Veritas NetBackup Appliance Reviews

We mainly use Windows for all our operating systems. Our databases are SQL databases. For backups, we set up one master server and three process servers. Our company isn't big, so this setup works well for us. We install the Veritas NetBackup Appliance agent on all the systems that need to be backed up.

It's a robust solution, and it is very strong indeed. In 2020, we faced the challenge of losing the catalog. We recovered the catalog using tape, which was crucial for restoring our backups. This feature stands out to me as one of the most valuable aspects of the solution.

Veeam has a verification action, which is good. 

I have been working with the product for five years. 

I rate Veritas NetBackup Appliance's stability an eight out of ten. 

After installing the client and configuring network policies on the Veritas NetBackup Appliance server, I set up backup schedules and performed test backups. If the test was successful, I applied the backup schedule configuration, starting at 10 PM every night, with backups finishing by 6 AM. This setup allowed eight hours for backup. In my larger environment, we manage multiple media servers. We use a tape library and Data Domain for long-term backup retention. We noticed gaps in our security backup strategy recently, so we introduced a domain for production and disaster recovery. Each domain has one master server, one data domain, and one deployment.

The tool's deployment is easy since I have experience with it. It may prove difficult for others. It is not difficult, but integrating the applications, such as Windows, Oracle, SQL, and other applications, took more time. It required good planning to ensure everything integrated well.

I rate the overall product an eight out of ten. 

The tool's most valuable feature is recovery. 

Veritas NetBackup Appliance needs to improve its security. It needs to ensure that it is 100 percent protected against cyberattacks. 

I have been working with the product for ten years. 

I rate Veritas NetBackup Appliance's stability a nine out of ten. 

I rate the tool's scalability a ten out of ten. 

I'm facing challenges with Veritas support in Cyprus because the company is not directly present here. Instead, they rely on distributors like us. Getting support isn't easy; for priority one cases, a response takes around five or six days. Unfortunately, the provided answers often don't offer solutions to our problems.

When dealing with technical issues, the process involves continuous discussions. Veritas instructs us to perform certain actions, we comply, and then a different person takes over the next day. The issue is that you never get to speak to the same person familiar with the problem. Engineers change daily, leading to a prolonged resolution time.

Neutral

The product's deployment was easy. 

I rate the tool's pricing an eight out of ten. 

My clients are enterprise businesses. We promote the product since it is the industry's safest and most robust solution. I rate it a nine out of ten. 

The solution is useful for backups. It can be used as a central backup solution.

The installation is cumbersome. There is a script that has to be updated every time. If it isn't updated, the solution does not perform the backups. The management and setup must be improved.

I have been using the solution for three to four years.

We can scale on the cloud as we wish. It will cost us additionally, though.

We have local support. We are not connected directly to Veritas’s support team.

We have deployed the product on-premises. The cloud solution is more flexible and provides more stability.

The cost depends on how we use the tool.

I would recommend the solution. If someone deals with organizations in different geographies, they might not want to use it. Overall, I rate the tool a six out of ten.

I use the solution for MySQL databases and for some critical applications.

I think the solution is very intuitive, effective, and easy to use.

I am satisfied with what I'm getting so far in terms of usability and resilience. I can't really think of anything now that needs improvement. It's very good, and it's very easy to use and understand. I can't say anything that can be improved since I am satisfied with what I'm getting.

I think they can have a cloud version in the future. If we could have Veritas NetBackup Appliance on the cloud, then we don't need to have it always as an on-premises solution. It helps reduce the cost of maintenance in terms of cooling and footprint in the data center. Hence, if we can get the option of having it on the cloud, that'll be very good.

The support for my region could be improved.

I have been using Veritas NetBackup Appliance for two years. My company has a partnership with Veritas.

Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten. I have faced no issues, and it is a very stable tool.

Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten. 

In my company, there are 700 users of the solution.

I rate the technical support a nine out of ten. The response from the support team has not always been quick, so sometimes there is a risk. However, at times, we get instant attention. I guess the problem is because of the different time zones. It takes a bit of time.

Positive

The initial setup is straightforward and simple.

My company got a consultant's help to deploy the solution.

On a scale of one to ten, where one is a high price and ten is a low price, I rate the pricing a nine. It is a reasonably priced product.

I really don't know much about other competitors, but I can't say it's okay and way better since it's easy to use and understand.

We require five people in a team for maintenance.

I would definitely recommend the solution to those planning to use it.

I rate the overall product a ten out of ten.

