NetApp FAS Series Reviews

Name: NetApp FAS Series
Brand: NetApp
Rating: 4.4 (105 reviews)

Vendor: NetApp

4.4 out of 5

105 reviews
96% willing to recommend

2,372 followers

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What is NetApp FAS Series?

NetApp FAS series is an enterprise-level storage system that provides a wide variety of data management services, including data protection, block and file storage, and data management.

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NetApp FAS Series is the #1 ranked solution in top Modular SAN (Storage Area Network) solutions, #3 ranked solution in top NAS solutions, and #4 ranked solution in top Deduplication Software. PeerSpot users give NetApp FAS Series an average rating of 8.8 out of 10. NetApp FAS Series is most commonly compared to Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain): NetApp FAS Series vs Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain). NetApp FAS Series is popular among the midsize enterprise segment, accounting for 66% of users researching this solution on PeerSpot. The top industry researching this solution are professionals from a educational organization, accounting for 62% of all views.

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Featured NetApp FAS Series reviews

Paweł Jabłoński

IT Infrastructure Manager at Bricoman Wilanów

We use this solution. I configured and updated it. Of course, I was also a user of applications that store data on that storage. We already have an SSD solution. So, rather than planning to go with an SSD solution, we are focusing on expanding it. If a company wants to deploy something new, it should choose a product with SSD, and NVMe disks. Overall, I rate the solution a six out of ten.

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reviewer2560449

Infrastructure Architect at a insurance company with 1,001-5,000 employees

NetApp helps streamline our internal operations. I come from a background as a VMware administrator. For me, SnapCenter alone is a great product for when something goes wrong with a virtual machine, even though we have a separate data protection solution besides that. The speed at which you can recover from when it is all snapshot-based is good. You do not have to wait for copies across the network. It is a real game changer in a situation where we tried to do an upgrade but that did not go well and now that needs to be reverted back to where we were an hour ago. Usually, in 30 seconds, we get that VM back up and running. It makes the recovery quick. Even though we have another solution, which is also pretty fast, being able to take advantage of those logical operations inside the array is a real game-changer performance. The data reduction that we get is fantastic because some of our applications have so many copies of different versions as they are going through different levels of testing and development. Being able to deduplicate against each other saves a lot of the footprint. The All Flash series in general has delivered the most value to our organization. That took care of the daily performance issues that we had. When I started with the company, there would be overhead announcements on the PA that some of our internal systems were running slow and asked people to stop using them for a little bit while they caught up. All of those went away overnight when we switched to the All Flash FAS solution. There has not been any performance issue with storage so far. It has been eight years. Our account exec says that if we go to BlueXP or Cloud Insights, we can look at all the performance data. I never go ahead and look at it because our latency is under a millisecond all the time, so all of our applications are happy. Our developers are happy. Our internal customers are happy. I do not spend a lot of time worrying about performance anymore because we just have it. I would rate this technology a solid eight out of ten. I only have one criticism, which I have also shared with my account exec in the past, but it is not a strong criticism. I understood 7-mode very well back in the day. It was a pretty simple concept. When you are making a leap from there to cluster data ONTAP, there are so many more interfaces, and I have so much more going on in what I do in my job. It is like I do not have quite the mental map in my head of how the whole system works as I used to. Fortunately, we have a great partner we work with. They have helped us for over a decade. They are now CDW, but they used to be Sirius previously. They have a couple of great resources with whom we have worked for a long time. They have helped build our environment over the years, and they are always happy to answer our call if we call them. So, for me, that counterbalances some of that complexity. I do not understand it at the level that I would like to because I do not have the time to dig into and understand all the lifts versus the physical interfaces versus all of the networking that goes on in there. However, I can always call our partner that we work with, or even text them. They will answer my call even if it is eight o'clock on a Friday night and help us out. It is not that the solution does not work for us. It is just that I used to know how 7-mode works so much better just because it was simpler, but I understand that some of that complexity comes as a result of the flexibility and the power and the cluster data ONTAP unlocks. We can have multiple SVMs and the ability to have all these different identities and tenants contained inside of one platform, which we could not do with the 7-mode previously. Because of the All Flash technology, we do not have any performance issues. Another benefit that we are seeing is the reduction in footprint when we replace the old spinning disk system. It was a rack and a half of a disk. The A700 that we are about to load in there is going to be 5U or 8U. It is really small. Especially, at the Colo facility where our DR site is, we pay by the rack. That saves us money every month on a reduced footprint. I cannot say how much money it saves, but I know it also saves us the power bill. Flash is so much more energy efficient. We do not have that cooling load and power load, and then, we obviously have the performance. Performance is not a concern that we have anymore. A couple of years ago, we decided to make an investment in hardening. It is a little bit stronger against ransomware. We made the commitment to purchase an additional FAS 8300, and we are using SnapLock technology to take daily snapshots of our environment and send them over to that separate FAS 8300, which is in a separate authentication domain using the Cyber Vault concept. All immutable snapshots are over there. We have hardened our primary arrays too with MFA technology and everything else. If we are ever attacked or a victim of a ransomware attack for some reason, we at least have another copy locked away immediately that goes back several months in that other environment. Even if we lose some short-term data, we will still have more long-term copies of our data to go back to. That was another big chunk of spending for an array that does not do anything in terms of production. It just sits there. We hope we never need it, but at the same time, it is nice having that peace of mind that we have done the immutable technology in the NetApp's technologies, and we have done immutable technology inside our Cohesity backup product as well. We have two levels of immutable copies of our data, so we are fairly confident that we will be able to recover something.

