Commvault Complete Data Protection Reviews

We provide backup services to our customers and we implement Commvault for most of our backups. This includes cloud with VMware, cloud with IBM, cloud with Azure, SAP applications like HANA or traditional SAP, for databases including Oracle and DB2, and across several operating systems including AIX, Solaris, Windows, and Linux.

We have a separate, private backup network. It has its own appliances from different vendors and the information on it is not visible to our main network. This is to help protect against ransomware and other threats.

Commvault provides us with a single platform to move, manage, and recover data across our on-premises and cloud locations, which is something that is very important for us. We have data centers in Mexico, Panama, Guatemala, and the Dominican Republic, and we need to administer all of the environments from a single location in Mexico.

The administrators connect to all of the environments on-premises. We have two flavors; the multitenant environment and the dedicated environment. We manage all of these from Mexico.

Commvault is very good in terms of coverage for applications and databases. This is important because we don't only administrate backups. We have managed services that include the database, application, operating system, and storage. We talk with the administrators for the database and operating system to create a policy that ensures all of the data that we need to recover the environment is complete.

The recovery process is consistent across platforms and this is important to us because clients give us the information, and we need to back it up and to ensure that we can recover it if they have a problem.

The recovery options are good because we offer our clients a complete recovery of their information, as well as an option for partial recovery, based on their needs. For example, we can offer the recovery of a single table in a database, depending on what the scenario is.

The most valuable feature is the compatibility with our entire environment.

The embedded deduplication engine is really good because we use a Near Line SAS disk as a repository for our backups, and we don't need to pay for another appliance such as a Data Domain or Quantum so that we can have hardware-based deduplication.

One of the benefits of using Commvault over the years has been that all of our administrators have the ability to perform admin functions. They haven't had any complaints about the interface.

Commvault has support for multiple storage platforms, which is helpful for us. We use block storage for some backups, and we use appliances that have duplication capabilities for other backups. The method in which Commvault fits in depends on how much money the client spends. For example, if they have a higher budget then we use PCI-compliant appliances, or snapshots in the backups to ensure that we don't have ransomware. Other clients pay only for the amount of storage that they use. In some cases, we use replication at the host level, whereas in other cases, it is at the hardware level. The console that we have with Commvault can manage all of the environments and hardware that we have.

I would like to have a manager-level dashboard to review the backups. This is not from an administrative perspective where you can see the details of the execution. Rather, it would only show the percentage of completeness for each one.

I have been working with Commvault for more than eight years.

We have not had any problems with stability. 

We have more than 10 implementations in all of our data centers.

Using Commvault helps to minimize the amount of time that we spend on backups. I am not exactly sure how long it would take otherwise, but we back up approximately four petabytes of information each day.

Scaling is not a problem for us. If we need to, we can install more servers and install a new console.

We use Commvault support on a daily basis. People from the database teams need help restoring data, so they contact Commault for assistance.

I would rate their support a nine out of ten.

Prior to Commvault, we used Veritas NetBackup for five years.

A lot of our environment is currently backed up using Commvault but we are planning to use Veeam and Commvault together. Veeam is priced better than Commvault and right now, we use Veeam to back up our virtual machines. As we split more of the information between the two different applications, we may use Veeam for cloud environments, and for traditional environments, Commvault.

There are some applications like SAP HANA that are not compatible with the Veeam software. In cases like this, we use Commvault.

This product is very easy to set up. The reason is that we do everything. We implement, we operate, and we migrate. One of the reasons that we continue with Commvault is that we have spent a lot of time training people. This means that the people in the company can do everything without the need for third-party persons.

It takes between two and three hours to install a new console.

Over the years that we have had this same software, people on the admin team have become certified by Commvault. This ensures that they are doing things properly and doing them well.

We charge our customers on a per-gigabyte basis.

Using Commvault has helped us to reduce storage costs because, in some cases, we changed to block storage. Using block storage and software-based deduplication is cheaper than the appliances that have deduplication embedded in them. In some cases, we have reduced our hardware cost by 50%, whereas in other cases, it has been reduced by more than 75%. It depends on the technology that we compare. For example, the Data Domain appliance is perhaps four times the cost of the Near Line SAS disk in traditional block storage.

Reducing the hardware that we have in the data center, also reduces our costs in terms of energy and space. I do not have an estimate as to how much we save.

Commvault is more expensive than Veeam, which is the reason that we are changing to Veeam for cloud environments.

We had been running Veritas NetBackup and did an RFP to change the backup software. We tested Veritas, Commvault, TSM from IBM, and Dell NetWorker. The finalists were Veritas and Commvault. We found that there were more advantages to using Commvault. For example, it has deduplication embedded into the software and if we wanted this with Veritas, we needed to pay an additional fee. This is why we changed and we have maintained it for several years.

