Nutanix Sofware on HPE ProLiant & New Pricing Models: Nutanix Go!

Nutanix Software on ProLiant Hardware & Nutanix Go Pricing Model

Nutanix Software on select HPE ProLiant Hardware

Today Nutanix announced that they will support Nutanix Software running on select models of HPE ProLiant hardware. Nutanix claims that this is part of their mission to "Set customers free from their silos of IT so that they can focus on the apps and services that power the business.". This announcement is similarly in line with last August's announcement of Nutanix on Cisco UCS. This will not be an OEM offering, rather what Nutanix is calling a "Meet-In-The-Channel" solution. Interested customers will purchase the Nutanix software from a channel partner, and the hardware from an authorized re-seller or HPE directly. Either the re-seller or the channel partner will integrate the two for the end customer.

The first two models to be supported are the DL360-G9 and the DL380-G9

Currently under final testing, Nutanix anticipates that the solution will be production ready by the start of the 4th quarter, 2017. They also said should testing go well, it may be available sooner. Bundling will be done in the same manner as the Nutanix/Cisco UCS release, with support and software subscription included. The pricing will be on a per node basis for a fixed term of 1, 3, or 5 years. This, they feel, will provide a complete solution. Acropolis Pro and Ultimate Editions are the first Nutanix Hypervisors to be certified on the HPE platform, as Nutanix wanted to offer the most feature rich editions to HPE's global customer reach.

Support for this solution will be handled the same as the UCS Nutanix deployments. If there is a hardware issue, the customer contacts HPE. If there's a software issue, call Nutanix, and when in doubt, call Nutanix. Both Nutanix and HPE are members of the Technical Support Alliance Network (TSANet), so support hand-off between vendors should be seamless. At this time, Nutanix will not support mixed clusters of Cisco UCS & HPE ProLiant.

Nutanix Go: Pay As You Go Pricing

Being touted as a pay as you go offering for the on premises cloud, Nutanix also announced their Go pricing model.This model, which is immediately available in the United States, allows customers to rent Nutanix branded NX hardware for terms as short as 6 months, and as long as 5 years, with varying renewal offerings in between.

 

Customers will have the capability to scale up their solution during the term length, and return the hardware at the end in Nutanix supplied shipping materials. Similar to cloud, this allows customers to scale their physical infrastructure up and down as demand dictates. Nutanix claims that this pricing model helps to reduce some of the risk of projects, especially if the full scale of the project is not known at the start, or if the project viability is in question. They anticipate a quicker return on investment for a smaller sum of money for a shorter period of time versus a large, up front purchase. 

Customers can reach out to their preferred Nutanix channel partner for further information, or to get set up on the Go pricing model. All billing after the fact is handled by Nutanix directly. Much like many other solutions, longer term agreements will yield better pricing versus short term contracts. The Go model is priced with a single SKU which includes hardware, software, support, and entitlements. The model is priced per block per term.

If you'd like to join the conversation about Nutanix's new offerings, have any show ideas, or would like to be a guest on my podcast, reach out to me on Twitter (@ExploreVM), Email, or on Facebook.

Official Press Release Here

 

ExploreVM Podcast - Episode 4: Bridging the Security Gap with Edward Haletky

When corporate data is lost, or worse, stolen by hackers, it can have disastrous results on a company's reputation and potentially lead to the closure of the business. With security breaches becoming more and more high profile, why do so many sys admins put security on the back burner? Conversely, why are security admins seemingly so hard to work with when all the engineer wants to do is get the project done. In this episode, we will take a look at bridging the gap between security and operations.


Listen to "ExploreVM Podcast" on Spreaker.

To Contact Edward:

Twitter

https://twitter.com/Texiwill

Blogs & Links

https://www.virtualizationpractice.com/
https://www.astroarch.com/blog
https://www.virtualizationpractice.com/download/38744/ 
https://www.virtualizationpractice.com/podcasts/

If you'd like to join the conversation about the show's topic, have any show ideas, or would like to be a guest, reach out to me on Twitter (@ExploreVM), Email, or on Facebook.

