Pure Storage FlashArray //x20 R2 - flash storage array
Mfg # FA-X20R2-ETH-76TB-38/38-SMEZZ
CDW # 5263313
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FlashArray offers exceptional block storage value for general purpose consolidation - and it's effortless, efficient, and evergreen.
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Pure Storage FlashArray //x20 R2 - flash storage array is rated
4.73 out of
5 by
26.
Rated 5 out of
5 by
reviewer1356243 from
Easy to set up and deploy with a good user interface
What is most valuable?
The experience has been very good so far for the company. It's very fast and it's very easy to configure the storage.
It's very efficient.
The snapshot feature is great. It's very easy to apply. You can see present error applications by going back using snapshot. It's very good for the company.
We haven't had any problems with it in the time we've used it.
I like the user interface.
Support has been helpful.
We have no issues with pricing.
Integration is easy.
The initial setup is simple. It's easy to deploy using the whitepapers on offer.
The compression is quite good compared to other options.
What needs improvement?
We would like to be able to connect to data tape for backup, specifically to the LTO backups.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution for three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is good and we haven't had any issues with it. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability is possible. It's pretty simple to just add more storage as needed. We plan to do so next year. Our impression is that it will be an easy process.
We have about 2,000 users at this time. It may even be as high as 10,000 when you factor in academic users.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support has been good. We haven't had any issues so far with them. We are satisfied with the level of service.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
In the past, we had an IBM storage device, however, when we compare this old storage with the Flash Pure, it's just so much better.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is very simple. We have experience in using the storage and using the new Flash Pure Storage is even easier. It's quite an intuitive solution, which makes the setup process a breeze.
It takes about six months to move from old to new storage.
There are seven people on half that can handle the deployment process.
What about the implementation team?
Our organization did use an IT consultant to assist us with the implementation.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing is okay. We pay to license on a yearly basis. It's just a standard fee with no extra costs.
What other advice do I have?
We are a user and a customer.
While right now we are using an on-premises deployment, we likely will move to the cloud.
I'd rate the solution at a ten out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-01-08T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
reviewer1192911 from
Straightforward implementation, useful deduplication, and helpful support
What is our primary use case?
We are using Pure Storage FlashArray for all of our data. We use the deduplication feature and it is working well.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features in Pure Storage FlashArray are deduplication and active cluster.
What needs improvement?
The solution could improve by having a multi-tenant feature.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been Pure Storage FlashArray for approximately two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Pure Storage FlashArray is very stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have not had an issue with the scalability of Pure Storage FlashArray.
We plan to increase the usage of this solution.
How are customer service and support?
The support has been very good from Pure Storage FlashArray.
How was the initial setup?
The solution is simple to implement. It's a new kind of storage, it is very easy to use. It is similar to NetApp, it is straightforward.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We purchased a license to use this solution and we pay for the storage ourselves.
What other advice do I have?
It is a very good product.
I rate Pure Storage FlashArray a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-01-08T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
reviewer1177155 from
Reliable and user-friendly with good technical support
What is our primary use case?
We primarily use the solution for general block storage. Usually, the storage product owners are the users.
What is most valuable?
It's just very easy for general block storage. Generally, the ease of use is what customers comment on. It's very user-friendly.
The initial setup is very straightforward.
Scalability is possible. You can expand the solution.
The stability and reliability are great.
Technical support has been helpful in general.
What needs improvement?
The solution needs an integrated NAS platform, file platform. The file functionality could be better.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been dealing with the solution for a couple of years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable and reliable. The performance is good. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We find the product to be quite scalable. If a company needs to expand it, it can do so.
The solution is extensively used. Likely usage will increase in the future.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support is great. They are helpful and responsive. We're quite satisfied with the level of support they offer customers.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I used to work with Hitachi and switched to this product for ease of use and for performance.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is very straightforward and simple. It's not overly complex.
The actual startup and deployment take about half a day.
What was our ROI?
From an ROI standpoint, if you consider compression and de-duplication and all that, you get a pretty good ratio.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing of the product is very competitive to others in the market for Flash and NVMe storage. That covers the cost of hardware and support.
What other advice do I have?
I'm a reseller.
I'd advise potential users to try it out and consider it as an option.
I'd rate the solution at a nine out of ten based on the overall performance, scalability, and reliability.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-01-13T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
reviewer1359597 from
Easy to use, has excellent support, and a large variety of features
What is our primary use case?
Pure Storage FlashArray is our main SAN solution. It's for SAN for service for data storage.
What is most valuable?
It is very easy to use.
The speed is one of the most valuable features of Pure Storage FlashArray.
It's a brilliant solution with brilliant support.
Pure Storage FlashArray has a lot of features.
What needs improvement?
The price could be better.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Pure Storage FlashArray for three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Pure Storage FlashArray is an absolutely stable solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It's a highly scalable product.
In our organization, we have 1,500 users.
We have plans to increase the usage.
How are customer service and support?
The support is excellent.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We were also using other technologies such as EMC, and Hitachi. We were using various other SAN storage systems. It was approximately three years ago.
We switched to Pure Storage FlashArray because it was easier to administer, and it is very powerful and fast.
How was the initial setup?
It is not difficult to install.
It only requires one admin to maintain this solution.
What about the implementation team?
As it's a SAN, it's a corporate solution, that requires experts.
What was our ROI?
It can be costly, but the return on our investment is extremely high.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Price is always an area that could be improved.
There are no licensing fees or other costs.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We have reviewed other solutions. We looked at a variety of options.
What other advice do I have?
I would encourage them to try the solution.
