Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users
Program Manager at ITC
MSP
Top 20
Experience smooth data recovery with reliable performance and flexible encryption
Pros and Cons
  • "The compression ratio is very flexible for designing all the required policies for backup."
  • "In some cases, solutions are not found in one method of call and it escalates to many levels until an experienced person can join to resolve the issue."

What is our primary use case?

We are using Dell NetWorker in our ITC Limited to restore and manage data effectively. We have restored ten years of data with it.

How has it helped my organization?

Dell NetWorker has been effective and provides a good way to handle large-scale recovery tasks.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features of Dell NetWorker are its reliability, performance, application data security, and encryption process. The compression ratio is very flexible for designing all the required policies for backup.

What needs improvement?

Dell NetWorker's support requires some experienced personnel to handle issues. In some cases, solutions are not found in one method of call and it escalates to many levels until an experienced person can join to resolve the issue.

Buyer's Guide
Dell NetWorker
May 2025
Learn what your peers think about Dell NetWorker. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: May 2025.
851,604 professionals have used our research since 2012.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with Dell NetWorker for the last five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I have no complaints regarding the stability of Dell NetWorker, and I find it to be an eight out of ten for stability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I rate the scalability of Dell NetWorker an eight out of ten.

How are customer service and support?

I haven't found solutions in the first call in some cases, indicating that the support team needs more experience and expertise. However, I have had mostly positive experiences with support.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I have previously worked with Veeam. I found the data compression ratio is very high in Veeam.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is easy, and I rate it a nine out of ten for ease of setup.

What about the implementation team?

I can do the deployment myself without anyone's help.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I am not sure about the exact pricing, but it seems to be nominal and reasonable.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I evaluated Veeam before switching to Dell NetWorker.

What other advice do I have?

I recommend using Dell NetWorker due to its reliability, scalability, security, and convenience.

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Flag as inappropriate
PeerSpot user
Abdellah Djebli - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Technical Manager, Epic program at a healthcare company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Real User
Top 10
Has a good compression ratio, but the NDMP backup process could be optimal
Pros and Cons
  • "Dell NetWorker's valuable feature is its ability to configure the network for immutability, specifically for backups."
  • "There could be a possibility of constructing full backups from incremental data intelligently."

What is our primary use case?

We have a centralized data domain system with a 100% virtualized environment. The product helps us with VM Backup, NAS system backup, and file system backup.

How has it helped my organization?

The product is a good backup solution and has helped our organization in most data storage scenarios.

What is most valuable?

Dell NetWorker's valuable feature is its ability to configure the network for immutability, specifically for backups. It is the most essential feature nowadays. We can take immediate backups. It has a good compression ratio as well.

What needs improvement?

The NDMP backups, especially NAS, could be optimal. We receive complaints from various vendors related to its slow performance. Additionally, it required full backups and configuration every week or two. There could be a possibility of constructing full backups from incremental data intelligently, similar to TSM. Further, they could adopt a progressive backup methodology.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using Dell NetWorker for six years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I rate the product's stability a seven out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I rate the platform's stability a seven out of ten.

How are customer service and support?

The technical support services are good, especially when we have connected with the right individuals or specialists.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

The decision to move from TSM to Dell NetWorker was primarily driven by Dell/EMC infrastructure use. We wanted to maintain a unified vendor approach across the entire converged infrastructure.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward. However, PPDM is a lot easier to deploy than NetWorker.

What was our ROI?

We never encountered any challenges for data backup and restore. It is a big advantage considering the return on investment.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

It is inexpensive compared to new products like Rubrik or Cohesity. They offer discounts to government organizations.

What other advice do I have?

We have to keep Dell NetWorker updated as many security fixes need to be done. With everything shifting to the cloud, the organization beginning with the transition should consider hybrid solutions. This approach will help them back up both the cloud and on-premise versions in a hybrid environment.

I rate it a seven out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Dell NetWorker
May 2025
Learn what your peers think about Dell NetWorker. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: May 2025.
851,604 professionals have used our research since 2012.
NAYAB RASOOL SHAIK - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Lead at Infineon Technologies
Real User
Easy to implement with good backup capabilities and tight integration with Data Domain
Pros and Cons
  • "The initial setup is simple."
  • "The web console could be a lot better."

