Azure Backup Reviews

Our primary use case of Azure Backup is for data on our application servers. We host our ERP systems with SQL for backend software. 

We've been in partnership with Microsoft for more than 15 years. I'm the CEO and the CIO. 

Before we started using Azure we spent a lot of money at our various sites, setting one up as the main physical site and a second for disaster recovery. We had to invest a lot of money to buy hardware that needed replacing every two or three years. Switching to Azure has saved us thousands. The hardware is always updated and we're now able to invest more in our staff which is highly beneficial because it translates to satisfied clients.  

As a security setting, Azure is very detailed. We can add features on retentions and retain the backup for several days. The retention policies are very good. I like the notifications and multiple layers of security that the solution offers. It enables us and our clients to feel secure and you can install and connect your systems wherever you are. 

We're hoping the price of the solution won't increase in the coming months when Azure is due to review all its products. I think that what the product lacks now is an AI system; if we had that, we'd be able to more easily upgrade the hardware system.  

We've been using this solution for about seven years. 

We haven't had any stability issues. If the initial setup is done properly there won't be any issues with stability. 

The scalability is good. We have around 12 users in the department. Some of them provide techno support and others do testing on the system to check its abilities because sometimes it has too much load. 

Customer support is very good. 

The initial setup was straightforward. Deployment time depends on the size of the data.

We pay over $8 million per year in licensing fees for 365 and Azure usage. There is no additional cost for hardware but we train our employees and that is an added cost for us. 

We had a look at Amazon before going with Azure but we decided to go the whole way with Microsoft. These days, I'm not sure there's much difference between the two.   

It's important to know what you'll be getting from whoever provides you with the solution because it's important that support is included. This product has really helped me in scaling up my company. We love this solution and think everyone should have it. 

As a provider and a user, I rate this solution 10 out of 10. 

The primary use case is for restoration purposes, disaster recovery, and to back up our normal processes for example restoration.

If any virtual machines go down then we can just recover from the previous restore point.

The most valuable feature is the ease in which it backs up our data. I would say that the process is quite simple.

The compression rate is not as good as some competing products, so it needs improvement. We have read that the compression rate is 20%, whereas Commvault is 60% to 70%.

We have a concern with the backup when were are working with VMs that are running in Barracuda Firewall because it usually fails. This is a prominent issue. If I have 100 VMs then two or three of the backups fail.

I have been using Azure Backup for approximately five years.

This solution is stable.

We have not had much experience the scalability or integration with other solutions.

We have more than 10 clients and we have approximately 500 individual machines.

We haven't contacted technical support because we have not had any issues.

Previously, we did not use any other solution. We have been using this one from the beginning.

The initial setup was quite simple.

If I have to configure a backup for one virtual machine it only takes five minutes.

This solution doesn't require any maintenance. If we have a problem Microsoft handles it.

We completed the implementation and we have not used a vendor or integrator to assist us

I am not aware of the pricing, as it is handled by the accounts department.

Currently, we are evaluating Commvault. I have read that it is good. We will consider other solutions that may be available with better facilities.

The setup is a very simple and easy process, it's easy to learn and use, and it is not very complicated to configure. Overall, it's a simple process.

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

We are a Microsoft partner and we implement solutions for our customers. We also provide managed services. We work with most of the services on Azure, and this is one of the solutions that we have provided.

Azure Backup is a public cloud service, and you can use it to backup on-premises or cloud services. The primary use case is backing up cloud services. However, if you are using it on-premises then the cloud part is much more convenient.

The storage backup is very efficient.

The solution needs to be fully supported by VMware. It works, but when you go to VMware they say that Azure Backup is not recommended, or is not a very good solution.

I would like to have an application-level backup, rather than interface-level only. Examples would be Exchange backup,  SharePoint backup, and SQL backup.

The support for Office365 backup is atrocious and is something that has to be improved. 

I have not faced any problems with the stability of this solution.

Scalability has not been an issue.

Technical support for this solution depends on the type of support that you have.

Their response time is within the SLA, which is good, but sometimes I have trouble communicating with the support staff. It is normally a case of the technical support person having an accent which is difficult for me to understand, which makes it inconvenient. I have trouble trying to explain the problem.

The initial setup of this solution is straightforward. 

The pricing of this solution is good, and it is one of the easiest things that you can sell Azure with. 

