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Storage Manager at mEKOROT
Real User
Stable, easy to deploy and just works
Pros and Cons
  • "The product is stable, easy to deploy and it just works."
  • "We had a few small issues with setup, but once everything was done it just worked."

What is our primary use case?

We use this solution for Hyper-V, VMware, SQL, Enterprise Vault, and Commvault.

How has it helped my organization?

This product has improved the way our organization functions because everything is working so well and we don't have any disasters. Everything is perfect. Our SLA (Service Level Agreement) is in RTO (Recovery Time Objective) and RPO (Recovery Point Objective). Everything just perfect. 

What needs improvement?

What I would like to see in the next release is the ability to combine all the clusters. Make it so that they will work not just pairs. If I have a four-node cluster, I want it to work for four and not just four pairs of clusters. This is what I am expecting as an enhancement.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

My impression of the stability of the solution is very high. We don't have any problems.

Buyer's Guide
NetApp ONTAP
April 2025
Learn what your peers think about NetApp ONTAP. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2025.
849,963 professionals have used our research since 2012.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I think the scalability of this solution is excellent.

How are customer service and support?

The technical support is amazing. Amazing-plus. Technical support always answers. Whenever I need them, they are there. I don't have to wait or waste my time to get the answer by email. I just call them and they answer, and they immediately try to help us. So, if there is a 1 to 10, the technical support is an 11.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We switched to this solution because we always believed that NetApp is the best company for storage solutions. I don't think they have a real competitor because they have the perfect solution that is what the end-user really needs. Everything from the software to the hardware is very good. Other competitors have similar solutions, but not the same solution or quality. They have the hardware, they have the technology, they have a protocol, but not all the protocols. NetApp actually thinks about what the user really needs to dive in deep. They know why, how to make the customer satisfied.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was straightforward. The technical guys came and deployed all of our operating systems. It was easy and maybe sometimes, not always, there was some small issue but in the end, everything is working very well.

What about the implementation team?

We did not use outside help. We did the deployment ourselves.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The cost of licensing for our company is really not that much. We are a big company but we only use Fibre Channel SAN (Storage Area Network) storage. We don't use the others. So actually we did not need to use all of the licenses. So, the cost is really average for us.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Other competitor solutions that we were thinking about was mostly Nimble Storage. But it is not like NetApp.

What other advice do I have?

We use the InLine Encryption solution for SnapMirror, SnapManager, SnapCenter, SnapMirror data protections, SnapVault, and that's all.

The Snapshot copies and Bin Clones solutions affected our application development speed because we run all this at the nights so we actually don't have any effects on performance. Even if we do it in the middle of the day, the users don't feel any latency. So everything is going well.

This solution has helped to reduce our organization's data footprint and reduced our organization's cloud costs by up to 100 K.

On a scale of one to ten where one is the worst and ten is the best, I would rate this product as a ten. There is no competitor like NetApp. You cannot compete with them because we have what we need and what we want and we are so satisfied that we are sure NetApp is the best solution for us.

The advice I would give to someone considering this solution is first to ask him what exactly the solution is that they are searching for. If I can see that they are using or considering a different solution that they think is like my solution, I prefer to invite them to come to our company and see how NetApp works. I would show them how the solution works and how it runs without any problems. If they want they can get full protection — the full self-confidence we call it. It is confidence that you are actually choosing the right tool and not just the vendor. They need to know the product is actually working. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
SeniorSte931 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Storage Engineer at Cisco Systems, Inc.
Real User
You can scale it however you want, depending on your data center footprint
Pros and Cons
  • "You can scale it however you want, depending on your data center footprint."
  • "It takes them a few seconds to do a failover. I hope they can reduce this to milliseconds or at least drive it down to less than two seconds. Some of their competitors are already doing this."

What is our primary use case?

We're using it as a file-based solution. The majority of our business users are file-based. We're also using it for virtualization for backup storage. Its programs are very good.

We are also evaluating the All Flash FAS solution. 

How has it helped my organization?

The group that I work with is media-based, so we usually use large files as compartments. 

We do use ONTAP for our mission-critical applications.

We save space through deduplication. While it depends on the application that we're using, we can save anywhere from 2G to 3G, which is really good.

What is most valuable?

  • It is easy to manage. 
  • A novice can use it.
  • The Snap features of ONTAP.
  • It has all the good features that everyone wants.

