Azure Backup is a backup as a service solution that supports a range of different workloads.
Within this hands-on lab, you will have the opportunity to gain experience configuring Azure Backup for a virtual machine. We will be using the virtual machine direct method.
Learning Objectives
Successfully complete this lab by achieving the following learning objectives:
- Create a Recovery Services Vault
Use the Azure Portal to perform the following tasks. Please log in with the credentials provided to you for this lab.
Please take note of the region in use for all of the resources that have been deployed for you, as we will need to use the same region in the following steps.
Create a Recovery Services Vault
- Click on the + Create a resource option.
- Search for ‘backup and site recovery’.
- Choose the Backup and Site Recovery option, then click on ‘Create’
- Create the recovery services vault with the following settings:
- Basics
- Subscription: Select the existing subscription
- Resource group: Select the existing resource group
- Name:
vault1 - Region: Select the region in use for your existing resources
- Click on Review + create
- Basics
- Create a Backup Policy
Use the Azure Portal to perform the following tasks. Please log in with the credentials provided to you for this lab.
Create a Backup Policy
- Navigate to the recovery services vault,
vault1, which you just created. You may search forvault1, access via all resources, or through the ‘Recovery Services vault’ service page. - Click on Backup policies in the Manage section of the resource menu on the left-hand side.
- Click + Add within the resource command menu.
- Choose Azure Virtual Machine for the Policy Type.
- Create a policy with the following settings:
- Policy name: NightlyVMBackup
- Frequency: Daily
- Time: 9:00 PM
- Timezone: Select your own timezone
- Instant restore: 1 day
- Retention range: Daily for 7 days
- No retention of weekly/monthly/yearly
- Azure Backup Resource Group: Leave blank
- Click Create.
- Enable Backups for VM1
Use the Azure Portal to perform the following tasks. Please log in with the credentials provided to you for this lab.
Enable Backups for VM1
- Navigate to the virtual machine,
vm1, which has been created for you. You may search forvm1, access via all resources, or through the ‘Virtual Machines’ service page. - Click on Backup in the Operations section of the resource menu on the left-hand side.
- Enable backups:
- Recovery Services vault: select existing, vault1
- Choose backup policy: NightlyVMBackup
- Click Enable Backup
Additional Information
Azure Backup for virtual machines direct is a very simple process to enable. So the steps you’ve completed above are all that is required.
If you are configuring backups in your own environment, you might choose to:
- Force a backup, using ‘Backup now’
- Perform a VM restore, using ‘Restore VM’
- Recover data, using ‘File Recovery’
Note that the backup and restore experience is different, depending on the Azure Backup solution you use. Azure Backup includes several other agents for different workloads and scenarios.
