HPE SimpliVity Reviews

Typically, our customers use it to try to consolidate their solutions on VMware with multiple virtual machines — almost more than 15 in every case.

The integration possibilities regarding the administration console are one of the best configurations and one of the best features that differentiates this product from others in the market. Also, you can add extra coverage protection that includes everything inside of the hard drives — similar products don't do this. You can use it directly from the hypervisor, which is great.

The price is one of the biggest problems our customers have. The solution is great, but at the end of the day, it's expensive. Compared to other solutions on the market, like Nutanix or vSAN, you are paying for something else. In this case, I have to explain the big differences within HPE SimpliVity. Overall, the biggest issue I have is regarding the price.

The problem is not necessarily with the HPE SimpliVity console itself because it's very easy to integrate with. Sometimes, our customers just want to have the opportunity to have the freedom to choose between Hyper-V and VMware. We love that kind of possibility. 

It's not so frequently that we have a request about Hyper-V, but our customers do ask about the differences regarding licensing prices because at the end of the day, with Microsoft, the hypervisor is included with the operating system — that saves money.

The feature that I would like to see improved in the next release is migrations. There needs to be a simple process for migrating one SimpliVity cluster to a new SimpliVity cluster. 

I have been using this solution for almost two years.

We have no problems with SimpliVity. If you configure it well, the product works well, but once you consider the possibility of growing a SimpliVity cluster after one or two years, it's not easy for costumers to understand that the original nodes are not available — you have to buy specific new nodes or whatever is available at that moment. You will lose some space, capabilities, or some benefits with the new nodes — you may need to configure a new cluster and migrate the older one. 

SimpliVity should have the capability to integrate with other clusters in the future. Here in Colombia, our customers try it with just one additional node, but although that additional node could be easy to configure, you still will lose some features and characteristics.

The technical support is exceptionally good. 

There's some information missing from the manual. I had to request special help in some cases because the documents are not complete. For example, wherever you go, unless you have some kind of experience with the product, there are some ports on the backend of the servers that are not easily identifiable. When you read over the documents and try to find that information, you can't find it anywhere — you have to contact SimpliVity support.

They need to provide more complete information about the components and their uses, especially the ports on the back.

The initial setup is not bad when you use the OCA. The OCA is a configuration utility but you have to know what you're doing or you could easily drive up the end-price for the customer.

Regarding configuration, it would be nice to have the flexibility to easily select the right low-cost service for any implementation or configuration. 

Overall, on a scale from one to ten, I would give this solution a rating of nine. If the customer has the right environment, I would definitely recommend this solution.

We're using it to refresh our retail stores.

It has improved our backup situation by reducing its complexity and improving recovery time.

As a refresh, we've improved our CPU and memory capability which allows us to build a foundation and continue to move forward in our app development. We can release new applications.

• The easy to use interface
• Already using VMware
• A very small package but with lots of memory and CPU

I would like them to add more connection capability, a hub and spoke model, to improve the number of connections that it can handle. That would be helpful because we have a lot of retail stores.

There are certain technical things that we run into. There's a matrix compatibility where, if you upgrade one piece, the rest have to fall into line. If that requirement could be eased up a bit it would be a good thing.

I would consider it stable.

For the most part, for what it does, the scalability is fine.

Technical support is very good.

The initial setup was pretty straightforward.

We used a reseller. Our experience with them was kind of interesting. CDW was the main partner but they had sub-contracted parts of it out to Tech Data, a move which added another layer that we didn't expect and was not fully disclosed at the beginning.

You definitely have to do a PoC and check-mark all the different items that are in your requirements. Go from there and see if it actually works.

I'd give it a nine. It has pretty much everything there.

We are using SimpliVity for VDI and virtual desktops. We are also using it for some small manufacturing sites.

It has lessened our burden on multiple different products, so they are under one umbrella. This has been economically good.

SimpliVity is simple and all in one.

I don't think it's as simple as it is marketed, but it is a new product. Since it is a newer solution, there needs to be more knowledge transfer out there. The product needs more maturity because of the industry.

