save your changes.
If you select Upload and Import , do the following.
1. Click Download File to download the Nutanix cost configuration (XLS) file.
  
  Figure. Nutanix Cost Configuration - Upload and Import Click to enlarge
  
  Follow the on-screen instructions and Nutanix cost configuration guidelines to update the cost and terms in the NX_Cost_Configuration sheet of the cost configuration (XLS) file.
  Note: You can only edit the highlighted cells in the New Cost (in USD) column in the NX_Cost_Configuration sheet of the cost configuration (XLS) file.
2. In the Cost Configurations page, click Upload and Import to upload the updated cost configuration (XLS) file in Beam.

Cluster - TCO Configuration

The Cluster tab provides a list of all the clusters along with the monthly cost for each cluster.

This section allows you to configure the TCO of a cluster. The TCO model has a default industry standard assumptions that allows you to include the cost of any non platforms by providing the true cost of running the Nutanix Enterprise Cloud in your datacenter.

You can click Edit TCO against a cluster to view the details of different cost heads for a specific cluster and edit the industry-specific TCO assumptions to the actual TCO inputs for your cluster.

Total Cost of Ownership

Beam for Nutanix Enterprise Cloud using a total cost of ownership (TCO) model covers all the cost considerations of running Nutanix Enterprise Cloud in your datacenter.

TCO is a configurable financial model that allows you to analyze the direct and indirect costs of owning, operating, and maintaining the Nutanix Enterprise Cloud. To simplify the accounting of the different cost heads contributing to the total cost of running your Nutanix Enterprise Cloud, TCO provides a costing model that includes default costs and assumed (industry standard) costs. Using TCO, you can view all the assumed costs and the logic using which the cost is calculated. You can also change the assumed cost to the actual cost incurred by you.

TCO Model

The TCO model is based on the following cost data points.

Purchase data for Nutanix software and hardware cost associated with your Nutanix account.
Assumed or configured cost of the third-party software and hardware that are running as a part of your Nutanix cloud environment.
Assumed or configured cost (based on the number of nodes) of the datacenter infrastructure, facilities, and services required to run the Nutanix enterprise cloud.

You can click Edit TCO against a cluster to view the details of different cost heads for a specific cluster and edit the industry-specific TCO assumptions to the actual TCO inputs for your cluster.

You can add custom costs for any custom third-party software, telecom service, facilities cost, and services cost.

TCO Model - Nutanix

Table 1. Cost Heads
Cost Heads	Description	Amortized
Hardware	Nutanix Hardware Cost - Represents the cost of the Nutanix hardware appliances (NX series) that you have purchased. This cost data is pulled directly from your Nutanix account. However, you can click Edit to edit the cost of individual products. Third Party Hardware Cost - Represents the cost of hardware purchased from third-party server vendors or OEM appliances. You can click Configure to enter the Average Cost per Third party server node per month . The third-party hardware cost is based on the following assumptions. Average Price per Third-Party Server is assumed as $12,000 with a default support period of 5 years. You can edit this assumption based on your requirement. The start date for third-party server is aligned with the purchase date of the Acropolis software. To edit the custom RAM cost, click Edit Custom RAM Cost and enter the following details. Cost Description Memory Capacity Cost per GiB per Month Custom RAM Cost Breakup - Represents the cost break-up of physical memory (in GiB) in the overall server hardware cost. You can click Configure to enter the cost per memory capacity per month.	Cost of Nutanix hardware amortized for the depreciation period you select in the Product Portfolio tab.
Software	Nutanix Software Cost - Represents the cost of the Nutanix software licenses (perpetual or term-based) that you have purchased. This cost data is pulled directly from your Nutanix account. However, you can click Edit to edit the Cost and duration of individual licenses. Note: The perpetual licenses are amortized based on the depreciation period input in the Product Portfolio tab. Currently, Beam supports the following software licenses in the TCO model - Acropolis, Prism, Calm, Flow, Files, Objects, Acropolis software bundles for VDI and ROBO, Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI), Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM), and Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) tiers. Third Party Software Cost - Represents the cost of third-party software license that you have purchased. The default vSphere cost is based on the following formula. The vSphere cost is included only for the clusters with ESX as the hypervisor. vSphere Cost = Number of Nodes * Number of Processors per Node * vSphere Licence Cost per Processor The number of processors per node is 2, and the number of nodes is the number of nodes that constitutes the cluster. To add a new third-party software cost, click Add Custom Third Party Software Cost and enter the following details. Cost Description Cost per License Cost Type Term Start Date Number of Licences	Cost of Nutanix software amortized for the depreciation period you select in the Product Portfolio tab for a one-time or perpetual license. The cost amortization for term software licenses is based on the term for which the license is purchased.
Facilities	The data center type On Premises represents the cost of facilities required to run Nutanix private cloud on an on premise datacenter. Note: The default assumption is that Nutanix is running on an on premise datacenter. You can click Configure to change the Power and Cooling Cost and Data Center Space/Infrastructure Cost . The PUE and Cost per KWh within the Power and Cooling cost is based on industry standard average and US standard power rate respectively. You can change the values based on your actual cost incurred and your country standards. Similarly, you can update the industry standard assumed cost for Average Rack Units per Rack and Cost per Rack per Month for DC Infrastructure/Space within Data Center Space/Infrastructure Cost . The data center type Co-Location represents the cost of facilities required to run Nutanix private cloud on co-located datacenter spaces, including the assumed Custom Facilities Cost . You can click Configure to change the Co-Location Cost and add the Average Rack Units per Rack and Co-Location Cost per Rack per Month . To add custom third-party facilities cost, click Add Custom Third Party Facilities Cost and enter the Cost Description and Monthly Cost Per Node . Note: If you change the datacenter type from On premise to Co-Location, or conversely, the cost model is reset to default state of the datacenter type that you select.	Amortized cost of facilities spread over the months.
Telecom	Represents the cost of the Telecom services and Ethernet switches that you have purchased. Ethernet Switch/Top of Rack Switch Cost - Represents the cost of the Ethernet switch or the top of rack switch used in your datacenter rack. This calculation is based on the following formula. Ethernet Cost/TOR = Number of Nodes * Number of Ports per Node * (Average Cost / Number of Ports per Ethernet Switch) You can click Configure to change the assumed cost to the actual cost of Average Cost per Ethernet/TOR Switch (5 Year Support) and Number of Ports per Ethernet Switch . The change is reflected in the values for the Average Cost per Port and the Number of Nodes . The Ethernet/Top of rack switch cost is based on the following assumptions. Number of ports used per node is two. Ethernet switch cost gets added based on the purchase date of the new Nutanix hardware, OEM, or third-party hardware. To add a custom third-party telecom services cost, click Add Custom Third Party Telecom Cost and enter the following details. Cost Description Start Date Cost Type Cost to be Added End Date Recurring	One-time - Telecom cost spread over the start and end time. Recurring - Telecom cost spread over a recurring period.
Services	Represents the cost of the custom services that you have purchased. Beam does not assume the cost of custom services and must enter the cost based on your actual cost. To add a custom third-party services cost, click Add Custom Third Party Services and enter the following details. Cost Description Start Date Cost Type Cost to be Added End Date	One-time - Services cost spread over the start and end time. Recurring - Services cost spread over a recurring period.
People	Represents the cost of the administration of Nutanix nodes that you have purchased. You can click Configure to change the assumed cost to the actual cost that you have incurred on the following administration cost parameters. Nutanix Administration Outsourced Percentage (Assumed value is five percent) External Admin - Annual Fully Burdened FTE Rate (Assumed cost is USD 80000) Internal Admin - Annual Fully Burdened FTE Rate (Assumed cost is USD 150000 based on US benchmark for IT admin salary) Number of Nutanix Nodes Managed per FTE (Assumed value is 100 based on general observation)	Amortized cost of administrative staff spread over the months.

Resource Metering

The Resource Metering tab allows you to select the resource metering model for individual clusters.

Resource metering provides a granular view of the cost of running a resource within a Nutanix cluster. The granular resource-level costing helps in understanding the cost incurred to run a Nutanix resource that can be used for Showback or Chargeback.

Resource metering is based on the sunk cost allocation from the cluster level to the resource level (based on the specifications and allocation hours). You can view the list of resources in a cluster and cost associated with each of the resources at a daily or monthly granularity.

Note: The cost of a resource depends on the provisioned capacity of CPU and RAM, and actual utilization of storage.

Resource metering is done by allocating the amortized cost of the cluster proportionally to the resources that are running in the cluster.

The following are the available types of resource metering model.

Actual Virtual Capacity - The amortized cluster cost is split to the resources based on the actual provisioned virtual capacity (vCPU, vRAM, and vStorage).
Target Virtual Capacity - The amortized cluster cost is split to the resources based on the target provisioned virtual capacity based on the overcommit ratio (vCPU : pCPU, vRAM : pRAM, and vStorage : pStorage).

For more information, see Resource Metering Model.

You can change the Resource Metering Model from the Clusters table. In the Resource Metering Model column, click the drop-down list and select the metering model you want for the cluster. Then click Save to apply the selected metering model to the cluster.

You can also edit the overcommit ratio for the Target Virtual Capacity model. Click Edit against the cluster for which you want to change the overcommit ratio. In the Target Virtual Capacity - Overcommit Ratio page, enter the new ratio and click Done . Then click Save to save the changes.

Resource Metering Model

The Resource Metering Model allocates the cluster cost to the Nutanix resources within the cluster. There are two types of Resource Metering Model - Actual Virtual Capacity and Target Virtual Capacity .

Actual Virtual Capacity

The Actual Virtual Capacity model allows you to split the cluster cost to the resources based on the actual provisioned virtual capacity (vCPU, vRAM, and vStorage).

The cost of a cluster gets divided between the cluster raw CPU cores and the raw total cluster flash drive capacity in tebibytes (TiBs) based on the Nutanix Acropolis capacity-based licensing ratio. The cost of the cluster raw CPU cores gets fully allocated to n vCPUs in the cluster based on vCPU-hours ( n is the number of vCPUs). The cost of the cluster RAM (in GiB) gets fully allocated to n vRAMs in the cluster based on vRAM-hours ( n is the number of vRAMs). The cost of the raw total cluster flash drive capacity in tebibytes (TiBs) gets fully allocated to m vDisk in the cluster based on vDisk-hours ( m is the vDisk capacity).

This allocation logic helps you to get the cost of 1 vCPU-hour, 1 GiB of vRAM-hour, and 1 GiB of vDisk-hour. The cost of a resource is derived by using these two variables, specification (vCPU, vRAM, storage allocation), and allocated hours.

Target Virtual Capacity

The Target Virtual Capacity model allocates the cluster cost to the resources based on the target provisioned virtual capacity based on the overcommit ratio (vCPU : pCPU, vRAM : pRAM, and vStorage : pStorage).

The cost of a cluster gets divided between the cluster CPU cores, RAM (in GiB), and the flash drive capacity in tebibytes (TiBs) based on the overcommit ratio. The vRAM : pRAM is assumed to be 1:1, and is not configurable.

The cost of the cluster CPU cores gets fully allocated to expected vCPUs in the cluster based on vCPU-hours (expected vCPU = actual pCPU * expected vCPU overcommit). The cost of the cluster RAM gets fully allocated to expected vRAMs in the cluster based on vRAM-hours (expected vRAM = actual pRAM * expected vRAM overcommit). The cost of the cluster flash drive capacity in tebibytes (TiBs) gets fully allocated to expected vStorage in the cluster based on vDisk-hours (expected vStorage = actual pStorage * expected vStorage overcommit).

The difference between planned vCore, vRAM, or vStorage versus actual vCore, vRAM, or vStorage is shown as Unprovisioned Virtual Capacity or Overprovisioned Virtual Capacity in the VM Name column of the VM details table in the Resource Metering tab.

Note:

Unprovisioned virtual capacity - When the planned virtual capacity is greater than actual virtual capacity.
Overprovisioned virtual capacity - When the planned virtual capacity is less than actual virtual capacity.

In the overprovisioned virtual capacity scenario, the cluster cost from the sum of all the resource cost is higher than the cluster amortized cost. You can view this information in the VM details table in the Resource Metering tab.

Outage Scenarios

This section provides a list of the outage scenarios that can occur and the method by which Beam visualizes Resource Metering.

Cluster node outage - Beam calculates the Resource Metering based on the best or last available cluster configuration. The best available data is either the current day cluster configuration or the last known complete cluster configuration.
Cluster outage - Beam ignores the cluster configuration for the current date and takes the latest or last available cluster configuration for the Resource Metering.
Pulse disablement - Beam calculates the number of days from the current day until the last available data point. If the difference is more than 15 days, Beam considers the cluster to be Pulse disabled for the current month.
VM outage - Beam ignores the resource configuration for the current date and takes the latest or last available resource configuration for the Resource Metering.
VM deletion during pulse outage - Beam keeps using the last known available resource configuration until the pulse outage crosses a threshold of 15 days. After the pulse outage crosses the threshold, Beam considers the resource to be deleted.
Pulse outage - Beam ignores the cluster configuration for the current date and takes the latest or last available cluster or resource configuration for the Resource Metering.

Currency Configuration

Configure currency to view the cloud spend in your preferred currency.

The currency configuration reduces the ambiguity in analyzing cloud spend from different cloud providers who often provide billing data in different currencies. For example, GCP might report cloud consumption in INR while AWS report cloud consumption in USD. Consolidating the billing data from these different sources without considering currency type results in ambiguous reports and dashboards. In order to simplify multicloud cost governance, Beam allows you to configure a single currency to calculate spend data across all views. You can also configure the corresponding conversion rates for the configured currency or use dynamic rates that Beam provides.

Source currency

Source currency is the currency that your cloud service provider reports billing. When you onboard multiple cloud billing accounts from different cloud providers or regions, you can see a consolidated list of all the source currencies in the respective billing data on the Currency Configuration page. If you onboard a GCP billing account reported in INR and an AWS payer account reported in USD, you will see INR and USD in the source currency list.

Target currency

Target currency is the preferred functional currency for your organization to view spend analysis across Beam in. All the spend data shown in Beam is also converted to this currency. Beam uses the target currency to provide a unified cost view when you onboard multiple cloud accounts with different source currencies. Furthermore, this configuration gives you the flexibility to set a single currency for the following views.

Multicloud views such as All-Clouds , Financial (Business Unit or Cost Center), or Scopes
Cloud overviews such as GCP Overview , AWS Overview , or Azure Overview

Currency conversion

When you select target currency, you must also select the conversion rates applicable for the selected currency. Beam supports the following currency conversion types.

Dynamic Currency Conversion : Beam uses the third-party API from https://exchangeratesapi.io/ to ingest the conversion rates for the corresponding source currencies.
Note: Beam uses the conversion rate for the first of every month to calculate spend for the entire month. If the conversion rate for the first of every month is unavailable, Beam uses the last fetched monthly rates to calculate spend for that month.
Custom Defined Currency Conversion : Beam uses the user-defined exchange rate to calculate historic and projected spend data across all days/months/years.

Configuring Currency and Conversion Rates

You can use this configuration to select the target currency and the corresponding conversion rates applicable for spend analysis across Beam.

About this task

After you configure target currency, you see the following across Beam.

Spend data in the target currency for all cloud overview and mulitcloud views.
A currency toggle to select between source currency and target currency for individual cloud accounts.

For more information on general guidelines and considerations, see Currency Configuration Considerations .

To configure the currency, do the following:

Procedure

Click the Hamburger icon in the top-left corner to display the main menu and then go to Configure > Currency .
The Currency Configuration page appears.

Figure. Configure Currency Click to enlarge
Click View Source Currencies to view the list of source currencies corresponding to the cloud resource billing data.
Under Target Currency , select the preferred currency in the drop-down list.
For example, if you select AMD Armenian Dram , costs across Beam reports in AMD.
In the Currency Conversion area, do one of the following to configure the conversion rates applicable for the selected currency.
- To automatically fetch the currency exchange rates, click Dynamic Currency Conversion . Additionally, click View to see the ingested exchange rates for the last 12 months.
  Note: Currency exchange rates are updated by Nutanix on a monthly basis. Currency exchange rates are provided as estimates and for informational purposes only. The rates and conversion estimates should not be relied on for invoiced billing conversions by cloud service providers.
  
  Click to enlarge
- To manually define the currency exchange rates, click Custom Defined Currency Conversion and then click Customize .
  In the text box, enter the exchange rates as shown in the following figure.
  
  Click to enlarge
Click Save to apply the currency configuration.
The configured currency applies to all the available views in Beam.

Currency Configuration Considerations

Limitations and guidelines to consider when using the currency configuration.

Dashboard

The Reserved Instances widget on the Dashboad always reports with source currency across all AWS and Azure views.
By default, Beam provides the spend data in the target currency.
The currency toggle is available when you select individual cloud accounts in the view selector.
The currency toggle is not available when you select cloud overview or multicloud views in the view selector.
The currency toggle is not available when the configured target currency is same as the source currency.

Analyze

By default, Beam provides the spend data in the target currency.
The currency toggle is available when you select individual cloud accounts in the view selector.
The currency toggle is not available when you select cloud overview or multicloud views in the view selector.
The currency toggle is not available when the configured target currency is same as the source currency.
The reports in the Analyze page is in the currency that is selected at the time of report generation.
- If you select source currency in the toggle, and then click download, share, or schedule, the reports are in the source currency.
- If you select target currency in the toggle, and then click download, share, or schedule, the reports are in the configured target currency.
  Note: If you modify the target currency after scheduling the reports, Beam always uses the target currency that is configured at the time of generating the schedule reports. For example, if the target currency is INR while scheduling the reports. And you modify the target currency as GBP, then Beam generates the scheduled reports in GBP.
- If the currency toggle is not available, the reports you download, share, or schedule are in the configured target currency.

Chargeback

By default, Beam provides the spend data in the target currency. The currency toggle is not available in Chargeback .
The system report (Global Chargeback Report) that you can download, share, or schedule is in target currency that is configured at the time of report generation.

Budget

By default, Beam provides the spend data in the target currency. The currency toggle is not available in Budget .
Beam shows the allocated cost of the budget in the target currency.

Reports

System reports are in target currency that is configured at the time of report generation. If the target currency configuration is INR and you modify the target currency to GBP after 4 weeks. The system reports generated weekly are in INR for week 1, week 2, week 3, and week 4. The system reports generated for week 5 are in GBP as the target currency at the time of report generation is GBP.
Note: The following reports are in source currency.
- Daily reports: New EC2 RI Recommendation report and EC2 RI Utilization Report
- Monthly reports: Expired RI Report , Expiring RI Summary Report , and On Demand vs Reserved Hours Cost
The currency in the Custom reports is based on the configuration in the create or edit page. The reports are in either source currency or target currency as configured while creating the reports.

Save

By default, Beam provides the spend data in the target currency.
The currency toggle is available when you select individual cloud accounts in the view selector.
The currency toggle is not available when you select cloud overview or multicloud views in the view selector.
The currency toggle is not available when the configured target currency is same as the source currency.
The system report (Cost Optimization Detailed Report) that you can download, share, or schedule in the Save page is in target currency that is configured at the time of report generation.
The drill-down reports that you can download, share, or schedule in any of the tabs on the Save page uses the selection in the currency toggle.
- If you select source currency in the toggle, and then click download, share, or schedule, the reports are in the source currency.
- If you select target currency in the toggle, and then click download, share, or schedule, the reports are in the configured target currency.
- If the currency toggle is not available, the reports you download, share, or schedule are in the configured target currency.
Figure. Save Click to enlarge

Purchase

Beam uses the source currency provided in the billing data for assessing reserved instances and displays the data in source currrency. Beam does not use the target currency provided in the currency configuration page for assessing reserved instances.

Cloud Account Onboarding

When you onboard your first cloud account, Beam configures the source currency as the default target currency with Dynamic Currency Conversion rates.
When you onboard a cloud account with new currency and the currency conversion is Custom Defined Currency Conversion . Beam adds the the latest dynamic rate as a custom rate for the new currency.

Dashboard (Nutanix)

The dashboard for Nutanix displays informational widgets for ease of cost governance.

To view the Nutanix dashboard, log on the Beam console and select any of the connected Nutanix accounts.

Nutanix dashboard displays the following widgets.

Note: Beam provides a toggle to view spend data in your preferred currency. You can select the currency toggle at the top right to switch between target and source currency. For information on general guidelines and considerations, see Currency Configuration Considerations .

Spend Overview

This widget shows the Month to date, the amortized cost for Nutanix software you have purchased. This gives you a high-level view of the ongoing costs of running your Nutanix on-premises private cloud. In a multi-cloud context, it helps you to get a sense of the run-rate costs of using the private-cloud, similar to a public cloud ongoing spend view. By default, this widget displays the top spend of the top five clusters or services in your Nutanix account.

Spend Analysis

The Spend Analysis widget displays a bar graph of the historical spend analysis for the selected period with the current and projected spend for the past few months.

By default, this view displays the monthly spend data for the clusters. You can change the default view to display daily projections. To view a detailed information, click View Spend Trend , which redirects you to the Analyze page.

Spend Overview - TCO Cost Heads

This widget shows the total cost incurred for all the onboarded clusters. You can view the cost breakups for all the cost heads (for example, software, telecom, hardware, and so on). You can hover over the chart to view the contribution of each cost head (in percentage) to the total spend.

To view a detailed information, click View Details , which redirects you to the Resource Metering tab in the Analyze page. Resource metering provides a granular view of the cost of running a resource within a Nutanix cluster. The granular resource-level costing helps in understanding the cost incurred to run a Nutanix resource that can be used for Showback or Chargeback.

Spend Overview - Virtual Machines

This widgets shows the cost incurred (Month to date) for all the VMs and VM-Snapshots that are running in your clusters.

You can click View All , which redirects you to the Compute view for detailed information that includes: total spend overview, the cost for all the sub-services, VM IDs, and cost based on categories applied to the Nutanix resources.

Cost Analysis (Nutanix)

Beam provides a detailed view of the existing spend on Nutanix resources based on the deployed clusters and purchased products.

The Analyze page allows you to track spend across Nutanix resources both at an aggregate and granular level. You can drill down the cost further based on your clusters, VMs, and Tags (Prism Categories are considered as Tags).

Analyze views help you with the following.

Graphical and tabular view of spend data. The top portion of the Analyze page displays a graphical view of your data. The bottom portion of the Analyze page displays a tabular view of your spend data.
Note:
- By default, each view displays values in a line chart form. You can change the default view to a pie chart or bar graph.
- The spend data for current day can be delayed by 24 hours.
- Beam displays the date and time it last updated the spend data at the top-right corner of the Analyze view. Beam updates spend data every 6 hours. However, Beam skips updating, if the data ingested from the cloud providers is the same since the last update.
Deep visibility into your historical, current, and projected spend based on the time period selected. You can select the time period between Day or Month at the top-right of the chart.
Customize the view of your spend data according to the selected filter options. To create a filter, you can select the required options under Filters and click Apply .
Schedule, share, and download customized reports under each view.
Cumulative spend analysis. To visualize the cumulative spend data, you can turn on the Cumulative toggle.
Spend data in your preferred currency . You can select the currency toggle at the top right to switch between target and source currency. For more information on general guidelines and considerations, see Currency Configuration Considerations .

The Analyze page contains the following sub-tabs.

Current Spend
Projected Spend
Resource Metering
Compute
Storage

Current Spend: The current spend view provides the current cluster cost and its breakdown based on the usage and resource data.

Table 1. Current Spend
View	Description
Overview	Displays the total cluster spend.
Clusters	Displays the total cost of each cluster in your Nutanix account.
Service Types	Displays the total cost for all the services types such as compute, storage, and no service in your Nutanix account.
Services	Displays the total cost for all the services in your Nutanix account.
Cost Centers	Displays the total spend split by Beam cost centers. This view includes the unallocated costs that are not tagged in your Nutanix account.
Tags	Displays the current spend based on the category applied to your Nutanix resources. Click the Tags drop-down list to select a category. Note: The chart also displays all the values that are tagged to a selected tag key.
Note: Both No Service and No Service Type include the spend of unprovisioned capacity and unmetered cluster cost.

Projected Spend: The projected spend view provides an insight into the actual and projected cost for the selected period.

Note: The projected cost is based on the amortized cost of the clusters and does not consider the actual utilization of the cluster.

How Spend Projection Works: Beam calculates the monthly amortized costs of clusters on the basis of Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). This monthly amortized cost data is also used in projecting future month's cost data. When the hardware or software scale-up or scale-down occurs or when TCO inputs are updated, Beam recalculates the monthly amortized cluster costs and updates the forecast accordingly.

Table 2. Projected Spend
View	Description
Overview	Displays a line chart of the projected and actual spend for the selected period.
Clusters	Displays a line chart of the projected and actual spend for all the clusters in your Nutanix account.

Resource Metering

The Resource Metering view provides a granular view of the cost of running the resources such as VM, VM-Snapshot, Files, and Objects within a Nutanix cluster. The granular level costing helps in understanding the cost incurred to run a Nutanix resource that can be used for Showback or Chargeback.

The Resource Metering tab displays the list of clusters and cost associated with each of the clusters.

Cluster Details - Shows the list of all clusters (excluding Prism Central Logical clusters) along with the latest or last known configuration metadata and cumulative daily amortized cost for the selected period.
Figure. Cluster Details Widget Click to enlarge

Click View Details to view the individual cluster data for the selected month. At the top-right corner, you can click the share , schedule , and download icon respectively to share, schedule, and download the report with all details of the respective cluster.

Figure. List of resources in a Cluster Click to enlarge

You can view the following widgets.

Total Cost of Ownership - Shows the total cost incurred for the cluster. You can view the cost breakups for all the cost heads (for example, software, telecom, hardware, service, people, and facilities). You can hover over the chart to view the contribution of each cost head (in percentage) to the total spend.

Cluster Details - Shows the detailed information of the cluster. For example, resource metering model, the name of the hypervisor, user VM count, and used VM snapshot storage, used file storage, and used object storage.

List of VMs, VM-Snapshots, and Files & Objects - By default, the list of VMs running within a cluster are displayed. You can click the drop-down list in the right corner to view the cost of storage consumed by VM-Snapshots, and Files & Objects. Depending on the resource type you selected, you can view the metered cost for VMs, VM-Snapshots, Files and Objects based on usage and price per unit on a daily basis.

Table 3. List of Resources and Entities
Resources	Entity	Description
VM	VM Name	The name of the Nutanix VM.
	VM ID	The unique identifier of the Nutanix VM.
	vCPU-hrs	The aggregate of vCPU configuration and the number of hours the VM has been powered on for the selected month.
	Average price per vCPU-hr	The average daily cost per vCPU-hrs for the selected month to date.
	vRAM-hrs	The aggregate of provisioned vRAM configuration and the number of hours the VM has been powered on for the selected month.
	Average price per vRAM-hr	The average daily cost per vRAM-hrs for the selected month to date.
	vStorage-GiB	The average daily utilization of storage per VM.
	Cumulative price per vStorage-GiB	The total cost of storage utilization per VM for the selected month to date.
	Cost (Month-to-date)	The cumulative cost of VM per day for the selected time period.
	Avg Cost per Hour	The average cost of VM per hour for the selected month to date.
VM-Snapshots	PD Name	The name of the Snapshot/Protected Domain.
	vStorage-GiB	The average daily utilization of storage per Snapshot/Protected Domain.
	Cumulative price per vStorage-GiB	The total cost of storage utilization per Snapshot/Protected Domain for the selected month to date.
	Cost (Month-to-date)	The cumulative cost of Snapshot/Protected Domain per day for the selected time period.
Files & Objects	Service Name	The name of the File Service or Object Service.
	vStorage-GiB	The average daily utilization of storage per Files service and Objects service.
	Cumulative price per vStorage-GiB	The total cost of storage utilization per Files service and Objects service for the selected month to date.
	Cost (Month-to-date)	The cumulative cost of Files service and Objects service per day for the selected time period.

Unprovisioned Virtual Capacity: When the planned virtual capacity (such as vCore, vRAM, or vStorage) is greater than actual virtual capacity.
Overprovisioned Virtual Capacity: When the planned virtual capacity (such as vCore, vRAM, or vStorage) is less than actual virtual capacity.
In the overprovisioned virtual capacity scenario, the cluster cost from the sum of all the resource cost is higher than the cluster amortized cost. You can view this information in the VM details table.
Unmetered Cluster Cost: Unmetered Cluster Cost tracks days when the pulse was not available and shows the cluster cost incurred for those days. The Resource metering is not available when the pulse is disabled. This line item appears for each cluster corresponding to the days in the month when the pulse was disabled or unavailable.

Compute: The Compute view provides the cost specific to all the Compute Services and Sub Services that are running in your Nutanix clusters.

Table 4. Compute
View	Description
Overview	Displays a line chart of the total spend for all the compute services within the cluster for the selected period. You can hover over the stacked bar to view the total spend for a specific day.
Clusters	Displays a line chart of the total cost of each cluster in your Nutanix account.
Services	Displays a line chart of the total cost for all the compute services within your Nutanix cluster.
Sub Services	Displays a line chart of the total cost for all the sub-services within your Nutanix cluster. Beam provides cost visibility to the Nutanix Virtual Machine Service. This service has VM and VM-Snapshot Sub-Services.
Cost Centers	Displays the total spend split by Beam cost centers. This view includes the unallocated costs that are not tagged in your Nutanix account.
Resources	Displays all the VM IDs (VM Sub Service) and protection domains (VM-Snapshot Sub Service) along with their associated cost.
Tags	Displays a line chart of the total cost based on the categories applied to your Nutanix resources. You can click the tag drop-down list to select a category. Note: The chart also displays all the values that are tagged to a selected tag key.

Storage: The Storage view provides the cost specific to all the Nutanix services used for storage that are running within your clusters.

Table 5. Storage
View	Description
Overview	Displays a line chart of the total spend on all the services used for storage within the cluster for the selected period.
Clusters	Displays a line chart of the total cost of each cluster in your Nutanix account.
Services	Displays a line chart of the total cost for all the storage services within your Nutanix cluster.
Cost Centers	Displays the total spend split by Beam cost centers. This view includes the unallocated costs that are not tagged in your Nutanix account.

Beam Service Categorization - Nutanix

The cost details for the following services, service types, and sub-services are shown in Beam.

Table 1. Service categorization
Category		Description
Services	Nutanix Virtual Machine	Includes all the user VMs along with their Snapshots in the cluster.
	Nutanix Files	Includes all the Files services in the cluster.
	Nutanix Objects	Includes all the Object services in the cluster.
	Nutanix End Users	Includes all the user VMs hosting VDIs in the cluster running an Acropolis VDI software package.
	Nutanix Edge	Include all the user VMs hosting ROBO in the cluster running an Acropolis ROBO software package.
Service Types	Compute	Includes all the compute services running in the Nutanix cluster
	Storage	Includes all the storage services running in the Nutanix cluster
	No Service	Includes both the Unmetered Cluster Cost and Unprovisioned Virtual Capacity. For more details, refer to the section Resource Metering in the topic Cost Analysis (Nutanix) .
Sub-Services	Nutanix Virtual Machine	Includes all the user VMs in the cluster.
	Nutanix VM-Snapshot (Protection Domain)	VMs are replicated through Snapshots, which consume virtual storage capacity. The VM-Snapshot sub-service provides cost visibility of Snapshots within a cluster at a Protection Domain granularity. A protection domain is a defined group of VM snapshots to be backed up locally on a cluster or replicated on the same schedule to one or more remote sites. Note: Beam recommends upgrading NCC to 3.10 to get accurate cost visibility for snapshots (Protection Domain).
	Nutanix Edge Virtual Machine	Include all the user VMs hosting ROBO in the cluster running an Acropolis ROBO software package.
	Nutanix Edge Snapshot	Include all the user VM-Snapshots hosting ROBO in the cluster at a Protection Domain granularity running an Acropolis ROBO software package.
	Nutanix End Users Virtual Machine	Includes all the user VMs hosting VDIs in the cluster running an Acropolis VDI software package.
	Nutanix End Users Shapshot	Include all the user VM-Snapshots hosting VDIs in the cluster at a Protection Domain granularity running an Acropolis VDI software package.

Beam associates Prism categories (Tags) to the Protection Domains if there is one VM to one PD mapping since PDs by themselves do not support tagging through Prism Categories. This helps in the following:

Allow Beam to filter costs by using tags that are attached to the VMs and PDs.
In the Cost Center definition, when a prism category is selected, both the VMs and PDs are allocated to the defined cost center.

Cost Reports

Beam generates a report to track cost consumption across all your Nutanix accounts. The report contains detailed spend information for clusters including spend at a VM level within each cluster.

The Cost Report by Cluster report is generated automatically and available to download from the Beam console. This report contains month to date detailed spend information about the VMs within the cluster.

Note: The currency used in the Cost Report by Cluster report is based on the target currency configured at the time of report generation.

Report Options

Click the Hamburger icon in the top-left corner to display the main menu. Then, click Reports .

In the System tab, you can view the report. Clicking View All displays a table that contains the clusters and its associated cost. The cost column reflects the target currency using which the reports are generated. You can share, schedule, and download the report for each cluster.
Figure. Nutanix Cost Report - Download Click to enlarge
In the Scheduled tab, you can view all the schedule reports. You can edit, disable, or delete any scheduled report.

Scheduling Reports

Beam application generates reports to track cost consumption for your Nutanix cloud accounts at both aggregate and granular levels, like a functional unit, workloads, and applications.

About this task

The application allows you to schedule a report at a desired time.

To schedule a report, do the following.

Procedure

Click the Hamburger icon in the top-left corner to display the main menu. Then, click Reports .
The System tab appears.
Click View All in the top-right corner of the Cost Report by Cluster to display a table that contains the clusters and its associated cost.
Click Schedule (on the right corner of each row) for which you want to schedule the report sharing.
The Schedule Report Sharing window appears.
In the Report Name field, enter the name for the report you want to share.
Hover over any of the Daily , Weekly , or Monthly to set the delivery schedule.
In the Repeat Days field, click the days on which the you need the report to be shared.
In the At and Timezone drop-down list, select the time (Hour, Minute, and AM/PM) and timezone.
In the Recipients box, type the email address of the recipient to whom you want to share the report.
Press Enter or Space to add the recipient email address. You can also add multiple email address separated by a comma or semicolon.
If you want send a copy of the report to yourself, select the Send a copy to myself check-box and click Schedule .
All the schedule reports are available under the Reports > Scheduled . You can edit, disable, or delete any scheduled report.

Sharing Reports

Beam application generates reports to track cost consumption for your Nutanix cloud accounts at both aggregate and granular levels, like a functional unit, workloads, and applications.

About this task

Beam allows you to share the report with stakeholders over email.

To share the report, do the following:

Procedure

Click the Hamburger icon in the top-left corner to display the main menu. Then, click Reports .
The System tab appears.
Click View All in the top-right corner of the Cost Report by Cluster to display a table that contains the clusters and its associated cost.
Click Share (on the right corner of each row) for which you want to share the report.
The Share Report window appears.
In the Recipients box, type the email address of the recipient to whom you want to share the report.
Press Enter or Space to add the recipient email address. You can also add multiple email address separated by a comma or semicolon.
In the Report Name field, enter the name for the report you want to share.
(Optional) In the Message field, enter any additional message that you want to share with the recipient along with the report.
If you want send a copy of the report to yourself, select the Send a copy to myself check-box and click Share to complete.

Downloading Reports

Beam application generates reports to track cost consumption for your Nutanix cloud accounts at both aggregate and granular levels, like a functional unit, workloads, and applications.

About this task

The application allows you to download the report for offline consumption.

To download a report, do the following:

Procedure

Click the Hamburger icon in the top-left corner to display the main menu. Then, click Reports .
The System tab appears.
Click View All in the top-right corner of the Cost Report by Cluster to display a table that contains the clusters and its associated cost.
Click Download (on the right corner of each row) for which you want to download the report.
The report is downloaded to your local system.

Chargeback

The Chargeback feature enables the financial control of your cloud spends by providing the ability to allocate cloud resources to departments based on definitions. It provides a consolidated view across all your cloud accounts in a single pane of finance view.

Note the following points when creating a chargeback for your Nutanix on-premises environment.

The parent account is equivalent to the Nutanix account.
The child account is equivalent to clusters.
The tags are equivalent to the category. For more information on Prism categories, see Category Management.

Note:

Chargeback is built on the business unit and cost center configuration construct that you define for the resources across all your cloud accounts.
You cannot build chargeback on the custom scope. You define a scope using accounts and resources and can add a resource across different scopes.
You can view the spend data in the configured target currency . For more information on general guidelines and considerations, see Currency Configuration Considerations .

Business Units

A business unit is defined as a collection of cost centers. You can use the business units to define hierarchies in your organization between different departments. It is not necessary to define a business unit to view chargeback. You can also define chargeback only based on cost centers.

Cost Center

A cost center is a collection of resources within a single or multiple cloud accounts. You can assign the resources to the cost center based on tags. You can either allocate a complete account or resources within an account to a cost center.

Note:

If a cloud account is assigned to a cost center with the tag definition as All Tags , then you cannot share this account with another cost center.
An account, cluster, or a tag once used in a Cost Center definition cannot be reused. This is to prevent double-counting of the cost of resources.
The resources that do not belong to any of the cost centers are grouped under Unallocated Resources . You can manually allocate any unallocated resources into a cost center.

Unallocated Resources

Unallocated resources are the resources that do not belong to any of the cost centers based on definitions.

Unallocated resources include the following.

Accounts not allocated to any cost center (includes all the resources within the account)
Resources within an account not allocated to any cost center.

Multicloud Configurations

You can define a cost center based on accounts, clusters, and prism categories. You can add resources belonging to a single or multiple accoounts when defining the cost center. Beam also allows you to extend the definition of your cost centers to public clouds, that is, you can add AWS and Azure resources.

