Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) Reviews

Nutanix Unified Storage will mostly be used for home folders and departmental shares. We do a lot of research, and we use this solution for research storage. There are several instruments that generate a lot of data, and we needed a place to store this data during analysis. We needed long-term storage as well.

Our previous system was a large lake of storage, and it worked well for shares and home folders. One of the things the researchers wanted to do once the file sets were placed was to analyze the data. We mounted those volumes on a server to be analyzed, and it wasn't performing enough. It couldn't keep up with it. With Nutanix Unified Storage, however, we can tailor different file servers for different workloads.

Nutanix Unified Storage will allow us to be more agile when deploying storage for the different use cases that we need. Also, with DR, the failover and failback between the two clusters are very simple in Nutanix Unified Storage compared to most solutions. You click, answer a question, and let it go. In other systems, you have to do a lot of reconfiguring and synchronization, which can take hours or days depending on the length of time that you need to fail back from. However, with Nutanix Unified Storage it's very simple. It makes life a lot easier for us.

One of the things that really sold us on Nutanix Unified Storage was File Analytics and Data Lens. We could always tell how much storage we were using, how many files we had, and even the age of the files, but we could never get a good handle on who was doing what with them. This has been a huge issue for us. For example, if someone moved a folder, we would not be able to tell who did it. We did not have a good way of auditing what was going on with the systems. This could become an issue in a ransomware attack. It would make it more difficult to figure out when we got infected and where we need to roll back to in order to recover. Nutanix File Analytics and Data Lens give us that information. In addition, Data Lens has a mechanism built in to prevent a ransomware attack from getting a foothold on the system. It can shut it down before it does a lot of damage.

Nutanix Unified Storage does a very good job of unifying our organization's block, file, and object storage. It puts it all in one place. From one platform, we can deploy S3-type buckets. We can provide iSCSI-level block storage if we need to. It does a great job with home folders and departmental shares, which is what we mostly use Nutanix Unified Storage for.

We can manage and run its storage from any location. Nutanix Unified Storage does a really good job of that, especially with the newest version of Files, 4.3. You can run it on NC2. That opens up a whole new possibility for us down the road when it comes time to do a refresh on the hardware. As our data centers age, it also gives us another option. We would have to decide whether we want to spend millions of dollars updating our data centers or looking at a cloud-based solution. NC2 provides a lot of advantages over just a standard native AWS or Azure deployment.

As part of our organization's ransomware protection strategy, our security department has a number of ransomware appliances that do scanning. We have antivirus running on the various shares and workstations. What's really exciting for us with Nutanix Unified Storage is that we get another tool to help prevent a ransomware attack. In case something gets through the security's appliances or something slides in through the back door, we have an additional tool to look for that ransomware attack and recover from it quickly.

Other than testing Nutanix Data Lens, we haven't gotten into it yet. However, it looks very promising. We're very excited about it, and so is our security team.

In terms of removing silos in our organization, Nutanix Unified Storage does a good job. My team manages the virtual infrastructure, and that was one of the reasons why we went with Nutanix Unified Storage over some of the other competitors. We're familiar with Nutanix and the platform. It's easy to deal with, and it makes managing a large system with a small number of employees a lot easier.

The current hardware is not as dense as it could be. In our deployment, we have 2 PB per site, and we have to have 24 nodes. That's a lot of cabling and network ports that we use up. More dense nodes would be better.

We tested Nutanix Unified Storage for a couple of months before we purchased it. Last week, we spun up the clusters, and we're starting to deploy the file servers in the shares right now. We're in the very early stages of deployment.

The solution scales pretty well. Once it gets denser nodes, it'll scale better. There are options when you hit limits, especially using objects. You can scale that out, and they have excellent tiering options as well. I'm pleased with it.

Nutanix's technical support is excellent. That was one of the drivers in picking Nutanix. I would rate their support a nine out of ten.

Positive

We used a large lake of storage, and it did well for us. However, as technology moved on, we found that it wasn't meeting all of our needs. Nutanix Unified Storage gives us more flexibility to provide better solutions for our users. We evaluated other solutions and went with Nutanix Unified Storage because of the analytics that it provides and Data Lens. The simplified DR failover was a big factor as well.

With Nutanix Unified Storage, you can deploy file servers either vertically or horizontally. For a large departmental share, we can size it, scale it out, and have a large number of servers so that you can have thousands of users on it. If we're doing an export or a share that's going to run on an analysis server and more speed is needed, we can scale vertically and add more CPUs to add more memory to the file server. This is something we couldn't do with our previous system.

