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hands-on lab

Back Up and Restore VMs with Azure Backup

Difficulty: Beginner
Duration: Up to 2 hours and 15 minutes
Students: 3,856
Rating: 4.4/5
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Description

Azure Backup is a service for backing up your data in Azure. You can back up Linux and Windows VMs running in Azure with Azure Backup as well as on-premises servers. Azure Backup can be used for more than just backing up machines but this lab focuses on VM backups.

You will use Azure Backup to back up a Windows Server VM running IIS in this lab. You will configure a backup schedule and retention periods using a backup policy. You will finish by restoring the VM back to an earlier state by performing a restore operation. Along the way you will learn the key concepts of Azure Backup.

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this lab you will be able to:

  • Back up and restore virtual machines running in Azure
  • Configure backup policies to schedule backups and define data retention periods
  • Understand how snapshots are created using an Azure Backup VM extension
  • Evaluate the different options available for restoring including in-place instant restores, restore to disks, and restore to new VMs
  • Describe the default consistency level for Windows and Linux VMs in Azure Backup

Intended Audience

This lab is intended for:

  • Azure administrators
  • AZ-104 exam candidates
  • Anyone responsible for backup and retention of virtual machines

Prerequisites

You should be familiar with:

  • Azure VM and Storage Account basics

Updates

October 31st, 2024 - Updated screenshots and instructions to match UI

 

May 31st, 2022 - Updated screenshots and instructions to match UI

September 17th, 2021 - Updated instructions to reflect the latest portal VM backup and restore experience

March 1st, 2021 - Added more uniqueness to the vault name to avoid an issue where Azure does not properly validate the name uniqueness causing the deployment to fail

Environment before

Environment after

Covered topics

Management
Storage
Disaster Recovery
Microsoft Azure
Management for Azure
Storage for Azure
Azure Backup
Hands-on Lab UUID

Lab steps

Logging in to the Microsoft Azure Portal
Creating an Azure Recovery Services Vault (East US)
Connecting to the Azure Virtual Machine (RDP)
Installing IIS on the Lab VM with PowerShell
Backing Up the Lab VM with Azure Backup
Performing a Restore Operation on Lab VM with Azure Backup

Lab Rules