Note: Beam associates Prism categories (Tags) to the Protection Domains if there is one VM to one PD mapping since PDs by themselves do not support tagging through Prism Categories

The following image describes an example of a multicloud configuration. The cost center consists of Nutanix, AWS, and Azure resources.

Adding a Business Unit

Before you begin

You can create a business unit only if you have an Admin role in Beam.

About this task

You can define a business unit by combining a group of cost centers. Chargeback is built on the business unit and cost center configuration construct that you define for the resources across all your cloud accounts. You can select the owners and viewers for the business unit. Both owners and viewers have read-only access to the business unit.

To add a business unit, do the following.

Procedure

In the Beam console, click the Hamburger icon in the top-left corner to display the main menu. Then, click Configure > Chargeback .
In the Business Unit Configuration page, click the Create list and select Business Unit .
The Create Business Unit page appears.
In the Name box, enter a name for the business unit.
In the Owners list, click to select owners for the business unit you are creating.

Note: The business unit owner is financially accountable for the business unit. You can select multiple owners for the business unit.
In the Viewers list, click to select viewers for the business unit you are creating.
In the Cost Centers list, select the cost centers that you want to map to your business unit.
Click Save Business Unit to complete.
The business unit you just created appears in the Business Unit Configuration page. You can use the business unit to build chargeback.

Editing a Business Unit

You can edit (or delete) an existing business unit.

Before you begin

You can edit or delete a business unit only if you have an Admin role in Beam.

About this task

To edit a business unit, do the following.

Procedure

In the Beam console, click the Hamburger icon in the top-left corner to display the main menu. Then, click Configure > Chargeback .
You can view the list of business units in the Business Unit configuration page. You can use the drop-down to filter the list by the business unit.
Click Edit against the business unit that you want to edit.
The Edit Business Unit page appears.
Click Save Business Unit after you edit the fields according to your requirement.
Once edited, it takes 24 to 48 hours for the cost data to get updated in the Budget page.

Adding a Cost Center

Before you begin

You can create a cost center only if you have an Admin role in Beam.

About this task

A cost center is a department to which you can allocate cloud accounts and resources based on the definition. You can define a cost center by selecting resources by accounts and tags across different clouds. You can select the owners and viewers for the cost center. Both owners and viewers have read-only access to the cost center.

Note the following points when creating a cost center for your Nutanix cloud.

The parent account is equivalent to the Nutanix account.
The sub account is equivalent to a cluster.
The tags are equivalent to the category. For more information on Prism categories, see Category Management.

Note: Configuring Prism Categories and mapping them to specific VMs is required to create tag-based Cost Centers. Without Prism Categories, Cost Centers can be created only by mapping an entire Cluster.

To add a cost center, do the following.

Procedure

In the Beam console, click the Hamburger icon in the top-left corner to display the main menu. Then, click Configure > Chargeback .
In the Business Unit configuration page, click the Create list and select Cost Center .
The Create Cost Center page appears.
In the Name box, enter a name for the cost center.
In the Owners list, click to select owners for the cost center you are creating.

Note: The cost center owner is financially accountable for the cost center. You can select multiple owners for the cost center.
In the Viewers list, click to select viewers for the cost center you are creating.
Click Define Cost Center to open the Define Cost Center page.
You define the cost center by selecting the accounts and tags across different clouds.
In the Define Cost Center page, do the following.
1. In the Cloud list, select Nutanix .
2. In the Parent Account list, select the parent account.
3. In the Sub Accounts list, select the sub accounts. You can select multiple sub accounts.
4. In the Tag Pair area, select the key and value pairs to further refine the definition of your cost center. You can click the plus icon to add more key and value pairs.
  Note:
  - The resources that are not tagged to any cost center are considered as untagged. You can select and assign the value pair UNTAGGED to the respective key set in order to assign the untagged resources to the cost center.
  - For the selected resource in your Nutanix account, you can tag multiple values to a single tag key set.
5. Click Save Filter to save the filter. You can click Add Filter to add more filters.
6. Click Save Definition to save your cost center definition and close the Define Cost Center page.
Click Save Cost Center to complete.
It may take up to 24 to 48 hours for the cost data related to the newly added cost center to get displayed in the Budget tab.

Editing a Cost Center

Beam allows you to edit (or delete) an existing cost center.

Before you begin

You can edit a cost center only if you have an Admin role in Beam.

About this task

To edit a cost center for multicloud accounts, do the following.

Procedure

In the Beam console, click the Hamburger icon in the top-left corner to display the main menu. Then, click Configure > Chargeback .
You can view the list of cost centers in the Business Unit configuration page. You can use the drop-down list in the top-right corner to filter the list by the cost center.
Click Edit against the cost center that you want to edit.
The Edit Cost Center page appears.
Click Save Cost Center after you edit the fields according to your requirement.

Allocating Unallocated Resources To Cost Center

Before you begin

You can allocate an unallocated resource only if you have an Admin role in Beam.

About this task

Unallocated resources are the resources that do not belong to any of the cost centers based on definitions.

To allocate an unallocated resource for chargeback, do the following.

Procedure

In the Beam console, select Finance from the View Selector pop-up and go the Chargeback page using the Hamburger icon in the top-left corner.
In the top-right corner of the page, click the Unallocated button.
In the Unallocated Cost table, click the expand icon against the account or subscription to view the list of services.
Click View Details against the service item to view the list of resources.
Click the Allocate button against the resource item that you want to allocate to a cost center.
The Select a cost center pop-up window appears.
In the Cost Center Name list, select the cost center for the resource.
In the Percentage Split box, enter the resource cost percentage you want to allocate to the cost center you selected.
If you want to split the cost of the resource between two or more cost centers, click Add a split to specify the cost centers and the percentage of cost split between the cost centers.
Click Allocate Resource to complete.
The resource you just allocated appears in Allocated Cost table.

Chargeback Views

Chargeback View (Administrator)

An administrator can do the following.

Assign unallocated resources to a cost center
Create a business unit and cost center

You can select the Allocated and Unallocated options in the top-right corner of the page to view the cost details for allocated and unallocated resources.

In the Unallocated Cost table, you can use the Allocate button to allocate resources to a cost center. To allocate the unallocated resources to cost centers, see Allocating Unallocated Resources To Cost Center.

In the Allocated Cost table, an administrator can browse through all the business units and cost centers (created by the administrator) to view detailed information.

Table 1. Chargeback Views (Administrator)
View	Description
Spend Overview	Displays a pie graph of the cost breakup summary for the allocated and unallocated resources.
Spend Analysis - Unallocated Cost	Displays a bar graph of the historical spend analysis for the unallocated resources with an actual and projected spend for the last three months.
Spend Analysis - Allocated Cost	Displays a bar graph of the historical spend analysis for the allocated resources with an actual and projected spend for the last three months.
Top Spend	Displays the services and accounts that are consumed the most in your business unit or cost center. You can use the drop-down list in the right corner to select Top services or Top accounts .
Unallocated Cost	Displays the list of unallocated resources along with the cloud type, associated accounts, or subscriptions. You can also view the total cost incurred for each resource. You can also allocate unallocated resources to a cost center. For more information, see Allocating Unallocated Resources To Cost Center.
Allocated Cost	Displays detailed information for the allocated resources that include the following. Business unit or cost center Owner of the business unit and cost center Total cost of the allocated resources Definition of the business unit or cost center. For example, a business unit constituted of four cost centers. In the Actions column, you can click the Edit and Delete buttons to edit the resource details or delete the resource. You can use the drop-down list in the top-right corner of the Allocated Cost table to filter the resources by business unit, cost center, or business unit and cost center. You can also click the share and download icons in the top-right corner to share or download the resource details.

Chargeback View (Owners and Viewers)

The owners and viewers can view the business units and cost centers for which they have access.

You can use the View Selector (public cloud) and View Selector (Nutanix) to select the business unit or cost center.

Note: Owners and viewers have only view access to the business units and cost centers unless they are an administrator. Owners help in identifying the financial owner for the business unit or cost center.

The following table describes the widgets available for business unit and cost center views.

Table 2. Chargeback Views (Owners and Viewers)
View	Description
Spend Overview	Displays the total spend cost (month to date) and the projected spend cost for the business unit or cost center.
Spend Analysis - Allocated Cost	Displays a bar graph of the historical spend analysis for the allocated resources with an actual and projected spend for the last three months.
Top Spend	Displays the services and accounts that are consumed the most in your business unit or cost center. You can use the drop-down list in the right corner to select Top services or Top accounts .
Allocated Cost	Displays detailed information for the allocated resources (within a cost center) that includes the following. Cloud type ( Nutanix , AWS , Azure , or GCP ) Name of the account, subscription, or cluster Account, subscription, or cluster ID Total cost incurred for the account, subscription, or cluster. You can use the expand icon to view details about services within the account or subscription. Note: If the pulse was not available for a Nutanix cluster for a given number of days in a month, the Unmetered Cluster Cost line item appears showing the cluster cost incurred for those days. For more information, see Cost Analysis (Nutanix). You can click View Details against each service to view the resource details. You can also click the share and download icons in the top-right corner to share or download the detailed report for the cost center.

Budget

The Budget feature in Beam extends the budgeting capability for a business unit, cost center, or scope. A budget allows you to centralize the budget at the business unit, cost center, or scope levels to ensure that your consumption is within the budget that you have defined. You can also create custom budgets.

Beam monitors and tracks the consumption continuously, and you can track any threshold breaches to the budgets that you have configured using the Budget page in the Beam console. Organization level budgets can be tracked at the quarterly or yearly level basis for the selected business unit, cost center, or custom budgets.

The Budget page allows you to view the budget cards based on the budgets that you have configured for your cloud accounts.

The budget card for a business unit or cost center displays the Budgeted amount , Current Spend , and Estimated spend . You can also edit the budget details or delete an existing budget using the Budget page.

You can define and track a budget based on the following resource groups.

Business Unit/Cost Centre based Budget – You can select multiple business units and cost centers to create a resource group. You can only select the business units and cost centers for which you have access.
Scope based Budget - You can create only one budget for each scope.

You can add a threshold for your budget alerts. When the budget reaches the threshold you specified, Beam sends a notification to the email addresses you enter when creating the budget alerts.

Creating a Budget Goal

Beam allows you to create Budgets based on the resource groups that you have defined.

About this task

A budget allows you to centralize the budget at the business unit, cost center, or scope levels to ensure that your consumption is within the budget that you have defined.

To add a global Budget, do the following.

Procedure

Click the Hamburger icon in the top-left corner to display the main menu. Then, click Budget .
Click Create a Budget .
In the Select Type page, select Custom Scopes based Budget or Business Unit/Cost Centre based Budget . Then click Next to go to the Define Resource Group page.

Note: The custom budget option is not available for the Nutanix cloud. You can only create a business unit or cost center-based budget for the Nutanix cloud.
Select the business units and cost centers or Scopes (if you selected Custom Scopes based budget ) from the resource drop-down menu to define the scope for the budget and click Next to go to the Allocate Budget page.

Note: You can select the business unit and cost center from the drop-down menu only if you have access to the resource group item.
In the Budget Name box, enter a budget name you want.
In the Financial Year list, select the financial year session.
In the Allocation Type area, select Automatic Allocation or Manual Allocation .

Note: Selecting Automatic Allocation allows Beam to allocate budget based on your spend. Beam uses the last 40 days of data to project the budget for the current and next month.
If you select Manual Allocation , do the following.
1. In the Set Annual Budget field, enter the Annual Budget for the selected business center and cost center.
2. To distribute the annual budget equally for all the quarters, click Distribute Equally .
  Alternatively, you can set the budget for each quarter manually. Similarly, you can either distribute the quarterly budget manually for each month or click Distribute Equally to distribute the quarterly budget equally for all the months. The monthly and quarterly budgets must add up to the annual budget that you have entered.
Click Next .
The Add Alerts to your Budget page appears.
You can add percentages of the total budget value. When the budget reaches the threshold value you entered, Beam sends a notification via an email to the email addresses you enter.

You can add alerts for the following periods.
- Monthly Budget Alerts
- Quarterly Budget Alerts
- Yearly Budget Alerts
Click Create against the period for which you want to create a budget alert.
The Budget Alert page appears.
In the Threshold box, enter the threshold value in percentage. Then click Save .
In the Alert Notification box, enter the email addresses to which you want to send the alerts. Then click Save to create the budget.

Note: Beam sends the budget alert notifications to the owners of the business unit, cost centers, or Scopes by default.

Budget Details

You can view your budget details from the Budget page in Beam. To view budget details, click View Details option in any of the budget cards. The Year Breakup and Cost Breakup for the budget is displayed.

To download or share the cost breakup report, click the download or share icon.

Expired Budgets

In the top-right corner, you can click the Expired button to view the expired budgets.

You can do the following in the expired budgets view.

Click the View Details option in any of the expired budget cards to view the details.
Click the Renew option to renew the latest expired budget for the current financial year.
Note: The Renew option is available only for the latest expired budget. In case a budget for a resource group is already created for the current financial year, the renew option for the expired budget of the same resource group is not available.

Editing Budget Alerts

You can edit the budget alerts for the cost centers and business units in the Budget page. In the Budget page, you can view the budget cards for your cost centers and business units.

About this task

A budget allows you to centralize the budget at the business unit, cost center, or scope levels to ensure that your consumption is within the budget that you have defined.

To edit the budget alerts for your cost centers, business units, or scopes, do the following.

Procedure

Click the Hamburger icon in the top-left corner to display the main menu. Then, click Budget to open the Budget page.
Click Edit against the business unit, cost center, or scope to edit the budget alerts.
The Edit the Budget page appears.
Click Budget Alert tab.
You can view the details of the alerts in the Categories area.
You can view the following icons in the Action column.
- Disable Alert or Enable Alert icon - Click to disable or enable the alert.
- Edit Alert icon - Click to edit the alert.
- Remove Alert icon - Click to remove the alert.
Click the Edit Alert icon to edit the alert.
The Budget Alert page appears.
You can edit the period and threshold values.
Click Save to save your changes.
In the Alert Notifications box, enter the email addresses to which you want to send the alerts.
Click Update to update the budget alert.

Scopes

A scope is a logical group of your cloud resources that provides you with a custom view of your cloud resources. You can define scopes using cloud, accounts, and tags. The administrator can assign read-only access to a user. The user gets read-only access for the resources within the scope and not the cloud accounts that constitute the scope. After you create a scope, click View in the top-right corner to open the User Interface Layout and select the scope.

Creating a Scope

A scope is a logical group of your cloud resources that provides you with a custom view of your cloud resources.

About this task

This section describes the procedure to create a scope.

Note: Only a Beam administrator can create a scope.

Note the following points when creating a scope for your Nutanix cloud resources.

The parent account is equivalent to the Nutanix account.
The child account is equivalent to a cluster.
The tags are equivalent to the category. For more information on Prism categories, see Category Management.

To create a scope, do the following.

Procedure

Click the Hamburger icon in the top-left corner to display the main menu. Then, click Configure > Scopes .
Click Create a Scope to open the Scope Creation page.
In the Scope Creation page, you need to enter a scope name and add viewers from the list available. Then you need to define the scope based on cloud, account, and tags.
In the Name box, enter a name for the scope.
In the Viewers list, select the viewers for the scope you are creating.
Click Define Scope to select the cloud, account, and tags.
In the Define Scope page, do the following.
1. In the Cloud list, select Nutanix .
2. In the Parent Account list, select the parent account for which you want to create a scope.
3. In the Sub Accounts list, select the sub accounts from the list available.
  The Sub Accounts list displays all the sub accounts within the parent account you selected.
4. In the Tag Pair area, select the key and value pairs.
  You can click the plus icon to add multiple key and value pairs.
5. Click Save Filter to save your filter.
  You can click Add Filter to create more filters.
6. Click Save Resource Group to save your scope definition and close the Define Scope page.
In the Scope Creation page, click Save Scope to create the scope.
You can select and view the scope you just created using the User Interface Layout.

Licensing

This section provides information about the supported licenses for your Beam accounts, license entitlement for Nutanix on-premises, and subscription entitlement for public clouds.

The supported licenses are as follows. If you have any of the following licenses, you can convert your Beam account to a paid state.

NCM Ultimate
NCM Pro
Prism Ultimate

The Licensing page allows you to:

View information about license entitlement (required for accessing cost management features for Nutanix On-premises).
- Status can be In Trial , License Applied , Trial Expired , or License Expired .
Activate your license ( Apply License or Validate License ) to convert from In Trial or Expired to the License Applied status.
View information about Beam public cloud subscription (required for accessing cost management features for Public Cloud).
- Status can be In Trial , Subscription Active , Trial Expired , or Subscription Expired .
Purchase public cloud subscriptions using the Purchase Online Now option.

Note: Only the Beam account owner can view the details on the Licensing page.

To access the Licensing page, click Hamburger Icon > Configure > Licensing .

License Entitlement for Nutanix - Status

Refer to the following table to know about the various statuses available for your Beam account.


Status	Description
In Trial	A banner gets displayed notifying you about the trial period and suggesting you purchase a license.
Trial Expired or License Expired	The Expired status appears after your trial period gets over or the applied license gets expired. You would not be able to use the Beam features and need to purchase the license.
License Applied	Indicates that your license is applied. You can also view the expiry date for the license.

License Entitlement for Nutanix - Actions

The following two cases may occur after the license gets applied:

System detects a valid license

Beam checks if the supported license is available for the Beam account in which you are logged in.

If a license gets detected, the License is Found status gets displayed along with the Apply License option to apply for the license manually. After you perform this action, the status changes to License Applied along with the expiry date.
You need to perform the Apply License action only for the first time after you buy a license and log on to Beam. Beam periodically checks for any new licenses that you purchased, then applies the license or updates the expiry date accordingly.
- Scenario 1: Beam detects L1 (expiry date as 31 December 2021) on 1 January 2021 and you click Apply License to activate the license. On 31 December 2021, Beam detects L2 (expiry date as 31 December 2022) and automatically applies the license.
- Scenario 2: Suppose you buy multiple licenses with different expiry dates. For example, L1 and L2 with expiry dates as 21 June and 21 December. Beam will show the license with the farthest expiry date (21 December) once the data about the new purchases get discovered through periodic checks.

System does not find a valid license

Suppose you have any one of the supported license and Beam is unable to identify or recognize your license due to some reason and shows the License Not Found status. The Validate License option allows you to manually enter and validate your license key.

The validation may fail due to the following reasons:

You entered an invalid license key.
You entered a valid license key that belongs to another MyNutanix account. The reason for validation failure is that the Beam account can only be linked to a single MyNutanix account. Contact Nutanix support for further help.

Subscription Entitlement for Public Clouds - Status

For public clouds (AWS and Azure), one of the following statuses get displayed on the Licensing page:


Status	Description
In Trial	A banner gets displayed to notify you about the trial period and an option to purchase a subscription. To purchase a subscription, click Purchase Online Now , which redirects you to the Nutanix Billing Center.
Subscription Active	This status indicates that you have an active subscription. The expiration date of the active subscription is also displayed.
Trial Expired or License Expired	The Expired status appears after your trial period gets over or the active subscription gets expired. You would not be able to use the Beam features and need to purchase or renew the subscription.

Feature Violations

You must have a valid license and subscription to use the Beam features for your Nutanix on-premises and public clouds. If you do not purchase a license or subscription, a banner gets displayed at the top of the Beam page indicating that there are feature violations.

Feature violations occur in the following cases:

You have an active license but you are using the public cloud features in Beam without an active subscription.
You have active public cloud subscriptions but you are using the Nutanix features in Beam without a license.

Beam API

Beam provides API services to allow you to programmatically retrieve data from the Beam's platform and perform different configurations.

The following are a few scenarios for using the API services:

You can programmatically retrieve analyze data for your cloud accounts using API. You can select the resource group to raise a query. For example, you can raise a query for a business unit or a cost center. For more information, see the Analysis v2 or Analyze sections in the Beam API Reference Guide.
You can use APIs for remote onboarding of your cloud accounts without the need to log in to the Beam GUI. For more information, see dev.beam.nutanix.com.
You can perform CRUD operations on business units, cost centers, and scopes using APIs. For more information, see the Cost Governance - Multicloud section in the Beam API Reference Guide .

Cost Management for Public Cloud

Beam allows you to track your cloud expenses, optimize your cloud cost, and achieve visibility into your spend. Beam centralizes all your cloud expenses and multiple accounts into a single place and simplifies cloud cost management.

The supported public clouds are AWS , Azure , and GCP .

AWS

Support for AWS allows you to track your AWS cloud expenses, optimize your cloud cost, and achieve visibility into your spend. Beam centralizes all your AWS cloud expenses and multiple AWS accounts into a single place and simplifies cloud cost management.

For a consolidated billing, you must sign up in the AWS Billing and Cost Management console and designate your account as a payer account. You can link other accounts (linked accounts) to the payer account for consolidated billing. In AWS consolidated billing, the payer account is charged for all the linked accounts every month. For more information, see AWS Billing and Cost Management User Guide on AWS documentation website .

Beam helps you to optimize AWS services like EC2, RDS, EBS, EIP, Route53, Workspace, EC2, DynamoDB, ELB, Redshift, and ElastiCache.

Note: The historical spend reported in Beam is delayed by at least 48 hours. The cloud providers take around 24 to 48 hours to update the complete billing data.

Azure

Support for Azure enables you to take control of your cloud spend on the Azure cloud. Beam helps you to optimize the Azure services like Managed Disks, Azure SQL DB, VM, Public IP, PostgreSQL Server, MySQL Server, Load Balancer, Application Gateways, SQL DataWarehouse, and Redis Cache.

Beam now supports the following two Azure billing account types for cost governance.

Enterprise Agreement (EA)
Microsoft Customer Agreement (MCA)

Note: The historical spend reported in Beam is delayed by at least 48 hours. The cloud providers take around 24 to 48 hours to update the complete billing data.

Google Cloud Platform

Support for Google Cloud Platform (GCP) allows you to track your GCP resources and provide insights into your cost spends. Beam centralizes all your GCP cloud expenses and multiple GCP accounts into a single pane and simplifies cloud cost management.

Beam helps you analyze your GCP services like Compute Engine, Cloud Storage, Kubernetes Engine, and BigQuery.

Note: The historical spend reported in Beam is delayed by at least 48 hours. The cloud providers take around 24 to 48 hours to update the complete billing data.

Multicloud Views

Apart from providing cost visibility and optimization recommendations for individual clouds, Beam also provides cost visibility and optimization recommendations for entities with multiple clouds (Nutanix, AWS, Azure, and GCP). You can configure two types of multicloud entities - Financial and Scope.

Scope is a custom resource group with resources across multiple clouds (Nutanix, AWS, Azure, and GCP). Scopes are useful in providing visibility to logical resource groups like applications, project teams, cross-functional initiatives, and more. Hence, by design, a cloud resource can be part of multiple Scopes. For more information, see Scopes.

User Interface Layout

This section provides information on the layout and navigation of the Beam console.

The Beam console provides a graphical user interface to manage Beam settings and features.

View Selector

The Dashboard is the welcome page that appears after logging and selecting a view in Beam.

Table 1. Available Views
View	Description
All Clouds	Select this view to get total cost visibility for AWS-, Azure-, GCP-, and Nutanix-accounts for which you have access.
Cloud Accounts (AWS, Azure, GCP, and Nutanix)	Allows you to select AWS, Azure, GCP, and Nutanix accounts.
Financial	Allows you to select business units or cost centers you created for the chargeback.
Scopes	Allows you to select the custom scopes you created.

Beam Console

The Beam Console screens are divided into different sections, as described in the following image and table.

Table 2. Beam Console Layout
Menu	Description
Hamburger icon	Displays a menu of features on the left. When the main menu is displayed, the hamburger icon changes to an X button. Click the X button to hide the menu.
Alerts	The Alert option allows you to see system-generated alert notifications. Click the bell icon from the main menu bar to view alerts. Click See More to view the complete list of notification.
User Menu	The user drop-down menu has the following options. Profile - Displays your account information, timezone and email preferences, and Product Access (read/write) for Beam. What's New - Displays the recent product updates. Terms of Service Privacy Policy Responsible Disclosure Log out - Click to log out of the Beam console.
Help Menu	You can click the question mark icon in the top-right corner of the console to view the following: Read Documentation - Redirects you to the Beam documentation. Guided Tours - Opens the list of walkthrough videos that helps you to navigate through various tasks and workflows in Beam.
Widgets Section	The widgets section displays the informational and actionable widgets corresponding to the feature that you have selected from the main menu. For instance, the Dashboard page display widgets like Spend Overview , Spend Analysis , Save , and Cloud Efficiency .
View option	Click View in the top-right corner to open the View Selector pop-up.

Main Menu

Clicking the Hamburger icon displays a menu of features on the left. When the main menu is displayed, the Hamburger icon changes to an X button. Click the X button to hide the menu.

The following table describes each feature in the main menu.

Table 3. Main Menu - Available Features
Feature	Description
Dashboard	Displays the Dashboard page (see Dashboard).
Analyze	Displays the Analyze page (see Analyze - Cost Analysis). Analyze allows you to track cost consumption across all your cloud resources at both the aggregate and granular level. You can drill down cost further based on your services, accounts, or application workload.
Chargeback	Displays the Chargeback page (see Chargeback). Enables the financial control of your cloud spends by providing the ability to allocate cloud resources to departments based on definitions. It provides a consolidated view across all your cloud accounts in a single pane for Finance views.
Budget	Displays the Budget page (see Budget). A budget allows you to centralize the budget at the business unit, cost center, or scope levels to ensure that your consumption is within the budget that you have defined.
Reports	Displays the Reports page (see Cost Reports). Beam generates reports to track cost consumption across all your cloud accounts at both aggregate and granular levels, like a functional unit, workloads, and applications. The reports are generated automatically and are available to view, download, or share from the Beam console.
Save	Displays the Save page (see Save - Cost Saving). Helps you save money on cloud spend by identifying unused and underutilized resources. Also, you get specific recommendations for optimal consumption.
Purchase	Displays the Purchase page (see Purchase - Recommendations). Provides insights on overall RI usage statistics, recommended RI purchases, managing existing RI portfolio, and RI coverage.
Playbooks	Displays the Playbooks page (see Playbooks). Allows you to automate actions on your public cloud environment for better cloud management. It helps you to improve your operational efficiency by reducing manual intervention.
Configure menu	The Configure menu allows you to do the following operations. Add and manage cloud accounts in Beam. Adding AWS Account Adding Azure Enteprise Agreement Account Adding GCP Account Manage Beam users Integrate third-party applications Slack ServiceNow Integration with Nutanix Beam Cost Policy Chargeback Scopes AWS Cost Configuration Budget Alerts AWS Invoice

Administration and User Management

Beam allows you to do the following administrative controls.

Add and manage users accessibility to various cloud accounts in Beam.
Two types of access can be granted to a user.
- Admin Access - The user gets read and write access to all cloud accounts added in your Beam account.
- User Access - The administrator can grant Read Only or Read & Write permissions on selected cloud accounts to a user, thus allowing the administrator to exercise the principle of least privilege.

Adding a Beam User

You can add and manage users using the Beam console.

About this task

To add a user in Beam, do the following.

Procedure

Click the Hamburger icon in the top-left corner to display the main menu. Then, click Configure > User Management . Click Add User .
In the Details page, enter the user details and change the timezone as desired. Then, click Next to go to the Permissions page.
In the Permissions page, you can choose Admin Access or User Access .
Click Admin Access if you want to give administrator rights to the user. See User Roles for details on types of users. Then, click Save to complete the task.
Click User Access if you want to grant Read Only or Read & Write permissions on selected cloud accounts to the user.
1. Select the required access ( No Access , Read Only , and Read & Write ) across clouds.
  The No Access option is selected by default.
2. Select the AWS Payer Account and Linked Accounts, Azure Billing Accounts and Subscriptions, Nutanix accounts, and GCP Billing Accounts and Projects for which you want to provide access. Then, click Save to complete the task.
Figure. User Management - Granting Permissions Click to enlarge

User Roles

This section helps you to understand all the different roles in Beam and when you would use each.

Owner Role

When a user creates a Beam subscription, a tenant is triggered and the user becomes the owner of that tenant.  An owner is shown as Admin (Owner) in the User Management page. The owner role has the following attributes.

Create other users with or without administrative privileges.
Access billing subscription information.
Access to licensing information. For more information on licensing for AWS, Azure, and GCP accounts, see Licensing.
Access to all features.
View the admin menu.
Perform all the read or write operations.
Create or edit budgets.
View, create, edit, or delete cost centers.
Restrict access to a limited number of cloud account for a user.

Note:

My Nutanix Account Administrators are considered as Owner in Beam.
You can't create an owner role in Beam. However, you can create as many as three Beam owners from My Nutanix. Only My Nutanix Account Administrators have the necessary permissions to create Beam owners. For more information on My Nutanix user management, see Cloud Services Administration Guide .
Only My Nutanix Account Administrators or Beam Owners are able to manage billing and renewals of Beam subscription. For more information on managing billing and renewals, see Cloud Services Administration Guide.

Administrator Role

An administrator is shown as Admin in the User Management page. The administrator role has the following attributes.

Access to all features.
View the admin menu.
Add other users.
Perform all the read or write operations.
Create or edit budgets.
View, create, edit, or delete cost centers.
Restrict access to a limited number of cloud account for a user.

User Role

A user role is created by granting read-only or read & write permission for selected accounts.

An account having a user role cannot create other users.
An account having a user role with read-only permission can view the cost data.
Read-only or read & write permission can be granted on the selected Nutanix accounts.

ADFS Integration

User Management

You can configure the following user group types in ADFS.

Administrator user - Users added to this group have administrator access.
Beam user - Users added to this group can perform operations based on the access policy assigned by the administrator user.

Note:

If you are a part of the Beam user group and logging into Beam through ADFS for the first time, you will not have access to any cloud account. Contact your account administrator to get access to an account.
If you are a part of the administrator user group and logging into Beam through ADFS, you cannot add and delete users using the Beam user management. You can perform these actions in ADFS.
If you are logging into Beam through ADFS, you cannot change roles (administrator to user or user to administrator). You can perform these actions in ADFS.

Support

Starting Beam Free Trial

About this task

The following section describes the procedure to start a free trial.

If you have access to the MyNutanix account, perform Step 1 .
If you do not have access to the MyNutanix account, perform Step 2 .

Procedure

If you have access to the MyNutanix account, do the following.
1. Login to your MyNutanix account.
2. In the Dashboard, scroll down to find the Beam application. Then, click Launch to open the Beam application and start your free trial.
  
  Figure. MyNutanix Dashboard - Launching Xi-Beam Click to enlarge
If you do not have an existing MyNutanix account, do the following.
1. Open the Beam webpage.
2. Click Start Free Trial and fill the form that appears. Then, click Submit .
  
  Figure. Free Trial - Form Click to enlarge
  
  Your MyNutanix account gets created. Also, you will receive a verification email that contains a link for logging into the Beam application.

What to do next

You can add your Nutanix, AWS, Azure, and GCP accounts in Beam.

Cloud Account Configuration (Onboarding)

The following sections describe the onboarding steps for AWS-, Azure-, and GCP-accounts.

Prerequisites - AWS, Azure, and GCP

Refer to this section to know about the access and permissions required to configure your cloud accounts in Beam.

AWS Account Onboarding Requirements

Ensure that you have the following access before starting with the account onboarding steps:

AWS access: Account Owner or administrator access to the AWS payer account.
AWS access: IAM user with access to AWS S3, AWS CloudFormation Template, AWS Billing & Cost Management console, and permission to create a role.
Beam administrator access.

Azure Accounts Onboarding Requirements

Enterprise Agreement

Ensure that you have the following access before starting with the EA billing account onboarding steps:

Enrollment administrator access.

(Optional) To verify if you have Enterprise Administrator access, go to https://jwt.io/. The configuration works if the token you tested has Enterprise or Indirect Enterprise listed.

{
  "EnrollmentNumber": "XXXXXXXX",
  "Id": "027d019e-5674-4771-a09d-1XXXXXXX840",
  "ReportView": "Enterprise", (or Indirect Enterprise)
  "PartnerId": "",
  "DepartmentId": "",
  "AccountId": "",
  "iss": "ea.microsoftazure.com",
  "aud": "client.ea.microsoftazure.com",
  "exp": 1554264804,
  "nbf": 1538540004
}

Beam administrator access.

Note:

Only Enrollment Access Keys are accepted in Beam.
Access key activation may take up to 30 minutes.

Microsoft Customer Agreement

Ensure that you have the following access before starting with the MCA billing account onboarding steps:

You must have a Billing Account Owner role for adding an MCA billing account.
You must provide Billing account reader access to the application.
Beam administrator access.

GCP Account Onboarding Requirements

Ensure that you have the following access before starting with the account onboarding steps:

Permissions and Roles: Beam requires access to specific APIs and a service account. A GCP service account is an authorized identity to enable authentication between Beam and GCP. A set of predefined and primitive roles grant the service account the permissions it requires to complete specific actions on the resources in your GCP project/billing account or organization. For more information, see IAM Roles and Required Permissions.
Note: Your GCP projects does not have to be a part of an organization in order for Beam to fetch the billing data.
Beam administrator access.

GCP Onboarding - Overview

To enable Beam to retrieve data on your Google Cloud Platform (GCP) resources and provide insights into your cost spend, you must onboard your GCP billing accounts to Beam. You can add multiple GCP billing accounts in Beam and get an insight into your cost spend.

Terminology Reference

The following table introduces the principal GCP terms and entities:

Table 1. Terminology Reference
Term	Description
Project	A project organizes all your Google Cloud resources. A project consists of a set of users; a set of APIs; and billing, authentication, and monitoring settings for those APIs. For example, all of your Cloud Storage buckets and objects, along with user permissions for accessing them, reside in a project. You can create single or multiple projects and use them to organize your Google Cloud resources, including your Cloud Storage data, into logical groups.
Billing Account	A cloud-level resource managed in the GCP console. It tracks all of the costs (charges and usage credits) incurred by your Google Cloud usage. You can link one or more projects to a billing account. Project usage gets charged to the linked Cloud Billing account. For more information, see the Overview of Cloud Billing Concepts section in the Google Cloud Documentation .
BigQuery Table	Contains individual records organized in rows. Every table is defined by a schema that describes the column names, data types, and other information. You must provision the Big query table in one of the projects. The table will store the billing data for all the projects within the billing account. Beam pulls the billing data from the BigQuery table and provides insight into your GCP cloud spend.
Service Account	A special kind of account used by an application (not a person) to make authorized API calls. Beam creates a Service account on-the-fly while performing the onboarding steps for the first GCP billing account. For the subsequent billing accounts, Beam will auto-populate the previously created service account information on the onboarding page. You need to provide certain permissions to the Service account so that Beam can pull the billing data and provide cost insights. To achieve this, you need to create a few IAM roles in the GCP console and attach them to the Service account. For more information, see IAM Roles for GCP Billing Exports.

Getting Started With Onboarding

Perform the following steps to onboard your first GCP billing account in Beam:

Create a Service account from the Beam console
The Service account for your enterprise gets created in Nutanix's own secure GCP Project. You need to create IAM roles with the required permissions and attach them to the Service account so that Beam can fetch the billing data and provide cost insights.
Create a BigQuery dataset if not already created (GCP Console). Then perform the Export cloud billing data to BigQuery operation.
Create and attach IAM Roles and Required Permissions for users with and without access to GCP organizations.
Enter the GCP billing account details in the Beam console to complete the onboarding process.

Warning: If you have access to a billing project with no access to its billing account, you cannot onboard such billing accounts in Beam.

Adding GCP Billing Account

This section describes the procedure to add your first GCP billing account in Beam. Beam fetches the billing data of all projects associated with the given billing account and provides visibility into your spend.

About this task

Warning: If you have access to a billing project with no access to its billing account, you cannot onboard such billing accounts in Beam.

To add a GCP billing account in Beam, do the following:

Procedure

In the Beam console, click the Hamburger icon in the top-left corner to display the main menu. Then, click Configure > GCP Accounts .
Click Add a GCP Billing Account .
The GCP Account Onboarding page appears.
If you are onboarding your first billing account, an option to create a service account is visible. For the subsequent billing accounts, Beam auto-populates the previously created service account ID on the Configure Permissions page.
Click Create a Service Account .
Beam creates a service account on-the-fly. The service account for your enterprise gets created in Nutanix's own secure GCP Project. Provide the required permissions to this account so that Beam can retrieve the billing data and provide cost insights.
Note: The Service account created when onboarding the first GCP billing account gets used for the subsequent GCP billing accounts. When onboarding the subsequent GCP billing accounts, the service account field gets auto-populated in the Configure Permissions page.

Figure. GCP - Service Account Details Click to enlarge
Before you start adding the billing source information in the Input Billing Source page, do the following:
1. Create a BigQuery dataset if not previously created (GCP Console). Then perform the Export cloud billing data to BigQuery operation.
  
  Note: Beam only supports Standard Usage Cost Data option.
2. Create the required IAM roles and attach them to the service account in the GCP Console. For more information, see IAM Roles and Required Permissions.
After you have created the IAM roles and attached them to the Service account, go to the Configure Permissions page in the Beam console and click Next .
Figure. GCP Onboarding - Adding Billing Account Details Click to enlarge
Enter the Billing Account Name , Billing Account ID , Project ID , and Dataset ID .
Ensure to fetch the correct billing account details from the GCP console. For more information, see Fetching the Billing Account Details .
When all the field entries are correct, click Validation and Save to complete the onboarding process.
Your first GCP billing account is successfully configured in Beam.

Adding Multiple GCP Billing Accounts

About this task

The service account created when onboarding the first GCP billing account is used for the subsequent GCP billing accounts. The service account field is auto-populated when onboarding the next GCP billing accounts in Beam.

