OpenText Data Protector Reviews

We are using the on-prem version of this solution. We use the software for both the Microsoft application backup and Oracle backup.

We are planning to switch to Veeam in the next six months.

The feature that was most valuable was that we could restore one mailbox and we could do different backups for different databases.

I'm sure Data Protector has improved because we have an old version and I think the new versions have many new features but I'm not familiar with them. The version we are using now does not work with virtual machines and it lacks many features. I'm sure the new version is better. It has many functions that can compete with Veeam, but the problem is that its price is more expensive. It's very expensive compared to Veeam and other similar solutions.

We changed Microsoft to a virtual environment, so in a virtual environment, we could not do a backup with the version we're using. It doesn't work with a virtual machine. In addition, we could not restore the machine. This is the main problem with it. 

We are switching to Veeam because Data Protector is lacking good virtualization features and because the cost is very high.

The solution is very stable but we had some problems with our VTL although, this is a hardware problem.

The scalability is good. 

We have three users using this application: Infrastructure section head, one senior infrastructure administrator, and one infrastructure administrator.

We require two staff members for the maintenance of this solution. We use this solution daily. 

Their technical support is good. When we wanted to change our partner and to have the support from another partner, we didn't find any partner in Egypt that could help us. We didn't know that HP is not responsible for this solution. When we bought it, it was HP Data Protector and now it's Focus. It was very hard to know this. We sent a request to Focus, but they didn't respond to our request.

Before this solution, we were using a Linux platform and we were using an open-source program, I don't remember the name. We switched from Linux to Microsoft. 

The initial setup was complex. It was not easy. Data Protector itself is easy to install, but sometimes when we re-install it, it doesn't work and some agents do not work properly especially for Microsoft and for Unix.

Our deployment was done in 2008 and it took two to three days to finalize our deployment, the agents, and everything and to be sure that all backups were working well.

We used a partner for the deployment. We had a good experience with them.

The licensing cost was not annual. We didn't pay any license. We paid when we deployed and we didn't pay for anything after that. There were no additional fees after the initial payment. 

The solution is very stable, it was very helpful. We are confident that when we do a backup, we are sure that we can restore it which is very valuable. It's very reliable and we are confident when doing a backup, we could restore it. 

I would rate it an eight out of ten. It is very stable and we trust it but we've had some problems with it which is why I would deduct two points. 

The valuable features are the ability to:

• Backup data
• Write to D2Ds
• Utilize D2D compression technology

We write TBs and TBs of data to backend HPE D2Ds. It then dedupes all the information so we get a 10:1 ratio of deduplication. This means we can store a heck of a lot more data on less storage. It saves us time and money.

The benefit is that we've got data retention and we can store data for people. We are a financial services organization, so we are audited on the level of security of our data. This solution allows us to prove that we are storing it correctly.

I'd like the ability to search backups a lot easier. I'd like the ability to search for a particular server within a backup because people come to you and ask for the backup of a server. They talk about it in those terms. You end up trying to find out where that server is located for a particular job that you might have set up months ago. It would be good to have a search feature where you could ask, "Server X, what backup job is that?" That would be helpful.

It would be good if it worked properly and it actually gave you usable error codes.
A large percentage of the time, you get very vague messages, or it just turns off, and it never tells you why. It's very difficult to decipher what happened and what has gone wrong.

The problem with HPE Data Protector is when it goes wrong, it's very hard to fathom why it went wrong.

It's pretty scalable. Now we're on HPE Data Protector version 9.0, so you only have a single Cell Manager. We roll out globally so there's no issues with that side of it.

We have to raise support tickets and that's an extremely painful thing. It can take five to seven weeks. That's the bad side of it. It is difficult to get decent support and to get to the people who know what they're talking about.

Initially, the technical support is terrible. You raise a call and then you are asked for log after log. What you want is someone who knows what they're doing who can help you right away. When you finally get through to those people a month later, they can normally resolve your issues within an hour. However, getting to them is very difficult.

We were already using it when I came to the company. I was more involved in the decision to upgrade.

I was involved with the setup and it was reasonably straightforward. You install Cell Manager, then you create distribution servers, and then you roll out to a virtual machine. It's a pretty straightforward process.

We're probably going to have to start thinking about alternatives. Our data footprint is growing so rapidly that we're going to need to look at new solutions anyway. We have backup jobs that are over ten TBs for a single server. We need ways in which we can restore that data quickly.

