VMware vSAN Reviews

Name: VMware vSAN
Brand: VMware
Rating: 4.2 (229 reviews)

Vendor: VMware

4.2 out of 5

229 reviews
87% willing to recommend

7,516 followers

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What is VMware vSAN?

VMware vSAN is a software-defined storage product that is used in collaboration with VMware ESXi hypervisor and that provisions and manages storage based on policies, regardless of the underlying hardware. The solution enables you to prime your business for growth through its seamless evolution (it is integrated with vSphere and requires no new tools), its flexibility, and its multi-cloud capabilities. As an industry-leading software, VMware vSAN provides high levels of performance with minimal impact on CPU and memory.

Get the VMware vSAN Buyer's Guide and find out what your peers are saying about VMware vSAN, VxRail, StarWind Virtual SAN and more!

VMware vSAN is the #2 ranked solution in HCI Software. PeerSpot users give VMware vSAN an average rating of 8.4 out of 10. Based on the analysis of the 229 most recent VMware vSAN reviews, the overall sentiment is positive, with a sentiment score of 7.0. (Among the lowest in the category). VMware vSAN is most commonly compared to VxRail: VMware vSAN vs VxRail. VMware vSAN is popular among the midsize enterprise segment, accounting for 58% of users researching this solution on PeerSpot. The top industry researching this solution are professionals from a educational organization, accounting for 51% of all views.

Helped 816,723 peers since 2012

Featured reviews

Lipaz Hessel

Integration Manager at Gilat Satellite Networks

I'm still using a different solution. I only took two servers with vSAN to support one application that needs one feature that only VMware has. If not for that feature, I wouldn't touch VMware. Now, I'm looking at products like Nutanix, Silver Peak, Flexione, and FortiGate. For products that I choose, I don't need a specialist of that vendor. In VMware, I need a specialist in VMware. That's the issue I have with VMware. It's not like I can take any IT person, and they will know what to do. I need to make sure he will do the call, get the certificate and time to practice.

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Shaijith KB

Senior System Engineer at a government with 1,001-5,000 employees

vSAN has a significantly higher license cost post-merger. Its scalability is lower compared to solutions like Nutanix. The regeneration time after a hard disk failure is much longer than that of competitors. The pricing is not clearly published. It requires more clarity in terms of the cost associated with expanding the solution, adding nodes, and overall predictability of data storage capacity.

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Nicolas Ballet

Consultant at Continuum Technologies

The tool's redundancy feature has greatly impacted our company's operational efficiency. The integration capabilities of the product with the existing products in our company's IT infrastructure save a lot of time, especially when deploying a new server. The scalability features of the product have supported my company's business growth in a very critical manner. The product has been reliable. The performance level of the product has also been good. The product is already advanced enough to meet our company's customers' use cases. I rate the tool a seven out of ten.

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VMware vSAN video interviews

Watch a video interview with a real VMware vSAN user to learn how the HCI solution helped improve their organization. The video includes info about the challenges and benefits of implementing VMware vSAN.

Jan 20, 2023

Gives us a lot of advantages when we need to expand resources

Yves Sandfort

CEO & Majority Shareholder at Comdivision Consulting GmbH

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VMware vSAN mindshare

As of November 2024, the mindshare of VMware vSAN in the HCI category stands at 16.9%, down from 18.0% compared to the previous year, according to calculations based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

HCI

Key learnings from peers

Last updated Nov 21, 2024

Valuable Features

Valuable features of VMware vSAN include performance and scalability, allowing users to start small and expand as needed. Its integration with VMware vSphere simplifies management and enables centralized storage. Users appreciate the cost efficiency, seamless integration, and use of commoditized hardware. The ability to scale incrementally and the ease of deployment make it a flexible choice for virtualization, with strong performance, high availability, and reduced cost versus traditional SANs.

"It's easy to use."
"The product is highly scalable and significantly supports our organization's needs."
"Data management and recovery processes are the most valuable features."

Room for Improvement

VMware vSAN requires enhancements such as improved management tools, better data deduplication, and expanded hardware compatibility. Individuals report needing more stability and support for external storage protocols like iSCSI. They seek more efficient recovery features, faster re-synchronization times, and improved integration with other VMware products. Additionally, they call for better monitoring and performance visibility, a more user-friendly interface, and reduced costs to make VMware vSAN more attractive to diverse organizations.

"vSAN has a significantly higher license cost post-merger."
"We have encountered some challenges related to administrative tasks and licensing issues for the product."
"Improvements are also needed as per the customer's requirements."

ROI

Users reported mixed outcomes with VMware vSAN's ROI. Some experienced cost savings with decreased hardware and administrative time, while others noted challenges with operational expenses. Several mentioned indirect benefits like improved system stability and uptime, leading to enhanced performance. Although some achieved ROI quickly, others found it difficult to quantify due to varied use cases and lack of formal calculation. Overall opinions vary, with usage duration influencing perceived value.

Pricing

Enterprise buyers report VMware vSAN's pricing as competitive yet complex. While the license cost can be high, many appreciate its total cost of ownership (TCO) benefits, offering potential savings compared to traditional storage solutions. Licensing is CPU-based, with Standard at $2,495 and Enterprise at $5,495 per CPU. Users find value in scaling flexibility and reduced maintenance costs. However, some note that small businesses might find the pricing challenging, and recent policy changes could affect cost expectations.

"The solution is relatively expensive compared to similar products."
"The licenses are very expensive. The renewal of licenses has extra costs attached to it."
"Due to recent changes in VMware's licensing approach by Broadcom, the cost has increased significantly, making it less attractive from a cost perspective."

