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Setup a vault and Backup Azure VMs

Create the vault​

  1. Logon to the Azure Portal
  2. Search for Backup center and browse the Backup Center dashboard
  3. Under Overview, click on +Vault
  4. Select Recovery Services vault > Continue
  5. Fill out the following:
    1. Subscription: choose the subscription you want to use
    2. Resource group: you can use an existing resource group or create a new one
    3. Vault name: something friendly that you can easily identity as a vault
    4. Region: select the region for the vault - note this has to be the same as the region of the VMs
  6. Click Review + create
  7. Click Create

Modify the storage replication​

  1. Click on your new vault
  2. Browse Properties under the Settings section
  3. Under Backup configuration, select Update
  4. Choose the storage replication that you'd like, here's the differences:
    1. Geo-redunant storage (default and recommeneded): copies your data three times in a single physical location, and this it copies your data to another single physical location hundreds of miles away from the primary region
    2. Locally-redundant storage: replicates your data three times within a single physical location. LRS does not copy that data off to another location
    3. Zone-redundant storage: replicates your data across three availability zones within the primary region. ZRS does not copy that data off to another location

Apply a backup policy​

  1. Whilst in the Backup Center, click +Backup from the Overview tab
    1. Datasource type: Azure Virtual machines
    2. Vault: the new vault you created
  2. Assign a backup policy, we will be using the DefaultPolicy
    note

    The default policy backs up a VM once a daily and the backups are retained for 30 days. Instant recovery snapshots are maintainted for two days.

  3. Under Virtual Machines, select Add and select the VM's you want to backup
  4. Click OK
  5. Under Backup, select Enable Backup

Once a backup job is enabled it'll try to do the following:

  • The backup extension will be installed whether or not the VM is running
  • A backup will run in accordance to your backup schedule

Verify a Backup job​

  1. Browse to Backup center > Backup jobs
  2. From here you can see all previous Backup jobs and current ongoing backups.