Features and enhancements that we want to highlight in this service pack are listed here, with a link to full documentation for the feature.
For your convenience, the Newsletter for New Features in Service Pack 16 is also available in PDF format, New Features in Service Pack 16.
For a comprehensive list of all new features, see New Features.
Note
If you are upgrading from a previous release or service pack, also review the following pages:
Complete Backup and Recovery
Accessing Restricted Locations on macOS Mojave
On macOS Mojave clients, Commvault backups require Full Disk Access permissions to back up user data on restricted paths, such as the user’s Calendars, Address Book, Photos, Reminders, and location services.
If you use an MDM (Mobile Device Management) tool, you can add a Privacy Preferences Policy Control (PPPC) payload script to your MDM profile. If you do not use an MDM tool, the Edge Monitor tool provides an on-screen guide to assign Full Disk Access permission to the Commvault backup process.
More Information
Analyze Performance Issues on Backup Jobs with the Performance Analysis Tool
You can use the Performance Analysis tool to help analyze performance issues on a backup job. The tool provides a log file report that identifies bottlenecks and other issues related to the job.
More Information
Apply Windows and UNIX Filters to Companies and Server Groups in Command Center
In addition to global and subclient filters, you can now apply Windows and UNIX backup filters (also called exceptions) at the company or server group level in Command Center.
More Information
Automatic Refresh of 3DFS Shares After Every Successful Backup Operation
The 3DFS share content is refreshed after every successful backup job operation, so that the 3DFS share is always up to date with the most recent backup data.
Key Features
You do not have to manually re-export the share after every backup operation to access the most recent backup data.
Applicable Agents
3DFS
More Information
Back Up HBase Databases
You can use the Commvault software to back up HBase databases.
Key Features
- Single interface to back up and restore all databases and tables in Hbase.
- Provides full and incremental application-consistent backups.
- Handles TB to PB scales of data.
- Maintains a copy of data for disaster recovery.
Applicable Agents
Hadoop
More Information
Back Up Oracle 18c Data by Using the Oracle Agent and the Oracle RAC Agent
You can back up Oracle 18c databases by using the Oracle Agent and the Oracle RAC Agent.
Applicable Agents
- Oracle
- Oracle RAC
More Information
Back Up and Restore Exchange Public Folders
You can back up and restore Microsoft Exchange Public Folders by using the Exchange Mailbox Agent.
You must enable the All Public Folders group, and then assign Exchange archiving, cleanup, and retention policies to the group.
You can browse all Public Folder data at the user mailbox subclient level. You can perform archiving, restore, retention, and content indexing operations in all environments.
More Information
- Associating Public Folders with the Exchange Mailbox Agent User Mailbox Subclient Using All Public Folders - On-Premises
- Associating Public Folders with the Exchange Mailbox Agent User Mailbox Subclient Using All Public Folders - Hybrid
- Associating Public Folders with the Exchange Mailbox Agent User Mailbox Subclient Using All Public Folders - On-Premises AD
- Associating Public Folders with the Exchange Mailbox Agent User Mailbox Subclient Using All Public Folders - Azure AD
Backup Operations and Restore Operations for MySQL Version 8
You can perform backup operations and restore operations on MySQL Version 8 databases.
Key Features
The way that you perform backup operations and restore operations in the Commvault software is the same for MySQL Version 8 as it is for the previous versions of MySQL.
More Information
Configure the Backup Operation Window for a Company
Tenant administrators and service providers can define operation window rules for a company to prevent backup operations from running during certain time periods of the day.
When operation windows are configured, operations that would start within the operation window parameters go into a queued state (rather than a pending state). After the operation window ends, the queued operations automatically resume.
More Information
Create Auxiliary Copies for Non-Encrypted Aurora Database Cluster Instance Snapshots
You can create a copy of a non-encrypted Aurora database cluster instance snapshot, in a different region, for disaster recovery.
Applicable Agents
Amazon RDS
More Information
Creating an Oracle Clone from Application-Aware Backup Snapshots
You can clone an Oracle database using the snapshots created from application-aware backups of a VMWare virtual machine that runs the Oracle application.
When you create a clone, you must specify the reservation period. When the reservation period expires, the system automatically frees up the resources for the clone database.
Key Features
Cloning the Oracle database is useful in the following scenarios:
- Duplicate large databases in a short amount of time
- Create test environments
- Retrieve data quickly without intensive resource use on the production environment
- Alleviate the load on production servers
More Information
Delegate Mailboxes and Folders in the Web Console or the Command Center
With the Exchange Mailbox Delegate feature, administrators or end users can delegate their mailbox or the folders in the mailbox without having the delegate access on the Exchange server.
A delegated mailbox is a mailbox that administrators or end users delegate to other users or user groups, who can use it to read and send email messages.
Key Features
- Delegating a mailbox: End users and administrators can delegate a mailbox or a folder to other users, user groups, or email addresses using the Web Console orthe Command Center respectively.
- Editing or deleting a delegate operation: End users and administratorscan edit or delete a delegate operation using the Web Console orthe Command Center respectively.
More Information
- Delegating a Mailbox or a Folder in the Web Console
- Delegating a Mailbox or a Folder in the Command Center
Deleting Messages Using Exchange Mailbox
The delete feature allows the admin user to permanently delete any data that was backed up.
