VxRail Reviews

We have VxRail for Hyperconverged infrastructure for our Windows and Linux VMs. We have the vRealize Suite which helps us with lifecycle management and forecasting our environments.

VxRail has high performance and has great efficiency. There is a single place for us to manage all of our virtual machines. The ability to right-size instead of overcommit VMs is a large benefit.

We do not use the storage part of VxRail, we use Pure Storage to map out the VxRail because the disk performance from Pure Storage was far better than the performance of the disk on the inside of VxRail.

I have found that Dell sales are the worst part of the organization or the blemish of their solutions. When they tell you, you are receiving something, and then down the road, you find out you actually have to buy something else in order to have the intended functionality it can be frustrating. We should have been told when purchasing this solution that we needed to purchase VMware Tanzu for private clouds.

I have used VxRail within the past 12 months.

VxRail is highly stable. I would rate VxRail a ten out of ten for stability.

The solution is scalable, it has the ability to scale up but if you go and you add clusters it can get a bit difficult. If you are adding everything new, you only add it, and then it becomes a part of a cluster, but if you started off with a small four-cluster and then you have a 12-node cluster then you want to move those machines, it can take some work.

The installation is straightforward we have never had a problem. They could improve on the process of adding clusters. For example, when you want to add a four-node cluster to a 12-node cluster, there is a whole lot of resetting we have to do on that cluster and put it back on. We do not understand why you can not add a cluster into the same management interface. This is something they should look into.

The only advice that I would give to those wanting to implement VxRail is to make sure that they look at what comes with the VxRail package. For example, Dell offers vRealize, which is not private cloud. They mistakenly will say that it is for private cloud but all vRealize offers are lifecycle management, the ability to do costing, and everything between public cloud and a private cloud. They will tell you that you have to buy VMware Tanzu in order to get the private cloud features. When they initially sell VxRail as hyper-converged infrastructure, they also sell it as your private cloud but there is no private cloud functionality. You have to build that on.

I rate VxRail a ten out of ten.

We use VxRail for VDI and for our production environment hosted on VMware. Within our organization, there are roughly 3,000 employees that use this solution.

We enjoy the ease of management since all of the resources are located on one box — one single point of support. 

I host a lot of other clients on my premises, the ACR, and I need to charge them for the services I provide. I would like it if there were tools that provided the billing costs. In other words, this infrastructure or this resource will cost you X amount of dollars. In short, I would prefer it if each cell had a tool geared toward billing clients.

The initial setup for the VxRail economy requires a minimum of three nodes. We might consider building a new cluster with a minimum of four, as not all customers can sponsor for the sub-training number of nodes. In short, to implement VxRail, you need a minimum of three nodes for the initial setup; and the initial setup isn't cheap. 

I have been using VxRail for two and a half years.

VxRail is very stable — it scales up and spins out.

I am very satisfied with the customer support.

For the HCI it's quite straightforward; however, in regard to the switches, there is no GUI implemented with the top-rack switches which can make things difficult. Overall, deployment took one week.  

We evaluated HyperFlex and NetApp. The best part aboutHyperFlex is that it operates on the CDM layer to integrate the VM-ware reports which need an extra 20% of the resources that the box or the production data needs. However, I would say that HyperFlex is more complicated to install than VxRail.

Overall, on a scale from one to ten, I would give this solution a rating of nine.

We use it for provisioning the applications for customers. There are no specific sets of installations for using the solutions. We meet the customers' needs through their requests. 

It is easily scalable, easy to manage, and has rapid provisioning. 

In the future, they could provide faster performance. 

VxRail has many components integrated into one solution. Instead of integrating many components, having a single component with VMware as a solution; this could be useful.

We have been using the solution for around three years now.

It is a stable product.

It is an easily scalable product. It is a perfect fit for use in small and medium businesses. For the larger enterprise, you can use it, but again it depends on the use case. If you have a specific use case that fuels for VxRail, definitely it can be used.

The technical support is good but could be better.

We have used other solutions in the past like Nutanix and SimpliVity but VxRail definitely has more advantages. Mainly it uses the VMware vSAN technology, and it is ever-evolving. It integrates with a large ecosystem of solutions. When you consider a large enterprise, these organizations require solutions that include security, scalability, and all the network components in place and integrated. VxRail is more capable of handling these complexities than any other product.

The setup is very simple.

We provided the deployment service and depending on if all the prerequisites are met, we can have it all completed in one day.

The price would be in the middle to the expensive range. It is not cheap. There are different licensing models as well which can meet the requirements of the customer.

I would recommend VxRail, it works for most of the use cases. 

It is good to understand you can't have 100% of all the applications installed. It's never possible with a product like this. At the end of the day, it's a good solution. Whenever there is a need for IT infrastructure requirements, you can definitely consider VxRail. 

If there are very specific requirements or things that are very specific to traditional infrastructure, they can go with that, or for intensive cloud-native applications, they can go with cloud. VxRail comes in the middle. It can extend to use all the applications but do have a proper study to get the right solution for you. 

I rate VxRail an eight out of ten.

