it_user865548 - PeerSpot reviewer
Head Of Storage at a university with 5,001-10,000 employees
Real User
It is reliable and we don't lose data
Pros and Cons
  • "We do not lose data. That is why we are using this product and have a backup in place."
  • "We can scale. Today, we have an average backup volume of 100TB a day."
  • "If you take Spectrum Protect into account, and you have it along with restrictions to Spectrum Archive by means of LTFS, this is also something which should be made better within the overall product's program."
  • "The features should be a little bit closer together."

What is our primary use case?

Primary use case is backing up data in order to restore our customers, if needed. The performance right now is okay.

Our on-premise infrastructure is comprised of two tape libraries (3500), each staffed with about 55 TS1150 drives, and approximately 5000 cartridges. The snapshots are taken on NAS filers, as they are EMC VNXs, and Spectrum Scale. It is there that we take the snapshots. For buffering, we have some V7000s in place, but all in HPE Blade enclosures. We previously had virtual tape, but not anymore.

How has it helped my organization?

We do not lose data. That is why we are using this product and have a backup in place.

What is most valuable?

  • We can scale. Today, we have an average backup volume of 100TB a day. 
  • It is reliable; it works. 
  • We have a good cooperation with IBM. 

What needs improvement?

The features should be a little bit closer together. 

If you take Spectrum Protect into account, and you have it along with restrictions to Spectrum Archive by means of LTFS, this is also something which should be made better within the overall product's program.

Buyer's Guide
IBM Spectrum Protect
March 2024
Learn what your peers think about IBM Spectrum Protect. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2024.
765,234 professionals have used our research since 2012.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is very nice. The only thing that IBM should improve with the program is the licensing. We have a little engine in place. However, if you use Power PC and you have big engine in place. then you have some restrictions to the versions. This should be remedied. 

This would be a real improvement: The product to gather storage on the one hand, and storage for backup on the other hand.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It scales until the next frame must be purchased.

The growth plans are given by the user. In science, you never know what the next step is. We are struggling against newer experimental setups. This is great for the scientists, but if you double the resolution size for microscopy, it ends up with a lot of more data on our side. However, we serve our scientists, so we just purchase new.

How are customer service and support?

The support levels at IBM are very good.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup and infrastructure were done within days. It was an okay process. There was nothing negative about it.

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

The license model that they have at IBM, which is due to volume, from a certain volume onward is not the right license model. Right now, we have a better license model. This is the model that we had at the end of last year.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

There was a call for tender for an overall storage renewal, and IBM easily won out versus its competition. 

What other advice do I have?

If you are looking for a reliable solution, it is okay. If you are looking for just backing up some smaller clients in a small business unit, so there are probably other competitors around. 

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
it_user623352 - PeerSpot reviewer
Storage Engineer at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
For initial setup, we followed everything in the large blueprint, and it was a smooth transition from there
Pros and Cons
  • "From a tech perspective, utilizing deduplication is one of the most valuable features."
  • "For initial setup, we started with the blueprints, which were great. The blueprints allowed us to be able to decide if we needed to use small, medium,k or large. Because we are a large environment, we used a large blueprint. Once we followed everything in the blueprint, it was a smooth transition from there."
  • "I would love to see something which allows us to do an auto restart of backup jobs."

What is our primary use case?

We are currently looking at doing a refresh for the PowerNAS for Spectrum Protect and getting Spectrum Protect Plus in-house for our VE as well as backing up our databases, such as Oracle, DB2, or SQL.

We use all-flash for all the storage that we use for Spectrum Protect.

We do not have anything going to the cloud now. The goal is to have anything which requires a long-term retention backed up to either Amazon or Azure.

How has it helped my organization?

We currently use Tivoli Data Protection to back up our databases. Spectrum Protect is actually the application which backs up the file system data, then anytime you want to back up the databases you use an agent with Tivoli Data Protection (TDP) to be able to back up your Oracle databases or your SQL databases. 

