Dell NetWorker Reviews

Our primary use case is for our critical servers. We have servers across Unix and Linux environments. We back up our critical servers daily, some are scheduled and some are done manually. 

It has deduplication capabilities, where you have two similar data sets. This helps to speed up backup processes because it takes a shorter amount of time to do a backup because it has the deduplication feature already. Though, you have to buy this deduplication software separately from the license.

The security features need backup and encryption. It would be nice if they added this feature. I would also like to be able to decrypt when restoring the security features. Hackers can sense these vulnerabilities today, and we need to have our enterprise prepared. 

Overall, it isn't intuitive enough. It is a bit complex and not evolving with the technology. 

The stability is 80 percent out of 100. It hardly goes down. When there are issues, we can check the logs and see how to resolve it. We have never had the whole system fail. 

It is pretty scalable. This is not an issue. 

The response time of the tech support is swift. The support is fantastic.

The initial setup was straightforward. The configuration was not difficult. We used user guides which helped us with best practices. 

When choosing a solution, I always consider:

• Support
• Availability of parts
• The technology of the solution.

We are a solution provider and this is one of the products that we implement for our customers.

When we initially implemented this product, it was used for virtual machines that were running SAP. It is used for virtual machine backup, database backup, Exchange backup, and file-level backup.

The interface is user-friendly and can be used by the end-users.

It is a little buggy at times, which is the only thing that I dislike about this product. If they could clear up this issue then it would be great because, for the most part, this is a very effective product from my perspective.

I would like to see more integration with third-party products, including both tape and disk products. I want to be able to perform backups not only from Dell EMC. Having this wide level of support would be very much appreciated.

It could be easier to deploy.

This is a scalable product.

The response time in my region is a little bit slow. It will take 12 hours, or even 24 hours depending on your problem. In the past, the response time was much better. I can recall when they responded within 10 minutes, which was very fast.

Now, only premium users, or enterprise-class users, receive a fast response.

Improving the response time for regular customers would be very helpful.

I have used several versions of this solution.

The initial setup for a new deployment can be a bit complex but with experience, it's very smooth. It takes perhaps 20 minutes to install.

Our technical team can handle deployment and maintenance.

Licensing is based on the number of terabytes, so you need to purchase packages.

In summary, this is a good product and I recommend it.

I would rate this solution a ten 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.

We use Dell EMC NetWorker as our backup application and everything backs up to Dell EMC Data Domain, where we replicate it to another EMC Data Domain. The two solutions work combined to meet our use case. Both solutions are from the same vendor and work very well together.

I started off as a storage engineer and ended up owning Dell EMC Data Domain and Dell EMC NetWorker. I've not used any other backup solutions at this scale. Dell EMC NetWorker does what I need it to do, it's efficient.

The front end of the solution could improve. The user-friendliness is lacking.

I have been using Dell EMC NetWorker for approximately eight years.

We have had limited downtime, the solution is highly reliable.

Dell EMC NetWorker is scalable.

When I need Dell EMC NetWorker support and there's a Dell EMC Data Domain issue, it's really easy to have support for both of them from one location. Support has always been there when we needed them.

We have a team of two that does the management of Dell EMC NetWorker and Dell EMC Data Domain.

I rate Dell EMC NetWorker a ten out of ten.

We use the Dell EMC NetWorker to make backups for our virtual environment. We have about 14 servers and we backup everything using NetWorker.

The backup capabilities and the automatization of the backup - along with the potential to make the back up on a virtual machine - are the solution's most valuable aspects. 

It's not just about making a backup on a file level. It's about backing up the entire machine all at once that's very useful for us.

Technical support could be improved. They shouldn't just serve those who speak English. The technical support should be in the national language of the country they are servicing and not only in English due to the fact that it's sometimes difficult for us to explain all the things that are going wrong in an unfamiliar language. It creates a communication barrier and makes getting problems solved harder.

The solution is not easy to administer unless you are very familiar with the product.

The licensing rules are difficult to navigate and understand.

The administrator's interface should be much easier to navigate.

I've been using the solution for four years.

It would be hard to judge the scalability as we have never tried to expand the solution. However, I suspect it may be challenging as the solution has difficult licensing rules.

