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FlexPod XCS vs Rackspace OpenStack comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 2, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

FlexPod XCS
Ranking in Converged Infrastructure
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
295
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Rackspace OpenStack
Ranking in Converged Infrastructure
3rd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
5.0
Number of Reviews
18
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Converged Infrastructure category, the mindshare of FlexPod XCS is 12.7%, up from 12.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Rackspace OpenStack is 6.8%, up from 4.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Converged Infrastructure Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
FlexPod XCS12.7%
Rackspace OpenStack6.8%
Other80.5%
Converged Infrastructure
 

Featured Reviews

John Kevin - PeerSpot reviewer
Data Scientist Assistant at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees
Enforces standardized setup procedures following Certified Validated Design (CVD) guidelines and offers greater flexibility and control over the system compared to traditional systems
The GUI setup follows the right setup, meaning we have to follow the CVDi.e. Certified Validated Design. Everything is clear, because you can build CI yourself, but without rules, it can be messy. With FlexPod, there are rules to follow, making it more standardized. This helps with troubleshooting and compatibility assessments, simplifying troubleshooting significantly. We also use FlexPod pre-validated architectures to validate the design. It is very, very important to us because we had a bad case in 2015 where separate items integrated poorly due to no version or firmware compatibility certification. Troubleshooting became a nightmare. So, standards are crucial for us, and everything entering production should be verified or at least documented for certification.
SS
Manager Dev Ops at MSD
Private cloud control has deepened my DevOps automation and strengthened security practices
For improvement, I feel the documentation available for setting up and creating infrastructure using Rackspace OpenStack could be enhanced, as I personally find the existing documents are not sufficient for new learners or beginners. We can also work on improving the user interface; the Horizon dashboard is functional, but compared to AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud, the UI feels somewhat dated. A more modern, intuitive interface with better navigation would enhance the overall user experience, especially for new users. Improving the documentation, including more real-world deployment examples, troubleshooting guides, and architecture best practices, would make onboarding much easier. Faster upgrades would also help; Rackspace OpenStack upgrades can sometimes be complex, so simplifying the upgrade process and minimizing downtime would assist organizations in maintaining their environments more easily. Additionally, improving monitoring capabilities would be beneficial, with advanced monitoring and analytics dashboards providing administrators deeper visibility into performance, capacity, and potential issues without relying heavily on third-party tools. Adding more managed services, similar to what public cloud providers offer, could reduce operational overhead while still allowing customers to retain the flexibility of a private cloud. Lastly, integrating AI could be valuable, with AI-driven recommendations for capacity planning, security monitoring, and automated troubleshooting improving platform management.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"Provides unified support: Being able to get a vendor from one company or another company on the line without having to go back through the call queue."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is the stability."
"Once it is in place, we do not touch it, so it is more stable than other solutions."
"You can just take out blades and replace them, and you're back up and running in no time."
"One of the benefits of the solution is management; we do not need to contact multiple vendor OEMs for any VMware issues, NetApp issues, or Cisco UCS issues, because we can conduct it all with a single point of reference."
"If you have a passion for trying to create a better datacenter or if you have a passion for learning new things, FlexPod is the way to go."
"The support that we get from NetApp is second to none."
"The solution has decreased the unplanned downtime incidents in our organization by 25 to 30 percent."
"The solution is stable."
"Rackspace OpenStack has positively impacted my organization by bringing us much closer to our customers based on the supportability this platform provides, and it has unique features which are very useful for our customers."
"Customer Service: Top. Technical Support: Top"
"It created a reusable library with OpenStack features."
"Rackspace OpenStack is stable and reliable, often compared favorably against other solutions."
"Rackspace OpenStack positively impacts my organization by making processes easier since I do not need to manage all servers manually because it efficiently manages server operations and maintains proper data, which saves time."
"I like its integration with GitLab and its simplicity. OpenStack has a lot of third-party libraries that it uses."
"There are many services that can be directly used which are not available in VMware."
 

