Isilon Scale-Out NAS
March 23, 2018

Isilon Scale-Out NAS

Kevin Blackburn | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with EMC Isilon Scale-Out NAS

We use Isilon NAS accross our entire organization. It houses multiple data types, from user file share and home directories to PACS images and archives.
  • Isilon NAS scales up well and node replacement is easy. You can replace a node by simply adding a new node and evacuating the node that you want to retire.
  • If the file system layout is designed and executed properly it is an excellent SMB platform with the flexibility to adjust to different share structures. Make sure to take the time to fully understand the AD integration and best practices for share and NTFS permissions management.
  • Node redundancy allows for most upgrades to be installed and applied with rolling node reboots allowing the file systems to stay available throughout the process of applying updates.
  • Native replication is excellent. Jobs complete quickly and we rarely have any replication issues with our Isilon to Isilon replication.
  • 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.
  • We are currently researching other vendors for our Medical imaging archives due to issues with space utilization efficiency on Isilon.
We are currently evaluating these against our Isilon. No decision made yet.
EMC Isilon is well suited for user data and data analytics. It's not very well suited for medical images on certain VNAs. Isilon native blocksize is very inefficient for storing this type of data and can cause an inefficient use of your capacity.