In comparing solutions, I think that generally, today, all software solutions are the same. We have the same compatibility using Veritas, TSM, NetWorker, and Commvault. The main reason for us to maintain Commvault is the expertise that we have with the tool. All of them have deduplication capabilities and can use different repositories, so I don't have a problem with the other brands.

Commvault has the capability to discover unprotected workloads, although we don't use this because we only work with policies. Our clients tell us the policy that they want to apply to their environment, and we don't analyze their environment beyond the scope that they specify.

I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.

We are a solution provider and we have contracts with some of our customers to support their data centers and infrastructures. Our support is based on their needs and we choose solutions for their environment. One of the products that we use in this capacity is Commvault.

Commvault is an enterprise-level data platform that is used for backup and replication. It offers four product lines including complete backup and recovery, the HyperScale integrated appliance, disaster recovery, and Activate Analytics. We use the backup and recovery solution.

Commvault provides us with a single platform to move, manage, and recover data. Most enterprise solutions in this area provide similar functionality but the Commvault GUI provides better reports and access to your assets. All of the features have been integrated within one interface. On the other hand, Veritas has third-party solutions that generate better reports and offer better control over your environment, such as OpsCenter.

In terms of recovery options for data and workloads, Commvault has several features available. An important feature is that you can recover data based on your policy. It also provides the capability to back up and recover specific types of data, such as an SPS server.

The next step, after having a good backup solution, is disaster recovery. This has to take into account the software that you are using in your environment and Commvault can help with this in some aspects. For example, it can replicate your SQL servers on your disaster site. In a regular recovery scenario, I think that most backup solutions are the same.

This solution allows us to easily isolate storage targets from public networks. When we implement our backup solutions, the first step is to separate the network. We create a private network and we use separate storage for the backup in order to isolate all production services from backup services. It is very important to separate the working area because of ransomware and other threats.

Commvault also has other features to protect backup data but I prefer to have a separate backup environment with its own equipment. All of it should be physically separated from the production area. One service is for production data and the other is for backup data.

Separating the production and backup data not only helps with attacks but also helps to manage performance. In IT, we are always faced with two important metrics, which are security and performance. Using physical isolation, data protection is improved, and I prefer to use physical isolation rather than logical isolation that is available using the software.

Using this type of configuration, we were able to successfully recover data for one of our customers. They were faced with a ransomware attack and had lost more than 40% of their data. We were able to completely recover their data in less than three days.

Like other enterprise backup solutions, Commvault is very well suited for enterprise-level customers.

Commvault integrates well with all types of operating systems and supports heterogeneous environments. It integrates well with storage solutions such as NetApp, and we haven't had any trouble integrating with hardware such as tape drives or otherwise.

I like using the command-line interface versus the GUI. I find the CLI is easy to use for customizing and generating reports, as well as for managing the software. That said, I think that the GUI is enough for many administrators in a simple environment.

The support documentation is good. Based on the help and documentation, I have been able to generate scripts that I run on a daily basis to get the reports and features that I need.

The deployment process should be simplified because it is not something that just anybody can do. 

One of my colleagues in Australia is using Commvault and has told me that the solution does not yet have complete support for integrating with cloud providers. Specifically, it is not integrated with Amazon services. In the future, I would like to see better integration with cloud environments.

Commvault is only installed in our Windows environment, on Windows server, and I prefer to use Linux because I find the environment simpler to use. In a Windows environment, it is not easy to use command-line-based products.

There are two people on my team that manage Commvault for my customers. It is supposed to be one of the least time-consuming solutions but in reality, it consumes 60% of their time. Compared to other backup solutions, it takes more time to manage and operate.

Commvault doesn't support container-based systems and does not offer agentless backup.

I've been using Commvault for one of our customers for less than three years.

Stability-wise, Commvault is one of the best backup solutions on the market.

This product is scalable enough, although it will be complicated to do, depending on your environment. Veeam, for example, is not as complicated to scale. The same is true with Veritas NetBackup.

I think the reason for this is that Commvault is installed only in Windows environments. Veritas NetBackup, for example, can be installed on Unix or Linux, and those operating systems are easier when it comes to scaling. Most software depends on the features that are available in the host operating system.

We don't have access to support due to sanctions, so the support and management are done by our local engineers. It is difficult for our customers to use this type of software without support.

I have worked with other similar solutions including Veritas and Veeam. Veeam is easier to implement than Commvault, although Commvault is quicker to deploy than Veritas.

