DataCore SANsymphony Reviews

DataCore is our main Enterprise SAN solution. We serve all workloads among five different DataCore server groups. These workloads include all hypervisors, SQL and Oracle Databases, file shares, archive, and backups. DataCore helps us achieve disaster recovery by allowing us to mirror our data between two sites.

DataCore has been doing software-defined storage since back before SDS was even a buzzword. It has provided a great deal of flexibility, performance, and efficiency for our Enterprise SAN. We are not tied to any one hardware vendor and over the nineteen years that we've had DataCore, we have gone through various models of IBM servers to Dell servers as well as various storage arrays from IBM, Dot Hill, XIO, Kaminario, and Dell (all with some of the same data from year one).

DataCore's ability to seamlessly move virtual volume data between storage pools as well as their synchronous mirroring has made maintenance and disaster recovery planning achievable. DataCore's auto-tiering feature also allows us to use our SSD arrays efficiently.

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 has some functionality where you can send performance metrics to a SQL database however it has not always worked well for us. We actually had to turn it off because we were actually collecting too much data, but in my opinion we sometimes want this data. Ideally if there was a way to see metrics for current and specific points in time it would be great for troubleshooting and any type of trend analysis.

I used to say the problem with DataCore was that it ran on Windows. However, with 2012 R2 and now Windows 2016, things have become much more stable. In general, stability has improved over the years. Most of the problems we've had in the past were due to Windows blue screen errors stemming from our HBA cards.

Scalability has worked well so far. We are up to managing about 2PB of data across five different DataCore Groups.

Technical Support is responsive. They could be a little faster when there is a critical emergency, but for the most part, technical support is good.

We have always had DataCore as our Enterprise SAN.

We've always had DataCore come in with Professional Services to do the initial setup.

In regards to Fibre Channel, buy a server that can handle the highest number of Quad Port HBA cards. Purchase as much memory for the server as you can afford. Anything you spec out, you will need to double if you want redundancy.

We did not evaluate other solutions prior to selecting this one.

DataCore is the primary storage solution for all of our VMware hosts, installed on a Dell EMC RX740 server with a combination of spinning and NVMe storage. We have just moved to a 2-host, hyperconverged solution utilizing DataCore. All of our servers and services are running off the 2-node DataCore solution.

DataCore has helped provide flexible, highly available, high-performance storage that otherwise would have been outside our price range.

The most valuable feature is auto-tiering, which allows for storage pools containing different speed storage systems and the data automatically moved to the most appropriate pool.

The cost is becoming prohibitive since they moved to a subscription model.  'Education' pricing is such in name only (we are a school).

When we originally purchased Datacore (in 2014) it was on a perpetual basis and provided exceptional value for money. We have renewed our DataCore solution this year, in 2019, and have found that DataCore has moved to a subscription model. Not only was the initial licensing far higher than previously, partly due to additional storage requirements but also because we can no longer acquire a 'limited' license and we also find we now have a large subscription to pay each year.

DataCore has been incredibly stable in the last six years that we've been using it, with zero downtime due to a failure in the DataCore component.

DataCore gives me the impression that it is hugely scalable. We currently use it on a tiny scale of two nodes, but this would be expandable to many many more.

DataCore support has always been top-notch whenever we've called on their services, although this has admittedly been rarely due to the stability of the product.

Previously we had local storage on separate physical servers. DataCore seemed the ideal solution for our vSAN when moving to a virtualized environment in VMware.

The initial setup of a conventional vSAN is straightforward.

Our recent setup of a two-node hyperconverged solution was a little more complicated, though this was mainly due to the Dell servers we had ordered as hosts, rather than DataCore itself. The DataCore consultants setting up the solution were very knowledgable and it was completed without too much trouble.

Our solution was implemented through a DataCore specialist, external contractor, who helped configure the whole solution.

When we initially purchased DataCore, it was extremely cost-effective with a perpetual license. They have since moved to a subscription model, which may prove too expensive for us in the future.

Make sure you are made aware of the annual subscription cost when purchasing.

DataCore appeared to be the most suitable, best-value solution at the time and as such, we did not evaluate other alternatives.

Our primary use case is for a high-availability and redundant storage system with fast read and writes times with low latency.

DataCore SANsymphony has improved our organization by using much less hardware for storage. The power consumption and heat have decreased, so we were able to shut down one air conditioner. Also, it is a faster storage system.

The features I have found most valuable are the active-active, or so-called grid technology, and the integration into our VMware vCenter. Our vCenter is now much easier to manage.

An easier way to open a service call, right through the DataCore GUI, would be an improvement, especially when there is an urgent issue.

Although we have just started to use DataCore, we are very happy with the stability of this solution.

The scalability of this solution is very good.

So far, we have not had to contact customer support.

