NetApp Snapshot Reviews

My use case for using NetApp Snapshot is its feature of taking a snapshot so that if there is any change, I can go back to the old restore point. This feature exists in Windows and is an essential feature for any storage.

For disaster recovery, NetApp Snapshot is a key product for me.

For data replication, I was working only with NetApp Snapshot and I did not compare it with other vendors.

The functions or features I have found most valuable in NetApp Snapshot are that it is easy to do and takes very little time.

The main benefits that NetApp Snapshot provides for me are that if anything goes wrong, we can go back and restore something. It gives you peace of mind, which saves money, effort, and everything else.

I use NetApp's WAFL architecture as it is their way of doing things, how to save the files and everything else. It is built-in. You cannot avoid WAFL when you use NetApp.

Regarding the integration of NetApp Snapshot with applications and workloads, we have NetApp Snapshot integrated with our OpenStack platform.

In my opinion, what NetApp can do to make NetApp Snapshot better is lower the cost.

Regarding adding any AI technology to NetApp Snapshot, I do not know and we are not into that yet. Whatever they are doing, they are doing well and I do not see much room for improvement. From our usage point of view, it is acceptable.

I would rate the stability of NetApp Snapshot as nine or ten.

So far so good for scalability, I would rate it a nine.

I would rate NetApp's technical support as seven. It can improve.

Regarding response time or quality, the response time is acceptable, but quality can be better.

Positive

Before I started working with NetApp Snapshot, we used an EMC platform, not for replication, but for storage.

NetApp Snapshot has a simple setup process.

I am still using NetApp, the same vendor, and NetApp continues to be my choice.

I am mostly working with solutions like the A250 from NetApp, the AFF A250.

Regarding ONTAP or A800, ONTAP is available and I am working with ONTAP.

I am working with ONTAP On-Prem.

NetApp provides a few AFF solutions, and I am working with NVMe A-Series.

I am working with the 250 model.

I am not really using solutions such as SnapCenter, Cloud Data Sense, or ACA. SaaS backup is not something I use.

I am only working with one product from NetApp, and these are software features.

I am not working with Virtual Desktop Services, Keystone, or OnCommand Insight.

We are indeed using NetApp Snapshot from NetApp, another feature, not SnapCenter.

I have been working with NetApp Snapshot from the beginning.

I do not do the day-to-day work when it comes to automation in NetApp Snapshot. I personally do the technical management, procurement, and everything else. I do not work hands-on.

I can recommend NetApp Snapshot to other users.

I would rate this review overall as a nine.

In data storage, we had only a Windows Server, and after that, we got a NetApp Filer. Currently, we work with NetApp for storage, using deduplication and CIFS share.

For backup, we use snapshots, SnapVault, replication, and NetApp Cloud Backup. We use SnapMirror and apply the principle of freezing data. We use snapshots to save CIFS data and keep years of data with this approach. We also use it for SAN and to back up VMware OS.

We see that deduplication and compression give us a lot of space, so space efficiency impacts our data management strategy. When we had a Windows server to do our backup, it was full quickly, and now we see the difference.

Regarding disaster recovery capability in NetApp Snapshot, we think it is beneficial because in our recovery plans, we have a PRA. We have two sites, one in production and another on the other side, and if a big problem appears, we know we can restore from the second site. NetApp Snapshot helps us with this, and on the other side, we have a lot of backup and we can restore a good situation.

I want to talk about the negative side regarding NetApp IQ, the panel in the web browser to log a lot of information from the NetApp Filer. The information on this panel doesn't always give good information; sometimes, the disk space left gives wrong information, and we have to go in the SSH with the console to control this.

We have been using NetApp Snapshot for more than 10 years now. We used it on the FAS 2020, then we had a FAS 2050, and now we use the flash model, AFF 220.

We didn't use Dell EMC. We tried it only and didn't buy it.

To deploy NetApp Snapshot, it can be a little hard, but we have an IT group who helps us to start. When configured, it's easy to manage.

There are a lot of elements to configure in the deployment, like LIF to ethernet port, CIFS configurations, SAN configurations, and management. It's not easy to understand sometimes; we have to have a good vision of what we need before starting the configuration.

It's easy to perform such integrations with NetApp Snapshot and applications or workloads; we manage it with a web browser and it's easy to apply. We work with an IT group that helped us to start and now we can do it alone.

