Dell PowerVault Reviews

My main use case for Dell PowerVault is primarily for massive storage of the information from our servers.

A concrete example of how Dell PowerVault has made large-scale information storage on my servers easier is mainly in our CCTV system. When AI was incorporated, it generated too many independent video files for analysis, and this also caused the internal storage of the NVRs to fill up very quickly. Therefore, by connecting them through Dell PowerVault, it gave us storage support well beyond the time required by current regulations in my country, which obligated us to store at least three years. By connecting Dell PowerVaults, we have been able to store that information for seven years, which means we are 100% compliant with Ecuador's regulations on information storage for control and analysis by the competent authority when required.

Regarding the rest of the services, it has been very useful to increase the storage of our databases, mainly for our school system, which is our core business. Dell PowerVault has also allowed us to have sufficient storage capacity without having to constantly add more equipment to continue expanding the design. What it allowed us to do was to link the different Dell PowerVaults through their interconnectors and keep growing much faster.

The best features offered by Dell PowerVault, in my opinion, is mainly scalability, which has been one of the strongest points for me.

Having the ability to expand up to 192 disks has been very important for me. Its supported RAID system has also allowed me to maintain high availability of information, and its broad compatibility with Microsoft, VMware, Hyper-V, and Linux systems has allowed me to work without major problems.

I would highlight the ease of administration regarding the features I value most in Dell PowerVault. The controllers, the dual controllers seem fantastic to me. The supported technology they provide both for bandwidth and performance is spectacular. The design that allows us to consolidate storage, data-intensive applications, and enterprise virtualization, I find it great.

The SAN connectivity among its different models, the MD3400, the MD3800, the MD3860, has been transparent for us because the system interconnects quickly. The compatibility with VMware seemed fantastic to me. The performance, expansion, SAN connectivity, quick configuration of controllers, RAID arrays, and the architectures that Dell PowerVault maintains are very remarkable and drive us to work effectively, reducing time and, above all, improving the response times of our services.

A concrete example of how the reduction in times or improvement in service response has impacted my company's day-to-day operations is that we had an issue, especially when working in the cloud. The use of services and bandwidth were not always optimal, and when we moved them to physical systems in our offices with Dell PowerVault systems, we improved significantly. Responses that previously took between 30 and 35 seconds now reach the client in no more than 15 to 20 seconds at most.

The HTML5 graphical interface of PowerVault Manager is very interesting and is very easy to apply and allows us to work quickly to manage the storage. The main advantage is that it allows you to work on one or multiple arrays from a single console, reviewing configuration, reconfiguration, expansion, maintenance tasks, and performance tuning.

I think it would be good regarding how Dell PowerVault could improve to have, in addition to the excellent support service that exists, some training courses, forums, and a training school for using these tools. Many people specialize only in this kind of equipment, and others have no idea how to configure them or how they work and always end up depending on people who have spent a long time working with these systems and know how to handle them more because of experience than because of information that can be easily obtained about using this equipment.

Everything regarding additional aspects that could be improved in Dell PowerVault has already been mentioned.

I have been working in IT areas from 2008 to the present.

Dell PowerVault is very stable.

The scalability of Dell PowerVault is what we like most about these systems. Their scalability is very easy to size, manage, and provision.

Dell PowerVault has positively impacted my organization by allowing us to scale our infrastructure, saving us cloud storage costs by bringing them down to high-availability physical storage.

My experience with Dell PowerVault technical support has been excellent.

Before implementing Dell PowerVault, we had a solution provided by IBM. IBM became absolutely very expensive for us. It was expensive in terms of hardware, expensive in terms of licensing, excessively expensive technical support, and the delay in technical support did not justify those expenses.

I would rate the ease or difficulty of managing advanced storage functions such as snapshots, replication, and provisioning with Dell PowerVault very highly. On a scale from 1 to 10, I would give them a 10, because they have effectively allowed us to work quickly and have high-quality data available. Its bandwidth to intercommunicate between Dell PowerVaults is interesting, very strong, and very powerful, which allows us to have high availability of our information.

We use scheduled snapshots and also, when we make urgent changes, we also create them on demand with Dell PowerVault. This has helped us tremendously to improve especially the response to our internal clients.

We bought Dell PowerVault directly from Dell.

Before choosing Dell PowerVault, we evaluated solutions from HP, solutions from Dell, and solutions from IBM that we were already working with.

Dell PowerVault has impacted my organization by allowing us to scale our infrastructure, saving us cloud storage costs by bringing them down to high-availability physical storage.

My advice to other people who are considering using Dell PowerVault is do not be afraid of implementing it. Once you start using it, you will realize that it is very easy to work with, to implement, to put into operation, and to provision in your systems. You have to dare to change the established rules of the game.

I give this review a rating of 10.

Dell PowerVault serves various storage needs across different customer bases. Some customers store virtual machines, while others have created Hyper-V virtual machines. Some customers save high-level data, and others preserve call recordings. In India, many companies operate call centers and store substantial call recordings in Dell PowerVault systems. Different types of data are stored in Dell PowerVault depending on specific requirements.

