Dell PowerStore Reviews

I am primarily using the solution in mostly virtualized environments. This includes databases and a diverse mix of virtualization.

The use of NVMe is notable, and the speed and performance it provides are commendable. Fast storage is critical to many applications. The faster the back-end storage, the quicker the entire application performs. NVMe, in particular, makes a significant difference.

I am not a fan of the user interface. My background includes working with EMC Clarion and then Dell Compellent. The Compellent user interface is better than any of their other products. PowerStore originated from EMC, while Compellent was a separate company acquisition. Unfortunately, the tools were not merged. The bottom line is the user interface is functional, but not aesthetically pleasing. Sometimes, I find it difficult to get the required information. The performance is good, but the management experience and user interface are lacking. Years ago, I would have rated it extremely high. Now, I would say it deserves a seven. I occasionally encounter individuals who cannot assist me well or quickly and provide some pushback on issues. Generally, it's acceptable, so a seven is fair. I think they could improve integration into virtualization. They have an integration feature with VMware, but it's basic and clunky. They could improve that. Also, I don't think they support other hypervisors. The product is expensive. Initially, you might get a deal, but if you need to add anything later, that's where costs increase. It's possible to buy a PowerStore array at a certain price and then pay as much for additional disks just to expand it.

I have used the solution for about three or four years.

The scalability seems straightforward. We have only added disks but have not added appliances. We have single appliance clusters. We could add appliances, but clusters with multiple appliances tend to have more upgrade issues. That's not my direct experience, just what I've heard.

Years ago, I would have rated customer service extremely high. Now, I have to say, maybe a seven. I occasionally run across a person who cannot help me well or quickly and provide some pushback on issues.

Neutral

We moved from Dell Unity. We still have Dell Unity, but we needed the next better thing without going into PowerMax.

The product is expensive. Initially, you might get a deal, but if you need to add anything later, that's where costs increase. It's possible to buy a PowerStore array at a certain price and then pay as much for additional disks just to expand it.

Overall, I would give it an eight out of ten. The user interface and the pricing model should be improved. Subsequent disk purchases should be more reasonable, in my opinion. I haven't met a Dell array yet that has achieved the promised data reduction. We don't use containers. We don't use the vCenter integration because it doesn't do much for us. It's very basic.

My main use case for Dell PowerStore is for the storage of the Dell automated platform to let us navigate away from the hyperconverged infrastructure. I use it for our regular workloads and VMs and for large language model storage.

A specific example of how I'm using Dell PowerStore with my workloads and VMs is that we used it for the VSAN on the Dell automated platform, the vSphere, and we have also used it for a couple of large language models allowing them to connect to a larger storage array from a remote location.

The best features Dell PowerStore offers include scalability, redundancy, and a single pane of glass for updates.

The single pane of glass for updates makes my work easier as it allows us to find an easy way to maintain updates. It is not a large process and it requires a lot less work on my IT team.

Dell PowerStore has positively impacted my organization as it has allowed us to more clearly define the storage needs of each individual process or VM. Where before we had a hyperconverged infrastructure, now we are able to control the storage and data needs more effectively.

We have significantly fewer issues with unknown data space usage where now we can define individual use spaces for our VMs and for different scaled projects, which illustrates how that control has benefited our team.

Dell PowerStore could be improved by integration into the Dell automated platform, which would allow us to see it and perform the upgrades right from there.

I have been using Dell PowerStore for about six months.

Dell PowerStore is stable.

The scalability of Dell PowerStore is very easy to scale and very easy to add redundancy.

Customer support through ProSupport Plus is an easy resource to call when needed.

Positive

I previously used VXRAIL as a hyperconverged infrastructure and switched to Dell PowerStore.

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing has been positive as it is a very easy model to follow and allows us to expand the nodes as needed.

I have seen a return on investment as we have been able to define storage areas, which allows us to prevent large language models and different workloads from taking up too much space and affecting the larger hyperconverged infrastructure. Now it is limited to only that area affecting a single area.

