Sr. Infra. Support Egineer / Tech .Consultant at CANAR OFFICE SYSTEMS
Real User
Top 5Leaderboard
A scalable and easy-to-deploy solution that enables continuous monitoring and administration of storage
Pros and Cons
  • "InfoSight is a valuable feature."
  • "The solution could reduce its price."

What is our primary use case?

The solution can be used for SAP HANA applications and some Linux-based databases. Our customers use it for SUSE Linux.

What is most valuable?

InfoSight is a valuable feature. It enables 24/7 monitoring and administration of our storage. Whenever there is a fault, the user will be alerted. It is a 100% customer satisfaction-based experience. Everything is on the dashboard.

What needs improvement?

The solution could reduce its price.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with the solution for the past three years.

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What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I didn't see any failure so far.

I rate the tool’s stability a ten out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have around 180 users.

I rate the product’s scalability a ten out of ten.

How are customer service and support?

The intervention of the technical support is only to facilitate parts replacement. InfoSight gives the user information like predictive failure and faulty parts. The vendor is then notified about it.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is simple. HPE makes every deployment simple and easy to integrate. It takes us two to three hours to deploy the product because everything is connected over the internet. We need internet connectivity for the deployment.

What about the implementation team?

We need only one engineer to deploy the solution.

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

We can choose between a yearly license fee or once in three years. The solution’s pricing is reasonable for the features that it provides.

What other advice do I have?

I haven't checked the latest version of Nimble yet. Maybe there will be lots of improvements after the 2019 version. It is a good solution. I recommend it. My recommendation depends on what the customer needs. Sometimes, customers overdo the specifications. Sometimes they need only SaaS-based storage.

Customers should know what they need and what applications are running on it. Then, the partners can recommend a solution accordingly. Customers should not take the specification directly to the supplier. They should ask the partners. Partners would give cost-effective recommendations.

Overall, I rate the product a ten out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Integrator
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Head of IT at One
Real User
It is reliable, the support is good, and it provides us with good performance
Pros and Cons
  • "InfoSight has helped us resolved an issue where the snapshots were growing too big."
  • "I don't think it is officially released yet, but the main reason that we chose Nimble is because of the sync rep feature. So, I would like to see that further evolve. This feature will be essential for our setups."

What is our primary use case?

We use it in small business setups with 10, 15, or 20 VMs per customer. Our entire system runs on Nimble Storage, e.g., Windows Active Directory, Windows Servers, and WEP.

How has it helped my organization?

Everything is just faster. Though, it is not necessarily required for the deployment that we do. It just gives us a bit of that extra speed.

InfoSight has helped us resolved an issue where the snapshots were growing too big.

What is most valuable?

Speed versus storage space is the most valuable feature.

What needs improvement?

I don't think it is officially released yet, but the main reason that we chose Nimble is because of the sync rep feature. So, I would like to see that further evolve. This feature will be essential for our setups.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is good. I have no issues.

The uptime is good. I can update without any downtime, so that is good.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability is average. We had a unit that wasn't that old, which we couldn't extend anymore.

The solution’s storage capacity efficiency is good.

How are customer service and technical support?

The technical support is awesome.

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

When it came to renewal, the requirements are based on customer demands and projects.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is always easy. It was easy before it was part of HPE, so I am happy that they took this with them.

What about the implementation team?

We deployed in-house.

What was our ROI?

The solution has increased performance.

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

Our hybrid solution could do with some more competitive pricing and more scaled-down deployments. Already, the smallest one is too much for us. We would flourish by having a smaller unit.

If you don't go cheap, it is eventually worth it. However, the initial investment is high.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We looked at Nimble and NetApp.

I have had some bad experiences previously with the performance of the NetApp units, which is the reason that we went with Nimble.

What other advice do I have?

Go with Nimble if you want the best.

It is reliable, the support is good, and it provides us with good performance.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Buyer's Guide
HPE Nimble Storage
March 2024
Learn what your peers think about HPE Nimble Storage. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2024.
765,234 professionals have used our research since 2012.
IT Infrastructure Manager at a insurance company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
It has stabilized throughput and provided less downtime for our applications
Pros and Cons
  • "InfoSight has allowed us to centralize our management, understanding how it correlates to the array. It has identified a network issue in the network configuration of ESXi hosts. It enables us to get servers back up faster by 25 percent."
  • "I would like to have integration into cloud providers, apart from HPE."

