HPE StoreOnce Replication - license
Mfg # BB885A
CDW # 3161746
Know your gear
HP's data replication feature includes replication bandwidth limiting functionality, constraining the amount of bandwidth being used when replicating data for even more network-efficient replication. Without replication bandwidth limiting, a replication job could use as much bandwidth as is available, potentially making other network activities unresponsive. Replication bandwidth limiting is customer configurable at the appliance level via the graphical user interface and is set as a percentage of the available network bandwidth.
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HPE StoreOnce Replication - license is rated4.38 out of5 by34.
Rated 5 out of 5 byit_user313050 from We can backup our exchange server and files, but its integration could be better to keep up with the competition.Valuable FeaturesIt just works – there isn’t anything specific about it. We can backup our exchange server, we can backup our files, and it just works without being overly complex either.Improvements to My OrganizationI can’t say that it has, they are lagging behind on the features, we went to vSphere 6 and it failed a while ago. The DP9 just came out a few weeks ago to answer that integration issue.Room for ImprovementIt’s the speed to market with new technology that they are not keeping up with. Also, the integration could be better, the Comvault features are offering more and StoreOnce is lagging.Use of SolutionI've used it for 15 years.Deployment IssuesNot so much deployment more on the support end of things.Stability IssuesIt’s stable – it works.Scalability IssuesVMware changed something when they went to 6, even Comvault was a week behind, but while Comvault provided a solution, HP just released their updates a week or two ago in the new version – we now have to go to DP9.Customer Service and Technical SupportCustomer Service: Customer support is fine.Technical Support: Technical support is brutal, my guy never wants to get on the phone with me, and he prepares to be tortured. He knows going in that it’s going to be painful.Other AdviceLook elsewhere – you can’t change something once you have it, and it accomplishes what it needs to, but it's not leading edge enough to address the new technologies out there.Disclaimer: IT Central Station contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
Date published: 2015-09-22T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of 5 byit_user231921 from Multiple data types can be isolated and segregated to provide multi-tenancy.Valuable FeaturesThe product was easy for me in terms of architecture, deployment and support. In comparison to other products I have worked with, these areas for HP have high scores.Improvements to My OrganizationIt has provided flexible options accommodating a broad range of uses. For example, multiple data types can be isolated and segregated to provide multi-tenancy.Room for ImprovementReporting needs to be worked on.Use of SolutionI've used it for one year.Deployment IssuesNo issues encountered.Stability IssuesYes we did, but it was resolved with a software upgrade.Scalability IssuesNo issues encountered.Customer Service and Technical SupportCustomer Service: Above average service.Technical Support: Above average with excellent response times. In one case, I needed a hard drive replaced, and the person who took my call was the person who arranged the engineer/part to be replaced. Also, the person was knowledgeable about the product.Previous SolutionsNo previous solution was being used.Initial SetupIt was straightforward. We went from proof of concept to production in days as opposed to weeks.Implementation TeamWe implemented it in-house.Other Solutions Considered* Quantum* SymantecOther AdviceClearly understand your needs before looking for a solution.Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2015-04-30T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of 5 byit_user222456 from With deduplication on the virtual tape library were achieving a compression ratio of 16:1 which means we can keep the backups for six months.Valuable FeaturesDaily onsite backup, rapid data restore and reliable off site disaster recovery. HP deduplication technology can reduce the amount of backup data you need to store by up to 95 per cent and can deliver backup speeds of up to 100TB/hr.Improvements to My Organization* It’s less mechanical so it’s writing to hard drives and we’ve had no problems with it whatsoever during the year we’ve been using it. It’s saved us so much time as well because we don’t have to troubleshoot the migrations every day. We know that those migrations are going to happen and that’s taken a weight off a lot of peoples’ minds, particularly those running our out of hours services.* We were creating so much data that even with two huge libraries and over 100 tapes, it only had the capacity to keep backups for three weeks. With deduplication on the virtual tape library it’s now achieving a compression ratio of 16:1 which means it can keep the backups for six months.* Deduplication also reduces the number of disks required which reduces space, energy and cooling costs.