Right now, we are getting  good results when we back up Oracle with TDP, but we back it up directly to the VTO. So, the goal is to get rid of the VTO and utilize the native features within Spectrum Protect to be able to do deduplication and no replication as we would do it on the VTO, because all that functionality is on the VTO. However, Spectrum Protect does not know about the VTO. So, it would be nice to be able to move that within the functionality Spectrum Protect. However, in order to do, we have to make sure we are sizing the servers correctly. This is why we are also considering using the PowerNAS, and maybe putting Spectrum Scale ESS behind it as well. 

We currently are working with our sales rep and some of the IBM techs to see how this solution would play out if we wanted to bring it in-house.

What is most valuable?

From a tech perspective:

  • Utilizing deduplication
  • No replication
  • Getting the virtual environment backed up using Spectrum Protect Plus on all of the databases.

What needs improvement?

I would love to see something which allows us to do an auto restart of backup jobs. Right now, we have it where we have health checks, and if anything that missed or failed, we monitor those. However, we have to manually go onto the servers to execute a manual backup. It would be nice if there was something that ran behind the scenes on the Spectrum Protect server saying, "If our file spaces have not been backed up in eight hours or 12 hours (depending on the attribute status set by the customer), then an auto backup restart occurs automatically." This would be instead of having to do it manually. 

This would help us out, and also the operational teams as it would allow them to focus more on maintaining the Spectrum Protect server versus restarting backup jobs.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Performance has not been an issue. If we do move all of our Oracle and SQL databases off of the VTO on to Spectrum Protect, performance will be a huge factor because we will now a LAN-free backup to a LAN backup. This means we will be going over the network. Therefore, we need to be able to know that Spectrum Protect and our internal network will be able to handle the workload.

We do have a test environment. Currently we just upgraded our test environment to 8.1.5. We are currently testing some of the issues that we have had related to the GS Kits that were resolved in 8.1.5, as well as some issues where the nodes were not communicating back to the Spectrum Protect server providing you information on the last time it established communication with Spectrum Protect.

These issues were resolved by reading. We did a lot of googling and found some information which was on the IBM website. It gave us information in regards to the issues that we found. However, when we upgraded our production servers to 8.1.3, we actually ran into the GS Kit issues, and we had a lot of clients who still run 7.x. Therefore, we had a lot of issues from the first time it started to authenticate to the Spectrum Protect servers and the servers stopped backing up. 

One of the things we did was open up a ticket with IBM and say, 'This is what is going on." The IBM technician helped us out and ensured that we had everything in place. He made sure that we did not have that issue again when we were using it. When the Clients started communicating back with the Spectrum Protect servers, it was back on level. So the issue was resolved.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have been impressed with the scalability.

Our environment is huge. We have a large AIX Windows environment, and it is growing every day.

If we build our servers correctly when we refresh our environment using a PowerNAS, Spectrum Protect will definitely be able to handle our growth.

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

We came from version 7.1.3. Based on some of the features which were offered in version 8, this was the focal point for us to say, "We need to upgrade if we want to take advantage of using container pools, start using deduplication, and no replication." 

We wanted to go ahead and start upgrading the Spectrum Protect servers to the latest code, as well as the Client, so we could take advantage of these new features.

How was the initial setup?

I was involved in the initial setup. It was not complex; it was pretty much straightforward. Besides the security issues, we experiences no other issues.

We started with the blueprints, which were great. The blueprints allowed us to be able to decide if we needed to use small, medium,k or large. Because we are a large environment, we used a large blueprint. Once we followed everything in the blueprint, it was a smooth transition from there.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We looked at Veeam and Rubrik, but right now, we have the two best products. We have Commvault and Spectrum Protect. Each one of them are the best at different things and each have their weaknesses. During the last two years, IBM has put out a lot of different features which have impressed us. We may be able to reevaluate some product comparisons now. As long as IBM continues to roll out new features and adjusts a lot of other customer issues out there in the industry, they will continue to stay one of the top products.

What other advice do I have?

Look at all the products in the industry, then base your decision on the size of your environment. A lot of times products say that have cool things, but at the end of the day, scalability and performance are what you should be looking at. Spectrum Protect has been able to meet these particular needs for us. 

Do not let companies use you as their guinea pig.

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
Robert Wosneski - PeerSpot reviewer
Robert WosneskiEnterprise Account Executive at a tech company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User

Call me in a year when you want to rip and replace it.

