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The Dell EMC PowerStore 1000T provides organizations with all the benefits of a unified storage platform for block, file and vVol data, while enabling flexible growth with the intelligent scale-up and scale-out capability of appliance clusters.
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Dell EMC PowerStore 1000T Unified Storage is rated
4.50 out of
5 by
23.
Rated 5 out of
5 by
Pawel Augustyn from
A solution with great virtual machines and file server databases
What is our primary use case?
Our primary use case for this solution is virtual machines and file server databases.
What is most valuable?
We have found the duplication compression feature very valuable.
What needs improvement?
The product could be improved by including a synchronizing feature for the file systems.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using this solution for ten months and we are currently using version 1.0.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable. I rate it an eight out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is scalable.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was straightforward.
What about the implementation team?
We used vendors the first time we deployed and deployed it in-house the second time. It took us half a day to complete the deployment.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I rate the licensing costs a seven out of ten.
What other advice do I have?
I rate this solution an eight out of ten. The solution is good, but a synchronizing feature could be included to improve the solution.
Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-09-17T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
Maurizio Davini from
Gives us performance and flexibility, and has completely changed our scientific computation environment
What is our primary use case?
The use case for this solution is based on VMware and that is why we chose PowerStore X. During the first period of the pandemic, we decided to use our VMware infrastructure for HPC workloads. We were looking for high-performance storage that could be inserted inside our VMware environment in an easy way. PowerStore, which had just been announced, seemed like the right solution and so we decided to buy. We have this storage environment inside the virtual HPC.
In our environment we are doing medical analysis related to genomic workloads. The data are acquired remotely from experiments and stored on the PowerStore. The PowerStore is exposed to the user through virtual machines, and the data are analyzed in this environment.
How has it helped my organization?
During the pandemic, we were looking for something that could easily increase our scientific computing capabilities. It was not for something related to our university's enterprise applications. We were looking for something that was easy to provide inside our virtual scientific computation environment. PowerStore was really the best we could buy. And it has changed things completely. Our scientific computations were traditional before, in the sense of NFS or traditional HPC. PowerStore, now, is a key factor for the virtual HPC environment that we have.
Also, the solution's Anytime Upgrade program is a key factor so that we can keep the storage upgraded without any downtime. We have experienced some software upgrades on the system over the last year, and everything has run quite smoothly and we are very happy about that. I expect the Anytime Upgrade program will save us money and it saves time, for sure. It's difficult, in our environment, to estimate how much time this program has saved us because we don't typically track the time we spend. But if you take into account the fact that the upgrade is almost automatic, almost without people intervening, that is the reason we save time. You can schedule an upgrade, so you know when you are upgrading, but you don't need people looking into it. We save the amount of time people would typically have to devote to an upgrade.
We bought the PowerStore for performance and flexibility, and we are 100 percent satisfied with both.
What is most valuable?
* Flexibility
* Performance
* Easy of use
It also has some very good compression capabilities.
We were looking for a solution that was easy to install in our VMware environment, that was flexible. PowerStore X is a type of a VMware cluster that you install inside your environment. If you have a VMware environment, like we have in production, it's easy to install and use.
It enables us to add compute or capacity independently. We have also deployed some apps on PowerStore, even though the PowerStore we have is not the biggest one you can buy. One of the main characteristics of PowerStore is that it is like another piece of VMware, so you can run applications on top, applications that have direct access to the storage. The ability to add compute or capacity independently is great because it adds more flexibility to our environment. You are not adding only storage, but you're adding some not-so-big computing capability. You have the possibility of adding some virtual machines, running NVMe storage, and that is a real plus for this solution.
In addition, PowerStore's built-in intelligence for helping to simplify IT operations is incredible. When we approached PowerStore, we had an idea that it was a normative platform, but we were impressed by the capability of the solution. It's probably one of the best pieces of storage that we have installed here.
What needs improvement?
Where the system needs to improve is by adding more enterprise features like replication on other sites. We would also like it to be much more aligned with the VMware version. For example, today we have two different versions of VMware ESXi running to keep the PowerStore online. It would be better if the software cycling was faster.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using Dell EMC PowerStore for almost a year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's a stable solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
PowerStore is the latest and the best technology available. The design for scalability of the solution is perfect. It's something that can grow vertically and horizontally, by design. Of course, it's NVMe storage, so it's not cheap. You can expand the solution using less expensive storage upgrades in the PowerStore, so it's very good. By design, it's a wonderful machine. Of course, if you want to go all-NVMe, you have to be able to afford it.
How are customer service and technical support?
Dell EMC's customer and technical support are the best in the market, for sure. We have almost all the Dell EMC solutions here, so we know the support very well and it is absolutely the best in the market.
How was the initial setup?
The installation was quite smooth and easy. After one week, everything was up and running.
What about the implementation team?
The installation was done by Dell EMC people and us, together. Our experience with them was incredible, as usual. We have several types of Dell EMC storage here, so we know their abilities. Everything was smooth.
What was our ROI?
ROI was a key factor for us, for this infrastructure. We have seen ROI in that we have been able to give our researchers an environment that they didn't have before. It has been a complete success. It's a completely new environment. We didn't have anything similar before. Every cent spent has been worth it.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price is not cheap, but it's worth it for the features you get from the storage. If you can afford it, you are probably buying the best solution that you can have for this virtual environment.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
For this environment, PowerStore was almost unique when we chose it, so we did not evaluate other solutions.
What other advice do I have?
We weren't concerned that PowerStore is a relatively new platform. We were not inserting it in an enterprise environment. We were inserting it in a scientific computing environment, which is where we tend to install all the latest technologies. It was not a problem.
If you have a production VMware environment, the platform is no longer new and is probably the most flexible performance storage system that you can buy today.
We are not using the solution's load balancing at the moment but it's something that we are looking into. We use PowerStore's built-in VMware hypervisor to run VMs and virtualized applications, but we are not using it at the edge. We know that is one of the capabilities of this kind of solution, but we are using it in our central computing facility.
We experienced some small issues, but the virtual machine was new. But our choice was a good one. The machine is easy to use, the performance is there, and we are happy.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclaimer: IT Central Station 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.
Date published: 2021-03-21T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
Duco Rob from
Machine learning and automation work well, and inline deduplication enables us to host more data
What is our primary use case?
We were in need of a new enterprise storage solution for our virtual machines. We use it for primary systems and processes, so for us it's very important.
How has it helped my organization?
The built-in intelligence adapts quickly to changing workload requirements. It works as we expected it to work. It doesn't give you a view into how it's doing it because it's doing it in the backend, but up until now, every process has been working perfectly fine.
The biggest benefit is that we have an enterprise storage solution we can rely on. It does simplify storage operations. It's easy to manage.
In the few months that we have used it, the performance has been great.
What is most valuable?
The way you're able to manage all your PowerStores as one solution is very good for us. PowerStore enables you to federate or cluster multiple appliances with automated load balancing. In terms of management, it's helpful that we can do it from a single interface where we're able to manage multiple PowerStores. When you have multiple PowerStores, it works intelligently by running the workloads based on the needs of the infrastructure.
The solution's machine learning and automation work well when it comes to optimizing resources. It does inline deduplication which means that the net the amount of storage you have available is bigger. It can do all kinds of optimization in the system itself and that works very well.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using Dell EMC PowerStore for about three months.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The most valuable features of PowerStore are its scale up and scale out. We are able to scale up if we need more space or more power in the current PowerStore setup, but we can also scale out if we want to put in an extra one beside it or in another data center.
How are customer service and technical support?
Technical support for Compellent was a lot better because for Dell EMC the PowerStore is a new solution and they don't have a lot of people here in the Netherlands with the right knowledge to work on it.