Technical support is okay, however, they only offer service in English. If you don't speak English, or English is not your first language, you will have issues with communicating.

Before Dell EMC NetWorker we used to use Novell NetWare and the Novell Network and Backup. We needed to switch due to the fact that Novell is no longer available in Europe.

We didn't handle the implementation ourselves. I wouldn't be able to discuss the procedure or if it ultimately was complex or straightforward.

The reseller took about one month to help us internally understand how to work with the solution. We were grateful for the help as the solution is not easy to administer. 

We have two people who are responsible for the solution and the backups.

Our reseller handled the initial setup on our behalf. They did a good job. We were satisfied with their level of service.

Licensing rules are very complicated in NetWorker. The license depends on, in one version, the value of the backup data, and, in another, the physical workstation. It changes from version to version.

I do not know other solutions very well. I know of Hewlett Packard's backup solution. That said, I only know NetWorker and Avamar. These two products are from Dell. 

We're Dell customers. We don't have a business relationship with the company.

I am the administrator of our Dell EMC NetWorker and I make backups of the servers and also run the solution. We only backup our server. We do not back up a user's workstation. The only backups are made by the administrators.

From my perspective, Dell EMC NetWorker is a good solution to make backups. I'd rate the solution nine out of ten. I'd rate it higher if the administrator's interface was easier to navigate.

It's easy to configure and manage.

In our organization, we are working with Networker on other sites, so we can share our knowledge and experience.

We pretend to start image backups from VMware, but we are also working with Xen and RHEV, and this product doesn't support those platforms.

I´ve worked on it for over 10 years, since v6.

No issues encountered.

Just in version 7.x.x, where they changed all graphical interface and had some stability issues.

When I used to work in a consultant office, we had to split one backup server into three to support the amount of clients. This customer had a lot of backup server instability.

It is great; EMC support is one of the best.

It is great, a good level of knowledgement and escalation.

I used to work with TSM as well, but Networker is easier to deploy.

There are some features that other software, like Avamar, does better, and that EMC could incorporate into Networker.

Ensure you have good architecture job before implementation. At our organization, we are scheduling all our backups from the same business line to ensure it's all done at the same time, to ensure all backups are scheduled at the same time.

Provides backup automation and monitoring centralization. Having easy scalability of the covered data zone is also a big advantage.

All environment backups are monitored by a central management console. This allows us to have a global view and the statistics of data protection in the overall data center.

Native reports are not really user-friendly. This is the case because EMC wants to sell DPA, which can give more reports/details. I think this policy is unfair.

We have been using this solution for seven years.

There were stability issues, especially with version 9.0. The backup integration failed many times and the resolution was related to bugs fixed in later releases.

There were no scalability issues.

We did not use a different solution before this one.

The initial setup was complex. In fact, the NetWorker Management Console is divided into many tables. To configure a simple backup, you have to switch between many tables. You must have a good understanding of the configuration logic before you can manage this tool.

Use capacity licensing instead of the traditional one. With capacity licenses, you have all the capabilities enabled. With traditional licenses, you have to activate functionalities one by one.

• TSM : This solution does not offer the media server option, which means that all data that has to be backed up has to be sent to the TSM backup server before being backed up to media devices. In the NetWorker solution, we can define media nodes which write data directly to the backup devices. There is no need to move data to backup server beforehand. Also in NetWorker, we can define different retention policies for backups and copies. In TSM, the same retention applies to both the first copy and the second copy.

• DPM: This Microsoft solution is well defined for Microsoft environments, but for VMware and others (SAP, Oracle) EMC NetWorker suits better and does offer more functionalities/options.  
• Veeam: Suitable for VMware environments only. EMC NetWorker capabilities are greater regarding other platforms (Microsoft, SAP).

• NetBackup: This is the real EMC NetWorker competitor. For price reasons, EMC NetWorker was chosen in our case.

Take a training course before implementing this solution, especially if you are used to managing another backup solution. The backup integration generally takes a while to stabilize. However, once you have done it, you can forget about it. The backup will run automatically and backed up data will expire automatically based on configured policies.

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.