HPE MSA vs. NetApp FAS Storage Arrays

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
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
NetApp FAS Storage Arrays
Score 8.5 out of 10
N/A
NetApp's FAS series systems offers a storage array system for enterprises.N/A
Pricing
HPE MSANetApp FAS Storage Arrays
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
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Offerings
Pricing Offerings
HPE MSANetApp FAS Storage Arrays
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
Community Pulse
HPE MSANetApp FAS Storage Arrays
Considered Both Products
HPE MSA

No answer on this topic

NetApp FAS Storage Arrays
Chose NetApp FAS Storage Arrays
We had chosen NetApp FAS series because of its high performance, deduplication, manageability, and backup features. Although I have been able to use these NetApp FAS series features, the implementation of them has not worked as well as with other storage providers. There was …
Top Pros
Top Cons
Best Alternatives
HPE MSANetApp FAS Storage Arrays
Small Businesses

No answers on this topic

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Medium-sized Companies
Dell SC Series / Compellent (discontinued)
Dell SC Series / Compellent (discontinued)
Score 9.1 out of 10

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Enterprises
Dell SC Series / Compellent (discontinued)
Dell SC Series / Compellent (discontinued)
Score 9.1 out of 10
NetApp AFF A-Series
NetApp AFF A-Series
Score 9.6 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
HPE MSANetApp FAS Storage Arrays
Likelihood to Recommend
9.0
(3 ratings)
8.7
(13 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
-
(0 ratings)
9.9
(3 ratings)
User Testimonials
HPE MSANetApp FAS Storage Arrays
Likelihood to Recommend
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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NetApp
It is very easy to use with NFS. Creating new volumes and mounting to servers such as ESXi or Linux is a breeze. It does also support CIFS but it is far less intuitive and requires much more effort. Replicated data is also very simple and robust in the form of SnapVaults or SnapMirrors. This data is either immediately or periodically replicated to a peer FAS in the cluster for retention.
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Pros
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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NetApp
  • The selling point for NetApp FAS is the application and data protection integration capabilities they provide.
  • We have been able to use NetApp FAS in a variety of use cases with a standard set of management tools.
  • NetApp FAS has evolved over the years from just NAS to also include block protocols. At this time they support almost all industry standard protocols.
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Cons
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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NetApp
  • Deduplication job runs at certain times and creates a large CPU overhead for the system
  • Management of a volumes, disk groups, LUNs, etc. is a burden to manage and is not efficient with storage capacity
  • Upgrades are complicated and not "non-disruptive"
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Likelihood to Renew
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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NetApp
No answers on this topic
Usability
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
No answers on this topic
NetApp
It does have a really nice and easy to use web interface to do pretty much anything you need with it. It was very simple to configure our volumes and luns and connect them to our VMWare environment using the interface. It has options to rename, shrink, grow, and other things with our luns and volumes. It was nice and easy to read graphs to see where you stand on your storage usage at a glance.
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Support Rating
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
No answers on this topic
NetApp
NetApp support in Brazil is managed by its partners. We know in other countries, such as the US and NO, they have support directly from Netapp. We have a very good NetApp partner working with us since the beginning, on both the implementation and daily support. Very few cases needed to be escalated to NetApp support, most of the cases are handled and satisfyingly closed by the partner.
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Alternatives Considered
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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NetApp
NetApp stacked nicely and gave enterprise-level usability for snapshot-based backups. Our previous RPO was several hours. It was selected prior to me arriving at the company, but It was selected for the hardware refreshes due to its compatibility with several other vendors, like CommVault and VMware.
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Return on Investment
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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NetApp
  • The speed of file recovery is the biggest positive impact. Recovering from a ransomware attack in minutes is something you can certainly brag about.
  • Integration with products like Exchange and SQL can certainly speed up normal day to day processes. Not just in backup recovery situations either.
  • Redundant paths make migrations and updates very easy with no downtime.
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