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CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform vs Veeam Backup for AWS comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

CTERA Enterprise File Servi...
Ranking in Cloud Backup
8th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
File System Software (2nd), NAS (4th), Cloud Migration (5th), Cloud Storage (5th), Disaster Recovery (DR) Software (8th), Cloud Storage Gateways (1st), Content Collaboration Platforms (10th), AI Legal & Compliance (1st)
Veeam Backup for AWS
Ranking in Cloud Backup
32nd
Average Rating
9.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Featured Reviews

Tim M. - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Manager at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Supports global file recovery and rapid data versioning across 80 nodes
When we implemented CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform early on, and we've been on the platform for three years, we have three different cloud portals. We have an EU portal, we have an Americas portal, and we have an APAC portal. It would be nice if we could combine that into one portal just for that global single pane of glass look. We've talked with them about that and they say it's challenging just because of some of the structure, but that would be something nice if we could get that. I integrated with Varonis, and because CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform didn't have initially a working relationship with that vendor, it would have been nice had that pre-existed us saying we need this. But that wasn't totally CTERA's fault. There was a lot of challenge working with the vendor to build out that interface. A single pane of glass for CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform would be beneficial. Everything else works fairly well. We've never had a point where we couldn't get to something that caused us to have a serious outage, and that to me is the mark of a good software package. It's never really caused us serious issues. We have our issues, that's true, and every software package does. However, we've always been able to meet the needs of the business, and we drive hard on security, stability, and scalability. From the scalability standpoint, that's one of the most important things to us. We're on their capacity-based licensing, so if I need to ramp up another CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform NAS, if we have an M&A, I can easily and quickly spin up another NAS and start doing that data transition fairly quickly. The biggest maintenance issue with CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform is firmware upgrades. We've done a lot of transition from hardware solution to virtualized infrastructure in order to minimize that hardware lifecycle portion of it. We have to upgrade the firmware and sometimes that can be challenging in the nature of business of our size with 80 CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform nodes around the globe. The issue we've had with CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform happened recently in a firmware upgrade where there was a major database back-end upgrade and that took some time. For our smaller sites, it would be an hour or two, and I can build that into a fairly easy change window. But in our larger sites where we may have hundreds of terabytes of data, that database update process took maybe a day or a day and a half. That becomes more challenging, especially in a manufacturing environment where people are wanting to access configuration files. We had to pin the data locally because the data would be available on the local edge filer, but the cloud sync, while it was updating the database, the cloud files weren't available. That would be the other thing I'd like to see an improvement on: some way to do those database upgrades either in a more segmented fashion or in some type of offline environment. I understand the logistics behind that sounds easy, but I'm sure it's not.
Pranav Telang - PeerSpot reviewer
Lead Architect at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
Automated backups have protected large cloud databases and support application‑aware recovery
People must be aware of the costs associated with Veeam Backup for AWS and try to manage them. Be aware of it because this is a sudden cost and a surprising cost - what I would say is a hidden cost. Usually, people think that backup can go through gateways and S3 gateways. That is reducing the cost and not going to the internet to an S3 bucket. S3 gateway definitely allows you the transfer cost reduction. When we say the API call to the S3 bucket, it means the push, pull, delete, and modification. Every time a backup happens and if it is a really long-running process or every time you are restoring an application-aware backup, people should be aware of what they are exactly restoring. It is not the same as on-premises because for on-premises, there is no such cost for restoring or backup. In the cloud, there is definitely a cost with respect to the data transfer and API calls. These are hidden costs where many people are not aware. Someone should really be aware of it. Veeam's integration with AWS IAM for role-based access control is adequate. AWS requires Veeam to always have their script or the requirements of what they actually require for such backup types. When we take an account level or usually what we have done is we usually keep one backup server in a centralized location and from there we run these backup jobs. Those kinds of configuration and network configuration need to be there, and the IAM-level policy should be there. They need three types of major policies such as EC2-related, disk-related, and network-related items. It is a huge list of a JSON file that Veeam also provides. Some of them are usually not there. Once you run those backups and all when it gets failed, the VDA also gives you the option of what it is missing. Then you can go ahead and update that one. It is not that hard, but someone who is really aware of backup as well as cloud knowledge and having extensive cloud knowledge can fix this. It is not a big deal. Regarding Veeam's backup cost calculator, I would say it does not help with calculating the application-aware backup cost. The number of API calls it is going to make depends on the frequency of backup and whether you are going to take a full backup or an incremental backup. The way Veeam works, there is a feasibility to take what we say an incremental backup and they sync. There are two types: one is a fully aware backup that takes a whole complete copy of your instance, and the incremental combines and has created the full copy. If that is the case and you are taking a big chunk or your server size or your disk size is almost around TB territory, and you are taking an application-aware backup such as SQL or any application-aware backup, then that is definitely going to increase your cost.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform is a hybrid solution that supports both on-premises and cloud environments."
"Our main reason for going for this solution was the uncontrollable growth of file data. It was unsustainable on our previous platform or technology. We needed something scalable like CTERA, so it was the scalability that we required."
"The best feature is the migration tool within CTERA."
"It makes people think I have my superhero cape on because they're thinking it's all lost, they're doomed, and we're able to quickly and effectively go back and say, 'Here you go,' and it's not hours, it's minutes."
"CTERA has out-of-the-box data protection capabilities."
"CTERA is a very scalable product, allowing us to grow."
"The features I find most valuable are in the gateways themselves. They have done a great job over the years of providing insight into what is happening with our products, with the batches that come through that are scanned. I enjoy that part of it, and it is fairly easy to use from our standpoint once we get to know the product."
"The solution provides substantial flexibility, allowing the separation of workloads across various hardware platforms without vendor lock-in. This flexibility makes it adaptable to future infrastructure changes."
"The best features Veeam Backup for AWS offers in my experience are reliability and security."
"Veeam Backup for AWS has valuable features such as easy management and installation."
"The best features Veeam Backup for AWS offers are speed and its ease of use."
"In my opinion, the best features of Veeam Backup for AWS include that Veeam Backup VDA is best for EC2 instance snapshots, as it allows you to achieve compression in a better way and you don't need to save anything elsewhere or need an additional S3 bucket because it is going to use your account-level backup vaults."
"Veeam Backup for AWS has reduced many risks for my organization because in a difficult moment, if I need to restore my backup, I have access to a backup outside my environment and I can restore this backup to another AWS account; this is how I manage risk."
 