Dell PowerVault manages comprehensive storage data management features including snapshots, replication, and provisioning. Some customers maintain virtual machines, while others keep data backups of virtual machines using backup software such as Altaro for Windows environments. Some companies use Dell PowerVault solely for replication purposes, while others utilize it for business continuity planning. The use cases vary depending on different types of business technologies.

On-demand and scheduled snapshots in Dell PowerVault support various data management strategies depending on specific use cases. Some customers save all users' data backups by configuring active directory servers on the main server and connecting Dell PowerVault to these servers. They have created multiple types of RAID 5, RAID 3, and different types of partitions in Dell PowerVault for various purposes.

Different customers have different needs and requirements. Some customers use Dell PowerVault as a plain vanilla system, while others create multiple partitions for specific purposes. In one partition, they keep HR data, in another partition they keep account data, and they maintain one additional power backup to take recovery and snapshots of machines and the complete network system. The approach depends on specific use cases.

Dell PowerVault can connect to any servers, including Dell servers and HP servers. Since servers have limited space for storage, many people purchase separate Dell PowerVault systems and connect them to servers by integrating them with SAS cables, which provide fast access speeds for virtual machines and data.

Dell PowerVault can be managed separately through remote access. You can create multiple partitions, attach multiple hard drives, and obtain substantial storage capacity in Dell PowerVault.

Dell PowerVault has helped customers streamline workflows significantly. When setting up NAS systems in networks and saving data through network cables via servers, the speed is considerably slow. When working with multiple virtual machines such as Hyper-V and VMware, saving virtual disks in NAS systems is difficult and slow to access from servers. By directly saving data with Dell PowerVault, you can access data through SAS cables. SAS is a fast and optimal technology for accessing data. By connecting SAS cables between Dell servers and Dell PowerVault, data access becomes easy and local, providing the feeling that the hard drive is installed in the server.

Dell PowerVault interfaces sometimes work slowly, and Dell should focus on improving the interfaces. Dell PowerVault is a highly scalable solution, but Dell does not have support and parts available after five years. However, some customers in India use Dell PowerVault for seven, eight, and nine years, so Dell needs to provide parts and support on time for these customers.

I have been working with Dell PowerVault since around 2006 and 2007.

The setup process for Dell PowerVault is straightforward with no challenges. Hot-swappable hard drives can be installed during operation, and you can access logs while the system is running. Dell PowerVault includes two redundant power supplies so that if one power supply fails, you can continue working with the other power supply.

Dell PowerVault is reliable when compared to local NAS solutions such as Drobo and Synology and other backup solutions. Dell PowerVault is reliable because you can install hard drives while the system is running. During operation, hard drives are hot-swappable, allowing you to replace hard drives and power supplies within the running server. Many operations can be performed on Dell PowerVault that cannot be performed on local NAS systems.

Dell PowerVault has excellent scalability, and I would rate it a 10 because the configuration is very easy. Any person can easily configure Dell PowerVault and perform hard drive replacement and other tasks.

For Dell PowerVault, customers simply need to upgrade the hard drive size. I remember working with Dell PowerVault when we were installing 146 GB drives, but now we can install drives with terabytes of capacity. The upgrade depends on the customer's budget.

I have configured Dell PowerVault in multiple locations, and the configuration, registration, and backup processes depend on company use cases. I would rate Dell PowerVault technical support at eight to nine points. I do not give a 10 point rating because Dell sometimes cannot support devices that are out of warranty. If customers are investing money, they definitely want to maximize the use of the systems.

I can explain cases where customers have received return on investments with Dell PowerVault. In 2009, a software development company purchased Dell PowerVault and servers with a substantial configuration. They set up virtual machines across multiple servers and saved all data in Dell PowerVault. They run approximately 20 servers with data stored in a single Dell PowerVault. The data is completely secure. While servers have limited hard drive slots available, Dell PowerVault allows you to increase hard drive size and install multiple hard drives.

The initial setup process for Dell PowerVault is straightforward. In 2010, a company with a direct enterprise account purchased Dell PowerVault from Dell. They bought Dell R520 servers with Dell PowerVault, specifically the 3500 model. We installed the rack with both Dell PowerVault and the server, connected the SAS cable between the server and Dell PowerVault, and installed the MD SM software on the server. We were installing Server 2008 R2 or Server 2012 at that time. After installing the servers and MD SM software, we could access Dell PowerVault from that console.

I have been working with Dell PowerVault since starting with the MD3000 model. Most customers in India still use older versions of Dell PowerVault, which are managed by MD SM. Dell PowerVault management is very easy. By connecting Dell PowerVault to servers and installing MD SM on the servers, you can complete all configuration from the MD SM software.

Configuring and beginning to use the system quickly is effective with MD SM. The process is straightforward and user-friendly.

The return on investment has been positive.

Dell PowerVault pricing and licensing is not very costly. Companies with 350 or more users and 400 or more users can easily use these systems because they are very reliable and scalable.

