Now a days i am getting very common question from my Blog readers How to kill / Cancel running / stuck / hung / task in Nutanix Prism via command line interface (CLI). Which command is more useful among Nutanix commands: ecli task.list command, acli task.list command or progress_monitor_cli command , which is the best command to kill the running / stuck / hung / clear the task(s) in Nutanix Prism console.
Managing stuck or frozen tasks in Nutanix Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI) environments can be challenging, especially during cluster operations, upgrades, or maintenance. Many Nutanix administrators often face issues like Nutanix cancel stuck task eclipse or Nutanix cancel stuck task ecli, where ongoing background jobs refuse to stop, causing delays in further actions. Understanding how to properly handle these situations is crucial for maintaining cluster stability and uptime.
In such cases, knowing how to cancel running tasks or use commands like Nutanix Task Kill can help free up resources efficiently. Sometimes, admins encounter issues like Nutanix Rolling Restart stuck or Nutanix Stop LCM Task, which can halt upgrades or configuration changes. When the LCM service gets unresponsive, performing a Nutanix restart LCM service is often necessary to resume normal operations.
This guide explains the safe methods to clear stuck tasks, stop running jobs, and restart Nutanix services without affecting production workloads. Whether you’re troubleshooting through Prism, command line (ECLI), or handling automation scripts, these best practices will help you quickly stop tasks and restore smooth cluster performance.
Actually each command ( Nutanix acli, ecli and progress_monitor_cli ) having specific purpose and density to kill the stuck / hung / running task(s) in Nutanix Prism , Nutanix CVM. Nutanix usually built the task management commands in major Nutanix AOS release version.
Nutanix Task Managers
Nutanix CVM offer three types of task mangers work on command line interface to manage running task and cancel / kill the task(s). We can use any task manger as per the task type and process structure to start and kill the task(s) on Nutanix acropolis cluster.
Nutanix has Top 3 task managers Command Line Tools are:
- acli task.list
- ecli task.list
- progress_monitor_cli
Now you will ask what is difference between Nutanix acli task.list, ecli task.list or progress_monitor_cli. Lets explore the Nutanix task management commands one by one.
1# Nutanix Progress_montor_cli Command
Nutanix progress_monitor_cli is most powerful task management command line tool is the number #1 useful and my favorite command to kill the running, stuck, hung task(s) in Nutanix Prism and/or Nutanix CVM.
How to use the Nutanix progress_monitor_cli command to kill stuck / hung task in Nutanix Prism / Nutanix CVM.
Lets explore the Nutanix Progess_monitor_cli commands to kill the task.
Follow the given Steps to kill the running, hung, stuck task(s)
Step 1: SSH to any Nutanix CVM of the Nutanix cluster ( Nutanix CVM default credentials )
Step 2: Get the running / stuck / hung task(s) list
CVM$ progress_monitor_cli –fetchall
Output would be like this:
================== Proto Start =========================
logical_timestamp: 10
progress_info_id {
operation: kDownload
entity_type: kPackage
entity_id: “xx.xx.tar.gz”
}
title_message: “Software Upload” —-> This is My Stuck / Hung task
start_time_secs: 1087597349
progress_task_list {
component: kPrism
task_tag: “xx.xx.tar.gz”
start_time_secs: 1087597349
percentage_complete: 10
progress_status: kRunning
}
=================== Proto End ==========================
now you have to collect following info from above command output.
- operation
- entity_type
- entity_id
Step 3: Now kill the stuck / hung task using following command
CVM$ progress_monitor_cli –entity_id=”<Entity_ID>” –entity_type=<Package_Name> –operation=<Operation> -delete
Example:
CVM$ progress_monitor_cli --entity_id="xx.xx.tar.gz" --entity_type=package --operation=download -deleteWow, progess_monitor_cli command successfully killed the stuck / hung task from Nutanix prism web console.
Read also: Top 10 Nutanix System Administrator Commands
2# Nutanix ecli task.list Command
If Nutanix progress_monitor_cli –fetchall command does not show any running / stuck / hung task list or does not kill the task. You do not worry Nutanix has another task management service known as Ergon task manager service.
