Unitrends v. CommVault Simpana

Simpana (the latest version is 9.0) is available as a software product from CommVault.

Primary Advantages of CommVault Simpana:

CommVault's Simpana product line focuses on Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) of which data protection is one component.
Simpana has agents for a variety of platforms and applications.
CommVault's Simpana has a low software-only entry price if features like virtualization, deduplication, and bare metal are not required to protect your environment.
Simpana is ideal for storage specialists who want to focus on backup and integrate multiple storage, networking, and software components in order to stitch together the solution that meets their needs. This approach is the opposite of Unitrends' value proposition which wants you to focus on your business instead on backup.

Primary Disadvantages of CommVault Simpana:

CommVault licensing fees tend to be expensive for growing businesses due to the licensing model - charging on a per-feature, per-client, per-operating system, and the like basis.
CommVault tends to have a lower ROI (Return on Investment) and higher TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) due to higher operational expenses of putting together, managing, and monitoring servers, storage, networks, operating systems, and data protection (backup, archiving, and disaster recovery) software.
The non-integrated nature of CommVault Simpana leads to finger-pointing among the server, storage, networks, operating systems, and data protection (backup, archiving, and disaster recovery) software vendors when a problem occurs.
Setting up Simpana for deduplication can be difficult in terms of balancing the software requirements with the hardware and operating system requirements of the system upon which the Simpana software will operate.
Care must be taken when performing source-level deduplication (or for that matter, compression and/or encryption) using Simpana on systems because of the load it places on those systems.
Integrated fixed/rotational archiving is not supported by Simpana.
The enterprise version of Simpana's critical CommServe component runs on Windows. Putting data protection software on Windows servers dramatically increases susceptibility to malware attacks.
Simpana's focus on Information Lifecycle Management makes their core product difficult to use and complicated, thereby increasing the TCO.

Products and Licensing

Product and Licensing
	CommVault Simpana	Unitrends	More Detail
Non-restrictive licensing	No	Yes	Standard licensing does not include restrictions on features, platforms supported, or per-client fees.
Integrated appliance	No	Yes	Support handles a vertically integrated data protection appliance - not just software.
Available as physical appliance	No	Yes	Available as an integrated server, storage, networking, operating system, backup software, archiving software, replication software, and so forth.
Available as virtual appliance	No	Yes	Available as an integrated operating system, backup software, archiving software, replication software, and so forth as a virtual appliance.
Available as software only	Yes	No	Available as a non-integrated software. Simpana is primarily sold in this manner; Unitrends does not offer non-integrated software.

Support

Support
	CommVault Simpana	Unitrends	More Detail
Supports hardware and software	No	Yes	Support handles a vertically integrated data protection appliance - not just software. Simpana doesn't do this with their software product; Unitrends does this with their physical appliance.
Proactive hardware monitoring	No	Yes	Standard support includes proactive hardware monitoring.
Remote diagnostics	Yes	Yes	Remote diagnostics are available from support.
Self-installable	Yes	Yes	The product may be installed by a customer.
On-site support	Yes	Yes	On-site support is available.
Phone support	Yes	Yes	Telephone support is available.
E-mail support	Yes	Yes	E-mail support is available.
Online interactive chat support	No	Yes	Online interactive chat support is available.
Online support form	Yes	Yes	An online support form (or portal) is available.
Knowledgebase	Yes	Yes	A knowledgebase is available.
User forums	Yes	Yes	Support monitored and managed user forums are available.
Video tutorials	No	Yes	Video tutorials offered by the backup vendor.

Monitoring and Management

Monitoring and Management
	CommVault Simpana	Unitrends	More Detail
Appliance-based monitoring/management	No	Yes	Monitoring and management of data protection software, operating system, storage, server, and other solution components
Single pane of glass	No	Yes	Monitoring and management of multiple backup/media/management servers (in the case of CommVault) or appliances (in the case of Unitrends) from a single web-based user interface.
Web-based management	No	Yes	Monitoring and management can be performed via the web. CommVault has an optional web-based monitoring interface (called ROMs), but it does not allow management (executing backups, restores, etc.) from the web-based interface.
SNMP/SMTP/alert-based notifications	Yes	Yes	Notifications are available via SNMP traps, SMTP e-mail, and alerts. Simpana requires an additional license for SNMP trap support.

