StorMagic SvSAN Reviews

I use StorMagic SvSAN as a alternative VM solution, providing a virtualization solution, specifically an HCI solution. I opted for it due to the challenges in managing different hardware levels such as switches, compute, and storage in a data center. With StorMagic, everything is managed in a single box, which simplifies the process.

The solution is cost-effective and user-friendly. Its simplicity allows administrators to perform tasks without having to rely on complicated tools. The hardware requirements are quite simple, making it easy to get started compared to competitive products. 

The witness feature supporting up to 1,000 clusters is particularly notable. The cost-effectiveness helps in cutting down license costs, especially since the competitors have increased theirs.

Areas for improvement include adding more sensors, compression and deduplication capabilities, increasing the supported nodes for enterprise customers, and enhancing network security. The solution is currently limited to two nodes, which might be a challenge for larger enterprises.

I have been using StorMagic SvSAN for six to eight months.

I think the solution is scalable. However, I have suggested improvements, such as supporting more nodes beyond the current limit, to enhance resource distribution and performance.

I use various other solutions depending on the clients. I have experience with different products. I have not switched entirely from one to another.

The initial setup of StorMagic SvSAN seemed straightforward and not overly complex. Deploying the solution might take up to a fortnight, considering all levels involved.

I don't handle pricing directly, but based on information from white papers, the solution appears to provide cost benefits.

I have experience with other HCI solutions such as Nutanix, VXS, Cisco HyperFlex, and others in the market.

The solution is simple and suited for small customers. However, for enterprise-level customers who require more stability and node support, further enhancements are needed. 

I rate the solution at six out of ten.

The benefits became more clear over time. I liked saving money per location. That extra 10,000 dollars we did not have to spend per location was great, but I did not initially realize how hands-off and easy it was going to be. Once it was set up and some time had passed, I saw that it just sat there, worked, and did exactly what it was supposed to do, and I did not have to think about it.

We use SvSAN's Witness feature all the time. I have read that it can handle up to 1,000 SvSAN clusters, but I have not pushed it to anywhere near that limit. It is great, and that is why you do not have to have a third server like you do with the VMware solution. Witness provides Quorum for the storage group that you are building, so you have two servers that contain the storage and are members of the group, and then you have this third member that is off-site. As long as that third member is reachable and the Witness can reach the two various members of the group, you have Quorum. It allows you to detect and respond to failure within a group if there is such a thing.

We only compared the capacity of Witness to similar features in competitive solutions, such as vSAN, in theory. The vSAN solution from VMware requires a whole separate third server, and that would be per instance. For every remote branch we have, we would have had to have another 10,000 dollar server as opposed to going with SvSAN where we could just have two servers and then have one Witness that services all of our StorMagic installations. It is not just per branch. That one Witness covers the whole enterprise, so it saved us a lot of money.

I believe that the use of StorMagic has reduced downtime. We have not had a whole lot of failures. It has saved us time, particularly, because I am able to do maintenance on the member servers without having to bring down an entire site. If I have those two servers running StorMagic, I can do maintenance on one of them while the other one uses StorMagic to keep presenting the shared storage and keep the virtual machines running so that I can do the maintenance I need to do. I have not used a competitive solution in the field, so it is a little bit hard for me to quantify the reduction.

StorMagic has helped us save on costs. It has saved us the server cost because we have to have one less server per site. We do not need the third server. That is an 8,000 to 10,000 dollars investment per site. It also saved us the cost of the 10-gig top racks that we would have had to use with other solutions. We did not have to buy that. I do not know exactly how much that is, but that is a significant expense as well. The fact that SvSAN allowed us to use a two-node cluster as opposed to requiring a three-node cluster with a 10-gig switch saved us significant amounts of money on hardware per location. Based on the rough pricing of the types of servers that we are using in the 10-gig switch, we saved at least 12,000 dollars per site because we used SvSAN.

StorMagic SvSAN provides a hyper-converged HA solution with enterprise functionality. The cost-effectiveness is great. It has saved us a lot of money on hardware, and I have had absolutely no problem convincing my bosses to continue using it because it does what it says it is going to do. It is a set-it-and-forget-it piece of software, and it saves us at least one-third on every installation we do with it just because of not having to buy that third server and 10-gig switch.

It is cliche to say it, but it really is a set-it-and-forget-it software. I set it up, and the few times I have had to call support have just been because I have not had to touch it for a while, and I forget how to do certain things. The part I like most about it is just that it does not require a lot of touch. It does exactly what it is supposed to do, and it is straightforward.

It could be a little bit more intuitive in terms of the way you set it up initially. The interface has recently undergone a revision. I have been using the new version for only a few weeks now. The older version of the web interface for StorMagic SvSAN was a little bit clunky and not as intuitive as it could be. The newer one is a little better, but it is still a little bit clunky in places.

