We primarily use the solution as a backup for databases, VMs, or servers.
Pre-Sales Engineer at DMP
Reliable, easy to install, and has agents for most products
Pros and Cons
- "Not everyone has agents for everything and Commvault has agents for most products. It's the most complete."
- "Not everyone has agents for everything and Commvault has agents for most products. It's the most complete."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
Not everyone has agents for everything and Commvault has agents for most products. It's the most complete.
It's easy to install.
It is stable and reliable.
The solution can scale.
What needs improvement?
I don't have any notes for improvements.
The price could always be lower.
We'd like to have local support in Germany.
The POC is only 30 days, and it really should be 90 days.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution for ten years.
Buyer's Guide
Commvault Cloud
February 2025
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable and reliable. There are no bugs or glitches. I'd rate the reliability nine out of ten. It doesn't crash or freeze. Based on what is possible, it is okay.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is very scalable. I'd rate it ten out of ten in terms of the ability to extend.
Everyone uses the solution. We have 20 to 30 people using the product. That includes consultants.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support is currently based in India. I'd like to have more local support.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We did not previously use a different solution.
How was the initial setup?
The solution is simple to set up. It is not complex.
It takes approximately two weeks to deploy the solution.
You simply download the .EXE file and start the installation.
We had one person that handled the setup. We had an engineer, myself, handle it.
What about the implementation team?
We handle the initial setup ourselves. We did not need any outside assistance.
What was our ROI?
I have not really noticed any ROI.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Inside the 30-day trial period, you do not need a license. After that, you need to pay yearly.
The prices are pretty high. It's quite expensive.
What other advice do I have?
I'm an end-user.
We are using the latest version of the solution.
I'd recommend potential new users talk to a proper consultant and do a proper POC.
I would rate the solution nine out of ten.
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.
Engineer at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
It helps us get to the point where we have a complete picture of the environment
Pros and Cons
- "Commvault's Command Center is one of the best solutions out there. You can rely on Commvault solutions for the most complex and most demanding environments."
- "Commvault is complex even if the product has comprehensive solutions and covers pretty much every technology out there. There's no unified way to manage all of the products on one single console."
What is our primary use case?
Most of our clients have an on-premise environment. They are traditional environments, but they are slowly starting to use the cloud for IT solutions and services. Lately, we've been shifting some workloads to the cloud and using the product there. It's been a slow transition, but we are doing it. We are partners in the Latin American region, so we are trying to find the best fit for every customer and recommend different backup solutions depending on the client. Some are easier to install but lack certain features.
Commvault has a large customer base in the enterprise segment, so it provides a complete recovery solution for our largest clients. That's the way we use the product. We focus on enterprise solutions in large companies in Columbia and the South American and Latin American region. Commvault has a strong track record protecting the integrity of workloads, and it has many different features needed in the corporate environment. We have various technologies that need to be backed up and protected. In that sense, Commvault is a comprehensive solution.
No other vendor has such a wide range of solutions, including traditional on-premises workloads, cyber cloud members, and cloud links. All of those features are comprehensive enough to be considered for the largest client.
How has it helped my organization?
The ability to manage and recover data across platforms and deployments is what we look for in a solution. Technologies are getting more complex all the time. We're seeing the emergence of different technology, including support for containers and various cloud services. These new technologies pose challenges for the backup environment.
In the past, we only needed to back up specific databases and certain network tasks. The data is much more extended, and the interactions among different technologies and services are more complicated, so data protection is more complex. So, in this context, it's vital for a product to offer that kind of experience for us. I think that it's what the customers are looking for in this ever-growing and ever-complex environment.
One of the critical strategies to deal with risk is having an air-gapped copy of the data. In that context, tech solutions and object storage solutions help us to cope with that. So in that sense, Commvault is not different from any other solution that already offers those kinds of air-gapped copies. It helps manage a lot of different storage media and mix up all the storage media that we have so the cost of data matches the cost of the storage solution we are using. It makes no sense to store completely cold data in fast media. That is costly. Commvault has a wide range of support for storage solutions. It comes down to planning. You have to plan where you're going to put every inch of data. Then you're going to put it in the best layer possible depending on whether the information is cold or hot.
What is most valuable?
