Hornetsecurity Altaro VM Backup Reviews

• Great backup features for all my Hyper V machines.
• Excellent for offsite backup as an add on function
• Easy restore for entire virtual machine files and sandbox option
• Well priced
• Excellent support and team behind this product

• Easy of use backup
• Fully functional multiple locations of backup

No

Good

Great

Very Good

Wait for the new version 7 the beta that im testing is very quick

• Hyper-V VM & Hyper-V host or node backup and retention schedules
• Exchange item level restore
• In the new version, you do not have to install the backup software itself onto a Hyper-V host

• Backward compatibility with earlier versions
• Auto-update features
• Hyper-V 2008 core OS should be supported to run the management console on it, this was a need by one of our customers
• The amount of jobs performed at the same time should be increased

I've used it for between six and 12 months.

I did not manage to import my old configuration, in v4, into v5 just after it what was released, however, I believe this functionality has been improved.

Version 5 is much more stable. Because the management console itself is running on a Windows machine, you may encounter some time-out, or lag, because of a delay in the Microsoft component relating what is on your hardware environment. However, this could happen with all of your Windows based applications if you do not have enough supplements supporting it.

I have not had any scalability issues yet.

10/10.

10/10.

I did, but we did not totally switch. We are still using other products because of our different VMware environments.

It is really straightforward, and the software has a great step by step manual.

I implemented two environments on my own with the help of the web based manual.

We did. My company used Veeam, PHD Virtual and Unitrends software solution before. We looked for a cheaper Hyper-V backup solution, and Altaro is the best choice for this purpose.

If you only have a Hyper-V environment with several nodes, you should dedicate one server for hosting the backup solution (depending on the number of the virtual machines hosted on each node). Or you can install several Altaro Hyper-V Backup instances and connect them to one management software. I am sure that guys at Altaro will help you out with the deployment scenario.

• Cluster shared volumes backup
• Back up live virtual machines which use Microsoft VSS technology
• File level restore

The costs of performing restores are less than ever before as we can save a lot of time with this software.

We use Linux guests on Hyper-V clusters and we really need the file level restore on these VMs (ext3 and 4 file systems) functionality.

I've been using it since November 2014.

No, the deployment was very easy.

No, I think the reliability of Altaro Hyper-V Backup is good enough.

No, as when we need another license we can buy it very easy from a reseller. After that, we can install it onto the new host and add the host to the central management. It is much easier than ever before.

We have not used them yet so I can’t judge.

The technical support is fast and very helpful fast. When we had a problem, they replied to us ASAP and they provided a solution.

Yes, we used Windows Server Backup which came with Windows Servers but we had lot of problems with stability.

It was very easy and this is a very good point of this software.

My company has its own IT Ops team which I lead. We implemented it with our own hands.

Time is money. As I said, we can save time with this software, as when we need to restore something, we don’t need repair the failed backups as before.

Yes, we used Altaro Hyper-V Backup Unlimited Edition with 30 day trial period. After that we bought it for multiple hosts.

Estimate what you need. It is very important because Altaro Hyper-V Backup has multiple editions which contain different features. For example, the standard edition doesn’t support the clusters.

VM backup and the item level recovery are the most valuable features.

They are fast to restore in an emergency.

It would be nice to be able to recover the items to their original location.

I have been using this solution since it was first released.

Sometimes, due to disk space and VSS, we have experienced stability issues.

Technical support is good, i.e., if you keep up the maintenance agreement.

Previously, we were using the Veritas Backup Exec. However, we haven't used it since 2012.

The setup was very easy, i.e., a step-by-step process.

We looked at Veritas Backup Exec.

Make sure you have enough disk space, especially if you use replication. Also, as the two have managed to butt heads on occasion, causing VMs to be put into a paused state due to snapshots that haven't merged. It can then be a timely job to shut the machines down and merge them back in.

• Shiny and new looking. 
• All backup features look nice. 
• Ability to restore to any host. 
• File level restore on FPS and Exchange.
• There is a free version for Hosts with 2 VMs.

None!

• Restoring.
• Stability.

6 months.

No. Easy deployment.

Yes, Service had many issues and had to reboot host to resolve on multiple occasions.

Unable to restore a VM when I needed it. Tried multiple hosts. Connected via gig switch and would never complete. 

No issues.