Seriously, I think NetApp is a little expensive, but we can see we save a lot of time. When we started with FAS 2020, the price was very attractive, but now it's more difficult to defend projects because it's a little expensive. However, we know the market is like this with other brands, but if you can do something for old clients, it could be good.

We started using NetApp Snapshot approximately in 2015 with the FAS 2020.

We work with a task for automation in NetApp Snapshot, and we plan it, which is the automation we use. It helps to manage snapshots faster; it's automatic, and we just have to view logs, but it's fine and automatic.

It's easy to work with NetApp Snapshot, and it's easy to apply if we have to restore some files or some machine; it's easy. The overall review rating for this product is 10.

Positive

Positive

Snapshot is a unique technology invented by NetApp that provides basic features for internal backup and recovery of data. This feature is built into the NetApp storage OS, unlike other storage systems that may require separate products or have less efficient snapshots.

NetApp snapshots are space-efficient and spontaneous. All of the data protection technologies offered by NetApp rely on this Snapshot.

Snapshot is basically the base of the backup and recovery. So, the products built around it are more attractive for the customer because, in the end, customers would like to take advantage of the backup and recovery offered by NetApp.

NetApp Snapshot's point-in-time copy functionality

By definition, a Snapshot is a point-in-time copy of data. This means that whenever you schedule or take a snapshot on NetApp, it is a copy of the data at that specific moment.

For example, you can take a backup of your data at 9 AM, and then have another snapshot at 1 PM. This is a standard model, and you will have your data's copy available on the cloud. Whenever you want to restore it, it will be restored based on the chosen snapshot.

The restore process is very fast, and the resources are easy to configure. Also, depending on the application, some require specific agents to take a snapshot. For instance, if you are taking a snapshot of an Oracle database, you need to use the agent from Oracle to take a snapshot. Similarly, if you are taking a snapshot of Microsoft SQL data, you need to use the Microsoft Shadow Copy Service along with Snapshot.

Most importantly, snapshots are space-efficient and consistent across all applications. This ensures that the data and backups will be available when needed.

Another technology used by NetApp is SnapLock, which integrates with Snapshot for autonomous ransomware protection and secure backups. SnapLock locks the backup data so that no one, including attackers, can change or interrupt the snapshot. This is another layer of protection provided by NetApp.

Compliance with data regulations:

NetApp also provides a product for regulatory compliance. This addresses requirements like global backups, remote site backups, and redundancy (e.g., n+1 or n+1+1), or a three-tier approach with backups on the storage system, another storage system, and tape or another medium.

This product is available to address compliance issues imposed by regulations and legal liabilities. I don't know the exact name, but I believe it's NetApp Compliance or something similar.

For example, if the customer is a bank, they may have compliance issues set by the Central Bank that require to save the data on three different tiers. 

Keeping up with AI:

To my knowledge, there is no direct relation with AI, but indirectly, there is an interrelation.  

Snapshot is entirely focused on backup and recovery. It's used indirectly to back up and restore data. 

SnapCenter is the centralized product offered by NetApp for application-aware backup and recovery. Behind that, NetApp Snapshot is the heart of this particular feature. By using NetApp Snapshot, SnapCenter provides application-aware backup. To have the full benefit of Snapshot, I recommend using SnapCenter.

Around SnapCenter, you can have petabyte-scale spontaneous backup and recovery for Oracle databases, Windows Active Directory, Microsoft Exchange, SQL, and almost all well-known applications. All can be backed up and restored using NetApp's Snapshot technology, and the overall GUI or web interface of SnapCenter will assist in easily managing and scheduling those snapshots.

To me, application-aware backups are the most valuable feature that NetApp provides. They also use connectors between Snapshot and applications, with agents provided by NetApp for almost all popular applications, such as Microsoft Exchange, Active Directory, Oracle database, and SQL. They have seamless operation of backup and recovery when the data is on a NetApp storage system, with their own tool stack of data management and data recovery. Behind it all, they are using Snapshot technology.

Snapshot doesn't work well when you're already backing up data with another software. For example, if a customer has backup software in their environment and wants to use Snapshot alongside it, that won't work effectively. It will bubble up back-end storage space.

Also, if a customer frequently deletes data, Snapshot will take up a lot of space. For example, if they write one terabyte of data and delete it at the end of the day, and then rewrite it the next day, scheduling a snapshot in that scenario will cause it to take up a lot of space.

