Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) Reviews

We use the on-premises part where we virtualize our storage and use VMware to host our virtual machines. This solution allowed us to use regular hard drives or SSDs and virtualize them and replicate them on different servers to allow high redundancy and maximize the hardware we could have. We were on something that was growing old, and we needed something with new performance that was more up-to-date. At the time, Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) seemed like a good solution.

We used regular storage devices with VMware, and with NCI, we went on to hyper-convergence.

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) was transparent because we were on a regular infrastructure before. We went on NCI and were able to improve performance, but it did not really change how things worked. The performance was really better for applications and access times to the data.

I regularly looked at the analytics to see what was going on in my servers and what it was saying to optimize performance. It was pretty interesting because it could analyze and give insights on how to get things working better.

In the latest versions, the Prism interface has been replaced by Prism Central. This requires another machine to be deployed to manage the servers.

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) has really become very expensive. We are a small business. They had a small business pricing that was interesting, and they switched over, and it is not available anymore. It could be interesting to offer back another small business pricing that would be more suitable for small companies.

The scalability can be quite good. However, we had a locked-down version for small businesses. We were limited in what we could do. Now there is no more limit, and we could scale up quite easily.

I have been working with Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) since 2021.

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) was pretty stable. We did not have any problems during all those years.

I often communicate with the technical support of Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI). I had two cases when I had to contact the support. One was a technical issue, and it went quite well. The second one was a licensing issue because when I switched from the SMB package to another package, I had to change the way of licensing, and that was horrendous. Based on this experience, I would rate their support a five from one to ten, so ten would be the best support.

Positive

We looked at VMware vSAN. We had a look at StarWind also. We examined Microsoft S2D.

I did participate in the initial setup and deployment of NCI.

We did not do it on our own. We were accompanied by a consultant. It was pretty straightforward. We were able to migrate servers quite quickly. It was quite easy.

There was a really interesting packaged offer for small business.

In the latest versions, the Prism interface has been replaced by Prism Central. This requires another machine to be deployed to manage the servers. It was easier when it was only Prism to deploy and not have Prism Central on top of it. We do not use Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI)'s workload migration feature. We did not use those APIs. We did not have too many problems with that. I would rate this product an overall eight out of ten.

I work with Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI). I use Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) for maintaining our service. I am working for a university, so it is not easy to hear new information. It is also not easy to know the recent trends.

It is easy to use, and it's easy to maintain. I think it improves my performance, and I find it very helpful for me. Analytics is challenging because there are very few people in my office.

I see areas for improvement. It is not as tolerant as other systems, especially in hardware, if hardware faults often occur.

They should add AI features in the future. I would like them to provide many reports for our infrastructure or give us guides for operations.

I have been using Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) for about eight years.

I would rate stability as eight.

The solution is scalable. I would give scalability an eight.

I would rate technical support from Nutanix as nine.

I did not do that job by myself because I wasn't involved in the installation.

At first, it is cheaper than cloud services, so the cost is a major benefit. It is expensive to move to the cloud.

I am also using VMware solutions along with Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI). I prefer the migration between clouds. Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) is easier than other solutions, but VMware solution is more tolerant.

I have five minutes to discuss my current experience.

I am not entirely sure if I work with Nutanix Disaster Recovery as a Service or Nutanix Flow Network Security. I can't understand correctly the Flow of Network Security.

We don't use the QoS solutions to control the flow of the network now. I cannot say if I am using this feature. I have not heard about AI capability in Nutanix. AI reports for infrastructure could be added.

Regarding workload migration, I am referring to migration to cloud or between clouds. We are using the REST API solution. It is very important for us to use REST API because I operate many systems and we interwork with other schools or government solutions. We also use many other cloud services and RESTful API service.

On a scale of 1-10, I rate Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) an eight.

My organization implemented Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) sometime in 2021. We were trying to substitute our organization's private cloud infrastructure. To be sincere, we have been actually enjoying the infrastructure. The infrastructure has improved our turnaround time. For example, when people in technology development or devops request server provisioning, it used to take longer hours before, but now you make the request and in less than 20 minutes, your infrastructure is ready. This has been good news for our organization.

I work with Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) now as a customer and end user.

The features we love most in Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) are the Nutanix Moves. This feature allows us to migrate infrastructure that's currently running in another VM solution or physical device to the Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) environment. It is very cost-effective.

The infrastructure has significantly improved our turnaround time. When technology development or devops teams request server provisioning, the setup time has been reduced from hours to less than 20 minutes. This efficiency has been tremendously beneficial for our organization.

