Easy enough for non-IT experts and a solid pick for most small sized company
June 13, 2021
Easy enough for non-IT experts and a solid pick for most small sized company
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Carbonite Server
We use Carbonite Server mainly for Microsoft Exchange Mailbox backups such as client messages, and transaction logs. As of writing this review, most of our servers have ceased operation as the company started integrating cloud backup infrastructure from Veeam and Microsoft 365. Those who are still on-premise still utilized Carbonite's backup services as a fallback option.
- The user interface for Carbonite Server was really easy and friendly to use.
- Although the setup process was somewhat clunky compared to other similar services, once it's up and running, managing it is super straight forward.
- Back up scheduling and notification system was very minimal and non-intrusive.
- The user interface is nice, but is a bit dated compared to other brands. A facelift would definitely be appreciated.
- Granular restore for Exchange has to be set up explicitly and require some additional applications. It wasn't mentioned when we first set up the service until one of the staff noticed that it wasn't backing up the mailbox. It would be nice if such granular restore is mentioned upfront by asking the user what type of files they're going to back up.
- No notification for failed backups. Any form of email notification or push notification would be appreciated if the backup fails. Some backup took hours and it's quite frustrating just to come back and see it failed at like 10%.
- Wait time for customer service could be shorter since its just not feasible to go through the entire documentation just to resolve some specific issues. Its much faster to just explain my current situation to the tech agent and both of us figure it out.
- Very satisfied with the customer service. I have talked to some really helpful agents who are patient and willing to teach since they're really familiar with the system. Overall it has been a good experience, though the wait time could be long at times.
- Documentation could be improved. Less technical jargon and more plain English to reach the point across would be appreciated. Not all IT admins graduate from Stanford.
- Veeam Backup for Microsoft Office 365 and Veeam Backup & Replication
Carbonite Server's direction wasn't really for cloud companies as they are more specialized in robust local backup services. I'm a novice when it comes to server backups and replication, but have learned and picked up a lot from talking to the customer center compared to Veeam where it's mostly just self-learning reading lots of documentation which could be overwhelming at times. We started using Veeam as most of our on-prem servers are ceasing operations as we slowly transition to the cloud. I would still use Carbonite as a fall-back option just in case the cloud fails us. Our company cannot afford to have downtimes as we work closely with a lot of contractors and every minute counts.