VNX [EOL] Reviews

Tier configuration between SSD and SAS disks. The blocks with more access are moved to the SSD disk.

All the environments of the company are consolidated into only one storage. Physical end virtual systems are on the same cabinet.

I do not know, because all products function well.

Since 2010. During different years, we have worked with VMAX, VNX5300, VNX5500, VNX5800, and RPA.

Only with a big load in the CPU, because we have compression active in many LUNs.

No issues.

Technical support is very good.

Our old storage was HPE XP10000 and EVA5000. EMC storage has the best performance and functions.

The initial setup was very simple.

With this product, the licensing software and capacity are very expensive.

Yes, IBM XIV and HPE 3PAR.

First look for many options and compare. I am sure that EMC will convince you.

• Its reliability and ease of use.
• Single console for managing block and file (CIFS/NFS)
• Data replication to DR site for both block and file
• Auto tiering - Data movement in-between the pool
• Fast cache - Global cache for low end arrays
• EMC ViPR - A complete insight into the storage performance
• Deduplication and compression

With more than 145 applications including SAP for different businesses running in our environment, our requirement was always to have a storage with a very good response time and performance.

So far we haven't had many issues with the VNX. However, the Data Mover (that manages CIFS/NFS) part needs some improvements. EMC's new storage (Unity) has no DM's as the NAS functionality is all virtual.

I have used EMC products for nine years and VNX products for six years.

No, we have never had issues with stability apart from one instance where we were hit by a bug in the VNX code. After an upgrade, it was resolved permanently.

No issues with scalability.

One thing I would like to explicitly mention here is the EMC support. It is by far one of the best supports you will ever get in comparison with any vendor. The Live chat option gives it an extra edge and the technical support is always top notch.

Yes, we were using HPE Storage, which was not a bad solution, but EMC wins hands down when it comes to the Enterprise storage. We were having stability/performance issues with HPE Storage.

Initial setup is very straightforward and easy as long as you know what goes where.

Yes, when it comes to pricing, EMC might be a little on the higher side, but you can't buy the performance of a Ferrari in a Toyota. Hence, you get what you pay for.

Since we were using HPE Storage, we had a look at IBM Storage as well. After a features comparison and our requirements, EMC was the right choice.

EMC VNX is a mid-range enterprise storage. Make sure to choose the right system and do have a look at their EMC Unity series that has hybrid as well as All-Flash arrays. Before doing any implementation, make sure to do right-sizing and you will be good for the next five years.

All of the VMware farm is configured into this storage.

• Good performance for VM environments
• In one cabinet, we have many environments: VMware, Oracle, Adabas, NAS (CIFS and NFS resources), and mix disks on tier configurations
• Tier configuration with different disks (SAS, SATA, Flash)
• The software for management is very user-friendly
• Snapshots for backup and refresh development on test environments

There is an easy replication process between distinct data centers via VPLEX and/or RPA. But I hope in the future that EMC/Dell could replicate this with other types of storage.

I did not encounter any stability issues.

I did not encounter any scalability issues.

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

The setup was very easy.

The pricing and licensing were both very balanced.

This is a good option if you are looking for good performance.

A hybrid, tiered storage such as VNX:

• Enables data where IOPS is critical to be placed in SSDs
• Archives data to be placed in NL-SAS disks where IOPS is not in demand

It is very stable, even during multiple power failures.

EMC VNX needs to support bigger SSDs. Next generation EMC Unity will do this.

We have not had stability issues.

We have had some scalability issues. Scalability options are limited due to the supported SSDs.

Technical support gets a rating of 5/5.

Previously, we had CLARiiON. VNX was the next technological shift.

VNX was very easy to set up. Guides are available on the EMC site.

The initial pricing and licensing are reasonable. Yearly EMC is more expensive.

We looked at IBM V7000 and others.

Go through EMC best practices for proper disk sizing and allocation.

In an on-premises four-server cluster where there was a replication VNX5300 on a different location for backup and disaster recovery purposes.

It didn't perform as advertised because the instant snapshotting feature while working as advertised slowed down the performance of the entire storage solution.

The replicating of the entire storage unit to a different location was a very useful function. It made disaster recovery possible in hours instead of days.

The performance impact snapshotting had on the cluster was enormous. The entire cluster performance took a performance impact of about 30% as soon as we created one snapshot of all the volumes created on the cluster.

• FAST auto-tiering is a great feature.
• FAST cache is very good for performance.
• The unified ability allows us to have a cost effective SAN and NAS storage combined on our smaller sites.

Unified VNX allows us to consolidate our storage for better efficiency.

It is not the easiest product to implement and manage, especially on the NAS side, but that is now fixed in its successor product from Dell EMC called Unity.