What needs improvement?

It takes them a few seconds to do a failover. I hope they can reduce this to milliseconds or at least drive it down to less than two seconds. Some of their competitors are already doing this.

For how long have I used the solution?

Still implementing.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Stability is very good. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

You can scale it however you want, depending on your data center footprint. I don't see higher limitation for how far you can scale. It's the same interface so you don't have to worry about managing it.

How are customer service and technical support?

I would rate the tech support as a nine out of 10. We get the support when we need it.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward. We did not have to worry about the configuration, as NetApp comes in and installs it.

What about the implementation team?

We used a reseller, who was really good, for the deployment. 

What was our ROI?

We are seeing ROI from ONTAP. Within three years of using the products, we barely saw any complications with its usage. We have been using it for over ten years now.

ONTAP has helped our organization reduce its overall cost of storage (somewhere in the high millions).

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    1. We receive the best support for a lower price point.
    2. The price point is very competitive and inexpensive compared to what you receive from other vendors in the market. 

What other advice do I have?

We just started knowing NVMe over Fabric. We haven't used it but I think it's a great idea. They are trying to make the data closer to the CPU, so it will give you more confidence.

Our approximate cost per IOP is $0.18 USD to $1.00 USD depends on the scale of the site. 

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
NetApp ONTAP
April 2025
Learn what your peers think about NetApp ONTAP. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2025.
849,963 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Operations and Server Manager at Denver Health
Video Review
Real User
NVMe works flawlessly and allows us the ability to manage our environment in a more rapid fashion
Pros and Cons
  • "I would rate this solution a ten because of what NetApp provides us from a quality layout. The partnership that they provide us and their assistance is very important and the work that they communicate with us on a regular basis is outstanding."
  • "There is a lot a lot of functional integration that we look forward to for improvements. I'm learning where they're going and I'm very interested to see those improvements and how they can help us."

What is our primary use case?

My primary purpose for NetApp ONTAP is for the MetroCluster. We have two data centers and we have it housed there for high availability and fault tolerance.

How has it helped my organization?

Over the last five years of implementing a MetroCluster ONTAP, we've been able to improve and keep a high availability for our organization. In many cases, we reduced and minimized any downtime that happens given us a power or hardware failure we've been able to still keep our environment up and resilient.

For our ONTAP mission critical we use about 85%. We also have Epic. Epic runs all on NetApp, and so we also have some critical clinical applications that run on NetApp. Those are highly available which allows the doctors to gain access to some very critical clinical applications that reside on our NetApp storage.

If our data centers suddenly go down, we have two data centers, and we can fail over between either data center that is interrupted because of any scenario.

For real-time analytics, we use our NetApp E-series. That houses and manages all of the analytics within our environment.

From a space consumption perspective, because of all of the deduplication and the Snapshots that we're allowed to manage our infrastructure from a storage perspective, it's been really solid. I know we're about 50 to 60 percent deduplication on most of our storage, and it has allowed for storage continues to grow. As many times as I've looked at trying to reduce storage, we continue to consume our storage growth. The deduplication that NetApp provides has allowed that growth to be maintained and managed.

What is most valuable?

One of the biggest values that ONTAP provides is the ability to fail over between two data centers. Since we are a hospital, it gives us high availability and allows for us not only to failover in situations of a power outage, but also allows for us to do testing to ensure that the product is functioning properly.

My impression of NVME is that it works flawlessly and it allows for us to be able to manage our environment in a more rapid fashion. For NVMe we've only partially just began to really start playing with it and test it. We're working on implementing on MetroCluster over IP. We haven't involved ourselves very heavily on it at this point in time.

Because of the deduplication ONTAP reduces the footprint and makes the footprint much smaller.

What needs improvement?

There is a lot a lot of functional integration that we look forward to for improvements. I'm learning where they're going and I'm very interested to see those improvements and how they can help us.

For how long have I used the solution?

