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Home Articles&Tutorials Exchange2016Articles HighAvailability&Recovery

Protecting Exchange with Azure Backup (Part 1)

by Rui Silva [Published on 5 May 2016 / Last Updated on 5 May 2016]

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MicrosoftAzureBackupprovidesbackupforrichapplicationworkloadslikeExchangewithsupportforbothDisktoDiskbackupforlocalcopiesandDisktoDisktoCloudbackupfor
longtermretention.

Ifyouwouldliketoreadtheotherpartsinthisarticleseriespleasegoto:

ProtectingExchangewithAzureBackup(Part2)(http://www.msexchange.org/articlestutorials/exchange2016articles/highavailabilityrecovery/protectingexchangeazure
backuppart2.html)
ProtectingExchangewithAzureBackup(Part3)(http://www.msexchange.org/articlestutorials/exchange2016articles/highavailabilityrecovery/protectingexchangeazure
backuppart3.html)

Introduction
MicrosoftannouncedlastOctoberthegeneralavailabilityofAzureBackup,areliableandscalabledataprotectionsolutionforbackinguponpremisesdatatothecloud.Youcan
protectapplicationworkloadssuchasHyperVVMs,MicrosoftSQLServer,SharePointServer,MicrosoftExchangeandWindowsclients.

AlthoughAzureBackupwasdesignedasanendtoendcloudservice(PaaS/SaaS)withthepurposeofreplacinganexistingonpremisesbackupsolution,thecurrentversionisstill
dependentonanadditionalserver(AzureBackupServer)forsomeworkloads.

AzureBackupServerisactuallyastrippeddownversionofDataProtectionManager(DPM)forworkloadbackup.Onceyoustartusingit,youllnoticetheobvioussimilarities.Asan
exampleofthereducedfunctionality,AzureBackupServerdoesnotprovideprotectionontapeorintegratewithSystemCenter.

AzureBackupServercanbedeployedas:

Aphysicalserver.
Avirtualserver(HyperVorVMware).
AnAzurevirtualmachine.Inthisscenariowegeta100%cloudsolution(IaaS).

AzureBackupisahybridbackupsolution,itconsistsofmultiplecomponentsthatworktogethertoenableendtoendbackupandrestoreservices,asdepictedinFigure1.

Figure1:AzureBackupcomponents

Thereare4differentcomponents(countingwithSystemCenterDPM)thatcanbeusedwithAzureBackup,eachofthemsupportsdifferentkindofworkloadsandbackupscenarios,
asdescribedinTable1andTable2.

Component CanbedeployedinAzure? Canbedeployedonpremises? Targetstoragesupported

AzureBackupagent Yes Yes AzureBackupvault

TheAzureBackupagentcanbedeployedonany TheBackupagentcanbedeployedonanyWindows
WindowsServerVMthatrunsinAzure. ServerVMorphysicalmachine.
SystemCenterData Yes Yes Locallyattacheddisk,
ProtectionManager
(DPM) LearnmoreabouthowtoprotectworkloadsinAzureby LearnmoreabouthowtoprotectworkloadsandVMs AzureBackupvault,
usingSystemCenterDPM inyourdatacenter
(http://blogs.technet.com/b/dpm/archive/2014/09/02/azure (https://technet.microsoft.com/library/hh758173.aspx). tape(onpremisesonly)
iaasworkloadprotectionusingdataprotection
manager.aspx).

AzureBackupServer Yes Yes Locallyattacheddisk,

LearnmoreabouthowtoprotectworkloadsinAzureby LearnmoreabouthowtoprotectworkloadsinAzure AzureBackupvault

usingAzureBackupServer byusingAzureBackupServer
(https://azure.microsoft.com/en (https://azure.microsoft.com/en
us/documentation/articles/backupazuremicrosoftazure us/documentation/articles/backupazuremicrosoft
backup/). azurebackup/).

AzureBackup(VM Yes No AzureBackupvault

extension)
PartofAzurefabric UseSystemCenterDPMtobackupvirtualmachines
inyourdatacenter.
SpecializedforbackupofAzureinfrastructureasaservice
(IaaS)virtualmachines(https://azure.microsoft.com/en
us/documentation/articles/backupazurevms
introduction/).

Table1:Backupcomponents

Workload Azure System Azure VMextension

Backup CenterDPM Backup
agent Server

WindowsServermachinefiles
andfolders

Windowsclientmachinefiles
andfolders

HyperVvirtualmachine
(Windows)

HyperVvirtualmachine(Linux)

MicrosoftSQLServer

MicrosoftSharePoint

MicrosoftExchange

Azurevirtualmachine(Windows)

Azurevirtualmachine(Linux)

Table2:Supportedworkloads

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Solution Topology
Forthepurposeofwritingthisarticle,IinstalledthefollowingenvironmentonMicrosoftAzure:
Figure2:Solutiontopologyusedinthisarticle

ServerName Role Software

W2K12R2D1V2 AzureBackupServer WindowsServer2012R2

AzureBackupServer

E2K16DS2 DomainController WindowsServer2012R2

Mailboxserver ExchangeServer2016CU1

Table3:Listofservers

Requirements of the Azure Backup Server

ItisrecommendedthatAzureBackupServerbeinstalledonamachinewithWindowsServer2012R2Datacenter,becausealotoftheprerequisitesareautomaticallycoveredwith
thelatestversionoftheWindowsoperatingsystem.