Having said that, I don't have many concerns that it's a new solution. Other people do have concerns about that, but I believe in the knowledge of Dell EMC. Also, it's not 100 percent new. It's based on another hardware system, so I have no concerns.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Before, we were on Dell EMC Compellent hardware, and that was based on a tiering principle whereby we used quick and slower storage. We had more and more issues with that because it was a little bit outdated, around five years old. We were looking for a new solution to house our infrastructure.
How was the initial setup?
The setup process could be improved. We had some issues regarding configuration and the time it took to do things. It wasn't specifically the people we worked with, but more the process and how it's done. They can work on that.
I'm not satisfied with the process they used to do the setup and the timeframe within which everything was done. For example, there were things which we needed to do together with Dell EMC. There were three meetings for doing three specific things, but we could have done them in one meeting. That's why the duration, from the moment we bought the hardware until we were able to use it, was two or three months. We had expected that we would be able to use the hardware quicker. But because of the implementation process, it took us longer than we wanted.
What was our ROI?
Three months is too soon for us to see ROI.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
When we compared it with the other solutions, the pricing of PowerStore was equal. The pricing is good.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I don't know what the names were because I was not 100 percent involved in the selection process, but there were two other vendors we looked at.
One of the main differences was the way they do inline deduplication. In the backend, PowerStore does all kinds of smart things. The result is that with less physical storage being used, we are able to host more data. Also the fact that PowerStore is completely NVMe-based means performance is great, thanks to the technical architecture.
What other advice do I have?
The solution enables you to add compute and capacity independently, although in our environment we cannot add compute. We are able to add storage and that works, although we have not done so because we have only been working with PowerStore for three months and haven't needed any extra capacity yet.
Only three people work with PowerStore in our company, and they are all system administrators.
I'm happy with the choice we made. I can recommend PowerStore because the technical architecture is based on NVMe. They have a good USP. There are other vendors who also have NVME-only systems, but I still recommend PowerStore.
Disclaimer: IT Central Station 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.
Date published: 2021-04-12T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
reviewer1526187 from
VMware integration was a big factor for us, and we have benefited from the advanced dedupe, compression, and replication
What is our primary use case?
We do a lot of cloning of databases for either troubleshooting or to stage and prepare implementation. We are a SaaS provider in the real estate industry and we're either using the PowerStore to help expedite things in our development environment, or we're using it to help troubleshoot any problems that we have.
We have north of 13 petabytes of storage in our environment.
How has it helped my organization?
PowerStore has enabled us to add additional storage to that we hadn't planned on, which allows us to defer the purchase of some additional storage.
We've really improved the amount of storage that we're able to effectively utilize because of its better deduping. It has about a 50 percent better dedupe rate, with its intelligence, than we had been previously getting. Overall, we've benefited from the dedupe, compression, and replication, the advanced technology, of this frame. It's all better than what we had in the previous generation of XtremIO appliances, and above what we were getting in the Dell EMC Unitys.
What is most valuable?
My guys have told me that the administration tools take advantage of machine learning and make recommendations to the admins, and that makes the administration easier.
For how long have I used the solution?
We've been using Dell EMC PowerStore for about six months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We've had no issues with the machines since turning them on.
The machine supports "six nines" of availability. Anything they could do to push it closer to "seven nines" of availability would be extremely beneficial.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It scales both horizontally and vertically.
How are customer service and technical support?
The support has been phenomenal.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We replaced an older, high-performance storage device that was very expensive. With PowerStore, we were able to achieve the IOPS, and we were also able to get a data compression rate significantly above what we had expected. We were able to retire that older, very expensive piece of storage by bringing in the PowerStore. It's been faster and cheaper than we had expected, per terabyte.
Another reason that we were after this machine was PowerStore's VMware integration. We're a very large VMware customer. Some 98 percent of our workload runs on VMware.
How was the initial setup?
The setup was very straightforward. We bought it with the setup from Dell EMC support. We bought it, they shipped it, and a Dell EMC engineer coordinated with my storage engineer. We set it up and then did the data migration. On these particular frames, we needed very little help. It all went very seamlessly.
We had a couple of data center engineers involved, as well as a couple of storage admins, and a storage architect.
Our storage administrators took very limited training to get up to speed on the machines.
What about the implementation team?
Dell EMC was involved and the experience was very good. They showed up when they were supposed to, all the pre-work was done. They did the post-work, and there were no concerns from our team.
What was our ROI?
We exceeded the business case of the device that we had. We were able to add more workloads to the environment than the business case allowed, and we are still migrating more. So our cost per IOP and our cost per gigabyte have been substantially lower than our business case.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We did a very competitive analysis on the pricing and compared it against the tradeoffs of the other storage products that we had previously bought, and we found PowerStore to be favorable on a cost-per-compute basis.
There's still a cap on the upgrade path, where you can consume all the engines within the frame before you have to go to another frame. I would like more flexibility to increase the number of engines on the frames. Normally, we exceed the IOPS on the frames before we can ever exhaust the storage, so anything they can do to help us avoid stranded storage capacity, capacity that we couldn't get to, would be beneficial.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We've looked at several other solution environments, including Pure, HPE, as well as Violin and a couple of the other vendors that rate high in industry reviews. For us, with our large dependence on VMware, if we can get a cost-competitive solution from Dell EMC, with their ability to support VMware, we end up with a whole lot less finger-pointing in the mix.
You can add compute or capacity independently, meaning it has greater capabilities than the Unitys that we had been targeting for our non-SaaS environment, and it has performed admirably.
What other advice do I have?
Clearly test out the workloads and don't necessarily be afraid because it's a new device. Work with Dell EMC to get a great contractual solution that will protect you with the new technology. This new technology does perform. It's a great performance machine.
Although it's a relatively new platform, I was fairly confident in Dell EMC technology's support for the environment and in the performance that we had had with other machines. I felt there was very little risk in the migration to this solution, and we were really excited about the improved capabilities.
In terms of PowerStore's built-in VMware hypervisor, we really haven't used it at the edge, although I can see its capabilities there. As a SaaS provider, we generally provide in the center. For the targeted workload that we have, it's performing substantially better than we had expected within our business case.
We're very happy with the machine. It has multiple CPUs per storage frame, which is better than the predecessor machine, and there is a RAM increase as well. We got what was advertised and even a little bit better than what was advertised.
We've been very excited by the capabilities of the appliance, to the point that the person who runs the infrastructure for me is now looking for a proposal to consolidate all of our non-VMAX work on PowerStores. The performance and the administration of the machine have been great and we're looking at how we can get additional returns on this targeted workload.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclaimer: IT Central Station 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.
Date published: 2021-04-07T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
reviewer1681656 from
Scalable, reliable, and straightforward installation
What is our primary use case?
We are a cloud service provider and we use Dell EMC PowerStore for the storage.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Dell EMC PowerStore for approximately one year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We have found the solution very stable and we like it very much.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Dell EMC PowerStore is scalable.
There are many users using this solution and we have over 50 customers.
How are customer service and support?
I did not contact Dell support for this Dell EMC PowerStore solution but I have contacted them before for other solutions. I am typically happy with Dell's support.
How was the initial setup?
The solution is easy to install.
What about the implementation team?
We have a team of four engineers that do the implementation and maintenance of the solution.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price of Dell EMC PowerStore could be better, it is a bit expensive.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend this solution to others.
I rate Dell EMC PowerStore a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclaimer: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:Partner
Date published: 2021-10-16T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
reviewer1648785 from
Enabled us to consolidate high-IOPS and lower tiers, but the licensing process is complicated
What is our primary use case?
We use it to host all the VMware workloads in production. It has all the types of workloads that any data center would have, from AD to file servers as well as SQL, Exchange, and BI. It holds all our high-tier VMs.
How has it helped my organization?
