ProviNET’s Recommended Best Practices (MSP)

At ProviNET, we believe in clarity and precision. We work hand-in-hand with you to create a strategic IT roadmap based on our recommended best practices, helping you define your long-term IT objectives. With our strategic IT management, we don’t just promise enhanced value and productivity – we illustrate what these improvements entail. In order to obtain the best possible outcomes, ProviNET maintains these recommended best practices.

ProviNET’s Recommended Best Practices for the Managed Services Program

Network and Power Equipment

Firewall

 

Approved

Supported

Unsupported

Manufacturers

SonicWALL

Fortinet

Cisco

Meraki

Watchguard

ISP provided routers

Consumer grade routers

Age

Less than 5 years old

Less than 5 years old

Greater than 5 years old

Subscriptions

Current Advanced Threat Protection Subscription

Current Advanced Threat Protection Subscription

Missing or Lapsed Advanced Threat Protection Subscription

Network Switches

 

Approved

Supported

Unsupported

Manufacturers

Aruba

Cisco

Meraki

Dell

Extreme

Fortinet

HP

Juniper

Ruckus

Ubiquiti

Consumer grade switches

Age

Less than 5 years old

Less than 7 years old

Greater than 7 years old

Speed

10/100/1000 Mbps or greater

10/100/1000 Mbps or greater

10/100 Mbps or less

Management

Fully managed

Fully managed

Unmanaged

WiFi Access Points

 

Approved

Supported

Unsupported

Manufacturers

Aruba

Cisco

Meraki

Ruckus

Extreme

Fortinet

Juniper

Xirrus

Ubiquiti

Consumer Grade

Age

Less than 5 years old

Less than 5 years old

Greater than 5 years old

Management

Centralized Management and Monitoring Capabilities

Centralized Management and Monitoring Capabilities

No Centralized Management and Monitoring Capabilities

Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS)

 

Approved

Supported

Unsupported

Manufacturers

APC

Eaton

CyberPower

Dell

Emerson

HP

Liebert

Tripp Lite

Consumer Grade

Age

Less than 5 years old

Less than 5 years old

Greater than 5 years old

Management

Network Management Card

Network Management Card

No Network Management Card

Servers and Applications

Server Hardware

 

Approved

Supported

Unsupported

Manufacturers

Dell

HP

IBM

Lenovo

Whitebox

End User Assembled

Age

Less than 5 years old

Less than 5 years old

Greater than 5 years old

Warranty

Must be under Hardware Warranty from Manufacturer

Must be under Hardware Warranty from Manufacturer

No Hardware Warranty

Storage Area Network (SAN)

 

Approved

Supported

Unsupported

Manufacturers

Dell EMC PowerVault

Dell EMC Unity

HPE MSA

HPE Nimble

Dell EqualLogic

Consumer Grade

Age

Less than 5 years old

Less than 5 years old

Greater than 5 years old

Warranty

Must be under Hardware Warranty from Manufacturer

Must be under Hardware Warranty from Manufacturer

No Hardware Warranty

Network Attached Storage (NAS)

 

Approved

Supported

Unsupported

Manufacturers

Synology

Buffalo

QNAP

Consumer Grade

Age

Less than 5 years old

Less than 5 years old

Greater than 5 years old

Warranty

Under Hardware Warranty from Manufacturer

Under Hardware Warranty from Manufacturer

No Hardware Warranty

Operating System

 

Approved

Supported

Unsupported

Manufacturers

Microsoft

Microsoft

AS400

Linux

Version

Windows Server 2022

Windows Server 2019

Windows Server 2016

Windows Server 2012 *

 

* On-premise thru 10/10/23,

Azure thru 10/13/26

Operating System versions that have reached full end of support
from Manufacturer

Licensing

CSP

Enterprise Agreement

Volume Licensing

OEM

Unlicensed

Hypervisor

 

Approved

Supported

Unsupported

Manufacturers

VMware

Microsoft Hyper-V

Linux, Zen

Version

Supported version from Manufacturer

Supported version from Manufacturer

Greater than 5 years old

Backup and Disaster Recovery

 

Approved

Supported

Unsupported

Manufacturers

Datto

Cove

Axcient

Unitrends

Veeam

Windows Backup

External USB Drives

Version

Supported version from Manufacturer

Supported version from Manufacturer

No support from manufacturer

Miscellaneous

Must have immutable cloud storage

Must have immutable cloud storage

Local storage only

Line of Business Applications

 

Approved

Supported

Unsupported

Version

Supported version from manufacturer and be supported on approved
server/workstation operating systems

Supported version from manufacturer

Self-developed software

Software that is not compatible with installed OS

Warranty

Must have software maintenance and support contract

Must have software maintenance and support contract

 

Desktop/Laptops

Server Hardware

 

Approved

Supported

Unsupported

Manufacturers

Dell

HP

Lenovo

Apple

End User Assembled

Retired workstations with unsupported OS

Linux OS

Machines not running Pro or Enterprise editions of OS

Age

Less than 5 years old

Less than 5 years old

Greater than 5 years old

Warranty

Recommended warranty for 3 years but not required for
desktops/laptops.

OS under active support by Microsoft.

Recommended warranty for 3 years but not required for
desktops/laptops.

OS under active support by manufacturer.