We performed a comparison between Dell VxBlock System and FlexPod XCS based on real PeerSpot user reviews.
Find out in this report how the two Converged Infrastructure solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.
"It's at least 99 percent problem-free because it's factory-built. So from an informational point of view, everyone trusts that VxBlock has been tested well at the factory and has been configured to their requirements."
"In comparison to traditional file load systems, Dell VxBlock System can be deployed quickly and results in monthly cost savings."
"Good flexibility and speed."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is the speed."
"It's a highly optimized piece of equipment that doesn't give us any problems."
"Good default features."
"VxBlock has good performance, so that is an advantage."
"Its performance is very good."
"Once it is in place, we do not touch it, so it is more stable than other solutions."
"It has simplified our support."
"Our data center rack space collapsed and our manpower decreased."
"The most valuable is the one support. I have a 1-800 number. I call one number rather than figuring out whether it's a network, compute, or storage issue. It is beautiful and works out nicely."
"Availability is the most valuable part of this solution. We have not had any trouble since we installed it."
"The guides that we use to install FlexPods are always up-to-date. This is really helpful, especially if there is a new product with NetApp moving so far forward and Cisco as well. For them to join together and update a centralized document for the install process, it is really good. It helps us understand if there are features from the first version that we installed while upgrading that we need to implement. Those are in the document. So, we find that document useful and helpful when moving forward."
"Large and small companies do not have time to design the compute, the amount of storage, and how it works together. They are buying pre-proven, pretested solutions with reference architectures already in place."
"The tool's most valuable features are the flexibility and ability to adapt to redundancy."
"Does not support different kinds of mixed applications."
"The hardware lifecycle is not documented very well. For example, now you can buy a piece of equipment, but you don't know if the hardware is going to be a team production next month or next year."
"The consistency of disc quality could be improved."
"It is a good product, but for us, it is like a black box. We are not really sure about its internal components, and how to do the terminal upgrade, and how to make sure about the security of the device. We understand how it works, but in order to do the upgrades, we have to get help from the company. We cannot do it ourselves. In another model that we had, the internal team could do the upgrade but not in this one. There is no clear process for a new upgrade or update. They should provide a software intelligence tool that has a dashboard where you can see the current firmware, the latest firmware, and the documentation and the process for the upgrade. For VxBlock, we have different management consoles. There is no single management console that you can use to manage all components inside VxBlock. Their scale up and scale out process is also not clear. Their support is also a little bit slow in responding to the cases."
"Scalability is an area that needs to be improved."
"We are finding it a bit challenging in terms of the management of a specific VxBlock component. Currently, we have different units as a part of the block storage. We have one for Cisco equipment and one for Dell. When we have an issue in the infrastructure, Dell EMC VxBlock System should automatically detect it and send a notification to VC support, but, unfortunately, it is doing that only for one unit. It is not working for Cisco components. We have informed them about this area of improvement, and they are working on this. The way different parts are integrated should be improved. We should have one console to log in to see all the infrastructure in terms of each machine and hardware."
"The solution could use a clearer description of working methods to tell people more about its use cases."
"There are components of VxBlock that are not managed or supported by Dell because some of the components are from Cisco. Thus, when there are problems with compute nodes, though Dell was managing the interaction, we had to rely on Cisco to solve the issue. When Cisco was not responding as quickly as Dell would for their components, it made it difficult for us because we needed to have the failed nodes back up and running. As such, the disparate ownership of components in the equipment is an issue."
"We don't see the much DR capability within the FlexPod so for that, we have to maintain our own DR capability with DSRM."
"FlexPod was born to be used like building-block elements, to create large EDP premises. If used to create a single FlexPod CED, optional operational collaterals (backup, management, etc.) are missing, both in docs and in design."
"The only support call that we have had in six years was related to an ONTAP upgrade, where one of the controllers didn't patch properly."
"There is always room for improvement. I believe we can do hot swaps on the fly. On the release upgrades, if there was a way to do a release on the fly, that would really be cool because it does take some downtime. It takes restarting. It is more of a software thing. Customers hate doing releases."
"On the UCS side, sometimes it is difficult to set up."
"I would like to see a more centralized support model."
"The upgrade process needs to be improved and it would be nice to manage everything from a single pane of glass."
"The upgrades should be improved. We would like to have the ability to do unified upgrades of the whole infrastructure from beginning to end."
Dell VxBlock System is ranked 4th in Converged Infrastructure with 12 reviews while FlexPod XCS is ranked 2nd in Converged Infrastructure with 295 reviews. Dell VxBlock System is rated 7.8, while FlexPod XCS is rated 8.6. The top reviewer of Dell VxBlock System writes "Can be deployed quickly, is easy to manage, and is stable and resilient". On the other hand, the top reviewer of FlexPod XCS writes "Integrates everything so you are using fewer tools". Dell VxBlock System is most compared with Dell PowerEdge VRTX, Dell Vscale Architecture, IBM VersaStack, Oracle Private Cloud Appliance and HPE ConvergedSystem, whereas FlexPod XCS is most compared with Dell PowerFlex, Oracle Exadata, Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI), VxRail and Dell PowerEdge VRTX. See our Dell VxBlock System vs. FlexPod XCS report.
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