NAKIVO Backup & Replication Reviews

This is a standout backup, replication, and rapid recovery solution for any small to medium-sized business which has a virtualized server environment - particularly for VMware vSphere and Microsoft Windows Server Hyper-V.

Probably the best recommendation is the fact that we choose to use this ourselves. As a value added reseller/consultant, we have access to many products. We recommend it to smaller vSphere sites where it provides an excellent alternative to the likes of Veeam and the expensive HA options from VMware.

The architecture is excellent and real-life practical, not only for backups to local backup repositories but also for remote backup repositories and/or cloud storage. The virtual machine replication with multiple snapshots between physical hosts provides a cost-effective alternative to those who cannot afford/can't justify a full high availability solution.

It has massively simplified the backup process and management of backups when compared to the previous solution. Backup times are much quicker.

The pre-configured virtual machine means installation onto a vSphere host takes minutes, requiring little more than the allocating of an IP address for the web console and a few credentials. We quite literally install the virtual machine, create a backup repository, link Nakivo to our vSphere environment, and have the first backup running in under twenty minutes.

Email notifications make the ongoing monitoring of the system simplicity itself.

Many of these have been mention already.

The direct support from Nakivo has been excellent when we have had issues. The built-in link in the web console to request support and automatically include a support bundle with all the relevant configuration data for your system makes requesting support easy - not that we have had to do it very often.

They also seem to be listening to the customer base. It is one of the few products where you feel you are getting value for the ongoing support costs. There is a continuous stream of useful updates and new features.

The speed of the backups and replications is fantastic and, for the most part, the simplicity of use has been wonderful.

The interface can be a little clunky at times. I guess this is partly the nature of the beast, being as it is a browser-based console. The benefits of the browser-based console, for the most part, far outweigh the occasional clunkiness of the interface.

Support for the backup and replication of virtual machines is excellent, but improved support for physical machine backups would be very welcome (I believe this is already on the way). 

With the current pricing model, the per workstation costs can soon rack up, so as to make it prohibitive to have a blanket backup policy for all workstations.

I've been using this solution for 5 years.

In the time we have used it and recommended it, it has been incredibly stable. We have managed to corrupt a backup repository by physically pulling the plug mid-job, but that is about it.

It will scale easily to match the recourses available.

Support via the web console has been very straightforward and the response has been prompt and knowledgeable.

We have not had any phone support.

I did previously use Acronis.

Nakivo, overall, provided a more complete, simpler, and cost-effective solution - particularly in the virtual environment.

The solution is very simple to deploy, as already mentioned.

In a smaller environment (less than three physical hosts) the Enterprise Plus is an excellent solution, particularly with the perpetual pricing available. 

I'd advise new users to take note of the ongoing support costs which currently are well worth having. 

Nakivo seems to be focused on developing and improving the product.

I did evaluate many options before choosing this.

Our backup solution is quite unique. We have two data centers that require bandwidth throttling to ensure that business traffic does not get affected by the backup/restoration. Both data centers are using VMware, however, our smaller data center is using a small server that only has a single core. Therefore, we need to use the director from the larger data center which traverses over the VPN. This solution allows us to do exactly what we need, all while being very easy and very cost-effective.    

Nakivo's backup and replication product has allowed us to implement a disaster recovery solution with a target repository in the cloud.  

The biggest reason we went with Nakivo is the ability to rate limit and/or throttle the backup, ensuring that the traffic required to maintain our business operations was not interrupted.  This is very important. Nakivo's backup and replication product has provided us with a solution that meets our requirements.  We are definitely better off using this solution.

The feature that we have found most valuable would be the backup solution using bandwidth throttling.  

While we need to back up our infrastructure, we also need to maintain operations and this allows us to do both.  

We have our repository in the cloud which provides a backup solution in the event that a true disaster strikes, such as the building catching on fire and losing all equipment.  

In order to maintain data integrity, we had to store the repository off-site and Nakivo has provided a solution that meets that requirement.

Nakivo's implementation documentation could use a little beefing up. There was a section of the implementation where we got stuck and had to contact Nakivo support to fix it.  It was a very simple fix, and once we got past it, the remainder of the implementation went very smoothly.  

