The primary use case is VDI and virtualization. We are testing it for VDI. For VDI, HyperFlex has been pretty useful.
Product and Project Manager at Eta2u
The compute storage and virtualization come all in one box
Pros and Cons
- "The compute storage and virtualization come all in one box."
- "We would like HyperFlex to connect the storage directly into Fabric Interconnect along with the features of the solution. We have enough ports in HyperFlex. We don't want to buy another set of switches to connect to Fabric Interconnect, complicating the solution."
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
Everything is in the solution. We don't have to connect to something else or pieces from somewhere else. We also receive centralized reports from it.
What is most valuable?
The compute storage and virtualization come all in one box.
What needs improvement?
We would like HyperFlex to connect the storage directly into Fabric Interconnect along with the features of the solution. We have enough ports in HyperFlex. We don't want to buy another set of switches to connect to Fabric Interconnect, complicating the solution. This change would be a great improvement.
Buyer's Guide
Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series [EOL]
November 2024
Learn what your peers think about Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series [EOL]. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: November 2024.
816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We are happy with the stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability is fantastic. It scales much more than we need.
How are customer service and support?
We have not used the technical support yet.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Cisco let us know about HyperFlex. We receive training and liked it. We said, "Why not? Let's test it."
How was the initial setup?
The setup is not easy, but it's not complicated. How you implement things can be complex.
What about the implementation team?
We had some courses on it and followed them. So, we did the deployment on ourselves.
What was our ROI?
We have seen ROI.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We also evaluated VxRail from Dell EMC. However, we went with HyperFlex because it is a Cisco product.
What other advice do I have?
Give HyperFlex a try. Try a demo.
The solution is fantastic for VDI usage.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Product.
Account Manager at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
A highly stable and exceptionally scalable solution that offers a great technical support team
Pros and Cons
- "It is a stable solution...It is a scalable solution."
- "The product does not have a cloud version...The product should be made more flexible in terms of integration capabilities."
What needs improvement?
The product does not have a cloud version. I would like Cisco to introduce a cloud version of the solution in the future. The product should be made more flexible in terms of integration capabilities.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series for two years. I use a high-end version of the solution. My company has a partnership with Cisco.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is a stable solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is a scalable solution.
How are customer service and support?
I am satisfied with the solution's technical support. I rate the technical support a ten out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
The technical people are the ones who can answer whether the product is easy to deploy or not.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series is a bit pricier compared to other brands in the market. Yearly payments are to be made toward the licensing cost of the solution. The approximate licensing cost of the product depends on the model a person chooses. There is a need to make additional payments towards the maintenance and support of the solution.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
My company is not considering the other available options in the market.
What other advice do I have?
I am satisfied with the overall product.
Cisco has already made a name for itself in the industry as a good brand.
I rate the overall product a ten out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Buyer's Guide
Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series [EOL]
November 2024
Learn what your peers think about Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series [EOL]. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: November 2024.
816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.
IT systems specialist with 1-10 employees
User-friendly, simple installation and configuration
Pros and Cons
- "Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series is simple to use, user-friendly and has been best for our purposes."
- "The solution could improve by having more customization."
What is most valuable?
Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series is simple to use, user-friendly and has been best for our purposes.
What needs improvement?
The solution could improve by having more customization.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have used Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series within the past 12 months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I have found Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series to be reliable and stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability of the Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series is good.
How are customer service and support?
The support of the solution is good, we have not had a problem.
How was the initial setup?
The implementation and configuration of the Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series were easy.
The full deployment took approximately three months.
What about the implementation team?
We did the implementation with the help of a partner.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price of the solution could be reduced, it is a little expensive.
What other advice do I have?
My advice to others is you must have the project very well defined, or you will get in trouble.
I rate Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series a ten out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Senior Network Engineer at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Stable and robust platform that helps us to understand the customer's needs and what issues they can run into
Pros and Cons
- "This is not the only product we use, so we have other solutions to compare it with. We can compare different products and different vendors and tell our customers which products have which advantages and disadvantages so that they can leverage these products in their own environment. This product helps us to understand the customer's needs and what issues they can run into."
- "The primary improvements should be made in the cluster storage controller VMs so that they don't break the upgrade process."
