Features and enhancements that Commvault wants to highlight in this innovation release are listed here, with a link to full documentation for the feature, if available.
What is an Innovation Release?
11.38 is an Innovation Release, and Innovation Releases are designed for customers who want to be on the cutting edge of advancement in Commvault technology. They are ideal for customers seeking the most recent features and optimizations in their data environments. However, Innovation Releases come with a commitment: By adopting an Innovation Release, customers agree to receive Monthly Update Releases every month. These Monthly Update Releases provide continuous improvements and new capabilities that keep your environment on the cutting edge. For those who prefer a more stable environment, Commvault also offers Long-Term Support (LTS) Releases, recommended for customers seeking minimal change over time.
Important Information about Upgrading to Innovation Release 11.38
A gated process is in place to install or upgrade to 11.38. Customers must first complete the Innovation Release Request Form, available at cloud.commvault.com. This process ensures that all innovation adopters are equipped to take advantage of 11.38’s new features and update cadence. For any support cases related to 11.38, Commvault requires customers to install the most recent Monthly Update Releases before our support team begins investigating any issues. Staying current with Monthly Update Releases is essential for optimizing your experience with the Innovation Release.
Cloud Workload Protection
AWS Asia Pacific (Malaysia) Region is now protected
Commvault now supports the protection for supported workloads in the new AWS Asia Pacific (Malaysia) Region, also known as ap-southeast-5. Commvault supports deployment to, integration with, and protection of the following AWS services: Amazon Aurora, AWS CloudFormation, Amazon DynamoDB, Amazon Elastic Block Store (Amazon EBS), Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2), Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (Amazon EKS), AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM), AWS Key Management Service (AWS KMS), AWS Organizations, Amazon Redshift, Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS), AWS Security Token Service, Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3), AWS Systems Manager, Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (Amazon VPC), and VM Import/Export. You can get started today by deploying Commvault from the AWS Marketplace.
More Information
- AWS Regions and Availability Zones Supported for Amazon RDS
- AWS Regions and Availability Zones Supported for Amazon Redshift
- AWS Regions and Availability Zones Supported for Amazon DynamoDB
- Support for AWS Regions and Availability Zones for Amazon EC2 and Amazon VPC
- AWS Regions and Availability Zones Supported for Amazon S3
Adaptive Live Browse file-level restore
You can now perform a Live Browse recovery without having to select a preferred access node. Adaptive Live Browse accelerates recovery by autoconfiguring the best access node at runtime. This enhancement streamlines cloud operations by removing manual processes from file-level recovery.
Adaptive Live Browse is available during guest file recovery from Amazon, Azure, Google Cloud, Oracle Cloud, and Broadcom VMware Virtual Machines.
More Information
Amazon EBS volume attach restores now offer customization
You can now customize Amazon EBS volume type, encryption keys, throughput, and IOPS during an Amazon EBS volume restore. You can tune your recovered EBS volumes to meet your security, performance, and cost objectives. You can intelligently recover your instances and volumes with original settings or customize on a per-volume basis. True cyber resilience includes the ability to perform reliable cost-aware recovery testing, which custom EBS volume recovery delivers.
More Information
- Attaching a Volume to an Existing Amazon EC2 Instance
- Attaching a Volume to a New Amazon EC2 Instance
Automated Amazon EBS and Amazon Machine Image (AMI) Orphaned Resource Cleanup
With this feature, you can automate the identification and deprecation of orphaned Amazon EBS snapshots and Amazon Machine Images (AMIs). Orphaned resources are outdated or unused recovery points held in your AWS accounts that are no longer required by your retention policies. You have the flexibility to automatically monitor and clean up orphaned resources or to perform manual inspection and cleanup.
Removing unused resources helps you reduce your overall monthly spend on Amazon EBS snapshots, resulting in continuous cost savings.
