> Essential > What's New > Feature Release 11.24 (LTS)

Newsletter for New Features in Feature Release 11.24

Features and enhancements that we want to highlight in this feature release are listed here, with a link to full documentation for the feature.

For your convenience, the Newsletter for New Features in Feature Release 24 is also available in PDF format, New Features in Feature Release 11.24.

For a comprehensive list of all new features, see New Features.

Complete Backup and Recovery

Add Snapshot Copies to Server Plans

You can add snapshot copies to server plans.

Key Features

You can create snapshot copies for vault copies, mirror copies, and other secondary snapshot copies.

More Information

Automatically Retire Laptops That Are Offline for a Specific Length of Time

You can automatically retire laptops that have not communicated with the CommServe server for a specific length of time, and that are considered to be offline. You can configure a time period that offline laptops are retired after, and then you can configure a time period that offline laptops are deleted after. You can configure the time periods at the CommCell environment, company, and laptop plan levels.
When offline laptops that have no associated backup data are retired, the laptops are then deleted. When offline laptops that have associated backup data are retired, after a period of time, the laptop and any associated data is deleted and cannot be restored. By default, the time period before deletion is one year, but you can configure the time period to a different length. Upgrading customers are not opted into this behavior automatically.

More Information

Enhanced Protection for CommServe Disaster Recovery Backups Against Ransomware Attack

CommServe DR backup metadata locations (local or UNC) are automatically protected and locked against ransomware unauthorized changes. If the CommServe computer is infected by ransomware, the lock reduces the risk of DR backups becoming infected, which improves the recovery time objectives of the CommServe computer.
As a recovery option of last resort, use Media Explorer to catalog and recover DR backups that are in chunk format and are located directly on storage. When Media Explorer catalogs a mount path, volume folders containing DR backups are automatically located and cataloged. This behavior change significantly improves recoverability by eliminating trial and error Media Explorer operations.

More Information

For Azure, Specify the Disk Type for the Restored Virtual Machine

For Azure managed disks, you can specify a disk type (Standard HDD, Standard SSD, or Premium SSD) for the Azure restored virtual machine in full virtual machine restore, conversion and replication operations.

This is especially useful in managing storage and associated costs in your environment.

Applicable Agents

Virtual Server Agent

More Information

Improve the RPO to Minutes with Streamlined Log Backups Using Disk Caching for Oracle RAC Databases

You can streamline database log backup operations to run on an automatic schedule that supports log backup frequencies of under 1 hour. Streamlined log backups using caching to a disk library improve the RPO for database instances that have a high transaction rate.

The log backups are written directly to disk mount paths that are managed by the MediaAgent, removing the need for storing the backups on production servers. The database client and the MediaAgent automatically run the log backups, independent from the CommServe server, which increases the availability of the database client and MediaAgent pair, while also reducing the load on the CommServe application. A second operation commits and registers the logs periodically to support copy operations. Log backups will continue even if the CommServe server is unavailable because of maintenance, network disruptions, or other issues.

More Information

Integrate the Commvault Software with CyberArk's Privileged Credentials and Session Management Solution

Manage and secure Commvault login credentials, application credentials, and administrative login sessions using CyberArk's Privileged Credentials and Session Management solution.

With CyberArk and Commvault integration, organizations can synchronously rotate account passwords across their environment. Commvault receives password rotation requests to update application and local admin account credentials so that backups continue to run seamlessly, without manual intervention. You can also use CyberArk session management to log on to Commvault using one-time use admin credentials.

This integration provides secure, centralized credential management to protect against credential theft and abuse.

More Information

Complete: Manage New Workloads

Back Up OneNote Files and OneDrive Files Together

You can run OneDrive backups for both OneNote files and OneDrive files. You can back up and restore OneNote files, including notebooks, sections, and section groups to cloud, local storage, and secondary storage.

More Information

Granular Restores for MongoDB Collections and Databases

You can perform granular restores of MongoDB collections and databases to the same cluster or a different cluster. Granular restores use a 3DFS share on the MediaAgent in the destination cluster to stage instances.

Applicable Agents

MongoDB

More Information

Complete: Protect Virtual Environments

Convert Virtual Machines from Nutanix AHV to VMware

When you restore a Nutanix AHV virtual machine (VM) from a backup, you can restore it as a VMware VM.

