We are using Unified Storage for our hybrid cloud connectivity as well as virtual machine deployment and migrations. We use it to create different tiers where we store our important data, for our data classification policy. Apart from that, we are using it for our production SAP HANA platform. All our use cases are related to our field which is energy and utilities.
IT Operations at a engineering company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Single-vendor approach simplifies our storage operations and management
Pros and Cons
- "The most important point is the simplicity of the API integration. We can leverage the API integrations and connect our hybrid-cloud network environment with Nutanix's cloud storage."
- "I would like to see the integration of artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies. That could definitely be a major breakthrough in providing a unified, seamless experience for end-users. It could reduce costs as well as human effort."
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
The solution has definitely improved things a lot for us. Earlier, we were using legacy infrastructure with a heterogeneous environment with storage platforms from different providers. We had to approach each vendor for every type of work. But after migrating to Nutanix Unified Storage, everything has been streamlined and simplified, through the single-vendor approach. We are able to accomplish whatever we want in terms of operations and migration.
And with the advanced features—the data protection, data tiering, et cetera—we have been able to get rid of data silos.
What is most valuable?
The features that are most important to us are related to integration with the cloud platforms like Azure and AWS, although it supports Google Cloud as well. But the most important point is the simplicity of the API integration. We can leverage the API integrations and connect our hybrid-cloud network environment with Nutanix's cloud storage.
We also use Nutanix Data Lens to boot our virtual machines and to create zoning.
In addition, we can manage and run the storage from any location. The solution gives us the capability to operate the complete unified platform from the cloud. We can create the logical chunks in the storage, and we can map the different types of pools to any resource, residing in any environment, irrespective of location.
And for managing unstructured data, like audio, video, and images, we create different types of tiering or pools in Unified Storage. On the basis of those pools, the data is classified and we use the classifications to connect the storage pools to their respective endpoints.
What needs improvement?
I would like to see the integration of artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies. That could definitely be a major breakthrough in providing a unified, seamless experience for end-users. It could reduce costs as well as human effort.
Buyer's Guide
Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS)
February 2025
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Learn what your peers think about Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS). Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: February 2025.
838,640 professionals have used our research since 2012.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using Nutanix Unified Storage for about three and a half years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is perfect. We haven't faced any high-priority or critical issues where the storage platform has been degraded or users are facing difficulties. We are satisfied with the stability and code releases.
In terms of resiliency, with high availability and redundancy, Unified Storage works on a cluster model. With the help of this solution, everything has gone well.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
An important point is that this storage is scalable on demand. It's very elastic. We can add and remove clusters without any downtime. We haven't faced any challenges with the flexibility or scalability. We have completed seamless integrations with third-party tools, including monitoring tools.
We have it deployed across multiple locations and have more than 10,000 end-users.
How are customer service and support?
We get tremendous technical support from the Nutanix team, 24/7.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Previously, we used traditional, legacy storage solutions provided by different vendors, including CommVault and Dell. There were problems because we worked with a very heterogeneous network. We were facing a lot of complexities in terms of compliance and defining processes because we had different types of storage devices in our environment.
We found that Nutanix Unified Storage has a complete and rich set of features that can support a cloud-native platform as well as all the workloads that we operate on different cloud platforms. In addition, it's a very cost-effective and stable solution and includes an extensive set of security features for data protection.
After moving to Unified Storage, we got rid of all those complexities. Everything is simplified. We have a single-vendor approach for all of our storage.
How was the initial setup?
I was involved in the full deployment, including migration, implementation, and operations. The initial deployment was a very straightforward process. We followed the complete life cycle approach suggested by the vendor. With that approach, all the phases went well.
Maintenance of the solution includes patching, checking the efficiency of storage, and checking alerts. These are part of the day-to-day operations. We have about 10 people involved in the maintenance.
What about the implementation team?
We worked directly with the vendor.
What was our ROI?
We have seen return on investment over the last three years and we are quite satisfied with it.
The solution has reduced our operational, capital, and licensing costs. It has also reduced the human effort and our headcount in managing the operations compared to our old storage models.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Nutanix's pricing is definitely much better when compared to other storage providers. That was one of the main reasons we switched to this platform.
