OpenText Data Protector Reviews

What we find most valuable in Micro Focus Data Protector is that it provides Japanese data protection, for example, it protects information such as the full Japanese name, address, etc.

We have a lot of requests for the Micro Focus team, particularly in terms of the Japanese data pattern, as it's not as good now. The Japanese data pattern accuracy of the Micro Focus Data Protector needs to be improved because there are a lot of false negatives and false positives. We are currently testing this and our product team has been communicating with the Micro Focus team.

What we'd like to see in the next release of the solution is better compatibility with other products, apart from a more accurate Japanese data pattern.

I've been dealing with Micro Focus Data Protector for two years.

Micro Focus Data Protector, in terms of stability, is not so bad.

I'm not sure how scalable Micro Focus Data Protector is because the DLP service goes through my company's SaaS product.

There's no need for me to contact technical support for Micro Focus Data Protector because my company's product team is there to answer my questions.

I didn't use a different solution before using Micro Focus Data Protector. It is a first for me.

The deployment for Micro Focus Data Protector was easy.

Pricing for Micro Focus Data Protector is reasonable.

My company and its customers use Micro Focus Data Protector, though I'm not sure which version of the solution is being used. It's deployed on the public cloud and via a SaaS service.

My rating for Micro Focus Data Protector is eight out of ten.

I'm a reseller of Micro Focus Data Protector.

We primarily use data protection in complex environments with large Oracle databases, Hyper-V, and VMWare hypervisors with replication of backup sets to DR site. 

It's used for data protection of large Oracle Databases, backups of small branch offices, zero-downtime backup of mission-critical databases with HPE storage (XP or 3PAR), data protection of most common NAS appliances through NDMP protocol, and the backup of Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft Sharepoint, and the Microsoft SQL Server. 

It provides a consolidation of backups to the tape library and to the cloud provider. 

Data Protector works in conjunction with a Catalyst-based deduplication feature and HPE StoreOnce appliances to provide us with the tools to build reliable DR solutions for backups through Catalyst stores replication using ARS between the sites. 

The wide variety of parameters that can be used to perform fine-tuning of integrations helped us to reach stability with the backups of complex environments. 

The push install feature helped us in completing large migrations from other backup software vendors in a short amount of time.

Oracle DB instances backup is one of the main script integrations in the backup specification of the NDMP three-way backups. It lets us use StoreOnce Catalyst stores as a destination through an ethernet connection, bypassing the SAN and avoiding the use of physical and virtual tape libraries. 

Catalyst stores replication using ARS between two sites - each with a distinct cell manager. 

The command-line interface is user-friendly and well documented in the reference guide. 

Push install from DP GUI interface lets us deploy/upgrade clients of most common platforms in a short amount of time.

The VMware GRE is still limited and complex to implement with differences in behavior between Windows and Linux mount proxies. 

ZDB has too many constraints (e.g. it doesn't work for Linux volumes mirrored with software different from LVM). 

Microfocus needs to build a partnership with other vendors in addition to HPE as far as cloud consolidation of backups. 

With the 11.0 release, there have been improvements in terms of security (Secure communication) however, the bar is still not high enough. 

Data Protector advanced scheduler should be replaced with a more reliable scheduler such as the Veritas One.

I've used the solution for 12 years.

The solution, especially if it's implemented in the Linux platform, is very stable.

The scalability is good, however, being a solution that relies on HW from other vendors (HPE, EMC, etc.) scalability isn't a mess for Data Protector itself.

The customer service is discreet.

Neutral

In the past, I used EMC Networker and Veritas Netbackup and I switched to HPE Data Protector for business needs.

The initial setup was straightforward. The installation manuals are well done and there are several setup wizards at our disposal.

All implementations were handled in-house.

Information is reserved and cannot be shared as per company policies.

The setup cost is not so large compared with other software, while as far as licensing goes, I suggest one per capacity (Front End TB) if the environment is heterogeneous with both physical and virtual servers.

We did not evaluate other options first.

We use the solution for backup data protection of on-premises, in-cloud, and virtual environments. Also, we use it for the features such as production tab and recall tool.

The solution is easy to use.

The solution's customer support service needs a lot of improvement. Presently, they take a long time to resolve simple issues.

I rate the solution's stability as a four. We face challenges with it, and the support team has not been able to fix them.

We have 2000 users of the solution in our organization. I rate its scalability as a six.

The solution's customer support service for setup and ongoing issues could be better. 

The solution's initial setup was easy, but it took two months to complete the process because of its poor technical support.

The solution's support team executed the deployment for us. It was a time-consuming process.

The solution's price is more reasonable than the other vendors.

If the solution's customer service improves, it will stand out as the best product compared to other vendors. I rate it as a five.

