Senior Buyer at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Real User
Reliable, scales well, and has good documentation
Pros and Cons
  • "I like the tolerance of VMware vSAN."
  • "The integration could be improved. I would like to see integration with other platforms."

What is our primary use case?

We use VMware vSAN to build storage for our virtual machines.

What is most valuable?

I like the tolerance of VMware vSAN.

What needs improvement?

The integration could be improved. I would like to see integration with other platforms.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using VMware vSAN in our environment. I have used this solution for more than five years.

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What do I think about the stability of the solution?

VMware vSAN is a stable solution.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is easy to scale VMware vSAN.

In our organization, we have 100 members.

We may increase our usage in the future. With the company's growth, there are plans to expand in the future. We may require additional members. It's possible that we'll be able to scale this solution more in the future.

How are customer service and support?

We read the manual, which provided us with a thorough explanation. It was sufficient. We use technical support only on rare occasions.

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

Nutanix is a product that I am familiar with. We were able to use the Nutanix supported trial version.

In Microsoft's system center, both Nutanix and VMware can be easily maintained.

We will not be using the Nutanx system at this time.

Nutanix's integration with other platforms could be improved.

How was the initial setup?

This solution was easily installed by our team.

We have a team of four people to deploy and maintain this solution, including one administrator and one manager.

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

This solution requires the purchase of a license.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Because of COVID-19's impacts, we looked for a different IT system that would match our budget.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend this solution to others.

I would rate VMware vSAN an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Business Development Manager at iVolve Technologies
Real User
A highly-scalable and innovative storage virtualization software
Pros and Cons
  • "It easily integrates with all types of storage."

    What is our primary use case?

    vSAN is fully integrated with VMware vSphere, as a distributed layer of software within the ESXi hypervisor.

    One of the use cases is that, vSAN can gather the local or direct-attached data storage devices, to create a single storage pool shared across all hosts in a vSAN cluster.

    Another use case is that vSAN designed for the software-defined data centers (SDDC), thus you can build and architect your own private, public or hybrid cloud environment based on the vSAN software.

    How has it helped my organization?

    the come feedback always I here from our client is that vSAN Simplified Operations and ease of administration.

    What is most valuable?

    Manage both of virtual machines (VM), containers and cloud ready solution

    What needs improvement?

    Traditional infrastructure, Private cloud and the hybrid cloud

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I am always recommend the vSAN technology when it comes to power a Hyperconverged infrastructure as well the traditional and cloud native applications.

    Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

    Hybrid Cloud
    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    Buyer's Guide
    VMware vSAN
    April 2024
    Learn what your peers think about VMware vSAN. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2024.
    770,765 professionals have used our research since 2012.
    Assistant General Manager at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
    Real User
    Feature-rich, good support, and a trouble-free setup
    Pros and Cons
    • "Technical support is good."
    • "There is always a challenge with their firmware."

    What is our primary use case?

    We use this product for server virtualization.

    What is most valuable?

    We have found many of the features to be valuable.

    What needs improvement?

    There is always a challenge with their firmware. There is different hardware and they are always looking for different firmware that is compatible with vSAN. It is very difficult to find the compatibility matrix.

    They need to do some kind of automation in terms of hardware, firmware, and compatibility with the vSAN. They need to do some sort of upgrade for the customer.

    I would like to see the upgraded mechanism, and improvements on the hardware so that we can create a VPN.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have been using VMware vSAN for more than two years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    It's a stable solution. So far we have not had any issues.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    This is a scalable product. As it is only used for server virtualization, we do not consider usage on a per-user basis.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    Technical support is good. They know what we need. We log a case and they come to us with suggestions to fix the issues.

    How was the initial setup?

    The initial setup was manageable. It was not a problem.

    What other advice do I have?

    I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

    Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

    On-premises
    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    System Administrator at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
    Real User
    By deploying the solution we were able to reduce our hardware footprint by half

    What is our primary use case?

    We use it for hosting all our business products on virtual machines.

    How has it helped my organization?

    It's cost-effective.

    What is most valuable?

    • Hyperconverged storage
    • Computing

    What needs improvement?

    The only thing I care about is that the solution is stable, reliable. They need to improve on those factors. I don't want to have to wake up at night to deal with problems.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    It's pretty stable now. We had some challenges when we deployed them. There were software bugs.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    The scalability is pretty good. I'm pretty satisfied with it.

    How is customer service and technical support?

    Technical support, at times, has not been very good, but we are okay with it now. The problem was that they were not taking care of our issues promptly. They would average a couple of days to get back to us. But if there was a tough question, it would take them days or weeks.

    How was the initial setup?

    The initial setup was straightforward.

    What was our ROI?

    We probably reduced our hardware footprint by 50 percent, which is a lot.

    Which other solutions did I evaluate?

    We looked at other vendors but we chose VMware because it has a good reputation and because the underlying technology is pretty solid.

    What other advice do I have?

    The solution is an eight out of ten. To get to a ten it would need to be more stable and easier to upgrade.

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    Senior Systems Engineer at SMITHFIELD FARMLAND CORP
    Real User
    Gives us flexibility to move machines around without hesitation, but UI could be better
    Pros and Cons
    • "The most valuable feature is fhe flexibility, the ability to move the machines around without hesitation."
    • "The UI could certainly be better. The inside into what's actually going on with vSAN would be nice to know."

    What is our primary use case?

    The primary use case is bringing redundancy into our plants for failover. It has been performing great.

    What is most valuable?

