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HPE MSA vs VNX [EOL] comparison

Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Dell Technologies are both solutions in the Modular SAN (Storage Area Network) category. Additionally, 95% of Hewlett Packard Enterprise users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 87% of Dell Technologies users who would recommend it.
HPE MSA
Read 23 HPE MSA reviews
  • 1,483 Views
  • 1,213 Comparison Views
95% willing to recommend
VNX [EOL]
Read 36 VNX [EOL] reviews
    87% willing to recommend
     

    Comparison Buyer's Guide

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    Executive Summary
    We performed a comparison between HPE MSA and VNX [EOL] based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

    Find out what your peers are saying about NetApp, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Hitachi Vantara and others in Modular SAN (Storage Area Network).

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    To learn more, read our detailed Modular SAN (Storage Area Network) Report (Updated: February 2025).
    Buyer's Guide
    Modular SAN (Storage Area Network)
    February 2025
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    Helped 838,737 peers since 2012

    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
    Average Rating
    8.4
    Reviews Sentiment
    7.2
    Number of Reviews
    23
    Ranking in other categories
    Modular SAN (Storage Area Network) (5th)
    VNX [EOL]
    Average Rating
    8.0
    Number of Reviews
    36
    Ranking in other categories
    No ranking in other categories
     

    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.
    Read full review
    RS
    ​The VNX 5700 provides a large number of features including the ability to work for both file and block as a unified array.
    Once you establish a replication job, when the file system is synchronizing its data to the target file system, it tends to create a balloon effect where it creates a file system that grows as the new data is synchronizing. It would be very helpful if the replication job could incorporate a self-cleaning job after the synchronization job completes to reduce the size of the file system in the target automatically. Very often, we have to run a script called “SavVolReclaim” to clean up space consumed while the replication is in progress. If the replication job hits its maximum capacity of 16TB while synchronizing, it stops the replication job. By adding this reclaim process natively, it would eliminate additional unnecessary work for the storage administrators. It would be very helpful to get an automated report that shows you the size of the checkpoints and get warnings when a checkpoint is reaching either maximum capacity per a file system or hitting the ceiling on the SavVol pool consumption.
    Read full review

    Quotes from Members

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

    Pros

    "The product is very easy to deploy."
    "The most valuable features were the dual controllers and being able to expand it."
    "MSA performs exceptionally well, particularly in regions with frequent power outages."
    "It has notably provided scalability benefits."
    "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."
    "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."
    "HPE StorageWorks MSA is an entry-level, cost-effective solution for SMB customers."
    More HPE MSA pros
    "It is very stable even during multiple power failures."
    "The replication feature provides another functionality to protect your data."
    "I really value deduplication and compression to save space."
    "Multi-tiering, positively affects the efficiency of the storage space."
    "High availability including non-disruptive updates: We cannot afford downtime windows."
    "Good performance for VM environments"
    "From my point of view, the configuration that I can sell is restricted to the EMC best practices. It is hard to make a mistake in a solution. It means the configuration has good performance and scalability options."
    "Integration with VMware"
    More VNX [EOL] pros
     

    Cons

    "The support contract is expensive, although they are very responsive."
    "The solution could improve by adding configuration tools."
    "There is room for improvement in terms of scalability. There are times when we need to upgrade the device and the firmware. Sometimes, that can be a struggle."
    "The solution requires hardware."
    "HPE should reintroduce customizable ports as they were in Gen 5, allowing customers to use both iSCSI or SC on a single controller."
    "It would be ideal if there was a better management interface."
    "The platform’s monitoring capabilities could be enhanced."
    "The solution's license should be integrated and not separate."
    More HPE MSA cons
    "There is an easy replication process between distinct data centers via VPLEX and/or RPA. But I hope in the future that EMC/Dell could replicate this with other types of storage."
    "There is no easy way to defrag a RAID group. It would be nice to be able to reduce the size of a storage pool if the storage is not needed anymore."
    "The CLI could be better documented, like with VMAX."
    "EMC VNX needs to support bigger SSDs. Next generation EMC Unity will do this."
    "The management software used for the VNX is Unicenter. While it is an improvement over Navicenter, used in older EMC SANs, it still feels outdated in comparison to other SAN management software."
    "Intel Xeon processors with under 2 GHz processing speeds could be replaced with more recent ones."
    "Based on our workloads, we see repeatedly in performance reports that the built-in controller (SP) cache of our VNX model is not sufficiently large, resulting in forced cache flushing."
    "It would be very helpful to get an automated report that shows you the size of the checkpoints and get warnings when a checkpoint is reaching either maximum capacity per a file system or hitting the ceiling on the SavVol pool consumption."
    More VNX [EOL] cons
     

    Pricing and Cost Advice

    "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."
    "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."
    "When we bought this solution it was very reasonably priced and they were willing to deal."
    "The solution can be a bit expensive."
    "This solution involves a one-time CapEx payment, followed by warranty extensions."
    "The solution’s pricing is reasonable."
    "HPE StorageWorks MSA's licensing is perpetual and not integrated."
    "Make sure you understand how the licensing works and that you are getting the right set of licenses if you need array-to-array replication."
    "​Reducing dependency on JavaServer Pages​ (JSP) could improve the administrative overhead.​"
    "The initial pricing and licensing are reasonable. Yearly EMC is more expensive."
    "The initial pricing and licensing are reasonable, the yearly EMC is more expensive"
    "Pricing is somewhat higher, especially in Zambia, perhaps due to the low sales volume."
    "While EMC tends to be on the expensive side, the stability and support of their products are top-notch and I feel are worth the cost."
    "Over time, VNX has become pricier than its competitors, and we have turned enthusiastically to Unity."
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    Top Industries

    By visitors reading reviews
    Computer Software Company
    19%
    Manufacturing Company
    14%
    Government
    7%
    Healthcare Company
    6%
    No data available
     

    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.
    See all answers
    What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for HPE StorageWorks MSA?
    I am not satisfied with the licensing model and pricing.
    See all answers
    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.
    See all answers
    Ask a question
    Earn 20 points
     

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    Product Reports

    Buyer's Guide
    HPE MSA
    February 2025
    HPE MSA reportDownload HPE MSA product report
    Buyer's Guide
    VNX [EOL]
    February 2025
    VNX [EOL] reportDownload VNX [EOL] product report
     

    Also Known As

    HP StorageWorks MSA
    VNX
     

    Overview

    Whether you need best-in-class performance or are looking to get the most capacity for your investment, MSA has a fast, affordable solution for you. And every MSA comes with an intuitive setup and management interface anyone can master.

    Hewlett Packard Enterprise

    With EMC VNX you'll have the right blend of flash, capacity, and application-aware software. Scale up storage for midrange workloads, optimized for virtual applications and cloud environments.

    Dell Technologies
     

    Sample Customers

    Femsa CSC, TTX, Rabobank
    Samsonite, Comanche County Memorial Hospital, Kindred Healthcare
    Buyer's Guide
    Modular SAN (Storage Area Network)
    February 2025
    Download Free Report
    Find out what your peers are saying about NetApp, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Hitachi Vantara and others in Modular SAN (Storage Area Network). Updated: February 2025.
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