Dell PowerScale (Isilon) Reviews

I use Dell PowerScale (Isilon) for NAS. Dell PowerScale (Isilon) plays a role in my AI initiatives.

My favorite feature of Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is that it uses a file system compared to other SAN products that we have in Dell, which is a best feature because it is a file storage or file system.

Dell PowerScale (Isilon) has improved my organization as it broadens the core skills. You get to know the difference between the networks because you are not just working with storage. You will also need to know the difference between the network used, the storage used, the compute used, or the relationship between a client, server, and its architecture. It actually broadens your perspective and broadens your skill sets. You can improve more, and in three years, there have been a lot of changes even in Dell PowerScale (Isilon), so you also upgrade along with it.

When it comes to Dell PowerScale (Isilon), I think that because it differs when you have a normal customer and a developer, usually we know what is needed and how we use it, everything. If you ask this question to someone who really needs the product, I think they will be more open and can say what they need. But usually when you are an employee, you will get all kinds of documentation, maybe from different sources, so that would not be a problem. Regarding the UI, it is a really good UI if you work on it, and the AI and APIs are excellent. I cannot say what improvement is needed, provided we also have good documentation online, which is good to understand.

I have been using Dell PowerScale (Isilon) for approximately three and a half years.

Regarding the stability of Dell PowerScale (Isilon), I can give it a rating of nine or eight. I have never seen a downtime, and I do not think there are any glitches.

I would rate the scalability of Dell PowerScale (Isilon) a solid ten.

I would rate the technical support for Dell PowerScale (Isilon) at least eight to nine. If I had to decide whether it is eight or nine, I would say eight.

Positive

The deployment of Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is not really complex but depends on the hardware deployment. Sometimes there might be complications when you switch it on or when you place the right network cables. It depends on who is maintaining it. Once everything is up, then it is a pretty easy process, but the difficult part is manually installing it and placing it in the right tile with the right cables and networks.

With Dell PowerScale (Isilon), I can give you an example of the return on investment. It uses not just a terabyte but petabytes of data. Storing a large amount of data takes within minutes, and you can bring it down to seconds as well. It does not take much time to upload or copy the data here and there, and upgrades also do not take much time. I think you can finish most of your work within four hours; even if you are doing a big upgrade, you can finish it in a smaller time span and do other work.

My advice for those looking to implement Dell PowerScale (Isilon) would be to first see what your requirement is. If you are in need of unstructured data or if you are in need of a NAS, and in NAS as well, if you need scale-out on a large enterprise level, you can go for Dell PowerScale (Isilon), and it would not be a loss. I give this review an overall rating of eight.

I have been a technical support engineer in Dell PowerScale (Isilon). If you raise a ticket to Dell support for Dell PowerScale (Isilon), it will come directly to us and we will work on that to help you resolve the issue. If you need any documentation or guidance to perform a configuration, we will help you with that. If you need any technical assistance, I will be helping you with that.

What I like the most about Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is that the storage capacity is very high. Compared to other cloud services for archiving purposes, Dell PowerScale (Isilon) has been highly cost-efficient.

The downside of Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is that if we are replacing a drive, sometimes in the worst-case scenarios, some of the other drives will also go to the SmartFail state. That is the very worst thing for me in Dell PowerScale (Isilon). Additionally, even a battery replacement will make the particular node into a read-only state. It is not good for a use case. If we are using a three-node or four-node cluster, moving a particular node to read-only state just for a battery replacement is not good. That is my suggestion on Dell PowerScale (Isilon).

The initial deployment of Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is a bit difficult. Deploying in the initial stages requires more effort. We need to engage some subject matter experts to deploy it. It is a bit of a lengthy process to deploy.

I have been using it in my career for three years.

We do not face any instability in Dell PowerScale (Isilon). The load balancers work well with this unstructured data storage, so up to 90 percent of the time, we will not face any downtime or instability in storage while accessing or writing in Dell PowerScale (Isilon).

Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is highly scalable. There are no issues with that. As an unstructured data storage solution, writing into it and accessing it from the other nodes is highly scalable with no issues.

I am the technical support engineer in Dell PowerScale (Isilon), so I am not going to contact any external support. I am the technical support engineer in Dell PowerScale (Isilon) and I work for Dell as a vendor. Dell PowerScale (Isilon) does require some maintenance on my end. In the initial configuration, it will not require much maintenance.

Positive

The initial deployment of Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is a bit difficult. Deploying in the initial stages requires more effort. We need to engage some subject matter experts to deploy it. It is a bit of a lengthy process to deploy.

We need an on-site engineer, a networking engineer from the client team, a subject matter expert, and a technical support engineer. Around five to six members are required for an initial deployment.

I am not aware of the pricing in Dell PowerScale (Isilon).

I would rate this product a 7 out of 10.

I am an administrator for Isilon in India. It provides storage to end users who develop their tasks and use it for simulation purposes, keeping their data isolated.

I use Dell PowerScale (Isilon) to store and share data across different locations according to project-wise needs, which helps in cost savings related to power and in-house rack space.

