HPE MSA vs VNX [EOL] comparison

Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Dell Technologies are both solutions in the Modular SAN (Storage Area Network) category. Additionally, 92% of Hewlett Packard Enterprise users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 87% of Dell Technologies users who would recommend it.

HPE MSA

Read 26 HPE MSA reviews

1,547 Views
1,532 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

VNX [EOL]

Read 36 VNX [EOL] reviews

87% willing to recommend

HPE MSA

VNX [EOL]

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between HPE MSA and VNX [EOL] based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about NetApp, Hitachi Vantara, IBM and others in Modular SAN (Storage Area Network).

To learn more, read our detailed Modular SAN (Storage Area Network) Report (Updated: January 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Modular SAN (Storage Area Network)

January 2026

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Helped 881,733 peers since 2012

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

HPE MSA

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Modular SAN (Storage Area Network) (4th)

VNX [EOL]

Average Rating

8.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Featured Reviews

JobyThomas

Manager, Information Technology at a construction company with 201-500 employees

Ensures quick data handling but needs advanced security features

The speed and performance of HPE MSA are admirable. I found that its scalability benefited my organization, especially in larger settings. While the price is not reasonable, its performance makes up for it. Additionally, the licensing costs are consistent with most brands. Compared to Huawei, however, I found that Huawei's processing power, performance, and cost were more advantageous.

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Alireza Zabihi

Works at AIT

The Nimble CS-Series has proven to be reliable with 100% uptime

When we started the process of looking for a SAN vendor I had four primary criteria: reliability, performance, cost, and simplicity. We were really looking for a unicorn and were fully expected to have to make compromises in one of those areas. The Nimble CS-Series was recommended by our solutions provider, and we were blown away. Not only was it the most affordable option, but it was the easiest to deploy, had the best performance, and has proven to be reliable with 100% uptime.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable feature for customers is the autonomic tiering, which enhances their storage scalability as easily as possible."

"The most valuable features are data deduplication and snapshot replication."

"It has notably provided scalability benefits."

"HPE StorageWorks MSA is an entry-level, cost-effective solution for SMB customers."

"The speed and performance of HPE MSA are admirable."

"The integration with Veeamware, with VAM for backup, is improved with the new version."

"The solution is pretty transparent and works well."

"I like StorageWorks' snapshots for our backup system. We had a pool of SSD and traditional drives. StorageWorks has a feature that transfers the hot data to high-performing drives."

More HPE MSA pros

"High availability including non-disruptive updates: We cannot afford downtime windows."

"Multi-tiering, positively affects the efficiency of the storage space."

"Integration with VMware"

"One of the best features of the VNX is the ability to combine drives of different types into a virtual Storage Pool. By combining small but fast flash drives, SAS drives, and high-capacity but slower NL-SAS drives, the VNX can intelligently move data to the different tiers of storage based on usage."

"From my point of view, the configuration that I can sell is restricted to the EMC best practices. It is hard to make a mistake in a solution. It means the configuration has good performance and scalability options."

"I really value deduplication and compression to save space."

"The replication feature provides another functionality to protect your data."

"The most valuable feature is the auto-tiering, which helps in the speed of data access."

More VNX [EOL] pros

Cons

"The solution could improve by adding configuration tools."

"The solution requires hardware."

"It should show more options for cloud backup support."

"The support contract is expensive, although they are very responsive."

"It would be beneficial to have an add-on feature to improve analytics or insight capabilities inside the app."

"We faced a lot of challenges with our custom configuration during installation."

"Synchronized replication is very important for MSA; however, HPE StorageWorks MSA doesn't provide synchronized replication."

"There is room for improvement in terms of scalability. There are times when we need to upgrade the device and the firmware. Sometimes, that can be a struggle."

More HPE MSA cons

"There is no easy way to defrag a RAID group. It would be nice to be able to reduce the size of a storage pool if the storage is not needed anymore."

