Dell XtremIO Reviews

What I like about this solution, is that it is really fast and it's really good in compression. So you can put a lot of data in line on it. I've used it for cases like VDI in a healthcare environment because we use multiple copies of it. It is very good and has very good performance. It can handle big workloads. 

What needs to improve is that the end compression uses a lot of CPU, which makes it difficult or impossible to upgrade. I believe that it has improved in the upgraded versions, which we don't have yet. Also, the price and interface should be simplified too. 

The program is very stable.

We had some difficulty when we tried to expand our XtremIO because it had to be done in a certain way and only EMC personnel were allowed to do it. That wasn't very flexible. But it seems to be better in the new version. Scalability is always a problem. 

The technical team is good.

We previously used another EMC program, but it was not flash only, so that's why we switched to this solution. It possible to buy an all-flash system and, based on the compression features, we changed to this unit. 

We were not allowed to do the initial setup ourselves. So it was done by EMC personnel and maybe that could be improved so that our partner, our supplier, could do it themselves so that you don't need an EMC rep to perform the installation.

My advice to others would be to test it first to see the expected ratios. Do a check to see if they deliver what they promise. I would rate this solution a nine out of ten. To make it a perfect ten, I would like to see better scalability. 

• The increase in available I/O dramatically changed the responsiveness of our Windows environment.
• SQL server limitations of tempDB and overrun were non-existent.

• Deduplication
• High I/O capacity
• Thin storage allocation
• Snapshot cost and speed

• Management: At the time, there was no snapshot scheduler, so I had to write XSnapCourier to address it. The sad thing is that even after the newest release, which includes a native scheduler, most customers using XSnapCourier chose to stick with it due to a more feature-rich experience.
• Planning: The VAR we went through told us we would get something like an 8 x 1 ratio between compression and inline deduplication after migration from NetApp. For this reason, we only elected for 20 TB raw. What we actually got, however, was little over 2 to 1, which was actually worse than what NetApp afforded us.
• Support: Even though we paid for a four-hour turnaround support contract, we would have to wait up to two weeks for a response from EMC XtremIO support, because they didn’t actually have the support staff to handle new volume.

We have had major stability issues. Over the course of two years, three of the four storage controllers failed. It took us over two weeks to get a replacement for the first.

Technical support was the worst possible. Regardless of the fact that we paid for a four-hour turnaround, we were waiting two weeks for support calls. When we did get support calls, the engineers were up to four hours late to the datacenter. After the engineers would finally show up, we would still wait weeks for parts.

We previously used a large NetApp array, but the issue was storage density. We were at the point where we couldn’t add any further disk shelves to the controllers.

Don’t buy this array. You’re paying for loads of magic beans, since it’s mediocre at best for a platform in a rapidly growing field. Look instead at Pure Storage or something with variable block deduplication. You’ll end up spending less and getting a better product with actual support.

We were not given the opportunity to evaluate alternatives. Upper management made the decision without the input of the engineers.

Don’t consider it. Look at a platform that has actual support. EMC is a big name, but their support model is terrible with an even worse model for implementation. For a platform you literally can’t touch without them, you’re stranded on a desert island with no help in sight.

It allowed us to shrink our storage footprint in the datacenter and it increased our performance.

Performance and deduplication. This is a very robust block storage option that offers both performance and data optimization.

It is great when a product can deliver high-end performance capabilities while offering a very competitive price point.

• The new UI could be simplified and the implementation should be simplified.
• The UI is easier to use than other EMC offerings, but still takes a pure storage admin to manage and maintain.
• Ease of use is key in the converged and hyper-converged world that requires administrators to have both hypervisor and storage skills.
• Arrays should be “set it and forget it”, including the replication features, which should not require separate products.
• Implementation and expansion require EMC or a partner to implement. However, to be a true scale-out solution, it should be something that customers can do themselves.

We have not had any stability issues.

There is a limit to scalability, but we have not reached it yet.

Technical support is excellent.

We did have a previous solution. This allowed us to move to a smaller footprint with better performance.

The initial setup was very complex. Have the manufacturer or a partner install it.

The pricing is simple but requires other products for robust data recovery and replication.

Make sure you understand the shutdown and redundancy for this product. Test these features to protect the storage controller’s journaling.

Reduced the Oracle database refresh times (10TB) from 48 hours to 4 hours.

