Director of IT at MTSI, Inc.
Real User
Dashboard is very easy to use; the solution does incrementals daily with no effect on server performance
Pros and Cons
  • "I can choose a point in time and issue the command to back up and I don't need to go in and restore the last full backup and then apply iteratively, sequentially, all the incrementals... I can pick a point in time and tell it I want to go to that state and it's transparent to me. It happens in the background for me."
  • "In the beginning, when we had some hiccups, I would chalk that up more to a learning curve for the product."

What is our primary use case?

We use it for providing backups and recovery. We have a file server with a little over seven terabytes of data. The content changes quite a bit and we needed an easy tool to work with that would give us the ability to restore in a variety of ways: at the individual file level, folder level, and whole volume level, if necessary. This tool does that for us.

We're in telecom and wireless. We do installations and maintenance of towers and equipment for microwave and cellular. We do that mostly in the United States, occasionally in other places in the world. We'll have 400 people out in the field providing data to us that we have to put in a repository, that's the file server, that shows work prior to us initiating our work assignment from our customer, during the process, and at completion. That way, the customer doesn't have to go to remote places to verify. Sometimes, we can address an intermittent problem and say it's fixed and, of course, it comes back the next day because it really wasn't fixed. So, it's hard for our customer to know when something is done.

So we take a lot of images of our work, associated with projects, and those are uploaded by the field people every day. We provide the backup necessary to our customer. We'll receive ten or 20 gigabytes of images daily, which go into the repository. They have to be tracked and recorded, put into the reports associated with the projects and the status of those projects, and then provided to our customers.

That's what we do on a daily basis. We're a 24/7 shop, so what we do has to minimize downtime, so that the tools are available to the people, especially if they're in the field. They'll VPN in and provide reports and images necessary to show the work has been performed.

How has it helped my organization?

The nice thing about Vembu is that when it's running - as it does incrementals daily - we don't see a negative hit on the performance of the server it runs on. I can also pause it, should that happen, but I've never had to do that. 

It generates daily reports. I look at them seven days a week, even though I only work five days a week, because I want to make sure that everything's working fine. From a productivity standpoint, it has not hindered anyone and it keeps me very well informed that our backups are being completed. It gives me the data that I need to know, that makes me feel comfortable: Yes, that makes sense for that day, that much data being added to our repository, etc.

It has made my job, making sure we have a backup and being able to count on using it, a lot easier. As far as impacting the user community that uses the file server that's being addressed for backup purposes, it has not impacted them in any negative way whatsoever.

Finally, it helps us deliver an enterprise-level data protection solution and reduce budgets at a price that - and we don't want to encourage them to change their pricing - is a great value.

What is most valuable?

The dashboard is very easy to use, setting up the backup is very intuitive. Since that's our primary purpose in using it, it made it easy, when I was doing evaluations a year ago, to choose the product.

If I want to back up to this past Friday, and reinstall the file server to that state, I can choose a point in time and issue the command to back up and I don't need to go in and restore the last full backup and then apply iteratively, sequentially, all the incrementals, as I've had to do in some other software in the past. It's nice that I can pick a point in time and tell it I want to go to that state and it's transparent to me. It happens in the background for me.

It's very easy to use, very quick and efficient. From a backup standpoint, it has provided us the tools we need on a daily basis to know that it's working properly and with almost no manual maintenance work from us to verify it. It just comes to us. It's been very positive, helping us address that need efficiently.

What needs improvement?

In the beginning, when we had some hiccups, I would chalk that up more to a learning curve for the product. Once we understood how it operated - where we thought it was doing something a certain way and it was not - it was easy to understand, once it was pointed out.

The times when we've had problems, they've not been repeated problems, they've been addressed, and it was more learning curve issues. With any software there is a learning curve. Not all backup software operates exactly the same way, so some things were a little bit different. But once we understood why and how they worked, it made sense. It was sometimes a different approach, but not a problem for us.

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For how long have I used the solution?

Less than one year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

There is no problem with the product's stability. We get our nightly reports on schedule. We've never had the application fail, and better, the application doesn't interfere with anyone else's application. It's been everything and more than what we had hoped for.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I can only speak for our environment where we've used it - and I know it has so much more capabilities, because when we go in through the dashboard and the wizard to create backups, we see where we could use it and how we could use it. But in our environment, whether we had seven-and-a-half terabytes or 15, I wouldn't have to change anything.

The other thing that I like is that it has software to provide a distributed copy to another site. It's a very economical add-on to the suite. But because it's terabytes, and with it going across the Internet to do the initial cloning of that, it has a feature where you bring in your other servers, set it up, establish your initial clone there, and you put the server out and then you only have to keep track of the changes, which is much easier to do. We have a 100-megabit connection to the internet, but even there, if you're going to have to keep terabytes worth of data synced, it would be really hard. In this case, we only have to keep track of the delta once the initial distributed backup has been made.

It has a lot of capabilities. We just started getting into the distributed backup and, from a scalability perspective, I've not seen any issues in our use of it. And especially in the beginning, we monitored the resource usage to make sure that we didn't see a degradation on the server to the user. That was not a problem.

I could easily see us doubling what we're backing up without any issues and problems and with no additional tuning necessary.

How are customer service and support?

The other thing that stands out, while it isn't a feature per se, is support. Any time we have a question, whether we call or email them, we get an amazing response. We're not a Fortune 500 company, we're smaller, we don't have a large number of licenses yet. But we get quick response and follow-up to make sure that the issue has been properly addressed, as though we were a Fortune 500 company. I'm amazed by the level of support they provide.

