Item: Pure Storage FlashArray
Rating: 10
Author: Wes Dunaway

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Our FlashArray is the primary storage array within our datacenter. With the quality of dedupe and compression that FlashArray provides, it is economical enough to run not only SQL, but all other datasets in our datacenter.
We migrated from a cloud services provider using a NetApp storage array to a self-hosted solution. Moving to the PureArray we saw tremendous performance gains across the board with a fraction of the storage utilization that we were being charged for on the NetApp.
It solved all of our performance and storage utilization issues.

Pros and Cons

Dedupe and compression. It always amazes me how much logical data we have compared to how much we are actually using on the array.
Speed. We measure response time in micro seconds, not milliseconds.
Support. They know something is wrong or misbehaving before I do.

As they grow, they become more like the large corporations that are frustrating to work with (EMC, NetApp, etc). I hope they don't lose the core qualities that made them so attractive to begin with.

Return on Investment

As part of the whole environment, PureArray contributes to the impressive application uptime that our business currently enjoys.
Our customers enjoy the performance benefits. Jobs that used to run for days on the NetApp now run in a few hours.

Alternatives Considered

Dell EMC VMAX All Flash Storage and NetApp FlashRay

They all came late to the Flash game and are struggling to keep up. Colleagues I talked to at the beginning of the all-Flash Array explosion talked about how stable Pure Storage arrays were compared to those trying to enter the market. Since then, I haven't bothered looking at another vendor for my flash storage needs. The support team alone is enough to put them ahead of all other vendors.

Other Software Used

VMware ESXi, Fortinet FortiGate, Rubrik

Likelihood to Recommend

Any dataset which requires tremendous speed and response times would benefit from PureArray.
As for less appropriate use cases, there really is not a bad spot to use PureArray, but there may be situations where it would not provide the most bang for your dollar. Storing cold/rarely accessed data on a PureArray would be a waste.

Users and Roles

2 - We have a small infrastructure team that manages the FlashArray. Its ease of use, stability, and intuitive GUI makes management a snap with very little training required to get other team members up and running. With a small company, this simplicity allows for us to cross train outside of normal infrastructure job rolls and be confident that the GUI will not overwhelm the non traditional user.

Support Headcount Required

2 - The infrastructure architect and admin actively manage the FlashArray. The infrastructure team has 10+ years experience with managing storage devices but this experience is largely unnecessary due to the simplicity and ease of use of the FashArray. We have cross trained our DevOps team as emergency backups and their quick understanding of the GUI layout and concepts helped the team feel comfortable should the infrastructure team be unavailable during an emergency.

Business Processes Supported

SQL Workload
VMware
Everything else! It is very fast

Future Planned Uses

Getting another array for our home office. Our team is used to the speed in production.

Likelihood to Renew

9

Up time, stability, ease of use, flexibility, and the support team. Pure continues to earn my business with all of these positives. These traits are reinforced with every interaction that occurs with the Pure team, whether it is sales or support. Pure continues to do what is can to make everyone successful.

Pure Storage FlashArray makes me happy

Overall Satisfaction with Pure Storage FlashArray