We performed a comparison between Dell PowerFlex and HPE SimpliVity based on real PeerSpot user reviews.
Find out in this report how the two HCI solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI."In addition to the main functions of the software, I want to note the excellent work of technical support."
"The virtual tapes can be uploaded to the object storage of your choice with object locking/governance which gives you an extra layer of protection."
"Their support staff is comprised of true experts who can also communicate clearly."
"The ProActive support gives me peace of mind because I am a one man shop, but with the technical support behind me, I feel like more than just one person. We spent two to three hours, depending on what we have to do, always on the phone, and they do not push to end the call."
"Virtual SAN runs on iSCSI, which is free and easy to configure. It's easy to manage from StarWind's GUI console, and it only required a few extra switch ports."
"It's very easy to resize disks and they show up in VMware almost instantly."
"I save both physical and virtual space."
"The install itself is easy as pie."
"Dell PowerFlex is a one-stop-shop solution. Storage, compute, network, application monitoring, and support cases are all combined into one solution. It's very easy to administer compared to when you have a reference architecture where you need to design and build everything yourself. You would also then have to work with multiple vendors."
"The solution is quite stable."
"Saves us a lot of space in the data center."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is integration."
"The solution is scalable."
"It is easy to use for management and operations teams because the tools are in one place."
"The most valuable feature is the overall integration and just seeing the three different layers which make up the machine software. Altogether, it's something that I would say is much better than any other solution that I have experienced before."
"Perfectly suits customers dealing with the combination of future storage needs and, at the same time, keeping up their computing power."
"I have found backup and replication to be useful. We have a 10 megabit line between the data center and our main site. The backup and replication are very good. Additionally, the solution runs on VMware which is a benefit."
"The storage efficiency is valuable."
"The solution has eliminated the need for overprovisioning. It is designed to take advantage of deduplication strategies, which means we don't have to have as much disk in the system to do the job that we used to have to do."
"Software upgrades and scalability can be done during normal business hours with no downtime."
"It's very simple to manage. It has reduced the footprint in the datacenters quite a lot."
"As a point for optimization on our infrastructure, it works great for us."
"The built-in backup and quick restore are good features."
"No SAN switches and having a native backup is pretty cool."
"It should be improved in the way it detects the right filesystem image after a complete shutdown of the system or in the case of disaster recovery."
"I'd prefer it if a remote console was provided."
"The cluster configuration is time-consuming and tedious."
"We would like to see the documentation more fully developed."
"I think the setup could be streamlined a bit."
"A central management console may be nice to see all nodes."
"Sometimes documentation on their site can be out of date."
"I did not see any indication that StarWinds vSAN is a usable solution with non-GUI instances of Hyper-V."
"We've had some issues around the licensing."
"The solution must be more flexible."
"Including instrumentation would be a helpful improvement."
"The biggest issue with the solution is that it doesn't support Hyper V. It's a big problem."
"I would like to see a more user-friendly interface."
"It would be great to get earlier access to beta builds because we have to develop providers on our own. The APIs and enablers for custom automation could also be improved."
"The solution needs to offer more documentation and educational materials."
"I think there might be some room for improvement when it comes to pricing, because although I know how to convert customers, at the end of day, it's quite expensive. Sometimes your feature architecture is still coming out much cheaper than hardware costs for your infrastructure."
"Upgrading can be complicated."
"A lot of our customers are using VMware and also are using Hyper-V. Hyper-V is not very stable on the HP SimpliVity."
"I wish to see an improved compute node selection, to allow us to select something other than merely the two socket system."
"The compatibility with other products needs an improvement."
"SimpliVity's data management could be better. Nutanix's interface is a bit more user-friendly."
"In terms of what I would define as a perfect solution, I am looking for one that is easy to manage, has a real user-friendly interface, and something that is not too complex."
"They can bring more awareness about this product. In this part of the world or this region, people normally don't know about SimpliVity and its capabilities. The company we have it sold to hasn't been able to fully utilize all the features or understand the features. So, product awareness should be improved."
"I would like them to add more connection capability, a hub and spoke model, to improve the number of connections that it can handle."
Dell PowerFlex is ranked 8th in HCI with 19 reviews while HPE SimpliVity is ranked 5th in HCI with 151 reviews. Dell PowerFlex is rated 8.2, while HPE SimpliVity is rated 8.6. The top reviewer of Dell PowerFlex writes "Infrastructure management solution that offers rapid provisioning of computer storage but the APIs and enablers for custom automation could be improved". On the other hand, the top reviewer of HPE SimpliVity writes "Provides a unified management interface that allows administrators to manage all aspects of the infrastructure". Dell PowerFlex is most compared with VxRail, VMware vSAN, Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI), HPE Alletra dHCI and HPE Hyper Converged, whereas HPE SimpliVity is most compared with VxRail, VMware vSAN, Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI), HPE Alletra dHCI and Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series. See our Dell PowerFlex vs. HPE SimpliVity report.
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