Dell PowerStore Reviews

Our primary use case for Dell PowerStore is in a production facility as we are a beef manufacturer, predominantly beef, and we also have lamb facilities in Ireland and affiliates in Poland. Essentially, it's for storage and factory systems, so we're storing and collecting data points, along with office functions like file and print. We have on-prem systems on site, including SCADA-like systems for collecting data points throughout the manufacturing facilities. Our core Dell PowerStore and PowerEdge use case includes a data center footprint for central managed services, finance, and our ERP system, collecting data from our factory sites and storing it centrally so that we can pull it back for reporting. Additionally, our Dell PowerStore and PowerEdge serve our disaster recovery needs, allowing us to run a site remotely from our data center.

The features of Dell PowerStore that I appreciate the most include how very easy it is to expand. In terms of scale, I also appreciate the reaction and support; if a hard drive fails, we're informed that there's a hard drive or part failing, and we get alerts on it. There's a part shipped out and a replacement part shipped out to replace it, which gives me a sense of reassurance.

Since using Dell PowerStore, I think what we realized was that at the beginning, we sat down with Dell and explained our use case, and we got the build of Dell PowerStore that we required for our business, allowing us to grow as needed. It is fit for purpose, which is a major improvement; what we had before wasn't fit for purpose and was more about money. The previous setup got us into a lot of holes, whereas the Dell solution has been absolutely fantastic for us regarding support and expansion.

We use Dell PowerProtect solutions with our Dell PowerStore, specifically the Avamar backup solution, which is a Dell product. On a scale of one to ten, I would rate Dell support as a ten, focusing on that aspect alone, because it's what allows me to sleep at night. I don't have to worry about the servers or storage going offline since I know it's being monitored, and we get replacement parts if needed, which is not that common, but it allows me to relax more.

I used a different vendor which was a mix of two vendors but the storage side wasn't up to scratch, probably because we went in low-end. It's an issue that I inherited in my current role, and we had to address it.

My experience with deploying Dell PowerStore is relatively straightforward, and we have had Dell's support whenever we've rolled out a new upgrade.

We've worked with Dell each time we do a refresh; we discuss the current state and our future goals, and they've delivered a model that fits, ensuring we don't overscale while getting the right fit, which has been really positive.

I have seen a return on investment in Dell PowerStore, particularly regarding the throughput improvements.

Before selecting Dell PowerStore, I primarily considered pricing around different vendors in the market.

What stood out to me in the evaluation process, both positively and negatively, was the long-standing relationship I've had with Dell over the past 20 years. The personal relationship has been massive, backed by positive customer care stories from other customers in the food manufacturing sector recommending this choice as the right thing to do.

My role in using and managing Dell PowerStore involves approving purchases in ABP, so for any refreshes or site refreshes we do for our production sites or data center, I will approve the purchase.

Dell PowerStore may play a role in our company's AI initiatives as we are on a journey to analyze all the data we're pulling back from our factory systems. We're working on getting that data into one place, and now we're looking at doing something meaningful with that data to make better-informed decisions. I'm currently having conversations with Dell to explore potential use cases for this.

The performance metrics I use to measure success with Dell PowerStore include the ease of getting through data, the storage capabilities, the processing of storage, response time, and the speed of our backups restore. Restoring a VM from Dell PowerStore is relatively quick when compared to what we've had in the past.

Dell PowerStore makes a noticeable improvement on a site level within our production facilities; for example, we collect data through a simple process of weighing and labeling products across a network. We weigh a box or a tray of meat and send a file to a server that prints a label. The difference between what we had previously and what we have now is a matter of milliseconds. The improvement is massive; even a couple of milliseconds makes a significant difference to our production throughput. It is a huge benefit for us, even if it may seem insignificant. Reducing that time is crucial because the impact means getting our throughput quicker, allowing products to leave the door more efficiently, which also cuts back on overtime and ensures we can complete our daily tasks in the required hours. Quicker throughput also enables us to implement online retail labeling, printing labels every half second, which requires quick networking, storage, and CPU capabilities.

My overall use case for Dell PowerStore is amazing, and the most valuable feature is yet to be determined.

