# Commvault Flex Appliance Solution Key Components

For Commvault Flex Appliance, the architecture is intentionally simple and consists of six primary building blocks.

## 1. Flex Nodes (Compute Layer)

These are the Commvault-certified Dell, HPE, or Lenovo servers running VaultOS and Commvault software services.

Each Flex node includes the following packages:

- File System Core
- File System
- Virtual Server
- Storage Pool
- Cloud Apps
- Content Extractor
- MediaAgent
- Storage Accelerator
- Threat Analysis

Flex requires a minimum of two nodes for resiliency and can scale out by adding additional nodes.

## 2. VaultOS

VaultOS is Commvault's hardened Linux-based operating system that provides:

- Secure platform foundation.
- Simplified deployment.
- Standardized management.
- Integrated updates and lifecycle management.

## 3. Commvault Data Services

Flex Appliance consolidates several Commvault roles into the platform.

Service | Function
--- | ---
MediaAgent | Backup and recovery data movement
Access Node | Virtualization and application access
Threat Analysis | Ransomware and anomaly detection
Storage Accelerator | Performance optimization for backup storage

These services run directly on the Flex Appliance nodes.

## 4. Storage Accelerator Layer

The Storage Accelerator is installed on supported client machines and provides the high-performance data path between protected workloads and the external S3 object storage platform.

Depending on the network design:

- Clients may write directly to S3 using Storage Accelerator when the S3 target is reachable.
- Data may flow through the Flex node and then to S3.
- Hybrid deployments can leverage both methods simultaneously.

The Storage Accelerator helps maximize throughput while reducing bottlenecks in large-scale environments.

## 5. External S3 Object Storage

Unlike Commvault Grid or Edge, Flex does not use internal storage for backup data.

Instead, it leverages certified external object storage platforms such as:

- Pure Storage FlashBlade E/S
- VAST Data
- NetApp StorageGRID
- HPE X10000
- Hitachi VSP One Object

Key characteristics include:

- Multi-petabyte scalability.
- Immutable storage support.
- Independent scaling of storage from compute.
- All-flash or high-performance object storage architectures.

## 6. High-Speed Network Fabric

The high-speed network fabric exists within the customer environment.

The Flex architecture relies on a dedicated high-bandwidth network connecting:

- Protected workloads.
- Flex nodes.
- S3 object storage.

Typical designs use:

- 100GbE (default in Flex nodes).
- 25GbE (optional with breakout cables or additional network cards; not included by default).

This network is critical to achieving the performance and recovery objectives that Flex is designed to deliver.

## Key Differentiator

The defining characteristic of Flex is that compute and storage are completely decoupled:

- Flex nodes provide Commvault processing, data movement, and Threat Analysis services.
- External S3 storage provides capacity and immutability.
- Both layers can scale independently.

This allows customers to achieve petabyte-scale capacity, extreme backup and recovery performance, and AI-ready architectures without being constrained by appliance storage limits.

Flex consists of certified VaultOS-based Flex nodes, a Storage Accelerator data path, certified external S3 object storage, and a high-speed network fabric that together provide a scalable, immutable, petabyte-scale data protection platform.

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