EMC VXRAIL 14G G560 2U1N 2S VSAN ENT
Mfg # SYSG5602SVENTH
CDW # 5898706
Know your gear
Enhance your purchase
EMC VXRAIL 14G G560 2U1N 2S VSAN ENT is rated
4.51 out of
5 by
55.
Rated 5 out of
5 by
reviewer1346064 from
Good console manageability but the performance needs improvement
What is our primary use case?
Our primary use case is for VDI processes.
What is most valuable?
The manageability for controlling the console is the most valuable feature.
What needs improvement?
The version upgrade process should be simplified.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using VxRail for four years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have around 30 daily users who use VxRail.
How are customer service and technical support?
We didn't have any issues with technical support.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was straightforward.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price is fair.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate VxRail a seven out of ten. If the performance was improved, it would get a higher rating.
Disclaimer: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:partner
Date published: 2020-11-09T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
Vasanth_Kumar from
Stable with good technical support and good integration capabilities
What is our primary use case?
We primarily use the solution to run the loudmouth to host our virtual server's core courses.
What is most valuable?
There's user integration with VMware so you don't have to load VMware on top of it and it works right out of the box.
There's good integration between VMware as my hypervisor and the hardware and it is specifically to size.
You don't have to worry too much about the hardware and you don't have to work on integrating a storage device. We instead have this as an all-in-one solution and everything is available as a box.
What needs improvement?
They could make something like an actual catalog where you could just put your weblogs and then you cold can get the recommended specs along with the utilities like which processor to get. That would be an economical way to figure out the specs of the solution in relation to your requirements.
Right now, it's difficult for a non-technical person to participate in using the product. It could be made more consumer-friendly.
It should give output or recommend orders and dissolve effects.
They could be more clear in terms of which options to choose. For example, they could say, "We recommend, if you want high performance, to go with this pack." Or "if you want an economical option, try this".
The solution could improve on some existing features, especially experience-based access or something like that.
The product could benefit from more tightly integrated management.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've only been using the solution for the past six months or so.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
This generation, the third generation, seems to be the most stable compared to the initial bracket in the market. Of course, after learning from our myriad mistakes through the initial implementation allowed us to make changes and choose more stable options compared to a few years ago.
Especially in the Philippines, we are the number one matching reseller for business-critical items. We utilize multiple units to ensure we have a failover in place. If repairs are delayed for hours, we're covered.
Generally, Dell has a very good presence here. Therefore, we are very stable. The quality of the algorithm is better. You can see the quality of components inside the hardware. They manufacture everything in their own plants in Malaysia. Therefore, they already have hardware components inside the region that are easily accesible.
Failure rates are low compared to Cisco hardware.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is pretty scalable. There are a lot of items that keep adding onto the computing power and storage. It's not like other platforms where you have to plan far ahead if you plan to scale.
How are customer service and technical support?
We've dealt with technical support in the past. We dealt with HP, IBM, and Cisco a long time ago, and we find Dell works hard for us. Their service levels are very good in comparison to other organizations. We're quite satisfied with their level of service.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I've used Cisco in the past. I find this solution is easier to implement and offers good hardware and software integrations. We've also worked with IBM and HP a very long time ago. Dell has better customer services than all of them.
How was the initial setup?
In terms of the initial setup, compared to any other platform, it pretty simple. I've used Cisco UCS in the past, and have experience with that solution, and compared to that, this implementation is easy.
It's got a very good integration between hardware and software specific configurations. You just need to watch out for technical inputs.
The maintenance we negotiated as a bundle over years of use. Our partner handles the maintenance of the solution.
What about the implementation team?
We actually had that alteration done through our Dell partner. We chose a partner based on input from Dell about our limitations, what sort of skill set they had, how many engineers were verified, etc., and then we chose our partners. 90% of the population was done by the partner and 10% wherever delegation was needed, they would assist as necessary.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing varies. We were able to negotiate a pretty good position
In India, they gave us something like three years without interest. However, there are various categories in terms of getting the correct payment options on the pricing, they have a lot of options.
They gave us 40% off of this year in the Philippines whereas in India they gave a monthly payment option without interest.
A company can negotiate a price. At my organization, we've always managed very good pricing. Therefore, we have no regrets when it comes to the pricing we have to pay. If you have a good relationship with them, they'll try to take care of you.
What other advice do I have?
We're just a customer. We don't have a relationship with Dell.
We just procured the latest version of the solution.
When we decided on our requirements, we had multiple calls with Dell and the attorneys to ensure that we received what we needed. Apart from choosing various generations or various models on VxRail boxes, we also took to deep dive into the actual configuration on each processor to understand how much memory to use.
It's easier if you have a technical professional on your side when you're dealing with Dell. I'm a technical person, so I could get into the weeds with them. If you are a company without the technical expertise, you're going to run into a bit of trouble as you won't necessarily understand the product or the technical aspects that are being discussed.
I would advise organizations considering implementing the solution to choose your partner really carefully. Ask questions like how many engineers do they have and find out how transparent they are about how they handle the process. I'd look at at least two potential partners and compare their capability and expertise.
Overall, I'd rate the solution 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: 2020-11-10T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
Muhammad-Hassan from
Reasonably priced, simple installation, and is easy to manage
What is most valuable?
The environment is easy to manage.
The compute is good and we have not had any issues with the vSAN.
What needs improvement?
VxRail requires VMware support. When an issue occurs in VMware vSphere, for example, you would have to log a complaint with VMware support, and sometimes Dell Support can resolve the problem, but you will also have to log a complaint with VMware support internally, and the support agent will work with us to resolve the problem. Hardware support is adequate. They are capable of resolving the issues. We believe Dell's vShpere support falls short of the mark.
In the next release, I would like to see our graphical user interface allow us to manage VxRail clusters and everything on a single pane of glass where I can monitor and shut down the server, similar to a VxRail manager.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with VxRail for one year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
VxRail is very stable. It is working very well.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
VxRail is very scalable. It can scale out to 64 hosts.
In our company, we have eight to ten people who are using this solution.
How are customer service and support?
The automatic creation of support tickets Whenever an issue arises, ESRS and VxRail are present and automatically forward the complaints to Dell. These are fantastic features.
Technical support is not very good, but it's not bad.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We were not working with pre-configured appliances. We were using servers that we configured. We used VMware and vSAN.
How was the initial setup?
VxRail is easy to set up. It was very easy.
The complete configuration and powering of VxRail took a couple of days to set up the servers and infrastructure, as well as the cabling. When we power up the servers, VMware and vSAN were already applied to it. We will only need to buy the license to configure the appliances.
What was our ROI?
VxRail has a great return on investment.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
When compared with others, the price is very reasonable.
What other advice do I have?
It's a very good product. I would recommend this solution to others who are considering it.
I haven't used any other product that I can compare it with, but so far it has been good.
I would rate VxRail an eight 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: 2022-03-05T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
Johan Malan from
Good interface, useful documentation, and excellent support
What is our primary use case?
We use VxRail for the promotion of all our infrastructure VM services.
How has it helped my organization?
VxRail has helped us by increasing the performance and capacity of our workload.
What is most valuable?
I have found the vSAN is highly flexible. The documentation is good and the interface of the solution is responsive and fast. The interface has everything you need to manage the solution, such as the VxRail and VMware integration. You can manage the hardware from within the VMware plasma pan.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using VxRail for approximately four years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
VxRail is stable because it has redundancies. VxRail is our standard system for the deployment of HR environments.
We have one person for the maintenance of the solution and one person for the backups.
We use the solution on a daily basis.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I have found VxRail highly scalable. You are able to add more nodes and increase the hardware to scale. It is flexible.
We have thousands of people using the solution. However, it is difficult to know for sure since many different business units use it.
How are customer service and support?
VxRail comes from Dell and they have a one-stop service. You can work with Dell to get everything solved. Any issues in hardware or in software, whether it be VMware related or Dell related, everything is done by one team from Dell. The support aspects of the solution are good but it carries a price. We're happy to pay the price if we get that level of service.
One of the most valuable aspects of the support is the knowledge of the people and the speed at which they respond. If you have a problem and you phone them up, they immediately have the experts at the end of the phone to assist. if there is a problem they come in and fix the problem quite fast. If it is more difficult they will spend the time that is needed to solve it. They have helped us out of some heavy situations we caused ourselves. The support is very good.
The support that they offer us is why we purchased the solution.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We have previously used Hyper-V-based systems, StarWind, and Nutanix. We have mostly done testing of the other solutions and have not fully introduced them. Out of all the solutions we tested, we settled on the VMware-based VxRail.
We switched from the others solutions because the support from Dell VxRail was excellent.
How was the initial setup?
The configurations of VxRail can be difficult. However, it has improved in the newer version. From version 6 to 7, there has been a lot of changes.
The initial setup of VxRail was straightforward because they get handled by Dell themselves. There is a one-stop-shop for all your needs. They gather the information on what you require in your environment and how you want to set it up, such as what local IT information networks are required. They do a good job and the whole process took them a couple of hours to half a day.
What about the implementation team?
Dell did the implementation of the solution for us.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
VxRail is expensive because it's based on VMware and V-SAN. The price is not the cheapest. The technical support is expensive, but it is a good service.
What other advice do I have?
My advice to others would be not to attempt to fix issues yourself and let Dell look after them.
I rate VxRail a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-02-25T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
Linas Adamonis from
Simplified management, fast performance, and reasonable price
What is our primary use case?
I'm not a direct user. I'm a team manager, and we are using it in our company. We are using it as our new-generation virtualization platform. Currently, we are just building the environment, and we still have things to do directly with Dell.
How has it helped my organization?
We are very happy with the purchase, and it works well. It is fast. We went with the full-flash version, meaning that we have SSDs. So, we can build a Windows virtual machine in two minutes. We were surprised when we first tried to do that. So, currently, we are very happy with it.
What is most valuable?
The best features of HCI are the reliability and no need to have additional storage models and storage administrators. All the things—such as virtualization models, storage models, and networking—are in one environment. So, a single hardware administrator can access and support everything. I like HCI because of being able to have all components of virtualization in one cluster and in one place. There is no SAN and storage. It brings simplicity to hardware maintenance.
What needs improvement?
We have some issues, but they are possibly out-of-the-box issues. There was a host that was dead on arrival, and there were some file issues on other hosts. We're currently working actively with Dell to resolve all these issues. Once they are resolved, the product should be stable.
In terms of the additional features, we still need to adopt what we have. It has lots of features, and we need to start using it heavily. I might have something to add in a year or so, but currently, I don't have anything.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using this solution since December. It has been two full months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We are having some out-of-the-box issues, and we're actively working with Dell to resolve those issues. Once those issues are resolved, it should be stable, but as a virtual environment, it has never failed. These are only single-node or single-component issues that don't affect the whole virtual environment, which is great and which is why I love HCI.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is scalable. Currently, we have 12 people who are working with this solution, but there will be more.
What about the implementation team?
A vendor did the whole implementation. We have purchased it as a service. So, we had a third-party vendor who installed and configured everything. My technicians were watching and learning. So, we were not the ones who were primarily responsible for configuring things. The process took some time, but the result is very satisfying.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
It is reasonable. Compared to the legacy hardware that we had so far, we are not paying way more, but we have very good performance. Its price is good.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate it a nine out of 10 because of those out-of-the-box issues. They are a bit annoying, but I believe we will be able to resolve them quickly, and then it would be a 10.
Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-03-08T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
Müfit Metin from
The solution provides hardware redundancy, which is something our customers need
What is our primary use case?
Today, we completed the first stage with one customer. We finished our POC and sold six VxRail systems to the customer. The customer usually uses standard VxRail systems for data storage and servers.
The customer wants to do some implementation to replace an old system. They are a manufacturing company that wants to improve their system with a more valuable storage area because they have a lot of data stored across various products. For example, they have 10 terabytes of information on one storage platform and another 2 terabytes on the other, etc.
We faced competition from HPE SimpliVity and won. Yesterday, we got the good news from the customers, who were pleased with licensing for virtualization. The VxRail system provides some good benefits, and the customers are happy. We have two more projects lined up, but they are waiting for the new year, especially because they are arranging budgeting issues. We expect to see some new business in the first quarter.
How has it helped my organization?
We deploy VxRail systems to provide our customers with a distributed information solution. The customer was impressed because we delivered a serious data reduction. For example, we showed them that 10 terabytes on their traditional storage solution could be reduced to 1.5 terabytes in the VxRail systems. That's why the customers also like it so much,
What is most valuable?
One of the biggest VxRail features our customers require is hardware redundancy. Customers have good network products like Cisco for their local networks, so they were ready when they did the POC work. The other thing is application completion, VxRail's most effective feature.
What needs improvement?
Dell wants to implement the disaster recovery site in the new year, but they haven't decided yet. I hope we will have the opportunity to sell VxRail with this disaster recovery site. It is not really clear at the moment, but hopefully, we will get some good news from the customers in the new year. Maybe in the second quarter, we will start to work for the disaster recovery site, I hope so. I think we have to implement the new systems, and maybe we can talk about what can happen in the future after that.
For how long have I used the solution?
We've been using VxRail for the last two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
VxRail's stability is amazing. The performance is always effective and good.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
VxRail is a scalable product. Of course, it depends on the business and the markets, but the scalability is usually excellent.
How are customer service and support?
Dell's support in Turkey has helped us so much in the project, especially the salesperson. He supported us so much, and we are so appreciative.
How was the initial setup?