To anyone who is concerned about the price, I would say that Nutanix is very robust, stable, and unified, with a complete set of advanced features. If you look at the features, Nutanix has the upper hand when compared to other vendors.
The licensing model is very easy with Unified Storage and our operational cost has been reduced drastically.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We evaluated another product from a similar vendor whose storage platforms we were already using. The main differences were the cost, simplicity, ease of management, and having a single pane of glass dashboard for each module. The seamless integration and simplified licensing model were also important.
Nutanix also provides very robust security. The encryption is perfect. The data is fully encrypted with an advanced set of encryption keys and policies. We are very satisfied with the encryption and data protection provided by the solution.
What other advice do I have?
My advice to organizations that are planning to migrate to a unified storage solution is to go with Nutanix Unified Storage as this is the most trusted and stable platform I have ever seen.
We haven't had any challenges using the solution. There have been no problems with the implementation, integration, or in terms of operations. That is also true for operational support, technical support, patch management, and license management.
We are also using Nutanix clusters for our traditional workloads and Prism Element and Prism Central. We are using them because they are a part of hyper-converged technologies and save us a lot of costs. These clusters have unified storage, network, and compute, providing an integrated platform that simplifies management.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Senior Systems Engineer at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
Boasts impressive flexibility, is resilient, and removes silos
Pros and Cons
- "The real-time alerts generated by this system enable us to swiftly address and mitigate such threats."
- "The feature request I have is for the consistent improvement of how user account permissions are assigned in Nutanix Unified Storage."
What is our primary use case?
Our NetApp storage array, nearing its end of life, prompted us to seek a replacement. We aimed to migrate NFS, CIFS (SMB), and SIP shares to a new platform. Initially, we considered a Windows file server, but the Nutanix Unified Storage file offering proved more appealing. However, setting up Nutanix files required a dedicated server, and we used Robocopy jobs to transfer workloads to the new platform.
How has it helped my organization?
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.
What is most valuable?
With the current version of Nutanix Unified Storage, we've implemented a new feature called Data Lens that provides powerful capabilities for reporting file usage and identifying abnormal trends. These trends could include unusual file deletions, large-scale file access events, or potential indicators of cyberattacks like ransomware. Additionally, this data lens can help detect malicious insider activity, such as a disgruntled employee downloading sensitive company information before termination. The real-time alerts generated by this system enable us to swiftly address and mitigate such threats.
What needs improvement?
The feature request I have is for the consistent improvement of how user account permissions are assigned in Nutanix Unified Storage. While there have been vast improvements over the last three years since I began using it, there's still some additional functionality I'd love to see. I believe their team is working towards those goals, but I understand that not everything can be implemented at once, and progress takes time.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Nutanix Unified Storage for three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I've only experienced one instance of downtime, and even that wasn't caused by Nutanix. It was a network issue. This underscores the stability of Nutanix Unified Storage. I haven't encountered any other problems with it. If any concerns arise, we can always reach out to support for a health check. They typically respond quite promptly.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Nutanix Unified Storage is indeed highly scalable. With just a few clicks, we can deploy another worker VM, and the solution seamlessly scales to meet our growing needs.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support is generally quick to respond to P3 requests. Their standard response time is within eight to twelve hours, although I usually receive responses much sooner than that. The benefit of their global support network is that even if we call from the US at midnight, there's a good chance we'll reach someone in Australia who can help and is happy to do so.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We were previously using NetApp for our storage needs. However, when we decided to switch to a hyper-converged platform as part of a broader platform change, we needed to move away from NetApp. Finalizing our purchase with Nutanix was an easy decision because it streamlined the process considerably. The fact that Nutanix offered file services was also a significant factor in our choice.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was straightforward. While some network and firewall configuration was necessary, the installation wizard clearly outlined the steps. I was able to complete the installation myself within an hour, thanks to the helpful Nutanix documentation.
The migration, however, took several months due to the large amount of data involved and the need to coordinate with other departments and teams. Since the data resided in existing storage, we continued running our Robocopy jobs to maintain synchronization. This meant we had to carefully choose downtime windows compatible with business operations for the cutover, which ultimately extended the migration timeline.
