it_user1003365 - PeerSpot reviewer
Pre-sales Consultant Manager at Econocom
Consultant
The solution can scale up and out
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution can scale up and out."

    What is our primary use case?

    We use this solution for clients who has issues with their infrastructure.

    How has it helped my organization?

    HyperFlex is compatible with VMware. This is good since we are also a VMware partner.

    In addition, the product is compatible with Hyper-V, which is another good solution.

    What is most valuable?

    It is a high availability solution.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    The solution is stable.

    Buyer's Guide
    Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series [EOL]
    June 2024
    Learn what your peers think about Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series [EOL]. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: June 2024.
    772,679 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    The solution can scale up and out.

    How are customer service and support?

    The technical support is good.

    How was the initial setup?

    The initial setup is very easy.

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

    The product is expensive. Other solutions are cheaper.

    What other advice do I have?

    Cisco has the best solution for hyper-convergence.

    Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner.
    PeerSpot user
    Manager at EagleBurgmann
    User
    The software defines networking, storage, and processing
    Pros and Cons
    • "The software defines networking, storage, and processing."
    • "Deployment scripts can be improved since several clans need to be created before the deployment effectively works."

    What is our primary use case?

    Manufacturing and logistics software controls, ERP and document management servers, and database production and development servers.

    How has it helped my organization?

    Less rack space, decreased power and cooling costs, overall information technology team efficiency, and a single point of management.

    What is most valuable?

    The software defines networking, storage, and processing. Flash acceleration feature for most files.

    What needs improvement?

    Deployment scripts can be improved. Several clans need to be created before the deployment effectively works.

    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
    Buyer's Guide
    Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series [EOL]
    June 2024
    Learn what your peers think about Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series [EOL]. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: June 2024.
    772,679 professionals have used our research since 2012.
    Senior Network Administrator at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
    Real User
    Does a good job of combining both software and hardware and enables us to backup user data easily
    Pros and Cons
    • "The integration between the storage and the server applications is the most valuable feature of this solution. It cuts down on the necessity to buy a secondary storage system.. It saves money in the long-run."
    • "We would like to have the ability to not have to reboot while doing updates. Being able to work through updates with as minimal amount of impact to users."

    What is our primary use case?

    Our primary use case of this solution is for VDI, Virtual Desktop Infrastructure, for our community college.

    How has it helped my organization?

    It ultimately provides a virtual desktop so that we can backup user data a lot more easily. In the past, it was all a straight desktop computer so if your desktop dies, all your data would die as well.

    In terms of it being flexible for various projects, it does seem to lend itself to other applications, for example, our VMware, as well as servers that we may want to bring up under the HyperFlex solution so we may go in that direction sometime in the future.

    It has the potential of actually being a six million dollar impact to the college because it replaces people's computers. Until we start to transfer users over to it we really won't know how much of that six million dollars is savings for us.

    I don't know if it's lowered the deployment time per se because we really haven't gotten to the point where we added shelves or added servers to it. We're expecting for that to be a simple process given what Cisco claims it will do. Ultimately we're expecting no downtime for that.

    What is most valuable?

    The integration between the storage and the server applications is the most valuable feature of this solution. It cuts down on the necessity to buy a secondary storage system. It saves money in the long-run. 

    What needs improvement?

    We would like to have the ability to not have to reboot while doing updates. Being able to work through updates with as minimal amount of impact to users.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    The stability is great but ultimately we've noticed the updates and upgrades take a bit of an impact on the solution. More so, having to reboot the solution and having to restart it. While it is stable, rebooting it for updates isn't always convenient. Ultimately, just like any organization, we would do that on off hours whether it be weekends, nights, or whatnot. But that costs money because you have to have staff on weekends, nights and whatever overtime they have to account for.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    Scalability is just as they predicted. It combined the frontend servers with the backend storage. While it is a little cumbersome to learn, it is scalable to be able to add more shelves if I need more memory or additional servers very easily. It does scale nicely.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    I'm pretty neutral about technical support right now given that we're still setting up the solution to some degree. The support is great, as long as there is a maintenance contract in place. But because the overall solution is still rather new, using knowledge base or just generic knowledge base out on the internet is not as prevalent as I would like.

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

    We are a Dell shop. We looked at HP but ultimately because of the features that Cisco brought with the HyperFlex solution, we felt that that was a superior product to everyone else.

    How was the initial setup?

    The initial setup was straightforward. We simply wanted to understand how the two worked together given that the claim is that it's supposed to be easy to combine both storage and servers.

    What about the implementation team?

