Veeam Data Platform Reviews

Until a year ago, this solution was our primary backup and recovery product. We are a cloud connect partner so we provide backups both onsite and offsite as well as replication.  

Veeam has simplified backups for MSPs over the years and is one of the easiest products to deploy.

The most valuable feature has been the integration of physical agents and our cloud connect service.  Using this, we're in the process of replacing one of our legacy backup products and standardizing on two products to handle all of our backup and recovery needs.

I've always found recovery speed to be its downfall.  If you have a very large machine (1TB+) I would not recommend Veeam be the primary recovery product because of the amount of time it would take to recover if you had to do full recovery.  It can absolutely do the job, but I  suggest augmenting Veeam with a solution that can recover more quickly, which would most likely be storage snapshot based.

Our primary use case is backup.

Replication.

• Seeding
• Faster backups over small links.

• DR features similar to Zerto
• No snapshots

For multiple data centers:

• Backup and recovery for VMware 2000 VMs
• Windows and Linux Clients
• Migrations (replication).

Veeam does its job well. However, there are more than a dozen commonsense items which should have been built into the software, such as being able to sort the column of server names while in a backup job and being able to see what VMs are already in a job when you add a new server.

Veeam replication gives migration tools/options for VMware, which is nice. I also enjoy the ability to quickly search for VMs through the Veeam console.

The product is missing some commonsense features and tools for an enterprise backup recovery product, but it is reliable, fairly resilient, and works. 

I do not like how Veeam's software is dependent on a remote database which relies on the architecture that Veeam is protecting. HA for SQL (Veeam's database) is not really supported. I have been there, and done that. This leads to jobs corrupted, chains broken, etc. 

The remote SQL server has had multiple sizing issues within the logs and SQL backup space and sharing with other database apps. 

For example, when the SQL became unresponsive, Veeam crashed, jobs got corrupted, chains had to be restarted, old chains kept and pruned, etc. 

A little, but storage sizing is done by another company.

Half of Veeam support reps are very helpful and will explain in detail what is wrong and how to fix it. The other half are extremely polite and will provide some basic support, but rather than explain what needs to be fixed, they ask you to run some recommended steps and methods that take time providing with no real results so they can go work on another ticket.

We switched for multiple reasons. More options and configurations are available with Veeam. It can be a very flexible product.

Initial setup was easy. However, after 40 days, it may not act the way you predicted it would. You may have to go back and make changes. 

With Veeam, you need to analyze how everything works, not just how it looks like it should work compared to your experience with similar products.

Implementation was all internal.

Setup cost and licensing of Veeam are nothing to complain about when compared to similar products for enterprise backup recovery solutions.

We did not evaluate them to the same extent since they did not pass our evaluation requirements.

You will enjoy Veeam's resiliency. It does not break in the middle of the night if properly designed, and Veeam gives you tools to make this easier to do than other products. Users will be able to get around Veeam's shortcomings more easily if they are experienced with PowerShell scripting and watch the SQL database server (for remote SQL servers) like its your lifeline.

Backing up VMs and it has been successful so far.

It has mainly been in dev testing, so I would say it's helped us to protect our IP address and critical information.

The most valuable feature is its consistency.

The only issue on which we would like to see for improvement would be, potentially, the ability to do some different things with recovery, like faster recovery onsite.

It seems pretty stable.

I can't say that I have tested scalability.

We didn't have a previous solution. We just realized that protecting some of the important data was something that was needed at a certain point, that we needed to do.

Most important criterion when selecting a vendor would be: Does the solution it fit our needs, what we are trying to do?

My understanding is that the initial setup was pretty simple and straightforward.

Right now we haven't fully exercised the solution but what I'm seeing on the backup side is pretty good. On the recovery/restore side maybe not so much. We're still validating that. So I would give it seven out of 10 overall.

My advice would be, test it out and make sure it does what you want it to do. And make sure you can do what you need to get your data secure.

Replicate several sites using VMware, centralise backup, and 10 agencies with Hyper-V and SQL databases.

Get only one interface to manage all backup sites, secure them with replication, and manage outside LTO media.

Replication and restore object in Exchange boxes with possibility to select part of Microsoft directory.

Support others operation systems, e.g., AIX. 

Add an archive option to support legal obligations.

• Instant Recovery
• ReFS support
• SureBackup

Faster and safer backups and restores means less time worrying.

• ReFS works
• Evacuation of backups
• Merge

For five years.

No issues.

No issues.

It provides the maximum level of support.

I have used all flavors of backup solutions since early 1990s, this is by far the most advanced yet and easiest product to use.

It was straightforward. Basically, it was start, next, then finish.

It can be costly if the wrong license type is chosen. It is important to know what is needed before ordering.

I have used all flavors of backup solutions since early 1990s, this is by far the most advanced yet and easiest product to use.

Use a skilled consultant for the initial setup, then let him/her teach you for a day and you are set.

Being agentless minimized the install process for new servers. If you are using folder on your backup configuration, all the new servers has been backuped without any intervention on the backup server.

It provides more efficiency to restore lost files that were deleted by users. It provides a restoring process for a complete server and replications on another site for the DRP servers.

Client/agent for non-virtualized servers: This can be improved by integrating them in the same way as the virtual servers and integrating them into the same backup jobs. Actually, the Veeam team recommends making separate jobs for these servers. The options of the job are not the same if it’s a VM or a physical server.

The best solution is to have the same functionality for a virtual or a physical server.

I have already discussed this point with a member of the Veeam development and he replied to me that it will be improved in Version10. We are waiting ;-)

More than 5 years

Nothing, the only problem encounter during installation is a Windows firewall problem but not linked directly to Veeam.

We have not had stability issues.

We have not had scalability issues.

Customer service is very reactive, you can open a call and be sure that's solved or helped on a 24h max.

I would give technical support a rating of 10/10 for fast replies and solutions.

We were using Symantec Backup Exec. We switched for the simplicity of management with Veeam.

The initial setup was straightforward, but now our infrastructure is more complex. We started with five servers and now we have more than 150 servers protected by the Veeam solution.

The pricing and licensing are reasonable.

We looked at Acronis, NetBackup, and Backup Exec.

No special advice, other than just follow the wizard and you can start faster than another solution.

Replication (fast recovery for replicated servers).

It has decreased downtime issues. By using replication, we decreased our downtime for crashed servers and having other service/system issues.

It is very simple and fast to power-on a replicated server, making it come online again.

I'm not sure if this option is available in new versions. But different types of licenses could not be used on the same Veeam server in the past, it would be good to be able to use mixed types of licenses in the same server.

About four years.

No, it is working nice and smooth.

No, because we are using this product in a small environment.

We do not encounter many problems with the product, but we do get an instant response when needed.

We are still using a different product for backup. Veeam is being used for replication only.

Since it was a single server setup, it was easy to install and configure.

It is acceptable for us because we having been using it for approximately four years. However, I think for new buyers/customers it may be cheaper than other products.

Another product is being used for backup. We did a PoC with Veeam, then bought it.

It is easy, with many features, (I think) it is cheaper. Very useful for virtual environments.