What is our primary use case?

We have used the solution largely for backups, including all our databases and UX machines.

What is most valuable?

The solution offers very good backups and has all of the basic features any other solution would have on offer. 

There's tight integration between Data Domain and NetWorker as well. Data Domain is an EMC product. They have very good integration between the two.

The initial setup is simple. 

Its stability is very good. 

The solution can scale. 

What needs improvement?

The web console could be a lot better. All the customers are dependent on a separate console server. If they want to access NetWorker, they need to have a separate console server to access the management window. I know they've come up with a browser-based management site in order to monitor day-to-day backups and to perform the administration or the setup within the web console. Yet, for the web-based console, they still need to do some improvements.

The documentation could be better. I find the solution is not properly documented. If you want to set up a SharePoint, there are certain steps to be followed, which I have to discover myself, I have to find out myself, which was not found in those installation setup guides. That's something I would suggest. We have already passed this suggestion to Dell EMC, letting them know that there are a few steps missing. The documentation was not properly maintained or properly updated. Previously, the older documentation was good. However, it seems that now, when they update and move forward it's not properly documented.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using the solution for ten years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's stable. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. It's reliable and the performance is good.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution can scale. We only need to get an additional license if we want to do a scaling of our infrastructure. We just need to buy the capacity we need. We can just upgrade the RAM in case it needs additional resources also. We can even deploy another NetWorker server. 

Scaling is purely based on capacity. You don't have to buy it per server either as most of the servers are virtualized. As you have the socket license and the capacity license, then you can actually deploy a new server.

We have more than 1,000 users on the solution right now. 

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We've used EMC, Veeam, and Rubrik.

We do have Rubrik and I set up Rubrik a few months back, and it's working fine. 

EMC, in terms of cost, is more expansive. I would definitely go for NetWorker instead as, when you compare it with the Veritas NetBackup, NetWorker is cheaper. Rubrik is cheaper than NetWorker, however, with  Rubrik, we're only using it to back up our VMs. For the other kinds of workloads, such as Exchange or SharePoint, we are still using NetWorker.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is not complex. It's straightforward. Once you have all your prerequisites ready, then you are good to go.

What about the implementation team?

As integrators, we are able to handle the initial setup. We handled the setup ourselves mostly in-house. 

What was our ROI?

I don't have any information on the ROI.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

We'll have the solution for about five years. I can't say how much it will cost in total. 

What other advice do I have?

We are users and integrators as well. 

My advice would be to have, once you have started to use it, something more on the Windows-based tools. If you see the commands, all those commands are as if you're running a query. The underlying structure of NetWorker is a skill database, so it's actually running on a skill database. Mostly you'll be running some queries, or querying commands to get the reports using the command prompt. For someone who is familiar with Windows, they'll find it very easy to use.

I'd rate the solution a nine out of ten. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Assistant Vice President at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Top 10
Faster backups and good automation with clearer software management needed
Pros and Cons
  • "Taking backups is faster."
  • "Management of the software is a little bit hazy and not easy."

What is our primary use case?

We just use it for one purpose only, and that is to take our core banking database, Oracle, and take the RMAN backup. It is not used for any other purpose, only for taking the core banking software's Oracle database backup using RMAN.

How has it helped my organization?

Automation has been beneficial as we set criteria like old backups and retention periods, allowing NetWorker to function well with minimal interruption or maintenance required.

What is most valuable?

It is a little bit faster, and the storage time is better. Taking backups is faster.

What needs improvement?

Management of the software is a little bit hazy and not easy. We have to find where the administration features are located.

For how long have I used the solution?

We may continue to use it in the future because it comes with PowerStore as backup software.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's automated well, however, we faced occasional issues like partial upgrades causing disruptions.

How are customer service and support?

We faced some issues with support. The engineers took too long to provide support, causing problems like backup stops and the need for manual backups.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We also use Commvault in parallel; its features are better than NetWorker. Commvault is easier to manage, and restoration is simpler and faster. However, Commvault has a problem as it's hosted only on Windows Server, which is a security risk for us since we prefer Linux or Unix platforms.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

We purchased our product in a bundle, so I can't specify the exact price. Dell bundled it with XtremIO, or previously we used Clarion CX4, and then XtremIO came. Now it comes with PowerStore. Therefore, I cannot precisely state NetWorker's exact price.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We use Commvault alongside NetWorker. Commvault is more manageable, with a faster restoration time and smarter features.