Commvault's Command Center is one of the best solutions out there. You can rely on Commvault solutions for the most complex and most demanding environments. It can meet the requirements of many Fortune 500 companies. It's great for companies that need a robust solution flexible enough to cope with all kinds of environments and technologies.
Commvault offers broad coverage by helping us identify unprotected workloads. It helps us get to the point where we have a complete picture of the environment. I think that's a pretty good feature, and it allows us to have a good overview of our protection environment and what workloads are protected and which are not. It's one of the essentials out there for that.
When it comes to recovery, Commvault is undeniably one of the best technologies out there. It's got all the different granularity levels that a business requires to get your information back to production. For example, we have their commission discovery, individual items recovery, mailbox recovery, databases, and different tables. Some databases can be recovered individually. This level of granularity enables us to get the most value out of the product.
What needs improvement?
Commvault is complex even if the product has comprehensive solutions and covers pretty much every technology out there. There's no unified way to manage all of the products on one single console. There are different things that you need to look for to have comprehensive management of the whole environment. I think that's not one of Commvault's strong suits.
Also, even though I think the user interface might improve the manageability of the solution, it can be complex in some cases. You need a lot of experience and different touchpoints to get through environmental management, and it's not a comprehensive or unified solution for that.
Commvault is also a solution that requires a lot of time. It demands a lot of time from administrators and requires an administrator to manage it almost full-time. But in this case, it's not a hindrance. While it isn't the easiest product to use, it's one of the most likable ones. It offers a lot of different options and the breadth of support that it has. I think it's just a compromise that you make. In this case, you get flexibility, great support, and a high-quality product, but you lose some in terms of administration.
For how long have I used the solution?
We've been using Commvault for about five years now. When we started, we were just customers, but now we are Commvault managers and consultants.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's a completely stable solution. We haven't had any problems with the software that make implementation a problem or prevent us from using the product effectively.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Commvault's scalability is unmatched. Very few competitors have the scalability that Commvault offers. IBM and Veritas might come close, but there are no other solutions that can grow to accommodate enormous environments. So we have to rethink or mix up different backup solutions and technologies. With Commvault, you can do it for either large environments or medium-sized environments as well.
How are customer service and support?
I rate Commvault support 10 out of 10. The members of the support team are knowledgeable. They know their product well and are eager to help. Overall, it's a great customer experience. It's a deciding factor that makes customers and clients renew their licenses in a few years. You can buy a product, but you're only going to stay with it because of its quality and customer support. The support is outstanding in this case.
We've mainly contacted support to get best practices, implementation recommendations, and suggestions about operating the product. But we haven't faced any challenging problems that we couldn't tackle. The documentation has been pretty solid, too.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
Early in the process, it takes a long time to get things right and make things do what they are supposed to do based on best practices. Sometimes it takes a lot of time to do it, but it's ultimately worth it. If you put in a few more weeks to get the product implemented properly, it's going to pay off down the road. You'll see some cost savings and it will save you some effort in the future. So I think it's best to do an excellent job at first.
What was our ROI?
The savings we've realized from deploying Commvault could be around $100,000 to $300,000, including storage space, rack space, and energy charges. That's a total cost of ownership analysis.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Sometimes Commvault can be costly. On the other hand, you need to consider other use cases, verticals, and segments in the market, not just the price. But I think that those are the disadvantages of the factory features that have some room for improvement. The product is excellent.
The cost of implementing or supporting Commvault can be high. You need to pay attention to the licensing. It's imperative to do careful planning regarding the workflows you will support, and which kinds of solutions or vehicles you're going to deploy because there could be some surprises down the road.
I think that's one of the main weaknesses of the product: it might be costlier than the competition. Of course, it's not always the case, but sometimes it could be pricier than the competition. That can sometimes be a barrier to implementing the product in certain regions and specific verticals or certain kinds of customers that are very cost-sensitive. Lowering the price is essential for Commvault to gain traction in other segments, and we have traditional companies reducing their prices. It would be good to see them more in an FNB environment, but the costs are too high for some customers.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We were looking for a solution with a breadth of support for heterogeneous workloads, so we considered solutions from different vendors, like IBM and Veritas. We also have a good relationship with IBM, but we thought their solution was somewhat archaic. It didn't have support for the latest technologies and platforms like Commvault.
