Pure reliability, pure simplicity, Pure Storage
Updated December 02, 2020
Pure reliability, pure simplicity, Pure Storage
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Pure Storage FlashArray
Our Pure M10 array supports a corporate vSphere environment, and is the primary storage for approximately 50 virtual machines. The workloads vary from file shares to SQL databases.
- Management is dead simple. Spinning up a new datastore is simple and straightforward.
- Data compression and deduplication are amazing. We're seeing 5-7:1 compression ratios without a performance hit.
- The Evergreen model Pure uses make updates/upgrades easy to do, and requires no downtime.
- Since data reduction is used to achieve more storage than is represented by the raw numbers, I'd like to see this figure more prominently in the user interface. Sometimes it's hard to know if you're making a good choice when you're used to dealing with legacy storage numbers.
- Risk of downtime or performance degradation is significantly reduced, and we no longer worry about failed disks because there are none.
- I/O intensive applications (such as Splunk) benefit from the insane IOPS provided by the hardware. What previously required a dedicated physical server can now be effectively virtualized.
The feature set at the given price point was unbeatable. From a performance perspective, NetApp and Nimble were comparable, but with having a first-hand case study in the form of a trusted colleague who vouched for the reliability and performance, the decision to go with Pure Storage was easy to make.
Pure Storage FlashArray Feature Ratings
Simplicity
Evaluating Pure Storage FlashArray and Competitors
Yes - Our first (of two) Pure arrays replaced an aging VNX/Clariion array with spinning disks. The array had reach end-of-support and could not be put in a front-line usage scenario as it also had disks starting to fail randomly. Sizing the new array was the most challenging aspect, and that's only because we had to estimate the actual raw storage that would be required due to inline deduplication and compression. IOPs are no longer a concern; VMware environment supported by this array doesn't come close to taxing this piece of hardware, which greatly simplifies our expansion plans.
- Price
- Product Reputation
- Vendor Reputation
- Third-party Reviews
Prior to purchase, I had only reputation and reviews upon which to base my decision. Promises are easy to make, delivery on those promises is the hard part. We needed reliability and ease of management in a 24/7 environment. When a former colleague told me that they had migrated to Pure storage for all of their clinicals (in healthcare) and eliminated two storage management positions, I was sold. Having previously worked in healthcare, the fact that they trusted their clinicals to this platform AND were able to reduce management overhead, any doubts I had were put to rest.
I would have liked to have had some additional time with the software interfaces of competing products, and possibly a hardware trial as well. Nimble was a strong contender and the key to their offering is the analytics provided by the management tools. The analytics are a soft metric that are hard to realize without using them for a period of time, but we were unable to provide that time for testing due to budget process constraints. I would have liked additional time for testing backup methodology and mirroring as well, but again budget process realities made that impossible.
Pure Storage FlashArray Support
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Quick Resolution Good followup Knowledgeable team Problems get solved Kept well informed No escalation required Immediate help available Support understands my problem Support cares about my success Quick Initial Response | None |
Yes - With an enterprise-level product, it only makes sense to keep a current support contract. If nothing else doing so ensures timely software/firmware updates. Pure takes premium support to the next level and provides seamless upgrades with best-in-class support. I've never had to ask for an escalation. With controlled remote access to the array, I have rarely even had to provide additional information. The support team has always had my back.
I'll refer again to the initial support experience: timely communication, a zero-interruption upgrade, and very little time required on my behalf. Other than the diligence of ensuring I had current backups of the production environment, I almost felt guilty that I didn't have to do more to complete the software upgrade on a running array in production. Another premiere solution that we used at the time, HPE 3PAR, was resistant to upgrading a production array and only did so after we acknowledged the risk several times. I really can't stress how awesome the Pure support team is: polite, efficient, and knowledgeable - every single time. It's the golden trifecta in my opinion.