Qorestor 7.2.1 (Object Direct) - Tier1

We use Quest QoreStor for an inline data application and compression for our backup server.

Quest QoreStor allows you to use cold storage for long-term data retention.

We use Quest QoreStor for both on-premises and cloud operations, and we are definitely seeing significant cost savings. We were just uploading to the cloud before, and now we are running it through Quest QoreStor. The license cost is actually lower than what we would pay extra in storage space.

Deduplication and compression are the main features that make someone get Quest QoreStor, and that's where it really shines. I use ZFS and XFS at home, and Quest QoreStor is even better.

With Quest QoreStor, you only pay for the hardware and the software, and if you want to achieve a shorter cost reduction.

Quest QoreStor definitely saved us money. We use it for deduplication and compression, and everything that we don't offload onto the cloud saves us money. We only upload the changed blocks, and we save on our cloud fee, such as the cloud invoice for backup storage.

The importance of support is significant to me. I was working for a service provider, and all of our customers had a Quest or warning. Sometimes the support really underperforms. I always had to get it escalated or ask for someone specifically because those other people would just read knowledge-based articles that I had already done myself.

Quest QoreStor does not work with any backup software, server, or storage hardware. It has the hardware compatibility list, and you need a specific number of IOPS, so it needs to run on decent hardware at least to have enough input-output operations. Otherwise, the setup result will be canceled. I'm not too sure if there are still physical appliances, but when I first started, we had some customers with a physical Quest QoreStor appliance, and it would only run on certain hardware. It doesn't work with every backup program. For example, Veritas Backup Exec is incompatible, but Veeam is compatible, and V Ranger is compatible as well.

I didn't even know that Quest QoreStor has any static AI and behavioral AI technologies.

I was first introduced to Quest QoreStor and other Quest products during my IT training five years ago, and I've been using it ever since.

The support team consists of three or five people, with three very good people and two people who are not helpful. I always had to get it escalated or ask for someone specifically because those other people would just read knowledge-based articles that I had already done myself.

Neutral

I have used HPE StoreOnce with deduplication and compression as an alternative to Quest QoreStor.

The deployment of Quest QoreStor is flawless. It's very easy. You do it once for every customer, and just click it and forget it.

One person can deploy Quest QoreStor. Technically, in a larger environment, you would do it with your team. However, I don't see Quest QoreStor as a big enterprise product. It's more suitable for small businesses.

With Quest QoreStor, you only pay for the hardware and the software, and if you want to achieve a shorter cost reduction.

These products aren't comparable. Veeam is basically the software that provides the backup, and Quest QoreStor is the underlying storage.

I am not too sure about the archiving feature. It has that capability, but I'm not too sure if it's categorized as archiving as per German or European law. We need something revised in a safe backup so it can be held up in court.

On a scale of 1-10, I rate Quest QoreStor a seven out of 10.

We use Quest QoreStor  as a backup solution alongside Quest vRanger.

We maintain our own ASP environment in our data center as well as an internal environment. It is running with the virtual servers in a VMware solution. For years, our backup solution had been running with vRanger which has stored backups on a local device in our data center. In addition to this, we had been running good old tape backups for external storage. We contacted Quest and found out about the QoreStor product, so now, we use vRanger backup, and we store the backup on the QoreStor Server. In addition to that, we are using Blob Storage from Microsoft for external backup.

The extreme compression of data is a big thing for us. We were looking for an online backup solution, and QoreStor is very good in terms of data compression. It helps us minimize the required storage in the Blob Storage environment.

In addition, it is more affordable compared to others. For example, Veeam's pricing was nearly double what Quest offered us.

It runs on Linux which is good. Linux is harder to infiltrate by ransomware and things like that.

Overall, I am happy with this solution, but a way to export configuration settings would be beneficial. After everything is set up and configured, there should be a way to export the configuration. In case something happens to the QoreStor server, and we need to reinstall and configure everything, being able to import the configuration would be helpful. This feature does not currently exist.

We have been using it for six months.

Quest QoreStor is very stable compared to our previous solution. It has not crashed at all. Any issues are related to our hardware and not Quest.

Increasing capacity should not be a problem. If we need more space, we will purchase additional disks and an additional license for that space.

We had some issues with the storage device that we set up, and they were very helpful regarding that. The problem was related to Lenovo, not Quest, but their support helped us all the way.

Their speed has been good compared to others. We always get the automated message back. I have contacted them about three times, and generally, I receive a response on the same day I post the support case.

I would rate their support a ten out of ten. I am very happy with the help I got from them.

Positive

I have not personally used anything similar before Quest QoreStor, as I did not work in backup roles in previous companies.

We installed it in our data center on-premises on a physical server, separate from the environment that we are taking backups of. We bought a new physical server to only run QoreStor. I know you can run it on a virtual server in the same environment, but we wanted it separate.

The initial setup was easy because we had good help from a consultant from Quest. We were in contact with him through Teams chat, and we had a meeting scheduled for a Saturday when he helped us install this. I documented every step. In total, it took two to three hours.

It does not require any maintenance from our side. Everything is up and running all the time. It works very well.

A consultant from Quest assisted us during the setup. From our side, there were two people, but the other person was a new guy, so I had him along. Generally, one person is enough.

Quest QoreStor's pricing is affordable. We evaluated Veeam, a well-known company for backup solutions, but found their pricing to be quite high. Veeam's price was almost double. For us, Quest QoreStor is very affordable. 

