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.

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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

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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>

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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>

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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

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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

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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/

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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

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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.

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