HPE Alletra Storage Reviews

Our main use cases for HPE Alletra Storage include high-performance computing clusters (HPC) and as a storage solution for data storage. 

It is being used in educational institutions. We are acting as a system integrator and reselling the solution. For our customers, the main use cases for HPE Alletra Storage are focused on research. They store their research data in HPE Alletra Storage.

We have provided Alletra 6000 on-premise. The usage depends on the customer's specific needs. Currently, they have deployed it as an in-house operation and are using it purely for internal storage on their premises. There are various features available, but these customers—mainly from the educational and government sectors—are unlikely to utilize even 50% of the storage’s capabilities. Their basic needs are being met, which is sufficient for them.

HPE Alletra's capacity and efficiency are good, and the upgradability option is excellent. Its console makes the management easy.

HPE Alletra Storage has definitely helped our customers reduce the time they spend on capacity planning. As for whether the tool also reduces the data management operations expenses for our customers, they have fixed jobs and data requiring regular backups on the storage. Wherever we have provided HPE Alletra Storage, it is still not completely filled up. Once the storage gets filled up, we will examine data management further.

I find the replication, snapshots, and deduplication features of HPE Alletra Storage most useful. Since the deduplication and replication parts are there, the data is compressed and stored, which is why users are happy with the storage performance. The input-output operations per second (IOPS) of the storage are very good, and the performance of the storage is impressive. The read-write operations are fast. 

HPE Alletra Storage helps simplify storage operations such as provisioning and day-to-day management, and I find it good.

Its performance is good, but we do have some concerns with Alletra. The challenge I face is that the recent models launched are not available now. When we pitch a solution to a customer and sell HPE Alletra 6000, the customer sees that the product has been discontinued by HPE. The transition of the storage is happening too fast, making it difficult for us, as we normally declare to customers that the product will not reach end-of-life for the next five years. These challenges arise as HPE transitions for the betterment of the product, but we are left answerable to the customer when they ask why we are offering something that the OEM has discontinued. This transition is occurring too fast, and historically, HPE had 3PAR storage that lasted a long time. We need a stable product, and with HPE Alletra, we are unsure about the stability of the product for the next one or two years. Customers now inquire about what happened to Primera storage, which is no longer available, and we lack answers.

I feel that HPE Alletra Storage could be improved, as all our competitors offer storage with options for both file and block and object within a single model, while HP still considers HPE Alletra as block storage only. In many government bids, when the government specifies a need for storage that supports both file and block, we lack a solution for that. A customer will not purchase two storages—one for file and another for block—so we need HPE Alletra to come with a solution that accommodates all data types: file, block, and object. This is critical since government purchases often rely on tenders.

I have been working with HPE Alletra Storage since the launch itself for the last two to three years.

The backend support from HPE is good.

I did not talk to their technical support. My engineers deployed it. They had a chance to talk to them.

The initial setup of HPE Alletra Storage is straightforward. The deployment is not very difficult. 

Our customers mainly utilize HPE Alletra Storage on-premises. Nobody is using the cloud version, as government rules in our country mandate that storage must be on-premise or on a MeitY-approved cloud that must be located in India. Due to these guidelines, customers are currently favoring on-premise solutions, although they may transition to cloud in the future.

Our engineers were able to handle the deployment without needing assistance from the HPE team.

My customers' return on investment (ROI) with HPE Alletra Storage depends on different factors. We can ascertain the ROI once warranties and everything else conclude for one or two storages. As for performance, I can say that the ROI is satisfactory since the IOPS are high and failures are low, indicating good ROI.

Generally, I find the price competitive for HPE Alletra 5000. However, for the higher version of HPE Alletra, the price does not seem competitive when compared to competitors EMC or NetApp, which have higher prices.

I don't believe HPE Alletra has helped reduce the cost per terabyte, as it is competitive with other products, maintaining a similar price point.

To summarize, the biggest benefit of HPE Alletra Storage for our customers is the higher IOPS and read/write performance. However, there remain numerous concerns regarding the product being too format-specific as it only serves as a block storage solution, presenting challenges.

I would rate HPE Alletra Storage an eight out of ten.

We deploy HPE Alletra for enteprise clients requiring extreme number of IOs and fast low latency, on-demand storage. The customers who opt for this usually have a larger budget and are not cost-sensitive, in a nutshell.

