In my organization, we manage the servers using Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS). We previously used traditional servers for the production servers. We migrated to Nutanix, with all the VMs hosted in the Nutanix environment. It a shared storage, which is effective with the cost, reducing expenses in this process.
It offers better high availability and performance due to the combination of SSD and HDD disks. When compared to systems using only HDD disks, the performance improvements are notable. Additionally, the RAM and ROM specifications are significantly higher. As a result, we can efficiently run several virtual machines (VMs) across the environment.
Regarding cybersecurity features, we configure several security policies to trigger alerts via mail to the respective team during threats or malware attacks, resolving issues as soon as possible. In the traditional environment, this would require manual settings; in Nutanix, it's mostly automated, and we can reference documented known issues on the Nutanix portal.
Nutanix has improved my organization by reducing manual maintenance and costs related to previously using Cisco blades and Dell EMC external storage. I previously worked with some environments using Cisco blade servers, and we connected external storage, like Dell storage. At that time, the annual maintenance costs and maintenance for the servers and storage boxes were significantly higher compared to Nutanix. When we made the switch to the Nutanix environment, we invested more initially, but it is a long-term investment. Over time, it has proven to be beneficial in terms of performance and availability, especially due to its redundancy features.
In my previous hyper-converged environment, we experienced data loss whenever a node failed. However, after migrating to Nutanix, we have not lost a single piece of data. This is because it offers high availability, and we can set redundancy measures to ensure safe copies are stored within the environment, making retrieval easy. Additionally, we have observed a significant improvement in VM performance compared to the previous setup.
Currently, I am managing a six-node cluster with Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) and have saved 50% of the cost compared to the old environment.
Since migrating to Nutanix, we have not lost any data despite node failures due to its high availability and redundancy factor.
Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS)'s best feature is that everything is inbuilt and tested in the environment once before reaching the customer. If you experience an issue, the vendor SLA is minimal compared to other products.
The main feature is that we are using shared storage without needing any external storage box.
One area where Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) has room for improvement is in rollback capabilities. If I update, I cannot roll back to a lower version, which I feel is a major drawback.
I have been using Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) for three years.
It is stable. I would rate it a ten out of ten for stability.
It is scalable. I would rate it a ten out of ten for scalability.
When comparing Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) with other products or vendors on the market, Nutanix has a minimal SLA for support, typically receiving a call within half an hour for P1 priority issues, with hardware failures resolved within three hours.
Most solutions can be found on the support portal. The knowledge base articles are extremely helpful and well-updated. If I need information on the latest updates, I can check the Lifecycle Manager (LCM), where I can find most of the known issues along with their solutions. Overall, Nutanix's support is superior compared to other products.
It is currently deployed on-premises. We are in the process of migrating to Azure cloud, but the deployment is not yet complete. As of now, we are using only on-premises infrastructure.
When it comes to deployment, it is quite complex. Most of the deployment tasks require assistance from the vendor. During the migration, my old infrastructure was present in the hypervisor environment, and I needed to move to the new tenant environment. In my previous experience working with VMware, I found that the Nutanix Move software made migration much easier, allowing us to migrate with minimal downtime and more effectively than with VMware. I can compare both software based on my experience.
The configuration of Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) took one day with vendor help.
Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) does require maintenance. When we have hardware warranty and licenses for the HA nodes, maintenance is not required, but we can renew the subscription before they expire.
In my organization, we have a team of four people working with Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS).
It is very cost-effective compared to the traditional environment. With new hardware, it's a long-term investment but very effective for us.
It is mid-range in pricing. I consider it a long-term investment. If we look at traditional methods, the costs are higher due to the need to invest in multiple servers, storage systems, and switches. With Nutanix, the number of on-premises devices is reduced, which decreases maintenance costs. While I do invest more upfront in devices, the overall maintenance expenses for on-premises setups tend to increase with more devices. Nutanix allows for a limited number of nodes and a compact setup, which performs better than traditional methods. Therefore, we find the mid-range pricing to be cost-effective for our needs.
I would rate Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) a nine out of ten.