We compared Commvault Complete Data Protection and Dell Avamar based on user reviews in five categories. We reviewed all of the data and you can find the conclusion below.
Features: Commvault Complete Data Protection is highly regarded for its extensive recovery options and compatibility with diverse storage systems. Dell Avamar earns acclaim for its scalability, data compression capabilities, swift incremental backups, and seamless integration with Data Domain and VM stacks. Users suggest that Commvault Complete Data Protection could offer more Windows security features and a unified console. They said Commvault should expand support for container-based systems and improve its ability to archive large video files. Dell Avamar could improve its tape connectivity and bare-metal restoration. Users also requested better Azure backups and a more user-friendly interface.
Service and Support: Commvault Complete Data Protection earned mostly positive feedback for its customer service, but some Commvault customers mentioned concerns about network-related support and the need for more direct access during emergencies. Some customers express satisfaction with Dell support, but others said there is room for improvement.
Ease of Deployment: The setup process for Commvault Complete Data Protection is complex, time-consuming, and may require outside help. The lack of sufficient documentation and online resources adds to the difficulty. Opinions on Dell Avamar’s setup were mixed. Some users found it to be straightforward, while others considered it complex and difficult. Deployment time ranged from a few hours to a week, and assistance from Dell engineers might be necessary.
Pricing: Commvault may need to lower its price to attract customers in certain regions and customer segments. Dell Avamar’s pricing is generally seen as reasonable, but some users think it is expensive.
ROI: Commvault Complete Data Protection offers significant cost savings. Some enterprise customers estimated that they saved between $100,000 to $300,000 by reducing labor costs, speeding up backup and recovery, and implementing remote access. Dell Avamar provides cost savings through data reduction, deduplication, and compression.
Comparison Results: Commvault Complete Data Protection is a robust and flexible solution with the potential to save customers money, but users say the setup is too complex and it needs better support for container-based systems. Dell Avamar is a scalable solution that offers excellent data compression and fast compression. However, Avamar earned mixed reviews for support, deployment, and pricing. Users also requested better Azure and bare-metal backups and restoration capabilities.
"There's no impact on the endpoint. It runs in the background and it's something that you install and then forget about."
"Commvault can perform a backup no matter where you are, and it takes a backup every four hours. No matter when you come to the office, it'll take a backup if you're connected to the internet and check the system for online availability."
"We specialize in Commvault and IntelliSnap. Commvault covers all our customers' backup needs in one system, and they have complete control over their Snapshot backups. Snapshots are important to our customers because of the size of their data sets."
"It's very stable."
"Commvault gives us a single platform to manage and recover our data. Since we are a research organization, backup is one of the most critical parts of our IT operations and services. Internally, we run it as a managed service, and there is a single console that makes it easy for management to see the performance."
"Commvault integrates well with all types of operating systems and supports heterogeneous environments."
"It's very user-friendly. It supports a wide range of workloads. It's quite easy to use, it's very powerful and it's scalable."
"The most valuable feature is sharing data sets like they're in a private cloud. We call it our "private cloud" because we can share anything that is inside our backup set with our colleagues or with other people, and yet, everything is still in Belgrade, in Serbia. It's not somewhere else on cloud servers. Everything is in our environment."
"Effective in protecting the virtualization system and end points."
"The product is very powerful and offers very good performance."
"The performance of Dell EMC Avamar is good."
"The solution is easy to use and has high performance."
"Avamar's source side deduplication is very strong, it can easily back up remote sites' data, and not much bandwidth is required on the Avamar side."
"Its stability and deduplication capabilities are most valuable."
"The product has a proven track record of good backups without much of a failure ratio. It also has a good backup in terms of the compression ratio."
"It is a very complete product."
"There are two ways to use it and I prefer the web-based one over the app. I wish they were a little bit more matched in what they offer because the features aren't as available in the web-based interface as they are in the app."
"The pricing could be more flexible in terms of licensing."
"One issue we face is the complexity of the console. That could be improved on. It takes users time to get familiar with Commvault. On average, it takes our customers between one and three months to learn it. The console and the way you configure Commvault have very advanced settings. It takes time to understand how it works."
"Suppose I am restoring a particular file. If I want to restore the permissions only from that particular folder, that is not possible. I have to restore all the data for that particular folder. If there was an option to just restore the permissions, that would be better."
"They should move the CommServe outside of Windows machines and the database should be distributed among servers. It's still a single point of failure."
"Getting my guys the right access has a learning curve. Sometimes, it is, "Oh, okay. I think I got it for you." Then, they say, "Oh, nope. I logged in but I can't see this." Then, it is, "Okay, hold on. Give me a second. Let me change that. Okay, it's this one." That learning curve has probably taken a little bit longer than some simpler things. So, Metallic has some granularity, and as a systems administrator, I appreciate that. At the same time, I also realize that I have to learn it."
"This product is overly complex to operate and run."
"They need to improve when it comes to large, video file archiving. They're good, but they have not met my expectations as a customer in this area."
"The management of this solution is a little bit difficult for IT administrators. They have to be trained before going through the system."
"The licensing model is not very flexible. Every time we upgrade our storage size, we need to upgrade the Avamar license."
"The screen design is a bit back-dated."
"Some customers need to back up to tape, but Avamar lacks support, so it costs a lot."
"The interface could be more helpful for people."
"The configuration and expansion aspects of the solution need improvement. They're complicated and don't really integrate well."
"I have found the support from Dell EMC Avamar to be not as good as Veeam. The time it takes to receive support could be improved. However, once we have the support the agents are knowledgeable and helpful."
"It was challenging to back up our Exchange database, which is one of the reasons we did not continue using this solution."
Commvault Cloud is ranked 3rd in Backup and Recovery with 104 reviews while Dell Avamar is ranked 12th in Backup and Recovery with 81 reviews. Commvault Cloud is rated 8.6, while Dell Avamar is rated 7.6. The top reviewer of Commvault Cloud writes "Provides excellent visibility and helps reduce costs and time". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Dell Avamar writes "Stable, integrates well with other solutions, and has a good price, but its UI needs a refresh". Commvault Cloud is most compared with Veeam Backup & Replication, Rubrik, Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365, Azure Backup and Zerto, whereas Dell Avamar is most compared with Dell PowerProtect Data Manager, Veeam Backup & Replication, Dell NetWorker, Dell PowerProtect DP (IDPA) and Cohesity DataProtect. See our Commvault Cloud vs. Dell Avamar report.
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