The primary use cases are direct appliances. We have held clients using it in some public companies. So, when you have several installations, the most commonly used appliance is BYO. We build and install the software on servers with storage attached to the router through the SAN. We configure all the software needed for the backup to cooperate as a backup-to-disk storage server with duplication.

I connect these Veritas NetBackup Appliance because they are highly stable and stronger. Therefore, we don't require so much maintenance to use these appliances. The integration of these appliances requires some maintenance, but they are known for their strength and stability.

The deployment of the physical appliance in case of a disaster is not smart. When they need to restore clients without adhering to factory default settings, they lose data. The recovery of this appliance is not easy. This applies to both the software-based and MSDP storage. It is not easy because I have worked a lot on the tool, and in case it gets corrupted at any point, it is not easy to restore the data without losing information is not easy.

Adding additional features to the configuration of Veritas NetBackup Appliance is essential. For instance, storing metadata in a safe place is crucial for restoring the configuration. If we need to restore the same appliance with its same configuration, we can avoid manual insertion or retrieving data from files. Another noteworthy feature involves uploading a configuration file, allowing the system to process and rebuild the storage accordingly.

I have been using Veritas NetBackup Appliance for ten years.

I have no stability issues to report.

I rate the solution's stability an eight out of ten.

I rate the solution's scalability an eight out of ten.

The initial setup is quite simple. We need to input some information. Suppose you make changes to the configuration throughout the year. What is complicated is keeping track of these condition changes. In case of a disaster, it is also important to restore this information. If I needed to recreate the entire setup because all the information is stored in the appliance, it would also involve saving some information in the math. However, it is generally not recommended to save information externally if the object is not integrated into the appliance.

This kind of approach is not considered best practice. But if you need to review the plans, you have to input the same information that the master server expects in order to speed up the service coverage. Otherwise, you will need to repeat from scratch. I can provide you with the name of the business server if you require it.

Yes, I can save some information from the master server, but the issue is that you cannot deploy it in the appliance if it's a storage server. It cannot be deployed directly from the master server. Instead, you would have to redeploy it in case of a disaster. The same appliance needs to be set up again with the same name, information, and configuration since deploying this information cannot be done from the master server. You can deploy it from the virtual appliance or from the configuration management or the plans.

We deploy on-premise but with integration with the cloud to protect data.

On a scale of one to ten, where one is a high price, and ten is a low price, I rate the solution's pricing an eight.

Since my company has a good partnership and a global contract, we can resell licenses at a good discount. We can provide good pricing. Additionally, customers can benefit from discounted reselling directly from the vendor.

Overall, I rate the solution between eight out of ten.

We use the solution to back up everything we have, including SQL backup, Oracle, and VMware. It works very well. We like the solution and its price when compared with others. Data Domain and Veeam were fine, presenting the optimal solutions with the best prices. There was a period of many months that we had a lot of performance issues with Veritas NetBack Appliances, but since the upgrading has taken place it has worked very well. We do not encounter issues that are critical and the solution functions smoothly. 

The solution is the best for me, as it combines two solutions for use of our backup environment. Before 2016 we employed two solutions and it is now easier for us to manage our environment. 

The most valuable feature involves VMware Instant Recovery, which allows one to do restoration within seconds. It is very nice. We use it a lot for restoring VM.

The upgrade process of the solution needs to be improved since it is extremely complicated, especially without the benefit of a support person who can guide one through it. This can result in many problems. Occasionally we encounter issues with the backup process which necessitate support from Veritas. Consequently, I would highlight the upgrade process as being in need of improvement. 

We hope to see SQL Instant Recovery in the 9.0 version. It is the same as VMware Instant Recovery but its restoration processes are very fast, with the ability to handle a terabyte of data in a single minute. 

I have been using Veritas NetBackup Appliance since 2015. 

I consider the product to be good and very stable, although there are many things in need of improvement, such as the upgrade process. 

From the research we conducted, scalability seems good, but I cannot properly comment on this point as the size of our environment is very small. 

I feel technical support could be better. When we first started making use of the solution, we had the benefit of local support in Brazil, but today this is only an option in the United States. The support is okay, but it can take a while to receive a definitive answer. One must go through the first layer of support before being escalated, a time-consuming process. Nowadays, I consider the support to be okay, not bad, but it used to be better. 