Alletra has elevated our ability to deliver on our 99.99% uptime for clients, aligning with my experience managing enterprice infrastructure at iOCO especially with the response time during heavy workloads. Seamless Replication, Snapshot Management and data encryption align with my certifications in Veeam and VMware, enabling us to implement disaster recovery and compliance. The management capabilites reduce operation overheads, even surprassing my HPE Synergy and 3PAR Deployments.

From my perspective, the management and upgradeability of the product are valuable. The technology uses NVME for increased storage, latency, high bandwidth, and sub-millisecond response times. Even under stringent usage, customers opt for Alletra for its high performance. We find the way we can replicate, use snapshots, secure data, and manage it very beneficial. The ability for independent management is another advantage.

I would say that maybe the user interface and experience could be improved. There are a few areas where enhancements can be made. One can find everything, but sometimes it requires time to navigate. Over time, I am sure engineers will provide input to categorize customizable features better. Maybe that's the only area that needs a few adjustments. Drawing from my CompTIA and ITIL certification, a more intuitive workflow design would benefit less technical users. 

I have used the solution for four months, but I have been had prior HPE training on it for a bit longer than that.

It runs for five years without fail, and even if a component is not changed immediately, it would still continue running. Obviously, it will give the red light and send alerts, but it remains operational. So, I can say it is extremely resilient.

Effortless scaling due to non-disruptive storage expansion which is a great demonstratable selling point. Evidence for this is the ability to add components and upgrade storage while the storage array is still running. I can just add it to particular groups, RAID groups, or others - similar to HPE Synergly blade deployments i've previously managed.

The customer service has improved dramatically. They are extremely quick to respond. When the problem reaches level one before escalation, logs and XML logs have already been taken and sent over. Within three hours, HPE is calling and providing a call to action or escalating to level two if necessary. The service has improved significantly, especially with the Alletra division of HPE.

Positive

I have worked a lot with HPE 3PAR. My first company of employmnet spearheaded HPE 3PAR deployments as they were the first to bring it into Africa before HP's acquisition, so I was well-versed with 3PAR from the time they used spinning disks to when they offered all-flash storage arrays. 3PAR set the bar on a top level, but Alletra's cloud native acrchitecture and GreenLake's integration have surpassed 3PAR's capabilites, particularly in hybrid cloud flexibility.

I find it straightforward because I have been working with HPE hardware and software since 2011. I have seen how HPE works and the expectations for deployment, and it has been fluid. This has been simple, nothing complicated. Rack and stack are easier over the years. It is extremely easy to install, get your IP addresses and details, and get everything up and running. My previous HPE FlexNetwork and SimpliVity based certifications and knowledge all put together helped gain knowledge to streamlined deployments at this point..

All in-house and Two engineer suffies. I would always deploy solutions with just my other colleague in my team, if need be. We work extremely well together, especially when giving the customer confidence. No more than two engineers are needed on site, to help carry the equipment safely - mirroring my iOCO projects where teamwork ensured rapid, risk-free installations.

It is still too soon to tell as I haven't run the solution for long enough.

Scheduling a Proof of Concept to demonstrate ROI - Will be a well documented way to portray Alletra's performance, justifying its premium cost. My AWS hybrid cloud projects (example: Multi-Region Disaster Recovery) can showcase how Alletra complements modern infrastructures.

I am further certifiying in Pure Storage (FlashArray/FlashBlade) and have deployed Nutanix Hyperconvered Solutions. I have also worked with Dell Products but I find Alletra's performance and the HPE ecosystem integration superior for enterprise-scale environments and i'm not just saying this as I have years of experience with seeing HPE's enterprise product range develop.

I would give them a presentation on the essentials they need to be aware of, and tell them to ask all the questions in detail. I would demonstrate the performance in an actual use-case. If needed, I’d suggest scheduling a proof of concept to justify aligning a budget for this product. I would rate it a nine out of ten because nothing can ever be perfect due to its balance of performance and manageability.

We are using HPE Alletra Storage as our storage for our VM environment, a storage area network for us. All of our VMs that we put on are on it, approximately 20 or 30 VMs. We provide storage for that. We also use it for our backups with Veeam.

