Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) Reviews

My primary use case for Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) is centralized data storage and management across different workloads, as it provides file, object, and volume storage from a single platform, making it easier to manage unstructured data, application data, backups, and user file shares. I also primarily use Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) to simplify storage management while supporting enterprise applications.

I recently used Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) to provide centralized file storage for virtualized workloads. Instead of managing multiple storage systems, we were able to use a single platform to host shared files, application data, and backup repositories while maintaining consistent management and security policies.

One additional benefit I noticed was the ability to manage file, object, and block storage through a unified interface, which simplifies operations and reduces administrative complexity.

I have been using Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) for the past six to seven months, and based on my experience, I can say that the unified storage platform is one of the best features. There are also different features such as simplified management, scalability, data protection, and security, and all of these are the best features of Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS).

Out of these features, the most valuable feature for me is unified management because having file, object, and volume storage available from a single platform reduces the need to manage multiple storage products and simplifies day-to-day administration.

The biggest positive impact I have noticed is simplified storage operations and improved visibility. By consolidating storage services onto a unified platform, administrators can spend less time managing infrastructure and more time supporting business requirements.

One area for improvement I noticed while using Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) is expanding advanced analytics and predictive capacity planning capabilities to help administrators make even better long-term storage decisions.

More guided deployment and migration workflows could definitely help organizations adopt the platform more quickly and reduce implementation effort.

I have been working in my current field as a professional for more than nine to ten months.

Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) is designed for enterprise environments and has been reliable for supporting business-critical workloads, so I can say it is quite stable in my opinion.

Scalability is one of its strongest features, as organizations can expand storage capacity and performance as requirements grow without significantly changing management processes.

Nutanix provides enterprise-grade support, documentation, knowledge bases, and technical assistance, and the support experience is generally considered strong, particularly for organizations running critical infrastructure. I would definitely rate the customer support a ten.

My advice for others looking into using Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) is to clearly understand your storage requirements before implementation and evaluate current and future needs for file, object, and block storage while taking advantage of the platform's unified management capabilities. I would rate this product a nine overall.

Our main use cases for Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) include using it as a backup repository. 

We began to use NUS, historically known as Nutanix Files, as storage for backing up all the information from our Citrix profiles. We decided to use Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) for the repository of our backup. 

We aim to improve our backup solution, and while we don't have all the results yet, we are implementing the solutions and expecting more from the integration between the nodes of Nutanix that process all the requests from the backup.

The most valuable feature of Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) for us is how it manages the requests from thousands of users we are hosting on our solution. I'm not sure of the name of the feature, however, the network storage we're using right now is very good.

The velocity and performance have been good. We typically struggled with slowness. Our previous storage solution named StorSimple, a Microsoft-based cloud solution, and after migrating to Nutanix Files, we see an improvement in velocity and performance.

Instead of using third-party storage repositories, we're working to integrate with Nutanix. 

Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) needs improvement in compatibility with Windows solutions. Right now, we need to put it on Linus to use it effectively. As a Microsoft-heavy customer, it's important to work with Windows applications and infrastructure, and there are currently no solutions from Nutanix for that.

I've been using Nutanix Files for three years now.

I assess the stability and reliability of Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) as pretty stable since we haven't experienced a major incident since our first deployment.

Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) scales with the growing needs of our organization. It's easy; we just need to buy another physical node, and we can integrate it into the existing cluster.

I evaluate Nutanix's support services as very good; it's easy to access support, and the representatives who contact you usually have all the solutions ready and are very skillful. On a scale of one to ten, I rate their support as a nine. There's always room for improvement.

Positive

We used a cloud solution from Microsoft - StorSimple. We struggled with it being too slow. We migrated over to Nutanix and saw an immediate improvement on the performance. 

The deployment was very easy. We already had all the Nutanix nodes in the data center. We received the licensing and put it to work. 

We don't have that study yet on return on investments. Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) has helped reduce our total cost of ownership. 

We've reduced TCO. The move to Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) is profitable for us. In the past, we used to buy solutions from third parties, and now, with our large install base, the discounts we receive are very beneficial for us. We are saving approximately 20% to 25% compared with the competition.

