Dell PowerFlex Reviews

Our primary use case for Dell PowerFlex is to support mission-critical workloads that demand high availability, ultra-low latency and flexible scalability. This includes:

Virtualized Infrastructure (VMware, Red Hat Virtualization) for large-scale enterprise applications

High-performance Databases like Oracle, MS SQL and SAP HANA

Private Cloud Infrastructure with dynamic scalability and multi-tenancy

Modern Application Platforms (containers/Kubernetes) using PowerFlex’s CSI and plugin support

Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity using stretched clusters and automated failover.

In AI-specific use cases, PowerFlex is ideal for supporting AI video analytics, facial recognition and predictive modeling, especially when combined with GPU-accelerated compute nodes. Its ability to scale storage and compute independently ensures optimal performance and cost-efficiency as AI workloads evolve.

Independent Scaling of Compute and Storage

PowerFlex allows us to scale compute and storage resources independently. This disaggregated architecture is extremely valuable for optimizing costs and right-sizing infrastructure based on workload demands particularly in environments with variable AI and database workloads.

High Performance with Low Latency

With support for NVMe, RDMA and a fully distributed architecture, PowerFlex delivers consistent low-latency performance. This is critical for applications like AI model training, real-time analytics and Tier-1 transactional databases.

Flexible Deployment Options

The ability to deploy PowerFlex in hyper-converged (HCI), two-layer or mixed architectures provides design flexibility for different customer needs. Whether they're building a private cloud, extending hybrid cloud capabilities or deploying in a DR configuration.

Automation via PowerFlex Manager

PowerFlex Manager simplifies complex operations such as provisioning, lifecycle management and policy enforcement. This helps reduce operational overhead and improves IT agility.

Resiliency and Self-Healing Architecture

The platform offers zero-impact rebuilds and built-in fault tolerance across nodes and disks, making it extremely reliable for business-critical workloads.

Integration with AI and Kubernetes Ecosystems

With support for CSI drivers and GPU-enabled infrastructure, PowerFlex fits seamlessly into modern DevOps and AI/ML pipelines allowing us to serve next-gen workloads without needing separate infrastructure stacks.

Area of Improvement:

While PowerFlex Manager is powerful, the UI could be more intuitive, especially for first-time users or non-technical admins. Streamlined navigation, contextual help and guided workflows would improve day-to-day usability.

Additional Features:

Edge Deployment Models: Lightweight node configurations for PowerFlex at the edge to support industries like retail, telco, or manufacturing.

Integration with Dell CloudIQ: Real-time insights and proactive health scoring for predictive maintenance and better performance tuning.

We have been working with Dell PowerFlex for around a year as part of our enterprise solution offerings. Our team has performed several knowledge sharing with clients and implemented it across couple of customer environments, especially where high performance, scalability and infrastructure flexibility are key. We've seen great success in sectors like finance, healthcare and manufacturing. 

Dell’s support team is highly responsive, especially under ProSupport Plus or Mission Critical SLAs. Cases are acknowledged promptly. We have consistently seen strong follow-through on escalations and particularly for critical issues affecting production environments.

Positive

Dell PowerFlex is a premium software-defined infrastructure solution and while the initial investment may seem higher than traditional SAN or mid-tier HCI solutions, the long-term TCO is competitive. 

Yes, we usually evaluate with following alternate options:

- VMware vSAN

- Nutanix

- HPE Alletra

After comparative PoC analysis and stakeholder review, Dell PowerFlex stood out for its combination of performance, deployment flexibility, resilience and automation.

We are new to this, so we are still learning about the valuable features.

The solution is okay overall. It could be easier to learn. We haven't had any issues. They could have more AI functionality in the future. 

I have been using the solution for six months.

I have not encountered any problems so far with the stability of the solution.

The product is scalable. 

My company currently has 600 employees.

I take support from a local third-party support firm in Turkey. We do not have local Dell technical support. The local support helps us since we do not know all of the features.

Neutral

I used some other storage solutions initially. I decided to switch when the storage became outdated and presented warranty problems.

It was easy to deploy. The initial setup took about two to three weeks, if I recall correctly.

I don't know the cost of PowerFlex. I understand it is reasonable. 

The solution is not very popular. In my area, HPE SimpliVity is more popular. They don't necessarily have more advantages, however, the reseller may be more powerful in the area.

I am the IT manager. I'm a Dell user.

