Get hands-on with Azure Backup - cloud-first Backup solution with Operations Management & Security

Objective

Scenario

Virtual Machines

1. Win10x64_Lab1- BaseVM

Exercise 1 : Redeem Your Azure Promo Code

• In this exercise you will:

• Set up your Azure Account
• Scenario:  To perform this lab, you must have an Azure account set up that you can modify.  To set up up this account, use the promotional code visible in the Content tab of the lab interface.  This exercise will walk you through the steps for redeeming the code.
  

1. Open Site (Azure Pass)
   Open the Edge or IE browser, and navigate to http://microsoftazurepass.com. Use the Azure Promo Code provided in the top right hand corner of the Lab UI under the content pane and follow the steps on screen to complete the Azure Trial account creation. Once your account is created please proceed to the next excercise.

Exercise 2 : Create an Azure Backup Vault

This exercise shows how to create an Azure Backup Vault. To back up files and data to Azure or when backing up IaaS VMs in Azure, you must create a backup vault in the geographic region where you want to store the data. A vault is an entity that stores all the backups and recovery points that have been created over time. The vault also contains the backup policies that will be applied to the virtual machines being backed up.

After completing this lab session, you will be able to create an Azure Backup Vault in the region where you want to backup your IaaS VM and files/folders from your Windows 10 client.

1. Open Azure Portal
   If necessary, Log on to the VM as AdminUser with a password of Welcome1.  Open Internet Explorer and browse to http://portal.azure.com using the lab credentials.
   This lab requires an Azure subscription.  We recommend you first create a new windows account at Outllook.com to use for the lab.  Then browse to www.MicrosftAzurePass.com.  Use the Azure Promo Code from the Content tab to the right.  Select a Country that matches the location listed in the Support tab to the right.  Paste the promo code in the box under the location by clicking the Paste icon next to the promo code.  Log in with the Windows credentials you created for the lab and follow the prompts to create the Trial Subscription.

   http://portal.azure.com

2. Create a new Recovery Services Vault
   In the Azure portal, click More Services > then type Recovery in the search box, then select Recovery Services Vault. Click the +Add button then complete the details for the new vault.  Supply a name, create a new resource group, use East US 2 for location, check the Pin to dashboard option and click Create.
   For the region, it is recommended that you select the region that is closest to the site hosting this lab and therefore will provide good latency for VM backup traffic. To see the region hosting this lab, click on support and note the value for ‘Datacenter’
3. Change Storage Replication type
   To change the Storage Replication Type of this Vault select: Settings button to open the settings blade > Backup Infrastructure > Backup Configuration > Select Locally-redundant. Click ‘Save’.  Close the open blades to return to your dashboard in the Azure portal.

Exercise 3 : Backup an Azure IaaS VM

When the Azure Backup service initiates a backup job at the scheduled time, it triggers the backup extension to take a point-in-time snapshot. This snapshot is taken in coordination with the Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) to get a consistent snapshot of the disks in the virtual machine without having to shut it down. After the snapshot is taken, the data is transferred by the Azure Backup service to the backup vault. To make the backup process more efficient, the service identifies and transfers only the blocks of data that have changed since the last backup.

This exercise demonstrates how to backup an Azure IaaS VM to the Vault you created in the previous exercise.

1. Create a new VM to backup
   In the Azure portal, Click +New > Virtual Machines > Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter then click Create.
   Fill in the properties for the new VM.  We recommend Name - AzBackupDemoVM, AdminUser, you must use a 12 character password, a new Resource Group AzBackupVMRG and the same location as your backup vault then click OK. Select the A1 Standard size and click OK, accept the default settings and click OK, then click OK on the Summary screen.
   You must use a 12 character password for the password.
   It would be a good idea to record the username and password you created, as you will need these to connect to the VM later.
2. Connect to the new VM
   Wait for the VM to be deployed.  Once the VM is deployed click the VM tile in the dashboard to open the VM's blade then click the Connect button to connect to the VM using RDP click Open in the prompt then click Connect. Log on to the VM with the Username and password you supplied when you created it. Click Yes in the certificate warning dialog
   It could take anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes for the VM to deploy, please be patient.
3. Create some content to backup
   In the RDP session of the VM, navigate to the desktop and create a text file on the desktop. Right-click on the desktop, click New > Text Document type a name of AzureBackupDemo. In the RDP session with the VM,  Right-click the Start icon, click Shut down or sign out > Sign out.
4. Discover Register Protect your VM
   Close the VM blade and navigate to your Azure Backup Vault.  Click the +Backup button, select Azure for where workload is running and Virtual Machine for what you want to backup then click OK. Accept the defaults for the Backup Policy by clicking OK. Check the box for the name of your VM then click Select. Click the Enable Backup button.
5. Backup your VM to Azure
   Refresh the Azure Backup Vault page to see that the Backup Items and Azure Virtual Machine incremented to 1. Click Azure Virtual Machines, right-click on the VM Name and select Backup now then click Backup
6. View Backup Job information
   Close the Backup Items blade, then click in progress on the Backup Jobs tile. In the list of Backup Jobs, click on the job associated with the backup of your VM. You will see that the backup is in progress. Close the Backup and Backup Jobs tiles.
   This initial backup job may take around 15 minutes. Let this backup proceed in the background and we’ll come back to this step in Exercise 4 of this lab.

