HPE SimpliVity Reviews

We use it for HCI and backup. 

The solution is simple to use and has the ability to do online backup. Our customers can view the list from ransomware. 

One thing that I would like to see improved is the flexibility of the node expansion. Currently, you have to match the same storage capacity and performance when you expand a node. This can be a challenge if you need to add more storage or performance to an existing cluster.

I have been using this solution for two years. 

It is a stable solution.

It is a scalable solution. However, you will need to add the same number of storage pods and compute nodes to each node.

The main reason customers choose this solution is the fast backup and recovery capabilities.  

It is easy to set up the solution.

We use the deployment manager to deploy the HCI node. The same deployment manager handled the deployment through the federation. It took around two hours. Around two people were involved in the process.

The solution is set up on VMware, so it is easy to maintain. 

If the customers deploy the new HCI solution with backup, then it is cheaper. 

The pricing is competitive. I would rate the pricing a seven out of ten, where one is a reasonable price, and ten is the most unreasonable pricing. There are no additional fees.

I would recommend using this solution if you are looking for an HCI solution with fast backup and performance.

Overall, I would rate the solution an eight out of ten.

We use this product when our customers need software protection, built-in backup, and an NDR solution. I'm a solutions specialist. 

The built-in backup and quick restore are good features. In general, the technology is very robust. 

If I want to upgrade any hardware components or make any changes to the hardware configuration, there are a lot of parameters I need to consider with respect to HP security. If I want to upgrade, I sometimes have to replace the box or add a new server to the environment or setup. It's a limitation of HP connectivity.

I've been using this solution for three years. 

For small and medium-sized businesses the scalability is fine. There are likely to be issues in large environments and it requires extra planning.

The technical support is good. They take on end-to-end responsibility for our Hypervisor as well as HPE components and security software. It's a good combination because both the hardware and software are supported by a single entity. 

We sometimes face challenges during the initial setup. Once the setup is completed everything is stable. HP has its own customization and deployment process. In theory, it's pretty simple. It's essential to have a properly configured network for successful completion of the deployment. Including the network configuration, implementation can be completed in less than two days. It just requires a certified engineer to complete the installation.

Licensing is slightly more expensive in comparison to the competition but I think SimpliVity provides very good value. 

I think SimpliVity has an edge over other solutions when it comes to the package as a whole.

I recommend Simplivity. It helps organizations implement their business applications and it provides a robust infrastructure to run a business. 

I rate this solution 10 out of 10. 

I use the solution for virtualised infraestructure of servers.

HPE Simplivity improved the space of disk with deduplication, reduced the time of backups and recovers.

One of the key features is the solution is really fast for backups and deduplication is amazing.

It would be good to have more compatibility with other solutions as an improvement in the future. As a suggestion, in order to have compatibility with other solutions, there could be a license fee for this, and if you don't need to them then you do not need to pay.

I have been using the solution for two years.

The solution is very stable.

The scalability is good but you need to pay for the additional nodes that can be expensive. We are currently using the solution for one thousand people in our organization.

They could have better-specialized support for more countries.

I rate the customer service of HPE SimpliVity a seven out of ten.

Positive

I used CISCO.

The setup is very easy.

We have three nodes around the country and it took just one week for the deployment.

3 years.

The solution can be expensive if you are using a lot of nodes.

Dell and Cisco.

I would advise those wanting to use this product to be careful before setting up the solution that you have enough disk space, if you do not, you will have to pay for it which is expensive.

The solution works great, it is amazing.

I rate HPE SimpliVity a ten out of ten.

We are using the solution for our customers. We offer CW Kolob, Call Center platform, using HPE SimpliVity to our customers as a SaaS.

In our case, we have an improvement in the operatives area because the support for that server space is minimal. For instance, I don't have to be an expert to work with them.

I have a lot of benefits from it. I like that I can create a service as I need it. I don't need new licenses for operating systems. I don't need to ask for server space, I don't need to wait for support, and I don't need to wait for monitoring. 

There is room for improvement in the operations area because the support for that server space is minimal. I want to sell a solution, but not bigger than the one I have. Maybe they can offer more features for more customers and optimize it, but with the same protections that I already have right now.

