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it_user515658 - PeerSpot reviewer
Application Support Specialist at a tech company with 501-1,000 employees
Vendor
The solution is easy to deploy and manage.

What is most valuable?

The solution is easy to deploy and manage. It offers stable performance.

What needs improvement?

Deduplication and compression usage data display is not real-time and is not that accurate.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have used this solution for more than three months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

There were no issues with stability.

Buyer's Guide
VMware vSAN
April 2025
Learn what your peers think about VMware vSAN. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2025.
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What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

There were no issues with scalability.

How are customer service and support?

Technical support is not very good.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We did not use a different solution before this one.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was easy, if you’ve got such experience. It is a little tricky the first time.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We did not evaluate other options.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: We are partners.
PeerSpot user
it_user588603 - PeerSpot reviewer
Virtualization Management at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Consultant
With this solution, there is no need for FC switches. When our SSDs became full, performance went down.

What is most valuable?

The valuable features are:

  • Easily provided storage
  • Easy setup
  • No need to be a “storage engineer”
  • No need to have FC switches

How has it helped my organization?

It is less costly than typical storage and faster to set up than a typical SAN. It does not require “storage competency.”

What needs improvement?

During some intensive I/O workloads, and on a configuration that had SSDs sub-sized, we reached the limit of the system. When our SSDs became full (due to having too much I/O to manage), performance went down.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using this solution since March, 2015.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

There have been no stability issues.

How is customer service and technical support?

I have never asked anything from technical support. It’s handled by VMware.

How was the initial setup?

The setup is really easy and straightforward. vSAN is built in vSphere, and you have a dashboard to manage the system.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The pricing and licensing models are quite simple. Be careful with the sizing of the SSDs.

What other advice do I have?

Be careful with the sizing of the SSDs, as they’re a big part of the infrastructure. Don’t hesitate to go to 10Gb for the network, even if it can work with 1Gb.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: We are a VMware partner.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
VMware vSAN
April 2025
Learn what your peers think about VMware vSAN. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2025.
851,823 professionals have used our research since 2012.
it_user316464 - PeerSpot reviewer
Technology Architect at a tech company with 10,001+ employees
Vendor
With it, we're now able to roll out new solutions in less time, although it needs to allow for enough customization and individualization for specific user requirements.

Valuable Features

  • It's consistent in that our team is able to stand it up on a regular basis.
  • Our system now has continuity.
  • It provides uniform performance.

Improvements to My Organization

We've decreased the time it takes for us to roll out new solutions. It's sped up that process for us.

Room for Improvement

It needs to allow for more customizations and individualization specific to each user.

It needs to be more malleable and adjustable to changing requirements. There are too many hard-set limitations.

Use of Solution

We've used it for two months.

Scalability Issues

It's not a consideration, because in my impression VSAN is deployed in set-sizing and is not customizable.

Customer Service and Technical Support

Zero issues with tech support. Our TAM answers after some time, but it's not a negative because they're dedicated just to our company.

Initial Setup

It's not difficult, but there are still limitations even in in-depth white papers because it's so new.

Other Advice

It's not enterprise class yet because it's a new iteration and a work in progress. Just make sure it fits and meets your requirements.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1109874 - PeerSpot reviewer
Solutions Specialist at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Easy to use, reliable, and simple installation
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution is easy to use."
  • "In a future release, they can bring in the object storage capabilities to this solution. Currently, there is not any compatibility."

What is our primary use case?

We use the solution for data storage virtualization.

What is most valuable?

The solution is easy to use.

What needs improvement?

In a future release, they can bring in the object storage capabilities to this solution. Currently, there is not any compatibility.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for a couple of years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I have found the solution to be stable.

How are customer service and technical support?

Technical support could be better for this solution, the response time is too slow.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is easy but the deployment can take some time, approximately six hours.

What about the implementation team?

We did the implementation of the solution and we do not need many technicians for the implementation.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I would like to use more advanced models of the solution but the price needs to be reduced. There are some extra costs for this solution including a license.

What other advice do I have?

I rate VMware vSAN a nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
it_user693828 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior System Engineer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Real User
The most valuable feature is its simplicity of implementation.

What is most valuable?

The feature that is most valuable is the simplicity of implementation, as you only have to enable the feature on the already existing cluster(s).

How has it helped my organization?

For a PaaS platform which I’ve developed, the scalability of VMware vSAN was a necessary feature enabling us to grow with the onboard customers.

What needs improvement?

Although the product is very scalable, it is not scalable in a way that the different host sizes can effectively be added to an existing cluster. All the hosts/disk configuration have to be consistent, for a consistent performance experience.

For how long have I used the solution?

I’ve been using VMware vSAN for about two years, i.e., since VMware vSAN 6.0 was released.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability of VMware vSAN 6.0 is good. You sometimes have to resynchronize the data over the cluster (which is a single button task).

