What is our primary use case?
We use VxRail for the promotion of all our infrastructure VM services.
How has it helped my organization?
VxRail has helped us by increasing the performance and capacity of our workload.
What is most valuable?
I have found the vSAN is highly flexible. The documentation is good and the interface of the solution is responsive and fast. The interface has everything you need to manage the solution, such as the VxRail and VMware integration. You can manage the hardware from within the VMware plasma pan.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using VxRail for approximately four years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
VxRail is stable because it has redundancies. VxRail is our standard system for the deployment of HR environments.
We have one person for the maintenance of the solution and one person for the backups.
We use the solution on a daily basis.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I have found VxRail highly scalable. You are able to add more nodes and increase the hardware to scale. It is flexible.
We have thousands of people using the solution. However, it is difficult to know for sure since many different business units use it.
How are customer service and support?
VxRail comes from Dell and they have a one-stop service. You can work with Dell to get everything solved. Any issues in hardware or in software, whether it be VMware related or Dell related, everything is done by one team from Dell. The support aspects of the solution are good but it carries a price. We're happy to pay the price if we get that level of service.
One of the most valuable aspects of the support is the knowledge of the people and the speed at which they respond. If you have a problem and you phone them up, they immediately have the experts at the end of the phone to assist. if there is a problem they come in and fix the problem quite fast. If it is more difficult they will spend the time that is needed to solve it. They have helped us out of some heavy situations we caused ourselves. The support is very good.
The support that they offer us is why we purchased the solution.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We have previously used Hyper-V-based systems, StarWind, and Nutanix. We have mostly done testing of the other solutions and have not fully introduced them. Out of all the solutions we tested, we settled on the VMware-based VxRail.
We switched from the others solutions because the support from Dell VxRail was excellent.
How was the initial setup?
The configurations of VxRail can be difficult. However, it has improved in the newer version. From version 6 to 7, there has been a lot of changes.
The initial setup of VxRail was straightforward because they get handled by Dell themselves. There is a one-stop-shop for all your needs. They gather the information on what you require in your environment and how you want to set it up, such as what local IT information networks are required. They do a good job and the whole process took them a couple of hours to half a day.
What about the implementation team?
Dell did the implementation of the solution for us.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
VxRail is expensive because it's based on VMware and V-SAN. The price is not the cheapest. The technical support is expensive, but it is a good service.
What other advice do I have?
My advice to others would be not to attempt to fix issues yourself and let Dell look after them.
I rate VxRail 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.
