Unitrends 926S Vs Infrascale ES 4550
The Unitrends Recovery 926S and Infrascale ES 4550 Backup Appliance are about to be put through their paces in this article as a huge treat for readers. Please try and contain your excitement.
When it comes to data storage and disaster recovery, IT network admin service companies need to have a reliable backup and recovery solution in place. Unitrends Recovery 926S and Infrascale ES 4550 Backup Appliance are two solutions that have gained popularity due to their extensive features and capabilities.
While you are here, take a look at some of our other backup and restore materials below that may interest you:
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As a secondary goal of the main discussion here, I will also discuss how documentation can help IT network admin service companies manage and maintain backup and data recovery solutions effectively as it specifically relates to this topic.
We can help you respond faster to your clients needs, allow less experienced staff handle tasks they otherwise could not and ultimately improve your profit margins while getting ahead of your competition.
Tech records are an essential aspect of the IT industry whether it be storage solutions discussed here or the steps involved on how you retain client data and when it should be deleted based on criteria such as their wishes along with regulations governing this activity.
It enables IT consulting advisors to manage and maintain the IT infrastructure of their clients effectively.
Chances are that the company that consistently outperforms you in areas such as ticket completion times and number of tickets resolved in a day are likely doing it not because they are better than you but because they have an effective documentation strategy in place.
In the following sections, I will be exploring the quirks and features of Unitrends Recovery 926S and the Infrascale ES 4550 recovery appliances and comparing the two solutions to help IT network admin service companies make informed decisions for their clients.
Unitrends Recovery 926S is a backup and recovery solution that offers comprehensive data protection for virtual, physical, and cloud-based environments. In this section, we will explore the key quirks and features of Unitrends Recovery 926S.
Unitrends Versus Infrascale
As I.T implementation service organizations consider different storage solutions for their clients, it's important to compare the market leaders in open sourced storage operating systems - Unitrends recovery 926s and Infrascale ES 4550.
Chances are you have almost made a decision on either of these two backup Operating systems solutions but are just not sure which one is the right fit for your situation. This article will help alleviate that concern.
Supported Storage Protocols and File Systems
| Protocol | Infrascale ES 4550 | Unitrends 926S |
|---|---|---|
| NFS | YES | YES |
| SMB/CIFS | YES | YES |
| iSCSI | YES | YES |
| Fibre Channel | YES | YES |
| SCSI | YES | YES |
| SAS | YES | YES |
| S3 | Not Directly | Not Directly |
| AFP | NO | NO |
| FTPS | Not Directly | NO |
| SFTP | Not Directly | NO |
| WebDAV | Not Directly | NO |
| AoE | Not Directly | NO |
| NFSv4 | YES | YES |
| NBD | NO | NO |
| iSER | NO | NO |
| IPoFC | NO | NO |
| NVMe-oF | NO | NO |
| NVMe over TCP | NO | NO |
| NVMe over RDMA | NO | NO |
Storage Scalability and High Availability
*See table below for a side by side feature set comparison.
Scalability and high availability are important considerations for I.T service organizations when selecting a storage solution. Unitrends recovery 926s and Infrascale ES 4550 have different approaches to scalability and high availability.
Both Unitrends recovery 926s and Infrascale ES 4550 support scale-up and scale-out architectures. In a scale-up architecture, additional hard drives can be added to a single system to increase storage capacity. In a scale-out architecture, additional systems can be added to the network to increase storage capacity.
Both appliances support high availability through active-passive failover, where a secondary system takes over if the primary system fails.
Storage Data Protection and Management
*See table below for a side by side feature set comparison.
Data protection and management are sought after aspects in any storage solution, and both Unitrends recovery 926s and Infrascale ES 4550 offer different features in this regard.
Unitrends recovery 926s offers advanced data protection features such as virtual hard drive snapshots, clones, and data compression.
Snapshots allow users to take point-in-time copies of their data for backup and disaster recovery purposes. Clones allow users to create multiple copies of a dataset without duplicating data. Data compression reduces the size of data on the disk, resulting in improved storage efficiency.
