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DataCore SANsymphony vs VMware vSAN comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

StarWind Virtual SAN
Sponsored
Ranking in HCI
4th
Average Rating
9.6
Number of Reviews
187
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined Storage (SDS) (1st)
DataCore SANsymphony
Ranking in HCI
7th
Average Rating
9.2
Number of Reviews
55
Ranking in other categories
Storage Software (2nd), Software Defined Storage (SDS) (4th), Storage Performance (1st)
VMware vSAN
Ranking in HCI
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Number of Reviews
228
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2024, in the HCI category, the mindshare of StarWind Virtual SAN is 2.2%, up from 1.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of DataCore SANsymphony is 1.8%, up from 1.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VMware vSAN is 17.6%, up from 17.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
HCI
 

Featured Reviews

PL
Apr 12, 2022
Easy to use with good data replication and very helpful technical support
Our team was looking for a reliable and cost-effective solution for our VMware vSphere platform. VMware vSAN wasn't an option due to cost and scalability issues. Enabling storage high availability across multiple nodes was our top priority as we couldn't risk having any downtime in case a node was…
Mike Felber - PeerSpot reviewer
Jan 29, 2024
Flexible with high fault tolerance and minimized downtime
Our primary use case is to provide central storage for our VMware virtualization environment.  We use DataCore SANsymphony within a data center spread over two locations. In the main data center, the storage is mirrored and asynchronously replicated in the second data center.  DataCore SANsymphony…
Emmanuel Nguyen - PeerSpot reviewer
Sep 4, 2023
Easy to install but needs improvement in terms of compatibility with previous versions, stability and performance
We use the solution for VDI and SBC Citrix With this solution, less time is needed to install three-tiered infrastructure. The main advantage is that it's all in the box, with VMware vCenter Server product. Compatibility with the previous version, stability, performance, and upgradeability of…

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"Immediately we noticed huge performance gains, even on older hardware and once we implemented a 10GB link between both servers, the sync was near-instant after the initial sync was complete."
"The user interface for this application is amazing."
"The most valuable feature is the managed service, which has been an important part of monitoring our critical infrastructure."
"StarWind Virtual SAN is essentially hardware agnostic, allowing us to build out a specific hardware layer based upon the customer's unique requirements."
"Active-active work mode leads to true redundancy of storage and allows us to distribute the load between multiple nodes."
"StarWind allows us to move virtual machines from one physical host to another, which greatly reduces the downtime required for maintenance."
"Highly available storage is the most valuable feature. The entire rollout is hyper-converged and requires no extra storage further than the hosts in which Hyper-V is running. Another feature that has been great is the support from StarWind in general. We have their proactive support package on the main cluster that employs Starwind Virtual SAN."
"The primary purpose of this software is to create a virtual SAN between local storage on Hyper-V hosts. I find this feature most valuable since it accomplishes this quite well."
"The documentation repository is really useful and kept updated."
"I found the solution to be very stable."
"Storage is always available."
"It allows data to be available from two DataCore servers."
"Our central storage has very high availability. DataCore SANsymphony ensures high business continuity."
"During the maintenance periods, on any part of the storage or VMware migration, we have had no downtime."
"SANsymphony is flexible, with many potential options for implementation. SANsymphony's can be used with VMware, Hyper-V, or even with a hypervisor agnostic approach. It can also be used for strictly physical non-virtualized solutions."
"The interface is user-friendly."
"The ease of use is great."
"VMware vSAN is easy to configure, with basic functionality and the customer can maintain the solution."
"It is simple to manage, very easy to implement and troubleshoot in case of any failures."
"Being able to deploy multiple applications with virtual servers is the most valuable for us. The capacity of the system is quite constant so it's got some of the good features."
"I have found the solution to be scalable."
"The solution is simple to use compared to other solutions, such as Hyperflex, VxRail, and Nutanix"
"VMware has been around for a long time are are doing a decent job at catching up with the latest technologies i.e. bringing in kubernetes and containerization. Overall, this is a great tool for virtualization."
"The installation is very easy."
 

