We performed a comparison between Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series and NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays based on real PeerSpot user reviews.
Find out in this report how the two All-Flash Storage solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI."We're able to get higher-density workloads on the same infrastructure, and we have a smaller physical footprint. The performance is excellent – during our test the bottlenecks are never on the X array, it just keeps picking up the pace to match what you need. The real-time visibility is a differentiator in my opinion."
"Overall stability is very good. It is a very stable solution."
"The system allows for seamless learning experiences, facilitating quick and easy cloning of environments within minutes."
"Technical support has been helpful and responsive."
"The most valuable features of Pure FlashArray X NVMe are its superior performance compared to other flash tiers, as well as its ease of use, with an intuitive user interface that is simple to deploy and use."
"The solution is very straightforward to set up."
"Pure FlashArray X NVMe has low latency and high Ops. It is an evergreen model."
"The duplication algorithm allows us to get a lot more use out of less storage. We're running a five terabyte array right now and we're running probably about 30 terabytes on it. So the duplication rate is pretty phenomenal, without a cost to performance. It still runs pretty smoothly."
"The solution offers very good reliable systems and storage for our clients."
"The FlexClone feature is the solution's most valuable aspect."
"The most valuable feature of Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series is its capability to tier to the cloud, such as Microsoft Azure or Amazon AWS. Additionally, the integration is good and they are user-friendly."
"We are satisfied with the stability."
"Scalable and stable storage array."
"The product’s quality of service guarantees the performance of each workload."
"Ability to cluster two storages together with HA availability."
"Last year, I did a DM Series installation with my colleague, and this installation was effortless because we had Lenovo support on the phone, so it was easy to get help if we had any problems."
"This storage solution is both stable and scalable, and it works for our needs."
"We do a lot of in-house, application-dependent type things, where we find the different niches to the different things. Certain things they do better. We've found that it actually does very well on some of our higher-end applications."
"It provides multi-protocol, which is what gives the edge when it comes to big lineage PC workloads."
"The stability, speed, and reliability are the solution's best features. The information is also very secure."
"The solution allows us to segregate one storage unit from another."
"We use it for our VDI environment, and have not had any complaints with it."
"Rapid deployment, easy integration management and cloning of areas."
"The hardware and software of NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays are easy for us to use."
"It is on the expensive side."
"The tool's pricing is higher than competitors."
"We have run into a couple of instances recently where we are running out of space. So we have had to buy some more packs for it and they have deployed fine and it has increased smoothly."
"Every time I think of something that needs to improve, they're one step ahead, which I love. The only area I wish to see improve, I believe is coming, is in the FlashBlade product. Blade implementation fell short on a few of the services."
"Efficiency improvements would always be welcome, but I'm not sure if they could get more efficient."
"In the future, I would like to see integration with enterprise backup systems."
"Many options to check performance, like read, writes, random writes, and random reads, are missing in Pure FlashArray X NVMe."
"They could add more support for file storage and different types of storage."
"It takes a very long time to enter the management console, as well as to restart the system, and these are things that should be improved."
"I would rate the support of Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series a four out of five."
"The solution needs a simpler licensing theme around the DM series. The problem is if you only need one of the features, you still have to buy the whole thing. The licensing needs to be more granular or flexible so you have the option to only license FlexCone or Inline Compression features."
"This is an expensive solution."
"The licensing model needs to be revisited. It needs to be simplified."
"The Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series was very hard to configure. Installation of the product was very hard. These are its areas for improvement."
"The solution should change the licensing model and allow customers to choose features based on their requirements."
"Many people do not realize that Lenovo has a storage solution, so better marketing from the vendor is needed."
"Its pricing should be better. Its price is competitive, but they need to improve the pricing. They have different licensing models, which they need to improve. My expectation was cloud integration, which they have, but it is a different license. Therefore, people cannot enjoy it. If I want to use it, I need to pay extra. There is a cost involved for everything, but it should reach everyone. It is similar to having a Rolls-Royce, but you need to pay extra for the key. If you want the key, you need to pay."
"I would like to see higher-capacity drives, as they come out; I have heard that 15 TB are out on a different NetApp series. Getting those on the EFs would be nice."
"There could be an improvement when it comes to SLA support, it could be faster."
"I’d like to see bigger, faster, better hardware, of course. I think that is the way the hardware is trending anyway; bigger, faster CPU, better software, fewer bugs, all that stuff. T"
"The management interface, while very reliable, it seems a little old now and could maybe use a little modernization."
"Things like the FlexClones, SnapVault, SnapMirror, all of that. Some of it's available on the EF series, but we like what we have in the FAS system."
"They could improve overall scalability through performance. Denser capacity, which is doable, it is what the competition is doing."
"We have used IBM previously. We found that the storage from IBM was poor and we chose NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays because it can scale very easily."
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Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series is ranked 21st in All-Flash Storage with 10 reviews while NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays is ranked 23rd in All-Flash Storage with 38 reviews. Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series is rated 7.4, while NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays is rated 8.6. The top reviewer of Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series writes "Simple deployment, stores data well, but missing features". On the other hand, the top reviewer of NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays writes "A storage solution that offers great stability, resilience, and support". Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series is most compared with NetApp AFF, Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series, Dell Unity XT, Dell PowerStore and Huawei OceanStor, whereas NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays is most compared with Dell PowerStore, NetApp AFF, Huawei OceanStor Dorado, HPE Primera and IBM FlashSystem. See our Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series vs. NetApp EF-Series All Flash Arrays report.
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