My experience with pricing, setup costs, and licensing of Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) is favorable. We are already involved in all the licensing features, and platinum solutions. It's a marginal cost to access these features is very reasonable.

Before choosing Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS), we considered solutions from Pure Storage, Dell Isilon, and also a traditional solution from Azure called Azure Files. What stood out positively in our evaluation of these products was Nutanix's more profitable pricing, and right now, we appreciate the performance we are experiencing.

Our impression of the cybersecurity features of Nutanix when dealing with unstructured data such as threats or malware is minimal since we don't use it for unstructured data repositories; we usually use it for a database. We're not using structured data yet, however, we are trying to do so; we have a license available for a proof of concept. We haven't started that yet. 

My advice for other companies considering Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) is that every company has their own needs, however, they should try the solution, compare it, and then make the best decision for their situation. 

I rate Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) nine out of ten.

My use case for Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) is that backups are supported, and I keep the hard disk of the virtual machines, and use it as a regular storage solution.

One of the best features of Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) is that it can be accommodated in every physical server in every cluster, and it can be migrated very fast, with no need to change in other private setups. When we remove the storage from one physical server to another, the virtualization allows for seamless migration—after clicking on the migration of a VM from another cluster to another, the storage automatically gets migrated. Everything is autoscaling in Nutanix, which is a great advantage.

Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) saves time complexities, and even though it is high priced, it improves performance significantly.

Based on the real-time scenario I mentioned, there is a 30% performance improvement observed with Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS).

In terms of improvement areas for Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS), pricing is a significant issue, and another aspect is that the export of Nutanix backups does not support CD-ROMs, which is a disadvantage. Currently, it only supports QZ bus types for backups, which limits compatibility.

When comparing Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) with other solutions in the market, it falls short because it only supports iSCSI backups, while competitors also support QZ, iSCSI, fiber channel, and NVMe storage.

The solution requires no maintenance for patching since it is designed effectively, but Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) does not support fiber channel connectivity or external attached storage through NAS, limiting its compatibility. Additionally, technical support response time and efficiency are lacking in comparison to competitors.

I have been using Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) for the last 2.5 years.

For stability, I would rate Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) at 8.5, as it shows good scalability under pressure.

I would rate Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) support at five out of ten.

My rating of five is based on the solution itself, not on the response time, which is actually well-designed, averaging 10 to 20 minutes. I'm looking for solutions rather than just quick responses.

Neutral

My experience with the deployment of Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) is that it is very easy, extremely straightforward, and user-friendly.

It takes hardly an hour to deploy Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS), which includes accommodating all the storage, adding the LUNs, and mapping the WWN number to the host from the storage box.

Regarding the cybersecurity feature for dealing with unstructured data like ransomware threats, I haven't encountered any ransomware issues on the Nutanix side, but I can say it offers strong data protection and centralized management via Prism Central, which is a beautiful architecture to protect the private cloud from hacking techniques. Its inbuilt data protection features, such as password management, key pass, and the ability to fix vulnerabilities with auto patch schedules, are noteworthy.

Overall, my organization has experienced feedback that is somewhat negative from clients regarding Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS), primarily because it is high-cost in terms of storage and cloud management compared to competitors like VMware, which offers similar features at almost one-third of the price.

I have not seen anything related to AI in the storage side, but regarding workloads, Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) is very fast in terms of migration and data access with respect to VM, OS, and storage. I experienced a scenario where we migrated a customer from Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) to VMware, and after the migration, there were significant performance issues related to storage in VMware. We understood that there was a 30% lack of performance with SAP applications in VMware, which ran 30% faster on the Nutanix side, leading us to remigrate back to Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS).

I would not recommend Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) to other users or developers because it does not support fiber channel (FC) or NVMe storage, and only supports iSCSI, which I believe is outdated technology in today's market.

The primary drawback of Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) is its pricing, which is quite high. Another point is the lack of a practice lab for training users before they start using the platform; without an accessible practice lab, it's difficult for engineers and developers to understand how to work with Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS). Additionally, Nutanix lacks partnerships with other cloud vendors like SUSE KVM, which hinders migration opportunities between platforms and could limit its adoption among potential clients.

