Nutanix Cloud Clusters (NC2) Reviews

We used to have one data center with the Nutanix infrastructure cluster for disaster recovery purposes. The main data center is replicating the DR business continuity data center. Last year, we analyzed whether we could replace this data center with another cluster in the public cloud. That's what we did.

We installed Nutanix Cloud Clusters in Amazon AWS and replicated the VMs and the data from the main center to the data cluster in the cloud. The next step was to release this data center because we didn't need a physical data center with the infrastructure anymore, and the data would be replicated into the cloud and Nutanix Cloud Clusters.

We did this because of the cost, management, and administration. We don't need to lease the data center for DR anymore. We have physical equipment to manage over there because it's a data center that we are leasing. The second aspect is the flexibility for restoration or recovery.

Before this DR data center, we were in a fix if there was a problem with fire. We need to fix it first, and then we need to see if the equipment is not available anymore. With Nutanix Cloud Clusters, we can do a very quick recovery to the main data center or any other data center we choose.

If the main data center is not available anymore, we can restore it to any other data center. We have many data centers worldwide, so it adds more flexibility to us.

The solution's most valuable feature is its quick configuration and installation. They are really quick compared to any other configuration clusters I've seen before. Nutanix Cloud Clusters can be configured and installed in a couple of hours.

Nutanix Cloud Clusters has helped us reduce our total cost of ownership by 50 to 70k because we used it to replace a physical data center.

The license portability is excellent. We already had the Nutanix clusters and license at our DRP data center. We didn't need to buy more licenses when we moved to Nutanix Cloud Clusters because we migrated and used the licenses that were already available.

Nutanix Cloud Clusters has simplified our IT operations. It has saved us efforts in administering the entire data center.

When you go to the configuration part on the Nutanix site, the information is a bit high-level. What you have is the type of material you can choose from, along with the cost per year, and that's it. It doesn't have information about what material can be adapted for database purposes, application purposes, and profiles.

I have been using Nutanix Cloud Clusters for one year.

The solution's technical support is excellent. Today, we have around 100 clusters of Nutanix and other virtualization environments. Once I create the case, I get feedback a couple of hours later. The only issue I have with the support is when it comes to engineering. In engineering, they need to analyze and come up with a solution, but regular support is really good.

Positive

Overall, I rate the solution ten out of ten.

One use case is for virtual machines or virtual servers.

NC2 improves team performance and productivity. It is very efficient for managing our organization’s applications and data. It is easy to use and very user-friendly.

There is also license portability. It is very good that it no longer depends on a physical team, and it can be contributed to different teams. It is very useful.

NC2 has helped us reduce our total cost of ownership by 15% to 20%. Because everything is integrated, in general, it helps to reduce all costs.

I believe without any doubt that Nutanix is ​​one of the few companies that focuses on making the lives of systems engineers easier. All their applications are very easy to use. The philosophy of doing everything with one click is applied in Nutanix technology.

We use it for disaster recovery protection for our enterprise applications in AWS S3. It allows us to have high availability and safeguard the information very easily without having additional expenses.

I have used NC2 to migrate enterprise applications. NC2 is very fast and efficient. It synchronizes, and it compresses. I have done many activities of this type, and it works very well.

Its performance and speed are valuable. Its performance has helped me reduce costs.

It should not be so expensive. Its price is high, but at the same time, it does give the results it offers.

I have been using this solution for six years.

It is very stable.

It is very scalable. Scalability is one of its best features. 

I have plans to increase its usage in the future.

They are very good. One of the best things that Nutanix has is customer service. All technologies fail. There is no perfect technology. The difference is the service they give you.

Positive

We were using VMware. We switched because of the price.

Its initial deployment is very good. The first time I used it was through a demo, and I was very happy. 

The deployment was very easy. There was not much of a strategy. We just had to follow the described procedure.

We used an integrator from Mexico. The name of the company is GQC. They are a service provider. My experience with them was very good, and I would highly recommend them.

The ROI is in terms of reliability.

I feel that the prices could be improved, but the truth is that I am very happy. The license price keeps increasing, but I am confident that it is much more reasonable than other brands.

I did not evaluate other solutions.

I would rate NC2 a nine out of ten because there is no perfect technology. There are always things that can be improved, but the truth is that it is doing very well.

We need to exit our private data center and migrate to the public cloud. Transforming all our systems and the native cloud is very challenging. NC2 gives us the ability to migrate to the public cloud while giving us more time to transform all these applications that we have into modern apps.

The product gives us the ability to migrate to the public cloud without external resource recruitment. 

We did not need to spend a lot of money transforming our apps. That allows the technologists and IT to focus on other areas of the business, including AI and automation, and improve these instead of worrying about migration to the public cloud. 