Once we had Nutanix Unified Storage racked, stacked, and everything cabled up, the actual deployment went very smoothly. We deployed 24-node clusters in about three days. We were ready to start building file servers and sharing on them. I was really pleased with how well it went.

Our partner, Choice Solutions, helped us with the deployment.

At this point, it's too early to tell, but I think we will see an ROI. We will probably see a reduction in support costs. We will be able to provide better resources for our researchers, which is the main driver. They're the primary users of the storage.

It's not the cheapest solution. It's in line with other solutions, but it offers features that the competitors don't have at any price point, especially with regard to analytics and ransomware prevention. No one else has any sort of object-based storage available. Nutanix Unified Storage is a lot more feature-rich. This is a situation where you get what you pay for.

My advice, if you're looking into Nutanix Unified Storage, is to definitely do the test drives. Do the research, and compare Nutanix Unified Storage with some others. Look at File Analytics and Data Lens, and compare how well DR works. Take a look at the various options that Nutanix Unified Storage provides and compare them to those offered by other solutions.

I haven't had enough time to really get a good feel for it, but from what I've seen so far, I'm pleased with Nutanix Unified Storage. Thus, I would rate it a nine out of ten. 

We run our VMs on Nutanix Unified Storage. We were trying to reduce the data center footprint and shrink the bandwidths on the number of storage units that we were using. We also wanted to avoid having to deal with different vendors when there is an issue. We have a 700 TB environment.

We use Varonis for ransomware protection. It's very expensive, but it does a very good job. Varonis monitors file pattern changes and maintains well-known dictionary sets.

The life cycle managers of the PCMs are very impressive, and I like them. They make our lives easy when managing patches and security updates when they come in. A life cycle manager helps to consolidate different vendors.

Also, because the management is simplified, I can depend on one or two people. We are able to reduce contractors and FTEs. We used to be a team of more than ten people, and now we are a team of six. As such, we are able to save about $400,000 a year.

We have to run mandatory disaster recovery processes every year. It's very important that Nutanix Unified Storage is able to manage and run our storage from any location.

Nutanix Unified Storage removed siloes from our organization’s storage.

Security is an area for improvement. When there are vulnerabilities, there needs to be a faster approval process. The solution needs to automatically target the vulnerabilities and not waste too much time.

We have been Nutanix customers for two years.

NUS's stability is very good.

Nutanix's technical support is good. They go the extra mile to help us out with health checks as well. Therefore, I would give them a nine out of ten.

Positive

NUS's initial setup was straightforward.

Our partner, CAS Severn, helped us with the initial deployment process.

I believe that we have seen an ROI.

I would recommend trying Nutanix Unified Storage. I rate it a nine out of ten.

Nutanix Unified Storage is our primary storage solution for file sharing. Our users can access files based on the assigned policies.

We implemented Nutanix Unified Storage because we were seeking a low-maintenance solution. 

Nutanix Unified Storage is a flexible product.

Nutanix Unified Storage is resilient, allowing for adaptability.

Nutanix Data Lens is a sophisticated feature that contributes to the enhancement of our security posture.

We can easily identify and protect against unknown threats with Nutanix Unified Storage.

We have reduced the manual work and maintenance required for our storage with Nutanix, while also increasing performance.

It empowers administrators to manage and run storage from any location. 

The most valuable feature is the unified dashboard, as it allows us to easily observe everything from a single location.

The GUI is not user-friendly for new users and has room for improvement.

Nutanix Unified Storage could benefit from additional safeguards to enhance security and prevent data leaks.

I have been using Nutanix Unified Storage for one year.

I would rate the stability of Nutanix Unified Storage ten out of ten.

Nutanix Unified Storage is scalable and there is no downtime involved in scaling the solution.

The technical support staff has consistently provided efficient and helpful assistance to us.

Positive

Before adopting Nutanix, we used traditional file server storage solutions. However, with over a million files, we lacked any analytics capabilities.

The initial deployment was straightforward and took around two months to complete. Our team of four worked with a team of three from Nutanix for the deployment. 

The cost of Nutanix Unified Storage can be prohibitive for some small and medium-sized businesses, making it challenging for them to adopt the product.

I rate Nutanix Unified Storage an eight out of ten.

When evaluating security features, Nutanix Unified Storage stands out among comparable software-defined storage options.

We have around 60 users and the solution is deployed in multiple regions.

Maintenance is required for uploads and updates.

I highly recommend Nutanix Unified Storage due to its robust security and low maintenance requirements.

We primarily use the solution for storage. We've migrated all over all file servers and systems over to Nutanix Unified Storage. 

