Dell NetWorker Reviews

We use Dell EMC NetWorker for backing up VMs, files, and databases.

The user interface is hard to use, it should be simplified. There are a lot of web-based management interfaces which they should consider.

I have been using Dell EMC NetWorker for approximately eight years.

I have found Dell EMC NetWorker to be stable.

Dell EMC NetWorker is scalable.

The support of Dell EMC NetWorker is very good.

The initial setup is complicated. It is difficult to implement for clients.

The price of the solution could be lower, it is expensive.

We have evaluated Veeam.

I would not recommend this solution, we are switching to Veeam, and I would recommend it.

I rate Dell EMC NetWorker a seven out of ten.

I use Dell EMC NetWorker for system backups.

The solution is very user-friendly. After setting up five machines for our customers we teach them how to set up the agent and start doing their backups. It is very easy for them once they see how to do it, they like to do it on their own.

Dell EMC NetWorker is a complete solution, providing end-to-end, disk to disk to tape backup features, which makes it more suitable for customers here in Oman.

I have used Dell EMC NetWorker within the last 12 months.

The solution is stable.

The customer support is very good.

I have used Avamar.

The major differentiator between Dell EMC NetWorker Avamar is the Tape Out function, we recommend mostly NetWorker because customers here in Oman have compliance policies to keep the tapes out. Most of my installations are NetWorker and we only have a few on Avamar.

The price of the license could be cheaper and it would be a benefit if they came up with a new pricing model. The competitors here in Oman sell universal licensing where a number of virtual machines are hosted at the customer place which can be licensed, or you can license the CPU sockets in those servers. However, NetWorker offers only CPU sockets or overall storage capacity to backup, but there is no universal licensing where you can provide a number of VMs. They should offer more options to stay competitive with other solutions, such as Veeam.

I have evaluated Veeam solutions.

I would recommend Dell EMC NetWorker to any large enterprise. For entry and mid-size customers, I would recommend it only if it falls within their budget requirements. If they do not have the budget, they can purchase a solution that works with normal storage while purchasing NetWorker or Avamar requires a storage solution also, such as  Dell Data Domain. It works in combination and delivers the best solution, but it is a little expensive. This is why it is best suited for enterprise customers who can afford it.

I rate Dell EMC NetWorker a nine out of ten.

Dell EMC NetWorker is used for backing up and restoring data.

Dell EMC NetWorker integrates well with our domain and the performance is quite good on-premise. We receive approximately 1 terabyte within one hour.

The solution could improve by having more integration.

I have been using Dell EMC NetWorker for approximately 10 years.

The solution is stable.

Dell EMC NetWorker is scalable but it has some limitations.

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

I have been satisfied with the technical support.

I have previously used Commvault.

The installation is straightforward.

We can do the implementation with two engineers and one manager.

There is a license required to use the solution and it is on an annual basis.

I would recommend the on-premise deployment of the solution but not the cloud version.

I rate Dell EMC NetWorker a seven out of ten.

Our primary use case for the solution is for backup and recovery in all environments, such as physical and virtual ones.

The solution offers compatibility with many types of database systems. It is one of the largest backup solutions. Additionally, it gives important information about data domain systems with deduplication. 

I have been using the solution for approximately three years. 

The solution is stable.

We have more the five customers using Dell EMC NetWorker.

The technical support was slightly impolite in my experience.

The deployment of the solution is easy when integrated with the data domain systems. Additionally, the documentation is available and it is simple to follow. It took approximately one week to deploy it. 

The implementation of the solution took approximately one week and we used two engineers. 

The pricing of the solution is not the cheapest compared to other similar solutions. The Networker is available as a component of the Dell EMC Data Protection Suite package and it should have the ability to be purchased separately. 

The solution requires a perpetual license. We can upgrade the solution without the need to be renewed at an additional cost. 

I would recommend the solution to others, especially due to the data domain system, as the target of the backup.

I rate Dell EMC NetWorker a nine out of ten. 

We use NetWorker for login support for SAP and VMware. I handle all maintenance-related issues on my own.

There's a lot of room for improvement. The user interface has to be improved.

Sometimes it duplicates jobs. Overall, it's a strong legacy product but there's still a lot of room for improvement.

We have to perform the very basic client registration process twice. We have to do it on the client-side and the NetWorker server-side. Sometimes just re-installing a client can be a nightmare. 

Also, the layout can be a bit scattered. It's difficult to learn for a new newcomer. If you work with Linux clients, if you've got another non-Windows system, it's a little bit tough — a little complex.

