Cisco UCS Manager Review: Pros, Cons, Features, and Pricing
Cisco UCS Manager is a storage management software that helps businesses automate the management and protection of their data, within the Cisco Unified Computing System. It's ideal for managed UCS infrastructure (including blade servers and rack servers, such as Cisco UCS B-Series and C-Series server models) used by large enterprises, especially those in finance and healthcare, looking for secure on-premises data solutions. Cisco UCS Manager offers reliable data protection, advanced security features, and centralized management capabilities.
Cisco UCS Manager tackles issues with storage resources, connectivity, and scalability faced by IT and network teams operating complex UCS systems. In this article, I'll cover Cisco UCS Manager's features, pros and cons, use cases, and pricing, so you can decide if this software aligns with your data protection, automation, and infrastructure management goals.
Cisco UCS Manager Evaluation Summary
- Pricing upon request.
Why Trust Our Software Reviews
Cisco UCS Manager Overview
In my opinion, Cisco UCS Manager excels as a unified management platform for enterprises that prioritize security, scalability, and uptime. Its template-based service profiles simplify system configuration, but you may find the interface less intuitive compared to some competitors, such as Dell and HP. However, the comprehensive support and integration capabilities make it a solid choice for IT departments in large organizations. If your team values security and extensive functionality, Cisco UCS Manager is worth considering, though it might require a bit more effort during onboarding, especially if you want to integrate operating systems such as ESXi.
pros
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Technical support is responsive and helpful.
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The software scales well for large enterprises.
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It offers high performance security features that protect your data.
cons
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Some users find the software's complexity overwhelming.
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Onboarding might require more effort and time.
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The interface can be less intuitive for new users.
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Our Review Methodology
How We Test & Score Tools
We’ve spent years building, refining, and improving our software testing and scoring system. The rubric is designed to capture the nuances of software selection and what makes a tool effective, focusing on critical aspects of the decision-making process.
Below, you can see exactly how our testing and scoring works across seven criteria. It allows us to provide an unbiased evaluation of the software based on core functionality, standout features, ease of use, onboarding, customer support, integrations, customer reviews, and value for money.
Core Functionality (25% of final scoring)
The starting point of our evaluation is always the core functionality of the tool. Does it have the basic features and functions that a user would expect to see? Are any of those core features locked to higher-tiered pricing plans? At its core, we expect a tool to stand up against the baseline capabilities of its competitors.
Standout Features (25% of final scoring)
Next, we evaluate uncommon standout features that go above and beyond the core functionality typically found in tools of its kind. A high score reflects specialized or unique features that make the product faster, more efficient, or offer additional value to the user.
We also evaluate how easy it is to integrate with other tools typically found in the tech stack to expand the functionality and utility of the software. Tools offering plentiful native integrations, 3rd party connections, and API access to build custom integrations score best.
Ease of Use (10% of final scoring)
We consider how quick and easy it is to execute the tasks defined in the core functionality using the tool. High scoring software is well designed, intuitive to use, offers mobile apps, provides templates, and makes relatively complex tasks seem simple.
Onboarding (10% of final scoring)
We know how important rapid team adoption is for a new platform, so we evaluate how easy it is to learn and use a tool with minimal training. We evaluate how quickly a team member can get set up and start using the tool with no experience. High scoring solutions indicate little or no support is required.
Customer Support (10% of final scoring)
We review how quick and easy it is to get unstuck and find help by phone, live chat, or knowledge base. Tools and companies that provide real-time support score best, while chatbots score worst.
Customer Reviews (10% of final scoring)
Beyond our own testing and evaluation, we consider the net promoter score from current and past customers. We review their likelihood, given the option, to choose the tool again for the core functionality. A high scoring software reflects a high net promoter score from current or past customers.
Value for Money (10% of final scoring)
Lastly, in consideration of all the other criteria, we review the average price of entry level plans against the core features and consider the value of the other evaluation criteria. Software that delivers more, for less, will score higher.
Core Features
Data Protection: Cisco UCS Manager provides robust data protection to keep your information secure and compliant with industry standards. It ensures your data is safe from unauthorized access.
Scalability: Cisco UCS Manager's scalability lets you easily manage growing data needs in your enterprise. It adapts to your organization's changing requirements, supporting up to 160 blades within one UCS Manager domain.
Storage Optimization: This feature efficiently manages storage resources to maximize space and performance. It helps your team make the most of available storage.
Backup and Recovery: Cisco UCS Manager's backup and recovery features ensure data is readily available and recoverable. It minimizes downtime in case of data loss.
User Access Management: You can control who accesses your data with Cisco UCS Manager's user access management. It enhances security by limiting access to authorized users.
Performance Monitoring: Cisco UCS Manager lets you monitor storage performance in real-time. It helps your team identify and resolve issues quickly.
Ease of Use
Cisco UCS Manager's ease of use is decent but not without challenges. The GUI might seem complex due to its extensive features. However, once you get the hang of it, it integrates networks, manages CPU and memory, assigns IP addresses, and controls firmware upgrades across servers and modules. User reviews suggest that the learning curve is steep but worth it for the security and scalability benefits. If your team has IT support, they'll find Cisco UCS Manager's functionalities valuable despite the initial complexity.
Integrations
Cisco UCS Manager integrates with Cisco Intersight for cloud-based management, HyperFlex, VMware, Cisco UCS B-Series, PowerShell, Python, HTML, and Java.
Cisco UCS Manager also provides an API and supports connections with third-party integration tools.
Cisco UCS Manager Specs
- API
- Bug Tracking
- CI/CD Integration
- Cloud Deployment
- Code Review
- Code Transformation
- Collaboration Support
- Data Export
- Data Import
- Developer Tools
- External Integrations
- Git Integration
- History/Version Control
- IDE Plugins
- Local Deployment
- Multi-User
- Notifications
- Project Management
- Release Management
- Static Analysis
- Task Scheduling/Tracking
- Testing