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Akeem Richmond

IT Services at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees

NetApp has greatly increased our ability to offer storage and data throughput for jobs and services we provide to our customers, enabling them to further enhance their development and modeling work. Switching to NetApp allowed us to grow the ESXi environment we use as a backbone, increasing storage, throughput, and speed. We could also increase the number of virtual machines we could host, greatly increasing the productivity and speed at which customers develop and manage the software that they create. We could streamline our operations by adding controllers to increase the capacity we could use. Our environment is isolated, so utilizing some of NetApp's tools allowed us to better manage the clusters, the management host, and the additional requirements for the system's inputs and outputs. The most significant outcome for us has been growth. We can get the storage off the server, increasing our virtualization and the number of file systems we can offer our customers. There was a time when we had one site that would order 30 different servers to complete the mission. With the new setup, I can do the same with four servers and a single node. One pain point that drove us to adopt NetApp was a reduction in staff. My team originally had four people to support 30 sites and 600 customers on average. Now we're down to me, my partner, and a contractor. NetApp has helped us grow and keep pace with the requirements. We've been tasked to develop an AI base incorporated with the bigger company Okay. They want us to extend down and expand our site to 40 additional sites and company subsites. The company wants to look into developing that through 2024 and beyond. We expect to expand greatly. I have to be careful with our spending, so it's a little hard to get things approved because of how the company is, but this is the task we've been given, and the number of networks that we support will require us to increase our NetApp systems across multiple networks. We hope to create a cloud simulation of what's out there so the technicians know that the cloud is somebody else's computer. However, we need to develop that so our end users don't confuse what they perceive as the cloud with what we are actually providing to them. Our investments will focus on cyber security and data storage because the amount of information they need to store in that repository is tremendous. We also need to simulate what's out there regarding Zero Trust and duplicate what the broader company is doing on a smaller, isolated scale. For innovation, we expect to present to company leaders what things could look like for other mission providers and all the additional offsets they have in other environments. We must present a way forward for them to move in future developments and outlines of how they place the equipment and provide the equipment to their outside entities.

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NetApp FAS Series mindshare

Product category:

As of March 2025, the mindshare of NetApp FAS Series in the Deduplication Software category stands at 3.4%, up from 3.1% compared to the previous year, according to calculations based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Deduplication Software

PeerAnalyst reports based on NetApp FAS Series reviews

Type	Title	Date
Category	Deduplication Software	Mar 3, 2025	Download
Product	Reviews, tips, and advice from real users	Mar 3, 2025	Download
Comparison	NetApp FAS Series vs Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain)	Mar 3, 2025	Download
Comparison	NetApp FAS Series vs HPE StoreOnce	Mar 3, 2025	Download
Comparison	NetApp FAS Series vs Dell Avamar	Mar 3, 2025	Download