How has it helped my organization?
This is not the only product we use, so we have other solutions to compare it with. We can compare different products and different vendors and tell our customers which products have which advantages and disadvantages so that they can leverage these products in their own environment. This product helps us to understand the customer's needs and what issues they can run into.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature is the integration between our product and HyperFlex. We show our customers the integration between the backup and the deduplication solution that we offer and this CISCO hyperconverged solution.
What needs improvement?
The primary improvements should be made in the cluster storage controller VMs so that they don't break the upgrade process.
I would like to see integration with multi-site ACI deployments so that we can span clusters between multiple sites, with ACI running within each site.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The platform itself is very stable and robust, but when it comes to upgrading the system, it's not stable. The process of upgrading should be seamless so that the customer's data is not affected in any way. Nothing should happen to the customer's data during the upgrading process but we've had situations where the upgrade process did not go smoothly. We've had to open a tech case to solve the issues and sometimes we even have to evacuate the entire virtual machine clusters into another system.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Scalability was kept in mind when they designed this product. We can scale from really small deployments to very large deployments. The scalability is not an issue with HyperFlex, it scales better than Nutanix and other vendors.
How are customer service and technical support?
Their technical support is really good. They are very professional, I cannot complain about the support. The only issue is that they will often only be available during time zones that don't work within European working hours.
How was the initial setup?
The deployment was not hard. We deployed the full server installation with CISCO HyperFlex. The original version that we tried to deploy was something like 2.2. We ran into a few issues but we managed to solve them on our own, without CISCO tech. If everything goes smoothly the entire deployment can take only a few hours.
What about the implementation team?
I did the deployment myself.
What was our ROI?
We see ROI every day. The return on investment is fantastic and is the primary reason why we deployed these clusters all around our site locations so that our SE engineers can show the customers.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We also use Nutanix and Pure Storage.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate it an eight out of ten. Not a ten because of the issues with the upgrading process.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner.
Sr Solution Architect at NetDesign
The management of the system can be done in a centralized way but it should be more cloud-connected
Pros and Cons
- "Most of our users are Cisco customers, so it fits in within the suites we use. Primarily for me, as a solution architect, it's the technology and architecture that is the most valuable. I know from my technical colleagues that it's easy to use and for the customer, the up-time is the most valuable asset. It's running, has low failure, and so on which is why we use it."
- "We are moving further out with more cloud solutions, so we need HyperFlex to be more cloud-connected. They should develop more connection to Amazon Web Services and Google cloud because our customers use their services and are moving in that direction."
What is our primary use case?
We use it in junction with unified communication solutions. It provides great flexibility for our customers to expand the solution. Also, the ease of management is why they use HyperFlex.
How has it helped my organization?
We have some large customer managing some large hospitals in Denmark and it's very easy to make changes and expand with solutions around the hospitals. The management of the system can be done in a centralized way which has been a benefit for us.
What is most valuable?
Most of our users are Cisco customers, so it fits in within the suites we use. Primarily for me, as a solution architect, it's the technology and architecture that is the most valuable. I know from my technical colleagues that it's easy to use and for the customer, the uptime is the most valuable asset. It's running and has low failure which is why we use it.
What needs improvement?
We are moving further out with more cloud solutions, so we need HyperFlex to be more cloud-connected. They should develop more connection to Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud because our customers use their services and are moving in that direction.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We've had some downtime, but it's 99.5% stable. They can trust it. Hospitals are 24/7 driven, so we need to have a high uptime which is why we use HyperFlex.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It's a very scalable product because they have about 150 commercial services, so the scalability is very high, and the uptime is great.
How are customer service and technical support?
We use technical support if we have any issues or trouble with it. Cisco is always awesome. It's very easy to work with a Cisco tech.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Our customers know its time to switch solutions because of the demands from their users to deliver faster and to be more prepared for meeting their customer's needs. They're using my company and myself as a solution provider and a trusted technical adviser, so we work very closely with our customers in the decision making.
What was our ROI?