Various NAS systems are available in the market, and different manufacturers provide backup systems. Synology and Drobo provide backup systems, and different types of backup systems exist. However, Dell PowerVault has a distinct identity in the market. NAS systems from Drobo and Synology are small backup systems designed for 100 to 150 users. For large enterprise customers, Dell PowerVault is the better choice.

On-demand and scheduled snapshots with Dell PowerVault depend on different use cases. When setting up snapshots, the system is user-friendly. Other systems are available in the market, including storage systems from HP, but Dell PowerVault is very easy to configure and very accessible, making it a user-friendly system.

I would give Dell PowerVault a 10 point rating. Dell PowerVault is a more scalable and secure solution compared to other backup solutions.

I give Dell PowerVault a 10 point rating for stability and reliability because the scalability of Dell PowerVault is very high. My overall review rating for Dell PowerVault is 10 out of 10.

Someone approached me to get a review of my experience with Dell PowerVault. I have used Dell PowerVault servers on multiple sites, and recently, those were customer sites. I work for one organization that had some customers, so I have worked directly with the hardware, from the starting configuration to the basic cable connection, configuration, and then connectivity.

I am an engineer. I work for different customers, whatever the project comes to me, rather than being a customer of this solution or an integrator, reseller, or consultant.

I mostly work with the storage part of Dell PowerVault. There were the primary servers and there was a 4012 expansion or storage expansion, or I think 512. I do not actually remember the model.

I mostly use it as a storage solution. I have worked with some Dell stand-alone servers, but for Dell PowerVault, I have used the storage part.

The first aspect of Dell PowerVault that I like is that it is easy to configure. It is available in GUI, so you can easily configure and change the settings as required. Another feature I appreciate is that it provides two controllers, which need to be configured for redundancy. If you lose one controller or there is any hardware failure, the other controller will take over. It keeps going on, and you can always do thick hardening or thin hardening. You can create pools and LUNs inside it. Many features are available inside it, and you can easily do it.

Dell PowerVault provides a streamlined workflow for me and my customers. I have worked on hundreds of projects right now, and they either opt for Dell or HP, who are the top competitors in the market. Out of 100, about 60-70 sites have Dell hardware only, which is what solution architecture even recommends.

I had one issue with managing comprehensive storage data management features such as snapshot, replication, and provisioning with Dell PowerVault. Once you create the LUNs, you can always expand the storage, but you cannot really reduce it. Sometimes, engineers or someone who does not have proper knowledge always give more storage than what is required initially, and then we cannot reduce that storage. That particular storage LUN gets wasted, which is something I am always negative about because we cannot reduce any size of LUN. The only option is to expand it.

In addition to being unable to reduce the storage, I believe the setup of Dell PowerVault, such as the main primary server and expansion, needs improvement. When you have a power failure or you lose your expansion or primary server, it seems to get corrupted easily. It was supposed to be that you have to first shut down the expansion and then the primary server. However, in hardware failure cases, if your primary server goes down before the expansion, sometimes there is a risk of getting the storage corrupted. If there could be a controller inside it that can manually shut down in the case of UPS for a minute, it would make a significant difference.

I would appreciate more advanced management of expansion because, in the case of UPS, you have one main power supply and then a UPS power supply. You get enough time to shut down the servers if there is a particular power failure.

I have been using Dell PowerVault for more than two years.

I would say the stability and reliability of Dell PowerVault are good because for the last two years, I have not faced any failure—not a single failure.

Outages do happen, but I would say that is majorly because of the data center where it is installed in the rack, not the actual server or Dell PowerVault itself. Maybe the temperature is rising and they are not able to keep it cool enough or there is any cable fault in that particular data center. Other than that, I have never faced a scenario where the reason for any outage was Dell PowerVault.

The only complexity I found in the initial setup process I was involved in was the cable connection for Dell PowerVault. It is not mentioned anywhere how to connect it. We faced some issues with the connectivity. For example, I have three physical servers and only one storage expansion, and I have multiple physical servers that need access to that single shared storage. For that kind of architecture, we faced an issue because I think it is mostly supported for a maximum of three physical servers; you cannot connect more than that.

I would appreciate Dell improving the scalability of Dell PowerVault. I think four or five is enough; if you can scale it to up to five physical server connections, it will be more helpful. Then they can increase the storage size in the single hardware, and we do not have to purchase another expansion for it.

I am not often communicating with the technical support of Dell PowerVault; there is a middleman who actually purchases the server, and he is the one who connects it. I only share logs from the server.

I do use official documentation, guides, or manuals that Dell provides for Dell PowerVault. Whenever we raise any ticket or case with them, they communicate via email and share what they need or ask us to check for initial troubleshooting or logs. They share steps or a link to follow and tell us over the email.

I think the amount of documentation I have is enough for now, but I do face an issue only with the response time. Sometimes they take days to respond back.

Before Dell PowerVault, we were using HP ones with the HP vendors.

I did participate in the initial setup of Dell PowerVault. Even when it gets delivered, we are the ones who unbox it, and I am involved from the unboxing to cable connection, and then configuring it for the first time by providing the management IP to access it virtually from anywhere.

I have not used the HTML5 PowerVault Manager GUI for ME5. I do not use the terminal mostly because I think the GUI is easier and more accessible.