Perform the following steps to onboard your subsequent GCP billing accounts in Beam:

Procedure

Create and attach the following IAM roles to the service account in the GCP Console:
- beam-bill-ingestion-role (Mandatory) : Attach this role to the billing project in which the BigQuery Table is provisioned or the billing account according to your business requirements. You do not need to create this role again as you previously created this role at the organization level when onboarding your first GCP billing account.
- beam-project-metadata-role (Optional) : Creating and attaching this IAM role is optional. You do not need to create and attach this role to the service account for the subsequent GCP billing accounts if you previously performed these steps when onboarding your first GCP billing account.This role is created and attached at the organization or folder level. Hence, it applies to all billing accounts within the organization or folder.
Enter the GCP billing account details in the Beam console to complete the onboarding process.

IAM Roles and Required Permissions

You can follow one of the given options to provide the required IAM roles and permissions:

Users with access to GCP Organizations
Users without access to GCP Organizations

Users with access to GCP Organizations

Beam needs certain permissions to fetch the billing data and provide cost insights. For users with access to GCP organizations, you need to create two IAM roles and attach them to the service account created by Beam. Refer to this section to get an understanding about the IAM roles and its required permissions.

The required IAM roles are as follows:

(Mandatory) beam-bill-ingestion-role

Allows Beam to ingest bills from the BigQuery table and read Projects associated with a given billing account.

Role Created At Role Attached At Role JSON (Use JSON to programmatically create the role)

Organization level

Billing project level and Billing account level

Role Created At	Role Attached At	Role JSON (Use JSON to programmatically create the role)
Organization level	Billing project level and Billing account level	`{ "description": "Allows Beam to ingest bills from BigQuery and read Projects associated with a given billing account", "includedPermissions": [ "resourcemanager.projects.get", "bigquery.datasets.get", "bigquery.jobs.create", "bigquery.tables.get", "bigquery.tables.getData", "bigquery.readsessions.create", "bigquery.readsessions.getData", billing.resourceAssociations.list], "name": "beam-bill-ingestion-role-v1", "stage": "GA", "title": "Nutanix Beam Bill Ingestion Role (v1)" }`

{
    "description": "Allows Beam to ingest bills from BigQuery and read Projects associated with a given billing account",
    "includedPermissions": [
"resourcemanager.projects.get",
      "bigquery.datasets.get",
      "bigquery.jobs.create",
      "bigquery.tables.get",
      "bigquery.tables.getData",
     "bigquery.readsessions.create",
     "bigquery.readsessions.getData",
   billing.resourceAssociations.list],
    "name": "beam-bill-ingestion-role-v1",
    "stage": "GA",
    "title": "Nutanix Beam Bill Ingestion Role (v1)"
}

(Optional) beam-project-metadata-role

Allows Beam to read project names, folder hierarchy, and folder names.

This role enables Beam to get the details of a project. For example, the billing account to which the project is associated, the name of the project, and so on. If you do not provide this permission, Beam will only show the Project ID in its console.

Note: Provide this permission for a specific project or the parent folder if you want to view the labels of the projects in Beam.

Role Created At Role Attached At Role JSON (Use JSON to programmatically create the role)

Organization level

Folder or organization level

Role Created At	Role Attached At	Role JSON (Use JSON to programmatically create the role)
Organization level	Folder or organization level	`{ "title": "Nutanix Beam Project and Folders metadata read", "name": "beam-project-metadata-role", "description": "Allows Beam to read Project names, Folder hierarchy and Folder name", "includedPermissions": [ "resourcemanager.projects.get", "resourcemanager.folders.get" ], "stage": "GA" }`

{
  	"title": "Nutanix Beam Project and Folders metadata read",
    "name": "beam-project-metadata-role",
    "description": "Allows Beam to read Project names, Folder hierarchy and Folder name",
    "includedPermissions": [
      "resourcemanager.projects.get",
      "resourcemanager.folders.get"
    ],
    "stage": "GA"
}

Note: The IAM role name provided in this topic is a recommendation. You can use a different role name if you want.

To create the roles in the GCP Console, see Creating IAM Roles.

GCP Permissions Required to Create and Attach IAM Roles

Refer to the following table to understand the GCP permissions to create and attach the IAM roles required by Beam.


Task	GCP Role
Create and attach roles at Organization level	Organization Role Administrator role (roles/iam.organizationRoleAdmin) : GCP inbuilt role to create roles at the organization level. This role provides access to administer all custom roles in the organization and its associated projects. resourcemanager.organizations.setIamPolicy : Additional permission required to attach roles.
Create and attach roles at Project level	Role Administrator role (roles/iam.roleAdmin) : GCP inbuilt role to create roles at the project level. This role provides access to all custom roles in the project. resourcemanager.projects.setIamPolicy : Additional permission required to attach roles.
Create and attach roles at Folder level	Folder Admin (roles/resourcemanager.folderAdmin) : GCP inbuilt role to create roles at the folder level. This role provides all available permissions for working with folders. resourcemanager.folders.setIamPolicy : Additional permission required to attach roles.
Attach roles at Billing account level	roles/billing.admin : GCP Inbuilt Role to attach roles at the Billing account level.

Creating IAM Roles

This section describes the procedure to create the required IAM roles in the GCP console for the user with access to GCP organizations.

Before you begin

Refer to Users with access to GCP Organizations to get an understanding about the IAM roles and its required permissions.
You require specific GCP permissions to create and attach the IAM roles required by Beam. For more information, see the GCP Permissions Required to Create and Attach IAM Roles section in Users with access to GCP Organizations.

About this task

To create the required IAM role, do the following:

Procedure

In the GCP Console, go to the Roles page.

In the drop-down menu at the top of the page, select the organization in which you want to create the IAM roles.


IAM Role	Entity
(Mandatory) beam-bill-ingestion-role	Organization level. For example, nixbeam.com .
(Optional) beam-project-metadata-role	Organization level. For example, nixbeam.com .

Note: The IAM role name provided in the table is a recommendation. You can use a different role name if you want.

Click Create Role .

In the Create Role page, enter the following information:


Option	Description
Title	Enter the role name you are creating. Role name: `beam-bill-ingestion-role` or `beam-project-metadata-role` .
Description	Enter a description for the role. Example: Allows Beam to ingest bills from the BigQuery table and read Projects associated with a given billing account for `beam-bill-ingestion-role` .
ID	Enter the role ID in the following format: `beam_bill_ingestion_role` or `beam_project_metadata_role` .
Role launch stage	Select General Availability .

Click ADD PERMISSIONS .

The Add Permissions window appears.
In the Filter table search box, search for the permission and then select the checkbox.

Refer to Users with access to GCP Organizations to view the required permissions for the role that you are creating.

Repeat this step to search and select the remaining permissions.

Figure. GCP IAM Role - Adding Permissions Click to enlarge
Click ADD after you select all the required permissions.
The added permissions appear in the assigned permissions area.
Click CREATE to complete.

What to do next

Attach the IAM roles to the Service account.

Attaching IAM Roles to the Service Account

This section describes the procedure to attach the two IAM roles you created to the service account, for the user with access to GCP organizations.

Before you begin

You require specific GCP permissions to attach the IAM roles to the service account. For more information, see the GCP Permissions Required to Create and Attach IAM Roles section in Users with access to GCP Organizations.

About this task

To attach the IAM roles to the service account, do the following:

Procedure

To attach beam-bill-ingestion-role to the service account, do the following:

Note: This role is attached to the billing project in which the BigQuery Table is provisioned and to the billing account.
1. To attach this role to the billing project, do the following:
  1. In the GCP Console, go to the IAM page.
  2. In the drop-down menu at the top of the page, select the project where you have provisioned the BigQuery Table.
  3. Click ADD at the top of the page. Then, go to Step 1.c.
    
    Figure. Billing Project - Adding Members Click to enlarge
2. To attach this role to the billing account, do the following:
  1. In the GCP Console, go to the Billing page.
    A list of billing accounts appear.
  2. Click on your billing account.
  3. In the left pane, click Account management .
  4. Click ADD MEMBER . Then, go to Step 1.c.
    
    Figure. Billing Account - Adding Members Click to enlarge
3. In the New members box, enter your service account name.
  You can also locate the service account name from Beam GCP account configuration console.
4. In the Select a role list, search and select beam-bill-ingestion-role .
5. Click SAVE to complete.
(Optional) To attach beam-project-metadata-role to the Service account, do the following:

Note: You can attach this role to the folder or organization according to your business requirements.
1. In the GCP Console, go to the IAM page.
2. In the drop-down menu at the top of the page, select the organization. For example, nixbeam.com.
3. Click ADD at the top of the page.
  
  Figure. Organization - Adding Members Click to enlarge
4. In the New members box, enter your service account name.
  You can also locate the service account name from Beam GCP account configuration console.
5. In the Select a role list, search and select beam-project-metadata-role .
6. Click SAVE to complete.

Users without access to GCP Organizations

Beam needs certain permissions to fetch the billing data and provide cost insights. For the users without access to GCP organizations, you need to create an IAM role and use a GCP inbuilt role and attach them to the service account created by Beam. Refer to this section to get an understanding about the IAM roles and its required permissions.

Note:

You need permissions to attach the roles at the billing account level.
Ensure that you create and attach the role only in the project that contains Billing export BigQuery Dataset.

The required IAM roles are as follows:

(Mandatory) beam-bill-ingestion-role

Allows Beam to ingest bills from the BigQuery table.

Role Created At Role Attached At Role JSON (Use JSON to programmatically create the role)

Project level

{
    "description": "Allows Beam to ingest bills from BigQuery",
    "includedPermissions": [
      "bigquery.datasets.get",
      "bigquery.jobs.create",
      "bigquery.tables.get",
      "bigquery.tables.getData",
     "bigquery.readsessions.create",
     "bigquery.readsessions.getData"],
    "name": "beam-bill-ingestion-role-v1",
    "stage": "GA",
    "title": "Nutanix Beam Bill Ingestion Role (v1)"
}

Note: The IAM role name provided in this topic is a recommendation. You can use a different role name if you want.

(Mandatory) Billing Account Viewer: The Billing Account Viewer is a GCP in-built role and you need to attach that at the billing account level. Allows Beam to read Projects associated with a billing account, but does not confer the right to link or unlink projects or otherwise manage the properties of the billing account or the ability to read payments related information.; For more details on how to attach the Billing Account Viewer role, see Attaching IAM Roles to the Service Account.

To create the roles in the GCP Console, see Creating IAM Roles.

GCP Permissions Required to Create and Attach IAM Roles

Refer to the following table to understand the GCP permissions to create and attach the IAM roles required by Beam.


Task	GCP Role
Create and attach roles at Project level	Role Administrator role (roles/iam.roleAdmin) : GCP inbuilt role to create roles at the project level. This role provides access to all custom roles in the project. resourcemanager.projects.setIamPolicy : Additional permission required to attach roles.
Attach roles at Billing account level	roles/billing.admin : GCP Inbuilt Role to attach roles at the Billing account level.

Creating IAM Roles

This section describes the procedure to create the required IAM role in the GCP console for the user without access to GCP organizations.

Before you begin

Refer to Users without access to GCP Organizations to get an understanding about the IAM roles and its required permissions.
You require specific GCP permissions to create and attach the IAM roles required by Beam. For more information, see the GCP Permissions Required to Create and Attach IAM Roles section in Users without access to GCP Organizations.

About this task

To create the required IAM role, do the following:

Procedure

In the GCP Console, go to the Roles page.

In the drop-down menu at the top of the page, select the project in which you want to create the IAM roles.


IAM Role	Entity
(Mandatory) beam-bill-ingestion-role	Project level

Note:

The IAM role name provided in the table is a recommendation. You can use a different role name if you want.

Click Create Role .

In the Create Role page, enter the following information:


Option	Description
Title	Enter the role name you are creating. Role name: `beam-bill-ingestion-role` .
Description	Enter a description for the role. Example: Allows Beam to ingest bills from the BigQuery table .
ID	Enter the role ID in the following format: `beam_bill_ingestion_role` .
Role launch stage	Select General Availability .

Click ADD PERMISSIONS .

The Add Permissions window appears.
In the Filter table search box, search for the permission and then select the checkbox.

Refer to Users without access to GCP Organizations to view the required permissions for the role that you are creating.

Repeat this step to search and select the remaining permissions.

Figure. GCP IAM Role - Adding Permissions Click to enlarge
Click ADD after you select all the required permissions.
The added permissions appear in the assigned permissions area.
Click CREATE to complete.

What to do next

Attach the IAM roles to the Service account.

Attaching IAM Roles to the Service Account

This section describes the procedure to attach the two IAM roles to the service account, for the user without access to GCP organizations.

Before you begin

About this task

To attach the IAM roles to the service account, do the following:

Procedure

To attach beam-bill-ingestion-role to the service account, do the following:

Note: This role is attached to the billing project in which the BigQuery Table is provisioned.
1. In the GCP Console, go to the IAM page.
2. In the drop-down menu at the top of the page, select the project where you have provisioned the BigQuery Table.
3. Click ADD at the top of the page.
  
  Figure. Billing Project - Adding Members Click to enlarge
4. In the New members box, enter your service account name.
  You can also locate the service account name from Beam GCP account configuration console.
5. In the Select a role list, search and select beam-bill-ingestion-role .
6. Click SAVE to complete.
To attach Billing Account Viewer role to the service account, do the following:

Note: This role has to be attached at the billing account level.
1. In the GCP Console, go to the Billing page.
  A list of billing accounts appear.
2. Click on your billing account.
3. In the left pane, navigate to Account management .
4. Click SHOW INFO PANEL at the top-right corner of the page.
5. Click the ADD PRINCIPAL button.
  
  Figure. Billing Account - Adding Principals Click to enlarge
6. In the New Principals box, enter your billing account name.
  You can also locate the service account name from Beam GCP account configuration console.
  
  Figure. Billing Account - Attaching Role Click to enlarge
7. From the Role drop-down list, search and select Billing Account Viewer.
8. Click SAVE to complete.
Note: Beam does not have the ability to read name associated with the Projects and, it shows a soft warning on the GCP accounts configuration page.

Fetching the Billing Account Details

This section describes the procedure to fetch the billing account details ( Billing Account ID , Project ID , and Dataset ID ) that you need to add in the Beam console to complete the onboarding process.

About this task

To fetch the billing account details, do the following:

Procedure

To fetch the Billing Account ID , do the following:
1. In the GCP Console, go to the Billing page.
  A list of billing accounts appear.
2. Click on the Billing account that you are onboarding in Beam.
3. In the left pane, click Account management .
  
  You can view the Billing account ID at the top of the page.
  
  Figure. GCP Console - Billing Account ID Click to enlarge
To fetch the Project ID and Dataset ID , do the following:
1. In the Billing Account page, in the left pane, click Billing export .
2. In the Billing export page, enable Standard usage cost and then, locate the Project name and Dataset name IDs.
  
  Note: Beam does not support Detailed usage cost table.
  
  Figure. GCP Console - Project and Dataset IDs Click to enlarge

GCP Billing Accounts - Management

Refer to this section to understand the actions you can take on the GCP billing accounts in Beam.

You can do the following:

View the list of projects linked to the billing account in the Projects tab.
View the billing project (project where your cloud billing data gets exported) in the Billing Sources tab.
Add a billing source: If you change the billing project in the GCP Console, you must add the new billing project in the Billing Sources tab.
Delete a billing account: Beam provides you an option to delete a billing account. Billing data and the related analytics information gets removed from Beam.

Click the Hamburger icon in the top-left corner to display the main menu. Then, click Configure > GCP Accounts . Then, click Manage Account against the Billing account that you want to manage.

Adding a Billing Source

When you change the source of your BigQuery export in the Billing Account > Billing export (GCP Console) according to your business requirements, you must add the new billing source in the Beam console.

About this task

To add a billing source in the Beam console, do the following:

Procedure

Click the Hamburger icon in the top-left corner to display the main menu. Then, click Configure > GCP Accounts .
Click Manage Account against the Billing account in which you want to add a billing source.
Click the Billing Sources tab.

Figure. Billing Sources Click to enlarge
In the top-right corner of the page, click the Actions drop-down list. Then, click Add Billing Source .

The Add Billing Source pop-up appears.

Figure. Add Billing Source Click to enlarge
Enter the Project ID and Dataset ID to start fetching the billing data for the new billing source.

For more information on how to get the Project ID and Dataset ID, see Fetching the Billing Account Details .
When all the field entries are correct, click Validate and Save to complete adding billing source.
Note:
- Suppose you change the projects to export your billing data for each month. Beam fetches the billing data from the previous billing projects and switches to the new billing project that you added.
- You cannot delete the previous billing projects. Beam needs the historical billing data to provide cost insights accurately.
- Only one project can be active at a given time. In the Billing Sources tab, in the Last Data Point column, you can view the current billing project (project with the latest date) along with the previous billing projects.

Deleting a Billing Account

Refer to this section to delete a Billing account from Beam.

About this task

To delete a Billing account in Beam, do the following:

Procedure

Click the Hamburger icon in the top-left corner to display the main menu. Then, click Configure > GCP Accounts .
Click Manage Account against the Billing account that you want to delete.
In the top-right corner of the page, click the Actions drop-down list. Then, click Delete Billing Account .

The Deleting GCP Billing Account window appears.
Enter the Billing Account ID and click Delete .

Warning: You cannot undo the delete action. The Billing account and all the associated projects for all users in Beam gets deleted. Also, the historical spend data and historical reports for the Billing account get erased.

Adding AWS Account

This section describes the procedure to add your AWS payer account in Beam.

About this task

Adding an AWS account in Beam involves three steps:

Step 1: Setting up Programmatic Billing in the Payer account to receive CUR reports in a specified S3 bucket (required if you do not have an existing CUR configured).
Step 2: Configuring the Payer account in Beam.
Step 3: Configuring the Linked accounts in Beam .

To add an AWS Payer account, do the following.

Procedure

Click the Hamburger icon in the top-left corner to display the main menu. Then, click Configure > AWS Accounts .
Click Add Payer Account .
In the Account Configuration page, perform the following steps.
1. In the AWS Account Name box, enter a name for your AWS account.
2. In the AWS Account ID box, enter your AWS account ID.
  Click AWS Management Console (Support Center) to view your AWS Account ID.
3. If you already have a CUR, do the following.
  
  1. In Report Name , enter the name for the CUR.
  
  2. In S3 Bucket Name , enter the name of your CUR bucket.
  
  3. In Report Prefix , enter the prefix of the CUR in AWS.
  
  You can click the Where can I find this? hyperlink to go to the AWS Cost and Usage Reports page in the AWS console. For detailed instructions on getting the report name, S3 bucket name, and report prefix of your existing CUR, see Getting Cost and Usage Report (CUR) Details (AWS Console).
  
  To get the report prefix path for your CUR, see Getting Report Path Prefix (AWS Console).
  
  If you do not have a CUR, create a CUR and enter the information in the Report Name , S3 Bucket Name , and Report Prefix fields. To create a CUR, see Creating Cost and Usage Report (AWS Console).
  
  Figure. AWS Payer Account Onboarding - Account Configuration Click to enlarge
4. Select the access type you want to grant to Beam.
  The available options are as follows.
  - Spend Analysis and Optimize Recommendations : This option is selected by default. You cannot clear this option. Beam requires read permissions for spend analysis and optimize recommendations.
  - Click to Fix and Playbooks : Selecting this access type would allow you to act on the saving insights, optimize the costs from the Beam console, create and invoke the Lambda function for Playbooks, and perform Eliminate actions.
  For more information, see Required Permissions.
  Optionally, check to enable Enable one-click policy updates to support upcoming features. This option allows Beam to prepare the permission policy in case additional permissions are required for a feature. Once you select this option, you must update the policy for the account from the AWS Accounts page.
  Note: Beam adds audits to the savings policy frequently. You can take advantage of the new audits added by enabling one-click policy updates option for AWS.
5. Click Next to go to the Review Configuration page.
In the Review Configuration page, perform the following steps.
1. Review the information you entered in the Account Configuration page.
  
  Note: If you want to see the cost allocation tags in Beam, activate the cost allocation tags in AWS. To activate the cost allocation tags, see Activating the AWS-Generated Cost Allocation Tags.
2. Click Execute CloudFormation Template .
  The following success message is displayed.
  Successfully fetched the CloudFormation Template.
3. If your organization's compliance requirements disallow to directly execute the CloudFormation Template in the AWS console, download the template by clicking the Download icon and get the template reviewed and approved internally.
  Upload the approved template when performing the steps to execute the template in the AWS console. For detailed instructions, see Executing Beam CloudFormation Template (AWS Console).
4. Click the hyperlink Click here to execute CloudFormation Template if you have the permission to directly execute the CloudFormation Template in the AWS console. This redirects you to the AWS console.
  For detailed instructions, see Executing Beam CloudFormation Template (AWS Console).
5. Click Verify and Save .
  
  Note: It takes 24 to 48 hours for the data to appear in Beam.
  
  Your AWS payer account is successfully configured in Beam.

What to do next

Once you configure your AWS payer account, Beam detects all the associated linked accounts. It is recommended to generate and execute the CFT for each linked account to optimize your cloud spend better. To configure linked accounts in Beam, see Configuring Linked Accounts.

Configuring Linked Accounts

Beam detects the AWS linked accounts after you add the payer account.

About this task

To view the list of AWS linked accounts, click the Hamburger icon in the top-left corner to display the main menu. Then, click Configure > AWS Accounts . You can view the payer accounts added in Beam. Click Manage to view the list of linked accounts detected for a payer account.

To configure the linked accounts in Beam, do the following.

Procedure

Click Configure against the linked account you want to configure.
In the Account Configuration page, perform the following steps.
1. Select the access type you want to grant to Beam.
  The available options are as follows.
  - Spend Analysis and Optimize Recommendations : This option is selected by default. You cannot clear this option. Beam requires read permissions for spend analysis and optimize recommendations.
  - Click to Fix and Playbooks : Selecting this access type would allow you to act on the saving insights, optimize the costs from the Beam console, create and invoke the Lambda function for Playbooks, and perform Eliminate actions.
  For more information, see Required Permissions.
  Optionally, check to enable Enable one-click policy updates to support upcoming features. . This option allows Beam to prepare the permission policy in case additional permissions are required for a feature. Once you select this option, you must update the policy for the account from the AWS Accounts page.
2. Click Next to go to the Review Configuration page.
In the Review Configuration page, perform the following steps.
1. Review the information you entered in the Account Configuration page.
2. Click Execute CloudFormation Template .
  The following success message is displayed.
  Successfully fetched the CloudFormation Template.
3. If your organization's compliance requirements disallow to directly execute the CloudFormation Template in the AWS console, download the template by clicking the Download icon and get the template reviewed and approved internally.
  Upload the approved template when performing the steps to execute the template in the AWS console. For detailed instructions, see Executing Beam CloudFormation Template (AWS Console).
  
  Note: Make sure that you are logged on to the same linked account for which you created the CloudFormation template.
4. Click the hyperlink Click here to execute CloudFormation Template if you have the permission to directly execute the CloudFormation Template in the AWS console. This redirects you to the AWS console.
  For detailed instructions, see Executing Beam CloudFormation Template (AWS Console).
  
  Note: Make sure that you are logged on to the same linked account for which you created the CloudFormation template.
5. Click Verify and Save .
Beam starts providing cost-saving recommendations for the linked account you just configured. If you just configured your payer account, it takes up to 24-48 hours for the cost data to be displayed in Beam.

Repeat these steps for all the linked accounts for which you want to see cost recommendations. The best practice is to configure all the linked accounts to optimize your cloud spend better.

Removing Linked Accounts

This section describes the steps to unconfigure linked accounts.

About this task

To unconfigure the linked accounts from the payer account, do the following.

Procedure

Click Edit against the linked account you want to configure.
The Account Configuration page appears.
In the top-right corner of the page, click Remove ARN .
By removing this IAM Role, you will limit the permissions that Beam has for this linked account.
A confirmation message appears. Click Delete to complete the workflow.

Figure. AWS Linked Account - Unconfigure Click to enlarge

Verifying AWS Account Configuration

After your AWS account configuration in Beam is complete, you can verify if the configuration is correct.

About this task

To test if your AWS account is accessible, do the following.

Procedure

Log on to your AWS Management Console.
In the drop-down menu, click My Billing Dashboard .

Figure. AWS Management Console Click to enlarge
In the sidebar menu, click Cost &Usage Reports .

Figure. AWS Management Console - AWS Cost and Usage Reports Click to enlarge

If you can create a report or a CUR report exists on this page, your AWS access is correct.
Note: If a CUR report exists in the AWS Cost and Usage Reports page, you can also create a CUR report.

Creating Cost and Usage Report (AWS Console)

To create an AWS Cost and Usage Report (CUR), go to the Reports page of the AWS Billing and Cost Management Console .

About this task

The AWS Cost and Usage Report lists AWS usage for each service category used by an account and its IAM users in hourly or daily line items, as well as any tags that you have activated for cost allocation purposes. Beam requires the cost and usage details of the AWS resources to provide insights and cost-saving recommendations.

To create an AWS Cost and Usage Report, do the following.

Procedure

Log on to your AWS Management Console.
In the drop-down menu, click My Billing Dashboard .

Figure. AWS Management Console - CUR Report Click to enlarge
In the sidebar menu, click Cost & Usage Reports . Then click Create report .

Figure. AWS Management Console - CreateCUR Report Click to enlarge

The Report content page appears.
In the Report name box, enter the name of the CUR and select Include resource IDs check box. Then click Next .

Figure. AWS Management Console - Report content page Click to enlarge

The Delivery options page appears.
Click Configure to configure a S3 bucket.

Note: Make sure to select time granularity as Hourly and compression type as GZIP .

Figure. AWS Management Console - CUR (Configuring S3 bucket) Click to enlarge

The Configure S3 Bucket page appears. You can select an existing S3 bucket or create a S3 bucket.
In the Configure S3 Bucket page, do one of the following.
- In the Select existing bucket area, in the S3 bucket name list, select an existing S3 bucket. Then click Next .
  Or
- In the Create a bucket area, enter a S3 bucket name and select the region where you want to create the S3 bucket. Then click Next .
Figure. AWS Management Console - Configure S3 Bucket page Click to enlarge

The Verify policy page appears.
Select I have confirmed that policy is correct check box. Then click Save .

Figure. AWS Management Console - Verify Policy page Click to enlarge

Your S3 bucket gets configured.
In the Report path prefix box, enter a report path prefix.
This step is optional.
Ensure that you set Time granularity to Hourly , Report versioning to Create new report version , and Compression Type to GZIP . Then click Next .
Review the details and click Review and Complete to create the CUR.

Getting Cost and Usage Report (CUR) Details (AWS Console)

About this task

To get the details of your existing CUR, do the following.

Procedure

Log on to your AWS Management Console. Ensure that you have sufficient AWS Billing Dashboard permissions and S3 access.
In the drop-down menu, click My Billing Dashboard .

Figure. AWS Management Console - CUR Details Click to enlarge
In the sidebar menu, click Cost & Usage Reports .
In the AWS Cost and Usage Reports table, find your CUR report name and S3 bucket.
Copy the CUR report name and S3 bucket name you want to configure in Beam from the table.

Figure. AWS Cost and Usage Reports table Click to enlarge
To extract the report path prefix, select the required CUR report name check box and click Edit .

Figure. AWS Cost and Usage Reports table Click to enlarge

The Report content page appears.
Ensure that the time granularity selected is Hourly and Include resource IDs is checked. If not, create a CUR report.

Figure. Report content page Click to enlarge
Scroll down the Report content page and locate Report path prefix . Copy the text present and paste it into the Beam console.

Note: Make sure that the compression type is GZIP .

Figure. Report content page Click to enlarge
If the Report path prefix field is empty, then leave the Prefix section in the Beam console empty as well.

Executing Beam CloudFormation Template (AWS Console)

About this task

CloudFormation template allows you to provision and manage your AWS resources effortlessly. You can create templates for the service or application architectures you want and have AWS CloudFormation use those templates for quick and reliable provisioning of the services or applications.

To execute the CloudFormation template, do the following.

Procedure

Log on to your AWS account and go to the Create stack page.
In the Prepare template area, click Template is ready .
In the Specify template area, select the relevant option based on the template's location.
- Click Amazon S3 URL and enter the URL if you opted to directly execute the CloudFormation template. Then, click Next to proceed.
  
  Or,
- Click Upload a template file if you opted to download the template from Beam for internal review purposes, or you choose to configure the payer account using API. Then, click Choose File to upload the template file that you downloaded. Click Next to proceed.
Figure. AWS Management Console - Select Template Click to enlarge
In the Specify stack details page, in the Stack name box, enter a stack name if you want to. Then click Next .

Note: Do NOT modify any other information on this page.

Figure. AWS Management Console - Specify Details Click to enlarge
In the Configure stack options page, scroll down to the bottom of the page and click Next .

Figure. AWS Management Console - Configure stack options Click to enlarge
In the Review page, scroll down to the bottom of the page and select I acknowledge that AWS CloudFormation might create IAM resources with custom names check box. Then click Create stack .

Figure. AWS Management Console - Review Click to enlarge
In the Events tab, wait for the message CREATE_COMPLETE .

Figure. AWS Management Console - Events tab Click to enlarge
Click Verify and Save on the Beam console.

Activating the AWS-Generated Cost Allocation Tags

The cost allocation tag is a label that AWS assigns to an AWS resource. You can use the cost allocation tags to track your AWS costs on a detailed level. After you activate the cost allocation tags, AWS uses the cost allocation tags to organize your resource costs on your cost allocation report. This makes it easier for you to categorize and track your AWS costs.

About this task

To activate the AWS-generated tags, do the following.

Procedure

Log on to your AWS Management Console and go to the Billing and Cost Management Dashboard (https://console.aws.amazon.com/billing/home#/).
In the sidebar menu, click Cost allocation tags .
In the AWS-Generated Cost Allocation Tags area, click Activate .

Note: It can take up to 24 hours for the tags to activate.

Getting Report Path Prefix (AWS Console)

While performing the AWS account onboarding in Beam, you need to enter the report path prefix that is appended to the name of your CUR. This section describes the steps to get the report path prefix for your CUR from the AWS console.

About this task

To get the report path prefix for your CUR, perform the following steps in the AWS console.

Procedure

Log on to your AWS Management Console. Ensure that you have sufficient AWS Billing Dashboard permissions and S3 access.
In the drop-down menu, click My Billing Dashboard .

Figure. AWS Management Console - CUR Details Click to enlarge
In the sidebar menu, click Cost & Usage Reports .
The AWS Cost and Usage Reports page appears. You can view a table that contains all the reports created in the AWS account.
To get the report path prefix, select the required CUR report name check box and click Edit .

Figure. AWS Cost and Usage Reports table Click to enlarge

The Report content page appears.
Scroll down the Report content page and locate Report path prefix . Copy the text present and paste it into the Beam console.

Note: If the Report path prefix field is empty, then leave the Report Prefix field in the Beam console empty as well.

Figure. Report content page Click to enlarge

Required Permissions

This section describes the read and read & write policies required by Beam.

Payer Account

Spend Analysis and Optimize Recommendations (read permissions)

{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Action": [
        "autoscaling:Describe*",
        "cloudfront:Get*",
        "cloudfront:List*",
        "opsworks:Describe*",
        "opsworks:Get*",
        "cloudtrail:DescribeTrails",
        "cloudtrail:GetTrailStatus",
        "cloudwatch:Describe*",
        "cloudwatch:Get*",
        "cloudwatch:List*",
        "dynamodb:DescribeTable",
        "dynamodb:ListTables",
        "ec2:Describe*",
        "ec2:GetReservedInstancesExchangeQuote",
        "elasticache:Describe*",
        "elasticbeanstalk:Check*",
        "elasticbeanstalk:Describe*",
        "elasticbeanstalk:List*",
        "elasticbeanstalk:RequestEnvironmentInfo",
        "elasticbeanstalk:RetrieveEnvironmentInfo",
        "elasticloadbalancing:Describe*",
        "elasticmapreduce:Describe*",
        "elasticmapreduce:List*",
        "redshift:Describe*",
        "elasticache:Describe*",
        "iam:List*",
        "iam:CreatePolicy",
        "iam:AttachRolePolicy",
        "iam:CreatePolicyVersion",
        "iam:DeletePolicyVersion",
        "iam:Get*",
        "workspaces:Describe*",
        "route53:Get*",
        "route53:List*",
        "rds:Describe*",
        "rds:ListTagsForResource",
        "s3:List*",
        "sqs:GetQueueAttributes",
        "sqs:ListQueues"
      ],
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "s3:Get*",
        "s3:List*"
      ],
      "Resource": [
        "arn:aws:s3:::/*",
        "arn:aws:s3:::"
      ]
    },
    {
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "s3:Get*",
        "s3:List*"
      ],
      "Resource": [
        "arn:aws:s3:::bucket-xyz/*",
        "arn:aws:s3:::bucket-xyz"
      ]
    },
    {
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "organizations:ListAccountsForParent",
        "organizations:ListAccounts"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    }
  ]
}

Click to Fix (read & write permissions)

{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Sid": "Stmt1415015011805",
      "Action": [
        "ec2:Describe*",
        "ec2:CreateSnapshot",
        "ec2:DeleteSnapshot",
        "ec2:DeleteVolume",
        "ec2:CreateTags",
        "ec2:ReleaseAddress",
        "ec2:RegisterImage",
        "ec2:CreateImage",
        "ec2:DeregisterImage",
        "ec2:DisassociateAddress",
        "ec2:TerminateInstances",
        "ec2:CreateImage",
        "ec2:ModifySnapshotAttribute",
        "ec2:ModifyInstanceAttribute",
        "ec2:GetReservedInstancesExchangeQuote"
      ],
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "s3:Get*",
        "s3:List*"
      ],
      "Resource": [
        "arn:aws:s3:::/*",
        "arn:aws:s3:::"
      ]
    },
    {
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "s3:Get*",
        "s3:List*"
      ],
      "Resource": [
        "arn:aws:s3:::bucket-xyz/*",
        "arn:aws:s3:::bucket-xyz"
      ]
    },
    {
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "organizations:ListAccountsForParent",
        "organizations:ListAccounts"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "Stmt1415015042420",
      "Action": [
        "elasticloadbalancing:DeleteLoadBalancer",
        "elasticloadbalancing:Describe*"
      ],
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "Stmt1415015086161",
      "Action": [
        "cloudtrail:DescribeTrails",
        "cloudtrail:GetTrailStatus"
      ],
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "Stmt1415015300839",
      "Action": [
        "rds:Describe*",
        "rds:List*",
        "rds:CreateDBSnapshot",
        "rds:DeleteDBSnapshot",
        "rds:DeleteDBInstance"
      ],
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "Stmt1415015300851",
      "Action": [
        "iam:CreatePolicy",
        "iam:AttachRolePolicy",
        "iam:CreatePolicyVersion",
        "iam:DeletePolicyVersion",
        "iam:List*",
        "iam:Get*"
      ],
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Action": [
        "cloudtrail:ListTags",
        "cloudtrail:GetEventSelectors",
        "events:*",
        "sns:Set*",
        "sns:Get*",
        "sns:GetTopicAttributes",
        "sns:DeleteTopic",
        "sns:Create*",
        "sns:Unsubscribe",
        "sns:ConfirmSubscription",
        "sns:SetTopicAttributes",
        "sns:Subscribe",
        "sns:List*"
      ],
      "Resource": "*",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Sid": "Stmt1534849103503"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "Stmt1415015300878",
      "Action": [
        "autoscaling:Describe*"
      ],
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "Stmt1445611947000",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "redshift:Describe*"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "Stmt1445611948000",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "cloudwatch:GetMetricStatistics",
        "dynamodb:DeleteTable"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "Stmt1445611948010",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "opsworks:Describe*",
        "opsworks:Get*"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "Stmt1445611948020",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "route53:Get*",
        "route53:List*"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "Stmt1445611948021",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "elasticache:Describe*"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "Stmt1445611948022",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "elasticmapreduce:Describe*",
        "elasticmapreduce:List*"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "Stmt1445611948023",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "dynamodb:Describe*",
        "dynamodb:List*"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "Stmt1445611948025",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "elasticmapreduce:Describe*",
        "elasticmapreduce:List*"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "Stmt1445611948024",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "elasticbeanstalk:Check*",
        "elasticbeanstalk:Describe*",
        "elasticbeanstalk:List*",
        "elasticbeanstalk:RequestEnvironmentInfo",
        "elasticbeanstalk:RetrieveEnvironmentInfo"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "Stmt1445611948028",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "cloudfront:Get*"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "Stmt1445611948029",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "elasticache:Describe*"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "Stmt1445611948030",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "config:Describe*"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "Stmt1445611948035",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "cloudwatch:Describe*",
        "cloudwatch:Get*",
        "cloudwatch:List*"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "Stmt1445611948036",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "cloudfront:List*"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "Stmt1445611948076",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "kinesis:ListStreams"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "Stmt1445611948086",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "glacier:ListVaults"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "Stmt1445611948089",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "sqs:ListQueues",
        "sqs:GetQueueAttributes"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "Stmt1445611948088",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "workspaces:Describe*",
        "elasticache:List*"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "Stmt1445611948092",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "lambda:CreateFunction",
        "lambda:TagResource",
        "lambda:InvokeFunction",
        "lambda:GetFunction",
        "lambda:ListAliases",
        "lambda:UpdateFunctionConfiguration",
        "lambda:GetFunctionConfiguration",
        "lambda:UntagResource",
        "lambda:UpdateAlias",
        "lambda:UpdateFunctionCode",
        "lambda:GetFunctionConcurrency",
        "lambda:ListTags",
        "lambda:DeleteAlias",
        "lambda:DeleteFunction",
        "lambda:GetAlias",
        "lambda:CreateAlias"
      ],
      "Resource": "arn:aws:lambda:*:*:function:*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "Stmt1445611948093",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "lambda:ListFunctions",
        "iam:PassRole"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    }
  ]
}

Linked Account

Optimize Recommendations (read permissions)

