The Lifecycle Manager of Nutanix is a great tool. It lets you update the Nutanix infrastructure for Nutanix software, hypervisor as well as the firmware of the hardware used in the Nutanix cluster.

Direct portal connection

Most efficient way for the LCM is to connect to the Nutanix portal, so the LCM is able to check directly for new updates. When updates are available, it is shown on the LCM page as shown in the screenshot below.

Local Web Server

Direct connection to the portal is great, but some organizations do not allow external access for the Controller VMs. What are the options?
Traditional way is to implement a webserver, and point LCM to a particular site on this webserver, typically release. You are able to choose your favourite webserver, no one particular is necessary. I installed Apache as well as IIS, and both are working fine. Configuration is done on the ‘Settings’ tab of the LCM. Just choose Dark Site (Local Web Server) and enter the URL.

Maintaining your repository is quite time consuming. You have to check the portal by yourself and download, extract the downloads to the repository. It is not the most demanding task you can imagine, but it is not fun either. But, if you have multiple clusters that are not allowed to access the internet (or just the Nutanix portal) it is a good way to manage your lifecycle. Just be sure that this procedure is included in the administrative tasks during the month.

Direct upload

Direct upload of binaries with updated versions of software and firmware is a relative new feature within AOS. You have the possibility to just upload files to a specific cluster. When is this feature useful? It is helpful when you are testing updates on a test cluster before adding them to the repository on your Web Server. Maybe you only have 1 cluster, so why bother to implement a Web Server or at least a site on a web server?
It is also helpful when troubleshooting with Nutanix support, and a fix for a specific problem is needed.

In large (dark-site) organizations, I don’t think the Direct upload method will be the favourite of the Nutanix admins, but it is a great addition.

When uploading a new file to cluster, it is recommended to upload the most recent Compatibility Bundle as well. Just upload this bundle with the first update. It is not necessary to do this with all updates. After uploading some files, it will look something like the screenshot below. Then you are able to update the cluster as you are used to do.

New features

During .NEXT 2024 in Barcelona, new options for dark site clusters were announced. It is / will be possible to perform an inventory and uploads the results to the Nutanix portal. Available updates can be downloaded in a single archive. You can upload this archive to the LCM and all necessary updates are available for LCM. You don’t have to look around in the complete Download section of the Nutanix portal.