I would rate Pure Storage FlashArray a 10 out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-01-13T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
GianpaoloMazzola from
Fast performance, good read-response times, and all of the features are included
What is our primary use case?
We are a solution provider and the Pure Storage FlashArray is one of the products that we implement for our customers. I have installed three of them in the past month.
The primary use case for this product is high-performance storage.
What is most valuable?
This is the best all-flash storage array on the market. They were the first brand that provided access directly from CPU to memory to disk.
What needs improvement?
This product has only two active controllers, whereas other solutions can have more. This is something that needs to improve.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The Pure Storage FlashArray is very stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
This is a scalable product but not as much as the Infinidat InfiniBox. That solution is more expandable.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have approximately 20 years of experience with enterprise solutions. These include various hyper-converged systems, all-flash storage systems, business continuity, and disaster recovery solutions for data assurance.
My experience is with products from a lot of different vendors. These include IBM, Dell EMC, Pure, Infinidat, and others.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The best features come included without any additional cost.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
The InfiniBox is more expandable than Pure FlashArray. InfiniBox is more for big data than the Pure product.
The suitability of this solution depends on the customer's environment. Depending on the use case, we propose the right product. Pure Storage is not better than InfiniBox and InfiniBox is not better than Pure Storage.
In comparing products, I would rate Pure FlashArray an eight out of ten, InfiniBox a seven out of ten, Dell EMC products receive a six out of ten, and all of the other all-flash storage systems that I have experience with would be rated a five out of ten.
With PowerMax, there is a big difference in cost when you start adding more features.
The Pure Storage solution has only two active controllers and one passive controller. InfiniBox has three active controllers, and PowerMax can have up to six active storage controllers.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.
Disclaimer: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:Implementer
Date published: 2022-01-06T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
SajithEruvangai from
User-friendly, fast performance, good data compression and deduplication capabilities
What is our primary use case?
We are in the health industry and use this product for block storage. We have VMware hosted on our Pure FlashArrays and we have a Citrix environment. We also have Oracle running as our SQL database. Our VMs run from Pure.
We have also done a couple of PoCs with the Blade solution for using the file share system.
How has it helped my organization?
One of the requirements from our developers and test and development team is that from time to time, they want to clone the production environment. We are able to accomplish this within seconds, using a script. This is one of the best parts that I have seen. This feature is not available with other storage solutions.
What is most valuable?
Performance-wise, it is giving us a very good result.
We are happy with the data compression and deduplication capabilities.
The interface is user-friendly and very easy to use.
Taking a snapshot and cloning data is very easy to do. We can create a script and it will clone the environment. Similarly, we can replicate the environment from one site to another site, and we can restore the environment where we choose.
The management features are well organized and they have a very good dashboard. For example, I can see all of the utilization and it has port monitoring capabilities. With other storage vendors, multiple tools are required for this, and there is an additional charge.
What needs improvement?
Data reduction is an area that needs improvement. There is a garbage collection service that runs but during that time, system utilization increases.
Integration with VMware tools can be improved.
The reporting can be better.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using Pure Storage FlashArray for between five and six years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
This is a very stable product and we haven't had any downtime. We use this product extensively and I have seen that we have a 90% I/O load in our environment.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
This is a flexible system that is easy to scale.
We initially purchased two FlashArray systems. One of them was small or midsized, and the other was high-end. Then, later, we started upgrading. As per the Everygreen contract, we get free upgrades. Every three years, we get a new controller upgrade, free of cost.
We have also upgraded our capacity and now everything is on the X series. We have four FlashArrays in total and all of our database users are connected to them. The infrastructure and database teams are directly involved with it.
How are customer service and support?
The response from the technical support team is very good. We have not found any difficulties with their ability or engagement.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We have worked with solutions from HPE, IBM, and Hitachi. We don't work with any of these vendors now. We switched because Pure storage is much easier to manage. It is also more stable and it is very easy to work with.
For example, there is no shutdown procedure. If you want to power down the environment then you just unplug the power and that's it. Once you reconnect the power, it is up. With legacy storage, there is a shutdown procedure. You have to shut down the host, then the SAN switch, then the storage.
With legacy storage, there is also a procedure to bring it up. You have to power up the enclosures, then the controller, then the SAN environment, and then the server. We had to follow a long set of steps with more dependencies.
After a power outage, the storage devices from the other vendors did not always come back online. For example, we implemented a PoC with the IBM FlashSystem and a power outage occurred. The management tool crashed and did not come back up. We had to wait for IBM engineers to come and fix the issue. Whereas, with Pure, when the power came back on, the system came back online immediately.
The other storage systems were not as user-friendly. For example, I had a Hitachi G600 and I wanted to extend the block capacity. I had to spend between 30 minutes and one hour to complete it. It's quite complex. With Pure, that would be taken care of in seconds by going to the console, selecting the volume, and performing the reset.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward and very easy.
The day that we received the box, we unpacked it, racked it, and configured it. The next day, we were able to utilize it for production.
Upgrading the hardware, such as performing a controller upgrade, is a seamless process. We are planning to do a major upgrade and it will be done on the fly.
What about the implementation team?
We engaged Pure to assist us with our implementation, and our experience with them was very good. The technical team came onsite for the deployment. If we have any problems then they will return to our site to help.
Only one person is required for deployment and maintenance.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
You can pay extra for Evergreen support, which gives you free upgrades when new features are introduced.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We completed a PoC with most of the leading brands.
What other advice do I have?
My advice for anybody who is considering this product is that I can recommend Pure. We were the first customer for Pure Storage in the UAE. It's stable, reliable, and you can trust it.