Last time I contacted them was because the volume that we put our backups on became full, and I wasn't sure what the best way was to address the problem. They gave me directions on how to address the problem, but more importantly, on how to avoid the problem in the future.

Around October of 2018, I did escalate an issue regarding backups but that was the only time that I can remember having to do so. Like everything else, it went extremely well. The follow-up and the level of detail, hands-on, were great. I've been in IT for 40 years and it's not something I'm used to seeing. It has been a nice surprise.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

The oldest previous solution we had was Windows Server Backup.

Once we put Vembu on the production server, we ran a full backup that evening. That's probably one of the nicest things about the backup. Not that companies don't have seven-plus terabytes of data to backup - that's large, but there are certainly many that have much more than that - but backing up that much data in Windows Backup is an impossible task. So the ability to address the data in the way that Vembu does, versus the way Windows Backup does, we had to use a Vembu-type product. There was no choice. Seven-and-a-half terabytes in Windows Backup, on a server level, would've taken weeks, which is not acceptable.

We needed a solution that was doable. Some of the solutions that we were using took an unreasonable amount of time to back up the data. Even when they were running on the same server and the pool was on the same server that they were backing up to, it was not acceptable. We needed something that was more efficient in the way it addressed reading the file structure. Vembu provided that. Then we had the additional functionalities that we wanted to be able to restore the way I mentioned, plus the support. I can't say enough about the support Vembu. I just don't have any other positive experiences that are as nice as what they provide.

How was the initial setup?

Nothing was complex regarding the initial setup. We could do backups on day one with the software. It wasn't a question of just doing the backups but of trying to do them so it provided us the greatest amount of flexibility and that we were using our pool space as efficiently as we could. That took a little bit of investigating and communication with support. But once we understood it, it was not a problem.

On the initial install, there were some things that I thought were going to happen a little differently. We thought we wouldn't eat up the size of our pool, our repository, for backups as quickly because of compression. But when you think about it, that's not a Vembu issue. That's just a practical result of the fact that jpegs already come compressed, so you're not going to get much compression. We underestimated the amount of space we needed.

Installing it takes just a couple of hours. It's easy to do. There was no negative impact on anything else running on it. It was simple. We did a backup the same day we installed it, in a test environment, so we could do whatever we wanted. We could do restores, do incrementals, combine incrementals to weeklies, etc. And we didn't have any problem doing any of those things. We'd have a question, periodically, but we would get a response the same day, which was always nice.

In terms of staff for deployment, I'll divide that into two pieces. One was a more thorough test of our environment, versus not the high-level tests that we did during the evaluations. We did that over a two-week period of time with a quarter to a half of a person.

Regarding the implementation strategy we developed, there was an assessment of what our needs were, tailored to our specific situation. Once we did that, we evaluated what products we might be able to use. We then considered support and maintenance issues and would the products be able to function within our requirements, timeframes, and give us the backup capabilities at the levels that we wanted: file, folder, and volume. This process allowed us to come up with a shortlist of three products and do a little bit deeper testing with them and decide on which one we thought was the best. 

What was our ROI?

We haven't done an analysis of how much money we have saved by switching to Vembu. We did a post-implementation assessment that made sure all of our requirements were met. Part of that is financial, but I can divulge the savings that it provided.

I've worked for extremely large companies as well as startup companies. In our environment - out of this office we have 400 field people - we're a relatively small business. If I was backing up multiple file servers, much more data than we are, it wouldn't take much more time with Vembu. There's an inherent amount of time to install and get to know a product, and then to use it. If it's pretty intuitive with good support, it can be really easy. Vembu has turned out to be really easy. The amount of budget associated with supporting is way under what we expected. That's a good thing and that's because of the support that they provide, instead of us having to do things like we have to do with some of our other applications.

For example, we've used our accounting system for a long time here, and people are used to it; creatures of habit, like most. But the amount of support that it takes, despite it being here for decades, means that any time we make a change it's way more involved. There's an element of risk that we don't care for. It's not what we like. There's an unpredictability about it. We have not seen that with the Vembu product.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

It's an amazing value. Their licensing structure is easy to understand and it's very fair. We don't have any problem with it.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We looked at different tools and tested them ourselves. We had our own requirements list of what we needed to do, and it was all tailored to our environment. The evaluation occurred over a month of elapsed time and probably involved a person to person-and-a-half in that period of time.

Quite honestly, we could have gone with other products, but the support level from Vembu was unparalleled. Today, a lot of companies want to refer you to a forum, a community, and they don't want to talk. They don't want to provide people who know the product and know your situation. It's hard to find an example in a forum that is exactly like what you're trying to address. Vembu, consistently over the month, as well as the second-level evaluation, was always there to provide support and answer questions. It was a deciding factor, absolutely. They had the functionality, but they provided the real people for support, which just made a world of difference for us.

Some of the companies that we were using and evaluating, when we told them what we ended up choosing, just out of courtesy, in some cases they either didn't know who they were or acted like they didn't know who they were. 

It was an easy decision, when it came to the end, to choose Vembu.

What other advice do I have?