One to three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Stability is very strong. We had an issue and after FlexPod looked at the solution, FlexPod was running well. What is important is the partnership that we have with NetApp. While we were trying to identify a problem, even though the problem had nothing to do with NetApp storage, NetApp came in and helped us resolve that solution. They had a team come in, evaluate, identify where the problem actually was and gave us a fix for it. That was very critical given the situation of the outage that were occurring at the time.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scalability has been very, very good. We've had this product not only for Epic but also for our infrastructure for the last five years. The scaleup has been fantastic. One of the solutions that we're looking at to go to the MetroCluster IP is because over the last five years we have finally grown to the point where we're at our max. Either we have to build another cluster solution or revamp, modify, move forward, and so we're looking at the Metro IP Cluster to allow us to do that.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We had a storage solution and during an investigation and a review of the solution, we analyzed the standards for what we were looking for. The fact was that we had virtualization VMWare, and the integration of NetApp gave us a FlexPod clone and the integration in the communication and having a one shop place for all of our troubleshooting and management, and coordination of those three different solutions made the best sense to go with NetApp.

What about the implementation team?

Initially, we had a reseller that we partnered with. They were instrumental in helping us build up the infrastructure. We also had a partner that also came in and helped us implement and build out the Epic environment as well.

There is a lot of reporting which we work with NetApp on OCI and SnapManager. At this point, I'm just trying to really get a feel for what's our next event. I see where NetApp is headed when it comes to the reporting and integration  I'm looking forward to seeing what solutions they will present to us.

What was our ROI?

ROI is in line with many of the storage industries. We get a great reduction from our cost perspective in partnership. I would say that ROI is suffice.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We also looked at 3PAR, Dell EMC, and IBM to see which would be the best fit for us. 

What other advice do I have?

I would rate this solution a ten because of what NetApp provides us from a quality layout. The partnership that they provide us and their assistance is very important and the work that they communicate with us on a regular basis is outstanding.

I would tell someone considering this solution that there are many similar technologies. What I would recommend is to make sure that you have a great partnership with whomever you select. In my case, I recommend that you understand your business and make sure whoever you're going to select understands your needs and is willing to digest, make a sale but invest their organization and commitment to your organization. I selected NetApp because they have a true partnership with us.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Chief Administrative Officer at a government with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Gives us the ability to upgrade easily and the scalability is good
Pros and Cons
  • "We have been able to save about 10 to 15% on space using the space consumption features."
  • "They could also improve on their ability to back up storage."

What is our primary use case?

Our primary use case is for serving the file server files. File storage is for the member offices and accessing that data.

How has it helped my organization?

From the capacity perspective, it has helped us because of the thin volumes, deduplication, and compression features.

What is most valuable?

ONTAP provides the ability to dole out Qtree shares as needed. Team volumes is a benefit.

What needs improvement?

The cloud features, the ability to go into the cloud would be a feature I'd like to see improvements on.

They could also improve on their ability to back up storage.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's stable. It has good monitoring tools to help monitor activity and take action if necessary.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability is good. 

How are customer service and technical support?

We do look at tech guides and the Knowledge Base articles and then engage support. The account teams are always available.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We were using Dell EMC. We did an initial evaluation with the reseller consultants, based on that we went forward. We wanted to diversify everything so that we could get more benefits from the features.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was good, flexible, forthcoming, and straightforward. 

What about the implementation team?

We used CopperTech. They were good to work with and very responsive. They look at every scenario.

What was our ROI?

The deduplication and compression features have helped us save storage costs.

We have been able to save about 10 to 15% on space using the space consumption features. 

What other advice do I have?

The approximate cost per IOP is around 50 cents. 

I would rate this product a nine because of its ability to upgrade easily and the scalability.

Definitely look at the compression, deduplication, and the ability to grow into the cloud, consider any product that has these features. 

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
System Engineer at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
The technical support is the best that I have ever encountered
Pros and Cons
  • "The technical support is great. It's the best I've ever encountered. I can email and have everything resolved at three in the morning within half an hour. I have had some late night calls to their guys techs, and it's been phenomenal."
  • "I would like more diagnostic generation. Right now, it's a pain to go into the controller and do a full diagnostic and export."

What is our primary use case?

ONTAP runs our Tier 1 data center. We use it for running all our virtualization, backups, etc.

How has it helped my organization?

Where the DBA is doing all the migrations and testing within our database, we have Tier 1 and Tier 2 data centers and do a lot of testing across them. The ability to create a FlexClone and immediately test everything which needs to be done then revert back within minutes, if needed, is phenomenal for testing.

What is most valuable?

FlexClone has been great for R&D. We've been doing a lot of testing, implementing Oracle DBAs and getting them into the thick of things.

What needs improvement?

