The most valuable feature is the flexibility because it scales to meet your needs. You don’t have to buy, like with other converged solutions where you have to buy hardware and storage at the same time, here you buy what you need.
System Engineer at Thin Technologies
The nexus code has been solid, but the licensing for fabric interconnects could be better.
What is most valuable?
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It’s very stable, especially now. In its infancy UCS had its problems, but now it's rock solid. The nexus code has been rock solid. NetApp is bullet proof. Everything has to be configured correctly.
How are customer service and support?
If you have FlexPod support, you have the support because you have Cisco and NetApp working on the same case to get the problem solved. Sometimes, vendors will pass off problems to one another, here they work hand in hand.
How was the initial setup?
Configuration can be daunting the first time you look at it, but once you’ve done it a few times it's less so. There are a lot of little setting you have to make sure you configure, and every time it is a little different.
Buyer's Guide
FlexPod XCS
September 2024
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Learn what your peers think about FlexPod XCS. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: September 2024.
800,688 professionals have used our research since 2012.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Licensing for fabric interconnects could be better. If you want to enable more ports, you have to buy licenses which can be costly, and you have to go back to Cisco and start the process again. It’s not a cheap product.
What other advice do I have?
I work with the support side. Having the support structure, having the availability of one line and, having two vendors for that one call is a huge advantage over other solutions.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
![PeerSpot user](https://www.peerspot.com/assets/media/images/anonymous_avatar_x50-87dfede4.png)
Senior Network Engineer at a consultancy with 1,001-5,000 employees
It makes us more lateral and faster to production
Pros and Cons
- "It makes us more lateral and faster to production."
- "It is pretty flexible. We are able to deploy faster."
What is our primary use case?
Our use case is for a life sciences cloud offering.
How has it helped my organization?
It makes us more lateral and faster to production.
What is most valuable?
Quick deployment.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I have not really heard any complaints from our storage engineers.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is pretty flexible. We are able to deploy faster.
How are customer service and technical support?
I have not personally used support.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We were using a different solution between Hitachi and other NetApp solutions.
We switched to FlexPod for its flexibility and quicker deployment. Also, we use other NetApp products.
How was the initial setup?
I was involved in the networking side of the initial setup. It was pretty straightforward.
What about the implementation team?
We did the installation with a core internal team. We had some NetApp help for the storage guys, but for the network portion, it was more self-explanatory.
What other advice do I have?
Most important criteria when selecting a vendor: flexibility and licensing costs.
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
Buyer's Guide
FlexPod XCS
September 2024
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Learn what your peers think about FlexPod XCS. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: September 2024.
800,688 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Principal engineer at a media company with 10,001+ employees
One rack solution that is easy to implement and integrate to the existing network. The licensing fees are exorbitant.
What is most valuable?
A valuable feature is being a one-rack solution. It was easy to implement and integrate to the existing network. The complexity of how things connect was taken out of it. We use it for mostly for cloud television, CloudTV platforms, and storage of VMware images.
How has it helped my organization?
It's a storage solution. That's the benefit.
What needs improvement?
I do not like the NetApp licensing fees. They are exorbitant. That could become a turn-off to other companies. There are a lot of other streamlined and better solutions out there for a lower price.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is very stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Scalability is very good. You have better horsepower solutions which are great. It is very easy and very scalable. FlexPod itself is pretty scalable. I am pretty happy with the solution itself.
How are customer service and technical support?
Customer support is very good.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
There are several solutions that we used, but I can't be specific for proprietary reasons. We have researched other solutions. We're always researching.
How was the initial setup?
I was involved in some of the initial setup and design. It was very straightforward and very easy.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We are always researching other options. We develop solutions in-house when needed.
What other advice do I have?
It's a great solution. I would recommend FlexPod, except for the licensing fee. I can speak about the implementation part. I don't know what the system admins would say. I'm not able to speak from their perspective.
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
Network Solutions Architect at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
It has provided our client the ability to easily provision virtual machines and storage.
What is most valuable?
NetApp’s scalability and high fault tolerance are features that we, in our organization, like about deploying NetApp’s NAS solutions.
How has it helped my organization?
We designed and installed NetApps FAS8040 dual controllers with FAS4246 and FAS2246 Storage Disk to provide NAS for the Cisco UCS 5100 system and has provided our client the ability to easily provision virtual machines and storage to those virtual machines.
What needs improvement?
Product price is always a concern.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used it for one year.
What was my experience with deployment of the solution?
No issues encountered.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
No issues encountered.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
No issues encountered.
How are customer service and technical support?
Customer Service:
10/10
Technical Support:10/10 - NetApp’s service support personnel were excellent in getting us the help we needed.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
No previous solution was used.
How was the initial setup?
NetApp’s documentation helped us with the initial setup and configuration. Great documentation always leads to better designs and better operations and maintenance experience.
What about the implementation team?
We worked with a vendor and had a successful implementation.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
No other options were looked at.
