Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series vs VxRail comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary
Updated on Mar 31, 2022

We performed a comparison between Cisco Hyperflex HX series and VxRail based on our users’ reviews in four categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.

  • Ease of Deployment: Cisco Hyperflex HX series users feel that the setup can be a bit complex and that some technical expertise and know-how are necessary. VxRail reviewers consistently tell us that deployment is simple and easy to carry out.
  • Features: Cisco Hyperflex HX series users like that you can manage the whole cluster from the traffic interconnect. The solution is very stable, secure, and scales very well. Cisco Hyperflex HX series offers great performance and great integration options. Many users say that Cisco Hyperflex HX series is very heavy and uses a lot of memory and hardware resources. Users would like to see better replication and backup abilities.

    VxRail users like that you are able to seamlessly deploy to a hybrid cloud and you can easily create developer-ready Kubernetes platforms. Users feel VxRail provides fast data center modernization, excellent integration, and powerful performance and reliability. Some users would like better support for SAP HANA and better documentation and feel that everyone should have access to the simulator.
  • Pricing: Cisco Hyperflex HX Series users feel that although there are several pricing options, the solution is still quite expensive. VxRail users are satisfied with the flexible pricing options available and feel it is a very cost-effective economical solution.
  • Service and Support: Users of both of these solutions are extremely happy with the support and service they receive.

Comparison Results: In our comparison, VxRail is the preferred solution. VxRail is easy to use and performs well without causing undue stress to operating systems. The competitive price and overall cost-effectiveness make it an easy choice for many organizations.

To learn more, read our detailed Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series vs. VxRail Report (Updated: September 2023).
734,156 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Q&A Highlights
Question: How does VxRail compare with Cisco HyperFlex HX Series?
Answer: VxRail provides stable solutions for technical problems while at the same time not being too expensive for a company to invest in. Even if you are working with a limited budget, this platform offers freedom of choice and a number of different options. In contrast, Cisco HyperFlex HX does run on the more expensive side and cannot offer the same level of cost-effective solution. VxRail is able to provide both an ability to upgrade the system with an ever-growing library of resources as well as to provide powerful processors. This is something that I greatly appreciate. Being able to simply add upgrades to the system without necessarily having to worry about the system being bogged down is invaluable. The ability that it provides to apply updates to the system with ease is something worthy of note. If you add this to the fact that VxRail runs on multiple cores at 2 gigahertz or higher, then that means that in terms of ability, the VxRail is difficult to match. In terms of usability, it is hard to argue that VxRail delivers. It is pretty simple and easy to both set up and manage. Once the system is set up, all of the management tools are centrally located to assist in providing ease of use. The Cisco Hyperflex HX Series is both stable as well as reasonably easy to set up. Cisco has a step-by-step program guide that leads you through the process. Once it is set up, it is not prone to glitching or freezing. However, the pricing model that Cisco applies to this product requires users to pay a yearly subscription. This can end up being rather expensive in the long run. Conclusion Both systems offer stable solutions. Ultimately, VxRail is more cost-effective.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"StarWind is very easy to use, even if you have had no experience using a SAN before.""It eliminates the use of expensive physical shared storage.""StarWind saved us about 80% of our storage costs over our old solution.""StarWind has provided us with a top-notch, well-supported, robust vSAN offering when other vendors have moved to hyper-converged solutions that are outside of our average clients' reach from a financial and resource perspective.""The management and monitoring have been very easy since the solution's dashboard is very simple and user-friendly.""We are running Hyper-V on twin servers in failover, and being able to manage servers from anywhere I need to, virtually, has been a game changer.""The ability to keep data accessible even in the event of hardware failures is highly valued, as it ensures business continuity.""We have been able to use more on-prem hardware to reduce cost and also use old disks that we do not trust enough for ordinary RAID or usage."