It keeps it simple. It makes it easy for my team. It doesn't necessarily make it easy for us to figure out stuff; however, it makes it easy for us to get to what we need to get to after we figure out stuff. It makes it easier for my team than to have conversations around terminology, around what we're doing, how we're doing it. And that for us is worth its weight in gold for us. We're a small team, so I need that when person a is doing something and person b is doing something, if they're doing the same things that they can speak to each other and see what the other is doing and understand what they're doing.

My experience with the deployment of HPE Alletra Storage has been good. 

I like the single pane of glass approach. I like the fact that when I log in, I can get access to all of my different infrastructure components, and I can manage them through the web portal, and that makes things very easy as opposed to having to jump through different management interfaces or administration consoles.

These systems are intelligent enough that when an issue is detected, before we're even aware of it, tickets are automatically opened and closed. I receive copies of these tickets, and instead of things breaking and impacting the business, issues are handled proactively, which is fantastic.

It provides a cloud-like operational model on-prem. We have a pretty small dev environment and it hasn't impacted our dem environment as well. The team is freed up; we can be anywhere and log in and do something. We like that we have a stable platform that is more mature and allows us to do some amazing things.

Reducing the price for HPE Alletra Storage would be fantastic. However, we need better education that is specifically geared toward our sector and industry.

In our specific case, we are very labor sensitive. As we examine AI opportunities with our vendors, we are very conscious about which AI opportunities we pursue due to the sensitivity of our team and staff, as the adoption of AI could impact their jobs. During a recent session, there was discussion about level one and level two engineering roles being replaced by generative AI, which was concerning for a labor union where staff are worried about job security.

We would appreciate more education that's geared toward our sector and is sensitive to these concerns. The conversations should focus on how AI can augment what people are already doing, allowing them to move to higher-value tasks rather than replacing their positions entirely.

I've been using the solution for a year. 

I assess the stability and reliability of HPE Alletra Storage as top-class.

We're still old school and over-provision. We purchase more than we need. We expect not to have to scale for a little while. However, we have a good partner that can bring forward new capabilities for scaling and right-sizing. 

I evaluate the support I received from HPE as excellent. The engineers who helped us during pre-sales have continued their support after implementation. They've followed up on features we weren't initially ready for and have maintained open communication. Now that we have a better understanding of HPE, we're able to advance to the next level. It has been a very good experience.

Positive

We were with Cisco, and prior to that, we were running with IBM. It's been better than expected thanks to the breadth and depth of HP.

The deployment has been good. We didn't just do Alletra. We're doing Aruba as well, and OpsRamp. So far, our experience has been good. 

We have not noted an ROI beyond the stability we get day to day, which is quite valuable. 

The pricing is high. It's a fairly significant investment in us. 

We're implementing more than just HPE Alletra Storage; we're also implementing Aruba. The experience has been positive, and I would recommend it to others.

I'd rate the solution nine out of ten.

My main use cases for HPE Alletra Storage are dHCI and virtualization.

The benefits of using Alletra for my organization are that the amount of time it takes for my team to define storage and allocate storage for projects has reduced, and there's less training, too. It's just easy to teach the team how to do it.

The feature I appreciate the most about HPE Alletra Storage is how easy it is to provision storage. 

We've reduced time spent on capacity planning by 25%.

The capacity efficiency is good. The deduplication and compression seem to be getting high in terms of ratios.

We use it through GreenLake. It's simplified management.

To improve HPE Alletra Storage, it would help us if CIFS is included in one of the later versions, especially since they recently released NFS.

We struggle to gain access to senior support engineers. Typically, we need to escalate via sales.

I have been using HPE Alletra Storage for nine months.

We have had one failed drive, however, we didn't have any downtime. Knock on wood, we haven't had any issues. 

HPE Alletra Storage scales with the growing needs of my organization.

We had some support engineers who were not qualified to do the work, and we had to wait until we could get some qualified people to come out to fix it, which was a low point from support. It was our first experience with HPE in years. We'd used HPE in the past, became Dell EMC customers, then transitioned back to HPE, so that was not a great experience. Since that has been resolved, however, support has been really good. 

Prior to adopting HPE Alletra Storage, we were using Dell Unity and VxRail to address similar needs. Alletra gave us more flexibility to expand and the pricing was better.

