We have implemented a secondary contingency plan for most clients, where the primary infrastructure is on-premise, and the containers are hosted in the cloud. Some clients are currently migrating their primary solutions to the cloud. In these cases, the servers run on Azure, and Azure Backup provides backup server services. Additionally, we have implemented Azure SQL and Azure Intune for these clients.
Owner at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
An easy-to-use solution with seamless operational capabilities
Pros and Cons
- "The daily backups have become easier since we no longer need to handle large backups. The use of Azure Backup as a service has proven reliable and simplified our daily operations. Previously, we relied on LTO backups for data retention, but after migrating to the cloud and adopting Azure Backup, the delivery process has become smoother."
- "I believe more options could be available to understand better what's happening in the system. Additionally, automating the client updates and connector updates would be beneficial. Updating the connector from time to time can be challenging, and it could be made more transparent and straightforward for users. Moreover, another drawback lies in the time it takes to test full data backup recovery. Deploying a full recovery takes longer. We need to allocate a longer period for complete data recovery to establish the environment again."
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
The daily backups have become easier since we no longer need to handle large backups. The use of Azure Backup as a service has proven reliable and simplified our daily operations. Previously, we relied on LTO backups for data retention, but after migrating to the cloud and adopting Azure Backup, the delivery process has become smoother.
What is most valuable?
The simplicity of the whole operation is the most valuable feature of the solution.
What needs improvement?
I believe more options could be available to understand better what's happening in the system. Additionally, automating the client updates and connector updates would be beneficial. Updating the connector from time to time can be challenging, and it could be made more transparent and straightforward for users. Moreover, another drawback lies in the time it takes to test full data backup recovery. Deploying a full recovery takes longer. We need to allocate a longer period for complete data recovery to establish the environment again.
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For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for the past four years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I rate the stability of the solution as a nine out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
In a fully cloud-based solution, scalability is good, and I rate it a ten out of ten. On the other hand, for an on-premise setup, there may be challenges related to recovery and the potential impact on the Internet link's bandwidth. Therefore, I rate it an eight out of ten.
How are customer service and support?
I believe Microsoft could improve its backup support.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was easy.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing of the solution does not depend on the service itself but rather on the minimum data volume encountered. This pricing approach seems reasonable and is on par with other competitors in the market. It is a good solution for on-premise needs because it is more cost-effective. When evaluating the overall financial expenditure, including operational costs and the impact on the IT team, Azure Backup is a favorable choice.
What other advice do I have?
I recommend it; however, I want to emphasize the importance of thoroughly checking if the cloud backup solution aligns with the required time frame for recovery. Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Chief Executive at a non-profit with 51-200 employees
Useful native backup capabilities, quick setup, but lacking immutability
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature of Azure Backup is the native backup capabilities."
- "Azure Backup could improve the backup data copies because they are not immutable."
What is our primary use case?
I use Azure Backup VM backups.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature of Azure Backup is the native backup capabilities.
What needs improvement?
Azure Backup could improve the backup data copies because they are not immutable.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Azure Backup for approximately two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I rate the stability of Azure Backup a seven out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have two engineers that are using the solution in my organization.
Azure Backup has a medium scalability level.
I rate the scalability of Azure Backup a seven out of ten.
How are customer service and support?
I have not needed to use the support from the vendor.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We previously used Dell Avamar prior to Azure Backup. We switched to Azure Backup because we were having to pull data back down to an on-premise hardware infrastructure and Azure Backup meant we didn't have to pull the data down through our express route.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of Azure Backup took a couple of hours to complete. It was quick and straightforward.
What about the implementation team?
We completed the implementation of the solution in-house.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
There is a cost per terabyte for using this solution.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend this solution to others.
I rate Azure Backup a seven out of ten.
My rating was because the absence of immutability, a critical feature in our current backup system, is a limitation of its monitoring and reporting capabilities.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
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Technical Manager at a manufacturing company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Simple to scale, integrates well, but limited on-premises services
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature of Azure Backup is its ease of use and good integration with other Azure services."
- "The Azure Backup support for on-premises service is limited."
What is our primary use case?
We use Azure Backup to backup VMs.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature of Azure Backup is its ease of use and good integration with other Azure services.
What needs improvement?
The Azure Backup support for on-premises service is limited.
The file-level restore procedure should be more straightforward.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Azure Backup for approximately three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Azure Backup is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Azure Backup can scale and it is easy to do.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of Azure Backup is straightforward. It took 15 minutes to do the deployment.
