Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) Reviews

We use it for backup.

It is very fast as compared to the other competitors. Its simplicity and bit rate are also valuable. It takes less time if we compare it with the old solution that we have.

Its management can be improved.

I have been using this solution for five years.

It is scalable. It gives the possibility for extension. You can add to the existing units.

They are excellent. We have access to them, and they respond immediately and provide the required solution. Their solutions are valuable and effective.

Its price is reasonable.

I would recommend this solution. I would rate Dell EMC PowerProtect DD an eight out of ten. To be able to rate a solution as ten, one must be very proficient and should know several products to compare them all, which is not true in my case.

Efficient De-duplication, highly efficient replication, Data Domain BOOST for enabling a level of 'Source-Side’ De-duplication.

For many clients it has provided a Backup & Archive tier of storage separate from primary storage systems, replicated so as to eliminating the need for tape and has enabled organisations to achieve backups within backup windows and provide an appropriate place to tier and archive inactive data too whilst ensuring it is protected, secure and recoverable.

Tighter integration with certain storage arrays or software for even more seamless data tiering perhaps, however the system is quite hard to fault as it ‘just works’.

I have used Data Domain for over 4 Years, designing, implementing and integrating it as part of a solution for many clients with diverse needs of all scales.

Watch out for getting the sysadmin default password wrong more than 5 times, it will lock you out and requires a hard reset which has to be done via serial connection and is time consuming. My best advice is to create at least another admin account immediately at deployment time with a simple password as a ‘backdoor’ and then remove this account once configuration is complete.

No, the product (both hardware and software) is very stable and robust.

In some of the entry level models (DD2200, 2500) you have to be aware of the scalability limitations and ensure you purchase a large enough controller if you foresee growth and scaling beyond its recommended operating parameters as typically the controllers cannot be upgraded in place or without data migration. It is important to get a qualified EMC storage professional to size and design the solution for your purposes up front. However, the DD2500 can scale to 3 x Expansion Shelves (130TB Raw) and the larger models can scale well beyond this up to multi-petabyte scale so typically there are no real scalability issues. You have a LOT of backup and archive data if you fill one of the large systems, however proper planning and design should prevent this ever occurring in the first place.

EMC Support provides a high quality service, however I have encountered very few technical issues with this particular product. When a customer did have an issue due to their backup product filling the Data Domain system (backup application mis-configuration issue) EMC Support worked tirelessly to resolve the issue with a high quality and faultless approach.

I have seen other software based and hardware based De-duplication storage products, so far none has lived up to the efficiency, scalability and integrity of Data Domain.

Very simple, just follow the prompts for the ‘config system’ command from the CLI. The only issue is with the new generation systems initial configuration is via Serial connection, there is no VGA port or pre-configured IP address, however after initial configuration all is very straightforward.

I have implemented this solution for clients working for a Partner/Integrator many many times, I have also designed solutions with Data Domain for EMC… therefore I cannot answer this question without being biased. However the Data Domain system is relatively concise and not monolithic to configure in a short space of time, typically the more time will be spent tweaking and tuning backup applications to write to it in the most efficient manner.

Fantastic product that really is the ‘Swiss Army Knife’ of backup/archive/bulk storage products, so usable and can save significant $ and can save many headaches with data management, the more you store on it the better De-duplication and greater ROI you get. If you archive inactive data to this product you can reduce primary storage (SAN/NAS) use by an average of 70%.

We use Data Domain to back up the SAP ERP system, and it worked very well.

We are moving to a public cloud.

We are very satisfied with this solution. It's easy to use and efficient.

The price is expensive, so that could be improved. The interface and dashboards could also be improved.

We have some problems with backing up on the Power Platform. PowerServer is an IBM product, and it forces us to back up over LAN, which is not suitable for us.

It needs some added features to back up the AIX OS or the old applications running on AIX OS.

10 years ago, we used the network backup, but we have upgraded our devices many times.

It's 99% stable.

It's 99% scalable.

Technical support is very good.

Setup was very easy.

The cost is expensive.

I would rate this solution 8 out of 10.

I would recommend this solution to anyone who wants to use it, for an enterprise of any size.

Primarily we use the solution as data storage and as a backup solution.

