Alternatives to NetApp
Anybody have good experience with NetApp service? I purchased $30k of storage from their Storevault division a couple of years ago to be the core of my startup's storage. When they rolled the storevault boxes back into NetApp they eliminated access to the system software used to reinstall or upgrade the devices without an expensive service contract. I've just been informed that it will cost me $450 to get access to the software for a couple of days so i can reinstall one of the devices. I guess I should have kept copies of the original install software, but this seems ridiculous. I value the block level replication features and thin provisioning. What other vendors should I consider for a small and growing business? Or is my experience with NetApp a fluke? This is probably more of a ServerFault question; I suspect most HNers would say "what's NetApp?" NetApp does seem to have scaled back on the low end; the EMC VNXe might interest you.