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StewartSJ3 - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Engineer at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Has enabled us to not only backup more of our data at faster speeds, but also recover that data quicker
Pros and Cons
  • "The ease of use and the GUI have really been most valuable to us. Configuring the system to do what we need is simple and straight forward and a lot of guesswork has been removed. One of my favorite features with Cohesity is Kroll for Exchange item-level recovery. The software is simple to use and fast."
  • "The product is still young and is continually improving. There have been a couple of buggy releases in the software that have caused us minor issues, so possibly some better QA before releasing would prove to be useful. We have also been inquiring about new app and functionality via the Marketplace that was teased months back but has yet to come to fruition."

What is our primary use case?

We primarily use Cohesity as our backup solution, however, we are leveraging Views to replace our MS Cluster file shares. We run these in 2 separate clusters. We are backing up 600+ VMs, multiple file shares, and leveraging other pieces, such as Kroll for Exchange, to recover our data quicker. With Views, we currently have what were once FileShares stored in an MS Cluster leveraging the speed and protection of Cohesity. We are also using Insight and Spotlight from the Marketplace to gain further insights into unusual file activity and audit trails.

How has it helped my organization?

We have been able to not only backup more of our data at faster speeds, but also recover that data quicker. What used to take us hours to recover is now done in minutes. Since deploying Cohesity we've been able to help our end-users get their data back quicker than ever. This savings in time has increased their productivity and helped them avoid complete data loss. On top of this, the performance boost we've gained in using Views has made our file shares much quicker to access and use, not only for normal file explorer use but for applications that write to those Views as well.

What is most valuable?

The ease of use and the GUI have really been most valuable to us. Configuring the system to do what we need is simple and straight forward and a lot of guesswork has been removed. One of my favorite features with Cohesity is Kroll for Exchange item-level recovery. The software is simple to use and fast. We've been able to recover individual emails in minutes instead of hours, some of which were time-sensitive matters. Helios has also proved useful to give us a look at all of our clusters and their performance.

What needs improvement?

The product is still young and is continually improving. There have been a couple of buggy releases in the software that have caused us minor issues, so possibly some better QA before releasing would prove to be useful. We have also been inquiring about new app and functionality via the Marketplace that was teased months back but has yet to come to fruition. The apps are coming, but slower than expected. While we know they are working at getting more of these features out and doing so as fast as they can, a better product roadmap would be helpful.

Buyer's Guide
Cohesity DataProtect
December 2024
Learn what your peers think about Cohesity DataProtect. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: December 2024.
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For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using Cohesity for over a year now.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Overall, Cohesity has been very stable. We've had a few hiccups with some software releases, but have been able to get Support involved and resolve those in a timely manner.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Cohesity is easily scalable, simply adding more storage or nodes when needed.

How are customer service and support?

Customer Service and Support are top notch. Each issue we've thrown at them has been answered and addressed quickly. We've even had times where we're not expecting to hear anything until the next day and we'll have a Tier 3 engineer on the phone within minutes. Overall their Support has been one of the most impressive things about them.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We previously used CommVault. We switched due to costs and speeds primarily.

How was the initial setup?

Setup, with Cohesity's Support, was very straightforward. We had it up and running jobs in a matter of hours.

What about the implementation team?

We used Cohesity's team to implement our solution.

What was our ROI?

I don't have an exact figure, but when you save dozens if not hundreds of hours for multiple engineers, the savings add up quickly. We've been able to focus our attention on bigger issues and some other lingering problems instead of worrying about our backups.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Setup was very easy and pricing/licensing were very straightforward. We didn't feel like we were getting nickeled and dimed for every little thing.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We looked at CommVault, Cohesity, Veritas, and Veeam.

What other advice do I have?

If you're on the fence about moving to Cohesity, I suggest making the jump. We have been amazed at what we've been able to accomplish with it in such a short time.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Data Center Technician at nuskin
Real User
We used to use NetBackup. We are tired of using tapes and Cohesity has the features that we're interested in.

What is our primary use case?

We were backing up about 160 TB to tape per week. We are still moving over to Cohesity, however, we will not have the need to have the hardware related to tapes next year. Also, the money we spend on new versions of tapes is not going towards more clusters. In Cohesity, my backups are running faster and I have more frequent crash consistent data. 

How has it helped my organization?

Cohesity will save us money, time, and manpower. We will have quick redundancy to AWS for our Cohesity node. I am new to backups and I have been able to quickly learn the basics in the tool. 

What is most valuable?

This tool is very straightforward and clean. The menus are not over complicated or cluttered. I have very little experience with backups, but Cohesity has made it simple to learn the basics. There are also more complex integrations and programming that can be done if desired.

