IT Manager at a energy/utilities company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Consistency Groups and integration of SAN and NAS make replication simple for us
Pros and Cons
  • "They've integrated NAS and SAN pretty well. It made replication very simple. Because one of our systems has a lot of LANs, for it to replicate we have Consistency Groups in there. That's something that is really helpful, making sure that everything is working not just for replication but for backups as well."

    What is our primary use case?

    We use it for SAN and NAS, pretty much all of our VMware and ERP systems; everything for storage. It' working out very well. We just moved into it

    What is most valuable?

    They've integrated NAS and SAN pretty well. It made replication very simple. Because one of our systems has a lot of LANs, for it to replicate we have Consistency Groups in there. That's something that is really helpful, making sure that everything is working, not just for replication but for backups as well. Pretty much everything we need is there.

    What needs improvement?

    We're probably going to be looking into vSAN just to minimize the footprint. We've already minimized the footprint going from VNX to the Unity, but as we're virtualizing more and more, once we're completely virtualized, we'd probably be looking into vSAN through either VxRail or VxRack, and go that way. The smaller the footprint at the data center, the less cost there is.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    Less than one year.
    Buyer's Guide
    Dell Unity XT
    March 2024
    Learn what your peers think about Dell Unity XT. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2024.
    765,386 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    So far, we've had no issues. We've been running the Unity for about half a year now; no issues with stability at all.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    We've only had it for a short time so we haven't had to scale up. We got it scaled to our needs with a little bit of growth put on there.

    How are customer service and support?

    The team that we got to help us implement it were spot on. They really did do a great job. There were a few cases where we had to pull in some more experienced guys for the networking aspect of it, for the NAS, as there were some issues. But everything else was spot on.

    How was the initial setup?

    The initial setup was fairly simple because they were able to take all of our information from the VNX and size it appropriately, have all the LUNs set up. The only complex part about it was how we were going to do the SAN to SAN replication, which involved getting everybody on all of the equipment on the latest code, to make sure that we could actually go ahead and replicate. That took some extra work to get that done, but in the end, it was all taken care of and we got replication going.

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

    The pricing is reasonable. We're using the Flex on Demand pricing. It's really good for us when we pay for what we use. It made it easy to get it inside since it's an OpEx and instead of CapEx expense.

    I can't say enough about the Flex on Demand because it gives you the agility you need. You can get it in there so easily. You don't have to be fighting with the CFO about how much it costs. It's a lot easier.

    What other advice do I have?

    It's a really good buy.

    We're about to replace a VNX with a Unity in our DR facility. We love that it's only taking about half a rack of space versus the rack-and-a-half that we have for the VNX. That's really good. We're going to be doing SAN to SAN replication. We currently have that going on between the Unity and the VNX using RecoverPoint Appliances, but then it's going to be Unity to Unity after we're done.

    I'm very happy with the Unity right now.

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    GM IT Infrastructure at MSSL
    Real User
    High performance, simple installation, and proactive support
    Pros and Cons
    • "The solution overall has high performance."
    • "Having more artificial intelligence tools built into the solution would be a great benefit. This would allow us to see more about the workloads and higher visibility, such as performance degradation."

    What is our primary use case?

    We are using Dell EMC Unity XT for our Oracle EBS on-premise ERP solution for storage. Primarily, for our database needs. We are quite happy with the performance of our SQL Server. 70% of OLTP and 30% reporting is the workload on that particular storage.

    What is most valuable?

    The solution overall has high performance.

    What needs improvement?

    Dell EMC Unity XT improvement point should be in the area of enhancements or innovation. It would be a benefit to have some kind of intelligence built into the solution with respect to the workload of their firmware. For example, if Dell EMC Unity XT is running an Oracle load or SQL application, we have to do other functions on it, find self remedies, or find self alerts to allow the administrator of the database to good insight into what exactly is happening in the storage layer. We are using different tools to retrieve partial information from the storage.

