Dell PowerStore Reviews

I am currently using Dell PowerStore as an external storage for enterprise solutions across multiple sectors, including the public sector, oil and gas, and banking sector. Dell PowerStore is one of the most useful and highest-performing storage solutions available. It is compatible with different work routes, allowing me to store many different work routes in Dell PowerStore. Dell PowerStore can integrate and be compatible with different servers from other vendors. The operation is very high performance for storage. I can install different work routes preferred for AI data. Additionally, I can integrate with the cloud from Dell.

I am currently using Dell PowerStore as an external storage for enterprise solutions across multiple sectors, including the public sector, oil and gas, and banking sector. Dell PowerStore is one of the most useful and highest-performing storage solutions available. It is compatible with different work routes, allowing me to store many different work routes in Dell PowerStore. Dell PowerStore can integrate and be compatible with different servers from other vendors. The operation is very high performance for storage. I can install different work routes preferred for AI data. Additionally, I can integrate with the cloud from Dell.

We are working with the AWS cloud. I am already working with Marketplace, but with different needs regarding Dell technologies.

A significant advantage of Dell PowerStore is the ability to scale up and scale down. If I want to upgrade Dell PowerStore at any time, I can add more enclosures or add more hard disks in the same enclosure. I can upgrade the hard disk, so I have the flexibility to increase storage. If my system has reached maximum size, I can upgrade and add more storage without buying new storage. I can add another shelf or enclosure.

The most important feature of Dell PowerStore is data resiliency. There are many benefits for Dell PowerStore compared with other solutions, including features like data resiliency, security points, and integration with different solutions.

If I want to store many data, I need the compression feature to save size. We can consolidate data with Dell PowerStore with a data reduction of 10%.

Dell PowerStore is easy to manage. I have a big professional implementation team that can install Dell PowerStore with all the models. We are experts in this area and do not have any issues.

I think efficiency in the operation for Dell PowerStore sometimes requires opening new cases with Dell to troubleshoot some upgrades, and I need a faster response from the support team. Sometimes there is a delay from the Dell support team. I can rate them at 7%.

The price is more expensive, so I am not proposing Dell PowerStore for small customers and small organizations. I propose alternative storage solutions like Unity or entry-level storage PowerVault for these customers. However, for medium and big enterprise customers, I propose Dell PowerStore.

I do not have any issue other than the price, which is more expensive compared with other storage solutions from other vendors. If Dell could add more features and enhance existing features to be higher, it would be very beneficial.

Hypothetically, I believe Dell could add some new features in the future related to AI or automation, which would be valuable to see as additional functions.

I have been dealing with Dell PowerStore for approximately 10 years.

Up to now, I have been proposing multi-solutions for Dell PowerStore and have been migrating multiple data and upgrading Dell PowerStore like 3200T. I do not have any issues with this. It has good performance.

I am working with 80% clustered solutions in Dell PowerStore. Some clients are already working with standalone solutions. This is determined based on customer needs.

I think efficiency in the operation for Dell PowerStore sometimes requires opening new cases with Dell to troubleshoot some upgrades, and I need a faster response from the support team. Sometimes there is a delay from the Dell support team. I can rate them at 7%.

The installation and deployment of Dell PowerStore is straightforward. All my projects are now working with Dell PowerStore as on-premise. Installation with Dell PowerStore is very easy, including with Linux. I do not have any issues with this.

Dell PowerStore is easy to manage. I have a big professional implementation team that can install Dell PowerStore with all the models. We are experts in this area and do not have any issues.

Regarding ROI with Dell PowerStore, I have already achieved more. I am already working with many projects for Dell PowerStore. For me, it is already more valuable.

I do not have any issue regarding setup cost and CapEx for Dell PowerStore. I think we can reduce it by 8%, for example.

The price is more expensive, so I am not proposing Dell PowerStore for small customers and small organizations. I propose alternative storage solutions like Unity or entry-level storage PowerVault for these customers. However, for medium and big enterprise customers, I propose Dell PowerStore.

I have already compared Dell PowerStore with HPE and Lenovo. For me, Dell is the leader. Dell is more expensive compared to HPE and Lenovo.

Regarding upgrades for Dell PowerStore, I provide solutions based on customer requirements. For example, if I am working with a customer today and we propose solutions based on their requirements, after two years the current system may have reached its maximum capacity and the customer needs more storage. At this point, I work with the customer to determine what features the customer will need for the next three to five years. Based on that assessment, I propose upgrade solutions. If the customer needs more storage, I can propose that. If the current product has reached end of sale or end of support, I work to refresh the solution and propose new products with the most updated features.

Upgrading to a next generation product is not difficult. It is easy. We can consolidate data with Dell PowerStore with a data reduction of approximately 10%.

My overall rating for this review is 10.

