Nutanix has just released the long-awaited Life Cycle Manager (LCM) 2.5 version.
What is Nutanix LCM?
Nutanix LCM is the infrastructure framework that upgrades Nutanix software and component firmware on Nutanix cloud platforms.
Rather than manually installing one component at a time, LCM efficiently inventories and programmatically handles the deployment dependencies and order of operations for upgrades.
LCM can handle upgrades such as:
- On Prism Element (Per Cluster) – LCM supports AOS, AHV, Prism, Files, Foundation, and component firmware.
- On Prism Central/Nutanix Cloud Manager (Centralized Management) – LCM supports the native Nutanix offerings for PC/NCM. such as Files, Objects, Karbon, and Calm.
- Hardware vendor-specific firmware upgrades for appliances from Nutanix (NX), Lenovo, HPE, Fujitsu, Dell, Inspur and Intel.
For a good read on “How Upgrades Work at Nutanix”, please refer to this link to understand possible implications to downtime (spoiler alert: None! 😯), performance impacts, order and compatibility – https://bit.ly/HowNutanixUpgradesWork
On September 21, 2022, Nutanix release Life Cycle Manager Version 2.5. 🥳
– Release Notes – https://bit.ly/NutanixLCM25
In addition to dozens of fixed and improved issues, Nutanix introduced a New Feature that should make the VDI/EUC community jump for joy: 😎
GPU support
LCM 2.5 adds inventory and update support for NVIDIA GRID drivers for GPU cards. For details on using LCM with NVIDIA GRID drivers, see the Life Cycle Manager Guide.
Upgrading NVIDIA GRID drivers traditionally required a very delicate upgrade process, ensuring that the guest and host driver were compatible. Then, complex CLI commands were required to upgrade the AHV host driver, one host at a time.
Not any longer! Now, LCM 2.5 will – in a single reboot – auto-uninstall the old driver, install the new driver, all while vGPU VMs are transparently live migrated to other nodes during the upgrade process.
No user downtime ✅
Automation and operational efficiency ✅
Here is the NEW way to update your Nutanix AHV Host NVIDIA GRID Drivers:
https://portal.nutanix.com/page/documents/details?targetId=Life-Cycle-Manager-Guide-v2_5:top-lcm-ngd-update-t.html
- Customers should download the vGPU AHV host driver bundle from the Nutanix Portal
*Manually downloading drivers from NVIDIA is still required for EULA compliance reasons. - Upload the NVIDIA bundle via Direct Uploads on each Nutanix Cluster where AHV GPU host drivers are required.
- Perform an LCM inventory and proceed
Much better!
