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Dell SC Series / Compellent (discontinued)

Dell SC Series / Compellent (discontinued)

Overview

What is Dell SC Series / Compellent (discontinued)?

Since it's acquisition in 2011 Compellent became a Dell product line of storage solutions (e.g. Dell Compellent Storage Center). Compellent products became part of the Dell EMC SC Series of enterprise flash and SAN storage devices and are now EOL.

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Recent Reviews

TrustRadius Insights

Compellent, a part of the Dell EMC SC Series, is widely used as a tier one storage solution for various systems such as SQL databases and …
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Product Details

What is Dell SC Series / Compellent (discontinued)?

Since it's acquisition in 2011 Compellent became a Dell product line of storage solutions (e.g. Dell Compellent Storage Center). Compellent products became part of the Dell EMC SC Series of enterprise flash and SAN storage devices and are now EOL and replaced by the PowerStore array.

Dell SC Series / Compellent (discontinued) Technical Details

Operating SystemsUnspecified
Mobile ApplicationNo

Frequently Asked Questions

Since it's acquisition in 2011 Compellent became a Dell product line of storage solutions (e.g. Dell Compellent Storage Center). Compellent products became part of the Dell EMC SC Series of enterprise flash and SAN storage devices and are now EOL.

Reviewers rate Simplicity and Power Savings highest, with a score of 9.

The most common users of Dell SC Series / Compellent (discontinued) are from Enterprises (1,001+ employees).
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Comparisons

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Reviews and Ratings

(31)

Community Insights

TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content? Let us know!

Compellent, a part of the Dell EMC SC Series, is widely used as a tier one storage solution for various systems such as SQL databases and other business applications that require fast and reliable storage. Users have reported significant improvements in input/output operations per second for critical data by leveraging the flexibility to set RAID levels based on data access frequency. This has resulted in enhanced performance and responsiveness for these important systems.

One of the key use cases of Compellent is its ability to simplify and streamline data storage management. The storage center allows users to effortlessly move data between different storage tiers, optimizing resource utilization while ensuring high availability. This not only cuts down on time and cost associated with managing storage but also provides robust data protection against potential downtime and disasters.

Another valuable use case of Compellent is its capability to consolidate various data storage solutions onto a single platform, making it easier for administrators to manage their storage infrastructure. This consolidation brings efficiency and convenience by centralizing control and simplifying data management tasks. Moreover, this product caters to the demand for mixed media usage by efficiently supporting both virtualized environments and physical servers, offering fast and responsive servers with high I/O responsiveness.

Overall, Compellent has been lauded by users for providing a cost-effective solution that maximizes the utility of purchased storage resources. It offers a range of functionalities that address the diverse needs of organizations, resulting in improved performance, simplified management, and enhanced data protection.