Exercise 4 : Backup a Windows 10 Client

This exercise demonstrates how to backup files/folders from a Windows 10 client VM. After completing this lab session, you will be able to understand:

• How to configure your Windows 10 VM for backup tasks.
• How to backup and restore your files/folders.

1. Download the Azure Backup Agent and Vault Creds
   On your Backup Vault click the +Backup button. In the Backup Goal choose On-Premesis and What do you want to backup as Files and folders. Click the box that says Click here to prepare your infrastructure for backup to Azure.  Click the link to Dowload Agent for Windows Server or Windows Client and save in the downloads folder. Click the Download button to download the vault credentials and save in the downloads folder.
2. Install and configure the Azure Backup Agent
   Open the downloads folder and double-click the MARSAgentInstaller.exe and click Yes in the prompt. Click Next twice to accept the defaults, select Use Microsoft Updates and click Next, then click Install.  Click Proceed to Registration, click browse and navigate to the downloads folder and click the Vault credentials you downloaded earlier and click Open, then click Next.  Enter a 16 character passphrase, save it to the downloads folder and write it down somewhere then click Finish. Click Close which will launch the Microsoft Azure Backup console.
3. Configure Backup and Create Schedule
   In the Microsoft Azure Backup console, click on Actions > ‘Schedule Backup’ to create a backup schedule. On the ‘Getting Started’ page, click ‘Next’. On the ‘Select Items to Backup’ page, click on ‘Add Items’ to select the files/folders that you want to backup. For this lab, select the folder located under ‘C:\TRLabFiles’ and click ‘Ok’ then click Next. Accept the Default schedule, Retention Policy, and Backup Type by clicking Next 3 times.  On the ‘Confirmation’ page, click Finish the click Close. 
4. Initiate the Backup
   Click Action > ‘Back up Now’ then click Back Up. When the backup completes click Close. Verify that the Description column indicates Job completed.
5. View backup details in Azure
   In your Azure portal from your Azure Backup Vault blade, in the Backup Items tile click File-Folders. Verify that the Windows 10 machine is listed. 
6. Restore from Azure Backup
   Back in the Azure Backup console, under Action, click on ‘Recover Data’. On the ‘Getting Started’ page, leave the default selection of ‘This server’ and click ‘Next’.  On the ‘Select Recovery Mode’, select ‘Browse for files’ and click ‘Next’.  In the Select the volume dropdown menu, select C:\. Select the bold date from the calendar that represents your backup snapshots. Click ‘Next’.  On the Select Items to Recover page, drill down to c:\TRLabFiles and select File to backup.txt and click Next. Choose the ‘Recovery destination’ as ‘Another location’ and ‘Browse’ to select your desktop. Click ‘Next’. On the ‘Confirmation’ page, click ‘Recover’ then click Close when the job completes. 
7. Verify Recovered Files
   Verify that the job status on the Microsoft Azure Backup console shows as completed. Browse to your desktop and navigate to the recovered file. Open the file to ensure that this is indeed the file that was backed up!

Exercise 5 : Restore the Azure IaaS VM that you backed up

In this exercise you will restore a backed up VM to create a new Azure VM.

After completing this lab session, you will be able to:

•  Understand how Azure IaaS VM can be backed up using Azure Recovery Services
•  Walk through the steps to recover a backed up VM

1. Restore a backup up VM
   Navigate to your Azure Backup Vault. Under the ‘Backup Items’ tile, click on ‘Azure Virtual Machines’ and verify that your Azure VM is listed and that the ‘Last Backup Status’ is listed as ‘Success’. Right-click on the VM name and choose ‘Restore VM’ then click on the Restore Point displayed then click OK. Complete the Restore Configuration information with a new VM name and selecting existing items from the drop-downs then click OK. Click Restore.
2. Verify Restored VM
   Navigate to your Backup Vault > Settings > Jobs > Backup Jobs. Verify that the Restore job is in progress. The Restore job may take up to 25 minutes, you can end the lab now or wait until the restore finishes then navigate to your restored VM and Connect to it via RDP.  Connect to the VM using your user name and password that you recorded earlier. Verify that the file you had placed on the desktop of the original VM is indeed available on the restored VM.