Dell NetWorker Reviews

I use the solution since we have thousands of stores where the business needs servers as a backup for everything, and so we use Dell NetWorker and Dell Data Domain Systems.

Dell Networker helps with the backup of critical data.

There are a couple of time-tested products, like Dell NetWorker and Veritas NetBackup. Both are among the oldest backup solutions or software products and work properly.

Dell NetWorker's features revolve around its many shell utilities that help gather reports. It is like any other backup software since you can schedule a backup, and it works.

The software itself works, but it mostly depends on the environment. If you store the tool in a remote location and you don't have good connectivity, then there won't be issues. The software does what it is supposed to do, which is take care of the backup. The one thing Dell needs to improve on is the area of NVP vProxy. Even for Veritas NetBackup, NVP vProxy is a part of the backup software, so we don't have to deploy it separately. In Dell NetWorker, you have to deploy NVP vProxy for backup using vCenter to backup VMs in VMware, which is one area I noticed is a little bit of a pain because we have to deploy, like, 10, 15 or 20 vProxy servers, which connects vCenter to Dell NetWorker and then you can add the VMs from the VMware to back them up. I know that vProxy has to be deployed. Otherwise, you cannot use vCenter as a backup for the VMs via VMware. I know that vProxy is the only thing I noticed is not a part of the software. You have to deploy a separate server, but integrating is not a problem. You can use it as a backup tool for anything you want, ranging from databases to file systems.

I have been using Dell NetWorker for fifteen to twenty years. My company is a very big Dell customer. I use the solution's latest version.

When it comes to the stability of the product, some of the stores that have bad connectivity have some challenges backing them up because they operate remotely, the connection is slow, and it takes longer to manage the backup stuff. That is where the deduplication in the tool helps because once you get the data to the storage device, only the deduplication part looks into the changes in the data going to Dell NetWorker.

The tool can be easily scaled up. Depending on your environment, you can increase the resources on the backup servers and the CPU memory. You can also increase the storage where the backup data is saved on the fly. It is really easy.

At the company, there are six to seven backup admins.

There are no plans to increase the use of the product in our company.

The solution's technical support is pretty good and helpful. The tool's support team usually responds right away to high-priority issues, and if it is something that is of medium priority, then it takes a day. If something is not important or if it is an area that can wait, then we can just arrange or schedule a meeting with Dell at a fixed time. Everything is based on the priority or the severity of the ticket. The tool's support team is pretty responsive. I rate the technical support an eight out of ten.

The product's installation phase is straightforward. You could install the software on UNIX or Windows systems, and we just run the software and then configure it based on each environment.

There is no need to have a specific strategy for setting up the solution, as it is a pretty straightforward procedure. You just install it, add clients, and back them up.

The solution can be deployed in a scattered environment, meaning some of it is on-prem and some on the cloud.

Dell NetWorker is an expensive solution. None of the backup products are cheap. The licensing model offered is usually a five-year one. The need to pay any additional charges apart from the licensing is something that depends on what kind of support agreement you have with Dell NetWorker. If it is a TLA-based agreement, then such licenses are transformational licenses with which I can send as many NetWorkers as I want to my servers. You pay according to what kind of agreements you have with Dell. You can go for a non-TLA agreement, which is like a one-to-one agreement where, after the tool is deployed, it is covered for the duration of the support. You have to pay for the hardware and buy it. Support is offered under five-year contracts. If you are for a TLA-based license, you can use any of their products within the suite without paying extra.

My company uses Dell Data Domain Systems for deduplication. Dell Data Domain Systems is a storage device from Dell, and it works really well with Dell NetWorker. Dell Data Domain Systems can also be used with Veritas NetBackup or any other backup software because it is just a storage destination, so only the deduplicated data gets packed up every day.

The maintenance of the product is not complex. Sometimes, the services die, and you just start up the processes.

I recommend the product to others who plan to use it.

I rate the product a seven out of ten.

We have a centralized data domain system with a 100% virtualized environment. The product helps us with VM Backup, NAS system backup, and file system backup.

The product is a good backup solution and has helped our organization in most data storage scenarios.

