Nutanix Database Service can be improved by enhancing logging; when we're trying to look for errors, one of the hiccups we always run into is that it's very hard to pinpoint and look through the logs. A better way to search and filter through that would be helpful.

To make Nutanix Database Service a perfect ten, it would require some GUI refreshes and resolving logging issues to make it easier to troubleshoot.

One of the things that we've discovered specific to SQL is that the deployment options that are available do not match our company standards, so we have asked the Nutanix team if that is something that is customizable or if we need to adjust our deployment strategy. That's the only thing that we've discovered so far.

It has already saved me a lot of time, but it can still improve. In the past, there were built-in templates, and now, for some particular databases, I have to create my own templates and push them to NDB, so bringing back those templates would save more time.

Nutanix Database Service could be improved by making it just a little bit less complex regarding the interface. That said, it's definitely in the right direction.

To make it a ten, they could make it a little more simplified; the console itself and some things seem complicated, and maybe it's due to the fact that I'm not a DBA or a systems admin, but the positive aspect is that they kept the look and feel pretty similar to other Nutanix or other main Nutanix platforms.

I don't have a comprehensive answer because we're not utilizing it extensively. The only improvement I would suggest is making the template creation and updating process more straightforward and automated.

There will always be room for improvement, there is nothing perfect from day one. There are some technical challenges that we have with NDS. I believe with time it will be sorted out. 

They focus more on increasing performance and resiliency. They make your normal databases as a managed Service, like SQL, and Oracle Database and I believe there could be improvements for resiliency and high availability technologies. They could seamlessly provide that for those databases. 

It would be helpful if Nutanix added a billing system for databases. We need to automate this with a separate solution. We are service providers, so it would be easier for our customers if there were a built-in system that we could use for billing.

Era should be compatible with various environments, such as VMware and Red Hat, to be hypervisor agnostic. Due to increasing adoption among enterprise clients, integration with Kubernetes platforms is also needed. Furthermore, the product can benefit from improving its understanding of architectural setup and communicating its limitations to users and partners.

The solution can increase its database compatibility and backup options.

There is room for improvement in the automation. It is customizable and we can create our own solutions, but if there were a central repository of automation scripts that we could use, that would be good.

Secondly, the graphical user interfaces could be much more user-friendly. They are already user-friendly, but they could be simpler so that we do not need L3 staff to handle them. If they were simpler, we could also have some command center or L1/L1.5 associates do some housekeeping activities on it.

Also, something we are not very clear on with Nutanix is whether it is also integrable with cloud platforms like Azure and AWS. Right now, we are using it more for traditional infrastructure. But tomorrow, if we have other components, can we also get a hybrid view? That is something that we need to look at.

It's important to have a hybrid cloud environment. At any point in time, you're going to have on-premises and different public cloud environments in use and, at times, a hyper-converged infrastructure. A hybrid environment offering is something that would work well in the future.

There is room for improvement in the pricing structure, especially given the complexity of our business model involving multiple data centers and a variety of services. While the user-friendly GUI and branded plug-ins for HPI solutions make management easier, there is still a need for simpler operational tasks.

The downside of this solution is that it's more expensive than its competitors. 

The other thing is that the scalability part of this solution should be improved.

It should be able to be consumed by other customers because only the enterprise cloud customers are able to buy this software.

From an architecture perspective, Era cannot be deployed onto any other platform apart from Nutanix.

More databases should be integrated quickly. If any VM is running on the Nutanix platform, like Oracle or SQL, and we right click that VM, from there we should be able to add the database into Era rather than go on the no-Era console.

The updating of the database engine is something that can be improved. For example, assume that we are using PostgreSQL out of the box, and it is version 10. If we want to migrate to version 11, 12, or 13, then it is not very easy to do that using Nutanix Era. This is an area that I would like to see improved because I have had many problems with it. In one situation, I was trying to deploy PostgreSQL version 12 and it was very difficult to achieve. If this were improved then it would be very good for the solution.

The problem is not tied directly to how long it takes to perform updates. Rather, it is not easy to do. Database engines differ in this regard because Microsoft SQL is easier to update than PostgreSQL. With PostgreSQL, for example, upgrading the software profile requires several steps. You have to manipulate too many things, create VMs, import them into Nutanix Era, and deploy a new cluster. If the process were automated by the software then that would save a lot of time.

If there were data integration services included with the platform then it would be interesting, and it would help us a lot.

We have been experiencing significant performance issues with Nutanix Database Service, primarily due to our many clients. While the product is designed to scale effectively, we have encountered performance limitations when handling many clients. These limitations have impacted our business operations, highlighting the need for further optimization and improvement.

We are also overwhelmed with the quality of technical support associated with the product.

The patching should be a one-button function. Also, it works about 80 percent of the time, but 20 percent of the time it requires manual intervention. And sometimes, until you understand the technical underpinnings of that process, you can't fix it. I thought we would move past that. In the last version, they broke a big chunk of that for me, and that's why I'm waiting for the new release because they promised me it would fix the problem.

They recently came out with a new version, so there are some new features that I still need to try. So it's hard to say what should be improved. Also, I don't have any essential databases that I'm managing with Era, so I'm not really close to the DBAs and don't know what they need or where there is still room for improvement. The best ones to answer this question are the DBAs because Era is basically designed for the databases. 

The tool cannot be sold without a Nutanix platform. There is a dependency. We can sell the product only to a Nutanix customer. Convincing a customer to choose Nutanix is a huge project. It might take two years. We faced some performance issues with Nutanix. Nutanix has limitations. We worked with the support team to overcome the limitations.

The solution should provide more integration with more databases.

This solution could be improved by integrating with more database providers. 

We just started about three or four months back to do deeper explorations of the product. We are in the implementation of it really, and exploration is still on-going. Essentially, customers have just started using this product so we need to wait some time and see what their feedback is going to be like. Generally, before, we were using the Nutanix Acropolis product, which is another hypervisor, and the deployment was okay. This is something new for us, so we are still discovering a lot about this solution. Maybe after six months, we will have more valuable customer feedback about what is missing and what is required to be improved.  

But so far, we already have some issues like patch management which has shown to cause some stability issues. The pricing — which is probably the biggest issue for this product becoming more accepted in the market — probably needs to be re-evaluated because it is too high and customers are resisting the cost. The pricing structure is also much more confusing than it needs to be.  

The management of the solution needs to be improved.

The solution needs better backup support, especially with Amazon Media. 

The solution needs to improve compatibility with other back-ups and products.

I would like to see the SQL compatibility enhanced.

The solution could improve by providing more support for more vendors.

Currently, we can only patch the operating system for Linux operating systems. It would be helpful if we could patch Windows operating systems with the solution. Also, their tech support's service and response time could be improved.