Two people were involved in the full deployment process.
What about the implementation team?
The implementation was completed in-house.
What was our ROI?
Using Nutanix as a whole, I've seen a significant return on my time investment. I spend significantly less time troubleshooting, configuring, and updating. It's been much easier, and it's allowed me to reclaim my nights and weekends.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Nutanix Unified Storage pricing is reasonable.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We were initially considering VMware as a hyper-converged solution, similar to Hyper-V. However, the licensing costs for VMware were significantly higher than what we found with the Nutanix solution.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Nutanix Unified Storage a ten out of ten.
I find the security of Nutanix Unified Storage to be on par with industry standards. Additionally, the various security reports and analytics offered by Nutanix help me ensure that we are following best practices and maintaining a secure environment.
For those considering Nutanix Unified Storage for their organization but concerned about the cost, I recommend visiting the Nutanix website to test drive the solution. For specific pricing information, speak with the local reseller to explore available options.
The only maintenance required is for the software updates.
I recommend reading the documentation and taking advantage of the free test drive before migrating your existing storage to this new platform. Be sure to create a migration plan to ensure a smooth transition.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
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. The reviewer's company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Reseller
Buyer's Guide
Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS)
February 2025
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Learn what your peers think about Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS). Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: February 2025.
838,640 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Storage and Backup Administrator at a manufacturing company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Easy to manage and provides a centralized management console
Pros and Cons
- "The solution's most valuable feature is the Prism Central centralized management console."
- "There is no tagging concept in Nutanix Unified Storage where you can tag the servers."
What is our primary use case?
We use the solution more for Citrix profile VDI. We also have some Windows servers running, and we use Nutanix Unified Storage more for the server platform. If I remember correctly, we have more than 1,200 servers running on the Nutanix cluster.
How has it helped my organization?
Our company is a product-based company that performs order processing. Most of our applications are on the web. We also get invoices and a lot of files. It generates a lot of files and keeps them on the server, and the application is posted on some of Nutanix's servers as well.
In my experience, we haven't had any outages so far. The virtualization of the memory is based on the usage, and it consumes a lot. The previous tools were not as efficient as compared to Nutanix Unified Storage.
What is most valuable?
Nutanix Unified Storage is a cluster. Compared to any other virtualization environment, Nutanix Unified Storage doesn't require any downtime to upgrade and doesn't experience storage outages. So, things are going smoothly with Nutanix, and that's the best part of the Nutanix cluster for storage.
The solution's most valuable feature is the Prism Central centralized management console. We have close to eight to nine clusters and also remote sites. Compared to other tools, the solution is easy to manage. I would also like to mention the solution's ActiveDR concept and replication.
We have sites from different locations, and we are in the process of procuring ultimate licensing. Even if one cluster goes down, we can bring it up and have the application operating from the other site. That's the beauty of the tool, which makes it more efficient.
We use Cohesity from Nutanix to protect our organization's unstructured data. We also have a cloud-based Rubrik tool. Cohesity has the same infrastructure as Nutanix Unified Storage. I am an administrator for both Nutanix Unified Storage and Cohesity. We take snapshot-level backups. Since we are implementing ultimate licensing for remote sites, we will use an internal snapshot feature to replicate to the other sites.
The solution's storage and scalability features have improved our data operations. Our storage is increasing daily for business purposes. Nutanix Unified Storage has good scalability. We recently received some orders, and some nodes were added.
I like Nutanix's data locality feature because it improved our data accessibility and availability.
Implementing Nutanix Unified Storage has tremendously reduced the number of storage nodes by around 20% to 30%.
What needs improvement?
There is no tagging concept in Nutanix Unified Storage where you can tag the servers. It is more useful for backups because I manage backups as well. In other solutions, you can group servers in the backup. Although we can do a complete cluster of VMs in Nutanix, we cannot tag the server to a particular tag ID or number you can pull from the backup solutions.
If you call for that number, the server should ideally take the backups irrespective of the cluster in which it is present. We faced issues with those things. We have to protect the entire cluster manually. The server tagging feature could be added to the solution's future releases.