We pay based on the amount of storage we use, but this is something they can make easier. It is hard to calculate the amount of data you need. Especially if you are paying for three years, it is hard to know. We have calculated about a 10% increase.

You need some familiarity with Linux as the system operates on it. There was a big learning curve for me when it came to that. Quest provided help with commands, but understanding Linux basics beforehand is useful. 

I would rate Quest QoreStor a ten out of ten. I am very happy with it so far.

As a managed services provider, we use it to store the internal backups for our own data and our customer data. As an IT services provider and consultant for our customers, we help them implement it as backup storage on their premises or in the cloud.

Immediately after its deployment, we saw storage space savings and cost savings as compared to larger, more power-hungry equipment, which required more cooling in our data centers. It helped reduce our costs in terms of the size and the cost of the equipment.

This software solution can be installed on many different types of hardware, which makes it very flexible. We can run it on virtual machines or virtual servers, providing convenience for solutions of varying sizes, from small to large. This flexibility contributes to it being easy to install. It makes it easy to engineer solutions for customers.

They could improve on support a little bit. We have not had to engage their support much, but when we do have issues, it can take longer to get things resolved. We are pretty lenient as we do a lot of IT support ourselves. We are not very hard on support organizations, but when a customer has a support issue, it would be easier if the support processes were a little bit more automated. It would be beneficial to have an easier way to upload diagnostic dump files. They can make it easy for the customer to collect the diagnostic data.

There can be some kind of monitoring solutions to alert users to issues with the appliance or software, making it easy for customers to monitor their systems in the field. This is especially critical because it stores customers' backups, and a failure can have significant business impacts. If a customer does not have the backups and has a disaster, they can be out of business, so monitoring is key.

Our usage of the solution has been ongoing for about seven years.

There is no lagging, crashing, or downtime. The system has been very stable.

The system is highly scalable. You can start small and scale to large systems. This scalability makes the cost manageable because it allows for absorbing costs over time, keeping it reasonable. It is very scalable and at a reasonable cost and price point as you scale.

They could improve support processes, perhaps making them more automated. 

Once you get an engineer on the phone, they are very well-versed in the product and can usually solve problems quickly within a day unless the problem is very complex. Initially, we had more problems with the product, but its quality has consistently improved over the years. We now have minimal issues that require us to call support.

Positive

We have used HPE StoreOnce and Data Domain, which is an EMC product now owned by Dell. The main difference is that QoreStor  provides a lot more value at a lower cost. It is a lower-cost solution. It provides many of the same features. HPE StoreOnce and Data Domain solutions tend to be expensive and are hardware-based, leading to more vendor lock-in compared to QoreStor . You have to buy Dell or HPE hardware to implement those solutions. They have much more vendor lock-in from a hardware standpoint than QoreStor does.

It is mostly on-premises, although I do know of ways where you can implement it in the cloud if you need it.

It is easy to deploy. The initial setup is easy. It usually takes a single day to fully deploy it to a working condition.

It requires at least yearly maintenance. It requires software updates and checking the hardware that it is running on to ensure that it is healthy. That can be accomplished once or twice per year, and, usually, that is acceptable.

One engineer is required for this process.

The pricing is good. It is competitive for a managed services provider. I like the ability to pay by the terabyte, allowing for an incremental cost that we and our customers can afford, so the solution grows with the customer. For example, I can buy a server to install QoreStor on, but I do not have to license the entire server immediately. I can license it as I grow, and as I add more data, I can increase my Quest QoreStor license. That is very helpful for a lot of customers. It helps to sell the solution because the cost of acquisition of the solution is lower, at least at the beginning. As the customer owns the solution year over year and it grows, their costs may go up year over year, but it is manageable. It is much more manageable than a very large purchase where you have to make a large upfront cost commitment.

New users should use a supported configuration for their appliance for installing the software. Work with a certified installer for the software so that it is installed properly and you get the proper support. You can consider buying an appliance that is preinstalled by a certified Quest QoreStor provider, like us at EDSI. It will make the long-term support of the product and reliability much more successful.

I would rate QoreStor a ten out of ten for what it offers for the price. It is a great product. There are a lot of features for a customer or an IT managed services provider to work with. Quest makes it very easy to work with them. Their representatives provide great customer support to us as a managed services provider. That is why I would rate the product as a ten out of ten.

At our company, we use QoreStor for data recovery and to improve the efficiency of data backup and recovery operations. We are also resellers of the solution.

What I find the most valuable about QoreStor is the data deduplication. It integrates with various backup software solutions, which makes it compatible with existing backup workflows and processes.

I would say that the ransomware protection of QoreStor could use improvement because it's based in the Linux operating system, and it's more difficult to detect ransomware attacks.

It's a very reliable and stable solution.

When it comes to the scalability of QoreStore, I have not had the chance to test it much. It does not require a lot of maintenance at all.

I would rate the technical support a nine out of ten. 

The initial setup is a little complex, but it can easily be set up if you follow the instructions.

There are many benefits to using QoreStor. Customers agree that it increases their protection and provides file backup within the same storage. Based on that, there is a possibility of avoiding additional investment.

QoreStor's vendors should explain the usage and storage of the solution to customers in detail in order to maximize its usage.

Overall, I would rate it a ten out of ten. Issues with QoreStor occur only when there is a power outage. Other than that, it works perfectly.