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Vaidyanathan Swaminathan - PeerSpot reviewer
Co-Founder at Tech RIdge Solutions
Real User
Top 5Leaderboard
Provides good performance and high scalability
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature of the solution is the performance."
  • "The solution's setup is a bit complex, and the complexity needs to be reduced."

What is our primary use case?

We use VxRail for ERC for SAP.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature of the solution is the performance.

What needs improvement?

The solution's setup is a bit complex, and the complexity needs to be reduced.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using VxRail for three to four years.

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VxRail
October 2024
Learn what your peers think about VxRail. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: October 2024.
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I rate the solution’s stability an eight out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution’s scalability is very good. Our clients for VxRail are usually small and medium businesses.

I rate the solution ten out of ten for scalability.

How are customer service and support?

Dell's technical support is not that good. The support team takes a long time to respond, and there are challenges regarding the people's expertise. We have been facing a lot of problems with the technical support for any of the Dell products, including storage, backup recovery, RecoverPoint, or VxRail.

On a scale from one to ten, where one is bad and ten is good, I rate the solution’s technical support a four to five out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

How was the initial setup?

On a scale from one to ten, where one is difficult and ten is easy, I rate the solution's initial setup a six out of ten.

What about the implementation team?

The solution’s deployment takes a few days.

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

If we normally quote for storage, we have to quote for something like PowerStore. In that area, the solution has brought down some costs. VxRail is still more expensive than its competitor solutions.

On a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing an eight out of ten.

What other advice do I have?

We had some initial challenges because of the networking component. To overcome them, we had to go through a lot of documentation and information from the website. I would recommend VxRail to customers who have a VMware environment and want to consolidate everything into servers without using the storage.

Overall, I rate the 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
System Engineer at South Corporate P2P Fiber Customer
User
Top 20
Flexible, easy to use, and simplifies management
Pros and Cons
  • "It helps simplify the management of VMware."
  • "It might offer better integration with other products."

What is our primary use case?

I use the solution pretty much for everything. We use it for VMs. Our customers are on VMs, and that's the main use case for us. 

How has it helped my organization?

We use the solution to get rid of the physical machines so we can work from anywhere in a virtual environment. 

What is most valuable?

It's a powerful solution. It's very capable. That's useful for us in our environment. 

It helps simplify the management of VMware. They make it very easy.

It's useful that we can consolidate infrastructure from multiple locations. This is important to us. We've already consolidated a lot of physical machines. It makes management easier and centralizes everything. We don't have everything split across separate locations or thousands of physical machines.

VxRail helped with production downtime. 

We have four clusters at the moment and can easily shift around our virtual appliances. It's really flexible. We can shift around as needed. 

What needs improvement?

They are always coming out with new updates and fixes. There are no immediate fixes needed. 

There's always room to improve on both the front and back end. It might offer better integration with other products. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using the solution for about four years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is very stable. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The product is very scalable. 

How are customer service and support?

In the beginning, support wasn't that great. However, it got a lot better after a few calls and meetings. 

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

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

We did not use a different solution previously.

How was the initial setup?

We deployed the solution with Dell. The process was very easy.

What about the implementation team?

Dell assisted us with the first two clusters, and we mostly did the second two clusters ourselves. 

What was our ROI?

We do not consider ROI in terms of the goal of the company in relation to this solution. We're a non-profit.

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

I'm not involved in the pricing or licensing. 

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We did not evaluate other vendors previously. While we checked other solutions, this one proved the easiest.

What other advice do I have?

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten. We find it to be a very good product. Of course, there's always room for improvement. 

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
VxRail
October 2024
Learn what your peers think about VxRail. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: October 2024.
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Rami Jadallah - PeerSpot reviewer
Availability Manager at Intrasoft
Real User
It's easy to implement and expand
Pros and Cons
  • "VxRail can manage the whole cluster at the same time, so it's easy to expand. VxRail has more features vSAN ReadyNodes that make it easier to implement from scratch."
  • "if we're looking at costs, Nutanix will win because it allows flexibility in the type of hardware you can use."

What is our primary use case?