What I like the most about Dell PowerStore is the 4-to-1 data dedupe and compression guarantee, which is a big thing. The other great feature is the import feature from other older Dell series storage, which is excellent when you run into things like raw device mappings and LUNs that can be transferred over that way. I would say that it works really well 90% of the time. You do hit those instances where it doesn't always work, depending on the version of the other SAN and things like that. But I would say that those are probably the top two things.

I describe my experience with Dell PowerStore's data resiliency, availability, and cybersecurity features as quite positive. They have their proprietary DRE rather than a standard RAID 5 or RAID 6. They offer single or double disk failure protection. Those are great. The replication is great, the snapshots and protection features are really great selling points for it and a great option for anybody if they had any sort of cyber event or ransomware.

The importance of Dell PowerStore's compression and deduplication technologies for my organization is extremely critical, and probably one of the top things that is the selling point for Dell PowerStore. It is its claim to fame, the 4-to-1 data reduction. I do know they will do an exclusion if they have certain types of data that cannot be compressed, such as video. I would say it is one of the biggest selling points of Dell PowerStore.

Regarding what I dislike about Dell PowerStore, I do not think there is anything significant. During my initial setups, when you initially deploy those, you have to choose between block-only storage or unified mode, where it has block storage and NAS storage. The only option if you choose one of those and want to change it is to reinitialize it. I wish there was some way they could make that easier to change back and forth. However, I do not think that is inherently an option. That is probably the only feature that has given me trouble in the past.

My experience with contacting the technical support or customer support for Dell PowerStore is great. Usually, the only time I have had to call was when I first started deploying them and if it failed in an initial initialization. They are pretty quick to resolve any issues and can walk me through any questions I have.

If I were to put Dell PowerStore support on a scale from 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest, I give it an 8.

In terms of alternatives to Dell PowerStore, I have dealt with 3PAR and HP Nimble, which are probably the closest ones I have compared to Dell PowerStore.

When talking about the ease of deployment of Dell PowerStore, they give you a few options. They have that PowerStore deployment utility that, if it is configured properly and has DHCP on it, it will work. Often, as a partner that deploys those, we have to go through the service port for initial configuration where it has the assigned IP address, and you have to set a static IP on your laptop. They have a solid initial deployment process for those.

When thinking about the pricing of Dell PowerStore, I know the pricing well. We usually deal with the 500T, or sometimes a PowerStore 1000 or 1200, as we work with medium business organizations. I would say they are comparable to the competitors in that realm, with HP products or storage being the first two that come to mind. The 500T seems to be around the 50,000 mark or something similar. They are not cheap, but they are worth the money for those.

Most customers are using Dell PowerStore for their data, including metadata as well as unstructured data. Storage customers do not require much AI because they need only reports on storage uptime, downtime, and management perspective. They want to know their disk size, consumption, and how much deduplication and compression they will receive.

If I go ahead with normal storage where I cannot get any deduplication and compression, I will require the full capacity. However, when I go ahead with Dell PowerStore, I will get effective capacity. For example, hypothetically, with a 3:1 compression ratio, if my data is 100 TB, I will only require 30 TB of capacity. Whereas without deduplication and compression, I would require 100 TB.

Dell PowerStore provides deduplication and compression with availability of five nines. The customer got significant benefit from deduplication compression in terms of effective capacity. One of my customers required somewhere around 100 TB of storage, but in terms of effective capacity, I could start with only 20 TB of storage and store data up to 100 TB because of deduplication and compression.

Effective capacity is an excellent feature from Dell PowerStore which is provided by deduplication and compression. Dell PowerStore has a feature called DARE, Data at Rest Encryption. Once the data is written on the hard disk, it is automatically encrypted. Any data which is encrypted will not be encrypted again by any ransomware attack. Dell PowerStore also provides SED hard disks, meaning self-encrypted disks, and because of that, they are achieving the DARE functionality.

Dell PowerStore definitely provides both functionality in terms of NAS and block. Dell PowerStore provides CloudIQ for management. Inside they offer reporting on how much deduplication and compression I have, how much my current utilization is, and at the current rate, when my data storage is going to be full so I know when I require an upgrade. They also offer predictive analysis in terms of whether any hard disk is corrupted or going to fail. This feature and functionality is available with Dell PowerStore.

Otherwise the product is very rugged, so there is no issue at all. Once the customer deploys it in their environment, they are running successfully and there are no major challenges. Availability is the strongest part because it is a rugged product, so there is no issue. I have never faced any challenging in terms of downtime.

To date, I did not come across multiple clustering for one of the customers. However, I have sold multiple Dell PowerStore appliances to a single customer, but they did not require clustering. They are using them for individual locations.

Certain models do not provide the NAS functionality and only provide block storage. If Dell PowerStore could increase that offering from each product for NAS functionality, it would be good.

I used Dell PowerStore was used for approximately three years.

Dell PowerStore is a stable product that is very rugged, so there is no issue. I have never faced any challenging in terms of downtime. Once the customer deploys it in their environment, they are running successfully and there are no major challenges.