Rob

Buyer's Guide
IBM Spectrum Protect
March 2024
Learn what your peers think about IBM Spectrum Protect. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2024.
765,234 professionals have used our research since 2012.
it_user865530 - PeerSpot reviewer
Systems Engineer at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
It is simple to use. Non-technical people can restore themselves.
Pros and Cons
  • "Some of the people in our group, like our DBAs and non-technical people, can restore some stuff themselves via Spectrum Protect. That is how simple it is."
  • "The previous GUI that they had was slow, and it did not have enough information on it."

What is our primary use case?

We use it to back up all of our midrange enterprise systems. It performs exactly the way we need it. We don't need anything more, don't need anything less. It has always done the job.

Our infrastructure is on-premise. We have a bunch of Microsoft servers and VMs, but mostly what Spectrum Protect covers is our Power systems. We have roughly 30 servers that we protect at this point. We do backup a few Linux servers as well, because our group actually covers that area.

How has it helped my organization?

It provides upper management peace of mind that we can recover, if needed. We have never had a problem (knock on wood) of recovering anything via Spectrum Protect. Whatever we backup has always been there. It is a good product.

What is most valuable?

I like the new GUI. It makes things really nice. The previous GUI that they had was slow, and it did not have enough information on it. Therefore, they have truly improved in what they are offering. It is moving into the main stream, like all the other backup solutions are. 

I also like what I am seeing with some of the new features which are coming out.

For how long have I used the solution?

More than five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Stability is very good.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have approximately 30 servers right now. It will always be our solution for our midrange Power boxes. As we grow with Power servers, we are going to stay with Spectrum Protect as it is growing with us. We are going to upgrade a bit more aggressively than we previously have, because we are excited about the newer stuff coming out.

How is customer service and technical support?

For technical support, you just call the 1-800 number, tell them your customer number, and voila, they are there. They have been pretty responsive.

How was the initial setup?

While I was not involved in the initial setup, new releases and implementation have gone smoothly. I have never had problems.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We had another product brought in to take care of the other side of the Microsoft servers and VMs. They thought about dragging us into that as well and getting rid of Spectrum Protect. I said, "We don't need something that complicated. Spectrum Protect is a perfect fit for what we need."

NetBackup was previously running, but they have moved to Commvault, and I said, "There is no way that I am going to CommVault. It is too expensive and complicated. Spectrum Protect is not expensive, and it is simple to use." 

Even some of the people in our group, like our DBAs and non-technical people, can restore some stuff themselves via Spectrum Protect. They don't always need me. That is how simple it is. That is what I like about it.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend Spectrum Protect, especially for use with Power servers.

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
IT Specialist at Saudi Business Machines - SBM
Reseller
Top 20
Robust backup and recovery capabilities, efficient data deduplication, seamless scalability and advanced security features
Pros and Cons
  • "The tool proves invaluable in scenarios where systems need recovery, such as restoring damaged data."
  • "The administration tools for GI need improvement, as the current assessment suggests shortcomings in the back-end system."

What is our primary use case?

It serves as a backup solution, and although its user interface may not be perceived as unique, its administration process is reported to be smooth. The community project aspect ensures reliable backup communication, especially when dealing with lost backup features. It simplifies tasks such as fixing the entire system and storing data on platforms like Gmail or Hyper-V.

How has it helped my organization?

It has expanded its capabilities and is now part of the Storage Defender suite. This suite is designed to enhance cybersecurity, particularly in safeguarding against ransomware attacks. In addition to disaster recovery, the Storage Defender suite aims to protect against cyber threats by providing measures to recover data in the event of encryption by malicious actors.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable is its versatility, allowing users to efficiently manage IBM V and Hyper-V in diverse environments. The flexibility extends to cloud transitions, enabling easy movement from one vendor to another. The tool proves invaluable in scenarios where systems need recovery, such as restoring damaged data. Users can leverage it to migrate data between different environments, making tasks like moving from on-premise to the cloud straightforward.

What needs improvement?

The administration tools for GI need improvement, as the current assessment suggests shortcomings in the back-end system. Dealing with administrative tasks from my perspective has not been straightforward. The user interface for administration lacks the ease that is found in other tools, especially when dealing with storage.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using it for four years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is a very mature tool and it has been reliable and stable throughout our experience. I would rate it ten out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I didn't have any issues with scalability, it has been good.

