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Backup and Restore

Azure Backup provides a secure, reliable way to protect your Virtual Machines from data loss and corruption. It uses Recovery Services vaults to store recovery points and manage backup policies.

Backup Workflow

graph TD
    A[VM Workload] --> B{Azure VM Backup Extension}
    B --> C[Recovery Services vault]
    C --> D[Initial Full Backup]
    D --> E[Daily Incremental Backups]
    E --> F{Restore Triggered}
    F --> G[New VM]
    F --> H[Existing VM Replace]
    F --> I[Disk Restore]
    F --> J[File Recovery]

Restore Options Comparison

Azure Backup offers several ways to recover data depending on the failure scenario and recovery time objective.

Restore Option Speed Use Case Data Loss Risk
Create New VM Fast Complete VM failure or migration Minimal (to last backup)
Replace Existing Moderate OS corruption or misconfiguration Potential if not careful
Restore Disks Fast Advanced recovery, manual rebuild Minimal (to last backup)
File-level Recovery Very Fast Accidental deletion of specific files None (specific files only)

Backup Configuration

Azure Backup handles infrastructure management, allowing you to focus on protection policies and recovery.

Note

Incremental backups only transfer changed blocks since the last backup, which minimizes storage costs and network usage.

Warning

Deleting a Recovery Services vault requires you to first stop all backup items and delete the backup data.

Tip

Use Cross Region Restore (CRR) to recover VMs in a secondary paired region for disaster recovery scenarios.

See Also

Sources