It is too early to tell about stability.

It scales well so far. We had to increase capacity. It was able to scale pretty simply, and that worked well.

Technical support has been awesome.

We were previously using basic compute storage.

We were lifecycle managing all our technology, so it was more about stability. We switched for a more converged solution.

Scheduling was a little rough, but other than that, it went okay.

HPE deployed it, but we used an integrator (CCP) for design. Our experience with CCP was good.

We looked at Nutanix and Dell EMC products.

We went with HPE partly because I have history them.

Do your homework.

General purpose fertilization is our primary use case. 

This IT solution covers our hardware. We are using it in our VMware virtualization aesthetic to cover all the workloads within our region.

If something goes wrong with a patch, or whatever, and we need to make a recovery, it takes about six seconds to recover and get it back to normal. Previously, it could take hours.

We are a bit more productive with this solution because we don't have to spend as much time managing backups and recoveries.

It is easier to manage than what we are doing before.

Speed and recovery are its most valuable features.

The solution has eliminated the need for overprovisioning. It is designed to take advantage of deduplication strategies, which means we don't have to have as much disk in the system to do the job that we used to have to do.

The upgrade path needs to be better defined on the spec sheets. I would like hard numbers to be revealed to me, instead of being hidden by, "We have to go to HPE to get you a special request, then fill a part number for me."

Right now, the stability is good. There has been no degradation of the product.

What has really been affected is our ability to keep our workloads running and playing safely.

I haven't had to try and scale it yet.

It is pretty good for a small to medium-sized business.

The technical support is weak. It is a layered product. It has a software solution on top of the SimpliVity solution, which is built on top of the hardware of the HPE DL380s. When we call for a problem that we know is related to the DL380, we get a SimpliVity guy trying to solve a SimpliVity problem. If it is not a SimpliVity problem, it's a hardware problem. So, it takes awhile for them to figure out which part of the organization should really be helping us.

Our previous solution failed, which is why we switched. We were using the HPE HC380. We had already started examining the SimpliVity solution as a replacement for that stack, but then it failed. So, we had to put SimpliVity in as an emergency.

The initial setup is straightforward. It just runs according to a script.

We run almost all of our production environment on SimpliVity. This includes Citrix, SQL, file, and production applications.

SimpliVity has provided our organization with a cost effective DR/data protection solution. Training time has be reduced due to SimpliVity's seamless integration with vCenter Flex and Flash clients.

• The backup and recovery is very fast, effective, and easy to use. 
• The ability to manage the environment without special consoles or interfaces is a plus. 
• Managing storage doesn't require a specialized skill set. 
• Software upgrades and scalability can be done during normal business hours with no downtime.

• SimpliVity needs to improve the support for native backups, like SQL and Exchange.
• File level restores work well, but indexing will help make the process faster.  
• SimpliVity needs to add support for Hyper-V and KVM.  

HPE has decided to sell the solution in all-flash configurations, which may not be as cost effective for smaller mid-market enterprises.

It has helped to reduce our VMware licensing costs due to host consolidation.

We are an SIEM integrator. We are working with a lot of products that our clients have, and we are studying products in our clients' production. 

It is mostly used for remote sites. It is sometimes also used for production. Its version depends on the customer.

SimpliVity is integrated into the virtual center, so there is no additional management software or management interface. It's quite simple to manage because there is only one interface. It is all in one, which makes it different from other solutions.

Its simplicity is most valuable. The management is easy, and you don't have to have a lot of knowledge about storage, network, etc. It is simple to manage and simple to implement, and that's its key feature.

Its scalability can be improved. When we put a lot of nodes, sometimes, its performance decreases. Its price can also be improved.

I would like some reporting about backup and replication.

I have been using this solution for about four years.

It is quite good. It is really stable. We have no issue with performance.

Its performance decreases when we have a lot of nodes.

It is suitable for small, medium, and large companies. It can be used in almost all companies.

It is pretty good. Their support and maintenance are really good, but the installation services that HPE provides for SimpliVity are sometimes not so good.

It was quite straightforward. Now that I know how to deploy it, it takes less than 30 minutes.

