Dell PowerProtect Data Domain Reviews

Our main use case for Dell PowerProtect Data Domain is to optimize backup timing and scheduling.

The most beneficial features in the product are compatibility, which is the most valuable function. The compression factor is very good. The solution is user-friendly. Single-click operations are also a key feature.

One area for improvement regarding Dell PowerProtect Data Domain is the support. We are in Pakistan and there is no physical support available on the software side. Every time, people engage remote support, and sometimes it is not feasible for us. Local support must be available in the country.

Reporting is a specific feature I would like to see added. The current reporting mechanism is not appropriate as per our management style. We need to improve the reporting mechanism in new features.

We have been using Dell PowerProtect Data Domain for about three years.

Dell PowerProtect Data Domain is reliable and stable. I do not see any glitches or latency; the solution is very stable.

Currently, what we are using does not have any limitations on scaling. Perhaps in the future, we may need to expand usage.

If local support is built in, I would give it a ten out of ten. If they do not build locally, then I would give it zero or one.

In the past, we were using Data Protector.

One problem we faced at the time of installation for upgradation was a port issue because the system uses networking with many ports. The ports should be restricted.

My experience with the implementation team was good.

This is not in my position to comment on the ROI since using Dell PowerProtect Data Domain.

We buy Dell PowerProtect Data Domain directly.

Pricing factors influenced our decision. When we were migrating from Data Protector to Dell PowerProtect Data Domain, Commvault, and other solutions, management decided to move to this solution. Pricing factors played a role in that decision.

We are working on Dell PowerProtect Data Domain with a networker. Sometimes it is complex, but we use the vendor support and that is easily handled. The vendor shares features with us from time to time, and we implement features they may add to Dell PowerProtect Data Domain. I would rate this review a nine out of ten.

Dell PowerProtect Data Domain is predominantly used for the backup of data and recovery with Dell PowerProtect Data Domain.

Our daily backups are run through PPDM, our Power Data Protect Manager, using Dell PowerProtect Data Domain. Previously, it used to be Avamar, and it's backed up and retained for 30 days, and we also have long-term retention. In some cases, it's one year to multiple years. All of the data is basically stored in Dell PowerProtect Data Domain.

The amount of data which we have is substantial with Dell PowerProtect Data Domain. Relatively, we do have a daily change rate. However, if we go with any other traditional method of backups, it's occupying quite a significant amount of space on the backup storage. Dell PowerProtect Data Domain actually helps us to minimize that, and a large amount of data can be compressed into a single Dell PowerProtect Data Domain rather than having multiple backup storage systems.

The best features Dell PowerProtect Data Domain offers are the DD Boost, the latest DD Boost protocol, and it's also able to connect and provide a better compression ratio. Dedup and compression ratio are the best parts of Dell PowerProtect Data Domain.

Dell PowerProtect Data Domain has impacted my organization positively in multiple ways. The dedup and data compression actually benefit our floor space in the data center, and we are able to reduce our backup storage, which used to be a legacy large footprint, into something more concise.

One of the areas we are looking at is interconnects for Dell PowerProtect Data Domain. I know Dell PowerProtect Data Domain connects with PowerStore, but we are also potentially looking at PowerStore and PowerScale connecting or interacting with Dell PowerProtect Data Domain directly, so that we can leverage writing NAS level backup into Dell PowerProtect Data Domain rather than utilizing any other software tools such as Networker or any other tools.

I have been using Dell PowerProtect Data Domain for about 10 years.

Dell PowerProtect Data Domain is stable.

Dell PowerProtect Data Domain can scale up easily on the highest footprint up to 1.5 petabytes usable. That is a good amount of space which we will be looking for.

The customer support for Dell PowerProtect Data Domain is good. We get a good response. We have dedicated support team members. We can basically connect with them easily.

Positive

We have other traditional enterprise backup tools with direct attached backup storage, which is actually significantly occupying a lot of space before switching to Dell PowerProtect Data Domain. That was actually one of the key reasons to switch, and the dedup and compression ratio and smaller footprint are compacting more data into Dell PowerProtect Data Domain.

The experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Dell PowerProtect Data Domain is relatively reasonable.

I see a good return on investment with Dell PowerProtect Data Domain in a couple of ways. One is less floor space in the data center and the ability to pack more data into the backup storage on Dell PowerProtect Data Domain as compared to the traditional backup storage. That certainly represents a return on investment and money savings.

The experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Dell PowerProtect Data Domain is relatively reasonable.

We evaluated between DXi, and that was another product which we equally evaluated before choosing Dell PowerProtect Data Domain. However, the relationship we have with the Dell product and PPDM and Networker, which is native integration with Data Protect and the DD Boost protocol, made our decision much easier to choose Dell PowerProtect Data Domain.

You have to evaluate what your data point and daily change rate are and how your current backup methodologies are utilizing the backup storage for Dell PowerProtect Data Domain. Based on that, you can analyze and compare it against Dell PowerProtect Data Domain while leveraging PPDM and Networker tools and see whether you can compress and reduce the footprint. That would be my recommendation and advice to any others looking at Dell PowerProtect Data Domain along with PPDM. I would rate this solution a 9 out of 10.

The typical use case for Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) is for backup purposes; it is disk-based backup, which provides fast backup capabilities.

Additionally, data can be replicated from site one to site two, specifically backup data from backup device to backup device, not storage to storage.

Furthermore, deduplication and compression are enabled on the backup data, resulting in reduced bandwidth consumption. These are the three main functionalities.

The best feature of Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) is its deduplication.

The integration of Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) with leading backup applications within the infrastructure is very good. It works with multiple backup solutions, not only with NetWorker or Avamar; it is also compatible with McAfee and NetBackup.

The security features of this solution, such as encryption and role-based access control, are included, and ransomware protection is also incorporated. The solution comes with security features by default.

Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) can be improved in terms of price. While Dell is providing a proper device, other solutions, such as Symantec, can replicate their data through any NAS storage. Although their deduplication and compression might not be as effective, they can still accomplish the task.

Medium-level and SME-level businesses can easily utilize this feature, but Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) is a relatively expensive solution to propose to customers.

I have approximately 10 to 12 years of experience with Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain), which was previously known as Data Domain before PowerProtect.

This is a very stable solution.

The solution is scalable to higher models, both vertically and horizontally.

Technical support rates eight to nine on a scale from one to ten, with one being the worst and ten being the best.

Positive

The initial setup of Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) is very easy to install and administrate.

The return on investment from Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) is visible for enterprise customers, but not for SMEs. For enterprise customers, its price point is appropriate, but for SMEs, it is not suitable because the cost of the solution is much higher than the actual solution.

The backup solution cost is higher than the actual solution.

The solution is more suitable for large businesses rather than small or medium-sized enterprises.

I have utilized Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) cloud-enabled capabilities to manage backups and recoveries with good results.

The on-site solution is most requested in the local market because it is a backup device, and most organizations prefer to host it in their own data centers.

On a scale of 1-10, this solution rates an 8.

I have been using Dell PowerProtect Data Domain for two years. One year has been for operational data domain specifically, and one year has been for implementation.

This first installation included racking and stacking, cabling, network configuration, license, and active file system setup.

My favorite feature on Dell PowerProtect Data Domain is the deduplication capability. This is a particularly good feature to have.

Regarding the downsides of Dell PowerProtect Data Domain, I have not encountered anything negative about it at this time. Dell PowerProtect Data Domain will be integrated into all systems in real-time, and I have not seen anything bad so far.

The last downtime for upgrading the model 9410 took a long time, approximately two hours, which could be bad for production environments.

I rate the stability of Dell PowerProtect Data Domain at 8.5 out of 10.

I find Dell PowerProtect Data Domain to be very stable. I have been using it for up to three years with no upgrading or downtime.

I think it is a good achievement for Dell PowerProtect Data Domain to remain stable for three years with no downtime.

My rating for the scalability of Dell PowerProtect Data Domain is an eight out of 10.

I find the scalability of Dell PowerProtect Data Domain to be very simple. You can expand, but you must ensure safety if you are facing a challenging environment. You must ensure the space you will use to expand the storage. It is very easy and simple because you just buy the product and deploy it by expanding with shelves or hard disks.

I contacted technical support when a product failure occurred in NVRAM or DEMS while powering on the system. This happened to me during new installations of Dell PowerProtect Data Domain.

The quality and speed of the responses from their support are perfect. Many products take many days to reply, but with Dell PowerProtect Data Domain, the response time is fine.

