Cisco UCS Manager Reviews

Name: Cisco UCS Manager
Brand: Cisco
Rating: 4 (23 reviews)

Vendor: Cisco

4.0 out of 5

23 reviews
95% willing to recommend

931 followers

What is Cisco UCS Manager?

Cisco UCS Manager helps significantly reduce management and administration expenses by automating routine tasks to increase operational agility. Customers can extend the benefits of Cisco UCS Manager globally across an enterprise to thousands of servers in multiple domains with Cisco UCS Central Software.

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Cisco UCS Manager is the #24 ranked solution in Infrastructure Monitoring tools. PeerSpot users give Cisco UCS Manager an average rating of 8.0 out of 10. Based on the analysis of the 23 most recent Cisco UCS Manager reviews, the overall sentiment is positive, with a sentiment score of 7.0. (Among the highest in the category). Cisco UCS Manager is most commonly compared to Datadog: Cisco UCS Manager vs Datadog. Cisco UCS Manager is popular among the large enterprise segment, accounting for 75% of users researching this solution on PeerSpot. The top industry researching this solution are professionals from a computer software company, accounting for 32% of all views.

Helped 814,763 peers since 2012

Featured reviews

Joshua Kurian

Sr. Technical Architect at StarOne IT Solutions

The solution's SDK and API can be integrated with ServiceNow for ticketing for any purpose. The solution's unified management interface is a central point of management that allows us to manage switches, blades, and storage connectors. One person is enough to maintain the solution. The speed of the network interface has been 100 G since day one. The network is scalable, and GPU nodes can be added seamlessly. Cisco is claiming to support water cooling in the near future. The solution can be easily integrated with other tools and platforms. Compared to Dell, Cisco UCS Manager provides straightforward configuration, reusable policies, and flexibility. Dell lacks a proper GUI for configuring everything. Cisco has only one GUI, which allows us to configure everything, including the network server and server profile. Before releasing each model, Cisco should conduct proper testing or engineering validation to ensure that the customer doesn't face any issues initially. Overall, I rate Cisco UCS Manager a nine out of ten.

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PankajKumar8

Senior System Engineer at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees

What's lacking in Cisco UCS Manager is the performance dashboard. If a blade has any performance issues, you should be able to create a dashboard on Cisco UCS Manager. Currently, this feature isn't present, so it's an area for improvement in Cisco UCS Manager. Cisco UCS Manager has an alert feature, so you can configure alerts when an error occurs, but what's missing is the alert for blade performance issues, such as CPU, memory, or network issues. For example, if the CPU utilization goes beyond eighty or ninety percent, the Cisco UCS Manager should be able to alert you, but that's not available now. I want to add more chassis to help with scalability in the next release to Cisco UCS Manager. The platform also needs performance monitoring for the hardware.

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Darryl Thompson

ICT Leader at Safripol (Pty) Ltd.

Our usage of Cisco UCS Manager is minimal. We're just using it as a telephony system. Cisco tends to over complicate all of their solutions. Cisco UCS Manager is not that flexible. Cisco technologies are always cumbersome, and you need a specialist's skills to use their products. That's why we used an integrator to deploy it and couldn't do anything in-house. So, from that perspective, it limits flexibility. Cisco UCS Manager virtually needs no maintenance. Since it's being deployed, it's pretty robust, which is typical for Cisco. If you implement it correctly, it is stable and resilient. Before opting for Cisco UCS Manager, do your evaluation upfront properly, and make sure you understand your use case. Also, look at alternatives from the perspective of support and the complexity of deployment. Those were the key areas we probably didn't look at, and as the project went on, we discovered the pitfalls. Overall, I rate Cisco UCS Manager a seven or eight out of ten.

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Cisco UCS Manager mindshare

As of November 2024, the mindshare of Cisco UCS Manager in the IT Infrastructure Monitoring category stands at 1.7%, up from 1.4% compared to the previous year, according to calculations based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

IT Infrastructure Monitoring

Key learnings from peers

Last updated Nov 2, 2024

Valuable Features

Cisco UCS Manager's valuable features include ease of management, flexibility, and integration of storage, networking, and compute. It simplifies server provisioning, supports complex configurations, and offers a user-friendly dashboard. The ability to quickly manage and deploy servers, coupled with robust security layers, adds to its appeal. Its visibility for identifying issues within the Cisco environment and efficient handling of hardware profiles enhance operational efficiency, making administration tasks straightforward.

