HPE MSA vs VNX [EOL] comparison

Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Dell Technologies are both solutions in the Modular SAN (Storage Area Network) category. Additionally, 92% of Hewlett Packard Enterprise users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 87% of Dell Technologies users who would recommend it.

HPE MSA

Read 26 HPE MSA reviews

2,462 Views
2,413 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

VNX [EOL]

Read 36 VNX [EOL] reviews

87% willing to recommend

HPE MSA

VNX [EOL]

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between HPE MSA and VNX [EOL] based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about NetApp, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, IBM and others in Modular SAN (Storage Area Network).

To learn more, read our detailed Modular SAN (Storage Area Network) Report (Updated: June 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Modular SAN (Storage Area Network)

June 2026

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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

HPE MSA

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Modular SAN (Storage Area Network) (3rd)

VNX [EOL]

Average Rating

8.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Featured Reviews

Jacques Petit

Administrative Assistant at EUIPO - European Union Intellectual Property Office

Ease of management and seamless storage optimization empower effective data handling

The user web interface is a bit slow, but it is really easy to use, although you still have to wait a bit when you send an operation. We have had some drive failures, but with the redundancy, we had no data loss. We just had to replace the disk, and it goes automatically well. The main difficulty is the firmware upgrade of disks, as it means stopping all the servers to make the upgrade. It would be beneficial to have it done in the background, stopping a disk and upgrading it while keeping the system running. Regarding responsiveness of the web interface, the same issue exists with iLO on the servers, where the interface is also a bit slow. However, with the new servers, it is always faster. The small CPU dedicated to that task does not have a lot of power since it is not the main task of the machine, making it less of a real problem and just a question of responsiveness.

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Alireza Zabihi

Works at AIT

The Nimble CS-Series has proven to be reliable with 100% uptime

When we started the process of looking for a SAN vendor I had four primary criteria: reliability, performance, cost, and simplicity. We were really looking for a unicorn and were fully expected to have to make compromises in one of those areas. The Nimble CS-Series was recommended by our solutions provider, and we were blown away. Not only was it the most affordable option, but it was the easiest to deploy, had the best performance, and has proven to be reliable with 100% uptime.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"MSA performs exceptionally well, particularly in regions with frequent power outages."

"It's a great product for the price."

"The solution's most valuable aspect, for our organization, is its stability."

"The solution is scalable and easy to manage."

"We've been very happy with the product, and have had good luck with them as far as not having any issues."

"Generally, HPE MSA has improved my storage management and has notably provided scalability benefits."

"The product is very easy to deploy."

"The speed and performance of HPE MSA are admirable."

More HPE MSA pros

"If you have a banking and finance domain, then go for EMC products as they offer better performance and scalability."

"Tiering, because it allows your data to dynamically move among different disk types based on demand in the last 24 hours."

"VNX 5200 works well with a medium VMware cluster, has good performance, and enables hardware disk replication."

"If you are looking for a stable, powerful and effective entry level SAN that you can provision on your own for a small environment or a small office/remote office situation - this is definitely the product for you."

"It has a good, high-level of storage."

"Since implementing VNX, we achieved a 10 times increase in the performance for its end users."

"In one cabinet, we have many environments: VMware, Oracle, Adabas, NAS (CIFS and NFS resources), and mix disks on tier configurations Tier configuration with different disks (SAS, SATA, Flash) The software for management is very user-friendly Snapshots for backup and refresh development on test environments"

"The implementation of both block and file system storage in a single GUI provides is better situated than most other storages."

More VNX [EOL] pros

Cons

"There is room for improvement in terms of scalability. There are times when we need to upgrade the device and the firmware. Sometimes, that can be a struggle."

"Some clients have suggested room for improvement in expanding storage capacity beyond the base traces."

"Data security features are more important to me than anything else, and I think HPE MSA lacks in this area."

"It would be ideal if there was a better management interface."

"The solution's license should be integrated and not separate."

"I rate HPE support four out of 10. I'm not happy with them. We purchased mission-critical support, and we're supposed to get a response in four hours. Instead, I'm waiting days for them to replace the drive. They asked me to send back the failed one, and I don't know the address. After I sent it back, they told me they haven't received it. It's a nightmare."

"The support contract is expensive, although they are very responsive."

"This product is getting a little bit older, so new features like deduplication are not included."

More HPE MSA cons

"EMC pricing is too expensive, like the Apple brand iPhone in the cellphone market."

"You need a lot of licenses in order to use this product, which makes the product expensive; the maintenance contract price also increases significantly every year."

"If the VNX had embedded encryption, that would be great."

"Based on our workloads, we see repeatedly in performance reports that the built-in controller (SP) cache of our VNX model is not sufficiently large, resulting in forced cache flushing."

"Make major changes to the file services, Celera, do something like a lite version."

"The scalability is average because the storage has some hardware limitations and, obviously, operating system limitations."

"There is an easy replication process between distinct data centers via VPLEX and/or RPA. But I hope in the future that EMC/Dell could replicate this with other types of storage."

