Dell VRTX Recommendations

[tkutil]

Is anyone running vmware on the Dell VRTX? I'm looking for a affordable solution for a small environment (15-20 vms). I'm interested in the VRTX since it looks like it will do what I need it to, however I'm looking for a better explanation on the shared storage aspect of it.

Just wondering if anyone is using it and if you're satisfied enough to recommend.

TIA

Troy

[Alex_Romeo]

Hi,

yes, I installed it at a customer. If you have a small environment where you don't expect overgrowth and don't have to do VDI, I'd say it's perfect. I have virtualized 24 Server there.

With which configuration do you want to buy it?

I have also had experience on VXRail, but the price is higher and for larger environments (hyper convergence). VRTX is a system balde (maximum 4 blades) that share an archive. Perfect for small businesses ..

ARomeo

[IRIX201110141]

I sold a dozen of VRTX to my customers. Most of them just 2 Blades and half of them with just 1 CPU.   Only one was 1Gbit based system and all others use the 10Gbit cards and the internal 10G switch. I like the nPAR feature so that ESXi see 4 smaller nics instead of a single 10G port.

The storage is quite simple. I acts like a standard Dell PERC and you create vDisks as normal. As an addidional you specify which blade gets access to the Volume and its allowed to specify multible access which means that 2,3,4 servers can use the same vDisk and so ESXi will see a Shared Storage.

The first units doesnt support Dual PERC8 and as Dual PERC8 comes available you cant enable Write Caching on the vDisks(Volumes)... this was fixed a year later.

Regards,

Joerg

[blazilla]

I sold a couple of them and they are perfect for RoBo deployments where you need small clusters (two nodes with shared storage). Can't say any bad about them.