We didn't face any issues in Nutanix after the upgrade, but we had issues with the Cohesity backups. We consistently work with both the vendors, and that has been fixed. So that is the only thing that we had faced up to the upgrade.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using the solution in my current organization for four years, and I used it for over a year in my previous organization. So, I have a total of five years of experience with Nutanix Unified Storage.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Nutanix Unified Storage is a stable solution. That's what we need. I see. As a customer, we look for such solutions to stabilize our environment and storage. Our day-to-day business requires that.
I rate the solution’s stability a nine out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Around 784 users use the solution in our organization.
I rate the solution’s scalability ten out of ten.
How are customer service and support?
The solution's technical support is good and pretty responsive. We contact the support for small issues, and their problem-solving is the highest.
I rate the solution’s technical support a nine or ten out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
The solution's initial setup is straightforward. The upgrade from a previous version to the latest version is also easy. I wasn't involved in the solution's initial setup because it already existed when I joined the company. However, I was involved in increasing the nodes, which took around three to four hours. I don't remember exactly because it's been a while since we added storage.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
From what I hear from the management, Nutanix Unified Storage has comparatively decent pricing. I think we are in pro licensing and have yet to get ultimate licensing.
What other advice do I have?
We are not into AI yet. I'm an administrator and not an authorized personnel for those things. We are a product-based electronic components reseller. From what I have heard from management, we will be implementing AI soon.
We are mostly concerned about and focused on security hardening. Some internal solutions, like SentinelOne, have been recommended for security hardening. However, we are not dedicatedly using anything. We are also checking Cohesity DataHawk, and we are still in the process of finalizing it.
The solution is deployed in eight locations. We have multiple nodes in our main data center and DR data center. We mainly use the solution for VDI profiles and server virtualization.
I told my old colleagues that we are using Nutanix Unified Storage, and they were pretty impressed with its features. I would recommend Nutanix Unified Storage to users as a unified storage solution.
Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
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.
Last updated: Jul 31, 2024
Flag as inappropriateManager of Server and Storage Infrastructure at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
Has a simplified DR failover and the ability to deploy file servers vertically or horizontally
Pros and Cons
- "Nutanix Unified Storage does a very good job of unifying our organization's block, file, and object storage. It puts it all in one place. From one platform, we can deploy S3-type buckets. We can provide iSCSI-level block storage if we need to. It does a great job with home folders and departmental shares, which is what we mostly use Nutanix Unified Storage for."
- "The current hardware is not as dense as it could be. In our deployment, we have 2 PB per site, and we have to have 24 nodes. That's a lot of cabling and network ports that we use up. More dense nodes would be better."
What is our primary use case?
Nutanix Unified Storage will mostly be used for home folders and departmental shares. We do a lot of research, and we use this solution for research storage. There are several instruments that generate a lot of data, and we needed a place to store this data during analysis. We needed long-term storage as well.
Our previous system was a large lake of storage, and it worked well for shares and home folders. One of the things the researchers wanted to do once the file sets were placed was to analyze the data. We mounted those volumes on a server to be analyzed, and it wasn't performing enough. It couldn't keep up with it. With Nutanix Unified Storage, however, we can tailor different file servers for different workloads.
How has it helped my organization?
Nutanix Unified Storage will allow us to be more agile when deploying storage for the different use cases that we need. Also, with DR, the failover and failback between the two clusters are very simple in Nutanix Unified Storage compared to most solutions. You click, answer a question, and let it go. In other systems, you have to do a lot of reconfiguring and synchronization, which can take hours or days depending on the length of time that you need to fail back from. However, with Nutanix Unified Storage it's very simple. It makes life a lot easier for us.
What is most valuable?
One of the things that really sold us on Nutanix Unified Storage was File Analytics and Data Lens. We could always tell how much storage we were using, how many files we had, and even the age of the files, but we could never get a good handle on who was doing what with them. This has been a huge issue for us. For example, if someone moved a folder, we would not be able to tell who did it. We did not have a good way of auditing what was going on with the systems. This could become an issue in a ransomware attack. It would make it more difficult to figure out when we got infected and where we need to roll back to in order to recover. Nutanix File Analytics and Data Lens give us that information. In addition, Data Lens has a mechanism built in to prevent a ransomware attack from getting a foothold on the system. It can shut it down before it does a lot of damage.