You can delete backed up messages from the secondary storage in the following ways:
- From the Command Center
- From the Web Console
Key Features
This is useful if you want to the delete data so that it cannot be restored again.
Applicable Agents
Exchange Mailbox Agent
More Information
Export File System Backups as CIFS, SMB, and NFS Shares, at the Backup Set Level
To access the entire backup set data, you can export file system backups as CIFS, SMB, and NFS shares, at the backup set level.
More Information
Extent-Based Backups for Hadoop (HDFS)
Extent-Based Backups integrate extent-based or chunk-based technology to increase the speed of backup operations. Extent-based backups break down a file into small, independent extents. These extents are potentially quicker to back up and are more resilient to network disruptions. Extent-based backups are helpful when the backup content consists of files that are so large that they might cause the available data streams to remain idle.
Key Features
- Large files are backed up using multiple streams that increases the speed of backups.
- Backups are more efficient.
- During network disruption, a backup job resumes exactly from the place the backup job was interrupted.
More Information
For VMware, You Can Use the NAS Transport Mode for Backup and Restore Operations
The NAS (network-attached storage) transport mode enables the proxy computer to read data directly from the network file server, without going through an ESX host or transferring data over the local area network (LAN).
You can use the NAS transport mode for the following operations:
- Streaming backup operations
- Backup copy operations
- Restoring full VM operations
More Information
- NAS Transport (CommCell Console)
- Editing VM Group Settings for VMware (Command Center)
Improved Edge Monitor App
The Edge Monitor app for Windows uses the native Windows app design to provide an improved user interface.
More Information
Live Sync Replication for SQL Databases in the Command Center
You can use the Live Sync feature to enable incremental replication from a backup of a SQL database to a synced copy of the SQL database. The Live Sync operation continuously applies changes from the source database backups since the most recent sync point.
Key Features
The Live Sync feature includes the following capabilities:
- It initiates a replication operation automatically after a Live Sync schedule is created. The whole database is replicated to the destination and includes the data, logs, and history files.
- It initiates a replication operation automatically after a log backup job is completed on the source database.
- It copies the backup data to remote disaster recovery (DR) sites with deduplication to minimize wide area network (WAN) traffic. Live Sync then runs at the DR site.
- It minimizes the impact on production systems' CPU and I/O by using the backup data, instead of the source database, for replications.
- It supports the destination database sync in standby mode so that users can schedule workloads on the destination server.
More Information
Live Sync for DB2
Live Sync for DB2 can automatically initiate a replication operation when any kind of backup operation runs on a DB2 database. With automatic replication, the replicated database is always in sync with the source database.
Key Features
The Live Sync feature includes the following capabilities:
- It initiates a replication operation automatically after a Live Sync schedule is created. The whole database is replicated to the destination and includes the data, log, and history files.
- It initiates a replication operation automatically after any backup job is completed on the source database.
- If you use a copy precedence for Live Sync, Live Sync can automatically initiate a replication operation after an auxiliary copy operation.
- It minimizes the impact on production systems' CPU and I/O by using the backup data, instead of the source database, for replications.
More Information
Microsoft SQL Server 2016 Standard Edition
Microsoft SQL Server 2016 Standard Edition is the SQL Server version that is used during the installation of Commvault server packages, such as the CommServe software.
Before Service Pack 16, Microsoft SQL Server 2014 Standard Edition was the version that was used during installations.
More Information
- See the "Database Engine" section in CommServe Server System Requirements
- Upgrading Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Enterprise to Microsoft SQL Server 2016 Standard Edition
MongoDB Backups on Windows, and Incremental Backup Support
You can use the MongoDB Agent to perform backup operations on Windows clients.
You can perform backup operations of operation log (oplog) dumps on all supported operating systems.
Applicable Agents
MongoDB
More Information
Monitor License Usage with the License Summary Report
You can use the License Summary Report to measure all of your Commvault license usage, including the following products and features:
- Case Manager-enabled clients
- Compliance Search-enabled clients
- Content Indexing for Exchange
- File System Agent on VMs
- Gmail
- Google Drive
- Live Sync
- Office 365
- OneDrive
- Salesforce
More Information
Mounting Snapshots as Physical Raw Disk Mapping (pRDM) Disks
With physical raw device mapping (pRDM) mount support, you can mount snapshots directly on VMs that do not have dedicated Fibre Channel (FC) adapters, without the need for a physical mount proxy that has FC adapters.
Applicable Agents
You can perform pRDM mount operations on the following snapshot agents:
- File system agents
- Microsoft SQL Server Agent
- Oracle Agent
Applicable Arrays
You can use pRDM mount operations on the following storage arrays:
- Hitachi Vantara
- INFINIDAT
More Information
Optimized File System Backups
Optimized backups provide high resilience and faster performance when you back up large files, endpoints, or laptops that run on mobile networks that have frequent disruptions.
Key Features
- Large files are backed up using multiple streams, which increases the speed of backups.
- After a network disruption, backup jobs resume exactly from the point at which they were interrupted.
More Information
Oracle Agentless Backups
If you cannot install software on an Oracle server, then you can use agentless backup operations and restore operations. For Oracle, you use RMAN from the database command line, and you use crontab to trigger schedules.
You can perform only traditional streaming backup operations.
Key Features
- Perform backup and restore operations on Oracle databases, without having an agent installed on the database server.
