The second sprint in June has  following key items

• HPE DX . We went live with this last week and so a reminder that Sizer has the DX models.
• D N+0 threshold changed to 95%. In automatic or in manual we need to know what is the acceptable N+0 level for a cluster in regards to CPU, RAM, HDD, and SSD utilization.  Thus we have thresholds to define what is still acceptable for N+0 . Here we simply tightened the SSD threshold to from 98% to 95% at N+0.  CPU, RAM, SSD are now all 95% and HDD is 90%

 

• Warning/Suggestion to enable Erasure Coding for Files workload. There is concern in the field on safety of using ECX in their workloads.  However, in case of Files Storage it often is quite large (200TiB+) and very few writes (which is where the concern for ECX is at).  In this case the savings with ECX can be very significant yet low risk.  Thus we give you a warning that you are opting out of a tremendous cost savings.  You can keep ECX ON or OFF

 

• VDI Profile type enhancement for Collector imported workloads. In VDI we have always had the notion of user profiles like task workers or power users.  However, when pulling in actual customer workload data from Collector, we do not need profile type to come up with workload requirements. We know that through actual data. Hence, while sizing a VDI through Collector, we should skip the profile type attribute.

 

• Complete Sizer Proposal (one presentation file). Now one slideset to use with your customer

 

• Detailed error for manual sizing validations (invalid node) We enhanced our error messages while in Manual

 

In the first sprint in June we had following key enhancements

 

File Services- Major update to File Services.

 

First, Home directory and Department Shares have been combined to File Storage.  They are often large workloads but with few writes.  Most were home directory and so made sense to combine given the similarities.  The one big change is we derive the working set

 

Application storage went through major update.  We now have random I/O as well as the sequential I/O we had previously.  We ask for  throughput and time window for keeping data in hot storage and then derive the working set.  This update reflects all the latest lab testing.

Here is info

https://sizer.nutanix.com/#/help/topics/17

Oracle Sizing Improvements – We now go with the fatest cpu in a node.  They have to be >= 60 specint anyhow but now we go with the fastest

We launched our second sprint for May and it is a BIG one

Key Enhancements

Super Auto  Automatic goes through all the options and finds the optimal sizing.  Often SEs will say Auto is a good start but I want play with it.  Increase or decrease nodes and see impact of dials.  Increase/decrease Cores, RAM, etc and again see that impact.

Well now we have Super Auto where right in where you see the recommendation and the dials you can make those changes and get the update for the dials.  Better yet you see % change in cost vs optimal.  Manual is still there but now you can do a lot more in Automatic sizing.

Here is info and snapshots

https://sizer.nutanix.com/#/help/articles/592

 

Proposals  We had the sizer screen shots for a few months now, but we worked with the Field Enablement team and Product Marketing to deliver the latest in corporate overview and product/ solution benefits.  Don’t have to hunt around for the latest.  Do your work in Sizer and the latest PowerPoint is available under Download Proposals.  We see this evolving but you can be assured you got the latest.

Oracle updates  Oracle often is used in larger Enterprise applications and they charge for all cores in a node running Oracle.  Given that we now require high speed processors (greater than or equal to 60 spec ints which is about 3Ghz) but do allow a VM to cross sockets in a node.  This way you can have a large Oracle VM and know it will be fulfilled with a high speed cpu with fewer cores to give you a higher end system and lower Oracle license costs.

Miscellaneous

• Heterogeneous cluster support for N+1 in Storage Calculator.  We had been taking one node off the first model defined and now we take it off the largest node in the cluster.
• Appliances can have addons like Prism Pro, Flow, Calm.   This was for decoupled nodes in the past

First sprint for May

Key Enhancements

Backup Sizing.  Now all workloads for Nutanix sizings can have backups in a separate backup cluster.  You can define the backup policy and target either Files Pro or Buckets Pro. The intent is that  the backups are in the backup cluster managed by 3rd party backup software.  Sizer sized for the backups, included either Files PRO or Buckets Pro, and allocated space for the backup software.  In near future, there will be dedicated Backup hardware that can be used in the backup cluster instead of Files PRO or Buckets Pro.  Here is the details

https://sizer.nutanix.com/#/help/articles/585

Miscellaneous

• Compression is now allowed for Starter license
• Buckets can have RF3.
• Robo VM can now have more than 2 TiB of storage

Collector and Tools

• VDI workloads created by Collector are now better fine-tuned to meet different usage levels (edited)

We now have two sprints a month

Second sprint released April 29

Key enhancements

• Allow Disabling workloads in scenario.

