Does Lavawall® replace N-able Cove?

For many MSPs, yes. Lavawall® Backup covers Microsoft 365 mail, OneDrive, SharePoint, and Teams, Google Workspace, Windows computers, and Linux servers, and Lavawall® also backs up and rolls back tenant configuration such as Conditional Access policies and Intune profiles. If you rely on Cove's disaster recovery as a service or automated recovery testing, keep Cove for those.

If I lose a Conditional Access policy, will Lavawall® restore it?

Yes. Lavawall® snapshots configuration objects continuously and provides per-object point-in-time rollback. Cove is built for content backup; check N-able's documentation for configuration restore.

If I lose an email, will Lavawall® restore it?

Yes. Lavawall® Backup keeps Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace mailboxes, and you can restore a whole account, a folder, or selected items into the same mailbox, another one, or another organization.

Only if you need what Cove adds, such as disaster recovery as a service. Otherwise Lavawall® covers both content backup and tenant configuration backup in the console you already use for the RMM.

Is N-able Cove available in French?

Only in part. The Backup Manager on the device is in French; the web console’s language is not documented. Lavawall works in Canadian French, Canadian English and US English, chosen by each person.

Lavawall®: The Alternative to N-able Cove for MSPs

N-able Cove Data Protection (formerly N-able Backup) is one of the most established MSP backup platforms: cloud-first delivery, included storage, multi-tenant console, and strong reseller economics. For Microsoft 365, Cove backs up the workloads where end-user content lives: Exchange Online mailboxes, OneDrive, SharePoint sites, and Teams chats and files. If a user accidentally deletes an email or a file (or a malicious actor does), Cove restores it.

Lavawall® is a multi-tenant RMM and remote support platform for MSPs and IT teams, with patching, security monitoring, Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace breach detection, and compliance built into the same agent and console. Here it solves a different problem. Its M365 / Entra / Azure configuration backup module captures the configuration of the tenant: Conditional Access policies, named locations, authentication strengths, role assignments, app registrations, Intune device-config profiles, Azure NSG rules, Key Vault access policies, and so on. When a CA policy is disabled at 2am, when a global admin role is assigned, when an app registration is granted broad scopes, Lavawall® captures that and lets the operator roll it back.

Content backup is now covered by both. Lavawall® Backup keeps Microsoft 365 mail, OneDrive, SharePoint sites, and Teams, Google Workspace, Windows computers, and Linux servers, and can restore a Google account into Microsoft 365 or the reverse. Where the two still differ is configuration: Lavawall® is also the answer to "someone disabled the CA policy that requires MFA on admin sign-ins," and Cove offers disaster recovery as a service, which Lavawall® does not.

What gets backed up by each

Object	Lavawall®	N-able Cove
Exchange Online mailbox content (emails, attachments)	Yes, with Lavawall Backup	Yes (primary use case)
OneDrive files	Yes, with Lavawall Backup	Yes
SharePoint sites and documents	Yes, with Lavawall Backup	Yes
Teams chats and channel files	Yes, with Lavawall Backup	Yes
Google Workspace mail, Drive, and shared drives	Yes, with Lavawall Backup	Google Workspace backup in public preview (N-able)
Server and workstation backup	Windows computers and Linux servers, with Lavawall Backup	Yes (N-able)
Restore from Google Workspace into Microsoft 365, or the reverse	Yes	See N-able documentation
Conditional Access policies	Yes (primary use case)	See N-able documentation
Named locations & auth strengths	Yes	See N-able documentation
Authentication methods policy	Yes	See N-able documentation
Role assignments (directory roles, PIM eligibles)	Yes	See N-able documentation
App registrations & service principals	Yes	See N-able documentation
Intune device configuration / compliance profiles	Yes	See N-able documentation
Intune app protection policies	Yes	See N-able documentation
Azure subscription RBAC role assignments	Yes	See N-able documentation
Azure Network Security Group rules	Yes	See N-able documentation
Azure Key Vault access policies	Yes	See N-able documentation
Custom security attribute definitions	Yes	See N-able documentation
Per-object point-in-time rollback	Per-object diff & rollback for config	Item-level for content
Continuous change monitoring with severity ratings	Yes	See N-able documentation
Audit-log correlation (who made the change, when, from where)	Yes (correlates with the Microsoft 365 unified audit log)	See N-able documentation
Mailbox restore granularity	An account, a folder, or selected items, with Lavawall Backup	Yes
Plan → approve → execute rollback workflow	Yes	See N-able documentation
Console in French	Yes: Canadian French, Canadian English and US English, chosen by each person	The Backup Manager on the device is in French; not documented for the web console (source)

Two real-world scenarios

Scenario A: accidental email deletion

What happened: A user empty-trashed a folder containing 3 months of client correspondence.

