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Ian Wayne - PeerSpot reviewer
Cloud and IT services manager at Ertech Pros
Real User
User-friendly, attractive features, unified platform, with several automation capabilities
Pros and Cons
  • "One of the solution's greatest strengths is its "Single pane of glass" feature, which allows users to access all pertinent data in one location immediately upon logging in. Additionally, the solution's ease of deployment and mobility are notable aspects that I personally find appealing."
  • "Our sister company currently uses an outdated database technology, Sybase, which presents challenges in migrating to a newer database. Despite our efforts to encourage them to move to a different database, the company's 25 years of code and data basic make it difficult to do so. We are open to any level of support or guidance that can help us manage the Sybase database, even if it's not a fully managed solution. Direction on how to scale, improve, and optimize tables and queries within Sybase would be greatly appreciated."

What is our primary use case?

We have a group of sister companies with different types of applications, from web-based to server-installed. 

We segment our clusters into different areas for each company to use, from development to staging to production. 

Currently, we mainly use the production area, and our staging is off. With the new NCM, we may use a different hardware or environment. 

Since moving to Nutanix, the development and support teams prefer it more.Due to differences in hardware and workload deployments.

What is most valuable?

One of the solution's greatest strengths is its "Single pane of glass" feature, which allows users to access all pertinent data in one location immediately upon logging in. Additionally, the solution's ease of deployment and mobility are notable aspects that I personally find appealing.

During my attendance at Nutanix, I personally discovered a significant benefit. Although we currently operate a separate division for our public cloud infrastructure, we have yet to leverage the potential of integrating it with Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) or Nutanix Clusters (NC). 

What I've learned is that we can seamlessly migrate and manage the details displayed on NCM's dashboards, consolidating everything into a unified environment. 

While we haven't taken advantage of this opportunity yet, I am eager to take full advantage of it in the future.

What needs improvement?

Our sister company currently uses an outdated database technology, Sybase, which presents challenges in migrating to a newer database. Despite our efforts to encourage them to move to a different database, the company's 25 years of code and data basic make it difficult to do so. 

We are open to any level of support or guidance that can help us manage the Sybase database, even if it's not a fully managed solution. 

Direction on how to scale, improve, and optimize tables and queries within Sybase would be greatly appreciated.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) for less than a year.

The company has been using Nutanix for the past four or five years and has gone through different versions. However, we have been using NCM for about a year to a year and a half.

Buyer's Guide
Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM)
March 2025
Learn what your peers think about Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM). Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2025.
856,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I am satisfied with the stability of the system. Our engineers have had no issues accessing it and I have not received any reports of bugs or accessibility problems.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

This solution effectively addresses our current automation requirements, especially with regard to repetitive tasks that the team needs to learn how to automate. 

As our company expands, we are interested in shifting the bulk of our workloads away from the public cloud and into our private cloud clusters.

Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) offers a lot of automation capabilities that we can take advantage of in the future. While there are already some basic automation features like Nutanix Move, there is significant potential for additional automation within NCM. 

This automation will greatly assist us in scaling our operations without the need for manual repetition. As we continue to explore NCM and prepare for transitioning away from the public cloud, we can leverage a substantial amount of automation to streamline our processes.

The scalability of the system is straightforward, even from a hardware standpoint. 

Simply adding servers to the data center and integrating them into the cluster is a remarkably effortless process. 

I have not come across a solution that offers such ease of scalability.

How are customer service and support?

I have had the opportunity to engage with Nutanix support through various channels, including email, meetings, and post-installation calls. Even when we added two nodes to our infrastructure last year, Nutanix engineers were on-site to install the cluster, and I must say, they provided excellent service.

The support we received from Nutanix through emails has been excellent, with detailed and concise information provided.

Our experiences with Nutanix's account management and technical account management calls in early 2019 were extremely productive. They were highly focused, aiming to gather detailed information about our environment and workloads. This allowed them to effectively assist with scaling out, gaining a thorough understanding of our environment, and troubleshooting as needed. The level of support provided by Nutanix has been consistently outstanding.