We haven't fully deployed VxRail because we only got our first order for the systems today, and we will go to the setup, but the demo system was easy to use and set up.
What other advice do I have?
I rate VxRail nine out of 10. I'd like to add something about the market for this product. A bank or a company like that can easily use VxRail. Another benefit is that customers don't need to close the systems without updates. For example, it's easy to upgrade the firmware upgrades. VxRail is really effective in a banking or insurance company that doesn't need to close the systems. However, it is not possible in our sector. We really work a lot on this project. We spend so much time with the customers and the project.
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:Integrator
Date published: 2022-01-12T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
reviewer1253394 from
It's a simple, decent solution for customers with a small footprint
What is most valuable?
It's somewhat hard to speak about specific features, but I like VxRail's simplicity and ease of use. It's a decent solution for customers with a small footprint. If you're operating a big data center, it's not easy to position VxRail or HCI solutions, but when you have a small customer managing many different components, it's easier to work only with one solution.
What needs improvement?
If VxRail could also offer file services in addition to virtualization, that would be nice because sometimes people want to complement their environment with file services, and you don't have that in VxRail.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been working with VxRail for several years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
VxRail is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
VxRail is not an easy tool for selling big projects or a lot of services.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
VxRail is comparable to vSAN, which is the same product but more integrated.
Nutanix offers more services, and it can behave as object storage, file server storage, or Sun storage, whereas VxRail is more of a virtualization solution. Also, Nutanix can work independently of VMware. That's an advantage for some customers because VMware is costly, so it increases your budget if you go with VMware and VCF. However, I can't say which is better for HCI. If something works with VMware, it works on VxRail. It's in the scope of VMware, so I don't see any restrictions.
How was the initial setup?
Setting up VxRail is straightforward.
What other advice do I have?
I rate VxRail eight out of 10. I'm very satisfied with the product.
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: 2022-01-07T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
Rony Chamoun from
Easier to expand, update, and add more resources compared to the traditional solution
What is our primary use case?
We are implementers of this solution. We have deployed this product in many Middle East regions. We are also customers and an IT service.
The last time I installed the solution, we were using version 4.7 and we are planning to upgrade to version 7. The solution is deployed on-prem.
We installed the upgrade and migrated from a traditional solution to the virtual machine.
What is most valuable?
It's a good product based on the features. You can upgrade the solution with only one click.
What needs improvement?
You cannot install another operating system such as Microsoft or Hyperflex or Nutanix. We have also had a hardware problem.
Hopefully, it can be installed with another stable solution, but I doubt that because it's based on VMware.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution within the past year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is very stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is scalable.
How was the initial setup?
For deployment, we used a consultant. We needed auto recovery because we faced a hardware problem. It was a board problem. That's why we engaged DNC to replace the board, and it was very easy to discover the node and deploy the process.
What was our ROI?
An organization can get ROI because the solution is scalable. It's cheaper to expand and add more resources than the traditional solution.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate this solution 9 out of 10.
Before proceeding with any configuration and implementing the solution, you should prepare the prerequisite. Prepare the VLAN, the prerequisites, and the IP requirements before proceeding with any installation.
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:Implementor
Date published: 2022-01-09T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
KareemEzzat from
Great deduplication with data conversion capabilities and very user-friendly
What is most valuable?
The data conversion capabilities are very good.
Deduplication is excellent.
The initial setup is simple.
What needs improvement?
As of right now, I cannot think of any improvements, as it has been working very well.
It might help if there was more confidentiality between VxRail and the Data Domain for Backup. There are several issues with backup solutions. We'd like integration with Avamar.
We'd like to see more automation capabilities in the future.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution for about one year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is like a rock. It's extremely stable. We've had no issues. It doesn't crash or freeze. There are no bugs or glitches.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We haven't tested the scalability and therefore I cannot comment on its capabilities.
Currently, we have more than 1,000 users on the solution. They are basically working with the database.
Next year, we have plans to increase usage. e plan on getting more customers and therefore will need to bill for more storage.
How are customer service and support?
For any phase-one issues, I would first go to the integrator. I can escalate straight to the vendor if I need to. So far, our experience with the integrator has been very good. We have no complaints.
How was the initial setup?
We didn't have any issues with the initial setup. It was very straightforward and not overly complex.
Our contract partner handles any maintenance tasks.
What about the implementation team?
An integrator assisted us with the initial implementation process. They were very professional and the experience overall was positive.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I can't speak to the licensing aspects of the solution. It's basically just a one-time purchase.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
There are very many competitors between the hyper-converged solutions, such as Nutanix and Dell, and so on. We also looked at VMware options. However, we are wanted to go with something that was more stable and we're generally attracted to Dell.
What other advice do I have?
We're just a customer and an end-user.
It's a very stable system. It's very easy to use. You just need one desktop for control over all the items of the system. As of now, it's been problem-free.
I would rate the solution at a ten out of ten.
Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-01-05T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
reviewer1724973 from
Deployment is simple because everything is already built into the finished product
What is our primary use case?
We mostly provide VxRail for companies that need to integrate different solutions. It's an embedded solution with storage, computing, and networking parts. Most customers use it because for integration. Our clients are mostly government agencies, educational companies, and enterprise labor.
How has it helped my organization?
Depending on your architecture type, it's simple to manage and implement VxRail compared to other solutions. That's why most of our customers use it.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable aspect of VxRail is its management capability, especially during deployment. It has so many built-in features.
What needs improvement?
Sometimes during implementation, you can some scripting errors. And there are some issues when we update the version. There are some issues like the version will not get updated or stable at some time. Dell needs to resolve these problems, we don't waste time fixing them.
For how long have I used the solution?
We've been actively implementing VxRail solutions for different projects at various companies for two years, and we've worked with several series of VxRail solutions.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
VxRail is very stable, and you can upgrade it as needed. It will prompt you to update if there are any updates available.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
VxRail is scalable. You can add up to 64 nodes in a single cluster. Anytime you need to scale up or scale out, you can add hard disks on the node or you can add the node itself to the cluster. The scale depends on the customer's requirements. They put out a bid proposal and based on that, we propose the solution they need. It's VxRail most of the time. We first visit their site and look at the solutions in their existing environment. Then based on that, we provide the best solution, which is usually VxRail.
How are customer service and support?
Dell support is proactive. I'm happy with their support. They're active and supportive.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
In addition to this hyperconverged solution, we have implemented CI Converged solutions, which is a Dell EMC product. However, we recommend the HCI solution for most companies.
How was the initial setup?
Deployment is simple because everything is already built into the finished product. Implementation will not take as long as other products. The management is also straightforward. It has its own support that integrates directly through the network with the vendor. The vendors can automatically log into the system and support the customer. This and other features make VxRail more accessible to our customers.
I've deployed it so many times, including the mounting, nodes, cabling, visualizing, and configuring everything until it gets into production. The full deployment takes a day at most. The maintenance can either be physical or software maintenance. If there are any issues with the physical part, we do the RME process to get the hardware directly from the vendor. If there is a software issue, it's usually an issue we've seen before, so we can troubleshoot it ourselves. If there are any issues we can't resolve, we create a support ticket for the vendors to log into the system and do the maintenance directly.
What other advice do I have?
I rate VxRail eight out of 10. It's a good solution compared to the three-tier architecture, especially for companies that need educational sector services for VDI solutions. It's better to base this on Dell EMC. In the computer, this three-tier architecture is like a docking sensor in your box solutions to use, implement, and manage.
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: 2021-12-08T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
reviewer1601802 from
It's easy to implement and expand
What is our primary use case?
I work for a telecom company, and we're using VxRail internally.
What needs improvement?
There are multiple things that have space for improvement. The most important are the features related to VMware, vSphere, vCenter, etc.
For how long have I used the solution?
We've been using VxRail since it was released around five years ago.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
VxRail is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
VxRail is scalable. There have been few problems with VxRail in general. We've had some tickets, but it's generally okay.
How was the initial setup?
The most valuable aspect of VxRail is its ease of implementation. It's not like the ReadyNodes. When you create the adjacent file and manage it with the customer, then the implementation will not take much time. VxRail can manage the whole cluster at the same time, so it's easy to expand. VxRail has more features vSAN ReadyNodes that make it easier to implement from scratch.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Once we get a deal registration, we'll be fine.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We've looked at alternatives like Nutanix and VMware vSAN ReadyNode. In terms of management, VxRail is much more expandable. VxRail manager's built-in monitoring tool is a nice feature available in VxRail, but not in ReadyNodes. We don't see many features missing in VxRail but present in other solutions.
Nutanix is a good competitor for VxRail, and Nutanix's software is helping to position it in the market better. Nutanix's software is better than vSAN's, but VxRail is better overall. However, if we're looking at costs, Nutanix will win because it allows flexibility in the type of hardware you can use.
What other advice do I have?
I rate VxRail nine out of 10. VxRail is well-positioned in the hyperconverged infrastructure segment, but I still think there is a place in the market for Nutanix.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud
Disclaimer: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:partner
Date published: 2021-12-04T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
reviewer960945 from
Great for a large company, easy to deploy, and easy to scale up
What is our primary use case?
We work with Dell's Italian partner, so we go where the market goes. When Dell merged with EMC, we did several courses, and I got a certification with VxRail. We usually work with companies that have projects. We are solution architects. We don't work with software, programs, databases, or custom software.
What is most valuable?
VxRail is easy to deploy and easy to scale up, but you have to buy a new server if you want to scale up—not just a classic solution like RAM, CPU, or more disk. The solution would be good for a great company that is dynamic and wants to go up very fast.
What needs improvement?
When you converge the solution, you have to be very careful because the great scalability comes at an important cost. If you want to use three nodes with a standard license, for example, and you want to converge the solution with three nodes, you have chosen the wrong product because you have to buy a new server if you want to scale up.
In my opinion, the lack of improvement is from a commercial point of view, not from a technical point of view.
It also lacks a single easy remote server for disaster recovery.
For how long have I used the solution?
We started using VxRail three years ago.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is great because it is based on VMware, so it's the same panel and same code.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
VxRail has great scalability.
How are customer service and support?
Dell's EMC technical support is very good.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup process is pretty straightforward. Technically speaking, there could be some complications, but Dell's support is very good.
In the course for VxRail, they tell you that it's a single click to deploy. From a technical viewpoint, that isn't true because you have to build the rack system. If the system is projected well, then you have a single click to deploy it with a single panel of glass.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price could be lower. If the price were dropped, the products could sell more easily.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Compared to Nutanix, we are not as aggressive in the market, but VxRail is a good product with good design. If VxRail is to compete with Nutanix, it needs a single easy remote server for disaster recovery, but that depends on vSAN, which the design of VxRail is based on. The core of vSAN is not designed for this, maybe because vSAN customers are higher level.
What other advice do I have?
I would give this solution a 9 out of 10.
VxRail isn't for a small company. If you need less than five servers, you could technically use it, but there are probably other solutions that are cheaper. A classic solution for a small customer is cheaper than other convergence solutions.
In my mind, the hyper-convergence solution is a requirement only for a great company. If you are a small Italian company that isn't going to scale up for a few years, it's very difficult to afford the price, and you might have a problem with technical knowledge as well because your normal technicians won't be able to assist in other convergence solutions if you have an issue. In this case, we prefer traditional systems over VxRail to give the client the correct stability and simple management.
Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2021-11-17T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
Shams K from
Tremendous performance with easy setup and good support
What needs improvement?
The product's integration could be improved. Its price is also a bit of a challenge, particularly if you want extra features or higher performance.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using this solution for two years.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
This solution is scalable.
How are customer service and support?
My experience with the technical support for this product has been good.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward, as everything is pre-installed.
What other advice do I have?
VxRail's performance is tremendous, and it provides fine security. I would recommend this solution for most customers who want to avoid complex SAN storage implementations and managing SAN storage, as VxRail provides a single point of management console. I would rate this 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:Integrator
Date published: 2021-11-30T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
reviewer1710336 from
Compatible with vSAN and a less disruptive way to migrate to a more scalable architecture
What is our primary use case?
The main reason a customer would acquire VxRail is if they're looking for a platform for more easy management of hardware and software.
I'm a presale engineer and we are a business partner with VxRail, so we sell the solution. We make consulting sales for other customers. Version 7.0 is the last version of VxRail that we've worked with.
What is most valuable?
Management of the hardware and software in one console is the most valuable feature. It's also compatible with vSAN.
What needs improvement?
Technically speaking, the vCenter and the administration of the integration of the vCenter could be improved. I know that VxRail has two options to manage the cluster with an external and internal vCenter. There are some concerns about managing the cluster with an external vCenter, which is not included in the appliance. This is the only thing that I've found to be quite complicated because if the customer has an existing platform with a vCenter and we wanted to integrate it with the new cluster of VxRail, there are some concerns about losing the external vCenter.
The second processor upgrade could be an additional feature included in the next release.
It would also be great if the second processor operated without factory reset because I have had many customers ask me about that.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I think there are some things to improve with the stability because I talk with the implementation engineers a lot. I don't implement the solution, but the engineers that implement and update and maintain the platform of VxRail told me that the solution sometimes gets problems with updating the versions of the firmware and the software. The software that comes on VxRail doesn't work smoothly because they have problems with updates.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It's scalable. You can increase a cluster without downtime for the customer. You can add more discs and more drives for the clients. The only thing that could be improved is that when I designed the appliance with one processor, the engineers of the EMC told me that if a client has one processor and you want to upgrade the appliance with a second processor, you can do it without a factory reset of the appliance. So, if the client has an appliance cluster or nodes cluster with one processor for each appliance, and the customer wants to upgrade with a second processor for each appliance, there is another viable option because you have to reset all the clusters and delete all the data. It would be better if there was a way to make a second processor upgrade without a factory reset.
