OpenText Data Protector Reviews

The primary use case is mainly for data protection for both short-term and long-term retention. We are resellers of Micro Focus and I am a storage and backup engineer.

Many colleagues complain about poor and complicated implementation of VMWare granular recovery

The feature I like the most is the deduplication implementation with CAPA. It's very good. 

I think the VMware backup integration and the cloud recovery is lacking. I also found it difficult to implement the granular recovery solution with Micro Focus for both VMware integration backups and for exchange integration backups. Implementing this solution was a big challenge. Other products like Veeam, or NetBackup have a simpler and more user friendly solution than Micro Focus. Implementation really should be more straightforward. I'd like to see stronger integrations, and an easier setup for granular recovery. It's a feature that plays a great role for data protection.

I've been using this solution for 11 years. 

Stability depends on the platform. It's quite stable on a Linux platform but I've had bad experience in the past with Windows. I don't know if there is more stability with the new releases, but we abandoned the Windows platform for the core services of Data Protector. We're using Linux.

The scalability is okay although there are issues regarding the database. If you're installing the solution in a physical machine, and you have to extend the database, it's not so easy.  With virtual machines, it's easy to extend it. Scalability depends on the type of installation. I suggest deploying the core as a manager that contains the database, then if you need to scale up storage, you can easily extend the virtual disk in a short time.

Technical support has not been good recently and in several cases, I have found the solution myself. I would expect support to be able to manage these issues. 

We currently also use NetBackup and Veritas which are both more open to other systems. There is also the Veritas fast solution for appliances together with the pro. With Micro Focus, you need to contact the vendor for equipment for the storage device, and for the new servers and the physical middle servers. NetBackup and Veritas only have one vendor and we get everything from them. It makes it easier to prepare bonds and to design a solution for customers. Veritas also has integration for cloud-native backup, and we have integration for the backup storage before the middle server. There is also good integration with VMware and Data Protector. Micro Focus is not like that. We need three different vendors to provide the same solution.

The time it takes to set up a virtual machine with the software operating system is very quick if it's a new installation. But if it's an upgrade, it is quite difficult, because it takes time to convert the database to the new user. The performance of this product in the Windows platform is not great so we usually don't install it. With VMware, it is easy to attach the kit, the package ISO file. Then the setup is quite easy. In that sense, it's like the other products for this. It's probably more difficult than implementing in a network environment, with firewalls in between middle servers and clients, or between some manager and the new servers.

Implementation was in-house

This solution is a manager service. We resell this product with the manager service in our private cloud that we provide the customers so for us, it's a good price. However, I do think they should lower the price as there are other, better technologies available.

EMC Networker

I would rate this solution a six out of 10. 

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. 

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.

The granularity of brick-level restore functionality is very valuable. We receive approximately 10 restore requests on a daily basis for your typical file/folder restore, with the odd Exchange mailbox restore request thrown in, just to keep me on my toes.

Backing up to disk (HPE StoreOnce 4900) has been valuable in reducing the man-hours in managing the backups, with the added bonus of backup replication for all jobs to the opposite HPE StoreOnce. Historically, all our backups onsite backed up directly to LT04 tapes. This method brought a lot of its own challenges: tape management, costs, man-hours; not to forget having to ensure all our backups completed within the scheduled backup window throughout the week/weekend was tight.

The reporting capabilities of HPE Data Protector are very limited and is the main area I feel that HPE Data Protector needs to improve on. The standard report options available with the product are adequate for generic reporting.

However, if you’re like me and want to get customised reporting, you then have a problem and you will need to purchase another licensed product: HPE Data Protector Reporter.

I have used HPE Data Protector for six years.

Deployment of our new HPE Data Protector 9 environment went quite smoothly, even with the addition of our HPE StoreOnce appliances, which were new to me and required a lot of planning in regards to scheduling/creation of backup stores, etc. Our HPE consultant was very helpful in assisting me in the execution of the new environment.

Part of this project was a requirement to migrate all the servers and data from the legacy Cell Manager (DP7) across to the new Cell Manager (DP9). This project has been very frustrating, as it has been fraught with technical issues. The main issue was a corrupt IDB (DP7). HPE support had worked on this issue for a long time. They had our entire environment in their labs and to date have not been able to resolve the IDB corruption. Currently, we are working with one of the HPE consultants to manage the export of the data via a custom script. Time will tell how successful this migration will be, but until then, I will just have to continue managing two onsite production DP environments.

I rate them 4/5. I cannot fault their customer service. Luckily, our customer service team is in the same locale as us, which is very helpful. Small things like this make a big difference to the customer service experience.

