We performed a comparison between NetApp HCI [EOL] and StarWind HyperConverged Appliance based on real PeerSpot user reviews.
Find out what your peers are saying about Dell Technologies, Nutanix, VMware and others in HCI."StarWind vSAN is a great solution to create a redundant two-node-only Hyper-V cluster, both for domain or workgroup scenarios."
"The backup is readily available for use, and the restoration process is easy."
"The product has improved the ability to mimic physical SAN environments to demo scenarios and troubleshoot problems."
"In the three years that we have been using StarWind, the product has yet to cause us any problems."
"It is extremely stable."
"The main benefit is that StarWind is almost maintenance-free."
"It also provides a seamless and efficient solution for personal storage requirements, showcasing the versatility and scalability of my Virtual SAN configuration."
"It has allowed me to effectively and confidently manage the maintenance of hosts where I can power off a host and have its VMs migrate to another one."
"It has automated a lot of workloads. It has automated us from ticketing a large number to a very small number."
"The solution is very scalable."
"The ability to size the available space in a way that matches our company's needs is most valuable. For instance, you can decide if you want 80/20, 70/30, or 60/40 space. Redundancy depends on your needs without changing the appliance. You just add space and decide the percentage of space that you need free and the percentage of space that you need for backup. It is all automatic, and you don't have to do anything. You just add space, and the system automatically configures itself with the chosen option."
"The solution integrates well with all the other applications that we use on our environment."
"It is scalable, and NetApp Deployment Engine (NDE) makes its deployment easier."
"NetApp HCI is a stable solution."
"It has reduced our hypervisor footprint by around 20%."
"The scalability is great, because it can scale independently."
"We have the ProActive Premium Support and it has reduced our monitoring efforts. It has been very useful. They have been able to detect things such as when there's an issue with the cluster or they're getting some kind of weird reading that I have no idea about. They're really quick to let me know about it and even set up a schedule to address it. I've been very happy with their level of support on that."
"We were able to set it up via the documentation and only needed their support a handful of times."
"The most valuable aspect of StarWind is the all-in-one solution that they provide."
"Overall, the solution has improved our system's performance. I was concerned about the physical-to-virtual conversion of our database server. It's actually much faster now, as a virtualized host on this Hyper-V cluster."
"Reliability and overall uptime are key as we're also hosting client environments in addition to our own."
"UI Options are simple and easy to find."
"The hardware footprint is great. We've got two 2U servers which replaced four 2U servers. Granted, they were about three years old at that point, but we actually increased our processing capacity by about 50 percent while keeping our storage capacity about the same. We've actually been able to downgrade to a half rack from a full rack because we've gotten rid of some of our network equipment and some of our additional storage arrays."
"The hosts came preconfigured, and it was plug-and-play."
"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."
"I'd prefer it if a remote console was provided."
"I'm sure it needs bug fixes..."
"I did not see any indication that StarWinds vSAN is a usable solution with non-GUI instances of Hyper-V."
"It would be good to have a little more access to control certain aspects within the UI."
"The system failovers properly on its own without too much worry."
"Initially, when we first started, the sync was horrible."
"I see no need for major improvements but there could be some improvements in the form of notifications and the simplifying of maintenance mode."
"There are some legacy applications which still cannot be migrated. That is why we have to keep two environments: legacy and the new one. We would like to see more compatibility to move stuff."
"My biggest pain point is the installation part. I would like to see the appliance itself remove the entire switch that goes behind it and figure out how to do all the cluster interconnects within the box itself."
"The deployment process has room for improvement. I would like for it to be a cookie-cutter deployment."
"There have been some drive type of issues where we have to apply a new code level. Storage nodes kick certain drives until they act as though they have failed when really they haven't. You just have to reinsert them, then they go on about their happy way. It's sort of a bug."
"I would like to see higher level graphics support because we are going to be doing some virtual desktop for our CAD software, and I want to be able to support AutoCAD and Cantillo on remote desktop machines."
"I would like for them to fall a little closer to like the VMware release model. The new features and new solutions tend to come from the VMware side. I would like for NetApp to follow along closely with VMware's release schedule."
"HCI has not enabled us to consolidate workloads or break down silos and has not increased application performance. It has also not resulted in more efficient use of compute resources."
"In the next version I would like to see bigger GPU types and insurance for including transparency."
"The management console could use a facelift."
"The only real flaw that I have seen so far is this hard drive that was accidentally ejected because when it was received and added back into the RAID. There was an error there. It was not added back into the RAID correctly, so I have an outstanding hard disk. Apparently, a guy just knocked it with his hand as he was in my office, so it was just a small eject. He said that he didn't crash into anything. That is the only thing that has reared its head."
"The only issue we have seen is with the StarWind Server Manager. We have had to continually reboot the server in order to use it."
"We'd like an easier setup for Windows updates on the Hyper-V servers so you don't have to use a script to ensure auto-updating is done."
"Perhaps the initial configuration and documentation could be a little clearer and simpler to follow."
"The only critique I might have is that the support is overseas in Eastern Europe and, on occasion, there has been a language issue. But in general, they're as good as can be..."
"The only thing that can use improvement is the StarWind Management Console and Command Center."
"We were slightly disappointed with the hardware footprint. We were led to believe, and all the pre-sales tech information requirements pointed to the fact, that it was coming on Dell hardware. Then it came on bulk servers."
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NetApp HCI [EOL] doesn't meet the minimum requirements to be ranked in HCI with 32 reviews while StarWind HyperConverged Appliance is ranked 6th in HCI with 65 reviews. NetApp HCI [EOL] is rated 8.0, while StarWind HyperConverged Appliance is rated 9.6. The top reviewer of NetApp HCI [EOL] writes "Ease of provisioning has allowed us to implement large installations in a very short time frame". On the other hand, the top reviewer of StarWind HyperConverged Appliance writes "Straightforward to use with good remote management and a simple GUI". NetApp HCI [EOL] is most compared with , whereas StarWind HyperConverged Appliance is most compared with Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI), VMware vSAN, Dell PowerFlex, VxRail and StorMagic SvSAN.
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