Dell PowerStore is easy to scale with a cluster node architecture scenario. When a customer wants to increase any type of size, the only limitation is that the customer has to add an entire appliance.

Dell PowerStore provides CloudIQ software for the management part, which is a cloud-based solution. I can easily manage my entire storage, not only single storage, but if I have multiple storages, I can manage them from a single console.

I am a system integrator currently working with both Commvault and CloudVision.

I started with Dell PowerStore 500T. The setup is easy.

Dell PowerStore provides CloudIQ for management. Dell PowerStore has already integrated a certain feature of AI, but storage customers do not require much AI because they require only reports on how much storage uptime and downtime they have and management perspective. They want to know their disk size, consumption, and how much deduplication and compression they will receive. I am working with Dell Technologies. I am a partner for the Dell entire product portfolio. I am also a partner of Arista as well as a partner of Commvault.

Whatever 70% savings I achieve, I will get it easily on return on investment.

I can say nine out of ten.

Competitor products include NetApp, Hitachi, and HPE. In some features and functionality like inbuilt NAS functionality, Dell is ahead. Dell PowerStore and NetApp can be compared with each other. However, HP does not provide the NAS functionality and Hitachi requires an additional appliance to provide NAS functionality. Otherwise, all the products provide deduplication compression ratio, management software, and technical solutions because they are enterprise products.

Effective capacity is an excellent feature from Dell PowerStore which is provided by deduplication and compression. I am working with Dell PowerStore, PowerEdge, and everything from Dell. Dell PowerStore is easy to scale with a cluster node architecture scenario. When a customer wants to increase any type of size, the only limitation is that the customer has to add an entire appliance. This review has an overall rating of nine out of ten.

Dell PowerStore is utilized in customer environments where they need fast resilient storage, which highlights its importance in our operations.

The main use cases for us are virtualized workloads, such as clustered server environments that are attached to Dell PowerStore. It stores all their virtualized server environments, including database servers and application servers.

The reason that we brought in Dell PowerStore for this particular use case was that the environment had a database that was performing poorly. It was not clear whether it was a software issue or hardware issue, and it turned out it was a very poorly configured hardware situation. The software vendor was not really sure about what to do. We brought in this brand new Dell PowerStore, having used it since they have been available. After talking to our Dell rep, we learned it was the perfect solution for this environment to eliminate any performance issues, and that has been the case. We installed Dell PowerStore, and the application performance has never had an issue ever again.

The biggest advantage for us as far as features on Dell PowerStore is that they have really good data deduplication and compression, which means your usable disk space is really increased. You don't have to buy as much actual physical disk, making it a good cost-saving measure.

The ability to store more data at a lower physical footprint has truly benefited our organization. If you were having to buy the amount of disk that you actually needed on a physical level, the cost would be astronomically higher, or it would be a more expensive appliance. It's already not super cheap, but it does a lot of features. The biggest draw to it is you get a lot of features for the money and it's really high performance.

If I had to give my recommendation on how Dell PowerStore could be improved, it would probably have to be the user interface. I was hoping that this new product would have a great simple user interface, similar to Dell Unity that we sold and used extensively. Instead, I found the user interface to be a step back from what was done with the other product, which could be tied to the whole architecture of the platform. My wish is to have a more user-friendly interface; the previous system had wizards and guides that facilitated configuration. I have used Dell storage since it was EMC, and back then, configuring the original VNX line required considerable knowledge of storage. The Unity platform simplified that, but with Dell PowerStore, it feels having to know a bit more about storage again to set up some features, which might confuse users transitioning from Unity to Dell PowerStore.

We have been using Dell PowerStore for maybe three or four years, somewhere in that area, showcasing our commitment to leveraging its capabilities.

Our experience with the resiliency, availability, and cybersecurity features of Dell PowerStore has been really good. We have never had any issues, we have never had any outages or downtime or anything of that nature, so it has all been rock-solid.

The stability and reliability of Dell PowerStore are excellent; we have never had any issues. I don't think we have even had a drive fail. You just plug them in, get them turned on, set them up, and they just work, so it has been fantastic.

As far as the growth of the organization and how Dell PowerStore scales, it has been great. We did have one instance where we needed to add some more hard drives, as it was a little underspecced out of the gate, but the whole process of ordering and plugging in additional drives was seamless. The system just auto-expands the file system, and you go.

The technical support and customer support for Dell PowerStore have been fantastic. I don't think we have had to call anybody for that, so I would say it is great.

As far as return on investment with Dell PowerStore, we have seen it. We have had no downtime, no issues; they have just run and worked, which has been tremendous.

The pricing, licensing, and setup costs have been fair for what the product does and what it is. Dell PowerStore is a very high-performance, high-end platform, so you are going to pay a premium, but at the same time, it performs its intended functions effectively, which has been a huge plus for us.

