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Practice Lead - Storage and Backup at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Stable backup and storage solution with cost value for long term retention
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature is the cost value, which is very important for long term retention."
  • "They could provide multiple tools to provide you with cost calculations, giving you a better picture or providing better details of the cost calculations over the years."

What is our primary use case?

We provide consultancy and we manage the service for our clients with different company sizes. We use this solution to keep backups of their data and for what we call cold storage. 

There are some cases where we use it for general-purpose files.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature is the cost value, which is very important for long term retention.

We can keep the backups for a longer duration.

It's a simple solution.

What needs improvement?

They could provide multiple tools to provide you with cost calculations, giving you a better picture or providing you with better details of the cost calculations over the years.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Microsoft Azure Object Storage for two years.

Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Azure Object Storage
October 2024
Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Azure Object Storage. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: October 2024.
814,763 professionals have used our research since 2012.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's quite stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

This solution is easy to scale.

In most cases, it is used quite extensively.

How are customer service and support?

We have contacted technical support a few times, and we have not had any issues, they always provided us with support.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Previously quite a few years back, there were several solutions available. We used a few solutions on a trial basis only, but they were slow.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was easy and straightforward, not at all complex.

It took us about a week to deploy. There were four people involved to help with the deployment, one architect and three engineers.

For maintenance, most of it is automated, you only two or three to monitor and support it.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

For the cloud, you get charges every day if you are going to download anything, besides the cost for storage those charges are always there.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We did not evaluate other options, we went with Microsoft straight away.

What other advice do I have?

It's not just the storage that is being affected, they have to know if they want to move the data back, and the data is vast and large, those costs will have to be taken care of also. That is something that you will have to be aware and cautious of.

I would recommend this solution.

I would rate it an eight out of ten. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
Solutions architect at Listat
Real User
A flexible API, but technical support needs to be faster at resolving issues
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature is the API because it is very flexible."
  • "Technical support should be faster at resolving issues for tickets that we create."

What is our primary use case?

We are a software development company and one of our products provides a secure email service for our clients. We deploy our products on Azure using a subscription-based model for our clients. The Azure Object Storage is one of the storage technologies that we use, depending on the requirements and what is needed.

For our secure email product, we store some of the encrypted data using this solution. It is done by installing an agent on the user's device, be it Android or otherwise, and the encryption is done on the server-side. Once encrypted, the data is transferred to Object Storage.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature is the API because it is very flexible.

If you need extra options such as authentication or authorization, then you just use the features that are available as part of Azure.

What needs improvement?

Technical support should be faster at resolving issues for tickets that we create.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using Azure Object Storage for more than five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We have had some issues with stability but we work closely with Microsoft and they have helped us to resolve many of these problems.

How are customer service and technical support?

We have been in contact with technical support and they are sometimes slow at resolving our tickets. Overall, the support is good.

How was the initial setup?

The complexity of the setup depends on what your requirements are. If you are deploying from scratch versus needing to migrate data, it is different.

For the most part, it is fully automated. We have written some scripts to assists us and the deployment normally takes between 20 minutes and an hour. It also depends on what region Azure is being used in.

What about the implementation team?

We deploy this solution using our in-house team.

What other advice do I have?

The suitability of this solution depends on your use cases and your requirements. Sometimes you will need block storage, rather than object storage. You need to know what technology is applicable and practical for your use cases.

I would rate this solution a six out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Azure Object Storage
October 2024
Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Azure Object Storage. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: October 2024.
814,763 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Architect at a recreational facilities/services company with 1-10 employees
Real User
Top 20
Great for copying data, extremely stable, and has a relatively easy initial setup
Pros and Cons
  • "The key feature for us is the possibility to have a copy of our data and machines outside of our premises just in case of a disaster."
  • "The administration of the solution is not as easy as we would like it to be."

What is our primary use case?

We use this solution ourselves. We're in the public sector and use it within our organization. The solution is primarily used for block storage.

