StorMagic SvSAN Reviews

Name: StorMagic SvSAN
Brand: StorMagic
Rating: 4.2 (21 reviews)

4.2 out of 5

21 reviews
95% willing to recommend

1,233 followers

What is StorMagic SvSAN?

StorMagic SvSAN is simple hyperconverged storage used to eliminate downtime. It provides high availability with two nodes per cluster, and boasts users among thousands of organizations to keep mission-critical applications and data online and available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

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StorMagic SvSAN is the #6 ranked solution in top Software Defined Storage (SDS) solutions and #8 ranked solution in HCI Software. PeerSpot users give StorMagic SvSAN an average rating of 8.4 out of 10. StorMagic SvSAN is most commonly compared to Red Hat Ceph Storage: StorMagic SvSAN vs Red Hat Ceph Storage. StorMagic SvSAN is popular among the large enterprise segment, accounting for 52% of users researching this solution on PeerSpot. The top industry researching this solution are professionals from a computer software company, accounting for 17% of all views.

Helped 831,158 peers since 2012

Featured reviews

Dhanraj Garbou

Owner at a tech services company with 1-10 employees

StorMagic SvSAN is more user-friendly than other software-defined virtual SAN solutions, especially for smaller businesses. It is capable of working on any hardware, making it cost-effective. StorMagic SvSAN allows the use of any storage type. The Witness feature, which can handle over 1,000 clusters, is helpful for our clients. StorMagic SvSAN offers a distinct advantage over its competitors by including the stretch cluster feature. This functionality, not commonly found in rival products at cost, enhances data availability and disaster recovery capabilities. It is not difficult to administer all of our storage clusters using Edge control. StorMagic SvSAN is the right management tool for StorMagic and enterprise customers, providing a cost-effective solution. It reduces downtime by about 40 percent. StorMagic SvSAN offers cost savings compared to other software-defined virtual SAN solutions. It has significantly improved the organization by providing reliable support and straightforward configuration procedures, benefiting both my enterprise and SMB customers. StorMagic SvSAN is a hyperconverged, high-availability solution with enterprise-grade functionality. Its vendor—and hardware-agnostic design makes it a cost-effective choice for businesses seeking high availability.

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Georgi Petrov

Global Data Center & Disaster Recovery Manager at Curium Pharma

What we like the most is how easy it is to implement. I am able to bring fully functional virtual infrastructure in a matter of two hours with StorMagic SvSAN, compared to other technologies that are very complex. StorMagic SvSAN does not have hardware-specific requirements and is hypervisor agnostic, which makes it easier compared to competitors like HPE SimpliVity that are limited to specific hardware. This solution has allowed us to achieve unification and standardization across our sites, making it easy to install and maintain.

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reviewer2619357

Information Technology Manager at a computer software company with 51-200 employees

StorMagic SvSAN is flexible and easy to use. It is compatible with various hardware, including Cisco, HP, Lenovo, and Supermicro. The company is also flexible with its recommended specifications, allowing users to exceed them without issue. I have not encountered any problems with StorMagic SvSAN on any hardware vendor I have tried. The cost of hardware required for StorMagic SvSAN is significantly lower than that of competitive solutions. Their licensing model, based on storage usage, offers flexibility and affordability. For instance, we utilize a two-terabyte license. Overall, StorMagic SvSAN's pricing is comparable to, if not more affordable than other options. StorMagic SvSAN supports various storage types and brands within a cluster, accommodating past and current technologies. Over the years, we've transitioned from traditional spinning disks to SSDs and now utilize NVMe SSDs, with StorMagic seamlessly supporting each upgrade. While faster drives inherently deliver better performance, StorMagic has consistently functioned without issue across a range of drive types and brands. Hardware flexibility is as crucial as cost, especially for a smaller company like ours that needs to adapt quickly. With hardware frequently changing, upgrading, and involving different vendors, maintaining flexibility and consistency is essential. Having a solution that works the same way across all vendors, whether it's Cisco or HP, significantly benefits our small support team. Witness effortlessly manages up to 1,000 SvSAN clusters. While we haven't personally utilized that many, it has effectively handled our multiple clusters without issue. The software's hardware requirements are very flexible. It reportedly runs on platforms as small as a Raspberry Pi. We currently operate it on a small HP desktop computer with excellent results, and it scales seamlessly with the rest of our system. The primary advantage is its two-host architecture, requiring only two hosts plus a Witness for full functionality. This contrasts with competitors who necessitate three hosts, significantly increasing costs. Avoiding the need for a third host translates to substantial savings, estimated at $20,000. Although StoreMagic's costs remain high, the ability to eliminate a host and its associated expenses results in considerable cost savings. This Edge Control provides a simple, visually appealing dashboard for easy administration of all clusters. The well-designed interface ensures clear and understandable cluster management. It provides immediate benefits after deployment. StorMagic SvSAN significantly reduces downtime in our environment by allowing us to perform maintenance or system updates without disrupting user access. With SvSAN, we can seamlessly switch all running machines to a secondary machine, ensuring continuous operation and eliminating noticeable downtime for end-users. This has resulted in substantial savings on maintenance costs and provided peace of mind regarding system reliability. StorMagic SvSAN helped us save costs by eliminating needing a third witness host. Their pricing has remained relatively consistent over the past ten years, with only a modest increase of about 10 to 15 percent. Despite this, their pricing is still very competitive, and they have been proactive in helping us find ways to save money. While I would always like to see even more cost savings, I understand that they need to make a profit as well. We've likely saved 30 to 40 percent annually by using StoreMagic, simply due to the cost reductions in hosting and maintenance time across multiple sites. StorMagic SvSAN provides a hyperconverged high-availability solution with enterprise functionality, and that is all we use it for.