We used the IBM SAN Volume Controller and switched to DataCore. In our case, it was possible to use less hardware and get more performance.

The initial setup was not complex. The migration was fast and we experienced no problems.

We implemented this solution through a partner company.

The cost is at the same level as other storage solutions and it is easy to understand the licensing.

We have some experience with IBM storage solutions.

I recommend taking a look at DataCore because it is a simple-to-use product that saved us from spending more money on additional hardware and support.

We use SANsymphony for all of our business-critical data. We run a dual host, VMware 6.7 host environment with a 25Gb/s network fabric connecting to mirrored SANsymphony nodes. We have two business systems running in this environment. One is running Red Hat Linux and Progress DB, whereas the other is running Windows and Microsoft SQL server.

I'd have to say that the biggest improvement gained by using SANsymphony has to be the performance of the product. When we migrated from our physical SQL server hardware storage to SANsymphony's software-defined storage, with its clever caching mechanism, we saw a huge increase in performance. This decreases the amount of time it takes to make a sale and keeps both our staff and customers happy.

SANsymphony is a very versatile product and its vendor's agnostic nature allows us to pick and choose our hardware platform. Its redundancy allows us to perform maintenance 'on the fly' and protects our data from all manners of failure.

As a policy, we tend not to over-commit our storage (a feature I'm sure others find really handy). There is no way of quickly matching the exact size of a vDisk to a disk pool.

I can't think of any other features that SANsymphony needs - it is a very comprehensive storage solution.

The project was to replace an old SAN (from Dell EMC) with a new system that is more resilient and offers high availability.

We replaced a SAN (Dell EMC) product with two servers and the SANsymphony software. The solution is more scalable and very easy to administrate.

We have gained in scalability. The most valuable feature for us is that we can adjust the size of the storage very easily, without stopping production. The product is easy to administrate.

Even though it is easy to administrate, the initial installation and configuration can be complicated.

The alert system could have more features.

We feel that this solution is very scalable.

I use DataCore SANsymphony for the redundancy with two nodes. It's a good solution with a good price for a small infrastructure like us.

It has improved performance, security, RTO, RPO, and timeout. It has improved my organization with the prevention of a breakdown.

Redundancy and improved performance in terms of storage with auto-tiering are the most valuable features. 

It needs just two nodes for the operating system and licensing.

I would like for it to improve into a more ergonomic management console and a translation into the French language. It should have some process for a shutdown of a VM properly in case of a problem.

The stability is good for the moment.

I feel that the scalability of this solution is very good.

This is our first solution in the world of the hyperconvergence.

Our ROI is from good security.

Storage costs are better with DataCore SANsymphony.

The pricing and licensing are better with DataCore.

I compared it with vSAN.

Good support, very reactive.

I run two servers with DataCore doing what it does. I then run VMware on top of that for my Window servers. I currently have roughly 50 users that are constantly using the various servers.

DataCore gave us speed, redundancy, reliability, and works great with our backup system.

It is easy to create storage and assign them to the various datastores in my VMware environment.

Installing updates could be a bit more straightforward and easier to install. I have only installed one update on the systems, and for that, I had to bring in outside help that was more knowledgeable with the product than I currently am. He also had to contact DataCore support for assistance as the update did not go smooth. I also did Windows updates at this same time as it was strongly suggested to me not to do the Windows updates as they are released. The Windows updates were installed with no problems and caused no problems to the system.

Very pleased. This system should last me for another five years. That is my hope.

I only run two systems, and I have not had any problems. Nor have I needed to add additional hard drives, but I have been informed that they can be added as needed. I have talked with other DataCore users in my area that have hundreds of terabytes, and they are very happy with the scalability.

I have only needed to contact them once, and they were quick to assist. Excellent support was provided locally and directly from DataCore.

No. This is my first time using software-defined storage.

I had to bring in outside support as I was not familiar with the setup. I believe it took about two days to set everything up.

Vendor team did the setup, and the individual that did the setup was a complete professional. I will continue to use this same individual.

I'm sorry, I don't know this.

I had the vendor that sold me the software and hardware assist with setting up the systems. I also paid for three years of support at the same time when I purchased the software. Again, I found it affordable.

I did look at using VSAN from VMware, but that was going to be more money, hardware, and time involved to implement.

As a side note, I use Veeam to backup my servers, including the DataCore servers, and I have had no problem doing so.

• A powerful, always-on system. We used DataCore for a few years. 
• The best solution to get build and an always-on strategy. It has zero downtime and is very fast and flexible.

• Creates and build fast flash-only storage systems
• Creates storages with TB in small units
• Saves many kW of power and cooling. 

Mirrored vDisk, and creating a third node with asynchronous replication to get the data out of the datacenter. The new third node is great for an always-on experience.

• Better integration into backup solutions like Veeam
• An HTML5 feature GUI will improve usability.