{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Action": [
        "autoscaling:Describe*",
        "cloudfront:Get*",
        "cloudfront:List*",
        "opsworks:Describe*",
        "opsworks:Get*",
        "cloudtrail:DescribeTrails",
        "cloudtrail:GetTrailStatus",
        "cloudwatch:Describe*",
        "cloudwatch:Get*",
        "cloudwatch:List*",
        "dynamodb:DescribeTable",
        "dynamodb:ListTables",
        "ec2:Describe*",
        "ec2:GetReservedInstancesExchangeQuote",
        "elasticache:Describe*",
        "elasticbeanstalk:Check*",
        "elasticbeanstalk:Describe*",
        "elasticbeanstalk:List*",
        "elasticbeanstalk:RequestEnvironmentInfo",
        "elasticbeanstalk:RetrieveEnvironmentInfo",
        "elasticloadbalancing:Describe*",
        "elasticmapreduce:Describe*",
        "elasticmapreduce:List*",
        "redshift:Describe*",
        "elasticache:Describe*",
        "iam:List*",
        "iam:Get*",
        "workspaces:Describe*",
        "route53:Get*",
        "route53:List*",
        "rds:Describe*",
        "rds:ListTagsForResource",
        "s3:List*",
        "sqs:GetQueueAttributes",
        "sqs:ListQueues"
      ],
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Resource": "*"
    }
  ]
}

Click to Fix (read & write permissions)

{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Sid": "Stmt1415015011805",
      "Action": [
        "ec2:Describe*",
        "ec2:CreateSnapshot",
        "ec2:DeleteSnapshot",
        "ec2:DeleteVolume",
        "ec2:CreateTags",
        "ec2:ReleaseAddress",
        "ec2:RegisterImage",
        "ec2:CreateImage",
        "ec2:DeregisterImage",
        "ec2:DisassociateAddress",
        "ec2:TerminateInstances",
        "ec2:CreateImage",
        "ec2:ModifySnapshotAttribute",
        "ec2:ModifyInstanceAttribute",
        "ec2:GetReservedInstancesExchangeQuote"
      ],
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "Stmt1415015042420",
      "Action": [
        "elasticloadbalancing:DeleteLoadBalancer",
        "elasticloadbalancing:Describe*"
      ],
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "Stmt1415015086161",
      "Action": [
        "cloudtrail:DescribeTrails",
        "cloudtrail:GetTrailStatus"
      ],
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "Stmt1415015300839",
      "Action": [
        "rds:Describe*",
        "rds:List*",
        "rds:CreateDBSnapshot",
        "rds:DeleteDBSnapshot",
        "rds:DeleteDBInstance"
      ],
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "Stmt1415015300851",
      "Action": [
        "iam:List*",
        "iam:Get*"
      ],
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "Stmt1415015300878",
      "Action": [
        "autoscaling:Describe*"
      ],
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "Stmt1445611947000",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "redshift:Describe*"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "Stmt1445611948000",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "cloudwatch:GetMetricStatistics",
        "dynamodb:DeleteTable"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "Stmt1445611948010",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "opsworks:Describe*",
        "opsworks:Get*"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "Stmt1445611948020",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "route53:Get*",
        "route53:List*"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "Stmt1445611948021",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "elasticache:Describe*"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "Stmt1445611948022",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "elasticmapreduce:Describe*",
        "elasticmapreduce:List*"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Action": [
        "cloudtrail:ListTags",
        "cloudtrail:GetEventSelectors",
        "events:*",
        "sns:Set*",
        "sns:Get*",
        "sns:GetTopicAttributes",
        "sns:DeleteTopic",
        "sns:Create*",
        "sns:Unsubscribe",
        "sns:ConfirmSubscription",
        "sns:SetTopicAttributes",
        "sns:Subscribe",
        "sns:List*"
      ],
      "Resource": "*",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Sid": "Stmt1534849103503"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "Stmt1445611948023",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "dynamodb:Describe*",
        "dynamodb:List*"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "Stmt1445611948025",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "elasticmapreduce:Describe*",
        "elasticmapreduce:List*"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "Stmt1445611948024",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "elasticbeanstalk:Check*",
        "elasticbeanstalk:Describe*",
        "elasticbeanstalk:List*",
        "elasticbeanstalk:RequestEnvironmentInfo",
        "elasticbeanstalk:RetrieveEnvironmentInfo"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "Stmt1445611948028",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "cloudfront:Get*"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "Stmt1445611948029",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "elasticache:Describe*"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "Stmt1445611948030",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "config:Describe*"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "Stmt1445611948035",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "cloudwatch:Describe*",
        "cloudwatch:Get*",
        "cloudwatch:List*"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "Stmt1445611948036",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "cloudfront:List*"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "Stmt1445611948076",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "kinesis:ListStreams"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "Stmt1445611948086",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "glacier:ListVaults"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "Stmt1445611948089",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "sqs:ListQueues",
        "sqs:GetQueueAttributes"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "Stmt1445611948088",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "workspaces:Describe*",
        "elasticache:List*"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "Stmt1445611948091",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "s3:List*"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "Stmt1445611948092",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "lambda:CreateFunction",
        "lambda:TagResource",
        "lambda:InvokeFunction",
        "lambda:GetFunction",
        "lambda:ListAliases",
        "lambda:UpdateFunctionConfiguration",
        "lambda:GetFunctionConfiguration",
        "lambda:UntagResource",
        "lambda:UpdateAlias",
        "lambda:UpdateFunctionCode",
        "lambda:GetFunctionConcurrency",
        "lambda:ListTags",
        "lambda:DeleteAlias",
        "lambda:DeleteFunction",
        "lambda:GetAlias",
        "lambda:CreateAlias"
      ],
      "Resource": "arn:aws:lambda:*:*:function:*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "Stmt1445611948093",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "lambda:ListFunctions",
        "iam:PassRole"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    }
  ]
}

Azure Onboarding - Overview

The Azure account is a globally unique entity that gets you to access Azure services and your Azure subscriptions. You can create multiple subscriptions in your Azure account to create separation, for example, for billing or management purposes. You can configure your Azure account in Beam to enable cost visibility and optimization capabilities for your Azure cloud resources. Once you configure the Azure account, Beam fetches your Azure cost data and provides insights on cost and optimization. For detailed procedure about onboarding the following two Azure billing account types, see

Adding Azure Enteprise Agreement Account
Adding Azure Microsoft Customer Agreement (MCA) Account

Adding Azure Enteprise Agreement Account

This section describes the procedure to add your first Azure enterprise agreement account in Beam. Beam fetches the billing data of all projects associated with the given billing account and provides visibility into your spend.

Before you begin

Before attempting to add azure enterprise agreement account in Beam, make sure you satisfy the following requirements.

You must have enterprise administrator privileges.
You must have an owner access to the individual azure subscriptions.

About this task

To add your Azure account, do the following:

Procedure

Click the Hamburger icon in the top-left corner to display the main menu. Then, click Configure > Azure Accounts .
Click Connect Azure Account .

Figure. Connect Azure Account Click to enlarge

The Connect Azure Enrollment page appears.
From the types of the Azure contract, choose Enterprise Agreement (EA) and click Next .
Enter Enrollment Information .
Enter a name for your enrollment, Enrollment Number , and Enrollment Access Key and click Next .
- To know how to get your enrollment number, click How do I get enrollment number? and follow the instructions. Alternatively, see Capturing Enrollment Number (Azure Portal).
- To know how to get your enrollment access key, click How do I get enrollment access key? and follow the instructions. Alternatively, see Capturing Enrollment Access Key (Azure Portal).
Figure. Add Azure Account - Enrollment Information Click to enlarge
Click Next .
The App Configuration page appears.
Enter App Configuration details.

Beam uses the Azure Active Directory (AD) application to interact with Azure Portal.

Note: Beam requires the AD configuration to receive your Azure infrastructure metadata. Beam uses this metadata to provide cost-saving recommendations.

Enter the Domain Name , Tenant / Directory ID , Application ID , and Secret Key . Click How do I get it? to see on-screen instructions on getting the application configuration details from the Azure portal. Alternatively, see Configuring Azure App (Azure Portal).

Note: Ensure that you enable multi tenancy for the application in the Azure portal.

Figure. Add Azure Account - App Configuration Click to enlarge

After you enter the required fields, click Next .
Perform Role Assignment .

Click Download Script to download the PowerShell script. Click How do I assign role? and follow the on-screen instructions to run the script in the Azure PowerShell . Alternatively, see Assigning Role (PowerShell).

Ensure that you observe the guidelines related to the PowerShell script created by Beam. For more information, see PowerShell Script Guidelines.

You can also assign roles manually. See Assigning Role (Without PowerShell).
Check to enable I confirm I have executed the above powershell script and click Done .
If the enrollment is successful, the enrollment and associated tenant and subscriptions get captured in Beam.
Note:
- 1. Application secret key activation may take up to 5 minutes.
  2. It takes a few hours for Beam to show your Azure cost data.

What to do next

Beam identifies all the Azure subscriptions associated with your Azure Enrollment and starts providing cost-saving recommendations for subscriptions for which you have owner access. If your enrollment has multiple tenants, add all those tenants to Beam. For more information, see Adding Azure Tenants.

To create a playbook for automating your regular workflows, you must configure an Azure Function App for your Enrollment account.

Adding Azure Subscriptions

You can create multiple subscriptions in your Azure account to create separation, for example, for billing or management purposes.

Before you begin

You must have Owner permission on the subscriptions you want to configure.

About this task

To add subscriptions to your Azure account, do the following.

Procedure

In the Beam console, click the Hamburger icon in the top-left corner to display the main menu. Then, click Configure > Azure Accounts .
Click Manage for the enrollment you want to add subscriptions.
In the Actions column, click the plus icon for the tenant under which you want to add the subscription.
In the Add Subscriptions page, click Download Script
Perform Role Assignment .
Click Download Script to download the PowerShell script. Click How do I assign role? and follow the on-screen instructions to run the script in the Azure PowerShell . Alternatively, see Assigning Role (PowerShell).

Ensure that you observe the guidelines related to the PowerShell script created by Beam. For more information, see PowerShell Script Guidelines.
Check to enable I confirm I have executed the above powershell script and click Done .

Any subscription for which you have the owner access; and is not already configured in Beam is added in a few minutes.

Adding Azure Tenants

About this task

A tenant is an organization that owns and manages a specific instance of Azure cloud services. If your enrollment has multiple tenants, you can add all those tenants to Beam.

To add tenants to your Azure account, do the following.

Procedure

In the Beam console, click the Hamburger icon in the top-left corner to display the main menu. Then, click Configure > Azure Accounts .
You can view the enrollment accounts added in Beam.
Click Manage against the enrollment account in which you want to add a tenant.
Click Add Tenant under the enrollment account.
Enter the Tenant / Directory ID and Domain Name .
Click How do I get tenant information? follow the on-screen instructions to get the tenant information. Alternatively, see Retrieving Tenant Information (Azure Portal).

Click Grant Permissions to grant permissions for this tenant. Clicking Grant Permissions redirects you to the Azure portal. On the Azure portal, log in to grant access to the application under the tenant.
Note: You must have administrator access to the tenant to grant application permissions.

Verifying Azure Account Configuration

After your Azure account configuration in Beam is complete, you can verify if the configuration is correct.

About this task

To test if your Azure account is accessible, go to https://ea.azure.com/.

If you are able to access this page and no error message appears, your Azure access is correct.

Capturing Enrollment Number (Azure Portal)

About this task

To use the billing API, you need your Enrollment Number. It is the enrollment number that gets invoiced for total consumption.

To capture enrollment number, do the following.

Procedure

Log on to your Azure Enterprise portal.

Note: You must sign in as an enterprise administrator.
Copy the Enrollment Number listed under Enrollment Detail .

Figure. Azure Enterprise Portal - Enrollment Click to enlarge
In the Beam console, in the Enrollment Number box, paste the value you copied.

Capturing Enrollment Access Key (Azure Portal)

About this task

You need the enrollment access key for authentication when using the billing APIs.

To capture the enrollment access key, do the following.

Procedure

In the Azure Enterprise portal , go to Reports > Download Usage > API Access Key .
Click generate if the key is not set or click expand key and copy the value.

Note: Ensure that the key is active by checking Effective Date . Click regenerate to generate a new key.

Figure. Azure Enterprise Portal - Reports Click to enlarge
In the Beam console, in the Enrollment Access Key box, paste the value you copied.

Configuring Azure App (Azure Portal)

About this task

The Azure App Configuration service allows users to manage configuration within the cloud. You can create App Configuration stores to store key-value settings and consume stored settings from within applications, deployment pipelines, release processes, microservices, and other Azure resources.

To configure Azure app, do the following.

Procedure

Log on to the Azure Portal, and go to Azure Active Directory .

Azure Cloud - https://portal.azure.com/

Azure Government Cloud - https://portal.azure.us/

Figure. Azure Active Directory - Overview Click to enlarge
Click Overview .
Copy the domain name (available in the area marked as 3 in the figure) and paste it in Domain Name field in the Beam console.
To capture Tenant/Directory ID, do the following.
1. In the Azure Active Directory page, click Properties .
  
  Figure. Azure Active Directory - Properties Click to enlarge
2. Copy the Directory ID and paste it in Tenant/Directory ID field in the Beam console.
To capture the Application ID, do the following.
1. In the Azure Active Directory page, click App registrations .
  
  Figure. Azure Active Directory - App registrations Click to enlarge
2. Click New Registration .
3. In the Create page, in the Name field, enter the application name.
  
  Figure. App registrations - Create page Click to enlarge
4. In the Supported account types area, click Accounts in any organizational directory (Any Azure AD directory - Multitenant) .
  
  Note: You must select this option to support multiple tenants.
5. In the Redirect URI (optional) area, select Web from the drop-down list and enter the URL as https://beam.nutanix.com for redirect URI, and click Create .
  
  Note: In the case of Azure Government cloud, enter the URL as https://beam.nutanix.us for redirect URI.
6. Copy the Application ID and paste it in Application ID field in the Beam console.
  
  Figure. App registrations - Registered app page Click to enlarge
To capture the secret key, do the following.
1. In the Registered app page that you just created, click Certificates & secrets .
2. In the Client secrets area, click New client secret .
  The client secret is a secret string that the application uses to prove its identity when requesting a token.
  
  Figure. Certificates & secrets - creating client secret Click to enlarge
3. In the Add a client secret page, in the Description box, enter a description for the client secret.
  
  Figure. Certificates & secrets - creating client secret Click to enlarge
4. In the Expires area, click to select the expiry you want. Then click Add .
  The client secret value gets generated.
5. Copy the generated client secret value and paste in the Secret Key field in the Beam console.
  
  Figure. Certificates & secrets - copying client secret Click to enlarge

Troubleshooting Azure App Configuration Step

When the Azure App configuration credentials provided in the Beam console fail during validation, you can perform the following steps to validate them.

About this task

To troubleshoot the Azure app configuration step failure, do the following.

Procedure

Click the cloudshell button (marked as 1 in the figure) in the top-right section or click shell.azure.com.

Note: In the case of Azure Government cloud, click the cloudshell button. The link shell.azure.com is not valid for the Azure Government cloud.

Figure. Azure Enterprise Portal - Cloud Shell Click to enlarge
If you are launching Cloudshell for the first time, select PowerShell (marked as 2 in the figure).
In the Subscription drop-down menu, select a subscription. Click Create Storage .

Figure. Azure Enterprise Portal - Subscription Click to enlarge
Copy and paste the following command in PowerShell.
```
az login --service-principal --tenant TENANT_ID -u APPLICATION_ID -p SECRET_KEY --allow-no-subscriptions
```
- Replace the TENANT_ID , APPLICATION_ID , and SECRET_KEY with the actual values from your Azure Portal and press Enter to run the command.
  - If you do not see any error message, it means that the credentials you provided are valid and Beam should accept them. Go to the Beam console and click Next in the App Configuration step (step 4) . This should work without any error.
  - If you see an error message like Get Token request returned http error… , it means that the credentials you provided are invalid. And this mostly happens if the APPLICATION_ID and SECRET_KEY have not come into effect in Azure as it takes some time to propagate them.
    In such a case, it is recommended to wait for 2 to 5 minutes and then click Next in the App Configuration step (step 4) . This should work without any error.

Assigning Role (PowerShell)

About this task

This section describes how to assign roles using Azure PowerShell.

Note: The powershell script allows you to provide permission for multiple subscriptions as a bulk update.

To assign a role, do the following.

Procedure

Click the cloudshell button (marked as 1 in the figure) in the top-right section or click shell.azure.com.

Note: In the case of Azure Government cloud, click the cloudshell button (marked as 1 in the figure). The link shell.azure.com is not valid for the Azure Government cloud.

Figure. Azure Enterprise Portal - Cloud Shell Click to enlarge
If you are launching Cloudshell for the first time, select PowerShell (marked as 2 in the figure).
In the Subscription drop-down menu, select a subscription. Click Create Storage .

Figure. Azure Enterprise Portal - Subscription Click to enlarge
After PowerShell is up, click Upload and select the file you downloaded.

Figure. Azure Enterprise Portal - Powershell Click to enlarge
Execute the command : cd | ls
Execute the uploaded script with the command : ./<file-name>.ps1
Example: ./Beam-cg-roleProvision.ps1

Ensure that you observe the guidelines related to the PowerShell script created by Beam. For more information, see PowerShell Script Guidelines.

Assigning Role (Without PowerShell)

You can manually assign roles from the Azure Portal. Log on to the Azure Portal (Azure Cloud - https://portal.azure.com/, Azure Government Cloud - https://portal.azure.us/) and go to the Subscriptions page.

About this task

Perform the following steps after the Configuring Azure App steps of the enrollment onboarding process.

Note: To perform the following steps, you must have at least owner permissions on the subscriptions for which you want to perform role assignment.

To manually assign roles, do the following.

Procedure

In the Subscriptions page, select the subscription for which you want to perform role assignment.

Figure. Subscriptions Page - Azure Portal Click to enlarge
Click Access control (IAM) .
Go to Role assignments .
Click Add to open the Add role assignment page.
In the Role drop-down list, select the role you want to assign.
Beam at least needs Reader permissions to be able to provide cost savings recommendations successfully. Select the role as Contributor to perform eliminate operations from the Beam console.
Select the application registered in the Active Directory.
Click Save to complete the role assignment for the selected subscription.
Repeat these steps to perform a role assignment for all of your subscriptions.
Note: To complete the onboarding process, you must download the PowerShell script without which you cannot select I confirm I have executed the above powershell script (step 6 of Adding Azure Enteprise Agreement Account).

Retrieving Tenant Information (Azure Portal)

About this task

A tenant is an organization that owns and manages a specific instance of Azure cloud services. You need to add the tenant ID when performing the steps to add the Azure tenants in Beam.

To retrieve the tenant information, do the following.

Procedure

Log on to the Azure Portal, and go to Azure Active Directory .

Figure. Azure Active Directory - Overview Click to enlarge
Click Overview .
Copy the domain name (available in the area marked as 3 in the figure) and paste it in Domain Name field in the Beam Console.
In the Azure Active Directory page, click Properties .

Figure. Azure Active Directory - Properties Click to enlarge
Copy the Directory ID and paste it in Tenant/Directory ID field in the Beam console.

Enabling Write Permissions for Azure Subscriptions

You can use the Edit Subscriptions option to grant write permissions for your subscriptions.

About this task

The following steps are involved when editing a subscription:

Select the check box in the Write column to grant write permissions for the subscriptions.
Perform role assignment.

To enable the write permissions for Azure subscriptions, do the following.

Procedure

In the Beam console, click the Hamburger icon in the top-left corner to display the main menu. Then, click Configure > Azure Accounts .
You can view the Azure Enrollments added in Beam.
Click Manage against the Azure Enrollment that contains the subscription or subscriptions you want to edit.
You can view a table that contains the tenants within the Azure Enrollment.
In the Actions column, click the Edit Subscriptions icon against the tenant that contains your subscriptions.
The Manage Subscriptions page appears.

Figure. Azure Accounts page - Editing Subscriptions Click to enlarge
In the Click to Fix and Playbooks column, select the check box to grant write permissions to the subscriptions.
The available options are as follows.
- Optimize Recommendations : This option is selected by default. You cannot clear this option. Beam requires read permissions for spend analysis and optimize recommendations.
- Click to Fix and Playbooks : Selecting this access type would allow you to act on the saving insights, optimize the costs from the Beam console, deploy and invoke functions in an Azure Function App, and perform Eliminate actions.
Perform Role Assignment .
Click Download Script to download the PowerShell script. Click How do I assign role? and follow the on-screen instructions to run the script in the Azure PowerShell . Alternatively, see Assigning Role (PowerShell).

Ensure that you observe the guidelines related to the PowerShell script created by Beam. For more information, see PowerShell Script Guidelines.
Check to enable I confirm I have executed the above powershell script and click Done to complete.

PowerShell Script Guidelines

Beam simplifies onboarding using PowerShell scripts by eliminating the manual steps of permission and role assignments for multiple subscriptions.

Using PowerShell scripts helps you with the following.

Creates a role for Beam to access your Azure account.
Assigns the permissions to read the resources.
Provides access to API.

Observe the following guidelines related to the PowerShell script created by Beam.

Requirement of PowerShell script for Azure on-boarding - PowerShell script grants the necessary read permissions to the registered applications that Beam uses to fetch the inventory from the Azure Portal for cost savings recommendations.
Storage Account - Beam does not create any storage in Azure. To execute the PowerShell script, you must create a storage account in Azure to upload the script to the Cloud Shell.
Cost incurred by creating the storage account and uploading the script - Azure pricing for standard storage is $0.06 per GB/month. The size of the script that Beam provides is about 2 KB, so the storage cost of the script is negligible. When you create a storage account for the Cloud Shell, Azure creates a file share that contains a 5GB image that incurs charges. For more information, see Azure Cloud Shell documentation.
Resource Groups - Cloud Shell creates three resources when storage is created.
- Resource group: cloud-shell-storage-<region>
- Storage account: cs<uniqueGuid>
- File share: cs-<user>-<domain>-com-<uniqueGuid>
To avoid charges, delete the storage account after script execution.

Adding Azure Microsoft Customer Agreement (MCA) Account

This section describes the procedure to add your Azure MCA billing account in Beam. Beam fetches the billing data of all subscriptions associated with the given billing account and provides visibility into your spend.

Before you begin

Before attempting to add an Azure MCA billing account in Beam, make sure you satisfy the following requirements.

You must have an administrator privileges for adding an Azure MCA billing account in Beam.
You must have a Billing Account Owner permission for adding an Azure MCA billing account.
You must have or create an Azure AD application in the same tenant where the Azure MCA billing account exists.

About this task

To add your Azure MCA billing account, do the following:

Procedure

Click the Hamburger icon in the top-left corner to display the main menu. Then, click Configure > Azure Accounts .
Click Connect Azure Account .

Figure. Connect Azure Account Click to enlarge

The Connect Azure Account page appears.
From the types of the Azure contract, choose Microsoft Customer Agreement Account (MCA) and click Next .
In the MCA Account Information page.

Enter the Account ID and a name for your MCA billing account.

To know how to get your account ID from the Azure portal, click Read our documentation to see the on-screen the instructions. Alternatively, see Capturing MCA Billing Account ID (Azure Portal).

Figure. Add Azure MCA Billing Account Information Click to enlarge
Click Next .
The App Configuration page appears.
To enter your Azure Active Directory (AD) application details, do one of the following:
- From the Use Existing Application drop-down, select an existing application.
- Click Create a New App button to create a new Azure application.
Beam uses the Azure AD application to interact with the Azure portal and to fetch billing, purchase, and pricing data.

For the on-screen instructions on how to create an Azure AD application, click Read our documentation .
If you select Create a New App , enter the App Name , Client ID , Secret Key , and Tenant ID to configure a new Azure application.

For the on-screen instructions on how to get the application configuration details from the Azure portal, click How do I get client id? , How do I get secret key? , or How do I get tenant id? . Alternatively, see Configuring Azure MCA App (Azure Portal)

Figure. Add Azure MCA Billing Account - App Configuration Click to enlarge
After you enter the required fields, click Next .
Perform Role Assignment .

Note: Before you perform Step 10, ensure that the application you just created has a Billing account reader access on the given Azure MCA billing account in order to fetch billing information.

To provide the necessary permissions on the Azure portal, click Read our documentation to see on-screen instructions. Alternatively, see Assigning Billing Account Reader Role (Azure Portal).
Select the I confirm I have provided the relevant permissions checkbox and click Save. .

If the Azure MCA billing account is onboarded successfuly, the associated subscriptions get captured in Beam.

Note: It takes upto 24 hours for Beam to show your Azure cost data and capture the associated subscriptions.

What to do next

Beam identifies all the Azure subscriptions associated with your Azure MCA billing account and you can configure these subscriptions in Beam to see the cost savings recommendations.

Capturing MCA Billing Account ID (Azure Portal)

About this task

To use the billing API, you need your Azure MCA billing account ID. It is the unique identifier for your billing account that gets invoiced for total consumption.

To capture the account ID, do the following.

Procedure

Log on to the Microsoft Azure portal and go to Cost Management + Billing .

Note: You must have a Billing Account Owner permission for adding an Azure MCA billing account.
In the left navigation pane, click Billing Scopes to open page for that option in the pane to the right.
The Azure portal displays the list of billing accounts for which you have an access.
Select the Azure MCA billing account that you want to onboard to Beam.
In the left navigation pane, go to Settings and click Properties .
Copy the ID listed under the General tab.

Figure. Azure MCA Billing Account ID Click to enlarge
In the Beam console, in the Account ID box, paste the value that you copied.

Configuring Azure MCA App (Azure Portal)

About this task

To configure Azure app, do the following.

Procedure

Log on to Microsoft Azure Portal and go to Azure Active Directory .

Figure. Azure Active Directory - Overview Click to enlarge
In the left navigation pane, go to App registrations and click New Registration .
In the Register an application page, in the Name field, enter a display name for your application.

Figure. Azure MCA App Registration Click to enlarge
In the Supported account types area, click Accounts in this organizational directory only (Nutanix only - Single tenant) .

For now, Beam supports only single tenant application.
Do not change anything in the Redirect URI (optional) area.
Click Register to complete the initial registration.

The Azure portal displays the corresponding application's Overview pane.
Copy the Display name , Application (client) ID , and Directory (tenant) ID (available in the area marked as 2 and 3 in the figure) and paste it in respective fields in the Beam console.

Figure. Azure Application Overview Pane Click to enlarge
To capture the secret key, do the following.
1. In the App registration page, select the application that you just created.
2. Go to Certificates & secrets > Client secrets and click New client secret .
  The client secret is a secret string that the application uses to prove its identity when requesting a token.
  
  Figure. Certificates & secrets - creating client secret Click to enlarge
3. In the Add a client secret page, in the Description box, enter a description for the client secret.
4. In the Expires area, click to select the expiry you want. Then click Add .
  
  Note: The client secret validity is limited to 24 months or less. You cannot specify a custom validity longer than 24 months.
  
  The client secret value gets generated.
5. Copy the generated client secret value as it is never displayed again after you leave this page.
  
  Figure. Certificates & secrets - copying client secret Click to enlarge
  
  Note: If the client secret key is expired, you need to regenerate the key as specified in Step 8.
6. Paste in the Secret Key field in the Beam console.

Assigning Billing Account Reader Role (Azure Portal)

This section describes how to assign the Billing account reader role to the application from the Azure Portal.

About this task

Perform the following steps after the Configuring Azure MCA App (Azure Portal) steps of the MCA onboarding process.

Note: To perform the following steps, you must have at least a Billing Account Owner permission for the application you want to perform role assignment.

To assign Billing account reader role, do the following.

Procedure

Log on to the Azure Portal and go to the Cost Management + Billing page.
In the left navigation pane, click Billing scopes and select an Azure MCA billing account for which you want to perform role assignment.

Figure. MCA Billing Account Click to enlarge
Click Access control (IAM) to open page for that option in the pane to the right.
Click Add to open the Add permission page.
In the Role drop-down list, select the role Billing account reader .
Beam needs Billing account reader permissions to be able to fetch billing, purchase, and pricing data.
Select the application registered in the active directory.
Click Save to complete the role assignment for the selected application.

Managing Azure MCA Subscriptions and Applications

This section describes how to provide granular permissions at a subscription level to enable optimization and click-to-fix actions and manage your Azure AD applications.

Before you begin

You must have atleast an owner permission for the subscriptions you want to configure.

About this task

To configure subscriptions and manage applications of your Azure MCA billing account in Beam, do the following.

Procedure

In the Beam console, click the Hamburger icon in the top-left corner to display the main menu. Then, click Configure > Azure Accounts .
You can view the Azure Enrollments and MCA billing accounts added in Beam.
Click Manage against the Azure MCA billing account that contains the subscription or subscriptions you want to edit.
A table that contains the subscriptions within the Azure MCA billing account is displayed.
Figure. Azure MCA Subscriptions Click to enlarge
To enable a permission for the selected subscription, do the following.

Note: Beam now allows you to configure permissions for the multiple subscriptions as a bulk update. For more details, see Modifying Azure MCA Billing Account, Applications and Subscriptions.
1. In the Subscription tab, click any subscription or the down arrow key (on the right corner of the each row) for which you want to configure permissions.
  You can also search for the subscription by typing its name in the search box.
  
  Figure. Congfigure Permission for MCA Subscription Click to enlarge
  
  The available options are as follows.
  - Visibility : This option is enabled by default. You cannot edit or clear this option.
  - Optimization : Selecting this permission type would allow you to see the saving opportunities on unused and underutilised resources.
  - Click to Fix : Selecting this permission type would allow you to act on the saving insights and optimize the costs from the Beam console ( Eliminate actions).
2. In the Actions column, click the Configure icon against the permission (Optimization or Click to Fix) you want to enable.
  The Configure Permissions page appears.
3. Do one of the following.
  - From the Use Existing Application drop-down, select an existing application.
  - Click Create a New App button to create a new Azure application.
4. If you select Create a New App , enter the App Name , Client ID , Secret Key , and Tenant ID to configure a new Azure application.
  
  For the on-screen instructions on how to get the application configuration details from the Azure portal, click How do I get client id? , How do I get secret key? , or How do I get tenant id? . Alternatively, see Configuring Azure MCA App (Azure Portal)
5. Click Download Script to download the PowerShell script to grant permissions for your subscriptions.
  
  To run the script in Azure PowerShell , click How do I execute the script? and follow the on-screen instructions. Alternatively, see Assigning Role (PowerShell).
  
  You can also assign roles manually. For more details, see Assigning Role (Without PowerShell)
6. Select the I confirm I have executed the above powershell script checkbox and click Save .
  
  Repeat these steps to assign both the permissions for all the required subscriptions.
  Note: To complete the onboarding process, you must download the PowerShell script without which you cannot select I confirm I have executed the above powershell script .
To manage your Azure AD application, select the Azure AD App tab.

A table that contains the applications is displayed.

Figure. Azure AD Applications Click to enlarge
1. Select the application for which you want to modify the details.
2. In the Actions columns, do the following as desired.
  - Modify the application details by clicking the Edit button.
    A Edit Azure App pop-up window appears allowing you to update the App Name , Client ID , Secret Key , and Tenant ID .
    
    For the on-screen instructions on how to get the application configuration details from the Azure portal, click How do I get client id? , How do I get secret key? , or How do I get tenant id? . Alternatively, see Configuring Azure MCA App (Azure Portal)
    
    Click Save when you are done.
  - Delete the application by clicking the Delete button.
    Click Delete in the confirmation pop-up window.

Modifying Azure MCA Billing Account, Applications and Subscriptions

This section describes how to modify the Azure MCA billing account, application details, and configure permissions for multiple subscriptions within the Azure MCA billing account as a bulk update for billing or management purposes.

Before you begin

You must have atleast an owner permission for the subscriptions you want to configure.

About this task

To modify an Azure MCA billing account, applications and subscriptions details, do the following.

Procedure

In the Beam console, click the Hamburger icon in the top-left corner to display the main menu. Then, click Configure > Azure Accounts .
You can view the Azure Enrollments and MCA billing accounts added in Beam.
Click Manage against the Azure MCA billing account that contains the subscription or subscriptions you want to edit.
A table that contains the subscriptions within the Azure MCA billing account is displayed.
Figure. MCA Subscriptions - Actions Click to enlarge
On the top-right corner, click Actions to display the drop-down menu.
To the configure permission for multiple subscriptions as a bulk update, click Configure Subscriptions from the drop-down menu and do the following.

In the Edit permission for Subscriptions page, the permissions and entries for the subscriptions are displayed.

Figure. Configure Permissions - Bulk Update Click to enlarge
1. Choose the permission under Update Configuration .
2. Select the checkbox for the subscriptions you want to update configuration and click Next .
  
  You can also search for the subscription by typing its name in the search box.
3. Do one of the following.
  - From the Use Existing Application drop-down, select an existing application.
  - Click Create a New App button to create a new Azure application.
4. If you select Create a New App , enter the App Name , Client ID , Secret Key , and Tenant ID to configure a new Azure application.
  
  For the on-screen instructions on how to get the application configuration details from the Azure portal, click How do I get client id? , How do I get secret key? , or How do I get tenant id? . Alternatively, see Configuring Azure MCA App (Azure Portal)
5. Click Download Script to download the PowerShell script to grant permissions for your subscriptions.
  
  To run the script in Azure PowerShell , click How do I execute the script? and follow the on-screen instructions. Alternatively, see Assigning Role (PowerShell).
  
  You can also assign roles manually. For more details, see Assigning Role (Without PowerShell)
6. Select the I confirm I have executed the above powershell script checkbox and click Save .
  
  Note: To complete the onboarding process, you must download the PowerShell script without which you cannot select I confirm I have executed the above powershell script .
To modify the application name, click Edit Account Name from the Actions drop-down menu and do the following
1. In the Change Account Name pop-up window, update the name as desired.
2. Click the Save button.
To modify the application details, click Edit Azure Application from the Actions drop-down menu and do the following.
1. In the Edit Azure App pop-up window, update the App Name , Client ID , Secret Key , and Tenant ID .
  
  For the on-screen instructions on how to get the application configuration details from the Azure portal, click How do I get client id? , How do I get secret key? , or How do I get tenant id? . Alternatively, see Configuring Azure MCA App (Azure Portal)
2. Click the Save button.
To delete your MCA billing account, click Delete MCA Account from the Actions drop-down menu.

Click Delete in the confirmation pop-up window.

Assigning Role (PowerShell)

About this task

This section describes how to assign permissions for Azure MCA billing account using Azure PowerShell.

Note: The powershell script allows you to provide permission for multiple subscriptions as a bulk update.

To assign a permission, do the following.

Procedure

Click the cloudshell button (marked as 1 in the figure) in the top-right section or click shell.azure.com.

Figure. Azure Portal - Cloud Shell Click to enlarge
If you are launching Cloudshell for the first time, select PowerShell (marked as 2 in the figure).
In the Subscription drop-down menu, select a subscription. Click Create Storage .
After PowerShell is up, click Upload and select the file you downloaded.

Figure. Azure Portal - Powershell Click to enlarge
Execute the command : cd | ls
Execute the uploaded script with the command : .\<file-name>.ps1
Example: .\Beam-cg-roleProvision.ps1

Assigning Role (Without PowerShell)

This section describes how to manually assign permissions from the Azure Portal.

About this task

Perform the following steps after you configure the Azure MCA application as mentioned in the Configuring Azure MCA App (Azure Portal) section of the onboarding process.

Note: To perform the following steps, you must have at least owner permissions on the subscriptions for which you want to perform role assignment.

To manually assign roles, do the following.

Procedure

Log on to the Azure Portal and go to the Subscriptions page.
In the Subscriptions page, select the subscription for which you want to perform role assignment.

Figure. Role Assignment - Azure Portal Click to enlarge
In the left navigation pane, click Access control (IAM) to open page for that option in the pane to the right..
Click Add to open the Add role assignment page.
In the Role drop-down list, select the role you want to assign.
Beam at least needs Reader permission to be able to provide cost savings recommendations successfully and Contributor permission to perform eliminate operations from the Beam console.
Click Next .
Click Select members and from the selected members drop-down list, choose the application registered in the Active Directory.

Figure. Select Memebers Click to enlarge
Click Select to complete the role assignment for the selected subscription.
Repeat these steps to perform a role assignment for all of your subscriptions.
Note: To complete the onboarding process, you must download the PowerShell script without which you cannot select I confirm I have executed the above powershell script .

Beam Gov(US) Cost Governance

The onboarding process for Beam Gov(US) users differs from the onboarding process for commercial account users.

Separate Beam instance is deployed in the AWS GovCloud region (US-West) with a separate login URL for Beam Gov(US) users.
Beam Gov(US) supports the cost governance for AWS, Azure, GCP, and Nutanix On-premises in the GovCloud.
Beam Gov(US) also supports commercial cloud accounts along with the GovCloud.

Note: Beam Gov(US) Cost Governance is an early access feature. For more information, contact Nutanix Support .

Beam Gov(US) Sign up

The Beam Gov(US) sign up includes two steps.

Beam Gov(US) Sign up Request Approval - The sign up request approval process involves the following steps.
- Sign-up Request
  Contact the sales team expressing an interest in using Beam Gov(US).
- Customer Verification
  The request is forwarded for verification to the Nutanix GovCloud Security team. As part of the verification, you will receive a form through DocuSign that you must fill and send back.
- Beam Account Activation
  Once the request passes through the verification, Customer Service initiates the account creation process, and the primary user is notified with login details through an email. The email contains verification link, upon verifying email, the user can login to the Beam Gov(US).
Account Registration Completion - In the Beam Gov(US) login page, create a password and select a timezone. Then login into the Beam console. You can enable or disable the MFA from the Profile page in the Beam console. For more information on enabling or disabling the MFA, see User Management.

GovCloud Account Configuration

After your Beam Gov(US) signup is complete, you can start onboarding your GovCloud account in Beam.