Nutanix Unified Storage does a very good job of unifying our organization's block, file, and object storage. It puts it all in one place. From one platform, we can deploy S3-type buckets. We can provide iSCSI-level block storage if we need to. It does a great job with home folders and departmental shares, which is what we mostly use Nutanix Unified Storage for.
We can manage and run its storage from any location. Nutanix Unified Storage does a really good job of that, especially with the newest version of Files, 4.3. You can run it on NC2. That opens up a whole new possibility for us down the road when it comes time to do a refresh on the hardware. As our data centers age, it also gives us another option. We would have to decide whether we want to spend millions of dollars updating our data centers or looking at a cloud-based solution. NC2 provides a lot of advantages over just a standard native AWS or Azure deployment.
As part of our organization's ransomware protection strategy, our security department has a number of ransomware appliances that do scanning. We have antivirus running on the various shares and workstations. What's really exciting for us with Nutanix Unified Storage is that we get another tool to help prevent a ransomware attack. In case something gets through the security's appliances or something slides in through the back door, we have an additional tool to look for that ransomware attack and recover from it quickly.
Other than testing Nutanix Data Lens, we haven't gotten into it yet. However, it looks very promising. We're very excited about it, and so is our security team.
In terms of removing silos in our organization, Nutanix Unified Storage does a good job. My team manages the virtual infrastructure, and that was one of the reasons why we went with Nutanix Unified Storage over some of the other competitors. We're familiar with Nutanix and the platform. It's easy to deal with, and it makes managing a large system with a small number of employees a lot easier.
What needs improvement?
The current hardware is not as dense as it could be. In our deployment, we have 2 PB per site, and we have to have 24 nodes. That's a lot of cabling and network ports that we use up. More dense nodes would be better.
For how long have I used the solution?
We tested Nutanix Unified Storage for a couple of months before we purchased it. Last week, we spun up the clusters, and we're starting to deploy the file servers in the shares right now. We're in the very early stages of deployment.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution scales pretty well. Once it gets denser nodes, it'll scale better. There are options when you hit limits, especially using objects. You can scale that out, and they have excellent tiering options as well. I'm pleased with it.
How are customer service and support?
Nutanix's technical support is excellent. That was one of the drivers in picking Nutanix. I would rate their support a nine out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We used a large lake of storage, and it did well for us. However, as technology moved on, we found that it wasn't meeting all of our needs. Nutanix Unified Storage gives us more flexibility to provide better solutions for our users. We evaluated other solutions and went with Nutanix Unified Storage because of the analytics that it provides and Data Lens. The simplified DR failover was a big factor as well.
With Nutanix Unified Storage, you can deploy file servers either vertically or horizontally. For a large departmental share, we can size it, scale it out, and have a large number of servers so that you can have thousands of users on it. If we're doing an export or a share that's going to run on an analysis server and more speed is needed, we can scale vertically and add more CPUs to add more memory to the file server. This is something we couldn't do with our previous system.
How was the initial setup?
Once we had Nutanix Unified Storage racked, stacked, and everything cabled up, the actual deployment went very smoothly. We deployed 24-node clusters in about three days. We were ready to start building file servers and sharing on them. I was really pleased with how well it went.
What about the implementation team?
Our partner, Choice Solutions, helped us with the deployment.
What was our ROI?
At this point, it's too early to tell, but I think we will see an ROI. We will probably see a reduction in support costs. We will be able to provide better resources for our researchers, which is the main driver. They're the primary users of the storage.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
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.
What other advice do I have?
My advice, if you're looking into Nutanix Unified Storage, is to definitely do the test drives. Do the research, and compare Nutanix Unified Storage with some others. Look at File Analytics and Data Lens, and compare how well DR works. Take a look at the various options that Nutanix Unified Storage provides and compare them to those offered by other solutions.