How are customer service and support?
I haven't had any experience with tech support because I'm in presales.
How was the initial setup?
When I asked for a quote for a partner that was doing the implementation, they told me that it took two people to complete the implementation.
What other advice do I have?
I would give VxRail an 8 out of 10.
The main advantage is that VxRail is integrated with vSAN. I think that most people who use VMware also use vSphere. It's like a less disruptive way to migrate a platform to a hyper-converged architecture. My main advice is that if a customer has vSAN, this is a less disruptive way to migrate to a more scalable architecture.
Disclaimer: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:Partner
Date published: 2021-11-29T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
AhmedHafied from
It's a simple, efficient solution, but upgrades take too long
What is most valuable?
VxRail is a simple, efficient solution. It's easy to upgrade and scale the solution. If we increase our user base, we can easily scale it out. We have several thousand using it now.
What needs improvement?
When we have a vulnerability or we need to upgrade VxRail, it takes a long time. It takes eight hours each time we upgrade.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using VxRail for six or seven years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
VxRail is stable. However, it's not a central solution, so we can lose some information, logs, and data when we remove a node. The efficiencies must be improved. For example, in Nutanix, when you move or remove a node, you get any errors or warnings, and you can work as well. But removing nodes in VxRail could cause some issues. You have to put the node in maintenance mode then reboot the rest.
How are customer service and support?
I haven't used Dell EMC support. My colleagues made a ticket with Dell EMC one year ago, but it's a strong solution. When we have an issue, it's usually not a problem with the hardware solution or the infrastructure. We more often have issues with the system close to the baseline solution, like the VMware app or Zoom. When we have trouble with those solutions, we make a support ticket with VMware support, etc., not Dell support.
How was the initial setup?
You don't have to be an expert to install VxRail. To install the node, you just follow the steps from Dell EMC, and you can install the solution in one sitting. It only takes one person to install. We have 30 engineers on my team, but only three are responsible for maintaining VxRail.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We have a three-year subscription.
What other advice do I have?
I rate VxRail seven out of 10. Maybe when they put out the new version, I'll rate it eight. I would recommend it to others.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2021-12-14T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
JoseCarmo from
Fast, reliable, pure infrastructure solution
What is our primary use case?
All of the primary use cases of the solution are pure infrastructure, and one of two of them are horizon infrastructures.
What needs improvement?
One area of the product that could be improved is the support. In the first year, it was not that fast. Simple things could be changed, but the support has make the changes because you cannot just change them in VxRail. It had to be the support, and they took a little more time than usual supporting other kinds of infrastructures.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution for five to seven years. I'm an integrator.
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.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is not straightforward, but it's not that complicated. Deployment is supposed to be complicated, so it does not necessarily need to be easier.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
If you already have VMware, you just have to convert the license and apply it to the VxRail.
What other advice do I have?
We have about 400 customers, and I would recommend the solution. It's a simple product, fast, and reliable.
I would rate the solution an eight 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:Integrator
Date published: 2021-12-12T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
Savera-Menezes from
Low-maintenance and cost-effective solution with hyperscale features
What is our primary use case?
We use it for implementing VDI solutions.
What is most valuable?
Hyperscale is the most valuable feature I found on this solution. It's the ability to utilize the resources for the VMware cluster setup on which Citrix VDA runs.
What needs improvement?
The only issue we've faced is with their Call Home Support Center. Any alert that has to be triggered, we're just currently working on to fix. Otherwise, it has been a pretty good system.
One problem we had was when we ordered the first node of cluster setup, and then we wanted to add two more nodes, we could not get the same configuration. We had to use a different configuration for the cluster setup.
Scalability becomes a problem when two or three years have passed because you don't get the same model. You get a better model and to make that model work, you need to have a different cluster setup. You tend to lose on the continuity or expansion. I would recommend having a capability where even your older versions of hardware can be seamlessly utilized and additional expansion becomes so much easier.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using this solution since 2020.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability of VxRail is good. We are content with its stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
This solution is scalable. We purchased two additional units the following year.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support for this solution was very good, professional, and they had the skills to get it implemented.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We used Nutanix. VxRail is more economical than Nutanix. It's more cost-effective so we prefer it over Nutanix.
We used so far three different solutions. The first was not a recommended solution. It was pushed down our throats to use that particular hardware. As I was involved in that setup, I knew the first time that implementation was on the wrong hardware, against the recommendation of the partner and the implementer. We definitely did not succeed. The second was a failure again, because of not following the recommendation of the implementer or the partner. The third one, lesson learned and we had no objections to that. We got a better recommendation from someone we trusted, so we were successful with our choice.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was straightforward. The engineers asked for what is required and they came with the same initial set.
What about the implementation team?
We used a partner for the deployment. My experience with them was good. They fully supported us during the pandemic situation to get this up and running.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We evaluated Nutanix.
What other advice do I have?
We're quite content with this solution for the purposes it was purchased.
Deployment was completed within two weeks.
Almost all of the people in the company used this solution since the pandemic. Now it's mostly used by the task workers.
For deployment and maintenance of this solution, we require four staff where some are admins who handle multiple storages in other systems as well. They don't do this full-time. They only spend one-third or less of their time managing deployment and maintenance.
I have no plans to increase VxRail usage in the future. The only problem with it is the usage of the cloud is being promoted to its peak, so the next expansion would be on the cloud.
The cloud has always been talked about and people have been asked to venture into it. On the cloud, you don't have to wait and implement or pay upfront for the whole hardware. For some of the cloud versions, you can pay as much as you use. You can start with 50 users and then grow. If it has to be on-prem though, I'll have to at least factor a box that can cater to 200 or 300 users. You need to pre-plan and the hardware delivery might take some time, so making it market-ready is a little time-consuming.
I'm rating this solution a ten out of ten. This is because of my previous experience with other solutions where I had three failed implementations on different hardware. They failed because of one particular reason: They're not low-maintenance. This solution, on the other hand, does not need heavy system maintenance. People prefer to use the system rather than the desktop, which makes it convenient for them to work from anywhere. There are a lot of benefits. You have your data saved on a data center. The availability is there which makes it flexible for users.
After the pandemic, when people returned to the office, we utilized this solution as an agile workspace, so people can sit and work on any desk. When they come to the office, they don't have to go to a particular desk. They can choose where they want to work, so this solution provides a lot of benefits for us.
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: 2022-01-11T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
reviewer1754808 from
It's built on platforms that have been in the industry for more than 15 years, so it's very stable
What is our primary use case?
Our whole company uses it. We have VxRail in our solution center, which designs software and hardware solutions for our customers' new opportunities. For example, recently, we were asked to develop a Kubernetes environment that the customer wanted to use and researched several different organizations, such as Red Hat's OpenShift.
We wanted to test capabilities on Tanzu, and VxRail was a great home for that, so we brought all the software into the VxRail and showed the inner workings of the data flows for this new capability to the customer. In the end, they didn't necessarily need a VxRail, but that's the beauty of it. It's a vanilla platform to reside modernized software on.
What is most valuable?
The VxRail is built on two specific platforms that have been in the industry for the last 15 to 20 years: the 1-U socket and the 2-U socket platforms from Dell. They're in their sixteenth generation of those platforms, I believe, so they're very stable.
What needs improvement?
VxRail is in its third generation, I think, and I know there are consistent updates to that material on nearly a monthly basis. Most of my customers are federally focused, which means some of this material comes into an environment where few people will have access to that environment.
I would like to see Dell take a crack at simplifying the process of moving from a node to a cluster and assembling everything into the appliance. It would be great if Dell could provide a pathway where a customer could actually install it without the certifications. Of course, I can't say how you would dumb down something so complex. That's a challenge, but it would be valuable.
It would also be helpful if they added some warnings to prevent users from making mistakes when upgrading stuff with VMware, like a notification that says, "Hey, this upgrade should be done through the VxRail manager." Those could steer customers off the path of decoupling that cluster or pulling a node offline when it doesn't need to be.
These things have room to grow in the industry. As more organizations look to develop what they currently have, Dell could provide a pathway to taking integrating the older hardware with the new hardware. I think that would be valuable, too. There are a couple of things that I'd also like to see them improve upon. One could be to actually deliver a cluster to the customer from their manufacturing facility that is already put together. That might be a good opportunity for them.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The VxRail platform is stable. Anytime you're dealing with technologies, you'll find a bug somewhere. There's always a challenge that must be overcome, but once the initial cluster has been stood up, we find it's one of the most stable platforms today.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
If you want to scale VxRail, you buy another node and add it to the cluster. That process is straightforward. It will re-image the new node, give it the same firmware, and provide the same orchestration as the rest of the node. Scalability is probably one of the biggest reasons people choose VxRail.
How are customer service and support?
I've contacted Dell tech support on many occasions for VxRail. I always put in a case with Dell on all the service tags of the nodes before taking on any support mechanism. I recommend starting that process early. One of the main reasons we put in a case is to do some maintenance or make some changes.
We always consult with Dell on best practices initially. It helps to provide them with as much information as possible about the health and wellness of that initial cluster. It generally depends on the service agreement you get from Dell, but we'll get a response in five or 10 minutes after putting in that initial case.
I've never had problems with Dell support, but I always recommend pro support from my customers and organization. Depending on the size of your organization and how much Dell hardware you have, they'll assign a technical account manager to your team or to the Dell team, so you always have a consistent point of contact if things don't go as planned. That's helpful if you have a technical account manager assigned to your organization.
How was the initial setup?
VxRail is a hyper-converged system that's automated and consists of nodes. Those nodes are one or two U-servers depending on the requirement. Bringing the VMware automation and lifecycle management platform together is difficult, so we recommend having a certification to do that assemblage.
It assembles these servers into nodes in an appliance. Once the appliance is set up, it's simple to manage the solution and the box. However, assembly and automation are complex. You want to make sure that the firmware is all the same between the nodes.
We've seen situations where we had a five-node cluster, and one firmware was not mapped to the others. We recommend working with Dell on those challenges, but our architects are also really well versed in those nuances. And if you want to deep dive into a technical requirement, I have several that have done that for a living.
What other advice do I have?
I rate VxRail eight out of 10. I would say it is the go-to solution for hyper-converged infrastructure.
The scripts that bring all of those servers into a node and cluster situation are proprietary to Dell. Anytime you're using that proprietary stuff, you need to be trained on it. Let's say, for example, you are in one of those systems, and you're working with some software that may not be acting like it should. Or it may have a feature that you want in a new generation. In some cases, there may be some dependencies on vCenter, vSAN, or Vsphere, which are all part of that integration.
One might be tempted to start to upgrade it outside of the lifecycle management that's inherent to the VMware platform. I've seen architects go ahead and update it right from the VMware console when they should be using the VxRail manager. Knowing how to do those upgrades is very important to getting the clusters to see the proper nodes together.
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: 2022-01-11T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
reviewer1295481 from
Useful and stable solution used to support the hardware across our organization
What is our primary use case?
We use this solution to ensure our hardware is supported.
What is most valuable?
This is a good solution if you want to deploy an ACI Environment but don't have all the necessary resources.
What needs improvement?
VxRail is an expensive solution. It could be improved by having more information on the integration portion of ACI.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
This is a stable solution. We have migrated our old systems on the new ACI station and have experienced no issues.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
This is a scalable solution but this comes at a cost.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was quick and involved medium complexity. It requires help from the vendor to scale.
We received technical support from Dell as part of the deployment implementation plan and contract.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I would recommend adjusting pricing of this solution to suit your infrastructure.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.
Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-01-25T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
Igor Zheltukhin from
Comfortable for VMware users
What is most valuable?
VxRail is a comfortable solution for VMware users. You have one pane of glass from vCenter. They have a convenient update, it's just one click like Nutanix.
VxRail comes with vSAN making it an easy solution. You don't need to think about the compatibility of components.
What needs improvement?
The fact that is based on vSAN is the main issue of this solution.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with VxRail for one year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
VxRail is not perfect, there are bugs in the plugins.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
VxRail has no concerns with scalability.
How are customer service and support?
VxRail support is okay, it is not better than Nutanix.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of VxRail is more complicated than Nutanix. If you have prepared the network for implementation you will not have any problems. You need to organize and prepare the network well.
What other advice do I have?
For someone that does not want to think too much about the compatibility of components and VMware, VxRail is better than pure vSAN.
Make sure you have a good network specialist, specifically in VMware, on your team.
Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-01-23T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
Lubabalo Ntoni from
A solution for production workloads for the company workflows
What is our primary use case?
We are a customer of VxRail with 200 users. We use the solution for production workloads for the company workflow.
What is most valuable?
We have Dell enterprise licensing and use all the features. VxRail is a complete solution that includes performance, backups, and disaster recover.
What needs improvement?
VxRail should try to improve the pricing.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using VxRail for 12 months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Stability is good.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
VxRail is vSAN, so we only need to buy a node when we need to scale, which is not a problem.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support is good.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward. Installation took approximately 2 days, but migration from the old UCS to the new infrastructure took time.
What about the implementation team?
We have ten people on our in-house technical team including networking, security, and data center engineers who do storage and servers.
What was our ROI?
VxRail is doing the job we require, we are not making money from it.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
VxRail is an expensive solution as we have the enterprise license that is billed annually. It has everything we need but it would be nice if they could do something about the pricing.
