DataCore SANsymphony Room for Improvement

TempreviewerD - PeerSpot reviewer
Architecte Principal at Orange

The solution is constantly evolving. Recently, deduplication and compression have been further improved to meet customer needs, and updates are easily implemented without stopping production. The update assistant checks the state of health before using good practices, during checks that the data is still presented for service continuity, and afterward, if the actions carried out are indeed active. Technical support is truly available even without a production incident. This is really essential right now.

View full review »
Emmanuele Ciscato - PeerSpot reviewer
Tecnico at Array System S.r.l.

I found it a little unnecessary to have to rename the configurations within the graphics console in order to have unique names. We're having to rename the network ports in the graphical interface even if this operation had already been done at the operating system level.

There is also a web interface; however, at the moment, it does not have all the features of the standard graphical interface. It would be convenient to have all the features there too.

It would be useful to also integrate commands or scripts for optimizing the ISCSI configuration into the setup; at the moment, it is a separate script that needs to be launched.

View full review »
Fernando Villamil - PeerSpot reviewer
LAN Engineer at Maimonides Medical Center

One area the company can improve upon is the use of other software. Right now, the version used is run on Microsoft Windows Server. Having a Linux version or even an appliance would be better as it would eliminate the use of additional licensing for another piece of hardware. While the Windows server has gotten more reliable, I would like it more if it would not be dependent on Microsoft Windows Servers. 

Improving the GUI would be another feature where they could add to the software. They should make it more intuitive by simplifying the layout.

View full review »
Buyer's Guide
DataCore SANsymphony
March 2024
Learn what your peers think about DataCore SANsymphony. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2024.
765,234 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Malte Lübkemann - PeerSpot reviewer
IT-Systemadministrator at Abat AG

I still see room for improvement with DataCore SANsymphony in the area of alarm and task management. Currently, I find these functions somewhat confusing and there is a lack of flexibility in customizing settings according to our specific needs. One challenge we face is the handling of alerts. For example, we constantly receive alert emails when our backup script is running. This happens because for a short period of about one second the database is stopped, which DataCore recognizes as a state change and triggers a warning. However, these warnings are misleading in our case, as stopping the database is necessary for the backup script and does not represent an actual danger to the system. 

Looking ahead to future developments, such as the upcoming PSP17 release, DataCore appears to be addressing some of these concerns. One of the planned changes, the removal of the display of all VMs in the console, is a step in the right direction. This feature is not necessary for most users, as usually no DataCore disks are passed directly through to a VM, but is always done through the ESXi host. These improvements show that DataCore is responding to user feedback and strives to continuously optimize its products.

View full review »
Mike Felber - PeerSpot reviewer
Works at Kommunaler Sozialverband Sachsen

The constant further development of the product is a positive aspect. This means that useful functions are added or some are eliminated. 

DataCore should integrate its own file server into SANsymphony. A solution like vFilo is very comprehensive. The additional infrastructure for this is very complex. Its range of functions is too large for most use cases. Rather, I would like to see a file service that can provide mirrored folder shares which data should be able to be deduplicated and compressed.

View full review »
Florian Schmid - PeerSpot reviewer
Systemadministrator at Jura-Werkstätten Amberg-Sulzbach

We have been using this product for a while now. And we have to say that we are still impressed. We need no more features. Our company needs no added or new features; it’s the best solution as it is at the moment. 

The product is (for our implementation) stable and secure. We highly recommend the solution as it is. Use it how it is, and you will see how perfectly it is working.

I'd like to see the company make the renewal of the software cheaper.

View full review »
SigfridCecillon - PeerSpot reviewer
Director at Arsium

The pricing could be improved.

View full review »
AM
IT Administrator at Anton Häring KG Werk für Präzisionstechnik

The main problem is there is no DataCore OS itself; there is nothing better than one complete solution from one solution provider. We had a lot of issues. It was really disappointing to see that DataCore blamed Microsoft for the problems, Microsoft blamed Lenovo hardware, and Lenovo blamed Datacore.