What other advice do I have?

Due to support issues, I would not recommend NetWorker. Commvault's features are preferable. Although Commvault has a limitation of being hosted only in Windows Server, which poses a security risk, it is still more efficient.

I'd rate the solution six out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Flag as inappropriate
PeerSpot user
Lysias Albert Singbo - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Systems Engineer at AfDB
Real User
Top 10
Has an easy initial setup process, but its technical support services need improvement
Pros and Cons
  • "The software’s best feature is data backup for any system."
  • "While upgrading to a new version, we encounter challenges related to specific algorithms or code regulations."

What is our primary use case?

We use Dell NetWorker to back up data from several databases and virtual machines.

What is most valuable?

The software’s best feature is data backup for any system. Using it, we can back up virtual machines, servers, different applications, and modules.

What needs improvement?

While upgrading to a new version, we encounter challenges related to specific algorithms or code regulations. It causes problems if the new version is incompatible with the old authentication method or existing modules. Thus, we have to conduct non-integration tests.

It requires a specific server or a specific NRA and GNLP download to configure the application. This setup is time-consuming, especially when compared to modern web-based tools. It could be better.

Additionally, its support services need improvement. When we log a case, it takes a long time to resolve it. There could be more experienced engineers in their team.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using Dell NetWorker for ten years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The product could be more stable. Sometimes, we need to restart the server every week. That is the reason we are looking for other tools.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have less than ten users for Dell NetWorker.

How are customer service and support?

Dell NetWorkers’ technical support services need improvement.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup process is easy. The time taken for deployment depends on the kind of tool we want to integrate. Some configurations, including integration with data domain, on-premise, and on-cloud, are complicated. It took us a few weeks to complete the process. The software is simple to set up and has an OVA system allowing employees to configure IP addresses. Although, it is challenging to backup the device or library.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

It is a relatively inexpensive product compared to NetBackup.

What other advice do I have?

It is a good product. It has interconnection with different vendors. I recommend it to others. It offers a lot of documentation for a better understanding of configurations and modules.

I rate it a seven out of ten. There are many areas of improvement, including functionality and support.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Arsalan Orayedh - PeerSpot reviewer
Service Delivery Engineer at Gulf Air
Real User
Top 10
Easy to scale and set up, but has multiple bugs and issues with reporting and support
Pros and Cons
  • "The backup feature for this product is good. It is easy to set up and easy to scale."
  • "Reporting and support for this product need to be improved. There are multiple bugs that need to be fixed."

What is our primary use case?

I've been using this solution for backups and restoration.

What is most valuable?

Backup reliability for this solution is fine. It's good.

What needs improvement?

Dell EMC NetWorker is still not mature, compared to its competitors. For example: the TSM (Tivoli Storage Manager) of IBM is very accurate in error logs, and it is very rare to get failure alerts when using the TSM. It's fast and reliable which I didn't see from Dell EMC NetWorker. Another example is the Veritas which I also have experience with. Though Veritas is lower in level compared to the TSM, Veritas is more user-friendly than the TSM.

All features for Dell EMC NetWorker are good, but they are not something to be happy about.

Sometimes this solution shows some errors, e.g. related to open files. It is based on Java, which is very bad. There's so many issues not reflecting what's really happening in the background.

Reporting is very bad in Dell EMC NetWorker. It's also very difficult to get whatever you need based on the backup time duration.

Dell EMC NetWorker has so many versions in a short span of time, which contain a lot of bugs that need to be fixed because each upgrade has its own issues. For every new update of this solution, bugs get fixed, but something new, e.g. a new bug comes up in each version which needs to be fixed. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using Dell EMC NetWorker for four years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

This solution is 95% stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

This solution is scalable. It's easy to scale. The only thing that matters in terms of scalability is the storage for the data domain, e.g. adding the disk and another unit, and that's it.

How are customer service and support?

