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HPE MSA pros and cons

Vendor: Hewlett Packard Enterprise

4.1 out of 5

26 reviews
92% willing to recommend

Pros & Cons summary

HPE MSA delivers cost-effective performance for SMBs, highlighted by dual controllers and valuable features like autonomic tiering and deduplication. Despite its excellent Veeamware integration and scalability, areas for improvement include synchronized replication, costly support, and separate licensing. Enhanced monitoring, data security, and installation customization are needed. Legacy system lifecycle issues also pose challenges, particularly with sourcing spare parts.

Buyer's Guide

Get pricing advice, tips, use cases and valuable features from real users of this product.

Prominent pros & cons

PROS

HPE MSA offers excellent cost-to-performance value.

Valuable features include dual controllers, storage levels, and snapshot features.

It is highly scalable and easy to manage, providing scalability benefits.

The speed, performance, and automation offer significant enhancements for storage management.

Integration with Veeamware and advanced version improvements enhance backup capabilities.

CONS

HPE MSA lacks synchronized replication which is crucial for its operations.

Support contract is expensive and often not as prompt as expected, leading to delays in critical situations.

The license for HPE MSA should be integrated rather than requiring separate purchases.

Improvements in scalability and storage capacity expansion are needed, as upgrades and firmware updates can be challenging.

Data security features in HPE MSA require enhancements to meet users' requirements.

HPE MSA Pros review quotes

HL

Senior System Engineer at Feng Chia University

Feb 3, 2019

The cost to performance for HPE StorageWorks MSA is good.

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reviewer1426899

IT MGR at a retailer with 51-200 employees

Oct 7, 2020

The most valuable features were the dual controllers and being able to expand it.

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AB

Computer and Network Engineer at Jooya Informatics Group

Nov 20, 2020

The simple configuration feature is great. It is very simple, allowing you to set up MSA very easily.

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AK

Asanka Karunanayake

Head of cloud service. at a comms service provider with 51-200 employees

Apr 14, 2021

The most valuable features are the storage levels and snapshot features.

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MS

Mohammad Salman

Manager of Customer Services at a educational organization with 1,001-5,000 employees

Feb 10, 2021

The product is very easy to deploy.

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MD

Madhura Direckze

Technical Account Manager at a tech services company with 201-500 employees

Jul 20, 2021

The solution is very easy to use, it is not really complex for any user, such as non-technical individuals.

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reviewer2002116

General Manager at a tech services company with 1-10 employees

Nov 16, 2022

The solution is pretty transparent and works well.

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reviewer2132901

Manager, Information Technology Team at a manufacturing company with 501-1,000 employees

Apr 4, 2023

I like StorageWorks' snapshots for our backup system. We had a pool of SSD and traditional drives. StorageWorks has a feature that transfers the hot data to high-performing drives.

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Sr. Sys. Server & Storage Egineer / Tech .Consultant at CANAR OFFICE SYSTEMS

Jul 31, 2023

HPE StorageWorks MSA is an entry-level, cost-effective solution for SMB customers.

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RM

RaghuNarayanan Mohan

Server Engineer at Telephony

Sep 27, 2023

Monitoring is a very big thing. Other great features include block storage; volume creation and the data reliability scalability, which makes the solution really good.

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Show 8 more reviews (out of 18)

HPE MSA Cons review quotes

HL

Senior System Engineer at Feng Chia University

Feb 3, 2019

HPE StorageWorks MSA could maybe include a pay-top of texture feature or something like job replication.

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reviewer1426899

IT MGR at a retailer with 51-200 employees

Oct 7, 2020

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

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AB

Computer and Network Engineer at Jooya Informatics Group

Nov 20, 2020

Synchronized replication is very important for MSA; however, HPE StorageWorks MSA doesn't provide synchronized replication.

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Free Report: HPE MSA Reviews and More

Learn what your peers think about HPE MSA. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: December 2025.

879,259 professionals have used our research since 2012.

AK

Asanka Karunanayake

Head of cloud service. at a comms service provider with 51-200 employees

Apr 14, 2021

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

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MS

Mohammad Salman

Manager of Customer Services at a educational organization with 1,001-5,000 employees

Feb 10, 2021

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

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MD

Madhura Direckze

Technical Account Manager at a tech services company with 201-500 employees

Jul 20, 2021

The solution could improve by adding configuration tools.

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reviewer2002116

General Manager at a tech services company with 1-10 employees

Nov 16, 2022

The solution requires hardware.

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reviewer2132901

Manager, Information Technology Team at a manufacturing company with 501-1,000 employees

Apr 4, 2023

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.

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Sr. Sys. Server & Storage Egineer / Tech .Consultant at CANAR OFFICE SYSTEMS

Jul 31, 2023

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

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RM

RaghuNarayanan Mohan

Server Engineer at Telephony

Sep 27, 2023

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.

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Show 8 more reviews (out of 18)

Product Categories

Product Categories

Modular SAN (Storage Area Network)

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Product Categories

Product Categories

Modular SAN (Storage Area Network)

Popular Comparisons

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IBM FlashSystem vs HPE MSA

NetApp FAS Series vs HPE MSA

HPE 3PAR StoreServ vs HPE MSA

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