• I/O performance and low latency
• Deduplication and cloning capability

Management and reporting need improvement. Cloning could be easier.

We have not had stability issues.

We have not had scalability issues.

Technical support is excellent.

We used EMC VMAX. Latency was inconsistent and it lacked cloning and deduplication.

Cloning was complicated due to necessary scripting.

We evaluated Oracle Exadata, EMC VMAX (SSD), and EMC VMAX.

• Provide clear requirements
• Test to verify that the results are as expected
• Spend time to carefully integrate it into your support model, including reporting/dashboards and proactive monitoring.

None of the features are valuable for us. The product is poorly designed and not reliable. It performed well when it did work.

We have had no benefits from this product. It produced an outage and didn't deliver on promises made by the sales and engineering teams.

It needs a lot of improvement to be more like Pure Storage or Nimble AFAs.

We have been using this product for a year.

We had stability issues. We ran out of space pretty quickly and the cost to scale did not match our needs.

We had scalability issues. It does not scale in a granular manner.

The technical support is horrible. It took a week for them to get back to us on what caused the outage. Also, there are too many different teams that support the product internally.

We used EMC VMAX. We switched because EMC made it too costly to stay on VMAX and gave us discounts on XtremIO.

The initial setup was complex. We hired someone to do it. It took them two days. Our new array was done by my team in less than two hours.

EMC has not delivered on promises with their array. We have been with them for seven years and had five different arrays. Same story every time. Worst support in the industry.

We evaluated Pure Storage, Nimble, and SolidFire.

Don't do it.

Our organization has seen our customers' performance increase substantially for their database and VDI applications using this product.

Compression and deduplication are valuable because they help reduce the storage footprint required for our customer’s environments.

Snapshots are valuable because of their seamless nature, as well as the minimal space each snapshot takes.

The GUI is still Java based, and this needs to be fixed. It needs a way to determine the deduplication of each LUN and what the impact would be if we were to move data from one LUN to another.

There have been some stability issues with the code that have been corrected in later versions.

We understand the way the platform can scale, so we scale within the parameters.

I would give technical support a rating of 7/10.

Our customers switched from the older generation of VNX to XtremIO. It was ten times faster and deduplication/compression allowed for a much smaller footprint in the data center.

The initial setup can be complex if there is an issue during the setup. Otherwise, this is not too bad to install.

Pricing and licensing are in line with other products from other manufacturers. You get what you pay for.

At the time, we did not evaluate other alternatives.

The flash market is saturated with vendors and their products. This product is an all-around solid player. However, make sure that deduplication is a major factor before purchasing. If snapshot and snapshot consolidation is key, then this is the product for you.

I use XtremIO for backup and recovery, to allow connected applications to access storage, and to locate storage resources for specific users.

I've been using XtremIO for four years.

XtremIO is very stable.

XtremIO is scalable - it has expansion charges so that you can extend your storage size.

Dell's technical support could be better.

The initial setup was straightforward.

We used a vendor team.

I would recommend XtremIO to others and give it a rating of seven out of ten.

We use the solution primarily in the banking system.

It's a great solution. We have 100% high availability and 100% business continuity. All our banking is All-Flash behind the VPLEX. 

We've seen great enhancements from the performance point of view. There's good availability, stability, and continuity, but the performance actually has increased by 60 or 70%.

The solution needs to be simplified. When you integrate your storage with other systems, it could use a little bit of automation. 

The stability of the solution is very good. It may even be the best of the best if you compare it to the competition.

The scalability is very good. We can easily upgrade and move from one generation to another.

Technical support is very good. It's one of the best vendors for support.

The initial setup was straightforward. 

How long deployment takes depends on the platform. For example, on VMAX All-Flash, the initial configuration, and the provisioning took about three or four days. We were executing the hard work, including laying the cables, and all the break and fix stuff. 

We had a consultant assist with the deployment.

We've used multiple versions of the solution. We started with a legacy version from the VMAX 40K and then we went to the VMAX All-Flash 450FX. Currently, we are planning also to use PowerMax 8000. We use the on-premises deployment model. We don't deal with any cloud models.

I would rate the solution nine out of ten. I'm talking from the banking sector point of view. The banking sector is a more critical system. You have to keep your system up all day, all week, and you can not lose even a bit of transaction even for a millisecond or microsecond because you'll lose money. From my point of view, it's great, it's not like any other solution.