The use case we are talking about is the ability to recover your backups from maybe on premises up into Microsoft Azure.

I was asked “what about AWS?” and yes of course if you are using the capacity tier option within Veeam Backup & Replication on premises and you are using the copy mode function to land a copy of your backups on AWS S3 or IBM Cloud or any S3 Compatible storage then there could be possible synergies in doing this in AWS, why I chose Microsoft Azure was simply because there is an Azure Marketplace offering we can take advantage of.

If you would like to see a similar series with AWS then let me know either on twitter or in the comments below. This will involve a different way of automating the provisioning of a Windows OS and the installation of Veeam Backup & Replication, but not too hard as we already have this functionality using Terraform & CHEF but only for vSphere but the code can be changed to work with AWS and really any platform that requires this functionality.

Veeam Configuration

As I said if you followed Part 1 of this series then you will have your Veeam server now running in Azure with no Veeam configuration.

In order for us to automate the direct restore process we need to provide some details in the script which i will share in stages and in full at the end of the post. But as a high level we need to

Add Azure Storage Account
Import Backups
Add Azure Compute Account

Then we will take those backups and run the Direct Restore to Microsoft Azure on the appropriate backups in a converted state ready to be powered on, or you can choose to power them on as part of this script process.

Firstly we need to add the Veeam snap in and connect to the local Veeam Backup & Replication Server, depending on where you run this script you will need to change the appropriate localhost below to the relevant DNS or IP Address. It is my recommendation that this is done on the server itself, but I am exploring how this PowerShell script could be hosted on your network and not publicly and used that way to fill in the secure details.

Add-PSSnapin VeeamPSSnapin



#Connects to Veeam backup server.

Connect-VBRServer -server "localhost"

Next we will add the Microsoft Azure Compute Account, this command will prompt you to login and authenticate into Microsoft Azure. I use MFA so this was the only way I could find to achieve this.

#Add Azure Compute Account



Add-VBRAzureAccount -Region Global

Next we will add the storage account, You will need to update the script with the requirements below.

Access Key – this will be based on a storage account that you have already created and you will need the long access key for authentication.

Azure Blob Account – this is the name of the storage blob account you have previously created. This is the same blob account and process that you used for adding Microsoft Azure Blob Storage to Veeam Backup & Replication on premises.

#Add Azure Storage Account 



$accesskey = "ADD AZURE ACCESS KEY"

 

$blob1 = Add-VBRAzureBlobAccount -Name "AZUREBLOBACCOUT" -SharedKey $accesskey

Now we need to add our capacity tier, this is where you have been sending those backups.

#Add Capacity Tier (Microsoft Azure Blob Storage) Repository 



$account = Get-VBRAzureBlobAccount -Name "AZUREBLOBACCOUNT"

 

$connect = Connect-VBRAzureBlobService -Account $account -RegionType Global -ServiceType CapacityTier



$container = Get-VBRAzureBlobContainer -Connection $connect | where {$_.name -eq 'AZURECONTAINER'}



$folder = Get-VBRAzureBlobFolder -Container $container -Connection $connect

The next part to adding capacity tier is important and I have also added this into the script, this repository needs to be added with exactly the same name that you have in your production Veeam Backup & Replication.

#The name needs to be exactly the same as you find in your production Veeam Backup & Replication server

$repositoryname = "REPOSITORYNAME"



Add-VBRAzureBlobRepository -AzureBlobFolder $folder -Connection $connect -Name $repositoryname

Next we need to import and rescan those backups that are in the Azure Blob Storage.

#Import backups from Capacity Tier Repository 



$repository = Get-VBRObjectStorageRepository -Name $repositoryname



Mount-VBRObjectStorageRepository -Repository $repository 

Rescan-VBREntity -AllRepositories

Now if you are using encryption then you will need the following commands instead of the one above.

#if you have used an encryption key then configure this section 



$key = Get-VBREncryptionKey -Description "Object Storage Key"

Mount-VBRObjectStorageRepository -Repository $repository -EncryptionKey $key

At this point if we were to jump into the Veeam Backup & Replication console we would see our Storage and Compute accounts added to the Cloud Credential Manager, we would see the Microsoft Azure Blob Storage container added to our backup repositories and on the home screen you will see the object storage (imported) which is where you will also see the bakcups that reside there.

Next we need to create the variables in order to start our Direct Restore scenarios to Microsoft Azure.