Bet you like to see the effect an extra workload has on your sizing.?  Betting you do that multiple times when you work with Sizer?  Well now you can disable a  workload and it is like it has been deleted.  Flip the switch and voila it is back.

The use for this feature is tremendous.  Certainly to add a workload and see impact.  Coupled with ability to clone and edit workload and then could have a couple levels (say small and large).  Then toggle each one to be disabled and see the impact the difference in workloads make.

We took care in how we handle disable workloads as follows

o    You get a warning on top that one or more workloads are disabled so you don’t forget.

o    Since the sizing is based on just enabled workloads the BOM, budgetary quotes and quotes are based on what is enabled

o    You can clone the scenario and the current state of enabled/disabled workloads are preserved in the new scenario.  So can have multiple scenarios from there with some enabled and other disabled

• Capacity growth for Files – this is important as File capacity is always growing and now can size for up to next 5 years

Collector and Tools

• Warn you if too few of VMs can’t be sized (eg. Many are powered OFF). This is to inform you that the sizing could be undersized given the data
• SpecInt core adjustment for Collector import
• Default selections for VDI workloads by Collector Import (Also enable Files by default)
• RVTools 3.11 Import support

Miscellaneous

• Updated Calm as no longer offers a free 25VM pack
• Product updates for NX, SW only vendors, and Dell XC
• Validator Product Updates
• Failover Capacity Indicator improvements for ECX and Block Awareness enabled scenarios
• Oracle: Node allocation to DB VMs
• Automatic Sizing with CBL improvements for Standalone cluster sizing

First Sprint released April 16

Key Enhancements

• Auto Sizing with CBL – We take into account the CBL license cost in our Auto Sizing which is key as most value is now in the licenses.  We also moved to List Price Sizing for NX hardware  instead of COGS
• Manual Sizing Warnings based on Failover indicators. We leverage the new N+0 warnings in our UI but also BOM, Budgetary quote, Quote
• 120TB Cold Storage support for 5.11. Models will be coming that support this but we are ready
• Two node ROBO sizing for Files for N+1 failover. This is great for lower end file server market
• Add Files/Buckets SKUs for quotes for non-decoupled accounts – So now can have a Files or Buckets license with an appliance sale.
• ROBO VM Limit changes – PM did update the limits and so now:  no limits on cores, 32GB RAM per VM, 2 TiB of combined HDD/SSD storage per VM, and 50 TiB total HDD/SSD storage per cluster

Miscellaneous

• Default NIC Selection for ALB/Non-ALB Countries (Auto Sizing). We take care of this nuisance where have to have the right NIC SKU for Arab League and non Arab League countries.  We look at the country for the Account you are sizing for.
• Oracle Workload only in dedicated clusters. This is best practice given Oracle charges for all cores on nodes with Oracle.
• Require an external NIC card for Bucket workloads
• New UX Implementation for allowing decoupled quote for non-decoupled accounts – We want to make easier to sell a CBL deal to non-decoupled accounts

Second Sprint

• Optimal VDI Sizing with Collector-  This is huge innovation.  We started Collector to get the best customer requirements and now that is reality for our top workload – VDI.

Here you run Collector at the customer’s site and it will collect 7 days of performance data from VCenter.  The information is already in VCenter and so it does not take long to grab that information (about 5 min).  In Collector you can specify if want to find the median value, average, peak or some percentile like 80% for each VM.  For example, 80th percentile means you are getting the cores and RAM utilization level that covers 80% of all the data points from last 7 days.  There you can be assured it is well sized as not all VMs will run that hot all the time.  That is what I would advise.

With that data going to Sizer we can then “right size” the VM so you don’t undersize or oversize it.  All the details are here

https://services.nutanix.com/#/help/articles/532

This is our first workload.  I don’t mean this as hype  but Collector will radically change sizing and in the process allow Nutanix to be more competitive  Why?  Because we will have precise customer data to size with.

