VNX [EOL] Reviews

It has enabled us to consolidate storage, both primary and secondary, on a single platform. This simplified administration provided the necessary performance to our virtualized infrastructure.

• Reliability, excellent support by EMC, and VMware integration
• High availability including non-disruptive updates: We cannot afford downtime windows.
• SSD tier: Provided desired performance with fewer disks
• Storage pooling and auto-tiering: Simplified storage management
• Seamless integration with VMware
• Fairly simple administration using Unisphere

I would like to see a larger SP cache and finer grained auto-tiering.

Based on our workloads, we see repeatedly in performance reports that the built-in controller (SP) cache of our VNX model is not sufficiently large, resulting in forced cache flushing.

The report states that this "can be addressed with a shared global cache in next generation VNX systems". But for this VNX generation (1st), the cache size results in an overloaded system.

Regarding auto-tiering, this generation VNX FAST algorithm moves data in 1GB chunks between tiers. With our predominantly transaction oriented workload (random reads) this didn't afford benefits.

So when we purchased new VNXs (same generation), we configured the SSD tier as FAST Cache, a large 2nd tier consisting of 10K disks with a small 3rd tier with NL-SAS disks. Had the block size been smaller, auto-tiering may have been more effective for our workloads.

We did not encounter any stability issues.

We did not encounter any scalability issues.

Technical support was fantastic.

We switched because the previous solution was outdated. We were using Multiple IBM DS4700, external SCSI arrays, and HP MSA.

We needed to consolidate storage along with server consolidation on modern and faster storage technology that would integrate with VMware.

The initial setup was straightforward. It was part of the virtualization project undertaken by our partner.

We evaluated NetApp.

The product has been superseded.

All of the VMware farm is configured into this storage.

• Good performance for VM environments
• In one cabinet, we have many environments: VMware, Oracle, Adabas, NAS (CIFS and NFS resources), and mix disks on tier configurations
• Tier configuration with different disks (SAS, SATA, Flash)
• The software for management is very user-friendly
• Snapshots for backup and refresh development on test environments

There is an easy replication process between distinct data centers via VPLEX and/or RPA. But I hope in the future that EMC/Dell could replicate this with other types of storage.

I did not encounter any stability issues.

I did not encounter any scalability issues.

I would give technical support a rating of 10/10.

The setup was very easy.

The pricing and licensing were both very balanced.

This is a good option if you are looking for good performance.

By utilizing the Storage Pools feature of the VNX, our organization can provide the required performance without having to over-invest in storage for data that doesn't require expensive drives.

One of the best features of the VNX is the ability to combine drives of different types into a virtual Storage Pool. By combining small but fast flash drives, SAS drives, and high-capacity but slower NL-SAS drives, the VNX can intelligently move data to the different tiers of storage based on usage. This maximizes performance and investment by making sure commonly accessed data is stored in flash, while rarely-accessed data can be sent to the NL-SAS drives.

The management software used for the VNX is Unicenter. While it is an improvement over Navicenter, used in older EMC SANs, it still feels outdated in comparison to other SAN management software. Reporting is clunky and requires data collection to files, which then have to be retrieved and uploaded to a third-party site for processing before finally downloading the report.

There were never any stability problems thanks to fully redundant storage processors, power supplies, and hot spare drives.

We did purchase additional shelves of drives a few years after the initial purchase. Again, with the support of EMC technical services, the hardware was added to the VNX without downtime or disruption. The Storage Pools allow for dynamic addition of new drives.

Customer Service:

Customer service is top-notch with a dedicated sales and technical resource who are familiar with your environment and spend a lot of time understanding your business needs.

Technical Support:

EMC technical support is top notch when utilizing the ESRS appliance which sends critical alerts directly to EMC. Failed drives were replaced without any input on my end, sometimes before I became aware of the failure. Support can also remote in and perform code upgrades.

Previous to the VNX, we were using an EMC CX-80 SAN. The reason for switching was to stay on a supported platform.

The initial setup involves completing a pre-install survey, which the installer needs to properly configure the settings (IP addresses, DNS, NTP, etc.). The questions are easy to understand.

