Cisco UCS B-Series Reviews

We run our core banking solution, hosting various services, on Cisco UCS B-Series. We have more than three thousand users internally, and over five million customers are accessing our internet banking services and mobile applications which run on this server.

Cisco UCS B-Series has reliably sustained smooth operations without the need for significant maintenance. Its administration capabilities provide easy access to performance reports, logs, and utilization data, which are essential for effective server management. Additionally, the integration capabilities are seamless, and the power consumption and heat generation are low, resulting in reduced cooling costs and increased financial benefits.

Last year, we faced challenges with firmware upgrades, but they were quickly resolved with assistance from Cisco TAC.

The services have been running smoothly for over two years without requiring a restart.

The stability of Cisco UCS B-Series is impeccable, as it has been running smoothly without any need for maintenance.

Cisco UCS B-Series is highly scalable and meets all our current requirements without any issues.

Cisco's technical support is highly helpful and responsive. They resolve cases swiftly once we contact them via email.

Neutral

Before Cisco, we used HPE Synergy and Dell servers in our data center.

The implementation was straightforward, taking only three to four days, including the go-live process. Everything went smoothly under my supervision.

The deployment team comprised four members from our organization and five from the vendor, involving administrators, engineers, and technicians.

Implementing Cisco UCS B-Series has led to lower power consumption and heat generation, reducing cooling costs. Additionally, we achieved server consolidation, running multiple services on fewer servers without purchasing new ones, resulting in significant financial benefits.

The licensing cost for three years, followed by an AMC for two years, is reasonable. However, the management software, Cisco One, is priced a bit high but still considered reasonable. No additional expenses were incurred after obtaining the licensing.

We considered HPE Synergy and Dell server solutions.

Cisco UCS B-Series is Intel-based and reliable as a brand. It's an excellent choice for customers who purchase both the hardware and software licenses for management and maintenance. We are satisfied with the price and would recommend it to others. For the overall solution, I rate it ten out of ten.

Despite the benefits gained from the product implementation, the cost could be more appealing if the overall cost of ownership were reduced.

I have been working with Cisco UCS B-Series since 2014.

I rate the platform scalability as an eight.

The platform is highly scalable, allowing upgrades on demand without replacing the entire machine. 

I have utilized products from other vendors, including IBM, and I am working with Cisco.

The implementation process was very straightforward. The deployment of approximately four servers took about four days.

I have worked with both the on-premises and cloud versions. 

We took help from Cisco engineers working remotely from their offices on the equipment for the implementation.

The implementation enabled us to pay our farmers more promptly, benefiting them financially. We also realized significant savings in operational and maintenance costs, with an overall reduction of approximately 40%.

Considering our market, I rate the pricing of Cisco UCS B-Series as a six.

Cisco UCS B-Series manages various processes, including handling payments for over 650,000 growers, running group financials, managing human resources, and operating our main ERP system, SAP.

The servers' resilience was particularly impactful. Even during power outages, the servers resumed operations from the last saved point without human intervention. The enhanced processing speed also allowed us to complete tasks that took two days in just one hour.

The automation capabilities enhanced efficiency and facilitated integration with our networking components, particularly since we also used Cisco switches. The servers' security was reliable, and formal training on Cisco products made management easier.

I rate the product an eight. 

We use them for a virtualization environment with VMware ESXi version 7.0, update 3. We have B200 M4 blades in a Cisco chassis connected to Fabric Interconnect switches 6632 with Tracy number 5108. 

The Fabric Interconnects are integrated with IBM V7000 storage through a Fabric Extender to connect to the IBM SAN storage, V7000.

We deploy VMs for the banking sector, such as credit union companies. Sometimes, the VMs hosting all the on-premises systems for disaster recovery (DR) purposes are shifted to the Azure cloud. This is a hybrid cloud environment.

The most beneficial feature is UCS Manager. It's the best way to manage hardware, creating group policies, like scrub policies and maintenance policies. It is managed through UCS Manager, creating WLAN numbers and MAC address policies. Making a profile and assigning it through Cisco UCS Manager for each blade is an easy task. 

In case of any outage, just replace the physical host, attach the profile from Cisco UCS Manager, and it will test the original one. So, UCS Manager is the best thing I'm using in Cisco UCS.

From a physical hardware point of view, it's excellent compared to Dell and HP, but from Cisco UCS Manager, it should be more user-friendly.

There are certain things not described in the UCS Manager, like changing or editing profiles. It should be more user-friendly.

In future releases, I would like to see an automated setup process.

I've been using Cisco UCS B200 M4 blades for the last ten years.