In compute oriented workloads we will be doing similar processing as we did here for VDI.  For capacity workloads, like Buckets or Files we want to analyze data to get us the best compression values.  So this is just the sta

• Hot storage allocation with FATVM –  Here if you have a large working set for Files or buckets we allow the SSD (hot storage) to be dispersed over the cluster.  Usually we want it on the local node for best performance (e.g. a heavy compute intensive VM) but here it is not a concern.  So net result is you can have a lot of large hybrid models
• Allow decoupled quotes on non-decoupled accounts for the partners* – This is allowed now and we got this functionality to partners
• Various product updates* across HP, Lenovo, and Nutanix (edited)

First Sprint

Add N+0, N+1, N+2 indicator

o    This is a BIG sizing improvement in Sizer where Sizer will always tell you if you are at N+0, N+1 or N+2 for all resources (CPU, RAM, HDD, SSD) for each cluster

o    Now as you make changes in manual you always know if you have adequate failover.  Best practice is N+1 so you can take down any one node and customer workloads can still run.

o    This can be very hard to figure out on your own.  ECX savings for example varies by node count.  Heterogenous clusters mean you have to find the largest node for each resource.  Multiple clusters mean you have to look at each separately.  Sizer does this for you !!

o    Here is all the info on how this works.  https://services.nutanix.com/#/help/articles/512

• Allow decoupled quotes on non-decoupled accounts (SFDC Users) – At first the rule was an account had to be decoupled to get decoupled quotes or quotes with Files Pro or Buckets Pro.  Now that rule has been lifted and we support that in Sizer quoting.  We just ask you if you want de-coupled quotes or not.
• ROBO VMs Sizing (Quoting, BOM with ROBO SKUs) – Here can have the new ROBO VMs where you sell VMs as a license and separately have hardware
• 3 Node sizing for N+1 for Files – This allows a 3 node cluster to be used for Files.  Was 4 nodes was the minimum to be N+1
• Add missing terms for Appliance Only License and Support
• Multiple Clusters Support for Collector Import – Now can put different VMs in different clusters in Sizer
• Default NIC Selection for ALB/Non-ALB Countries (Manual Sizing)
• High/Critical Security fixes
• Various product updates for Sizer and Validator

 

 

We had two sprints in February and released the following:

New Features

• Changed the Nutanix Files Licenses and now reflect the Jan 2019 changes for Files and Files Pro

Sizer is up to date with the latest licensing including putting Files Pro in a standalone cluster and not allowing Files to be in a standalone cluster. You will see the label standalone cluster in the cluster list. All things are enforced regarding capacity, compression, etc

Nutanix File license now has no maximum capacity

• Create scenario proposal

We got feedback from the SE council that SE’s need help in proposals. Often SE’s were taking screenshots of Sizer UI like dials or configuration information. Now a pulldown option to download proposal. A new tab shows all the charts, dials, sizing detail tables. You can download to a powerpoint too. That take the images you want :blush:

• Collector Import – Now  we note in the the workload if sizing information came from Collector.  This is true for the BOM or in View workload

 

• VDI Solution

Allows you to sell a VDI solution based on user pricing. Customer pays for so many users independent of the workload demands they have. Separately is the hardware cluster which is sized to meet the workload demands

By selecting Enterprise VDI Solution when creating a VDI workload that workload is put into a standalone cluster and then the only VDI license is charged. Separately the hardware is sized for that workload and potentially other Enterprise VDI Solution workloads

• Buckets Licensing – Licensing is now implemented to include rules for Nutanix Buckets and Nutanix Buckets Pro
• Nutanix File Pro Encryption and Nutanix Buckets Pro Encryption has been added as option in those workloads
• Intel models available to NX partners. Initially for just Nutanix employees, but not Nutanix partners too.

Product Updates:

• HCL Product updates for SW only vendors
• XF1070 – Fujitsu – product updates
• Lenovo Product updates: New model: HX2320 & added 16G DIMM for HX7820
• Nutanix G6 Product Constraint – GPU_4PORT_NIC_limit was added
• Validator Updates from HCL

January Sprint 1

Key enhancements

• We heard from field and partners that getting either budgetary quotes or getting real quotes created is well hard (I can’t repeat what we heard in interviews as I want to keep the channel G rated ).  Partners were saying it can take a week to get either budgetary quote or real quote going.  Distributors were saying we retype what is in the Sizer BOM to create a quote.  Nutanix SE’s saying this is really hard with CBL.

