Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series [EOL] Reviews

This is not the only product we use, so we have other solutions to compare it with. We can compare different products and different vendors and tell our customers which products have which advantages and disadvantages so that they can leverage these products in their own environment. This product helps us to understand the customer's needs and what issues they can run into.

The most valuable feature is the integration between our product and HyperFlex. We show our customers the integration between the backup and the deduplication solution that we offer and this CISCO hyperconverged solution.

The primary improvements should be made in the cluster storage controller VMs so that they don't break the upgrade process. 

I would like to see integration with multi-site ACI deployments so that we can span clusters between multiple sites, with ACI running within each site. 

The platform itself is very stable and robust, but when it comes to upgrading the system, it's not stable. The process of upgrading should be seamless so that the customer's data is not affected in any way. Nothing should happen to the customer's data during the upgrading process but we've had situations where the upgrade process did not go smoothly. We've had to open a tech case to solve the issues and sometimes we even have to evacuate the entire virtual machine clusters into another system. 

Scalability was kept in mind when they designed this product. We can scale from really small deployments to very large deployments. The scalability is not an issue with HyperFlex, it scales better than Nutanix and other vendors. 

Their technical support is really good. They are very professional, I cannot complain about the support. The only issue is that they will often only be available during time zones that don't work within European working hours. 

The deployment was not hard. We deployed the full server installation with CISCO HyperFlex. The original version that we tried to deploy was something like 2.2. We ran into a few issues but we managed to solve them on our own, without CISCO tech. If everything goes smoothly the entire deployment can take only a few hours. 

I did the deployment myself. 

We see ROI every day. The return on investment is fantastic and is the primary reason why we deployed these clusters all around our site locations so that our SE engineers can show the customers.

We also use Nutanix and Pure Storage. 

I would rate it an eight out of ten. Not a ten because of the issues with the upgrading process.

Our primary use case is virtualization on VMware. We have some virtual machines, which need a lot of computing power, and HyperFlex seems to be a good solution.

It is a good system to run our virtual machines and services on for high performance and high availability.

You can administer things easily. E.g., if you need more power, you can add a system.

There is a VMware plugin for HyperFlex, which sometimes it hangs up in our environment, and doesn't function well.

We started in an early firmware version, so the software release version was a little unstable in the beginning. Now, it is good.

You can add a package to expand the storage space or machines if you need more machine power. If you don't look at the costs of the systems, the scalability is quite good.

I only had one tough case that I brought to the technical support, and they dealt with it quite well.

We have a lot of IBM Systems, which were getting older. 

Our entire network is Cisco. There was also a good bundle for the HyperFlex system at the beginning when comparing price and value, and overall, it was a good investment. We received more performance for less money at the start.

A year before we set it up, relative to the software the release, there were a few things you could not know as a customer. This is why we used an integrator who knew how to use and follow command line commands that we couldn't know. However, I think this is now fixed.

For the first time that we installed, we used an integrator for the day.

Take a look at HyperFlex because it is a good system. Out-of-the-box, it runs quite well.

Our primary use case of this solution is for data center virtualization.

There's high commodity stuff but nothing is very useful inside. The automation is a valuable feature, it's interesting. 

Mostly documentation needs to be improved, we need strong documentation. We also want to not need to open a tech case every time we need to troubleshoot. Stability and storage need to be improved. 

Stability is really poor, especially the storage stability. We lost data. There were disruptions of clusters and that's one big pain point of the solution. It's not stable enough, the documentation is not good, there's not much documentation available. We need a tech engineer for every call. 

Scalability was cool on the marketing site but the two node clusters crashed. I'm not willing to build large scale infrastructure with this product because it's not stable enough.

Technical support is good but we need it for every piece we do. For every change, we need technical support. They are quick to respond and help us solve the issue. 

We switched solutions because the market drives us, mostly Cisco drives us. They have high goals. Normally, we build up a classic converged infrastructure but now Cisco wanted us to deploy hyperconverged.

The initial setup is very complex. 

We are partners so we integrate it ourselves. 

We did not look at other solutions. We only focus on Cisco. We love Cisco and hopefully,  HyperFlex will become a better product. 

I would rate it a four out of ten. I would advise someone considering this solution to be careful. 

We use this solution for many banks in Egypt. 