Veeam is suitable for a small business but when it comes to enterprises, Commvault is one of the solutions that we implement. Generally speaking, Commvault Backup and Commvault Complete Data Protection are good solutions for enterprise-level companies.

Veeam is easy to use and is easier to implement but we do not only deal with small businesses. Most of our customers are enterprises and we have to select the best solutions for them. Other disadvantages to Commvault are that it doesn't support container-based systems and agentless backup is not supported in this software. However, it is more powerful when it comes to integrating heterogeneous environments.

Commvault is not a product with an easy deployment process. It is not something that just anybody can do on their own and it is best suited for enterprise users. Documentation is available online but other similar products, such as Veeam, are easier to implement. There is not enough documentation for Commvault available online.

One of my customers implemented Commvault in less than one month, which is not bad compared to other enterprise solutions like Veritas. An enterprise often includes complexities such as a heterogeneous environment, so a deployment that takes less than one month is quite reasonable.

My advice for anybody who is implementing Commvault is to make sure that they have a support contract. Support is very important, as this is a time-consuming product when it comes to management and regular maintenance.

In summary, this is an enterprise solution that you can trust in your environment for backup and recovery. In fact, it is one of the top 10 backup solutions on the market.

I would rate this solution a seven out of ten.

Our current use case is for storage backup of large Veritas Clusters. We have around 350 TB of storage backup and we use Commvault's HyperScale X with unlimited data backup.

With Commvault, our backup performance is way better, compared to what we had, because we have a disk-to-disk backup.

It also helps to ensure broad coverage with the discovery of unprotected workloads. That is always helpful for us. Our environment is very dynamic. We often have high data-demand spikes.

In terms of time saved, because the backups are automated, our team generally spends 30 to 45 minutes reviewing the logs and any errors, and it saves us two to three hours per week.

The deduplication and compression have helped to reduce my backup costs. This year, I haven't had to purchase any expansion for my backup storage, thanks to Commvault. Otherwise, I would likely have had to spend around $150,000. And next year, I can add one more node to HyperScale X before expanding it. So it has saved 20 percent of my backup budget.

The main solution from Commvault is the HyperScale X backup. Instead of a dedicated appliance, we have a three-node HPE Apollo cluster for backing up. That gives us the best value regarding speed.

Another valuable feature is that, in general, recovery is faster than any other solution we have reviewed. That is especially the case for small, micro files, 2 or 3 KB research files.

The Commvault user interface is very nice and intuitive. It's perfect compared with other products I have used. It's in a completely different world. When running a backup, the display is very clear about the estimated time.

And using Command Center, we know exactly how many backups are running and it gives us clarity on our backup state. It gives us a report and can just send a screenshot of it to the team.

In addition, Commvault gives us a single platform to manage and recover our data. Since we are a research organization, backup is one of the most critical parts of our IT operations and services. Internally, we run it as a managed service, and there is a single console that makes it easy for management to see the performance.

The majority of our file servers are backed up by Commvault. They provide protection against ransomware with their intelligent methods. We haven't experienced a ransomware attack, but I know they have good coverage. They will make sure they recover a backup at any cost.

They need to improve when it comes to large, video file archiving. They're good, but they have not met my expectations as a customer in this area.

Also, HyperScale X does not back up NDMP, or they only use a native file share backup.

I have been using Commvault for three years.

The stability means our team can relax. On average, we used to get six backup failure errors a week, and that has been reduced to two.

The scalability is good and we plan to increase our usage of Commvault in the future.

From the time that our deployment was successfully completed, we have hardly reported any errors.

During deployment we had a couple of issues. Commvault provided us with excellent support to make sure all the issues were fixed. Customer satisfaction is a priority. The local sales and consulting team also extended support to us. They made sure we had a clean installation and a clean operation. Initially, when we had problems, I thought things were not good, but my impression of them changed. I see the real value that they bring, and I appreciate them. I'm a very tough customer, but Commvault's support made sure that I achieved my goals and I respect them. They are patient.

Often, once the sale of a product is done, the salespeople run away. But here, the entire team was involved to make sure they delivered and deployed. After that, they extended support for anything that might require it. They said if anything happens, if there are any issues, here is a number to call to make sure that it is resolved.

After the deployment, both the sales guys and a technical guy came to meet with us to understand our future plans. They listened patiently and they did not try to sell me anything. They just added value. That is the reason they are number one.

They do a quarterly review and explain the latest improvements with Commvault's technical experts. There is also training and certification to help us use the latest features to our benefit.

Positive

Initially, our Commvault was configured for a particular use case. After that, we had a detailed discussion in which they listened to our complete concerns and architecture. From that point, the deployment of HyperScale X was very fast and clean. So when they know the environment, the setup is very good.

