DataCore Swarm Reviews

My main use case for DataCore Swarm is in a big company in Italy that has two problems: it has very big data to manage, and it has two sites approximately 30 kilometers apart, and we need to save and protect that data.

The best features DataCore Swarm offers are its scalability and the ability to truly solve many problems related to data loss and recovery. It is important because if we want to add a new code, it sets itself up from scratch, and if we want to add, for example, a 72 terabytes or petabytes node, we just drop it in, which is very easy.

DataCore Swarm has positively impacted my organization through the support for my dedicated salespersons.

I believe DataCore Swarm cannot be improved in any way because for me, it is perfect.

I have been using DataCore Swarm for more or less 10 years.

DataCore Swarm is stable.

DataCore Swarm's scalability is very easy to manage.

The customer support for DataCore Swarm is very present and available.

I would rate the customer support of DataCore Swarm a 10.

Positive

I did not use a different solution before DataCore Swarm, except to evaluate other technologies to understand if they are at the same point and level.

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing was that in many cases, it was expensive, but my salesperson gave me the possibility to have a discount to sell to customers. However, it is perfect.

My company has a business relationship with this vendor as a reseller.

I have seen a return on investment with DataCore Swarm in terms of time saved.

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing was that in many cases, it was expensive, but my salesperson gave me the possibility to have a discount to sell to customers. However, it is perfect.

Before choosing DataCore Swarm, I did not evaluate other options.

My advice to others looking into using DataCore Swarm is that it is a good product with good support, and it is very scalable.

I found this interview acceptable, and I do not think anything needs to change for the future.

On a scale from one to ten, I rate DataCore Swarm a ten.

We use DataCore Swarm essentially for backups, utilizing immutable backups and dynamic archiving from the file server. We also have a project called the Fiservo, which allows us to move the archive and all files from Fiservo.

It is more rapid than using tape for backups, which was quite slow for restoring. With DataCore Swarm, the process of archiving and backup is faster. With the FireFly project, we can move files from NVMe or SSD to a data disk.

DataCore Swarm is highly available. We use it mainly for the immutable part for backups.

The main issue currently is the hard installation process. Upgrading from CentOS to Rocky is not straightforward either, which needs improvement.

I've been working with DataCore Swarm since June or March 2023.

We use two kinds of architectures, one with single nodes where disk addition is easy and another with a larger infrastructure. Adding nodes is quite straightforward.

The technical support by DataCore is always good. They're proactive and assist even if there's no direct issue with DataCore Swarm.

Positive

We tried using Pacific from Huawei which was easy to use but quite expensive.

The initial setup was not easy and required formal training to configure it properly.

We usually employ a system engineer and a network engineer for implementation to ensure it's done correctly.

With DataCore Swarm, we have transitioned from tape-based backups, which were long, to Swarm, making the process more rapid and efficient.

DataCore Swarm's pricing is reasonable. While the initial step is expensive, ramping up capacity is relatively affordable compared to alternatives.

Apart from DataCore Swarm, we evaluated Huawei's Pacific product, which was quite expensive.

I'd rate the solution nine out of ten.

The most common implementation relies on versioning of S3 protocol objects and therefore the possibility of immutability in governance or compliance mode with DataCore SWARM.

This allows us to store immutable backup sets in order to guarantee our customers a local set for restoring IT production even in the event of a cyber attack.

The other use case is to couple DataCore SWARM with another archiving tool. This combination allows folders and files that are considered archives to be offloaded to large file servers.

Folders and files are moved from production environments that most often use expensive SSD or NVME drives to low-cost NL-SAS storage.

These unloads can be processed according to different Lifecycle policies on the archiving tool, management rules can then be applied to the objects stored on the SWARM DataCore.

This solution initially allowed us to make our backup sets more reliable thanks to the immutability of S3 Protocol objects.

The data remains stored locally which allows for high throughputs both for vegetable backups and also for restorations.

The archiving functionality make it possible to recover high-cost production storage space (SSD and NVMe disks).

Combined with the versioning functionality on a redundant and replicable system (based on erasure coding), it eliminates the problems of backing up large quantities of data which for the majority can be considered dead such as invoices, data from communications services (photos and films), a large part of office files, etc.

The first feature is compatibility with the S3 protocol. DataCore SWARM allows you to quickly have an on-premise, robust and scalable environment that is natively compatible with the S3 protocol.

The functionalities used are therefore derived from the S3 protocol, notably versioning and therefore the possibility of configuring immutability in governance or compliance mode.

The object metada can be enriched with the addition of tags to subsequently enable filtering and searching.

Configuring and using DataCore SWARM is simple and flexible.

It is very easy to create domains, tenants and buckets for different use cases with various authentications.