DataCore should have an OS specifically designed and optimized for managing storage workloads. Only the storage system should have access to encryption and authentication mechanisms to safeguard stored data. The future DC system should be integrated with the DC Hardware, this will enhances interoperability and simplifies the deployment and management of all storage products.

View full review »
JG
Chief Technical Officer at INTEGRA SYSTEMS

The graphical interface is not always very stable. In a dense infrastructure with many volumes and disks, slowness and GUI crashes can be observed. Developments are still underway to continually improve this part.

The current graphical interface is ported to a web interface and not all features are available yet.

The eagerly awaited feature is tiering between deduplicated/compressed disk pools and performance pools. This will leave the possibility of activating by virtual disk the automatic movement of blocks according to their activity.

View full review »
SigfridCecillon - PeerSpot reviewer
Director at Arsium

There is room for improvement in the graphical interface. 

View full review »
CP
Technical Director at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

It's difficult to say if something is missing in this solution. Maybe we'd like to manage the raid on the disk directly in SanSymphony. 

We essentially use RAID5 for our SAS disk and SSD, and now we need to create this RAID on the raid card. If we could bypass this card, we could really manage all the storage from the solution, which would be ideal.

The graphical interface needs to be improved. We have noticed some bugs in it.

A vCenter integration just appeared in the last version. However, we have only some functions within it. I am confident that many new things will arrive in the next few months to make it more robust.

View full review »
KC
Administrateur Systèmes et réseaux at Centre Hospitalier de PAU

DataCore is currently working with Veeam software for a better integration; this is my only desired missing feature today.

With this feature, Veeam do a snapshot on Virtual Machine, then snapshot the storage.
When storage snapshot is done, Veeam remove the Virtual Machine snapshot to avoid long period snapshot.
With a VMware snapshot period smaller, consolidate will be faster and production will be less impacted.
Then Veeam save VMs directly from storage snapshot without VM performance impact.

When Backup Job is done, veeam ask to Datacore to remove Storage snapshot without any VM interruption or impact performance.

View full review »
Christian Baldauf - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior IT Consultant / Architect at Mightycare Solutions GmbH

I see potential here in the support of NVMeoF, both as a target and in the backend. In addition, there should be new ways to improve the redundancy of the pools created with it - e.g. through extended RAID functionality (RAID5 or RAID6) or erasure coding.

Management could be improved. The management console sometimes reacts very slowly.

In the area of the HCI solution, I could imagine a different mode of operation. For example, a group of servers form a pool in which the data can be stored. 

Protection could also be guaranteed here via replication and erasure coding.

View full review »
TE
Sales representative for A customers / key accounts at a comms service provider with 501-1,000 employees

DataCore SANsymphony should integrate file servers at a good price into the solution. The licensing is expensive, and you cannot manage a big file server with DataCore SANsymphony without paying a lot of money. NetApp is easier to sell, and we have had projects where NetApp was a lot cheaper than DataCore.

Our customers want their block storage to be fast, redundant, and highly available. You also might have a large fire storage for data that the customer does not need to access urgently. When you want to enclose this in the DataCore architecture, you have to pay the full amount of money as with block storage, which can be very expensive. Sometimes, it is very expensive to use DataCore SANsymphony.

View full review »
DF
Systems engineer at Monaco Digital | Avangarde

I would like to see SMPA (Shared Multi-Port Array) technology developed with the aim of allowing a configuration identical to other storage arrays: instead of having a single storage controller per site, competing arrays all have 2 controllers for redundancy and securing data access (3Par, Unity, MSA, etc.) It would be necessary to automate the operation of two nodes managing the same storage per site and no longer be obliged to manage it by a system of scripts which must be revalidated each time the product is updated.

View full review »
Raphaël Julmy - PeerSpot reviewer
Architecte Infrastructures at IT-Med

We would like to see a real "sexy" storage dashboard with capacity, usage, performance, and error tracking.

