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reviewer1131192 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Senior Systems Engineer at Southland Industries
Real User
The engine is ransomware-agnostic so ransomware doesn't compromise our backup data
Pros and Cons
  • "Commvault provides data protection. Their engine is ransomware-agnostic so ransomware doesn't compromise our backup data. Therefore, we can rely on their data protection to recover and back up our production system."
  • "Commvault could make the product more cost-effective on the public cloud side. We are using this solution to back up whatever is still on-prem. We are not using it to back up what is on the public cloud because we have a native backup solution for that, which is provided by the vendor. As our footprint gets bigger, we will continue to evaluate this, but the last time that we did a cost analysis, the cost was not comparable to the solution that public clouds are offering."

What is our primary use case?

We use it for data protection.

We have two consoles: one on the West Coast and another on the East Coast. Our database copy and auxiliary are sent to an outside location for DR, just in case we need to do a system recovery.

Initially, it was on-prem, but we moved it to the public cloud since everything is on the cloud.

How has it helped my organization?

Several years ago, we encountered some ransomware. We just had to recover the file with Commvault, which was great.

Commvault provides data protection. Their engine is ransomware-agnostic so ransomware doesn't compromise our backup data. Therefore, we can rely on their data protection to recover and back up our production system.

What is most valuable?

The virtual server agent (VSA) backup for vCenter is useful and also saves some money. If you use the front-end, which is the agent, then it is a front-end terabyte model, which is very expensive.

Everything is in a single place. I love it. I use the Java GUI console.

Commvault provides us with a single platform to move, manage, and recover our data across on-premises, hybrid, and cloud locations. This is important to us. 

There are a vast number of supported storage vendors out there who can support the Commvault connection, whether you are using public or private cloud. This is something that I really like.

What needs improvement?

Initially, I spent quite some time understanding the product and how it functions.

While there are newer features on the Command Center, there are still some missing things. I don't use it at all.

For Office 365, they have limited functions and features. 

Commvault could make the product more cost-effective on the public cloud side. We are using this solution to back up whatever is still on-prem. We are not using it to back up what is on the public cloud because we have a native backup solution for that, which is provided by the vendor. As our footprint gets bigger, we will continue to evaluate this, but the last time that we did a cost analysis, the cost was not comparable to the solution that public clouds are offering.

Buyer's Guide
Commvault Cloud
January 2025
Learn what your peers think about Commvault Cloud. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2025.
829,541 professionals have used our research since 2012.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for seven years, since I joined the company.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is great. The product is very good.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is very scalable. You can scale out as much as you want to the data platform as well as expand to other network platforms. We have seen some resellers or other vendors who are using Commvault as part of their service provider to back up their clients. In terms of scaling, they can use it to back up private data, public data, etc.

How are customer service and support?

The technical support is great. They are very responsive and right on top of things. Sometimes they go above and beyond to get your answer and solve the problem.

Our 24/7 SLA has never been missed. When you call support, whatever time frame is promised based on the SLA, they deliver on that.

I would rate the technical support as eight or nine out of 10.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

It is a little complex at first when you need to choose the product design, features, and functions. Once you understand those, it is not difficult.

What about the implementation team?

Early on, we were using Commvault Professional Services. Now, I handle the deployment and maintenance myself. I support this solution for our entire company, which is about 2000 users.

What was our ROI?

If you architect and design it right, then it will save you a lot of time. Right now, I don't need to spend much time on it. I am spending an hour on it per week. It is saving our admin teams around 50% of their time.

Commvault is saving us a lot with its dedupe and compression. This reduces our footprint by 75% to 80%.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Based on the customer's needs, their pricing and model is very confusing sometimes. You need to check with their sales to make sure you are getting the right pricing on whatever you are using. I know that they have simplified a lot regarding the licensing model nowadays, but it is good to always double check and make sure it has everything that you really need.

We pay for the license every year. Initially, it was around $100,000. Now, it is down to $30,000 to $40,000.

There are no costs in addition to the standard licensing fees.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Commvault has the capability to go to the tape library directly. I know that there are some solutions out there not capable of doing that. 

What other advice do I have?

Look at your business needs, potential growth, and the vendor from a technical, support, and the cost standpoint. You also need to look at the cost, looking at the license very closely, which is a bit confusing.

Go to their classes and try to attend their training, at least for the fundamentals of building a foundation. Take a few classes to get up to speed. That is probably the best learning path to understanding Commvault.

Commvault has good scalability and functionality that support what is needed.

The product is pretty strong. You just need to know how to use it and implement it correctly.

I would rate this solution as eight out of 10.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

PeerSpot user
Rich text editor
    Achindra Kamburapolage - PeerSpot reviewer
    Manager - Database Administration at Nations Trust Banks Plc
    User
    Top 20
    Robust backup and recovery capabilities with great features
    Pros and Cons
    • "Security measures, including encryption and threat detection, contribute significantly to data protection, safeguarding against unauthorized access and cyber threats."
    • "Improved documentation and user training resources could contribute to a smoother onboarding process and more effective utilization of the platform's capabilities."

    What is our primary use case?

    Commvault's primary use case centers around comprehensive data management and protection, particularly in cloud environments. Organizations leverage Commvault for its robust capabilities in backup and recovery, safeguarding data across both on-premises and cloud-based infrastructures. 

    The solution excels in facilitating the efficient management of data in hybrid and multi-cloud setups, enabling seamless movement, copying, and overall control of information stored on platforms like AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud. Commvault plays a pivotal role in disaster recovery planning, ensuring swift data retrieval and business continuity in the face of unexpected events. 

    Additionally, the platform often extends its functionality to include archiving solutions, aiding organizations in meeting compliance requirements and optimizing long-term data storage. With a focus on security and compliance, Commvault provides features to protect data and align with regulatory standards. 

    Moreover, it may contribute to cloud cost optimization by offering insights into data usage and implementing strategies for cost-effective storage. It's essential to consult the latest documentation or contact Commvault directly for the most current information on their cloud solutions as of 2024.

    How has it helped my organization?

    Commvault Cloud has proven instrumental in enhancing organizational operations through its robust data management and protection features. By providing efficient backup and recovery solutions, it ensures the safeguarding of critical data, reducing the risk of data loss due to various unforeseen events. 

    The platform's adept handling of hybrid and multi-cloud environments enables organizations to streamline data management across diverse infrastructures, optimizing resources and harnessing the benefits of various cloud platforms seamlessly. 

    Commvault Cloud's disaster recovery capabilities contribute significantly to minimizing downtime, facilitating quick system and data restoration in the face of disruptions. Moreover, the solution aids in implementing effective data archiving strategies, ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements and reducing the likelihood of compliance-related issues. 

