Dell Avamar vs. IBM Storage Protect

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Dell Avamar
Score 6.7 out of 10
N/A
Dell Avamar is a hardware and software data backup and deduplication product. It provides protection and recovery through a complete software and hardware solution when paired with Dell Data Domain for virtual environments, remote offices, enterprise apps, NAS servers, and desktops/laptops.N/A
IBM Storage Protect
Score 7.1 out of 10
N/A
IBM Storage Protect (formerly IBM Spectrum Protect, or Tivoli Storage Manager) provides data resilience for physical file servers, virtual environments, and applications. Organizations can scale up to manage billions of objects per backup server.N/A
Pricing
Dell AvamarIBM Storage Protect
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Dell AvamarIBM Storage Protect
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Dell AvamarIBM Storage Protect
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Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
Dell AvamarIBM Storage Protect
Data Center Backup
Comparison of Data Center Backup features of Product A and Product B
Dell Avamar
7.8
22 Ratings
4% below category average
IBM Storage Protect
1.8
4 Ratings
127% below category average
Universal recovery8.520 Ratings3.02 Ratings
Instant recovery8.619 Ratings3.04 Ratings
Recovery verification9.417 Ratings2.02 Ratings
Business application protection8.617 Ratings1.02 Ratings
Multiple backup destinations6.020 Ratings2.03 Ratings
Incremental backup identification9.321 Ratings2.03 Ratings
Backup to the cloud3.610 Ratings00 Ratings
Deduplication and file compression8.622 Ratings2.03 Ratings
Snapshots8.616 Ratings2.01 Ratings
Flexible deployment7.712 Ratings00 Ratings
Management dashboard8.413 Ratings1.03 Ratings
Platform support4.714 Ratings1.04 Ratings
Retention options8.615 Ratings1.04 Ratings
Encryption8.614 Ratings1.03 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Dell AvamarIBM Storage Protect
Small Businesses
Veeam Data Platform
Veeam Data Platform
Score 9.0 out of 10
Veeam Data Platform
Veeam Data Platform
Score 9.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Bacula Enterprise
Bacula Enterprise
Score 9.7 out of 10
Bacula Enterprise
Bacula Enterprise
Score 9.7 out of 10
Enterprises
Bacula Enterprise
Bacula Enterprise
Score 9.7 out of 10
Bacula Enterprise
Bacula Enterprise
Score 9.7 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Dell AvamarIBM Storage Protect
Likelihood to Recommend
8.4
(22 ratings)
3.6
(10 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.5
(2 ratings)
1.0
(1 ratings)
Usability
8.0
(1 ratings)
8.7
(3 ratings)
Support Rating
8.8
(4 ratings)
7.3
(5 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Professional Services
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
Dell AvamarIBM Storage Protect
Likelihood to Recommend
Dell Technologies
This software is well suited for companies that want to be very in control of their backups but need a simple tool. It could be convenient for them to just buy their own node, locate it in a different location, and set up the jobs for their machines to backup to the cloud with the specific plugins. However, it would not be convenient for companies looking to have a tool that needs to be secure and compliant, and that need to have different other options for business continuity.
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IBM
Tivoli does well running file-level backups, but Exchange is clunky and restores are really hard. With no SharePoint agent, if you use SharePoint you will need another product like AvePoint DocAve. The web-based GUI console is MUCH improved over earlier versions, but you will still need to be a command-line guru to make Tivoli do everything, and local (node) config files still rule. This product was originally ported from Unix and retains may of its 'nix roots.
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Pros
Dell Technologies
  • Avamar performs data deduplication on the remote host. This greatly reduces the amount of traffic that each backup requires. This even applies to the virtual environment through change block tracking. Backup times are reduced from hours to minutes.
  • The management interface makes it easy to configure and maintain data retention periods. Many times certain data must be kept for an extended period of time. There is a specific menu for managing retention periods.
  • The system is able to recover itself from a hard failure with virtually no loss of backups. There is a checkpoint taken each day that provides a recovery point in the event of a catastrophic failure. Since this is a node based system, the loss of more than one node could require a recovery be performed.
