Existing users, 
I'm sure this product is fine on UNIX systems, where everything is done via the command line and portable computers don't exist. But in a Mac environment with laptops, this thing is USELESS. I have been trying to get it to work for more than a year!
It can only back up machines by IP address, so if you have anything that gets its address via DHCP--like laptops--you can't schedule a backup for it. Yes, they released a patch so that a client can inform the server of its current IP address at startup, but the server CANNOT automatically initiate a backup of that machine. There was supposed to be a fix for this released last fall, but so far, nothing.
The user interface is horrible. In the main part of it, clicking on anything can accidentally change your settings so that backups for some machines are no longer scheduled. As a result I have to monitor it constantly to make sure everything has backed up correctly.
While they tell you it will run on an Intel processor, they don't mention that it has to run under Rosetta.Since it's a background task that's always running, it slows down the whole computer.
The company had a forum, but they recently shut it down. I think they just don't want anyone to see all of the complaints.
After several weeks of trying to get it to work reliably, we asked for our money back. The president of the company talked us into waiting for the next version, which was supposed to be out soon. That was last June, almost a year ago.
Even though we purchased an extended support plan, and they are supposed to respond within 48 hours, I often got no reply at all when asking questions.
Recently I got an e-mail asking me to renew our support plan. I think you know what my response would be.
SAVE YOUR MONEY! Unfortunately there aren't a lot of alternatives, since Retrospect seems to be sinking fast...
BRU Server
Client/server backup & restore system.
Version: 2.0
Not a happy user!
Feedback Type: Commentary
Contributed by: SEReubart Tuesday, May 08 2007 @ 11:39 AM PDT
Product Platform: MacOSX
Used Product For: Over One Year
Recommend Product: NO
Comments
Not a happy user! - gskibum
Regarding your DHCP issue, can't you make static reservations? Also, do you have internal DNS functioning, allowing reverse-dns lookups?I also don't have the problems you describe with laptops. Regardless, have you considered server based home folders?
Thursday, July 05 2007 @ 08:22 PM PDT
Not a happy user! - gskibum
Couple of clarifications.What I meant to ask was how long are your DCHP lease times, and don't you use static maps?
Friday, July 06 2007 @ 05:55 AM PDT
Not a happy user! - Hummdis
Well, it's pretty apparent that you don't read. I understand your frustrated with BRU, but when you make the accusations that you have concerning the forums and company with no knowledge about why they were taken down it's very unprofessional. I used to use the forums all the time, in-fact, I had almost as many posts as some of the Tech Support guys at TOLIS did.The forums were taken offline because users were beginning to argue with each other, provide poor information to other users, and because the same users that were arguing began posting negative comments directed directly at the company. Many of the comments were lies and misunderstandings on the customers part. You would have known this had you read the post that they provided when it was closed down and I'm sure if you asked them they would tell you exactly the reason. There's probably more to it than this but I didn't ask because they setup a Knowledgebase right away (about 2 days later) to replace the Forums. You failed to mention that part.
I have been using BRU for over a year now to backup Windows, Linux and Mac OS X systems. I've only used the Linux GUI a few times, but only because I didn't feel like switching to the Mac on my KVM. Call me lazy, but it was faster to just load the console there.
The current GUI (1.2.0m) while a bit slow at loading archives, is Mac OS X native, I don't have to run X11 to use it, and supports my AIT-4 drive. I did have problems in the beginning though with my DAT-72, which BRU proved to be a bad drive. Once I got my AIT-4, it's been smooth sailing.
When it comes to the Tech Support at TOLIS, I've had nothing but happiness. When you send an email you get a response with a ticket number and the one time that I didn't get a ticket number, I found that in the stress of the moment, I typed support [at] tolisgropu.com (swapped the 'p' and 'u' in group). While I was mad that I didn't hear anything two days later (I too have a 48 hour response time) I checked my email again to find that I got a bounce message because the domain didn't exist.
My question is, why haven't you contacted the president of the company (you said that you've talked to him) about the trouble with support that you're having? It seems to me that a simply talking to him would solve that right away, don't you think? And if the president of the company got involved in the trouble that you're having, it would appear that they do care about their customers to get someone from the executive level of management (let alone the president) to speak to you concerning the trouble that you're having.
BRU Server and Support has been great to me, no problems and quite frankly, I sleep better at night. :)
My suggestion, get it! It's worth more than you pay!!
A happy BRU user,
Hummdis
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Tuesday, June 05 2007 @ 08:14 PM PDT