Overall, I would rate Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) a six out of ten.

Our primary use cases for Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) include having SQL servers located onsite at each of our locations, and we're using those to sometimes shoot that up into our Azure database or also into our centralized database in DC.

The feature that I find most useful in Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) is the integration with Nutanix Move where you can seamlessly integrate it into your storage. We use it initially to migrate from ESXi to AHV, and now we're using it to integrate into our EUS storage. After we're pushing that directly to our data center as a backup or easier centralization of it. We've definitely had some cost benefits with Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS), which has been really nice, but also some speed benefits and ease of use. We've been able to click inside of one centralized management area, which has been a nice, centralized management platform to be able to transfer those off storage offers.

The overall costs saved with Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) is about $100,000 annually. We probably saved our engineers eight to ten hours per week of remedial tasks in terms of having to back up storage, push scripts, and set up automated scripts. Now, it's just a click of a button inside the platform. 

It's really efficient using Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS). It has an automatic check policy where you can just one-click check, and every day it goes and scrapes pulls everything. You also have that nice implementation security checks that automatically go nightly, and that also checks your EUS storage. It's a really nice feature we didn't have previously.

The integration feature with Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) could be improved, maybe into a more stabilized version. It seems we've been having to update a lot with simple bug fixes, which is expected with a newer integration with the Cisco servers that we have. Having a long-term stable version would also be nice for customers who are more used to that.

We've currently been using Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) for about five to six months now.

Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) is very stable. We came from the HX and that was more of a long-term stable one. They released the initial long-term support and kind of left it and didn't touch it. There is some differences with having to keep up with NAS firmware versions. LCM definitely helps keep that more seamless and integrated within that. 

Scaling up resources with Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) is seamless; it features one-click licensing all through the portal. It has definitely exceeded our expectations, and we very much appreciate the licensing and the way that we set up the support contracts.

Customer support has been super helpful. I had an incident last week and Nutanix was super quick. We were sent a Zoom link within ten minutes and we were back on in 30 minutes. It would have been nice if he had sent me the KBs afterward. I had to search for it myself. 

Before we had an outside HX Hyperflex data store, and now we all manage it integrated. We were using ESXi and Cisco. Now it's all Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) integrated, which helps with the EUS storage. I really appreciate that feature. 

I'm not the CIO, and I'm not the money manager. That said, comparatively, Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) is cheaper versus the current storage environment that our company had been leveraging since you don't have to overpay for storage, and you can build that as it is, then add those costs to the production value, the business sector. It makes sense that you can scale out as needed instead of over-provisioning or over-buying upfront because you're going to grow in three years.

We looked at HPE SimpliVity. We prefer Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) is not for forcing you all into their platform as a software service. Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) is definitely more of an engineer mindset of, this is what we do, these are all the platforms that we have and use. You can go do your own research and see which ones you prefer, not 'This is our service that we only sell kind of platform,' which HPE SimpliVity forces us to use.

They also went into partnership with Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS), and that's why their partnership with Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) is important - if they trust them, we should probably trust them as well. So, that's why we followed suit.

If anybody wants to see what's going on with their environments using Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS), if they could unlock it where File Analytics can hit any FSV and cluster, then that would be perfect. We're not there today. That will be something that they have to implement.

Definitely talk to your partners regarding Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS); see what options are best available. It was a really good option for us because we currently have Cisco's hardware everywhere. Our Cisco and CDW reps were definitely able to help us with the licensing, and it was 100% worth this for us. You need to always talk to your partners and make sure it's a viable option for you.

In the long run, Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) will make it easier for us. Based on my experience, I rate Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) ten out of ten.

We have been using Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) for a few months now. We have been using the Nutanix Files shares as the GPFS file systems which we are using with the Nutanix Storage. The Nutanix Files shares in Kubernetes are also being used in our premises.

The features of Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) that I appreciate most are the protection it provides from cyber threats, the resiliency it provides, and the data copy features, which are really useful.

