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it_user527286 - PeerSpot reviewer
Director Of IT at Wyrick Robbins Yates & Ponton LLP
Vendor
There is no latency whatsoever. It is stable and fully redundant.

How has it helped my organization?

It reduced the overall latency in our Citrix infrastructure. We have a pretty robust Citrix infrastructure. Before putting in the All Flash FAS, end users would see a lot of latency. That's been the biggest improvement, along with a lot of improvement in the overall performance of our SAN and a few other data intensive applications.

There was noticeable latency before the All Flash FAS. Since the All Flash FAS, it is extremely fast, no latency whatsoever.

What needs improvement?

I would basically just like to see improvements with the reporting; consolidating metrics, performance and any sort of issues. Right now, there are a lot of different tools, a lot of different places to go to see the overall health of the system. I would like one place, a dashboard, to see everything. I know there are some things that NetApp has released and are releasing, but we haven't gotten to the point where we've implemented those yet.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is extremely stable; never had any down time or issues with it. It's fully redundant. All of the updates have pretty much been non-interruptive; it’s an extremely stable platform.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It scales out well. It’s a new All Flash FAS and we looked at the overall capacities that we needed before. It's only been in place for about six months. From a scalability perspective, we know that it will scale out if we need it to, but it's a new implementation, so no issues or anything like that.

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NetApp AFF
March 2025
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How are customer service and support?

So far, we haven't needed to use technical support for this one, yet.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We did not previously use a different solution. We were a NetApp shop before that, but we were using a different controller and we weren't an All Flash FAS shop. We could see the latency. We used all the utilities, so we could see what was going on, the need and how it would help our business.

How was the initial setup?

Initial setup is generally straightforward, but NetApp has good technical articles and guidance on moving from one NetApp controller to another NetApp controller. It was pretty straightforward for the most part.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We looked at a number of other flash systems and solutions for our latency issues. At the end of the day, we just decided to continue and move forward with another NetApp controller.

Reliability and availability are the most important criteria for me when selecting a vendor to work with. We need them to be available. There are a lot of vendors out there that have a lot of people, but if you're building a reputation and you can't get the people you need, then it's a problem, regardless of how good the controller is.

What other advice do I have?

It does what it’s meant to do; works extremely well in our environment. We have multiple data centers and the replication works really well. Overall, it's pretty easy to use.

Look at your individual company's needs. In general, look at your nice-to-haves and must-haves, and then weigh the options and see what works best. NetApp has been a great, established company. We've had a good relationship with NetApp for a long time and so we would recommend them to a colleague.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user527358 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior System Administrator at a media company with 51-200 employees
Vendor
The speed and stability are the two most valuable features.

What is most valuable?

The speed and stability are the two most valuable features. I've definitely have seen a huge increase in speed and bandwidth from when we've put it in production; it's been great.

How has it helped my organization?

We use a lot of bandwidth in our company, so user experience is really improved because of that. The IOPS are high enough that there's no latency anymore.

What needs improvement?

I’d just like to see them continue down the road of increased storage capabilities, bigger SSDs, and bigger flash. That's a problem for us; we use a lot of storage, PBs of storage. We definitely need to keep leveraging, expanding and increasing.

I haven’t rated it higher because we haven't had it enough to vet it. So far, it's been great; haven't had any issues at all with it. Then again, we've only had it in production for a few months. We just need more experience with it.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using it for 6-9 months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Since we've had it in the last 6-9 months, we’ve not had a problem at all with it. It's been great.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We haven't really scaled it yet. From what I've seen, it looks like it won't be a problem if we need to go down that road.

How are customer service and technical support?

We have not had to use technical support yet thankfully, other than original installation.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Before we implemented the All-Flash FAS, we had, and still have, a mixed environment of mostly Hitachi and Dot Hill. We also have LTO tape storage that we implement. I'm all over the board.

Even though I was not involved in the decision process to invest in the All-Flash FAS, we selected NetApp and the All-Flash FAS because of the speed of the flash, the reliability and the stability; it stays up.

How was the initial setup?

Initial setup was just racking and stacking, basically; that was about it. Rack and stack is very straightforward; we had help from technical support to cable it. From that point on, it was pretty easy.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I wasn't involved in the decision-making process, so I'm not sure who else we were looking at, at the time.

What other advice do I have?

I would definitely recommend it. I think it's a great road to go down. Like I’ve mentioned, I haven't had any problems with it. The two things we were looking for, it does excellently.

The most important criteria for me when selecting a vendor to work with are availability and knowledge: if something helps me go down the right path and pick it, if someone gives the pros and cons for everything we need, and be able to get a hold of them when I need to get a hold of them.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
NetApp AFF
March 2025
Learn what your peers think about NetApp AFF. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2025.
842,767 professionals have used our research since 2012.
it_user352080 - PeerSpot reviewer
Head of Data Center at a consumer goods company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Vendor
We needed something faster than NFC, and we now have a 30 second latency, down from 60 seconds. However, we had a few problems implementing the devices due to a lack of training.