What is most valuable?

The key feature for us is the possibility to have a copy of our data and machines outside of our premises just in case of a disaster. This is a common value not only for Azure but for any other cloud solution. This is the key aspect that made us decide to use this service. The idea of being able to hold a backup outside of our premises just in case of a disaster allows for the possibility of an easy data recovery process. 

Due to the fact that now there are a lot of ransomware attacks and viruses, and there is a possibility of it actually happening, it's great that we are able to encrypt the data for extra protection. 

What needs improvement?

There are a lot of points for improvement at the moment.

 For example, in the case of this product, we are not able to do a backup of what we call NAS, network-attached storage appliances, directly to the cloud. We can do to all the repositories in our premises on the storage that we have here, however, it's not possible to entirely upload this to the cloud. To me, this is the major problem of this solution, at the moment. 

There are other problems that I imagine other solutions can have the problems too, for example, there are some errors if the network is unstable and there are network failures sometimes, and it's not easy to recover data. 

The administration of the solution is not as easy as we would like it to be.

For how long have I used the solution?

We haven't been using the solution for very long just yet. It's only been about four months or so. It's well under a year and it's still new to us.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We had a lot of problems at first, perhaps due to our partner that helped us with the implementation. However, since then, the solution has been extremely stable. We haven't had any issues whatsoever. It doesn't crash or freeze. There aren't bugs or glitches. Now that it is up and running, it's very reliable.

How are customer service and technical support?

We have contacted technical support several times. We often also had to contact Veeam to help us, and they were not very helpful. We were hoping for more active, quick responses, and we just didn't get that. 

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

This is the first time we use a cloud backup. Before that, we were using only an on-premise backup, in our own backup storage. In fact, we were using Veeam Backup & Replication software and recovery software available for on-premises setups. We decided to move to the cloud, which is why we began to implement Azure.

How was the initial setup?

The initial set up is easy. It's not overly complicated. That said, we have a lot of problems in the implementation with the partner, the company that we hired to do the service. We had a lot of errors and a lot of time was consumed in uploading the backup to the cloud, as there was a lot of information. 

We have about 10 terabytes of data. For some companies, it may only be a few terabytes. However, for us, we had a lot of information. We were affected by internet speeds, and, if something failed, it was necessary to repeat the process. It was extremely time-consuming.

What about the implementation team?

We had a Microsoft partner assist in the initial implementation. However, it wasn't a very good experience. They didn't seem to know the product very well.

What other advice do I have?

In terms of Azure and the actual version we are using, don't know what it is. We are using the cloud of Azure and I don't know if there is a concept of a version for cloud deployments. That said, the software, Veeam, that we are using is on-premises to do the backup and it's version 10.

Overall, I would rate this product at an eight out of ten.

We had a lot of problems in the beginning, and a lot of these problems were due to our implementation partner using a local S3 block storage provider. They were not able to restore the backups. However, Azure is a very good solution in general and we've had a very positive experience since we've finished the implementation itself.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Chalermsub Sangkavichitr - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Data Scientist at PTT Digital Solutions Company Limited
Real User
Simple setup, easy to use, and responsive support
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature of Microsoft Azure Object Storage is its ease of use."
  • "Microsoft Azure Object Storage has had a number of failures last week due to the lack of hardware available to support the resources. However, it was only for a short time, approximately two days."

What is our primary use case?

Microsoft Azure Object Storage is used for storing pictures and sound from many projects I am involved in.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature of Microsoft Azure Object Storage is its ease of use.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Microsoft Azure Object Storage for approximately six months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Microsoft Azure Object Storage has had a number of failures last week due to the lack of hardware available to support the resources. However, it was only for a short time, approximately two days.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability of Microsoft Azure Object Storage is alright for what we use it for.

We have approximately 1,000 users using this solution in my organization. We have plans to increase the usage.

