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PeerSpot user
Director of Technology at a educational organization with 501-1,000 employees
Real User
Excellent server solution with incredible network throughput
Pros and Cons
  • "Excellent server solution with incredible network throughput."
  • "It has centralized our server management and allows us to treat servers like a pool of resources instead of discrete devices."
  • "In the version we need to use, the manager is still reliant on a full Java install on a Windows OS. This is inconvenient and problematic if you have multiple management tools on different versions of Java or if you move to a machine without the appropriate Java environment."

What is our primary use case?

Excellent server solution with incredible network throughput. 

How has it helped my organization?

It has centralized our server management and allows us to treat servers like a pool of resources instead of discrete devices.

What is most valuable?

Boot from SAN allows us to standardize all of our servers to boot up drives to the storage area network.

What needs improvement?

Not sure about the newest UCS Manager.

In the version we need to use, the manager is still reliant on a full Java install on a Windows OS. This is inconvenient and problematic if you have multiple management tools on different versions of Java or if you move to a machine without the appropriate Java environment.

Buyer's Guide
Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers
February 2025
Learn what your peers think about Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: February 2025.
832,138 professionals have used our research since 2012.

For how long have I used the solution?

More than five years.

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

Best to buy all the blades configured for the same purposes of load balancing and failover or load shifting.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user576072 - PeerSpot reviewer
Network and Infrastructure Operations Manager at a individual & family service with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
The solution has improved the new infrastructure development giving us the ability to create a compute-storage in-a-box solution.
Pros and Cons
  • "It is very nice and stable with an easy administration GUI."
  • "Definitely the support area needs improving. Especially the time response in case of hardware failure."

How has it helped my organization?

The Cisco solution has improved the new infrastructure development giving us the ability to create a compute-storage in-a-box solution.

What is most valuable?

It is very nice and stable with an easy administration GUI. It has reliable and compliant hardware components which are not "Cisco rebranded."

What needs improvement?

Definitely the support area needs improving. Especially the time response in case of hardware failure.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We only had hardware issues from two disk failures.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Absolutely we had scalability issues. We tried several times to upgrade, scale up, expand our infrastructure, but Cisco insists to demand excessive amounts of money. Much more than buying a new infrastructure. This behavior forced us to choose another vendor later and we downgraded of course the role of our Cisco infrastructure.

How are customer service and technical support?

Ι would say the technical support is average. Nothing special.

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

It was a difficult decision but we switched for two reasons - better value-for-money approach and more compatible hardware.

How was the initial setup?

It was very easy and straightforward and it was done without previous experience.

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

I would advise to be very careful regarding the pricing especially if they don't buy complete or all included bundles. If they plan to expand their infrastructure in periods, then simply Cisco is not a good choice.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We evaluated HPE DL380 and Dell R730

What other advice do I have?

Update the system with the latest firmware set. There are plenty of fixes.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers
February 2025
Learn what your peers think about Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: February 2025.
832,138 professionals have used our research since 2012.
PeerSpot user
Pure Storage at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Good performance, manageability, interface, and reasonably priced
Pros and Cons
  • "In most cases, computes compute, and there isn't much differentiation, but one point of differentiation is Intersight cloud management."
  • "The only thing I would change is to provide more proactive support."

What is our primary use case?

We use Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers for general-purpose VMware. It's just tier-one applications. VMware ESXi, databases SQL, Oracle, and SAP, are the main use cases.

How has it helped my organization?

The performance has been good, but the biggest benefit has been the time saved. With Intersight management, I believe we can save half a headcount while still managing and configuring the servers.

What is most valuable?

In most cases, computes compute, and there isn't much differentiation, but one point of differentiation is Intersight cloud management.

Performance is good, as well as manageability.

The interface is good.

What needs improvement?

The only thing I would change is to provide more proactive support. I would like to try to shift away from reactive support and toward a more proactive support model. The alerting and the system beginning to alert us when it is outside of normal parameters is adequate, but I believe it can do more in terms of support.

I'm not sure if they do this at the moment, but I would like to see support for NVMe over Fabrics. NVMe over Fabric is used so that the entire solution can communicate NVMe over Fabric between the servers and the storage. It's doing exactly what we need right now, and the performance is excellent. But in two years, we'll be looking for the next thing.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers for two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers is a very stable platform.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is scalable, but only by adding more servers. We knew that when we bought it and when we sold it to the customer.

It can service approximately 500 users.

It is being used by a real estate agency, one of the largest in New Zealand. It is used throughout the business, by salespeople, which is where their primary real estate listings are placed. Everyone uses the system, from senior management to sales to HR. This is how they get their applications.

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

I'm currently using FlashStack. Flex fathers Cisco and NetApp, and FlashStack is Pure Storage and Cisco. Cisco is the vendor, and the server infrastructure is UCS Servers.

How was the initial setup?

We have our engineers that install it.

We pre-stage some of the equipment before sending it to the site. it can take a day to install four or five servers. It's quite quick.

The infrastructure team consists of two people. It only took one person to deploy.

What was our ROI?

We sold the solution, and the customer was very pleased with it. We performed a total cost of ownership analysis, and the results were mixed, but it meets their return on investment.

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

Only Intersight licensing is required.

Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis, which is only $2,000 or $3,000. It's not too expensive. The Intersight licensing adds value, which the customer takes advantage of.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers a nine out of ten. It did what it said it would do. It was simple to install and has given us no problems.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Implementation and Support Engineer at PRACSO S.R.L.
Real User
Highly scalable and fully customizable
Pros and Cons
  • "The hardware customization capabilities are great."
  • "I would like to see a little more integration with VMware."

What is our primary use case?

Virtual machines

What is most valuable?

The hardware customization capabilities are great. 

What needs improvement?

I would like to see a little more integration with VMware. They used to have a plugin, but it was recently removed.  

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for three years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

This solution is both very stable and scalable. 

How are customer service and technical support?

Their technical support is quite good. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was straightforward. It was very simple. 

What was our ROI?

Yes, we have seen a return on investment with this solution.

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

This solution is a little expensive. 

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend this solution to others because it saves a lot of space and it's very scalable.

Overall, on a scale from one to ten, I would give this solution a rating of nine. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Hilman Gunawan - PeerSpot reviewer
System Engineer at PT Nusantara Compnet Integrator
Real User
Easy to set up, good hardware abstraction, but it is expensive
Pros and Cons
  • "What I really like about the Cisco USC Server is its service profile."

    What is our primary use case?

    We are a solution provider and this is one of the products that we provide to our clients.

    What is most valuable?

    What I really like about the Cisco USC Server is its service profile. They're using software abstraction, which means that the hardware is abstracted as a layer of software and managed by the UCS manager.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    We have been selling Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers for approximately two years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    The product is quite stable.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    The USC C-Series is a scalable solution.

    How was the initial setup?

    I find the initial setup straightforward and easy. I don't know if I'm biased because I am quite familiar with Cisco products. It takes between two and three hours to deploy.

    What about the implementation team?

    Two people are enough for deployment and maintenance.

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

    This product is quite expensive and it would be better if it were cheaper.

    What other advice do I have?

    This is a good product and I recommend it.

    I would rate this solution a seven out of ten.

    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: Reseller
    PeerSpot user
    Buyer's Guide
    Download our free Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
    Updated: February 2025
    Buyer's Guide
    Download our free Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.