The biggest lesson that I have learned from using Pure FlashArray is that it's user-friendly, easy to manage, and very flexible. You can scale out and it's easy to upgrade. The upgrade process is not complex and it can be done on the fly, without any disruption.
My main complaint is that the garbage collection mechanism draws heavily on the resources. They have integration with VMware tools, although they can improve it slightly, and I would also like to see some improvements in the reporting.
We have been using it heavily and all of our people are happy with it. This includes the DBA team. Whenever we have a requirement of it, it's very easy and it can be done within seconds. With our previous storage solutions, we had to spend more time looking into problems and they were not user-friendly.
I would rate this solution a ten out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-01-06T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
reviewer1750026 from
Reliable, with excellent replication
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature is replication.
What needs improvement?
Areas for improvement would be the financial operations. In the next release, I would like to see a NAS protocol included.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been working with this solution for two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
This is a very stable solution.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support is very good.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
There are some additional costs.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate this solution as ten out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-01-05T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
reviewer1720275 from
Their replication across sites and response time are excellent
What is our primary use case?
FlashArray is our main repository for all our VMware.
What is most valuable?
We've been using FlashArray's snapshot for backups. Their replication across sites and response time are also excellent.
What needs improvement?
When we were doing some tests, we found that there was an I/O freeze when they were switching the controller.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using FlashArray for a year and a half.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
For our needs, the stability was very good.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability was also very good.
How was the initial setup?
The installation was pretty straightforward.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Pure Storage FlashArray eight out of 10.
Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2021-11-28T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
Prabakaran Kaliamurthi from
Has a unique shutdown process, high availability, and is user-friendly
What is our primary use case?
My primary use case of this solution is array management.
What is most valuable?
FlashArray has many valuable features. It's very user-friendly and it has high availability, so there is comparatively less downtime. During maintenance, there is no shutdown procedure, so you can directly power off the Array and manage the shutdown process without any data loss, which is a unique feature. Managing replication and data migration is also very easy.
What needs improvement?
FlashArray's capacity for forecasting should be improved because it needs to be a bit more current. I think it's bundled with the deduplication and other compression factors. We need more user interfaces for forecasting in this software and more interfaces need to be integrated with this array management tool.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with FlashArray for the past two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Compared to other products, this solution is more stable. We haven't had any performance issues. Oracle RAC and most of the Microsoft applications perform well on the block storage.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
This solution is easy to scale.
FlashArray is best suited to a large company. We provide any kind of hosting service in our region, so we have multiple customers hosted in our data center. The environment is large and we have more than 25 different customers and terabytes of data.
How are customer service and support?
I'm satisfied with the support. Comparatively, it matches with Windows. I don't see any difference in the levels of technical support.
How was the initial setup?
The initial configuration, the base configuration, is really simple. Compared to other products, it's really easy. The racking and stacking will take time, but that has more to do with the data center operations, not specifically the Pure Storage configuration. I'll say this: once the base configuration of the storage array is connected with those cables, once the IP is assigned, the setup process won't take long. It won't take more than 30 to 45 minutes to complete the base configuration, and then it will be ready for provisioning the contract data.
What about the implementation team?
We implemented through an in-house team. We are the service providers in this region, so we did it ourselves. We only engage vendors and their local partners if there is any hardware issue or hardware replacement we need delivered.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I think that the pricing is less expensive compared to other standard products in the market today. Even the support contract and maintenance services cost less when compared to market-leading products like EMC.
What other advice do I have?
Overall, this is a good product and I would recommend it. I rate it an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2021-11-29T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
reviewer1346454 from
Quick and responsive performance, good compression and deduplication features, responsive support
What is our primary use case?
This product is for database usage and consolidating performance.
How has it helped my organization?
The Pure Storage FlashArray provides us with faster data access. Our processing time is faster for tasks that used to take a long time before. Now, it's a lot quicker and more responsive.
What is most valuable?
The low latency and the performance, in general, are very good.
The compression and deduplication features help to make the best use of the capacity.
Replication and active-active features are available.
What needs improvement?
The system has dual controllers but does not have a high level of resiliency built-in. For what the peak says, I'm very happy with it. However, if you compare it to similar devices with multiple controllers that are scaled-out, it's not a true active-active.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Pure Storage FlashArray for approximately one year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Over the past year that we have been using it, the stability has been good. That said, we're still testing it. It is very low maintenance; on the Pure side, they don't have much involvement apart from a bit of monitoring.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We've not had to increase the capacity yet but it does have the flexibility to scale if we need to. At this point, we have 25,000 end-users and we don't expect that to increase. Our user base is fairly static.
How are customer service and support?
We have been in contact with technical support a couple of times. They are quick to respond and we are very happy with the customer support team.
The support plan makes it simple to plan ahead.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We have used other flash arrays in the past.
How was the initial setup?
This initial setup is very straightforward. A couple of hours on-site is all that was needed for the engineer to complete it. It took that long to make sure that everything was in place and available.
Overall, it is very simple.
For the deployment, we didn't need many people but we do have a wider storage team that deals with it.
What about the implementation team?
Installation was included with the purchase. We didn't do it ourselves.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
There are no licensing fees aside from the support. The support plan is simple and quite easy to understand, and it covers issues such as hardware failures.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We evaluated all of the options that were presented to us at the time, and Pure won.
What other advice do I have?
Feature-wise, there's nothing specific that is lacking for us at the moment. The features that are there now are really what we need.
Overall, this is a good product and I recommend it.
I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-01-16T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
reviewer1341297 from
Provides ease of management, reduces provisioning time, and is straightforward to deploy
What is our primary use case?