- Restore to the same host, or to a new host (if a disaster occurs).
Setup Requirements
For agentless operations, the Oracle database must be on a server that runs Linux.
More Information
PST Ingestion
You can use PST ingestion for both the User Mailbox subclient and the Journal Mailbox subclient to counter the challenges of backing up and restoring personal folders that are available on network shares.
More Information
Protect Cassandra Clusters in the Command Center
You can use the Command Center to back up and recover an entire Cassandra instance or individual keyspaces.
Key Features
You can use the Command Center as a self-service portal to perform the following tasks:
- Quickly configure servers, storage, and subclients to back up
- Back upCassandra instances immediately or on a schedule
- Restore Cassandra instances, to the most recent time, or to a point in time
- Back up and recover individual keyspaces from Cassandra instances
- Monitor jobs, events, and alerts
More Information
Protect MySQL Databases in the Command Center
You can use the Command Center to back up and recover either the entire MySQL database or individual databases.
Key Features
You can use the Command Center as a self-service portal to perform the following tasks:
- Quickly configure servers, storage, and subclients to back up
- Back upMySQL instances immediately or on a schedule
- Restore MySQL instances, to the most recent time, or to a point in time
- Back up and recover individual databases from MySQL instances
- Perform IntelliSnap backup and restore operations
- Monitor jobs, events, and alerts
More Information
Restore a PostgreSQL Server to a Disk (Application-Free Restore)
You can restore PostgreSQL data and transaction log files directly to a disk without the need for a PostgreSQL Agent on the destination computer.
Key Features
Restore to a disk is used in the following scenarios:
- To restore the PostgreSQL server data for disaster recovery
- To restore the transaction logs that are missing on a PostgreSQL Standby replication setup.
- To restore multiplexed data on the same media. The data from different backup jobs is passed to the client so that all of the interleaved backup jobs are restored in parallel.
Applicable Agents
PostgreSQL Agent
More Information
Restoring MySQL Data from a Standby Server
You can restore data to the master server and the standby server using any one of the following restore operations:
- MySQL block-level restore operation
- MySQL IntelliSnap restore operation
You can perform these restore operations only on Linux servers.
More Information
- Using MySQL block-level restore operation: Restoring Data from a Standby Server
- Using MySQL IntelliSnap restore operation: Restoring Data from a Standby Server
Run Synthetic Full Backup As Needed to Reclaim Space
When creating an automatic schedule for a synthetic full backup job, you can choose to automatically trigger a synthetic full backup job in order to reclaim space from backed up media.
More Information
- Adding an Automatic Schedule for Synthetic Full Backup to a Backup Set or Subclient
- Adding an Automatic Synthetic Full Backup Schedule to a Schedule Policy
Run an Incremental Backup Job While a Synthetic Full Backup is Running on a Virtual Server Agent
For Virtual Server Agents, you can run an incremental backup job while a synthetic full backup is running on the same subclient.
More Information
Searching for Files Backed Up Using Backup Sets in the Command Center
When you view backed-up data for your computer using a backup set, you can search for files from the most recent indexed backup.
You can also use wildcard expressions in searches.
Key Features
You can select options, such as the following, that modify the search:
- File name
- Files that contain the search string
- File type, such as audio, executable, image, Microsoft Office, system, and video
- Files that were modified within the specified time range
- You can also include folders in the search results
Applicable Agents
Windows File System Agent
More Information
Setting Up Network Connectivity Between Client Groups Using Predefined Network Topologies in the Command Center
When using the Command Center, you can use predefined topologies to set up network connectivity between client groups. The client groups use the network topology instances to establish connections between each other, either in one direction, or in both directions. The clients in the client groups can be the CommServe computer, MediaAgents, or client computers.
More Information
Single Sign-On for Identity Providers Using CAS Authentication
You can integrate supported web applications that use the Central Authentication Service (CAS) protocol with Commvault to enable single sign-on (SSO) to Commvault web applications.
CAS is a protocol for single sign-on used by some third-party web applications, such as Huawei FusionCloud. After configuring SSO for CAS authentication, users can log in to their Huawei FusionCloud, and then access Commvault web applications without the need to sign in again.
Key Features
- Eliminate multiple logins: With single sign-on, users can log on to a third-party web service, and use that authentication to access the Commvault web services (such as the Web Console and the Command Center) without having to sign in again.
- Integration with more identify providers: In addition to other authentication protocols, you can configure single sign-on for CAS-based identity providers, such as Huawei FusionCloud.
More Information
Subclient Retention Settings for Synthetic Full Backups
When entering file retention properties for a subclient, you can specify the number of daily, weekly, and/or monthly versions of files that will be included in a synthetic full backup.
More Information
Support for the Active Directory Application in the Command Center
You can use the Command Center to back up and recover individual Active Directory objects and their attributes. The Active Directory application, along with the Windows File Agent, provides complete data protection for a domain controller and the objects in a domain, including the LDS/ADAM objects and attributes.
Key Features
- You can restore objects or attributes to a working domain controller.
- You can also restore deleted objects or deleted attributes to a domain controller.
- To restore objects, you do not have to restart the domain controller into Directory Restore Services Mode (DSRM).
- To perform restore operations, you do not have to take the domain controller offline, and you do not have to run ntdsutil commands manually.