Having one go-to array is helpful. Management likes simplicity. Management likes knowing that we made a good valuable decision long term that we can grow with. For the accounting team or the purchasing team's perspective, seeing the exact same array name helps them. Knowing that through our providers, our e-resellers, we're using the same platform helps to expedite our process.

Dell PowerStore is amazing. That said, the most valuable feature is yet to be determined. 

Dell PowerStore has benefited my organization overall, and I would assess the timeframes to deploy it as efficient.

If I could improve the product in any way, I would add features that make it look nicer compared to the DisplayPort.

I have been using Dell PowerStore for an amazing amount of time.

I haven't experienced any downtime, crashes, or performance issues, which is amazing.

I find the solution to be scalable. It gives the impression that it can grow with my company. 

Working with Customer Success, or technical support, has been a positive experience for me, and I would evaluate them overall as amazing. On a scale of one to ten, with one being worst and ten being best, I would rate this support as a ten.

Positive

I have evaluated other solutions both inside the Dell portfolio and outside.

The deployment is expedient. The time frame to deploy maybe takes weeks. 

In terms of AI, I have done some AI initiatives that I find amazing. My organization is large, and we have a significant number of employees. My impression of the stability and reliability has been positive. 

Overall, I rate Dell PowerStore a ten out of ten.

I use it in the financial sector for banking, specifically for core banking applications, to serve our applications. We served different types of customers, ranging from oil and gas to the financial sector, education, and healthcare. We deployed Dell PowerStore in different industry segments, such as manufacturing and retail, for example.

The most impactful benefit is the data reduction and the deduplication.

Replication is easy to implement, and you don't need higher bandwidth to do replication across sites. It's quite useful.

The most impactful feature is the data reduction. Data reduction significantly saves costs. If I purchase, for example, twenty terabytes of storage, the effective capacity gives me somewhere around eighty terabytes. I pay for ten terabytes but gain eighty terabytes or fifty terabytes, for example. It depends on the type of data I am storing on Dell PowerStore, but usually, the reduction ratio is very good. It's a fantastic feature.

I have read about the new ability to cluster multiple PowerStore appliances and it sounds like a very good feature.

Its management capabilities are very strong. It is easy to implement and very easy to manage. The interface is very user-friendly.

Dell AIOPS is quite useful. It sends helpful notifications. It tells you what bottleneck is in your storage environment. It gives you detailed orientation of why you are getting a bottleneck and where the problem is. 

We have been able to consolidate data using PowerStore.

PowerStore's compression and duplication technologies are very important and useful. It's a good feature.

The data resiliency and cybersecurity are good. It covers all the aspects that modern storage should have. 

The PowerStore cybersecurity and resiliency features meet our organizational needs.

PowerStore's built-in integrations for VMware are beneficial. It has all the features that need to be integrated into the environment. It's well aligned and tightly integrated.

One challenge in clustering is that when I create a cluster, the overall pool doesn't increase. Separate pools must be created for each controller node in the cluster. For instance, if I am creating a four-node or four-controller node cluster, I will have four different pools. If I want to enhance a pool beyond the maximum capacity of one controller node, I cannot increase it and must create a separate pool. This is a drawback in Dell PowerStore clustering. 

Synchronous replication covers the entire replication process, but there are scenarios where implementing synchronous replication is necessary, and that feature is missing. Pricing must also be considered, as Dell PowerStore is quite expensive compared to competitors in the market like HPE Alletra, Huawei Dorado, or Hitachi storage, for example. It is quite expensive price-wise.

Feature-set wise, PowerStore is very rich. I think all of the necessary features are there. Price-wise, PowerStore is quite expensive compared to the competition in the market like HP Alletra, Huawei, or Hitachi storage. Dell is more expensive. 

Competitors come in with better pricing and a similar feature set. Customers who already have PowerStore are very satisfied but when it comes to new storage requirements or a tech refresh, customers consider other options as well because of the price.

I have used the solution for roughly five to seven years.

It's very stable.