Using the traditional client-server, those solutions couldn't match the amount of support Commvault offers. It was the perfect match for what we were looking for. One of the key features that led us to Commvault was its elasticity. It gives us the flexibility to run different workloads on the cloud or on-premise and to have them all protected within one technological stack. We're confident in the product because it's a comprehensive solution covering old-fashioned technologies and the newer ones. Every month there is new support for new features and new workloads. We're consistently surprised at the rate of innovation and the support that Commvault is putting into the product.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Commvault nine out of 10. One recommendation I have for people considering Commvault is to explore all of the features the product offers. It has many features that aren't explored because of a lack of time or knowledge. I would invite all prospective customers to evaluate the whole breadth of functionality and suggest that they seek the assistance of a qualified implementation team. Do careful planning before implementing the product.
Isolating and segmenting storage targets from public networks to mitigate lateral moving threats can be difficult with Commvault. It takes thorough and detailed planning. You need to have careful planning before taking on implementation efforts. It's crucial to carefully consider where you're going to deploy and how you're going to divide the various segments of the product into different solutions so that you can comply with your business requirements.
Commvault might be challenging to deploy sometimes, and you need knowledgeable people to operate it. That doesn't mean it's going to be a failure. When the people are prepared and have skilled implementers, the product is a success from every point of view. So you have to be careful.
On balance, it is the most comprehensive solution in the market, with the ability to handle all kinds of applications, databases, and virtual workloads. Commvault's portfolio has a great breadth and depth in terms of quantity and quality of supported solutions. For example, Commvault is now supported on the cloud. The ability to mail snapshots back is one of Commvault, which has protection for all those workloads. Some of the competitors have just started to gain traction in this area, but Commvault has been doing it for several years.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner & Reseller
Buyer's Guide
Commvault Cloud
February 2025
Learn what your peers think about Commvault Cloud. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: February 2025.
832,891 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Database Administrator at Nations Trust Bank PLC
Reduces traffic, has good deduplication and is easy to set up
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature is the deduplication ratio. It saves most of our space and reduces the network traffic."
- "We are using a production environment with customer-sensitive data on it. As per our central bank rules and regulations, we can't keep our customer's sensitive data in the cloud."
What is our primary use case?
We had a requirement to store our database and virtual machine backups in the cloud instead of having local backups. To fulfill that requirement, we use a Metallic solution. The reason that we are moving to Commvault Metallic is that, at that moment, we are using a Commvault backup solution. While using the Commvault backup solution we got positive feedback. So, we didn't hesitate to move to their own cloud solution, Metallic. While using this product, we've also received the same positive feedback.
How has it helped my organization?
We had a backup solution. We were trying to find a better backup solution than the old one. We were searching for backup solutions based on the below criteria:
- Backup-taking method
- Backup retention and the ability to change retention
- WORM feature availability
- Security tools
- 24/7 Availability
- Portability of Backup and VM
- Deduplication ratios
- Encryption mechanism
While we were looking out at the market, we found this solution perfectly matched so we decided to try it.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature is the deduplication ratio. It saves most of our space and reduces the network traffic. Space is a very important factor. Thanks to this deduplication ratio, we are able to maintain our backup retention time for a variety of reasons. It also reduces network traffic and saves us from network-related issues. When the backup gets smaller, we can easily transfer between locations very quickly and accurately. It provides good cost savings as well.
What needs improvement?
We are using a production environment with customer-sensitive data on it. As per our central bank rules and regulations, we can't keep our customer's sensitive data in the cloud. So we are looking forward to having a good solution that can work with us. The Metallic team is working on this and will come up with a better solution in the future. If we can figure out this issue, we won't have future issues relating to our government authorities, and we can also fulfill our company's requirements easily.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using this product for the last year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is maintaining our backup without failing.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability is very good.
How are customer service and support?
The support team wants to improve its SLA.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We did use a different solution; this is the better solution for us.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward.
What about the implementation team?
We implemented with a vendor team and I would rate their services eight out of ten.
What was our ROI?
We have noticed an ROI related to good space and network utilization savings.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
In this product, the cost-benefit is very high.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We also evaluated EMC NetWorker, Veeam, et cetera.
What other advice do I have?
This is one of the best solutions I've come across.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Disaster Recovery Coordinator at a university with 5,001-10,000 employees
Good engineering, great technical support, and quite stable
Pros and Cons
- "Commvault can actually come in and assist you with aspects of the implementation - and they are quite helpful."
