Why You Should Make Adopting Current Long-Life Releases a Habit
Hey everyone — At Pure Storage, we see many customers who still think about storage upgrades like old-school firmware: “set it and forget it” until it’s forced to change. But FlashArray isn’t firmware it’s modern, continually improved, and designed for an agile, secure, predictable data platform. That means it’s time to make adopting recent Long-Life Releases (LLRs) a regular habit not just something you reluctantly do, "when you have to". LLRs should be your standard practice: ✅ Fresh Features, Mature Code Each LLR is built on code that’s been running in production for at least 8 months before it branches. That means you get the innovations from recent Feature Releases — tested, stabilized, and production-proven. You avoid missing out on valuable improvements while still benefiting from enterprise-grade predictability. ✅ Consistent Security and Compliance Aging too far behind, even on an LLR, can expose you to security vulnerabilities and unsupported configurations. By habitually adopting recent LLRs, you ensure you’re in the supported window for critical patches and compliance audits and avoiding fire drills later. ✅ Reduce Technical Debt Getting stuck on very old LLRs can build up technical debt. Skipping multiple versions makes your next upgrade harder, riskier, and more time-consuming. Keeping up with recent LLRs means smoother transitions, less operational friction, and easier adoption of the next improvements. ✅ Keep Innovation Flowing The idea that an LLR is “old code” is a myth. Recent LLRs contain carefully chosen, well-hardened feature improvements. If you wait too long, you lock yourself out of meaningful performance, efficiency, and capability gains that your peers are already using. ✅ Break the Firmware Mentality FlashArray is software-driven, and has a rapid but reliable development model. Treating it like outdated firmware, and you miss the true value. The LLR program is designed precisely to let you safely adopt modern features and maintain enterprise-grade stability and maintain a predictable cadence. Bottom line? Adopting recent Long-Life Releases, habitually, is the best way to get modern features, maintain security, reduce upgrade risk, and keep your environment aligned with Pure’s best practices. You deserve innovation and peace of mind. Don’t settle for less by sticking with outdated code. If you want help reviewing which LLR is right for you, or understanding the timelines, just reach out — we’re here to help you stay current, secure, and ahead of the game.Top 10 Reasons to Love Purity 6.9
(Because 6.7 is so 2024) 10. 🏋️♂️ Long-Life Release means it’s supported until June 2028 — which is about three years longer than that gym membership you swore you’d use. 9. 🌐 Works with all the latest FlashArray platforms, AWS, Azure… pretty much everything except your toaster (for now). 8. 🕵️♂️ Security updates so strong, even your data will feel like it’s in the witness protection program. 7. 🚀 Turn on File Services without downtime or approval from Pure product management — finally, a software update you don’t have to schedule for “that one weekend in Q4 when no one’s looking.” 6. 🙌 Encourages Self-Service Upgrades. Translation: fewer support tickets, more “Look, Mom, I did it myself!” moments. 5. 🔑 Default password warning. Yes, “pureuser” is adorable… until it becomes a resume-generating event. 4. 🍍 VMware improvements so good, your virtual machines just sent a fruit basket. 3. 🎛️ Fusion, Fusion, Fusion! Which is like having a universal remote for your data… without the panic of losing it between the couch cushions. 2. 📜 REST API 2.x release notes so thorough, they make War and Peace look like a sticky note. 🏆 You get to tell your boss you're on a "Long-Life Release," which sounds much more impressive than "I'm not doing an upgrade for a while." Check out the release notes for more! https://support.purestorage.com/bundle/m_flasharray_release/page/FlashArray/FlashArray_Release/01_Purity_FA_Release_Notes/topics/concept/c_purityfa_69x_release_notes.htmlPurity//FA 6.9 is (Finally) Enterprise Ready!