Infrascale ES 4550 offers simple data protection features such as RAID levels, hot spares, and replication. RAID levels provide redundancy in case of hard drive failure, while hot spares allow for immediate replacement of a failed drive. Replication allows data to be copied to a remote site for backup and recovery purposes.
| File System | Infrascale ES 4550 | Unitrends 926S |
|---|---|---|
| NTFS | YES | YES |
| FAT | NO | NO |
| ext4 | NO | NO |
| NFS | YES | YES |
| CIFS | YES | YES |
| HFS+ | NO | NO |
| APFS | NO | NO |
| ZFS | YES | YES |
| exFAT | NO | NO |
| XFS | NO | NO |
Infrascale ES 4550 Key Features
Infrascale ES 4550 has several benefits that make it an appealing choice:
Scale Up Architecture
The Infrascale ES 4550 supports scale-up architecture, allowing for easy expansion of storage capacity and performance at will. This flexibility allows the appliance to extend its usable life.
Wide Protocol Support
Wide protocol support means the Infrascale ES 4550 is more likely to integrate with whatever system is currently in operation saving common headaches and excessive time spent on a storage upgrade project.
Compression and Deduplication
The Infrascale ES 4550 incorporates efficient data compression and deduplication technologies, reducing storage requirements and optimizing bandwidth utilization. This takes the load off of the other areas of your technology framework such as switching, firewalls and internet connections to name a few.
By cleverly reducing the raw data that needs to be moved around and stored it ensures the other supporting hardware does not get overloaded and your backup evolution does not end up taking more time than there are hours in the day.
Worthy Mentions
The Infrascale ES 4550 also comes with the ability to hot swap drives, create snapshots, clone drives as well as active-passive failover.
Yes the Infrascale has a high price tag but you will know where that money went once you put it through its paces.
When compared to purchasing something more “cost effective” you run the risk of sinking far more time of your technical staff into bridging the gap between what it can do and what the ES 4550 does automatically.
Infrascale ES 4550 Disadvantages
However, there are also some drawbacks to using Infrascale ES 4550:
Up Front Cost
With an entry level 84TB ES 4550 starting at $96,000 it is safe to say this is out of reach of most home users. The cost puts it squarely into the realm of larger organizations where economies of scale make the amount look like a bargain.
Vendor Lock In
This goes hand in hand with the cost in most cases. The more money invested, the more locked in you are likely to be. This is not a pack of smarties, even for large companies, this is a large investment and future decisions will often be based on its existence within your organization.
The level of pain you potentially go through using an appliance that is not suited for your uses will be much higher before you will consider moving to another vendor's offering.
This comes in a number of ways from the upfront cost, staff training to becoming reliant on one or two features it does really well that other appliances may not have.
Limited Documentation
The Infrascale ES 4550 has a reputation of not being supported with user documentation as well as some of its competition. Limited documentation would not be too bad on its own; however, Infrascale support often takes several days to respond to a request above the bot level.
In saying that, I do not want to give the impression Infrascale is any worse than other providers at this level because they are not, at least not when it comes to client support. It seems once the corporate level is reached, their support lines are set up to ensure their metrics appear amazing while not actually doing a very good job.
You know the drill, either a bot or someone straight out of school who could not possibly resolve the problem you are having is the first line and while that helps them achieve their initial response metrics, they are only fooling themselves as this sort of strategy does not help their client in any way.
The irony of that is, key performance indicators were originally created to measure areas objectively so strategies can be improved not for the sake of getting the score down like some type of computer game regardless of its actual impact on the very thing they are trying to measure but to improve the area they are measuring.
Lacks Intuitive Interface
The Infrascales interface is not as good as the Unitrends Recovery 926S and things like setting up alerts take some time to get used to and require some lead time for techs to become proficient. The way it updates could also do with being looked at.
Unitrends Recovery 926S Key Features
Unitrends Recovery 926S has several benefits that make it an appealing choice:
Unified Backup and Recovery
Unitrends Recovery 926S offers a unified backup and recovery solution for physical and virtual environments, including VMware, Hyper-V, and Nutanix. This solution eliminates the need for multiple backup tools, providing IT network admin service companies with a centralized solution for their clients' backup and recovery needs.