For our 350 TB deployment, it took seven days to complete, including networking, installation, updating, and getting a full backup to run. QoS took another few days, making the total time about 10 to 12 days.

Commvault support helped us to deploy the solution. I would especially recommend their professional services.

We look at return of value because as a backup solution, we cannot say it gives us ROI. We have a clear ROV due to the reduced efforts for our team, as well as manpower reductions and fewer failures. And technically, we have a faster backup. We have seen a high return of value, and management is also happy.

The pricing is very competitive. When Commvault knows you are comparing it with the other leading providers, they are ready to compromise on pricing. But you have to make sure you get a long-term commitment on the pricing. Otherwise, when you have a future expansion, they will take advantage of it.

Our company evaluated other solutions, but that process was done by another team. But I read a document that reviewed the evaluation, and they evaluated Veeam as well as Micro Focus Data Protector and NetBackup. They looked at industry reviews and at our specific use case for archiving and backup, and Commvault had the best score.

Pricing is the one area where you have to focus. You need to have a clear plan. HyperScale X is one option and it's nice to use when you have third-party hardware, if you want to have disk-to-disk. 

Make sure you convey your use cases to Commvault's professional services. They will listen to you and they will advise on the options. Also, have an assessment done by Commvault professional services to make sure you have a long-term plan in place. 

Other than the large file archiving that needs improvement, VM is good, cloud backup is good, file server is amazing, and they do a good job when it comes to physical server backup. SQL backup is also good, and Linux back is also amazing.

We use Commvault to back up our NetApp environments to a file and data server. Commvault backs up everything, including our databases and the log files from these databases. We have a cloud, but we're not managing it with Commvault yet. We are also not using the isolation and segmentation features. We're only using Commvault internally, but it's still important for us to have those features. We've chosen Commvault for its full capabilities.  

Commvault is faster than NetApp's native Snapshot technology. Management and restoration are easier. We don't need to mount or unmount volumes from NetApp before restoration. With just a few clicks, we can immediately get to the data we need to restore, and the restoration is completed instantly. It's fast, accurate, and up to date.

We save a lot of time doing backups and restoration with Commvault. Our goal is to do everything within eight hours. We have several terabytes of data that need to be backed up daily, and we do it overnight during a period of eight hours maximum. We can usually get that done in three or four hours.

However, it hasn't cut back on our storage or infrastructure costs. Our NetApp environment is already a network cluster, meaning the data is saved in two locations. Then we installed Commvault on a third location, so we can restore from that if the other two fail. We were forced to invest in putting servers into that small data center, so there were no direct cost savings.

Backup is the reason why we bought Commvault. We need to ensure that all of our backups are done daily. This is very important because we use it for disaster recovery, and we need this data back. We're a production environment. If we cannot restore in the event of a failure within X number of hours, it has a considerable impact on our company. Five thousand people are working at the factory who depend on this data. If it's not available, they can't work. 

Consistent recovery is also essential. Every day, we have users who delete a file and need to restore it. Our backups must be up to date.

Commvault's interface has a lot of sub-menus, and sometimes it's hard to find the information you need. You have to click a few times before finding the right window. The overview could be better.

We've been using Commvault for almost three years now.

Commvault is stable. We've never had problems with it. It's always available, and it's doing the job without any issues. It never fails. Sometimes we miss a backup, but there's always a reason for it, and it's not the fault of Commvault. In the last three years, we've never had to open a ticket with Commvault. That shows how stable and well-performing it is.

We are looking into scalability because we're not yet using Commvault for the whole organization. The main limitation is the cost of implementing it at a lot of sites. Every year, we put it on our agenda to adopt it across Europe. We've selected some spots, but sometimes we've had to scrap a few because of the cost. However, soon we'll have the data we need for broader implementation. 

We have around 15 affiliates, including five big ones. Currently, it's running at two of those. Every national affiliate is responsible for its own budget, and it's up to them to decide if they want to spend the money on it. They have the built-in Snapshot technology from NetApp that they can use, with all its limitations, or they have the full-blown Commvault option, which needs investment first. Every year, we evaluate if we replace the NetApp Snapshot technology with Commvault. Quite often, there are other priorities.

But that hasn't stopped us because sometimes we use Turkey's Commvault to take backups from all those countries. So the scalability is excellent. It's easy because you just add the server, and it's up and running.

Installing Commvault is straightforward. It's a "next, next, finish" installer. For deployment, we had help from a third party who had experience with Commvault, so it was pretty easy to configure all those things.

