Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform Reviews

Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform is used for our storage area network.

Hitachi's ability to quickly impact and resolve issues is good. When we had an issue a few months back, we were contacted by Hitachi and they upgraded us free of charge automatically.

Hitachi's roadmap is important because, without it, our organization would not run properly.

We are very satisfied with our decision to purchase Hitachi products. We originally planned to buy Dell products, but they were unable to deliver them due to a chipset shortage. We are fortunate that we chose Hitachi, as their products are incredibly fast and the price was good. We have no regrets about our decision.

Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform's IOPS and latency are great.

Compared to Dell, the Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform is much faster. We can start 50 servers at one time on the host without seeing the dial drop.

It is important to our organization that we have flexible media options such as NVMe with the solution.

Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform's adaptive data reduction technology helps us reduce storage on a ratio of 1:3.

The embedded management for installation simplified the solution's ease of management.

Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform's embedded management is more powerful and efficient than the previous solution. It has been so easy to use that we haven't had to do anything manually in the past year.

Reliability, compression, and speed are the most valuable features.

Although the speed is good, there is always room for improvement.

I would like the fan noise to be automatically adjusted based on the drive's current workload.

I have been using the Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform for 15 months.

Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform is stable.

Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform is scalable.

Hitachi's technical support is perfect.

The initial setup is straightforward. I completed the deployment myself, which took one week. 

The implementation was completed in-house.

I give the price of Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform a nine out of ten.

I give Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform a ten out of ten.

80 percent of our employees in-house are using the solution with additional people around the world.

Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform notifies us if any maintenance is required.

I recommend Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform.

Here at Philips, we are using Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform G Series for image history purposes, in particular, restoring high-resolution images for our customers.

What I like best about Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform G Series is that it's a fast storage solution. It also has reliable models. The sales support is also good for this product. Even the pricing for it is good.

At the moment, I don't see any room for improvement in Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform G Series because my experience with the product is very good. The software is okay and you can manage the storage well.

What I'd like to see in the next release of Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform G Series is for it to be a real NAS solution because right now, you need to use a Hitachi converter called HNAS which makes the process a little bit more expensive. In my opinion, Hitachi should look into the possibility of unifying the HNAS into full storage, meaning that the HNAS should be integrated into the Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform G Series.

I've been using Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform G Series, and the first storage my company ever bought from Hitachi was in 2015. I'm still using the product.

Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform G Series is a stable product.

Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform G Series is easy to scale.

I'm rating the technical support team of Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform G Series a ten.

Positive

Setting up Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform G Series was easy.

The licensing cost of Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform G Series, whether it would be high or more affordable, would depend on location. For example, here in Brazil, Hitachi charges in dollars and this means my company still needs to convert that into local currency. Sometimes, my company also needs to discuss the pricing with the Hitachi sales team and request for a discount. At the moment, pricing for Hitachi is high, but my team can have some global funding or global accounts that would help reach the price my company is aiming for.

I'm using Unity, Isilon, and Hitachi, particularly Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform G Series, actually several different storage solutions and models.

The models of Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform G Series which I have include the G350, G370, G400, and the G600.

Around one thousand people use Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform G Series within my company.

My advice to people looking into using Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform G Series is to look into the product because it's a very good product. It's reliable, but you should also prepare the environment well for the hardware. You should have a good understanding of your needs and why you should go with Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform G Series, and not compare Hitachi with other solutions that aren't comparable to the Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform G Series. You should listen well and understand what the Hitachi sales team is proposing and explaining to ensure that you're buying the product that you need.

My rating for Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform G Series is ten out of ten.

My company is a partner of Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform G Series though it doesn't sell the hardware to end customers. What my company does is buy the hardware from Hitachi, then it offers it as hardware as a service to the customers.

We're only using the F Series in our lab for hosting lab infrastructure for all our colleagues. We needed fast storage.

The solution hasn't really improved our organization as it's only for lab infrastructure. It's not business-critical.

However, it has helped reduce our storage footprint. Previously, we had four storage systems and now we have only one F Series for the whole lab infrastructure.

