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Provides scalability, one-click upgrades, and simplified management
Pros and Cons
  • "One-click upgrade is valuable because upgrading an environment that is considered a traditional one is something that we never do or are never going to complete. It is very time-consuming for my team. With the one-click upgrade, it is much quicker. There are preparation stages, but it takes less time, so we are also saving time in the daily administration."
  • "We have issues at times with the one-click upgrade, which is bugging us. At times, the one-click upgrade does not work or does not work well."

What is our primary use case?

It is essentially for a standard use case. It is for server virtualization. I wanted to replace my infrastructure which was getting old, and I was looking for something that was scalable.

How has it helped my organization?

By implementing VxRail, I wanted to achieve rapid migration from my old environment to my new environment. Above all, I wanted to have scalability because I am not in control of the evolution. It provides us with scalability to avoid big gaps every time we are buying. I now buy a new node every year, and I increase my farm that way.

When I went from a so-called 'traditional infrastructure' to the VxRail infrastructure, I gained in performance. Thanks to its hybrid technology with Flash and traditional disks, I could achieve performance without having to blow my budget. That is important.

VxRail simplifies the management of VMware. There is a unified interface to manage the VMware environment and other components depending on the licenses that we have subscribed to. This unified interface saves us time as well as skills. In terms of training, we do not have to know storage or networking. Knowing the interface is enough, and we are capable of managing it.

In terms of energy consumption, because I have few servers, and everything has been made virtual in the VxRail infrastructure, I don't have the metrics for the consumption. I have not looked into it.

VxRail has helped to reduce unplanned production downtime. I must have gained more than 20%. The fact is that it is very stable in comparison to my old infrastructure. Because I do not have multiple manufacturers or components, everything is in the same block, and I have far fewer cables. That is a source of problems, and that is where we save that 20%.

In terms of durability, I still have my very first servers from 2017. I do have a few servers that are reaching the end of support, but I will keep them and integrate them into my testing infrastructure. I am already in the habit of keeping the old servers for a long time, and I will carry on with that habit.

What is most valuable?

One-click upgrade is valuable because upgrading an environment that is considered a traditional one is something that we never do or are never going to complete. It is very time-consuming for my team. With the one-click upgrade, it is much quicker. There are preparation stages, but it takes less time, so we are also saving time in the daily administration.

What needs improvement?

We have issues at times with the one-click upgrade, which is bugging us. At times, the one-click upgrade does not work or does not work well. It does not work well or it stops, and we do not always understand why. In one such instance, Dell support took over. We reach the end of the upgrade, but it is not smooth. It should be improved. It could be related to my infrastructure. Maybe I have too many nodes, but I do not know. Even though we do it and we go to the very end, we end up sweating sometimes.

It is a little bit ironic because the one-click upgrade was what made me sway and choose this technology, and it is still something that can be improved.

Buyer's Guide
VxRail
November 2024
Learn what your peers think about VxRail. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: November 2024.
824,067 professionals have used our research since 2012.

For how long have I used the solution?

We started using it in 2017.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

They are very stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

They are scalable. They are made for it.

How are customer service and support?

It was a little bit complicated at the beginning because there were two products. There was the software part, which is VMware, and there was the VxRail part, which is the equipment. Afterward, the support became one, and we had only one contact who could answer our inquiries and help us when we had any problems. Their support is very good. It was just a bit complicated in the beginning, but it got sorted, and it has been fine since.

They listen to our feedback, and they have managed to improve on all of that. I would rate them a good eight out of ten. The issues we encountered were more related to the product than the support.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

In my previous work, I used HPE SimpliVity.

How was the initial setup?

We had the help of a partner. We had no major issues at the time. It was a recent technology back in 2017. There were not many experts on the market, but we did not encounter any difficulties, and the infrastructure is still running today. It is still the same one as the one from that era.

What about the implementation team?


What was our ROI?

We have been able to consume faster, and we have been able to upgrade our infrastructure quicker, so we have saved time. IT is complicated. It is a costly thing, and it is difficult to quantify a return on investments.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

They match the market prices. They know how to be competitive.

With regard to the price, I am interested in what is out there on the market. They need to be aware of the competitors out there. The competitors know what they are doing and how to be powerful with their pricing. Dell can be a little bit more competitive.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

In 2017, when I did my benchmark, I looked into all of the options. I saw what Nutanix was doing and what DataCore could offer, but I made a choice to go for VxRail.