* Since the staged back-up happens in the background there is no impact on the network so back-up times are not an issue. However, even with the added work of deduplication, StoreOnce is delivering a transfer rate of up to 7GB/min.Stability IssuesSince the staged back-up happens in the background there is no impact on the network.Scalability IssuesCame with two additional enclosures to put the drives in and you can add another one. We ordered the additional enclosure, it arrived, we racked it up, connected it into the VTL and ran a command to say ‘recognise this enclosure - expand to this enclosure’ and it just did it. You don’t lose anything because the data that is on the existing enclosures just spreads out across the new enclosure.Customer Service and Technical SupportCustomer Service: HP offered as much or as little support as we required so we did the implementation ourselves. It was checked over by an HP engineer and signed off in two weeks. HP provides support with a nine to five next business day callout. HP comes to visit us and we have conference calls, presentations and demonstrations. That is the kind of interaction we’re getting.Technical Support: HP provided a Webinar overview of the virtual tape library, gave us access to HP Labs and also sent in two technical specialists to talk through the product, demonstrate it and answer all our questions. However, what swung the deal for us was that we were able to have the kit on loan for up to three months. If you don’t like it HP come and remove the kit. If you do like it you just pay for it and keep it. That was brilliant because I didn’t want to go through the process of buying something and then find it didn’t operate in the way we wanted or was incompatible with certain backup software.Previous SolutionsOur storage infrastructure was founded on an HP StorageWorks EVA 4400 disk array and when demand increased, a further EVA 6550 array was added.Initial SetupIt integrates very well with our backup software. Creating a new VTL is very easy. You just go into the system and create the new library saying what kind of emulation you want, how many drives and how many tape cartridges and it creates it. It has a whole range of emulation types and most backup software will support one of the emulations that StoreOnce will use.Implementation TeamWe did the implementation ourselves.ROIWe have not so far computed the amount of money saved but efficiency and service standards have certainly increased. Previously, if someone lost a file it could take 10 minutes to locate and load the appropriate tape. Now, the restore time is around five seconds.Disclaimer: IT Central Station has made contact with the reviewer to validate that the person is a real user. The information in the posting is based upon a vendor-supplied case study, but the reviewer has confirmed the content's accuracy.
Date published: 2015-06-27T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of 5 byStephen Hockley from It provides quick recovery to the organization, but the software is sometimes unstable.What is most valuable?Agnostic backups.How has it helped my organization?Quick recovery.What needs improvement?StoreOnce software is sometimes unstable.For how long have I used the solution?10 years.What do I think about the stability of the solution?Sometimes unstable.What do I think about the scalability of the solution?No.How is customer service and technical support?At times not good, other times good.How was the initial setup?Complex.What other advice do I have?Do a detailed inside PoC.Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2017-09-18T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of 5 byit_user285921 from Our Previous Hardware Was Starting To Fail And We Needed A More Stable SolutionValuable FeaturesSo I’m not the technician, I don’t look at all the different bells and all the things it does but for me the space that it uses is a valuable feature. The compression ratio has been much better than our past solution. Our SQL database backups are getting 56:1 compression ratio and to me that’s incredible. Some of the other stuff is a little less but we’ve got an average of 25:1 and that definitely beats what we had before.Improvements to My OrganizationWell benefits that I’m seeing on the StoreOnce are definitely the speed to recover. I can trust the data is there. When we had the quantums in the replication it was taking up to a month, the data would be partial. I trust the data so the benefit is that the data is there. If somebody calls me and needs data recovered, I know I have it.Room for ImprovementNew features, I don’t know. I expect HP to know that stuff and they’re asking the questions and other people smarter than me know what they need. It does what I need right now. There’s nothing that I could think of that it’s missing.Stability IssuesI don’t like to talk about these things but so far stability on the system has been perfect, no issues. So I have two 4300’s and that came with Catalyst which was new to that platform. So when we had the systems put in the technician that came out actually hadn’t seem them before. So that was maybe the only hiccup but they did a great job installing them. I didn’t have to do anything with it and it’s been running ever since.Scalability IssuesMy impressions of scalability would be- I’ll never need to much add more space. They did a great deal with me, they doubled the space I asked for. I have enough room for years, but it also is very easily scalable. If I need to put in more trays I can.Customer Service and Technical SupportWe have not used technical support. Now HP as a whole, I have on other servers and things like that but for 3PAR I actually haven’t had to use support yet and, like I said it’s been going on two years. I’m happy with that, I’m sure if I had to call them they’d be right there.Previous SolutionsThe solution that we had for backups was Quantum for the software NetBackup. We still use NetBackup today, we like it but the quantums were aging. The maintenance agreement on the quantums were costing us a fortune and it was actually cheaper to get something new than keep the old one running. The quantums had gotten to a state where replication between them was no longer working. It would take about a month to replicate.Hardware was starting to fail on a regular basis and we knew we needed something. We’re a primary storage with EMC so we did look at Data Domain, but I buy a lot of stuff from HP. I knew their storage was great so let’s go look at the backup solution and HP just came in with a good price, I thought it was a good product. We bought the StoreOnce, so it’s two years ago now today and you know they’re running good ever since.Initial SetupIt was extremely straightforward and I think this is typical for any of the vendors. I mean I don’t have all this experience but what you’re talking about is just a storage platform. It’s just disk so all they need to do is put it