Popular Use Cases

VMware vSAN is primarily used for server virtualization, VDI implementations, and data storage management. Many organizations leverage vSAN for hyper-converged infrastructure, enhancing application performance, and simplifying storage solutions. It's integral for both private and hybrid cloud environments, offering redundancy and improved manageability. Users appreciate its integration with VMware's ecosystem and software-defined storage capabilities. vSAN is favored for performance storage, aiding diverse industries like healthcare, finance, and education in consolidating compute and storage resources.

Service and Support

VMware vSAN's customer service is seen as top-notch and responsive, yet with some exhibiting mixed experiences. Many appreciate knowledgeable and quick support, with TAMs providing valuable assistance. However, some report slow response times and challenges with junior staff. High praise is given when issues are resolved efficiently, while some users express frustration with escalations. Frequent positive feedback highlights competent technical support and thorough documentation. Overall, most find VMware vSAN support satisfactory, with room for improvement.

Deployment

Initial setup of VMware vSAN is largely straightforward with many finding it easy to implement, requiring minimal time and resources. While some encountered challenges due to hardware compatibility or network configurations, others highlighted the intuitive process, emphasizing the integration with existing VMware infrastructure. Organizations appreciated the user-friendly aspect once prerequisites were met, although a few found complexities that necessitated consulting guides or VMware's support to ensure a smooth deployment experience.

Scalability

VMware vSAN is often praised for its ability to scale, with many users finding the process straightforward. It supports expansion through adding nodes, disks, or upgrading storage. Some face challenges with hybrid configurations, and a few suggest scalability can improve. Most users experience minimal issues, appreciating its flexibility to meet growing demands. Some comparisons to competitors may highlight areas for potential improvement, especially for those with specific performance or configuration needs.

Stability

VMware vSAN is generally considered stable, with many users noting it performs well when properly configured and aligned with hardware compatibility lists. Although some faced challenges with early versions and hardware compatibility, these issues often resolved through updates and support. It is praised for its performance and resilience, although users emphasize the importance of meeting technical prerequisites. Stability ratings vary, with most feedback positive, reflecting a reliable option in virtual environments.

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

Download our VMware vSAN Buyer's Guide for additional reliable information.

Review data by company size

By reviewers

By visitors reading reviews

Top industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

51%

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Government

Retailer

Healthcare Company

University

Comms Service Provider

Energy/Utilities Company

Construction Company

Real Estate/Law Firm

Media Company

Non Profit

Insurance Company

Wholesaler/Distributor

Transportation Company

Recreational Facilities/Services Company

Hospitality Company

Outsourcing Company

Pharma/Biotech Company

Performing Arts

Legal Firm

Compare VMware vSAN with alternative products

Learn more about VMware vSAN

VMware vSAN Features

VMware vSAN has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:

Storage policy-based management (SPBM): VMware vSAN supports storage policy-based management for automated management of storage profiles.

Software-defined data-at-rest encryption: With this VMware vSAN feature, you can prevent unauthorized access of data at rest.

Multiple nodes: VMware vSAN provides clusters that can include as few as 2 nodes or as many as 64 nodes.

High security and availability: VMware vSAN offers stretched clusters, allowing more than one virtualization host server to be used in the same setup, promoting higher security as well as availability.

Deduplication: VMware vSAN’s deduplication compresses data to ensure efficient storage management and security.

HCI mesh updates: VMware vSAN clusters can share storage capacity with non-HCI Sphere clusters and can adopt HCI without having to scale computing resources and storage or replace existing servers.

Simplified file services: With VMware vSAN’s file services, backup of file shares is simplified. You can use APIs that allow backup and recovery software vendors to integrate with your VMware vSAN file services, which enables backup software to track new data and add scalability enhancements to files.

VMware vSAN Benefits

There are many benefits to implementing VMware vSAN. Some of the biggest advantages the solution offers include:

Reduced total cost of ownership (TCO): VMware vSAN helps you reduce upfront costs for businesses because it can be easily deployed on inexpensive x86 servers. In addition, its highly scalable infrastructure and quick deployment also save organizations time and money, making it an efficient storage solution.

Good manageability: VMWare vSAN is easy to set up, manage, and provision, without sacrificing performance.

Scalability: VMware vSAN is agile and allows administrators to scale storage on demand, quickly, and efficiently via policies and rules.

Simplicity: VMWare vSAN is simple to configure since it is embedded in the vSphere hypervisor. Installing it using the vSphere Web Client can be done quickly.

Reduced risk: VMWare vSAN reduces the risk associated with digital transformations by utilizing existing tools, skill sets, and solutions.

Reviews from Real Users

Below are some reviews and helpful feedback written by PeerSpot users currently using the VMware vSAN solution.

PeerSpot user Yves S., CEO, Cloud Evangelist at Comdivision Consulting GmbH, says, “vSAN gives us a lot of advantages when we need to expand resources. We have an overall larger host infrastructure, and we split that up for specific customer test and use cases. In that specific scenario, we can easily add more hosts or reduce the number of hosts in the environment.”

A reviewer who works in Infrastructure Security explains, “The ease of use is great. The initial setup and upgrade process was pretty straightforward. And, technical support is great.”

Laurent N., Director at Softlogic, comments, "The feature that I have found most valuable is that it is easy to deploy. It is easy to create and delete virtual servers. It is easy to create the load balancing and the clustering."

VMware vSAN was previously known as vSAN.