Arctera Backup Exec Reviews & Insights

We use Veritas Backup Exec mainly for the Backup of our data and bare metal servers. We use a scenario with a primary backup to disk and then copy to tape, which is then stored in safe on another location.
Based on this we have an easy and fast recovery from disk, if a colleague accidentally deleted his files (again) and a disaster recovery from tape. Veritas Backup Exec makes a pretty good job in this scenario and works well. It passes every test till now and every recovery of the encrypted tapes are working without data loss.

Veritas Backup Exec is a somewhat classic backup software and should be used es such. It's main capability is server backup, but it would be a fine idea to integrate some endpoint protection.
Therefore the scenarios are totally typical. Every environment who has the need to backup their data (in other words: every environment) has the right scenario for such a software.

We use it to back up our servers with virtual machines on HyperV. The scenario is very simple: save the server on different media for hot and cold storage, plus another one outside of the office. We have an agent for HyperV. No need for a Microsoft SQL agent. Simple Disaster Recovery (SDR) is on.

Globally, it's good backup software, but there are a lot of little things that handicap the experience. You don't know why, but sometimes the saving process bugs during the night and works perfectly tomorrow or after a manual reload. Saving to a NAS is difficult in comparison with Veeam backup.

We use Veritas Backup Exec for Disk-Disk-Tape-Cold Storage. Essentially we use Veritas Backup Exec to manage daily backups along with a disaster recovery plan that allows us to air-gap our backups and cold storage off site. We really wanted an all in one solution that was easy to implement, did not have data tiers, and provided clear licensing plans.

Veritas Backup Exec is best suited for <1PB environments that deal with typical Windows & Linux file storage arrays. Once you delve into more sophisticated storage environments, there are no available agents for those environments.

I consult with multiple companies that at some point in time had Veritas Backup Exec setup as their backup software on their servers.

Veritas Backup Exec is great at backing up heavily used File Servers and Exchange Servers. Its backup compression is VERY slow and doesn't compress well. [I feel] it is very unfriendly at trying to recover using a Bare-Metal Restore.

Originally we used Veritas Backup Exec for all servers in our district. We have since moved away from it and currently it is being used only on a remote backup server. The product does function well and it performed fine for the purpose of providing full and partial backups. We were predominantly a Netware shop with approximately 32 Netware servers, with 14 stand alone Windows based servers. With our move to a virtual environment our backup solution needs changed.

Backup Exec works well generally in most environments or situations. The licensing can potentially be a nightmare, but manageable if you have a decent reseller. Backing up and restoring from physical tapes which is not all that common is not as reliable as when backing up and restoring from datastores that reside on hard drives or digital media. It does a good job with large or small backup jobs. Backing up and managing SQL backups requires additional licenses and be a bit clunky. If you are very careful (which you should be anyway) and document as you build these backups you will get better at managing them. Regarding a virtual environment, I have limited experience in that arena, but have done it. Backup Exec can backup VMware environments, but honestly we moved to Unitrends to backup our VM's and are much happier with the backup process. However, restoring a VM in Unitrends can be tedious compared to Backup Exec.

Veritas Backup Exec has been used in our datacenter to backup our servers, approximately more than 10 servers, including servers with VMWare. We have programmed an automatic backup routine with incremental backups every day of file servers and other services used by employees and daily backups of all services and the datacenter environment. It is an expensive investment but it is the best way to keep all data saved in case of any type of problem / damage / virtual threat.

One of the differentials is that of all the backup tools I used, Veritas Backup Exec has the best management and control interface. It is very easy to use and configure the rules. There are several options that we can optimize our work for our specific needs, from scheduling a backup, restoring data, directories, alerts system, error reports, backups, inconsistencies and other very interesting things. It has integration with SQL, vmware, hyper v. Backup and restore speeds are fast and secure.

Veritas Backup Exec not for resale version is being used to backup all critical server based data on linux and windows servers.

It is not as easy as it should be, but does provide a great level of control and detail to backup operations. It Does backup Linux clients which is a huge plus to us.

We use backup exec to backup our mostly virtual server environment.

Backup Exec probably works well if you're only backing up a small number of servers (around 20 at the most) locally. This seems to be the only scenario where its at least capable of doing its job.

Any kind of serious enterprise is going to want to avoid this software like the plague. Deploying this across multiple sites requires fully licensed servers at each site and a second management server at the primary site. Beyond that, running multiple backup jobs can be problematic as, per Veritas support, there is no native way to chain separate backup jobs.

Veritas Backup Exec is used as our central backup platform for one business location consisting of about 250 end users with 20+ servers

As a standard, Back-up, Veritas Backup Exec has been around for quite a while. Even though it's not usually considered as an enterprise-level backup/recovery platform, I've been using it for several years through many changes, and it has always met my requirements. They offer several different agents for various programs, databases, VMware, etc. You only buy what you need.

Veritas Backup Exec provides good replication and compression features from a simple dashboard. We use it on exchange and SQL for mass files and folders. We find that for Exchange, SQL and even for single files we are able to restore the resource process as well.

I can only speak to Windows environments, but it works well there. They seem to keep up with evolving technology. The cost may be too high for smaller companies.