Altogether, it took four or five days. We had to do some fine-tuning. It was a new product for us, so we had to learn how to use it too. The installation itself only took a day and a half. We spent the rest of the time learning tips and tricks and all that stuff. For management, we work with a third-party partner in India called Infosys. We also have a team of three people here in Europe supervising it.

When we installed everything in Turkey, we used a partner over there called Datacore. They were outstanding. We vetted them first using the same process we use for approving projects. I would rate them nine out of 10. 

For us, the return is that we can get our data back in the event of a disaster. That's the most important thing. We're not looking at it in terms of a return on investment in hardware. The data is what matters the most. If we lose that, it will cost us a fortune compared to the money we spend on installation. You cannot compare those two things.

Commvault's price is quite high. You have to pay for the licenses and the hardware you need for the Commvault environment. If you don't have all the hardware, you have to buy it, which can cost a few million. In the end, it's vital to protect our data, so the price isn't an issue. However, it can be a hard sell to your top management. They say, "Well, you have your NetApp snapshot technology. Why go for something else when that is doing the job? Why should you spend a few million to implement another backup solution?" 

If you can find a decent reason, then it's great. With the pandemic, it's becoming difficult to justify expenses like this. Everybody is afraid about the impact and wants to avoid extra costs as much as possible.

In the beginning, we were looking at around six or seven products, and then we made a shortlist that included Veeam and Cohesity. We looked at solutions from most of the big, traditional companies. We chose Commvault because it has all the features we want. It's also a good fit for us because it supports a wide range of platforms, including NetApp and Windows, and we use several different platforms. 

I rate Commvault nine out of 10. If you want a stable product that you can rely on, you should definitely go for the Commvault environment.

It is a good solution in the enterprise market and serves as an enterprise solution. It is a leading solution. So, you have different kinds of workloads. My customers have a type of workload that the solution supports. Either you can have the solution on the cloud or on the on-premises version. Also, there are different kinds of workloads, like Oracle, SQL, MySQL, or MongoDB. Normally, you will not find all kinds of workloads in one product.

Auxiliary (aux) copy and DASH copy are the most valuable features of the solution.

In GUI, some of the features have been divided. So one is the browser-based command center, and then the old interface with CommCell browser. They have to add more features and functions that are the same as whatever is there in the command center. We prefer that because, otherwise, we have to do two different interfaces for different kinds of jobs. We cannot do some jobs in the old interface with CommCell browser since we have to go into the command center.

Whatever Commvault Complete Data Protection has, they need to improve. Sometimes, we have a performance issue with the backup speed. So, that has to be rectified and improved.

I have experience with Commvault Complete Data Protection for more than fifteen years. Also, I have used the solution within the last twelve months. Regularly, our company has been supporting our customers with the setup process. Lately, we have been involved in the implementation of HyperScale from Commvault. So we support our customers regularly. I think maybe a month or a month and a half ago, we implemented Commvault's HyperScale solution. We are using Commvault Version 11.28.

The solution is good sometimes in some environments. But sometimes, in some environments, it has to be improved. On the network backup, it has to be improved. If, almost across the networks, one has different VLAN backups, the performance backup is sometimes degraded due to the network configuration and because of the load on the network. Stability-wise, I rate the solution a six out of ten.

It is a scalable solution. Currently, one of my customers has an almost one-petabyte backup solution. So, it was increased from gigabytes to petabytes. It can be increased if you have a big setup in place. With HyperScale Appliance, it is easy to expand the server. It will just expand your capability and the storage capacity, and a few other capacities in the solution. Scalability-wise, I rate the solution an eight out of ten. I have around fifteen big customers. There are a lot of customers of the solution who use it, with other vendors supporting it. The solution has quite a big market for the solution.

If the support we receive is from India, then sometimes we have a problem since it takes time owing to the fact that initially, a few people handle the issue before forwarding it to the next level. Maybe some years back, the support was from Australia, the UK, Canada, or the USA, and sometimes from Germany or some European nation, which was very good since there were very qualified people in their team who could resolve our issues within an hour. After they shifted some backup support to India, they included people who operate at a basic or initial level. So, they start troubleshooting, but we think that it's just killing time so that they can get some other people to intervene. I rate the technical support a seven out of ten.

Neutral

We provide solutions depending on a customer's requirements and setup. We also provide solutions like Rubrik and Veeam. I did not work with Veeam, but Veeam is mainly for on-premises virtualization. Its workload is very limited. Also, the expandability and scalability have limitations. However, if you have VMware Hypervisor on your premises, then the solution is okay.

