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HPE MSA vs Oracle Sun ZFS Storage Appliance comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 2, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

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

Categories and Ranking

HPE MSA
Ranking in Modular SAN (Storage Area Network)
5th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
23
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Oracle Sun ZFS Storage Appl...
Ranking in Modular SAN (Storage Area Network)
9th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2025, in the Modular SAN (Storage Area Network) category, the mindshare of HPE MSA is 19.2%, up from 17.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Oracle Sun ZFS Storage Appliance is 4.0%, down from 4.5% 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
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.
RM
A stable unified storage system that enables quick access to data
The main thing Oracle can improve is the cost. It would be better if Oracle opened up the system to enable integration with other vendors. Whether it's the database, application server, or storage appliance, they should make it easy to integrate them. They need to open up more to ensure that it can work in any environment and IT ecosystem.

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 scalable and easy to manage."
"The solution is pretty transparent and works well."
"The most valuable features were the dual controllers and being able to expand it."
"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."
"MSA performs exceptionally well, particularly in regions with frequent power outages."
"The most valuable feature for customers is the autonomic tiering, which enhances their storage scalability as easily as possible."
"The cost to performance for HPE StorageWorks MSA is good."
"I like its storage capacity, quick access to the data, speed, and overall storage management."
 

Cons

"HPE StorageWorks MSA could maybe include a pay-top of texture feature or something like job replication."
"This product is getting a little bit older, so new features like deduplication are not included."
"The platform’s monitoring capabilities could be enhanced."
"The support contract is expensive, although they are very responsive."
"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 should show more options for cloud backup support."
"HPE should reintroduce customizable ports as they were in Gen 5, allowing customers to use both iSCSI or SC on a single controller."
"The main thing Oracle can improve is the cost. It would be better if Oracle opened up the system to enable integration with other vendors. Whether it's the database, application server, or storage appliance, they should make it easy to integrate them. They need to open up more to ensure that it can work in any environment and IT ecosystem."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"This solution involves a one-time CapEx payment, followed by warranty extensions."
"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 is quite expensive; they should lower the cost."
"The solution can be a bit expensive."
"The solution’s pricing is reasonable."
"I would rate the pricing as nine out of ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive."
"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 price could be better. We have many competing products now like Huawei and Dell EMC, and these are slightly cheaper."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Manufacturing Company
14%
Government
8%
Healthcare Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Construction Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

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?
It needs more details on how to integrate with the cloud for backup scenarios. It should show more options for cloud backup support.
Ask a question
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Also Known As

HP StorageWorks MSA
Sun ZFS Storage Appliance
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Femsa CSC, TTX, Rabobank
Translational Genomics Research Institute, Nara Institute of Science and Technology, CyberSolutions Inc., Y-Telecom, First Alliance Bank Zambia Limited, AZ Sint-Jan Brugge-Oostende, Mutlinet Pakistan, TDC A/S, Digi-Key Corporation, Thurgau Cantonal Bank
Find out what your peers are saying about HPE MSA vs. Oracle Sun ZFS Storage Appliance and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
842,466 professionals have used our research since 2012.