NAKIVO Backup & Replication Reviews

We use this software to back up all of our servers, databases, and log files as well as create bare metal recovery backups incase a server fails. 

When a server has failed in the past, Nakivo's been a great help as it's able to restore an entire operating system with its configuration and files basically everything. Therefore, when a server failed we simply wiped the drive and restored everything via Nakivo and haven't had a single problem. We've never had a restore operation fail on us due to a corrupted backup. 

This amazing software is highly recommended. We also use it on our Hyper-V environment and it's able to restore directly into Hyper-V and start the VM with no configuration required afterwards as it's a 1:1 replica of the server.

Nakivo improved our backup environment as it added yet another backup for us to have. 

We use multiple backup software like the Windows Server backup, EaseUS TODO Backup, and SQL SMSS DB Backup including other third-party backup software dedicated for their software. 

Nakivo's able to do everything these programs can do and is able to work with NAS shares, SMB shares, and many others. The best part about it is when we've ever tried to restore to verify the backups we've never had a problem in the four years and we regularly verify the backups every three months.

One of the most valuable features we've been using is the whole system backup. It works the best out of so many different applications without a doubt. The ease of use management server website, reliability, email notifications if the job is unsuccessful (and successful), and the performance are top-notch. It uses all the bandwidth available if not limited and backs up entire servers with all data about four times faster than Windows Server Backup and EaseUS TODO Backup.

One of the things I liked least about this software is when an update was pushed to one of the servers we had, somehow we didn't receive the update and needed some quick troubleshooting. That said, the customer service team was able to help out within the hour and was amazing and very helpful from the first reply. Like you cant go wrong with their customer support team. If you have a problem, an inquiry, or just a general question about what you can do or how else you can incorporate it they will answer your question to your satisfaction within the first two replies - unlike a lot of other support teams that just follow scripts and procedures, these guys get right down to the point from the first email.

I've used the solution for about four years.

We verify backups every 3 months and have never had a single problem with them over four years. They are highly dependable.

The product is 100% the best in terms of scaling. It offers high-speed transfers for both restores and backups and doesn't congest networks even without bandwidth throttling.

They reply with a useful answer within the first two emails from starting the case. They are very knowledgeable people and don't follow a useless script like many big companies.

Positive

We used the Windows Server Backup which was unreliable.

We also used the Easeus TODO Backup, which had lots of failed backups due to files in the network sharing in the same folder as the backup job (previous backups causing errors).

The setup is very straightforward once you figure out what needs to be done.

The solution doesn't require that many resources for the actual virtual machine/dedicated server for its software. It is very efficiently designed and has very high performance without congesting the network.

Windows Server Backup - Unreliable but came with windows so assumed it should be able to get the job done but lots of corrupted backups when trying to verify integrity.

Easeus TODO Backup - Lots of failed backups due to files in network share in the same folder as the backup job (previous backups causing errors) other than that no problems with it. lots of cool functions too but nakivo offers everything plus extra.

I recommend this software for any medium to large businesses. It offers very good integrity of backups.

Our backup solution is quite unique. We have two data centers that require bandwidth throttling to ensure that business traffic does not get affected by the backup/restoration. Both data centers are using VMware, however, our smaller data center is using a small server that only has a single core. Therefore, we need to use the director from the larger data center which traverses over the VPN. This solution allows us to do exactly what we need, all while being very easy and very cost-effective.    

Nakivo's backup and replication product has allowed us to implement a disaster recovery solution with a target repository in the cloud.  

The biggest reason we went with Nakivo is the ability to rate limit and/or throttle the backup, ensuring that the traffic required to maintain our business operations was not interrupted.  This is very important. Nakivo's backup and replication product has provided us with a solution that meets our requirements.  We are definitely better off using this solution.

The feature that we have found most valuable would be the backup solution using bandwidth throttling.  

While we need to back up our infrastructure, we also need to maintain operations and this allows us to do both.  

We have our repository in the cloud which provides a backup solution in the event that a true disaster strikes, such as the building catching on fire and losing all equipment.  

In order to maintain data integrity, we had to store the repository off-site and Nakivo has provided a solution that meets that requirement.

Nakivo's implementation documentation could use a little beefing up. There was a section of the implementation where we got stuck and had to contact Nakivo support to fix it.  It was a very simple fix, and once we got past it, the remainder of the implementation went very smoothly.  

In addition, Nakivo's support team is very easy to work with. They were quick and got us up and running right away. Ideally, we would have preffered to have the documentation accurate so we didn't need to engage with the support, however, it all worked out in the end.

I've used the solution for about four months.