What other advice do I have?
If you have done the research about VxRail and know what you are looking for then I recommend using it.
I rate this solution a 10 out of 10.
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: 2022-01-20T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
Mahammad Shafi Shaikh from
Don’t just buy a server, transform your infrastructure with more power with easy maintenance and less cost.
What is our primary use case?
We were using VMWare and Dell products from long time. We wanted reliable technology partner who can provide technology, solution and support during migration. We use Microsoft technology.
What is most valuable?
We are not just purchased the server, we transformed our infrastructure into Powerful and Efficient, agile, flexible and scalable, polished and proven technology solution build with VMWare. New HCI - VxRail replaced with our existing 42U rack devices consists of BladeCenter, storage and other rack mountable servers into simple, more powerful 4 node VxRail device
which saves power and maintenance cost very drastically.
What needs improvement?
We are in the process of exploring more options which is bundle with this solution.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using VxRail for two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is a stable product, deploy appliance with ease, update all software in single click, monitor using dashboards for health, events and physical views. And maintain with direct access to support, articles and community.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is scalable.
How are customer service and support?
Whenever there are any technical or hardware issues, we contact Dell. They will attend to us immediately. On a scale of one to five, I would give them a five.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We switched to VxRail because our previous solution was at the end of service life. We had used it for more than six years. We wanted new technology with new scalability. power, technology and easy maintenance.
How was the initial setup?
We migrated from our older hardware consists of multiple servers, storage and switches to simple and more powerful HCI - 4 node VxRail device.
Studying current and future Business requirement, validating multiple solution which suits our requirement, which is agile, easily scalable and more power to suite our future plans. It took almost six plus months to freeze the VxRail solution. Post finalization, releasing the order and receiving to hardware it took almost 6 months to complete the migration to new setup. Delay was due to lockdown, travel restrictions otherwise it would have been completed within three months. Complete migration was very smooth and very minimal downtime without any Business impact.
What about the implementation team?
In-house team with OEM Support.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Identifying and freezing the solution by multiple tech discussions and negations. Finalizing solution with hardware is bundled with license. Closing the order with Five-year Support and migration support from OEM.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We evaluated couple of other solutions, also gone through Nutanix demo. Nutanix is a very good solution, but they don't have their own hardware, we have to depend on third party people like Dell, HP or IBM. We were long time Dell product user and preferred the Dell.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate this solution 10 out of 10.
Just buying the product is not important, along with solution on-time support is very crucial for Business-critical applications. We are using Dell products, solutions and services from more than 10years. From my experience with Dell, their technology, support and services which plays a critical role to select Dell as our products and solution vendor.
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: 2022-01-27T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
reviewer1766676 from
Simple and centralized application hosting and deployment
What is our primary use case?
All of our servers run on this system and we are also able to use it for file servers, domain controllers, print servers, SQL servers, etc.
I have two teams - one in Copenhagen with about 400 people and one in New York with about 200 people. Their roles are mainly architects and administration.
What needs improvement?
It would be nice if the update process was shortened and that patching would be simpler.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for a year and a half.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's so reliable that we haven't had one breakdown since we got it. It's very stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is very scalable. You can scale compute or storage or both. I am looking to expand my New York cluster this quarter.
How are customer service and support?
Initially, they had a lot of issues when I bought it as they were understaffed. So, it was a little bit hard to get support. But now, a year and a half later, it's so much better and very good.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We were originally using VMware and SAN. We switched so that it can be administered and managed in a centralized format.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was straightforward. It took about a week initially, plus three weeks to move all my VMs to the new system.
What about the implementation team?
I was able to perform this myself with the assistance of a consultant.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Fees vary by license type.
What other advice do I have?
First and foremost, I would advise people to purchase this solution mainly for the simplicity of the system. And it's all managed in one place, which is nice compared to Nutanix where you had to administrate multiple places. And, the support now is very good.
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: 2022-01-27T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
Jinoy P S from
It's useful for modernizing applications
What is our primary use case?
VxRail can be used for application modernization.
What needs improvement?
VxRail could improve compatibility with other products like VMware vSAN.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been working with VxRail for five years or more.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
VxRail is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability is limited to a single cluster with 64 nodes.
Disclaimer: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:Integrator
Date published: 2022-01-13T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
reviewer746781 from
A hyper-converged appliance with valuable deduplication feature, but the price could be better
What is our primary use case?
I work in the tendering and bidding department. We study the fees and propose a solution based on the customer requirements. Over the last three years, most of our clients have been migrating to hyper-converged environments. I worked with most of the hyper-converged vendors regarding implementation, pricing, and reviewing the technical write-up.
What is most valuable?
It has a valuable deduplication feature.
What needs improvement?
The price could be better. The backup mechanism could also be better. Some of our clients prefer to work with backup software from a different vendor. They don't do a built-in backup solution.
It would be better if they had guidelines on proper sizing and the whole life cycle from the requirement collection. If there aren't any proper guidelines, how do I go to the customer and evaluate their existing infrastructure? How can you do appropriate sizing to migrate to a hyper-converged environment? I think this is a requirement because most of our clients are migrating to a hyper-converged environment.
In the next release, they can improve absolutely anything you can think of to improve the product in general—for example, the clusters and backup software.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using VxRail for about three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I think VxRail is very stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Scalability is perfect.
How was the initial setup?
I think the initial setup is a straightforward process. In the beginning, there may have been issues in terms of sizing and collecting the requirements. But there weren't too many complications.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
VxRail is quite expensive and could be cheaper. I would say that the main difference between VxRail and the competition is cost. There may be some differences in features, but I would say that it's mainly the costs.
What other advice do I have?
On a scale from one to ten, I would give VxRail a seven.
Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2021-09-30T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
Ahmed_Alaiady from
A hyper-converged infrastructure that is easy to install
What is our primary use case?
We are system integrators and IT providers.
What is most valuable?
The solution is cost-effective and easy to instal, it's just a plug and play. It also contains a ready VMware solution that I use to manage virtual machines. Finally, it is a hyper-converged infrastructure, so it's not a regular server.
What needs improvement?
A beneficial improvement they could make would be the integration of all the dealings with VMware to provide a license with VxRail so the customer can purchase it without the need to pay for an additional license for the VMware. If the license for VMware were to come together with the hardware at no additional cost, that would be great. Nutanix offers this package.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using this solution for four years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is very reliable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is flexible, scalable and easily integrated. We can add to it at any time and it'll give extra performance and extra CPU.
How are customer service and support?
Our engineers deal with any support issues we may have.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward and can take up to four days. Deployment requires a technician and an assistant engineer to plan everything and get it ready to host the services. Maintenance is required but we receive documentation regarding updates and framework feature updates. We have five system administrators working on this product.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Dell VxRail is flexible and reliable and scalable. It's easy to restore without the higher cost. We're not comfortable with the cost of VxRail and neither are our clients. As a result, we sometimes have to go to other brands because the price of VxRail is not competitive. Not that comfortable with some projects so the recommendation is Dell can do the same price as the normal server. I know it's marketing plan, especially for Middle East. It'll be much better and we will buy all the required servers from VxRail not, as you know, you'll go to all hyper-converged infrastructure.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We also offer Nutanix to our clients. What Nutanix offers is not available in Dell or HPE. Nutanix has its own management system similar to VMware and is also easy to configure. Through the system, the system administrator can manage and ensure all the virtual machines or virtual appliances that will host the services. If they could change the licensing structure so there is no additional license required, it would be a great feature that would strengthen Dell against their competitors.
What other advice do I have?
I always recommend VxRail because of their scalability and flexibility, but sometimes the cost creates a barrier with the client. All of our clients who have chosen VxRail are happy with it, it's just the cost that's an issue.
I rate the 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:Integrator
Date published: 2021-09-29T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
reviewer718026 from
Scalable, reliable, and VMware licenses are included
What is our primary use case?
Here in Mauritius, most companies prefer on-premise deployments. We use VxRail for civil aviation services.
What needs improvement?
The solution could improve by having more storage performance because in some other solutions you can have a file system that can be mounted at several places at one time.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using VxRail for approximately 10 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
VxRail is stable and we have had no issues.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability of VxRail is very good.
We have four customers using this solution.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We have previously used Nutanix and SimpliVity. The support was not very good. VxRail could be viewed as lower grade and not a top seller compared to others, but if you have an issue with anything, such as the control or engines and it needs replacing, VxRail is better.
Additionally, I have used PowerScale and Isilon.
How was the initial setup?
The process of the installation is straightforward. The initial implementation took use three to four months. The technician allocated to it did not have much networking experience. Once he mastered networking everything went well. You have to be good at networking to be able to have everything completed in a timely manner.
What about the implementation team?
We do the implementation, maintenance, and support of VxRail with one technician.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The VMware licenses are included and we do not have to worry about the license, everything is integrated.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend this solution to others if the use case fits. Other solutions, such as PowerScale might be better in a particular use case.
I rate VxRail a ten 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: 2021-10-24T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
reviewer1165599 from
Highly stable, efficient, and great performance
What is our primary use case?
We have VxRail for Hyperconverged infrastructure for our Windows and Linux VMs. We have the vRealize Suite which helps us with lifecycle management and forecasting our environments.
What is most valuable?
VxRail has high performance and has great efficiency. There is a single place for us to manage all of our virtual machines. The ability to right-size instead of overcommit VMs is a large benefit.
What needs improvement?
We do not use the storage part of VxRail, we use Pure Storage to map out the VxRail because the disk performance from Pure Storage was far better than the performance of the disk on the inside of VxRail.
I have found that Dell sales are the worst part of the organization or the blemish of their solutions. When they tell you, you are receiving something, and then down the road, you find out you actually have to buy something else in order to have the intended functionality it can be frustrating. We should have been told when purchasing this solution that we needed to purchase VMware Tanzu for private clouds.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have used VxRail within the past 12 months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
VxRail is highly stable. I would rate VxRail a ten out of ten for stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is scalable, it has the ability to scale up but if you go and you add clusters it can get a bit difficult. If you are adding everything new, you only add it, and then it becomes a part of a cluster, but if you started off with a small four-cluster and then you have a 12-node cluster then you want to move those machines, it can take some work.
How was the initial setup?
The installation is straightforward we have never had a problem. They could improve on the process of adding clusters. For example, when you want to add a four-node cluster to a 12-node cluster, there is a whole lot of resetting we have to do on that cluster and put it back on. We do not understand why you can not add a cluster into the same management interface. This is something they should look into.
What other advice do I have?
The only advice that I would give to those wanting to implement VxRail is to make sure that they look at what comes with the VxRail package. For example, Dell offers vRealize, which is not private cloud. They mistakenly will say that it is for private cloud but all vRealize offers are lifecycle management, the ability to do costing, and everything between public cloud and a private cloud. They will tell you that you have to buy VMware Tanzu in order to get the private cloud features. When they initially sell VxRail as hyper-converged infrastructure, they also sell it as your private cloud but there is no private cloud functionality. You have to build that on.
I rate VxRail a ten 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: 2021-10-21T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
reviewer1682655 from
It's fully integrated
What is our primary use case?
VxRail is a software-defined storage solution that works with all VMware products. That's the primary function. So if a customer has limited IT staff and technical expertise, but they want to shift their workload into the cloud in the future, then VxRail is a good option.
What is most valuable?
I like VxRail because it's fully integrated. The other hyperconverged solutions are also well integrated. They are all highly similar to each other in that regard. But we prefer VxRail for its physical integrations or lifecycle management. It also has vCenter, which integrates the hardware lifecycle management. Everything can be done from vCenter, and that is a big advantage for us.
What needs improvement?
All hyperconverged solutions have one shortcoming: They are demanding in terms of compatibility and conformity of the network. So that is a problem for all hyperconverged solutions, including VxRail.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using VxRail for a few years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
VxRail is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
VxRail is scalable.
How are customer service and support?
Dell support is fine. It's on an expert level. They are well aware of all the technical to-do's with the product. They are very skilled.
How was the initial setup?
VxRail could be easier to set up. It's tricky to configure the network properly and match the requirements.
What other advice do I have?
I rate VxRail eight 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: 2021-10-10T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
Slava Mislivets from
An entire datacenter in one box
What is our primary use case?
The big portion of it is the VDIs, XenDesktop VDIs. I would say that our biggest deployment for VDI is approximately 15,000 users.
Our team actually maintains the solution and deploys the updates, etc. We have two people that handle all maintenance-related issues. Mostly me but I have support from another person.
What is most valuable?
VxRail does not require fiber switches or external storage. It's easy to replace and manage. It's centralized management through VxRail Manager.
What needs improvement?
The upgrade process is still not finished up. Sometimes during the upgrade process of VxRail, we experience errors that have nothing to do with reality and I cannot troubleshoot them without calling Dell and bringing in an engineer to figure it out.
If the VxRail upgrade fails on one of the particular nodes in the cluster, it doesn't stop, It pauses. When a problem's fixed and you retry it, it starts from the beginning.
For example, If I have 32 nodes in a cluster and I have a problem with the 31st node, I have to start from node 1 to check everything. To get to node 31, it takes up to three hours.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using VxRail for three and a half years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Stability is not related to VxRail. It's related to vSAN. Because VxRail has nothing to do with vSAN. VxRail's just aiding automation and the orchestration processes to vSAN, the VMware vSAN. Overall, the stability is pretty good if the hardware is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability is 10 out of 10. I can add or remove hosts at any time. I have no problem with that.
