Dell PowerEdge VRTX Reviews

From a hardware perspective, it's interesting. The selling point of VRTX is that everything is built-in. For a small company that doesn't have a server room or the capabilities of hosting several servers, VRTX has four blades. The equivalent in regular server models would be four servers, which is a minimum of 4U, but it could easily be 8U, and then it would have storage. The storage is included inside the enclosure, and it would require a storage unit. It would also require connectivity, which would be ethernet or another protocol switch. 

From a software perspective, it's a little bit more integrated. You have an integrated way of managing the whole thing, including storage and networking. It has an internal network that can also be useful. I know for a fact that Dell is almost fazing out the product, and it is not that available anymore because it will just cannibalize their sales. They want to sell the more expensive stuff.

VRTX is a bit simplified to the extent that it is a mainstream type of solution for small businesses. If a company needs a more complex solution or something that is a time saver or has more power or scalability, it is probably not the best solution. However, when a company grows and its needs grow, this type of environment can be definitely migrated towards a lab environment or pre-prod testing, not necessarily production. It can still have a second life for the other types of use.

I have been using this solution for six months.

So far, so good. It has been pretty stable. It is a Dell solution, and Dell is solid. It hits a good sweet spot between reliability and price. Obviously, there are more expensive solutions out there, but this is a nice solution for a cost-conscious company.

If a company needs more scalability, it is probably not the best solution.

Fully configured, it costs about $50,000 or $55,000. I did purchase a used one or refurbished one. I have been very happy with it so far. Even if it is an older unit, it doesn't look like its age, and I would say it has been a great choice so far for me. Obviously, I would have thought twice if I had to pay for a brand new one because it is still an older technology with the risk of being discontinued. I talked to Dell, and they're still selling it, but they're not promoting it. They're promoting another line of products right now for hyper-converged, which are much more expensive.

VRTX is pretty much an enclosure with power, storage, and other central features. The blades evolve over time because this is a model that was available almost for the last ten years. Initially, the blades were older processors, and they have evolved but not a lot. Just the components have been updated as time passed on. It is a very good solution for a small business because it is cost-effective. It is small, and it can be configured as a tower, so you don't even need a rack, although it's not the best way to use it. It is a 4U unit, so it's not that big, and it can pack a pretty good punch for that size.

For customers who want to have the best computing power available for the least cost, I would recommend it, even today. I would recommend obviously dealing as much as possible with Dell. You can also look at the secondary market, refurbished or used market, but obviously, some companies will never go there just because it is not their policy to do it. They don't want to accept the risk. It is a good, proven solution from what I've read. I'm happy with it. It is way less expensive than other alternatives out there, but it has to be the right fit for the company. The company has to make sure that they're going to be happy with it.

This was a bit of a special project for me. It was for a company that's very cost-conscious. It is a startup. Obviously, this year has been a crazy year for everybody, so they didn't want to be too courageous. It was an opportunity to buy a unit at a very good price. The risk was minimal, and we were quite surprised at the quality and what we could do with it, given the price. It was a very interesting purchase.

I would rate Dell PowerEdge VRTX a nine out of ten.

This is an all-in-one device for a branch office. It includes servers, storage, and networking all in one box so it saves rack space. You don’t need to buy all of the components separately, so you don’t need to spec network cards, storage, or server devices.

We used it to take over a Dell cluster of servers and a Dell EMC SAN solution.

Using this solution has lowered costs by including SAN storage, networking, and servers all in one chassis. We used to have half a rack taken with clustered servers, storage devices, and network switches. All that is now consolidated into five U high with four Blade servers and 6 TB of SAN storage in one box.

Management is by web interface which means one place for all configuration.

The most valuable feature is the combined management in one box. It is space-saving, and in fact, you can have four Blade servers in one box, all sharing the same storage and network card.

A 10 GB network card is a must.

The Pro Support is very good and helped me with one of the servers when a network card stopped working. Re-installing the server fixed this problem.

Management of storage and networking is web-based, slow, and difficult. I would like a Windows application to manage this instead of using the web interface.

My Dell account manager promised to help me with setting it up, but after buying it, he was nowhere to be seen. Didn’t call me back, didn’t take my e-mails. So you are pretty much on your own with setup. Luckily there a lot of people who have already done the same setup, so I was able to follow their guides.

I have been using this solution for seven years. No problems except 1 disk died a few years ago.

Now it's ready to decommission, it's out of support now.

This solution is very stable. Never had a problem with stability.

