CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform's main use case is SMB services. I use CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform for SMB services in my work to save and complete our work while storing files. For our main use case, I use CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform for saving as a NAS solution to store the files.
CTERA Intelligent Data Platform
CTERA NetworksExternal reviews
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Reliable file services have improved recovery times and simplify hybrid cloud storage
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform offers excellent features with simple architecture. The platform includes cloud platforms, gateways, and portals that are straightforward for my organization to use.
The user interface of CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform is very simple to use. CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform has positively impacted my organization by being straightforward to use, and since its introduction five years ago, my team has experienced no downtimes.
The lack of downtime with CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform has helped my organization by ensuring that each upgrade I perform does not affect the systems and the servers.
What needs improvement?
CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform can be improved, but I consider it to be good overall. The upgrades of CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform could be somewhat more stable.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform for 1.5 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform is stable, as I am not experiencing many issues.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform is really scalable.
How are customer service and support?
The customer support for CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform is really good, and the engineers are highly qualified. They help me every time I face any issue.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I previously used SAN solutions, such as EMC, and I switched to CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform due to my use case for file services.
What about the implementation team?
The learning curve for my employees with CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform was really easy to implement, and it was very quick. The migration was also very smooth.
What was our ROI?
I have seen a return on investment with CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform, as the automation is very good, which reduces the headcount, saves money, and saves time.
My recovery time has improved by about 50% with CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform, as I can restore a deleted or modified file within a few seconds from the portal.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform is that it is value for money and the setup is easy.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Before choosing CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform, I checked many solutions, but CTERA was the best.
What other advice do I have?
I recommend everyone to use CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform as it is really stable, versatile, and it does not have much downtime—it is perfect.
CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform is really good, and I would suggest CTERA to every company that is looking for a similar solution. I gave this review a rating of 10.
Centralized Control, Secure Hybrid Cloud, and Fast Global File Sync
What do you like best about the product?
Centralized Control & Security,Global File Syncing & Performance and Hybrid Cloud Flexibility
What do you dislike about the product?
Need more Micro-level logs about file/share modification.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
CTERA addresses the critical challenges of modernizing unstructured data storage by eliminating the fragmentation, high costs, and performance bottlenecks associated with traditional NAS and remote scanning sites file servers.
By combining edge caching with cloud-native storage, CTERA enables a global file system that delivers local-level performance for remote users while maintaining centralized control.
By combining edge caching with cloud-native storage, CTERA enables a global file system that delivers local-level performance for remote users while maintaining centralized control.
Seamless Collaboration with Robust Global File Access
What do you like best about the product?
I love CTERA’s global file system architecture as one of its strongest features. Users get local LAN-speed access to files via edge filers and a global namespace across sites and cloud, which allows seamless collaboration without the usual latency pain. Shares are accessed very quickly with no issues, making the experience smooth and efficient.
What do you dislike about the product?
Nothing
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
I use CTERA for storing, modifying, and accessing files from the cloud, solving SMB and NFS shares issues. Its global file system architecture allows LAN-speed access and seamless collaboration without latency, making file sharing quick and issue-free.
Effortless Setup and Migration with CTERA
What do you like best about the product?
I really like the easy setup of CTERA Gateways for migrations. It makes bringing down data from the portal simple without needing to manually migrate it. The integration with tools like CTools helps in moving files effortlessly. Also, I find it easy to set up and migrate in CTERA.
What do you dislike about the product?
I don't like the monitoring features in CTERA. A simple consolidated dashboard to monitor all the gateways would be better, and it's frustrating that old logs are not available at times to find the root cause.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
CTERA solves performance and access issues, and I appreciate the easy setup of CTERA Gateways for migrations. It helps bring data down easily from the portal, eliminating the need for manual data migration.
Simplified Storage with Easy File Management
What do you like best about the product?