The ability to manage our costs when we migrate to the public cloud is great. Costs can get out of control, so the fact that we can manage our costs is one of the best features. The other big value we get out of Nutanix is sustainability. In terms of lowering our carbon footprint or moving to NetZero, we can achieve a lot of targets by using NC2, and that's great.

In terms of dealing with our business-critical workloads, Nutanix is a highly scalable, highly resilient, and very high-performing solution. To have that capability in the cloud, just like having it within a private data center, means that our workloads run at an optimum level.

Nutanix Cloud helped to eliminate cloud waste in our organization. As we looked at the native cloud, we saw the wastage. We saw the costs and decided that a cost optimization strategy was very much needed. Having NC2 minimizes waste and maximizes what we're using in the cloud. We have a report coming soon about how much waste we've managed to reduce.

NC2 is great for managing our organization's application and data across on-premises and public clouds. That's a unique feature, and we really enjoy it. That unified management plane of managing both public and private Nutanix clusters means it's a seamless experience no matter what cluster we manage, which is great for the digital team that we have.

Not much can be improved at the moment, given that we're quite an early adopter and we're not quite live yet. The experience of deployment was very slick. The support from Microsoft and Nutanix was very good. 

Perhaps the one thing that could be improved is the features of Prism Central versus the local Prism Elements UI but I understand that is being reviewed.

We were early adopters of NC2. We've had it for about six months, and we're aiming to go live with it this year in August 2023.

We've been running the product for six months as an early adopter, and we have not had any challenges. There have not been any problems in terms of reliability given it is the same software as Nutanix onprem.

Scalability is one of the features of the public cloud. Since we've deployed NC2 in a public cloud, we can easily weigh more capacity if we need that, and that's a very simple process.

I'm in the early adoption program, which makes it very easy. Over many years, I've used Nutanix, and support is one of their finest features. 

For example, once, I had a very complex issue on our cluster in our data center. In the end, there were eight senior engineers right across Nutanix who were getting called into our original call. That lasted a couple of hours. It got to the point where they fixed this very complex issue. I've never seen support like that before - where multiple senior engineers were called in and were willing to help. It got to the point where someone that practically wrote the piece of the software in question ended up talking with us and helped to sort it out. 

Support remains one of Nutanix's best features.

Positive

This is a brand-new project for us. 

Nutanix and Microsoft gave us excellent guidance and gave us very minimal assistance, even though they were there to support us. 

We deployed in-house.

We are still in the early adoption stage and doing POCs. Once we go live, we'll be able to measure ROI more clearly.

The license portability is good. We migrated our hardware-tied licenses to their capacity-based model. Once we migrated those licenses we then linked to NC2. That was a great advantage that we could do that.

We did a lot of cost analysis and looked at some cloud-native options. 

However, the reality is that a lot of the benefits, including having that unified management plane, meant that we could use Nutanix in the best possible way once we realized the cost optimizations behind it.

For someone who wants to migrate workloads directly to the cloud and run them natively, you want to look at what these niche markets, third parties, and vendors like Nutanix have. They're filling a niche market inside the cloud where you can get better value for your money by utilizing the best of what's in the cloud. You've got the other benefits of sustainability and management,  lowered costs in terms of upskilling, and more.

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

I'd advise others to speak to Nutanix. They were very good at giving us consultancy to help us realize all the benefits of NC2. Of course, at first, we didn't realize all the benefits. However, once we were willing to take a look and get all of the documentation in front of us that showcases all the benefits of NC2, we wanted to try it. A trial is where, at least in my case, it shows how it can outshine the full native cloud.

We primarily use the product for sports betting. It was for nonregulated applications.

I was able to lower the number of people I needed to do the same level of work as on VMware. Where I needed a team of six on VMware, with Nutanix, I only required a team of two.

The most valuable feature is the portability of data. I can get my data in and out. I have the ability to expand from my already on-premise environment to off-premise as well. Being able to stay in that hybrid mode is great.

I found the impact on business workloads to be positive. It's saved me money. Nutanix is much more reliable overall compared to non-Nutanix platforms. 

It's helped eliminate cloud waste in my company. While I cannot completely quantify it, it allowed me to bring all of my data together. It's made it easier for me to be successful. 

I've had a very positive experience managing my company's applications and data across on-premise and public clouds. Native applications cost much more in development time and require more effort. More people are coming out of the pure native cloud since the costs are just astronomical.

I'd like more flexible options to get in and out of migration modes.

While we've been using all Nutanix products for over ten years, we started to use this particular product last year.

I've never had a single stability problem with any Nutanix platform. It's one of the reasons I chose it. 

I've had no scalability problems yet. We'll see if, as I continue to scale, it becomes a problem.

The application is growing by leaps and bounds every day. It's got petabytes worth of data now across 30 states. We're continuing to move forward and I'm still scaling. I work at an enterprise with 10,000 or more users. 