I only use the actual management IP we configure with it, not the HTML5 PowerVault Manager GUI for ME5.

I have not utilized the bi-directional asynchronous replication feature of ME5.

Dell PowerVault has definitely helped streamline workflows for me and my customers. I have worked on hundreds of projects right now, and they either opt for Dell or HP, who are the top competitors in the market. Out of 100, about 60-70 sites have Dell hardware only, which is what solution architecture even recommends.

Budget is one concept I am not aware of because I am not really involved in it, so I cannot comment on whether Dell PowerVault has contributed to staying within budget for operations.

I think the reason I decided to switch from HP to Dell PowerVault is that even today, I am working with one of the Dell NAS, 1FS something. It is easier to manage, and I would say it is very GUI friendly. Your configuration is easier, and you can make more changes. Other vendors are very hardcore, and you have to involve a vendor every time, but with Dell, engineers can manage things by themselves without needing to include the vendor repeatedly for making changes.

We do use on-demand and scheduled snapshots with Dell PowerVault at the start of the projects, but we are not using it once we hand over the project. Once we go live with productions, we are not, because I work as an implementation engineer. I am not there for the full life of something such as a 10-year project, so I am not there to manage all of this.

I am not sure about any impact of these capabilities on data management strategy. I cannot recall any sample or any case right now. We can create different types of LUNs according to our use, and we were able to manage whatever our goal was with Dell PowerVault, but I do not really recall any specific case.

I would rate this review 9 out of 10.

Dell PowerVault is our main storage and is responsible for storing all productive data of the company in Latin America. Since Dell PowerVault is responsible for all productive data, that includes information from our ERP, SQL databases, and file servers. All that data is stored on Dell PowerVault platform.

Dell PowerVault's scalability and simplicity have positively impacted daily operations in management times, error reduction, and ease for the technical team in managing the whole administration part, which takes much less time. The fact that it is not necessary to maintain a group of employees who are experts in this platform, since it is an extremely simple platform to administer and manage, is also beneficial. Since it is a strategic partner and a major brand, having the reassurance that we are using an extremely secure and robust platform gives us the perception that as the company grows, we can keep adding new elements to this platform and be able to respond better to the needs of the business area.

I consider the best features offered by Dell PowerVault to be that it is a platform that is easy to manage and does not require very broad technical expertise or advanced specialization, but at the same time it is a highly scalable platform. If the organization continues to grow over the coming years, we could add other elements to this same storage pool on the same platform. That gives us predictability and the assurance that we can continue relying on the same platform, even as the company continues to grow and develop over the coming years.

Dell PowerVault is a super easy platform to manage and that is indeed something that stands out for us.

When we went through the process of updating and upgrading from the previous platform we were using, which was also a platform based on Dell EMC technology, the big gain from moving this whole structure to Dell PowerVault is directly related to working with a cutting-edge platform, an extremely simple platform, and one that allows us all this scalability looking toward the future.

I do not see managing advanced data management functions such as snapshots, replication, and provisioning with Dell PowerVault as something complex; it is something extremely simple and interactive, and the interface is quite easy to handle. Everything can be done through the interface itself, which is a very favorable point for this platform.

I have used the HTML5 PowerVault Manager interface for ME5 and found it to be an extremely modern, simple, and stable interface, not only for doing all the initial configuration of the platform but also for day-to-day operation and management. It is an extremely robust and high-performance interface.

Something that could be improved or enhanced by Dell is more exchange of new information about the technology itself, a broader exchange of suggestions, new contributions, and new insights that we could be implementing in our environment. It would not be so much something related to the platform itself, but rather in the area of after-sales and Dell's account management. They could try to have a closer relationship with their customers.

I have been using Dell PowerVault in my organization for about two years.

I consider Dell PowerVault to be a super stable platform.

I rate the scalability of Dell PowerVault as definitely excellent. It is a platform that allows us to grow in a very significant way without having to replace this technology with a newer one. It is extremely scalable.

I find Dell PowerVault's customer support to be fully satisfactory. I rate customer support a 10.

Positive

We were also using solutions based on Dell equipment, both EqualLogic and Compellent.

Dell PowerVault is deployed in an on-premises installation within a private cloud concept, where through this own infrastructure and on-premise infrastructure, we support and deliver resources to different units in Latin America. Everything is within an environment that is 100% managed and administered by us.

Since we already have a very simple environment and a quite resource-optimized environment, I think the major return on investment with Dell PowerVault was above all being on a super stable, reliable platform that gives us the confidence to continue growing using the same platform. This is not an investment right now with an almost immediate return, but rather a longer-term investment when we standardize and maintain the same platform in our environment.

I think the price, implementation cost, and licensing of Dell PowerVault is reasonable. Considering the resources it delivers, the security, and the reliability the platform gives us, all the costs involved, both acquisition and the cost of operation, setup, and so on, remain quite attractive.

I evaluated other options such as IBM, Lenovo, and HP. In the end we decided to stick with Dell precisely because it seemed more economically viable to us, especially when we think from a longer-term perspective.

