Azure Blob Storage vs. IBM Storage Protect

Azure Blob Storage is well suited for cases where you are working with different data formats and looking for cost-effective storage solutions based on access frequency. Another area of strength is the encryption of data at rest, and encryption can be managed on your own. However, it may not be appropriate for transferring large data very fast.

Incentivized

Tivoli does well running file-level backups, but Exchange is clunky and restores are really hard. With no SharePoint agent, if you use SharePoint you will need another product like AvePoint DocAve. The web-based GUI console is MUCH improved over earlier versions, but you will still need to be a command-line guru to make Tivoli do everything, and local (node) config files still rule. This product was originally ported from Unix and retains may of its 'nix roots.

Incentivized

• Reduced cost. We were able to reduce our storage infrastructure by several hundred terabytes by consolidating redundant copies and dedupe/compression on files.
• Extremely high level of redundancy. We can replicate data in a variety of ways that we would never have been capable of on our own hardware.

Incentivized

• Tight integration with Db2. As an IBM product, it works seamlessly with Db2. You can query what is stored in TSM via Db2 itself. You can also use DB scripts to maintain the items being stored there.
• Like most of its competitors, Tivoli handles deduplication well.
• Provides a GUI for browsing and maintaining items stored there. I rarely use this feature, due to the next item I will post:
• Command-line interface directly from my Db2 database servers.
• Both client and server-side deduplication, compression and encryption are available.
• If the requirements are zLinux and DB2 support then it's the most solid solution.
• Can be complex to implement, but once up and running, it is rock-solid and immensely scalable.
• Scalability is huge. Can be added onto easily.

Incentivized

• If we are transferring huge amount of data (outbound), it can get quite expensive.
• With new features being added constantly, although a good thing, at times it becomes difficult to keep up with the changes. Documentation needs to keep UpToDate and should include best practices.
• Performance can be improved especially when it comes to cold storage.

Incentivized

• Deployment and configuration is not easy for an unexperienced IBM Spectrum Protect administrator
• Operations center uses a lot of data and needs a lot of storage for larger environments
• Have not seen a redbook about it in the past 10 years

Not required, company closed. TSM is not used in my current role at my current job.

Incentivized

Blob storage is fairly simple, with several different options/settings that can be configured. The file explorer has enhanced its usability. Some areas could be improved, such as providing more details or stats on how many times a file has been accessed. It is an obvious choice if you're already using Azure/Entra.

Incentivized

It is suitable for a huge part of our organisation, supports many operating systems (including Windows, Linux and IBM AIX), supports many databases - also for online backups (like Oracle, Db2 and SAP HANA), has an Operational Center for control, command-line and GUI for backup/restore. It just works well, once setup correctly.

Incentivized

Documentation sometimes appears to be out of date or not fully documented properly with new releases. It is like documentation comes out for a specific version and is quickly out of date. Another issue is documentation is scarce on new releases and only seems to get properly updated (and sometimes is still wrong) once enough people hit the forums to complain.

Incentivized

The few times we've called for support we eventually got an answer, but it's IBM and a very big company and getting to a support agent is hard.

Incentivized

Blob storage lets us control the file source/hosting and retain everything within our Microsoft ecosystem. Blob is less feature-rich than some of the other products. Still, we consider it as a value-added product included within our environment, and alternative products are not needed for our requirements. Keeping the hosting within our tenant locale is vital to us.

Incentivized

We have been using TSM (former ADSM), rebranded Spectrum Protect and now rebranded Storage Protect a long time already. The product served us well. Last time we compared it to competitors we found they all had something lacking. And switching backup suites is no small task if there is data you need to keep 5, 7 or 10 years anyway. Commvault gets close, but doesn't match all features.

Incentivized

• Made it easy for organization to move to cloud from on-premise based solution.
• We were able to centralize all our documents.
• Cost savings compared to on-premise based solutions.

Incentivized

• It can be used as a disaster recovery solution when you have the right configuration (either replication or tape copies in a safe location). This way it can be a lifesaver for any company.
• It can bring back the information you need if you are hit by ransomeware.
• It is also needed if you are accounting for user error, sometimes people delete the files they need by accident and without a backup solution they are out of luck

Incentivized