Commvault Cloud - Access Node (Amazon Linux ARM) BYOL

I work with a variety of backup solutions including Commvault, Avamar, Rubrik, and similar tools. I am part of Tata Consultancy Services where we pitch all these solutions to customers from the backup perspective while the overall solution revolves around how we are transforming the overall IT estate for the customers. This is a subpart of it, but we do deal with the backup solutions as a solution for the customers.

I have been dealing with Commvault Cloud for about four or five years and have been selling solutions around Commvault.

When it comes to recommending Commvault Cloud, it varies from manufacturing to retail. We usually deal with all the enterprise customers with petabyte scale of data in the environment. Wherever we have reliance RTO and RPO requirements from the customers for shipping the backup copies to the cloud, we leverage different components from Commvault. For example, we basically keep the CommServe in one of the cloud environments to have the policy orchestrations and all that. To ensure that whenever required, we can restore from the latest backups using Commvault Cloud onto the public cloud environments while the primary workloads are running on-premise. This is one scenario, but it spans across the industries and across the size of the customers where we leverage all these enterprise solutions, typically for the production workloads. We also leverage the cloud-native solutions from the respective hyperscalers for the non-production workloads to ensure that we are saving on the license costs while achieving the compression and dedupe capabilities from tools such as Commvault.

We find the most valuable features in Commvault Cloud to be from the appliances perspective. I mentioned CommServe, which basically orchestrates the overall backup policies for the customers. The features are primarily from the backup and restore perspective, which is a typical use case that we solution for the customer.

Basically, the public cloud acts as a bigger solution for the on-premise while the on-premise acts as a DR for the public cloud workloads.

I think improvements could be made in Commvault Cloud. Lately what I have seen is that there are AI capabilities that different data protection organizations are coming up with, which basically revolves around tiering of not frequently accessible data to glacier kind of storage, plus bringing in a high level of compression and deduplication capabilities. All those features I believe are there in other customers and they are bringing in new use cases from the AI perspective which I have not recently seen in Commvault.

I have seen that Dell does have such features. We recently pitched a solution to the customers where we talked about data tiering and the other AI use cases, identifying the data by itself and autonomously taking decisions on how to tier the data between the different storage classes that we have. Those kind of capabilities that we have proposed to the customer as far as the partner solutions are concerned.

I would like to see AI capabilities in Commvault Cloud. The rest of the features pretty much align with the other enterprise solutions that we have in the market. It is just the AI capability that is being asked by the customers as well as that I see missing with Commvault.

I have been working in this field for eight years.

I would rate the technical support provided by Commvault from 1 to 10. I do not come from the delivery background but from the solution architect background, so I sell the solution to the customers. At the pre-sale cycle, we have spocks aligned from Commvault with whom we get in touch, and they provide all the required support that we need.

I would assess the flexibility of Commvault Cloud in supporting cloud-based and on-premises deployments by saying that the components more or less remain the same. It depends on how many workloads that we are running onto the cloud. Whether to use production or whether to use Commvault solutions for the production workloads or take them to the non-production. We typically look for how much data storage that we need to protect via Commvault. Whether we are achieving a business case and bringing in cost-saving for the customer if the data size is too high from the non-production workloads as well. We typically go on and propose to the customer to leverage Commvault for the non-production workloads as well. For hybrid cloud customers, we have environments across on-premise and cloud. They have their virtual appliances running on Commvault in public cloud as well as the on-premise workloads. They typically use public cloud as a failover to the on-premise environment while they use on-premise for the workloads that are running on the public cloud.

To evaluate Commvault Cloud disaster recovery performance, we look for features including deduplication and how much data that we are saving and whether the cost saving comes from the actual FET that we get out of Commvault. FET is basically how much data that we need to back up using Commvault solution. Plus we look at how many licenses that we require. Competitors charge for per-VM based licenses. In Commvault we have VM-based licensing as well. I am not too sure with respect to how many licenses that we need for the file storage. These are the evaluation criteria when we are assessing what backup solution to go ahead with.

The product is competitive when it comes to the pricing. It is pretty much in line with the partner solutions.