Considering my usage, there was not a big difference between them. I did not use any cloud. I did not have any containerization. It was the same good old-school virtualization, so all three solutions achieved the same thing for me, but what made the difference was the relationship with the Dell staff. All of the work we did with the salesperson at the time as well as the company's strength were the factors that guided my choice. Nutanix was still quite young. HPE had just bought the SimpliVity technology, and I did not quite know which way it was going to go, so I decided on Dell.

We did not consider the option of a public cloud infrastructure before choosing Dell VxRail. I work in the medical field. In 2017, we were not ready to start using the cloud.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate VxRail an eight out of ten.

Foreign Language:(French)
Offre scalabilité, des mises à jour en un seul clic et un management simplifié

Depuis combien de temps utilisez-vous les Dell VxRail?

    On a commencé en 2017.

    Quel est votre principal cas d’utilisation pour cette solution? (Décrivez votre environnement).

      C’est essentiellement un usage standard. C’est de la virtualisation de serveur. Je voulais remplacer mon infrastructure qui était vieillissante et je cherchais quelque chose de scalable.

      Veuillez décrire comment Dell VxRail a pu améliorer votre organisation. Si ce ne fut pas le cas, veuillez expliquer pourquoi.

        En implémentant VxRail, je cherchais à pouvoir effectuer une migration rapide de mon ancien environnement à ce nouvel environnement. Ne maîtrisant pas l'évolution, je cherchais surtout à avoir cette scalabilité. Cela nous évite d’avoir de grands paliers à chaque fois quand nous faisons des achats. Maintenant, j'achète un nouveau nœud tous les ans et j’augmente ma ferme comme ça.

        Quand on est passé d’une infrastructure dite traditionnelle à une infrastructure VxRail infrastructure, j’ai gagné en performance. Grâce à sa technologie hybride Flash et disques traditionnels, j’ai gagné en performance sans avoir une explosion de mon budget. Ça, c’est important.

        VxRail simplifie la gestion de VMware. Il y a une interface unifiée ou l’on retrouve l’environnement VMware et d’autres composants en fonction des licences qu’on a souscrit. Cette interface unifiée nous fait gagner du temps et des compétences. En termes de formation, on n’est pas obligé de connaître le stockage, ni le réseau. Il suffit de connaître l’interface et on est capable de l’administrer simplement.

        En ce qui concerne la consommation d'énergie, je ne sais pas vraiment car j’ai moins de serveurs, tout est virtualisé dans l’infrastructure VxRail et je n’ai pas les métriques de consommation. Je ne me suis pas intéressé au sujet.

        VxRail a contribué à réduire les temps d'arrêt de production imprévus. J’ai gagné un peu plus de 20%. C’est en fait très stable par rapport à mon ancienne infrastructure. Parce que je ne suis ni multi-constructeurs, ni multi composants, tout est dans la même brique et j’ai beaucoup moins de câbleries. Ça, c’est source de problèmes et c’est là où on retrouve les 20%.

        En termes de durabilité, j’ai toujours mes premiers serveurs qui datent de 2017. J’ai certains serveurs qui arrivent en fin de support mais que je vais garder et que je vais intégrer à mon infrastructure de test. J’avais déjà tendance à garder longtemps les serveurs et je vais continuer dans cette lignée.

        Quelles fonctionnalités avez-vous trouvé les plus précieuses et pourquoi?

          Le One-click Upgrade est utile parce que mettre à jour un environnement dit traditionnel, c’est quelque chose qu'on ne fait jamais ou on ne va jamais jusqu’au bout. C’est quelque chose qui prend énormément de temps pour mon équipe. Avec le one-click upgrade, cela est beaucoup plus rapide. Il y a des phases de préparation mais ça prend moins de temps donc, on gagne du temps aussi en administration quotidienne.

          Dans quels domaines les Dell VxRail pourraient-ils être améliorés?

            Nous avons eu des soucis avec le one-click upgrade car il cafouille parfois. Il arrive que le one-click upgrade ne fonctionne pas ou ne fonctionne pas bien. Il ne marche pas bien ou il s'arrête et on ne comprend pas forcément pourquoi. Le support Dell a notamment pris le relai une fois. On est arrivé au bout de la mise à jour mais ce n’est pas fluide. Il faudrait l'améliorer. C’est peut-être lié à mon infrastructure. J’ai peut-être beaucoup de nœuds, je ne sais pas. On va quand-même jusqu’au bout mais on transpire parfois.