More Information
- Automated AMI and EBS Snapshot Cleanup for Amazon EC2
- Identifying and Deleting Orphaned Amazon EC2 AMIs and Snapshots
Azure Express Configuration
Now, you can simplify the onboarding process for configuring an Azure virtual machine workload. Sign into your Azure billing account using the Express Configuration wizard and automatically complete all necessary provisioning steps. This seamless experience helps reduce configuration errors and frustration with performing configuration steps in multiple portals.
Configuration enhancements for restoring VMs with extensions
The configuration enhancements for restoring VMs with extensions allow Azure Admins to easily restore VMs with their original extensions. This feature provides flexibility by allowing selective exclusion or reinstallation of extensions at a later time, improving the overall configuration experience for Azure Admins.
CosmosDB (MongoDB): Backup and Recovery
The CosmosDB (MongoDB) feature allows Commvault customers to efficiently secure their Azure CosmosDB for MongoDB data. Not only does it provide cost effective long-term retention when compared with native backups, but it also facilitates both data protection and recovery beyond Azure subscriptions or Cosmos DB accounts.
More Information
Customize Persistent Disks During Restore
You can select the persistent disk type, name, IOPS, and throughput during restores or migrations to Google Cloud VMs. Previously, restores applied smart defaults or the original VM disk type settings, and IOPS and throughput were not preserved, requiring manual adjustments after the restore. You can either accept smart defaults or customize each recovered disk to align with your performance and cost goals. True cyber resilience demands reliable, cost-effective recovery, which customized disk recovery now provides.
More Information
Software links
SaaS links
- N/A as SaaS doesn't officially support GCP yet.
Disk level customization for full VM restores in Azure
Azure now allows Azure Administrators to customize disk level settings for full VM restores. This means administrators have the ability to change characteristics such as storage accounts and performance metrics when performing a full VM restore in Azure. This provides flexibility and control over the recovered disks, optimizing them to meet specific requirements and enhancing overall performance.
Enhancements to the Protection of Azure Object Storage and Azure Table Storage, and Azure Object Storage Discovery
In this release, we have made the following enhancements to the protection of Azure Object Storage and Azure Table Storage, as well as Azure Object Storage discovery:
- If a storage account no longer meets the specified discovery rules, it will be disabled from backup until it meets the discovery rules again.
- If a storage account is deleted in Azure, backup jobs will be disabled to avoid failures.
- When creating discovery rules, you can preview what will be included to ensure the rules are set correctly.
- Added more granular controls to filter individual tables with Azure Table Storage backups
- Fixed an issue that would mark synthetic fulls as failed if there was no data in the incremental jobs between synths.
Preserve Disk Name During Restore
Commvault Cloud will now preserve disk names when restoring Google Cloud VMs or persistent disks. Previously, the disk name was inherited from the source snapshot. Retaining the original disk name ensures that automated cloud operations continue to function seamlessly for restored VMs.
More Information
- Restoring Full Google Cloud Platform Instances In Place
- Restoring Full Google Cloud Platform Instances Out of Place
- Attaching a Disk to a Google Cloud Platform Instance
Protect DynamoDB tables using S3 export method
DynamoDB tables can now be protected using the native S3 export method and restored from a point-in-time backup. This removes front-end DynamoDB costs and eliminates any performance impact to production workloads while performing the backups.
More Information
Recover to Amazon EC2 Dedicated Hosts
You can now recover Amazon EC2 instances to Amazon EC2 Dedicated Hosts. Dedicated Hosts are physical servers with EC2 instance capacity fully dedicated for your use. Dedicated Hosts help you reduce costs by allowing you to use your existing server-bound software licenses, including Windows Server, SQL Server, and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, and can also help you meet compliance requirements.
More Information
- Restoring Full Amazon EC2 Instances In Place
- Restoring a Single Full Amazon EC2 Instance Out of Place
- Restoring Multiple Full Amazon EC2 Instances Out of Place
- Now Available: Amazon EC2 Dedicated Hosts, and the ability to use existing server-bound licenses
Restore Performance Improvements for Amazon RDS for MS-SQL
Improved restore performance of Amazon RDS for Microsoft SQL Server with efficient storage helps DBAs minimize downtime and meet strict recovery time objectives (RTO). This feature ensures database recovery operations that complete more quickly and removes the storage requirement on access nodes, thereby reducing the impact on mission-critical applications and enhancing overall system availability.
