Data Protector better for Unix than Windows
December 05, 2015

Data Protector better for Unix than Windows

John Glenn | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 5 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with HP Data Protector

We used HP Data Protector as a backup for all of our Windows and Unix servers. We had the server side node installed on HP-UX while the backup drives used were the HP MSL 6030 and MSL 2024. It offered a simple backup solution on a reliable backend. The trouble we ran into most of all were the limitations at the time to write to disk efficiently. They were behind the ball for us in terms of deduplication technology at the time.
  • It is very reliable on the server side to provide a trustworthy back end.
  • The install was simple and provided an easy way to install and backup Unix servers.
  • The support was always helpful and responded quickly.
  • They seem to be behind the ball on adapting newer technology.
  • Importing backup indexes were not the easiest task and required a Unix admin.
  • The client side install was not very compact.
  • One positive impact was that it was very stable and therefore made for an easy way to keep the investment going.
  • Another positive impact was the Unix portion of the backup. It is the best solution for these servers.
  • The biggest negative impact for us was when we went to change to another backup product and none of the old backups can be migrated. This means that HP Data Protector has to be installed and running for up to seven years in our case in order to keep up with our data retention policy.
We currently use EMC Networker. We have been fairly happy with this one as well. The main issue is with the Unix backups. HP Data Protector is a much better solution for backing up Unix. When it comes to ease of use in the console and backing up Windows machines EMC Networker will win every time hands down. HP Data Protector is also much more expensive for our application. The backup size, time, and available options were much better at the time we switched. HP Data Protector has now remedied this and seems to be more current with their feature offerings.
I believe it is very well suited for the Unix/Linux brands but once you get into the Windows side of things there are much better options out there. The other problem is that the data is in a format that only works with HP Data Protector and cannot be migrated to another system should things go that direction in the future. Once you are locked into HP Data Protector you are truly locked in.

OpenText Data Protector Feature Ratings

Universal recovery
Not Rated
Instant recovery
8
Recovery verification
8
Business application protection
Not Rated
Multiple backup destinations
8
Incremental backup identification
8
Backup to the cloud
Not Rated
Deduplication and file compression
Not Rated
Snapshots
Not Rated

Using HP Data Protector

4 - Since this is a software used for backup the amount of users that typically touch the interface are limited to network administrators. My organization does not employ a specific group of admins for each role. We are all doing everything from email to backups to end user needs. Our typical admin use for this software is to restore a file that a user has either deleted or changed in such a way that it cannot be retrieved by traditional means.
4 - The network engineers are the only ones allowed to have access to this software. The only operating systems we backup using HP Data Protector are the servers. Due to security concerns and best practices we only allow network engineers to access the servers in our organization directly. The skills required are a strong Windows troubleshooting background. If you backup a Unix server you will need more than a little experience in that area in order to fully install and use the HP Data Protector product.
  • Backup Windows server OS and shared files
  • Backup UNIX server OS and shared files
  • Backup Oracle db9 databases
  • Backup SQL 2005 databases
  • Backup Exchange Data Stores
  • It has been easy to use in order to label our tapes and keep track of them.
  • We have used it to refresh SQL databases from production to test on a scheduled basis.
  • Using scripting I have also been able to send backups directly to disk and tape from Oracle to set up test databases.
  • I plan to eliminate this product as soon as my last data tape expires.
  • I do not plan on using this software in the future.
  • We keep this in place in order to comply with our data retention policy. If a need arises that data must be restored within that time frame I will restore that data using HP Data Protector.
It was just not a good fit for our organization. We have an EMC SAN, Data Domain backup storage, and VMWare. Without any other HP software or hardware in our environment I do not see the need to continue using a product that is not well integrated with our other brands.