Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

HPE MSA vs NetApp FAS Series comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

HPE MSA
Ranking in Modular SAN (Storage Area Network)
5th
Average Rating
8.4
Number of Reviews
20
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
NetApp FAS Series
Ranking in Modular SAN (Storage Area Network)
1st
Average Rating
8.8
Number of Reviews
100
Ranking in other categories
Deduplication Software (5th), NAS (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2024, in the Modular SAN (Storage Area Network) category, the mindshare of HPE MSA is 17.8%, up from 15.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetApp FAS Series is 17.0%, up from 14.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Modular SAN (Storage Area Network)
 

Featured Reviews

Pragnesh Sachania - PeerSpot reviewer
Aug 8, 2024
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.
MC
Mar 12, 2024
Deduplication and compression give us more possibilities, and unified storage capabilities simplify administration
The product does improve our performance. It is scalable enough. For scalability, we've found that even if you have a three-year-old service... the way NetApp works, we must buy new equipment every five or six years. It's as if there's planned obsolescence... we don't have the option to upgrade the solution over a long period. So, for scalability, I'd give it an eight out of ten. There was one instance where we needed to add disks, but the filer was full. We ran out of space to physically add them. We had to buy extra equipment to support adding more disks to the filer when it reached maximum capacity.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The simple configuration feature is great. It is very simple, allowing you to set up MSA very easily."
"The solution is pretty transparent and works well."
"The cost to performance for HPE StorageWorks MSA is good."
"MSA performs exceptionally well, particularly in regions with frequent power outages."
"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 solution is very easy to use, it is not really complex for any user, such as non-technical individuals."
"The product is very easy to deploy."
"The most valuable feature of HPE StorageWorks MSA is its flexibility."
"It allows our Windows and Unix teams to have a centralized point to share data between the two."
"Fast Snapshots"
"The file sharing feature is most valuable."
"Most valuable features are its ease of use, robust Snapshot functionality, and that you can use it in two datacenters with SnapMirror-ing."
"Saves space with deduplication"
"Reliable storage solution with an easy setup. It has high availability and makes single file restoration easy. It also has good stability and scalability."
"The solution has tiers inside which means we do not only need to use SSDs."
"Can use both SAN and NAS at the same time."
 

Cons

"We faced a lot of challenges with our custom configuration during installation."
"Some clients have suggested room for improvement in expanding storage capacity beyond the base traces."
"The solution could improve by adding configuration tools."
"It would be ideal if there was a better management interface."
"The solution requires hardware."
"This product is getting a little bit older, so new features like deduplication are not included."
"The solution's license should be integrated and not separate."
"Synchronized replication is very important for MSA; however, HPE StorageWorks MSA doesn't provide synchronized replication."
"NetApp needs to put its OS on a microchip rather than on disks."
"Needs more SAN support."
"It may need more flexibility to fight with other competing arrays."
"The solution can improve on the replication features."
"The high cost of the product is an area of concern, so from an improvement perspective, the tool needs to be made cheaper."
"I would like to see less latency and higher IOPS."
"Technical support needs to be improved, as there are no longer partners in our country."
"As I see it, there could be more interfaces, more cache, etc."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"When we bought this solution it was very reasonably priced and they were willing to deal."
"HPE StorageWorks MSA's licensing is perpetual and not integrated."
"This solution involves a one-time CapEx payment, followed by warranty extensions."
"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."
"The solution’s pricing is reasonable."
"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."
"The solution can be a bit expensive."
"NetApp FAS Series' pricing is competitive."
"The NetApp FAS series price is very competitive compared to other solutions on the market it is a good choice."
"The price of the NetApp FAS Series is reasonable and it provides value for the money with the feature sets. NetApp FAS Series are competing with Huawei storage which has an office and does aggressive marketing with a discount. However, we found that if our customers do a technology refresh they are happy with the performance of the NetApp FAS Series."
"The process for going to cluster mode is expensive."
"Cost effective storage for all performance levels (including all-flash)."
"It’s difficult for us to get money, so make sure you get everything in order, because there’s no going back and saying “oh, I missed this or that”, so make sure you plan well and well in advance."
"We purchased it for four years, and it wasn't expensive. It was reasonable. Every company has a different agreement with NetApp. We got everything we wanted with all the bells and whistles and all the features and functionalities."
"It is expensive."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Modular SAN (Storage Area Network) solutions are best for your needs.
800,688 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
19%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Government
10%
Real Estate/Law Firm
7%
Educational Organization
61%
Computer Software Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
4%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

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.
Which SAN product would you choose: IBM FlashSystem (FS9500) vs PureFlash Array/X NVMe vs PureFlash Array/XL NVMe?
Have you considered a NetApp FAS Storage for your NAS needs? I am sure it fits very well.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NetApp FAS Series?
The pricing depends on the disks we choose. We got quite a good price compared to Huawei Dorado because we compared the prices between NetApp SSD and Dorado, and the price was quite similar.
 

Also Known As

HP StorageWorks MSA
No data available
 

Learn More

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Femsa CSC, TTX, Rabobank
Children's Hospital Central California, Plex Systems, PDF PNI Digital Media, Denver Broncos, PDF KSM Legal, Clayton Companies, Virginia Community College
Find out what your peers are saying about HPE MSA vs. NetApp FAS Series and other solutions. Updated: September 2024.
800,688 professionals have used our research since 2012.