Over six years.

The stability is rock solid.

There are upper limits, but these are rarely reached depending upon the VNX model being used.

Dell EMC support is good, but expensive.

We have standardised on VNX, and now on the Unity successor product, having moved away from NetApp and EVA, which were not as reliable or as flexible.

Setup can be complex for the inexperienced storage administrator, especially on the NAS side. However, with training and/or experience, the VNX product is flexible and manageable.

VNX is not the cheapest in the market for SAN. But for NAS and SAN, the product is cost effective. I recommend that new purchases look to the successor product of Dell EMC Unity for the best pricing. For licensing, make sure you request Data at Rest Encryption (D@RE), if needed, as this is not bundled as standard.

HPE Nimble is a good competing product, especially as it now has the backing of HPE. However, Nimble is a point solution as it is SAN only. If you wanted to add NAS to a Nimble, you could use VMware and UnityVSA, but those are extract costs.

VNX remains a great product. However, it is being superseded by the Dell EMC Unity product, which offers better pricing, All-Flash offerings, and a true Unity storage pool for maximum efficiency and flexibility.

Block and NAS on multiple VNX's are all managed from the same Unisphere GUI. Plus, it has great data migration tools e.g. EMCopy.

Unisphere provides a one-stop go-to place to manage all my VNX storage arrays, saving me time, and screen space.

I preferred HP EVA over Clariion for block due to the simpler GUI, but the VNX (that uses Clariion-like block) appears more complex due to the flexibility it ultimately offers. It has more functionality/flexibility which means a more complex interface. But, all things considered, Unisphere is a very good interface. It doesn't seem too fast though, but that could be the environment rather than the VNX product, to be fair.

I've used it for four years, nine if you include when it was Clariion.

No issues encountered.

No issues encountered.

No issues encountered.

I don't like the way EMC's Powerlink support is behind a wall. You need to register an account, and join that account with your product serial numbers to open up the support pages and downloads for your products. As a consultant, I find that far too restrictive.

They are very good if you engage with them, so very high.

I use whatever my end client has purchased, be it EMC or another product. I don't often get to choose, but I would recommend a VNX if asked.

The documentation is very very good (with the exception of CAVA (optional anti-virus agent). That took some figuring out before I got it working properly, due to a subtle detail with physical/virtual data-movers. Setting one up should only be done with the documentation. never wing it.

Mostly in house, but I've worked with a vendor team post implementation where they test it end to end, and they're excellent.

I didn't choose it, but I would choose it. As mentioned above, I have enjoyed both EMC and HP's offerings in the marketplace. Depending on how simple the customer needs it to be, might sway my recommendation one way or the other, but in terms of functionality, VNX is very very good.

Watch the YouTube videos first, they're very good. If you understand what's being said, buy it.

The cost of the product, because it's considered an entry level product for what it does, but it had everything we needed for a great price.

All our storage is now in two places, a primary site and a DR site. Network shares, VM storage, etc. all come from the same physical infrastructure at both locations. Instead of getting more servers for storage, we were able to over-provision this and have had plenty of storage for the past two years. We recently just added another DAE to both locations pretty easily which extends the storage even more.

It only supports 10Gb copper, and cannot do 10Gb fiber. The system health screen could be more useful and show more important information. No support for flash drives.

I've used it for two years.

Stability has been rock solid, as we have been running both units for over two years with no major problems. There are redundant power supplies for everything. We have lost a DAE because of a double power failure and the unit still was fully functional, once the DAE came back online it meshed back into the array seamlessly.

EMC customer service has always been spot on. Any issues we have are dealt with right away.

EMC has great online support and tech support over the phone. Their knowledge base is pretty easy to use and updates are easy to find.

Deployment was quite straight forward, we did not need any assistance from EMC. Any small questions we had could easily be found online or via YouTube.

It was very straightforward as long as you have a basic knowledge of networks and network storage. The instructions provide a great starting point and you can continue online for more and better information.

It was done in-house, with just a single deployment person with a second person helping with ISCSI and other configuration options.

We have not done any calculations, but the costs we have saved in power consumption, data center space, and cooling cannot be ignored. We went from three full racks of servers, to a half rack (not all EMC, the rest is a Cisco UCS deployment). The savings alone on the three factors above over the past two years have probably paid for this investment already.

Pricing is very good, especially for educational institutions. Licensing is pretty straight forward really, it's just a support contract that is needed to keep everything up to date but there are no extra license fees or anything once you get the unit.

We evalulated HP, Dell, and NetApp storage products in the same class

Use Google and YouTube when implementing, there are lots of tips and advice out there, along with best practices. There's lots of stuff not on EMC's site but other helpful sites as well. There is a pretty large community now for this product line.