We use it for block storage workloads. We don't use a lot of the features on it.
How has it helped my organization?
It has reduced provisioning time. There is ease of management.
What is most valuable?
The availability and ease of use are the big features.
What needs improvement?
Larger capacity and more storage ports would be the two things I'd like to see.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with this solution for about three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It has been really stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
That's the only feature that isn't as good. It doesn't scale as large as some of the competitors, but they have started to make them bigger.
We probably have a dozen or so admins who use it, including me. I take care of its maintenance. It is pretty light in terms of maintenance.
It is being used extensively. We'll be increasing its usage. I'm on the networking side. Our IT group is a pretty heavy user too. Both of us will be increasing its usage, but their scale is a little bit bigger than ours.
How are customer service and support?
I would rate them really high. On a scale of one to five, I'd give them a four.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Dell EMC and NetApp would be the two big ones that we used before. We switched because of the cost and the ease of use. Those are the two big ones. In terms of the cost, a lot of it was just introducing a second vendor.
How was the initial setup?
Its setup was really straightforward. It took about half a day. It is pretty quick. All the cabling and facility stuff is usually the longest part.
What about the implementation team?
We had the vendor do most of it. It is like a team, and there is usually one installer guy. Our experience with them was great. Our account team with them is really good.
What other advice do I have?
Its setup is easier than you think. It is a pretty straightforward deployment.
They have been correcting a couple of things. One of them was that they didn't really scale that large. So, we had to deploy a lot of arrays. They have started to make them bigger now. In addition, until recently, they didn't do a file on the FlashArray. Now, you can share files on it. They recently implemented that, but we haven't tried it yet.
I would rate it a nine out of 10. It does everything we wanted to do.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-01-16T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
reviewer1352115 from
Meets our needs, and has good speed and good programmability
What is our primary use case?
At the moment, we're migrating our complete infrastructure onto Pure Storage. All of our storage is going onto it.
We are using its latest version.
What is most valuable?
I like the speed, and I like the API and how programmable it is.
What needs improvement?
Its price could be cheaper. It is not the cheapest one out there, but I'm not directly involved in the figures and negotiations.
In terms of features, we are really happy with it. We haven't had it long enough to give feedback on that.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for a year now.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
So far, it has been brilliant. We haven't really had it long enough to judge it.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It seems pretty good, but we haven't really tested it.
We have about a hundred users. We will possibly increase its usage. It will be done slowly.
How are customer service and support?
It has been really easy to use. Their support has been very helpful.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We were using another solution. We switched because it was very old, and we were looking at something that was an SSD.
How was the initial setup?
I was not involved in the initial setup. For its deployment, we had a couple of engineers.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
It is not the cheapest one out there. We're paying yearly, but I'm not 100% sure.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We evaluated Pure and NetApp, and we eventually went with Pure. A positive point with NetApp was the price.
What other advice do I have?
If it's financially viable for you and you can afford it, it's worth it.
I would rate it a nine out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-01-16T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
Alfadel Alharthy from
Effective provisioning, helpful support, and reliable
What is our primary use case?
We use Pure Storage FlashArray because of the increased demand for high IOPs for some of our internal applications that were required to read and write in faster sway.
How has it helped my organization?
This solution helped our organization a lot to increase the performance of reading and writing in the storage itself.
Our business is in the utility functionality where we are creating and maintaining IT service for our utility sector. We are an electricity and water company where we are consuming a large number of bandwidth regarding the bill cyclings, read and write from the meters in the fields. All of this data is stored in the same storage. Pure Storage FlashArray has helped us to improve the reporting and the billing cycle.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features of Pure Storage FlashArray are the management view of the solutions, ease of provision, and deprovision, it is fantastic.
What needs improvement?
I would like a feature to integrate with external or cloud solutions. For example, if I want to use this storage for a backup from the cloud, I want to have integration with the cloud vendors, such as Microsoft, Oracles, or Amazon. It could be available as an API to allow seamless integration. Additionally, the solution could improve by having native integration with a cloud provider, such as VMware or Microsoft, this would reduce the need to use third-party solutions to complete the task.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Pure Storage FlashArray for approximately three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I have found Pure Storage FlashArray to be stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Pure Storage FlashArray is scalable. However, I think we are reaching the maximum for the current version of the storage. We are looking for the advanced version, which is the X2 model.
We are a large company and the total number of end-users that are using the solution is approximately 3,000.
We are using Pure Storage FlashArray extensively in our organization. We use it for everything, such as binaries and databases. We plan to increase usage in the future.
How are customer service and support?
When we set up the solution we did not require a lot of support from the teams. The good thing about the support is they can access and upgrade the framework and all other aspects. However, the account managers from Pure Storage are not communicating very well with us. We want to talk to them about what features should be used, use cases, best practices, and other technical discussions. Additionally, we would like to know about the new features, the introduction of new technology in the storage itself.
It would be nice if they could communicate this information to us.
The support is very good. They always call us for technical upgrades and firmware. If we have any issues they log in and we open a session for them, and they help us. The only issue is the time zone difference between our time zone and their time zone.
I would rate the support from Pure Storage FlashArray a five out of five.
How was the initial setup?
Pure Storage FlashArray was straightforward and easy to set up. The full process took approximately two weeks.
I rate the initial setup of Pure Storage FlashArray a four out of five.
What about the implementation team?
We used a combination of implementation assistance. There was a remote team from Pure Storage and a local team from a general local partner that helped us.