AWS GovCloud Onboarding

In AWS, a GovCloud account is always attached to a commercial account. This commercial account can be a linked account or a payer account.

Note: An AWS GovCloud account is always associated with one AWS commercial account for billing and payment purposes. All your AWS GovCloud billing is billed or invoiced to the associated AWS commercial account. You can view the AWS GovCloud account activity and usage reports through the associated AWS commercial account only.

To start with adding the GovCloud account in AWS, click the Hamburger icon in the top-left corner to display the main menu. Then, click Configure > AWS Accounts .

You can view the list of AWS commercial accounts. You can click Add Gov Account against the commercial account to which you associated your GovCloud account. The Add AWS Account page appears.

The steps to add a GovCloud account is the same as to add an AWS commercial account. To add your GovCloud account, see Adding AWS Account (step 6 to step 10) .

After you complete the steps to add the GovCloud account, you can view the GovCloud account linked to the commercial account.

Azure Government Account Onboarding

In the case of Azure Government account onboarding, the steps are the same as commercial account onboarding.

Make sure that you select US Government Cloud to add a GovCloud account in the Enrollment Type list.

For the remaining step-by-step details, see Adding Azure Account.

User Management

You can add and manage users for GovCloud using the Beam console.

You can perform the following operations in Beam Gov(US).

Add a user
To go to the User Management page, click the Hamburger icon in the top-left corner to display the main menu. Then, click Configure > User Management . To add a user, see Adding a Beam User.

In the case of AWS user management, the user may have access to the commercial account but no access to the GovCloud account linked to the commercial account. To give AWS GovCloud account access to a user, you must select the GovCloud account linked to the commercial account.

Figure. User Management - GovCloud Account Click to enlarge
Resetting Password and MFA Management
Configuring Single Sign-On

Resetting Password and MFA Management

You can reset your password and enable or disable MFA from the Profile page in the Beam console.

About this task

To go to the Profile page, click the user drop-down menu on the top-right corner and select Profile .

To change your password, click the Change Password link.

Figure. Profile Page - Change Password Link Click to enlarge

To enable MFA, do the following.

Procedure

In the Profile page, click the Enable MFA link.

The Enable Multi-factor Authentication page appears.
Do one of the following.
- Scan the QR code by using the virtual MFA application (Google or Microsoft Authenticator).
- Click the secret code link to get the secret code. Enter the secret code in your virtual MFA application.
  
  Figure. Enable Multi-factor Authentication Page Click to enlarge
  
  The virtual MFA application starts generating codes.
Enter the codes in Code 1 and Code 2 boxes. Then click Set MFA to enable MFA.

To disable MFA, click the Disable MFA link in the Profile page.

In the case your MFA device is lost or not accessible, click Login via OTP (for lost MFA)? link. Beam sends an OTP to your registered email id. Enter the OTP to login to Beam.

Figure. Beam Login Page - Lost MFA Link Click to enlarge

Configuring Single Sign-On

The following section describes how to configure the single sign-on feature for Beam Gov(US).

About this task

To configure the single sign-on feature, do the following.

Procedure

Log on to the Beam Console.
Click the user drop-down menu on the top-right corner and select Single Sign On .
In the Single Sign On page, in the Application Id box, enter the application id.

Note: To get the Application Id, contact Nutanix Support .

A success message appears, displaying that the single sign-on is successfully configured.
Log out from the Beam Console to go to the login page.
In the Login page, click Login with Single Sign On .
In the Email box, enter your email id.
In the case of conflict, while logging through the email address, you can click Try with Application ID to login with the application id.
Click Login .

You are redirected to your organization’s single sign-on application page.

Enter your credentials and login to Beam Gov(US).

Getting Started With Configurations

After you onboard your cloud accounts in Beam, the following information becomes available for you to consume:

Dashboard – Get a graphical view of your overall spend, spend analysis, Reserved Instances (RI) utilization, and spend efficiency.
Analyze – Provides a deep visibility into your projected and current spend and allows you to drill down cost further based on your services, accounts, or application workload.
Reports – Automatically generated reports help you to track cost consumption across all your cloud accounts.
Purchase – Provides RI purchase recommendations based on your resource utilization patterns.

The following are the configurations to perform so that you can begin controlling your cloud consumption:

Saving Opportunities – After configuring the AWS payer account, ensure that you add the associated linked accounts in Beam to get cost optimization recommendations. For more information, see Configuring Linked Accounts.
After configuring the Azure account, ensure that you add all the tenants within your account in Beam for maximum savings recommendations. For more information, see Adding Azure Tenants.
Create Business Units and Cost Centers for Chargeback – You can define a business unit by combining a group of cost centers. Chargeback is built on the business unit and cost center configuration construct that you define for the resources across all your cloud accounts.
Budgeting - A budget allows you to centralize the budget at the business unit, cost center, or scope levels to ensure that your consumption is within the budget that you have defined.
Custom Reports - You can create a customized report by aggregating and filtering using various native cloud dimensions and attributes to get insights on cloud usage and cost.
Playbooks - You can create a playbook to schedule action on your cloud resources and automate regular workflows. For example, you can shut down your test environments during non-business hours.
Scope - A scope is a logical group of your cloud resources that provides you with a custom view of your cloud resources. You can define scopes using cloud, accounts, and tags.
Integrations - You can integrate Beam with third-party applications such as Slack and ServiceNow. For example, integrate Beam with Slack to get notifications on your Slack channels.

AWS Cost Configuration

Beam provides you with multiple options when performing AWS cost configuration to let you choose how you want to present the cloud spend in Beam.

The options provided are as follows:

Cost Logic - You can choose between Amortized Cost or Absolute Cost.
Billing - You can choose between blended cost and unblended cost.
Credits and Refunds - You can either choose to include or exclude the credits and refunds in the cost report.
AWS EDP - You can either choose to include or exclude the EDP discount in the cost report.

All cost presented through Beam is generated depending on the options you select.

Cost Logic - Amortized Cost and Absolute Cost

The Cost Logic selection is applicable for determining how AWS RI, Savings Plan, EDP, Credits, Refunds, and Taxes get reported in Beam.

Amortized Cost Logic

Cost reporting is based on accrual-based accounting. For Reserved Instances (RI) and savings plan, the cost reporting is based on the effective cost column in the AWS CUR. For EDP, Credits and Refunds, and Taxes, Beam does the amortization calculation.

In the case of taxes, AWS reports the amortized cost of the tax at the account level. Beam does the amortization calculation at the service, region, resource level, and so on.

The Amortized Cost logic is useful in cases where you want to view the cost of resources on an accrual basis considering the usage of RI, Savings Plan, Discounts, and Taxes specific to that resource.

Absolute Cost Logic: Cost reporting is based on cash-based accounting. The RIs, savings plan, EDP, Credit and Refunds, and Taxes are not amortized over the billing period.
If you select the Absolute Cost option as the cost logic, the cost of RI, Savings Plan, EDP, Credits and Refunds is shown as a separate line item, and cloud resource cost is reported without the apportioned cost of RI, Savings Plan, and so on. This results in a spike on the day monthly RI fee or upfront RI fee gets charged.

Billing - Blended Cost and Unblended Cost

You can select between blended cost and unblended cost.

Unblended Cost: If you select the Unblended Cost option, Beam reports the cost of resources based on usage. Selecting this option reports the cost of resources from the Unblended Cost column in the AWS CUR.

Blended Cost: If you select the Blended Cost option, Beam reports the cost of resources based on the average cost of usage across the consolidated billing family. Selecting this option reports the cost of resources from the Blended Cost column of the AWS CUR.

Note: If you select the Amortized Cost as the cost allocation basis, the Blended Cost option for billing cannot be selected.

Credits and Refunds

Beam provides you with the option to include or exclude the credits and refunds in the cost report irrespective of the Amortized Cost or Absolute Cost selection.

If you select the Include option, Credits and Refunds are shown in the cost report as a separate line item or amortized and apportioned to a resource depending on the selection between the absolute cost or amortized cost, respectively.

If you select the Exclude option, Credits and Refunds are not shown in the cost report to the user (for example, Scope or Cost Center viewers). It also gets excluded from the Analyze page.

AWS Enterprise Discount Program (AWS EDP)

AWS provides enterprises a discount on its services against a volume spend commitment. For example, an enterprise commits to spending $2 million on AWS services and receives a certain percentage of the discount. The enterprise must pay $2 million even if they do not spend the amount.

Beam provides you with the option to include or exclude the EDP discount in the cost report. EDP discount is applicable to both amortized and absolute cost logic.

If you select the Include option, EDP discount is shown in the cost report as a separate line item or amortized and apportioned to a resource depending on the selection between the absolute cost or amortized cost, respectively. If you select the Exclude option, EDP discount is not shown in the cost report to the user (for example, Scope or Cost Center viewers). It also gets excluded from the Analyze page.

You can add the EDP contract details in Beam. Adding the EDP contract details allows you to view the projected spend after the EDP discount in the Analyze page. Any discount from EDP from the current usage gets reported in CUR and Beam reports accordingly.

For future projections, you need to add contract details which Beam uses for projection.

Configuring the AWS Cost Logic

This section provides the steps to configure the AWS cost logic. The cost report gets generated according to the logic you configure. Also, the configured logic applies to all the available views in Beam.

About this task

To configure the AWS cost logic, do the following.

Procedure

Click the Hamburger icon in the top-left corner to display the main menu. Then, click Configure > AWS Cost Configuration .
The AWS Cost Configuration page appears.

Figure. Configure Cost - AWS Click to enlarge
In the Cost Logic area, select Amortized Cost or Absolute Cost .
The Cost Logic selection determines how AWS RI, Savings Plan, EDP, Credits, Refunds, and Taxes get reported in Beam. For more information, see Cost Logic - Amortized Cost and Absolute Cost .
In the Billing area, select Unblended Cost or Blended Cost .
If you select Unblended Cost , Beam reports the cost of resources based on usage. If you select Blended Cost , Beam reports the cost of resources based on the average cost of usage across the consolidated billing family.
Note: If you select Amortized Cost as the cost logic, the Blended Cost option for billing cannot be selected.
In the Credits and Refunds area, select Include or Exclude .
- Include - Includes the credits and refunds data in the cost report for historical spend.
- Exclude - Excludes the credits and refunds data in the cost report for historical spend.
In the Enterprise Discount Program (EDP) area, select Include or Exclude .
- Include - Includes EDP discount in the cost report for projected spend. You need to add your EDP contract details (step 7).
- Exclude - Excludes EDP discount from the cost report for projected spend.
For more information, see AWS Enterprise Discount Program (AWS EDP) .
In the EDP area, click Add EDP Contract to add your EDP contract details.
The Add Details for an AWS EDP Contract page appears.
AWS provides enterprises a discount on its services against a volume spend commitment. Adding the EDP contract details in Beam allows you to view the projected spend after the EDP discount in the Analyze page.

Do the following:
1. In the Payer Account list, select the payer accounts under your EDP discount contract.
2. In the EDP Contract Start Date box, select the contract start date.
3. In the EDP Term list, select the EDP term according to your contract.
  The Yearly Discounts area appears. You can add different discounts for each year according to your EDP contract.
4. Click Save to save your contract details and close this page.
You can add multiple EDP contracts. Also, you can click Manage against an EDP contract to change the contract details.
Click Save to apply the AWS cost logic.
The configured logic applies to all the available views in Beam.

Currency Configuration

Configure currency to view the cloud spend in your preferred currency.

Source currency

Target currency

Multicloud views such as All-Clouds , Financial (Business Unit or Cost Center), or Scopes
Cloud overviews such as GCP Overview , AWS Overview , or Azure Overview

Currency conversion

When you select target currency, you must also select the conversion rates applicable for the selected currency. Beam supports the following currency conversion types.

Dynamic Currency Conversion : Beam uses the third-party API from https://exchangeratesapi.io/ to ingest the conversion rates for the corresponding source currencies.
Note: Beam uses the conversion rate for the first of every month to calculate spend for the entire month. If the conversion rate for the first of every month is unavailable, Beam uses the last fetched monthly rates to calculate spend for that month.
Custom Defined Currency Conversion : Beam uses the user-defined exchange rate to calculate historic and projected spend data across all days/months/years.

Configuring Currency and Conversion Rates

You can use this configuration to select the target currency and the corresponding conversion rates applicable for spend analysis across Beam.

About this task

After you configure target currency, you see the following across Beam.

Spend data in the target currency for all cloud overview and mulitcloud views.
A currency toggle to select between source currency and target currency for individual cloud accounts.

For more information on general guidelines and considerations, see Currency Configuration Considerations .

To configure the currency, do the following:

Procedure

Click the Hamburger icon in the top-left corner to display the main menu and then go to Configure > Currency .
The Currency Configuration page appears.

Figure. Configure Currency Click to enlarge
Click View Source Currencies to view the list of source currencies corresponding to the cloud resource billing data.
Under Target Currency , select the preferred currency in the drop-down list.
For example, if you select AMD Armenian Dram , costs across Beam reports in AMD.
In the Currency Conversion area, do one of the following to configure the conversion rates applicable for the selected currency.
- To automatically fetch the currency exchange rates, click Dynamic Currency Conversion . Additionally, click View to see the ingested exchange rates for the last 12 months.
  Note: Currency exchange rates are updated by Nutanix on a monthly basis. Currency exchange rates are provided as estimates and for informational purposes only. The rates and conversion estimates should not be relied on for invoiced billing conversions by cloud service providers.
  
  Click to enlarge
- To manually define the currency exchange rates, click Custom Defined Currency Conversion and then click Customize .
  In the text box, enter the exchange rates as shown in the following figure.
  
  Click to enlarge
Click Save to apply the currency configuration.
The configured currency applies to all the available views in Beam.

Currency Configuration Considerations

Limitations and guidelines to consider when using the currency configuration.

Dashboard

The Reserved Instances widget on the Dashboard always reports with source currency across all AWS and Azure views.
By default, Beam provides the spend data in the target currency.
The currency toggle is available when you select individual cloud accounts in the view selector.
The currency toggle is not available when you select cloud overview or multicloud views in the view selector.
The currency toggle is not available when the configured target currency is same as the source currency.

Analyze

By default, Beam provides the spend data in the target currency.
The currency toggle is available when you select individual cloud accounts in the view selector.
The currency toggle is not available when you select cloud overview or multicloud views in the view selector.
The currency toggle is not available when the configured target currency is same as the source currency.
The reports in the Analyze page is in the currency that is selected at the time of report generation.
- If you select source currency in the toggle, and then click download, share, or schedule, the reports are in the source currency.
- If you select target currency in the toggle, and then click download, share, or schedule, the reports are in the configured target currency.
  Note: If you modify the target currency after scheduling the reports, Beam always uses the target currency that is configured at the time of generating the schedule reports. For example, if the target currency is INR while scheduling the reports. And you modify the target currency as GBP, then Beam generates the scheduled reports in GBP.
- If the currency toggle is not available, the reports you download, share, or schedule are in the configured target currency.

Chargeback

By default, Beam provides the spend data in the target currency. The currency toggle is not available in Chargeback .
The system report (Global Chargeback Report) that you can download, share, or schedule is in target currency that is configured at the time of report generation.

Budget

By default, Beam provides the spend data in the target currency. The currency toggle is not available in Budget .
Beam shows the allocated cost of the budget in the target currency.

Reports

System reports are in target currency that is configured at the time of report generation. If the target currency configuration is INR and you modify the target currency to GBP after 4 weeks. The system reports generated weekly are in INR for week 1, week 2, week 3, and week 4. The system reports generated for week 5 are in GBP as the target currency at the time of report generation is GBP.
Note: The following reports are in source currency.
- Daily reports: New EC2 RI Recommendation report and EC2 RI Utilization Report
- Monthly reports: Expired RI Report , Expiring RI Summary Report , and On Demand vs Reserved Hours Cost
The currency in the Custom reports is based on the configuration in the create or edit page. The reports are in either source currency or target currency as configured while creating the reports.

Save

By default, Beam provides the spend data in the target currency.
The currency toggle is available when you select individual cloud accounts in the view selector.
The currency toggle is not available when you select cloud overview or multicloud views in the view selector.
The currency toggle is not available when the configured target currency is same as the source currency.
The system report (Cost Optimization Detailed Report) that you can download, share, or schedule in the Save page is in target currency that is configured at the time of report generation.
The drill-down reports that you can download, share, or schedule in any of the tabs on the Save page uses the selection in the currency toggle.
- If you select source currency in the toggle, and then click download, share, or schedule, the reports are in the source currency.
- If you select target currency in the toggle, and then click download, share, or schedule, the reports are in the configured target currency.
- If the currency toggle is not available, the reports you download, share, or schedule are in the configured target currency.
Figure. Save Click to enlarge

Purchase

Beam uses the source currency provided in the billing data for assessing reserved instances and displays the data in source currency. Beam does not use the target currency provided in the currency configuration page for assessing reserved instances.

Cloud Account Onboarding

When you onboard your first cloud account, Beam configures the source currency as the default target currency with Dynamic Currency Conversion rates.
When you onboard a cloud account with new currency and the currency conversion is Custom Defined Currency Conversion . Beam adds the latest dynamic currency conversion rate as a custom defined conversion rate for the new currency.

Dashboard

The following sections describe the dashboard view for your cloud accounts (AWS, Azure, or GCP), business units and cost centers (financial view), All Clouds (multicloud), and scopes.

Dashboard (AWS)

The Dashboard provides a snapshot of your overall spend, spend analysis, Reserved Instances (RI) utilization, and spend efficiency.

Dashboard Views

To view the AWS dashboard, log on the Beam console and select any of the connected AWS accounts.

Spend Overview: Displays a pie graph of the cost breakup summary and spend trends across AWS accounts and services. By default, this view displays the spending summary of all the services linked to your AWS account. To view a cost summary of all the linked accounts in your AWS payer account, click the drop-down list at the top-right corner of the widget and select Accounts . To view details for your overall spend, click View All .
Figure. Spend Overview Widget Click to enlarge

Spend Analysis: Displays a bar graph of the historical spend analysis for the selected period with an estimated and actual spend for the current month. By default, this view displays the monthly projection for the spend analysis. You can change the default view to display daily or quarterly projections. To view the analytics detail, click View Cost Analysis .
Figure. Spend Analysis Widget Click to enlarge

Reserved Instances: Displays a line chart of the RI utilization summary of EC2 instances for the selected period and provides statistics for average and current RI coverage. You can hover over the chart to view the RI usage of a specific day. You can change the default view to display the EC2 and RDS RI top recommendation. To view the recommendations, click the View More button.
Note: Beam always uses the source currency provided in the billing data for assessing reserved instances and displays the data with source currrency. Beam does not use the target currency provided in the currency configuration page for assessing reserved instances.

Figure. Reserved Instances Widget Click to enlarge

Spend Efficiency: Displays a line chart of the cost optimization efficiency for the selected period and provides statistics for potential savings, unused resources, and resizeable resources. To view the optimization details, click View Potential Savings .
Figure. Spend Efficiency Widget Click to enlarge

You can also create a custom report to analyze the cost. To generate a custom report, click Build Custom Report at the bottom of the screen. For more information, see Creating Custom Reports (AWS).

Dashboard (Azure)

The dashboard for Azure provides a holistic overview of your overall Azure spend.

Azure dashboard enables you to do the following cost management tasks.

View monthly usage charges.
Compare current and previous month Azure cost.
Review cost projections (month and year).

To view the Azure dashboard, log on the Beam console and select any of the connected Azure accounts.

Table 1. Dashboard (Azure)
View	Description
Spend Overview	Provides the total cost of services and subscriptions for your Azure account. You can change the view of the graph by switching between Services and Subscription views. The graph displays the top four costing services and subscriptions, and the remaining gets grouped under Others . To view the details of the cost, click the View All button, which redirects you to the Analyze page.
Spend Analysis	Provides the cost trends distributed over the period. You can view the spend analysis based on the Daily or Monthly filters. To view the details of the cost, click the View Cost Analysis button, which redirects you to the Analyze page.
Top Resource Groups	Provides the cost associated with the resource groups in your Azure infrastructure. This widget displays the top four costing resource groups and groups the remaining cost under Others . Click the Monthly or Daily selector icons to see monthly or daily views. To view the details of your selection, click the View All button, which redirects to the Analyze page.
Spend Efficiency	The spend efficiency widget displays the spending efficiency as percentage for the last seven days. The spend efficiency value helps to identify how well the Azure resources are getting utilized. The spend efficiency widget also shows the cost optimization opportunities as Potential Savings , Unused Resources , and Resizable Resources . To the optimization details, click the View Potential Savings button, which redirects you to the Save page.

Dashboard (GCP)

The GCP dashboard provides you a summarized and graphical view of your overall GCP spend across the billing accounts and resources. The dashboard provides you the current spends and projections of your GCP cloud resources.

To view the GCP dashboard, log on the Beam console and select any of the connected GCP accounts.

Note: Beam provides a toggle to view spend data in your preferred currency . You can select the currency toggle at the top right to switch between target and source currency. For information on general guidelines and considerations, see Currency Configuration Considerations.

Table 1. Dashboard Views
View	Description
Spend Overview - Projects	Displays a pie chart of the spend breakup summary by GCP projects for the current month to date. To view details for your overall spend, click View Details , which redirects you to the Analyze page .
Spend Analysis	Displays a bar chart of the historical spend analysis along with the summarized spend data based on the selected period. Daily : Displays the average daily cost and cumulative spend data of the last seven days. Monthly : Displays the estimated spend, actual spend, and variance. Variance is calculated based on the actual spend of the previous term and projected spend of the current term. Quaterly : Displays the current year and projected yearly spend. Quaterly projections are not available when you select GCP Overview from the View Selector . By default, this view displays the monthly projection for the spend analysis. You can change the default view to display daily or quarterly projections. To view the analytics details, click View Cost Analysis ,which redirects you to the Analyze page .
Spend Overview - Services	Displays a pie chart of the spend breakup summary by GCP services for the current month to date. To view details for your overall spend, click View Details , which redirects you to the Analyze page .
Spend Overview - Usage Type	Displays a pie chart of the spend breakup summary by GCP usage types for the current month to date. To view details for your overall spend, click View Details , which redirects you to the Analyze page. GCP Compute Engine allows you to purchase committed use contracts in return for discounted prices for VM usage. You can purchase compute resources at a discounted price in return for committing to paying for those resources for one year or three years.

Dashboard (Multicloud)

Dashboard provides a snapshot of your overall spend, spend analysis, and spend efficiency.

This section provides detail for the following views - All Clouds , Financial , and Scopes . Click View in the top-right corner to open the View Selector and select different views.

Dashboard Views

To view the multicloud dashboard, log on the Beam console and select any of the multicloud views— All Clouds , Financial , and Scopes .

Note: Currency toggle is not available for multicloud views. You can view the spend data in target currency on the multicloud dashboad. You can select the target currency in the currency configuration page. For more information on general guidelines and considerations, see Currency Configuration Considerations .

Spend Overview: Displays a pie graph of the cost breakup summary and spend trends across AWS, Azure, GCP, and Nutanix accounts and services within the business unit, cost center, or scope you select. By default, this view displays the spending summary of all the services within your business unit, cost center, or scope. To view a cost summary of all the linked accounts in your business unit or cost center, click the drop-down list at the top-right corner of the widget and select Accounts . To view details for your overall spend, click View Details , which redirects you to the Analyze page.
Figure. Spend Overview Widget Click to enlarge

Spend Analysis: Displays a bar graph of the historical spend analysis for the selected period with an estimated and actual spend for the current month. By default, this view displays the monthly projection for the spend analysis across across AWS, Azure, GCP, and Nutanix accounts and services. You can change the default view to display the daily projection. To view the analytics detail, click View Cost Analysis , which redirects you to the Analyze page.
Figure. Spend Analysis Widget Click to enlarge

Save: Displays a pie graph of the total savings realized by eliminating or optimizing AWS and Azure resources. To view the details of your total savings, click the View Potential Savings button, which redirects you to the Save page.
Figure. Save Widget Click to enlarge

Cloud Spend Efficiency (All Clouds view): The cloud spend efficiency widget displays the spending efficiency for your AWS and Azure clouds as a percentage for the last seven days. The spend efficiency value helps to identify how well cloud resources are getting utilized. You can hover over the line graph for the AWS and Azure clouds to view the total spend, optimized spend, and potential savings information.
Figure. Cloud Spend Efficiency Widget Click to enlarge

Budget (Financial and Scopes views): Displays a bar graph of the actual spend, budgeted spend, and estimated spend for each quarter. To view the details of your budget, click the View Details button, which redirects you to the Budget page.
Figure. Budget Widget Click to enlarge

Analyze - Cost Analysis

Analyze allows you to drill down into your cloud spend, slice, and dice all the cloud cost data. You can analyze each cloud in detail across accounts, services, purchase options, and other different attributes. You can analyze data historically across days and past months.

Beam not only provides spend analytics on past data but uses its in-built algorithms to report on the spend anomalies, and forecast future spend patterns. This projection is available for the current month and next 6 months across accounts or services.

To view the Analyze page, click the Hamburger icon in the top-left corner to display the main menu. Then, click Analyze . Click View in the top-right corner to open the View Selector Pop-up and select the Cloud , Financial , or Scope view you want. The view selected from Dashboard , Report , Save , or Purchase gets persisted in Analyze and defaults to the last selected view.

The Analyze page displays the following:

Details according to the view you select.
- All Clouds - shows detail for all the cloud accounts (AWS, Azure, GCP, and Nutanix) added in your Beam account.
- Cloud Accounts ( AWS , Azure , and GCP ) - shows detail for the selected cloud account.
- Financial - shows detail for the business unit or cost center you select.
- Scopes - shows detail for the custom scopes you select.
Graphical and tabular view of spend data. The top portion of the Analyze page displays a graphical view of your data. The bottom portion of the Analyze page displays a tabular view of your spend data.
Note:
- By default, each view displays values in a line chart form. You can change the default view to a pie chart or bar graph.
- The spend data for the last 2-3 days is faded-out in the chart and table. Because the data in the billing files from the cloud provider is generally incomplete for 2-3 days.
- Beam displays the date and time it last updated the spend data at the top-right corner of the Analyze view. Beam updates spend data every 6 hours. However, Beam skips updating, if the data ingested from the cloud providers is the same since the last update.
Deep visibility into your historical, current, and projected spend based on the time period selected. You can use the drop down menus on the tab to display the spend information by time period ( Day or Month ).
Customized view of your spend data according to the selected filter options. To create a filter, you can select the required options under Filters and click Apply . For more information about filters, see Filtering Options .
Schedule, share, and download customized reports under each view.
Cumulative spend analysis. To visualize the cumulative spend data, you can turn on the Cumulative toggle.
Anomaly detection. Beam analyzes the spending trend on your subscribed resources and reports cost spikes in your cloud accounts. For more information, see Anomaly Detection .
Note: Beam supports anomaly detection for AWS and Azure cloud accounts only. Anomaly detection feature is not supported for GCP and Nutanix on-prem accounts.

How Spend Projection Works

Beam considers the last 150 days of cost data starting from T-3 days (T is the current date) and applies ML algorithms to project the cost for upcoming 6 months. The algorithms run daily and provide future cost projections.

In case the data is available for less than 150 days, Beam considers the available data to project the cost. If the cost data is not available, Beam shows the projected spend as zero. Beam starts displaying the projected spend as soon as data becomes available.

Cost Analysis (AWS)

Analyze allows you to track cost consumption across all your cloud resources at both the aggregate and granular level. You can drill down cost further based on your services, accounts, or application workload.

Analyze Views

This view provides deep visibility into your projected and current spend. Analyze displays a line chart to project cost consumption that helps you view and analyze your cost and usage across your organization.

To view the AWS cost analysis, select Analyze from the main menu. Then, click View in the top-right corner to open the View Selector and select AWS .

Note:

Beam provides a toggle to view spend data in your preferred currency. You can select the currency toggle at the top right to switch between target and source currency. For information on general guidelines and considerations, see Currency Configuration Considerations .
You can schedule, share, or download reports under each view except for the Hourly time unit and custom time range. For more information, see Cost Reports.
You can create filters at the view level, and then apply filters to display the line chart according to the selected filter options. To create a filter, you can select the required options under Filters and click Apply . For more information about filters, see Filtering Options .
Other subscriptions charges filter - Subscription charges apart from RI charges and Marketplace charges. For example, APN annual fees.
If you want to see the cost allocation tags in Beam, activate the cost allocation tags in AWS. You can use the cost allocation tags to track your AWS costs on a detailed level. To activate the cost allocation tags, see Activating the AWS-Generated Cost Allocation Tags.

Current Spend: The current spend view provides the current AWS cost and its breakdown based on the different usage and resource data.

Table 1. Current Spend
View	Description
Overview	Displays the total AWS spend (subscription charges and taxes).
Accounts	Displays the total cost of the linked accounts in your AWS payer account.
Cost Centers	Displays the total spend grouped by Beam cost centers. This view includes the unallocated costs that are not tagged in your AWS account.
Charge Types	Displays the total spend grouped by the AWS line item type. For example, credit, fee, tax, usage and so on.
Services	Displays the total spend grouped by services. By default, this view displays the cost breakup of the top five services that are used the most in your AWS account.
Regions	Displays the total cost grouped by regions.
API Operation	Displays the total cost of all the API operation requests on your AWS services.
Purchase Option	Displays the breakup of Reserved, Unused Reservation, Savings Plan, Unused Savings Plan, Spot and On Demand Cost.
Tags	Displays the total cost based on the service tag applied to your AWS resources. You can click the tag drop-down list to select a service tag.

Projected Spend: The projected spend view provides insight into the actual and projected cost for the selected period. You can select different time ranges from the Time range drop-down list in the Filters option.

Table 2. Projected Spend
View	Description
Overview	Displays a line chart of the projected and actual spend for the selected period.
Accounts	Displays a line chart of the projected and actual spend for all the linked accounts in your AWS account.
Services	Displays a line chart of the projected and actual spend of the top five services that are used the most in your AWS account.

You can track and set alerts for your AWS cloud budget. To set alerts, click Configure Budget Alerts at the top-right corner of the view. For more information, see Configuring Budget Alerts .

Compute: The Compute view provides the cost specific to all the compute resources configured on AWS. For example, EC2-Instance, EC2-NAT Gateway.

Table 3. Compute
View	Description
Overview	Displays a line chart of the total spend for all the compute resources for the selected period. You can hover over the stacked bar to view the total spend for a specific day.
Account	Displays a line chart of the total cost for all the linked accounts in your AWS payer account.
Cost Centers	Displays the total spend grouped by Beam cost centers. This view includes the unallocated costs that are not tagged in your AWS account.
Charge Types	Displays the total spend grouped by the AWS line item type. For example, credit, fee, tax, usage and so on.
Sub Services	Displays a line chart of the total cost for all the sub-services activated in your AWS account.
Instances	Displays a line chart of the total cost for all the instances purchased.
Instance types	Displays a line chart of the total cost according to your instance type.
Tags	Displays a line chart of the total cost based on the service tag applied to your AWS resources. You can click the tag drop-down list to select a service tag.

Database: The Database view provides the cost specific to your database services configured on AWS. For example, RDS, PostgreSQL.

Table 4. Database
View	Description
Overview	Displays a line chart of the total spend for all your database services configured in your AWS account for the selected period. You can hover over the stacked bar to view the total spend for a specific day.
Accounts	Displays a line chart of the total cost for all the linked accounts in your AWS payer account.
Cost Centers	Displays the total spend grouped by Beam cost centers. This view includes the unallocated costs that are not tagged in your AWS account.
Charge Types	Displays the total spend grouped by the AWS line item type. For example, credit, fee, tax, usage and so on.
Sub Services	Displays a line chart of the total cost for all the sub-services activated in your AWS account.
Instances	Displays a line chart of the total cost for all the instances purchased.
DB Engines	Displays a line chart of the total cost for all the database engines.
Instance types	Displays a line chart of the total cost according to the instance type purchased.
Tags	Displays a line chart of the total cost based on the service tag applied to your AWS resources. You can click the tag drop-down list to select a service tag.

Storage: The storage view provides the cost specific to your storage resources running on AWS. For example, S3.

Table 5. Storage
View	Description
Overview	Displays a line chart of the total spend for all your storage resources running on AWS for the selected period. You can hover over the stacked bar to view the total spend for a specific day.
Accounts	Displays a line chart of the total storage cost for all the linked accounts in your AWS payer account.
Cost Centers	Displays the total spend grouped by Beam cost centers. This view includes the unallocated costs that are not tagged in your AWS account.
Charge Types	Displays the total spend grouped by the AWS line item type. For example, credit, fee, tax, usage and so on.
Sub Services	Displays a line chart of the total storage cost split for all the sub-services activated in your AWS account.
Buckets	Displays a line chart of the total storage cost grouped by all the buckets created in your AWS accounts.
Tags	Displays a line chart of the total cost based on the service tag applied to your AWS resources. You can click the tag drop-down list to select a service tag.

Data Transfer: The Data Transfer view provides the cost specific to all the data transfer across your AWS services. For example, Intra Region Transfer.

Table 6. Data Transfer
View	Description
Overview	Displays a line chart of the total spend incurred for all the data transfer across your AWS services for the selected period. You can hover over the stacked bar to view the total spend for a specific day.
Accounts	Displays a line chart of the total cost for all the linked accounts in your AWS payer account that you are analyzing.
Services	Displays the total cost for all the services activated in your AWS account.
Regions	Displays a line chart of the total cost incurred in moving data according to the AWS regions.
Resources	Displays a line chart of the data transfer cost grouped by the resources.
Tags	Displays a line chart of the total cost based on the service tag applied to your AWS resources. You can click the tag drop-down list to select a service tag.

Cost Analysis (Azure)

Beam allows you to analyze your projected and current Azure cloud spends. Beam makes this planning process easy using machine intelligence and recommendation algorithms that analyze your workload patterns.

To view the Azure cost analysis, select Analyze from the main menu. Then, click View in the top-right corner to open the View Selector and select Azure .

Note:

Beam provides a toggle to view spend data in your preferred currency. You can select the currency toggle at the top right to switch between target and source currency. For information on general guidelines and considerations, see Currency Configuration Considerations .
You can schedule, share, or download reports under each view except for the custom time range. For more information, see Cost Reports.
You can create filters at the view level, and then apply filters to display the line chart according to the selected filter options. To create a filter, you can select the required options under Filters and click Apply .For more information about filters, see Filtering Options.

The Analyze page has the following tabs.

Current Spend: The current spend view provides the current Azure cost and its breakdown based on the different usage and resource data.

Table 1. Current Spend
View	Description
Overview	Actual and projected overall cost for the selected period.
Subscriptions	Cost of subscriptions on your Azure account.
Cost Centers	Total spend grouped by Beam cost centers. This view includes the unallocated costs that are not tagged in your Azure account.
Services	Cost of Azure services based on the service category like data management, networking, and storage.
Service Types	Cost based on the type of Azure service you consume.
Regions	Cost based on the region in which the resource is hosted.
Azure Cost Centers	Cost based on the configured Azure cost centers.
Department	Cost based on the configured department.
Resource Groups	Cost based on the configured resource group.
Tags	Cost based on the tags applied on the Azure resources.

Projected Spend: The projected spend view provides insight into the actual and projected cost for the selected period. You can select different time ranges from the Time range drop-down list in the Filters option.

Table 2. Projected Spend
View	Description
Overview	The total cost of Azure billing accounts.
Subscriptions	The actual and projected cost for the chosen Azure subscription for the selected period.
Services	Cost of Azure services based on the service category like data management, networking, and storage.

Virtual Machine: The virtual machine view provides the Azure cost specific to the Virtual Machine (VM) resource type.

Table 3. Virtual Machine
View	Description
Overview	Monthly or daily total usage cost for the VMs running on Azure.
Sub Services	Monthly or daily split cost for the VM usage based on the different flavors of the VM.
Cost Centers	Monthly or daily grouped by Beam cost centers. This view includes the unallocated costs that are not tagged in your Azure account.
Regions	Monthly or daily cost for the usage based on the regions in which the VMs are deployed.
Resource IDs	Monthly or daily cost for the usage based on the resource IDs of the VMs.

Storage: The storage view provides the cost specific to your storage resources running on Azure. For example, Files, General Block Blob.

Table 4. Storage
View	Description
Overview	Monthly or daily total usage cost for the storage resource running on Azure.
Sub Services	Monthly or daily split cost for the VM usage based on the different types of storage option configured.
Cost Centers	Monthly or daily grouped by Beam cost centers. This view includes the unallocated costs that are not tagged in your Azure account.
Regions	Monthly or daily cost for the usage based on the regions in which the storage resources are deployed.
Resource IDs	Monthly or daily cost for the usage based on the resource IDs of the storage option.

Data Services: The Data Services option provides the cost specific to your database services configured on Azure.

Table 5. Data Services
View	Description
Overview	Monthly or daily total usage cost for the database service running on Azure.
Sub Services	Monthly or daily split cost for the VM usage based on the different types of database service configured.
Cost Centers	Monthly or daily grouped by Beam cost centers. This view includes the unallocated costs that are not tagged in your Azure account.
Regions	Monthly or daily cost for the usage based on the regions in which the database service is configured.
Resource IDs	Monthly or daily cost for the usage based on the resource IDs of the database service.

Cost Analysis (GCP)

Analyze allows you to drill down into your cloud spend, slice and dice all the cloud cost data. You can analyze the GCP cloud spend in detail across projects, services, usage types, regions, and other attributes. You can analyze data historically across days and past months.

Beam not only provides spend analytics on past data but uses its in-built algorithms to forecast future spend patterns. This projection is available for the current month and next six months across projects or services.

To view the GCP cost analysis, select Analyze from the main menu. Then, click View in the top-right corner to open the View Selector and select GCP .

Analyze provides cost analysis capability for the GCP Billing account and the Project that you select from the View Selector . The view that you select from Dashboard and Report gets persisted in Analyze and defaults to the last selected view.

