Pure Storage FlashArray Reviews

We're using Pure Storage FlashArray for VMware; we have all of our VMs on it, and we use it strictly for VMs, management, and also replication, doing the active DR replication.

Pure Storage FlashArray has helped us decrease the storage footprint in a significant way; the dedupe and compression that they have is really good, and we're getting about four to ten in the deduplication and compression.

Pure Storage FlashArray is very easy to use and easy to set up; it's not super complex, it's pretty simple. The interface of Pure Storage FlashArray is really good, helping out with creating volumes or LUNs. It's just very intuitive, making it easy to use. I'm not stumbling around trying to find everything. 

The best way to improve Pure Storage FlashArray is the active DR because that can get very confusing, especially when you're trying to test a failover and replicate back; better instructions on how to do that would help because we actually lost an entire volume when we were testing out some stuff as the fingerprint got reinitialized, and when you replicated back, it didn't know about that volume, causing a failure in that process. Better documentation on their failover would make a big difference.

I've been using it for three years.

I have not seen any instability with Pure Storage FlashArray.

The scalability of Pure Storage FlashArray is very good; it scales very well.

The quality and speed of support are very good; they will answer the phone and help you through the issue you're running into. I would give them a nine out of ten.

Positive

I've used alternatives such as NetApp FlashArray, and for the VMware side, we were using HPE 3PAR before we migrated off of the 3PAR onto Pure Storage FlashArray.

Pure Storage is really good on the LUN presentation; however, I haven't worked with Pure Storage for the NFS and CIFS side because that's what we were using NetApp for, and I think NetApp shines in the NFS and CIFS side. Regarding speed, the speed of the array is really good.

The deployment was quite simple and not difficult to set up. The only issues we encountered involved our security team and allowing traffic to go out to the Internet. We had to navigate various challenges to make everything work. We had it up and running within a day for the first time.

Since we were the government, we weren't allowed to let Pure control our systems, so we did all the upgrades ourselves; their upgrades are very frequent, making it a little difficult to keep up with them. We would stay on one version and not do any incremental upgrades; for example, we would upgrade from 6.15 to 6.17, sticking with the stable version instead of upgrading to a non-stable version. We would stay on the long-term release, and whenever that changed, we would move up to the new long-term release.

It required a whole team, about three of us, working on it and getting it built.

The pricing for Pure Storage FlashArray is in line with all the other vendors; they haven't priced themselves out of the market yet, and the Evergreen side of what they offer is actually really interesting because you can replace your head units or existing storage, and it just migrates, so it's actually really nice.

The dashboard is really good; as long as you're allowed to use it. We're not allowed to use it because we are a government organization, so not all of our Pure Storage showed up there because we don't allow internet access to that equipment. Overall, it gives you a way to see what you have that is presented out to Pure Storage, allowing you to have a central view of all your systems in one pane instead of having to go to all different clusters. 

I would rate Pure Storage FlashArray a nine out of ten.

Our VMware infrastructure uses a Pure Storage FlashArray as its primary SAN storage solution.

Our organization values the single management pane of glass because it simplifies administration by consolidating all necessary tools and functionalities into one location, eliminating the need to navigate between different systems. This streamlined approach increases efficiency and allows us to manage our operations effectively.

The benefits of Pure Storage FlashArray were immediately apparent, with its speed dramatically reducing machine deployment times from several hours to mere minutes.

Pure Storage FlashArray significantly reduced our storage footprint. Moving from older three-point five-inch SAS disks to Pure's smaller disks and utilizing deduplication and compression, we condensed our storage from 12 racks to just four.

Pure Storage FlashArray reduces downtime compared to our previous storage solution. While our previous system was reliable with minimal downtime, it still required occasional maintenance, whereas Pure Storage FlashArray operates seamlessly without any maintenance requirements.

The Evergreen architecture provides a fantastic refresh cycle where storage, including the crucial controllers at the system's core, is replaced every three years during maintenance renewals. This effectively means that even after nine years, the system remains equivalent to a brand new one. This is greatly important to our organization's ability to maintain uptime. 

I appreciate the ease of provisioning storage on Pure Storage FlashArray. The deduplication and compression features make it cost-effective and remarkably straightforward to use.