A few months ago I wrote about the top 10 reasons to upgrade to Purity 6.9, and here are 10 more reasons; because…..6.9 has just gone Enterprise Ready! https://support.purestorage.com/bundle/m_flasharray_release/page/FlashArray/FlashArray_Release/01_Purity_FA_Release_Notes/topics/concept/c_purityfa_69x_release_notes.html 10 💍 It's "Long-Life"! Stability until June 2028. That's a longer, more successful relationship than 90% of reality TV couples achieve. 9⚰️ Your Pure SE Won’t Keep Bugging You About Running an EOL Release. You know who you are…. 8💯 It's Been to College. It met the criteria for "customer fleet adoption, cumulative runtime, and observed uptime." Basically, it passed the field test with flying colors. 7🤝 You Get a Side of Fusion. Upgrade to 6.9 and get the powerful, simple-to-use multi-array storage platform management system included. You know you want it! 6😴 The Engineers Can Finally Go Home. A big thank you to the engineering, support, technical program management, and product management teams for all the hard work. Go take a nap! 5🛡️ We Have a Stable Alternative to Chasing New Features. For customers who want rock-solid reliability, you can skip the Feature Release (FR) line drama and stick with the LLR. 4✅ It's The Complete 6.8 Feature Set. You don't lose any capabilities; you just gain the confidence of a battle-tested release. Full meal deal, no compromises. 3🖱️ It's So Easy to Get There, Even The Intern Could Do It. Compatible hardware customers are encouraged to use Self-Service Upgrades (SSU). Less work, more coffee breaks. 2🔒 Guaranteed Bug Fixes and Security Updates. This release is officially maintained, meaning your security team can finally relax... slightly. 1🚨 When You Call Support, We Won’t Start With "Did You Upgrade Yet?"FlashArray File Multi-Server
File support on FlashArray gets another high demanded feature. With version 6.8.7, purity introduces a concept of Server, which connects exports and directory services and all other necessary objects, which are required for this setup, namely DNS configuration and networking. From this version onwards, all directory exports are associated with exactly one server. To recap, server has (associations) to following objects: DNS Active Directory / Directory Service (LDAP) Directory Export Local Directory Service Local Directory Service is another new entity introduced in version 6.8.7 and it represents a container for Local Users and Groups. Each server has it's own Local Directory Service (LDS) assigned to it and LDS also has a domain name, which means "domain" is no longer hardcoded name of a local domain, but it's user-configurable option. All of these statements do imply lots of changes in user experience. Fortunately, commonly this is about adding a reference or possibility to link a server and our GUI contains newly Server management page, including Server details page, which puts everything together and makes a Server configuration easy to understand, validate and modify. One question which you might be asking right now is - can I use File services without Servers? The answer is - no, not really. But don't be alarmed. Significant effort has been made to keep all commands and flows backwards compatible, so unless some script is parsing exact output and needs to be aligned because there is a new "Server" column added, there should be any need for changing those. How did we managed to do that? Special Server called _array_server has been created and if your configuration has anything file related, it will be migrated during upgrade. Let me also offer a taste of how the configuration could look like once the array is updated to the latest version List of Servers # pureserver list Name Dns Directory Services Local Directory Service Created _array_server management - domain 2025-06-09 01:00:26 MDT prod prod - prod 2025-06-09 01:38:14 MDT staging management stage staging 2025-06-09 01:38:12 MDT testing management testing testing 2025-06-09 01:38:11 MDT List of Active Directory accounts Since we can join multiple AD servers, we now can have multiple AD accounts, up to one per server # puread account list Name Domain Computer Name TLS Source ad-array <redacted>.local ad-array required - prod::ad-prod <redacted>.local ad-prod required - ad-array is a configuration for the _array_server and for backwards compatibility reasons, the prefix of the server name hasn't been added. The prefix is there for account connected to server prod (and to any other server). List of Directory Services (LDAP) Directory services got also slightly reworked, since before 6.8.7 there were only two configurations, management and data. Obviously, that's not enough for more than one server (management is reserved for array management access and can't be used for File services). After 6.8.7 release, it's possible to completely manage Directory Service configurations and linking them to individual servers. # pureserver list Name Dns Directory Services Local Directory Service Created _array_server management - domain 2025-06-09 01:00:26 MDT prod prod - prod 2025-06-09 01:38:14 MDT staging management stage staging 2025-06-09 01:38:12 MDT testing management testing testing 2025-06-09 01:38:11 MDT Please note that these objects are intentionally not enabled / not configured. List of Directory exports # puredir