Prior to our use of Veritas NetBackup Appliance, in 2016, we utilized Avamar. Though Avamar was a good solution and worked well, we encountered many instances of interruption in data transmission. It was, initially, a good tool, with a good appliance workflow. However, the Avamar that has been made available within the past five years does not provide a good window to sync data with Veritas NetBackup Appliance. This process is time consuming, which necessitated our use of two applications for managing our backup environment. Once we switched from Avamar to Veritas Netbackup Appliance there was no more need for two applications and these were replaced with a single one for the entire management of our backup environment. 

The initial setup is okay. It is not very difficult. While the planning stage requires the use of much Veritas material, it's easy. This is because we are talking about an appliance which has everything predefined or preconfigured.

The deployment took a long time. I believe that the process lasted a month-and-a-half. This is because it required us to do many validations, as we were replacing our solution.

The department we engaged to assist us with the installation and appliance configurations of the solution was very helpful and we did not encounter any problems. The implementation was extremely nice. I should point out that when we bought the Appliance we didn't use NetBackup and everything was new to us. This said, we had to do much configuration and planning, as we were buying not only the appliance but the solution as well.

I cannot say whether our licensing costs are on a monthly or annual basis, as we have a global contract.

As the solution is towards the end of its life, we are looking to replace it with a new or different one. While we are considering the Data Domain by Dell EMC, we are also looking at an Appliance solution. This is because the Data Domain will still require the use of NetBackup, but will serve the purpose of acting as a storage destination. We will only use NetBackup as it relates to the Data Domain. I know much about the application and we are looking to book solutions here. We would be able to take all of our knowledge of Appliance, but to use NetBackup software for third party storage.  

Prior to going with Veritas NetBackup Appliance in 2016, we evaluated two other solutions, one of which was Data Domain. However, at the time, we decided to go with Veritas NetBackup Appliance because it offered better pricing than the other vendors, with Data Domain serving as an illustrative example. 

We have a total of three people working on the Veritas NetBackup Appliance environment, two for the short and one for the long retention.

The size of the backup is very important. If this is not accounted for in the beginning of the appliance stage, many problems can arise. This was the case in our use of Dell EMC and Avamar and with all other backup solutions. With Appliance we encountered site problems, Appliance did not work well with HashBackup and there were many backups which used batch files, something that led to compression and deduplication of the data. This required us to replace or dump files so that we could use an agent for providing a direct connection to the database server software. 

Once we changed the size of the backup, the problem was solved. The issue addressed is present not only with Veritas NetBackup Appliance, but with any solution that possesses deduplication architecture. 

I rate Veritas NetBackup Appliance as an eight out of ten. 

We primarily use Veritas NetBackup Appliance for managing our data protection needs.

It helps in managing data protection effectively.

NetBackup is easy to use and user-friendly.

There is room for improvement, especially in tech support and pricing. The price could be a bit better.

I have ten years of experience working with Veritas NetBackup Appliance.

I would rate the stability nine out of ten.

I would rate the scalability nine out of ten.

I would rate the technical support eight out of ten.

Positive

I do not remember using a different solution before Veritas NetBackup Appliance.

The initial setup was not done in-house; we used a third party.

We used a third party for implementation, not in-house deployment.

The pricing of the solution is average.

Based on my experience, I would recommend this solution to other people.

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.

The NetBackup appliance features customized software that is designed for storage.

The NetBackup software is based on Red Hat Linux, but we should have multiple software options for that. We should have more OS options. Also, there are too many tools and intermediaries. Everything should be built into an all-in-one solution.

I have been using NetBackup for more than 10 years.

NetBackup is stable. If it is in a remote place, we can put lead backup plans in place for backing up and sending metadata to the main data center. 

NetBackup is a scalable solution, but it costs more to scale up. 

I work with multiple backup tools, and Veritas is in the middle. The support isn't great.

Setting up NetBackup is straightforward, but we sometimes get some weird errors while we are trying to configure it. There are so many processes to deal with because all of these products are legacy backup tools. They are a little more complicated than next-generation backup tools like Rubrik or some of the newer ones on the market. It doesn't require many users for maintenance. 

I rate NetBackup six out of 10 for pricing. 

Veritas is becoming stable again, but two or three years ago, everyone was switching from Veritas to Commvault or emerging tools like Rubrik due to the bad support and high cost.

Today, everything is a converged backup solution with everything built in. However, Veritas started in the 1990s, so everything was added to that software. I think we need to have a very huge version change in Veritas to keep pace with modern requirements and simplify things.

I rate Veritas NetBackup Appliance seven out of 10 overall.