Initially, we had some struggle points. The Array that came out was new and there was some technical issues. However, sine then, it's been great. 

The implementation process was smooth. We had professional services come out to help us.

We have seen an ROI with HPE Alletra Storage since the maintenance costs of our previous solution were higher.

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is that the licensing was that it was fairly simple, and the cost was better for us than a Dell solution.

Before selecting HPE Alletra Storage, we considered using our Alletra deployment as part of a dHCI solution for hyper-converged. However, we were looking at the competitor Dell VxRail solution.

My advice to other organizations considering HPE Alletra Storage is to ensure that when you deploy it, you have all the necessary components in place that the teams that will install it need.

I would rate HPE Alletra Storage overall as a nine on a scale of one to ten.

Our main use cases for the HPE Alletra Storage are for primary storage; we have four Alletra arrays, using two of them for primary storage and the other two for backup workloads.

The benefits of Alletra for our organization include the ease of detecting when we have a storage or volume that's running low, and being able to allocate space to those is simpler than other management platforms I've used.

The features I appreciate most about the HPE Alletra Storage are its ease of provisioning storage and management. From one console, we can manage all four of our arrays, making management significantly easier than previous software or storage arrays I've managed in the past. 

The solution has reduced our data management operations expenses, although we haven't quantified that yet. We know that expenses have been reduced because we have consolidated storage, managing one set of storage from one vendor instead of having two or three different storage arrays from different vendors.

I can definitely say that the solution has reduced the time I spend on capacity planning. That said, we have not quantified that. I would assess the capacity efficiency of the HPE Alletra Storage as a reduction in time. We no longer have to dig and find out when or actually act, as it alerts us when we can set thresholds for low space or performance issues, allowing us to manage our arrays more proactively.

To improve the HPE Alletra Storage, I would suggest including smart functions and AI capabilities on the Nimble versions of the Alletra arrays since we are not using the MP version at this time.

I have been using the HPE Alletra Storage for about three years.

I would assess the stability and reliability of the HPE Alletra Storage as very good; only the initial rollout had issues, but for the last two years, it has been very reliable.

The HPE Alletra Storage scales with our growing needs, but we haven't expanded usage yet; that's something we are currently considering.

On a scale from one to ten, I would rate customer service and technical support a nine. Since our initial rollout where we had issues, HPE worked with us to resolve them, and whenever we needed to talk to a rep with questions, we could reach someone quickly.

Positive

Prior to adopting the HPE Alletra Storage, we were using another solution, but I can't recall the name right now. The main reasons we moved were capacity, scalability, cost, and performance.

There were challenges initially, deploying it. I'm not sure there was an issue with compatibility between our ESX host connecting to storage, or something of that nature. However, we would constantly drop storage. We did work with HP and our third-party integrators to get that issue resolved. Since then, we haven't had an issue, even though there were initial onboarding challenges. Once we got those issues resolved, it's been pretty solid.

We haven't seen a return on investment with the HPE Alletra Storage other than the initial purchase price as we have not quantified operational costs.

My experience with the pricing and setup costs of the HPE Alletra Storage was phenomenal, which is one of the reasons our organization decided to go with it, as the setup costs were in some cases half the price of some of the other competitors with even more features.

In evaluating solutions before the HPE Alletra Storage, we considered some other HPE offerings such as the MP, however, the cost was so much more than what we needed at the time. Looking forward, we could leverage some of that MP functionality, but cost remains a factor.

The HPE Alletra Storage has not yet provided a cloud-like operational model on-prem for managing data infrastructure. We have not fully leveraged the cloud functionality of the Alletra yet, and while I know it integrates with GreenLake, we're here to learn how we can use all the functionality of the Alletra arrays.

My overall rating for the HPE Alletra Storage is a nine out of ten.

My main use case for HPE Alletra Storage is storage.

The storage features benefited my organization since we were able to duplicate our Active Directory and the capacity to do our EDR.

The features of HPE Alletra Storage that I prefer most are storage. 

HPE GreenLake AI ops enables us to get assistance from senior support engineers without having to go through support escalations. I'm the director of IT. So if things go down, I'd like to get it fixed immediately, and storage is a big part of that.