    The integration of enhanced security measures further fortifies data protection, mitigating risks associated with unauthorized access or breaches. Commvault Cloud's potential to optimize cloud costs by providing insights into data usage and recommending cost-effective storage strategies contributes to overall operational efficiency. 

    While the success of implementation hinges on factors such as planning and training, ongoing assessments and communication with Commvault support are crucial for addressing any challenges and ensuring continued alignment with organizational needs.

    What is most valuable?

    Commvault Cloud offers a suite of features, each contributing distinct value to organizations based on their unique needs. 

    The backbone of its utility lies in robust backup and recovery capabilities, ensuring data resilience and swift recovery in the face of unforeseen events. The ability to seamlessly manage data across hybrid and multi-cloud environments stands out as a pivotal feature, allowing for flexibility, resource optimization, and scalability as organizations navigate diverse cloud infrastructures. 

    Disaster Recovery features further enhance business continuity by minimizing downtime and facilitating rapid system and data restoration. The effectiveness of Commvault Cloud extends to archiving and compliance functionalities, crucial for industries with stringent regulatory requirements, mitigating the risk of compliance-related issues. 

    Security measures, including encryption and threat detection, contribute significantly to data protection, safeguarding against unauthorized access and cyber threats. Additionally, the platform's Cloud Cost Optimization features provide insights into data usage, aiding in the implementation of cost-effective storage strategies and contributing to overall operational efficiency. 

    The value of these features ultimately depends on an organization's specific goals, industry context, and IT infrastructure, emphasizing the need for regular assessments to ensure ongoing alignment with evolving business requirements.

    What needs improvement?

    Commvault Cloud, while offering a robust suite of features, could potentially benefit from improvements in certain areas. One area for consideration is user interface and user experience enhancements, aiming to streamline navigation and make the platform more intuitive for users with varying levels of technical expertise. 

    Improved documentation and user training resources could also contribute to a smoother onboarding process and more effective utilization of the platform's capabilities. Additionally, ongoing efforts to optimize resource utilization and minimize any potential impact on system performance would be valuable. As for potential features in the next release, integration with emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence for more intelligent data management and analytics could provide valuable insights for organizations. 

    Enhanced automation capabilities, including more sophisticated policy-driven automation for data workflows, could further streamline processes and reduce manual intervention. Integration with additional cloud services and platforms, keeping pace with the evolving cloud landscape, would broaden the platform's compatibility and usefulness. 

    Lastly, advanced security features, including continuous monitoring, threat intelligence integration, and proactive threat response capabilities, would fortify the product's defense against evolving cyber threats. 

    Regular feedback mechanisms from users and staying attuned to industry trends would help guide the development of features that align closely with the evolving needs of organizations in the dynamic landscape of data management and cloud services.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I've been using this solution for two years. 

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

    PeerSpot user
    Rich text editor
      Buyer's Guide
      Commvault Cloud
      January 2025
      Learn what your peers think about Commvault Cloud. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2025.
      829,541 professionals have used our research since 2012.
      Systems Team Supervisor at State of Nevada
      Real User
      A simple, flexible, set-and-forget SaaS solution
      Pros and Cons
      • "It is just about as flexible as you can get; simple. You can put it anywhere you want. You can put it on-prem or in your cloud. I could see where a team that's looking for more of a follow the bouncy ball type of solution might get a little confused. "Oh, no. What do you mean I might have to do it this way or I can't do it that way?" Sometimes, people just want to be told what to do. For an enterprise environment, like we are at NDOT, everything we do is not standard. It is not industry standard; it is not normal. We have all kinds of one-offs. We do need flexibility in the solutions that we get. I will say that Metallic has been extremely flexible in that sense, where we are able to follow the bouncy ball if we wanted to. Obviously, we didn't. We did it our way and Metallic, as a whole solution, provided that to us with no issues."
      • "Getting my guys the right access has a learning curve. Sometimes, it is, "Oh, okay. I think I got it for you." Then, they say, "Oh, nope. I logged in but I can't see this." Then, it is, "Okay, hold on. Give me a second. Let me change that. Okay, it's this one." That learning curve has probably taken a little bit longer than some simpler things. So, Metallic has some granularity, and as a systems administrator, I appreciate that. At the same time, I also realize that I have to learn it."

      How has it helped my organization?

      Overall, Metallic has helped us out tremendously from a backup and restore situation. We just had a pretty major restore that we had to do from Metallic two weeks ago for a file that was basically deleted five days ago, and they needed a copy from seven days prior to that. My whole team walked through the restore in about two to three minutes. We basically figured out which buttons to push, then the restore was done 30 seconds later. That was an eye-opener at that point, because we understand what a great decision we made by going with Metallic.

      If you ask me today whether Metallic was appropriate for an enterprise-level environment, then I would say, "Yes." If you asked me a year and a half ago, I would have said, "No." Normally, you would think that a cloud-only backup type solution probably wouldn't work for an enterprise environment. Then, here comes NDOT and we're about as enterprise as it gets when it comes to the state of Nevada. Right now, we are doing all kinds of neat stuff with this solution where normally you would need an on-premises solution. They have me convinced now. We are backing up stuff that I couldn't get MABS or Rapid Recovery to backup, and those are on-prem and cloud, e.g., hybrid solutions. If we wanted to, we could go to hybrid with Metallic, but their cloud solution is so stable right now.

      I ran the solution through my CISO. When it comes to server guys, I am probably the security-conscious systems guy on our team. I went to the same training that our CISO did. Between him and me, we love Metallic. We think their security is definitely acceptable at a high level.

      What is most valuable?

      The ease of use is the most valuable feature, which keeps the training down. Pretty much anybody in my group right now can do a whole bunch with Metallic compared to what we could do with our previous solution, on-prem Commvault. The ease of use is probably my number one priority. With the amount of systems that our systems team deals with, the ease of use is the most important thing. We were bouncing around all of the time from this system to that system to this system, trying to remember how things work. Whereas, Metallic keeps it simple.

      It is just about as flexible as you can get; simple. You can put it anywhere you want. You can put it on-prem or in your cloud. I could see where a team that's looking for more of a follow the bouncy ball type of solution might get a little confused. "Oh, no. What do you mean I might have to do it this way or I can't do it that way?" Sometimes, people just want to be told what to do. For an enterprise environment, like we are at NDOT, everything we do is not standard. It is not industry standard; it is not normal. We have all kinds of one-offs. We do need flexibility in the solutions that we get. I will say that Metallic has been extremely flexible in that sense, where we are able to follow the bouncy ball if we wanted to. Obviously, we didn't. We did it our way and Metallic, as a whole solution, provided that to us with no issues.

