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NetApp StorageGRID vs Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

NetApp StorageGRID
Ranking in File and Object Storage
6th
Average Rating
8.4
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS)
Ranking in File and Object Storage
4th
Average Rating
9.0
Number of Reviews
72
Ranking in other categories
All-Flash Storage (6th), Software Defined Storage (SDS) (5th), Public Cloud Storage Services (6th), NVMe All-Flash Storage Arrays (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2024, in the File and Object Storage category, the mindshare of NetApp StorageGRID is 4.9%, up from 4.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) is 2.3%, up from 1.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
File and Object Storage
 

Featured Reviews

GP
Mar 1, 2024
Scalable object storage with robust data durability with efficient geo-distribution and comprehensive lifecycle management ensuring managing of large volumes of unstructured data
NetApp StorageGRID, like AWS S3, adheres to standards for decoupling data from metadata. However, the product faces challenges in this area, particularly concerning the storage of metadata. Unlike some other solutions, StorageGRID stores all metadata in the first storage node, and expanding metadata capacity necessitates adding more storage nodes. This design choice, using Cassandra database for metadata storage, can lead to significant costs as organizations may need to add more storage nodes solely to accommodate metadata requirements, even if additional storage capacity isn't needed. The challenge lies in the taxing aspect of managing both small and large objects efficiently. On average, the metadata space for objects ranges from 1.3 to 2 KB, regardless of object size. While this variability is common across platforms, it poses specific challenges within StorageGRID. Managing small object transactional records stored as objects creates pain points within storage groups. One key improvement I'd like to see in StorageGRID is enhanced visibility for management purposes. For instance, tracking delete markers, which is a standard mechanism, becomes challenging when bucket versioning is enabled. Currently, there's a lack of visibility in this area, unlike what is offered by AWS. However, I'm aware that product enhancements are underway to address this limitation. While StorageGRID's documentation is comprehensive in some aspects, it could be stronger in providing details on certain events and metrics.
JT
Feb 1, 2024
Boasts impressive flexibility, is resilient, and removes silos
Nutanix Unified Storage boasts impressive flexibility. It offers extensive capabilities and built-in continuity, ensuring minimal disruption to workloads during updates. Unlike Windows servers, where applying updates or security patches necessitates rebooting and potential user downtime of five to 30 minutes, Nutanix Files seamlessly handles updates. During an update, user requests are automatically directed to another node while the original node reboots and sequences, ensuring a smooth and transparent experience for users. Resiliency is about maintaining functionality despite setbacks. During our installation, we had three different file servers built with redundancy. When we tested this by powering down one server completely, users didn't experience any change in file accessibility. I've seen demos of Data Lens, but it's not currently deployed in our environment. Nutanix United Storage is holding it in development and testing until additional features become available. However, I recognize its potential, particularly for specific notifications like unusual file activity, such as encryption or large-scale downloads. The snapshot technology offers the advantage of swift recovery within hours or minutes, compared to days or weeks with traditional methods. One of the key advantages of Nutanix Unified Storage is its resilience, which allows us to perform updates without causing disruptions to users. This is crucial for our global organization, as any downtime would affect employees accessing files anywhere from Great Britain to India. With Nutanix, we can perform maintenance without worrying about complaints due to inaccessibility. We initially encountered the benefit of this resilience when we first implemented updates. While it was still in a testing phase and files weren't accessible to the entire company, we grasped the power of seamless updates for our globally distributed teams. Unifying everything to Nutanix makes great sense. We no longer have to deal with multiple vendors. For us to have different workloads running. At one time, we had three different storage vendors for different application uses. Three years ago, I was frustrated with the user permission management process for Nutanix files. It necessitated using an MMC plugin for Windows. Thankfully, newer versions, like our current version 4.4, have streamlined this management by unifying and integrating it into the overall solution. Nutanix Unified Storage helps our organization remove storage silos. It allows us to create diverse file repositories, eliminating the need for separate tiers of storage. Additionally, we can set distinct policies based on the specific storage requirements of each repository. Nutanix Unified Storage integrates seamlessly with other Nutanix solutions, presenting a unified view through Prism Central's single pane of glass. This centralized console simplifies operations, eliminating the need to navigate across multiple interfaces for information or management tasks.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"Right now, we have an older StorageGRID. I like that we can grow it."
"The feature of StorageGRID that I find most valuable for ensuring data durability and protection is its Information Lifecycle Management functionality."
"Duplication, interface and the manageability is good and simple."
"The management portals have most significantly improved our data retrieval times. They've made it much easier to restore data compared to our previous methods."
"The speed of the disks removed the bottleneck from our storage."
"The technical support is good."
"The implementation with NetApp went smoothly. It is a 'setup and forget' type of appliance."
"The backup features are valuable. I've heard from our backup and data protection people that our clients are very satisfied with the performance in junction with the backup, which they archive on this type of object storage."
"They have well-documented best practices and the interface is good."
"We can utilize mixed storage block-sized objects and combine various databases within a unified interface."
"We have virtually zero downtime with Nutanix. It updates itself, and we can easily move machines from one cluster to another."
"The reliability and availability are the most valuable features. Reliability is important because it can run my workloads. I need to be able to take advantage of the VMs that are executing on the storage. It has to be reliable. It's also important to have the storage available for scaling VMs on demand."
"The interface is quite simple. It is very good. It is easy to configure. It also has a powerful CLI."
"The product is good, easy to upgrade, easy to use, and user-friendly."
"I like its interface. It is very interactive and simple to use."
"Currently, the most valuable aspect of our Nutanix implementation is its file storage functionality."
 

