1. Home
  2. Hyper-Converged Infrastructure Systems
  3. VMware vSAN Reviews
  4. User Review of VMware vSAN
VMware vSAN is powerful yet simple to use.
September 14, 2020

VMware vSAN is powerful yet simple to use.

Brent Runyan | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with VMware vSAN

We use vSAN in the College of Life Sciences at BYU. We have two VMware clusters with multiple hosts. vSAN allows us to utilize the storage of each host to create a virtual storage pool for our virtual machines. It has allowed us to eliminate our previous SAN and the administration that came with having a SAN. We no longer need a storage administrator.
  • It is built in vCenter so you don't need to run a virtual controller VM on each host.
  • Very easy to implement, it is just a matter of purchasing licenses and turning it on.
  • Simple to monitor within the vSphere console.
  • I have not found anything about VSAN that needs improvement. It does what it is supposed to do, and is easy to work with.
  • With vSAN, we no longer need a storage admin to run a SAN. And yet we still have all the functionality in vSphere including vMotion.
  • With vSAN, we no longer need a storage admin to run a SAN. And yet we still have all the functionality in vSphere including vMotion.
We used HPE SimpliVity in the past. HPE SimpliVity provided a similar functionality, but it required a virtual controller VM on each host which consumed CPU, RAM, and Storage. Upgrades and maintenance on the HPE SimpliVity nodes was more difficult because the controller VMs had to be shutdown separately because they could not be vMotioned to another host. vSAN is a far superior product.
I have not had the need to call VMware for support on vSAN, but they have always been very responsive and competent when it came to supporting vSphere issues we have had in the past.
vSAN is powerful and easy to use. I believe that is the best definition of usability. It was installed in minutes and we have not had a single issue.

Do you think VMware vSAN delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with VMware vSAN's feature set?

Yes

Did VMware vSAN live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of VMware vSAN go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy VMware vSAN again?

Yes

Cohesity, StorageCraft OneXafe, Veeam Backup & Replication
VMware vSAN is perfect in an environment where you have existing servers with storage and you would like to use them in a VMware environment. Also, for someone looking to build a VMware environment, they could purchase servers with storage and not have to worry about purchasing a separate SAN. vSAN would not be appropriate for someone who already has a SAN.