in, present it so that the backup can see it and that was done and it was done by the tech in just a couple of days, and we had it up and running in a week with a whole new backup catalog and it was very easy.Other Solutions ConsideredWe did look at NetBackup, they had an appliance but it was about twice the cost. I didn’t look at Quantum because we didn’t have a lot of success with them in the past. I probably could’ve looked at them but it didn’t feel like a partnership with me with them.With everything that I buy from HP, I just don’t feel like a customer all the time, I kind of feel like a partner, and at Shields Health Care we like to collaborate and partner with people.Other AdviceAnd it’s tough to say, what I wanted to look at was the data has to be accurate. And so if we’re backing up patient data, it’s critical. I mean everybody says their data is critical, in healthcare it’s critical. If I need to restore something I need to know it’s there, I need to know where it is, I need to know I can get it fast.With the quantums we also had a tape solution in place and those tapes were offsite, sometimes it would take a couple of days to get the data back. So what the StoreOnce allowed us to do was to also get off a tape, which was important to me. I don’t trust tape, a lot of people do. With StoreOnce, I know this data is there and I can get it quickly. The speed that we can recover files now is incredible. Even if it’s something small it’s not critical. Say a user loses an email and we backed it up the night before, you can get that email back in seconds. It used to take us a long time.We’d restore the entire mail store. You’re looking at the entire afternoon just to get some files back. We’re happy and with this upgrade we also upgraded NetBackup. So it’s not to say that the stuff that we had before wasn’t capable, it was time to get a new solution.I did a panel this week on going into backup solutions. One customer was still using tape, recommendations for them was to go to StoreOnce. For me the maintenance has been cheaper, the implementation was easy, it's small product that doesn’t take up much space in my data center, and it’s been reliable and out-performed what I had used previously.Peer reviews, anytime I pick up any new solution I like to know that a customer has already done, so I did reach out and talk to other folks that had been in the same situation. It’s tough to get the same exact situation but they had me call a couple hospitals in Boston. They all had great experiences, same ease of deployment that I saw, so those are very important to me. I like to know that someone else has done the same thing and had some results.Disclaimer: IT Central Station contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
Date published: 2015-08-24T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of 5 bySebastian Niklewicz from We wanted to deliver short backup times and provide client’s systems with immunity from backup errors; enables companies to automate backup processes.One of our outsourcing services is to replicate the customer’s backup to our backup center. It’s aimed at customers who run their own server room and business critical systems that require daily backup but who can’t afford to have their own secondary datacenters. We sought a solution that would allow our customers to perform simple and fully automated backup. Additionally, the new solution would also help customers to replicate data to our datacenter, ensuring that remotely stored copies of their backup data are held off-site.We needed a solution that would provide safe data storage for itself and its clients, ensure continuity of operation in the event of a disaster and enable it to extend its service offering. We also wanted an application that would deliver short backup times and provide client’s systems with immunity from backup errors or intentional human actions.We decided to purchase and implement the HP StoreOnce Backup system. The decision was based on price, functionality, reduced maintenance costs, low power consumption, simple management and scalability. We were also impressed by the HP Care Pack service covering the solution.HP StoreOnce Backup ensures the protection of data from drives in datacenters and branch offices. It enables companies to automate and consolidate backup processes for multiple servers in a single rack-mounted solution while increasing reliability through the reduction of errors that can occur during manual operations.All HP StoreOnce Backup systems feature software deduplication which can deliver a twentyfold reduction of the disk space required to store backups without impacting quality, enabling economic and long term storage of data on disk. They also provide effective replication of data over the network. Through HP StoreOnce federated deduplication technology, data transfers across the network are reduced and only require low bandwidth links. This provides an economical method of transferring backup data outside the company for disaster recovery.Storing a larger number of backups on disk for a long time creates a higher level of data availability. This facilitates the quick restoration of lost or corrupted files and reduces downtime. Through the use of a disk-based system rather than sequential tapes or an autoloader module the time to perform backups and restores is greatly reduced.HP StoreOnce Catalyst enables customers to deduplicate data before sending it to a centralized HP StoreOnce Backup system. When using the latest HP StoreOnce Backup solution, centralized management of application-level backup supports a backup rate of 100TB/hour. HP StoreOnce automates the process of creating backups, enabling a more efficient management solution for data protection. Customers using our solutions do not require an employee to handle a tape library, which means that it’s no longer necessary to transport tapes from the server to a safe place. In addition, HP StoreOnce solves the problem of building a costly backup environment. Our replication datacenter can serve many customers and has