Cisco UCS B-Series Reviews, Competitors and Pricing

Sr. Network Engineer at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Jun 29, 2017

We can configure Service Profile and the way it combines LAN, SAN and the Server on the blade

What is most valuable?

For UCS B series, its integration with devices like FI, N5K. I also like UCSM where we can configure Service Profile and the way it combines LAN, SAN, and the server on the blade. I love it.

How has it helped my organization?

I am working with a Gold Partner company and we deploy this product to our customers, and so far we have deployed it in many clients and we have not received any complaints.

What needs improvement?

GUI had some trouble before with Java updates, but that is fixed now.

For how long have I used the solution?

One to two years.

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What do I think about the stability of the solution?

No.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

No.

How are customer service and support?

10/10.

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

We use Dell, HP, UCS, all of them, but personally I like this product more.

How was the initial setup?

It very easy and straightforward.

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

Pricing and licensing depend upon the requirements of the clients, but the recommended ones are to go with some Ethernet and Fabric ports mix.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Yes, we give options to the customers and go for this upon their choice.

What other advice do I have?

This is a complete solution with FI.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

it_user229479

Senior Network Engineer at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Feb 25, 2016

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They're easy to deploy, scale and expand based on a number of server range available.

Valuable Features:

Easy to deploy, scale and expand based on a number of server range available.
Centralization for different resources including network, compute and storage

Improvements to My Organization:

Any Datacenter or organization implementing UCS-B series will find it easy for its IT team in terms of changes required to add more servers and redundancy.

Room for Improvement:

Perfect device, but only if the GUI is made .NET-based, it will be more great.

Deployment Issues:

I've had no issues with deployment.

Stability Issues:

I've had no issues with stability.

Scalability Issues:

I've had no issues with scalability.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

Buyer's Guide

Cisco UCS B-Series

December 2024

Free Report: Cisco UCS B-Series Reviews and More

Learn what your peers think about Cisco UCS B-Series. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: December 2024.

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824,067 professionals have used our research since 2012.

it_user402516

System Engineer at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Aug 31, 2016

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I can use it to quickly deploy new resources for applications.

What is most valuable?

Management: The admin interface is very intuitive.
Easy scalability: For example, when adding a new blade server to the chassis or when adding a new chassis, I can use the old management IP address to manage and create new profile.

How has it helped my organization?

I can deploy new resources for applications very fast.

What needs improvement?

Cooling. It is hotter than HP blade servers.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using it for two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I have not encountered any stability issues.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I have not encountered any scalability issues.

How are customer service and technical support?

Technical support is very good.

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

We previously used a different solution, and we switched because this product is cheaper.

How was the initial setup?

Initial setup was straightforward with its interactive GUI.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We also evaluated Fujitsu products.

What other advice do I have?

Get help from Cisco Support.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

it_user229368

Sr. Network Engineer at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Aug 27, 2016

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Benefits includes scalability, flexibility, and the fact it takes less time to deploy. There were stability issues in previous firmware versions.

What is most valuable?

Remote Access to the device
Ability to scale to different servers
Centralized management

How has it helped my organization?

Customers and organizations are benefited by its scalability, flexibility, and the fact it takes less time to deploy.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used it for almost one year.

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

In most of our deployments, no issues were encountered.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The product is stable (with new versions of the firmware), although previous versions were having some issue with stability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

In most of our deployments, no issues were encountered.

How are customer service and technical support?

Very satisfied with the level of technical support from TAC.

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

We were using HP Servers but switched due to it having better features and scalability.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward, and a of lot technical documents are also available from Cisco to help.

What about the implementation team?

We have implemented it through our own team in-house.

What was our ROI?

It's a win-win situation for both customers and vendors due to its features.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Before we had to look for other options, but now we just check the different versions of the product checking the features.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

it_user909

Owner at a tech company with 51-200 employees

Jun 18, 2012

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Great consolidation, high mem capacity, excellent reduction on ports. But you're locked in.

Valuable Features:

Great consolidation, high mem capacity, excellent reduction on ports.

Room for Improvement:

Very tightly integrated, so once you are all in, you are likely to be there for a long time.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

reviewer1790682

GM at a tech services company with 201-500 employees

Mar 3, 2022

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Beneficial report visualization, reliable, and good technical support

Pros and Cons

"The most valuable features of the Cisco UCS B-Series are reports for virtualization and the large memory it has."

"Cisco UCS B-Series competitors have similar features as they do, Cisco needs to make some changes to make their offering better."

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features of the Cisco UCS B-Series are reports for virtualization and the large memory it has.

What needs improvement?

Cisco UCS B-Series competitors have similar features as they do, Cisco needs to make some changes to make their offering better.

The integration and support could improve, there are some challenges. Additionally, the competitor has its own storage in its portfolio, Cisco should have the option as well.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Cisco UCS B-Series for approximately five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Cisco UCS B-Series is a reliable solution.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I have found the solution scalable.

How are customer service and support?

The technical support of the Cisco UCS B-Series is good.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was difficult for us because we are used to the old systems. With the new solution, it is quite a different experience.

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

Cisco UCS B-Series is an expensive solution.

What other advice do I have?

I rate Cisco UCS B-Series an eight out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:

technica379896

Technical Head at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

Dec 1, 2016

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The most valuable feature is the UCS Manager which integrates everything.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature is the UCS Manager which integrates everything.

Java and HTML 5 base admin console is now available

How has it helped my organization?

Its provisioning and ease of management have improved our functioning.

What needs improvement?

Power Options for setting up Grid needs to have further customization.

N+1 for power supply is not applicable in some data centers

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used it for 3 years.

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

We've had no issues with deployment.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We've had no issues with stability.

N+1 for powersupply is not applicable on grid type data centers

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It's highly scalable. With everything set up, downtime is never an issue when adding blades.

How is customer service and technical support?

Cisco has been very supportive to us, as well as the partners

How was the initial setup?

A bit complex since using the FI was new to us.

What about the implementation team?

Vendor team were very helpful and was able to train us to use and manage the system.

What other advice do I have?

We used a Versa Stack solution so compute and storage was a breeze once setup was done.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

it_user1020

Head of Data Center at a tech company with 51-200 employees

Dec 2, 2012

Our Experiences with Cisco UCS

Hi,

Since you are asking about our experiences with Cisco UCS, here is what we've accomplished so far.

Our greatest accomplishment is server consolidation with the use of virtualization. We bundled our UCS system with VMware vShpere with vCenter management. So far, we are currently on-track to virtualize all our major services and servers.

As with any virtualization effort using commercial products, the cost is very significant. However, we look at this not just as a one-off project but it will be the foundation of our future systems and services as well.

Ultimately, the goal is for better services. Right now, our server reliability has improved, and this has translated to lesser down times. With the servers virtualized, it's also very easy to manage and perform tasks.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

it_user1068Tech Support Staff at a tech company with 51-200 employees

Report as inappropriate

Jun 2, 2013

Cheap is always expensive. Although this product is quite expensive, you immediately forget its price the moment your company begins to enjoy its effectiveness and capabilities. We use it for our server virtualization services.