I haven't had enough time to really get a good feel for it, but from what I've seen so far, I'm pleased with Nutanix Unified Storage. Thus, I would rate it a nine out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Infrastructure Architect at a government with 10,001+ employees
We could remove the latency you would get from reading your traditional SAN and combine all that into the nodes on a cluster
Pros and Cons
- "From an analytics perspective, the best aspect of Unified Storage is its locality. When you read data, you want to know that you're only reading data from the particular local storage node. It's also critical to access the data as quickly as possible from that. From a business perspective, the most important thing is ease of use. Having a combination of compute and storage makes it much easier to manage."
- "Historically, it has been a hyper-converged infrastructure, so when you are looking to grow the solution, you need to scale the compute and storage. Having the ability to scale the storage independently would be a good improvement."
What is our primary use case?
Our use cases can be divided in two. The first relates to end-user computing. We run Citrix on top of Nutanix clusters. It's highly stable, and we have a user base of around 8,000 people. It's a platform where people can claim government benefits, and many of our office staff at job fairs use it to access their applications.
We also use it for backend functions in our data and analytics department. Our data lake solution uses cloud data housed on several Nutanix clusters in our data center. The application crunches that data and several analysts rely on it to predict things like fraud.
The other side is a data warehouse we use for our SaaS application. It holds a massive data set that is pulled into the SaaS application, which crunches the numbers. With Nutanix, we can spread our SaaS worker VMs across several Nutanix nodes. They're all rolled together, but each worker is only dealing with the local data.
How has it helped my organization?
Once we patch a Nutanix cluster, we know it has also patched the storage element. We aren't dealing with the hypervisor separately, so we know it isn't completely separate from the SAN, which makes things a lot slicker. It's the same with the storage element.
What is most valuable?
From an analytics perspective, the best aspect of Unified Storage is its locality. When you read data, you want to know that you're only reading data from the particular local storage node. It's also critical to access the data as quickly as possible from that. From a business perspective, the most important thing is ease of use. Having a combination of compute and storage makes it much easier to manage.
We don't have any latency, which is one reason we continue to use Nutanix for these workloads. Our data warehouse has a traditional three-tiered structure and has been that way for many years. It doesn't mean it doesn't function, but we wanted to modernize it by improving performance.
We achieved that using Nutanix. We could remove the latency you would get from reading your traditional SAN and combine all that into the Nutanix nodes on a cluster.
It has reduced the number of nodes to a degree because we've been able to collapse several legacy SAN infrastructures into the Nutanix boosters. We still need that storage for three-tier, so we put it together outside.
What needs improvement?
Historically, it has been a hyper-converged infrastructure, so when you are looking to grow the solution, you need to scale the compute and storage. Having the ability to scale the storage independently would be a good improvement.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have used Nutanix Unified Storage for nearly seven years.
How are customer service and support?
Nutanix technical support is generally very good. You can speak with someone, and they'll work behind the scenes to resolve the issue. If it's a more long-term issue, it may need to be passed from one team to another. It tends to work smoothly.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We also use VMware, Oracle, and Linux hypervisors. When we adopt new tech, we add tenants to the picture because of what they can offer. We combine the skills of our system administrators and collapse them into one. Nutanix's advantage is ease of use. Compared to all the products we've tried, Nutanix performs just as well as anything else — better in some cases.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Nutanix Unified Storage is competitively priced. There aren't any competitors that can do much better for the same price.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Nutanix Unified Storage eight out of 10.
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.
Last updated: Jun 23, 2024
Flag as inappropriateOffers ease of use and management, along with a straightforward implementation
Pros and Cons
- "The product's benefits stem from the ease of use and management it offers to its users."
- "The product does not offer one console."
What is our primary use case?
I use the solution in my company since I have two or three users, specifically cloud customers, who use Nutanix Files and subnets for backup storage and for a common shared folder.
How has it helped my organization?
The product's benefits stem from the ease of use and management it offers to its users.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that I like the object sizes. The tool's infrastructure is quite easy to implement. I know that I would like the product's licensing model to be much cheaper, especially if I tried to make another type of cluster. When you have huge data, the tool is cheaper.
Nutanix Unified Storage for detecting and blocking ransomware threats is a good option offered by the tool to users for objects and storage. Users can access the right technologies offered by the product so that it is more secure for our company.
