/cluster-operations

name: "Nutanix Cluster Operations"
description: >
  Working the clustermgmt namespace through `clustermgmt_execute` —
  cluster and host inventory, configuration and health state — plus the
  adjacent read surfaces: `prism_execute` for Prism Central tasks and
  categories, and `lifecycle_execute` for LCM upgrade inventory and
  recommendations.
when_to_use: >-
  When inspecting Nutanix clusters, hosts, or Prism Central itself. Use
  when: nutanix cluster, cluster health nutanix, host inventory nutanix,
  clustermgmt, prism central tasks, lcm inventory, nutanix upgrade
  status, or nutanix cluster configuration.

Nutanix Cluster Operations

Overview

Cluster-level work spans three namespaces. `clustermgmt` is the core: clusters, hosts/nodes, cluster profiles, and storage container associations. `prism` covers Prism Central's own surface — tasks, categories, cluster registration state. `lifecycle` exposes LCM (Lifecycle Manager) inventory: what software/firmware versions each cluster runs and what upgrades LCM recommends. Each is reached through its own executor after discovery.

Key Concepts

| Concept | Namespace | Notes | |---------|-----------|-------| | Cluster | `clustermgmt` | Config, health state, nodes, network config; identified by `extId` | | Host / node | `clustermgmt` | Physical servers in a cluster; disk and NIC detail per host | | Task | `prism` | Async operations on PC; status is `QUEUED` / `RUNNING` / `SUCCEEDED` / `FAILED` | | Category | `prism` | key:value tags shared by VMs, hosts, policies | | LCM entity | `lifecycle` | An upgradeable component with current and available versions |

Common Workflows

Cluster health snapshot

1. `listOperations(namespace="clustermgmt", search="clusters")` → list-clusters operation. 2. `clustermgmt_execute` to list clusters; capture name, `extId`, version, node count. 3. For each cluster of interest, get it by `extId` for config and health detail, and list its hosts for per-node state. 4. Fold in open alerts from the `monitoring` namespace (see the monitoring-aiops skill) for a complete health picture.

Recent task audit on Prism Central

1. Discover the list-tasks operation in `prism`. 2. `prism_execute` with an OData filter, e.g. `_filter="status eq 'FAILED'"` plus a time-range predicate, ordered by start time. 3. Report each task's `extId`, operation type, error messages, and timing.

Upgrade posture (read-only)

1. `listOperations(namespace="lifecycle", search="entities")` to find the LCM inventory operation; `lifecycle_execute` to list current component versions per cluster. 2. Discover and read LCM recommendations to see upgrade candidates and blocking pre-check conditions. 3. Stop there: performing upgrades, pre-checks that mutate state, and node imaging are non-GET and blocked by read-only mode. Deliver the findings as an upgrade plan for a human to execute.

Gotchas

• **The lifecycle namespace is huge (~110 operations).** Always narrow

`listOperations` with a `search` term; paging the whole namespace wastes turns.

• **Storage containers appear in two namespaces.** `clustermgmt` holds

cluster-side container associations; `storage` is the primary container/volume surface. Prefer `storage` for capacity questions.

• **Cluster registration is a prism concern.** A cluster missing from

`clustermgmt` lists may simply not be registered with this Prism Central — check registration state via `prism` before declaring it down.

Related Skills

• [api-patterns](../api-patterns/SKILL.md) — discovery workflow, OData, read-only mode
• [storage](../storage/SKILL.md) — containers, volume groups, capacity
• [monitoring-aiops](../monitoring-aiops/SKILL.md) — alerts and capacity forecasting