            C’est un peu paradoxal parce que c’est le one-click upgrade qui m’a fait basculer et choisir cette technologie mais c’est ce qui reste à améliorer.

            Avez-vous précédemment utilisé d’autres solutions et le cas échéant, pourquoi avez-vous changé?

              Dans mon ancienne société, j’ai travaillé sur du HPE SimpliVity.

              Avant de faire votre choix, avez-vous évalué d’autres options? Si oui, lesquelles?

                En 2017, lorsque j’ai fait mon benchmark, j’ai fait le tour de toutes les options. J’ai vu ce que faisait Nutanix et ce que pouvait proposer DataCore mais mon choix s’est arrêté sur VxRail.

                Vu mon usage, il n’y avait pas de grande différence entre eux. Je n’utilisais pas de Cloud. Je ne faisais pas de conteneurisation. C'était de la virtualisation de manière bon père de famille donc, les trois solutions faisaient la même chose pour moi mais ce qui a fait la différence, c’est la relation humaine avec le personnel de Dell. Tout le travail qu’on a fait avec le commercial de l'époque et la solidité de l’entreprise étaient les facteurs qui avaient orienté mon choix. Nutanix était encore jeune. HPE venait de racheter la technologie SimpliVity, je ne savais pas trop où est-ce que ça allait et donc, je me suis arrêté sur Dell.

                Nous n’avons pas considéré l’option d’infrastructure du cloud public cloud avant de choisir Dell VxRail. Je travaille dans le milieu de la santé. En 2017, on n'était pas prêt pour partir vers du cloud.

                Que conseillez-vous à d'autres en ce qui concerne les coûts d’installation, les tarifs et/ou les licences?

                  Ils s’alignent avec les tarifs du marché. Ils savent être compétitifs.

                  En ce qui concerne le prix, je m'intéresse à ce qui se fait sur le marché. Ils doivent faire attention aux concurrents en face. Les concurrents savent ce qu’ils font et comment être percutant en termes de tarifs. Dell pourrait être un peu plus compétitif.

                  Quelles sont vos impressions sur la scalabilité de cette solution?

                    Ils sont scalables. Ils sont fait pour ça.

                    Quelles sont vos impressions concernant la stabilité de cette solution?

                      Ils sont très stables.

                      Avez-vous constaté un RSI (Retour Sur Investissement)? Si oui, de quelle manière (p. ex. mesures/points de données)?

                        On a pu consommer plus vite et on a pu faire évoluer notre infrastructure plus vite et donc, on a gagné du temps. L’informatique, c’est compliqué. C’est une chose coûteuse et c’est difficile de quantifier un retour sur investissements.

                        Le déploiement initial était-il simple ou complexe et de quelle manière?

                          On s’est fait accompagner par un partenaire. A l'époque, on n’a pas rencontré de difficultés majeures. C'était une technologie récente en 2017. Il n’y avait pas beaucoup d’experts sur le marché mais on n’a pas rencontré de difficultés et l’infrastructure tourne encore aujourd’hui. C’est la même que celle de l’époque.

                          Décrivez-nous votre expérience du service client et du support.

                            C'était un peu compliqué au début parce qu’il y avait deux produits. Il y avait la partie logiciel avec les VMware et la partie VxRail qui est la partie matériel. Par la suite, le support s’est unifié et on a eu un interlocuteur unique pour répondre à nos questions et pour nous accompagner lorsqu’on avait des difficultés. Leur support est très bon. C'était juste un peu compliqué au début mais ça s'est arrangé et depuis, tout va bien.

                            Ils sont à l'écoute de ce que l’on peut leur remonter et ils ont pu améliorer tout ça. Je leur donnerais un bon huit sur dix. Les soucis qu’on a pu avoir étaient plus liés au produit qu’au support.

                            Comment évalueriez-vous cette solution sur une échelle de 1 à 10 pour le service et le support?

                              8

                              Sur une échelle de 1 à 10 (1=le pire, 10=le meilleur), comment évalueriez-vous les Dell VxRail? Veuillez expliquer pourquoi.