What needs improvement?

Cohesity is working on this, however, I would like to see a more expanded KB section. They have created a few videos also, more would be great. Their documentation is also currently being expanded.

For how long have I used the solution?

Still implementing.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We chose to go bleeding edge with the 6.0.0a release. We have encountered a few cluster crashes because of indexing on XFS file systems this should be fixed in 6.1.0

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Not yet. 

How are customer service and technical support?

So far support has been amazing. 

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We used NetBackup. We are tired of using tapes and Cohesity has the features that we're interested in.

How was the initial setup?

With the help of our local tech, the setup was quite easy. 

What about the implementation team?

We used our local Cohesity sales and tech team. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

During your implementation stage, make sure you have a good Cohesity rep. Ours had completed over 200 implementations. He was very knowledgeable.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Rubrik was the main tool we looked at. 

What other advice do I have?

At this time I don't, as I learn more I will update my review. 

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Cohesity DataProtect
December 2024
Learn what your peers think about Cohesity DataProtect. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: December 2024.
824,053 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Disaster Recovery & Cybersecurity Consultant at a consultancy with 1-10 employees
Real User
Top 5
Offers standardization across the enterprise and ease of use
Pros and Cons
  • "I would rate the stability a ten out of ten."
  • "There is room for improvement in terms of price."

What is our primary use case?

I'm a consultant, so my clients use it, and I assist them.

It is used as a backup solution.

How has it helped my organization?

It gives my clients an enterprise-wide solution for managing backups.

What is most valuable?

Standardization across the enterprise and ease of use are the most valuable features. 

What needs improvement?

There is room for improvement in terms of price. 

In future releases, I would like to see a more comprehensive cyber resilience capability.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have experience from an architectural standpoint.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I would rate the stability a ten out of ten. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I would rate the scalability an eight out of ten. 

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I've used NetBackup and TSM.

How was the initial setup?

It was already deployed when I started engaging with the client.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend using it. Overall, I would rate it a nine out of ten. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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reviewer1742715 - PeerSpot reviewer
Head of IT Infrastructure at Kampmann
User
Works flawlessly with easy replication of backups and numerous supported backup sources
Pros and Cons
  • "By using their Helios Cloud service, you have all your clusters, no matter where they are located, in one web portal."
  • "Quality testing of upgrades should be somewhat improved."

What is our primary use case?

We primarily use the solution for backing up SQL Databases, Sybase Databases, SAP HANA, Kubernetes clusters, active directories, NAS services, some Azure services including virtual machines, Office 365 (Exchange mailboxes, Sharepoint Sites, Teams Data), VMware virtual machines, and much more

We're using Cohesity clusters in different locations which are replicating the backup data each to another location. Replication is working fine. 

We're using more and more NAS services for SMB Fileshshares, for example, for Citrix Profiles with FSLogix.

How has it helped my organization?

All backups are working flawlessly. The replication of backups has never been easier. Cohesity cluster replication is a great feature! 

There is no need to buy licenses for any new features or backing up new software products. If Cohesity is supporting it, you can just use it. Their list of supported backup sources is impressive!

You just have to license the amount of storage you are using. It does not matter how/for what you are using this storage. You can shift it from backup to NAS usage without any problem. 

What is most valuable?

The backup is radically simplified. Backup and replication have not been easier. It is simply working! Replication to the cloud? No problem! Backing up new software? No problem! Have to set up a new NAS service? No problem! 

Cohesity really is a Next-Gen Data Management Software.

By using their Helios Cloud service, you have all your clusters, no matter where they are located, in one web portal. You can view all errors and information in one place and you do not have to connect to each cluster itself. There is also a Helios App for your smartphone.

What needs improvement?

Quality testing of upgrades should be somewhat improved. There really are many upgrades for new features and I really like that. Nevertheless nearly every upgrade brings its own bugs. Cohesity support, however, is really good and they always know how to solve these problems. 

While support does ask the customer if they are allowed to restart service XXX or set parameter X to Y, they never explain if this affects your business or if there can be any further problems by settings the parameters. As a customer, you have to agree to something you cannot really estimate. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used the solution for about a year.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We had been using Dell EMC Avamar, however, we switched to Cohesity due to their pricing and due to the fact that Avamar was a mess. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1353246 - PeerSpot reviewer
Computer Systems Architect at a construction company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Provides ransomware protection for immutable backups
Pros and Cons
  • "Its most valuable feature is its ransomware protection, so it has immutable backups."
  • "In terms of what could be improved, it just needs some maturity."