The only other solution we considered before selecting Dell PowerStore was Dell Unity. At the time, they had an all-flash Unity, but its deduplication, compression, and performance metrics were not on par with what Dell PowerStore was designed to deliver, which ultimately informed our decision.

The environments where they are deployed are not operating 24/7 but they are real close. We need as much uptime as possible, and never having to be down for any kind of maintenance window or anything of that nature has been tremendous.

In the environment that we are in now, we do utilize Dell PowerStore's built-in integrations for VMware, which is tied into our system.

The built-in integrations between Dell PowerStore and our virtualization platform are very important for our organization because having that communication when setting up LUNs or configurations is really helpful. It allows us to execute tasks from Dell PowerStore without needing to operate in two different systems.

I would rate this review a 10.

Dell PowerStore is a really interesting array because since it's a full NVMe array, we can consolidate all types of workloads on it, including virtualization. It's an array that can be set up in block mode or unified mode with file, so we can even put file on it and now replicate them in synchronous mode. It's really a multi-environment array. We use it a lot to implement Oracle OLVM clusters. It's really an interesting solution for doing that, in terms of its performance, and also because it supports Linux metro-cluster. We can consolidate Oracle databases with this solution under very good conditions with an excellent level of performance.

Dell PowerStore can help consolidate the data on the storage part. After that, it's clear that Dell PowerStore will be able to interface with AI solutions to provide services. That's a certainty. However, it will remain just a block on the storage side.

The feature I like the most about Dell PowerStore is the simplicity of configuration with DRE. You no longer need a storage expert to configure the array for the client. We have a lot of expertise with people doing storage who have more than 25 years of experience, so installation is no problem for us. Once the array is configured, having this intelligent engine that will organize the blocks, organize the stripes, and manage all the complexity of storage brings a lot of ease of management for the client. They just have to create a volume and present it to their servers. The simplicity is what's interesting about the array.

Dell PowerStore arrays have a range that is broken down in the sizer, where we can see the maximum IOPS we can get and the maximum bandwidth depending on the models. It's important to carefully analyze the customer environments to place the array in the range that will properly meet the expected performance. Since it's a full NVMe array, by default it's a very high-performance array with low latency and really strong performance. I've never come across a workload where the array did not meet the expected level.

The feature we'd like to have in Dell PowerStore is coming, which is metro-cluster over Fibre Channel. That's really the last solution we're waiting for. The advantage of Dell PowerStore is that it's developed as microservices and that it's very software-driven and very automatable as a solution. We can integrate it into modern environments like OpenShift. FC replication is something we didn't have yet, and there are many customers for whom that's a prerequisite.

We can get performance information because when Dell PowerStore array is connected and interconnected to CloudIQ, we send up all the performance metrics needed per volume. We can see perfectly how it behaves. The only thing we don't have is the ability to customize it. Since it's the array itself that manages the organization of the blocks, it's both an advantage and a disadvantage. It's easy to manage for the client, but for an admin looking for specific customization, Dell PowerStore is not the right choice.

We can customize it regarding workload usage. For example, I have a client who was on hyperconverged. I migrated him to Dell PowerStore. He told me it's so much better to customize the usage, put volumes into replication, and segment clusters. On Dell PowerStore storage array, I can very well have a VMware cluster and next to it an OLVM cluster, and manage my VMware part and my Oracle part independently to comply with licensing. Being able to segment environments on a traditional environment allows the client to better manage licensing compared to hyperconverged, which will put everything in the same basket and cause more problems. The array really allows customization if we want to do file system replication. However, if you want specific customization at the RAID group level, that's something you can't do with Dell PowerStore because that feature is handled by an automatic engine. There are admins who rather use Hitachi arrays for that, where they really want to customize their environments down to the core. Dell PowerStore doesn't allow you to do that because it's not its objective.

I've really been using Dell PowerStore since version 3.6 of PowerStoreOS, when we were able to build a redundant architecture with two PowerStores. Before there was replication between two arrays with the witness, it was difficult to build Dell PowerStore architectures because it lacked this feature for securing across two rooms and two sites. With customers, we always need to secure things.

Dell PowerStore is stable and reliable. The only problem is that it came out a bit early. Before version 3.6, it didn't have the features that customers expected, and it was difficult to work with because we didn't have metro-cluster. Metro-cluster in France is less put into production than in the United States because their distances are totally huge, so they tend to do asynchronous replication instead, but in France it's necessary. Before, you had to work with metronodes and virtualize the array. It wasn't integrated, so it was more complicated to put into production and it was less attractive for customers. Now we've reached the level of functionality that's good so that it's really positioned on the market.