Both Dell as a brand and Dell PowerVault platform are infrastructures and platforms, and a business partner that is extremely robust and without doubt could be a key player in any project of any size.

My advice to others who are considering using Dell PowerVault is that it is definitely a reliable, stable platform and an extremely robust player to be considered in any type of project, whether in those where the storage or even performance demand is lower, as well as in projects where the amount of available space is huge and the need for performance is extremely high. At both extremes, whether for smaller, simpler projects or for more complex projects that demand higher performance, in both scenarios Dell PowerVault is definitely an extremely robust and reliable platform.

I would highlight that both Dell as a brand and Dell PowerVault platform are infrastructures and platforms that represent an extremely robust business partner that could be a key player in any project of any size. I rate Dell PowerVault a 10 because it is a reliable brand, because it is a robust platform, and because it makes us confident that we chose the best partner for the storage strategy of our productive environment, within a concept of scalability and predictability of future growth.

My use cases for Dell PowerVault mainly focus on the backup area and disaster recovery in data centers in the midmarket.

The most valuable features of Dell PowerVault that I have found include the highly intelligent solution, which is very well received especially in the midmarket and, in terms of price-performance ratio, is usually easy to handle for getting started. I cannot assess precisely if Dell PowerVault has been able to improve my company, but it is indeed a central solution that we definitely take into account for smaller environments.

Areas where I feel Dell PowerVault could be improved include especially the enterprise area and multiple interfaces in other areas, for example, backup software solutions and their integration.

Handling extensive storage management functions such as snapshots, replication, and provisioning with Dell PowerVault is very well suited for the midmarket or even smaller midmarket environments. Only when environments become more complex, especially in the enterprise area, does Dell PowerVault struggle in the software area, including centralized management.

I would welcome it if Dell PowerVault were a bit easier to manage in centralized management via the GUI, as it was in the past, because at the moment mid-sized companies find it not so straightforward to clearly calculate things such as how and where to use something, especially in the snapshot area.

There is still room for improvement due to the missing interfaces and also the flexibility.

I have been using Dell PowerVault for about ten years.

The stability and reliability of Dell PowerVault have faced several failures, but these are not related to system outages at customers, rather related to hard drives or a security feature that then did not work, which was fixed with a bug fix. On the whole, it runs stably, apart from a few minor glitches.

I feel that Dell PowerVault has features that specifically address the needs of small and medium-sized businesses because it is always very well received with the price-performance ratios that we have repeatedly seen out in the field. It has established itself well, proven itself well, and continues to be very well received by smaller mid-sized companies.

I definitely feel that Dell PowerVault products grow along with my needs. You can tell that Dell conducts surveys, just as we do, and reacts in a very market-appropriate way based on the dynamics when something is not right with the products to further develop them.

I would rate Dell's support as very good, even outstanding, because Dell really takes care of the customers. You can notice and feel that especially in the German-speaking region, you notice it quite often.

I cannot say anything negative in that context because we really enjoy working with Dell as a manufacturer and have had very positive experiences for over ten years, so it does not feel right to speak badly about it now.

I would give a nine for the support on a scale from one to ten. I am not giving that one last point because, when things get more complex and there are interdependencies with other vendors, Dell still struggles a bit, for example, regarding Microsoft products.

Positive

I have not used another solution for similar needs before Dell PowerVault for the small midmarket; otherwise, I would say we prefer to use Dell PowerVault as well.

The challenges I wanted to address with the implementation of Dell PowerVault include the interfaces to most well-known backup vendors and software vendors, including Veeam for example, which can sometimes be challenging.

We are using the HTML5 Dell PowerVault Manager Gen E for ME5, albeit reluctantly, because we used to prefer working via the existing GUI for centralized management, which was a bit more refined and better suited for the administrator. However, I have experience with the HTML5 as well.

Regarding the functionality of the HTML5 Dell PowerVault Manager for configuring the system, I must admit I am not that deeply involved anymore, so I cannot give a clear answer to that.

I have not used manual, on-demand and unscheduled, and manual and scheduled snapshots with Dell PowerVault so far.

Regarding pricing and licensing, I would say you should definitely compare it to other products, including PowerStore, which Dell also offers. In today's market situation, I have to admit that Dell PowerVault has had a price increase of more than twenty-five percent in the last two or three years, which does not have a positive effect on smaller mid-sized companies, but we managed to partially compensate for that and implement it very well thanks to the good price conditions that we repeatedly receive in consultation with Dell.

We compensate through these price negotiations, or through complete solutions, which we also use to support customers in operations or in the service area.

My experience with the integration of Dell PowerVault is that it is already very usable, but only partially adaptable. That is a deficiency; you are not really flexible, especially when it comes to new functions and new features that other vendors actually provide more easily.

I would rate this review overall as a seven on a scale of one to ten.

Primarily, we have an in-house architecture where all our IT infrastructure is hosted on data centers owned by us, and Dell PowerVault is used for all the critical data stored in our infrastructure. For example, we have our local file server, local database running a SQL server, application server, and backups all stored in Dell PowerVault storages configured as presentable volumes to each of these servers or resources. These PowerVault storages are redundant, so we don't go by only one storage box, adding the DEU and expansion boxes on top of it, with RAID configuration for multiple disk redundancy.