      What needs improvement?

      Permissions can be tricky. There is granularity when trying to get people to write permissions to be able to view, backup, and restore. It is just hard to understand that granularity. I can't even 100% say that it is Commvault. I can say it is not super cut-and-dry right out of the gate. However, I would also say it is great because it is granular.

      Getting my guys the right access has a learning curve. Sometimes, it is, "Oh, okay. I think I got it for you." Then, they say, "Oh, nope. I logged in but I can't see this." Then, it is, "Okay, hold on. Give me a second. Let me change that. Okay, it's this one." That learning curve has probably taken a little bit longer than some simpler things. So, Metallic has some granularity, and as a systems administrator, I appreciate that. At the same time, I also realize that I have to learn it.

      Seven to eight months ago, the documentation needed improvement, but they have caught up on it now.

      For how long have I used the solution?

      I have been using it for a year. My team has been using it for about seven to eight months.

      What do I think about the stability of the solution?

      It is a very stable platform.

      Right now, we have seven guys on my team and two of us are setting up the backups. The other five of us are strictly doing restores mainly until we get all our backups entirely into the cloud and clean up the groups. I really just need two guys doing that, a junior admin and me. The junior admin has been setting this all up because he will be around for another 15 years. I might as well have him learn it now and be our guru.

      For the most part, it does the updates for us. There is a piece that we own down on our network and there is a piece that they own on their network. For the most part, the piece that they own is definitely the bigger of the two. With that being said, our version that we are running on-premises needs an update, which basically means that it is waiting on a server restart. Our servers restart once a month, so I imagine it is scheduled to restart on Sunday. Then, we will get that up-to-date. Metallic pushes it out, then our server installs it. Metallic is mostly on the hook for updates and keeping things up-to-date.

      What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

      It is 100% scalable.

      We were on a hybrid system, which was on-prem and in the cloud as well as local. We had probably 10% of our servers that were backing up locally to themselves. We had about 40% of our big, large servers backing up on-premises. Then, the other percentage was backing up to the cloud.

      Once we moved to Commvault, instead of about 80% of my servers backing up to the cloud, we will shortly have them all going to the cloud. Now, I'm not hybrid, but in a simple solution, which is a cloud backup solution. Adding to that is as simple as going to Azure, and saying, "Hey, I need this storage count to be a little bit bigger," as long as I have pre-planned the amount that I would buy from Metallic. In other words, Metallic gives us a price on 100 servers. I know that I have 50, and I am good to scale for another 50. All I have to do at that point is go into my Azure tenant, have it give me some more storage, and at that point now I am scaling.

      Now, if I need to, I get a hold of Larry over there in Metallic, and I say, "Hey, buddy. I need to add another 50 servers." Then, he gives me a price quote, and we pay them again. The solution is simple, easy, and scalable. I don't need to buy hardware. I don't have a bunch of engineers down here reassessing our environment. I just got to add some more storage to the cloud, then I start sending more data out to the cloud. I would say, "Scalability is wow." They have done a great job there.

      I had a conversation yesterday, between me and my manager, about when we will use Metallic's Office 365 Backup & Recovery. First, we need to get our backups. Between the Metallic solution, the file storage optimization, and now the 365, which are the three things that we have gotten from Commvault over the last year. File storage optimization is next, then 365 is after that. I am going to say sometime in October.

      How are customer service and technical support?

      So far, I would give Commvault tech support 10 out of 10. We have dealt with some good and some bad tech supports. Between Microsoft, Dell, and Commvault, those three solutions are at the top of my list when it comes to support.

      Anything that we find is usually something that we can fix ourselves. We can get ahold of support, then support takes care of it.

      Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

      We were using Microsoft Azure Backup Server (MABS), but there were many problems with it. We turned around, started using Metallic about a year ago. I tested it out. We now have 80% of our servers being backed up to Metallic. We will probably have the rest in the next six to eight weeks. At that point, for the first time in two years, we will have all our servers completely backed up.

      When we used to have the on-prem version of Commvault, it was nothing like Metallic. Metallic is a different solution, but it is Commvault. Back in those days, when we had Commvault, it was pretty complex. It was very granular. It had many features, but it was complex. You really only could have one or two guys working on it.

      We left Commvault five years ago because the grass is always greener on the other side and cheaper: bigger, better, and stronger. Of course, we came to find out: none of the above. Nothing was true. Basically, we were talked into it by Dell EMC. My old manager, the person whose position I now have, was talked into using Quest Rapid Recovery product by Dell EMC, saying, "Hey, you don't need Commvault. They are one of the biggest backup solutions in the world, and we are an up-and-coming, starting company. We're going to make it cheaper for you. We are just as good. We will show you some cool demos." Those demos looked great. Of course, we went with it. To make a long story short, in the four and a half years that we had Quest Rapid Recovery, we were never compliant on our backups, not once. We were duped.

      We are finally back with Commvault, and we now have a 100% compliance backup solution. 

      We switched to Metallic because of money. Right now, we are paying less for Metallic than we ever were for Rapid Recovery. I have reclaimed man-hours back for my team. I had one guy for five to six hours a day managing those two other systems, Microsoft Azure Backup and Quest. I lost four to six hours a day for one of my top-level guys by having him troubleshooting that all day long. By going to Metallic, we have freed up man-hours, infrastructure costs, and the time to manage.

      How was the initial setup?

      I did the first initial setup all by myself. I had it set up in about an hour and a half, then I was backing up a server in about an hour and 45 minutes. It was pretty easy. That was our proof of concept testing. I did that for about three or four months, then I blew it up, broke it, and reimplemented it. 

      When we started using this solution, it was seven months into its infancy. By the time we bought it, they had just hit their first year. It has definitely changed around making things a little easier, instead of having to go: here, here, here, here, and there. They have simplified things. They have created nice new little shortcuts. 

      The interface now is super easy. You can fumble around in there, then after awhile, you are like, "Okay. That is how this works."

      The process of switching to Metallic was really easy. We actually ran Metallic backups during the MABS backup. In other words, we were actually backing up with those solutions as we migrated to Metallic. Of course, we had to age-off. The fact that we did not have to turn off the other backups so Metallic could do its backups made the implementation extremely easy. The cut over was easy. 

