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NetApp FAS Storage Arrays

NetApp FAS Storage Arrays

Overview

What is NetApp FAS Storage Arrays?

NetApp's FAS series systems offers a storage array system for enterprises.

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Recent Reviews

TrustRadius Insights

The NetApp FAS8300 has been widely embraced for its ability to support large-scale storage requirements across various systems and data …
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Product Details

What is NetApp FAS Storage Arrays?

NetApp FAS Storage Arrays Video

Trusted Data Protection with NetApp All Flash FAS (AFF)

NetApp FAS Storage Arrays Technical Details

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Frequently Asked Questions

NetApp's FAS series systems offers a storage array system for enterprises.

Reviewers rate Support Rating highest, with a score of 9.9.

The most common users of NetApp FAS Storage Arrays are from Enterprises (1,001+ employees).
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Comparisons

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Reviews and Ratings

(52)

Community Insights

TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content? Let us know!

The NetApp FAS8300 has been widely embraced for its ability to support large-scale storage requirements across various systems and data centers. Users have praised its snappy performance and impressive power, making it a valuable asset for organizations with demanding workloads. With innovative features like flash cache and deduplication, the FAS8300 stands out as top-tier storage that delivers exceptional speed and efficiency. Additionally, the FAS8300 has been leveraged as a reliable solution for NFS-connected storage in VMware environments with multiple hosts and hundreds of guest operating systems.

NetApp's FAS series devices, including the FAS2200 and FAS3210 models, have found their place in diverse use cases. These devices have successfully housed entire virtual server networks, offering ample speed and bandwidth to run multiple servers simultaneously. They have also served as CIFS servers, replacing traditional Windows servers to enhance security protocols. Furthermore, NetApp FAS controllers have served as primary storage for critical system data at operational sites while also providing primary storage for VMware-based storage at multiple locations.

One notable use case in Brazil showcases the exceptional reliability and availability of NetApp FAS. Thousands of users have accessed over 700TB of user data without any incidents over the past seven years. This highlights the robustness of NetApp's NAS workloads in delivering high availability and resiliency. The flexibility of the FAS series is further demonstrated by its ability to function as both a SAN and CIFS file system, effectively replacing outdated and undersized storage arrays.

Overall, the NetApp FAS series has proven itself as a versatile solution for various IT infrastructure challenges. It facilitates seamless IT growth, simplifies backup and restore processes, and enables users to store databases and replicate data across different environments. Its role as a NAS device extends beyond file services to include support for FC and iSCSI protocols. With strong operating systems and reliable customer support, the NetApp FAS series remains a popular choice for organizations seeking robust and scalable storage solutions.