export list Name Export Name Server Directory Path Policy Type Enabled prod::smb::accounting accounting prod prodpod::accounting:root / prodpod::smb-simple smb True prod::smb::engineering engineering prod prodpod::engineering:root / prodpod::smb-simple smb True prod::smb::sales sales prod prodpod::sales:root / prodpod::smb-simple smb True prod::smb::shipping shipping prod prodpod::shipping:root / prodpod::smb-simple smb True staging::smb::accounting accounting staging stagingpod::accounting:root / stagingpod::smb-simple smb True staging::smb::engineering engineering staging stagingpod::engineering:root / stagingpod::smb-simple smb True staging::smb::sales sales staging stagingpod::sales:root / stagingpod::smb-simple smb True staging::smb::shipping shipping staging stagingpod::shipping:root / stagingpod::smb-simple smb True testing::smb::accounting accounting testing testpod::accounting:root / testpod::smb-simple smb True testing::smb::engineering engineering testing testpod::engineering:root / testpod::smb-simple smb True testing::smb::sales sales testing testpod::sales:root / testpod::smb-simple smb True testing::smb::shipping shipping testing testpod::shipping:root / testpod::smb-simple smb True The notable change here is that the Export Name and Name has slightly different meaning. Pre-6.8.7 version used the Export Name as a unique identifier, since we had single (implicit, now explicit) server, which naturally created a scope. Now, the Export Name can be the same as long as it's unique in scope of a single server, as seen in this example. The Name is different and provides array-unique export identifier. It is a combination of server name, protocol name and the export name. List of Network file interfaces # purenetwork eth list --service file Name Enabled Type Subnet Address Mask Gateway MTU MAC Speed Services Subinterfaces Servers array False vif - - - - 1500 56:e0:c2:c6:f2:1a 0.00 b/s file - _array_server prod False vif - - - - 1500 de:af:0e:80:bc:76 0.00 b/s file - prod staging False vif - - - - 1500 f2:95:53:3d:0a:0a 0.00 b/s file - staging testing False vif - - - - 1500 7e:c3:89:94:8d:5d 0.00 b/s file - testing As seen above, File network VIFs now are referencing specific server. (this list is particularly artificial, since neither of them is properly configured nor enabled, anyway the main message is that File VIF now "points" to a specific server). Local Directory Services Local Directory Service (LDS) is a newly introduced container for Local Users and Groups. # pureds local ds list Name Domain domain domain testing testing staging staging.mycorp prod prod.mycorp As already mentioned, all local users and groups now has to belong to a LDS, which means management of those also contains that information # pureds local user list Name Local Directory Service Built In Enabled Primary Group Uid Administrator domain True True Administrators 0 Guest domain True False Guests 65534 Administrator prod True True Administrators 0 Guest prod True False Guests 65534 Administrator staging True True Administrators 0 Guest staging True False Guests 65534 Administrator testing True True Administrators 0 Guest testing True False Guests 65534 # pureds local group list Name Local Directory Service Built In Gid Audit Operators domain True 65536 Administrators domain True 0 Guests domain True 65534 Backup Operators domain True 65535 Audit Operators prod True 65536 Administrators prod True 0 Guests prod True 65534 Backup Operators prod True 65535 Audit Operators staging True 65536 Administrators staging True 0 Guests staging True 65534 Backup Operators staging True 65535 Audit Operators testing True 65536 Administrators testing True 0 Guests testing True 65534 Backup Operators testing True 65535 Conclusion I did show how the FA configuration might look like, without providing much details about the actual way how to configure or test these configs, anyway, this article should provide a good overview about what to expect from 6.8.7 version. There is plenty of information about this particular aspect of the release in the updated product documentation. Please let me know if there is any demand to deep-dive into any aspect of this feature.🧠 Deep Dive: Configuring File Services Policies & File Systems on FlashArray
Continuing our technical walkthrough series on Pure Storage FlashArray File Services, this new video dives into the nuts and bolts of setting up policies and file systems to create your first SMB file share. If you’ve already followed along with the previous video on setting up networking, DNS, and Active Directory integration, this next step completes the foundation — showing exactly how to configure: Export Policies for SMB access and permissions Quota Policies to manage capacity limits Audit and AutoDir Policies for visibility and governance And finally, how to create and assign a file system for your department or team shares The demo walks through the FlashArray UI and even steps into Windows file share management to validate access-based enumeration and permissions in action — proving just how simple and powerful FlashArray file services can be. 👉 Watch the video on Pure360 to see how easy it is to go from blank configuration to a fully functional SMB file share environment in minutes. -JasonGetting started with FlashArray File Multi-Server