Dell PowerStore adapts to growth because it already grows unit by unit at disk level. It has growth that can be both scale-up and scale-out. Let's say I did my sizing badly or I did sizing for a client who then integrates other entities, buys companies, and the need completely changes. I'll be able to add not just shelves to increase capacity, but new primary nodes to increase power and have a cluster that grows in power rather than capacity. When we add capacity, we ask ourselves whether we just need to add capacity, in which case we add a shelf, or to add power. Then we add a Dell PowerStore node directly into the cluster to add capacity and power at the same time.

We've already used Dell PowerStore support to fix issues. I particularly remember a case when we were on 3.6 with an array that had been installed with the wrong name. There was a bug with renaming. When we renamed the array after it had been installed, it caused problems on the file system, and we resolved it with support very quickly.

For support with Dell PowerStore, I'd rate it a 10. It's very good support.

Positive

Deploying Dell PowerStore array is done very efficiently. Once the racking is done, the racking and organization part is always very important. We take the time to do it properly, and the cabling has to be perfectly done. The interconnection to the SAN has to be very well done and well identified. Once that's done, starting up the array is completed within the next day and a half. It's really very fast.

I've tested quite a few storage systems, and I find Dell PowerStore really highly suited to modern, diverse environments. It adapts to pretty much all the cases I encounter with my clients. What I find really interesting is that we can standardize installations a bit, and then interconnect workloads and the array responds. Especially what I see with clients is more a decline in specialists in customer teams, except in very large structures. With mid-sized customers, people are very generalist and use everything. I no longer have a storage expert who can take care of the storage array. Having an array that's simplified and can be managed by someone who is less specialized is a huge asset today. That's why I referenced it and why I really appreciate this technology.

Even with the customers, they told me the other day that it's the death of hyperconverged with Dell PowerStore because it integrates so well and it's easy to use.

I would rate this product a 9 because I'm just waiting for the FC replication feature. I think that when it has that, we'll be able to give it a solid 10.

My team's role in using or managing Dell PowerStore is that we run all our infrastructure for our shared infrastructure in all the data centers, and we run Dell PowerStore for our IaaS solutions and some backup DR solutions. 

Currently, we are not using Dell PowerStore for any AI initiatives in our company or for our clients; it's primarily for IaaS workloads, so Infrastructure-as-a-Service on our shared platform for customers. 

Currently, we are utilizing the 500Ts and 1200Ts models of Dell PowerStore.

We have seen the benefits of consolidation, compression, and reduction in overall storage.

I can share a specific example where Dell PowerStore made a noticeable improvement in our business operations; we were running an IaaS platform for one of our acquisitions on a different vendor, and we've moved that to a brand new platform we built based on PowerEdge and Dell PowerStore. All of our performance is now improved, and all of our customers are happy; they're not complaining anymore about performance. We've recently received feedback that there's a massive improvement—boot times are quicker, and responsiveness from their workloads is quicker.

We have realized several benefits from using Dell PowerStore; we migrated to the current Dell PowerStore models from tiered storage, and now we're using all flash. 

The dedupe and compression has been a big benefit for us versus the old storage that it was running, and we've seen the performance of all flash for our storage services. 

My company finds particular features within Dell PowerStore valuable, primarily the cost benefits for the performance that we get out of the platform. We've definitely seen the benefit on that side of it, including the cost per terabyte, and the support from Dell has been excellent as well. 

We haven't had any issues with it, so it's been very reliable as a platform for us.

The performance metrics I use to measure success with Dell PowerStore are all IOPS and throughput. We are not using it with AI workloads on Dell PowerStore, so it's primarily just customers running IaaS, however, it is important that it's reliable and performs well, and we get that from Dell PowerStore.

Dell PowerStore has supported growth and operational success for my business; a key driver at the moment is consolidation, and the dedupe and compression ratios allow us to standardize on a single platform. This has helped improve our operational metrics and overall operations, as we now have only one vendor to support and one set of storage arrays to manage. We have a very clear path into support and escalation if there is an issue, and we are not dealing with multiple vendors.

It could be improved to be cheaper for us. Cost versus performance is crucial, and it has to have the performance and capabilities that we need for that price point.

I have been using Dell PowerStore for years.

I would assess Dell PowerStore's stability and reliability as excellent; the latest generation of Dell PowerStores that we put in has had no issues and no downtime.

I see Dell PowerStore growing with our future needs; as a company, we have standardized our compute and storage now on Dell, so that's the way it's going to grow.

Our business has around 1000 employees.

I would evaluate Dell support as a nine out of ten.

Any instance that we've had to open with Dell or any support ticket we've had has been responded to very quickly, and the quality of the team we deal with is very good. 

There's not much more I can get out of support really. They are responsive, and I've very little to complain about from a Dell perspective. There are always going to be issues with a support department, and we understand that. The escalation paths are clear, and the account managers and team I work with at Dell Ireland are always proactive in reaching out if they identify an issue.

Positive

Before moving to Dell PowerStore, I considered NetApp and Pure Storage as two of our large vendors, and we've also used HP. 