PowerStore helps to simplify IT operations. At the site where it is installed, we have consolidated two tiers with the high-IOPS and lower tiers. We have enough capacity with lower power consumption and enough performance to handle the required overload.
It gives us the capacity and the performance we need. Before, things were on 10K disks, while this is flash. There is a very big difference. Previously, we were connected directly, with a back-to-back connection between servers and storage. Now, we have multiple servers connected to SAN switches and those switches are connected to the storage. For sure, the performance of the system is sky-high. In terms of IOPS we are fully satisfied by the PowerStore.
We use the solution’s built-in VMware hypervisor to run VMs and virtualized applications, directly on the storage appliance. We manage multiple sites and we don't have enough teams to allocate support at all sites. So our support team handles all our sites. It's very important for us to have a consolidated infrastructure that we can manage remotely, without needing someone available locally to do the patching/power-up/creation and life cycle management tasks. Having this box, along with the integration with VMware, and VMware's capabilities, gives us what we need.
What is most valuable?
I like the performance of the PowerStore. When you talk about PowerStore, it's mainly about flash systems and high-end IOPS. The 1000T is a midsize box, in terms of the way the vendor positions it, but it is more than enough for our needs. At the site where it is located, there are about eight servers connected. The high IOPS support our needs. It is very performant.
What needs improvement?
We have an issue with the integration of this box and VMware. I have downloaded so many books from Dell EMC's website. We created the volumes as VVols. The information they gave us said we would directly see the capacity. Unfortunately, that is not true. You only see it after you put data on it. When you create the volume but there is no data, you don't see how the actual capacity grows. This is peculiar regarding this box.
For how long have I used the solution?
We installed it at the beginning of September, about three months ago. By the end of September it was put into production with all the loads we required.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is stable, but we have only operated it for less than six weeks, which is not that much. But performance-wise it is giving us what was promised, so far.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Because we have changed the topology of our data centers' interconnectivity and the data movement between sites—we have multiple sites in multiple locations and countries—we asked Dell EMC to give us additional expansion for the box, but with disks at the lower tier. In that way, we are insuring our investment in this box and doing a consolidation. But it also means we don't need to buy high-end disks for it. We may go with 10K disks for the lower-tier data.
I think we will go for a second box like this one in the near future, but in a different location.
How are customer service and support?
When I tried to open a ticket with the Dell EMC team, during the installation phase, they kept bouncing me from one support center to another, from the United States to France to wherever. I ended up preferring to finish the installation without continuing the case. Dell EMC's support case management wasn't really set up to suit our needs. When I gave them the serial number of the box, they said, "Ah, it's a PowerStore. It's not this department, you need a different department." The support is not very well structured.
In addition to the licensing issue I mentioned, we also opened a ticket concerning the dedupe and the data showing on the storage interface. No one answered so we escalated it to our partner and they escalated it to a consultant.
Overall, support is not smooth when it comes to the portal and the standard support system. I had to go to our reseller to ask him to get us the information we needed.
To be fair, I spent a huge amount of time working with IBM, versus only the two to three months on Dell EMC. But knowing Dell EMC as a brand, as a competitor to IBM, I know it can do much better in terms of support and awareness of customers' needs.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We were not searching for a particular brand. We were searching for storage that would be delivered ASAP with a certain IOPS capacity. And, of course, pricing was part of it. The vendor that sold us this box said they were able to send it right away. From that point, the discussion went to Dell EMC versus ordering IBM. Our discussions about how to move forward with our storage took at least four to six weeks. If we had then put in an order with IBM, it would have taken at least another six weeks. So we would have had a 10 to 12-week process. We didn't have this luxury. We couldn't wait that long, so the decision was based on the time of delivery.
We will move everything off our old Lenovo storage that is now four or five years old, and that will be used for backup only. All our production VMs will be on the flash and all the less important pieces, like the file servers, will be on the 10K disks.
How was the initial setup?
During the installation phase, the licensing part was not straightforward. It was very difficult for the technicians, who are not trained Dell EMC technicians, to do the licensing because the information on their website is not straightforward. You can't find your way easily. You spend some time getting the information. So the licensing activation was a little bit tricky for us. Maybe the installation issue was due to our lack of knowledge, but the licensing part and the escalation need to be smoother. Eventually, I had to pass this task to our business partner and they did it for us.
There is a web interface for LAN creation, host mapping, and digital capacity. We created it as a VVol, mapped it to the box, and started moving data from the old Lenovo to this box.
Because my background is not Dell EMC, it took us about two to three days to finish not only the boxes but the installation of the SAN switches as well. We had to migrate all the data from the old Lenovo to it, and we had to do work related to the ESX servers.
What about the implementation team?
We only used internal resources.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I was a technical manager for about 20 years in a company that is a business partner for IBM. My "DNA" is in IBM. However, when I shifted to my current company, they have multiple types of hardware vendors, both IBM and non-IBM. Before the acquisition of the Dell EMC PowerStore 1000T, I did a comparison with information from IBM sources, from Dell EMC sources, and from neutral sources. At that time I downloaded information from IT Central Station. After that, we acquired the box.
What other advice do I have?
I would like to wait another few months before giving any advice about the product, to see if there are any other hassles or any issues. But if someone is considering going with PowerStore, I would say yes. It's a good box.
Ultimately, it's about performance, capacity, and price, as opposed to AI learning et cetera, the same as it has always been.
I was not concerned about the fact that it is a relatively new platform because the Dell EMC brand is number-one in the market.
Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2021-11-29T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
Peter Kidiavai from
The built-in intelligence can adapt quickly to changing workload requirements
What is our primary use case?
We have two appliances — a primary and a secondary — and they are synchronized, so all the volumes are replicated. If the primary appliance goes down, we can get functions on the other side. When it's writing on one side, writing is disabled on the other side. In the event of disaster recovery, we can enable writing, and then we can do anything from there.
How has it helped my organization?
PowerStore simplified everything because we have a duplicate copy of all the volumes on the primary side. If anything happens, we can get data from the other side. It also takes hourly snapshots. If anything gets corrupted, we can recover using the snapshots. It's easier for our business to create volumes and allocate space on a volume. You don't have to go through the hassle of zoning the volume and doing everything else. It's simple.
What is most valuable?
PowerStore is easy to use. All the drives use soft encryption. To upgrade it, you download the app, and it runs by itself. It's very easy to deploy, share, and create volumes. It's active, so you can have two nodes on one appliance. If Node A goes down, you still get node B at the bottom running.
I would rate PowerStore's machine learning and AI eight out of 10 because customer automation is very easy. It's just a click of the button, You can also use what they call Cloud IQ, which is an online storage and monitoring software. If you log on to the internet, you can check on your plans to see how much space is left. Cloud IQ analytics software is free as long as you have an account with Dell.
Dell's built-in intelligence is the best because it can also calculate how much data is needed for storage beforehand and if you need to add more drives or anything. The built-in intelligence can adapt quickly to changing workload requirements. We were able to migrate from IBM storage by uploading an image. With other devices, it's sometimes hard to migrate from different forms of storage, but PowerStore was very quick. We didn't have any downtime because once we were able to create the image, we just had to do a cut-over on the other side.
Pretty soon it's going to be Meditech certified, so it's going to be able to run Meditech. Right now we are using a different solution to run Meditech, but once it gets certified, we'll be able to move from the other appliance. VMware integration is very easy too. PowerStore gives us leverage, we can tell how much space is allocated to the VM and what's happening on a VM.
For how long have I used the solution?
We just installed PowerStore this spring.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
PowerStore is highly stable. If one node goes down, it's going to alert you at any time. And then since you're using Cloud IQ, you can see all the alerts and everything. You can install Cloud IQ on your cell phone, so you'll get a notification on your phone.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
You can scale PowerStore. If you look at the cost of getting a next-generation XtremIO, we can get two PASTs for the cost of one XtremIO, so it's cheaper to get the PAST. It just came out. It's new, so I don't know about the usage out there, but for us, it's a small beast. It does everything.
