Products Manager at RCARRE SA
Provides seamless integration within the hypervisor core, providing stability and eliminating the need for additional VM gateways per node
How has it helped my organization?
What is most valuable?
VMware vSAN is a highly scalable solution. We can start with as few nodes as possible and scale up according to our needs. Another advantage is deploying a stretched solution across two sites, with data synchronization between the two data centers. Setting up a stretch cluster is made easy with vSAN.
VMware vSAN provides seamless integration within the hypervisor core, providing stability and eliminating the need for additional VM gateways per node, as required by solutions like Nutanix. This integration simplifies the ecosystem, making it easier to adopt and manage.
What needs improvement?
The main improvement in VMware vSAN is its licensing mode. Its acquisition prioritizes doubling the EBITA rather than focusing on technological advancement. This is a common issue in the IT market, where companies may be acquired by financial entities, potentially leading to stagnation in technological innovation. The technology is mature and stable, with no significant improvements currently evident.
The new feature allows for the use of only two nodes in an active-active setup.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using VMware vSAN for eight years.
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The performance is up to our expectations. The initial performance is high solution because we use flash storage. The complete solution is good.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution’s scalability is good. 200 users are using this solution. We have a private cloud with many intelligent users who can connect to the cloud.
How are customer service and support?
We can manage the solution ourselves.
How was the initial setup?
What other advice do I have?
There may be an opportunity for vSAN to explore new avenues for open-cycle solutions with the recent reorganization of Broadcom impacting VMware.
We use VMware vSAN with 50 instances, but we must change the licensing. Broadcom buys VMware.
We had been using the Dell VxRail solution. Due to Dell's cessation of collaboration with VMware and Broadcom's decision to overhaul the licensing model, our future with VxRail is uncertain. We can purchase VxRail with vSAN, which is integrated into Dell's portfolio. We lack assurance now that Dell and Broadcom are separate entities.
Overall, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Integrator

Solutions Architect at Allianz Cloud Private Limited
Has a user-friendly configuration process and good technical support services
Pros and Cons
- "VMware vSAN's most valuable features are the capability to consolidate standalone physical infrastructure into virtualization and the ease of management."
- "The platform's cost affects the business. This particular area needs improvement."
What is our primary use case?
We use the platform for virtualization and data capacity management.
What is most valuable?
VMware vSAN's most valuable features are the capability to consolidate standalone physical infrastructure into virtualization and the ease of management.
What needs improvement?
The platform's cost affects the business. This particular area needs improvement.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using VMware vSAN for six years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is a stable platform. I rate the stability as ten out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have seven to eight VMware vSAN users in our organization. It is a highly scalable product. I rate the scalability a ten out of ten.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support services are far better than other vendors.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
It has a user-friendly configuration process. The deployment typically takes approximately one to two hours. For instance, if we consider deploying a three-node vSphere operating system, it usually takes about two to three minutes to deploy. However, when factoring in the configuration of logical networking aspects, the overall deployment time extends to one to two hours. Once completed, the product is ready for usage.
What about the implementation team?
We have a team of 12 engineers in our technical team working on the implementation.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We've encountered challenges, particularly with the recent policy changes after Broadcom acquired VMware. The current pricing needs to meet the customers' expectations, posing significant issues. It is difficult to explain the cost implications of upgrades to the customers.
I rate the pricing a three out of ten.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We are exploring other vendors. One consideration is Microsoft Hyper-V clusters, and we are also looking into Microsoft Azure Stack HCI. Additionally, we are evaluating Red Hat solutions as potential alternatives. The decision-making process involves assessing the pricing factor.
What other advice do I have?
We've been utilizing VMware vSAN internally within our organization for the past three years and offering it as a solution to our customers. It helps eliminate the need for external storage and leverage the latest technology provided by VMware.
It significantly improved our storage efficiency by supporting disk groups. However, there were limitations as it only allowed for five disks. To enhance efficiency further, we needed the capacity to increase to at least seven disks per group. Additionally, for better tiering capabilities, it would be advantageous if it could support 12 disks per tier.
The recent integration with VMware's ecosystem has improved our operations by simplifying deployment and management tasks. With internal integration, deploying and managing the repository from a single dashboard has become easier.
The scalability has supported our business growth effectively. As an organization, we utilize it in various customer roles, which proves advantageous for our organization and clients.
I recommend the product to customers looking for better and more efficient storage capacity. It is a good solution. I rate it a ten out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:
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Head of the Cloud Factory Architecture & President at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
Mature solution that is simple to implement and maintain
Pros and Cons
- "Allows us to implement more quickly, and to ease the maintenance."
- "One area that could be improved is the management feature."
How has it helped my organization?
