DD Boost Reviews

We use this solution primarily for backup. We use it to duplicate backup images when we have governance requirements with multiple copies in different locations. We will also be deploying a gate fault solution where data domain duplication is the only way of ingesting data into CyberArk.

We like the product because it is simple and works for most environments. It cuts down network traffic, and only the relevant parts move around because it is deduced and encrypted. So the less traffic that needs to flow, the better.

The solution could be faster. However, they already have acceptable speeds. The DD Boost is only a transport layer of the product. For example, we went on RFP, and the two main candidates were Veritas NetBackup and Dell DPS. We chose Dell DPS because of DD Boost. Veritas NetBackup also uses DD Boost, but Dell DPS is defaulted and integrated into the client. There are things other than DD Boost that can be improved. In the future, we will see more things that the product exhibits. I feel DD Boost will only improve in relation to Dell because it is integrated into the client and the software.

In the next release, it will be good to have a real-time view of the volume and for it to be shown as a metic. In addition, we are backing up many terabytes and sending gigabytes of unique data, so it will be good to have physical and logical data in DD Boost. Not having this makes it difficult to quantify the savings.

We have been using this solution for 15 years. We usually use one version behind the latest release to ensure there are no issues. DD Boost is currently deployed on-premises, and we do not use it in the cloud space. We try to enable users to do everything in the cloud setup so they can choose the right tools rather than deploying a consolidation solution. There are hundreds of users, and we don't want to limit them. We are monitoring them to ensure there are no gaps rather than prescribing or suggesting specific tools.

I rate the stability an eight out of ten.

It is scalable because as the number of clients grows, our target storage will also have to grow to store all the data. We have to have more front-end ports to spread parallelly, have file groups, and load balancing all configured as part of the DD Boost. I rate the scalability an eight out of ten.

We have about 6000 clients backed up, so about 600 servers that talk via DD Boost to the data domains.

I've never had a specific issue with DD Boost, but we've worked with them in other areas. All our storage is Dell storage, so we have a significant estate. Due to our size they may treat us well because of our size. There is a difference between Dell support and any other vendor we have worked with, and we are pleased with their support. I rate the technical support a nine.

Before we used DD Boost, we used NetBackup and TSM. We migrated from the tech libraries to desk-based storage in TSM. We used fibre transport for a while for NetBackup, but we weren't happy because we needed a separate license. So we currently use TCP IP client connectivity, and there are no other mechanisms for it. So we're not copying on the NetBackup side, but we are allowing the array at the bottom to replicate.

If you install the backup client, the DPS client on the host is already installed; you give it the connection credentials, and it is installed. It is straightforward.

Regarding maintenance, we have one residency contract with Dell that has about five people. We have more than 14 gigabytes of unique storage, and they look after all the Dell products. They are all Dell-certified and Dell-employed staff, so they are our outsourced storage management.

I do not know details about the financials, but they give us very good deals and are open to negotiation regarding their products and our company size. They can work our ELAs for our environment and bundles, which gives us a better overall deal than if we bought only one or two products. I rate the pricing a four out of ten, with one being not expensive and ten being very expensive.

In our experience, we are working on the duplex ratio of five to one in the data domain. The data domain capacity is the cheapest compared to Veritas appliances or IBM specs. I rate this solution an eight out of ten.

DD Boost's best features are deduplication and compression.

An area for improvement is DD Boost's technical support.

I've been using DD Boost for more than five years.

DD Boost's technical support could be better.

I would rate DD Boost ten out of ten.

Our customers use Dell EMC Data Domain Boost to minimize the negative outcomes and protect against ransomware attacks.

Dell EMC Data Domain Boost has helped to reduce maintenance time and protect our data.

The most valuable features are the performance and the duplication.

The solution could improve by adding more flexibility for the customers here in Thailand. Some of the small capacity models of the solution are not needed by our customers. There should be a more flexible version of the solution.

In a feature release, there should be immutable features.

I have been using Dell EMC Data Domain Boost for approxiamtely five years.

The solution is stable.

Some models of Dell EMC Data Domain Boost are scalable, there are some versions that are not as scalable as others.

We have approximately 10 customers using this solution.

We have system architects and engineers using this solution.

My engineers have had some issues and have contacted support. The speed and the knowledge of the support agent were okay.

We have used HPE StoreOnce. 

Dell EMC Data Domain Boost has more features than HPE StoreOnce.

The solution is simple to install and manage.

My engineers typically do the implementation in a few hours. I do not have direct knowledge of the process.

We have one system engineer that does the implementation and support of the solution.

The solution comes with a capacity license and it is a one-time purchase. There are additional costs, such as support.

I would recommend this solution to others.

I rate Dell EMC Data Domain Boost a nine out of ten.

We use this solution with Data Domain (DD) to enhance the data backups of our databases and applications. It is a very popular solution around the world.