"Due to very complex structure and sophisticated architecture, it needs experts for trivial troubleshooting also."

More VNX [EOL] cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"HPE StorageWorks MSA's licensing is perpetual and not integrated."

"The price of the solution is a little high and they should provide more competitive pricing. If you want to increases the storage size there are additional fees."

"I would rate the pricing as nine out of ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive."

"The solution’s pricing is reasonable."

"The solution can be a bit expensive."

"This solution is quite expensive; they should lower the cost."

"This solution involves a one-time CapEx payment, followed by warranty extensions."

"When we bought this solution it was very reasonably priced and they were willing to deal."

"The initial pricing and licensing are reasonable, the yearly EMC is more expensive"

"Pricing is somewhat higher, especially in Zambia, perhaps due to the low sales volume."

"The initial pricing and licensing are reasonable. Yearly EMC is more expensive."

"Reducing dependency on JavaServer Pages (JSP) could improve the administrative overhead."

"Over time, VNX has become pricier than its competitors, and we have turned enthusiastically to Unity."

"Make sure you understand how the licensing works and that you are getting the right set of licenses if you need array-to-array replication."

"While EMC tends to be on the expensive side, the stability and support of their products are top-notch and I feel are worth the cost."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

13%

Computer Software Company

11%

Comms Service Provider

Financial Services Firm

Construction Company

18%

Financial Services Firm

14%

Manufacturing Company

13%

Outsourcing Company

10%

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	11
Midsize Enterprise	11
Large Enterprise	7

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	5
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	23

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for HPE StorageWorks MSA?

I did not compare the cost of HPE MSA with others because we buy with a framework contract, and HP is the only brand available on that contract, so we have no comparison.

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What needs improvement with HPE StorageWorks MSA?

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What is your primary use case for HPE StorageWorks MSA?

We use HPE MSA as storage for the VMware servers, and we will try to use Proxmox server later on, but currently, we use VMware.

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Comparisons

NetApp FAS Series vs HPE MSA

Compared 25% of the time

HPE 3PAR StoreServ vs HPE MSA

Compared 18% of the time

IBM FlashSystem vs HPE MSA

Compared 11% of the time

Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform vs HPE MSA

Compared 10% of the time

Infortrend ESVA Storage Array vs HPE MSA

Compared 9% of the time

More HPE MSA Competitors

HPE 3PAR StoreServ vs VNX [EOL]

Compared 30% of the time

Dell Unity XT vs VNX [EOL]

Compared 21% of the time

Oracle Sun ZFS Storage Appliance vs VNX [EOL]

Compared 16% of the time

More VNX [EOL] Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

HPE MSA

June 2026

Download HPE MSA product report

Buyer's Guide

VNX [EOL]

May 2026

Download VNX [EOL] product report

Also Known As

HP StorageWorks MSA

VNX

Overview

HPE MSA is a reliable storage solution offering dual controllers and easy management, ideal for SMBs. Known for stability, scalability, and affordability, it is user-friendly with features like autonomic tiering and robust disaster recovery, serving virtualization environments and data centers.

With dual controllers and simplified setup, HPE MSA is tailored for ease of management and high reliability. Its design supports scalability and cost-effective operation, catering well to SMBs. Autonomic tiering, snapshots, and data deduplication enhance its performance, while strong integration and flexibility solidify its role in robust operations. Despite benefits, users note expensive support contracts and desires for improved features like synchronized replication and cloud connectivity. Improvements in data security and integration, along with better firmware updates and monitoring tools, are suggested. Its functionality spans NAS, SAN storage, managing VMware clusters, and hosting varied workloads, fitting well into infrastructures like hotels and hospitals.

What are the key features of HPE MSA?

Dual Controllers: Facilitates high availability by allowing seamless failover.
Simple Management: User-friendly interface for easy configuration and monitoring.
Autonomic Tiering: Automatically optimizes data placement for performance.
Snapshots and Data Deduplication: Enhance data protection and storage efficiency.
Transparent Operations: Ensures minimal disruption during operations.
Flexible Integration: Offers adaptability with power and network options.
Disaster Recovery: Reliable with global spare support.

What should users expect in terms of benefits and ROI?

Cost-Effectiveness: Affordable for SMBs, providing excellent ROI.
Scalability: Flexibility to grow with organizational needs.
Performance Stability: Consistent performance, even during power outages.
Easy Configuration: Simplifies setup and management to save time and resources.

HPE MSA finds applications in virtualization, data centers, and CCTV systems. Organizations leverage it for NAS and SAN storage, making it suitable for VMware clusters and workloads like file servers and databases. Its scalability makes it adaptable for hotels, hospitals, and government projects, integrating with server services for centralized management.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise

With EMC VNX you'll have the right blend of flash, capacity, and application-aware software. Scale up storage for midrange workloads, optimized for virtual applications and cloud environments.

Dell Technologies

Sample Customers

Femsa CSC, TTX, Rabobank

Samsonite, Comanche County Memorial Hospital, Kindred Healthcare

Buyer's Guide

Modular SAN (Storage Area Network)

June 2026

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