PowerProtect DD Series vs. SolarWinds Storage Resource Monitor (SRM)

We have huge data coming in from different sources and also from multiple organizations in our Data centres. This data had multiple copies of the same data and was huge in size therefore, we wanted to have a solution in place which can help us with a good amount of deduplication at the deepest possible level to make sure that our ecosystem does not have multiple copies of the same data and is also efficient at the same time. Having said this, we wanted this solution to be secure and reliable since it had to be exposed to a huge critical set of data in the market. To add, backup and restoration was something that we were also keen on evaluating so that once we have efficient data within our system, the time it takes to backup and restoration also reduces. And all this was justified by this solution when we signed up with them. From the pricing perspective and the implementation side, the solution needs improvement to make it more efficient and user-friendly.

Incentivized

SolarWinds Storage Resource Monitor (SRM) is pretty good at forecasting capacity consumption, which was a must for us. If you have LUNs that have high latency in a normal environment (user shares, for instance), you'll need to customize the alerts to tune out the noise. As with all SW modules and most other products, there is a time lag between what is in the console and what's happening now. Data in the console and alerts are typically 5 to 15 minutes old.

Incentivized

• It writes backups quickly. DDBoost add-on is very useful as well for improving backup speeds.
• DD is very efficient in its use of capacity. It dedupes and compresses very well.
• It spans to large capacity amounts.

Incentivized

• Unmasks storage performance metrics and gives a common dashboard for monitoring.
• A simple, intuitive interface for adding supported storage frames.
• Lineage -- "The guest OS is connected to the virtual host and the virtual host is connected to the ... wait, what LUN is that?!?" #SOLVED.

Incentivized

• It can be expensive to implement, especially when used in conjunction with other applications/hardware such as Avamar.
• The TCO can be high, especially when it needs its storage expanded.
• Recovery speeds can be slow (compared to other solutions) for when recovery is time sensitive.

Incentivized

• Issues getting SMI working correctly to monitor Compellents through SRM.
• The ability to break down alerts to a more granular level.

Incentivized

DD has performed flawlessly for almost 10 years as our backup/recovery storage with offsite replication. Given its track record and great support from EMC, we're unlikely to look elsewhere any time soon.

Incentivized

It has helped me prove that we need more storage as well as faster storage to management

Incentivized

Easy to set up and start. Out of the box alerts which you can tweak to your needs. Easy to use interfaces as well

Incentivized

Customer support has had some ups and downs here. We've had several issues with EMC support before and during the acquisition by Dell, but in the last 18 months support has been top notch. Quick and knowledgeable help is but a chat away, or they will call you back so you don't have to wait on hold. The team supporting us is responsive and is quick to assist with any request or issue.

Incentivized

Do not have to contact support for issues often and when i do it is fast to get response and resolve my issues

Incentivized

Easy to use set up wizard went off without a hitch.

Incentivized

We selected Data Domain due to its integration with our backup software. The Data Domain works well for what we need it to do.

Incentivized

We have a full suite of SolarWinds products and did not evaluate other options for a full package. For selective monitoring we log into the devices, but this has made that much easier as we have a dashboard rather than logging into devices one at a time.

Incentivized

• We were able to immediately discontinue our remote tape storage and TBU maintenance.
• Reduced backup footprint in the data center.
• It is costly to expand so buy it with a purpose.

Incentivized

• Real-time monitoring and alerting to surpass those of native vSphere and in some occasions, better than manufacturer written software.
• Historical monitoring of environment with charts and graphs to assist with ever changing environment loads.

Incentivized