More Information
Support for Amazon RDS Point-In-Time Recovery using native automated snapshots
Commvault has enabled support for Amazon RDS snapshot backup using native automated snapshots to achieve point-in-time recovery (PITR). With this feature, admins can easily recover their Amazon RDS database to a specified PIT, providing a safeguard against accidental writes and deletes.
More Information
Enabling Point in Time Restore for Amazon RDS Instances
Support for Azure Managed Identities for Backup and Cloudburst
The feature enables Azure Backup Administrators to use Azure managed identities for secure authentication and access to Azure resources. By using managed identities, administrators can securely manage resource access without handling credentials directly, improving the security of their resources. Additionally, the feature automates credential rotation, reducing the need for manual intervention.
Support for specifying snapshot SKU in the VM group
This feature allows backup administrators to specify a default SKU for all VM snapshots created for a specific VM Group based on cost performance, so that they can ensure the snapshots use the appropriate storage type based on their requirements.
VM Conversion to AWS and Azure Now Supports Resource Tagging
You can now add, remove, update, and delete resource tags applied to compute instances created during multi-cloud VM conversion. Previously, there was no way for customers to apply resource tags during migration. Now, Amazon EC2 instances and Azure virtual machines can have resource tags customized during recovery, replication, and migration activities.This enables you to leverage your existing tag-based automated operations and security operations in cloud, ensuring efficient and secure cloud operations.
More Information
- Amazon EC2 - Restoring a Single Full Amazon EC2 Instance Out of Place
- Amazon EC2 - Restoring Multiple Full Amazon EC2 Instances Out of Place
- Azure - Restoring a Full Azure Virtual Machine Out of Place
You can now set static IP addresses during AWS, Azure, and GCP Auto Recovery
You can configure static IP addresses for AWS, Azure, and GCP hypervisors. Static IP addresses offer control and flexibility over network configurations and allow you to achieve reliable and consistent disaster recovery.
More Information
- Replication Options for Azure
- Periodic Replication Group Options for Google Cloud Platform
- Replication Group Options for Amazon
Commvault Cloud Platform
Self Service NAS Onboarding Wizard
The enhanced file storage setup offers a simplified self-service onboarding for NAS, Qumulo File Storage, and Nutanix Files servers. The onboarding now includes a connection test for NetApp, Dell EMC Isilon, and Huawei devices.
Simplified Data Retention with Days-Based Approach
The days-based retention simplifies data management by eliminating the need to consider cycles in data aging. This approach helps you retain data for appropriate duration with ease to align with your business retention requirements.
More Information
On Prem Protection
Automatically prune database backup logs while protecting PostgreSQL clusters
Optimize the performance of PostgreSQL database clusters by enabling automatic pruning of logs from the master server when the standby server is unavailable and a backup is performed. This helps to reclaim storage space and prevent disruptions.
More Information
PostgreSQL Cluster Backup Support
Enable 1-Touch backup by default for Linux file servers
1-Touch backup will be enabled by default for Linux File Servers in both software and SaaS. This enables the clients to perform bare-metal recovery (BMR) when needed. When 1-Touch backup is enabled on Linux clients, the backup operation type changes from "Backup" to "1-Touch Backup."
Import Avamar Protected Filesystem Data to Commvault
This feature enables administrators to efficiently and securely import Avamar long-term protected filesystem data to Commvault with improved performance and scalability, making it easier to manage and safeguard all data with Commvault. It also allows for seamless browsing and restoration of the imported data from the Command Center.
More Information
Import Networker Protected Filesystem Data to Commvault
This feature enables administrators to efficiently and securely import Networker long-term protected filesystem data to Commvault with improved performance and scalability, making it easier to manage and safeguard all data with Commvault. It also allows for seamless browsing and restoration of the imported data from the Command Center.
