Technical Director at a educational organization with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Top 10
The product is easy to manage and provides good support, but it is very expensive
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution is very easy to manage."
  • "The solution is very expensive."

What is our primary use case?

Our clients usually use the product in the financial industry for application servers.

What is most valuable?

The solution is very easy to manage. The replication almost always works without fail.

What needs improvement?

The solution is very expensive. It is very network intensive.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the solution for six years.

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What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is very stable. I rate the stability a nine out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The product is scalable. I rate the scalability a seven out of ten. The scalability could be better for a very large deployment. Our clients are mostly medium-sized, but there are a couple of enterprise clients.

How was the initial setup?

The installation is very user-friendly.

What about the implementation team?

The deployment takes days, and the number of staff depends on the number of servers we install. Four engineers can do a medium size installation of 20 servers in about five days. 

When we have a problem with the solution, it may require maintenance, but Nutanix actively supports its systems. Since support is very good, maintenance is minimal. We need two people to maintain and monitor 20 servers.

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

I rate the pricing of the product an eight out of ten. The product has an annual licensing fee. There are no additional costs associated with the product.

What other advice do I have?

I am using the version that was released before the latest version. People planning to buy the solution must make sure that whatever software they put on it is licensed in a way that is friendly for moving block storage in Nutanix. Some products like Oracle Database are not licensed in a way that is friendly for Nutanix products. It is very expensive to license these products.

Technically, it is a very good product with good support, but it is very expensive. Other alternatives might require a little bit more technical support, but their prices are very friendly. Overall, I rate the solution a seven out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Reseller
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Section Manager for Platform Team at Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission
Real User
Top 20
Removed siloes from our organization’s storage and the life cycle manager help to consolidate different vendors
Pros and Cons
  • "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."
  • "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."

What is our primary use case?

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.

What is most valuable?

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.

What needs improvement?

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.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been Nutanix customers for two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

NUS's stability is very good.

How are customer service and support?

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.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

NUS's initial setup was straightforward.

What about the implementation team?

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

What was our ROI?

I believe that we have seen an ROI.

What other advice do I have?

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

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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MikeLin - PeerSpot reviewer
President at a comms service provider with 11-50 employees
Real User
Top 20
It's a reliable and easy-to-use solution
Pros and Cons
  • "Nutanix Objects is reliable."
  • "The management is pretty clunky, in my opinion. It could be a little bit better."

What is most valuable?

Nutanix Objects is reliable.

What needs improvement?

The management is pretty clunky, in my opinion. It could be a little bit better.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been working with Nutanix Objects for a couple of years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It was unstable when we first started because we didn't have the correct firmware versions, but support updated all the necessary components. After that, it worked fine.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Our configuration is already using three nodes, and I don't think the customer has tried to implement beyond that. I can't tell you if it scales well beyond three nodes.

How are customer service and support?

Nutanix has great tech support, but sometimes you have to get to tier 2 or tier 3 for help with newer products. When we were implementing Objects, we were among the first users. The first-line support couldn't help us. 

They had to escalate it to a person who was a consultant or someone who uses it all the time before we got the answers we needed. We had to send engineering logs, so the technicians could tell us to update the firmware and stuff. They couldn't fix it in a couple of days. It was more like a week or two.

Objects was a fairly new solution when we got it. Not everybody was trained on it. You can't throw everybody into a scene and expect them to know everything about all the real-world situations.

How was the initial setup?

Nutanix Objects is difficult to set up, but it's easy to use once deployed. It's not something you implement on a whim. You have to put some thought into it. 

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

I don't like that I have to pay for Objects. It's an add-on that doesn't come with the OS. 

What other advice do I have?

I rate Nutanix Objects eight out of 10. You have to find a need for it. If it's right for you, go ahead and do it. After working with other Nutanix solutions, I can say that everything has a purpose, and it is pretty bulletproof. 

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
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Infrastructure Principal at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Top 20
Easier to scale a node than with traditional storage
Pros and Cons
  • "The reliability and availability are the most valuable features. Reliability is important because it can run my workloads. I need to be able to take advantage of the VMs that are executing on the storage. It has to be reliable. It's also important to have the storage available for scaling VMs on demand."
  • "We have had to deal with some infrastructure and general cluster issues but these issues don't impact storage."

What is our primary use case?

Our primary use case is for running an EMR through Citrix.

What is most valuable?

The reliability and availability are the most valuable features. Reliability is important because it can run my workloads. I need to be able to take advantage of the VMs that are executing on the storage. It has to be reliable. It's also important to have the storage available for scaling VMs on demand. 

We size them accordingly but there's unexpected demand. It's much easier to scale a Nutanix node. Traditional storage doesn't scale so well but Nutanix aggregates it all into one single layer. 

A lot of times we use Golden Images through Citrix and the ability to make those Golden Images available through that entire storage stack is important to us. 

In terms of its ability to remove silos in our company storage, we still need traditional storage but NUS provides availability and single unification. You can scale much more easily versus traditional storage.

I think Nutanix does a very good job with unified storage and they continue to innovate. As they innovate it, there are new features that you can take advantage of. There was something called Shadow Clones that didn't exist with other storages. This feature is relevant for me with what I do with Citrix using the Shadow Clones. It accelerates and makes things more efficient for me.

What needs improvement?

We don't have issues with the storage. We have had to deal with some infrastructure and general cluster issues but these issues don't impact storage. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Nutanix Unified Storage for seven years.

How are customer service and support?

Their support is excellent. They are still engaged even when something isn't their problem. That's one of the biggest asks from a support perspective. I would rate them a ten out of ten. 

