Nutanix Clusters: Hybrid Cloud Infrastructure Made Easier on AWS GovCloud (US)

Government agencies now have a new, faster, seamless, and secure option for moving their data and on-premises applications to the cloud. With an overwhelming number of choices for the most productive way to modernize current IT environments, as well as an urgency to move to the cloud, it can be difficult to know what’s best for your organization. Nutanix has simplified the decision with its recent announcement that the Nutanix Clusters™ hybrid cloud platform is now supported on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) GovCloud (US) regions. Nutanix Clusters on AWS GovCloud are part of Nutanix Government Cloud Services, which is FedRAMP Authorized at the Moderate security impact level.

It’s evident that the cloud is beneficial to government organizations by improving security, quality, access, and efficiency, all while remaining cost-effective. Nutanix Clusters is a hybrid and multi-cloud solution that allows its users to manage applications and infrastructure in various clouds as a single cloud, as well as offering a choice of cloud environment per application depending on individual needs. After the initial distribution of the Nutanix Clusters platform on AWS in commercial regions proved successful, Nutanix focused its efforts on the remaining government requirements for the AWS GovCloud platform.

A recent study concluded that the government considers the hybrid cloud model of private and public clouds as the optimal choice for their IT environment; however, implementation and transition can be slow and tasking. Government IT teams may not be equipped with the right skill set or tools. Nutanix Clusters offers a fast, easy, and cost-effective solution to get to a hybrid cloud infrastructure in mere hours.

This solution supports the core hyperconverged software stack as well as Nutanix products and services on bare metal AWS EC2 instances that currently include: i3.metal, i3en.metal, m5d.metal, and z1d.metal. Separate teams also no longer have to worry about handling separate environments because Nutanix Clusters can migrate virtualized applications across platforms within a single management console, and also allows license portability across private and public clouds.

To make matters easier, Nutanix Clusters on AWS GovCloud lets users directly operate their hybrid cloud environment without added cost restrictions and managed service limitations. Oftentimes when it comes to hybrid cloud solutions, government agencies must agree to a vendor-managed service contract, which can cause various constraints. Nutanix Clusters on AWS GovCloud allows the agency to use its current AWS accounts and networking setup, which facilitates the ability to reuse their existing AWS contracts, discounting structure, consumption and billing models, etc. This creates simpler migration of apps, cuts down on complications delivering a thorough service across datacenters, and allows for quick flexibility when changing Nutanix software license entitlements as requirements shift.

• Native networking integration: Government customers can easily re-use their current AWS networking set-ups, accounts, virtual private clouds, and subnets to execute Nutanix software in AWS GovCloud, without any need for network overlays.
• Rack awareness and auto host remediation: Nutanix Clusters can logically replace and restore nodes and clusters across AWS GovCloud racks for high availability when an AWS GovCloud host is unresponsive, or when a full rack collapses.
• Scale and shrink: Users can increase their capacity easily by manually adding server nodes or increasing cluster size, or use playbooks for automatic scaling.

For successful use of Nutanix Clusters on AWS GovCloud, Nutanix experts suggest these supporting tips.

• Networking: Understand your network and the hybrid cloud architecture you’re working with to ensure smooth implementation.
• Security: Plan to secure the cloud by utilizing vendor solutions and built-in security items to cover any holes. Remember, in the public cloud, security is a shared responsibility between the user and the cloud vendor. For more details, Agencies can request Nutanix’s FedRamp System Security Plan from the FedRAMP PMO.
• Cost: Sending data out from the cloud can be costly, so preparing an architecture in which data egress can be lessened, such as co-location for services exchanging data, is essential.

While supporting government customers, Nutanix has found four common use cases for Nutanix Clusters on AWS GovCloud:

• On-Demand Elasticity: Government IT teams can swiftly scale capacity for their on-prem workloads by bursting into public clouds when working with time-sensitive material.
• Disaster Recovery: Government organizations can use public clouds for operational stability during disaster recovery, instead of sourcing a back-up site that adds cost and complexity.
• Modernize Applications: Government IT teams can run applications within their private cloud or in AWS by detaching them from their platforms — no need for re-architecture or any code changes during app migration.
• Access innovation: Government organizations can now utilize cloud-native services to more efficiently share information and data with authorized mission partners.

“We know Federal agencies are looking for solutions to help them implement their Cloud Smart strategies, but existing offerings lack the necessary security or are cumbersome to deploy and manage,” said Chip George, VP Public Sector of U.S. Sales at Nutanix. “Nutanix Clusters on AWS GovCloud enables organizations to significantly accelerate their cloud adoption, without needing to re-architect mission-critical applications that are necessary to the agency's operations and mission, providing an easy path to a unified hybrid cloud environment.”

To take advantage of Nutanix’s offerings, test drive the Nutanix Clusters solution on AWS GovCloud and contact us to get a demo and set up a free trial.