What is our primary use case?

It is our primary source platform. It underlines all of our Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 applications. We use hybrid, not flash.

How has it helped my organization?

It has reduced the requirement to have a specialist storage engineer.

InfoSight has allowed us to centralize our management, understanding how it correlates to the array. It has identified a network issue in the network configuration of ESXi hosts. It enables us to get servers back up faster by 25 percent.

It has stabilized throughput and provided less downtime for our applications.

What is most valuable?

  • Simplicity of use
  • Maintenance

What needs improvement?

I would like to have integration into cloud providers, apart from HPE.

The release cycle for the firmware upgrades could be improved. They are a bit long.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's very stable. It is 100 percent up.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It's very scalable. We can scale it up and down.

We haven't had to increase capacity.

How are customer service and technical support?

The technical support is fantastic.

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

The existing SAN was no longer a fit for purpose.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was incredibly simple. It was up and running within half an hour.

What about the implementation team?

We deployed it in-house.

What was our ROI?

It has increased our performance and allowed us to expand out what we can deliver.

What other advice do I have?

Definitely, give the product a go and do a PoC.

It fits my needs perfectly.

Biggest lesson learnt: Sometimes, the simplest solution is actually a complex solution.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user572736 - PeerSpot reviewer
Head of Infrastructure at a financial services firm with 501-1,000 employees
Vendor
The online documentation is easy to read and follow. We used it to centralize our virtual workstations.

What is most valuable?

The performance and simplicity are the most valuable features. We originally moved from NetApp, which in our opinion was an extremely complicated system to learn. It was not intuitive at all, whereas everything about Nimble Storage is intuitive, hence their name. All their online documentation is easy to read and easy to follow. All their online sales information is transparent and usually done by a third party instead of by themselves. As far as the performance, they're able to get much better performance with normal spinning disks. We've always had spinning disks in our storage solutions, but they're able to get better performance out of the typical spinning disk, just by the way they've written their software on the back-end. Then for solid-state drives, they can get better performance through read operations through the data.

How has it helped my organization?

One of the reasons why we had to move away from our old storage solutions was that we started to use virtual workstations. That's a solution that we wanted to move forward and we just didn't have the performance to do that with our NetApp solution. That has definitely transformed our business as far as being able to centralize all our workstations into one solution. We can also better leverage disaster recovery, because all our workstations will replicate over to our disaster recovery location.

What needs improvement?

They only use block-level storage and with NetApp, we were able to use file-level storage. That means we could leverage NFS or we could leverage SIFS and we could actually host a file server on the storage solution itself. We could do that with our NetApp solution. Right now, they only use block-level solutions, so you can only use iSCSI.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have used this solution for almost two and half years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I have not had stability issues with Nimble Storage.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We haven't had to scale out yet, but we would have zero issues if we needed to. They have plenty of offerings for us to do that.

How is customer service and technical support?

I'd give technical support 5/5. When I call, I get somebody on the phone immediately. I just have to press one number to go to technical support and I immediately have somebody on the phone.

How was the initial setup?

Setup was very straightforward. That was one of the things we liked about it most.

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

I recommend the product because of the licensing and pricing. It seems like they are flexible regarding pricing in compared to other vendors. There is really is no licensing; it's all in one. It all comes in one bundle.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We evaluated NetApp, which is our previous solution, and then we also evaluated Pure Storage.

What other advice do I have?

My advice would be to use it. Just make sure whether you need to go with an all solid-state drive solution or whether you can use their hybrid solution, because there's going to be a big price difference.

Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
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Chris Childerhose - PeerSpot reviewer
Lead Infrastructure Architect at ThinkON
Real User
ExpertTop 5
It has allowed us to upgrade our DMS to the latest version
Pros and Cons
  • "It has allowed us to upgrade our DMS to the latest version and reuse the older array as the DR storage for VMware SRM."
  • "When sizing the array based on requirements the option to add more network cards for throughput would be something to help clients."

What is our primary use case?

