Dell NetWorker Reviews

The management of Dell Networker is quite cumbersome because we have to operate on a separate interface for reporting backup jobs. In addition, we have different interfaces, so we recommend it be consolidated into a single interface for all its operations. For example, my team and I have to hop on other interfaces and different applications to manage Dell Networker. Hence, it becomes pretty cumbersome for operations.

We have been using the solution for six years.

The solution is scalable, and approximately 1,000 users utilize the solution in our organization.

We have had a good experience with customer service and support. I rate them an eight out of ten.

Positive

A partner did the initial setup, and we shared the venue. The setup was not difficult because we outsourced it to a consultant. So that consultant came in and deployed the solution for us.

The pricing could be more economical for organizations, so organizations like ours can adopt and utilize it to its full potential. However, at the moment, we have challenges with the pricing as it is quite costly.

I rate the solution an eight out of ten. The solution is good, but it can be improved by consolidating multiple interfaces into one.

I use Dell EMC NetWorker for system backups.

The solution is very user-friendly. After setting up five machines for our customers we teach them how to set up the agent and start doing their backups. It is very easy for them once they see how to do it, they like to do it on their own.

Dell EMC NetWorker is a complete solution, providing end-to-end, disk to disk to tape backup features, which makes it more suitable for customers here in Oman.

I have used Dell EMC NetWorker within the last 12 months.

The solution is stable.

The customer support is very good.

I have used Avamar.

The major differentiator between Dell EMC NetWorker Avamar is the Tape Out function, we recommend mostly NetWorker because customers here in Oman have compliance policies to keep the tapes out. Most of my installations are NetWorker and we only have a few on Avamar.

The price of the license could be cheaper and it would be a benefit if they came up with a new pricing model. The competitors here in Oman sell universal licensing where a number of virtual machines are hosted at the customer place which can be licensed, or you can license the CPU sockets in those servers. However, NetWorker offers only CPU sockets or overall storage capacity to backup, but there is no universal licensing where you can provide a number of VMs. They should offer more options to stay competitive with other solutions, such as Veeam.

I have evaluated Veeam solutions.

I would recommend Dell EMC NetWorker to any large enterprise. For entry and mid-size customers, I would recommend it only if it falls within their budget requirements. If they do not have the budget, they can purchase a solution that works with normal storage while purchasing NetWorker or Avamar requires a storage solution also, such as  Dell Data Domain. It works in combination and delivers the best solution, but it is a little expensive. This is why it is best suited for enterprise customers who can afford it.

I rate Dell EMC NetWorker a nine out of ten.

This solution had multiple options like configure management, user data, and server and enterprise data. The solution is simple to understand. Some products only use storage media, but Dell NetWorker has multiple options.

The implementation process could be improved. It requires a skill set to set up. In addition, the product line should support all brands and solutions.

We have been using this solution for about a year, and it is deployed on-premises.

It is a stable solution. It has worked for a couple of years without any troubles or significant issues.

It is scalable after a specific limit. It is suitable for medium-sized enterprises. We have about 1,000 users.

We have used Dell technical support. I rate the technical support team a six out of ten.

Neutral

I rate the pricing a six out of ten, where ten is a good price, and one is a high price. The price could be lower.

I rate the solution a seven out of ten. Veeam Backup is a competitor in the market because it has a lot of utilization. It is easy for people to get a license with them, and they benefit from one solution. Regarding potential future improvements, they should look at IT and compare it to other products because things are becoming streamlined for all the product lines, new storage is readily available, and things are moving to the cloud.

Usually, you can use this product to do the backups for almost everything. For first-party products, like SAP, it works well. It's good for security and protection and offers a repository for backups. 

The possibility of recovering up-to-the-moment data is very useful. You can have any backup registry onsite. There's a special database, which will contain all index orders. The only thing you have to do is set up the backup medium with the proper backup. It's very easy to use.

There is really broad coverage as to what can be protected. That's the thing from the point of view of the usage and from the point of view of the technology itself. It's very important how it can operate easily and how it can be integrated with Data Domain.

Once it's set up properly, it works very smoothly. It's a pretty straightforward setup.

The solution is stable. 

It has lots of great features, and we don't find anything lacking. 

It is very scalable. 

The interface could have a different appearance. It could be green or blue instead, for example. 

Users need to have specific knowledge of the product before they jump in and use it. 

I've used the solution for 21 years. 

It is stable and reliable. The performance is good. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. 

It's scalable. You can scale on one single computer up to hundreds of them on computers, or thousands of virtual machines with the same Networker products.

Typically, issues are escalated to me, and I deal with problems on my own. However, I have been in touch with support. They are helpful and responsive. 

Positive

I've also worked with Avamar. 

For the DevOps environment, I would prefer to go with Avamar. However, if I needed to set up something at the enterprise level, I'd prefer Networker.

The initial setup is very straightforward and simple. It's not difficult to set up at all. 

Backup systems are one of the most tricky to maintain as there are so many factors that can influence the backup process. Not only the backup - also the computers themselves, the operating systems, can play a role. It takes a moderate level of maintenance.

I can't speak to the actual pricing of the product. 

I'm working with the latest version of the product.

I'd advise new users to know the product before you start to implement it. Very often, people start to deploy the system without product knowledge. Sometimes the product implementation is really bad. If the implementation is bad, so it won't work for you smoothly. So know the product implementation and features, and you should know which ones will be the design architecture of the system.

I'd rate the solution nine out of ten. 