How are customer service and support?
Dell's support is perfect. I rate Dell's support nine out of 10. You call them when you have an issue, and they'll get back to you within 24 hours. If it's a serious issue, they respond in four hours. The system itself does a lot. It lets you know when it needs to be updated. And if the upgrade fails, you can just revert to the previous version. This happened once, but we tried again and I didn't have to revert to the older version.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Before PowerStore, we were using IBM SVC. We switched because we are getting more virtualized. PowerStore is a new solution, but we were not concerned about switching because we went through a third party called SIS, and they've already installed a couple of PowerStore storage devices in different hospitals. If you look at the DS 7000 in the data center, it's a rack. There are maybe four racks for the same storage solution on one parcel. So it also minimizes space. We only have one 2U rack and it's running like 96 terabytes.
How was the initial setup?
PowerStore is easy to install and deploy. It takes less than a day.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price is on the higher side. It's alright relative to what PowerStore does.
What other advice do I have?
I'll rate Dell EMC PowerStore 10 out of 10. I haven't had any issues with it since we've installed it. PowerStore is easy to adapt, and it's straightforward to use. You cannot even make a mistake on anything because it's going to make sure you confirm everything before you go to the next step. I haven't seen anything that needs to be improved yet. If I compare it with what we were using before, this one is genius.
Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2021-11-24T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
Jorg Lorbeer from
There have been multiple problems with stability, yet the performance makes our system faster
What is our primary use case?
We use it for machines from VMware vCenter which we keep separate from the PowerStore. It is only the storage. They are connected with iSCSI and NFS. We have no virtual machines directly on the PowerStore.
How has it helped my organization?
We are very impressed by the power of the system. We have gained performance for all our virtual machines and our system is running very fast.
Another benefit, for us, is the dedupe rate.
What is most valuable?
For access from virtual machines, iSCSI, and NFS, it is very good. It helps increase performance.
Also, the live dedupe application is very good.
What needs improvement?
In the first weeks, we had some problems with the dedupe. According to the warranty, we should have had a dedupe rate of at least two and we had not reached this value. We got an additional hard disk to match the planned capacity of the system and this helped a lot. We got to a dedupe rate of 1.9, and this was very good.
What we are missing is the monitoring. We cannot implement the health check of the system in our monitoring system. We have to open the PowerStore GUI every day.
Also, we have tried to install a separate virtual machine to integrate PowerStore to vCenter. VMware then provides a virtual machine with Photon OS. We have done this integration two times and it has run for some weeks. Then it stops working and I don't know why. We have not used it again. It has nice features and has saved a lot of time and creates a good integration, but it needs to be more stable.
Overall, they need to make the system stable. Again and again, we have problems with upgrades. The upgrades themselves are running fine, but after the upgrade is when we have a problem. With the update to 1.4, we had a head crash. They told us, "This is a known issue. Please upgrade to 2." We upgraded to 2 and, one week later they told us, "Yeah, there are some issues in 2.0.0. You can lose data. Please upgrade to 2.0.1." Overall, they need to make the system stable.
I try to avoid updates for such important, central systems. They require downtime for the whole company, as this is our only storage. It's not good to do so many upgrades. I have used other storage systems and, with them, it was never necessary to do so many upgrades in one year. Last year, I did four upgrades for the PowerStore but I have never done four upgrades over the lifetime of other storage systems. They have run four, five, or six years, sometimes more. I have never patched so often as I have with PowerStore.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using Dell EMC PowerStore since December of last year, so almost a year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The problem is the stability. We have a single system and on three occasions we have had unplanned head reboots because of a software failure. The positive side is that there was no impact as a result because there are two heads. It's not good to reboot a head, and we have submitted tickets about it, but the performance and the failover have been good.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We only have a single machine and we are currently using half of the hard disk slots. We have asked for an upgrade for the rest of the hard disks but, from my point of view, it costs too much. We have 12 to 15 hard disks inside and if we try to upgrade only the hard disks, it costs the same as the complete system. This is something I don't understand. It makes no sense. Buying 16 hard disks with storage costs about €40,000 and buying only 16 hard disks costs the same.
How are customer service and support?
Dell EMC's first-level technical support is very fast and they communicate well. Sometimes they explain things so I can understand why something is working the way it is. But currently, we have a ticket at the second level and for two weeks I have had no answer.
The issue is that each day we get a message from the storage, every three hours, telling us the network connectivity is lost. I don't know if this is true or not, and whether it is a failure. That is the ticket at level two but I have had no information about its status.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have used NetApp as well as HPE in the past. In this company, they replaced NetApp with PowerStore because the NetApp system was slow. The dedupe needed much improvement. If they stopped the dedupe, then the system power would go down. And the backup procedure took a lot of time. With PowerStore we have reduced the time for the backup by half or more.
In terms of the decision process to go with PowerStore, I was not working here at the time. After I started the company said, "Okay, in two weeks we are getting new storage. Please integrate it into our infrastructure." I know they needed a more powerful storage system and they wanted an upgrade option for the system.
How was the initial setup?
The integration of PowerStore into our existing environment was very straightforward. We had an external partner that helped us, but we had prepared the system in a test environment. We took that system and put it into the production system in about eight hours and the system was running. We then started to migrate the machines. It was a good implementation process and very fast.
We have two administrators of the solution. They are working with the system full-time handling requests to change hard disks or volumes, and they create new volumes. Across the company we have about 300 users using virtual machines and virtual desktops that are stored on the PowerStore.
What other advice do I have?
The performance of PowerStore is good, but I don't feel the software is completely ready. We have upgraded the system and have had failures on the system. I have never seen as many head crashes on other systems as we have had on the PowerStore in the last year. The system is fast but not stable enough.
I would not buy the system again. You should wait some years until the software is ready and doesn't have a new software release every two months.
Disclaimer: IT Central Station 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.
Date published: 2021-11-18T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
Niwat Srinamngern from
Efficient, good performance for deduplication and compression, and it integrates well with VMware
What is our primary use case?
Most of our PowerStore units are used for VMware VMs and vSphere. We migrated the VMs from our Unity storage.
We have two sites; the data center site (DC) and the disaster recovery (DR) site. We only use the PowerStore on the DC site. The project was put on hold due to COVID but we plan to continue with it this year.
How has it helped my organization?
VMware integration with the product is good. We use vSphere, which is one of the main VMware functions. In addition, we use vSAN for storage, and we have to use the SIEM.
This solution has helped us to simplify our storage operations, although we have a lot of storage devices and too few administrators. Because of this, we're looking for a software solution to assist us with administration. This is something that we will be doing next year.
Overall, we're quite happy with the product because we can move the data that is stored on more than 10 of our current storage devices to a single PowerStore. In terms of efficiency, this solution is the best choice for us.
What is most valuable?
The deduplication and compression features are quite impressive because when we enable this feature on other products, such as HPE 3PAR, we have a lot of latency. With PowerStore, we don't have that issue.
This device is less CPU intensive than the EMC Unity and the HPE 3PAR.
PowerStore supports the iSCSI interface, which we find helpful. We use one for our fiber channel but another one for iSCSI.
What needs improvement?
There is no Synchronize replication feature on the storage.
PowerStore should include more NAS functionality.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using EMC products since 2003, although I began using Dell EMC PowerStore only last year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Stability-wise, we have had no issues at all. In the past, all of our EMC products have been stable. We have not had the storage fail or had a faulty port. We have not even had to call support since putting it into production.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We plan to expand our usage in the future. One of our next goals is to purchase a PowerStore for our DR site because we need to have replication for our financial use case. We also plan to replace some of our other storage devices with PowerStore because we need to improve the overall efficiency.