Stability is great - so far so good.

Adding a second data center was a breeze.

I've been extremely impressed with customer service and support. They are always there when you need them.

Positive

We did not use a different solution. We tried a number of different products out, however, we did not commit to anything as they didn't fit our needs.

There were a few tricky pieces to the implementation, however, the support I received from Nakivo was top notch and they got me going ASAP.

We handled the solution's set up in-house.

It's difficult to put an ROI on a DR solution.  

Potential users should reach out to the sales team. They are very easy to work with and provide everything you need - including walking you through their free demo.

We looked at both Barracuda and Crashplan.

I have nothing else to add. I'm very impressed with their solution.

We use the solution for the backup of VMs and some replication.

We generally use Nakivo to backup in-house VMs. In more mission-critical situations, we also use the replication aspect of the product. This ultimately means that we can just switch on new hardware over to a replicated server at an instant, thus taking a lot of pressure off us in the case of mission-critical operations. It's a huge plus in any IT department. The product's strength is that it is easy to install and very easy to administer. I highly recommend it.

The solution has improved our organization a lot by making the product very easy to install and making it easy to understand its reporting. 

Nakivo has improved our organization largely due to the fact that it is an extremely robust backup system. 

It comes with a replication module that allows us to safeguard mission-critical servers. This has been applied on several sites by us with fantastic results as it becomes a great Plan B in case of a hardware failure or an outage of a primary system.

There is only one criticism and that is when we compared it with other vendors we found that although the backup speed was very fast, the restore speed was slower.

The backup and replication are great. 

We like the comprehensive email notifications with attached reports. This reporting is very very easy to set up and is saved in PDF format, making it extremely simple to both share and organize. A complete history trail can be shown with this product from inception to end of life.

It also has allowed us to replicate such servers as SQL and Exchange which is invaluable in areas of disaster recovery and other SOS situations. In the past, this has been a lifesaver and has even gotten us accolades from one client in particular.

There is a familiar error that pops up and that is a VM error as much as it is a Nakivo error.

It says that the job couldn't calm the VM and restores might be impacted. That error is, to say the least, a bit scary. I have seen this type of error on other backup systems also. I'm not really sure what can be done with VSS writers, et cetera, however, maybe VMware and Nakivo should get together and solve the issue. A reboot of the VM and/or reinstallation of VMware tools nearly always solve the issue on the specified guest.

I've used the solution for a good few years.

The solution is very stable running as an appliance.

The scalability is not an issue and has never been a problem as it runs as an appliance. We simply add more memory and cores, et cetera.

Support is excellent and turnaround time is very good. Nakivo is an exception in this area, in my experience. 

Positive

We use both Acronis and Nakivo.

Once we have installed this once, the learning curve is pretty much over. Its major strength is its ease of install and use.

We self-installed the solution on our client's hosts.

I don't have figures, however, the ROI has to be high.

I'd advise users to check the core/CPU licensing to understand how the licensing is charged.

These products, Acronis and Nakivo, are very similar, however, the replication from Nakivo makes it very attractive.

The simplicity of installation and use is it's strength. I highly recommended it.

We found an outside VMware software to perform critical operations. Since we started using Nakivo Backup and Replication, we can perform operations that would be very expensive using a VMware license. 

We use it on our QNAP devices. It covers up to 5 servers in the small environment we have. We can perform operations that were expensive/difficult with very high automation.

Since we started using Nakivo Backup and Replication, we can perform operations that would be very expensive using a VMware license, for a very very affordable price. Even if our infrastructure should increase in the short term, we can upgrade just the license to cover all the new devices we use. 

We use Nakivo Backup and Replication on QNAP devices, and it covers up to 5 servers in a small environment. We can now perform operations that were expensive and difficult with very high automation. We are very satisfied with its capabilities. 

Being able to back up without using VMware services is for sure the best opportunity we have when there is a disruption impacting VMware products. An additional feature that would be appreciated is disaster recovery automation. it could be improved using vCenter features.

Nakivo Backup and Replication does not have many other background areas where it can be improved, and we are satisfied.

Since we use Nakivo Backup and Replication, we can perform operations that would be very expensive using our VMware license. We are really satisfied.

I'd like to see backup and replication without using vCenter. That's a feature that would be appreciated. If the vCenter should go down, it would be very difficult to recover the infrastructure, so some solution is needed to avoid restoring vCenter first and then to later restore the virtual machine from Nakivo's Backup and Replication.

An additional feature that would be appreciated is disaster recovery automation. It could be improved using vCenter features.