From my experience with Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI), there is one area that needs improvement. When moving a critical infrastructure from a physical machine to Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI), we currently have to use a third-party tool to convert the physical machine to a VM. We have to use VMware converter to perform this conversion before moving it to Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI). I would suggest that Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) should develop their own P2V (physical to VM) tools instead of requiring users to rely on third-party solutions.

My organization implemented Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) sometime in 2021.

Regarding stability, I would rate Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) a seven out of ten. There are environmental factors that are peculiar to the organization that cannot be attributed to Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI).

The scalability of Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) deserves an eight out of ten rating, as there is no solution that is 100% efficient and there is always room for improvement.

We have a very good relationship with Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI). We have a Technical Account Manager (TAM) who assists us when we encounter issues beyond our in-house capabilities. When we send an email, an engineer is assigned within 15 to 20 minutes, and we get on a call to resolve the issue.

The technical support from Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) is excellent, deserving a nine out of ten rating.

Before implementing Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI), we conducted a POC (Proof of Concept) for HCI (hyper converged infrastructure). We tested Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI), VMware, Dell, and HP solutions. After the POC, based on team reports and opinion polls, everyone decided to choose Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI). Though it was new to all of us, everyone was eager to learn, making adoption very easy.

The setup of Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) is similar to implementing VMware infrastructure. For every physical infrastructure that requires a VM, an operating system must be installed. While VMware uses ESXi, Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) uses Acropolis. The technology is fundamentally the same, with different naming conventions.

The main difference with Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) is its HCI nature, offering a three-in-one solution that combines network, storage, and compute in one box, eliminating the need for separate storage connections.

The implementation took approximately three months due to planning requirements and the need to migrate existing infrastructure. If starting fresh, the implementation time would likely be shorter, but our scenario involved migrating old infrastructure, which extended the timeline.

Regarding the price of Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI), including licenses and everything compared to VMware solutions, Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) is a down-to-earth solution. However, it costs more compared to VMware due to different licensing areas.

Implementation time can vary significantly depending on whether you're starting fresh or migrating existing infrastructure. Our implementation took about three months due to the migration of existing infrastructure.

Approximately 75% of users in our organization are using Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI).

I would recommend Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) if cost is not a primary concern. It is a very good solution that is easy to adopt and learn. Overall rating: 9 out of 10.

We are using Nutanix for Infrastructure Cloud (NCI). In the West NCI, we are using Prism Ultimate. At the moment, we have three admins to manage the Internet.

The replication method between Nutanix clusters is a valuable feature. We are aware since we renew every year, for example, almost $100,000 per year. We calculate ROI for five years. We have seen ROI.

For the company process, the price is too high. We need to purchase add-ons for the extra key and extra terabyte. New clients should be integrated into the current module. For G-files, we hope Nutanix can integrate inside our current license module.

We first purchased it in 2019. It has been almost four to five years.

It is stable. Compared to VM, we find it most stable.

It is scalable.

Customer service is awesome. I would rate it ten out of ten.

Positive

We are using only VMware.

The initial setup was straightforward.

We are aware of ROI since we renew every year at almost $100,000 per year. We calculate ROI for five years. We have seen ROI.

The pricing is renewed every year, at almost $100,000 per year. There are no additional costs for maintenance or support.

I think Nutanix CloudEnds Infrastructure is better in all regards, although there are still some weaknesses.

In the segregation, we have what we call it, we can do more customization on Fiservo. 

The overall product rating is ten out of ten.

We use Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure to operate our critical server infrastructure and achieve cost savings by migrating from AWS servers to a Nutanix cluster.

Nutanix offers a unified platform for managing databases, virtual machines, and applications. This simplifies management by consolidating everything into a single interface.

While Nutanix may have a higher upfront cost compared to other hypervisors, it can significantly reduce the resources needed for infrastructure management. With our previous hypervisor, we needed nearly ten IT personnel. Nutanix has allowed us to streamline our team to just three members.

We use a combination of database technologies, including SQL databases and web servers such as IIS, BHP, and NGINX.

Nutanix features helped our organization reduce downtime. I don't recall the last time we had downtime related to Nutanix because it is such a stable product.

Nutanix, a reliable product, helps us streamline our processes, which in turn improves company revenue. We began to see the benefits after two years, with a 40 percent reduction in operational costs.

We migrated 200 servers from AWS to Nutanix.

Nutanix may not consolidate applications, but it helps us run them more efficiently on its platform.

Updating is simple with one click. I would rate the updating processes 10 out of 10.

Adding compute and storage on demand is not difficult. However, we need to factor in the existing and new firmware and software requirements.

One-click setup is a valuable feature because it allows us to set up a server automatically with a single click.

The update process is smooth.

The documentation could be improved. To better assist new users, I'd recommend including more detailed instructions and making the content more user-friendly. For example, it would be helpful if Nutanix offered a video explaining the key differences between their features and those of their competitors.