I want to replicate my business offering in the United States. I want to pay for HPE SimpliVity in Mexico, but they told me that it's not possible. They told me that I need to look for a representative in the United States and make all the payments over there.

We have been using HPE SimpliVity for two years.

It's a very nice solution. It's a complete solution that we are looking for because we don't have personnel with expertise.

no

The setup was very easy, but it is hard to deploy. We had problems with training after the setup. We think that we need at least four weeks.

Training is important before integration. Ask HPE for at least four weeks for integration before they start sending out invoices.

On a scale from one to ten, I would give HPE SimpliVity a nine.

We are a solution provider. We don't usually use it for our own workload or for ourselves. We are partners of both Dell EMC and HPE. We sell their products and provide solutions based on their products to our end customers.

It is being used in a mining company. I'm currently working with it to upgrade the storage capacity for the load that was sold.

Its ease of use is valuable. It is being used in a mining company. They wanted their working nodes to be seamless, and they wanted ease of use. That's why they opted for SimpliVity. They are running VMware virtual machines on it.

They can bring more awareness about this product. In this part of the world or this region, people normally don't know about SimpliVity and its capabilities. The company we have it sold to hasn't been able to fully utilize all the features or understand the features. So, product awareness should be improved.

Its scalability should be improved. We should be able to add drives without disrupting the services.

We have known this product for the last three years or more, but we first sold it to a customer in 2020 or 2021.

I don't have first-hand experience in managing it day to day. So, I don't know if there are any lapses somewhere.

We are currently working on upgrading the storage capacity for a customer from medium to large. The solution is scalable, but they have to work more on the scalability part. That's because you can scale out and scale up, but based on my experience with this customer, scaling up is going to be disruptive. It's going to disrupt their service because the storage has got into a place where they cannot just add the storage node to it without disrupting the service. They have to look at that angle. When you're adding drives, it should be able to just load the drives, do the recalculation, and just work without disrupting your service.

I would rate them an eight out of 10.

Its setup is straightforward.

It is a great solution coming from a pioneer in technology. If you want to go for it, you can go for it, but you have to be sure that this is what you want. 

I would rate it an eight out of 10.

The main use cases for this solution are consolidation and virtualization.

The main way the solution improves an organization is it simplifies daily use, and it cuts costs for the customer, because they often come from a silo-based storage and computer environment. That equals a lot more components, and you have to be more knowledgeable to be able to administer a traditional storage and computer-based solution. With SimpliVity, you have a hyper-converged infrastructure, which means everything is server-based and storage is software-based.

The most valuable feature is the ease of use and the storage virtualization layer, together with the built-in backups. That's what makes SimpliVity really useful, and how you can replicate data between different sites without paying an extra license for that feature. All the features are built into the product.

I would like more extensive deployment orchestration where the vCenter is deployed initially without being a separate thing. I feel that the deployment process of the vCenter should be included in the initial deployment to make it easier. Also, there are some issues when it comes to VMware's attaching and upgrades because HPE doesn't support all versions of VMware, and it can take some time before they have tested the latest versions. 

So the lifecycle management can be improved, and also the initial deployment to include vCenter.

I've been working with SimpliVity ever since HPE acquired the company.

I think the solution is very stable.

The scalability of the solution is very good. It's quite scalable, but one problem with all HCI solutions is that maybe the customer is just growing on storage and not on compute or memory. Then you have to add more nodes although you don't need more compute or memory. But with SimpliVity, you can actually upgrade your storage in the nodes, so you can go from a medium-sized SimpliVity node to a large or an extra-large. In that case, you don't have to buy more nodes, because more nodes requires more VMware licenses, and that's a big cost for a customer.

I've had a good experience so far with the technical support. There can be days where you don't feel you get support, but mostly it works fine.

The initial setup for the solution is more complex than setting up hyper-converged VxRail or vSAN solution in VMware. Dell VxRail is built on VMware technology; the software-based storage is built in VMware, so VxRail is really VMware on Dell hardware. What I feel is simpler with VxRail is setting it up, but also the life-cycle management, upgrades, and things like that.

