Account Types: MSP vs. Direct
Every BYOVault account is exactly one of two types: MSP or Direct. The type is chosen at signup and determines how many client tenants that account is allowed to connect.
How the type is set
An account is either an MSP account or a Direct account. It is chosen once, at signup. It is not inferred from behavior — an account created as Direct stays Direct until something explicitly changes it.
The real difference between the two types
The only functional difference the two account types produce is how many client tenants an account is permitted to connect. Direct accounts are limited to a single tenant; upgrading to an MSP account removes this limit.
Regardless of account type, a given Microsoft 365 tenant can only ever be registered to one BYOVault account.
Changing an account’s type
Contact BYOVault support to change an account’s type. Upgrading a Direct account to MSP lifts the one-tenant limit going forward.
It does not retroactively alter any tenant the account already has.
What does not differ between the two types
Every other capability described throughout the MSP & Multi-Tenancy section is available identically to both account types:
- Per-tenant storage destination
- Per-tenant backup schedule and workload selection
- Retention-vault configuration
- The option to register a separate Azure AD app per tenant
A direct account with its single tenant configures that tenant exactly the same way an MSP configures each of its clients; it is simply capped at one.