I have been using Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure for 7 years.

Nutanix is generally considered stable, but its performance can also be influenced by the type of hard drive used in the system.

Scaling Nutanix is easy.

The technical support is excellent. Even for issues outside their usual scope, they have access to expertise in specific domains. For example, if I understand the data structure and cluster concepts but lack knowledge in another area, the Nutanix support representative might directly contact the engineering team, without informing me necessarily, to find someone who can fix the issue. This demonstrates exceptional support.

Positive

Previously, we relied on a hypervisor and VMware for our virtualization needs. While VMware offered some advantages, the process was entirely manual. This led to frequent issues that required time-consuming workarounds. Additionally, every new VMware release necessitated manual installation on all our computers and servers, which was a major headache.

Nutanix, on the other hand, provides a one-click solution. Both installation and updates can be completed with a single click, saving us significant time and resources. On top of its efficiency, Nutanix boasts high reliability. Unlike VMware updates, which occasionally cause problems or software malfunctions, Nutanix upgrades have been smooth and trouble-free. The challenges we faced with VMware are no longer present with Nutanix.

Setting up Nutanix for the first time was challenging because we weren't familiar with the product. However, with experience, it has become much easier. Now, it only takes a single click to begin the fully automated installation process. While we do need to wait for the installation to complete, providing the required information upfront ensures a smooth experience.

The initial deployment was for a six-node cluster and took three hours to complete. Now that we have experience we can deploy in half that time.

During the initial implementation, a Nutanix employee assisted us.

Nutanix can be expensive. I would rate the price seven out of ten with ten being the most expensive. 

While the licensing is good, it's important to note that Nutanix offers five-year licenses. After five years, the product reaches end-of-life and requires new hardware purchases to continue using it.

I would rate Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure nine out of ten. The cost is high, otherwise it would be a ten.

Our Nutanix servers are deployed on-premises in Texas and California.

We provide hosting services, including server setup, database configuration, and application deployment. We manage all our clients' servers on-premises using Nutanix, a hyper-converged infrastructure platform. Our primary focus is assisting clients with application-related setups on Nutanix. We manage a large-scale infrastructure with over 300 hundred virtual machines running on Nutanix.

While Nutanix Cloud offers a compelling option for data storage, particularly its disaster recovery capabilities against ransomware and viruses, our current organizational structure is better suited for an on-premises solution. This allows us to focus on controlling costs associated with on-premises licensing rather than cloud service fees.

Nutanix requires minimal ongoing maintenance. However, when they release new features and updates, installing them becomes necessary. Thankfully, the installation process is straightforward. The support team is also happy to assist with any maintenance needs. Expanding our storage capacity is the one major maintenance task. This involves purchasing additional servers and integrating them into our existing cluster. On average two people can handle the maintenance.

The most important consideration is understanding your infrastructure needs. Based on that assessment, we can recommend the best option for you. Recently, we assisted a client who wanted to purchase their own server. We facilitated the purchase of a Nutanix server on the client's behalf and ensured its delivery to their location. There are two main cost models to consider: upfront investment and ongoing costs. A one-time purchase requires a larger initial investment but eliminates ongoing costs for several years. Conversely, cloud services like AWS require monthly payments for as long as you use them. By comparing the total cost of ownership over a set period, you can potentially save 70 to 80 percent compared to cloud services.

I strongly recommend Nutanix. After purchasing Nutanix, we found it to be so effective that we no longer needed to consider any other products.

In our company, we use the solution for workload management. Our company has chosen Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure as its best solution in the market on scalability, and it gets easily deployed in a hybrid cloud. In our company, we move the workload to on-premises or sometimes to the cloud. 

The solution has allowed our organization to reduce space in the data centers and the system to consume only an hour of power. Power consumption has been reduced by 50%with Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure. 

The solution requires a limited number of components in the stack, software, and hardware. It's a robust and stable solution. Maintenance is not required for Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure, which is operating in the best condition in our company. I personally believe Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure to be the best solution I have worked with in my 16-year career. 

In our company, we believe the solution has more features than required. Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure is used for basic security and performance needs; we don't need advanced features such as flow and embedded firewalls.   

I have been using Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure for seven years.

I would rate the stability a ten out of ten. 

It's a highly scalable solution. I would rate the scalability a ten out of ten. Our organization has around 700 users of Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure. Our company doesn't plan to increase the solution's usage in the near future. The solution is mainly used by IT experts. 

Useful documentation is available for the solution and minor issues can be easily fixed by our company team on their own. Our organization rarely needed to contact tech support, probably just once every six years. 