It has to meet your needs. But for most people, for backups of large amounts of data, I would strongly encourage you to use it, and not be hesitant to contact the support desk if you have a question. Don't just install it with the intent that your first use is going to be your final setup because there are ways to tune it to make it more efficient on space usage for the pool where you put your backups. The help is there. That's the good thing. With most other products, you're not going to get the same response. Use the help and you're probably going to be quite happy with it.

I would encourage you to count on support, run your tests, play with it, and you'll be pleasantly surprised and happy with the results.

Of the software that I license, I feel I get more value from this than any others. I just can't think of anything that I'm looking for that Vembu BDR isn't already addressing. I've got no wish list for them.

Everything I need is being addressed by the product and then some. I wish them great success and I want them to be around a long time. I don't want to have to go and replace this. This is a good product. It does what we need and I'm not seeing anything that I wish it had.

I like the compression, encryption, and deduplication features, although in our case, we don't get much compression because a lot of our material is already compressed. There just isn't an opportunity to see a big reduction. But the tools allow us to have every feature we want, including being able to restore from the backups. Of course, we don't have to do full backups very often, because of the way it has been set up.

Encryption today is, obviously, given privacy issues and confidentiality, very important. In our particular case, it's an added plus but it wasn't a real high criterion because the data that we have is not considered highly confidential. In fact, if it was put out in the public domain, it would not cause our customer or ourselves a problem. It's nice to have, but it wasn't something that was as critical to us as it might be to a lot of others.

We don't use it to back up our virtual environments. We keep things very discreet here. We don't run a VM type of environment. Servers are by function. Hardware has become so incredibly cheap. I understand the savings, the value with VM and having a virtual environment for different things. But to us, hardware is just incredibly inexpensive. If we have something in our accounting system that needs to be addressed, an upgrade or the like, we like having it on its own server and discreet from everything else. It also inherently provides easier access control for those systems that are more critical, in terms of the type of information on them.

Regarding staff for maintenance of the solution, we're talking fractions. We just look at our reports daily just to make sure that they are giving us the information we need, indicating that backups were successful and that the expected amount of data that was backed up. We know how much data comes in every day approximately. We can confirm that it's been done properly. It's just minutes a day. I don't think it needs a full day per month of attention. The maintenance is extremely low.

We have other environments that we need to address in a different way than we are today. The company is old enough that, like most entities, it is a creature of habit. So changing the way we do things is a little slow sometimes. But I can see us using this in several other environments, other than what we initially targeted. I can't tell you when that will happen but I believe that it will happen because of the experience we've had.

The end-users don't use it, per se, because they have no touch with it. It's IT that uses it. Nobody has a problem with it. We have a small group of six IT people in this main building. We try to get different people exposed to it. They vary from application support, mostly in the accounting area, and then, because we do a lot of VPN, we have network people who handle network security. We have failover network with multiple ISPs so networking becomes a big issue, plus the security side. Percentage-wise, there are more people involved in network and security than in many companies. Yet those people are still required to be able to support the applications we have, including Vembu. Nobody's had a problem doing that.

I'd love to try it in a virtual environment. We just don't do that here. We're a Windows Server shop, so I've not tried it in other operating systems, like Unix and Linux.

For my needs, I'd give Vembu a nine out of ten, and that's only because I'm hesitant to say anything is perfect.

Everything could be improved. For example, if you were to have a custom backup solution created, it might be a ten if they achieved everything you listed regarding what you need. But it's not practical to do that for an individual or a small company. I've been responsible for a lot of development people and developing applications. It's somewhat subjective on where you place buttons and how efficient they are.

Once you get used to a product, if it wasn't made for you, and it's working and meeting all your needs, without having negative side effects, you got to give it a high score. It's the only fair thing to do. The only way for me to get to a ten is to say that it's perfect, that it laid out all its buttons and features just as I would. If I had written it, maybe that would be the case, but by the time I had written it and gotten it done, I'd be retired. 

It's a great product. Amazing support. It's a very good value for our environment, no question. We will not change. This is a good product that does everything we want and more.

Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
PeerSpot user
Sree ramya - PeerSpot reviewer
Sree ramyaProduct Analyst at Vembu Technologies
Vendor

Hello John,

Thank you for the insightful review you have given us. We are glad that Vembu BDR Suite has met your expectations and worked well for your environment. We look forward to providing you with the best service with Vembu BDR Suite.

Project Manager at TMI DUBAI
Real User
Its ease of use and price set it apart from other solutions
Pros and Cons
  • "Its ease of use and price are most valuable. It is simple and straightforward. Someone who has never used any backup software will easily understand it from the first installation. It is that simple. Price-wise, it is much cheaper than its counterparts."
  • "It would be a great improvement if they can give a console to control the systems. All other vendors let you simply log in to the cloud console and control everything from there, but for Vembu, whether you choose Vembu Cloud Backup or Vembu Disaster Recovery, you still need to install the Vembu software on your on-premise system and configure it from there. It would be great if I can get a cloud console to manage the systems."

What is our primary use case?

We are a managed service provider (MSP). We have also started to sell it recently. We have been using this solution at our company, and after testing the product for close to six months, we realized this is a good option moving forward.

How has it helped my organization?

We are a managed service provider. For us, this solution is even more beneficial because we can control the licenses, renewals, and other things for customers from a managed service provider's panel, and we get an option to upsell and cross-sell to clients.

What is most valuable?

Its ease of use and price are most valuable. It is simple and straightforward. Someone who has never used any backup software will easily understand it from the first installation. It is that simple. Price-wise, it is much cheaper than its counterparts. 

