A Beginner’s Guide to Microsoft Azure Backup

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Microsoft Azure is a top cloud computing vendor. Azure offers a wide range of cloud services, from storage and back, through mobile and networking, to Artificial Intelligence and DevOps. In this article, you will learn about the backup options offered by Azure, how Azure pricing model works for backup services, and what are the key Azure backup features you should use.

What Is Azure Backup?

Backup is a service offered by Azure that you can use to backup data to the Azure cloud. You can use it for on-premises and Azure-hosted virtual machines (VMs). Backup is based on the Microsoft Azure Recovery Services (MARS) agent and uses a Backup Service Vault, connected to Azure storage services.

Backup is often used in combination with Azure Site Recovery. Site Recovery is a service you can use to duplicate your data across regions for disaster recovery. Together, Backup and Site Recovery can help you create a comprehensive data loss protection plan.

What Can You Back Up with Azure?

Backup enables you to restore data from Windows-based virtual machines (VMs) hosted in Azure and Windows VMs hosted on-premises. If you use Backup in combination with the MARS backup server or Data Protection Manager (DPM) or MARS backup server, you can back up any on-premises or Azure-hosted machines.

Data that you can backup includes:

• Files
• Folders
• System states
• App-specific data
• Fileshares
• Machine configurations

Source: Microsoft

Backing Up Local Windows Servers with Azure

As previously mentioned, you can use Azure Backup to backup on-premises Windows machines and servers. To accomplish this, you need to install the MARS agent on the server you wish to backup. This agent then interfaces with your Windows Server System State to ensure that files and folders are protected.

To backup locally with the MARS agent, you can either:

• Run the agent directly on on-premises machines and backup directly to your Recovery Services vault in Azure.
• Run the agent on a System Center Data Protection — Manager (DPM) server or Microsoft Azure Backup Server (MABS). When used this way, backups are first created on your MABS/DPM machine and then transferred to Azure via the MARS agent.

Useful Features of Azure Backup

Several useful features that come with Azure Backup, including the following.

Multiple Storage Options

Backup provides you with two storage options, depending on your needs and budget. These options are Locally-Redundant Storage (LRS) and Geo-Redundant Storage (GRS).

LRS enables you to store multiple backup copies in the same region as your source data. You can keep up to three copies of data to protect against loss or corruption. However, if you lose access to the region in which your data is kept, you have no way of accessing your backups until that region is restored. This option is a lower-cost option and is useful for protecting against local hardware failures.

GRS enables you to store backups in a separate region from your source data. This enables you to use the backup as a fallback in case of regional outage or failure. It also enables you to segregate your backups from your source data for greater security. This option is more expensive but can provide greater data protection and accessibility.

Granular Backups

When you create backups using Azure Backup, you create files that can be restored granularly. This means that you can restore individual files or whole machines, depending on your needs. This is similar to backups created in traditional file systems and different from other cloud snapshots that require you to restore all or nothing.

The ability to choose exactly which files to restore enables you to prioritize restoration processes and eliminates wasted effort. It also prevents you from having to restore entire systems to previous states. This freedom protects data that has changed since the backup was made.

When you need to restore files, you can do so easily by connecting your recovery point to the destination machine. Once it is connected, you just need to copy files from the backup to your machine.

Multiple Interfaces

There are multiple ways you can access and manage Backup services:

• Azure Portal — a browser-based dashboard you can use to manage Backup and other Azure services. It includes features for reporting, monitoring, configuration, and for accessing support services
• Azure Cloud Shell — a browser-based CLI that can mimic Bash or PowerShell.
• Azure PowerShell — a set of cmdlets that you can use directly from your PowerShell CLI to control Azure services, including Backup.

Portal provides a more user-friendly interface and is good for users who are unfamiliar with command line use. The shell options are less user-friendly but enable you to integrate Backup management into your existing workflows. The shell tools also enable you to use custom scripts and API calls to automate Backup management.

Built-In Security

When used in combination with a Recovery Services Vault, Backup provides access to several built-in security features. These include alerting, incident prevention, and recovery.

Incident prevention features enable you to apply an authentication layer to higher-risk functions. For example, passphrase modification or backup deletion. Authentication ensures that only permitted users can access backups, reducing the chance of accidental modification or breach by attackers.

Alert features enable you to set up email notifications for events that affect backup availability. For example, if backups are moved or if data is deleted. These alerts enable you to better track the status of your backups and to audit who is making changes to data.

Recovery features enable you to restore backups that have been accidentally or maliciously deleted. Any time a backup is deleted, it is retained for 14 days before being permanently erased. This allows you to easily restore backups if needed.

The Azure Backup Pricing Model

To ensure that you are managing your backups as cost-effectively as possible, it is important to understand the pricing model that Azure uses. Pricing is based on the following elements:

• Fixed service pricing — the fixed pricing associated with using Backup with a specific service. This is applied on a per-instance or database basis according to resource size.
• Bandwidth cost — costs for bandwidth used to transfer data. This cost typically decreases with each subsequent backup since backups are incremental (meaning that less data needs to be transferred).
• Storage space — cost of storage space required to house backups. This is affected by how often you create backups, how many copies you store, and for how long. Which storage tiers you use is also a factor.

Conclusion

Azure offers a variety of backup services that you can use to create cloud-based and hybrid-based backups for your data and operations. The pricing model for backup can be calculated as fixed per service, according to bandwidth usage, and according to storage space. You can optimize backup space and cost by alternating between multiple storage options and enabling granular backup. This will help you gain more control over backup optimization.