Support, especially from the Middle East region, is very bad. Sometimes support is good, but it's usually bad.

How was the initial setup?

Setting up Dell EMC NetWorker is not complex. The setup was straightforward.

What about the implementation team?

We implemented this solution internally, with guidance from the Dell team.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The price for this solution is cheaper than other products. The price is the only reason we are renewing, otherwise we'll be moving to Veeam.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I evaluated IBM TSM (Tivoli Storage Manager) and Veritas.

What other advice do I have?

We deployed Dell EMC NetWorker to 300 machines. It took us six to seven months to stabilize all issues during the upgrade and complete the deployment.

We only did maintenance for the upgrade and for versions such as the kernel, or the code slash code upgrade, or the version of the software. No major maintenance was needed for this solution.

There are two users in our company working with Dell EMC NetWorker. The backup is a daily process, while administration is not done on a daily basis. For checking and reviewing errors and failures, this solution is used daily.

Usage will depend on the company: how much activity they have and the types of activity they have, e.g. registration or development through IT.

The main reasons we're thinking of switching from Dell EMC NetWorker to another product include the reporting, support, and the bugs. There are so many issues we find annoying which require additional resources.

My advice to people looking into implementing this solution is that for big environments, it's so complicated. For example, for a clustered environment, you have a clustered environment for Oracle RAC, where you have so many firewalls in between, but Dell EMC NetWorker is not mature enough to handle that kind of environment and setup. Oracle RAC works well in big environments, but not this solution. Dell EMC NetWorker would be good for smaller environments where it won't be heavily used. We are an airline company with 300 machines, but we're not comparable to a big company like Google.

My rating for Dell EMC NetWorker is a seven out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1486476 - PeerSpot reviewer
Consultant, Backup Systems at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
Real User
User-friendly GUI and fast support, but container support should be improved
Pros and Cons
  • "The GUI is user-friendly."
  • "The process of upgrading versions should be improved because as it is now, you have to completely uninstall the old version first, and then install the new version."

What is our primary use case?

The primary use cases are file system backup, endpoint backup, and virtualization backups.

We are using it with Quantum and Dell Data Domain.

What is most valuable?

The GUI is user-friendly.

The performance is improving. It used to be that NetWorker's performance was not very good but after integration with Data Domain, and after they switched to a quality-based network solution, the performance increased.

Over the past five to six years, the speed that NetWorker connects between networks and servers has improved. It used to take a long time.

We are using DD Boost and it is helpful.

What needs improvement?

The integration of the web API should be improved. There has been new functionality added to the API but it should be easier to understand.

The Backup module should be improved, especially the functionality for SharePoint and SQL Server. We are having issues when we are trying to backup up Microsoft applications, and it happens when the data is very large. For example, our database is 19 terabytes and this is very large for NetWorker, so it runs slowly. We are not able to tune it and segment it. If it were a file system, then we could split it into smaller pieces. In cases like this, it is very fast. However, because we are not able to divide it, the backup is slow. This is one area that can be improved because often, people don't need to take a full backup. Sometimes, then just want a snapshot of some data.

The capability of incremental backups should be included. As it is now, when DD Boost tries to compare the current backup with the previous one, it has trouble with the large versions and it can take three to four days. They cannot perform an incremental backup using VSS technology for SharePoint or MS SQL Server. Definitely, backup for Microsoft applications needs to be improved.

They should improve the support for backing up containers.

The process of upgrading versions should be improved because as it is now, you have to completely uninstall the old version first, and then install the new version. If we compare this to another product, like Veritas NetBackup, it also has good features but when you upgrade to the latest version, everything is automatic.

I would like to see better cloud integration, such as with AWS or Azure.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Dell EMC NetWorker since 2007.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I am not in the operations team right now, but my impression is that it's stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is easy to scale and I have not found any issue in doing so. However, there can be issues when a proper sizing tool hasn't been used. We have had trouble with giving requirements based on what the sizing tool reports.

We have approximately 100 people user NetWorker and supporting the customers.

How are customer service and technical support?

The technical support from Dell is very good and very fast. We have a very good collaboration with Dell, and we are one of the valued partners.