My advice to others looking into using Dell PowerStore is that it is a simple product that gives you a large return on feature sets. I give this product a rating of 10.

The main use cases for Dell PowerStore in my case involve using it as primary storage for a mid-range of applications hosted on VMware, as well as in disaster recovery.

We are working with multiple industries. We provide services to a variety of companies, including several security firms and financial institutions such as banks. Additionally, we operate our own site as well.

One of my customers has the 500 series. They have multiple clusters in their primary data center. If I recall correctly, they operate with four or five nodes. From what I understand, it's fine for moving and optimizing workloads within the cluster. Previously, there was a different kind of storage, such as Unity and VNX, from which they migrated. There were numerous quality of service and performance issues back then. However, since migrating to PowerStore, I believe everything is quite optimized. We haven't observed any issues in the two years since the migration.

My experience with the deployment of Dell PowerStore was good. It was easy and straightforward. The migration was quite quick compared to other storage solutions, and provisioning was smooth as well.

The best features of Dell PowerStore that I most appreciate are its performance and the quality of service it provides. The snapshot and replication features are much improved compared to previous mid-range storages. 

In terms of improving Dell PowerStore, they should have simplified documents available for customers, not just for the support team. We faced issues that were hard to resolve without easy access to information, which could aid in quicker resolutions.

I have almost three and a half years of experience with Dell PowerStore, and overall with storage and backup, I have over 10 years of experience.

I find Dell PowerStore stable.

We haven't expanded Dell PowerStore yet, but according to the documentation, it is quite easy to extend. It does take some time to distribute the data among nodes, but we haven't experienced scaling issues as we are currently at 65% capacity.

I would rate Dell's customer service or technical support highly because I was part of Dell EMC in Johannesburg from 2015 to 2018. I know how they work, and their timely responses and resolutions have been quite good. I would rate it an eight.

Positive

The initial setup was straightforward, with the help of the Dell team. After hard installation and upgrades, we were up and network-ready in about six hours, including rack and stack, management, and hosting, and then we began migration the next day.

For that client, the deployment model we uses was on-premises, not private cloud or anything else.

Based on my experience, I would rate Dell PowerStore an eight out of ten.

For customers who are looking for a unified solution where they want a mixture of block and file systems, Dell PowerStore would be the right fit. Customers can have an array based on flash and also on spinning disk, depending on what kind of workloads they want to run. For example, if they want to do video surveillance systems, we can propose the Dell PowerStore that has only spinning disk, which they can capitalize on capacity because of the video images and related content.

One of our customers is a bank that has Dell PowerStore. Initially, before implementing Dell PowerStore, their transactions were slow, and they received many complaints from their customers regarding data access speed and backup initiation times. 

After implementing Dell PowerStore storage, the performance became exceptional, and customers started to notice improvements in system access. The internal team was very satisfied with the storage performance, and customers are providing positive feedback about Dell PowerStore storage.

The storage for Dell PowerStore has been performing well overall. The only improvement that might be required, though not significantly, relates to the features that allow for support, specifically the call home features.

I have been working with Dell PowerStore for over five years, while also dealing with IBM, Lenovo, Dell, and NetApp systems.

The technical support from Dell PowerStore has been very good. I would rate them eight out of ten.

Positive

We are a partner for Dell, IBM, Lenovo, and Huawei. Dell PowerStore is a good storage solution that I can place in the top five. It has excellent features, and given the opportunity, I would position Dell PowerStore first in a customer environment.

Unless customers specify otherwise, I prefer to position Dell PowerStore over other storage solutions because of its simplicity in deployment, management, and support. It has been very easy to expand in terms of scaling up and scaling out. The process is seamless as you don't need to take the whole storage down to add additional storage space. It's simply a matter of bringing in expansion, connecting it, and then adding space into the existing storage.

Dell PowerStore is highly recommendable due to its anti-ransomware features, which many customers appreciate. When creating snapshots of data that can be immutable, it prevents unauthorized access to the content. These security features make Dell PowerStore a preferred choice for many customers.