      We were able to run it in parallel with the other system. It didn't cause any issues. It tells me right there that it's not the same design. Because if it was the same design, then we would've had to turn off the other one which means that we would not get backups for two or three weeks while Metallic catches up. That is not always a good thing to do when you are talking about important systems. Because of Metallic's different way that it backs up, we were able to run it in parallel. The implementation was very simple. It wasn't like we had to go and pull the tablecloth out from underneath the glasses while they were still sitting on the table. It was extremely seamless because of the fact that their backups are done differently than the not-so-good solution we were going with.

      What about the implementation team?

      I had a couple phone calls with engineers and broke it really good a few times, to the point where it even broke up their stuff there. Once we decided we were going to buy the product and implement it into our environment, they set up a couple of calls with their top level engineers and had us set it up even better than I did in my test environments. They were really good about helping us. So, their assistance and the ease of setup were great.

      After it was approved through our infrastructure technical committee, I needed to get a call set up with their engineers for an initial setup of the plans. The first plan to get going the way they recommend. Because when I was testing, I tested from every angle. I broke the heck out of it to know its limitations. We created an initial phone call with their engineers, who helped us set up the first 20 VMs to get backed up under their idea of how they set the system up to work. This was good because I didn't understand this when I was doing my testing. I just did the things I thought that were supposed to be done.

      We had a second follow-up call with them. That second follow-up call was for any questions that we had for the month in-between what we were doing with our backups, e.g., checking things out and playing around. They answered a whole bunch of questions for us and helped us set up single sign-on. It was a smooth process. They were willing to help us out, which helped us out tremendously. We basically used their support to help us implement the solution.

      Once you set up a bunch of these backups, you will get notified in an email if they are wrong. If you're not adding anything the next day or another server, there is no reason for you to even be in there, unless there is a restore. 

      At the moment, we are trying to add 400-plus servers. Therefore, we are going to have a guy in there for half an hour to an hour a day adding a few more servers. When adding a few more servers, you need to be careful. You don't want to rock the boat too much, then all of a sudden you have a big problem. So, it is just a little bit at a time. Right now, we are talking about an hour once or twice a week. Once our servers are sitting up there and this stuff is going, there should be no maintenance. 

      I have made this very clear to my team. I don't need a guy in there, like we did with Rapid Recovery, chasing down errors. There are no errors. It is backing up. It will tell you when it is not. Then, when it's not backing up, we will tackle that. 

      I just don't see a lot of maintenance on this solution. Management of it really has nothing to do with anything unless you are fixing or reimplementing something. For the most part, once you set it, then it is a set-and-forget SaaS solution.

      What was our ROI?

      We have a seven-man team. I am the supervisor with six guys underneath me, who are all veteran IT professionals. One of those gentlemen, a $100,000 a year guy, was on Rapid Recovery for four to six hours a day, every day for the four years that we had it. He was just maintaining it, fixing problems and backup errors. When we went to MABS, it was the same problem. He was now managing both of these things, because we were dual-headed at that point. Once we got into Metallic, I had one of our junior-level admins, at that point, take this project on. He moved 80% of our servers into the cloud and basically checks an email once or twice a week, looking at the backups for about 20 minutes a day.

      The labor has gone down exponentially. It is insane. We are talking about a $100,000 solution that we paid for Rapid Recovery a year, plus the $100,000 a year salary for having one of my guys managing it every day. Whereas, we are paying Metallic an X amount of dollars right now and spend about five or 10 minutes every other day just to verify that the backups are good. We don't have to fix anything.

      We are basically getting rid of hardware that we were paying for Rapid Recovery. We are actually leveraging some of Rapid Recovery's hardware for MABS, so we cut down on MABS and Rapid Recovery. Now, the hardware that we would need to renew warranties and get support for is no longer necessary.

      What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

      I used the free trial to test it. That was our proof of concept. I had the servers up and running by the middle of the day. I think I started it some time around breakfast. It took a couple of hours. It was really simple.

      Hands down, Metallic provides us with more predictable costs for our backup requirements. You are getting what you pay for. If they are charging you X amount of dollars at that point, that is what you are going to pay. So far, I have not seen any hidden costs or any kind of gotchas. It is pretty cut-and-dry. They will let you know, "Hey, you are going to use our storage and it will cost you this much. You are going to use your storage, then we are going to charge you this much to backup." What they told us they were going to charge us is exactly what they are charging us now for the next two and a half years.

      Which other solutions did I evaluate?

      We also evaluated NEC, which is another big solution out there, like Nike or Converse. NEC has their own data centers. The government uses them. They are big and their solution is robust. We tested it, and it worked well too. However, the bottom line was a huge sticker price shock. We went with Metallic because of cost. 

      Since I have been in this NDOT environment for eight years, we have used Commvault, Rapid Recovery, MABS, and now we are back to Commvault Metallic. Of those four products, with Commvault being the first and now the last, those have been the two more stable products. The first one that we used was Commvault on-premises, with MediaAgent and physical servers on-prem, which was extremely stable. Then, we went to Rapid Recovery and that wasn't stable. Neither was MABS. Now, we are back to Metallic and it is stable again. Most solutions I have used from Metallic, from the on-prem now to the cloud, have been extremely stable when it comes to backup.

      What other advice do I have?

      Definitely take advantage of the support team in your initial rollout because Commvault is not a follow the bouncy ball type of solution. It is definitely granular, configurable, and scalable. With the initial deployment, it is important to get that right because everything is going to start working off of that initial deployment. It is a good idea to take advantage of their support tier in that initial deployment and not try to set it up 100% on your own. I did, and It worked. However, once we got a hold of the engineers for the production rollout, they started answering some of my questions. If I would have known the answers that they gave me back when I rolled it out, the rollout would have been much easier and not as hard as it was. It could have been even better. 

      Get a little knowledge from these guys. Have them help you roll it out. It takes half an hour. That is all it took us. We had the engineer on the phone for half an hour. He had us setup and backups going, with the vision that Metallic was built for, not the vision that I had thought it was for. My biggest recommendation is to take advantage of their support during the initial deployment. From there, you can be as creative as you want. It is always good to get that help in the beginning.

      There have been discussions about doing the solution’s Endpoint Backup & Recovery. It really just comes down to the fact that we would need more push from the business. Right now, the business understands that most of their data is stored in the cloud as-is. So, backing up into a computer is not necessary, as the data that they are putting on that computer is in the cloud. I don't see us using it any time soon.

      Right now, Metallic is used a lot. For the most part, it is now the entire backup of our 400-plus servers. It will be used even more with the 365 implementation, Active Directory backup implementation, and disaster recovery. One of the good things about going to Metallic in this cloud solution, where all of my servers now live in the cloud, is I have a DR solution now, as opposed to having to move it down to another place or building in Las Vegas. Now that we are central with our backups to the cloud, we can focus on a DR solution. It definitely is very important to our infrastructure. As a server team, backups are number one. Metallic has now become one of our fallbacks on solutions for all kinds of stuff.