    Having more artificial intelligence tools built into the solution would be a great benefit. This would allow us to see more about the workloads and higher visibility, such as performance degradation. 

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have been using Dell EMC Unity XT for approximately 20 years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    The Dell EMC Unity XT 450F is in production in our organization for the last three years, we have not faced any problems. The new version has been quite stable.

    We are quite happy with the performance. The workload we are receiving on this storage solution is 70% for OLTP and 30% for reporting.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    We have found the solution to be very scalable. We are in the process of receiving more enclosures that to increase the storage capacity.

    We have approximately 1,500 users across the country that are using Dell EMC Unity XT and an additional 200 indirect users using it.

    How are customer service and support?

    The technical support team from Dell EMC Unity XT has a proactive approach. We don't need to worry about what is going wrong we have them to support us. We have not to need to contact them frequently. They contact us in case of any alert that comes.

    Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

    We have not used a solution previously.

    How was the initial setup?

    The installation of Dell EMC Unity XT is not difficult. You only need to do the rack mounting and plug it into the environment. However, configuring it for the application is quite tedious because it doesn't have any built-in templates for different workloads. Installation is plain and the solution is not a challenge but configuring it for the workload is the challenge.

    The time it took for the implementation to have the solution to a level we can use for production was approximately 48 hours.

    What about the implementation team?

    We had support to do the implementation, we did not do it ourselves. We had a couple of engineers from Dell do the implementation and we managed the solution using our onsite team.

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

    There is not a license required for the use of the solution. We purchased a maintenance contract.

    Which other solutions did I evaluate?

    We did a thorough evaluation of other solutions and it was clear after the performance evaluation, Dell EMC Unity XT was the best choice. We did a migration of Oracle Storage to different storage. There are other commercial advantages with Dell.

    What other advice do I have?

    I would highly recommend Dell EMC Unity XT to others. I have experience with several sorts of workloads.

    I rate Dell EMC Unity XT a nine out of ten.

    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.
    PeerSpot user
    Buyer's Guide
    Dell Unity XT
    March 2024
    Learn what your peers think about Dell Unity XT. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2024.
    765,386 professionals have used our research since 2012.
    Senior Director at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
    Real User
    It is lightning fast, low on power and heat, and has a small footprint with great performance
    Pros and Cons
    • "It is lightning fast, low on power and heat, and has a small footprint with great performance."
    • "As the solution continues to grow and gain more traction, things will come up that will just continue to deepen the integration between VMware, vCenter, and all those other components. Anything in the divisibility there and additional tools is always great."

    What is our primary use case?

    We use it for our converged infrastructure in our VxBlock.

    We put all our applications on it since it is our back-end storage. We have just one storage area that we dump everything on and scrape for all of our mixed workload use.

    How has it helped my organization?

    It is a streamlined single giant storage area. It is all fast, so we can throw all of our mixed workloads at it. It just simplifies the deployment of things because we don't have to sit there and think about where we want to put stuff or what needs what.

    What is most valuable?

    Speed and flexibility are the most valuable features.

    It has great mixed work load use, which is nice because we keep growing things for our VxBlock. 

    It's great on power consumption, as there is no spinning disk. 

    It's super-fast, and you can't go wrong with that. It's helped us across the board to standardize on something very simple.

    We use all the data service features and click all the options.

    What needs improvement?

    As the solution continues to grow and gain more traction, things will come up that will just continue to deepen the integration between VMware, vCenter, and all those other components. Anything in the divisibility there and additional tools is always great.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    It is super stable. I haven't had any issues with it.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    The scalability is great. We haven't hit any issues with scaling at this point.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    Thankfully, we haven't had to deal with technical support yet.

    Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

    We were standing up a new data center, so it was easier to standardized on one storage subsystem. We had been using VNXe and XtremIO with a mix of other Dell EMC products. It was just nice for this mixed workload use to have a single solution in Unity.

