My main use cases for Hitachi VSP 5000 Series are basically all the block storage, mainly DBs and ESX.
Provides reliable performance but could benefit from better deduplication management and intuitive admin tools
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
One of the best features of the Hitachi VSP 5000 Series is the stability of the product. It's not that it's latest and greatest, but it runs as it should run.
The system absolutely satisfies me in terms of stability. The biggest value of this tool, the biggest benefit, is that it's stable and it performs as it should. We know what to expect from the system and it delivers exactly that performance.
It improves the storage efficiency for my company since we upgraded to the latest 5600 system controller. Basically, it works, but the impact of CPU usage is huge. When it comes to deduplication, compression can be done on the compression cards, which isn't an issue, but the deduplication uses way to much CPU which might results in worse response time. Therefore, I think the deduplication is not implemented as it should be. Compression is working properly.
What needs improvement?
Regarding the NVMe over Fabrics feature of Hitachi VSP 5000 Series, we tested it, but there was no admin tool available for configuration until about a year ago. This was problematic for us, so we decided not to use it until we have the proper management tools.
The main difficulty with this feature is that it's not supported for GAD devices, so Global-Active Devices are not supported with NVMe. That's basically what all our ESX platform is based on. We believe we would get the most benefit if we could use it in the ESX platform, but it's not supported yet.
The deduplication impacts the quality of block storage that system administrators were accustomed to, resulting in increased service time due to the high CPU usage.
The whole deduplication should be handled better in the next Plattform, should not have such a high impact on contoller CPU usage. The admin tools, called Ops Center Suite, have been inadequate for years, which Hitachi acknowledges. We had to find other vendors to provide a simple, fast GUI to provision storage.
There are limitations, such as a storage pool only having 1024 pool volumes, which means the storage pool is maximum three petabyte in space. This requires building multiple storage pools, resulting in multiple pools where you have to keep some space as reserve. Having more than one storage pool forces you to have multiple times some percentage of storage capacity as a reserve, that you paid for but can't use it.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with the Hitachi VSP 5000 Series for about five to six years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
In general, it's a scalable solution for me, but there are some limitations (size of the storage pool as an example).
How are customer service and support?
I have contacted Hitachi support for various issues several times. For hardware-related issues, they know their product very competently, but for software-related issues, particularly admin tools, their support is not better than their competitors.
For general support, I would rate them seven out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Before working with Hitachi VSP 5000 Series, we had Hitachi VSP G1000. In the past we had EMC systems, HP XP platform. For a short amount of time we also has a midrange Storage System named Pillar. They all come with their own management tools. As a client, I expect the admin tools to be delivered with the system. I don't want to purchase additional software just to manage the box - it should come as a package.
How was the initial setup?
Compared to a NetApp system, setting up a Hitachi system would be more challenging. I would rate it as an eight out of ten for ease of setup. The process is quite straightforward for Hitachi VSP 5000 Series and the most part is doen by HItachi istelf. As soon as it comes to securing the installation (https etc.) it will get complicated as all the differnet Products (Opscenter Suite is basically a collection of multiple single tools) have their own keystores etc.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The cost of the solution is always too expensive, though it's difficult to make a direct comparison as all competitors are quite similar in pricing.
What other advice do I have?
We don't use the multi-tenant environment functionality in Hitachi VSP 5000 Series since we are only one company.
Regarding Object Storage we have a Cloudian installation (on-premises), and for off-premises, we use AWS.
I would recommend those planning to use Hitachi VSP 5000 Series to wait until the next system is released (Hitachi Block One), which should be at the beginning of next year.
Overall, I rate this solution a 7 out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