It also has very less overhead on IT in terms of the product, service, and outcomes. Another good feature is that you don't really have to install any agent on the server side, especially when you are taking Hyper-V backup. We are using Microsoft Hyper-V, and we are taking backup. No agent and other things need to be installed on your machines.

I have done a couple of restores on a trial basis to check the integrity, and I did not find any issue in terms of the reliability of the restores. It was smooth.

What needs improvement?

It would be a great improvement if they can give a console to control the systems. All other vendors let you simply log in to the cloud console and control everything from there, but for Vembu, whether you choose Vembu Cloud Backup or Vembu Disaster Recovery, you still need to install the Vembu software on your on-premise system and configure it from there. It would be great if I can get a cloud console to manage the systems. 

They can also give an option where if you don't want to install an agent, you can use your own server and manage it, but if you want to manage it from the cloud console, you install the agent. It should be my choice. I should have control when I am sitting at home. I should also have control over the cloud so that I can monitor everything and do whatever I like. If my organization policy does not allow me to do that, then obviously I don't do it, but Vembu should provide such an option.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for close to six months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It looks good to me. So far, I haven't found any glitches. It is always there, so it is stable. You run it through the browser, which makes it simple.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is scalable. We started with a 30-days trial, and after that, we started using its free version. Today, we upgraded from the free version to the enterprise version. We are also working on putting 10 TB backup on Vembu cloud as well as going ahead with almost eight servers for the disaster recovery offsite. 

To upgrade from the free version to the enterprise version, I simply had to synchronize the license, and everything was set. You can scale it very easily. You just need to activate the license under your account, and then you can log in to the Vembu console and just synchronize the license, and you're done. If you want to go from an on-premise backup to the cloud, you should have a cloud license. You can then synchronize and configure it. That's it. 

In terms of the size of the environment, one of the implementations is done for a government organization, and there are around 20 or 25 users with close to 5 terabytes of data and two virtual machines. We don't have plans to increase its usage in the same organization because this is a small subsidiary of a big government office. With the same client, there is nothing more we can do. They have a limited number of users, but we are working on implementing it for other clients.

How are customer service and technical support?

I have used their support, and I had a very good experience. We were basically installing a demo for another client, and they were using 2008. We were getting a particular error while doing the installation, and for that, they needed to reboot the server, but you just cannot reboot the server in a live environment. You need to fix up a time for that. For example, if we have to reboot your servers, we need to schedule it with you, and you will schedule a time for it with your management.

Vembu's support is available 24/7. They said that whenever we are ready, we should just send them an email, and they will do a remote session with us, which is what precisely happened. When we were ready, I sent them the intimation that we will be ready in about 15 or 20 minutes, and their support guy connected with it and helped us.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Its ease of use and less price set it apart from other solutions. I have used many solutions, such as Acronis, Veeam, Symantec, Veritas, etc, and all of them are a bit complicated. I found Vembu to be the simplest one. In terms of features, it is similar to others. It has encryption and retention features and multiple backup options that every backup software provides.

Currently, we are also using Acronis, and slowly, we will be migrating from Acronis to Vembu. It is cheaper in price than Acronis. Of course, Acronis gives other benefits such as patch updates, cybersecurity, ransomware protection, and so on, but people have their firewall, endpoint protection, and antivirus. They don't really need to invest again in something that they don't need. The only thing that they particularly need is a backup solution that is encrypted, so there is no point in protecting them from all these things because they are already protected. If you go for Acronis Cyber Cloud, a client is not going to stop using the firewalls or endpoint protection. There is no point in loading double onto that. It is a good addition for those people who are very specific and know what they want. If you just don't know what to do, then you can go on a shopping spree.

With Acronis, all you have to do is to install the agent, and then you can control everything from the cloud. Wherever you are, you simply log in to the console, and you have your servers over there, and you can do whatever you feel like. With Vembu, you have to install the Vembu BDR software onto the server, and from there, you can basically dump the DR or a backup onto the cloud.

How was the initial setup?

It was very straightforward. You simply install the software, plug in the storage or wherever you want to dump that, and create a profile. That's it. These were the three steps, and of course, the fourth one was to activate the free software. You can start with the full-fledged version after 30 days. You can convert the trial version into the free version, which is available online. It is easy. 

Its initial installation took less than an hour. This includes downloading and setting it up.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Price-wise, it is much cheaper than its counterparts. I like its pricing, and its price is okay. The lesser they take, the more profit we can make, but we are happy with its price.

It is very affordable. We were working with a client, and they were looking for backup software and had a very tight budget. When I told them that Vembu is only going to cost around $400 to $500, they were shocked. They didn't believe me, so I showed them the website so that they can check the price themselves. Of course, if they agree to that price, we get a 15% rebate as a managed service provider.

You choose the type of license you want. There are two types of licenses. One is a subscription license, and the other one is a perpetual license. If you go for a perpetual license, next year, if you want, you can renew the support. It is up to our clients whether they want to renew the support or not. They have an option. They also have an option to go for a subscription.

What other advice do I have?

Every IT scenario differs from others. It is a good product, and just give it a shot. If it fits your organization, you will save a lot.

I have been in IT for over 25 years, and I had never heard about this software. I came across this through a consultant who was also working for a government organization. They asked us to install the free Vembu backup software, and I wondered which is this solution. I checked their website, downloaded the software, and installed it for the first time. I was amazed why there is no marketing for this. I get so many marketing emails and other things, but I never got any email related to Vembu. I also didn't come across it while doing research on the internet.

