HPE Primera Reviews

We use HP Primera to store all data related to machine learning applications. Our machine learning team's critical research-related data is saved on the tool.

The most valuable feature of HP Primera is that you don't have to buy an additional product for application replication. This tool offers a feature for replication from the area, allowing you to configure the application with two data centers directly from the software.

Unlike Dell, where you would need to buy a separate RPA for the replication from IT tools ID, with HP Primera, there's no need to invest in new hardware for this purpose. 

We face challenges with false alarms, particularly daily alerts related to replication link breaks, indicating link code downtimes. However, upon checking, the link is consistently up. We have even carried out load testing. Despite escalating the issue to the highest level at HP, the response is attributed to a bug. We have also upgraded to the next version, yet the problem remains unresolved. These daily false alarms about application link breaks generate around five to six tickets. 

The other aspect is that the alerts occur at different times throughout the day. It becomes challenging to justify to senior management, who may lack the technical understanding to grasp the reasons behind the high ticket count.

We have been using the solution since 2020. 

It's a stable product. We haven't experienced any production downtime. The only challenges have been with bugs and additional software. Besides that, I haven't faced any latency issues or related concerns.

The tool is scalable. Our current capacity is now full. We have approximately 5000 users for the solution.

I'm not happy with the customer service and support. 

Neutral

I installed the device from scratch, and the process was straightforward. We just did the hardware racking and stacking, and I placed HPE Primera on the network. On switching on the network, it conducted self-monitoring. Soon, I assigned IPs to the controllers and configured them. The process was simple.

I implemented the solution independently.

The solution is cost-effective. I rate it an eight out of ten, with ten being excellent.

I recommend HPE Primera because it's one of HP's most stable product. 

I used it purely from an OEM perspective. I used it as a solutions architect working on behalf of our customers. They've got several different versions of Primera. Specifically, it was a Primera 650. They've also got Nimble Storage, GreenLake.

The use case was basically application data that was made available for OLTP online transactions. It was designed to have quick access to typical legacy data for online systems and to have high availability.

They standardized on the HPE Primera so that they weren't running multiple different storage vendors' products. Because of the higher availability, they could set up the environment so that it could work with pretty much whatever data they had. HPE offers pay-as-you-go pricing that allowed them to put a sizable footprint in.

The high availability was most valuable because they come with what's called 100% data availability. With special terms, they license and guarantee 100% data availability. That was probably one of the key features or components that HPE was offering with that model.

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.

It probably would be advantageous to make the storage solutions from HPE more inclusive with the add-on software. A lot of people say, "Well, we don't really need that extra software to do this or that." In most of the cases, if it's done right and they use it right, there is a value-add in these additional software tools that are optional.

Their support should be improved. Currently, it depends on who you get on the phone.

I have been using this solution for about a year and a half. I last used it about six months ago in my previous company.

It is very stable and rock solid. It has got the clause for 100% availability in it.

Its scalability is outstanding. You can add more chassis with more drives pretty easily. It scales out pretty large. I don't remember exactly how much it scales out to, but it's quite large.

With the online transaction system, they potentially had more than 1,000 users using the system. So, there were a lot of transactions. They've purchased it based on their project and sized it for three years. At the end of those three years, based upon the functionality, how well it is, and the technology, they might just simply purchase more storage for it to increase its size. Depending upon the dated growth of those applications, they might turn around and double its size in three years.

It is hit or miss. It depends on who you get on the phone. One day they're great on the phone, and the next day, you get somebody who is just not capable. I don't want to be too rough on them, but I'd give them a six out of 10.

They were using Dell, and they were just tired of the cost and the maintenance cost as well. The initial cost was good from Dell, but to re-up on maintenance after three years was not worth it. It was cheaper to buy new storage, and that was the main reason why they replaced it with HPE.

It was very simple and straightforward. It was very easy. We could configure it in an hour.

The implementation strategy was really about having a landing zone for new data. So, we just set it up and configured it for the appropriate block type data, and then they just started writing new data to it. It was pretty easy.

We sold it to them and then installed it for them as a service. It was basically a project that the customer was working on, and we basically won their favor as a value-added reseller (VAR), and then we basically deployed it for them.