How are customer service and support?
We have not opened a technical support case with Dell for PowerStore but because most of our products are from Dell, we have dealt with them in the past. We have purchased approximately 100 servers from Dell and we have always been quite happy with their support. We don't have any issues with them and I would rate them a ten out of ten.
Every time we have an issue, they work with us to resolve the problem. There has never been a need for a repeat call and we are quite happy with that.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We have many Dell EMC Unity storage devices, including the Unity 450 and Unity 650, but we wanted a new, smaller storage unit.
The main reason that we moved to PowerStore was the compression and deduplication.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is easier than other products, such as Unity.
We were able to set up the storage and put it into production within one day. PowerStore is very quick to set up. By comparison, Unity will take at least two days to install.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We are happy with the pricing that we get from Dell.
What other advice do I have?
This solution enables us to add compute and capacity independently, although we have not had to change our configuration.
PowerStore uses machine learning and automation for optimizing resources but we are just starting with it, so I don't know much about these features.
I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2021-12-13T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
reviewer1528422 from
Enables us to add compute and capacity independently, giving us flexibility in responding to business changes
What is our primary use case?
PowerStore is joined to four application servers in a cluster. We're running an application that we use to monitor our activity in the financial markets. We collect all the data from the market—books, trades, orders—that we send to the market. In terms of volume, we are collecting about 100 million rows a day for the books, 10 million a day for the orders, and about 500 rows for public trades.
It is a mission-critical application because of compliance and the regulators. We have to maintain this kind of monitoring because it's a direct link to our activity in the regulated market.
How has it helped my organization?
An interesting feature is the guaranteed reduction when it comes to the physical capacity of the disk. We have 30 terabytes of SSD and that is equivalent to 100 terabytes of effective capacity. It allows us to reduce the costs of capacity.
Our previous solution was Dell EMC Compellent. What we have seen immediately is how easy it is to use PowerStore compared to Compellent. PowerStore is much simpler to manage.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features include
* easy of use
* performance in terms of read-write capacity.
It is also important that you can add compute and capacity independently. We have sized the solution based on our current needs, but in the future we can choose to increase capacity if we grow our activity in the market. And if we have more business in our monetary system, we can increase compute. The ability to choose what we increase is a good feature.
What needs improvement?
The only area I can highlight for improvement is that the 4:1 data reduction target has not been reached. This may be due to an issue with Dell EMC's initial analysis of data compression. As a result, we have had to add new physical disks to reach our goal of total available disk space. Dell EMC has met us partway on this DRR issue by providing some of the additional disks free of charge, but we have had to purchase the remaining quantity of the disks we need.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using PowerStore in our production environment for a few months, after using it in pre-production for about two months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability has been very good so far.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have not tested the scalability yet. All our data is well supported in the current solution, but we sized the new solution with more capacity than the previous one had.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of PowerStore is a straightforward process. Setting up the Compellent was much more complex.
Overall, the setup took us about three weeks.
We ran it in a pre-production environment initially. We loaded all the data that was in production into the new environment and ran our application in both the pre-production and the production environments, just to test the stability and the availability of the application.
There are four people involved with the solution in our IT operations, and there are about 50 people who use the application that runs on it. Our application is a specific, department-level application, that is used for monitoring the activity in financial markets, so its use is limited to our business area. That is why the number of users is limited.
What about the implementation team?
Dell EMC's support was very efficient during the setup of the entire solution. They handled the complete setup in terms of connections and also helped us with the software configuration and moving data from our old solution into the new solution.
What was our ROI?
We haven't seen ROI yet, but the return for us will be in the efficiency of monitoring our activities.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing is in line with other vendors' pricing, more or less. There are no costs in addition to the standard fees.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We did not evaluate other solutions because Dell EMC is a partner for us and we're satisfied with them. We have evolved with their solutions and PowerStore is the best. Dell EMC is our vendor and provides us with all our other client-server solutions.
What other advice do I have?
At the moment, I am satisfied by the simplicity and ease of use of the PowerStore.
Disclaimer: 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.
Date published: 2022-01-03T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
reviewer1852080 from
Midrange data storage solution used as a lab to showcase new technology
What is our primary use case?
We use this solution for VMs and some AI storage. It's mostly an internal use server. We use it for lab for customers to access it. We use iSCSI on it.
How has it helped my organization?
This solution is very useful to us as we use it internally for all our services that we need. We use it as a lab to be able to showcase the customers new technology and how it can help them going forward.
What is most valuable?
The interface is very easy to use and easy to install. Everything essentially comes with it. So, it's all the software is there for us.
What needs improvement?
I do not like having to use a VPLEX for synchronous replication, as opposed to having the store software built in.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been used this solution for one year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
This is a stable solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We use the 500T model which is not scalable but there are other options that offer scalability from Dell.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support for this solution is really good. I would rate it an eight out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was straightforward. We did all our prerequisites before the Dell representative came on site to help finish it off. It is a plug and play setup. I was the only person involved in setup and deployment. I made sure that all the information needed was provided to Dell. The only maintenance that has been needed so far are software upgrades.
What about the implementation team?
We implemented this solution with help from Dell.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The licensing for this solution good and is in the mid range tier. It matches the old UDXT platform.
What other advice do I have?
The Power Scale pretty well does everything you need. That said, the advice I have is to determine what you need it for upfront, because there's some decisions you have to make up front that if you don't make, you'll have to restart later on.
I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-05-25T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
reviewer1852581 from
Good block storage with responsive support and an easy implementation process
What is our primary use case?
We are a reseller, and we use them to demonstrate to our customers the PowerStore interface as well as to power our own lab demos, running vCenter, NSX, and other software utilities.
How has it helped my organization?
For our demo lab, before we got the PowerStore, we were running on a really outdated storage platform that was running out of space and didn't have really enough internal resources to be able to power our customer demos. This product has really helped facilitate and we do quite a few PowerStore demos since we have that device. It's current and well spec-ed enough to support us.
What is most valuable?
Our older PowerStore is where most of our demos are located. We're just using it as a block of storage and storage to power the VMware environment. That's been the main use case for it, for us.
What needs improvement?
The networking was difficult. It was complicated. It took as long to configure it correctly for the networking, as to roll it out. If there was a way to simplify the network complexity, that would be good.
It's also only supported with a limited amount of switches. If I hadn't bought the Dell switches, I would've had some issues with my legacy switches. That's been our number one issue with customers - when they say, "oh no, I'm going to use this other switch."
For how long have I used the solution?
We have two PowerStores. We have one that's three years old, and we have a new one we just implemented a couple of weeks ago.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is extremely stable. We haven't had any issues with it.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We only have the product in one location. The only people who actually touch the solution are about six people. That's between the people who maintain it and sales architects who use it for demonstrations.
How are customer service and support?
We have full Dell support. One time, my engineer was in the lab and knocked a power cable loose. I got an email within 15 minutes saying "you had an unexpected node failure, and do you need help?" They were on top of it. They are right there and they reach out proactively.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We had a Compellent previously and that had aged out. It was six years old. Then we had an Equalogic that was in place just for NAS storage. That one also basically aged out and was running out of space. This product replaced both of those units.
How was the initial setup?
I was involved in the initial setup of this solution. It was pretty straightforward, actually. With the first implementation, we were done in about 12 hours. That included the networking switches. The unit, the PowerStore itself, is probably deployed in only six hours.
The solution requires maintenance. I am not the one who performs the maintenance. Our lead engineer handles it.
What about the implementation team?
We actually used Dell Professional Services during the implementation. I also had my lead PowerStore engineer and some of our sales architects shadow it, as well as a couple of my other engineers who hadn't used PowerStore. Dell let us have about four people shadow the installation so that my staff could get some knowledge as it got deployed.