a strict security policy.Data restore performance is also a priority. HP StoreOnce Backup provides quick access to backup and the ability to immediately restore data. It can restore data at up to 119 per cent of the rate of the backup performance.In case of accident or error the restore times from drives are just minutes or hours. In the case of traditional tape backup systems this could be hours or days. It’s equally fast for backup. On drives all the information is immediately ready for use, but in the tape case, first tape must be recovered from the storage, put in the library, searched to find the corresponding section and then restoring can start.The new solution is safe, efficient and cost effective. Replication creates a second copy of each backup. As a result, the probability of losing both a production system and our client’s backup copies is close to zero. Therefore, more and more of our customers are switching from operating their own backup environment and choosing a solution based upon Backup-as- a-Service principles. At the moment we are in the process of expanding our HP StoreOnce system. More disk space will allow us to offer backup services to an even greater number of customers.Disclaimer: IT Central Station has made contact with the reviewer to validate that the person is a real user. The information in the posting is based upon a vendor-supplied case study, but the reviewer has confirmed the content's accuracy.
Date published: 2015-04-08T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of 5 byResit-Elbir from An excellent deduplication solution with a user-friendly interface and a straightforward setupWhat is our primary use case?We primarily use the solution for deduplication and replication. We occasionally also use it for disaster recovery.What is most valuable?The catalyst capabilities of the solution is the most valuable feature. Its capability is the best on the market. We tell our customers specifically about this feature.The interface is very user-friendly.What needs improvement?The solution's pricing could be improved.For how long have I used the solution?I've been using the solution for four years.What do I think about the stability of the solution?The solution is quite stable.How are customer service and technical support?Technical support has been great. They are the best in the market. They're very responsive.How was the initial setup?The initial setup was not complex. It was very, very easy. Deployment takes less than an hour. You just need one qualified person to handle it.What other advice do I have?We are using the hybrid cloud deployment model. We use the Azure platform.I would recommend the solution. They have a very good reputation. I would rate it eight out of ten.Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2019-09-08T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of 5 byZoher Abuzar from An extremely stable solution that's fast and offers a good deduplication ratioWhat is our primary use case?We primarily use the solution for backup storage.How has it helped my organization?Nine years ago, we were relying on backup tapes only. Now, since we've moved to StoreOnce, as per the legal and compliance perspective we still have to use tapes, but we have reduced usage a lot. We don't have to transfer the tapes from one side to another side. That task has been reduced because we have StoreOnce in two locations, and we take backup on one appliance, and that appliance is replicated to the other side. The backup and restore speed is very fast, compared to tape. There is less administrative work.What is most valuable?The speed and deduplication ratio are two of the most valuable features of the solution.What needs improvement?I'm using this product to save some files. It has a feature where I can make it as an SMB share, or as an Ark share as well. When I started using it for CIFS, the SMB share, had a limitation of 1,000,005 only. Considering 1,000,000 objects are in one share, it's too limiting.The appliance doesn't have global deduplication, it has StoreOnce deduplication. It does not deduplicate across the appliance, it will deduplicate in one particular store. With the global deduplication, I could store more data.This appliance currently doesn't have SSD drives. I'm not sure if new models include them, but I believe if they can include NVMe or SSD drives as a cache device, they can increase the backup speed a lot and that can help with the global deduplication.One of the reasons to not enable global deduplication was to not impact the backup and restore speed, but I believe if they include a cache device like NVMe or SSDs, then the drawback of enabling global deduplication can be removed.For how long have I used the solution?I've been using the solution for nine years.What do I think about the stability of the solution?The solution is very stable. After nine years, I have yet to have a problem.What do I think about the scalability of the solution?Scalability is good. When we bought the current model, 6500, we bought around 200 TB of capacity, and we are using more than three TB of data. In terms of scalability, we can go from 200 TB to 400 TB to 600 TB, or more. They also provide cloud banks, but I don't think we will be requiring that amount of storage in the future. Because of deduplication, we don't have to add so much physical capacity. Even if I add 32 TB or whatever the minimum capacity is, it can still hold lots of terabytes of data.We have 1300 users and three admin who are maintaining the solution. We use the solution every day to run backups.How are customer service and technical support?Technical support is very good.If you previously used a different solution, which one did you use and why did you switch?We didn't have another solution previously, in terms of backup storage, but in terms of software, I have used some other products like Windows deduplication. This solution, however, offers reliability and stability.How was the initial setup?The initial setup is straightforward. Deployment took less than one hour. We have three