HPE Nimble Storage

What is HPE Nimble Storage?

HPE Nimble is a hybrid storage array - it has both fast SSD drives and capacious HDD drives inside. Data you frequently access is kept on SSD (fast access). Archival or rarely used data - on HDD (cheaper space).

Difference vs Alletra: Alletra is an all-flash array (SSD only). Nimble is a hybrid (SSD + HDD). Nimble is cheaper per TB, but slower for all data simultaneously.

When Nimble instead of Alletra?

• You have a lot of data, but only part requires fast access
• You need a second array for backup/replication
• Budget doesn’t allow all-flash
• You already have Nimble and want to expand

What is Nimble used for?

Nimble works well in scenarios where not all data requires maximum performance:

• Secondary storage - replica from production all-flash array
• Backup target - target for Veeam, Commvault - faster than tapes
• Dev/Test - development environments with clones of production data
• Archival data - logs, old projects, compliance retention
• Mixed workloads - some VMs on SSD, some on HDD automatically

Example: Company has Alletra 6000 for production (SQL). Nimble HF60 serves as:

• Replication target from Alletra (disaster recovery)
• Storage for dev/test environments (clones of production VMs)
• Archive of old projects

How does “Adaptive Flash” work?

Nimble automatically decides which data to keep on SSD and which on HDD:

1. New data - written first to SSD (cache)
2. Access analysis - system tracks which blocks are frequently read
3. Automatic migration - rarely used data moved to HDD
4. Readahead - when you read data from HDD, neighboring blocks go to SSD cache

Effect: Frequently used data has latency like SSD (<1ms). Archival data is on cheap HDD. You don’t have to manually decide what goes where.

Nimble models

Model	Type	SSD	HDD	Capacity	For whom
HF20	Hybrid	6 TB cache	92-276 TB	Up to 800 TB eff.	Small/medium businesses, branch
HF40	Hybrid	12 TB cache	138-414 TB	Up to 1.2 PB eff.	Medium businesses
HF60	Hybrid	24 TB cache	230-690 TB	Up to 2 PB eff.	Secondary storage
AF40	All-Flash	46-138 TB	-	Up to 400 TB eff.	When hybrid too slow
AF60	All-Flash	92-368 TB	-	Up to 1.5 PB eff.	Performance like Alletra

HF = Hybrid Flash (SSD + HDD) AF = All Flash (SSD only, but older architecture than Alletra)

Nimble vs Alletra - when what?

Feature	Nimble	Alletra
Price per TB	Lower	Higher
Latency	<1ms (SSD cache) / ~5ms (HDD)	<150μs (everything)
Architecture	Traditional	Cloud-native
Best for	Secondary, backup, mixed	Primary, databases, VDI
Status	Continued support	Active development

HPE recommendation: New deployments on Alletra. Nimble for existing expansion and secondary storage.

What is InfoSight?

InfoSight is an AI monitoring system built into Nimble (and Alletra):

• Collects telemetry - thousands of metrics from array every minute
• Analyzes in cloud - compares with data from 150,000 other systems
• Predicts failures - “disk #7 shows failure pattern, replace within 48h”
• Cross-stack correlation - sees hypervisor problems affecting storage

Effect: 86% of problems detected before you notice. HPE often sends replacement disk before you call.

Specifications (HF60 - most popular hybrid)

SSD Cache	24 TB NVMe
HDD Capacity	230-690 TB raw
Effective capacity	Up to 2 PB (at 3:1 compression)
Controllers	2 active-active
Protocols	iSCSI, FC 16Gb
IOPS	Up to 150K @ 4K random
Latency	<1ms (data from cache)

How much does it cost?

Approximate prices:

Model	Price from
HF20	~$23K
HF40	~$41K
HF60	~$69K
AF40	~$58K
AF60	~$104K

Nimble HF is typically 30-40% cheaper per TB than Alletra all-flash.

FAQ

Should I buy Nimble or Alletra? New primary storage → Alletra. Secondary storage, backup, limited budget → Nimble. Expansion of existing Nimble → Nimble.

Is HPE still developing Nimble? HPE continues support and sales of Nimble, but main innovations go to Alletra. Nimble is stable, proven, but in “maintenance mode”.

Can I migrate from Nimble to Alletra? Yes. HPE offers online migration tools and trade-in programs.

Is Nimble AF the same as Alletra? No. Nimble AF is older all-flash architecture. Alletra is newer cloud-native platform. Similar performance, different management.

What are hidden costs? None. All features (snapshots, replication, encryption, deduplication) are included. No additional licenses.

Does InfoSight require internet? Yes, for full functionality. Array works without internet, but you lose predictive analytics.

What is the warranty? 3 years standard, extendable to 5 years. “Timeless Storage” program - controller upgrade without replacing disks.

What does migration from another array look like? HPE offers online migration tools. Data copied in background, no application downtime.

Can I use disks from other manufacturers? No. Nimble requires HPE certified disks for warranty and InfoSight.

When Nimble instead of NAS? Nimble is block storage (iSCSI/FC) - for VMs and databases. NAS (SMB/NFS) - for user files. Different uses.