Commvault Microsoft 365 backup

What Commvault's Microsoft 365 backup is

Commvault Cloud Backup & Recovery for Microsoft 365 is Commvault's software-as-a-service backup for Microsoft 365. Until late 2023 it was sold under the Metallic brand; Metallic has since been folded into Commvault Cloud, as our page on Metallic backup explains.

The service backs up on an automatic, policy-driven schedule and keeps the copies outside the Microsoft 365 environment, in a separate security domain, air-gapped from production and protected by zero trust access controls. The practical benefit is that a compromised admin account or a mass deletion in your tenant does not reach the backups.

It runs in the Commvault Cloud console alongside the rest of the Commvault platform, so organisations that also protect servers, virtual machines, Dynamics 365, Salesforce or Active Directory with Commvault can manage everything in one place. The licensing detail for the wider platform is on Commvault Cloud platform licensing.

As with any Microsoft 365 backup solution, the need comes from the Microsoft 365 shared responsibility model: Microsoft keeps the service running, and recovering your data beyond its time-limited safety nets is your job.

What it backs up

Public folders and group mailboxes are worth calling out: Microsoft's own Microsoft 365 Backup covers user and shared mailboxes only, while Commvault lists public folders, shared and group mailboxes in every edition. If your organisation still relies on public folders, Commvault is one to look at. For Entra ID, Commvault offers a separate product; see the identity section below.

The three editions

Commvault licenses the service per user, in three editions. Each user licence includes the storage allowance for its edition. This table follows Commvault's current edition guide; edition names and allowances are confirmed at quote.

Because storage comes with each user licence, the edition decision is partly about how much data your mailboxes, OneDrive accounts and SharePoint sites hold. We can check your Microsoft 365 usage reports before quoting so you do not buy Enterprise only for storage, or Standard and then run short. Microsoft 365 backup pricing explains how this compares with the other charging models.

Restores and where the data lives

Restores. Commvault restores individual files, emails, folders, mailboxes or entire sites, to a point in time, either in place or to a different location. You can set several retention policies at mailbox level, for example longer retention for directors than for shared mailboxes, and Enterprise users can restore their own Exchange and OneDrive items through self-service restore.

Data region. Commvault's documentation lists a United Kingdom region for Microsoft 365 workloads, so backups can be kept in the UK when residency matters; we choose it with you at set-up. Our Microsoft 365 backup compliance page covers the wider UK GDPR questions.

For ransomware, the separate security domain and air-gapped copies are the relevant features; see Microsoft 365 ransomware recovery and immutable Microsoft 365 backup.

Commvault and Microsoft 365 Backup Storage

Commvault also offers Commvault Cloud with Premium Microsoft 365 Backup Storage. It combines Commvault's platform with Microsoft 365 Backup Storage, Microsoft's own backup storage inside the Microsoft 365 boundary, for fast in-place restores, and Commvault lists compliance, granular recovery and extended retention as part of the combination.

This hybrid approach suits organisations that want Microsoft's fast large-scale rollback for a major incident and an independent Commvault copy for everything else. Our Microsoft 365 Backup Storage page explains Microsoft's service, and Microsoft 365 native backup compares the native and third-party approaches. We tell you honestly whether the extra option is worth adding for your environment.

Protecting Entra ID alongside Microsoft 365

Microsoft 365 data is only half of a recovery: users also need their accounts, groups and Conditional Access policies. Commvault protects identity through a separate product, Commvault Cloud Backup & Recovery for Active Directory, which covers on-premises Active Directory and Microsoft Entra ID, including users, groups, licences, Conditional Access policies and role assignments, licensed per enabled user. Licensing detail is on Commvault Active Directory backup, and our Entra ID backup page compares the identity options across our platforms.

Who it suits and how we help

Commvault suits larger or mixed estates that also protect servers, Salesforce or Active Directory, organisations that need public folders or archive mailboxes in their backup, those that want a documented UK region, and regulated organisations that value compliance search. It also suits existing Metallic customers who want to carry on with the same service.

If you are weighing it against Acronis, see Commvault vs Acronis, or the Microsoft 365 backup comparison for all five.

We can size your users and data, recommend an edition, connect your tenant, set retention and restore permissions, and run a test restore with you. Licensing is on Commvault Microsoft 365 backup licensing, with terms confirmed at quote. Contact us to talk it through.