- "The only problem is that some of what we snap most of is the VMs. We found about 10% of the VMs that we can't snap because they're too interactive. It actually causes the application to crash."
What is our primary use case?
Generally, we use the product for backup capabilities as a primary function, and we also use it for disaster recovery.
How has it helped my organization?
Previous to this solution, we were on tape. Its restorations were very painful. We've been able to accommodate more use cases for restorations now that we have this product in play.
What is most valuable?
The backup feature and the live sync are both really good aspects of the product. Live sync is for databases.
Commvault doesn't store in an immutable state unless it's in archive-form. That's an advantage. We have found several instances that we have backed up a server and it started encrypting data after we started the backup and it was trying to recount the Commvault. It is very sensitive, and is positive as is very sensitive to ransomware, however, you need to understand it's not a ransomware alert; you need to understand the alert in order to figure out if it's ransomware, however, it's a good heads-up.
The solution has been quite stable.
Commvault can actually come in and assist you with aspects of the implementation - and they are quite helpful.
What needs improvement?
The only problem is that some of what we snap most of is the VMs. We found about 10% of the VMs that we can't snap because they're too interactive. It actually causes the application to crash.
It would be ideal if there was usable file states. Live sync is not live sync. It's not really live, it's live to the back it up, however, it's not keeping it up to date within seconds. We have an environment that is very transaction heavy, and the lowest we can get to is about 15 minutes. However, we need second RPOs. 5 second RPOs, 10 second RPOs.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used the solution within the last 12 months. I've used it in total for about three years or so now.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is very stable unless you have to use Symantec Enterprise Protection. That comes into major issues. We've had corruption due to Symantec.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability capabilities depends on which version you get. If you go to hyper-scale, it's infinitely scalable. If you go to an IBM object storage, it's scalable only up until a certain point.
We have approximately 50 people that have access to do restores. Ten of those having the additional responsibility of initiating backups for databases. And we have one engineer and two administrators.
We're considering going to the hyperscale version and then expanding it to have it distributed through three sites.
How are customer service and technical support?
We've dealt with technical support quite a bit. 90% of the time they're really good. However, the other 10% of the time they disappear when the problem is too hard.
Overall, I would rate them eight and a half out of ten. They are pretty decent.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We previously used Spectrum Protect.
There were ongoing configuration problems and they continued to increase as everything was a dependency. You had to have the client and the right version with the firmware updated to the hardware and the hardware to the right version. It was a very, very complicated mess. Once it ran, it ran really well. However, when you had to upgrade, you had to upgrade everything. You couldn't do some iterations.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was complex only due to the VAR we used. That we have since moved all away from.
The deployment ended up taking a year and we called in Commvault to actually finish the deployment. We contracted directly with Commvault and got rid of that VAR. Once they were involved, it took less than a week. They really helped speed up the process.
We only need one engineers and maybe two admins to handle maintenance.
What about the implementation team?
We brought on Commvault in the middle of the implementation process. They helped us get rid of the VAR, which was giving us trouble. They were good to work with and we were glad for their help.
The team was very great. They actually provided us an engineer and he engaged remotely for probably 30 hours of that week.
What was our ROI?
It saved time. It didn't pay for itself, however, it saved time. Where it saved a lot of money was the cost of tapes and maintenance contracts with IBM.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The cost was one of the reasons we went with Commvault, however, that said, I can't give exact pricing.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We looked at Pure Storage. I don't remember what package they had for backups. However, there was one other competitor as well and I don't remember who it was.
In the end, the technology and the cost pushed us towards Commvault.
What other advice do I have?
We're just customers and end-users.
We are typically one version behind the latest. We don't usually have the latest version of the solution.
We're using a private cloud on-premises as a deployment model.
My advise to other companies would be to just do your homework. Make sure it's the right solution for your company. We really didn't think about enterprise architecture. We put it in and then had a change how we operate. So make sure it's the right fit.
Our biggest lesson was the realization was that we need enterprise engineering and the enterprise architecture.
I'd rate the solution eight out of ten. They have some really good features. They have really good engineering. They have very good support. However, they're missing on some of the innovations that some other companies are coming up with. They either need to create their own innovation or buy it from somebody else and integrate it.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud
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.