It is stable. It is much more stable than other hardware, like Dell and HP. 

During the upgrade earlier, it was recommended to upgrade from south to northbound, upgrade Viccars, then blade, then IO, then SaaS, then click interconnects, Site A, and then come to Site B.

Now, we have an opportunity to automate the upgrade activity. 

However, during our upgrades, when we did the entire infrastructure for FIA and FIB, during the reboot, FI failed very frequently. 

FIA or FIB failed in approximately six to seven situations out of ten upgrades. The replacement of FI took much more time than if we had a business hour for four hours; it took approximately one or two days. Running the entire infrastructure on FIB or a single FI is really risky. That is a main area of improvement for Cisco UCS.

From a scalability point of view, it is good. We did an upgrade for the memory, and it is stable and easy. We added some hosts in a cluster at the desk level. Scalability is fine.

I have been using it for the last ten years. In my current company, there are around 5,000 end users. 

But now, the users really want to move out of this solution. It's more difficult from a manageable point of view. We need a specific person with expertise to administer the environment. It totally depends on the cost. The users want to save costs, so they want to move to the cloud, either IBM cloud or Orange cloud. They want to move out; they don't want to expand further.

I contacted support for Cisco HyperFlex. There was some expansion for the desk.  Desk expansion in Cisco HyperFlex, so I did upgrade the disk in a three-node HyperFlex cluster. In two hosts, the disk was identified and acknowledged. In one of the hosts, it was not acknowledged. 

So Cisco Tech told me I needed to expand the disk simultaneously on each node. I have a three-node cluster, so I need to expand the disk on slot number seven on host one, slot number seven on host two, and slot number seven on host three. 

Once all the disks are acknowledged in three nodes, then it will balance the data in the cluster.

My company was using the HPE legacy.

The initial setup is easy, but it should be automated through JSON, Python, and more user-friendly. 

If someone asks me to deploy ESXi from Cisco UCS, attaching the hardware profile is easy. Still, for overall deployment, it's a bit lengthy. I want it to be automated, similar to the deployment for vXL through a portal, providing configuration in a JSON file and deploying approximately 50 hosts within half an hour.

It will configure the entire configuration through a JSON file. 

It is expensive.

My recommendation and advice in this matter totally depend upon the requirement and the nature of the business. 

For example, in the banking sector, with a heavy data workload on the premises and a need for high availability, I would definitely recommend Cisco for an on-premises environment. I might have the option with Dell, but I would compare Dell and Cisco.

Overall, I would rate the solution an eight out of ten because the hardware is much more robust. But they have not expanded as per the user requirement. Firstly, it should be more user-friendly. Secondly, it should move to automation from the user's manager's point of view. It should be more user-friendly, and deployment should be easily done through automation.

The Cisco UCS B-Series servers are used to run backend databases ranging from small, medium, to large, running different versions of RDBMS such as Oracle, SQL, MySQL. It also includes cloud databases, big data such as Cassandra, MongoDB, PostgreSQL, and Snowflake.

Additionally, the middle-tier component includes IAM systems such as Oracle, SailPoint, Ping Federate, and Okta, including Oracle Fusion apps such as EBS, ERP systems, HR system, HCM, both on-premises and cloud. The Cisco UCS B-Series supports various deployments in on-premises data centers and cloud.

Our clients typically start with a proof of concept deployment, focusing on smaller operations before scaling up to larger ones, handling OLTP, OLAP, and large data warehouses. As clients see the value, they proceed to invest further in the system. Cisco UCS B-Series is also designed for cloud virtualization and integrates with VMware, Hyper-V, and Intersight.

Cisco UCS B-Series is flexible as it can be built as a standalone system and expanded horizontally and vertically in a cluster mode. A standout feature is the Unified Fabric which combines LAN and SAN, reducing the need for numerous cables and offering consistent configuration, unlike traditional setups.

Furthermore, Cisco UCS B-Series is a cost-effective alternative to Exadata and integrates seamlessly with cloud virtualization platforms.

Cisco UCS B-Series offers an alternative to more expensive solutions such as Exadata, managing high growth and heavy data loads efficiently. It is essential for setups such as government projects due to its ability to handle massive data operations. Additionally, strong support services make it a reliable choice for businesses.

There is a need for Cisco UCS B-Series to evolve and scale vertically, particularly with the increasing data demands and the integration of AI, ensuring the solution remains certified and capable under such conditions.

I have not had a chance to directly deal with them, but I have not received any negative feedback from my team who directly deals with Cisco support. The overall feedback I received indicates that they are very happy with the support.

