Dell PowerProtect Data Domain Virtual Edition for AWS

My main use case for Dell PowerProtect Data Domain is that I operate as a private cloud provider, similar to AWS but on-premises. We use this as a solution for backup for our tenants. We offer multi-tenancy, and we provide this as a service called Backup as a Service.

The feature of immutability in Dell PowerProtect Data Domain is currently what we are focusing on. We have multi-agent capabilities, which is one of the use cases we offer to our customers because each tenant will have their own database and associated infrastructure.

As ransomware risk is emerging, we are starting to explore immutability using retention lock and related features. The benefit of features in Dell PowerProtect Data Domain for our organization is definitely the governance. Dell has retention lock that allows us to lock the data so that ransomware attacks cannot modify the data.

The improvement needed for Dell PowerProtect Data Domain is definitely in the multi-tenancy capability. Currently, Dell PowerProtect Data Domain has only one interface, which is creating significant challenges. We are working on many creative solutions to improve the multi-tenancy. However, I hope Dell can change the interface to be trunk-based so that all traffic can go through the same interface while supporting multiple VLANs.

I have been using Dell PowerProtect Data Domain for three years.

I assess the stability and reliability of Dell PowerProtect Data Domain as very reliable because my infrastructure has remained healthy throughout the entire time I have been using it.

I have used customer and technical support for Dell PowerProtect Data Domain. During every backup and upgrade process, my team contacts Dell for remote support.

My overall experience with Dell remote support has been really helpful because they stay online with you the entire time until the upgrade is finished.

I did consider other solutions besides Dell PowerProtect Data Domain when selecting the product. However, when I came on board, there was already an organizational policy in place, and Dell PowerProtect Data Domain had already been selected. We inherited this solution. Currently, we are still in the process of assessing other products as well, such as Commvault.

In comparing Dell PowerProtect Data Domain with Commvault, I would say that we are still evaluating because it has been newly deployed and we do not yet know what the performance will be.

The assessment of backup and recovery performance in terms of speed and reliability for Dell PowerProtect Data Domain depends on the pool model. In the past, we had the older 6 series model, which was definitely not up to speed because we were running on the 10 gig interface. The new series model we are running now operates on the 25 gig interface. Although we have not yet run tabletop exercises, based on calculations, it meets the criteria we wanted.

The significance of having fast backup and recovery solutions for my organization using Dell PowerProtect Data Domain is really significant because we are running critical operations affecting the whole of Singapore, and we are protecting Singapore with the frontline.

The impact of Dell PowerProtect Data Domain on my data protection processes is that we handle infrastructure backup. Our infrastructure has its own backup processes, but our tenants have their own processes. What we have provided is our recovery point objective. Whether tenants can meet this objective is their call.

I would rate Dell PowerProtect Data Domain as a seven out of ten, with one being the worst and ten being the best. I rate it a seven and not higher because my organization operates as a cloud provider with different requirements.

My main use case for Dell PowerProtect Data Domain is doing backup. A quick specific example of how I use Dell PowerProtect Data Domain for backup in my organization includes VM backup and Kubernetes pods backup. Apart from this, we use Dell servers.

The best features Dell PowerProtect Data Domain offers are backup data. When I say backup data, a particular feature I find really valuable is reliability, and I also value the speed. Those are the main highlights for me regarding the features.

Dell PowerProtect Data Domain has impacted my organization positively because most of my use cases are required, so it is useful for my organization. It improved data protection, and it also gives me cost cutting regarding specific outcomes with Dell PowerProtect Data Domain.

The data reduction capabilities of the All-Flash DD solution speed up the backup and recovery time. The significance of having fast backup and recovery solutions for my organization when using Dell PowerProtect Data Domain is to make it faster. Dell PowerProtect Data Domain has impacted my organization's data backup efficiency by helping the end user use case run faster and fulfill requirements.

I think Dell PowerProtect Data Domain can be improved by increasing its speed, and support-wise can be more proactive. The interface is pretty simple, but the troubleshooting steps can be further enhanced. The log could be given a GUI that is more user-friendly for troubleshooting rather than requiring CLI troubleshooting, which takes a long time.

