Dell PowerFlex Reviews

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. 

Dell PowerFlex is a one-stop-shop solution. Storage, compute, network, application monitoring, and support cases are all combined into one solution. It's very easy to administer compared to when you have a reference architecture where you need to design and build everything yourself. You would also then have to work with multiple vendors.

Dell PowerFlex is easy to sell as well because it is easy to convince the customer that this is the right product rather than the reference architecture.

The support of containers needs to be improved. At present, it is limited to VMware. There needs to be direct communication with the hardware rather than through a hypervisor.

I have been using Dell PowerFlex for one and a half years.

I would rate Dell PowerFlex's stability at nine out of ten.

The scalability is okay, but it could be better. For linear and horizontal scalability, you will have to add nodes rather than just create separate storage.

The initial setup is straightforward. Within 30 minutes, it can be up and running, and you can create your own virtual machines and apply your own top ten templates.

I would recommend Dell PowerFlex.

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

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

The integration with AWS is a valuable feature.

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

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

I give the stability a nine out of ten.

We have seen a return on investment.

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

I give the solution an eight out of ten.

Dell PowerFlex is our primary private cloud. 

The combination of reliability and scalability is perfect for us. When we need extra storage we have six nodes so we simply purchase new licenses and hard drives. Although it is possible to use the nodes just for storage, we use them for CPU and RAM as well.

Dell PowerFlex improves our latency which allowed us to reduce a lot of our Microsoft Enterprise SQL licenses. If you have a latency in the IOPS, you need more CPUs for the SQL which means more licenses. We provide betting for our customers so even one second of latency can mean a lot of trouble for us.  

I have been using Dell PowerFlex for nine years dating back to when it was ScaleIO before Dell rebranded it.

Dell PowerFlex is scalable.

We have not had any issues in the last nine years but we did have some small storage that filled up quickly so we had a problem with the disk on the standard storage and lost the disk and the data. After 36,000 hours the disk died so we contacted Dell support who changed our SLA to a higher level and they were able to find the disks we needed from multiple countries in Europe to resolve the situation in one day.  

We used an integrator for the deployment. We were simultaneously communicating with Dell who focused on the technical solution and Aricoma who prepared the business and investment. They prepare PowerFlex directly to the data center and provide us with access. 

We used Aricoma as our integrator. They did a seamless job.

PowerFlex has provided a return on investment by helping reduce the number of Microsoft licenses we require for SQL. We needed 40 and now we only use eight.

I have good partners who prepared the price for us. I told them what we needed and everything worked out perfectly. We have a good contact in Dell and he prepared all the information and provided everything to us.

I would rate Dell PowerFlex ten out of ten. PowerFlex is flexible, scalable, and runs without issues.

We used ScaleIO for nine years with no issues and we now have PowerFlex for our private cloud with no issues. It is the best product when we don't remember that we have it.

Most customers look for a multipurpose appliance to consolidate all the applications and simplify management. It helps reduce the footprint and the consumption of power.

The availability of the product is a valuable feature. The single window management and the patching features are also valuable.

The solution must be more flexible. It must be flexible with sizing and the combination of technologies inside the compute nodes.

I have been using the solution for more than seven to eight years.

The product is stable.

The product is scalable. Our enterprise customers have around 500 employees. Our medium-level customers have 100 to 500 employees.

The support is highly responsive. Once we raise a ticket, the support responds very quickly.

Positive

The initial setup is moderately easy. The connectivity and the security ports might take some time. Within three working days, the solution will be up and running.

The product is expensive. I rate the pricing a nine out of ten.

We are partners. A good product must provide good support, compatibility, and backup. Overall, I rate the tool an eight out of ten.

We use the solution for mission-critical applications. We have government customers who work in hydrology and meteorology.

We use it for databases. The support team responds quickly.

The storage capability must be improved.

I have been using the solution for one and a half years.

I rate the tool's stability a ten out of ten.

The solution is really scalable. Two government organizations are using the product. We have not had any issues yet.

We used Cisco UCS before. We also have SuperMicro Servers for deployment. We chose to use Dell because of the flexibility and durability of the hardware. Also, the deployment process of Dell is very simple.

The setup process is very simple. It can be deployed within a day. Government applications cannot be deployed on the cloud due to certain regulations.

A Dell engineer did the deployment. He did it within two to three hours. We evaluated it for 24 hours.

The price could be improved. We are service providers. We pay the licensing fee to Dell. Our customers pay us as they use the tool. We have subscribed to two or three services.

I recommend the tool to others. Overall, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.

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.

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.

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

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. 

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

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

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.

We used a vendor to assist in the initial setup.

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

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. 

I'm an activity manager and work for a company that deals with electrical installations, assisting customers with strategy and IT investments. My job is to be well-acquainted with the various technologies and assist the customer in making the right choices. Options could include hyper-convergence, mass storage, cloud solutions, or big data solutions, those sorts of choices. It's really about explaining the different technologies and options available rather than using them. I'm not an integrator.

In terms of improvements, I think it would help to have easier access to the cost of installing VxRack infrastructure.

I think including instrumentation would be a helpful improvement. This solution is a black box solution, meaning that you don't really know how it works exactly on the inside. A feature that would include that would be helpful.

VxRack and VxRail are more or less the same solutions. VxRack is a more powerful solution than VxRail. People need to think about which technology will work for them. My opinion is that HP Hyperconvergence is a technology that perfectly suits customers dealing with the combination of future storage needs and, at the same time, keeping up their computing power. If a customer has to juggle these two, the hyper-convergence solutions are okay. It's a good solution.

If the need for computing power is more important, we suggest that they focus more on a Software-Defined Storage solution like VMware vSAN or VMware VSA. Either way, the idea is to be able to increase infrastructure with the best efficiency as companies grow. 

I would rate this product a seven out of 10.