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Cisco MDS Series vs HPE Alletra Storage MP B10000 comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco MDS Series
Ranking in Enterprise SAN
4th
Average Rating
9.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
10
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
HPE Alletra Storage MP B10000
Ranking in Enterprise SAN
3rd
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
23
Ranking in other categories
Public Cloud Storage Services (6th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2026, in the Enterprise SAN category, the mindshare of Cisco MDS Series is 9.7%, up from 6.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of HPE Alletra Storage MP B10000 is 3.7%. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Enterprise SAN Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
HPE Alletra Storage MP B100003.7%
Cisco MDS Series9.7%
Other86.6%
Enterprise SAN
 

Featured Reviews

VK
Product Manager at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Reliable storage networking has ensured seamless multi-protocol access and continuous redundancy
Currently, I do not have any major suggestions for improvement as everything is working well without issues. If additional functions could be introduced to simplify usage, I would suggest that AI functionality or better integration capabilities would be advantageous for Cisco MDS Series. Any new AI-related features or functionality added to Cisco MDS Series would represent a positive advancement.
reviewer1309695 - PeerSpot reviewer
Infrastructure And Systems Manager at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees
High‑availability block storage has protected critical research workloads and boosted VMware IOPS
It is difficult to provide specific areas for improvement at this time. We may realize approximately 20% gains in the future, but the previous SAN we used was not very time-consuming, so the improvement is not very significant. We anticipate gains of approximately 10 to 20%. The management interface could be simplified. The cloud console contains two main sections: one for hardware and one for logical volumes on the LUNs being managed. This split is understandable because the hardware console contains HPE Alletra Storage MP B10000 for block storage and HPE Alletra for backup, both accessible in the same console. The separation of the SAN hardware console and the backup console is logical and understandable. We have four compute nodes, and the system was not designed to shut down gracefully with only two compute nodes remaining. Running with just one compute node functions properly, and the system continues to operate at reduced capacity. However, when we experienced a crash involving half of the system, HPE Alletra Storage MP B10000 failed completely. This behavior is documented as normal in the documentation, but we hoped the block storage could manage to run with half the power. This capability will be available in a future release but is not included in the current version. Our testing before moving to production was not entirely successful, but this aligns with the documented specifications. When we perform failover and data center crash tests, the system performs very well. We have deliberately crashed all four compute nodes, and the secondary storage site manages the workload without any virtual machines malfunctioning. This level of reliability is excellent, and it demonstrates why we selected HPE Alletra Storage MP B10000. Improvements in this area would make the solution even stronger.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The product is very stable and performs well."
"The stability has been commendable with no major performance issues and the system consistently provides users the ability to access the network without any problems."
"The product is easy to use."
"The most valuable feature of the Cisco MDS Series is security."
"It enables us to integrate and load balance between multiple layer one fiber vendor links, which is very useful."
"Cisco MDS 9148 SAN switch model is the best product, highly reliable and low cost, easy to deploy, easy to upgrade, easy to configure, easy to administer, and it gives effective performance when used for SAN switch connectivity between hosts and storage boxes."
"SAN switches in Cisco MDS Series are a valuable feature of the solution for our company."
"The most valuable features of this solution are the devices, databases, and zoning."
"After testing HPE Alletra Storage MP B10000 in production and deliberately crashing the entire SAN to verify it functioned correctly, we confirmed it was the right choice for our needs."
"An example of how the features of HPE GreenLake for File Storage have been benefiting my organization is through the reliability and stability we experience, as the engineering team that takes care of it, plus my team that reports up to me, are very comfortable with the technology, which has been reliable, and HPE's support has been fantastic."
"The features of HPE Alletra Storage MP B10000 that I prefer the most are the snapshotting and ease of administration."
"The biggest advantage of the product is the 100% availability guarantee from HPE regarding the solutions."
"The performance of HPE Alletra Storage MP B10000 with high-performance workloads is very good; the new controllers with the system and the software are very fast, and we have no performance issues when we change to it from other hardware."
"The feature I like is that I can create a template and apply it to multiple switches. I don't have to do the same task on every switch, and the same goes for access points. It's central management, with the features that come with central management."
"HPE Alletra Storage MP B10000 saves time on storage management, making it very simple to manage and monitor the global block storage environment with a single cloud console, and HPE has made it easy for the end user to manage the HPE ecosystem, even providing an on-premises experience almost like that in the cloud."
"The unified management experience has been great. That's a huge advantage."
 

Cons

"The licensing model could be less complicated."
"Cisco MDS Series can improve by having SAN Manager with life cycle management features and Integration with 3rd party storage monitoring tools."
"I do not have a central management software to manage these products due to the licensing cost. It would be beneficial to have central management software for easier handling."
"The solution's management interface and GUI need improvement."
"Cisco MDS Series could improve by adding more gigahertz. However, they are doing this over time."
"I find it difficult to operate and troubleshoot."
"Data Center Network Manager is good but it is not free and requires purchasing a separate license."
"The product is very expensive."
"In file protocols regard, an area for improvement exists."
"When the system first came out, it had some problems with the Data Center Cloud Console, which made implementation difficult."
"With support, occasionally, we have a little trouble escalating things."
"I would like to see HPE GreenLake for File Storage improved in terms of the program's speed, as the administration, creation of change orders, issuance of those orders, and shipping of products take a while."
"The administration UI is only in English, not Spanish."
"There is still room for reducing the cost."
"One area that has potential for improvement is the replication side, as Alletra Direct GUI does not provide options to view replication details."
"They take a long time to return the action plan after I send the logs. It takes them one to two days to respond."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's perpetual licensing and maintenance is a recurrent cost."
"Pricing cannot be considered an advantageous trait of the solution since it is expensive. I rate the solution's pricing a three out of ten."
"The price of the Cisco MDS Series is high."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
12%
Computer Software Company
11%
Construction Company
9%
Healthcare Company
8%
University
10%
Media Company
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Large Enterprise8
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise12
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco MDS Series?
The pricing could be improved as the solution is very expensive. I am on a yearly payment basis.
What needs improvement with Cisco MDS Series?
Currently, I do not have any major suggestions for improvement as everything is working well without issues. If additional functions could be introduced to simplify usage, I would suggest that AI f...
What is your primary use case for Cisco MDS Series?
Cisco MDS Series is primarily used for connecting storage arrays. The multi-protocol feature supports all protocols and functionality working seamlessly. Virtual SANs operate without any issues. Pe...
What needs improvement with HPE GreenLake for Block Storage?
In file protocols regard, an area for improvement exists.
What is your primary use case for HPE GreenLake for Block Storage?
We are the partner of HPE as a Gold Partner of HPE storage solutions. We potentially use it for critical applications. The major use case is for critical applications and 100% data availability gua...
What advice do you have for others considering HPE GreenLake for Block Storage?
HPE Alletra Storage MP B10000 model supports both block and file protocols, but there are certain conditions in terms of using the file protocols. They are not coming up with 100% file protocol sol...
 

Also Known As

Cisco MDS 9100, Cisco MDS 9222i, Cisco MDS 9700
HPE GreenLake for Block Storage
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

National Rugby League
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco MDS Series vs. HPE Alletra Storage MP B10000 and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
906,852 professionals have used our research since 2012.