From the cost perspective of Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS), when compared to SBCs, it presents a significant cost benefit, and it comes inbuilt. Another benefit is the reliability.

The performance of Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) helps to reduce IO. When discussing read-write rates, it performs effectively.

My impression of the cybersecurity features of Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) when dealing with unstructured data, such as ransomware threats, is that since it is more encrypted, it is more reliable from both the support perspective and the chat perspective.

The reliability and stability of Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) is good, and the disaster recovery component is something impressive for this product.

From the speed perspective of Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS), it could enhance some features to make it the best storage solution in the market.

If Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) can enhance the speed and IO perspective, it will definitely be rated a ten. We faced a couple of challenges in SBCs.

We have been using Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) for a few months now.

Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) scales effectively with the growing needs of our company, as we onboard additional nodes and storage to increase the capacity.

We have a dedicated engineer who has always been helpful. When we raise support cases, we get excellent response on the support tickets based on the availability and priority of the tickets.

Positive

Before choosing Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS), we considered other solutions such as NetApp and IBM Storage, and we also have IBM Spectrum Scale, but this feature in NUS is very helpful. The solution I came from before Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) includes both NetApp and SBCs.

Earlier, we had SBCs and are now using Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) hardware converged in our environments for the VMs. We have Windows as Linux, and we are using those. As a NetApp replacement, we are using the Nutanix Files shares.

The deployment process of Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) was done through our internal setup. The whole installation process of Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) for the first time involved onboarding it within the cluster itself. Along with the Nutanix cluster, this Unified Storage was also onboarded in the organization.

We got support from Nutanix, and they have always been helpful in onboarding our environment.

I would estimate a 50% reduction in total cost of ownership with Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS).

I have seen a return on investment when using Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS). We have been able to get rid of many legacy systems. Previously, we had AIX and other systems. Now using this, we are able to migrate to Linux and more enhanced operating systems, and we also have plans to move to Kubernetes. 

AIX capability is being onboarded soon, and we can definitely reduce the cost there.

My experience with the pricing, setup cost, and licensing of Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) is that the licensing is pretty simple in comparison to other products. 

Also, since it comes with the hardware embedded, it offers a cost benefit to our organization as a whole. Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) has definitely helped reduce our total cost of ownership.

Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) wins over NetApp and other solutions mainly due to pricing, which is the primary factor, and the security features it has, which are also very impressive.

I'm not using the Data Lens Hycu feature of Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS). 

I don't have any feedback on how Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) can be improved as of now. 

On a scale of one to ten, I rate this solution a seven.

Our primary use case for Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) is basically everything; we are a Nutanix shop now, and it is what we are using for our infrastructure entirely, with VMware and all the VMware data and storage.

One of the main features of Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) that I find most valuable is the flexibility and scalability of it, as well as the ability to perform replication for our Disaster Recovery environment.

These specific features of Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) are valuable to my organization as they reduce the overhead, and having a relatively small IT team makes it important to set it and forget it.

My team is not managing manual or repetitive tasks; instead, we concentrate on higher value projects, and that is one of the things we are interested in exploring more within Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) with other features. As we expand, having less hands-on or manual intervention becomes critical to maintain a certain overhead in the team without incurring additional costs while keeping the team focused on other important tasks.

From utilizing Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS), we haven't had any issues for the past years since we implemented it; it has been low maintenance and has high availability or redundancy, allowing us to worry less about it. You set it, get to know it, and then you set it and forget it.

The stability and reliability of Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) are very high; we have never had any issues. The only downside might be the licensing cost, but ultimately, you pay for what you get.

We have seen reduced overheads and increased efficiency with Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS).

We haven't had any issues with the solution for years. It's very low maintenance and offers high availability and low redundancy. That's the value of it. You set it and forget it. 

I don't have an answer for how Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) can be improved.

The pricing can be quite high.

They mentioned that there's support for additional encryption beyond the SMB feature on Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS), which would allow us to utilize other platforms alongside Nutanix. I'd like to explore that.

We are going on almost seven years now of using Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS).

We've never had any issues with stability. It's set and forget. 

Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) support has been very good; we never had issues and didn't use them much, which is a good sign. When we did need them, they were responsive, and even our account manager was proactive in reaching out for potential troubleshooting before problems arose, which my team found very satisfactory.

I would rate Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) support a solid eight or nine out of ten. I am trying to find a reason not to give them a ten, as they have consistently met our needs. We have had minimal interactions with them, and I don't see a reason to give them a lower score.

Positive

We were on a completely different platform with EqualLogic before migrating over to Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS), and the initial licensing worked in our favor. The flexibility, scalability, and stability of Nutanix were well worth the transition.

One of the main factors that led us to consider a change to Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) was the need for a new architecture or design, as our previous system was getting dated. We explored alternatives rather than renewing our contract with the old system, and the impressive demos and presentations we experienced with Nutanix did not disappoint us.

We have witnessed ROI. Luckily, we haven't had the need to use it. Especially with data replication, we need to simulate the resiliency of the data when doing tests. Everything in a simulated environment has been positive. Instead of spending four to eight hours to do it, we're able to do it in one hour.

I have been encouraging other companies considering Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) to switch, despite the initial high software licensing cost, because it justifies itself in the long run. While the cost of ownership is high, it offers a good return on investment overall. The scalability challenge with previous systems is lessened with Nutanix since we can expand by adding new hardware without needing migrations.

The cost is high, however, you get what you pay for.

My experience with pricing, setup costs, and licensing for Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) has changed since we started; especially with the Smart DR, the cost has doubled for the same amount of data, which was a challenge when presenting use case justifications for the increased cost. We've been working with Nutanix to maintain a certain amount of data on a reduced cost basis.

The advantage of Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) over other providers like Dell or Cisco is the full package; while they can host Nutanix environments, my confidence in Nutanix comes from our experience over the last six to seven years, where we have never had any issues.

We are going to explore the Data Lens cost optimization feature very soon; I was introduced to Data Lens last month, went through a demo, and I am very much interested in seeing what Data Lens offers, looking into implementing it in the near future.

My impression of the cybersecurity features of Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) when dealing with unstructured data like ransomware threats is that it is always a concern. We are looking into the Data Lens for that reason. We are worried about having lots of data and there's always this worry about security. While we currently have our backup provided by the colocation data center, we are considering Data Lens to start performing our own data backups.

Overall, if I were to rate Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) based on the licensing cost, I'd give it a seven out of ten.

Our main use cases for Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) are for infrastructure, serving the entire agency, including Active Directory. It's the main part of the agency. If Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) goes down, everybody goes down.

The migration and transition from VMware was less trouble. The replication and clustering have also been useful. When we need to shut down one node or Nutanix hardware, it automatically moves to a different one. This is less of a headache for us and ensures no service interruption. 

What I find most valuable about Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) is that it's a smoother transition from VMware, and currently, it's more stable than VMware, especially after Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) updated many things a couple of years ago to meet requirements from our infosec and security team.

The features I find most valuable have benefited our company through the migration process.

The migration from VMware to Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) is less complex and less troublesome, and the replication and clustering are very good. When we need to shut down one of the nodes or hardware, it automatically transitions to the others, taking less headache from us and not interrupting our service during the upgrade or migration.

We're looking for a hybrid environment. We're working to consolidate to the cloud or to go hybrid. That will be our goal in one to two years - to do things with less complexity in a hybrid cloud environment. 

We haven't had any security events. Nutanix is good in that regard. 

Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) needs improvement, particularly for firmware upgrades, as sometimes updates take a whole day and it can be unclear whether the issue is with Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) or the hardware, requiring us to reconfigure everything, which is a main point we want consolidated into one solution.

Regarding the cybersecurity features of Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) when dealing with unstructured data such as ransomware threats, we haven't seen any issues yet, and the security looks good. However, it always needs improvement as technology evolves.

I have been using Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) for almost four years already.

The reliability and stability of Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) are very good, and after almost four or five years of usage, we haven't encountered significant issues.

It has scaled to our needs, but currently, we are unclear on what the agency specifically wants to achieve concerning cost and space reductions.