Nakivo Backup and Replication does not have many other background areas where it can be improved, however, we are mostly satisfied.

We are a cloud provider and we use Nakivo for VMware Backup and Replications, including disaster recovery. 

The solution is stable; there is no need to retry any sort of jobs in daily operations.

The product is absolutely scalable. You scale according to the number of storage devices you add.

We did not use a different solution prior to implementing this product.

The costs of the product are justified according to the features provided.

We also evaluated Veeam Backup.

We have used the solution for backup and restoration in a vSphere Environment. Nakivo can be used to backup nearly any virtual infrastructure. For us, it keeps incremental and full backups in a repo with deduplication that will keep storage usage low and restores very quickly. It integrates well with NFS storage for larger storage needs. There is also a monitoring dashboard that we use to monitor our virtual hosts. We use the fast restore option to quickly spin up virtual guests when there is no time to copy it back to the virtual host datastore.

Nakivo has been great for incremental backups of our virtual infrastructure. Restoring from backups is very simple. Nakivo, similar to Veeam Backup gives you peace of mind and confidence in your virtual infrastructure. 

If you were to lose a virtual host or a local datastore or remote datastore, Nakivo quick restore allows you to immediately spin up the virtual guest from backup on another virtual host, eliminating downtime and allowing for quick migrations to new hardware in the case of a catastrophe.  

The following aspects are the most valuable:

Quick Backups. Nakivo backups operate quickly, generally around 50 to 100MB/s, depending on your environment. This speed combined with only incremental changes being uploaded allows for quick hourly or nightly backups that don't bog down your infrastructure and take resources away from other needs.

Lightning-quick restores. Restores can run directly from the Nakivo Repo. You don't need to transfer back to the datastore until you have the time to do so.

Low Price. The price is much lower than competitors that do the same function.  

Support. Support has been friendly and responsive.

It would be great if they had a Let's Encrypt integration. Since LE provides free SSL certificates, it would be great. 

If you already have an internal CA authority you likely wouldn't need this, however, LE integration would allow shops without an internal CA to easily and freely (at no cost) auto-renew SSL certs. As it currently stands, you need to process your SSL renewal on another machine and then import it into Nakivo. It would be nice if Nakivo integrated LE and supported both HTTPS and DNS Validation for those machines behind Firewalls.

I have used the solution for three years.

The stability has been consistent.

The solution scales well.

Technical support offers fast knowledgeable response.

Positive

We tested Veeam, however, the price didn't seem worth it. Nakivo performs the same functions for a better price.

We used the Virtual Appliance for an easy setup experience.

I'd advise new users to reach out to CS at Nakivo and they will be happy to work with you on a quote that fits your needs. They got back to us quickly.

We did evaluate Veeam.

We are using Nakivo for backing up multiple Virtual Machines hosted over ESXi hosts in various locations.

The hosts vary from 6.0 to 6.7 and previously we had Nakivo running for 5.5 hosts as well, which have since been dismissed.

When we started, we had also older 4.1 hosts which were covered by a special transporter used for legacy systems.

Since then, we have performed various upgrades to both the ESXi hosts, and Nakivo always worked flawlessly. It becomes better with each upgrade. 

For us, the capability of using Nakivo with the un-licensed version of ESXi is the biggest selling point.

The ease of use and the intuitive interface are also quite nice, and the various upgrades from Nakivo's side are great.

The UI has been reworked from the 9.x to the 10.x version and the new one is really good.

Thanks to Nakivo, we were able to perform a disaster recovery procedure during early 2021, losing little to no data, and the only thing slowing us down during the recovery was the speed of the new host.

The ability to backup Virtual Machines on the un-licensed version of ESXi is the main selling point for us.

The backups, especially of the incremental type, are really quick (ranging from five to 10 to 45 to 50 minutes depending on the size of the VM).

The recoveries are also quite quick, of course, depending on the host system. Generally, it recovers over the network and does not take more than an hour, again, depending on various factors unrelated to Nakivo.

The ability to retrieve individual files from a backup is a welcome plus which we discovered and found pretty useful.

Personally, I would like to have the ability to backup older legacy systems on the new versions as well.

I'd like the ability to perform individual backups (so a backup from inside the system instead of on the host side) - which right now is limited to newer Operating Systems, which, while is a good thing from a security point of view. That said, sometimes there is an older machine or VM which could use backups like this.

For our usage, we've found the connections to remote shares (like CIFS or NFS) while quite easy to set up are a little bit prone to interruption. Of course, in the next availability check performed autonomously by Nakivo, the connection is restored. This could of course be a problem with the destination share, however, it's really the only "issue" we've had with this software.

