In my last post, I explained how to use Veeam to backup to Azure using the Azure Veeam Cloud Connect appliance. Having an off-site backup is an important piece of a complete recovery strategy. Being able to recover at a second site is also important. What if you could recover those VM backups directly to running VMs in Azure? Well you can. Here is what you need to do.
Step 1: Backup to Veeam Cloud Connect in Azure.
Start by setting up Veeam Cloud Connect in Microsoft Azure. You can use the instructions in my last post.To make the restore step a little easier, have your Cloud Connect backups land on an Azure file share.
To create and Azure file share, pick one of your storage accounts, click Files and click + File share to add a new file service. Name the file share, enter a quota and click Create.
Click Connect from the new file service and you will see instructions on how to use this new file service. We will use these instructions later in our new Restore appliance.
You will notice that the user account for the file share is the name of your storage account and the password is your storage account access key. You can find your access key by clicking on Access keys section of your storage account.
Now all cloud backups from that tenant will land on the new file service that you created. You can even browse the files landing on that file service in the Azure portal. We will restore from this location later. Here are the files from a recent cloud backup. The hierarchy is [Tenant Name]/[Backup Job Name]:
Step 2: Install the Veeam Direct Restore to Microsoft Azure Appliance
in the Azure Portal, click + and type "Veeam". Choose Veeam Direct Restore to Microsoft Azure.
Click the appliance name, read the description and click Create
Fill in the usual VM creation fields and click OK
Choose a VM size and click Select
Fill in all the settings and click OK
Check your summary page and click OK
When the appliance has been created, select the appliance, click Connect to download the RDP file and open the console
The main menu of Veeam Restore looks like this. Click Configuration
Read the welcome screen and click Next
Connect Veeam to your Azure instance by downloading your Azure subscription configuration file from the link provided and then browsing to that file and clicking Next
On the summary screen click Finish
Step 3: Restore a VM
Now we are ready to run a direct restore. From the main menu, choose Restore
I mapped a drive to the same Azure file service we set up in step one. We will choose a backup file from that file service for restore.
The backup file is read and the VM(s) in the file are displayed. Click the VM and then click Restore
Choose the subscription and the geographic location for the newly restored VM.
Critical: The Azure subscription chosen must include at least one classic storage account. (Veam Azure restore only supports classic storage accounts at this time.)
Choose the Azure VM size and click Next
Choose settings for the new VM name and cloud service
Click Next
Confirm the virtual network and click Next
Type in a restore reason and click Next
Check the summary page and click Next
Watch the restore progress
Here is the System Monitor next to the progress screen while the restore is in progress.
When the restore is complete, the progress screen will look like this
Now we can check on the VM that was just created in the Azure portal
Total time to restore this VM to a brand new Azure VM was about 8 minutes. The more threads you use in your restore process, the faster the restore as well.
Pretty easy. If you are already using Veeam and you are already using Azure, you should have no problem using Veeam Direct Restore to Microsoft Azure.
I hope you have found this blog helpful. I welcome your comments.
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