More Information
Import Veeam's Protected Filesystem and VM data to Commvault
This feature enables administrators to efficiently and securely import Veeam's long-term protected Filesystem and Virtual Machine data to Commvault with improved performance and scalability, making it easier to manage and safeguard all data in one central location. It also allows for seamless browsing and restoration of the imported data from the Command Center.
More Information
Improve MySQL database log backup support with disk caching
Enable frequent and efficient log backups of MySQL databases at scale using disk caching. This feature ensures enhanced security by encrypting and compressing logs during the backup process.
More Information
- Adding an Automatic Database Log Backup
- Configurations for RPO
- Creating an Automatic Schedule for Database Log Backups
- Scheduling Database Log Backups Using Disk Caching
MySQL Table Level Restore Support in Command Center
MySQL table-level restore support enables database administrators to restore individual tables directly from the Command Center UI. This feature eliminates the need to switch to the Java UI, offering a more efficient and streamlined experience for performing table-level restores
Oracle Options for Archive Log Settings, Stream Settings, and the Ability To Customize Restore Scripts
Backup administrators can configure the following options for Oracle and Oracle RAC using the Command Center:
- Easily configure and manage archive log settings.
- Configure stream options to control the number of files per channel and the segment size for optimized deduplication.
- Customize restore scripts to modify parameters to meet specific backup requirements.
More Information
Postgres SQL - Log backup support using disk cache logging (SDT pipeline)
The feature enables frequent, encrypted, and compressed backups of PostgresSQL databases using disk caching to enhance the security of the log backups. It allows for seamless backup operations, even with multiple clients and databases, without causing performance or scale issues. Additionally, the log backups have also been made resilient to CommServe or Mediagent failures.
More Information
Disk Caching
Optimizing PostgreSQL Log Backups
PostgreSQL Archive Log Directory
Proxmox support in SaaS
With Proxmox support in SaaS, Commvault users can now configure Proxmox VE directly through the SaaS portal without needing assistance. This empowers users to easily manage their Proxmox VE environment, improving efficiency and allowing for quick adjustments as needed without the need for technical intervention.
Restore Migrated Data on Object Store from the Command Center
You can browse, restore, and download legacy third-party migrated data on Object Store from the Command Center. This feature allows administrators to manage, monitor, and perform all migration operations from a single unified interface.
VMe Windows: VMe to Azure without block-level backup
The process of converting a Windows File System to an Azure Virtual Machine is enhanced and simplified. The VirtualizeMe process can now use file-level system-state backups, removing the requirement for a block-level backup.
VMware Cloud Director 10.6 Support
The VMware Cloud Director 10.6 Support feature provides customers with the ability to use the Commvault plug-in to easily manage their virtual environments. This feature enables customers to efficiently perform operations and gives them greater control over their cloud infrastructure.
Project Trident: Commvault Security Solutions
Cleanroom Recovery into AWS
Cleanroom recovery into AWS enables effortless and smooth test recovery of protected compute workloads. AWS Cleanroom helps you minimize the mean time to recovery by allowing you to validate recovery runbooks and playbooks ahead of any recovery event. Additionally, the isolated Cleanroom environment facilitates meticulous forensic investigations, separate from production workloads.
Commvault Cleanroom Recovery Integration with Palo Alto XSOAR [Available late September]
Commvault Cleanroom Recovery with Palo Alto XSOAR solution allows you to manage recovery groups and automate response and recovery actions seamlessly. You can create recovery groups, add workloads to groups, set recovery points, and change recovery targets, all within XSOAR. Additionally, anomalies detected in the Cleanroom recovery solution trigger events in XSOAR, enhancing overall security response and incident management. Coming late September.
CrowdStrike Integration
The CrowdStrike integration allows customers to enhance their cybersecurity defenses by combining the capabilities of CrowdStrike Falcon with our enterprise backup and recovery platform. This integration enables early detection of threats, ensuring quick and coordinated responses to protect backup assets and sensitive data. Customers can initiate proactive recovery actions, reinforcing their security posture and providing peace of mind.
