Today Nutanix has released the Xtract for VM’s product. With this tool you will finally be able to directly move your existing vSphere infrastructure to the Nutanix Cloud platform on AHV without any 3rd party tooling or workarounds.
Previously there where several ways to move from ESXi to AHV. The first way was to use 3rd party tooling like starwind to convert the disks. The other ways where completely manual by adding existing disks to new VM’s, use the cross hypervisor DR functionality or in place ESXi > AHV conversion if both clusters where already running on Nutanix. While these are tested and well documented scenario’s, there was no easy way to just test this and it could require a large maintenance window with a lot of manual actions. Rolling back could be a pita as well so it might end up being a costly effort.
In the spring Nutanix already announced Xtract, a tool that would solve all these headaches for you. With it you can schedule the migration and it will insert the required drivers and network settings for you. This results in a migration with hardly any downtime. You can setup the sync from ESXi to AHV wel advance so it is possible to test the complete migration procedure well in advance of the final cutover.
TLDR:
Release of new Nutanix tool called Xtract for Vm’s that efficiently and safely automates the move of your vm’s from ESXi to AHV.