More Information

Indexing Version 2 for Microsoft Azure Support

Virtual Server Agent (VSA) for Microsoft Azure supports VM-centric backup and restore operations using Indexing Version 2.

For a new Commvault deployment, Indexing Version 2 is enabled by default, and a new Azure hypervisor automatically uses Indexing Version 2.

For an existing Commvault deployment that does not have any Azure hypervisors, a new Azure hypervisor automatically uses Indexing Version 2. For an existing deployment that does have Azure hypervisors, a new Azure hypervisor uses Indexing Version 1 only.

Applicable Agents

Virtual Server Agent

More Information

Live Recovery of Virtual Machines for Hyper-V

You can use the Live Recovery feature to recover virtual machines (VMs) from a backup without waiting for a full restore of the VM. In addition, you can configure the VMs to power on during the restore operation. Live Recovery can be especially useful when a VM has failed and needs to be placed back in production quickly, or to validate that a backup can be used in a disaster recovery scenario.

You can configure a live recovery job from the Command Center.

Applicable Agents

Virtual Server Agent

Setup Requirements

You must install the MediaAgent package on the Hyper-V host virtual machine.

More Information

NTFS Live Browse for Restores Using a Linux MediaAgent

You can use live browse to view and restore VM data on NTFS volumes using a Linux access node/MediaAgent.

More Information

Replicate Google Cloud Platform Instances Across Regions

Replicate Google Cloud Platform (GCP) instances from one region to another using replication groups. Use the Replication Monitor to track replication, failover, and failback operations.

More Information

Replicate Hyper-V VMs to Azure Stack Hub Destination Sites

You can replicate Hyper-V VMs to Azure Stack Hub destinations using replication groups. Use the Replication Monitor to track replication, failover, and failback operations.

More Information

Disaster Recovery

Test Failover Operations for Azure Destination Sites

You can perform test failover operations to validate planned and unplanned failover operations for a group of VMs in the Command Center. For Azure destinations, a test failover operation clones replicated VMs that are part of a failover group on the test site.

Key Features

You can perform test failover operations for the following hypervisor source site and destination site pairs:

  • Azure streaming backups to Azure
  • Hyper-V streaming backups to Azure
  • VMware streaming backups to Azure

Applicable Agents

Virtual Server Agent

More Information

Journey to the Cloud

Add a Secondary Credential to Access the Cloud Library Mount Path

You can add secondary cloud storage credentials, which can be used by clients that have the Storage Accelerator package, to access the cloud library mount path. Secondary credentials allow clients with the Storage Accelerator package to leverage a separate account for auditing or granular permission control.

More Information

Back Up and Restore Microsoft Teams

You can back up and restore Microsoft Teams.
You can back up public and private teams, standard and private channels, and teams items such as posts, files, and Wikis.
For restores, you can restore to the same location (in place) or to a different location (out of place).
You can search for the team or the item that you want to restore, including previous versions and deleted items.

More Information

Convert Virtual Machine Instances from Amazon to GCP

When you restore an Amazon instance from a backup, you can restore it as a Google Cloud Platform (GCP) virtual machine.

You can restore an instance from a streaming backup or from an IntelliSnap backup copy.

Applicable Agents

Virtual Server Agent

More Information

Convert Virtual Machines from Azure Stack Hub to Azure

When you restore an Azure Stack Hub virtual machine (VM) from backup, you can restore the VM as an Azure VM in the Azure management portal.

You can perform VM conversions from streaming backups, from secondary copies, or from IntelliSnap backup copies. You cannot perform a conversion from a Snap copy.

Applicable Agents

Virtual Server Agent

More Information

Deploy GCP Virtual Appliance Preconfigured to Run Commvault Software

You can deploy a Google Cloud Platform (GCP) virtual appliance that is preconfigured to run Commvault software.

GCP virtual appliances are available for GCP cloud environment development.

More Information

For Azure and Azure Stack Hub, Virtual Machine Owners Detected Automatically During Virtual Machine Discovery

For Azure and Azure Stack Hub, virtual machine owners can be assigned automatically during virtual machine discovery, based on privileges and roles defined in the Azure and Azure Stack Hub portals. When you enable this feature in the Command Center, users and user groups that have the necessary privileges and roles defined in the portals and that are also defined in Commvault are automatically assigned as VM owners for the virtual machine.

This feature enables administrators and end users to access virtual machine data without requiring that they be assigned as VM owners manually. Depending on the permissions and roles users have in the portals, they can view virtual machine data and/or recover VM data.