Manage credentials for DB2 database backups in Credential Vault
Commvault now supports DB2 database backup using Credential Vault. This allows users to securely store their database and server credentials in one centralized place. This simplifies the configuration and management of these credentials and also improves overall security by protecting sensitive information.
More Information
DB2 User Account Credential Management
Adding a DB2 Database Instance
Perform on-demand cleanup of recovery target
You can perform on-demand cleanup of recovered workloads and also disable automatic cleanup after Control Plane deletion. This helps you undo or reset the recovery process and ensure that all resources created during the recovery process are removed.
More Information
Configuring Automatic Cleanup Options for Recovered Entities
Region Support for Backup and Recovery of a Control Plane (Coming in April 2025)
You can upload backup sets to a specific region of your choice. This allows you to recover your control plane into the desired region when a control plane is recovered during Cleanroom recovery. This empowers you with unparalleled control and flexibility in managing backup and recovery operations.
Repave Nutanix AHV VMs into Azure Cleanroom
This feature enables customers to easily repave their Nutanix AHV VMs into the Cleanroom in Azure using secure golden images, reducing the time and effort required during recovery. By leveraging both public marketplace and private custom templates, customers can quickly restore data without transferring OS drive contents ensuring they recovery from a know good state.
Restoring File Server (Network File Shares) Files into Azure Cleanroom (Coming in May 2025)
You can now restore files from file servers (Windows and NAS) into Azure Files. This facilitates recovery of both virtual machines and file servers into an Azure Cleanroom environment. The restored files can be mounted to the respective VMs based on the original configuration, ensuring easy accessibility of the files. This provides a seamless and efficient way to restore and access important files in the Azure Cleanroom environment.
Store credentials for PostgreSQL and MySQL backups in Credential Vault
Database admins can use the Credential Vault to store, share, and update account credentials for shared resources in your environment. It enables users to securely store PostgreSQL and MySQL database and server credentials in a central location. Additionally, the Credential Vault simplifies the configuration process and provides security for sensitive information, making it more convenient for users to manage their databases and credentials.
Support for Nutanix AHV Source VMs
Nutanix AHV VMs are supported for recovery in Cleanroom Recovery. They are automatically converted and recovered into the designated cleanroom target.
Support for deleting a Cleanroom-recovered Control Plane
You can now delete a Cleanroom recovered control plane on-demand.
The delete operation performs the following:
- Cleans up the recovered control plane immediately after the testing is completed.
- Resets the Cleanroom so you can use a different backup to recreate a new control plane inside the same Cleanroom.
WIZ vulnerability status during recovery
The WIZ vulnerability status feature provides a quick link to the Wiz Vulnerability Report during VM recovery. This enables security teams to address any vulnerabilities within the recovered asset immediately, ensuring they can limit exposure to potential threats quickly.
SaaS Applications and Active Directory
Active Directory forest recovery
Backup & Recovery for Active Directory Enterprise Edition enables organizations to quickly recover from catastrophic ransomware attacks and irreversible forest corruption. Commvault Cloud orchestrates the full forest recovery of Active Directory, restoring domain controllers in parallel to minimize downtime and disruption to the business.
Domain controllers can be restored to new VMs to confirm any artifacts of ransomware are eliminated.
Critical AD hygiene steps—like seizing FSMO roles and adjusting the RID pool—are automatically handled at the appropriate points during the recovery to help maintain the integrity of the restored directory.
The runbook view gives you increased control of the forest recovery plan and simplifies the task of regular disaster recovery testing.
The topology view visually illustrates the domains and domain controllers, enabling you to better understand your AD architecture and make informed decisions about the forest recovery process.
Automatically Update Field Permissions for a Salesforce User
You can now automatically update the missing field permissions for a Salesforce user associated with the Commvault Cloud software. This feature eliminates the need for manually managing permissions and integrates seamlessly with your Salesforce org's permissions framework.
Entra ID tenant-wide comparisons
The Entra ID tenant-wide comparisons feature provides comprehensive, interactive comparison reporting for your Entra ID data. The reports identify all changed and deleted objects in your Entra ID tenant, helping you easily pinpoint and recover impacted data as quickly as possible. Comparison reports are interactive - enabling search and filtering to isolate the data that needs to be recovered - and allowing you to restore it directly from the report in a few clicks.