Scaling up is quite easy, whereas scaling out my storage requires deployment in a clustered manner from day one. If it's not deployed in a clustered manner and I want to scale out, I cannot do so. Careful planning is required at the start of implementation to determine if scaling out will be needed in the future. If this is not addressed in time, I will have to start from scratch, which is a daunting task. There are challenges with scaling out if the environment is not prepared at the initial deployment. Otherwise, it is straightforward. It is very useful, as I can add drive storage incrementally instead of a large batch of disks each time. It is both very useful and cost-effective.

Dell technical support is very good. They reach out to me promptly, deliver replacement parts quickly, and have local depots in three different cities across the country. Overall support is good.

Positive

There are two major aspects when it comes to the setup. One is the migration from existing storage, and the other is how fast I can complete the initial setup of Dell PowerStore. From a migration perspective, Dell PowerStore has the capability to migrate data from existing storage, even from other brands. The second phase is the initial setup, which is very straightforward. In a few steps, I am ready to set it up. Then, in the third phase, configuring replication, it is very straightforward and can be done in a few clicks. In all three phases—from migration to initial setup and to replication of the DR side, or the secondary side, or a third site—Dell PowerStore is easy to install and implement.

When I plan a tech refresh, other competitors offer better pricing with similar feature sets. This is a challenge for customers who are already satisfied with Dell PowerStore. However, when it comes to new storage requirements or a tech refresh, I consider other options as well.

Normally, Dell PowerStore is an NVMe storage, but it does not offer all NVMe protocol support like NVMe over RoCE, NVMe over fiber channel, and NVMe over TCP while other competitors do offer various connectivity options that Dell PowerStore lacks. For example, it lacks F5 and NVMe over RoCE and NVMe over fiber channel. Although it's NVMe-ready storage, it is not end-to-end NVMe ready from a technical angle.

My advice to anybody considering PowerStore is that if you need a scale-out feature in the future, you should consider it from day one. If Dell PowerStore is set up as a single appliance, scaling out will not be possible. This is the main point that needs consideration. 

Overall, I would rate the solution eight out of ten.

The main use cases for Dell PowerStore in my company are for file and block storage.

I appreciate the ease of use and storage presentation features of Dell PowerStore the most. By storage presentation, I mean how easy it is to present up storage and the data reduction. 

These features are valuable to me due to the savings and cost benefits. In terms of reducing our storage usage, I have realized some cost savings already. I estimate that we have reduced it by four to one.

Dell PowerStore could improve in the updating process and lifecycle management, as the upgrades seem to take a long time, along with some of the management features. Additionally, better integration with cloud platforms for offloading storage to hyperscalers could be beneficial. For example, being able to copy backup sets into the cloud.

I have been using Dell PowerStore in my company for four years.

I would assess the stability and reliability of Dell PowerStore as good; we did have a few outages concerning the controllers. Overall they were pretty stable.

Dell PowerStore scales effectively, which was another reason for our satisfaction, as we were able to expand or add additional shelves, and the process was straightforward.

I would evaluate support on a scale of one to ten as an eight. 

To make support a ten, I would want improvements in terms of speed, response time, and the expertise of who you're dealing with, as generally on an installation, you won't get your level three; you'll get your level one or level two.

Positive

Before Dell PowerStore, we used HPE 3PARs. We decided to switch since they were end-of-life.

My experience with deploying Dell PowerStore was that the installation was straightforward, and the documentation that was available, along with the support, left me with no complaints.

Post-storage migration made a noticeable improvement in our business operations, particularly in what we were able to reduce from the capacity usage, which was the main driver.

Before selecting Dell PowerStore, I considered HP and Pure as other solutions. 

During my evaluation process, both positive and negative aspects stood out to me, particularly from a pricing perspective, as it hit the pivot point for our budget, and we were offered a guarantee in terms of storage savings where if those metrics weren't met, we would get additional storage at no extra cost.

Currently, Dell PowerStore does not play a role in my company's AI initiatives. The solution doesn't offer the full 100% online capabilities, however, I'm assuming that's coming down the line. 

On a scale of one to ten, I rate Dell PowerStore an eight.

We are resellers and Dell partners, so we install Dell PowerStore for our customers.

