My customer has a huge virtual environment — vCenter and VMware. They need images backed up, they have different workloads like Oracle, SAP, and NetWorker. They have a compliance policy that they have to tape out but Avamar, out of the box, cannot do the tape out. That's why I had to introduce NetWorker into the picture.
Founder & CEO at Technomatters
Very user-friendly but lacks support for certain plugins
Pros and Cons
- "Graphically, it's very user interactive. It's got a very nice interface."
- "It lacks support for certain plugins, like SAP HANA, for example."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
Graphically, it's very user interactive. It's got a very nice interface. Compared to NetWorker, although Avamar is more user-friendly, it lacks support for certain plugins, like SAP HANA, for example. In this particular project that I'm working on, they need to back up SAP HANA but Avamar does not support that. Also, regarding compliance, they need to tape out. Avamar does not support that out of the box.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for over six years.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
For the project that I am currently working on, I will be using Avamar to migrate their old historical data to the new environment because this new environment is attached to Data Domain. Scalability-wise and stability-wise, I don't see any issues.
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January 2025
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How are customer service and support?
I haven't had to contact support as of yet.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is pretty straightforward. It's good that Dell EMC provides the virtual additions of these appliances for people to practice beforehand. Otherwise, you might be familiar with a certain version but not understand the subsequent versions. You would never know unless you could get a production set up, which is not possible. You can't go and play with the client setup. For this reason, Dell EMC, like other good vendors, offers virtual additions. Data Domain, NetWorker, Avamar, everything you can practice.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The client has directly bought this solution from another partner. I've been subcontracted for this. I don't know anything about the pricing.
What other advice do I have?
Regarding end-users, I would say stick with disk-based backup. Avamar does it very well with the VMware virtual environments, even Hyper-V for that reason.
Overall, on a scale from one to ten, I would give Dell EMC Avamar a rating of seven.
The reason I am giving it a rating of seven is because of the plugin issues and the inability to tape out. Frankly, there are still a lot of clients in this region who need to be in compliance — they need the tape out. It's really a nightmare if you want to tape out with Avamar. There's a way to work around this but you've got to install an ADME node, which is actually a small brother of NetWorker. Still, it's a really painful process.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Reseller
Solution Architect at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Good with endpoint backups, but the interface is not user-friendly and the technology is outdated
Pros and Cons
- "Dell EMC Avamar is very good with endpoint backups."
- "The UI is not easy to use. There are other products such as Veeam that are easy to use for the end-user which is why they are moving away from Avamar or Networker."
What is our primary use case?
We are system integrators. We resell, we deploy, and we support our clients.
What is most valuable?
Dell EMC Avamar is very good with endpoint backups.
What needs improvement?
This solution is approximately 10 to 20 years old. The technology behind it is very good but the trends are increasing and Avamar and NetWorkers are outdated.
They brought in vProtect solutions, called it PPDM, and rebranded it.
In my opinion, they should destroy all of their products and create them from scratch.
The technology is behind and they have millions of codes. I think that it should be recreated or they should hire another backup and archive company.
The UI is not easy to use. There are other products such as Veeam that are easy to use for the end-user, which is why they are moving away from Avamar or Networker.
Recently, they recreated the HTML 5 interface, and it has abilities but it is not mature yet.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Dell EMC Avamar for almost one year.
How are customer service and technical support?
The technical support was great.
I created a ticket and it was resolved.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Previously, I used Acronis, Veeam, and Commvault.
Most use Veeam because it's a new product with cloud capabilities and the interface is easy to use.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
When it comes to competition the price is not what is important, it's not the problem.
What other advice do I have?
Our company is competent in Dell products. My colleagues and I have over ten years of experience with NetWorker and Avamar.
I used to be an assistant consultant. Now, I'm working as a solution architect. I'm a bit far away from technical solutions.
I would rate this solution a five out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: reseller
Buyer's Guide
Dell Avamar
January 2025
Learn what your peers think about Dell Avamar. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2025.
831,265 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Director at F1 INFOTECH
Great deduplication, excellent features added yearly, and very stable
Pros and Cons
- "The deduplication feature is the best aspect of the solution."