A lot of the variables are quite self explanatory, but as a brief overview you will need to change the following to suit your backups.

VMBACKUPNAME = Which VM is it you want to restore

AZURECOMPUTEACCOUNT = this is the Azure Compute Account you added to Veeam Backup & Replication at the beginning of the script.

SUBSCRIPTIONNAME = you may have multiple subscriptions on one Azure compute account pick the appropriate one here.

STORAGEACCOUNTFORRESTOREDMACHINE = we are going to be converting that backup to your Azure Storage Group

REGION = Which Azure region would you like this to be restored to

$vmsize = this is where you will define what size Azure VM you wish to use here. In this example Basic_A0 is being used, you can change this to suit your workload.

AZURENETWORK = define the Azure Virtual Network you wish this converted machine to live.

SUBNET = Which subnet should the machine live

AZURERESOURCEGROUP = the Azure Resource Group you wish the VM to live

NAMEFORRESTOREDMACHINEINAZURE = Maybe a different naming conversion but this is what you wish to call your machine in Azure.

 #This next section will enable you to automate the Direct Restore to Microsoft Azure 



$restorepoint = Get-VBRRestorePoint -Name "VMBACKUPNAME" | Sort-Object $_.creationtime -Descending | Select -First 1 



$account = Get-VBRAzureAccount -Type ResourceManager -Name "AZURECOMPUTEACCOUNT"



$subscription = Get-VBRAzureSubscription -Account $account -name "SUBSCRIPTIONNAME"



$storageaccount = Get-VBRAzureStorageAccount -Subscription $subscription -Name "STORAGEACCOUNTFORRESTOREDMACHINE"



$location = Get-VBRAzureLocation -Subscription $subscription -Name "REGION"



$vmsize = Get-VBRAzureVMSize -Subscription $subscription -Location $location -Name Basic_A0



$network = Get-VBRAzureVirtualNetwork -Subscription $subscription -Name "AZURENETWORK"



$subnet = Get-VBRAzureVirtualNetworkSubnet -Network $network -Name "SUBNET"



$resourcegroup = Get-VBRAzureResourceGroup -Subscription $subscription -Name "AZURERESOURCEGROUP"



$RestoredVMName1 = "NAMEOFRESTOREDMACHINEINAZURE"

Now we have everything added to Veeam Backup & Replication, We have all the variables for our machines that we wish to convert and recover to Microsoft Azure VMs. Next is to start the restore process.

Start-VBRVMRestoreToAzure -RestorePoint $restorepoint -Subscription $subscription -StorageAccount $storageaccount -VmSize $vmsize -VirtualNetwork $network -VirtualSubnet $subnet -ResourceGroup $resourcegroup -VmName $RestoredVMName1 -Reason "Automated DR to the Cloud Testing"

The full script can be found here

#This script will automate the configuration steps of adding the following steps

#Add Azure Compute Account

#Add Azure Storage Account 

#Add Capacity Tier (Microsoft Azure Blob Storage) Repository 

#Import backups from Capacity Tier Repository 

#This will then enable you to perform Direct Restore to Azure the image based backups you require. 



Add-PSSnapin VeeamPSSnapin



#Connects to Veeam backup server.

Connect-VBRServer -server "localhost"



#Add Azure Compute Account



#Need to think of a better way to run this as this will close down PowerShell when installing

msiexec.exe /I "C:\Program Files\Veeam\Backup and Replication\Console\azure-powershell.5.1.1.msi"



Add-VBRAzureAccount -Region Global



#Add Azure Storage Account 



$accesskey = "ADD AZURE ACCESS KEY"

 

$blob1 = Add-VBRAzureBlobAccount -Name "AZUREBLOBACCOUT" -SharedKey $accesskey



#Add Capacity Tier (Microsoft Azure Blob Storage) Repository 



$account = Get-VBRAzureBlobAccount -Name "AZUREBLOBACCOUNT"

 

$connect = Connect-VBRAzureBlobService -Account $account -RegionType Global -ServiceType CapacityTier



$container = Get-VBRAzureBlobContainer -Connection $connect | where {$_.name -eq 'AZURECONTAINER'}



$folder = Get-VBRAzureBlobFolder -Container $container -Connection $connect



#The name needs to be exactly the same as you find in your production Veeam Backup & Replication server