I would like more diagnostic generation. Right now, it's a pain to go into the controller and do a full diagnostic and export. If that could be streamlined in any way and not be so tedious, because it's a pain to go through all the different steps and have the command memorized or have to look it up. If there was some way NetApp could incorporate it into the native ONTAP command center, that would be great.

For how long have I used the solution?

Three to five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I've never had an issue with it. Same with the upgrades, we have had no issues from 8.2 to 8.3 to 8.4. The stability has been great for four years.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We are in the process of doing a huge data center refresh. We will find that out very shortly about its scalability.

How is customer service and technical support?

The technical support is great. It's the best I've ever encountered. I can email and have everything resolved at three in the morning within half an hour. I have had some late night calls to their guys techs, and it's been phenomenal.

I probably leverage NetApp's engineers too much, but we have a good working relationship with their contacts. They usually handle everything within a few messages, so it has been great.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was straightforward for me. I am a storage engineer, so I'm familiar with it. Even our network engineers that have to set it up using NetApp diagrams had no issues with it.

What about the implementation team?

We have used CDW in the past. However, we are now going with NetApp directly.

CDW was great. We didn't have too many issues. However, for our work particularly, there wasn't a enough value-add to stick with a third-party. Therefore, we are now doing everything directly with NetApp.

What was our ROI?

I have seen ROI. NetApp is streamlined, reducing costs. ONTAP is the best.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

If you start narrowing down NetApp versus price point, then comparing it to the feature set and take away all the bloat that other companies will try to add on, there is no other option. It comes down to just NetApp.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We have some strict requirements because we are a defense contractor. It came down to NetApp and one other big company (Dell EMC). ONTAP's ease of use and our familiarity with it along with the reps, who are great about keeping us informed about training, etc. It made it a no-brainer for us to go with the solution.

We chose NetApp because of price and it's a no hassle solution. We're doing a trade study, so we asked all vendors for quotes, etc. We asked our NetApp reps, and they gave us what we needed within a timely fashion. 

Dell EMC sent us eight people, who insisted on a two hour meeting. They keep trying to oversell us crap that we don't need. It felt very forced. Whereas our NetApp guys, they would rather undersell us than have us buy stuff that we don't need. I appreciate their upfront and honest attitude.

You can't switch out a hard drive without an EMC rep coming out, where NetApp is streamlined.

What other advice do I have?

There is nothing it can't do. It satisfies all my needs. It is straight to the point and has great updates.

We are doing a trade study right on all the things that we would like to have and everything we have hard requirements for, and NetApp meets both.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
reviewer2081640 - PeerSpot reviewer
Programmer Analyst at a university with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Top 5Leaderboard
Provides good role-based access control, allowing for precise control over user permissions, but managing QTree's is relatively obscure
Pros and Cons
  • "It's extremely reliable, very easy to manage. I've been able to reduce the number of people I have managing the storage systems because of the software."
  • "There is room for improvement in areas related to hardware constraints—for example, more storage efficiency, especially in terms of deduplication."

What is our primary use case?

We use it for both our all-flash FAS and traditional FAS systems. We have a relatively large FAS 9,000 cluster.

How has it helped my organization?

It's easy to manage and has a good CLI, API, and GUI. It also has good role-based access control, allowing me to grant specific commands to users without full administrator privileges. It's a mature product that works well.

What is most valuable?

ONTAP encompasses the entire operating system, including the file system layout on the backend is valuable for me. 

What needs improvement?

There is room for improvement in areas related to hardware constraints—for example, more storage efficiency, especially in terms of deduplication. You don't have a global database for deduplication like some competing systems do. So, you can benefit from storage efficiency when you have a large-scale data system.

Another area of improvement is pricing. Pricing can be complex to decipher. It's not just about ONTAP; it involves hardware costs and capacity licenses.

There are some somewhat obscure features like managing QTree's and other relatively obscure things. So, I would like to see more clarity on that front.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for eight years. The previous cluster data was also on top of ONTAP, but just an older version, called ONTAP 9.

Currently, we use version 9.12. 

What was our ROI?

I have seen an ROI. It's extremely reliable, very easy to manage. I've been able to reduce the number of people I have managing the storage systems because of the software.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Our pricing with discounts is reasonable, but it may vary for others. If you're paying rack rate, it might be a different situation. But I think with our discount level, the pricing is reasonable.

What other advice do I have?

Overall, I would rate the solution a seven out of ten. 