Dell NetWorker's valuable feature is its ability to configure the network for immutability, specifically for backups. It is the most essential feature nowadays. We can take immediate backups. It has a good compression ratio as well.

The NDMP backups, especially NAS, could be optimal. We receive complaints from various vendors related to its slow performance. Additionally, it required full backups and configuration every week or two. There could be a possibility of constructing full backups from incremental data intelligently, similar to TSM. Further, they could adopt a progressive backup methodology.

We have been using Dell NetWorker for six years.

I rate the product's stability a seven out of ten.

I rate the platform's stability a seven out of ten.

The technical support services are good, especially when we have connected with the right individuals or specialists.

The decision to move from TSM to Dell NetWorker was primarily driven by Dell/EMC infrastructure use. We wanted to maintain a unified vendor approach across the entire converged infrastructure.

The initial setup is straightforward. However, PPDM is a lot easier to deploy than NetWorker.

We never encountered any challenges for data backup and restore. It is a big advantage considering the return on investment.

It is inexpensive compared to new products like Rubrik or Cohesity. They offer discounts to government organizations.

We have to keep Dell NetWorker updated as many security fixes need to be done. With everything shifting to the cloud, the organization beginning with the transition should consider hybrid solutions. This approach will help them back up both the cloud and on-premise versions in a hybrid environment.

I rate it a seven out of ten.

On-premises

Dell NetWorker is primarily used on customers' off-site premises to take backups from core servers. Although we are a solution provider and not the direct user, Dell NetWorker is effective in taking backups and is used in customer environments. It helps our clients by providing reliable backup solutions.

NetWorker is easy to install on clients and servers, and making backups from server to storage and backup devices is straightforward.

The challenge with Dell NetWorker lies in its deployment over virtualized environments. Ports are not visible to the network, which requires a dedicated physical server. Improving this feature could greatly enhance usability.

We have been using Dell NetWorker since 2022 or 2021, for the last three years.

NetWorker is stable and provides a means for seamless backups from various devices.

Initial setup can be completed in approximately three working days, depending on the server and backup devices involved.

We have a dedicated team for the implementation which is well-versed in virtualization, servers, and storage connectivity. The team includes more than sixty engineers in various specialized domains.

They should improve the visibility of network ports when Dell NetWorker is deployed over virtualized environments.

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.

On-premises

Dell NetWorker is mostly used for backup solutions, and it was quite good and easy to work with.

Dell NetWorker's user interface is quite simple and very interactive. The solution's user interface is easy to manipulate or maneuver around.

The solution could be graphically better.

I have been using Dell NetWorker for five years.

I rate Dell NetWorker ten out of ten for stability.

Our clients for Dell NetWorker are mostly enterprise businesses.

I rate the solution ten out of ten for scalability.

It took a while the last time I tried to get support, but once I got connected to the support, it was quite easy. I had a few challenges in the beginning, but it didn't take long once the communication was established.

Positive

On a scale from one to ten, where one is difficult and ten is easy, I rate the solution's initial setup an eight out of ten.

It takes a couple of minutes to install the server and the agents, but the solution's deployment doesn't take long.

On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing an eight out of ten.

Dell NetWorker has supported our client's daily backup operations in a good manner. It's quite easy to use Dell NetWorker for disaster recovery processes. It is straightforward and requires a couple of steps, unlike other solutions where you'd have to go through too many options. Dell NetWorker allows me to examine the endpoints for data protection needs.

Dell NetWorker's deduplication functionality is way better than what we get on Veeam. The implementation of Dell NetWorker has positively affected our overall IT infrastructure performance. I would recommend the solution to other users.

Overall, I rate Dell NetWorker ten out of ten.

On-premises

I use the solution in my company as it is a product that has been sold to many customers, especially to those who need a foolproof, solid, and stable backup and restoration solution.

The use case for Dell NetWorker has been for customers with at least 60 to 75 machines for which they need a backup tool, and after that, it can go up to a couple of thousand machines. The product is useful for those who require a working solution without much technical fixing needed to make it work. The tool's restoration part is the most important, which allows users to check if the restore part is working properly with Dell NetWorker's help. The aforementioned reasons prompted me to continue selling the product to our company's customers.