What is most valuable?

It uses multiple protocols and has all the implementation protocols that other products do not. We use CIFS.

How has it helped my organization?

We needed something faster than NFC, and we now have a 30 second latency, down from 60 seconds.

What needs improvement?

It’s too early to know the features exactly, as we get what we need. We do need, however, more training, which NetApp wasn't able to provide.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have two devices, and have been using them for two weeks so far. We use it for VDI and Citrix. At the moment we are thinking of putting other workloads onto them.

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

We've had no issues with deploying it.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's stable and we've had no stability issues.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It scales as we can just plug in more devices.

How are customer service and technical support?

Customer Service:

Customer service is great.

Technical Support:

No matter the time of day or night, technical support will always try to help.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We ran VDI on EMC for five years, and it ran out of performance so we had to offload. We then decided to turn to NetApp AFF.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was straightforward and easy, but we had a few problems implementing the devices due to a lack of training and the fact that it was a very urgent implementation.

What about the implementation team?

We had great support from NetApp, but we did not do too much training. We have good knowledge of NetApp cDot. It took us a few days to install and configure.


Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We looked at XtremIO, Dell, Pure Storage, and Nutanix. We already have a NetApp environment, so it met our needs, and it was an urgent decision. There was no option, and we didn’t want to change back to block storage.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user351144 - PeerSpot reviewer
Consultant at Grand Consult
Consultant
It allows us to shrink the maintenance windows and downtime, although it would be great to combine all the software solutions together under a single GUI.

What is most valuable?

  • Clustered Data ONTAP
  • Snapshot implementation for SAP

How has it helped my organization?

It allows us to shrink the maintenance windows and downtime. It provides faster replications between systems because of the installed flash.

What needs improvement?

ONTAP has a lot of features that are really great, so I don’t think there is something missing that I'd like to have.

However, the best way to improve would be to have better management over the solutions globally (not a part of the software OnCommand, VFA, etc. installed). It would be great to combine all the software solutions together under a single GUI and people can just activate different features as they buy a license as apposed new installs each time.

For how long have I used the solution?

We've been using it for four months in a multiple system environment with a lot of small writes. This was installed for an SAP HANA system as the persistency layer.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

There has been no downtime yet -- perfect stability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It scales to our needs.

How are customer service and technical support?

10/10

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We didn't have anything similar in use previously.

How was the initial setup?

It's a straightforward and easy setup. It was guided and we had the documents to install it. It took around two days of racking, stacking, and installation.

What about the implementation team?

I did the implementation myself.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We looked also looked at EF from NetApp and chose AFF because of the snapshot technology.

What other advice do I have?

It's definitely worth it if you need the speed.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
reviewer2560548 - PeerSpot reviewer
Infrastructure Engineer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Real User
Top 20
Adopting one device for all those services saves power in the data center while simplifying management because you don't need to manage two different systems
Pros and Cons
  • "I work on the infrastructure engineering side. I usually get to install NetApp appliances, and I like how easy the installation is. It seems to be easier than other technologies that we use."
  • "NetApp could offer more training for new learners because it's a relatively new product portfolio to me."

What is our primary use case?

We use both NetApp's FAS and AFF solutions. It's a hybrid that we use for FileMaker. 

Our use case is to implement it for our clients.

How has it helped my organization?

NetApp enables us to consolidate file and block storage into one device instead of using separate devices. Adopting one device for all those services saves power in the data center while simplifying management because you don't need to manage two different systems. We save power costs at the rack site. 

One technology we hope to acquire is ransomware detection. We have block, file, and object storage, but we don't have ransomware protection. We need a second off-site disaster recovery location. 

What is most valuable?

I work on the infrastructure engineering side. I usually get to install NetApp appliances, and I like how easy the installation is. It seems to be easier than other technologies that we use. 

What needs improvement?

NetApp could offer more training for new learners because it's a relatively new product portfolio to me. 

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We have used HPE and Dell EMC. Previously, we used Dell ECS for object storage and Dell PowerStore for block storage. NetApp enabled us to unify our storage services.

What other advice do I have?

I rate NetApp solutions eight out of 10.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
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PeerSpot user
reviewer2304675 - PeerSpot reviewer
Storage Architect
Real User
An efficient solution that helps with SQL workloads
Pros and Cons
  • "The tool's most valuable feature is efficiency."
  • "The Bezels need improvement."

What is our primary use case?

We use the solution for IBM and SQL workloads. 

What is most valuable?

The tool's most valuable feature is efficiency. 

What needs improvement?

The Bezels need improvement. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the product for six years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

NetApp AFF's stability, reliability, availability, and performance are top-notch. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is scalable. 

How are customer service and support?

NetApp AFF's support is good. 

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

The tool's deployment is easy. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I am comfortable with the pricing, which is fair compared to others. 

What other advice do I have?

We wanted to enhance performance with the solution's implementation. 

We were able to simplify the infrastructure and get high performance for our business. It has reduced operational latency. 