I usually recommend other solutions instead of Commvault Cloud. We face a variety of customers where the customers already have solutions running in their environment. If not, if a customer wants a different solution, if they are moving from legacy systems to the cloud and there is a need to propose a new solution, then we go ahead with new backup data protection solutions. Otherwise, whatever that is running in the customer's environment and they are pretty much happy with it, we go ahead with the same solution for the customers.

I would rate this review overall as an eight out of ten.

Our main use cases for Commvault Cloud are primarily BFSI and banking.

The most helpful features of Commvault Cloud are its extensive capabilities, as they are in a position to take care of whatever use case presented to it.

Commvault Cloud provides features for managing multi-cloud environments.

Commvault Cloud has deduplication technology as part of its features.

I don't see any issue with storage efficiency or performance of the application; the only issue is it's a costly solution.

It's quite costly, but I would still consider it's worth the investment.

I have been working with Commvault Cloud for approximately three years.

It is not difficult to deploy Commvault Cloud; however, it requires good skills and a competent person to implement it, while Veeam will be completely simpler to deploy.

If a person knows what they are doing, deploying Commvault Cloud can take a few hours to a few days, depending on the use case.

I do not experience difficulties related to stability; the product is good in that regard.

I have not faced any downtimes with Commvault Cloud. The concerns arise more when I want changes or need to do some configuration, and if a bug appears, I reach out, and they are good at assisting.

I would consider that Commvault Cloud is scalable enough for those types of applications, as we are using them for multiple applications.

I am reasonably satisfied with Commvault Cloud's technical support team; however, the primary aspect is the number of people on the ground, which is limited, and the number of people who know Commvault Cloud is lesser compared to Veeam.

If I have an issue, it will indeed take more time to receive a response because they have limited resources, but otherwise, Commvault Cloud has reasonable support, although they will not come on-site and it will be remote support.

The main difference between Commvault Cloud and Veeam is that Commvault Cloud is much more real cross-platform and multi-cloud, designed for a real, exhaustive, real cross-platform, cross-cloud environment, evident in terms of a single pane of window. Veeam is more geared towards different types of use cases, as Veeam has naturally been for virtual environments and has been shaping up quite reasonably for cloud, being much simpler in terms of usability compared to Commvault Cloud.

The concerns arise more when I want changes or need to do some configuration. On a scale of one to ten, I rate Commvault Cloud a nine.

I provide solutions using Commvault Cloud for multiple purposes such as endpoint backups, server backups, databases, cybersecurity solutions, and healthcare. The use cases depend on the customer, including Metallic, a cloud-based solution, tailored according to individual requirements.

Commvault Cloud offers a SaaS solution where there is no need for on-premise installations. Customers only need to purchase the solution, and Commvault takes care of everything. Other features include endpoint solutions, integration with Office 365, ransomware protection, archival for long-term retention, and no ingress or egress charges. The security is enhanced with multi-factor authentication, and data can be replicated to different clouds with one on-premise copy.

The support needs more improvement. I feel that the support is not yet up to the mark, with not enough professional engineers to provide assistance.

I have been working with Commvault Cloud for almost ten years.

Deployment depends on the customer, but it does not take more than two months.

Commvault Cloud is highly stable, and I would rate it a ten out of ten.

Commvault Cloud is quite scalable, and I have not heard any complaints from customers regarding scalability.

The support currently deserves a seven out of ten rating but could be improved to reach a nine.

The initial setup is straightforward, and on a scale of one to ten, I would rate the ease of setup a nine.

Customers typically see a return on investment within three years.

Commvault Cloud is expensive, and there is room for the price to be 10-15 percent lower than what they are charging currently.

Commvault Cloud provides an excellent solution. Users get a single pane of dashboard to manage the entire backup infrastructure across different locations. My overall rating for Commvault Cloud would be nine out of ten.

We use Commvault for our data backup and imaging.

Commvault serves us by backing up multiple versions and multiple locations, giving us availability in case of any issues in one place. It has saved us a lot of time as scheduled backups happen automatically.