We have been using this solution for only six months. There are many features that we haven't used, but whatever has been phased out and tested was okay. We haven't yet used Vembu to back up Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, or AWS, and we also haven't used Vembu's Download VM to help in migrating physical machines to a VM environment. Similarly, we haven't used its Instant Boot VM feature for instant access to VMs or physical machines after a crash. 

It provides multiple options to recover data during hardware failures or accidental deletion of files, but I haven't tested this option. Having such a feature is a good addition because if some resources are not there, you can restore your data to different ones. We will definitely be using Vembu's data integrity check feature after the enterprise installation.

I would rate Vembu BDR Suite an eight out of 10.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor. The reviewer's company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Reseller
PeerSpot user
BhavaniShanmugam - PeerSpot reviewer
BhavaniShanmugamProduct Analyst at Vembu Technologies
Vendor

Thank you for the feedback.


We now provide a basic multi-tenancy feature in the Vembu BDR Suite. We are working on comprehensive multi-tenancy features to address requirements like you've mentioned, which we plan to release after our upcoming release - Vembu BDR Suite v5.0.


For further updates or queries, please get in touch with our team through vembu-support@vembu.com

Buyer's Guide
BDRSuite
April 2024
Learn what your peers think about BDRSuite. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2024.
768,578 professionals have used our research since 2012.
IT Manager at a non-tech company with 1-10 employees
MSP
Top 20
Enables us to instantly recover our data and the backup or replication scheduling options work as intended
Pros and Cons
  • "Adding and removing backup jobs using BDRSuite is easy and also includes great documentation."
  • "The product is co-branded, not white-labeled."

What is our primary use case?

BDRSuite is used for workstation backup to the cloud.

How has it helped my organization?

BDRSuite enables us to instantly recover our data. It is essential for our organization to be able to recover data instantly.

It is important that BDRSuite provides multiple restore points for recovering data on a granular level.

While the solution's incremental backup processing is a nice feature, it is not essential for our needs. We use the solution primarily for disaster recovery. This means that if there is a breach or we need to restore our systems quickly, we can do so without losing any data. This is more important to me than being able to recover individual files. In fact, we have not had a single request to recover a single file in the past year. What is important to me is that we can recover from an organizational breach quickly. We have had some bad ransomware attacks in the past, and we need to be able to get our systems back up and running as soon as possible.

BDRSuite's backup or replication scheduling options work as intended.

Adding and removing backup jobs using BDRSuite is easy and also includes great documentation.

BDRSuite's comprehensiveness is great because it can back up and recover virtual, physical, and cloud workloads, endpoints, applications, and databases.

BDRSuite's comprehensive backup coverage allows us to now offer a single solution for all of our customers' needs. We have customers with Linux servers running CentOS, as well as customers with file-level, image-level, and cloud backups to Microsoft 365, AWS, and Google. By bringing all of these capabilities together in one platform, we can provide our customers with a more efficient and cost-effective way to protect their data.

What is most valuable?

Most backup applications are similar in terms of their features and functionality. However, BDRSuite stands out from the competition because it offers its services at a significantly lower price. This makes it an excellent value for businesses of all sizes.

What needs improvement?

The product is co-branded, not white-labeled. I am concerned that we are providing a robust solution for our customers, but by letting them see that we use Vembu, we are also letting them know that they can go get their backups themselves once their contract with us ends. This could cut into our profits, as they may then ask us to manage their backups for them. 

In order to prevent this, we have to manage everything ourselves. For example, if a customer wants a Firestore backup, we have to manage it on their behalf and give them the option to select the date and time range for the backup. Then, our help desk has to go in and restore the backup themselves. If the product were white labeled, we could simply give the customer access to the platform and let them handle the restore themselves. This is not a major problem at the moment, as we have not had any file recovery tickets. However, the fact that it is a possibility means that we have to maintain the ability to handle it. This is not a deal breaker, as we still use Vembu and are working on onboarding more of our stack and infrastructure to use it. However, I do wish that BDRSuite offered a white-labeled service.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using BDRSuite for six months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I give BDRSuite a ten out of ten for stability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I give BDRSuite a ten out of ten for scalability.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We previously used NinjaOne but switched to BDRSuite due to its lower cost. NinjaOne charged $40 per terabyte, while others charged only $4.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is simple. We used our RMM to push the agent to the server. Once the agent was configured on the server, it started working.

Once the service is configured, we add a user account and push the agent. This is all part of the onboarding process. It takes between five and fifteen minutes to add the account and add the users to the account, either on the server or on the console. Once the users are added, the agent is pushed automatically to the endpoints. I deploy the solution for our clients.

What about the implementation team?

I implement the solution for our clients.

What was our ROI?

We used to pay $3 per agent. Now we pay about $0.50 per agent. On average, storage costs $4 per terabyte. Over time, we will see a significant return on investment for our organizations and our clients.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The cloud service is comparable to other services on the market. In fact, it is probably a little more expensive but it includes six terabytes of storage space. The on-premises version requires more work from us. We have to use an agent or set up a server to run the backups. However, I think it is a good value for the price.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We evaluated Veeam Backup & Replication and other typical solutions. We happened to come across BDRSuite through a Google search. It sounded too good to be true, so I started with a trial. BDRSuite worked so well that we decided to use it.