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1801533 - PeerSpot reviewer
Storage Lead at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Fantastic performance, and reliability, as well as useful monitoring tools
Pros and Cons
  • "From a storage standpoint, NetApp is the number one partner and the number one equipment manufacturer."
  • "They need centralized controls."

What is our primary use case?

We are capable of implementing, migrating, and the configuration information of NetApp. We have 7-Mode and C-mode ONTAP operating systems from NetApp. 7-Mode, which is out of date and has expired from NetApp's vendor. They have created their own kernel for ONTAP, a cluster Data ONTAP. For the time being, they are only doing and providing the ONTAP cluster data, ONTAP to the customer. Customers who are using the 7-Mode data, 7-Mode ONTAP are systems that have not yet been upgraded. Whatever previous series hardware they are using, is incompatible with the C mode cluster data ONTAP. As a result, they are constantly taking care of and having to refresh their customers and providing the solution to the migratory or existing data to the new Data ONTAP system.

I've implemented many customized enterprise levels, and I've also done many migrations. Basically, storage that is currently in use, as well as a SAN protocol and how we are using it for all of our heterogeneous environments, such as VMware, Windows, Linux, and Unix. 

NetApp ONTAP is an operating system, similar to Windows, which we use for accessing the Windows client.

NetApp is storage similar to EMC. EMC is one of the storage vendors; they provide EMC, such as Dell EMC, Synology, Dell, and IBM. NetApp is one of the market's leading providers of SAN and NAS protocols to end users, as well as critical business solutions.

Currently, with NetApp application scenarios you can see that if you have a high,  business-critical application, it will require high IOPs to access this application from one of the storage options listed. Assume you're using an SAP HANA, or any other high IOPs utilization application, such as SAP, HANA, or any other tool. In these cases, NetApp has a solution. They have hardware such as an all-flash disc, which means they can use all-flash storage in between this solution fulfillment. If you have a hundred users logging in at the same time, you are using a business-critical application, it should not include any database applications such as Oracle Database. In such cases, they provide the SAN-based solution from NetApp and meet your NetApp storage requirements.

How has it helped my organization?

NetApp storage is also a hybrid solution. The cloud is essentially in the market right now, but no one is moving all of this data to the cloud.

If the primary data center is unavailable, you can deploy your data from the cloud vendor. This type of solution can also be obtained from NetApp storage.

What is most valuable?

With NetApp ONTAP your storage requirement is met. If you provide a solution to any of our customers, we will first take the accessories. We will collect the necessary requirements from the customers, just as we will conduct the assessment from the customer's end.

NetApp has a variety of hardware and solutions available there. Based on that, they can provide a low-level and high-level diagram and inform customers. If you want to use such a solution, such as a hardware solution and a software solution like this, you can, you can implement it at the customer, and you can use it. Like VMware, we can use it in most NetApp players, most of whom are in hardware and network storage. From a storage standpoint, NetApp is the number one partner and the number one equipment manufacturer.

What needs improvement?

If you wanted to configure the QAs policies right now, I believe you should be technical as well. If you are not aware of such devices and technology, you will not understand.

We will assess the existing infrastructure. If they want to improve the existing storage, not just for NetApp, it will be based on what is currently available and being used.

Existing IOPs will not be compatible with your current user, regardless of who is concurrently connected to the storage.

We'll assess the existing infrastructure, and if they're ready to buy any new hardware, any new solution, we'll add any additional access they'll give solid-state drives. And we will improve the performance. We will increase the number of drives and the overall memory utilization. As a result, the end-user cannot determine the exact utilization of the speed and your IOPs. we'll put it to use. 

If there is a bottleneck in the network as well, we will find out exactly what assessment is now, and we will make decisions based on that assessment. Based on the assessment, we will make recommendations for improvement and provide guidelines for exactly what we need to do.

In terms of the storage, if you implemented the storage one time and if you provided the volumes, you also provided the opportunity to learn. If you provided dials and QS policies, the client and user are not required, and they are not asking for the extension and all of these things. If you configure a quota type of information, or if some of the users are requesting data for a hundred UPR changes before the particular data, particular folder, in this case, we can do the automation involved there.

Until we get the automatic resize working properly, if a threshold is reached out to a specific percentage, such as just 90 percent, or an aggregated breach is 90 percent. This is the kind of data that the automation process can provide.

