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Dell VPLEX vs NetApp OnCommand comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Dell VPLEX
Ranking in Storage Management
1st
Average Rating
8.2
Number of Reviews
18
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
NetApp OnCommand
Ranking in Storage Management
3rd
Average Rating
7.2
Reviews Sentiment
5.7
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the Storage Management category, the mindshare of Dell VPLEX is 7.8%, down from 7.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetApp OnCommand is 8.8%, down from 10.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Storage Management
 

Featured Reviews

Sayed Zuber - PeerSpot reviewer
It's an excellent solution for data mobility and disaster recovery, but the CLI can be difficult for beginners
Dell VPLEX currently requires Flash Player to access the GUI. It would be better to have a web-based HTML management interface. The encryption could also be improved. When the host writes data, it goes from VPLEX back to the physical storage. The physical storage device will do encryption or use an algorithm called Data Address Encryption. If there are vulnerabilities between the host and the storage device, you can lose your data. I suggest encrypting the data before it is sent from the host to the storage. I would also recommend using the NVM protocol in VPLEX. It still has Flash Player and a local SATA disk built into the Flash Player. You need to Flash the disk to SAS and then SATA. The NVM protocol is better.
Henry Aragon - PeerSpot reviewer
Versatile data protocols improve efficiency while execution capabilities need enhancement
The ease of configuring NetApp FAS series is noteworthy, as they support multiple standards like iSCSI, NFS, Fibre Channel, and NVMe. NetApp's data efficiency protocols are unmatched in the industry. ActiveIQ offers significant improvements in data monitoring and error notification. It provides crucial data management features and has versatile support for various protocols and standards, making it a one-size-fits-all storage solution.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"Its mirroring capabilities allow for data to be mirrored across two different data centers, so if one center were to crash or fail, the other center could take over and keep everything running smoothly."
"The most valuable feature is deduplication, as we have no duplication in the snapshots."
"The solution works well. It's very reliable."
"Storage virtualization and geographic resilience for Metro Sans, plus a great performance improvement."
"The best feature of VPLEX storage is its ability to consolidate storage. It also provides the highest RPO and RTOs for replication technology. VPLEX enables application mobility."
"Dell's technical support is awesome. We received instant support from EMC as long as we had an active contract."
"Mobility enables us to carry out an internal migration of data."
"The capacity to migrate machines onto VPLEX is great — it's very clean. We can migrate machines and add arrays easily."
"I am impressed with the product's ability to warn us whenever something is wrong with the system. It is connected with Active Directory and Exchange. Whenever there is anything wrong with NetApp, the solution will alert you to an event error, post which you can start to troubleshoot."
"One of the main features is the ability to run the block and file storage from the same system."
"Snapshot is a valuable feature."
"In OnCommand Unified Manager, we can monitor the entire cluster as well as configure data protection through Unified Manager."
"The ease of configuring NetApp FAS series is noteworthy, as they support multiple standards like iSCSI, NFS, Fibre Channel, and NVMe."
 

Cons

"Dell VPLEX should improve its integration and user interface and be easier to configure."
"The price is a problem with EMC due to the fact that it's more expensive than the other vendors."
"Today, it needs a huge effort that is not acceptable during disaster recovery."
"The initial setup is complex."
"I would like to have site-to-site replication capability for applications."
"VPLEX hardware migration to spare equipment in case of major disruption."
"VPLEX's engine-based architecture is complex, so the implementation is challenging and takes more time. It's also difficult to fix hardware issues. When an appliance fails, it takes Dell EMC a long time to fix it because spare parts are in short supply."
"There can be delays in getting performance reports."
"The solution lacks the ability to generate reports from Snapshot."
"At present, OnCommand Unified Manager has just the monitoring and data protection features. It would be better to add some features for entire cluster management and storage management. Automation should also be included so that instead of separately accessing Unified Manager and OnCommand Workflow Automation, we can work in a single window. It is very much required."
"There could be better performance in block storage and the GUI could be improved because not every operation is available. You need some operations in the CLI."
"ActiveIQ only provides read access and does not allow making changes directly."
"The tool is not intuitive and the menus are confusing, especially the snapshot view."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We struck a great deal with Dell EMC, so for us, VPLEX was not very expensive."
"VPLEX is a little bit expensive in my personal opinion."
"When we compare with other similar kinds of products from Dell EMC and HP, the price of NetApp OnCommand is reasonable."
"The tool is cheaper than EMC but more expensive than HP and Pure Storage. I would rate the solution's pricing an eight out of ten."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
22%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Government
13%
University
5%
Government
19%
Manufacturing Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Computer Software Company
10%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Dell VPLEX?
Dell's technical support is awesome. We received instant support from EMC as long as we had an active contract.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Dell VPLEX?
This is an enterprise solution so licensing costs are generally on the higher side. There will be additional costs if you want to do a network cluster for business servers.
What needs improvement with Dell VPLEX?
Dell VPLEX should improve its integration and user interface and be easier to configure. Any EMX product, be it PowerMax, VMAX, or DMAX, works based on the CLI. A person has to be very good at runn...
What do you like most about NetApp OnCommand?
I am impressed with the product's ability to warn us whenever something is wrong with the system. It is connected with Active Directory and Exchange. Whenever there is anything wrong with NetApp, t...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NetApp OnCommand?
The tool is cheaper than EMC but more expensive than HP and Pure Storage. I would rate the solution's pricing an eight out of ten.
What needs improvement with NetApp OnCommand?
The tool is not intuitive and the menus are confusing, especially the snapshot view.
 

Also Known As

No data available
NetApp Operations Manager, NetApp SANscreen
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Kindred Healthcare, Regis Aged Care, WeBank SpA, Panduit, Munson Healthcare
Norfolk County Council, Yahoo Japan, Sheridan College, Citrix Systems, Avanade, Quasar Data Center, DG Khan Cement Co. Ltd.
Find out what your peers are saying about Dell VPLEX vs. NetApp OnCommand and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
838,640 professionals have used our research since 2012.