Although I am not directly involved, from my observations, everything has been great, including the engineers who assisted us in adding nodes to our cluster. They were very helpful and knowledgeable.

I would rate the technical support a nine and a half out of ten.

On a personal level, I would rate Nutanix at a nine and a half. However, this rating is based on my limited direct involvement and is not a comprehensive assessment from a Nutanix perspective. Taking into account the algorithm used to evaluate performance, my interactions with Nutanix have been highly positive.

How was the initial setup?

I did not participate in the initial setup process.

What was our ROI?

We have experienced a significant return on investment (ROI) through our implementation of Nutanix. Initially, we started with two Nutanix systems, using them in our staging environment. However, as COVID-19 emerged in 2019, we acquired six additional nodes and deployed them in our production environment. Almost immediately after putting them into operation, we witnessed the tangible value they brought. The returns generated from this implementation have been substantial.

We initiated a gradual migration process, gradually transferring workloads into the Nutanix environment. As our workload demands grew, we reached capacity in the system by the end of last year. To accommodate this expansion, we have already acquired and installed a new cluster. Additionally, we have a dedicated disaster recovery (DR) site, and our objective is to transform this DR site into a fully operational production site by deploying another new cluster there.

On one side, we have our production environment, while on the other side, we have our disaster recovery (DR) setup. As we continue to witness the positive impact and returns on investment (ROI), we anticipate further growth in our Nutanix infrastructure. Initially, there was some hesitation and uncertainty, but once we experienced the immediate benefits and ROI, we realized the immense value Nutanix brings to our operations.

Implementing Nutanix brings both cost and time benefits. With an initial investment, the focus shifts toward recovering and maximizing the value of that investment. In contrast, when relying solely on the public cloud, there is a constant ongoing investment and potential challenges in controlling costs. While efforts are made to maintain control, it can still be a never-ending endeavor. However, by adopting Nutanix, engineers can quickly grasp and adapt to the system, making informed decisions and judgment calls more efficiently. This ease of learning and system familiarity empowers them to navigate and optimize the infrastructure with confidence.

With the ease of use and automation provided by Nutanix, our engineers can make informed decisions on workload management such as migration, reduction, or scaling up. This saves them time and provides opportunities for personal and professional development.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We evaluated AWS as a file management system, and it appears to be a possible solution.

When it comes to setup, both AWS and Nutanix offer attractive features from a management perspective. However, AWS can sometimes be a bit confusing, requiring repetitive actions and causing potential challenges. 

On the other hand, Nutanix, particularly with the support of NCM and its accompanying university resources, simplifies the transition from learning to live environments. 

The comprehensive coverage in the university program facilitates easier implementation in the actual environment, further aided by features like the test drive, which allows for experimentation without concerns about breaking anything. This emphasis on ease of use was the primary topic of discussion.

From my personal preference, having everything consolidated in a single pane of glass is important, and Nutanix excels in this aspect. 

While AWS has recently introduced cost statistics upon login, Nutanix had already implemented this feature earlier. 

Not only does Nutanix provide a comprehensive overview, but it also allows for effortless navigation into deeper insights with just a click. In contrast, AWS requires more extensive digging or clicking to access detailed information, making the process less user-friendly compared to Nutanix.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) a ten out of ten.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Kyle Naidoo - PeerSpot reviewer
Systems Engineer at Tsogo
Real User
Manages itself; has one interface where you can see all of your servers
Pros and Cons
  • "I also like the fact that the solution manages itself. It has one interface where you can basically see all your servers. So, you can manage your servers and see whether you are falling short on space or disc usage. Also, in case your RAM is only using four Gigabytes of memory instead of eight, you can extend out the over-provisioned mail and save your cluster for four Giga of RAM."
  • "While using Nutanix, we need to switch off the VM in case we are doing an update. We have to turn off the VM if we are updating the memory or hard disk space. In a normal scenario, we switch off the VM, update it and then update the RAM. Once updated, we need to switch on the machine and wait for the RAM to initialize. The same goes for hard drives as well."