Nutanix Unified Storage offers large space per node. The tool does not help reduce the number of nodes used in my company. Usually, my company needs to expand the number of nodes used.
In terms of the tools my company is currently utilizing to protect unstructured data, I would say that there is one option that you can use for your data protection. You can have two or three implementations to develop a disaster recovery for unstructured data, especially for the ones on file servers.
What needs improvement?
The product does not offer one console. From an improvement perspective, it should offer one console. With Prism Central, Nutanix tried to manage all the stuff, but I believe that it can be made easier.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Nutanix Unified Storage for three or four years. My company is in partnership with Nutanix.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
My company deals with the product's customers who work in the government sector who use it at a massive level. The product is also used in the banking sector. The product is very stable in general.
How are customer service and support?
The solution's technical support is awesome, quick, and effective. I don't really use the product's support services. Whenever I use the product's support services, it has always been good. I rate the technical support a nine to ten out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Before bringing Nutanix Unified Storage into our company, files and objects were stored in separate products. My company used to use one solution named Nutanix Mine. All the licenses gained by our company work in a different manner.
Some of my company's clients used to use QNAP's NAS solutions. My company's client changed to Nutanix Unified Storage since it offers more reporting options, making it more cost-effective in terms of management.
How was the initial setup?
The solution is deployed on an on-premises model.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The licensing model the tool has is cheaper than an HCI storage solution. You can get a straightforward compression feature in Nutanix Unified Storage, which is better than buying a SAN solution of eight terabytes for 1,000 USD. If you have some complexities and some requirements, or if the users operate in a government agency or in a VDI environment, depending on how you like to use it, it is better to use a solution from Nutanix instead of an all-modern block storage tool.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
As my company is in partnership with Nutanix, we cannot consider another product against Nutanix Unified Storage.
What other advice do I have?
I have never used anything in the tool associated with AI, so I don't know about Nutanix Unified Storage's throughput or latency for data-intensive workloads, such as AI or data analytics.
I rate the solution a nine 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
Last updated: Jun 10, 2024
Flag as inappropriateSection Manager for Platform Team at Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission
Removed siloes from our organization’s storage and the life cycle manager help to consolidate different vendors
Pros and Cons
- "The life cycle managers of the PCMs are very impressive, and I like them. They make our lives easy when managing patches and security updates when they come in. A life cycle manager helps to consolidate different vendors."
- "Security is an area for improvement. When there are vulnerabilities, there needs to be a faster approval process. The solution needs to automatically target the vulnerabilities and not waste too much time."
What is our primary use case?
We run our VMs on Nutanix Unified Storage. We were trying to reduce the data center footprint and shrink the bandwidths on the number of storage units that we were using. We also wanted to avoid having to deal with different vendors when there is an issue. We have a 700 TB environment.
We use Varonis for ransomware protection. It's very expensive, but it does a very good job. Varonis monitors file pattern changes and maintains well-known dictionary sets.
What is most valuable?
The life cycle managers of the PCMs are very impressive, and I like them. They make our lives easy when managing patches and security updates when they come in. A life cycle manager helps to consolidate different vendors.
Also, because the management is simplified, I can depend on one or two people. We are able to reduce contractors and FTEs. We used to be a team of more than ten people, and now we are a team of six. As such, we are able to save about $400,000 a year.
We have to run mandatory disaster recovery processes every year. It's very important that Nutanix Unified Storage is able to manage and run our storage from any location.
Nutanix Unified Storage removed siloes from our organization’s storage.
What needs improvement?
Security is an area for improvement. When there are vulnerabilities, there needs to be a faster approval process. The solution needs to automatically target the vulnerabilities and not waste too much time.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been Nutanix customers for two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
NUS's stability is very good.
How are customer service and support?
Nutanix's technical support is good. They go the extra mile to help us out with health checks as well. Therefore, I would give them a nine out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
NUS's initial setup was straightforward.
What about the implementation team?
Our partner, CAS Severn, helped us with the initial deployment process.
What was our ROI?
I believe that we have seen an ROI.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend trying Nutanix Unified Storage. I rate it a nine out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Technology engineer at Dicegsa
The throughput is excellent, especially the data analytics
Pros and Cons
- "The best Nutanix Unified Storage features are its recovery and data speeds. It has resolved the issue of accessing information quickly."
