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FR23 unified management of multi-commcell

  • 21 April 2021
  • 6 replies
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Michael Woodward
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Hi there,

One of our customers read @MFasulo FR23 blog, and has raised with us this part:

Finally, Commvault is extending its unified management experience to include multi-CommCell environments, enabling the aggregation of jobs and events. It offers a single pane of glass view across multi-CommCell estates, increasing agility and reducing administrative cost. It also provides a foundation for new service models, including Backup as a Service (BaaS).

This customer has a couple of commcells, but i’m wondering what this feature is excactly, is it GRC or multi-tenancy? I’ve been discussing it with others in the office and we’re not 100% sure.

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Best answer by MFasulo 21 April 2021, 15:21

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B
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Hi Michael, 

It is the ability to manage multiple commcells from the command center. 

In a multi-CommCell environment, the Command Center computers belonging to the primary CommCell can be defined as universal Command Centers. The universal Command Centers host the Command Center and Web Console applications for multiple service CommCells. Additionally, the universal Command Centers can host the applications for service CommCells with different versions of the Commvault software.

Note: Service CommCells must have Commvault software Feature Release 22 and later versions installed.

Terminology

  • Primary CommCell - The CommCell environment that includes the universal Command Centers where the Command Center and Web Console apps are hosted. One or more Service CommCells are associated with the primary CommCell.

  • Service CommCell: The other CommCell environments in the multi-CommCell environment that are registered as service CommCells on the primary CommCell.

  • Universal Command Center: A Command Center that belongs to the primary CommCell and that can be selected by the administrator to host the Command Center and Web Console applications for service CommCells.

  • Dynamic apps: The Command Center and Web Console applications for the service CommCells that are installed on the universal Command Center computer.

 

https://documentation.commvault.com/11.23/essential/132175_universal_command_centers.html

MFasulo
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I’m glad people are reading the blog!   Let me break down what outcomes we have up to and including FR23.

  1.  Universal Command Center, allows an environment to have a single Command Center machine to service any linked service commcells in an environment.  All CommCells must be FR22+.  This configuration can minimize the installed components across a multi-commcell estate, since all other commcells will be UI-less (Java/CC).  Historically, MSPs had to have multiple CC endpoints for their offering to service the needs of their customers.  With universal Command Center, they can have a single Command Center externally facing and it can service all necessary commcells. 
  2. In FR23 we extended the capabilities of linked service commcells to go beyond the commcell switcher.  We added /global, and aggregated portal that fetches all linked service commcell data and provides a single view and management plane.  Today this portal provides aggregated dashboards, job controller, events alerts and basic service commcell functionality.   Entity search will also work across all linked service commcells and depending on the action, will redirect to the appropriate service commcell for next action.  With the aggregated portal, CommcCell Columns and notations provide context from where the hit comes from:

 

In the screenshot below you can see items 1 & 2 above.  

  1. We can also link metallic to a local onprem Command Center, to also provide quick switching and management.    

Metallic Linkage is on the main nav (if you look closely you can see its confirmed in one of my service commcells).  It shows all the services the linked user is leveraging in Metallic.

 

Since you brought up GRC and Multi-tenancy, ill further expand that these features arent either of them (today).  GRC leverages periodic CCM and imports metadata (allows mag lib connectivity and gloabl policy), while multi-tenancy provides segmentation of an existing cell.    Today, this is more of an authorized linkage and management layer approach to multi-commcell.   Outside of users/access controls, there is no blending of entities/constructs between the cells, they are still functioning independently.

I intentionally used the word “Today” above, and covered how this has evolved over the last couple of service packs, because we intend to continue advancing these capabilities.  GRC has unique capabilities that I think further compliment the work mentioned above.   

My intention is to provide full management, mobility of data, and transparency across all linked cells including Metallic.  

Let me know if you or your customers have any further questions.

 

 

Michael Woodward
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Thanks for the detailed explanation @MFasulo helps greatly!

B
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I have been unable to locate WHERE to configure UCC within Commvault.  The link provided in this thread explains how to “Edit” the Universal Command Center but there are NO options to select in the dropdown.  How does one configure UCC with two or more Commcells?

MFasulo
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I have been unable to locate WHERE to configure UCC within Commvault.  The link provided in this thread explains how to “Edit” the Universal Command Center but there are NO options to select in the dropdown.  How does one configure UCC with two or more Commcells?

What version are you on?

B
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11.24.29.  Is there somewhere in Command Center or the Java GUI where you configure additional settings for the Commcells?  If so, the documentation fails to notate that.  I even opened a case with support and they were unable to assist.

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