Data Protection

With Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure, you can protect Microsoft Azure resources in the following ways:

Create cloud-native snapshots of Azure VMs

A cloud-native snapshot includes point-in-time snapshots of virtual disks attached to the processed Azure VM. Snapshots of virtual disks are taken using native Microsoft Azure capabilities.

Create image-level backups of Azure VMs

In addition to cloud-native snapshots, you can protect your Azure VMs with image-level backups. An image-level backup captures the whole image of the processed Azure VM (including OS data, application data and so on) at a specific point in time. The backup is saved as multiple files to a storage bucket in the native Veeam format.

Create image-level backups of Azure SQL databases

An image-level backup of an Azure SQL database captures the whole image of the processed database (including tables, constraints, indexes and actual data) at a specific point of time. The backup is saved as multiple files to a repository in the native Veeam format.

Create cloud-native snapshots of Azure file shares

A cloud-native snapshot includes point-in-time snapshots of base files, metadata and files in the system properties of the processed Azure file share. Snapshots of these files are taken using native Microsoft Azure capabilities.

To schedule data protection tasks to run automatically, create backup policies. For Azure VMs and Azure files shares residing in any of the regions added to the backup policies, you can also take cloud-native snapshots manually when needed — for more information, see the Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure User Guide, sections Creating VM Snapshots Manually and Creating File Share Snapshots Manually. For Azure SQL databases, you can also perform backups manually when needed — for more information, see the Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure User Guide, section Creating SQL Backups Manually. To learn how backup works, see the Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure User Guide, section How Backup Works.

Additional Data Protection Options

You can create an additional layer of protection for your Azure VMs using the following Veeam Backup & Replication functionality:

Create copies of image-level backups

Backup copy jobs allow you to create and keep multiple copies of the same backed-up data in different locations. To learn how to create backup copy jobs, see Creating Backup Copy Jobs.

Store copies of image-level backups on tapes

Backup to tape jobs allow you to keep backed-up data on tape devices. To learn how to create backup to tape jobs, see Copying Backups to Tapes.

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