admins, but I am the primary admin, so you only need one person for maintenance.What about the implementation team?An HP consultant came to assist with deployment. Deployment assistance comes with it when you buy the solution. Our experience with the deployment consultant was good.What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?The license is part of the hardware. You don't need to buy or renew it separately.StoreOnce comes in a package: hardware and software. All the licenses come with it. Software licenses for backup solutions like Data Protector you do have to purchase separately, but in terms of the backup appliance, it comes with all the features and the license as part of it. You have to only purchase the application license but that is very cheap.Which other solutions did I evaluate?We did evaluate Data Domain from EMC, but I didn't like it because Data Domain has other limitations. In terms of density per rack it was using more rack capacity. Also, they were selling three different products, so it was adding too much complexity. I decided to go with StoreOnce.What other advice do I have?We are using the private cloud deployment model.If you purchase the product, you will have peace of mind. You don't have to worry about the product at all. My only advice is, get it installed by an HP consultant, not by a third party or partner, because the HP team will give you the correct advice before implementing. I strongly recommend going through the HP publishing best practices guide, for each and every hardware they have released as well. StoreOnce also has a best practices guide from HP. It will be a 10-20 page document. Go through it, and it will really help you to architect or design the solution prior to implementing it.I would rate the solution 8.5 out of ten.Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2019-08-23T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of 5 byDmitriy Zhukovskjiy from User-friendly with good deduplication and compression capabilitiesWhat is our primary use case?We are an IT integration company and this is a solution that we sell to our customers.This solution is used for backing up data related to both central customers and branch customers.Our experience is with an on-premises deployment model.What is most valuable?The most valuable features of this solution are deduplication and compression.This is a user-friendly solution.What needs improvement?I would like to see an emphasis placed on making data deduplication and compression more powerful.For how long have I used the solution?We have four years of experience with this solution.What do I think about the stability of the solution?This is a stable solution.What do I think about the scalability of the solution?The is an easy solution to scale.How are customer service and technical support?We have had experience with technical support for this solution. Normally, we will contact them to discuss compatibility with a customer's environment. The support for this solution is the best in our country.How was the initial setup?The initial setup of this solution was complex because our customer's solution was complex. It consisted of a backup solution, a server, and storage, which together made for complex infrastructure.The deployment took approximately one month.Two people are required to perform maintenance.What about the implementation team?One of our engineers performed the deployment of this solution for our customer.Which other solutions did I evaluate?The solution that we suggest to our customers depends on their infrastructure. For example, if they have HP infrastructure then we propose HPE StoreOnce, but if they have a Dell Infrastructure then we might propose Dell EMC Data Domain. Normally, if they have a Microsoft Infrastructure then we propose this solution. These two solutions are similar in terms of pricing.What other advice do I have?HPE does not have a backup solution because they sold it to Micro Focus. It would be better if they had all of the components including the server, storage, and backup.I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.Disclaimer: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:Reseller.
Date published: 2019-09-11T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of 5 byMostafa Atrash from An excellent backup storage solution that's easy to use and offers great stabilityWhat is our primary use case?We implement the full data centre - from A-Z. Our clients typically use the solution as a backup data destination.What is most valuable?The most valuable aspect of the solution is the catalyst feature. It can integrate with various other backup solutions.What needs improvement?The solution should continue to refine its integration capabilities. I also see they are starting to use cloud integration as well, which is good, but they should do more to integrate with it.For how long have I used the solution?I've been selling the solution for four years now.What do I think about the stability of the solution?The solution is very stable.How are customer service and technical support?Technical support is good. If it's not good we make it good because we, as a partner, offer technical support ourselves.If you previously used a different solution, which one did you use and why did you switch?Most of our customers are switching from other backup solutions. Many have switched, for example, from EMC Data Domain. It was the most popular in our country at one time but many people are moving to StoreOnce.How was the initial setup?The initial setup is one of the most user-friendly B2B user solutions. It's good, it's easy. Deployment usually takes less than one day. You only need one person for deployment and maintenance.What other advice do I have?We mainly work with the on-premises deployment model. We're an HPE partner.I would advise new users to check the integration if they already have a data solution in place.I would rate the solution ten out of ten.Disclaimer: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:Partner.
Date published: 2019-09-12T00:00:00-04:00