Our customers definitely see ROI. Cisco is involved each time we do a business case, and the customers today are very cost sensitive so they're looking for return on investment. That's also why they use Cisco because they can either expand the products or they can trade the products back to Cisco and get credits and then buy new products.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We also considered IBM and Dell EMC. They go with Cisco because they're using Cisco in most of their environments so it's the easy choice. As long as Cisco provides the technology and the features that the customer needs, they don't have the need to look elsewhere.
What other advice do I have?
I rated this solution an eight out of ten because there's still a little room for improvement.
I would advise someone considering this solution to connect with Cisco, use the resources that Cisco has. Be open, discuss with Cisco, discuss the architecture the customer designed, the customer demands, include Cisco all around, both the account managers, their technical solutions, the SEs, and so on. Use Cisco.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner.
Senior Consultant at a tech services company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Has reduced the cost of management and it has easy monitoring systems
Pros and Cons
- "The most important benefits that we've seen from this solution is that it reduces the cost of management and it has easy monitoring systems."
- "A stretch function is really needed. Germans think that because of the high availability and the security that two data centers are better but we want edge all in one cluster. This is a needed feature, the cluster feature, and we'd also like to see a possibility for ROBO offices."
What is our primary use case?
Our primary use case is for desktop infrastructure.
How has it helped my organization?
The most important benefits that we've seen from this solution is that it reduces the cost of management and it has easy monitoring systems.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features are that you can easily scale up and compute.
What needs improvement?
A stretch function is really needed. Germans think that because of the high availability and the security that two data centers are better but we want edge all in one cluster. This is a needed feature, the cluster feature, and we'd also like to see a possibility for ROBO offices.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We had some trouble during the implementation, but it was one of the first versions and everything is fine now. Stability was only an issue at the beginning.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Scalability is really great because you can adjust the HyperFlex node. If you need more storage, you can add some more drives when it's not full at the beginning. Also, you have the possibility to edge the compute resources with the plates.
How was the initial setup?
The first version was complex to set up because there were some open questions within the workflows. Now, the new installer is great. It's really great, really fast, and it's easy to set up.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner.
Manager at a comms service provider with 5,001-10,000 employees
The product is stable and can scale
Pros and Cons
- "The product is stable. No one complains about the stability, which is fabulous."
- "Cisco should combine its features with its prices."
How has it helped my organization?
We use it mostly for our business customers.
What needs improvement?
Cisco should combine its features with its prices.
For how long have I used the solution?
Less than one year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The product is stable. No one complains about the stability, which is fabulous.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability is okay. Our customers don't complain about it.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Our technical team said that this is the best solution for us.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was straightforward. It was implemented three months ago.
What was our ROI?
Three months is too soon to see ROI.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price is a bit too high.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Our technical team made this decision.
What other advice do I have?
Be more careful if your technical person says, "It is necessary to implement and develop the infrastructure."
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Solution Consultant IBM Storage/Lenovo/Softlayer at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Key for switching abilities and more scalable than similar solutions
Pros and Cons
- "The management from the switches to the hyper-convergence solutions are quite good and well-developed."
- "Cisco is a bit more challenging in terms of deployment. The admin must be knowledgeable in order to complete the task. Without that knowledge, it will be difficult to complete."
- "Cisco is quite expensive but not in the initial first buy."
What is our primary use case?
Cisco is key for switching abilities. The management from the switches to the hyper-convergence solutions, such as the storage or server environment, is quite good and well-developed.
What is most valuable?
It is more high end versus other solutions, like Lenovo HX, but, Cisco partners are very loyal to the brand.
For how long have I used the solution?
One to three years.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Cisco is more scalable versus other solutions in the same sphere. For example, Cisco is predominantly used with bigger companies. Lenovo HX is used for smaller sized companies.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have prior experience with VMware, Nutanix, and Lenovo HX. I think that Lenovo HX is more user-friendly and easier to deploy versus the Cisco HyperFlex solution. Lenovo HX also has more market share in the middle sized business market.
How was the initial setup?
Cisco is a bit more challenging to setup. You need to be knowledgeable in order to implement the solution. In comparison, Lenovo HX is very straightforward and easy-going.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Cisco is quite expensive but not in the initial first buy.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series [EOL] Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros
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Updated: November 2024
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Buyer's Guide
Download our free Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series [EOL] Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros
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