Cove: Restore the folder from the last good backup. Done in minutes.

Lavawall®: Restore the folder from Lavawall® Backup, into the same mailbox or another one. Nothing already in the mailbox is overwritten.

Scenario B: disabled MFA enforcement

What happened: A junior admin disabled the Conditional Access policy that required MFA on admin sign-ins, then left for vacation. A week later the tenant was compromised.

Cove: Built for content backup; check N-able’s documentation for configuration restore.

Lavawall®: The disabled-state change was recorded with severity=critical and the admin's UPN. Rollback restores the policy with one operator action.

Where Lavawall® wins

Configuration scope coverage. Lavawall® tracks ~25 object types across M365, Entra ID, Intune, and Azure subscriptions, captures every change with severity rating, and correlates each change with the M365 audit log to show who, when, and from where.

Rollback is a strict plan → approve → execute lifecycle. Operators see the exact list of changes before anything happens to the tenant. Dry-run mode lets you preview a rollback without touching the tenant.

Bundled with the rest of Lavawall®: configuration monitoring is included in the Professional tier, and full configuration backup & rollback is included in Complete. Either is available as an add-on on lower tiers.

Content backup in the same console. Lavawall® Backup shows whether every account was backed up completely, restores into any account or organization, or from Google Workspace to Microsoft 365 and back, and backs up Windows computers without getting in the way of calls. Backups are kept in Canada by default, or in your own S3-compatible bucket.

Where N-able Cove wins

Disaster recovery as a service and automated recovery testing. N-able lists both for Cove (N-able), and Lavawall® offers neither. Cove is also a mature, established backup product.

For MSPs already standardized on Cove, Lavawall® can sit beside it for configuration backup, and take over content backup one client at a time when you are ready.

Who should pick which?

Pick Lavawall® if…

You want Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Windows, and Linux backup in the same console as your RMM, with restores between Google and Microsoft.

You need to back up tenant configuration: Conditional Access, Intune, role assignments, app registrations, Azure resources.

You want to detect configuration drift in real time and roll back unauthorized changes.

You're running an audit (CMMC, SOC 2, ISO 27001) that needs evidence of what changed in the tenant and who changed it.

Pick N-able Cove if…

You need disaster recovery as a service or automated recovery testing.

You're already on N-able and want a single dashboard for server, workstation, and M365 content backup.

Running both? Keep Cove for disaster recovery if you need it, and use Lavawall® for configuration and content backup alongside your RMM.

Frequently asked

Does Lavawall® replace N-able Cove?: For many MSPs, yes. Lavawall® Backup covers Microsoft 365 mail, OneDrive, SharePoint, and Teams, Google Workspace, Windows computers, and Linux servers, and Lavawall® also backs up and rolls back tenant configuration such as Conditional Access policies and Intune profiles. If you rely on Cove's disaster recovery as a service or automated recovery testing, keep Cove for those.
If I lose a Conditional Access policy, will Lavawall® restore it?: Yes. Lavawall® snapshots configuration objects continuously and provides per-object point-in-time rollback. Cove is built for content backup; check N-able's documentation for configuration restore.
If I lose an email, will Lavawall® restore it?: Yes. Lavawall® Backup keeps Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace mailboxes, and you can restore a whole account, a folder, or selected items into the same mailbox, another one, or another organization.
Should I run both?: Only if you need what Cove adds, such as disaster recovery as a service. Otherwise Lavawall® covers both content backup and tenant configuration backup in the console you already use for the RMM.
Is N-able Cove available in French?: Only in part. The Backup Manager on the device is in French; the web console’s language is not documented. Lavawall® works in Canadian French, Canadian English and US English, chosen by each person.