What other advice do I have?

I give BDRSuite a ten out of ten.

We are the Managed Service Provider. We use Vembu to provide the service for us. We have multiple Remote Management tools that provide a backup option. Currently, we use the RMM for more robust customers who pay for our larger packages. We use them because it has worked out for us. For example, if they have a cloud presence, such as 365 or Google Workspace, then we will use them. If they only have workstations, then we will use our RMM. It really depends on how we sell to the customer and what they choose to have. But we manage all of this.

Organizations with a tight budget can use Vembu, an affordable backup and disaster recovery solution. However, they will need to have a technical point of contact on-site to manage the solution. This is because business people typically do not have the knowledge or skills to install, configure, or restore backups. For example, they may not know how to set up an AWS bucket. Having a technical point of contact on-site can help ensure that the solution is properly installed and configured and that backups are restored quickly and efficiently in the event of a disaster.

The maintenance is minimal. I simply check to make sure everything is running as expected.

For someone thinking about switching to Vembu but concerned about the cost of implementing the solution I would say, cost is not an issue. If we are talking to an MSP, I would recommend making a change. If we are talking to a business provider, the business is not the issue. The technical point of contact will be the issue. If they have the technical expertise, in other words, I would say go ahead and make the switch to Vembu. If they do not have the technical expertise, then the issue will be finding a technical point of contact who can input and push the change for them. Once they have added that in place, then I would say make the change. An organization can always have an expert set the solution up and then leave them to maintain Vembu on their own using the documentation. They can reserve tech support for any hypothetical issues. I would say that may be a good route for a budget-conscious person.

It is important to have a technical point of contact before trying to implement the solution for the first time.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Private Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor. The reviewer's company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
Technical Manager at Internet Options Botswana (IOB)
Real User
It's flexible and has multiple options for backing up our customers' data
Pros and Cons
  • "We only use BDRSuite to back up two VMs in our current environment. It helps us with maintenance, monitoring, etc. We are satisfied with BDRSuite so far and plan to add a few more VMs in the future, including Citrix VMs and XenServer."
  • "BDRSuite could improve support for XenApp Citrix Backup."

What is our primary use case?

We use BDRSuite to back up our customers' VMs. We are a service provider, and each of our customers has different requirements. We host VMs based on the customer's environment. If the customer doesn't want a VM backup, we'll use the Citrix ADM. They will back up their own applications, and we'll send a new VM to them in the event of a disaster. 

How has it helped my organization?

We only use BDRSuite to back up two VMs in our current environment. It helps us with maintenance, monitoring, etc. We are satisfied with BDRSuite so far and plan to add a few more VMs in the future, including Citrix VMs and XenServer. 

We have many VMs in the old Citrix Foundry that have been running for a long time. The migration process is time-consuming and costly. VMware only supports VMware and Hyper-V but not Citrix. 

What is most valuable?

It's easy to add or remove backup jobs using BDRSuite. The solution has multiple options for backing up our customers' data. We require eight days of historical data, and our clients need incremental backups weekly, so we have one weekly backup and one daily. The backup will play each week, and they'll have a fresh running daily backup of seven days. 

We still haven't done a restoration in production, but we did a test restore, and it worked. The restoration took about four to six hours for one terabyte because we backed it up to a remote location. 

What needs improvement?

BDRSuite could improve support for XenApp Citrix Backup.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have used BDRSuite for more than six months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

BDRSuite is stable. We're confident in the product. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We haven't tried to scale BDRSuite, but it's scalable. 

How are customer service and support?

I rate the support a nine out of tn. I'm satisfied with their support. They always respond within the window we agreed to in our support contract.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Before BDRSuite, we mainly used a Citrix XenServer Host for around 20 Citrix VMs. We adopted BDRSuite because there was no automated backup mechanism. We needed a third-party solution, and there was a lot of overhead for hardware. Our customer needed backups for two SAP VMs. We got the hardware, VMware, and whatever they need to design a full VMware backup solution. 

How was the initial setup?

BDRSuite is easy to deploy and integrate with existing infrastructure. You can complete the deployment in less than a day. After the deployment, you need to install regular updates. Vembu puts out updates frequently. 

What was our ROI?

BDRSuite is cost-effective depending on your requirements and the other options available in your market. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

BDRSuite is a good option if you have a tight budget. It gives good value.

What other advice do I have?

I rate BDRSuite an eight out of ten. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
PeerSpot user
reviewer2104281 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Manager Infrastructure&DBA at SplashBI On-Demand Reporting and BI
Vendor
Top 10Leaderboard
Great remote monitoring and management with excellent disaster recovery capabilities
Pros and Cons
  • "BDRSuite can help organizations save time and money by automating backup and recovery processes and reducing the need for manual intervention."
  • "I have seen that the BDRSuite user interface can be less intuitive and more challenging to navigate compared to other similar products."

What is our primary use case?

The solution is used for:

  1. Backing up important data and applications to the cloud. BDRSuite allows businesses to back up critical data and applications to the cloud, which can help protect against data loss in the event of a disaster, such as a cyberattack, hardware failure, or natural disaster.
  2. Disaster recovery and business continuity. BDRSuite provides businesses with disaster recovery and business continuity services, which can help them quickly restore their data and applications in the event of a disaster.
  3. Remote monitoring and management. BDRSuite allows IT administrators to remotely monitor and manage backup and disaster recovery operations, which can help streamline the backup process and reduce the risk of errors.

