IBM Spectrum Protect Reviews

I primarily use the backup and recovery features.

It works well with AIX. 

Sometimes we experience trouble with the backup transfer of the control files. 

The product is very stable.

The pricing of the solution is high in comparison to other products on the market. For example, Symantec costs less than this solution.

• Incremental-forever backup: one-time full backup; then, incremental forever.
• Data replication: removes the need for tape off-siting by replicating data from one management server to another (off-site). No need for storage replication as the replication is application-based.
• Deduplication
• Disaster recovery management: can provide assistance in managing DR media (tapes); also provides a DR plan based on current configuration.
• Macros: can automate actions using scripts, native or via OS. Spectrum Protect can be configured/managed via the command line.
• Library management: works very well with tape libraries.
• Tape management: Tape management is excellent as well. It can create multiple copies in a single process (e.g., one primary tape, one copy tape at local site, one copy for vaulting). It can also recover damaged tapes.

• Less backup/archive media
• RPO/RTO

The GUI needs improvement; it is not the best in the market.

The default GUI, Operations Center, does not provide much information to a
Spectrum Protect Administrator.

Such as:

• Volume (tape) errors
• Volume content
• DR Media Status
• Volume operations - check-in, checkout, label

To name a few.

But all this information can be attained using SP's command line interface, query or select statements.

And hey, I didn't acquire this product to watch it all day. Configured properly, it can remove backup/archive operations from the admin's daily tasks. Not a big deal for me.

I have used it for 16 years.

I have not encountered any stability issues.

I have not encountered any scalability issues.

Technical support is excellent.

I previously used CA Arcserve and Veritas NetBackup.

It was easy to set up.

Compare between capacity and PVUs.

Before choosing this product, I evaluated CA Arcserve, Veritas NetBackup, and HP Data Protector.

Forget about traditional backup strategies; focus on recovery.

• Enterprise solution
• Scripting-automation possibilities
• Easy commands
• Very good monitoring tool 
• Operations center
• Good compression
• Deduplication

We've used it for a very long time and this is impossible to describe. 

• Enterprise solution
• Easy to build and add new instances: physical and virtual 
• Easy deployment in the cloud
• Scripting-automation possibilities necessary to have in a big environment above 5 PB a month
• Very good monitoring tool 
• "Operations center" very useful in order to check how instances feel and backup results.
• We also use it to create tickets in SNOW in order to address issues and assign to the right team.  

• A new adjustment to Azure cloud
• Possibility to split big file spaces CIFS and NFS into smaller parts (together with storage split) in order to avoid retaking backup from scratch.
• Possibility to move file-spaces between nodes: These are very needed in very big environments.

I provide architecture consultation, mission expertise, installation, upgrade, migration and, sometimes, official Spectrum Protect education for IBM.

I have a lot of examples of how it has improved different clients' organizations, but the greatest value is with a dual-site infrastructure and container storage pools.

• Forever incremental - allows TSM to optimize storage needs.
• The way it covers backup and archive needs. The flexibility of backup copy group always allows me to cover the customer's requests.
• Replication processes with container storage pools allow reduction of storage space and network bandwidth, using deduplication and compression.

The administration interface:

• should implement more functionalities that exist only in the command line
• needs improvement in how some reports are created.

Also, it needs agents that take into account more databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL, etc.).

It depends on the infrastructure and the requirements, but from an overall viewpoint, and in light of my experience of 15 years with TSM, I rate Spectrum Protect at eight out of 10.

It is a single point of control and administration for backup and recovery. My team and I are more comfortable with this solution. With this product, we are able to save a lot in costs and on expensive storage. It has reduced backup infrastructure costs for us.

The data archiving functionality. It is easier and less time-consuming.

It lacks reporting and an efficient alert mechanism. The GUI could also be improved.

We have not encountered any stability issues.

No issues with scalability.

Technical support is a 10 out of 10.

TSM. I liked its command-line interface. But now Spectrum is even easier for my team.

Setup was pretty good with the Blueprint design. We are trying to get more generic with these services.

We worked our licensing into a capacity model, which is nice. Now, everything is much simpler to manage from a licensing perspective.

We can move straight to a disk-based solution with the container pools, which is working well. And we are looking into cloud.

It is a well-rounded solution. It provides everything any enterprise would need.

Spectrum Protect's best feature is that I can use it practically anywhere, on any platform, and for any servers or clients.

I've been using Spectrum Protect for twenty years.

Spectrum Protect's stability is good. We have experience with big companies that have a huge number of objects, and it works fine with sixty to seventy terabytes per day.

Spectrum Protect is scalable, you just have to be careful when migrating data and so on.

IBM's support hasn't been so good in the last few years.

The initial setup is complex,and requires planning.

Spectrum Protect is not a cheap option.

I advise anybody considering implementing Spectrum Protect to make very good plans before starting, know your backup requirements, and test the restore. You need to plan a backup solution for a good and fast restore. I would give Spectrum Protect a rating of eight out of ten.

It is a very good and mature enterprise product. Once it is set up and everything is put in, you don't have to manage it. It actually runs automatically by itself.

In terms of features, they've got it all covered. The features they have are quite good. The only downside to it is that it is for an enterprise or big organization. In my opinion, it is not for a small business. 

I have been using this solution for more than 15 years.

If you want to get the maximum benefit out of it, you should be a big organization. In my opinion, it is not for a small organization. 

It depends on the experience that you have. Instead of Windows, we've mostly implemented it on a UNIX-based platform, such as AIX, or Linux. So, you need someone who has the skills to manage these platforms. Apart from that, Spectrum Protect itself is a great product.

I would rate it an eight out of 10. 

I am using it for standard data protection, backup recovery, and disaster recovery.

I am using its most recent version.

The customization and the ability to backup across all platforms are the most valuable features.

Their support is not as strong as most of the products.

It should have the ability to break down the data that's being backed up. It should have better reporting.

I have been using this solution for a little bit over a year.

It is quite stable. It is pretty much set-and-forget.

It is scalable.

It can be fairly complex depending on what is being set up.

That's a hard estimate. It depends on the licensing, the hardware, and other stuff, but it is fairly expensive. It is generally more expensive than other solutions.

I would rate IBM Spectrum Protect a seven out of 10.