We performed a comparison between Veritas Backup Exec and Veritas NetBackup based on our users’ reviews in five categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.
Comparison Results: Veritas NetBackup wins out in this comparison, as it is a robust and high-performing solution. Veritas Backup Exec seems to be more suitable for smaller environments, since its performance slows down during big jobs. In addition, Veritas Backup Exec lacks direct integration with the cloud.
"The implementation is straightforward."
"Recovery via Active Directory is painless and much easier than the complicated setup procedures of other products."
"The backup solution comes in different versions to support different platforms."
"It is a good overall suite of products."
"The most valuable features of Veritas Backup Exec are the easy-to-use intuitive GUI. It is very easy to understand. I have never lost data and I have been able to recover all the data I need."
"Good open file option feature, SQL agent, and EM agent."
"This solution works well and has good integration with technologies such as VMware and Hyper-V."
"Veritas is good for small environments."
"It has a very good user interface."
"The most valuable feature from Veritas NetBackup is the data is very easy to backup. It is similar to VMware. They recently introduced a cloud feature that is useful."
"The most valuable feature is flexibility."
"This is a complete solution, everything is under one console."
"The features are good."
"I like the virtual server backup."
"The most valuable feature is that you don't need any special connectivity - you just need to give your seller name, and then it automatically discovers all your virtual machines, which is a great benefit, especially in a bigger environment."
"It provides us with the versatility to back up everything we require which eliminates the need for a secondary backup solution."
"The console of Veritas Backup Exec is complex when compared to other software."
"There needs to be an integration process of the endpoint devices so that we don't have to redo everything for different products."
"Currently, the solution does not have the capability to restore a single mailbox, so you lose a lot of time having to restore for example ten mailboxes just to recover one."
"It is currently missing the dynamic backup feature for virtual machines, which is available in NetWorker. I can create politics in NetWorker to add virtual machines with specific tags, but I cannot do this in Backup Exec, which is a minus point for me. Currently, a user has to send a request to the Backup administrator to add a machine to the backup, but I should be able to create rules to automatically add a new machine to the backup. This kind of functionality is very important in current times, especially when we are using cloud solutions. I should be able to create more than one stream in a policy and specify how many streams I want to run in parallel in one policy. Currently, I have to manually create more policies to backup more than one virtual machine at the same time. Their support can also be improved in terms of response time."
"Compared to other vendors, there are features that you will find not included in Veritas."
"It's not too stable for client-server architecture. Center Management is not so interactive, and then there are some issues regarding the complex licensing which needs improvement."
"The reports could be made in an easier way."
"There's one common issue with tape backups: the tape might have some space left, but Backup Exec says it's not writable and needs replacement. We've encountered this with multiple clients, so it doesn't seem environment-specific. It's likely related to the software. We usually just format the tape and use it again without much investigation."
"Within their product lineup, they need to consolidate down to one product. Veritas doesn't have one product that does everything. So, Veritas can do everything, but you basically need to run two products. I would like them to combine all the capabilities into one release."
"Maybe they could add more cloud solutions."
"The cost is expensive."
"NetBackup is a very old product, and it is based on Linux, which is not user-friendly."
"Improvements can be made to the service by providing better and more competitive ratios on data backups. The functionality for backups is there with Veritas, but I would like to see them optimize and enhance this feature more."
"It would be helpful, in future releases, if the solution could add WORM (Write Once Read Many) support right within the product."
"The biggest additional features needed are more cloud capabilities and security from ransomware."
"In terms of improvement, it's very difficult to make it work with multiple business units. Its security model is too constricted."
Veritas Backup Exec is ranked 15th in Backup and Recovery with 71 reviews while Veritas NetBackup is ranked 5th in Backup and Recovery with 112 reviews. Veritas Backup Exec is rated 7.8, while Veritas NetBackup is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of Veritas Backup Exec writes "Highly stable, intuitive design, and integrates well". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Veritas NetBackup writes "Efficient data recovery and replication features ". Veritas Backup Exec is most compared with Veeam Backup & Replication, Acronis Cyber Protect, Commvault Cloud, Veritas System Recovery and Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain), whereas Veritas NetBackup is most compared with Veeam Backup & Replication, Rubrik, Veritas NetBackup Appliance, Azure Backup and Dell NetWorker. See our Veritas Backup Exec vs. Veritas NetBackup report.
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Veritas NetBackup is a more robust solution supporting more environments than Backups Exec. There are different pricing models with NetBackup. ie. Per Storage (TB), Media Server or Servers. It is better to reach a Software Vendor who can guide you and quote a solution that meets your requirements. The company that I work for started with Backup Exec then moved to NetBackup. If your environment is more virtual than physical you should also consider Veeam or Rubrik.
The proper question is not Backupexec or Netbackup but what kind of protection you want to have?
We had backup exec for more than 4 years and I can assure you, as a backup administrator, that I had some really hard days related to the proper coverage of servers, applications, and data. Netbackup is the proper choice if you want a serious protection infrastructure but you have to consider the following key facts:
-What type of environment do you want to protect?
Netbackup works perfectly with VMWare and with mixed environments. I'm not saying that it will not work with other providers but the integration with VMware is one of the greatest pros of this product.
-Is the backup time window enough to cover all your resources?
With Backupexec I was struggling to have all backup jobs complete in a time frame of 13 hours. With Netbackup and especially in conjunction with their Appliances I was able to add more and more jobs for the very same time frame.
-What is your frontend volume?
With Netbackup the best solution is to have a Frontend Capacity license. With this license type, there's no need to buy extra licenses for SQL, SharePoint, Exchange, Oracle, etc. It's an all-inclusive license. Furthermore, with the new version 8.2 you don't even have to install agents on servers! The prices may vary but I guess for i.e 20TB capacity the price will be somewhere between 80000 to 100000 euros (1-year maintenance included and assuming a feasible discount). You don't have to pay for an appliance but if you afford it it's highly recommended in order to achieve the best performance and other technologies (i.e AIR, deduplication ratio, etc).
I don't really know what is the current status of Backupexec in terms of version, prices, features etc. As a product it's absolutely not comparable to Netbackup On the other hand we have left it behind for good.
We have just recently migrated our backups off of Netbackup due to the cost.
I do not remember the licensing, but the whole product was getting too expensive for not only the product but for the management of the product. We had 6 different pieces in the environment due to some configuration designs.
So we have moved to a product that we pay so much for the hardware and then a license for the amount of data we ingest through that product. It is one environment management that can handle a large amount of Data Protection.
- For Veritas Backup Exec: Licenses are per client that you want to backup and depends on if it's only an agent for the system or for an application.
- For VMware, the license is per VMware host.-
Actually, I am a technical person so I look only at the technical part rather than the sales part. So I don't know what the prices are for Veritas appliances and software licenses. But the licences of NetBackup are available on both storage and per virtual machine-based.
We recently migrated off of NetBackup to Avamar using a Data Domain for storage. Since we already had the Data Domain it made sense.
What did you move to?
I am happy to set up a short call to explain the differences. Backup Exec is an SMB solution while NetBackup is an enterprise solution. Backup Exec would be more in line with your organization's size. Call me and we can set up a short Webex.