We have not tried to integrate this solution with other products. 

My overall product rating would be nine out of ten. It's nice. I have no problems for now.

We use PowerFlex for the storage abilities, specifically for the SAN, the storage area network. We save a lot of data on it.

Dell PowerFlex has helped us reduce our footprint by minimizing the hardware we were using. We are also looking at incorporating AI, which will further improve our work.

PowerFlex offers us more IOPS, improving the application performance. It also helps us reduce our storage and eliminate redundancy. The primary aspect is that we work 24/7, so we shouldn't have operational issues. 

We are constantly growing, and we see potential capacity issues. It's fine for now. We want to use the disk with more capacity and speed as well, so it's going along well now.

We are still hoping for better ways to incorporate AI. We have to extend third-party access to PowerFlex by calling the API. It would be easier if the product had built-in AI integration. If PowerFlex can contribute more to AI, it would be more useful.

I have used PowerFlex for between four to five years.

PowerFlex's stability is good, and it works smoothly.

PowerFlex's scalability is good, but managing more capacity with less hardware in the future would be helpful. I rate the performance eight out of 10. We have so many applications that constantly require more. It has met our needs as we've grown, but we are looking for ways to adapt it. 

The product is the same, but we have evolved a lot. The number of requests from consumers has increased. It has changed over time. We should be more agile and take different directions.

I rate Dell support seven out of 10. Sometimes, it's a 10, but other times it's a five. The support is good, but it can take a little time for a major issue. We have to go to L1 support, then L2, and L3. It would help to escalate directly to L3 to fix the problems faster. It would also lessen the impact on the customers because it can be resolved in minutes instead of hours.

Neutral

Earlier, we used a different solution that involved using a lot more hardware. Switching to Dell PowerFlex has reduced a lot of footprints.

Deploying PowerFlex was straightforward at the product level, but internal stuff like networking was a bit challenging. That's only the internal stuff. Support and product installation were straightforward.

The biggest return on investment is the human support we receive. After the product itself, the support is the main thing that adds value. I love the team and the way they comment.

From my perspective, pricing is expensive. If they can reduce the pricing or offer more customer incentives, it would attract more users.

I have worked with different storage solutions. While they are somewhat similar, there is much room for improvement by observing market offerings.

I rate Dell PowerFlex eight out of 10. Dell is a good solution for any organization that needs effective storage. It's one of the best storage solutions in the world. Dell is in the top three. Any company can use it, but how they use it depends on the organization.

I am the implementer on the user side.

For the server and other VDI, we fulfill whatever requirements they have.

All sectors are using Dell PowerFlex.

They are using Dell PowerFlex in both ways.

We have medium enterprise customers.

This needs to be checked for the most valuable features in Dell PowerFlex for data management.

It is more stable, more powerful, and has more integration features.

The scalability is very good and is one of the key features of Dell PowerFlex.

Its flexibility and scalability are the main reasons we can use Dell PowerFlex.

The support for Dell PowerFlex can be improved.

The level of support needs improvement as the front-line support staff lack knowledge when we raise cases.

I have around 15 years working with Dell PowerFlex.

Deployment takes one to three months.

Dell PowerFlex is very stable.

The scalability is very good and is one of the key features of Dell PowerFlex.

The support for Dell PowerFlex can be improved.

The level of support needs improvement as the front-line support staff lack knowledge when we raise cases.

This is very easy to set up as an expert with Dell PowerFlex.

Our customers have observed return on investment with Dell PowerFlex.

For one of our customers, ROI was achieved within six months or longer.

The cost of this tool is reasonable.

I don't have complete information now because each case is different.

Customers can proceed confidently with Dell PowerFlex.

They are adding AI features to Dell PowerFlex.

There are some features currently available, and according to my understanding, more features will be added.

I would rate Dell PowerFlex an eight out of ten.

Dell PowerFlex is used for on-prem cloud solutions. It's a hyper-converged infrastructure, which means you can integrate it directly into your core network. You get all the computing and storage you need without bothering much about the network connection between the servers because all that comes bundled in Dell PowerFlex. It's like a mini data center of its own, replacing the infrastructure they used to sell.

Dell has positioned it now to replace the VxBlock converged infrastructure. It basically gives its customers a mini data center. You have all the compute storage and network that you need. All you need to do is integrate it into your core network, and you can start provisioning. It comes bundled with either virtualization or containerization options, which I think they started in the latest version, version four.

