HPE StoreOnce Reviews

It just works – there isn’t anything specific about it. We can backup our exchange server, we can backup our files, and it just works without being overly complex either.

I can’t say that it has, they are lagging behind on the features, we went to vSphere 6 and it failed a while ago. The DP9 just came out a few weeks ago to answer that integration issue.

It’s the speed to market with new technology that they are not keeping up with. Also, the integration could be better, the Comvault features are offering more and StoreOnce is lagging.

I've used it for 15 years.

Not so much deployment more on the support end of things.

It’s stable – it works.

VMware changed something when they went to 6, even Comvault was a week behind, but while Comvault provided a solution, HP just released their updates a week or two ago in the new version – we now have to go to DP9.

Customer support is fine.

Technical support is brutal, my guy never wants to get on the phone with me, and he prepares to be tortured. He knows going in that it’s going to be painful.

Look elsewhere – you can’t change something once you have it, and it accomplishes what it needs to, but it's not leading edge enough to address the new technologies out there.

Catalyst functionality: for performance, it is better than VTL or NAS configs, and it provides total integration with HPE storage and backup solutions (3PAR, Data Protector, VM Explorer, and so on), and also integration with NetApp, Symantec (NBU/BE), and Veeam with the Catalyst plugin.

The special plugins developed with Oracle RMAN, MS-SQL for direct backup from these application systems to StoreOnce.

It reduces backup time and reduces storage space requirements, compared to non-deduplicated systems.

It reduces the amount of time it takes to recover data from storage compared to tapes.

It is easy to deploy and configure.

Deployment / config / install experience: 3 years.

Not especially.

Good.

Initial setup is simpler because all of the tasks can be done from GUI whereas before it was from the CLI.

HPE backup systems are very good products. Easy to manage, very good performance, with a lot of ongoing new development. Good integration with many backup or storage products.

The most valuable is the deduplication ability, but file sharing is also really good.

We saw less capital outlay after implementing the solution.

For subsequent models, I would like HP to improve deduplication rations for tiny files numbering near a trillion, which they do in our business. StoreOnce doesn’t work for our class of data, which is small, and needs to include more genomic and medical research as test cases.

I have been using StoreOnce D2D for four years.

Stability was good but undersized for what we needed. We weren't able to de-duplicate what we needed.

It was not able to scale for us; we had to buy another solution (X9000) to store copies.

I found HP to be helpful, but they asked too many questions and were not really able to help our business.

We were in need of backing up petabytes of data for medical databases.

We had experience with the solution, so it was relatively simple.

• EMC
• Comvault

The most important criteria for us is reliability.

If you work for a medical research institute or something with very small files, then this solution may not be for you. Your best move is to do a POC.

1. StoreOnce Catalyst Store
2. VTL Emulation
3. Extensive disaster recovery options
4. Federated deduplication

Due to high speed and multiple simultaneous backup session our backup window is reduced remarkably, data throughputs are mentioned follows:

• Up to 100 TB/hr of backup performance with StoreOnce Catalyst
• Up to 40 TB/hr of native backup performance
• Up to 40 TB/hr of restore performance

Deduplication Alghorithams still require enhancement.

We have been using HP Data Protector for almost 5 years.

HP Solution delivery team implement this solution, deployment was quite smooth within time constraints.

No such issues faced.

768 TB raw (512 TB useable). Good enough for enterprise wide backup solutions.

Excellent, because of local presence of HP is KSA.

Very Good.

I have working experience with EMC Data Domain. HP StoreOnce is offering almost the same features. It has a very flexible integration with HP Data Protector.

It was a straightforward procedure.

HP Implementation team delivered this solution.

Yes, EMC Data Domain.

It is better to opt for HP implementation services also.

We are a partner and reseller for HP products, and we integrate various solutions for our customers. One of the areas that I work with is implementing storage solutions, and this is one of the products that my customers use.

This solution is used to emulate data relief for an MSL4048 and is deployed on-premises.

The solution would be improved if it could also be used as a data store for VMware. Not only as a backup repository but as an archiving data store for VMware.

We have implemented this solution for a number of customers, and they are happy with the stability.

There are several models of this device, and we have supplied our customers based on their requirements. Up to this point, they are still using the same models and we have not had to assist anyone with scaling this solution.