Note:

Beam provides a toggle to view spend data in your preferred currency . You can select the currency toggle at the top right to switch between target and source currency. For information on general guidelines and considerations, see Currency Configuration Considerations .
Schedule, share, and download reports under each view. For more information, see Cost Reports.
Create and apply filters to visualize the spend data according to the selected filter options. To create a filter, you can select the required options under Filters and click Apply . For more information about filters, see Filtering Options .
The Folder list displays the information in the Project/Folder/Sub-folder format. For example, 952341568867/664245889765/897640334598 .

Current Spend

The current spend view provides the current GCP cost and its breakdown based on the different usage and resource data.

Table 1. Current Spend
View	Description
Overview	Displays the total GCP spend. You can view the total spend for each day or month. Use the drop-down list in the top-right corner of the page to select Day or Month .
Projects	Displays the total spend grouped by Projects associated with the GCP billing account.
Cost Centers	Displays the total spend grouped by cost centers defined in Beam. This view includes the unallocated costs that are not tagged in your GCP billing account.
Charge Types	Displays the total spend grouped by the GCP line item type.
Service Types	Displays the total spend grouped by service type. For example: network, compute, and storage.
Services	Displays the total spend grouped by services.
Usage Types	Displays the total spend grouped by usage types. For example: OnDemand and Commit1Yr.
Regions	Displays the total spend grouped by regions. Note: A region is a specific geographical location where you can host your resources. Regions have three or more zones. For example, the us-west1 region denotes a region on the west coast of the United States that has three zones: us-west1-a, us-west1-b, and us-west1-c.
Zones	Displays the total spend grouped by zones.
Labels	Displays the total spend grouped by labels that you added for your GCP resources. Note: You can use labels to group resources that are related or associated with each other. For example, you can label resources intended for production, staging, or development separately, so you can easily search for resources that belong to each development stage when necessary. You always add labels as key and value pairs.

Projected Spend

The projected spend view provides insight into the actual and projected cost for the selected period. You can select different time ranges from the Time range drop-down list in the Filters option.

Table 2. Projected Spend
View	Description
Overview	Displays the projected and actual spend for the selected period.
Projects	Displays the projected and actual spend for all the projects in your GCP billing account.
Services	Displays the projected and actual spend for all the services in your GCP billing account or project.

Compute

The Compute view provides the cost specific to all the compute resources configured on GCP. For example, Compute Engine, Cloud Dataflow, and so on.

Table 3. Compute
View	Description
Overview	Displays the total spend for all the compute resources for the selected period. You can hover over the graph to view the total spend for a specific day.
Projects	Displays the total compute spend for all the linked projects in your GCP billing account.
Cost Centers	Displays the total spend for all the compute resources grouped by cost centers.
Charge Types	Displays the total spend for all the compute resources grouped by the GCP line item type.
Services	Displays the total compute spend for all the services activated in the projects linked to the selected GCP billing account.
Usage Types	Displays the total compute spend based on the usage types (OnDemand, Committed, and so on).
Regions	Displays the total compute spend incurred across the GCP regions.
Zones	Displays the total compute spend incurred across the GCP zones.
Labels	Displays the total compute spend based on the labels applied to your GCP resources. You can click the Labels drop-down list to select a label.

Storage

The storage view provides the cost specific to your storage resources running on GCP. For example, Cloud Storage.

Table 4. Storage
View	Description
Overview	Displays the total spend for all your storage resources running on GCP for the selected period. You can hover over the graph to view the total spend for a specific day.
Projects	Displays the total storage spend for all the linked projects in your GCP billing account.
Cost Centers	Displays the total storage spend for all the resources grouped by cost centers.
Charge Types	Displays the total storage spend for all the resources grouped by the GCP line item type.
Services	Displays the total storage spend split for all the services activated in the projects linked to the selected GCP billing account.
Usage Types	Displays the total storage spend based on the usage types (OnDemand, Committed, and so on).
Regions	Displays the total storage spend incurred across the GCP regions.
Zones	Displays the total storage spend incurred across the GCP zones.
Labels	Displays the total storage spend based on the labels applied to your GCP storage resources. You can click the Labels drop-down list to select a label.

Network

The network view provides the cost specific to your networking resources running on GCP. For example, Cloud DNS, Virtual Private Network (VPN), and so on.

Table 5. Network
View	Description
Overview	Displays the total spend for all your network resources running on GCP for the selected period. You can hover over the graph to view the total spend for a specific day.
Projects	Displays the total network spend for all the linked projects in your GCP billing account.
Cost Centers	Displays the total network spend for all the network resources grouped by cost centers.
Charge Types	Displays the total network spend for all the network resources grouped by the GCP line item type.
Services	Displays the total network spend split for all the services activated in the projects linked to the selected GCP billing account.
Usage types	Displays the total network spend based on the usage types (OnDemand, Committed, and so on).
Regions	Displays the total network spend incurred according to the GCP regions.
Zones	Displays the total network spend incurred according to the GCP zones.
Labels	Displays the total network spend based on the labels applied to your GCP network resources. You can click the Labels drop-down list to select a label.

Cost Analytics (Multicloud)

The Analyze page allows you to track cost consumption across all your cloud resources (AWS, Azure, GCP, and Nutanix) at both the aggregate and granular level. You can drill down cost further based on the accounts, services, locations, or tags within your business unit or cost center.

Analyze

Current Spend

The current spend view provides the current costs across all configured clouds (AWS, Azure, GCP, and Nutanix) and its breakdown based on the different usage and resource data.

Table 1. Current Spend
View	Description
Overview	Displays the total spend across all configured clouds.
Accounts	Displays the total cost of the linked accounts in your AWS payer account, subscription of your Azure account, and projects associated with your GCP billing account.
Cost Centers	Displays the total spend grouped by cost centers across all configured clouds.
Services	Displays the total spend grouped by services.
Regions	Displays the total cost grouped by regions.
Tags	Displays the total cost based on the service tag applied to your resources. You can click the tag drop-down list to select a service tag.

Projected Spend: The projected spend view provides insight into the actual and projected cost for the selected period. You can select different time ranges from the Time range drop-down list in the Filters option.

Filtering Options

The Analyze page allows you to track cloud spend across resources through various views—Current Spend, Projected Spend, Compute, and more. Clicking a view provides various group by selections to analyze in aggregation across accounts, services, regions, cost centers, and other different attributes. Each view also includes drill-down options to analyze granular information of that view.

In a view, you can drill down the cloud spend by clicking Filters . The Filters pane includes a set of fields that vary according to the cloud type. Select the desired resources to drill down your cloud spend and analyze only the resources of your interest. Further review the cloud spend analytics or download the reports specifically for these resources.

Time Period Type

You can select between Usage or Invoice to view the cloud spend analysis.

Usage . Beam uses the actual usage and the cost data incurred during the date range selected. Beam uses Usage to analyze spend-data by default.
Invoice . Beam uses the charges on invoices issued for months selected. When you select Invoice as the time period type, Beam uses Month as the time unit and disables the Day or Month selection.

Note:

For All Clouds , Financial , or Scopes view, you can select the Time Period Type filter only after you select the specific cloud—AWS, Azure, or GCP.
For AWS, the time period type depends on the AWS cost configuration.
- Absolute Cost : The time period selection is configurable. You can either select Usage or Invoice .
- Amortized Cost : The time period selection is Usage by default and the Invoice option is disabled.
The time period selection is not available for the following views.
- Data Transfer for AWS
- Projected Spend for all clouds
You can either apply Include or Exclude option to the resources selections in the filters.
You can do a keyword search to select the relevant resource from the drop-down list.
Your selections in filters are available across all group by in that view.

Anomaly Detection

The anomaly detection feature in Beam is an intuitive cost governance mechanism for public clouds (AWS and Azure).

Anomaly detection identifies and reports cost spikes in your cloud account by analyzing the spending trend on your subscribed resources.

You can use anomaly detection to discover cost anomalies and the resources that are causing the anomalies to take corrective actions, like, optimizing or shutting down resources that are not legitimate. Anomaly detection is useful for dynamic environments and where static budget thresholds are less efficient since they do not process the historical consumption pattern.

The cost anomalies are displayed in the timeline view of the Analyze page. Also, you can view the list of anomalies (if you have access to the AWS payer account or Azure billing account) as a separate widget in the Dashboard .

Note: AWS cost change reported in spend anomalies does not follow cost configuration and is based on unblended- and absolute-cost.

Viewing Cost Anomalies

Beam allows you to view anomalies detected in your AWS and Azure cost.

About this task

Anomaly detection identifies and reports cost spikes in your cloud account by analyzing the spending trend on your subscribed resources.

To view cost anomalies detected by Beam, do the following.

Procedure

In the Beam console, click the View option in the top-right corner to open the View Selector pop-up and select the AWS or Azure account.
Do one the following.
- Go to the Analyze > Current Spend tab.
- Go to the Dashboard and view the Spend Overview widget.
Cost anomalies detected on your spending pattern are highlighted with an arrow sign pointing to the date on which the spike is detected. You can hover over the arrowhead icon to see the percentage increase in cost from the previous day.

Figure. Viewing Cost Anomaly Click to enlarge
Click the arrowhead hyperlink to go to the Anomaly Details dialog box to see the cloud accounts and resources that contributed to the spike. Anomaly Details shows anomaly details like date, resource name, and percentage increase in the cost from the previous date.
Note:
- Beam requires the complete cost data for a particular date to detect an anomaly. It may take up to 48 hours for the complete cost data from AWS and Azure.
- An anomaly detected at a linked account- and subscription-level may not be bubbled up to the payer account- and billing account-level, respectively. This is because the anomaly detected at the linked account and subscription may be insignificant compared to anomalies at the payer account- and billing account-level, respectively.

Cost Reports

Beam generates reports to track cost consumption across all your cloud accounts at both aggregate and granular levels, like a functional unit, workloads, and applications.

The reports are generated automatically and are available to view, download, or share from the Beam console. The daily, weekly, and monthly reports are also sent to the registered Beam administrator email address automatically. To customize your email notification preferences, select Profile from the user menu in the top right corner. Then, select Email Preferences in the Preferences section.

Note:

For Custom reports, the time period type is configurable. See Custom Reports.
For System reports, the time period type is usage by default.
The System reports are in target currency that is configured at the time of report generation. However, the following system reports are in source currency.
Note: The following reports are in source currency.
- Daily reports: New EC2 RI Recommendation report and EC2 RI Utilization Report
- Monthly reports: Expired RI Report , Expiring RI Summary Report , and On Demand vs Reserved Hours Cost
The currency in the Custom reports is based on the configuration in the create or edit page. The reports are in either source currency or target currency as configured while creating the reports.

Table 1. Cost Reports
Report	Description	Clouds Supported
System Reports
Cost Report by Account	Contains month to date detailed spend information based on accounts, regions, and services. The latest report is generated by the end of the day according to your timezone every day.	AWS, Azure, and GCP
New EC2 RI Recommendation Report	Contains instance-wise details such as region, platform, type, and reservation coverage. The latest report is generated by the end of the day, according to your timezone.	AWS
EC2 RI Utilization Report	Contains EC2 reservation planning information based on the instance type, region, platform with a complete aggregated account view. The latest report is generated by the end of the day, according to your timezone.	AWS
Cost Optimization Detailed Report	Contains detailed information about unused resources and rightsizing opportunities for the infrastructure of the selected account. The latest report is generated by the end of the day, according to your timezone.	AWS, Azure
Tag Based EC2 Instance Type-wise cost Report	Contains tag-wise cost separation, which will help you monitor spend based on resource tags. It also contains a spending breakdown based on the instance type. The latest report is generated by the end of the day, according to your timezone.	AWS
Bandwidth Summary Report	Contains transfer quantity in GB segregated by transfer type, account, service, resource, and region. The latest report is generated by the end of the day, according to your timezone.	AWS
EC2 Detailed Insight Report	Contains resource-wise cost optimization details like incurred cost, rightsizing, RI, recommended action, and other information. The latest report is generated by the end of the day, according to your timezone every day.	AWS
Weekly Reports
Cost Report by Account	Contains detailed spend information based on accounts, regions, and services for the last week. The latest report is generated by Tuesday of every week.	AWS, Azure
Spend Report by Tags	Contains spend information for the last week based on various resource tags for the selected account. The latest report is generated by Tuesday of every week.	AWS
Cost Comparison Report	Contains cost comparison data according to accounts, regions, and services for the past two weeks. The latest report is generated by Tuesday of every week.	AWS
Monthly
Cost Report by Account	Contains detailed spend information based on accounts, regions, and services for the last month. The latest report is generated by the 7th of every month.	AWS, Azure, and Nutanix
Spend Report by Tags	Contains spend information of last month based on various resource tags for the selected account. The latest report is generated by the 7th of every month.	AWS
EC2 Spend Report	Contains spend information based on the EC2 instance type, platform, accounts, regions, and purchase option for the last month. The latest report is generated by the 7th of every month.	AWS
Cost Comparison Report	Contains cost comparison data as per accounts, regions, and services for the last two months. The latest report is generated by the 7th of every month.	AWS
Expired RI Report	Contains information regarding the RIs that expired in the last 90 days. The latest report is generated by the 7th of every month.	AWS
Expiring RI Summary Report	Contains information about RIs expiring in less than 30 days, between 31 to 60 days, and between 61 to 90 days as well as their renewal cost. The latest report is generated by the 7th of every month.	AWS
On Demand vs Reserved Hours Cost	Contains a comparison between On-Demand and Reserved hours based on the instance type. The comparison also includes savings incurred on reserved hours for the last month. The latest report is generated by the 7th of every month.	AWS

Guidelines for the Share , Schedule , and Download report options.

Share and Download options are available for all the views - Global view, Scopes, Business Unit, Cost Center, AWS (Overview, Payer, and Linked accounts), Azure (Billing Accounts and Subscription), and GCP (Overview and Billing accounts).
The Schedule option is available at the AWS, Azure, and GCP individual cloud level (Payer and Linked accounts, Billing Accounts and Subscription).

Scheduling Reports

Beam application generates reports to track cost consumption across all your cloud accounts at both aggregate and granular levels, like a functional unit, workloads, and applications.

About this task

The application allows you to schedule reports at a desired time.

To schedule reports, do the following.

Procedure

Click the Hamburger icon in the top-left corner to display the main menu. Then, click Reports .
The System tab appears.
Click View in the top-right corner to open the View Selector, and select the cloud account or Scope for which you want to schedule reports.
Hover over any of the Daily , Weekly , or Monthly generated reports and click the schedule icon.
Enter the Schedule Report Sharing details and click Schedule .
All the schedule reports are available under the Reports > Scheduled Reports . You can edit, disable, or delete any scheduled report.

Downloading Reports

Beam application generates reports to track cost consumption across all your cloud accounts at both aggregate and granular levels, like a functional unit, workloads, and applications.

About this task

The application allows you to download selected reports for offline consumption.

To download reports, do the following:

Procedure

Click the Hamburger icon in the top-left corner to display the main menu. Then, click Reports .
The System tab appears.
Click View in the top-right corner to open the View Selector, and select the cloud account or Scope for which you want to download reports.
Hover over any of the Daily , Weekly , or Monthly generated report and click the download icon.

Sharing Reports

Beam generates reports to track cost consumption across all your cloud accounts at both aggregate and granular levels, like a functional unit, workloads, and applications.

About this task

Beam allows you to share selected reports with stakeholders over email.

To share reports, do the following:

Procedure

Click the Hamburger icon in the top-left corner to display the main menu. Then, click Reports .
The System tab appears.
Click View in the top-right corner to open the View Selector, and select the cloud account or Scope for which you want to share reports.
Hover over any of the Daily , Weekly , or Monthly generated reports and click the share icon.
Enter the Recipients , Report Name , and Message .
Click Share to complete.

Custom Reports

Custom reports help in strategic decision making and planning in the cloud. You can create a customized report by aggregating and filtering using various native cloud dimensions and attributes to get insights on cloud usage and cost. The Custom Reports page displays a list of all the custom reports created.

You can create a new report by clicking Add Custom Report at the top-right corner of the Reports > Custom . You can view, edit, schedule, share, download reports (CSV) or delete a previously created report by selecting the options next to the report name. To find a previously created report, start typing the report name in the search bar and select from the auto-populated options.

For more information, see Creating Custom Reports (AWS) and Creating Custom Reports (Azure).

Note:

A custom report can be created for AWS payer- and linked-accounts, Azure billing accounts and subscriptions.
To create a custom report, the user must have a Write access to the specified AWS payer- and linked-accounts, Azure billing accounts and subscriptions.
The saved reports are always available on the Beam console. For every custom report, a maximum of 100 entries gets displayed. To get the complete list of entries or offline consumption of the custom reports, you can download the custom report using the download icon.

Creating Custom Reports (AWS)

You can create a customized report to analyze the cost and usage across your AWS Accounts, Services, Region, and so on based on the defined range and filters.

About this task

To create a custom report, do the following.

Procedure

Click the Hamburger icon in the top-left corner to display the main menu and then, click Reports .
Click the Custom tab.
Click View in the top-right corner to open the View Selector, and select the cloud account or Scope for which you want to create a custom report.
Click Add Custom Report in the top-right corner.

Figure. Custom Report Details Click to enlarge
In Custom Report Name , enter a name for the report.
In the Dimensions list, select a dimension for the required report output. Click Add Dimension if you want to select multiple dimensions.

Note: A report must have at least one dimension. You can select up to ten dimensions.
In Time area, you can select from the following options:
1. In the Period Type list, click the drop-down list to select either Usage or Invoice type.
2. In the Unit list, click the drop-down list to select either Day or Month to specify the time unit that you want to generate a report for.
  
  Note: The Invoice period type is only available for the Month time unit.
3. In the Range list, click the drop-down list to select either date or month range based on the time unit selected. You can generate a custom report for the last 3 months.
In Metrics area, you configure the following:
1. Cost - After you select the Cost checkbox, the following the report cost presentation options appear.
  - A currency toggle. Select the currency with which you want to generate the custom reports. For more information, see Currency Configuration .
    Note: If the target currency is same as source currency, the toggle is not available.
  - Amortized Unblended
  - Absolute Blended
  - Absolute Unblended
  - Include Credit and Refunds
  - Include EDP Discounts
  Note:
  - The default selection is based on your AWS cost-logic configuration. For more information, see AWS Cost Configuration .
  - The Amortized Unblended option is only available when you select Usage as Period Type .
2. Usage - Specify the usage quantity. By default, the Any filter is applied. You can use the drop-down list to apply the filter according to your requirement. The available options are Any , Greater Than Equal To , Less Than Equal To , and Range . The usage quantity unit corresponds to the selected service. For example, the usage unit is hours for EC2, bytes for S3, and so on.
Note: Ensure that you select at least one of the following metrics - Amortized Unblended , Absolute Blended , Absolute Unblended , and Usage .
To add more filters to your report, click Filters and do the following.
1. In the Accounts list, select the accounts for which you want to generate a custom report.
2. In the Service list, select the services from the available list.
3. In Sub Service , select the sub-services you want.
4. In Availability Zone list, select the availability zones you want.
5. In API Operation list, select the API operations you want to include in the custom report.
6. In Purchase Options list, select the purchase options you want.
7. In Tag Key and Tag Value lists, select a key and value pair. Click Add another Tag Key Value Pair to add multiple keys and values.
Click Generate .

Creating Custom Reports (Azure)

You can create a customized report to analyze the cost and usage across your Azure Subscriptions, Products, Region, and so on based on the defined range and filters.

About this task

To create a custom Azure report, do the following.

Procedure

Click the Hamburger icon in the top-left corner to display the main menu. Then, click Reports .
Click the Custom tab.
Click View in the top-right corner to open the View Selector Pop-up , and select the cloud account or Scope for which you want to create a custom report.
Click Add Custom Report in the top-right corner.

Figure. Custom Report - Create Click to enlarge
In Custom Report Name , enter a name for the report.
In Dimensions , select the dimensions for the desired report output. Click Add Dimension if you want to select multiple dimensions.

Note: A report must have at least one dimension. You can select up to 10 dimensions.
In Time area, you can select from the following options:
1. In the Period Type list, click the drop-down list to select either Usage or Invoice type.
2. In the Unit list, click the drop-down list to select either Day or Month to specify the time unit that you want to generate a report for.
  
  Note: The Invoice period type is only available for the Month time unit.
3. In the Range list, click the drop-down list to select either date or month range based on the time unit selected. You can generate a custom report for the last 3 months.
In Metrics area, do the following to configure Cost .
1. In the currency toggle, select the currency with which you want to generate the custom reports. For more information, see Currency Configuration.
2. In the cost filter drop-down list, select the cost range by using one of the following logical operators.
  - Any . By default, the Any filter is applied.
  - Greater Than Equal To
  - Less Than Equal To
  - Range
To add more filters to your report, click Filters and do the following:
1. In the Subscriptions list, select the subscriptions for which you want to generate a custom report.
2. In the Service Categories list, select the categories from the available list.
3. In the Regions list, select the regions you want.
4. In the Products list, select the products you want to include in your custom report.
5. In the Cost Centers list, select the cost centers you want.
6. In the Resource Groups list, select the resource groups from the available list.
7. In the Departments list, select the departments you want.
8. In Tag Key and Tag Value lists, select a key and value pair. Click Add another Tag Key Value Pair to add multiple keys and values.
Click Generate . A preview of the report is displayed. You can click Save to save the report or click Edit to change the report parameters.

Report (Multicloud)

Beam generates reports to track cost consumption across all your cloud accounts at both aggregate and granular levels like a functional unit, workloads, and applications.

The reports are generated automatically and are available to view, download, or share from the Beam console. Beam sends the daily and yearly reports to the registered Beam administrator email address automatically.

Note: You can view daily reports only at the business unit and cost center levels.

To view the reports, click the Hamburger icon in the top-left corner to display the main menu. Then, click Reports . You can use the View Selector to select the business unit, cost center, or scope.

You can click the drop-down menu at the top-right corner to select the Daily Reports or Yearly Reports .

Table 1. Multicloud Cost Reports
Report	Description
Cost Summary Reports	Contains month to date detailed spend information based on accounts, regions, and services. Beam generates the latest report by the end of the day according to your timezone every day.
Cost Optimization Detailed Reports	Contains detailed information about unused resources and rightsizing opportunities for the infrastructure of the selected business unit or cost center. Beam generates the latest report by the end of the day according to your timezone every day.
Historical Budget Reports	Contains past financial year budget reports along with the quarterly summary data and service-wise cost breakdown for each quarter. Click View All to view the list of reports for the past financial years.

Chargeback

The Chargeback feature enables the financial control of your cloud spends by providing the ability to allocate cloud resources to departments based on definitions. Chargeback also provides a consolidated view across all your cloud accounts in a single pane of finance view.

Note:

Chargeback is built on the business unit and cost center configuration construct that you define for the resources across all your cloud accounts.
You cannot build chargeback on the custom scope. You define a scope using accounts and resources and can add a resource across different scopes.
For AWS, the time period type selection depends on the cost configuration.
- If Absolute Cost type is selected, the time period type is invoice-based.
- If Amortized Cost type is selected, the time period type is usage-based.
For Azure and GCP, the selection of time period type is invoice-based.
You can view the spend data in the configured target currency. For more information on general guidelines and considerations, see Currency Configuration Considerations .

Business Units

Cost Center

A cost center is a collection of resources within a single or multiple cloud accounts (AWS, Azure, and GCP). You can assign the resources to the cost center based on tags. You can either allocate a complete account or resources within an account to a cost center.

Note:

If a cloud account is assigned to a cost center with the tag definition as All Tags , then you cannot share this account with another cost center.
An account or tag once used in a Cost Center definition cannot be reused. This is to prevent double-counting of the cost of resources.
The resources that do not belong to any of the cost centers are grouped under Unallocated Resources . You can manually allocate any unallocated AWS and Azure resources into a cost center. Beam does not support manual allocation of unallocated GCP resources.

Unallocated Resources

Unallocated resources are the resources that do not belong to any of the cost centers based on definitions.

Unallocated resources include the following.

Accounts not allocated to any cost center (includes all the resources within the account)
Resources within an account not allocated to any cost center.

The following image describes an example of a multicloud configuration. The cost center consists of Nutanix, AWS, Azure, and GCP resources.

Adding a Business Unit

Before you begin

You can create a business unit only if you have an Admin role in Beam.

About this task

To add a business unit, do the following.

Procedure

In the Beam console, click the Hamburger icon in the top-left corner to display the main menu. Then, click Configure > Chargeback .
In the Business Unit Configuration page, click the Create list and select Business Unit .
The Create Business Unit page appears.
In the Name box, enter a name for the business unit.
In the Owners list, click to select owners for the business unit you are creating.

Note: The business unit owner is financially accountable for the business unit. You can select multiple owners for the business unit.
In the Viewers list, click to select viewers for the business unit you are creating.
In the Cost Centers list, select the cost centers that you want to map to your business unit.
Click Save Business Unit to complete.
The business unit you just created appears in the Business Unit Configuration page. You can use the business unit to build chargeback.

Editing a Business Unit

You can edit (or delete) an existing business unit.

Before you begin

You can edit or delete a business unit only if you have an Admin role in Beam.

About this task

To edit a business unit, do the following.

Procedure

In the Beam console, click the Hamburger icon in the top-left corner to display the main menu. Then, click Configure > Chargeback .
You can view the list of business units in the Business Unit configuration page. You can use the drop-down to filter the list by the business unit.
Click Edit against the business unit that you want to edit.
The Edit Business Unit page appears.
Click Save Business Unit after you edit the fields according to your requirement.

Adding a Cost Center

Before you begin

You can create a cost center only if you have an Admin role in Beam.

About this task

To add a cost center, do the following.

Procedure

In the Beam console, click the Hamburger icon in the top-left corner to display the main menu. Then, click Configure > Chargeback .
In the Business Unit configuration page, click the Create list and select Cost Center .
The Create Cost Center page appears.
In the Name box, enter a name for the cost center.
In the Owners list, click to select owners for the cost center you are creating.

Note: The cost center owner is financially accountable for the cost center. You can select multiple owners for the cost center.
In the Viewers list, click to select viewers for the cost center you are creating.
Click Define Cost Center to open the Define Cost Center page.
You define the cost center by selecting the accounts and tags across different clouds.
In the Define Cost Center page, do the following.
1. In the Cloud list, select the cloud type ( AWS , Azure , or GCP ).
2. In the Parent Account list, select the parent account.
3. In the Sub Accounts list, select the sub accounts. You can select multiple sub accounts.
4. In the Tag Pair area, select the key and value pairs to further refine the definition of your cost center. You can click the plus icon to add more key and value pairs.
5. Click Save Filter to save the filter. You can click Add Filter to add more filters.
6. Click Save Definition to save your cost center definition and close the Define Cost Center page.
Click Save Cost Center to complete.
Beam takes around 24 to 48 hours to display the cost data of the newly added cost center.
Note: If cost allocation tags for an AWS account are not visible in Beam, activate the cost allocation tags in AWS. To activate the cost allocation tags, see Activating the AWS-Generated Cost Allocation Tags.

Editing a Cost Center

Beam allows you to edit (or delete) an existing cost center.

Before you begin

You can edit a cost center only if you have an Admin role in Beam.

About this task

To edit a configured cost center, do the following.

Procedure

Click the Hamburger icon in the top-left corner to display the main menu. Then, click Configure > Chargeback .
You can view the list of cost centers in the Business Unit configuration page. You can use the drop-down list in the top-right corner to filter the list by the cost center.
Click Edit against the cost center that you want to edit.
The Edit Cost Center page appears.
Click Save Cost Center after you edit the fields according to your requirement.
Beam takes around 24 to 48 hours to display the cost data of the edited cost center.

Allocating Unallocated Resources To Cost Center

Before you begin

You can allocate an unallocated resource only if you have an Admin role in Beam.

About this task

Unallocated resources are the resources that do not belong to any of the cost centers based on definitions. Beam allows you to allocate an unallocated AWS or Azure resource to a cost center.

Note: Beam does not support manual allocation of unallocated GCP resources.

To allocate an unallocated resource for chargeback, do the following.

Procedure

In the Beam console, select Finance from the View Selector pop-up and go the Chargeback page using the Hamburger icon in the top-left corner.
In the top-right corner of the page, click the Unallocated button.
In the Unallocated Cost table, click the expand icon against the account or subscription to view the list of services.
Click View Details against the service item to view the list of resources.
Click the Allocate button against the resource item that you want to allocate to a cost center.
The Select a cost center pop-up window appears.
In the Cost Center Name list, select the cost center for the resource.
In the Percentage Split box, enter the resource cost percentage you want to allocate to the cost center you selected.
If you want to split the cost of the resource between two or more cost centers, click Add a split to specify the cost centers and the percentage of cost split between the cost centers.
Click Allocate Resource to complete.
Beam takes upto 24 hours to display the cost changes after allocating an unallocated resource.

The resource you just allocated appears in Unallocated table with the status as Allocating .
Figure. Allocating Unallocated Resource Click to enlarge

Chargeback Views

Chargeback View (Administrator)

An administrator can do the following.

Assign unallocated resources to a cost center
Create a business unit and cost center

You can select the Allocated and Unallocated options in the top-right corner of the page to view the cost details for allocated and unallocated resources.

In the Allocated Cost table, an administrator can browse through all the business units and cost centers (created by the administrator) to view detailed information.

Table 1. Chargeback Views (Administrator)
View	Description
Spend Overview	Displays a pie graph of the cost breakup summary for the allocated and unallocated resources.
Spend Analysis - Unallocated Cost	Displays a bar graph of the historical spend analysis for the unallocated resources with an actual and projected spend for the last three months.
Spend Analysis - Allocated Cost	Displays a bar graph of the historical spend analysis for the allocated resources with an actual and projected spend for the last three months.
Top Spend	Displays the services and accounts that are consumed the most in your business unit or cost center. You can use the drop-down list in the right corner to select Top services or Top accounts .
Unallocated Cost	Displays detailed information for the unallocated resources that include the following. Cloud type ( AWS , Azure , GCP , or Nutanix ) Name of the account, subscription, or cluster Account, subscription, or cluster ID Total cost incurred for the account, subscription, or cluster. You can also allocate unallocated resources to a cost center. For more information, see Allocating Unallocated Resources To Cost Center.
Allocated Cost	Displays detailed information for the allocated resources that include the following. Business unit or cost center Owner of the business unit and cost center Total cost of the allocated resources Definition of the business unit or cost center. For example, a business unit constituted of four cost centers. In the Actions column, you can click the Edit and Delete buttons to edit the resource details or delete the resource. You can use the drop-down list in the top-right corner of the Allocated Cost table to filter the resources by business unit, cost center, or business unit and cost center. You can also click the share and download icons in the top-right corner to share or download the resource details.

Chargeback View (Owners and Viewers)

The owners and viewers can view the business units and cost centers for which they have access.

You can use the View Selector (public cloud) and View Selector (Nutanix) to select the business unit or cost center.

The following table describes the widgets available for business unit and cost center views.

Table 2. Chargeback Views (Owners and Viewers)
View	Description
Spend Overview	Displays the total spend cost (month to date) and the projected spend cost for the business unit or cost center.
Spend Analysis - Allocated Cost	Displays a bar graph of the historical spend analysis for the allocated resources with an actual and projected spend for the last three months.
Top Spend	Displays the services and accounts that are consumed the most in your business unit or cost center. You can use the drop-down list in the right corner to select Top services or Top accounts .
Allocated Cost	Displays detailed information for the allocated resources (within a cost center) that includes the following. Cloud type ( AWS , Azure , GCP , or Nutanix ) Name of the account, subscription, or cluster Account, subscription, or cluster ID Total cost incurred for the account, subscription, or cluster. You can use the expand icon to view details about services within the account or subscription. Note: If the pulse was not available for a Nutanix cluster for a given number of days in a month, the Unmetered Cluster Cost line item appears showing the cluster cost incurred for those days. For more information, see Cost Analysis (Nutanix). You can click View Details against each service to view the resource details. You can also click the share and download icons in the top-right corner to share or download the detailed report for the cost center.

Budget

Note:

For AWS, the time period type selection depends on the cost configuration.
- If Absolute Cost type is selected, the time period type is invoice-based.
- If Amortized Cost type is selected, the time period type is usage-based.
For Azure and GCP, the selection of time period type is invoice-based.

The Budget page allows you to view the budget cards based on the budgets that you have configured for your cloud accounts.

The budget card for a business unit or cost center displays the Financial Year , Budgeted , Current Spend , Estimated , and Data Updated information. It also displays the budget spend and the actual spend in a graphical format. You can also edit the budget details or delete an existing budget using the Budget page.

You can define and track a budget based on the following resource groups.

Business Unit/Cost Centre based Budget – Only a Beam administrator or the owner of the Business Unit/Cost Centre can create a budget for which they have access to.
Custom Budget – You can use a combination of the cloud (AWS, Azure, and GCP), billing account, services, regions, and tags to define the custom resource group.
Scope based Budget - Only a Beam administrator or the creator of the scope can create a budget. Only one budget can be created for each scope.

You can add a threshold for your budget alerts. When the budget reaches the threshold you specified, Beam sends a notification to the email addresses you enter when creating the budget alerts.

Expired Budgets

In the top-right corner, you can click the Expired button to view the expired budgets.

You can do the following in the expired budgets view.

Click the View Details option in any of the expired budget cards to view the details.
Click the Renew option to renew the latest expired budget for the current financial year.
Note: The Renew option is available only for the latest expired budget. In case a budget for a resource group is already created for the current financial year, the renew option for the expired budget of the same resource group is not available.

Creating a Budget Goal

Beam allows you to create Budgets based on the resource groups that you have defined.

About this task

A budget allows you to centralize the budget at the business unit, cost center, or scope levels to ensure that your consumption is within the budget that you have defined.

To add a global Budget, do the following.

Procedure

Click the Hamburger icon in the top-left corner to display the main menu. Then, click Budget .
Click Create a Budget .
In the Select Type page, select Custom Scopes based Budget , Business Unit/Cost Centre based Budget , or Custom Budget . Then click Next to go to the Define Resource Group page.
If you select Business Unit/Cost Centre based Budget or Custom Scopes based Budget as the resource group type, do the following.
1. Select the business units and cost centers or Scopes from the resource drop-down menu to define the scope for the budget and click Next to go to the Allocate Budget page.
  
  Note: You can select the business unit and cost center from the drop-down menu only if you have access to the resource group item.
2. Go to step 8.
If you select Custom Budget as the resource group type, click Define Custom Resource Groups for Budget Allocation to create a resource group.
The resource group represents a combination of the cloud (AWS, Azure, and GCP), billing account, services, regions, and tags.
In the Create Resource Group page, do the following.
1. In the Cloud list, click to select the cloud type you want.
2. Select the payer account (AWS), enterprise/MCA billing account (Azure), billing account (GCP) from the Parent Account drop-down menu.
  
  Note: You must select a cloud type and account to create a resource group.
3. Select the Sub Accounts , Services , Regions , and Tags linked to the payer account (AWS), enterprise/MCA billing account (Azure) or Projects (GCP).
  
  Note: If you want to see the cost allocation tags in Beam, activate the cost allocation tags in AWS. To activate the cost allocation tags, see Activating the AWS-Generated Cost Allocation Tags.
4. Click Add another filter to add multiple resource group.
5. Click Save Filter .
  You can use Edit and Remove buttons to edit and remove the resource groups that you have added.
6. Click Next to go to the Allocate Budget page.
In the Budget Name box, enter a budget name you want.
In the Financial Year list, select the financial year session.
In the Allocation Type area, select Automatic Allocation or Manual Allocation .

Note: Selecting Automatic Allocation allows Beam to allocate budget based on your spend. Beam uses the last 40 days of data to project the budget for the current and next month.
If you select Manual Allocation , do the following.
1. In the Set Annual Budget field, enter the Annual Budget for the selected business center and cost center.
2. To distribute the annual budget equally for all the quarters, click Distribute Equally .
  Alternatively, you can set the budget for each quarter manually. Similarly, you can either distribute the quarterly budget manually for each month or click Distribute Equally to distribute the quarterly budget equally for all the months. The monthly and quarterly budgets must add up to the annual budget that you have entered.
Click Next .
The Add Alerts to your Budget page appears.
You can add percentages of the total budget value. When the budget reaches the threshold value you entered, Beam sends a notification via an email to the email addresses you enter.

You can add alerts for the following periods.
- Monthly Budget Alerts
- Quarterly Budget Alerts
- Yearly Budget Alerts
Click Create against the period for which you want to create a budget alert.
The Budget Alert page appears.
In the Threshold box, enter the threshold value in percentage. Then click Save .
In the Alert Notification box, enter the email addresses to which you want to send the alerts. Then click Save to create the budget.

Note: Beam sends the budget alert notifications to the owners of the business unit or cost centers by default.

Budget Details

To download or share the cost breakup report, click the download or share icon.

Editing Budget Alerts

You can edit the budget alerts for the cost centers and business units in the Budget page. In the Budget page, you can view the budget cards for your cost centers and business units.

About this task

A budget allows you to centralize the budget at the business unit, cost center, or scope levels to ensure that your consumption is within the budget that you have defined.

To edit the budget alerts for your cost centers, business units, or scopes, do the following.

Procedure

Click the Hamburger icon in the top-left corner to display the main menu. Then, click Budget to open the Budget page.
Click Edit against the business unit, cost center, or scope to edit the budget alerts.
The Edit the Budget page appears.
Click Budget Alert tab.
You can view the details of the alerts in the Categories area.
You can view the following icons in the Action column.
- Disable Alert or Enable Alert icon - Click to disable or enable the alert.
- Edit Alert icon - Click to edit the alert.
- Remove Alert icon - Click to remove the alert.
Click the Edit Alert icon to edit the alert.
The Budget Alert page appears.
You can edit the period and threshold values.
Click Save to save your changes.
In the Alert Notifications box, enter the email addresses to which you want to send the alerts.
Click Update to update the budget alert.