I have been dealing with issues related to one of the solutions that we have provided. One of the ones in the past two months is that the SharePoint Backup was supposed to be done using the Microsoft SQL Server writer. They do not support the third-party's product, which is fine, but it's an accountability issue. Ultimately, I don't think that they do all of the investigations properly.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We are currently using EMC Avamar in addition to NetWorker.

I have also worked with Commvault and Veeam, and the integration with virtualization is better with these products. They also support backup using VPN, which is something that NetWorker lacks.

I cannot name a feature that NetWorker has that you don't find in other products. There are, however, features lacking in NetWorker that do exist in other products. They need to keep pace with the ongoing requirements that are in the market.

How was the initial setup?

I have been working with this product for a long time, so I find the installation very easy. This is also an area that has improved over time, as it has because easier than it used to be.

The length of time required for deployment varies between environments. Recently, I deployed it and it took approximately 20 minutes end-to-end, with configuration.

What about the implementation team?

We deploy with our in-house team. Our operations team is responsible for maintenance.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The pricing for NetWorker is in the mid-range. It is not very expensive and not very cheap. There are some extra features that required an additional license. For example, we save a separate data protection suite (DPS) license.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I have been evaluating EMC PowerProtect to compare the performance of it with EMC NetWorker.

What other advice do I have?

For a file system backup or one that is on disk or in a tape library, or for virtualization, I recommend using NetWorker. I say this because of ease of deployment, ease of use, and the user-friendly GUI. 

I would rate this solution a seven out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
Nezar Hamed - PeerSpot reviewer
Enterprise Data Protection | Backup, Archive & DR Solutions Section Head at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Top 10
Offers multiple integration and can handle many VMs without adding workload

What is our primary use case?

The main benefits of Dell NetWorker include its efficient incremental backup windows and the comprehensive training available for protecting various environments using NetWorker and Data Domain.

How has it helped my organization?

It offers seamless integration and can handle many VMs without adding workload or requiring additional backup time.

What is most valuable?

It provides a more convenient solution because it can integrate with multiple applications.

What needs improvement?

To integrate with the library and Oracle, we must make multiple changes to the OS and the database. However, with another solution, we only need to install the backup software, configure it, and run the backup without any changes to the OS. 

I encountered an issue with Insight, but by using the VR backup, I rebuilt the indexes and successfully brought the server up on the VR side.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is scalable. 2000 servers are using this solution.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I've handled around 2,200 backups, and the high compression rates are impressive, achieving up to 99% deduplication and compression. This greatly increases capacity, reduces costs, and improves efficiency. From my experience, using the Avakapindi tool is the best approach. However, when it comes to Dell NetWorker, some challenges exist, particularly with integrating applications like SaaS and EVR. While integration with more straightforward databases like MySQL is manageable, advanced databases and applications like MongoDB, SAP, DB2, and Postgres are challenging to install and understand, especially from a DBA perspective.

Another issue is that with NetWorker, everything must be managed directly on the server. You can't install the agent or manage backups and restores from the front end; you must log in to the server. This is inconvenient for cloud providers, where accessing the server directly isn't always an option. Ideally, all backup and restore activities should be possible without server access, but with NetWorker, server-side limitations require logging in for updates, agent installation, and other tasks.

Most of the customers who are using NetWorker have a data domain.

How was the initial setup?

Ultimate verification software is very useful for installing the networker in our environment. Deploying this solution takes two to three hours and three people.

It was easy to bring up and monitor the server, making it feasible in our environment. For example, it can be done despite encountering a couple of issues.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Pricing is considerable. We often need to purchase Data Domain to obtain the necessary licenses for NetWorker. Typically, they purchase Data Domain and then get the licenses for NetWorker and Avamar as part of the package.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Data Domain is a powerful solution, especially when integrated with Zenfone. It delivers the best backup performance and superior data aggregation and compression ratios unmatched by other backup solutions. One more thing to add is that achieving high performance during the backup window and optimizing deduplication and compression can greatly enhance the overall process. However, this can also impact the speed and efficiency of data restores.

What other advice do I have?

I recommend the solution.

Overall, I rate the solution a seven out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Flag as inappropriate
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Dell NetWorker Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: May 2025
Product Categories
Backup and Recovery
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Dell NetWorker Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.