You could have your normal VMware vSphere on top of it. If you request it, I think some of them could ship with Red Hat OpenShift. The customer can provision workloads for all manner of operations and even to their DevOps on the platform.

Dell PowerFlex is a highly scalable solution. You could start very small and expand it.

The solution’s automation and pricing could be improved.

I have been using Dell PowerFlex for four years.

Dell PowerFlex is a highly stable solution.

I rate the solution’s stability a nine out of ten.

Dell PowerFlex is still mainly positioned by OEMs for large enterprises and maybe a little bit for medium businesses. Small enterprises set up the server and virtualized storage themselves.

I rate the solution’s scalability a nine or ten out of ten.

When you need to change parts, you might need to wait a while for the technical support.

Positive

There are two categories, namely, the appliances and the racks. The partners are able to set up the Dell PowerFlex appliances, but not fully. The partners are able to physically set up the appliances, while the OEM will set them up logically. The PowerFlex racks are fully set up by the OEM, both physically and logically. The solution's initial setup is not pretty straightforward in emerging markets at the moment.

I feel like the solution is a good one because it comes bundled with support. When the support is also bundled with the infrastructure, it reduces the maintenance cost over the period of time that the support is in place. I think it's fairly okay with the lifespan being around four years. I think it's fairly okay in terms of the cost of ownership for organizations over a period of around four years.

The solution's pricing could be much cheaper and affordable. Actually, you are buying PowerEdge servers with a few network switches. You could just go ahead and buy your own PowerEdge servers and your switches. However, it comes bundled, and they also position it for mission-critical, high-end customers. I think it's more of a market segment thing than the value of the functionalities they provide.

The price difference between what you have for very small businesses and huge businesses is not because of the difference in what they do. It's because of the kind of customers they would rather prefer to sell to. If I could sell one Dell PowerFlex to one big customer and make a lot of money, why would I want to sell ten of it to ten small customers? I think that's the challenge in that space.

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

Dell PowerFlex is coming up with a new product for GenAI. I would recommend the solution to other users because it's a one-setup solution that is very stable and easily scalable.

Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

Our company's customer is the transportation government. We deliver the tool to the transportation government in our country. We deliver the solution with Dell PowerFlex, and we also deliver VxRail. Dell PowerFlex is more compact but more complicated than VxRail to configure. Many configurations in the tool regarding Dell PowerFlex are still confusing.

The solution's most valuable feature is the storage space it offers. Dell PowerFlex offers a large storage capacity to save more data and information. The things that I remember about the solution are its storage and security. The tool increased the storage capacity and security posture. My customers are concerned with their databases and applications while also wanting to have more storage capacity.

The tool is a bit difficult to configure, making it an area where improvements are required.

The first impression of the solution revolves around the fact that it has a complicated configuration. We end up doing the wrong configuration, which causes network issues. Our team gets confused when we configure the DNS and then the network configuration. We can solve the issues with the tool with the help of the principal. After we discussed or communicated with the principal from Jakarta, we learned that he had some issues configuring the network configuration. There are many complicated areas in the configuration.

I have been using Dell PowerFlex for a month. I work as a consultant. My company functions as a system integrator.

It is an overall stable solution. Stability-wise, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

I am satisfied with the technical support for the solution. I rate the technical support an eight out of ten.

Positive

The solution is deployed on the on-premises version. We use Dell, HPE, and IBM servers. Mostly, we use virtualization using ESXi, VMware, Nutanix, and Acropolis.

The solution can be deployed in a month and two weeks, including the configuration, until we finish everything and complete the deployment process. The user or the engineer can install or set up the virtualization and ESXi configuration. Then, we start the operating system and the application until the customer uses their application.

If one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the price as eight and a half. The tool is expensive.

I recommend the product to those who plan to use it. I don't know how Dell is able to showcase its technology in other countries because I know that many of the IT companies in many nations use HCI solutions. Many companies in Indonesia stil use VxRail because people have limited knowledge about Dell PowerFlex. Dell's principles should focus on advertising the solution more in other countries.

I rate the tool a nine out of ten.

We started using ScaleIO followed by VxRail and finally PowerFlex. We use Dell PowerFlex as a hyperconverge for a specific workload. Our security solutions, including QRadar, are all on PowerFlex now.