Pure Storage FlashArray is fantastic. It shows and does everything I need, which is why I've used it for so long. However, improved reporting on the deduplication and compression functionality would be beneficial. While a general reduction in space usage is evident, it's impossible to determine the specific deduplication or compression rates for individual disk systems.

I have been using Pure Storage FlashArray for nine years.

I rate the stability of Pure Storage FlashArray ten out of ten.

Although we haven't needed to scale significantly yet, the system appears capable of scaling.

The technical support always replies quickly, and the support quality has been fantastic.

Positive

We previously used HPE non-flash storage, but they did not offer the deduplication, compression, or SSD options that the Pure Storage FlashArray provides.

The initial deployment is straightforward, even for someone who has no experience with Pure Storage FlashArray. It takes less than one day.

Deploying a Pure Storage FlashArray can involve various infrastructure components, making it more efficient to use a team. In most organizations, a single person would lack the necessary access to all the systems involved in the deployment process.

We implemented Pure Storage FlashArray nine years ago when it was new to the market and obtained it at a preferential price. However, the current retail price may be relatively high, and discounts may not be available.

I would rate Pure Storage FlashArray ten out of ten.

Pure Storage handles all maintenance. Upgrades are initiated by simply sending an email request to Pure Storage, which manages the upgrade process.

Pure Storage FlashArray offers fantastic performance and is easy to set up, but it's important to consider the types of workloads you'll be using, as this can impact its data deduplication and compression efficiency.

We use Pure Storage FlashArray as the primary storage for our virtualized environment. 

Pure Storage arrays use flash memory, which provides faster data access and improved performance compared to traditional spinning disk storage. Pure Storage has features like deduplication, compression, and thin provisioning help reduce storage requirements and optimize the use of available space. The systems come with intuitive management interfaces and automation features that simplify storage operations and reduce administrative overhead.

Pure Storage FlashArray helps reduce downtime by 99.99 percent.

The most valuable feature of the FlashArray is Pure One, which provides a comprehensive overview of our entire storage environment. Pure One allows us to visualize our whole fleet and conduct various administrative assessments. This includes monitoring capacity usage and identifying the specific allocation of storage across our infrastructure. The FlashArray offers a centralized management system that is particularly appealing.

The self-service process encountered a bug that caused it to stall and prevent completion. Pure Storage should address these issues to enhance the functionality of self-service upgrades.

I have been using Pure Storage FlashArray for about three years.

Pure Storage FlashArray is stable. We have not had any issues.

We can quickly scale the FlashArray if the device is not nearing the end of its life. Their systems are designed to scale easily, allowing you to add more capacity or performance as needed without major disruptions.

The technical support team is knowledgeable and efficient. They quickly assign a technician to our cases, who analyses the issue or, if necessary, transfers it to another technician at the end of their shift. This entire process is smooth and seamless.

Positive

I previously used HP Storage, but Pure Storage FlashArray performs better. The IOPS is much better than what HP provides.

The initial setup is complex for exceptionally large environments. Pure Professional Services is always available to assist.

We implemented in-house with support from Pure professional services.

While more expensive than other storage solutions in the same space, Pure Storage FlashArray offers superior performance that often justifies the higher cost and adds value overall.

I would rate Pure Storage FlashArray nine out of ten.

When you purchase a Pure Storage FlashArray, you're not just acquiring storage but also investing in excellent support. With a dedicated support representative assigned to your case, you can expect immediate assistance whenever you log in, day or night.

Maintenance is required for periodic updates and patches. Pure Storage informs us when the patches or updates are available. 

We use Pure Storage FlashArray for storage allocation, DR, replication, and performance. We are migrating both servers and storage to Pure Storage.

It has reduced downtime significantly, and the self-service upgrade feature allows us to handle upgrades smoothly through the console.

It has helped decrease our organization’s storage footprint. There is about 15% reduction.

The snapshot feature is valuable. It protects data based on the policy. We can schedule snapshots and have unalterable data. It reduces management efforts.

Vendor support is good. After raising a case, we get a response within an hour or two.

I have been primarily working with storage and have not fully explored other areas, but there is some room for improvement when it comes to performance reporting.