More StarWind Virtual SAN Pros →

"Performance-wise, everything is good. So far, we haven't had any issues. There has been no downtime at all.""The implementation process is okay.""It's very easy to integrate with the ACI network.""The most valuable feature of Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series is the integration with everything in a much smoother, such as in physical and virtual environments. VMware NSX is a simpler solution but, Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series is more robust compared to VMware NSX.""The most valuable feature is full integration with Cisco API and UCS, which means you can have complete networking and storage from Cisco.""It is helpful as a backup solution.""The initial setup is very straightforward.""It is a stable solution...It is a scalable solution."

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"You don't need to think about compatibility of components.""like VxRail because it's fully integrated. The other hyperconverged solutions are also well integrated. They are all highly similar to each other in that regard. But we prefer VxRail for its physical integrations or lifecycle management. It also has vCenter, which integrates the hardware lifecycle management.""Initial setup is straightforward, as everything is pre-installed.""The ease of deployment and management of the solution are the most valuable aspects of the product.""Cost-effective and easy to install.""VxRail has improved our organization by providing our admin team with an easy-to-use interface.""We are very happy with the purchase, and it works well. It is fast. We went with the full-flash version, meaning that we have SSDs. So, we can build a Windows virtual machine in two minutes. We were surprised when we first tried to do that.""The tool's price is competitive and it is easy to use."

More VxRail Pros →

Cons
"I had issues locating the documentation that applied to my version of StarWind vSAN.""Perhaps more reporting features on the utilization, usage, and performance of the configured high-availability images and underlying physical disks would be helpful.""If it's possible to make a driver/solution that does not make use of the iSCSI targets of Windows, that would be great. I don't know if that's possible, however, it could make the configuration a little easier.""I would say that the documentation is mostly great, however, some features could be expanded upon a bit.""Diagnostics information or alerts on the state of systems could also be implemented to give more visibility.""Proper training sessions should be included with the licensing.""I'd love to see more clarification for us folks who are smart enough to do some damage yet not smart enough to use CLI.""Besides not being able to use any filesystem, I do not have any additional cons."

More StarWind Virtual SAN Cons →

"HyperFlex could be improved by reducing the minimum number of nodes supported from three to two.""The initial setup could be faster, due to the prerequisites.""We'd like the product to offer better integration with other products.""I have been receiving a memory overflow message every day when I use the solution.""They should give us a little more information about how to use the CLI and offer more commands.""The initial setup can be complex.""One of the biggest problems with HyperFlex HX is that if you want to adjust your solution in terms of processing power, memory, or disk capacity, you have to buy completely new hosts. From a financial perspective, it can be very expensive to do so, and from a legal perspective, there are all kinds of compliance issues we would have to sort out before buying any new solution or application.""The initial setup can be a bit complex."

More Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series Cons →

"VxRail should try to improve the pricing.""The scalability is limited to a single cluster with 64 nodes.""Integration could be improved.""We have some issues, but they are possibly out-of-the-box issues. There was a host that was dead on arrival, and there were some file issues on other hosts. We're currently working actively with Dell to resolve all these issues. Once they are resolved, the product should be stable.""We'd like to see more automation capabilities in the future.""They're getting better with their one-click upgrade. The success factor is now between 85% to 87% with the latest release. They should just continuously improve on that one-click factor and make it more seamless.""The initial setup is very complex.""Lacks integration of licenses so that it's an expensive solution."