The initial hardware setup and configuration was completed by on-site technicians from EMC. They were fully trained and certified on the VNX and had completed dozens of similar installations.

We calculated our ROI to three years and the planned life of the VNX is six years. We are currently in the process of migrating to a new EMC XtremIO SAN, which will have an even shorter ROI.

While EMC tends to be on the expensive side, the stability and support of their products are top-notch and I feel are worth the cost.

When we evaluated SANs, we also looked at solutions by IBM. Our familiarity and relationship with EMC weighed heavily with our choice.

Ease of use of the management software

I have used it for five years.

We have not encountered any deployment issues.

We have not encountered any stability issues.

We don't have any case where we need to add more storage on this product.

Customer service does respond on time.

Technical support is good.

I did not previously use a different solution. When I came in to my company, they were already using this product.

Initial setup is not as straightforward as other new storage that is available now; there are many things to do to create pool, LUN.

We implemented it through the vendor team; they have the knowledge on how to implement the product.

You need a lot of licenses in order to use this product, which makes the product expensive; the maintenance contract price also increases significantly every year.

I did not evaluate other options, as they already implemented the product before I started working at the company.

It is very easy to create new storage for a new requirement. Adding more storage to an existing storage pool is very quick and easy.

The most valuable feature is the auto-tiering, which helps in the speed of data access. We have a big VMware storage pool in each of our three arrays and we have never had users complain about response of any VM in our environment.

There is no easy way to defrag a RAID group. It would be nice to be able to reduce the size of a storage pool if the storage is not needed anymore.

When you need to defrag a raid group, in earlier array versions of EMC arrays like the CX line all you needed to do was to right click the raid group and select the Defrag option and the array would defrag the raid group. Now with the VNX series arrays, if you need to defrag a raid group it is a multi-step process that is all manual.

1. You need to list all the LUNs that need to be moved.

2. Then create temporary LUNs of the same size and SP in a location not in the raid group.

3. Migrate these LUNs to another location outside of the raid group.

4. Then create the LUNs again back in the original raid group, this will move all of the unused space to the end of the raid group.

5. Migrate the temporary LUNs back to these LUNs in the original raid group.

With that being said, with the VNX array, you never have to defrag the space in a Storage Pool.

No issues in stability.

No issues in scaling up, but there is no way to reduce the size of a storage pool.

Customer Service:

EMC's customer service is excellent.

Technical Support:

Their technical support is great. They have been able to quickly help when I have encountered any issue with this platform.

We were previously using the CX3 arrays. We switched because the CX3 was end of life and we needed a platform that could support more disk space growth.

The initial setup was straightforward. But, we did have professional services help with the installation.

We used a vendor team.

Make sure you understand how the licensing works and that you are getting the right set of licenses if you need array-to-array replication.

We also looked at the HPE 3PAR. I liked the array, but we stayed with the EMC product because we already knew how to manage it.

A hybrid, tiered storage such as VNX:

• Enables data where IOPS is critical to be placed in SSDs
• Archives data to be placed in NL-SAS disks where IOPS is not in demand

It is very stable, even during multiple power failures.

EMC VNX needs to support bigger SSDs. Next generation EMC Unity will do this.

We have not had stability issues.

We have had some scalability issues. Scalability options are limited due to the supported SSDs.

Technical support gets a rating of 5/5.

Previously, we had CLARiiON. VNX was the next technological shift.

VNX was very easy to set up. Guides are available on the EMC site.

The initial pricing and licensing are reasonable. Yearly EMC is more expensive.

We looked at IBM V7000 and others.

Go through EMC best practices for proper disk sizing and allocation.

It's easy to use, and integrate, I'm not storage-centric, as I just integrate storage along with other things. I can go in there and follow instructions to complete the job. I know all products are different, especially how they’re all clustered differently. For me, I don’t care because not looking at raw data or specifications (e.g. how many SSDs, how tiered), I just follow instructions for the virtualization aspect.

It’s one of the better industry-accepted names and standards. Not necessarily cheap, but for me it’s all about familiarity. I've worked with this type of storage for many years.

Make major changes to the file services, Celera, do something like a lite version. It used to be more solid product before unifying Clarion and Celera.