Nutanix support is good. I only really had one problem that was really difficult for them. That said, they kept at it until it was resolved. I've been very pleased with their support overall.

Positive

I previously used four different solutions and have since consolidated my management journey. 

I did not handle the initial setup directly. My understanding is that the process was straightforward. 

Nutanix is a lot more straightforward than anything else we install. That's why we like it. My team got aggravated with Dell and VMware solutions, and Nutanix was pretty much plug-and-play in comparison.

There have been reliability and productivity increases and cost improvements. I've witnessed cost savings of $400,000 to $500,000.

My total cost of ownership has probably gone down 20%. This solution allowed me to take that 20% of savings and reinvest as I move forward. While I don't really save anything in the short term, I am saving expenses in the future. 

There are positives and negatives to licensing. It all makes sense now, but it took a while. When the licenses first changed, it was a bit confusing. 

I did evaluate other options before choosing Nutanix. For example, I looked at VMware options. I didn't like them. Especially since the Broadcom acquisition, I wanted to diversify away from VMware.

The solution is pretty seamless. It's a no-brainer to choose this product.

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

We have some workloads that we want to get from on-premises to the cloud, and we're doing some test cases on the migrations of our virtual machines to NC2. That's part of the plan (especially for the G4 nodes, which are out of support).

We're looking into the pros and cons of replacing the actual hardware versus moving it to a Nutanix cloud.

Having a single pane of glass where you can have both your on-prem and anything else that you spin up within AWS is useful. The integration within Prism Central is great.

We're looking at it for our application team so that they can have choices and allow them to use cloud clusters. 

We've had some challenges with the implementation. We had to go through all the necessary setups, and we had some challenges in terms of integrating our current environment into the Nutanix cloud. 

We also worked with some NC2 experts, and we've gotten over most of the challenges. Now, we are able to set up the cluster on AWS accurately. The next step is to get fully integrated with Prism Central so that we can continue with the POC test.

We're in the POC stage. Currently, I've used the solution for less than six months during the trial period.

We've tried to run it on a weekend, and it didn't go down. 

We have experienced an issue with hibernating the app tool cluster. There may be a problem that's being worked through at Nutanix. After having an issue with hibernating, we've had to terminate a cluster during the POC. Other than that, everything went smoothly when we did the POC. 

As far as scalability is concerned, you could easily scale up or horizontally. You can easily add nodes or recreate some other clusters as needed. It takes about 60 to 90 minutes to create a cluster. 

We haven't really dealt with technical support. We're getting all the help we need in terms of standing up the clusters and dealing with internal security hurdles. Right now, we're trying to integrate with Prism Central and open some firewall support. We are as well working with an https://www.peerspot.com/produ... technical expert for those purposes. 

We previously used a different process altogether. 

It's too early to measure any ROI as we are in POC mode. 

The solution has been more costly at this point. We do not see any cost savings. 

We did evaluate other options, including NC2 on Azure. We wanted more maturity, and AWS has always been our primary cloud vendor. We are looking to have workloads on Azure and Google one day too. 

We're still in the POC stage. Our biggest hurdle is the cloud. It seems to cost more to run clusters in the AWS cloud. We do have some discounts on a corporate level; however, apples to apples, it seems to be better just to replace the actual hardware on-prem versus migrating workloads off of NC2. We're still looking at cost benefits. We want to give our clients both options and have the flexibility to run on a hybrid approach.

As we are at the POC stage, so we haven't yet eliminated cloud waste just yet. That would be one of the test cases we are looking into.

In terms of managing applications and data, we're still testing it. We're still looking at how it performs on-prem versus the cloud. We're looking into scalability as well as that would be a benefit of moving to the cloud.

If someone is interested in migrating workloads directly onto the cloud and running them natively instead of using NC2, they really have to look into the design of the application. Some workloads need to have some services on AWS as well. When that's the case, it is best to use NC2 features. 

I'd rate the solution a seven out of ten. There are a few improvements to work on. For example, cluster hibernation needs work. However, the solution is very user-friendly, and it's simply to spin up clusters. 

We use it for server virtualization and migration from two-tier legacy architecture to hyperconverged architecture.

We are using it in our company and for our customers.

About 70% of our yearly benefits are from Nutanix. The benefits are in terms of time, money, and resources. For example, for a VMware project, if I have to put three engineers, then for a Nutanix project, I can put one engineer, and it is done very quickly.

Nutanix Cloud Clusters (NC2) simplify our IT operations.

We use it for disaster recovery protection for our enterprise applications in AWS S3. For example, for the production-size customers, we have clusters with four or five nodes, and we can make enough architecture for the disaster recovery side with two nodes. It is only for critical virtual machines between the two sides, so we can make cost optimization by using fewer nodes in the disaster recovery and less usage of resources.

