Read Part 1 "From VMware to Nutanix: A Practical Migration Playbook"
With recent VMware licensing changes and cost increases, many organizations are evaluating alternatives. One of the most common conversations in IT leadership today is whether it makes sense to migrate from VMware to Nutanix.
But what does a VMware to Nutanix migration actually involve? Is it disruptive? High-risk? Complex?
The reality is that a well-planned migration from VMware to Nutanix can be structured, phased, and predictable — especially when guided by a clear architectural strategy.
Below is a breakdown of what the migration process typically looks like.
Every successful VMware to Nutanix migration starts with comprehensive discovery.
This phase includes inventorying your VMware environment: ESXi hosts, vCenter configurations, storage systems, networking, virtual machine counts, performance baselines, application dependencies, backup systems, disaster recovery design, and licensing obligations.
Key questions addressed during assessment:
• Which workloads are mission-critical?
• What can be migrated using lift-and-shift?
• Which applications require redesign?
• What does actual resource utilization look like versus allocated capacity?
• Where are we overprovisioned?
This phase often uncovers consolidation opportunities, aging hardware nearing refresh cycles, and inefficiencies created over years of incremental growth.
For many organizations, this assessment becomes the foundation of a broader VMware replacement strategy.
Migrating to Nutanix is not just a hypervisor swap — it’s typically a move to hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI).
During architectural design, teams define:
• Nutanix node sizing and cluster configuration
• Storage tiering and performance requirements
• Network architecture and segmentation
• High availability and redundancy models
• Security policies and microsegmentation
• Backup and disaster recovery alignment
This stage ensures that the new Nutanix AHV environment meets or exceeds existing VMware capabilities while simplifying infrastructure management.
Rather than replicating legacy three-tier architecture, organizations often use this moment to modernize and streamline operations.
Before production cutover, a pilot migration reduces risk.
Nutanix provides tools such as Nutanix Move, which simplifies migration of virtual machines from VMware to Nutanix AHV.
During the pilot phase:
• Non-critical workloads are migrated first
• Performance and stability are validated
• Backup and failover processes are tested
• Monitoring integrations are confirmed
• Application owners validate functionality
This step builds confidence and identifies any compatibility edge cases before broader rollout.
A VMware to Nutanix migration is rarely a “big bang” event. Instead, workloads are migrated in planned waves.
Workloads are grouped by business function and dependency. Maintenance windows are scheduled. Rollback plans are documented.
Typical production migration activities include:
• Replication and synchronization of VMs
• Cutover scheduling
• DNS or networking updates (if required)
• Application validation
• Post-migration performance monitoring
Depending on architecture, many virtual machines can be migrated with minimal downtime.
After migration, the focus shifts from transition to optimization.
This includes:
• Right-sizing virtual machines
• Adjusting storage policies
• Enabling Nutanix automation features
• Refining disaster recovery strategy
• Training IT teams on Nutanix Prism management
Finally, legacy VMware hosts and storage infrastructure are decommissioned in a structured manner, reducing licensing exposure and operational overhead.
Downtime depends on workload architecture and migration strategy. In most cases, migrations are scheduled during maintenance windows and can be executed with minimal business disruption.
Nutanix AHV supports enterprise-grade features including high availability, snapshots, replication, and disaster recovery. A proper feature mapping exercise ensures required capabilities are preserved or improved.
While VMware cost increases are often the trigger, many organizations discover operational simplification and infrastructure modernization become the larger long-term benefits.
Organizations typically evaluate a VMware alternative when:
• Licensing costs increase significantly
• Hardware refresh cycles are approaching
• Data center consolidation initiatives begin
• Cloud strategy is evolving
• IT teams need operational simplification
A VMware to Nutanix migration is often less about replacing software and more about redefining infrastructure strategy.
"VMware to Nutanix migration isn’t just a technical shift — it’s a strategic inflection point."
When approached methodically — assess, design, pilot, migrate, optimize — organizations can reduce risk, control costs, and modernize their infrastructure foundation.
For IT leaders evaluating next steps, the first move isn’t committing to a platform. It’s conducting a structured assessment to understand your current state and future requirements.
If you're evaluating your next steps with VMware vSphere, vSAN, or exploring Nutanix AHV and the Nutanix Cloud Platform, the right strategy starts with a clear understanding of your current environment and long-term goals. At Network Solutions, Inc., we help organizations assess licensing changes, infrastructure complexity, performance requirements, and modernization initiatives to determine the best path forward—whether that means optimizing your existing VMware deployment, planning a phased migration to Nutanix AHV, or building a hybrid strategy that aligns with your business objectives. Talk to our team to develop a practical, cost-effective virtualization strategy tailored to your organization.
Schedule to talk with Network Solutions about your virtualization strategy by calling (888) 247-0900, or email info@nsi1.com to get started!