I rate the initial setup of Azure Backup a four out of five.
What about the implementation team?
I did the implementation of the solution.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Azure Backup a seven out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Reseller
Backup solution for environments on Azure could include more automation and integration
Pros and Cons
- "It's stable."
- "I would like to see more automation, integration, and security. The price could be better."
What is our primary use case?
We provide solutions with Microsoft. The principal use is as a backup solution for the the Azure environment because we use 365 solutions.
This solution is deployed on cloud.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features will depend on the environment and if you're using the cloud platform, or if you want to keep your backup on-premise.
What needs improvement?
I would like to see more automation, integration, and security. The price could be better.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution since 2004.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's stable.
How are customer service and support?
I haven't had any issues with technical support.
How was the initial setup?
Installation is straightforward.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price should be cheaper, but it's affordable if you use the yearly subscription.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate this solution 5 out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
Azure Architect at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Reasonably priced, simple to install, and the technical support is helpful
Pros and Cons
- "It's useful, it works, and it's fairly reliable."
- "The length of time it takes to restore is our main source of frustration. It would be beneficial to shorten the time it takes."
What is our primary use case?
We use Azure Backup to backup and restore virtual machines as well as SQL Databases.
What needs improvement?
The only issue we have right now is the amount of time it takes to restore. When we attempt to restore a virtual machine, it can take hours. This is an area that could be improved.
The length of time it takes to restore is our main source of frustration. It would be beneficial to shorten the time it takes.
We had issues with shared storage in the past where it couldn't be included in the backup. Shared storage, or shared disc, wasn't available. I believe Microsoft promised to put it in their pipeline for improvement in order to add this, but I haven't double-checked. This was the issue with shared managed discs, and not being included in this backup scope.
If the shared managed disc could be included with the backup, it would be better.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Azure Backup for three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Azure Backup is very stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Azure Backup is a scalable solution.
We work with it all of the time.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support is very helpful. I would rate them a four out of five.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was straightforward. It was something that was easy for us.
It was completed within a few minutes. It can depend on the environment, but usually, it is fast.
The number of staff required for maintenance depends on the automation. We require more staff now, but we are working on the automation. Generally, it is relatively low. For the most part, it works by itself.
What about the implementation team?
We operate in our own environment.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Licensing fees are paid on a monthly basis.
It's not an expensive solution. I am more than happy with the price.
What other advice do I have?
We are working in our own environment, assisting KPMG users and firm members. We also have internal companies.
I am an Azure Architect.
It's useful, it works, and it's fairly reliable. The only issue right now isn't a big one, but our users sometimes need faster recovery, faster restoring of services, and faster restoring of data.
I would rate Azure Backup a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Head of IT-Infrastructure at a construction company with 11-50 employees
Included in Azure, with good technical support and good reliability
Pros and Cons
- "The scalability has been good."
- "Technical support can be slow to respond at times."
What is our primary use case?
The main use case is to back up the virtual machines.
What is most valuable?
It's part of the Azure cloud service. The solution is included in the overall price.
The solution is stable.
The scalability has been good.
Technical support is okay. They do help you when you need them.
What needs improvement?
As I don't work directly with the solution (my team does), I don't have any notes for improvement.
Technical support can be slow to respond at times.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've only been using the solution for two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. It's reliable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is scalable. If a company needs to expand it, it's possible to do so.
Only the IT backups use the solution. That's just two people. No one else does.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support is okay. They are helpful, however, they are not always fast.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Previously, we only used Micro Focus Data Protector. We were on our data center on-premise. After the migration, to save, the machines to the Azure cloud, we switched from the VM backups to Azure Backup. The other backups are still running on Micro Focus Data Protector.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is done by our cloud solution provider. While I'm not aware of the details. my understanding is that the deployment was quick and did not take long.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The solution is part of the greater Microsoft service. I am not sure if there is a separate license just for this. It's not an additional price. There may be more costs according to how much storage is needed. You have to do the backup to a storage account and the storage account costs a price per terabytes.
What other advice do I have?
We are a customer with an enterprise agreement.
I do not backups myself. I don't know the versions we are using.
I'd rate the solution at an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Managing Director/CIO at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Offers multiple layers of security with a user-friendly ability to add features
Pros and Cons
- "The hardware is always updated and it's saved us a lot of money."
- "Lacks an AI system that would enable easier upgrading of the hardware."
What is our primary use case?
Our primary use case of Azure Backup is for data on our application servers. We host our ERP systems with SQL for backend software.
