VxRail Reviews

It is part of the VMware stack for our data center and cloud.

I'm one of the architects for hybrid cloud. I like the new releases that Dell EMC is doing with VMware. They are allowing for flexibility across the hybrid cloud. This allows organizations to use containers and to be able to move into the public cloud, but also not have lock-in. They can come back to the private cloud when they want to, so it's creating a lot of flexibility across the stack.

Looking at the modernization and flexibility with VCM and VCF into the cloud.

We would like to see tighter integration with Pivotal, because we're looking for end-to-end transformation and tight integration. So, we would like to see the Dell EMC family have stronger integration with their products, as this would be the best thing.

It still has some maturity to grow. It needs to be more tightly integrated with its own family of products. It has shown that it is open with the other products within the market, through its stack, but it needs to have the proof in the market (with use-cases), and it has to have the scalability with the integration.

It is a lot more stable than it used to be.

It's a lot more scalable than it was. With the combination of the stack, I just recently went to training two weeks ago. For somebody who had been certified in VMware, then sort of stopped using it, I'm back as a proponent of using the solutions across the hybrid cloud and within the data center consolidation and hybrid cloud solutions.

I have not used technical support. I've just been going to technical training as a partner.

It should be straightforward. That's what we're trying to do. We are trying to make it straightforward.

I lead the largest integrator group that we're partnering with.

The real ROI is the benefit of being able to do a true hybrid cloud, not having to move from CAPEX to OPEX in a pure break. 

It is also being able to have the flexibility without having lock-in. By being able to use skills that you already have within your data center, you can optimize those as you are adding-on public cloud skills. Then, you can continue to build upon those skills with flexibility and immediate use them within the market.

Although, everybody tries to say that public cloud can be more cost-effective. By having that flexibility that fits your business need, there is a greater business case and value case for the business to create that flexibility. By going with the VxRail and full speed of VCM and VCF, it's a much greater investment and creates a greater flexibility and scalability for the customer.

Dell has a really strong set of solutions, probably the best in the market.

The first thing they should do is look at their overall enterprise architecture. Don't immediately follow the advice and take the jump to move. What they want to do is look at the investments that they've already made, and look at what the future state is that they want to go to, not just for that one simple solution. They need to look at what's their entire enterprise architecture future state, then consider everything: skills, interoperatability, integration, and future scalability. Then, look at the solution that they want to go with because they want that flexibility. They should be able to not only move to the public cloud, but be able to move back to the private cloud, and understand what's the cost of their legacy.

They should be looking at replace, refactor, and retire. How long is it going to take them to retire? You don't want to just rush into retiring your applications or replacing them if they're applications that are not coasting a lot to maintain, or you don't do a lot with them. Then, retiring those applications should be a thoughtful, longer process. It's okay to consolidate them and continue to run them on your VMware environment.

The primary use case is that it is used as a tools pod where we can easily deploy our tools for any particular client on-premise. These tools include server management tools, storage management tools, network management tools (like SolarWinds), and other types of products (like Nagios), so we can put them in one place. We also work with Red Hat Satellite, WSUS, and all the particular tools that our teams need to manage to operate environments for clients.

Because of the quicker deployment, we don't have to ask each team, what do you need? Then finding a VMware farm to put an instance of this on is much faster now. We know that we need this many and can easily just put it in one place and on one device. That's why it's a quicker deployment, because we are able to put it up very quickly for clients.

It is truly a hyper-converged infrastructure, so everything is there together. We normally go with either a two node or three node infrastructure, which is nice and small. 

Everything is there: The storage, the network, and it is all in one package, so it's easily deployable in a very quick fashion.

I would like better integration with VCF from VMware, which is the Cloud Foundation tool set, so we can easily provision servers very quickly.

Dell EMC could put in their own monitoring tool set for this environment, or if they wanted to, they could use it to expand into other environments.

No problems with it at all. All the different layers of architecture have worked quite well: network, storage, and compute. Everything has worked quite fine.

We haven't really gone beyond what we started off with: three nodes. However, we're looking at other clients where we will be doing upwards of four to 15 nodes.

I have never used the technical support.

It can easily be put on one rack. You only need a very small area of the rack, so it's definitely much cheaper to run from a power standpoint. 

You can easily deploy it very quickly. So, it's cheap to manage.

