Dell PowerProtect Data Manager alternatives and competitors

Our customers mainly use it as a mixed backup solution of primarily virtual environments, whether it is Hyper-V or VMware, and also in some cases, physical machines. Some of our customers must have tape access, which is one of the reasons why we often propose and use Commvault.

We are a partner and service provider for Commvault. For some customers in Belgium, we are also implementing Metallic.

In Holland, we have some installations with cloud connectivity. However, in Belgium, we only use the cloud for archival purposes at this time.

Commvault helps to ensure broad coverage with the discovery of unprotected workloads. This is important. From the moment that we set it up, we mostly have customers telling us what they need to back up. Then, you can list the machines that are not yet protected. Sometimes, we can see that they are unaware of this, and say, "We didn't know that those servers were not protected yet," or "We did not back them up yet." 

Sometimes, if you have multiple admins working in environments, you will see a growth of machines and the backup people responsible are not always aware of this. Therefore, it is very important to explain to customers that they need to perform a check monthly. They should also check with their admins or application owners to see what is necessary, because sometimes application owners may need to pay for it or the customer will need newer licenses. It is important for them to know, especially these days. In the case where you have servers which are not yet protected, you have bigger issues.

We use Commvault's ransomware protection and detection on media agents. From the moment that we can configure media agents, we have already enabled that option. We will then address with customers the possibilities, a way forward, and regular checks with resources. As a service provider, if we configure a customer, then they will set up a monthly restore test. Also, if a customer demands it or finds it necessary, we can perform disaster recovery tests.

Commvault can do everything for every operating system and application. Whether it is cloud-based, like Office 365, or not, it is possible with Commvault. 

Sometimes for customers, it is difficult because you can see all the features. Sometimes, it is difficult for them to use or understand it. Once they have had some training from Commvault or us, they are really happy with the solution.

I would assess the Command Center as a very useful but sometimes difficult tool. It is multipurpose. It has all the features of logging and monitoring, especially for the actual setup. For us, it is easy because we work daily with it, but for customers who only use it once a week, they sometimes have some difficulties. Command Center is not user-friendly for beginners.

This is also the reason why we propose to customers to use the Web Console. I know that some older customers are not yet really aware of this tool. However, from the moment that they start using the tool and search possibilities, they will then go to that Web Console instead of the Command Center.

Ransomware is a major problem these days, and whatever improvements they can make to be more secure on this is always good. At this moment, they have a large install base and a very broad package for backup of applications, for OSs and Hyper-V, with a cloud integration. This will be a major part of their growth and change in the future. 

We would like the ability to restore to and from the cloud to on-prem. While they are already very big in this aspect, this could be an improvement over the next few years.

I have been using it for approximately three years. However, my company has been using it much longer.

It is a very stable product that has many features. 

Scalability is very good. It can go very far with the number of media agents and its database. 

You have hyperscale possibilities, which is not something that I work with a lot. However, if necessary, you can also use the appliances to scale. 

For normal environments with servers and media agents, it is rather easy to scale. We sometimes start with small media agents using a physical server. We always have the possibility to extend it with more disks. It is easy for Commvault to scale the disk capacity.

The technical support is very good. We have a general account with Commvault where we can open cases and get assistance. Up until now, it has always been very good.

Positive

Sometimes, they have already used Dell EMC NetWorker. When Dell EMC tries to sell them PowerProtect, we will suggest moving to Commvault because we know it is very good and has a stable environment.

The initial setup is straightforward because I know the product rather well. I can say that customers who see it or sometimes migrate from another product to Commvault find it difficult. For example, you need to have a CommServe server with a database. The database could be on another server or virtual machine. Then, you will need to have media agents.

By using our service provider solution, customers often have less work than before. They don't have to manage an environment themselves. They can get reports about whether backups fail or not. They can also ask us to perform restores, etc.

The main reason that customers often choose us is because we can use Commvault as a service provider. So, the customer does not need to install a CommServe server and database on-premises. Instead, we can simply use a media agent with clients and back up their data on a temporary media, then replicate the data to our data center and servers. So, they will have double security, e.g., on-prem for fast restores. Initially, after one weeks to two months, they will have longer copies and retention periods on our site, where they have the possibility to perform restores or replication to their on-prem environment.

Sometimes, for customers, the setup is difficult compared to Veeam, which we sometimes also sell to much smaller customers. However, for the bigger customers, we use Commvault.

If it is a bigger physical and/or virtual environment with a lot of applications, Commvault is the way to go. We have noticed with Veeam, especially if you have physical database servers, that it is sometimes a hassle to configure and back up. For smaller customers who only have a virtual environment of around 50 to 60 VMs, Commvault might be too big, painful, and difficult. In these cases, we might propose the Veeam solution.

Rubrik and Cohesity have large cloud solutions. However, in Belgium, it is mainly the virtual environment that we need to protect as well as physical servers for bigger customers, which is why Commvault is the best solution for us.

I primarily still use the Commvault Command Center. We teach a lot of customers to use the Commvault Web Console because it is easier for them to use. Also, for future upgrades, the newer versions are aware of the web and HTML5 interfaces, but not Command Center.