We use Dell NetWorker for backup on tape libraries and for integration with old systems. 

The solution requires better technical support. There also needs to be improvements made to the integration with the environment. This includes an improvement made to the restored models for a lot of applications.

I have been using Dell NetWorker for 10 years.

Dell NetWorker is not the best solution, but it is decent. Many customers depend on it for backup.

Dell NetWorker is a software, it is not scalable. This is not required.

Technical support for Dell NetWorker is not good. The technicians are in the USA. When you open a ticket, they send the concern to India. There, the team does not have enough knowledge to support you.

Neutral

The initial setup of Dell NetWorker uses a software package that you can implement on the server, operating system, or on a virtual machine. The software implementation takes about 30 minutes. The integration with the whole environment depends on the size of the environment.

Dell NetWorker has two types of licensing models. One is a capacity license and the other is a circuit license for virtual machines.

I do not recommend Dell NetWorker as a solution. I rate the product a five out of ten overall.

We use NetWorker to provide disaster recovery and availability for Unix servers like IBM Power Machines and enterprise database solutions like Oracle and Db2.

The most valuable feature is NetWorker's integration with the data domain that transfers the data directly into the Dell appliance, so the data doesn't need to pass through the network. NetWorker acts like a pipe, allowing the data to flow directly from the database or the VMware environment to the data domain. 

When you're working with VMware, you need to use vProxy machines. You have to install the vProxy for every host in the VMware environment.

Also, if the customer needs to integrate or add additional products, it will be integrated with the NetWorker and data domain, the recovery point for VMware, because it covers the gap between the backup windows. You can take snapshots every few minutes depending on the size of the VM to cover the gap between the backup windows. You can restore from any point in time for the backup.

I've been using NetWorker for almost a year now.

NetWorker is stable if you follow Dell EMC's recommended best practices. For example, in the VMware environment, you need to install a vProxy machine for every host. If you don't set it up correctly, it will not be stable. 

NetWorker is highly scalable because Dell uses the vProxy. You can scale as much as you want because you already do the load balancing through the VM proxy. You can install a hundred servers with no problem because the data is transferred from VMware to the appliance, through the disk, or through the tape. While the vProxy makes the installation more complicated, it can scale as much as you want.

I rate Dell EMC NetWorker eight out of 10. To people who plan to implement NetWorker, I suggest a high availability architecture, with a  minimum of two NetWorker appliances to replicate each other, and you need to have a vProxy machine for each host in a VMware environment. If you have a tape library, you need a dedicated tape-out server.

We have a Hyper-V installation, with a mixed Linux environment.

We have an on-premises deployment.

Configuration for Hyper-V needs to be improved. Our original configuration did not work because of an issue that differed between versions.

We are able to do direct backups, but analyzing the logs is not straightforward. There are a lot of things that have to be done from the client-side in order to locate and identify errors. This should be made easier.

This solution should support part-loaded data.

I would like to see support for the enactment of errors, where the error should be very clear-mannered, on board, with NMC control only. When some backups fail, we investigate all of the possibilities and sometimes have to enter the admin from the client-side. We then have to render the log and investigate that. If it is a Microsoft issue, for example, then we will contact Microsoft. This entire process needs to be enhanced.

As long as all of the requirements are met, this is a very stable solution. It is used for our daily operations.

Scalability of this solution is very good. We have approximately four hundred employees using this solution.

Technical support for this solution is very good. They are nice people and whenever we need support, they turn up and investigate. Within an hour they will start an investigation.

The initial setup is a little bit complex, but it is very good. In terms of configuration, you have a basic administrator account. If you are going to be configuring Hyper-V or another technology then you have to have an admin account for those, as well. Without a proper administrator account, you will not be able to perform backup and restore functions.

There are also other things to consider, such as the network port and user compatibility. Hyper-V has issues to consider with respect to configuring the backup.

My advice to anybody who is researching this solution is to first check to make sure that your environment is stable, and compatible with this product. Even before doing a POC, the environment needs to be considered. Once any incompatibilities have been ruled out then a POC should be done, where everything needs to be tested.

This product can be complex and difficult to understand, but once you have some experience it is very good.

I would rate this solution a ten out of ten.

DD Boost integration for capacity reduction and backup window.

This product has provide our backup and recovery capabilities for Service Restoration and Disaster Recovery for more than a decade. We have evolved with the product over the years and it continues to meet our requirements.

Automate/role-based Virtual Machine protection and automated DR recovery capabilities.

Initial install was in 2001 with Legato 6.4. We just completed the latest upgrade to EMC Networker 9.1.

All x.0 versions that we have deployed have had issues which get worked out in the subsequent releases. We generally never deploy the x.0 version and wait instead for the x.1 SP 1 release.

Early on, we had limitations in the number of servers as a single DataZone could manage when pushed up to deploy multiple DataZones. Those numbers have significantly increased but for large environments, this could still be a limit. The number of connections that the solution uses with the VMware Hypervisor can cause issues with vCenter's performance, but that is more a limitation with VMware than EMC NetWorker.

Over the years, it’s been up and down. For this latest version, I would suggest that it’s average, with not a large number of EMC specialists understanding how all the latest features in the product are supposed to work.

In a larger environment with multiple servers types and network security zones, it’s a complex installation to ensure stability with performance.

Don’t install the newest x.0 version of the product. Make sure you understand you own requirements and expectations of data protection in terms of Service Restoration and Disaster Recovery to ensure you are implementing the solution appropriately to meet those requirements.