Entra ID: Bulk restore of objects
Commvault now offers the ability to restore Entra ID objects in bulk, enabling administrators to easily recover hundreds or thousands of deleted items in one go. This enhancement is particularly beneficial in scenarios involving massive data loss in the Entra ID tenant, enabling quick restoration based on custom search criteria or recovery of all objects in the tenant following a widespread incident.
Seamless Browse, Backup and Restores for Salesforce with Error-Handling Enhancements
The following enhancements are implemented for Salesforce backup, restore, and record-level browse operations:
Default selection of all parent records during restore jobs.
Warning messages are displayed for potential issues and common errors related to metadata mismatches, batch quotas, and duplicate records.
Storage Solutions
Fujitsu M7 platform support Reference Architecture
The Fujitsu M7 platform supports the Reference Architecture, providing users with the ability to utilize the latest generation of Fujitsu hardware for HyperScale X configurations. This includes support for different chipsets in a single node, hardware monitoring, auto imaging, and recovery from component failure. Customers can benefit from enhanced performance and reliability with the latest hardware advancements.
More Information
Design Specifications for HyperScale X Reference Architecture
HSX Storage Usage Reporting
HyperScale X now offers an enhanced storage usage dashboard, providing comprehensive insights into storage utilization. The dashboard includes detailed metrics on growth trends, application-specific usage, retention policies, and plan allocations, empowering users to manage their storage more effectively.
HyperScale Automation of Network Configuration via Config File
HyperScale Edge may be configured via a defined configuration file, allowing administrators to automate system configuration processes. This feature saves time by eliminating manual setup and minimizing errors. With standard markup configs, users can quickly deploy network configurations and even save setup details for future recovery needs, ensuring a seamless and efficient experience. The configuration file must be mounted to the OS via the system Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) as an ISO image. At regular intervals an unconfigured system will check for the existence of a configuration file, and if found validate the formatting and proceed to configure the system per the settings in the file.
HyperScale X Support for HPE Alletra Gen 11 Servers
HyperScale X now supports the latest HPE Alletra Gen 11 servers for N24 Reference Architecture, providing a seamless transition to new hardware for our customers. This ensures a more flexible and efficient process for obtaining new or expanding existing nodes for HyperScale X. With the ability to detect and monitor hardware components, we also offer automatic recovery from component failures, minimizing customer input and downtime.
More Information
Design Specifications for HyperScale X Reference Architecture
HyperScale X Support for HPE DL320 Gen 11 Servers
HyperScale X now supports HPE DL320 Gen 11 servers for N4 deployments, providing a seamless and planned transition to new hardware. Customers can easily obtain new or capacity expansion nodes for HyperScale X without being driven towards a specific option. This feature also allows for automatic configuration and monitoring of hardware components, ensuring reliable performance.
More Information
Design Specifications for HyperScale X Reference Architecture
IntelliSnap - Safe Snap support for Hitachi
IntelliSnap enables Safe Snap support for Hitachi Thin Image Advanced snapshots, providing a secure way to take snapshots of your data. This feature offers value to the end customer by ensuring data integrity and minimizing the risk of data loss during the snapshot process.
More Information
Immutable Snapshot Using Hitachi Vantara Safe Snap
Upgrade SuperMicro platform to support X12 servers for Reference Architecture
The SuperMicro platform is being upgraded to support X12 servers for N12 and N24 Reference Architecture deployments. This means that users will be able to adopt the latest generation of hardware, allowing them to leverage the latest systems available from SMC and ensuring the longest product and hardware support life. The upgrade includes hardware monitoring and auto imaging support for N12 and N24 SMC RA systems. Overall, this upgrade enhances the functionality and compatibility of the SuperMicro platform, providing an improved user experience and the ability to take advantage of the latest hardware advancements.
More Information
Design Specifications for HyperScale X Reference Architecture