The most valuable feature of Dell PowerStore is its easy-to-use feature, specifically the simplicity. What makes Dell PowerStore simple is that users don't have to worry about the storage group; they just set up the storage and are ready to go without worrying about which kind of RAID group to set up or the protection of this group, as everything is managed by the storage itself.

The first benefit of Dell PowerStore for my company is the speed and low latency with low latency working workload of the storage. The second feature is the security, because it has Secure Snapshot and other security features, ensuring the data is fast and protected in a good way.

I would improve Dell PowerStore by enhancing the replication feature because currently, users are limited to one applier, from one cluster, a Dell PowerStore cluster, to another Dell PowerStore cluster, but are not able to configure a three-site scenario. 

The second improvement would be to enable quantification of the snapshot footprint. 

The replication feature mentioned is what I find missing in Dell PowerStore.

I have been using the product for about four years.

The overall stability and reliability of Dell PowerStore is very good because I perform many upgrades without any downtime.

The solution is scalable. Dell PowerStore has features that specifically cater to the needs of small or medium business organizations because users can choose small size disks that are scalable to the smaller size of some companies.

I would evaluate customer service and tech support as fair. Nine out of ten times when I open a case, it's solved in the right time and in the right way, but there could be one out of ten times when it takes longer than expected.

Positive

Before using Dell PowerStore, I used Compellent, which is the generation before Dell PowerStore. It still has some features that are not included in Dell PowerStore, but I hope that the gap will disappear in time.

For lower budget needs, I have considered other solutions that aren't Dell, such as ME products, which are the main two products we use, choosing the right one with the right budget.

Dell PowerStore has grown with my company. We already have some customers who buy upgrades to their storage, in terms of expanding the size or buying new models. 

Dell PowerStore has supported our growth and operational success by providing a deeper discount, which is great from a selling point of view. We also received a demo unit, which is a storage we can use in a customer environment without any strings attached, so the customer can try the product before buying.

My advice to organizations considering Dell PowerStore is to start small because from both the perspective of speed and space, you probably don't need to buy a bigger Dell PowerStore because the performance is already there, even in the lower products. 

For space, you can always expand the one you have, so don't buy too much space, but the right amount for you at that time, and then expand if you need.

I would rate the overall Dell PowerStore product an eight out of ten.

The main use cases for Dell PowerStore in my case involve using it as primary storage for a mid-range of applications hosted on VMware, as well as in disaster recovery.

We are working with multiple industries. We provide services to a variety of companies, including several security firms and financial institutions such as banks. Additionally, we operate our own site as well.

One of my customers has the 500 series. They have multiple clusters in their primary data center. If I recall correctly, they operate with four or five nodes. From what I understand, it's fine for moving and optimizing workloads within the cluster. Previously, there was a different kind of storage, such as Unity and VNX, from which they migrated. There were numerous quality of service and performance issues back then. However, since migrating to PowerStore, I believe everything is quite optimized. We haven't observed any issues in the two years since the migration.

My experience with the deployment of Dell PowerStore was good. It was easy and straightforward. The migration was quite quick compared to other storage solutions, and provisioning was smooth as well.

The best features of Dell PowerStore that I most appreciate are its performance and the quality of service it provides. The snapshot and replication features are much improved compared to previous mid-range storages. 

In terms of improving Dell PowerStore, they should have simplified documents available for customers, not just for the support team. We faced issues that were hard to resolve without easy access to information, which could aid in quicker resolutions.

I have almost three and a half years of experience with Dell PowerStore, and overall with storage and backup, I have over 10 years of experience.

I find Dell PowerStore stable.

We haven't expanded Dell PowerStore yet, but according to the documentation, it is quite easy to extend. It does take some time to distribute the data among nodes, but we haven't experienced scaling issues as we are currently at 65% capacity.

I would rate Dell's customer service or technical support highly because I was part of Dell EMC in Johannesburg from 2015 to 2018. I know how they work, and their timely responses and resolutions have been quite good. I would rate it an eight.

Positive

The initial setup was straightforward, with the help of the Dell team. After hard installation and upgrades, we were up and network-ready in about six hours, including rack and stack, management, and hosting, and then we began migration the next day.

For that client, the deployment model we uses was on-premises, not private cloud or anything else.