There were three people who did the handling of the deployment. The management of the solution is completed by only one of our teams, only they can handle everything in the installation. There are engineers and architects that are part of the team.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price of the solution can be a bit expensive. There is an additional fee for support.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We were looking for a FlashArray solution, and at that time we compared the other products in the market. I found that Pure Storage, is a company that focuses only on storage and they are very specialized in this area. I tested the solution, we did a BOC for six months. After we did all the tests for all the scenarios for six months, we were very happy to move to the Pure Storage FlashArray.
We evaluated HP, EMC, and Oracle solutions.
The feature that impressed us with Pure Storage FlashArray was its ease of use and simplicity.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend this solution to others. It is very simple to use. Many people are looking for a solution from an engineering perspective, they want something very easy to use and that everybody can use it. They want a solution that does not require an expert engineer to operate it. A normal engineer can manage and handle it with ease. Reporting is very good in the storage it gives you an overview of everything, and it is very easy to provision, deprovision, especially when you have a cloud environment. It is easy to provision and deprovision when you have customers.
I rate Pure Storage FlashArray a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Microsoft Azure
Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-01-27T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
TolgaErgul from
Stable NVMe storage solution with an easy setup, lower response time, and good technical support
What is our primary use case?
Pure Storage FlashArray is applicable for virtual environments, e.g. CSS, VR, and YouTube platforms. It's an NVMe data storage platform.
What is most valuable?
One of the things I like about Pure Storage FlashArray is that it has a high data reduction average, e.g. 4.5.
Pure Storage FlashArray is also advantageous for data centers in terms of rack space for maximum capacity.
What needs improvement?
Many high-end platforms from other vendors like Dell EMC or Hitachi, their backend has Active/Active architecture, unlike Pure Storage FlashArray which doesn't utilize an Active/Active architecture on the backend. Instead, it has an Active/Passive architecture. Its frontend is Active/Active, but its backend is not. I see this as a disadvantage of this product.
The highest storage capacity of Pure Storage FlashArray is the petabyte, and it should be expanded. This is what I'd like to see in the next release.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
This product is stable. It's working very well. Our elementary response time is 0.5 milliseconds, and with 100,000 IOPS in our virtual environments.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support for Pure Storage FlashArray is good. Support is quick and responsible. We get quick responses from the team.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup for Pure Storage FlashArray was easy. It was completed within one hour.
What about the implementation team?
Pure Storage FlashArray was implemented by a local product solutions team.
What other advice do I have?
I'm working for a telecommunication company, and we use different products.
We have five people in our company working with this product.
My advice to people who want to implement Pure Storage FlashArray is that it's a good NVMe solution, has a lower response time, and also good for entry-level storage purposes, e.g. small offices, small to medium-sized business, etc. It's also easy to use, e.g. comparable to an iPhone in terms of ease of use. This solution also works very well on the Active/Active version, for combining two storage.
I'm giving Pure Storage FlashArray a score of nine out of ten.
Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-02-06T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
John-Miller from
Works fine for us, and is good in terms of access speed, power consumption, and support
What is most valuable?
Access speed and power consumption are most valuable.
What needs improvement?
It is way in excess of what we need. If anything, we could see a bit more speed. I'm just comparing it with what some of my colleagues who are implementing their own systems do.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We did not have to do that, but it looks like it is.
How are customer service and support?
It is very good.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
It is our first solid-state array.
How was the initial setup?
It is very easy.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
It could always be lower, but it's okay.
What other advice do I have?
I would advise others to have a go at it because it has worked fine for us. I would rate it a 10 out of 10.
Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-02-22T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
RESC from
Is easy to install, scalable, stable, and has great technical support
What is our primary use case?
We use Pure Storage FlashArray for machine learning, storage, backups, and computing.
How has it helped my organization?
After installing Pure, the processes that would take 40 minutes to two hours to complete are now done in five minutes.
What is most valuable?
It is easy to install.
The stability and scalability are awesome.
The technical support is awesome as well.
Processes that used to take 40 minutes to two hours can be completed in five minutes.
Also, we can use more capacity and pay less.
What needs improvement?
I think the areas that they have been working on for quite some time are the CIFS and SMB Shares, that is, being able to mount them directly. I think they're on the right track.
One wish I have is that they will have a solution to help archive data to the cloud, that is, a Cloud Tiering Appliance.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been working with it since 2016.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability of the solution is awesome too.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability of the solution is awesome. You have the opportunity to grow as needed.
The entire company uses this solution, so that would be close to 2100 people.
It is very extensively used, and we are continuing to expand.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support has been awesome. Sometimes, they've let us know about problems before we've even known that they were there.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We previously used an EMC Array.
We switched because the response time went from a few hours to minutes.
The other piece was the amount of space that we were able to use because of the duplication and compression built in the unit. We can use more capacity and pay less.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was very straightforward. The deployment took a couple of hours.
We did a PoC with the product and checked to make sure that it worked in our environment.
We have a group of about 6 to 10 people managing the system.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
When we bought the unit, we bought per capacity. So, the licensing is per capacity, and the only thing that we have to buy every year or every three years is maintenance. Included in that maintenance is the upgrade of the controllers every three years at no cost to us.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We evaluated NetApp, Kaminario, EMC XtremIO, Tintri, and Nutanix.
We used scalability, support, the evergreen model, the cost per terabyte or per gigabyte, and the footprint as the factors for comparison. We also looked at how they are able to provide support globally, not only here in the US but also overseas.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend that you do a PoC to ensure that it works according to the needs of the company, and that will help prevent a lot of headaches.
I think it's a very complete solution at this point, and I would rate it at ten on a scale from one to ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2021-10-05T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
Gary Cheung from
Reliable, easy to install and scalable
What is most valuable?
