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Dell VxRail vs. Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure vs. SANsymphony

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Dell VxRail

    Score9.4 out of 10
    N/AThe Dell VxRail is a VMWare-based hyper-converged infrastructure appliance.N/A

    Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure

    Score9 out of 10
    N/ANutanix in San Jose, California offers their software-defined Enterprise Cloud as a hyper-converged infrastructure solution. The Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure solution combines the Nutanix Acropolis virtualization solution, Nutanix AHV hypervisor (though Acropolis works with other hypervisors), Prism cluster manager, Nutanix Calm and Nutanix Flow server management, and is available on the Nutanix NX series of server hardware appliances, as well as third-party OEM appliances.N/A

    SANsymphony

    Score8 out of 10
    N/ADataCore SANsymphony software-defined storage aims to deliver flexibility, scalability, and cost-efficiency in a HCI platform. Powered by a block-level storage virtualization technology, SANsymphony is designed to provide flexibility to control how data is stored, protected, and accessed. The vendor states users can ensure business continuity with just 2 nodes, easily scaling out to 64 nodes, and achieve productivity for performance-demanding workloads by improving I/O processing and reducing…N/A
    Pricing
    Dell VxRailNutanix Cloud InfrastructureSANsymphony
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Dell VxRailNutanix Cloud InfrastructureSANsymphony
    Free Trial
    NoNoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Dell VxRailNutanix Cloud InfrastructureSANsymphony
    Considered Multiple Products
    Dell Technologies
    Chose Dell VxRail
    All of these solutions scored very close together in our testing. Nutanix actually was the highest scoring in ease-of-use, but the integration with Vmware and the pricepoint led us to choose VxRail.
    Incentivized
    Nutanix
    Chose Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure
    We've decided to go for both VxRail and Nutanix AOS to make sure we can get the best deals from both sides. I appreciate this may not be a path most companies can go down, but always good to have a bit of healthy competition between vendors to ensure you're getting the best …
    Incentivized
    Chose Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure
    I've been a big Nimble fan and would consider it if I was deploying in a green field site (it always comes down to price of course).
    Nutanix are an existing supplier so for now it makes the choice easier.
    We did look at VxRail but again for the VDI solution Nutanix won out.
    Incentivized
    Chose Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure
    VxRail would have incurred extra costs that were not apparent in the original presentations from suppliers.
    Incentivized
    Chose Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure
    They're on par with each other but it seems like management prefers Nutanix.
    Incentivized
    Chose Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure
    Nutanix AOS is ​​very easy to scale up
    Incentivized
    Chose Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure
    When we first bought Nutanix in 2016, vSan wasn't nearly as robust an HCI solution as Nutanix was. We evaluated VxRail in 2018 when we were buying our all-flash Nutanix cluster. vSan on VxRail has made significant improvements in that time but we felt Nutanix still offered …
    Incentivized
    Chose Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure
    Infrastructure capabilities:
    - Different hypervisors and therefore not tied to a single hypervisor for future choices.
    - Converting the cluster into another hypervisor - no data migration.
    Incentivized
    DataCore Software
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    No answers on this topic
    94%
    Would buy again
    17 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Delivers good value for the price
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    15 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Happy with the feature set
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    18 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    12 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    No answers on this topic
    94%
    Implementation went as expected
    15 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Best Alternatives
    Dell VxRailNutanix Cloud InfrastructureSANsymphony
    Small Businesses
    StarWind HCA
    Score8.6 out of 10
    StarWind HCA
    Score8.6 out of 10
    StarWind Virtual SAN
    Score9.5 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    StarWind HCA
    Score8.6 out of 10
    StarWind HCA
    Score8.6 out of 10
    StarWind Virtual SAN
    Score9.5 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure
    Score9 out of 10
    VMware vSAN
    Score8.5 out of 10
    IBM Storage Scale
    Score9.9 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Dell VxRailNutanix Cloud InfrastructureSANsymphony
    Likelihood to Recommend
    10.0
    (3 ratings)
    9.0
    (77 ratings)
    9.1
    (7 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.2
    (6 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Usability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.3
    (9 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Availability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.6
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Performance
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.5
    (51 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.7
    (54 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.6