Senior Analyst at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
With just a few clicks we can immediately get to the data we need to restore
Pros and Cons
- "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."
- "Commvault's price is quite high."
What is our primary use case?
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.
How has it helped my organization?
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.
What is most valuable?
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.
What needs improvement?
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.
For how long have I used the solution?
We've been using Commvault for almost three years now.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
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.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
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.
How was the initial setup?
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.
What about the implementation team?
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.
What was our ROI?
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.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
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.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
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.
What other advice do I have?
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.
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.
Infrastructure team leader - senior infrastructure analyst, storage and virtualisation at a construction company with 10,001+ employees
One of the biggest features is the global deduplication of our data sets.
Pros and Cons
- "The cloud integration is a massive win for us, giving us a single backup service for all of our on-premise and cloud systems."
- "The new HTML5-based management portals are very nice, but do not yet have all of the features of the Java-based client."
How has it helped my organization?
We have changed out approach to our ROBO backup solution. Utilising Commvault we can now automate the decommissioning of our remote project sites and convert these on-premise backups into Azure hosted VMs. This not only brings the service online faster for our users but also reduces the operational impact of our remote IT staff, as they now no longer need to manually manage the data into the cloud or our eventual archive platform.
What is most valuable?
One of the biggest features is the global deduplication of our data sets. AWE have deployed a disk-to-disk-to-cloud solution for our on-premise backups. The capacity savings of this approach lead to significant cost savings on the long term retention of data in the cloud for us.
We have also been very impressed with the integration with public cloud services. We have deployed our Commvault environment on-premise and into Azure and this has given us the ability to not only make use of cloud storage for long tern retention, but also achieve the same level of protection as our on-premise systems for our Azure hosted IaaS VMs. We have also deployed backups from Commvault in Azure to our Office 365 install base too.
The cloud integration is a massive win for us, giving us a single backup service for all of our on-premise and cloud systems.
I have also been very happy with the automated updating of the platform. Since we have been running the platform we have had around five service packs released. These are automatically updated after a period of time (we set the system to defer updates for one month). The updates run without service disruption and patches the central management system, the media agents and the client agents too. Compared to our previous vendor this is another huge operational saving for out IT staff and ensures we get to utilize the new features that are dropped with each new SP.
What needs improvement?
The new HTML5-based management portals are very nice, but do not yet have all of the features of the Java-based client. I’d like to see all of the features move over to HTML5 so that we do not have to use Java ideally.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We have had no issues with stability. The service has been running for 18 months with no loss of service due to the platform.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have grown our initial, on-premise VM-only backup solution to cover all three of our on-premise datacentres as well as our Azure IaaS and O365 environments. This was easy to do and the central management tool set easily coped with our rapid scaling up to our entire estate.
How are customer service and technical support?
Customer Service:
We have had excellent engagement with our account team and they have been very helpful in ensuring that we get the most out of the platform. We get regular contact and they are keen to listen to data management issues that we have and see how they can address them with the Commvault platform. This has led us to be engaged in a couple of Beta test programmes and get early access to new features in some cases that resolved our challenges.
Technical Support:
Very good! We have had some very good dealings with support. In the main, this has been around us securing new systems and tweaking policies to get the best result for our infrastructure. In most cases the person answering the call resolved the ticket first time. When calls were escalated, the response was fast and the issue resolved to our satisfaction.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We often had scale issues with our previous vendor deployment or found other solutions were better for a particular system and so would introduce differing technologies to address these challenges. This led us to have a large and awkward-to-manage backup estate.
The biggest driver for us was to get all of the backup services into one tool set and to get better control and visibility of our data estate.
How was the initial setup?
The initial deployment was straightforward. The only complex part was seeding our initial backup into Azure as, at the time, we were not on Express Route. We set bandwidth limits for aux copies during the working day and allowed the copies to burst out-of-hours. This just meant it took a week or so for the initial seeding to complete but all subsequent incremental copies ran fine.
After implementing Express Route we changes our architecture to copy the data through Azure hosted media agents into Azure storage. This then allowed us to seed much faster, although we now use the Azure import service for migrating large archive sets when required, as this is the fastest/cheapest approach we have found.
What about the implementation team?