How are customer service and support?

My experience with customer service and support has been satisfactory. I would rate it ten out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was straightforward.

What about the implementation team?

The deployment process takes one week.

What other advice do I have?

Overall, I would rate it eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
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Senior Storage Architect at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
MSP
Extremely scalable with great GUI and easy to use
Pros and Cons
  • "Their GUI has improved quite a bit. It's made the solution a lot simpler and less complex."
  • "They took some of the funding off of it for a while. Therefore, instead of being a market leader, they took their position for granted. Then some competitors developed new bells and whistles that they advertise, and due to that lag a few years ago, there are not the resources to explain the differences."

What is our primary use case?

Our clients use it for consolidated backup and mostly for guests on the VM.

How has it helped my organization?

The solution significantly improves a client's restoration times. They also do complete backups now. Some of the things clients used before couldn't really provide complete backups. In that sense, it's been great for organizations.

What is most valuable?

The solution actually does a lot. It's really powerful. The value of Spectrum Protect is it does everything. It does tape and it does disk. It's easy to migrate. You don't need any other software. It's basically an all-in-one solution, which is its most valuable aspect.

Their GUI has improved quite a bit. It's made the solution a lot simpler and less complex.

What needs improvement?

The solution has a Spectrum Protect Plus product, which is more for Windows-only VM. However, it doesn't really do tape. It requires IBM to do things to the Cloud, which adds costs. They're starting to integrate the products together. That said, right now, it's like two implementations, it's not one product.

We've tried to sell Protect Plus from time to time, however, then you need Protect if you want to do tape. It's kind of clunky. Once they integrate the products, it will be pretty powerful.

Spectrum Protect is still an industry-leading product across multiple operating systems. It still runs best on an AIX server and does remember Windows or Linux. The install base is more AIX as far as hosts because the AIX server is more powerful.

They should be able to integrate the products so that you don't have to do two system installs.

The solution should have a better way to deal with the system state files in Windows. They should do that better where it doesn't try to walk the file system and you have to use in image mode.

The experienced people still use the CLI. You shouldn't have to use a CLI to use this product.

They took some of the funding off of it for a while. Therefore, instead of being a market leader, they took their position for granted. Then some competitors developed new bells and whistles that they advertise, and due to that lag a few years ago, there are not the resources to explain the differences.

They're outsold. IBM is outsold because people do not understand the product and it had a reputation of being complex.  That said, with the new GUIs and other improvements, it's really pretty easy. The problem is they've got to deal with their old reputation of being difficult and complex. Still the GUI could still be more robust.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using the solution for 20 years now. It's been two decades.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is extremely stable. There are no issues with bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or fail. It's reliable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We work with all sizes of businesses from Fortune 100 insurance companies to small colleges and universities. We have all sorts of customers.

The scaling potential of the solution is huge. This is an enterprise solution compared to some of the smaller options. It also scales down when you do less than 100 terabytes. It has very favorable pricing. It's competitive with other products.

How are customer service and technical support?

Technical support is not as good as it could be. It's not as good as some of the competitors. IBM has put more resources into it recently. However, they had a stage about two years ago where they kind-of stopped spending as much money on Protect due to the fact that they had so many other IBM products. 

Overall, I'd rate their technical services at seven out of ten. It's not too bad, however, it could be better. They are quite responsive. Now that IBM is more focused on improving the product it may improve as well.

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

I have some experience with Veeam as well. I really like it compared to Veeam. You don't have to have media servers. It's nice compared to Veeam that ­clients don't have to do a media server.

We've had customers who have used other solutions, however, they've been weak and not as scalable as IBM.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is not complex. It's straightforward. It's easy.

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

The pricing is quite good and very competitive in the market.

What other advice do I have?

I'm a reseller and a system architect. I'm not really a user. I'm a project manager and architect. However, we have people on our team that use and install it.

We're using the current version of the solution.

I'd advise other companies to not forget tape. With ransomware and everything else, it's hard. People forget tape is cheap. Tape gives you an air-gap, and, if you properly use it, you get a good hybrid solution.