Thenecessarysystemrequirementsare:

Theserverhastobedomainjoined
.Net3.5Frameworkinstalled
OperatingSystem:WindowsServer2008R2SP1,WindowsServer2012,WindowsServer2012R2
ThehardwarerequirementsaredetailedinTable4

Location Minimumrequirements Additionalinstructions

Azure AzureIaaSvirtualmachine YoucanstartwithasimplegalleryimageofWindows

Server2012R2Datacenter.ProtectingIaaSworkloads
A2Standard:2cores,3.5GB usingAzureBackupServer(DPM)
RAM (https://technet.microsoft.com/library/jj852163.aspx)has
manynuances.Ensurethatyoureadthearticlecompletely
beforedeployingthemachine.

Onpremises HyperVVM, YoucandeduplicatetheDPMstorageusingWindows

VMWareVM, ServerDeduplication.LearnmoreabouthowDPMand
oraphysicalhost deduplication
(https://technet.microsoft.com/library/dn891438.aspx)work
2coresand4GBRAM togetherwhendeployedinHyperVVMs.

Table4:Hardwarerequirements

Create the Azure Backup Vault

WhetheryousendbackupdatatoAzureorkeepitlocally,theAzureBackupServermachineneedstoberegisteredwithabackupvault.Tocreateabackupvaultfollowthesesteps:

1.SignintotheAzureClassicManagementPortal(http://manage.windowsazure.com/).ClickNew>DataServices>RecoveryServices>BackupVault>QuickCreate.If
youhavemultiplesubscriptionsassociatedwithyourorganizationalaccount,choosethecorrectsubscriptiontoassociatewiththebackupvault.InName,enterafriendly
nametoidentifythevault(thisneedstobeuniqueforeachsubscription).InRegion,selectthegeographicregionforthevault.ClickCreatevault(Figure3).
Figure3:QuickcreateBackupVault

2.ClickCreateVault.Itcantakeawhileforthebackupvaulttobecreated.Monitorthestatusnotificationsatthebottomoftheportal.Amessageconfirmsthatthevaulthasbeen
successfullycreatedanditwillbelistedintheRecoveryServicespageasActive(Figure4).

Figure4:RecoveryServices

3.Makesurethattheappropriatestorageredundancyoptionischosenrightafterthevaulthasbeencreated,becausethestoragereplicationchoicecannotbechangedonce
itemshavebeenregisteredtothevault.Toselecthowstorageisreplicated,clickthevaultyoucreated.OntheQuickStartpage,selectConfigure(Figure5).

Figure5:Configurestoragereplication

4.Choosetheappropriatestorageoption(Figure6).Ifyou'reusingAzureasyourprimarybackup,choosegeoredundantstorage(https://azure.microsoft.com/en
us/documentation/articles/storageredundancy/#georedundantstorage).Ifyou'reusingAzureasatertiarybackup,chooselocallyredundantstorage
(https://azure.microsoft.com/enus/documentation/articles/storageredundancy/#locallyredundantstorage).IfyouselectedLocallyRedundant,clickSavesinceGeo
Redundantisthedefault.

Figure6:Configurestoragereplication

Summary
MicrosoftAzureBackupServerisincludedasafreedownloadwithAzureBackupthatenablescloudbackupsanddiskbackupsforkeyMicrosoftworkloadslikeSQL,SharePointand
Exchange.ProtectingapplicationworkloadslikeExchangeServerstillrequiresthedeploymentofanadditionalserver(AzureBackupServer),but,probably,infuturereleasesthe
servicewillonlyrequiretheinstallationofabackupagent(muchlikewhatsavailabletodayforfilesandfoldersinWindowsmachines).

Thisisthefirstpartofa3partseries.InthenextpartwellcovertheinstallationoftheAzureBackupServer.

Ifyouwouldliketoreadtheotherpartsinthisarticleseriespleasegoto:

ProtectingExchangewithAzureBackup(Part2)(http://www.msexchange.org/articlestutorials/exchange2016articles/highavailabilityrecovery/protectingexchangeazure
backuppart2.html)
ProtectingExchangewithAzureBackup(Part3)(http://www.msexchange.org/articlestutorials/exchange2016articles/highavailabilityrecovery/protectingexchangeazure
backuppart3.html)

IfyouwouldliketoreadthenextpartinthisarticleseriespleasegotoProtectingExchangewithAzureBackup(Part2)(http://www.msexchange.org/articlestutorials/exchange2016
articles/highavailabilityrecovery/protectingexchangeazurebackuppart2.html)

See Also