I work for a telecom company, and we're using VxRail internally.

What needs improvement?

There are multiple things that have space for improvement. The most important are the features related to VMware, vSphere, vCenter, etc. 

For how long have I used the solution?

We've been using VxRail since it was released around five years ago.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

VxRail is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

VxRail is scalable. There have been few problems with VxRail in general. We've had some tickets, but it's generally okay.

How was the initial setup?

The most valuable aspect of VxRail is its ease of implementation. It's not like the ReadyNodes. When you create the adjacent file and manage it with the customer, then the implementation will not take much time. VxRail can manage the whole cluster at the same time, so it's easy to expand. VxRail has more features vSAN ReadyNodes that make it easier to implement from scratch. 

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

Once we get a deal registration, we'll be fine. 

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We've looked at alternatives like Nutanix and VMware vSAN ReadyNode.  In terms of management, VxRail is much more expandable. VxRail manager's built-in monitoring tool is a nice feature available in VxRail, but not in ReadyNodes. We don't see many features missing in VxRail but present in other solutions. 

Nutanix is a good competitor for VxRail, and Nutanix's software is helping to position it in the market better. Nutanix's software is better than vSAN's, but VxRail is better overall. However, if we're looking at costs, Nutanix will win because it allows flexibility in the type of hardware you can use.

What other advice do I have?

I rate VxRail nine out of 10. VxRail is well-positioned in the hyperconverged infrastructure segment, but I still think there is a place in the market for Nutanix. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Private Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner
PeerSpot user
Director of Information Technology at a logistics company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Highly stable, efficient, and great performance
Pros and Cons
  • "VxRail has high performance and has great efficiency. There is a single place for us to manage all of our virtual machines. The ability to right-size instead of overcommit VMs is a large benefit."
  • "We do not use the storage part of VxRail, we use Pure Storage to map out the VxRail because the disk performance from Pure Storage was far better than the performance of the disk on the inside of VxRail."

What is our primary use case?

We have VxRail for Hyperconverged infrastructure for our Windows and Linux VMs. We have the vRealize Suite which helps us with lifecycle management and forecasting our environments.

What is most valuable?

VxRail has high performance and has great efficiency. There is a single place for us to manage all of our virtual machines. The ability to right-size instead of overcommit VMs is a large benefit.

What needs improvement?

We do not use the storage part of VxRail, we use Pure Storage to map out the VxRail because the disk performance from Pure Storage was far better than the performance of the disk on the inside of VxRail.

I have found that Dell sales are the worst part of the organization or the blemish of their solutions. When they tell you, you are receiving something, and then down the road, you find out you actually have to buy something else in order to have the intended functionality it can be frustrating. We should have been told when purchasing this solution that we needed to purchase VMware Tanzu for private clouds.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have used VxRail within the past 12 months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

VxRail is highly stable. I would rate VxRail a ten out of ten for stability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is scalable, it has the ability to scale up but if you go and you add clusters it can get a bit difficult. If you are adding everything new, you only add it, and then it becomes a part of a cluster, but if you started off with a small four-cluster and then you have a 12-node cluster then you want to move those machines, it can take some work.

How was the initial setup?

The installation is straightforward we have never had a problem. They could improve on the process of adding clusters. For example, when you want to add a four-node cluster to a 12-node cluster, there is a whole lot of resetting we have to do on that cluster and put it back on. We do not understand why you can not add a cluster into the same management interface. This is something they should look into.

What other advice do I have?

The only advice that I would give to those wanting to implement VxRail is to make sure that they look at what comes with the VxRail package. For example, Dell offers vRealize, which is not private cloud. They mistakenly will say that it is for private cloud but all vRealize offers are lifecycle management, the ability to do costing, and everything between public cloud and a private cloud. They will tell you that you have to buy VMware Tanzu in order to get the private cloud features. When they initially sell VxRail as hyper-converged infrastructure, they also sell it as your private cloud but there is no private cloud functionality. You have to build that on.

I rate VxRail a ten 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
PeerSpot user
Real User
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.

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
                                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 5Leaderboard
                                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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                                Updated: October 2024
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