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it_user233772 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Infrastructure Manager at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Vendor
As a hospital, our doctors are able to access their patient data quickly using the solution. However, as we were early adopters, tech support had difficulty with our Cisco hardware.

What is most valuable?

  • It's easy to implement.
  • It performs very well.

How has it helped my organization?

The total cost of ownership, as it's really cheap for us and we have budgetary constraints. Plus, as we're a hospital, doctors need to access their patient data quickly, which VSAN allows them to do.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We haven’t had an issue and we've been using it for about six months now.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I find it’s easy to scale, so if you need 100 more VMs, you know the amount of users per node, and you know exactly how much it’s going to cost you to scale up.

Buyer's Guide
VMware vSAN
December 2024
Learn what your peers think about VMware vSAN. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: December 2024.
831,158 professionals have used our research since 2012.

How are customer service and support?

Never had an issue.

The only thing is that as we were early adopters, we found tech support was difficult to deal with because our hardware was Cisco, and they didn’t know what we were talking about.

How was the initial setup?

We had one issue with an MTU, but it didn't take me even a day to set up.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Basically we're a one man shop – we like to keep our list short and simple: VMWare and Cisco.

What other advice do I have?

Try it out. It’s worth it.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1181523 - PeerSpot reviewer
System Analyst at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Decent storage virtualization that is beginning to integrate modern technologies but needs to be cheaper
Pros and Cons
  • "VMware has been around for a long time are are doing a decent job at catching up with the latest technologies i.e. bringing in kubernetes and containerization. Overall, this is a great tool for virtualization."
  • "I would like for the next release to be a bit cheaper."

What is most valuable?

VMware has been around for a long time are are doing a decent job at catching up with the latest technologies i.e. bringing in kubernetes and containerization. Overall, this is a great tool for virtualization.

What needs improvement?

I would like for the next release to be a bit cheaper.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using VMware vSAN for 10+ years.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

VMware is not a cost effective solution, especially if you have a Microsoft shop. In this case, you would have to purchase the VMware license when there are already Hyper-V solutions that could do it for much cheaper.

What other advice do I have?

If you are already using VMware, then it is great to fun your applications and carries your infrastructure to the cloud. But, I would not recommend this solution to new customers. I give this solution a seven out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
VMware vSAN
December 2024
Learn what your peers think about VMware vSAN. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: December 2024.
831,158 professionals have used our research since 2012.
reviewer952848 - PeerSpot reviewer
System Administrator at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Real User
Compatible legacy solutions, effective replication backup, and simple installation
Pros and Cons
  • "VMware vSAN is compatible with the legacy hypervisor solutions and most of the features are good."
  • "The technical support, it's not satisfactory. Whenever we raise a ticket it takes a lot of time to have an engineer get involved sometimes, or we receive a less experienced engineer. We then have to repeat the situation to the next engineer which all takes time."

What is our primary use case?

The main use case for VMware vSAN is auxiliary services, such as Windows, Linux, and not a specific server, but mixed loads.

How has it helped my organization?

We were able to replace lots of negative servers and replace them with VMware.

What is most valuable?

VMware vSAN is compatible with the legacy hypervisor solutions and most of the features are good.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using VMware vSAN for approximately five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability of the solution is good. The node cluster they are using has been enough for them.

we have approximately 1,000 users using this solution.

How are customer service and support?

The technical support, it's not satisfactory. Whenever we raise a ticket it takes a lot of time to have an engineer get involved sometimes, or we receive a less experienced engineer. We then have to repeat the situation to the next engineer which all takes time.

How was the initial setup?

The setup is not complicated. The deployment of VMware vSAN with VxRail can be completed in three to four hours, for one cluster out of the physical setup. The physical setup could take approximately one day. After that, deployment is very easy to complete.

What about the implementation team?

We have four people that do the deployment and physical setup of the solution.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The price of the solution package depends on the nodes and other factors. The cost some of our customers paid was $500,000. The licensing cost for the components is very good.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

My customers were comfortable with VMware and then they decided to use VMware instead of another solution.

What other advice do I have?

My advice is if someone is interested in VMware vSAN it is a good solution. It is stable, supportive, and compatible with many solutions. VMware vSAN is the best.

Customers have to consider when choosing VMware to receive a lot of features, such as replication backup, and if they went with another solution it would be more expensive.

I rate VMware vSAN a nine out of ten.

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.
PeerSpot user
Business Development Manager at iVolve Technologies
Real User
A highly-scalable and innovative storage virtualization software
Pros and Cons
  • "It easily integrates with all types of storage."

    What is our primary use case?

    vSAN is fully integrated with VMware vSphere, as a distributed layer of software within the ESXi hypervisor.

    One of the use cases is that, vSAN can gather the local or direct-attached data storage devices, to create a single storage pool shared across all hosts in a vSAN cluster.

    Another use case is that vSAN designed for the software-defined data centers (SDDC), thus you can build and architect your own private, public or hybrid cloud environment based on the vSAN software.

    How has it helped my organization?

    the come feedback always I here from our client is that vSAN Simplified Operations and ease of administration.

    What is most valuable?

    Manage both of virtual machines (VM), containers and cloud ready solution

    What needs improvement?

    Traditional infrastructure, Private cloud and the hybrid cloud

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I am always recommend the vSAN technology when it comes to power a Hyperconverged infrastructure as well the traditional and cloud native applications.

    Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

    Hybrid Cloud
    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    Director at Dnipro-Technocnter
    Reseller
    Good productivity, data storage capabilities, and technical support
    Pros and Cons
    • "The most valuable features are productivity and data storage."

      What is our primary use case?

      We are a solution provider and VMware vSAN is one of the products that we implement for our clients.