- You can view the list of failed items using the job summary report.
More Information
Use ACLs to Restrict User Access to Data in 3DFS Shares
System administrators can use ACLs (access control lists) to restrict user access to files and folders in 3DFS shares.
Key Features
You can use the following versions of ACLs:
- NTFS
- NFS v4
Setup Requirements
- Install the following on the 3DFS Linux MediaAgent:
- NFS-Ganesha version 2.5.1 or version 2.6.3
- Samba version 4.8.3
- The samba-winbind-clients RPM package
- The tdb-tools RPM package
- Download the nfs4acl_xattr.so filefrom GitHub,and copy the file to the software_installation_directory/Base folder.
More Information
Use Changed Block Tracking for OpenStack
Changed Block Tracking (CBT) for OpenStack is a mechanism that enhances the incremental backup performance of large OpenStack cinder volumes. When enabled, CBT generates and maintains a bitmap file (which contains snapshots) of a cinder volume before and after an incremental backup operation runs. These snapshots are used as reference points. When a CBT-enabled backup is initiated, the OpenStack cvcompute API detects the changed data blocks since the last bitmap (reference point) generated during the previous CBT-enabled backup operation for that volume. Only the changed blocks that the OpenStack cvcompute API detects are backed up and written to backup media. After the incremental backup operation is complete, the previous bitmap file (reference point) that was used is deleted. The current operation's bitmap file is then used as the reference point for the next CBT-enabled incremental backup operation.
Applicable Agents
- Virtual Server Agent for OpenStack
More Information
Use Microsoft Outlook 2019 with Outlook Add-In and Outlook Add-In with ContentStore and Edge Attachment Store
The Commvault software supports Microsoft Outlook 2019 for Outlook Add-In and Outlook Add-In with ContentStore and Edge Attachment Store.
Key Features
Outlook Add-In can be installed on any end-user computer that has Microsoft Outlook 2019 installed.
More Information
Use SAP LaMa for Backup Operations
SAP Landscape Management System (SAP LaMa) administrators can now perform backup operations of SAP HANA, SAP Oracle, and DB2 databases, from the SAP LaMa console.
More Information
Use a Linux Proxy and Recover Files for Linux Guest VMs in Oracle Cloud Infrastructure
In the Command Center, you can use a Linux instance as a VSA proxy to back up and recover instances in Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.
You can perform live browse operations and restore files and folders information from backups of Linux guest instances.
Applicable Agents
Virtual Server Agent
Setup Requirements
Install the Virtual Server Agent and MediaAgent package ona CentOS 7.5 Linux instance so that it can serve as a Linux proxy and as a File Recovery Enabler for Linux (FREL).
More Information
Use the Start Over Operation to Run the Next Backup Job as a Full Job After Media Becomes Corrupted
When media becomes corrupted, you can perform a start over operation on the associated storage policy. The start over operation automatically converts the next backup job to a full backup job for all the subclients and disables data aging at the subclient level.
After the full backup job completes, the Commvault software automatically enables data aging at the subclient level.
More Information
Use the Virtual Server Agent with vCloud Director 9.5
You can use the Virtual Server Agent to back up and restore virtual machines running on vCloud Director version 9.5. To protect virtual machines in a vCloud Director deployment that includes one or more vCenters, configure a hypervisor in the Command Center or a virtualization client in the CommCell Console.
You can perform streaming backups to protect virtual machines, including configuration information such as associations with an organization, vDC, or vApp.
Applicable Agents
Virtual Server Agent
More Information
- vCloud Director: System Requirements(Command Center)
- vCloud Director (CommCell Console)
Using SAP LaMA to Refresh DB2 Databases
Database administrators can use the Commvault software to refresh DB2 databases from the SAP Landscape Management System (SAP LaMa) Database console.
The Commvault software is integrated with the SAP Landscape Management System (SAP LaMa) DB2 database refresh operation. The database refresh option keeps a test or development system synchronized with the production system.
More Information
Using a Cloud Index Server for the Edge Drive
You can use a Cloud Index Server to configure your Edge Drive.
A Cloud Index Server is scalable, and provides fault tolerance and high-availability of the Index Server data.
More Information
Disaster Recovery
Browse, Auto-Mount, and Auto-Discover for Network Share Subclients
NFS export subclients offer the following features:
- You can browse for NFS exports when you add content to a subclient.
- The NFS export is automatically mounted when a backup operation is run.
CIFS share subclients offer the following features:
- You can browse for CIFS shares when you add content to a subclient.
- You can add a backslash (\) to the default subclient so that all CIFS shares from a file server are automatically discovered.
More Information
- Creating a Subclient with Auto-mount Contents for NFS Exports
- Creating a User-Defined Subclient for CIFS Shares
- Modifying the Default Subclient for CIFS Shares
Create Custom Applications Using the App Studio
The App Studio is a low-code tool that developers can use to create custom applications in the Command Center.
You can build applications to collect and track data in a central location and to automate manual tasks. You and your coworkers can use these custom applications to share information and to collaborate more efficiently.
Key Features
- Create custom apps that appear in the Command Center.
- Include actionable elements, such as links, buttons, forms, and reports.
- Incorporate business logic that uses data tables and forms to guide user interaction.