If one has some kind of initial knowledge of any kind of backup solution like Veritas NetBackup, then it will be a little bit easy to implement the solution and then understand the architecture. But if you don't have the knowledge of any other solutions, then it would prove to be a learning curve of tasks related to implementation and administration or designing.

On a scale of one to ten, where one is difficult and ten is easy, I rate the initial setup a five.

Depending upon the solution, sometimes the deployment can be done within one day or within half a day, especially if you have a small setup. But if you have a big and complicated setup, it will take days to implement. It also depends on how complicated the infrastructure the customers have in their environments.

We have to definitely follow steps before we implement the solution. Before we implement any other agents or media agents, we have to implement ComCell, the main backup server, then the media agent, and then the client. This sequence has to be thorough. For updating any page or anything like that, we have to follow the same sequence, which includes the backup server, the media agent, and the client.

Pricing is quite expensive, though I don't exactly know the prices. It is expensive compared to other products because it's for an enterprise setup and not for a small setup. On a scale of one to ten, where ten is the highest price, I rate the pricing an eight.

This software features a single interface that covers all essential functions, including core data management, backup, restore, copy, and DR. It eliminates the need to access the client side and simplifies the configuration process. The centralized configuration makes installation easy. Additionally, the software supports a wide range of platforms, including Linux, Oracle, SAP, and Microsoft versions, unlike some older products, such as Veritas NetBackup, which doesn't have the latest version support in their solution. Sometimes, even Microsoft products don't have the latest version support.

I like the product because of its simplicity and the fact that it provides one single interface for managing everything, including storage, data, and policies. Additionally, there is no need for any configuration on the client's end. Even with 500 clients, you don't have to individually configure the solution for each one. Instead, you just need to install a push agent, which is a small agent, and all tasks can be performed from a single interface. Moreover, the product offers comprehensive support for different software versions. Whether it's upgrading from Exchange Server 2016 or Exchange Server 2013 to Exchange Server 2019 or Exchange Server 2020, or using Oracle version, or other releases, they have immediate backup solutions available, ensuring compatibility during upgrades.

Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

My company is the official distributor of Commvault in Indonesia. Our job is to implement it for our customers and I have installed it for a number of customers. They have various environments: Some are on-premises and some have a cloud environment, and some are using both as a hybrid solution, where they back up from on-premises to the cloud.

We have a Commvault instance within our company as well, and we use it for demos and to back up our environment, such as our VMware database, to the local data center. And we also back up to the cloud.

Commvault is very helpful to our customers and to our company because ransomware is a nightmare for any business. In some cases, our customers have been running their businesses online and they have experienced a ransomware attack. With Commvault they have been able to resolve the problem by restoring the data from Commvault.

Also, Commvault has an internal snapshot feature that we can use. That reduces the time involved by 10 times, compared to not using this feature.

The most valuable feature is Commvault's coverage. It has wide coverage to back up every data center environment. The product can back up OpenStack, OpenShift, and competitive solutions don't have this feature. Commvault can handle backing up any virtual workload or enterprise application.

The solution provides us with a single platform to move, manage, and recover data across on-premises, hybrid, and cloud locations. This is pretty important because our customers have unique architectures. Some only have an on-prem data center, and some only have things on the cloud, while in some cases our customers have both. In the latter case they have data on-premises, but they will also use the cloud for DR. Commvault makes it very simple, with its single management for backup of all environments. This is one of the things that makes it a very useful backup solution. We don't need to go with a different cloud backup solution. We can leverage one solution to back up all the environments.

Another strong feature of Commvault is that we can recover something to another platform. If we backup VMware, we can restore it to, say, Nutanix, or to AWS. This feature helps our customers to move a data center or from on-prem to the cloud. It is a very useful feature.

In addition, Commvault isn't locked in to one storage brand, like Hitachi or Pure Storage. This makes it a very good choice, allowing us to leverage any brand to be used as the backup storage.

The user interface is complicated for users, but for an engineer or backup operator, it is useful. Still, sometimes users feel that the management dashboard is complicated because they see all the features in the one dashboard. Sometimes users need a simple dashboard to manage the whole environment.

Commvault has two management dashboards. The first is the CommCell Console, which is Java-based, and the second is Command Center. We don't always find all the features we need in the Command Center and we need to go through the Java console, and sometimes features are only on the Java console. Sometimes we don't see what we need on both consoles. For example, we have to use Command Center to back up Oracle EBS, because it's not on the Java console. It would be useful if we had all the configuration features for setting things up in the Command Center, rather than having to go to the CommCell Console.

Also, sometimes, when restoring across platforms, we need more documentation from Commvault.

I have been using the Commvault solution for between three and four years.

The product is stable for backing up any kind of environment. But sometimes there's a problem with the deduplication. Sometimes the deduplication database is offline.