In addition, Nakivo's support team is very easy to work with. They were quick and got us up and running right away. Ideally, we would have preffered to have the documentation accurate so we didn't need to engage with the support, however, it all worked out in the end.

I've used the solution for about four months.

Stability is great - so far so good.

Adding a second data center was a breeze.

I've been extremely impressed with customer service and support. They are always there when you need them.

Positive

We did not use a different solution. We tried a number of different products out, however, we did not commit to anything as they didn't fit our needs.

There were a few tricky pieces to the implementation, however, the support I received from Nakivo was top notch and they got me going ASAP.

We handled the solution's set up in-house.

It's difficult to put an ROI on a DR solution.  

Potential users should reach out to the sales team. They are very easy to work with and provide everything you need - including walking you through their free demo.

We looked at both Barracuda and Crashplan.

I have nothing else to add. I'm very impressed with their solution.

I use it for my VM (Virtual Machine) backups. I logged into it, created myself an account, and then I created my backup jobs. Then I can run the jobs to do the backups when I want. I can schedule it to run when it is convenient — say at 10 o'clock at night — or I can say run it right now, or whatever. It is pretty intuitive in that sense. Pretty easy to set up and use.  

What I like most about it is their solution runs either on Windows or Linux or even on something like Synology. Nakivo is versatile and able to work with other systems.  

The lack of that capability is one of the big reasons that I do not like Veeam. Veeam is strictly a Windows solution. That is a big negative in my opinion. Plus Veeam is good — it is not that it is not good, it works great — but it is also expensive.  

I do not know that I see a lot that needs to be improved with Nakivo. It seems maybe that the interface could be a little bit better, but it is what it is. You can always improve on the interface on anything.  

For me, I just work with the product in a simple way. For instance, I have not even looked into whether you can hook it up with Active Directory which may be helpful if you are going to add different users and give them the capability to back up or do certain other tasks. You might be able to do that already now. I just have not had the need or opportunity to look into it. If it is not there it is the type of thing that might be added.  

I have been using Nakivo for a couple of years on-and-off.  

The stability and performance can depend on how many VMs you have and the volume of what you are backing up. I think I set it up for one customer in their lab and they had 50 or 60 VMs running and set it up to kickoff at say at 10 o'clock at night and do the backup. Nakivo just does its thing on schedule. Here when I back it up, when I back up my Atlassian tools, I will back up three of those VMs at one time. 

So it is pretty stable when it comes to carrying out what it is supposed to do. Again, it depends on how fast your network is, how many transporters you have, and where you are backing it up to. Although I do not do it myself, Nakivo has the capability to back up directly to Amazon S3 if you choose to do that. The flexibility for working in various environments is really valuable, and in my case it saves money.  

I think the scalability of the product is good. All you have to do is basically just install more transporters. If you only got one transporter installed and you are trying to back up 100 VMs at the same time, you are pushing everything through one little teeny pipe, but if you have more transporters, then it will actually use all of those and the backups and restores can happen faster.  

I have not really used technical support because I have not had any issues or problems with the product. It is very easy to set up and very straightforward to use. I can not vouch for that fact on Windows because I have never tried it on Windows. I choose not to do that. I run everything on Linux and I like that better.  

I have used other solutions and I wound up sticking with Nakivo because it is more versatile and it is able to work with systems other than Microsoft. You can get it running in many different ways. I am just running the previous build VM, but I also have a 12 terabytes Synology NAS unit here. I can actually install it directly on that and not even have to create a virtual machine. It runs great without any extra setup. So I am using Nakivo for versatility, mostly.  

The initial setup and installation are very straightforward. It depends on how many transporters you want to install. You can install more than one transporter. If you are doing lots of backups, multiple transporters will make it go faster. In my case, I do not need that. I have actually tried using multiple transporters at customer sites and it is a functional solution.  

I just use the free version — if you will — it is kind of free. You can buy a one-time perpetual license, or you can do subscription-based leasing, or you can do it based on how many VMs you want to back up. If you want to only buy it for 50 VMs, then you only buy it for 50 VMs. You have a lot of different options when it comes to pricing and the pricing models are pretty flexible and affordable.  

