Barracuda Backup vs. IBM Storage Protect

If you are a small business with a few machines and your backups aren't of servers that are public facing. If you had to restore a server from backup, it would take a day at least. So, if the server being restored was public facing, that may impact customer relations.

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

• The cloud control is great!! I'm able to restore files and folders from basically any machine on the Internet. I can restore either the local machine I'm using at the time, or directly to the server from which it came.
• The user interface. Very easy to use and understand. Loads of options and configurations you can optimize for your particular needs.
• Instance replacement. We have had an issue with one unit due to some hardware failure. Barracuda was amazing on getting this replaced quickly and getting us back on track.

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

• You can't define backup systems to just go to the cloud, it has to be stored locally as well, which eats up the local storage.
• These appliances are high-priced for a small amount of storage and if you want to upgrade, you buy a new appliance. There's no replacing hard drives, you basically move up $5K for each 2Tb and replace the entire appliance each time. It's not a healthy model for growth.

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

Love the units

Incentivized

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

Incentivized

Dashboards and interfaces within Barracuda Backup are very easy to navigate, with clear success/warnings shown. Setting up backup jobs is probably one of the most simplest tasks - compared to competitors we trialed. Trouble shooting backup issues is also simple due to clear errors (VSS errors shown in a understandable format for example)

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

They are always quick to get you routed to a tech support person and always get follow up after contacting them. Last experience was amazing, she adjusted my boxes and they perform even better. I cannot say enough about the support. We had some trouble with one of the windows servers leaving the volume shadow copy out there and would fail. They worked with us to adjust and get working. After that it has been months since I have had to do anything with the server to keep the backups running.

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

Work on a backup agent for Mac OS X or any Apple OS.

Incentivized

The time necessary to manage Barracuda Backups is leaps and bounds superior to Backup Exec. Backup Exec has tons of great features but required constant maintenance. In the end we just wanted the ability to easily schedule, set retention periods and the ability to backup and restore. Barracuda does this exceptionally well.

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

• It is much lower priced than the alternate solution we where thinking about purchasing.
• It was initially a much more cost-effective solution until they changed their cost model making the ROI go down over the last 2 years.
• It saved our districts, that we on-boarded, the cost of new hardware. The deduplication factor kept the total size down for new adds.

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