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.
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.
"The vSAN provides full redundancy for storage while reclaiming some rack space."
"It has been extremely stable for the three years we've been running it."
"The most valuable feature is the reliable storage replication, which enables me to create a robust infrastructure to run our business."
"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 biggest benefit was that it allowed us to provide SAN services on a limited hardware budget."
"High Availability is the best feature of product."
"Training is also easy as it is just one system to learn."
"In the three years that we have been using StarWind, the product has yet to cause us any problems."
"The management feature is the solution's most valuable aspect."
"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."
"It's very easy to use and quite a mature product."
"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."
"The solution is stable."
"The most valuable feature is full integration with Cisco API and UCS, which means you can have complete networking and storage from Cisco."
"Its most valuable feature is its flexibility."
"It has a valuable deduplication feature."
"The implementation was quick, we used a checklist and it took approximately one hour."
"The support has been excellent, especially if you compare it to IBM."
"Low-maintenance solution with hyperscale feature so it has the ability to utilize the resources for the VMware cluster setup on which Citrix VDA runs."
"Initial setup is straightforward, as everything is pre-installed."
"The compute is good and we have not had any issues with the vSAN."
"I like the managed updates. They are really nice in VxRail. Everything comes packaged and the updates are much easier than with other solutions that I've had to work with."
"VxRail alleviates the operational constraints within an organization."
"The only way I can see this product needing improvement is the consultation level of the StarWind sales and engineers."
"I would definitely like to see quite a bit more on the monitoring side of things."
"The gathering of monthly consumption and performance reports for future dissemination to concerned parties is very important. Unfortunately, StarWinds vSAN doesn't offer this functionality."
"Updating the software can be a bit tricky."
"Diagnostics information or alerts on the state of systems could also be implemented to give more visibility."
"The main thing I would like to see improved is the level of documentation."
"There is no Italian-language version of the software available."
"It took a bit of knowledge and support to put in place but once installed it works fine. Migration (HyperV) from one server to another sometimes takes longer than expected but there is no data loss even if the host crashes."
"Cisco HyperFlex should decrease the amount of memory needed from the Controller VM that controls the physical discs. They control the discs by using the virtual VM over every ESXi host and the VM consumes memory and consumes more hardware resources. They have to improve that by decreasing the amount of required memory and CPUs to control this disc on the server."
"When it comes to customer needs, the licensing price could be better."
"Its price could be better."
"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"
"HyperFlex could be improved by reducing the minimum number of nodes supported from three to two."
"The pricing is pretty expensive."
"In the next release, I would like to see them able to connect to the public cloud."
"Right now, it's difficult for a non-technical person to participate in using the product. It could be made more consumer-friendly."
"The implementation of a VxRail, it's straightforward, but the ongoing utilization, and integration, are where it can start to become difficult if you're not used to doing it."
"It would be an improvement if VxRail could be integrated with some other hypervisors and not just with VMware."
"The configurations of VxRail can be difficult. However, it has improved in the newer version. From version 6 to 7, there has been a lot of changes."
"The solution could improve by having more storage performance because in some other solutions you can have a file system that can be mounted at several places at one time."
"I would like to see Dell take a crack at simplifying the process of moving from a node to a cluster and assembling everything into the appliance. It would be great if Dell could provide a pathway where a customer could actually install it without the certifications. Of course, I can't say how you would dumb down something so complex."
"A more containerized approach in regards to the interface would be better."
"Sometimes during the upgrade process of VxRail, we experience errors that have nothing to do with reality and I cannot troubleshoot them without calling Dell and bringing in an engineer to figure it out."
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Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series is ranked 8th in HCI with 24 reviews while VxRail is ranked 3rd in HCI with 79 reviews. Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series is rated 8.0, while VxRail is rated 8.6. 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 VxRail writes "Good automation makes this solution practical". Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series is most compared with Nutanix Acropolis AOS, VMware vSAN, HPE SimpliVity, Dell PowerFlex and NetApp HCI, whereas VxRail is most compared with VMware vSAN, HPE SimpliVity, Nutanix Acropolis AOS, Dell PowerFlex and HPE Hyper Converged. See our Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series vs. VxRail report.
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