Our company provides the implementation services. The maintenance of hardware and software is done by the vendor.

Its price is pretty good as compared to the other solutions, but it is quite expensive if we compare it with non-HCI solutions.

I would advise others to give it a try. We did a lot of proof of concepts where we just put a node, and the client tried it.

I would rate it a nine out of 10.

We use it for our production system. We have many production systems.

It has helped us a lot. HPE SimpliVity reduces the administrative tasks for the system admin. It doesn't require many people for support. One or two guys are enough.

The feature that I like the most is the backup feature embedded inside the HPE SimpliVity. When we have any activity, within five minutes, we have a backup. It also has PDR for performing disaster recovery.

We had some hardware compatibility issues with the earlier versions of HPE SimpliVity. We upgraded to the latest version a few months ago, and since then, there is no hardware failure, and it is better.

They don't provide a portal to create a ticket directly for the HPE SimpliVity. We have a web portal to create a ticket when we have an issue, but for HPE SimpliVity, we need to call the local vendor for support. If they are not able to resolve the issue, they contact the global support, which takes more time.

Technology is moving very fast, and everybody nowadays is focusing on the cloud base. In the future, they should integrate it with the cloud base for the backup.

I have been using this solution for two years.

It has good stability.

It is easy to scale. We have more than 2,000 users.

We contact a local vendor for support. If they are not able to resolve the issue, they contact the global support, which takes time.

We used vSAN for the VMware solution.

The initial setup is complex. It is not easy like other solutions such as Windows Server. You need to have enough knowledge to set up SimpliVity. Your normal staff won't be able to do it. Only someone with experience and knowledge of SimpliVity can set it up. Each phase of deployment took around two hours.

We have a local consultant and a vendor. We work directly with the vendor. If there is any issue, they resolve it, but it can take time because if they aren't able to resolve it on their own, they have to create a ticket with global support. For its maintenance, we have two people.

We are seeing a return on investment.

The licensing is on a yearly basis. The licensing cost also includes vCenter at a cost in the cloud solution.

It is a good solution. It is a good hyper-converged solution as compared to other solutions like Cisco or Dell because they don't embed software inside the solution. SimpliVity is more useful for us because, during the month-to-month activity, it provides good features to back up, install, and roll back everything.

I would rate HPE SimpliVity an eight out of ten.

We use SimpliVity in our retail stores as a backup solution.

We had an incident once where one of our primary servers in a retail store went down. It took us less than a second to do a restore. It came back up and we were up and running. It used to take us days to restore those servers.

The most valuable feature is the quick restore.

There is room for improvement in that there is a need for so many Federation nodes. It would help if they increased that capacity so that we didn't have to have so much hardware in our secondary site.

It seems pretty stable in regard to the way it's working with the Federation and in the local copies.

The scalability is good. It's scalable to what we need it for.

The technical support is amazing. It's really good. We've gotten the white-glove treatment from HPE and CDW.

We were running on antiquated equipment and older solutions that required a lot more hands-on work. We used a piecemeal solution. We had two Dell servers and a VNXe storage unit and we backed it up through Commvault. So we had a bunch of different providers, different supports that we'd have to call for the three different things. With SimpliVity it is all just one.

Initially, it was pretty complex for us because we didn't know anything about it. But once we got the hang of everything, it actually became pretty simple.

We used a reseller, CDW. Our experience with them has been great. They've been an awesome reseller for us. We do almost all of our stuff through CDW.

We haven't really seen ROI yet because we're still fairly new to the product.

Our shortlist included Dell and Commvault. We chose Simplivity for the simplicity of the way it works and the true hybrid converged appliance which was there. We didn't have to buy a bunch of equipment. We bought two nodes and were able to do everything with those two nodes.

If you're a retail company that has a bunch of stores, I would actually highly recommend this for your stores - for the simplicity of it, the ease of the restores, and keeping your environment up and running.

We use it as a backup solution and so that the nodes don't fail. When the nodes fail, it's all governed through SimpliVity. It's been working really great. We haven't had too many issues with it.