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-5 of 5)
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Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
[Dell EMC SC Series (Compellent)] allows us to manage data at a higher level. We utilize it to manage storage easily and move data between storage tiers. In deployment situations, this program has been used to protect data against any downtown and disaster. The storage center helps us cut the time and the cost/risk of managing the storage.
  • Decreases time management
  • Easy to manage
  • Meets all business needs
  • Works poorly when there are massive issues such as snapshots
  • Modification of multiple volumes or the creation of them
  • Assistance with high I/O times where snapshots are consolidating
All in all this series great in addressing issues applications that need flash storage as a backend storage supply. It addresses the need for fast, responsive servers that need to boot quickly. It is easy to use and for the most part there are few issues and none that can't be addressed/fixed quickly.
Enterprise Flash Array Storage (6)
83.33333333333334%
8.3
Flash Array Performance
80%
8.0
Flash Array Integration
80%
8.0
Data Compression
80%
8.0
Non-Intrusive Upgrades
80%
8.0
Simplicity
90%
9.0
Power Savings
90%
9.0
  • Platform independence meaning we are able to scale up and out without downtime
  • Migration occurs automatically at a set time defined by the user; saving time
  • Granular approach optimizes tiering
I have used Dell EMC Unity XT and I will say that the SC Series is better in the areas of the scalability is excellent. If I need more space, it's a no downtime solution. It's harder to get the funding than it is to get the solution itself. In addition, I like the way it integrates with our environment. These features help us use multiple soft applications. They give us an advantage versus traditional storage resources.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We primarily use Dell ENC SC Series (Compellent) for our mixed media usage for virtual servers and physical servers, as well. This is being used across the organization, and it primarily addresses issues applications that need flash storage as a backend storage supply. It addresses the needs for fast, responsive servers that need to be able to boot quickly and has high I/O responsiveness.
  • Dell EMC SC Series (Compellent) does work well most of the time, but when there are massive i/o issues such as snapshot consolidation, it seems to function poorly.
  • Dell EMC SC Series (Compellent) is an easy to use array. Simple to configure volumes, add servers, and adjust policies.
  • The updates seem to be easily resolvable, with very little to no issues coming from any problematic update paths.
  • The GUI could be a little more updated with a lot more information regarding usage.
  • There could be some assistance with high I/O times where snapshots go to consolidate. There seems to be issues when that attempts to occur, and there will times where the virtual machine stuns due to the I/O intensity.
  • Modification of multiple volumes or the creation of multiple volumes is a pain in the DSM management console.
This type of array works excellent in small environments that don't have high I/O usage servers. Once the servers start to become more and more high intensity I/O, you can begin to tell that this array cannot handle the spikes. This mainly can cause issues when doing snapshot-based backups, and the I/O is high when the consolidation occurs. We have seen this happen a good amount with the SC9000 but not the Vmax array.
Enterprise Flash Array Storage (6)
76.66666666666667%
7.7
Flash Array Performance
70%
7.0
Flash Array Integration
80%
8.0
Data Compression
80%
8.0
Non-Intrusive Upgrades
90%
9.0
Simplicity
70%
7.0
Power Savings
70%
7.0
  • This storage array is a middle-range array that brings speed with peace of mind due to the stability.
  • The uptime has helped us with making sure the hosts and servers that connect to this array have as much uptime as possible.
  • The negative still has to be that these arrays can't seem to handle quick/high I/O usage.
I have to say that the Pure Storage FlashArray is way simpler to configure, monitor, and update. There are various features that the Pure Storage FlashArray offers, such as viewing your virtual infrastructure to see if the issues lie with your storage or VM's that Dell EMC SC Series (Compellent) does not have. The update path is even more straightforward with Pure Storage FlashArray as well and is entirely handled by their support team. I would recommend the Pure Storage FlashArray over the Dell ENC SC Series (Compellent) array.
This is not solely based on the support engineers themselves but more so that the logging and gotcha's that their array has. There have been multiple times where logs are pulled, but the folder is not large enough, and it crashes the array. Other times there are certain aspects that support either does not know of or isn't knowledgable about how to look at particular issues that could be causing problems.
Jeff Stockamp | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 2 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We used Compellent for vmware storage for clusters used by our development group. It was used by 100+ developers.
  • Very competitively priced
  • No need to manage individual RAID groups
  • Honestly I can only come up with 2 good things.
  • Reliability. We had several times where VMFS luns would become corrupted and we'd have to move all VM's off to other storage
  • Performance. 1g iSCSI performance was abysmal (although the unit we used was an older device)
  • Management and Monitoring. Both management and monitoring are pretty primitive. We were never able to integrate monitoring into Nagios.
Most appropriate where cost is primary driver. Least appropriate when performance and reliability are critical.
  • Because cost was minimal it was able to achieve ROI.
We selected Compellent solely based on price. Honestly I would rate it only slightly better than a QNAP we used (which was even cheaper). If performance and reliability are factors in your decision (and they should be) I would recommend looking at something like a VNXe.
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Our organization was merging technical teams and assets and we faced a need to consolidate our data storage solution onto a single platform for ease of management. We had storage arrays from EMC and Hitachi presently but both were aging and we needed a cost-effective solution that would provide ROI in terms of letting us get the most usefulness out of our purchased storage.
