Azure Files Backup

Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure performs Azure Files backup in the following way:

Creates a share snapshot of the processed Azure file share using Microsoft Azure native capabilities.

Note

Due to Microsoft Azure limitations, the maximum number of snapshots to keep for one file share is 200.

If you enable file share indexing, Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure performs the following operations:

Launches a worker instance in an Azure region in which the processed file share resides.

By default, Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure launches worker instances using virtual networks created automatically. However, you can add specific worker configurations. For more information, see Managing Worker Instances.

Re-creates the file share from the share snapshot created at step 1 and mounts the share to the worker instance.
Reads data from the file share on the worker instance, creates a catalog of files and folders (that is, the index) of the share, and saves the index as a .ZIP file on the backup appliance.

The creation of the .ZIP file may take significant time to complete. If a new backup policy session starts and the previous indexing session is still running, a new indexing session will not be launched.

Deallocates the worker instance when the indexing session completes.