I like how simple CTERA is to use, especially appreciating the simplified UI. The Gateways and Portals stand out to me as they allow us to create new edge filers and manage shares easily. I also find CTERA's better functionality and versatility compared to our previous solution, like its version control and deduplication capabilities, to be a strong advantage.
What do you dislike about the product?
I think monitoring could be better. There's no simplified monitoring dashboard where we can see the status of all gateways at once.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
I use CTERA for managing NFS and SMB shares, solving major storage and network problems, and its gateways and portals make it easy to create new edge filers and shares.
Efficient File Access with Stellar Support
What do you like best about the product?
I like how CTERA provides easy file access through Samba or NFS, solving path issues effectively. The easy setup configuration in edge filers and enabling NFS makes downloading files straightforward. I appreciate the quick response from support, which adds to the ease of use. The deduplication feature is also something I find valuable.
What do you dislike about the product?
Monitoring can be improved. Migration is taking a long time.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
I use CTERA for easy file access in the cloud, resolving path issues. It allows users to access files through Samba or NFS with easy setup configuration in edge filers.
Effortless File Access and Storage Management
What do you like best about the product?
I use CTERA for accessing user files and folders for day-to-day operations and archiving files as per business policy. What I like most about CTERA is the easy access it provides to customers for files and folders through a simple share path, which is great for users spread across the globe. It has minimized physical storage usage, as everything is stored in the cloud, making it easy to access user data globally. The initial setup required minimal effort, which was a big plus for us.
What do you dislike about the product?
I find monitoring the console of all my CTERA edge filers in one place could be improved.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
I use CTERA for simple user access to files globally, reducing physical storage by storing everything in the cloud, making data easily accessible.
Reliable File Services with Room for Enhanced Monitoring
What do you like best about the product?
I like CTERA because it provides easy NFS sharing and the deduplication of files, which saves disk space. It's also being used for distributed file services and data sharing, making the setup of Edge filers easier if one goes down. It's great for allowing file access across multiple sites around the world.
What do you dislike about the product?
Monitoring can be improved especially in a multiple edge filer environment. Migration of files took more time than expected.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
I use CTERA for distributed file services and data sharing globally. It eases setting up Edge filers if one goes down. I like the easy NFS sharing and file deduplication which saves disk space.
Centralized file services have transformed document scanning workflows and strengthened data protection
What is our primary use case?
Our digital services business handles physical documents by converting them into digital formats for delivery to our customers. This process involves receiving hard copies, scanning them, and utilizing the Kofax application to generate soft copies.
To support this workflow, we operate a vast network of scanning sites across more than 15 regions. In the US alone, we have over 30 sites, with major hubs in Dallas and Freehold serving as primary intake points.
To ensure all scanned documents are processed on our centralized server, we utilize CTERA Edge Filers to synchronize data from these remote locations to our central sites. We currently manage a fleet of over 250 Edge Filers across the entire Iron Mountain network to maintain this synchronization.
How has it helped my organization?
Zones, CloudDrive Folders & CloudDrive Folder Group feature enables data to sync between locations, avoiding unnecessary transfers of all data. Data sync happens based on the defined policies helps in increasing enterprise productivity and improving business continuity. Block-level deduplication reduces data transfer and storage requirements.A highly platform-independent solution helps enterprises reduce infrastructure costs and maintain business continuity with greater ease. It helped us streamline operations and minimize the technical & operational challenges.
What is most valuable?
The user interface is excellent. The centralized GUI allows us to efficiently manage and configure all our Edge Filers from a single, user-friendly console.
Regarding file replication and versioning, while the platform offers robust versioning capabilities, we currently limit our use of this feature due to storage constraints associated with our terabytes of data.
In terms of data protection, we utilize the platform's wide array of features, including various encryption methodologies and ransomware protection, to secure our environment.
We have also found the platform to be highly stable. Although we initially encountered Cloud Sync DB errors when CTERA was first introduced at Iron Mountain, the latest version has resolved these issues and is performing reliably.