That is the fundamental thing in our NetApp storage right now. One of the things that are happening now is that a new requirement has arisen from the end-user, such as the desire to create new volumes of new LAN and present them to a specific physical host, a virtual host, a Windows host, or a Linux host. We have to create this information, this script, and just fill it in their format.

NetApp is currently providing monitoring tools. Assume you have multiple clusters in your organization, a large number of containers, and a large number of countries if you are currently using your storage. There's no need to log in to each cluster and storage separately, there is a centralized monitoring and management tool where you can simply log it into one single signup control.

It's as simple as a single click. If you wanted to manage these jobs and run the one-sum script, you didn't have to log in to each and every cluster and storage; instead, you just needed to log in once. With a single click, you can access your own information via someone else's system and manage their command tools from the network, which they have developed.

They could make the access a bit easier.

Every cluster and storage must be done manually the first time,  during the implementation and deployment phases. If it is deployed completely, you won't have to do anything manually. You must perform online on all of these automation and all of these centralized, single controls.

They need centralized controls. 

Not every organization is small, and they are using multiple locations. They are utilizing a number of DRaaS solutions. If your primary data center is down, is it due to any of these hardware or natural environment, natural disasters, human beings, or mistakes now? You don't have to worry about this in these cases. Simply click the activate button on the DR site, and your data will be deployed from the DR storage. There's nothing to be concerned about. It's simple.

You can migrate your existing data right now. As a result, the feature is now being used everywhere, and what everyone is looking for, is on a cloud right now. For example, your ONTAP system manager, cloud-only the features that are combined with that cloud. If you open your NetApp ONTAP system manager control, it will combine the cloud volumes and you can simply map your three-bucket location, three-bucket credential, and jump in your data going to the cloud.

You can either give it a second copy on the cloud network or use cloud data ONTAP. If you've wired your data to the cloud, ONTAP, AWS, Azure, or Google. So it can simply create a duplicate copy on the cloud player as well.

For how long have I used the solution?

My primary expertise is in NetApp ONTAP. I have been using NetApp ONTAP, implementing and providing solutions for the last seven years.

The most recent version is used at my client's location. 

We had an 18, 20 cluster on NetApp that was a near DR solution, primary solution, secondary solution, such as a DR solution, or a long retention archive backup solution with disc level backup.

They have also implemented and improved the solution with a cloud vendor, such as Azure Data ONAP, AWS Data ONAP, or Google Data ONAP, all of which are major players that are partnering with NetApp to provide a cloud-based solution.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

In terms of performance and reliability, NetApp ONTAP is fantastic. If you look at it, and if you go with NetApp now, everything you will get as compared to other storage, NetApp is extremely stable and reliable storage.

In comparison to IBM and Dell EMC. As a result, NetApp is a fantastic tool in my opinion. If you have to do anything, it will be simple, and you will not have to worry about your NetApp data. If you think about it, there are disasters over there, and my data will be lost or something like that, but there is nothing to worry about.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have a scale-out and scale its solution based on the type of information and solution you are currently deploying. NetApp is deployed in many locations. If you deploy the current solution, we can do it as a scale-out and scaling kind of device. Based on that, we can expand the other data size and use it for environmental purposes.

How are customer service and support?

We never contact them, but if we need assistance, such as a hardware solution or a hardware replacement, we must contact them because we do not provide the hardware. They are now providing the hardware. But, if you look at the software part of the picture, I don't want to reach out to NetApp. I'm very capable of doing it every time, both for storage and for the NetApp ONTAP system.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We work with VMware, Storage, and Nutanix NCI solutions.

How was the initial setup?

Actually, complex means that everyone is an expert in a specific device or a specific product. No. How can we say it is complex, or how can we say it is simple?

From my perspective, I'll say it's simple for me, but if you're looking for the first time, no, it will appear to be quite difficult. 

From my perspective, it's simple, because I've been working with NetApp for over seven years and am familiar with its operations, and migration. Based on that, I can tell you that it is easy for me.

If you want to set up primary and secondary storage now, you only have a few days. This is a production idea type of solution. It will only take three to four days. But everything should be in its proper place. We can simply order it. But if you say that, we don't have the space, we don't have the cooling power systems, and we don't have the power supply, it will take a long time to deploy. However, if you want to deploy the storage, and if everything is already in place, it will most likely take four to five days for both site location storage.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

It is a perpetual license. You are not required to purchase on a monthly or yearly basis. Whenever you purchase any type of solution software license, it should be a perpetual license that is valid for a lifetime. 