                                Je donnerais aux VxRail une note de huit sur dix.

                                Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
                                PeerSpot user
                                Rolando-Rodriguez - PeerSpot reviewer
                                Pre sales Engineer at Sonda S.A.
                                MSP
                                Top 10
                                Compatible with vSAN and a less disruptive way to migrate to a more scalable architecture
                                Pros and Cons
                                • "Management of the hardware and software in one console is the most valuable feature. It's also compatible with vSAN."
                                • "Technically speaking, the vCenter and the administration of the integration of the vCenter could be improved."

                                What is our primary use case?

                                The main reason a customer would acquire VxRail is if they're looking for a platform for more easy management of hardware and software.

                                I'm a presale engineer and we are a business partner with VxRail, so we sell the solution. We make consulting sales for other customers. Version 7.0 is the last version of VxRail that we've worked with.

                                What is most valuable?

                                Management of the hardware and software in one console is the most valuable feature. It's also compatible with vSAN.

                                What needs improvement?

                                Technically speaking, the vCenter and the administration of the integration of the vCenter could be improved. I know that VxRail has two options to manage the cluster with an external and internal vCenter. There are some concerns about managing the cluster with an external vCenter, which is not included in the appliance. This is the only thing that I've found to be quite complicated because if the customer has an existing platform with a vCenter and we wanted to integrate it with the new cluster of VxRail, there are some concerns about losing the external vCenter.

                                The second processor upgrade could be an additional feature included in the next release.

                                It would also be great if the second processor operated without factory reset because I have had many customers ask me about that.

                                What do I think about the stability of the solution?

                                I think there are some things to improve with the stability because I talk with the implementation engineers a lot. I don't implement the solution, but the engineers that implement and update and maintain the platform of VxRail told me that the solution sometimes gets problems with updating the versions of the firmware and the software. The software that comes on VxRail doesn't work smoothly because they have problems with updates.

                                What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

                                It's scalable. You can increase a cluster without downtime for the customer. You can add more discs and more drives for the clients. The only thing that could be improved is that when I designed the appliance with one processor, the engineers of the EMC told me that if a client has one processor and you want to upgrade the appliance with a second processor, you can do it without a factory reset of the appliance. So, if the client has an appliance cluster or nodes cluster with one processor for each appliance, and the customer wants to upgrade with a second processor for each appliance, there is another viable option because you have to reset all the clusters and delete all the data. It would be better if there was a way to make a second processor upgrade without a factory reset.

                                How are customer service and support?

                                I haven't had any experience with tech support because I'm in presales.

                                How was the initial setup?

                                When I asked for a quote for a partner that was doing the implementation, they told me that it took two people to complete the implementation. 

                                What other advice do I have?

                                I would give VxRail an 8 out of 10.

                                The main advantage is that VxRail is integrated with vSAN. I think that most people who use VMware also use vSphere. It's like a less disruptive way to migrate a platform to a hyper-converged architecture. My main advice is that if a customer has vSAN, this is a less disruptive way to migrate to a more scalable architecture. 

                                Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
                                PeerSpot user
                                Buyer's Guide
                                VxRail
                                November 2024
                                Learn what your peers think about VxRail. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: November 2024.
                                824,067 professionals have used our research since 2012.
                                Andreas Eberhard - PeerSpot reviewer
                                Head of IT at Wild & Küpfer AG
                                Real User
                                Can be updated quickly with fewer resources and is stable
                                Pros and Cons
                                • "What I like the most in terms of features is the fact that the VxRail update can be done in one week. It takes much less time to do a whole server upgrade and an infrastructure update as well."
                                • "The update for the graphics integration and the media drivers isn't included in the VxRail update."

                                What is our primary use case?

                                For remote work, we use VMware Horizon, running on VxRail, and have centralized all applications and storage.

                                How has it helped my organization?

                                We can do updates at a much higher cycle with much less resources. We can monitor all the VDI desktops, and I don't have to physically maintain desktops.

                                What is most valuable?

                                What I like the most in terms of features is the fact that the VxRail update can be done in one week. It takes much less time to do a whole server upgrade and an infrastructure update as well.

                                What needs improvement?

                                The update for the graphics integration and the media drivers isn't included in the VxRail update.

                                For how long have I used the solution?

                                We've been using it for the past three years.