The solution's most valuable feature is the integrated deduplication function. Another valuable feature is the possibility for replication between two devices on different occasions.

The pricing could be better but it's still not too expensive. We haven't used the solution for long enough to really know what might be useful in a new release. We haven't used the full functionality yet and I'm not sure if all the functions are working as expected. We are using it, but it's not fully implemented.

We don't use technical support from EMC, but we do get it from our reseller, and they have been just fine in terms of offering assistance.

The initial setup was straightforward.

We had a reseller assist us with the implementation. We're very satisfied with the experience we had with them.

We use the on-premises deployment model.

I would recommend the solution to someone considering it. 

I would rate the solution seven or eight out of ten.

Deduplication and VTLs.

As the cost of tapes start to mount, using the DD box for daily and weekly backups, and just keeping monthly backups on tapes, has greatly reduced the cost of backups.

It is an extremely useful tool to use for example in my case, in a redundant environment, as I manage duplications through Netbackup with Storage Lifecycle Policies. I keep my daily and weekly backups on the DD boxes replicated on both sites, and download the monthly backups for archive purposes.

That way I get the instant recovery that the DD unit provides, and in case I need to go live on the secondary environment, I can restore any vmware server in a matter of hours.

1 - Adding tapes to the VTL is a complex task.

2 - If DB backups could be somewhat compressed it would just be the dream product.

5 years on different versions of DD.

None on basic deployment for CIF usage, the VTL and virtual tapes is more complex to setup.

None at all, I have hardly had to reboot the boxes aside from a firmware update.

None, I am adding a second disk box and it is pretty much plug and play.

Excellent, when there is a new firmware update, EMC will call me to do the upgrade without even having to ask.

I have had a couple of hard drive fail, and they sent a replacement right away.

Very good, I had only had to deal with first level support for firmware updates, had some minor discrepancies with the steps to follow, after reading the instructions on how to do the firmware upgrade, the tech wanted to jump a couple steps.

No, we had regular backups to tape and a staging area, but no deduplication.

Initial setup is pretty straightforward, VTL configuration is a bit more complex.

Implementation was done through a vendor, their level of experience was very good. At the time of implementation I have had experience with the technology, but had not participated in the initial setup of the product.

With the increasing amount of data handled every year, the money we save on tapes, plus the speed that the DD allows backups to be done and having instant restores, makes this product the best investment a backup environment can add.

At the time of purchase, there was no other solution that was able to perform the same tasks.

We are just using it for backing up the workloads using Avamar. We are using its latest version.

It works within backup windows and has got good deduplication.

It can probably have integration with other OEMs. It should also have more features for ransomware protection.

It could be more competitively priced.

I have been using this solution for four years.

It is stable.

It is easily scalable. We have around 2,000 people in our organization.

It is very good.

We were using HPE StoreOnce about four years ago.

It is straightforward. It only takes a couple of hours to implement.

I can do it myself. For its deployment and maintenance, I only need a couple of engineers.

It could be more competitively priced. Its licensing was for five years. Obviously, the support will get renewed at some stage, but that's it.

I would recommend this solution to others. I would rate Dell EMC PowerProtect DD a nine out of 10.

We primarily use the solution as a backup.

The solution is very stable.

The performance is good. 

It is easy to use. 

We do not have any specific issues. Nothing has gone wrong.

The price of the product is high. We'd like for it to be less expensive. 

The initial setup is a little hard to understand. 

We've been dealing with the solution for one year.

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

We have 300 to 400 clients using the product.

Technical support is okay, however, it depends on the hard disc you put on the storage.

The initial setup is a little bit difficult. It needs some explanation before it makes sense. 

It took us about a day to set everything up.

The licensing is expensive.

We are resellers. 

I'd recommend the solution to other users.

I'd rate the product an eight out of ten.

My primary use case is as the backup storage feed application.

The most valuable features of this product are its guaranteed reliability and its duplication capability.

The size and scale of the product are limited and could be improved.

I have been using this solution for about five years.

I would say this is a fairly stable solution.

My experience has been that the tech support is pretty responsive.

This is a great product and should definitely be considered when comparing solutions. I would rate this product as seven out of ten.