The deduplication is useful for us because we don't have that much money for our lab infrastructure. Deduplication means we have more storage available. And the IOPS are really fast.

One problem is that there are too many management tools for the F Series and for all the other Hitachi storage systems. There are four or five such solutions. Maybe these could be combined in the future.

I've been using the Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform F Series for half a year.

There are about 400 users who access our labs across the whole company.

We haven't had to use their support yet.

We have used NetApp, HyperFlex, and vSAN—a lot of solutions. We switched because our main infrastructure is Hitachi and we wanted to keep it all with one vendor.

The deployment of the solution was straightforward. We used the embedded management for the installation and it simplified things. Using it is like a reset and it was really straightforward.

We haven't had to scale it yet and we don't have plans to increase our usage of it at the moment.

Overall, we are very satisfied with Hitachi's product. Managing it is very easy and the F Series is very stable. In general, the stability of Hitachi products is really good.

Our primary use case is a hybrid private cloud that includes generic server virtualization based on VMware ESXi. The second use case is workstation virtualization — virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI). The third is database systems with IBM Power and IBM IX logical partitions.

Data optimization, compression, and deduplication are the most important features for us.

I would like to see Hitachi improve their management software. It's been three years since they introduced Ops Center, their management product, and it still hasn't reached at least 50 percent of the capability we require. We are using legacy software because the product Hitachi offers does not stack up in functionality.

Hitachi should increase the number of possible functions Ops Center can perform. For example, it is impossible to manage any kind of storage replication using this product. All competing solutions provide that, but you need to install a separate solution to manage replication in Hitachi arrays. It was not the case with legacy software, but the current solution doesn't have that.

We've been using Hitachi VSP for about four years.

Hitachi VSP is stable in most cases, but we've had a few hiccups with the storage firmware. 

Hitachi VSP scales pretty well, but it generally depends on storage costs. The high-end arrays have huge scalability limits. Generally, we are limited mainly by the array controllers' performance, not the array's capacity limits. 

Our environment is massive. We have approximately 15,000 users for virtual desktop solutions, about 16,000 email users, and approximately 6,000 to 7,000 servers running on VMware platforms. We also have a few hundred logical partitions on IBM Power servers.

We regularly contact Hitachi technical support. The idea of a storage array is that it's broken up into many small pieces of storage. Each piece may fail, and they do from time to time. Therefore, we typically have to open five or six cases every month for mundane tasks like replacing failed disk drives. That's typical for any customer using storage on a large scale.

Those are minor cases, but storage controller failures are more serious, and we see three or four every year. We also have two or three performance-related cases each year. 

We're a relatively large customer, so we do not perform installation ourselves. Service partners typically perform it. We have three people managing the storage, three working with the storage area network, and five handling the backups.

All the software licenses are bundled with the storage hardware. I'm not the purchasing guy, so I do not negotiate prices. When the company makes a purchasing decision, I only provide the technical requirements. The price is a question for the purchasing department.

I rate Hitachi VSP seven out of 10. Generally, I wouldn't recommend Hitachi VSP to a customer without a background in storage systems. Solid technical expertise is needed to use these storage solutions on a medium or a large scale.

It is very flexible, and it is very useful when you want to virtualize different storage from different vendors.

It is absolutely reliable.

In terms of ransomware, Pure Storage is probably a couple of steps ahead of Hitachi, but Hitachi does not rush in terms of features. They want to be really sure that the hardware works properly without any kind of problem in new environments, and the implementation or improvement does not affect the customer installation. They really want to make sure that customers are not affected in any way.

They should support the real Metro Cluster also for the small systems.

We started to work with this storage about two years ago. 

It is very stable. We have had just one failure on a disk, but due to the protection, we didn't lose any data.

It can scale a lot, much more than our needs.

We have had only one instance when we had the disk failure, and we received some calls from them asking about the instance and applying a new update. They were very good. 

Their support team is absolutely on top of my list due to their knowledge and effectiveness. They can really assist you in any case. If you need any assistance with the configuration, they will be able to assist you. I would rate them a five out of five.