The staff required for maintenance purposes was minimal. They were able to use their existing team to manage it.

Based upon what they were doing, a return on investment is hard to calculate when you're basing it on an OpEx model because it's an operating expense. It's a cost center. Because of the way it's being used, you're not making money with it. To get into true return on investment, you'd have to understand what exactly the data is providing, what the value is of that data, and how does it compare to what you were doing before? You would need more of a data scientist to do the analysis and understand what the return on investment really is.

Because it has high availability, the cost is above average. The cost depends upon the sizing, and every customer has a different size.

It is slightly above average in terms of cost compared to its competitors, but the value add was that they could know what their maintenance cost was going to be going forward. They knew what their renewal or expansion costs would be.

There are no additional costs for this model. There are additional software components that provide additional analytics that HPE offers. It really comes down to whether or not the customer decides to purchase those or not. You can use it out of the box with the base pricing, but if you want advanced analytics and insights, you'll need to purchase additional software.

It's an excellent solution. HPE definitely stands behind it. I would put it up against most of the storage arrays that are out there because it is enterprise-class.

I'd give it high marks. I would rate it an eight out of 10. I don't give anybody a perfect score. Eight is very good in my opinion. My rating is because of the high availability of the storage and the fact that it's based on very solid technology. It has been around for a long time, and it's backed by an excellent company. In other words, they're not going anywhere.

I use the solution in my company as a cloud infrastructure where we run VMs. My company uses VMware ESXi and HPE Primera as storage. HPE Primera is also useful to run and allocate machines to VMs.

The price of the product is an area of concern. From an improvement perspective, the solution should be made more affordable in terms of price. Though I work for a big enterprise-sized business where the cost shouldn't matter much, I feel that HPE Primera is a bit costly.

I have been using HPE Primera for a year. My company is an end user of HPE Primera.

Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.

Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.

Around 100 employees in our company use the solution.

The product has been only used in our company for a year. The application for which my company has purchased HPE Primera is still being developed, so we need to have more uses for the tool.

I rate the technical support a ten out of ten.

Positive

My company uses HPE 3PAR.

I rate the product's initial setup phase a seven on a scale of one to ten, where one is a difficult setup process, and ten is an easy setup process.

The product's initial setup phase is a bit complicated since it can only be done by someone who is experienced. The tool has certain delicate settings to deal with during the setup phase.

The solution is deployed on an on-premises model.

Considering the whole infrastructure, the solution can be deployed in a week's time.

A team must take care of the product's deployment process since there are many areas, like the storage, network, and server parts.

The tool is expensive. I can say that HPE Primera is one of the costliest tools in the market.

HPE Primera has improved our company's data-intensive application performance. In our company, HPE Primera provides me with centralized access to all the data while allowing me to manage the storage and allocate different machines to VMs, making it a reliable and good tool.

My company hasn't used the product in a way that allows me to describe a scenario where the tool's capability was beneficial for our business. My company has not tried to use the tool's scalability features, considering that it has only been a year since it was installed in our company. I believe that the need to use the scalability feature of the product will come into the picture in a few years. Right now, the product's size and capacity are enough for our company to continue with it in our environment.

HPE Primera's most beneficial features for storage management tasks stem from the fact that my company can have online access to the health and all the other parameters of the product through HPE's website, which helps a lot. My company can get critical information about the storage from any place, and it also generates alerts, making it a very good solution.

My company is satisfied with HPE Primera's data protection capabilities since we can take snapshots of the VMs, which helps us ensure that the VMs are always protected.

My company has integrated HPE Primera into a whole new infrastructure, so we have never tried integrating it with the old infrastructure in our organization.

Though we know about HPE Primera's AI-driven operations, my company has not used it extensively.

As the IT landscape has been changing lately, users need to think of software-defined storage because it gives flexibility for expansion and is cheaper than HPE Primera. If you have money, you can go for HPE Primera.

I rate the overall tool a nine out of ten.

We are using the solution for critical applications. It's used for multiple telecom services. 

The data protection is great.

The compression capabilities are quite useful. 

It is pretty easy to set up the product.

