Senior Director of Databases at a wellness & fitness company with 501-1,000 employees
Real User
Our databases are considerably faster due to the speed at which it executes I/O
Pros and Cons
  • "I have seen a huge increase in speed and performance on our databases."
  • "It has been very stable. I have not seen or heard of downtime storage issues after moving over to it."
  • "The support for NFS protocols right out-of-the-box need improvement. I'm used to other storage vendors who have NFS support right out-of-the-box, and Pure Storage doesn't seem to have anything."

What is our primary use case?

We use Pure Storage for most of our databases, as well as for other application binaries.

How has it helped my organization?

Our biggest database is the Oracle ERP. Right now, it is around nine terabytes. It has grown from four terabytes in the last five to six years. Initially, we were worried because most of our functions and processes got slower. We thought we might have to add more  infrastructure and upscale it from a CPU perspective. Then, we moved to Pure Storage, and we suddenly saw some of the processes, which were running slowly, sped up automatically.

We have also seen a reduction in the latency.

What is most valuable?

The most interesting feature is the speed at which it executes I/O. After moving to Pure Storage, I have noticed that our databases are considerably faster.

Our performance has improved by at least four times.

What needs improvement?

The support for NFS protocols right out-of-the-box need improvement. I'm used to other storage vendors who have NFS support right out-of-the-box, and Pure Storage doesn't seem to have anything. We have shared APPL_TOP on our Oracle ERP, which would require an NFS type of storage. So, we had to resort to building our own NFS VM, then attach Pure Storage to it, and have it go through the server. This didn't really serve our purpose, as it's a lot slower because it's now going through a VM installer NFS server.

While we know Pure Storage supports snapshots, we haven't been able to implement databases or replication using them.

Buyer's Guide
Pure Storage FlashArray
April 2024
Learn what your peers think about Pure Storage FlashArray. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2024.
769,479 professionals have used our research since 2012.

For how long have I used the solution?

Three to five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It has been very stable. I have not seen or heard of downtime storage issues after moving over to it.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It looks like it is scaling pretty well.

How are customer service and support?

I have not used the tech support.

What was our ROI?

We have seen a reduction in total cost of ownership (TCO). 

What other advice do I have?

Use Pure Storage for databases. I have seen a huge increase in speed and performance on our databases.

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.
PeerSpot user
Fresh Operations Manager at Jerónimo Martins
Real User
Good functionality, easy to use, and highly stable
Pros and Cons
  • "I use all the features of this solution and I find them to be easy to use and functional, such as the compression and capacity to expand."
  • "Pure Storage FlashArray could improve by being more secure."

What is our primary use case?

I use the solution for the storage of our database and to run some algorithms to analyze data we retrieve from the internet.

What is most valuable?

I use all the features of this solution and I find them to be easy to use and functional, such as the compression and capacity to expand.

What needs improvement?

Pure Storage FlashArray could improve by being more secure.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for approximately three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is highly stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is scalable.

We have five customers using this solution.

How are customer service and technical support?

The technical support is very good.

How was the initial setup?

The installation is the simplest I have ever done from any solution.

What about the implementation team?

We did the implementation of the solution ourselves with the supervision of the integrator.

We have a team that does the maintenance and operations of the solution.

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

There is an annual or perpetual license required for this solution.

What other advice do I have?

I am very satisfied with this solution and I would recommend it to others.

I rate Pure Storage FlashArray a nine 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
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Pure Storage FlashArray
April 2024
Learn what your peers think about Pure Storage FlashArray. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2024.
769,479 professionals have used our research since 2012.
IT Manager at a consultancy with 5,001-10,000 employees
Real User
Easy and simple to manage storage solution that has reduced downtime
Pros and Cons
  • "This solution has improved our organization in the way that we used to see latency but now with this solution we don't. It also has good performance. Latencies have come down for our performance in the SQL databases. We can put a lot more in a lot less in terms of space savings. We also save data center space have good deduplication."
  • "They should work on their upgrades, they're not smooth."

What is our primary use case?

Our primary use case of this solution is to keep our production and DR data in this storage.

How has it helped my organization?

This solution has improved our organization in the way that we used to see latency but now with this solution we don't. It also has good performance. Latencies have come down for our performance in the SQL databases. We can put a lot more in a lot less in terms of space savings. We also save data center space and have good deduplication. 

It has also helped us simplify storage in the way that it's easy to manage. It's the most simple storage solution. 

What is most valuable?

We like that there are good deduplication savings in terms of the usage in the data center and that the product itself works well. 

Scalability is good. We can do an upgrade in which both of the controllers will be on which has reduced the downtime. The scalability has definitely improved. 

What needs improvement?

I would like for them to do testing on their upgrades. 

For how long have I used the solution?

One to three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

This solution is stable. At times their product of grates could get a little tricky which can be problematic, but they quickly address it.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scalability is going well. We have been expanding it and we have about five customers now. 