While not definte, since I haven't used it long enough, the solution likely helps reduce the time spent on capacity planning.

It runs fast. It works fine.

The cloud-like operational model for on-prem works fast and I like the GUI interface. 

The solution runs pretty good right now, although I haven't used it for too long. The features are pretty spot on.

I have been using HPE Alletra Storage for less than two months.

I have experienced no downtime, crashes, or performance issues.

The solution scales well.

The issue I faced with technical support was that the power supply they sent was the wrong one since it was a case unit. It was a 240 and we needed a 120.

Once that was resolved, everything went smoothly. I understood that it was basically a supply and demand situation, so there wasn't much they could do. Once they received the part, they delivered it overnight.

On a scale of one to ten, I would rate customer service and the technical support line a seven since they didn't have the part that I needed right away. That was one of the main reasons I went with them, expecting they would have parts readily available.

Prior to adopting HPE Alletra Storage, I was using an on-prem storage unit, which was usually Veeam. We wanted to go to all HP. Scalability and the fact we could go all AI were two big factors. 

The biggest challenge was again down on that unit. The power supply was not the correct power supply, and it took forever for them to send me the one that I needed. It took five months to get it.

It's only been a few months; it's hard to measure the ROI.

The vendor gave me the price, and I liked it, so I bought it.

Scalability and AI capabilities were the factors that led me to consider a change. What stood out about the product was our desire to transition completely to HPE to accommodate AI and eventually change the whole infrastructure to HPE.

My advice to other organizations considering HPE Alletra Storage is to ensure they have the correct power supply before proceeding with installation. The deployment model for HPE Alletra Storage is hybrid. 

On a scale of one to ten, I rate HPE Alletra Storage a ten.

My main use case for HPE Alletra Storage is currently in our compliance environment, which is a small, protected, air-gapped environment.

HPE Alletra Storage provides a cloud-like operational model on-premises for managing data infrastructure. Since we operate in an air-gapped environment, having an on-premises solution is very important to us; we cannot rely heavily on the cloud. Therefore, having a single pane of glass to manage multiple arrays is incredibly helpful.

HPE Alletra Storage helped reduce the time we spend on capacity planning by approximately 20%.

The feature I appreciate the most about HPE Alletra Storage is that the interface is super simple for my team to use. HPE Alletra Storage has benefited my organization because it was a good transition from the previous manufacturer of storage to the new one, and it wasn't a hard learning curve for my team.

HPE Alletra Storage's capacity efficiency is notable due to the data reduction we get from it. Compared to the previous vendor, we're getting greater data reduction, and the ease of use of the tool has greatly reduced some of the time to support.

It's pretty perfect. I cheer on all of HPE's storage solutions. I appreciate HPE Alletra Storage. A negative aspect would be that I can only get pool utilization from InfoSight, not on the local array. I have to pull metrics every month from InfoSight, and it would be easier if it were just available on the local array.

I have been using HPE Alletra Storage for about a year and a half.

I have not had a single problem. Even their Nimble solution that we had earlier was perfect. I have not experienced any downtime, crashes, or performance issues on these arrays.

We just installed them, so we haven't needed to scale out. We do have some budgetary items in the next few years, and these are half populated, so we'll easily expand them out.

I would evaluate customer service and technical support for HPE Alletra Storage as excellent. On a scale from one to 10, I would rate customer service as 10 because I always get quick responses, and the answers are comprehensive. We had one support case a couple of years ago that did not go that smoothly, but it was during the holidays, and there were people in and out at my company. That was just one instance; everything else has been smooth.

Positive

Prior to adopting HPE Alletra Storage, we were using Pure Storage to address similar needs, which we replaced with HPE Alletra.

I would describe my experience with deploying HPE Alletra Storage as fabulous. Even in this controlled environment where it's really hard to do anything, the guides and the wizards are easy to deploy.

Because it is an air-gapped environment, we have to do everything locally on it. That was the only challenge, but the guys were perfect at walking us through setting it up from the console connection.

We don't calculate return on investment with HPE Alletra Storage in this environment because it is regulated by the federal government.

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for HPE Alletra Storage has been really good because we have a really good partner. We use Pinnacle Business Systems, and they're seamless to work with. We feel we get the best price and value for it, and setup is super simple.

