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Cariappa M - PeerSpot reviewer
Chief Business Officer at Knowledge Lens
Real User
Reliable, secure, and stable as a platform
Pros and Cons
  • "It's more reliable, secure, and easy to deploy. It's much more stable as a platform."
  • "For some years, Azure has been working on Synapse. It's their big footprint on the analytics stack. It's a little bit heavy right now in the sense that there are too many components and it's too complex."

What is our primary use case?

We're using the latest version.

It's deployed on the cloud, mainly as a Kubernetes container.

What is most valuable?

It's more reliable, secure, and easy to deploy. It's much more stable as a platform.

What needs improvement?

There's Azure SQL Database on the cloud for small loads, but now they're moving to Synapse, which has a combination of the storage plus the analytics. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using this solution for more than six years.

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Azure Stack
November 2024
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's stable. We haven't had any significant down times, because now you have redundancy across networks. We have not come across any situation where any disruptions have occurred, at least on the cloud connectivity.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It's absolutely scalable. We haven't had any challenges with scalability.

How are customer service and support?

We had some issues, and we directly raised a defect bug to them so they could sort it out. I haven't heard teams complaining about that. I don't see any challenge right now because the stack is much stabler, easier, and we haven't needed to reach out.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Both AWS and Azure are the best in the world right now. 

It all depends on what our customers need, so we use both.

How was the initial setup?

One or two people are needed to maintain this solution.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I would rate the pricing 4 out of 5. It could be lower.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate this solution 9 out of 10.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Private Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Chetan Jayatheertha - PeerSpot reviewer
Lead DevOps Consultant at itcinfotech
MSP
User-friendly, easy accessibility of resources, and good support
Pros and Cons
  • "The beauty of Azure is that most of the features are easily accessible. It is user-friendly. Almost all resources in Azure are very easily accessible. For example, you can access a virtual machine, and you can scale it up. You can go ahead with different infrastructure-as-a-service in Azure for the platform or for the cloud. Different levels of development could be done using it."
  • "It should be improved in terms of integrations. It could be integrated more with external tools."

What is our primary use case?

We are using it in our company and the customer's company as well. So, it works on both sides. For certain development environments, we need to build our internal environment, and we need it for that. Similarly, we need to build the production environment for the customer, and we use it for that.

What is most valuable?

The beauty of Azure is that most of the features are easily accessible. It is user-friendly. Almost all resources in Azure are very easily accessible. For example, you can access a virtual machine, and you can scale it up. You can go ahead with different infrastructure-as-a-service in Azure for the platform or for the cloud. Different levels of development could be done using it.

What needs improvement?

It should be improved in terms of integrations. It could be integrated more with external tools. 

We have Azure Purview for governance, but that is for data governance. For code governance, we have to use SonarQube or WhiteSource for vulnerabilities and license management. We would like to have a native code compliance tool.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with this solution for three years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is absolutely stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is scalable. The resources in Azure are scalable for a smooth transaction. 

How are customer service and support?

Their technical support is very good. They are always easily available when we need them.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I have been working with different automation tools such as Jenkins. Jenkins is a good tool to start with. Being a DevOps person, I had to go with Azure ADO and Azure DevOps, which basically gives you the view of how DevOps actually works.

How was the initial setup?

It is easy to set up. It takes you minutes to set it up.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Azure has a subscription version. It has a pay-as-you-go subscription with a subscription ID. So, you have your particular subscription with an enterprise agreement. There is a dev-type subscription for development and testing.

The pricing seems pretty reasonable. The pricing could be per resource. For example, you have Databricks, Data Factory, Scaled DB, and Cosmos. You have everything in Azure. They have an Azure pricing calculator that you can use to check the price of every resource. It gives you a proper cost estimation. You can compare the cost and then go for the best resource for your project.

What other advice do I have?

I would definitely advise others to implement it as an infrastructure service only because you get to learn more. You get to explore the code more and know different steps. You can automate more and better. You can get automation done on top of what is already there, which could lead to another invention. 

I would rate it an eight out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Azure Stack
November 2024
Learn what your peers think about Azure Stack. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: November 2024.
814,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Ahmed ElMissiry. - PeerSpot reviewer
Head Of Sales at inovasys
Real User
Top 5
Meets customers' regulatory requirements and transfer data and access local files
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution meets customers' regulatory requirements. Scalability allows for tasks such as transferring data and accessing local files."

    What is our primary use case?

    The solution meets customers' regulatory requirements. Scalability allows for tasks such as transferring data and accessing local files.

