We performed a comparison between HPE Nimble Storage and HPE Primera based on our users’ reviews in four categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.
Comparison Results: The two solutions had a similar user rating in terms of ease of deployment. HPE Primera had a better user rating regarding pricing and service and support. In terms of features, HPE Nimble Storage users felt there were stability and scalability issues, while HPE Primera users felt the reporting console needed improvements and the user interface wasn’t user-friendly.
"I like FlashArray's ActiveCluster as well as its snapshot and cloning capabilities."
"I like the speed, and I like the API and how programmable it is."
"The most valuable feature is replication."
"Simplicity and reliability are the most valuable feature of Pure Storage FlashArray."
"The code upgrades are very smooth."
"This is the best all-flash storage array on the market."
"The most valuable feature of Pure Storage FlashArray is the complete set of functions it provides."
"The solution offers amazing performance."
"The initial setup is straightforward."
"HPE Nimble Storage is quick to release updates that fix bugs or problems and the failover has been good."
"The scalability is straightforward."
"The most useful features are high availability and the storage snapshot backup functionality."
"The capacity for data storage and compression is good."
"They have really thought through their solution. They've covered everything."
"It's very easy to set up. It's very stable, and it has got great deduplication, especially for hypervisor users."
"The most valuable features are its cost-effectiveness, performance, and its deduplication deficiencies."
"HPE Primera is scalable."
"It is stable and reliable."
"It is a stable and scalable solution with quick and efficient storage capability."
"The most valuable feature is the ability to provide the IOPS ratio which is required by a lot of our customers."
"HPE provides good support through their customer service."
"We sold Primera to a public university, and they're happy with it. They have been using it for about four months with no significant problems."
"There has been a lot of changes in HPE Primera OS, and most of the time any package related to it is simple to upgrade. It does not require any support for the operation. The customer can easily deploy any code directly from the GUI which is very good. Additionally, we have individual storage we can allocate and easily manage."
"HPE Primera is stable."
"We understand that they're thinking about it, but one of the things that would be nice is if they added some basic file-level capabilities to the platform. The idea is that they would run a basic NFS or CIF share from the controllers. FlashBlade is the powerhouse for File and Object storage, but if you don't need all that power, a lightweight file function would make FlashArrays more versatile."
"I think replication is one area that still needs improvement. Earlier, Pure Storage FlashArray only had IP-based replication. There was no API-based replication, but they have enhanced the feature now. However, they need to work on API replication for C-type of arrays."
"The solution could improve by having a multi-tenant feature."
"Beyond a certain amount of petabytes, you have to have a separate system. Basically, it's not infinitely scalable."
"When we were doing some tests, we found that there was an I/O freeze when they were switching the controller."
"There are many features which need to be added, particularly on the replication side."
"Pure Storage FlashArray could improve the recent file storage capabilities because it is lacking a lot of features."
"Pure Storage FlashArray could improve by being more secure."
"It would be ideal if all these enterprise-class high-performance products would come at a cheaper price."
"It was a bit expensive."
"Nimble Storage could increase its flexibility by adding more protocol options. Nimble mainly uses fibre channel protocols, whereas many other storage arrays support fibre channel, iCSI, and NFS protocols."
"We are doing a hybrid and are moving some machines to Microsoft Azure to run in hybrid mode. We are checking the availability of extra software-defined storage so that we can configure it."
"I would like to have more administrative rights, for example, root-level administrative rights to the underlying OS of the storage array. We want more access to the kind of underlying infrastructure of the storage array rather than relying on support. However, most companies are looking to have more managed solutions which is the opposite direction of what I want."
"Pure Storages have some option, which allows us the ability to directly download that host inventory and volume report. We can receive everything directly generated from the storage itself. We do not need to use some other web browser or something. If HPE Nimble Storage could do the same it would be a benefit."
"The resellers did the implementation of the solution, we did not do it ourselves. We have ten people for the deployment of the solution."
"You could argue that it would be preferable if everything were cheaper in order to save taxpayer money."
"Some application solutions can be more acceptable on the HPE Primera site."
"Increasing the IOPS and throughput values would make the product even better. Improving the scalability of HPE Primera is also recommended."
"The cost of HPE Primera could be lower."
"The IOPS and throughput could be better. That's the only drawback compared to other vendors."
"We used to receive hardware errors a lot of times. The ambient temperatures rise rate was approximately 35 to 55 degrees, but when it was approximately 27 or 28, we used to get errors a lot."
"The solution has good performance but it could improve further."
"Like most storage, we want to see flash become more and more stable. Like any flash that uses MLC or TLC techniques, over time, the more writes you have, the less usable the storage becomes. They try to plan for this and have a lot of extra space in the arrays, but over time, their performance does degrade. This is true for any flash storage."
"The pricing is very high."
HPE Nimble Storage is ranked 7th in All-Flash Storage with 28 reviews while HPE Primera is ranked 10th in All-Flash Storage with 17 reviews. HPE Nimble Storage is rated 8.6, while HPE Primera is rated 8.0. The top reviewer of HPE Nimble Storage writes "Proactive end-to-end management". On the other hand, the top reviewer of HPE Primera writes "A rock-solid, enterprise-class product that provides 100% availability and is backed by an excellent company". HPE Nimble Storage is most compared with Dell PowerStore, Dell Unity XT, NetApp AFF (All Flash FAS), VMware vSAN and IBM FlashSystem, whereas HPE Primera is most compared with HPE 3PAR StoreServ, Dell PowerStore, IBM FlashSystem, NetApp AFF (All Flash FAS) and Dell Unity XT. See our HPE Nimble Storage vs. HPE Primera report.
See our list of best All-Flash Storage vendors.
We monitor all All-Flash Storage reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.