- "The solution is not very strong on the Cloud. They should work out how they can use this as a backup as a service."
What is most valuable?
The deduplication feature is the best aspect of the solution.
The solution is always coming up with new features year over year. They are consistently updating their offering to continuously offer better and broader functionality in their product.
By using a single software you can do a back up of all of your servers as their products have several virtual servers. That's the benefit of going with the Dell EMC set up.
The solution is very stable.
The scalability of the solution is very good.
Technical support has always been very helpful.
What needs improvement?
The solution is not very strong on the Cloud. They should work out how they can use this as a backup as a service.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution for seven years now.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is quite reliable. The stability is good. We haven't had any issues with bugs or glitches. It doesn't seem to crash or freeze.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is very scalable. It's not a problem to grow the solution out if you need to.
Multiple people in our firm are using it.
How are customer service and technical support?
Technical support is excellent. We're very satisfied with the level of support we get. They're great at responding.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We previously used a variety of other solutions before landing on EMC.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is not complex. It's very straightforward. I'd describe the process as simple. It doesn't take to long to set up.
What other advice do I have?
We're partners with Dell EMC.
We are using the latest version of the solution, although I don't know what the version number is.
I would recommend the solution. The solution is great. There are very little improvements needed on the solution, aside from better cloud improvements. I'd rate it nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner
Responsable des Systèmes Départementaux at CIH BANK
A powerful solution for protecting virtual machines that's very stable and easy to implement
Pros and Cons
- "We love the instant recovery functionality. It's very useful."
- "The licensing model is not very flexible. Every time we upgrade our storage size, we need to upgrade the Avamar license."
What is our primary use case?
We use the solution to protect our virtual machine.
What is most valuable?
We love the instant recovery functionality. It's very useful.
What needs improvement?
We found some difficulty around co-locating with restructuring. I think the co-location between Avamar and vCenter, in my opinion, is not the best.
We like the easy integration with VMware and vCenter, but we'd like to click a button for any kind of virtual machine and then click on backup and restore. It would make things easier if this could be done in a few clicks. Right now, it's a bit more in-depth.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution for about three years.
How are customer service and technical support?
Technical support does a very good job. They are very reactive when we come to them with issues.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was straightforward. It was very easy to deploy the solution.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The licensing model is not very flexible. Every time we upgrade our storage size, we need to upgrade the Avamar license.
What other advice do I have?
We use the on-premises deployment model.
I think it is a powerful tool. We use it on both our production and disaster sites.
I would rate the solution nine out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
head of presales at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
A stable and scalable solution that's always improving
Pros and Cons
- "The source site replication feature is valuable."
- "It would be better if we could integrate easily with other platforms."
What is our primary use case?
In a data center, the entire workloads are virtualized, and they are backing up the content, and sometimes because of bandwidth, operations need to be backed up quickly. In that kind of scenario, this source site replication is very supportive. Avamar evaluates the data that's already backed up, and only the chain blocks can be transferred via the network. There won't be any heavy network traffic, and the time it takes to backup is quick and within the window.
On the client-side, we can also backup clients with Avamar. These days with the pandemic, most of them work from home, and we're using less network bandwidth to backup end user transfers.
What is most valuable?
The source site replication feature is valuable.
What needs improvement?
It would be better if we could integrate easily with other platforms. I would like to see better integration with VMware vCenter. We normally integrate Avamar with VMware vCenter Server and virtualize Avamar within the VM. Once, we wanted to backup only a few VMs within the vCenter, without integrating it to the vCenter. But we come across some problems. Without adding the vCenter directly, there was some difficulty in adding the VMs. When we replaced more clients in the OS, this problem was solved.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Dell EMC Avamar for three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Dell EMC Avamar is stable so far. As we have worked with software engineers trained to use this product, they can configure and provide support on their own.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Dell EMC Avamar is a scalable solution.
How are customer service and technical support?