What is our primary use case?

We are using it to back up virtual machines, VMware level, SQL server, Oracle Domain Controllers, Linux.

We're currently using hundred percent of it to back up 80% of our data.

How has it helped my organization?

It has absolutely improved our ROI. We moved from Microsoft DPM to Cohesity. Now, our incident tickets for backup have dropped by around a thousand per month.

DPM is a load of crap. It's horrible, absolutely horrible.

What is most valuable?

Its most valuable feature is its ransomware protection, so it has immutable backups.

What needs improvement?

In terms of what could be improved, it just needs some maturity. But, it gets better with every release.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Cohesity DataProtect for about a year.

We are using version 6.5.1E. We're about to go to 6.6.

It is on-prem today and it'll go to Azure public cloud soon.

.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is good.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability is very good.

We probably have about 20 people using it and we have backup administrators and database administrators.

Main deployment and maintenance requires three people.

How are customer service and support?

Their technical support team program is good.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We previously used Microsoft DPM and it is a horrendous solution. It's horrible. From from one to 10, I would give it a minus 10. It is that bad.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was straightforward. Initial deployment took two months.

Our deployment strategy was to do it quickly as we can.

We did an initial POC, then a full POC, and then migrated everything as quick as we could.

What about the implementation team?

We used TGS and they were good.

What was our ROI?

We saw ROI was after about nine months.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I believe we pay yearly. Additionally, there is the cost of the hardware. 

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I also evaluated Rubrik and Commvault. The main difference between Cohesity, Rubrik and Commvault is price. It came down to price. Cohesity is more affordable.

What other advice do I have?

My advice to anyone using Cohesity is to use vSphere tags.

On a scale of one to ten, I would give Cohesity DataProtect an eight and it's still maturing.

It will get better.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1661862 - PeerSpot reviewer
Technology Analyst at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Offers good UI, great support, and helpful knowledge sharing
Pros and Cons
  • "We are happy with the support provided by Cohesity for the issues we've come across."
  • "For Oracle DBs, we have observed a few bugs. This can be done better."

What is our primary use case?

We primarily use the solution for data protection and data platform. We are backing up VMs, physical servers, and other applications. 

We are even using the Exchange cluster backups in our environment. It became easy for us to administrate the data and for handling recovery as well. The best part is the UI. I have never seen this level of enhanced UI. 

The best use case is when we are facing issues while taking the exchange backups. Cohesity made it easy for the exchange backup and restore processes. We are happy with the Support provided by Cohesity for the issues we've come across.

How has it helped my organization?

I am very satisfied with the UI of Cohesity. Day to day, they are enhancing it.

We are now easily managing the data from Helios for all the clusters centrally.

Cohesity has made it easy for exchange backup and restore functions. 

We are happy with the support provided by Cohesity.

What is most valuable?

When we are facing issues while taking the exchange backups, Cohesity makes it easy for the exchange backup and restore processes. 

We are happy with the support provided by Cohesity for the issues we've come across.

Knowledge sharing has become easy by technical sharing and galaxy also evolving drastically.

What needs improvement?

For Oracle DBs, we have observed a few bugs. This can be done better.

We'd like to see easy Administration and non-disruptive upgrades and node additions.

For a few engineering issues, we've observed delays and they are asking for an upgrade of the cluster. It would be good if they modified it with gflags.

Knowledge sharing has become easy by technical sharing and has been evolving drastically.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Cohesity for the past 3 years, from 6.3 to 6.5.1.d Hotfix 10.

How are customer service and technical support?

We are happy with the Support provided by Cohesity for the issues we've come across.

What other advice do I have?

We'd like to see easy Administration and non-disruptive upgrades and node additions.

For a few engineering issues, we've observed delays and they are asking for an upgrade of the cluster. It would be good if they modified it with gflags.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
System Engineer II at Louisville Metro Government
Real User
AWS integration and lifecycle versioning has helped protect our organization from end-to-end
Pros and Cons
  • "With the ability to stage an entire lifecycle through versioning, integrated with AWS, it has made it possible to protect our corporation from end to end."
  • "Features I would like to see include a more visible data lifecycle monitoring tab, and an easier to read backup status dashboard."

What is our primary use case?

We use this product for the enterprise data life cycle and data retention.

How has it helped my organization?

With the ability to stage an entire lifecycle through versioning, integrated with AWS, it has made it possible to protect our corporation from end to end.

What is most valuable?

Integration with AWS has been invaluable to us. To have one platform that can leverage a cloud platform, as well as on-premises, has given us a full solution.

What needs improvement?

