Use Instant Restore to Recover Data to an Alternate Machine- Understanding Disaster Recovery

If an entire server is lost, you can still recover the data from Azure Backup to a different machine. To do so, perform the following steps:

1. Open the Microsoft Azure Backup snap- in on the target machine. If you don’t know where the snap- in was installed, just search the computer or server for Microsoft Azure Backup.
2. Make sure that the target and source machines are registered to the same Recovery Services Vault.
3. Click Recover Data to start the wizard.
4. On the Getting Started page, select Another Server and then provide the Vault Credentials file by clicking Browse. Then click Next.
5. On the Select Backup Server page, select the source machine from the list of displayed machines and provide the passphrase. Then click Next, as shown in Figure 17.33.

FIGURE 17.33 Recover Data Wizard – Select Backup Server

6. On the Select Recovery Mode page, choose Individual Files And Folders and then click Next

7. On the Select Volume And Date page, select the volume that contains the files and folders you want to restore. On the calendar, you can select a recovery point.

8. To locally mount the recovery point as a recovery volume on your target machine, click Mount.

9. On the Browse And Recover Files page, click Browse to open Windows Explorer, and locate the files and folders you want to restore.

10. In Windows Explorer, copy the files and folders you want to restore, and paste them to your target machine computer.

11. When you are done restoring your desired files and folders, on the Browse And Recover Files page, click Unmount. Then select Yes to confirm that you want to unmount the volume.

Run an On- Demand Backup

You can perform an on- demand backup using the MARS agent. To do so, perform the following steps:

1. Open the Microsoft Azure Backup snap- in. If you don’t know where the snap- in was installed, just search the computer or server for Microsoft Azure Backup.
2. Click Back Up Now to start the wizard.
3. If the MARS agent version is 2.0.9169.0 or newer, then you can set a custom retention date. In the Retain Backup Till section, choose a date from the calendar.
4. On the Confirmation page, review the settings, and then click Back Up.
5. Click Close to close the wizard. The wizard will continue to run in the background if you close the wizard before the backup finishes. After the backup finishes, the Job Completed status will appear in the Backup console.

Create a Backup Policy

An Azure backup policy has two components:

■      Schedule (when to make the backup)

■       Retention (how long to retain the backup)

A backup policy will specify when to take snapshots of the data to create recovery points. It also specifies how long to keep recovery points. You will use the MARS agent to configure a backup policy.

To create a backup policy, perform the following:

1. After you download and register the MARS agent, open the agent console. You can find it by searching your machine for Microsoft Azure Backup.
2. Under Actions, select Schedule Backup, as shown in Figure 17.29 earlier.
3. In the Schedule Backup Wizard, select Getting Started and then click Next.
4. Under Select Items To Back Up, select Add Items, as shown in Figure 17.34.

FIGURE 17.34 Schedule Backup Wizard – Select Items To Backup

5. In the Select Items box, select items to back up, and then click OK.

6. On the Select Items To Back Up page, click Next.

7. On the Specify Backup Schedule page, specify when to take schedule backups. You can schedule up to three daily backups per day or schedule weekly backups. Then, click Next, as shown in Figure 17.35.

FIGURE 17.35 Schedule Backup Wizard – Specify Backup Schedule

8. On the Select Retention Policy page, specify how to store historical copies of your data. Then click Next. Retention settings specify which recovery points to store and how long to store them.
9. On the Choose Initial Backup Type page, decide if you want to take the initial backup over the network or use offline backup. To take the initial backup over the network, select Automatically Over The Network, and then click Next.
10. On the Confirmation page, review the information and then click Finish.
11. After the wizard creates the backup schedule, click Close.