This is a solution that I might recommend, depending on the customer's requirements. If they need application-level backup then I will not even consider it. However, if they need infrastructure backup for Azure, then, of course, it is a good option. Generally speaking, I recommend this solution.

Overall, the service is good for certain use cases, but it is short of functionality when you consider the competitors.

I would rate this solution a five out of ten.

We primarily use the solution for its backup functionality. It's the number one reason we utilize the product.

The best aspect of the solution is its backup functionality.

Overall, the solution has many great benefits and features.

The solution may be better suited to certain companies over others. It depends on the type of data you are working with.

The solution is quite technical. I wouldn't describe it as user friendly. It could be simplified a lot to make it more accessible to the average user.

I've been using the solution for around three years now. It hasn't been an extremely long amount of time.

I haven't experienced any issues with stability. I don't recall dealing with bigs or glitches. It doesn't seem to crash. I would describe it as pretty reliable.

While 100% of our organization utilizes the solution, I don't believe we've ever tried to scale it. I don't know if it scales well or not. I don't know if our organization plans on expanding in the future, either.

We've never needed to contact technical support. We haven't had any issues that were big enough to warrant us reaching out. I don't have any personal experience dealing with them hands-on, therefore, I can't speak to how easy they are to deal with or how good their support offering actually is.

I was not involved in the initial setup. I can't speak to the complexity or straightforwardness of the implementation.

I'm not sure how long deployment takes.

We have an in-house team that handles maintenance.

We have an in-house team that handled everything for us. They also do maintenance on the solution as necessary.

We are simply using the solution as a customer. We don't have any professional affiliation with Azure. We simply use a lot of Microsoft products, including its OS and Office suite.

We have a site where do backups, but we do not do anything on a big scale on the cloud.

I'm not sure of which version of the solution we're using.

I'd recommend the solution to other organizations to try. It's a very good solution.

I'd rate the solution seven out of ten. The product should be more non-technical. If it as more user-friendly, I would rate it higher.

Currently, I'm working on a project in a desktop environment where this is one of the solutions that is being used. It is a public-cloud deployment model.

We are using this solution to back up VMs and data from our customers.

The most valuable feature of this solution is the integration with cloud services. I do not have to use an external application, such as Veeam, to back up files or VMs. It works like a standard backup, which is very useful when you want to provide a secure backup environment for your customer.

This solution allows me to restore either the VM or the data, depending on what is needed.

Technical support for this solution is good but it can still be improved.

The user interface is a little bit confusing and it could be better. It took some time to learn, although I was able to read about it and adapt. For a customer without backup experience, it will take longer to get used to. The same goes for customers without cloud backup experience because the options differ from what existed in their on-premises solution.

The price of this solution is something they should focus on improving.

The backend of this type of solution is complex, so stability and security can always be improved.

This solution is stable and I haven't faced any issues while using it. It is as stable as Windows is, or as Linux is, so it is stable.

When I was working for HP we had our own private cloud for the customers, and it is not easy to stabilize everything, especially if you have several data centers around the world and you need to synchronize them. Once you add a new feature and it has to be deployed in all of them, it can be very messy.

This is a scalable solution.

Usually, my customers are small to medium-sized businesses with between ten and fifty users.

Technical support for this solution is very good. I can either ask questions in the forum or raise a call, and people reply to me right away. It is great.

I have used support from many big companies in the past, such as HP and Fuji. Also, when I first implemented this solution, people suggested that I do not take support from Microsoft. Rather, I should purchase a support contract from another company. I opted to test the Microsoft support, and I found that I am very satisfied with it. I would rate them between seven and eight out of ten.

Previously, we used other backup solutions, but this is our first cloud backup solution. We used to use NetBackup and a backup solution from HP, but these were on-premises deployments.

We chose Microsoft for this solution because they developed a data center in Switzerland, and the people there gave me a good feeling about it. I am really satisfied with this solution and support.

This is an easy solution to implement. I didn't need to obtain or read a lot of information. If you have experience in IT then you will find it easy to set up a basic configuration.

Deployment time for this solution depends on the environment. As an example, the last deployment that I performed was for a company with twenty-five users. It took five days to complete. Some of the time, of course, was spent in preparation. The deployment itself is really easy and short.

I implement this solution for my customers.

It may take several years before a customer sees ROI, but they will immediately gain in terms of security, stability, and automation.