More Information
Deduplication Pruning Performance Alert
You can now configure the Dedup Pruning Performance alert, which is generated when the system detects anomalies in the DDB data pruning behavior for the following two entities:
- CommServe job records to be deleted
- DDB prunable blocks count
More Information
- See the Dedup Pruning Performance row in the List of Predefined Alerts table inAlerts and Notifications - Predefined Alerts.
HyperScale Hardware Monitoring
HyperScale Appliance hardware can now be monitored to detect errors in the following components:
- Disk Drives
- Cache Disks
- Power Supply
- Fan
- NIC (Network)
The HyperScale Hardware Monitoring Alert is configured by default, to generate an alert when an error is detected in these components.
More Information
Job Activity Anomaly Alert
When the number of created, deleted, or modified files in a backup job changes abruptly from the typical number or when amount of backup data varies abnormally, the software sends an email alert about the anomaly.
The email alert contains a link to the Unusual Backup Job Activity Report, which displays information about the anomaly.
More Information
Live Browse for Block-Level Backups By Using iSCSI LUNs
You can perform a live browse operation on block-level backup data by mounting the iSCSI snapshot LUN on a proxy server.
Key Features
The workload on the browse MediaAgent is reduced by distributing live browse operation calls between multiple servers.
Applicable Agents
- Windows File System Agent
- Linux File System Agent
More Information
- Configuring Live Browse By Using iSCSI LUNs for the Windows File System Agent
- Configuring Live Browse By Using iSCSI LUNs for the Linux File System Agent
Run Automation Test Cases from the Web Console
You can now run automation test cases for supported agents and the CommServe host from the Web Console.
More Information
- Running an Automation Test Case from the Web Console
- Running a CommServe Automation Test Case from the Web Console
Test and Interact with Commvault APIs Using API Explorer
The API Explorer is an application in Web Console for visualizing and interacting with the latest Commvault RESTful APIs.
Commvault's latest RESTful APIs follow the Swagger 2.0 specification, which means they are compatible with Swagger UI. Swagger UI is the open source framework that powers the Commvault API Explorer and makes visualizing and using the latest Commvault RESTful APIs easier for end users. From API Explorer, users can execute REST API requests and view responses from the CommCell environment directly from the Web Console.
Key Features
- You can view and run APIs directly from the Web Console.
- The latest APIs are designed to follow the Swagger specification.
More Information
Using a Smart Network Topology When Setting Up Network Connections in the Command Center
Instead of creating a standard network topology, which is comprised of routes from clients in an infrastructure group to all MediaAgents and the CommServe server in the group, you can create a smart network topology, which is comprised of routes from clients to only the CommServe server and MediaAgents that the clients actually communicate with.
You can create a smart network topology for one-way direct connections, two-way direct connections, and connections via a network gateway.
More Information
Journey to the Cloud
Back Up and Recover Virtual Machines for vCloud Director
From Service Pack 14, you can define a virtualization client to back up and restore virtual machines in a vCloud Director deployment, instead of configuring a vCenter virtualization client to support vCloud. A single vCloud Director client can protect VMs across multiple vCenters that are registered in vCloud Director.
You can perform streaming backups for vCloud. You can recover full VMs or guest files and folders.
To protect vCloud Director VMs, you can configure a vCloud Director virtualization client in CommCell Console or a hypervisor in Command Center.
Applicable Agents
Virtual Server Agent
More Information
Back Up and Restore Azure Database Using the MySQL Agent and the PostgreSQL Agent
You can perform logical dumps of Azure databases so that you can move the data to cloud storage or to on-premises storage.
The solution supports the following databases:
- PostgreSQL
- MySQL
The Commvault software uses the native database logical dump utilities to export the data from the Azure database. You can then restore the data to any of the following destinations:
- The same Azure database instance from which it was backed up
- A different Azure database instance
- A local database instance
Key Features
- Back up the data to a disk in the cloud or on-premises.
- End users can restore the data to the same instance, or to another database instance in the cloud or on-premises.
More Information
Backup Support for Google Cloud Storage
You can use the Commvault software to back up data in Google Cloud Storage.
Setup Requirements
On the proxy client computer, install the File System Core package, the File System package, and the Cloud Connector package.
More Information
Configure Retention Based on Message Deletion Time in Exchange Mailbox
For Microsoft Exchange Online, when you create a new retention policy, you can use the Deletion Time Based Retention option to base the default amount of time that messages are retained on the time the messages are deleted.
Use this option when creating retention policies for backups.
This option is available only for Exchange Online.
Applicable Agents
Exchange Mailbox Agent
More Information
Configure a Cloud Library as the Export Destination for DR Backups
You can configure a cloud library as the export destination for disaster recovery (DR) backups from both the CommCell Console and the Command Center. You can use DR backups in the cloud to rebuild the CommServe server in disaster recovery scenarios, because the cloud data are not affected by on-site issues.
More Information
- To configure the cloud library in the CommCell Console, seeConfiguring a Cloud Library as the Export Destination for Disaster Recovery (DR) Backups
- To configure the cloud library in the Command Center, seeConfiguring a Cloud Library as the Export Destination for Disaster Recovery (DR) Backups
Convert Virtual Machines from Nutanix AHV to Azure (Cross-Hypervisor Restore)
When restoring a virtual machine from a backup for Nutanix AHV, you can convert the VM to Azure Resource Manager.
