Dell Technologies presents Dell PowerScale (replacing EMC Isilon) as a scale-out NAS solution and server technology that provides the flexibility of a software-defined architecture with accelerated hardware innovations to harness the value of data.
Isilon Systems was acquired by EMC in 2010; some EMC Isilon NAS appliances are still available and supported under the PowerScale brand.
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Rubrik
Score 8.3 out of 10
Mid-Size Companies (51-1,000 employees)
Rubrik is cloud data management and enterprise backup software provided by Palo Alto-based Rubrik, Inc. It is a software platform that provides backup, instant recovery, archival, search, analytics, compliance, and copy data management in one secure fabric across data centers and clouds.
We looked at Cohesity and it could've been a contender had we not already gotten in bed with Rubrik. They seemed to have the same answers to our old problems as Rubrik with a simple platform. While nice, they were not providing anything extra or even close to make us consider …
EMC Isilon Scale-Out NAS is well suited for larger files (greater the 128 Kb) and where you need to have everything in one common name space. Where it is less appropriate is for many small files (millions of files less than 128 Kb in size) - this causes the protection level to becoming mirroring, which will cost more space.
Rubrik is still a relatively new product when compared to other solutions which tackle total data protection. The feature set is quite broad but still needs some refinements. Most of the User Interface is quite straightforward and easy, but some areas are a bit lacking in a description of what the option is used for, or the option is missing. While making the user experience easy, many tunables aren’t present and require a Support Tunnel to be open for a Support person to make a change in the customer’s environment. Seems the first question Support always asks is if you can open a tunnel for them to remote in. Then you’re not able to monitor exactly what they’re doing.
Some upgrades require the entire cluster to be rebooted simultaneously. In this day and age, that should not be necessary. This is my biggest disappointment with Isilon to date.
When using multiple storage pools you have to be very careful with your capacity management. Filling up one pool can cause an overflow of data to a pool that is less performance driven. Do not underestimate your capacities or you will find yourself in a tight spot.
Block size is almost always an issue with Isilon. It does not handle all types of data well. In many cases PACS and VNA data is best to be stored on a different storage platform that will utilize the capacity more efficiently that Isilon is capable of.
Deduplication seems to be less efficient on Isilon than on other platforms for similar types of data.
Automated test restores. I would love to setup automated and random test restores on a regular basis where Rubrik's system will restore a random file or directory to a test SharePoint folder, send a full report, and provide a path to the folder for review and confirmation.
The support has been incredible. Any time we have had a question, it has always been answered within 24hrs. Also, the team is always will to hop on a Zoom call to help walk us through the dashboard and troubleshoot any issues we are having. Also, having the peace of mind that our data is protected should anything happen in our system.
The support is top notch both tech and sales team, the tools are simple to use and yet still is feature rich. Security is top of the list, the product is sold and reliable, easy to configure and intuitive to use.
Rubrik's brik is designed with redundancy in mind, ensuring that if one node experiences issues, others can continue to provide backup and recovery services.
Rubrik support has been pretty good. There have been a few issues with new releases we have experienced and are still considering if we want to make the jump to version nine. There are a few things we are concerned about which are giving us pause. That being said, support is working hard to answer our questions.
Easy to follow and very thorough. Trainer was knowledgeable and helpful answering any questions and providing detailed answers where possible. It's also nice to gain another badge :) There is also the Rubrik University online tutorials to refer back to and keep updated with new innovations. I would say the exam was very hard.
From experience the implementation was smooth and easy, like a simple plug and play format but would need coordination from your network team to be able to see the entire IT infrastructure.
Raw disk space vs. logical disk space ratio was significantly better on the Isilon. Fast cache using SSD drives for faster searching is available on the Isilon but not available on the Overland solution. Isilon solution included faster backend switching between nodes.
Having all our backups under one umbrella made product management easier, with not need to manage myltip contracts.
The additional analysis of the data after the fact gave insights into our user data, without the need for an addition product, or the impact on live data sets.
We are fine with the 1 year or 3 year support options that Rubrik has had. The support for the on-prem hardware has been great too. We've had them for quite a while (4+ years) and no end of support yet.