What other advice do I have?
NetApp’s FAS system is an excellent line of product. In today’s world the need for virtualization is continuingly increasing. Therefore having a storage platform that can be flexible in terms of configuration and scalability it’s important to the successful deployment of virtualization in the datacenter.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Consultant at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
The efficiency in thin provisioning and deduplication has suited many of our applications, although the user base is small and more blogs and discussions are needed.
Valuable Features
It’s basically very scalable and reliable. Also, the total cost of ownership is low. It’s an effective solution for any company, and it fits for our needs.
Improvements to My Organization
It's easy to deploy, and efficient. The efficiency in thin provisioning and deduplication has suited all sorts of applications in our business.
Room for Improvement
Awareness amongst the customers could be better. Also, the customer base, enhanced blogs and discussions are needed, as there's a small user base right now.
Stability Issues
Stability is 100% or 99.99999%, 24/7/365.
Scalability Issues
It's very scalable, and its horizontal scalability is great.
Customer Service and Technical Support
Excellent whenever you call you can speak to either NetApp, Cisco or VMware and they are all great.
Initial Setup
Straightforward, very systematic and streamlined. A lot of centralized virtual desktops.
Other Solutions Considered
We looked at a lot of vendors, but we selected this because it seems to be a strong business going forward.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partners
Bdm at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Simple, very scalable solution, vertically and horizontally, with excellent integration to Cisco
What is most valuable?
- The simplicity
- It's really scalable
- The integration with Cisco and NetApp is perfect
How has it helped my organization?
Since the customer had Cisco, he was really into Cisco, all the gear was Cisco, the network, the security, etc. It was easier to show UCS and Nexus and then to attach a NetApp storage. I can say that since we have a lot of Cisco clients, Flexpod is really valuable, because they are used to Cisco and it's easier to position NetApp.
What needs improvement?
I know about NetApp, not Cisco. So I don't know what's going on in the next release. But for NetApp, I expect with 9.3 coming out, a lot of features, more improvement of the data usage.
The memory, that you can enable flash to even increase your performance. So this will SCM.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Stability is really nice. The support of both NetApp and Cisco, the unified support, is really good.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability is really good because it's not a silo. You can expand both storage-wise or network-wise or even servers, and if we pick another convergent infrastructure, it's difficult or they are locked. So you can scale either way, either vertically or horizontally.
What other advice do I have?
When we are positioning against a cheaper solution it's really difficult to sell NetApp to our small customers, so it's really difficult to position. The customer has to see a lot of value. Once we have medium and bigger customers, it's really easy to position and it's perfect.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Reseller.
Senior Engineer with 501-1,000 employees
It’s a seamless integration of three different products: servers, storage and switches, although allowing faster certification times on newer codes on both Cisco and NetApp sides could be good.
Valuable Features
The most valuable feature of the solution is that it combines storage and server – very streamlined, very flexible, and built upon reliability.
Improvements to My Organization
It reduces the operational costs with just one platform to manage. It’s a seamless integration between three different products: servers, storage and switches.
Room for Improvement
I think that allowing faster certification times on newer codes on both Cisco and NetApp sides could be good as this is a pain point. They need to make certification more streamlined.
Stability Issues
It's very stable and there's very few issues with it because it’s a certified product in which all the components work together.
Scalability Issues
It's very scalable so you can add more server, networking or storage infrastructure, or just add more FlexPods. You can add another FlexPod and have the same features, reliability and scalability with no issues.
Customer Service and Technical Support
Phenomenal – you can work through Cisco or Netapp and they will get the right people involved. The customer doesn’t need to call three people – it’s one entry point per customer.
Initial Setup
It's deployed by NetApp or Cisco, so a lot of FlexPods are done through a partner so there is a single point of contact for the customers.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: We're partners.
Senior Storage Consultant at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
It gives us the ability to further deploy or to expand it, although in the config advisor tool, it should point out specific issues to fix.
Valuable Features
The most valuable features of the solution are the ease of support and industry leading technology – in storage, servers and networking, as well as virtualization.
Improvements to My Organization
- Ease of troubleshooting is good
- Ease of further deployment or expansion
Room for Improvement
In the config advisor tool, it could be more specific in pointing out or letting you know what to fix when it confronts issues.
Stability Issues
It’s extremely stable.
Scalability Issues
It’s extremely scalable, which is excellent. Either adding storage to the existing cluster, or more nodes, and then the same thing on the Cisco side – more blades or chassis – all of it is extremely easy.
Customer Service and Technical Support
Customer Service:
It's very responsive, good customer support.
Technical Support:It's been efficient for the customers to call the NetApp support line and then they can help assist in opening cases with the other vendors.
Initial Setup
The setup is fairly straightforward. We have used all three vendors for a long time.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
![PeerSpot user](https://www.peerspot.com/assets/media/images/anonymous_avatar_x50-87dfede4.png)
Buyer's Guide
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Updated: September 2024
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