In the wake of Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware and the subsequent licensing changes, many organizations are exploring alternative virtualization platforms. Nutanix has emerged as a viable option, offering robust solutions for modern IT infrastructures. To support this transition, Flexera has added a new capability to its IT Asset Management platform: the Nutanix Acropolis Hypervisor (AHV) VM inventory collector.
Nutanix Prism is the management interface for Nutanix’s hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI). It provides a single pane of glass to manage virtual machines, storage, networking and clusters. Nutanix Prism simplifies IT operations with features like performance monitoring, capacity planning and automation—all in a user-friendly dashboard.
Nutanix AHV is Nutanix’s native hypervisor, built into its platform and based on open-source KVM. It’s tightly integrated with Nutanix Prism, allowing seamless VM lifecycle management, high availability and security.
Flexera’s new Nutanix AHV inventory collector lets Nutanix users find and track the relationships between VMs and hosts on Nutanix servers managed by Nutanix Prism.
Navigating the post-VMware landscape
Broadcom’s $61 billion acquisition of VMware in November 2023 led to significant shifts in VMware’s licensing model. The company changed from perpetual licenses to subscription-only models. It also increased the minimum core purchase requirement from 16 to 72 cores. Later, the company started sending letters to users with expired support contracts. The letters asked them to remove any updates or patches they had put in after the contract expired, except for critical zero-day security fixes. This enforcement, coupled with substantial price increases—some reports indicate up to a 300% hike—has led to customer reevaluations of virtualization strategies, particularly among small and medium-sized businesses.
Nutanix has responded by offering a special migration promotion until July 31, 2025, that helps organizations move from VMware. This promotion includes one year of free Nutanix licensing and migration services, aiming to minimize operational costs during the transition.
Flexera’s new integration with Nutanix
Alongside the industry’s shift toward alternative virtualization platforms, Flexera has enhanced its IT Asset Management platform by adding support for Nutanix Prism and AHV. This new feature enables organizations to discover and inventory virtual machines hosted on Nutanix servers managed by Nutanix Prism.
Key features:
- Comprehensive inventory collection: Flexera’s IT Asset Management now collects detailed information on Nutanix VM infrastructure, including clusters, pools and hosts, as well as software inventory installed on virtual machines.
- License compliance positioning: With the collected data, organizations can generate a license compliance position for VM-Host and Host-Cluster relationships managed by Nutanix Prism.
- Integration requirements: A minimum version of FlexNet Beacon 23.4.0 is required to use this feature. The ndtrack component is used for software inventory collection, which can be installed locally or run remotely from the appropriate inventory beacon.
Strategic advantages for IT Asset Management
The integration of Nutanix Prism and AHV into Flexera’s IT Asset Management platform offers several strategic benefits:
- Enhanced visibility: Organizations gain a unified view of their virtual environments, facilitating better decision-making and resource allocation.
- Improved compliance: Accurate inventory data helps you comply with licensing agreements, reducing the risk of audits and associated penalties.
- Streamlined operations: The ability to manage and monitor Nutanix environments within the existing IT Asset Management framework simplifies operations and reduces administrative overhead.
As the virtualization landscape evolves, organizations must adapt to maintain operational efficiency and compliance. Flexera’s new ability to collect inventory data from Nutanix Prism and AHV environments helps organizations handle this change well. By leveraging this integration, you can ensure accurate asset management and maintain compliance.
Interested in how Flexera can help you manage your Nutanix VMs? Schedule a personalized demo today.
