HPE MSA vs. HPE StoreOnce

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.

If you are looking for a backup infrastructure which is efficient and compatible for both file system and block level backup, then HPE StoreOnce is a great choice. It's easy to configure and easy to manage. We didn't have to hire a separate storage expert to set up StoreOnce for us. The HPE team helped our system admins and it was a easy to configure.

• 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.

• We really like the deduplication feature of HPE StoreOnce. It helps reduce storage footprint by 1:3 to 1:10 depending on type of files being stored.
• It's easy to manage files on HPE StoreOnce servers using command line options.
• We use Veeam Backup Server software to manage our backups on HPE StoreOnce.

• 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.

• Could be more user-friendly when deploying.
• Cost is as friendly as Pure Storage Array.
• HPE does well support this technology.

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.

It just works and the support contract we have is good enough for the company needs

It is quite efficient and easy to administer. You don't really get into trouble with HPE StoreOnce often.

We had couple of incidents so far and HPE support team was very proactive through the process until the incident was closed satisfactorily.

It was pretty smooth, at least smother that a Dell EMC Unity we set it up last week

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.

HPE StoreOnce is a great value for money.

• 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.

• While not completely eliminating tape, it has relegated the use of tape to monthly and annual backups for compliance. It has reduced the recurring expense of tape media.
• It has increased the length of the retention period because of its efficiency in storing backups.
• The online backup repositories are now replicated to the secondary datacenter, a capability not possible with tapes.