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HPE 3PAR StoreServ vs HPE MSA comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

HPE 3PAR StoreServ
Ranking in Modular SAN (Storage Area Network)
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
301
Ranking in other categories
NAS (7th), All-Flash Storage (9th)
HPE MSA
Ranking in Modular SAN (Storage Area Network)
5th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
22
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of December 2024, in the Modular SAN (Storage Area Network) category, the mindshare of HPE 3PAR StoreServ is 10.2%, down from 12.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of HPE MSA is 18.9%, up from 16.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Modular SAN (Storage Area Network)
 

Featured Reviews

SanjayKumar11 - PeerSpot reviewer
I like the integration with VMware and the provisioning
HPE could improve by raising awareness when a new product is launched. They must think of ways to better serve and engage with their enterprise customers. HPE is selling enterprise products and mission-critical support. This is not a one-time sale, and then it's over. They need to maintain a relationship with their customer over the life of the product, which is typically four or five years.
Pragnesh Sachania - PeerSpot reviewer
Scalable, easy to manage, and used for virtualization environments
We didn't face any issues with the technical functionality. However, we faced a lot of challenges with our custom configuration. The HPE support person who did the installation was very technical. He answered all the queries, and we resolved the entire setup. We set up the storage as per our requirements. We previously used a physical server instead of virtualization. With the help of an HPE engineer and partners, we prepared a strategy for migrating the entire physical servers to our virtualization infrastructure. It took two days to deploy the solution. Six people were involved in the solution's deployment, including two from HPE and four from our IT team.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"I like the speed capabilities that it provides. The deduplication features definitely have some huge potential. The latest firmware, where they've enabled compression for workloads that aren't very good for deduplication, I can definitely see huge potential there."
"If there is a problem then the HPE facility will detect it and immediately contact me."
"Having moved over from a lefthand, which was seven or eight years old, there's a massive boost in performance. It has definitely improved the speed, the responsiveness, of all our applications."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is the native full mesh (multi-pathing)."
"I have a lot of applications that need higher IOPS, and 3PAR achieves this operation normally without any issues for the management."
"The scalability is good because it is easy to add in new disks. We just add them on the fly, and they are available for use."
"I think the storage is very good, the way it stores, the thin provisioning it provides, and the data protection. And it's easy to deploy in any environment. We are using VMware. So for me, it's a right click and it's deployed. We can configure and create LUNS very easily with 3PAR management, and the interface is very user-friendly. Easily understandable."
"HPE 3PAR has all the common storage features like cell provisioning and deduplication. Usually the solution is chosen by the customer as they have a preference, or the setup is already in their environment."
"HPE StorageWorks MSA is an entry-level, cost-effective solution for SMB customers."
"The most valuable feature of HPE StorageWorks MSA is its flexibility."
"The most valuable features are the storage levels and snapshot features."
"The most valuable features are data deduplication and snapshot replication."
"I like StorageWorks' snapshots for our backup system. We had a pool of SSD and traditional drives. StorageWorks has a feature that transfers the hot data to high-performing drives."
"Monitoring is a very big thing. Other great features include block storage; volume creation and the data reliability scalability, which makes the solution really good."
"The most valuable feature for customers is the autonomic tiering, which enhances their storage scalability as easily as possible."
"The solution is scalable and easy to manage."
 