The cloud reporting interface is quite poor compared to other vendors. We are far from an HPE Infosight, for example.

Using a classic storage array constructor allows clients to have a single point of contact in case of an issue. With DataCore, we have to deal with them for the software part and with the hardware vendor for the hardware part. Sometimes, in a complex environment, we have to deal with storage array vendors, servers vendors, and software vendors and that can be exhausting.

View full review »
YD
Systems and networks engineer at EOS Informatique

Datacore is developing a new WebUI with new dashboards. It is a good idea as the classic GUI is lacking dashboards. 

We need a better view to analyze the auto-tiering feature (like in DIS) to easier decide what type of storage we need to add. The current view in the GUI is too simple and we cannot see clearly cold data or hot data.

You can report all you want. There are a lot of counters usable in the console. However, there are too many. They need to create some pre-defined graphs or reports.

View full review »
JP
IT Consultant at Power Source Sdn Bhd

If it could integrate to a cloud gateway, then we could carry it directly to storage, instead of having middleware in between the storage and the cloud.

It's a very expensive solution, and the licensing costs should be lower.

View full review »
AV
General Manager at Datatek

The so-called hyperconverged infrastructure edition, sometimes knows as vSan, should be addressed. It is one component of the solution. Yet, DataCore is less competitive than certain other manufacturers, such as EMC, Cisco, and VMware vSan. It is competitive when it comes to a general purpose software defined storage solution. As such, a hyperconverged infrastructure solution could be improved.   

The solution could be better packaged and marketed. 

When it comes to a simple 2 node cluster business continuity solution for SMB companies, the downtime can be expensive.

View full review »
RF
Technical Services Manager (Enterprise Systems) at Maimonides Medical Center

DataCore needs a more efficient and better way to keep track of metrics and counters so that we can do baseline analysis to measure performance. Datacore has some functionality where you can send performance metrics to a SQL database however it has not always worked well for us. We actually had to turn it off because we were actually collecting too much data, but in my opinion we sometimes want this data. Ideally if there was a way to see metrics for current and specific points in time it would be great for troubleshooting and any type of trend analysis.

View full review »
DW
Datacenter Architect, Sen. Systemadministrator, virt. environment Solution Architect at AKF Leasing GmbH & Co KG

It would be ideal if they were providing archive licensing with the ability to create a second pool on existing storage nodes. Maybe they could do it with limited max IO and/or without auto-tiering capabilities for the archive pool - to avoid interference with the performance pool.

View full review »
SG
Presales Engineer at a computer software company with 5,001-10,000 employees

Problem detection could be easier. It should help customers identify problems very quickly because it's not easy to analyze on the platform today.

View full review »
SL
System Administrator at Superior Water And Air

Installing updates could be a bit more straightforward and easier to install. I have only installed one update on the systems, and for that, I had to bring in outside help that was more knowledgeable with the product than I currently am. He also had to contact DataCore support for assistance as the update did not go smooth. I also did Windows updates at this same time as it was strongly suggested to me not to do the Windows updates as they are released. The Windows updates were installed with no problems and caused no problems to the system.

View full review »
Christian Baldauf - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior IT Consultant / Architect at Mightycare Solutions GmbH

For an upcoming release, I would like to see a function that can manage the storage of multiple Datacore servers in a kind of "erasure coding". This would simplify scaling and make SSY more competitive with other providers.

NVMeoF should be implemented. This protocol will play a major role in storage infrastructure in the future.

Network protocols are becoming increasingly important. For future projects, protocols such as RoCE should be implemented. Especially in LAN infrastructures from 25G, a simpler and high-performance SAN infrastructure could be built here. The costs should be lower compared to Fibre Channel.

Improving support will be very difficult as it is already one of the best in the IT world.

View full review »
reviewer1090101 - PeerSpot reviewer
Works

The cost is becoming prohibitive since they moved to a subscription model.  'Education' pricing is such in name only (we are a school).