The solution is very good because it is easy to use and it speeds up the backup and lowers the requirement for the storage rate. It is capable of encryption, compression, and deduplication and it is fast for sending all of the data over the network because it sends only the change blocks from the client to the DD server.

I have been using this solution for approximately six years.

The solution is stable.

I have found the solution to be scalable.

We have approximately 10 people using this solution in my organization.

I have been satisfied with the technical support.

The installation is straightforward.

We have a team that does the implementation and maintenance of the solution.

DD Boost comes built into DD or Avamar. However, to use DD Boost for enterprise is a separate license. For example, if you have Oracle, Linux, or Unix and you need to install DD Boost for Arman, then you need a separate license. Typically when you purchase the solution it is bundled and you either purchase a one or three-year license. The price for the solution is expensive but when comparing it to other solutions it is reasonably priced. However, the price could still be cheaper.

If you want to manage your database backups, then you should use DD Boost for Enterprise applications.

I would recommend this solution to others.

I rate Dell EMC Data Domain Boost a nine out of ten.

I primarily use the solution for the backup capabilities. I'm using about 100 terabytes daily.

The solution has very good dashboards.

The solution offers very good daily and weekly updated on the deduplication and the compression ratio.

The solution is very fast.

The initial setup is very straightforward.

The deduplication is very bad on this solution. After 85% the utilization gets very bad.

The solution doesn't scale. If you hit your capacity, you need to buy a new device.

Technical support has fallen in quality. It used to be much better.

I've been using Data Domain for about 12 years and Data Boost for about six years.

The stability has been very good. It doesn't crash or freeze. We haven't had bugs or glitches. It's been good.

The solution doesn't scale. If you need to expand anything, you will need to buy a new model. You can't just scale up an existing model. If, after a year or two, you need to scale up, then you need to look at new boxes.

We have about 2,500 people in the company, however, just one special team actually uses the solution.

We've had some issues with technical support. I've found that they used to be quite good, however, they've gone downhill in terms of the service they provide. We aren't 100% satisfied with the level of support on offer.

The initial setup isn't complex at all. We have a pretty standard setup and it was relatively straightforward. Setting up the solution shouldn't come with any issues for most companies.

We have licenses that last five years. After that, we may get new devices.

We tend to get a big discount with our licensing once we choose to upgrade. The pricing is not bad.

We're just a customer. We don't have a business relationship with Dell.

I would recommend the solution to other organizations.

I'd advise companies to take care to think about capacity, as you can't really resize anything. If you decide to upgrade, it may be smart to ask them about discounts. It can save you money and give you a good deal.

I would rate the solution eight out of ten. We've been mostly happy with the product.

We proposed the use of Dell EMC Data Domain Boost with Oracle backend to a financial organization. They had a very good experience with backup times and fast resolutions. 

Integration could be better. Sometimes when integrating with different systems, it's not straightforward.

I have been using Dell EMC Data Domain Boost for three years.

Dell EMC Data Domain Boost is a stable solution. Our team is trained and certified to use this product and don't have any complaints about it.

Their technical support was actually good. In the POC environment, we needed some help, and they supported us with that.

The initial setup is straightforward. The time it takes to implement the solution depends on the customer side networking issues, and the time it takes to integrate with their systems. But from a product perspective, it doesn't take much time.

Our in-house team implemented Dell EMC Data Domain Boost. We have a few experienced engineers who are qualified to implement this product, and they are capable of handling it.

On a scale from one to ten, I would give Dell EMC Data Domain Boost an eight. 

We are using the product as a back-up target solution. 

I am an infrastructure group leader and we are customers of Dell. 

I like the stability of the solution. We are using firewalls and the data domain is very stable, the back-up target and the application and compression are very good. It's a Dell EMC data domain boost.

The capacity of the solution is very low which is why we're moving to a different product. 

I've been using this solution for five years. 

The main downside of the solution is the capacity, otherwise it's a good product.

I would rate this solution a nine out of 10. 

We primarily use the solution as an SQL backup. We also use the DD Boost protocol.

The extreme stability of the solution, as well as the deduplication compression ratio, are the most valuable aspects for our organization.

There is nothing that's very difficult about this product right now. However, the GUI can use some improvement. When I compare Cohesity and Data Domain, I think Cohesity is more user friendly. In terms of Data Domain, the restored items should be converted from the Rockwell SQL end. That is the one thing which puts me off being a Data Domain administrator. I should have the authority to restore whatever comes to my end. I should get that capability as an admin. Being an admin, I need to be able to restore the things from my end rather than waiting.

We have been using this solution at our company for three and a half years so far. However, I personally have had experience working with the product for the last 15 or 16 years.

We find the solution to be extremely stable.

The solution is quite scalable. An organization shouldn't have any problem expanding if they use this solution.

