Druva has introduced a Single App configuration aimed at streamlining workload management for Microsoft 365 environments by leveraging a parent-child model. This new approach couples workloads such as MS Groups, Teams, and SharePoint Online (SPO) sites under a single configuration umbrella, significantly simplifying administration.

This article dives into how the model works, its impact on backup and recovery configurations, and how it enhances overall efficiency.

With the Single App configuration, workloads such as M365 MS Groups, Teams, and SharePoint Online sites are now tightly integrated into a hierarchical model. This model consolidates settings and operations, reducing the need to configure each workload individually.

• Parent-Level Configuration: In this model, the parent workload (e.g., MS Group) controls the configuration and management of all its associated child workloads (e.g., Teams and SPO sites).

• Unified Operations: Any action that needs to be performed, such as adjusting the backup frequency or changing retention policies, should be executed at the parent level (MS Group/Teams) rather than at the individual workload level.

Example

If you need to change the backup frequency for a SharePoint Online site that is linked to an MS Group, you now only need to change the backup frequency of the parent MS Group. This change will automatically propagate down to its associated child entities, i.e., the Teams and SPO sites.

One of the major shifts with the new parent-child model is that custom configurations or settings at the individual child workload level will no longer be relevant. This streamlines configuration management but requires users to adapt to the new process:

• Parent-Level Control: All settings and configurations for workloads like Teams and SPO must now be managed through their parent MS Group or Teams configuration.

• Child Workload Configurations Ignored: Any existing configurations or settings applied directly to child workloads (e.g., specific Teams or SPO settings) will be ignored. The parent configuration now governs all entities within the group.

Druva’s new model also brings significant improvements to the discovery process for M365 workloads.

• MS Group Discovery: The discovery of an MS Group will now automatically handle the discovery of all its children, such as associated Teams and SharePoint Online sites.

• MS Teams Discovery: Similarly, the discovery of an individual MS Team will manage the discovery of its associated child entities, specifically SharePoint Online sites.

For customers with non-M365 MS Group-related Teams and SPO sites, individual discovery will continue to run as before. However, when these entities are linked to an MS Group, the discovery process will defer to the MS Group discovery, which will handle the association of all children.

It’s important to note that for non-M365 MS Group-related Teams and SPO individual discovery, the existing behavior remains unchanged. The discovery process will continue to operate independently for these entities.

Discovery Continuity: Teams and SPO discovery will still identify all sites, regardless of whether they are linked to an MS Group. When any of these entities are linked to an MS Group, the MS Group discovery will handle the linking process.