Cove 25.12 final release of 2025

Backup Manager Enhancement

Cove now offers a pre-built Azure-compatible VHD image for Linux bare-metal recovery. This image can be downloaded directly from the Cove console and used in Azure without additional conversion steps.

Previously, Linux BMR in Azure required booting from an ISO file, but new VHD option simplifies Azure Linux recovery by allowing direct booting from a managed disk, mirroring familiar on-premises workflows while reducing compatibility errors.

In-Place Archive Backup for Exchange (GA)

Exchange In-Place Archives now provides integrated backup and granular recovery for archived mailboxes alongside primary data at no extra cost. This feature simplifies compliance and legal discovery by allowing per-user activation within existing Microsoft 365 configurations, ensuring long-term retention requirements are met without additional licensing fees.

The feature can be enabled per user in the Exchange & OneDrive section by toggling the option to back up In-Place Archives.

Feature Updates

• FastTrack Onboarding: Enables immediate protection for Exchange and OneDrive bypassing Microsoft’s initial data preparation wait times, allowing for rapid, automated onboarding of all users.

• Clearer OneDrive Restore: Replaces technical drive IDs with actual account names in the restore tree to ensure accurate data identification and reduce recovery errors.

• Enhanced Backup Visualization: A new dashboard donut chart identifies high frequency backup intervals (under 1 and 4 hours), allowing for real-time SLA monitoring and performance management of critical workloads.

• Executive Summary Enhancements: Enables the bulk generation of reports for multiple customers or sites in a single workflow, significantly increasing operational scalability and reducing manual administrative labor.

• Critical Configuration Anomaly Detection: Provides automated alerts for unauthorized or anomalous changes to backup profiles, preventing configuration drift from compromising data integrity.

• Group-Based Data Protection (GBDP): Leverages Microsoft Entra ID Security Groups to automate protection for specific organizational units, eliminating manual user selection and controlling licensing costs.

Summary

The new Linux Azure BMR option and Exchange In-Place Archive support are particularly valuable for customers using hybrid or cloud-heavy environments, while the security and usability enhancements improve day-to-day administration.

Cove transforms the backup experience from a manual task into a scalable service. By combining FIPS-level security with automated onboarding and streamlined Azure recovery, Cove remains the premier cloud-first solution for MSPs and internal IT teams managing complex, multi-site environments.