The AF5000 array is the primary storage for our iManage DMS 10 document management systems. It allows the best performance for users using the system.

How has it helped my organization?

It has allowed us to upgrade our DMS to the latest version and reuse the older array as the DR storage for VMware SRM.  The entire DMS system performance has improved compared to the old which was on a previous generation CS260G.

What is most valuable?

Having all-flash with two banks of disk for population is great for expansion. InfoSight is always one of the best out there for array reporting and troubleshooting.

What needs improvement?

The product is great.  When sizing the array based on requirements the option to add more network cards for throughput would be something to help clients.  Product Support is best in class as always.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using this solution for three to five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

No stability issues.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

No issues here and we have a full bank for disk expansion.

How are customer service and support?

Customer Service:

Customer service is great and they go above and beyond to help.

Technical Support:

Technical support is second to none out there combined with Infosight. Also having technicians assigned directly to you when needed is great!

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

No, we are a Nimble shop with nine arrays now.

How was the initial setup?

Straightforward and very easy, as always.

What about the implementation team?

Implementation was in-house, done by myself.

What was our ROI?

ROI will be determined over the next year, after we go-live.

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

When selecting a vendor make sure to validate with the vendor that the throughput is enough. With the AF5000, it is 2GB/s write and 4GB/s read, which we are maxing out. Also, ensure to get the right amount of network cards.

Also, make sure that the specifications meet the application domain and ensure the right amount of network cards are in the array.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Nothing else was evaluated.

What other advice do I have?

Nimble AF is a great platform and is only getting better. On top of that, InfoSight's great technical support makes it an easy choice.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Private Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Other
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Manager implementation at XENOTTABYTE
Real User
Top 5
A scalable solution for database storage
Pros and Cons
  • "The tool’s support is feasible."
  • "The solution’s stability could be better. The tool’s pricing is high and depends on the partner."

What is our primary use case?

We use the solution as VMware SRM’s database storage.

What is most valuable?

The tool’s support is feasible.

What needs improvement?

The solution’s stability could be better. The tool’s pricing is high and depends on the partner.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the solution for two to three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I would rate the solution’s stability an eight out of ten. The solution is quite stable. We rarely have issues with storage.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The tool is almost scalable. We have one to two users for the solution.

How are customer service and support?

HPE’s support is good. They respond fast.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

The product’s initial setup is straightforward. The initial setup was done by HPE. We manage the solution’s storage and maintenance.

What about the implementation team?

We are the solution’s integrators. 

What was our ROI?

We have seen ROI with the tool’s use.

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

The solution’s licensing is on a yearly basis.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate the overall solution an eight out of ten. We require one technical engineer for the product’s maintenance.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Integrator
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Raul Borges - PeerSpot reviewer
Product Manager at Nuxiba
Real User
Top 10
Stable, easy installation, with good compression
Pros and Cons
  • "The capacity for data storage and compression is good."
  • "I have problems with the next servicer. For example, I have a new device and it needs to connect to Nimble."

What is our primary use case?

We primarily use it for storage.

What is most valuable?

The capacity for data storage and compression is good.

What needs improvement?

I would like to see some additional features included in the next release.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using HPE Nimble Storage for the past eight months.

How was the initial setup?

It was on track, but I have problems with the next servicer. For example, I have a new device and it needs to connect to Nimble. 

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

I do not pay for it.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate HPE Nimble Storage a nine 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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Senior Network Administrator at a university with 201-500 employees
Real User
We have gone from multiple devices down to a single device, making management simpler
Pros and Cons
  • "The storage capacity efficiency is phenomenal. It is off the charts in comparison to the compression ratios that we got before. We are able to save a lot more to the device."
  • "I would like to see the network portion of the product improve, especially with some of the things which are coming out from Aruba and HPE. Both are innovating more of an automated networking. I would like to see our Nimble meld into that and do some automated networking."

What is our primary use case?

We use it for all of our storage, backups, and our user storage. Everything goes onto it. We have gone from multiple devices down to a single Nimble.

It hosts all of our databases for all of our servers. It hosts the servers themselves and our GFS retention jobs. It hosts everything that is critical for our business.

We went from hosting a lot of our external storage on ten different NASs. Now, we have all of our storage on a Nimble. Previously, we had three or four chassis just full of stuff. We consolidated our server space down to 25 percent of what it used to be, just from storage.

