Overall Satisfaction with Pure Storage FlashArray
Pure Storage FlashArray is now our primary platform for block data. All of our production databases and VMware environment live on Pure. This brings us great performance, along with improvements in manageability. We are now positioned for the future and the ability to take advantage of NVMe-oF when it becomes mainstream. No more limiting our options because of the technology already in house. The Evergreen process gets us away from fork-lift storage upgrades, and the support is top notch and fast.
- Support - I've never had a call passed off to a different party that I then have to wait to get back to me. The person responding to my support ticket has been able to help me every time.
- Non-disruptive upgrades. We were able to transition from a SAS based //m series array to a NVMe based //x series array with zero down time. This gave us greater performance and capacity with minimal disruption.
- Simplicity - Pure Storage aims to automate the complicated steps of storage management with superior software. You know they are still happening under the surface, but the administrator does not have to deal with keeping the process just right with a given vendor's command set.
- Licensing - All-in base licensing instead of expensive add-on licenses for additional features. There are very few exceptions to this rule.
- Reporting is too general. Being a tech nerd, I want to be able to see the nitty-gritty details. I also need to be able to define canned sets of reports for problem application systems.
- Pricing is a bit higher then some of their direct competitors .
- Seriously, I have nothing else.
- We have consolidated several monolithic storage systems into FlashArray, reducing capital costs.
- We have improved our data protection with snapshots and Active Cluster
- We have replace a complicated replication process, understood by only one person, with an easier process of replicated snapshots for remote replication.
- HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage, HPE Nimble Storage and Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform F Series
These are all good systems in their own right, but there are two areas where Pure Storage FlashArray beats them all hands-down! First is management. The software interface for management and provisioning is cleaner and doesn't make one jump through complicated processes to get from point A to point B. Second is support. It is just outstanding in every way.