Cons

"The first array that they sent us was in some type of a factory mode. We didn't find that out until we loaded a bunch of data onto it, then we had to back it all off. We had to replace the array, which was sort of painful."
"Security is a mandatory feature because our customer needs to protect delicate information."
"HPE could improve by making an old flash system in order to compete with the current market. For the solution to be more competitive in the mid-range market they could increase the performance."
"The Unified Multiprotocol Access to the storage array needs to be improved."
"Sadly, the support from HPE has not been all that great. It is tough to get a tech out or get a response from some of the techs that we have."
"HPE 3PAR StoreServ's pricing could be cheaper."
"We need longer names for our volumes. Now it's only 28 characters. It should be 64, or at least more than 32 characters."
"I would like to see NVMe support, not only on the disk side, but also in the NVMe over Fibre Channel."
"The solution's license should be integrated and not separate."
"HPE StorageWorks MSA could maybe include a pay-top of texture feature or something like job replication."
"It would be ideal if there was a better management interface."
"This product is getting a little bit older, so new features like deduplication are not included."
"HPE should reintroduce customizable ports as they were in Gen 5, allowing customers to use both iSCSI or SC on a single controller."
"I rate HPE support four out of 10. I'm not happy with them. We purchased mission-critical support, and we're supposed to get a response in four hours. Instead, I'm waiting days for them to replace the drive. They asked me to send back the failed one, and I don't know the address. After I sent it back, they told me they haven't received it. It's a nightmare."
"Synchronized replication is very important for MSA; however, HPE StorageWorks MSA doesn't provide synchronized replication."
"It would be beneficial to have an add-on feature to improve analytics or insight capabilities inside the app."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Budget wise, 3PAR is a lot of money compared to other solutions, but what is in the 3PAR integration that customers are getting now from the Nimble and InfoSight acquisitions, it is worthwhile."
"It is fairly inexpensive to scale."
"I rate the tool's pricing an eight out of ten. It is expensive."
"Making the decisions to buy it can be complex."
"The solution has two parts: software and hardware, and you need to buy licenses for some features."
"Its price is a bit high for adding another tree, but when we purchased it, it was okay with us. We had compared it with EMC and other solutions, and it was okay at that point in time. Our storage has a lifespan of seven to eight years. When you purchase it, you need to keep a headroom of around 40% to 50%. After three to four years, you generally plan for an upgrade. The price is not so bad today for two years or so, and within a year, I might find that I have to upgrade or increase the storage. This usually happens when there is a radical change or a new application has come that is consuming a lot of data, but generally, there is a plan for the amount of data that we generate and the storage upgrade."
"For the entire six node cluster and the two 7200 units plus the Brocade Fibre switches, we financed it through HPE Financial. It was $850,000. We leased that and paid it off in October of 2018."
"I have to renew support in October for the existing solution. That will cost me roughly $50,000 this year, which in the grand scheme of things, $50,000 is not that much compared to paying $850,000. However, it will be the last year that I'll be able to get direct support from HPE. Therefore, product has to be replaced in 2020."
"I would rate the pricing as nine out of ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive."
"This solution is quite expensive; they should lower the cost."
"This solution involves a one-time CapEx payment, followed by warranty extensions."
"HPE StorageWorks MSA's licensing is perpetual and not integrated."
"The price of the solution is a little high and they should provide more competitive pricing. If you want to increases the storage size there are additional fees."
"When we bought this solution it was very reasonably priced and they were willing to deal."
"The solution can be a bit expensive."
"The solution’s pricing is reasonable."
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Comparison Review

it_user182013 - PeerSpot reviewer
May 1, 2015
Measuring Up: EMC XtremIO and HP 3PAR
Leading up to EMC World 2015, IT Central Station asked how I would compare EMC XtremIO and HP 3PAR. Until recently, the flash storage conversation in my organization and many others has centered on XtremIO and Pure Storage, the leaders of the all-flash array (AFA) space. To that end, I've written a…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
85%
Computer Software Company
3%
Manufacturing Company
2%
Financial Services Firm
2%
Computer Software Company
21%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Government
8%
Real Estate/Law Firm
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What's the difference between HPE 3PAR StoreServ and HPE Primera?
HPE Primera has many great features but one of the best is that it is very easy to deploy. From an overall perspective, it is reliable, easy to set up, stable, and offers quality block storage. All...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for HPE 3PAR StoreServ?
The tool’s price is higher compared to other products. The solution is 20% more expensive than other storage.
What do you like most about HPE StorageWorks MSA?
The most valuable feature of HPE StorageWorks MSA is its flexibility.
What needs improvement with HPE StorageWorks MSA?
We faced a lot of challenges with our custom configuration during installation. At the time of deployment, there was some communication gap between my partner and HPE.
 

Also Known As

HPE 3PAR Flash Storage, InServ, Storeserv, 3PAR Flash Storage, HP Enterprise Storage, 3PAR Flash Array, HP 3PAR Flash Storage
HP StorageWorks MSA
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Just Energy, Latisys, team AG, DreamWorks, BlueShore Financial, Erasmus MC
Femsa CSC, TTX, Rabobank
Find out what your peers are saying about HPE 3PAR StoreServ vs. HPE MSA and other solutions. Updated: December 2024.
823,875 professionals have used our research since 2012.