Commvault is an all-in-one product that is very simple and operational for business use. It has an imaging option and a deduplication option, and our license is per node, which is not limited to storage capacity. We can back up unlimited TBs due to our per node license.

I think Commvault needs to improve its virtual solutions.

We have used Commvault for almost ten years.

Commvault is a stable system.

Commvault is scalable.

I would rate the customer support five out of ten. Customer support has very closed departments, requiring us to shuffle between them to get one thing done because representatives have limited accessibility. We need to go through multiple layers, which is inconvenient for us as end users.

We used to use Tivoli long ago. Now, for more than a decade, we don't have other experiences.

I think the initial setup was straightforward.

Numbers cannot be said because it is just a backup software.

Our licensing model is reasonable for us. We don't know the exact current licensing models in detail.

We will recommend Commvault because it is stable and an all-in-one solution. Users can perform multiple types of backups from different sources. I rate the overall solution as an eight out of ten.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.

We are using Commvault Cloud to back up a VM. We mainly use VM backup. We have kept our storage backups so that in case of a disaster or test environment, we should be able to recover within fifteen to twenty minutes. This is our benchmark.

Commvault Cloud has helped in reducing the cost for hardware as we are just using standard storage to store the backup instead of requiring special hardware equipment. It allows for server-level hardware backup, which helps in managing storage backups efficiently.

The most valuable features of Commvault Cloud include deduplication and compression. Deduplication and compression are critical for us because they provide good compression, which is essential in data management. The time to recover from the disk is a critical requirement. The ransomware protection feature was one of the key considerations for choosing Commvault Cloud.

In terms of improvement, the cost factor is a significant area for enhancement, especially during the annual renewal. Competitive products have emerged with less cost, making the pricing a challenging factor. The implementation of field-level restore where you can restore a particular table or field without having to restore the entire backup is something I would like to have.

I have been using Commvault Cloud for almost three years.

So far, we are all right with the stability of Commvault Cloud.

We have some questions regarding scalability with the current storage setup, particularly with the Synology basic storage we are using, which causes continuous issues. We are evaluating backup storage solutions due to underlying hardware issues.

I do not have any negative feedback regarding Commvault's technical support. They have been clear and helpful in addressing our concerns.

We previously used Aksel backup, but we faced challenges with VM level backups and required protection against ransomware, which Commvault Cloud provided. The ArcServe backup software did not have these features, and as a result, we switched to Commvault Cloud.

I was not involved technically in the initial setup. I was involved in the evaluation process, and subsequently, my team handled the implementation and deployment with our partners. The setup took approximately three to four months and involved minor implementation challenges.

The deployment involved our team and partners. From our side, we had two people handling it, and from the partner's side, one or two guys were involved, making it a team of around four to five people.

The major ROI was using simple storage instead of expensive high-end storage for backup. It is more compliance-related, and we utilize cloud backups for redundancy and compliance purposes. We have not seen significant ROI from the backup solution as a whole.

Pricing is a significant factor for our company as the annual renewal is challenging. There are competitive products in the market that have lower costs, which adds to the challenge of the pricing factor.

We evaluated Veeam backup as an alternative. Commvault Cloud provided better pricing at the time, along with ransomware protection and deduplication. Additionally, at our time of evaluation, Veeam did not support mixed backups, which was a consideration for us.

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.

We use Commvault to back up our directory, web, and application servers.

We haven't had to use Commvault in a real-life disaster recovery scenario, but it has been very good in testing.

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.

I have used Commvault Cloud for six months.

I rate Commvault 10 out of 10 for stability. We haven't had any problems, so we will see.

I rate Commvault Cloud 10 out of 10 for scalability.

We had the vendor through the setup for us. S

I think the biggest advantage is time savings.

I rate Commvault Cloud five out of 10 for affordability.

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

Our company integrates Commvault Cloud, a backup and recovery software solution, for customers. While Commvault Cloud itself resides in the cloud, each customer has the flexibility to choose their preferred cloud provider.

Commvault Cloud has been reliable for our customer's data backups – I haven't encountered any problems, and restorations have consistently been stable.