Our company uses the community edition of Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure and the setup process was satisfyingly simple. I would rate the initial setup an eight out of ten. The deployment process of the solution can be finished within an hour. 

It's a cost-effective solution. Our company conducted extensive market research for enterprise solutions but found Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure to be the most affordable and suitable for our organization. 

I have used VMware, Proxmox and other competitor solutions, but at our company, we found Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure to be the best for our organization's use cases. The solution is faster and easier to manage than other competitor tools and doesn't require enhanced skills. Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure is an efficient solution that functions with limited resources. 

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure can be used up to 100% of its capacity, but our company is presently using 80% of the solution's resources. Our company manufactures iron casting products in the metal industry, and Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure is also used. 

For virtualization purposes, Nutanix Acropolis is used as a full-stack solution. For the Windows virtual machines in our company's server, Nutanix Acropolis is utilized instead of solutions like VMware Hypervisor. 

One of the main reasons our company adopted Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure was its data protection features. The solution is also used in disaster recovery through the automatic snapshots feature on the local site. Next year, our organization will try to join clusters in the network using the solution.

Network clustering will help our organization's team move workloads into the geographical cluster automatically. Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure is considered an ideal solution for disaster recovery where data protection remains embedded. The solution is capable of even capturing auto snapshots for remote sites. 

Next year, our company plans to test new features of Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure that will assist in automated workload movements on two sides at a distance of 60 kilometers. I would recommend others use the solution for its exceptional stability, performance, hardware compatibility, and overall flexibility. Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure allows the use of varying hardware for the same cluster. I would rate the solution a nine out of ten overall. 

Our client was using ESXi and Microsoft Hyper-V clustering, but patching and upgrading ESXi and Microsoft Hyper-V clusters was very tedious. That was their pain area. We understood their pain area and positioned Nutanix there. Instead of the orthodox three-tier architecture, they chose Nutanix. The benefit of Nutanix is that there is a very simple upgrade path. It is done with a click. The storage part is simple. It has a very easy UI, which is a USP of Nutanix. The client is very happy.

We have multiple such clients, and our clients are happy with it. For more than 10 clients, I myself have done the deployment of the Nutanix cluster. One of them had a cluster with 24 nodes.

In a single pane of glass, you get all the insights about your infrastructure. Earlier, in the orthodox three-tier architecture, you had multiple UIs. You also needed multiple expertise to take care of things. It used to take more time to troubleshoot and identify where exactly the issue was. You had to get your analytics, get your logs, and then troubleshoot. All this is avoided with the Nutanix architecture. It is hardware agnostic. For example, if an organization has a contract for the HPE hardware or they have an HPE footprint or a Dell footprint in their DC, they can go with that particular hardware and have Nutanix on top of it. Nutanix does not force you to buy only Nutanix hardware. Other vendors, such as VMware, make you buy their hardware so that their product works fine, but that is not the case with Nutanix. It is hardware agnostic. 

The applications that are run on Nutanix are client-side applications. There are banking or financial applications. They also have Citrix on Nutanix for the virtual desktop. They also have Oracle Database and SAP running properly on the Nutanix hardware or architecture. You can put any application available in the market, such as Oracle Database, MySQL, or NoSQL, and you will not have any slowness or anything like that with that application. Every application works smoothly on the Nutanix platform. It is all tested. 

It is much easier to deploy Nutanix as compared to other solutions. It saves you deployment time. Usually, in a big organization, the planning itself takes around a month. You also need permissions, and then you deploy a solution, so deployment takes time, but that is not the case with Nutanix, which is an advantage. You can get all necessary permissions from your management and then in one day or half a day, you can have your cluster. If you purchase the whole Nutanix portfolio with Nutanix Karbon, Nutanix Flow, and other solutions, deployment is very easy. You can put it into production.

It reduces the downtime. A cluster has multiple nodes in the backend. If you want to upgrade the firmware or you want to upgrade AHV or the hardware, it will do that one by one. It will put some nodes into maintenance mode. It will move some of the virtual machines to other nodes in a cluster. It will take care of the redundancy part. It will take care of your data. The data also gets migrated to those nodes so that it is available locally. You avoid all the hops that are there in the three-tier architecture. It reduces the hops and the time to access your data and gives you the output. All this is taken care of in the Nutanix architecture.

Snapshot is one of the key features that reduce downtime. It gives clients more power to define their RTO and RPO, which is a valuable aspect of the Nutanix architecture. Even in the case of DC/DR, if your DC goes down, you can use the data protection domain and get your DR site up and running. It helps clients achieve their RTO and RPO.