We knew we can help and so we took it on big time in last three months and now in summary we can say a partner or NTNX field  person can create either a budgetary or real quote for any business model be it appliance, disagregated Nutanix, XC Core, CBL SW sale .   Attached is the matrix with details.  I believe this is about improving sales velocity.

• We now have the  new File licenses going with Standalone cluster.  So here for Files Pro you can create the Files cluster with IONLY the Files skus attached (no AOS licenses).  More changes coming but big step
• Data Center and ROBO Solutions. These are addons for your HCI recommendation where we add right amount of things like Prism Pro or Flow.

Product Updates

• We always pull the latest from SFDC for Nutanix products
• Implemented several Nutanix product rules like allowed CPUs for 3070 if GPU is desired.
• We always pull the latest from HCL for SW only vendors

January Sprint 2

Key enhancements

• Include ECX in auto sizing. We always took in the savings after the recommendation was determined and so the HDD utilization was accurate.  We hadn’t taken that into account though in determining the recommendation.  Now that we have really large workloads for Files and soon Buckets this became an issue.  So now Sizer recommendation is accurate
• Clone Workload Feature. This is cool.  Define a workload and can clone it and then just modify what you want.  For example, you want five different Server Virtualization workloads that are all similar but different.  Define one and clone/edit the rest.
• Thick VMs sizing logic improved when uploading Collector or RVTools outputs. Now no compression is taken.  A subtle but important Sizing improvement

UX improvements

• Budgetary Quote – Added Hardware Support quote line
• Making List view as default dashboard view instead of grid.
• Implement Open/Closed Opportunity Filter – UX

Product Updates

• New model – Fujitsu XF8050 HY/AF
• HPE are DL380/360 again instead of DX . There was a problem with HCL but addressed it
• We always pull the latest from SFDC for Nutanix products
• Implemented several Nutanix product rules like allowed CPUs for 3070 if GPU is desired.
• We always pull the latest from HCL for SW only vendors

 

Coming soon

• Buckets !! Should come out this week.  I’ll announce it later but you can start thinking about Buckets by sizing different opportunities

In month of December we made following enhancements

• Partners can now generate Salesforce Quote for Nutanix Appliance. This is first time they can create the quote and then their distributor applies discounts and request approvals in the Distributor Quote Tool. We will enable quoting for Nutanix Disaggregated, XC Core, HX Core, CBL in January.
• Sizer now integrate with Hardware Compatability List for all SW vendors including HP, Cisco and Dell PE. The benefit is we can keep Sizer in sync with the changes more consistently.
• Nutanix Files enhancements

 Increased maximum capacity to 10 PB (Petabytes)

Support for Nutanix File licenses. The budgetary quote, quote and BOM includes the new licenses

• HX Core support
• Intel server support (new vendor)
• NX-5155-G6 in Sizer
• ECX and Block Awareness together supported
• Sizer Wiki Search – find information faster
• Budgetary Quote changes for CBL
• Oracle AWR tool support

November Sprint

• Collector 1.1 Support  – Sizer to include median values from Collector.  We mine the VCenter data and get actual core usage.  THIS VERY COOL AS CAN SAVE CBL CORES WHICH COSTS LOTS OF $$.
• Velocity models for partners and Nutanix users –  Velocity models are the NX-1065-G6 and can be up to 8 nodes but offer better discounts.
• XC Core support.  Quotes and BOM show CBL and XC Core. Budgetary quote coming soon
• Applied spectre adjustment for VDI and Xenapp – Windows 7 – 20% hit, Windows 10 version 1709 – 7% hit, Windows 10 version 1803 – 11% hit
• Performance Improvements.  Homogeneous sizing typically reduced by 50%, while heterogeneous sizing reduced by 30%
• File Services updates like setting Erasure Coding to ON by default
• Budgetary quote improvements – can now apply discounts for SW Only quotes or NX Disaggregated quotes
• New product updates for various vendors

Hi everyone

We released the October sprint

• The BIG thing is Hardware Disaggregated quoting is now in Sizer. As a SFDC user you can start a scenario and tie it to a account and opportunity as you do today. If that account is a Software Choice account (where disaggregated is used) then Sizer will create the proper quote where it includes the Software licenses (Capacity based licenses), Hardware and the Hardware support. In addition, you will see that quote reflected in the BOM. Soon the budgetary quote will be provided too. If the customer is not enabled for Software Choice then the regular appliance quote can be created as it is today.