Based on my experience, I would rate Dell PowerStore an eight out of ten.

It's connected to our VMware environment. We have two appliances. We are using 1200T. We are clustering between two sides in the same building.

Dell PowerStore is very stable. After we completed the installation, we haven't made many changes except for a few updates. The Dell support is very good to work with. 

Dell PowerStore has a nice user interface and works as it should. It's fast and stable to work with, and it seems to be good for our purpose. 

The cybersecurity and data resiliency features are also good. Management capabilities are also good.

They could improve the upgrade process. Currently, there are many manual steps required before upgrading the firmware. Making that process more automatic would be beneficial.

We have been using the solution for about two years.

The workload performance is very good, but we have a rather small installation of Dell PowerStore. It's connected to our vCenter and VMware. We just use it as block storage for VMs.

In our case, we haven't needed to scale yet, as we have half the capacity not being used. If we want to expand the volume of disk storage, we only need to install more disks, making it easy to scale.

I would rate their support a ten out of ten.

Positive

I have only worked with EMC and Dell.

The initial setup was very easy. I have also updated it a few times. The system requires updates approximately once every year, and Dell support is very good.

We worked with a Dell consultant. Our experience was excellent.

The solution helps us save money and provides good returns.

It might not be the cheapest product on the market. The purchase was made two years ago, and I'm not certain if the price has increased or decreased since then.

I would rate Dell PowerStore a ten out of ten. 

Some of the main use cases for Dell PowerStore include storing typical user data and virtual machines.

The best features of Dell PowerStore fall in line with most other SANs. The best features include reliability, redundancy, and snapshotting, which are typical capabilities when it comes to a SAN. Dell PowerStore has impacted my organization positively because we have reduced outages. The performance is great and the reliability is excellent. We have had nothing but a positive experience with it.

As far as how Dell PowerStore could be improved, anything can be improved. I would say it needs easier or increased compatibility with other storage solutions for easier application, such as Dell's own PowerVault. They don't communicate or talk to each other, and they don't replicate to each other, which makes it harder to mix and match.

I have used Dell PowerStore for one year.

The scalability of Dell PowerStore is fine and we're happy with that. It is easy to expand Dell PowerStore; you can just buy another one and constantly grow it.

Their support is something I would rate a 10 because I don't have problems with support. This is one of the reasons why we continue using them. They're responsive, knowledgeable, and have a quick turnaround.

Positive

I did use a different solution prior to this year of using Dell PowerStore; we used Compellent. The biggest difference between Compellent and Dell PowerStore is that Compellent was end-of-lifed, so we had no option to continue using it. We had to roll over to something else.

The initial setup of Dell PowerStore is straightforward and not complex. On a scale of one to 10, I would place the setup ease of Dell PowerStore at around an eight.

Dell PowerStore does help reduce my organization's capital expenditures.

We were evaluating other options before choosing Dell PowerStore. We compared Dell PowerStore to other options such as Pure Storage and Unity, as well as NetApp. For us, Dell PowerStore has a lower entry level, where the others started out at a much bigger scale compared to NetApp.

It's a well-known product that seems to be at a cost advantage compared to others. I have been able to consolidate data using Dell PowerStore. Dell PowerStore offers dedupe, which is a standard in this area. For the few, we have close to a petabyte of data, and you save quite a good amount of storage there, about 20 to 30% of your storage comes back because of dedupe. Compression and deduplication technologies are very important for my organization because most of our data resides on virtual machines, and the more virtual machines you have, the better dedupe ratios we get. Overall, I would rate Dell PowerStore an eight.

We use Dell PowerStore for storage management. We are using the 500T model. We have a standalone box and are not currently clustering multiple appliances.

The management portal is particularly user-friendly. We can access it easily, and the management software is not complicated.

With the recent firmware upgrade, we have a feature to restrict the bandwidth and throughput specifically for the volume.

The compression and deduplication that Dell PowerStore offers is performing well, especially compared to our previous storage solutions. We are achieving approximately a 2.8:1 ratio.