How are customer service and technical support?
I'm really pleased with the technical support because it's centralized. It's not just VxRail support, it's hardware support and vSAN support, VMware support. If I call Dell for any problems relating to VxRail, I don't have to call anybody else.
In any case, if we need VMware engineers, it's just a matter of internally bringing somebody on the call, and then we figure it out together.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward. As soon as I prepare a JSON file I have no problem.
Usually deployment depends on the number of nodes — it's taken up to two hours.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I was not involved in the licensing of this solution.
What other advice do I have?
If you're interested in using VxRail, use your judgment. There are multiple solutions and all of them are geared toward different use cases. Some people will prefer HyperFlex, others will prefer to go with Nutanix, VxRail, or, for god's sake, vSAN ReadyNodes.
VxRail has some limitations. For me, it's limited from doing what it's supposed to do because it's provided by VxRail — it's automated and orchestrated by VxRail. For example, I cannot use VMware Update Manager. I have to use a bundle, which is produced by Dell, and usually, they are at least a month to a month and a half behind VMware.
Overall, on a scale from one to ten, I would give VxRail a rating of eight.
Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2021-02-22T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
Manar Helal from
Bundles all components into one package
What is our primary use case?
We use VxRail for VDI and for our production environment hosted on VMware. Within our organization, there are roughly 3,000 employees that use this solution.
What is most valuable?
We enjoy the ease of management since all of the resources are located on one box — one single point of support.
What needs improvement?
I host a lot of other clients on my premises, the ACR, and I need to charge them for the services I provide. I would like it if there were tools that provided the billing costs. In other words, this infrastructure or this resource will cost you X amount of dollars. In short, I would prefer it if each cell had a tool geared toward billing clients.
The initial setup for the VxRail economy requires a minimum of three nodes. We might consider building a new cluster with a minimum of four, as not all customers can sponsor for the sub-training number of nodes. In short, to implement VxRail, you need a minimum of three nodes for the initial setup; and the initial setup isn't cheap.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using VxRail for two and a half years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
VxRail is very stable — it scales up and spins out.
How are customer service and technical support?
I am very satisfied with the customer support.
How was the initial setup?
For the HCI it's quite straightforward; however, in regard to the switches, there is no GUI implemented with the top-rack switches which can make things difficult. Overall, deployment took one week.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We evaluated HyperFlex and NetApp. The best part aboutHyperFlex is that it operates on the CDM layer to integrate the VM-ware reports which need an extra 20% of the resources that the box or the production data needs. However, I would say that HyperFlex is more complicated to install than VxRail.
What other advice do I have?
Overall, on a scale from one to ten, I would give this solution a rating of nine.
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: 2021-02-21T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
Ghulam Mustafa from
Scalable, simple to use, and has good support
What is our primary use case?
We primarily use the solution for hyper-converged infrastructure.
It's a four-node cluster that has internal storage and the solution has combined all four nodes via vSAN. vSAN is software, a software-defined storage software from which we can combine our four-node storage and other resources into one virtual storage tool. It's a software-defined model.
We are using it for surrounding applications, not for core applications. For core applications, we are using Power Systems and IBM Cloud Storage.
What is most valuable?
The product is a very good software-defined solution.
The product has been simplified so that it's very easy to use.
VxRail is a good product and since Dell acquired VMware and went hyper-converged infrastructure, it's been great. It's a very robust solution.
The main thing is that vSAN software is built-in, inside the hypervisor. It's an excellent way of doing things and it's common sense. If we are talking about other hypervisors, such as, let's say, Cisco HyperFlex, HP SimpliVity, and Nutanix, the difference is where vSAN is built on the VMware. You don't need to create a VM for vSAN. It's built-in, in its hypervisor.
When VMware was acquired by Dell, the hardware and software were combined together, which has been very good.
The support has been excellent, especially if you compare it to IBM.
The solution is very good for smaller entities, such as small or medium-sized organizations.
You can scale the solution quite well.
From a security point of view, the solution is pretty good.
What needs improvement?
The licensing is a bit too costly. They should work on lessening the overall price.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution for the last two years or so. It hasn't been for that long.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is very good for small and medium-sized organizations.
The product can scale. When we go for an upgrade, all the upgraded software is combined in a one-bundle unit.
We've just extended our solution. We have four-node clusters, and recently we acquired more resources. We just extended this cluster to eight nodes. We are waiting for the delivery of the equipment. We already replaced some of it.
How are customer service and technical support?
We've had a good experience with technical support.
The support mechanism of Dell EMC offers a very quick response. They give us the attention we need when we say there's an issue. The engineer will come online immediately and provide support. We've been quite satisfied with their level of service overall.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The solution is expensive and it could be a bit more reasonably priced for its customers. We hope it's something that will get worked on.
What other advice do I have?
VxRail is the product of Dell, with both hardware and software combined together. It's a very good product.
We bought this VxRail for our VMware-certified applications. Those applications only run on VMware-certified systems. That's why we procured VxRail. Otherwise, we have Hyper-V as well, Microsoft Hyper-V. Hyper-V is an American-based company, which always offers hyper-converged infrastructure solutions. On Edge we are using Hyper-V, It is also a software-defined box.
We have our own private Cloud as well for converged infrastructure. We have the Lenovo Blade series and the external storage is connected to the chassis which we are using for our surrounding applications. This is our private Cloud. It is also on Microsoft Hyper-V.
We aren't using the latest version of the solution. We are using the version before.
Overall, I would rate the solution at a nine out of ten. We've been very happy with it.
Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2021-02-21T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
reviewer1484376 from
Well integrated and architectured solution
What is our primary use case?
We have some virtual machines for the active directory, some virtual machines for security like firewalls, and some for other security. We have some other solutions here that are on virtual machines, such as our web page. Its applications and some functions are on virtual machines, too.
Some solutions are internal solutions and I think they are going to setup a SaaS solution here in our cluster. We have about three more clusters here and it's around 20 terabytes.
What is most valuable?
The integration with VMware is great. I like it so much because it is so much cleaner and the VMware modeling with the VxRail Manager is very nice. The solution is very good. It is easier. We haven't had any issues with it.
We have three nodes and we had an issue with one of the nodes once and the response time from their support was very nice. When they fixed the part that was bad in the cluster, it began functioning again very nicely and very quickly. It was a great solution. We didn't have any outage or crash due to this failure.
It has a tool called RecoverPoint for Virtual Machines, and I liked it so much because it allows for business continuity, and I can replicate virtual machines from one appliance to another. Normally, there are all these rules that we have to have in VMware. We are just implementing this in the first one and the second one. I have the end unit of this distributed solution. It's going to be good but at the moment, we are just deploying it. We made some tests and RecoverPoint for Virtual Machines was very nice.
What needs improvement?
It would be an improvement if VxRail could be integrated with some other hypervisors and not just with VMware.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using VxRail for almost three years at my office. It's a great solution.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is very nice. We haven't had any issues with the cluster. The cluster is very stable. No problems with slowness. Everything has been stable. It was well-architectured.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability of VxRail is very good because they told me that it scales up to 64 nodes, but at this time we haven't had the need for that kind of scale. We can scale it on disks but we don't have to scale it. We don't have a node. It is cheaper to scale it up with disks while we need some space. We are okay with the CPU and all of that, so the disk solutions are very nice. Its scaling is very nice because we can scale it up with only disks. When we need to scale a computer or something, we need to buy another node if we run out of the disks.
Our organization has about 100 people.
How are customer service and technical support?
Technical support is very nice. I think it's the best support that I have tested because I have some other solutions with HP which were okay. Before we had VxRail, we had a solution that is called Simplivity. I didn't like it very much. It was a two-node solution. It was very bad. We had some issues with both the support and the solution, so we had to change it.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was very easy. It took about one and a half days and then another three or four days, maximum, with the tuning and everything else.
We had to energize each node and I did it a week before they went to implement the process. They asked about everything. They asked about IP addresses, everything that was technical. They made some assessments and the day that we implemented VxRail, they had everything set. They just wrote all the addressing and everything of our root and our network. The implementation goes so fast. Almost a day. That was what it took to implement that machine.
The next day, they migrated from virtual machines with the VMware Converter. They used two RecoverPoints for Virtual Machines, I think. It didn't take too much time. Only a few hours, maybe half of the day, and it was okay. We started planning it and we made some tests over a day and a half on the timing and stability of the system and we had the process standard because we needed to have a hybrid solution.
What other advice do I have?
My advice to other people looking to implement VxRail is that it is a very nice solution. It's an integrated solution so we don't have to jump into several providers because it is only one point of contact. We don't have to call VMware or another vendor. We only have one point of contact.
On a scale of one to ten, I would give VxRail a nine.
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: 2021-02-18T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
reviewer1067061 from
Great for modernizing a data centre but simulator access is limited to premium customers only
What is our primary use case?
Our company is global. We have a wide range of customers and clients in many countries. Our customers who use VxRail are typically big companies.
Some of our customers are in the banking sector and use VxRail because they're concerned about using automated software for updates, upgrades, etc. VxRail is for a specific category, mostly for banking, oil, and gas — a few others sectors as well.
What is most valuable?
For me, the most valuable feature is in relation to the software updates. Updated software is very critical as I cannot risk making a mistake. To avoid this, VxRail provides me with pre-tested updates that can be implemented with little interruption. Since we are talking about banking, oil, and gas, there's no need for automating virtual machine creation.
What needs improvement?
Currently, I don't see much room for improvement; however, there could be better documentation and they should allow everyone to access the simulator. If Dell could provide access to a simulator or a demo for regular users, it would make things much easier.
In order to gain access, you need to be a golden partner — normal users can't do it. It would be more beneficial to everyone if they could access the simulator and run some trial and error experiments before operating the real product. Many other companies (like Cisco) allow all of their users to do this. You can simply download the materials from the internet, including the simulator.
In regard to VxRail or Dell products in general, you cannot do this because it's very limited to specific partners — typical end users don't have access. It would be great if it was more available to all partners, not just their top-tier partners. There would be less resistance from potential customers because they wouldn't be afraid of daily operations, support, etc.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been dealing with VxRail for roughly two to three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
VxRail is very stable. We haven't experienced any issues, stability-wise.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
As VxRail is constantly updating, it makes it really easy to scale-out and scale-up.
How are customer service and technical support?
We are experiencing some issues with Dell's live-chat support as the support is different based on the support included with the hardware. If you're on a basic plan, there will be some challenges. We're hearing this from our customers in Gulf countries, third-world countries, and even second-world countries. They also face some challenges due to international time zones. There should be online support everywhere, not limited to specific geographical locations, it's limiting. Other companies are not doing this. If you compare Dell with HP, that's not the case. With HP, whenever you have a problem, despite the hardware, you get premium support. With Dell, communicating with support can be a challenge.
How was the initial setup?
The complexity of the initial setup depends on your infrastructure as you need to integrate some existing components. It's not only about the VxRail components, but integration with the existing network and firewall. It's case-by-case. Sometimes it's very easy, sometimes it's not.
What about the implementation team?
We do not deploy this solution for our customers. We step in once it's been deployed. We handle end-to-end operations like security, computing, and networking — the whole portfolio.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
VxRail is not cheap, but it's not expensive either. Mainly it's for big enterprise customers. VxRail has its own or target customers and they know the value of this product; however, the hyper-converged solution is not for everyone. The good news is there are no hidden costs.
What other advice do I have?
I would absolutely recommend VxRail. From my previous experience, and because I work with a wide range of technical engineers, compared to other products, this solution offers a solid hardware performance. Generally, we look for value combined with price. If you're able to find a better solution, it will also come at a higher cost. Considering the range of prices overall, Dell is the best — my first choice. You can go for a premium version, but there will be an additional cost. For example, you can go for NetApp, which is better hardware, but the price is higher.
Overall, on a scale from one to ten, I would give VxRail a rating of six.
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: 2021-01-11T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
EMANUEL CORDEIRO from
Stable and easy to set up
What is our primary use case?
We use VxRail to host our SAP ERP system.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with VxRail for two months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is okay and we haven't had a problem.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have approximately 500 people who use this product and we have not tried to scale it.
How are customer service and technical support?
I have not been in contact with technical support.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was very easy. Part of the process was migrating the virtual machines to the new server.
What about the implementation team?
We used the Dell team to help with our deployment.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
This is an expensive product and that should be considered a point to be improved.
What other advice do I have?
Overall, this is a good product and I recommend it.
I would rate this solution a ten 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: 2021-01-17T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
reviewer1484772 from
Easy to use, good resource deployment, but integration could improve
What is our primary use case?
We use the solution for high volumes of data transfer and accessing and processing that data.
What is most valuable?
The solution is easy to use. When turning on a server or a machine that is required for, deployment or quality assurance, the dynamic deployment of resources is good.
What needs improvement?
We would like to see integrating with Nutanix. Currently, we are working on integrating the two to see if there is any value in doing so.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for four years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I have found the solution to be stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is scalable. We have more than 1000 users using the solution.
How are customer service and technical support?
We were satisfied with the customer service.
How was the initial setup?
Our product vendor did the installation for us.
What about the implementation team?
The deployment was done by Dell EMC. We have six technicians working on maintenance for the solution.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The licensing comes with the contract with Dell EMC. The solution is competitively priced but it is expensive. However, this is expected as we are a corporate enterprise and we need this environment.
What other advice do I have?
I rate VxRail a seven out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2021-01-17T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
FreddyGonzalez from
Provides centralized management that is easy to manage and easy to update, and the support is excellent
What is our primary use case?
