To get to know nutanix without buying proper equipment Nutanix introduced way back a version called Nutanix CE.
I tested these a lot and these where brilliant to prep for an exam.
The past version was allready a port of an old 5.x version and therefore not suitable for this anymore.
Recently they made a newer version based on version 6.5.2, this one is known to be Nutanix CE 2.0.
A nice new addition here is that its compatible with the commercial version of prism central.
Besides that LCM is implemented so it can be updated without having to wait for the new ce to arrive!
To run the Nutanix CE there are some recommendations regarding hardware.
- CPU: 4 core
- Memory 20GB
- Intel/Realtek 1GB nic
- Storage cold tier 500GB
- Storage Hot tier 200GB
- Boot disk 32 GB
For Installing the node its fairly simple, put the iso downloaded from here on an usb stick of minimum 8GB.
You can do this with Rufus. When booted you can install the Nutanix ce as a one node cluster, wich will do automatic cluster creation. When willing to install a multi node cluster, keep in mind to not create the cluster on install.
The next blog will be about installing the Nutanix Ce nested in a hypervisor. The hypervisor used will be left open.