    What needs improvement?

    The solution could be cheaper.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have been using Azure Stack as a partner for five years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?


    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    The solution is scalable.

    How are customer service and support?

    Azure changed premier support to unified support, which involves allocating tickets to multiple engineers and discussing the problem multiple times. The resolution time for issues is not satisfactory.

    There is free support available, but it comes with limitations. The unified support package is free whereas the enterprise support can be costly.

    How would you rate customer service and support?

    Neutral

    How was the initial setup?

    There are various implementations available. There are no issues with these implementations. Initially, Azure Stack was complex around five or six years ago. Nowadays, setting up Azure Stack is much simpler, and there are no problems with integrations, similar to other Microsoft products. For example, products like Azure Monitor, Microsoft Sentinel, and others may encounter issues, but Microsoft's R&D is effective in developing solutions for them.

    What was our ROI?

    ROI varies with each and every customer, but by average it is at the end of second year.

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    The product is a bit expensive, but you got a reliable solution. You pay upfront for the hardware. You can opt to pay as you go or reserve it, similar to purchasing any software licence.

    What other advice do I have?

    You need the applications. It's like an extended cloud in your data centre. You can access all the local applications and transfer files between the two clouds seamlessly.

    When it comes to security, we're talking about the shared responsibility features between the cloud provider and your on-premises data centre. It's like protecting all parts of the security—from users to servers to files—all aspects of data security. It's akin to having an on-premises data environment, so you must implement roles, DDoS protection, and other security components to secure the environment as well as the public cloud itself. Moving to the cloud doesn't automatically guarantee security; the cloud provider only provides an SLA. You have to implement all the necessary security components.

    The product might be a bit complex for non technical people.

    I can recommend Azure Stack to others but they should be aware of the technical and security aspects. They should have engineers capable of resolving issues, rather than solely relying on Microsoft support.

    The main weakness of Azure Stack lies in its cost. Its value for money is good, offering numerous benefits for the client.

    Overall, I rate the solution a out of ten.

    Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

    Public Cloud

    If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

    Microsoft Azure
    Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
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    PeerSpot user
    Vishwas Samant - PeerSpot reviewer
    Principal Enterprise Architect at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
    Real User
    A portfolio of products that extend Azure services and capabilities to your environment of choice
    Pros and Cons
    • "One of the features I really appreciate is the Hybrid Cloud Extension UI."
    • "One aspect that I consider a drawback is the cost associated with Azure Stack, as its deployment expenses tend to be on the higher side compared to other solutions."

    What is our primary use case?

    We primarily utilize Azure Stack for hybrid cloud deployments, mainly for scaling up compute resources quickly when needed. This involves spinning up instances on the public cloud, specifically Azure, to manage workloads distributed across on-premises and the public cloud. Additionally, we employ Azure Stack for certain floor-based or edge computing solutions, particularly in locations such as factories, to store, maintain, and support specific operations.

    Azure Stack serves a crucial role in our hybrid cloud strategy because we can't place all our data in the public cloud for various reasons. One key use case for Azure Stack is data localization, especially in countries like Australia and Denmark where strict data regulations are in place. For applications and data that cannot leave the country, we rely on Azure Stack to maintain and manage them locally. Meanwhile, for other workloads, we leverage the public cloud, predominantly Azure, to meet our requirements.

    What is most valuable?

    One of the features I really appreciate is the Hybrid Cloud Extension UI. It simplifies the management of workloads across on-premises, public cloud, and edge locations through a single interface. This functionality streamlines the management process for me. Another aspect I find valuable is the consistency Azure Stack offers. It provides a uniform experience, from service names to user interface, whether I'm working in the cloud, on-premises, or at the edge. This consistency is crucial in managing various deployment scenarios. Lastly, Azure Stack's ability to function in isolated or remote areas, such as factory and plant locations with limited network connectivity, is highly valuable. This synced operation capability ensures smooth operations even in challenging environments.

    What needs improvement?

    One aspect that I consider a drawback is the cost associated with Azure Stack, as its deployment expenses tend to be on the higher side compared to other solutions. Another significant challenge is integration, especially with third-party products. While Azure Stack seamlessly integrates with Microsoft's own tools and platforms, there is room for improvement in its compatibility with third-party solutions. Lastly, although updating and patching Azure Stack is more straightforward than in older Windows versions, there is still room for enhancement in the upgrade and patch management process.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have been using the solution for more than 18 months.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    It is definitely stable and I would rate it nine or eight out of ten.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    It's a bit complex to scale and I would rate it a seven out of ten.