I have been using Dell PowerProtect Data Domain for four years.

Dell PowerProtect Data Domain is stable.

Dell PowerProtect Data Domain's scalability is easier to implement.

Customer support for Dell PowerProtect Data Domain can be improved.

I did not previously use a different solution.

I have seen a return on investment because the use cases are straightforward, so newly onboarded team members can also pick up the data protector. This results in manpower savings. I would rather say it is about saving money and saving time through manpower savings, so the cost cut is there.

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is that the licensing is a bit costlier, but the requirement is needed, so it is useful.

We have not evaluated other options before choosing Dell PowerProtect Data Domain.

My advice to others looking into using Dell PowerProtect Data Domain is that I would suggest the same product because product-wise it is good, but support-wise it needs some improvement. I would rate this review a seven out of ten.

My main use case for Dell PowerProtect Data Domain is to store our backups and backup data.

A quick specific example of the kind of data or systems I'm backing up with Dell PowerProtect Data Domain includes backing up our SQL Server, virtual machine workloads, and production data and UAT data on a daily basis.

Regarding my main use case for Dell PowerProtect Data Domain, we are currently leveraging the immutability WORM feature and enabling it throughout our storage to enhance security. We conducted a POC and were able to implement this recent feature.

The best features Dell PowerProtect Data Domain offers mainly help us to archive our backup data. We use this for backing up and restoring the workload data as needed. It is a storage offering with embedded security features.

The security feature that stands out for me is the immutability WORM feature. The restore process works through the NetWorker solution, which helps us to manage backup and recovery. It works with Dell PowerProtect Data Domain, assisting us in the recovery process.

Dell PowerProtect Data Domain has positively impacted my organization because the solution is robust. The hardware quality is good, and we have been using it for quite a long time. It works well with our backup solution, which is also a Dell product.

Specific outcomes and improvements I have seen since using Dell PowerProtect Data Domain include data compression helping us to save storage cost. Dell PowerProtect Data Domain effectively compresses the data, and the deduplication features allow us to save cost.

Dell PowerProtect Data Domain can be improved by enhancing the maximum allowed capacity. We currently have a limitation in the total storage size. Based on the recent increase in data size, it could be better if the model supports more capacity.

I would suggest improving the user interface for Dell PowerProtect Data Domain. We currently see some ambiguity and bugs in the reports, but they remain manageable. I would prefer to enhance the UI, which will help the admin to gain more insight.

I have been using Dell PowerProtect Data Domain for almost ten years.

Dell PowerProtect Data Domain is stable.

Dell PowerProtect Data Domain's scalability is acceptable so far.

Customer support for Dell PowerProtect Data Domain is fine.

I did not previously use a different solution before Dell PowerProtect Data Domain.

I was not in the building phase, so I did not evaluate other options before choosing Dell PowerProtect Data Domain.

My advice to others looking into using Dell PowerProtect Data Domain is that it works very well. The product is stable and works very well with the Dell NetWorker backup solution. If anyone is using Dell NetWorker backup solution, they can integrate with Dell PowerProtect Data Domain because they are coming from the same product vendor. The integration should be smooth and the support should also be fine. I would rate this product a seven out of ten.

My main use case for Dell PowerProtect Data Domain is backup. We utilize it to back up all of our data from our credit card domain application.

The best features that Dell PowerProtect Data Domain offers are that it allows us to quickly trigger the backup from the application and also quickly restore the data once needed.

The quick backup and restore process of Dell PowerProtect Data Domain helps my team day to day by saving time and ensuring that we are able to do it quickly and respond to our customers whenever they need the data to be restored quickly.

Dell PowerProtect Data Domain impacts my organization positively by helping ensure that all of our credit card application data is backed up securely and allowing us to make sure that we are able to store all of that data and meet all of our compliance requirements. Regarding compliance requirements, we have a requirement that data should be stored for seven years, and with Dell PowerProtect Data Domain, we are able to ensure that all of that data is stored securely and can be retrieved at a moment's notice.

To improve Dell PowerProtect Data Domain, I would suggest that we take a look at how we also store AI data as needed.