This feature can be used to migrate workloads to Azure, or to recover VMs in Azure if the Nutanix AHV deployment is unavailable.
This option is available from the Command Center or from the CommCell Console.
Applicable Agents
Virtual Server Agent
Setup Requirements
Create a hypervisor (virtualization client) for Azure.
More Information
- Converting from Nutanix AHV to Azure (Command Center)
- Converting from Nutanix AHV to Azure (CommCell Console)
Convert Virtual Machines from Oracle VM to Azure (Cross-Hypervisor Restore)
When restoring a virtual machine from a backup for Oracle VM, you can convert the VM to Azure Resource Manager.
This feature can be used to migrate workloads to Azure, or to recover VMs in Azure if the Oracle VM deployment is unavailable.
This option is available from the Command Center or from the CommCell Console.
Applicable Agents
Virtual Server Agent
Setup Requirements
Create a hypervisor (virtualization client) for Azure.
More Information
- Converting from Oracle VM to Azure (Command Center)
- Converting from Oracle VM to Azure (CommCell Console)
Create a Copy of Amazon Web Services Encrypted Snapshots of RDS and EBS Services
You can create a copy of Amazon Web Services encrypted snapshots of Amazon RDS and Amazon EBS services.
More Information
- Creating an Amazon RDS Snapshot Copy or an Aurora Database Cluster Snapshot Copy in a Different Region
- Replicating Snapshots with IntelliSnap for Amazon
Deploy a File Recovery Enabler for Linux to Serve as a Virtual Server Agent Proxy for vCloud
You can deploy a File Recovery Enabler for Linux (FREL) to serve as a Virtual Server Agent proxy for vCloud. The resulting Linux proxy can be used for backups and restores of vCloud virtual machines.
Key Features
- Streaming backups
- Full VM restores
- Live browse
- Agentless restores of guest files from streaming backups
- VM filters
Applicable Agents
- Virtual Server Agent
More Information
- System Requirements for Virtual Server Agent with vCloud Director (CommCell Console)
- vCloud Director: System Requirements(Command Center)
For Azure Live Sync, Restore Virtual Machines as Azure Managed Disks
For Azure, you can configure Live Sync to restore a virtual machine (VMware, Hyper-V, or Azure source VM) as an Azure managed disk. Azure managed disks are an Azure Resource Manager feature that simplifies the management of Azure Storage. Managed disks can use Standard or Premium storage. Managed disks are virtual entities and do not expose the underlying blobs or storage accounts.
Applicable Agents
- Virtual Server Agent
More Information
- Live Sync Replication for Azure (CommCell Console)
- Creating a Replication Group (Command Center)
For Azure Stack, the Commvault Software Supports Backup and Restore of Virtual Machines with Azure Managed Disks
For Azure Stack, you can back up and restore virtual machines with Azure Managed Disks. Azure managed disks is an Azure Stack feature that simplifies the management of Azure Storage. Managed disks can use Standard or Premium storage. Managed disks are virtual entities and do not expose the underlying blobs or storage accounts.
The backing up and restoring of virtual machines with Azure managed disks is supported for both Azure Stack streaming and Azure Stack IntelliSnap.
Applicable Agents
- Virtual Server Agent
More Information
- Azure Stack Backups(CommCell Console)
- Restoring Full VMs for Microsoft Azure Stack (Command Center)
Google Cloud Database Backup Support for PostgreSQL and MySQL
You can use the Commvault software to perform logical dumps of Google Cloud databases so that you can move the data to cloud storage or to on-premises storage to meet your compliance and storage objectives.
The solution supports the following Google Cloud databases:
- PostgreSQL
- MySQL
The Commvault software uses the native database logical dump utilities to export the data from the Google Cloud database. You can then restore the data to any of the following destinations:
- The same Google Cloud database instance from which it was backed up
- A different Google Cloud database instance
- A local database instance
Key Features
- Back up the data to cloud storage or to on-premises storage
- Restore the data to the same database instance, or to another database instance in the cloud or to an on-premises instance
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Install the Command Center on Linux
You can now install the Command Center package on Linux computers. The package includes both the Web Console interface and the Command Center interface. We currently support the installation on CentOS Linux versions 7.0 to 7.5.
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Manage Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, and OneDrive for Business Using the Office 365 Solution in the Command Center
You can use the Office 365 Solution to back up and restore data in Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, and OneDrive for Business.
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Perform Application-Aware Backups of Azure Virtual Machines
You can use Commvault software to perform application-aware backup operations for virtual machines that run under Microsoft Azure Resource Manager and that host the following applications:
- Active Directory
- Microsoft Exchange
- Microsoft SharePoint
- Microsoft SQL Server
- MySQL
- Oracle database for Windows
This feature is supported for both streaming and IntelliSnap backups. You can perform application-aware backups using Microsoft Azure on both the CommCell Console and the Command Center.
Applicable Agents
- Active Directory Agent
- Exchange Database Agent
- Microsoft SharePoint Agent
- Microsoft SQL Server Agent
- MySQL Agent
- Oracle Agent
- Virtual Server Agent for Microsoft Azure
More Information
- Application-Aware Backups for the Virtual Server Agent (CommCell Console)
- Application-Aware Backups (Command Center)
Perform File System Restores to Microsoft OneDrive
You can use the Windows File System Agent to restore protected data from Windows or Macintosh computers to Microsoft OneDrive.
