HPE MSA (modular smart array), formerly HP StorageWorks MSA, is a series of storage appliances, from Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, a product line built for a modest budget, available as the HPE MSA 2052 hybrid flash array, the HPE MSA 2500 SAN storage appliance, and the MSA 1050 SAN storage.
N/A
QNAP NAS
Score 8.4 out of 10
N/A
QNAP offers a wide array of network-attached storage units for SMBs, home, and enterprise.
SME environments, those after quality and reliability. Price point is medium. Reliability better than the competition in our opinion. Ideally suited for smaller IT teams, needs little technical skill once setup and running. Start small and expand later, lands of options for increased storage space and configurations.
We save a lot of money using QNAP for the backup of Virtual machines. We installed a QNAP in the datacenter of our Cloud Provider and the cost of the backup and storage that we use is, at least, 1/10 of the cost that we had in the past. We can choose what kind of drives we can install, so if we want affordable we can use 5400/7200 hard drives, if we need speed we can use SSD drives.
Collecting support logs from the HPE MSA could be better. It takes a long time to collect logs, sometimes so long your login times out.
The HPE MSA could have a better management GUI. The layout of the menu, having the navigation buttons all around the edges is odd. It would have been better if it was in just one location.
The drive type and capacity options available can be better between the small form factor and the large form factor. We would have liked better options in the future.
It is a functioning Replication system for us and checks all the boxes that the auditors are looking for. Further, it is inexpensive and the storage we purchased was cheap. HP has a good reputation in the industry that plays into the decision also.
QNAP NAS's usability is excellent, making it accessible to both beginners and more experienced users. The setup process is straightforward, with clear instructions that guide you through everything. The user interface is intuitive, allowing you to navigate easily between settings, apps, and features. Even with its powerful functionality, such as remote access and advanced file management, it doesn’t feel overwhelming. The mobile apps make it convenient to access files on the go, and everything integrates smoothly. Whether you need basic storage or more advanced features, QNAP balances ease of use with powerful capabilities, making it a highly user-friendly NAS option.
QNAP NAS is a really good product, but I think the best part is the support for the products. Whenever I have a question or imagine something that won't happen, I can ask the support side. When the support engineer understands what I want to do, he does his best.
The dual controller configuration of the HPE MSA trumps the Synology DiskStation's single controller configuration. For that alone, I would select the HPE MSA. Without that setup, any controller issue or firmware upgrade is disruptive to the systems the SAN is providing storage to. Furthermore, HPE's support is better than what Synology currently provides. The lack of phone support on Synology's part slows down the troubleshooting of issues compared to HPE. Furthermore, HPE's engineers are able to do a remote session and can work on the problems directly compared to Synology's support.
QNAP NAS offers several advantages over TrueNAS and Synology. Compared to TrueNAS, QNAP provides a more user-friendly experience, with a simple setup process and intuitive interface, making it ideal for those who don’t want to deal with complex configurations. QNAP also has a robust app ecosystem, offering extensive multimedia, backup, and security features, which are easier to install and manage compared to TrueNAS. Against Synology, QNAP stands out for its greater hardware variety and expandability, with better options for PCIe expansion, memory upgrades, and 10GbE networking. Its hybrid storage approach also combines SSD and HDD caching, offering performance boosts Synology lacks.
A positive ROI of the HPE MSA is the ability to configure the RAID set of the array to our requirements. We can maximize the storage capacity of the array improving our ROI.
The flexibility of configuring the HPE MSA is another positive ROI. In our production environment, we can use a fiber channel switch while in our DR office none of that redundancy is required so we directly connected that MSA to our VMWare servers.
HPE's support is another positive ROI. We have been able to connect with support right away to troubleshoot an issue. Part replacement is also excellent, ensuring our HPE MSA is not in a degraded state for long.
The HPE MSA's architecture is rock solid, there have been minimal issues with the hardware, besides the rare time that an SFP has gone bad and needed to be replaced. We've had no issues that brought down the MSA.
The NAS Server itself is expandable, so you can develop it instead of changing it whenever you need it. Such as Ram, Network Bandwidth, Disk Capacity.
We have not experienced any hardware malfunctions in these years, the hardware structure is very stable. Even at first, the environment in which we were running the device was not what it should be, but it still did not cause any problems.
We stopped doing investment cost analysis because it looks like it will work until we retire.