But SimpliVity has been improved over the years, and they also released a new version on SimpliVity now in December. They have really simplified both the upgrades and the installation. I wouldn't say it's very complex if you know what you're doing, but that's almost always the thing. If you've never done it, of course it could be complicated, but one big problem is that you always need to have a pre-deployed vCenter to set up a SimpliVity solution.

I do everything for the implementation myself, because I'm a certified SimpliVity consultant.

Return on investment could be quite good if you look at the five-year investment compared to other HCI solutions, because other HCI solutions don't include backup built in. If you take into account that you can consolidate even your backup solution, you have a solid TCO case. Backup is a quite big part of the cost of a data center, and if you can have that built in without any extra costs. SimpliVity backups are very efficient. Because you don't store backup, you don't need extra capacity in the same way as in a traditional backup solution. But if you can't include the backups in SimpliVity, it's much harder to motivate the solution.

One big advantage with SimpliVity is that you don't need the higher license cost or VMware to put together a simple SimpliVity solution. You can run it as VMware essentials plus licensing. For the small customers, that's really quite affordable. But on top of that, you pay for SimpliVity licensing, so depending on how large your solution is, that could be quite a big part of the solution when it comes to cost.

You can start very small. You can have one node as the smallest, but the recommendation is to have at least two nodes to get some redundancy when it comes to upgrades and things like that.

There are certain things to take into consideration regarding whether to buy SimpliVity: that everything is compressed and deducted, and not every application is deductible or compressible, which could lead to you not getting the efficiency you first wanted.

One thing that separates SimpliVity from VxRail is the InfoSight portal. That's a cloud-based management tool, which you hook up to your SimpliVity solution, and this sends telemetry data to InfoSight. You can use your portal to maintain your solution and to monitor it for growth. And you also have the SimpliVity support team. They get the support data all the time, so if you have a problem with your solution and you are unaware of it yourself, HPE SimpliVity team will contact you and tell you that you have a problem.

I'd rate the solution a nine out of ten.

We are using HPE SimpliVity in a water distribution facility and for computer administration backups.

The HPE SimpliVity disc compression is very valuable.

In the next release of the solution, they should make updating the solution easier. Currently, we have HPE doing it for us but I would like to be able to do it.

I have been using HPE SimpliVity for approximately 

HPE SimpliVity has been stable for us in the two years we have been using it.

The solution is scalable. If we want to expand then we only need to purchase new nodes and set them up.

We have approximately 100 users using this solution.

The technical support and support, in general, are very good. When I had discs that stopped working, they sent the disc to be on the same day. They are very good.

We are using VMware and HPE SimpliVity together. The backup and the decompression of the files are very useful. Previously the updating was not easy when I only used my servers alone. However, with the HPE SimpliVity, it's updating the firmware and VMware in one step.

I have used Nutanix and updating the system was simple, HPE SimpliVity could improve in this area.

The installation with VMware was fine. We are using VMware on this solution, and there are a couple of new features.

We used HPE for the implementation of the solution because they were able to provide us with a guarantee. I could not do the process myself. It took approximately two weeks.

We have one engineer that does the maintenance of the solution.

It did not take me long to see a return on investment when using HPE SimpliVity.

There is a one-time purchase needed for the license for HPE SimpliVity. The solution is expensive, but it is worth the money.

I rate HPE SimpliVity an eight out of ten.

We are a large enterprise and are partners of HPE. We use the solution for hyperconverged simple usage scenarios.

HPE SimpliVity is simple, it's very friendly.  Our customers like to use this product.

The solution could have an optimization site and provide assistance at that site. HPE SimpliVity would also benefit if it installed bigger products like having a Blade solution.

I have been using SimpliVity for over five years.

HPE SimpliVity is stable enough for our business. We never have a problem.

The solution is scalable if you size the requirement of your client at the first stage, otherwise scalability is difficult.

SimpliVity is really easy to setup.

The pricing of HPE SimpliVity is comparable with other solutions so the price is good.

For hyperconverged, HPE SimpliVity is the right choice. 

I would rate this solution a 9 out of 10.