Dell SC Series Initial Setup

Whitney Gray - PeerSpot reviewer
Storage Architect at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees

It's gotten better over the years. Initially, back in '08, it was very complex. Nowadays, it's a lot more simple and easier to deploy depending on which model you purchase, too. Some models are easier to deploy than others. I would say, for the most part, it's pretty simple.

View full review »
Jan Cipra - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Consultant at Gapp System

There is no complexity in the setup. It's very straightforward. A company shouldn't have any issues with the setup process.

View full review »
DW
Solutions Consultant at BlueAlly Technology Solutions

I'm a certified SC Storage Engineer and when our company sells the SC Series, I will go out and install it. I've been doing it for a long time so I can do a lot of the stuff with my eyes closed now.

It's not something that an end-user is going to pull out of the box and set up. You have to some knowledge of the SAS chaining, how it works with the Compellent, and how you load the software and how to set it up. It does have a pretty easy GUI on the setup. It's not command-line-based like some other stuff. The SAS chaining is the hardest part to understand.

View full review »
Buyer's Guide
Dell SC Series vs. Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform
March 2024
Find out what your peers are saying about Dell SC Series vs. Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform and other solutions. Updated: March 2024.
765,234 professionals have used our research since 2012.
JK
Managing Director at Insunginfo

The setup is easy comparatively and I would rate it seven out of ten.I engaged in researching vendor reports and comparing outputs with other options. I also attend vendor seminars to gather knowledge. So, while I'm responsible for the necessary preparation leading up to deployment, I'm not directly engaged in the deployment process itself.

View full review »
ML
Senior Solutions Engineer at a computer software company with 11-50 employees

The 3000 Series are user-installable but, as a certified installer, I have found that customers, if they're not used to the interface, like to come in and have a tutorial to see the interface and how it's done. Anything in 5000 Series and above requires a certified installer. You want to make sure that you get your networking and zoning set up properly; and to get a walk-through on setting up the environment and for getting used to it.

It does not have a steep learning curve. Especially in the SMB, the front-end is not hard. You set up the Storage Manager, it gives you the dashboard and tells you when you're over-provisioned, and shows performance and the like.

View full review »
RA
Sr. Systems Administrator Manager at a manufacturing company with 5,001-10,000 employees

The initial setup was very easy to do. Straightforward.

View full review »
Evans Chitando - PeerSpot reviewer
Chief Business Technology Consultant at ITech Associates (Pty) Ltd

Deploy SC series storage is pretty straightforward. If you've worked with other storage technologies, it's easy to adapt to SC's requirements. I rate it eight out of 10 for ease of setup. You can deploy it in a day. We are currently using two people to deploy it: a lead and a support engineer.

View full review »
KS
Infrastructure Business Lead

From an acquisition perspective, it was very straightforward. From an implementation perspective, we had a little difficulty because it was a newer technology. From our admin perspective, it was not something that they were equipped with, so initially we had hiccups. However, I believe that this is fair for every new technology. 

The automation part wasn't there, so we had hoped that we could automate it back in when we were acquiring it. We felt that this would've made our life easier, but we only came to realize this when we migrated our workloads from SC to the newer generation of PowerStore—it provided all the automation and everything that was missing on day one from an SC Series. 

If I were to rate the initial setup on a scale from one to five, I'd put it at a four, from a technology perspective. From an internal perspective, I would rate us a three, but the shortcomings were on our end, in terms of internal skill building. The DSM, Dell Storage Manager, really came in handy, but we didn't know how to best leverage it. 

View full review »
BJ
Managing Director at Consult BenJ Ltd

The initial setup is fairly straightforward. It's not complex by any means.

The time it takes to deploy the solution depends on how big it is. It's difficult to say exactly how long it will take as each company is different. At the most, it might take three days, however, it depends on where it is and what has to be set up. Right from out of the box users can start putting data on the storage. 

View full review »
GehadSaid - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Presales Solutions Engineer at Metra Group

The initial setup was complex, specifically when integrating this solution with other technology. The deployment was easier and offered flexibility. Before deployment, I would suggest checking other technology to ensure there is compatibility. 

View full review »
DW
Network Admin at Jefferson County Washington

I was involved in the initial setup and it was straightforward.

View full review »
JM
IT Director - Enterprise Storage and Data Protection at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

The initial setup is very straightforward. It's simple and lower models are customer installable. 