So, in scenarios where you need data protection, you have to use NetApp Snapshot exclusively and not use any other product for that. Secondly, where there's a lot of data deletion or overwriting, NetApp's Snapshot will not be an effective way to provide backup and recovery.

I've told a lot of my customers this because I've seen the problems firsthand. They call me saying their storage is full, and I find that they are deleting and then copying the data repeatedly. I ask them why they're doing it, and they say it's their daily work to archive, delete, and copy. So I have to disable the Snapshot and tell them that if they're already copying the data with other tools and deleting it, then the data isn't important, and they don't need a snapshot or backup of it.

For additional features:

NetApp is already a visionary company. They analyze their deployed products and change them according to customer requirements.

To me, it's not about technical improvement, but the price factor is important for selling the product. So, the price factor is challenging.

Snapshot is a ten out of ten. If the whole product needs improvement, I think one feature they could add is an alarm or notification in the NetApp management console if you're frequently deleting data or using a volume for backups. The alarm would indicate that you don't need to enable Snapshot in that case.

That kind of alarm, notification, or indication could be added. If a customer is deleting data very frequently, there should be a mechanism to notify the administrator. A message should be triggered if the customer has enabled Snapshot, advising them to disable it, as it will use unnecessary storage.

This would be a helpful feature. Otherwise, administrators or deployers should know to discuss this with the customer during deployment. They should advise the customer not to enable Snapshot on volumes where they frequently delete and copy or archive data.

I have a lot of experience with it.

It's perfect for the enterprise. It's reliable, and enterprises need reliable products and services. This is my personal experience. I have deployed multiple NetApp storage systems and recovered data from backups. In fact, I've recovered from a ransomware attack with the help of Snapshot.

I know about all of our competitors. The only big difference is that the space-efficient Snapshot copy is a unique feature offered by NetApp. No other vendor is providing that. They might be marketing it, but I have used those products, and they are not space-efficient. They don't have this space-efficient software.

If you use the snapshot technology by other vendors, the name would be different, but they are not space-efficient. They need a lot of space to save or store snapshots because they are using separate tools for that.

Snapshot has been available in NetApp products from the beginning. However, other vendors were using a separate product for backup and recovery for their storage systems. Then, after research and development, their engineering teams tried to incorporate that feature. However, it is not as effective as what NetApp provides.

Snapshot is free and comes with the NetApp storage software. It's purely free of cost. If you want storage-to-storage replication, like SnapMirror, which is a technology offered by NetApp used to replicate data for DR or BC, then you have to pay for that. However, if you want Snapshot copies locally or within one storage system, it's free of cost.

Application-aware backup is an advanced feature for moving data from one geographical location to another, or one storage system to another. This enterprise feature is offered by NetApp under the name SnapMirror.

To manage all these technologies, NetApp provides SnapCenter, a centralized tool to manage Snapshot copies, backups, and recovery, both within a site and site-to-site.

If ten is the highest rating, then it's a ten. The customer use case is the only thing that depends on the configuration, that might impact the solution. Else, it is a ten on ten. 

The main use cases for NetApp Snapshot are data recovery and disaster scenarios.

We provide file services directly from NetApp Storage. NetApp Storage has the SMB service installed around the world. We leverage snapshots at the volume level for the SIP file shares. We connect the NetApp Storage with cloud volume objects sold in Azure. Our purpose for the Snapshot is to create a point-in-time Snapshot of storage and then replicate all the data into the cloud for our DR backup purposes.

Our architecture is designed using NetApp as a file server for DR backup. We use cloud volume objects as our hosts in Azure to move data from on-premises locations to the cloud. We leverage NetApp's Snapshot feature to capture the data.

We use primarily NetApp storage arrays for the entire file share infrastructure. Integration into our management infrastructure is done via monitoring, which SolarWinds provides. It integrates well with open-source setups like SNMP reporting or email alerting. Additionally, control-based access control integrates well within our infrastructure because NetApp supports integration with Active Directory. We use another product from NetApp called NetApp ActiveIQ for monitoring and troubleshooting the NetApp Storage, which is custom-made for NetApp.

The most important feature to us is creating live snapshots without impacting user access to the file. NetApp's processes are transparent to users and allow us to create point-in-time snapshots, enabling us to replicate that data into the cloud in real time without any impact.

The second feature is the possibility of storing long-term snapshots. We can keep a snapshot for more than one, two, or seven days, which is important as a backup strategy.

