Pure Storage FlashArray.. Its time to get on board
Updated March 23, 2021
Pure Storage FlashArray.. Its time to get on board

Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Pure Storage FlashArray
It has consistently provided sub one second response times for all of our applications. Pure Storage is being used as the primary storage for our virtualization platforms supporting the entire company.
Pros
- Speed and response time.
- Ease of management and Powershell support.
- Replication, Pure Snap independence and offloading are very useful.
Cons
- Add better support for file protocols to directly access the array.
- It was massively cheaper than the old guard, EMC, HP, IBM. And has performed as well if not better than their much more expensive products.
- IBM XIV, HPE EVA P6000 (Discontinued), HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage, Dell EMC VMAX All Flash Storage, IBM FlashSystem and XtremIO Flash Storage
It's faster and more affordable.
Pure Storage FlashArray Feature Ratings
Upgrading Pure Storage FlashArray
Yes - No downtime. No issues. You login to Pure1 Portal, select Support > Schedule Array Upgrade. Then select the array you wish to upgrade, the code level you want to upgrade to, and select a date/time that Pure Support Team has open to perform the upgrade. From there you open the Remote Assistance connection to Pure Support and an engineer will pre-check the array and send an email for sign off to proceed at the scheduled date/time. Then at the date/time scheduled, they will remotely connect and upgrade the array as planned. It's seamless, I have upgrades multiple arrays, multiple times each and never had a single issue. Not even an attached host dropping path's and not re-establishing (hosts are all ESXi and AIX).
- Security Improvements
- Purity Enhancements - File Protocol Addition
- Continuous Replication Technology and Unified Block and File Capabilities.
Simplicity
Using Pure Storage FlashArray
All of the applications for the entire company runs on FlashArray; We have multiple FlashArrays across various datacenters.
1 - I am able to support multiple FlashArray storage array's by myself with very little effort and time investment. It is an easy to use management system. Purity is always evolving and makes life easy.
- VDI
- High Performance Virtualization
- Ease of Snapshots
- Ability to offload standalone snapshots to cheaper storage
- They recently introduced file protocol access to the FlashArray; So some potential NAS replacement opportunities now exist.
Do you think Pure Storage FlashArray delivers good value for the price?
Yes
Are you happy with Pure Storage FlashArray's feature set?
Yes
Did Pure Storage FlashArray live up to sales and marketing promises?
Yes
Did implementation of Pure Storage FlashArray go as expected?
Yes
Would you buy Pure Storage FlashArray again?
Yes
Evaluating Pure Storage FlashArray and Competitors
Yes - EMC ExtremIO - Support renewal costs were outrageously high.
- Price
- Product Features
- Product Usability
- Product Reputation
Price and usability. Pre-Sales experience was also impressive. They were able to let us test-drive a unit and provided training on Purity before purchase commitment.
would have still settled on Pure. Even today I would buy it as my first choice still
Pure Storage FlashArray Training
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 we have full support for the arrays. It is necessary to ensure quick break/fix resolution and support.
Upgrades are always seamless;
Disk replacements are rare, but when necessary they happen within hours on the same day.
They have proactively alerted me to SFP issues on the array that I hadn't noticed myself and we swapped the optic out the same day.
Disk replacements are rare, but when necessary they happen within hours on the same day.
They have proactively alerted me to SFP issues on the array that I hadn't noticed myself and we swapped the optic out the same day.
Using Pure Storage FlashArray
Pros | Cons |
---|---|
Like to use Relatively simple Easy to use Technical support not required Well integrated Consistent Quick to learn Convenient Feel confident using Familiar | None |
- Snapshots - Protection Grouping, Offloading (optional), and rollback to snapshots is a breeze. They are each fully independent and recoverable. No chain to break or worry about. Also no need to use external software to quiesce the volume prior to snap creation.
- Code upgrades - just schedule in Pure1 portal; complete pre-checks sign off, open remote assist connection to Pure and let them do the upgrade at the scheduled time.
- Replication - Volume and Snapshot/Protection Group Replication over Ethernet to other Pure FlashArray's is simple and works without the complexity of FCoE routing.
- Volume Creation and Host Path validation is easily confirmed via the port maps
- nothing
Yes - There is a mobile application to view array health / performance metrics and support cases, but not to manage the actual array.
Pure Storage FlashArray Reliability
Relationship with Pure Storage
be upfront about your needs and expectations.
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