    How are customer service and support?

    The customer service is good. 

    How would you rate customer service and support?

    Positive

    Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

    The reason we lean towards Azure Stack over competitors is that it offers strong integration with the public cloud, specifically Azure. Many of our clients use Microsoft 365, and this leads to a significant presence of Azure workloads. Additionally, a substantial portion of our servers run on Windows. These factors make Azure Stack a favorable choice for us. When comparing it to Nutanix, Azure Stack stands out in terms of its integration with the public cloud and, in some cases, cost-effectiveness.

    How was the initial setup?

    The initial setup is moderate, not extremely simple but not very complex. It is hybrid but depends on the requirements of the client. The percentage of workloads on Azure Stack varies across our customers, ranging from ten percent to sixty percent. We opt for Azure Stack as a hybrid solution when a customer has some workloads on the public cloud. Typically, we set up Azure Stack in an on-premises data center and migrate workloads from existing environments, such as VMware or Hyper-V, to Azure Stack. 

    However, if the workloads are primarily for the public cloud, we migrate them directly to the public cloud. The choice between Azure Stack and public cloud migration depends on various factors, including connectivity, compliance, costs, and other specific requirements. In essence, our Azure Stack environments are hybrid, with around thirty to forty percent of workloads residing on-premises and the remaining fifty to sixty percent in the public cloud.

    I would rate it a seven out of ten. 

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    The pricing falls in the middle. It serves as a mediator between being expensive and being affordable, but it's not exactly cheap either. I would rate it a six out of ten.

    What other advice do I have?

    I would overall rate it an eight out of ten. 

    Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
    PeerSpot user
    Consultant at Phoenix Technologies
    Real User
    A reasonably priced product helpful with everything related to data and analytics
    Pros and Cons
    • "The solution's technical support is great since, in our company, we get answers to most of our questions, and most of our queries get resolved with the help of the documentation itself."
    • "The challenge in Azure Stack begins at an individual level when you try to monitor every service from Azure Stack that gets consumed."

    What is our primary use case?

    Our company's customers consume the products installed from Azure Stack, so that is the usage of Azure Stack for our company. Speaking about Azure Stack from a financial perspective, if I have to talk about ERR, it is approximately 4,000 USD per month.

    What is most valuable?

    The most valuable features of the solution are related to anything and everything in data and analytics, including data management and Azure ML.

    What needs improvement?

    I think the monitoring and operational part, including more administration, must be simplified to simplify user adoption. The challenge in Azure Stack begins at an individual level when you try to monitor every service from Azure Stack that gets consumed. The more the configuration capacity is available in Azure Stack, the more configurable it becomes while becoming easier at a user level and administrator level, thereby helping to optimize the consumption cost.

    With the road map of Azure Stack, I have, everything looks great. Looking at the way Azure Stack has matured in the market, I feel that the roadmap of Azure Stack is planned pretty well by Azure's product managers.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have experience with Azure Stack for three to four years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    Stability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    Considering the administration part and scope for improvement, I rate the solution's scalability an eight out of ten since it needs improvement at a user level and administration level regarding its consumption. The administrator does have all the rights, but then there should be some level of configuration needed if you go at an application level or at a service level where a user is using native capabilities of Azure should have an option for the administrator to extend it to the end user also.

    There are around 15 users of Azure Stack in my company.

    How are customer service and support?

    I do contact the solution's technical support when the need for it arises. The solution's technical support is great since, in our company, we get answers to most of our questions, and most of our queries get resolved with the help of the documentation itself. At least at our company's end, based on the services we are working on, we are less likely to depend on the solution's technical support.

    How was the initial setup?

    The initial setup of Azure Stack is simple.

    The solution is deployed on the cloud.

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    Azure Stack is a medium-priced product, so it is not overpriced, but the prices may be higher for certain services.

    Which other solutions did I evaluate?

    Based on the secondary data or information we got in our company based on the initial evaluation we did, I think the way the instances are spread and made available across the globe makes Azure Stack a relatively easier product compared to its competitors. Azure Stack becomes easier to adopt with the new GDPR and the country-level data privacy or security rules implemented.

    What other advice do I have?

    I recommend Azure Stack to those planning to use it. Most of our company's customers who use Azure Stack are happy.

    I rate the overall solution an eight out of ten.

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    CISO at LinkTree Technologies Limited
    Real User
    Top 20
    Good scalability and a business-friendly solution
    Pros and Cons
    • "Its customer service is good."
    • "The visibility of its SDN feature needs improvement."

    What is our primary use case?