What is our primary use case?

I have about 85 virtual machines that rotate between cloud and on-premises. I use the tool for databases, applications, and service communications. I use the solution for my complete infrastructure. Since I work in a Casino, we have a lot of work on the databases with respect to our gaming applications and their servers. Our applications also run on workstations. Therefore, I use the Nutanix platform to store all our applications. I use it for file servers, email servers, DHCP, DNS servers, and domain controllers.

What is most valuable?

I like the solution's duplication feature. For example, there is a file created by an employee from the finance department. However, there are other employees working on that file, say from the surveillance department and gaming department. It’s about five people who work on that same file. So, Nutanix cross-checks all five versions and saves them as a single file. It saves document space by consolidating all five documents into one.

I also like the fact that the solution manages itself. It has one interface where you can basically see all your servers. So, you can manage your servers and see whether you are falling short on space or disc usage. Also, in case your RAM only uses four Gigabytes of memory instead of eight, you can extend out the over-provisioned mail and save your cluster for four Gigs of RAM.

The solution also helps you save costs. In case your servers use less space, you can cut down your hard drive by 100 Gigabytes which you can provision for another server or create another server on the cloud.

What needs improvement?

While using Nutanix, we need to switch off the VM in case we are doing an update. We have to turn off the VM if we are updating the memory or hard disk space. In a normal scenario, we switch off the VM, update it and then update the RAM. Once updated, we need to switch on the machine and wait for the RAM to initialize. The same goes for hard drives as well.

I would like them to improve the solution so that we can operate it live without switching off the VM. Switching off the VM causes downtime. It would be great to log back without switching off the VM and affecting the services.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for four years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Nutanix is a scalable solution.

How are customer service and support?

I contact customer service and support at least two times a month. Their services are quite excellent since their response time is exactly the same as the SLA provider.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I have used Hyper-V before Nutanix. 

How was the initial setup?

The solution was very easy to install. We had only three nodes to install since we moved from Hyper-V. The deployment process took us around four days to complete since we had to recreate the VMs on the Nutanix platform and move them over from Hyper-V. We created a VM called Nutanix Move on our Nutanix environment. Nutanix Move enables you to take a machine from the Hyper-V environment and convert it to the OS used in the Nutanix platform. I had 85 machines and downtime was an issue while deploying the solution. I had to do the switching over mostly during the night or early hours of the morning.

However, the process was quick. We recreated about 20 VMs a day which is quite impressive.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The pricing is lower compared to Hyper-V.

What other advice do I have?

I would give a ten out of ten for the solution. Nutanix has saved our company from doing multiple general server checks which used to take around three to four hours in our old environment. Nutanix gets the checks done within 20 mins at the most. The solution's capabilities are endless. It is a stable product that will sustain your environment. It is really good and works like magic. Apart from Nutanix's pricing aspect, our company decided to use the solution because of technological advancement.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM)
March 2025
Learn what your peers think about Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM). Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2025.
856,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Moses Ramushu - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Support at a hospitality company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Makes things easier and simpler for us to troubleshoot
Pros and Cons
  • "It is easy to access. Since it is web-based, you just punch in the API and it gives you all the servers in the company. The solution has helped optimize database performances."
  • "The design could be more user-friendly. There is always room for improvement when it comes to a site being more user-friendly."

What is our primary use case?

We use it for our service, running everything through Nutanix.

How has it helped my organization?

It is easy to access. Since it is web-based, you just punch in the API and it gives you all the servers in the company. The solution has helped optimize database performances.

Nutanix helps us save on Tier 1 storage, which is very important to us. As a company, you need backup. Working with this solution is easy and fast.

As a company, backup is very important. Anything can happen to a company so you always want to have backup. The important part is that this solution is cloud-based. Therefore, if a fire happens, you still have your backup.

