The Backup Testing Pyramid: How to Know Your Backups Will Recover

Most MSPs know they should test backups more often. The problem isn't awareness—it's bandwidth. When your team is already stretched thin handling tickets and projects, daily backup verification becomes the important task that constantly loses to urgent ones.

We built Servosity around a simple truth: the critical work that protects your clients shouldn't depend on whether Bob got pulled into a fire drill today.

The Problem with "Trust But Verify... Eventually"

Here's what we see constantly: an MSP sets up backups correctly, monitors alerts, and fixes failures when they come in. Sounds reasonable, right?

But backup software lies. Not maliciously—it just doesn't know what it doesn't know. Your backup tool will happily report "success" while silently missing a new volume the client added, backing up an old folder location after Windows redirected My Documents somewhere else, or writing data to local storage that's slowly corrupting bit by bit.

This is why we built the Testing Pyramid: a layered verification system where each level catches what the others might miss.

Daily: File System Verification of Every Volume

This is the foundation everything else rests on. Every single day, for every client, we mount the backups and run file system verification against every volume—C, D, E, and any others.

Think about what that means at scale. If you have 50 servers across your clients, and each has an average of three volumes, that's 150 volumes that need verification. Every day. We're checking that every piece of metadata, every directory structure, and every file is intact and recoverable.

The key difference: we've automated this so you don't drown in a sea of information. We manage the verification, analyze the results, and surface only the issues that actually need attention. You get proof that everything is tested without needing to dedicate an engineer to it.

Weekly: Hash Verification of Local Backups

Your local backup storage can lie to you. Hard drives flip bits. RAID arrays sometimes claim they did things they didn't. An attacker might subtly modify data. The operating system itself can introduce corruption.

That's why every week, we re-read every single backup version stored locally and compare all the cryptographic hashes. This isn't just checking the latest backup—it's verifying the integrity of your entire local backup history.

This catches corruption from any source: the backup software itself, the storage array, the disk, the operating system, or malicious modification. Instead of requiring you to buy expensive high-end storage hardware, we solve this at the software level.

Monthly: Boot Verification via Screenshots

Once a month, we automatically boot up your clients' systems locally and capture screenshot verification that the server successfully started. This confirms the backup is bootable and the operating system loads properly.

Now, we'll be the first to tell you: a screenshot alone doesn't prove everything. It confirms the server boots, but it doesn't tell you whether every file on every volume is intact. That's exactly why the daily file system verification layer beneath it matters so much—the monthly boot test builds on a foundation you can already trust.

Think of it this way: because we're already verifying every file system daily and checking hashes weekly, the monthly boot screenshot becomes meaningful confirmation rather than false confidence. You're not hoping the data is good—you already know it is. The boot test confirms the system itself will start when you need it.

Quarterly: Complete DRaaS Testing

This isn’t what a DR test is: “we restored some files” or “the VM booted.” A real disaster recovery test boots your full servers in a cloud DR environment, bringing the whole stack online the way it would run in a real emergency—because in an outage, the business doesn’t need a folder back. It needs operations back.

That’s where most tests fail: networking and usability. A proper DR test includes configuring what’s required so you and your users can actually connect (VPN, firewall rules, routing, access paths) and then validating that your business-critical applications and workflows function as expected. Not just “server started,” but “we can log in, open the systems that matter, and do real work.”

Finally, a real test is repeatable. You execute the DR runbook/playbook end-to-end, automating every repeatable step, and documenting the results so the next test is faster, cleaner, and less dependent on “the one person who knows how it works.” The goal isn’t a one-time victory—it’s a proven recovery process you can trust when it counts.

How Servosity makes DRaaS easier

This is exactly where Servosity comes in: we document the runbook and automate the repeatable pieces of your DRaaS testing so your first test becomes the blueprint for every test after it. Instead of rebuilding the process from scratch each quarter, you get a streamlined, proven routine—bring the environment online, confirm connectivity, validate app workflows, and capture results—so your team isn’t guessing during a real event and you’ve got proof that recovery is actually operational.

The Difference When Disaster Strikes

Picture two scenarios when a client calls with ransomware across their entire network:

Without tested DRaaS: Panic. Does anyone remember how their firewall was configured? Who has the credentials? Where are the docs? Can we even get our network engineer—he's dealing with his own family emergency from the same regional disaster. You're scrambling to figure out connectivity while the client watches their business bleed money.

With Servosity: You call us. We spin up their servers in the cloud. All network connectivity is already configured from the last quarterly test. You have a documented runbook showing exactly what to expect and how long recovery takes. Your client is running in the cloud while you figure out the longer-term fix.

Building the Foundation First

The testing pyramid isn't just a framework—it's a philosophy. You can't trust your quarterly DRaaS test if you haven't verified the underlying data is good. You can't trust monthly boot tests if you haven't caught the corruption that happened since last month. Everything builds on the daily foundation.

Most MSPs we talk to aren't doing daily verification because they simply don't have the bandwidth. That's not a criticism—it's the reality of running an MSP. But it means they're building their disaster recovery confidence on an untested foundation.

We built Servosity to handle these layers automatically because we've seen what happens when they're skipped. We've talked to MSPs who got ransomed and discovered their "good" backups weren't good. We've seen the look on an owner's face when they realize backups haven't actually been working for weeks.

That's the gap we fill. Not just backup storage, but verified, tested, proven backup with cryptographic proof at every layer. So when your client calls in their worst moment, you have confidence instead of hope.