NAKIVO Backup & Replication Reviews

We use Nakivo to backup the VMs running at our customer's site. We mainly use ESXi and Hyper-V machines, which usually have two VMs that we want to back-up. We usually install Nakivo on a NAS device, which is a good fit for our customers.

Most of our customers are Small businesses that have small setups.

We can offer an affordable and reliable backup solution to our customers. It is clear what you get: a back-up solution that does what it promises.

I like that Nakivo can be installed on Windows, Linux, and on a NAS. This gives flexibility in the way we can offer solutions. Other than that, I like the core features. The back-up and restore functions work great and it's easy to use.

At the moment I am pleased with what Nakivo does but I would like more reporting functions and if possible, integration with my RMM system.

We have been using Nakivo for about two years.

Nakivo is stable and we haven't had any problems as of yet.

Scaling will be dependant on other factors like storage.

I also have good experiences with Nakivo as a company. The account manager is nice and reaches out to us whenever Nakivo has a new feature that he would like to share. If there are any questions on our part, we get a good and quick response.

The initial setup is straightforward. You are guided and there is a lot of information on the website.

Talk to the sales department about all of the possibilities, as they will help you to find the best solution for your setup. 

We tested Veeam and while it is a decent option, we think that the price is too high for the functions you get. That is why we started looking at Nakivo.

After looking around the internet for a quick, simple, and easy solution, I gave Nakivo a chance. I implemented it for backing up a small customer environment with one VMware host and four guests. The guests are two Linux and two Windows servers.

It's connected to a Synology NAS station via an NFS mount. The customer was looking for a quick way to back up their environment after recently suffering a significant data loss due to a user error. It had a real impact on their business and they asked for my help in putting something in place.

The customer didn't have any backup solution in place to protect their current server environment. This was a very quick and simple solution that fit their needs, and it was free!

They are now able to get a daily backup of their environment, including their main file share that has thousands of files stretching back for at least seven years. The loss they sustained cost them at least two man-weeks of effort to restore. 

Nakivo is very easy to set up and configure, and I chose the simplest install option possible. It is an OVA running on their server, which plugged right into their environment.

Nakivo's installation and background documentation is on point, answering a few simple questions I had.

This product has a very clean and intuitive GUI.

After running this for a week, I've found that the data compression and data deduplication is extremely valuable and efficient.  The server also has a very low overhead impact on the VMware server.

I would think that as it's used in larger environments that might be more than one server, and you're going to need a better authentication mechanism. For example, integration into Active Directory or some other form of LDAP would be helpful.

I had to manually install SNMP, which wasn't hard, but a step I had to take, to plug this into the monitoring system.

I've been using Nakivo for a couple of weeks.

Nakivo has been extremely stable so far.

I am not sure about scalability because I haven't used it in a large situation yet.

I haven't needed to interact with technical support.

They had no previous backup system.

Very simple and easy to use via an OVA setup.

I deployed it myself.

The ROI is Infinite because it's free for this kind of small environment!

As a free solution for a small environment, this is a great solution!

I spend about an hour browsing other free solutions, but they were either limited by too few backup targets or didn't provide dedupe.

For the most part, I don't have anything I'd change for this small type of environment. It has been super simple and easy to install, configure, and use. The operation of the application works as advertised.

We have used Nakivo to provide a fully automated backup solution without user intervention with on-site backup and copy to the cloud. 

We provide support and consulting services to SME businesses in the UK, and simplicity and a lower cost are paramount. 

We have implemented Nakivo for these clients, installed to a stand-alone NAS device. This can sit on the network alongside the existing systems and simply be pointed at the servers and workstations targeted for backup. It can manage the backup externally and the backed-up resources will run without any staff intervention. 

This has allowed us to move our clients to an automated solution that simply plugs into their existing infrastructure, removing the need for manual media handling. We have seen an increase in resistance to clients using staff resources to manage manual media handling. 

Nakivo's solution based upon a discrete NAS has provided a very neat "plug-in" solution that connects to their networks and targets their existing servers and creates a local disc-based backup resource. To this is added a simple AWS EC2 resource, which is an automatically configured host for cloud copies of the local backups for DR and archive. 

The ability to install a solution to a stand-alone, low-cost NAS and run and manage from there has been a very helpful facet of the projects. The ability to eschew manual media handling is an essential change in SME environments, where the staffing overheads for media handling and storage in the age of cloud backups was becoming onerous. 

The main advantage from our perspective is the ability to plug this solution into an existing infrastructure on a cheap device and point the backup at the server targets and configure the backup options in a simple menu; linking to a cheap cloud resource for a simple solution for off-site storage.

There has been a slight tendency to bloat, where each new feature uses slightly more resources. It would be helpful to be able to have a custom footprint so that only the required features are installed.

We have been using Nakivo for approximately two years.

It has proved very stable on the whole.

As it can be run from different platforms, it is very scalable.

Nakivo support has been very flexible and responsive. 

