3.1.4.2. Configure Azure Backup for VMs

💡 First Principle: Azure Backup provides a cloud-native, policy-driven service to protect Azure Virtual Machines by creating regular, application-consistent recovery points, ensuring business continuity and data recoverability without complex backup infrastructure.

Scenario: You need to implement daily backups for all production Virtual Machines, retaining daily backups for 30 days and weekly backups for 12 weeks. In case of a VM failure, you need to be able to restore the entire VM or just specific files from its disks.

What It Is: Azure Backup for VMs is a service within Azure Backup that provides policy-driven backup and restore capabilities for Azure Virtual Machines.

Backup Policy Components:

• Schedule: Defines when backups run (e.g., daily, weekly). This automates the creation of recovery points.
• Retention Range: Determines how long each recovery point is kept (e.g., daily for 30 days, weekly for 12 weeks, monthly for 12 months, yearly for 7 years). This ensures data is retained according to compliance or business needs.

Configuring Backup for a VM:

1. Create or select a Recovery Services vault.
2. Register the VM with the vault.
3. Assign a backup policy (set schedule and retention).
4. Enable backup to start protection.

Restore Process:

• Full VM Restore: Recreates the entire VM from a chosen recovery point.
• Disk Restore: Restores individual disks from a recovery point for attachment to any VM.
• File/Folder Recovery: Mounts a recovery point to extract specific files or folders (without restoring the entire VM).

Visual: Azure VM Backup and Restore Flow

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⚠️ Common Pitfall: Not ensuring application-consistent backups for database servers. A crash-consistent backup might not capture data in memory or pending I/O operations, potentially leading to data corruption upon restore.

Key Trade-Offs:

• Backup Frequency vs. Cost/Performance: More frequent backups (lower RPO) provide better data protection but increase storage costs and can have a minor performance impact on the VM during the snapshot process.

Reflection Question: How does configuring Azure Backup for VMs with a defined backup policy (schedule and retention) fundamentally ensure business continuity and data recoverability by creating regular recovery points and enabling flexible restore options?