Our clients could realize its benefits in a week. I have worked on more than 10 major deployments. They already had some pain areas, and they wanted to mitigate those areas. We positioned Nutanix and did the PoC, and they were already happy with this solution at the PoC level. We did not have to do deployment and put it in production for them to see its benefits. Based on my experience with Nutanix, in a week's time, they get to know its features and the fact that it works smoothly.

All applications have dependencies. They have some hardware or networking requirements. You need to have the hardware accordingly in your DC. By buying Nutanix, our clients have managed to avoid all these requirements. In a single box, they get all the things, so they do not have to worry about the backend. Their applications work smoothly. They can have any application. They can even have VDI applications such as Citrix VDI or VMware Workspace on top of Nutanix. It supports all the platforms. Our clients are very happy with Nutanix. They do not have to do any hardware upgrades. 

It eliminates the legacy infrastructure. That is the main purpose of HCI. For HCI, Nutanix has been in the number one position for many years. In the three-tier architecture, there used to be a frontend application, a middleware, and a backend database. On the hardware front also, you had to put your servers, your SAN switches, and your backend storage. You had multiple footprints in your DC. You also had more power consumption. Nutanix reduces power consumption, troubleshooting, and maintenance. You do not need a separate team for maintenance. Irrespective of the hardware, you get a single point of contact for any support. All these solutions are consolidated under one roof, which is very beneficial.

We have done the whole DC migration to Nutanix. The client had five to six racks, and they got reduced to two racks by using Nutanix. It takes very less space. It helps to reduce your DC footprint and power consumption. Troubleshooting is very easy. You can also reduce the number of hops. It eliminates the whole process where the front end puts the request to middleware, which then goes to the backend and fetches the data from the storage. You can have your data locally, and then there is just a single hop. You get the output faster. It makes your applications run smoother and faster as well while responding to a request.

Single-click upgrades are the most valuable feature. In the sector in which we work, it is tough to have downtime and arrange firmware upgrades. If something goes wrong, you need to do a fallback or troubleshoot more. That can be totally avoided if you are using Nutanix in the backend for your hypervisor or clustering part. That is one thing.

Another thing is that you get CVMs similar to the number of nodes. CVM handles your backend storage infrastructure. It is underlying your hypervisor. If you have seven nodes, you will get seven CVMs, which is a good thing.

The availability of your data is also valuable. Whenever you shift or migrate your virtual machines inside a cluster, your data also follows that. It creates multiple copies of the data and keeps it ready in the backend for redundancy, which is another good point.

With Nutanix Prism, you get a single dashboard for everything. It shows you whether your data resiliency is okay, whether your nodes are okay, or whether your networking part is okay. It is another USP.

Our client had some old Citrix Xen servers for which there is no direct migration. Nutanix has a move utility for Microsoft Hyper-V clusters or VMware clusters. You can easily migrate them using the move utility, but the Xen clusters cannot be migrated in a simple way. That is the only thing that is lacking, but nowadays, no one uses the Citrix Xen server for their clusters. Everything else is already there. Nutanix keeps on upgrading its hardware's or hypervisor's capability to be able to support new technologies. 

I have been working with Nutanix for more than four years. 

It is quite stable. It is very robust. You can compare it to any old three-tier architecture solution. It is a much better solution. It is a much better approach. 

It is very easy, and it is very scalable. You can scale it vertically and horizontally. It has good scalability. If you have proper resources but only the storage needs to be upgraded, you have that flexibility where you can only purchase a storage node and add it to your cluster. If you want more compute resources, such as more CPU or RAM, you can put more nodes and add them into the cluster. There is no downtime. It is very simple and smooth.

In terms of the end-users, there are more than 3,000 users at a single location. There are multiple locations. There are about four locations in India and then for DR, they have two or three locations. This is basically a banking client, so there are multiple locations where they have put the Nutanix clusters. Even on the DR site, they have Nutanix. They have a six-node cluster where all the data is replicated. It is a multi-site deployment with about 16,000 users.

Their support is also very good. If something goes wrong, they will provide support. You just need to raise a case with their support. They come online and fix the issue as soon as possible and get your production going. 

They also support you at the deployment level. Many times, we faced some challenges because of networking, which plays an important part in deployment. If something is not proper in networking, the deployment does not happen. In such cases, you can raise a case with Nutanix support, and they will help you with the deployment. 

I would rate their support a ten out of ten.

Positive

We did not use a different solution. There was mostly the three-tier architecture, and people used to replace or upgrade at the storage level, networking level, or server level until HCI came into the picture. With HCI, all those things went away. It reduces your DC footprint and gives you a powerful solution. There are different HCI players in the market, such as VMware vSAN and HPE SimpliVity, but wherever we have positioned Nutanix, clients have been happy. We had positioned HPE SimpliVity for a client, but in the next tech refresh, they got it replaced with Nutanix. 