The most valuable feature of the solution is a function in Dell NetWorker that works if the data that you are supposed to restore is resilient. If the data you want to restore is incomplete, then it has some functionality that will restore everything that is okay and skip the part that is not okay, so you get almost everything back.

Based on my experience, it was tricky to get support when I started working with the tool. The support is an area with concerns where improvements are required. Once the product starts working, users get good support.

I have been using Dell NetWorker since 1997.

It is an extremely stable product.

The scalability part of the product is very positive since you can scale it up or down as much as you like without any limitations.

In Sweden, where I used the tool, there were around a hundred users.

It was tricky to get the support to start working on your problem, but once you get to contact them, they offer professional help quickly.

I had technicians and engineers in my company to take care of the setup part of the product. The setup process of the product was straightforward. 

The product's setup phase can be completed in a day. My company hands over the product to the customer once they learn how it works.

The product can be deployed on an on-premises model. It can be deployed in the cloud or on-premises.

Earlier, users had to make yearly payments towards the licensing costs of the product. The licenses were expensive, but users used to get the best device to use.

My company did evaluate other products like Backup Exec, NetBackup, and IBM Tivoli Storage Manager against Dell NetWorker. My company chose to work with Dell NetWorker because of the backup and restoration speed that it offered, along with stability.

During my experience with the product, it did not have the deduplication feature in it unless you bought Dell EMC Data Domain and hardware appliance.

It is a really stable product and is one of the best solutions in the market. Based on my experience, the product has no limitations.

Dell NetWorker released a new version many years ago to cover a new operating system's latest version, but it didn't work. My company had to face a lot of problems with our customers until Dell acknowledged the problem and the fact that there was a need to do a little bit more work. The aforementioned area consists of the details of when I faced some issues with the product.

The benefit of having Dell NetWorker in infrastructure was to ensure that there was a backup and restore environment that was stable, worked well, and could deliver when needed.

I rate the overall tool a nine out of ten.

Hybrid Cloud

Dell NetWorker is a secure and backup service tool.

The solution offers time management, reduces operational cost and do multiple backups at a time.

The tool should integrate with other solutions, like, the tape library.

I have been using Dell NetWorker for one and a half years.

I rate the solution’s stability an eight out of ten.

300 users are using the solution in our company.

I rate the solution’s scalability an eight out of ten.

Dell support is better. Basically, in our region, no physical resources required to prevent such things. We need to go online supports, and time differences are too high.

Neutral

The initial setup can be difficult at times, especially when dealing with Data Domain port-based authentication. Managing where the Data Domain is located on the port side can be a particular difficulty. Deployment takes around two to three hours to complete whereas port installation take around two to three weeks. We have two users to do the implement and maintain.

We achieved 60% ROI in terms of money and time savings.

The solution’s pricing differ in some conditions. It offers perpetual licence.

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

The Dell Networker's maintenance complexity varies. It can be easy in some situations and challenging in others. Overall, its functionality is generally good. However, when monitoring the system from another location, we encounter difficulties in handling certain conditions. These difficulties arise especially during installation and client configuration. Maintaining client-level configurations also have difficulty, particularly when communication between clients and the server occurs through different ports while only one or two ports are allowed by default settings. This further complicate the process.

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

The software is quite complicated and useful for large corporations using different information systems, like different databases and applications. NetWorker is good for many agents from different software applications. Dell has decided to launch a new software called PowerProtect, so they might close NetWorker in the future.

NetWorker, you can realize any architecture with NetWorker because it's a comprehensive solution. They have many agents for other applications.

NetWorker's major problem is its legacy software. Legato was the company that invented NetWorker in the early '90s, and in keeping the product line all these years, Dell has many legacy features that they cannot drop because their customers still use them.

These legacy features are a problem when it comes to integration. In supporting these features, it's difficult for Dell to implement new features because Many of them use kernels that are not optimal. This could be why they decided to launch a new product line.

I've used Dell NetWorker for about eight years.

Dell NetWorker is quite stable.

Dell NetWorker's scalability is good. My company has several thousands of users.

Dell's tech support was great.

We previously used Veeam, which was good for virtual infrastructure.