HP Live Vault (Iron Mountain).

Easy setup.

Many lost hours when restorations fail.

It works fine and is easy to use.

My customer does not even know it is there and has saved him numerous times over the years.

It is constantly updated free of charge, and the customer only pays a small maintenance fee.

I've been using it since v2.0.

No issues encountered.

No issues encountered.

No issues encountered.

Extremely good, and the turnaround is less than a day.

Extremely good, and the turnaround is less than a day.

No I didn't.

It's very simple, you just install is it and then answer a few questions to get it working.

I implemented the solution myself.

For the small cost, it's very hard to calculate the ROI, but I would say it is 100%.

It's $1000 to set up with no daily cost, but there is a small annual fee.

No other options were evaluated.

Just try it for free.

Our primary use for this solution is for managing backup tasks such as replication, migration and disaster recovery.

In Hyper-V, I think there are many valuable features. Replication between the different hosts, high availability, live migration — where I can migrate between one host to another — as well as incremental disaster recovery, are very good. These solutions are based on Hyper-V in two distinct geographic sites. But my interest in this feature is that I implement it in the VMware infrastructure because the rest of my infrastructure is based on the VMware.

I implement the solution based on VMware and Hyper-V. I think some of the features that either of these companies are providing should be better. As an example, the replication time between virtual machines is slow. It really depends on network latency. In addition to this, I think the GUI to manage the view of the control panel of the virtual machine is not very user-friendly. It could be improved as well.

It would be very helpful if local technical support could be improved. Because of sanctions we do not have direct access to Microsoft support services. There should be another way to offer support services either within the country or other means.

One last thing that would be helpful is to focus on the migration of the on-premises services to the cloud — something such as Azure, AWS. For this, it would be necessary for the manufacturer to provide a different user interface to be compatible with Amazon or Azure services.

Unfortunately, due to the sanctions in my country (Iran), I can't access the Microsoft support team. By doing this type of work, experts here have to learn the products intimately. Our organization provides solutions for state or public organizations and we also provide support for them. As an example, I'm engaged in supporting and maintaining services for customer's bank services infrastructure as a level three expert. If I have any problems, I try to connect to different forums and knowledge bases because of sanctions. We can't access the technical support from Microsoft organization. Technical support for my country should be improved.

I have used both VMware and Microsoft Hyper-V. They are very similar to each other and there is almost no difference when you use them often. When I am working for different clients or at different jobs I will use the tools that are there. 

In our country, because of sanctions, we can not access the public cloud provider. Therefore, and to keep within regulations, we have to provide backup solutions on-premises. We implement VM Backup and HP Data Protector backup in the bank data center. Because of this, I only have experience with VM Backup solution on-premises.

There is no problem in implementing and maintaining VMware or the Hyper-V infrastructure. I have experience with both and because of this experience, I think it is not very difficult for me to do the deployments and setup. It may not be so easy for everyone because it is very important to have a good understanding of the implementation options.

We did not need to consult with an integrator or technical support for the implementation because it was very easy to do.

Many countries that are faced with sanctions, the price of products is a very big problem because most of the companies don't have big budgets. They end up having to use different solutions than they would prefer. With our customers such as banks and financial institutions, there are usually no budget problems and they provide us enough finances to buy proper licensing.

VMware is more than Hyper-V. Hyper-V is a good price in comparison with VMware or other virtualization solutions.

I have evaluated many solutions but I am really working with solutions that work for my clients and make sense for a particular application.

On a scale from one to ten when one is the worst and ten is the best, I would rate Hyper-V as a seven. It is not the best but it is good.

We have been using Altaro VM Backup for our Hyper-V cluster since 2015 and are quite happy with it. Our cluster consists of four Hyper-V Hosts.

Altaro reduced the time we needed for managing our backups. Especially significant is the Cloud Management Console, which solved many issues we had with prior products. Also, the software minimizes the workload for the administrators due to its ease of use.

We use Altaro with onsite and offsite features, so even during ransomware attacks we never were at risk as daily backups weren't connected to the local network. The Cloud Management Console is very helpful as we can manage and check our backups from around the world. Just last week, Altaro added some new features like continuous data protection, which will be the next feature we test.

Missing features at the moment are Linux file-level restore, backup from physical machines, German localized version, and probably full tape support (RDX is supported but there is no "real tape" support).