NetApp AFF - All Flash Reviews

We primarily use it for storage for VMs and backup units.

We use this solution on a daily basis. In Sweden, typically small to medium-sized companies use this solution.

MetroCluster functions, SnapMirror functionality, and ease-of-use are the most valuable functions for us.

Their backup software could be improved.

In the next release, I would like to see a complete S3 protocol. Also better compatibility and integration with VM-ware.

I have been using AFF since its release.

Nowadays, AFF is very scalable — ever since they implemented the ClusterMode. I think it's very easy to scale, both up and out. It's also very stable.

They provide different types of support. When an accident happens that impacts your business, they respond very fast and give very good help. Sometimes, when you have problems with their software, it can take a long time — that should be improved. Overall, their top functions, operating systems, the storage controller, they are very strongly enforced.

The initial setup is very simple. How much time it takes depends on the size and what the initial setup should be. It can be a long process.

We do everything from the initial setup, to the integration with system backups, the whole chain, including the hardware, the software, the daily work, as well as the daily administration as well.

It depends on how you look at things, but they are in a higher price range.

They have different license models. You can get a license model where everything is included, but you can also purchase more licensing and buy what you need. It really depends on what you buy.

I would absolutely recommend this solution to other companies.

The flash pool and flash cache features are most valuable to us because they automate storage tiering combine HDDs and SSDs.

It's highly integrated with VMware and it's very fast. We have reduced latency from 100 milliseconds to just 1 millisecond.

8.3 is not as stable as 7-Mode as it gets stuck every once in a while.

We've used it for three to four months for OLTP and our Oracle database.

We've had no issues with deployment.

8.3 gets stuck every once in a while.

It scales to our leads.

9/10

We moved because of the latency.

It's easy. If you know NetApp, it’s actually easier than 7-Mode.

We did it in-house.

We didn't evaluate any other options.

It makes things fast, but not as fast as IBM flash. Try it on real loads before you buy.

It has a high quality of integration that is way beyond the competition. 

Its efficiency and scalability are the most valuable features.

The scaling needs improvement. NetApp is limited for scaling options. 

With other options, you need to buy a couple of different products to achieve the same outcome.

In comparison to other options, NetApp is the most complete. It is the single software choice that can give you every option that you need in the enterprise world.

SnapMirror is definitely the most valuable feature for us. It allows us to have a snapshot in minutes and we can use it to restore quickly from a backup.

Also, the speed of AFF is great.

We use it for automating cloud deployments of SAP applications and products.

They have issues with deleting big data.

We've been using it since September.

We encountered no deployment issues.

It's generally stable.

It scales to our needs.

Technical support were helpful, but it took time to find the right person to help me. It started with a service rep in India, and was passed to three people until we found the right person with the correct knowledge. I give them a 7 out of 10.

It's our first flash storage solution.

I wasn't involved, but those who were told me it was easy.

Don’t implement if it's not needed because it’s quite expensive. We need it because of the demanding features.

• Clustered Data ONTAP for our VMs
• Search efficiency
• Unified storage multi-protocol 
• We went from fiber channel to NFS and we had to buy a new controller.

We were able to migrate from a flash pool to AFF very effectively and efficiently.

They need to decrease the latency and to improve the transmission in PNE STE using compression. We need to add a non-AFF note to do this at the moment.

We've used it for six months for our Oracle databases.

We've had no issues with deploying it.

It's very stable.

It scales to our needs.

10/10. I ask for Jeffrey who works at NetApp.

We used a flash pool, and switched to improve performance.

The initial setup was straightforward.

We implemented it through the NetApp team, who were good.

No other options were evaluated.

Before buying, look at the migration plans. Try it and buy it.

ADP (advanced drive partitioning), which eases capacity management on smaller capacity platforms. Great performance for OLTP systems.

The Oracle workload, which was previously deployed on physical servers with direct-attached storage, has greatly improved mostly with transaction processing speed. Latency has been almost eliminated on protocol and physical disk layer.

Mostly security-related bugs on various DATA ONTAP for c-DOT versions. No comments on the physical platform itself.

Since October 2015 (10 months).

Configuring ADP seemed a bit more difficult than traditional aggregate setup.

Most of our current solutions are based on spinning media and hybrid solutions. Due to the greater performance improvement on flash systems, the higher number of IOPS and less latency on the storage back end, I would recommend deploying performance-dependent workloads on SSD platforms.

The initial setup was straight-forward with the exception of the ADP aggregate setup and spare drive management.

Implemented in-house.

Carefully estimate the IOPS profile of the workload that is going to be deployed on AFF as it is optimized for random I/O.