We considered Pure as another solution. While Pure has a great product, it is very expensive. For the environment that we need it for, it was just overkill, and the Nimble just comes in right where we need it. It had both an all-flash option and a hybrid option, which is what we needed.

I would advise other organizations considering HPE Alletra Storage that I would not even hesitate; I would purchase them over all the other solutions we've looked at. 

I would rate HPE Alletra Storage overall as 10 out of 10.

It is basically going to be our main back-end storage for critical applications; for all critical applications in the organization. HPE Alletra Storage is basically a good solution for critical business applications such as Oracle databases and Oracle EBS type workloads. But if it should be implemented with the most advanced protocols and most advanced OS layers, then one can get a true benefit from this storage system.

The functionality we need was available in that storage and this is very good and excellent storage. We basically have all the latest features, and it meets the workload. We have done some initial testing on that product and it was very good; the results were very good. Basically, we need high-performance storage, NVMe all-flash storage with NVMe over FC protocol. We not only look for the NVMe in the storage, we also want the NVMe protocol, which is very essential to get the real performance of NVMe drives for applications. We are quite happy that we got that option and have implemented this option till the last level of our VMs, and our testing and our requirements were met successfully in this storage. It provides us the best performance without data integrity trade-offs.

It is an effective solution for critical business applications, such as Oracle databases and Oracle EBS workloads. To fully leverage the benefits of this storage system, it is essential to implement it with the most advanced protocols and operating system layers.

We have been working with HPE Alletra Storage for more than eight months in our organization.

It is a good thing because IT environments are always expanding with new applications. The new applications are extensively IO-intensive, and HPE Alletra Storage basically fulfills that requirement.

The customer support and technical support of HPE are good. There are no issues. If there is any issue regarding firmware or any configuration, it is resolved immediately by HP support. I would rate the support 10 out of 10.

Positive

In our previous architecture, we were facing capacity issues, and a lot of capacity was wasted due to different silos. We have basically put a centralized storage in the environment, and this storage comes with deduplication and a lot of other features. Overall achievement is very good.

We basically did all the work before procuring this solution. Once we finalized the solution, we observed that it met the requirement.

It is easy; it is not too complex. We did not face any particular challenge. It was implemented successfully.

It is very good storage and there is an excellent feature in it. It was implemented basically very easily. It was not very complicated, and sometimes we face compatibility issues with the server side or on drivers, firmware-type things. We did not observe such issues with this storage deployment in our organization.

We basically involved a partner; HPE deployed it with their own engineer.

Previously we had two to three people managing, but now a single person can manage the whole environment with respect to storage operations.

Cost-wise, it is a bit expensive compared to other vendors and competitors. However, if we technically evaluate, then it is the right solution for key requirements. For example, if we require very low latency for very high-demanding applications, then it fulfills the requirement. But cost-wise, it is a bit expensive compared to its other competitors.

The issue is that it is a block storage system, whereas other competitors try to compare it with unified storage systems. This is not a true comparison. This is the cost which sometimes people cannot understand, but it must be analyzed with respect to its true characteristics. It is a block storage system and must be compared with a pure block storage system, not with unified storage systems or other options that people try to compare with HPE Alletra Storage.

We went through all other storage options such as Huawei OceanStor. We also analyzed the Dell storage systems, PowerScale Store, and PowerMax. We had an open competition with all the products, but the functionality and other features, such as HPE Alletra Storage being a true block storage system, whereas others offer a unified storage system, made us decide on HPE Alletra Storage. Unified storage systems mostly do not commit to the low latency that is essentially required for high workload RDBMS in the environment.

Although this option is available with HPE Alletra Storage, since our environment is on-prem, we are not connected very easily or very frequently with the internet. GreenLake is an internet feature, and we are not basically focused on that area.

It provides a very good cloud-based infrastructure to manage the storage, but we are not using that option. Although we go through the options and the functionality of that module, we are not using it, but it is a very powerful and good option in HPE Alletra Storage. 

I would recommend that it is a pure block storage system. First, everybody must understand its basic characteristics. It is very ideal for critical workloads such as Oracle databases or any data RDBMS, ERP, or billing system type workloads. 

I would overall rate it a ten out of ten.