    How was the initial setup?

    The initial setup was super straightforward. I pointed it where I wanted it to go, and they put it there.

    What about the implementation team?

    We used VCE for the deployment, and they were great.

    What was our ROI?

    It is a brand new data center, so we haven't quite seen the ROI yet. Just from an overall power and heating usage, it costs substantially less than some of our existing solutions.

    Which other solutions did I evaluate?

    We only had EMC on our shortlist.

    What other advice do I have?

    It is lightning fast, low on power and heat, and has a small footprint with great performance.

    If you don't know your mixed use case, or what you're going to do with it, it's a nice mixed use storage subsystem. It easily integrates with great visibility. It is very easy to maintain and operate. It is just a nice platform, especially if you're setting yourself in a new direction and you don't quite know what you're doing.

    Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner.
    PeerSpot user
    SAN Administrator at a energy/utilities company with 10,001+ employees
    Real User
    Dynamic Pools allow us to pop in one or two drives when needed, instead of adding a whole RAID set
    Pros and Cons
    • "I don't think I've ever seen latencies above 10 milliseconds unless it was something that wasn't the array that was messing up. The thing is rock-solid."
    • "The UI itself is fantastic, and the ease of administration is far better than Unisphere or Navisphere ever were. It's very easy to manage. The fact that it has built-in APIs means our automation people can help us automate a lot of tasks, and that has been helpful. And, of course, it's really fast. Obviously, that doesn't hurt anything at all."
    • "We just recently started using the Dynamic Pools, so while it's scalable, we actually find it valuable that we can just pop in one or two drives when we need to, instead of having to add a whole RAID set. That has actually been very handy for us."

      What is our primary use case?

      Our primary use case for Unity - we use the All-Flash, we don't use the Hybrid array - is as our go-to source for all of our virtualized Oracle Databases. We've moved about 95 percent of our Oracle Databases to Unity. There are a few extremely high-profile databases that nobody wants to move. Nobody wants to touch them. But pretty much everything else is on Unity. We're starting to branch out and put just regular, general purpose load on there. And we also recently put all of our Exchange environment on there as well.

      We started going down the path of doing the vCenter integration, but we just ran out of time for testing it. That's on our bucket-list of things to do, because that'll make it even easier. But we haven't hit that yet.

      As far as how Dell EMC Unity XT has performed, I don't think I've ever seen latencies above 10 milliseconds, unless it was something that wasn't the array that was messing up. The thing is rock-solid.

      How has it helped my organization?

      We've recently gone from a five-man team down to two, not because of the Unity solely, but we haven't necessarily had to replace everyone. We've been able to consolidate a lot of VNXs into just a couple of Unity's. We have less to manage and we need fewer people.

      As far as the simplicity goes, adding hosts is easier. Everything is just about automatic. We're used to those old VNX1s, which are running Windows CE. Using the CLI on those is a little clunky, while logging into the CLI on the Unisphere is easy. It just makes sense, especially if you're used to Unix, because it's a Unix-based system. It's all-around easier to use.

      What is most valuable?

      • Being that we are heavily invested in VNX1s, the UI itself is fantastic, and the ease of administration is far better than Unisphere or Navisphere ever were. It's very easy to manage.
      • The fact that it has built-in APIs means our automation people can help us automate a lot of tasks, and that has been helpful.
      • And, of course, it's really fast. Obviously, that doesn't hurt anything at all.

      For how long have I used the solution?

      One to three years.

      What do I think about the stability of the solution?

      At this point, we've only had one major issue, and we've had two of the systems in-house for a year and a half. The issue was fixed within a matter of hours by support. In that same year and a half, we've had a lot of other pieces of equipment that have had a lot of other issues, so the stability is great, at least for us.

