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FlexPod XCS pros and cons

Vendor: NetApp

4.3 out of 5

295 reviews
96% willing to recommend

Pros & Cons summary

FlexPod XCS is a highly scalable solution offering seamless integration with existing systems, including VMware, enhancing virtualization benefits. High availability and redundancy make it reliable for critical operations. Unified support from Cisco and NetApp simplifies issue resolution. Validated design configurations and automation streamline deployment. However, compatibility issues require additional components, and improvements in technical support and visibility are necessary. Initial setup complexity challenges less experienced users, affecting performance and efficiency.

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Prominent pros & cons

PROS

FlexPod XCS is praised for its high availability, providing consistent performance and reliability.

It features convenient scalability, enabling easy expansion and upgrades without disruptions.

The integrated convergence infrastructure offers a unified fabric for LAN and SAN cloud features.

Support is seamless, with unified assistance across Cisco and NetApp components, minimizing downtime and complexity.

FlexPod XCS provides effective storage and resource efficiency, benefiting data management and reducing power consumption.

CONS

FlexPod XCS faces challenges with compatibility issues that arise when integrating newer partners' software and firmware versions, as there is sometimes a delay in support for new components.

Documentation improvements are necessary, particularly concerning how components integrate, predominantly on the UCS side.

Managing multiple systems and infrastructure can be complex, involving various consoles like UCS, VMware, and ESXi installations, leading to difficulty in setup and deployment.

Cisco's support and escalation processes can be time-consuming, and opening cases with FlexPod XCS may require centralization for improved case management.

FlexPod XCS has costly deployment, and finding cost-effective solutions could benefit customers.

FlexPod XCS Pros review quotes

IT Manager with 1,001-5,000 employees

Oct 14, 2015

Having VMware, Cisco and NetApp on the call when there is an issue is very valuable to us.

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Network Services Manager at a non-profit with 501-1,000 employees

Oct 14, 2015

If you’re looking for a mixture of companies and you’ve played the point-the-finger blame-game – it removes all that.

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Senior Engineer with 501-1,000 employees

Oct 14, 2015

The most valuable feature of the solution is that it combines storage and server – very streamlined, very flexible, and built upon reliability.

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Senior Storage Architect at Photobucket

Oct 18, 2015

If you need a refresh on the whole infrastructure, it helps immensely.

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Senior Systems Specialist - Lead Enterprise Storage Administrator at a engineering company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Oct 18, 2015

Overall, the support from the NetApp side has been very good, and is quick to respond if there are hardware issues, etc.

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System Engineer at Thin Technologies

Oct 18, 2015

Outward scalability is incredible.

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System Engineer at Thin Technologies

Oct 18, 2015

The most valuable feature is the flexibility because it scales to meet your needs.

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Storage Engineer at a energy/utilities company with 10,001+ employees

Oct 18, 2015

I would say that the most valuable feature is the single-vendor support model.

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Senior Systems Administrator at Plexus Corp.

Oct 18, 2015

It’s not perfect, nothing is, but it’s very good.

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Senior IT Manager at a comms service provider with 501-1,000 employees

Oct 18, 2015

It has been very scalable – our guys scale it across six sites right now.

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FlexPod XCS Cons review quotes

IT Manager with 1,001-5,000 employees

Oct 14, 2015

A single place to initiate support to get them all at once – being able to call one place would be great instead of having to initiate with each vendor first and then ultimately finding out you need everyone on the phone.

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Network Services Manager at a non-profit with 501-1,000 employees

Oct 14, 2015

The integration with VMware could be a bit smoother.

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Senior Engineer with 501-1,000 employees

Oct 14, 2015

I think that allowing faster certification times on newer codes on both Cisco and NetApp sides could be good as this is a pain point.

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Free Report: FlexPod XCS Reviews and More

Learn what your peers think about FlexPod XCS. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2026.

884,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Senior Storage Architect at Photobucket

Oct 18, 2015

I guess the training availability and infinite scalability could be better, and it’s getting there.

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Senior Systems Specialist - Lead Enterprise Storage Administrator at a engineering company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Oct 18, 2015

We switched to the new NetApp clustered environment and discovered that the monitoring and reporting features are a little behind the older versions.

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System Engineer at Thin Technologies

Oct 18, 2015

The UCS firmware code upgrade can totally stall- it’s a brick. Cisco support has been able to help us, but this can be better.

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System Engineer at Thin Technologies

Oct 18, 2015

Licensing for fabric interconnects could be better. If you want to enable more ports, you have to buy licenses which can be costly, and you have to go back to Cisco and start the process again.

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Storage Engineer at a energy/utilities company with 10,001+ employees

Oct 18, 2015

The setup was complex, but mostly because of our environment.

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Senior Systems Administrator at Plexus Corp.

Oct 18, 2015

I think that new developments in what each vendor offers that makes the overall system easier to configure and manage could be better.

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Senior IT Manager at a comms service provider with 501-1,000 employees

Oct 18, 2015

I think that a unified dashboard would be beneficial across all three of the components to show you the status of all three components.

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