Cisco Storage Area Networking vs. HPE 3PAR StoreServ

The best scenario where we found the Cisco Storage Area Networking is best suited is for an architecture where we need a robust technology that provides high level SLAs regarding downtime due to maintenance activities. Our infrastructure provides the core to our Data analytics team, which provides the data needed for our commercial and management leaders to make the right decisions thanks to the data. We need our infrastructure to be robust and reliable, when it runs smoothly, we can focus on other aspects of IT Infrastructure areas, giving our inside business clients the service they need.

Incentivized

HPE 3PAR StoreServ is a great storage device for both file and block-level storage needs. You can use it in place of SAN devices required by database servers. It provides an amazing compaction ratio and, hence, reduces overall storage footprint and cost. This is, however, slightly costly if your environment doesn't really see high transactions most of the time.

Incentivized

• Zoning
• High MTBF
• Buffer Credits

Incentivized

• We are using HP 3PAR storeServ 8200 for both our file level and block level storage.
• I really love the amazing compaction ratio provided by HP 3PAR. Some of our disks have compaction ratio above 25:1, which is super amazing. You can definitely look for around 75% reduction of storage footprints.
• It has a great user friendly web console "SSMC"(StoreServ Management Console). This is an additional bonus and can be used by even non-storage people like DBA and Network to take a look at storage performance.

Incentivized

• Licensing
• Lack of GUI

Incentivized

• The system requires a physical or virtual system to manage upgrades and patches and for call home features. Most other systems have this integrated into the array. Just another piece of infrastructure to manage.
• There are some system jobs that come pre-scheduled in the initial setup, but there is at least 1 job that should be added to this by default. When you delete storage, you also need to run a job to compact the CPG (a group where the luns all reside) to reclaim the previously used storage as free. This should be done by default at least monthly in the background.
• There are 2 different GUI front ends that can still be used. The older version (3 PAR management console) is being phased out (has been for 3 years).

Incentivized

We are very satisfied with 3PAR performance and especially the IOPS (Input Output Per Second) is pretty amazing. It is easy to configure and doesn't require much knowledge of storage for Tier 1 support team.

Incentivized

My rating of Cisco Storage Area Networking is a solid 10 regarding low-latency network is due to the high needs our data analysis teams need on their tasks. They have a lot of batch jobs that last quite some time and that also overlaps in a series of periods during the day. Their batch jobs need to run flawlessly, so our commercial teams can make the right decisions right on time. Our data also needs to be backed, up, when we run backup jobs, it is important that they do not decrease the efficiency regarding the service. This is also a key point in our choice to use Cisco Storage Area Networking as our backbone.

Incentivized

With their phone home technology, we usually have a replacement part on its way by the time we wake up in the morning, or if the event occurs overnight. We have had great support when we had questions or events that required a call.

Incentivized

We looked at the Brocade G series and IBM SAN switches, but the seamless integration into our AAA suite and availability of skills in our local market were big factors. We also have these deployed in FlexPod and VxBlock environments, which the reference architectures provide additional confidence in the solutions overall compatibility, supportability and sustainability.

Incentivized

We still use NetApp storage enclosures at each plant for our routine file shares (CIFS) but I would love to swap them out for the HPE 3PARs as we use for our ERP app data. The 3PARS are simply faster and much better at near-instant replication. But even more importantly we can get the reporting that we need from the 3PAR within a few minutes, even custom reports. 3PARs are much easier to manage than NetApps in general and I think that the only place that they compete is in compaction.

Incentivized

We have not reviewed this product's overall security vs others but have not noticed any issues.

Incentivized

• Enhanced reliability and minimized downtime.
• Ensuring continuous data availability.
• New business model that change CAPEX into OPEX with an evergreen equipment maintenance.

Incentivized

• We grew unexpectedly, which forced us to buy a lot of expensive HP SSD's.
• We have never had any performance issues with this storage.