Since last year, we haven't really worked after hours.

Nutanix has 100% improved our team's ability to troubleshoot operational issues. This is excellent for business. It now makes things easier for us to troubleshoot, helping us know where or what the problem is. It makes things simpler.

What is most valuable?

It provides healing to the system. If there is something wrong with the system, then it gives you an alert and decides what the problem is. It tells you in detail if there is something wrong with your server.

It is not time-consuming. It makes things easier for the company, because now you know exactly what is wrong because it tells you what it is. It is easy to access.

We use it with SQL Server workloads. This solution is good and quite fast for that.

What needs improvement?

The design could be more user-friendly. There is always room for improvement when it comes to a site being more user-friendly.

For how long have I used the solution?

My company has been using it for about six months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I have been very impressed with the stability.

How are customer service and support?

Customer service has been good. So far, I can't complain. I haven't picked up anything that I might complain about since everything is running smoothly and has been simplified. I would rate them as nine out of 10.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

This has been an improvement for me because I am used to old physical servers.

How was the initial setup?

I was not involved in the initial setup. Everything was already up and running when I started using it.

What was our ROI?

It has helped us cut deployment times.

Nutanix has decreased the time it takes to snapshot and clone databases. Because of this, the business is running smoothly. Everything happens quickly, so it is quick to do things on this platform, i.e., less time-consuming.

The increased backup frequency has helped to limit data loss.

When it comes to data management, the solution has reduced time spent on operational database workloads.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We use Veeam for the backup and restore of databases.

What other advice do I have?

This is the way to go. Technology is growing and improving. I feel like a lot of companies in my country are still stuck in the old way of using physical servers. Whereas, we now have something like this that makes things simple with a feature that sends alerts. In a way, it is running the whole infrastructure.

There is always something out there that can improve your life, simplifying your life. There is always something out there that you can learn about.

It has improved my life and the way the company is running. We use it almost every day.

There are about 10 of us using it, including support, system engineers, my assistant management, and management.

I would rate this solution as nine out of 10.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Private Cloud
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
PeerSpot user
reviewer2183811 - PeerSpot reviewer
Service Delivery Manager at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Is easy to set up, but the interface could be improved to allow the use of other tools
Pros and Cons
  • "The ease of use is a valuable feature. For us, it's a consistent interface. It's very easy to train our employees on it, and it's a newer generation interface. It's homogeneous, and every product and subset tie together, giving a very similar look to everything."
  • "In some ways, Nutanix Cloud Manager abstracts out certain items in a simplified manner, which makes it good for training. At other times, to get to the next technical level, we want to actually dive in, and Nutanix Cloud Manager sometimes restricts us from actually diving into the deeper technical pieces. There's no advance button that lets us do more advanced things without having to drop out to the CLI to do the command line piece."

What is our primary use case?

We use Nutanix Cloud Manager to manage all of our Nutanix infrastructure. We have six data centers throughout the world, and we use it to manage all that infrastructure for VMware. We're currently moving to AHV and are managing those as well.

How has it helped my organization?

From a resiliency of the infrastructure standpoint, we don't chase outages and major problems like we used to on other arrays such as CMC storage or Dell storage. Our folks have a lot more free time handle to the normal workload instead of troubleshooting.

What is most valuable?

The ease of use is a valuable feature. For us, it's a consistent interface. It's very easy to train our employees on it, and it's a newer generation interface. It's homogeneous, and every product and subset tie together, giving a very similar look to everything.

We do implement Nutanix Cloud Manager's built-in playbooks. Currently, the biggest one we use that's been very helpful is cleaning up snapshots. As users do snapshots of their virtual machines, it then goes back and cleans those out. We don't have a mess lingering out there.

Because Nutanix Cloud Manager's eScripts are based on Python, it allows me to bring developers in who are Python-centric. They are able to get up to speed quickly and develop the automation pieces we need for our own private cloud and build servers and applications on-premises.

What needs improvement?

