Item: Azure NetApp Files
Rating: 7
Author: Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We have been using on-prem Netapp storages for many years now, and from the latest years we have started a movement (as most companies) to migrate workloads to Cloud. We currently have the challenge to growth our filers workloads (CIFS/NFS) on the Cloud and avoid expanding storages on-prem.
We also, as an Engineering company, have some requirements to store huge amounts of analysis data for long periods (15+ years) and Cloud seems to be the most cost-effective solution.
Azure Netapp Files sounded like a reliable/robust solution to run our workloads and to store these huge amounts of data on Azure, reducing the costs (when compared to on-prem workloads) while keeping confident/comfortable with Netapp robustness for production data.
We're currently running a couple of CIFS shares on Azure Netapp Files and evaluating it, planning to expand its usage.

Pros and Cons

Highly scalable, as many 'Cloud ready' solutions
Easy to implement, with only a few clicks
Performance, we were positivelly surprised by its performance
Deep integration with Azure products, like scripting/CLI/Shell
High availability, reaching the 'four nines' if correctly implemented

Backup/files versioning still needs to be improved
Netapp/Storage administrators may need some time to adapt managing it through Azure Portal interface, it can be really confusing sometimes
Reporting/data intelligence solutions would be a great addition

Return on Investment

Immediate return, as we implemented it to not expand our on-prem storage

Alternatives Considered

Azure Blob Storage, NetApp FAS series and Komprise

We tried the same with Azure File Share (Azure Storage Account), but it has a really small limit (5TB per share).
It didnt fulfilled our requirements, as we have some on-prem shares with 60+TB each, still to be migrated.
We have also evaluated a different approach, which is Komprise archiving solution, to archive older files to Azure BLOBS and free up some space on the on-prem storages to accomodate new data.

Key Insights

Do you think Azure NetApp Files delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Azure NetApp Files's feature set?

Yes

Did Azure NetApp Files live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Azure NetApp Files go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Azure NetApp Files again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Commvault HyperScale, Veeam Backup & Replication, Komprise, NetApp FAS series, Nutanix AOS, VMware ESXi, vCenter Operations Manager, Microsoft Azure, VMware vCenter Server, Veritas Enterprise Vault, Zabbix, Varonis Data Security Platform, Oracle VM Server, ManageEngine Password Manager Pro, CyberArk Privileged Account Security, Citrix Virtual Apps (formerly XenApp), Citrix Gateway (formerly NetScaler Unified Gateway), Citrix ADC (formerly NetScaler ADC)

Likelihood to Recommend

In my opinion, I would say it is more suitable to huge workloads, where you really needs the reliability and performance that a Netapp storage provides to you, larger share sizes, etc. Use cases where you really needs to store large amounts of non-structured data.
It is not a cheap solution, I mean, you can find other options to store your data on the Cloud at smaller prices. So, for small companies, or companies that depends mostly on web-applications, or don't have such a specific requirements, I would not go with Azure Netapp Files.

Reliable and robust solution, suitable to very specific use cases

Overall Satisfaction with Azure NetApp Files