We have had some clients who had their workloads on Azure and for their Oracle Database and SAP environment, they had purchased a Nutanix box from us. They had put their on-premise applications on Nutanix. When they saw those applications working so smoothly, they brought their Azure workload on-premises and bought another Nutanix box. I was a part of that migration.

Nutanix Prism dashboard and one-click upgrades are the points that make Nutanix much better as compared to other solutions. They give you a single pane of glass. The UI is very good. It gives you an experience similar to Azure or AWS UI. You can have all the insights about your hardware in a single pane of glass, and it is very easy for management as well to do regular reporting. They can make fast decisions regarding their futuristic plans.

Most deployments are on a hybrid cloud. Some of the deployments are on a private cloud. Our clients have Azure. They also have Nutanix Cloud.

The initial setup is very simple. You only need to get your foundation VMs set and then you can have it deployed. You need to get your appliance switch and connect all your client's servers to that switch. It is very simple. You can even start it and leave it. It will format all those nodes and make them ready. The networking part is also easy. Whether it is a plain network or you are putting in a VLAN, it is very easy. There are only a few commands, and then you can deploy it. 

For a 24-node cluster, it took us only about six hours, which is not the case with the three-tier architecture. It takes six hours just to plan how to position or get those nodes up and running in production. That is at the very initial level, and then it takes about a month's time to get the node cluster into production. That time is saved with Nutanix. In just six to seven hours, you can get it going in production.

We have a single person for deployment. I myself go to DC and do it. There is one more person to do the rack stacking of all the hardware. A single person is enough to get the clusters ready and put them in production.

In terms of maintenance, it does not require any maintenance that requires any downtime. It is very simple. If some new features get added, it will show them on your dashboard, and then you can upgrade to the newer version.

There is an ROI. With the three-tier architecture, you have to purchase separately for the storage, database, applications, etc. There is a software-layer investment, and then there is a hardware-layer investment. In the software-layer investment, you have to take backups and create a backup infrastructure. You also have to pay for the expertise. You need people for monitoring and taking care of your hardware. You need storage administrators and network administrators. With Nutanix, everything gets consolidated in a single box, and you also save the cost of expertise. There is a good return on investment.

Its licensing is fine. They provide the flexibility to choose from different options. You can go with the standard plan. You can go with the pro or platinum plan. Generally, our clients go with the pro licenses, but if you go for the platinum license, you get even more capabilities. Their starter license is also quite good.

About 95% of our clients go for the pro license, but we also have some clients who do not need enterprise-level features, so they go for the starter or standard license. They do not need to pay anything extra in addition to the standard licensing fee.

Clients usually evaluate a product when they have a pain area, they have a tech refresh, or they want to adopt a new technology. For example, if they are on the old three-tier architecture, they might be curious about HCI. We explain all the benefits of not only the HCI technology but also specifically of Nutanix for HCI. We explain how it addresses their pain area or needs. It has low overheads, so the cost of ownership is also low. They get a robust environment, and it is very easy to handle. It saves time. You do not have to go to DCN, mount storage, deal with SAN switches, etc. All those tasks are time-consuming. The maintenance and configuration take time. Nutanix saves you time. You can fulfill your needs or your clients' needs. The deployment is easy. Sometimes, our clients get astonished at the speed of deployment because they were expecting it to take weeks or months. It is simple but powerful. It is very easy.

Overall, I would rate this solution a 10 out of 10.

We implemented the solution as a reseller for non-critical DBS. Initially, we used it with an Oracle database. For the big customers, we moved forward into automation netting a transformation from the whole stack. We had full automation also for service management operations.

We managed a critical DB where different agents have to interoperate to make it easy for the technicians who are not skilled in IT. With Nutanix, we are able to arrange a fully automatic state that provides only a simple web interface for the technicians. Then we build the system, that integrates all the information automatically without the need for data entry. It helps us make a low code integration without developing much more software which is easier than what we had to do in the past.

We've had a really amazing experience since my organization was able to really, really simplify all orchestration. I'm talking about automation and a precision hybrid cloud. The visualization is excellent. We do not just see the small tip of the iceberg above the water - we see the whole iceberg. 

The simplicity when it comes to building your own automation has been excellent. They provided us with professional services and we were able to acquire the necessary skills and knowledge to make automation ourselves. We started from a few workloads and from there we were able to automate a lot in order to reduce total cost.

NCI provides us with a single platform to manage your databases. It is quite difficult to start as you have to know the new logic. You have to understand the environment, to take a deep dive into the different functionality. However, once you have acquired the knowledge, it becomes really easy to move fast and go forward with automation. There’s also very helpful service management.

