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Azure Backup is an Azure-based service that can be used to backup (or protect) and restore Microsoft cloud data. Azure Backup replaces existing on-premises or offsite backup solutions with secure, reliable, cost-effective cloud solutions. Azure Backup provides multiple components that can be downloaded and deployed to the appropriate computer, server, or cloud. Choose the component or agent to deploy based on what you want to protect. Whether protecting data on-premises or in the cloud, all Azure backup components can be used to back up data to Azure's Recovery Services Vault.

1. Why do we need Azure backups?

Traditional backup solutions have evolved to view the cloud as an endpoint or static storage target similar to disk/tape. This approach is simple, but limited in utility and does not fully utilize the underlying cloud platform, thus becoming an inefficient and expensive solution. Other solutions are expensive, too, and you end up paying for the wrong type of storage or unwanted storage. Other solutions are often inefficient because they do not provide the type/amount of storage required, or the administrative task takes too much time. In contrast, Azure backup has the following key benefits:

Offloading on-premises backups: Azure Backup provides a simple solution for backing up on-premises resources to the cloud. Get short-and long-term backups without deploying complex on-premises backup solutions.

Backup Azure IaaS VMs: Azure Backup provides independent and isolated backups that protect against accidental corruption of the original data. Backups are stored in a recovery services repository that can host recovery points built-in. Configuration and scalability are simple, and backups are optimized to be easily restored on demand.

Easy scaling- Azure Backup leverages the foundation of Azure Cloud and unlimited scaling for high availability-no maintenance, no monitoring overhead.

Unlimited data transfer- Azure Backup does not limit the amount of inbound or outbound data transferred and does not charge for data transferred.

Outbound data refers to data transferred from the recovery services repository during a restore operation.

If you use Azure Import/Export services to perform an offline initial backup to import large amounts of data, inbound data incurs associated charges.

Secure data: Data can be securely transmitted and stored in the public cloud through data encryption. Encrypted passwords are stored locally and never transferred or stored to Azure. If it is necessary to restore any data, you only need to have an encryption password or key.

Get an application-consistent backup: An application-consistent backup means that the recovery point contains all the data needed to restore the backup copy. Azure Backup provides application-consistent backups, ensuring that no additional patches are required to restore data. Restoring application-consistent data reduces restore time, so you can quickly revert to a running state.

Retention of short-term and long-term data: Recovery service repositories can be used for short-term and long-term data retention. Azure does not limit the length of time data can be retained in the Recovery Services Vault. Data can be retained for any time. Azure backups are limited to 9999 recovery points per protected instance.

Automated storage management-Hybrid environments often require heterogeneous storage (partly on-premises, partly in the cloud). With Azure Backup, you don't have to pay for on-premises storage. Azure Backup automatically allocates and manages backup storage and uses a pay-as-you-go model, so you only pay for the storage consumed.

Multiple storage options- Azure Backup provides two types of replication to keep storage/data highly available.

Locally Redundant Storage (LRS) replicates data three times (creates three copies of data) from storage scaling units in a data center. All copies of the data exist in the same region. LRS is a low-cost option for protecting data from local hardware failures.

Offsite Redundant Storage (GRS) is the default and recommended replication option. GRS copies data to secondary areas miles away from the primary location of the source data. GRS costs more than LRS, but GRS makes data more durable, even in the event of regional failures.

2. What is the difference between Azure Backup and Azure Site Recovery?

Azure Backup and Azure Site Recovery both back up data and restore it. However, these services serve different purposes when it comes to providing business continuity and disaster recovery capabilities to the enterprise. Protect and restore data at a higher level of granularity with Azure backups. For example, if a presentation on a laptop is corrupted, you can restore the presentation using Azure Backup. To replicate configuration and data on VMs across data centers, use Azure Site Recovery.

Azure Backup protects data on-premises and in the cloud. Azure Site Recovery coordinates replication, failover, and failover of virtual machines and physical servers. Azure Site Recovery coordinates replication, failover, and failover of virtual machines and physical servers. Both services are important because disaster recovery solutions need to keep data safe and recoverable (backup) while keeping workloads available in the event of service outages (Site Recovery).

Azure Backup and Azure Site Recovery services help organizations implement business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) strategies. BCDR has two main purposes:

Ensure the security and recoverability of business data in the event of failure.

Ensure applications and workloads are up and running during planned and unplanned downtime.

Both services provide different but complementary functions.

Azure Site Recovery: Site Recovery provides disaster recovery solutions for on-premises computers and Azure VMs. You can copy computers from a primary location to a secondary location. In the event of a disaster, computers can be failed over to a secondary location from which they are accessed. When everything is back to normal, you can perform failback on your computers, restoring them at the primary site.

Azure Backup: Azure Backup Services can back up data from on-premises computers and Azure VMs. Data can be backed up and restored at a granular level, including file, folder, and computer system state backups, as well as application-aware data backups. Azure backup processes data at a finer level of granularity than Site Recovery. For example, if a presentation on a laptop is corrupted, you can restore the presentation using Azure Backup. To ensure security and accessibility of VM configuration and data, use Site Recovery.