We've been in partnership with Microsoft for more than 15 years. I'm the CEO and the CIO.
How has it helped my organization?
Before we started using Azure we spent a lot of money at our various sites, setting one up as the main physical site and a second for disaster recovery. We had to invest a lot of money to buy hardware that needed replacing every two or three years. Switching to Azure has saved us thousands. The hardware is always updated and we're now able to invest more in our staff which is highly beneficial because it translates to satisfied clients.
What is most valuable?
As a security setting, Azure is very detailed. We can add features on retentions and retain the backup for several days. The retention policies are very good. I like the notifications and multiple layers of security that the solution offers. It enables us and our clients to feel secure and you can install and connect your systems wherever you are.
What needs improvement?
We're hoping the price of the solution won't increase in the coming months when Azure is due to review all its products. I think that what the product lacks now is an AI system; if we had that, we'd be able to more easily upgrade the hardware system.
For how long have I used the solution?
We've been using this solution for about seven years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We haven't had any stability issues. If the initial setup is done properly there won't be any issues with stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability is good. We have around 12 users in the department. Some of them provide techno support and others do testing on the system to check its abilities because sometimes it has too much load.
How are customer service and support?
Customer support is very good.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was straightforward. Deployment time depends on the size of the data.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We pay over $8 million per year in licensing fees for 365 and Azure usage. There is no additional cost for hardware but we train our employees and that is an added cost for us.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We had a look at Amazon before going with Azure but we decided to go the whole way with Microsoft. These days, I'm not sure there's much difference between the two.
What other advice do I have?
It's important to know what you'll be getting from whoever provides you with the solution because it's important that support is included. This product has really helped me in scaling up my company. We love this solution and think everyone should have it.
As a provider and a user, I rate this solution 10 out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Sr. IT Operations Engineer at a manufacturing company with 1-10 employees
Provides secure and reliable disaster recovery, but the technical support need improvement
Pros and Cons
- "Azure Backup is good because it is entirely cloud-based, which means that you can be 99.9% sure that your backup is safe."
- "The compression ratio of the backup data should be improved."
What is our primary use case?
We use Azure Backup as part of our disaster recovery solution. If there is a problem in the entire building then we can restore our data from over the cloud.
How has it helped my organization?
Azure Backup is very good for our clients that need to back up data securely and reliably.
What is most valuable?
Azure Backup is good because it is entirely cloud-based, which means that you can be 99.9% sure that your backup is safe. This is the reason that I suggest its use for companies that need to back up critical data.
What needs improvement?
The compression ratio of the backup data should be improved. Compared to our on-premises solution, the compression of Azure Backup is not as good. For example, if I am backing up up 100 GB of data then it should be compressed by at least 70%. Instead, it is being compressed by 30% to 35%. Because of this, the utilization of resources in terms of cloud storage is increasing. Given that the cost of cloud-based storage is not cheap, this is an area that is in need of improvement.
The interface should be more user-friendly.
The Azure team in Microsoft technical support needs to improve.
More guidelines and information about use-cases should be available for reference online.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using Azure Backup for almost two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The day-to-day usage of this solution is quite normal.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
This is a scalable solution.
How are customer service and technical support?
I am generally satisfied with the technical support, although I would only rate them a six and a half out of ten. From what I have seen, the engineers are not well versed in all of the possible backup scenarios. The knowledge that they have is limited.
For example, in my two years of experience, I think that I was able to better troubleshoot some of the issues better than they were. My intention is not to berate them but I think that they should be more knowledgable about the product.
Level two and three seem to have enough knowledge, although it still takes a significant amount of time.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We use Azure Backup in conjunction with Veeam. Veeam is responsible for our on-premises backup that includes data and file systems. It also put a copy of our data onto the cloud.
We have a hybrid solution because the bandwidth in my country is quite expensive and if we have to do a restore, it is better to have an on-premises capability for that.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was not as straightforward as I expected. I was facing certain challenges and I was deeply in contact with the Azure team from Microsoft technical support. It took quite some time for them to resolve my issues. My case was escalated to level three support and to reach that level, it took 10 to 14 working days.
It takes very serious research or good troubleshooting skills to eliminate some of the complex problems that can occur.
In total, it took us about a month to deploy.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
This is an expensive solution because of the requirements for cloud-based storage. We are paying about $100,000 USD per year, just for a couple of servers.
What other advice do I have?
My advice to anybody who is considering this solution is that if you can afford it, then I would highly recommend it because the service provides very good value.
The software is very capable but the information available for support is limited.
I would rate this solution a seven out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
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