What was our ROI?
We've seen an ROI. We're a reseller. Being able to do those demos for our customers helps us sell more products.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I don't really have any line of sight on the pricing. I heard it's comparable to the other Dell storage units.
What other advice do I have?
I'd rate the solution ten out of ten. It's a really good product.
I'd advise potential new users to definitely have a demo or do a hands-on lab to try it out. Also, definitely make sure you buy supported switches.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud
Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-05-17T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
Bill McKee from
Great replication and deduplication with helpful new features about to come out
What is our primary use case?
We're addressing performance issues in our data center as well as the data duplication features to make sure we can be efficient in how we're storing data.
How has it helped my organization?
The main improvement has been just storage efficiency. The price per gig of what we're able to store has been the biggest aspect the business has seen.
What is most valuable?
Some of the new features that are coming out, like vVols support. We're very excited about it. Currently, the features of replication and deduplication have been very important to us.
What needs improvement?
The support for vVols and the storage replication of those, which are new features, we've just heard are coming out kind in the second half of this year. We're very excited about those. We've been waiting for them for a while.
It was very new when we first deployed it a year ago. Even just the upgrade processes and knowing what to expect, as well as documentation, could be more robust. We had folks that helped us through, however, we did have some bumps and bruises along the way.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using a solution for just over a year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability has been solid for us since we deployed it. We haven't had any issues to speak of. Maybe a part that failed somewhere that didn't cause any user impact, however, that's been the extent of it.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We tend to think of the users being our applications that are in there. However, in terms of the total global footprint of users, we've probably got 40,000 end-users, and probably 500 applications that run on top of it.
We are considering increasing usage. We have two other global data centers where it'll be deployed and then about 120 remote sites that we're just looking at now, whether we should make PowerStore our standard there or stay with the current unity.
How was the initial setup?
My team was involved in the deployment. I know we had the pro deploy services that did a lot of the work for us. It took a little while to get updates done. It sat for a few months before our data center was ready to put it in. Other than that, things went pretty seamlessly.
Once we actually had all the prereqs done, it was deployed within a week, it was probably just a few days even between the two sites. It was a couple of months of waiting, however, that was more on our side.
These were two new Greenfield data center builds. It was kind of starting from scratch with a partner and now we're migrating workloads into them. It wasn't integrating with anything existing.
There was really just one person on my team who was coordinating with outside organizations to do some implementation work for us. He was a cloud/storage engineer.
In terms of maintenance requirements, there's one person who looks after things. We've got it integrated with CloudIQ from a management standpoint. It largely tells us when things need to happen, however, one person keeps up with updates, new firmware, and those kinds of things.
What about the implementation team?
We did have outside assistance. We had Presidio as part of that deployment and we also had Dell's ProDeploy services. Both were very positive. They helped us understand both the prerequisites and what we needed to get started and then got us up and running effectively.
What was our ROI?
In terms of ROI, I don't have a good measure of it, however, I do know that we've seen definite improvements when we just compare what we've done in the past to what we're doing now. We've definitely seen improvements in terms of price per gig.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The great thing was the guarantee that came with it of the four-to-one deduplication ratio. That really helped with the pricing as well as the anytime upgrades. From a TCO standpoint, we were really able to see some benefits there.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We did a bake-off between NetApp, Pure, and Dell. We've used EMC and then Dell storage solutions in our environment for years and just have a proven relationship with the organization, as well as the product's capability.
What other advice do I have?
We have a private cloud within our two new North American global data centers. We've looked at connectivity to both AWS and Azure, however, we really don't have any storage replication heading there at this point.
I'd rate the product nine out of ten. With the new features that'll be out in a few months, it just continues to get better.
I like this solution. This was just built more from the ground up with new features in mind. In particular, some of the capabilities that are coming out in the near future are really going to set it in a class above what the others have to offer.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud
Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-05-17T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
Ken Boyer from
Reduces the footprint, is easy to use, and can handle heavy workloads
What is our primary use case?
We use the very first one we added for a very pinpointed solution for a high performance Oracle database. We've added four more, and they're going to be primarily to migrate away from HP systems.
Our environment is 80% to 90% virtualized VMware. We have some pretty heavy workloads, whether it be SQL databases or Oracle databases working on the PowerStores right now. It's about three petabytes in size.
How has it helped my organization?
The systems I currently have in place are old, and their support is running out. They're at the end of their life cycle. One of the key improvements that PowerStore is going to bring is that it will enable me to shrink the physical footprint. I'll be going from 5 physical HP arrays, which are about 12 racks in size, down to 4 PowerStores, which can fit on one rack.
As a result, I'll be able to shrink the footprint, save power, cooling, etc. I will also be able to improve upon the existing performance and longevity of the platform.
When we put the PowerStore in for the Oracle database, it was previously on NetApp. The staff wanted to do snapshots but also do clones and then be able to clone from a clone to add it to another system. PowerStore enabled them to do just that.
They not only got their performance back to where it needed to be from previously being on the NetApp array but also got some of the feature functions that they require for the application.
What is most valuable?
The simplicity and ease of use have been very valuable features. I have a very small team, and only half of the team is well versed in the HP product. Whereas if I bring PowerStore in, everyone can learn it because it will be new on the floor.
Also, the simplicity of the administration, snapshot capabilities, and its replication are other features of PowerStore that I've found to be valuable.
What needs improvement?
Reporting is an area that could be improved. It's very simplistic sometimes, and some of the very technical guys on my team want to see more of the details and be able to massage the report a little bit better.
For how long have I used the solution?
We originally added our first PowerStore about a year ago.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I haven't thought about the stability of the product, which means that it's working. That says it all. As a manager of the environment, if I'm not thinking about it on a daily basis, then that means it's doing what it's supposed to be doing.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I haven't really had to scale PowerStore as of yet, but it does have the scalability features that I need. I'll be able to scale up, when we do grow.
How are customer service and support?
Dell's support staff are very proactive. They were with us every step of the way to make sure that we were plugging everything in properly and making sure that everything is fully redundant during deployment.
With regard to post-deployment support, if we have any needs and call them, they respond within minutes. So, I would rate them at ten on a scale from one to ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We replaced HP and NetApp with PowerStore because we wanted to reduce the physical footprint.
How was the initial setup?
Deployment is very simple. I think we were up and running in less than a day.
What about the implementation team?
Dell has helped us with our deployments. They use ProDeploy, and we used it for one of ours that's overseas.
Normally, my data center team does all of the rack and stack and cabling. I share all those requirements with Dell to make sure that they understand that we're following best practices. We can plug it in, and do it all online.
What was our ROI?
The rack space I'm saving alone is an ROI because I'm able to then use those racks for more servers.
Power and cooling are big factors for us because we're trying to shrink the footprint as we move things over to the cloud.
Performance wise, if I can have jobs that used to run for 10 or 11 hours cut down to 3 or 4 hours, then that allows everyone to be more productive.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Pricing is very good. It's very competitive against those of all the others that I have looked at in the marketplace, such as Hitachi, IBM, HP, and Pure. Dell is right there in the mix as far as providing the best price point as well as meeting the performance requirements that we have.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I looked at IBM and Pure Storage during the last purchase cycle. The reason that PowerStore won that purchase was the pricing. They definitely set the bar high as far as pricing is concerned. Going with PowerStore would also help me to shrink the environment.
What other advice do I have?
Don't shy away from the higher-end workloads. You don't necessarily have to go with a big iron box like PowerMax when PowerStore will suffice. It will then allow you to save some dollars and also meet the performance requirements that you have.
On a scale from to ten, I would rate PowerStore at ten.
Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-05-10T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
reviewer1852449 from
Mid-range data storage solution that allows quick and easy access to data
What is our primary use case?
