✅ Secure Your Workloads with Azure Backup

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Azure Backup

Secure Your Workloads with Azure Backup

By [Your Name], Tech Trends and Insights

Azure Backup lets you back up Azure VMs, on-premises servers, Azure file shares, and workloads like SQL Server or SAP HANA running on Azure VMs. It’s a secure, scalable way to protect your data.

Key Benefits

  • No Infrastructure Needed: Backup without managing servers or storage.
  • Long-term Retention: Keep backups for years with automatic cleanup.
  • Top Security: Encrypted data, role-based access, and soft delete for extra protection.
  • High Availability: Choose LRS, GRS, or ZRS replication options.
  • Easy Management: Monitor and manage from a Recovery Services vault.

Scenarios Supported by Azure Backup

  • Azure VMs: Back up Windows or Linux VMs with isolated, optimized backups stored in a Recovery Services vault for easy restore.
  • On-Premises: Protect files, folders, and system state with the MARS agent, or use MABS/DPM for Hyper-V, VMware, and other workloads.
  • Azure File Shares: Manage snapshots for quick recovery with Azure Backup.
  • SQL Server & SAP HANA on Azure VMs: Streamlined, workload-aware backups (full, differential, log) with 15-minute RPO and point-in-time restore.

Recovery Services Vault

Azure Backup uses a Recovery Services vault to store and manage backup data. It’s a simple way to handle backups and restores without managing storage accounts—just pick a vault, and your VM data is securely transferred in the background. The vault also supports role-based access control for secure data access.

Snapshots

A snapshot is a point-in-time backup of all disks on a VM. Azure Backup uses extensions for different OS:

  • Windows (VM Snapshot): Uses VSS to copy disk and memory data.
  • Linux (VM SnapshotLinux): Copies the disk (custom scripts needed for app state).

Consistency Levels:

  • Application-Consistent: Captures VM memory and I/O with VSS (Windows) or scripts (Linux) for full consistency.
  • File System-Consistent: Taken if VSS/scripts fail—ensures no corruption, but apps may need cleanup on restore.
  • Crash-Consistent: Happens if the VM is off—no memory or I/O captured, no data consistency guaranteed.

How to Set Up Azure Backup for a VM

  1. Create your VM and resource group if not already done.
  2. Select your VM in the Azure Portal.
  3. In the middle pane, go to Features, scroll down, and select Backup.
  4. In the Backup pane, choose the Standard option. Accept defaults:
    • Backup Vault: vaultXXX
    • Backup Policy: DailyPolicy-xxxxxxxx (daily backup at 12:00 UTC, 180-day retention)
  5. Click Enable Backup.

Once deployed, return to the VM, go to Features > Backup. To run the first backup, select Backup Now from the top menu and click OK.

Monitor Backups in the Portal

Check Status for a Single VM:

  1. From the Azure Portal, select All Resources.
  2. Search for Virtual Machines and pick your VM (e.g., NW-APP01).
  3. Go to Features > Backup to see the latest backup status.

Check Status in Recovery Services Vault:

  1. From All Resources, filter by type and select your Recovery Services vault.
  2. In the Overview pane, click the Backup tab to see all backup items, storage usage, and job status.

Restore Types

Azure Backup offers multiple ways to restore a VM from snapshots (for quick recovery) or the vault:

  • Create New VM: Quickly spins up a basic VM from a restore point in the same region.
  • Restore Disk: Restores disks to a resource group with a template to customize or attach to an existing VM.
  • Replace Existing: Swaps a disk on an existing VM with a restore point (requires the VM to still exist).
  • Cross Region Restore: Restores VMs or disks to a secondary paired Azure region (supports Create VM and Restore Disk).
  • Cross Subscription Restore: Restores to another subscription in the same tenant if enabled (managed VMs only, no snapshots).
  • Cross Zonal Restore: Restores VMs or disks to different availability zones (managed VMs only, no snapshots).
  • Selective Disk Backup: Backs up and restores specific VM disks via Enhanced Policy—great for critical data or cost-saving.

Restore a Virtual Machine in the Azure Portal

Create a storage account for staging before restoring:

  1. Log in to the Azure Portal with your account.
  2. Search for Storage Accounts in the top bar and select it.
  3. Create a new storage account:
    • Name: Use a unique name like restorestagingYYYYMMDD (e.g., restorestaging20250327).
    • Region: Choose the same region as your VM.
  4. Click Create.

Restore the VM

Important: Shut down the VM before restoring—a backup cannot be restored while the VM is running, or it will fail.

  1. Go to your VM in the Azure Portal.
  2. Scroll down to Backup under Features.
  3. Click Restore VM in the top menu.
  4. In the Restore Virtual Machine window, under Restore Point, click Select.
  5. In the Select Restore Point window:
    • Set the start date (e.g., 07/05/2021) to find your restore point.
    • Choose the desired restore point and click OK.

Track a Restore

Monitor the restore progress:

  1. In the Alerts and Jobs section, click View All Jobs to open the Backup Jobs pane.
  2. In the Details column, select View Details for your restore job.
  3. In the Restore Progress window (e.g., for NW-APP01):
    • Job Info: Details of the restore job.
    • Job Status: Real-time progress.
    • Subtasks: Task names and statuses within the job.

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