      What is most valuable?

      The most valuable features are productivity and data storage.

      For how long have I used the solution?

      I have been working with VMware vSAN for between one and two years.

      What do I think about the stability of the solution?

      vSAN is a stable solution.

      What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

      This is a scalable product.

      How are customer service and technical support?

      I have not dealt with them directly but my understanding is that they have good technical support.

      Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

      We are trying to support Nutanix, so I have some experience with it.

      The suitability of one solution over the other depends on the use case.

      How was the initial setup?

      As a system architect, I have not deployed it myself.

      What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

      The price of vSAN could be lower.

      The licensing fees are paid quarterly.

      What other advice do I have?

      My advice when it comes to products like vSAN or Nutanix is that these are products for new customers. Existing customers have a classic architecture and they have no reason to implement a hyper-converged infrastructure.

      I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.

      Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: reseller
      PeerSpot user
      it_user1254525 - PeerSpot reviewer
      Co-Founder/CEO at StorSolv
      Real User
      Reduces rack space, power consumption, cooling, and support costs
      Pros and Cons
      • "VMware vSAN has greatly reduced refresh spending."
      • "This solution is not great for large file shares/object/rich media repository."

      What is our primary use case?

      Our primary use case is the consolidation of compute and storage for VDI and Virtual Servers. 

      How has it helped my organization?

      VMware vSAN has greatly reduced refresh spending. 

      What is most valuable?

      The most valuable features are the reduced rack space, reduced power consumption, reduced cooling, and reduced support costs.

      What needs improvement?

      This solution is not great for large file shares/object/rich media repository.

      For how long have I used the solution?

      I have been using this solution for two years.

      Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: We sell VMware, Dell EMC, Starwind, Nutanix, and DataCore.
      PeerSpot user
      reviewer775962 - PeerSpot reviewer
      General Manager Sales at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
      Real User
      Offers a single console for management, is easy to set up, and is very stable
      Pros and Cons
      • "I have found the solution to be scalable."
      • "The pricing could be better when it comes to renewing the licenses."

      What is our primary use case?

      We're primarily using this solution for VDI.

      How has it helped my organization?

      Previously, we were using three-tier architecture. Therefore, we would have three different consoles. However, after adopting a CA solution, we are only on a single console and we have cut down the EU engineers we needed as we didn't require multiple engineers for managing multiple layers. Now, we have a single engineer who can manage everything from the top layer from a single console.

      What is most valuable?

      The single console for management is the most valuable aspect of the solution. 

      The initial setup is very simple. 

      The solution has been quite stable.

      I have found the solution to be scalable.

      What needs improvement?

      VMware is currently working on quite a lot of improvements and they're coming out with lots of novel features in their new releases. There's only one improvement area, and that is it needs a little bit more software and hardware to make it similar to Nutanix.

      The pricing could be better when it comes to renewing the licenses. 

      Technical support could have a faster response time.

      It's hard to come up with an exact feature that might be good to include in a future release, as each customer is different and each customer likely has different feature needs.

      For how long have I used the solution?

      I've been using the solution for almost four years at this point. It's been a while now. 

      What do I think about the stability of the solution?

      The solution is very stable. We have been using VMware for almost more than 10 years and there have been no issues regarding VMware products. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. It's reliable.

      What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

      The solution is scalable. If a company needs to expand it, it can do so. 

      How are customer service and support?

      Technical support is quite good. Occasionally, it could be faster sometimes, however, largely, I have been pleased with the level of response I get. 

      How was the initial setup?

      The product's initial setup is not overly complex or difficult. I found it to be straightforward and relatively easy. A company shouldn't have any issues with the setup process. 

      What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

      When it comes to the renewal of the license, it's a very expensive solution.

      We require price protection. VMware doesn't provide price protection. Many other products provide that, however, it's not something that VMware does.

      What other advice do I have?

      We're a VMware partner. 

      I'd rate the solution at an eight out of ten.

      If you are using VMware for a long time, there is no need to change your platform, and you can easily add vSAN as a solution. On top of that, there are multiple tools available to be able to have a hybrid cloud solution available for vSAN. If you go with the VMware Cloud, you've got the SCA as well as a hybrid cloud solution in a single product. If you are not willing to use VMware, then you can definitely choose either Nutanix or maybe a Microsoft option or any number of other solutions that may be available in the market.

      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: partner
      PeerSpot user
      PeerSpot user
      Manager at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
      Real User
      Lets you efficiently use hardware resources, but the UI needs work
      Pros and Cons
      • "Everyone uses virtualization to more efficiently utilize hardware resources. That's the main point of vSAN and VMware."
      • "The UI falls short compared to other solutions. It needs some development to make it more user-friendly."

      What is our primary use case?

      The vSAN is similar to other VMware products that are quite popular in Thailand. Everyone uses virtualization to more efficiently utilize hardware resources. That's the main point of vSAN and VMware.

      What needs improvement?

      The UI falls short compared to other solutions. It needs some development to make it more user-friendly. 

      For how long have I used the solution?

      I've been using vSAN for six years. 

      How was the initial setup?

      vSAN isn't easy to install, because it's separate from VMware. You have to install vSAN and monitoring separately. Configuration is not straightforward. You have to define the policy first and then allocate through the virtual machine.

      What about the implementation team?

      We used the VMware professional team to install, and it took them around two days. After it was deployed, we used one engineer to maintain the system.

      What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

      The license for vSAN is a yearly subscription. 

      What other advice do I have?

      I would rate vSAN seven out 10.

      Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Integrator
      PeerSpot user
      Buyer's Guide
      Download our free VMware vSAN Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
      Updated: December 2024
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      Buyer's Guide
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