      What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

      We just recently started using the Dynamic Pools, so while it's scalable, we actually find it valuable that we can just pop in one or two drives when we need to, instead of having to add a whole RAID set. That has actually been very handy for us. A lot of the time, as a government organization, we don't always get all the money we ask for. Sometimes, the money that gets slated to us gets pulled out, last-minute, so we're trying to buy drives and hoard them. We always put drives in last-minute, and that's been extremely helpful.

      I know that's not exactly the question in terms of scalability, but that has been more helpful to us than being able to add a zillion disks at a time. Being able to add onesies, twosies to a pool is really helpful.

      How was the initial setup?

      The initial setup was very easy. I don't really remember any "gotchas."

      Which other solutions did I evaluate?

      We're a Dell EMC shop, we don't have any other storage vendors, so we don't really do a good job of looking into the storage vendors either. We have a good relationship with Dell EMC, we have a good sales guy and a good technical account manager. We trust them. When we told them that we had a lot of people asking for all-flash, that was the choice. We don't use enterprise-level stuff, we don't use VMAX. So we went with Unity.

      When selecting a vendor, the relationship with the technical support is pretty important. We've been a Dell EMC shop for a long time, so there are some guys in the tech support whose emails I have. I don't necessarily have to open up an SR. If I just have a question I can just email them and I'll usually get a response in a day or two. That keeps me from having to do some of that paperwork. The other thing, when selecting a vendor, if I were the number-crunching guy: Obviously a vendor who's willing to work on price is always going to be helpful.

      What other advice do I have?

      A piece of advice when it comes to research is to try to find another company that's using what you're considering. After you talk to the salespeople, after you get the dog and pony show, have them connect you with somebody who's using it, who they trust - maybe even someone you know or have some contact with - and get their thoughts about it. You usually get a lot more truth from those kinds of conversations.

      Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
      PeerSpot user
      GeorgeKaravitis - PeerSpot reviewer
      Owner at Digital Horizon
      Reseller
      Top 5
      Effective data compression, reliable, and performs well
      Pros and Cons
      • "The most valuable features of Dell Unity XT are the data compression for all of our VMs up to four times and the performance is good."
      • "The price of Dell Unity XT could improve."

      What is our primary use case?

      Dell Unity XT is used via iSCSI as a storage system for our infrastructure.

      What is most valuable?

      The most valuable features of Dell Unity XT are the data compression for all of our VMs up to four times and the performance is good.

      What needs improvement?

      The price of Dell Unity XT could improve.

      For how long have I used the solution?

      I have been using Dell Unity XT for approximately one year.

      What do I think about the stability of the solution?

      Dell Unity XT is a stable solution.

      What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

      The scalability of Dell Unity XT is good, it can scale well.

      We have many VMs that are using the solution. We have plans to increase the usage of the solution.

      How are customer service and support?

      I have not used the support from Dell Unity XT.

      Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

      We used other Dell solutions prior to Dell Unity XT and we use Synology for more simple projects.

      How was the initial setup?

      The initial setup of Dell Unity XT is straightforward.

      What about the implementation team?

      We did the deployment of Dell Unity XT in-house. We have three engineers that do the maintenance and support of the solution.

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

      The price of Dell Unity XT could improve. However, it is a one-time purchase.

      What other advice do I have?

      I rate Dell Unity XT a nine out of ten.

      Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

      Private Cloud
      Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
      PeerSpot user
      Senior Technical Specialist at a healthcare company with 501-1,000 employees
      Real User
      Reliable, easy to set up and maintain, good support
      Pros and Cons
      • "This solution is easy to work with and easy to maintain."
      • "It could be a little easier to attach it to a network file system."

      What is our primary use case?

      We currently have three Dell EMC Unity XT units, all used for different applications.

      The primary use case is general, all-around storage. We use it for both unstructured file and unstructured block storage and a lot of it is attached through a few systems to VMware.

      The applications are databases and other similar products.

      One of the units is used for diagnostic imaging, and another is used for file services such as the Hospital Management System (HMS).