Applicable Agents

Virtual Server Agent

More Information

For Azure, Specify the Availability Zone for the Restored VM

With Azure managed disks, for full restores, replications, and conversions, you can specify the availability zone for the restored VM.

This capability further enables users to manage high availability environments.

Applicable Agents

Virtual Server Agent

More Information

Indexing Version 2 for Amazon Hypervisors

Virtual Server Agent (VSA) for Amazon supports VM-centric backup and restore operations using Indexing Version 2.

For a new Commvault deployment with Feature Release 23 or more recent feature releases, Indexing Version 2 is enabled by default, and a new Amazon hypervisor automatically uses Indexing Version 2.

For an existing Commvault deployment that has no Amazon hypervisors, a new Amazon hypervisor automatically uses Indexing Version 2. For an existing deployment that has existing Amazon hypervisors, a new Amazon hypervisor uses Indexing Version 1 only.

Key Features

Indexing Version 2 provides the following advantages:

  • Reduces the data footprint of the index on the storage library
  • Allows indexing data to be used more efficiently for operations such as browsing and reporting
  • Improves search performance across backup cycles
  • Improves support for GridStor

Applicable Agents

Virtual Server Agent (VSA) for Amazon

Applicable Arrays

Amazon(Web Services)

More Information

Modern Infrastructures

Change the Location of the Index Log Cache Directory

You can change the location of the index log cache directory on a MediaAgent, in order to help distribute a MediaAgent's disk resources. By default, the IndexCache directory stores all index databases and all index action logs. When you change the location of the index log cache directory, the IndexCache directory continues to store the index databases, and the new index log cache directory will store the index action logs and other non-essential index data.

More Information

Create Instant Clones of Database Snapshots with Hitachi Vantara CCI Engines and HPE OEM Engines

You can instantly clone supported databases with the Hitachi Vantara CCI engines and the HPE OEM engines.

More Information

Manage Objects Using the Commvault Terraform Module

With the Commvault Terraform module, you can use Terraform to manage endpoints (called resources). Terraform is a configuration language for safely and efficiently managing infrastructure. The Commvault Terraform module provides a set of named resource types, and specifies which arguments are allowed for each resource type.

Using the resource types, you can create a configuration file, and apply changes to the Commvault REST APIs. For example, you can use the commvault_user resource type to add and delete users in your CommCell environment. You use the GO programming language to execute the APIs.

More Information

Migrate HyperScale 1.5 Storage Pools to HyperScale X

You can migrate a Commvault HyperScale 1.5 storage pool to a Commvault HyperScale X storage pool to ensure that all new backups and other write operations to the old storage pool are automatically redirected to the new storage pool. You can perform the migration with or without the corresponding data migration.

More Information

Monitoring Unusual File Activity and Ransomware Detection

The Unusual File Activity Dashboard displays information about anomalous activity on the file systems of active client computers and in backup jobs. With this dashboard, you can view file path information for the anomalies and track anomaly trending information. Then, you can recover the most recent good version of anomalous files or recover the entire client as a virtual machine, from before the anomalous behavior. This dashboard provides a single location for identifying and acting on potential threats with quick and safe recovery options.

Applicable Agents

File system

More Information

Multisite IntelliSnap for NetApp Arrays

With the multisite feature, you can use the Commvault software to perform IntelliSnap operations on NetApp C-Mode storage arrays that have duplicate IPs.
This configuration is particularly useful if the environment has multiple NetApp storage arrays that have the same IP addresses across multiple isolated networks.

Applicable Arrays

More Information

Understand and Activate Data

Archive Files Using File Storage Optimization Dashboards

Discover, analyze, and archive files from your file servers by using the File Storage Optimization dashboards.

Key Features

Storage optimization

Applicable Agents

File system

More Information

Configure File Content Indexing for eDiscovery in the Command Center

In the Command Center, configure data classification plans to content index files in the eDiscovery solution. To automatically run the content indexing job, add a schedule to the data classification plan. After data is indexed, you can search the contents of files in Compliance Search and add files to a case in Case Manager.

More Information

New features are added to existing capabilities for Case Manager and Compliance Search. You can do the following in the Command Center:

  • Add search results to a review set case or to a legal hold case.
  • Convert a review set case to a legal hold case.
  • Tag emails or files in a review set case or a legal hold case.
  • Save searches.

More Information

Loading...