FreeNAS vs. HPE MSA

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
FreeNAS
Score 6.8 out of 10
N/A
FreeNAS is an open source operating system that allows nearly any hardware serve as a network-attached storage device. It was developed by iXsystems.N/A
HPE MSA
Score 9.3 out of 10
N/A
HPE MSA (modular smart array), formerly HP StorageWorks MSA, is a series of storage appliances, from Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, a product line built for a modest budget, available as the HPE MSA 2052 hybrid flash array, the HPE MSA 2500 SAN storage appliance, and the MSA 1050 SAN storage.N/A
Pricing
FreeNASHPE MSA
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
FreeNASHPE MSA
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Best Alternatives
FreeNASHPE MSA
Small Businesses
DiskStation
DiskStation
Score 8.8 out of 10

No answers on this topic

Medium-sized Companies
Dell Unity XT Unified Storage
Dell Unity XT Unified Storage
Score 9.9 out of 10
Dell Compellent (discontinued)
Dell Compellent (discontinued)
Score 9.1 out of 10
Enterprises
Dell Unity XT Unified Storage
Dell Unity XT Unified Storage
Score 9.9 out of 10
Dell Compellent (discontinued)
Dell Compellent (discontinued)
Score 9.1 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
FreeNASHPE MSA
Likelihood to Recommend
9.0
(7 ratings)
9.0
(3 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
8.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
FreeNASHPE MSA
Likelihood to Recommend
iXsystems
FreeNAS is well suited for most storage serving scenarios, whether it be for an office file server, backup destinations, data replication across the internet, or as backend storage for virtual machines. It can serve various types of clients via a plethora of standard protocols and can easily integrate with existing infrastructure using LDAP authentication and so on. It's pretty simple to use (it helps to have at least a basic understanding of the underlying technologies) and almost maintenance-free. One scenario that springs to mind that it may not be appropriate for (yet) is as S3 storage. However, S3 functionality was added in a recent release and may have improved greatly since then. I'm sure it will eventually work very well for this.
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Hewlett Packard Enterprise
The HPE MSA is best suited for basic SAN requirements. Having dual controllers provides redundancy and allows for firmware upgrades without incurring downtime to the environment. It provides enough IOPS for most workloads be it VMWare or servers requiring storage. For applications such as MS SQL or Exchange, other SAN solutions would be better. Plus the lack of storage snapshot capabilities is also a detriment to the product line. Lack of any reporting capability is also an issue especially when determining workload capabilities.
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Pros
iXsystems
  • The FreeNAS web interface is modern looking. It makes tasks like provisioning drives into raid volumes easy.
  • The ZFS raid option allows you to add in an SSD as a cache drive to increase performance.
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Hewlett Packard Enterprise
  • Functions well as a disaster recovery cluster repository
  • Since the space is a spinning disk, it is inexpensive
  • All of our VMs are stored in a mass storage repository on the system, but we could carve out specific LUNs if needed.
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Cons
iXsystems
  • Not good for beginners as it requires deep understanding of networking and storage.
  • Most of the good and required features are not available in free version.
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Hewlett Packard Enterprise
  • Firmware upgrades. We have had major issues on two occasions, causing extended downtime. HP was quick to help and resolve, but I am not sure why our simple implementation caused an issue that should have been picked up by testing prior to release. Once was bad, twice painful. The end result is that we purchased a unit solely to test firmware upgrades on, not really great for us!
  • Support life span. Units go end of life support after around 4 years, a little too short for us.
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Likelihood to Renew
iXsystems
No answers on this topic
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
It is a functioning Replication system for us and checks all the boxes that the auditors are looking for. Further, it is inexpensive and the storage we purchased was cheap. HP has a good reputation in the industry that plays into the decision also.
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Support Rating
iXsystems
There were some things that can be found by other users on forums and Google and some things that were not.
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Hewlett Packard Enterprise
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
iXsystems
FreeNAS effectively uses all resources really well and it is highly recommended for in premises NAS. It has unlimited ROI as it is really free and open-source. The only payment we need to pay is when we need any support from those guys. FreeNAS helps us to effectively do our work with the legacy systems as it manages all the components really well. FreeNAS although rebranded to TrueNAS will still be there until our legacy systems run.
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Hewlett Packard Enterprise
The dual controller configuration of the HPE MSA trumps the Synology DiskStation's single controller configuration. For that alone, I would select the HPE MSA. Without that setup, any controller issue or firmware upgrade is disruptive to the systems the SAN is providing storage to. Furthermore, HPE's support is better than what Synology currently provides. The lack of phone support on Synology's part slows down the troubleshooting of issues compared to HPE. Furthermore, HPE's engineers are able to do a remote session and can work on the problems directly compared to Synology's support.
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Return on Investment
iXsystems
  • Low-Cost Network Attached Storage
  • Provides additional network storage to support client & business operations
  • FreeNAS secures our data using custom encryption keys
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Hewlett Packard Enterprise
  • Increased up time. Better user experience.
  • Good value for money. ROI high.
  • Peace of mind. Just knowing that you rely on the solution to meet storage performance needs is great.
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