It is good to have an assessment of the environment beforehand to really look at the retention of the customer's backups. If they are already using a solution, it is important to determine if the configured retention times are up to date. It is also important to know if cloud integration is necessary or will be in the future.

I would rate this solution as eight out of 10. There is always room for improvement.

The primary use cases are file system backup, endpoint backup, and virtualization backups.

We are using it with Quantum and Dell Data Domain.

The GUI is user-friendly.

The performance is improving. It used to be that NetWorker's performance was not very good but after integration with Data Domain, and after they switched to a quality-based network solution, the performance increased.

Over the past five to six years, the speed that NetWorker connects between networks and servers has improved. It used to take a long time.

We are using DD Boost and it is helpful.

The integration of the web API should be improved. There has been new functionality added to the API but it should be easier to understand.

The Backup module should be improved, especially the functionality for SharePoint and SQL Server. We are having issues when we are trying to backup up Microsoft applications, and it happens when the data is very large. For example, our database is 19 terabytes and this is very large for NetWorker, so it runs slowly. We are not able to tune it and segment it. If it were a file system, then we could split it into smaller pieces. In cases like this, it is very fast. However, because we are not able to divide it, the backup is slow. This is one area that can be improved because often, people don't need to take a full backup. Sometimes, then just want a snapshot of some data.

The capability of incremental backups should be included. As it is now, when DD Boost tries to compare the current backup with the previous one, it has trouble with the large versions and it can take three to four days. They cannot perform an incremental backup using VSS technology for SharePoint or MS SQL Server. Definitely, backup for Microsoft applications needs to be improved.

They should improve the support for backing up containers.

The process of upgrading versions should be improved because as it is now, you have to completely uninstall the old version first, and then install the new version. If we compare this to another product, like Veritas NetBackup, it also has good features but when you upgrade to the latest version, everything is automatic.

I would like to see better cloud integration, such as with AWS or Azure.

I have been using Dell EMC NetWorker since 2007.

I am not in the operations team right now, but my impression is that it's stable.

It is easy to scale and I have not found any issue in doing so. However, there can be issues when a proper sizing tool hasn't been used. We have had trouble with giving requirements based on what the sizing tool reports.

We have approximately 100 people user NetWorker and supporting the customers.

The technical support from Dell is very good and very fast. We have a very good collaboration with Dell, and we are one of the valued partners.

I have been dealing with issues related to one of the solutions that we have provided. One of the ones in the past two months is that the SharePoint Backup was supposed to be done using the Microsoft SQL Server writer. They do not support the third-party's product, which is fine, but it's an accountability issue. Ultimately, I don't think that they do all of the investigations properly.

We are currently using EMC Avamar in addition to NetWorker.

I have also worked with Commvault and Veeam, and the integration with virtualization is better with these products. They also support backup using VPN, which is something that NetWorker lacks.

I cannot name a feature that NetWorker has that you don't find in other products. There are, however, features lacking in NetWorker that do exist in other products. They need to keep pace with the ongoing requirements that are in the market.

I have been working with this product for a long time, so I find the installation very easy. This is also an area that has improved over time, as it has because easier than it used to be.

The length of time required for deployment varies between environments. Recently, I deployed it and it took approximately 20 minutes end-to-end, with configuration.

We deploy with our in-house team. Our operations team is responsible for maintenance.

The pricing for NetWorker is in the mid-range. It is not very expensive and not very cheap. There are some extra features that required an additional license. For example, we save a separate data protection suite (DPS) license.

I have been evaluating EMC PowerProtect to compare the performance of it with EMC NetWorker.

For a file system backup or one that is on disk or in a tape library, or for virtualization, I recommend using NetWorker. I say this because of ease of deployment, ease of use, and the user-friendly GUI. 

I would rate this solution a seven out of ten.

We use ExaGrid EX Series for backing up our Veeam Backup, vSphere, or VMware environments.

The solution easily integrates with the backup targets, such as Veeam.

The solution could improve by switching to a flash-type solution rather than the spinning drives that they currently use. However, we have not had any failure with the spinning drives. The flash-type drives are more up-to-date and are something that is in their roadmap.

I have been using this solution for approximately three years.

The solution is stable. It is one of the most stable appliances that we own. We have never had any issues with it, such as bad hard drives. It just runs well.

ExaGrid EX Series is scalable. You can connect another ExaGrid Appliance to it to provide more disk space. I have been told it is simple to upgrade, you do not need to dispose of the current hardware, you can add to it. There is de-duplication and other features that use space but we have not needed to add disk space and we are only at one quarter used so far. 

We had the Barracuda Backup Appliance previously called Barracuda Backup, and it was not flexible, we were running out of space. Some companies do proper specification and then others try to bring their price point down by getting you in. Then in a year or two down the road, you start running out of space, which is what happened to us with the Barracuda solution.

One of the most valuable aspects of the ExaGrid EX Series is the support. They dedicate an engineer to us that we deal with. We do not have to call to create a support ticket. We only need to contact our support engineer which is very convenient. Usually, with other companies you contact support and you hope you receive someone half-decent. Their support is excellent and it is easy to set up too.