                                What do I think about the stability of the solution?

                                It's very stable. We haven't had any downtime so far.

                                How are customer service and support?

                                The technical support is good, and I would give it a nine out of ten.

                                How would you rate customer service and support?

                                Positive

                                Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

                                We used a terminal server from Microsoft and switched because we had to renew the whole data center and wanted to use the latest technology.

                                We liked the integrated update, and the people behind Dell technologies made the difference.

                                How was the initial setup?

                                The initial setup was straightforward. The process took around one day.

                                Our environment is in one location, and it's not a stretch cluster; it's a single cluster. We run about 190 virtual desktops and 200 virtual servers on it.

                                The solution does not require a lot of maintenance, and the system engineer takes care of that.

                                What about the implementation team?

                                We wanted to roll out the VDI department by department. We used an integrator for the initial deployment, who was very competent. We also used one system engineer.

                                What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

                                The pricing is very accurate, and we haven't had any problems with the licensing costs.

                                Which other solutions did I evaluate?

                                We evaluated HPE and Lenovo. 

                                What other advice do I have?

                                I recommend testing the data applications first, which could really speed up the process of installing the golden images or setting up the initial golden image.

                                I rate this solution ten on a scale from one to ten.

                                Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

                                On-premises
                                Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
                                PeerSpot user
                                Director Of Information Technology at a outsourcing company with 10,001+ employees
                                Real User
                                Stable with good technical support and good integration capabilities
                                Pros and Cons
                                • "You don't have to worry too much about the hardware and you don't have to work on integrating a storage device. We instead have this as an all-in-one solution and everything is available as a box."
                                • "Right now, it's difficult for a non-technical person to participate in using the product. It could be made more consumer-friendly."

                                What is our primary use case?

                                We primarily use the solution to run the loudmouth to host our virtual server's core courses.

                                What is most valuable?

                                There's user integration with VMware so you don't have to load VMware on top of it and it works right out of the box. 

                                There's good integration between VMware as my hypervisor and the hardware and it is specifically to size. 

                                You don't have to worry too much about the hardware and you don't have to work on integrating a storage device.  We instead have this as an all-in-one solution and everything is available as a box. 

                                What needs improvement?

                                They could make something like an actual catalog where you could just put your weblogs and then you cold can get the recommended specs along with the utilities like which processor to get. That would be an economical way to figure out the specs of the solution in relation to your requirements. 

                                Right now, it's difficult for a non-technical person to participate in using the product. It could be made more consumer-friendly. 

                                It should give output or recommend orders and dissolve effects. 

                                They could be more clear in terms of which options to choose. For example, they could say, "We recommend, if you want high performance, to go with this pack." Or "if you want an economical option, try this".

                                The solution could improve on some existing features, especially experience-based access or something like that. 

                                The product could benefit from more tightly integrated management.

                                For how long have I used the solution?

                                I've only been using the solution for the past six months or so.

                                What do I think about the stability of the solution?

                                This generation, the third generation, seems to be the most stable compared to the initial bracket in the market. Of course, after learning from our myriad mistakes through the initial implementation allowed us to make changes and choose more stable options compared to a few years ago. 

                                Especially in the Philippines, we are the number one matching reseller for business-critical items. We utilize multiple units to ensure we have a failover in place. If repairs are delayed for hours, we're covered. 

                                Generally, Dell has a very good presence here. Therefore, we are very stable. The quality of the algorithm is better. You can see the quality of components inside the hardware. They manufacture everything in their own plants in Malaysia. Therefore, they already have hardware components inside the region that are easily accesible.

                                Failure rates are low compared to Cisco hardware.  

                                What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

                                The solution is pretty scalable. There are a lot of items that keep adding onto the computing power and storage. It's not like other platforms where you have to plan far ahead if you plan to scale. 

                                How are customer service and technical support?

                                We've dealt with technical support in the past. We dealt with HP, IBM, and Cisco a long time ago, and we find Dell works hard for us. Their service levels are very good in comparison to other organizations. We're quite satisfied with their level of service.

                                Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

                                I've used Cisco in the past. I find this solution is easier to implement and offers good hardware and software integrations. We've also worked with IBM and HP a very long time ago. Dell has better customer services than all of them.

                                How was the initial setup?