The ease of initial setup depends on your experience. The concept of NetWorker is slightly different from NetBackup, for example. If you have enough education about the product and understand the administration and installation procedures, it's quite easy. The time taken to set up the product depends on how complex the infrastructure is.

We use a license without a time term. We just need to buy additional support when needed.

In Russia, we have some problems with the presence of Western vendors here, so we have no support from US companies. I doubt anybody will increase the number of licenses or expand the installation because that involves support from the vendor.

I rate Dell NetWorker an eight out of ten. I recommend the solution.

On-premises

We have around 700 VMs and maybe 200 terabytes in standalone servers. So we are successfully backing up both VMs and the file systems of standalone servers. Altogether, we are backing up maybe 500 terabytes. 

In Dell NetWorker, it is very simple to back up VMs. Finally, the backup of VMC is working reliably and is simple. We are also backing up to data domains, which are well integrated with NetWorker. 

Additionally, we are backing up to tape. Everything works fine. There is mutual compatibility so that we can move backups and clone backups from data domains to tape. It's great. Also, we are using a cloud tier to offload backups on Data Domain 6800s.

There is a significant weakness. It's the advertising of the product by Dell. They are doing everything to discourage people from using NetWorker. So that's a weakness, but it's not a weakness of the product itself. It's a weakness of Dell as an organization. We would be pretty happy to use NetWorker because we don't have any functional problems with it. 

The main issue is the lack of a clear vision for the future of NetWorker. Generally, the preferred backup solution is PowerProtect, and it probably has some benefits. But from our point of view, the disadvantage it has is the lack of support for a tape library. We made an investment into a tape library because it's still a pretty good option, especially for off-site backups. So, that's the only weakness of NetWorker.

Moreover, I would like to see additional features in future releases, especially with the growing importance of cloud integration and ransomware protection. The current offering of Cyber Vault for analyzing backups feels a bit clumsy. Real-time protection and more active ransomware detection features would be beneficial. 

Additionally, NetWorker is not integrated with contemporary storage solutions like Pure Storage. While solutions like Commvault and Veeam are integrated with Pure Storage, NetWorker lacks awareness of Pure Storage. Pure Storage provides snapshots that could be used for backup purposes, but NetWorker and Pure Storage are not compatible or communicating with each other.

I have been using Dell NetWorker for ages. So in the past, we were using Legato. Later on, we switched to backing up from Sun Microsystems. And eventually, it ended up with Dell becoming NetWorker. Altogether, we have been using it for 28 years, I believe. We currently use version 19.7.

It's been very stable.

It is scalable. We have around 3000 to 4000 staff and maybe 50,000 students using this solution. Just one person is required for administration and backup tasks.

The backup responsibilities are handled by two people, but there isn't even a dedicated person for it. We also have other responsibilities, so we are two part-time administrators.

Since the product is not on the front banner of Dell, the support may not be the best. We encountered some issues, and despite escalating the matter, the Dell team couldn't assist us. But the problem was more related to VMware than Dell. We were using an old version of VMware, and that caused problems with scheduling tags. We tried to seek help from Dell's support because we couldn't back up the so-called dynamic groups. These groups should automatically classify sources for backup based on tags, but it didn't work as expected. So, we had to manually allocate the VMs to groups. It wasn't a significant issue for us, though. However, I understand that Dell's attention is currently focused on its PowerProtect products.

We are generally satisfied with Dell's support. All our servers are from Dell, including all ESXs. Support for other products is excellent, without a doubt. However, Dell NetWorker can be a bit complicated, and when it's functioning properly, we have no issues. But when we face specific problems, it becomes extremely difficult to debug and provide feedback on the issue. Even with the assistance of Dell support, we couldn't make much progress. There were numerous rounds of joint sessions, but unfortunately, it didn't resolve the problem.

Neutral

The initial setup is very easy. It's incredibly fast. We once attempted to install Commvault, but it took us several days, and we couldn't get it to work. 

While deploying NetWorker was a breeze and could be done in just a few minutes. I even demonstrated this to the Commvault team, and they were bewildered. They couldn't believe that I could set up a new NetWorker installation within 20 to 23 minutes. So, for me, it is simple and intuitive. I personally don't face any issues.

We are in the educational sector, and I believe we receive significant discounts.

