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Dell SRDF (Symmetrix Remote Data Facility ) [EOL] vs NetApp SnapMirror comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Dell SRDF (Symmetrix Remote...
Average Rating
9.2
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
NetApp SnapMirror
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
5.5
Number of Reviews
27
Ranking in other categories
Data Replication (1st)
 

Featured Reviews

it_user1564485 - PeerSpot reviewer
Storage Consultant at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
Stable with great features and excellent support
I cannot recall us requesting any changes or new features. It does what we need it to do for the most part. If you are new to the product, the initial setup might be a bit difficult. There could be some new management or monitoring tools added to the solution. Those need a separate license. It would be nice if they were on the basic configuration.
GP
Storage IT Specialist at a tech vendor with 201-500 employees
Achieves seamless business continuity with robust scalability
The features of NetApp SnapMirror that I have found most valuable include the possibility to stop synchronization in case of high network latency and to limit the bandwidth throttle. This means limiting bandwidth when less connectivity occurs or opening wide the throttling to use the full speed of network connectivity, which we can adjust according to our needs or the needs of our customers. All of this is done without limiting business continuity, so business continuity is always guaranteed. NetApp SnapMirror's data replication feature supports disaster recovery strategies, as it is incorporated into the business continuity feature. SnapMirror is strictly related to snapshot features, a core part of ONTAP, so it's very flexible. It allows us to start with just two snapshots as a simple backup and then use them as a replication point or base for both backup and business continuity. There is no right or wrong answer, it just depends on how it works for specific needs.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The SRDF solution has improved our disaster recovery RPO to near zero or less than 15 minutes with RTO getting drastically reduced."
"In all the companies in which I have used the product the ease of Disaster Recovery was implemented in such a manner that the risk of a site disaster was mitigated in an efficient way, and it made the migrations of complete data centers to other new data centers at other locations a piece of cake."
"We've found the support to be very good overall."
"Customer Service: Top notch. Technical Support: Excellent."
"Customer Service: Very good. Technical Support: Very good."
"The feature of taking snapshots from the replicated volumes has allowed us to use them for DR testing to validate the application consistent point of recovery."
"We've found the support to be very good overall."
"Customer service for this product was top notch."
"What I like most about this solution is its simplicity."
"My understanding is that the technical support is good, but we don't need much support because it's working fine."
"Overall, the product is very good. It's an easy to use tool."
"It's a simple and efficient tool to build a disaster recovery solution that involves many applications such as Oracle, SQL, VMware, and Hyper-V."
"Having real-time replication gives us the capability to recover from any data loss as quickly as possible."
"The solution is so reliable that managers of a company don't even need to bother about knowing how NetApp SnapMirror functions in their organization."
"The most valuable feature is the data replication tool, and there is also a lot of ability for data migration."
"The most valuable feature is the data replication tool. There is also a lot of ability for data migration."
 

Cons

"If you are new to the product, the initial setup might be a bit difficult."
"The main pain point that we experienced is during device creation."
"As of late I have seen the replication drop but this was not due to the SRDF, it was due to the high rate of IO changes on the OS side."
"Our ROI was minimal, because we use it for a cold, disaster recovery method."
"In general, it’s very stable although some time SRDF don’t behave as expected specially if the link is not stable or saturated."
"SRDF compared with EMC Recover Point has less capabilities, for ex. CDP (local or remote) is missing, only EMC assets compatibility, as a TCO is more expensive than implementing IBM SVC or EMC VPLEX virtualization and replication (more supported assets)."
"If you are new to the product, the initial setup might be a bit difficult."
"The main pain point that we experienced is during device creation. For every newly provisioned volume, creating replication relationships between production and DR site, creating snapshots for third copy at DR site, and configuring them in appropriate replication groups and device groups means that there are lot of steps involved and a lot of room for error. There has to be a lot of checks and balances which need to be incorporated to make sure that the solution is set up correctly."
"It is not as efficient as it needs to be. It doesn't compress the data really well when it is forwarded to a secondary site."
"We have different families of storage, such as the E-Series and Flash systems, but NetApp cannot be set up between them."
"The NetApp storage is entry-level storage. I'd like to see compression and deduplication and encryption improved, and I'd like to have real-time replication so I have a zero RPO."
"This process can get out of control sometimes and cause excessive disk utilization."
"In the next release, I would like to get an active IP number solution."
"The new coursework models need to be improved. The bandwidth monitoring could also be better."
"It is not as efficient as it needs to be. It doesn't compress the data really well when it is forwarded to a secondary site. The download performance could be better."
"You need too many separate licenses for the features. Sometimes our customers choose other replication services because of the initial cost of the licenses."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"The pricing can be improved."
"It's part of the NetApp Firewall, so it's free."
"The cost is low compared to different vendors."
"The solution has monthly and yearly licensing options."
"The pricing could be improved."
"It's a highly cost-effective solution"
"SnapMirror is extremely expensive. We had a hard time adjusting to our budget. If rated on a scale of one to ten, with ten being the most expensive, I would definitely rate it ten out of ten."
"The product price is reasonable."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Construction Company
9%
Performing Arts
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business1
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise5
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise10
Large Enterprise10
 

Questions from the Community

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What needs improvement with NetApp SnapMirror?
Some areas of NetApp SnapMirror that could be improved or enhanced include synchronous SnapMirror, which needs improvement as it suffers significantly from network latency. In particular, synchrono...
What is your primary use case for NetApp SnapMirror?
I can elaborate on how I am using NetApp SnapMirror for server migration for one of my clients. We create a cluster, establish intercluster connectivity for the server migration, and then create cl...
 

Also Known As

No data available
SnapMirror
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Global Security Provider, SSM Health Care, Bar Harbor Bank & Trust, Shriners, BZWBK, Qatar Islamic Bank, Sudwestrundfunk (SWR)
University at Albany, City of Houston, Yahoo Japan, Washington Employment Security Department, DG Khan Cement Co. Ltd., AmTrust Financial Services, Sheridan College
Find out what your peers are saying about NetApp, Fivetran, Dell Technologies and others in Data Replication. Updated: May 2026.
893,221 professionals have used our research since 2012.