This solution has improved our organization by allowing us to implement more quickly, and to ease the maintenance. However, it doesn't change the internal organization much.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature of the solution is the simplicity to implement and to maintain.
What needs improvement?
One area that could be improved is the management feature. The link between the virtualization layer and the application layer can be improved as well.
An additional feature I would like to see in the next release is integration between virtualization with vSAN and network virtualization.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution for the last three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
My impression of the stability is that it's a very good solution for our usage.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
For the product cloud, scalability is okay. However, when we try to use a larger cloud, we can add more new nodes into the same vSAN configuration.
Every year, our number of users increases.
How are customer service and support?
The customer support is very good, depending on the contract support that you supply. We are using a premium support and the quality is quite good.
How was the initial setup?
The complexity of the initial setup is not really on the VMware, but only the hyper-layer because we need to check if the hyper-layer, underlying VMware are strictly compatible.
For the first implementation, it took more or less one year, but now it takes much less time to add new material and new configuration.
What was our ROI?
In the beginning, we saw a huge return on investment from VMware, from 10 years ago to five years ago, but now we are used to the product. So the ROI doesn't make much enough for us because we only use vSAN. Now VMware is the baseline.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The product is quite expensive, regarding the open-source solution.
The cost of the solution is a mixture of monthly user and licenses purchasing. So for the internal user, we use licenses purchasing. For an external customer, we use the Pay-Per-View model.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Before choosing VMware, we evaluated Microsoft Nutanix and Cisco HyperFlex. VMware design is more mature than the other solutions, generally.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate the solution a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Google
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Assistant Manager at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Ease of integration is key in addition to a very good VCG notification feature
Pros and Cons
- "Very good VCG notification feature."
- "Reporting currently depends on third party applications and that could be improved."
What is our primary use case?
Our primary use case is to host our hyperconverged solutions. I'm a project manager and team leader and we are implementers of this solution. We carry out everything from implementation to rollout. We are customers of VMware vSAN.
What is most valuable?
The VCG notification feature is key for me.
What needs improvement?
We faced some latency issues but it's been a little better lately. I'd like to see a single dashboard product and an improvement in reporting which currently depends on third party applications.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using this solution for almost seven years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's relatively stable now although we had some issues in the past.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is scalable, we have around 5,000 users. I think there are about 15 people in the company who deal with monitoring, management, and implementation.
How are customer service and technical support?
We had a very good team early on so we were not dependent on Microsoft or VMware to help mitigate issues.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We previously used Nutanix and I was very happy using Prism. We ended up with vSAN following a bidding process.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup took around 15 months. It was reasonably simple but there were some issues. We migrated around 150 VMs with applications on them.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We have a deal with them so we don't pay for individual licenses, it's a complete solution with an overall license.
What other advice do I have?
There are many similar solutions on the market. With VMware you get ease of integration because any new product they bring to the market has VMware.
I rate this solution an eight out of 10.
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.
Infrastructure Architect at a media company with 10,001+ employees
I Have Used VMware for 15 Years and I Never Had Any Problems With Stability.
Pros and Cons
- "To me, VMware is a leader of the visualizations. I think everyone just follow VMware."
- "I have used VMware for 15 years and I never had any problems with stability."
- "It is an expensive solution."
- "The vSan product uses a software system called Vsphere to monitor the system. It is sometimes difficult to manage the PCs within the systems."
What is our primary use case?
My primary use case is for storage and resilience between centers.
How has it helped my organization?
We have vSAN, and have built-in storage capabilities. We have many hosts, and we use the host through our providers with vSAN, with the storage. This improves everything because it is all internally between the servers. We use an NSX protocol. And what NSX does, it uses an internal network between hosts, so there is no use of an external switch. We create an internal connection between the host and the VMware product. So traffic is all internal and you can create all the firewalls and switches, everything. It becomes virtual. But, it is sometimes complicated when you try to deploy new systems or when you have to scale a system very quickly.
What needs improvement?
I think the vSAN product uses vSphere to monitor the system. It is sometimes difficult to manage the PCs within the system. VMware is currently working towards moving things to the cloud network. This is a great new addition to the VMware product.
For how long have I used the solution?
More than five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
To me, it is very stable. I never have problems. I have used VMware for 15 years and I never had any problems with stability. Like any normal system, you may sometimes have problems with one little platform, or with a host that is not working. But, there are no major issues.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have 130,000 people connected to the platform and to the servers. Eventually, we want to use the cloud, which will help with the volume.
How is customer service and technical support?
You can speak with VMware and they will provide you service that you need.
How was the initial setup?
