We performed a comparison between Cisco Hyperflex HX Series and VMware vSAN based on our users’ reviews in five categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.
Comparison Results: VMware vSAN wins out in this comparison. The main difference between the two solutions is that Cisco Hyperflex HX Series users find deployment to be difficult, and also say the solution uses a lot of memory and hardware resources. In addition, they do not mention an ROI.
"The performance of the solution is accurate and concise."
"The control panel is nice. It gives you a lot of good feedback as to the status and health of the VSAN."
"This solution has a very good user interface, with simple administration/management."
"Integration with virtualization platforms helped us to resolve many issues we were facing while using the physical storage."
"StarWind allows us to move virtual machines from one physical host to another, which greatly reduces the downtime required for maintenance."
"The fact that we can expand our storage and add on to our compute nodes easily and how amazing the StarWind technical support team is really adding value to our purchase."
"The StarWind VSAN is always up and allows us to move VMS to other nodes for maintenance, without interruption to service."
"A great feature is that I basically set it and forget it, as everything is automatic."
"It has reduced the time it takes to put the servers in production by half the time."
"The scalability of the product is quite good overall - as long as you plan correctly from the outset."
"Cisco HyperFlex is helping us to put everything in centrally so that we can manage in one place."
"The ROI we have seen from the high performance that has saved us time and money."
"The most valuable feature is that it is something small that can be more easily deployed than a full data center set of servers."
"When we use it for VDI solutions, it is very easy to deploy and support."
"The price of the solution is good, especially when it comes to complex network solutions, such as UCS and Connect."
"The solution can scale up and out."
"It is more stable now than it was before. It's not like it was in the first year. Now it is stable, and we trust it more."
"The most valuable feature for our customers is vMotion. It allows them to shut down virtual machines and migrate them to others servers."
"If we decide to expand, vSAN could offer us some flexibility. We are researching ways to set this up from a new data center, which is located somewhere different from the current location right now."
"The performance has exceeded our expectations and exceeded our traditional converged infrastructure."
"Storage is expandable with no extra cost."
"All the features are working great."
"The most valuable features are productivity and data storage."
"vSAN that has been most effective in streamlining storage operations. For data recovery alerts, it uses tools like snapshots and vMotion."
"StarWind Virtual SAN could benefit from better integration with other tools and technologies, such as backup and disaster recovery solutions."
"I had issues locating the documentation that applied to my version of StarWind vSAN."
"There needs to be more visibility on how long the cloud replication will take as there is no current ETA."
"It would be nice if we could designate pools, or tiers, for storage of different speeds, and then assign rules to new VMs that would automatically place them into the proper pool."
"The documentation could be clearer in terms of explaining the installation."
"They need to improve the speed of the interfaces, thus allowing for better traffic on the network."
"A central management console may be nice to see all nodes."
"Proper training sessions should be included with the licensing."
"I would rate the installation of Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series an eight out of ten. It can be complex."
"Cisco's technical support originally was outstanding, but it has declined over the last 12 months. I've heard they're trying to do better, but I haven't been overly impressed with their support recently for HyperFlex."
"The primary improvements should be made in the cluster storage controller VMs so that they don't break the upgrade process."
"Their technical support is very bad. We had an issue where instead of an engineer we got a PDF "doctor" that didn't know anything about our problem which was very frustrating."
"The initial setup can be complex."
"Cisco is quite expensive but not in the initial first buy."
"With the cache disk fails in Cisco, the whole node fails, and the workload goes down."
"I would like to see more analytics. It could use better infographs in the HyperFlex Connect on how traffic is running in the network. If you were reaching any capacity issues on the Fabric Interconnects, it should be able to cool all of the servers and Fabric Interconnects, then possibly integrate it with, e.g., Nexus Series switches. This should all be available in a single pane of glass."
"It should be easier to use."
"In a future release, they can bring in the object storage capabilities to this solution. Currently, there is not any compatibility."
"The platform's cost affects the business. This particular area needs improvement."
"VMware vSAN could improve by having better integration with other vendors and the storage is limited, I prefer it to the traditional storage."
"The pricing model is sometimes a challenge for us because their licenses are very costly."
"The integration could be improved. I would like to see integration with other platforms."
"It needs to be vanilla. There shouldn't be any custom drivers, any custom anything. It should just be, "Hey, you know what? These drivers are going to work for this version, the next version, and the following version after that." That's the difficulty in this. It takes too much upkeep... The main issue is drivers. Every time we move to a new vSAN version, we're having problems finding the correct drivers for the vendor."
"It is a memory intensive app."
More Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series [EOL] Pricing and Cost Advice →
Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series [EOL] doesn't meet the minimum requirements to be ranked in HCI with 90 reviews while VMware vSAN is ranked 2nd in HCI with 226 reviews. Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series [EOL] is rated 8.0, while VMware vSAN is rated 8.4. The top reviewer of Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series [EOL] writes "A fast and easy deployment that allows secure access to our medical applications ". On the other hand, the top reviewer of VMware vSAN writes "Very stable, easy to set up, and easy to use". Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series [EOL] is most compared with VxRail, Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI), Dell PowerFlex, HPE SimpliVity and Dell vSAN Ready Nodes, whereas VMware vSAN is most compared with VxRail, Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct, HPE SimpliVity, Red Hat Ceph Storage and Pure Storage FlashArray.
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We monitor all HCI reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.