We started with non-critical DBs and then we transformed our full stack Oracle IDs and IDs based on MongoDB and SQL and other DBs moving across different applications.

NCI's features helped us to reduce downtime. The native solution that we are managing, was in a full redundancy. It was a resilient solution that was provided by Nutanix. 

Nutanix is a software appliance. We have to work with Nutanix to arrange up to the hardware and test for network and security, and then for server storage.

NCI helped our organization consolidate its applications. They make the operation easy for people. People don’t have to be specialized. This is a good advantage.

We built a DB as a Service for a particular telecommunication application to share mobile and WiFi into the server environment. Then, we applied the integrated storage provided by Nutanix to visualize all of the information for the private cellular device. We’ve automatically improved security by moving into an environment where we are able to apply logical security insights to the platform to make decisions and check product information. We use Nutanix to make a container where we can put a cloud and a single person can check to make sure the data is compliant with the data policy of the enterprise. They are brilliant in sales operations and resilience. 

The cost is a pain point.

Nutanix can be a bit complex to understand. There need to be more technicians that can be more specialized and work more closely with the final customer. There needs to be people with more technical skills with Nutanix in the market from countries that aren't just the US and UK.

Sometimes there are language barriers that are hard to overcome.

The stability is very good. In two years, we've had no issues - only drive and hardware issues, not software issues. 

We store the data across four regions for Google Cloud, two regions for our telco cloud, and three regions for our private cloud. We're dealing with eight terabytes of data. 

It's easy to upgrade Nutanix. However, it doesn't start out as easy. If you have complexity, you must be cautious.

It's easy to add storage on demand. 

The solution is extremely scalable. 

Technical support does a good job of supporting Nutanix's cloud infrastructure.

Positive

I also used VMware. It was useful in a consolidation environment. However, Nutanix gives us a boost when it comes to IPaaS convergence.

We've used multiple deployment models. We start with a private cloud and then move to a public cloud. We can make a hybrid solution for final customers. 

I've been involved in implementations as a consultant and also at approval levels.

The initial setup is really complex. However, we expected the complexity. It was clear at the outset that it would be so. However, we started with the right team and took the right steps. While it was complex, there were no surprises. 

We started with non-critical DBs and moved to more critical DBs from there. Critical data stayed with Oracle. The rest was moved and we've moved 60% of the workload so far. We expect to end at the end of 2024.

The solution does require maintenance. We have four people from Nutanix and 12 integrators, then 20 internal people all handling maintenance. 

We have witnessed an ROI when using Nutanix. We've seen a total reduced cost of 30%. If you really apply the rules and build your own architecture using their guidelines, you will achieve even more. 

The licensing is flexible and agile. If you are looking for a small workload, the solution is expensive. However, if you are in a transformation program, they can get you a good deal. They have professional services at the same price level as Oracle, Microsoft, Amazon, et cetera. 

I have been a customer and a reseller. 

I'd rate the solution nine out of ten.

I would advise others to apply Nutanix to your program for transformation. Nitanix makes transformation easy.

We are primarily using it for software development. 

We use the Nutanix Kubernetes cluster.

We like that it is cloud-based. It allows us to have a cloud-based ecosystem.

It's helped us reduce downtime by 50% approximately. It helps us consolidate our applications. It reduces processing time and administration. We can move faster. We don't have to wait for hours to process. We can do it in a few clicks. 

We were able to eliminate some of our legacy structures. We were using VMware. We are working to move away from it. We also are in the process of migrating other applications over. 

The provisioning is very easy. The live upgrades are useful. There is no need for downtime. It's very easy to manage things. We can reduce a lot of time with infrastructure upgrades.

It's easier to use for beginners.

I only started using the solution a few months ago. So far, I've found error reporting needs work. The reporting feature isn't very good. Sometimes it takes time for data to be reflected in the dashboard.

We'd like to have more Kubernetes information in the dashboard. That kind of dashboard would help.

I've been using the solution for a month.

The solution is stable. 

It's not difficult to add compute or storage on demand. 

We have around 500 people using the solution.

The solution scales well.

Technical support is responsive.

Positive

We previously used VMware. We didn't use a previous cloud solution.

We use all of the major cloud providers. Everyone is moving more towards cloud-based solutions and away from VMware and legacy infrastructure. 

I deployed the solution. It only takes a few minutes to implement. Setting up a cluster may take half a day. 

The solution does not require much maintenance. There might be hardware maintenance.

It's easy to upgrade. We can easily enable updates or do a manual upload via a single click.

We didn't need any assistance in terms of handling the setup. They will support you if you need help.

We have not witnessed an ROI as of yet. There has been a lot of time savings, however. It's faster and less time-consuming from an administration point of view. We can do things in minutes instead of hours or days.