I can set up a platform of VMware in a week, easily. It took me about a week to deploy our platform and we basically set up all he servers, all the network and everything else. Then, it took about two or three days to work and patch everything, and cable in everything.
The older versions were a little more complicated. Nowadays, there are more documentations, videos, and tutorials. So, it is less complicated. There are still some issues, until you have to look at everything. But, I think that because there is more documentation now, and more information, you can speak with VMware and they can provide you service.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The only problem I see with VMware is the price tag. This may start causing problems because there are other solutions out there, like AWS, that are open source and free. So, there is no license fee. VMware is very good, but expensive, in comparison.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I compared VMware to Oracle. They're very good, but Oracle is expensive, so people buy it and then start using open-source. Oasis is another option because it's cheaper and it's a similar process. So that is the problem I think VMware is going to have to compete with them in the future, and it is only going to get worse.
What other advice do I have?
To me, VMware is a leader of virtualization. I think everyone just follows VMware.
The reason why we use VMware is because all of the areas that VMware can provide. They fill a need for our platforms. There are other platforms now that provide similar solutions. In the old days, it was a simple Microsoft platform, and they had no management costs. Now they use VMN to create a cross-test and to link all of the servers they want. So they can provide restoration of servers. Furthermore, now they are integrating the movement towards cloud solutions. The only issues concerning the future of vSAN is the price. If someone builds a platform that is free, and only has to pay a license fee for a server, that may cause a problem for VMware.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Sr. Systems Engineer at a non-profit
Scalability and speed are the most valuable features.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features are scalability and speed.
The ability to throw in extra disks on the fly and extend storage with no limits is very useful. I already had to do this twice.
I think performance of my vSAN is better than that of a SAN, even though I am only working with 10 VMs per site. I don’t know how many performance hits we would get if I had more VMs.
Typically when you get a SAN, there’s a size limit or cap, adding more storage means buying an extra shelf.
In our environment we use Dell 530’s (8 bays), the original setup was only 4TB of usable storage from a pair, but later just added 2 extra disks per esx to make a 12TB volume, I still have 4 open bays and could easily add 8TB drives there if I needed to and on-the-fly.
In terms of performance, it beats going through the wire, since the disks are on the bus and with caching, iops are a plenty.
Furthermore, we have a power limitation at our communities, and adding one more box (SAN) would require an extra 8amps of juice.
No single point of failure, although SANs are very reliable these days, there’s connections and switches to content, with vSAN you can now connect 2 ESX servers directly not needing a 10GB switch
Refresh cycles: my storage follows my ESX servers, so no more extra new hardware to purchase.
vSAN Robo’s are inexpensive to own and maintain, the enterprise version is a tad more.
How has it helped my organization?
I am able to utilize ESX HW at my robo sites without needing to add a SAN or NAS.
What needs improvement?
I would like to see the following:
- Fixing the resync function. This needs to be addressed ASAP.
- A better UI showing actual space used and disk space available. The current output is very deceiving. It shows a total that should actually be divided in half, minus the headroom.
When disks are getting full or near 70%, there’s a potential for receiving out-of-sync nodes. One node may have more content than the other, and the re-sync button starts a process that never ends. This is a known issue.
When looking at space details, the available free space depicts the sum of the two nodes. In reality, that should only show half and even more. I would like to see a gauge that marks a safe zone, or under 70%.
The reality is that once you go over 70%, the sync issue comes into play, performance hits are unavoidable, and the rebuild could take a long time.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have used this solution for over a year.
How is customer service and technical support?
When dealing with seasoned vSAN experts, the experience was outstanding. Getting them to respond quickly is always an issue. I sometimes had to go ahead and perform a rebuild, as it was quicker than waiting for a callback.
How was the initial setup?
The installation was easy.
What about the implementation team?
I deployed it myself with trial and error support from VMware.
What was our ROI?
The ROI is negative, the capex is OK, but the opex is outrageous. They need to drop the opex to 20%.
What other advice do I have?
See if you can really afford it and make sure you have the expertise on hand to deal with initial deployment issues.
I found that buying a new SAN by Tegile is less expensive, less complex, and very inexpensive to maintain. In addition, support is the best in the business.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
private cloud team at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
One stack solution streamlines operations with potential for enhanced cluster automation
Pros and Cons
- "A one-stack solution from one vendor is the main benefit here."
- "The setup is straightforward."
- "Maybe incorporation of automation to build clusters in a more automated way would be beneficial."
- "I am not satisfied with VMware support, particularly with the reaction times, SLAs, and those kinds of issues."
What is our primary use case?
Robosites, data center, and Hyper Converged solutions are examples of universal Hyper Converged solutions.
What is most valuable?
A one-stack solution from one vendor is the main benefit here.
