Backup Repositories

A backup repository is a folder in a blob container where Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure stores image-level backups of Azure VMs, backups of Azure SQL databases, backups of Cosmos DB for PostgreSQL accounts for which backup to a repository is enabled, and backup copies of virtual network configurations.

To communicate with a backup repository, Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure uses Veeam Data Mover — the service that runs on a worker instance and that is responsible for data processing and transfer. When a backup policy addresses the backup repository, the Veeam Data Mover establishes a connection with the repository to enable data transfer. To learn how Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure communicates with backup repositories, see Managing Backup Repositories.

Important

Backup files are stored in backup repositories in the native Veeam format and must be modified neither manually nor by 3rd party tools. Otherwise, Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure may fail to restore the backed-up data.

Encryption on Backup Repositories

For enhanced data security, Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure allows you to enable encryption at the repository level. Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure encrypts backup files stored in backup repositories the same way as Veeam Backup & Replication encrypts backup files stored in backup repositories. To learn what algorithms Veeam Backup & Replication uses to encrypt backup files, see the Veeam Backup & Replication User Guide, section Data Encryption.

To learn how to enable encryption at the repository level, configure the repository settings as described in section Adding Backup Repositories Using Web UI, and choose whether you want to encrypt data using a password or using an Azure Key Vault cryptographic key.

Limitations for Repositories

To use a blob container as a target location for backups, you must connect to an Azure storage account in which this blob container resides, as described in section Adding Backup Repositories Using Web UI.

Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure supports the following types of Azure storage accounts:

Storage Account Type	Supported Performance Tiers	Supported Access Tiers
General-purpose V2	Standard	Hot, Cool, Archive
BlobStorage	Standard	Hot, Cool, Archive

Important

Consider the following limitations for storage accounts:

Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure does not support creation of backup repositories in storage accounts with enabled blob soft delete option.

Due to Microsoft Azure limitations, Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure does not support creation of archive repositories in storage accounts with the Zone-redundant storage (ZRS), Geo-zone-redundant storage (GZRS) or Read-access geo-zone-redundant storage (RA-GZRS) redundancy option enabled. For more information, see Microsoft Docs.