Nutanix Ergon is the task manager that is responsible to start and kill the running , stuck tasks automatically and/or manually if needed. /
Ergon task manager has two versions of command first is ergon_update_task that is available to kill the task.
But Nutanix has evolved the second verson of ergon task manger with advance commands launched with AOS version 5.5 or later ecli ( Ergon Command Line Interface ) to manually show the running, stuck , hung task(s) list.
More info refer Nutanix Cluster Most Critical Services
Follow the steps to kill the running / stuck / hung task(s) via Nutanix ecli task.list command
Step 1: SSH to any Nutanix CVM of the Nutanix cluster
Step 2: Get the running stuck / hung task need to be killed to run following command
CVM$ ecli task.list include_completed=false
Output will be like this:
Task UUID = 3f814122-0bd8-4cc4-af3d-f17763c2e7f0
Component = lcm
Sequence-id = 1
Type = kLcmInventoryOperation
Status = kRunning
Note : Copy Task UUID before executing another command.
Step 3: Now kill the stuck / hung task(s) to execute following command
CVM$ ergon_update_task –task_uuid='<Task UUID>’ –task_status=aborted
OR
CVM$ ergon_update_task –task_uuid='<Task UUID>’ –task_status=succeeded
Example:
CVM$ ergon_update_task --task_uuid='3f814122-0bd8-4cc4-af3d-f17763c2e7f0' --task_status=aborted
Task aborted successfully.Wow, stuck / hung task has killed successfully.
3# Nutanix acli task.list Command
Nutanix acli task.list command is obsoleted and no longer available in latest AOS 5.10 or later version.
Note: acli command is available but task.list command is removed in latest AOS versions.
In my personal opinion – acli task.list was not powerful as super expected, that might be the reason Nutanix removed this command from acli command interface.
Hopefully, you got the more clarity and detailed information how to kill the running , hung, stuck task(s) in Nutanix via progress_monitor_cli and ecli task.list command.
Read also: Nutanix Move Tool Issues / Errors – Troubleshooting
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Frequently Ask Questions (FAQ)
Q1. How do I cancel a stuck task in Nutanix using ECLI?
Answer: You can cancel a stuck task in Nutanix using the ECLI (ncli or acli) command. First, identify the stuck task ID with ncli task.list or acli task.list. Then, run ncli task.cancel id=<task_id> to safely stop it. Always verify the task status after cancellation.
Q2. What should I do if a Nutanix LCM task is stuck?
Answer: If the LCM (Life Cycle Manager) task is stuck, you can stop it using lcm_service stop followed by lcm_service start to restart the service. This resets the LCM process and helps resume or cancel the stuck operation safely.
Q3. Is it safe to kill a running task in Nutanix?
Answer: Yes, but do it carefully. Killing a task can interrupt ongoing operations like upgrades or maintenance. Always confirm that the task is non-critical before using commands such as ncli task.cancel or acli task.delete.
Q4. How do I fix a rolling restart stuck issue in Nutanix?
Answer: If a rolling restart gets stuck, check the task list via ECLI and cancel it if needed. You can also restart cluster services with genesis restart or reboot affected CVMs to restore normal function.
Q5. How can I prevent tasks from getting stuck in Nutanix?
Answer: Regularly monitor tasks, keep your Nutanix AOS (aka LCM) versions updated, and avoid running multiple heavy jobs at once. Following best practices in task scheduling and maintenance helps prevent hung or stuck tasks in the future.
I’m Manish Kumar, founder of HyperHCI.com and a senior IT consultant with 13+ years of experience in infrastructure design and cybersecurity. An official certified SME for ISC2 and Nutanix, Also, certified in CISSP, CompTIA Security+, VMware and AWS. My expertise covers HCI, virtualization, cloud computing, network and security across Nutanix, VMware, and AWS platforms Read more
This is amazing step to step tutorial over internet to cancel Nutanix running task. Thx.!