Dell PowerFlex helped our organization in many ways. The hyperconverge automation makes it easy to deploy the machines. They are stable and offer high availability. If we have to perform maintenance on a single-blade server, we don't need to bring down the complete hyperconverge. We can move it live. We are primarily using it for VMware so the availability is important for us. A reset takes only five minutes, while planned downtime for regulatory approvals and adjustments would take three weeks.

PowerFlex's ability to manage storage across multiple environments depends on our requirements. We can go with only compute nodes, or storage nodes, or we can go with both. There are no restrictions or limitations. It is based on the workload. We are thinking about moving our containerized solution, Openshift to be on PowerFlex. Openshift is more compute-related consumption for our banking services so storage nodes are not heavily required for this and we are targeting to purchase PowerFlex more for compute nodes. Most security solutions are monitoring logs and events which requires more storage. PowerFlex gives us the flexibility to use either or both.

We are happy with the combination of reliability and scalability that PowerFlex offers us. The most important aspects of PowerFlex for us are stability, performance, and availability. PowerFlex is good in all these areas. For example, we had VxRail in our call center. Our call center is using Avaya's telephone solution to support customer calls and five years before we purchased VxRail we forced Avaya to convert all of their physical appliances to virtual appliances. So the complete Avaya solution has been working on VxRail for five years now and the call center has had hundreds of thousands of calls without a single interruption from the infrastructure. This is the beauty of the solution. We are now in the process of upgrading the Avaya solution which requires infrastructure upgrades. I purchased the latest version of PowerFlex and the implementation is in place now. In two weeks I will be moving the entire Avaya solution from the old VxRail solution to the new PowerFlex. The beauty of it is we will be able to make the switch without any interruption to the banking service because of the version. This makes life easy for us when we go for a complete software-defined solution.

Dell PowerFlex helped streamline our organization. The local Dell team is close to us and understands our infrastructure. They are not just trying to sell the Dell products to us. There was one time we discussed with them about converting our complete infrastructure to the hyperconverge and they told us that though they are the leaders in hyperconverge, they don't recommend we move our complete workload onto the hyperconverge. It depends on the use case. Some of the banks need to be run on three-tier infrastructure and some services can run on the hyperconverge. So based on the requirement, they proposed the right solution for us.

Dell PowerFlex is a complete hyperconverge that makes automation easy to manage and extremely stable. In the eight years of use, we have never needed to open a single case for troubleshooting issues.

The initial deployment was complicated and required a lot of data nodes, IPs, internal vLANs, data vLANs, and many other things. The prerequisites and deployment are complicated for me. 

I have been using Dell PowerFlex for eight years.

Dell PowerFlex is an extremely stable product.

We are moving forward with more workloads on PowerFlex. 

We have never contacted technical support for issues but the local Dell team in the Middle East is extremely supportive. They arrange sessions with us until we are satisfied before moving forward with expanding PowerFlex.

We are not happy with the overall Dell global tech support. In our bank the local staff have ten to 20 years of experience and most of the small issues are related to level one and level two support. We don't need to open cases for those because we can handle them internally by our experts. Whenever we open a case with Dell it goes to the level one and two people where instead of getting support from them we have to teach them about the issue. This is a major problem where they waste a lot of time asking us unnecessary questions because they claim it is the process. Most of the time they recommend we upload the logs which also wastes a lot of time. As a bank all our services are critical and any downtime comes at a huge cost for us. Any planned activities like code upgrades or firmware upgrades we are surprised with. The bank must run based on their hours and the regulator's approvals. We have less business traffic on weekends and early mornings so that is the time the regulators usually approve maintenance and upgrades but Dell support is only available during our bank's business hours which means we have to schedule downtime based on their engineer's availability. They act like they are doing us a favor by supporting us and not that we are paying for the support. Dell should respect our bank hours and not the engineer's availability. We can't take the bank down to accommodate one engineer from Dell. It was shocking to find out this is what they expected.

Previously we used ScaleIO followed by VxRail before switching to Dell PowerFlex. As the market comes out with new innovative solutions, features, benefits, and power, we always go for the latest available versions in the market. That is how we are growing with the technology trend.

The initial deployment was complex because of all the prerequisites like, internal vLANs, data vLANs, and many other things.

We have not calculated the ROI because we provide services to our internal teams and subsidiaries. The financial team makes the financial calculations to charge the subsidiaries but based on the metrics and usage, we don't charge for PowerFlex because we have to use this option.

