Automated deployment of Veeam in Microsoft Azure - Part 1

For those that saw this post and the video demo that walks through the manual steps to get your instance of Veeam Backup & Replication running in Microsoft Azure. I decided although that was still quick to deploy it can always be quicker. Then following on from this post we will then look at the automation of the Veeam configuration as well as the direct restore functionality from in this instance Microsoft Azure Blob Storage into Azure VMs.

Installing Azure PowerShell

In order for us to start this automated deployment we need to install locally on our machine the Azure PowerShell module.

More details of that can be found here.

Run the following code on your system.


if ($PSVersionTable.PSEdition -eq 'Desktop' -and (Get-Module -Name AzureRM -ListAvailable)) {

    Write-Warning -Message ('Az module not installed. Having both the AzureRM and ' +

      'Az modules installed at the same time is not supported.')

} else {

    Install-Module -Name Az -AllowClobber -Scope CurrentUser

Select either [Y] Yes or [A] Yes to All as this is an untrusted repository. You can also change currentuser to allusers if you wish to enable for all users on the local machine.

Breaking down the code

This section is going to talk through the steps taken in the code, the way in which this will work though is by taking this code from the GitHub Repository you will be able to modify the variables and begin testing yourself without any actual code changes.

First we need to connect to our Azure account, this will provide you with a web browser to login to your Azure Portal, if you are using MFA then this will enable you to authenticate this way also.


# Connect to Azure with a browser sign in token

Connect-AzAccount

Next we want to start defining what, where and how we want this to look in our Azure accounts. It should be pretty straight forward to understand the following but

locName = Azure Location

Publisher Name = Veeam

Offer Name = is the particular offering we wish to deploy from the publisher, there are quite a few so expect to see other options using this method.

SkuName = what product sku of the offering do you wish to use

version = what version of the product


# Set the Marketplace image

$locName="EASTUS"

$pubName="veeam"

$offerName="veeam-backup-replication"

$skuName="veeam-backup-replication-v10"

$version = "10.0.1"

The following are aligned to the environment.

resourcegroup = which resource group do you wish to use this can be an existing resource group or a new name

vmname = what name do you wish your Veeam Backup & Replication server to have within your Azure environment

vmsize = this is the image that will be used, my advice to pick the supported sizes, this is the default size used for production environments.


# Variables for common values

$resourceGroup = "CadeTestingVBR"

$vmName = "CadeVBR"

$vmSize = "Standard_F4s_v2"

Next we need to agree to the license terms of deploying from the marketplace for this specific VM Image. The following commands will do this.


Get-AzVMImage -Location $locName -PublisherName $pubName -Offer $offerName -Skus $skuName -Version $version



$agreementTerms=Get-AzMarketplaceterms -Publisher "veeam" -Product "veeam-backup-replication" -Name "10.0.1"



Set-AzMarketplaceTerms -Publisher "veeam" -Product "veeam-backup-replication" -Name "10.0.1" -Terms $agreementTerms -Accept

If you wish to review the terms then you can do by running the following command. Spoiler alert the command will give you a link to a txt file to save you the hassle here is the link in the txt file where you will find the Veeam EULA – https://www.veeam.com/eula.html


Get-AzMarketplaceTerms -Publisher "veeam" -Product "veeam-backup-replication" -Name "10.0.1"

Next we need to start defining how our Veeam Backup & Replication server will look in regards to configuration of network, authentication and security.

I also wanted to keep this script following best practice and not containing any usernames or passwords so the first config setting is to gather the username and password for your deployed machine in a secure string.


# Create user object

$cred = Get-Credential -Message "Enter a username and password for the virtual machine."

