We compared Commvault Complete Data Protection and IBM Spectrum Protect based on user reviews in five categories. We reviewed all of the data, and you can find the conclusion below.
Features: Commvault Complete Data Protection is highly regarded for its extensive recovery options and compatibility with diverse storage systems. IBM Spectrum Protect is praised for its ability to integrate with tape libraries and its customization options. Users suggest that Commvault Complete Data Protection could offer more Windows security features and a unified console. They said Commvault should expand support for container-based systems and improve its ability to archive large video files. Users also praised Spectrum Protect for its compatibility with various products, scalability, and stability. IBM Spectrum Protect could improve its integration with cloud services and make its interface more user-friendly.
Service and Support: Commvault Complete Data Protection earned mostly positive feedback for its customer service, but some Commvault customers mentioned concerns about network-related support and the need for more direct access during emergencies. IBM’s customer service is described as high quality, friendly, knowledgeable, and responsive. At the same time, some said the support process can be lengthy.
Ease of Deployment: The setup process for Commvault Complete Data Protection is complex, time-consuming, and may require outside help. The lack of sufficient documentation and online resources adds to the difficulty. IBM Spectrum Protect's initial setup is challenging and demands skilled professionals to configure multiple parameters and features. This process can be time-consuming.
Pricing: Commvault may need to lower its price to attract customers in certain regions and customer segments. IBM Spectrum Protect is considered expensive. The pricing model is complex, taking into account factors like processor type and volume.
ROI: Commvault Complete Data Protection offers significant cost savings. Some enterprise customers estimated that they saved between $100,000 to $300,000 by reducing labor costs, speeding up backup and recovery, and implementing remote access. Users have realized benefits from IBM Spectrum Protect’s data protection and retrieval. They appreciate its ability to reduce storage requirements with larger tape sizes.
Comparison Results: Commvault Complete Data Protection is a robust and flexible solution with the potential to save customers money, but users say the setup is too complex and it needs better support for container-based systems. IBM Spectrum Protect is a reliable, customizable solution that allows smooth integration with tape libraries. At the same time, some say that the user interface could be more intuitive and Spectrum Protect could integrate better with the cloud.
"Commvault is very simple to use and it is automated."
"It's a software-based solution so we just need a license to expand it."
"The most valuable feature of Metallic is its flexibility and user-friendly."
"We have multiple workloads, including SQL, Oracle, SAP HANA, especially Sybase, as well as file systems, VMs, and Exchange mailboxes. Commvault provides very good support for them."
"We have VMware, Hyper-V, Oracle, and Microsoft SQL. We have a lot of different systems, and all of them are supported under one licensing agreement. That's one of the benefits."
"Restoring is very fast. In testing, I did a restore for a single item from a mailbox. Within a minute, I had the message back in my mailbox. So, it didn't take hours or days. Obviously, there will be a limit. If we suddenly go into DR and have to restore five terabytes of emails for people, then it will take a couple of days, which would be acceptable. For general usage, where we have to do the odd restore, we have never had issues. It happens within minutes."
"I can collect the target data, then we connect it to Commvault. There is not another system that can connect to our target database or target storage. This is very important for us, because there is the threat of malware right now. This can protect not only the product, but also the backup data from outside threats."
"The solution's interface is easy to use. For manageability, it doesn't matter where the resource is coming from or going to. That's the great power of the Control Panel: It's easy to use and does not matter if you manage on-prem or cloud resources."
"It saves you a lot of storage."
"The solution is not complex, it's very easy to configure agents or VM backup and restore. Upgrades from one version to another are very fast and the product is very stable."
"Reliability: It has never had a problem with backups or restores. If you store something, it is there."
"We can freeze and start databases for consistent backups."
"From a tech perspective, utilizing deduplication is one of the most valuable features."
"Incremental forever: This feature helps us reduce backup time and backup storage space."
"Space efficient data reduction, using progressive incremental forever in combination with deduplication and compression."
"The customization and the ability to backup across all platforms are the most valuable features."
"Support could improve and the initial configuration would be easier with assistance from a professional engineer."
"I would like Commvault to have a feature for cybersecurity threats, e.g. securing the target backup repository. Commvault just started testing and releasing this feature, but it needs to be stabilized."
"The interface could be improved because it has two different consoles."
"There are many settings that have to be done on your own. It would benefit from a better interface."
"They reply to the support portal weekly, but there are some delays."
"There are two ways to use it and I prefer the web-based one over the app. I wish they were a little bit more matched in what they offer because the features aren't as available in the web-based interface as they are in the app."
"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."
"Not everyone has agents for everything and Commvault has agents for most products. It's the most complete."
"It can be improved for large file systems with many files. Spectrum Protect can restore large files very well, but if you're restoring millions of little files, it is not as great. At one point, we tried to implement the VMware module with it, and it was awful and terrible. I don't know if that has improved. If it hasn't, this would be one big improvement."
"Any feature that is compliant with virtualizing the application should be improved."
"The solution's ability to integrate with a cloud solution is one area that needs improvement."
"The features should be a little bit closer together."
"They should have a proper technical support team serving the customers and get issues resolved earlier."
"I would like a little more ease with the virtual platforms, because it is a huge thing that is coming up."
"It might be seen as leaning towards the legacy side, missing some features of newer solutions. The main drawbacks would be its complexity and high pricing."
"A lot of my customers always ask for legal holds, especially on email."
Commvault Cloud is ranked 3rd in Backup and Recovery with 104 reviews while IBM Spectrum Protect is ranked 17th in Backup and Recovery with 146 reviews. Commvault Cloud is rated 8.6, while IBM Spectrum Protect is rated 8.0. The top reviewer of Commvault Cloud writes "Provides excellent visibility and helps reduce costs and time". On the other hand, the top reviewer of IBM Spectrum Protect writes "Performance and recoveries are better, and customers are happier with performance". Commvault Cloud is most compared with Veeam Backup & Replication, Rubrik, Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365, Azure Backup and Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain), whereas IBM Spectrum Protect is most compared with IBM Spectrum Protect Plus, Veeam Backup & Replication, Rubrik, Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) and Cohesity DataProtect. See our Commvault Cloud vs. IBM Spectrum Protect report.
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