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Dell VPLEX vs NetApp OnCommand [EOL] vs SolarWinds Storage Resource Monitor comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Featured Reviews

Sayed Zuber - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr. Storage And Backup Engineer at OMNIdata Trading, Lda.
It's an excellent solution for data mobility and disaster recovery, but the CLI can be difficult for beginners
Dell VPLEX currently requires Flash Player to access the GUI. It would be better to have a web-based HTML management interface. The encryption could also be improved. When the host writes data, it goes from VPLEX back to the physical storage. The physical storage device will do encryption or use an algorithm called Data Address Encryption. If there are vulnerabilities between the host and the storage device, you can lose your data. I suggest encrypting the data before it is sent from the host to the storage. I would also recommend using the NVM protocol in VPLEX. It still has Flash Player and a local SATA disk built into the Flash Player. You need to Flash the disk to SAS and then SATA. The NVM protocol is better.
Henry Aragon - PeerSpot reviewer
Storage Administrator at a insurance company with 501-1,000 employees
Versatile data protocols improve efficiency while execution capabilities need enhancement
The ease of configuring NetApp FAS series is noteworthy, as they support multiple standards like iSCSI, NFS, Fibre Channel, and NVMe. NetApp's data efficiency protocols are unmatched in the industry. ActiveIQ offers significant improvements in data monitoring and error notification. It provides crucial data management features and has versatile support for various protocols and standards, making it a one-size-fits-all storage solution.
AbdulKader Mohandes - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Systems Engineer at Al Jazeera Media Network
Custom alerts and rich performance metrics have improved server monitoring and storage planning
We use customizable alerts extensively with different services, because the exchange services are different from Active Directory or DNS or anything else. We have customizable alerts for each service. I do not use the historical data trends that predict future storage needs. Perhaps some of my colleagues use it, but I do not. I would like to see a focus on broadcast services in the future to make it better. Broadcast services, specifically TV broadcast services, would be valuable to us because we come from a broadcast technology background and would appreciate having some features related to that. I would rate this review as an eight out of ten.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"Storage virtualization and geographic resilience for Metro Sans, plus a great performance improvement."
"Mobility enables us to carry out an internal migration of data."
"The capacity to migrate machines onto VPLEX is great — it's very clean. We can migrate machines and add arrays easily."
"Its mirroring capabilities allow for data to be mirrored across two different data centers, so if one center were to crash or fail, the other center could take over and keep everything running smoothly."
"Dell's technical support is awesome. We received instant support from EMC as long as we had an active contract."
"The solution works well. It's very reliable."
"The best feature of VPLEX storage is its ability to consolidate storage. It also provides the highest RPO and RTOs for replication technology. VPLEX enables application mobility."
"The most valuable feature is deduplication, as we have no duplication in the snapshots."
"The ease of configuring NetApp FAS series is noteworthy, as they support multiple standards like iSCSI, NFS, Fibre Channel, and NVMe."
"Snapshot is a valuable feature."
"One of the main features is the ability to run the block and file storage from the same system."
"In OnCommand Unified Manager, we can monitor the entire cluster as well as configure data protection through Unified Manager."
"I am impressed with the product's ability to warn us whenever something is wrong with the system. It is connected with Active Directory and Exchange. Whenever there is anything wrong with NetApp, the solution will alert you to an event error, post which you can start to troubleshoot."
"The initial setup is very straightforward."
 

Cons

"With Dell VPLEX, there are some bugs with Broadcom."
"I would like to have site-to-site replication capability for applications."
"The initial setup is complex."
"There can be delays in getting performance reports."
"VPLEX's engine-based architecture is complex, so the implementation is challenging and takes more time. It's also difficult to fix hardware issues. When an appliance fails, it takes Dell EMC a long time to fix it because spare parts are in short supply."
"Today, it needs a huge effort that is not acceptable during disaster recovery."
"The price is a problem with EMC due to the fact that it's more expensive than the other vendors."
"VPLEX hardware migration to spare equipment in case of major disruption."
"The solution lacks the ability to generate reports from Snapshot."
"At present, OnCommand Unified Manager has just the monitoring and data protection features. It would be better to add some features for entire cluster management and storage management. Automation should also be included so that instead of separately accessing Unified Manager and OnCommand Workflow Automation, we can work in a single window. It is very much required."
"ActiveIQ only provides read access and does not allow making changes directly."
"There could be better performance in block storage and the GUI could be improved because not every operation is available. You need some operations in the CLI."
"The tool is not intuitive and the menus are confusing, especially the snapshot view."
"The solution could always be more easily scalable."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We struck a great deal with Dell EMC, so for us, VPLEX was not very expensive."
"VPLEX is a little bit expensive in my personal opinion."
"The tool is cheaper than EMC but more expensive than HP and Pure Storage. I would rate the solution's pricing an eight out of ten."
"When we compare with other similar kinds of products from Dell EMC and HP, the price of NetApp OnCommand is reasonable."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
12%
Healthcare Company
10%
Insurance Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
18%
Recruiting/Hr Firm
12%
Insurance Company
10%
Outsourcing Company
7%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise12
No data available
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Dell VPLEX?
Some of the products are very easy to implement, while others are more difficult, and our team seeks support help whe...
What is your primary use case for Dell VPLEX?
We are implementing Cohesity, Hitachi, Dell, and Nutanix, VMware, vSAN; multiple products. We have recently started w...
What advice do you have for others considering Dell VPLEX?
Hitachi Systems Microclinic has been renamed to Hitachi Systems India Private Limited. The email address has been cha...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NetApp OnCommand?
NetApp collaborates with us to provide deals when possible, optimizing storage based on business requirements, allowi...
What needs improvement with NetApp OnCommand?
ActiveIQ only provides read access and does not allow making changes directly. Making it capable of executing changes...
What advice do you have for others considering NetApp OnCommand?
My overall rating for NetApp OnCommand is seven out of ten. The solution offers unmatched data efficiency protocols. ...
What needs improvement with SolarWinds Storage Resource Monitor?
The number of similar alerts is the main area for improvement. Alert noise would be great to reduce.
What is your primary use case for SolarWinds Storage Resource Monitor?
We are still working with SolarWinds and use the NPM product along with SolarWinds Storage Resource Monitor.
What advice do you have for others considering SolarWinds Storage Resource Monitor?
We use customizable alerts extensively with different services, because the exchange services are different from Acti...
 

Also Known As

No data available
NetApp Operations Manager, NetApp SANscreen
SolarWinds SRM
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Kindred Healthcare, Regis Aged Care, WeBank SpA, Panduit, Munson Healthcare
Norfolk County Council, Yahoo Japan, Sheridan College, Citrix Systems, Avanade, Quasar Data Center, DG Khan Cement Co. Ltd.
NetSuite, Youngs Seafood, APS Bank, Sven Meinks
Find out what your peers are saying about Dell Technologies, NetApp, Broadcom and others in Storage Management. Updated: January 2026.
881,821 professionals have used our research since 2012.