I use VxRail with VMware VCF. The requirement is to have a private cloud to provide services for users.
How has it helped my organization?
VxRail has improved the way we function because everything is centralized. There is no need to be going to many different places. it's all in one pane of glass, making it easier to manage.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features are ease of management and ease of applying updates. It provides centralized management.
What needs improvement?
In the version that I was working with, the integrations are in need of improvement.
The technical support is in slight need of improvement.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using VxRail for several years, and am just starting a brand new project with it. This will be a fresh deployment.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
VxRail is pretty robust and steady.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
VxRail is very easy to scale. It is simple to add nodes, scale-out, or scale-up. We have more than 2,000 users. There are many different people in people in many different departments, going from regular day to day administration, helpdesk, cybersecurity operations, forensics, virtualization administrators, VDI administrators, and so forth.
How are customer service and technical support?
I have been in contact with technical support and they are excellent. I would rate them a nine out of ten on support because there is always room for improvement, but they do a good job.
Sometimes, when passing on tickets to other techs because people leave on vacation or for other reasons, they don't follow up quickly enough in my opinion. I have found that sometimes, I've had tickets open and two days later, I don't hear anything and it's because the person was out and nobody else took over the ticket. Other than that, they are on point.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
In my previous organization, we were using a regular blade chassis. We were not using HCI solutions. Rather, it was just the normal virtualization environment deployment using fabric switches. We were also using Dell servers, only it was M540s and 840s on a Dell M1000M chassis.
It was different, and HCI is something that I like.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is pretty easy and straightforward.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
At about $200,000, this solution is a little bit pricey but it is more economical than others such as Nutanix or Cisco Hyperflex. Dell is more economical.
What other advice do I have?
In my previous deployment, there were a couple of things that I identified as needing improvement. I believe they were addressed on the new version of their software because, in the previous deployment, I wasn't using the latest version. Apparently, VMware came out with VCF 4.1, and Dell came out with a newer iteration. At this point, I'm hoping that the stuff is fixed. Once I start working with the newest version, I'll see what new features I would like to see in the next one.
My advice for anybody looking into implementing VxRail is to read the documentation and do the virtual labs that they have. Repeat them over and over before deploy it on the actual system that they are going to deploy to avoid having to take everything down and redo it.
I would rate this solution an eight 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: 2020-12-17T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
Deena Khattab from
Flexible, resource efficient and helpful support
What is our primary use case?
We use it for our data center.
How has it helped my organization?
It helps our servers and it is very efficient.
What is most valuable?
It's very flexible. We can add more servers as much as we want. It also includes the VMware license, I find this good. We do not waste a lot of resources because you are able to use them efficiently, depending on the usage and the processing unit that is used in a node or not.
What needs improvement?
I cannot think of anything right now, nothing in coming to my mind.
For how long have I used the solution?
The implementation started last December and it went on to January and February; in total, we have used it for less than one year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is a stable solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is very easy to add new servers, the scalability is very easy.
How are customer service and technical support?
We did contact technical support. In the beginning, we had some tickets with them. They responded well and were very helpful.
What about the implementation team?
We did the setup through the service provider because we didn't have the experience. It was something new for us, so we went through them to get help. They showed us how to migrate from the old service to the new one and we continued to do the process. The implementation took two days for the setup.
What was our ROI?
What I did not like so much was the amount of VMware that you have to put in your system related to the VxRail. This uses a lot of resources and not all of them are necessary. We did not use everything that came with VxRail to set it up so it is okay.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We also evaluated another product by Cisco.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend this product, we have another site that we need to replace the data center and we will implement the same solution.
I would rate VxRail 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: 2020-12-13T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
reviewer1521492 from
Offers a great environment where all keyholes can be managed without a problem
What is our primary use case?
We implement VxRail E560F for our customers who are based in the Middle East. We are
Dell partners and I'm a system engineer. The customer has scalability requirements and
wants an easily adoptable solution for their data center which can be integrated into their HO IT Infrastructure and can be managed remotely, with the least amount of OpEx at the branch office.
What is most valuable?
The most important thing for our customers is the CapEx and OpEx. As a single point of
administration hyper-converged infrastructure, all the solution components, Servers,
vSAN (Storage), Virtualization, backup management, future expansion, and upgrades
can be managed very easily, and the solution is out-of-the-box. Dell EMC provides comminuted support for the upgrades and patch management for hardware, whether it
is related to firmware, operating system, hypervisor layer as well as the applications
also, VMware. It's a very good solution with multiple options with VxRail series like
based on customer requirements whether they're focused on compute, storage, scalability and high performance, etc. Whether a customer you are going to start your IT Infrastructure
footprint with a limited budget, you have freedom of choice and non-disruptive expansion
in the future, whether in the main data center or branches. Any idea coming in system admins mind to run this setup continuously and keep service 100% 24/7 is possible in this
product line. Hyper-converged appliances allow a datacenter in a box approach, with G, E P, Vand P series.
What needs improvement?
VxRail is a closed system with an out-of-the -box solution approach, it has basic 3 layers,
Hardware, Network, Storage, Software, (Virtualizing) Applications. Release notes and
improvement tips, patches from the back office, the business units, should be frequent
and up to the patches which are coming from different vendors as far as the operating
system application and also the technology itself is concerned. It's sometimes difficult if
you have to decommission and add a new node, especially when you go for the
qualification of the new node through the python script, there are multiple checks which
are always on, and sometimes they are already covered and the script is focused on
those. It is mandatory to resolve this issue and call the technical support back office team to suppress the checks and do the expansion or the break-off for a new node.
This is my main concern because sometimes we are not able to get to the right
engineer especially when you are in a different time zone. I generally catch them at the
end of a shift and a new engineer takes a handover from the previous, then you have to explain everything a second time and the new engineer would resolve the issue with a different approach. Or sometimes he is dependent on Engineering team advice. There are
multiple things to be considered and we are dependent mostly on the vendor.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The licensing aspect is the most painful for some of our customers. Customers go for a
VMware license that's standard and then they find they have to go with the enterprise
solution and adjust the license. If you have a limited budget, that's difficult.
What other advice do I have?
I rate this solution an eight out of 10.
Disclaimer: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:Partner
Date published: 2021-05-04T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
cto267069 from
Scalable with great performance-inspired management tools and good stability
What is our primary use case?
For small companies that want to have several nodes and a lot of computing with a small amount of storage for databases and SQLs, this solution works well. They can use it to replicate the data.
What is most valuable?
The solution's most valuable aspect is a combination of a few things. It's fairly scalable, for example. It has a lot of performance-inspired management tools. They are very important to us to be able to manage and monitor the entire solution. VxRail has given us a lot of tools in a one-stop-shop environment.
The solution has been very stable so far.
The initial setup is very easy.
Technical support is great.
What needs improvement?
In the next release, maybe they could add in integration with the hyper-cloud so it will be easier to do the movement up and back to the cloud in order to scale in and scale out.
If I could have some kind of a container-based solution, I'd be happier. That way I would be able to run my containers, my Kubernetes, in that environment.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution for about two years at this point.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is very stable and the performance is good. There are no bugs or glitches. It's reliable. It doesn't crash or freeze.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The product can scale very well. It's a notable aspect of the solution itself. If the company needs to expand, it can do so.
More than 200 customers are running on that solution.
How are customer service and technical support?
I've dealt with technical support. I'd give them a ten out of ten.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I also have experience with Nutanix. I know all of these kinds of hyper-converged systems.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was not overly complex. It was very easy. I used a certified partner to do the installation.
It took less than a week and the system was up and running.
How much of a technical team is needed for deployment depends on the customer. That said if the team is about seven people they can run everything including security and the regulation and whatever we need to run the solution. In our case, there were seven engineers. One of them is the manager, and they all handled everything including networking, the system, and the protection.
What about the implementation team?
We ended up using a certified partner that helped us with the installation. While we used an integrator the first time, we can do it by ourselves now.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We need to buy our license to renew it after a five-year period. The license is for five years.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We did a POC with Nutanix and with SimpliVity. We wanted to see how well they would suit our organizational requirements and only did small tests.
What other advice do I have?
We're customers and end-users.
I'd rate the solution at an eight out of ten. We've been happy with its capabilities.
I would recommend the solution to other users and organizations.
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: 2021-09-11T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
Khalil Darwish from
High performance, overall useful features, and excellent support
What is most valuable?
VxRail has high performance and overall good features.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using VxRail for approximately six months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable and reliable. This is one of the main reasons why we purchased this solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is scalable.
We have 100 users using this solution in my organization.
How are customer service and technical support?
The technical support is very good, DELL is known for their great support.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was not that easy, it was a medium difficulty level.
What about the implementation team?
We use a system integrator for the implementation.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We made a one-time purchase of the solution and the price is expensive.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I have evaluated Nutanix.
What other advice do I have?
Those who are thinking about implementing this solution should shop around because Nutanix is cheaper and provides a similar service.
I rate VxRail an eight 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: 2021-09-13T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
Ahmed Gamil from
Simple management, one portal easy access, and fully integrated
What is our primary use case?
I am working for a service provider, we provide IT services for our customer in Egypt. I have deployed this solution in approximately 10 companies. The solution provides many components into one box for data centers.
What is most valuable?
When it comes to valuable features there are two different areas. From the business perspective, it is a lot cheaper, simple to manage, and easy to store in a small data center. You will only need small preparations for all the credential from the data center. From a technical perspective, you are able to manage all your data centers from one portal.
Dell owns the EMC, EMC owns VMware, and there are many other interconnections throughout the industry which allows a fully integrated solution from a technical perspective. If you open a ticket related to hardware or software it is from the same portal.
Additionally, we do not have a lot of issues with the customers related to the workloads or any sort of business related to this solution, we do not have issues with compatibility.
What needs improvement?
There is limited support for SAP HANA with this solution. Sometimes there are customers we have that want a solution based on SAP HANA and it is not compatible.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We have found the solution to be stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution has scaled well for us. When you need to scale up all you need to have is additional nodes to insert, power them on, pre-configure, and it is in production.
How are customer service and technical support?
The support was very fast at responding and resolving issues in all the tickets we created with them.
How was the initial setup?
The installation is very straightforward. You forward your IP, password, and some other information then you are done.
What about the implementation team?
The deployment is based on two scenarios, the budget and the software that would be running over the virtual machines in VMware and on this solution.
There are multiple series within this solution, we have to select the right sizing for the customer needs. If the company needs to implement SAP, Oracle, or regular infrastructure, based on this information we provide the solution business series. There are many things to consider, what is the nodes needed for the configuration, this could be three, four, five, etc. Which license is required with VMware, either standard or enterprise. Staying within the budget is important, this solution can be expensive and is based partially on the workloads that they will work on.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The solution is priced well for businesses.
What other advice do I have?
One of the issues I come across when we implement the solution is our customer's technical team do not have the knowledge of VMware and the technical operational components. They need to be trained very well before they start using the solution.
If you are wanting to improve your data centers this solution is one small box that can be used in a data center providing low power consumption and requiring minimal administration. You are almost able to combine all the business into one.
I rate VxRail a ten out of ten.
Disclaimer: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:Partner
Date published: 2021-04-09T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
Chris Bujak from
Good managed updates, great hyper-converged storage and very stable
What is our primary use case?
We primarily use the solution for general computing. We have everything on it and anything that's licensed is on it. We have our file servers, database servers, applications servers, web servers, etc., on it. Anything that fits on it basically.
How has it helped my organization?
We were able to commission an old center and provide more computing to the environment.
What is most valuable?
I like the managed updates. They are really nice in VxRail. Everything comes packaged and the updates are much easier than with other solutions that I've had to work with.
The fact that it's presenting you validated the design. Anything through the update manager will be guaranteed to work as VMware is integrated into the hardware side of it as well to validate that the patches that they're providing will work. There's less risk there.
The storage, the hyper-converged storage, is a nice boon. We have a sort of isolated storage from our main sandbox so that we can put things on there if the sandbox is having problems or it's basically another fault domain. It's another place where things can be protected.
What needs improvement?
The requirements need improvement. Some of the managers of VMs are a little sensitive to where they need to be placed in the environment and what names they need to have. I would like a little more control over that so that it fits into our naming scheme and it fits our organizational structure within vSphere. That's cosmetic, however. It's not a functional problem. It's just slightly disorganized. We have to put exceptions into our rules in order to check our rules.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution for less than six months. I don't remember the exact day, things have been blending together. I recall that it was right at the start of the pandemic. That was when our order was supposed to come in and things got delayed. We got it sometime over the summer.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is good. We haven't had any issues. We don't suffer from bugs or glitches and it doesn't crash or freeze. It's good.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have not needed to scale up. It is less than six months old, so we have not needed to scale it, however, I have scaled other VSN clusters and it was easy.
My department is kind of interesting. We are the central IT provider for the university, we provide IT services for other IT departments. I can't actually answer how many people are on the solution at any given time. We're essentially an MSP for on campus, but that's sort of our role. Therefore, I am so far removed from what the end-user is doing with it.
How are customer service and technical support?
I haven't had a need to call tech support. One of my coworkers has, and it seemed to go well. I was not the one who took lead on that call. I can't advise on if they are knowledgeable or responsive. I don't have direct experience.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We also have a pair of Nutanix clusters and we didn't switch from it. They're running concurrently. They run different workloads. We wanted to make sure that a false in one hyper-converged did not bring down all of our environment. We wanted to make sure that we were not putting all of our eggs in one basket.