We had another Hitachi system. I don't remember the model, but it was hybrid storage.

It is pretty simple. I would rate it a four out of five in terms of ease.

It is cheap. It is not very expensive. If you decide to expand the system, the cost is pretty low as compared to other vendors, such as Dell.

It is a very flexible solution. If we consider the Hitachi brand with other storage brands, it is on the top of the list. We are very satisfied with its stability, reliability, and affordability.

Any organization deciding to put in place a Hitachi storage solution is doing the right thing. It is probably not the best, but it is absolutely the right solution. They will forget all the problems connected to storage. That's because it works very well, and their support is also very good.

I would rate it an eight out of 10.

One of the tasks that I have been working on is the consolidation of storage.

This product is one that we have used to consolidate our legacy systems, all formerly residing on older storage. We have it configured for 150 terabytes in size, which is sufficient for all of our legacy applications.

It is also responsible for replication from our production site to DR site.

The performance is very good. 

The size of the storage is very good.

We use many of the enterprise features in production. 

This product should be easier to install and set up.

I have been working with the Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform F Series for three years.

This is a stable storage system.

This is a scalable product.

We have five or six storage engineers that are in charge of administration.

We get our support from a local vendor. If there is an escalation then it is done directly to the vendor.

I have experience with several enterprise storage solutions.

The installation and initial setup are not straightforward. We had to do a lot of configuration and required assistance from the vendor to complete it. In particular, there were certain things that there was some confusion about.

The location and the sizing were also things that we had to plan for internally. 

We used a consultant for the deployment, and we also had assistance from the vendor.

We pay for a support contract agreement.

We have decided to migrate our application to the cloud, which is something that we are currently in the process of doing. As such, we do not plan to increase our usage of this storage platform.

In summary, this is a stable product and I highly recommend it. It provides a trouble-free work environment. There are also newer models than the one that we have, and I also recommend these.

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

I use this solution in the data center of the office of Mexico's Secretary of Education. I work with different hosts. In this case, it had to be HP-UX, Linux, and Windows. I work with the entire family of Hitachi hardware, but for this case, I work with the CBS500 and CB2500 Blade. I use all kinds of software, like Command Director and Device Manager.

For the support windows to work, maybe they have to upgrade the firmware of the VSP. They changed the hardware or the disk. I don't know if it was the port blade they changed or a VM for a memory cache. Also, replacing the old target with the processor target would be fine. The old equipment is very easy to manage, and I don't have any bad commentary.

I have worked with this equipment for the last two years. When I worked before in Hitachi Data Systems, I worked for a data architect and designed complete solutions, so I have a lot of interaction with the clients.  I handle the solutions, the capacity of the disk, configuration, initial set up, definitions of the DP pools, assigning the volumes, creating the entire SAN, etc. Also, I manage the SAN switches. I worked for Pearson, Sonic, Mobiistar, Macromer, Mynorte, and Santander. Every time, I created the whole environment— all open and the mainframe in development. For example, at Ponavid, I created the whole solution, assigned the space, performed all the troubleshooting, as well as supported all the hardware and the performance.

Yes it's very scalable. For example, in the VSP, you can scale the capacity of the disk in-tray and also in the mid-range. In the VSP, the tray is a bit bigger obviously, and I think the disk is the same. And also when you escalate the new equipment, configuration is very easy as well.

When I with work with Hitachi Vantara, I oversee the troubleshooting and support. I am the engineer who provides support, and so it's easy. Once we installed using the harddrive manager, when hardware failed.  Support created a case and assigned this to me and I am the engineer. I take the case and I have to take a solution to the client.

The setup is very easy to manage and configure. The initial setup and takes one hour more or less. And when I check the old disk and processor or the memory cache, I check the blade also. Next, I changed the disk, created the configuration, and installed the old disk. This takes maybe one hour extra. Depending on the performance of the old disk and the capacity, it could take maybe three or four hours. Sometimes, it takes eight. Then I created a SAN, a port, the host groups, the DP pools, and the dynamic provisioning. And for performance troubleshooting, I take a dump. For example, I check the read-write performance of the IO as well as the performance of the port, the workflow, the workload, and the memory cache. 

