Vblock [EOL] Reviews

VMware NSX: Provides the ability for our organisation to deliver true DR.

Provides DR capability which we have never had before.

The implementation and support could be better.

We have been using this for two years.

There were stability issues, such as various bugs. It was most noticeable with VMware NSX.

There were no scalability issues.

I would give technical support a rating of 3/10.

We were looking to move to a strategic and consolidated tech stack and support model, which could support our ambitions of a private cloud.

The initial setup was complex. The LCS was a nightmare. Project Management (logistics, support) were extremely poor.

Strive for a consolidated ELA.

We evaluated NetApp, FlexPod, and IBM Pure Storage

• The support model is not what it is sold to be
• Avamary/datadomain is NOT part of the RCM (despite it being sold to our organisation as being so) or supported well within the VCE model.
• The RCM testing process is flawed. The VMware NSX versions are released before the tests have evolved to complement the new release version. This has led to bugs and non-compatibility falling through the cracks of the process.

Its EMC storage arrays and the combined technology with Cisco in it.

An example would be one that I've seen where we were having to increase the capacity of its storage array size. We thought that there had to be downtime scheduled, but we found out that you can increase the storage capacity without having to disrupt, shut down, or schedule down time of the Vblock. It was rather seamless to perform.

The only thing I would like to see is that although they strongly advocate that you cannot change any of its parts, and that would undermine its performance, but a little allowance should be allowed for disassembly within certain areas, which would be nice.

I've used it for about two years.

In terms of deployment, I want to highlight that if it's being flown in from another country, please pay very close and strict attention to details such as to allowing it to thaw, or adjust to the temperature of the environment that it is going to be deployed to before powering it up. I've heard cases where it didn't work because certain controls that were overlooked.

We've had no issues with stability.

We've had no issues with scalability.

7.5/10

We were using Aberdeen NAS and combining that with Cisco switches and VMware. We switched as Aberdeen was an expensive way to go, and choosing Vblock was done at a more regional level so it gave us the chance to compare it to the rest, and it's good.

It was done by a different team, but I watched them do it and it seemed straightforward.

My advice is rather simple and not very technical. Many times I personally felt that while this is a good product to implement in any environment, the one key factor is knowing the environment that this is going to go, know the purpose it is going to serve, and plan ahead a minimum of two years ahead what you might see are areas that might need extra upgrading. Try to tie that in with your current plan and budget, and know what power supplies it needs to draw. Speak to your technical managers and also to your IT technologist or whoever is going to be involved in the configuration part of it. Make sure you plan all the way through and always have a backup plan, and have redundancies in place. We are talking about a Vblock redundancy in place. You can have two or three Vblock devices in one place and you realized you are all juiced up. When the equipment arrives have a keen eye for detail, making sure you run your checks as well. Physical checks are also important. When powering up the equipment, follow the guide on which to power first and don't power up as you see fit. On the day of powering up always have the VCE product vendors present to ensure fairness or that you are not accused of tampering.

Once the equipment is handed over, have your engineers run their own tests to ensure everything is running accordingly. Ensure that two people are always present when VCE engineers are going to do the stress and product tests - it never hurts to have a second pair of eyes watching.

UCS, brings the entire datacenter system together. We can offer non-disruptive, seamless upgrades and storage tiering for people with higher IO demands. It gives us flexibility.

It gives us a private, internal cloud and a self-provisioning portal for personnel to spin up their own VMs.

There are little things, for example, we ran into bugs when upgrading a blade, but that was an EMC issue, not hardware.

It’s very stable, no more bugs than any other problems with 2,500 operating systems.

It’s very scalable. Every year we upgrade our capacity and just add another blade.

It's pretty good, but not great.

It's straightforward, although complex too because it's a large system.

Internal IT services.

We used to have different departments, each with their own IT section. Everybody was making their own IT investments, and every department had their own little bits of applications here and applications there. Now, it's all coordinated, all synchronized. That reduces the risk of equipment and costs as well. We no longer have people running different applications, different tools, in a multi-vendor environment. Now, we have one synchronized solution.

• Ease of operation. 
• Access, without constraining actions. The tool is available to actually move things around, do things quickly quickly.
• The speed.
• The support behind it as well. There is always quite good support around the box. Any fixes and updates are done pretty quickly.

As the technology changes and comes down in price as well, we're looking at VDI, having a virtual desktop infrastructure, so instead of using client, using a virtual environment, a thin client.

Also, I would like to see them improve their switching infrastructure and rely on Cisco configurations. They are a bit more complex and technical, but result in a slightly reduced cost in terms of switching on the network side of it. It's a very complicated process, our configuration, from the network side.

It's stable.

It is scalable. But the cost is quite expensive, so scalability is not as cheap as you think, when you initially get it. It's quite expensive.

Tech support is very good. They're always responsive. We have built a relationship over the years.

We use to use HPE but the monitoring side of it and the different tools you needed to buy, invest in... This system is much better, including the storage, which is much better as well. And the speed, compared to the different tools HPE was using, we found this is much better.

It takes a bit of time. It's a bit long because of the configuration, to be set up to your requirements specifically, takes a bit longer than you think. The initial set up is complex and needs to be studied, the details. It took longer than expected.

I would not say the pricing is not good value. It is still on the expensive side, near the top-end of cost compared to what's available now.

The licensing has to be improved. There has to be a clear definition of the licensing from the initial set-up so the customer knows what they are paying for, without being hit later on with extra licensing. The licensing definitions should be clearer and, perhaps, have one set of licenses rather than multiple licenses.

We looked at IBM and HPE.

My advice is that you should look at the licensing in more detail, as well as compare the cost, because the technology has changed quickly. When you're investing, you need to make sure to invest well.

I would rate this solution at seven out of 10. I think it still lacking: First in terms of cost, as well as regarding an up-front explanation.They need to give more details to the customer regarding licensing.

Private cloud hosting of ERP solutions for remote US customers. Install two with replication for cross-site DR.

Troublesome relationships with VCE at the beginning of our use came undone quickly after we went live, making installs/adds/changes less than cohesive. 

UCS Manager worked well for net/blade management and has allowed fairly easy use of dedicated bare-metal blades. VNX Unified performed as expected.

VCE tools, like Vision or AMP were not stand alone, and depended too much on other management consoles. RCM upgrades were not scripted, and you needed to roll on your own. We were led to believe this would be otherwise.

Systems run solidly, although we never really took advantage of VCE tools, like Vision or AMP very much. RCM upgrades are painful.

Enterprise private cloud for federal government in a high availability service with primary and secondary datacenters.

I collaborated in a Vblock growth sizing and analysis. The scalability of the solution is interesting.

Capability for scale and growth within a single rack brings strong possibilities for capacity planning.

OEM services requires too much planning and low availability of certified engineers.

Related to tech support: I believe it is too expensive.