Cons

"The only real issue that we have run into is, when we are cloning, we cannot do a thin provision clone, it has to be a full clone."
"Beyond the initial setup, this product is a little bit difficult to configure."
"The processes around installation and upgrade need improvement."
"I would like to see them integrate more with the monitoring platforms. It is a bit difficult to get automated monitoring of the system."
"There was a small amount of confusion when working with StorageGRID and Active Directory for access. We had to do things three to four times resulting in our engineer troubleshooting a couple of things. The location of the menu, along with what is inside the menu: configurations, settings, etc., is not straightforward to users. Most users are Windows-based. So, when make logical changes to the menu which are not similar to Windows, users and administrators get confused."
"The redundancy and reliability are great, but I also see room for improvement there. I would like to see more efficiency in the storage and dedupe/compression solutions."
"The product's continual innovation and enhancement in integration capabilities with other NetApp solutions could be better."
"We want to move towards Azure in the cloud. Right now, the system is all physical."
"There should be more information. If it gets used more by more people, they will have a bigger community to share ideas. It is still kind of newer. It is not as big as Dell and other companies."
"I haven't had any issues with the solution so far."
"We have issues with software updates occasionally."
"According to the keynotes announced by Nutanix the previous day or this morning, the data storage for Kubernetes requires improvement as it has a few shortcomings in the area of operations."
"The solution should include more protocols to access data."
"The dashboard could be more customizable"
"Its licensing can be better. They can make it easier for us to scale our infrastructure."
"Another aspect that needs improvement is continuous protection against security threats such as ransomware and potential data leakage."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing of StorageGRID falls within the typical range for enterprise-grade solutions and is comparable to other vendors such as Dell, NetApp, and Pure Storage."
"The pricing is quite flexible and depends on the specific customer requirements. The initial cost is primarily based on the desired capacity, so it's not a fixed price."
"Creating your own data stores, backups, or storage grids, helps eliminate all these costs of downloading all the data back after you downloaded to the cloud."
"We chose NetApp because of price and performance."
"We save money on storage costs from this solution since it allows us to have a source of revenue from customers consuming the service."
"NetApp is not known for being the cheapest storage option on the market. Almost all of the other storage options we looked at were less expensive than StorageGRID. The price is one thing to criticize, which is what we hear internally and from customers as well. They find the cost of the terabytes in this class of storage a little bit higher than expected."
"I rate the product pricing around five out of ten—it's negotiable, depending on the circumstances."
"We pay for a license annually."
"The price can always be improved. As a customer, you always seek reasonable solutions within your budget, and they give us little to do a lot. My IT team always has to justify that we are choosing an optimal solution, so the price could be a little lower Maybe the prices could be a little bit lower."
"Nutanix Unified Storage is competitively priced. There aren't any competitors that can do much better for the same price."
"The cost of Nutanix Unified Storage can be prohibitive for some small and medium-sized businesses, making it challenging for them to adopt the product."
"It is not too high for what we are using."
"It's not the cheapest solution. It's in line with other solutions, but it offers features that the competitors don't have at any price point, especially with regard to analytics and ransomware prevention. No one else has any sort of object-based storage available. Nutanix Unified Storage is a lot more feature-rich. This is a situation where you get what you pay for."
"The product is pricey."
"Its pricing is good to okay. It is not super inexpensive, but it is still competitive. Everything could always be lower."
"Nutanix Unified Storage was cheaper than other solutions we evaluated."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
20%
Financial Services Firm
20%
Computer Software Company
18%
Government
6%
Educational Organization
30%
Computer Software Company
30%
Manufacturing Company
6%
University
3%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about NetApp StorageGRID?
The management portals have most significantly improved our data retrieval times. They've made it much easier to restore data compared to our previous methods.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NetApp StorageGRID?
I rate the product pricing around five out of ten—it's negotiable, depending on the circumstances.
What needs improvement with NetApp StorageGRID?
The product's continual innovation and enhancement in integration capabilities with other NetApp solutions could be better.
What do you like most about Nutanix Unified Storage?
Nutanix has excellent product documentation available on their portals, written in simple, easy-to-understand language.
 

Also Known As

Storage GRID
Nutanix Files Storage, Nutanix Volumes Block Storage, Nutanix Objects Storage
 

Learn More

Video not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

ASE, DARZ GmbH
JetBlue, International Speedway Corporation, Volkswagen SAIC, Brighton and Hove City Council, Foresters Financial, Janus International Group, Cloud Comrade, Serco
Find out what your peers are saying about NetApp StorageGRID vs. Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) and other solutions. Updated: September 2024.
801,634 professionals have used our research since 2012.