We performed a comparison between Dell PowerScale (Isilon), NetApp FAS Series, and NetApp Private Storage based on real PeerSpot user reviews.
Find out what your peers are saying about Dell Technologies, NetApp, Nasuni and others in NAS.
"This is the best platform that we could have for storage utilization. It is affordable and scalable. At the end of the day, it's something that we find very easy to use."
"Its most valuable feature is the DR capabilities replication."
"Dell PowerScale's performance is good."
"It's easy to manage. The web UI is very intuitive, and there's CLI also that you can use to manage it."
"The recent introduction of inline deduplication and compression has drastically improved our efficiency ratios to make it an economical product. This solution has also had a positive impact on our employees' productivity because it reduces the amount of admin that our staff needs to handle."
"The most valuable feature of Dell PowerScale (Isilon) integration with other solutions because of the standard file system protocol."
"You plug in a new node and data starts migrating over to it, and IT spreads out the load. We've added multiple nodes to the system since deploying it. The process is pretty seamless, and we are able to do it with no downtime. It's a very easy process to do."
"There are also the policies that you set up on replication and purging files, and policies for something called WORM. That's a "write once, read many," where you can't overwrite certain files or certain data. It puts them in a "protected mode" where it becomes very difficult for someone to accidentally delete. We use that for certain files or certain directories, because we're dealing with video and some video has to be protected for chain-of-custody purposes. The WORM feature works great."
"At the moment, we use NetApp SnapMirror to replicate data to another filer at an offsite location for backup. So, I like this feature."
"The input and output per second performance are satisfactory."
"One of the most valuable features offered is double-parity RAID, which guarantees that your data will stay intact. We're also able to provision storage and monitor which ones are really consuming storage."
"A reliable and easily managed storage system is a key performance factor. The system also has more features than we require."
"It's a stable product. No issues there."
"Fast Snapshots"
"It is good to have a unified storage where you can have block and file level protocols."
"Has rock solid reliability and is easy to use."
"NetApp is faster than other storage brands."
"NetApp has really added a lot of features over the years to improve the product and performance. They can do things now like control ingress. They can control egress."
"The most valuable feature is integration."
"Integration with other NetApp solutions and merging them is manageable."
"The solution is stable."
"At the moment, we are extensively using SnapMirror."
"It gave us a platform which could clearly arrange all our files and volumes."
"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 solution's rate structure or rate redundancy needs to be improved."
"Dell PowerScale (Isilon) could improve the load distribution capability. For example, in some cases, the system load is not distributed automatically on all the nodes but is concentrated only on one. You have a peak request on only one node and the others don't do anything."
"I'd like to see more Iceland products in the cloud so that we can port our data into different environments if needed. I would also like to see a virtual appliance or software-defined Iceland product."
"The product needs to improve CLI since commands are complex. The search option is also difficult since you must give the full path."
"The solution’s interface and pricing could be improved."
"We used to have a chat feature available on the support site. It's not available to us anymore."
"If they integrated some functions, as they have on Data Domain with a cyber recovery vault, it would be ideal."
"The product’s expansion capacity, pricing clarity, and ease of use need improvement."
"If our customer needs a high-performance storage solution then we don't recommend this product."
"We're supposed to have used NetApp FAS Series for replication, but then one of the nodes failed, and then it's taken us some time to bring it up."
"NetApp systems are somewhat more complex, though not excessively so. If you're transitioning from a Windows server environment to NetApp, get training or education; otherwise, you might struggle with this solution."
"NetApp FAS Series could improve by being more secure."
"The user interface could be improved."
"The solution could do more than just data."
"It may need more flexibility to fight with other competing arrays."
"Needs to improve the adaptive storage quality of service."
"I'm not sure how easy it is to use on the cloud versus on-prem. If they have different user experiences, they should work to make the two as similar as possible to make it easy for a user to understand both even if they only deal mainly with one."
"We had to write a number of custom tools or scripts ourselves to use it as a staging area between our on-premises datacenter and our cloud installation."
"The solution could improve by having better support experts. For example, they do not have clear instructions on configuration."
"I think that it should work better with Microsoft solutions, more integrated with Microsoft. We also need integrated NAS and block storage."
"The users find the new version's GUI complicated to use."
"I would like to see the GUI management simplified in the next release."
"There is room for improvement in the support. It has been a problem for our team."
"NetApp Private Storage is still integrated into the ISCSI connectivity and the FC protocol. I would recommend them to migrate to the FCIP because the SAN switches are moving further to an FCIP, and are scaling out of the ISCSI connectivity. Sooner or later, that will be an issue for NetApp Private Storage. An NFCIP should be available to them moving three years down the line."