I have been using Pure Storage FlashArray for one year. I have been using Hitachi Storage and Sun Storage on all legacy devices. We are migrating all these servers and storage to Pure Storage FlashArray.

Our experience with the stability of FlashArray has been excellent. On a scale from one to ten, I would rate it an eight.

The scalability of the solution is quite good, and I would rate it an eight out of ten.

For a P2 issue, the SLA is 4 hours. They were able to resolve the issue within two hours. Just a month ago, we faced an issue, and they were able to resolve that within an hour. We got support immediately.

The technical support provided by Pure Storage is exceptional, and I would rate it a ten out of ten.

Positive

We have been handling all the legacy environments, such as Hitachi USP V/VM, Hitachi AMS, Sun StorageTek, and EMC. They all were at the end of life and out of support. We have more than 1,000 devices and servers. Our servers were also out of service and end of life. We planned to migrate all the servers and data into Pure Storage as single devices. Instead of using multiple storage solutions, we wanted to use a single one and move to Pure Storage. We also had to deal with different vendors for support. We wanted to have a single vendor.

With these legacy devices, we were not getting any support. When we had any hardware failure or some issues, we were not getting a solution. For any hardware failures, we were not getting the parts. That is why we thought of migrating to Pure Storage.

The deployment took about two months, primarily due to planning and the time taken for customer approval processes.

We are primarily using it on-premises, but we have plans to move to the cloud over the next one or two years.

I would recommend this solution. I would rate Pure Storage FlashArray a seven out of ten.

We use Pure Storage FlashArray as our client storage solution. We create dedicated hosts and allocate appropriate storage space to each host server to accommodate their needs.

Our clients were experiencing difficulties running jobs and encountering storage limitations. By implementing Pure Storage FlashArray, we can remotely access the host server and expand the storage capacity to meet our clients' needs.

The FlashArray's single pane of glass is crucial for providing clients with easy access to IOPS and other essential features. This means the FlashArray must be highly accessible, with increased bandwidth, but no additional requirements.

Compared to Dell Unity, Pure Storage FlashArray offers a more comprehensive port configuration, providing eight front-end and four back-end ports. Dell Unity limits connections to two front-end and two back-end ports. Furthermore, Pure Storage FlashArray includes an Ethernet, USB, and management port, enhancing its connectivity options. In contrast, Dell Unity uses a heterogeneous storage environment, combining flash arrays and SAS arrays, which requires manual configuration and assignment based on specific requirements. Pure Storage FlashArray, on the other hand, exclusively employs Pure FlashArray components, eliminating the need for heterogeneous storage and simplifying management.

Pure Storage FlashArray helps save our clients a maximum of 30 percent in resources.

Pure Storage FlashArray has to be available for our clients 24/7, which has significantly reduced downtime.

I work with Pure Storage FlashArray models 2K and 8K. Compared to Unity, these arrays offer significant advantages, such as NVMe technology and higher IOPS. Additionally, they provide more storage capacity and are easier to access than other models.

I want to improve the overall service level of the solution.

I have been using Pure Storage FlashArray for two years.

Pure Storage FlashArray is stable. The arrays are good for four years, after which we must destroy them and migrate the data to a new one.

I would rate the scalability of Pure Storage FlashArray nine out of ten.

We use NetApp for file-level access and EMC, VMAX, and PowerMax. We will continue using NetApp for file-level access, which requires us to provide a shared folder or create a new one. We will allocate storage space to this specific folder, not the entire cluster. This minimal storage is necessary for administrative access and small activities or groups using NAS storage. For larger datasets, high IOPS, or big data storage, we use Pure Storage FlashArray.

The deployment process is straightforward. We will access the GUI, partition the volumes, isolate the host group, and segregate the host. As part of my previous work, I was also involved in decommissioning Pure Storage systems. When dealing with Pure Storage, it's essential to verify the status of the volumes. Ensure that all volumes are offline before proceeding with the decommissioning process. Once the volumes are offline, we will delete them, remove the WWPNs, destroy the volumes, and finally delete the host server. We can deploy around 30 servers per month.