The pricing of this solution is ok, but I'm expecting that the price will decrease in the future.  

I have used many different backup solutions, and in my experience, none of them will do everything. Each of them has pros and cons. You have to choose a backup solution based on several aspects including your knowledge, the price, the license, the support, how long the backup will be deployed, the agent, the stability, the scalability, and what it is that you are backing up. For example, in the past, the HP solution that I used did not support backing up a mailbox.

For our customers, we only needed a simple backup solution. With Azure Backup, it was easy because I didn't have to search for an external solution. I did not have high expectations, but it matched them and does what I need it to.

I came from a Unix environment in the past, and I was not really a Microsoft or Windows users. Now, however, I'm more confident with Microsoft products. I worked for HPE for a long time in a private cloud environment, and I really appreciate services that are well-integrated with each other and can be used right away, without having a great deal of Microsoft experience.

There are some services that different customers do not require, but everybody needs to have a backup solution as a prerequisite, whether they operate on-premises on in the cloud.

This is a simple backup solution. To understand, you can consider Unix as an example. We used to have a single backup command that worked from the command line interface, and it was sufficient. Then, dedicated backup applications were released. They were more complex with new features, handled new infrastructure, and handled new applications, but with that came bigger expectations. In this case, my expectations are small and Azure backup is sufficient for my customers. If tomorrow, for example, the customer's requirements change, then I may advise them to use Veeam, NetApp Cloud Backup, or another solution. 

My advice to anyone who is implementing this solution is to test the restore process regularly and to manage the backup of the data depending on the certainty of the restore. Even if the backup completes successfully and is stable, it doesn't mean that the data is not corrupted. This is the same advice that I would give for an on-premises backup. Be vigilant on that.

When it comes to this type of solution, sometimes you have to dedicate a specific engineer for a long time. They will train themselves and know everything about the backup. They will be able to troubleshoot and answer questions about the solution.

I would rate this solution a seven out of ten.

We use Azure Backup to back up our data from our application server to the disaster recovery site. 

I would like to have the option to increase the frequency of the backups. Azure Backup does backups on an hourly basis, but I would prefer it to take backups more often. 

We have been using Azure Backup for nearly three years.

Setting up Azure Backup is straightforward and the total deployment time was about a month. 

A reseller handled the whole deployment.

We have an annual license and pay separately for support from a local provider.

I rate Azure Backup seven out of 10. 

The main use case is to back up the virtual machines.

It's part of the Azure cloud service. The solution is included in the overall price. 

The solution is stable.

The scalability has been good.

Technical support is okay. They do help you when you need them.

As I don't work directly with the solution (my team does), I don't have any notes for improvement.

Technical support can be slow to respond at times.

I've only been using the solution for two years. 

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

The solution is scalable. If a company needs to expand it, it's possible to do so.

Only the IT backups use the solution. That's just two people. No one else does. 

Technical support is okay. They are helpful, however, they are not always fast.

Previously, we only used Micro Focus Data Protector. We were on our data center on-premise. After the migration, to save, the machines to the Azure cloud, we switched from the VM backups to Azure Backup. The other backups are still running on Micro Focus Data Protector.

The initial setup is done by our cloud solution provider. While I'm not aware of the details. my understanding is that the deployment was quick and did not take long.

The solution is part of the greater Microsoft service. I am not sure if there is a separate license just for this. It's not an additional price. There may be more costs according to how much storage is needed. You have to do the backup to a storage account and the storage account costs a price per terabytes.

We are a customer with an enterprise agreement.

I do not backups myself. I don't know the versions we are using.

I'd rate the solution at an eight out of ten.

We used it for the backup of virtual machines.

It offers seamless integration with Azure because there may be around 150 VMs in Azure. So we used to run Veeam. It was easy to implement.

Ransomware protection is missing in Azure Backup.

I have been using the solution since 2018.

It is a stable solution. I rate it nine out of ten.

It is a scalable solution. I rate it eight out of ten.

The initial setup was easy. I rate it nine out of ten. The solution was deployed in a few days.

The pricing is in the middle as it is not the most expensive, yet they are not the cheapest.

I rate it six out of ten.

If you are new to the cloud and looking for a solution with essential backup support, go for Azure. But if you want advanced features, then this is not recommended. I was looking for Ransomware Protection and had to move away from Azure as it does not have such advanced features.

I rate it a seven out of ten.