The solution allows me to use SSMDS to store data for end users and share it within different locations. The feature of data shuffling between locations is notably useful. Dell PowerScale helps in saving costs related to power and rack space, reducing physical hardware from over one hundred to twenty-nine chassis.

Dell's customer service needs improvement. Specifically, hardware failures under warranty should be addressed within the promised timeline. I face difficulty in tracing and finding the right support team due to time zone differences, which is problematic.

I have been working with Dell PowerScale Isilon for eight years now.

Dell PowerScale is highly scalable, as evidenced by the reduced physical hardware and the efficient use of rack space.

I rate customer service as five. The service, particularly about hardware issues and support ticket handling, is an area that needs significant improvement.

Neutral

The setup is easy because of previous configurations and knowledge in this area. I would rate it nine on a scale of one to ten, with ten being very easy.

Dell PowerScale is user-friendly and beneficial for businesses, provided they understand the enabled features and subscriptions. I would give it an overall rating of nine out of ten.

My main use case for Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is storage. I use it for NAS storage. I can outline that there's no specific use case for the organization, as it's regular storage for all users.

I buy Dell PowerScale (Isilon) because of the price, service, and technology. The technology that is particularly good for my company is that I have two Dell PowerScale (Isilon) systems in two sites, and I use replication between them with Superna software, which is a third-party Dell technology.

Sometimes, it takes too long to set up everything. That's something I would want them to improve. The main challenge I face with it now is that my team is accustomed to using other vendors, and when I try to use Dell technology, it's difficult for them to use something new.

I have been using Dell PowerScale (Isilon) for seven years.

I would evaluate the customer service from Dell as pretty good. The Indian support is not cooperative, and we ask to move to European support.

Positive

The experience of pricing, licensing, and setup costs is good. I have an account manager, a good account manager that helped me with all the maintenance, other requirements, and troubleshooting problems.

I have seen return on investment already, and it's a good ROI.

The cost is competitive with other vendors such as HP. I always compare prices between two vendors, and they are good in this situation.

Dell PowerScale (Isilon) does not play a role in my organization's AI initiative. I have not supported features or aspects such as AI-driven data insight, automation, or advanced workloads; it's just storage. The size of my company is 10,000 users and approximately 1,000 servers. 

I would rate Dell PowerScale (Isilon) eight out of ten.

Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is used as a NAS in our Media Asset Management system, which was the first one, and we have another that covers the graphics computing department, serving different departments, but the main idea is as production storage.

We use AI but primarily from cloud providers, as we don't utilize our Dell PowerScale (Isilon) on-premise storage for AI demands; when we have workloads using AI, we use AWS or other providers, while our main purpose for Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is to manage video files for editing in our production system.

Dell PowerScale (Isilon) has powerful security, which makes it a very reliable storage solution for our content, and also the support and observability of our system; the call home feature is fantastic because when it presents an issue, Dell automatically opens a ticket regarding any warnings or alerts, allowing us to have a complete view of our system's health.

We have daily reports delivered by email regarding network performance and client actions, showing if our storage has presented some issues; fortunately, we don't have many performance issues since if something goes wrong, our customers contact us, and thankfully, Dell PowerScale (Isilon) has never presented an issue in production, confirming its reliability.

We realized significant improvements by consolidating various silos that previously did not communicate well, drastically enhancing time and cost efficiency, although I cannot quantify a specific number at this moment.

Regarding areas for improvement in Dell PowerScale (Isilon), I currently cannot recall any particular feature needing enhancement since it has undergone many improvements over the past ten years, including advancements in file filters and extensions; if needed, I can check with my colleagues, but they do not seem to remember any points for now.

I have been using Dell PowerScale (Isilon) since 2017, having had two models; I started with the Isilon X410, and after that, I made a tech refresh with the All-Flash PowerScale H700 model, so it has been nine years I have been using it.

In terms of stability, I would rate it a nine out of ten since I have never experienced significant issues.

Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is a scalable solution for our business, and I would rate its scalability similarly at eight out of ten due to its ease of scaling.

I would rate Dell's technical support an eight out of ten, reflecting my overall satisfaction.

Positive

The deployment was initially challenging due to a lack of familiarity with the product, but after the tech refresh two years ago, the subsequent implementation was much smoother, especially thanks to helpful technical and administrative training I received.

The first implementation took nearly three weeks to one month due to numerous discussions and technical configurations, as our biggest system has 28 nodes from Dell PowerScale (Isilon).

My role with Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is as a technical supervisor, where I manage the system along with my team, which is responsible for a lot of access rules and the rights to access, and we do manage it accordingly.

I cannot provide a specific percentage for the return on investment from Dell PowerScale (Isilon); however, we realized significant improvements by consolidating various silos that previously did not communicate well, drastically enhancing time and cost efficiency, although I cannot quantify a specific number at this moment.

I find Dell PowerScale (Isilon) to be cost-efficient, as we use it today with APEX, with some specific volume contracted, and this approach has been beneficial for us, with costs aligning well with what it delivers, making it a fair price for a powerful tool that meets all our needs.

We have tried NetApp in a node storage context and Facilis TerraBlock, but neither was ideal for us; we also worked with legacy systems such as Avid ISIS; overall, we have established that Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is our primary choice due to validation from our Media Asset Management software, which preferred Dell for its features.