• Collector and RVTools summary (excel you receive from Sizer after uploading the tool output) now gives explanation when certain VMs are not sized. For example, if the VM was powered off.

• SFDC syncing on daily basis. Now we pull SFDC changes once a day automatically. So any price changes or product changes are updated in Sizer. This is key for sizing but also when we show budgetary numbers

• Nutanix G5 models except the NX-1175S-G5, 8150-G5 and 3155G-G5 are in manual only since only these G5 models can still be quoted.  In manual sizing you can still do a sizing with the G5 models.

 

September sprint includes:

Budgetary Quote UI:

User doesn’t have to download excel to see the pricing on quote. The new interactive UI will allow one to see list prices and apply discounts to see the sales/net price. You can iterate the entire process (size, generate budgetary quote and apply discounts) and download the quote when fully satisfied.

Enhancements to the Financial assumptions:

– Support levels have been sorted

– Monthly support terms (14months, 26 months..etc.) have been added

– Brief description has been been added next to each support level

– Ability to apply discounts to Budgetary Quote has been moved to the new Budgetary Quote UI.

Regular/Robo Models

There was confusion on how robo models like the 1175S should be sized.  For Regular models which are used in data centers,  PM originally wanted to restrict the 1175S to just backup usage.  That in ROBO they could be used as application nodes that could be 1, 2, or 3+ nodes.

That brought some confusion when SE wanted to size a small cluster with say qty 5 of the 1175S.  Sure could do it in ROBO, but SE would say it is not a ROBO customer project.

So I worked with PM and we streamlined the rules and now models like the 1175S (lot of vendors have similar ones) are treated as fully functional models as follows:

Regular Model Rules

• All models included
• All use cases are allowed – main cluster application, remote cluster application and remote snapshots
• 3+ nodes are recommended for any model. It is considered good data center practice to have a minimum of 3 nodes.

ROBO Model Rules

• All models but only some models like the 1175S can size for 1 or 2 node, while others require 3 min nodes
• All use cases – main cluster application, remote cluster application and remote snapshots
• All models can go to 3+ nodes depending on sizing requirements

So what should you do

• Just stay with Regular models for most of your sizing needs. It is default and models like 1175S can indeed run applications.  Any recommendation would be 3+ nodes
• Only go to ROBO if you need 1 or 2 node for 1175S

For more info go to the Sizer wiki –  ROBO-Regular

Rack Awareness:

Nutanix has always had node awareness and for long time block awareness both of which are in Sizer.  With this release, Sizer will also have rack awareness where Data Availability is maintained even in an event of an entire rack or top-of-the-rack switch failure.

Supported Use Cases

• Heterogeneous solution made up of several different homogeneous blocks

–    For example, could have several 3460 blocks and several 3360 blocks

–    Here the 3460 blocks are all identical, while all the 3360 blocks are identical.  Given that, the 3460 block is homogeneous and the 3360 block is homogeneous.

–    These homogeneous blocks are dispersed across sufficient racks to meet rack awareness

• We will support a cluster wide setting for rack awareness and assume all workloads in that cluster must adhere to rack awareness

Other things

• Share notice in email. Sharing has been around forever and put in your Shared Scenarios but now when a person shares a scenario an email goes to them.  Great to increase collaboration and we will do more
• We have all Sizer and “non-Sizer” parts for all HP and Cisco models. Non-Sizer parts are things sizer does not analyze like say storage controller, boot drives , etc.  Where before we asked you to click link to HFCL we got in the BOM.
• Lots of product updates
• Inspur is a new vendor
• 3060-G6 NVME is there
• We allowed “no modification” as option for VDI when selecting desktop or office version.  Sometimes people have need to size for so much MHz or Cores per user and don’t want the modification.  In future Collector will use that option too when we upload a collector output