Additionally, improvements to the organization are not available at this time.
What needs improvement?
Maybe incorporation of automation to build clusters in a more automated way would be beneficial.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using it for less than one year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I have no experience with vSAN in production. So, I am not able to provide an answer. I would say it has good reliability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
At the moment, there are zero users. It is only a pilot and lab solution, so no users are onboarded.
How are customer service and support?
I am not satisfied with VMware support, particularly with the reaction times, SLAs, and those kinds of issues.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
vSAN and Nutanix convert in hyper-converged solutions.
How was the initial setup?
The setup is straightforward.
What about the implementation team?
The initial setup is managed internally only.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
It operates in parallel with others. It is not a replacement.
What other advice do I have?
My overall rating is eight out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Last updated: Jan 26, 2025
Flag as inappropriateInfrastructure Professional Service Team Lead at G-Able
Offers features to monitor the health and performance of vSAN environment but could have more user-friendly GUI
Pros and Cons
- "vSAN Health is a feature designed to monitor the health and performance of the vSAN environment. It's crucial for us and our customers to frequently check on this to ensure everything is operating smoothly."
- "The quality of the customer service and support depends on the vSAN case. For example, if I open ten cases, maybe two or three get resolved quickly. But the other cases have a slow response."
What is our primary use case?
Our clients primarily use vSAN for general-purpose workloads, such as web servers and application servers, though not as much for databases.
How has it helped my organization?
Our customers also use vSAN for storage consolidation.
We have customers who previously relied on separate servers and storage solutions but wanted to transition to Hyper-Converged Infrastructure (HCI).
We proposed vSAN for this purpose and utilized its standard features to migrate their existing infrastructure to vSAN.
What is most valuable?
vSAN Health is a good feature. It is a vCentre portal.
vSAN Health is a feature designed to monitor the health and performance of the vSAN environment. It's crucial for us and our customers to frequently check on this to ensure everything is operating smoothly.
What needs improvement?
A more user-friendly GUI for troubleshooting and resolving issues would be beneficial.
Now, addressing problems often requires opening support tickets and command-line interventions, which can be cumbersome for customers and partners alike.
For example, a server might disconnect from vSAN because we didn't realize we needed the command line to check certain things. Ideally, they should develop a web portal that allows users to diagnose and fix errors on their own.
So, I would like to see a tool in the web portal to address vSAN issues. A tool to fix recent issues.
There are some additional features I would like to see but it's not directly related to vSAN, but I'd like to touch on the vCLS feature. In the past, there was no such feature, but they're planning to develop this feature and integrate it.
This creates challenges for our sales team and sometimes even difficulties in maintaining service on other servers. Ideally, they could develop something that allows authorized users to check out a server, essentially take it offline for maintenance, before doing so and notifying others.
The VCLS feature is confusing for your customers. It would be better to develop a feature that helps authorized users check out and disable this feature before taking a server offline for maintenance.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using it for five years now.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I would rate the stability a six out of ten because sometimes everything looks all green, and healthy.
But the next day, vSAN shows something red, and the host just disconnects from the cluster with a recent issue. We have to open a ticket to resolve it.
So the stability can be inconsistent.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Scaling vSAN is manageable; however, upgrading the entire cluster to a new version can take a lot of time and challenging for our customers.
It is easy, but it takes time to upgrade the cluster.
I would rate the scalability capabilities a seven out of ten. It should be improved.
We have small and medium-sized businesses as our customers.
How are customer service and support?
The quality of the customer service and support depends on the vSAN case. For example, if I open ten cases, maybe two or three get resolved quickly. But the other cases have a slow response.
Maybe they end their shift and don't transfer it to the next, and no one picks it up. I have to wait until the original owner comes back to work.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
For successful business continuity, we have to use Site Recovery Manager. However, customers are pushing for more options. They'd like to see other solutions that might be a better fit for their specific needs. So, they use different third-party tools for disaster recovery.
How was the initial setup?
I would rate my experience with the initial setup an eight out of ten, with ten being very easy.
Deployment can be done within three hours if we prepare all the information beforehand. We can set it up in two to three hours.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
With the new pricing model, it's expensive for the customer. The old cost model was X, and the new model might be 50% more.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Comparing vSAN to traditional infrastructure solutions like those from VMware or SolarWinds, I don't see a distinct advantage.
What other advice do I have?
For now, I wouldn't recommend it because of the price. There are other products on the market that work well like Nutanix.
In your opinion, these are better options.
Overall, I would rate the solution a six out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:

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Learn More: Questions:
- I am looking to compare Nutanix and VMware vSAN. Which one is better in terms of functionality and management?
- Nutanix and vSAN: Which is best for cloud services?
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