NetApp Snapshot uses copy-on-write technology, meaning data consumption will only grow if you have an active snapshot and write new data into the array.

The licensing cost could be improved.

I have been using NetApp Snapshot for 10 years. We are using the latest version of the solution.

The product is stable. We have never encountered any problems. If you have active support, the leading support rules for their data storage architecture ensure consistency for root and data partitions across nodes. The solution remains operational unless faced with critical infrastructure issues or location-related problems.

I rate the solution’s stability a ten out of ten.

The solution’s scalability is good.

Over 10,000 users are using this solution.

I rate the solution’s scalability a ten out of ten.

Customer support is astonishing in terms of response time. They respect our SLA, investigate, and respond within two hours. Moreover, they possess deep technological knowledge and communicate effectively. We highly value their support, in addition to hardware reliability.

Positive

I have used NetApp, Pure Storage, IBM, HP, Lenovo, and IBM Storage.

We were using NetApp as our primary storage vendor. However, we had previously experimented with other vendors. They only had a small presence within our infrastructure. Our infrastructure relies heavily on NetApp, which accounts for 80-90% of our storage. We still have a few HP, Dell, and Lenovo storage arrays in certain regions, such as South America, that we intend to replace with NetApp. As for other vendors like Pure Storage and IBM, they are solutions I've worked with.

The initial setup is straightforward. Its simplicity can vary depending on perspective. We completed the acquisition last year and transitioned from ABB infrastructure to our new one. This meant initiating a purchase order with NetApp for equipment and installation services, including configuring IP addresses and hostnames. Once NetApp provided these details, we seamlessly integrated them into our automation workflow, streamlining configuration and service delivery to end-users. Our storage installation and automation process typically takes around eight days but can vary for each customer, ranging from one day to several months. In our case, configuration took one to two additional days.

The solution is expensive.

I rate the product’s pricing a three out of ten, where one is expensive, and ten is cheap.

We use LDR and NetApp within our enterprise architecture. It exceeds both FPO and LPO standards due to the built-in technologies. Additionally, accessing a snapshot needs an LPO objective when restoring data from snapshots.

We have a global presence in over 100 countries around the world. We have an on-premises presence with infrastructure as a service in more than 65 factories worldwide. These factories span continents from China to South America, Europe, and the Middle East. Each factory hosts at least one storage array that facilitates hosting our server functions and projects. We integrate with the cloud to achieve backup and disaster recovery. If a factory or an entire region experiences downtime, we have the data replicated in Azure Cloud via NetApp. Hence, all files from factories worldwide are daily replicated in the cloud.

NetApp Snapshot is for data recovery, including disaster scenarios. You don't need any other solution to take your data and pull it somewhere else instead of that single NetApp storage array. You have the storage array and cloud volume objects from NetApp, connect them between themselves, and then create a task and a snapshot of these volumes that are locally in these factories. After this snapshot is completed, replicate the data into this cloud object. 

Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

My company uses NetApp Snapshot to protect our files and virtual machines. Our company also uses NetApp Snapshot to protect SAP HANA, and then we use NetApp Snapshot to create an SAP HANA database every hour.

The most valuable features of the solution are its resilience and capacity to recover files. If you face any problems in NetApp Snapshot, it is very easy to recover files.

The initial setup process of NetApp Snapshot is not easy and needs improvement.

I have been using NetApp Snapshot for five years. I use the solution's latest version. I am a customer of NetApp.

It is a stable solution. Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.

It is a very scalable solution. Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.

My organization has 315 users of NetApp Snapshot.

The initial setup of NetApp Snapshot is not easy. After three or four weeks, you can create a Snapshot policy yourself.

The solution is deployed on-premises.

The deployment process for NetApp Snapshot took around three to four weeks to get completed.

Our company did seek the help of a third party with the implementation process of NetApp Snapshot.

NetApp Snapshot is expensive since you need to buy an additional premium license for it which is an extra cost over the payments made for NetApp, making it not a solution that is not cheap. The license works during the entire life cycle of NetApp Snapshot.

With NetApp Snapshot, customers would not need another backup solution for the business. It could save money since you only need to work with NetApp Snapshot without needing alternate backup solutions, like Veeam or Veritas.

I rate the overall solution a nine out of ten.

We use it as an added data protection product. We take scheduled snapshots for troubleshooting purposes. We can set them up hourly, daily, weekly, or last week. Also, if we need to do some sort of restore, we can use FlexClone using the snapshot.

