Terminology

AOS is the operating system of the Nutanix Controller VM–the VM that runs in the hypervisor to provide Nutanix-specific functionality. It provides core functionality used by workloads and services running on the platform. It contains several data services and features for data protection, space efficiency, scalability, automated data tiering, and security. AOS is a back-end service that allows for workload and resource management, provisioning, and operations. Its goal is to abstract the facilitating resource (for example, hypervisor, on-prem infrastructure, and cloud based infrastructure) and give workload the ability to seamlessly move between hypervisors, cloud providers, and platforms.

the native Nutanix hypervisor, AHV, represents a unique approach to virtualization that offers the powerful virtualization capabilities needed to deploy and manage enterprise applications. AHV compliments the HCI value by integrating native virtualization along with networking, infrastructure, and operations management with a single intuitive interface - Nutanix Prism.

A Virtual Machine defined in Nutanix hypervisor.

A Host is a component of a Nutanix Cluster running AOS.

A well identified set of Hosts running AOS/AHV.