Cons

"To enable the proactive support capability that is part of our support agreement, I would ask that the terms and conditions be revised and made acceptable to corporate security."
"They need to invest more in the support documents for real issues happening when integrating the solution with the hypervisor."
"StarWind doesn't really have any performance reporting, especially compared with other vSAN products we've used."
"It would be good to have a little more access to control certain aspects within the UI."
"The software monitoring should be web-based to be reachable from any VLAN workstation."
"We just need more integration with Veeam."
"The most disappointing side of the application is the free edition. There used to be GUI attached. That has recently changed to only CLI management of the application."
"Though I have learned some of the nuances with the upgrading of firmware/windows/etc., it would be nice to have a more efficient method of doing so."
"DataCore needs a more efficient and better way to keep track of metrics and counters so that we can do baseline analysis to measure performance."
"DataCore should integrate its own file server into SANsymphony."
"The cloud reporting interface is quite poor compared to other vendors."
"Unified storage (all block, objects, and files) should be in a single storage pool with unified storage concepts, hence providing the user with whatever they want."
"Its interface could be better."
"Right now, the version used is run on Microsoft Windows Server. Having a Linux version or even an appliance would be better as it would eliminate the use of additional licensing for another piece of hardware."
"For customers or technicians who don't speak and understand English, it would be great to have other language support, all the more so given the number of countries in which SanSymphony is used."
"The alert system could have more features."
"I see room for improvement for vSAN just around general hardware compatibility and expanding that sort of matrix."
"We want see a better monitoring tool in vSAN. Monitoring is not that great as of now because it shows us false alarms in the Health status. We would like that to be improved."
"There's already a concern with VMware with ransomware and security issues. VMware could focus on improving security."
"This solution is not great for large file shares/object/rich media repository."
"The pricing model is sometimes a challenge for us because their licenses are very costly."
"It should be easier to use."
"When you upgrade the vSAN, there are some issues like lost data and problems with the log. The log disappears. When you upgrade the solution, you must have several logs, so if you have some problems, you can check the log server to find them."
"I would like to see more support for applications. I think currently it only supports applications between two vSAN clusters."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing is excellent. It will run on anything. You don't have to buy a $100,000 server, with hardware you don't need. You just pay for the license and you're good to go."
"Their pricing seems pretty good, and their licensing structure is pretty straightforward."
"The cost, including OPEX, is lower compared to other solutions."
"The Price/Performance ratio for this solution is outstanding!"
"StarWind is best price/performance for SMB."
"This solution has a great price for the functionality."
"The licensing is straightforward, with free and trial versions available."
"The setup cost, pricing, and licensing are very straightforward. They are exactly what you expect."
"It is relatively expensive, and the additional costs for hardware and storage can make it a significant investment for customers."
"This product has a good ratio between quality and price. In many cases, it's less expensive to work with DataCore than other storage systems."
"The solution is cost effective."
"This solution allows the use of off-the-shelf hardware and charges by the TB of storage."
"DataCore SANsymphony's pricing is very high and should be much cheaper."
"Make sure you are made aware of the annual subscription cost when purchasing."
"In my case, the licensing per terabytes is very high and it must be licensed for each extra functionality."
"Pricing has improved but it is still expensive."
"The cost of VMware vSAN is reasonable."
"It is too expensive."
"The solution requires a license. The payment is on a yearly basis and It is not overly expensive."
"It is fairly cost-effective for entry to mid-level performance based on the underlying hardware components."
"It could be cheaper."
"It is expensive, but you get what you pay for."
"I would rate the licensing model a three out of ten, where one is expensive, and ten is cheap."
"There is a license to use this solution and we pay approximately $30,000 annually. There were not any additional fees required other than the license. The solution is expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
18%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Government
9%
Computer Software Company
26%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Government
6%
Educational Organization
49%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about StarWind Virtual SAN?
It is easy to use and can monitor system synchronization and check Storage status. StarWind Virtual SAN (VSAN) combin...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for StarWind Virtual SAN?
Pricing on this product is controlled largely by the number of nodes and the storage volumes involved. One of the cut...
What needs improvement with StarWind Virtual SAN?
In the next release, StarWind should include enhanced integration with cloud services for more seamless hybrid cloud ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for DataCore SANsymphony SDS?
Good sizing is the basis for a stable and high-performance environment. It is important to plan in sufficient reserve...
What needs improvement with DataCore SANsymphony SDS?
It's difficult to say if something is missing in this solution. Maybe we'd like to manage the raid on the disk direct...
What Is The Biggest Difference Between vSAN And VxRail?
While both run on the vSAN technology from VMware, vSAN needs to be deployed on vSAN ready nodes while VxRail is an e...
Which would you choose - Nutanix Acropolis AOS or VMware vSAN?
We found the reduced power consumption with Nutanix Acropolis AOS a very attractive feature. We also like the interfa...
How does HPE Simplivity compare with VMware vSAN?
HPE SimpliVity is a hyper-converged infrastructure solution that is primarily geared to mid-sized companies. We resea...
 

Also Known As

StarWind SAN & NAS
DataCore Virtual SAN
vSAN
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Baker Tilly BVI, CMS Internet, Board Harpeth Hall School
Volkswagen , Maimonides Medical Center, NASA, Thorntons, Inc., TUI, ISCO Industries, Pee Dee Electric Cooperative, United Financial Credit Union, Derby Supply Chain Solutions, Mission Community Hospital, Bellarmine College Preparatory, Colby-Sawyer College, Mount Sinai Health System, The Royal Institute of International Affairs, Quorn Foods, Bitburger, University of Birmingham, Stadtverwaltung Heidelberg, NetEnt to name a few.
Read Some Case Studies At Home Cloud CaribCINgroupDiscovery Check out the Rest of our Customer Stories Here
Find out what your peers are saying about DataCore SANsymphony vs. VMware vSAN and other solutions. Updated: July 2024.
800,905 professionals have used our research since 2012.