Nutanix AOS 6.8.1 Maintenance Release: Three Key Features to Highlight

This release is particularly notable for a maintenance release because three significant new features have been included in addition to the usual bug fixes.

Specifically, customers can now improve recovery point objectives (RPO) with dense storage configurations, optimize disaster recovery to AWS with the new Nutanix Pilot Light Multicloud Snapshot Technology (MST) capability, and improve resiliency in furtherance of the EU’s new Digital Operations Resiliency Act (DORA) with multi-site metro.

Let’s take a deeper look.

24-hour RPO for 307TB NVMe All-Flash Nodes

The AOS 6.8.1 release continues our ongoing initiative to increase storage density per node for Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) deployments. With 6.8.1, we now support 307 TB per node (20*15.36 TB NVMe) with 24-hour RPO for NVMe all-flash deployments.

This enhancement enables deployment of a fully populated NX-8150 G9 node with 15.36 TB NVMe. Incorporating denser nodes with new 24-hour RPOs into resiliency plans not only helps mitigate risk but also provides a cost-effective storage solution that ensures data protection and business continuity.

Cost Efficiency with Snapshots on AWS S3

Introducing the latest Nutanix innovation in the world of disaster recovery services in the public cloud – MST DR with Pilot Light Deployment. This new capability allows customers to distribute, manage and restore snapshots across hybrid multicloud endpoints. 

Snapshots can be offloaded directly to Nutanix Objects Storage or AWS S3 storage and restored to the Nutanix Cloud Clusters (NC2) platform as needed rather than taking up space in NC2. This dramatically reduces disaster recovery expenses.

Pilot Light MST enables customers to replicate critical workloads directly to an NC2 Pilot Light cluster, while replicating less critical snapshots to AWS S3 or other S3-compliant object stores. In case of a failover, NC2 can be expanded to restore snapshots from the object store to recover the workload , ensuring uninterrupted protection around the clock.

Improved Regulatory Compliance with Metro Multi-Site Disaster Recovery

Customers running mission critical applications are often required to maintain three copies of their data to ensure resilience against catastrophic events, including the failure of multiple datacenters. The EU’s DORA addresses this level of data protection for financial entities, which goes into effect in January 2025.

With this release,  customers can now configure AHV metro with synchronous replication and AHV asynchronous replication within a single protection policy. Consequently, they can maintain copies of their data –whether VMs or volume groups (VGs) – across three different sites.

The setup includes a primary copy, a high-availability replica with zero-RPO and near-zero RTO at a nearby remote site, and a third replica at a distant location. With the implementation of AHV metro and AHV async in version 6.8.1, Nutanix delivers enhanced resilience and superior disaster recovery. These capabilities enable businesses to address regulatory demands more effectively and maintain continuous operations when significant disruptions occur.

Upgrade Today

Don't miss out on the enhancements and new features introduced in AOS 6.8.1. This maintenance release builds upon the solid foundation of version 6.8, which launched in May and brings even more improvements to enhance the Nutanix Cloud Platform solution.

For a detailed overview of all changes and enhancements, be sure to check out the software documentation. Upgrade now to take full advantage of everything our latest software has to offer.

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