"The most valuable features of Cisco UCS Manager include the visibility it provides and the ease of identifying issues within the Cisco environment."
"Creating UCS service profiles for quickly deploying servers and replicating that configuration to another server makes it easier for deployment."
"When one server fails, we can attach the service profile to a new server, which saves a lot of time."

Room for Improvement

Cisco UCS Manager requires improvements in its integration capabilities, user interface, and firewall compatibility. Users report complexities in the GUI, firmware upgrade challenges, and a lack of performance monitoring dashboards. Simplification in automation, enhanced training, hardware integration, and scalability are suggested. Costs and configuration methods could be more user-friendly, and the inclusion of a hyper-converged option is desired. Visibility into the operating system should be enhanced to manage issues effectively.

"I would like to see improved visibility into the operating system, enabling us to identify issues directly from the operating system itself."
"Improving functionalities similar to InterSite within UCS Manager would be beneficial."
"The solution's pricing is high and could be reduced."

ROI

Cisco UCS Manager yields a respectable ROI for many users, especially in comparison to alternatives like HP hardware, by reducing hardware faults and related downtime. Some organizations have not acknowledged ROI due to initial project misalignment. However, others have realized ROI when Cisco UCS Manager was employed effectively.

Pricing

Cisco UCS Manager is considered expensive, with users noting higher costs compared to Dell and HP. While some appreciate the bundled pricing and robust features, annual licensing fees and the cost of required hardware contribute to its high total cost of ownership. Discounts from Cisco enhance its perceived value, especially for those invested in Cisco infrastructure. Users frequently point out the solution's reliability despite its premium pricing, with maintenance and support costs being significant factors.

"We need to take a license for each port, which amounts to a big sum."
"Cisco UCS Manager’s annual licensing fee is expensive."
"Cisco UCS is more expensive than Dell and HP, but it is more reliable. I see less issues and it's quite stable."

Popular Use Cases

Cisco UCS Manager is primarily utilized for managing infrastructure, including UCS C and B blades, servers, and network integration. It supports virtualization, VDI connections, and centralized management of multiple blades. Organizations use it for setting up data centers, configuring devices, and creating policies for maintenance. It enhances operational efficiency by reducing configuration time and simplifying user access management, making it an integral tool for handling large-scale server environments and storage management.

Service and Support

Customers find Cisco UCS Manager's technical support exceptional, particularly in the US. They note responsiveness and quick issue resolution, though upgrades can be challenging. Some suggest American support is preferred over European. Users appreciate knowledgeable support teams, although global availability at first-level support is highlighted. Some mention resolving hardware and software issues efficiently, yet complex structures might cause delays. Users praise its resource reliability, despite occasional urgency gaps in customer service outside UCS Manager issues.

Deployment

Many found Cisco UCS Manager's initial setup complex, especially without Cisco architecture knowledge. Complexity often varied with infrastructure size. Some achieved a straightforward implementation, while others faced challenges, citing a need for careful planning and multiple personnel. Deployment times ranged from hours to months, depending on integrations and configurations. Despite this, users agreed that subsequent installations were easier following initial hands-on experience. In comparison, other platforms like Nutanix seemed simpler in setup.

Scalability

Cisco UCS Manager displays strong scalability due to templates simplifying system edits and handles extensive environments well. While some encounter chassis limitations impacting scalability, flexibility is generally praised. Users can expand with additional UCS Managers as needed. Businesses appreciate its ability to support various user needs, including those in banking and web-based environments, allowing for future growth. Ratings for scalability vary, but feedback frequently highlights its ability to meet organizational demands efficiently.

Stability

Cisco UCS Manager is generally very stable, with most users expressing satisfaction. Some report occasional issues like memory failures, licensing concerns, and upgrade bugs, but these are often resolved with updates or Cisco support. Stability is rated highly, often around eight or nine out of ten. Users appreciate the platform's reliability, robustness, and high availability, noting it performs well without significant bugs, crashes, or glitches, contributing positively to their IT infrastructure stability.

These insights are based on the in-depth reviews provided by peers to help you make a better buying decision.

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