Create a resource group


# Create a resource group



New-AzResourceGroup -Name $resourceGroup -Location $locname -force

Create a subnet configuration


# Create a subnet configuration

$subnetConfig = New-AzVirtualNetworkSubnetConfig -Name "cadesubvbr" -AddressPrefix 10.0.0.0/24

Create a virtual network


# Create a virtual network

$vnet = New-AzVirtualNetwork -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroup -Location $locName `

  -Name CadeVBRNet -AddressPrefix 10.0.0.0/24 -Subnet $subnetConfig

Create a public IP Address


# Create a public IP address and specify a DNS name

$pip = New-AzPublicIpAddress -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroup -Location $locName `

  -Name "CadeVBR$(Get-Random)" -AllocationMethod Static -IdleTimeoutInMinutes 4

Create inbound security group rule for RDP


# Create an inbound network security group rule for port 3389

$nsgRuleRDP = New-AzNetworkSecurityRuleConfig -Name CadeVBRSecurityGroupRuleRDP  -Protocol Tcp `

  -Direction Inbound -Priority 1000 -SourceAddressPrefix * -SourcePortRange * -DestinationAddressPrefix * `

  -DestinationPortRange 3389 -Access Allow

Create network security group


# Create a network security group

$nsg = New-AzNetworkSecurityGroup -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroup -Location $locName `

  -Name CadeVBRNetSecurityGroup -SecurityRules $nsgRuleRDP

Create a virtual network


# Create a virtual network card and associate with public IP address and NSG

$nic = New-AzNetworkInterface -Name CadeVBRNIC -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroup -Location $locName `

  -SubnetId $vnet.Subnets&#91;0].Id -PublicIpAddressId $pip.Id -NetworkSecurityGroupId $nsg.Id

Next we need to define what the virtual machine configuration is going to look in our environment using the above environment configurations.


#Create a virtual machine configuration



$vmConfig = New-AzVMConfig -VMName "$vmName" -VMSize $vmSize 

$vmConfig = Set-AzVMPlan -VM $vmConfig -Publisher $pubName -Product $offerName -Name $skuName

$vmConfig = Set-AzVMOperatingSystem -Windows -VM $vmConfig -ComputerName $vmName -Credential $cred

$vmConfig = Set-AzVMSourceImage -VM $vmConfig -PublisherName $pubName -Offer $offerName -Skus $skuName -Version $version

$vmConfig = Add-AzVMNetworkInterface -Id $nic.Id -VM $vmConfig

Then now we have everything we need we can now begin deploying the machine.


# Create a virtual machine

New-AzVM -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroup -Location $locName -VM $vmConfig

If you saw the video demo you would have seen that the deployment really does not take long at all, I actually think using this method is a little faster either way less than 5 minutes to quickly deploy a Veeam Backup & Replication server in Microsoft Azure.

Now that we have our machine there is one thing we want to do to ensure the next stages of configuration run smoothly. Out of the box there is a requirement for Azure PowerShell to be installed to be able to use the Azure Compute accounts and Direct Restore to Microsoft Azure. The installer is already on the deployed box and if we go through manually you would have to just install that msi instead in this script we remote run a powershell script from GitHub that will do it for you.


# Start Script installation of Azure PowerShell requirement for adding Azure Compute Account

Set-AzVMCustomScriptExtension -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroup `

    -VMName $vmName `

    -Location $locName `

    -FileUri https://raw.githubusercontent.com/MichaelCade/veeamdr/master/AzurePowerShellInstaller.ps1 `

    -Run 'AzurePowerShellInstaller.ps1' `

    -Name DemoScriptExtension

At this stage the PowerShell installation for me has required a reboot but it is very fast and generally up within 10-15 seconds. So we run the following command to pause the command before then understanding what that public IP is and then start a Windows Remote Desktop to that IP address.


Start-Sleep -s 15



Write-host "Your public IP address is $($pip.IpAddress)"

mstsc /v:$($pip.IpAddress)

Now, this might seem like a long winded approach to getting something up and running but with this combined into one script and you having the ability to create all of this on demand brings a powerful story to being able to recover workloads into Microsoft Azure.

In the next parts to this post will concentrate on a configuration script which is where we will configure Veeam Backup & Replication to attach the Microsoft Azure Blob Storage where our backups reside, Our Azure Compute Account and then we can look at how we could automate end to end this process to bring your machines up in Microsoft Azure when you need them or before you need them.

here is the complete script


# Connect to Azure with a browser sign in token

Connect-AzAccount



# Set the Marketplace image

$locName="EASTUS"

$pubName="veeam"

$offerName="veeam-backup-replication"

$skuName="veeam-backup-replication-v10"

$version = "10.0.1"



# Variables for common values

$resourceGroup = "CadeTestingVBR"

$vmName = "CadeVBR"

$vmSize = "Standard_F4s_v2"

$StorageSku = "Premium_LRS"

$StorageName = "cadestorage"



Get-AzVMImage -Location $locName -PublisherName $pubName -Offer $offerName -Skus $skuName -Version $version



$agreementTerms=Get-AzMarketplaceterms -Publisher "veeam" -Product "veeam-backup-replication" -Name "10.0.1"



Set-AzMarketplaceTerms -Publisher "veeam" -Product "veeam-backup-replication" -Name "10.0.1" -Terms $agreementTerms -Accept





# Create user object

$cred = Get-Credential -Message "Enter a username and password for the virtual machine."



