I do deal with Dell PowerProtect Cloud Snapshot. They were implementing a consolidation solution where they wanted to take a backup from the on-premises server and copy it into the public cloud, specifically AWS. They had AWS infrastructure, and we created all the Direct Connect configuration, port opening, security group settings, and protocols that needed to be communicated with agents and snapshots for servers that needed to be migrated. We typically implement this solution for migrations because they wanted to move some servers from on-premises to cloud. We completed a proof of concept for this implementation.
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
It is easy to restore VMs in the cloud. When you want to restore everything into the cloud for your disaster recovery, it will really help reduce your RTO. Usually, if you go on-premises and experience a disaster, sometimes you need to wait for hardware and other resources, which can cause significant delays. In situations where you have a critical system that needs to be up very quickly, you can bring it up in the cloud instead.
Obviously, there was connectivity testing and recovery involved, but we prepared standard operating procedures in such a way to handle these processes.
What needs improvement?
For people looking for on-premises infrastructure with their disaster recovery in the cloud, Dell PowerProtect Cloud Snapshot can help because it is easy to recover from. Additionally, if they are trying to migrate, they can use this solution as well. However, it depends on the customer's use cases and whether they really want to spend that much money and time on it. It requires new setup, licenses, and infrastructure investments. If customers do not have the existing infrastructure, then there is no use for it. However, if a customer already has good enterprise-level infrastructure, they can integrate this solution very easily.
For how long have I used the solution?
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
These are SAS protocol solutions, and scaling is not a big issue. These are simple instances, but it is defined by what kind of workload you are using, and based on that, you have to upgrade your instance type, which is supported by the vendor. Dell EMC has certain types of EC2 instances that they support, and Veeam has their own supported EC2 instances based on the workload. If you are taking a backup of one hundred VMs or one thousand VMs, they recommend compute instances with higher RAM. If you have a very small infrastructure, it will ask you to choose a smaller instance. When you are done with it or your infrastructure is increasing, from the cloud perspective, it is easy to upgrade any instance. However, that should be supported by Veeam software or the Dell IDPA cloud software.
How was the initial setup?
It was complex, but we implemented it ourselves as a proof of concept.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I use Veeam, which we deployed in AWS itself. We also use NetBackup vault. However, majorly I can tell you Veeam and Cohesity are the main alternates. That solution was completely for cloud, not for on-premises, and we implemented it that way. If you go with another solution like Veeam, they have categorized their offerings. If you want to take a snapshot of any kind of EC2 instance, you have to purchase a product called VDA. If you want to take a backup of an agent like SQL or something else, you have to deploy a VBR server. In that way, you have to purchase additional licenses and make architecture changes. The same applies with Dell, but it comes with instances that you need and the S3 bucket. It is a bit simpler compared to Veeam. All in all, at the end of the day, everything is doing the same thing, so I do not see much difference there.
What other advice do I have?
For Dell PowerProtect Cloud Snapshot, I would say a rating of seven to eight only, not more than that. I would say it is a good solution, but a bit typical for the first time to use. My overall review rating for this product is seven out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Amazon Web Services (AWS)