Technical support being outsourced is a downside but not different from every one of Cohesity's competitors. I was an early adopter when technical support was with actual developers and engineers, and not technical support staff. So, you can understand my point of view.   

Features I would like to see include a more visible data lifecycle monitoring tab, and an easier to read backup status dashboard. For example, I would lie to be able to see the status of all VMs for all jobs without drilling into each one.

Chat customer/technical support would also be great.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using Cohesity DataProtect for three years.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I've used many different solutions including Veeam and Rubrik.

We switched because the return on investment was much greater with Cohesity.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

My advice for anybody who is considering this solution is to have a high-level understanding from your engineers before committing to a package. Cloud integration is a must. Do not pass up the licenses even if you are not currently using them.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Veeam and Rubrik were both evaluated and turned down.

We did not choose Veeam because the technical complexity was just not there to give us a full solution. Rubrik was passed over, due to the price. 

What other advice do I have?

In my opinion, Cohesity is the way to go, with no doubt.

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?

Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
Adjunct Professor at Southern New Hampshire University
Real User
Rapid VM restores, elastic search, reliability, and good support set this solution apart
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable features are the rapid VM restores and the ability to quickly find files and download them directly to my desktop so that I can put them where I need them to be."
  • "The error handling could be improved."

What is our primary use case?

We use Cohesity for backup and recovery primarily, though we are starting to look into it for file service as well. We perform on-premises backups of Exchange, SQL, SharePoint, VDI Golden Images, and a host of Windows Servers and Linux Appliances.

We test the restores weekly with file-based restores. The product makes this surprisingly easy to search for folders and files. The elastic search puts Cohesity above the competition. We will be leveraging the long term retention to the cloud later this year, but with the level of support that we receive from Cohesity, we don't anticipate any issues.

How has it helped my organization?

This product has allowed us to finally remove tapes from our environment. Prior to this, our service desk would waste two to three hours a week swapping tapes and then an additional five to six hours each month shuffling the tapes all over the place. All that time has been recovered.

For the admins/engineers, we would spend ten hours a week trying to keep our old backup system running properly, and that includes needing to be up at 1-3 AM when their "follow the sun" tech support would return your call from 10 AM (with a two hour SLA).

It also has allowed me to stop focusing on fixing the backups daily and I can trust that they will run reliably.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features are the rapid VM restores and the ability to quickly find files and download them directly to my desktop so that I can put them where I need them to be.

The elastic search function is unbelievable. It has saved us so much time, not just in finding files to restore but also in finding lost files or files that were misplaced by an employee. This has led to quick ticket turn arounds for our service desk and they are growing more confident in the backup solution. If they had to leverage our previous product, they considered the file lost.

The granular restore functionality in AD is also extremely helpful.

The best part about Cohesity is that there is an active user community that can request improvements and the developers will incorporate them as they move through releases.

What needs improvement?

The error handling could be improved. The errors shown on the GUI tend to be just what the log spits out and that can be quite confusing. The nice feature is that the logs are in the GUI, so you don't have to go hunting for them, you simply need click the drop down to show the information. There are a few cryptic error messages, thankfully the support staff is fantastic and knows what the errors mean.

There are a few user interface concerns with some of the functionality, such as what screens you get dropped back on when moving in between different areas. If you use the back button on your browser, you may not go back to the last page due to the coding. However, overall navigation isn't tough or complicated. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Cohesity for four months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

There have been bumps in the road, but overall the solution is working wonders in our environment. A 38-hour full backup has been reduced to a 10-hour full (it was only needed once) and then 45-minute incremental backups after that.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I believe it will scale up where we need it to and it can scale down where we expect it to. I think that it is great in terms of scalability.

How are customer service and technical support?

The tech support is fantastic. Even when I e-mail on the weekends I get responses within 20 minutes, tops. If I call, it is immediate. 

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We switched from a previous solution because it was unreliable and their tech support was unable to adequately fix the issues we were having. 

How was the initial setup?

The setup was simple. There was an engineer who was on hand to do all of the work, but I chose to do quite a bit of the work myself instead. From power on to the first backup was about 30 minutes.

What about the implementation team?

The engineer that they provided to us was amazing. He was dedicated to getting the job done right and quickly. We couldn't have asked for better.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

With respect to pricing, make sure that you look at both Rubrik and Cohesity as they are very similar and are quite competitive.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We evaluated Rubrik, Unitrends, Veeam, Dell, and Cohesity for this project.

What other advice do I have?

Cohesity's elastic search gives it a leg up on Rubrik. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Cohesity DataProtect Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: December 2024
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Cohesity DataProtect Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.