Many people think it's disk only, and that's just for yesterday's restore, however, for a long-term solution, tape is so much more cost-effective.

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten. It's a full-feature product. It's hard to be perfect with full-featured products. There are compromises due to the fact that they do so much.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Reseller
PeerSpot user
Tomas-Dalebjörk - PeerSpot reviewer
Tomas-DalebjörkIT Architect at CGI
Real User

It is possible to protect almost any data with Spectrum Protect.
Using SPFS
https://www-356.ibm.com/partnerworld/gsd/solutiondetails.do?&solution=56435&lc=en

See all 2 comments
Director of Storage Services at a legal firm with 5,001-10,000 employees
Real User
Great archiving features with good stability and the capability to scale
Pros and Cons
  • "The archiving feature is the most valuable aspect of the solution."
  • "Although I am not a technical user, I would say the cloud integration features could be improved."

What is our primary use case?

The solution is primarily used for backing up all of our servers and data. We also use it for a lot of driving data.

How has it helped my organization?

I'm new to the company, so I don't know if I can answer how the solution has improved the organization.

What is most valuable?

The archiving feature is the most valuable aspect of the solution.

What needs improvement?

Although I am not a technical user, I would say the cloud integration features could be improved.

For how long have I used the solution?

I'm fairly new to the company, however, I've been using the solution for probably just over five years now.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is very stable. We haven't faced any bugs or glitches. There haven't been system crashes. It's reliable. An organization won't have to worry about stability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is highly scalable. An organization that needs to expand the services should be able to do so without any issues.

The solution doesn't have a high user count. Rather, it is used by our IT department to protect our organizations' data. No end users would have access to it. About 10-15 people from our storage and data protection team have access to it currently.

How are customer service and technical support?

Technical support is great. they're very knowledgable and technical people. We've been satisfied with the level of support they've provided. It's been very good. We've had cases in the past where they've been able to help us overcome issues effectively.

How was the initial setup?

I wasn't at the company at the time the solution was implemented, so I don't have knowledge as to if the solution is difficult or straightforward to set up.

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

I don't have any information about the pricing of the solution other than to say it's a little bit higher than we would like.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We are always looking at different solutions. For example, we are looking at Cloud Work, Cohesity, and Rubrik. We're very early in the process of evaluating them, so we don't have clear differentiators yet. It's too early to discuss a comparison of features.

What other advice do I have?

We're not partners with IBM. We're just customers. We have a good relationship with the company, however, we are not reseller partners.

We're using the latest version of the solution.

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten. It's a great solution, and we've been very happy with it, but it does lack cloud integration features. If it offered that, I'd rate it higher.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Tomas-Dalebjörk - PeerSpot reviewer
Tomas-DalebjörkIT Architect at CGI
Real User

Have you seen the SPFS solution?
SPFS is a filesystem for Spectrum Protect, making it possible to mount the storage pool data as a filesystem directly on the servers, and in that way protecting almost any data with Spectrum Protect.
https://www-356.ibm.com/partnerworld/gsd/solutiondetails.do?&solution=56435&lc=en

CEO at a educational organization with 5,001-10,000 employees
Real User
Top 10
Complex solution; able to overcome data losses
Pros and Cons
  • "The business value comes from the capability to overcome data losses."
  • "The software is complex; setup is complex."

What is our primary use case?

The whole product is for doing backups, and it's a reliable tool. Everything stored can be retrieved. We have databases and virtual data storing systems we are covering, but the vast majority is what the backup guys call unstructured data. So we do direct backups from various flavors of file service.

How has it helped my organization?

The business value comes from the capability to overcome data losses.

What is most valuable?

There's no single feature. It's the overall product, the reliability, and the ability to work at the scale we are working at. It's that incremental forever approach, which we definitely need for the amount of data we are handling. It's more a philosophy of product, but a certain feature.

What needs improvement?

The software is complex.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using the solution for about 20 years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is definitely stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It's very scalable from the data and the client's perspective. The scalability on the process integration side is not equally advanced.

How are customer service and support?

Once you overcome the first level of IBM tech support, they are great.

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

ISP by now is our "previous" solution. We successfully switched to Commvault Backup.

How was the initial setup?

