HPE SimpliVity Reviews

We have about 45 virtual servers running for the company. These include file servers, SQL servers, public safety, GIS, Exchange, and all other applications used by a local government.

The whole backup and recovery capability. We are able to create full backups and restore full backups in typically 40 to 50 seconds. This has been a great feature.

The deduplication is resulting in a data reduction ratio of 290:1 at the moment.

The interface is fairly user-friendly.

Prior to the latest release, it was a real pain to upgrade SimpliVity. First, the host server had to be upgraded with the latest drivers, followed by an upgrade of the OmniStack controller software, and lastly, an upgrade of the VMware ESXi software. Each of the three steps were done independently and the process took 2 to 3 hours per node. Starting with the 4.0 Release, an Upgrade Manager orchestrates the whole process and greatly simplifies it. It still takes 2+ hours per node, however.

We have been using SimpliVity for about two years.

SimpliVity has been very stable. We've had no downtime.

Scalability is something that needs to be improved because if you need more storage then you have to add more nodes. You can't just add more disks to it.

We have about 250 users.

We've had a few instances where we've had to work with HPE support and they've resolved everything very quickly. We've had zero downtime.

The initial setup was fairly straightforward.

We had HPE implement and deploy the product for us. We purchased it from a local HPE partner and they set the whole thing up.

We bought this solution as a package that included all of the hardware and all of the software.

We evaluated options from Dell, IBM, Nutanix, Scale, and others before choosing SimpliVity.

In summary, this is a good solution aside from the issues with scalability and improving the ease of upgrading. The upgradability has improved but it's still far from simply clicking a link and it automatically upgrades. It's not quite that simple yet, but it's getting there.

I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.

We sell HP products. Hyperconvergence with SimpliVity is one of the main products that we are pushing. The virtual application is the main product. It is based on the virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), but it is only an application. We sell this infrastructure to our customers and put the virtual application in this infrastructure.

A solution that provide a simple way to HA , is absolutely efficient and improve the work for the IT team

The access, high availability, and interface are the most valuable and important for us. There is one interface for the whole product, which is very important because you have a single pane to view all the infrastructure of a customer. You can improve your data recovery plan or DRP, or you can make a special emergency plan if a disk has any problem.

It is not so cheap, and this is the most common complaint that my customers have. It is a very good product, but the price is an issue in Latin America.

VMware is a de facto tool. It would be useful for customers if HP can also use Red Hat or any other open-source virtualization product. Currently, you can only use VMware to manage the machines inside SimpliVity.

I have been selling HPE SimpliVity for less than one year.

It is stable.

You can easily scale without any problem by adding new nodes, which is a very good part of the product. Currently, my customers don't have a requirement for scalability, but they will have a requirement in the future. They will have to scale the platform, storage, and virtual machines in the near future. A customer is planning to add one or two nodes at the beginning of the next year. My customers are medium-sized and big-sized companies.

They can maybe improve the response time. When a customer has an emergency and is pushing us, we need to respond in the best way. This is not a complaint. Customers always want the solution immediately. We help our customers in getting the most uptime for this service.

No, previously we didn't use a differente solutio , just HP DL nodes separately

It is a new technology, and the setup is a little complicated. The learning curve is not so high, and you can learn to deploy the product easily in a couple of weeks. You have to get people certified in different technologies of HP before the deployment.

Deployment can take from a couple of weeks to a month and a half. There could also be problems with a customer's infrastructure. In some cases, putting the devices is a whole new project because the customer is not prepared.

In Latam is very different a ROI. Depends of the industry and all the return has more time to return

It is expensive for this market. Everyone says that it is a very good product, but the only complaint is about the price. The enterprises must evalute carefully what they want to do and how many people has tod do te job. A simple interface improve operational time

Nutanix, Dell nodes

I would recommend this solution. It is very good for me. 

I would rate HPE SimpliVity a nine out of ten.

We have a virtualized environment and we use it for backups and disaster recovery and to be able to store all of our data locally and replicate.

It's allowed us to be more efficient in disk space usage with a reduction of 47 to 1 in hard drive space.

• It's a complete solution
• Easy to use
• Not a lot of management time involved in operating the solution

I would like to see it be a truly hybrid-cloud solution where I could take my on-prem SimpliVity environment and have replication to a cloud install.

3+ years

The stability is very good. It has 100 percent uptime, other than regularly scheduled maintenance.

We're a relatively small organization so it was able to scale down to our level. We understand it can scale up exponentially.

We get very good technical support.

We used EqualLogic SAN with independent host but that solution was nearing end-of-life. By moving to SimpliVity we were able to reduce our hardware footprint.

The setup was complex to me, but to the integrator and the SimpliVity people, it was routine.

We used Advanticom out of Pittsburgh. Our experience with them was very good. They were very knowledgeable and worked well with SimpliVity's SEs and implementation people.

We have not done a true calculation, but based upon the support needs and the reduction in the footprint, there's definitely an ROI.