Previously, we used Veritas BackupExec and we changed due to the ease of use of Nakivo and the LCO.

Very simple to set up, including automatic installation of agents and build of AWS resource. 

This is a product that we set up and manage for our clients.

Cost is very appropriate for SMEs.

We evaluated Acronis before choosing Nakivo.

Support has been very good and product development and enhancement very active.

We are using it to back up two VMs on two physical hosts in a VMware 7.0.1 environment. Backing up both to a NAS and to an old SAN that was repurposed as a secondary backup, the devices are located in two different places and connected via fiber.

The system worked well as an app on my Synology NAS until we grew too much, and the NAS didn't have enough memory. No worries though, as Nakivo Backup and Restore has many ways to implement their software, which are all included in your license. I was able to spin up a Nakivo VM and create an iSCSI connection to my NAS, and off we went!

Backups are easy and it de-duplicates very well, saving lots of space. I never have to worry about whether my backups are working.

Nakvio Backup and Restore handles backup scheduling very well, and it is easy to manage. I have set up numerous schedules for backing up key servers more often than utilitarian servers, and have found that scheduling is easy, especially with the "run after a different backup completes". The lets me schedule one backup, and the rest can follow.

The most valuable feature is the ease of creating a backup copy job to get the backups to a second device.

Really not sure about this, because everything works great!

The only complaint I might have is that restoring Exchange and AD objects seem to require some tweaking. So far it has always worked, but I have had to look up the database, rather than have Nakivo Backup and Restore automatically detect it. This is not a big deal.

In the loading of a backup, choosing what to restore seems to be a lengthy process, but it has always worked in my restore tests.

I have been using Nakivo for three years.

Their tech support, should you need it on the rare occasion, is second to none!

If you have a problem, sending in a ticket right from the web interface is easy. They respond quickly and knowledgeably. They don't demean you if the error is on your side. They help you fix it, and get back up again in short order.

We did use another solution prior to Nakivo, but we switched because of cost and have never looked back.

We did not evaluate other options.

My advice for anybody who is implementing Nakivo is to make sure you evaluate the options available in each edition. I found that the Pro edition was all that we needed.

All in all, a very good company to deal with. I would highly recommend their backup products, as they work extremely well. The whole product is valuable in every sense of the word. I don't have any real complaints about the product.

I use it for my VM (Virtual Machine) backups. I logged into it, created myself an account, and then I created my backup jobs. Then I can run the jobs to do the backups when I want. I can schedule it to run when it is convenient — say at 10 o'clock at night — or I can say run it right now, or whatever. It is pretty intuitive in that sense. Pretty easy to set up and use.  

What I like most about it is their solution runs either on Windows or Linux or even on something like Synology. Nakivo is versatile and able to work with other systems.  

The lack of that capability is one of the big reasons that I do not like Veeam. Veeam is strictly a Windows solution. That is a big negative in my opinion. Plus Veeam is good — it is not that it is not good, it works great — but it is also expensive.  

I do not know that I see a lot that needs to be improved with Nakivo. It seems maybe that the interface could be a little bit better, but it is what it is. You can always improve on the interface on anything.  

For me, I just work with the product in a simple way. For instance, I have not even looked into whether you can hook it up with Active Directory which may be helpful if you are going to add different users and give them the capability to back up or do certain other tasks. You might be able to do that already now. I just have not had the need or opportunity to look into it. If it is not there it is the type of thing that might be added.  

I have been using Nakivo for a couple of years on-and-off.  

The stability and performance can depend on how many VMs you have and the volume of what you are backing up. I think I set it up for one customer in their lab and they had 50 or 60 VMs running and set it up to kickoff at say at 10 o'clock at night and do the backup. Nakivo just does its thing on schedule. Here when I back it up, when I back up my Atlassian tools, I will back up three of those VMs at one time. 

So it is pretty stable when it comes to carrying out what it is supposed to do. Again, it depends on how fast your network is, how many transporters you have, and where you are backing it up to. Although I do not do it myself, Nakivo has the capability to back up directly to Amazon S3 if you choose to do that. The flexibility for working in various environments is really valuable, and in my case it saves money.  

I think the scalability of the product is good. All you have to do is basically just install more transporters. If you only got one transporter installed and you are trying to back up 100 VMs at the same time, you are pushing everything through one little teeny pipe, but if you have more transporters, then it will actually use all of those and the backups and restores can happen faster.  

I have not really used technical support because I have not had any issues or problems with the product. It is very easy to set up and very straightforward to use. I can not vouch for that fact on Windows because I have never tried it on Windows. I choose not to do that. I run everything on Linux and I like that better.  

I have used other solutions and I wound up sticking with Nakivo because it is more versatile and it is able to work with systems other than Microsoft. You can get it running in many different ways. I am just running the previous build VM, but I also have a 12 terabytes Synology NAS unit here. I can actually install it directly on that and not even have to create a virtual machine. It runs great without any extra setup. So I am using Nakivo for versatility, mostly.  