Applicable Agents
Windows File System Agent
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- Performing File System Restores to Microsoft OneDrive Using the Command Center
- Performing File System Restores to Microsoft OneDrive Using the CommCell Console
Protect and Recover Alibaba Cloud Instance Data in the Command Center
From the Command Center, you can add an Alibaba Cloud hypervisor to back up and recover instances that are hosted or managed by an Alibaba Cloud Elastic Computer Service (ECS) account.
You can perform streaming backup operations to create crash-consistent backups.
You can restore full instances or guest files and folders.
Applicable Agents
Virtual Server Agent
Setup Requirements
Obtaina key pair (access key and secret key) from the Alibaba Cloud website.
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Replicate VMs to Azure and Hyper-V Destinations in the Command Center
You can replicate VMs to Azure Resource Manager (RM) destination sites from streaming Azure backups in the Command Center. Create replication targets, replication groups, and failover groups. You can monitor all these replication operations using the Replication Monitor.
Key Features
- Perform replication for the following source and destination pairs:
- Hyper-V to Hyper-V
- Hyper-V to Azure RM
- Azure RM to Azure RM
- Perform failover operations.
- Perform failback operations.
- Monitor replication using Replication Monitor.
Applicable Agents
Virtual Server Agent
More Information
- Replication for Virtual Machines (Command Center)
VM Conversion from Azure to Amazon
When restoring an Azure virtual machine from a backup, you can restore the virtual machine as an Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) instance or as an Amazon Web Services (AWS) instance that is part of a Virtual Private Cloud (VPC).
You can perform conversions from a streaming backup, a backup copy, or an auxiliary copy.
Applicable Agents
- Virtual Server Agent for Amazon
- Virtual Server Agent for Azure
More Information
- Converting from Azure to Amazon(Command Center)
- Converting from Azure to Amazon(CommCell Console)
Modern Infrastructures
Add Regions and Configure Region Based Storage in the Command Center
In the Command Center, you can now define regions and configure region based storage.
A region is a group of one or more locations that define a geographic boundary for your enterprise. For example, you can use regions to define geographic boundaries for your storage locations. When using a plan with region based storage, if a client's region matches a region defined in the plan, then the client's backup data is sent to the storage that is defined for that region.
Key Features
- Distribute storage resources by location.
- Increase flexibility for administrators to define rules-based storage.
- Decrease network usage for resources that are distributed across different locations.
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Application Seed Package
You can create an application seed package, which is useful for deploying different agents and configurations across multiple computers.
An application seed package consists of a set of files that installs the Commvault software, and can also install additional Commvault features without requiring the installation media to reside locally on the machine. Instead, it uses the CommServe software cache to pull the payload needed for the additional features.
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Cloning SQL Databases from the Arrays That Cannot Be Cloned
You can clone a SQL database from the arrays that cannot be cloned using an iSCSI server. You can create a copy of the SQL database using a full IntelliSnap backup or a block-level backup for a test environment.
More Information
- CommCell Console: Creating a SQL Server Clone Environment
- Command Center: Cloning a SQL Database
Configure HPE StoreOnce Catalyst Libraries Using UNIX and Linux MediaAgents
You can now configure HPE StoreOnce Catalyst libraries using AIX, HP-UX, Solaris, and Linux MediaAgents.
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ContentStore Mail Server (IMAP) For Exchange Mailbox Agent
You can configure the ContentStore Mail Server (IMAP) for the Exchange Mailbox Agent, and can give end users access to their backed up or archived mailbox messages on their mobile devices that support an IMAP client.
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Control Access to Companies
Service providers can control their tenant's access to a company. Use the deactivate and activate options to choose the level of access tenant users have. For example, allow tenant users to restore data, but not to back up data.
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For VMware, Deploy Virtual Machines with the Commvault Software Pre-Installed
VMware virtual machine image template packages (OVA) are now available at the Commvault Store. You can quickly download the OVA file to your VMware environment, and then deploy a virtual machine pre-installed with the Commvault software in your CommCell environment. After the VM deployment, you can start protecting your data.
Applicable Agents
Virtual Server Agent
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Generic LDAP Domain Controllers and Attribute Filters in the Command Center
You can add any LDAP-based domain controller to your CommCell environment by using the Command Center. You can also add subsets of objects from your LDAP domain controllers as domain controller objects in your CommCell environment. For example, you can add two different organizations from the same Active Directory as separate entities in the Command Center, which you can associate with different companies.
Key Features
- Add any LDAP-based domain controller.
- Filter subsets of objects (organizations, users, groups) from any LDAP domain controllers for greater flexibility and customization.
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INFINIDAT Replication
With the INFINIDAT Replication feature, the primary snapshot that is created on the local array is replicated to the target array.
Key Features
- The primary snapshot copy and the replica copy are independent of each other and can have separate retention policies.
- In synchronous mode, the replica copy is application-consistent, except for the Microsoft Hyper-V agent. In asynchronous mode, the replica copy is crash-consistent. For the Microsoft Hyper-V agent, the replica copy is crash-consistent in synchronous and asynchronous modes.
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In Environments with Multiple CommCell Deployments, Use a Single URL to Access Web Services
If your infrastructure has multiple CommCell environments, each CommCell environment has a different URL for web-based interfaces (such as the Command Center and the Web Console). With web service routing, you can configure one URL to be the single entry point for users to access their web services.