• VMware level backup
• Exchange integration
• Flexibility
• Cost

We now have a common enterprise backup product across all our infrastructure and services. We have also extended this by deploying HP Data Protector VMware level backup capability VEPA, (Virtual Environment Protection Agent) across both Data Centre and Divisional services.

For me, the main weakness of Data Protector now is the Granular Recovery integrations, as they just don’t work as smoothly as they could.

I've used up since March 2013.

Not really. However, I have extensively used HP Data Protector in other roles with other organisation so I know the product very well. This was key consideration in the initial selection as it reduced costs and risks for the deployment.

We did experience a major issue when we first deployed Data Protector 8.10, but HP support were able to help.

No, we still two Data Protector installations, (known as Cells in in DP terminology). One cell manages the Data Centre backup/restores and the other the divisional side of things. At some point in time, we will probably consolidate into a single cell, (or manager of managers) configuration, but we have no current technical or business driver for this move.

It's excellent.

It's excellent, very prompt and professional.

In autumn 2012, we had two important backup issues in our enterprise data centres. The organisation was about to deploy MS Exchange as our corporate email system, (replacing Novell GroupWise) and our portfolio of VMware guests was increasing. We needed MS Exchange integration and NDMP backup capabilities to meet our data centre backup needs. At that time our IS organisation had a split between remote sites, (divisions) and the enterprise server data centres. We used Symantec NetBackup in our Data Centres and Symantec Backup Exec in divisions to meet our backup requirements.

The cost to license Symantec NetBackup for MS Exchange and NDMP was too large. So, we looked for alternatives. I had used HP Data Protector in a previous organisations and I knew it was a cost effective drop in replacement for NetBackup. So we looked at HP Data Protector and EMC offerings and eventually chose HP Data Protector and cost and functionality. This is just for the enterprise/data centre environment. Data Protector did all we wanted for our data centre backups.

As stated earlier, our technical IS had two teams/areas, data centre and divisions, (remote sites/hospital). The divisional team supported site based infrastructure and local services, (file & print etc.). The divisional servers were backed up using Symantec Backup Exec, and following an upgrade to Backup Exec 2012 we had several critical issues with backup at our divisions and the team evaluated HP Data Protector as replacement for Symantec Backup Exec and selected HP Data Protector.

For us, it was easy, as I had extensive previous experience of the product. I first used the product when it was called Omniback I, (not Omniback II). And, as stated we deliberately built the initial deployment as a drop in replacement for NetBackup in the Data Centre.

Just me.

It's difficult to calculate this as we didn’t have a plan to implement an enterprise backup infrastructure, we just used the cost and in-built flexibility of the product to meet our needs.

Initially in the data centre our first quote for NetBackup licenses for exchange integration and NDMP was about AU$200,000. Our complete Data Centre HP Data Protector deployment was AU$46,000.

Since our deployment HP has introduced capacity based licensing for Data Protector. I would advise any potential customer to look at this option, it may work better for their organisation. On balance if deploying today I would tend to prefer the capacity based licensing model. But do the sums and make sure it work for your organisation. The other point is even traditional Data Protector licenses is very flexible and relatively inexpensive, this allow an organisation to build an Enterprise backup architecture over time and allows in to evolve to meets changing requirements.

Plan, and call in outside help if required. Get the production evaluation mode and try it (it comes with a complete 60 day trial license). Get to know the product and plan. One other really nice feature of HP Data Protector that I haven’t mentioned up to now is Reporting. Data Protector has a whole load of built-in configurable reports, it really covers most use cases and when it doesn’t Data Protector has an extensive CLI, for when you just need that extra special something.

Our primary use is for disaster recovery, but the most frequent use is the restore function when a user accidentally deletes a file or two. Being able to restore the files quickly is extremely important.

We are required to provide an offsite location for our tape rotation, and we use the D2D function regularly. This function allows the backups to run faster and more efficiently.

I think the GUI needs a vast overhaul. DP has looked the same since its inception. The functionality has improved, but the interface is not attractive and a little clumsy.

We've had this solution for over eight years now. I've been the subject matter expert for it for the past five years. I've upgraded the solution from v6 to v10.

The deployment was standard, other than hardening the product for use in our secured environment.

There have been no issues with the stability.

When we need to upgrade or increase scalability, the procedure is quick and painless.

Customer service is good, not great. Usually when we need some level of assistance, hold times are about 20 - 25 minutes on the phone, or about two days via email (in response).

Tech support has been good and they are usually able to assist us once we get in contact with them.

We went with HP for their solution from the beginning. Since most of our hardware is HP, we decided to use them for this solution as well.

The initial setup was extremely straightforward. We have a great team of system engineers and they worked on getting the solution to run within our environment without any real issues. There weren't any real issues in getting the system setup and running.

We had the option of using professional services to do the installation, however, we chose to do it ourselves. Just think about an overall design, what your current and future needs are, and implement for the future.