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Online Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (3 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Configurability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.6
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    5.2
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    5.2
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    5.2
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Dell VxRailNutanix Cloud InfrastructureSANsymphony
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Dell Technologies
    As Dell EMC VxRail comes as pre-built, the deployment process is simple and easy. It is possible to scale out easily and will get support from the vendor instantly. As it is a Hyperconverged Infrastructure and it is also the integration of Dell EMC hardware and Vmware, the flexibility that VxRail provides is effective. An organization that is looking for all in one place like data management, network management, Integration, and backup software ecosystem can go for this product.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Nutanix
    For an organization that requires top-notch performance HCI, Nutanix is the best. You may start with 3 nodes and expand the cluster as required. The management through Nutanix Prism Central and Element was so easy that even a Junior Engineer was able to handle it. The Nutanix platform is not suitable for organizations with a small budget and fewer requirements for high-performance infrastructure, as the Nutanix solution itself is suited for enterprises.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    DataCore Software
    Now that you have virtualized your server's CPU and memory resources, you should look to do the same for your storage. Separation of hardware and software has many added benefits not only for CPUs and memory but for storage as well. Without this solution, we would not have been able to afford black-box type SANs at every location. This allowed us to virtualize over 90% of the server environment saving costs and power consumption/cooling and provides all the features costly black-box SANs, including true-HA (which most SAN vendors don't have). Migration from variant SAN storage and using mixed back-end storage solutions is as easier than ever before because the storage being virtualized.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Dell Technologies
    • VxRail gives us a standard, predictable, unit of scale and purchase.
    • Infrastructure maintenance and upgrades are much easier than on a traditional infrastructure stack.
    • Performance tuning is much easier and more straightforward than on a traditional infrastructure stack
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Nutanix
    • One-click upgrades; whether it's hypervisor, firmware, disk or other updates. This feature has drastically decreased complexity and administration time.
    • Data Locality. Not all hyperconverged technology is created equal. When I first purchased Nutanix they were the only vendor (and as far as I know, still are) that made sure the storage a VM used was on the same host that VM was running on. Given a normal operating state, the [storage] network is literally only used for replication data.
    • They got rid of traditional RAID. Nutanix uses software to determine where a VM's storage should be written and replicated to. This dramatically decreases I/O when changing the number of nodes in a cluster, be it on purpose or during a failure scenario. Ex. adding a new node: If one uses RAID arrays then enough space has to be set aside to create a new array that includes the new node, then all the information has to be copied over, and the old array destroyed. RAID arrays do not grow and shrink gracefully so Nutanix has designed a better solution.
    • The Nutanix management interface was built on HTML5. No more flash headaches!
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    DataCore Software
    • Fast pools should go to your most used data, and not static files.
    • Redundancy is a must for all aspects of our IT jobs. Who wants to explain when there's no data?
    • Works on Windows server 2012/2016 much better. Solid stability.
    Read full review
    Cons
    Dell Technologies
    • The software release cycle is slow compared to general release of software. Particularly with VMware based releases.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Nutanix
    • Can be priced high at times.
    • The one downside I have working with Nutanix is the sales team. They seem to try to add in extra goodies to sales quotes or push for extras that you don't really need and you have to tell them to take them out. Don't be afraid to push back on them.
    • Need to analyze sizing with sales team to ensure right sizing.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    DataCore Software
    • Our needs are very small when compared to what this product can do. We don't use all of what it is capable of doing. Honestly, I have no cons.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Dell Technologies
    No answers on this topic
    Nutanix
    AOS definitely make our dev/test virtual environment management much easier than before. And the consolidation the test/dev environment from Azure and Cisco UCS, we have less need to transfer large amount of data between different hardware platforms which was very big challenge. To expand the capacity is very easy to archive as well.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    DataCore Software
    I'm currently in the process of renewing my support.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Dell Technologies
    No answers on this topic
    Nutanix
    It's not out of the box easy, but once you get the fundamentals the steep learning curve flattens out and the processes to get things done and how it works becomes very apparent. It's wrapping the slight change in workflow from prior VM management methods took time to unbox and apply the Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure way