We use 3PAR, so we're going to start looking at deduplication on it. We need snapshotting, and that sort of stuff. We've got to start looking at how we do things and how we can do them differently and faster. It may or not be with HPE.

When it works, it works well. When it doesn't work, it can be very frustrating.
I would look across the whole marketplace and see what's out there.

I provide Data Protector as a solution to my customers, but I have fewer clients using the product these days. 

Data Protector's GUI is the most useful feature.

The GUI could be updated. The GUI hasn't changed since version 6. It's on version 10 now. The reporting could also be better. Also, while Data Protector is excellent for backing up physical hardware, it needs more features for backing up VM images because many environments use hypervisor. 

It's not as good as some of its competitors. One image backup job should be able to restore the file or database level, but Data Protector has to create three separate jobs.

I have been using Micro Focus Data Protector for more than five years.

Data Protector is stable.

Data Protector can scale up, but I have never used that feature.

I rate Micro Focus support six out of 10. In the past, I contacted Micro Focus support frequently, but most of my customers stopped using Data Protector. I had a good experience with their team five years ago, but their technical support has gone downhill since then.

Neutral

Setting up Data Protector is straightforward. I rate it 10 out of 10 for ease of setup. 

I rate Data Protector six out of 10 for affordability. I don't know the exact cost, but the Micro Focus license is expensive compared to other products like VM. You can back up VMs for free.

I rate Micro Focus Data Protector six out of 10 overall. I would recommend something besides Data Protector. It isn't competitive with other products and doesn't support replication features. So it's less competitive with other products in the market. So I wouldn't advise.

I use the Micro Focus Data Protector for our corporate data backup requirements. That is the main business need for this product by our company.

I don't like any function of the Micro Focus Data Protector. Honestly, I hate the Micro Focus Data Protector. It's not really good.

I have used Micro Focus Data Protector for the file backup facilities. My primary use of the software is to backup file data.

The software needs to redesign the UI and they should organize the functions so that they are much easier to use. It's very hard to understand how to use the software.

Micro Focus Data Protector is stable. I have one customer using it. The data center utilizes it. 

It is scalable. We use it for our data center and website.

We haven't contacted the technical support with Micro Focus.

The initial setup is very complex. It's hard to understand how the components work together and how each component is related together. I read a lot of information but I still don't really understand MFDP. I don't spend much time on it, therefore it's hard to understand. 

The information about MFDP is easy, but the application of it is not easy. When I deploy the software, I only understand it because I have written down all the information.

It just takes a few hours to finish the installation and the configuration.

I have deployed Micro Focus Data Protector myself with some technical issues and problems.

The Micro Focus Data Protector solution is not really good, but it is "good enough" that it can help our client requirements. If I compare Micro Focus Data Protector with other solutions, MFDP just does not have enough complexity in the UI.

On a scale from 1 to 10, I would give Micro Focus Data Protector a seven. They should design the solution so that it is much easier for deployment and make the UI easy to use.

SAP R/3 Integration is what I like best because our main production systems are SAP based with Oracle database, the “save-delete archive” feature is of ultimate use. It actually saves the Oracle archive file to the disk and after the save is verified it is deleted form the disk. That way you actually keep an eye on archive space on the physical disk and at the same time you are safe that no archives have been delete from the disk without been checked.

We started using this product back in 2000. At that point we mainly used the SAP R/3 Integration along with some filesystems backups. From that point on, the software started getting integrated with Exchange Server, and lately SAP HANA. The Data Protector software is getting along with the growing needs of our company.

I haven’t found any issues that need to get improved. The main purpose of this software suite (safely backup and restore main systems) is fully achieved. It was already implemented as the company’s first backup and restore solution. As the company evolved and the technology implemented evolved along, it seemed that the software adequately supported our systems.

I've been using them since 2000.

Generally no, but there were some issues that appeared when we first tried to deploy the software to a HANA database environment. However, they happened mainly because of the HANA database Linux environment.

Mainly, I can’t say that I have encountered major stability issues. At some point in time, patches fixed some minor issues.

No issues encountered.

Customer service is excellent with a ticket per call.

Through the fifteen years of support from HP, you realize that many things have changed. But, above all, I have to say that technical support has remained at a constantly high level. Depending on the issue, each time, the support may be local or international. Nevertheless you will get your job done.

This was the first backup and recovery solution.

The initial set-up is very straightforward. Nothing special to be done, as it's got very friendly user interface.

