I've been using this solution for backups and restoration.
Backup reliability for this solution is fine. It's good.
Dell EMC NetWorker is still not mature, compared to its competitors. For example: the TSM (Tivoli Storage Manager) of IBM is very accurate in error logs, and it is very rare to get failure alerts when using the TSM. It's fast and reliable which I didn't see from Dell EMC NetWorker. Another example is the Veritas which I also have experience with. Though Veritas is lower in level compared to the TSM, Veritas is more user-friendly than the TSM.
All features for Dell EMC NetWorker are good, but they are not something to be happy about.
Sometimes this solution shows some errors, e.g. related to open files. It is based on Java, which is very bad. There's so many issues not reflecting what's really happening in the background.
Reporting is very bad in Dell EMC NetWorker. It's also very difficult to get whatever you need based on the backup time duration.
Dell EMC NetWorker has so many versions in a short span of time, which contain a lot of bugs that need to be fixed because each upgrade has its own issues. For every new update of this solution, bugs get fixed, but something new, e.g. a new bug comes up in each version which needs to be fixed.
I've been using Dell EMC NetWorker for four years.
This solution is 95% stable.
This solution is scalable. It's easy to scale. The only thing that matters in terms of scalability is the storage for the data domain, e.g. adding the disk and another unit, and that's it.
Support, especially from the Middle East region, is very bad. Sometimes support is good, but it's usually bad.
Setting up Dell EMC NetWorker is not complex. The setup was straightforward.
We implemented this solution internally, with guidance from the Dell team.
The price for this solution is cheaper than other products. The price is the only reason we are renewing, otherwise we'll be moving to Veeam.
I evaluated IBM TSM (Tivoli Storage Manager) and Veritas.
We deployed Dell EMC NetWorker to 300 machines. It took us six to seven months to stabilize all issues during the upgrade and complete the deployment.
We only did maintenance for the upgrade and for versions such as the kernel, or the code slash code upgrade, or the version of the software. No major maintenance was needed for this solution.
There are two users in our company working with Dell EMC NetWorker. The backup is a daily process, while administration is not done on a daily basis. For checking and reviewing errors and failures, this solution is used daily.
Usage will depend on the company: how much activity they have and the types of activity they have, e.g. registration or development through IT.
The main reasons we're thinking of switching from Dell EMC NetWorker to another product include the reporting, support, and the bugs. There are so many issues we find annoying which require additional resources.
My advice to people looking into implementing this solution is that for big environments, it's so complicated. For example, for a clustered environment, you have a clustered environment for Oracle RAC, where you have so many firewalls in between, but Dell EMC NetWorker is not mature enough to handle that kind of environment and setup. Oracle RAC works well in big environments, but not this solution. Dell EMC NetWorker would be good for smaller environments where it won't be heavily used. We are an airline company with 300 machines, but we're not comparable to a big company like Google.
My rating for Dell EMC NetWorker is a seven out of ten.