View full review »
DN
Storage Team Leader at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees

In terms of the initial setup, we did two. We did the software-only and we also did the hardware. Software-only was pretty straightforward. With hardware, the challenge we had was that we're pretty siloed in our environment so we had to get networking involved. It was the complexity of the network which was difficult, to make sure we had the performance in the environment.

View full review »
GR
Senior Systems Engineer at a non-profit with 501-1,000 employees

I engineered the solution, architected it with their support. We have also upgraded several times.

View full review »
DM
Senior Systems Consultant at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

My understanding from our engineers is that the initial setup is on the complex side. There are things that are not intuitive that make it a little more complex.

View full review »
BQ
Senior Consultant at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Compellent's setup is straightforward.

View full review »
YM
IT Manager at a pharma/biotech company with 5,001-10,000 employees

The initial setup was straightforward. Everything was done by the engineers on site. Very little was required of IT during the setup. So it was pretty easy for us.

View full review »
it_user86838 - PeerSpot reviewer
Implementation Unit at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

No issues. The installation and configuration is very simple.

View full review »
TN
Information Technology Operations Manager at Weber Metals

I inherited this solution when I joined the company. In terms of setting it up, we add this SAN into a VMware cluster. The initial setup is unnecessarily complex, and much more so than a solution like HPE Nimble.

View full review »
GP
Technical Director at Allot Group

The initial setup is straightforward. It is complex but straightforward. It takes approximately 45 minutes to configure.

View full review »
TG
IT Architect at Synoptek

The initial setup was very straightforward.

View full review »
KP
Director of Technology with 501-1,000 employees

I think that overall the setup was pretty complex. It is not something you just set up in a heartbeat. You need to do some configuration so it takes a little bit longer than just push a button to install.

View full review »
AO
System Architect at a computer software company with 51-200 employees

I haven't been involved in the usage or installation of the device.

View full review »
RW
Senior IT Infrastructure Manager at a consultancy with 1,001-5,000 employees

I wouldn't say the setup was straightforward. It was complex, but it was manageable at the same time.

View full review »
AP
Data Center Supervisor with 501-1,000 employees

I worked with a VAR on the initial setup of the product. It was very straightforward, very easy to bring it online.

View full review »
it_user735222 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Manager

Initially, it can be difficult since you need to understand the tiering philosophy. It is very different to normal SAN deployments, but once you understand them, they are very straightforward.

View full review »
MR
COO at a computer software company with 11-50 employees

The initial setup was rather straightforward. Deployment took about a month for the  5000, and the SC 3000 took about a week.

View full review »
JS
Infrastructure Engineer at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees

The only thing that made the setup difficult were the layers of project management. I know they're going through some changes as Dell and EMC merge, but they really need to take a strong look at how project managers are deployed and what their level of knowledge is. More often than not, I'm having to run those calls.

View full review »
RD
Virtualization Manager at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees

The setup was straightforward. We used Dell EMC Professional Services, and they came in. A company like ours is pretty big, so we use the vendors to come in and install things because we don't want to mess them up. They gave us the development documents, etc., so we're really happy.

View full review »
MH
Virtualization Team Leader at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees

The setup was pretty good. We got the support people, Professional Services people, to come in and install it. It was fine.

View full review »
DH
System Administrator at Reuter GmbH

The initial setup was pretty straightforward, though I was not involved. A co-worker did it.

View full review »
MN
Director at a tech company with 11-50 employees

Any IT company can do it. It's straightforward.

View full review »
Evans Chitando - PeerSpot reviewer
Chief Business Technology Consultant at ITech Associates (Pty) Ltd

The setup and installation are much simpler now because Dell has standardized the configure process. 

View full review »
JM
Automation at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees

The initial setup was straightforward.

View full review »
SY
Technical Manager at a manufacturing company with 11-50 employees

The installation could be easier. The comparable IBM solution is much easier to install.

The process for the installation takes approximately one day.

View full review »
VP
EMC Storage & Backup Implementation Specialist at a tech vendor with 1-10 employees

The setup was straightforward. I implement it for my customers. It can be deployed within an hour. 

You only need one person for the deployment. One person is more than enough. There's no dedicated team required.

View full review »
it_user888912 - PeerSpot reviewer
Pre-Sales Architect at a tech services company with 1-10 employees

The initial setup was straightforward, it took one day to deploy it.

The deployment model is for all cloud types.

View full review »
JN
System Engineer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

The initial setup is okay.

View full review »
Buyer's Guide
Dell SC Series vs. Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform
March 2024
Find out what your peers are saying about Dell SC Series vs. Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform and other solutions. Updated: March 2024.
765,234 professionals have used our research since 2012.