Share your experience using DDN A3I

Our organization primarily uses Unified Storage for hybrid cloud connectivity, virtual machine deployment, and migrations. We mainly use mixed storage with varying block and object sizes and compare various databases within the unified interface. It's mainly used to share storage to the SMB and enterprise protocols. It's very helpful for my use case.

We use any data type. The structural application code is any type of data storage. We have EC2 and S2 buckets in AWS and also GCP bucket storage. All of our storage is managed from one location, and we have more than 100 users. 

We previously used a traditional file server storage solution, and we had to use a different vendor for every type of work. By migrating to Nutanix storage, we could simplify everything through a single-vendor approach. The fact that Unified Storage is centralized makes it easier for us to consolidate business operations. 

We also appreciate the scalability aspect because we can scale based on the performance procurement of our workload. It unifies all types of storage. Everything has been streamlined and simplified to a single-window approach. This is amazing because we can accomplish whatever we want in terms of operations and migration. We had a three-tier architecture, but now we can stream everything using a single vendor. 

Unified Storage's centralized management features enable us to accomplish whatever we want in terms of operations and migrations. It's easy to manage the environment. Scalability is also a valuable feature. Unified Storage is highly flexible and stable. Scaling up the environment is simple, and we can scale based on our workload, which can be unpredictable. 

Nutanix's SaaS-based data security solution is great. It protects us against ransomware and global data threats. Everything is protected. It also provides cloud-hosted analytics. The Data Lens monitoring services are working well for us. We can view all the analytics from within the centralized management platform, which is convenient for users. The security features are all there. We feel comfortable knowing that we get a high level of detail at the security level. Data Lens' rating is centralized and everything is easy to use. 

The graphical user interface could provide more detail. It would be nice if we could click on the service and get some expanded definitions of them. When hiring new people, it's difficult to teach them how everything works, but if they can access everything, they can teach themselves. 

I have used Unified Storage for a year and a half.

I rate Unified Storage 10 out of 10 for stability. 

I rate Unified Storage nine out of 10 for scalability.

I rate Nutanix support 10 out of 10. 

Positive

Deploying it is straightforward. I wasn't part of the initial deployment, but I know about the integration and migration because I primarily focus on storage. The deployment took about 20 days. We have about 10 people on our team. 

Unified Storage requires some maintenance, but it isn't that difficult. We need to do some patching, but everything is efficient and manageable. The support system around is excellent. If we need to purchase anything, we can get everything quickly from the website. Only three people are responsible for maintenance and administration. 

The Nutanix team handled the deployment. They were very helpful. 

Unified Storage is reasonably priced compared to other platforms. The license is neither costly nor cheap, but it's reasonable. 

We explored Dell VxRail and NetApp's retail solution. Unified Storage offers a higher level of granularity and more control over the security features, and options are available to us.

I rate Nutanix Unified Storage 10 out of 10. I would recommend Unified Storage if you're looking for more security. It's a feature-rich platform that gives you a high degree of granular control over security. 

My main use case is datastore storage, specifically for storing VMs.

I think it improves my work, not necessarily the organization, because I spend very little time managing it; it saves time. I spend little time administering it, and it's simple; you do it once, it works. You come back to it when you need to reallocate from time to time, but otherwise that's it.

The features I find the most valuable, the best ones that I especially like, include the allocation and the provisioning, which is quite simple for creating a lot of LUNs and assigning them to a particular host or host group; it's something that is done really quickly. The graphical interface does everything and we don't need to use the CLI; we can do everything, and it's user-friendly and simple.

I believe the solution could be improved through better unification with the NAS file storage component. While the product currently fulfills its role perfectly for the SAN portion, it lacks the necessary versatility to natively handle all protocol types, specifically NFS and SMB or CIFS.

I have been using Dell PowerStore for 3–4 years.

I did not have downtime or outages; we haven't had any major issues; it's quite stable and reliable in general. We touch it very little; we configure it and kind of forget it, coming back only if there's a need to evolve.

I think it adapts well to my organization's growth because for now the scalability is sufficient for our current use; for the future as well, we can also add more alongside if needed. Since it's managed at the SAN level, we can assign the LUNs as we want.

I have used technical support sometimes, more for feature requests and to know how to use a given feature; Disk replacements are managed proactively by Dell. The system triggers automated alerts, and replacements are handled directly by the manufacturer rather than a third-party reseller, which guarantees faster turnaround times.

I would rate the support an 8–9.

Positive

Before adopting Dell PowerStore, I considered other solutions; for example, we had other solutions with HP, which are still more complex to use. We also looked at NetApp for the file part, but Dell PowerStore seemed to us to be the best value for money.

I would describe the deployment experience as quite simple; assigning IP addresses, cabling, and racking is quite simple, and then the configuration part with the guided configuration is fairly easy.

I can confirm that I see a return on investment; I don't have the figures for you, but clearly a return on investment exists. Essentially for a lower investment than other solutions, we have an equivalent service.

I think the price and the licenses are very consistent compared to the competition.

We also looked at NetApp for the file part, but Dell PowerStore seemed to us to be the best value for money.

One of the challenges I'm trying to address by choosing this specific Dell PowerStore is that I knew the previous products, VNX and Unity, and I find one of the advantages is the simplicity; it's much simpler to use than competing arrays. I don't know if I should give names, whether it's HP 3PAR or NetApp – they do other things but they're more complicated, whereas Dell PowerStore remains very simple to use.

I have performance metrics that indicate the success of working with Dell PowerStore; built into Dell PowerStore are some reporting tools, which show ways to see the load, allocations, and remaining free space.

We use those tools; if we encounter performance issues, we look at the entire SAN chain, whether it's on the array side, switch side, or initiator side.

It gives a report that focuses mainly on the backend part; however, it's true that we perhaps lack a tool to cover the whole chain from A to Z, and we do that more at the SAN fabric level.

At the range level at Dell, I find it a bit complicated between PowerScale, Dell PowerStore, and the older systems; trying to understand which product is best for our needs is a little bit complicated, and we need support from the pre-sales team.

I give this product an overall rate of 8 out of 10.