When we originally purchased Datacore (in 2014) it was on a perpetual basis and provided exceptional value for money. We have renewed our DataCore solution this year, in 2019, and have found that DataCore has moved to a subscription model. Not only was the initial licensing far higher than previously, partly due to additional storage requirements but also because we can no longer acquire a 'limited' license and we also find we now have a large subscription to pay each year.

View full review »
MichaelP - PeerSpot reviewer
Head of IT at United Planet GmbH
  • It will help if there is a possibility to backup the vdisks directly.
  • An idea could be that there is a second storage just for backup which doesn't count to the license usage.
  • A better (and easier) tool to detect performance issues.
View full review »
SL
Senior Manager at Leisse & Soehne GmbH

The product runs stable in the background and does what it should do, so I don't have any special issues at the moment, but increasing performance and improving the user interface for easier setup is always a good idea.

View full review »
Joé Biava - PeerSpot reviewer
Ingénieur Cloud & Sécurité at INTEGRA SYSTEMS

The product can be improved by making better filters to search event logs. When everybody shows the last event at the top of their board, San Symphony does it at the bottom, and sometimes, we don't see an alert that needs to be checked.

The service is still available every day and at every time of the day, but only in English. For customers or technicians that don't speak and understand English, it could be great to have other languages support, all the more so given the number of countries in which SanSymphony is used.

View full review »
MO
IT System Administrator at Molkerei Ammerland eG

The management: management should take place via OS-independent access. Here a web-based client would be desirable.

View full review »
Pavol Schreiber - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager at TCX

SANsymphony is missing some features that vSAN has. For example, vSAN has a special feature called continuous data protection. It provides the ability to go back in time to a given moment. You can see what was on your disk in the past up to two weeks. That's a great feature because ransomware attacks are increasingly common, and that provides you some kind of protection.

View full review »
DD
System Engineering at Patriot LLC

There's very little that I can find in their software that I would say needs to be improved. Sometimes the updates are too frequent, where just as we finish updating all of our sites, another update comes out.

The de-dup console is not yet integrated inside the main SANsymphony console. They are working on it but it's not there yet.

While their console allows you to connect to each of the nodes without closing the interface, you have to log out and back in when you switch between different storage server groups. It would be nice if they had an interface more like vCenter, where you see all of the server groups in a list and can just click on each group. It would be nice to be able to see multiple groups at the same time.

Having more of an Enterprise approach (v/s a local storage cluster) view would provide better management of the environment. For example, their current reports can only be run for each storage server group. There is currently not a way to run the same reports or look at performance across the enterprise (only the local site).

Having an enterprise "Storage Dashboard" that can show capacity, usage, performance, and any issues would be very beneficial. Currently, DataCore does not have this. They recently added a web-based dashboard called DataCore Insight Services (DIS) to their product. However, you will need to be on their subscription-based model v/s their traditional yearly maintenance-based model. Also, the current DIS product does not span multiple storage groups and is in its infancy and is still very rudimentary in nature.  However, knowing DataCore's track record for fast, innovative development, I know it won't be long before they get it right.

View full review »
JN
Head of Repair at a logistics company with 5,001-10,000 employees

As a policy, we tend not to over-commit our storage (a feature I'm sure others find really handy). There is no way of quickly matching the exact size of a vDisk to a disk pool.

I can't think of any other features that SANsymphony needs - it is a very comprehensive storage solution.

View full review »
SC
IT Service Manager at EKIUM

I would like to see reporting added, such as a monthly connectivity report. Things like performance and usage can be shown.

It would be helpful to have better monitoring tools.

View full review »
reviewer1155771 - PeerSpot reviewer
Works

We are waiting for container support (on the roadmap), as well as a user-friendly full web-administration capability, and an improved API.

Supporting newer Windows Server versions faster (e.g. Microsoft Windows Server 2019) would be nice.