Finally, scalability is one of the platform's strongest attributes. It is highly flexible and adapts easily to our requirements. The licensing model, such as the transition from various licensing models, allows us to scale our data capacity as needed without being locked into an initial purchase.
What needs improvement?
There are some micro-level loggings that would have been better in improvising, and all those details are in the pipeline. Recently, we heard about the Samba, which is currently using an older version that needs upgrading. Apart from that, everything is exceptional; the product is exceptional. To be honest, when it comes to performance and reliability, it performs well in our Iron Mountain network. The problem isn't CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform; it's with the infrastructure we have. If you have good infrastructure, it works fine; if there's an issue with your infrastructure, no application can help you with that. We faced challenges like AD connectivity issues, but solutions are available. We don't have proper infrastructure for managing that.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have nearly four plus years of experience with CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
When it comes to stability, I would say it is good and perhaps even better than before. Earlier, when it was introduced to Iron Mountain, we experienced issues with Cloud Sync DB error. However, with the latest version, we are not observing those issues and find it more stable now than previously.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability of CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform is one of the best parts; it is highly scalable. It totally depends on the customer's requirements. The licensing supports various data sizes, such as EV16 supporting up to 16 terabytes, and if you exceed that, you move to EV32. You can change whenever you want without being locked into your initial purchase.
How are customer service and support?
I have contacted the technical support or customer support for CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform. The speed and quality are exceptional, as CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform has some of the best technical support. It depends on the type of incident, as they have critical, high, and low severity levels. For critical issues, we receive a call within 10 to 15 minutes of creating a request. That's among the best things about CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Similar solutions include an application called Nasuni, Wasabi, which we tried. Before CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform, we worked with multiple vendors, testing various applications including Panzura, but ultimately concluded that CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform is performing better compared to other applications.
How was the initial setup?
The initial deployment of CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform is very easy; even a non-technical person can easily deploy it.
What about the implementation team?
We just need one person to deploy it; even a non-technical person can do that.
What other advice do I have?
Ransom Protect is helping a lot. Moreover, the data we are using is only accessible to Iron Mountain employees, and the scanned data resides exclusively in the Iron Mountain network, making it inaccessible to outside customers. That's why we are not using that feature across everywhere; only recently for new customers where some users work from client locations, we enabled the VPN but have concerns about data security, which is the reason we enable the ransomware feature only in a few locations, not everywhere. But again, it's helping a lot.
I have seen effects on the Recovery Time Objectives and Recovery Point Objectives. Recovery Point Objective is based on the projects, and at Iron Mountain, we have that agreement. I'm not sure about the specifics, but it's very less, less than an hour for both. I haven't gone through the documentation regarding the agreements; only the management knows the details.
Concerning pricing, I have no idea as billing and POCs are handled by a different team, but from the information I have, it's a competitive price when compared to others. These solutions are specific to particular requirements and do come with a cost, but they definitely have a competitive pricing model.
When it comes to deploying it for the first time, if you are provisioning it on the cloud, we use a Terraform script for deploying the DB and application server. If you're doing it on-prem, like Nutanix or ESX, manual execution is required. It hardly takes 15 to 30 minutes to spin up the DB and app server, and for all the configuration, it takes a maximum of one hour, not more than that.
I would rate this product with a review rating of 10.
Effortless Caching and Seamless Data Access
What do you like best about the product?
I love how CTERA has helped users access data at much higher speeds with the local cache in the office. I find the Caching Services easy to manage and configure on the CTERA portal/EV. The connection of portals to backend ECS S3 buckets and Azure Blob storage is valuable for managing large amounts of data. The deployment was easy, and the CTERA Professional Services team was helpful in setting it up. All the services and functionality are working as designed, and my expectations are being met.
What do you dislike about the product?
Nothing as of now
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
CTERA helps users access data much faster by using a local cache in the office. It connects portals to backend ECS S3 buckets and Azure Blob storage, making it easier to manage large amounts of data.
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