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VMware vSAN vs Vblock [EOL] comparison

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Executive Summary

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

Vblock [EOL]
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
24
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
VMware vSAN
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.1
Number of Reviews
233
Ranking in other categories
HCI (2nd)
 

Featured Reviews

TS
Chief Consultant and Architect at Tahir Professional Services
Centrally-managed and stable, but the initial setup could be made simpler and technical support can be improved
There is a different platform and there are different interfaces for different parts of the product. Although there are some centralized components, you still manage each component using its own set of tools. There is definitely room for improvement in this regard. I would like to have a catalogue like menu where you simply define your end computing needs and the rest would be taken care of internally. The initial setup could be unified to make it simpler.
ShyamikaThamel - PeerSpot reviewer
Associate Tech Specialists at Seatrium
Managing mixed RAID workloads has improved data protection and delivers strong performance
VMware vSAN can be improved in certain areas. In cases involving our large data stores with large VMs, we experience some latency, not during normal operation, but during database backup operations. We observed latency due to buffer issues from the top-of-the-rack switches. These issues are mostly network-related because all storage data traffic travels through the network. I have recently used Nutanix, and I observed that Nutanix provides better performance than VMware vSAN due to its data locality features. VMware vSAN is now providing data locality, but we did not use that option. If VMware vSAN provides additional features in the next release, such as the VM balancing feature called DRS on the cluster that VMware previously had, it would be beneficial. With DRS, VMs can move easily from one node to another within the same cluster. Nutanix does not provide that flexibility. When placing a VM on a cluster in Nutanix, the placement uses a balancing component. After that, the VM remains on the same host. If any contention occurs on the CPU or memory side, the VM stays in place until contention happens. If issues occur, the VM migrates to another host while transferring all objects to the same host. This is how their data locality is maintained. When a VM moves to any host, it moves with all VM objects. VMware vSAN does not currently offer this option. If a VM moves to another host, it accesses the disk object through the network, which increases latency. VMware vSAN now offers an option to select data locality, but it does not function like Nutanix. This is why some latency remains. If VMware vSAN can improve this feature, it would be very helpful and VMware would regain its top position.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We used to have different departments, each with their own IT section, everybody was making their own IT investments and running different applications and tools in a multi-vendor environment, and now it is all coordinated and synchronized in one solution, reducing the risk of equipment and costs as well."
"UCS brings the entire datacenter system together, letting us offer non-disruptive, seamless upgrades and storage tiering for people with higher IO demands, and it gives us flexibility."
"The high redundancy of components has minimized frequent service degradation/failure."
"We were able to achieve significant capital savings in our tech refresh capital projects due to implementing the Vblock solution in our environment."
"Capability for scale and growth within a single rack brings strong possibilities for capacity planning."
"Legacy built architecture disappeared with VCE converged infrastructure, as only one person with transversal knowledge can achieve the Logical Configuration Survey, resulting in a strong and powerful infrastructure with nearly no downtime, and this is well known by the VCE technical support."
"This solution has rock-solid reliability."
"Finding a fully bundled, deployed, and configured solution with a short delivery time and unique support is really attractive."
"Very good VCG notification feature."
"I like that we could choose whatever hardware we wanted, rather than having to use one particular vendor."
"VMware vSAN is software-defined storage; you don't have to buy additional external storage, and you can manage all the storage entities from the console, which is very important to our customers."
"I think you should try it – it's really stable and valuable and helps to drill your costs down."
"Without doubt Virtual SAN 6.0 is a storage solution that realizes the VMWare defined storage software or SDS (Software Defined Storage) offering great benefits to both customers and the vSphere administrators who every day we face new challenges and complexities."
"We use vSphere vSAN separately and with VxRail, the Dell-provided VxRail, along with Dell automation capabilities, and the performance is excellent, handling workloads better than direct-attached or legacy storage solutions."
"What VSAN allows us to do is give them an enterprise-class array, enterprise-class solution at usually half the cost of the traditional arrays."
"VMware vSAN is a stable solution."
 

Cons

"I would have given it a higher rating except for how the patching and updates are applied."
"Currently, there is some uncertainty about the future of the product line with regards to Dell's takeover of EMC."
"Improve the patching process and timeliness of updates/releases."
"The implementation and support could be better."
"RCM upgrades were not scripted, and you needed to roll on your own. We were led to believe this would be otherwise."
"RCM upgrades are painful."
"While most public clouds are deployed on Linux, there is current no certified Vblock working on KVM hypervisors."
"It needs more customer/client involvement in back-end management."
"The only thing I can think of at this time is to improve the performance monitoring and performance visibility within the GUI."
"One area that could be improved is the management feature."
"VMware vSAN could improve by having better integration with other vendors and the storage is limited, I prefer it to the traditional storage."
"I have used technical support and it leaves a little bit to be desired."
"VMware is not a cost effective solution, especially if you have a Microsoft shop."
"It's stable, but it's really picky on the hardware."
"The price is expensive. This solution is not an option for SBM customers because of the price."
"The stability could be better; we're not really happy with the reliability or performance."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Strive for a consolidated ELA."
"Related to tech support: I believe it is too expensive."
"The paid support for Vblock is expensive."
"It is not cheap."
"Vblock is priced at a premium because people don't want the headache of managing and deploying different products."
"I would not say the pricing is not good value. It is still on the expensive side, near the top-end of cost compared to what's available now. Also, the licensing has to be improved. There has to be a clear definition of the licensing from the initial set-up so the customer knows what they are paying for, without being hit later on with extra licensing. The licensing definitions should be clearer and, perhaps, have one set of licenses rather than multiple licenses."
"I think the pricing is on the higher end of the spectrum. There could be some adjustments that could be made there. Regarding licensing, watch compatibility with external products that you run on Vblock. It has got to be properly architected, otherwise, you will run into licensing issues."
"Vblock appears from the first while to be very expensive. There are more items you cannot see in the BOQ: customer service, support, delivery short time, and highly experienced VCE engineers."
"We have increased our user productivity."
"Every product is licensed with full support for a certain number of years. The licensing could be cheaper."
"The cost of VMware vSAN is reasonable."
"With vSAN, we didn't find the market that competitive."
"The vSAN licensing is not an inexpensive product. It does cost more than hypervisor."
"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."
"I would rate the licensing model a three out of ten, where one is expensive, and ten is cheap."
"It is not that expensive, and it is not even cheap. If it is designed in a proper way, it has good pricing, but if you do oversizing, the price will be high. There are different licensing models."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
12%
Outsourcing Company
12%
Performing Arts
11%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Construction Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise16
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business102
Midsize Enterprise56
Large Enterprise137
 

Questions from the Community

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What Is The Biggest Difference Between vSAN And VxRail?
While both run on the vSAN technology from VMware, vSAN needs to be deployed on vSAN ready nodes while VxRail is an engineered system. The choice to choose which technology depends on two major fac...
How does HPE Simplivity compare with VMware vSAN?
HPE SimpliVity is a hyper-converged infrastructure solution that is primarily geared to mid-sized companies. We researched VMware vSAN but found HPE was a better option for us. HPE SimpliVity has ...
How does VMware vSAN compare with Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct?
We found VMware’s vSAN was easy to set up, configure, and manage compared to other solutions we considered. It is best suited for small- to medium-sized organizations. It is easy to create load bal...
 

Also Known As

VCE Vblock
vSAN
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Xerox, ACS, and Columbia Sportswear.
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