While Pure Storage FlashArray may carry a higher price point, our clients observe a return on investment due to the significant time savings enabled by its exceptional IOPS performance. This increased efficiency more than justifies the initial cost.

Pure Storage FlashArray offers higher performance and IOPS than Dell Unity, thanks to its use of 32-gigabyte cables. While it comes with a higher price tag, this investment often translates to significant improvements in performance.

I would rate Pure Storage FlashArray nine out of ten.

Pure Storage FlashArray offers exceptional accessibility, ensuring our clients experience minimal to no performance issues, even during intensive I/O operations. Our clients have consistently reported high IOPS and successful job execution without encountering any errors or delays. This rapid response time, measured in milliseconds, underscores the FlashArray's ability to provide seamless storage access.

Our clients are enterprise clients.

Maintenance is necessary for ports, DIMs, fans, power units, and arrays. If a power unit fails, a redundant unit will access the data. We will notify the client of any issues and submit a service request for resolution. After the replacement, we will verify the GUI and log into the Pure FlashArray to check the status of the specific disk. If it's online, we'll take a screenshot and close the case after making the changes.

I recommend Pure Storage FlashArray to others due to its exceptional IOPS performance and user-friendly interface.

I use Pure Storage FlashArray to provide LUNs or volumes for end users who want to work on a database for zoning, enabling them to operate effectively with end-user arrays.

The device gives us a lot of protection in maintaining our data in the storage. It gives high throughput across many locations.

We have faster data processing with low file consumption. This includes multi-terabyte databases in memory with read-write speed four times faster than any HDD. 

Pure Storage FlashArray offers numerous valuable features, such as low latency and high throughput. It has significant data protection in the form of snapshots. It allows data portability around the cloud and on-premises devices. Performance backup is also a key feature.

The support that we received from the vendor during upgrades has been very good. They instructed us very well through the remote connection.

I have worked with two types of Pure Storage FlashArray. So far, I have not found any issues. There is not a great need for improvement, but better pricing could be beneficial.

I have been using Pure Storage FlashArray for three years.

It is stable. I would rate it an eight out of ten for stability.

There is always downtime when working with production servers. I have to plan downtime of three or four hours when launching new servers or logging into new servers with new LUNs. If a lot of people are logging into a FlashArray server, it will require downtime if we have to modify anything.

It is scalable. I would rate the scalability of Pure Storage FlashArray a nine out of ten.

It is being used at a single location. We have 30 people using it.

Their support is too good. As soon as I log a case with them, they are always available. They are very fast. I would rate them a ten out of ten.

Positive

I have worked with different storage boxes such as Quantum, NetApp, and HPE, but they are different. They are block storage. Pure Storage provides a unique compatibility when working with LUNs and volumes, offering a totally different SAN product. It is also easier than the others.

The initial setup was straightforward and took about 40 minutes.

The solution has saved us time and resources. It has saved about 20% of my time.

I would rate it a seven out of ten for pricing. It could be improved.

I would recommend Pure Storage FlashArray to anyone because it offers great resilience, high throughput, and excellent storage provision to users on SAN boxes. It simplifies the process of zoning or taking backups.

I would rate Pure Storage FlashArray a nine out of ten.

We use Pure Storage FlashArray as the primary storage of our organization. 

Pure Storage FlashArray is very important for us because this is our primary storage. Most of our data resides in this storage. We rely heavily on it and our backup solution.

We can integrate Pure Storage FlashArray with our Veeam backup software. In addition to our backup, we also take storage-level snapshots. When we take storage-level snapshots for any volume, we can easily restore any virtual machine by using the Veeam portal from the Pure Storage snapshot. This capability is significant for me. As a storage admin, I find it very easy to restore any data. It also reduces the need for extra storage. The data compression feature minimizes the cost of buying extra storage space, benefiting the organization financially.

The compression rate is one of the most valuable features of Pure Storage FlashArray. Additionally, it is all-flash storage with excellent IOPS, and hardware failures are very less. 

We can easily replicate our data from the DC site to the DR site. 

Everything has been good, but we faced one issue last year while migrating volumes from one Pure Storage to another. The snapshots were not visible in the Veeam backup portal. Our disaster recovery plan was mostly based on the integration between Veeam and Pure Storage, and we faced a lot of problems. Pure Storage promised that a future upgrade would solve this problem by introducing a plugin.

