The Nutanix cluster automatically selects the optimal path between a hypervisor host and its guest VM data. The Controller VM has multiple redundant paths available, which makes the cluster more resilient to failures.

When available, the optimal path is through the local Controller VM to local storage devices. In some situations, the data is not available on local storage, such as when a guest VM was recently migrated to another host. In those cases, the Controller VM directs the read request across the network to storage on another host through the Controller VM of that host.

Data Path Redundancy also responds when a local Controller VM is unavailable. To maintain the storage path, the cluster automatically redirects the host to another Controller VM. When the local Controller VM comes back online, the data path is returned to this VM.