In some ways, Nutanix Cloud Manager abstracts out certain items in a simplified manner, which makes it good for training. At other times, to get to the next technical level, we want to actually dive in, and Nutanix Cloud Manager sometimes restricts us from actually diving into the deeper technical pieces. There's no advance button that lets us do more advanced things without having to drop out to the CLI to do the command line piece.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've worked with Nutanix Cloud Manager for more than five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

So far, we've been very impressed with the stability. In the Nutanix ecosystem, everything is clustered, highly available, and fails over. It takes care of itself.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have very few users who are using Nutanix Cloud Manager at present, but we do have all of our infrastructure running Nutanix on the storage side. From that scale, we're handling thousands of servers with no issues there. In about three months, we will be switching over all of our VMware folks to Nutanix Cloud Manager via ServiceNow. Then, we'll be able to see the full impact of our users using Nutanix Cloud Manager.

How are customer service and support?

I would give a ten out of ten to Nutanix's technical support. We've had excellent support. They always know two or three other people they can call on to help with certain portions of an issue. There's very good networking within the company.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We're a VMware shop and have vRA, which we used for all the automation on the VMware side. We also used vRealize Orchestrator. Initially, we chose Nutanix over standard disc arrays because we came out of the storage market. As Nutanix has added products, we've seen value in them and went in that direction.

When we bought the storage system and disc encryption, they came with other licenses. Nutanix Cloud Manager was an add-on. When we looked at the cost of other solutions and the opportunities that Nutanix Cloud Manager gives us to tie directly into Nutanix, it just seemed to be the right fit.

What was our ROI?

It might be too early to tell as we just started using Nutanix Cloud Manager for our private cloud about four months ago. Once we get fully off of VMware, we should definitely see an ROI.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The price is probably right where it should be. It's not vastly expensive, and it's not too cheap. We get very good value for the price with what we're being offered with it.

What other advice do I have?

Nutanix Cloud Manager is a walled garden, and you have to do all of your editing within the interface. Our developers become frustrated with not being able to use other tools such as Visual Studio, Visual Studio Code, and CSE pipelines. These are outside of the Nutanix Cloud Manager interface, and the developers would prefer to use them instead of using the NCM interface. In this sense, Nutanix Cloud Manager has been a struggle to use. The NCM interface could be improved.

The setup is fantastic because you can click a button and deploy it. It's already part of the existing piece, and it's like adding a module. Compared to the setup of other cloud management solutions, Nutanix Cloud Manager's setup is much easier. We just spent about four months upgrading a VMware product, and there were bugs. It was a nightmare. With Nutanix Cloud Manager, it's click-and-play, and we haven't had any issues at all.

The learning curve is a lot easier because it is based on Python, and we have developers who already know it. We don't have to retool. Many of my developers have been up to speed in under a week.

If you're considering Nutanix Cloud Manager, my advice would be to go through the entire POC in-depth to see the value in it. Initially, it may look very simplistic, but when you dive into the code, you will see the depth of the product.

Overall, I would rate Nutanix Cloud Manager a six because the automation tools are still in the early stages. There are things that need to be fleshed out in the private cloud as well as the public cloud. I don't see anything badly wrong with it, but I think there's a lot of room for improvement as an industry in general.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Emmanuel Nguyen - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Architect at Anetys
Reseller
Top 5Leaderboard
Efficient VM management, user-friendly, reasonably priced, and responsive technical support
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable features of this solution are visibility, the single console, capacity planning, the VM efficiencies. We have a recovery plan, security, policies policy security. That's why we implement it with your customers."
  • "There are some load-balancing features that are currently missing in the flow network security and could potentially be added in the future."

What is our primary use case?

I am not using the cloud manager myself. Instead, I am responsible for deploying and implementing it on behalf of my clients. My role solely involves deploying the manager.

From my company's perspective, our main use case for Nutanix revolves around Citrix. We use it for Citrix Cloud, Citrix on-premises, and sometimes for data center modernization. However, the main reason our customers continue to use Nutanix is its multi-cloud visibility and its ease of VM management.

