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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Cisco HyperFlex (discontinued)

    Score7.8 out of 10
    N/ACisco HyperFlex Systems is a hyper-converged infrastructure product, based on technology acquired with SpringPath (acquired September 2017). Cisco's modern HCI solution is Cisco Compute Hyperconverged with Nutanix.N/A

    XenServer

    Score8.1 out of 10
    N/AXenServer (formerly Citrix Hypervisor) is a virtualization management platform optimized for application, desktop and server virtualization infrastructures.N/A
    Pricing
    Cisco HyperFlex (discontinued)XenServer
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Cisco HyperFlex (discontinued)XenServer
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Cisco HyperFlex (discontinued)XenServer
    Considered Both Products
    Cisco
    Chose Cisco HyperFlex (discontinued)
    Hyperflex is that it is a simplified product that assists in the storage of software data and also provides an infrastructure for data optimization and network management quickly and efficiently.
    Incentivized
    Cloud Software Group
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    100%
    Would buy again
    27 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Delivers good value for the price
    96%
    Delivers good value for the price
    24 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Happy with the feature set
    96%
    Happy with the feature set
    26 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    96%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    22 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    96%
    Implementation went as expected
    26 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Features
    Cisco HyperFlex (discontinued)XenServer
    Server Virtualization
    Comparison of Server Virtualization features of Cisco HyperFlex (discontinued) and XenServer
    Feature
    Cisco HyperFlex (discontinued)
    -
    Ratings
    XenServer
    7.6
    12 Ratings
    6% below category average
    Virtual machine automated provisioning00 Ratings7.011 Ratings
    Management console00 Ratings7.012 Ratings
    Live virtual machine backup00 Ratings8.010 Ratings
    Live virtual machine migration00 Ratings8.012 Ratings
    Hypervisor-level security00 Ratings8.011 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Cisco HyperFlex (discontinued)XenServer
    Small Businesses
    StarWind HCA
    Score8.6 out of 10
    Proxmox VE
    Score9.2 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    StarWind HCA
    Score8.6 out of 10
    VMware vSOM (discontinued)
    Score10 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure
    Score9 out of 10
    IBM PowerVM
    Score9.6 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Cisco HyperFlex (discontinued)XenServer
    Likelihood to Recommend
    7.2
    (28 ratings)
    7.0
    (12 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    10.0
    (3 ratings)
    Usability
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    7.0
    (3 ratings)
    Availability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    5.5
    (1 ratings)
    Performance
    -
    (0 ratings)
    6.4
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    7.2
    (27 ratings)
    6.4
    (1 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    2.7
    (1 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    Configurability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    5.5
    (1 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    5.5
    (1 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    6.4
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Cisco HyperFlex (discontinued)XenServer
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Cisco
    Smaller sites that would benefit from a cluster of 2-5 nodes. Not saying that it can't scale above that, but I find HyperFlex a great solution for those sites. A simple 3-node edge cluster can provide a huge amount of resources and redundancy. It's also really easy to scale the environment to meet growth requirements.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cloud Software Group
    It can be really helpful & useful if we are using Citrix Hypervisor with other provisioning tools. Here are some specific scenarios where Citrix Hypervisor (formerly Citrix XenServer) is well-suited: Server Consolidation, Virtual Desktops, Disaster Recovery, Development & Testing Environments. On the other hand, there are some scenarios where Citrix Hypervisor may be less appropriate: Small-scale Deployments, Highly Heterogeneous Environments, and Limited Virtualization Requirements.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Cisco
    • UCS manager in HX is truly helping us in doing one touch firmware upgrades. Scaling of HX cluster (in few minutes) is too seamlessly due to service profiles.
    • HX does not hold you back by creating a single data store unlike other HCI products. With HX, you can create multiple data stores and allocate those to desired services. This help logically separate the install base on HX and removes confusion for the admins too.
    • We run high IOPs workload on HX, and we never felt latency issues due to the Cisco backbone (as you get FI as a TOR switch and options to choose 10G or 40G speeds).
    • With HX you truly enjoy a single window support from Cisco including for the top of the rack switch (FI in HX case). In other HCI infra, you certainly have to bank on to network switch vendor for support and bring HCI and switch vendor at one pane for troubleshooting latency related issues.
    • While we increased our footprint on HX, we didn't added additional administrators to support the landscape. This was possible because of the simplicity in managing HX clusters.
    • With HX we had setup stretched cluster between two near site data centres. This is a unique proposition in HX (we have 2 nodes in each data centre) and data centre failover works absolutely seamless.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cloud Software Group
    • Citrix hypervisor does price very well for small organizations. It is free.
    • Since this product is open source it does not have any type of vendor lockdown issues.
    • Allows live migration of VM's so you can keep systems up and running when changes are needed to the hardware in the background.
    • The GUI management tools are quite easy to learn.
    • Has Snapshot capability which is a great way to protect against malware as well as do risk-free upgrades.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Cisco
    • there is the problem with starting cluster where there are not outside DNS and NTP services so we need to workaround this with additional storage or hosting it on the local storage.. many clusters has internal DNS/NTP services not available from outside and they need to be hosted on the HX
    • there is not RBAC or user mgmt on the CVMs so it is difficult to not add full permission for the people responsible for just shutdown and power on the cluster