I'm not sure in dollars our ROI, but the system has definitely paid for itself time and time again. We've used it for basic backups/restores and have successfully utilized it in our disaster recovery plan.

The product works as described in our environment, but we are required to harden the application, which causes some backup failures. Otherwise, the D2D function and backups/restores function fine.

The only advice I'd offer is to plan your backup solution with great detail. Make sure it will fit within your infrastructure and that the system is scalable. Make sure licensing is understood and that there are professional services available to implement the system in case your team needs assistance.

We use Micro Focus Data Protector for taking backups throughout our entire data center, which includes backups for our SAP HANA, Oracle, and SQL databases, as well as for the Windows virtual instances which also require file-level, user data, and database backups.

Data Protector's granular recovery features make it easy for us to create and restore backups in an understandable and user-friendly manner. With granular recovery, any database or even just a database table can be restored at will.

The new dashboard that has been introduced is also very good because it allows us to easily visualize how many backups have been performed, showing the total number of TB used as well as useful information on our backup schedules.

Also, in terms of basic backup features, it has everything that most other backup solutions provide and the pricing is very competitive for what it offers.

Micro Focus are improving Data Protector with every new version and since we began undergoing training with the latest version we have not faced any real challenges yet. However, their support does need to be improved, in my opinion. In certain critical cases that we've had, they did not provide a satisfactory level of support.

I have been using Micro Focus Data Protector for the past ten years.

It is both stable and easy to maintain.

In terms of scalability, we're already using it throughout our entire data center. There are no limitations when it comes either host or data backups; you simply need to buy the appropriate licenses and scale up as required.

For any issues that we encounter, we escalate to Micro Focus' tech support. Unfortunately, their support does need some improvement because, in critical cases we've had in the past, I don't believe that they have provided adequate support.

Neutral

For me, setting up Micro Focus is straightforward when it comes to the Windows platform, but somewhat more complicated on Linux because I am not very accustomed to Linux. 

It will generally take one month for the planning phase, then another month for testing, after which we can implement it and move it into production.

Everything in terms of implementation is done in-house.

We are indeed getting return on investment from this solution.

Data Protector's pricing is very competitive and we have no issues in this regard. I would give it an eight out of ten in terms of pricing.

There are two main types of license, one being a perpetual license with a one-time charge and the other is a subscription license where you pay every year. With either type, scaling up is not a problem; you can just buy the appropriate license that is in compliance with your needs, and there is no limitation here.

We are currently evaluating similar backup solutions in the market such as those from Veeam and Veritas (NetBackup). 

At the end of the day, Data Protector is a user-friendly backup solution that is easy to integrate with any OS or database. Its main strengths include granular backup functionality and a well-implemented dashboard that tells you all the essential info such as how many backups you've run, how many have succeeded or failed, and how much space the backups are taking up.

I would rate Micro Focus Data Protector a nine out of ten.

It is really helpful in giving us a great backup and restore environment, and it's especially a great help in doing the granular recovery for VMs, SharePoint, and Exchange servers.

It is very reliable on the server side for providing a trustworthy backend. The installation was simple and provided an easy way to install even on Unix servers. It has excellent features like deduplication.

Reporting on scheduled backups via the advanced scheduling option are non-existent, and this needs to be available.

VM backups needs to be improved. They need to make it similar to the way Veeam and Commvault are doing the virtual backups.

We've had no issues with its stability.

There have been no issues scaling it.

Customer Service:

It's not good and needs to be improved.

Technical Support:

It's not good and needs to be improved.

We were using EMC previously, and switched because this is easier to manage and it's cheaper.

It was easy and there were no major difficulties.

A vendor team came and performed the implementation. I recommend that you get a professional services team come and do it for you.

The ease of use for operators provides a quick response when restores are needed by the business.

The licensing structure provides cost savings to business.

One of the most valuable features is its integration with 3PAR and StoreOnce. The integration is more important than the features.

The integration of the tool benefits our organization. The support is unified from one company for all data, storage, and backup processes.

In the next release, I would like to see more integration with VMware and HPE Recovery Manager Center (RMC). We don't have RMC, unfortunately. We are planning on getting it.

I have asked about the Data Protector and its integration with RMC. It is only integrated for managing and doesn’t go much deeper. This tool is also missing some configurations and functionalities that I want.

The tool and its functionalities are stable. You can find more features with other products, but they will be adding more features in the new version.

This tool is scalable.

We were using NetBackup. Although it has more features, we switched to this tool because it has single integration and single support.

I was somewhat involved with the setup. It was in-between straightforward complex. The initial configuration takes time, as does the customization and fine-tuning of the jobs.

We're doing a huge backup for SAP. We do a backup every 10 minutes of very critical data. We don’t do the whole backup, but rather the database log backup. This data is really huge. It took us time to fine-tune it and make it better. HPE assisted us with this process a year and a half ago.

I would suggest finding out what features you need before buying.