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.
Category: Nutanix | LEAVE A COMMENT
1 November 2021

Nutanix Cheat Sheet

Hopefully, this helps you as much as it helps me. This is by no means a comprehensive list. It’s just a place for me to jot down the various commands I use as I get to know Nutanix more intimately.

Run all NCC Health Checks

ncc health_checks run_all

Shutdown CVM

cvm_shutdown -P now

Check status of CVM metadata ring, see if all CVMs are ‘UP’

nodetool -h 0 ring

Check Cluster Status on CVM

Cluster status

Check if CVM processes are in UP state

cluster status | grep -v UP

Check CVM Metadata store status

ncli host ls | egrep "Meta[Id]Name"

Verify data resiliency 

ncli cluster get-domain-fault-tolerance-status type=node

Check which CVM is the Minerva Leader

afs info.get_leader

Check which CVM is the Prism Leader

afs info.prism_leader

Check which CVM is the LCM Leader

lcm_leader

Start cluster

Cluster start

Restart prism on CVM

genesis restart

Prism/CVM Status

genesis status

Check if CVM is in Maintenance Mode
Note: Only the Scavenger, Genesis, and Zeus processes must be running (process ID is displayed next to the process name).

genesis status | grep -v "\[\]"

Cluster/Host Hardware Info (RAM, DIMMs, CPUs, etc…) from CVM

ncc hardware_info show_hardware_info

Migrate VM to a different storage container (AOS >= 5.19)

acli vm.update_container vm-name container=target-container wait=false

Change AHV host name (AOS >= 5.20)

change_ahv_hostname --host_ip=HOST_IP --host_name=NEW-AHV-HOSTNAME

Get all CVM IPs within the cluster

svmips

Get all Host IPs within the cluster

hostips

Get all IPMI IPs within the cluster

ipmiips

Get Cluster Info

ncli cluster info

Get all Hosts Info

acli host.info
ncli host ls

Verify the state of Host
-Entered Maintenace: node_state equals to kEnteredMaintenanceMode and schedulable equals to False.
-Exited Maintenace: node_state equals to kAcropolisNormal and schedulable equals to True.

acli host.get host-ip

Put a CVM in maintenance mode

ncli host edit id=HOST_ID enable-maintenance-mode=true

Exit a CVM from maintenance mode

ncli host edit id=HOST_ID enable-maintenance-mode=false

Put an AHV host in maintenance mode
Note: “wait=true” allows the host to migrate VMs to other hosts before it enters maintenance mode.

acli host.enter_maintenance_mode HOST_IP wait=true

Exit an AHV host from maintenance mode

acli host.exit_maintenance_mode HOST_IP

Check if AHV host is Schedulable

acli host.list

Check AOS version on all CVMs

allssh 'cat /etc/nutanix/release_version'

Check AHV version on all nodes

hostssh 'cat /etc/nutanix-release'

List all VMs on a cluster

acli vm.list

List all VMs on a host

acli host.list_vms host

List VMs in a powered ON state

acli vm.list power_state=on

List VMs in a powered OFF state

acli vm.list power_state=off

Power off all VMs running on the cluster

for vm_name in `acli vm.list power_state=on | grep -v ^'VM
name' | awk '{print $1}'`; do acli vm.force_off $vm_name; done

Power on all VMs running on the cluster

for vm_name in `acli vm.list power_state=off | grep -v ^'VM
name' | awk '{print $1}'`; do acli vm.on $vm_name; done
Category: Nutanix | 2 Comments on Nutanix Cheat Sheet