The scalability is different between software and an appliance. If we use an appliance it is simple to scale because we just add more nodes to expand the storage, the compute, or the backup performance. If we use software, we may need to do some manual setup. Adding more media agents can be complex, involving more configuration. Also, you don't have high availability with a software environment. You only get that with an appliance.

Technical support is very helpful. We just open the customer portal to open a case and the support is pretty good from Commvault.

Positive

It is very easy for us to follow the documentation to integrate Commvault and the storage network. Setting it up is very easy because the product runs on Windows. We just follow the documentation, making it pretty easy. We don't have to use the command line to set it up. It usually takes one and a half to two hours to deploy this product.

Some of our customers say that Commvault is a very expensive solution, but Commvault has many features that the competitors don't have. It is not a good choice for a small or medium business, but it is a good choice for enterprise businesses.

We have a backup storage sizer, so we know the amount of storage needed. If the backup storage is too large, we can resize the policy and size the backup volumes and adjust the licensing scheme.

I have used other products like Veritas and Rubrik. Commvault is better than the others because it has fast research and development. There are features available with Commvault that the competitors don't have. But Rubrik is very simple when it comes to management, compared to Commvault.

Overall, Commvault has a strong solution with strong features. The problem with it is the management consoles. We need both of them to operate the product. Also, sometimes the pricing is an issue as it can be very expensive compared to other solutions.

We use Commvault to back up our employees' data. I work for a retail organization, so our users aren't in a single office. Before we were using a backup solution that could only take a backup in one office at a particular time. This was a disadvantage for us because the users kept shifting from one office to another. In some cases, we'd need a critical backup, but we couldn't do it. That's why we switched to a cloud-based solution.

Commvault can perform a backup no matter where you are, and it takes a backup every four hours. No matter when you come to the office, it'll take a backup if you're connected to the internet and check the system for online availability. Commvault has reduced the time administrators spend on admin tasks. I can monitor all users from a single place and see when they have performed the backup or when they've notified us of a lost backup. 

Before, I spent at least one or two hours each day monitoring the backup solution. With Commvault, I log in once in the morning or the evening for 10 to 15 minutes, and I can check everything on my laptop. Now it takes me, at most, half an hour to oversee the backups of the 300 users I monitor.

The interface is easy to use. I would rate the interface nine out of 10. It's a single console where you can create, modify, and delete users or you can transfer permissions to other users. Even if I remove the license, the laptop will still be there in Commvault for some time. If your laptop is dead, it's still a live location, so we can check it. If the laptop is connected to the internet, we can see exactly where it is, whether it's in India or the US. Restoration is super easy. From the admin console, we can restore a user's data no matter where they are. If a Commvault instance is installed on that laptop, we can restore it.

Ransomware protection is another special feature in Commvault. They have predefined some extensions. When Commvault identifies a ransomware attack, it will stop taking the backup on those extensions. We haven't had that happen yet, but Commvault can contain and control a ransomware attack.

We've been using Commvault for three years. We completed our two-year subscription and renewed it, so we're now in our third year.

Sometimes the web page doesn't work. I don't know if it's an outage or if there is maintenance going on in the background. From time to time, Commvault will suddenly stop taking backups for some intervals. We'll raise a ticket to the support team, and they'll get it sorted out. Still, I would say it's working 99 percent of the time. We can take the backup, restore data, and everything else. But sometimes it stops work. For example, today it went down for a minute.

There are no limitations for us. We are interested in indefinite backup for deleted files. Even if I delete the file, it'll be there permanently. I don't foresee any issue with that.

I rate Commvault support nine out of 10. When you raise a ticket, they immediately assign the engineer. If that person can't solve the problem, they will escalate to a higher engineer or management, who will get it fixed immediately. The size of the account doesn't matter either. If you have an issue, they will try to fix it quickly. They don't give special preference to their larger customers. 

Positive

We were previously using a homegrown solution called Retrospect. We switched to Commvault because it's cloud-based.

I was at the company when we first deployed Commvault. The overall deployment takes time because it depends on the users' availability. We can't take all the backups together also because we also have time constraints. It depends upon the user availability we have completed this activity. Our IT team has five members responsible for maintaining Commvault, so all five know how to work with Commvault. We also have different offices with varying levels of access, but they can't perform configuration changes, 

Commvault worked with our team during the user acceptance testing. In the UAT phase, everyone was a little uncomfortable because we didn't know what all the options were. But Commvault has a team in India who helped us to check everything. We were satisfied with that. When we had issues, an engineer took the call and sorted everything out. After that, we didn't have any problems with the configuration.