It’s very stable in all the years I've worked with it. I know it’s stable and the support is there.

It’s definitely scalable. VNX to large SAN with SDD to all with extra storage for VDI, they’re all hugely scalable. You can keep adding blocks of storage for different tiers, as well as sites of storage, with other products (replicated with backups).

All experiences with tech support have been positive. It was never problem with product itself, mostly configuration issue caused by the integrator or client. They worked through it.

I was always second fiddle as there was always a network person and virtualization person and a storage person. It's always straightforward in terms of everyone following plan and working together. The end result is always the operational system being delivered.

• NetApp
• Dell

Research stuff that’s been proven, and what you can afford.

It’s a great platform that’s evolved very quickly that overtook NetApp with the Vblock initiative. Everything was valuable – HA, SRM, Vplex, metrocluster, entire suite of products

We can deploy quickly and it’s storage-based, making it data-focused that provides a virtualized and structured way of moving data.

I can’t think of anything because they’re evolving more and more. They’re making headway into datacenter where non-structured data-type infrastructure around Hadoop, security, encryption.

It's very stable, and works well with VMware.

It’s amazing, you can add and stack, and add more elements. You can group to scale horizontally and vertically, can add VMware tech, can add flash arrays, and everything integrates seamlessly. The intelligence controls everything. I don’t worry about infrastructure and I don’t have to move to the cloud.

Our TAM is great and acts as a liaison for us with EMC.

It was complex, as you really need to understand what you’re doing and have different layers (architects engineers operations, networking, etc.), BUT it’s straightforward, as if you follow procedures, it will work out well, but everyone needs to be onboard. It’s simple to run, but the setup was complex.

they don’t quite provide enough security in the data centre. There’s a discrepancy between it, DevOps and automation.

It is easy to deploy, has a simple interface, and has all the valuable features a small business would need to get going. It has thin provisioning which means a lower TCO and it has FAST cache support which means that performance is not compromised.

This entry level product has just enough premium features to make it effective. One example is when a client was able to leverage the thin capabilities of the array and it's tight VMware integration to go from a legacy array taking up lots of rack space and power to a 2U VNXe1600 which helps reduce the amount of rack space and in turn power and cooling requirements

As an entry level array, this is just right, but adding support for FAST-VP would be beneficial although that feature is available on the higher end VNXe3200.

If you are looking for a stable,powerful and effective entry level SAN that you can provision on your own for a small environment or a small office/remote office situation - this is definately the product for you.

Block and NAS on multiple VNX's are all managed from the same Unisphere GUI. Plus, it has great data migration tools e.g. EMCopy.

Unisphere provides a one-stop go-to place to manage all my VNX storage arrays, saving me time, and screen space.

I preferred HP EVA over Clariion for block due to the simpler GUI, but the VNX (that uses Clariion-like block) appears more complex due to the flexibility it ultimately offers. It has more functionality/flexibility which means a more complex interface. But, all things considered, Unisphere is a very good interface. It doesn't seem too fast though, but that could be the environment rather than the VNX product, to be fair.

I've used it for four years, nine if you include when it was Clariion.

No issues encountered.

No issues encountered.

No issues encountered.

I don't like the way EMC's Powerlink support is behind a wall. You need to register an account, and join that account with your product serial numbers to open up the support pages and downloads for your products. As a consultant, I find that far too restrictive.

They are very good if you engage with them, so very high.

I use whatever my end client has purchased, be it EMC or another product. I don't often get to choose, but I would recommend a VNX if asked.

The documentation is very very good (with the exception of CAVA (optional anti-virus agent). That took some figuring out before I got it working properly, due to a subtle detail with physical/virtual data-movers. Setting one up should only be done with the documentation. never wing it.

Mostly in house, but I've worked with a vendor team post implementation where they test it end to end, and they're excellent.

I didn't choose it, but I would choose it. As mentioned above, I have enjoyed both EMC and HP's offerings in the marketplace. Depending on how simple the customer needs it to be, might sway my recommendation one way or the other, but in terms of functionality, VNX is very very good.

Watch the YouTube videos first, they're very good. If you understand what's being said, buy it.