      Spend it if you got it. The biggest lesson that I learned from using Metallic is sometimes going with cheaper isn't always better. That is why we left Commvault. While Metallic might be a little more expensive than Quest or MABS, with that extra dollar you are paying, you are going to get your money's worth.

      I would rate them as 10 out of 10. I can't really complain. Right now, they look like a knight in shining armor. What do you normally do with a knight in shining armor? You put a medal on him.

      Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

      Public Cloud

      If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

      Microsoft Azure
      Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.

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        Computer Specialist at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
        Real User
        VSA backups mean we don't have to have a client on each server, reducing complexity.
        Pros and Cons
        • "What is most valuable to me are the search features, where you can search through large backup data sets and find what you're looking for. Our data sets are so big that we're over the petabyte mark. To find a specific file for a specific user out of 10,000 users is a challenge... If we can glean from them a general description of where it might be, the search feature comes in very handy to actually locate it and restore it for them."
        • "The main area for improvement is that we sometimes experience negative effects from their updates. If they had a larger test area for their updates, that would help."

        What is our primary use case?

        I've been here for 37 years and I've seen all the data challenges there are. The Centers for Disease Control consists of multiple centers that are all under one umbrella of CDC, but each center has its own budget, its own IT, and its own data collection. They were all disparate and they could not be put under one system where we could protect all of them. Everybody had their own protection. Everybody had their own little silos.

        Around the time we brought in Commvault, our challenge was to bring those silos together where one larger team could diversify into specific areas. For example, disaster recovery was a whole team of people. That's all they did and they specialized in it. We could develop SMEs in each area of IT, such as disaster recovery, database, and hardware configuration. We had to attempt to bring all these silos together. There's resistance to that to this day, because everybody thinks that they're special and the other people don't matter. Our challenge was centralization at that point. Each area had its own way of backing up and several of them had Commvault already, but it was at that point that we settled on Commvault as our backup solution.

        Before Commvault, virus infection was our big problem. If a virus got fished into a system, recovery was disastrous.

        Currently, our use case is disaster recovery, pure and simple, including everything from a file restore to a complete system restore.

        It is on-premises and also hosted in the cloud. 

        How has it helped my organization?

        We've had problems in the past where a storage person made an error and actually deleted a large chunk of storage, and we recovered it with Commvault. If we had lost that storage, it would have been a catastrophic loss of scientific data. The value of that is incalculable.

        In addition, when we're applying for authority to operate, compliance requires that certain things just have to be backed up. That's a requirement of any system that we allow on our network. It has to be recovery-protected in some way, in the event of an error or a tragedy or an attack.

        What is most valuable?

        What is most valuable to me are the search features, where you can search through large backup data sets and find what you're looking for. Our data sets are so big that we're over the petabyte mark. To find a specific file for a specific user out of 10,000 users is a challenge. Sometimes the user doesn't know the file path. If we can glean from them a general description of where it might be, the search feature comes in very handy to actually locate it and restore it for them.

        If you compare Commvault's user interface for managing on-prem, cloud, or multi-cloud environments in one place with some of the newer stuff that's coming out, it may seem to be a little too complex. But it's so powerful that I don't think the newer stuff competes with it that well.

        And Command Center is helpful for reporting to upper management because they want to know the total figures, like how much we are protecting. They want to know the value of what we're doing compared to the cost of it. With Command Center we can tell them, "Look, we're doing this much and we've had this many restores." I have to do monthly reports to upper management on how successful we are at protection.

        The solution also supports a broad coverage of workloads, absolutely. We use the VSA backups which means we don't have to have a client on each server. That, in itself, reduces a lot of the complexity. The broad coverage also means that we don't need as many personnel to administer things. It also helps with productivity. We're able to meet our SLAs for restores much better than we would otherwise.

        What needs improvement?

        The main area for improvement is that we sometimes experience negative effects from their updates. If they had a larger test area for their updates, that would help. I'm sure that they test, but our environment is probably 1,000 times bigger than their test environment. There are way more complexities in our environment, things that their updates overlook, and that causes a ripple effect of errors.

        For how long have I used the solution?

        I've been using Commvault for about 15 years.

        What do I think about the stability of the solution?

        As long as everything functions in our environment, Commvault is very stable, but that's not the case. There are always ripples in the environment and sometimes those ripples can cause dramatic effects in Commvault, such as corrupting DDBs.

        What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

        It's plenty scalable. That's one of the main reasons that we use Commvault. It gives us scalability and versatility across multiple storage platforms.

        How are customer service and support?

        Their technical support is excellent. Any issues that we've had have been resolved.

        Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

        At the time we chose Commvault, it was the best, according to our evaluation. There were three main options: NetApp, Commvault, and one other. There wasn't a lot of competition in that area for enterprise-level organizations.

        How was the initial setup?

        The initial setup was a long time ago and I don't even know if I was involved in it. My lead engineer was involved in it. I was just an overseer at that point and just moving into that position. 

        But I do know there have been a lot of complexities in upgrades from one version to the next. Sometimes we skip a version and go from nine to 11, for example, and there is complexity in that, or there has been in the past.

        What about the implementation team?

        We had direct support from Commvault.

        What was our ROI?

        When it comes to ROI, Commvault is like the return on investment with insurance. When you need it, you see it. But if things are going smoothly you don't see it. However, it has to be there. My favorite saying is, "People really don't care about backups. They only care about restores."

        What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

        One of the most interesting aspects is that the licensing model can be modified. We're paying for our licensing by the client, as opposed to the size of the footprint of the backup, which decreased our cost by about 20 percent.

        There are multiple costs involved. We have the hardware, the tape drives, and the storage that our backup targets use. We use non-recommended storage, which is not as robust as what Commvault recommends, but we're able to make it work. That saves a lot of money on storage and its maintenance.

        Which other solutions did I evaluate?

        I've looked at other solutions but to scale them requires multiple devices, dedicated appliances. In our environment, everything has to be security-scanned and remediated on a monthly basis. The more devices we have, the more complex it gets to do that.

        What other advice do I have?

        If you're a smaller-sized entity, Commvault may be a little bit more than what you need. You get what you pay for. Commvault's scalability and granularity are excellent for a large enterprise, but for a smaller one, some of the alternatives are probably more cost-effective. In this context, a large enterprise is one with storage in the petabyte range. That's where Commvault shines.