Cons

"The issue we've had with CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform happened recently in a firmware upgrade where there was a major database back-end upgrade and that took some time."
"One suggested improvement for the CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform is the ability to distribute data across multiple active backend storage nodes rather than the current limitation of a single active node."
"AI and automation features could enhance the platform, such as AI-powered search, predictive storage analytics, and intelligent alerts for proactive monitoring. Predictive storage analytics will help with better capacity planning. There can be some sort of intelligent alerts for proactive monitoring."
"One area for improvement is the migration tool, which at times does not work as designed, necessitating the use of alternative solutions like Robocopy."
"The new Edge filer that they have comes with a lot more features than what we purchased. It would be better if we are able to add those extra features without having to swap out the hardware. A clear upgrade path for legacy customers would be beneficial."
"I am looking for a process where version upgrades do not impact the customers. There is no downtime."
"The issue we've had with CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform happened recently in a firmware upgrade where there was a major database back-end upgrade and that took some time."
"They fixed all the requirements that we had in the beginning. The beginning was a little bit rough, but we tuned it nicely. However, in some cases, they could improve performance."
"People must be aware of the costs associated with Veeam Backup for AWS and try to manage them. Be aware of it because this is a sudden cost and a surprising cost - what I would say is a hidden cost."
"There is room for improvement in Veeam Backup for AWS regarding its pricing. There are alternative solutions available at a lower price."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I find the pricing reasonable. They offered us deals that helped us. Especially with the upgrade to a bigger unit last year, they were helpful with the deal."
"So far, pricing seems to be fine."
"It is hard to compare the costs if we want to retain the same model of a separate high-performance storage or certain things, but it is one of the cheapest solutions available in Israel."
"It is fairly priced. I am not too involved in the pricing of what we used to pay, but it would have reduced the cost of ownership. I cannot give a figure, but the EMC solution was very expensive compared to CTERA."
"CTERA's pricing seems to be on par with some of the other players, such as Nasuni and Azure. They all have benefits, but CTERA is competitive for its features."
"CTERA's pricing model is competitive compared to other companies that achieve the same thing. Their closest rival is Nasuni, and CTERA is significantly more affordable than Nasuni."
"I am not directly involved in the pricing aspects, but I understand that CTERA's pricing is competitive and within industry standards."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
65%
Outsourcing Company
5%
Educational Organization
4%
Financial Services Firm
3%
Computer Software Company
19%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Insurance Company
9%
Outsourcing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business2
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise8
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform?
I believe CTERA could improve their pricing experience by customizing price lists per region. For example, there is a difference between what is sold to customers in Israel versus U.S. customers. I...
What needs improvement with CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform?
When we implemented CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform early on, and we've been on the platform for three years, we have three different cloud portals. We have an EU portal, we have an America...
What is your primary use case for CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform?
We have approximately 80 nodes around the world and we're using CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform mostly for unstructured file storage.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Veeam Backup for AWS?
I think the pricing and everything related to Veeam Backup for AWS is okay.
What needs improvement with Veeam Backup for AWS?
I am not seeing any feature that I want right now for improvement in Veeam Backup for AWS.
What is your primary use case for Veeam Backup for AWS?
My main use case for Veeam Backup for AWS is disaster recovery and backup. We have our AWS environment, and we do the backup using Veeam Backup for AWS for disaster recovery and backup.
 

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

McDonald's, WPP, US Navy, Gore, Festo, Stryker, Bezeq, PERI
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