The all-flash disc is the most valuable feature of this solution.
What needs improvement?
The price should be lower.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with Pure Storage FlashArray for one year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Pure Storage FlashArray is a stable solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is a scalable product, but not for our needs.
This solution is used by 100 people in our organization.
How are customer service and support?
I have not contacted technical support.
My main point of contact has been the reseller.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward. It is easy to install.
The installation takes one or two days.
We have a team of three to maintain this solution.
What about the implementation team?
The reseller was able to assist us.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing is rather costly when compared to similar solutions.
There are no fees for licensing. The hardware is paid for only once.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Pure Storage FlashArray an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2021-10-24T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
reviewer1165599 from
Simple to set up with a great interface and great scalability
What is most valuable?
The setup was extremely simple.
The solution offers amazing performance. The speed and reliability of their flash arrays are great. In terms of flash storage, they're on it. The performance is there.
Their evergreen solution is probably the most needed in any industry. Especially today in unprecedented times and supply chain issues, their evergreen solution is amazing.
Whenever we come out with a new feature for our system, we just swap out the storage controller. We don't change anything on our desk and we get the new features. That evergreen approach in your third year costs you nothing.
It's a great company, great solution. They're dominating in their space for a good reason.
Even their management, their interface, is just the best in the industry.
The solution can scale.
What needs improvement?
They're in a continuous act of improvement with a continuous delivery state. Everybody should be following their model right now. We are so impressed with Pure that even as we are an M&A-based company, if we acquire another company, Pure is automatically selected to be the storage that's going to replace whatever they have if they're not already using it. We have no complaints about how they run things.
I can't see where they can make anything better, unless, of course, they lower their prices even more. Even so, it's not so expensive. Even at the price point that they have right now, no one's complaining.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is very stable. Its performance is amazing. There are no bugs or glitches, it does not crash or freeze.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability is right there if you need it. It's instantaneous. You add another roll of flash right in there. It's literally plug-and-play. That flash becomes online and immediately available. You couldn't ask for a smoother experience. It's just been amazing.
We have 19,000 employees and 3,000 employees from a corporate level. There are about 4,000 different businesses functions that all run their products off of these solutions that we provide from IT.
How are customer service and support?
We've never really had to call tech support for this product as we haven't had any issues. I attribute that to these guys paying attention to everything, every single detail, to make sure that their product is seamless.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We used to use IBM XIV.
How was the initial setup?
We migrated from IBM XIV into Pure Storage FlashArray and we did that migration ourselves. Due to Pure Storage's professional services, we did an entire migration in under 30 days, which was unprecedented for a company this size and we did that without impacting business.
Nobody was taken down, our stores were still running, our warehouses were still shipping. However, the entire time, this was the equivalent of basically moving the basement from underneath your house, while you are sleeping and replacing it with one we wanted. The process was amazing.
We use one person to handle the maintenance. There's a backup to them if we need to have something covered, however, they've not had to do anything with the storage. One person might look at it one hour out of the week to make sure we're doing fine.
What about the implementation team?
We were able to do our migration due to the brilliant people at Pure Storage. We worked through all of it together. It was an amazing setup experience.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
There are true cost savings with this product. If you're an OPEX-adverse organization the cost per period is just really low. We were paying $90,000 per period with IBM and we have 13 periods. We went to Pure Storage and now we're doing $38,000 per period - and yet we have the highest performance here. Pure Storage will give you savings.
What other advice do I have?
We entered into a partnership with Pure Storage.
I'd rate the solution at a ten out of ten.
Disclaimer: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:Partner
Date published: 2021-10-16T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
Jason Devine from
A high-performance storage appliance that is stable and easy to install and maintain
What is our primary use case?
We have FlashArray and FlashBlade. We're using FlashArray primarily for VMFS storage tools for the VMware environment.
We have its latest version. It is on-premises, but we operate a private cloud.
What is most valuable?
We've had different types of storage, and three things of this solution are valuable. The first one is its outstanding performance. The second one is its stability. In the about three years that we've had it, we've had component failures, but we never had a service interruption or any data loss. The third one, which is really critical, is that it is super easy to use in terms of provisioning, storage, and managing the arrays. I'm able to maintain a multi-site environment with a couple of dozen arrays with a single mid-level storage admin.
We do a lot of data replication as well, and the replication features are all easy to set up. The networking controls for setting up interfaces and sub-interfaces are also easy to manage.
What needs improvement?
We understand that they're thinking about it, but one of the things that would be nice is if they added some basic file-level capabilities to the platform. The idea is that they would run a basic NFS or CIF share from the controllers. FlashBlade is the powerhouse for File and Object storage, but if you don't need all that power, a lightweight file function would make FlashArrays more versatile.
The other thing is multiple key support for encryption. The standard solution encrypts the whole array, but we also have certain tenants that use dedicated LUNs. So, it would be nice if, in addition to just supporting the VMware stuff, we could have a per LUN key. Even better would be interfacing with an external Key Management Server (KMS) so that tenants could manage their keys.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for about three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is very stable. There are no stability issues. The bugs we've encountered have been nuisances or minor things, such as how some metrics are reported, but there hasn't been anything that has affected our service.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is very easy to scale. We have about 4,000 users.
How are customer service and support?
They are very good, but we are a large enough customer. We always deal with the same people, so it's not like we're going into the tier one service desk.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We previously used Dell EqualLogic. It was going under life, and it was just a legacy spinning disk with an SSD cache. So, the main reason for switching was just a tech refresh and an upgrade.