We have been able to optimize costs by 40 percent. 

NetApp AFF has helped us with power saving by reducing the footprint of the data center. 

I rate it a nine out of ten. 

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1784157 - PeerSpot reviewer
System Administrator at a leisure / travel company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Data retrieval speed has improved and management of volumes is easy
Pros and Cons
  • "The speed of data retrieval is the most valuable feature. We mostly use it for our SAP database and we are getting good IO from the hard drive."

    What is our primary use case?

    We are using it for storage.

    How has it helped my organization?

    Before, retrieving data or searching for something on the application would take some time. But since we migrated to NetApp, retrieving of the data happens quickly. It's fast.

    In addition, we can easily manage the volumes on the NetApp application. We are getting very good, high performance and it has simplified our data management jobs, such as creating volumes. If our hard drive fails, we can reinitialize the process, and do many other things. It's very helpful.

    NetApp has helped to reduce support issues due to performance or troubleshooting as we do not have such issues. We have not faced any performance issues since installing this device.

    In addition, the ONTAP data management software has simplified our operations. We use it for high-availability of our file system. If any hard drive goes down, it will automatically be recovered.

    We use NetApp AFF to support cloud integration and SAP Oracle. It has made the Oracle WebLogic site very fast and we can deploy the machines very easily. We can assign storage to the server visually, and use it to manage the storage.

    What is most valuable?

    The speed of data retrieval is the most valuable feature. We mostly use it for our SAP database and we are getting good IO from the hard drive.

    Also, NetApp AFF helps simplify data management with unified data services across SAN and NAS environments.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have been using the NetApp AFF A400 system for the last three months.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    We have had no issues with its stability. It has been up 100 percent of the time since we installed it.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    We can increase the storage if needed.

    Currently, 60 percent of our storage is in NetApp. Another 20 percent is in HPE, and we use Synology storage for the NAS.

    How are customer service and support?

    Their support is very good. Whenever I have contacted them, whoever has dealt with me has been good.

    But the cost of support is quite high.

    How would you rate customer service and support?

    Positive

    Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

    Our HPE system was old so we switched to a new one.

    What about the implementation team?

    The deployment was not complex, but it was done by our vendor team. Still, it was easy. It was not a big deal.

    Our experience with our vendor team was good. They are quite a good technical team with good knowledge.

    What was our ROI?

    We only installed it three months ago so it's too soon to talk about ROI.

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    There is room for improvement when it comes to the cost. The cost is very high compared to other devices. The HPE storage we used before was less expensive. NetApp is also more expensive than Dell EMC.

    Which other solutions did I evaluate?

    We evaluated Dell EMC and HPE storage.

    The NetApp interface was very easy, as was managing things. Our experience with HPE, which we used before, was that it was quite a complex system to manage when it comes to the storage and volumes.

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    SystemsE2a93 - PeerSpot reviewer
    Systems Engineer Manager at a hospitality company with 10,001+ employees
    Real User
    It has sped up our IOPS and made it a lot easier for users
    Pros and Cons
    • "We have SQL clusters across the United States. It has sped up our IOPS and made it a lot easier for users."
    • "I would like them to roll in global monitoring instead of having to buy another product for it."
    • "The initial setup was a little complex, because we weren't very knowledgeable in the NetApp at the time. We were using a third-party, and they didn't have a lot of technical individuals, so it took a while to get it out."

    What is our primary use case?

    We do storage across the United States.

    How has it helped my organization?

    We have SQL clusters across the United States. It has sped up our IOPS and made it a lot easier for users.

    What is most valuable?

    • Uptime
    • Ease of use

    What needs improvement?

    I would like them to roll in global monitoring instead of having to buy another product for it. If it was built into the solution, that would be awesome.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    We haven't had any issues, so far.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    We are scaling up to the new solution. We haven't had a lot of scalability yet. We are looking forward to what it can do.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    Our technical support experience hasn't been very good. However, we are hoping with our new contract that it will be a lot better.

    Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

    We were using HPE EVAs, which are very clunky and old, so we moved over to NetApp.

    We were just bought out by another company who has been using Dell EMC. They're not happy with that solution, so we brought them into NetApp.

    How was the initial setup?

    The initial setup was a little complex, because we weren't very knowledgeable in the NetApp at the time. We were using a third-party, and they didn't have a lot of technical individuals, so it took a while to get it out.

    What about the implementation team?

    We used a reseller, EVOLTECH. It has been okay so far. There are not a lot of technical individuals with their group.

    What was our ROI?

    From an application standpoint, we have seen a lot of return investment on the speeds and responsiveness of the actual storage.

    Which other solutions did I evaluate?

    NetApp and Pure Storage were on our final shortlist. NetApp just came in with a better price point that my VPs and CIO couldn't refuse.

    What other advice do I have?

    Do your research. There are a lot of different storage vendors who have a lot things which are good. Pick the one that you feel is best for you.

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
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    Updated: March 2025
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