I have been using Pure Storage FlashArray for about one and a half years.

The solution is very stable, and I would rate its stability a nine out of ten. It has reduced downtime by 90% to 95%.

We are a small organization. We have 120 GB of storage and 3,000 to 4,000 people. We have multiple departments using this solution. We have one production site and one disaster recovery site. We have two locations.

They are almost perfect. I would rate them a nine out of ten.

Positive

I have used IBM Storage before. The main difference is that IBM supports various storage types such as SAS disk and Flash disk, whereas Pure Storage is all-flash storage. That is the main difference between them. Pure Storage has a higher data compression rate than IBM Storage. 

I prefer Pure Storage over IBM Storage when it comes to performance and power. I also prefer Pure Storage in terms of cost because they are giving the subscription feature to upgrade free of cost. There is also a better compression rate, so we have to buy less storage space than IBM Storage.

The initial setup was straightforward. It was not very complex. It takes a few days.

It requires upgrades from time to time. It also requires monitoring. That is all. There is not much maintenance.

The failure rate is very low. It is very stable. It saves resources and time. We do not have any performance issues. The performance is good. In addition to the time and resources, it also saves us costs. Its high data compression rate results in buying less storage space, thus saving costs.

It is cost-effective because after buying a subscription, they provide a service to upgrade hardware for free. They are providing so many features. When you consider the features provided, it is cost-effective.

I would surely recommend Pure Storage FlashArray for its ease of use and less complexity compared to other storage solutions. The snapshot and replication technologies are much easier to understand and implement compared to other storage solutions.

I would rate Pure Storage FlashArray a nine out of ten.

In our environment, we use Pure Storage FlashArray for VMware storage. We have a few hosts that are used for creating virtual machines (VMs) and provide storage to them. We also use it for providing storage to databases.

Using Pure Storage FlashArray has reduced downtime significantly. With its replication feature, the downtime is almost negligible.

Pure Storage FlashArray is much better than the traditional storage we had. It is good for reducing downtime.

We also have some traditional storage tools that are being used in our environment. We have some servers that are still using traditional storage. I find Pure Storage FlashArray to be much better than traditional storage because it has a GUI interface. It makes the process of allocating the storage much easier, and most activities are automated. It is like clicking a button for every task.

I like its simplicity. It is very user-friendly.

Currently, Pure Storage FlashArray is mostly being used for high-performance environments that have low latency requirements and high workloads. For environments that do not have such high requirements, it could be costly. It would be beneficial to have a separate pricing point for environments with lower performance requirements or less workload.

I have been using Pure Storage FlashArray for approximately 1.5 years.

I have not observed any crashes or issues with Pure Storage FlashArray. It has been running smoothly without any stability problems.

In terms of scalability, we have enough storage allocated through Pure Storage FlashArray, and I believe it would not present any difficulties if more scaling is required.

The quality of support is good. The response time is good. They do not take much time to respond. They ensure someone is always available to address any issues. There is no leniency in their work. I find them good in terms of response.

Positive

I have used some traditional storage tools, such as VPLEX XIO. The difficulty there was that provisioning and reclaiming storage was very tedious and required a lot of human effort. Using Pure Storage FlashArray has made this process much simpler and efficient. I am happy to use it.

When I started using Pure Storage FlashArray, it was already being used within the environment. It was easy to learn and use. It only takes a short time to understand how to use it efficiently.

It does not require much maintenance. They do make frequent updates and the upgrades smooth. We can do the upgrades without any downtime. There is no impact on the environment when the upgrades are made. So far, it has been good.

I have not worked with other Flash solutions. I find Pure Storage FlashArray to be a reliable product. It has features for backup and restore and it integrates well with cloud environments. For high-performance environments, it is cost-efficient and user-friendly.

I have not spent much time using the dashboard that we get with Pure Storage FlashArray, but I know that if we have any performance issues, we can monitor them through the dashboard.

I would rate Pure Storage FlashArray a nine out of ten. I have been using it, and it has been performing well enough. It has helped me with my work. It has made my work much easier, but there is always scope for improvement.