It's cheap to be sitting on an on-premise data center.

Nobody else was on our shortlist, because Dell EMC is our strategic partner. We were expecting them to bring us something that would work very quickly and easily, but also be at a reasonable price point, and they did.

We use this solution to ensure our hardware is supported. 

This is a good solution if you want to deploy an ACI Environment but don't have all the necessary resources.

VxRail is an expensive solution. It could be improved by having more information on the integration portion of ACI. 

This is a stable solution. We have migrated our old systems on the new ACI station and have experienced no issues. 

This is a scalable solution but this comes at a cost. 

The initial setup was quick and involved medium complexity. It requires help from the vendor to scale. 

We received technical support from Dell as part of the deployment implementation plan and contract.

I would recommend adjusting pricing of this solution to suit your infrastructure.

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten. 

We work with Dell's Italian partner, so we go where the market goes. When Dell merged with EMC, we did several courses, and I got a certification with VxRail. We usually work with companies that have projects. We are solution architects. We don't work with software, programs, databases, or custom software.

VxRail is easy to deploy and easy to scale up, but you have to buy a new server if you want to scale up—not just a classic solution like RAM, CPU, or more disk. The solution would be good for a great company that is dynamic and wants to go up very fast.

When you converge the solution, you have to be very careful because the great scalability comes at an important cost. If you want to use three nodes with a standard license, for example, and you want to converge the solution with three nodes, you have chosen the wrong product because you have to buy a new server if you want to scale up.

In my opinion, the lack of improvement is from a commercial point of view, not from a technical point of view. 

It also lacks a single easy remote server for disaster recovery.

We started using VxRail three years ago.

The stability is great because it is based on VMware, so it's the same panel and same code.

VxRail has great scalability.

Dell's EMC technical support is very good.

The initial setup process is pretty straightforward. Technically speaking, there could be some complications, but Dell's support is very good.

In the course for VxRail, they tell you that it's a single click to deploy. From a technical viewpoint, that isn't true because you have to build the rack system. If the system is projected well, then you have a single click to deploy it with a single panel of glass.

The price could be lower. If the price were dropped, the products could sell more easily.

Compared to Nutanix, we are not as aggressive in the market, but VxRail is a good product with good design. If VxRail is to compete with Nutanix, it needs a single easy remote server for disaster recovery, but that depends on vSAN, which the design of VxRail is based on. The core of vSAN is not designed for this, maybe because vSAN customers are higher level.

I would give this solution a 9 out of 10. 

VxRail isn't for a small company. If you need less than five servers, you could technically use it, but there are probably other solutions that are cheaper. A classic solution for a small customer is cheaper than other convergence solutions.

In my mind, the hyper-convergence solution is a requirement only for a great company. If you are a small Italian company that isn't going to scale up for a few years, it's very difficult to afford the price, and you might have a problem with technical knowledge as well because your normal technicians won't be able to assist in other convergence solutions if you have an issue. In this case, we prefer traditional systems over VxRail to give the client the correct stability and simple management.

We are system integrators and IT providers. 

The solution is cost-effective and easy to instal, it's just a plug and play. It also contains a ready VMware solution that I use to manage virtual machines. Finally, it is a hyper-converged infrastructure, so it's not a regular server.

A beneficial improvement they could make would be the integration of all the dealings with VMware to provide a license with VxRail so the customer can purchase it without the need to pay for an additional license for the VMware. If the license for VMware were to come together with the hardware at no additional cost, that would be great. Nutanix offers this package.

I've been using this solution for four years. 

The solution is very reliable. 

The solution is flexible, scalable and easily integrated. We can add to it at any time and it'll give extra performance and extra CPU.

Our engineers deal with any support issues we may have.

The initial setup is straightforward and can take up to four days. Deployment requires a technician and an assistant engineer to plan everything and get it ready to host the services. Maintenance is required but we receive documentation regarding updates and framework feature updates. We have five system administrators working on this product.

Dell VxRail is flexible and reliable and scalable. It's easy to restore without the higher cost. We're not comfortable with the cost of VxRail and neither are our clients. As a result, we sometimes have to go to other brands because the price of VxRail is not competitive. Not that comfortable with some projects so the recommendation is Dell can do the same price as the normal server. I know it's marketing plan, especially for Middle East. It'll be much better and we will buy all the required servers from VxRail not, as you know, you'll go to all hyper-converged infrastructure.