VxRail simplifies IT infrastructure management by providing a single management console for compute, storage, and network. The second advantage is that VxRail offers a continuously validated architecture from the OEM. This means that Dell thoroughly tests all firmware updates before being released or installed on the product, helping to prevent compatibility issues. The third benefit is its ten-year roadmap. Dell consistently announces a roadmap for the product spanning the next decade.

VXRail enhances data center scalability through its CI-based architecture. It allows for node-based scalability, meaning up to sixty-four nodes can be added to a single cluster. This scalability feature enables customers to scale up as needed without downtime.

Apart from the single management console, one of the most valuable features I've found in VxRail is its continuously validated architecture backed by Dell. This means that all firmware and updates undergo testing in Dell labs. Unlike with standard Dell servers, where we update firmware independently, with VxRail, Dell provides compatibility information for each update, ensuring we never encounter compatibility issues.

Integrating the tool with other products is quite straightforward. It's open in terms of storage, allowing for easy integration of third-party external storage solutions at both the network and storage levels. Additionally, all third-party backup software is integratable with it. 

The product's automation lifecycle management is a good feature.

One challenge customers face with VxRail is the high cost of scalability. The price is higher if they want to add memory or capacity after purchasing the tool for three or five years. Each drive and RAM module is licensed separately, making the architecture costly. It would benefit Dell to review this licensing model and make it more cost-effective and flexible for customers.

I have been working with the product for four years. 

I rater the tool's stability a ten out of ten. 

I rate the tool's scalability a ten out of ten. 

The solution's technical support is good.

Positive

The tool's setup process for VxRail is easy. If you follow the deployment guidelines and best practices, it typically takes no more than an hour to complete.

We've evaluated products from various vendors, but none currently match VxRail's capabilities in the market. While HP offers a similar product, it doesn't measure up to it. Some unique features make the product stand out, and we haven't found any direct competitors that can be comparedIt's primarily designed for enterprise-level use and may not be suitable for smaller or medium-sized businesses due to its higher cost. Enterprises are the main purchasers of VxRail. However, if Dell aims to make it more cost-effective, it could expand its market to include small and medium-sized businesses.

I rate the overall solution an eight out of ten. 

For remote work, we use VMware Horizon, running on VxRail, and have centralized all applications and storage.

We can do updates at a much higher cycle with much less resources. We can monitor all the VDI desktops, and I don't have to physically maintain desktops.

What I like the most in terms of features is the fact that the VxRail update can be done in one week. It takes much less time to do a whole server upgrade and an infrastructure update as well.

The update for the graphics integration and the media drivers isn't included in the VxRail update.

We've been using it for the past three years.

It's very stable. We haven't had any downtime so far.

The technical support is good, and I would give it a nine out of ten.

Positive

We used a terminal server from Microsoft and switched because we had to renew the whole data center and wanted to use the latest technology.

We liked the integrated update, and the people behind Dell technologies made the difference.

The initial setup was straightforward. The process took around one day.

Our environment is in one location, and it's not a stretch cluster; it's a single cluster. We run about 190 virtual desktops and 200 virtual servers on it.

The solution does not require a lot of maintenance, and the system engineer takes care of that.

We wanted to roll out the VDI department by department. We used an integrator for the initial deployment, who was very competent. We also used one system engineer.

The pricing is very accurate, and we haven't had any problems with the licensing costs.

We evaluated HPE and Lenovo. 

I recommend testing the data applications first, which could really speed up the process of installing the golden images or setting up the initial golden image.

I rate this solution ten on a scale from one to ten.

Normally customers are looking to move to data centers that are modern. We have a request for upgrades from old storage and media to something new. We consolidate old solutions and simplify the way the client manages their data center. 

We have a customer, for example, that has a factory. Before they used the VxRail solution, tasks would take hours. With VxRail, a comport starts working in 30 minutes. It saves so much time. It's a competitive gain for the organization.

The solution allows a user to plan how they will be able to organize their data over the course of many months.

It's very easy to upgrade.

Simplifying network configurations is very easy.

The policies are very good.

The licensing needs to be improved upon.

For example, when we need to move your Oracle databases to VxRail solutions, we need to license the processor core and the solutions. This comes at a high cost to customers.

There needs to be better integrations with other products.

I've been working with a variety of Dell products for a while.

The stability is excellent. We don't have any issues with reliability. It doesn't crash or freeze. It's not buggy and we don't have to deal with glitches. We're happy with it.

We haven't had any issues with scalability so far. It should be pretty easy for a company to expand it out if they need to. We haven't received any feedback to make us assume otherwise. You can scale up on many things, including processors, discs, and nodes.

We don't sell to many large companies. typically we deal with small and medium-sized organizations.

Their technical support on offer is better than other products on the market.

As resellers, we don't just deal with Dell. We also resell products from HP, Nutanix, and Lenovo, for example.

The initial setup is not too complex. It's pretty straightforward, in fact. 

In terms of deployment, it typically takes less than a week, in some cases. Of course, it depends of the customers, however, in many cases it takes about a week.

The solution is pretty reasonably priced. It's not too expensive, and often less than the competition.

We're a reseller of the product.