The reliability is good. In five years I think only one disk has failed.

We started with two servers but you could also move to four.

Storage is pretty much full, so expanding the storage is not possible.

Dell Pro Support is great, you always get through to someone who knows what they are talking about. They are helpful and they stay with your problem until it is resolved.

Previously had separate servers, storage, and networking all from different vendors, which took up a lot of rack space and three different ways of managing. We wanted something that took less space, was easier to manage, and from a single vendor. Dell had that.

The initial setup was a very steep learning curve. Dell did lend us a device for a week to test out before we bought it, but then almost accused us of stealing it after we returned it! Turned out, it had gone back to a different address than they expected.

It took me about a week of reading Dell articles and other peoples' experiences before I had finished the setup. Not easy.

I did everything myself. Dell offered help when we bought it, but that help never materialized. Our account manager was always too busy to return my calls or respond to my e-mails.

Pricing is cheaper than buying three separate devices and then managing them separately. We bought a license for seven years.

No

My advice is to ask Dell consulting to set it up for you. It took me about a week to get everything working as expected.

The primary use case is for virtualization.

There is a different product that we would like to explore from Dell. The project that we are currently working on requires us to replace all PowerEdge with VxRail.

The depth of this solution is quite lengthy, and it's very deep. 

I understand that 1U is the smallest size, but the depth is quite lengthy. You can have a model that is still 1U and inside you will have a large motherboard for dual processors, and dual power supplies. 

It would be better to have a compact version of it for some customers that have a small office and don't require a proper data center with power or an industrial type HP.

I have been using Dell PowerEdge VRTX for three years.

Dell PowerEdge VRTX is stable.

We are not scaling it. They are not clustered, they are mostly independent.

We have 60 employees in our organization.

For us, technical support is excellent.

Support is thorough and the next business day they are on site.

Previously, they had onsite support after remote diagnostics. It was quite difficult for us because we had to do all of the diagnostics before a Dell engineer would go onsite.

The remote diagnosis can take days or weeks, but for professional support with the next business day on-site, the next business day we receive an engineer for an evaluation. If it's critical they will attend.

We were satisfied after we upgraded to a professional next-day on-site support.

Previously, we were working with HPE, and an IBM server. 

We chose to go with Dell because the price is more competitive. Also, support in all regions is costly. 

The initial setup was straightforward.

The installation is easy, but it can take 30 minutes to deploy, depending on the configuration, and whether you are using it for bare-metal or for virtualization.

We are a team of three system admins to maintain and deploy this solution.

We did not use an integrator or reseller. I complete the implementation by myself.

We are renewing the support and we are purchasing the license for the software.

We are currently evaluating Dell VxRail. In order to improve the utilization of the server, then we need to move on to VxRail.

I would recommend this product to anyone who is interested in using it.

I would rate Dell PowerEdge VRTX a nine out of then.

We are using the solution for virtual infrastructure for production, and different kinds of services.

The best feature is the equipment. It's all-in-one and you can easily configure it. You have storage, you have power, and CPU power all in one. I see a big advantage in this.

It is easy to set up the product.

The solution is stable.

Technical support is excellent.

It's affordable.

I would like to use the solution in the future, however, this product has reached end-of-life.

The scalability could be better.

I would like to see more speed, however, the power of computing is growing.

I've been using the solution for five years. 

We are very impressed with the stability. It's great. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. It's 99% online.

The solution does not scale well. With this model or this type, you cannot have higher power on the storage. You can connect only to expandable storage.

Technical support is great. They always answer my questions and solve my issues. We are quite satisfied with the solution. 

Positive

We used other solutions in the past. The difference here is the hyper-converged infrastructure. It's a huge advantage. This is all-in-one and it's very easy to manage. In the past, we use separate storage and compute power.

The initial setup is pretty straightforward and simple. It's not overly complex or difficult. 

The deployment is quick. You just need to connect and power on the infrastructure. It's a couple of minutes.

It is pretty low-maintenance. We don't need too many staff members to maintain it. 

We handled the initial setup in-house. We did not need any consultants or integrators. 

We've seen a substantial return on investment. 

The solution is affordable. I'd rate it a four out of five. It's very reasonably priced. We pay a yearly licensing fee.

I'm using VRTX, however, it's end-of-life.

I am just an end-user. I am not a partner.

I would definitely recommend the PowerEdge VRTX. For a small and medium business, it's a perfect solution.

I'd rate the solution a nine out of ten.

The cloud is the solution's best feature.