One or two of our customers utilize the built-in playbooks depending on their level of maturity and available resources. The automation goals of these playbooks are important, but the extent to which they are adopted depends on the customer's IT team and their level of readiness.

We have just begun implementing this, so we don't have any feedback yet on how much time it will save on their projects using playbooks.

How has it helped my organization?

We only sell and deployed Nutanix. We don't sell anything else. Because we trust the value of the product and we don't have to manage other products and Nutanix is the best way to satisfy the customers.

Because of its easy deployment, sellability, and fast implementation, Nutanix is a preferred choice. It has excellent performance for workloads and is easy to migrate and move workloads. Additionally, it's simple to convert existing VMware Nutanix clusters to a Nutanix infrastructure, making DR and security easier. Overall, it provides a well-organized and seamless experience.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features of this solution are visibility, the single console, capacity planning, the VM efficiencies. We have a recovery plan, security, policies policy security. That's why we implement it with your customers.

What needs improvement?

I believe that Nutanix Central has the potential to enhance the features and management capabilities of the platform. In my opinion, Nutanix Central will be instrumental in further improving this aspect.

I don't anticipate needing any additional features in this area. While I may require new features such as load balancing with Nutanix Flow networking, I don't believe I'll need them from NCM.

Over the past year, we have seen several improvements in Nutanix Cloud Manager, including new dashboards for security and disaster recovery. Additionally, a new dashboard has been introduced.

There are some load-balancing features that are currently missing in the flow network security and could potentially be added in the future.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) for nine years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is good.

We have not had any problems with NCM.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The goal is to optimize what they currently have and detect any anomalies, particularly in terms of security, for future expansion. This is why they are using it.

Perhaps it would be better if NCM could be optimized to consume fewer resources.

How are customer service and support?

The support team for Nutanix is exceptional. 

The support provided by Nutanix is the best I have ever experienced. 

Whenever we open a case, the solution is provided quickly with excellent quality. The support team is composed of knowledgeable individuals who can address issues effectively.

I would rate the technical support a ten out of ten.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Previously, I worked with vRealize Operation Automation.

In my opinion, VMware is not as user-friendly as NCM, which is why I did not choose it for our project.

How was the initial setup?

I think NCM is a valuable tool and can provide evidence of its usefulness, but sometimes the decision not to use it comes down to budget constraints.

We don't handle the deployment process ourselves, but it really depends on the specific use case. For many of our customers, their use case revolves around Citrix. As a result, some customers don't require Nutanix Central, since they only run Virtual Delivery Agents (VDA) on the cluster. Therefore, the decision to use Nutanix Central or other tools really depends on the specific requirements of the customer's use case.

The default deployment is okay.

What was our ROI?

We have experienced a positive return on investment due to the VM efficiency that Nutanix provides. It has allowed us to optimize our infrastructure and reduce the number of on-desk nodes. This has enabled us to redirect the budget towards other solutions or add more nodes and features.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

In my opinion, the pricing is reasonable.

The pricing for NCM is appealing when selling to cloud vendors. I believe that the starter level should be included by default in the package. 

This would enable us to offer more features to customers who may not have the budget to purchase NCM separately. By having basic features included in the package, it would be easier to sell additional features and the full stack to customers.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

When we discovered Nutanix and NCM, we were amazed by the simplicity and user-friendliness, and it felt like a revelation. The WOW effect was so strong that we didn't even consider looking for another product.

What other advice do I have?

My main advice to future customers is to be cautious about the resource consumption of NCM and carefully consider where to host the NCM installations.

I would rate Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) a ten out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Reseller
PeerSpot user
reviewer1909311 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr Systems Engineer at a insurance company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Top 20
Capacity planning and forecasting help us explain why we need to scale
Pros and Cons
  • "The capacity planning, forecasting, and Runways are worth their weight in gold. NCM has saved us time in IT, and that's money."
  • "There have been bugs. We've seen what looked like some storage inefficiencies in reports and, when we went in to look, we found they were false alarms. That was something they corrected on the fly."