I have been using Dell PowerProtect Data Domain for seven years.

Dell PowerProtect Data Domain is stable.

The scalability of Dell PowerProtect Data Domain is adequate; the harder part is when we reach full saturation of the storage and have to purchase a new Dell PowerProtect Data Domain in order to utilize it, but we are able to expand quickly.

The customer support of Dell PowerProtect Data Domain is great, as they are able to respond promptly within the SLAs.

We did not previously use a different solution.

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is adequate; Dell is not the cheapest, but it is also not the most expensive.

The impact that Dell PowerProtect Data Domain has on my organization's data backup efficiency is good, as it ensures that we are able to complete our backups in a timely manner and quickly restore the data as needed.

I assess the data reduction capabilities of the all-flash DD solution as good, as we are able to reduce the size of the backups so that we can maximize and stretch out the storage.

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is adequate; Dell is not the cheapest, but it is also not the most expensive.

Before choosing Dell PowerProtect Data Domain, we evaluated NetBackup, but ultimately selected Dell.

On a scale of one to ten, I would rate Dell PowerProtect Data Domain a nine. I chose nine out of ten because we are able to maximize at least the product and it helps us meet our requirements.

Unfortunately, we do not use Dell PowerProtect Data Domain's AI capabilities yet. We also have not explored the accuracy and reliability of output for Dell PowerProtect Data Domain's AI capabilities yet.

The significance of having fast backup and recovery solutions with Dell PowerProtect Data Domain is that we are able to complete all of our backups within the down period and ensure that the applications are up and running before banking hours.

I would advise others looking into using Dell PowerProtect Data Domain to take a look at the product, as it is an end-to-end solution that allows you not just to do a backup but also to recover quickly and properly store the data to ensure that it is safe and sound even for years to come. My overall review rating for Dell PowerProtect Data Domain is nine out of ten.

Dell PowerProtect Data Domain helps users with configuration, troubleshooting, and optimizing the system. A recent troubleshooting task I handled involved an upgrading pre-check failure caused by system activity when an administrator attempted to update the data domain operating system while a background task was running. The user ran the system upgrade pre-check version, and it failed at 100% with a generic blocking error. I directed the user to check the infrastructure logs using log view debug. The log revealed a critical block indicating that filesys cleaning was in progress. To optimize and unblock the system, I provided the exact command to safely halt the active space reclamation process, which was `filesys clean stop`. Once stopped, the pre-check passed cleanly and allowed the administrator to successfully proceed with the system upgrade.

The key features of Dell PowerProtect Data Domain include its core capabilities, encompassing deduplication, which provides high-speed, variable-length data reduction that minimizes physical storage needs. Retention Lock protects backups from ransomware deletion or modification, and the Data Invulnerability Architecture offers continuous automated validation that detects and repairs any data corruption. Additionally, the most common and useful feature is the DD Boost client-side deduplication that offloads processing to the backup server, speeding up backups. Another notable feature is the Smart Scale and logical management pooling that aggregates up to 32 exabytes of data across multiple appliances.

There are several benefits of using DD Boost and Smart Scaling. The first benefit regarding DD Boost is faster backups, as backup speed has been increased by 50% by handling deduplication on the backup server. The second benefit is network relief, as the dataset across the network has been reduced by up to 90% using significantly less bandwidth. The third benefit is improved server efficiency, which has reduced the CPU load on the backup server by offloading heavy data processing. When it comes to Smart Scale, the first benefit is simplified management, allowing management of up to 32 exabytes of logical capacity under a single, unified namespace. The second benefit is nondisruptive migration, enabling the movement of active data between physical appliances seamlessly without altering client configurations. The final benefit is balanced storage, which automatically distributes incoming backup workloads evenly across multiple Data Domain units.

Dell PowerProtect Data Domain has positively impacted my organization by achieving remarkable outcomes, including storage efficiency of 10:1 to 50:1 deduplication that drastically reduces physical disk purchases. It also provides faster recovery that decreases RTO by up to two times faster during disaster recovery drills. Additionally, there are cost savings due to lower floorspace, cooling, and power consumption costs, which result from consolidating multiple legacy backup targets into one system. Lastly, I would mention our ransomware defense, with zero successful deletions or encryptions on data volumes protected by strict Retention Lock compliance.