We also offer Nutanix to our clients. What Nutanix offers is not available in Dell or HPE. Nutanix has its own management system similar to VMware and is also easy to configure. Through the system, the system administrator can manage and ensure all the virtual machines or virtual appliances that will host the services. If they could change the licensing structure so there is no additional license required, it would be a great feature that would strengthen Dell against their competitors.

I always recommend VxRail because of their scalability and flexibility, but sometimes the cost creates a barrier with the client. All of our clients who have chosen VxRail are happy with it, it's just the cost that's an issue. 

I rate the solution nine out of 10. 

A valuable feature of the solution is that it allows everything to be integrated into a single model, comprised of hardware and software. 

When using hybrid nodes, such as VxRail, there should not be compression and deduplication, only in All-Flash nodes. So, it's about improvement. It's good to see deduplication in hybrid nodes.

I have been working with VxRail for around one year. 

I am satisfied with the stability. To my knowledge, our customers don't have any problems with the solution.

As I am not an engineer, I am not in a position to talk about the installation. I do not have familiarity with implementation. 

I do not believe that the price should be lower. I feel it to be reasonable. This is because we can compare blade with blade server, MX7000 for example, when it comes to buying VMware products, meaning it will not act like a true hyper converged infrastructure. 

I prefer VxRail to that of HyperFlex, because the VMware facilitates the configuration of two or more disk groups. Yet, HyperFlex offers one test drive and separate capacity drives, so this group only handles one load.

My knowledge of HyperFlex is limited, which is why I am in the process of comparing it with the solution.

Everything is balanced in the solution. The hardware is integrated with VMware. 

VxRail is a good solution. It offers easy administration, including updates, along with a central console enabling complete visibility of management, administration and monitoring. 

I rate VxRail as a ten out of ten. 

We are using the VxRail hyperconverged infrastructure to host some of our applications' virtual machines. We have customized this virtual machine and our applications serve different departments within the company.

The most valuable feature for me in this latest release has been the ability to add a compute or storage node. In the previous release, if I wanted to add only the compute mode, I need to buy a full node, including both compute and storage. That is no longer the case. I can upgrade whatever I want one based on my demand.

It would be great to have a mechanism that identifies whether or not the configuration has been done well. Right now, we are doing that manually. A compliance check would be a helpful feature.

Some of the features of the hyperconverged infrastructure could be integrated with external storage. Right now, for example, if I have surveillance going, I need to purchase very cheap storage. So, an integration between the hyperconverged infrastructure and external storage would be good.

I have been using VxRail for almost three years now. 

The stability and performance of VxRail are excellent. 

VxRail is very scalable. This is one of the advantages of hyperconverged infrastructure: Whenever you need to scale, all you have to do is add a node. We use this product on a daily basis. 

The first layer of technical support is not well equipped to help you identify the root cause of issues. However, the second level is. 

There is room for improvement with the first level of technical support. 

The initial setup was not complex, it was very straightforward. Deployment took us three to four days. 

The maintenance we do on it now is mostly preventative. 

We have two people working on VxRail. 

The pricing is reasonable considering the value of this product. 

There are no additional licensing and support costs. 

I would recommend this product to other users. 

We mainly use the solution for our data center equipment. 

As with SimpliVity, the solution concerns itself with storage, networking and virtualization resources.

The price of the solution is rather on the high side, not generally speaking but only as concerns VxRail. Dell Strava has exactly the same kind of price when it comes to HPE. VxRail starts at a higher price, so we tend to use SimpliVitity solutions concerning small companies. 

The full solution is not completely included as a bundle, such as we see with SimpliVity.  VxRail lacks a backup solution.

I have been using VxRail for around five years. 

VxRail's technical support is very good.

As with SimpliVity, the initial setup took two days. 

The price is rather on the high side. 

There is no licensing fee. One can buy HPE, all fully included, with either a three or five year license covering full support. 

The solution is deployed mostly on-cloud, although some of the bigger environments prefer do so on-premises. 

I would recommend this solution to others. 

I do not know the exact number of customers who are using the solution. I believe this number to be 15 or 20 in France, although there are more who use the SimpliVity solutions because of the lower price. 

I rate VxRail as an eight or nine out of ten.