Nutanix is less expensive than VMware, for example. It's economical for a mid-range organization. It's very customer-friendly in terms of support as well. They offer pretty good loyalty to their existing customers. 

The solution is set up as a subscription model. 

We evaluated VMware solutions. It was very expensive compared to Nutanix. Nutanix features are better. We're paying less for more features and functionality.

I'm using the latest version of the solution. 

Compared to a standard SAN solution, its performance is better and it is more feature-rich. Their hypervisor and cloud system is better. 

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.

We have a lot of servers. Previously, they used to be physical servers. Managing all those physical servers was difficult. Many times hardware used to fail and there was a disruption of services. After we moved to Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure, life got a lot easier. We have deployed more than 80 VMs in a cluster.

We have many homegrown applications that we run on Nutanix. We have a customized web portal and applications. They are customized for our business.

Nutanix NCI’s features help our organization reduce downtime. We use RA3 stuff in our clusters. If there is any issue with the hardware, node, or something else, my cluster is up and running. Over these three years, we have probably upgraded the Nutanix software twice or thrice. We had to restart nodes multiple times during this upgrade, and none of our users felt that something was going on. They did not have any issues related to slow response or no response from the applications while we had to shut down one of the nodes, put it into maintenance, apply the patches, bring the node up, and then make it join the cluster. It was smooth.

It has helped with consolidation. Previously, we had more than 40 servers, and now we have only 6 nodes. It is a lot easier to manage these 6 nodes. With the hardware, if something goes wrong, such as the hard disk showing amber, I have to create a ticket, share the logs, and then the engineer will come and check. After that, the part will come. It can come at 2 AM or 4 AM. We have to be physically present. They will shut down the server, take out that hard disk, and replace the hard disk, and then we will have to bring up the service. We have to spend a lot of time.

They have a product for database management called Nutanix Era, but we do not use that. We have not deployed it over here. We primarily use this HCI for making VMs and running web applications and their databases. We have migrated database services but not through the Nutanix Era. We have our own system, so we used that. The purpose of migration was to have a single pane of glass for management. The downtime is less, and the service becomes a smooth service. The users who are using the service are happy.

A lot of features are there, but for us, on the server administration side, creating a clone of the VM is valuable because many times, we have to deploy security patches. For deploying these patches, it helps to have a clone so that if something goes wrong, we can discard that VM and put back the clone VM. That is a very cool feature.

Usually, there are separate administration teams that take care of servers, but in our organization, servers are usually looked after by the application owner. However, the application owners cannot reinstall the software, OS, and other things. That only aligns with the role of the HCI administrator. If these rights can be provided, it will be very easy. Previously, it was there, but after certain updates, we found that they have withdrawn those services. For example, you requested a VM, and based on the business use case, I approved it and gave you a bare-metal server. Now you are the owner of that particular VM, so whatever you need, you should be able to do over there, but currently, you have to request me for the installation of the OS that you need, and I have to do it. It is an overhead for the HCI administrator. If that can be offloaded to the VM owners, that will be much easier for us. I have already shared this feedback with Nutanix.

I have been working with this solution for more than two years.

It is stable. Its reliability is very good. In the last three to four years, we have not faced any outages. It is smooth on the hardware side and the software side.

We first thought of deploying about 40 VMs, and now, we are running more than 80 VMs, so a lot of scalability options are there. If you have a smooth augmentation, all the capabilities are there. 

We have plans to use our present data center for DR. We will build a new DC, and we will be deploying another set of Nutanix clusters over there. 

Their support is very good. Whenever we found any issue, we raised a ticket, and there was always an expert who had discussions with us and helped us. If required, they do a remote session and help us out. I would rate them a ten out of ten.

Positive

I have not worked with any similar solution previously.

In terms of the deployment model, we have an on-prem cloud. In terms of the initial setup, the Nutanix team took care of building the clusters. For such a solution, we create a service request, and they set up the entire cluster. After the cluster is ready, they hand it over to us for creating VMs and migrating applications to those VMs.

Its maintenance is easy. You can do it with a few clicks. There are interfaces, and you need to do checks for those interfaces. You need to look for the long-term support version and follow the procedure. Overall, it is smooth.

For the deployment and initial setup, there is usually one person from Nutanix. From the hardware vendor team, there are usually one or two people, and then there are two people from our side. One is from the software side, and one is from the network side for IP allocations and other related things.

We also evaluated VMware, but at that time, VMware was not mature, and it was not within our requirements. That was the reason why we chose this solution. Another reason was that our technical evaluation team found Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure to be more suitable for our architecture.

Overall, I would rate Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure a nine out of ten.