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NetApp All Flash FAS EX HA with Expanded I/O - NAS Server

Mfg # AFF8080AE-001-R6 CDW # 3762770

Quick tech specs

  • 256 GB
  • 16GB Fibre Channel
  • 2 x RAID
  • X hot-swap
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NetApp All Flash FAS AFF8080 EX HA with Expanded I/O - NAS server - rack-mountable - RAID 4, 6, DP - RAM 256 GB - 10 Gigabit Ethernet / 16Gb Fiber Channel / FCoE - iSCSI - 12U

This item was discontinued on October 06, 2022

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NetApp All Flash FAS EX HA with Expanded I/O - NAS Server is rated 4.70 out of 5 by 38.
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Significantly reduces latency, optimizes data management, and provides cost savings for businesses What is our primary use case? I use it primarily as a database storage solution, supporting various applications such as Oracle, VMware, and NFS SAN. It serves as a versatile storage platform for multiple use cases. How has it helped my organization? NetApp AFF has been highly beneficial for our organization as it caters to the growing demands of applications that require faster performance. Flash storage significantly enhances the administrator's role and contributes to lower latency, with some applications now running at sub-millisecond speeds, reducing overnight support calls. Compared to our previous setup with SATA and SAS, the transition to all-flash storage has been remarkable. This transition has had a positive impact on our operations by significantly reducing the need for cooling and power resources. The reduced cooling requirements have opened up more space for future expansion. What is most valuable? One of the most valuable aspects is its robust data management features, such as compression, deduplication, and in-line data optimization. These features provide immediate storage efficiency gains without requiring additional post-processing. Furthermore, the ONTAP feature intelligently monitors volume efficiency and can automatically adjust or pause in-line efficiency processes when suboptimal performance is detected. This automation prevents resource wastage and ensures a more efficient and streamlined process, although manual adjustments remain an option. What needs improvement? It would be valuable to have more visibility and control options. Instead of having everything enabled by default, it would be helpful to be able to activate specific features as needed selectively. This would enable the monitoring of data efficiency in real-time without manual intervention. A graphical user interface displaying efficiency metrics, such as compression and deduplication rates, would be a great addition. This way, I could easily access this information without resorting to command-line operations and screenshots, streamlining the process. For how long have I used the solution? I've been using NetApp AFF for about four years, but before that, I had a professional service background. In total, I have approximately eight years of experience. What do I think about the stability of the solution? Its stability features are excellent. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? Scaling is straightforward, and we are pleased with the process. How are customer service and support? While there have been a few issues that NetApp hasn't been able to resolve for our specific company, the majority of problems I've encountered have been effectively addressed with their support. Overall, we are quite satisfied and I would rate it eight out of ten. How would you rate customer service and support? Positive What was our ROI? The reduction in operational latency is quite significant, approximately around 40%. Efficiency gains have led to significant cost savings for us. We no longer need to invest in additional storage capacity unless we anticipate a substantial increase in I/O operations from our applications. We only purchase storage when it's necessary, ensuring that we acquire precisely what we need and understand the performance of our current aggregate effectively. What other advice do I have? Overall, I would rate it nine out of ten. Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2023-11-13T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from It's still the best solution for SAP or other databases What is our primary use case? Our IT department has two AFF clusters, but we also install them for our customers. We deploy them for tier-one use cases, like virtual machines, databases, and anything that needs fast, hot data. We've recently started using NetApp's cloud solutions, but our German customers are still reluctant because of the security, data management, GDPR, etc. Now, we have our cloud that we can sell to customers with Meta products. Cloud backup and cloud tiering are the two primary ones, but we also sell Cloud Insights to some customers. Customers need backup services, but they often lack a separate data center where they can store their backups. The cloud is the most natural way to store the backup. How has it helped my organization? Our customers have latency issues or requirements for very low-latency applications. This is the problem they are addressing with AFF because it's the fastest system they can get. It's still the best solution for SAP or other databases. We have checked other flash systems from different vendors, and the AFF is still the best because of the multi-protocol support, for example. Others only do block or file services in a very basic way. AFF does everything in one box. Now, with type 1, you don't even need to license the specific features. You can start with block storage and move to file later or the other way around. That's a plus for all customers. What is most valuable? I'm from Germany, so we have lots of metro clusters. The ability to have two sides that are redundant across hundreds or thousands of kilometers is critical for our customers. We have several hundred customers with metro cluster systems, so that is one of the best features. Our customers need reliability for the data. They don't want the data to go down if something happens to the data center. They need synchronous replication to another location, and the metro cluster is the only solution that works in these scenarios involving distances of 100 or 200 kilometers. What needs improvement? Feature-wise, AFF is already a top-tier system. I think that sometimes, the price is an issue for some customers. It isn't so much of a problem now that there is the C Series and the ASA, both of which are a little better price-wise. That's not much of an issue anymore. In the past, that was a concern because not everyone needed a high-performance system for every workload. Some customers only required that level of performance for a small segment of their workloads, but they still needed to buy a bigger system. We can address that issue with the C Series. For how long have I used the solution? We have used NetApp AFF since it came out. My company has been a NetApp partner since 2004, and we were using the FAS systems before, but we started selling AFF to our customers as soon as it was introduced. What do I think about the stability of the solution? NetApp AFF is rock-solid. The stability and performance are top-notch. It's hard to recall a broken NetApp. In 20 years, we've installed more than a thousand base systems, and we've never had user data corruption. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? The scalability is good because it can scale out a cluster of up to 24 nodes. Usually, our customers only have a two-node cluster, so scalability is not so much of an issue with us. How are customer service and support? I rate NetApp support seven out of 10. It depends on who you get. You can get unlucky. We usually do the first-level support ourselves because we are a partner. Sometimes, NetApp support could be better. When the customers escalate, it can feel like everything's starting from scratch. These are rare cases. I'm not directly involved in support, but that's what I hear when something doesn't work. How would you rate customer service and support? Neutral How was the initial setup? We've been installing fast-flash systems for 20 years, so I'm highly experienced with them. The complexity of the deployment depends on the customer's environment. Some storage systems from other competitors might be easier for the customers, but we are a service provider, so we do the installation and train the engineers. From the end customer's perspective, it doesn't matter if the system is easy or not because they don't need to install the system. We do the training, installation, and heavy lifting. The system is a bit more complicated to install compared to other competitors. We can offset this because we are highly trained and have all the experience required. What was our ROI? I'm not familiar with the financial and operational details. I'm more of a technical guy. However, our customers wouldn't buy these products if they didn't see a reduction in TCO. What other advice do I have? I rate NetApp AFF nine out of 10. Disclaimer: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:Partner
Date published: 2023-11-13T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from It has simplified our operational model by making routine processes easier and less prone to error What is our primary use case? We're using NetApp AFF primarily for file and block storage. We have deployments for remote sites and our data centers, and we also use it for NAS file storage, both NFS and CIFS. We're also using it as a cloud backup, so it is like our tertiary spot for cold data or snapshots. Our team is gaining experience with ONTAP, which works similarly in the cloud with Azure. As the business has more requests for spinning up new apps in Azure, we'll have the expertise to deploy that quickly in Azure natively with ONTAP stuff. How has it helped my organization? Our architecture has historically relied on RDMs, so AFF has enabled us to easily migrate from our old EMC PowerMax to the new NetApp. It's been pretty smooth. We have a lot of SAP servers in our environment, so performance is critical for us. AFF is simplifying our operational model. We get a lot of requests from our DBAs for routine operations like quick snapshots, backups, or something related to storage. Those requests happen all the time. You could do that with PowerMax, but the process on NetApp is more straightforward and less prone to error. We're a small team supporting a global organization, and every minute we can shave off our routine operations does make a difference for us. It enables us to focus on major projects instead of everyday work. I'm not in the weeds in terms of costs. One of my other colleagues handled that a little more than I did, but time is money, and we can respond faster to requests. That saves everybody's time, improving efficiency and productivity. You get angry when you're on the other side, making requests and waiting. You're like, "Why have they not finished it yet?" Your morale, effectiveness, and productivity can go down. That can spiral out of control. It's a ripple effect of the little things adding up to make a big difference, so that's where I would frame it in terms of cost-effectiveness. We have quite a few active-active processes in our data center. We have primary and backup data centers and high-performing databases that require active-active workloads over a 10 gigabit WAN connection. And we are usually at about 1 millisecond latency at all times. So we're hitting it with lots of stuff, and it doesn't bat an eye. It's been very high-performing and easy to use. What needs improvement? I've only been using AFF for about a year now, so I don't have many criticisms. I wrote a lot of the automation for our initial migrations from PowerMax to NetApp and as well as automation related to refreshing our production systems. We clone a lot of our production systems to the testing or QA environments so our developers could use real production data in a safe environment. I worked with the APIs quite a bit, including the REST API. We're working to move out from RDMs to do more VMDK-based disks in VMware, which will allow us to use SnapCenter for more efficiency. SnapCenter makes things even simpler than they already are. Additionally, once we are on VMDKs, we’ll be using the SnapCenter API, which I like even better than ONTAP's REST API. The ONTAP APIs are good, but little things here and there are slightly different. That adds a little work on my end, but it's ultimately been pretty easy to work with. It's just the consistency of the REST API. About 95 percent of the operations working with the REST API are great, but then you have about 5 percent of things that are slightly different. That 5 percent mostly come from response data being returned slightly differently than the ones you've already worked with. It's easy enough to work around but blows up in your face the first time you try it, so you inspect the response to see what changed. I would like it if they worked a little harder to get that a little more perfectly standardized. Thankfully the documentation is top notch, so if you aren’t sure of something specific you can just look it up. What do I think about the stability of the solution? NetApp AFF has been rock-solid. We've had it in production. We did have a node blip recently, but it auto-recovered. Support was automatically alerted, and they told us to check it out. Support had already identified the bug, and there was already a patch for it. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? We purchased NetApp AFF with scalability in mind. We ended up going with the A900, which is a switched design, so expanding nodes out will be trivial. For some of our smaller sites, we use the A150, and we don't expect that we will need more. If necessary, we can buy some more A150s and expand without much fuss. How are customer service and support? I rate NetApp support 10 out of 10. NetApp AFF reduces support issues like performance tuning and troubleshooting. EMC didn't fail regularly, but EMC support has decreased in quality over the years, and getting satisfactory problem resolution has been challenging. That was one of the factors that started getting us to look at other alternatives. We certainly have had our fair share of implementation issues and little bugs here and there. We ran into a panic bug the weekend before flying over here [to NetApp Insight 2023]. But that was an auto-support case from NetApp and quickly resolved. They were aware of the problem before we were. It automatically recovered. They found the bug for us and gave us a patch to use when we were ready. In most cases, it was pretty simple. NetApp support has been top-notch. I've not had any issues working with NetApp. They've been some of the best and brightest people I've worked with in my career. How would you rate customer service and support? Positive Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch? We previously used EMC PowerMax. The biggest reason for the switch is that we needed a cloud-ready, cloud-first solution. PowerMax is still a fine platform if you are committed to on-prem and have high-performance on-prem workloads and use cases. It could still be a perfect product for you. However, PowerMax may be limiting if you know your business requirements will take you to the cloud. That's where we were at. Our business was pushing us into the cloud, and we needed more of our workloads to be replicated in the cloud or cloud-native. PowerMax wasn't the right solution for that. PowerMax is an aging platform so it doesn't have the flexibility to easily migrate into the cloud. We need our hot-tier data readily accessible on-prem and to be able to access cold storage in the cloud through Azure or whichever provider you want. But we use Azure. That was a key factor for us. We currently use cloud tiering to Azure for automated cold storage processes (mainly for file level data) and we are still exploring additional use cases for future and expanded operations. How was the initial setup? We did a six-month proof of concept and put it through its paces. We had a cluster in our primary and backup data centers. We tested out SnapMirror Business Continuity quite thoroughly. That was a new technology for us, and it's still fairly new in its own right. We even did some automation in the proof of concept where we built out a process that explored what our refresh process would look like on NetApp. We were able to bang that out in about three days. It was easy. I was involved with that from day one. What about the implementation team? We partnered with CDW during implementation. They've been a fantastic value add for us. We also worked with a rep from NetApp, but we met a lot of NetApp people and CDW people. Both companies brought deep knowledge and expertise. We had a long list of questions that they answered to our satisfaction. What was our ROI? I wouldn't be able to quantify the ROI in dollars and cents, but we've seen improvements in terms of saving time and increasing our effectiveness. My background is in virtualization and networking. I was new to storage when I started working with NetApp only a year ago. It has been easy to figure out. As we grew our infrastructure team, it has been easy to onboard them and get them up to speed, so it's much easier to realize the value we're looking for. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? When we bought NetApp, it was very reasonably priced. When you factor in the time savings, it's highly cost-effective. What other advice do I have? I rate NetApp AFF 10 out of 10. I would recommend AFF depending on your use case. PowerMax might be right for you if you're completely on-prem and have high-performance needs. You need to understand your business requirements and what your developers and DBAs need. It's crucial to figure out exactly what's driving the business. Plot out what the next year or five years will look like and ensure you're in a position to handle those needs. Once you know what those needs are, you'll be able to ask NetApp or whatever vendor the right questions. Those should be tough questions you ask your vendor and you should take them to task. If they don't give you good answers, they need to figure something out because you don't want someth... Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2023-11-12T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Helps to manage tier-one workloads, including home drives, departmental shares, group shares, and application shares What is our primary use case? NetApp AFF handles tier-one workloads, including home drives, departmental shares, group shares, and application shares. What needs improvement? The product has size limitations on fax volume. They have increased from 100 to 300, which is still less than other vendors. Or flex groups are not supported. For how long have I used the solution? I have been working with NetApp AFF for five years. What do I think about the stability of the solution? The solution is very stable. How are customer service and support? The tool offers good support. How would you rate customer service and support? Positive Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch? We chose NetApp AFF because it has advantages over other file platform vendors. How was the initial setup? NetApp AFF's deployment is easy. The tool's representatives were very helpful. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? The tool's pricing is neither expensive nor cheap. It is cheaper compared to other platforms. What other advice do I have? We had no challenges since we constantly refreshed NetApp AFF technology. We are working with NetApp AFF and Amazon representatives to move our workloads to AWS. We have fewer issues with the product compared to other file platforms. The tool has reduced operational costs by 60-70 percent. I rate it an eight out of ten. Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2023-11-12T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Upgrading from spinning disk increased the overall speed of our production servers What is our primary use case? AFF is our complete storage solution. We use it for SIP shares and VMware volumes. How has it helped my organization? Upgrading from spinning disk to AFF increased the overall speed of our production servers. AFF helped us simplify our infrastructure and improve the performance of our business-critical applications. The administration has become more straightforward. We were on an old version of ONTAP. Now that we are completely updated, it's even easier on the latest version. What is most valuable? AFF works well for VMware storage. What needs improvement? AFF could introduce different subscriptions on the platform. For how long have I used the solution? I have used AFF for three or four years. What do I think about the stability of the solution? AFF is stable. I don't have to touch it unless I want to. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? AFF is scalable. The ability to add shelves makes things easier. How are customer service and support? I rate NetApp support 10 out of 10. I've never had a complaint. How would you rate customer service and support? Positive What was our ROI? We've seen a significant performance increase. Upgrading from the A300 to the A400 was a noticeable difference. What other advice do I have? I rate NetApp AFF 10 out of 10. Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2023-11-12T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Has good performance and supports multi-tenant and private clouds What is our primary use case? NetApp AFF supports multi-tenant and private clouds. How has it helped my organization? With our previous spinning disk storage, we did have some "disk busy" problems. Since switching to NetApp AFF, we haven't had any issues. It has simplified the deployment of ONTAP because it's all the same interface. It's also easier to train people on ONTAP because they don't need to learn multiple interfaces. Switching from spinning disk storage to NetApp AFF has significantly reduced our operational latency. What is most valuable? The biggest benefit of NetApp AFF is the performance. For how long have I used the solution? I have used NetApp AFF for around 10 years. What do I think about the stability of the solution? NetApp AFF is great. We haven't had any storage outages in 10 to 12 years. How are customer service and support? I rate NetApp support eight out of 10. We always get an answer quickly, and they seem to be knowledgeable about the product. The response to basic problems could be faster. They usually respond fast when there are critical issues, but you always want it right now. How would you rate customer service and support? Positive How was the initial setup? The setup is pretty simple. You put an IP on the box, log into a web interface, and it basically sets itself up. It requires a bit of customization for your environment, but it prompts you, so it isn't difficult. It takes 10 to 20 minutes. What other advice do I have? I rate NetApp AFF eight out of 10. Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2023-11-12T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Enables us to lower latency What is our primary use case? We have a workload class that requires better performance. How has it helped my organization? The tool has lowered latency. What needs improvement? In the current atmosphere, private cloud is improving. NetApp AFF needs to provide flexibility in terms of hardware and capital expense. For how long have I used the solution? I have been working with the product since 2017. How are customer service and support? NetApp AFF does a good job in terms of support. How was the initial setup? The product's deployment is straightforward. What was our ROI? The tool's ROI is primarily on the performance workload. We have seen ROI with the tool's use. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? You need to be careful with the licensing since it can become expensive Which other solutions did I evaluate? We evaluated Dell, Hitachi and Pure. What other advice do I have? NetApp AFF has improved efficiency and sustainability. It has simplified our infrastructure and reduced the costs for staffing and equipment. The product has doubled performance. We also have Dell Storage. I rate the product a nine out of ten. Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2023-11-15T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Effectively replicates data from on-premises data centers to the cloud and continuously provides optimal performance What is our primary use case? We have Cloud Volumes on top of our RDR instance and SnapMirror from on-prem to that. We use AFF to replicate the data from our on-premises data center to the cloud. How has it helped my organization? The changes to the forms of our databases have been the most valuable aspect. We have a large healthcare information exchange in New York. It has better efficiency and good performance of larger systems. It's really noticeable. It has served to process data, serve our clients, and keep the systems up reasonably well. I'm trying to have data protection with everything incorporated into the systems in the environment. It has good scalability and keeps the systems stable, performing, and running well. We have a lot of data. We're continuously testing a lot of data. We're expanding and growing. It makes sure that we can have everything running, keep uptime, and have everything protected and secure. It makes sure the data is relevant rather than being out of sync. We leverage many features that NetApp has provided, like FlexPoint, to rapidly build systems. The performance is noticeable. AFF has helped to reduce our operational latency. Latency hasn't been too much of an issue, especially for large, higher-performing systems. We migrate most of our production to AFF. NetApp AFF helped reduce support issues such as performance tuning and troubleshooting combined with Active IQ; those things have made it. We don't have many issues with the AFF systems. What is most valuable? All of the features are good. With Flash, we have high-performing databases. Having that kind of performance has been valuable. Moreover, the simplified infrastructure has become easier to manage. We have a small team, so it's made it less difficult to keep things going. It's very intuitive to work with, and all the seamless tools and applications come together. Our team isn't big, so it's more manageable. What needs improvement? It's more about protecting data backups because the cache databases we use don't have any native controls like queuing for snapshots and stuff like that. We're working on trying to improve this with Ansible. More Ansible integration is the key right now. We would like to have more automation with Ansible and better ways to protect the data because we have application encryption. We need more leverage and native encryption tools that NetApp provides. For how long have I used the solution? We have had this solution for three years. What do I think about the stability of the solution? It's pretty stable. Our issue is growth. In terms of stability, it's very dependable. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? It is scalable. How are customer service and support? Generally, the support team is spot on, and helps us out a lot. The issues are few and far between. Generally, if we have issues, they're really specific, like Cloud Volume issues, replication, or tweaking because of our growth and data. How would you rate customer service and support? Positive What was our ROI? There's an incentive to keep the uptime. Having it on high-performing hardware has improved and kept things going. There are fewer issues and we have higher processing. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? Which other solutions did I evaluate? NetApp has been the leading goal standard of technology in terms of storage. There was never an option of exploring any other technologies. What other advice do I have? Overall, I would rate the solution an eight out of ten. We are still going through some challenges because of application encryption. Challenges would be duplication and things like that. Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2023-11-15T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Offers outstanding performance and simplified management What is our primary use case? Our main use revolves around database management, specifically for Oracle and SQL databases, including large databases, and for handling unstructured file data within our organization. How has it helped my organization? We've been addressing our evolving needs, and it was a logical progression as our systems demanded greater resources and improved performance, so it became the go-to solution for meeting those requirements. The simplified infrastructure allows our storage team to allocate their efforts to other important tasks. They can focus on aspects like backup, automation, and proactive administrative duties, rather than constantly dealing with performance problems or troubleshooting issues. What is most valuable? Its top-tier performance ranks as the most valuable aspect. Secondly, the reduced frequency of drive failures leads to less time and resources spent on maintenance and replacements. I am highly satisfied with its exceptional, consistent performance, ensuring that applications run smoothly and reliably. It has proven to be highly effective, with the added benefit of utilizing a range of additional features, whether we're dealing with flash or lower-end disk storage solutions. It has greatly contributed to efficiency and improved performance in our operations, indirectly impacting cost management. What needs improvement? Offering the ability to actively write data on a single volume spanning multiple clusters is significant. For how long have I used the solution? I have been using it for approximately four years. What do I think about the stability of the solution? The stability is quite remarkable. Occasionally, there may be a component failure, but it's typically a non-issue due to the redundancy and built-in safeguards in place. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? Scalability is commendable. You can easily expand the system by adding nodes or disks, and we've done this several times with successful results. How are customer service and support? It stands out as one of the few vendors that provide a pretty good level of customer service. I would rate it eight out of ten. How would you rate customer service and support? Positive Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch? Before adopting NetApp, we relied on Direct-Attached Storage solutions. What was our ROI? In terms of ROI, it meets our expectations and fulfills the intended purpose for which we acquired it. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? The pricing is competitive when we compare it to other products. Which other solutions did I evaluate? We considered a few different competitors. However, what set NetApp apart was the fact that it offered a single array capable of handling both block and file storage. What other advice do I have? When considering and evaluating NetApp, one of the key advantages to take into account is the unified single OS. You don't have to purchase different products and then struggle to make them work seamlessly together. Overall, I would rate it eight out of ten. Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2023-11-15T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Reduces support issues, offers superior flash capacity, and improves performance What is our primary use case? We're a hospital, and we do a lot of imaging tasks. Specifically with our cardiology imaging, we had a lot of issues with the data transfers to the FASM. Once I moved all of that over to the AFF, all of that went away. NetApp AFF has helped reduce operational latency. From going from our old FAS systems to AFF, I already see massive performance improvements. How has it helped my organization? For years, my company used EMC, and EMC really wasn't doing what we needed it to do. Some of our sales reps invited my boss and a previous administrator to NetApp INSIGHT. From there, they got to see everything work. The administrator got the certification and they actually bought it right there. AFF just fits the bill for the company. AFF has helped us simplify our infrastructure. The simplifications have improved our operations. Our operations used to be one to two hours, just trying to set up simple shared drives and things. Now, I do it in a couple of minutes. It's taking a lot of weight off of me. NetApp helped to reduce support issues like performance tuning. It's the auto-support features and everything that just fires off to NetApp and they're back to me within minutes of those auto-supports firing off. It's things that would normally take days to resolve, now take minutes using NetApp. What is most valuable? ActiveIQ is the most valuable feature. It's a central point for me to be able to kick into everything every day. I log in first thing and make sure there are no issues, and it helps me with my day-to-day. NetApp AFF has absolutely helped to simplify our infrastructure. One hundred percent. It's still getting us very high performance for our business-critical applications. What needs improvement? There are features that are available but we haven't purchased them. We haven't delved into the cloud environment too much. BlueXP offers a lot of options that I would like to see, but it's not available with what we currently have. They should make these features a little more affordable. For how long have I used the solution? I've been using it for less than a year. We've had it at our company for years, but I've been working with it since March. What do I think about the stability of the solution? I've never had any major issues out of it other than the drive or node failure. The way it's configured is not an issue. We never saw any dip in performance or anything. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? Scalability is fantastic because we work with new clinics all the time. Usually, I have to spin up some new volumes for those, and it's no problem at all. We're looking at Keystone right now, and that's going to help it quite a bit more. How are customer service and support? The customer service and support are fantastic. A couple of weeks ago, I had a drive go down, and they had one out to me the next morning. I had a control board go down on one of my nodes a few months ago, and they sent a guy out to me the next day. How would you rate customer service and support? Positive Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch? We previously used different solutions. We opted for AFF because of its flash capacity. The all-flash capacity is fantastic. How was the initial setup? I enjoy understanding how the setup works. I never have any issues with it. The previous guy set it up before me, and I've picked it up and run with it. I haven't really had any issues since then. What was our ROI? We saw an ROI in terms of turnaround times on our data. It provides patient care at a much faster speed than what we normally would be able to. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? In future releases, I would like to see some nonprofit licensure tiers because it's a nonprofit hospital, so it's competing with more commercial licensing. It gets a little more expensive for the nonprofit. Which other solutions did I evaluate? My company evaluated different options, but AFF was definitely one of the front runners. What other advice do I have? Overall, I would rate NetApp AFF a ten out of ten. Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2023-11-15T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Its exceptional performance, scalability, and simplified data management make it an ideal choice for organizations looking to optimize their storage solutions What is our primary use case? We adopted it primarily for performance and space-saving benefits. How has it helped my organization? Since it's an all-flash solution, it significantly enhances performance, and it also offers substantial space savings. Despite having used it for a while, our usage remains somewhat consistent, but we continue to experience cost savings, and we've seen a remarkable performance improvement compared to the days when we were reliant on traditional hard drives like SAS drives. It plays a crucial role in mitigating support issues, especially those related to performance tuning and troubleshooting. One of the notable aspects is how it seamlessly communicates with ActiveIQ, both online and on the website, providing valuable insights into security vulnerabilities and other pertinent information. It has significantly contributed to cost savings. In the past, we would spend around a hundred thousand dollars for a NetApp system, but now our expenses have reduced to sometimes just thirty or forty thousand dollars, depending on our specific needs. Additionally, the physical footprint is much smaller, leading to cost savings in terms of rack space within the data center, as well as reduced power consumption and related expenses. What is most valuable? There are two compression technologies available within it, and they are valuable because they allow for significantly higher data storage capacity and the retention of a larger number of snapshots on the system. This is crucial because it enables organizations to avoid the need to invest in additional costly storage. Given the high cost of storage, having these compression technologies in place ensures efficient data deduplication and other storage optimization techniques, allowing for the retention of a substantial amount of data on the system. What needs improvement? To enhance the already excellent administration, one area for potential improvement could be in terms of integration. For how long have I used the solution? I have been using it for seven years now. What do I think about the stability of the solution? The stability is impeccable, scoring a perfect ten out of ten. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? The scalability capabilities deserve a perfect score of ten out of ten. How are customer service and support? I would rate its support services eight out of ten. How would you rate customer service and support? Positive Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch? Various other departments within our organization have their own storage solutions, so we had EMC Xtremio and EMC Xtremio in use. Additionally, we've implemented Pure Storage for a separate area of our operations. How was the initial setup? The initial setup was quite straightforward, and we had an engineer who handled most of it. It was impressively easy and hassle-free. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? I find the pricing to be reasonable, particularly with the recent inclusion of features like snap locking and ransomware protection within the ONTAP license instead of having them as separate licenses. Which other solutions did I evaluate? When I first joined the company twenty-three years ago, they evaluated various storage solutions before ultimately selecting NetApp. The key factor that led to this choice was NetApp's snapshot technologies. What other advice do I have? The system has proven to be incredibly reliable and dependable. For smaller organizations seeking high-performance, straightforward management, and cost-effective solutions, I would recommend considering AFF. I would rate it ten out of ten. Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2023-11-15T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Dependable, easy to maintain and helped reduce support issues related to performance tuning and troubleshooting What is our primary use case? Our use cases are related to VMware Infrastructure. How has it helped my organization? AFF has helped us simplify our infrastructure. It's made our operations more stable and dependable. There's not much downtime. It provides very high performance for our business-critical applications. Moreover, AFF has helped to reduce support issues such as performance tuning and troubleshooting. Overall, it has been helpful. The system is very stable and reliable. AFF has helped to reduce our operational latency and optimize costs very significantly. What is most valuable? From an IT perspective, there's not a lot of babysitting. It maintains itself. It is a very dependable tool. What needs improvement? In future releases, I would like to see the ability to automatically mount SMB shares and file systems. For how long have I used the solution? We have been using AFF for seven years. What do I think about the stability of the solution? I am happy with the stability of the solution. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? It is able to scale according to our needs. I can grow my storage capacity as much as I need, there is no limit. How are customer service and support? The customer service and support are fantastic. They have been great. How would you rate customer service and support? Positive Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch? We used a different storage solution prior to AFF. We made a switch to AFF because we wanted to keep everything consistent and wanted to have ONTAP everywhere. So, we decided to standardize on NetApp AFF for all our storage needs. It has been working out well for us. How was the initial setup? The initial setup was straightforward. What was our ROI? The stability of AFF alone has been a significant ROI. Which other solutions did I evaluate? We evaluated other options. What other advice do I have? Overall, I would rate the solution a ten out of ten. Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2023-11-15T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Offers the right balance between price and performance How has it helped my organization? AFF has simplified our infrastructure and delivered high performance for crucial business applications. Our move to c-series, with C800 units, consolidates infrastructure, aligns with sustainability goals, and lowers costs. This has allowed us to operate with a smaller team and streamline our IT operations, bringing significant benefits. AFS has also reduced support issues related to performance tuning and troubleshooting. Additionally, AFF has optimized our costs, and it is the reason we are using this platform today. It has minimized our footprint, lowered power consumption, and reduced upfront costs and it has reduced operational latency to some extent. What is most valuable? The most valuable feature of AFF is that it offers better visibility and control over performance, ensuring it meets customer needs effectively. What needs improvement? One minor improvement could be making scale-up solutions with AFF more cost-effective compared to scale-out options. For how long have I used the solution? We have been using NetApp AFF for quite some time. What do I think about the stability of the solution? AFF's stability is excellent, and I can't remember any major issues. It is also scalable, particularly when we expand our clusters, making it a smooth and seamless experience for our customers. How are customer service and support? NetApp's support has been great. We have found value in their SAN services, which provide embedded support. Their teams are knowledgeable and responsive, offering a high-quality support experience that stands out among our partners. I would rate the support as a nine out of ten. How would you rate customer service and support? Positive Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch? We switched to AFF from a previous vendor to get the best all-flash solution that met our price-performance needs. What was our ROI? AFF has helped us achieve our margin targets and deliver on our business goals. It has definitely provided a return on investment. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? Pricing and licensing can be tricky. It is often a delicate balance between value and cost. However, I think NetApp is moving in the right direction, offering better value for the money. Which other solutions did I evaluate? We implemented AFF to find the right balance between price and performance. We compared it with other options in the market, and AFF emerged as the best choice for our needs. What set AFF apart were its reliability and strong data protection features. Our VDI solution provided multi-site configuration support, which is crucial for replication and failover. In comparison, other options relied more on software and hypervisor layers to achieve what we needed. AFF met our platform requirements, and in a competitive market, it offered the best value for our customers. That is why our partnership with NetApp was the right choice for us. What other advice do I have? Overall, I would rate NetApp AFF as an eight out of ten. Which deployment model are you using for this solution? Hybrid Cloud Disclaimer: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:Partner
Date published: 2023-11-15T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Faster data, simplified infrastructure, and easy to set up shares What is our primary use case? Its use cases include everything from high bandwidth to low latency, AI workloads based on NVMe drives, and all the way to our basic home directories and what I call common plop-and-drop drives for the teams. The challenge that we were trying to address by implementing NetApp AFF was that we needed truly high-speed storage to feed the GPUs for AI/ML workloads. We also had the financial responsibility of being able to lower the QoS when we just needed basic storage rather than Pure high-performance storage. How has it helped my organization? NetApp AFF has helped with faster data, and at the same time, we are able to work with our solutions team to set up FlexCache share so that we can more easily set up data pipelines and data life cycles. We can also integrate with our corporate systems for replication. NetApp AFF has helped to simplify our infrastructure while still getting very high performance for our business-critical applications. The flexibility to keep everything on superfast NVMe but also tweak the QoS has allowed us to centralize more of our storage services. We need less rack space. We are using Keystone for financial responsibility. We have centralized and standardized a lot of our ITOps. NetApp AFF has not helped to reduce support issues, such as performance-tuning and troubleshooting, because we have not had any issues yet that we had to take a look at, and I hope we do not. NetApp AFF has definitely helped to reduce our operational latency. Especially with the speeds of the drives and the network links and the network topology that we are able to put together, for not just huge dense workloads, we are able to scale out horizontally so everyone can get the same speed. NetApp AFF has not saved us much cost, but the Keystone model that we are able to run AFF in partnership with has helped to save costs. Instead of making those huge capital purchases where we may purchase 500 terabytes and not use it, the consumption-based model has allowed us to be flexible. It gives us that financial flexibility to say, "We want to experiment with this more. Add it on." We can also say, "We do not need it. Take it back, and give us that plug-and-play option." What is most valuable? The ease of use for setting up our basic shares such as NFS and CIFS is valuable. It takes a couple of clicks to set up things like object shares. What needs improvement? The ONTAP S3 implementation is not feature-complete as compared to StorageGRID. We had to move our lakeFS instance from ONTAP S3 based on AFF to StorageGRID. For how long have I used the solution? The lab that I am developing has used NetApp AFF and NetApp storage for about two years, but I know that our organization, in general, has been using NetApp for storage for a long time. What do I think about the stability of the solution? I have not thought about it. It must be good because I have not had to think about it. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? Based on your current needs and based on your inter-cluster switches, you need more storage added in, and you are good to go. You can create new aggregates and SVMs, and you are good to go. How are customer service and support? The support is great. We have a dedicated team. I can work with our dedicated embedded professional services group. If it is a larger issue, I can send a message to our support ops engineer and get an answer right away, or even proactively. How would you rate customer service and support? Positive Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch? This lab is brand new, we started with NetApp AFF. How was the initial setup? I am a nerd at heart, so I worked with our professional services group to do the rack and stack. It was pretty straightforward. It was based on the idea of centralized controllers with expanded disk shares. We were able to work with our professional services consultant to get it set up in two days or so. What was our ROI? We were able to have those huge savings as our lab was being stood up, and now, as our usage increases, our cost increases, and as our usage decreases, our cost decreases. We have been able to see that trend match up with how we are using it. Which other solutions did I evaluate? We did not evaluate other options because it is part of a centralized storage offering with our company. We wanted to keep everything on the same level for ease of use for purchasing, operations, shared ownership, and everything else. In terms of using other NetApp solutions or services, we use less of NetApp Cloud Services, but we do use Cloud Volumes ONTAP. We also use SnapMirror and FlexCache for a lot of the intra or inter-site capabilities. What other advice do I have? I would rate NetApp AFF a 10 out of 10. Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2023-11-20T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Helps reduce our operational latency, optimizes our costs, and reduces support issues What is our primary use case? We utilize NetApp AFF to deliver data to our users per our server and application requirements. My primary responsibilities lie within the data center, where I configure and manage user access. The challenges we faced before implementing NetApp AFF were connection connectivity in our network, installations with current software, and upgrades. How has it helped my organization? NetApp AFF simplifies our infrastructure while maintaining high performance. However, some applications require high I/O and performance, so we primarily use NetApp AFF for our critical business applications. For less demanding applications, we employ alternative cost-effective solutions. The simplified infrastructure offered by NetApp AFF has been beneficial. Previously, we were using a different product that caused performance issues, particularly in terms of disk resources. Since switching to NetApp, we have experienced significant improvements. NetApp AFF has helped reduce support issues. Our performance is now stable, using fewer resources, and there is no longer a queue of users waiting to log in. NetApp AFF has made a big difference. It also reduced our operational latency by almost 40 percent with fewer issues and less downtime. NetApp AFF has helped optimize our costs. It was a 15 to 20 percent difference from what we see now. What is most valuable? The most valuable aspect of NetApp AFF is the money it saves our organization. What needs improvement? The support documentation has room for improvement. I believe offering a SaaS-based option for NetApp AFF would be a valuable addition, as cloud adoption continues to accelerate. For how long have I used the solution? I have been using NetApp AFF for almost four years. What do I think about the stability of the solution? Up to now the stability of NetApp AFF has been perfect. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? It is easy to scale NetApp AFF. How are customer service and support? We have instant support which is good. How would you rate customer service and support? Positive Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch? We migrated from Dell to NetApp AFF because of its better performance with our business-critical applications. How was the initial setup? The initial setup is straightforward. We connect to the external screen and enter the basic admin information before we can start the deployment. What was our ROI? Adopting NetApp AFF has yielded a significant return on investment. It boasts a comprehensive suite of features that surpass those of other storage box solutions. These features include data protection, multi-sharing storage, regular snapshot retention, SSDs, and customized flash-based storage. Which other solutions did I evaluate? Before choosing NetApp AFF our architect evaluated many options including Dell. What other advice do I have? I would rate NetApp AFF nine out of ten. NetApp AFF is the best flash storage solution and I fully recommend it. Disclaimer: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:MSP
Date published: 2023-11-24T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Cost-effective and reliable What is our primary use case? I use NetApp AFF in our cloud service infrastructure to provide data storage and management for our customers. How has it helped my organization? NetApp AFF has indeed improved our growing organization by providing stability and efficient IT maintenance. We have also found the product's quality to be excellent. What is most valuable? The most valuable feature of NetApp AFF for us is its ability to manage multiple IP spaces for our customers in a shared environment. This is important because we offer VPN services, and this feature helps keep customer data separate and secure while ensuring our services work smoothly over the long term. What needs improvement? In terms of improvement, IO performance could use some enhancement. Additionally, I would like to see additional security-related features in NetApp AFF, particularly in the realm of ransomware protection. For how long have I used the solution? I have been working with NetApp AFF for seven years. What do I think about the stability of the solution? It is highly stable. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? NetApp AFF is fairly scalable. How are customer service and support? I would rate the support for NetApp AFF as average. It has been a mixed experience, with some good interactions and others not meeting our expectations. Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch? We have used different storage solutions like EMC, HP, and others before making the switch to NetApp AFF. How was the initial setup? The deployment of NetApp AFF was a bit complex, mainly due to the extensive functionality it offers. What other advice do I have? NetApp AFF has helped reduce support issues related to performance tuning and troubleshooting. It has helped reduce operational costs and has proven to be cost-effective for our organization compared to other storage equipment from different vendors. It has also helped reduce our operational latency. Overall, I would rate NetApp AFF as a ten out of ten. Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2023-11-05T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Helps simplify infrastructure while improving business performance What is our primary use case? We use NetApp AFF for daily maintenance. It's used to provision volumes for customers and other departments. How has it helped my organization? NetApp AFF helps simplify infrastructure while improving business performance. Our databases and sensitive stuff are on all-flash arrays. Our team knows what to expect with all-flash, and we've been doing it for a while. We're happy with it. We have fewer support issues because putting things on all-flash is much better. We still have to troubleshoot. That's always something we need to do. The speed of flash is always an advantage. Our customers are happy with it and don't complain too much. What is most valuable? We use the NFS and SIP protocols a lot. The NFS is the most valuable feature. What needs improvement? The upgrade process could be a lot quicker, but it's still good as it is. The failovers and things like that are harder than expected. For how long have I used the solution? I have used NetApp AFF for almost 10 years. What do I think about the stability of the solution? NetApp AFF is highly stable. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? The scalability is good. We can add extra controllers and create clusters. It's very doable. How are customer service and support? I rate NetApp AFF support eight out of 10. It's excellent. We've had no issues. How would you rate customer service and support? Positive Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch? We had normal disk storage instead of flash. NetApp AFF offers much better performance. Higher throughput and less latency. What was our ROI? We have seen a return. Things are running better. It's less work for us, so it's good. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? NetApp AFF seems to be fairly priced compared to other solutions like Oracle. What other advice do I have? I rate NetApp AFF nine out of 10. It's an excellent product. Use it, and you'll be happy. 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: 2023-11-06T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Is easy to use and flexible, and provides the best speed for our applications What is our primary use case? We use it to create our volume groups for our ESX hosts, VMware, file storage, and Flash Pool for our images. We use it as a tier storage to our NetApp storage grid. What is most valuable? Snapshots, snap clones, backups, flexibility, and agility are valuable features. I like that NetApp AFF is easy to use. We can automate everything for our backups and use cases. It's fast and simple, and provides storage to all of our VMware ESX hosts. It expands easily as well. Our latency is fine, and NetApp AFF provides us the best speed for our applications. In terms of optimization of costs, NetApp AFF is a little expensive, but I don't mind paying for it. The ability to connect to CVO and ANF is great, and as a result, it has a lot of flexibility. For how long have I used the solution? I've been using NetApp AFF since 2016. What do I think about the stability of the solution? We haven't had any major problems with stability. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? It scales well, and we haven't had any problems. We also have site storage with AFF C190, and being able to integrate with our other sites has been great. We have about 16 clusters in two different data centers for AFF. How are customer service and support? My experience with technical support has been good. We have a primary TAM and pay for that service. They are very good at responding to our requests and needs, and I'd give them a ten out of ten. How would you rate customer service and support? Positive Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch? We were on spinning disks with NetApp before, but we also had IBM XID. We switched to NetApp AFF because we were already heavy users of NetApp. We liked the cost, flexibility, and the ability to adapt to all of our workloads. Now, we're a single storage provider or user. What was our ROI? Our ROI is that we've been able to reduce our storage footprint by 30% by going to a single storage provider. We can FlexVol our environment. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? I think the pricing and licensing are a little high, but compared to those of other storage vendors, it's within reason. After the three-year prepay, the extended warranty is a little expensive. Which other solutions did I evaluate? We evaluated IBM and Dell EMC, and Dell EMC was too expensive, and it didn't have the flexibility that NetApp had. What other advice do I have? On a scale from one to ten, I would rate NetApp AFF (All Flash FAS) at ten. Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-12-06T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Easy to use, lowers transactional speed, and helps optimize costs What is our primary use case? We primarily use the solution for databases, including Oracle, SQL, PostgreSQL, and VMware. We're moving some data warehouses over as well as our main financial system. What is most valuable? The NVMe flash cache is the most useful feature. It lowers transactional speed even more. We have found the ease of use to be excellent. Everybody's got expertise in it. AFF helped reduce our operational latency. Since we started using it, we've improved by 20%. AFF has helped us optimize our costs. We partnered with StorageGRID on that, and so we tier our data with StorageGRID and use AFF for the hot data, and then we tier it off to StorageGRID, which is really helping with that. What needs improvement? I do not have any notes for areas of improvement. There's a lag with StorageGRID. It's off of this tier-three disc. After a few days, we sluff it off to StorageGRID, and then if all of a sudden, they need to restore that data, it takes a while to spin it back up and write it back to that. What would be great is if they could actually make StorageGRID so that it's pretty fast and has a fast recall. That being said, that's a recovery issue. In the past, NetApp designed it so that you have a 70% threshold. You would never fill up past 70% since you need to have that room available. Whereas with Pure, I can fill it up to 110% of what they listed and it's still going at full speed. NetApp can't do that. They need to build in more capacity to ensure users don't lose 30% of a buffer off the top. For how long have I used the solution? I've been using the solution for six years. What do I think about the stability of the solution? The stability is fantastic. They're really coming as close to a high availability system as you can get. In the past, with the controller failover, you'd have to rely on the other controller. It was a little bit hit or miss. AFF has really stepped it up to where I'm not lagging on performance when it fails over if it's an upgrade, update, or something like that. I don't have to worry as much about controller failure anymore. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? Scalability is great. It's just expensive. That's why we would go with StorageGRID. Due to supply chain issues, I already know that these flash drives are so expensive. We're paying through the roof for those drives even on a discount. Therefore, while scalability's great, we can't really afford it. I can't go and buy a $4 million system. How are customer service and support? Technical support is pretty good. It is hit or miss. For the most part, it's good. The main complaints I get from the engineers are that they'll just say, "it's a future release, and that future release is just too far down the road, and we need to get that done right away." Whereas we see a pain point now, and we would like to see them fix our problems right now. That said, we understand we're not the biggest customer on planet earth. How would you rate customer service and support? Neutral Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch? Before AFF, we used Hitachi. We switched to simplify from the fiber channel over to NAS. We were looking to simplify and make the network the cost point instead of having fibre channel expertise and network expertise. How was the initial setup? I was not involved in the initial setup of the solution. What was our ROI? We've probably optimized our costs by 70%. We have seen ROI in terms of less latency on applications and users being able to get more done more quickly. The experience is really good with StorageGRID unless you're doing restores, and then they've got to restore that data. That's the only thing that's lagging. That said, the return on investment has been great since the DBAs and the other customers get more done and get more cycles accomplished with that enhanced IOP performance. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? The pricing is palatable; we can swallow it. We're a longtime customer and we view our relationship as a partnership, not just a one-time deal. They have taken good care of us. Which other solutions did I evaluate? We looked at Dell, Pure, and EMC, among other options. I like Pure. Pure has very low-cost copies of point-in-time databases that they can spin up immediately, and the developers, the database administrators, can have that hanging off the same disc at a low cost. It's just built off of the existing data, and I haven't seen NetApp come up with anything like that yet. The Snapshotting, SnapMirror, SnapVault technologies, and just having all of those technologies, are really nice so that we can get a copy, SnapMirror, for example, in the data center, and we can have that spun up really quick. That's NetApp's technology and that's the advantage there. What other advice do I have? I have not used BlueX, their cloud management aspect. We haven't seen any ransomware attacks. Security's pretty closed off. They're not going to tell us if something happens, so it's hard to gain visibility. We'll just know that we've got to do a restore or something. That said, we haven't lost anything. We do not use any other NetApp cloud services. We just use StorageGRID and the AFF right now. FSX looks intriguing. We'd be willing to test it in the future. I'd rate the solution nine out of ten. It's a good product. Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-12-05T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Great speed, easy to set up, and offers excellent throughput What is our primary use case? We use the solution for virtualization. We run VMware on it. How has it helped my organization? Before running AFF we ran regular SAS Disk Arrays. NetApp AFF greatly improved the performance. What is most valuable? The speed is great. That's probably number one in terms of features we appreciate. The throughput is excellent. It's useful for running production databases on. NetApp AFF has reduced our operational latency. It has close to doubled it. What needs improvement? The setup process could be easier. For how long have I used the solution? I used NetApp AFF for six years. What do I think about the stability of the solution? I never had any major outages or issues with the platform. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? Scaling is easy enough. Users can just throw another shelf in. It's easy to add hardware. How are customer service and support? Support is good. I've never had any issues long term. How would you rate customer service and support? Positive Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch? We've used Dell EMC in the past, and we use Pure now. Pure is easier to manage just from an interface perspective, however, I would say the performance of both is close to equal. We chose AFF primarily for the level of performance. That said, the team that works for me has more experience with Pure. The issue we have is that the footprint is way smaller. How was the initial setup? I was involved in the initial deployment of AFF. I've done it quite a few times and I find the process to be straightforward. The deployment could be easier. Pure setup is way easier in comparison but I had no problem setting AFF up. The initial setup has a lot more steps in it than are probably necessary for a base deployment, unlike other vendors where it's more straightforward. It could be a little bit more streamlined. What about the implementation team? I handled the deployment myself. What was our ROI? We haven't quite witnessed an ROI. Eventually, it becomes cheaper as we go along instead of going all cloud, however, in the end, it's probably pretty close to equal. They sped everything up initially. However, are there other products that have a better ROI? Maybe. Pure probably has a better ROI overall and especially when you start talking about Pure Evergreen and the way that they do their maintenance. That's a big difference that helps a little bit with the cost long term. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? The pricing is pretty in line with industry standards. Which other solutions did I evaluate? We did not evaluate other storage issues. What other advice do I have? We are a NetApp customer. So far, the solution has not optimized our costs. Since using the solution, we have not been hit by ransomware. We do not use any other NetApp cloud solutions together with AFF. In terms of rating the product by itself, I would give it a nine out of ten due to some of the usability differences that I know now. Overall, against other vendors, I would probably rate it eight out of ten based on the footprint size and some of the longer-term support features. Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-12-06T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Optimizes costs and overall storage and makes migrating to the cloud easy What is our primary use case? We share data between systems as well as sharing data between our off-brand mainframe. How has it helped my organization? We got AFF as an upgrade from our existing older platform. We used to have an older version of NET. We had NET 7 Mode, and we had it for a very long time. AFF gave us a lot more performance. It is just a more reliable platform. What is most valuable? The Snapshots and just the overall flexibility of the product have been great. Using AFF helped reduce our cost of licensing. AFF has helped us with saving or optimizing our costs. We have been able to optimize overall storage. So far, we have not been affected by ransomware attacks since implementing AFF. Being based on ONTAP makes migrating to the cloud much easier to take advantage of. We can figure out the cloud SVMs in a very similar fashion. That's been a big help. It's a technology we already know, so we can pretty much apply anything from ONFREM to FSx. What needs improvement? There are no specific areas that need improvement. There aren't any particular features we'd like to see in the next release. Some of the graphical user interface changes in the later versions of NetApp have not been as good as the older ones, like in the 9.5 era. Just from overall usability from our tier three team, we've had to go in and fix some things after they go and do a deployment since there are certain options that used to be there that aren't. What do I think about the stability of the solution? It's been very stable. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? For our uses, it's been fairly scalable. How are customer service and support? Technical support has been great. We had to reach out to NetApp before when we had an issue or a hardware problem. They were helpful. How would you rate customer service and support? Positive Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch? Before using AFF, we had some of the older FAS 8040 systems. We still have a couple in operation and some from way back in 7-Mode still on our current cluster. We have been a NetApp shop for a while and just wanted to continue working with them. How was the initial setup? The initial setup was straightforward. What about the implementation team? We did have a partner work with us to kind of get it up and running so that was a big help. Our experience with them was very good. What was our ROI? While I don't have the numbers to quantify it, I have seen an ROI. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? The pricing seems reasonable. What other advice do I have? We started to look to use BlueXP for managing our FSXN instances. We will be using it to help migrate from an on-prem to a cloud environment. We are starting to migrate some of our workloads as we work on closing one of our data centers. So, we'll probably be using that for migration purposes. I'd rate the solution ten out of ten. Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-12-06T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Reliable, reduces latency, and offers good support What is our primary use case? We primarily use the solution for SQL server-based applications. How has it helped my organization? The last customer I worked with wanted to improve the performance of SQL responses. They were having issues with multiple SQL statements taking time. Although it's not just a hardware-only solution, they had to do both, which meant replacing their previous hardware and, at the same time, improving their queries. That combination was most important for the customer. What is most valuable? Since I know NetApp's systems, staying with NetApp was one of the best features. For example, Flash is the solution for latency. It reduces latency. The SQL server benefits from all-flash storage, and NetApp is among the most responsive. I actually did major projects where we used NetApp storage for some government agencies, and we were able to keep the storage where the government or the customer is able to own the storage while using AWS as their computing. That part was helpful to the customer. What needs improvement? The improvement I would like to see is not just about NetApp. Rather, it's about improving the hardware itself in terms of its lifecycle. How long is it going to stay as responsive, for example. Their rates have improved; however, there is still room to improve. I'd like to see them continue with scalability and have the ability to scale more. Hopefully, it gets more compact than it actually is for the scale that we're looking for. When it comes to the cloud, they might need to improve in terms of making it clear why someone would use a NetApp solution over cloud-made storage. That part either needs to have improved technology or improved visibility to the customer. Why should I use that instead of something that seems to be less expensive? They need to explain that more than simply saying ROI is good and the TCO is good. People need a little bit more. It's not easy in this space for people to choose a product. When you go online, you want to have a simple way to choose. For how long have I used the solution? I've been using the solution for about five years. What do I think about the stability of the solution? The solution is stable. It's reliable. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? The scalability is good with NetApp. It's fine for most people. There would be some places where it would be difficult, whatever you do. We tend to work with environments based on petabytes. How are customer service and support? I like NetApp support. They're very consistent. It's not only the NetApp hardware that you get support with. It's also within that area where NetApp's hardware is, and even software is involved in a total solution with third parties. NetApp's support cares about the total solution and is willing to help. There are always issues of who should be the right person to address items. Sometimes there's making sure that whoever owns this error is the person you're working with. It takes someone with experience from the customer perspective to know that it will be better if you work with NetApp on that level. That being said, sometimes it can get difficult. How would you rate customer service and support? Positive Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch? I did previously use another storage solution. I have been using NetApp for more than 20 years, and I know NetApp's technologies and support. There is reliability that there is going to be a continuation of technology, and so those are reasons why I continue to choose the solution. How was the initial setup? The initial setup process is okay. If you are experienced, it is fine. While it's not easy, with the instructions they have, it's straightforward. It just takes some level of expertise or experience in NetApp solutions to be able to do it. What was our ROI? NetApp AFF optimized our customers' costs - or at least, the customer believes so. I didn't do a first-time TCO or ROI. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? The pricing of the solution could be improved to better favor the customer. What other advice do I have? Since we've implemented NetApp AFF our clients have not been affected by ransomware attacks. My customer is not in that position, as they would be on-prem and unconnected. We do use other NetApp services, mostly around volumes and cloud solutions. I have not had any hands-on experience with object storage yet. I'd rate the solution an eight out of ten. Disclaimer: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:Partner
Date published: 2022-12-06T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Is reliable and scalable, and can quickly and efficiently snapshot the data What is our primary use case? Our primary use case is running NFS exports for our local on-premises VMware and our CIFS for local shares. What is most valuable? I like the ability to snapshot, and the cloning features are valuable to us as well. I like that I can quickly and efficiently snapshot the data and move it to wherever I need to locally or in the cloud. Also, I know that when I take the snapshot that all of the data will be there and that it will be usable when I need to use it. The reliability of NetAPP AFF is another valuable feature. Blue XP has made it a single pane of glass so that we can see both on-premises and the cloud. We don't have to worry about going back and forth. It has made everything seamless in terms of the look and feel for the admins. We use other NetApp Cloud Services solutions such as FSx, Cloud Volumes ONTAP, BlueXP, and Cloud Manager. We're just starting to dip our toes into FSxN. We run all of our student services, our general ledger, and all of our classroom-related items off of CVOs. It has been very reliable for us. For how long have I used the solution? We've been using NetApp AFF since 2019. What do I think about the stability of the solution? We have been running NetApp AFF (All Flash FAS) since 2019, and we've not had one unplanned outage since then. It's been a reliable workhorse for us. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? We've had to upgrade our available storage three times, and it was all seamless. There is a cost every time, but there hasn't been an outage. It's been quick and seamless, and we haven't had any issues with scalability. We have 8,000 undergraduate students and 2,000 graduate students, and we facilitate another 5,000 university staff. We run all of our campus-wide phone systems and CIFS on it, along with our local VMware environment. We have about 10,000 to 15,000 people relying on NetApp AFF every day. How are customer service and support? Whenever we have a problem, the technical support staff usually contact us before we contact them. We've never had an issue with technical support, so I'd give them a rating of ten out of ten. How would you rate customer service and support? Positive What was our ROI? As far as a return on investment, it's freed up a lot of our time so that we do not have to worry about the little things that usually take up the majority of our day. Our time can be spent in other areas, whether that's helping with other products, developing new ones, or helping end users. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? It can get a little expensive if you need to add more disks. The cost is a pain point for us, especially in terms of expansion. What other advice do I have? Overall, I would rate NetApp AFF (All Flash FAS) at ten on a scale from one to ten. Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-12-06T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Expandable, transparent, and reduces operational latency What is our primary use case? We primarily use the solution for service deck storage. What is most valuable? Scalability is the most valuable feature. The ones that I use are hot spot-able. If we need more, we can just throw in another drive. I like the fact that if my drive goes bad it doesn't crash automatically and the system will try to auto-save that data by moving it to one of the hot spots. Then we can just pull out that drive and throw our brand new one in and we'll remove it from the 2020 or 2040s. We went from 600 GBs to 1.2 TBs. We have plenty of storage. I like how easy it is to discover an issue and either resolve that issue or fine-tune that app to premium support to find that resolution. We've reduced operational latency. We use the 40 GB connection. In terms of latency between our storage and the VMs that we use, latency is almost nonexistent since we have the server and FAS so close together. We use a 40 GB fiber-optic connection on the back. We don't see any latency at all. We've reduced it to less than 5%. While you can never reduce it to zero, it's barely noticeable at this point. What needs improvement? There are no big areas needed for improvement. Whenever we use it, I've never had a problem that couldn't be fixed with just a phone call. I've never really had any absolute dead zones on it. I can't think of a way to make it better than it already is. The size of NetApp could be better. They're always about 40 pounds without the hard drives in them, so it would be great if there's a way to make them smaller yet keep the functionality. That would reduce the physical footprint. For how long have I used the solution? I've been using the solution since 2012. What do I think about the stability of the solution? I haven't really come across any stability problems. It's pretty stable. It's fantastic. Data recovery is awesome. If we ever have any issue with having to recover any data on there due to the system and the way we have it set up, we can have it back within an hour. That's thanks to our backup system and the connectivity that we have between NetApp and our backup. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? We're using one with between 30 and 35 virtual servers. However, we have those together with 14 other stacks of the same size. How are customer service and support? I like the fact that they're very hands-on in finding that resolution for us. We've faced a lot of problems since we break the system on purpose just to make sure that when we go out to the fields and use it, if we have the same problem, we know how to fix it. Technical support is excellent. We've never had a problem with them, and they always came back to us with an answer. Within 24 hours, we have our fix. How would you rate customer service and support? Positive Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch? We have always used NetApp. We did not previously use a different solution. How was the initial setup? I've never deployed the solution. I've just worked with it directly. What was our ROI? The best benefit I've seen using it was the data distribution between two different FASs for data backups. It should be fast, and it's super reliable. It's easy to do, and it's an almost hands-off way of setting up. That's where the ROI is for us. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? I've never worked with pricing. I can't speak to the exact costs. Which other solutions did I evaluate? We thought about using Dell, however, when it came to cost-effectiveness, we stayed with NetApp. I like the way NetApp is coded and its maintenance configuration. I know how to set up a NetApp; I prefer that over Dell. What other advice do I have? AFF hasn't necessarily helped us to optimize FAS as we've always used it, and it's never been detrimental for us to use it. I have not been affected by ransomware since deploying AFF. I wouldn't say that is due to any extra attention. The environments that I use it on, we're behind several mitigations for that. We do not use any other NetApp services at this time. I'd rate the solution ten out of ten. Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-12-06T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Excellent ONTAP cluster, scale-out, and architecture What is our primary use case? We use the solution mostly for virtual workloads, VMware, databases, and also the VDI infrastructure. How has it helped my organization? We can provide all the SLA performance-wise and high availability to the business. We are trying to maintain compliance with all business SLAs. What is most valuable? The ONTAP cluster, the scale-out, and the architecture are great. We are a large-scale company, and our growth has been pretty significant over the last five or six years. We like the scale, and the way NetApp grows, so that's why we use it. It's mostly for block storage. NetApp data helped to reduce our operational latency to some extent. We've saved maybe 20%. We have not been affected by ransomware since using the solution. What needs improvement? The NetApp support could be better. NetApp can improve a lot on hardware upgrades and proactive support. In the past, AFF has helped optimize our costs. However, not anymore since NetApp has increased its prices. The optimization we had previously is not the case anymore. Recently, we have had some support issues that we definitely have some concerns with. For how long have I used the solution? I've been using the solution for eight to ten years. What do I think about the stability of the solution? The stability is good. I'd rate it eight out of ten. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? The solution is scalable. We are in a large enterprise, so that fits our requirements. There is about 30 to 35 petabytes of data and a block size of close to 25 to 30 petabytes of data. How are customer service and support? Technical support could be better and should be more proactive. We've also had some production outages. Due to one upgrade, for example, there was a significant outage. How would you rate customer service and support? Neutral Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch? I'm also familiar with Dell EMC. We've used PowerMax, and we have used StorageGRID. We use AFF as this is the main environment for our corporate environment. NetApp has been in the environment for quite some time, so we have built that comfort level with the product. How was the initial setup? I was involved with the initial deployment of the solution. The setup was complex on our end. Our internal processes are difficult as we have such an extensive environment. For example, we must go to security and do all the reviews and assessments. It's our internal program. There's nothing on NetApp. What about the implementation team? We worked directly with a third party on the deployment and with NetApp. Overall, the experience was okay. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? The pricing has definitely increased significantly as compared to other competitors. What other advice do I have? I have not used NetApp BlueXP. We are looking into FSx ONTAP. We are trying to do the pilot program on FSx ONTAP, and we will probably use that in the cloud in AWS. I'd rate the solution eight out of ten. We've only really had some support issues and some issues around performance sometimes. Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-12-06T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Reliable with a good FlexClone feature and useful CLI What is our primary use case? The solution is primarily used for various functionality. We separate storage from other companies. What is most valuable? I like the FlexClone feature. The CLI, the Power Shell, for NetApp is very good. You can do everything from the Command Line. Storage is very reliable. You don't have to do much maintenance. It is stable. What needs improvement? It is very limited in terms of storage. You can grow storage only ten times more. You have a limit in terms of how much you can expand storage. It sounds like a lot. However, over the years, as you grow, it may be smaller than you think. You really need to plan for the future. I'm not sure if this is being fixed or not. The solution is expensive. For how long have I used the solution? I've used the solution for eight years. What do I think about the stability of the solution? The solution is very stable. I'd rate the stability ten out of ten. There are no bugs or glitches, and it doesn't freeze. Once or twice we did have a crash. However, it rarely is disrupted. We were able to recover everything. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? The scalability is limited. You need to really plan for what you need. If you have it for a long time, you can run into issues if you need to extend beyond your means. It can be very difficult to expand. Generally, if you size properly, you can buy more shells. It is very expensive to grow. We have about 60 people using the solution. How are customer service and support? We only opened one serious case with NetApp. Typically, we have another company that troubleshoots for us. They would be the ones that would open a ticket. Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch? I used to use Dell PowerStore. It is very simple to set up. It's better for medium-sized companies that are pretty straightforward. We previously used HP around 16 or 17 years ago. I cannot recall why we switched to NetApp. How was the initial setup? The initial setup has a moderate amount of difficulty. Dell PowerSTore is easier to set up. This is not difficult. However, it's not too complex. You just need to do more work in order to properly use the solution. I cannot recall what the deployment process was, as it was a long time ago. The last time we did a deployment, it took two weeks. It was a special installation, and we have less storage capacity than expected, which caused issues. We had to install it twice. We only require minimal staff for deployment and maintenance. There isn't too much maintenance as you just configure it how you want and you leave it. Typically, the product is very reliable so it doesn't require attention. What about the implementation team? We had a company that helped us implement the solution and handle any troubleshooting. What was our ROI? We have witnessed an ROI. It is worth the price we pay for it. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? The solution is expensive. It is a perpetual license. You do not have to pay for it monthly or yearly. What other advice do I have? This is the latest version of the solution. I'd rate the solution nine out of ten. It is a very good product. I would advise those who want to use the solution to make sure they have a good budget. If they need to manage many environments, it's a very, very good option. It's great for enterprises. 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: 2023-03-31T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Supports many features that can be switched on or off as necessary What is our primary use case? This is a storage solution. What is most valuable? I like that you can switch protocols and features on and off, depending on how I architect my domain. From the business side of things, it supports file formatting, the main protocols, and the hot swapping of disks and features. What needs improvement? This is an expensive solution that could be cheaper. For how long have I used the solution? I've been using this product for several years. What do I think about the stability of the solution? The stability is good. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? If it's a data center enterprise-fed product, it is scalable. Some of the base models are not scalable, but these products are generally scalable. How was the initial setup? Deployment time depends on the size of the organization. If you have engineers, the implementation can be done in-house. What other advice do I have? It's important to ensure that your use cases are suitable for the product prior to investing in the purchase of it. I recommend this solution and rate it eight 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: 2023-04-02T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Scales well, straightforward deployment, but SAN functionality could improve What is our primary use case? We are using NetApp AFF primarily for file servers. How has it helped my organization? NetApp AFF has helped our organization because they're reliable, and the file shares are available to everyone all the time. What is most valuable? The most valuable feature of NetApp AFF is the reputation of the company. What needs improvement? NetApp AFF could improve SAN storage because it feels as if it was not put together at the beginning, it functions as an afterthought. Additionally, the cloud features could be more mature. For how long have I used the solution? I have used NetApp AFF (All Flash FAS) within the past 12 months. What do I think about the stability of the solution? I rate the stability of NetApp AFF an eight out of ten. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? We have plans to increase our usage of the solution in the future. I rate the scalability of NetApp AFF a seven out of ten. How are customer service and support? I rate the support of NetApp AFF a seven out of ten. How would you rate customer service and support? Neutral How was the initial setup? The initial setup of NetApp AFF is straightforward. What was our ROI? NetApp AFF is a good investment, but it is expensive. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? NetApp AFF is an expensive solution. What other advice do I have? I would recommend this solution for NAS but not for SAN. I rate NetApp AFF a seven 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: 2023-04-30T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Easy to use and reliable solution What is our primary use case? We use the solution to host the system data for VMs. What is most valuable? The solution's most valuable features are pricing and speed. What needs improvement? They should improve the solution's features for disaster recovery. Also, they should provide easier integration with multiple systems. For how long have I used the solution? We have been using the solution for one and a half years now. What do I think about the stability of the solution? It is a stable solution. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? We have 1500 solution users in our organization. It is a scalable product. How are customer service and support? The solution's customer service is good. How would you rate customer service and support? Positive Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch? I have worked with HP in the past. In comparison, NetApp has various protocols like NFS and CIFS. Also, it is much easier to use and integrate than HP. How was the initial setup? The solution was easy to deploy and took half a day to complete. What about the implementation team? Initially, I implemented the solution myself. Later, I took help from a reseller to review it. Also, two or three executives are required to maintain the solution. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? The additional license for the solution costs 45k. It is relatively cheap compared to other vendors. What other advice do I have? I recommend the solution to others and rate it as nine. It is very stable, reliable, and cost-effective. 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: 2023-04-26T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Good one-point central management solution and easy to manage What is our primary use case? It is used for separating locations from a network cluster and also to store the data and create a backup on another location for bigger companies. What is most valuable? NetApp is like a one-point central management. For example, one can put everything on the right version and control the whole environment from one software solution. It's easy to have an insight into monitoring and stuff. The solution is easy to manage. What needs improvement? The user interface should be more user-friendly and configuration could be easier. For how long have I used the solution? I have been using NetApp AFF for two years. What do I think about the stability of the solution? It is a fairly stable solution. There is rarely a problem and everything runs fine. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? It is a fairly scalable solution, though some things are more easily scalable than others but the possibilities are endless. Presently, sixty customers are working on the solution. How are customer service and support? The customer support team of NetApp is good. How was the initial setup? The initial setup is not very simple. As I always use the CLI for configuration, it is easy. But the nodes' and cluster configuration can also be done with GUI. The solution is deployed by connecting everything in different locations and then implementing the solution that will be sold to customers. The deployment is done by three engineers, which include two senior engineers and myself. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? The customers need to pay for the license. What other advice do I have? I would recommend NetApp to people with a budget and looking for a simple solution for a small environment. But for complex environments, NetApp can be an overkill. I would rate it a nine out of ten. Which deployment model are you using for this solution? Hybrid Cloud Disclaimer: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:Partner
Date published: 2023-04-26T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Comes with data protection and has snapshot technology for backup What is most valuable? The most valuable feature of the solution is data protection and snapshot technology for backup. What needs improvement? NetApp AFF needs to focus more on block storage. It has to focus on high-end, performance-driven applications. For how long have I used the solution? I have been working with the solution for more than five years. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? NetApp AFF is scalable. How are customer service and support? NetApp AFF has good technical support. How would you rate customer service and support? Positive Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch? We chose NetApp AFF because it is flexible and reliable. It offers a unified storage system. How was the initial setup? NetApp AFF's deployment is straightforward. You can deploy it within half a day. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? NetApp AFF's pricing is competitive. It is not expensive or cheap. The tool's pricing is based on configurations and can cost around 150-160 dollars for 70 TB of storage. What other advice do I have? We recommend the solution to small, mid, and enterprise companies. I rate it an eight out of ten. Disclaimer: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:Partner