    We used a consultant for the deployment that Cisco suggested. Because the solution is rather new to us the scenario was pleasant. They knew what they were doing but I felt like the knowledge transfer could have been a lot better.

    What other advice do I have?

    I would rate it a high eight or nine out of ten because of the features and functions that it comes with that the competitors really can't do just yet. The advantage I think so far has been that Cisco developed the entire solution from scratch as opposed to other solution providers like HP and Dell who are still trying to reinvent existing solutions.

    I think it's a viable solution if you have a need to cut down on your overall implementation costs on hardware. This does a good job of combining both software and hardware.

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    Engineering Manager at OCP TECH
    Real User
    Top 20
    Works faster and is flexible to use
    Pros and Cons
    • "It is a stable and scalable solution."
    • "The solution's price could be affordable."

    What is our primary use case?

    We use the solution to combine and migrate regular servers to a hyper-converged infrastructure.

    How has it helped my organization?

    The solution works faster and is easy to use than any regular system. Also, its fabric interconnect provides flexibility for the system to scale up.

    What is most valuable?

    The solution's most valuable feature is the high availability of the system.

    What needs improvement?

    The solution's price could be affordable.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    We have been using the solution for around two years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    I rate the solution's stability as a ten.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    We have 1000 users of the solution in our organization. We plan to increase the usage as well.

    I rate its scalability as an eight.

    How are customer service and support?

    The solution's technical support is excellent.

    How was the initial setup?

    The solution's initial setup is straightforward. You have to follow the configuration guide.

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

    The solution is highly priced compared to other vendors.

    What other advice do I have?

    I recommend it to others and rate it as a ten.

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    Data Center Engineer at Emerging Communications Limited
    Real User
    Top 10
    Good value for money with full Cisco integration
    Pros and Cons
    • "The most valuable feature is full integration with Cisco API and UCS, which means you can have complete networking and storage from Cisco."
    • "HyperFlex could be improved by reducing the minimum number of nodes supported from three to two."

    What is our primary use case?

    I use HyperFlex for high-performance infrastructure.

    What is most valuable?

    The most valuable feature is full integration with Cisco API and UCS, which means you can have complete networking and storage from Cisco.

    What needs improvement?

    HyperFlex could be improved by reducing the minimum number of nodes supported from three to two. In the next release, Cisco should include full integration with other virtualization vendors like Nutanix, the same way they do with VMware.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I've been using HyperFlex for a year.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    HyperFlex is very stable because it has complete solutions for networking and computing from Cisco.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    HyperFlex is very scalable because you can scale up by increasing the number of nodes and scale out by increasing the number of discs in the storage.

    How are customer service and support?

    Most of Cisco's products come with warrants and SmartNet, so if you have an issue, the customer interface allows you to rate it, and the technical team will respond based on the critical level.

    How would you rate customer service and support?

    Positive

    How was the initial setup?

    The setup is very easy, I'd rate it five out of five.

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

    HyperFlex is relatively expensive, but you get good value for money.

    What other advice do I have?

    I would give HyperFlex a rating of nine 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: partner
    PeerSpot user
    Sr. System Engineer at IBL-Unisys
    Real User
    Easy to deploy and easy management for compute resources in collaboration with VMWare.

    What is our primary use case?

    • Customer POC
    • Client VMware environment testing.

    How has it helped my organization?

    Easy to deploy and easy management for compute resources in collaboration with VMWare.

    What is most valuable?

    They have multiple storages connected with their environment, but the HX storage deduplication and compression feature is the best for the environment.

    What needs improvement?

    Single console management (like Hyperflex and FIs management).

    I mean to say that, we need to log in 2 console one for vcenter and another for Hyperflex manager, this should be on same console page either hyperfex manager settings and monitoring in vcenter or vcenter can be managed by hyperflex console too.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    Less than one year.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    100 / 100

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    Best from other competitor. (i believe )

    How are customer service and technical support?

    i have face some issue during configuration and have support from Ciso TAC and thay have provide the best support with in time period.

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

    i have configured Dell VXrail and i feel its little bit difficult yo configure then Cisco hyperflex. but the main advantage of VXrail is we dont need existing vcenter, it has its own vcenter cluster by default.

    How was the initial setup?

    its inital setup is straightforward and easy, just need to understand the Ciso FIs configuration, one who understand that its easy for him.

    What about the implementation team?

    i am working as a System Engineer for a vendor (IBL-Unisys Pvt Ltd) so i can surely say that we have experts in our organisation. :-) 

    What was our ROI?

    initial it cost much but it will pay back with its scalability feature and performance.

