Nutanix Inc. today launched a new release of Era, its database management service, with features that it says will enable enterprises to run their cloud database deployments with greater reliability and less manual work.

Publicly traded Nutanix is a major provider of software for managing information technology infrastructure. Its Era service provides a console through which administrators can set up new databases clusters and carry out day-to-day maintenance tasks such as patching.

Era 2.0, the new release launched today, adds multicloud features into the mix. Companies running multiple database clusters at different locations previously had to manage each deployment individually. Now, Nutanix says, administrators can manage all of their databases centrally via Era 2.0’s interface.

“Standards defined in Era for provisioning, patching, protection, and cloning can be defined one time and applied across multiple locations, thereby ensuring greater consistency and compliance,” detailed Nutanix staffers Jeremy Launier and Chris Paap.

One of the main enhancements in the update is an upgraded version of the service’s existing Time Machine feature. Time Machine is used by administrators to manage backup copies of databases. The upgraded version of the feature will allow them to view the backups for all of their company’s databases via a single console.

Era provides the ability to define policies for managing how long backups are retained. Time Machine can also be put to use for other purposes, such as supporting a company’s software initiatives. If the development team is building, say, an analytics application, the IT department can find a recently taken database backup, spin up a database cluster based on that backup copy and make it available to the development team as an application testbed.

Another task Era 2.0 aims to simplify for customers is patching. The release brings a new feature that promises to reduce the amount of work involved in rolling out updates by allowing administrators to create a “gold image” of a database. They can link other database clusters to that image and, when they roll out a patch to the image, all the linked databases are updated as well. 

“This capability greatly enhances database operations for admins who typically run multiple database engines,” Launier and Paap explained. ”It reduces the amount of manual steps involved in the process, de-risking the patching process, saving time and reducing operational overhead,” they added.

Other new features in the release include an expanded list of supported databases. In addition to the already supported SQL Server, Oracle, or PostgreSQL platforms, Era now works with SAP SE’s HANA in-memory relational store, a popular platform among large enterprises.

Nutanix paired Era update with the introduction of two new offerings. One is an extended 24/7 support package for customers running the Postgres database. The other is  SKALE DB, a managed database offering that Nutanix jointly developed with HCL Technologies Ltd., a major professional services provider, based on Era 2.0. 

Photo: Nutanix