This solution has improved my organization because workers are more efficient and the time it takes to complete daily activities has been significantly reduced. It has also enhanced KPIs for the workers and the remote sites don't have any delay reaching the required data. 

The most valuable features are that it's an all in one solution, requires low power, it's easy for management, and easy to implement and train.

I would like for them to develop integration with other technologies, like SD Access. It's still lacking an enhancement management player.

Stability is very good. 

Their technicians are very qualified and supportive. 

Our customers knew they needed to switch to this solution because we have had good experiences with Cisco. It has a strong presence in Egypt and a good technical support and sales team.  

Our customers have seen ROI in terms of the time they save troubleshooting.

We also considered Dell EMC. 

I would rate it a nine out of ten, not a ten because nothing is perfect. 

Our primary use case of this solution is for data storage for the network.

Integration to third-parties is the most valuable feature. 

Scalability and performance are good. 

Technical support is very good. Not excellent, but good. There's still not enough data available on the web. For example, for the integration to VMware, I had a case recently and I searched for more information but didn't find any. 

We knew we needed to switch solutions because we needed a solution with good performance, scanning, and an overall new and innovative solution. 

We had some hardware problems at the beginning of the initial setup but after that was resolved the setup was straightforward. 

We implemented through an integrator and had a great experience with them. 

The ROI we have seen from the high performance that has saved us time and money.

We also looked at Nutanix. We ended up going with Cisco because our whole network is based on Cisco. 

I would give this solution a seven out of ten because it's still new and I still haven't practiced a lot with it but I have had a good experience until now. 

I would advise someone considering this solution to sit with your integrator, discuss the different products, comply with the competitors, and you will get your desired results.

I use HyperFlex for high-performance infrastructure.

The most valuable feature is full integration with Cisco API and UCS, which means you can have complete networking and storage from Cisco.

HyperFlex could be improved by reducing the minimum number of nodes supported from three to two. In the next release, Cisco should include full integration with other virtualization vendors like Nutanix, the same way they do with VMware.

I've been using HyperFlex for a year.

HyperFlex is very stable because it has complete solutions for networking and computing from Cisco.

HyperFlex is very scalable because you can scale up by increasing the number of nodes and scale out by increasing the number of discs in the storage.

Most of Cisco's products come with warrants and SmartNet, so if you have an issue, the customer interface allows you to rate it, and the technical team will respond based on the critical level.

Positive

The setup is very easy, I'd rate it five out of five.

HyperFlex is relatively expensive, but you get good value for money.

I would give HyperFlex a rating of nine out of ten.

Our primary use case is for the distributed computing system in several data centers. 

It has reduced the time it takes to put the servers in production by half the time.  

The flexibility and scalability are the most valuable features. 

They should have more blade options and more configuration flexibility. Also, the price is expensive. It should be cheaper but it is worth the price. 

It's very stable. 

The scalability is one of its main features.

Technical support is very good. 

We switched because we wanted more flexibility, more features and because the global PoC price is better. 

The initial setup was complex because our engineers had some problems with putting it into production but it was fine after they solved the issue.   

I would rate it an eight out of ten. The features that it has are balanced with customer's needs and the price. In order to make it a ten, they should lower the cost.

I would advise someone considering this solution to explore all of the feature options. The solution's value is in its features. 

Our primary use case is to reduce our hardware storage and to make it virtual so we use vSAN and HyperFlex.

The most valuable features are scalability and the easy operation - if it works. You can configure everything from just one window.

They can't get a POC to work because there are big latencies between the two sites we have. Even though we have a private fiber connection and everything else works well, they can't get the two products to talk to each other. They are not able to build it up. It looks like it's a firmware issue. They said it isn't but now it's looking like it is. I hope we can sort it out. 

In terms of the stability, we can't get it to work. We have one or two VMs online but nothing we could say to get an overview of it.

In terms of scalability, we can add servers, storage servers or computing servers, and we're much more flexible with block-based storage.

We had one other block-based storage just run out of support and service so we thought we'd go with migration. We have a dual-vendor concept and so we wanted to go with vSAN and something else in storage so we chose HyperFlex.

The setup is pretty much is straightforward. The issue is that it doesn't work afterwards.

We integrated directly through Cisco. 

I would rate this solution a three out of ten. I would advise someone considering this solution not to spread it over two data centers.