How has it helped my organization?

BDRSuite can help organizations protect their critical data and applications from loss or damage. By backing up data to the cloud and providing disaster recovery and business continuity services, BDRSuite can help organizations quickly recover their data and continue their operations in the event of a disaster.

Secondly, BDRSuite can help organizations reduce the risk of downtime and data loss. By providing remote monitoring and management capabilities, BDRSuite can help IT administrators identify and resolve issues before they become more significant problems.

Finally, BDRSuite can help organizations save time and money by automating backup and recovery processes and reducing the need for manual intervention. This can help reduce the risk of human error and improve efficiency.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable aspects include:

Cloud-based backup and disaster recovery. BDRSuite provides cloud-based backup and disaster recovery services that can help businesses protect their critical data and applications against various types of disasters. This feature can be valuable for businesses that require high levels of data protection and security.

Instant Recovery. BDRSuite offers an instant recovery feature that can help businesses quickly restore their data and applications during a disaster. This can be especially valuable for businesses that require minimal downtime and want to resume operations quickly after a disaster.

Multi-tenant support. BDRSuite provides multi-tenant support, which can be beneficial for managed service providers (MSPs) or businesses with multiple locations. This feature enables MSPs and businesses to manage multiple client or site backups from a single console, which can help improve efficiency and reduce management overhead.

What needs improvement?

The solution must improve:

  1. The user interface. I have seen that the BDRSuite user interface can be less intuitive and more challenging to navigate compared to other similar products. Improving the user interface could help new users get up to speed more quickly and reduce the learning curve for the software.
  2. Performance and reliability. I have experienced issues with the performance or reliability of the software, such as slow backup speeds or failed backups. Improving the performance and reliability of the software could help ensure that backups are completed efficiently and effectively.
  3. Customer support. The quality of customer support provided by BDRSuite is not great. Tere are slow response times or unhelpful support staff. Improving the quality of customer support could help ensure that users are able to quickly and effectively resolve any issues they may encounter while using the software.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used the solution for six months.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Network Engineer at CPM Roskamp
Real User
Top 20
Simple, application-aware, and adaptable to our business model with perpetual and offline licensing
Pros and Cons
  • "The best thing about it is that it has been adaptable to our business model. We are in industrial networking, and they were adaptable to give us offline installers and offline licenses. That has been the biggest thing. They also allow us to order the licenses on a perpetual basis."
  • "Windows 10 does not have application-aware backups. From my point of view, that's what's existing needs improvement."

What is our primary use case?

We use Vembu to back up and replicate virtual machines. We run virtual machines using VMware ESXi, and we back up and replicate our virtual machines.

How has it helped my organization?

The best thing about it is that it has been adaptable to our business model. We are in industrial networking, and they were adaptable to give us offline installers and offline licenses. That has been the biggest thing. They also allow us to order the licenses on a perpetual basis.

What is most valuable?

Backup and replications are most valuable. It seems that these servers are better because we can do application-aware backups on them. 

What needs improvement?

Windows 10 does not have application-aware backups. From my point of view, that's what's existing needs improvement. 

Something that I would like to see them do is an on-premise immutable solution.

For how long have I used the solution?

It's probably getting close to about a year mark.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

There are some bugs but not major ones.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

From my point of view, it can handle as many VMs as I'm going to see. We have pretty small sites. We range from 3 virtual machines to probably 20, and I feel confident that it could handle as many as we needed.

There are five or six users who are currently using this solution. They are members of the network team here at my company. They are network engineers or network admins.

We have plans to increase its usage. Currently, we have a lot of existing sites that are using a different solution, and their licenses are still good. In the future I see us expanding more. As long as Vembu keeps the same business model, I do see us using the product more.

How are customer service and support?

For the most part, they're responsive. There has never been a time when we opened a ticket and didn't hear from them for days. They're usually pretty quick to respond. We provide them with what they need, and they normally give us an answer whether we like the answer or not. Overall, they're responsive, and they at least give us an answer. I would rate them a nine out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We previously used Veeam, and we made the switch due to the change in their licensing. They don't do perpetual licensing anymore. They're going to a subscription-based model, which doesn't fit with our business model.

How was the initial setup?

It was straightforward. The setup is pretty intuitive. We don't need to follow a whole bunch of technical documentation in order to set it up at a site and set up the jobs. The user interface is friendly, and even for offline licenses, they provided a simple document on how to do that. That's straightforward as well. 

Its setup probably took 10 to 20 minutes.

What about the implementation team?

We did it on our own.

What was our ROI?

So far, we haven't had any actual disaster situations where we've had to use the restore, but overall, we have got a return on investment. It's doing so far what we want it to do.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Its price is fair, and they still allow perpetual licensing, which is extremely important for us. They also have offline licensing.

I am not aware of any costs in addition to the standard licensing fees. In terms of the affordability of the solution for businesses with a tight budget, you aren't going to beat it.

I didn't have any initial expectations of the solution based on its pricing. I found Vembu by just searching for solutions, and I didn't really have an expectation, but it can be said that Vembu has been better than my initial expectation. Its price is definitely fair.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I tested at least five or six different ones. We're in industrial networking, which is very different from a corporate IT network. First and foremost, the thing that I liked about Vembu was the licensing model, and the second thing was its simplicity. All we do is backup and replications, and they have a product that focuses on that without having this big ugly interface with multiple options that we don't even use.

What other advice do I have?