Our company extensively uses this solution. We did have issues with upgrading and we had to call back the Dell EMC team to assist.

For now, we have plans on expanding depending on the amount of storage we receive from our Cohesity box. We're still a very small team of three.

We are planning to have it on data center locations as well, but it is still in the planning stage so there are plenty of products that will be brought on later in the data center rooms so we can implement that in my own department.

Technical support is okay but could be improved. I've sent a lot of complaints their way and I feel like they might be able to respond a bit better.

Everything around DSM, an IDM tool, was pretty complex in terms of handling the Rockwell SQL backup. When we migrated over to Data Domain, it's much easier for us to switch and work on that.

It took around six to eight months to make it into the production and do the deployment.

We needed a consultant. They had an SQL background as well. It was kind of 60/40 split in labor. 60% was work from our side. Then we got back to them and they gave us a calling order to assist.

We're always evaluating other options. Right now we're comparing this solution to Cohesity. We've learned, however, that Data Domain is much more scalable than Cohesity, so we are not likely to switch to them.

We don't have a business relationship with EMC. We're just customers.

Data Domain, on a scale out of ten, I would give an eight due to the amount of compression and data retention it offers. It's very stable as an infrastructure for backup, and we can use it as a storage as well.

I'd advise other organizations to do some comparisons with other solutions, however, and especially look into scalability and how that might affect their decisions. They should also do their homework to find out things like how soon it's possible to restore an item.

We primarily use this product for cost savings and saving server capacity.

Because of how it functions we do not have to make additional investment in hardware and services.

Data Domain Boost has a unique protocol. I don't think other vendors have a similar protocol and controls from the products I have had experience with. There are alternative solutions, but Data Domain Boost is really efficient. Compared to these other products, I found the efficiency of Data Domain Boost to be superior.

Like any product, it would be good to improve performance and the ease of dealing with operating the system. It needs a more familiar interface to make it easier to use for everyone. Other than that, I don't think so that there are more features that will be necessary and important for every user. To me, all the features are suitable and convenient. If I was looking for something for Dell to add to the product, it would be notifications.

As far as improvement, the stability of the connection could be improved. The tool itself is okay, but not the gateway between the on-prem Data Domain and the cloud. We have to find a workaround or use third party products. So in the next release, I'd like to see a better connection gateway between cloud and on-prem.

Improvement of the pricing would be a welcome change.

I strongly recommend companies or any organization to go with this product if they expect full features and stability.

For now, I am very happy with the scalability. We have around 500 people using the solution and scaling has not been a problem. I once work system admin, now I'm a solution architect. Mainly system admins and architects directly use the platform.

The technical support is very special, really. I like it and overall I am very satisfied with the services.

We are actually using both Veritas and Data Domain simultaneously. Between these two, Data Domain is more efficient for me and very scalable. There is a limitation to the scalability at some point, but there is a different architecture so it does not really become a problem.

I think the initial setup was straightforward. I cannot say it was very complex but that may depend on your experience and complexity of your network.

I'm doing all parts of the implementation. We are a gold partner with Dell EMC now. Prior to that, we were a reseller.

I think it is important that Dell reconsider the pricing. I don't know what we pay off-hand, but I do know that the pricing is high compared with other competing products.

On a scale from one to ten, where one is the worst and ten is the best, I would rate Dell EMC Data Domain Boost as a ten. I strongly recommend this product for all its capabilities.

I do self-study and read articles about this product to learn about capabilities and solutions even though I am familiar with it. It is good for users to do self-study to get the most out of the product.

Data Domain is valuable, especially for restoring data. For normal data, the restore from Data Domain is very efficient and fast.

The experience of restoring VMware or Veeam Backup is difficult when the backup you are using is a  solution for backup, which is already having a deduplication. When you try to restore from Data Domain, it doesn't work perfectly, because Data Domain is already having a deduplication as well.

This is only a deduplication issue. If you are restoring databases with a normal backup, it will work very fast. However, if you are restoring your database at the deduplication by VM backup, then the deduplication for it will be very slow.

The stability is there actually.

The problem with Data Domain is you have to size it to the right size for your workloads before you choose. Upgrading the platform is not that easy.

You can add some more shelves, but this will not give you that much capacity for your workload. You have to ensure that you study the workload well.

To be precise, it is not scalable if you are jumping from small to medium or from medium to large. Within the medium tier, however, it is scalable.

Excellent. The technical support at EMC is one of the best I have known.

The initial setup is a bit complicated. It's a difficult task to set it up. After this, however, things go fairly smoothly. After you define the main things, there is no need to do anything else.

Study the workload very well before you go into the sizing phase. You have to study your workloads, so you can anticipate them and avoid any unplanned workloads.

I would rate the solution as eight out of ten. It is quite sufficient but needs a little bit of improvement.