Technical support gets 4/5. Mainly, the technical support is very good. You kind of have your preferred support guys working on your cases, than some of the other guys. Some of my own company’s users probably say similar about me and our team, but hey, that’s the way it goes!

The implementation team gets 4/5. Implementation was through HPE consultancy.

Over the course of the deployment I had two different consultants. The first consultant got a promotion within HPE and the second consultant was from Italy. I now have a 3rd local Eire based HPE consultant that will be assisting and guiding me on the legacy IDB migration. I look forward to working with him, as his knowledge of the DP is outstanding.

It’s important to get your licensing right as this will drastically Influence the pricing.

Consider the following:

• How much Data is getting backed up on a weekly basis?
• What are your Data retention policies?
• How many different types of Integrations, i.e. Oracle DB’s /SQL /Exchange /SharePoint/VMware, etc., your company has? (These numbers could influence the licensing model you adopt, as the more integrations you have – the capacity licensing model may be the most cost effective.)

Luckily for me, I inherited HPE Data Protector.

I have evaluated other backup products for some of our overseas remote sites and found Veeam Backup and Replication 9 to be the best product to meet our needs.

Implement the B2D technology, i.e. HPE StoreOnce, depending on your company setup. If a DR/FO is a requirement, consider another HPE StoreOnce in the DR/FO site and avail of the HPE StoreOnce replication capabilities.

Invest in HPE consultancy to help plan out the environment.

The most valuable feature for me is its flexibility. Data Protector has a solution for almost every situation in which we want to backup something.

The best and biggest improvement for us is that we can rely on the backups it provides. It saves us a lot of time which we can use for other things.

The biggest area of improvement for Data Protector would be the proper functioning and ease of configuration of clients behind firewalls and other security mechanisms.

I also think that the license model should be more open and flexible.

I've used it for almost 10 years now.

Overall, deployment was fine except for one major issue that was very annoying -- the proper functioning and ease of configuration of clients behind firewalls and other security mechanisms.

No, we haven't had any stability issues over the years.

We haven't had any issues with scalability. Higher scalability is reached by purchasing more licenses.

We haven't had to deal with customer much. We buy licenses, etc. through an HP partner.

Technical service is quite good. When we had a problem, it was solved in an appropriate time either by HP support or an HP partner.

Most of the backups were executed by scripts. We switched because it was hard to oversee all the different backups on each machine which also made reporting difficult to handle.

The initial setup was rather complex because we had many different systems to include. But in the end, everything went fine.

Our implementation was done by a vendor team or HP partner. They were very skilled and I learned the basics.

I would say that some licenses are quite expensive and it is not a cheap product, but it is worth it. The features, flexibility, and robustness of Data Protector speaks for itself.

We tried other products but we do not share more information about them.

My advice is, make yourself comfortable with the white papers and best practices. If it is a basic installation, try the installation for yourself. If it is more complex, use a HP Partner. And don’t forget the care pack.

We bought it when it was a very simple product with a clear license structure, and it just did what we needed it to do.

The license structure for advanced features, such as backing up to disk or compression, can make the license pretty costly. That’s the main thing because we use it in a very simple way with just a client on servers, and then do backups. That license structure was really simple and cheap; but if you want to do a little bit more, then the structure gets pretty expensive.

We have been using Data Protector for 15 years.

It has really improved over time. In the beginning, it was not a real enterprise solution but it has evolved into an enterprise solution.

It is scalable. It has a nice relationship to the hardware that HPE has.

It depends. It takes some time to get to the real person who knows how to solve the problem. So that's difficult with HPE. You need to pass the first level, a second level, and so on.

We get phone or WebEx sort of support.

We have always used Data Protector in our organization.

Upgrading the solution is straightforward. We do it ourselves without any help.

Every other year, we look at what's new in the market. We take a quick look, and scan to see what’s around to see if we should switch. We look mainly for vendor reliability. The support level should be good. For the past 15 years, we haven’t done much switching because there was no reason for it.

Still, there are other products that fill gaps in the backup market, like Veeam and other ones.

Data Protector is software that we use to make system backups. The feature we use the most is doing daily backups and synchronizing backups from different locations to our central data center for disaster recovery.

With Data Protector, if we lose data, we can recover it. That’s the biggest benefit.

That is really a question for my Data Protector experts, but this is what I think:

• As far as the functionality, I think it has everything that we need right now.
• Some security aspects in Data Protector could be improved. It’s not enough to say that some people will have only a few rights and exclusions.
• The reporting is not good. That's something that HPE can improve.

I think it's working better and better. There was an improvement in the new version this past year. I think that it's very stable now. Under normal circumstances, we don't have any downtime.