Save - Cost Saving

The following sections describe the Save page for the AWS and Azure accounts.

Cost Saving (AWS)

Save allows you to optimize your cloud usage by saving money on your total AWS bill. Beam helps you to identify underutilized resources for EBS, EC2, ElastiCache, RDS, EBS, and Redshift.

Save Views

This view helps you in saving money for your current incurring spends. Beam identifies unused and underutilized resources and provides a specific recommendation for optimal consumption.

Note:

Beam provides a toggle to view spend data in your preferred currency. You can select the currency toggle at the top right to switch between target and source currency. For more information on general guidelines and considerations, see Currency Configuration Considerations .
You can schedule, share, or download reports under each view. For more information, see Cost Reports.
You can create filters at the view level, and then apply filters to display the line chart according to the selected filter options. To create a filter, you can select the required options under Filters and click Apply .
If you want to see the cost allocation tags in Beam, activate the cost allocation tags in AWS. You can use the cost allocation tags to track your AWS costs on a detailed level. To activate the cost allocation tags, see Activating the AWS-Generated Cost Allocation Tags.
Cost change reported in spend anomalies does not follow cost configuration and is based on unblended- and absolute-cost.
All the cost data shown in Save are for 30 days (720 hours). For example, current cost and projected cost for an underutilized EC2 instance.
Save supports EC2 instances with shared tenancy or dedicated instances. It also supports bare metal instances. Bare metal instances are cross-family and shown as a part of underutilized EC2 recommendations.
Save recommendations are not provided for AWS EC2 instances with hyper-threading as enabled. Ensure that you disable hyper-threading for your EC2 instances.

Table 1. Overview
View	Description
Projected Savings	Displays a line chart of the cost-efficiency in terms of cost, saving opportunities, and the resources being utilized. This view provides the following metrics. Spend Efficiency The effective spending of your account, excluding the saving amount from your monthly cost projection. Potential savings The cumulative sum of the savings which you will incur monthly either by deleting or optimizing the unused and underutilized resources. Opportunity Count Number of resources where you can reduce or resize the resources for cost savings. Money saved till date Money that you have saved till today. Time saved till date Time that you have saved till today.
Optimization Opportunities	Displays total savings of the unused resources and underutilized resources. This view helps you in optimizing your AWS resources. This provides the following metrics: Unused Cloud Resources Displays the total count of the unused resources across multiple audits and the savings that incur after you delete them. To delete an unused resource, click Eliminate . Cloud Rightsizing Displays the total count of underutilized resources across multiple audits and the savings that incur after you optimize them. To optimize an underutilized resource, click Optimize . Savings History Displays the total time and money savings after deleting your unused resources. To view the savings history, click Savings History .

Table 2. Eliminate
View	Description
Eliminate Unused Resources	Displays a list of the resource category and the total saving incurred in each category. You can delete unused resources to reduce your AWS expenditures. You can view the unused resources under each category by clicking the View List option. The detailed list displays all the resources along with resource name, region, and potential savings per month accrued if you eliminate the resource.
Edit Cost Policy	You can configure individual audits by clicking the Edit Cost Policy option.
Eliminate	If you want to delete an unused resource, select the check box in front of the resource name and click Eliminate . You can delete multiple resources at once by selecting the check box for the resources that you want to delete and click Eliminate Selected .
Suppress	If you want to remove the suggestions for deleting an unused resource, select the check box in front of the resource name. Under Reason for suppress , type a reason to suppress the suggestion and click Suppress . You can remove suggestions for multiple resources at once by selecting the check box for the resources that you want to suppress and click Suppress Selected .

Table 3. Optimize
view	Description
Optimize Cloud Resources	Displays a list of underutilized resources and the total savings accrued after rightsizing the underutilized resources. To view a detailed list of the underutilized resources, select a resource category and click View List . The detailed list displays all the resources along with resource name, region, and potential savings per month accrued if you optimize the resource according to the suggestion.
Edit Cost Policy	You can configure individual audits by clicking the Edit Cost Policy option.
How to optimize	If you want to optimize a resource, select the check box in front of the resource name and click How to optimize . This displays the details for optimizing the resource.
Suppress	If you want to remove the suggestions for deleting an underutilized resource, select the check box in front of the resource name. Under Reason for suppress , type a reason to suppress the suggestion and click Suppress under the resource name and enter a brief message. You can remove suggestions for multiple resources at once by selecting the check box for the resources that you want to suppress and click Suppress Selected .
Optimization Chart	You can expand the resource item to view the optimization chart. For more information, see Optimization Recommendation Metrics Chart (AWS).

Table 4. Suppressed
View	Description
Suppress	Displays a list of resources that you have suppressed. You can restore these resources if required. To restore, click Restore next to the resource name that you want to restore. You can view potential savings on the suppressed resources. You can also expand the suppressed items to view the resource information.

Table 5. History
View	Description
History	Displays the cost and time saved after deleting your unused AWS resources. You can also view the user who carried out the one-click fix. You can filter the list based on regions and audits. History also displays the potential savings on your unused resources that you have deleted. You can also expand the History items to view the resource information.

Configuring Memory Metrics for EC2 Instances

This section describes the steps to configure memory metrics for the underutilized EC2 instances in Beam. Memory metrics data allows Beam to provide better recommendations for the underutilized EC2 instances.

Before you begin

Ensure that you configure Amazon CloudWatch Agent to collect memory metrics from the operating systems for your EC2 instances. For more information, see Collecting Metrics and Logs from Amazon EC2 Instances and On-Premises Servers with the CloudWatch Agent in the AWS Documentation . When performing the following task in Beam, you need to provide the key names that you have configured for the memory metrics in Amazon CloudWatch Agent. These keys enable Beam to fetch your CloudWatch data and provide better recommendations.

About this task

To configure memory metrics for the EC2 instances, do the following.

Procedure

Click the Hamburger icon in the top-left corner to display the main menu. Then, click Save > Optimize .
You can view the Optimize Cloud Resouces list.
Click Underutilized EC2 to view the list of underutilized EC2 instances recommended based on CPU, Network I/O, and so on.
Click Configure Memory Metrics in the top-right corner.
The Configure EC2 Memory Metrics window appears.
Enter the key names for the memory metrics.
The available metrics are memory used, memory available, and memory utilization.
Note:
- Ensure that the key name for each metric is the same for all the underutilized EC2 instances. Suppose there are five EC2 instances in the list, and you enter a key name for the memory used metric. If this key name corresponds to the first three instances, the memory metrics will only get pulled from CloudWatch for those instances.
- Ensure that the value of the namespace field in the metrics section is CWAgent (default value). For more information, see Manually Create or Edit the CloudWatch Agent Configuration File in the AWS Documentation .
Click Submit to complete.
You can enter the memory usage (in percentage) in the Underutilized EC2 field of your cost policy. For more information, see Configuring Cost Policy.
Note: Ensure that you configure the memory metrics for each linked account.

Optimization Recommendation Metrics Chart (AWS)

You can expand the resource item to view the optimization chart. Beam provides utilization for the metrics that it considers for the recommendation.

You can view the optimization chart based on the following parameters.

Number of days you configure in the Cost Policy.
Metrics and the corresponding aggregations (minimum, maximum, or average), which Beam uses for the recommendation.

This option is available for the Underutilized EC2 audit.

Cost Saving (Azure)

Beam allows you to save on your currently incurring spends on Azure based on the deep visibility it has into your Azure resources and subscriptions. Beam helps you to identify underutilized resources for Virtual Machines, Redis Cache, SQL DataWarehouse, Azure SQL Databases, PostgreSQL Server, Managed Disks, and MySQL Server.

Beam proactively identifies idle and underutilized resources, and delivers specific recommendations to right‑size infrastructure services and ensure optimal consumption.

In addition to cost monitoring, Beam allows the following actionable insights with the Save option:

Implement effective cost efficiency of allocated resources.
Identify unused and underutilized resources using the default and custom cost policy.
One-click fix to eliminate unused resources.

Note:

Beam provides a toggle to view spend data in your preferred currency. You can select the currency toggle at the top right to switch between target and source currency. For information on general guidelines and considerations, see Currency Configuration Considerations .
All the cost data shown in Save are for 30 days (720 hours). For example, current cost and projected cost for an underutilized virtual machine.
In the case of Windows virtual machine, the OS license cost is included in all the cost data (for example, current or projected cost) shown in Save . You can identify the Windows VM by viewing the Current VM Meter Name and Recommended VM Meter Name metadata in the Optimize tab. The meter name contains the Windows keyword. For example, Virtual Machines BS Series Windows - B4ms - EU West .
Figure. Save - Viewing Meter Name Click to enlarge

Table 1. Current Spend
View	Description
Overview	The Overview option provides actionable insights with a graphical representation of the cost-saving opportunities determined by looking into all the running resources like compute, storage, and services.
Eliminate	The Eliminate option provides the list of unused resources that you can delete to reduce your Azure expenditure. Click any of the resource category, or select View List , to see the detailed list of unused resources within that category. The detailed list provides the resource name, region, and potential savings per month accrued if the resource is eliminated. You can also drill down further to see the details of the resource. Click Eliminate to delete unused resources from the list of recommendations. You can view the list of deleted resources in the History tab. Note: The Eliminate one-click fix is available for the following resource types. Unused Disk Unused Public IP Old Snapshots Unused Redis Cache Unused Application Gateways Unused Standard Load Balancers Old VM Images Paused SQL Data Warehouse Unused SQL Data Warehouse Unused PostgreSQL Servers Unused Azure SQL Databases Unused MySQL Servers To execute eliminate actions on the resources associated with a subscription, you must have Write permissions for the Azure subscription. Click Suppress to suppress the particular resource from the being suggested in the Eliminate analytics. Click Edit Cost Policy to configure individual audits.
Optimize	The under-utilization of the resources is determined by analyzing the metrics of the resources and comparing them against a standard set of criteria for different Azure resources and services. The Optimize option shows a list of all the underutilized resources you can optimize for saving cost. It also shows the total savings accrued after rightsizing such resources. Click any of the resource category, or select View List , to see the detailed list of unused resources within that category. The detailed list provides the resource name, region, and potential savings per month accrued if the resource is optimized per the suggestion. You can also drill down further to see the details of the resource or click Suppress to suppress the particular resource from the being suggested in the optimize list. Click Edit Cost Policy to configure individual audits. You can expand the resource item to view the optimization chart. For more information, see Optimization Recommendation Metrics Chart (Azure).
Suppressed	The Suppressed option shows the list of resources that are suppressed from eliminate and optimize analytics. While suppressing a resource, you are prompted to add a reason for suppressing the particular resource. To restore a particular resource from the suppressed list of resources, click Restore . You can view potential savings on the suppressed resources. You can also expand the suppressed items to view the resource information.
History	Displays the cost and time saved after deleting your unused Azure resources. You can also view the user who carried out the one-click fix. You can filter the list based on regions and audits. History also displays the potential savings on your unused resources that you have deleted. You can also expand the History items to view the resource information.

Enabling Write Permissions for Azure Subscription

About this task

To enable write permissions for a subscription, do the following.

Procedure

In the Beam console, click the Collapse menu in the top-left corner to display the main menu. Then, click Configure > Azure Accounts .
Click the edit icon against the tenant for which you want to enable the write permissions on your subscription.
Click to enable the check box in the Write column.
Click Download Script to download the PowerShell script.
Click How do I assign role? and follow the on-screen instructions to run the script in the Azure PowerShell .
Alternatively, see Assigning Role (PowerShell). Ensure that you observe the guidelines related to the PowerShell script created by Beam. For more information, see PowerShell Script Guidelines.
Click to enable the I confirm I have executed the above powershell script check box and click Done .

Optimization Recommendation Metrics Chart (Azure)

You can expand the resource item to view the optimization chart. Beam provides utilization for the metrics that it considers for the recommendation.

You can view the optimization chart based on the following parameters.

Number of days you configure in the Cost Policy.
Metrics and the corresponding aggregations (minimum, maximum, or average) which Beam uses for the recommendation.

This option is available for the following audits.

Underutilized Managed Disks
Underutilized PostgreSql Servers
Underutilized Azure SQL Databases
Underutilized Virtual Machine
Underutilized MySql Servers

Cost Saving (Multicloud)

The Save page allows you to optimize your cloud usage by saving money on your total AWS and Azure bills within your business unit, cost center, or scope. In the financial and scopes views, you can only view the resources that are unused or underutilized since scopes have read-only access. You need account-level access to perform eliminate or suppress actions.

This section provides detail for the following views - All Clouds , Financial , and Scopes . Click View in the top-right corner to open the View Selector pop-up and select different views.

Save Views

This view helps you in saving money for your current incurring spends. Beam identifies unused and underutilized resources and provides a specific recommendation for optimal consumption.

Note:

You can share or download reports under each view.
You can create filters at the view level, and then apply filters to display the line chart according to the selected filter options. To create a filter, you can select the required options under Filters and click Apply .
Currency toggle is not available for multicloud views. You can view the spend data in target currency . You can select the target currency in the currency configuration page. For information on general guidelines and considerations, see Currency Configuration Considerations .

Table 1. Save views
View	Description
Overview	The Overview option provides actionable insights with a graphical representation of the cost-saving opportunities determined by looking into all the running resources like compute, storage, and services.
Eliminate	You can view the list of unused resources along with the potential savings by eliminating those resources. The Eliminate option is not available for business units, cost centers, and scopes.
Optimize	The under-utilization of the resources is determined by analyzing the metrics of the resources and comparing them against a standard set of criteria for different cloud resources and services. The Optimize view shows a list of all the underutilized resources you can optimize for saving cost. It also shows the total savings accrued after rightsizing such resources. The Optimize option is not available for business units, cost centers, and scopes.
History	Displays the cost and time saved after deleting your unused resources. You can also view the user who carried out the one-click fix. You can filter the list based on accounts, regions, and audits. History also displays the potential savings on your unused resources that you have deleted. You can also expand the history items to view the resource information.

Configuring Cost Policy

An audit is a set of rules to filter resources based on the usage parameters used to determine if a specific resource is unused or underutilized. Beam application allows you to define various parameters of an audit. A collection of these audits form a cost policy.

About this task

The application allows you to define a specific policy for each cloud account. By default, the application provides you with a system policy for each cloud. You can clone the system policy to create custom policies. You can create multiple custom policies with different configurations and assign them to different cloud accounts.

Note: For existing users, the current cost policy is considered as custom policy and is available for the users to modify according to their requirements.

To access the Cost Policy page, click the Hamburger icon in the top-left corner to display the main menu. Then, click Configure > Cost Policy .

Note: Only an administrator can configure cost policies.

In the top-right corner of the page, there are two types of views available for you to select.

Policy View - Lists all the policies along with other details, for example, accounts assigned, cloud type, count of accounts assigned, and so on. To create a custom policy, clone the system policy or an existing custom policy, edit the available fields according to your requirement, and assign single or multiple accounts to that policy. In this view, you can view, clone, edit, and delete a policy.
Accounts View - Lists all the accounts along with other details, for example, the attached policy name, cloud type, and so on. In this view, you can click the Reassign button to assign a cost policy to a particular account. You can also select multiple accounts and click the Bulk Reassign button to assign a cost policy to those selected specific cloud accounts.

Configuring a custom cost policy includes the following steps.

Step 1 - In the Policy View , create a custom policy by cloning an existing policy (system or custom) and editing the available fields according to your requirements. Click the Clone button on the right side to create a policy. The policy you created appears in the list.
Step 2 - In the Accounts View , click the Reassign button against an account to assign the custom policy you just created to that account. You can also select multiple accounts and click the Bulk Reassign button to assign a cost policy to those selected specific cloud accounts.

To configure a cost policy, do the following.

Procedure

Select Beam from the application selection menu in main menu bar.
Click the Hamburger icon in the top-left corner to display the main menu. Then, click Configure > Cost Policy .
The Cost Policy page appears.
To create a policy, do the following.
1. In the top-right corner, click Policy View .
  The list of the existing policies appears.
2. Click Clone against the policy that you want to clone and use to create a custom policy.
  The Clone Cost Policy page appears.
3. Enter a name and description for your custom policy and edit the available fields according to your requirements.
  
  Note: The description must contain at least one alphanumeric character. Optionally, you can add spaces and hyphens.
4. Click Clone Policy to create the policy.
  The policy appears in the list. Now, you can assign the cost policy you created to a single or multiple accounts.
To assign the cost policy to accounts, do the following.
1. Click Accounts View .
2. Select the account to which you want to assign the cost policy and click the Reassign button on the right side.
  The Assign To Different Policy page appears.
3. In the Select new policy list, select the policy you want to assign to the selected account. Then click Apply to complete assigning the policy to the selected account.
  You can also select multiple accounts and click the Bulk Reassign button in the top-right corner to perform a bulk assignment.

What to do next

You can designate a custom cost policy or system policy as a default policy. When you on-board an account in Beam, the policy you selected as a default policy gets assigned to that account. In the Policy View , click the More list on the right side against a policy and click Make Default . The policy gets set as a default policy.

Also, you can modify a policy. In the More list, click Edit to open the Edit Cost Policy page. Edit the fields you want and click Update Policy to save your changes.

Purchase - Recommendations

The following sections describes the Purchase page for the AWS, Azure, and Nutanix accounts.

Note: View Selector in the Purchase page only shows AWS, Azure, and Nutanix.

The purchase (reserved instances) recommendations are visible only at a cloud level.

Note: The following are the reasons:

The resources in different scopes can overlap, which leads to incorrect recommendations.
The scope of a reservation is limited to a location or an account. That means a reservation can be applied within the account or location where it was purchased. This would lead to incorrect reporting.
Change recommendations cannot be done at a scope level since the resources can overlap, and reservation is limited to a location or an account.
Beam uses the source currency provided in the billing data for assessing reserved instances and displays the data with source currrency. Beam does not use the target currency provided in the currency configuration page for assessing reserved instances.

Purchase - Reserved Instances (AWS)

Reserved Instances (RI) allows you to reserve resources for a specific availability zone within a region.

Note: You can create filters at the view level, and then apply filters to display the line chart according to the selected filter options. To create a filter, you can select the required options under Filters and click Apply .

Overview Tab

The following table describes the information you can view in the Overview tab.

Table 1. Overview
View	Description
RI Coverage	Displays a line chart of the RI coverage for the selected period by comparing the average RI coverage with the current RI coverage.
RI Status	Displays the used, unused, and underutilized reservations status.
RI Calculator	Displays the potential savings, on demand cost, total RI cost, and percentage saving. To view more details, click View RI Recommendations .
Top Beam Recommendations	Displays the top three cost saving recommendations. To view all the recommendations, click View All Recommendations .

Coverage Tab

The following table describes the information you can view in the Coverage tab.

Table 1. Coverage
View	Description
RI Coverage	Displays a line chart of the RI usage for the time range selected and provides a percentage of average RI coverage and current RI coverage over the selected time range. The RI Coverage report helps you to discover how much of your overall instance usage is covered by RIs to help you make informed decisions about when to purchase or modify a RI to ensure maximum coverage.

Portfolio Tab

The following table describes the information you can view in the Portfolio tab.

Table 1. Portfolio
View	Description
Portfolio	Displays detailed information about the EC2 reserved instances in your AWS account. In the Utilization column, you can view if the reserved instance is used, unused, or underutilized.

Change Tab

Beam provides three RI change recommendations for unused RIs (convertible type) along with the steps to exchange RI.

The RI Change recommendations depend on the following.

Upfront cost already paid for the existing RI
New upfront cost to be paid for the changed RI
Remaining term of the existing RI

Beam identifies the usage of your existing RIs (convertible type) and provides a recommendation to change them to a new type along with potential savings incurred during the change process.

Example

Consider that you purchased a convertible type RI and paid $800 upfront for one year. However, the RI is not used actively, say after 3 months. Beam identifies the potential to change this unused RI to a different type of RI that you can use continuously.

Amount you already consumed: (3 months / 12 months) * $800 = $ 200

Amount of consumption left: ($800 - $200) = $600

The new RI change recommendation identified by Beam requires you to pay $700 upfront for a further one year. The remaining credit of $600 applies towards the new RI recommendation, and you are required to pay another $100 for the new RI recommendation. The new RI recommendation is available for use for 12 months from the date of RI change and aligns better with your ongoing consumption of instances. Thus, the RI recommendations dynamically provided by Beam helps you to realize significant savings in the long term based on your real consumption.


Savings Calculation
Upfront cost paid: $800
Additional cost paid according to Beam recommendation: $100
Total cost paid for RIs: $900
RI value used for the first three months: $200
RI value available for the next twelve months: $700
Savings realized by using Beam’s recommendations: ($800+$700) - ($900) = $600 over a 15-month period

The three RI change recommendation types are as follows.

Best-Fit - This option identifies the maximum savings per dollar of the amount you spend further (true-up cost).
Min True-Up Cost - This option minimizes your true-up costs while still identifying some reasonable savings.
Max Savings - This option identifies the maximum savings regardless of the amount of upfront true-up spend.

Beam also displays the potential savings per year for each change recommendation type. If a Reserved Instance is not in use for more than seven days, Beam considers the RI as unused and provides change recommendations (wherever applicable) for the RI.

To view the change recommendations, go to Change tab.

You can view the list of RI change recommendations. You can expand each row to view further details. You can view the three recommendation types - Best-Fit , Min True-Up Cost , and Max Savings .

You can click View Details for each recommendation type to view the following details.

Your existing reservation details
Target reservation details
Savings calculation
Steps to change

Note: True-Up cost is the difference between the value of the new RI configuration you are buying and your existing RI value. The new RI configuration must be of equal or greater value than the remaining value of your existing RIs.

The following table describes the information you can view in the Change tab.

Table 1. Change
View	Description
Change	Displays a list of RI change recommendations. You can view the account and the reserve instance ID within that account, which Beam recommends for exchange. You can expand each line item to view the recommendation types ( Min True-up Cost , Max Savings , and Best-Fit ).
View Details	You can click View Details for each recommendation type to view detailed information (contract details, savings, steps to exchange RI etc.).
Existing Contract	Displays detailed information about the existing contract that includes the type of RI, family, location, remaining time, remaining upfront value, and so on.
Target Contract	Displays detailed information about the target contract that includes the recommended RI type, family, quantity, true-up cost, and so on.
Savings	Displays the savings detail. Beam calculates the savings based on the difference between the on-demand cost and the RI cost of the recommended RI type.
Steps to Exchange RI	Displays the steps to perform the RI change.
Utilization Chart	Displays the utilization of reserved versus on demand hourly coverage for the selected time range.
Breakeven Analysis	Displays the spend comparison of the selected RI payment option versus on-demand considering complete RI utilization.
Matching Instance List	Displays the resources that are running or ran in the time range selected. You can use the View Options area in the bottom-right corner to filter the matching instance according to the accounts and tags.

Buy Tab

The following table describes the information you can view in the Buy tab.

Table 1. Buy
View	Description
RI Purchase Recommendation	Provides a list of instances that you can purchase and displays on-demand cost, reservation cost, and savings for those instances. You can view further details about instances by clicking the arrow next to the instance name.
Utilization Chart	Displays the utilization of reserved versus on demand hourly coverage for the selected time range.
Breakeven Analysis	Displays the spending comparison of the selected RI payment option versus on-demand, considering the RI is completely utilized. It also shows the exact date when the on-demand cost overtakes the RI cost.
Matching Instance List	Displays the resources that are running or ran in the time range selected. You can use the View Options area in the bottom-right corner to filter the matching instance according to the accounts and tags.

You can use the Filters section at the right corner to select the recommendation parameters you want. Click Apply after you select the recommendation parameters you want.

The following are the available recommendation parameters.

Term : You can purchase reserved instances for one year or three years term.
Payment Type : There are three payment options available - No Upfront , Partial Upfront , and All Upfront . For more information, see Reserved Instance Payment Options section on the AWS Documentation website .
Offering Type : AWS offers two types of reserved instances offering classes - Standard Reserved Instance and Convertible Reserved Instance. For more information, see Types of Reserved Instances (Offering Classes) section on the AWS Documentation website
Lookback Period : Beam provides reserved instances recommendations based on the past few days of data. The available options for lookback period are 7 days , 14 days , and 30 days .

Purchase - Reserved Instances (Azure)

Azure reservations provide a billing discount on reserving resources or capacity for either one-year or three-year periods.

Beam provides you a single pane of glass management to realize maximum savings on your reserved VM instances (RIs) on Azure. Beam reduces the complexity involved in planning, budgeting, and managing RIs by providing insights on overall RI usage statistics, recommended RI purchases, managing existing RI portfolio, and RI coverage.

You can view the Azure RI option in Beam at the department, account, or subscription levels.

Table 1. Overview tab
Task	Description
RI Coverage	The RI Coverage widget displays a graph of RI usage. The RI usage graph provides a percentage of your infrastructure covered under reservation benefits. This widget also displays average RI coverage and current RI coverage over the selected time range (default 7 days). You can click View Coverage to be redirected to the Coverage tab where you can view the RI coverage in detail by using the Filters .
RI Status	The RI Status widget displays the status of used, unused, and underutilized reservations as percentages and reservation units. The units of reservations shown here are the sum of the smallest VM size in the same VM series.
RI Calculator	The RI Calculator is an interactive widget for pricing comparison of on-demand and reserved instances in Azure. The widget provides the potential savings, on-demand cost, Total RI cost, and percentage savings based on the period (1 year or 3 years) and scope (single or shared) of reservation parameter that you select.
RI Top Recommendations	You can click View RI Recommendations to be redirected to the RI Recommendations tab to see detailed RI purchase recommendations.

Coverage tab

The RI Coverage tab displays a graph of existing RI usage. In the RI tab, you can view the percentage of your infrastructure covered under reservation benefits.

RI Coverage displays the average RI coverage and current RI coverage over the selected time range. The RI Coverage report allows you to discover how much of your overall instance usage is covered by RIs to help you make informed decisions about when to purchase or modify a RI to ensure maximum coverage.

Also, you can use Filters to sort the coverage report for specific reservation parameters.

Portfolio Tab

The Portfolio tab displays the detailed information about the VM reserved instances in your account. In the Status column, you can view if the reserved instance is used, unused, or underutilized.

Buy tab

Beam provides Reserved Instance (RI) purchase recommendations for your virtual machines instances running on Azure. The recommendations are based on your past usage and indicate potential opportunities for savings as compared to on-demand usage.

To refine the available recommendations, you can adjust the Recommendation Parameters by using the View Options .

The following are the available recommendation parameters.

Term : You can purchase Azure reserved instances for one year or three years term.
Lookback Period : Beam provides reserved instances recommendations based on the past few days of data. The available options for lookback period are 7 Days , 14 Days , 30 Days , and 60 Days .
Scope : Azure offers two types of reservation scope - Single and Shared . If you select Shared scope when purchasing reserved instances, reservation applies to all the subscriptions in your Azure billing accounts. If you select Single subscription scope when purchasing reserved instances, reservation applies only to your subscription. For more information, see What are Azure Reservations? section on the Azure documentation website .

Also, use Filters to sort the recommendations based on Sizes and Regions .

You can click View Details to view utilization chart, breakeven analysis, cost comparison, matching instance list, and applicable filters.

Table 2. Buy tab
Task	Description
RI Purchase Recommendation	Provides a list of instances that you can purchase and displays on-demand cost, reservation cost, and savings for those instances. You can view further details about instances by clicking the arrow next to the instance name.
Utilization Chart	Shows the utilization of on-demand versus reserved hours for a chosen time period.
Breakeven Analysis	Displays the spending comparison of the selected RI payment option versus on-demand, considering RI is completely utilized. It also shows the exact date when the on-demand cost overtakes the RI cost.
Cost Comparison	Shows the spending comparison of all upfront RI versus on-demand considering complete RI utilization.
Matching Instance List	Shows the list of VM instances to which the selected RI may apply.

Playbooks

Playbooks let you automate actions on your public cloud environment for better cloud management. It helps you to improve your operational efficiency by reducing manual intervention. You can create a playbook to schedule action on your cloud resources and automate regular workflows. For example, you can shut down your test environments during non-business hours.

Creating a playbook consists of the following three steps:

Define a trigger: The period at which the playbook will get executed. You can select daily, scheduled, or a CRON expression.
Define the resource group: The resource group represents a combination of the cloud (AWS or Azure), account, regions, service, and tags. Select the resources on which the playbook will get executed.
Define the Action:
- Select system or custom action templates.
- Select the notification action (email).

Refer to the following diagram to get an understanding of the Playbooks workflow.

You must perform a few configurations before starting to create a playbook. Let us understand each of the configurations in more detail.

Enable Playbooks

To execute a playbook, Beam needs permission to create and invoke certain functions in your public cloud environment.

The functions and required permissions are:

AWS Lambda: Permission to create and invoke a Lambda function.
Azure Function: Permission to deploy and invoke functions in an Azure Function Application.

You need to perform separate onboarding steps (AWS and Azure) for enabling accounts for Playbooks. For more information, see Playbooks Enablement.

Permissions Required for Playbook Action Execution

Beam does not require write permissions on your cloud resources. You can add the action logic in the action template and it gets executed in your configured runtime environment. For example, you can add logic to start or stop an AWS EC2 instance in the action template. The specified function is invoked in the AWS Lambda environment according to the schedule (time-based trigger) you define when creating a playbook in the Beam console.

The function logic is defined in the system action templates provided by Beam. You can also create custom templates according to your requirements. The action template corresponds to the script that would take action when deployed in a runtime environment, that is, AWS Lambda or Azure Function. For more information, see Action Template.

Define the Required Permissions for Action

To successfully execute the Playbooks on the defined resource group, you must provision permissions for write operations in the respective cloud environment that corresponds to the action logic defined in the action template.

For AWS Playbooks, you must provide the ARN with the necessary permissions while creating a playbook. For more information, see Creating an AWS IAM Role .

Figure. AWS Playbooks - Permissions Click to enlarge
For Azure Playbooks, you must create an Active Directory application and provide the corresponding Tenant ID, Client ID, and secret key while creating a Playbook. For more information, see Creating an Active Directory App for Playbooks .

Figure. Azure Playbooks - Permissions Click to enlarge

Playbooks Enablement

Beam needs certain permissions on the AWS and Azure environments to execute Playbooks. You need to perform separate onboarding steps (AWS and Azure) for enabling accounts for Playbooks.

AWS Enablement for Playbooks

Beam needs permission to create and invoke the AWS Lambda function in your AWS environment to execute a playbook.

The required code is written in the Action Template. You have to select an action template when creating a playbook. Beam provides the code for system templates. Provide the code if you are using a custom template. For more information, see Action Template.

Beam requires the following set of permissions to create and invoke the Lambda function:

{
    "Version": "2012-10-17",
    "Statement": [
        {
            "Sid": "VisualEditor0",
            "Effect": "Allow",
            "Action": [
                "lambda:CreateFunction",
                "lambda:TagResource",
                "lambda:InvokeFunction",
                "lambda:GetFunction",
                "lambda:ListAliases",
                "lambda:UpdateFunctionConfiguration",
                "lambda:GetFunctionConfiguration",
                "lambda:UntagResource",
                "lambda:UpdateAlias",
                "lambda:UpdateFunctionCode",
                "lambda:GetFunctionConcurrency",
                "lambda:ListTags",
                "lambda:DeleteAlias",
                "lambda:DeleteFunction",
                "lambda:GetAlias",
                "lambda:CreateAlias"
            ],
            "Resource": "arn:aws:lambda:*:*:function:*"
        },
        {
            "Sid": "VisualEditor1",
            "Effect": "Allow",
            "Action": ["lambda:ListFunctions","iam:PassRole"],
            "Resource": "*"
        }
    ]
}

To provide these sets of permissions to Beam, you must execute the CloudFormation Template (CFT) when onboarding an AWS account. Also, ensure that you select the write access permissions when performing the account onboarding workflow.

There are the following two scenarios here:

If you are onboarding a new account, executing the CFT is a part of the onboarding workflow. Hence, Beam gets the required permissions.
In the case of existing AWS accounts in Beam, you must execute the CFT for the AWS accounts in which you want to use Playbooks.

For more information, see Adding AWS Account.

Azure Enablement for Playbooks

In the case of Azure, you must create an Azure Function App in the Azure portal and configure the same application in Beam for the onboarded accounts.

Note: Currently, Playbooks are enabled only for subscriptions from Azure enterprise account.

Azure Functions are the individual functions created in an Azure Function App. You must have an Azure Function App to host the execution of your functions. Playbooks need access to the Azure Function app to create Azure functions.

Note: Azure Function App is chargeable on the Azure account of the user.

The following steps have to be performed:

Create an Azure Function application in the Azure portal.
Fetch the information that has to be added when configuring the Azure Function app in Beam. The required pieces of information are Function App Name , Deployment User , Deployment Password , and Function App Master Key .
Configure the Azure Function application in Beam.

Creating the Azure Function App (Azure Portal)

Playbooks need access to the Azure Function app to create Azure functions. Refer to this section to create the Azure Function App in the Azure Portal.

Before you begin

Before you start creating an Azure Function App, review the following notes:

Beam Administrator access to the Azure account is required to create an Azure Function App.
Suppose you create a function app in the Azure account 1. In the Beam console, you register the function app under the Azure account 1. You can also register the same function app for other Azure accounts onboarded in Beam.
Ensure that the function app that you are creating is utilized only for Beam. Do not add custom functions that you will be using for other purposes or applications because Beam may override your custom functions.

About this task

To create an Azure Function App in the Azure portal, do the following:

Procedure

Log in to the Azure Portal with your Azure account.
In the Home page, in the top-right corner, click the hamburger menu. Then, click Create a resource .
In the New page, select Compute > Function App .
The Create Function App page appears.

In the Basics page, enter the following information:


Option	Description
Subscription	Select the subscription under which you want to create the function app.
Resource Group	Select the resource group in which you want to create the function app.
Function App name	Enter a name that identifies your new function app. Valid characters are a-z (case insensitive), - and 0-9. Note: The function app name must be globally unique.
Runtime Stack	Select Python .
Version	Select python version 3.8.

Click Next: Hosting to go to the Hosting page.

In the Hosting page, enter the following information:


Option	Description
Storage account	Create a storage account to be used by your function app. Storage account names must be between 3 and 24 characters in length and can contain numbers and lowercase letters only. You can also use an existing account, which must meet the storage account requirements. For more information, see Azure Functions Documentation .
Operating system	An operating system is pre-selected for you based on your runtime stack selection. Linux is selected for the python runtime stack. You must not change the default selection that is Linux.
Plan Type	Select Premium or App service plan . Note that a function app with the plan type as Consumption (Serverless) is not supported by Beam. This plan type does not support the deployment service that Beam uses to deploy functions.

Click Next: Monitoring to go to the Monitoring page.

In the Monitoring page, in the Enable Application Insights area, click No .
Currently, Beam does not support the Application Insights as it would incur additional costs to the user.
Then, click Next : Tags to go to the Tags page.
In the Tags page, enter a name and value pair for the function app.

Then, click Next : Review + create .
Review the app configuration selections. Then, click Create to provision and deploy the function app.
Now, you must perform a few additional configurations in the Azure Function App.
Go to your function app home page and do the following:
1. Under Settings , click Configuration .
2. In the Application Settings area, click New application setting .
  The Add/Edit application setting page appears.
3. Enter the following name and value pair one by one:
  - Name as SCM_DO_BUILD_DURING_DEPLOYMENT , value as true
  - Name as ENABLE_ORYX_BUILD , value as true
  These entries are needed to perform a remote build when deploying functions in the Function App.
4. Select the Deployment slot setting checkbox.
5. Click OK to add the name and value pair.
Figure. Azure Function App - Additional Configurations Click to enlarge
In the top of the function app page, click Save to complete.

Configuring Azure Function App in Beam

Refer to this section to configure the Azure Function App for an Azure account in the Beam console.

About this task

To configure the Azure Function App for an Azure account, do the following:

Procedure

In the Beam console, click the Hamburger icon in the top-left corner to display the main menu. Then, click Configure > Azure Accounts .
Click Manage against the Azure account in which you want to configure the function app.
Click the Function App tab. Then, click Add Function App .

Figure. Azure Function App - Configure Click to enlarge

The Create Azure Function App window appears.

Figure. Azure Function App - Create Click to enlarge
Enter the function app name, deployment user and password, and leader key in the respective fields. For more information about how to get these values, see Fetching Azure information .
Click Save to complete.

Fetching Azure Information

When configuring the Azure Function app in Beam, you need to enter the function app name, deployment user, deployment password, and function app leader key. This section describes the steps to fetch these information from the Azure portal.

About this task

Refer to the following points to know how to fetch the information required to configure the Azure Function App in Beam.

Function App Name : Name of the function app that you created in the Azure portal.
Deployment User and Deployment Password are the credentials using which you will be deploying functions in the function app. Navigate to the function app home page. Then, click Get publish profile to download the XML file.
Figure. Azure Portal - Download Function App Profile Click to enlarge

The XML file contains the deployment user and deployment password.

Figure. Azure Portal - Deployment User and Password Click to enlarge
Function App Master Key is required to invoke the functions within the function app. The leader key is pre-generated in the function app and has authority over all the functions created within the function app.
In the function app home page, click App Keys . Click on the hidden value and copy the leader key. Refer to the following image for better understanding.

Figure. Azure Portal - Function App Master Key Click to enlarge

Action Library

The Action Library page provides you a wide range of action templates that can be used in Playbooks.

You can do the following on this page:

Create custom-action templates. For more information, see Creating a Custom Action Template .
Clone or delete a custom template. Note that the delete option is not available for the system template.
Note:
- A template once created cannot be modified. You can only clone or delete the template.
- A template attached with an existing playbook cannot be deleted.
Use the drop-down list in the top-right corner to filter system- or custom-templates.
View the details of each template.
Figure. Playbooks - View Template Details Click to enlarge

Action Template

The action template corresponds to the script that would take action when deployed in a runtime environment, that is, AWS lambda or Azure function. For example, an action can be Stop AWS EC2 Instances , Stop AWS RDS Instances , or Start Azure VM Instances .