We have previously used other backup solutions, such as Barracuda Backup and Unitrends.

The Barracuda combines two products, the Backup Appliance and the software for backing up. It is similar to having Veeam and ExaGrid together and it is the same with Unitrends. We had Unitrends for approximately five years. it was quite a few years ago and they have improved their product since then. We had many failures and after the fourth hard drive failure with Unitrends is why we first started to look for another solution. If we did not have the failures we most like would still be with them.

The support services guide you through the whole installation process, which was very helpful.

We did the implementation with the help of their support.

The previous solutions I have used both included the Backup Software and the Appliance making it hard to compare to this solution. However, overall the solution is reasonably priced for the features you receive. ExaGrid EX Series is priced better than HP, Dell, and possibly Commvault which I have compared in the past.

I have evaluated Commvault, HP, and Dell solutions.

I would advise others that this solution is hands-off and is easy to implement.

I rate ExaGrid EX Series a ten out of ten.

We bought the Veeam Enterprise license for Linux and Microsoft backup for the virtual machines running on those operating systems. The reason we bought this software is that I have a lot of experience with Veeam software. When I compare Veeam with the storage manager from IBM or data protocol from HP or Exeter or some backups from Dell, Veeam is superior. I could buy these other products but Veeam is best because it is very user-friendly as well as being a very great solution.  

In addition to my personal experience and opinion, when we bought this software, our virtualization software only had a standard license and it did not have a replication function. Veeam Enterprise has the replication of function. We chose this backup software because Veeam has a backup and replication center which is additional functionality that we needed.  

The most valuable feature in Veeam is that it is a very user-friendly and intuitive software.  

The only things that I can think of where Veeam can improve are in very small details. For example, there are some things that I would prefer included in reporting on backups that are currently missing. This is not a problem with the product that needs to be repaired, it is my personal use case that I hope can be addressed.  

We have been using Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows for about one year.  

I think that Veeam helps to create a stable environment with virtual servers. I only restart the windows server after installing Microsoft updates, not because something has become unstable. Veeam is very useful in the installation process and it is useful software. I do not have any problem with this product.  

Veeam's scalability is perfect. I don't have any problems scaling if needed.  

The initial setup is not complex and I find that it is very straightforward. It is also very quick. It only takes maybe three hours.  

Pricing is primarily a concern for my managers and our management team.  

The pricing model for Veeam has changed. I bought an older license and I thought that when I bought one CPU license for a virtual machine that I could use that license for Microsoft or VMware. Now, with the change in the licensing model, I have to choose if this license is for VMware or Microsoft before I buy a new license. It just means that users need to be somewhat more careful when choosing which license they need.  

On a scale from one to ten (where one is the worst and ten is the best), I would rate Veeam on Microsoft Windows as a nine-out-of-ten.  

What I would expect in order to make this product a ten-of-ten is that they will add some details in reporting about the backup jobs. They need to just fill this little hole in the software by adding details in the reports that are not currently included and it is really giving me everything I need as a user.  

I would recommend Veeam to others who are looking into implementing it.  

We primarily use the solution for backup purposes.

The backup and restore functions are very valuable aspects of the product. We use those features the most.

The solution is very stable.

The scalability is very good.

I'm not fully satisfied with the product. 

It's a little bit complex to manage. 

The user interface is not user-friendly. It's a bit complex, and it's dated in appearance. It needs a much simpler, cleaner update.

The reporting is too complex. There needs to be a way to customize it in a simple and straightforward manner.

The solution has extra features, however, you need to pay for them.

Occasionally, technical support cannot find the root cause of issues.

We've been using the solution for about four years at this point. It's been a while.

The solution is very stable. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. it's reliable. 

The scalability of the product is very good. A company can scale it with relative ease if it needs to.

While technical support is responsive, we have found that sometimes they just seem can't find the actual root cause of the issues we present. Sometimes they can't fix our issues. That's why we aren't 100% satisfied with the level of support they provide. They need to be more knowledgeable and dig deeper to resolve issues.

I can't speak too much about the installation process. 

My understanding is that the installation is simple as it has an appliance that's installed. The usage is a bit complex and there needs to be extra licensing to customize the reporting - however, that's a different issue.  

It is not an all-in-one solution. Some features come at an extra cost and need extra hardware or software.

I can't speak to the actual pricing of the product, however.

We are casually looking into alternative solutions. We are looking at Commvault, Rubrik, Cohesity, and Dell. Mostly, we are interested in enterprise-level products.

We are not using the latest version of the product. The NetBackup version we are using is 8.0. We use a NetBackup Appliance. The NetBackup version is a bit older as it's integrated with the backup appliance. That's why we cannot upgrade to the latest version. The latest version is 9.0.

I would warn other potential users that, in my experience, it's a bit complex and may be difficult to achieve some requirements compared to other products. Rubrik or Cohesity may be a bit easier, for example. It's a little bit traditional in terms of architecture. However, the features compared to others are really quite amazing.

In general, I would rate the product at a seven out of ten.