Flash storage with an outdated management console
Updated December 13, 2019

Flash storage with an outdated management console

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

Overall Satisfaction with Dell EMC SC Series (Compellent)

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 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.

Do you think Dell SC Series / Compellent (discontinued) delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Dell SC Series / Compellent (discontinued)'s feature set?

No

Did Dell SC Series / Compellent (discontinued) live up to sales and marketing promises?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of Dell SC Series / Compellent (discontinued) go as expected?

I wasn't involved with the implementation phase

Would you buy Dell SC Series / Compellent (discontinued) again?

No

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.

Dell SC Series / Compellent (discontinued) Feature Ratings

Flash Array Performance
7
Flash Array Integration
8
Data Compression
8
Non-Intrusive Upgrades
9
Simplicity
7
Power Savings
7