Cisco UCS B-Series is quite flexible and can expand horizontally and vertically, using cluster mode to support additional system loads. However, given the rise in AI and massive data, there is room for improvement in ensuring Cisco UCS B-Series remains AI-certified and capable.

Originally, Oracle utilized HP's storage systems, and during this architectural phase, Cisco UCS B-Series was involved. Oracle later shifted to its proprietary solutions such as Exadata, which led to a migration from non-Oracle products to Oracle products.

The initial implementation typically involves me handling the deployment of Cisco UCS B-Series, with the support of a team of at least three people. The system grows from there.

Comparing Cisco UCS B-Series with traditional servers, while its initial cost may be slightly higher, it is not as expensive as Oracle Exadata, making it a worthwhile investment. It pays off in the long run, especially for cloud virtualization.

The Cisco UCS B-Series system is very adaptable as it can be set up as a standalone, expanded, and operated in a cluster mode. Flexibility in scalability supports business growth.

My clients use Cisco UCS B-Series servers for a range of databases, including Oracle, SQL, and MySQL, but also accommodate cloud databases and big data such as Cassandra and MongoDB.

To ensure high levels of client comfort and satisfaction, projects often commence with a proof of concept before scaling to larger operations, accommodating OLTP, OLAP needs, and vast data warehouses.

On a scale of one to ten, I rate Cisco UCS B-Series a nine.

We do support to customers as a managed service provider. We use Cisco UCS B-Series, particularly the M5, M4, M3, and M2 series for them.

With Cisco UCS, the onboarding of new servers and the scalability of infrastructure is much faster compared to other products. It offers more redundancy and resilience.

The most valuable aspect of Cisco UCS B-Series is its network interface, HBA settings, and less connectivity as compared to rack servers. The scalability and easy management of the lifecycle, upgrades, and hardware failures are also valuable.

The initial setup and service profile deployment can be tricky and should be improved for ease of use.

I have been working with Cisco UCS B-Series for more than ten years.

The solution's architecture provides easy manageability and operational excellence once familiar with the processes.

Cisco UCS allows for good scalability through centralized management, enabling easy firmware and driver upgrades across multiple chassis from one place.

Cisco provides excellent technical support within SLA parameters, making the experience very positive.

Positive

The initial setup can be quite complex and time-consuming compared to other servers. The service profile deployment requires familiarity, but once known, it facilitates easier administration.

Cisco UCS is cost-effective compared to other blade servers like HPE c7000 and Dell chassis. However, the specifics are not immediately available to me.

I would recommend Cisco UCS B-Series for those looking for a scalable blade server solution. I advise trying the product to see if it meets their needs.

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.

We get a few deployments here and there. Maybe we did one, two, or three years ago. Recently, we have done some blade architecture, but from Cisco. It's primarily about customer preference, so some customers prefer Cisco UCS.

In terms of ROI, our customers are very happy with Cisco UCS B-Series. For instance, a customer we worked with five years ago, a utility company, is very happy and is even planning to do a refresh because the solution has been running without many issues in terms of downtime and support tickets. Once you set it up the right way, you're good to go.

The most valuable feature is the service profiles. When you get a faulty blade, all you need to do is just decommission that blade and plug in a new one. The decommissioned blade is associated with the service profile, and you connect a new blade, associating it with the same profile the older blade had. This allows for the same settings, like the MAC addresses, management IPs, and worldwide port names for the storage to be retained, making maintenance quite easy.

Regarding improvements, there's a drawback with the FC functionality being removed from the Nexus switches, which we used to do integration with. Now, this requires having a different standalone switch for storage connectivity. Previously, the unified port functionality allowed the same port to function as both FC and Ethernet, however, this has now changed.

I can say it's been a while since we first started using Dell PowerEdge M. We don't deploy it every now and then, however, we did one deployment two or three years ago. Recently, we have been working with blade architecture from Cisco.

In terms of stability, our customers are very happy. There's a customer who has been using the solution for five years without many issues in terms of downtime and support tickets.

The technical support from Cisco is efficient. If the issue is a priority one, you can get on a call and have a technical engineer assigned right away. They are very efficient.

Positive

The initial setup is very straightforward and easy. It enables integration with multiple storage vendors. You can also tightly integrate it with VMware for managing distribution switches and virtual networks.

We have a team behind that does the fieldwork. I oversee and come in when needed to position products for customers, proposing and advising in terms of OpEx and CapEx.

Our customers have had good ROI with Cisco UCS B-Series. For example, a utility company has been using it for five years without significant issues and is planning a refresh.