    The most valuable feature is the flexibility, the ability to move the machines around without hesitation.

    What needs improvement?

    The UI could certainly be better. The inside into what's actually going on with vSAN would be nice to know.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    There have been a few issues, but VWware support has been tremendous in resolving them, so it's been good.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    Scalability is easy to do. It's just drop-and-add and you're good.

    How is customer service and technical support?

    The process with technical support is pretty good. Escalation up to the top-tier engineers is really good. We have a direct path there. There are no problems with tech support.

    What was our ROI?

    We probably already reached our ROI aftertwo and a half years.

    What other advice do I have?

    Make sure your storage network is strong. But I would recommend vSAN.

    It's a pretty solid product now that's it's at 6.5 Update 2. I know that it's going to get better, but right now I'm pretty happy with where we're at. I would rate it at seven out of ten. Nothing's perfect. There's always room for improvement.

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    Virtualization Architect at a tech services company with 5,001-10,000 employees
    Real User
    Easy to scale by adding hard drives or servers, but needs replication capabilities
    Pros and Cons
    • "It is scalable, overall. If you need to add storage, it makes it easy to scale by adding additional hard drives into the existing servers or you can add storage by just adding more servers."
    • "I would like to see replication as part of it. I would also like to see direct file access, being able to run SIF shares and NFS and the like. I think that would be critical to continuing the use of it going forward."
    • "One of the things that we've had challenges with are when we place hosts into maintenance mode. Sometimes doing so triggers large re-sync processes which can be time-consuming and which have, at times, pushed the capacity to the threshold. I definitely think making some changes in that area would provide some big improvements."

    What is our primary use case?

    We use it for our compute clusters, for running our virtual machines. We use it for our vROps clusters. Our customers use it for their compute workloads.

    What is most valuable?

    It is scalable, overall. If you need to add storage, it makes it easy to scale by adding additional hard drives into the existing servers or you can add storage by just adding more servers.

    What needs improvement?

    I would like to see replication as part of it. I would also like to see direct file access, being able to run SIF shares and NFS and the like. I think that would be critical to continuing the use of it, going forward.

    One of the things that we've had challenges with is when we place hosts into maintenance mode. Sometimes doing so triggers large re-sync processes which can be time-consuming and which have, at times, pushed the capacity to the threshold. I definitely think making some changes in that area would provide some big improvements.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    One to three years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    Overall, it's stable. When it's designed properly for the proper workloads, it's a very stable product. We had some challenges, initially, with getting the workloads aligned to the proper storage policies and configurations, but since we worked through that it has been very stable.

    How is customer service and technical support?

    Technical support is getting better. We've been using vSAN for a couple of years now. Initially, it was a little more challenging, but it seems like GSS is scaling up as well and, perhaps, learning the product along with us, at times. But overall, they do a great job in giving us support when we need it.

    How was the initial setup?

    The initial setup is pretty easy. I would like to have some additional automation wrapped around it. In the earlier versions, PowerCLI was very limited, but as the versions have progressed the modules have progressed as well. It's getting better. I consider it to still be a fairly new product and, over time, it's continually getting better and better.

    What other advice do I have?

    Properly align your workloads to the storage policies and make sure you know what your workloads are before you leverage vSAN. Have a good understanding of the size of your VMs, the amount of change that they have, and how you are going to be doing maintenance in your cluster. Understand the workload and what you're going to be doing with it before you jump in.

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    Systems Engineer/Partner at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
    MSP
    Adding new nodes and expanding vSAN forward is simple and non-disruptive for a lot of our customers
    Pros and Cons
    • "Adding new nodes and expanding vSAN forward is simple and non-disruptive for a lot of our customers."
    • "It is easy to find information out there, not only from searching the web, but even the times I have engaged VMware support."
    • "I would like more integration with the hardware when it comes to disc types and supporting the newer types of storage."
    • "I would like compression and deduplication to be offered for offloading hardware, instead of doing it with software. That would be nice."

    What is our primary use case?

    We use vSAN because it's a VMware product which integrates with all the other virtualization, and it simplifies hyper-converged environments.

    What needs improvement?

    • I would like more integration with the hardware when it comes to disc types and supporting the newer types of storage. 
    • I would like compression and deduplication to be offered for offloading hardware, instead of doing it with software. That would be nice.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    Three to five years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    The latest version is very stable. It had a couple of hiccups in the earlier versions. The deployment and integration were simple, but we did have some bugs that we hit on, which have since been fixed.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    Adding new nodes and expanding vSAN forward is simple and non-disruptive for a lot of our customers. It makes it simpler so we are not doing late night deployments, and we can answer the needs of the business immediately.

    How is customer service and technical support?

    It is easy to find information out there, not only from searching the web, but even the times I have engaged VMware support. We were able to get an engineer within minutes of opening a case who understood vSAN, and they were able to help us out.

    How was the initial setup?

    The initial setup for vSAN is simple. A couple clicks, we were up and running. 

    It does takes more time to rack it than to actually configure it.

    What other advice do I have?

    As far as a software-based, storage control product, it is great. They are staying ahead of a lot of the competition out there. vSan is what a lot of the competition is using.

    Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner.
    PeerSpot user
    Manager at IRSANE TECH
    User
    It is easy to use. Raw disk and block disk could use improvement

    What is our primary use case?

    Virtual Desktop.

    How has it helped my organization?

    Easy to use.

    What is most valuable?

    Horizon VDI

    What needs improvement?

    Raw disk and block disk.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    One to three years.
    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
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    Updated: April 2024
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