It's a complex software, so it's a complex task, especially at the large scale and the software is accordingly complex. You won't set up this software or any competitor within a few clicks. So it is complex, but it's adequately complex. And on the client side, it depends on the documentation given by the central IT on the server side.

What about the implementation team?

It was not a software deployment, but it went along with a strategic shift here. When we introduced Spectrum Protect, we introduced centralized backup service. So it was very little a matter of software deployment, but very much a matter of mentality and processes.

We used our own team to deploy, and have two staff to maintain the solution.

What other advice do I have?

My advice would be to start with a use case analysis and what you want to achieve to determine if Spectrum Protect is the best solution. There's no absolute ranking without looking at the use case scenarios.

We recently reviewed our use case analysis, and as a result, we switched to Commvault Backup.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Co-Founder -Technical Director at Dot Future
Real User
Top 20
With a good GUI in place,improvement is needed in its overly complicated architecture
Pros and Cons
  • "It is a really scalable solution. We can scale it up. Scalability-wise, I rate the solution an eight out of ten."
  • "The solution's initial setup process wasn't easy...The solution is overly complicated in terms of architecture, especially compared to other tools in the market."

What is our primary use case?

We use the solution for backup since we have some AIX machines and a few Windows machines.

What is most valuable?

To be honest, there aren't many features in the solution. However, it is a very robust solution.

What needs improvement?

The solution is overly complicated in terms of architecture, especially compared to other tools in the market. So, IBM Spectrum Protect should try to declutter. Also, there are even some conflicts in the functionalities between IBM Spectrum and Spectrum Protect. That's my take on it compared to the competitors like Veeam.

In future product releases, the solution should be less complicated regarding architecture.

Also, they have to stop being dependent on anything, which is CLI. I am saying this even though I like CLI. So, they have to change. The problem is that the solution originates from IBM TSM, especially because they have not even updated it in the terminology. So, when I see the terminology, it does not communicate what has happened in the solution, especially in terms of if everything has developed or if they have to update and try to find a way of transitioning from the old terminology to the new terminology.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using IBM Spectrum Protect for a year and a half. I am either using IBM Spectrum Protect Version 8.1.14 or IBM Spectrum Protect Version 8.1.15. My company has a partnership with IBM.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is a stable solution. Stability-wise, I rate the solution a seven out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Four engineers in my company are using the solution. It is a really scalable solution. We can scale it up. Scalability-wise, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

I am trying to categorize it as a workstation, backup software, or data center backup software because they are all different. If you categorize it as a workstation kind of backup software, then definitely it's not good in scalability terms. As we are trying to evaluate it as a data center, it becomes a different story and gets complicated.

How are customer service and support?

I have contacted the solution's technical support. I rate the technical support a seven out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

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

I haven't previously used any other products. So, I didn't know that Veeam had AIX. A huge part of my problem is that my installation is based on AIX. It would be much easier if I had a Windows installation.

How was the initial setup?

The solution's initial setup process wasn't easy. It's okay to have trouble installing the server. So you may have problems installing the clients. They have a lot of documentation, and I can tell that it requires an expert to install the client itself. Even for Windows applications, it was a hassle. There are complexities with the installation phase.

Regarding the time for deployment, it took me a long time just for you now because you have to start from the planning through deployment. The setup isn't simple or straightforward. They have one document, which makes sense compared to what's available in the market now. However, it is not easy to manage and can be a hassle. It took me weeks to deploy the solution.

The people required for the solution's maintenance depend if it is only on the basic operations, then one person is enough. A professional team ready to troubleshoot would make it a different story. Two qualified people would be more than enough.

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

It is an overpriced solution. I rate the pricing a four on a scale of one to ten, where one is not cost-effective, and ten is cost-effective.

What other advice do I have?

Once IBM Spectrum Protect restarted, we couldn't figure out why that happened. The solution's operation center made the solution's GUI, or graphical user interface, really nice. The way the operation center started making it more engaging and trying to make it good is something that made it nice.

I would recommend the solution to my foes and enemies. Overall, I rate the solution a six out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:
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Buyer's Guide
Download our free IBM Spectrum Protect Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: March 2024
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Backup and Recovery
Buyer's Guide
Download our free IBM Spectrum Protect Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.