NetApp Private Storage Reviews

We are in a VMware Intra environment, so we are utilizing NetApp Storage for our virtualization infrastructure.

NetApp offers multiple features that we utilize for our projects.

We use the product for customized data storage features.

NetApp is faster than other storage brands.

We have certain application database servers, the data of which needs to be replicated or moved to an offline storage mode. That's where we bundle the offline or on-premise NetApp Private Storage.

The most valuable feature of NetApp Private Storage is out-of-the-box integration with the SAN switches. They are much easier compared to Dell solutions. Additionally, the connector that comes with the solution that allows connection back to the Cisco SAN switches is very good. In Dell, I would need to use an FCIP or CIP port that is required.

The thing I like most about it is it's unified. They're the first guys who came up with this Unified Storage concept. It can do almost everything. It's sort of a Swiss army knife in a storage box. It can do NFS, SCSI, and FC. It has its own backup solution to the cloud. 

I get a lot of comfort these days when the NetApp storage solution is also integrated into the hyperscalers. You can find the same NetApp in Azure or AWS. 

The solution scales well. 

It is not the fastest storage solution.

If you don't follow best practices, it can come back to bite you. A lot of the other vendors have taken out a lot of that infinite flexibility from their solutions so that you just don't do something to harm yourself. With NetApp, sometimes you can really push it. If you overthink provisioning, if you over-allocate, if it gets full, or if something crazy happens and you haven't been watching, then you can lose data. It requires skills to use it properly. It's maybe not the simplest to configure either, however, if you know what you're doing, if you're willing to do the homework, if you're willing to do the research, willing to do the tickets with the vendor, then you can get something really good out of the solution. 

We use NetApp Private Storage for block storage and NAS.

The most valuable feature is integration.

NetApp Private Storage is a network-attached device that helps us manage our storage easily. In addition, it allows for easy, seamless connectivity to our storage solutions.

Two years ago, a client was hit by a ransomware attack. They have more than 60 servers and many workstations. The malware affected all the servers and databases. But, everything stored using NetApp was not affected. When the malware struck, NetApp was blocking that IP address, so it didn't harm the video files. That is the main advantage of this product. Our client was pleased.

We've primarily used the solution for private storage. 

It is used as a Cinder backend for an OpenStack cloud and for NFS storage and as block storage.

It's fairly easy to use. You can teach yourself. I'm mostly Googling to find my answers.

Its flexibility and ability to configure volumes is its most valuable aspect. I have no problem configuring the product for different kinds of use cases and configuring throughput or configuring some kind of logical volumes and so on. It's pretty easy to configure flex volumes on the NetApp solutions that I use. 

The scalability is okay. 

Integration with other NetApp solutions and merging them is manageable.

The initial setup is pretty easy.

The stability has been very good.

We are moving to using a lot of NFS (Network File System). I normally work with VMware on the private cloud and then I use NetApp on NFS protocol with 10G connectivity.  

Mainly I use it in two ways. I use a lot of hybrid flash storage. Hybrid meaning that you have a little bit of SSD (Solid State Drive) and then at the back, you can use either SATA (Serial ATA [Advanced Technology Attachment]) or SAS (Serial Attached SCSI [Small Computer System Interface]) disk. So I use the hybrid with SAS and SSD, or I just use all SAS.  

One of the things I like the most about NetApps is that it is very easy to connect to the cloud and it is cloud-ready. I also really love the fact that they have stuck to their storage operating system for as long as I've been working with them. I started with them using ONTAP 7 and I think we are now on ONTAP 9. The company has not been bought and sold so the product has been stable under management. They have had a vision and a strategy and they have stuck to it. That is very good for me because once I got certified on the product I didn't lose the certification. I just had to recertify once when they made the move from 7-mode to cluster ONTAP. It has just been smooth sailing for me from there.  

Once you understand the NetApp protocol, you can configure it for a small box or you can configure it for the largest box imaginable. The protocol or the method has remained the same and is really backward compatible and that is one of the beauties of NetApps.