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

As stated earlier, all the hosts have to be exactly the same for a consistent performance experience, which limits the scalability of the product. Also, the computer and storage components within the HCI solution are linked to each other, it’s not possible to add only storage nodes.

How are customer service and technical support?

The documentation of VMware vSAN is good. I’ve had no experience with VMware support regarding vSAN.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I haven’t used a different HCI solution before.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is really straightforward, you only have to enable it on the VMware cluster. But, before the initial setup you will have to check the HCL of vSAN for the compatibility of the different components. With VMware vSAN-ready nodes, this process is made simple, but it still is something you have to take into consideration.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

VMware vSAN is licensed per CPU and the cost is to the other VMware (and Microsoft) products. VMware vSAN is reasonably priced, but with the addition of more nodes to the cluster, the needed CPU licenses (for VMware/Microsoft/etc.) are increasing rapidly, which makes it an expensive solution.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I’ve looked at HPE SimpliVity, but it has a special hardware requirement whereby it failed in terms of the project requirements.

What other advice do I have?

Use VMware vSAN for special use-cases only and don’t use it as an all-purpose storage solution.

Use VMware vSAN for VDI, small VSI, and dev-test environments. Don’t use it for messaging/database solutions as the licensing costs are huge.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user315600 - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Engineer at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Vendor
We're able to integrate it with vSphere, bringing speed and security to our patient-sensitive data system. And while it's scalable, I've yet to test its stability extensively.

Valuable Features

  • The integration with other VMware solutions, such as vSphere, is valuable for us.
  • It's also fast -- faster than hybrid and all-flash setups.
  • Three-host configuration provides security.

Improvements to My Organization

I think that it brings speed and security as we have patient-sensitive data that we need to store.

Deployment Issues

N/A

Stability Issues

I love VMware – it’s allowed us to virtualize our server infrastructure, but I haven’t tested the stability of VSAN extensively yet.

Scalability Issues

From what I’ve seen it’s extremely scalable.

Customer Service and Technical Support

VMware is top notch, but I can’t evaluate yet for VSAN.

Other Advice

You should look at scalability and integration withing the vSphere environment.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1181523 - PeerSpot reviewer
System Analyst at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Decent storage virtualization that is beginning to integrate modern technologies but needs to be cheaper
Pros and Cons
  • "VMware has been around for a long time are are doing a decent job at catching up with the latest technologies i.e. bringing in kubernetes and containerization. Overall, this is a great tool for virtualization."
  • "I would like for the next release to be a bit cheaper."

What is most valuable?

VMware has been around for a long time are are doing a decent job at catching up with the latest technologies i.e. bringing in kubernetes and containerization. Overall, this is a great tool for virtualization.

What needs improvement?

I would like for the next release to be a bit cheaper.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using VMware vSAN for 10+ years.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

VMware is not a cost effective solution, especially if you have a Microsoft shop. In this case, you would have to purchase the VMware license when there are already Hyper-V solutions that could do it for much cheaper.

What other advice do I have?

If you are already using VMware, then it is great to fun your applications and carries your infrastructure to the cloud. But, I would not recommend this solution to new customers. I give this solution a seven out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
reviewer1073628 - PeerSpot reviewer
Solution Architect at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
MSP
Extremely reliable, provides good performance and agility
Pros and Cons
  • "Good performance, reliable and agile."
  • "Licensing costs are a little too high for smaller sized companies."

What is our primary use case?

We sell and deploy this solution for our customers in a variety of settings from small data centers to big data analytics clusters. Most recently, we have deployed vSAN for VDI solution. We are VMware partners and I'm a solutions architect.

What is most valuable?

I like the reliability of this product because we can lose more than one host, more than one disk, and everything still works okay. It's also good on performance and agility. You can change and add things without any issues. 

What needs improvement?

It would help if the cost of the solution was reduced for smaller sized companies. 

For how long have I used the solution?

We've been using this solution for two years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

This is a stable solution. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scalability is good. We had a customer who bought five hosts a year ago and this year they expanded their infrastructure to 12 hosts, and everything was fine. 

How are customer service and technical support?

I think the support is very good. They figured out what the issue was and responded very quickly. The problems we had were from a network perspective, nothing to do with the solution. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is very simple and doesn't take long, perhaps two to five days. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The license is perpetual and there is an additional payment for technical support which is an annual subscription fee. I think it could be cheaper, especially for smaller companies. It's okay for big deployments with a lot of servers and high level of input-output IOPS.

What other advice do I have?

I like this solution very much and I would recommend it. 

I would rate this solution a nine out of 10. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
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Updated: April 2025
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Buyer's Guide
Download our free VMware vSAN Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.