It always depends on what technology you need. Because if you need a very fast flash disk, it's going to be more expensive obviously. But if you need a backup solution, it's fine, because the technology is advanced, but it fits in some cases.

I rate Hitachi 10 out of 10.

In addition to being a data center, we are a cloud service provider, so our E990 is connected to our cloud systems. In the cloud itself, we provide storage as a service to the customer from the Hitachi E990 boxes.

The efficiency ratio is just as high as advertised. It's very high relative to other storage solutions as well. The compression and deduplication capabilities are also very high.

One improvement I am hoping for in the next release is unified storage. The other storage systems we use are unified, but E990 is not unified. Only block storage is available. To get the same functionality with the E990, you have to configure it through the NAS setup, which adds some additional costs. I would also like more capacity in a single box — expand the space up to 4 petabytes.

I have been using Hitachi E990 for about one year.

It's a very stable system. In the past year, we haven't had any issues with this.

Scalability is a little bit of an issue. The horizontal scalability is not there—only the vertical scalability is there. 

They're very professional and up to date. Their sales staff and support teams are quite good. The pre-sales support is also excellent.

It's simpler than earlier storage solutions. There are a lot of things that we had to do in the past, but setup and implementation are very simple here. Deployment takes about a week or so. It usually takes no longer than 15 days at most, from the site readiness stage to completion.

I would rate Hitachi an eight out of ten.

I am using the latest update to the solution?

The solution is very good when it comes to performance with the data center. 

The solution is a storage Hitachi E, meaning it is an entry level enterprise solution. For mission critical issues the performance is low. 

I have been using Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform for two years, including the EF 700 and E Model, both of which I have been utilizing for a year apiece, in addition to the S Model. I use the solution to this day. 

The solution is stable. 

I have not tried the solution's scalability. 

The technical support and services are good, strong. 

The initial setup is easy.

The price per gigabyte is good and it is low when it comes to terabytes. 

We are in the process of evaluating the solution at present.

Overall, the solution is strong, easy and fast.

I would recommend the solution to others. 

I rate Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform as a nine out of ten.

We used the G Series as our primary shared storage, SAN storage. It hosted all of the critical applications and databases.

The G Series may not have improved our organization, but it basically met the status quo of what we had been doing.

The performance was decent. 

We moved away from this product because we were looking for an all-flash solution, and with our G1500 at the time, perhaps two years ago, they were just proposing more of the same technology. What we wanted was a flash solution that was developed from the ground-up. I think that since then, HDS has come out with an updated product, newer than the G1500 that we had.

For us, continuing to use products from this vendor would have required having a solution that was revamped as flash storage from the ground-up, as opposed to a historical frame that's just evolved over the years.

We used the Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform G Series for approximately seven years and have just moved away from using it.

This product was stable and there were certainly no issues that I remember.

When we purchased it, we bought the full capacity of the frame. With it fully-populated on day one, there was no need for us to scale.

This was our main storage device, so 90% of applications and 90% of our users were situated on it.

The technical support was good. There is always room for improvement but I have no specifics with regards to their support.

Over the past seven years, we used three different versions. We started with the VSP, then upgraded to the G1000, and then the G1500 was the most recent one.

We used the Dell EMC DMX series, as well. All the software products that we had, we were comfortable with when we were on the EMC DMX series. So, after switches, it was all the same kind of software and functionality that we were used to. It wasn't really over and above what we had with EMC at the time, but rather just more of the same.

The reason we switched is that after putting out an RFP, we evaluated options based on the technology and pricing. Hitachi was the winner.

The initial setup was pretty straightforward.

My advice is that everybody has to do their own due diligence. The G Series is a good product but it isn't meet our requirements 

In summary, this is a very good product but there's always room for improvement. It certainly served our purposes at the time.

I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.