One suggestion for improvement would be related to volume management by both controllers. Currently, a volume is managed by a single controller, with alternate controllers managing different volumes based on load distribution. For example, if volume one is managed by controller one, volume two will be managed by controller two. In other vendors' solutions, both controllers participate in the I/Os. It would be more efficient if the volumes were controlled by both controllers in an active-active configuration.

The firmware upgrade takes longer than the other boxes. It should be better.

We have been using Dell PowerStore for three years.

I would rate the stability of the product at eight out of ten.

We experienced some concerns during a previous firmware upgrade when the controllers became unresponsive, which affected operations.

We have not performed any online scaling or scale-out operations as we use a simple standalone box. However, I believe the scalability features would be good, though I cannot speak from direct experience.

We have about 1,000 users.

I would rate the technical support a seven out of ten.

Neutral

We have NetApp AFF400, which is also good. However, since Dell PowerStore is a mid-range storage solution, it cannot be directly compared with our enterprise storage solutions. We use CloudIQ with Dell PowerStore.

It is easy. It took about a week.

We are not using ransomware protection. It is enabled in the new code, but we are not using any ransomware protection. We take a snapshot for any protection.

It is user-friendly, so we can easily manage storage. Many features are there. Compression is good, and the data configuration is good. 

I would rate Dell PowerStore an eight out of ten.

Some of the primary use cases that we deploy Dell PowerStore for is for fairly normal infrastructure things. We have one offer at the moment where we have a customer considering a replacement of Oracle database appliances with Dell PowerEdge servers and Dell PowerStore. 

It's for a utility company which requires strict governance standards. Furthermore, they are implementing Cyber Vault, which complements their end-to-end Dell infrastructure.

It is hard for me to quantify how Dell PowerStore has supported growth or operational successes for those companies because I'm not directly involved with the clients. 

We have had some successful projects in the last year from small to medium-sized projects. The notable aspect is not just from the customer's point of view. Internally, our project teams have confidence when they're working with that technology.

The biggest trust element is people are very happy to depend on a Dell infrastructure. When we talk to them about infrastructure, we will say, 'We need an infrastructure for a certain project.' 

We work with our Dell partner team to see which experts we need to get involved. When that brings Dell PowerStore into it, the features users appreciate include ease of use, security, dependability, and scalability. 

The natural progression of the Dell PowerStore family into bigger offerings and the integration between them is something that clients appreciate.

The initial setup was a bit cumbersome. 

We have been using the solution since shortly after product launch, with a range of clients having different levels of demand, and we tend to move with the technology as it advances.

Based on our experience with different customers, there has been uniform success rather than any issues. We are prepared to address any issues that might arise.

While I cannot comment extensively on the technical aspects, what's appealing to customers about Dell PowerStore is the scalability. They can start small, invest for what they need now, and have the confidence that when it grows, they will be able to scale with what they need.

I own the partnership and interface into the company, focusing more on that aspect than the specific technical details.

When we took over the clients, they had a real mismatch of solutions. They had a lot of HPE, some Oracle, and some generic equipment that they had acquired.

The initial setup was a little bit cumbersome. We had a bit of an adoption process internally. It wasn't immediately straightforward on day one.

We frequently engage the Dell account team or our own alliance team in the deal to ensure we get an SE who understands the specific business area and can adjust the offer accordingly.

I am not sufficiently involved with the projects to provide information about the ROI they actually see from implementing Dell PowerStore.

The pricing of Dell PowerStore is quite on point and very competitive overall. We are very in sync and in step, with our own account team and also with the account teams of our customers, which works out favorably commercially.

We have a focus on HPE or NetApp storage because that's their corporate requirement. We don't lead with these in discussions but have them available due to some client demands.

Make sure that you validate that Dell PowerStore is the right part of the Dell family. If it is, don't hesitate. 

Validate that with your Dell representatives. An SE can assess the exact requirements, or there might be a subject matter expert if it's a particular vertical implementation. Ensure you're on the right path before you proceed. 

Overall, I rate Dell PowerStore eight out of ten.

I am always hesitant to say something is a ten out of ten. There is always room for improvement. We see how they continue to evolve the product sets to match the evolving demands. In certain use cases, it's a ten out of ten, however, with the use cases changing every day, it presents different challenges.