I feel like we've gotten a lot of value relative to what we've spent. Employees no longer have to be in the same office to access the backup solution. If a user working from home wants to restore data, I can directly restore it to his laptop. There's no time delay for solving user issues. We've also cut down on storage costs because an in-house solution requires you to spend money to keep that much data.

We have evaluated three or four cloud-based backup solutions, but the other ones in the market didn't even come close to Commvault. We looked at solutions by Sophos and Veeam, but those didn't have even 50 percent of what Commvault offers.

I rate Commvault nine out of 10. It's a wonderful platform for IT professionals. I would suggest Commvault as the backup solution for any company. However, it still has some room for improvement.

We use Commvault to back up all our enterprise solutions, like MS SQL, Exchange, file servers, and MongoDB, but we don't use Commvault for multi-environment management. There is a primary site and a disaster recovery site that we control offsite with one console.

I know Commvault has another interface for the multi-site, but I've never used it before, so I don't have any experience with that. However, we have a passive primary server at the disaster recovery site, and if we have trouble at the main site, we can use the disaster recovery server. 

Commvault makes it easier to back up new additions to our environment. For example, when we added MongoDB, we found it in Commvault and could start backing it up. 

Right now, we are trying to integrate Kubernetes platforms into our environment, and I'm sure that Commvault can back up those. Commvault keeps up with new technologies, and if you upgrade to the latest stable version, you can find everything you need.

Backing up with Commvault doesn't require much effort. Commvault's reporting features are also excellent and user-friendly. It's easy to find anything we want. The workflow feature is handy, too. For example, we schedule an automated monthly backup and restoration test that we used to do manually. That has been integrated with Commvault's workflows and running automatically every month for four years. 

It runs all the tests and emails us the reports. We take daily, weekly, and monthly snapshots, and I integrate the storage snapshot scripts with the Commvault workflow. The Commvault workflow runs all the scripts and sends us the reports. It also features cloud-side reports and workflows. Commvault has many tools for backing up, restoring, and archiving, but we use another service for our archives. 

Commvault can show us unprotected workloads, servers, and SQL databases. It's a good feature, and I periodically get reports on this. However, it's a low priority because we are waiting for our inside customers to tell us whether they want something backed up or not. They must follow that, but we are using terabyte-based backups. We don't separate the agent— MS SQL or others—and we are only looking at the terabyte trends, so it's predictable for us. 

Our main pain point is that some of our hardware is old. For example, the SSD disks for our application database are slow. It's hard to avoid a slowdown in our environment because the size of our backups is growing every year. If you're growing and don't upgrade the environment, you will see slower backups and restores. You must enhance the environment if you are growing.

I've used Commvault for about 10 years, and we used it at my last company for around six years. 

Commvault's stability is good.

We have no problems scaling Commvault. I don't remember the numbers, but we have a terabyte license size. It's about 400 terabytes, but the backend is in the petabyte range. 

Troubleshooting is easy because Commvault support responds and finds the root cause quickly. When I've contacted support for other solutions, some of them ask you to recreate the scenario. They ask you to increase the debugging level and reproduce the scenario to get the error again. As a result, we waste a lot of time troubleshooting those solutions. With Commvault, we don't need to devote much time to the operational and troubleshooting aspects. 

I've used NetBackup before, and I think it's a good solution. It required more effort than Commvault, but I prefer it over EMC NetWorker. NetWorker was labor-intensive, buggy, and hard to use. We spent a lot of time dealing with EMC support. They have a large, competent support team, but we spent too much time with them. 

NetBackup is better than NetWorker, but it has fewer features than Commvault. NetBackup also has an old-fashioned interface that is harder to use than Commvault's. It's not user-friendly. Commvault is the best of the three.

Setting up Commvault was straightforward. You set up the primary server first, then the media agents, disks, and agents for clients. Each of those steps is easy. It's like a "next, next, finish" Windows installer. You can deploy it in half a day in a smaller environment, and it's maybe one or two days for a large one. 

Of course, it depends on the size of the agents and how many you need for your physical environment. If you have a rigid environment, it's effortless because you only define the vCenters or the Hyper-V management console, and that's it. You can take backups. 

On the other hand, you must install all the agents if you have too many physical environments. Still, Commvault makes it easy because you can install everything from the user interface on the primary server. In total, we have five people, including me, managing Commvault and all our other storage solutions. 

I rate Commvault 10 out of 10. If you're planning on implementing Commvault, I suggest doing a PoC first to try out all the features and to compare them to other products. We did a PoC for backup solutions to test some new features for our enterprise solutions, and some of the products didn't make the cut, so I would recommend a PoC.