  • While another grid must be purchased, the replication utility allows all backups to be replicated to another grid at a remote location. This ensures the resilience of the backups in the event there is the loss of the primary data center.
  • Also works on HCI devices performing image-level backups as in our primary data center environment
  • There is also now an All-in-One appliance for smaller locations
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IBM
  • Tight integration with Db2. As an IBM product, it works seamlessly with Db2. You can query what is stored in TSM via Db2 itself. You can also use DB scripts to maintain the items being stored there.
  • Like most of its competitors, Tivoli handles deduplication well.
  • Provides a GUI for browsing and maintaining items stored there. I rarely use this feature, due to the next item I will post:
  • Command-line interface directly from my Db2 database servers.
  • Both client and server-side deduplication, compression and encryption are available.
  • If the requirements are zLinux and DB2 support then it's the most solid solution.
  • Can be complex to implement, but once up and running, it is rock-solid and immensely scalable.
  • Scalability is huge. Can be added onto easily.
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Cons
Dell Technologies
  • The client interface has constant JAVA issues and can be slow and chunky. We have often had issues with current versions of JAVA breaking it so it will not even run.
  • The backup clients are split out for function. Although this makes them light, it also makes it cumbersome to upgrade clients. The naming scheme can also be confusing for the clients.
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IBM
  • Deployment and configuration is not easy for an unexperienced IBM Spectrum Protect administrator
  • Operations center uses a lot of data and needs a lot of storage for larger environments
  • Have not seen a redbook about it in the past 10 years
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Likelihood to Renew
Dell Technologies
I have been using the product for over five years. This has performed so well that with the current system reaching its End-of-Life with EMC next year, I have proposed replacing it with the latest version of the product. Now that it integrates with Data Domain, the cost has been greatly reduced. Instead of the need to purchase many nodes, one Data Domain can replace them creating a significant cost savings.
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IBM
Not required, company closed. TSM is not used in my current role at my current job.
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Usability
Dell Technologies
The system overall is easy to monitor and see your backup/restore status. The user interface could use updating as it relies on Java and any updates to Java cause the interface to stop working need to be reinstalled
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IBM
In the present, a backup solution is a must-have, but then companies start using a solution for virtual machines, another solution for bare-metal servers, and another solution for their ERP. By using Spectrum Protect you can have all of that in a single pane of glass. This way you can have a simple recovery plan for all your information assets.
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Support Rating
Dell Technologies
Support is very convincing, always eager to solve issues from the root rather than workaround, don't hesitate to take webex, describe the issues to the core and recommend configuration to avoid further issues. We can ask few questions other than the main issue. They don't hesitate to answer.
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IBM
The few times we've called for support we eventually got an answer, but it's IBM and a very big company and getting to a support agent is hard.
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Alternatives Considered
Dell Technologies
Avamar has simplied the back up approach in their VE edition and is much easier to use than Data Protector. Backing up multiple VMs takes minutes instead of hours now. Creating policies, retentions, and schedules, is vastly improved and much easier.
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IBM
IBM Spectrum Protect is related to the other IBM Spectrum products listed because it is part of the suite and is also the main backup product for backup and restoration of information. With Veeam it is related as they present competence in different lines of technology, often the integration of both tools can be the best solution for clients looking for a successful backup strategy.
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Contract Terms and Pricing Model
Dell Technologies
No answers on this topic
IBM
Not at the moment, but it can leverage the billing outcomes as per the scales.
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Return on Investment
Dell Technologies
  • Absolute Zero ROI
  • This appliance does not work in its current state and to update we need to wait 2-3 months
  • Can't wait to get rid of it and replace it with something else. (not even sure if we will be able to get it running before that)
  • [I think] this is one of the worst mistakes we made
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IBM
  • Simple, care free backups, especially if you do not use tapes and do not have to manage those.
  • Very fast restores as the libraries have everything available online.
  • Ease of locating the necessary data to restore
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