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    DataCore Software
    No answers on this topic
    Reliability and Availability
    Dell Technologies
    No answers on this topic
    Nutanix
    So far no issue on availability during no issue on network or power outage
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    DataCore Software
    No answers on this topic
    Performance
    Dell Technologies
    No answers on this topic
    Nutanix
    The performance is nothing short of amazing. This is an HCI solution, and as any all-flash HCI solution is amazingly fast, Nutanix AOS fills local IO requests until its local IO is saturated before reaching out over the network. This lowers latency substantially compared to vSAN.
    Read full review
    DataCore Software
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    Dell Technologies
    No answers on this topic
    Nutanix
    Our implementation team were great and worked with us and got the program up and running very easily. Every time we called post implementation we immediately talked to an Engineer, which is so unusual in dealing with companies. Everything they have promised they have full filled. I think their support is top notch.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    DataCore Software
    In the 3 years I have been running this, I have contacted support around 4 or 5 times and that was for minor questions with exception of one time when I was performing an update on the system. And in that one time, they were very timely in assisting me with correcting the problem. Top notch customer support!
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    In-Person Training
    Dell Technologies
    No answers on this topic
    Nutanix
    We requested more training than typical which was very in depth
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    DataCore Software
    No answers on this topic
    Online Training
    Dell Technologies
    No answers on this topic
    Nutanix
    A lot of online training courses, most of them are free.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    DataCore Software
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation Rating
    Dell Technologies
    No answers on this topic
    Nutanix
    IPv6 is needed for link local discovery. We do not have IPv6 configured on our network so the easiest way to get our nodes configured and discovered by foundation was to configure the IPv4 addressing within the node prior to trying to discover with foundation.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    DataCore Software
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    Dell Technologies
    All of these solutions scored very close together in our testing. Nutanix actually was the highest scoring in ease-of-use, but the integration with Vmware and the pricepoint led us to choose VxRail.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Nutanix
    Nutanix integrates very well with Rubrik for backup and protection of the environment. Nutanix gave us simplicity and scalability compared to VMware and allowed us to extend our infrastructure into the cloud using EC2. One unified management pane for all our workloads, unlike VMWare.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    DataCore Software
    DataCore is far easier to manage as well as deal with when it comes to hardware (as DataCore works with any hardware). It also seems way more affordable.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Scalability
    Dell Technologies
    No answers on this topic
    Nutanix
    We have scaled our products over the years and continue to do so very easily.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    DataCore Software
    No answers on this topic
    Return on Investment
    Dell Technologies
    • We were able to exponentially reduce the cost spending to buy different components.
    • As it has VMWare integration, possible to work on different operating systems.
    • Automation of IT operations helped the colleagues to work on different manual tasks.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Nutanix
    • We find that return on investment is probably a better metric in most cases.
    • ROI analysis is more than an exercise. Companies must outline what their future looks like, even if it’s vastly different from what they’re used to and comfortable with.
    • As good as your financial analysis might be, displacing status quo infrastructure has a lot of emotions tied to it.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    DataCore Software
    • More uptime - Typical SANs have redundant controllers, redundant power supply's and can make the drives redundant by leveraging RAID-0, 5, 6, and 10. The claim to be HA but they are not. That is because if I spay water all over them or catch the SAN on fire, the storage will go down. With DataCore's solution we have identical systems (maybe even at different datacenters connected with long-haul-fiber) including duplicate storage. So one side of the solution can totally be taken offline by water, fire, etc. and the other side will remain up providing true-HA storage. Because of this, we can upgrade the SANs during the day and still keep storage services running (zero-downtime).
    • Lower Costs - Ability to use 3rd party hardware which lowers the costs, not only for the initial investment but as storage capacity grows.
    • All the features one can want - High Availability, Thin Provisioning, Asynchronous and Synchronous mirroring/replication, snap-shotting, continues data protection, deduplication, storage reporting, trending with graphs, centralized console for easier management and many more.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
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