Dell EqualLogic PS series Reviews

I am using the Dell EqualLogic PS series for file storage. We keep our VMware on the solution but we do not use many of the features of this solution, we mainly use it for storage.

The solution has been working well overall.

The solution is out of date and the new version has a lot of advanced features.

I have been using the Dell EqualLogic PS series for approximately 18 years.

I have not had any bugs or glitches, the solution has been stable.

The Dell EqualLogic PS series is simple to scale, and we have approximately 110 users using this solution.

I have used technical support before because the controller that the solution uses needed to be replaced. They sent out a replacement for us very quickly the next day. We have not had any other problems.

The initial setup was simple.

Dell EqualLogic PS series that we have is at its end of life and we are replacing it soon.

My advice to others is this is a good product.

I rate the Dell EqualLogic PS series an eight out of ten.

We primarily use the solution for storage, and for its fan.

The initial setup is straightforward. 

The solution can scale. 

Technical support is helpful.

The performance isn't as good as, for example, Nimble.

The solution needs to have smart data disks and a smarter way to find those disks on certain drives. We are having some issues right now where some of the database operations are recovering and we find there are so many IOPS that EqualLogic fans cannot handle it. That's why we are moving towards a Nimble fan and Nimble is performing way better than EqualLogic.

We've been using the solution for 16 years.

The stability isn't as reliable as a Nible device. 

I can scale right now. If I want EqualLogic, I can just buy another one and plug it in and set it up. It's pretty straightforward.

We've dealt with technical support and have found them to be helpful and responsive. We're satisfied with the level of service provided to us. 

I also have experience using Nimble.

We have found the initial setup to be easy. It's straightforward. A company shouldn't have any issues with the process.

I don't have any insights into the licensing costs or how often we pay any licensing fees.

We are resellers.

If a company is looking for any hard workload or anything like that, for example, if they want to run only specific amounts and things like that, then they can go with EqualLogic. However, if they want to put some heavy load on the system, then they should go with Nimble.

I'd rate the solution at a five out of ten, as it's not as powerful as I would like it to be.

We primarily use the solution as an array and as a backup. I actually have two.

The solution has been extremely consistent over the years.

We've had absolutely no issues with the product at all. It's lasted a long time without causing any problems.

Technical support, when we had access to it, was very good.

We'd like the solution to have bigger sizing. We need more space and we can't get any. We'd love more memory storage space.

We've been using the solution for the last 10 years. It's been a decade. We've used it for a while.

The stability has always been excellent. the performance is reliable. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. It's worked. It's worked for a decade.

The scalability isn't really there. You have to have the same size drive in each slot. Therefore, you have to trade out all the slots if you're going to scale up, which makes it kind of difficult to do so.

The solution is at its end-of-life, and therefore we won't increase usage. We are retiring it.

While the solution has reached its end of life many years ago, and we haven't had technical support in years, before, when it was on offer, it was very good. We didn't have any complaints.

I wasn't present for the initial setup. It was a long time ago. I can't speak to how long it took or how easy or difficult it was as a process.

I'm not sure what the exact costs of the solution were originally. I don't have access to that information.

We are customers and end-users of Dell products. We just have an account that we've used and we've done business with them for years.

The solution has been discontinued by Dell for four, five years. Therefore, it's not exactly up-to-date. We couldn't update it if we wanted to. They don't make it anymore. It's not something a company can just buy.

In general, we have been very happy with the product. I would rate it at an eight out of ten.

• We ran a large data housing solution that contained billions of data files. 
• We also used the product for VM storage and file server storage.
  

When initially purchased, it brought enterprise-class features to our systems. Very solid manageability and the product worked well with few technical or hardware issues. The performance was never very good, and its latency was higher than expected.

• Enterprise features for snapshot management and replication benefited us greatly.
• The ability to quickly view and select from snapshots allowed us to restore data very quickly.
• Replication allowed us to move data from one data center to another with ease.
  