Regarding customer service and technical support, I find the technical support to be good, while customer service is very strong due to our good relationship with our Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) account manager, although technical support can sometimes be challenging due to time zone differences.

I would rate the customer service and technical support as an eight out of ten.

Positive

We considered VMware and Windows Hyper-V, along with some cloud solutions. We opted for Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) because it offers a lower total cost and requires less space in our data center.

I would describe my experience with the deployment of Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) as easy; it was easier than the other products, taking almost less than three or four days to deploy the entire cluster, and we migrated from VMware to Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) in under a month.

Using Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) has reduced our cost of ownership significantly. For example, we've gone from five racks to only two racks. This represents nearly a 50% reduction. The reduction benefits us through power consumption and other hardware efficiencies and provides us with a good ROI.

My experience with the pricing, setup costs, and licensing of Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) is that the licensing costs are better than VMware, especially with our decade-long experience with VMware.

There aren't many differences between these products we considered since the technology theory is similar, but Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) has less complexity compared to the others, which is why we chose it.

We are currently looking into AI. We haven't implemented it yet. We need to find a service that meets our AI requirements. It's a new agency requirement. We're observing right now to figure out what will work for us in AI.

We haven't decided to use it yet because we want to see how that feature helps us, and sometimes we don't have enough people to manage it since our shop only has two or three folks running Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS).

To make it a ten, we need improvements in customer service, and after using it for four or five years, we want to see how smoothly future upgrades and migrations go, especially if we consider moving to a Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) cloud solution.

We are not using the Data Lens high-cost feature of Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS).

I rate Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) eight out of ten.

We are deploying Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) for a client. We are using Nutanix Files for one of the Kubernetes platforms for storage volume. We need to map the storage, so we are using Nutanix Files and a CSI driver. We are mapping Nutanix Files to OpenShift.

Additionally, the main objective of using Nutanix Files is to replace on-premise storage appliances. Customers are spending substantial money on buying NetApp, EMC storage, or a separate storage unit for NAS file systems. We have a Nutanix platform for compute. They are already onboarded. They can utilize our Nutanix HCA hardware for file systems. It helps to avoid storage costs.

The benefit for our customers is cost effectiveness. The customer is spending substantial money refreshing NetApp storage. We identified a use case from a NAS point of view. Using Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) helps in reducing costs, as they are not spending a dedicated cost for storage procurement. They can use our HCA hardware itself for the NAS file system.

With traditional NAS file systems, we have a challenge with archiving and how data is modified. We don't have control. We just onboarded Nutanix Lens. From a cybersecurity point of view, it gives a view of changes, and it also provides visibility into the archive aspect, such as the data not changing for more than a year or a long time. It gives very good visibility.

Its features can be further enhanced from the DR and high availability points of view to match other vendors, such as NetApp. It has snapshot, replication, high availability, and other data and storage-level replication, but there are some limitations.

I have been using Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) for almost three years.

The stability and reliability depend on the VMs deployed while creating the namespace.

So far, scaling Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) is not challenging. It is performing well. At the same time, we are also not giving a lot of workload. We will come to know if we add more load, in terms of applications or user onboarding, which will show the real performance. As of now, it's good.

Nutanix support is awesome and good. For the last three to five years, we have been on a journey to make our customers exit VMware and onboard AHV. We have 90% of our environment virtualized, with 88% already converted to AHV. Only 2% is still run on VMware because some applications do not support AHV for some unknown reason. We have a dedicated Nutanix team to support us, so there is no challenge. We get very good support.

I would rate their support an eight out of ten. I'm reducing two points because there are still some ongoing issues that we are following up on. It's not that they are not supporting us, but it may take time to resolve some issues, such as compatibility issues with other tools.

Positive

The customer is using NetApp File share, and they also explored EMC storage. They wanted to standardize the vendor with respect to storage and compute. 

They evaluated NetApp for the benefits of NAS file systems and file sharing. However, EMC involved more costs and added additional physical devices in the data center, which is a challenge they are still facing.

