Huawei OceanStor Dorado Reviews

The system is simplified to manage and store items.

The most valuable feature for me is that it deduces better, whereby it can be assigned six times the usable capacity, depending on the nature of the data. Especially for environments that store common data with de-commonality, like the Oracle databases, and have standard files across those spaces with efficient storage. 

I would like to see them improve their IOPS per second to match their contemporaries in the industry.

I have been working with Huawei OceanStor Dorado for the past five years now.

The stability is good and they should continue to make it better. On a scale of one to ten, I would give it an eight.

When it comes to scalability, as in scale out, we have witnessed several upgrades of capacity on it seamlessly. And when you say scalability, it is either you scale up or you scale out. When you are scaling up, you buy drives, then when you scale out, you buy the processors and engines, whereby you expand. So I think they are doing fine on that too, but they can still look at what their competitor is doing now, and see what they can improve on.

The initial setup is straightforward and I would give that a seven and a half on a scale of one to ten.

The pricing is one thing that works for them. I think their pricing is more competitively affordable than these top competitors. That is what I have observed, their pricing and their market approach in general, they have a market whereby you can pay as you use, and you do not need to acquire upfront capacity that you are not using now.

I would rate Huawei OceanStor Dorado a seven out of ten.

The platform’s most valuable features are speed, accuracy, and encryption.

There could be local support services available for the platform. Additionally, they should provide a bundled license, including all protection and encryption rules.

We have been using Huawei OceanStor Dorado 5000 for two months.

It is a stable product.

I rate the product’s scalability a nine out of ten.

The technical support services need improvement. They should provide local support for software and hardware issues.

Neutral

We didn’t encounter any difficulties with the initial setup, as all the storage systems we are familiar with have similar processes. It involves configuring storage on the network. It requires one executive to implement and three months to complete. I rate the process a nine out of ten.

I recommend Huawei OceanStor Dorado 5000 to others and rate it a nine out of ten.

Huawei OceanStor Dorado is used for system backups.

The most valuable features are the five chips architecture and the purpose-built NVMe hard disk drive. Additionally, the IOPS feature is good.

The data compression and deduplication ratio of Huawei OceanStor Dorado is not as good as other solutions, such as EMC and Pure Storage. It is important when looking at capacity effectiveness.

The solution should be properly sized because if it is not there could be flexibility issues. The system should be sized properly and once it is delivered to the customer, they should ensure everything was done correctly.

When the US and China political issues come into play they have issues in qualifying the US applications with their new storage models. Many issues can arise. For example, customers might want to use Oracle hardware with their Huawei hardware to solve some of their use cases but the companies will not coordinate with each other. The political situation makes Huawei OceanStor Dorado not integrate well.

In an upcoming release, it would be a benefit to have better algorithms on data reduction, data compression, and data deduplication.

I have been using Huawei OceanStor Dorado for approximately two years.

Huawei claims if you choose their enterprise controller, such as the 8000, when you have a cluster of eight controllers, up to seven controllers can be down, and you can still be in operation. However, with their feature Metro Cluster that can be achieved by having 70 kilometers across two-site, you can have seven, nine.

The solution is stable enough as long as you do not do mistakes during implementation.

Huawei OceanStor Dorado has amazing scalability. As long as the specifications are correct in relation to the datasheets, there are no other storages that can provide a high level of scalability for scale-up and scale-out. 

It has the capacity of adding up to 16 or even 32 controllers. Both the EMC and IBM cannot add expansion boxes with their controllers but Huawei OceanStor Dorado has it in their architecture. You can have hard drives without adding the controllers.

The technical support is good. They have has shifted the support to their Dubai region. They now have proper infrastructure. They're Egypt's support and all the support agents are good in communication. Previously Huawei was having communication issues. The engineers were in China and they were having issues, but they have become much more professionals and they are ready to do RCA without any additional cost.

IBM does root cause analysis and I have seen Huawei support do root cause analysis which is a plus point.

In our implementation there are complications. I am not a technician but I have heard it requires eight hard drives to set up. For example, if customers are looking for NAS and SAN and want to have a small cluster of hard disk drives to enable both of these features. You can't do it because you need eight hard disk drives for a separate pool. For NAS, you will again need eight hard disk drives. You will need a total of 16 hard drives to make it a NAS and SAN storage system functional.