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StorMagic SvSAN mindshare

Product category:

As of January 2025, the mindshare of StorMagic SvSAN in the Software Defined Storage (SDS) category stands at 7.4%, up from 5.3% compared to the previous year, according to calculations based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Software Defined Storage (SDS)

PeerAnalyst reports

Type	Title	Date
Category	Software Defined Storage (SDS)	Jan 20, 2025	Download
Product	Reviews, tips, and advice from real users	Jan 20, 2025	Download
Comparison	StorMagic SvSAN vs StarWind Virtual SAN	Jan 20, 2025	Download
Comparison	StorMagic SvSAN vs Red Hat Ceph Storage	Jan 20, 2025	Download
Comparison	StorMagic SvSAN vs Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI)	Jan 20, 2025	Download

Title	Rating	Mindshare	Recommending
Red Hat Ceph Storage	4.1	20.2%	81%	23 interviews Add to research
StarWind Virtual SAN	4.8	9.0%	100%	189 interviews Add to research

Valuable Features

StorMagic SvSAN offers high availability, zero downtime, and platform independence. Users appreciate its cost-effectiveness, simplicity, and rapid installation. It supports existing hardware, providing configuration flexibility. The user-friendly interface is intuitive and requires minimal touch. Data encryption enhances security, and seamless upgrades maintain performance. Users note its reliability and integration capabilities without technical expertise. These features make StorMagic SvSAN a popular choice for businesses needing dependable, affordable storage options without the need for specialized hardware.

"StorMagic SvSAN has significantly reduced our downtime."
"StorMagic as a company provides exactly what you are looking for."
"StorMagic SvSAN offers several valuable features, most notably its seamless software upgrades and robust data encryption."

Room for Improvement

StorMagic SvSAN needs improvements in licensing, user interface, scalability, and security. Users desire built-in memory caching, better VM and data replication, support for more virtual machines, and enhanced network security. Simplified implementation, training, and integration with monitoring tools are required. The interface could be more intuitive, and more enterprise-focused features could be added. Enhanced Edge Control capabilities and embedded monitoring are desired. Improved documentation, crash consistency, and a modernized user interface are also needed.

"Crash consistency needs bolstering, particularly when using VM Allegro Snapshots, which frequently result in crashes."
"I would like to see improvements in the virtual networking module as it is not straightforward and sometimes time-consuming."
"Crash consistency needs bolstering, particularly when using VM Allegro Snapshots, which frequently result in crashes."

ROI

StorMagic SvSAN allows for significant cost savings and efficiency by enabling use with two servers instead of three. Users report a cost reduction of up to 60%, saving $20,000 to $30,000 annually in licensing. Capital expenditure is minimized through reduced hardware needs and vendor flexibility, choosing affordable options from Lenovo, Dell, or HPE. Users have experienced a positive ROI ranging from 15% to 40% by decreasing maintenance expenses and downtime while enhancing resource management.

Pricing

StorMagic SvSAN is competitively priced, offering significant cost savings compared to alternatives like VMware. Its licensing model, based on usable storage capacity, is intuitive and simplifies cost management. Pricing ranges from $4,000 to $15,000 per node, with additional costs for features like auto-tiering and encryption. Many users appreciate its affordability, noting it’s 20-30% less expensive than other solutions. The straightforward licensing approach enhances flexibility and budget planning for enterprises.

"StorMagic's pricing model is fair, allowing payment based on actual use."
"The pricing is reasonable. They are not as expensive as other tools on the market."
"While it is not very cheap, StorMagic SvSAN is affordable for me. The cost depends on the size and scale of the company."