How are customer service and support?

The support from Microsoft Azure Object Storage is good. When I asked for help they responded in a timely manner.

How was the initial setup?

The initial installation of Microsoft Azure Object Storage is easy.

What other advice do I have?

My company uses most of the solutions from Microsoft. They received a discount because of the volume of solutions purchased. The policy of the company forced me to use Microsoft Azure Object Storage. I did not have a choice to use other solutions from other vendors, such as Google or Amazon Web Service.

I rate Microsoft Azure Object Storage an eight out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Manager-Platform Team / Technical Lead at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
Reseller
Beneficial cloud operations, deployable by scripts, and scalable
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature of Microsoft Azure Object Storage is that it is on the cloud."
  • "We have experienced a data copy bottleneck with the AZ copy using Microsoft Azure Object Storage, this should improve. It has high CPU consumption. There are a couple of ways to copy files fast, we have tried a few ways. Other than AZ copy, we can use Azure Fluent Storage, which also takes a lot of time to copy files. The AZ copy is faster but it takes a lot of time and CPU operations."

What is our primary use case?

We are using Microsoft Azure Object Storage for storing customer content. Our applications are running on Kubernetes, and the content is stored on the Microsoft Azure Object Storage. For example, we are using the queues for email. We have a couple of web jobs that are running that pick up the object from the queues. Additionally, we are using it for the files.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature of Microsoft Azure Object Storage is that it is on the cloud.

What needs improvement?

We have experienced a data copy bottleneck with the AZ copy using Microsoft Azure Object Storage, this should improve. It has high CPU consumption. There are a couple of ways to copy files fast, we have tried a few ways. Other than AZ copy, we can use Azure Fluent Storage, which also takes a lot of time to copy files. The AZ copy is faster but it takes a lot of time and CPU operations.

Microsoft Storage Explorer is used for connectivity but it needs to be improved.

On the backend side, it is not an easy implementation, and if they introduced a solution roadmap, that would be great.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Microsoft Azure Object Storage for approximately six years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Microsoft Azure Object Storage is somewhat stable, but some improvements need to be applied. I can remember, it was down one time. We have faced a lot of issues since our application is tightly coupled with storage. More than 700 customers were affected during that time period. A lot of queries came, and lots of tickets were created for us because the storage was down.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Microsoft Azure Object Storage can scale in terms of users using the solution.

I am in a team of 50 and I am the manager of the team. In our company, all the project teams, and developers are using Microsoft Azure Object Storage mostly in the repair. We have approximately 300 to 500 developers using the solution.

How are customer service and support?

I have contacted the support when the Microsoft Azure Object Storage could not be accessed. They did the recovery but it took them some time, approximately 10 hours.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We have only used Microsoft solutions.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup of Microsoft Azure Object Storage for me is easy, but it depends on the person. If you do not have much experience it is not as easy. The whole process of implementation took 15 to 20 minutes. We have automated a lot of the processes.

When doing the deployment of Microsoft Azure Object Storage we have experienced some issues with our scripts and the automation.

What about the implementation team?

We have one person in my team that is managing Microsoft Azure Object Storage.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The licensing cost of Microsoft Azure Object Storage is monthly. We have two types of licenses. One is the EA enterprise license and the other is a CSP license.

What other advice do I have?

My advice to others is if you're going to be copying the data in Microsoft Azure Object Storage it will be slow.

I rate Microsoft Azure Object Storage an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner/reseller
PeerSpot user
Owner at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Real User
Easy to use and easy to deploy, but requires more AI and ML-based modules and better pricing
Pros and Cons
  • "It is easy to use, and we use it for backup and remote desktop access. It is working fine."
  • "They could improve AI and ML-based modules. They should add more modules based on artificial intelligence and machine learning. Pricing is a little bit tricky with Microsoft Azure. They do provide the estimates, but it is not easy to guess the exact amount that we will be billed after a month or two because it is based on usage. This is a little confusing."