$repositoryname = "REPOSITORYNAME"



Add-VBRAzureBlobRepository -AzureBlobFolder $folder -Connection $connect -Name $repositoryname



#Import backups from Capacity Tier Repository 



$repository = Get-VBRObjectStorageRepository -Name $repositoryname



Mount-VBRObjectStorageRepository -Repository $repository 

Rescan-VBREntity -AllRepositories



#if you have used an encryption key then configure this section 



#$key = Get-VBREncryptionKey -Description "Object Storage Key"

#Mount-VBRObjectStorageRepository -Repository $repository -EncryptionKey $key



 #This next section will enable you to automate the Direct Restore to Microsoft Azure 



$restorepoint = Get-VBRRestorePoint -Name "VMBACKUPNAME" | Sort-Object $_.creationtime -Descending | Select -First 1 



$account = Get-VBRAzureAccount -Type ResourceManager -Name "AZURECOMPUTEACCOUNT"



$subscription = Get-VBRAzureSubscription -Account $account -name "SUBSCRIPTIONNAME"



$storageaccount = Get-VBRAzureStorageAccount -Subscription $subscription -Name "STORAGEACCOUNTFORRESTOREDMACHINE"



$location = Get-VBRAzureLocation -Subscription $subscription -Name "REGION"



$vmsize = Get-VBRAzureVMSize -Subscription $subscription -Location $location -Name Basic_A0



$network = Get-VBRAzureVirtualNetwork -Subscription $subscription -Name "AZURENETWORK"



$subnet = Get-VBRAzureVirtualNetworkSubnet -Network $network -Name "SUBNET"



$resourcegroup = Get-VBRAzureResourceGroup -Subscription $subscription -Name "AZURERESOURCEGROUP"



$RestoredVMName1 = "NAMEOFRESTOREDMACHINEINAZURE"





Start-VBRVMRestoreToAzure -RestorePoint $restorepoint -Subscription $subscription -StorageAccount $storageaccount -VmSize $vmsize -VirtualNetwork $network -VirtualSubnet $subnet -ResourceGroup $resourcegroup -VmName $RestoredVMName1 -Reason "Automated DR to the Cloud Testing"

You will also find the most up to date and committed PowerShell script here within the GitHub repository.

Feedback is key on this one and would love to make this work better and faster. Feedback welcome below in the comments as well as getting hold of me on Twitter.

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[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[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.

And what if I told you, this has been around for years with Veeam Backup & Replication. Veeam have had this capability for a while now since 2016 in fact.

Primary use cases that we have seen have been,

Test and development

When you have the public cloud at your fingertips why not take advantage of it? Instead of having to purchase specific test and development environments. Also, perfect idea if you are looking to just see how certain apps and workloads are going to run in Microsoft Azure.

Data Migration

Let’s say you know where you are going and that is Microsoft Azure, how are you going to get those workloads there in a fast and efficient manner, Direct Restore to Microsoft Azure enables a fast way to restore those backups to the public cloud without compromising on keeping the restore points and more to the point the rollback is back to those production systems you also still have on premises.

Data recovery

We tend to talk about the bad failure scenarios, or we think nothing will happen to us and not really touch on the in between. What if you lost half your production virtualisation servers due to an outage of some description? What would you do? This feature within Veeam Backup & Replication enables you to restore some of your workloads from backups into Microsoft Azure you can then use an existing VPN or some other connectivity to join the environments and continue working or you could use VeeamPN to achieve this.

Walkthrough

In this YouTube video I walk through how easy and simple it is to get those image-based backups restored into Microsoft Azure as native Azure VMs for some of those use cases mentioned above. This also ties into the Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure that was released this week.

Where should I run the conversion process?

I ran some tests for this one to determine for my lab where and what would be the best practice when it comes to restoring workloads into Microsoft Azure. Veeam offers a lot of choice when it comes to restore and how to assist when environmental challenges are in the way. Things like link speed to the public cloud due to location or other reasons for that. Also since the release of this feature back in 2016 there have also been many other enhancements and features added to Veeam Backup & Replication including the new Veeam Cloud Tier which gives us the ability to store our backups in Object storage, well we can also recover from those as well. This video linked below goes into more detail around where and what considerations you should take when looking to restore workloads to the public cloud.