    We use the solution for its virtual machine features.

    What needs improvement?

    The visibility of the solution's SDN feature and transmission policy needs improvement.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    We have been using the solution for five years.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    I rate the solution's scalability as a ten.

    How are customer service and support?

    Whenever we raise a ticket, it gets addressed immediately by the solution's technical support team.

    How would you rate customer service and support?

    Positive

    How was the initial setup?

    The solution doesn't need configuration as it is prebuilt on hyper-converged infrastructure. Its deployment takes two to four months to complete. The process involves installing the hardware and network requirements. 

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    It is not a cost-friendly solution. I rate it a seven for pricing.

    What other advice do I have?

    I advise others to appoint premise engineers to manage day to day activity of the solution. I rate it a ten as it is business-friendly and has all the features prebuilt.

    Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

    On-premises
    Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner
    PeerSpot user
    Vice President at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
    Real User
    Improves security, as we are able to create private virtual networks with their own rules and policies
    Pros and Cons
    • "It is helpful from a security point of view because we can create our own isolated, private environments that contain virtual networks, and we can put security rules in place."
    • "Azure Messaging services are in need of improvement."

    What is our primary use case?

    I use a lot of services in Azure.  I have worked with completely isolated environments, building infrastructure from scratch using Terraform, Chef, Puppet, and other such tools.

    What is most valuable?

    The Platform as a Service (Paas) environment is the most valuable feature.

    The Web App service is very valuable.

    It is helpful from a security point of view because we can create our own isolated, private environments that contain virtual networks, and we can put security rules in place. We can also specify application rules, which is something that is also useful.

    What needs improvement?

    There are a lot of services in Azure that are not stable.

    Azure Messaging services are in need of improvement.

    I would like to see better monitoring capability, as we have in Dynatrace and other APM tools. The functionality is there, but it is not as detailed as it is in other tools.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have about three years of experience with Azure, on and off.

    What other advice do I have?

    My advice for anybody who is implementing Azure Stack is to start looking into DevOps early. There are a lot of things that can be done using the portal, and people tend to follow this process because it is easy. It's true that this approach may get things done fast, but it will only get you so far. Working with the DevOps capabilities, such as automation with Terraform, should be done sooner rather than later.

    Every cloud has its pros and cons.

    I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.

    Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

    Public Cloud

    If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

    Microsoft Azure
    Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
    PeerSpot user
    Technology Consultant at Hewlett Packard Enterprise
    Real User
    Highly secure and reliable solution
    Pros and Cons
    • "The most valuable features are related to managing Kubernetes cluster nodes."
    • "There should be more focus on the user interface, specifically for the management console."

    What is our primary use case?

    So we have offered Azure Stack to one of the biggest telco companies here in the Philippines. We have two sites there, and so far, their business has been growing good. They want to deploy more sites here in the Philippines using Azure Stack.

    What is most valuable?

    The most valuable features are related to managing Kubernetes cluster nodes.

    What needs improvement?

    When it comes to room for improvement, there should be more focus on the user interface, specifically for the management console.

    In the future release, I would like to see better UI. 

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have actually been with HPE for five years now, and we have been a partner of Microsoft Azure's teams even before I joined. So I would say five years.

    We always use the latest version. The latest is HCI version 21H2.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    It is very stable. I would rate it a nine out of ten. 

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    I would rate the scalability a nine out of ten. Our clients are enterprise businesses. And I think they've been using it for about four years now.

    How are customer service and support?

    Sometimes there have been software issues, but customers still need assistance from us, the hardware vendor. So I think the ticketing and issue logging need to be more available.

    How would you rate customer service and support?

    Positive

    How was the initial setup?

    I would rate the initial setup a seven, where one is difficult, and ten is easy. The deployment took around two to three months. 

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    If we compare it in the market to other vendors, I think it would be around four out of ten, where one is low, and ten is high. There is additional fees required for support. 

    Which other solutions did I evaluate?

    I have conducted cost analysis and simulations using AWS, Azure Stack, and Google Cloud. So I've performed several cost analyses based on customer requirements. But I haven't had extensive hands-on experience with those public clouds.

    What other advice do I have?

    Overall, I would rate the product a nine out of ten because Azure Stack is very reliable. It's highly available and provides the requirements needed by the customers' applications. It's also very secure.

    Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

    Hybrid Cloud
    Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner | Hardware vendor
    PeerSpot user
    Buyer's Guide
    Download our free Azure Stack Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
    Updated: November 2024
    Buyer's Guide
    Download our free Azure Stack Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.