Huawei has very good pricing. They have some promotions that can be taken advantage of at certain times of the year, such as the end of December. They are providing aggressive pricing. In the Pakistan market, they are ready to beat any vendor in Pakistan because they want to grab the market.

I have evaluated products from many vendors, such as IBM, HPE, EMC, and Pure Storage.

I'm not sure exactly what features, attract customers, but Huawei is very popular in Pakistan. Huawei is taking share away from EMC and IBM and their hard disk drive, the NVMe, is not just a hard drive, but they have engineered it for the solution.

Some customers who don't like Huawei, say they're not coming up with Intel processors but only coming out with Kunpeng. This is not a negative point but some competition tries to create negativity for Huawei products.

All these storage solutions are only commodity hardware. Everybody is focusing on the cost per terabyte. A CTO should look at the capacity, cost per terabyte, SLA offered, and type of IT equipment offered. The performance key milestones, such as IOPS, the bandwidth of the storage, and which product is providing minimal latency. If these are the milestones a CTO wants to achieve. I think Huawei is one of the best products that can achieve all of these aspects other than pricing. I would recommend organizations to consider Huawei OceanStor Dorado.

I rate Huawei OceanStor Dorado a nine out of ten.

Huawei OceanStor Dorado is a flash storage solution.

There are plenty of features available in this solution.

This solution can improve by providing easier migrations and better Metro features.

In an upcoming release, Huawei could improve by adding migration services to allow customers to migrate from other solutions, such as HPE or Dell. This would help make this solution more attractive to those wanting to switch.

I have been using this solution for approximately one year.

The solution is highly stable.

I have clients of all business sizes.

The support is good. However, there are times when it can be challenging.

I have previously used IBM, HPE, Dell, and Lenovo and when comparing Huawei OceanStor Dorado, it is a very good solution.

The difficulty level of the installation depends on the client's environment. There are easy installations and very complicated ones. For example, if the client needs to have replication and backups a few times a day and there is more than a 200-kilometer distance for the data to be transferred it can be difficult.

We usually recommend our customers choose advanced licensing and enterprise companies are more inclined to choose this solution because it is more cost-effective than competitors.

I rate Huawei OceanStor Dorado a nine out of ten.

We are end users and customers of Huawei. I'm a system admin. 

OceanStor has very good capacity; it's effective, works quickly, and is easy to manage. 

The solution requires third-party integrations some of which have agreements and policies that prevent us from using them. If you open an Excel or Word file, for example, and a second person has opened it at the same time, they can't use it because it's already locked by you. Microsoft integration is a problem when the solution is managed by Huawei. 

I've been using this solution for two years. 

The solution is stable.

The solution is scalable, we have around 600 users. We won't need to expand usage in the near future, there's still plenty of space. 

The technical support is good and they are responsible and relatively quick to respond although there are sometimes problems. We inform them when something is missing and they get back to us pretty quickly. 

We previously used Dell EMC. The change to Huawei was a management decision that may have been related to cost. Huawei offers similar features to Dell. 

The initial setup was somewhat complex because it was new to us. We had Huawei support for our setup as well as assistance from a local partner. The deployment was done as an online upgrade so there wasn't any downtime, it was just a matter of switching over from the old storage to the new. That was a big advantage. We took our time and it took about a week to migrate. We used two in-house engineers as well as one from Huawei and one from the local partner. We currently have one person managing the solution. 

I'm not involved with the licensing process but I understand that Huawei is about 50% cheaper than competing solutions.

This is a good solution if it supports your environment. I am lucky to have 20 years of experience with these solutions so I know how to manage things. For those who are less experienced, it can be difficult. 

I rate this solution eight out of 10. 

We employ it mostly in the banking sector. These services are utilized by both cloud providers for their on-premises and data center referral solutions. We have implemented this solution in three banks and one cloud provider.

The primary factors that make Huawei OceanStor Dorado Series highly valuable to us are its competitive pricing, exceptional performance, and stability. What has pleasantly surprised us is the outstanding support we've received. We have direct access to Chinese experts who can work with the support team in China for quick resolution, and this level of support has satisfied us.

The graphical user interface of the management system falls short of our requirements. We often find ourselves resorting to the command line interface, which, although not a significant problem due to our extensive implementations, suggests room for improvement in the GUI. Also, the features for partners are not consistently accessible. One of the key areas that need enhancement pertains to the software procurement process.

We have been working with it for a decade, with a more significant level of usage in the last two to three years.

