Dell PowerFlex OverviewUNIXBusinessApplication

Dell PowerFlex is the #13 ranked solution in HCI Software. PeerSpot users give Dell PowerFlex an average rating of 7.8 out of 10. Dell PowerFlex is most commonly compared to VxRail: Dell PowerFlex vs VxRail. Dell PowerFlex is popular among the large enterprise segment, accounting for 69% of users researching this solution on PeerSpot. The top industry researching this solution are professionals from a computer software company, accounting for 17% of all views.
Buyer's Guide

Download the HCI Buyer's Guide including reviews and more. Updated: March 2023

What is Dell PowerFlex?

VxRack System consists of hyper-converged rack-scale engineered systems, with integrated networking, to achieve the scalability and management requirements of traditional and cloud native workloads. The VxRack series is purposely designed to enable customers to quickly deploy Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and/or Private Cloud architectures. VxRack Systems tightly integrate hardware with software and management layers.

The result is a fully tested, pre-configured, hyper-converged system with simplified operations at data center and Service Provider scale. VxRack Systems support the deployment of a variety of application workloads, allowing IT to rapidly deliver new services while improving overall agility and efficiency.

Dell PowerFlex was previously known as VxFlex, VxRack FLEX, PowerFlex.

Dell PowerFlex Customers

Canopy, 8x8Inc., Atos, Canadian Pacific, City of Denton, CenturyLink, BNP Paribas, Asyaport, EDF, CSC, Fox Sports, Insight, Hunter, KPIT, Paetec, Rosetta Stone, Sonda, Xerox

Dell PowerFlex Video

Dell PowerFlex Pricing Advice

What users are saying about Dell PowerFlex pricing:
  • "The cost of this solution is fair."
  • "The price of the solution is fair, it is priced in the average range amongst competitors."
  • "The solution is expensive and I give the cost a two out of ten."
  • Dell PowerFlex Reviews

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    Saikat Chakraborty - PeerSpot reviewer
    General Manager at ACT FIBERNET
    Real User
    Top 5
    Stable with good technical support and the capability to scale
    Pros and Cons
    • "We've had no issues with scaling the solution."
    • "We've had some issues around the licensing."

    What is most valuable?

    We haven't yet faced any challenge per se. It's pretty much just like handling a riskier controlled environment anyway, which we had experience with already. There's nothing special about it in terms of handling. That's why it's okay as a solution.

    The stability has been good.

    We've had no issues with scaling the solution. 

    Technical support seems to be decent.

    What needs improvement?

    We've had some issues around the licensing. There were some issues in terms of using the VMware license. The VMware license was locked along with the box. Therefore, even if you want, you can't use it for some other purpose. That was the only challenge for us.

    The initial setup was not simple or straightforward.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I've used the solution for a little more than a year now. 

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    I have found the solution to be stable. The performance is good. There are no bugs or glitches. it doesn't crash or freeze. It's reliable. 

    Buyer's Guide
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    March 2023
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    688,618 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    The scalability of the product is pretty good. If you need to expand it, you can do so.

    How are customer service and support?

    We have been dealing with them for some time and we are happy with the product. There's no issue from that perspective.

    How was the initial setup?

    The initial setup was not easy. The supplier or the seller that we had gone through helped us in setting things up. After setting up through them, however. the Day-2 operations were not so complicated.

    What about the implementation team?

    We used a vendor to assist in the initial setup.

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

    They need to offer some flexibility in terms of the licensing of the VMware component along with the solution.

    What other advice do I have?

    We are just an end-user and a customer. We don't have a business relationship with Dell. 

    I'd rate the solution at an eight out of ten. 

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    Scott Yoshimura - PeerSpot reviewer
    Lead Technical Product Manager at United Services Automobile Association
    Real User
    Top 10
    Infrastructure management solution that offers rapid provisioning of computer storage but the APIs and enablers for custom automation could be improved
    Pros and Cons
    • "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."