The pricing depends on the size of the deal. If the deal is huge, you get better margins from Cisco. Also, if you were the one who initiated the deal, you get a better margin over other partners.

Initially, Cisco UCS B-Series was part of Cisco's collaboration suite. As part of Cisco's collaboration suite, users used to run Cisco IP telephony solutions on Cisco UCS B-Series. Later, Cisco UCS B-Series came into the market as normal servers to meet the requirements of its users. Cisco UCS B-Series specifically does a good job for certain large or heavy workloads. For vertical scalability, Cisco UCS B-Series is ideally used in the banking and manufacturing sectors in some cases.

The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that it is easily scalable. If you have a Cisco environment in your organization's setup, it becomes easier to position Cisco's products in an infrastructure that is as good as our company's clients. Cisco's brand name and the reliability aspect attached to it give a lot of positive vibes about the tool to the clients.

There are some shortcomings in the product when you look at it from the perspective of the area involving multiple configurations, making it an aspect where improvements are required. The server configuration, along with various other configurations, can be improved.

From the product's console perspective, some improvement is needed.

From a configuration perspective, the product should introduce the tool with more configurations in the market to suit the requirements of multiple customer bases.

In the future, I want the tool to offer different flexibility for the configurations on the hardware front that can be incorporated into them.

I have been using Cisco UCS B-Series for more than five years.

It is a stable solution, considering that I haven't seen many challenges in the tool. Cisco has a good record from the support perspective, making it an area where I don't see any specific challenges.

It is a scalable solution.

Around three or four customers of my company work with the product. If I consider Cisco's collaboration suite, Cisco UCS B-Series is used by a lot of clients because most of the collaboration applications under the suite work.

The solution's technical support has always been good, so things are okay till now.

The product's initial setup phase was fair enough, but I wouldn't describe it as a completely straightforward process.

The product's deployment is okay since I haven't seen any specific challenges in it.

It is possible to deploy the product on the cloud and on the on-premises model.

It is not a yearly subscription but a yearly support renewal that you need to do for Cisco UCS B-Series.

Speaking about how the tool can improve computing efficiency in data centers, I feel that, ultimately, there are other kinds of hardware or servers that Cisco provides. From a management perspective, certain aspects can be incorporated to help users understand their current standing. It would be good if certain larger configurations could also be made suitable for the tool to suit the needs of multiple customer bases.

For virtualization needs, the product works well. I have dealt with certain virtualization environments using - Cisco UCS B-Series. As of now, the tool is fine. Cisco UCS B-Series recently got registered with Nutanix, one of the market's HCI platforms. Nutanix can run on Cisco. Cisco UCS B-Series' direction is right. I don't think any further improvement is required in the tool right now.

The integration capabilities of the product are okay. I haven't seen any challenges when installing the tool in an environment. I think that the tool supports multiple hypervisors.

Speaking about the feature that has improved our company's data center operation, I would say that the Cisco brand name provides our organization with the benefits we need from the product. I believe that manageability is one crucial aspect of the tool, considering that it is pretty easy to manage. Performance-wise, some improvements have been introduced in Cisco UCS B-Series.

Whenever somebody evaluates and goes ahead with some traditional setup in their environment, along with HP and Dell, they can also consider Cisco as a part of it because it has become more cost-effective and competitive presently. Networking-wise, the tool is pretty strong, and it operates as a brand that actually helps with the support offered to customers. The support offered by Cisco adds a lot of confidence for the clients.

I feel that Cisco is doing a lot of innovation in order to offer scalability and flexibility to adopt future technologies. I believe Cisco users might see a lot more solutions that get introduced in the market that might become more and more compatible with many products in the future. In the future, I think that users will see AI and other related aspects run pretty well in a Cisco environment.

I would say that the benefits and value of the use of the product stem from the brand name attached to Cisco products. Cisco's support when you use Cisco UCS B-Series is good. In the networking space, Cisco has been a leader for a very long time, and the same kind of credibility is what you can expect when you consider Cisco UCS B-Series.

Considering the availability of the products from competitors, I rate the tool a seven out of ten.

We are running many applications for a logistics provider. We do the storing of goods for our partners and transport and so on.

The most valuable features of the solution are stability and security.

The solution’s pricing could be improved and made cheaper.

I have been using Cisco UCS B-Series for five to six years.

We haven’t faced any issues with the solution’s stability so far.

I rate the solution ten out of ten for stability.

We haven’t faced any issues with the solution’s scalability. Around 1,000 to 2,000 users are using the solution in our organization, and we may plan to increase the usage.