                                In terms of the initial setup, compared to any other platform, it pretty simple. I've used Cisco UCS in the past, and have experience with that solution, and compared to that, this implementation is easy.

                                It's got a very good integration between hardware and software specific configurations. You just need to watch out for technical inputs.

                                The maintenance we negotiated as a bundle over years of use. Our partner handles the maintenance of the solution.

                                What about the implementation team?

                                We actually had that alteration done through our Dell partner. We chose a partner based on input from Dell about our limitations, what sort of skill set they had, how many engineers were verified, etc., and then we chose our partners. 90% of the population was done by the partner and 10% wherever delegation was needed, they would assist as necessary.

                                What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

                                The pricing varies. We were able to negotiate a pretty good position

                                In India, they gave us something like three years without interest. However, there are various categories in terms of getting the correct payment options on the pricing, they have a lot of options.

                                They gave us 40% off of this year in the Philippines whereas in India they gave a monthly payment option without interest. 

                                A company can negotiate a price. At my organization, we've always managed very good pricing. Therefore, we have no regrets when it comes to the pricing we have to pay. If you have a good relationship with them, they'll try to take care of you.

                                What other advice do I have?

                                We're just a customer. We don't have a relationship with Dell.

                                We just procured the latest version of the solution.

                                When we decided on our requirements, we had multiple calls with Dell and the attorneys to ensure that we received what we needed. Apart from choosing various generations or various models on VxRail boxes, we also took to deep dive into the actual configuration on each processor to understand how much memory to use.

                                It's easier if you have a technical professional on your side when you're dealing with Dell. I'm a technical person, so I could get into the weeds with them. If you are a company without the technical expertise, you're going to run into a bit of trouble as you won't necessarily understand the product or the technical aspects that are being discussed.

                                I would advise organizations considering implementing the solution to choose your partner really carefully. Ask questions like how many engineers do they have and find out how transparent they are about how they handle the process. I'd look at at least two potential partners and compare their capability and expertise.

                                Overall, I'd rate the solution nine out of ten.

                                Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

                                On-premises
                                Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
                                PeerSpot user
                                Farhan Ashraf - PeerSpot reviewer
                                Presales Manager at NDS
                                MSP
                                Top 10
                                OEM validated architecture with single management console feature
                                Pros and Cons
                                • "VxRail simplifies IT infrastructure management by providing a single management console for compute, storage, and network. The second advantage is that VxRail offers a continuously validated architecture from the OEM. This means that Dell thoroughly tests all firmware updates before being released or installed on the product, helping to prevent compatibility issues. The third benefit is its ten-year roadmap. Dell consistently announces a roadmap for the product spanning the next decade."
                                • "One challenge customers face with VxRail is the high cost of scalability. The price is higher if they want to add memory or capacity after purchasing the tool for three or five years. Each drive and RAM module is licensed separately, making the architecture costly. It would benefit Dell to review this licensing model and make it more cost-effective and flexible for customers."

                                What is most valuable?

                                VxRail simplifies IT infrastructure management by providing a single management console for compute, storage, and network. The second advantage is that VxRail offers a continuously validated architecture from the OEM. This means that Dell thoroughly tests all firmware updates before being released or installed on the product, helping to prevent compatibility issues. The third benefit is its ten-year roadmap. Dell consistently announces a roadmap for the product spanning the next decade.

                                VXRail enhances data center scalability through its CI-based architecture. It allows for node-based scalability, meaning up to sixty-four nodes can be added to a single cluster. This scalability feature enables customers to scale up as needed without downtime.

                                Apart from the single management console, one of the most valuable features I've found in VxRail is its continuously validated architecture backed by Dell. This means that all firmware and updates undergo testing in Dell labs. Unlike with standard Dell servers, where we update firmware independently, with VxRail, Dell provides compatibility information for each update, ensuring we never encounter compatibility issues.

                                Integrating the tool with other products is quite straightforward. It's open in terms of storage, allowing for easy integration of third-party external storage solutions at both the network and storage levels. Additionally, all third-party backup software is integratable with it. 

                                The product's automation lifecycle management is a good feature.

                                What needs improvement?

                                One challenge customers face with VxRail is the high cost of scalability. The price is higher if they want to add memory or capacity after purchasing the tool for three or five years. Each drive and RAM module is licensed separately, making the architecture costly. It would benefit Dell to review this licensing model and make it more cost-effective and flexible for customers.