What is our primary use case?

We use it for capacity planning and we forecast with it. We use the workload reporting, which includes VM efficiencies, and we're able to provide reports that way on capacity, storage, and Runways.

How has it helped my organization?

One of the big benefits is that it helps us explain why we are scaling and why we need to do certain things. We can scale out or up and show them why. There's proof before any money is spent. It's had a positive impact.

I can go to management and say, "We need this many sort-only nodes before the end of the year to give you the capacity for what you need to have done. And I can say, "This is where we're going to use up what we have." Sometimes they'll say, "Oh, we won't need it," and we can come back and say, "It's been showing us this the entire time."

What is most valuable?

We're big on the capacity planning. We're fortunate that we're not restricted by a budget, but we do need to have things budgeted for planning purposes. We need to be able to say, "We're going to need 500 terabytes," or "We're going to need X amount of storage in the coming year." The capacity planning helps us really stay ahead of the curve.

What needs improvement?

There have been bugs. We've seen what looked like some storage inefficiencies in reports and, when we went in to look, we found they were false alarms. That was something they corrected on the fly.

Overall, it works.

For how long have I used the solution?

We're using Ultimate within Nutanix Cloud Manager and we've been using the solution since 2017.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's very stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It's also scalable. We use it across multiple locations and multiple teams. 

Unfortunately, we don't have any plans to increase our usage of it. I have voiced some frustrations, internally, over the years, that I have not gotten to expand and use the product the way it should be used. I wish we could have really given it a lot more play in our shop.

Nutanix Calm, is another portion piece I wanted to look at.

How are customer service and support?

I would rate Nutanix in my top two or three in terms of support. I've worked with some vendors that are lacking but Nutanix is not one of them. I've opened a lot of tickets with Nutanix over the years, but I've rated every one of them when I have closed them, and every one has been a 10 out of 10.

When we had the bug with the storage, they approached it as "high severity."

Their support is on par with VMware; they're good. And with Nutanix, it doesn't take as long to get into the upper-tier support. When you get someone on the line at Nutanix, you get someone who can help you with any range of issues and, if not, they Slack somebody immediately.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We didn't really have a previous solution. Infrastructure-wise, we were three-tier, with storage, switching, and all that is in between those segments. For capacity planning we used SolarWinds, but we never did anything such as scaling out with SolarWinds.

We use Ansible and then we're looking at possibly moving towards VMware Tanzu. We're doing a PoC on it.

How was the initial setup?

The initial deployment can be a little complex. You better bring your "A-game." For me, VMware is simple, the way I break it down and the way we work on it. At the infrastructure level, you can rebuild things easily, but in Nutanix, even when it comes to deploying nodes, or the storage-only nodes, it's a little more complex.

Overall, for the way we use it, it takes a day or two to deploy Nutanix Cloud Manager. There are two of us managing it, but I'm usually the person from our organization involved in deploying it.

We started seeing the benefits as soon as we got it. We started using the forecasting and their sales engineers, who were good, worked with us. They showed us the power in it.

Upgrades happen through Prism Central. Other than the updates, we haven't had to do much in terms of maintenance. It's pretty much hands-free.

What about the implementation team?

Every shop needs more staff and, with our staffing numbers, we have usually had to employ a services reseller or we have worked with the Nutanix team.

Those services came in and set us up, all the way from physical, in the rack, to the NCM portions and bringing it online. They built the management pieces and appliances inside of Nutanix. OSI-wise, we started at Layer 1 and went up from there.

What was our ROI?

It has helped us forecast and do capacity planning. We haven't been caught in a spot where we needed storage and had to move systems around and make quick changes to get by until we could cut a check to get more storage. It has helped us in the long run. The capacity planning, forecasting, and Runways are worth their weight in gold. NCM has saved us time in IT, and that's money.