Dell PowerProtect Data Domain does have some limitations, with a common pain point being the high upfront cost, as licensing and specialized hardware appliances carry a premium price tag compared to generic cloud or software-defined storage. Another limitation is that complex cloud tiering makes moving older data to the public cloud require separate Cloud Tier licenses, which can be complex to configure and manage. Upgrading physical capacity often necessitates buying expensive rigid expansion shelves rather than scaling incrementally, which represents another pain point. Lastly, there is noticeable performance overhead when enabling strict encryption, replication, and Retention Lock features simultaneously, as it can slow down ingestion speeds.

Regarding needed improvements, the licensing cost is somewhat complex, as managing license capacity basis alongside separate feature licenses for DD Boost or Cloud Tiering creates administrative overhead during renewals. Additionally, I have personally experienced slow file-level restore, with reconstituting highly deduplicated data for a small single-file restore from a large backup set taking longer than expected.

I have been used Dell PowerProtect Data Domain for about six years.

Dell PowerProtect Data Domain is a very stable, mature solution, as it has been around for a very long time and is highly regarded as the standard industry benchmark for data backup reliability.

Dell PowerProtect Data Domain is scalable and can easily grow with my organization's needs, as it adapts well to massive enterprise data growth. You can perform virtual capacity planning to avoid upgrade costs, and when scaling up, you can add physical hardware units by connecting external disk shelves using SAS for more storage on the fly, though you must purchase additional capacity licenses from Dell to unlock that new storage.

The customer support for Dell PowerProtect Data Domain is quite good, as they are effective at resolving issues and are widely considered excellent for hardware failures, although support for complex software application issues often depends heavily on the specific SLA contract that an organization purchases.

Before using Dell PowerProtect Data Domain, I sometimes had physical tape libraries and generic NAS and SAN storages, as those standard network storages lacked inline data reduction and resulted in massive storage costs. The reason behind switching is that moving data to Dell PowerProtect Data Domain reduces data footprints by a factor of 10:1 to 50:1, drastically lowering hardware purchasing needs.

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Dell PowerProtect Data Domain is that it is somewhat costlier, as the high premium on physical appliances such as DD6900 commands a substantial premium compared to generic storage.

The professional services setup cost surprises often stem from mandatory deployment services. Hiring Dell engineers to properly configure network topologies, replication fabrics, and initial backup policies adds substantial cost to the day one bill.

While I do not have a particular metric for ROI, the TCO reduction is up to 61%, as comprehensive economic modeling shows an average of up to 60% reduction in total cost of ownership over a five-year lifecycle compared to public or generic storage targets. The massive inline deduplication allows a company to pack up to 75 times more backup data into the same physical hardware, which means buying up to three to four times less physical disk space than competing solutions require for identical workloads.

Initial capital expenditure can easily run into six to seven figures, and the professional services setup cost surprises often stem from mandatory deployment services. Hiring Dell engineers to properly configure network topologies, replication fabrics, and initial backup policies adds substantial cost to the day one bill. Licensing is complex and fragmented, heavily tied to capacity which, while allowing organizations to scale, creates a hidden trap. If your data grows faster than expected or your deduplication ratios are lower than anticipated, you will face unbudgeted, expensive capacity expansion licenses.

Before switching to Dell PowerProtect Data Domain, I evaluated HPE StoreOnce as an option.

My advice for others considering using Dell PowerProtect Data Domain is to build a precise growth forecast and conservatively calculate deduplication ratios, avoiding initial hardware budgets based on a best-case 50:1 deduplication ratio while instead using a safer 10:1 or 15:1 estimation for first-year budgeting to avoid premature capacity shortages. It is also vital to check the hardware capacity ceiling of the appliance model purchased so that if data growth exceeds that limit, it forces a costly forklift upgrade to a larger chassis, and optimize the financial contract accordingly. Dell PowerProtect Data Domain is deployed on-premises with dedicated physical hardware appliances such as DD3300 or DD6900. Overall, I would rate this solution an 8 out of 10.