Distributed storage and software-defined storage are valuable. There is ease of use. It is very important for our customers to have one centralized management console. Scalability is also very important for our customers.

The interface organization can be better. If we can, for example, organize virtual machines by groups, folders, and sub-folders, it will be easier to administer and monitor. Their support is excellent, and it is easy to use, but it can be easier.

We have been using Nutanix Cloud Clusters (NC2) since 2018. It has been seven years. 

Its stability is very good. I would rate it a nine out of ten for stability.

It is very easy to scale. We can scale out and scale up. We prefer to scale up.

Their technical support is very good. The time to respond is very good. In 99% of cases, they are able to solve the problem within one hour of raising the incident.

Positive

I have some customers who prefer the legacy architecture. For those customers, we propose VMware, but by default, my advice for my customers is to go with hyperconverged. Hyperconverged for me is Nutanix along with AHV.

I prefer Nutanix over others because of its ease of use and because it is the future. The solution is very stable, and the support quality is very good. That is why I prefer to advise hyperconverged with Nutanix.

NC2 has helped to reduce the total cost of ownership (TCO) for me and my customers. If we do a calculation for two to five years, it can optimize the cost by 20% to 30% including hardware, software, and services.

The licensing portability can be very interesting. At the moment, I am working with Nutanix Appliances with the AHV as a hypervisor. I did not have a chance to ask for portability between platforms, but it will be good if you can have portability between multiple types of platforms.

At the moment, all of my customers have NC2 on-prem. I do not have customers who are using multi-cloud and public cloud. I just had a discussion with one of my customers who is interested in multi-cloud. That will be our first experience with Nutanix for a multi-cloud deployment.

I would rate Nutanix Cloud Clusters (NC2) a nine out of ten.

We are a cloud service provider, so we offer the product as a service for our customers. We use it in-house as well. 

We offer various services like containers as a service, storage as a service, and so on.

In most cases, we used to manage our organization's applications and data manually. We are in the process of automating it and moving towards the cloud and self-service.

The license portability is good enough. The flexibility is a key feature. That's why we value it the most.

The most valuable feature of NC2 is scalability.

The most significant reason my customers like it is that they know what they will pay for the service. It's a regular payment instead of per consumption.

We are one of the most important partners for Nutanix in Spain. So we have a lot of benefits coming from this.

It simplifies our IT operations. Scalability and flexibility are very important features for us. They make our lives easier, but we are working to make them even better.

What we need now is multi-tenant features to make the clusters self-deploy and self-use on the platform instead of us having to do it manually.

I have been using it for around five to six quarters.

The customer service and support are fine. The speed of the answers could be improved, but from a technical perspective, it is good enough. 

Positive

We used VMware. In terms of cost, Nutanix is a better solution because of the platform. Our agreements with Nutanix are better than VMware, even with the Broadcom acquisition.

I would rate my experience with the deployment a seven out of ten, with ten being easy. It could be easier. 

It has helped reduce the total cost of ownership by more or less 20% or 25%.

Overall, I would rate the solution a nine out of ten. 

Our primary use case for Nutanix Clusters involves operating virtual platforms. We use Nutanix as our storage infrastructure and VMware ESXi for compute infrastructure. This setup is predominantly utilized within the government sector.

The solution has not significantly improved our organization. We found it disappointing due to numerous issues, such as lack of scalability, resource consumption, and unreliable support. We are in the process of transferring our nodes and clusters to more dependable solutions.

The most valuable feature of Nutanix Clusters is its storage infrastructure.

The product could be improved in scalability and support services. 

I have been using Nutanix Clusters for three years.

I rate the product stability a five out of ten. 

The solution consumes more resources than anticipated, leading to difficulties in adding new nodes and requiring faster Ethernet connectivity.

Our experience with Nutanix customer service and support has been very disappointing. Support cases took an excessive time to resolve. For instance, a case involving RDMA took five weeks to resolve.

Negative

We previously used different solutions. We switched to Nutanix Clusters to streamline our storage and compute infrastructure.

The initial setup process was complex. The deployment process, especially when implementing advanced features like RDMA, often failed and required repeated attempts with different settings.

We implemented the solution through a combination of in-house and vendor teams.

The licensing model of Nutanix is complex. Unlike VMware, where you purchase socket licenses, Nutanix requires licenses for every core, gigabyte of storage, replication, and other features. Missing any of them can result in the cluster being non-operational.

We evaluated other options, including VMware and IBM. We are considering migrating more clusters to VMware and evaluating IBM and SolarWinds for future implementations.

I advise others to consider other solutions if they need a reliable and scalable infrastructure. 

I rate Nutanix Cloud Clusters (NC2) a three out of ten.