We used a vendor team to perform our initial deployment (a single resource). The consultant was very knowledgeable on the Commvault platform and made good recommendations regarding policy approaches to the various services we were targeting. The consultant performed a handover to our internal staff and we complimented this with certified training courses for the team who engage with our backup solution the most so that they could take on the task of scaling the deployment to the rest of our estate.
What was our ROI?
We have consolidated all of our backup technologies into the single platform and reduced maintenance costs and complexity in doing so. The OPEX costs equate to around the same but the biggest value returns have been in addressing our scale issues, ensuring compliance with backup policies and a significant reduction in operational staff’s time to manage the estate.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
There is now a subscription based licence option that, depending on your environment, could offer a more efficient method to licence the solution if you are OPEX cost driven rather than CAPEX. This was not a concern for our deployment and we implemented on perpetual licences which had more commercial value to our business.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Initially we were looking at Veeam, as our first challenge was to address our on-premise VMware estate. Although they had a good vSphere integrated solution, we found limitations in cloud and beyond the virtual environment to be an issue for us. This was driven form our desire to have a tool set which could encompass all of our estate and allow us to simplify management and compliance etc.
What other advice do I have?
Take the opportunity when engaging the Commvault sales team to walk them through other data management challenges that you have. You’ll likely find that the "backup" solution that you were looking for might be able to address these challenges and provide you with a greater ROI. This certainly worked for us and we have several new initiatives being developed to get more even value out of our deployment.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Works at a legal firm with 501-1,000 employees
Integrates well with other solutions in our IT infrastructure
Pros and Cons
- "I like Commvault's immutable backups. It integrates with other solutions in our IT infrastructure very well."
- "The user creation and management capabilities could be improved."
What is our primary use case?
We use Commvault to back up our directory, web, and application servers.
How has it helped my organization?
We haven't had to use Commvault in a real-life disaster recovery scenario, but it has been very good in testing.
What is most valuable?
I like Commvault's immutable backups. It integrates with other solutions in our IT infrastructure very well.
What needs improvement?
The user creation and management capabilities could be improved.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have used Commvault Cloud for six months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I rate Commvault 10 out of 10 for stability. We haven't had any problems, so we will see.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I rate Commvault Cloud 10 out of 10 for scalability.
How was the initial setup?
We had the vendor through the setup for us. S
What was our ROI?
I think the biggest advantage is time savings.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I rate Commvault Cloud five out of 10 for affordability.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Commvault Cloud eight out of 10. It's easy to use. We've used Commvault before, so we know they're good. We haven't had any problems with it or any issues with the setup
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Last updated: Jun 23, 2024
Flag as inappropriateResident Engineer at Jazz (previously known as Mobilink)
A highly scalable and affordable solution that provides smooth email archiving features and quick customer support
Pros and Cons
- "The email archiving feature is very smooth and better than others."
- "The tool must improve the 1-Touch recovery of Oracle and Active Directory."
What is our primary use case?
Our clients use the solution for their emails.
What is most valuable?
The email archiving feature is very smooth and better than others.
What needs improvement?
The product must improve Oracle client configuration. It is difficult to configure clients of Oracle and SaaS. The solution must also improve bare metal restore for Oracle and Active Directory. Active Directory is not fully protected with bare metal restore. The tool must improve the 1-Touch recovery of Oracle and Active Directory.
The product must provide features for converting VM to physical and physical to VM.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for six years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I rate the solution’s stability an eight out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The tool’s scalability is very high. It can be scaled in any environment. I rate the scalability a ten out of ten. In a single organization, we have 4000 to 6000 users. Our clients are enterprise businesses.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support is very good. The support personnel are very fast and helpful.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
It is easy to configure the tool. I rate the ease of setup a nine out of ten. The on-prem version is better than the cloud version. In the future, as the technology grows, the cloud version will be better. Our customers trust the on-prem version. It takes one day to deploy the product.
What about the implementation team?
To deploy the solution, we must install Commvault’s master server and MediaAgent. Then, we must configure the email archiving solution and add storage.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The product is cheap. It is an integrated solution. I rate the pricing a two out of ten on a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive. We have to pay for the implementation services.
What other advice do I have?
Our company has a partnership with Commvault. Overall, the solution is better than its competitors. I would advise people to use the solution again and again. Overall, I rate the product an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
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Updated: February 2025
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Buyer's Guide
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yes, it helpful to me.