In this article I want to show you how to export a Nutanix AHV VM.

Currently it is not possible to export a VM via PRISM, so we have to do it via the CLI.

STEP 1: Find the vDisk UUID

Log in to one of the CVM (Controller Virtual Machine) via SSH.
After connecting to the CVM, we execute the command aCLI following from vm.list. This step is only necessary if you do not know the exact name of your VM.)

nutanix@NTNX-353e740a-A-CVM:10.42.10.12:~$ acli vm.list

VM name VM UUID
CTX-DC01 55968083-8693-41f8-af41-5675bf6059e3
CTX-DDC01 faea6032-117e-4301-ad4e-c7605de5380e
CTX-Win10-Master 3ac2deab-165d-47f4-8dca-600a56bc1816

Now the VMDISK UUID is determined by acli vm.get [VMNAME].

As can be seen in the red frame above, the VMDISK UUID for the VM to be exported is “4d984220-6879-4a75-a130-09b2b0be3ce5”.

STEP 2: Export the VMDISK

Since the vDisk at Nutanix AHV is located in a hidden folder .acropolis, we have to export it with qemu-img converter.

When exporting, as a result of Thin-Disk, only what is actually occupied is exported!

Make sure the VM is turned off, then execute the appropriate command:

qemu-img convert -c nfs://127.0.0.1/[container]/.acropolis/vmdisk/[UUID] -O qcow2 nfs://127.0.0.1/[container]/[vmdisk].qcow2

Here is my example:

qemu-img convert -c nfs://127.0.0.1/default-container-42872125767206/.acropolis/vmdisk/01899c9e-f2c7-47f8-8d58-5c6017263d06 -O qcow2 nfs://127.0.0.1/default-container-42872125767206/ctx-dc01.qcow2

Depending on system performance, CVM load and SSD/HDD speed this may take some time.

Now the container can be mapped and copied in a workstation (Mac, Win or Linux…). Don’t forget to whitelist the corresponding IP in the Nutanix system!

In my case, I export the vDisk directly to another AHV cluster

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