We had 10 VMs with older technologies. I'm happy to use this as it is really simple and complete. 

The high availability of the storage is important. We have some customer data and it's crucial for us to be able to maintain and secure the data. 

It's a complete product. It works well. 

The security is very good.

We use clusters, and these are not only dedicated to storage. We have VMs, containers, and other types of storage.

The performance has been very good.

We were able to save 20% of our time by using this solution. 

I haven't had any issues with the solution so far.

I've used the solution for three years. 

The solution is really stable. I'm really impressed by the product. 

We've started with three VMs. We now have five VMs in our operations. We have no issues when we try to scale. 

Technical support is good. We've opened cases with them, and my experience has been really good. They are very fast, and they have very good technical knowledge. They come to the calls prepared. 

Positive

We did not previously use a different solution. 

The deployment is very easy. It's no problem to implement it.

I do not have visibility of the pricing and licensing. 

We did look at other solutions. We were able to validate Nutanix against other solutions. It has a complete ecosystem, which is important for us. We wanted more options to extend our environment if we needed to. 

We do not use the solution for AI and data analytics or for preventing and blocking ransomware. 

We have not tried to integrate it with other products. However, I have tried to integrate it with a backup solution, and I didn't have any issues.

I'd rate the solution ten out of ten.

I do not use it myself. My technicians use it for their work. They look at the portal every day. It is open on their desktops all day.

We have time savings and scalability.

It is unified. This is the best thing that Nutanix gave to the world. You can do everything from one point.

It is very easy to use, and we also get the best customer service from Nutanix.

It is a good solution, but every solution can be better. I would like Nutanix to provide a solution for virtual disks. This is the main problem for which we want a solution.

I have been using Nutanix for six or seven years.

Their customer support is great. They provide the best support and service. Nutanix is the best in this aspect.

Positive

I hope that it will stay the way it is. We have seen the changes in VMware and what happened to them. I have heard that Nutanix will raise the prices, but I hope that they will not do that.

When we did the PoC about seven years ago, we found Nutanix infrastructure better for us. It helps us with Kubernetes.

I would rate Nutanix Unified Storage a ten out of ten. We are very satisfied with all the solutions that Nutanix provides us.

My company uses the solution for the filing system purpose. My organization also uses the tool for the application and the APIs installed in Kubernetes to synchronize with the workload services.

The product was useful for my business since it allowed for syncing between the on-premise and the cloud applications, which helped us in a very good way. With the tool, my company was able to have applications that were highly available.

My company has the product installed in a hybrid environment.

Nutanix Unified Storage's throughput or latency for data-intensive workloads, such as AI or data analytics, is good and perfect. The capacities or abilities of the product are based on the configuration and use cases that my company deals with, and I see how the product already works well for us.

Nutanix Unified Storage detects and blocks ransomware threats very well. I rate the tool's ability to detect and block ransomware threats an eight out of ten. The product needs to work a bit more on its ransomware detection capabilities.

In terms of false positives, I would say that I think it is a stable tool that is growing in the right direction. I think that within one or two years, it will be a fully flexible tool.

Implementing Nutanix Unified Storage has resulted in a reduction in the number of storage nodes used in our company, and I think it is possible due to an increased storage capacity per node. With less capacity, the tool can support more applications. In my company, we have been able to save around ten nodes using Nutanix Unified Storage, and such a reduction has been helpful in terms of cost savings.

The solution's most valuable features are its support and speed. In case of any support cases, the tool's technical team provides help seamlessly. The product is very light, so adopting the technology is very easy.

I don't know how the product can be made perfect. Till date, my company has not faced any significant issues with the tool. Considering that my company is already an existing partner of Nutanix, if we plan to scale up, then some improvements are required on the pricing front and the scalability feature offered by the solution.

I have been using Nutanix Unified Storage for two years.

The product is stable.

Scalability-wise, the solution is very nice. The scalability feature of the product is actually available as an add-on which allows users to scale the existing environment by allowing one to put more nodes, more applications, while being able to move it between cloud and on-premises, which is something very great.

In a short period of time, the support team provides a proper solution. I rate the technical support a nine out of ten.

Positive

My company used VMware in the past. We switched from VMware to Nutanix Unified Storage because of the seamless stability offered by Nutanix. Nutanix products are scalable in a nice way, and we can move the tool from the cloud to an on-premises version and vice versa.

The product's initial deployment phase was neither hard nor easy, making it a neutral process for me.

In case, anything happens during the tool's implementation phase, you can open a case with the support team and they can provide a fair resolution.

The solution can be deployed in a span of forty days.

Using the tool, my company has saved around 30,000 USD.