                                For how long have I used the solution?

                                I have been working with the product for four years. 

                                What do I think about the stability of the solution?

                                I rater the tool's stability a ten out of ten. 

                                What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

                                I rate the tool's scalability a ten out of ten. 

                                How are customer service and support?

                                The solution's technical support is good.

                                How would you rate customer service and support?

                                Positive

                                How was the initial setup?

                                The tool's setup process for VxRail is easy. If you follow the deployment guidelines and best practices, it typically takes no more than an hour to complete.

                                What other advice do I have?

                                We've evaluated products from various vendors, but none currently match VxRail's capabilities in the market. While HP offers a similar product, it doesn't measure up to it. Some unique features make the product stand out, and we haven't found any direct competitors that can be comparedIt's primarily designed for enterprise-level use and may not be suitable for smaller or medium-sized businesses due to its higher cost. Enterprises are the main purchasers of VxRail. However, if Dell aims to make it more cost-effective, it could expand its market to include small and medium-sized businesses.

                                I rate the overall solution an eight out of ten. 

                                Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

                                On-premises
                                Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
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                                PeerSpot user
                                SunilNarayanan - PeerSpot reviewer
                                Sr.EMC Storage Specialist at a energy/utilities company with 501-1,000 employees
                                Real User
                                Host system that offers easy upgrading and virtualization processes
                                Pros and Cons
                                • "The major advantage is the blueprint. You do not need to separately manage the sand or network part because it all gets virtualized."
                                • "The SCL database sends out a warning and you have to download the adjacent file from the Dell website. You have to upload it and retest it. We cannot always connect our systems to the internet which means we sometimes miss these important updates."

                                What is our primary use case?

                                We have four to five clusters, and one of those clusters is an OT environment. We work in the oil and gas sector. We have deployed VxRail in three sites, mainly as a DMZ zone. We have another cluster for our internal network and a new VxRail cluster is going to be deployed and dedicated to SAP HANA.

                                How has it helped my organization?

                                The major advantage is the blueprint. You do not need to separately manage the sand or network part because it all gets virtualized.

                                What is most valuable?

                                The upgrading and virtualization of VxRail are easy to use. Compared to some of the other technology we use which requires a 32 GB memory minimum for one VM, VxRail does not require this additional memory. 

                                What needs improvement?

                                The SCL database sends out a warning and you have to download the adjacent file from the Dell website. You have to upload and retest it. We cannot always connect our systems to the internet which means we sometimes miss these important updates. 

                                For how long have I used the solution?

                                I have been using this solution for five years. 

                                What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

                                This is a scalable solution. 

                                How are customer service and support?

                                The support for this solution is really good. I always use the chat medium because it is easy to open a ticket and get assistance. 

                                I would rate the support for this solution a ten out of ten. 

                                How would you rate customer service and support?

                                Positive

                                Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

                                We previously used the initial generation of VxRail but experienced some issues. We went with another vendor but faced hardware-level stability issues and so we returned to VxRail.

                                How was the initial setup?

                                The main issue during the initial deployment is if there are any errors, you have to completely re-image the nodes. There is no option to fix the issues and resume from where you stopped. This adds many hours to the process. 

                                We always follow what Dell recommends and their best practices.

                                Which other solutions did I evaluate?

                                We evaluated Nutanix for Discover FLeX and Dell. The Nutanix hardware is really stable and they still follow the chassis architecture. 

                                Dell changed from the chassis form factor to different nodes, so installing different nodes each time is easy, but when you have too many nodes it needs more space.

                                What other advice do I have?

                                I would recommend VxRail because after using the solution for many years, I still prefer VxRail.

                                I would rate this solution a nine out of ten. 

                                Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

                                On-premises
                                Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
                                PeerSpot user
                                Enrique-Rodriguez - PeerSpot reviewer
                                Lead Converged Infrastructure Engineer at a insurance company with 10,001+ employees
                                Real User
                                The life cycle management helps with sustainability in deploying and managing the environment
                                Pros and Cons
                                  • "What I find very valuable is VxRail's life cycle management. The life cycle management takes care of everything from firmware to the actual upgrading of the hypervisor and keeps everything up to level."
                                  • "They need to keep upgrading the environment and improving automation so that the solution keeps getting better and better."

                                  What is our primary use case?