Data Protector is software used to make backups of the system. What I expect from the software itself is that it provides us with the ability to do whatever we need to do. So, for example, if you have a new OS version, Data Protector brings up the software, and gets it running, also in the new version.

We have a technical support engineer from HPE if we have any questions. If we have any errors, we need to use our maintenance contract with HPE so they can help us. They deal with it efficiently and in a timely manner.

Five years ago, we had another solution, but I forgot the name. It didn’t perform well. That’s why we switched to Data Protector.

What is good for us when we use a vendor like HPE, they can help us find different solutions in different ways. For example, we have the storage system from HPE, and the server systems, and the backups solutions. So it's a combination of everything together; and we have the central person in contact with HPE if we have any problems or need to escalate something.

It was so many years ago that I cannot say anything about the initial setup; but I do know that when we set up Data Protector in a new location, it works quite simply.

I think that if we were going to start again to look for a new solution, we would read and talk with different people to get their opinions. I think you will also find some new software solutions for backups on the market. It's also good. I'm not sure. If we had the same choice to pick up a software solution again, we would still decide on Data Protector in the future.

We can back up Oracle databases, SQL databases, Windows machines, Linux, and virtual machines like VMware with this product.

In terms of configuration, it's very flexible. 

If you have an idea of what you are doing, it's very flexible and very stable. We've been using it since 2010 without an issue.

The downside of the flexibility on offer is if you over-configure it, it may fail to function as some configurations may not match. That said, it's a very flexible tool to use it. It helps to start with minimal configuration to avoid misalignment of parameters.

The scheduling could be better. We thought they had made some improvements, however, the scheduling of backups needs to be more flexible and we need to be able to apply different policies at different times.

I've been using the solution since 2010. I've been using it since version six onwards. It's been more than ten years at this point.

The stability is great. For the most part, there are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. It's reliable. However, when it comes to new versions, there are certain issues that crop up. They may be due to new developments.

It's scalable. You can have multiple Cell Managers. For example, let's say your environment is very large. You can have the backup server dedicated to a certain group of targets, and then you can have multiple backup servers. You can have another backup server that manages the other backup servers, which means now you can have a global view of all the backup servers. 

At the same time, when it comes to storage, you can integrate it into several storage areas. Instead of just using tape, you can use the backup directly to disk. That means even the disk capacity can scale up to many terabytes depending on the storage you are using.

In terms of users, I can't say we have so many users as we are an enterprise, and within an enterprise, there'll be people dedicated to managing the backup. 

As we have a couple of hundreds of systems that we are backing up, I would say that we use it quite extensively.

We've used technical support in the past. For example, recently, we were changing our licenses from the traditional licensing to capacity We had to ask them to help us apply the license. That was the first time we were applying that license. For the traditional licenses, we've been doing it ourselves without a problem. They helped to show us how to apply the license, which means next time we can do it ourselves.

The initial setup is straightforward if you know what you are doing. However, due to the flexibility, you may find that you need someone who can guide you in terms of doing the minimum that is required, instead of just over-configuring it. 

In 2010, when I started using it, the backups were actually failing every day, only to find that there were too many mismatching configurations due to the flexibility. 

The deployment process can take a couple of days. For us, we are a large environment. While the installation itself doesn't take long, the configuration will take time in terms of configuring the backup devices and making sure that everything is working. We need to test and then add new clients. Most of the time required is just to configure the backup devices, like the disks to the virtual tapes, and add that line. However, the installation itself doesn't take long. That part you can do in half a day.

There are just a few people managing the backup environment, however, there are a couple of hundred systems that are being backed up. In terms of the people, we have about five users who look after the environment. However, it's stable. They are not busy with the environment every day. It's just to manage backups.

In general, the size of the team needed to watch the system depends on the size of your environment. The platform itself doesn't need a lot of people. One person is enough. That said, just looking after backups is what makes you look for more people. Looking after the platform, we've been using one person for a long time. 

In terms of licensing, you just pay for the licenses you use. That said, it depends on what you want to do - depending on the functionality you need. With capacity-based licensing, you just pay for the size of the backups, and you have all the functionality that comes with the platform.

We've tried Veeam for VMware, for virtual machines. At the time, it had limitations. We have since stuck with Data Protector. We have evaluated other solutions, however, for some reason, we decided not to go further.

I'm a customer and an end-user.

We are almost using the latest version of the solution. We are actually using 10. We haven't yet upgraded, however, we are just a step away from the latest.

I would recommend the solution to others. They are 100% perfect. Just like any company, they have their own issues. That said, I would still recommend it as a comprehensive backup and recovery solution. 

I'd rate the solution at an eight out of ten.