NetApp is a great all-in-one storage appliance
April 06, 2020

NetApp is a great all-in-one storage appliance

Steve Davis | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with NetApp ONTAP System Manager

We use NetApp as our primary file system for our Windows shares / mapped drives, as well as for NFS storage for our virtualization environment. We have multiple filers across various sites. We utilize several features including snapshot and snapmirror. It is used across our whole organization at multiple locations.
  • Offsite replication is seamless.
  • Snapshots are easy to implement.
  • System Manager is easy to learn and manage the entire system.
  • System Manager is feature rich.
  • More details on network interfaces are available in CLI. Would like to see similar visibility on the GUI.
  • Deleting volumes that have been snapmirrored have to be released at the snapmirror destination first. Would be nice to have that feature at the source where you are deleting the volume.
  • When creating a volume in the GUI it adds to the default junction point. Would be nice to choose the junction point as you were creating the volume (this is a feature available in the CLI).
  • Ease of use allows for training engineers/technicians on it's use. It's not a complicated system to learn
  • The ability to consolidate file servers and SANs into a single appliance minimizes cost and complexity of a storage environment.
  • Great system monitoring and auto generation of tickets helps manage and warranty the system. For example, drives go bad, a ticket auto generates and they ship out the drive right away.
For me, this system has negated the need for a file server so I have been able to remove any Windows servers that were used exclusively for file storage / shares. It reduces the complexity and additional layers needed to get to my files. It has more features and capabilities than the Dell Equallogics I have used in the past. This is my first time having an all in one storage appliance and I prefer it now over previous storage methods.

Do you think NetApp ONTAP Data Management Software delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with NetApp ONTAP Data Management Software's feature set?

Yes

Did NetApp ONTAP Data Management Software live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of NetApp ONTAP Data Management Software go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy NetApp ONTAP Data Management Software again?

Yes

ONTAP System Manager is feature rich and all inclusive. It can work with multiple storage protocols and for various functionalities. It will replace your File Servers and your SAN and put them into one storage appliance. NFS, iSCSI, Fibre Channel, NVMe are all options. Snapshots and Offsite replication (Snapmirror) are all great. I can't think of a scenario where a NetApp wouldn't be a good fit.

NetApp ONTAP System Manager Support

Support is great. Our account managers and system engineers regularly contact us and check in on us. Provide free training on various topics. Our team is readily available to answer any questions. Support tickets are generated automatically if anything goes wrong such as a disk going bad and a new one is sent out immediately. Very happy with support.