                                  VxRail is allowing us to solve a problem that we've had for quite a while, as far as having distributed computing, networking, and storage. VxRail has a combined HCI environment. As a result, all of our resources are together, and life cycle management helps us with sustainability in deploying and managing the environment.

                                  How has it helped my organization?

                                  It helps us to consolidate a lot of our legacy, storage, and other computing environments.

                                  What is most valuable?

                                  What I find very valuable is VxRail's life cycle management. The life cycle management takes care of everything from firmware to the actual upgrading of the hypervisor and keeps everything up to level.

                                  What needs improvement?

                                  They need to keep upgrading the environment and improving automation so that the solution keeps getting better and better.

                                  For how long have I used the solution?

                                  I've been using VxRail for about eight months now.

                                  How are customer service and support?

                                  VxRail's support is excellent. I would give them a nine out of ten.

                                  How would you rate customer service and support?

                                  Positive

                                  Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

                                  Our previous environment consisted of HP, Dell, and VxBlock. We switched because HCI is our new environment/ecosystem. There are a lot of supportability improvements, and it is much easier to manage with VxRail.

                                  How was the initial setup?

                                  The more difficult part of it was the planning. The actual deployment was not as difficult.

                                  The deployment didn't take more than a month from doing the actual planning to having it shipped, brought inside, and then brought online.

                                  VxRail is deployed to data centers and globally as well.

                                  The maintenance is sustained within supportability, so it has to be updated whenever leases come out.

                                  What about the implementation team?

                                  We used Dell ProDeploy and had a combination of engineering and facilities staff for the deployment process.

                                  What was our ROI?

                                  As far as our consolidation ratios are concerned, we have seen a return on investment.

                                  What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

                                  Pricing is competitive.

                                  What other advice do I have?

                                  Definitely look into VxRail. Plan for your needs and utilize the services from ProDeploy.

                                  On a scale from one to ten, I would rate VxRail at nine.

                                  Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

                                  On-premises
                                  Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
                                  PeerSpot user
                                  EUC Consultant
                                  Real User
                                  It's a simple, efficient solution, but upgrades take too long
                                  Pros and Cons
                                  • "VxRail is a simple, efficient solution. It's easy to upgrade and scale the solution. If we increase our user base, we can easily scale it out. We have several thousand using it now."
                                  • "When we have a vulnerability or we need to upgrade VxRail, it takes a long time. It takes eight hours each time we upgrade."

                                  What is most valuable?

                                  VxRail is a simple, efficient solution. It's easy to upgrade and scale the solution. If we increase our user base, we can easily scale it out. We have several thousand using it now. 

                                  What needs improvement?

                                  When we have a vulnerability or we need to upgrade VxRail, it takes a long time. It takes eight hours each time we upgrade. 

                                  For how long have I used the solution?

                                  I've been using VxRail for six or seven years.

                                  What do I think about the stability of the solution?

                                  VxRail is stable. However, it's not a central solution, so we can lose some information, logs, and data when we remove a node. The efficiencies must be improved. For example, in Nutanix, when you move or remove a node, you get any errors or warnings, and you can work as well. But removing nodes in VxRail could cause some issues. You have to put the node in maintenance mode then reboot the rest.

                                  How are customer service and support?

                                  I haven't used Dell EMC support. My colleagues made a ticket with Dell EMC one year ago, but it's a strong solution. When we have an issue, it's usually not a problem with the hardware solution or the infrastructure. We more often have issues with the system close to the baseline solution, like the VMware app or Zoom. When we have trouble with those solutions, we make a support ticket with VMware support, etc., not Dell support.

                                  How was the initial setup?

                                  You don't have to be an expert to install VxRail. To install the node, you just follow the steps from Dell EMC, and you can install the solution in one sitting. It only takes one person to install. We have 30 engineers on my team, but only three are responsible for maintaining VxRail. 

                                  What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

                                  We have a three-year subscription.

                                  What other advice do I have?

                                  I rate VxRail seven out of 10. Maybe when they put out the new version, I'll rate it eight. I would recommend it to others. 

                                  Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

                                  Hybrid Cloud
                                  Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
                                  PeerSpot user
                                  Buyer's Guide
                                  Download our free VxRail Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
                                  Updated: November 2024
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                                  Buyer's Guide
                                  Download our free VxRail Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.