I haven't fully tested all the other bells and whistles on it, but for backup and replications, it's simple, and it does the job. It does exactly what we want it to.

I haven't had to test restores a whole lot, but initially, I tested it, and the restores were fine. They were what I would expect. They were not crazy fast but also not slow. It has not increased or decreased the speed of restores from our previous software. It's about the same.

I'm glad Vembu exists because, for bigger companies like Veeam, it's good that there is competition. That way they can't fully control this market. Vembu is a solution that is more friendly to actual businesses and small businesses.

I would rate it an eight out of ten.

Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor. The reviewer's company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
Anaylst at KRK
Real User
Top 20
An affordable and reliable product offering easy backup management
Pros and Cons
  • "The product is very reliable and works well out of the box; many of our customers are buying it."
  • "The solution's UI and integrations could be better."

What is our primary use case?

We offer the solution to our customers, primarily SMBs, for backup and disaster recovery. Deployment models include both cloud and on-prem. 

How has it helped my organization?

The solution enables us to recover data instantly; depending on the data type and volume, we can recover within seconds or minutes.

It's pretty easy to add and remove backup jobs using BDRSuite, which, in addition to the solution's features, reduces the time we spend on backup management.

What is most valuable?

The product is very reliable and works well out of the box; many of our customers are buying it.

BDRSuite features a good dashboard, and Vembu is working on making its product more user-friendly, improving the UI, and providing better integrations.

We tested the product's Instant Boot VM feature for instant access to our VMs or physical machines after a crash, and it provided immediate access.  

What needs improvement?

The solution's UI and integrations could be better. 

For how long have I used the solution?

We've been using the solution for five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is excellent. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

BDRSuite is scalable. 

How was the initial setup?

Integrating BDRSuite with existing infrastructure is quite easy; it doesn't take much time, and we always offer support to our customers. Deployment usually takes less than 15 minutes, and the first backup can be scheduled.  

The solution requires minimal maintenance. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The product is affordable, and we focus on SMBs for our customer base.

Our company believes everyone should have a backup solution, so we provide affordable pricing to small and medium businesses, bringing them easy access to a backup tool compared to more expensive competitor products.  

What other advice do I have?

I rate the solution nine out of ten. 

Regarding backup and replication scheduling options, we offer weekly, monthly, yearly, and multi-year options so we can customize the scheduling policy according to customer requirements.

We still use other backup solutions besides BDRSuite; we use different products for different use cases.

We use the solution to create backup repositories in cloud-based object storage, including Amazon S3, Microsoft Azure Blob Storage, and Google Cloud.  

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner/Reseller
PeerSpot user
IT Director at a retailer with 1-10 employees
Real User
Improved our organization by ensuring our data is secure during a disaster, but the UI needs improvement
Pros and Cons
  • "Backup of the VMware server is the most valuable feature."
  • "Scheduling backups is challenging due to the poor quality of the UI."

What is our primary use case?

We use the solution for the backup and recovery of our VMware data.

How has it helped my organization?

BDRSuite's data protection policy is excellent. A trusted source recommended the solution to me, and I have confidence that my organization is in capable hands by using it.

It is important that BDRSuite provides multiple restore points for recovery data in a more granular manner. For instance, if we identify an injection in our file by examining our log for the relevant time frame, we can restore our system and import our data to a different aspect. Therefore, it is crucial for the engineers to understand how to use the backup system, as restoring the data guarantees that there is no malware present.

The incremental backup process works perfectly because the backup system checks file access, which helps us maintain a smaller disk size.

BDRSuite has improved our organization by ensuring our data is secure during a disaster.

What is most valuable?

Backup of the VMware server is the most valuable feature.

What needs improvement?

The instructions are hard to follow and could be simplified.

Scheduling backups is challenging due to the poor quality of the UI. I would rate the UI a three out of ten, as it has significant room for improvement. The graphical interface, including its design, icons, layout, colors, and fonts, is not comparable to Google's. In my opinion, the design is the most significant feature that needs improvement.

The price has room for improvement.

The 15-day trial period for BDRSuite is insufficient to fully experience the solution and make an informed decision about its use.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the solution for four months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We can scale by adding additional licenses. 

Our server handles up to 10 million users.

How are customer service and support?

The individual with whom I have been in contact is competent, but the support team responsible for reading emails is inadequate. They are unable to comprehend the problem and as a result, there is a lot of unnecessary communication back and forth, which is a waste of time.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Negative

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Previously, I employed BASH Programming to export all the data daily, and I synchronized it on a server using a daily cron job to back up the system. However, BDRSuite is a more convenient option since it enables us to restore files at the file level. We can simply open the backup, choose the desired file, and send it to the server.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup should be more user-friendly. 

What about the implementation team?

The implementation was completed in-house.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The license is per unit and is expensive.

What other advice do I have?

I give the solution a five out of ten because I have not had to deal with a disaster situation yet.

To ensure the security of their data, individuals using BDRSuite should obtain certification. Although I have not personally verified this, a friend of mine used BDRSuite for their data center and found it to be secure. BDRSuite is a competitor of Zoho which is comparable to Google in terms of functionality. However, some users may find issues with the user interface and design, particularly those who prioritize aesthetics and ease of use. While technical users like myself will have no issues, others may find BDRSuite to be somewhat complicated upon examination.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free BDRSuite Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: April 2024
Buyer's Guide
Download our free BDRSuite Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.