Our Nutanix runs some of our core services. Things that can never go down. That is why we have a pair of Nutanix clusters. They're essentially isolated from everything else. They don't rely on stories. I didn't realize they have their own hosts. They are as isolated as they can be from the rest of the environment so that a fault in one environment won't bring down everything.
How was the initial setup?
As part of a VxRail deployment, you have to get professional services. It's an assisted install. I have experience with all of the components of VxRail. In terms of the VSN, the hyper-converged, some of my coworkers did not. That actually was a learning experience for them. They were able to learn from the documentation and that made it easier, however, it was still a learning curve. That was the only difficult part in terms of implementation - the learning curve.
What other advice do I have?
We're just a customer.
We're running an ESX 6.7. We're running the latest version of VxRail manager, but we're not running the latest version of ESX or V share. It can do for us. We want other people to find the bugs first.
My advice to other companies is to learn and ask lots of questions. Make sure that you understand the solution at the outset. Make sure the networking team is solid. Any hyper-converged solution like VxRail should rely on the network more than a traditional environment. You need to make sure your networking team is involved from the beginning.
I would rate the solution eight out of ten. VSN has come a long way, which is what the shell is based on for storage and the rest of the components are standard vSphere. You manage everything through the same vSphere interface. You're not using a different interface and it's fairly easy to maintain when you have problems. If you have problems, you will need to call tech support. They will have to walk you through it because it is a new thing for most people. That's why I recommend learning about the solution straight away.
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: 2020-11-21T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
reviewer1337028 from
Reliable with an easy initial setup and has good updating features
What is our primary use case?
We have four nodes. We're using it for our VMware infrastructure.
What is most valuable?
The updating of the features was one aspect of the solution that made us decide to use it. I have yet to actually do an update, however.
What needs improvement?
All updates are supposed to be done through VxRail, however, the vCenter actually showed that there was an update it needed. I've just started using the product. I didn't know what I was doing. I actually updated my vCenter and that actually threw the VxRail system offline. We had to spend some time trying to get that working again. If possible, they should make the process a bit more clear so we don't make mistakes like this in the future. There should maybe be some sort of pop-up that can direct you.
For how long have I used the solution?
I haven't used the solution for too long. So far, it's only been about two to two and a half months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Aside from our mistake updating the vCenter, which threw things off, we haven't had any issues. There aren't bugs or glitches. It doesn't freeze. So far, it's been rather reliable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
As far as the documentation goes, it seems to be scalable. I haven't had to do any scaling, however, the documentation certainly makes it seem like it's just a matter of adding another node and everything will just work fine.
How are customer service and technical support?
So far, the technical support has been pretty good. We actually worked with a third-party who worked with Dell on the vCenter problem we had. So far, they seem knowledgable and responsive. We're satisfied with the level of service our organization receives.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We did not previously use a hyper-converged solution. We had a Cisco UCS and we needed to update it. We looked at HyperFlex and at VxRail. We're actually a big Cisco and a big Dell shop, however, on the server-side, we're more of a Dell shop and I liked the step updating. That's pretty much why we went with that.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was not complex. It was pretty straightforward for us.
What about the implementation team?
We had a technician from Dell actually do the initial setup. It helped make the entire process very seamless.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We don't have to pay for anything after the initial purchase. There aren't ongoing licensing costs. I don't know the exact price of the solution.
What other advice do I have?
We're just customers. We don't have a professional relationship with the company.
If an organization is considering implementing the solution, I would advise they get some help doing so, unless they have the correct staff in house that can handle it, or they are very concerned about getting outside help for some reason. The technician that helped us got right through it. I would have been hard-pressed to get the implementation done on my own.
Overall, I would rate the solution eight out of ten. Aside from the one issue we had at the beginning with the update confusion, it's been very good.
Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2020-11-24T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
Alok Ranjan from
Good automation makes this solution practical
What is our primary use case?
The general use case for VxRail was to deal with the obsolescence because the current infra was not adequate to deal with the licensing and the support as we were running on the older hardware and the ESX version, and being a manufacturing site we didn't have a good level of redundancy.
We have two server rooms there. But if we lose one server room, we will not be able to run all our workload from the existing server room. So we deployed the V Service cluster during this deployment, wherein we have four modes in total in each room, and in the corporate data center.
We also deployed a backup solution with the Data Domain application. Then even if we lose one server room we have all the backup data in the other server room. So now at least we have local redundancy.
So the main use case is redundancy, obsolescence, better architecture, better throughput, and better back up time. Pfizer was not very responsive after we did the VxRail with the vCenter architecture with the upgraded styles. So we got feedback that Pfizer was responding well. Their help was good.
Also the backup time is good. Pfizer has the 1.5 PV. It used to take five to six hours on the back up but now it takes almost half of the time. So we are saving back up time and throughput is good. After deploying we have been getting some good benefits. Even the local businesses are happy with this solution.
So we are now deploying VxRail to more manufacturing sites.
What is most valuable?
The feature that I have found most valuable with VxRail is its upgrade. Because if you talk about the normal ESX process you have to upgrade the firmware, the bios, and you have to manage the compatibility. You have to do a lot of things. But in the case of VxRail, it's a single upgrade, end to end. You simply upload the bundle, click next, it will do some pre-checks, if those pre-checks pass, it will update everything one by one. It will put one ESX in the maintenance and move other VM's to another mode. There is no downtime to the VM's.
It will upgrade end to end infra, including bios from there, your ESX host, everything. So this is a really good feature. Then in new mode feature, they only have to configure it from the network standpoint and it can listen on a second mode. If they see a new mode in the network, the cluster will automatically have that mode as a new member.
VxRail has helped us with the automation. So we are happy with that.
What needs improvement?
As I said, one place for improvement would be the automated update for VMware Tools. Additionally, better integration with ServiceNow because if there are some issues, we could directly get the notification through IPS and Tools, so that integration is missing.
Somehow they did it, but it was not a very smooth integration because we have to use email features since they are sending emails. We contacted someone at ServiceNow at our end and we sent emails to ServiceNow and they converted it to some incidents or something. If we could have some out of the box ideas in integration, I think that would be a great feature.
VxRail provides more automation. For example, the process going from VMware to Tools is still a manual process where we have to manually update the VMware Tools. There should might be an option to upgrade VMware Tools automatically. We know that we need some downtime, but still, there should be a possibility to do this as an automated process.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using VxRail for about six months. We deployed it back in September and did the migration, so it's been three or four months in the company.
I think we're using version 4.7 because we had some limitations with respect to vCenter and Vserver costing because ESX was the older version. So we went with VxRail 4.7 rather than going with VxRail 7, which is the latest.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We are maintaining this solution ourselves. We have some level of support from Dell, as well, but they are not directly responsible for the support. We are the ones who are supporting it.
Initially, it had some issues. As I said, the version we deployed had some known issues. But the stability is pretty good. There were some issues here and there, but that was not due to ESX, but due to some network fluctuation we had.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
VxRail is especially useful for a manufacturing site. I can't really know many end users are there, but I know that they are participating in the manufacturing process. This is a pharma company and for us, VxRail is critical in our process.
So far, looking at its specifications, it looks good. It's scalable.
How are customer service and technical support?
In general cases, technical support is good. They're pretty responsive. But besides that, there have been some issues with the cluster. For example, the version that we deployed had some bug which was a known bug. Later on we were advised to get this upgraded. But that advice came to us after two or three reassignments within their own IT section because one person evaluated it and they collected multiple logs. Then he transferred the case to somebody else, then she then collected some further logs and did some analysis. I'm not saying they were not good. They were pretty good. They had some good technical skills. They did all the analysis. Then they assigned it back to the IT guy. But as soon as the IT guy came in, he saw the version. He immediately said we have to update it because this version is having some known issues.
I would say they are pretty good. I'm not complaining about them, but this is the feedback that I personally have - that technician should have come in the very first place by just looking into the VxRail version and told us there is a known bug in this version and we should upgrade it. But that took almost two or three weeks to identify.
But still, I'm happy with the Dell services. No complaints. But just constructive feedback. The rest are good.
They are always helpful. If we join the call, they are very polite and knowledgeable. They bring more people as required, so overall, it's good.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We did not have a complete HCI product, but we had storage-defined software, like Datacode and EqualLogic. Now we are replacing Datacode and EqualLogic with this VxRail because we are using it in vCenter.
How was the initial setup?
In terms of the initial setup, only the network part was a little complex for us. Maybe because we were doing it for the very first time because there is a very strict firewall applied there, being a manufacturing site. We had multiple firewalls there, so we had to open each and everything one by one. That was the only thing.
Once the network part was done, everything was smooth and we had a product life support from Dell. It was Dell who basically deployed it from a remote session with our presence. We only give them some input around the infra set up and they actually did the end to end deployment.
It took one day for rack and stacks and then two days for its set up, installation, and configuration as per our department. Later on we did the migration on our own based on the downtime that we received because we had to update the VMware Tools. We had to configure the backup, et cetera. We did it slowly, one by one, three, four servers a day.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
In terms of pricing, I would say it's reasonable, not cheap and not too costly. If you compare it with some other HCI solutions, for example, there were a lot of discussions around Cisco UCS for one of the manufacturing sites. The local ITP had a preference for Cisco UCS because they had some prior experience working on it. We had already successfully deployed VxRail in some of the manufacturing sites and we found that Cisco UCS is much too costly.
In the deployment, all the softwares were included, only the vCenterv was excluded because we were using an external vCenter, so we had to manage an external vCenter license. All the rest was included.
Some licensing, like vRealize was not included, so we have not taken it.
What other advice do I have?
I would definitely recommend VxRail. But again, it depends upon the use cases. If they have a big data center, then you have to look for some other version of VxRail, maybe VxBlock, but for normal sites, for a small manufacturing R&D site, or for remote sites, they may go with VxRail.
On a scale of one to ten, I would give VxRail a 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: 2021-02-04T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
Paulo Henrique Cruz Da Silva from
Good pricing, very good performance, and doesn't use too many resources
What is our primary use case?
Our goal is to deploy a new CITRIX environment - migration from actual legacy model (hardware) to this new solution.
How has it helped my organization?
Still waiting deliverance - delayed due SARs-COV2 restrictions.
What is most valuable?
The solution is good in terms of being resilient with resources. For example, it can process memory well.
We are packaging it with an HCI solution from VMware which pairs well with VxRail. It improves the solution.
The pricing is very, very good.
The overall performance is going to be elevated, giving the customers a better experience.
What needs improvement?
I can't speak to any missing features or weak aspects of the system just yet. We haven't had a chance to really dig in.
For how long have I used the solution?
Currently we're still in the process of implementation .
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable. We haven't really worked on it yet, however.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We plan to scale the solution to 3,000 users and therefore we have a good idea of how much it can scale for us. We are pretty happy with it's potential to scale.
How are customer service and technical support?
Technical support has been very good. We're very satisfied with the level of support they give us.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We previously used an older version of the solution. We switched so that we could change the load solution.
How was the initial setup?
The solution hasn't really arrived yet. We're still in the process of the implementation strategy. We're working with our reseller in order to implement everything.
We're not sure how long deployment will take us in the end. That's yet to be seen.
We are going to deploy the solution in perhaps three months, we expect. At this point, we're going to plan the installation, plan the rollout of our actual solution between HPE Blade and the old solution. We're going to install VxRail, deploy Citrix environment, and so on.
What about the implementation team?
We're getting our reseller to also implement the solution for us. Dell EMC offers installations and we've opted to let them handle it.
What was our ROI?
I wasn't involved in the negotiation of terms, therefore it's hard to discuss the ROI we expect.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We've found the pricing to be pretty good.
For the license option, we're buying a five-year solution. It's a full box. We buy the hardware and software solution for five years. Therefore, there's that VMware solution, licensing for five years, and the hardware valid five years of warranty. At this moment, there are no other fees.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We evaluated two other options before choosing this product. The first was Nutanix and SimpliVity from HP.
What other advice do I have?
We're a customer of Dell.
We have knowledge about the VMware solution. With VxRail, we will be increasing our knowledge. Therefore, we're expecting to improve our internal solutions and the overall solutions for our internal consumers.
While we haven't implemented it yet, we're expecting it will improve our environment a lot. We're excited to be working with it.
Overall, from what I have seen so far, I'd rate the solution at an eight 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: 2021-01-31T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
Sazeen Mohammed from
Easy to use with orchestrating network, storage, and compute under one umbrella
What is most valuable?
I like the simplicity of the orchestrating network, storage, and compute under one umbrella.
The footprint is very minimal too. For management operations, the VxRail appliance is easy to use.
I like that there is a dependency on the storage controller.
What needs improvement?
I would like to see how they work with multiple vendors and not just with their own branded hardware.
One of the complications in teaming is the number of patches that are required, which is too high.
This is also a challenge when your infrastructure might be legacy and you want the latest platform installed. Most of the ports might already be consumed and you have very few ports available for your new deployment, and due to the SEI, you are required to have a high port density.
I would love to see license migration from one host to another.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with this solution for a year.
We are using the latest version.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
For now, it has been stable.
We have posted a really critical application and so far it's been great.
How are customer service and technical support?
I have not dealt with technical support from VxRail yet. We have not had any issues.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was straightforward.
It took less than a week to deploy, without dedicating full days. It was approximately two to three hours a day for this particular job.
It comes with preloaded ESX sites, it's about how you configure it.
What other advice do I have?
I would totally recommend this product. If you have a good proportion or, if their infrastructure requirement has a higher compute, proportionally designed storage, and memory, then go for higher VxRail, which is the ACI platform. Instead, if your computing requirement is higher and the storage of memory doesn't really matter, the benefits of hyper-converged infrastructure are not for you.
I would rate VxRail an eight out of ten.
Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2021-04-24T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
reviewer1570641 from
Great performance, easy to scale, fairly stable, and very useful for scale-out upgrades
What is our primary use case?
It is used for server virtualization. Most of my work is around server virtualization. There has been a lot of interest lately in virtual desktop interfaces but not much is happening there. Most of the customers come for server virtualization. They generally have three-tier architecture running VMware vSphere, and they are looking to upgrade their technology for different reasons, such as performance or hardware being the end of life. Our customers are mostly using the new versions of this solution.
What is most valuable?
There are so many features, but if I have to choose, I would go for scale-out upgrades and performance.
Scale-out upgrades are very valuable. Typically, when customers engage in virtualization, they're committing themselves to run many virtual machines on a fewer number of hosts. They'll have five or six hosts, and they will run all their virtualization on vSphere. They could be having anywhere from 50 to 100 or even more virtual machines. Once all these go into production, getting downtime or getting planned maintenance windows is extremely difficult. It is something that typically businesses will frown upon. With VxRail, you can just go ahead and add a node without disrupting the existing environment, which works very well. That's why scale-out upgrades are a key feature.
Its performance is also valuable. It delivers a very high number of IOPS for a hybrid configuration or an all-flash configuration. The processors that are available in the Xeon family are very powerful. They are multi-core with typically 2 gigahertz, 2.4 gigahertz, or higher frequency, so the performance is very much appreciated.
What needs improvement?
It would be nice if its installation can be simplified, but it is currently not too bad.
They can provide deduplication and compression in hybrid configurations. To the best of my knowledge, these features are not there, and it would be nice if these are added. Some of its competitors already have these features, so it will help VxRail to have a better feature set and compete more effectively.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been off and on working with VxRail for more than three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is fairly stable. There are no showstoppers as such.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is easy to scale, but typically, it involves adding more nodes. So, there is an investment from the customer side. They have to have the budget for it, and then scalability is not an issue.
We are focused on all segments. Some of our customers start off with something as small as a three-node cluster, and we also have large enterprise customers who start off with 10 or 12 nodes.
How are customer service and technical support?
I don't interact with their technical support.
How was the initial setup?
Its installation can be a little complex, but it is not bad. If you plan it well and stay in touch with the customer about requirements, it is not difficult. For an implementation project, it is a standard practice for us to work very closely with the customer. It is definitely not as complicated as deploying a three-tier architecture with SAN storage, SAN switches, and those kinds of things.
In terms of maintenance, it usually requires version upgrades. When a VxRail cluster is already in production and in use, these things are discussed very deeply with the customer, and whether to go for an upgrade or skip it is decided based on the consultation with the customer. It depends on a whole lot of things, and the customer is the key in deciding such things. You have to consider the following:
* What is the business cycle at that point in time?
* What is the workload on the virtual machine?
* Is this the right time to carry out the upgrade?
* Is the upgrade really necessary?
* Is the upgrade going to impact any of their applications?
What other advice do I have?
I would definitely recommend VxRail. If you have a heavy investment in VMware software infrastructure, it is definitely useful.
I would rate VxRail an eight 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: 2021-05-09T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
reviewer908976 from
Efficiently and effectively deploys virtual machines and applications
What is most valuable?
This solution optimizes our clients' resources. Hyper-convergence infrastructure is a great way to optimize the matching resources, the CPUs, and the storage resources. This is the reason why our client uses this solution. Of course, you can trust it to go-to-market, too. You can efficiently and effectively deploy virtual machines and applications using VxRail.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
After the initial setup, it's very stable.
How was the initial setup?
A disadvantage is that the initial first deployment can be complicated.
The initial setup is not easy because you need to have a very clear understanding of the machine and the switches in order to put it all together so that it works properly. We had some problems during the initial setup, but now, we have no problems at all.
Overall, deployment takes roughly two weeks.
What about the implementation team?
We deploy this solution for our clients.
Four people are required for the initial setup. Two people from our company and two representatives of the client. You need a lot of people that understand the network. We also had another person present for virtualization, VMware. The networking issues are critical. You just need to strictly follow the manual. If you do that, you'll avoid a lot of problems.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The licensing was one payment, just one payment. We sell the entire solution including the installation process.
We had some problems with the licensing of VMware and vSAN but I really don't know if they are actually included or not in the new features. The licensing of vSAN and VMware for different editions of VxRail is not easy.
What other advice do I have?
Overall, on a scale from one to ten, I would give VxRail a rating of nine. It's a good solution.
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: 2021-03-04T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
Ashraf Ali from
Perfect, easy to manage, very scalable, and very stable
What is our primary use case?
We have deployed it in our lab in our organization for POCs. We have its latest version.
I am responsible for presales and solution architecture for HCI VxRail. It is suitable for any business, such as financial, telecom, education, etc.
What is most valuable?
The simplicity and manageability of VxRail are most valuable. We have a very good experience with this product. Its stability and scalability are also very good.
What needs improvement?
The most important thing that I want to be included in this solution is the VMware license.
Its deployment time can be quicker so that instead of 40 minutes, it takes 10 minutes.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using VxRail for four years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is the most stable solution I have come across.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I have scaled it many times, and its scalability is very good. You can scale out and scale up as much as you need, which is a great thing.
It is suitable for small, medium, and large businesses. We have almost 500 users.
How are customer service and technical support?
I have contacted them many times. The best thing about their support is that there is single support for software, hardware, and networking.
How was the initial setup?
It is very straightforward, but it would be great if it can be done in 10 minutes rather than 40 minutes.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
It has a yearly subscription. It can be for one year, three years, or five years.
What other advice do I have?
I would 100% recommend this solution to others. I am very happy with this product.
I would rate VxRail a ten 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: 2021-03-19T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
Freddy Vergara from
Elastic and scalable solution
What is our primary use case?
Our primary use case for VxRail right is deploying management systems. We are trying to consolidate some infrastructure.
How has it helped my organization?
VxRail has improved out organization because we are trying to be a little more proactive and elastic. We are trying to change our conventional approach to development. So this kind of solution is very suitable for data and that approach.
What needs improvement?
It could be very interesting to integrate VxRail with vSAN Ready Nodes, which we also use. Both solutions were built by Dell. vSAN Ready Nodes is another family of products, but with the same building blocks as VxRail, I think. VxRail easier to manage and deploy, but it is a little more expensive, and vSAN Ready Nodes would work better for some of our clients' use cases.
It would be good to have both of these solutions on the same dashboard. We don't want to have two management domain. It would be great for us to have these two Dell solutions integrated.
Dell could do more to help customers understand the real value proposition of this solution, especially related to deployment and scaling. A lot can be done with this solution. For example, it can be used for coverage bonds for virtual machines or as a solution for disaster recovery. This is important for customers with critical infrastructures.
In-person training and online training tools could be great, as well. Including training in the bundle with the equipment would be beneficial for us.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using VxRail for two years.
How are customer service and technical support?
Ecuador is a small market, so we do not have much access to local tech support. There are a lot of local commercial channels and partners, but not so much technical support. I think we only have two or three channels.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Before switching to VxRail, we had a very common solution that utilized Blade servers. We switched because we wanted something more elastic and scalable.
How was the initial setup?
Deployment was not initially straightforward for us. We had an incompatibility issue that was very difficult for Dell Professional Service to solve. We had people from different countries trying to solve it. We were deploying the regional product but something with the version was inconsistent. It was a special case, but was very difficult to identify and to solve. It took us about two days.
Once we solved that issue, deployment was very easy. It took maybe an hour and was really easy.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The impression we got from the technical papers was that it would be very easy and quick to deploy this solution, but it was not. However, after we dealt with those issues, the solution was very solid, very easy. It wasn't easy to configure, but right now it's very stable. We are happy with that.
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: 2021-03-10T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
reviewer1425435 from
A good solution for solving performance problems in the VDI environment
What is our primary use case?
I don't know which version we are using.
I use VxRail as a VDI solution in my environment.
What is most valuable?
We use the solution to solve our performance problems in the environment. In spite of the great expense, I needed to deploy a good alternate solution for our VDI clients, as there was a need to address the slow pace of the VDI and other deployment issues.
What needs improvement?
I wish for the performance environment to be improved.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using VxRail for approximately one month.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is fine.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We may need more nodes next year. At the present time, the solution is fine as we support only 200 users. However, I will need to have these capabilities for approximately 1,500 users, although I cannot specify the exact number.
How are customer service and technical support?
For the moment, the support is okay.
How was the initial setup?
I am not in a position to assess the difficulty or duration of the deployment as this is done with our partner, who sends it to us only after the implementation and deployment are completed.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The solution is very expensive.
What other advice do I have?
We support 200 users.
VxRail performs well in the VDI environment. We feel it to be a good solution.
I rate VxRail as a ten 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: 2021-06-20T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
Yudi Aritonang from
Powerful, user-friendly, and easy to manage
What is our primary use case?
We're using three nodes appliance.
What is most valuable?
VxRail is a hyper-converged infrastructure that delivers a solution with full performance. It's scalable and easy to maintain.
The replication capabilities have been great.
We find the solution easy to manage.
The product is user-friendly and easy to navigate.
We have had zero problems so far with this product. It's quite reliable.
There is good support on offer.
It's a very quick product.
Updating the product has been very easy. Often, they let us know that there is an update pending so we can expect it.
The features are very powerful.
There are a lot of great features on offer.
We've found the scalability to be very good.
The solution is stable.
What needs improvement?
The cost is quite high. It's a very expensive solution to run.
For how long have I used the solution?
We purchased the solution originally in 2017. We've been using it for about four years or so at this point.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability of the product is great. We have not had any issues whatsoever and find it to be very reliable. The performance is good. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
VxRail is easy to scale out. That said, from 2017 until now we're using just three nodes. We haven't upgraded our VxRail to scale. Therefore, we haven't personally scaled.
How are customer service and technical support?
Dell EMC support is very, very good. They offer lots of useful information and are very friendly. We find them to be helpful and supportive. We're quite satisfied with the level of service they provide. They offer very good after-sales support. YOu can even invest in premium support.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The product is very, very expensive, even when you are renewing. It's a problem for us as management is complaining about the price.
What other advice do I have?
I'm a customer and an end-user.
I'd recommend this solution to others. It has a lot going for it in that the performance is good and it's reliable. They have great after-sales support and is generally easy to maintain. However, it is a very expensive option and a company needs to be prepared for the price tag.
I'd rate the solution at a nine out of ten, however, if the pricing was a bit more reasonable, I would rate it higher.
Overall, I'm very impressed with the product.
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: 2021-07-27T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
Riad SAYAH from
It's simple to upgrade and patch, so you don't have to check every component to see if it's compatible
What is our primary use case?
We're integrators, and we have clients in various industries, including banking and energy. In general, VxRail is used to virtualize our customers' platforms. For example, some use it for Active Directory or their email solution for Microsoft Exchange. In addition to VxRail, we work with a storage array solution from Dell EMC with other servers. We use IBM Power System for our backup solution.
What is most valuable?
For me, VxRail's most valuable feature is its life-cycle management.
What needs improvement?
I would like to see VxRail add duplication features to its hybrid solution.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
VxRail is highly stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
VxRail is scalable. If you want to add more computer storage, you only need to add a remote.
How are customer service and support?
Dell EMC support is very responsive and helpful.
How was the initial setup?
It's quick and easy to initialize the cluster in VxRail. You can have your cluster up and ready in a few minutes. To deploy and maintain VxRail, we need one person for the solution and another for networking.
What was our ROI?
Return on Investment is something you can see on the customer side, but this is a new solution that we deployed this year, so we would need to wait three years to calculate the return.
What other advice do I have?
I rate VxRail nine out of 10. It's a good solution that's easy to manage. It's simple to upgrade and patch, so you don't have to check every component to see if it's compatible.
Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-01-10T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
Serhii Sheinych from
A stable solution which allows total integration of hardware and software into a single model
What is most valuable?
A valuable feature of the solution is that it allows everything to be integrated into a single model, comprised of hardware and software.
What needs improvement?
When using hybrid nodes, such as VxRail, there should not be compression and deduplication, only in All-Flash nodes. So, it's about improvement. It's good to see deduplication in hybrid nodes.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with VxRail for around one year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I am satisfied with the stability. To my knowledge, our customers don't have any problems with the solution.
How was the initial setup?
As I am not an engineer, I am not in a position to talk about the installation. I do not have familiarity with implementation.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I do not believe that the price should be lower. I feel it to be reasonable. This is because we can compare blade with blade server, MX7000 for example, when it comes to buying VMware products, meaning it will not act like a true hyper converged infrastructure.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I prefer VxRail to that of HyperFlex, because the VMware facilitates the configuration of two or more disk groups. Yet, HyperFlex offers one test drive and separate capacity drives, so this group only handles one load.
My knowledge of HyperFlex is limited, which is why I am in the process of comparing it with the solution.
What other advice do I have?
Everything is balanced in the solution. The hardware is integrated with VMware.
VxRail is a good solution. It offers easy administration, including updates, along with a central console enabling complete visibility of management, administration and monitoring.
I rate VxRail as a ten out of ten.
Disclaimer: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:partner
Date published: 2021-08-05T00:00:00-04:00