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Cisco MDS Series vs HPE Alletra Storage MP B10000 comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco MDS Series
Ranking in Enterprise SAN
4th
Average Rating
9.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
10
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
HPE Alletra Storage MP B10000
Ranking in Enterprise SAN
3rd
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
26
Ranking in other categories
Public Cloud Storage Services (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Enterprise SAN category, the mindshare of Cisco MDS Series is 10.0%, up from 6.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of HPE Alletra Storage MP B10000 is 3.8%. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Enterprise SAN Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
HPE Alletra Storage MP B100003.8%
Cisco MDS Series10.0%
Other86.2%
Enterprise SAN
 

Featured Reviews

VK
Product Manager at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Reliable storage networking has ensured seamless multi-protocol access and continuous redundancy
Currently, I do not have any major suggestions for improvement as everything is working well without issues. If additional functions could be introduced to simplify usage, I would suggest that AI functionality or better integration capabilities would be advantageous for Cisco MDS Series. Any new AI-related features or functionality added to Cisco MDS Series would represent a positive advancement.
reviewer1309695 - PeerSpot reviewer
Infrastructure And Systems Manager at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees
High‑availability block storage has protected critical research workloads and boosted VMware IOPS
It is difficult to provide specific areas for improvement at this time. We may realize approximately 20% gains in the future, but the previous SAN we used was not very time-consuming, so the improvement is not very significant. We anticipate gains of approximately 10 to 20%. The management interface could be simplified. The cloud console contains two main sections: one for hardware and one for logical volumes on the LUNs being managed. This split is understandable because the hardware console contains HPE Alletra Storage MP B10000 for block storage and HPE Alletra for backup, both accessible in the same console. The separation of the SAN hardware console and the backup console is logical and understandable. We have four compute nodes, and the system was not designed to shut down gracefully with only two compute nodes remaining. Running with just one compute node functions properly, and the system continues to operate at reduced capacity. However, when we experienced a crash involving half of the system, HPE Alletra Storage MP B10000 failed completely. This behavior is documented as normal in the documentation, but we hoped the block storage could manage to run with half the power. This capability will be available in a future release but is not included in the current version. Our testing before moving to production was not entirely successful, but this aligns with the documented specifications. When we perform failover and data center crash tests, the system performs very well. We have deliberately crashed all four compute nodes, and the secondary storage site manages the workload without any virtual machines malfunctioning. This level of reliability is excellent, and it demonstrates why we selected HPE Alletra Storage MP B10000. Improvements in this area would make the solution even stronger.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"SAN switches in Cisco MDS Series are a valuable feature of the solution for our company."
"The stability has been commendable with no major performance issues and the system consistently provides users the ability to access the network without any problems."
"The product is easy to use."
"The most valuable feature of the Cisco MDS Series is its reliability, support, and scalability."
"The most valuable features of this solution are the devices, databases, and zoning."
"MDS's reliability is at a high level, the issues with these switches are extremely rare, and the whole product line is very predictable and stable."
"This solution is required for any type of IT infrastructure for Storage Networking and provides high availability for storage service."
"Cisco MDS 9148 SAN switch model is the best product, highly reliable and low cost, easy to deploy, easy to upgrade, easy to configure, easy to administer, and it gives effective performance when used for SAN switch connectivity between hosts and storage boxes."
"The unified management experience has been great. That's a huge advantage."
"The biggest advantage of the product is the 100% availability guarantee from HPE regarding the solutions."
"After testing HPE Alletra Storage MP B10000 in production and deliberately crashing the entire SAN to verify it functioned correctly, we confirmed it was the right choice for our needs."
"In the past three years, I have not had even one escalation call, which demonstrates how simple it is to manage and monitor our global block storage environment using HPE Alletra Storage MP B10000."
"The features I find most valuable in HPE Alletra Storage MP B10000 include the Peer Motion and Peer Persistence capabilities, allowing fully redundant storage across two sites."
"HPE Alletra Storage MP B10000 takes advantage of Nimble DNA, which is a super feature and provides the best experience in the world."
"The biggest advantage of the product is that it is designed for mission-critical workloads including high IOPS, low latency, and 100% data availability."
"The features of HPE Alletra Storage MP B10000 that I appreciate the most are availability for the company."
 

Cons

"I do not have a central management software to manage these products due to the licensing cost. It would be beneficial to have central management software for easier handling."
"The licensing model could be less complicated."
"Cisco MDS Series could improve by adding more gigahertz. However, they are doing this over time."
"The GUI client is Java-based and we know that Java is not secure, so everyone disables it."
"The product is very expensive."
"Data Center Network Manager is good but it is not free and requires purchasing a separate license."
"I find it difficult to operate and troubleshoot."
"It is quite a stable product. It should be shipped with the latest firmware to avoid download and upload schema at the beginning of the initial setup. There should also be the possibility of downgrading the firmware when required. WebUI needs DCNM instead a web-based GUI should be made available like Brocade san switch."
"We are facing issues related to your services and support with HPE Alletra Storage MP B10000."
"There is still room for reducing the cost."
"There are areas for improvement in support, and they still have potential to be better."
"I would like to see HPE GreenLake for File Storage improved in terms of the program's speed, as the administration, creation of change orders, issuance of those orders, and shipping of products take a while."
"In file protocols regard, an area for improvement exists."
"HPE Alletra Storage MP B10000 could be improved by integrating it with GreenLake, as this would enable us to do end-to-end monitoring across both on-prem and cloud environments better."
"You need two different boxes for block and file storage."
"It could be a good solution, but the performance and reliability depend on how the hardware is sustained for a longer duration, including the controllers and everything."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of the Cisco MDS Series is high."
"It's perpetual licensing and maintenance is a recurrent cost."
"Pricing cannot be considered an advantageous trait of the solution since it is expensive. I rate the solution's pricing a three out of ten."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
11%
Construction Company
11%
Computer Software Company
11%
Healthcare Company
8%
University
10%
Media Company
9%
Computer Software Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Large Enterprise8
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise13
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco MDS Series?
The pricing could be improved as the solution is very expensive. I am on a yearly payment basis.
What needs improvement with Cisco MDS Series?
Currently, I do not have any major suggestions for improvement as everything is working well without issues. If additional functions could be introduced to simplify usage, I would suggest that AI f...
What is your primary use case for Cisco MDS Series?
Cisco MDS Series is primarily used for connecting storage arrays. The multi-protocol feature supports all protocols and functionality working seamlessly. Virtual SANs operate without any issues. Pe...
What needs improvement with HPE GreenLake for Block Storage?
I would like to improve the situation, as I have heard many complaints about price. Prices are dramatically increasing and I have heard complaints from end customers. In the next release of HPE All...
What is your primary use case for HPE GreenLake for Block Storage?
As a consultant, I am doing the implementation and consulting in the area of implementing and advising customers in this area. The features I find most valuable in HPE Alletra Storage MP B10000 inc...
What advice do you have for others considering HPE GreenLake for Block Storage?
HPE Alletra Storage MP B10000 does not enable you to move workloads from on-premises to the cloud and back. Most customers are on-premise storage. Even if it is named cloud in terms of ECS or HPE A...
 

Also Known As

Cisco MDS 9100, Cisco MDS 9222i, Cisco MDS 9700
HPE GreenLake for Block Storage
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

National Rugby League
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Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco MDS Series vs. HPE Alletra Storage MP B10000 and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
909,701 professionals have used our research since 2012.