      How has it helped my organization?

      I don't have metrics but this product benefits us because of its reliability. It's like a black box that sits in the background and just runs. It works great and does everything that's asked of it.

      What is most valuable?

      The most valuable feature is reliability. At the end of the day, it just runs.

      This solution is easy to work with and easy to maintain.

      What needs improvement?

      It could be a little easier to attach it to a network file system.

      For how long have I used the solution?

      I have been working with Dell EMC Unity XT for approximately four years. It has been at the company for five years.

      What do I think about the stability of the solution?

      We have not had any issues with stability.

      What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

      We haven't really had to scale it too much. Whatever we've had to do, it's been able to accommodate what we need. We know that it can grow more but we just don't need it to. Also, we're shifting away from it because it's being replaced.

      How are customer service and support?

      Dell's technical support is great for 99% of things.

      There have been a few problems but I understand because the product was not mainstream. The unit was an FS8600 and there were only about 12 people in all of North America who knew it well. That's why we got rid of it.

      Overall, I would rate their technical support a nine out of ten. I don't give anybody a ten because there is always room for improvement.

      Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

      The organization did not have a previous solution. The original two devices were brought in specifically for the tasks that they perform. The third one is dedicated to the new HSM software.

      We have other storage, on-premises. We have different storage for different things. For example, we have two Dell Compellent units, as well as Isilon. We run the gamut of everything.

      We are retiring two of our Unity XT units because we bought a Dell EMC PowerStore. We're updating everything as part of our refresh cycle. We will be keeping the last Unity XT for at least two more years because it's a fairly new system. It will probably be replaced by a PowerStore as well.

      How was the initial setup?

      I was not with the company when it was initially set up but I have set up other ones. This product is straightforward and easy to set up. It is almost set-and-forget, where you get it on the floor and away you go.

      It took me less than a day to deploy, from unboxing to putting it on the raised floor to powering it on and having my first system attached to it.

      What about the implementation team?

      I deployed it myself. I have been working with storage products for more than 20 years.

      It is myself and two others that are responsible for the maintenance. All of us are backup and storage engineers. I am the primary and the other two are my backups. We all take different approaches and handle different things.

      For purchases, we have always dealt with Dell through a third party because until recently, Dell did not do direct sales. The company we used was Techni-Core and they're okay. We've had some issues with them including some improperly configured Isilons and other systems that were not done correctly. Back when I first joined, I had to go in and spend four months debugging a system that was set up wrong.

      I think that they had a couple of people that were poor at doing installs but I'm pretty sure they are now gone because I don't see their names anywhere.

      What was our ROI?

      We see a return on investment because this product just runs. We don't have to spend hours maintaining it. It needs less intervention from us which means that we can spend time on other things.

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

      This solution is a good price for what you get.

      Which other solutions did I evaluate?

      We are a Dell customer so we did not evaluate options from other vendors.

      Everything that we have is Dell unless it is something that is vendor-issued or vendor-specific.

      What other advice do I have?

      We only touch the edge of what this product can do. It can do more than we use it for, such as file replication between two units.

      There is not much needed in terms of improvement. It is a rock-solid product.

      My advice for anybody who is considering the Dell Unity XT is to just enjoy it. It's a great system that is easy to maintain. Right out of the box, it's a good system. It's not the best that I've ever used but it's pretty close.

      I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.

      Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

      On-premises
      Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
      PeerSpot user
      Senior System Engineer at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees
      Real User
      The ease of the UI means it's not a very complicated system to manage
      Pros and Cons
      • "For me, the most valuable feature is the ease of management."
      • "There's always room for improvement with the UI. That can be a little cumbersome at times."

      What is our primary use case?

      Right now, Unity is a backup target.

      The IT challenge we resolved with this solution was having a backup target. With Unity we've got DDVE, or Data Domain Virtual Edition loaded. It was an array that was not being used for anything in particular and we had a need for the data domain capacity, so we're using it as a backup target under DDVE.