We're paying $3,000-$4,000 a month.

Nutanix was on the list. We chose SimpliVity - and this was about three years ago - based upon the simple deployment and interconnectivity ability.

Ask people who have already implemented a solution for their opinion and you'll likely find that most of the SimpliVity customers would put the solution in again if they had to do it over.

I would rate SimpliVity a nine out of ten due to the fact that it needs little intervention on a daily basis, the uptime is excellent, and it works.

We use it in our original data centers and large sites.

It let us create our regional data centers without a huge investment. We didn't have to have a lot of VL servers or an entire chassis to build out an ESX farm or attach storage.

• The data deduplication
• The integration with our VMware was pretty sweet.

I would like to see an option to add external storage that can be seen by all of the nodes in a stack. For example, if I need to build a file share, or something, where there is not enough data than needs to be accessed quickly, but there is a lot of data, putting a large file share or user file share on SimpliVity currently doesn't makes sense.

We had failures out-of-the-box of our new technology along with a few bugs during the initial setup. Our initial five nodes had three power failures during setup.

The OmniStack module needs improvement, because from what I have read, the newer versions use even more memory. So, as we upgrade, we lose resources available for systems.

After initial setup, it is okay. We have had some failures out-of-the-box. We have had some failures with the OmniStack module. One thing that we didn't fully understand was how much of the internal memory was used up by the OmniStack piece, which basically makes up SimpliVity.

Scaling is a piece of cake. We have been able to scale up in our Asia-Pac region. We even are doing site-to-site replication of certain systems that we need to have high availability on.

I haven't any problems with the technical support. The teams are usually pretty good at what they do. Getting them in certain regions is harder than actual fixing the problems, e.g., getting somebody onsite if there are not that many technicians, like in Europe or Asia, who are trained.

We have a very dispersed environment and were looking to centralize. We were using traditional VMware farms, standalone servers, etc.

With new technology as the next thing, when we are replacing our environment, we try to go with not only what fits from a cost perspective, but we also try to stay on the edge of technology since we tend to keep our environments past their usual lives. So, it's better to start new and work out the bugs.

The initial setup is pretty straightforward. It is pretty much out-of-the-box. Once Pointnext got the initial connection between all the nodes set, it was pretty straightforward from there. Then, building the ESX farm was a pretty standard build.

Everything in our organization is outsourced, so we use consultants. They are embedded vendors, so our experience with them is good.

We paid for installation services from Pointnext.

The only thing that I think we are paying for is the VMware licenses, but we are enterprise, so it is not horrible.

We are primarily an HPE shop with most of our storage, networking equipment, and servers.

We did a review on Dell EMC and Lenovo. However, it would have been a bigger stretch for us to switch than to stick with HPE.

Definitely consider the product. Once it is up and running, it is pretty rock solid.

Our primary use case for SimpliVIty was around backup and disaster recovery. We were trying to replace our existing DR service platform, then consolidate our backups from the different solutions, whether that was Veeam on the VMware side, Robocopy for file shares, or Windows Backup or SQL backup for certain applications.

Looking at the way that our infrastructure team works now, we don't think about infrastructure, storage, or compute anymore. The solution just works. It is same with the backup and replication side of things, as it just works on schedule. We don't have to manage it tightly, like we used to. That has freed up those resources to do more application delivery type functionalities.

• The ease of management in these deployments were some of the most valuable things. 
• The date storage infrastructure that it provides is pretty fantastic.
• The ease of use on the backup and DR and replication side of things is good. It can be done by a VMware admin with no additional training.

The biggest feature, which should be included, is some method to handle archival backup or cloud-based backup. Where SimpliVIty typically falls down with their data structure is: The longer a backup is kept, the more space it ends up inevitably using. When you get into things that you have to keep for five or seven years for legal requirements or regulatory compliance, then you start taking up a lot of space with these old dead backups that you are probably never going to use again. Being able to offload those to a separate platform or cloud storage location would be ideal.

It is very stable. We have had very limited problems. When we do have problems, it is typically not on the SimpliVIty side of the house, but on the hardware side or VMware side. However, the support is phenomenal at getting all of the right resources on the line together, whether they have to call up VMware or your networking provider, whomever it happens to be, to get to the bottom of the problem.

Scalability is fine. We are a fairly small organization, so it hasn't really come up. We fit well into their small end of deployments. From what I hear, it can scale quite high. However, that is not a functionality or feature that we've come across yet.

The technical support is good. We purchased SimpliVIty prior to HPE owning them, so there was a different support when the buyout occurred. However, it is at a level now where it is second to none.

We didn't initially think we needed to invest in a new hardware solution. We really were focused on DR backup. As we went through the use case and worked out the financials on it, we determined that SimpliVIty was the right move for us, as it financially made sense to the point that we had an HPE 3PAR that was two years old and we put that on the shelf. So, it was not hardware refresh related at all.

