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vSAN is by far the best hyper-converged storage solution
January 27, 2022

vSAN is by far the best hyper-converged storage solution

Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with VMware vSAN

We have been using VMware Virtual SAN from the initial release and up to this day, we really like the performance, integration, and consolidation capabilities of virtual san, as well as the billing model for cloud providers. The other key benefit is having a single support vendor through VMware's excellent support. The cadence of releases is also stable and new features are adding a lot of value. Overall we haven't had any issues with vSAN and would highly recommend it for any workloads.
  • Consolidation of compute and storage through the same management layer
  • single platform of storage for cloud native applications as well as traditional VMs
  • policy based management of storage with granular controls
  • encryption functions can be improved
  • HCI Mesh feature can be improved to be more like nutanix
  • the HCL can be updated more frequently with certified components to use with vSAN
  • ability to use commodity x86 servers and parts
  • single storage management for VMs as well as containers, etc
  • all-flash performance with "pay as you go" billing model for service providers (through VCPP)
  • we have realized savings in the licensing compared to traditional storage (over $500,000 over the last 5 years)
  • we have realized ROI through efficiencies in our staff of approx $1MM (over the last 5 years)
  • also, positive impact on the time to value/speed of implementation allowed us to realize business objectives (Over $1MM of ROI)
Nutanix was the first hyper-converged solution, but it requires its own hardware. hyperflex looks promising, but it's also only working on cisco hardware. in both cases the costs are much higher, compared to building a custom vSAN solution on certified hardware, leveraging existing supply chain relationships that each organization has with their supply chain partners

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

Especially relevant for service providers, as well as high-density deployments where rack space is at a premium. For anyone looking into hyper-converged solutions, it would be good to include comparisons with Nutanix and cisco's hyperflex who are also leaders in the space. It might also help to review each software vendors certifications to confirm that vSAN is "certified" with their application through reference architectures (SAP HANA, etc)