@mdovey
Matthew,
Your concerns are more than reasonable. As for your questions:
i) Will Nakivo have to go through this approval process every time there is an update to the software?
As far as we know, yes, it is. But the approval process is from the Synology side. NAKIVO just applies and waits for their approval. And we hope the next release will be faster.
ii) Part of the trouble-shooting process often involves installing pre-release, beta or bespoke builds of the software. I can't see how this would work if there isn't a means for Synology to use external installers.
NAKIVO always releases the Beta version for testing/demo before the GA version.If you have no environment to use the Beta (for example, on Synology DSM7), you can deploy NAKIVO Backup & Replication as VA in the VMWare for testing.
At the moment, we are trying to figure how to adjust this new requirement from Synology. We are constantly releasing new versions to offer the most to our customers. However, now, we are aiming to find ways of accelerating the approval process on Synology side.
I understand your frustration. And I honestly hope to inform you soon about an alternative solution to this compatibility issue.