On a scale of 1-10, this solution rates 8.5.

Our primary use case is high-performance Block Storage. Currently, our Dell PowerStore arrays operate as standalone units supporting our traditional infrastructure, specifically for VMware datastores.

Looking ahead, we plan to integrate these arrays into more advanced DAP environments. While our current footprint is focused on virtual machines, our roadmap includes leveraging the PowerStore’s block storage capabilities for containerized workloads, ensuring a seamless transition from legacy to modern data architectures.

The primary improvement to our organization lies in the solution’s reliability and invisibility. For us, the greatest measure of success is a component that performs its job so consistently that we simply don't hear about it. Aside from proactive disk replacements, the PowerStore requires minimal attention; we scale capacity and present datastores as needed, and it just works.

Regarding future improvements or upcoming versions, I cannot provide a definitive answer today. As we do not yet have a full A-to-Z view of the product roadmap or the specific implementation constraints, we are awaiting the next vendor presentation to evaluate how future features will fit our requirements.

I have been working in architecture and storage for seven to eight years, with a year and a half at my client, I've known these products for a number of years, now actually using them for a year and a half.

Where I am, we face the challenge of having arrays that are already in place; I didn't choose to put in Dell PowerStore specifically at the start, but in the solutions that are going to be presented to us, Dell PowerStore arrays are apparently included. We're waiting to see the feedback, knowing that, although I was doubtful at the beginning when Dell PowerStore came out because there were many problems, things have stabilized over time, so there's no reason for concern, and in the plants where we have them or where they're active, we have zero problems with them.

In terms of scalability, we haven't yet reached the critical size to scale up. 

Regarding deployment and my experience with the installation, we didn't do it; all I know is that at our place, we are very late on quite a few points, and in terms of deployment, that's a topic if we install some—part of the topics related to DRP and automated deployment, we want to bring that forward, and I understood that Dell PowerStore arrays allow automated deployment.

In my view, if a storage array requires constant monitoring or 'whispers in your ear' every five minutes with issues, it isn't doing its job. Because the sites currently running PowerStore are silent and stable, I consider the Return on Investment to be excellent. It provides exactly the peace of mind we are looking for.

Today, I don't yet have a use case where I've put a price on it, and it's true that for us, it's somewhat special; we have negotiated rates because we are a large group, so right now, I can't answer.

We consistently evaluate various solutions within the Dell portfolio. Our selection depends on the specific use case, our infrastructure history, and future requirements. We maintain an active watch on technology and remain open to evolving our stack as needed.

We have an extensive array of systems for storage. The size of my company is very big, with more than tens thousands employees.

In my opinion, this hardware does not play a role in the AI initiative in our organization. We have a project in progress and the hardware is not defined, but perhaps in the future it will be.

I give this product a rating of ten out of ten.

I am currently using the model 1000 for Dell PowerStore. We are using Dell PowerStore for two needs: for block storage and as a file server.

Based on my experience, I would recommend Dell PowerStore to others in some cases. I cannot explain the size of the company that would benefit from Dell PowerStore because a company could be small but have large data or need multiple functionalities in the same device. The decision depends on requirements rather than company size.

I am not satisfied with Dell PowerStore because of stability. Stability and complexity of some features and configurations are issues with Dell PowerStore. There is also a huge dependency on Dell EMC engineers.

I am still using Dell PowerStore.

I am not satisfied with Dell PowerStore. Stability and complexity of some features and configurations are issues with Dell PowerStore. I would rate the product's stability at about six out of ten, not more.

Technical support by Dell is much better, but generally, there is a lot of dependency on Dell technical support. For example, if we need to upgrade the firmware of a device, we need to contact support engineers. We need to grant internet access for storage, which in some cases is not acceptable.

I would rate the quality of technical support at about eight out of ten. The only drawback is that we have problems related to logistics, and logistics sometimes take much longer than needed.

Positive

The first part of the implementation is very simple if I have enough experience, especially if I have enough experience working with Dell EMC products.