How are customer service and technical support?

Technical support is very good. We have a dedicated person who helps us which has been a good experience. 

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

We switched because our old solution wasn't great and we wanted to replace it with a better solution. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was straightforward in the way that the configuration was simple. It's simple to manage. 

What about the implementation team?

The reseller helps with all of the implementation processes. 

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We also considered Hitachi and Dell EMC XtremIO. Pure Storage made the cut because of its PoC performance. 

What other advice do I have?

I would rate this solution a nine because there's always room for improvement. They should work on their upgrades, they're not smooth. 

If you're considering this solution, I would tell you to do a PoC and if it meets your requirements, go for it. It's a good product. They're a good company and they have achieved good work. 

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
IT Director at Obstetrics & Gynecology of Indiana, P.C.
Real User
This array houses our entire production environment
Pros and Cons
  • "It is an SSD array that has awesome performance, low submillisecond latency, and does what it is supposed to do. It just works, which is difficult for things to do anymore."
  • "Its array houses our entire production environment."
  • "I would like to see more detailed reporting on the data. However, it would be nice to know what are the exact VMs usage after deduplication and/or what that VMs actual latency and bandwidth is, outside of VMware."

What is our primary use case?

The Pure Storage array houses our entire production environment. Production consists of VMware 5.5 on three HPE DL360 G7 hosts.

How has it helped my organization?

I don't really need to worry about storage anymore. I can focus on more critical issues. I log into the array interface maybe once every month to see what my deduplication ratio is and that is about it. 

What is most valuable?

It is difficult to say what features are valuable. It is an SSD array that has awesome performance, low submillisecond latency, and does what it is supposed to do. It just works, which is difficult for things to do anymore. 

What needs improvement?

I would like to see more detailed reporting on the data. Sure, it is great to see usage, trends, latency, and all the common stuff. However, it would be nice to know what are the exact VMs usage after deduplication and/or what that VMs actual latency and bandwidth is, outside of VMware.

For how long have I used the solution?

One to three years.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Red Hsu - PeerSpot reviewer
Project Manager at Logicalis
MSP
Top 5
Reasonably priced, reliable, and easy to install
Pros and Cons
  • "It is always out of the box, and ready to use."
  • "Automation could be simplified."

What is our primary use case?

I help our customers build FlashArray. 

What is most valuable?

It is always out of the box, and ready to use. 

It is very simple to set up, and very simple to use.

The interface is easy to use.

It is very easy to implement.

What needs improvement?

It falls far short of protocol support. Our customers frequently ask us how we can use NFS or if we can use it as a copy or something similar. If you have any suggestions, I believe they could use more protocol, and have easier automation.

Automation could be simplified. For example, we can ask the storage to create a folder and then monitor it automatically.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with Pure Storage FlashArray for three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Pure Storage FlashArray is a very stable product.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Pure Storage FlashArray is a scalable solution.

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

I am also working with Pure FlashArray X series and Pure Storage FlashBlade.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward.

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

The price is very reasonable when compared to other solutions.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate Pure Storage FlashArray a nine out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:
PeerSpot user
KYC Quality Assurance at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Quick and responsive performance, good compression and deduplication features, responsive support
Pros and Cons
  • "The compression and deduplication features help to make the best use of the capacity."
  • "The system has dual controllers but does not have a high level of resiliency built-in."

What is our primary use case?

This product is for database usage and consolidating performance.

How has it helped my organization?

The Pure Storage FlashArray provides us with faster data access. Our processing time is faster for tasks that used to take a long time before. Now, it's a lot quicker and more responsive.

What is most valuable?

The low latency and the performance, in general, are very good.

The compression and deduplication features help to make the best use of the capacity.

Replication and active-active features are available.

What needs improvement?

The system has dual controllers but does not have a high level of resiliency built-in. For what the peak says, I'm very happy with it. However, if you compare it to similar devices with multiple controllers that are scaled-out, it's not a true active-active.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Pure Storage FlashArray for approximately one year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Over the past year that we have been using it, the stability has been good. That said, we're still testing it. It is very low maintenance; on the Pure side, they don't have much involvement apart from a bit of monitoring.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We've not had to increase the capacity yet but it does have the flexibility to scale if we need to. At this point, we have 25,000 end-users and we don't expect that to increase. Our user base is fairly static.

How are customer service and support?

We have been in contact with technical support a couple of times. They are quick to respond and we are very happy with the customer support team.

The support plan makes it simple to plan ahead.

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

We have used other flash arrays in the past.

How was the initial setup?

This initial setup is very straightforward. A couple of hours on-site is all that was needed for the engineer to complete it. It took that long to make sure that everything was in place and available.

Overall, it is very simple.

For the deployment, we didn't need many people but we do have a wider storage team that deals with it.

