At least it saved my butt from the auditors!
Updated June 27, 2016
At least it saved my butt from the auditors!
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Unitrends Recovery Series Backup Appliance
Our Unitrends appliance is being used to backup major business-critical systems, and interface with off-site storage for DR protection. This unit meets our needs well from a licensing standpoint whereas competitors tend to charge for software and licenses for each system that is being backed up. The Unitrends Recovery Series appliance has allowed us to add new servers and VMs to without additional expense.
- The user interface of the appliance is easy to understand, and the initial setup was quick and painless.
- For me, this unit works well as a set-it-and-forget-it solution. Once the setup for each backup was complete, the appliance does it job and nightly reports are all I need to confirm that things are working the way I expect.
- Beyond getting used to the arrangement of menus and such between software releases, the appliance does a good job of making features easy to find and use.
- Documentation of interfacing with cloud-based systems for replication could be easier to understand.
- The main business objective this appliance has solved for us is a clear, easy-to-use, comprehensive backup system.
The Unitrends offering was the best balance of space, licensing and price. I found that most backup appliances were similar in function and overall concept. Where they differed was in how the pricing was determined. Other vendors offered us similar capacity for less money, but ended up charging more and requiring additional purchases as we added more systems to the list of backups. Unitrends, while having a fairly high initial cost, eliminated the recurring purchase of licenses as we grew. This was a main selling point for us for this system. The only drawback we've found, is in the maintenance/support subscription cost, which was much higher at the renewal than expected.
Unitrends Feature Ratings
Using Unitrends Recovery Series Backup Appliance
3 - Myself, the IT team lead, and the IT Director are all versed in using the appliance.
1 - We've limited the staff that have access to the appliance and it's part of my job to use and maintain the system.
- Backup of critical systems
- Recovery of user files stored on network shares
- Bare metal restore capability
- Nothing out of the ordinary
- Hope to expand use to all systems, not solely mission-critical ones.
Evaluating Unitrends Recovery Series Backup Appliance and Competitors
Yes - Norton Backup Exec was used with a local tape solution. The system was unreliable and each server had to be managed individually. Tape was always a cumbersome solution, this was our chance to move to a better system with higher reliability and a single interface for all managed servers.
- Price
- Product Usability
We needed a system that was comprehensive and easy-to-use, while also able to provide DR features required by our auditors. The feature set and price were big factors in the decision, but expandability with regard to licensing was almost as important for us -- lots of servers, not as much data.
The only change I would make to the process is a better understanding of future costs -- we were surprised by the annual maintenance costs. Sadly, even my reseller/vendor was surprised at the renewal cost. That's certainly something to be aware of in future purchasing evaluations for technology products of this sort.
Unitrends Recovery Series Backup Appliance Implementation
Unitrends Recovery Series Backup Appliance Support
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Knowledgeable team Problems get solved Kept well informed Support understands my problem | Poor followup Difficult to get immediate help Slow Initial Response |
Yes - There is now only ONE support option, which is disappointing due to its cost. Our organisation does not require a critical level of backup appliance support, but we are forced to pay for it as Unitrends only offers one level of annual support.
The initial rollout of the unit was done exceptionally well. The support engineer walked me through the entire setup process and confirmed all systems were scheduled to be backed up. Following the first backup he checked back to ensure everything worked as expected.
Using Unitrends Recovery Series Backup Appliance
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Relatively simple Easy to use Technical support not required Well integrated Consistent Convenient Familiar | None |
- Setting up one-time backups
- Checking status/history of the system or a specific backup
- Editing existing schedules