Support is okay. We don't use it frequently as our engineers can manage well. Only when they can't handle a problem, they call support. We also use technical sites and the web portal, and these help our engineers capably handle day to day requirements.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup isn't complex. Because the engineers are trained, they're familiar with the product and can do this implementation.
The implementation time depends on the data center. The issues we face are mainly on the network. For example, sometimes, their policies on implementing the communication between the servers lead to some downtime. Other than that, we can implement Dell EMC Avamar between two-three days.
What about the implementation team?
We implemented Dell EMC Avamar ourselves, in-house.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
It was very expensive before, but after integrating it with Dell EMC Avamar Data Protection suite licensing, we are getting better discounts.
What other advice do I have?
I always see improvements on the Avamar side, and we are happy with that.
On a scale from one to ten, I would give Dell EMC Avamar a ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Integrator
System Operation Engineer at Stayfit
A very reliable back up with good technical support and excellent stability
Pros and Cons
- "The backup is the solution's most valuable feature. It's very reliable."
- "The configuration and expansion aspects of the solution need improvement. They're complicated and don't really integrate well."
What is our primary use case?
We primarily use the solution as a backup.
What is most valuable?
The backup is the solution's most valuable feature. It's very reliable.
What needs improvement?
The configuration and expansion aspects of the solution need improvement. They're complicated and don't really integrate well.
The solution requires a remote site application in a future release. I believe they are currently working on this.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution for six months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is very stable. It's really reliable.
How are customer service and technical support?
Technical support is very good.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is very complex.
What about the implementation team?
We handled the implementation ourselves.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We were lucky to receive the solution as part of a bundle. It was actually a relatively good price, but there are better solutions, like Veem. However, they can be expensive.
What other advice do I have?
We are using the on-premises deployment model of the solution.
I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Desktop Support Engineer at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Quick and easy to set up with good scalability potential
Pros and Cons
- "We've found the product to be stable."
- "It would be helpful if the product offered more integration potential."
What is most valuable?
The solution is easy to use.
We've found the product to be stable.
The scalability is there if a company needs to expand it out.
The initial setup is easy and the deployment is fast.
What needs improvement?
The solution should offer a better data domain.
It would be helpful if the product offered more integration potential.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've dealt with the solution for three or four years at this point. It's been a while.
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. The performance is quite good.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability potential is good. If you are a company that needs to scale, you can do so with this product.
We do not have a lot of customers using this solution. Only maybe five to six percent of our customer base uses it.
How are customer service and technical support?
The technical support is quite good. they are helpful and responsive and we are satisfied with the level of support they provide.
How was the initial setup?
We did not find the initial setup to be overly complex. It's pretty straightforward.
The deployment is fast. You can have everything up and running in three to four hours.
We have four to five people on staff that can handle deployment and maintenance duties.
What about the implementation team?
I handled the implementation myself. I did not need the help of an implementor or consultant. I can do it alone, in-house.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
At this time, we do not pay any licenses to Dell.
What other advice do I have?
We don't have a lot of customers that use the product, however, we are recommending it often.
Our customers are using the latest version of the product, however, I can't speak to the exact version number.
On a scale from one to ten, I'd rate the solution at a seven.
I'd recommend the solution to other users and companies. It's worked well for a few of our customers.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
System Engineer for Business Solution Department at PT. Mastersystem Infotama
Fast performance and it integrates well with our domains
Pros and Cons
- "The backup and recovery speed is very fast."
- "I would like to see better integration with third-party applications and platforms."
What is most valuable?
The integration with host domains is very good.
The backup and recovery speed is very fast.
What needs improvement?
We have had issues with performing backups in our hybrid environment.
I would like to see better integration with third-party applications and platforms.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Dell EMC Avamar for one year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Stability seems good, where you can extend to the cloud from the computer.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I think that Avamar is a scalable solution. We have four people in the company who use it.
How are customer service and technical support?
We are satisfied with technical support from Dell EMC. There is also support available in the community.
How was the initial setup?
It will take a few hours to deploy, including the configuration.
What other advice do I have?
This is a good product and I recommend it. Overall, I would say that Avamar is great for me.
I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner
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Updated: January 2025
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