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

What other advice do I have?

I would rate Nutanix Unified Storage a ten out of ten. We haven't had any problems with them. 

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Cloud Architect at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
MSP
Is cost-effective and efficient, and has good performance
Pros and Cons
  • "The initial setup is pretty straightforward. With a few clicks, you can stand up your storage. It reduces the overall life cycle of deployment within the ecosystem."
  • "Nutanix needs to improve their cybersecurity options at the storage level."

What is our primary use case?

We are a managed services provider, and we customize solutions for every use case. For example, we have a client who built up file servers on Azure and found it very cost prohibitive. Thus, they wanted to move back into Nutanix Unified Storage to reduce costs. Our clients have seen a 7% to 10% reduction in storage costs. We have been able to achieve a 4:1 compression using Nutanix Unified Storage.

We have one client who is currently doing a POC with Nutanix Data Lens.

What is most valuable?

We have been able to improve efficiency metrics such as performance, dedup, and energy savings by using Nutanix Unified Storage.

One of our clients has 14 different locations, and having a single pane of glass with Nutanix Unified Storage would be a great help for them. We would not have to create 14 different consoles.

What needs improvement?

Nutanix needs to improve their cybersecurity options at the storage level.

For how long have I used the solution?

We've been working with this solution for a year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We have not seen any issues with the stability of the solution.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is pretty straightforward. With a few clicks, you can stand your storage up. It reduces the overall life cycle of deployment within the ecosystem.

What was our ROI?

We have seen an ROI. When we build a solution for a five or six-year contract, we factor in the total cost of ownership. The total cost of ownership for Nutanix is very competitive.

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

Compared to other solutions, Nutanix Unified Storage is cost-effective and efficient. It also has good performance.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend Nutanix Unified Storage and rate it a ten out of ten. You will be able to bring in scalability and flexibility. 

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
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Senior Systems Administrator at a energy/utilities company with 501-1,000 employees
Real User
Saves local disk space and provides greater visibility into storage
Pros and Cons
  • "We have been able to save local disk space by using Data Lens. We upload 18 GB to the cloud and are able to save 20% to 25%."
  • "The interface is not logical. It should be a little simpler."

What is our primary use case?

We use Nutanix Unified Storage and Nutanix Data Lens for optimization. We move files to the cloud, run analytics, and upload about 18 GB to the cloud.

What is most valuable?

We have been able to save local disk space by using Data Lens. We upload 18 GB to the cloud and are able to save 20% to 25%. We don't need to buy new nodes, so we are able to save money as well.

Nutanix Unified Storage gives us greater visibility into what is in our storage, and we have been able to clean it up.

What needs improvement?

The interface is not logical. It should be a little simpler.

For how long have I used the solution?

We've been working with Nutanix for eight years, and we implemented Nutanix Data Lens six months ago.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I expect the stability to be good.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability should be good as well. We should be able to extend storage as needed. Locally, our environment is 150 TB.

How are customer service and support?

I have experienced the best technical support from Nutanix. I can reach an engineer immediately and get full support. I get responses immediately to tickets, unlike with other services where it can take forever. Therefore, I would rate the technical support a ten out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

What about the implementation team?

The reseller helped us with the deployment, and it went smoothly.

What other advice do I have?

On a scale from one to ten, I would rate Nutanix Unified Storage a ten out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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IT manager at a transportation company with 51-200 employees
Real User
Top 5
Has good stability and an efficient technical support team
Pros and Cons
  • "It is a highly scalable solution."
  • "It is challenging to configure access control settings."

What is our primary use case?

We use the solution to provide security and access control for files.

What is most valuable?

The solution has the best features to restore the files. If the users delete the files accidentally, they can restore all the versions of the same file. 

What needs improvement?

It is challenging to set up group policies regarding user access to the solution. We have to log on to the system for it. Instead, setting them up directly through the system would be easier.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using the solution for nearly two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I rate the solution's stability a ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have around 80 solution users in our organization. It is highly scalable. I rate its scalability a nine out of ten.

How are customer service and support?

The solution's technical support team works excellently to address the queries regarding the settings. It resolves them within a few hours.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

The solution's initial setup process is simple. Although, it is complicated in terms of access control settings.

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

The solution is highly-priced.

What other advice do I have?

The solution is straightforward to use and set up. I rate it an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Private Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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System Administrator at a government with 51-200 employees
Real User
Top 20
Simple, user-friendly, and stable
Pros and Cons
  • "Nutanix Unified Storage is a simple, user-friendly, and stable solution."
  • "We have some problems with Nutanix Unified Storage's support because they asked us to change our hardware."

What is our primary use case?

We use Nutanix Unified Storage to manage a Central Prism environment and 50 nodes.

What is most valuable?

Nutanix Unified Storage is a simple, user-friendly, and stable solution. The solution also manages the virtual machine CPU and load balancing.

What needs improvement?

We have some problems with Nutanix Unified Storage's support because they asked us to change our hardware.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Nutanix Unified Storage for five to six 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?

Nutanix Unified Storage is a scalable solution.

How are customer service and support?

Customer support is not bad.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

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

Before Nutanix Unified Storage, we used Lenovo DM storage. We switched to Nutanix Unified Storage because Lenovo DM storage had become old.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was complex as we had 12 nodes, and every storage was between one cluster.

What other advice do I have?

Overall, I rate Nutanix Unified Storage a ten out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Buyer's Guide
Download our free Nutanix Unified Storage Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: November 2023
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Nutanix Unified Storage Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.