We've explored a large range of them. A huge standout in my evaluation process, both positive and negative, comparing these options was realistically the performance for the price; since we use a significant amount of Dell, they are our number one vendor for compute, and it makes sense for us to standardize our compute. When we compare the performance to the cost, it's a no-brainer for us.

We have seen a return on our investment in Dell PowerStore; definitely our cost per terabyte has been very good compared to some of the other vendors that we would have been using previously, and our performance benchmarks have exceeded what we were expecting.

At the moment, I can't think of any area where Dell PowerStore could be better; my engineering teams aren't complaining about anything, and we're happy with the performance, support, dedupe, compression, and costs. 

My advice to others considering Dell PowerStore is that the more you understand about the workloads you're going to run on the storage, the more accurate you can be, and the better solution you'll end up with. I would rate Dell PowerStore as an eight or a nine out of ten.

We used Dell PowerStore as a network device to provide storage to our UNIX hosts, and a part of it for the NFS data to present it to servers.

The most valuable features are Metro Volume and the snapshots on the system, which are very useful. The creation of a new volume and expanding Dell PowerStore in general are also excellent capabilities. It is well thought out, in my opinion, and there is nothing that I can think of that is missing on Dell PowerStore.

If Dell PowerStore goes down, all of our systems would be down, making it a very important part of the environment.

The update cycle should be automated or scheduled. Currently, it takes a full day of my job to update Dell PowerStore nodes, and if I have to do two, my entire day is focused on the update process. This takes a considerable amount of time.

Another point of improvement is that the configuration can be very complex. Simplifying the configuration would be beneficial. However, this complexity may have resulted from the choices made because we used iSCSI SAN switches that may have complicated some things. That decision was taken above my head, so I needed to work with that.

The security features are somewhat lacking. Security certificates are not there by default, so that could be improved. There is integration with Active Directory and that kind of functionality, but I did not test it. What was missing for IT, I believe, was not part of the base offering and were optional features. On a score of 10, I would say seven, and security could be improved.

We have used Dell PowerStore for about three or four years.

Dell PowerStore is quite stable. We had a few outages in our data center and Dell PowerStore kept running. The only issue is that the battery life of Dell PowerStore was not so good.

We only purchased two nodes, but I think if you buy a new one, you can scale up quite easily.

Regarding the ability of Dell PowerStore to adapt to growing needs, that took quite some time. On a scale of 10, I would rate scalability six or seven.

I have communicated with the customer service of Dell PowerStore. The technicians are quite good and they know what they are talking about. I am satisfied with the support I received.

We used Dell Unity before, and Unity was much slower and much more laggy than Dell PowerStore. Dell PowerStore has improved the performance in general of our servers and our virtual machines by 50%.

We used Dell Unity before, which had been running for about 10 years. It did the job, but it was end of life and end of support. We needed a new SAN system, which is why we decided on Dell PowerStore and also looked at some other systems.

We experienced a few challenges. There was an IP that was free and was not included in the checklist of Dell PowerStore, so we needed to run it two or three times. Besides that, everything went well.

Dell PowerStore has improved the performance in general of our servers and our virtual machines by 50% compared to our previous Dell Unity system, which was much slower and much more laggy.

We requested pricing from a partner and received it on time, so we were aware of the price.

The price we paid two years ago was reasonable. However, if I were to request a new price this year, I think the price would be much higher because of the price increases of hardware and RAM. I do not think people will pay that amount of money for the same system.

We went directly for Dell PowerStore. I was convinced that it would be a better fit for our needs.

Within the last 12 months, I have been working with Dell PowerStore, but it has been three to four months since I actively worked with it.

I have been sharing feedback on Dell PowerStore. I can share my feedback on different technologies with Dell PowerStore.

I did not use Dell AIOps.

I do not understand what is meant by consolidating data using Dell PowerStore.

We used VMware, which is quite important because we use the snapshot integration of VMware. We also used the Witness of Dell PowerStore, and that was also very important to keep control of both nodes.

We needed a stable system. Security was the second priority, but it was already somewhat separated in the network, so it was pretty acceptable for that.

My overall rating for this review is 8.

My usual use cases for Dell PowerStore involve connecting it directly via Fibre Channel to our remote properties, and in the data center, we also have a footprint with what I believe is the 1000 series or 5000 series, which includes their enterprise high-speed SSD, large capacity Dell PowerStore connected to Brocade fabrics.

The features and capabilities of Dell PowerStore that I have found most valuable are the dedupe and compression functionalities, especially for databases and some of our properties, achieving about a four to one ratio on dedupe and compression as long as it is not used on videos or any sort of visual media.

Dell PowerStore has positively impacted my organization in terms of performance and operational efficiency, as we achieve excellent results with dedupe and compression and find it easy to manage storage, including sites with a lot of 500Ts, and they typically do not break, despite some initial firmware issues upon installation.