My advice for others considering Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is to ensure all requirements are met and to consult with the Dell team to address any potential issues; it is a trustworthy product without concerns, and understanding the configuration options is crucial since it offers various types, so discussing needs with a Dell specialist is beneficial.

I would recommend Dell PowerScale (Isilon) without hesitation.

To achieve a rating of ten, perhaps the pricing could see improvement, suggesting it might be that aspect of the offering that needs some adjustment. My overall review rating for this product is eight out of ten.

The use case for Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is for most applications, including policy management, end user needs, file management, forensics extraction, analysis, smartphones, and media applications.

The benefit to our organization from using Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is that we can execute our jobs and activities effectively because we have the necessary capacity. With this latest technology, we can execute our activities in a better form.

The most helpful feature of Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is the integration with ECS, now called ObjectScale, because we can implement Tier functionality. This allows us to move data between hot areas and cold storage areas, which is a very good resource for us.

I would make Dell PowerScale (Isilon) better by improving SmartSync in the graphical user interface. Currently, everything has to be done through the command line, and I prefer having a graphical interface.

I have been using Dell PowerScale (Isilon) for six months.

I find Dell PowerScale (Isilon) to be very stable and reliable. We have not had any problems in six months.

Dell PowerScale (Isilon) does grow with our business needs. We currently have Isilon, and with the purchase of Dell PowerScale (Isilon), we can expand our environment significantly. It is very scalable.

I have not used customer service and support for Dell PowerScale (Isilon) yet, but I don't anticipate that we will have any problems.

On a scale of one to ten, with one being worst and ten being best, I would rate Dell PowerScale (Isilon) a ten. It is perfect.

We were looking at getting a solution in for storage. I have worked with storage before, and I have worked with parallel storage systems more than NAS appliances.

I have worked with Lustre, PowerScale, and NetApp as well. I would describe myself more as a user of NetApp and PowerScale. I work with customers who work with Dell PowerScale (Isilon).

We are a consultancy firm, so we also partner with Dell and we deploy and deliver AI solutions, and Dell PowerScale (Isilon) sits underneath those. This makes it very important to our operations.

The top three valuable features for me are the redundancy, reliability, and mixed NFS and Samba share, SMB sharing.

We use a tool called IOR, which measures the IOPS and the throughput for very tailored and specific I/O scenarios. This allows you to test it under different conditions.

Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is brilliant for scalability and really, really good in that regard. They are adding new features all the time, which I have not used yet, but they are adding RDMA technology. This provides really low-latency connections between the clients and the machine itself, which is really good for AI-type workloads as well.

The product is feature rich.

I have been using Dell PowerScale (Isilon) for approximately ten years.

I have experience with others. No switching involved.

Dell PowerScale (Isilon)  is very expensive compared to NetApp and compared to Nutanix as well.

The flash arrays, which are important for high-performance computing and AI initiatives, would be overpriced compared to some of their competitors.

Product support is great. There are definitely some challenges on deployment. Find a good partner to perform the deployment or be prepared to invest some time into the deployment. 

In using or managing Dell PowerScale (Isilon), I have two roles: one is part of the decision-making process for deploying it, and the second is in our go-to-market with Dell, as far as integrating our two products.

Dell PowerScale (Isilon) has supported growth or operational success for a company such as mine because we are still in the early stages of deployment and from an integration go-to-market perspective. Due to the strategic nature of our two companies and our products, it is going well, and we are seeing growth in that area.

My main use cases for Dell PowerScale (Isilon) are as a data storage environment, where Wasabi fits as a long-term retention target.

The features of Dell PowerScale (Isilon) that I prefer the most include some of the newer technologies that are on it, which would include SmartSync and the ability for the data mover to continue to make incremental changes.

Dell PowerScale (Isilon) has features that specifically cater to the needs of small and medium organizations. Primarily, our performance is what caters to those needs.

Dell PowerScale (Isilon) scales greatly with the growing needs of my company.

Dell PowerScale (Isilon) can be improved by enhancing the ability for more native data mover technologies that offer security and resiliency features.

I have been using Dell PowerScale (Isilon) for four years.

My experience with customer service and technical support has been challenging. The reason is that it is difficult to find subject matter experts around the solution.

I'm still having those support issues; it is a challenge to get competent support around the issues we have.

Positive

My experience with the pricing, the setup costs, and licensing of Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is that pricing is decent, but licensing is a challenge.

From my point of view, I cannot think of anything that is the biggest return on investment when using Dell PowerScale (Isilon).

I understand that we are still in the early stages regarding metrics that we have found out while using Dell PowerScale (Isilon), such as improvements or anything that has been significant.

Currently, Dell PowerScale (Isilon) does not play a role in my company's AI initiatives, but we are looking at it being part of an overall AI workflow, particularly where AI workloads and migrating data into Dell PowerScale (Isilon) and then Dell PowerScale (Isilon) migrating come into play.

The advice I would give to other companies that are considering Dell PowerScale (Isilon) is that I would recommend it as a product, as a technology, and as a solution. I rated this review an eight out of ten.