# Create a resource group



New-AzResourceGroup -Name $resourceGroup -Location $locname -force



# Create a subnet configuration

$subnetConfig = New-AzVirtualNetworkSubnetConfig -Name "cadesubvbr" -AddressPrefix 10.0.0.0/24



# Create a virtual network

$vnet = New-AzVirtualNetwork -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroup -Location $locName `

  -Name CadeVBRNet -AddressPrefix 10.0.0.0/24 -Subnet $subnetConfig



# Create a public IP address and specify a DNS name

$pip = New-AzPublicIpAddress -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroup -Location $locName `

  -Name "CadeVBR$(Get-Random)" -AllocationMethod Static -IdleTimeoutInMinutes 4



# Create an inbound network security group rule for port 3389

$nsgRuleRDP = New-AzNetworkSecurityRuleConfig -Name CadeVBRSecurityGroupRuleRDP  -Protocol Tcp `

  -Direction Inbound -Priority 1000 -SourceAddressPrefix * -SourcePortRange * -DestinationAddressPrefix * `

  -DestinationPortRange 3389 -Access Allow



# Create a network security group

$nsg = New-AzNetworkSecurityGroup -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroup -Location $locName `

  -Name CadeVBRNetSecurityGroup -SecurityRules $nsgRuleRDP



# Create a virtual network card and associate with public IP address and NSG

$nic = New-AzNetworkInterface -Name CadeVBRNIC -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroup -Location $locName `

  -SubnetId $vnet.Subnets&#91;0].Id -PublicIpAddressId $pip.Id -NetworkSecurityGroupId $nsg.Id



# Create a virtual machine configuration

#vmConfig = New-AzVMConfig -VMName $vmName -VMSize $vmSize | `

#Set-AzVMOperatingSystem -Windows -ComputerName $vmName -Credential $cred | `

#Set-AzVMSourceImage -VM $vmConfig -PublisherName $pubName -Offer $offerName -Skus $skuName -Version $version | `

#Add-AzVMNetworkInterface -Id $nic.Id



#Create a virtual machine configuration



$vmConfig = New-AzVMConfig -VMName "$vmName" -VMSize $vmSize 

$vmConfig = Set-AzVMPlan -VM $vmConfig -Publisher $pubName -Product $offerName -Name $skuName

$vmConfig = Set-AzVMOperatingSystem -Windows -VM $vmConfig -ComputerName $vmName -Credential $cred

$vmConfig = Set-AzVMSourceImage -VM $vmConfig -PublisherName $pubName -Offer $offerName -Skus $skuName -Version $version

$vmConfig = Add-AzVMNetworkInterface -Id $nic.Id -VM $vmConfig



# Create a virtual machine

New-AzVM -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroup -Location $locName -VM $vmConfig



# Start Script installation of Azure PowerShell requirement for adding Azure Compute Account

Set-AzVMCustomScriptExtension -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroup `

    -VMName $vmName `

    -Location $locName `

    -FileUri https://raw.githubusercontent.com/MichaelCade/veeamdr/master/AzurePowerShellInstaller.ps1 `

    -Run 'AzurePowerShellInstaller.ps1' `

    -Name DemoScriptExtension



Start-Sleep -s 15



Write-host "Your public IP address is $($pip.IpAddress)"

mstsc /v:$($pip.IpAddress)

You can also find this version and updated versions of this script here in my GitHub repository.

Any comments feedback either down below here, twitter or on GitHub.

Automated deployment of Veeam in Microsoft Azure – Part 1

Installing Azure PowerShell

Breaking down the code

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Automated deployment of Veeam in Microsoft Azure – Part 1

Installing Azure PowerShell

Breaking down the code

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