Clash of the Clouds - Datacenter Madness

I had the honor of being part of Actual Tech Media's Datacenter Madness webinar series. The series was also sponsored by Nutanix and Intel. As part of the Nutanix Technology Champions program, I was asked by Angelo Luciani if I wanted to participate. I had to jump at the chance to participate in my first webinar after many years speaking live at VMUG events. My segment of the 4 part webinar was a discussion on On Premises versus Hosted Datacenter deployments. Below are the notes from my answers, as well as some of the links to the studies I mentioned in the webinar.

 

On premises vs. Hosted Deployments

Speakers: Stephen Foskett and Paul Woodward, Jr.

Are IT teams playing a home or away game? We’ll explore whether

cloud will be a logical extension to on-prem data centers as it is in

personal devices (iPhone to iCloud and Android to Gdrive) with

seamless cloud extensions, or if organizations move to a cloud-first

world where most of their workloads sit in either a hosted private or the public cloud.

(This first comparison isn’t on-prem versus public, but on-prem versus hosted [both being private]. We can extend it to be public too, but that is part two.)

How much non-IT sanctioned application activity do you think is taking place in the typical enterprise?

• 2013 study - 200 businesses
• 7 of 10 organizations utilizing unsanctioned cloud services
• 71% utilize something like Gmail or Dropbox to get work done despite it not being approved by IT
• 77% predicted an increase in their use of cloud services
• 2015 Gartner study said they anticipated 35% of IT expenditure to be on shadow IT services
• 2015 Brocade survey - 83% of CIOs report seeing some sort of unauthorized IT services in use

https://www.forbes.com/sites/joemckendrick/2013/01/31/seven-out-of-10-cloud-applications-not-sanctioned-by-it-departments-is-this-a-bad-thing/#57c0d6a751d7

http://www.zdnet.com/article/93-of-corporate-users-will-install-a-non-sanctioned-app-within-the-next-6-months/

http://www.itproportal.com/2015/11/20/why-shutting-down-shadow-it-stifles-innovation/

http://converge.xyz/2016-the-state-of-shadow-it/

http://www.itp.net/603235-unauthorised-cloud-adoption-growing-issue-for-cios

Are companies really trying to get out of the data center business or are they just seeking more efficient ways to operate these environments?

• The bottom line rules us all, it is to operate in a more cost efficient way
• Same 2013 study - top answer for cloud migration was due to cost reduction
• 2015 Brocade survey - 90% of those CIOs surveyed had adopted some piece of cloud computing / As a Service offering

What role do cloud service providers play versus the public cloud providers?

• Smaller, more localized
• In some cases, you can actually tour these facilities
• Better working relationship with the provider

Allude to the concept of managed services and infrastructure hosting / collocation.

• Managed services is a great example, I worked for a managed services provider that offered a private cloud service.
• Many small/medium sized businesses can offload some, if not all of their infrastructure to those sites
• No need to keep up with hardware maintenance, patching, and updates

Who do you think enterprise IT pros and risk managers trust more – local IT security experts or vendors or cloud service providers security staff?

• Working for a vendor, we see a lot of companies reaching out to us for our expertise
• It takes time to build that trust relationship
• With local experts, they generally know the risk profile of the local community, and have a better feel for risk tolerance of an individual organization that they know personally.
• It depends on the enterprise - does the org trust IT and see value in their IT?
• If, so I would assume that they would trust their local IT more, and use the vendor to keep them in check
• Otherwise, if they don't trust IT, they would definitely trust the vendor more
• As I work for a vendor, we do see a lot of organizations coming to us for our expertise. That being said, it varies greatly from business to business. Some businesses have lost trust in their local IT departments, and with many high profile hacking cases in the news lately, some companies still do not trust a provider to protect their data

How do the economics play out for on-prem deployment versus service providers versus cloud

• What does your company value more - OpEx reduction or CapEx reduction
• Going to the cloud means you're investing less in hardware up front
• Cloud is also just leasing space, your cost remains the same or goes up versus a one time purchase

If you'd like to join in the conversation, or be a guest on my podcast, reach out to me on Twitter  or email me!

ExploreVM Podcast - Episode 3: A Conversation with Alan Renouf - APIs, SDKs, and More!