For example, if you have three CommCell environments with three Web Server URLs, you can designate one of them as the entry point URL. After you configure the routing feature, users from any of the CommCell environments can go to the entry point URL, enter their credentials, and then be redirected to the Web Server URL for the CommCell environment to which they belong. If a user exists in more than one CommCell environment, then the user can choose which CommCell environment they want to access.
Key Features
- Users can seamlessly access their Command Center or their Web Console in a multi-CommCell environment from a single entry point URL.
- Administrators have only a single URL to distribute to users and do not have to keep track of multiple URLs for different Web Servers.
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Increase Scalability with Application Manager Node
To increase the scalability of your environment, you can offload the Application Manager service from the CommServe computer to a different machine by installing the Application Manager Node package on a different client. Afterward, you can configure a computer group to use the Application Manager Node client as the Application Manager services host instead of the CommServe computer.
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Manage Multiple CommCell Environments with Companies in the Cloud Services Portal
CommCell administrators can manage multiple CommCell environments on the Cloud Services Portal by gathering the CommCell environments into logical groups called companies.
CommCell administrators can view the Companies page and create additional, subordinate companies by grouping one or more CommCell environments into a new company.
This feature is primarily targeted at administrators of Managed Service Provider (MSP) and Commvault Authorized Support Partner (CASP) environments.
Key Features
- Group CommCell environments by company.
- Manage user access to company information.
- View critical information on the Company Dashboard.
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Metrocluster Configuration with the NetApp Storage Array
You can configure metrocluster partners with the Commvault software and the NetApp storage array.
With MetroCluster, after switchover, backup operations work seamlessly from its MetroCluster partner.
Key Features
If switchover and switchback occur, IntelliSnap operations, the NetApp Replication with OCUM feature, and the NetApp Open Replication feature work seamlessly.
Applicable Arrays
NetApp
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Opening the CommCell Console with a JAR File
You can access the CommCell Console remotely from any computer using a JAR file as an alternative to using the web-based CommCell Console or the Java Web Start application. You can configure the software to remember the CommCell information that you enter, and then access the CommCell Console automatically. You can also select the CommCell from the list of CommCell environments that you accessed before.
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Specify the Retention Time Period for User-Deleted Files and the Number of File Versions in the Edge Drive
You can specify the retention time period, which is the amount of time to retain data, for user-deleted files in the Edge Drive Trash.
You can also specify the following:
- The retention time period for a file version
- The number of file versions to be displayed on your Edge Drive. The specified number of most recent versions are retained, and the older versions are deleted during a synthetic full operation.
Setup Requirements
Schedule synthetic full backups for the Edge Drive client before configuring the retention settings. For more information, seeScheduling Synthetic Full Backups.
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Vault Tracker in the Command Center
The Vault Tracker feature helps you to manage and track the media that are exported from a tape library and stored in an offsite location. The feature is now available in the Command Center.
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Understand and Activate Data
Content Indexing Policy for Windows and UNIX File System Agents
The content indexing solution uses multiple proxy servers to read the backed-up data and to content index the files based on a specific set of rules and filters.
You can configure content indexing for file system data at the subclient level.
Applicable Agents
- Windows File System Agent
- UNIX File System Agent
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Detect Entities in Exchange Mailbox Data
You can identify data that contains sensitive information, such as personal identification numbers, credit card numbers, and bank routing information.
Key Features
To search the sensitive data from the archived messages in Commvault search environments such as the Web Console, Compliance Search, and the ContentStore Email Viewer, you must enable the mailbox plans with the entity detection feature.
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Enhanced Support for Databases in Governance Apps
- You can perform sensitive data analysis on Microsoft SQL Server databases and Oracle databases that employ TDE (Transparent Data Encryption). To start detecting TDE encrypted PII (personally identifiable information), add a Microsoft SQL Server database or an Oracle database as a data source to a project.
- You can use your Oracle wallet to provide credentials for your Oracle database data source.
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Include Scanned Documents in Content Indexing and Entity Detection
You can include scanned documents in content indexing and entity detection. Scanned documents are processed by using optical character recognition (OCR). The scanned document option is available on data classification plans.
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Manage Reports in the Command Center
In the Command Center, you can schedule reports, configure alerts based on report data, download new reports, and much more. You can also view new default reports on the landing page, including the SLA Report, the License Summary Report, and the Disk Library Utilization Report.
Key Features
- View the most recent reports you used at the top of the Reports page.
- Download new reports from the Commvault Store.
- Schedule reports to be generated and emailed to specific users on a recurring basis.
- Configure alerts to notify you about critical report data.
- Tag reports to arrange them into categories that you create.
- Configure end user access to reports.
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Use Case Manager for Legal Hold on Exchange and Office 365 Emails
Compliance officers can use Case Manager to place a legal hold on a custodian or a group of custodians and to schedule collection of their data based on the filters, on an ongoing basis.
Key Features
- Legal hold: Compliance officers can use Case Manager to place a legal hold on a custodian or a group of custodians.
- Filters: The custodians can be put on legal hold based on the filters specified in the case to increase the relevancy of the data returned in the search results.
- Search and export: Compliance officers can search the data that is collected in the case and export the data.