My company did not evaluate any other options against Nutanix Unified Storage.

I rate the tool a nine out of ten.

We use Nutanix Files Storage for sharing and storing critical data with different divisions and for various services within the company.

What I found most valuable in Nutanix Files Storage is its high availability and ability to scale out with many VMs.

Nutanix Files Storage lacks a user access auditing feature, and that's the feature I want to be added to the solution.

Managing other storage infrastructure on Nutanix Files Storage is an area for improvement. In particular, I want to add other forms of storage from different vendors not currently in Nutanix Files Storage, to the file server, for better management.

I've been using Nutanix Files Storage for four years.

Nutanix Files Storage is stable, so I'm rating it as ten.

Nutanix Files Storage is very scalable. In terms of scalability, it's a ten.

The support for Nutanix Files Storage is excellent. When I open a case, mainly when it's critical, I get a direct response at a maximum of four hours. The Nutanix technical support team always has a solution. My company has opened many cases with Nutanix, and it always gets a solution for each case.

As the technical support for Nutanix Files Storage is very good, I'm giving it a ten out of ten.

Positive

It was easy for me to set up Nutanix Files Storage. I didn't experience any difficulty with the initial setup, so setup-wise, it's a nine out of ten.

Deploying Nutanix Files Storage took a few minutes. It's a process of adding a new file server, selecting the number of VMs, and taking care of the local storage, DNS, and the network.

I implemented Nutanix Files Storage. I am NCSC-certified. I am a consultant, so I could implement the solution without help from the vendor.

As an engineer, I don't have information on the pricing for Nutanix Files Storage. A different team handles that part.

I've recently updated Nutanix Files Storage, so I'm using the latest version.

I didn't experience any problems updating or maintaining Nutanix Files Storage whenever there's a new version. My company updates and upgrades immediately.

I recommend Nutanix Files Storage to others because it's easy to install and has high availability. It's one of the most useful solutions.

My rating for Nutanix Files Storage is nine out of ten.

My company is a Nutanix customer.

We store a lot of our R&D-related files in Nutanix Files Storage.

What I like most about Nutanix Files Storage is the way it makes copies of the data. The solution also has high availability, which is excellent.

Another valuable feature of Nutanix Files Storage is self-service, so users won't have to depend on the IT team much. Users can independently work with the solution.

What's missing in Nutanix Files Storage is the support for multiple intranets or VLANs on the same file from different networks and network devices. That feature doesn't exist today, so the Nutanix product team is working on it, as requested by my company.

There's a limitation with using multiple VLANs on the same file. Right now, it's coming from two different network switches, and the product doesn't support it because it expects all VLANs to go to the same physical switch. This isn't tolerable in my company's LAN environment, so Nutanix Files Storage needs this product enhancement or feature.

I've been using Nutanix Files Storage for over two years.

I didn't experience any outage since Nutanix Files Storage was implemented, so stability-wise, it's going well. I'm rating its stability as nine out of ten.

Nutanix Files Storage is easy to scale out. My company had grown, so it expanded the cluster; scalability-wise, the solution is a nine out of ten.

I contacted Nutanix Files Storage technical support about the product enhancement, and the team was proactive and knowledgeable.

I'd rate support as seven out of ten because there was no solution to my issue, though the team took it as a product enhancement request.

Neutral

Before using Nutanix Files Storage, my company used the traditional NetApp-based vFiler solution. There was no self-service feature in NetApp, so you have to always depend on a storage administrator to set things up, versus Nutanix which was certainly easy to set up, configure, and use.

Scaling vFiler was challenging, so you always had extra capacity compared to Nutanix Files Storage.

Nutanix Files Storage is straightforward to set up, so I'm rating it, setup-wise, as nine out of ten.

Deploying Nutanix Files Storage took weeks, but my company had to transfer a lot of data from the legacy system, which took time. Overall, the project went well.

We implemented Nutanix Files Storage through a system integrator, Wipro.

I find Nutanix Files Storage competitively priced, even its feature set. Its price is seven out of ten.

I would advise people new to Nutanix Files Storage to see how often data is being utilized and decide on a storage strategy based on that. If you only need simple file sharing that requires less access, then you have other solutions that can leverage the public cloud, so you won't have to worry about capacity issues. However, if you're focused on latency and performance, then Nutanix Files Storage would be a great fit. The product is self-explanatory and straightforward, so there's nothing to worry about.

Around one thousand people use Nutanix Files Storage within my company.

The solution is heavily used daily.

My rating for Nutanix Files Storage is eight out of ten.

My company is a Nutanix customer and not a partner.