Our primary use case is comprehensive, automated backup and disaster recovery for our core production environment on AWS. We rely on N2W to protect our fleet of EC2 instances, which run our main applications, and our RDS databases, which store all critical customer data. Before N2W, we managed backups with a combination of manual snapshots and custom scripts, which was both time-consuming and prone to human error. Our goal was to find a reliable, 'set-it-and-forget-it' solution that could guarantee our data was protected and provide a clear, rapid path to recovery in a disaster scenario.

N2W has significantly improved our operational efficiency and our confidence in our business continuity plan. The biggest improvement is automation. By using tag-based policies, any new EC2 instance or database launched by our development team is automatically included in the correct backup schedule without any manual intervention from the operations team. This has saved us countless hours and eliminated the risk of a critical server being left unprotected. Furthermore, it transformed our disaster recovery strategy from a theoretical plan into a tested, practical reality. The one-click cross-region recovery feature is incredible. We’ve run disaster recovery drills in a fraction of the time it used to take, allowing us to validate our Recovery Time Objective and Recovery Point Objective with management. This peace of mind is invaluable.

Policy-based automation is the most powerful feature. The ability to define backup schedules, retention periods, and disaster recovery policies and have them apply automatically based on resource tags scales perfectly with our environment and enforces a consistent data protection strategy across the organization. File-level recovery has been a lifesaver on several occasions when a user accidentally deleted an important file. The ability to mount a snapshot and recover a single file or folder in minutes—without having to restore an entire 2TB volume—is incredibly efficient and minimizes disruption. Cross-account and cross-region disaster recovery gives us true resiliency. Knowing that our entire application stack, including its VPC configuration, can be rebuilt in a different AWS region with a few clicks is the ultimate safety net against a region-wide outage or major security event.

While the product is excellent, there are a couple of areas for potential improvement. The process for version upgrades, which sometimes requires deploying a new instance, could be streamlined to allow for a more seamless in-place update. It would be extremely useful to have the ability to set a retention period on manual backups. Occasionally, we take a manual snapshot before a major deployment, and currently, these can be forgotten, leading to unnecessary storage costs. Adding an 'auto-delete after X days' option to manual backups, similar to scheduled policies, would be a fantastic addition for cost management and general housekeeping. The EKS backup module should be a great feature, and it would have been a useful functionality to have for cluster backup management.

Before adopting N2W, we managed our backups internally using a combination of AWS's native EBS Snapshot Lifecycle Manager and a series of custom Lambda scripts. While this approach was inexpensive, it quickly became complex and brittle as our AWS environment grew. The scripts required constant maintenance, there was no central dashboard for monitoring success or failure, and performing a full recovery was a complicated, manual process. We switched because we needed a solution that was more reliable, automated, and less dependent on our internal engineers' time to maintain.

My advice regarding pricing is to look at it in terms of total value and return on investment, not just the license cost. While N2W is a paid product, the cost is easily justified by the significant reduction in engineering hours spent on managing and troubleshooting custom backup scripts. The pricing model, which is based on the number of instances you protect, is straightforward and predictable. The real value comes from the drastically reduced risk of data loss and the speed at which you can recover. The cost of a few hours of downtime would far exceed our yearly N2W license fee, making it a very worthwhile investment for any serious business running on AWS.

We evaluated two other main options before choosing N2W. The first was AWS's native service, AWS Backup. While it is a solid service and integrates well, we found N2W's user interface to be more intuitive and its disaster recovery orchestration to be more powerful and straightforward at the time of our evaluation. The ability to recover an entire instance, including its network configuration, into another region from a single console was a major differentiator. We also briefly looked at another third-party vendor but found N2W's deployment and billing through the AWS Marketplace to be much simpler and more transparent.

My main advice to anyone considering N2W is to start with the free trial. Set it up for a small but critical part of your environment and test a full recovery scenario, including a cross-region disaster recovery drill. Seeing how quickly and seamlessly you can bring a complex application back online is what will truly sell you on the product. It is a solution that delivers tangible peace of mind. The support team has also been very responsive the few times we've had questions. Overall, it is a robust, reliable, and user-friendly product that does exactly what it promises.

I use N2WS Backup & Recovery for AWS Free Trial/BYOL for backups, recovery, and disaster recovery testing. It makes it easy to automatically start and stop processes, simplifying the overall management of backup and restore operations.

N2WS Backup & Recovery for AWS Free Trial/BYOL has helped improve our organization by simplifying backup management and recovery processes. It reduced manual intervention, provided faster recovery times, and ensured compliance with our data retention policies.

The automation features and cost-optimization options also allowed us to manage backups more efficiently across multiple AWS accounts.

N2WS Backup & Recovery for AWS Free Trial/BYOL’s automated backup scheduling and policy-based management are the most valuable features. They enabled us to protect multiple AWS workloads without manual intervention.

The recovery speed was impressive, particularly for EBS snapshots, which helped reduce downtime during testing.

The cost-control features, such as snapshot lifecycle management and tiering to Amazon S3, were also useful in optimizing storage costs.

• Allow users to define backup policies based on AWS  tags for better automation and scalability.
• When we create manual backup policies (especially for AMIs during patching cycles), there's no option to set a retention period. As a result, these backups are not deleted automatically, and we have to log in manually to clean them up. This process is error-prone, often missed, and leads to unnecessary storage costs.
• Suggested Enhancement: Introduce a retention setting for manual backup policies, similar to scheduled policies. This would allow users to:

• Set a retention period (e.g., 7, 30, 90 days) at the time of manual backup creation.
• Ensure automatic deletion of backups after the retention period.
• Avoid manual intervention and reduce the risk of missed cleanups.