Furthermore, we have a D2D and D2T strategy, where disk-to-disk is the first level backup, and secondary level storage includes a tape library, so disk-to-tape, meaning all the data on the disk is also copied onto tape and stored as a secondary copy. Overall, Dell PowerVault stores all the data in our 70% hosted infrastructure, which includes proprietary data, databases, and user data in our on-prem data center.

Additionally, in the contact center industry, we utilize solutions such as Verint and NICE for contact center recording and analytics, with the storage for calls and analytic outputs hosted in the backend on Dell PowerVault.

Users need to establish a use case for using Dell PowerVault, such as whether they want to store data for frequent access, long-term retention, or recycling data with incremental updates. Building a use case is essential since different storage solutions cater to different requirements.

When visiting Dell's website to search for PowerVault, users will encounter a PowerVault builder that helps assess requirements and suggest options. As a data owner, users must decide if they need JBOD, RAID 5, or RAID 6, and determine required storage space, such as 2.5 inch SAS or SSDs. Factors such as data type, access frequency, and required access speed assist in designing the infrastructure with Dell PowerVault as hardware. It's important to accurately size and configure the system, ensuring that choices around disk types and configurations align with their use case, as improper configurations can lead to poor performance. Users must understand their requirements correctly before seeking solutions from Dell to ensure they receive effective hardware.

One of the advantages of Dell PowerVault is the easy deployment because I've been handling hardware for 23 years, from desktops to servers and storages, dealing with various brands such as Hitachi, IBM, and HP Compaq. Compared to these brands, especially after Dell merged with EMC, the ease of deployment remains good. You can literally plug in the storage, and it's user-friendly, allowing any normal power user to configure it.

Beyond that, it is available in various options, starting from a JBOD if desired, to the ME series with dual controllers and expansion options, which means users don't have to keep buying the same thing but can add on top of it.

My experience with Dell PowerVault has been good in terms of longevity, as I have seen lower failure rates compared to those of other brands, with very minor issues over the years and no serious storage threatening issues. We've even used PowerVault series that we intended to use for five years for almost eight years, and it was still working fine, providing good ROI compared to any other brand, which are the overall advantages of Dell PowerVault.

In terms of disadvantages, if you do not have an existing relationship with Dell or are exploring the market for the first time, the initial acquisition cost of Dell PowerVault is high compared to competitors such as Hitachi or IBM, which often undercut prices. Dell does not engage in undercutting, and I've seen this when referring Dell to someone without a prior relationship; they often find limited options due to high initial prices dictated by resellers. It would be beneficial for Dell to enhance outreach to new customers directly to prevent resellers from scaring them away with higher pricing.

I have been in the industry for close to 23 years, and I have been handling Dell PowerVault for close to 12 or 13 years.

The backend hardware is Dell PowerVault, but we do not rely on its native functionality for any backups. Dell PowerVault's job is to ensure that it has data stored with redundancy through the PowerVault manager, while we use separate layers of backup software such as Commvault and Veeam Backup for our primary backup interface. When I mention D2D and D2T, those are managed through the backup software layer. Dell PowerVault serves as backend hardware providing redundancy via disks and RAID controllers, but actual backups and restores are handled through the backup software level. I do not use Dell PowerVault for backup and restore purposes.

We keep proprietary data in the 70% of our on-premise data center and do not expose that data to AI or cloud due to concerns over data exfiltration. However, we do utilize analytics that technically involves original AI, where we input recorded calls to obtain sentiment analysis or text output, while still maintaining 30% of our infrastructure on private cloud.

On a scale of 1-10, I rate Dell PowerVault a nine out of ten.

Dell PowerVault is being used primarily for the video surveillance use case. The choice of Dell PowerVault was made specifically to store data for video surveillance applications. For the video use case where expansion is sometimes required quickly, Dell PowerVault proves to be an excellent solution due to its significant capacity and scalability over time.

The most useful feature in Dell PowerVault is that it is a performant array that suits the video surveillance storage use case well. What differentiates Dell PowerVault from other storage solutions is the performance combined with the ability to meet significant bandwidth consumption needs. Dell PowerVault simplifies operations in two key areas: from an operations point of view and the expansion of the solution, allowing extension as needed. The system also meets the requirement to store massive amounts of data, particularly for video surveillance.

Inter-site replication needs enhancement, particularly in Fibre Channel. There are two aspects to consider: replication, meaning replicating data from one site to another concerning Dell PowerVault, and another very important area where significant improvement is needed—everything related to expansion rules. There are many constraints that require respecting a minimum step size, so in terms of granularity, there is room for improvement.

The graphical interface of Dell PowerVault is good and easy to use. An area for improvement would be to unify it, allowing management of several Dell PowerVault arrays through the same graphical interface.

Dell PowerVault has been in use for a few months.

Dell PowerVault is a system that is quite stable and reliable. This was especially important given the choice to store video that is extremely critical both from a general point of view and from a legal point of view, where data must be kept and secured. It is a reliable system that allows data to be secured without any problem.

