Share your experience using Altaro VM Backup for MSPs

My company uses BDRSuite to back up our workflows from machines to the cloud. We also use it to back up files and folders. Currently, we have S3 and Google Cloud blob storage. I'm going straight to the cloud backup repository and bypassing the local repository. It's been backing up very fast to the cloud. It's pretty optimized.

Without BDRSuite, we can't guarantee that our data will be there during a natural disaster or a crash. We use virtually every product they have. We back up virtual machines and physical machines. Soon, we will also use it to back up Microsoft email mailboxes. It's an all-in-one platform to do all of that compared to some other platforms, like Datto, where everything is separate. With BDRSuite, everything is under one management console.

There's just one dashboard that can do anything you want. The licensing is structured so that you can have one server or 10. At the end of the day, it only matters how many licenses you fill up. If you want to have three BDRSuite servers with 10 licenses each, you can do that.

I like the fact that BDRSuite can connect to VMware ESXi and automatically pull the virtual machines that I have in that environment.  I also like that you can choose to back up the compute to the backup server or go straight to the cloud.

BDRSuite enables you to recover data instantly.  When we need to recover data, I only need to start a backup job or a restore job. Depending on the speed of the server and the Internet, it should be able to download the files from the cloud and split them back up the way they were like nothing ever happened.

The restore options BDRSuite provides are crucial because we use it for a lot of healthcare companies that have HIPAA requirements. BDRSuite is HIPAA compliant. We need it to be readily available and accessible in case something goes wrong.

It lets you schedule backups to run every 15 minutes. I don't believe you can do it at shorter intervals because there's no way the original backups will finish in 15 minutes. It allows you to adjust the schedules. For example, if you don't want it to go during certain times, you can set that up. You can also choose between a full or incremental backup. There are settings you can adjust to make it work how you want it.

Incremental backup is crucial because a full backup would increase fees or affect the local server because it would back up the entire volume every time. Instead, it does one full backup—say 12 terabytes— and adds to it in increments of 100 gigabytes, 200 gigabytes, etc. 

Whenever you want to add a backup job, there's a wizard that pops up telling you how to make a new backup job. It asks you what you want to name it and what you want to back up. Then, it asks you if you want to schedule it. There's an interactive display on how to do that.

I don't know if it exists, but it would be helpful to get email notifications when there are issues with the backup. I'm sure it probably exists, but I just don't know how to do it. They also have an Azure proxy feature where you can restore to Azure. It's not really well documented. I think they should document how to do that a little better.

I've been using BDRSuite for about six months now.

I'm backing up around 20 virtual machines and have not experienced any issues.

Scaling up is relatively easy with BDRSuite. If the server can't handle it, I can just add more resources or install it on a new server and restore the backup to it. 

I contacted BDRSuite support during deployment because I had a few questions about using the high availability feature and how to integrate that. , and they told me that I could get on a call with one of their engineers. While I was integrating it, I got on a call with them. They told me how to do those features, and I did the rest alone.

I was using Datto and Datto Cloud Continuity, which has a few other features, such as Datto SaaS Protection to back up mailboxes and stuff. Now, we can do all that under one platform.

We are using BDRSuite entirely on-premises. I don't think we will ever use it on the cloud, but I know they have a BDRSuite cloud offering. I'm gonna look at that for a few cloud-hosted machines. Mostly, we're using it locally. We have a team for deployment, but I did most of it by myself. It was so easy that we didn't need to involve my team. I only needed to add a server inside of BDRSuite. That's all it took. The whole process took about two hours. The only maintenance required is maintaining the physical hardware that it's running on. 

Within the first two months, I had recovered the entire $3,000 we spent on it. I will renew the license in October of this year, which is another $3,000, But the cost is much lower than paying thousands per month for Kesaya or Veeam.

I don't think any platforms can beat BDRSuite's pricing. Backing up 2 terabytes with Datto is around a thousand dollars a month. We can get 10 BDRSuite licenses for $3,000 each, so it's about $36,000 annually. 

BDRSuite is affordable on a per machine basis. It's around $50 per server, and you can run the software on anything. If you have a big company or a small company with only one server that you want to back up. That's fifty bucks a year. That's all you need to pay.

I looked at Veeam as well as BDRSuite, but the price tag scared us out the door. I saw a BDRSuite ad on Google Ads. They have an incredible website. I saw all of the features they offered, so we went with them.

I rate BDRSuite 10 out of 10. It might be a hassle to switch to BDRSuite from another solution, but it's 100 percent worth it in the long run. I haven't done any research, but I don't think any other backup software except open-source ones can beat their pricing. Before buying BDRSuite, you need an exact count of the number of virtual machines or cores you want to license. 

We use BDRSuite for our databases and server backups.

BDRSuite helps us manage our virtual machine backups and restorations.

The most beneficial features for data protection are the BDRSuite for Windows servers and the BDRSuite for MySQL.

BDRSuite allows us to instantly recover data automatically by clicking on the restore button.

It is useful that BDRSuite provides multiple restore options for recovering data in a granular manner because we don't always need all the data.

The incremental backup processing provided by BDRSuite is important for recovering particular data points.

The backup and replication scheduling options are good.

Adding and removing backup jobs using BDRSuite is remarkably simple. The intuitive interface makes it a one-time setup, eliminating the need for frequent management.

BDRSuite has brought significant improvements to our organization by providing invaluable peace of mind regarding our data backups.

BDRSuite's comprehensiveness is helpful, especially for our Google Drive integration.

BDRSuite enables us to unify all of our data sources into one solution.

Eliminating multiple backup solutions has saved us a lot of time allowing us to focus on optimizing our servers.

We create backup repositories in Google Cloud automatically using BDRSuite.

BDRSuite has saved us 30 percent of our time.

The best part of BDRSuite is how user-friendly it is and how it does not require any maintenance after the initial setup. BDRSuite runs automatically over time.

The initial setup process can be more simplistic and quicker.

I have been using BDRSuite for a month and a half.

I would rate the stability of BDRSuite nine out of ten.

BDRSuite is scalable.

The technical support is responsive. I would like them to provide the details of our scheduled calls at least 15 minutes ahead of each call to give us time for pre-planning.

Positive

Previously, we performed manual backups using a tool manager and implemented automated backups using Google Drive Sync. However, this solution proved ineffective, prompting us to switch to BDRSuite.

The initial setup took eight to ten hours and after one week we had to call to set up some backups on our drive space.

One person was required for the deployment and it was straightforward to integrate with our existing infrastructure.

BDRSuite is competitively priced.

Businesses on a tight budget can still utilize BDRSuite.

I would rate BDRSuite a nine out of ten.

We have BDRSuite deployed in multiple locations in the US, UK, and Germany. Our server team is the only group that uses BDRSuite.

I recommend trying BDRSuite for a month. Organizations will likely find it to be cost-effective, and the support is good.