Cloud Integration
Unitrends Recovery 926S offers cloud integration, allowing IT network admin service companies to backup and recover data to and from public and private clouds. This solution provides flexible and scalable options for backup and recovery, ensuring IT network admin service companies can meet their clients' needs while reducing costs.
Automated Recovery
Testing Unitrends Recovery 926S includes automated recovery testing, allowing service companies to test their clients' backup data automatically. This solution ensures that the data is recoverable and can be restored in case of a disaster. IT network admin service companies can set up automated testing schedules and receive reports on the test results.
Instant Recovery
Unitrends Recovery 926S offers instant recovery, enabling I.T service companies to restore their clients' data quickly. This solution uses advanced technologies to ensure that providers can recover their clients' data within minutes, reducing downtime and increasing productivity.
Ransomware Protection
Unitrends Recovery 926S includes ransomware protection, providing service organizations with advanced tools to detect and prevent ransomware attacks. This solution uses machine learning and behavioral analysis to identify and block ransomware attacks before they can cause damage.
Simplified Management
Unitrends Recovery 926S provides service companies with a unified and centralized solution for their clients' backup and recovery needs. This solution eliminates the need for multiple backup tools, reducing complexity and simplifying management.
Unitrends Recovery 926S Disadvantages
However, there are also some drawbacks to using Unitrends Recovery 926S:
Up Front Cost
While the Unitrends option has a much lower entry point compared to the Infrascale coming in at around 36K for the 36TB version it should be noted that the entry level Infrascale is 84TB so you are getting over double the storage capacity.
Still 36 thousand dollars still precludes little Jimmy who wants a central location to store his homework. This is firmly grounded in larger corporate environments where economies of scale justify the upfront cost.
Vendor Lock In
This goes hand in hand with the cost in most cases. Just like the Infrascale, once you hand over the small mountain of cash, you become reliant on the vendor for the way they handle the support of their products.
We all could name a few well known MSP vendors that invest heavily in their marketing to lure you in only for you to find out that their product development and support is run by 2 kids on work experience.
The level of pain you potentially go through using an appliance that is not suited for your uses or poorly supported will be much higher before you will consider moving to another vendor's offering.
This comes in a number of ways from the upfront cost, staff training to becoming reliant on one or two features it does really well that other appliances may not have.
The Verdict
The Unitrends Recovery 926S and Infrascale ES 4550 are two popular backup and recovery appliances that in many cases are fairly well matched although the Unitrends does have the ability to buy in at a lower price because they offer a lower spec model.
After comparing the two appliances, the Unitrends Recovery 926S wins out due to a couple of areas, its slightly more robust feature set and superior data deduplication and compression. The lower buy in price is a bonus.
Unitrends Recovery 926S offers businesses of all sizes a powerful backup and recovery solution that is easy to use and manage, while also providing a comprehensive set of features that can help businesses to safeguard their critical data.
While Infrascale ES 4550 is a solid appliance that offers an amazing feature set, the 96K just to get the base model is a high bar to reach. At this level though it really comes down to reading articles like this, talking to others with first hand experience with both and then making that leap of faith and investing heavily in staff training and attempting to maintain a good working relationship with your vendor of choice.
My best advice here is do not second guess yourself once you have purchased a vendor solution of this magnitude. The slight differences will not overcome the cost of replacing a solution, retraining all of your techs and undertaking a complex migration project.
Try to keep the evaluation of the solution to the point in time when its end of useful life is visible on the horizon, learn from the experiences and use that to base your next purchasing decision.
The Conclusion
Unitrends recovery 926s wins in this head to head comparison although both have the ability to effectively run your network storage devices and either appliance will give you a suite of features expected at this price point.
We hope this article has provided you with a solid foundation and understanding of this topic.
We have a number of other backup hardware articles listed below that will provide you with more detailed information on a number of related topics:
https://optimizeddocs.com/blogs/backups/backup-hardware-index
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