Commvault Cloud streamlines operations with its built-in scheduler, but we can also leverage external scheduling tools through its Bay REST API. This allows for comprehensive disaster recovery processes, including source and replication monitoring, for both backups to the cloud and failovers back from the cloud, ultimately optimizing our disaster recovery workflows.

Commvault Cloud cuts operational expenses by eliminating the need for on-premise software installations, and its integration with multiple cloud storage providers allows us to leverage the most cost-effective options for our backups.

Commvault Cloud's deduplication technology and compression capabilities solved our challenge of backing up massive data volumes by eliminating redundant data and significantly reducing storage requirements.

Commvault Cloud stands out for its ease of use and reliable backups, along with its ability to handle large data volumes for VMs, servers, and applications. It offers flexibility with disaster recovery features, efficient storage management, and strong compliance capabilities for governance.

Commvault Cloud currently lacks support for backing up Proxmox environments, which limits its functionality. This is an area where the software could be improved.

I have been using Commvault Cloud for three years.

I would rate the stability of Commvault Cloud ten out of ten.

I would rate the scalability of Commvault Cloud nine out of ten.

While technical support offers a quick response time in English, French-language assistance comes with a wait due to limited availability.

The initial deployment of Commvault Cloud is straightforward. The cloud version is much easier than the on-prem one because Commvault has reduced the product to the primary use for end users.

Commvault Cloud deployment time varies depending on what you're backing up. Simple setups, like backing up Microsoft Mailbox or SharePoint, can be done in one to two hours, while more complex on-premises installations for VMs or servers might take half a day up to one day.

Two to three people are required for the deployments. This includes one person from the customer's IT department and an end user of the application.

We implement Commvault Cloud for our customers.

I would rate the price of Commvault Cloud seven out of ten with ten being the cheapest.

I would rate Commvault Cloud nine out of ten. Commvault Cloud is one of the best backup products I have used. When I install Commvault Cloud in a customer's organization, I never worry about it not working. It helps me sleep at night.

We handle Commvault Cloud maintenance for our customers, ensuring smooth operation. While issues are rare, we often assist customers with restoring data, as infrequent use can lead to forgetting the process. Additionally, we perform biannual agent upgrades to maintain optimal performance.

I recommend Commvault Cloud to others.

We use the deception piece of Commvault, not the backup solution.

We use deception decoys across our corporate networks and across our OT networks to emulate vulnerable systems so that if a threat actor were to get inside and start scanning the network, the hope is they would bump into one of these, and we would get the alert, and we would be able to react and know some of these inside. Most of what we deploy in terms of decoys have some level of vulnerabilities that threat actors would be interested in, such as an old version of an operating system.

Building and deploying a decoy is fairly straightforward. If there is any work involved, it is just tuning the noise in terms of what happens inside your network. Most people probably do not realize how many times they are scanning their own network internally, and that decoy is going to feel like it is getting scanned, but that scan is being done by a dedicated device that you want to scan. You then build your exception rules in to not trigger on that and trigger on other devices when it is scanning. We have built the alerts back into our automation platform, so if we get alerts, our automation platform will do some runbook evaluation that is automated and then hand it off to an analyst if they think it is a real event.

They do a good job of building the decoys and deploying them, and then giving you good insights. When something happens, you can look at how the decoy was connected or attached to a scan and figure out if that is a real threat or not.

I like the coverage. We have 250 locations across the US, and we deploy decoys across every one of those networks.

We saw its benefits immediately. The first time we got it and deployed it into one of our operating plant environments, the plant engineer noticed right away that there was a foreign device on his network that he did not really realize was out there. It was a support vendor coming in, and that vendor was scanning parts of his network that he did not realize. They were not necessarily doing it maliciously, but it gave him great insight, so he was sold on the product right away as we were. Shortly after implementation, we did our regular PAN and Red Team testing. I can say with 100% confidence that every time we do one of those, those teams come in and they tip over one of the decoys, and we see them fairly quickly.

The decoy side protects my data because I get early insight into if there is a threat actor in my environment and it is moving laterally because they typically will hit one of these decoys, so it gives me quick access. If a ransomware threat actor was in my environment, they would be moving laterally trying to get to a vulnerable system, so before they ever get to the point of deploying the ransomware payload, they are going to hit a decoy. I am going to get early insight, and hopefully, I can get them out of there.