Date published: 2023-09-28T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from An efficient solution that helps with SQL workloads 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. Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2023-12-05T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Filers have a quick response What is most valuable? The tool's most valuable feature is SVM. I also like the speed and response of the filers. What needs improvement? We should be able to manage NetApp AFF as per the desired usage and needs. For how long have I used the solution? I have been using the product for five years. What do I think about the stability of the solution? NetApp AFF is stable. How are customer service and support? NetApp AFF's support is excellent. How would you rate customer service and support? Positive What was our ROI? We have seen ROI with the product's use. What other advice do I have? NetApp AFF has helped us unify and manage the shares under one domain. The product has helped to reduce operational latency. The tool has helped us optimize costs with its deduplication, data efficiency, and compression features. I rate it a nine out of ten. Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2023-12-05T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Low latency, ease of migration, and excellent support What is our primary use case? We are using it for configuring NAS as well as the SAN environment. How has it helped my organization? Most of our business-critical systems are provisioned from the NetApp AFF system. Compared to others, we have a minimal latency. Configuring the DR for high availability or migrating the volumes from one box to another is pretty easy with NetApp AFF. One of the features that I like in NetApp is cluster configuration where multiple systems can be configured in a single cluster. Its advantage is that we can easily migrate the workload from one system to another without any downtime. With zero downtime, we can migrate the systems. That is one of the advantages of NetApp AFF. NetApp AFF reduces operational latency depending on the systems, the SAN infrastructure, and the server. It is a maximum of one or two milliseconds, and some of the systems do work in 0.5 milliseconds latency. For performance tuning, there is a tool called Unified Manager as well as the Active IQ system. The initial troubleshooting is very easy. From the administrator front directly, we can log in to Active IQ. It analyzes the logs in the system and suggests what needs to be improved. From a performance point of view, there is a tool called Unified Manager that shows us a clear picture of the historical volume latency. These tools help us to manage the system very easily, but if there is still something that we are not able to figure out through these tools, then we reach out to the support team. What is most valuable? We have snapshots, and we have even configured storage-based replication with this product. The majority of our virtual workloads are provisioned from this product as well. Our workload VMs are provisioned in this storage. For replication and snapshots, it is more user-friendly and easy to use as compared to some of the other OEM products, such as HPE 3PAR and Dell Unity. What needs improvement? Migrating from a public cloud to on-prem or on-prem to a cloud can be a bit complicated. They have their own solution, but it should be easy to use. For how long have I used the solution? We have been using NetApp AFF for the last three to four years. What do I think about the stability of the solution? The product is very stable. The hardware is very stable. The operating system is also very stable. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? It is scalable. How are customer service and support? I do not face any challenges with NetApp. The support team or everything else is good. If we face any kind of breakdown or any challenge, we can easily reach out to the NetApp backend team. That is one of the advantages of NetApp. I would rate their support a ten out of ten. How would you rate customer service and support? Positive Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch? We have worked with the Dell Unity and VNX products. We migrated from Dell to NetApp because of the advantage of configuring the unified storage, such as NAS and SAN, in a single box. Apart from that, the end customer preferred to configure DR, and NetApp has its own solution with this device. The end customer also wanted the snapshot feature, and NetApp has its own feature. In addition, every four or five years, when the system gets old, we need to migrate the workloads to a new system. NetApp has an advantage there because we can purchase a new system and configure it in the same existing cluster. Once it is configured in the existing cluster, from the back or from storage to storage, we can do the migration without any downtime. That is one of the advantages of NetApp. We have not worked with other NetApp solutions much. We only tested ONTAP and the AWS or the Google Platform Service with NetApp, but we are not using it in our production environment. How was the initial setup? It is easy to deploy and use. It takes three to five hours. One person is enough for it. What about the implementation team? The installation or the initial setup is done by OEM or NetApp engineers. After the initial setup is done, our internal team takes care of the other activities. After the management connectivity and physical parts are established in the backend, our in-house engineer takes care of it. What other advice do I have? If you have a virtual environment with the SAN and NAS workloads, NetApp is very suitable. Apart from that, if you are looking for a DR solution, it is very easy to configure DR in NetApp. NetApp also has its own object storage, so object storage is also available in the existing platform and existing versions. If you are using any in-house S3 type of solution, that is available in this. Overall, I would rate NetApp AFF a nine out of ten. Disclaimer: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:Partner
Date published: 2023-12-11T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Since switching, our clients have reported improved performance and reduced latency What is our primary use case? We recommend NetApp for all our clients that have traditional infrastructures with two servers and some companies that are in manufacturing or the public sector. We have many different experiences with NetApp. How has it helped my organization? NetApp AFF has helped our clients simplify their infrastructure while delivering high performance to their business-critical applications. We have a lot of clients that use SQL Server with NetApp, and we have noticed improved performance. We usually recommend NetApp AFF instead of SaaS because it's much faster. We've gotten a lot of positive feedback from our customers about the reduced latency. What is most valuable? I like NetApp AFF's deduplication. The solution's AutoSupport feature is efficient and effective because customers are notified of potential issues before they experience problems with NetApp. The support is sold based on metro clusters, so they guarantee the client's business continuity. NetApp has an Active IQ app that allows you to get information on your smartphone. What needs improvement? I don't work on the technical side of things, so it's hard for me to highlight areas of improvement, but maybe the price could be a little better. For how long have I used the solution? We first implemented NetApp AFF in 2016. What do I think about the stability of the solution? We haven't faced stability issues with NetApp AFF. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? NetApp AFF is scalable. How are customer service and support? I rate NetApp support 10 out of 10. We've gotten good feedback from our customers. They're very satisfied. How would you rate customer service and support? Positive Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch? We sometimes offer clients alternatives to NetApp like HPE and Dell EMC. While we typically recommend NetApp, some clients prefer other storage vendors. We had one client who used Pure Storage, but they asked us to try NetApp. Today, none of our customers have Dell EMC. What was our ROI? NetApp AFF offers some cost advantages because the product has a long lifecycle. The clients don't need to change their storage solution every two to three years. Customers can extend their guarantee to six or seven years. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? NetApp isn't the cheapest solution on the market, but the price is good for the performance we get. What other advice do I have? I rate NetApp AFF 10 out of 10. Our customers are satisfied with the performance. We never have any problems with the data speed. Which deployment model are you using for this solution? Public Cloud Disclaimer: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:Partner
Date published: 2023-12-21T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Reduces operational latency and is consistently stable What is our primary use case? I have used it for storage services. How has it helped my organization? NetApp AFF has helped to simplify our infrastructure while still getting very high performance for our business-critical applications. It has helped to accommodate a non-structured environment. I have a diversification of Windows and Linux in my network, and it has supported both networks. NetApp AFF has helped to reduce support issues such as performance-tuning and troubleshooting. NetApp AFF has definitely reduced the operational latency. It has reduced operational latency by 30% to 40%. What is most valuable? Its consistent stability is one of the things that I like, and the performance is also very good. What needs improvement? The dashboard needs improvement. The dashboard needs some uplift. For how long have I used the solution? I have been using NetApp AFF for eight to ten years. What do I think about the stability of the solution? It is stable. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? It is scalable. Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch? We were using a small configuration Dell server. The configuration was not so high. We chose NetApp AFF simply because of its performance and stability. How was the initial setup? The initial deployment was a bit complex. At the time of implementation, we created a parallel setup and gradually shifted from the old setup to the new setup. What about the implementation team? We got it done directly from the NetApp support team. What was our ROI? I have not worked out the ROI. After implementing it, COVID came, and we did not work much on it. Its renewal is around the corner, and at that time, we will go into ROI. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? Its price is quite competitive, but there is still scope for better pricing. Which other solutions did I evaluate? I evaluated NetApp, Dell, and HPE storage. I chose Netapp AFF because I had used NetApp earlier as well, so I was well aware of the performance of this solution. What other advice do I have? Overall, I would rate NetApp AFF an eight out of ten. I would recommend it to others. Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2024-01-03T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Very fast and offers great technical support What is our primary use case? Our primary use case for AFF is for databases. What is most valuable? The most valuable features of AFF are its speed and the responsive support from NetApp. What needs improvement? The only downside to NetApp AFF is its price. For how long have I used the solution? I have been using NetApp AFF for eight years. What do I think about the stability of the solution? In terms of performance and stability, AFF is good for our current needs. However, if we require higher performance, we may need to invest in new hardware. What do I think about the scalability of the solution? NetApp AFF scales well for our needs. We can continuously add more storage and capacity to expand the system, which has been a viable approach for us. How are customer service and support? The support is great. When issues arise, the support team quickly addresses our questions and resolves problems efficiently. I would rate the support as a nine out of ten. How would you rate customer service and support? Positive Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch? I have previously used Hitachi, but it is very slow. How was the initial setup? The initial setup of NetApp availability can be considered medium difficulty. If you have experience with NetApp systems, it is relatively easy to medium in complexity. However, if you have never installed such a system before, it can be quite challenging. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? NetApp can be expensive. It is worth noting that the cost isn't just in the hardware but also in the support, which can be a significant portion of the overall expense. What other advice do I have? Overall, I would rate NetApp AFF as a ten out of ten. 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: 2023-11-14T00:00:00-05:00
Rated 5 out of 5 by from Boosts performance for tasks like general workloads, virtualized workloads, and high-performance databases How has it helped my organization? I use AFF to boost performance for tasks like general workloads, virtualized workloads, and high-performance databases. It helps me manage costs while delivering better results in these areas. Additionally, AFF has significantly simplified my infrastructure while maintaining high performance. It simplifies the infrastructure by allowing us to easily migrate and adjust workloads using SnapMirror based on our environment's needs. With multiple clusters, it offers the flexibility to distribute workloads effectively and adapt to changing demands. AFF has also reduced support issues. Customers usually only complain about performance when it's a real problem, but with AFF's flash storage, we have had fewer complaints. When issues do come up, they are often related to other parts like the network, not the storage itself, which makes troubleshooting easier. What is most valuable? NetApp AFF's flash technology offers great performance. This feature has been my go-to for managing data and ensuring speed and reliability. What needs improvement? In terms of improvement, the support could be a little better but it has improved a lot. For how long have I used the solution? I have been using NetApp for thirteen years. What do I think about the stability of the solution? NetApp AFF is very stable. I would give it a ten out of ten for stability. How are customer service and support? The support has been good, with responsive assistance, especially at higher tiers. However, there were some language and repetitive questions issues with the first-line support, but it improved as it escalated to higher levels. Having account managers has been beneficial. How was the initial setup? The initial setup was easy, similar to other NetApp FAS installations. What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing? The price is a bit high, but it is worth it because we have fewer performance issues to deal with and it saves us time. Using multiple NetApp clusters also helps us move workloads as needed, which cuts costs. What other advice do I have? Overall, I would rate NetApp AFF as a nine out of ten. Which deployment model are you using for this solution? On-premises 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: 2023-11-14T00:00:00-05:00

This page was printed on 4/19/2024 11:24:30 AM.