I have not tried the centralized control called Edge Control. It probably addresses some of the issues that I have in terms of centralization and not having to log in to individual members in order to administer them. I have not used that yet, so I do not know how well that addresses the issues that I have. Currently, I have to log in to the individual StorMagic SvSAN members in order to administer them to update the software and see their status.

It has been about three years.

We have not had any lagging or crashing. We use SvSAN in a way that is not incredibly stressful on the product. It is a medium use case in terms of the amount of data that is flowing back and forth, but we have not noticed any lag or crashes based on SvSAN. When you get a power outage at a branch, that is not SvSAN's fault.

We have only used it in the one configuration that we have, and that was just with the two-member servers. We did occasionally look at adding a third member when we needed more storage or more processing power for a cluster, but we would have had to get into a little bit more complexity in terms of networking to do that because we are not using a 10-gig switch. We are directly cabling the servers together, so scalability is a little bit difficult. In the way we are using it, it is a little bit difficult to scale, but that is an intentional choice on our part. If we used a 10-gig switch, scalability would have been easy and fine, but the way we are doing it with direct cabling inherently makes it less scalable. I do not see that as a downfall of the product. It is a known limitation of how we are using it, but it saves us 12,000 dollars for installation, so we will take it.

It is great, and I do not say that lightly. I have worked with a lot of support teams over the years, and theirs is small because I end up getting the same people regularly, but they are very responsive. They respond quickly. They always follow through till the problem is actually solved. They are very clear. They know very much what they are talking about. They are willing to remote in and help in real-time, so their support has been excellent.

Positive

It is on the machines. The Witness can be in the cloud. It can be in your own data center. It can be wherever you want. The product itself runs on the local servers.

For its implementation, we went through a beta period with the test equipment, where I tested it out and learned how it worked, and I had help from support in doing that. Once we got to actual production, it took only a few days. It probably took us three days to get the hardware out there, get it all set up, and work with StorMagic to make sure that we were setting it correctly for the first one. It was about a three-day process initially, and now, I can certainly do it in the afternoon.

One person can deploy it. After the deployment, SvSAN requires very little maintenance. They send out software updates occasionally, but I found that the software update process is pretty simple. You just upload it to the individual servers. You use their Web GUI to deploy it, and that is the end of it. It is straightforward.

It is a fair trade. It is a little bit expensive at first blush just in terms of the initial licensing cost. I have been in the tech industry for a long time. I have worked for startups, and I understand that the licensing cost is how you pay the bills. They have to have money to develop their product. While it is less than other solutions, such as vSAN, for instance, it is still significant. However, it is well worth it in terms of the quality of the product and the support that it allows me to have. We are buying the flagship product from them. We are always buying premium support and all the features that we need, so it is a little bit steep upfront, but it is less than other solutions and comes with excellent support.

SvSAN's licensing model is based on usable storage capacity. It is a lot more intuitive. If I need 12 terabytes of storage, it is counterintuitive to me to have to think about how many CPUs the server that I want the storage for has. It does not make sense to me to consider processing power and the number of CPUs I have for processing in the licensing cost of a storage product. It seems a lot more intuitive to think about how much storage I need.

We have remote branches in various different places where we need VMware clusters, and we wanted to have shared storage for those clusters. We looked at VMware's vSAN product, but we did not go for it because these remote locations are space-constrained in some cases and have harsh operating environments. We are a shipping company, and these are warehouses with small server rooms. We found out that VMware vSAN required us to have three servers in order for their vSAN product to work, and it also required that we had a top-of-rack 10-gig switch. That added significant space and expense to the layout or the footprint that we wanted to have, whereas, SvSAN only required us to have two servers and did not require a top-of-rack 10-gig switch. We talked further with them and just ended up going with their product for remote branches, and we have loved it so far.

With SvSAN, it was a little bit of a learning curve for me. It was a little bit complex to start with just because I had not gone too far into that world previously, but their support was very good at walking me through the process, explaining what they were doing, and getting me set up. It would have been a little daunting if their support was not as good as it was at the initial setup.

It costs us significantly less to use SvSAN. We did not have to buy three servers, and we did not have to buy a separate 10-gig switch in order to make it work, which was the case with the VMware vSAN solution. It was significantly less for us to go with SvSAN just in terms of hardware.

In terms of the hardware and brand flexibility, we have not had any restrictions. We are pretty much using Dell hardware with their RAID controllers and no particular brand of SSD hard drive. We have not run into any limitations that way. If we were locked into a particular thing, that would be a problem. It would not feel great. As long as it works with whatever Dell is putting out at the moment, it would be okay for us.

