Once upon a time, in the bustling office of ProtectMyData Corp, a renowned Managed Service Provider (MSP), two backup administrators named Bob and Sally were diligently managing their daily tasks. Little did they know that an exciting challenge awaited them, ready to put their skills and expertise to the test.
One fine day, their boss approached them with a crucial mission. "Bob, Sally," he began, "as an esteemed MSP, it is essential for us to evaluate two prominent backup products: Veeam and Druva. Your task is to thoroughly assess their capabilities by deploying them on our VMware platform and testing them with our Microsoft 365 environment."
Bob, known for his thoroughness and attention to detail, eagerly embraced the evaluation assignment. He delved into the extensive documentation provided by Veeam, spending several days carefully reading through the deployment instructions and best practice guides to ensure a comprehensive understanding. After a week of studying the documents, Bob was well-prepared to embark on the implementation.
Recognising the significance of a secure-by-design approach, Bob meticulously planned the deployment strategy, aiming to build a robust infrastructure that would protect client data. Taking into account the complexity of the task, Bob estimated that the implementation would require approximately three weeks of dedicated effort to ensure all necessary components were properly configured and integrated.
Bob began by setting up a dedicated Active Directory (AD) environment, ensuring the implementation aligned with industry best practices for security and access controls. This process took him two days, carefully configuring AD servers and establishing a secure foundation.
Next, Bob focused on the storage layer. He meticulously configured storage repositories (REPOs) on the storage array, optimizing them to ensure efficiency, data integrity, and high availability. This step took him an additional three days, as he wanted to ensure the storage infrastructure was robust and capable of meeting the organization's backup needs.
With the foundation in place, Bob turned his attention to building and configuring the virtual machines (VMs) in which the Veeam software would be installed. Given the complexity of the task, he estimated it would take approximately two weeks to complete. Bob meticulously patched and configured each VM, ensuring they met the organization's security requirements and performance standards.
Collaborating closely with the network team, Bob established the necessary connectivity and permissions to facilitate seamless backup operations across client networks. This process involved multiple discussions and coordination, extending the overall implementation timeline by an additional week.
In total, Bob spent four weeks implementing the secure by design approach with Veeam. The majority of his time was dedicated to reading and understanding the documentation, while the actual implementation took approximately three weeks, including the setup of the AD environment, configuration of storage repositories, deployment of VMs, and network coordination.
Meanwhile, Sally, known for her agility and adaptability, approached the evaluation with a fresh perspective. Leveraging her boss's conversations and a complimentary 30-day Proof of Concept (PoC) provided by Druva, she had a head start on her evaluation.
Excited to explore Druva's capabilities, Sally swiftly accessed the Druva Managed Services Centre, equipped with valuable insights gained from her boss's conversations. She was pleased to discover a wealth of resources available at her fingertips, including documentation, guides, and a comprehensive knowledge base at docs.druva.com.
Impressed by the user-friendly nature of Druva's platform, Sally quickly created a tailored test service plan within minutes. This allowed her to establish a new tenant, perfectly aligned with the unique service catalogue of ProtectMyData Corp. Without wasting any time, Sally confidently configured a backup policy and began backing up virtual machines. She even carried out restores and ran various tests to assess the solution's performance and reliability. Satisfied with the VMware evaluation, Sally shifted her focus to the Microsoft 365 environment.
Connecting to the test Microsoft 365 tenant, Sally adeptly navigated the intuitive configuration wizard provided by Druva. With ease, she discovered mailboxes, created a backup policy tailored to the organization's needs, and initiated the backup process. Excitedly, she began testing recoveries to ensure data integrity and availability.
The efficiency and effectiveness of Druva's deployment process impressed both Sally and her boss. While Bob encountered challenges and invested significant time in the implementation process, Sally had already completed her evaluation, presenting her boss with comprehensive test results that highlighted Druva's agility, ease of use, and quick adoption process.
This tale of Bob and Sally's evaluation journey vividly demonstrated the remarkable advantages that Druva offered to MSPs like ProtectMyData Corp. Sally's experience in particular shed light on the speed, simplicity, and efficiency of Druva's deployment process. By swiftly integrating the solution into their environments, MSPs can seamlessly offer backup and data protection services to their clients, translating into tangible time to revenue and exceptional value.