I have tried Veeam and I have tried a few others. I forget their names. Nakivo just seems simpler to me. It is simple to use. I like the fact that I do not have to have a Windows license to run it like I would with other products like Veeam. That is just another something that I have to pay for and maintain on top of what I already have. Nakivo is a work-around for that situation.  

I like the product because it is doing exactly what I need it to do, and that is reliably backing up my VM. I have actually had to restore some VMs. Sometimes the power just goes off here and something will get corrupted and it works well for that. It has been reliable in restoring exactly what I needed to restore.  

Based on my experience, the advice I would give to people considering it is to go for it. I think it is a great product. But there is a problem with customers — especially government customers — resisting adopting anything new. They get hung up on one thing and they like to stick with it. They buy a license and they just have it set in their minds that they do not want to try anything else, even though the solution they have might be costing them a fortune. Getting them to adopt a change can be difficult.  

It is like when someone is committed to Cisco. I tell government customers not to buy Cisco under any circumstances. I tell them just to never get involved with it. Then they will complain and say that Cisco is all that they know. Arista beats the hell out of Cisco and it uses the same interface. Guys who know how to use Cisco already will not have to go to school at all to learn how to use Arista, and it ends up being half the price. My complaint about Cisco is not that it does not work. It depends on what you are doing. But in my opinion, Cisco solutions just do not have the necessary throughput for certain situations.  

I have tried to get a lot of clients to buy this and show them the advantages. Some of them just say they already have a license for something else and they want to stick with it. People need to be open to the advantages of considering other products and how that can make a change in their efficiency and their bottom line.  

On a scale from one to ten (where one is the worst and ten is the best), I would rate Nakivo as a nine-out-of-ten. I would never give anything a ten.  

We have a new VMware vSphere Cluster with several Virtual Machines (Windows-based and Linux-based). We needed a new backup solution for those new workloads. I deployed in a second site, a new backup server with a storage SAN directly attached. I deploy NAKIVO B&R in a virtual appliance and with it, I protect all of the inventory of the VMs and save the backups and data in a backup repository with an immutability feature.

At the moment, we don't use Replication, however, I studied this feature. Maybe I will deploy this feature in the future on some new vSphere hosts in a DRP site.

Nakivo's replication feature can permit configuration replicas in a different hardware platform with VMware vSphere. We protect all of our virtual machines in VMware vSphere and secure our data with the immutability feature; our virtual machines are Windows-based and Linux-based. We have SQL Server, IIS, Active Directory Instances, PACS, and File Servers.

The virtual appliance for VMware vSphere is easy to deploy, easy to manage, and we have no need for additional Windows licenses. NAKIVO has an immutability feature that protects our backup data. Nakivo is a backup solution good for the first steps in backup and replication uses cases. It offers low license costs and is very easy to deploy. 

I recommend the Virtual Machine Appliance for all VMware vSphere Infrastructures.

I deployed it to a second site with a new backup server with a storage SAN directly attached. I deploy edNAKIVO B&R in a virtual appliance and with it, I protect all the inventory of the VMs.

They need a better knowledge base with more information about support issues. 

I would like new recovery methods for my VM and live full VM restore overwriting and the ability to restore individual files on the VM (like VMDK, VMX).

I would like it if Nakivo could protect virtual machines with WSFC deployed on VMware (usually SQL Server clusters virtualized). 

I would like to restore my data on a cloud site. I would like a new replication method with zero RTO (better than snapshot replication). 

I would like new features for the backup agent for physical machines.

I've used the solution for one year.

We did previously use a different solution.

Nakivo is good for the first steps in backup and replication. If comes at a low license cost and is very easy to deploy.

We did evaluate other options. 

The solution is primarily used for backup and replication of virtual environments based on VMware ESXi located in different company sites.

I use Nakivo B&R to provide Disaster Recovery and backups of complex VMware environments. 

I have multiple datacenters centrally managed and need a solution that's scalable, simple, and also has enterprise-grade features that give me complete control of backups.

Initially, the solution was going to be an alternative to a primary backup. Now, it is always a must-have in our environment.

There's a simple interface and a lot of options. Installing directly on a NAS appliance is a must.

First of all, the price and the order process of Nakivo B&R are very attractive and simple.