As far as HPE support is concerned, I don't have any issues with them. For the most part, I am coordinating with them. We normally handle the support for our customers or contact HPE support on their behalf.

The initial setup of this solution is quite easy for me. The implementation is straightforward.

The setup and configuration will only take about half a day, but the testing will take a little more time. You have to monitor the performance of the disk and the emulated data. In total, it will take perhaps two days to complete everything, including a backup and restore.

For anybody looking for a robust backup solution that emulates a tape library, this is the product that they should go for. The only thing is that they cannot remove the data because it is appliance-based. They cannot, for example, manually remove the tape and bring it to another location. They would need to use replication for this.

This product is not perfect, but I am quite satisfied with it.

I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.

It's easy to backup data, manage. Also I did a lot of firmware upgrades that went fine. And it's a product that's been running now for nearly three years without any issues. So that's all very good.

I do not spend as much time on it because we can virtualize the tape drives and use Catalyst functions. Not nearly as many tapes or anything like that. Easily, man-hours have been cut down.

We have a contract for the next release. We haven't received that product yet. 

I expect the same thing from it. Not anything new, just a bigger solution when we try it. I don't see any new features that we could want or anything that could be done along those lines. Just that we need a bigger machine, so more speed.

Stability is within our expectations.

We did some calculations on, when it says in the sales sheet that we got this number of terabytes, but the system itself uses some terabytes. So what we ended up with was having 10 or 11 terabytes less than HP actually said that it would contain. We had a lot of discussion about that with our distributors and sales persons. That's just how it is.

It's been good. We had run full, "full-cup" time, and I called HPE support and I believe in two or three hours we had the problem solved.

Sometimes we have to talk to level-2, but that goes okay.

The solution was that we could use Catalyst software, which would say that we don't need this many virtual tape drives. We could just clamp it down to one file drive or share and put everything in there.

What we were looking for was something that would work together with HPE Data Protector, the software. Actually, the problem was that we couldn't find any competitors for this because HPE data only supports this. So we actually ended up having to buy it if we wanted the feature.

It was nice. Straightforward. No issues.

EMC, I can't remember what it's called, but they have a booster technology software also. We chose HPE because we had Data Protector. So we needed that to integrate into the StoreOnce.

Think about how much you need to backup compared to how much storage you need when you size. The sizing is critical because you end up using more than you think.

The product itself, nice features, it works, and it's been running stable.

StoreOnce gives us full-system backups, meaning we need less storage capacity. This is very important to us because less storage capacity means we buy less hardware and have less overall costs.

Not only do we need less storage capacity, but it also performs backups a lot quicker. We save money this way as well because it saves us time which can be better spent elsewhere.

Although we're very happy with it right now, the encryption could be better. Security of our backups, of course, is very important.

We have no issues with deployment.

It's very stable. We've only had one small problem since the implementation.

We're not using anywhere close to what we have. We've designed it to allow for our five-year growth. We're not there yet.

We try to avoid technical support because it's "entertaining", though I'd use different words to describe it.

The initial setup was straightforward.

HP implemented the solution, but it's fine if you go at it on your own. The thing is, if you run into problems, then you have to deal with HP support, which is something I wouldn't advise anyone to do.

We are a BAU house, so our focus is on keeping the business running. We don't have the skill set of an American architect who scoped out the project. We've partnered with an HP partner who does have the skill set once we purchased StoreOnce.

Make sure you run a proper POC. It's a pretty straightforward solution so long as it's configured right from the start.

StoreOnce has the following advantages:

• Fast backup
• No need to manage and store tapes
• Ability to run data straight from the device in case of a disaster
• Reliable compared to weekly problems with tapes
• The data is replicated to two remote locations

We have moved away from tape backup.

I've used it for one year.

We had one problem when data replication got stuck and we had to ask HP for help.

No issues encountered.

It's very good.

It's very good.

We only used a tape solution. We switched because tapes are too slow, prone to mechanical problems, tape management is a burden, and the time taken to do a restore is slow.

It was easy. Also I did HPs StoreOnce training.

HP installed the device for us, and showed us various configuration options. The team was very knowledgeable.

The initial cost was high, however, day to day costs are low.

I could not find a better product.

It is worth buying HP installation. It is difficult to estimate how much storage is needed as de-duplication depends on the type of data, so reserve extra money for expansions, and buy a model which can be expanded. Also, the StoreOnce course is very good.