Popular Use Cases

Companies employ StorMagic SvSAN primarily for server availability, ensuring business continuity across various sectors, including hospitality, manufacturing, and retail. It provides cost-effective virtualization, data storage, and protection solutions in remote locations and smaller sites. Users benefit from easy deployment, management, and integration with VMware and Kubernetes environments. SvSAN is favored for its ability to synchronize data across multiple sites and support applications like ERP, SQL databases, and industrial automation systems.

Service and Support

StorMagic SvSAN's customer service and support are praised for prompt and helpful responses. The team is knowledgeable, responsive, and offers immediate assistance, often within an hour. Users find support staff familiar, effective, and capable of real-time problem-solving. Across reviews, consistent excellence and personalized service are highlighted, with high satisfaction ratings from users. Access to technical experts any time of day enhances the user experience, making the support exemplary and appreciated.

Deployment

StorMagic SvSAN's initial setup is generally easy, often requiring minimal time and personnel. Deployments range from a few hours to a couple of days. Users find the process straightforward, with some requiring pre-deployment tests. There may be a learning curve for those without technical experience, but StorMagic's support is highly valued for simplifying tasks. In some cases, setup can take longer due to specific customizations or user inexperience.

Scalability

StorMagic SvSAN is recognized for its scalability, particularly in edge environments with a small number of servers. Users find it easy to expand by adding nodes or upgrading licenses. Some note limitations when scaling beyond certain nodes, potentially elevating costs. While praised for flexibility and integration with different hardware, there are specific configurations where scalability is challenging without advanced networking gear, impacting suitability for larger enterprises. Generally, its scalability receives positive feedback, meeting many current requirements efficiently.

Stability

StorMagic SvSAN is highly stable with excellent redundancy and reliability. Users report no data loss, downtime, or crashes, even during high usage. Its scalability and seamless host migration during maintenance provide uninterrupted operations. Power outages are not attributed to SvSAN, and any downtime issues typically relate to hardware, not the software itself. Users rate its stability around eight to nine out of ten, highlighting flawless performance and over six years of consistent uptime without glitches.

These insights are based on the in-depth reviews provided by peers to help you make a better buying decision.

Download our StorMagic SvSAN Buyer's Guide for additional reliable information.

Review data by company size

By reviewers

By visitors reading reviews

Top industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

17%

Retailer

10%

Healthcare Company

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Government

Construction Company

Financial Services Firm

Educational Organization

Wholesaler/Distributor

Media Company

Energy/Utilities Company

Legal Firm

Performing Arts

University

Non Profit

Aerospace/Defense Firm

Insurance Company

Logistics Company

Pharma/Biotech Company

Real Estate/Law Firm

Consumer Goods Company

Recreational Facilities/Services Company

Hospitality Company

Transportation Company

Outsourcing Company

Compare StorMagic SvSAN with alternative products

Learn more about StorMagic SvSAN

SvSAN is a lightweight solution that has been designed specifically for small-to-medium-sized businesses and edge computing environments such as retail stores, manufacturing plants and even oil rigs at sea.

SvSAN provides organizations with a simple, 'set and forget' solution that enables lightweight high availability as a virtual SAN (VSAN) with a witness VM that can be local, in the cloud, or as-a-service, and support up to 1,000 2-node clusters. It provides a low barrier to entry with capacity-based licensing and minimal hardware requirements, allowing organizations to use existing equipment. Plus, any IT professional can deploy and manage 1,000 sites as easily as 1, with automation tools and scripts.

SvSAN gives organizations choice and control by allowing configurations of any x86 server models and storage types, even mixed within a cluster, while vSphere, Hyper-V or KVM hypervisors can be used. It is built to perform, with code that eliminates performance bottlenecks and caching features to boost performance and prevent over-provisioning. SvSAN accommodates future growth and technologies too, with support for containers and VMs, and allows compute and storage to be scaled easily and independently.

SvSAN's additional features help to deliver 100% uptime with synchronous mirroring and no single point of failure, even with poor, unreliable networks, and non-disruptive hardware and software upgrades. Disaster protection is provided with capability for stretched clusters that reduce risk, plus extensive integrations with backup and DR providers and the option to add a third node to clusters. SvSAN also ensures data security with FIPS 140-2 compliant encryption, software RAID options and the elimination of split-brain risk.

StorMagic SvSAN was previously known as StorMagic .

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StorMagic SvSAN customers

Sheetz Inc., Giant Eagle, RWE Renewables, Keiser Corp., TDK, Oxford University, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, Rommelsbacher, Mt. Hood Meadows Ski Resort, Eugen Forschner GmbH