Did you say maintenance?

Have you ever struggled with keeping your infrastructure patched? Have you succumbed to the mindset, if it’s not broken, don’t fix it? Are your software and hardware versions so out of date you are nervous about upgrading it? Or, are you simply tired of working after hours patching systems, waiting, and sipping on coffee while everyone else is sleeping?

For me, I answered yes to all of the above just a short time ago. It wasn’t always that way. As time passed, scale-out occurred, downtime became unacceptable, and upgrading became near impossible. The only time I could be confident a technology was entirely up to date was Day 1 operation. Once the technology became production, there was little chance that I was keeping with the latest release. If there were a feature requirement and available in an update, only then would it be considered. But, even so, it would take weeks to months to occur. Coordinating a maintenance window was just one of many hurdles. There were instances where buying new and silo’ing was the path of least resistance. Which, in turn, creates an entirely different problem!

Enough about the past. Let’s talk about Nutanix Life Cycle Management.

Nutanix Lifecycle Manager is the one-click framework for providing firmware and software updates to Nutanix infrastructures. LCM is independent of AOS & Prism, allowing for a more rapid product release plan, and is not dependent on specific versions of Nutanix core.

The latest version of LCM runs as an independent application. A decoupled design allows Nutanix to upgrade the LCM app outside of the Acropolis Operating System or AOS. As a result, upgrading LCM is non-disruptive, allowing upgrades during regular business hours and assuring additional software upgrades within the stack have the most up to date dependencies. Also, LCM can is capable of auto-updating while it is performing an inventory. The differentiator here is that we ensure customers are running the latest LCM version at all times, enabling customers to take advantage of the most modern and innovative features for the upgrade process.

A key value to the Nutanix LCM is how we handle any component upgrade that has a requirement on another entity. For example, if a BIOS update is required, but also requires a BMC update, LCM will not only highlight this, but it will also decide the correct order to apply the updates.

As a demonstration of this capability, I have included the following YouTube link.

In an innovative traditional style here at Nutanix, LCM is not limited to underlying hardware upgrades. The LCM Framework supports upgrading the Nutanix software stack as well. 

Did you say maintenance? There is no need to delay anymore. Get the most out of your infrastructure. Ask yourself, is there a better way. Review the following questions and reach out to us for more information on Nutanix Life Cycle Management and one-click capabilities. 

• Is downtime required?
• Is there a performance impact when upgrading?
• What happens if the upgrade becomes stuck?
• How do I know if a version is compatible?
• What should I do in advance of an upgrade?
• How long does it take?

If you want more information on how upgrades work at Nutanix, please view our public information using the following link. https://portal.nutanix.com/page/documents/kbs/details/?targetId=kA00e000000LMgICAW

Have you upgrad[ed]?