When I first deployed Dell PowerProtect Data Domain, it was easy.

It took me 45 minutes to check the configuration and see how it was installed, just to have the information recorded.

I require just one person as a technician for basic deployments.

The number of technicians needed depends on what the expansion shelf will be. If it is just one controller of Dell PowerProtect Data Domain, I need just one technician. If there is another shelf, such as the DS16 or something similar, I need more technicians.

For new users starting to use Dell PowerProtect Data Domain, you just need to check some comments to know what the configured ports, IPs, and domain you have. You just need to manage the cleaning and the file system and check the storage, or if you have a disk failure, check its number.

I execute all the checks after leaving, and the system is up and continues to be monitored for just one day, or for safety, I will monitor it for one week to ensure the garbage collection will run. I rate this product an 8 out of 10 overall.

Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) is an integrated backup appliance-based solution, and our installed base in Pakistan is substantial. We possess high expertise in both pre-sales and post-sales activities for this.

It can operate at high temperatures. Even in disaster situations, you can recover your backups. The technology has advanced significantly, and the software that operates the environment of PowerProtect is excellent. It truly is remarkable. In every instance where we've proposed and won a project based on PowerProtect, the customers have been highly satisfied and confident in their backup processes.

Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) is highly consistent, durable, easy to install, scalable, and compatible with any software today. The deduplication and compression ratio is unmatchable through DD Boost software. 

There is a challenge when it comes to data recovery; the recovery window can exceed four to eight hours if you're dealing with backups older than five or ten years. The encryption and decryption processes take longer than those of all-flash technologies. This is the only challenge I see.

It also cannot provide an active-active infrastructure since you can have only a single controller in one appliance. If you want to implement a dual controller setup, you need to connect another appliance with a single controller. This limitation can be a drawback, especially because competitors offer dual controller architectures with end-to-end NVMe and Rocky-based back-end network infrastructure. Their IO systems can achieve faster recovery of backups, while Dell PowerProtect DD do not provide such high throughput.

We have been working with Dell solutions for more than 20 years. We are a Titanium partner of Dell Technologies, and we are working on the complete portfolio of Dell and Dell EMC.

The support services Dell is providing are excellent.

Positive

We are working with Dell Technologies, VMware, Microsoft, and Huawei. Due to huge costs, there is competition from companies such as Huawei, Veritas, and other OEMs. Dell EMC is experiencing high competition in terms of financials.

Customers go for Dell PowerProtect DD because of the support services that Dell is providing and good architecture.

People have been using it for over a decade to backup their data. It provides good data duplication and ratio. MTree mechanism allows for seamless transfers of backups between different systems, whether it's from one Data Domain (DD) to another DD or from one PowerProtect to another PowerProtect. Additionally, there are many features available. However, it's important to note that similar features are now also offered by competitors.

It typically takes one to two hours to complete the installation, depending on the infrastructure and the size of the project. For example, if you are dealing with a backup solution of 100 to 200 terabytes, it will generally take one to two hours at most.

As for the installation team, I am not the only one involved. We have a team of specialists, particularly when it comes to customers in the Financial Services Industry (FSI) or mission-critical environments. Dell Technologies manages a highly skilled set of expert engineers with decades of experience. We offer professional services through Dell, and we also have a certified Dell EMC team available on the ground.

Due to the critical nature of the data, the choice of implementation services that we propose to our customers depends greatly on the specific requirements. In tenders, we strive to offer both competitive pricing and high-quality service. Our deployments are typically carried out by our team members, but for Requests for Proposals (RFPs) and Requests for Quotes (RFQs), we always bring Dell Professional Services on board. Their service is exceptionally professional and unmatched in my country.

Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain)'s licensing cost was excellent in 2023, but after 2023, the operating environment licensing cost is huge. It is almost four times the earlier price.

I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.

My use case for this solution is for protecting or backing up data to safeguard against hacking or for disaster recovery. I utilize it in more projects on the governmental side, the non-governmental side, and in the banking sector since they usually need to back up their data.

Retention for data, deduplication, and replication between sites are valuable features. The solution syncs immediately.

The model 3330 may need improvement. Then we have another model, 6300. In my opinion, the 6300 model is better. It is suitable for more customers since it is small, cost-effective, and a good start for any customer to know about Data Domain and DBS solutions.

I have been using it for between three or four years.