Previous blog post FlashArray File Multi-Server was a feature overview from the perspective of a system, which already has that setup. Let's look at the same feature from a viewpoint of a storage admin, who needs to start using it. For purpose of this blogpost, I'll be starting with an empty test-array. Please let me know if there is a demand for similar post focused on brown field use-case. Setting up a data to share Let's create a filesystem and a managed directory # purefs create myfs Name Created myfs 2025-06-27 06:30:53 MDT # puredir create myfs:mydir --path dir Name Path File System Created myfs:mydir /dir myfs 2025-06-27 06:31:27 MDT So far nothing new.. Setting up a server To create a server on FlashArray, Local Directory Service needs to be either created during Server creation or reference to existing one needs to be provided. What's Local Directory Service? It's a container for Local Users and Local Groups. It's a new container, which helps to manage users for different servers. # pureds local ds create mylds --domain domain.my Name Domain mylds domain.my Nothing prevents us now to create a actual Server object. # pureserver create myserver --local-ds mylds Name Dns Directory Services Local Directory Service Created myserver management - mylds 2025-06-27 06:41:49 MDT (Another option would be to use "built in" server, which is guaranteed to be there - "_array_server". That would also be a server, which contains all the exports which were created before migration to Multi-Server enabled release. As stated before, this post is focusing on a green field scenario, thus creating a new server object.) Setting up an export The server can now be used when creating export # puredir export create --dir myfs:mydir --policy smb-simple --server myserver --export-name myexport Name Export Name Server Directory Path Policy Type Enabled myserver::smb::myexport myexport myserver myfs:mydir /dir smb-simple smb True One configuration object wasn't created as part of this blog post - policy "smb-simple". That's a pre-created policy, which (unless modified) only sets the protocol to "SMB" and accepts all clients. The name of the export has been set to "myexport", meaning that this is the string to be used by the client while mounting. The address of this export will be "${hostname}/myexport". Setting up networking This is a bit tough to follow, since networking pretty much depends on the local network setup and won't be reproducible in your environment, but let's see what needs to be done in the lab setup, hopefully it would be similar to what needs to be done in simple "test" scenario any reader could be doing. Let's create and enable a simplest File VIF possible # purenetwork eth create vif vif1 --address 192.168.1.100/24 --subinterfacelist ct0.eth2 --serverlist myserver Name Enabled Type Subnet Address Mask Gateway MTU MAC Speed Services Subinterfaces Servers vif1 False vif 192.168.1.100 255.255.255.0 - 8950 22:39:87:5e:f4:79 10.00 Gb/s file eth2 myserver # purenetwork eth enable vif1 Name Enabled Type Subnet Address Mask Gateway MTU MAC Speed Services Subinterfaces Servers vif1 True vif - 192.168.1.100 255.255.255.0 - 8950 22:39:87:5e:f4:79 10.00 Gb/s file eth2 myserver That should do it. Setting up Directory Services Server on FlashArray always has Local Directory Service and additionally it can be configured either to verify users against LDAP or Active Directory. LDAP configuration would be set up as # pureds create myds ... # pureserver setattr --ds myds myserver Or we can opt-in to join the Active Directory # puread account create myserver::ad-myserver --domain some.domain --computer-name myserver-computer-name But we don't have to! Let's make this very simple and use the Local Directory Service which has been created before - it's already user by our Server, so the only thing left is to create a user (and let's join Administrators group.. because we can) # pureds local user create pure --primary-group Administrators --password --local-ds mylds Enter password: Retype password: Name Local Directory Service Built In Enabled Primary Group Uid pure mylds False True Administrators 1000 Now, we should have everything set up for client to mount exposed share. Mounting an export (on linux) Let's use a linux client, since it will fit nicely to the rest of the operations and command line examples we have so far. At this point, the share can be easily mounted on any Windows box as well and also all the configuration made on the command line can be easily done on the GUI. client # mount -v -t cifs -o 'user=pure,domain=domain.my,pass=pure,vers=3.02' //192.168.1.100/myexport /mnt client # mount | grep mnt //192.168.1.100/myexport on /mnt type cifs (rw,relatime,vers=3.02,sec=ntlmssp,cache=strict,username=pure,domain=domain.my,uid=0,noforceuid,gid=0,noforcegid,addr=192.168.1.100,file_mode=0755,dir_mode=0755,nounix,serverino,mapposix,rsize=1048576,wsize=1048576,echo_interval=60,actimeo=1) And now, the "/mnt" directory on the client machine represents the Managed Directory "myfs:mydir" created before and can be used up to the permissions the user "pure" has. (And since this user is a member of Administrators group, it can do anything). Conclusion This post shows how to set-up File Export on FlashArray with using Servers. We can use the same Flash Array to create another server and export same or different managed directory, while using another Network interfaces or Directory Services.Why Your Writes Are Always Safe on FlashArray