Title	Rating	Mindshare	Recommending
Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain)	4.3	28.6%	88%	74 interviews Add to research
HPE StoreOnce	4.2	19.5%	93%	107 interviews Add to research

Valuable Features

NetApp FAS Series offers powerful features like high availability, flexibility, and reliability. It supports multiple protocols, ensuring seamless data management and easy integration with cloud environments. Features such as SnapMirror, deduplication, and snapshots enhance storage efficiency and data protection. Users appreciate its ability to handle VMware and cloud integrations, NAS functions, and ease of management. Its performance is robust, scalable, and ideal for enterprise-level applications with excellent support and documentation.

"One important feature for customers is its ease of use and continuity, enabling seamless usage across on-premise and cloud environments."
"One important feature for customers is its ease of use and continuity, enabling seamless usage across on-premise and cloud environments."
"The ONTAP tools make managing VMware easier."

Room for Improvement

NetApp FAS Series requires enhancements in performance, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness. Users report issues with documentation and desire improved integration with third-party technologies. The transition to Clustered Data ONTAP presents challenges, specifically in migration and backward compatibility. Better monitoring tools and a unified management interface are needed. Pricing and support are concerns, with calls for streamlined installation and enhanced features like in-line deduplication. Users emphasize the need for more comprehensive automation and faster response times in support services.

"One area that needs improvement is the hyper-converged solution. Although NetApp has a solution, compared to Nutanix, it falls short."
"One area that needs improvement is the hyper-converged solution. Although NetApp has a solution, compared to Nutanix, it falls short."
"It's hard to find in-person training that fits our schedule in our area. They offer a lot of online training, but we need somewhere to go because we can't really get away from the office."

ROI

NetApp FAS Series offers a favorable ROI, particularly in VMware environments. Users appreciate its data storage efficiency, reduced operational costs, and consolidation capabilities. The Allflash FAS version significantly improves storage efficiency ratios. Companies value its cost-effectiveness and reliability. Some users find it difficult to quantify ROI numerically, yet they report positive investment outcomes. Many mention long-term satisfaction and savings in power, cooling, and space, underscoring its viability and lasting impact.

Pricing

The NetApp FAS Series is often considered expensive, yet many users find its pricing justified by its performance and features. Licensing is generally fair, covering most functionalities with additional options for advanced features. Pricing varies based on configuration, capacity, and required features. Although some users seek more aggressive pricing, NetApp's discount structures help accommodate differing budgets. Associated support costs can be high, but the long-term investment often balances initial expenses.

"NetApp FAS Series is a reasonably high-priced solution, partially because we select the configuration that duplicates the entire system."
"I would rate the pricing a seven out of ten, with ten being expensive. We pay a one-time purchase price."
"NetApp FAS Series' pricing is competitive."

Popular Use Cases

NetApp FAS Series is primarily used for enterprise storage, including NAS and SAN environments, supporting various protocols like CIFS, NFS, and iSCSI. Organizations utilize it for applications such as VMware, SQL Server, and databases, offering data management, backup, and disaster recovery capabilities. It provides stable performance, supports virtualization, unified storage, and handles unstructured data efficiently, making it suitable for industries like healthcare, media, and finance for centralized and reliable data storage.

Service and Support

NetApp FAS Series has received praise for responsive and knowledgeable customer service and technical support. Users appreciate the auto-support feature and the knowledgeable first-tier support. However, some have faced delays in response time and experienced challenges with tiered support. Premium support receives better feedback, offering quick resolution and proactive management. Some users note room for improvement, particularly with outsourced support. Generally, the technical team is considered competent, supportive, and effective in addressing issues.

Deployment

Most found NetApp FAS Series's initial setup straightforward with effective planning and documentation aiding the process. Some encountered complexity, especially with more intricate configurations or when shifting from different systems, but support from NetApp or partners often simplified these challenges. Newcomers may require guidance, yet experienced users found the system intuitive and manageable, especially with familiarity. Migrating between NetApp systems typically proved easier than transitions from non-NetApp storage solutions.