What is our primary use case?

We are accessing remote accounting software by using this cloud. We are also using it for cloud backup and disaster recovery. 

What is most valuable?

It is easy to use, and we use it for backup and remote desktop access. It is working fine.

What needs improvement?

They could improve AI and ML-based modules. They should add more modules based on artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Pricing is a little bit tricky with Microsoft Azure. They do provide the estimates, but it is not easy to guess the exact amount that we will be billed after a month or two because it is based on usage. This is a little confusing.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using this solution for about six months.

How are customer service and technical support?

It is not that good. Technical support of companies like Microsoft or Google is not that easy to get. There are many rules to get support from Microsoft.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward. It requires a little bit of technical expertise. Not everyone can configure Azure. You will need some amount of technical skills or help from a Microsoft Expert. We have been using Microsoft products for many years, and that's why it is easier for us to implement. It may be a little bit tricky if you are not using the Microsoft environment.

We deployed it in ten days because we have to install our own software and do a few other things. Otherwise, it should take only one or two days. 

What about the implementation team?

We are integrators.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Pricing is always confusing for all Microsoft products. For this solution, they do provide the estimates, but it is not easy to guess the exact amount that we will be billed.

What other advice do I have?

I would advise others to go through the documentation first, and if required, they should get help from Microsoft Certified partners. If they are dealers, they should go for Microsoft Azure certification. It is very helpful in technical installation and deployment.

I would rate Microsoft Azure Object Storage a seven out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Reseller
PeerSpot user
Owner at Might Resources Sdn Bhd
Reseller
Easily deployed backup tool that gives total peace of mind
Pros and Cons
  • "Object Storage's best feature is that it's easy to deploy."
  • "Object Storage's integration with other backup software could be improved."

What is our primary use case?

I use Object Storage as an object storage backup.

How has it helped my organization?

Object Storage has given us total peace of mind.

What is most valuable?

Object Storage's best feature is that it's easy to deploy.

What needs improvement?

Object Storage's integration with other backup software could be improved.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using Object Storage for three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Object Storage is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Object Storage is scalable.

How are customer service and support?

Unless you subscribe to the paid services, Microsoft's technical support is average.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was straightforward and took a couple of hours.

What about the implementation team?

We used an in-house team.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Object Storage is cost-effective, and our license fees are about $200 per month.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate Object Storage nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Private Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Reseller
PeerSpot user
Owner at Might Resources Sdn Bhd
Reseller
A reliable solution for long-term backup retention
Pros and Cons
  • "The most important thing for me is reliability."
  • "I would like to see a reduction in pricing so that they can be more competitive."

What is our primary use case?

I use Microsoft Azure Object Storage for backups. Specifically, we use it for longterm backup retention.

What is most valuable?

The most important thing for me is reliability.

The support is very good.

What needs improvement?

I would like to see a reduction in pricing so that they can be more competitive.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability of this solution depends on the company that the client is working with. They have to be reputable and meet the appropriate standards for compliance.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

This solution is very easy to scale. All of the object storage solutions have the same features.

How are customer service and technical support?

We are in regular contact with technical support and I find them to be good.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is pretty straightforward and it probably takes a couple of days to deploy.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The cost of this solution is high compared to others, although there are no costs in addition to the standard licensing fees.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

There are other vendors for object storage on the market that are comparable in features, but the price of the competitors is cheaper. The main difference between vendors is the costs in terms of both storage and traffic.

What other advice do I have?

I am satisfied with the features that Azure Object Storage has.

In general, this is a product that I recommend but at the end of the day, the suitability depends on the use case and the requirements. If it is something that meets their needs then it will be very beneficial.

As we have worked with this product, we have not come across any problems that could not be resolved. That said, there is always room for improvement.

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Microsoft Azure Object Storage Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: October 2024
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Microsoft Azure Object Storage Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.