Backup Exec - Latest thoughts from a longtime user
February 01, 2018
Backup Exec - Latest thoughts from a longtime user
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Symantec Backup Exec
We use Backup Exec both for disk-to-tape and disk-to-disk backup. We back up to a Quantum tape autoloader, doing full server backups every weekend. We also to monthly database backups also to tape. We also use Backup Exec to backup our Hyper-V virtual machines to a NAS. We need a secure and inexpensive mode to backup our data and yet still have it readily available.
- Manage agent based backups - It is easy to schedule and monitor backups. Verifying backups is done for all jobs. Backup performance is excellent.
- Provide a wide ranging contingent of backup options - Despite providing a dizzying array of backup options, it is easy to schedule individual or recurring jobs.
- Integrates well with our Active Directory - Restoring even individual Active Directory objects is possible.
- Backup Exec was recently spun off from Symantec and is now back under the Veritas umbrella. Since the transition I have noted an increased number of anomalous errors occurring during backups. I think most of these have to do with an increased level of security built into the product, but attention needs to be paid by Veritas to eliminate these problems.
- Backup Exec has always had an annoying habit of making it very difficult to cancel a job in progress. This should be an easy thing to fix. For some reason they are unwilling or unable to correct the problem, making it frustrating for the user.
- Veritas has a rather confusing licensing scheme and it seems to cover up what is an expensive product.
- As the person tasked with the job of protecting the company's data, I am glad that Backup Exec performs that job well. I am able to often set-it-and-forget-it and go about the rest of my duties. I have never had a situation where Backup Exec was called upon to restore data and it was unable to do so. This reflects well on both me and my department and provides a sense of security to the rest of the company.
- I am not making full use of the product and have not licensed a number of its features, but even the base feature set is impressive. To be clear, Backup Exec is no longer the only product we reply upon for data protection, but it is still a large part of that program. If an SMB can find the budget to afford to license the set of features meet its particular demands, Backup Exec will do what you need.
- As an industry leader, Backup Exec is well positioned to stay at the head of the pack (as they have done for many years) and provide their customers with a comprehensive set of capabilities that will always remain in the forefront of technology.
Backup Exec (when it was still under the Symantec umbrella) used to offer a backup appliance for local-cloud backup. It was expensive. I don't think they offer it anymore. In any case we wanted to engage such a solution and have been using Barracuda Backup for several years. It fills such a role at a price point much more attractive than anything offered by Veritas. But we have no plan at this time to abandon our totally premise-based Backup Exec solution. Right now it is still very cost effective to run Backup Exec and supplement it with a Barracuda cloud solution.