What about the implementation team?

Installation was included with the purchase. We didn't do it ourselves.

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

There are no licensing fees aside from the support. The support plan is simple and quite easy to understand, and it covers issues such as hardware failures.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We evaluated all of the options that were presented to us at the time, and Pure won.

What other advice do I have?

Feature-wise, there's nothing specific that is lacking for us at the moment. The features that are there now are really what we need.

Overall, this is a good product and I recommend it.

I would rate this solution an eight 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.
PeerSpot user
Animesh Kumar - PeerSpot reviewer
Professional Test Engineer at DXC Technology
Real User
Top 10
Has good integration and migration features, compression ratios, and controllers
Pros and Cons
  • "We're getting good performance, and the compression ratio is also very good in Pure Storage FlashArray."
  • "I think replication is one area that still needs improvement. Earlier, Pure Storage FlashArray only had IP-based replication. There was no API-based replication, but they have enhanced the feature now. However, they need to work on API replication for C-type of arrays."

What is our primary use case?

We use Pure Storage FlashArray in a couple of backup products. Our DDP offerings, data platform offerings, is where we use Veritas with Pure Storage FlashArray. Then, we use the Pure Azure Service model with the secure multi-tenancy features. Pure Storage FlashArray can be managed centrally.

In individual file cases where most customers were looking for performance-based, minimum latency applications, we have deployed Pure Storage FlashArray.

What is most valuable?

The integration and migration features have been really good.

We're getting good performance, and the compression ratio is also very good in Pure Storage FlashArray.

It has an Evergreen model and always maintains the controllers, so the controllers never let you down.

What needs improvement?

I think replication is one area that still needs improvement. Earlier, Pure Storage FlashArray only had IP-based replication. There was no API-based replication, but they have enhanced the feature now. However, they need to work on API replication for C-type of arrays.

It would be good if Pure Storage FlashArray gave a library-type access.

Maybe, small box releases could be utilized for backup purposes such as Data Domain offered by other vendors.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using Pure Storage FlashArray for the last two and a half years.

We have deployed it both on-premises and on hybrid cloud environments.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

As for stability, Pure Storage FlashArray is definitely a reliable solution.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It can be easily scaled. I work with over 500 customers who use this solution.

How are customer service and technical support?

The technical support is awesome, and there's a lot of documentation available online.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is very easy.

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

My organization has a yearly license, but I believe that Pure Storage FlashArray has capacity-based licenses as well. I'm definitely happy with the pricing.

What other advice do I have?

I think with other products, there are issues with support systems and warranty features. Even the maintenance cost can be very high. In comparison to those products, Pure Storage FlashArray is very good.

Overall, Pure Storage FlashArray has never let us down in front of customers so far, and I would rate this solution at eight on a scale from one to ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
Technical Marketing Engineer at a tech company with 51-200 employees
Real User
It helps to simplify storage, especially because we can do in-place upgrades and can grow on demand
Pros and Cons
  • "Running SAP on Pure Storage helps a lot without doing any further tuning to improve application performance. Our internal clients are happy."

    What is our primary use case?

    The primary use case is to run SAP applications on top of the flash solutions.

    SAP is very important to our business. It's a key function. We are running ERP and CRM systems. Our systems run on-premise.

    How has it helped my organization?

    Running SAP on Pure Storage helps a lot without doing any further tuning to improve application performance. Our internal clients are happy.

    What is most valuable?

    The most valuable feature is the performance of Pure Storage underneath and that many applications, which are already integrated with it. I can use the system applications, e.g., for backup restore. Therefore, I don't need to buy them in addition to the product, as they are already part of the solution.

    It helps to simplify storage, especially because we can do in-place upgrades and can grow on demand. I can pay on demand, so it helps me to simplify the usage of the storage.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    It is super stable.

    It has even improved the performance of SAP HANA.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    The scalability is already there in both directions. You can scale the storage, as well as the compute.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    The technical support comes out of one single stop. It is very helpful to have one single number to contact.

    How was the initial setup?

    The initial setup was straightforward and simple.

    Our HANA installation was a greenfield. So, we started the Pure Storage system with HANA.

    What about the implementation team?

    We used a partner (integrator) for the deployment. We used Tech Data. Everything was based on design guides and reference architecture, our experience was very good.

    What was our ROI?

    There is some benefit in regard to total cost of ownership, because it's a condensed system. It saves a lot of space in the data center, saving power.

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

    Pure Storage has not helped to reduce our HANA licensing costs.

    What other advice do I have?

    I am pretty happy with the solution, as it is currently.

    Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner.
    PeerSpot user
    Buyer's Guide
    Download our free Pure Storage FlashArray Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
    Updated: April 2024
    Product Categories
    All-Flash Storage
    Buyer's Guide
    Download our free Pure Storage FlashArray Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.