January 04, 2009, 10:00 PM — Curt Spanburgh of Windows IT Pro has recently evaluated four SharePoint Backup and Recovery solutions. His team tested the latest products from Quest Software, AvePoint, Syntergy, and Symantec, and found a wide array of capabilities and features for users of SharePoint 2007. Unforfunately, missing from the comparison are another two very popular products: CommVault Galaxy Backup and Recovery for SharePoint and Data Protection Manager by Microsoft. If you are running an EMC shop you should also take a look at EMC Backup Manager for SharePoint. Here is a quick summary of the reviewed solutions.
Quest Recovery Manager - Rating 4 out of 5
PROS: Allows granular recovery; can recover data from SharePoint databases; inexpensive; helpful installation process exposes problems before deployment; familiar interface
CONS: Requires a deeper-than-usual knowledge of SharePoint’s administrative interface and command-prompt tools
PRICE: $4,995 per front-end server
BOTTOM LINE: The uncomplicated interface and pared-down options make this a good, easy-to-use option for the junior administrator.
DocAve 4.5 Backup and Recovery - Rating 4 ½ out of 5
PROS: The most complete package reviewed; has additional tools for site collection management (requires purchasing of additional modules)
CONS: Difficult learning curve; giant user manual; expensive
PRICE: $2,995 per front-end server (new DocAve 5.0 release is $3,495 per each server in the farm)
BOTTOM LINE: If you have a large, complex, and busy SharePoint deployment, this is the package you want.
Syntergy Replicator for SharePoint Standard Edition - Rating 3 out of 5
PROS: Eliminates the need to upgrade marginal bandwidth for remote-site replication; offers a unique approach to disaster recovery by using replicates on other production servers as a recovery source; vendor works closely with customers to help with customization
CONS: Expensive; not a true backup and recovery solution
PRICE: $25,000 for the first two servers and $7,500 for each additional server
BOTTOM LINE: This product should be used in conjunction with one of the other products tested here for backup and recovery of granular data in your content databases. For the right scenario, it provides a layer of data integrity that’s impossible with native tools alone.
Symantec Backup Exec Agent for SharePoint - Rating 3½ out of 5
PROS: Performs well in basic backup and recovery of items in list and document libraries; includes the agent to back up the SQL Server databases; leverages existing Backup Exec infrastructure
CONS: Requires the basic Backup Exec server product
PRICE: $1,095.99 for a single-server environment
BOTTOM LINE: This product is a logical choice for a shop that already has a Backup Exec system. If you need more than backup and restore, look at the other products reviewed in this article.
To view these features in the easy-to-read table, visit this SharePointReviews.com article.