      How has it helped my organization?

      The Unity platform is really easy to use. When it comes to provisioning and management, it has reduced complexity and improved productivity. The ease of the UI means it's not a very complicated system to manage.

      What is most valuable?

      For me, the most valuable feature is the ease of management. It's a fairly easy system to manage compared to PowerMax or VMAX.

      In other use cases for which we used that particular Unity box, before it landed up being what it is now, the data service feature we used most was snapshots. Snapshots made it easy to roll back to a point in time.

      What needs improvement?

      We plan to buy Unity again in the next 12 months and we'll have to see what the next generation of Unity brings to us. But so far, there are no additional features needed.

      There's always room for improvement with the UI. That can be a little cumbersome at times.

      What do I think about the stability of the solution?

      The stability is good.

      What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

      The scalability is also good.

      How are customer service and technical support?

      We haven't had to call technical support. It has been a pretty solid product.

      How was the initial setup?

      The initial setup was straightforward. It's an easy piece of equipment to manage.

      What about the implementation team?

      We are enterprise-level and buy directly from Dell EMC.

      Which other solutions did I evaluate?

      Our shortlist had IBM XIV Gen2. We landed on Unity because we had familiarity with the product. Unity has its roots in VNX and we had a number of VNX arrays.

      What other advice do I have?

      Unity is solid and there is not anything to be afraid of in purchasing it. I would recommend it.

      Ours is not a very complicated use case and the performance has been adequate for what we've tasked it to do.

      I give the Unity a ten out of ten for two reasons:

      • reliability
      • ease of use.
      Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
      PeerSpot user
      Senior Engineer at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
      Real User
      Easy administration reduces our admin needs, resulting in less overhead
      Pros and Cons
      • "Unity's are more easily administrated, so we need fewer people to do the administration. We have less overhead because of that."
      • "We went to the PowerMax because of the needs that we have for the business. We're doing true enterprise-level storage. So we went from Unity to PowerMax to give us that tier that we were looking for."

      What is our primary use case?

      We use it for data storage, for file.

      How has it helped my organization?

      When it comes to provisioning and management, the solution has reduced complexity because we combined several systems down into one. We're utilizing that technology to see what we have available for file, instead of multiple technologies, and trying to converge all of that together to understand what our capacity management meets are.

      Also, Unity's are more easily administrated, so we need fewer people to do the administration. We have less overhead because of that.

      What is most valuable?

      We do replication and snapshotting. We're using that as a backup technology to leverage snapshotting.

      What needs improvement?

      We went to the PowerMax because of the needs that we have for the business. We're doing true enterprise-level storage. So we went from Unity to PowerMax to give us that tier that we were looking for.

      What do I think about the stability of the solution?

      It's stable. It works well.

      Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

      We had a lot of different solutions. They were all piecemeal'ed. We have manufacturing sites in 80 countries and every site did their own thing until corporate brought it back in. That's when we started to go with Unity. And now we're making the transition to PowerMax.

      We use Dell EMC because they're the premier player.

      What about the implementation team?

      We used one of our premier partners to implement it. 

      What other advice do I have?

      My advice is to take this solution. It does what it tells you it's going to do.

      Instead of using multiple types of backup or file storage, we were trying to combine all of that into Unity. Now we're trying to refresh that again and go with the newer technology, the enterprise-level storage. Unity met our overall performance expectations for what it is, and then we obviously needed the enterprise level, so we're going with the PowerMax now.

      I would rate Unity at eight out of ten. Any application or product has room for improvement. I don't see anything out there that's a ten. Unity is functional for what it needs to be.

      Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
      PeerSpot user
      Buyer's Guide
      Download our free Dell Unity XT Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
      Updated: March 2024
      Product Categories
      All-Flash Storage
      Buyer's Guide
      Download our free Dell Unity XT Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.