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

1,385 Views
149 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, IBM, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and others in Modular SAN (Storage Area Network).

To learn more, read our detailed Modular SAN (Storage Area Network) Report (Updated: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Modular SAN (Storage Area Network)

July 2025

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Helped 860,632 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

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Modular SAN (Storage Area Network) (5th)

VNX [EOL]

Average Rating

8.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Featured Reviews

Pragnesh Sachania

Deputy Manager IT at La Gajjar

Scalable, easy to manage, and used for virtualization environments

We didn't face any issues with the technical functionality. However, we faced a lot of challenges with our custom configuration. The HPE support person who did the installation was very technical. He answered all the queries, and we resolved the entire setup. We set up the storage as per our requirements. We previously used a physical server instead of virtualization. With the help of an HPE engineer and partners, we prepared a strategy for migrating the entire physical servers to our virtualization infrastructure. It took two days to deploy the solution. Six people were involved in the solution's deployment, including two from HPE and four from our IT team.

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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.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The cost to performance for HPE StorageWorks MSA is good."

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

"The most valuable features are the storage levels and snapshot features."

"The solution is scalable and easy to manage."

"The solution is very easy to use, it is not really complex for any user, such as non-technical individuals."

"The product is very easy to deploy."

"Monitoring is a very big thing. Other great features include block storage; volume creation and the data reliability scalability, which makes the solution really good."

"The solution is pretty transparent and works well."

More HPE MSA pros

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

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

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

"The implementation of both block and file system storage in a single GUI provides is better situated than most other storages."

"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."

"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."

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

More VNX [EOL] pros

Cons

"It would be ideal if there was a better management interface."

"Data security features are more important to me than anything else, and I think HPE MSA lacks in this area."

"P2000 has become legacy and we can't find spare parts for it anymore. The life cycle is very low."

"This product is getting a little bit older, so new features like deduplication are not included."

"The solution's license should be integrated and not separate."

"Some clients have suggested room for improvement in expanding storage capacity beyond the base traces."

"HPE StorageWorks MSA could maybe include a pay-top of texture feature or something like job replication."

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

More HPE MSA cons

"Based on our workloads, we see repeatedly in performance reports that the built-in controller (SP) cache of our VNX model is not sufficiently large, resulting in forced cache flushing."

"Intel Xeon processors with under 2 GHz processing speeds could be replaced with more recent ones."

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

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

"The CLI could be better documented, like with VMAX."

"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."

"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."

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

More VNX [EOL] cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

"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."

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

"The solution can be a bit expensive."

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

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

"The solution’s pricing is reasonable."

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

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

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

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

"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."

"The initial pricing and licensing are reasonable, the 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

14%

Computer Software Company

13%

Government

Construction Company

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about HPE StorageWorks MSA?

The most valuable feature of HPE StorageWorks MSA is its flexibility.

See all answers

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

The pricing of HPE MSA is not deemed reasonable, though their licensing costs compare similarly to other brands. The initial cost is where differences are more apparent.

See all answers

What needs improvement with HPE StorageWorks MSA?

If it could be a hybrid with SSDs and hard disks, then it would be more economical and efficient.

See all answers

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Comparisons

NetApp FAS Series vs HPE MSA

Compared 44% of the time

IBM FlashSystem vs HPE MSA

Compared 27% of the time

HPE 3PAR StoreServ vs HPE MSA

Compared 20% of the time

Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform vs HPE MSA

Compared 7% of the time

Dell EqualLogic PS series vs HPE MSA

Compared 3% of the time

More HPE MSA Competitors

No data available

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

HPE MSA

June 2025

Download HPE MSA product report

Buyer's Guide

VNX [EOL]

June 2025

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)

July 2025

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