    What is our primary use case?

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

    How has it helped my organization?

    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.

    What is most valuable?

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

    What needs improvement?

    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. 

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have used this solution for eight months.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    This is a stable solution. 

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    The solution is not as scalable as it should be.

    How are customer service and support?

    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.

    How would you rate customer service and support?

    Negative

    How was the initial setup?

    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.

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

    The cost of this solution is fair. 

    What other advice do I have?

    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. 

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    Buyer's Guide
    HCI
    March 2023
    Find out what your peers are saying about Dell Technologies, VMware, Nutanix and others in HCI. Updated: March 2023.
    688,618 professionals have used our research since 2012.
    PeerSpot user
    Datacenter Team Leader at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
    Real User
    Top 5Leaderboard
    Hardware integrates well, easy to upgrade, and responsive technical support
    Pros and Cons
    • "It is easy to use for management and operations teams because the tools are in one place."
    • "The installation is complex."

    What is most valuable?

    The solution has the benefits of any hyper-converged infrastructure but also has good hardware integration. It is easy to use for management and operations teams because the tools are in one place. Upgrading is easy, you do not need to check all of the components in your infrastructure, when you upgrade the solution handles everything.

    What needs improvement?

    When checking some of the components in the RCM during upgrades, it can be difficult, you have to check and upgrade the software-defined storage because it will get out of scale with the virtualization with VMware. You always have to consider this during upgrades but the process should be simplified.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have been using the solution for approximately two years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    The solution is stable.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    With this solution you can upgrade and scale up your environment very easy, it is used in enterprise organizations that have large environments.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    I have found the technical support very good.

    How was the initial setup?

    The installation is complex.

    What about the implementation team?

    Dell came with engineers and integrators to do the deployment for us.

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

    The price of the solution is fair, it is priced in the average range amongst competitors.

    What other advice do I have?

    For those who want to scale their environment, manage all the environment from a single point, and have to only deal with a single vendor this solution might be for you. If you need these requirements from a business perspective as operations management, the operational cost could be lower but I would advise speaking to professional deployment teams before you do anything.

    I rate Dell EMC PowerFlexRev a nine out of ten.

    Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner
    PeerSpot user
    Saikat Chakraborty - PeerSpot reviewer
    General Manager at ACT FIBERNET
    Real User
    Top 5
    Saves us a lot of space in the data center and flexibility in resource utilization
    Pros and Cons
    • "Saves us a lot of space in the data center."
    • "Licensing restrictions can be frustrating."

    What is our primary use case?

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

    What is most valuable?

    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.

    What needs improvement?

    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.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I've been using this solution for one year. 

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

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

    How are customer service and support?

    We are generally satisfied with the customer support. 

    How was the initial setup?

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

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

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

    Which other solutions did I evaluate?

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

    What other advice do I have?

    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. 

    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.
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    PeerSpot user
    Student at a university with 501-1,000 employees
    Real User
    Good integration, stable, and increased performance
    Pros and Cons
    • "The integration with AWS is a valuable feature."
    • "Compared to similar solutions, Dell PowerFlex is not cost-effective and has room for improvement."

    What is our primary use case?

    The solution is a private cloud hyper-converged infrastructure that is scalable, with highly available computer workloads.

    How has it helped my organization?

    The solution has helped reduce our costs and increase our performance.

    What is most valuable?

    The integration with AWS is a valuable feature.

    What needs improvement?

    Compared to similar solutions, Dell PowerFlex is not cost-effective and has room for improvement.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I am currently using the solution and I was part of the engineering team that developed Dell PowerFlex.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    I give the stability a nine out of ten.

    What was our ROI?

    We have seen a return on investment.

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

    The solution is expensive and I give the cost a two out of ten.

    What other advice do I have?

    I give the solution an eight out of ten.

    Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

    Private Cloud

    If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

    Amazon Web Services (AWS)
    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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    PeerSpot user
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