NetApp FAS Series Reviews and Pricing

it_user829644

Berater with 11-50 employees

Mar 4, 2018

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Ability to use mirroring and SnapVault have made backup no longer necessary

Pros and Cons

"Ability to use mirroring and SnapVault have made backup no longer necessary."

"The WAFL is slow."
"The adoption of flash by NetApp has also been lagging behind the trendsetters, like TMS, Nimble, and others."

What is our primary use case?

The primary use case is for standard CIFS/SMB file storage for Windows Clients in an ADS environment.

How has it helped my organization?

Samba on Solaris was a nightmare. Our situation improved with no Windows file servers, but at about 30 million files/folders, snapshot and backup functionality started to make trouble.

What is most valuable?

Snapshots for user self-service restore
Ability to use mirroring and SnapVault have made backup no longer necessary.

What needs improvement?

The WAFL is slow.
The adoption of flash by NetApp has also been lagging behind the trendsetters, like TMS, Nimble, and others.

Buyer's Guide

NetApp FAS Series

April 2025

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For how long have I used the solution?

Three to five years.

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

it_user330924

IT Infrastructure Architect at a energy/utilities company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Oct 29, 2015

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We're able to scale out with cDOT, although, depending on the use case, it needs a service catalogue you can walk through without having to use SE.

Valuable Features

High Availability
Reliability

Improvements to My Organization

Reliability
Performance level
Great history with it, and over the last two and a half years, it's been etter than others

Room for Improvement

Depending on the use case, it needs a service catalogue you can walk through without having to use SE.

Stability Issues

It's been great, and there's been no issues.

Scalability Issues

With cDOT, it's very easy to scale out, and that's the reason we went with it in the first place.

Customer Service and Technical Support

It's been great, and any issues have been taken care of right away.

Initial Setup

It was very straightforward and easy.

Other Advice

Pick your partner wisely, as they have a lot in your success. Go with someone with a history in FAS. Also, go with vendor that buys reference architecture and follows the methodology.

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

Buyer's Guide

NetApp FAS Series

April 2025

Free Report: NetApp FAS Series Reviews and More

Learn what your peers think about NetApp FAS Series. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2025.

DOWNLOAD NOW

849,335 professionals have used our research since 2012.

it_user520506

Storage Administrator with 1,001-5,000 employees

Nov 23, 2017

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Valuable features include thin provisioning, simple management, and fast snapshots

Pros and Cons

"Fast Snapshots"

"With scalability, we feel the system is limited."

What is most valuable?

Fast Snapshots
Thin provisioning
Simple management

What needs improvement?

With scalability, we feel the system is limited.

For how long have I used the solution?

From 2013 until now; four years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

No issues. The system is rather stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Yes, we have encountered issues. The system is limited by the number of enclosures.

How are customer service and technical support?

The tech support is very good. We use a third party support.

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

Previously, we used VNX5300 NAS. We found this one better suited to our needs.

How was the initial setup?

Initial setup was straightforward, not very complicated.

What about the implementation team?

We used a third-party for setup.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

No, we did not. We were given direction from the University.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend it to anyone. It is good for some of the NAS and VMware implementations.

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

it_user627942

IT Infrastructure Manager at a financial services firm with 201-500 employees

Aug 6, 2018

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Resilient storage but latency and IOPS could be better

Pros and Cons

"I would like to see less latency and higher IOPS."

What is our primary use case?

We use it for storage and it has performed fine, but now we need to upgrade.

What is most valuable?

We like its resilience. It's reliable storage.

What needs improvement?

I would like to see less latency and higher IOPS.

For how long have I used the solution?

More than five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Stability is very good.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I'm satisfied with the scalability.

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

We did our research and, at the time, NetApp was what we chose. Our most important criterion when selecting a vendor is reliability. The price is, obviously, always an issue but reliability and the quality of the product are most important.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was very, very straightforward.

What other advice do I have?

If you need reliability, definitely go for NetApp.

I rate it at seven out of 10 because it has been very reliable but not very good when it comes to IOPS and latency.

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