When you purchase NetApp for the first time they will provide you with the standard license, or a premium license, and even a standard bundle solution license. If you choose the premium bundle, each license will come with only that bundle.

They are offering the protocol device license for sale. If you want to use a CIP protocol, you must purchase the CIP. If you want to use the NFS protocol, you must purchase the NPS license if you want to use DFC, VME, or FCoE. If you only buy the bundle license now, each license will come in that bundle's bundle package.

What other advice do I have?

NetApp storage is my primary skill; I am an L3 or L4 on NetApp.

I'm building the NetApp from scratch based on what others need, and which one must be used, However, NetApp currently has a pre-deployed ONTAP version, that includes a pre-deployed ONTAP version in NetApp storage. They are assigning devices and hard discs to each of the controllers. They cannot have an operating system based on that request. They have been deployed. Aside from that, we will need to connect to your laptop using this console cable, serial console cable. We simply need to assign that to the serial console.

If you configure the management IP, we can put it in their networks and take the RDP or partition from your network. That is any location on your network. From there, we can simply configure the cluster. We can set these up with the data aggregate, volumes, learn and share, Q3 and quota. If they wanted to learn about the AFC solution, we simply need to configure the fiber channel cables and connect them to the SAN network and cable. If you wanted to create the zoning, analyze, and provide to a physical virtual.

I would rate NetApp ONTAP a ten out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Consultant at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
Consultant
Snapshots and easy management of volumes enhance operational efficiency
Pros and Cons
  • "There are more than one features that I appreciate, but what I appreciate the most about it is the ease of management of the volumes."
  • "There's a feature called multi-tenant approval. Currently, it's one size fits all. I cannot specify that one person is allowed to work on certain volumes, a second person on different volumes, and a third one on everything. It's all or nothing, so I would prefer it to be more precise regarding who could do what on which volume."

What is our primary use case?

We're a software development firm, so we use it internally. We have two NetApp ONTAP systems at the office, and we have a DR site where we replicate everything. For client purposes, we are using CVO in the cloud to host our clients on it, using our software.

How has it helped my organization?

We saw the benefits of NetApp ONTAP almost immediately. Snapshots are amazing. The auto-grow on the volumes and SnapMirror are also notable features. There are so many things that make it a good product.

What is most valuable?

There are more than one features that I appreciate, but what I appreciate the most about it is the ease of management of the volumes.

What needs improvement?

There's a feature called multi-tenant approval. Currently, it's one size fits all. I cannot specify that one person is allowed to work on certain volumes, a second person on different volumes, and a third one on everything. It's all or nothing, so I would prefer it to be more precise regarding who could do what on which volume.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using NetApp ONTAP since approximately 2008.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We encountered a downtime once for about two or three minutes, but it didn't crash; it was my fault due to a misconfiguration.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scalability is quite easy. You just add nodes and grow your cluster, and it's good.

How are customer service and support?

The quality of the support is quite fast; I have never had an issue that was not resolved. Our issues were more about how to do specific tasks or what's the best way to accomplish something. I would rate their support a ten out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I have never used any alternatives to NetApp ONTAP. I have seen others, but why we selected NetApp ONTAP was that it was better.

How was the initial setup?

It's quite easy. If it's physical, the time depends on the size of your environment, but when we used CVO in the cloud, it was up and running within the same day. The learning curve is not that long. It's quite easy, but it also depends on your experience.

It does not require any maintenance after the deployment. The first NetApp ONTAP that we had, after maybe six or seven years, had some drives that were spinning, not SSD. When one of them failed, we placed a service call and received the disk the next morning. We just swapped the disk, and everything got rebuilt by itself. The new system we got two years ago is all SSD, and so far, nothing has broken. Everything's running smoothly.

What about the implementation team?

For its deployment, one person is enough. You do not need a team.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

At first, it's expensive. Once you start using it, it's not that expensive. When you see all the benefits, it's acceptable. It could always be better, but you get what you pay for.

What other advice do I have?

My advice for new users is to take the time to learn and have a good plan for what you need to do. It's so easy to use, and you can do many things with it, so there's no secret to success. You just plan whatever you need to do, and you go forward.

I would rate NetApp ONTAP a ten out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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