HPE Alletra Storage

What is HPE Alletra?

HPE Alletra is a storage array - a device for storing data for servers. You connect servers to it (via FC or Ethernet network), and they see disks where they keep data - virtual machines, SQL/Oracle databases, user files.

Why “all-flash”? Because inside there are only SSD/NVMe drives - no traditional spinning HDDs. Thanks to this, Alletra is very fast - latency (response time) below 100 microseconds. For comparison, a traditional array with HDDs has latency of 5-10 milliseconds - 50-100 times slower.

What is it used for?

Alletra is storage for applications requiring fast data access:

• Hyper-V - storing virtual machines
• Databases - SQL Server, Oracle, PostgreSQL, SAP HANA
• Containers - persistent storage for Kubernetes
• VDI - virtual desktops (Citrix)

Typical scenario: You have 50 virtualization servers. Instead of putting disks in each server, you connect them to one Alletra array. All VMs keep data on Alletra. You gain: centralized backup, replication to a second location, easy VM migration between servers.

What is the difference between models?

HPE offers several Alletra variants - from small businesses to the largest banks:

Model	For whom	Capacity	Latency	Approximate price
Alletra 5000	Small/medium businesses	Up to 1.5 PB	<250μs	From ~$35K
Alletra 6000	Medium businesses	Up to 4 PB	<150μs	From ~$70K
Alletra 9000	Enterprise, banks	Up to 75 PB	<100μs	From ~$230K
Alletra MP	Unified (block+file+S3)	Up to 35 PB	<150μs	From ~$115K

“Effective” capacity = after compression and deduplication. If you have 100 TB of raw data, Alletra can compress it to ~30 TB of physical disks.

What is HPE InfoSight?

InfoSight is a monitoring system built into every Alletra:

• Collects data from the array - temperature, disk load, errors, latency
• Sends to HPE cloud - where AI analyzes data from 150,000 other arrays
• Predicts problems - e.g., “disk #5 shows failure pattern, replace within 48h”
• Opens tickets - HPE automatically opens a support ticket and sends a replacement disk

Effect: 86% of problems are resolved before you notice something is wrong.

How is it connected?

Alletra connects to servers via storage network:

• Fibre Channel (FC) - dedicated fiber optics 16/32 Gb/s - lowest latency
• iSCSI - via regular Ethernet network 10/25 GbE - simpler, cheaper
• NVMe-oF - newest protocol via Ethernet or FC - fastest

Example configuration:

[Server 1] ----\
[Server 2] -----+--[FC Switch]--[Alletra 6000]
[Server 3] ----/

Replication and backup

Alletra has built-in data protection features:

• Snapshots - data snapshots every minute/hour, no performance impact
• Synchronous replication - data written simultaneously to 2 arrays (for banks)
• Asynchronous replication - copy to second location with minute delay (for DR)
• Veeam integration - VM backup directly from array (faster than via network)

Specifications (Alletra 6000)

Drives	NVMe SSD, from 1.92 TB to 30.72 TB per disk
Controllers	2 active-active (one fails = continuous operation)
Raw capacity	Up to 1.3 PB
Effective capacity	Up to 4 PB (at 3:1 compression)
IOPS	Up to 2.4 million operations/second
Latency	<150μs
Protocols	FC 32Gb, iSCSI 25GbE, NVMe-oF

For whom?

Alletra makes sense when:

• You have applications requiring low latency (databases, VDI)
• You need centralized storage for multiple servers
• You want replication to a second location
• You care about predictable performance (99.9999% SLA)

Alletra does NOT make sense when:

• You only need archive storage (better: HPE StoreOnce or tapes)
• You have a small budget and NAS is enough (better: Synology/QNAP)
• Cloud storage is sufficient (AWS S3, Azure Blob)

FAQ

How does Alletra differ from NAS? NAS shares folders (SMB/NFS). Alletra shares “disks” (block storage via iSCSI/FC). Alletra is faster and better for VMs/databases. NAS is simpler for user files.

How does Alletra differ from Nimble? Nimble is HPE’s older line (hybrid SSD+HDD). Alletra is newer, purely all-flash. For new deployments - Alletra. Nimble still sold for existing customers.

How much does it cost? From ~$35K for the smallest Alletra 5000 to several million for Alletra 9000. Specific price depends on capacity and configuration.

Can I start small and expand? Yes. Drives are added during operation (hot-plug). Some models also allow adding controllers.

What is the warranty? 3 years standard, up to 5 years with extension. HPE guarantees 99.9999% availability (max 32 seconds downtime/year).

Do I need an internet connection? For InfoSight - yes. Without internet, the array works, but you lose predictive analytics.

What does support look like? HPE has 24/7 support. InfoSight often detects a problem and opens a ticket before you call.

Can I use my own disks? No. Alletra requires HPE disks - this guarantees performance and InfoSight operation.

How long does deployment take? Typically 1-2 days for physical installation + configuration. Data migration - depends on amount.

Is there a “trial” version? HPE offers PoC (Proof of Concept) - you can test Alletra in your environment before purchase.