When it comes to the monitoring of backups, or if you want to grab a certain log, it's not as intuitive as other solutions. For example, if you want to find a backup for a certain client, it's not straightforward. With other solutions, like Avamar, this process is much easier.

Scheduling is complicated. If you use the GUI to create a schedule and you auto mark all your backups SQL, it's simply not there. You have to change the view of the schedule from a calendar view to what they call a non-calendar view. Then you have to modify the attributes. You have to operate in a non-conventional way. Typically, when using the GUI, the expectation is to use the GUI for everything. With this solution, you have to go online to check the logs. You have to do some manipulations here and there — it's complex.

Recovery is also complex. You have to build what we call 'a proper workflow' for recovery. 

It's quite a stable product. 

I would recommend this solution. If it's set up the right way, it's a stable product. So, my advice is to make sure you set it up right the first time. As long as you've done that, it will run for ages.

Overall, on a scale from one to ten, I would give this solution a rating of six.

We are a solution provider and this is one of the products that we implement for our customers.

When we initially implemented this product, it was used for virtual machines that were running SAP. It is used for virtual machine backup, database backup, Exchange backup, and file-level backup.

The interface is user-friendly and can be used by the end-users.

It is a little buggy at times, which is the only thing that I dislike about this product. If they could clear up this issue then it would be great because, for the most part, this is a very effective product from my perspective.

I would like to see more integration with third-party products, including both tape and disk products. I want to be able to perform backups not only from Dell EMC. Having this wide level of support would be very much appreciated.

It could be easier to deploy.

This is a scalable product.

The response time in my region is a little bit slow. It will take 12 hours, or even 24 hours depending on your problem. In the past, the response time was much better. I can recall when they responded within 10 minutes, which was very fast.

Now, only premium users, or enterprise-class users, receive a fast response.

Improving the response time for regular customers would be very helpful.

I have used several versions of this solution.

The initial setup for a new deployment can be a bit complex but with experience, it's very smooth. It takes perhaps 20 minutes to install.

Our technical team can handle deployment and maintenance.

Licensing is based on the number of terabytes, so you need to purchase packages.

In summary, this is a good product and I recommend it.

I would rate this solution a ten out of ten.

We use this solution for backing up our systems.

It can support many different versions, both newer and older.

The interface is the same, so when we are trying to troubleshoot the logs, it doesn't display properly.

There doesn't seem to be a lot of development with this solution. You don't see any updates with the features, or any development with the features. In general, Dell EMC doesn't seem to be investing much in the R&D of this product. They are selling it off.

I would like to see an improvement with the features in terms of troubleshooting and ease of use.

The documentation is very poor. It takes quite a bit of experience to understand the documentation. A new person who is going through the documentation will not be able to understand. There is no detailed documentation.

The product itself is good, but it takes a lot of time to troubleshoot.

I would like to see the user interface improved, more documentation, faster support, and it could be easier to configure.

I have been using this solution for five to six years.

We are using the latest version.

The stability is okay. When it works, it works perfectly, but when we run into issues it requires a lot of effort to fix it. 

You can't rate it as good or bad, because this is how it works.

It's a scalable solution. We have 10 customers and we plan to continue using it.

Technical support should be a lot better.

It takes a few hours for a smaller implementation. I can plan and implement it.

It takes more time for a larger implementation.

We have one engineer to deploy and maintain this solution.

I completed the implementation myself.

There is a licensing fee.

Recommending this solution would depend on the customer. Certain customers will require this it.

Deployment is easy, but managing is more difficult when you run into issues.

I would rate Dell EMC NetWorker a seven out of ten.

Our retirement system in Chile is private. In short, in our social security system, when you put funds in every month, you'll have some money for your retirement. One of our client companies uses this solution for backups. There are a lot of terabytes that need to be backed-up.

They have been using this solution for eight years. They are upgrading their hardware every day. Their hardware solution is EMC Data Domain and they use Dell EMC NetWorker in order to store the data. It works fine.

Another one of our clients is a telephone company. They need to keep call data for long periods of time. Our other client is an astronomical observatory — the largest observatory in the world. They use Dell EMC NetWorker to keep track of their astronomical images, etc.

We plan to extend our use of this solution. It's our life — we sell and deploy depending on our clients' needs.

They need to take off the tape and allow us to use different repositories in order to keep the data for five to 10 years. The data storage capabilities should be improved.