It is because of the way Nimble handles that storage. It can compress it down, making it smaller for us.

How has it helped my organization?

On some of our backup jobs, we are getting a dedupe rate of 11 to 13 times. Nimble is taking up a minuscule amount of actual raw storage for backups, etc.

Data management has improved vastly. We have gone from multiple devices down to a single device, making management much simpler. Previously, you could spend hours just going from one device to another, and now, it is all in a central location.

It has improved the throughput because of how the device interconnects with our network. It has 10 gig connections to the network and also multiple 8 gig connections through our Brocade switches back to the server farm. From just the sheer number of connections that it makes onto the network and devices, the throughput is staggering.

What is most valuable?

We have over 100 terabytes of storage, and it is all solid state. That is pretty valuable for everything we do.

The build alone is amazing and the way everything is modular. It's swapable. 

The storage capacity efficiency is phenomenal. It is off the charts in comparison to the compression ratios that we got before. We are able to save a lot more to the device.

What needs improvement?

I would like to see the network portion of the product improve, especially with some of the things which are coming out from Aruba and HPE. Both are innovating more of an automated networking. I would like to see our Nimble meld into that and do some automated networking.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The product is up 99.99 percent of the time, and it just stays up. We have it on multiple power supplies. The product runs constantly. When there is a problem, it notifies you of the problem. 

We have never had any critical failures with it. It is always up. Every time a single component is broken, it has been repaired within 24 hours. 

The parts are hot swapable. We just get a part in the mail, and we are good to go. You literally walk in, pull one out, and put a new one in, then the thing is running again.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability is great. We just scaled up. We just bought the additional hard drive array for it, and we love it.

I don't think we are even utilizing 50 percent of the all-flash. We intentionally bought that anticipating growth.

Nimble is scalable and modular enough that you can take whatever solutions that you had in the past, pull those all together, and put them into a Nimble. It does all the things that we did before in a single package.

How are customer service and technical support?

The technical support is awesome. They are actually monitoring the device. When we have had a hard drive failure, we have found that we come into work, and they are notifying us that a hard drive failed overnight. We haven't even had a chance to look at it yet.

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

The former CIO hadn't upgraded anything in almost 20 years. Everything that we had was completely outdated. We wanted to move to a more efficient solution for our on-premise stuff. We were also looking into things with the cloud, but that doesn't have a lot to do with Nimble, per se. We just needed to modernize.

We had all on-premise bare metal servers. We got rid of it four years ago, when they were still doing their backups to tape. This is why when we went to the Nimble. We cut our use of space down to about 25 percent.

What about the implementation team?

Our other systems administrator dealt with the integration of the product.

I think we used an integrator and a consultant. They were on campus for about five days, helping us integrate everything and move everything over.

What was our ROI?

For education, ROI is pretty hard to determine. However, that was part of the finance portion. Our chief financial officer sat down and did an ROI on it and came to the same conclusion that we did: Nimble is the right choice for us.

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

We are paying for the licensing yearly.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We had Dell EMC, Nimble, and 3PAR come out. Our partner is Logicalis, and they set up all these interviews for us. We interviewed them one at a time. With our partner, we came to the decision that Nimble was the right choice for us.

There is nothing like it that we can buy that even comes close to this product. We looked at five different products, then we decided to go with Nimble. It is hands down the best device that was available to us.

What other advice do I have?

I would definitely point a colleague toward the Nimble product. Most of my peers are also at universities, and the product fits perfectly into what we are trying to do. As another administrator at another university, it will be key to what they are doing.

It has met all of our needs. We haven't had any issues.

They have been consistently innovating stuff and seeing it before we even think of the possible outcomes. We are consistently shocked by what is coming out.

We do HIPAA compliance as a university. Part of that compliance has to do with how we back up employee files, which we do on the cloud, but we don't use the Nimble for that. 

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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masterac822723 - PeerSpot reviewer
masterac822723Master Accredited Solutions Expert at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
Real User

Excellent news from a satisfied customer!! Very happy and proud that Nimble Storage is bringing value to your organization.

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Updated: March 2024
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Buyer's Guide
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