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

    in my opinion, i recommend Cisco hyperflex.  

    Which other solutions did I evaluate?

    Dell VXRail, its good too but i like Cisco hyperflex because of its dedup and compression feature.

    What other advice do I have?

    Cisco-HX-Data-Platform-Installer should contain its own ESXi and VCenter installation during setup, so it can be fit in any organization where no virtual environment is available.

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    System Administrator at Provinzial NordWest
    Real User
    It is absolutely stable, but the API could be improved for better integration with other systems
    Pros and Cons
    • "The possibility to share the workload is one of its most valuable features. We have many applications which have need of workloads only a few times in a month, so we share HyperFlex with them."
    • "We are working with a lot of different technologies and trying to manage them with one tool. The API could be improved for better integration with other systems."

    What is our primary use case?

    We are using HyperFlex for heavy workloads and virtual machines which are on a separate network.

    What is most valuable?

    • Past deployments
    • The possibility to share the workload. We have many applications which have need of workloads only a few times in a month, so we share HyperFlex with them.
    • The product works quickly.

    What needs improvement?

    We are working with a lot of different technologies and trying to manage them with one tool. The API could be improved for better integration with other systems. For example, the integration to VMware could be better.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    Less than one year.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    We haven't had any downtime. It is absolutely stable.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    The scalability is good. We use the nodes that we bought, and they have really scaled out.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    Cisco technical support often makes things too complicated. We have easy problems, but they want to WebEx and constantly testing. In the end, we have to exchange a disk and everything is okay. In the beginning, we said the disk is defect, but they want us to test and retest, before acknowledging the disk is defect and we can exchange it. That is a problem for me.

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

    We worked for years with HPE services. We didn't see that they developed, so we looked for other vendors. In the end, we decided on Cisco and are now testing some Cisco technologies. The main technology for us is UCS. HyperFlex was an idea which came from our account manager. I said, "Okay, we can test it." We have a use case. Now, we are working with it.

    How was the initial setup?

    From day one, it worked. The initial setup was okay.

    What about the implementation team?

    Cisco helped us to deploy and integrate. Our experience with them was fine.

    What was our ROI?

    We are testing it on the slowest workloads. We think by sharing the hardware with several applications that we can save money.

    Which other solutions did I evaluate?

    We considered all the vendors. In the end, Cisco checked all the boxes.

    What other advice do I have?

    At the moment, Cisco is a good vendor, as far as networking solutions. I connect the servers to the network, and the compatibility is good.

    We haven't tested the new container functionality. I hope it's good, because this is very important for us.

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    CIO at a energy/utilities company with 201-500 employees
    Real User
    The initial setup was straightforward. Using partners and a consultancy, we didn't have any problems with the installation and parametrization.
    Pros and Cons
    • "The initial setup was straightforward. With our partners and the consultancy that we had, we knew what we wanted to do. Therefore, we didn't have any problems with the installation and parametrization."

      What is our primary use case?

      We have been using this product for a while. We wanted to use our current equipment and have been very excited with the results of our projects. 

      How has it helped my organization?

      It provides good security.

      For how long have I used the solution?

      One to three years.

      What do I think about the stability of the solution?

      We did not have stability issues until now.

      What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

      We are trying to determine the product's scalability now as we are doing a new proof of concept with new equipment/products.

      How are customer service and technical support?

      We haven't had any issues with the technical support. We have had good cooperation with our Cisco partners.

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

      Two or three years ago, it was something that my colleagues proposed to me as a very good program in order to provide an overall solution. All of our equipment was based in Cisco technology, so we didn't have to make any changes.

      How was the initial setup?

      The initial setup was straightforward. With our partners and the consultancy that we had, we knew what we wanted to do. Therefore, we didn't have any problems with the installation and parametrization.

      What about the implementation team?

      We used Space Hellas S.A., which is a company from Greece and a Cisco partner, for the implementation. We have a very good relationship with them.

      What was our ROI?

      We have seen ROI from this product.

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

      I would like the pricing to be cheaper.

      Which other solutions did I evaluate?

      We did not consider any other vendors beside Cisco because all our equipment is Cisco. The compatibility of staying with Cisco is relevant.

      What other advice do I have?

      It is a very good solution. Find a good consultant and vendor to implement it before purchasing the software and equipment.

      Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
      PeerSpot user
      Buyer's Guide
      Download our free Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series [EOL] Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
      Updated: June 2024
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      Buyer's Guide
      Download our free Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series [EOL] Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.