Dell is more stable than any other device. After Dell, HPE follows, then IBM, and then any other device. Dell is especially more stable in the enterprise product.

I usually don't worry about scalability or upgradability for a device like PowerProtect, VRTX, or any Dell product. 

I can buy any Dell device in Egypt and they offer strong after-sales support. We have a call center, and they call us continuously to ensure satisfaction. I have encountered an issue before with other brands that would not have occurred with Dell.

Neutral

I sold HPE servers to PepsiCo due to their global agreement. I faced issues with HPE's support. Dell resolved similar issues much quicker.

I'm aware of Huawei's scalability, which, in comparison, surpasses Dell's. Huawei's storage device can be upgraded with another 16 devices, while Dell and HVE talk about only three devices that can be scaled up.

The price is also a disadvantage. Price is a disadvantage with the PowerProtect as it needs to be cheaper. The cheaper device costs around $70,000, which is a big sum to pay for a device like this.

Price is a major factor. Replication and data deduplication ensure there is no duplication for backing up data. The technology it uses is the shortest and minimized. The size of the data should be backed up every time. The customer needs to know about data duplication and data replication. This is the tool I recommended to customers. 

Overall, I rate the product eight out of ten.

I use Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) for archiving and storage for the server. It is also used for daily backup purposes.

The solution is valuable for its security purposes and good support. It securely protects data against threats like Trojans. The solution has been awesome over the last ten years, offering stability and reliability, which I recommend for stable storage. 

Additionally, it supports new technologies and offers a fantastic after-sales service, with engineers responding within 24 hours to solve issues, proving crucial for our operations.

If I were a manager for this infrastructure, I would look into load balancing for cost, maintenance after sale, and improving Dell PowerProtect DD. It is important to consider features you need or don’t need.

I have been using the Dell PowerProtect DD solution since 2008.

The solution is very stable. Over the past ten years, it has been an awesome project.

In my plan, I renew the support every three years, and it is scalable. The scalability depends on the IT department's strategy.

The customer service after sale is very important. They respond within 24 hours of case submission, which is crucial for maintaining the solution. Technical support is rated nine out of ten.

Positive

Before Dell PowerProtect DD, I used Veeam Backup, which is easy to manage and offers a reasonable backup solution.

The initial setup is for archiving and daily backups. It is set up on premises with virtual machines.

Occasionally, there are significant monetary savings and time savings.

Pricing is sometimes reasonable depending on the discounts provided by the company.

I advise potential users that Dell PowerProtect DD is a good product, but it has to be aligned with your strategy, capacity, and budget. Rating for the overall solution is nine out of ten. The considerations should be to focus on price and on your strategy for your environment.

The primary use case for Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) is for deduplication and archiving, including achieving efficient archiving. We sometimes use Veeam backup with Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) and other times with Dell PowerProtect to extend retention periods of our backup jobs.

The most valuable feature of Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) is its deduplication capability. This feature is crucial for our customers as it allows them to have more storage space for backup jobs. 

Additionally, the integration with Dell EMC arrays and storage snapshot backup functionalities are key elements, enabling efficient daily and nightly backups of sensitive ERP or applications.

Improvement is needed in terms of telemetry and high availability as the high availability feature is only present in the higher models of Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain). The entry-level and medium-level models, such as the 6000 and 4400, lack this feature. 

Moreover, integration with cybersecurity measures can be enhanced, particularly with ransomware protection.

I have been working with Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) for about ten years.

Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) is stable in terms of software performance. However, problems arise during the software upgrade process from version to version.

Scalability is mainly constrained by hardware limitations. The software has good scalability, however, there is an issue with high availability in entry and medium-level models.

Customer service from Dell is good. We buy the product with a 24-hour onsite response support in Tunisia, and we face no issues with the support quality.

Positive

The initial setup of Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) is not easy compared to other solutions like Veeam or Commvault. It is moderately difficult and sometimes complicated due to the large number of products involved in the DPA suite.

An experienced engineer is essential to handle the complicated implementation process of Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain).

The pricing has become higher since July, and the license costs are more expensive compared to the past. It now uses a different licensing model, which is calculated based on the number of virtual machines instead of storage or processors.

I recommend Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) for its integration with Dell EMC solutions and its superior compression and application ratios. This makes it more interesting compared to other products. 

Overall, I would rate the solution a six out of ten.