The Commvault Cloud Platform (formerly known as Metallic) is now automating protection for Active Directory at forest level.
Active Directory (AD) is a user authentication service in the Microsoft Windows environment. It lists users and resources such as devices, along with the permissions they have or require. AD Domain Services are run on a server and a domain is a central admin unit for management and security. An organization can have more than one domain, and cross-domain access is prohibited unless authorized. Domains are managed in a tree-like structure with a top-level forest managing a set of domains that share a common schema, configuration, and global catalog, and include users, groups, permissions, and domain controllers across the organization.

Commvault CTO and AI Officer Pranay Ahlawat stated: “Recovering Active Directory is foundational to maintaining continuous business after a cyberattack, yet traditional methods are too complex and prone to error. With automated Active Directory forest recovery, we are giving customers game-changing recovery capabilities, and by integrating this into our unique cyber resilience platform with broad workload support, we’re bringing a new era of continuous business to our customers that nobody can match.”
Malware attackers commonly target AD as it is essential in Windows environments, used to authenticate more than 610 million users worldwide. Commvault says: “When disaster strikes, recovering AD is vital, yet traditionally has been very hard to do, requiring intricate, time-consuming, manual processes, as described by Microsoft’s Forest Recovery Guide.” This can take “days or even weeks to complete.”
To use its full name, Commvault Cloud Backup & Recovery for Active Directory Enterprise Edition (CCBRADEE) now enables automated “rapid recovery” of such an AD forest by using automated runbooks. These include “tasks like transferring key roles from an unavailable domain controller to a functioning one, which is essential for a clean recovery.”

CCBRADEE has visual topology views of an organization’s Active Directory environment to give admins simple and quick identification of which domain controllers to restore first and how they should be recovered to accelerate availability of AD services. It “integrates AD forest recovery with granular recovery of both Active Directory and Entra ID, the cloud-based identity service, providing comprehensive protection.”
Cohesity and its acquired Veritas business can also safeguard AD forest environments via integrations with Semperis Active Directory Forest Recovery (ADFR) and other tools. More data protection suppliers protect AD at the forest level, including Dell with Recovery Manager for Active Directory Forest Edition, Rubrik with its Security Cloud (RSC), and Veeam.
Commvault Cloud Backup & Recovery for Active Directory Enterprise Edition is targeted for general availability within the first half of 2025 and priced per user. Explore AD protection on Commvault’s website here.