We use this solution for customers who are looking for NFS and SMB file shares with faster access, migrating from the existing Unity and VNX onto PowerStore. We use this solution for consolidation.
How has it helped my organization?
We are an implementer of this solution for our customers. It allows our customers to access the file shares quickly and easily.
What is most valuable?
The supportability of SCME drives for faster data access from the PowerStore and has been the most valuable feature.
What needs improvement?
Many customers are looking for a cyber recovery feature included in PowerStore. We would like to see this added in a future release.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
This is a stable solution.
How are customer service and support?
I would rate the customer service for this solution an eight out of ten.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward. The time it takes to deploy this solution depends on what a customer is looking for. It usually takes between two to three days. We start implementation by gathering the customer requirements before going on-site and completing implementation.
What was our ROI?
This solution has allowed us to consolidate our storage efforts and operate with less of a footprint.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We did not evaluate any other options as I am a Dell EMC partner.
What other advice do I have?
From a technology perspective, this solution is up to date and supports NVMe.
I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.
Disclaimer: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:Partner
Date published: 2022-05-11T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
Ilan Ben Shetrit from
It has a very strong NAS that can support a lot of big, heavy environments
What is our primary use case?
I use it to solve a problem for a customer when he has a big VMware ESX environment with virtualization. You can solve a big problem with money or a lot of hardware since you can take the virtualization from PowerStore. Inside PowerStore, on the operating system level, you can use virtualization with VMware ESX or something like it. So, you don't need any hardware.
My company does backups and security. We use a lot of OEMs. We use Dell because they have the strongest product, especially in Israel.
Hybrid environments are very important for our disaster recovery issues. By default, we have 50% to the public cloud, with either Azure or AWS, and 50% on-prem. If it is on-prem, then it is a PowerStore. In Israel, 90% is deployed on-premises.
PowerStore is used in Israeli universities since they have big environments with a lot of vendors. They take all the versions from the 500 to the 3000. It is also used in IT companies with 1,000 or 2,000 employees that have a lot of traffic with heavy loads. There are a lot of people in Israel who love to work with Dell.
How has it helped my organization?
It provides a big benefit when upgrading a new VMware environment. For example, in a big environment with 10 to 30 ESXs, you can take everything and put that into PowerStore. So, it is cost-effective, which is very important and has been massive for us. You reduce almost 80% from the hardware and work directly from PowerStore. Building hardware, especially in a big VMware environment, is a big issue for my organization.
It brings us a lot of security, creating security between the containers. Then, we can separate an environment for security. You have IDS, IPS, the firewall, etc., but if you take the environment that you built on the containers then it creates a different security.
I use the security between the rack server and PowerStore. Or, we use a connection with the fiber channel. It also separates the network from the SAN storage. This is the most important security when you are connecting storage to PowerStore for any environment.
What is most valuable?
* The level of virtualization is a big feature. This is the most important thing in PowerStore.
* PowerStore has a very good replication tool.
* It has a good NAS environment. It has a very strong NAS that can support a lot of big, heavy environments.
* The container and its ability to connect directly to the cloud. We can use a lot of workloads and get all the workloads that we need. For example, we can get VMware directly from PowerStore and move it to the Cloud or any other containers. This is an added value of PowerStore. If you want to solve a workload problem, this is the best way.
Once you build an environment based on a container, it is a big benefit because you can take the workloads from the cloud directly to on-premises and vice versa. It is a big benefit, especially in an environment based on VMware, a virtualization environment, and heavy storage.
OpenManage Console is the best tool that Dell has. It is a great thing. We use it to configure the networking. It helps you realize what you need to discover. It is a little bit heavy. However, after that, it is a very user-friendly tool. It can connect to any vendor, switch, storage, etc. I would rate OpenManage Console as nine out of 10.
What needs improvement?
On downtime, it is okay. I would rate it as seven or eight out of 10. There are a few things that Dell has to change, fix, or upgrade.
The storage could be improved. I would like a feature for how to best secure an appliance and the storage since we are connecting the container to the public cloud. I would like them to develop another level of security, making it more secure than from what they have now.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using it for a year to a year and a half.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I would rate stability as 10 out of 10.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is very scalable.
When you are trying to scale in or out with a system, you can see the return on investment.
How are customer service and support?
In general, Dell technical support is very professional. They have a good SLA. We have had a few cases that I personally use them to support, and they are great, especially the on-call. They are very professional and have very fast reactions. I would rate them as eight or nine out of 10.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We previously used Unity and VNX, and Unity especially belongs in the past.
How was the initial setup?
The initial deployment was very straightforward.
If you need to install the system and upgrade the existing environment, that can take around half a day. If you don't need to install it, then it can take around an hour or two.
Be very professional when designing the system and ensure your environment fits with the PowerStore.
What about the implementation team?
Two people can do the entire deployment project in Israel. You take the storage, place it on the rack, and start to install it to make the volumes, view, and networking. In the most bigger, complicated cases, it takes around two or three people.
What was our ROI?
If you use PowerStore as a virtualization environment and don't buy a rack server, then the solution is very cheap since you no longer need to buy the hardware or server for the ESX.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The big pricing issue is with capacity:
* If we use the 500 or 1000, the licensing and pricing are reasonable. PowerStore can compete with any vendor and the price isn't that expensive.
* It is very expensive though when you get to this point of using the 3000 with a client. They will start to think about using another vendor. There are a lot of solutions similar to PowerStore in regards to networking capacity and their prices are very cheap compared to PowerStore.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Dell has very good rack servers that are all on PowerStore, e.g., R640 and R740. These are the best servers that we have with our virtualization environment. This is the best hardware that you can use today. When it comes to servers and storage, there are a lot of vendors. NetApp is also a very good vendor in the world of storage, but there are some added values with PowerStore that I can't see on other vendors, such as the virtualization where you can take all your ESXs and put them inside PowerStore. I don't see this with other vendors.
What other advice do I have?
It is a very good tool for networking, storage, and working with the rack server. I would recommend this solution to other people. They should just take it.
I would rate it as an eight out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
Disclaimer: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:Partner
Date published: 2022-07-18T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
Farhan Ashraf from
Beneficial flash storage, useful compression, and scalable
What is our primary use case?
We are using Dell PowerStore for block storage. We store all the virtualized environments, such as ERP, virtual machines, Oracle, and SAP-based Virtual Machines. We use storage for all our blocks.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature of Dell PowerStore is the all-NVMe flash storage. This is the most powerful feature of this series. It supports compression and duplication leads.
What needs improvement?
We are looking for the Dell PowerStore to become more mature to maximize our use cases.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Dell PowerStore for approximately two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Dell PowerStore is stable. All solutions have some issues, but overall it works well.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Dell PowerStore is scalable.
We have 15 to 20 people using the solution in my company. The amount of use of the solution depends on the project we are in.
How was the initial setup?
Once you deploy this solution in an environment from scratch it can be challenging. However, if the sizing and the planning are good, then the challenges can be covered upfront.
I rate the initial setup of Dell PowerStore a four out of five.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price of Dell PowerStore could improve. The price should be managed more compared to Huawei Dorado or IBM All-Flash series.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Dell PowerStore a ten out of ten.
Disclaimer: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:Partner
Date published: 2022-11-12T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
reviewer1087536 from
Unified storage, simple to install, and cost-efficient, but it could include public to private cloud adoption features
What is our primary use case?
We are using Dell PowerStore primarily for SAP applications as block storage, for replication across different locations.
How has it helped my organization?
We see a lot of value in the investment. Primarily, it's quite cost-efficient, and with the latest NVMe technology, we see the performance of this has improved compared to the previous generation VNX or Unity array.
What is most valuable?
When compared to Pure Storage, Dell PowerStore's cost was quite attractive.
What needs improvement?
The UI should be a little more user-friendly to manage.