        Our Commvault partner is KELYN Technologies. They're a very professional support service, as an intermediary between us and Commvault, so that we get really professional and timely support. We even bring them in on our proofs of concept. As new technologies develop, we have to prove that we can back them up or support and protect them. Having their engineers available to help us work through those issues is very valuable. Anything that they can't solve, they escalate directly to Commvault for us. That way, we don't have to be in that exchange with Commvault. If we're doing a proof of concept and get to an area where we just don't know how to deal with it, they go off, find out, and come back and say, "Okay, now we know how to deal with it."

        And while my staff was mostly pre-trained on Commvault, as new developments and new enhancements come out, KELYN is right on top of them.

        The value, for us, of KELYN comes from the following:

        1. We have a reduced licensing cost.
        2. We have more granular access to engineers to assist with new technology, new concepts. 
        3. And sometimes we'll change our methods due to a new enhancement and they're invaluable in getting those things set up and working correctly.
        Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.

        PeerSpot user
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          Ali Yazıcı - PeerSpot reviewer
          IT Service Manager at Kuveyt Turk Participation Bank
          Real User
          Top 5Leaderboard
          Backing up doesn't require much effort and the workflow and reporting features are helpful
          Pros and Cons
          • "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 things, but we use another service for our archives."
          • "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."

          What is our primary use case?

          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. 

          How has it helped my organization?

          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.

          What is most valuable?

          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. 

          What needs improvement?

          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.

          For how long have I used the solution?

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

          What do I think about the stability of the solution?

          Commvault's stability is good.

          What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

          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. 

          How are customer service and support?

          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. 

          Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

          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.

          How was the initial setup?

          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. 

          What other advice do I have?

          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.

          Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

          On-premises
          Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

          PeerSpot user
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            reviewer2297667 - PeerSpot reviewer
            Infrastructure Manager at a construction company with 1,001-5,000 employees
            Real User
            We can do hourly backups on more systems than ever before, and our RPOs have decreased significantly
            Pros and Cons
            • "It's easy to configure multiple jobs and media agent locations for each server. We do offsite backups for all of our servers, but we also do onsite hourly backups of them. That has benefited us several times when we had an incident and didn't want to roll back a server an entire day."
            • "Additional SaaS application support would be good... we have SaaS applications that may not be big enough for Commvault to support yet. Box.com is one we've asked about for years, and it's just not on the radar, as far as I know."

            What is our primary use case?

            Backup and recovery is our primary use case, but we use it to back up all our laptops and help with our computer switch-out process. When somebody receives a new computer, we use Commvault to migrate their data from their old computer to their new one which has eliminated one of the most time-consuming pieces of that process.

            We also use Commvault Activate for e-discovery and to help with lawsuits and claims at the end of our projects. It helps provide our outside counsel with the data they need.

            How has it helped my organization?

            We are able to sleep at night knowing that all of our data is protected and we can recover it very quickly. Instead of trying to do a recovery and hoping things are going to work, I'm fairly confident that within just a couple of minutes, we can have any of our machines restored wherever we need it.

            We used to have daily RPOs on almost everything, but Commvault has given us the flexibility to create RPOs daily, every four hours, hourly, etc. For the most part, any request a data owner may have for their system, we can accommodate without difficult changes to our overall data protection strategy.

            As for RTO, doing recoveries with Commvault for our virtual machines means we can have them running in under five minutes in most cases. Previously, that would have taken hours.

            What is most valuable?

            Having everything in one place is one of the biggest advantages, rather than having to go to individual products or different pieces to complete tasks. 

            We do offsite backups for all of our servers, but we also do onsite hourly backups for any location with important data. That has benefited us several times when we had a need to recover files but did not want to roll back to the previous day's offsite backup. We were able to just roll back certain data for an hour or two to resolve the issue.

            When it comes to monitoring and managing our data environment, it's easy for our admins to use Commvault. Most of the time, through their documentation, our primary admin can find everything he needs. We utilize a value-added reseller to handle our first-line support and when we have to escalate something to them, they're usually able to resolve it without having to involve Commvault.

            The fact that Commvault offers recovery across cloud, on-prem, and SaaS workloads is growing in importance for our company. We use it to protect some SaaS data today and it has set us up for when we are ready for that jump to the cloud. We know data protection is not going to be an issue and Commvault will actually help facilitate that move for us when the time comes.

            What needs improvement?

            As a long-time Commvault customer, we still use the Java console heavily because it is how we learned to do everything. The web-based Command Center is coming along and has most of what we need, but it is a learning process to change our knowledge to the new way of doing things.

            As Commvault continues to grow SaaS data protection options, there are some that are on my wish list that have not yet made their roadmap. Knowing what is being worked on for future support would be great we can keep that in mind as we are looking at future technologies to adopt.

            For how long have I used the solution?

            I've been using Commvault Backup & Recovery since 2006. 

            What do I think about the stability of the solution?

            Commvault is very stable and I cannot think of any major downtime we have had in the last decade.

            What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

            It's scalable, absolutely. I imagine we are small in the world of Commvault. I can't imagine any point that we would get to that Commvault couldn't handle and manage well. But even for significantly larger companies than us, Commvault is going to be one of the best partners to grow with you.

            How are customer service and support?

            Whenever we do have to talk to Commvault directly, they engage the resources we need pretty quickly. That may be, in part, because we escalate through our VAR and they know that we've attempted all of the basic solutions first.

            When we've had issues with some portion of the product, they will bring product managers, developers, or whomever we need on the phone pretty quickly to work with us until it's resolved. Sometimes that means a custom patch because we've discovered something new that somebody hadn't run into yet. But they're good at working with us through that, rolling it into a future update, and keeping us up and running.

            How would you rate customer service and support?

            Positive

            Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

            We were using Veritas Backup Exec. It was very inconsistent in completing backups and made our servers very unstable. We used to restart servers on a weekly basis when we were running Backup Exec. Once we centralized those backups off the file servers, we had servers that could run for nearly a year if we wanted them to. Typically, we'd have to reboot them for updates, but they ran rock-solid after we took the backup software off.

            How was the initial setup?

            Implementation could be complex if you don't use some professional services to help. It's a big tool with a lot of features, and without some additional assistance with the installation, I'm not sure you'll get the full benefits out of it. Still, it's not an overwhelming engagement to undertake.

            We brought in our value-added reseller, and their engineering team brought one person onsite for two to three weeks. He sat with us to teach us about the system. It was a much more complex protection method than we were used to, so they had to teach us about the Commvault methodology a little bit first. Then we had to pull large amounts of data—this was years ago, so the internet wasn't nearly as fast as it is today—and we were sending out hard drives, pulling back large amounts of data, and then doing incremental backups to catch up on the differences. It was interesting to tackle different locations with different approaches to get the data into the system, and then catch up after the fact. Our VAR helped with that significantly by planning it all out. We were fully off our old system in two to three months, so it was not a long ramp-up time.