I would rate Dell PowerFlex nine out of ten because of the complexity of the initial deployment.

It is a Flex system that requires a good amount of infrastructure just to be up and running. But when it's up and running and you've configured it appropriately,  your downtime is next to none and the performance increases. Since the time we had switched to converge I've never seen anybody overrun the performance capabilities but previously I have seen and experienced substantial outages before. I've seen mistakes being made due to the complexity because it was very hard to understand. 

The resiliency and data protection are the most valuable features. There is always a better chance of experiencing a data center outage than of losing data on the platform. So in order to lose data, either somebody has to go in and delete it or physically remove assets off the data center floor. That is how resilient the solution is. 

They need to work on improving the overhead for protecting the data. Although Dell PowerFlex is working on improving certain things but that needs to come forward. At present, if someone buys the solution, they get to use only fifty percent of the protection purposes. So the company should be more focused introducing Future Forward Data Protection, Data Resiliency schemes like Erasure Coding. Focusing on such things will bring the platform back to a great extent. 

The solution is also complex so the company should work on simplifying the solution. 

They should avoid locking into a specific virtualization partner. At present the solution only has two options, it's either PowerFlex or it is VMware or it's run on bare metal servers. There is a lack of ecosystem pertaining to the ones supporting PowerFlex. 

Lastly, the upgrade the process. It is cumbersome and it takes multiple days to get the solution upgraded. 

As per standardization, it is easy to partner with Dell because you are able to build a profile and the exact same thing will be delivered from the factory.

It comes with a code version and it is almost a plug and play. Then one only needs to expand it. 

The initial setup of Dell PowerFlex is complex. It requires days of planning, testing and then it gets powered up and cables up. It is not just a simple click and the solution starts running but it takes weeks to get it started.  

To work on the solution you need to have a good knowledge of Data Configuration and Networking. You need to know not only about basic networking but the way networking is being done in your company. Multiple teams need to be involved in the process as it requires a storage engineer who can check what is happening at the storage configuration standpoint. You need a data protection engineer who can look at your data protection scheme and ensure you're appropriately architected there. You also need a server engineer to ensure that the compute side of this solution is appropriate when you're building your templates and resources. One person cannot build an enterprise sized PowerFlex cluster.

Overall, I would rate the solution a seven out of ten. 

We are customers of Dell and I'm the general manager of our company. 

The solution saves a lot of space in the data center and that is a key advantage for us. The other advantage is the kind of contingency that it provides within itself, the flexibility of utilizing the resources as and when needed. It basically reduces manual effort and increases efficiency, both in terms of space utilization, as well as resource utilization.

I think the kind of restrictions in terms of VMware licensing is frustrating. I might have some spare licenses which I would like to utilize, but it's not possible so it requires purchasing a different license that's locked with a particular box.

I've been using this solution for one year. 

The solution is scalable. It's a consolidated system and we have around 7,000 users. 

We are generally satisfied with the customer support. 

The manpower required for set up is between one and two people. 

I'd like to see better license management with flexibility in terms of license usage.

We considered Nutanix and another product from HP but that was more from an exploration point of view.

I would suggest looking at VxRail rather than PowerFlex. There are some differences between the two and I think we're going to move to VxRail as a future investment.

I rate this solution eight out of 10. 

We use this solution to manage software-defined infrastructure and for rapid provisioning of computer storage.

The API catalog helps us use Ansible automation. We still have to build custom providers for PowerFlex Manager to use Ansible, but what we developed has enabled us to provision computer storage power for less than 16 hours.

The catalog of APIs for automation has been most valuable, although they are quite limited. 

It would be great to get earlier access to beta builds because we have to develop providers on our own. The APIs and enablers for custom automation could also be improved. 

I have used this solution for eight months.

This is a stable solution. 

The solution is not as scalable as it should be.

I would rate support for this solution a three out of ten. Considering how much we use PowerFlex Manager, it can only account for a hundred nodes. We need a lot more than that. We provide a lot of input to Dell for product enhancements.  The solution is not as scalable as it should be.

Negative

The initial setup of this solution is complex and requires a lot of maintenance. We use Dell and have internal resources to handle maintenance. If there was more tooling in services to facilitate workload management across the Dell infrastructure, that would really help.

The cost of this solution is fair. 

I would advise those setting up this solution to design their data center infrastructure in a way that enables upgrades quickly.

I would rate this solution a six out of ten.