I took part in the implementation of Dell PowerStore in my environment.

At this moment, I see no advantages or strong points in Dell PowerStore because in comparison with price and functionality that we used in our on-premises infrastructure, it has an unattractive price.

Dell PowerStore is expensive in comparison with other products. When comparing with Hitachi products, I know that prices are dependent on regions and different marketing strategies, but at this moment in our region, in comparison with price and stability as well as price and performance, Hitachi is better.

I have used Dell PowerStore 2 and other storages from Dell EMC. For example, PowerVault, Unity, SC series, and different storages from not only Dell EMC.

I am using both Dell Unity XT and Dell PowerStore. The performance metrics I use to measure the success of Dell PowerStore include the average response time for the same environment and the same load. For performance, it is sufficient.

Overall, Dell PowerStore as a product rates about seven or eight out of ten because it has a sufficient quantity of functionalities. It has additional functionalities and is more functional than other storages in the mid or top tier.

We are not using Dell PowerStore storage functionality for data consolidation. Nowadays, the application is responsible for data consolidation, not storage.

I would not recommend Dell PowerStore to companies which are using unified storage solutions or needing unified storage solutions. I would rate this review overall as seven out of ten.

Dell PowerStore has been a key component in our operations for over five years. I primarily know that we use the servers for data storage and backup, though I cannot describe the exact purposes in detail.

Dell PowerStore probably does not play a role in our AI initiatives yet, as we are still exploring all possibilities in that area. We will take a closer look at the opportunities, but first we need to determine what we require and then identify where we could best proceed.

Dell PowerStore runs effectively, and we have not experienced any stability or reliability problems to my knowledge.

Dell's support is excellent, and we receive quick help in all areas. Currently, we have an issue with our VxRail cluster, and the support team is being very proactive. The support experience has been outstanding.

I do not have any suggestions for improvement regarding Dell PowerStore.

I have been in this field for just under three years.

I am not aware of any difficulties with Dell PowerStore. We have not experienced any disruptions to my knowledge.

Dell PowerStore runs effectively, and we have not had any stability or reliability problems to my knowledge. We have not experienced any outages that I am aware of.

Dell's support is excellent, and we receive quick help in all areas. Currently, we have an issue with our VxRail cluster, and the support team is being very proactive. The support experience has been outstanding.

On a scale from one to ten for Dell's support, I would rate it a ten.

Positive

I do not know which solutions were considered before Dell PowerStore.

I do not know other solutions in this area.

I am not aware of any specific features of Dell PowerStore that are particularly helpful. We have AI initiatives and are currently testing AI on a trial basis with ChatGPT, though we are still developing an understanding of the areas involved. Our company is Blumenbecker Logistik Holding, and we are a direct Dell customer. We have switched to HP in the client area due to price competition, but in the server area, we use almost exclusively Dell. The overall review rating for this product is ten.

We have used Dell PowerStore for service and storage needs, emphasizing products like VxRail, PowerStore, and our series rack mount servers.

Dell PowerStore offers good value for money and some feature scalability that is better than other products.

Dell PowerStore has good value for money and some scalability features that are better than other products.

Dell PowerStore doesn't really have a lot of advantages over other products. It has no special features technically. Other products have better management and analytics features. HP emphasizes much better analytical features.

I have used Dell PowerStore for a couple of years, probably about five years.

Dell PowerStore is reasonably priced and scales reasonably well. You don't really need to do much maintenance work on it, and it's not different from any other array.

Dell PowerStore's scalability features are better than those of other products. However, there are other products that are better overall.

HP is superior in analytics, while Dell is superior in scalability. It depends on which model of array you're talking about.

Dell PowerStore is pretty set and forget. It takes a while to install, but it's not overly complex.

Dell PowerStore offers good value for money.

Dell PowerStore is reasonably good value for money. There's nothing special about it technically compared to other products.

HP emphasizes much better analytical features compared to Dell.

I'd rate the solution five out of ten.