We performed a comparison between FlexPod XCS and Oracle SuperCluster based on real PeerSpot user reviews.
Find out in this report how the two Converged Infrastructure solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI."The virtual environment is a lot more efficient than physical boxes."
"It scales well. It allows us to have very flexible architecture but to have the same level of simplicity that we'd normally expect in hyper-converged environments."
"This solution has given us a great deal of on-site storage that we didn't have before."
"The product is robust, stable, and has flexibility."
"The solution suits converged infrastructures, where the customer gets a complete system with Cisco servers, NetApp Storage, and Cisco switches."
"The validated design is really important for us because it gives us a model on which to base our architecture and continued support for all firmware upgrades. It also provides consistency throughout the environment."
"Everything is preconfigured. We can ship it and manage it remotely from any server. It is all in a box."
"The most valuable features are that the solution is vetted and validated and it's supported end-to-end."
"Scalability and technical support."
"SuperCluster is basically a combination of Oracle, with Exadata and Compute node features, so it is a computing cluster that is integrated in a single infrastructure such that we don't need a separate solution for the application database, the data storage database, and everything else the application needs."
"A valuable feature is the Exadata Storage appliance, optimized for database queries."
"In this setup, the traffic is distributed among the nodes, enhancing the overall performance compared to a scenario where all traffic is directed to a single server."
"Because it's classified as an engineered system, it's all integrated, it's all supported by one vendor. We don't have to go to multiple vendors for support, it's all integrated under Oracle."
"Our primary use case is for E-Business Suite applications the applications for the government, and most of the applications that use an HCM."
"Unix is not as easy for the users, it needs more maintenance and costs extra."
"The two features that I find to be the most valuable are high availability and high performance."
"The technical support is slightly above average. I would like them to have quicker escalation"
"The management interface of the UCS part of it is a little bit clunky. It uses Java, so when we're managing it, if I have a computer that doesn't have Java on it or has the wrong version of Java on it, there's some iterations that have to happen to get into the manager of it."
"I'd like to see a little bit simpler management pane. Using UCS Director to front everything is good but for a lot of that upper mid-market, it's probably a little bit of overkill for what they need. They just want a nice, simply portal to go through and see what's going on. So if there was something that was middle of the road, it would be well received."
"Since 2018 or 2019, maybe due to COVID and the chipsets, my DIMMs are dying left and right."
"There is a history of issues with hardware availability. For example, we'll buy an array or a filer with a particular configuration and particular size of drive, sizing it appropriately. Then, as we grow, they're like, "Oh, you can always get more." Then when you go to get more, that model or type of disk is no longer available. It becomes this big process to try to figure out what we need to get, how it'll work, and how that'll integrate into the system. That could be simpler. They could do a bit more to guarantee the availability of parts. Obviously, not being the largest storage vendor, I know they can't sometimes control what the hardware vendors do. However, a bit more transparency and communication about this would be helpful."
"I want to use the expansion to its fullest extent, scaling by deploying 10 to 15 virtual missions in a given FlexPod."
"In the SolidFire interface, if you use the GUI, you have to create one run at a time, or one device at a time, which is something that needs to be fixed."
"Because when you try to do automation, there are many bits and pieces tied together. Sometimes, automation gets a little tricky for provisioning."
"A major issue for us is that after the most recent update of SuperCluster, they have now stopped all future production of new versions. That is to say, after M7 there was M8, and now there are no future versions planned (e.g. M9) in the market."
"There are many areas for improvement. For example, better guidance in terms of troubleshooting issues relating to ZFS, as well as better tools/diagnostics for monitoring that specific component, to better identify potential issues. Hardware monitoring via OEM 13.2 is not 100 percent, as Ops Center is still required in some instances."
"Speaking from a business perspective, our main problem is that our particular edition of SuperCluster is now at end-of-life status, making it obsolete and impossible to get support for. This presents a challenge for us, as finding a path to our next solution is not easy."
"If they had an application that centralized the administration, not about the monitoring, but for the configuration, it would be better."
"Not a very user friendly solution."
"We have faced network connectivity issues."
"I would like to see control domain and zone management via a management console, similar to that of OVM."
"They may have made some improvements but based on the version that I am using, it is a little complicated because it is based on the Unix Operating system."
FlexPod XCS is ranked 2nd in Converged Infrastructure with 295 reviews while Oracle SuperCluster is ranked 7th in Converged Infrastructure with 12 reviews. FlexPod XCS is rated 8.6, while Oracle SuperCluster is rated 7.6. The top reviewer of FlexPod XCS writes "Integrates everything so you are using fewer tools". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Oracle SuperCluster writes "Great performance all round, but lacking in certain cloud features". FlexPod XCS is most compared with Dell PowerFlex, Oracle Exadata, Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI), VxRail and Dell VxBlock System, whereas Oracle SuperCluster is most compared with Oracle Private Cloud Appliance. See our FlexPod XCS vs. Oracle SuperCluster report.
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