VMware recently announced they were open sourcing two of their Software Development Kits. To learn more about what this means for developers and the FOSS community, I spoke with VMware's Alan Renouf about SDKs, APIs, and PowerCLI. Alan also has an important message about providing feedback and involvement.

Listen to "ExploreVM Podcast" on Spreaker.

To contact Alan Renouf:

https://twitter.com/alanrenouf
http://www.virtu-al.net/
Email Alan

More about VMware SDKs & APIs:

https://blogs.vmware.com/opensource/2017/03/09/integration-vmware-vsphere-using-new-open-sourced-software-development-kits/
https://github.com/vmware/vsphere-automation-sdk-rest
https://blogs.vmware.com/code/2017/02/02/getting-started-vsphere-automation-sdk-rest/
https://blogs.vmware.com/code/2017/02/15/getting-started-vsphere-automation-sdk-rest-p2/
https://code.vmware.com/web/dp/doc/preview?id=4645
https://vmware.github.io/vsphere-automation-sdk/
http://www.lucd.info/2017/03/10/vsphere-automation-sdks-powershell-part-1/
https://virtualbrakeman.wordpress.com/2017/03/12/vsphere-automation-sdks/

If you'd like to join the conversation about the show's topic, have any show ideas, or would like to be a guest, reach out to me on Twitter (@ExploreVM), Email, or on Facebook. 

ExploreVM Podcast - Episode 2: On-Premises Datacenter is Dead! Long Live On-Premises Datacenter

In this episode, I drop a topic between two vExperts and let them run free!

Join myself, Ariel Sanchez Mora, and Trevor Pott for a spirited conversation about on-premises, hybrid,and public cloud's role in IT infrastructure now and in the future. We also discuss what these changing technologies mean for the infrastructure administrator.

Listen to "ExploreVM Podcast" on Spreaker.

To contact my guests:

Ariel Sanchez Mora
arielsanchezmora.com
@arielsanchezmor

Trevor Pott
trevorpott.com
@cakeis_not_alie


If you'd like to join the conversation about the show's topic, have any show ideas, or would like to be a guest, reach out to me on Twitter (@ExploreVM), Email, or on Facebook.

ExploreVM Podcast - Episode 1: Community & Virtual Design Master

The ExploreVM Podcast is *finally* live!

In the first episode, I chat with Eric Wright about community involvement and Virtual Design Master. We cover some of the history of vDM, the benefits of participating, as well as how community involvement has impacted our careers.

Listen to "ExploreVM Podcast" on Spreaker.

I do apologize for the blips in Eric's audio. He was gracious enough to take time out of his day while on the road to record, so we had to deal with the perils of hotel wifi. Also, this is my first foray into editing a show since high school, so it can only get better from here!

We hope that this show has inspired those on the fence about getting out there and getting involved to action. Myself and Eric are more than willing to help anyone prepare a VMUG session, blog, or any other way you'd like to contribute to the vCommunity!

If you'd like to join the conversation about the show's topic, have any show ideas, or would like to be a guest, reach out to me on Twitter (@ExploreVM)

To contact Eric Wright:
https://twitter.com/discoposse
http://discoposse.com/
https://greencircle.vmturbo.com/docs/DOC-1999-gc-on-demand-show-directory/

Quick Update & North Central WIVMUG Slide Deck - Upgrading to vSphere 6 (updated)!

Below you'll find the slide deck from my most recent VMUG session, "Upgrading to vSphere 6 - Updated", from the North Central WIVMUG Super VMUG meeting on 11/03 at UW Eau Claire.This session was updated to include information about the VCSA migration tool.

I appreciate all of the feedback and questions I receive about my sessions. Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions here or on Twitter (@ExploreVM).

As an aside, I've had some personal matters come up lately. This has taken up a lot of my free time which would have been dedicated to blogging & podcasting. I will be writing on this subject shortly, as well as getting back to creating more content soon! I'm also migrating ExploreVM.com away from Blogger to another platform, and have a new logo and stickers created! Ask me for a sticker next time you see me at a VMUG event!

2016.11.03 ncwivmug super meeting - v sphere 6 upgrade from Paul Woodward Jr