I don't know the exact RRP (Recommended Retail Price) for this product. We have some sort of a deal between the local Dell for Asia Pacific and our university. Our pricing is very good.

Firstly, I would suggest finding out the future prospects of NetWorker within Dell. I don't know how many more years Dell will support NetWorker. Dell seems to be pushing its new product, PowerProtect, which is a discouraging fact for me. 

If Dell intends to maintain both products, it should make it clear that the future of backup solutions lies in both PowerProtect and NetWorker. However, this is not clear at the moment.

Overall, I would say it's an easy nine.

I use the solution in my company for data protection, backup, and system restoration.

The tool's most valuable feature is its ability to recover the data.

The tool should be more streamlined and have the possibility to set up a backup for a bunch of clients who are different in nature. You have a few SQL servers with different credentials for backup, but you have to specify a single object for each of them because you have different credentials. The tool should have something similar to IAM tools and allow integrations with fiber channels and some IAM solutions so that it can be streamlined, resolving the problems with the management of the access to databases and backup.

The features of the tool meet my requirements. I have no such new requirements in the tool, so I cannot say what needs to be added to the product for me at the moment.

The tool should be more streamlined and simplified to create a backup to receive objects.

I have been using Dell NetWorker for twenty-five years. I recommend the tool to my company's customers.

It is a stable solution.

It is a scalable solution. You can use the tool on one computer, but at the same time, you can use the same binaries to make a system that will protect thousands of them.

Everybody wants the response time to be less or zero, but no support team can meet such expectations. I rate the technical support an eight and a half out of ten.

Positive

I have experience with Tivoli Storage Manager, HPE, NetBackup, and Dell Avamar. Dell NetWorker is the best option in the market if you know how to implement and use it. If you know how to use it, the tool is very good.

Considering my twenty-five years of working experience with the tool, implementing it is easy. The implementation phase of the tool can be easy for beginners because the product has an interface that is quite okay. There are a lot of wizards now, so it is more streamlined from the point of view of how to create the protection policies and so on, making it an easy process.

The solution is deployed on an on-premises model.

I am not a customer of the tool, so I never paid the price for the tool. My customers or end users use the tool because they pay for it.

The tool's automation is very good because you can automate all the traffic to run the backups. We don't want to run the backup but prefer to restore the copies of the backups to the client's systems. You can use the system easily and customize things to meet all the requirements from the point of view of automation. The tool is a very flexible system for both automation and protection.

I think there is no integration with any AI-driven management tasks. AI is more or less very popular nowadays, but I think there is nothing like it in the tool.

I recommend the tool to others, especially to those who use Dell Data Domain. If you plan to use the tool on one computer and then go to thousands of them, then I won't recommend it to you.

The integration of the tool with third-party products is fine.

I rate the tool a seven out of ten.

On-premises

Our primary use cases for the product include taking regular backups of critical systems and utilizing its archiving solution. We back up our enterprise systems to a disk-based backup system and subsequently transfer these backups to an archiving system. When necessary, we recover these backups for our users, such as application and database users.

The product's most valuable features are robust integration options with databases and email systems. It allows seamless integration with native tools like Oracle's, significantly accelerating the backup process by eliminating the need for manual configuration.

We encountered challenges during the solution's deployment, particularly integrating our database system and Microsoft Exchange. This area needs improvement. 

They could improve their licensing policy, particularly in terms of measuring customer systems for backups. For example, they could refine distinguishing between capacity-based backups and the number of system-based backups. 

I have been working with Dell NetWorker for about five years.

I rate the product stability an eight out of ten. 

I rate the product scalability a nine out of ten. 

Dell could improve its technical support by enhancing the response time, especially for the initial ticket raised. The first ticket could be addressed promptly and within the agreed-upon service level agreement (SLA).

Positive

The setup is straightforward for smaller deployments, but it becomes more complicated for larger deployments.

Excluding the integration with other systems, it typically takes one to two days. However, the process can take about one week if system integrations are included.

The solution's automation capabilities are efficient. Once the scheduler is configured, backups proceed without any interruption. This includes automatic transfers from disk-based to archiving systems, making the process highly effective.

I rate it an eight out of ten. 

On-premises