They went for Nutanix because of the desire to go with a single vendor. They don't want to engage with multiple vendors for storage, such as IBM, NetApp, EMC, etc. They want to standardize the vendor for storage and compute.

As part of the NAS deployment, we have to create a file system cluster in Nutanix Central. Based on the requirements, we then create three or five VMs. Whenever we create a new namespace, we need to add more servers and more VMs, which generates CVMs inside Prism Central. 

Managing CVMs and managing VMs is not storage-specific. It is completely compute-specific. Hence, the storage team doesn't have complete visibility. It is still the compute team that has that visibility. The customer is trying to educate the storage team to explore Nutanix.

Our customers have seen a return on their investment with Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS). As mentioned, we are trying to avoid purchasing NetApp storage. We are utilizing existing Nutanix hardware to create a NAS. There is a very good return on investment from the customer's point of view.

The licensing currently works based on a software license. If we have files, volumes, and other licenses combined, that would be more valuable. I don't want to go for a separate license for files and a separate license for volumes. We have unified storage, so the licensing should also be unified. That would be helpful.

Other companies considering Nutanix can seriously adopt Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS). If they want to go for software-defined storage and think about a future software-defined data center, they can utilize Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS).

I would rate Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) an eight out of ten.

I am using Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) in several ways. It can be used as a NAS replacement for home directories and user profiles. We can utilize it with iSCSI storage, and it works with object storage as S3 capable storage. These are the main use cases we have implemented with Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS).

What I appreciate most about Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) is its user-friendly nature. When comparing it to other storage solutions such as NFS, NTFS, SMB, and block storage, Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) removes complexity. The built-in virtualization cloud provided by Nutanix, AHV, allows for scalability without complexity.

The performance aspects are particularly impressive, especially regarding high throughput and low latency. It effectively handles real-world performance requirements. The system is designed according to hardware configuration, allowing us to increase CPU, RAM, and storage input/output capacity when required. We can implement data locality in AHV or VMware, and manage SSD for hot data and HDD for cold data.

Regarding areas where Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) could improve, they should focus on pricing transparency and reducing licensing complexity. There is a need to resolve monitoring issues and implement deep performance analytics. Third-party integration and storage improvements are necessary, especially when compared to competitors such as NetApp and AWS in terms of file sharing capabilities.

With people working on cloud platforms such as NetApp and Azure AppStacks, performance tuning issues need resolution. The system should move towards AI-driven optimization and enhance S3 object storage capabilities. Additionally, stronger data protection measures and improved data automation features would be beneficial.

I have been using Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) for the past year while working at Nutanix. Though I do not have extensive experience spanning 5 to 10 years, I possess basic knowledge and continue to update my understanding of the system.

Stability issues can occur during downtime when VMs are in maintenance mode, or when moving data between locations. Performance issues may arise from misconfigurations, software bugs, or high CPU memory disk input/output in VMs. These situations require monitoring through prints on central and various commands to address and fix the issues.

The scalability of Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) can be increased whenever required without any significant issues.

I have not yet had the occasion to contact technical support.

Positive

The initial deployment was straightforward for me, given my 10 to 15 years of experience in IT sectors. The process involves checking hardware and software requirements, managing external management systems, and following step-by-step installation procedures. I can handle central management for Nutanix Files and Objects, including implementing necessary commands and services.

I work with VMware storage, including VMFS storage, NFS, and iSCSI. As a VMware certified instructor and Microsoft certified professional, I have experience with block storage, blob file storage, stacks, and vSAN storage. When comparing Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) with other solutions, the choice depends on user requirements, company products, cost considerations, and the specific environment needs.

Regarding cybersecurity features, Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) implements zero trust principles. It includes native data protection and compliance measures to reduce risk. The system offers encryption capabilities, including data address encryption and data in transit encryption, along with snapshot control.

I have limited experience with the Data Lens feature, which is a tool set component used for governance and analytics solutions in Nutanix Files.

Maintenance is essential for Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS). This includes managing data movement, ensuring data safety, and maintaining the environment. Regular checks of network communication and hardware communication are necessary.

On a scale from 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest, I would rate Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) between 8 and 9.

