Upgrading to Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure 5a

To upgrade Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure to version 5a, a Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure appliance must be running version 3.0 or later. To upgrade the appliance, check the prerequisites and follow the instructions provided in section Upgrading Appliances.

During upgrade, the backup appliance operating system will be updated from Ubuntu 18.04 LTS to Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, and the configuration database will be upgraded to PostgreSQL 15. Consider that the upgrade procedure includes re-deployment of the backup appliance on a new Azure VM and attachment of data disks from the previous backup appliance to this new Azure VM.

How Upgrade to Version 5a Works

When upgrading Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure appliances to version 5a, Veeam Backup & Replication performs the following steps:

1. Instructs Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure to create a cloud-native snapshot of the original appliance. If the upgrade process fails, the appliance will be reverted to the created snapshot.

Consider that this snapshot will not be automatically removed by Veeam Backup & Replication from Microsoft Azure after the upgrade operation completes successfully. You can remove this snapshot manually if you no longer need it, or keep it in case you will need to roll back the appliance to the previous state.

2. Upgrades version of the appliance configuration database to PostgreSQL 15: creates a new PostgreSQL database on the data disk, copies all configuration data to this database and removes the old database.
3. Saves the following configuration files and settings to the data disk: the appliance configuration file, users, MFA and timezone settings, and Linux environment (/etc/ssh/, /root/, /home/).
4. Detaches the data virtual disk from the original Azure VM and removes the VM.
5. Launches a new Azure VM with the same name and network configuration from Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure 5a image that contains Ubuntu 22.04 LTS as an operating system.
6. Attaches the data virtual disk from the original appliance to the newly created appliance.
7. Restores configuration files and settings saved at step 3 to the new OS disk.
8. Detaches the new data virtual disk from the newly created appliance and removes the disk from infrastructure.
9. Removes the OS disk of the original Azure VM from infrastructure.

Limitations and Prerequisites

Before you start the upgrade process, consider the following requirements and limitations:

• The Microsoft Azure compute account specified when deploying a Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure appliance or connecting to the appliance must be assigned permissions required to perform upgrade. For the list of required permissions, see Permissions.

• Outbound internet access must be allowed from the Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure appliance to the PostgreSQL Apt Repository (https://apt.postgresql.org/, https://www.postgresql.org/media/keys/ACCC4CF8.asc) through the 443 port over the HTTPS protocol.

• During upgrade, the data disk of the Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure appliance will temporarily contain files of 2 databases. That is why the size of the data disk must be twice the total amount of storage space used by the configuration database.

• During upgrade, Veeam Backup & Replication will create the new root virtual disk with the default settings. That is why if you have modified root disk settings, for example have increased disk size, these settings will not be transferred, and custom 3rd-party software installed on the Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure appliance will not be migrated.