I've used the solution since 2018.

The stability of the software is great; we've never had a problem with it or with the updates.

The customer support is awesome and the support service is also great and quite qualified.

We don't have much experience with them as we had to contact them just once for clarification and not a real problem. 

Positive

Previously we had a custom backup procedure. We switched due to the impracticality of maintaining that system and the ease of use of Nakivo.

The initial setup is totally straightforward with little to no specific competence required, at least, not on the networking side.

Our in-house team managed the implementation.

The software did completely repay itself, especially when we had to activate the disaster recovery plan.

The price is really competitive. The offering, as well as the ability to use it with free ESXi, is awesome.

The setup is as easy as deploying a VM.  

We valued other options, both for individual and granular files backups, such as BackupPC, and also for host systems, such as Veeam.

We chose Nakivo due to its higher feature offering at a lower price point compared to other alternatives.

We're pretty satisfied with the product. I'm also evaluating it for personal non-work-related use.

Nakivo software is available on a white-label basis. The DimenXional Cloud product with our enhancements is called WatchDog-BaaS for Backup as a Service. DimenXional Cloud has also developed WatchDog-DRaaS, which is Disaster Recovery as a Service. The white-label solution provides the API capabilities that DimenXional Cloud not get from other suppliers of this type of software. The finished solutions are bundled with the tasks for our market. The DimenXional Cloud (Very Small Business) market doesn't care what name is on it. They care about if it works or not and if it is reliable. Above all, our markets want to know that the software is easy to use and it has the right price.

1. Most valuable for DimenXional Cloud is the API provided by Nakivo which allows us to implement the software in all types of solutions.

2. It has all the features we need for our customer base.

3. The solution is very competitively priced.

While the solution provides mostly what we need, it would be ideal if there were some additional feature capabilities for the API.

I can't really specify which features are missing, as they've done everything that we've asked for so far. Our plate is full of getting what they've done into the marketplace. It's going to take us another two, three months to do that, including engineering work and testing and that type of stuff. I wouldn't be able to answer the question of if there are missing features for at least another three to six months.

We haven't been using the solution for too long.

DimenXional Cloud started our programs with Nakivo in the past year.

We used Veeam, and we still have legacy systems that use Veeam. We are switching because of the price advantage Nakivo provides.

If we're talking about Veeam, it costs us 30% more to do what we are doing. That 30% made us uncompetitive. Nakivo has allowed us to price the product about 10-15% below the competition, and that's significant when you are talking about small dollars. With COVID-19 and the current market conditions, it's important to be very competitive.

We're part of the RESA MSP program. It's basically a partnership with the solution.

Overall, I would rate the solution at a nine or a ten. They've been a very good product so far. It's basically everything we need.

We use the solution as a VM backup from local servers and remote data centers. Nakivo is installed on a NAS device at the office, and it doesn't need any external servers to run. That makes it really easy to deploy, and in case of disaster for servers, the NAS device is totally separate from them, and backups can be restored quickly to another environment where ever is enough resources to run them.

The remote data center can also be backed up to a small repository on that data center and then copied over an internet link to the office, where I have more space to store backups.

Backups are working smoothly with Nakivo Backup. Deduplication and compression of backup repositories save lots of disk space, and I can keep many more restore points compared to situations where deduplication is not used.

Having a couple of the latest restore points saved in the repository at a remote data center allows restoration of them quickly without the need first to transfer them over the internet from the office. It also is nice to be able to copy backups to the office, where I have plenty of more disk space to save them compared to a remote data center.

There is no need to install agents on VMs. It is easy to deploy new VMs and get them backed up instantly.

It can be fully run from a NAS device. There is no need to have separate backups servers and be able to run a full Linux environment without Windows servers.

Deduplication and compression of backup repositories are easy. It saves lots of disk space and enables you to keep many more recovery points compared to a situation where all recovery points are saved as is without deduplication.

It's a lightweight solution built over Linux. It can be run directly from NAS devices and doesn't need separate backups servers installed on the network.

We'd like to see more cooperation with Synology. It can be enhanced to get updates published faster to Synology's store.

I don't have any other complaints about Nakivo Backup, and I like it as it is. I have used many other backups solutions like Veeam, Actifio, and Acronis, and Nakivo has done things better than those other backup solution providers. 

Of course, there can be some cases where others might perform better; however, for my use case, Nakivo Backup does just what is needed, and it is done properly without problems.

I've used the solution for about three years.

I have previously used VMPro, Veeam, and Actifio.

The solution is cheaper than many competitors.

I have previously evaluated Veeam.