An action template consists of the following:

Required input parameters
A python script or code that takes actions on the resources according to the specified logic
Name and description of the template.

Note: The action template is reusable and can be inserted into multiple playbooks instances.

Let us understand the input parameters in detail.

Input Parameters

The Input Parameters consist of static inputs and dynamic resource-level inputs.

Refer to the following table to understand the various input types and their use cases.


Input Parameter	Description
Params	The static inputs correspond to each playbook execution. This means that these inputs remain the same for each execution of the playbook. There are two types of Params: Plain Text and Protected .
Plain Text	The value of the key gets stored as plain text. When creating the template, you can define multiple keys. You have to enter the value for each key while creating a playbook. Example: For the Start Azure VM Instances template, the defined keys are tenant Id, client Id, and secret key. When creating an Azure playbook for starting a VM, you have to enter the values of these keys. These values get stored in plain text.
Protected	The value of the key is stored as a ciphertext. For example, select Protected as the input type for the secret key. Note: The protected value is always stored as encrypted in the system. This value only gets decrypted while invoking the function. The encrypted value cannot be viewed once entered in the playbook. You can override the value using the Edit option in the playbook.
Dimensions	Corresponds to the data for each resource within the defined resource group. Example: The dimensions defined for the Start Azure VM Instances template are `VM name` , `Subscription Id` , and `resource group name` . Suppose you are creating an Azure playbook to start VM instances using this system template. While executing the playbook, Beam searches for all the VMs within the defined resource group and adds the corresponding information to the input object of the script. The input object will contain the dimensions as a list with the name resourceList . See the following sample input object: `{ "params": { "tenantId": "t_values", "clientId": "c_values" }, "resourceList": [ { "vmName": "v1", "subscriptionId": "subsId1", "resourceGroupName": "rgn1" }, { "vmName": "v2", "subscriptionId": "subsId1", "resourceGroupName": "rgn2" }, { "vmName": "v3", "subscriptionId": "subsId1", "resourceGroupName": "rgn3" } ] }`

Supported Dimensions

The following table lists the supported dimensions for each service.


Resource Type	Supported Dimensions
AWS EC2	instanceId , region , instanceName , accountId , serviceType , tags , instanceType , state .
AWS EC2 AMI	imageId , name , creationDate , imageState , region , imageState , imageOwnerAlias , tags , accountId
AWS EC2 EBS Snapshot	snapshotId , accountId , serviceType , region , tags , description , isEncrypted , snapshotStartTime , ownerId , ownerAlias , state
AWS EC2 Auto Scaling Group	name , desiredCapacity , maxSize , minSize , region , createdTime , autoScalingGroupARN , accountId , serviceType , tags
AWS RDS	region , accountId , dbInstanceIdentifier , serviceType , tags , dbInstanceArn , dbInstanceClass , engine , dbInstanceStatus .
Azure VM	instanceId , accountId , serviceType , region , tags , powerState , osType , size , resourceGroupName , name .

System Template

Beam provides predefined templates that already contain a python script for executing a specific action.

Note: System templates use asynchronous APIs for taking actions. This means that Beam submits the execution request to the cloud and considers it a success when the request gets accepted. Beam does not check periodically whether the operation got completed in AWS or Azure environments.

Refer to the following table to know about the supported system templates and their corresponding input parameters.

Table 1. Beam System Templates
Resource Type	System Template	Description	Additional Parameters
AWS EC2	Start AWS EC2 Instances	Used to start EC2 instances.	None
	Stop AWS EC2 Instances	Used to stop EC2 instances.	None
	Create AMI For EC2 Instance	Used to create AWS EBS-backed AMI for the selected EC2 instance.	CopyEC2InstanceTags [default: true] NoReboot [default: false]
	Create EBS Snapshots	Used to create snapshots of all the EBS volumes attached to the selected EC2 instance.	ExcludeBootVolume CopyVolumeTagsToSnapshot CopyEC2InstanceTagsToSnapshot [default: true]
	Cleanup AMIs by Max Images To Retain	Used to cleanup backed-up EC2 AMIs, retaining only the specified number of latest AMI(s) and deleting the remaining images. Note: This action only considers the AMIs created through the Create AMI For EC2 Instance system template.	maxImageToRetain
	Cleanup EBS Snapshots By Snapshots To Retain	Used to cleanup EBS snapshots of all the EBS volumes attached to the selected EC2 instance. This action retains the specified number of latest snapshots for all volumes attached to the EC2 instance Note: Playbook will not delete the snapshot of the root device of an EBS volume that is used by a registered AMI. To delete those snapshots, you must unregister the AMI first.	maxSnapshotsToRetain
AWS EC2 AMI	Cleanup AMIs by Retention Period	Used to cleanup backed-up EC2 AMIs. This action deregisters the AMI if its creation date is older than the specified retention period (in days).	retentionTimePeriodInDays
AWS EC2 EBS Snapshot	Cleanup EBS Snapshots by Retention Period	Used to cleanup EBS snapshots older than the specified retention period (in days). Note: Playbook will not delete the snapshot of the root device of an EBS volume that is used by a registered AMI. To delete those snapshots, you must unregister the AMI first.	retentionTimePeriodInDays
AWS EC2 Auto Scaling Group	Update Configs for EC2 Auto Scaling Groups	Used to update configurations (minSize, maxSize, and desiredCapacity) for EC2 auto-scaling groups.	desiredCapacity minSize maxSize
AWS RDS	Start AWS RDS Instances	Used to start RDS instances.	None
AWS RDS	Stop AWS RDS Instances	Used to stop RDS instances.	None
Azure VM	Start Azure VM Instances	Used to start VM instances.	None
Azure VM	Stop Azure VM Instances	Used to stop VM instances.	None

Custom Template

Beam provides you with the option to create custom templates according to your needs and use cases.

You can define static input parameters and dimensions according to your needs and use cases to create a custom template.

Let us take an example to understand the use case of Dimensions.

Suppose you want to create a playbook to stop Windows VMs in the Azure cloud. Start with creating a custom action template for this playbook. In the template, select osType as the parameter and define the value accordingly. Beam will search all the VMs within the resource group and will pass the instance Id and osType data as input to the script. The input parameters and the input object structure are explained in the Action Template section .

Script Format - Guidelines

This section contains important points for you to consider when planning to write the python script in the custom action template.

Note: You must adhere to our recommendations. If not, the script will not get executed correctly, and you will not get the desired result.

Beam provides a basic template for the script body. We recommend you to write your code on top of the provided format.
(Azure) You can only import the following supported libraries:
- azure-identity~=1.4.0
- azure-mgmt-compute~=17.0.0
- azure-mgmt-network~=16.0.0
- azure-mgmt-resource~=15.0.0
- azure-mgmt-storage~=16.0.0
- requests~=2.24.0
(AWS) You can import the libraries that are present in the AWS Lambda-python environment by default. For example, JSON and boto3 .
In the return statement, we recommend you to add totalResourceCount and failedResourceCount fields. These fields correspond to the total number of resources upon which the python script got executed and the number of failed instances. Beam uses these fields to decide if the execution was a success or a failure. The values that the script returns get displayed in the output section of the Run Logs page in a JSON format.
Note:
- If the value of the failedResourceCount field is higher than zero, the execution attempt is marked as failed.
- If the return object is an invalid JSON, the failedResourceCount field is missing, or the value of this field is not an integer, Beam will only consider function invocation to decide the execution status. For more information, see Run Logs .
Figure. Custom Script - Guidelines Click to enlarge
(Azure) To display the log data in the Run Logs page, you need to create a log variable in the return statement. The log data that the script returns get displayed in the Run Logs page .

Creating a Custom Template

You can use the templates to apply actions on the resources in your public cloud (AWS and Azure) environment. Refer to this section to create a custom template.

About this task

To create a custom template, do the following:

Procedure

In the Beam console, click the Hamburger icon in the top-left corner to display the main menu. Then, click Playbooks .
Click Action Library to view the system- and custom-templates.
In the top-left corner of the page, click Create Action Template .
The Create Action Template page appears.
In the Code screen, do the following:
1. In the Input Parameter area, select the inputs according to your requirement.
2. In the Python Script box, enter the action logic code.
  
  The code gets executed in your cloud environment through the AWS lambda function or Azure function.
  
  Caution: Ensure that you enter the correct logic code. Beam does not check your code and is only responsible for invoking the AWS lambda function or Azure function.
3. Click Next to go to the Details screen.
In the Details screen, do the following:
1. In the Name box, enter a name that identifies your custom template.
2. In the Description box, enter a short description for the custom action.
  AWS Lambda or Azure Function gets auto-selected according to the cloud type you selected in the Code screen.
3. Click Save to complete.
  The custom template appears in the Action Library page.

Creating a Playbook

This section explains how to create a playbook using the system or custom action templates. The template consists of the python script that would take action when deployed in a runtime environment, that is, AWS lambda or Azure function. You can use an action template (system or custom) with multiple playbook instances.

Before you begin

You need write permissions on the accounts in which you want to create a playbook.
Ensure that you enabled the accounts in which you want to create a playbook. For more information, see Playbooks Enablement .

About this task

An action template is the building block of the playbook. The template gets defined through the input parameters and the python script. Before you start creating a playbook, we recommend you to get an understanding of the action template. For more information, see Action Template .

To create a playbook for automating your regular workflows, do the following:

Procedure

In the Beam console, click the Hamburger icon in the top-left corner to display the main menu. Then, click Playbooks .

The Playbooks page appears.
Click Create a Playbook .
The Create Playbook page appears.
Playbook creation consists of the following three steps:
- Defining the schedule for the execution of the playbook
- Defining the resource group on which the playbook will get executed
- Defining the action which includes selecting the action template and email notification.
In the Schedule screen, do the following:
1. Select the schedule type according to your requirements.
  The available options are Once , At a recurring time interval , and CRON Expression .
2. If you select the Once option, enter the details as shown in the following image.
  
  Figure. Schedule the Playbook - Once Option Click to enlarge
3. If you select the At a recurring time interval option, enter the details as shown in the following image.
  Figure. Schedule the Playbook - Recurring Option Click to enlarge
  Note:
  - Daily : The Every Days value is limited to a month. Suppose you enter 5 days as the value. The trigger will happen on the following dates of the month: 1, 6, 11, 16, 21, 26, and 31. If you enter the value as 40 days, the trigger will only happen on the first day of every month.
  - Monthly : The Day of every month value is limited to a year. Suppose you enter Day 10 of every 5 month as the value. The trigger will happen on the 10th of January, June, and November.
4. If you select the CRON Expression option, select the time zone, and enter the expression.
  Note:
  - Six field cron-expressions are not supported.
  - Minute level crons are not supported.
  - For the Day of the week field, the allowed values are 0-6 or Mon , Tue , Wed , Thu , Fri , Sat , and Sun .
  - For the Month field, the allowed values are 1 to 12.
  After you define the schedule, click Next in the top-right corner of the page.
In the Resource Group screen, do the following:
1. In the Cloud list, select AWS or Azure .
2. In the Account list, select the account that contains the resources on which you want to automate actions.
  
  Note: Beam allows you to select a single account to avoid issues with cross-account access while executing the function.
3. In the Service list, select the cloud service for which you want to create a playbook.
  The list only shows the services for the cloud you select. The available services are AWS RDS , AWS EC2 , and Azure Virtual Machine .
4. In the Region list, select the regions you want.
  The playbook execution will happen only on the resources belonging to the selected regions.
5. In the Tag Pair list, select at least one key-value pair to further narrow down the resources.
6. Click Next .
In the Select Action screen, do the following:
1. Select an action template.
  This page contains all the system and custom templates for the cloud and service defined in the Resource Group screen.
  You can use the drop-down list in the top-right corner for filtering the system or custom templates. If not already created a custom template from the Action Library page, use the Create Action Template option. For more information, see Creating a Custom Action Template .
2. To successfully execute the playbook on the defined resource group, you must provision permissions for write operations in the respective cloud that corresponds to the action logic defined in the action template.
  - For AWS Playbooks, you must provide the ARN with the necessary permissions.
  - For Azure Playbooks, you must create an Active Directory application and provide the corresponding tenant Id, client Id, and secret key while creating the playbook.
3. If you are creating an AWS playbook, do the following in the action template:
  - Select the region in which you want to create the lambda function.
  - In the Input an ARN with the required permissions box, enter the ARN. For more information, see Creating an AWS IAM Role .
  - In the Input Parameter field, select the required AWS dimensions. For more information, see Action Template
  Figure. AWS Playbook - Required Inputs Click to enlarge
4. If you are creating an Azure playbook, do the following in the action template:
  - In the Azure Function App list, select the application in which you want to deploy the function.
  - In the Input Parameter field, enter the tenant Id, clientId, and secret key. For more information, see Creating an Active Directory App for Playbooks .
    Figure. Azure Playbook - Required Inputs Click to enlarge
5. (Optional) In the left-side pane, click Add Notification and then select Email Notification .
  Do the following:
  - In the Recipients list, select the Beam users to whom you want to send a notification upon the execution of a playbook instance.
  - Enter the subject and message body.
    You can use the Parameters option to add tags in your message body.
    
    Figure. Playbook - Configure Email Notification Click to enlarge
6. Click Save & Close in the top-right corner of the page.
7. Enter a name and a description for the playbook.
8. Click the Status toggle button to decide on the state of the playbook after it gets created and initialized.
  If marked as active, the playbook automatically gets activated after initialization. If it is marked inactive, you need to manually activate the playbook using the toggle button available in the Dashboard .
9. Click Save Playbook to complete the workflow.
  The playbook will appear in the Dashboard .
  Note: After saving the playbook, the initialization process will start. For AWS, this process takes around 1 to 5 minutes. For Azure, it takes around 10 to 15 minutes.

Creating an AWS IAM Role

The lambda function uses an IAM role to fetch the permissions that are required to execute the python script. You need to enter the ARN information while creating a playbook.

About this task

To create an IAM role for executing the python script, do the following:

Procedure

Log on to your AWS Management Console and open the IAM console.
In the navigation pane of the console, click Roles and then click Create role .
The Create Role page appears.
Select the AWS service role type.
In the Choose a use case area, click Lambda . Then, click Next:Permissions at the bottom right side of the page.
Click Create Policy to open a new browser tab and create a new policy from scratch.
1. In the JSON tab, paste the IAM policy required to successfully execute the python script defined in the Beam’s action template.
  
  You can copy the required IAM policy from the Create Playbook page.
  Note: If you are creating a custom action template in the Beam console and using it in the Playbook, make sure you create an AWS IAM policy with the required permissions to execute your custom python script.
  
  Figure. AWS IAM Role - Copy IAM Policy Click to enlarge
2. Click Review policy to proceed.
3. In the Review policy page, enter a name that identifies your policy.
  Adding a description is optional.
4. Click Create policy .
  After you create the policy, close the tab and return to your original tab. The policy you created appears in the list. You can use the search box to find your policy if the list is long.
Select the check box next to the policy that you created and click Next: Tags .
(Optional) In the Add Tags page, add metadata to the role by attaching tags as key-value pairs. Then, click Next: Review .
In the Review page, enter a role name that identifies your IAM role.
Click Create role to complete.
The IAM role appears in the list.
Figure. AWS IAM Role - List Click to enlarge

Click on the IAM role to open the Summary page. This page displays the Role ARN which you require to enter in the Beam console.

Figure. AWS IAM Role - Copy ARN Click to enlarge
Note:
- You can create multiple policies for each action type (for example, start AWS EC2 instance, stop AWS EC2 instance, start AWS RDS instance, and so on) and attach these policies to an IAM role.
- You can also add the required permissions for executing the python script to a single policy and attach the policy to an IAM role.
- You can also create different IAM roles for each policy.

Creating an Active Directory App

To execute the python script added in the action template of the playbook, you need to create an Active Directory (AD) application with write permissions and provide the corresponding tenantId, clientId, and secret-key values in the Beam console.

About this task

To create an AD application for playbook, do the following:

Procedure

Log on to the Azure Portal, and go to Azure Active Directory .
In the left side pane, click App registrations .

The App registrations page appears.
Click New registration .
The Register an application page appears.
Figure. Azure Portal - Registering an Application Click to enlarge

Do the following:
1. Enter a name that identifies your application.
2. In the Supported account types area, click Accounts in this organizational directory only (Nutanix only - Single tenant) .
3. Click Register to create the AD application.
  
  The AD application page appears. Now, you need to add the Azure Service Management API permissions.
In the left side pane, click API permissions .

The Request API permissions pop-up appears.

Figure. Azure Portal - Request API Permissions Click to enlarge
Scroll down and click Azure Service Management .
Select the Access Azure Service Management as organization users check box. Then, click Add permissions .
The next step is to create a client secret.
To add a client secret, do the following:
1. In the left side pane, click Certificate & secrets > New client secret .
2. Enter a description and select an expiry period. Then, click Add .
  You can view the secret key for your Azure AD application.
  Figure. Azure Portal - Viewing Secret Key Click to enlarge
  
  You can view the client ID and tenant ID in the Overview page.
  
  Figure. Azure Portal - Viewing Tenant Id and Client Id Click to enlarge
  
  You need to add these three values in the Input Parameter fields of the action template while creating a playbook.

Playbooks Dashboard

The Playbooks dashboard allows you to view the instances of playbook execution and perform various actions.

You can do the following:

Create a playbook using the button in the top-left corner.
View detailed information of a playbook. Click on a playbook to view its details and log information.
Last Run column : Displays the status of the last execution of the playbook. Hover over the status (success or failed) to view detailed information such as last run time, success rate, total runs, and so on.
Status column : Use the toggle button to change the status of a playbook from active to inactive or otherwise.
Perform various operations (clone, rename, edit, and delete) on a playbook using the icon in the right side.
Clone option : Suppose there is an existing playbook, and you want to create a new playbook with a similar configuration but a different schedule. Clone the existing playbook and change the schedule accordingly to create a new playbook.
Note: A playbook with an error has to be deleted. This would only happen when Beam is unable to create the Lambda function or the Azure function according to the defined playbook. In such cases, you can clone the playbook after a few minutes and delete the playbook with the error.

Figure. Playbooks Dashboard Click to enlarge

Playbook Details

In the Playbooks dashboard, click on a playbook to view its details, including run- and change-log.

The Details page displays the configuration details such as schedule, resource group, and action. You can perform edit and delete operations and change the status of the playbook. For example, active to inactive.

Run Logs

The Run Logs page displays the list of the executions that occurred according to the configured schedule and the status of each execution, that is, success or failure.

You can click View Details against an execution instance to view detailed information such as input (JSON), output (for example, status code, total resource count, failed resource count), and logs.

Suppose a user changes the definition of a playbook (for example, resource group). The next trigger gets executed according to the new definition, that is, on the new resource group. Each execution instance displays the exact configuration (schedule time and resource group) at the time of the trigger. You can go to the Change Logs page to view the details, that is, the user who made the changes and the modifications.

The Attempts section displays the number of attempts made before the playbook gets executed successfully.

Each action item has an Attempts section which displays the following information:

Execution Status : The status displayed depends on the following two factors:
- The function got invoked successfully or failed in the cloud environment.
- The response displayed in the Output field is in a valid JSON format, and the value of the failedResourceCount field value is an integer. If the value is higher than zero, the attempt is unsuccessful, and the status is displayed as failed.
  Note:
  - We recommend you to add totalResourceCount and failedResourceCount fields in the return statement of the python script. For more information, see Script Format - Recommendations.
  - If the JSON format is invalid, the failedResourceCount field is missing, or the value of this field is not an integer, Beam will only consider function invocation and display the status accordingly.
Input : Displays the input that you provided in the AWS lambda or the Azure function.
Output : Displays the response received after the provided script gets executed.
Logs : Displays the log generated by the AWS lambda or the Azure function for the selected execution instance of the Playbook.
Note:
- For AWS, the last 4 KB of logs get fetched from the lambda execution.
- For Azure, we do not fetch any logs from the function execution. Only the data present in the logs variable in the response of the script gets displayed as the execution log.

Change Logs

The Change Logs page displays the historical data of the changes made to the selected playbook.

A line-item gets added to the table for each change. You can expand each line item to view the change made to the expanded version compared to the previous version in the list. The changes made by a user are highlighted.

Scopes

Creating a Scope

A scope is a logical group of your cloud resources that provides you with a custom view of your cloud resources.

About this task

This section describes the procedure to create a scope.

Note: Only a Beam administrator can add viewers in the scope.

To create a scope, do the following.

Procedure

Click the Hamburger icon in the top-left corner to display the main menu. Then, click Configure > Scopes .
Click Create a Scope to open the Scope Creation page.
In the Scope Creation page, you need to enter a scope name and add viewers from the list available. Then you need to define the scope based on cloud, account, and tags.
In the Name box, enter a name for the scope.
In the Viewers list, select the viewers for the scope you are creating.
Click Define Scope to select the cloud, account, and tags.
In the Define Scope page, do the following.
1. In the Cloud list, select the cloud type.
  The available options are AWS , Azure , or GCP .
2. In the Parent Account list, select the parent account for which you want to create a scope.
3. In the Sub Accounts list, select the sub accounts from the list available.
  The Sub Accounts list displays all the sub accounts within the parent account you selected.
4. In the Tag Pair area, select the key and value pairs.
  You can click the plus icon to add multiple key and value pairs.
5. Click Save Filter to save your filter.
  You can click Add Filter to create more filters.
6. Click Save Resource Group to save your scope definition and close the Define Scope page.
In the Scope Creation page, click Save Scope to create the scope.
You can select and view the scope you just created using the View Selector.

Editing a Scope

Before you begin

Only a Beam administrator or the creator of the scope can edit a scope.

About this task

To edit a configured scope, do the following.

Procedure

Click the Hamburger icon in the top-left corner to display the main menu. Then, click Configure > Scopes .
You can view the list of scopes in the Scopes Configuration page. You can use the Search to list the desired Scope to edit.
Click Edit against the scope that you want to edit.
Update the field values as desired in the Scope Creation page and then click the Save Scope button.

Deleting a Scope

Before you begin

Only a Beam administrator or the creator of a scope can delete a scope.

About this task

To delete a configured scope, do the following.

Procedure

Click the Hamburger icon in the top-left corner to display the main menu. Then, click Configure > Scopes .
You can view the list of scopes in the Scopes Configuration page. You can use the Search to list the desired Scope to edit.
Click Delete against the scope that you want to delete.

Click to enlarge
Do one of the following:
- Click Delete to delete the scope.
- Click Cancel to return to the Scope Configuration page.

Cloud Invoice (AWS)

The Invoice page generates invoices for your customers as a reseller or for the business units within your company based on the AWS accounts. This page displays a list of account names with the account ID and bill amount.

For information on configuring invoices, see Configuring Invoices.

You can use the search bar to view the bill for a specific account. If you want to generate reports, you can use generate, share, or download report options. For more information on reports, see Cost Reports.

Note: By default, Beam updates the invoices for the previous month on the seventh of every month. To change configurations and generate invoices on demand, click the refresh button at the top of the page.

Configuring Invoice (AWS)

You can configure settings for invoices generated for all the linked accounts under a payer account.

About this task

To configure invoice settings, do the following.

Procedure

Click the Hamburger icon in the top-left corner to display the main menu. Then, click Configure > Invoice Configuration .
In Logo Preview , click Upload to upload a picture.
In Company Address , enter your company address.
To select a way to add cost, choose one of the following.
- Extra line
- Distribute proportionally
If you selected the Extra line item option in step 5, do the following.
1. Move the slider to the right to change commission type from fixed to the percentage.
2. Enter a commission value.
3. Enter the line description.
If you selected the Distribute proportionally option in step 5, do the following.
1. Move the slider to the right to change commission type from fixed to the percentage.
2. Enter a commission value.
To do more settings, click the Additional Settings (optional) drop-down to expand the menu.
1. In Currency Type , enter the value for currency type and commission rate.
  
  Note: By default, currency type is USD, enter the commission value in the same currency.
2. Enable Include AWS credits in invoices , if necessary.
3. To select the cost type for generating invoices, select either Blended Cost or Unblended Cost .
In Customize for linked account , select a linked account from the drop-down list.
Click Submit .

Licensing

This section provides information about the supported licenses for your Beam accounts, license entitlement for Nutanix on-premises, and subscription entitlement for public clouds.

The supported licenses are as follows. If you have any of the following licenses, you can convert your Beam account to a paid state.

NCM Ultimate
NCM Pro
Prism Ultimate

The Licensing page allows you to:

View information about the license entitlement (required for accessing cost management features for Nutanix On-premises).
- Status can be In Trial , License Applied , Trial Expired , or License Expired .
Activate your license ( Apply License or Validate License ) to convert from In Trial or Expired to the License Applied status.
View information about Beam public cloud subscription (required for accessing cost management features for Public Cloud).
- Status can be In Trial , Subscription Active , Trial Expired , or Subscription Expired .
Purchase public cloud subscriptions using the Purchase Online Now option.

Note: Only the Beam account owner can view the details on the Licensing page.

To access the Licensing page, click Hamburger Icon > Configure > Licensing .

License Entitlement for Nutanix - Status

Refer to the following table to know about the various statuses available for your Beam account.


Status	Description
In Trial	A banner gets displayed notifying you about the trial period and suggesting you purchase a license.
Trial Expired or License Expired	The Expired status appears after your trial period gets over or the applied license gets expired. You would not be able to use the Beam features and need to purchase the license.
License Applied	Indicates that your license is applied. You can also view the expiry date for the license.

License Entitlement for Nutanix - Actions

The following two cases may occur after the license gets applied:

System detects a valid license

Beam checks if the supported license is available for the Beam account in which you are logged in.

If a license gets detected, the License is Found status gets displayed along with the Apply License option to apply for the license manually. After you perform this action, the status changes to License Applied along with the expiry date.
You need to perform the Apply License action only for the first time after you buy a license and log on to Beam. Beam periodically checks for any new licenses that you purchased, then applies the license or updates the expiry date accordingly.
- Scenario 1: Beam detects L1 (expiry date as 31 December 2021) on 1 January 2021 and you click Apply License to activate the license. On 31 December 2021, Beam detects L2 (expiry date as 31 December 2022) and automatically applies the license.
- Scenario 2: Suppose you buy multiple licenses with different expiry dates. For example, L1 and L2 with expiry dates as 21 June and 21 December. Beam will show the license with the farthest expiry date (21 December) once the data about the new purchases get discovered through periodic checks.

System does not find a valid license

The validation may fail due to the following reasons:

You entered an invalid license key.
You entered a valid license key that belongs to another MyNutanix account. The reason for validation failure is that the Beam account can only be linked to a single MyNutanix account. Contact Nutanix support for further help.

Subscription Entitlement for Public Clouds - Status

For public clouds (AWS and Azure), one of the following statuses get displayed on the Licensing page:


Status	Description
In Trial	A banner gets displayed to notify you about the trial period and an option to purchase a subscription. To purchase a subscription, click Purchase Online Now , which redirects you to the Nutanix Billing Center.
Subscription Active	This status indicates that you have an active subscription. The expiration date of the active subscription is also displayed.
Trial Expired or License Expired	The Expired status appears after your trial period gets over or the active subscription gets expired. You would not be able to use the Beam features and need to purchase or renew the subscription.

Feature Violations

Feature violations occur in the following cases:

You have an active license but you are using the public cloud features in Beam without an active subscription.
You have active public cloud subscriptions but you are using the Nutanix features in Beam without a license.

Beam API

Beam provides API services to allow you to programmatically retrieve data from the Beam's platform and perform different configurations.

The following are a few scenarios for using the API services:

You can programmatically retrieve analyze data for your cloud accounts using API. You can select the resource group to raise a query. For example, you can raise a query for a business unit or a cost center. For more information, see the Analysis v2 or Analyze sections in the Beam API Reference Guide.
You can use APIs for remote onboarding of your cloud accounts without the need to log in to the Beam GUI. For more information, see dev.beam.nutanix.com.
You can perform CRUD operations on business units, cost centers, and scopes using APIs. For more information, see the Cost Governance - Multicloud section in the Beam API Reference Guide .

External Integrations

You can integrate Beam with third-party applications such as Slack and ServiceNow.

The following sections describe the integrations you can perform in the Beam application.

Integrating Slack with Beam

You can integrate Beam application with Slack to get notifications on your Slack channels. This section describes how to integrate Slack to Beam.

About this task

To integrate the Slack application with Beam, do the following.

Procedure

Click the Hamburger icon in the top-left corner to display the main menu. Then, click Configure > Integrations .
Click Add Integration in the Slack dialog box. Then click Add Slack .
Enter a name for your Slack integration.
Select the accounts for which you want to receive notifications on Slack .
Log on to your Slack account and do the following.
Make sure that you have the permissions to add incoming webhooks.
1. Click the drop-down menu at the top-left corner (next to the name of your team).
2. Click Apps .
3. Search for Incoming Webhooks and select it.
  
  Figure. Slack - Incoming Webhooks Click to enlarge
4. Click Add Configuration .
5. Select the Channel on which you want to receive your alerts. Alternatively, create a slack channel.
6. Click Add Incoming Webhooks Integration .
7. Copy the WebHook URL so that you can enter this URL in Beam.
Paste the copied URL in the Webhook field.
Click Save Settings .
Select the events for which you want to receive the notifications.
Click Integrate to complete the setup.

ServiceNow Integration with Nutanix Beam

ServiceNow provides IT services management (ITSM), and IT operations management (ITOM) as a software service.

Nutanix Beam & Security Central Plugin (ServiceNow Beam application) helps to integrate your ServiceNow instance with your Beam account. You can create a Change Request for Beam's cost optimization recommendations. Your Beam account also receives updates on any changes made to the change requests created through this integration.

ServiceNow integration in Beam consists of the following steps.

Install Beam application in ServiceNow
Go to store-servicenow to get the Nutanix Beam & Security Central Plugin .

To install the Beam application in your ServiceNow instance, see ServiceNow Documentation.
Create ServiceNow integration in Beam
The Integrations page allows you to create a ServiceNow integration in Beam. Beam generates Webhook URL and Security Token . You need to enter the webhook URL and security token when creating an Integration Definition in the ServiceNow Beam application .

After the Integration Definition in your ServiceNow instance is complete, you can click Verify and Save to complete the ServiceNow Integration. The Default Change Request Template gets created by default. You can add more templates if you want.
Create Integration Definition in the ServiceNow Beam Application
In your ServiceNow instance, you need to create an Integration Definition. When creating the definition, you need to enter the webhook URL and security token (auto-generated by Beam in the Integrations page) in the Endpoint and Token fields.

Note: In case you did not copy the webhook URL and security token when creating the ServiceNow integration in Beam , go to the Integrations page and click Edit against the ServiceNow integration you created. The Edit ServiceNow Integration page appears. Then you can copy the webhook URL and security token.

Figure. Integrations Page - Webhook URL and Security Token Details Click to enlarge
Creating a Template in Beam
After you click Verify and Save in the Integrations page to complete creating the ServiceNow Integration in Beam, the Default Change Request Template gets created by default.

You can also add more templates. In the Integrations page, click the templates link against the ServiceNow Integration to go to the ServiceNow Templates page. In the top-left corner, click Add Template .
You can do the following:
- Select the task type - Change Request .
- Add more fields and parameters by using the Add optional fields list and Parameters link respectively.
Create a ServiceNow ticket
You can create a ticket for the selected resources from the Optimize tab.

Creating ServiceNow Integration in Beam

You can use the Configure menu to go to the Integrations page.

About this task

In the Integrations page, you can create a ServiceNow integration.

To create a ServiceNow integration in Beam, do the following.

Procedure

Click the Hamburger icon in the top-left corner to display the main menu. Then, click Configure > Integrations .
The Integrations page appears.

Figure. Integrations Page - Creating ServiceNow Integration Click to enlarge
In the ServiceNow area, click Add Integration .
The Add ServiceNow Integration page appears.
In the Name and Description fields, enter a name and description for your ServiceNow integration.

Note: The Description field is optional.

The Webhook URL and Security Token fields are auto-populated by Beam. Copy and enter the webhook URL and security token details in the Endpoint and Token fields when creating an Integration Definition in the ServiceNow Beam application. For more information, see Creating Integration Definition in ServiceNow Beam Application .
Select I confirm that I've installed the Beam’s ServiceNow app with above mentioned parameters. check box after you complete creating an Integration Definition in the ServiceNow Beam application in your ServiceNow instance. Then click Verify and Save to complete the ServiceNow integration in Beam.
The Default Change Request Template gets created by default.

You can also create a template. To create a template, see Creating a ServiceNow Template .

Creating an Integration Definition in the ServiceNow Beam Application

You need to create an integration definition for your ServiceNow Beam application in your ServiceNow instance. You need to enter the webhook URL and security token (auto-generated by Beam in the Integrations page) in the Endpoint and Token fields.

About this task

To create an Integration Definition in the ServiceNow Beam application, do the following.

Procedure

In the ServiceNow home page, in the Filter navigator search box, search for the Nutanix Beam application.
Under Configuration , click Integration Definitions .
The Integration Definitions page appears.

Figure. ServiceNow Beam Application - Integration Definitions page Click to enlarge
Click New to create an integration definition.
In the Name box, enter a name for your integration definition.
Select the Active check box.

Note: If you do not select this check box, the integration between your Beam account and ServiceNow instance will not get established.

Figure. New Record - Integrations Definitions Click to enlarge
In the Poll Interval (in secs) box, enter a value.
The system checks for new messages after the interval value you enter in this field. The default value is 120 seconds.
Note: The recommended value is from 30 to 240 seconds. If you enter a value less than 30 seconds, the system throws an invalid insert error.
In the Description box, enter a short description for your integration definition.
In the Endpoint box, enter the Webhook URL that Beam auto-generated when creating the ServiceNow integration in Beam.

Note: You need to click the lock icon in the right side to unlock the Endpoint box.
In the Token box, enter the Security Token that Beam auto-generated when creating the ServiceNow integration in Beam.
Click Submit to complete creating the integration definition.
The integration definition you created appears in the Integration Definitions page.

Now, go to the Integrations page in Beam and click Verify and Save ( step 4 of Creating ServiceNow Integration in Beam ).

Creating a ServiceNow Template in Beam

You can create a template by adding parameters and fields according to your requirements.

About this task

After you click Verify and Save in the Integrations page to complete creating the ServiceNow Integration in Beam , the Default Change Request Template gets created by default.

You can also create a template.

To create a template, do the following.

Procedure

In the Integrations page, expand the ServiceNow area to view the list of integrations already created.
In the Templates column, click the link to open the ServiceNow Templates page.

Figure. Integrations page - ServiceNow Click to enlarge
In the top-left corner, click Add template to open the Add ServiceNow Integration Template page.
In the Name and Description boxes, enter a name and description for your template.

Figure. Add ServiceNow Integration Template page Click to enlarge
In the Task Type list, click Change Request .
Click the Add Optional fields list to add more fields in your template.
You can add various parameters in the fields.
Click the Parameters link to view the list of triggers. Then click the required items to add in the field.
Example: For an underutilized EBS volume, you can add a description and summary as follows.
- Description - The EBS volume, {resourceId}, in {account}, is not attached to any EC2 instance, and deleting it can potentially save {currency}{potentialSavings} per month.
- Summary - Delete this unused EBS volume.
  Note: You can use the Summary parameter in the Short description field.
Click Save to complete adding a template.
The template appears in the ServiceNow Templates list.

What to do next

Now, you can create ServiceNow tickets for your resources. For more information, see Creating a ServiceNow Ticket .

Creating a ServiceNow Ticket

You can create ServiceNow tickets for your resources in the Optimize tab.

About this task

To create a ServiceNow ticket, do the following.

Procedure

Click the Hamburger icon in the top-left corner to display the main menu. Then, click Save > Optimize .
In the Optimize tab, click View List against a cloud resource. You can view the list of resources.
Select the resources for which you want to create a ticket. In the top-right corner, in the Actions list, click Create ServiceNow Ticket .
The Create ServiceNow Ticket page appears.

Note: If you select multiple issues, a ServiceNow ticket gets created for each issue.
In the Select Integration list, select the ServiceNow integration you created.
The Import from template to fill the form and Task Type lists appear after you select an integration.
(Optional) In the Import from template to fill the form list, select the template you created before.
For more information, see Creating a ServiceNow Template in Beam.

The Task Type list gets populated with the task type you selected when creating the template.

Note: You can also edit the form after you import the template. Editing of the form will not change the original template.
In the Task Type list, select Change Request.
If you selected a template in the step 4, skip this step.
The Optional fields area appears after you select a template or a task type.
In the Optional fields area, you can do the following.
- Click the Add Optional fields list to add more fields.
- Click the Parameters link to view the list of triggers. Then click the required items to add in the field.
  Example: For an underutilized EBS volume, you can add a description and summary as follows.
  - Description - The EBS volume, {resourceId}, is not attached to any EC2 instance, and deleting it can potentially save {currency}{potentialSavings} per month.
  - Summary - Delete this unused EBS volume.
    Note: You can use the Summary parameter in the Short description field.
Click Create Ticket to complete.

Note: The ticket creation process takes some time depending on the poll interval value you enter in Step 6 of Creating Integration Definition .
You can hover over the ticket link to view the status of the ticket.
- Ticket Number - Click the link to open the ticket in your ServiceNow instance.
- Ticket State - Shows the ServiceNow status of the ticket. After the ticket gets created, the status is shown as New . If the status gets updated in your ServiceNow instance, the same status is reflected in this column.
- Ticket Creation State - Shows the Beam status of the ticket. After the process is complete, the status changes from In Progress to Created .
Figure. ServiceNow Ticket - Status (In Progress) Click to enlarge

Figure. ServiceNow Ticket - Status (Created) Click to enlarge

Read article