Commvault includes several features and solutions that you can use, separately or together, to optimize your environment and to reduce the cost of data protection.
Storage
Previously, the Commvault software used a two-pass process for restore operations, first to retrieve the metadata and then to retrieve the data from the archive storage tier. Accessing data in cold storage takes 12 or more hours just to get the first byte of data, so a two-pass process can take 24 hours or more. Now you can get the data you need in just one pass.
You can use combined storage tiers to have the software place metadata in warm storage while the rest of the data remains in cold storage. Because the metadata is already available in the warm storage tier, during restores, the Commvault software retrieves only the data stored in the cold, archive tier. The software does not have to perform a large restore operation so you can access just one file. This single-pass process saves time and mitigates the costs of restoring data. To further reduce costs, you can use deduplication in archive storage.
For information about planning your storage configuration, see the following pages:
Choose the cloud configuration that best fits your environment:
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Off-site copy |
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Minimal access to data |
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Dev/Test copy |
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DR copy |
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Compliance copy |
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Intelligent Data Management
With Commvault, you can use one product, the Command Center, to manage all your workloads and storage. Avoid gaps in data protection with application-aware backups and automatic discovery of workloads.
Application-aware backups create transactional consistency for applications. At the time of recovery, this consistency reduces manual work, decreases the time required to restore data, and ultimately reduces the recovery time objective (RTO). A reduced RTO means reduced costs.
For more information about these features, see the following pages:
Cloud Elasticity for Backups
The Commvault software includes features that support and enhance the services provided by cloud vendors, including public cloud, private cloud, and hybrid cloud platforms. Commvault features take advantage of capabilities that are unique to each third-party product and add features to simplify data management, increase flexibility, support rapid data recovery, and reduce costs.
Automatic scaling creates access nodes, and then deletes the access nodes soon after they become inactive. Because automatic scaling runs virtualization resources only during backup operations, users can limit access node sprawl, avoid overage charges, and therefore minimize the overall cost of using AWS and Azure.
To maintain security and to reuse the same backup infrastructure across different business operations (HR, Finance, and others), the Commvault software supports AWS STS for authentication. You can use AWS's Assume Role technology to centrally store and manage backups and copies for multiple AWS accounts with minimal use of access nodes, depending on the scale of your environment.
The Commvault software can use AWS direct read technology to request EBS snapshot blocks without having to create or mount a volume, which streamlines and simplifies backup operations. Change block tracking protection of EC2 instances can further reduce operating costs.
For more information about cloud elasticity features, see the following pages:
Commvault DR
You can use Commvault Disaster Recovery to manage DR sites and failover groups from a simple user interface. Using the Replication Monitor, you can quickly and reliably power on apps and a group of VMs on a DR site or test DR failovers. You can both back up and replicate data and use long-term data retention, replicate using no intermediate storage, or maintain an RPO of less than 15 minutes.
You can create workflows using disaster recovery options to trigger burst recovery operations for VMs in a cost-effective way without investing heavily in cloud appliances. For example, using a custom-built workflow, you could configure the Commvault software to deploy cloud access nodes that can perform disaster recovery operations for approximately 100 VMs/hour simultaneously, which could result in a shorter RTO. You could configure the software to run such an operation on-demand or schedule the operation to run every few months as part of a disaster recovery drill.
Note
The exact number and size of access nodes and the precise time line will vary per environment.
If you want to keep the cloud access nodes, the Commvault software can put the VMs in sleep mode, so there is no CPU/hour cost. In this case, you might pay only a small fee for the GB blocks that are used. Otherwise, the software deletes and recreates the VMs on-demand for the next drill.
All Commvault Disaster Recovery options help you to avoid extended downtimes, to recover your business operations quickly, and to eliminate the need for extra hardware, which can significantly reduce your annual disaster recovery costs.
For more information about DR and replication features, see the following pages: