Dell PowerEdge VRTX Reviews

VRTX is put into place where there are branch offices or where there is a NetIO-intensive workload in small offices with servers, racks, and processors in place to optimize their size and performance.

It helped to reduce cost of ownership in my remote branch office and help better manageability

This is all-inclusive with shared storage and the servers housed in one chassis, including the networking. It's a data center in one small box, which is a good value for the customers who are small in size and cannot afford a large investment.

It is simple to use and it's user-friendly.

This solution is good but, with multiple Chassis, it would be a good thing to have one console for management and integration with utilization software.

In the next release, I would like to see some auto-tiering features. There are other enterprise storage solutions that have them included.

I have been using this solution for the last three or four years.

This solution is quite stable.

The scalability is limited with one chassis and the amount of storage it will give you, but it is mainly used for small offices.

The initial setup was straightforward and took a maximum of one-hour to deploy.

I have learned that it is better to keep it simple and to have good management.

I think this solution is one of the best in the Dell portfolio.

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

Our primary use case is for virtualization but on the current configuration that we have, we don't have the ability of failing over virtual machines from one host to another. They are all isolated independent, they are not configured in a cluster.

We want to move from a stand-alone implementation of VM hosts and we want to migrate to hyper-converged infrastructure. We will still be using the same virtual machine that we have, but we will migrate it to hyper-converged to have a higher level of availability and resiliency.

The problem is with our configuration. We know we can use PowerEdge for hyper-convergence if we have PowerEdge and configure vSAN. We will be able to achieve what VxRail is being able to provide, but we need to migrate it to a new infrastructure instead of changing our existing. It will be much more difficult for us.

I have been using this solution for three years. 

Because our server is stand-alone, we are limited with the capacity of the compute memory processed in our storage that we have on the server.

For example, if we have one server that is eight GB of memory and HR would like to expand this. We cannot expand it because the cluster in the server is already utilized and because it's not clustered we already reached the limit of the maximum capacity. The problem is with our configuration, not with the capability of the server that we provided.

We have several PowerEdge R440 which are configured as stand-alone VMHost (not in cluster) due to this we have fix configuration on our Storage.

We can expand on Memory as long as there are available slots, but not for storage as all the bays are consumed.

The problem is on our configuration, not designed for high availability and future scalability. therefore, we are looking into migrating our infrastructure to VXRail.

On a previous server that we procured we bundled the protocol. But for all the servers that we have, we have only on-site support access remote diagnostic. So this access remote diagnostic means that the end-user as a customer will be doing the diagnosis based on the procedure that was provided by Dell.

But for us and customers who are not Dell experts, it's a headache to implement the procedures that Dell provided.

We just had an issue with one memory and we wanted Dell to come and replace a memory module. But they said, "No, you need to update the firmware first." We updated the firmware first and then we still had the issue. They then asked us to send the longs and then they provided another firmware for another component until eventually all diagnosis procedures were completed, and the issue is still there. Only then did Dell come and provide the memory. The amount of time we spent on performing the diagnosis for critical services is not acceptable, but that was a mistake from our side.

The initial setup was straightforward. 

We started off with a base because we started our infrastructure with Dell and we always propose or prefer Dell which is easier to manage the warranty than with different vendors.

Some other companies like IBM and HP have come to introduce their system but because we already have a lot of Dell devices we just renew with Dell. I'm not sure if the prices are lower or higher but I think it's okay.

We are evaluating VxRail and we read some comments on the internet that the VxRail service will have only one rate controller. However, you have four nodes inside. So we expect that if any one of the four nodes fails the rest of the cluster will survive. So there's no point in asking the protocol failure on those nodes. And if that rate controller fails, then it is a single point of failure. Dell admitted that, yes, it is the single point of failure. So if that rate controller could be increased because then I think that would be a better design for the device.

I would recommend this solution and I would also recommend having a protocol because you cannot expect all engineers to have enough knowledge on how to do diagnostics. You should also bundle training for Dell so that the end-user will have the needed level of knowledge to continue using the device properly.

I would rate it a nine out of ten.

Our primary use case is for the branch office of our company which doesn't need a lot of IT. It's a good solution when you don't need so much IT. We have about 100 users. 

The fact that you have computer storage in a very small factor is valuable.

I think the networking parts of this solution could be improved.

In a future release I'd like to be able to increase storage, that would make a big difference. 

I've been using this solution for five years and have just implemented the recently released latest version. 

Stability is fine. 

Scalability could be improved. I don't need to scale the product any further but I think there would be other companies that would want to do this and will realise that it's not so scalable. 

I haven't had contact with technical support for a long time. In the past they were fine. 

I'm not sure that there is any competition in this specific solution. I haven't used any other products for this purpose.

Initial setup took less than a day and I did it myself. 

I would rate this product a nine out of 10. 

We need to mount the app on the installation machine, which is currently located on a server in Buenos Aires, about a thousand kilometers away from Argentina. We're in the process of migrating the server and have already purchased a new server for the upgrade. Once everything is set up and ready, we'll shut down the Buenos Aires server.

Dell PowerEdge VRTX's most valuable feature is its reliability. It offers a good experience for my IT teams.

The solution's deployment is not complex. 

The tool's pricing is fine. 

I rate the overall product a seven out of ten.