    • native snapshots support with ibm backup products
    • running from not the only last snapshot in all use cases
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cloud Software Group
    • Adding or presenting additional storage to the host can often be a task that is far more involved than competitive products.
    • The product can require reboots more frequently than competitors due to the DOM kernel getting "hung up".
    • Sometimes when a virtual machine is deleted it still leaves behind orphaned vdisks.
    • Recovering from the loss of a host can sometimes cause virtual machines to require lengthy command prompt scripting to fix so they can be powered back on from another host.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Cisco
    We are doing it in the current moment. The platform expansion will be twofold.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cloud Software Group
    With the knowledge and usage of solutions from VMware and Microsoft offering more compelling cloud integrated options it makes it more compelling in many environments which I consult. XenServer is a good product and fits the bill in many smaller environments but as clients look to the cloud or a hybrid cloud it can in some cases make it a bit more difficult.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Cisco
    Everything is fine if you work as a user of the system. Difficulties in fine tuning the system.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cloud Software Group
    XenServer is a good product in its use and probably free if you have the right Citrix licenses already. However, it does require specific knowledge to manage, which makes it harder to manage if you don't have that knowledge in house.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Cisco
    No answers on this topic
    Cloud Software Group
    It's been a little problematic in the past at larger VDI deployments requiring a bit more care and feeding than other vendors. But the latest releases (6.5.x) have brought about huge improvements in the stability and availability.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Performance
    Cisco
    No answers on this topic
    Cloud Software Group
    When running like a top XenServer is a fantastic hypervisor. There is relatively low overhead on the Dom0 so workloads get the most of the resources.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Cisco
    More documentation is available now than when the product initially came out (which was an issue early on). Because it only supports UCS hardware, I think it does help with support issues. Nutanix has to support much more hardware. At the same time, you're dealing with the Cisco TAC, which can be mixed at times.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cloud Software Group
    The staff I've worked with are very knowledgeable or able to get a very well articulated and capable support team member on the phone or helping them if necessary and they always want to ensure the best experience possible for you on the platform. The ability for the support team to reach out to hardware vendors for assistance is a nice plus too.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    In-Person Training
    Cisco
    No answers on this topic
    Cloud Software Group
    Part of a training for certification to become a trainer for Citrix included an in-person training with a Master CCI. The XenServer training at this time was pretty simplified due to the product primarily being installed however you did have to work with it and mildly configure the system.
    Incentivized
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    Online Training
    Cisco
    No answers on this topic
    Cloud Software Group
    Haven't given it a real go with any online training however there are some options out there. I have taught a course following Citrix material for XenDesktop which leverages XenServer and it is pre-built so not the best for XenServer specifically for installation but configuration is mildly touched on
    Incentivized
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    Implementation Rating
    Cisco
    Fast, powerful, flexible.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cloud Software Group
    Ensure you review the HCL (hardware compatibility list) and reach out to the hardware vendors to ensure they support the platform and in case they have documentation that can be followed for the implementation. Also ensure the prerequisites are completed prior to implementation so that as few unexpected delays occur as you can control.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Cisco
    HyperFlex is built on top of Cisco UCS infrastructure, which allows us to manage other non-HX servers attached to the same UCS environment. This allows us to tie everything together via Intersight and see all of the servers in our data centers. Other platforms don't really have a comparable offering.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cloud Software Group
    Feature for feature they are neck and neck. I have used Hyper-V 2012 and 2016, VMware ESXi and XenServer evenly. XenServer is a fast install, good documentation, with enterprise features out the box that compare or exceed what VMWare offered with a higher cost of entry.
    Incentivized
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    Scalability
    Cisco
    No answers on this topic
    Cloud Software Group
    The servers latest versions have made massive improvements to scalability. But from past experience there have been issues when running workloads for extended periods of time without reboot on the hosts. I would need to run similar workloads on the 6.5 release which has changed much of the bottlenecks or issues so I'd imagine its far more capable now, Perhaps able to stand near the best in the market.
    Incentivized
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    Return on Investment
    Cisco
    • The simplified management makes it easier to operate and prevents mistakes.
    • Guided installation using the installer VM means you don't have to configure every component by hand. Improves deployment speed and lowers the risk of configuration issues.
    • Performance increase of 40-90% compared to our previous compute/storage cluster.
    Read full review
    Cloud Software Group
    • Xenserver is easy to learn. We paid for support only for installation and deployment in the first three years, and now our team has the knowledge to solve most problems.
    • Low CAPEX if you have a team that uses open source software day by day.
    • But paid support is necessary to solve critical problems. The open source community is not enough. Actually, we have difficulty solving some bugs without paying for support.
    • Medium OPEX if you have a team that uses open source software day by day.
    Incentivized
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    ScreenShots