The cluster architecture also allows replication between different clusters at different configured levels (Cluster / Domains / ...).

A web interface for browsing the content of existing buckets allows simple and rapid manipulation of certain objects such as sharing via a link or cropping a video.

Finally, the physical architecture of the solution is based on an x86 server and its scale-up or scale-out evolution is very simple by adding disks or servers.

The product currently requires a significant number of servers to start.

There are also network prerequisites to be met in order to guarantee good security of the architecture, which means that the product is only available to large customers. Besides, the license starts at 100TB.

An Appliance version has been developed since my first review with a container-based architecture that allows DataCore SWARM to be offered with much lower volume licenses. This new architecture allows adoption by all types of customers.

The product has been evolving since the acquisition by DataCore, but maintaining and updating the product is not always easy and needs to be improved.

For now, we only use DataCore SWARM for a few use cases and therefore a small part of the existing functionalities.
With use we will perhaps have more criticism of the product but not for the moment!

We have been using and installing DataCore SWARM for over a year for ourselves and our customers.

The product is very stable on the installations that have been made. We haven't had a problem (yet).

The architecture is very scalable by adding management servers or storage nodes.

DataCore support is always very responsive and competent on its products.

Positive

We did not previously use a different solution, but we use other DataCore products which suit us perfectly.

The multi-level architecture is a bit complex and requires knowledge of virtualization, networking and Linux systems

We trained on the product but we carried out the first installations with the DataCore teams.

The product saves on expensive storage by offloading dead data from file servers but also reduces backup storage space.
Exporting immutable backup sets locally rather than using Cloud services also allows savings.

The first installation brick is expensive but the upgrades are extremely simple and granular by adding disks or nodes.

An Appliance version has been developed since my first review with a container-based architecture that allows DataCore SWARM to be offered with much lower volume licenses. This new architecture allows adoption by all types of customers.

We looked at Huawei products from the Pacific Storage as well as Quantum products.

The solution is very complete and allows for very varied use cases. It allows on-premises operation of the S3 compatible protocol.

We are using the DataCore Swarm solution as a service provider to store copy backups of our customers. We have two replicated clusters on two sites with 1PB each. The environment contains eight servers on each site for the different services and storage needed. The network is a full 10GB as recommended. 

We plan to offer file archiving and video storage services very soon. In addition, with another DataCore product, we will be able to automatically archive some old files to a low-cost storage compared to the primary storage.

This solution provides us with low-cost storage, allowing us to offer an S3 service to our customers. The use cases are multiple, from backup storage to video storage, legal storage, and archives. 

The object locking is also a prerequisite for us so that we can protect customer data against threats. The erasure coding and versioning help us to have great data durability. 

The system can leverage automatic failover and recover after any problem. 

The scalability is there by just adding a disk or server. The system automatically detects the new hardware and uses it.

For us, the scalability is very important. The ability for the solution to use any new hardware quickly and without administration is a great thing in the context of hosting. 

The erasure coding helps us to have a highly resilient solution. The system is a self-healing architecture allowing us to replace the deffectuous hardware peacefully. 

The replication feature is also important. We need to offer great security to our customers (with two data centers) to increase the availability of data. 

Object locking was a prerequisite, as the data must be immutable.

The solution needs simpler architecture; we need many servers to start using the solution. We know that a project is in the roadmap to put the services in a container and we think it will be a very good thing. 

The second thing would be to improve the updates of the solution. We need a "long" time to pass between the patches on each new version. Again, the containers would be a solution to that. 

The last improvement for us is already in the pipeline, and we have been able to test it. It's an all-in-one server solution. This system allows us to do the primary copy of the data on a unique server that we can easily move and then transfer the data inside the data center.

I've used the solution for eight months.

We use it for customer archiving. Our customers also use it for their immediate payments, autonomous cloud, and on-premise object storage.

I find its flexibility valuable. That makes it easier when you're doing some upgrades. Some other brands force you to stick with that brand. With Caringo, any machine will work. It's also user-friendly, and I'm happy with the dashboards and the customization.

The pricing can definitely be better. It would also help if they made it even more flexible. For example, some customers ask us if they can generally use it for a file. I would like it to make it more flexible for them to use objective storage for things like that.

I've been using Caringo Swarm for more than six months.

It's a stable solution.

It's very easy to scale, you just hit the download button, and then it's done.

Technical support has been very responsive.

The initial setup was very straightforward. It was a bit hard for me to follow, but it's very straightforward. We had it deployed within a weekend.

We pay yearly based on the storage size. You pay for what you use. For example, if you use one terabyte, you just pay for that one terabyte. But the pricing could always be better.

I would recommend the solution to other users because of its simplicity and flexibility.

On a scale from one to ten, I would give Caringo Swarm an eight.