The solution’s initial setup is straightforward.

We implemented the solution through an in-house team.

We have to pay a monthly licensing fee for the solution.

We have a team of around 50 people to deploy and maintain the solution. I would recommend the solution to other users.

Overall, I rate the solution ten out of ten.

We have been working with Cisco UCS B-Series for data center operations since 2018. We implemented it in one bank, but everything else is handled by HP.

The Cisco solution provides a unified dashboard that enhances virtualization tasks, allowing configurations from a single interface. It also helps with space and power management, which are vital for data center efficiency.

The dashboard of Cisco UCS B-Series allows users to have multiple options displayed on a single interface and facilitates configuration from that dashboard. This ease of manageability is also appreciated.

It would be beneficial for Cisco UCS B-Series to improve on the technological adaptability aspect, especially with regard to containerized applications, as the market in our region is still adapting to newer technologies. There is also a need for better local parts replacement, as HP is superior in this area.

We have been familiar with and using Cisco UCS B-Series solutions since 2018.

Both Cisco and HP solutions are similar in scalability, supporting up to sixteen blades. There are no significant differences in scalability between the two.

Cisco's tech support is superior to that of HP's, at least online. However, HP surpasses Cisco in local parts availability and replacement.

Positive

Our team handled the implementation as we executed it in a bank successfully while other projects were handled by HP.

Previously, Cisco pricing was higher, but now both Cisco and HP are competitive with pricing. At the end of negotiations, the pricing is usually matched between the two, so cost is not a major differentiating factor anymore.

HP solutions were considered and are still predominantly used.

I recommend focusing on the relationship with the customer as it plays a more significant role than the technical specifications in our region.

I use the solution in my company in our virtual environment along with VMware, and it hosts around 23 virtual servers while also being able to offer features in the area of unified collaboration in our call center.

The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that it offers reliable and easy functionalities. It can be used in a very easy manner, making it not a complicated tool.

The high price of the solution is an area of concern where improvements are required.

The product lacks to offer AI functionalities along with integration capabilities. From an improvement perspective, I want some AI features to be included to enhance the integration capabilities of the tool.

I have been using Cisco UCS B-Series for around two months.

It is a very stable solution, like a rock.

Until now, I haven't used the scalability feature of the product. I will have to use the scalability features of the product after five to six years of usage of the product.

If I consider the use of the solution in my company, I would say that there are around 600 endpoints in my organization.

There are 90,00,000 users of the solution.

I have worked with different products from Cisco since it is the DNA of our company's network, as it looks after our infrastructure network, which includes Cisco Core Switches and Cisco Access Switches.

The product's initial setup phase was complex. The product's initial setup phase is not easy for anyone.

For the deployment process, I have a third party person in Egypt who I contact to help with the implementation, designing and so want to improve the solution and to make it work correctly in our company's environment.

The solution is deployed on an on-premises model.

Around 51 developers are required to take care of the deployment and maintenance of the tool.

There is always a need for a third-party provider or a partner to take care of the setup phase of the tool in your environment. My company's in-house team can manage the tool's deployment process.

The benefit of the product stems from the reliability and the dependability offered. You need to learn to be satisfied with the product, and it is not worth worrying until everything becomes bad with the product.

In my opinion, everything related to the product is very expensive right now. Every three years, I need to renew my license and support the product. I don't have to pay any extra costs in addition to the standard licensing charges attached to the product. Every time I have to opt for the renewal of the license, I am shocked to learn about the increase in the price of the product. If you purchase a solution for a particular amount, and then during the renewal process, you learn that you need to pay double the amount of what you had paid previously, you will definitely feel that you are paying a lot of money.

In terms of the ability of the product to improve our company's data center's computing efficiency, I feel that it is a very good solution for me right now, especially in areas like production and workflow. I am very satisfied with the product.

I think that every product from Dell, Cisco, HPE, or any other vendor can be well-integrated with the solutions in any infrastructure.

The most valuable feature of the product for workload optimization stems from the fact that I use the many dashboards offered by the tool. With the tool, I have many separate dashboards. I don't have just one in the dashboard where I can see the integration and take care of the management.

To others who plan to use the product, I can say that Cisco UCS B-Series can be good for networking but very bad with the security part.

In terms of the flexibility of the tool to adapt to technology needs, I think it is a very good solution. I can recommend the solution to others who plan to use it. Cisco doesn't need any recommendations from my end because it is the backbone of the networking infrastructure throughout the world, and it is currently present in 70 percent of the market share.

I rate the tool a ten out of ten.