In this azure tutorial, we will discuss the Azure virtual machine back up. Apart from this, we will also discuss on the below topics:
- Run a backup immediately
- Stop VM Backup
- Resume VM Backup
- Delete backup data
- Azure virtual machine backup pricing
Table of Contents
Azure virtual machine back up
As we all know that Backup of a virtual machine is an important factor. Let’s discuss how we can back up a virtual machine in Azure portal.
Follow the below steps to take the Azure virtual machine backup.
Step-1:
Login to https://portal.azure.com.
Step- 2:
Search for Virtual machines there.
Step- 3:
You will see the list of VM created in your Azure subscription. It will show the VM name, Type, Status, ResourceGroup, Location, etc.
Step- 4:
Now click on the VM name. “MyNewVM” in my case. You can able to see the details of your virtual machine like Public IP address, status, Computer name, Operating system, Size etc.
Step- 5:
From the left side menu select Backup option under Operations.
Step- 6:
In the Recovery Services vault, Fill the below details
- Recovery Services vault: You can create a new or select the existing one.
- Vault938 is the default name that was populated for me But you can specify a different name also.
- Resource group: This option will populate based on which resource group your virtual machine belongs to. For me it is newresgroup . You can also create a new one if you want.
- Choose backup policy: By default it is DailyPolicy. You can change it if you want.
Step- 7:
If you want to create a new backup policy, click on Create a new policy.
- Policy Name: Mention the name of the policy you want to create for me I have given the name as WeeklyPolicy.
- Backup Schedule: Frequency as Weekly, Days meaning which day of the week you want to take backup for exampleSunday, Time, for example, 2:00 PM, Timezone select the timezone that you belong to.
- Retain instant recovery snapshots for: For weekly it is 5 days so mention 5 there.
- Retention Range: You can tick the Retention of monthly backup point or Retention of yearly backup point if you want.
Now click on Ok button.
Now in step- 6, You can choose WeeklyPolicy instead of DailyPolicy. I am selecting the DailyPolicy for the time being.
Step- 8:
Now after filling all the above details You need to click on “Enable Backup” button. You can track the Progress on the notification option of the Azure portal.
Step- 9:
Now to cross-check we have configured the Backup Scheduled the Backup option properly, We can click on the Backup link in the Left Menu. See all the details that have been configured successfully.
Run a backup immediately
You can also run a backup immediately from Azure portal. Follow the below steps.
Step- 1:
From the left side menu select Backup option under Operations.
Step- 2:
Click on Backup now button to perform the backup immediately.
Step- 3:
Select a date for the Retain backup till option and then click on the OK button.
Stop VM Backup
If you want to stop the backup option for the virtual machine then you need to follow the below steps.
Step- 1:
From the left side menu select Backup option under Operations.
Step- 2:
Now click on the Stop backup button.
Step- 3:
You can select the Retain Backup Data option, Select a reason, Add comments and then click on the “stop backup” option.
Resume VM Backup
Once you stopped the backup, you can again Resume the VM backup by following the below steps.
Step- 1:
From the left side menu select Backup option under Operations.
Step- 2:
Now click on the Resume backup button.
Delete backup data
You can also delete the backup data by following the below steps
Step- 1:
From the left side menu select Backup option under Operations.
Step- 2:
Now click on the Delete backup data button.
Azure virtual machine backup pricing
In the case of virtual machines (VM), the size calculation is based on the actual size of VM. This is the sum of all data in the VM, excluding temporary storage.
Azure Backup provides isolated backups to not to lose any data on your VMs. Backups are stored in a Recovery Services vault.
A Recovery Services vault is used to houses data in Azure.
Azure Backup pricing starts at $5.00 per month. This is the starting price. They do not have a free version.
There are two factors involved on Azure backup pricing model
- Based on the instance
- Based on the Storage
Let’s see the individual case how it works.
Based on the instance
Below are few price models based on the instance
| Instance size | Azure Backup charges per month |
| Instance < or = 50 GB | ₹330.4813 + storage consumed |
| Instance is > 50 GB but < or = 500 GB | ₹660.9625 + storage consumed |
| Instance > 500 GB | ₹660.9625 for each 500 GB increment + storage consumed |
| Instance size | Azure Backup charges per month |
| Instance under 50GB | $5 per month |
| Instance between 51-500GB | $10 per month |
| Instance over 500GB | $10 per month for each 500GB increment |
Based on the Storage
Below are few price models based on the storage
Here in this case we have an option to choose between Locally-redundant storage and Geo-redundant storage
| Storage | LRS (Locally-redundant storage) | GRS (Geo-redundant storage) |
| First 1 TB | $0.024 per GB | 0.048 per GB |
| Next 49 TB | $0.0236 per GB | $0.0472 per GB |
| Next 450 TB | $0.0232 per GB | $0.0464 per GB |
This is how the pricing work in case of Azure backup.
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Conclusion
In this Azure tutorial, We discussed
- Azure virtual machine back up
- Run a backup immediately
- Stop VM Backup
- Resume VM Backup
- Delete backup data
- Azure virtual machine backup pricing