In terms of its effect on the total cost of ownership (TCO), as with almost any security product, we are mitigating risk and protecting revenue. The total cost of ownership is an overhead when it comes to security. You want to spend as much as you think is necessary to mitigate high-risk areas. Otherwise, it is just money out the door. You are protecting revenue, but I would not put a TCO on it.

It has helped our organization reduce or avoid downtime a great deal. It has avoided a potential downtime because the decoy typically gets the threat actor. My threat actors are PAN Test and Red Team people. They are identified before they can get too far and cause a scenario where I have downtime because of whatever they are doing in the environment.

The expanse of the decoys that they have is valuable. They cover everything on the corporate side that you would think of, such as Windows, Linux, and even applications like SAP. They also go into the OT environment and emulate OT devices as well.

If I were to ask them to work on something, it would be the fidelity of the alerts that occur. They should tell me if it is a real event or not. It is easy for it to identify that something hit it but give me more information. They can build AI into the engine so that I get better output from an alert to tell me if I should really be interested in that or not.

We bought TrapX before Commvault acquired them, so we have been a customer of the deception technology, and a specific one, for over seven years.

It is very stable. We do not have a problem with availability or uptime on the product.

It is very scalable. We started with hundreds, and now, we have got thousands of decoys. The only thing that you have to be careful about is the more decoys, the more alerts. Can you handle them, tune them, and get them cleaned up so that you are effectively looking at real alerts when they come in?

I am the CISO here. I do not contact them, but my team certainly has used their support organization before.

We have not used any other solution. We have been a TrapX customer from early on when they were just coming out.

It was originally on-premises. They have since come out with the cloud version, and we are migrating to it right now. It should be done by the fifteenth of March, which will make it a lot easier because before, I had to buy hardware and deploy assets across my environment. Having a cloud solution is a much better model for me.

The deployment for the cloud one has been good so far. It has been going fairly well. We are on-prem, and we are moving to the cloud. I do not know if it would be different if I was deploying the cloud only and I had never deployed it before. I would imagine it would be easier than what I did in the past with on-premise equipment. I was building servers and VMs and allocating those types of resources to run this environment.

When we started, we did get help. We had professional services included. They were early to the market, so it kind of made sense. For this deployment in the cloud, we are just doing it ourselves.

I have one person doing the migration, and that one person does other things too. The lab time is going to be about 15 days, but he is not working a hundred percent on that. He has got other responsibilities. It is not difficult.

All the time, we have only had one engineer dedicated to this platform. Our SOC uses the output, but the person who manages it day to day takes upgrades, performs the upgrades, and does those types of things. There is just one person, and that is a part-time person, not a full-time person.

The maintenance is largely around what decoys you have deployed and the tuning of those decoys. Some of the maintenance is just internal processes, such as when the decoy gets tipped over, what exactly did that? Did somebody start up a new engine or a new scan internally that we did not know about? We have to manage that change process to make sure that we put an exception on the decoy so that it does not get alerted when it is not necessary.

Originally, it was really attractive when we were deployed on-prem. They have since built and moved it to the cloud, which I am a big fan of. I have all my security tools in the cloud, but it came with a significant increase in pricing. We ended up negotiating a better price because we have been a long-term customer, and I have also spoken on their behalf quite a few times, but if I have to buy it at its current rate, I am not sure if I would be a customer. It is expensive.

We did look at a couple, but I cannot say what they were because it was a while ago.

To those evaluating this solution, I would advise looking at the maturity of their security organization. Do they have a SOC and are they going to be able to address the alerts that they are going to get on the decoys? If it is just more noise on top of the noise they are already dealing with, they probably should not put this type of technology in until they clean up their environment and have a good handle on the alerts they are getting. That is because you cannot put it in and ignore it. It is a decoy. Something is hitting it, and that something might be real, and you need to take action on it.

I would recommend Commvault to others. They have been an easy organization to work with. They have good technical support, and I still like their technology.

Overall, I would rate it an eight out of ten.