It is stable and reliable.

The support and warranty on the hardware is very good.

It is scalable.

Everything is up to par. We are happy with the product and do not need extra features. 

The pricing is very high. There are other products at much lower pricing.

I've used the solution for the past two years.

The solution is stable. I'd rate it nine out of ten. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. 

The solution is scalable. It's up to 2 petabytes. Right now, we are using 300 to 400 terabytes. We have a lot of room. We also use a variety of other storage devices. We're able to handle all of the storage and what we use depends on the storage needs.

We have a few customers using the solution and how many users they have under them varies widely according to what is stored.  

The solution is under a good warranty. If we have any issues, we can contact them and get warranty support. If we have issues with the hardware, it would be covered under the warranty.

We only contact support if there is a hardware issue. They have been very good overall. 

We use various HP solutions as well. 

The initial setup is simple and straightforward. It is not complex.

The deployment process only takes an hour or two. The new servers came to the organization and we have a chain of management procedures in place and followed the policies to get everything up and running. 

We have 20 to 30 staff members handling any necessary maintenance. 

The OEM also provided support during setup. We had a standard engineer and the engineer came for setup. 

The solution is paid for at the time of procurement. There is no ongoing licensing. I can't speak to the exact pricing as I don't deal with that aspect.

I'd recommend the solution to other companies.

I'd rate it nine out of ten. We are happy with its capabilities. 

We are HPE Primera’s customers. Our primary use case is to ensure quick and secure access to basic application data for online transactions.

HPE Primera provides me with system reliability and 100% data reliability. The storage is good and is consistently reliable and scalable, allowing me to use it whenever needed. The overall performance is great.

We would like to have more flash storage and its stability. This is an area of challenge for us.

I have been using this solution for four years.

The product is stable.

HPE Primera is good and scalable. We have 300 users for the solution, and two administrators manage it. The product also has online community engagement and patching management. It's a regular process.

The customer service and support is excellent.

We worked with something from Oracle, but it wasn't reliable. Therefore, we switched to HPE Primera.

The initial setup was straightforward. It took us two days to deploy it.

The solution’s pricing is affordable and worth the money.

It's a commendable solution, especially suitable for online transactions. It is reliable in meeting data requirements. Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

It serves as both the primary production area and the backup location. We have one at the primary site and another at the secondary site for applications. This involves a form of remote copying between the two arrays, allowing us to switch between them seamlessly during working hours.

The greatest advantage is the support when we encounter incidents, as HPE's support is highly responsive. Furthermore, it's worth reiterating that we've observed its exceptional speed compared to other solutions we've used in the past.

The distinction between Primera and Freeport becomes more apparent for us when we implement rollbacks, particularly on-site. In such situations, we've observed that the transition from one side to the other is significantly faster and simpler, whether it's done automatically or manually.

I would like to highlight the aspect of security, especially when compared to certain other vendors. We've encountered issues in the past where maintaining a read-only state is essential to prevent data encryption when VPN access is impacted.

Some vendors have showcased the functionality of their arrays automatically transitioning to a read-only mode when they detect ransomware or suspicious activity, safeguarding data from corruption. Regrettably, we haven't seen both of these features in the HP ARAs we primarily use.

However, I can't state this with absolute certainty, but it's what we've observed so far. It would be beneficial if your organization could demonstrate any additional functionalities we may not be aware of.

I have been using this solution since 2019.

It is very stable.

It offers scalability. We have ample room for expansion through disk upgrades and the addition of new storage areas.

The process has been smooth for us, thanks to our local HPE partner's assistance. Their involvement has made the initialization process trouble-free, and we haven't encountered any difficulties.

We collaborated together as partners in the installation process.

We handle maintenance tasks ourselves when they're straightforward. However, if we ever have uncertainties or questions about certain actions, we reach out to our partners for assistance. Additionally, we benefit from online support provided by HP, which is readily available when required.

It’s a reasonable choice. When compared to other options, we've found it to be accessible and within our means.

Before we adopted HP, we lacked options, but various vendors visited our office to showcase their different solutions and the functionalities they offer.