View full review »
KY
Information security cheif officer at DEPO Computers, OAO

The solution’s interface and ability to manage the data processes could be better.

View full review »
Larchevesque - PeerSpot reviewer
Administrator at CD93

Additional features that should be included in the next release are "application performance and storage" (new tuning and troubleshooting options).

View full review »
Mike Felber - PeerSpot reviewer
Works at Kommunaler Sozialverband Sachsen
  • The client console should be improved. It starts slowly and heavily. 
  • After a long time (idle), the displayed information is no longer completely reliable. You have to close and reopen the console for current data. (symptom after upgrade to PSP8)
View full review »
kevinblachon - PeerSpot reviewer
IT manager at SRADDA

I would like for it to improve into a more ergonomic management console and a translation into the French language. It should have some process for a shutdown of a VM properly in case of a problem.

View full review »
jfourrier - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Manager at IMS

The heavy client mode console should be improved by having a web console to improve accessibility. Also, the analysis time on the storage increase is one month now. This could be improved.

View full review »
reviewer1068588 - PeerSpot reviewer
Works

An easier way to open a service call, right through the DataCore GUI, would be an improvement, especially when there is an urgent issue.

View full review »
it_user811419 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Consultant at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees

Unified storage (all block, objects, and files) should be in a single storage pool with unified storage concepts, hence providing the user with whatever they want.

View full review »
DS
Owner at David Strom Inc.

Pricing can be confounding with many options

View full review »
SK
Sales Manager at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

One limitation of this solution is that it's Windows-based, e.g. one requirement to install DataCore SANsymphony SDS is putting it on a Windows server machine. It relies on Windows and that is a limitation because we have some customers who are looking for non Windows systems.

What we'd like to see in the future is for this software to support more operating systems.

View full review »
Johann R. - PeerSpot reviewer
Works at Groupe d'Aucy

I think the performance reporting can be improved by adding historical statistics into a database for the purpose of comparison.

A capacity planning solution would be a great addition.

View full review »
MV
Technicien SIC at SDIS 58 - Service Départemental d'Incendie et de Secours
  • A web console in HTML5 could help us to manage storage from any computer.
  • Veeam cannot directly access to DataCore storage at the moment; this feature would improve snapshot.
View full review »
it_user1068330 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT manager at Sciences Po Bordeaux

Even though it is easy to administrate, the initial installation and configuration can be complicated.

The alert system could have more features.

View full review »
reviewer1003731 - PeerSpot reviewer
Works at a non-profit with 1,001-5,000 employees

Maybe adding a Linux data manager, and moving away from Windows. It has become more reliable when using 2012/2016.

View full review »
reviewer1061202 - PeerSpot reviewer
Works
  • Better integration into backup solutions like Veeam
  • An HTML5 feature GUI will improve usability.
View full review »
AndrewBouwhuis - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Administrator at Lan Professional

The only area I see lacking with DataCore is their support. It's not very good at all, and it's frankly, very frustrating and has almost caused me to swear off the product. With that said, the product itself (especially when working) is developed and runs very well and because of that I will keep using it.

View full review »
LR
Jefe de Infraestructura Tecnológica at a non-tech company with 1,001-5,000 employees

When I sometimes reboot for maintenance, the connectivity from the iSCSI initiator host could be improved.

I think that SAN Symphony Data Core should improve the connectivity of iSCSI initiators on hosts, because sometimes when I do a maintenance any data core server, I lose connection and I need to reboot the server.

View full review »
it_user1032471 - PeerSpot reviewer
Commercial Director with 1-10 employees

Deduplication works but implementing it is complex.

View full review »
it_user2193 - PeerSpot reviewer
Director of IT at a tech company with 51-200 employees
tech support is NOT good at all, even when buying the higher level support from them. You feel like you know more than the person you are speaking with. View full review »
Buyer's Guide
DataCore SANsymphony
March 2024
Learn what your peers think about DataCore SANsymphony. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2024.
765,234 professionals have used our research since 2012.