The next release will include better integration with Data Domain, which is a really good product.

This solution is very stable.

The technical support is okay, but it could be better.

You need to have some knowledge, but overall, the initial setup is not that complex.

Deployment depends on how many machines you want to back up — but that's not really a big issue. I think it's fast but it depends on if you have virtual machines, and on the size of the machines that you need to backup. The first thing you have to do is design. If you design everything properly, the setup is easy. Once this stage is complete, it's not a problem.

We have some integrators and consultants that help us with deployment.

Just one person is required for deployment, but you need some client representatives, some telecommunication guys, some storage guys, and some virtual machine guys. In reality, only one or two people are necessary — one technician and one project manager.

One technician and one project manager are enough, even for a big project. As long as you plan and you control the different phases of a project, there won't be a problem. 

On a scale from one to ten, I would give this solution a rating of nine.

We primarily use the solution for backup systems at the company. Ther is also a secondary use case whereby if our customers have this software, we can supplement it.

The solution has a longer lifespan. The customer doesn't have to change their solution and upgrade every four years. It's much better for the customer to have a stable piece of software that has a lifespan of maybe ten years or more.

The scaling can be difficult when updates are involved.

Sometimes the systems come in faster than a producer of the software can react to the new features.

The solution should have better access to Linux or virtual systems of files based on Linux. It doesn't matter if it is a hard installation or only a virtual installation. Sometimes the client doesn't need a backup of the whole system and only needs a handful of files. 

The initial setup is complex.

Technical support should be more accessible.

While the company may have been using the solution for ten or more years, I'm new to the organization. I don't have as much experience with it.

The solution offers excellent long-term stability. The product doesn't have a short lifespan, meaning clients can use it and rely on it for ten to 15 years or so. It helps with continuity.

While it might be scalable, every day we see some new operating systems and some new updates, and so on. Occasionally, there is a problem with these new one updates, due to the fact that something is changed in some settings in the new system. Therefore, when you use the old settings for such a backup, sometimes it doesn't work normally. You need to go back and recalibrate.

Technical support is okay. They often have patches and other solutions that can help resolve issues. However, sometimes they are not accessible. It's a big problem.

The initial implementation is not straightforward. It's a bit complex. I wouldn't say the process is easy. You have to create a map of the main points and storage. There are three levels of the agents. While it's easy to use for the customer, setting it up is a bit tricky.

It may be helpful to get the help of an integrator during the implementation process.

While it's my understanding that the solution is a bit expensive, I'm not in sales and therefore can't really comment on actual costs. I can't compare it to other options on the market.

We are an authorized service provider of Dell.

The company is working on a hybrid cloud solution currently.

In general, I would rate the solution nine out of ten. If it offered better access to Linux or virtual systems of files based on Linux, it would be perfect.

I'd advise potential new users to take a look at the product if they are looking for a long-term solution. It is not software for one year. It is likely something that can be used for five or more years. That is why it is better to really research and compare to see if it really is needed as it's a bit hard to install it. And, once implemented, it's likely going to be hard to change.

We use Dell EMC NetWorker for several solutions we have had such as Exchange, Microsoft SQL, Linux, Windows File, File data backups, and Oracle Databases.

It's easy to use.

NetWorker is coming to end-of-life in a couple of years, and even Dell has said that they are not going to continue with it. They no longer develop it.

They put their efforts into the new Power Protect products instead. 

Support for the cloud could be better and with the existing features, it could be a bit more robust. Also, the flexibility could be improved.

They need more support for image backups.

The company has used this solution for 15-20 years.

We are not working with the latest version.

It's a pretty stable solution.

It's not scalable. Once you have created a backup server and you have configured it for a specific load, then you can't change it. 

You have to estimate how big the load is that you are going to have. If that increases, suddenly, you will need to create a new server. 

I wouldn't suggest that it is scalable. Scalability is an area that needs improvement.

We are an admin group and we have several technicians that look into it as well. We have 40 users in our organization.

Experience with technical support varies, sometimes they are very good and other times they are not that good.

However, their higher levels of Technical support are very good.

I used other solutions in earlier employments. This company has been using NetWorker for as much as 20 years.

I did not participate in the installation. It was already installed when I arrived.

We have a team of 5 engineers to deploy and maintain this solution.

They are not cheap. I don't know the fees specifically but they should definitely be cheaper. Everything should be cheaper :-)

Since they are going to stop developing this solution, I cannot recommend it to others.

I would rate Dell EMC NetWorker a seven out of ten.