We want to see additional public to private cloud adoption features included if they are at all possible.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with Dell PowerStore for approximately one year.
We are working with Generation One, and we are looking for Generation Two.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Dell PowerStore is very stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Dell PowerStore is scalable. We can add multiple engines to it.
We have 200 users in our organization who use this solution.
How are customer service and support?
We have not contacted technical support.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
At the moment, I am using Pure Storage and NetApp All-Flash Storage Arrays.
We have worked with TCS. We chose it because of NVMe and the performance-enhancing technologies it offers.
We worked with HPE Alletra and Pure Storage.
Because HPE Alletra was not unified storage, we chose Dell PowerStore because it was.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was straightforward.
It took less than a day to deploy.
This solution does not require any specific maintenance.
What about the implementation team?
We carried it out using OEM and other methods.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We purchased it with a five-year warranty.
What other advice do I have?
When compared to the technology that has been evaluated earlier or has just come onto the market earlier, it provides a good value for the money. Since the price is significantly lower and performance features have improved. That being said, I would recommend this.
I would rate Dell PowerStore a seven out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-12-18T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
Wafa Ben Ameur1 from
Great migration performance with unlimited scalability
What is our primary use case?
Our company partners with the solution to offer customers storage as a service. We currently use the solution internally for our data center and to conduct tests or demos.
We have not yet used the solution for customers because product lead time is slow and long.
How has it helped my organization?
We are focused on providing our customers with quality service. The solution saves customers time and money because it handles migrations quickly and does not require additional IT resources or staff.
What is most valuable?
The solution's scalability, capacity, and performance are great.
Migrations are very easy and fast. The solution works well with native products such as VxRail, Unity, or VMware.
What needs improvement?
Products that are not native sometimes cause migration issues.
The solution should include access to Dell Demo Center. Our prior partnership included it and I was able to learn more about products, schedule demos, view functionalities, and run tests in real-time. Without access, I have to wait to get answers to my questions.
More demonstration and training options are needed. It is important to understand the solution before speaking with customers about its functionality and benefits.
Documentation and videos are not very rich and should include the whole interface with detailed information that can be shared with customers.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for one year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We don't have enough use cases to determine overall stability. The solution does perform well when scaling.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution's scalability is great. Customers view this as an advantage because they can roll out in stages.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
The company previously used Dell Demo Center.
In my role as presales engineer, I implement products for a demo environment. I have knowledge of HPE 3PAR and NetApp but have worked almost exclusively with Dell products for twelve years.
How was the initial setup?
The setup is advertised as plug-and-play but it is not quite that easy.
What about the implementation team?
We installed the solution in-house for our demo environment.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price is high compared to the Tunisian market. The solution is T-level but is not priced that way. Customers want the option to scale in or out while managing costs.
We are using PowerStore 1000 but that is already secondary level since 1200T and 1200X have been released.
The price is more exciting when you consider the solution's scalability and performance.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We were already with Dell so we knew the solution would easily manage our migrations.
What other advice do I have?
I rate the solution an eight out of ten.
Disclaimer: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:Partner
Date published: 2022-11-21T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
Hatem Ghazala from
Provides great data compression
What is our primary use case?
We are partners with Dell.
What is most valuable?
Data compression is a great feature.
What needs improvement?
The user interface could be improved.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using this solution for one year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable.
How are customer service and support?
We use a third party for our technical support.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward and doesn't take long.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Licensing is a little expensive and there's an extra fee for support.
What other advice do I have?
I rate this solution nine out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclaimer: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:Partner
Date published: 2022-12-30T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
reviewer2076852 from
Has a great mapping feature and is easy to deploy
What is our primary use case?
I'm a systems engineer and we have a partnership with Dell.
What is most valuable?
This is an interesting solution and I find the mapping to be a great feature.
What needs improvement?
I would like to see more automation and more analytics in this product.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have deployed this solution to our customers over the past six months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is scalable. Each of our customers has around 30-40 users.
How are customer service and support?
Dell provides great customer service.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is very easy.
What other advice do I have?
I love this product and hope to work more on it. I rate it 10 out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclaimer: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:Partner
Date published: 2023-01-26T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
reviewer1860756 from
Great support and great for smaller businesses but needs more maturity
What is our primary use case?
We primarily use the solution as a POC. We have Extreme IOs that we're looking to replace, and this was brought in as a potential replacement for them.
How has it helped my organization?
For our scenario, it doesn't really fit the bill for where we're trying to go. The unit's fine. Unfortunately, it's a relatively greenfield type of product and we're looking for something with a little more robustness that's been in the field more. PowerMax works great, of course, and that's probably what we're going to go to instead. We just decided Power Store was just not going to fit the bill for what we needed. We needed something with a higher tier in the end.
What is most valuable?
The support is very good.
For smaller shops, the solution is useful.
What needs improvement?
We felt like this was just kind of a mix of Extreme IO and Unity. We weren't happy with Unity, which is why we weren't going to use Extreme IO. It seems like they just kind of merged two products and made this solution and while I'm sure it's great for smaller shops, we are not a small shop.
It needs more mature code.
The VASA plugins for ESX could be enhanced. My understanding is that that is in the roadmap.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've using the solution for about a year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I'd rate the stability at a three or four out of ten. It could be more stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
On a scale from one to ten, I'd rate the solution at a six for scalability.
How are customer service and support?
We've been quite happy with support. they are very good.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We're trying out PowerMax, and will likely move in that direction instead of sticking with this product.
What was our ROI?
We have not witnessed any kind of ROI while using the solution.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing could be better. I'd rate it four out of ten.
What other advice do I have?
For new users, I would heavily suggest they evaluate their environment with real-world loads, not synthetic loads, when considering the solution.
I'd rate the product five out of ten.
Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2023-01-22T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
Ahmed Azzouz from
reliable and easy to set up with good data reduction capabilities
What is our primary use case?
We primarily use the solution for storage and data reduction.
What is most valuable?
The initial setup is very straightforward.
The architecture is very good.
It's a reliable product.
The data reduction feature is quite useful. It has a good reduction ratio during migrations.
The solution is stable.
What needs improvement?
The solution only supports NPE. It doesn't support SSD or Flash. We'd like the option to be more flexible. If a customer finds out SSD is not supported, they will look for another option.
For how long have I used the solution?
I implemented the solution around two years ago. I haven't used it for very long.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is a reliable, stable product. We haven't had any issues with it. Of course, it is not that old. That said, there are no failures and we have not had controller issues. there are no bugs or glitches.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is a scalable product. However, I have not needed to go and upgrade it or add more enclosures, et cetera. It can scale up. However, it can not scale out.
I have three customers that have already implemented the tool. More are coming online soon. Most of them are enterprises. We do expect expansion in the coming years.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support is more than perfect. We are quite pleased with the level of support on offer.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I'm also aware of HP, which is a very similar solution. Sometimes the pricing of HP can be better.
How was the initial setup?
The solution is very simple to set up. It is not a complex process. I monitor the process from a design and implementation point of view.
The deployment takes about 15 minutes if everything is correct and on-hand. Then you move on to the management and you can have the flow up and running. We do the configurations and create the volume and handle the storage of the whole system.
What about the implementation team?
I've implemented the solution three times at different sites. We implement the tool and do the migration. I work with a separate partner and we deploy to the users.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing is fixed. We have received a good price overall. Users must pay for the licenses. Most of the tools are included in an out-of-the-box delivery. There are no extra fees.
What other advice do I have?
We're partners.
The solution is acceptable for both small and large companies.
I'd advise new users to be mindful during the implementation process and make sure it is done right. They need to choose the correct solution and implement either block or unified. It's a good idea to look at the documentation before setting everything up.
I'd rate the solution nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclaimer: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:Partner
Date published: 2023-03-10T00:00:00-05:00