In my organization, we manage the servers using Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS). We previously used traditional servers for the production servers. We migrated to Nutanix, with all the VMs hosted in the Nutanix environment. It a shared storage, which is effective with the cost, reducing expenses in this process.

It offers better high availability and performance due to the combination of SSD and HDD disks. When compared to systems using only HDD disks, the performance improvements are notable. Additionally, the RAM and ROM specifications are significantly higher. As a result, we can efficiently run several virtual machines (VMs) across the environment.

Regarding cybersecurity features, we configure several security policies to trigger alerts via mail to the respective team during threats or malware attacks, resolving issues as soon as possible. In the traditional environment, this would require manual settings; in Nutanix, it's mostly automated, and we can reference documented known issues on the Nutanix portal.

Nutanix has improved my organization by reducing manual maintenance and costs related to previously using Cisco blades and Dell EMC external storage. I previously worked with some environments using Cisco blade servers, and we connected external storage, like Dell storage. At that time, the annual maintenance costs and maintenance for the servers and storage boxes were significantly higher compared to Nutanix. When we made the switch to the Nutanix environment, we invested more initially, but it is a long-term investment. Over time, it has proven to be beneficial in terms of performance and availability, especially due to its redundancy features.

In my previous hyper-converged environment, we experienced data loss whenever a node failed. However, after migrating to Nutanix, we have not lost a single piece of data. This is because it offers high availability, and we can set redundancy measures to ensure safe copies are stored within the environment, making retrieval easy. Additionally, we have observed a significant improvement in VM performance compared to the previous setup.

Currently, I am managing a six-node cluster with Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) and have saved 50% of the cost compared to the old environment. 

Since migrating to Nutanix, we have not lost any data despite node failures due to its high availability and redundancy factor.

Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS)'s best feature is that everything is inbuilt and tested in the environment once before reaching the customer. If you experience an issue, the vendor SLA is minimal compared to other products. 

The main feature is that we are using shared storage without needing any external storage box. 

One area where Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) has room for improvement is in rollback capabilities. If I update, I cannot roll back to a lower version, which I feel is a major drawback.

I have been using Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) for three years.

It is stable. I would rate it a ten out of ten for stability.

It is scalable. I would rate it a ten out of ten for scalability.

When comparing Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) with other products or vendors on the market, Nutanix has a minimal SLA for support, typically receiving a call within half an hour for P1 priority issues, with hardware failures resolved within three hours. 

Most solutions can be found on the support portal. The knowledge base articles are extremely helpful and well-updated. If I need information on the latest updates, I can check the Lifecycle Manager (LCM), where I can find most of the known issues along with their solutions. Overall, Nutanix's support is superior compared to other products.

Positive

It is currently deployed on-premises. We are in the process of migrating to Azure cloud, but the deployment is not yet complete. As of now, we are using only on-premises infrastructure.

When it comes to deployment, it is quite complex. Most of the deployment tasks require assistance from the vendor. During the migration, my old infrastructure was present in the hypervisor environment, and I needed to move to the new tenant environment. In my previous experience working with VMware, I found that the Nutanix Move software made migration much easier, allowing us to migrate with minimal downtime and more effectively than with VMware. I can compare both software based on my experience.

The configuration of Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) took one day with vendor help.

Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) does require maintenance. When we have hardware warranty and licenses for the HA nodes, maintenance is not required, but we can renew the subscription before they expire.

In my organization, we have a team of four people working with Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS).

It is very cost-effective compared to the traditional environment. With new hardware, it's a long-term investment but very effective for us.

It is mid-range in pricing. I consider it a long-term investment. If we look at traditional methods, the costs are higher due to the need to invest in multiple servers, storage systems, and switches. With Nutanix, the number of on-premises devices is reduced, which decreases maintenance costs. While I do invest more upfront in devices, the overall maintenance expenses for on-premises setups tend to increase with more devices. Nutanix allows for a limited number of nodes and a compact setup, which performs better than traditional methods. Therefore, we find the mid-range pricing to be cost-effective for our needs.

I would rate Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) a nine out of ten.