How was the initial setup?
It is very straightforward and very simple.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We consume it as a service, and that's actually something we really like, or at least I really like from the technical perspective. That's because it means there is no hassle when we need to upgrade arrays to add capacity. We just interact directly with technical counterparts, and we say, "Hey, we're filling up," and they say, "All right, here's another data pack." They ship it in, and we install it. So, the as-a-service model has worked very well. Given the outstanding data reduction rates, it has improved our profitability because we're selling allocated volumes as part of the cloud service or recovering those costs from our tenants. It is very efficient, but that has offset the premium price. It started out that way, but over time, as we've added capacity, the price per gig has gone down a lot because we have a lot of it.
What other advice do I have?
If you need a high-performance storage appliance that is easy to install and maintain, you pretty much can't go wrong.
I would rate Pure Storage FlashArray a nine out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2021-10-15T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
Red Hsu from
Reasonably priced, reliable, and easy to install
What is our primary use case?
I help our customers build FlashArray.
What is most valuable?
It is always out of the box, and ready to use.
It is very simple to set up, and very simple to use.
The interface is easy to use.
It is very easy to implement.
What needs improvement?
It falls far short of protocol support. Our customers frequently ask us how we can use NFS or if we can use it as a copy or something similar. If you have any suggestions, I believe they could use more protocol, and have easier automation.
Automation could be simplified. For example, we can ask the storage to create a folder and then monitor it automatically.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with Pure Storage FlashArray for three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Pure Storage FlashArray is a very stable product.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Pure Storage FlashArray is a scalable solution.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I am also working with Pure FlashArray X series and Pure Storage FlashBlade.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price is very reasonable when compared to other solutions.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Pure Storage FlashArray a nine out of ten.
Disclaimer: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:
Date published: 2022-05-18T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
reviewer1874982 from
Speedy monitoring, top level support, and high availability
What is our primary use case?
Pure Storage Flash Array is used for data storage.
How has it helped my organization?
Pure Storage Flash Array has helped my organization by having the ability to have access to our data immediately.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature of the Pure Storage Flash Array is the blazing fast monitoring.
What needs improvement?
The price of the solution can improve.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Pure Storage Flash Array for approximately seven years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Pure Storage Flash Array is highly stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability of the Pure Storage Flash Array is good and it is easy to do.
We have approximately 2,000 users in my enterprise that are using the solution. The whole company is using the solution.
How are customer service and support?
The support from Pure Storage Flash Array is amazing. I have never seen a vendor support a product this well. They knew challenges even before my team was able to figure them out.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We were using another solution previously and we switch to Pure Storage Flash Array because we wanted the latest and greatest solution.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of the Pure Storage Flash Array was of a medium range of difficulty. It was not easy or difficult. The full deployment was not very difficult.
I rate the initial setup of the Pure Storage Flash Array a two out of five.
What about the implementation team?
We use a consultant from Pure for the implementation of the Pure Storage Flash Array.
What was our ROI?
We have seen a return on investment from using Pure Storage Flash Array.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price of the Pure Storage Flash Array is too high and there needs to be more contact clarity. We went with the Evergreen plan and I don't have clarity on what am I supposed to pay each year or every three years. There was not much contract clarity.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We evaluated every solution at the time before we chose Pure Storage Flash Array.
What other advice do I have?
My advice to others is to evaluate the Pure Storage Flash Array. Do a proof of concept if you can it is a fantastic solution.
I rate Pure Storage Flash Array a ten out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-06-11T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
Oleg Gussar from
Helpful support, feature rich, and highly stable
What is our primary use case?
We use Pure Storage FlashArray for databases.
How has it helped my organization?
Pure Storage FlashArray has helped our organization because it effectively (price/performance) stores databases and we do not need an every day/detailed administration.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature of Pure Storage FlashArray is the complete set of functions it provides.
What needs improvement?
The price of Pure Storage FlashArray could be better.
I don't think NEW features are needed. And I want to point out that the Pure team regularly updates the functionality.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using Pure Storage FlashArray for approximately three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Pure Storage FlashArray is highly stable. If we experience any issues the support resolves the issue immediately.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability of Pure Storage FlashArray is good. We are able to upgrade changing disks and controllers and it is simple to do.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support from Pure Storage FlashArray is perfect. If we have some trouble or we need to change something, we need to ask for support and they are helpful and answered immediately.
I rate the technical support from Pure Storage FlashArray a five out of five.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I previously used IBM, HDS, LSI Storages.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of Pure Storage FlashArray was simple. The process took approximately one week.
What about the implementation team?
We did the implementation of the solution ourselves and when we had some issues we contacted the support for assistance.
All vendor support engineers are good qualified. In case of escalation it was quick and effective.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The cost of the array includes the cost of the basic functionality. The Evergreen support includes free upgrades. This is not an inexpensive solution, you need to understand the value of your data before you buy it.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We evaluated Dell, IBM, HP, and Huawei solutions before choosing Pure Storage FlashArray, which was the best (3 years ago!).
What other advice do I have?
We are wanting to expand and we are looking at other solutions currently, such as Huawei, which is a very good solution from China. However, the documentation can be difficult to understand and their support was not very good but they successfully try to improve it now.
I rate Pure Storage FlashArray an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-06-13T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
Tahir Shahid from
A reasonably priced, scalable and stable solution with great support and easy installation
What is our primary use case?
We are using the latest version.
What is most valuable?
We are satisfied with the product. It is very good.
What needs improvement?
There is definitely room for improvement.