Cloud Tier

It is only right that we have spoken about protecting native Azure VMs using the Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure, we have spoken about getting your image based backups from either virtual or physical platforms that you have on premises or even in other public clouds to Microsoft Azure so I had to mention Cloud Tier or Capacity tier on how we can tier our backups or copy our backups into Microsoft Azure Blob Storage for either a long term retention or an offsite copy of your data.

Couple all these features together and we have a pretty dynamic and flexible way of being able to move data to from and within the public clouds.

If you have any questions or comments, feedback at all on the videos then please let me know either here in the comments, on the YouTube channel or on Twitter, a side note here is that I will be creating more video content over the next few weeks whilst we are stuck at home, I for one have been consuming a lot more of my news and education through YouTube and judging by the uptake in subscriptions I think you are too so let me know anything you want to see or for me to walk through.

What is Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure?

This new product focuses in on the Azure IaaS workloads you have running in the public cloud, much like the Veeam Backup for AWS edition that was released early this year, this product provides you the ability to protect those Azure VMs without having to install and agent on each one. It is a policy driven approach allowing for both snapshots and backups to be part of your data management plan when it comes to Microsoft Azure.

The product is a standalone solution that is deployable from the Microsoft Azure marketplace. A very easy to use wizard driven approach to configuration and management. Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure Free Edition and subsequent versions are available within the Microsoft Azure Marketplace.

The FREE edition allows you to protect 10 Azure VMs using native snapshots and then tier those snapshots to an Azure Blob Storage repository.

Within the Azure Blob Storage Repository these backups are stored in the portable data format that sets Veeam apart from the other vendors in this space. This allows for the Veeam Backup & Replication External Repository feature to be leveraged and enables the ability to further additional data protection or allow for other tasks such as migrations or on premises data recovery.

As you would expect the offering also allows you to recover those Azure Virtual Machines not only back where they initially resided but also across accounts and even across regions. As well as being able to provide file level recovery for a more granular option.

Another cool feature is the ability to see a level of cloud cost, when you create your policies through the wizard driven approach you have the ability to start seeing some cost forecasting so you can make better decisions about your cloud cost consumption.

Policies, Workers & Protected Data

Those familiar with Veeam will notice a different approach to some of the key functions and naming, and maybe you can liken these new terms with those found in Veeam Backup & Replication they have some differences.

Those familiar with Veeam Backup & Replication will recognise Policies as something more commonly known as Backup Jobs, however even within Veeam Backup & Replication world we are seeing policies now entering the fold with the CDP policy coming in later releases.

Policies give you the ability to define several requirements when it comes to your cloud data management. But again, it is that same very easy to use wizard driven approach that all Veeam customers will be familiar with.

You can choose to protect everything in a region, or we can be granular on what to protect. An awesome feature here is that you can select either by Instance or by Tag. Tags really lend well to the fast-moving pace of Cloud Instances being spun up and spun down all the time. The ability to use tags means we can protect in a more dynamic fashion. We will demonstrate the ease of use and how dynamic these tags within Azure can be created and used for your data management needs.

I mentioned above about Snapshots and Backups and how they are used together in this product to provide the best of both worlds when it comes to fast recovery points but also an out of band copy of your data not linked to the original VM.

You may wish on some workloads to only provide Snapshots and some only backups, or both. Snapshot settings allows you to define when these will be taken and how many snapshots you intend to keep. Backup Settings is where we can define that Microsoft Azure Blob Storage repository in which we wish to store those backups to, this will also play the part of making that data visible if you wish to see that within Veeam Backup & Replication. You also have the same retention setting to define here.

The workers are configured during the configuration stage and setup of the Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure. Those familiar with Veeam Backup & Replication could maybe liken these worker nodes to the Veeam Backup Proxy component within VBR.

The worker is a Linux based instance that is deployed and used when data needs to be transferred, the worker is used for both backup and recovery. When the policy is complete then the workers are shut down but remain in place for the next scheduled policy to take place.

Cost Estimations

A unique feature that is built into the Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure free edition and will obviously include other versions is the ability to estimate cost when it comes to backups and storing the retention you have defined. This is something else we go into further detail within the video walk-through below.

As I have mentioned this post gives a very high-level overview of what you can find with the new product but if you would like to see more then I have created a walk-through below. Any comments please comment here, on the YouTube video or find me on twitter.

Let me know what you think to the YouTube walk-through’s it is something I am intending to really increase given that we are house bound and I have more time to create this content.