I have been using N2WS Backup & Recovery for AWS Free Trial/BYOL for 5 years.

Before evaluating N2WS Backup & Recovery for AWS Free Trial/BYOL, we primarily relied on native AWS backup scripts and lifecycle policies. We switched due to the need for a centralized, automated solution that reduced administrative overhead and minimized the risk of human error.

The Free Trial/BYOL model is helpful for initial testing, but organizations should plan carefully for scale. Pricing can increase as backup volumes grow, so it is important to balance the level of protection with cost-optimization strategies such as tiering snapshots to S3 or Glacier.

I recommend running a cost analysis before committing long-term.

I evaluated AWS Backup, Veeam for AWS, and CloudBerry (now MSP360). N2WS Backup & Recovery for AWS Free Trial/BYOL stood out because of its tighter integration with AWS infrastructure and its proven track record with enterprise workloads.

N2WS Backup & Recovery for AWS Free Trial/BYOL is a strong solution for AWS-centric organizations that want reliable and fast backup and recovery with minimal operational burden.

However, teams should invest time in tuning backup policies and monitoring cost growth. It is best suited for enterprises with compliance or high-availability requirements.

I use the product for backing up all data for EC2 instances as well as FSX volumes.

The ease of use is the biggest advantage. It is simple to recover a whole machine, a volume, or just a file from a specific volume.

It is very simple and easy to use.

Being able to easily restore machines is a valuable feature. We had a ransomware event in 2023, and we were able to recover every machine with minimal effort.

This ensured we got up and running quickly.

The reporting engine could be easier to use, but it does a good enough job for what is needed.

I have used the solution for 5 years.

I did not use any previous solutions before this.

The pricing is very reasonable for what the product can do.

We looked at AWS Backup, but it does not have the level of flexibility and simplicity of N2WS.

This is a product worth using. It is simple and does what it says on the box very well.

It is set and forget backup and disaster recovery.

I use N2WS to back up EC2 instances as well as VPC.

N2WS is a perfect backup solution for AWS EC2 instances and VPC backups. It has made our backup process and monitoring simple and effective.

Policy creation is straightforward, with automatic backups of new resources enabled through tagging. Instance recovery is seamless, whether within the same VPC or across different VPCs.

File-level restores are intuitive and easy to manage, while full VPC backups provide critical protection and peace of mind in the event of a disaster. In addition, lifecycle management and automated transitions to lower-cost storage tiers have been instrumental in optimizing costs while meeting compliance and retention requirements.

The ability to create immutable backups further strengthens our business continuity strategy by ensuring an additional layer of protection against accidental or malicious data loss.

Improved disaster recovery options and expanded multicloud support are two areas where N2WS has already made significant advancements in the latest version. I am eager to upgrade and take full advantage of these enhancements.

I have used the solution for 6 years.

I previously used native AWS Backup, but N2WS provided me with a better platform and features.

I believe N2WS offers a highly competitive pricing model, delivering excellent value. It is certainly a worthwhile investment, providing a strong return on investment (ROI).

Aside from native AWS Backup, I did not evaluate other cloud backup vendors. N2WS came highly recommended, and I am confident in my decision to select them as our backup and recovery solution. As it turns out, it was one of the best decisions for the organization.

N2WS is a powerful solution with a rich set of features designed to address even the most complex backup and disaster recovery requirements. I have tested it across multiple recovery scenarios, and it has consistently delivered as promised.

I am excited to explore the new features as the platform continues to expand its capabilities. In today’s world, where data protection is more critical than ever, N2WS provides the reliability and confidence I need.

We use N2WS Backup & Recovery for backing up EC2 instances.

N2WS Backup & Recovery is very easy to use and configure backup for AWS instances. Since it's deployed on AWS, it's very easy to use and gives multiple reporting features.

N2WS Backup & Recovery efficiently takes cloud backups on EC2 instances. The solution has the option to take backup on-prem servers, but it's not very efficient.

I have been using N2WS Backup & Recovery for more than six years.

N2WS Backup & Recovery is a very stable solution.

N2WS Backup & Recovery is a scalable solution.

We have contacted the solution's technical support team, who are very helpful and help us solve our issues. If there are any product issues, they involve the development team to sort that out.

Positive

N2WS Backup & Recovery's initial setup is easy.

I would recommend N2WS Backup & Recovery to other users.

Overall, I rate N2WS Backup & Recovery a nine out of ten.

One valuable feature is the easy-to-use GUI.

There is room for improvement in stability.

I have been using this solution for a few months. We currently use the latest version. 

I would rate the stability a nine out of ten. 

It is a scalable solution. 

The technical support of N2WS has an amazing team. They are prompt in closing out issues and are responsive to emails.

The initial setup is easy. 

We have received help from the team of N2WS. The enterprise team told me how to go forward with the setup.

For maintenance, only one person is enough because basic algorithm, you can work with it.

I used the free version. I don't have much experience with the paid version. But I'm trying to compare the pricing between different options.

We're currently exploring our options. We are comparing N2WS Backup & Recovery with antivirus and Veeam. So, I'm trying to compare the features of the software.

Overall, I would rate the solution a nine out of ten. I would recommend staying in contact with N2WS's team for help.