In this blogpost I will show you how you can silent/unattended install Nutanix Community Edition. For all relevant links and info of Nutanix Community Edition I would like to link to my dedicated CE page: https://www.jeroentielen.nl/ce/
There are some requirements for the unattended installation:
- A working webserver accessible by the CE installer;
- DHCP Server in the network where the CE installer is running.
Lets start. Create your bootable USB stick with the latest version of CE like you always did. When the bootable USB disk is created edit the following two files:
- /boot/isolinux/isolinux.cfg
- Add “AZ_CONF_URL=http://<web-server-ip>/ce-silent/arizona.json” on the append line before IMG=squashfs
- /EFI/BOOT/grub.cfg
- Add “AZ_CONF_URL=http://<web-server-ip>/ce-silent/arizona.json” on the linuxefi line before IMG=squashfs
Make sure you add the AZ_CONF_URL line to match your webserver ip (or FQDN)
On the webserver create a folder named ce-silent and add 3 files:
- arizona.json
- nutanix_installer_package.tar
- AHV-DVD-x86_64-el8.nutanix.20230302.101026.iso.iso (yes with double .iso)
The AHV iso can be found on the bootable USB stick in /images/hypervisor/kvm/ so that is an easy copy.
The nutanix_installer_package.tar is combined file from the two files located in /images/svm
- In linux: cat nutanix_installer_package.tar.p00 nutanix_installer_package.tar.p01 > nutanix_installer_package.tar
- In Windows: copy /b nutanix_installer_package.tar.p00 + nutanix_installer_package.tar.p01 nutanix_installer_package.tar
The arizona.json must contain the following:
{
"_meta": {
"Name": "Nutanix CE Unattended Install Config (arizona.json)",
"Version": "1.1",
"Date": "24 July 2026",
"Created by": "Jeroen Tielen - Tielen Consultancy B.V.",
"Email": "jeroen@tielenconsultancy.nl",
"Changelog": {
"1.0": "24 July 2026 - Initial version. Unattended Nutanix CE install via the built-in AZ_CONF_URL/arizona flow, bypassing the interactive ncurses CE wizard. svm_installer_url and hypervisor_iso_url are served over HTTP by a web server."
}
},
"_comment": "Answer file for the Nutanix CE Phoenix installer (arizona/AZ_CONF_URL format). Edit the values below before booting the target node. Disk names (sda, sdb, ...) must match the output of 'lsblk' ON THE TARGET MACHINE, not on the machine used to prepare this file.",
"hyp_type": "kvm",
"node_position": "A",
"block_id": "CE-HOMELAB",
"svm_version": "6.8.1",
"nos_version": "6.8.1",
"_comment_network": "Fill in the real static IPs for the AHV host and the CVM. Both must be in the same subnet, and must NOT be in the 192.168.5.x range (that is the internal CVM-AHV network).",
"host_ip": "10.0.0.50",
"host_subnet_mask": "255.255.255.0",
"default_gw": "10.0.0.1",
"hypervisor_hostname": "ce-ahv-01",
"svm_ip": "10.0.0.51",
"svm_subnet_mask": "255.255.255.0",
"svm_default_gw": "10.0.0.1",
"dns_ip": "10.0.0.1",
"_comment_disks": "These are NOT auto-detected here (unlike the interactive wizard. Determine them yourself with 'lsblk' on the TARGET machine, using the exact same logic the wizard uses.",
"ce_hyp_boot_disk": "sda",
"ce_cvm_boot_disks": ["nvme0n1"],
"ce_cvm_data_disks": ["sdb", "sdc"],
"ce_eula_accepted": true,
"ce_eula_viewed": true,
"_comment_media": "Served over HTTP by a web server. md5sum is required here.",
"svm_installer_url": {
"url": "http://REPLACE_WITH_YOUR_WEBSERVER_IP/ce-silent/nutanix_installer_package.tar",
"md5sum": "c2cf84ceae79b9aef945bbb5386f790f"
},
"hypervisor_iso_url": {
"url": "http://REPLACE_WITH_YOUR_WEBSERVER_IP/ce-silent/AHV-DVD-x86_64-el8.nutanix.20230302.101026.iso.iso",
"md5sum": "d83f73ac1f444ddba3825d335daf908a"
}
}Update the arizona.json file with the ipaddresses you want and make sure you add the correct disk layout for your CE node. To get these layout run lsblk from a linux console. Or start the original CE installer to get the correct names ;).
Now boot you CE node from the bootable USB stick and all will go automatic.
Pro tip 1: Try to get the node to reboot the AHV disk before the installer disk. Or else a reboot will trigger a silent installation again. 😉
Pro tip 2: Create different arizona.json files for different nodes.
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