We have a lot of QNAP appliances and Nakivo Backup and Replication supports them. This is very useful. I can install the suite directly to the NAS appliance and the transport package on a small QNAP across my datacenter's infrastructure. 

The product has almost the same features of Veeam Backup and Replication at a lower price point, and this is very attractive.

The enterprise version is a solid product with good support, a lot of features, and a helpful knowledge base.

It has a simple and intuitive user interface and the fast learning curve is amazing.

Another very useful feature is VM backup verification. Nakivo B&R takes the backup, boots the VM, and takes a screenshot. In this way, I can be sure that the backup or replication job is consistent.

Another great feature in version 10.4 is the immutability of the backup repository. This is a must-have in order to protect against ransomware attacks.

Nakivo offers direct support through the graphical interface and this is great to have if you need quick help.

The solution needs a high availability feature in case of loss on the primary site. This would be very attractive as a part of configuration backup.

Another great additional feature would be an automatic upgrade of the transporter package in case of an upgrade of full product. In my environment, I have many transporters at different datacenters and I need to perform a manual upgrade process at this time.

Storage snapshot integration for the EMC Unity appliance is another missing feature.

Log and report creation can be improved. 

The graphical user interface can be made better.

I have been using Nakivo B&R for about 4 years.

The product is very stable and offers great support.

I had no problem using it in about 4 years

It is very easy to expand the repository and to deploy it in a different data center.

There are no issues in regards to customer service and technical support.

Positive

I still use Veeam Backup and Replication as the main source of backup jobs, but Nakivo is very attractive and offers the same functionality at a very interesting price.

The setup process is very easy. I use Nakivo directly installed on QNAP appliance and in about five minutes I can start working.

The solution is very easy to set up and has direct support of the NAS appliance at a very interesting price.

It is a product that is very easy to order.

We are using Nakivo Backup & Replication to backup 40 Virtual machines from our HyperV cluster.

We also use it to backup one physical server.

All of these backups are stored on a Synology NAS in our building.

Nakivo Backup & Replication have replaced another backup solution we used before which lacked many features.

We plan to set up an offsite backup for all the important virtual machines via a 300MB VPN connection to an external office.

We are currently using the Enterprise Essentials license.

We first used NAKIVO Backup & Replication for our own HyperV Cluster. Then, we added a physical server.

Having used it for some time, we discovered all of its functionalities and have seen the power of the product.

The web interface is clear and simple to use and learning to use it is very quick.

The email reports are clear.

The support is quick and efficient.

NAKIVO Backup & Replication has become an important part of our disaster and recovery strategy.

Our company, being a VAR, has decided to become a reseller of this product to help more and more customers to discover it.

The first good thing about Nakivo Backup & Replication is the installation and configuration process.

The web interface is intuitive to use. The dashboard is simple to read and very clear. The navigation between pages using links is very useful too.

The built-in feature to send requests to support is very useful. The support team is very efficient.

The upgrade process is manual but very simple to do.

Other features like search and calendar are good.

The last new added features, including the Immutable Repository and 2FA, are important ways to help us increase our backup protection.

There are not many features we are missing at this moment with Nakivo Backup & Replication.

If it would be perhaps possible to add some more details and information in the activities tab or links from graphics to logs, that would be useful.

For HyperV, we need to extract VMDK from OVA files and convert them to VHDX. It would be easier to have a direct download of VHDX files.

It would be a good thing to have some use case and architecture examples online to understand integration in complex infrastructure.

Visio stencils are missing. They would help us build schemas.

We've been using Nakivo Backup & Replication since 2018.

We never had any crashes. No need to reboot the NAKIVO VMs.

The solution is very stable.

We had no problem upgrading our infrastructure and adding many virtual machines.

Support via the web console is very straightforward and the response time is quick. They are knowledgeable.

We have never needed any phone support.

We used another product in the past. It lacked some important features and we decided to switch. After having tested some other products, we choose Nakivo Backup & Replication.

The initial setup was straightforward.

We implemented the solution through an in-house team.

The ROI is very good. 

Globally, Nakivo Backup & Replication has a lower price than other backup solutions while still providing the same or more functionalities.

When we decided to change the backup solution, we evaluated Veeam and Nakivo, and we choose Nakivo.

I'd advise new users to try it then you will likely adopt it.