• Performance and vision for the product were lacking. 
• DELL was taking on too many storage solutions, and it felt like the EqualLogic series was not aggressively supported.

More than five years.

It is shared storage for VMware.

It was necessary to enable a lot of the advanced functions of VMware.

When we bought it, we were attracted by the flexibility of being able to put in a new shelf whenever we needed to, to expand.

They may already have a product, but I would be interested in either hybrid-flash or possibly an all-flash option.

More than five years.

Three of the four devices have been rock solid, and one of them had a string of issues that we eventually resolved. Overall, pretty good.

Scalability is pretty good.

Technical support has been good to us.

We used NetApp for a while, but we hated the interface. That is why we switched.

When selecting a vendor, at this point I am looking for someone who can talk technical stuff with me, not just throw a storage number at me and then expect me to figure everything out.

It was pretty straightforward. The first time around, we didn't completely understand how much space we were going to need for things like Snapshots and replication. So we didn't buy enough storage the first time.

Licensing is pretty straightforward.

I would give this solution an eight out of 10. It's pretty straightforward most of the time, and tech support is there when it's not straightforward. I'm giving them a knock for having had that string of hardware problems.

The biggest hangup for us was knowing how much disk translates into how much actual space you have, when you're done doing the setup.

The Dell EqualLogic PS series is a network-attached storage device.

Dell EqualLogic PS series could improve the performance because in our hybrid configuration the read speed is faster than the write speed.

I have used the Dell EqualLogic PS series within the last 12 months.

Dell EqualLogic PS series is a highly stable solution.

The scalability of the Dell EqualLogic PS series is very good, we had no issues.

The technical support from the Dell EqualLogic PS series is excellent.

The initial setup of the Dell EqualLogic PS series is very simple.

The number of people needed to maintain the solution depends on how many of them you have. If you have 100 Dell EqualLogic PS series devices, then you need more people to administer them. However, it has less to do with maintenance; it is more for administration.

Dell EqualLogic PS series was at its end of life and was replaced by Compellent, and Compellent will be at its end-of-life soon.

I would recommend others to choose Compellent because it is much better than the Dell EqualLogic PS series and is the next step in evolution.

I rate the Dell EqualLogic PS series a ten out of ten.

a. A true virtualized storage system or enterprise storage system for capacity/data level virtualization. b. Performance increased with capacity if additional array included with existing deployment (Scale up architecture). c. Firmware compatibility across models and generations. Virtualization can be done with any generation and any feature model. d. All included application model. Need not to worry about application selection or pricing. Even if any new application/functionality included into PS Series platform in future that will also be entitled for current system.

a. Only iSCSI interface. No choice for Fiber Channel connectivity. Have to select either 1G or 10G connecting iSCSI interfaces. b. Have to buy at pre-configured capacity models. Cannot buy 1 or 2 disks to increase existing capacity. c. Limitations to mix different types of disk (SSD, SATA, SAS) into same enclosure. d. Higher price at entry level systems compared to competition. For larger deployment price becomes more than competitive.

a. Equallogic PS series arrays are the best suited storage platform for mid to high level enterprises. b. Cost of acquisition may seem to be higher but TCO is lower when compared for the high capacity deployments for virtualized environment. c. A very easy to use interfaces and easy to use wizard based configuration. d. PS Series comes with embedded 24x7 supports from Dell to ensure zero system downtime.

- Great performance for the price - Fantastic scalability via stackable scale-out units - Management interface is simple to use and understand - All tools and add-ons are included in the produce support, including future tooling releases - Support is always terrific - In seven+ years of using Equallogic, I have experienced ZERO unplanned outages on at least fifty arrays

- The price of any good iSCSI array is prohibitive for small businesses - Higher price than other competitors in the same space, but the product is superior

I have been using Equallogic arrays for myself and my customers for over seven years now, and they continue to be my gold standard for SMB storage. In my years of using these arrays, I continue to be impressed with their products, performance, configurations, and support.