The following table collates BCDR requirements

Target

details

comparison

Data backup/retention

Backup data can be retained and stored for days, months, or even years depending on compliance requirements.

Backup solutions such as Azure Backup can fine-tune the data to be backed up and optimize backup and retention policies.

Site Recovery does not allow for such fine tuning.

Recovery Point Objective (RPO)

The amount of data loss that is acceptable if recovery needs to be performed.

The RPO of backups is more variable.

The RPO for VM backups is typically one day, while the RPO for database backups can be as low as 15 minutes.

Site Recovery provides a low RPO because replication is continuous and frequent, so the difference between source and replica is small.

Recovery Time Objective (RTO)

The amount of time required to complete a recovery or restore.

Because of the larger RPO, backup solutions typically need to process more data, which results in longer RTOs. For example, restoring data from tape can take days, depending on how long it takes to transfer tape from offsite.

3. What backup scenarios does Azure Backup support?

Azure Backup backs up on-premises computers and Azure VMs.

computer

backup scheme

local backup

1)Run Azure Backup Microsoft Azure Recovery Services (MARS) Agent on your on-premises Windows machine to back up individual files and system states.

2)Back up your on-premises computer to a backup server (System Center Data Protection Manager (DPM) or Microsoft Azure Backup Server (MABS)), and then configure the backup server to back up to the Azure Backup Recovery Services repository in Azure.

Azure VM

1)Enable backup for a single Azure VM. When backup is enabled, Azure Backup installs an extension in the Azure VM Agent running on the VM. The agent backs up the entire VM.

2)Run the MARS agent on the Azure VM. This is useful if you want to back up individual files and folders on a VM.

3)Backup Azure VMs to DPM servers or MABS running in Azure. Then back up DPM Server/MABS to the vault using Azure Backup.

4. Why use backup servers?

The advantages of backing up computers and applications to MABS/DPM storage and then backing up DPM/MABS storage to the vault are described below:

Backup to MABS/DPM provides application-aware backups on top of file/folder/volume backups and machine state backups (bare metal, system state) optimized for popular applications such as SQL Server, Exchange, and SharePoint.

For local computers, it is not necessary to install the MARS agent on each computer you want to back up. Each computer runs DPM/MABS protection agents, while MARS agents run only on MABS/DPM.

More flexibility and granular scheduling options for running backups.

You can manage backups for multiple computers that have been grouped into protection groups in a single console. This is especially useful when the application tiers across multiple computers and you need to back them up together.

5. What can be backed up?

computer

backup method

backup

Native Windows VM

Run MARS Agent

Backup files, folders, system status.

Linux computers are not supported.

local computer

Backup to DPM/MABS

Backup anything protected by DPM or MABS, including files/folders/shares/volumes and application-specific data.

Azure VM

Run Azure VM Agent Backup Extension

Backup entire VM

Azure VM

Run MARS Agent

Backup files, folders, system status.

Linux computers are not supported.

Azure VM

Backup to MABS/DPM running in Azure

Backup anything protected by MABS or DPM, including files/folders/shares/volumes and application-specific data.

6. What backup agent is required

programme

agent

Backup Azure VMs

No need for agents. When you run your first Azure VM backup, Azure VM extensions for backup are installed on the Azure VM.

Windows and Linux support is available.

Backup local Windows computers

Download, install, and run the MARS agent directly on your computer.

Backup Azure VMs with MARS Agent

Download, install, and run the MARS agent directly on your computer. The MARS agent can run with backup extensions.

Backup local machines and Azure VMs to DPM/MABS

DPM or MABS protection agents run on the computers you want to protect. The MARS agent runs on DPM server/MABS to be backed up to Azure.

7. How do I choose a backup solution versus a proxy?

backup

solutions

limit

I want to back up my entire Azure VM

Enable backups for VMs. Backup extensions are automatically configured on Windows or Linux Azure VMs.

Backup entire VM

In the case of Windows VMs, backups are application consistent backups. In the case of Linux, backups are file-consistent backups. If you need application-aware backups of Linux VMs, you must configure them accordingly using custom scripts.

I want to back up specific files/folders on my Azure VM

Deploy the MARS agent on the VM.

I want to back up my local Windows computer directly

Install the MARS agent on your computer.

You can back up files, folders, and system state to Azure. Backup is not application-aware.

I want to back up my local Linux machine directly

DPM or MABS needs to be deployed before backing up content to Azure.

I want to back up apps that are running locally

For application-aware backups, computers must be protected by DPM or MABS.

want granular and flexible backup and recovery settings for Azure VMs

Protect Azure VMs with MABS/DPM running in Azure, which gives you greater flexibility in backup scheduling and maximum flexibility in protecting and restoring files, folders, volumes, apps, and system state.

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