Scalability

NetApp FAS Series offers high scalability with clustered ONTAP allowing seamless scaling both horizontally and vertically. Users appreciate its ease of expansion through additional nodes and shelves. While effective for medium and large enterprises, cost considerations and technical configurations, such as additional cabling, can impose challenges. Performance is generally satisfactory for diverse use cases, although budget constraints may affect scalability. Planned obsolescence and compatibility with models occasionally limit potential scalability.

Stability

NetApp FAS Series exhibits strong stability with minimal downtime. Users report reliable performance and effective redundancy, keeping systems operational. Occasional bugs and hardware issues are generally resolved promptly. Many users experience extended periods without reboots or crashes. While a small number faced challenges, these were mostly configuration-related or external factors. NetApp FAS Series consistently maintains high stability ratings, supporting continuous operations for years without significant problems.

These insights are based on the in-depth reviews provided by peers to help you make a better buying decision.

Download our NetApp FAS Series Buyer's Guide for additional reliable information.

Review data by company size

By reviewers

By visitors reading reviews

Top industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

62%

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

Financial Services Firm

Government

Comms Service Provider

Healthcare Company

Media Company

Construction Company

University

Retailer

Energy/Utilities Company

Real Estate/Law Firm

Insurance Company

Wholesaler/Distributor

Hospitality Company

Transportation Company

Outsourcing Company

Compare NetApp FAS Series with alternative products

Learn more about NetApp FAS Series

NetApp FAS is designed to be highly scalable, allowing your organization to grow storage capacity on demand. NetApp FAS also supports multiple protocols, including NFS, SMB, iSCSI, and Fibre Channel, as well as various storage architectures, including SAN (Storage Area Network) and NAS (Network-Attached Storage).

The FAS series has multiple data protection and data management features, including snapshots, cloning, replication, and deduplication, to help secure your data and manage it more efficiently. The system integrates with other NetApp products and solutions, to create a unified data management platform. The system can be deployed on-premise, on multi-cloud environments, or hybrid.

NetApp FAS Series Benefits and Features

NetApp FAS series provides its users with several key benefits and features, including:

Scalability: NetApp FAS series is easy to scale, allowing organizations to rapidly grow their storage capacity according to demand.

Security: Protect and manage your data with various data protection and data management tools, including snapshots, cloning, replication, and deduplication.

Seamless integration: Integrate with other NetApp products and solutions to ensure a unified data management platform across on-premise, hybrid, and multi-cloud environments.

Reduced costs: Consolidation of multiple storage boxes greatly reduces the data center footprint. From a management point of view, with NetApp FAS you manage a single storage box instead of multiple storage boxes.
Compatibility: Forward and backward compatibility ensures that you don’t have to trade in existing controllers. New controllers can always integrate with previously released controllers.

Multi-protocol support: Support for multiple protocols, including NFS, SMB, iSCSI, and Fibre Channel.

High performance and availability: The solution has high input and output per second performance and ensures that critical data remains accessible in the event of a hardware failure.
Intuitive interface: The FAS series has a user-friendly interface and management dashboard, making it easy to manage your storage systems. With unified management, you can quickly run a single protocol on your entire system
Data cloning and replication: Easily clone databases of any size. Clones occupy a very, very small footprint on the storage until they are severed from the main database. Replications carried out by the system are fast and require very little bandwidth.

Reviews from Real Users

NetApp FAS Series stands out among its competitors for a number of reasons. Several major ones are its speed, reliability, and a wide variety of features.

Adriano S., IT project and infrastructure service manager, writes, “The replication feature is noteworthy because it's faster than most and it uses little bandwidth. Then there's the friendly interface that the equipment offers. With this interface, it is very easy to manage.”

Temitope O., a NetApp product manager at Hiperdist Ltd, says, “I like the unified management feature because sometimes you end up running a single protocol on the entire system. You rather have a system for a particular protocol and another system for other protocols, especially in a big environment like mine.”

NetApp FAS Series customers

Children's Hospital Central California, Plex Systems, PDF PNI Digital Media, Denver Broncos, PDF KSM Legal, Clayton Companies, Virginia Community College