It's worth every dime.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The pricing has been reasonable.

What other advice do I have?

Do a PoC, but be mindful that it's not going to cover everything.

Nutanix has always been good. We don't use it to the extent that we probably should, but the GUI is friendly and I can't list anything that needs to be changed. Overall, it has worked for what we need.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
PeerSpot user
reviewer2183781 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Specialist at a manufacturing company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Real User
Provides great automation features that help automate critical processes
Pros and Cons
  • "It is a stable solution."
  • "They should include more use cases for automation in administering the environment."

What is our primary use case?

We use the solution to automate the business processes for our customers.

How has it helped my organization?

For our customers, the solution is an added value to their environment. It helps them automate critical processes instead of doing them manually.

What is most valuable?

The solution provides the best automation features.

What needs improvement?

They should include more use cases for automation in administering the environment.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using the solution for two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is a stable solution.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is a scalable solution.

How are customer service and support?

The support team’s response time is good. Although, it depends on the criticality of the issue.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We have used PowerShell and Orchestrator before. In comparison, NCM provides better integration.

How was the initial setup?

The solution's initial setup is straightforward. There is a lot of documentation and webinars on Nutanix's portal to learn the implementation process.

What was our ROI?

The solution generates a return on investment. There is no need to appoint a resource as it automates the processes.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The solution is expensive.

What other advice do I have?

NCM provides faster automation than manual operations. Its maintenance is less time-consuming due to the high availability of its infrastructure. In addition, it saves a lot of time as there is no need to generate reports and alerts. We can just read the insights data on the dashboard. It helps our executives to concentrate more on projects instead of operations.

I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
Oladipo Oluwarohunbi - PeerSpot reviewer
Deputy Manager at Central Bank of Nigeria
Real User
An easy-to-use and efficient solution that enables us to clone servers
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution’s ease of use is mind-blowing."
  • "When we tried to migrate an application from the old cluster, we couldn't run it on Nutanix’s native hypervisor."

What is our primary use case?

We are still working on moving workloads from the old environment to Nutanix. We are planning to use Nutanix for our mid-tier. The mid-tier consists of noncore applications like medical services.

How has it helped my organization?

Nutanix is customer friendly. The efficiency of Nutanix Clusters is amazing. The product communicates with the hardware far better than any other product.

What is most valuable?

I love that we can clone the server once it is deployed. The solution’s ease of use is mind-blowing.

What needs improvement?

Compared to Dell HCI, Prism’s home screen is quite mundane. When we tried to migrate an application from the old cluster, we couldn't run it on Nutanix’s native hypervisor. So we had to install a different hypervisor to run that particular application.

For how long have I used the solution?

My organization has been using the solution for two months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution has been very stable so far. We have had no issues.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

So far, the product is quite scalable. It's easy to add clusters and nodes. We have about three nodes in disaster recovery and six nodes in production.

How are customer service and support?

The solution’s support is one of the fastest supports we've experienced. We always get a response within an hour.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Previously we used Dell HCI, which was running on VMware ESXi. We had resource constraints in our previous environment. It wasn't as efficient as Nutanix.

How was the initial setup?

There is a level of complexity to the initial setup because it is new. However, it was not as complex as other products.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The solution’s price is competitive. Compared to Dell HCI, Nutanix is a lot cheaper.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We reached out to OEM vendors in the market. We compared the offers based on price, features offered, and the cost of support for several years, and Nutanix came up at the top.

What other advice do I have?

We just completed the installation and deployment for the disaster recovery branch. I work for the Central Bank of Nigeria. We have three different environments in the bank. We use IBM for our core systems. We also have test and development environments where we run stress tests before deployments.

When I had to deploy about ten or twelve different servers that use the same operating systems, I deployed one and cloned it. The product’s ability to clone is by far the best thing I have seen. It took me only two to three minutes instead of 30 minutes or an hour.

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

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: March 2025
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.