In our daily operations, we just use it as a scheduled backup option we offer new customers.

We had a customer who had a corrupt virtual machine, and we needed to restore the data. So, we used the Snapshot data to create a clone of the volume, which allowed us to recreate the virtual machine and provide it to the customer.

It doesn't occupy a lot of space and is very easy to use once you schedule the snapshots.

So, space usage is a key benefit. NetApp products are easy to use. As long as it does what it needs to do, we're fine.

The speed and efficiency of snapshots impacted our recovery time objective (RTO). It's a ten out of ten improvement, which means it works perfectly for our needs.

I would like some sort of notification that lets me know when a snapshot is done or not done. Currently, when a job schedules a snapshot, there's no notification unless you check manually. So, some sort of notification would be helpful.

I have been using it for 12 years now. I use the latest update. 

I would rate the stability a ten out of ten. It is a stable solution. 

I don't think it is a scalable solution. So, I will rate it a one out of ten. I don't think it's a very scalable solution.

The customer service and support are very responsive. 

Positive

I have used products from Dell. 

It's very easy to deploy. Very easy.

Once you've enabled the feature, it should only take a couple of minutes. Less than ten minutes, so it's quite fast.

We use the on-premises solution.

My work is as a system integrator. So I deploy more than network solutions across various end-user customer solutions within their environment. 

I'm a system integrator.

It provides our clients with peace of mind, knowing they can recover their data quickly and reliably.

I would rate the pricing a seven out of ten, with ten being cheap. 

I would recommend using this solution. 

Overall, I would rate the solution a nine out of ten. 

I use the solution for backup and testing purposes. We take a Snapshot of our virtual machine doing something. If something goes wrong, we revert it.

Snapshot is a valuable feature by itself. The best thing about the product is the integration into some applications, like Oracle or SQL, via plug-ins. The product is application-aware. If we take a snapshot from Oracle, it is consistent. The consistency of Snapshot is very significant.

The price could be improved a little bit.

I have been using the solution for more than five years.

I rate the tool’s stability a seven or eight out of ten.

Our clients are mostly enterprises. The tool is very scalable. I rate the scalability a nine or ten out of ten.

The initial setup was very easy. I rate the ease of setup a seven out of ten. The time taken for deployment can take several hours to several days, depending on the size, complexity, and customer requirements. Sometimes, we simply turn on and configure the groups. Sometimes, we have to perform a full integration with the existing environment like VMware or any other system that has been installed.

When I was selling the equipment to customers, the product was more expensive than the average street price. I was working in a very specific market. The price perception might differ for different markets, countries, and regions.

My company has a partnership with NetApp. Customers purchase NetApp for its features and everything it provides. NetApp has a very long history. It's a little difficult to compare it with other products. I do not know every product.

NetApp is good, mature, stable, and delivers many useful things for its customers. Sometimes, customers purchase servers from Cisco and storage from NetApp. We configure them together. Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

NetApp Snapshot has a lot of use cases depending on the user's resourcefulness. What it does is replace an image of the volume or whatever you want to create. Once you create it, then you can do whatever you like with it.

My customers use it for backups, replication, and cleaning.

Most of my clients do not use the cloud version because they are in the banking industry.

The most valuable features of NetApp Snapshot are the integration with other vendors and customization.

NetApp Snapshot's price could improve to allow them to capture more market shares.

I have been using NetApp Snapshot for approximately nine years.

NetApp Snapshot is highly scalable. 

The scalability of NetApp Snapshot is very good. A lot of the features of NetApp are built around Snapshots itself.

The can be some performance degradation if the user misuses the solution. For example, if the user is running too many Snapshots. It is not NetApp's fault, it is the fault of the user.

NetApp Snapshot has different levels of support. The standard support works perfectly well but you can purchase additional support depending on the response time you want. For example, 6, 12, or 24-hour support. Overall the support is great.

I rate the support from NetApp Snapshot a four out of five.

I am familiar with Dell and IBM solutions, and NetApp Snapshot is better. It is very easy to maintain and easy to use.

The setup of NetApp Snapshot is simple. Once you teach the users, they will have a good handle on it immediately. It is very simple and user-friendly.

The price of the solution is reasonable but could improve. However, if you are in a country that has a poor currency then the price will be considered expensive. However, overall the price of the solution could be better.

NetApp Snapshot is superior to any other solution in this category that I evaluated.

I rate NetApp Snapshot a nine out of ten.