- "Perhaps Unified Storage could be improved by including artificial intelligence to make searches more effective. Also, if someone has access who shouldn't, it could automatically update, so I do not need to physically remove permission. The platform could do it automatically. AI could make it more self-service."
What is our primary use case?
We use Unified Storage for file sharing, application access, and backups.
How has it helped my organization?
The model at Dicegsa involves many sellers storing their information on Nutanix Unified Storage from different places in various ways. Nutanix allows us to avoid silos of information by consolidating everything into Unified Storage, so no data is lost and users have high trust in it. Phones, laptops, etc. get lost, but the data remains protected.
Nutanix Unified Storage has enabled us to reduce the number of storage nodes. When it comes to renewing the technology, I prefer to buy NUS because it works better than traditional storage. In terabytes, we have reduced about 80 terabytes into two little boxes. It has affected us positively in that we do not have any outages. We have lost devices but the information is still available.
What is most valuable?
The best Nutanix Unified Storage features are its recovery and data speeds. It has resolved the issue of accessing information quickly. NUS's throughput is quite good. However, our model still requires optimization for better results. It isn't the solution's fault but rather how our data is organized. The throughput is excellent, especially the data analytics, it has many conversions. A lot of information comes and goes, which is analyzed differently. The result is perfect.
It has immutability functionality within the backups that is out of the box. Nutanix delivers it and offers us an additional layer of security. I did not know the feature existed, I was pleasantly surprised when I found out about it.
What needs improvement?
Perhaps Unified Storage could be improved by including artificial intelligence to make searches more effective. Also, if someone has access who shouldn't, it could automatically update, so I do not need to physically remove permission. The platform could do it automatically. AI could make it more self-service.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have used Unified Storage for three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
In the three years we've used Nutanix Unified Storage, we've never had any issues aside from the ones we've generated.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We are not yet at our limits, and what we purchased still supports our data, but I believe Nutanix Unified Storage has no problems scaling. It's a highly stable platform.
How are customer service and support?
I rate Nutanix customer service nine out of 10. It's only nine because I do not believe in perfection. This is a critical subject for us. Normally, our suppliers deliver and leave. However, we have maintained a relationship with Nutanix for three years. We started with a single solution and decided we wanted to continue working with them.
We recently renewed three other servers and will continue to grow with the same provider. We know each other, so it's easier to trust someone you've known for a while. Indeed, a community is growing and more clients join every day.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We previously had a Dell that was expensive and incomplete. We would have to complete it with something else that made it even more expensive and have the dependency on a resource. This was ultimately reduced thanks to NUS.
How was the initial setup?
Deploying Nutanix Unified Storage was simple for the IT team, and we quickly integrated it in compliance with the minimum security mechanisms. We updated, migrated, and implemented it, so it wasn't too chaotic. There was a learning curve, but it wasn't so bad because our IT staff members aren't rookies. They already understand the concepts and how things are implemented, so it was fast.
We started with certain important people, focusing on the business aspects, not technology. We took advantage of technological renewal, the fact that it was time to renew and change components. In every deployment, people always react differently to change. At first, you don't trust the technology, but once you start realizing its potential, things become much more fluid.
What about the implementation team?
A consulting integrator called Mtsolutions, which is in Latin America. The name of the integrator was Ronald Paniahui, the experience was very positive.
What was our ROI?
It is difficult to say because we have never measured the ROI of Nutanix Unified Storage, but I can provide a concrete example. For example, a salesperson had a problem in January when her laptop stopped working. That loss of information costs a lot of money. We implemented Unified Storage in March, and something similar happened to another person in May, but they didn't lose their information. There was only minimal physical damage to the device.
We know there is operational efficiency and the information is easier to recover. If we were working the same old way, we would have needed people dedicated to many issues. Maybe this measurement has not been from a human resources perspective of how long it takes for a person to recover their information, where they do it, what they recover, etc. The business flow would not be the same if we still used another solution.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
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.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Nutanix Unified Storage nine out of 10. The platform sells itself without forcing you to like it.
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.
Last updated: Jun 30, 2024
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