We work with different versions including CEs, PCEs, FCEs.  What we use depends on the customer's needs. In most cases, we have sold VxRail to clients as it is cheaper than other options on the market and it's also a good way to consolidate support to one vendor.

I'd advise that those considering the solution make sure they size everything appropriately. 

We've been quite pleased with the product. On a scale from one to ten, I'd give it a perfect ten.

In medium-sized installations, many of our customers require a reasonably-priced solution to replace legacy computer storage. Those are the customers who we are suggesting using the  VxRail solution to. If the customer is building a data center using VMware, we are recommending VxRail because of the VMware compatibility.  

Medium set-ups can be used in a large enterprise but only when they need this solution as a smaller part of their environment. It works well for small setups or medium setups, or for new application setups.  

Most of the products of this type have features that are almost the same. We are using VxRail especially because we would like to have products that are compatible with VMware and Dell to support our prospective client base.  

The configuration of HCI (Hyper-Convergence Infrastructure) solutions is very easy compared to the legacy solutions. Legacy systems run the computer and the storage separately and use switches to get the connectivity. That is much more complicated. It is completely the opposite when using generic HCI technology. The implementation is very simple and so is the operation.  

The only thing about the HCI solution is that troubleshooting is a little bit difficult because it is still a new technology. Other than this it is simpler than the traditional technology. HCI is nice and it makes sense. I think there is a need to improve the solution because it is difficult to troubleshoot. But compared to legacy solutions, you are troubleshooting one that is a little bit difficult instead of troubleshooting two different products that might each be a little easier. In the end, the difference as far as troubleshooting is not much but the advantages are still there on the HCI side and technology upgrade.  

The other thing I would like to see improved is not really a feature. It is about scalability. It would be good to increase the limit of the number of nodes within the clusters.  

I had experience before 2018, but I have been using it for this past year.  

Even compared to Cisco, I think VxRail is a very stable solution. It is in the same class as Cisco.  

VxRail is easy to scale, but the number of nodes is limited. This is not the same with other solutions like Nutanix. VxRail has a limit for a certain number of nodes within the cluster and if you need more than that then you have to create another cluster. It is an issue but at the same time, it is not an issue. It is kind of just a configuration difference.  

I do not have any direct contact with technical support because I am not doing the product delivery. If the technicians have some issues, they have to make the contact. I have not heard anything bad or good about the support. That suggests it is good.  

The initial setup was simple. The amount of time it takes depends on the number of nodes you have.  

It does require some maintenance over time. For maintenance, you have to request that through your supplier or even through the implementation team. It will be totally different depending on the kind of activity and the issue, but it should not be disruptive for the most part. The only exception is in critical applications. These may be critical but it is simple to restore the network connectivity or storage availability.  

My advice about cost and setup is that it is just as cheap to have the HCI solution as to stay with legacy solutions. If you convert the value of HCI versus the traditional, legacy solution you gain more than you spend. It comes out to an even trade as far as budget.  

Compared to other HCI products, VxRail has advantages in stability and support from the vendors. If you bought Cisco, for example, you have to open an account with Cisco for the hardware and open an account with VMware for the software separately. With VxRail this is not what happens. You opened the account with them and they will manage all the communication and the services. That ends up being more stable. Getting your support from one company is better than having to get support from different companies when dealing with an issue shared between products and trying to sort that out.  

I recommend VxRail as a solution especially for those using legacy services. We often recommend VxRail over other competitors. The only exception really is if the customer does not want Dell computing resources. For example, the client may have another vendor they tend to use. So if everything they have is HP they may like to have an HP solution. If they are using Cisco, they may want a Cisco solution. Those are the only times that we will not go with suggesting VXRail.  

On a scale from one to ten where one is the worst and ten is the best, I would rate the VXRail solution as an eight-out-of-ten.  

VxRail is allowing us to solve a problem that we've had for quite a while, as far as having distributed computing, networking, and storage. VxRail has a combined HCI environment. As a result, all of our resources are together, and life cycle management helps us with sustainability in deploying and managing the environment.

It helps us to consolidate a lot of our legacy, storage, and other computing environments.

What I find very valuable is VxRail's life cycle management. The life cycle management takes care of everything from firmware to the actual upgrading of the hypervisor and keeps everything up to level.

They need to keep upgrading the environment and improving automation so that the solution keeps getting better and better.

I've been using VxRail for about eight months now.

VxRail's support is excellent. I would give them a nine out of ten.

Positive

Our previous environment consisted of HP, Dell, and VxBlock. We switched because HCI is our new environment/ecosystem. There are a lot of supportability improvements, and it is much easier to manage with VxRail.

The more difficult part of it was the planning. The actual deployment was not as difficult.

The deployment didn't take more than a month from doing the actual planning to having it shipped, brought inside, and then brought online.

VxRail is deployed to data centers and globally as well.

The maintenance is sustained within supportability, so it has to be updated whenever leases come out.

We used Dell ProDeploy and had a combination of engineering and facilities staff for the deployment process.

As far as our consolidation ratios are concerned, we have seen a return on investment.

Pricing is competitive.

Definitely look into VxRail. Plan for your needs and utilize the services from ProDeploy.

On a scale from one to ten, I would rate VxRail at nine.