IBM Storage FlashSystem rocks
Updated December 01, 2025

IBM Storage FlashSystem rocks

Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Modules Used

  • IBM Flashsystem 5000
  • IBM Flashsystem 5100
  • IBM Flashsystem 7200
  • IBM Flashsystem 9100
  • IBM Flashsystem 900
  • IBM Flashsystem 9200

Overall Satisfaction with IBM Storage FlashSystem

I am a consultant for IBM Power and IBM i. The IBM Storage FlashSystem is a great addition to IBM Power Systems in terms of performance and reliability. Customers who want more redundancy and high availability value IBM Storage FlashSystem. Whether it is just a small customer without any huge SAN configuration or a big customer with four or more IBM Storage FlashSystem in a cluster - the scaling is awesome. One can grow with it and this is why IBM Storage FlashSystems are suitable for almost every use case.

Pros

  • Management
  • Security features (like SGC)
  • Competitive pricing
  • Software support

Cons

  • A real replacement for HyperSwap (active/active-cluster)
  • IBM Storage FlashSystems have increased uptime since we introduced a cluster of two systems
  • In a cluster, seamless software updates are possible without interruption
The awesome web GUI.
We can switch running partitions from one host to another without interruption and it integrates seamlessly with Power systems. Support is built into the operating systems, no matter which we are using (VIOS, IBM i, AIX).
We can also benefit from the Safeguarded copy and flash copy feature in terms of security.

Do you think IBM Storage FlashSystem delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with IBM Storage FlashSystem's feature set?

Yes

Did IBM Storage FlashSystem live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of IBM Storage FlashSystem go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy IBM Storage FlashSystem again?

Yes

Especially in terms of pricing, IBM Storage FlashSystem is positioned very well. The customer can get a lot for his money. All important features are included into Spectrum Virtualize and they do not charge extra for it. I also like the support you get - they even supply an installation poster to help setting it up. Cluster configurations are simple to set up and work reliable no matter of the distance between locations. The IP quorum can even be set up in the cloud since it is just based off Java and does not consume much resources.

IBM Storage FlashSystem Feature Ratings

Enterprise Flash Array Storage
9.3
Flash Array Performance
10
Flash Array Integration
10
Data Compression
7
Non-Intrusive Upgrades
10
Simplicity
9
Power Savings
10

Using IBM Storage FlashSystem

3000 - I just go for the average user count above. They all are indirect users of IBM FlashSystem because the customer's LPARs are running on it. If this questions aims to administrative use, there are about seven to ten people on average per IT department. They mostly use the GUI to add new LUNs or hosts and check the general status of the system. Most of the time they do not need to login since the data is pulled into a monitoring system and processed there.
2 - There are two types: one is calling us (me) as a service provider for administrative purposes and they do not spend any time working on the system itself. The other group is using the web GUI regularly or the CLI with automation tasks. But either way, it's always an administrator or at least someone fromt he IT department. Most of their work are basic tasks and they do not need to be an expert in storage.
  • Provide fast storage
  • Provide high availability
  • Perfect interoperability with IBM Power Systems
  • Usage of exclusive functions like FlashCopy or SGC
  • We integrate the CLI into automation systems like Ansible which allows us to create LUNs and hosts totally unattended. Now we can spin up a new LPAR fully automated which saves a lot of time and money.
  • We might look more into the anti-ransomware features
The system fulfils all our needs and those of our customers. They are fast and reliable and in case of an issue you get a world-class support assistance from IBM. Pricing is also very competitive!

Using IBM Storage FlashSystem

ProsCons
Like to use
Relatively simple
Easy to use
Well integrated
Consistent
Convenient
Feel confident using
Lots to learn
  • the initial setup process
  • creating LUNs
  • using FlashCopy
  • None, but the translation is incredibly bad sometimes. My guess is that they just pushed the english strings through the translator without considering the context. This is misleading at some places (or just funny)

Upgrading IBM Storage FlashSystem

Yes - Yes, first we did a code upgrade to a new version and then we performed the migration to new hardware. Everything went well and as expected (given the fact that all of these tasks are carefully prepared)
  • They wanted to save on maintance costs
  • They wanted more storage and faster drives
  • Performance
  • Reliable clustering for HA

Comments

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