"The solution is also quite flexible. As an example, other vSAN solutions that we looked at had more stringent requirements regarding mixed HDD/SSD storage which wouldn't have worked in our environment."
"The ability for us to manage all of our nodes from the same console makes systems administration very easy."
"The biggest benefit was that it allowed us to provide SAN services on a limited hardware budget."
"StarWind vSAN has allowed us to leverage our server infrastructure more completely without the need to add more hardware."
"Quick setup, great support, stability is great"
"In the three years that we have been using StarWind, the product has yet to cause us any problems."
"It's quite easy to manage."
"StarWind Virtual SAN for vSphere is a software-defined storage solution that has reduced administration time for storage. It's pretty straightforward to install and setup it and so far it has been robust and worked as advertised from StarWind."
"The scalability of the product is quite good overall - as long as you plan correctly from the outset."
"It is a complete package. For any kind of on-premises hyper-converged solution, we usually have to separate networks, but Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series is a complete solution. It has its own network and storage. The storage part is the most valuable feature."
"The solution scales extremely well."
"Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series is simple to use, user-friendly and has been best for our purposes."
"Offers very good data protection and provides system uptime availability effectively."
"Great integration with backup software."
"The price of the solution is good, especially when it comes to complex network solutions, such as UCS and Connect."
"Overall, the solution is extremely easy, flexible and secure."
"We've had no issues with scaling the solution."
"It is easy to use for management and operations teams because the tools are in one place."
"The catalog of APIs for automation has been most valuable, although they are quite limited."
"When StarWind Virtual SAN for vSphere nodes go offline unexpectedly, the nodes have to re-sync disks fully which takes a long time. We had a power failure and when both nodes came online, VMware vSphere didn't see StarWind disks before I manually re-scanned them form ESXi administration console even though it should happen automatically"
"There needs to be more visibility on how long the cloud replication will take as there is no current ETA."
"Having more support plan options would be nice."
"The main thing I would like to see improved is the level of documentation."
"Security on the ISCSI protocol could be improved by adding features like OS-type control access, especially for the data center environment."
"We would like the documentation to be more complete. Most items are covered, but if you don't know something, you may need to contact their support."
"If there was a way to automatically put disks in maintenance mode when shutting the host down and exit maintenance mode automatically, that would simplify things."
"A great feature would be a wizard and to include a new disk in the SAN. At the moment, including a new disk requires several steps - some that must be done at the OS level and others in each node."
"The pricing is pretty expensive."
"The initial setup can be a bit complex."
"In the next release, Cisco should add more integration and management capabilities as well as some tweaks to the dashboard that make it more user-friendly. They could also add support for multiple hypervisors."
"With the cache disk fails in Cisco, the whole node fails, and the workload goes down."
"There should be the opportunity to create more than one div group"
"If we compare it with VMware, the VMware product is basically very open, and it can be easily integrated with any platform. VMware product is also available on the cloud and is not an appliance-based product, whereas Cisco HyperFlex is an appliance-based product. Companies that want to use HCI as a platform or as a service would prefer something without an appliance. A SaaS-based product is better for a customer who is using the cloud and has multiple resources, workflows, and devices on the cloud and wants to go for a hyper-converged solution. This is where improvement is needed. In addition to an appliance-based product, Cisco should provide a SaaS-based product. Its price should be lower. Cisco needs to work on the pricing model for this product. Its price is a big road blocker when competing against Nutanix and VMware, which are its main competitors."
"There are sometimes issues with memory failure."
"I have been receiving a memory overflow message every day when I use the solution."
"The installation is complex."
"We've had some issues around the licensing."
"It would be great to get earlier access to beta builds because we have to develop providers on our own. The APIs and enablers for custom automation could also be improved."
Try it today
Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series is ranked 8th in Hyper-Converged (HCI) with 22 reviews while Dell PowerFlex is ranked 13th in Hyper-Converged (HCI) with 3 reviews. Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series is rated 8.0, while Dell PowerFlex is rated 7.6. The top reviewer of Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series writes "An all-in-one option that is stable and offers good management". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Dell PowerFlex writes "Stable with good technical support and the capability to scale". Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series is most compared with VxRail, Nutanix Acropolis AOS, VMware vSAN, HPE SimpliVity and FlexPod, whereas Dell PowerFlex is most compared with VxRail, VMware vSAN, Nutanix Acropolis AOS, HPE SimpliVity and Rubrik. See our Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series vs. Dell PowerFlex report.
See our list of best Hyper-Converged (HCI) vendors.
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