"It would be very helpful to get an automated report that shows you the size of the checkpoints and get warnings when a checkpoint is reaching either maximum capacity per a file system or hitting the ceiling on the SavVol pool consumption."

"EMC VNX needs to support bigger SSD and the Next Generation EMC Unity does this."

"The administrative console (Navisphere/Unisphere) needs some improvement, especially on their Java-based GUI. The updated version of Java is not compatible."

"The scalability is average because the storage has some hardware limitations and, obviously, operating system limitations."

"VNX can improve by offering flexible upgrade options. It's not possible to add a single HDD to a current array and there are fixed rules to make upgrades."

"The management software used for the VNX is Unicenter. While it is an improvement over Navicenter, used in older EMC SANs, it still feels outdated in comparison to other SAN management software."

"There is an easy replication process between distinct data centers via VPLEX and/or RPA. But I hope in the future that EMC/Dell could replicate this with other types of storage."

More VNX [EOL] cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution can be a bit expensive."

"The price of the solution is a little high and they should provide more competitive pricing. If you want to increases the storage size there are additional fees."

"I would rate the pricing as nine out of ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive."

"This solution involves a one-time CapEx payment, followed by warranty extensions."

"HPE StorageWorks MSA's licensing is perpetual and not integrated."

"This solution is quite expensive; they should lower the cost."

"The solution’s pricing is reasonable."

"When we bought this solution it was very reasonably priced and they were willing to deal."

"The initial pricing and licensing are reasonable, the yearly EMC is more expensive"

"Over time, VNX has become pricier than its competitors, and we have turned enthusiastically to Unity."

"While EMC tends to be on the expensive side, the stability and support of their products are top-notch and I feel are worth the cost."

"Pricing is somewhat higher, especially in Zambia, perhaps due to the low sales volume."

"Reducing dependency on JavaServer Pages (JSP) could improve the administrative overhead."

"The initial pricing and licensing are reasonable. Yearly EMC is more expensive."

"Make sure you understand how the licensing works and that you are getting the right set of licenses if you need array-to-array replication."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

15%

Computer Software Company

13%

Comms Service Provider

Government

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	11
Midsize Enterprise	11
Large Enterprise	7

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	5
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	23

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for HPE StorageWorks MSA?

I did not compare the cost of HPE MSA with others because we buy with a framework contract, and HP is the only brand available on that contract, so we have no comparison.

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What needs improvement with HPE StorageWorks MSA?

The user web interface is a bit slow, but it is really easy to use, although you still have to wait a bit when you send an operation. We have had some drive failures, but with the redundancy, we ha...

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What is your primary use case for HPE StorageWorks MSA?

We use HPE MSA as storage for the VMware servers, and we will try to use Proxmox server later on, but currently, we use VMware.

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Comparisons

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Compared 30% of the time

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Compared 22% of the time

IBM FlashSystem vs HPE MSA

Compared 17% of the time

Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform vs HPE MSA

Compared 14% of the time

Infortrend ESVA Storage Array vs HPE MSA

Compared 6% of the time

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HPE 3PAR StoreServ vs VNX [EOL]

Compared 63% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

HPE MSA

January 2026

Download HPE MSA product report

Buyer's Guide

VNX [EOL]

January 2026

Download VNX [EOL] product report

Also Known As

HP StorageWorks MSA

VNX

Overview

Whether you need best-in-class performance or are looking to get the most capacity for your investment, MSA has a fast, affordable solution for you. And every MSA comes with an intuitive setup and management interface anyone can master.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise

With EMC VNX you'll have the right blend of flash, capacity, and application-aware software. Scale up storage for midrange workloads, optimized for virtual applications and cloud environments.

Dell Technologies

Sample Customers

Femsa CSC, TTX, Rabobank

Samsonite, Comanche County Memorial Hospital, Kindred Healthcare

Buyer's Guide

Modular SAN (Storage Area Network)

January 2026

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