Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct Reviews

Name: Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct
Brand: Microsoft
Rating: 3.6 (8 reviews)

3.6 out of 5

8 reviews
71% willing to recommend

323 followers

What is Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct?

Storage Spaces Direct uses industry-standard servers with local-attached drives to create highly available, highly scalable software-defined storage at a fraction of the cost of traditional SAN or NAS arrays. Its converged or hyper-converged architecture radically simplifies procurement and deployment, while features like caching, storage tiers, and erasure coding, together with the latest hardware innovation like RDMA networking and NVMe drives, deliver unrivaled efficiency and performance.

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Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct is the #8 ranked solution in top Software Defined Storage (SDS) solutions. PeerSpot users give Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct an average rating of 7.2 out of 10. Based on the analysis of the 8 most recent Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct reviews, the overall sentiment is positive, with a sentiment score of 6.9. Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct is most commonly compared to Red Hat Ceph Storage: Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct vs Red Hat Ceph Storage. Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct is popular among the large enterprise segment, accounting for 56% of users researching this solution on PeerSpot. The top industry researching this solution are professionals from a computer software company, accounting for 13% of all views.

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct

December 2024

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Featured reviews

Grzegorz Kedziora

General Manager and CTO at SIIT

I use this solution to make a few-to-one storage from the internal disk to the servers The integration is not difficult because there is no GUI, but we need to use a PowerShell command. This makes it difficult to monitor and to see the components' statuses. There are strict compatibility methods.…

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Lawrence Tse

Founder, Professional Services Director, Lead Architect at Falcon Consulting

This solution has an on-premise clouding bridge, but actively, there is no cloud version. Overall, on a scale from one to ten, I would give this solution a rating of nine. For me, it's very difficult to deal with marketing, I need to handle it for Microsoft. When we try to engage with customers, they are not interested because Microsoft doesn't have the corresponding credit, and due to this, we lose customers. If I am going to be confident enough to promote this Microsoft solution, I need my customer to have 100% trust in me. I am not comfortable promoting this solution to new customers.

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reviewer901842

Enterprise Architect/Manager at a transportation company with 10,001+ employees

You need to evaluate what your requirements are because the market is moving on with the cloud. You need to look at which cloud you are going with. If you're going with Microsoft cloud, it's good to go with the Storage Spaces Direct. But you need to see how it compares in the market right now. Look at the industry reviews that have already been done. If you look at industry reports, Storage Spaces Direct is not at the highest, leading level right now. Nutanix or VxRail are the market leaders for hyper-converged right now, overall. You need to see their roadmap and how they are going to proceed in the next two to three years. What I see from Microsoft is the Azure Stack coming on-prem, and that will be a refreshment for Storage Spaces Direct. The biggest lesson I have learned from using the solution is don't go with the two-node solution. I would rate it at six out of 10. It depends upon our use cases; where I'm using it. I initially went with a two-node and I had to break the cluster and build it completely from scratch to expand it.

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Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct mindshare

As of January 2025, the mindshare of Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct in the Software Defined Storage (SDS) category stands at 8.2%, up from 7.5% compared to the previous year, according to calculations based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Software Defined Storage (SDS)

PeerAnalyst reports

Type	Title	Date
Category	Software Defined Storage (SDS)	Jan 2, 2025	Download
Product	Reviews, tips, and advice from real users	Jan 2, 2025	Download
Comparison	Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct vs StarWind Virtual SAN	Jan 2, 2025	Download
Comparison	Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct vs Red Hat Ceph Storage	Jan 2, 2025	Download
Comparison	Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct vs Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI)	Jan 2, 2025	Download

Title	Rating	Mindshare	Recommending
Red Hat Ceph Storage	4.1	20.2%	81%	23 interviews Add to research
StarWind Virtual SAN	4.8	9.0%	100%	189 interviews Add to research

Valuable Features

"The initial setup is straightforward."
"Its technical support is excellent."
"The performance, reliability, and affordability has been most valuable."

Room for Improvement

"The integration is not difficult because there is no GUI, but we need to use a PowerShell command. This makes it difficult to monitor and to see the components' statuses."
"It is difficult to get a hardware compatibility certification for the solution."
"The management tool within this solution could be improved. We would also like to be able to access services like Azure when using this solution."

Pricing

Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct is perceived as cost-effective compared to VMware when using Hyper-V. Users highlight its affordability as a bundled feature of Windows Server with no ongoing costs or hidden fees. However, perceptions of cost vary; some users find the data center licensing relatively expensive. Despite mixed views on expense, the pricing is recognized as a one-time investment with benefits like free upgrades, making it attractive for enterprises evaluating hyper-converged infrastructure options.

"The solution is expensive."
"Cost-wise the product is one of the more affordable within the category of products."
"With the data center licensing and everything that is connected to that, this solution is relatively costly."

Popular Use Cases

Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct is primarily implemented for full production and serves as a primary storage and hypervisor solution in a hyper-converged setup. System integrators utilize it mainly for consolidations, enhancing ACI and EDI processes, and supporting high IOPS needs. Customers use it for hybrid culture expansion, optimizing data costs, and site recovery. It facilitates consolidation of storage from internal disks to servers and competes with VMware due to lower maintenance costs.

Service and Support

Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct users mention that Microsoft's frontline help is inadequate for business reliance, making Microsoft Premier support necessary for larger entities. Some prefer using support from providers like Dell or Lenovo, which have direct Microsoft assistance. Reliability varies with contract type; premium contracts offer access to advanced levels. Users rate support positively, with one rating it four out of five.

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

Download our Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct Buyer's Guide for additional reliable information.