The promise of modern storage is simple: when the system says “yes,” your data better be safe. No matter what happens next; power failure, controller hiccup, or the universe throwing what else it has at you writes need to stay acknowledged. FlashArray is engineered around this non‑negotiable principle. Let me walk you through how we deliver on it. Durable First, Fast Always When your application issues a write to FlashArray, here’s the path it takes: Land in DRAM for inline data reduction (dedupe, compression, you know the lightweight stuff). Persist redundantly in NVRAM (mirrored or RAID‑6/DNVR, depending on platform), in a log accessible by either controller. Acknowledge to the host ← This is the critical moment. Flush to flash media in the background, efficiently and asynchronously. Notice what happens between steps 2 and 3? We don’t acknowledge until data is durably persisted in non‑volatile memory. Not “mostly safe,” not “probably fine” but safe and durable. This isn’t a write‑back cache we’ll get around to flushing later. The acknowledgement means your data survived the critical path and is now protected, period. Power Loss? No Problem. FlashArray NVRAM modules include integrated supercapacitors that provide power hold‑up during unexpected power events. When the power drops, these capacitors ensure the buffered write log is safely preserved without batteries to maintain, no external UPS required just to have write safety. Though it is recommended, no external UPS is necessary for write safety; many sites still deploy UPS for broader data center and facility reasons. Because durability is achieved at the NVRAM layer, we eliminate the most common failure mode in legacy systems: the volatile write cache that promises safety but can’t deliver when it matters most. Simpler Path with Integrated DNVR In our latest architectures, we integrate Distributed NVRAM (DNVR) directly into the DirectFlash Module (DFMD). This simplifies the write path fewer hops, tighter integration, better efficiency. And scales NVRAM bandwidth and capacity with the number of modules. By bringing persistence closer to the media, we’re not just maintaining our durability guarantees we’re increasing capacity and streamlining the data path at the same time. Graceful Under Pressure What happens if write ingress temporarily exceeds what the system can flush to flash? FlashArray applies deterministic backpressure you may see latency increase but I/O is not being dropped. Thus data is not at risk. Background processes yield and lower‑priority internal tasks are throttled to prioritize destage operations, keeping the system stable and predictable. Translation: we slow down gracefully and don't fail unpredictably. High Availability by Design Controllers are stateless, with writes durably persisted in NVRAM accessible by either controller. If one controller faults, the peer automatically takes over, replays any in‑flight operations from the durable log, and resumes service. A brief I/O pause may occur during takeover; platforms are sized so a single controller can handle the full workload afterward to minimize disruption to your applications. No acknowledged data is lost. No manual intervention required. Just continuous operation. Beyond the ACK: Protection on Flash After the destage, data on flash is protected with wide‑striped erasure coding for fast, predictable rebuilds and multi‑device fault tolerance. And NO hot‑spare overhead. The Bottom Line Modern flash gives you incredible performance, but performance means nothing if your data isn't safe. FlashArray's architecture makes durability the first principle—not an optimization, not an add-on, but the foundation everything else is built on. When FlashArray says your write is safe, it's safe. That's not marketing. That's engineering. This approach to write safety is part of Pure's commitment to Better Science, doing things the right way, not the easy way. We didn't just swap drives in an existing architecture; we reimagined the entire system from the ground up, from how we co-design hardware and software with DirectFlash to how we map and manage petabytes of metadata at scale. Want to dive deeper? Better Science, Volume 1 — Hardware and Software Co‑design with DirectFlash https://blog.purestorage.com/products/better-science-volume-1-hardware-and-software-co-design-with-directflash/ Better Science, Volume 2 — Maps, Metadata, and the Pyramid https://blog.purestorage.com/perspectives/better-science-volume-2-maps-metadata-and-the-pyramid/ The Pure Report — Better Science Vol. 1 (DirectFlash) https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/better-science-volume-1-directflash/id1392639991?i=1000569574821How could real-time enterprise file services enhance your operational efficiency or customer experience?
How could real-time enterprise file services enhance your operational efficiency or customer experience? Say goodbye to slow file systems! Pure Storage is excited to announce Zero Move Tiering for FlashBlade. Now you can unlock faster, smarter, and more efficient data workflows - from AI and ML to hybrid cloud strategies, Pure is making sure your storage keeps pace with your innovation.