The initial setup and installation are very straightforward. It depends on how many transporters you want to install. You can install more than one transporter. If you are doing lots of backups, multiple transporters will make it go faster. In my case, I do not need that. I have actually tried using multiple transporters at customer sites and it is a functional solution.  

I just use the free version — if you will — it is kind of free. You can buy a one-time perpetual license, or you can do subscription-based leasing, or you can do it based on how many VMs you want to back up. If you want to only buy it for 50 VMs, then you only buy it for 50 VMs. You have a lot of different options when it comes to pricing and the pricing models are pretty flexible and affordable.  

I have tried Veeam and I have tried a few others. I forget their names. Nakivo just seems simpler to me. It is simple to use. I like the fact that I do not have to have a Windows license to run it like I would with other products like Veeam. That is just another something that I have to pay for and maintain on top of what I already have. Nakivo is a work-around for that situation.  

I like the product because it is doing exactly what I need it to do, and that is reliably backing up my VM. I have actually had to restore some VMs. Sometimes the power just goes off here and something will get corrupted and it works well for that. It has been reliable in restoring exactly what I needed to restore.  

Based on my experience, the advice I would give to people considering it is to go for it. I think it is a great product. But there is a problem with customers — especially government customers — resisting adopting anything new. They get hung up on one thing and they like to stick with it. They buy a license and they just have it set in their minds that they do not want to try anything else, even though the solution they have might be costing them a fortune. Getting them to adopt a change can be difficult.  

It is like when someone is committed to Cisco. I tell government customers not to buy Cisco under any circumstances. I tell them just to never get involved with it. Then they will complain and say that Cisco is all that they know. Arista beats the hell out of Cisco and it uses the same interface. Guys who know how to use Cisco already will not have to go to school at all to learn how to use Arista, and it ends up being half the price. My complaint about Cisco is not that it does not work. It depends on what you are doing. But in my opinion, Cisco solutions just do not have the necessary throughput for certain situations.  

I have tried to get a lot of clients to buy this and show them the advantages. Some of them just say they already have a license for something else and they want to stick with it. People need to be open to the advantages of considering other products and how that can make a change in their efficiency and their bottom line.  

On a scale from one to ten (where one is the worst and ten is the best), I would rate Nakivo as a nine-out-of-ten. I would never give anything a ten.  

We have a new VMware vSphere Cluster with several Virtual Machines (Windows-based and Linux-based). We needed a new backup solution for those new workloads. I deployed in a second site, a new backup server with a storage SAN directly attached. I deploy NAKIVO B&R in a virtual appliance and with it, I protect all of the inventory of the VMs and save the backups and data in a backup repository with an immutability feature.

At the moment, we don't use Replication, however, I studied this feature. Maybe I will deploy this feature in the future on some new vSphere hosts in a DRP site.

Nakivo's replication feature can permit configuration replicas in a different hardware platform with VMware vSphere. We protect all of our virtual machines in VMware vSphere and secure our data with the immutability feature; our virtual machines are Windows-based and Linux-based. We have SQL Server, IIS, Active Directory Instances, PACS, and File Servers.

The virtual appliance for VMware vSphere is easy to deploy, easy to manage, and we have no need for additional Windows licenses. NAKIVO has an immutability feature that protects our backup data. Nakivo is a backup solution good for the first steps in backup and replication uses cases. It offers low license costs and is very easy to deploy. 

I recommend the Virtual Machine Appliance for all VMware vSphere Infrastructures.

I deployed it to a second site with a new backup server with a storage SAN directly attached. I deploy edNAKIVO B&R in a virtual appliance and with it, I protect all the inventory of the VMs.

They need a better knowledge base with more information about support issues. 

I would like new recovery methods for my VM and live full VM restore overwriting and the ability to restore individual files on the VM (like VMDK, VMX).

I would like it if Nakivo could protect virtual machines with WSFC deployed on VMware (usually SQL Server clusters virtualized). 

I would like to restore my data on a cloud site. I would like a new replication method with zero RTO (better than snapshot replication). 

I would like new features for the backup agent for physical machines.

I've used the solution for one year.

We did previously use a different solution.

Nakivo is good for the first steps in backup and replication. If comes at a low license cost and is very easy to deploy.

We did evaluate other options. 

We use the solution as a VM backup with our VMware and Hyper-V environments.  

We can back up our file server with an extra layer of security due to the ransomware protection that Nakivo offers. 

The solution is low-cost, easy to use, and has web-based management. These are some of the major advantages. The addition of apps for NAS (like Synology and QNAP) has made it much easier to back up and protect the servers.

We'd like to see a legacy environment backup, like AIX, etc.  

I've used the solution for four years.

The stability of the solution is good.

The scalability of the solution is good.

We did not previously use a different solution. 

This product provides cost-efficient and reliable backups.

Before choosing this solution, we also evaluated Veeam, Altaro, Vembu, and Acronis.