I believe Dell PowerStore could be improved in terms of its GUI, which is a bit clunky and challenging to navigate for normal storage setup tasks, requiring many different options to create pools and add permissions, making it less straightforward compared to its predecessor, the Unity, where you would see the disk directly and set the size easily.

I have been using this solution for four years, specifically during 2022 and 2023.

My impression of the reliability and stability of Dell PowerStore has been positive, as we only experienced some code issues initially when it was brand new, but after overcoming the initial major release, we have faced no major issues.

I find Dell PowerStore scalable as it has met all our expectations for future growth, and when we eventually need to scale, it may be at the end of its life cycle, allowing us to consider replacing it while ensuring it meets our encryption requirements for data at rest and in transit.

I do communicate with Dell PowerStore technical support from time to time, but I have not needed to in the last three years.

Before Dell PowerStore, I did not use anything else for the same use cases; it was pretty much just VMware.

The initial setup from my perspective had limited documentation, requiring me to either wait for a representative to help me or figure things out on my own, and while I eventually managed it, the setup was somewhat complicated due to the access settings for different pools and hierarchy, which was less straightforward compared to Unity or VMAX.

I participated in the initial setup of Dell PowerStore.

Evaluating the return on investment from using Dell PowerStore is challenging, as we over-purchased storage to avoid future issues, but I recall that their cost was comparable to other SANs in the market, and the impressive performance and space savings justify a good ROI since they require minimal maintenance.

I think the pricing for Dell PowerStore is in line with the market, making it an affordable solution for us.

Before choosing Dell PowerStore, we evaluated other options, including IBM's offerings, and although we went with the DS8 for our iSeries, Dell PowerStore was the best available on the market at that time in terms of performance.

An example of where these features made a difference is during a cybersecurity incident where there was an attempted ransomware attack, and since the files were already encrypted on Dell PowerStore, they remained unaffected, protecting us from the attack.

I have indeed been able to consolidate data using Dell PowerStore, as we collapsed two different SANs into it, sitting on one 8 terabyte LUN, achieving just above four to one efficiency compared to about two to one with Unity, allowing us to decommission entire arrays without issues.

This rate has absolutely lived up to my expectations, which was the main reason we purchased it, and it has worked out really well.

We utilized Dell PowerStore's built-in integrations for VMware, Kubernetes, and other ecosystems for a bit, but after an API issue with SailPoint, our company took a knee-jerk reaction and pulled all APIs, which reduced our visibility, but it was valuable while it lasted.

The insights offered by Dell AI Ops, known as CloudIQ, are quite helpful as they email me the health status and alert us of any issues, including when we encountered a bad flash during installation that we replaced quickly under RMA, and generally, it keeps us informed about code upgrades available.

My experience with Dell PowerStore's data resiliency, availability, and cybersecurity features has been pretty good, despite a rough start when it was new, and they have improved significantly over the years with consistent code updates.

These features meet my business needs today.

Dell PowerStore is currently deployed on-premises in my organization.

I would rate this product an 8 out of 10.

We use Dell PowerStore for the data centers and mostly for virtualization to provide storage capacity to hypervisors, using it for different use cases such as SQL databases, Exchange servers, and custom-based applications that serve different purposes.

Use cases that are mostly used involve some clients in the banks hosting main applications on Dell PowerStore, and sometimes it is used to replace previous generations of Dell products, such as Unity or VNX, where the customer base primarily consists of traditional Dell customers, along with some government institutions.

Some use cases with Dell PowerStore that can impact involve a client hosting an application for a public service that people use, and they provided feedback that the application performance has improved, and they are happy with this product.

The best features of Dell PowerStore are that it is really easy to use and really easy to set up, and a great feature is also the performance, which is really good, and it is very easy to integrate with VMware, for example; it has great integration.

Apart from the pricing, the key differentiator for Dell PowerStore in comparison to competitors such as IBM and Hitachi is its performance and data reduction, which is a really great feature since the data reduction ratio is much better on Dell PowerStore.

From a technical perspective regarding Dell PowerStore, I am not certain what improvements or enhancements should be made because it is a really good product; however, from the price perspective, I think it should be less expensive to better position it against vendors such as IBM or Hitachi, since sometimes it is hard to sell it due to higher pricing.

Disadvantages of Dell PowerStore, apart from the price, from a technical perspective, do not exist.

For growing needs, Dell PowerStore is easy to scale, but I had an issue where if a client wants to buy additional drives after the initial purchase, the price is quite expensive because they do not get the discount from the initial purchase; thus, they should plan to buy more capacity up front.

We have been working with Dell PowerStore for approximately two or three years.

I have not experienced any downtimes or crashes with Dell PowerStore, as it has been really stable, and we have not replaced any part except perhaps some hard drives.

For growing needs, Dell PowerStore is easy to scale, but I had an issue where if a client wants to buy additional drives after the initial purchase, the price is quite expensive because they do not get the discount from the initial purchase; thus, they should plan to buy more capacity up front.