We use Nakivo as a great addition to our client's VMware environment for backups. We have multiple clients and were looking for an easy backup solution. We were looking for a product that is easy and simple to use. This product perfectly fit and ended up becoming a mainstay in our portfolio of products that we can't live without. We have had several instances where Nakivo has really shined and helped us to recover from potential issues very quickly. Nakivo hasn't only met those expectations, it's surpassed them!

For our portfolio management services, Nakivo is simply perfect. Our team can react in a really short time if a backup doesn't work correctly. When we need a backup or only some files, it is really easy to restore and fix the problems. It is absolutely a time win and has improved our reaction times. Our clients are very happy and it is perfect that Nakivo runs perfectly with Synology disk drives. 

Our technicians don't want to miss it anymore and if a client doesn't want to backup with Nakivo, then the backup is the client's problem. 

The fact that it works with Synology is a big valuable point. Also, that we can check the functionality of a backup so easily. Cloud integration is valuable because the ability to not only backup locally, but to the cloud, has been a great addition to the already fantastic product. We can save so much time with Nakivo and are very happy that we found it and loved to use it for our solutions. 

Last but not least the support is absololutly perfect. Every time we had a problem they helped us instantly.            

I see two things that could improve:

• The way encryption is currently working could be improved. Currently, it's not possible to encrypt the backup to an NFS share directly. It needs to have the encryption within the Transporter/VM to enable encryption, which isn't optimal. So I'm hoping that in the near future this function will be implemented.
• Sometimes there is strange UI behavior with changes not being saved without any good message as to why.

But those are only small points and they are not very painful. 

We have been using Nakivo for two years.

I use Nakivo Backup & Restore with a basic license for one physical host, and I run it on a Raspberry Pi 4. The physical host runs a VMware ESXi Hypervisor 7.0, the free edition.

Primarily, I use it to back up the virtual machines from the physical server to a backup repository that is run on a NAS. My environment consists of six or seven virtual machines that range from Unix/Linux machines to Windows Server.

Nakivo, the physical host, and the NAS repository are all on the same network. The NAS is a Qnap solution with HDDs.

With Nakivo, I have the peace of mind that all of my production environment is safely backed up and can be restored safely, easily, and quickly with a few clicks.

When I changed the host server, the restoring of virtual machines was completed in a fully automated process, in a few hours, with just a few clicks. This is in contrast to it an effort of days of work restoring everything manually.

The backup process is also fully automated, with powerful scheduling, so that I do not need to worry about a loss of service for any of our services.

The most valuable features are the possibility to include a free ESXi Hypervisor into the backup, because of budget constraints, and it is lightweight. I do not need a very powerful machine to run Nakivo and can use my ESXi host for the VMs.

Deduplication saves around 50% of drive space, which is handy.

Migrating to a new environment is also done quickly because you can store the configuration and restore it in another environment. The license is also migrated.

The self-backup feature is also handy, ensuring that the solution itself is backed up regularly.

Automatic updates do not work, and every update has to be done manually. I've upgraded twice, from 10.0 to 10.0.1 and then to 10.1.1.

A mobile app for administration would be appreciated.

The user interface could use a bit of refreshing; however, on the other hand, it runs very smoothly, so if that would change I can live with the user interface looking a bit dated.

I would like to see some more detailed data regarding backups. For example, a pie chart representing the various virtual machines or other backups and how much space they need would be helpful to have.

I have been using Nakivo Backup and Restore for six months.

The solution is very stable, with no breakdowns so far. Backups are performed regularly, no errors regarding the creation of backups or with restoring from backups. The connection to repositories and inventories is stable and without outages or disconnects. We are especially impressed, because it is running on a Raspberry Pi.

You can deploy multiple transporters which can scale your solution without much additional cost.

Support is top-notch. They are very diligent and helpful.

It is my first solution of this type.

The setup is really simple and straightforward and it can be run on a Raspberry Pi.

The initial setup is extremely straightforward, the Knowledge Base and User Guide are very concise and to the point. We had no issues with the process.

Our in-house team is responsible for deployment and maintenance.

Our projected ROI is 12 months.

Regarding the licensing, I would advise speaking to the Nakivo representatives and you can get the best option for your environment.

I did not evaluate other options.