More VxRail Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "For two nodes, it cost us $10,000, and we spend $2,000 a year on support."
  • "If you are looking at a traditional SAN for a small cluster, give StarWind vSAN because you will save thousands without any compromise."
  • More StarWind Virtual SAN Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "HyperFlex is a little pricey."
  • "There is a license required to use this solution."
  • "There is no additional licensing cost other than the cost for each part."
  • "HyperFlex is relatively expensive, but you get good value for money."
  • "There is a 30 percent additional premium that all the companies are charging for Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series because of the lack of chips and bottlenecks in the market. The cost of the solution is high right now."
  • "There is a recurring cost for the VMware license and the HyperFlex licenses."
  • "We have a yearly license."
  • "Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series is expensive. It's a standard license, and we pay for it yearly. I think we pay about 700."
  • More Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "VxRail is quite expensive and could be cheaper. I would say that the main difference between VxRail and the competition is cost. There may be some differences in features, but I would say that it's mainly the costs."
  • "The VMware licenses are included and we do not have to worry about the license, everything is integrated."
  • "The price could be lower."
  • "Price is a bit of a challenge, particularly if you want extra features or higher performance."
  • "It varies. It could be $100,000 at the smaller end and millions and millions of dollars at the higher end."
  • "More cost-effective than Nutanix."
  • "VxRail is an expensive solution."
  • "Fees vary by license type."
  • More VxRail Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:We like their high availability. It reduces the downtime for our entire organization's environment.
    Top Answer:The Premium ProActive service price is a little high, yet worth the price.
    Top Answer:It is hard to find adequate technical documentation on their support website. However, they have a fantastic technical… more »
    Top Answer: Cisco HyperFlex HS series vs Nutanix Acropolis AOS Cisco HyperFlex gives extended hyper-convergence functions… more »
    Top Answer:VxRail provides stable solutions for technical problems while at the same time not being too expensive for a company to… more »
    Top Answer:It is a stable solution...It is a scalable solution.
    Top Answer:HPE Nimble Storage dHCI Vs. VxRail One of the best things about the HPE Nimble Storage dHCI is the three, two, one,… more »
    Top Answer:While both run on the vSAN technology from VMware, vSAN needs to be deployed on vSAN ready nodes while VxRail is an… more »
    Top Answer:VxRail vs. Dell EMC PowerFlex VxRail provides stable solutions for technical problems while at the same time not being… more »
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    VCE VxRail
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    Overview

    StarWind Virtual SAN provides high availability and fault tolerance for virtualized environments without the need for dedicated SAN hardware. It allows for real-time replication between servers, shared storage for Hyper-V clusters, and enables vMotion and High Availability features for VMware vSphere. The solution reduces costs and leverages existing hardware while providing a scalable and reliable infrastructure. Valuable features include ease of use, scalability, top-tier support, hardware agnosticism, and the ability to use off-the-shelf standard servers to increase storage space. StarWind VSAN has helped organizations improve performance, data availability, and data security while reducing downtime and providing cost-saving storage options.

    The Cisco HyperFlex HX Data Platform is a purpose-built, high-performance, scale-out file system with a wide array of enterprise-class data management services. The data platform’s innovations redefine distributed storage technology, giving you complete hyper-convergence with enterprise storage features:

    • Enterprise-class data management
    • Continuous data optimization
    • Securely encrypted storage
    • Dynamic data placement
    • Clusterwide parallel data distribution
    • Linear and incremental scaling
    • API-based data platform architecture
    • A simplified approach

    VxRail is a hyper-converged appliance based on VMware virtual SAN Software and is jointly engineered and built with VMware, for VMware, to enhance Vmware. VxRail software-defined architecture simplifies compute, storage, virtualization, and management. It will safeguard performance, reliability, and flexibility across your organization with a broad range of workloads and applications from business-critical to next-gen. With VxRail, you are covered.

    VxRail is a single turn-key appliance that is a validated, fully integrated, pre-configured,  pre-tested solution and offers non-disruptive scaling. Every node includes compute storage and IO. All-flash configurations can contain between 12-28 cores per node. The storage capacity options run from 7.6 TB to 19TB with either 256 GB or 512GB of memory. Hybrid appliances may have 6-20 cores per node, 3.6 TB to 10 TB of storage capacity, and 24GB to 256 GB of memory. 