We had cases when we needed support from the Dell technical support team, which is quite good for consultancy and firmware issues; however, in our region, it is a bit more challenging to get hardware parts since everything goes through partners, which can create a bottleneck.

I would rate the tech support an eight on a scale of one to ten.

Positive

Deployment of Dell PowerStore is quite easy, and compared to previous generations of Dell or other vendors, I think it is really easy for us as system integrators, although sometimes it is not great for us as it limits the services we sell since clients can even do the deployment themselves.

We are a partner and a system integrator with Dell, and also we are an authorized deployment and support provider.

Apart from the pricing, the key differentiator for Dell PowerStore in comparison to competitors such as IBM and Hitachi is its performance and data reduction, which is a really great feature since the data reduction ratio is much better on Dell PowerStore.

We work with Dell PowerStore and with Unity.

Performance metrics with Dell PowerStore actually depend on the case, but for some clients, the most important is the latency and write latency, and they use various tools to measure, mostly with VMware's vCenter that has some metrics they can monitor; however, to be honest, the clients or institutions using it are not utilizing the maximum performance or capacity that it can provide.

Most of our clients are small to medium businesses, but Dell PowerStore is not really a fit for small businesses since they tend to go with lower models such as PowerVault or less expensive products.

I do not have specific analysis on how Dell PowerStore has supported the growth of operational success for medium businesses, but since it is easy and has no issues, I think the IT teams do not have to worry and are happy with it.

I can recommend to other organizations considering Dell PowerStore that if they want an on-premises solution, they can count on it for performance and reliability, making it a really good product. This review has an overall rating of nine out of ten.

Dell PowerStore is primarily used for VMware storage, Hyper-V, and Windows and Linux VMware hosts. We run SQL Servers, file print, and file shares on it. We do have one or two SAP production instances on it as well, making it a multi-purpose storage solution.

We use it quite extensively for VMware, and additional integrations with VMware and Veeam would probably benefit us. Additional REST API integrations with VMware and Veeam would be helpful.

Dell PowerStore has been very stable for us. We have performed upgrades to it, including capacity expansions, and recently upgraded one of our systems from a 96-core to a 128-core. The upgrade process has been fairly easy and the storage has remained stable. It fits in well with our other Dell storage systems. It serves as tier one or tier one and a half storage for us. We also have a PowerMax for high-end Oracle needs, but Dell PowerStore aligns well with our storage strategy.

My experience with Dell PowerStore's data resiliency has been positive; we have never had one go down on us. We have had to replace some components, such as hard drives, which was no major issue. We had to swap out a node for a hardware issue about a year ago, and that went fairly smoothly. We remained operational on the other node.

The features of Dell PowerStore are very important to our organization because we rely on them so we do not have to constantly purchase more storage.

Initially, we experienced some issues with the guaranteed dedupe compression functionality, and Dell provided us with extra storage as part of that agreement. However, once we upgraded to the current firmware, the dedupe compression ratio issues resolved.

We have had Dell PowerStore for about four or five years.

Dell PowerStore has never gone down hard on us for storage, which is a good record to have. I would give it a ten for stability.

Expanding Dell PowerStore is fairly easy. We have done it at least twice in four years. We worked with our vendor to handle all the configuration and ensure we made the right decision regarding scale out versus scale up. The expansion was fairly easily accomplished.

I have contacted Dell PowerStore support.

The quality and speed of Dell PowerStore's support are good. They usually get back to us within the required SLA time. We have an SLA of four hours, and it has always been picked up quickly. When we have needed a part swap out, it has been shipped via carrier fairly quickly. I cannot complain about their support queue, and their support agents are always very knowledgeable from the engineering side.

I would rate Dell PowerStore support nine out of ten.

While we have other storage vendors available to choose from, we are primarily a Dell shop for storage. We do have some Pure Storage that we use for Veeam backup targets.

The initial deployment of Dell PowerStore was easy. That was a couple years ago, so I do not recall any issues, but it was fairly easy to get it up and running and start using it.

Dell PowerStore does require some maintenance on our end, but most of it is performed by Dell. We try to keep up on firmware updates fairly regularly.

I personally prefer Dell PowerStore over Pure Storage somewhat, but Pure does have a good product. I think Dell's command line and user interface are slightly better.

We have not consolidated data using Dell PowerStore. However, we have used it extensively for its dedupe and compression capabilities to save on storage, though not specifically for consolidation purposes.

Regarding Dell AIOps, we have used it for monitoring and growth estimates so we do not have to make last minute storage purchases. It provides pretty good estimation of when we will run out of storage, and we have started using some of the AI features to check for malware as well.

We are not enrolled in the Lifecycle Extension, formerly Anytime Upgrade program.

We do use Dell AIOps.

I would rate this review nine out of ten overall.