I have not used the Stretch Clusters feature. I have also not used SvSAN’s management and monitoring console called Edge Control. I have seen demonstrations of it. I have not tried it yet.

To a colleague at another company who says StorMagic is a relatively small, less-known company, I would say that it is true, but so far, that has not been a disadvantage at all. In fact, it has been an advantage. Their support team has a relatively small group of folks, but they are very knowledgeable and very responsive. They get the job done well. It is true that they are not a huge company, but that has not been a detriment so far.

I would rate StorMagic SvSAN an eight out of ten.

We only use StorMagic SvSAN for remote functional locations that are not directly connected to our data center storage. It's deployed at production sites with their own storage and VM solutions. 

We compared two solutions for this use case, but we went with StorMagic because it had more capabilities than the others. It's also more reliable, especially in production environments that require availability and sustainability. 

We have used SvSAN for eight years. 

I rate SvSAN nine out of 10 for stability. 

I rate SvSAN nine out of 10 for scalability.

We also use VMware Vision.

I was involved in the deployment because I am not on the technical side of things, but I haven't heard of any problems. I assume there is some maintenance involved, but it's nothing out of the ordinary. I don't know how many members of our service team are responsible for the virtualization environment, but the team has 20-30 people. The team has people in various roles, including operations and administrators who deal with that environment and keep it updated. 

StorMagic is competitively priced. It's cheaper than the VMware solution. 

I rate StorMagic SvSAN nine out of 10. 

The platform provides zero latency for node-to-node synchronization. It helps us prevent any data loss while working with the failover clusters. It is the best feature of our site.

They should enable data compression deduplication features for the platform.

We have been using StorMagic SvSAN for two years.

The technical support services are excellent. We can reach the right technical executive as soon as possible whenever required.

Positive

I have used SimpliVity (an HP solution) before. In comparison, StorMagic SvSAN is good in terms of licensing packages.

The initial setup is easy.

The product has good pricing.

We evaluated Nutanix before. However, we use Hyper-V solution, and StorMagic SvSAN works well with it. If we had used other products, we would have been required to switch our operating system licenses from Hyper-V to another operating system.

I rate StorMagic SvSAN an eight out of ten. It is the best product with cybersecurity features available at the moment.

The primary use case for StorMagic SvSAN is providing availability to different sites. You can have multiple sites, all of which will replicate the data to each other.

StorMagic SvSAN's best feature is that it is platform agnostic. It also provides configuration flexibility as it's fully independent from any platform.

In the next release, StorMagic SvSAN should include multi-node clusters, which would allow storage spaces to be used more efficiently.

I've been using StorMagic SvSAN for a year.

StorMagic SvSAN is highly stable with no data loss.

StorMagic SvSAN can be scaled horizontally by adding new nodes into the cluster or scale by adding new disc hardware into the server platform. You can also increase your license capability easily.

StorMagic SvSAN's technical support is highly enabled - they have a one-hour response time, 24/7, and are very much aware of every use case and platform, so they're able to easily solve any issues.

Positive

StorMagic SvSAN is easy to deploy, and you can install 1,000 sites as easily as just one because it's centrally managed.

StorMagic SvSAN allows customers to eliminate the cost of SAN hardware. It's also 70% cheaper than competitors and provides all the enterprise feature requirements at low cost. Its pricing starts at $4,000 and goes up to $15,000. I would rate its pricing at five out of five.

StorMagic SvSAN doesn't have great brand recognition, but it's the best choice for those who care about performance and price. I would give StorMagic SvSAN a rating of nine out of ten.

We are using StorMagic SvSAN in the manufacturing industry and at our main regional office where we have ERP software running. 

Its only getting better, now StorMagic has SvHCI too !

Our business employs IoT technology for both manufacturing and application purposes, relying on automated robotic systems to manage the manufacturing process. These systems are overseen by servers, which are crucial for ensuring smooth operations. Any server downtime can have a significant impact on our business. By utilizing StorMagic SvSAN, we have gained data reliability and peace of mind.

The most valuable feature of StorMagic SvSAN is its high availability. We have not had any downtime or data loss. Business continuity is highly important.

If we want to want to replicate the VM to the cloud, or off-site, it does not allow it because of asynchronous. There is no option available.

I have been using StorMagic SvSAN for approximately Four and a half years.

The solution is highly scalable. I rate the stability of StorMagic SvSAN a nine out of ten.

There are two distinct setups - one utilized by the entire team of manufacturing technicians for managing the IoT application, with a relatively smaller user base of approximately 30 individuals. The other setup is located in a regional office and is accessed by almost two hundred users, mainly for managing ERPs.

We plan to increase our usage in the future.

I rate the scalability of StorMagic SvSAN an eight out of ten.

I rate the support of StorMagic SvSAN a ten out of ten.

