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NetApp FAS Series pros and cons

Vendor: NetApp

4.4 out of 5

110 reviews
96% willing to recommend

Pros & Cons summary

NetApp FAS Series offers robust Snapshot functionality with seamless SnapMirror-ing between datacenters, enhancing cloud storage strategies via cloud volume ONTAP. It provides reliable, fast backups, high availability, and a centralized data point for Windows and Unix. However, improvements in SAN support, scalability, and cloud integration are needed. The high cost, limited flexibility, and regional support issues also pose challenges, as does the lack of automatic tiering and enhanced replication.

Buyer's Guide

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

Prominent pros & cons

PROS

NetApp FAS Series provides robust Snapshot functionality and can be used seamlessly in two datacenters with SnapMirror-ing.

The integration of NetApp FAS Series with cloud environments benefits storage strategy by providing cloud volume ONTAP.

End-users appreciate the reliability and speed of Snapshots for rapid backup and fast recovery with NetApp FAS Series.

NetApp FAS Series offers a centralized data sharing point between Windows and Unix teams, enhancing collaboration.

NetApp FAS Series features high availability and ensures uninterrupted operation with flexible, reliable storage, and excellent performance.

CONS

NetApp FAS Series needs more flexibility to compete with other arrays and should improve on SAN support and scalability.

Technical support and parts delivery could be improved, particularly in regions like Myanmar and Sudan.

Costs of NetApp FAS Series are high, leading customers to consider alternatives like EMC or Dell.

NetApp FAS Series lacks automatic tiering and could enhance replication features and adopt a more proactive approach with AutoSupport.

Integration with cloud environments requires improvement for seamless on-premise and cloud operations.

NetApp FAS Series Pros review quotes

Team Lead at Tata Consultancy Services

Nov 15, 2017

Better performance and lower costs.

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Team Lead at Tata Consultancy Services

Dec 15, 2017

I love those innovative healthcare data solutions that let me securely manage vast amounts of patient data (32.9 PB), use and share it enterprise-wide, and gain efficiency of scale through cloud solutions and virtualization.

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Solutions Architect with 51-200 employees

May 10, 2015

Overall I think NetApp are finally in a good place with cDOT and they can now put the 7-Mode platform behind them and focus on innovating.

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NetApp FAS Series

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Solutions Architect with 51-200 employees

May 10, 2015

The nice thing about FAS is that it has excelled at the first three points above for many years and the last point has been introduced with the On-Demand engine in cDOT 8.3 – there are plenty of arrays on the market that will be enabled for VVOLs, but they will not be able to claim efficient support for these features without massive re-engineering work.

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Storage and VMware Expert at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees

Nov 7, 2016

In the past, I used, and still work with, solutions like Fujitsu and Hitachi, but when I have an opportunity to work with a NetApp solution, I don't want to go back.

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System Engineer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

Sep 1, 2015

Prices may seem to be a little bit expensive, but the features just makes you happy that you took the step, and licensing is all included except a very few features, with a high end and complex environment.

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Principal Computer Engineer with 1,001-5,000 employees

Oct 22, 2015

If you are on the fence it’s been a very good product, you don’t want to build your own solution, you want to use the appliance for the flexibility.

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VP Systems Integrator at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

Oct 22, 2015

It was very straightforward with OpenStack, very well-documented, and supported.

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Chief Technology Officer at PTSO

Oct 22, 2015

Just do it. Chances are the functionality that comes with the ONTAP software will be better than other products at a similar price.

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Senior Systems Administor at a tech vendor with 501-1,000 employees

Oct 22, 2015

Doing more with less. I can do multiple protocols, storage efficiency, data protection tool, everything is in one solution/ecosystems.

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NetApp FAS Series Cons review quotes

Team Lead at Tata Consultancy Services

Nov 15, 2017

It may need more flexibility to fight with other competing arrays.

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Team Lead at Tata Consultancy Services

Dec 15, 2017

I have found it to be expensive.

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Solutions Architect with 51-200 employees

May 10, 2015

There is a real danger that your new storage array becomes obsolete shortly after purchase.

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NetApp FAS Series

Free Report: NetApp FAS Series Reviews and More

Learn what your peers think about NetApp FAS Series. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2026.

885,311 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Solutions Architect with 51-200 employees

May 10, 2015

The current snapshot technology in VMFS is to say the least very poor – best practice is to have no more than 2-3 snapshots in a chain (even though the maximum is 32) and to use no single snapshot for more than 24-72 hours – the reason is simple, storage performance will suffer if you create a snapshot on a VM.

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Storage and VMware Expert at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees

Nov 7, 2016

Unify all backup software on the single tool to simplify the administration.

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System Engineer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

Sep 1, 2015

Absolutely, it’s just some compatibility variance with some of the production environment aspects, like AV, and Archiving systems which needed to be integrated with.

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Principal Computer Engineer with 1,001-5,000 employees

Oct 22, 2015

I think that they are upgrading the performance monitoring tool, which is the main thing I think needs improvement.

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VP Systems Integrator at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

Oct 22, 2015

We told him that we need better documentation for customers to understand automation of APIs.

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Chief Technology Officer at PTSO

Oct 22, 2015

We’ve hit some bugs in the ONTAP code that’s caused it to crash.

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Senior Systems Administor at a tech vendor with 501-1,000 employees

Oct 22, 2015

Our major issue with FAS was not having one pane of glass with all products attached to it.

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Product Categories

Product Categories

Deduplication Software

Modular SAN (Storage Area Network)

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Product Categories

Product Categories

Deduplication Software

Modular SAN (Storage Area Network)

Popular Comparisons

Popular Comparisons

Dell PowerStore vs NetApp FAS Series

Dell PowerScale (Isilon) vs NetApp FAS Series

Dell PowerProtect Data Domain vs NetApp FAS Series

IBM FlashSystem vs NetApp FAS Series

HPE StoreOnce vs NetApp FAS Series

HPE 3PAR StoreServ vs NetApp FAS Series

Dell Avamar vs NetApp FAS Series

Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform vs NetApp FAS Series

CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform vs NetApp FAS Series

Qumulo vs NetApp FAS Series

Veritas NetBackup Appliance vs NetApp FAS Series

NetApp AltaVault vs NetApp FAS Series

ExaGrid EX Series vs NetApp FAS Series

HPE MSA vs NetApp FAS Series

HPE StoreEasy vs NetApp FAS Series

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