Dell PowerVault adapts well to the growth of the company. It is a system that was chosen specifically for this capability, allowing extension as needed and providing scalability on demand.

Customer support from Dell has been used and it is efficient support that responds instantly. The system can send alerts directly from the arrays to Dell, providing proactivity. Dell sometimes opens cases automatically for alerts, which is very effective. I would rate this support around eight.

Positive

Dell PowerStore solution was considered before, which is much more performant and also much more expensive than Dell PowerVault. Another solution was not chosen primarily because it is related to the use case. There is no point in going for a much more powerful system if Dell PowerVault already meets the needs.

The deployment experience with Dell PowerVault is fairly easy to deploy and does not require a huge amount of time. The simplified globalization and the possibility of using high-capacity disks allows reduction in the number of U. In terms of CSR, this is an array that is quite acceptable. Power consumption and air conditioning are increasingly considered, and Dell PowerVault performs well in these aspects.

Dell PowerVault provides a return on investment over time. As the system evolves, the TCO and the price per terabyte is reduced compared to other solutions available on the market.

Dell PowerVault helps configure the system without any problem. It is fairly easy to use Dell PowerVault to manage the features. Snapshot features exist in Dell PowerVault and the array offers this possibility. In general, once Dell PowerVault is set up, monitoring of the KPIs and capacity planning is required to anticipate future evolutions. Otherwise, it is fairly easy to use.

Dell PowerVault is a solution that meets financial requirements as it is cheaper than Dell PowerStore. The cost requirements are perfectly met with no issues. CSR with Dell PowerVault is managed at the data center level by the data center teams. Consumption data is provided by Dell as theoretical consumption, usually the maximum. The data center teams then manage the actual consumption, which is inevitably lower than what is indicated by Dell.

I can recommend Dell PowerVault and would give it a rating of eight.

My use case for Dell PowerVault is that it's our tier-two storage array for VMware. We also use it as a backup target for Veeam replication.

I would say my favorite features of Dell PowerVault are that it's pretty easy to use. It has been pretty stable. Firmware updates have been pretty easy to install and updates are pretty easy to do. Replacing a bad drive is fairly simple. It is just fairly easy to administer it.

There is room for improvement with Dell PowerVault as we did have some promises about dedupe and compression that did not turn out as promised, but Dell trued up and gave us more storage for no cost. We just recently upgraded some of our Dell PowerStores for more capacity.

I have been using it for probably a couple of years, approximately five years.

The initial deployment of Dell PowerVault was pretty easy. That was a couple of years ago when we did the install, but I don't think it took more than a day to get Dell PowerVault up and running and connected.

Dell PowerVault has been stable. We had maybe one outage a couple of years ago that was due to a bug, but they fixed it on our system fairly quickly.

Dell PowerVault's scalability is good. It scales up pretty effectively.

The technical support for Dell PowerVault is pretty good and they usually get back to us in a couple of hours with a technical engineer. We are pretty happy with Dell's support overall. I would give Dell PowerVault support an eight or nine.

Positive

We have used other storage vendors such as Pure as an example. We aren't only a Dell storage shop. We have other vendors.

The initial deployment of Dell PowerVault was pretty easy. That was a couple of years ago when we did the install, but I don't think it took more than a day to get Dell PowerVault up and running and connected.

We do updates and everything for Dell PowerVault. There is caring and feeding of it, but not that much.

I don't get involved in the negotiations for price for Dell PowerVault. We get a pretty good discount. I don't think it's terribly priced, but Pure Storage is cheaper.

They both have their good points and downfalls. I think I prefer Dell PowerVault more than Pure, but I have probably been using Dell for longer. The Pure user GUI is a bit goofy. It has some complicated steps that Dell doesn't have.

We use snaps quite a bit with Dell PowerVault. We use it as a backup target for some of our Veeam systems. It is pretty good. On a scale of 1-10, I rate Dell PowerVault an 8.

I work with Dell PowerStore, PowerEdge, and PowerVault, but not PowerProtect. I have been dealing with Dell PowerVault for one year. I use Dell PowerVault for backup storage, as this is the major use case and medium for backup. For Dell PowerVault, I do not work with the bidirectional asynchronous replication of ME5 because we use the medium for its standalone node, so we don't have the options to synchronize to another.

The biggest advantage of the product that really stands out for me is its price and the comparison of price with performance; its price is very good, and the performance according to this price is sufficient based on backup requirements, so it is perfect. My experience with the HTML5 Dell PowerVault Manager GUI for ME5 is good; it is easy to manage, clear, and very easy to find what we need. The configuration is very friendly, so I configured it, and for one year, it works without any activities from my side. It is also connected to cloud monitoring from Dell, so we receive all information and alerts in one point, integrating with this monitoring tool from the vendor, where I have all information from Dell PowerVault and PowerStore, and it is easy to configure alarms and notifications. I do not find anything that is missing or wrong with the product; it is suitable for my needs.