            Two people from our side were involved directly, my manager and me. My manager was mostly there to give business-related advice and do business decision-making. I was the admin, and we had one engineer from our VAR.

            I was the day-to-day admin for about eight years, but I have now handed that over to one of my admins. He does most of the work under the guidance of our value-added reseller. If we're adding new features or functionality from Commvault, the reseller will guide us through it, but we do the work. That way, we make sure we're well-trained on it.

            Our Commvault is a combination where we're primarily on-prem, but there is one service in the cloud that we use that will not allow on-prem data protection partners. We use Commvault Metallic for that one SaaS application.

            Our environment for the backups is mostly centralized in one data center, and it's backing up about 40 locations. Our admin who works on Commvault spends about 10 percent of his time on it protecting about 1,200 laptops and 150 servers.

            It's not difficult to maintain Commvault. When our admin needs to do an update, he might dedicate a half day to do so, because it's fairly easy to roll out updates to everything and monitor how that's going. It's very easy to maintain once everything is set the way you want it.

            What about the implementation team?

            The reseller we are working with is Eagle Technologies and it is worth a call to them if you're considering a partnership with Commvault.

            What was our ROI?

            We have never run the numbers, but I know intuitively that what we spend is well offset by the time we save on restores and admin time. It's money well spent.

            It's valuable to us because we are confident that we can get the data back when we need it. There are definitely business savings from not having to struggle to return services to normal. Whenever somebody comes to us and needs data, we always have it for them.

            Commvault has greatly reduced our downtime. If we have a server that has an issue, we're not opposed to rolling back to a previous backup point after a couple of minutes of discussion about our options. Usually, the decision is to just restore that virtual machine, and we'll have you back up and running in five to 10 minutes.

            What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

            The pricing is fairly in line with the other products we've compared it with recently. We do spend more on it than we did in our Backup Exec days, but it's competitive with the other best-in-class data protection platforms. There are other systems that are less expensive that just do basic backup, but when you're talking about full data management, Commvault is hard to beat. Remember that low price doesn't mean low cost, a cheaper product may end up costing you valuable person hours or slower recovery times.

            The licensing model changes can sometimes be confusing. Our value-added reseller does a great job of explaining the changes to us and preparing us for what's good and bad and what we need to be aware of during those changes. If we were dealing directly with Commvault, it might be a little more confusing than it needed to be.

            Which other solutions did I evaluate?

            We looked into several other solutions (Avamar, Backup Exec, Syncsort) back when originally choosing Commvault and they were a clear leader in the market, especially given some of the unique data protection needs we had. As we have kept an eye on the new up-and-comers in the space, Commvault always feels like they're steps ahead of the competition.

            What other advice do I have?

            Commvault has helped us reduce our threat detection time to some degree, although we have other tools more specifically focused on security. We have been alerted at times when something has been acting strangely on a file server and we were able to start investigating quickly. Instead of an employee having to tell us that something doesn't look right, our hourly backups have triggered and said, "Hey, something is different here. You need to take a look at it."

            My advice is: don't let how big it is scare you off. Commvault is definitely one of the biggest players out there, but you can get in and get started in a small way. Even if you don't bite off everything to begin with, you can get started and have a much better solution than you may have today.

            Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

            On-premises
            Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.

            PeerSpot user
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              System Administrator at a transportation company with 51-200 employees
              Real User
              Provides us with Office 365 backup in a SaaS model, significantly reducing backup admin
              Pros and Cons
              • "This solution gives me the full insight without having to use other products, metrics, or reporting tools."
              • "I would like to see some of the code execute a little bit better when I add new licenses and assign licenses to users. I'd like to see that information update a little quicker."

              What is our primary use case?

              We really needed a product where we could extend the Microsoft Office 365 backups and archival process, as well as back up our Office 365 SharePoints and our users' OneDrives. That way we could have a seven-year retention plan and if we need to go back and grab someone's email that they accidentally deleted two years ago, we could. 

              We also needed a solution that we didn't have to have onsite storage for, because we had a storage restriction onsite. This product gave me the ability to have everything stored, as a SaaS model. Everything is right there.

              How has it helped my organization?

              We recently had an issue where someone couldn't find an email that they had just recently written. When I went looking inside the backups, I was able to find and restore that email and they were able to continue working. It was very critical for a customer sale, but that email was recovered and it was perfect. Because it was just a single email, it was relatively quick. If I had had to do it another way, it probably would have taken me an hour-and-a-half to two hours longer with our old way of doing it. Before we went with Office 365, we were Exchange on-premises and it would have required me to have pulled out a SAN snapshot to recover the data that way, or go to the tape. Because this is all hosted in the cloud and works in the cloud, I was able to do it in five minutes.

              Metallic has helped minimize the time spent on backup tasks, absolutely. It has reduced the time, daily, that I deal with whether the backup is up, and performing backups, by about 50 percent. I have more time to do other things.

              I have been able to save on hardware costs at my site due to the low price of the application. I am looking at a reduction in infrastructure costs of at least 25 percent.

              What is most valuable?

              The most valuable part of the solution is that it is fire-and-forget. Everything we've programmed into this Metallic SaaS offering is what they claim it to be. It's been just a treat to use it. From starting the trial, to the 15 minutes it took to run my first backup, to the 30-minutes for my first restore of the users' email, it has just been fantastic. It works as advertised.

              Since it's built off the regular Commvault product, and I use that Commvault product, the user interface has been very easy for me to get into. It's easy to use and navigate through. I've had no questions on how to find the relevant information, and their documentation has been on-point for helping me find all the hidden features inside their menus.

              The Command Center, as far as providing a complete view of data goes, is 100 percent accurate. I found stuff that I didn't know about. I was able to find out that a couple of things are flowing in an odd way and I was able to get those remedied and treated in a way that ended up improving my boss' daily life.

              It also provides me with a single platform to move, manage, and recover data across on-premises, hybrid, and cloud locations. It's a single window to see everything I needed to see regarding this level of backup. I really dislike like it when the company purchases multiple products that do similar things and I have to go to different windows to get full insight. This solution gives me the full insight without having to use other products, metrics, or reporting tools.

              Since it plugs into my Office 365 tenant, it was literally three clicks. So it supports cloud well. And it's all documented well. They even provided training and onboarding help for that 15-minute process. It was just fantastic.

              What needs improvement?

              I would like to see some of the code execute a little bit better when I add new licenses and assign licenses to users. I'd like to see that information update a little quicker. It would also be helpful to be able to run a report on licensing so that I have better visibility into how much licensing I'm using.

