29 October 2025

Nutanix Cheat Sheet 2025

It’s been four years now since I last compiled some helpful and commonly used commands into the original version of my Nutanix Cheatsheet. Since I recently found myself “playing” with some Nutanix again, I figured it was time to update my cheat sheet.

This cheat sheet compiles what I consider to be essential Nutanix CLI and Prism Central commands, aligned with Nutanix AOS 7.3+ and Prism Central 2024+ releases. This is not a comprehensive list of Nutanix commands by any means. It’s just of a copy of my notes for my future reference. Regardless, I hope some of these will also help someone else as they work on their cluster.

Cluster Overview & Health

Show detailed cluster information including version, nodes, and status.
ncli cluster info
Check Nutanix software version running on the cluster hosts.
ncli cluster version
Run full suite of Nutanix Cluster Check (NCC) health checks.
ncc health_checks run_all
Run a specific health check.
ncc health_checks run <check_name>
View cluster-wide performance and resource usage statistics.
ncli cluster stats

Node and Host Management

List all hosts (nodes) in the cluster.
ncli host ls
Show detailed info about a specific host.
ncli host show name=<hostname>
Safely put a host into maintenance mode after readiness checks.
ncli host enter-maintenance-mode name=<hostname>
Take a host out of maintenance mode.
ncli host exit-maintenance-mode name=<hostname>
Check if a host is ready for maintenance mode.
acli host.enter_maintenance_mode_check <hostname>

Storage and Container Management

List all storage containers.
ncli ctr ls
Create a new storage container with specified redundancy.
ncli ctr create name=<container_name> --redundancy_factor=2
Show storage pools on the cluster.
ncli sp ls
Add IP to NFS whitelist.
ncli cluster add-to-nfs-whitelist ip=<ip_address>

VM Management (aCLI and nCLI)

List all VMs on the cluster.
acli vm.list
Create a new VM with specified resources.
acli vm.create <vm_name> memory=4G num_vcpus=2
Power on a VM.
ncli vm power-on vm_name=<vm_name>
Power off a VM gracefully.
ncli vm power-off vm_name=<vm_name>
Migrate a VM to a different host.
ncli vm migrate vm_name=<vm_name> target_host=<hostname>
Add a disk to an existing VM.
acli vm.disk_add <vm_name> vdisk=100G

Cluster Lifecycle & Maintenance

Safely stop the cluster for maintenance (deprecated graceful shutdown replaced by this).
cluster stop
Start cluster services after maintenance.
cluster start
Initiate cluster software upgrade.
ncli software upgrade start
Immediate shutdown of the cluster (use with caution).
ncli cluster shutdown

Prism Central CLI (pcli or API v4)

List registered clusters in Prism Central.
pcli cluster list
Add a cluster to Prism Central management.
pcli cluster add --name <name> --endpoint <ip_or_fqdn>
List all VMs managed by Prism Central.
pcli vm list
Power on VM via Prism Central CLI.
pcli vm power-on --vm-id <vm_uuid>
Power off VM via Prism Central CLI.
pcli vm power-off --vm-id <vm_uuid>
API v4 endpoints for automation:
Use Nutanix API v4 for scripting cluster, VM, and storage lifecycle operations.
Official API doc: https://www.nutanix.dev/nutanix-api-user-guide/

Additional Useful Commands

Show current NFS whitelist entries.
ncli nfs whitelist show
List configured networks on the cluster.
ncli network list
List active cluster alerts.
ncli alert ls
Show cluster logs for troubleshooting.
ncli logs show

Automation & Scripting Notes

Use ‘ncli’ over ‘acli’ where possible for cluster-wide operations; as ‘acli’ is often VM-centric.
PowerShell Nutanix CLI modules (v2.0+) enable Windows admins to manage their Nutanix with native scripts.
Combine CLI commands in bash scripts for batch VM and host operations.
Leverage Prism Central API v4 to unify multi-cluster cloud management through automation.

Posted October 29, 2025 by IT.G.c in category "Nutanix