Back in 2000 the software was implemented by HP. I wasn’t present for the implementation, but after that, some upgrades and migrations has happened. Both HP Greece and an in-house software engineer have performed the projects. I have to say that the level of their expertise is more than adequate.

As we have most of our systems integrated to HP Data Protector, and because we have many daily and even hourly backups, I must say that we have a high ROI in our case.

Pricing and licensing clearly depends on the systems that you plan to backup. How many systems do you have to backup (licensing), what kind of support do you prefer for your systems (24/7, 8/5) (pricing).

You have to check the needs of your systems before you decide on your backup solution. Do you have many different platforms? Do you want to integrate the backup solution with a SAN environment? Do you want to use integrations (SAP R/3, Exchange Server, SQL, etc.)

Restarting the failed session, where you don’t need to run a whole selection list backup.

Newer DP versions even have a resume feature, which should allow you to continue from the point of failure, instead of ruining the whole partition in case of a “restart failed objects“ error.

There are lots of bugs around; inability to downgrade version, issues with version upgrades, etc. For example, Data Protector version 8 didn’t have a properly working restore feature; the next upgrade came within week. All kinds of small things required workarounds and support engagement to find some tweak within the config files.

When comparing other backup software, such as BackupExec for example which I have used at the same time as Data Protector. For BackupExec our backup team did raise one vendor case throughout four years, while for Data Protector, we had three to four vendor cases opened every month. That is just in general, as I really do not remember all the details for all those, I dont know, but hundreds of cases opened with HP Data Protector support. What I remember we didn‘t have a single patching/upgrade of Data Protector version without issues, which could only be solved by HP Data Protector vendor support. While for BackupExec it was always smooth and any issues we encountered we were able to solve them on our own.

I have been using it for 4+ years.

I have not encountered any deployment, stability or scalability issues.

Customer service is great.

Technical support is great.

We switched because of company policy, the tapes aged, etc.

Initial setup was straightforward.

I was within the support team, which did implement as well as support the solution.

Huge. Simply eliminating the need for tape changers returned the cost of the hardware within less than half a year.

Get an expert who knows the products, so you can get the best prices possible for both DP and StoreOnce. Because there are some things that can work for the same solution in different ways, hence they are differently licensed as well as priced.

Make sure architecture is planning properly, e.g., centralised or decentralised HPE DP Cell Managers give you some quite different options and etc.

We primarily use the solution as a backup. It basically backs up all of my premium items.

It's a good product that's pretty easy to use.

The solution is scalable. 

The initial setup is rather straightforward.

It would be ideal if they could improve their level of support.

We've been using the solution for eight years or so. It's been a while. 

The product is scalable. If a company wants to expand it, it can do so. It's not a problem. 

We have less than 100 people on the solution right now. 

The level of support is lacking. They need to step up the level of service they offer. We aren't 100% satisfied. They are friendly, however, they aren't really flexible. 

The installation is pretty straightforward and simple. It's not too complex or overly difficult. A company wouldn't have any trouble setting it up.

The deployment is fast and likely you can have it up and running in a day.

You don't need a big technical team to handle deployment and maintenance. You might just need two people who are engineers. 

I handled the implementation by myself. I did not need the help of any integrators or consultants at the time. 

The product is reasonably priced. It's not too expensive. 

We're currently using version 10 of the solution. 

I'd rate the solution at an eight out of ten. It's pretty good. 

I'd recommend the solution to others. 

Our primary use case is backing up our data and restoring it when required.

Our company assets are information and data. The product protects these valuable assets.

The most valuable feature is the protection of our data with the backup capability and performance.

Make it simpler to use, integrate with as many applications as possible, and improve the dashboard.

It is stable to a point, but it has room for improvement. I would not call it a very stable solution.

The product is scalable, but it depends on the vendor's license as well as the customer's infrastructure.

The support is not good and they should really work to enhance the customer support experience.

Data Protector was our original solution. It shipped with our HP Printer.

I found the initial setup to be ok. I would not say simple or complex, but medium.

Our goal is to have the simplest possible solution that will work without extra effort.

The product was part of the backup solution that shipped with our HP printer, so we did not record a vendor implementation.

I would not recommend this product to my colleagues.

We have looked at several including Cobalt, Upline, Veritas Backup Exec, and Dell EMC.

If a company has no protection for their data and information then they need this product. However, the reliability needs to be enhanced.

Micro Focus needs to fix the current issues by working closely with customers to determine how it is that we can help.

Overall, I would rate this product a six out of ten.