    VxRail offers high availability fail-over, an active/active stretch cluster, and VSan Kernal integration. VxRail is a power-edged server with APIs built on automation. There are over 15 million different combinations of hardware available with VxRail. VxRail provides a simple, cost-effective solution that solves a large range of use cases. Additionally, you also get a mixed workloads automated system that is backed with fully automated system updates, and complete end-to-end lifecycle management all in a single two-rack appliance. 

    VxRail is a value-added suitable solution for distributed small to mid-sized enterprises, remote offices, private clouds, and virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI). You choose the deployment option that best suits your organizational needs, from appliance to integrated rack offerings, with or without networking, and it will be delivered to you, ready to deploy out-of-box. 

    If you know VMware, you know VxRail.

    VxRail Features and Benefits

    • Seamlessly accelerate deployment to a hybrid cloud 
    • Fast data center modernization
    • Create developer-ready Kubernetes platforms
    • Powerful performance and reliability
    • Improve and simplify operational efficiency
    • Excellent integration 
    • Save time
    • Reduce costs

    Reviews from Real Users

    VxRail is an all-in-one solution: "You don't have to worry too much about the hardware and you don't have to work on integrating a storage device. We instead have this as an all-in-one solution and everything is available as a box."

    VxRail is remarkable: “The cover points feature in VxRail is remarkable. It's unique. It has an intervention failover system as well as an automatic failover system, reaching clusters existing in VxRail…

    VxRail is a powerful performer: “...VxRail delivers a very high number of IOPS for a hybrid configuration or an all-flash configuration. The processors that are available in the Xeon family are very powerful. They are multi-core with typically 2 gigahertz, 2.4 gigahertz, or higher frequency, so the performance is very much appreciated.” 

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    Learn more about Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series
    Learn more about VxRail
    Sample Customers
    Baker Tilly BVI, CMS Internet, Board Harpeth Hall School
    BluePearl Veterinary Partners, Ready Pac Foods, Bryant University, Bellevue Group, KPIT Technologies, City Harvest
    World Wide Technology Inc, Renault Sport Formula One Team, 8x8 Inc, Brownes, Canadian Pacific, Canopy, Denton, EDF, Unilin, Xerox
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Manufacturing Company10%
    Construction Company9%
    Educational Organization8%
    Computer Software Company8%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company19%
    Government9%
    Manufacturing Company8%
    Financial Services Firm7%
    REVIEWERS
    Comms Service Provider16%
    Manufacturing Company12%
    Computer Software Company10%
    Government10%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company24%
    Government8%
    Manufacturing Company8%
    Financial Services Firm7%
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company20%
    Financial Services Firm8%
    Insurance Company8%
    Comms Service Provider8%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company15%
    Government9%
    Manufacturing Company9%
    Financial Services Firm7%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business63%
    Midsize Enterprise22%
    Large Enterprise15%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business25%
    Midsize Enterprise17%
    Large Enterprise58%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business26%
    Midsize Enterprise15%
    Large Enterprise59%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business22%
    Midsize Enterprise18%
    Large Enterprise60%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business28%
    Midsize Enterprise32%
    Large Enterprise39%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business24%
    Midsize Enterprise17%
    Large Enterprise60%
    Buyer's Guide
    Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series vs. VxRail
    September 2023
    Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series vs. VxRail and other solutions. Updated: September 2023.
    734,156 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series is ranked 7th in HCI with 24 reviews while VxRail is ranked 1st in HCI with 44 reviews. Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series is rated 8.0, while VxRail is rated 8.6. The top reviewer of Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series writes "High performance solution that makes it easy to efficiently manage VM resources". On the other hand, the top reviewer of VxRail writes "It's built on platforms that have been in the industry for more than 15 years, so it's very stable". Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series is most compared with VMware vSAN, Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI), HPE SimpliVity, Dell PowerFlex and Dell vSAN Ready Nodes, whereas VxRail is most compared with VMware vSAN, Dell PowerFlex, HPE SimpliVity, Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) and Dell vSAN Ready Nodes. See our Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series vs. VxRail report.

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    We monitor all HCI reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.