Recovery and Restore

Recovery and Restore
	CommVault Simpana	Unitrends	More Detail
Instant recovery for Windows	No	Yes	Recovery from a failed Windows server in less than 5 minutes.
Instant recovery for VMware	No	Yes	Recovery from a failed VMware server in less than 5 minutes.
Dissimilar bare metal restore	Yes	Yes	This includes P2P, P2V, V2P, and V2V. CommVault requires that an additional license be purchased for bare metal; Unitrends has integrated dissimilar bare metal restore support.
Heterogeneous bare metal restore	Yes	Yes	This includes not only Windows but also VMware, Hyper-V, XenServer, Linux, Solaris, Mac OS X, and other operating systems. CommVault requires that an additional license be purchased for bare metal; Unitrends has integrated bare metal restore support.
Heterogeneous backup	Yes	Yes	Simpana and Unitrends both support a variety of operating systems, applications, and hypervisors.

Backup

Backup
	CommVault Simpana	Unitrends	More Detail
Virtual and physical backup	Yes	Yes	Supports virtual and physical environments.
Heterogeneous backup	Yes	Yes	Simpana and Unitrends both supports a variety of operating systems, applications, and hypervisors.
Heterogeneous storage protection	Yes	Yes	Support for protecting NAS and SAN volumes.
Integrated fixed/rotational archiving	No	Yes	Integrated disk-to-disk-to-disk, -tape, -SAN, and -NAS for both long-term retention and disaster recovery.
Continuous incrementals supported	Yes	Yes	Continuous-based incremental backup is available (includes near-CDP snapshot).
VMware CBT (Change Block Tracking)	Yes	Yes	Support for VMware CBT is available.
Hyper-V CBT (Change Block Tracking)	Yes	Yes	Support for Hyper-V CBT (which Microsoft does not support) is available.
Application-level backups	Yes	Yes	Application-level backup is available; Simpana offers native agents for more applications, while Unitrends offers integration with the native application tools (e.g., Oracle RMAN).
Differential backups supported	Yes	Yes	Differential backup is available.
Direct backup to tape	Yes	No	Direct backup to tape (also called D2T) is available.
Maximum concurrent backups	Unlimited	Unlimited	The number of concurrent backups.

Technology

Technology
	CommVault Simpana	Unitrends	More Detail
Supports agents	Yes	Yes	Supports client-level, agent-based protection where necessary.
Supports agentless	No	Yes	Supports agentless-based protection where necessary; Unitrends supports agentless-based protection for VMware, NAS storage, and iSeries (AS400) environments.
Deduplication	Yes	Yes	Supports deduplication; CommVault supports both source- and target-based deduplication, Unitrends supports target-based byte-level (content-aware) deduplication.
Retention control policies	Yes	Yes	Supports minimum and maximum retention setting.
Encryption	Yes	Yes	At least AES-256 level encryption.
Failover virtualization	No	Yes	Supports Windows and VMware instant recovery.
Grid-based scalability	No	Yes	Backup servers (or appliances) are configured in a grid for interoperability, monitoring, and management.
Integrated symmetric and asymmetric replication	Yes	Yes	CommVault and Unitrends both offer private and public cloud protection for disaster recovery.
Hub-spoke replication	Yes	Yes	Simpana does this via Farline Storage; Unitrends offers integrated replication to off-site locations on a single-tenant basis.
Integrated peer-to-peer replication	No	Yes	Cross replication between media servers( in the case of CommVault) and appliances (in the case of Unitrends).
Integrated private cloud replication	Yes	Yes	CommVault Simpana must use different software and hardware replication products for this; Unitrends offers integrated replication to off-site locations on a single-tenant basis.
Integrated public cloud replication	Yes	Yes	Simpana does this via Farline Storage; Unitrends offers Vault2Cloud - both are multi-tenant solutions.

Unitrends makes this document available for informational purposes only. While we do our best to keep this up-to-date and accurate, we can not and do not represent, warrant or guarantee that it is complete, accurate, or up-to-date, nor does Unitrends offer any certification or guarantee with respect to the opinions expressed herein. Changing circumstances may change the accuracy of the content herein. Opinions presented in this reflect judgment at the time of publication and are subject to change. While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this document, Unitrends assumes no responsibility for errors, omissions, or damages resulting from the use of the information herein.

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