Positive

The task of implementing the solution was relatively simple and we were able to complete it within a day and a half initially. The service provided by the team was commendable and we were able to upgrade and add a cache within a timeframe of six to twelve hours, during which their support was excellent.

I rate the initial setup of StorMagic SvSAN a nine out of ten.

We have one person that does the implementation of the solution.

From a cost investment perspective, we could achieve the same results with two servers instead of three, which is not the case with other hyper-converged systems where three servers are required. This results in significant capital expenditure savings.

The price of the solution is reasonable. Our budget was two terabytes and the price met our use case well.The servers and operating hardware are an extra cost. I rate the price of StorMagic SvSAN a ten out of ten.

We evaluated VMware vSAN and Dell VxRail. We chose StorMagic SvSAN because of the flexibility, we were not bound by hardware. Additionally, the other types of systems run on three servers while StorMagic SvSAN can run on two.

If you're considering an edge solution or a small setup that doesn't require too many nodes or DR creation, I would strongly recommend StorMagic SvSAN. It doesn't support synchronization, but it's still a reliable option. However, if you need DR asynchronous to the cloud or external sources, you may need to supplement it with a third-party tool.

I rate StorMagic SvSAN an eight out of ten.

This is being used as an ERP solution. There are 600 retail showrooms that are accessing the application for online billing, so we can't afford any downtime. It basically helps us ensure that there is business continuity. There is no billing, which is stopped while the retail is going on. In the past, we've had some downtime, so this solution is helping us.

We are using the latest version, which is 6.3. The solution is deployed on-premises. There's no cloud version.

We went for this solution for two reasons. The first reason is because it was an ERP solution and it was cost effective for a two terabyte requirement. The second reason is because it gives zero downtime and it works with two nodes rather than three nodes, unlike other solutions.

I'd like to see multiple nodes. I'd like to see snapshots added to it. There are two features missing: there's no REST API functionality, and there is no date duplication in it.

I have been using this solution for two years.

It's pretty stable so far. There haven't been any complaints.

It's not a scalable product. It's meant for a small organization.

Technical support is pretty good.

We were using a replication solution, which wasn't a virtual SAN. It wasn't software defined storage. It was more like a replication solution, which is replicating one server to the other. In case the server fails, the other works. Then there was a downtime of two or three minutes, so it wasn't strong enough to give zero downtime.

Installation was straightforward. Only one person is necessary to manage the solution.

We used an integrator. 

The licensing cost is $7,000 per two nodes for two terabytes.

There are additional costs. Auto-tiering is a separate cost. Encryption is a separate cost. That could range from $1,500 for two nodes, to $5,000.

I would rate this solution 7 out of 10. 

My advice is that if you're looking at a two node kind of deployment or looking at edge deployment, it could be a good solution.

The sales team is a little difficult to deal with. It's not a very transparent organization, so they're very rigid on certain things.

I am using StorMagic SvSAN in a biogas plant for industrial automation systems.

StorMagic SvSAN is a very effective solution and the interface is good.

I have been using StorMagic SvSAN for six months.

I have found StorMagic SvSAN to be stable and have good redundancy.

The stability of StorMagic SvSAN has proven to be very stable. In the period we've been running the solution it's been working well and the redundancy has been flawless. This is where you turn off one server the other one is functional without the other.

StorMagic SvSAN is a highly scalably solution.

To have scalability in StorMagic SvSAN you have to set the license for different steps. The licenses you can purchase are for two, four, six, et cetera terabytes. If you want to scale up the terabytes you expand with hard drives and change the license. There's no problem with scaling.

We have approximately 40 people using this solution. The solution runs in the background and they would not know they are using it but they are.

I am satisfied with the support. I found it simple to receive the resources I needed from them. When you contact the help desk, you receive a quick response.

The deployment of StorMagic SvSAN is very small. However, you need some time to do it. It's important to make a test deployment before the real deployment.

The pricing of StorMagic SvSAN is fairly good because if you compare it with VMware, it's at a better price. This is an important thing to remember.

We use the solution in a close network. We would like the possibility to activate the solution offline. At this time there is no offline activation, this would be appreciated.

The price of the solution is good is very good. Two terabytes are approximately 1,000 euros per node.

I have evaluated HPE StoreVirtual, VmWare vSAN and Starwind Virtual SAN (vSAN) is very similar to it.

We had some issues with StorMagic SvSAN because it is deployed on Microsoft Hyper-V, not VMware. In this Microsoft Hyper-V, there were some problems with servers in 2019. This was a part of the operating system that had a special update. It's a little complicated but it was fixed in the end. The problem was that when we had the issue, we did not realize what the problem was. We managed to address this issue and they found a workaround. The problem has been solved.

I would recommend this solution to others.

I rate StorMagic SvSAN a nine out of ten.