There were definitely some complexities to the initial setup, as we had to migrate off of our older infrastructure, which was the more complex part. Generally, the SimpliVIty install and migration was pretty straightforward.

We used a reseller, IMP Solutions, to purchase the deployment, but we did the actual install and deployment ourselves with SimpliVIty support. IMP Solutions was fantastic.

When we did our financials, it became a wash based on what we were doing previous with regular hardware refreshes. However, the time savings on the administration side of things is huge. We had somebody who was dedicated pretty much full-time to hardware, and now, they spend about a quarter of their time a year on hardware-related issues.

For the VMware licensing, it is approximately $10,000 a year.

SimpliVIty, HPE's previous hyper-converged solution, Nutanix, and Scale Computing were on our shortlist. 

What made us chose SimpliVity was the tight integration on the backup and DR aspects of the product. Everybody else had that type of capability, but it felt like it was added on after the fact, whereas with SimpliVIty, it was built from the ground up to do these things, which was our primary use case. So, it made sense for us to move forward with that product.

Try to understand your rate of change on your data: When you take a backup, how quickly is your information changing or being updated, and whether it is a database, file server, or whatever it happens to be. This will affect the way that you size the solution and get into those archives. It will affect how much space it starts to take up and how you calculate that. Know your data.

It does everything that we need it to do. The only spot that it falls out is the archival backups. Otherwise, it is a rock-solid platform. It has freed up a bunch of resources to do different types of work, instead of dealing with storage allocations, backups, and recoveries.

We use it for HCI and backup. 

The solution is simple to use and has the ability to do online backup. Our customers can view the list from ransomware. 

One thing that I would like to see improved is the flexibility of the node expansion. Currently, you have to match the same storage capacity and performance when you expand a node. This can be a challenge if you need to add more storage or performance to an existing cluster.

I have been using this solution for two years. 

It is a stable solution.

It is a scalable solution. However, you will need to add the same number of storage pods and compute nodes to each node.

The main reason customers choose this solution is the fast backup and recovery capabilities.  

It is easy to set up the solution.

We use the deployment manager to deploy the HCI node. The same deployment manager handled the deployment through the federation. It took around two hours. Around two people were involved in the process.

The solution is set up on VMware, so it is easy to maintain. 

If the customers deploy the new HCI solution with backup, then it is cheaper. 

The pricing is competitive. I would rate the pricing a seven out of ten, where one is a reasonable price, and ten is the most unreasonable pricing. There are no additional fees.

I would recommend using this solution if you are looking for an HCI solution with fast backup and performance.

Overall, I would rate the solution an eight out of ten.

We use this product when our customers need software protection, built-in backup, and an NDR solution. I'm a solutions specialist. 

The built-in backup and quick restore are good features. In general, the technology is very robust. 

If I want to upgrade any hardware components or make any changes to the hardware configuration, there are a lot of parameters I need to consider with respect to HP security. If I want to upgrade, I sometimes have to replace the box or add a new server to the environment or setup. It's a limitation of HP connectivity.

I've been using this solution for three years. 

For small and medium-sized businesses the scalability is fine. There are likely to be issues in large environments and it requires extra planning.

The technical support is good. They take on end-to-end responsibility for our Hypervisor as well as HPE components and security software. It's a good combination because both the hardware and software are supported by a single entity. 

We sometimes face challenges during the initial setup. Once the setup is completed everything is stable. HP has its own customization and deployment process. In theory, it's pretty simple. It's essential to have a properly configured network for successful completion of the deployment. Including the network configuration, implementation can be completed in less than two days. It just requires a certified engineer to complete the installation.

Licensing is slightly more expensive in comparison to the competition but I think SimpliVity provides very good value. 

I think SimpliVity has an edge over other solutions when it comes to the package as a whole.

I recommend Simplivity. It helps organizations implement their business applications and it provides a robust infrastructure to run a business. 

I rate this solution 10 out of 10. 

I use the solution for virtualised infraestructure of servers.

HPE Simplivity improved the space of disk with deduplication, reduced the time of backups and recovers.

One of the key features is the solution is really fast for backups and deduplication is amazing.

It would be good to have more compatibility with other solutions as an improvement in the future. As a suggestion, in order to have compatibility with other solutions, there could be a license fee for this, and if you don't need to them then you do not need to pay.

I have been using the solution for two years.

The solution is very stable.

The scalability is good but you need to pay for the additional nodes that can be expensive. We are currently using the solution for one thousand people in our organization.

They could have better-specialized support for more countries.

I rate the customer service of HPE SimpliVity a seven out of ten.

Positive

I used CISCO.

The setup is very easy.

We have three nodes around the country and it took just one week for the deployment.

3 years.

The solution can be expensive if you are using a lot of nodes.

Dell and Cisco.

I would advise those wanting to use this product to be careful before setting up the solution that you have enough disk space, if you do not, you will have to pay for it which is expensive.

The solution works great, it is amazing.

I rate HPE SimpliVity a ten out of ten.