Overall, the solution is pretty good, although it does have certain gaps. There are many features which need to be added, particularly on the replication side.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using Pure Storage FlashArray for around three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
So far, the solution has proven itself to be stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is very scalable.
How are customer service and technical support?
The technical support is very good.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Prior to going with Pure Storage FlashArray, we were using the range of all of the Dell EMC products.
While all these products have their own uses, Pure Storage FlashArray is in a market of its own.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was straightforward.
It takes under two hours to accomplish.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing is reasonable.
What other advice do I have?
The solution is definitely storage-centric and this it accomplishes very well.
I use the solution in my own company.
The solution is both cloud- and on-premises based.
While I don't actually use the solution myself, as I provide services for and commission it for the customer, I have probably done this 50 times over so far.
I definitely recommend the solution. It's very good. It does what it advertises and this very well.
As Pure Storage FlashArray is purpose-built, I would rate it as a ten out of ten.
Disclaimer: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:partner
Date published: 2021-09-13T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
reviewer1222509 from
Simple initial setup, reactive support, and simple management
What is our primary use case?
We are using Pure Storage FlashArray for data backups.
What is most valuable?
The management is simple in Pure Storage FlashArray.
What needs improvement?
We need to add more storage in Pure Storage FlashArray with the cluster mode activated for us to have better performance.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Pure Storage FlashArray for approximately one year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable with low vulnerabilities.
How are customer service and support?
The support is very good they quickly react to problems.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We previously used a Hitachi hybrid storage solution with both traditional storage and flash storage.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is very simple.
What about the implementation team?
We have two administrators that support this solution.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price of the solution is not expensive.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Pure Storage FlashArray a ten out of ten.
Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-01-12T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
Marco Vargas from
They have a complete replication set, including near-zero RTO and zero RPO
What is our primary use case?
We use FlashArray for proofs of concept and to bring the clients our infrastructure to test them. We have six clients using the solution. Most of them are using the ActiveCluster configuration.
What is most valuable?
I like FlashArray's ActiveCluster as well as its snapshot and cloning capabilities. The performance is extremely good. They have a complete replication set, including near-zero RTO and zero RPO. FlashArray integrates with all the new microservices technologies. It integrates with many products like Oracle, Cisco, Veeam, and Rubrik.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using FlashArray for four years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
FlashArray is highly stable. We don't have very many tickets in our support system. The non-disruptive upgrade works fine. We did a lot of this work for our clients without any problems. The flash disks are solid. In fact, we have very few issues with this infrastructure.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Scalability doesn't require much work. The expansions are immediately used. We install more disks, which are automatically assigned to the volumes and the files.
How are customer service and support?
Pure support is very proactive. They monitor our infrastructure in real-time, so they respond before we even open a ticket.
How was the initial setup?
Deploying FlashArray is fast and straightforward. We can deploy the infrastructure in half an hour, but installing all the other things takes about two hours to provide the disk to the host. We don't need any help. We integrate the infrastructure with other vendors like Cisco, Veeam, Microsoft Hyper-V, etc., and it works fine. We only need one engineer to deploy FlashArray, but we have three Pure-certified engineers on our team.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Pure Storage doesn't have licenses. You buy the hardware, and all the software is included. The price of FlashArray is very competitive.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Pure Storage FlashArray 10 out of 10. If you are considering FlashArray, you can try and buy. Most clients who try the solution ultimately buy the product.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-01-10T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
Pavan Divakar from
Easy to set up, quick to upgrade, and reliable
What is most valuable?
Pure Storage has been the go-to storage array for me. It's a lot smaller, easier to set up, faster to upgrade, and more reliable.
The performance is very stable. This is something which I don't get out of a solution such as, for example, 3PAR.
The code upgrades are very smooth. They're actually all tracking their vulnerabilities. As a customer, Pure Storage gives sufficient time to the customer to showcase the new features and to say this is how to go about going over to the upgrade, and so on. We are quite prepared. We can schedule ahead and be ready for these things. That's something which I like - the selective approach - and everything is on the cloud which helps Pure reach out to their customers and gives these new features.
Its ability to use multiple services such as the file services, the block services, backup, fast backups, lightning backup, and so on, is great. These features are something that StoreServ or HP doesn't have. They have multiple products for that. Pure tries to bundle them together. That's something which I really like. It reduces the footprint and helps me sell this a lot more to the customer.
What needs improvement?
Pure Storage support could be a little better.
The pricing can be a bit high.
In general, I'm quite satisfied with what product they have on offer, and what new features are being released.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used the solution for a while.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is good. The performance on offer is excellent. There aren't bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support needs improvement.
With respect to them being able to respond, they're more marketing people, less technical. Some of these technical SMEs who I've worked with on Pure Storage, they're really good. However, overall, some accounts still have that thing in their mind that the support isn't as great as some of the bigger companies like Dell or HPE.
That said, that's not the experience for me.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I've also used 3PAR. Performance on Pure Storage is a lot faster than 3PAR.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is easy. It's also quick to upgrade. A company shouldn't have issues with the process.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
They're okay with the pricing. They're expensive compared to some of the hyperscalers today. When it comes to a private cloud, enterprise-class, where we're looking at highly encrypted, high-performance, highly reliable systems. I might not go with Pure. If I can go with the data center class, I can go with Pure Storage. For enterprise-class, I would still lean back to Hitachi or Dell.
What other advice do I have?
We are partners.
Most of my accounts have multiple storage arrays, and Pure Storage always happened to be one of them.
I'd rate the solution at an eight out of ten. We're pretty happy with it overall.
Disclaimer: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:partner
Date published: 2022-01-14T00:00:00-05:00