Technical support is great and very helpful.

We now find that the solution is quite stable.

There's a learning curve. I'm learning some things every day about the clouds and infrastructure specifically in my company, and in the other company's webinars.

Sometimes we have issues with storage. We end up googling answers.

We've had general issues related to the solution being difficult. They are small issues, like connection problems or cable issues mostly.

They could improve integration between other storage solutions.

We've been working with the solution for more than two years. 

We've had some issues with storage, however, those have largely been dealt with and solved. We don't have issues with bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. However, we sometimes face connectivity problems.

I haven't tried to scale the product. I can't speak to how easy or hard it is to expand. 

I'm not sure how extensive the solution is being used currently. We might increase usage in the future, however, I can't say for sure.

We've had issues with support. We've contacted them about it and are working with them to try to resolve it. We're also looking for images on Google. Mostly, they have been pretty helpful.

Ultimately, our managers chose the solution. I can't speak to what was used before or why they chose this product.

We bought it from Dell and they set it up for us. We are just managing it. There may have been some issues with the initial setup. I wasn't directly involved. I can't exactly be sure.

I don't have information about the licensing. I don't handle that aspect of the product.

I'm interested in looking into cloud options, however, our CEO is not ready to move off of on-premises products yet.

We're using the converged infrastructure series.

I'd recommend Dell. We know the Dell brand pretty well and can say that their support is good. There are professional engineers in their company. That's why we choose Dell.

I would rate the solution at a five out of ten.

We are using Dell PowerEdge VRTX to run client-server applications. It has replaced all of the servers that we had, and everything is now virtualized.

The use of Dell PowerEdge VRTX has kept our system size small saving space.

Dell PowerEdge VRTX supports a lot of memory which has allowed us to keep our system size smaller.

Dell PowerEdge VRTX can improve by providing support for M2 drives. 

By using the M2 drives it would allow the possibility of having more drives because right now the system is using SSD drives which take up considerably a lot more room. You are only allowed 24, but with the same amount of space, you could probably put 96 or 128 M2 drives. Whether that is possible, or not, I do not know, but from a space point of view, that would be something that I would consider a step forward.

I have been using Dell PowerEdge VRTX for approximately six months.

Dell PowerEdge VRTX is scalable. I have room for four blades in our system and I am only using two, it allows for growth expansion if needed in the future.

We have approximately 45 people using the solution in my organization.

The technical support is very good. They answered any question I had and gave me information if I needed it. I was pleased with their overall support.

I switched from my previous solution because I wanted to virtualize, and Dell PowerEdge VRTX allowed me to do that quite easily. It provided me with very fast access to the system because we used to use standalone servers, and now because it is virtualized everything is very quick.

The setup was fairly straightforward.

I used the support from Dell to do the implementation.

The solution price of Dell PowerEdge VRTX could be reduced. However, when comparing the price of Dell PowerEdge VRTX to other solutions, such as HP and Lenovo, it was the best price for what they offer.

I have evaluated solutions from HP and Lenovo.

I rate Dell PowerEdge VRTX a nine out of ten.

The solution is largely used for security purposes.

The security is very good on the solution. We feel very secure. The protection on offer is quite good.

The product offers very good services overall.

The HCI is very useful for us. 

Technical support is very good. We find them to be helpful.

I'd like it f we could use HEI and CI capabilities. I've had a chance to look at the entire Edge portfolio, and I find those lacking in this solution.

I sometimes have trouble translating the solution.

The licensing can be difficult to understand.

I'd like to have the capabilities to change the main dashboard a bit. It should be more flexible.

We've found that technical support is a bit slow to respond. 

However they ask a lot of questions, and they try to work through the issues. We tell them what is wrong and then they work to solve the problems so they don't exist anymore. It's very good.

We are an implementor. We're a solutions provider and we partner with Dell. I personally work for sales.

We handle various deployments, including on-premises, as well as private and hybrid clouds.

Overall, we're quite happy with the solution. I would rate it at a ten out of ten overall.

This product is easy to use and should not be difficult for anybody.

When we first started with this product, we had some difficulty with it.

I have been working with Dell PowerEdge VRTX for five years.

This is a stable product.

This solution is scalable. There are five people in the company who are using it.

The support is good.

Prior to Dell, we were working with a solution from HP and we are still using it. We decided to keep both systems running. The biggest difference between these two solutions is the price.

It is pretty easy to install.

This product is more reasonably-priced than similar solutions by HPE.

I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.