VMware vSAN

I really appreciate that it scales the way we grow. The tight integration with the VMware stack is another big win. vSAN doesn't feel like a separate product, it behaves like a native extension of ESXi and after we paired it with NSX, we can apply security policies right at the VM level without touching physical firewalls.

Storage performance is better for VSAN clusters. It offers management through the same interface as your VCF. vSan can be bundled with other VMware services.

Due to VMware vSAN, I can easily manage the my local storage which combines. The performance is superb even when the VM is running. The security that is built in to protect my data is great which provides me with peace of mind.

What frustrates me most is that it demands a lot of upfront homework. This isn't a 'Plug it in and go' solution. If we don't nail down the network design jumbo frames, MTU Settings, and low-latency links, it can be a headache in the future. Another pain point is licensing and feature gating.

Licensing is expensive. The latency curve for vSAN has a huge variance after nodes enter destage mode. There is risk of data loss if multiple systems go offline.

It requires a stable and great network to achieve smooth results. Also, the troubleshooting process is not that easy.