              I really have no other complaints beyond that. And they were able to get me that information relatively quickly when I submitted a ticket.

              For how long have I used the solution?

              I've been using Metallic since day-one of its release in October, 2019.

              What do I think about the stability of the solution?

              I would give the stability "five nines." I've not seen it down. I can't say it hasn't been down once, but it's been up the entire time I've used it. There have been no issues. It's snappy and responsive. I'm impressed with the stability of it.

              What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

              Scaling is amazingly easy. The way they recommend the setup, it is easy to drop a user into one of my security groups and, within 15 minutes, they are in the backup schedule rotation and are being backed up.

              I have 75 users enrolled. We may have plans to expand in the future to start taking advantage of their endpoint product through Metallic. We would expand from 75 seats to 200 seats in the Office 365 backup, and would add on another set of 200 seats for their endpoint backup.

              How are customer service and technical support?

              Commvault's technical support for the solution is knowledgeable. I haven't been able to stump them. They've been able to answer every single question and help me with any issues I've had. They've just been, bar none, fantastic.

              Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

              We were using Backup Exec for a lot of stuff and ShadowProtect SPX, a StorageCraft solution. Now that we have this online, it's fantastic. Every product that we use from Commvault, in general, has been fantastic.

              We switched to Metallic from our other solutions because they didn't provide the Office 365 backup component we wanted.

              We needed a backup solution and I purchased their standard Commvault for our on-premises stuff. When I attended Commvault Go, their customer conference, they debuted Metallic and I said, "That's exactly the product I was looking for, for my 365 backup, and I'm buying it from Commvault." I already knew how their software works and Metallic is same. They're just doing it in a SaaS model for 365, endpoint, and even server backup if you want. I really needed that 365.

              How was the initial setup?

              The initial setup is straightforward. It's 100 percent accurate on their website. From start to finish: 15 minutes and you're running your first backup.

              My implementation strategy for this was for the 365, the OneDrive and the SharePoint components. When we brought it online, my goal was to target the 75 most used, customer-facing mailboxes. Within 15 minutes I was able to make sure the product was working and, by the end of that day, I had everyone applied. Compared to other products, that would have taken days.

              If you have technical experience it will be straightforward. We walked through their installation script just to confirm I had everything done, because, given how new the product is, they wanted to test their help script. And it was spot-on. They had it perfect. I am fully confident that, even if a person doesn't have great technical knowledge, they would be able to help that person through it.

              What about the implementation team?

              When I purchased Commvault Metallic, they did have an onboarding process that helped me if I had any questions. It was literally a 15-minute process. I did everything before we even had that phone call, so I got to spend the call asking a few questions. It was really easy. 

              What was our ROI?

              I would say we have seen a return on investment, but it's a hard metric to come up with due to DR. We haven't had a DR scenario where it has paid for itself. But I view it like buying car insurance. It's better to have it and not need it, than something happening and needing it and not having it.

              What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

              We are paying on a yearly basis and it comes out to about $3.80 a user per month.

              There are no other costs for the specific features that I have. If I was to use server backups with them, there would be an additional cost per terabyte of storage, based on my storage targets, or an infrastructure cost if I was using it to target on-ground storage stuff. But because I'm using the platform that includes storage for the Office 365 backup exclusively, there is no additional cost.

              The other products I was looking at wanted to charge me anywhere between $10 to $15 per person and I would have to do storage on top of that. That means I would be paying by the terabyte if I was putting the storage in the cloud or having to purchase hardware on-premises to do so. With the Office 365 offering from Metallic, at the price point we got it at, it was perfect. They knew exactly what the market needed and they hit their marks.

              Which other solutions did I evaluate?

              We really didn't evaluate other vendors because none of them gave me the options that I was looking for and that Metallic was offering: a low price per user, and storage included for the 365 backup. With other products I would have had to purchase cloud storage and pay for additional storage, or the cost per seat was just not something I was willing to pay.

              What other advice do I have?

              The biggest lesson I've learned is to remind people that they still need to back up Office 365 emails. Just because it's not on their premises, they should still back it up.

              Commvault gives you a fantastic 45-day trial. It's worth trying it. They have a really good, long trial period. They will answer any questions you have during that process. I know a lot of people say, "Just try the product." With this one, try the product and you'll see the ease of use.

              For deployment and maintenance of the solution, for our size of company, it's just one person, a system administrator who does overall operations support.

              Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.

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                Sanjiv Dogra - PeerSpot reviewer
                Sr. Manager mtechnogies at Deloitte
                Real User
                Top 5Leaderboard
                Efficient data backups with room for enhanced monitoring and support
                Pros and Cons
                • "The functionality and features of Commvault were much better compared to other solutions."
                • "Commvault could improve in the area of monitoring and notification services."

                What is our primary use case?

                We have used the Commvault solution to take mobile backups from our client locations. We had multiple data sites where data was not scattered in a distributed mode, and we utilized the Commvault client with all the users. 

                We started collecting data from their machines to the centralized server. We especially used Commvault to back up Outlook and flat files, as well as databases like MS SQL and SQL using native services. For other databases, we used Commvault.

                How has it helped my organization?

                The solution saved us a lot of time, effort, and manpower. It helped us back up remote locations where it is difficult to reach. 

                It also enabled us to take backups from all clients efficiently. The implementation of Commvault is very easy, especially if it's deployed on machines within the same network.

                What is most valuable?

                The feedback from users was phenomenal as they did not encounter any problems with backups, whether from Outlook or other data such as flat files and databases. 

                The functionality and features of Commvault were much better compared to other solutions.

                What needs improvement?

                Commvault could improve in the area of monitoring and notification services. Upon backup completion, the user is not getting notifications. This might be a feature I'm missing within the system. If it’s not there, Commvault should enhance this functionality. 

                Additionally, customer support should be improved for quicker real-time assistance, considering the time zone challenges.

                How are customer service and support?

                In the past, support has been phenomenal, and the people at Commvault have been very supportive. 

                However, recently, due to time zone differences, it has taken a lot of time to connect in real time with support staff. There is an issue in finding customer support services within India.

                How would you rate customer service and support?

                Positive

                What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

                Commvault is slightly more expensive than similar solutions. We observed a pricing range of 15% to 17% more.

                Which other solutions did I evaluate?

                We have evaluated other solutions in the market, but due to the functionalities and features offered by Commvault, we opted to use it despite the higher price.

                What other advice do I have?

                I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.

                If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

                Other
                Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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                  Buyer's Guide
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                  Updated: January 2025
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