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-6 of 6)
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Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
It has a robust operating system and the support is also very good. Replication and block-level snapshot backup is a very good option to mirror the data in other environments and for disaster recovery. The backup and restore process is much easier with the FAS series. We are mainly using it for storing our DB and to replicate the data to different environments.
  • Backup and restore
  • I/O Performance
  • Support
  • I would like to see the GUI to be improved bit more
  • Cost is something I would like to get reduced even though it's not possible :-)
  • Integration with active directory
We are using Netapp for years and I've been very happy with NetApp's performance and the hardware has been extremely reliable. One of the things I like most is the support and it's very responsive and knowledgeable when we need them. The only downside is the price and it's something pulling us back when we thought of implementing it in more business areas.
Chris Saenz | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 5 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I've used several NetApp FAS series devices in different organizations to handle large storage requirements for various systems or entire data centers. It has been used as top-tier storage with innovative enterprise features like flash cache and deduplication. I've also used many of its backup features that are touted as a big part of the NetApp software.
  • Clustered storage
  • Multiple connectivity options (Fibre Channel, iSCSI, CIFS/SMB, etc.)
  • Options for mapping volumes to different connectivity types
  • 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"
The NetApp FAS series has the features to be an enterprise-class storage system, however, at this point they do not perform as well as other storage systems. Management of the system is very involved and requires a lot of oversight. Having to divide up the disks into groups and volumes and LUNs or shares is a nightmare to manage in a large environment. Deduplication is another feature that is great in theory, but the CPU overhead to run the deduplication job is ridiculous. Having to decide between saving space and just having enough CPU to serve IO requests is not a user-friendly choice to have to make.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
NetApp FAS controllers are being used to store critical system data for operational sites. They provide the primary storage platform for VMware-based storage at a number of locations. Applications running on NetApp FAS controllers range from infrastructure-based services (VMware, Monitoring, Anti-Virus) and application servers. Deployments range from standalone FAS to MetroCluster deployments.
  • Unstructured data
  • Lifecycling of hardware (C-DOT)
  • Metro level high-availability (MetroCluster)
  • MyASUP integration
  • 7-mode's licensing model was more favorable.
  • Some CLI commands are too cumbersome without automation, driving users to the GUI.
  • Physical cabling can be daunting for new users or DC facilities.
NetApp FAS is well suited to environments running VMware with an IP-based fabric. Whilst I have used FC storage fabrics, other storage arrays manage FC better than NetApp. So if you have a requirement for a large number of RDM's in VMware or WSFC disks, another product might suit you better. NetApp FAS also excels in environments with Linux-based deployments that require the consumption of NFS-based volumes.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
NetApp has been defined as a Global standard for NAS (CIFS, NFS) workloads in our company, so it is being actively used in several of our sites across the globe. The largest sites using it are the USA, Brazil and Norway.
One of the main reasons for it to be selected as the standard for NAS workloads is the resiliency and high availability it provides. In Brazil, we have ~5000 users accessing more than 700TB of user data (CIFS shares) on a daily basis. We didn't have a single availability incident in the last 7 years!
  • NAS Workloads (CIFS, NFS)
  • Snapshot retention/management
  • Disaster Recovery protection (SnapMirror and SnapVault)
  • Storage efficiency (compress, deduplication)
  • The workload balance between the nodes is managed manually
In my opinion, NAS workloads and data protection are two of the strongest points that Netapp has. It sounds a kind of obvious as they created the NAS concept. A NetApp FAS cluster suits very well for scenarios/companies where the unstructured data (users CIFS shares) are one of the most important workloads. This is our scenario in many of our sites and this is why it was selected to be our standard solution. It also handles SAN workloads very well, but maybe you`d rather go with an HCI solution for block workloads.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
NetApp FAS is being used in our environment as our SAN and CIFS file system. This system replaced an old (and undersized) storage array. This system is now used for a number of things including a complete disaster recovery plan and backup system. One important part of this was to speed up backup recovery times. NetApp software makes this possible.
  • Backups are a piece of cake with Snapshot technology.
  • Disaster recovery plans are made much easier with SnapMirroring to remote locations.
  • The support is incredible. Auto Support makes it incredibly easy. The Auto Support website also gives you a great view of your NetApp deployment.
  • Redundant paths make updating and maintenance much easier with no downtime.
  • System Manager is missing some commands and therefore you have to rely on CLI. This is not a problem for most admins but it has room for improvement.
  • Cabling diagrams for redundant path can be confusing.
  • When we had one of the older models in place our drives would spontaneously pop out of place due to old plastic clips. We have not had the same issue again with a newer NetApp model.
NetApp FAS systems are extremely scalable and therefore, in my opinion, they can have a place in any environment. The built-in software has some great use cases including recovery and mitigation of ransomware attacks. The speed of backups and restoration is incredible. The ability to restore a single file out of millions is also incredibly handy.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
It is being used for the IT department or across the whole organization. It solves our IT Infrastructure growth issue. We are a small NetApp customer that uses mostly features such as Snapmirror and SnapStore primary of NetApp product portfolio. We have approximately 2 NetApp FAS in use today ranging from DR configurations all the way to small corporate data center installations. We are a long term customer with over 5 years of experience with NetApp in production and development at our company.

  • Replication
  • Recovery
  • Storage Provisioning
  • Documentation
  • User Interface
It is ideal for large organizations that have a variety of different business scenarios and locations from small to large. It is flexible and can grow.
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