Cons

"It would be great to see some form of interoperability between the FAS units and the E-Series, specifically for replication, even if it is just one more replication from a FAS to an E-Series. That would be amazing."
"I would like to see them reduce the complexity, that would be my number one request because. Right now, doing simple things is pretty complex. You have so many options. It might be better if it were more wizard-driven, as opposed to going through five hundred dials. It's not very easy or intuitive."
"There is room for improvement in the GUI for the NetApp side."
"With the UCS X-Series, I would like to see the fabric interconnects in the chassis. Instead of hanging out so the chassis is 7U, you are increasing your footprint to 9U with the fabric enhancer, where some of the competing solutions are 7U and have collapsed that network fabric into the chassis. This is another thing that I would like to see from Cisco, though not really on the NetApp side since that is pretty solid."
"They need to make the platform a little cheaper in Brazil."
"The initial setup should be a little bit more intuitive. It's counterintuitive to start with."
"The nature of running FlexPod in its pre-defined infrastructure is that it's not pre-configured."
"Automatic tiering would be good to have."
"The seamless integration between MySQL services and the rabbitMQ database can be revised during the debugging phase."
"It should have a single dashboard for cloud management and on-premises systems"
"OpenStack is difficult for the novice in terms of beginning to use cloud tools."
"The pricing for Rackspace OpenStack is sometimes not competitive according to other market products, as sometimes the price is high for some components like Advanced Cluster Management (ACM) and Advanced Cluster Security, which are very costly add-ons, not the main license."
"The pricing of Rackspace is quite high in the Vietnam market."
"So for the main stability, there have been a couple of issues that I've experienced."
"As a beginner, I find some difficulties in understanding Rackspace OpenStack, as it can be complex without a foundational grasp of cloud and networking concepts."
"VMware has a side-to-side replication feature, which is still more mature than Rackspace OpenStack's which can't be used in a production environment."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Buy storage based on the solutions you need, the technologies you need, and what will make your life a lot easier down the road."
"Pricing is always tough. We need to get to a point where the customer's happy. Then, as partners, we are also happy."
"Cost is the primary factor behind why I would not give this product a perfect rating."
"We have saved time with Snapshots, SnapMirrors, and backup and DR capabilities versus other platforms that we have looked at in the past."
"Pricing and licensing is very affordable from a FlexPod perspective."
"The cost is a little high."
"I find the licensing and pricing structure to be favorable."
"We can just swap in new equipment or hardware as we need, which has probably saved us several weeks."
"The pricing is low."
"I use it as an open-source tool."
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Comparison Review

it_user244362 - PeerSpot reviewer
Managing Consultant with 51-200 employees
Aug 30, 2015
Nutanix vs. VMware EVO:RAIL vs. FlexPod
Originally posted at www.storagegaga.com/dont-get-too-drunk-on-hyper-converged/ I hate the fact that I am bursting the big bubble brewing about Hyper Convergence (HC). I urge all to look past the hot air and hype frenzy that are going on, because in the end, the HC platforms have to be aligned…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
18%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Construction Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
16%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Outsourcing Company
10%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business35
Midsize Enterprise66
Large Enterprise182
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise8
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
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What needs improvement with Rackspace OpenStack?
I cannot comment comprehensively on how Rackspace OpenStack can be improved, as I do not find that much difference; however, some areas can be improved, such as support for OEMs deploying highly sp...
What is your primary use case for Rackspace OpenStack?
My main use case for Rackspace OpenStack is that we are particularly using it for our OpenStack applications, where we are putting our applications on Rackspace OpenStack software day-to-day. A spe...
What advice do you have for others considering Rackspace OpenStack?
I rate Rackspace OpenStack an 8 on a scale of 1 to 10. I chose 8 out of 10 for Rackspace OpenStack because every product has some space to improve. Regarding Rackspace OpenStack's AI capabilities, ...
 

Also Known As

No data available
OpenStack
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

University of Sao Paulo, WD-40, The Commonwell Mutual Insurance Group
X.commerce
Find out what your peers are saying about FlexPod XCS vs. Rackspace OpenStack and other solutions. Updated: November 2026.
920,929 professionals have used our research since 2012.