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Director at F1 INFOTECH
Real User
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.

Buyer's Guide
Dell Avamar
March 2025
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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 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
PeerSpot user
Responsable des Systèmes Départementaux at CIH BANK
Real User
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.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Dell Avamar
March 2025
Learn what your peers think about Dell Avamar. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2025.
842,388 professionals have used our research since 2012.
head of presales at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Real User
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
PeerSpot user
it_user1397175 - PeerSpot reviewer
Expert IT Infrastructure and Systems at ITGSTORE CONSULTING
Real User
Enables our customers to meet their goals but it is hard to manage
Pros and Cons
  • "It's a good solution."
  • "The management of this solution is a little bit difficult for IT administrators. They have to be trained before going through the system."

What is our primary use case?

As solution providers, we provide solutions to meet the objectives and goals of customers. We provide a general global architecture and the right solution that will solve a customer's problem and meet the goal at the fixed cost. If the customer doesn't mention a specific provider, then to meet the goal, we use the provider that we have to.

What is most valuable?

It's a good solution.

What needs improvement?

The management of this solution is a little bit difficult for IT administrators. They have to be trained before going through the system. 

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using Dell EMC Avamar for two to three years. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We haven't worked on the extension or scalability of Dell EMC Avamar. We didn't find it fairly straight forward. When we have to upgrade or scale it, a lot of things don’t fit.

How are customer service and technical support?

Dell EMC Avamar is hard to manage because of the support. It’s very difficult to get support. Our solution is complex which makes it more difficult to get an answer from them. We have multiple vendors in our environment. Support only looks at their own solution and not the solution as a whole. It would be easier if our whole infrastructure was Dell EMC. It’s very difficult to get help with troubleshooting. When you have an architecturally multiple-vendor solution, like we do, it’s hard to find a solution to the problem. It’s normal that they only focus on the part that corresponds to their company, but I would like for them to look at the environment as a whole.

How was the initial setup?

I did not find the setup to be fairly straightforward. There are a lot of things that don’t fit when we try to upgrade or scale it. We have to break every chain and reduce it from scratch.

What other advice do I have?

It's difficult to manage the Dell EMC Avamar template, so we try to avoid that program. The return process, when there was no space and we had to create some space, was very time-consuming. There are solutions that are simpler than Dell EMC Avamar.

I would rate Dell EMC Avamar a six out of ten. 

From my IT experience, there are much simpler solutions than Dell EMC Avamar for management and recovery. Dell EMC Avamar would not be my first choice.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
System Operation Engineer at Stayfit
Real User
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.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1218573 - PeerSpot reviewer
Desktop Support Engineer at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
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
PeerSpot user
System Engineer for Business Solution Department at PT. Mastersystem Infotama
Real User
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
PeerSpot user
it_user93819 - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager of Engineering at a healthcare company with 501-1,000 employees
Vendor
Since deduplication is performed at the source, backup times and network bandwidth are significantly reduced

“Are you backing up C:\myfiles? We just accidentally deleted the folder.”
“I know it’s not in our original saveset, but any chance you have a backup of xyx?”

Sound familiar? If you are a backup administrator, I know you have heard variations of the requests above. Traditionally, new systems get deployed and the owners give a specific saveset to the backup administrators. Then when a restore is requested, it never fails that the request will be outside of the original saveset.

I have experienced these scenarios numerous times with traditional full/incremental backup products. The more you backup, the more storage you consume and that means longer backup windows. When I first started in my current position, we were backing up 100 servers with specific savesets. At that time, we had over 500 production servers. As you can imagine, this was a nightmare scenario waiting to happen. We were only able to fulfill about 75% of our restore requests. Not because the savesets where corrupt, but because we weren’t backing up what was requested for restore.

Fortunately, we were able to invest in a new purpose-built deduplicated backup appliance. (EMC Avamar, but there are other products on the market). Avamar is a disk based global deduplication backup appliance. Deduplication is performed at the source and target. Since deduplication is performed at the source, backup times and network bandwidth are significantly reduced using the Avamar solution. Migrating from BackupExec to Avamar was an easy process, but understanding the benefits of deduplicated backup took some time. When we first migrated, we were using the same traditional philosophy: Specific savesets for specific servers. As time went on, we realized that each time we added a new saveset the increase in storage utilization on the deduplication appliance was less than minimal. We decided to start adding more servers, and increasing the scope of our saveset. Within 6 months, we were backing up full file system savesets on 1200 servers.

When we started this migration, we were convinced our environment was different. We were convinced our change rate was too high. We were convinced that backing up everything, every day was too much data. We were wrong, and I’m glad we were.

Typical deduplication rates stated by EMC Avamar Team:

  • File Systems: Initial = 70%, Ongoing = 99.7%
  • Databases: Initial = 30%, Ongoing = 90-95%

Deduplication rates that we experienced (average):

  • File Systems: Initial = 75%, Ongoing = 99.9%
  • Databases: Initial = 20%, Ongoing = 85%

We are currently backing up 1300 servers nightly with savesets totaling 350 terabytes, and our daily change rate is approximately 1 terabyte. Since moving to this new policy we have experienced the following benefits:

  • Restore fulfillment is 100%
  • No discussion on what to backup. Everything is backed up.

Deduplicated backup is a backup administrators dream. Less storage consumption, shorter backup windows, higher restore fulfillment rates, and the ability to sleep at night.

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 Dell Avamar Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: March 2025
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Dell Avamar Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.