I do not see the option for scheduled snapshots in Dell PowerVault because I did not find the information. However, I do use the snapshot option on Dell PowerVault to protect against cyber-attacks. The negative aspect I mentioned is regarding the support; sometimes I spend a lot of time explaining issues and it is not time-effective. I prefer waiting for support from another country, depending on time zones, as I often waste time before switching to a proper engineer when necessary. Generally, I am happy with the product, but sometimes I wait too long to switch to a higher-level engineer when I have a major issue that requires more expertise.

I do not see any disadvantages or areas for improvement; it is the solution I expect. I bought, configured, installed, and that is all I need. It does not require many activities from my side after configuration; it is stable, performance is acceptable, and has good integration with backup, with interfaces like Fibre Channel and SMB to expose to the client, so I do not find anything missing. I save time managing it because it does not require daily, weekly, or monthly activities from my side. I am happy that it works without activity; it has been operational for over a year without issues. The solution provides good integration tools for monitoring from my side, and the disks are working without any errors, although I do not know how it will be in the future since I have used it just over a year.

Scalability is not a problem, and I know that there is the possibility to scale out.

I have never purchased anything from AWS Marketplace, including Dell PowerVault. I do not have the occasion to discuss technical support for Dell PowerVault, as it works without any issues, so it is acceptable. The Dell support is good, but I recommend that the engineer should be from our area, as I have observed that support from Dell provided from Asia is not as good as when I have experience with support from Europe or America.

Before, I used two devices from another solution; one was too old and very expensive, while the second often had stability issues, requiring activities like patching the protocols over iSCSI. The first one was expensive in comparison, but stability was worse, requiring monthly maintenance, so I looked for something new. The second was stable with the same performance, but its price was twice as much, so I found a proper solution within our budget.

The deployment process for Dell PowerVault is easy; it does not require much experience or the assistance of an engineer. Using only the GUI, it takes me about one to two hours to configure and expose it to the backup system.

I used QNAP and Data Domain before. I stopped using Data Domain from Dell because it is very expensive and has issues with data deduplication; the main functionality of Data Domain is its deduplication, but if the data is encrypted, deduplication does not work. Since current regulations require all data, including backups, to be encrypted, the deduplication feature becomes unusable, so I need something cost-effective that can handle our data backup needs.

My data management strategy helps to protect my data, ensuring that it is protected against cyber attacks. I use Dell PowerVault because the requirement for backup is to have three copies: two copies on disk and one on tape. This is a continuous process in my backup strategy, where one copy is to disk and the second is to tape. I give this review a rating of ten.

A few use cases for Dell PowerVault that I would mention are backup, storage, and VMware vSphere. Dell PowerVault helps the company streamline workflows, and in general, we use it more as a file server. We have connected the storage to a Windows file server.

Dell is a good company to work with. They are stable and work really well.

The bi-directional asynchronous replication feature in the ME5 product is something I use. PowerVault Manager is the management tool from Dell. It is effective for me to allow configuring and using the system quickly. It is easy to use. If you want to take a snapshot on a volume that you have connected to vCenter or vSphere, it is easy to use.

If we speak about the negative side of Dell PowerVault, I do see some areas for improvement. A quicker management user interface would be beneficial. It is a bit slow, but it is acceptable. It still could be a bit better. The GUI is sometimes a little bit slow. Maybe the quality could be improved and the response time could be faster. Regarding improvements, the quick management interface could be better, and the support response time could also be improved in these two areas.

Regarding stability, when I am using Dell PowerVault, it is stable and very stable.

Regarding scalability, Dell PowerVault is a really scalable product. I see some limitations for scalability or maybe it could be expensive to scale. We have just one Dell PowerVault, so I do not know for certain. For me, it is enough, basically. I do not see any limitations, and it is enough for me.

I have stable support from the vendor with stable servers and storage. Regarding technical support from Dell, if I ever communicated with them, I would say support is good or sometimes could be better. On average, it is good.

Negative

I am not using HP, and I do not have experience with HP.

Regarding the deployment process for Dell PowerVault, the initial setup is quite easy if you know how to do it.

The implementation was done by me in-house.

In terms of return on investment, I do not see any ROI in Dell PowerVault. There are some savings in terms of time and money. Another storage system from any vendor could have been purchased, but we usually buy it from Dell. HP has something similar.

The cost depends on which model you use for Dell PowerVault. If you use a PowerVault with SSD hard disk, it begins to be rather expensive. If you use it with an ordinary standard hard disk, the price is acceptable. In my case, I do not see a cost benefit.

We are also using Dell PowerStore, which is a larger system. When comparing Dell PowerVault with Dell PowerStore or any other products, I see some differences. This is more of a low-end product than PowerStore. PowerStore is a larger or quicker storage solution. Dell PowerVault is a little bit more for smaller companies. I would not say that is a con or advantage; that is just the difference. Dell PowerVault is mainly for small customers and is a complement to a bigger storage product.

We are a customer of Dell. I am not using the HTML5 PowerVault Manager GUI for ME5. I use the web user interface. I do not measure the performance. I am more of a storage manager to manage the data. I am not in a position to buy from different vendors. As for the price, I really do not know if Dell PowerVault is generally expensive or quite an affordable product.