  • Dell Compellent support (Co-Pilot) and the add-on service (Optimize) are critical services that Dell Compellent does very well. Alerts from the array are sent to Co-Pilot where tickets are automatically generated and customers are notified of events. Of greater importance at times is the proactive support Co-Pilot and Optimize provide by contacting us of inefficiencies in the array and consulting on resolutions.
  • Enterprise Manager (Dell's "single pane of glass" management framework) is a useful tool for configuration/evaluation of the array and other Compellent products.
  • Ease of management. From firmware upgrades to managing server volumes the process is much simpler than with other arrays.
  • The Dell Compellent model is migrating away from the WebGUI in future controller firmware versions and is focusing solely on their Enterprise Manger product (soon to be Dell Storage Manager) for managing all of their products (arrays and NAS devices). I personally like to have multiple vectors of access, or have the option to enable these if needed. Since the Enterprise Manager product relies on a separate in-house server, this presents a unique single point of failure in the event of an outage unless other highly available precautions are taken.
  • Since this review concerns Compellent as a whole, I would like to mention the Compellent NAS solution: FS8600. This is a product that I believe was acquired and customized into the FluidFS architecture as an after-thought. We have a 4-node FS cluster and have not been satisfied with the product's ability to handle SMB connections (very low for an "enterprise" product like this). We feel as if we are in a constant state of debugging the software for whatever current release we find ourselves in. Firmware upgrades have not been an issue, however Compellent support is not equipped to handle calls from FS8600 users as there is generally much shuffling and transferring of the call (it seems as if there are a limited number of qualified technicians to service this product).
  • The add-on service "Optimize" is a great resource for Compellent knowledge and proactive notifications and Co-Pilot support is great for any issues that arise. The only issue with these services is that, with the way the system is engineered, the services are almost mandatory as without them you would have no way of knowing how inefficient your RAID stripping was at any given time and even if you did there would be no way for you to fix it. As a customer you have the Enterprise Manager product and a set of Powershell cmdlets at your disposal, but the complete suite of support tools only resides with support, therefore you are required to not only purchase support (which should be done regardless), but if you have a large array and a very busy environment it is a good idea to purchase the Optimize service as well. They are a benefit to the customer, but they are because they have been designed that way as quid pro quo back to Dell.
Dell Compellent has a decent portfolio of products for varying sizes of business. Their licensing model is suited for those not wanting total a la carte fare, and administration is intuitive as compared to other storage arrays. This combined with Co-Pilot support gives Dell a good presence in a vast number of scenarios where networked storage is required over a DAS solution. It's only fallback is its own NAS solution, which itself may be better suited to smaller environments.
  • The ease of management has allowed our entire team to take advantage of storage tasks that may have only once been relegated to a dedicated storage administrator. This allows for segregation of duties for a better security posture and faster deployment of storage to projects.
  • We have had several "work stoppage" events from software bugs encountered from the FS8600. In one case having to implement daily workarounds via separate devices to keep the cluster running properly for almost a year until the developers put the proper version "fix" into place. These issues have never been related to the underlying Compellent storage array connections and have always been seated in the NAS firmware itself. The organizational impact of these events has been extremely negative.
Previous products used have been EMC & Hitachi arrays and NAS products. Dell Compellent is outstanding in its storage array operation and support. It's user interface is much more intuitive and use of RAID technologies appears to "get the most" out of the storage purchased. They only seem to falter on their NAS services where other vendors have had a much longer presence and have devices much more stable.
Justin Stumpf | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Compellent as our tier one storage for all of our systems. What really sold us on Compellent vs. the other vendors was their approach to block level storage that at the time was unique. Their ability to set RAID levels based on how often that particular block of data is accessed tremendously increases IOPS for data that is most in need. We store all of our SQL databases on our main array, as well as any other business systems that require the fastest storage. I would highly recommend anyone looking for an enterprise class SAN to consider Compellent. Their feature set, support, and pricing model is top notch in my book.
  • Block level RAID with data tiered based on how often those blocks are read or written.
  • You can mix and match different ways of accessing the SAN, FC or ISCSI.
  • They offer the ability to mix and match drive speeds and sizes within racks. This provides for larger, slower drives to store old data, while providing fast SSD storage for data that is constantly in use.
  • I would like to see better options for data replication between sites.
Compellent fits very well in the mid-sized business market. I wouldn't call it a system that would do well with a company the size of Google or Apple. The cost, features, and speed is what makes Compellent a perfect fit for any business that needs a quality SAN that can scale as needed.
  • Switching to Compellent more than doubled the database performance of our main business application.
We initially used EqualLogic, however we found the Compellent to scale better, do more, and cost nearly the same. Their approach to storage technology was very innovative and seemed to be the most comprehensive. We needed a SAN that was enterprise class in technology, but at the price of something smaller.
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