For me, the primary concern today is ensuring data security in the face of ransomware and potential incidents. As I mentioned earlier, with the tenant's array, in the event of certain incident scenarios, it automatically switches to a read-only mode to protect the data. We find this feature highly advantageous given the prevalent threat landscape in today's IT environment. It's crucial to have self-controlled arrays that can prevent ransomware from spreading across the network.

This is the key benefit we've identified with the mechanics area, but the question that remains unanswered is whether HPE offers such a functionality on its own.

I can state that it's important to explore and enhance other security functionalities. If there are any available, we should be informed about them and consider implementing them to bolster our security further.

I would rate it a seven out of ten. 

HPE Primera is a multipurpose process. 

We have one customer in the banking environment using the solution at one of their locations. 

We use it for configuration and perspective, and for data storage. 

Our customer is happy with HPE Primera. They said they are getting good information and performance from the product. 

The solution is good and has 100 percent availability.

I would like to see improved training offered with HPE Primera. Being the front-end facing the customer, it would be beneficial to understand better how to support the customer with their questions. Currently, the customer reaches out to me with their questions and I take the questions to customer service. It would be better if I had the knowledge to be able to resolve the concerns myself.

I have been using HPE Primera for two and a half years.

HPE Primera is stable.

The product is scalable. 

Our customer has employees that are using HPE Primera, and also their end users using the product through the mobile application and mobile banking. 

HPE provides good support through their customer service.

Neutral

The initial setup of HPE Primera is easy.

HPE Primera is less expensive than HPE Alletra.

We did not evaluate other options. I had experience with HPE Primera and recommended it to our customer because it had a good impact, 100 percent availability, and has all-flash devices with the best performance.

Overall, I would rate HPE Primera an eight out of ten.

This product is used for all of the backend, core storage infrastructure. We migrated from spinning-disk, so it has the same type of workloads. It is 80% virtual machines, and then file services, and database workloads.

One of the most valuable features is the ease of deployment.

Integration with the compute capacity is good, as this is just the storage component.

Orchestration and management are good.

The performance and capacity-based costs are also good.

Another advantage is that HPE sells everything. This includes all of the capabilities of the hardware, like replication, snapshot, and other specific features. They are all included from the get-go, as opposed to everything being separate and in another budget. When you buy it, you can do whatever you have to be able to do with it out of the box.

On the software side, in terms of integration, everything gets aligned with the software-defined data center concept, which means that everything needs to be done programmatically. There is room for improvement in this regard.

On the hardware side, you should have the ability to expand capacity to larger numbers.

I would like to have the ability to do direct file services. This is a block-based solution, so if you need to do file services with it, you need to put servers around it.

From the controller side, if we could have NAS capabilities then that would be great.

Between Primara and it's predecessor, 3PAR, I have used this product for about five years.

This is a rock-solid product.

This is the product that is running the data centers for the shop, so everybody in the organization will be affected one way or another by what is there. Currently, we have 6,000 people.

The technical support is very well organized. There is a feature called Home, where the hardware calls to their NOC and reports and alerts or events. Then they have a pretty standard protocol to call back. They're quite insistent; they'll send you emails and if you don't acknowledge then they start calling.

The mechanics of the support is very well put in place. 

We use the HPE 3PAR in addition to Primera.

The initial setup is straightforward.

Professional Services installation is embedded in the cost. The setup can be done by the customer but it's a pretty sophisticated solution, so we use the vendor Professional Services. It was not a third-party on top of the cost. Rather, it was included in the options that we chose.

The price to capacity ratio is good.

We had a selection process with all the major vendors, and we ended up with this solution in part because of stability. One of the primary reasons we selected it is because we can buy storage and compute from the same vendor and everything gets optimized. Obviously, everything is designed to work with one another.

I will definitely recommend this product. I'd say that anybody looking to implement it should do their cost analysis very carefully. There's a multitude of solutions, but some of them are more software-oriented. The math can become fuzzy, but once they figure out the financial aspect of it, I think from a purely technical perspective, I highly recommend it.

In terms of quality for block storage, it is one of the best on the planet, if not the best, in my view. If they had block storage, NAS, and iSCSI out of the box then I could rate it as perfect.

I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.