The solution's remarkable stability is a significant factor in the customer's decision to opt for it.

Scalability is relatively straightforward because this is a unified storage solution. It combines NAS functionality with block storage. If you need more storage space, you can easily expand by adding a new enclosure to extend the existing capacity.

Their customer support is excellent. We have a Chinese representative located in our local Huawei office, which facilitates direct communication with the production R&D team in China. This connection enables us to access level three support directly through this individual.

Positive

The initial setup is a straightforward and easy process. We have a partner with access to Huawei's partner portal, which allows us to download essential documents and resources, including best practice guidelines. This makes the storage system an intuitive and user-friendly solution.

Setting it up is easy because one person can take the box to the customer site, assemble it in the rack, and get it up and running. There's no need for a complex implementation process since we're mainly using this for expanding our existing storage. We can complete the integration in a day, another day for OS configuration, and I'd estimate two to three more days for installation. This process is straightforward, and we don't require weeks for implementation because we're clear on its purpose and don't need special permissions or credentials typical of enterprise storage vendors. In terms of maintenance, we haven't replaced any parts except for the disk in our initial systems. There have been no major issues with controllers or hardware models, and the system remains stable. The software also runs smoothly, with the occasional need to open a service request for things like new patches or software updates, which we perform regularly to keep all our systems in the field up to date.

When it comes to licensing, whether it's on a yearly or warranty basis, all services remain consistent when purchasing storage. In the case of extended service durations, such as three or five years, additional functionalities like compression and deduplication are automatically included within the five-year package.

It stands out as the fastest purpose-built storage solution available on the market, and the pricing is highly competitive and excellent. Overall, I rate it ten out of ten.

The solution is used for storage.

The solution's pricing is its most valuable feature.

The technology and the features need improvement.

If you compare IBM storage to Huawei OceanStor Dorado, IBM offers DS8000 storage XIV storage. Huawei also offers several storage models, including their brand OceanStor Dorado. If you compare Huawei storage with IBM storage, IBM is mature and offers more stability of the features and technology. However, the pricing of IBM storage is much higher than the Huawei product. If you're not using it for a critical server, you can use Huawei as the cheaper option. But if you have a critical system, maybe choose something more stable like IBM.

Additionally, the stability could be improved.

I have been using Huawei OceanStor Dorado for two years.

The solution is not stable with the parts. The part is frequently faulty, especially if compared to IBM storage.

I use the solution outside of the company environment.

The tech support is quite good if you can speak Chinese. You can talk to them in English, but if you can speak Chinese, it is much easier to communicate with them.

I previously used IBM storage.

The setup is not very complex. It is quite straightforward if you have basic knowledge.

It took a month to deploy the solution.

After buying the storage, you must set it up for the deployment. To set it up, you need to load a manual. There is no ISO, and there is no installer that can be downloaded, which is different.

We needed an engineer to deploy the solution. One or two engineers are enough to maintain and deploy the solution.

You need to pay for the license.

I rate Huawei OceanStor Dorado a six out of ten.

We primarily use it for our VMware and some of our systems.

We like that the solution is all-flash.

The solution has a sufficient amount of storage on offer.

The solution is very stable.

So far, we have found it to be quite scalable.

The initial setup is fairly straightforward and not overly complex. The installation and management are very easy.

The performance is very good. 

Technical support is quite good.

The solution can always be more stable.

The product could always be faster.

I've been using this solution for about four months or so. It's still relatively new.

The solution's stability is good. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. Its performance is reliable. 

We have found the scalability to be pretty good. If a company needs to expand it, it can do so with relative ease.

We have about 5,000 users on the solution currently.

We do have plans to increase usage in the future.

The technical support is quite good. They are helpful and responsive. We've been happy with their level of support.

We did previously have another solution, however, I can't recall what the actual name of the product was.

The installation is not overly complex. it's not difficult. It's straightforward. We didn't have any issues with the setup process.

It's a hardware installation. Afterward, the software installation is done for management purposes.

We have four people on staff that can handle any maintenance required. They are all engineers.

We used a Huawei consultant. The process went smoothly and we were happy to have their assistance.

It's my understanding that we paid a one-time licensing fee.

We're a customer and an end-user.

We use the Dorado 6000 model and it is the latest version.

I'd rate the solution at a ten out of ten overall. We have been quite satisfied with the solution.

I'd definitely recommend the solution to others.