Back up Azure Managed Disks using Azure CLI
This article describes how to back up Azure Managed Disk using Azure CLI.
Important
Support for Azure Managed Disks backup and restore via CLI is in preview and available as an extension in Az 2.15.0 version and later. The extension is automatically installed when you run the az dataprotection commands. Learn more about extensions.
For information on the Azure Disk backup region availability, supported scenarios and limitations, see the support matrix.
Create a Backup vault
Backup vault is a storage entity in Azure that stores backup data for various newer workloads that Azure Backup supports, such as Azure Database for PostgreSQL servers, blobs in a storage account, and Azure Disks. Backup vaults make it easy to organize your backup data, while minimizing management overhead. Backup vaults are based on the Azure Resource Manager model of Azure, which provides enhanced capabilities to help secure backup data.
Before you create a Backup vault, choose the storage redundancy of the data within the vault. Then proceed to create the Backup vault with that storage redundancy and the location. In this article, we'll create a Backup vault TestBkpVault, in the region westus, under the resource group testBkpVaultRG. Use the az dataprotection vault create command to create a Backup vault. Learn more about creating a Backup vault.
az dataprotection backup-vault create -g testBkpVaultRG --vault-name TestBkpVault -l westus --type SystemAssigned --storage-settings datastore-type="VaultStore" type="LocallyRedundant"
{
"eTag": null,
"id": "/subscriptions/xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx/resourcegroups/testBkpVaultRG/providers/Microsoft.DataProtection/BackupVaults/TestBkpVault",
"identity": {
"principalId": "aaaaaaaa-bbbb-cccc-1111-222222222222",
"tenantId": "xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx",
"type": "SystemAssigned"
},
"location": "westus",
"name": "TestBkpVault",
"properties": {
"provisioningState": "Succeeded",
"storageSettings": [
{
"datastoreType": "VaultStore",
"type": "LocallyRedundant"
}
]
},
"resourceGroup": "testBkpVaultRG",
"systemData": null,
"tags": null,
"type": "Microsoft.DataProtection/backupVaults"
}
After creation of vault, let's create a Backup policy to protect Azure disks.
Create a Backup policy
To understand the inner components of a Backup policy for Azure Disk Backup, retrieve the policy template using the az dataprotection backup-policy get-default-policy-template command. This command returns a default policy template for a given datasource type. Use this policy template to create a new policy.
az dataprotection backup-policy get-default-policy-template --datasource-type AzureDisk
{
"datasourceTypes": [
"Microsoft.Compute/disks"
],
"name": "DiskPolicy",
"objectType": "BackupPolicy",
"policyRules": [
{
"backupParameters": {
"backupType": "Incremental",
"objectType": "AzureBackupParams"
},
"dataStore": {
"dataStoreType": "OperationalStore",
"objectType": "DataStoreInfoBase"
},
"name": "BackupHourly",
"objectType": "AzureBackupRule",
"trigger": {
"objectType": "ScheduleBasedTriggerContext",
"schedule": {
"repeatingTimeIntervals": [
"R/2020-04-05T13:00:00+00:00/PT4H"
]
},
"taggingCriteria": [
{
"isDefault": true,
"tagInfo": {
"id": "Default_",
"tagName": "Default"
},
"taggingPriority": 99
}
]
}
},
{
"isDefault": true,
"lifecycles": [
{
"deleteAfter": {
"duration": "P7D",
"objectType": "AbsoluteDeleteOption"
},
"sourceDataStore": {
"dataStoreType": "OperationalStore",
"objectType": "DataStoreInfoBase"
}
}
],
"name": "Default",
"objectType": "AzureRetentionRule"
}
]
}
The policy template consists of a trigger (which decides what triggers the backup) and a lifecycle (which decides when to delete/copy/move the backup). In Azure Disk Backup, the default values for trigger are a scheduled trigger for every 4 hours (PT4H) and to retain each backup for seven days.
Scheduled trigger:
"trigger": {
"objectType": "ScheduleBasedTriggerContext",
"schedule": {
"repeatingTimeIntervals": [
"R/2020-04-05T13:00:00+00:00/PT4H"
]
}
}
Default retention lifecycle:
"lifecycles": [
{
"deleteAfter": {
"duration": "P7D",
"objectType": "AbsoluteDeleteOption"
},
"sourceDataStore": {
"dataStoreType": "OperationalStore",
"objectType": "DataStoreInfoBase"
}
}
]
Azure Disk Backup offers multiple backups per day. If you require more frequent backups, choose the Hourly backup frequency with the ability to take backups with intervals of every 4, 6, 8 or 12 hours. The backups are scheduled based on the Time interval selected.
For example, if you select Every 4 hours, then the backups are taken at approximately in the interval of every 4 hours so the backups are distributed equally across the day. If a once-a-day backup is sufficient, choose the Daily backup frequency. In the daily backup frequency, you can specify the time of the day when your backups are taken.
Important
The time of the day indicates the backup start time and not the time when the backup completes.
The time required for completing the backup operation depends on various factors including size of the disk, and churn rate between consecutive backups. However, Azure Disk Backup is an agentless backup that uses incremental snapshots, which doesn't impact the production application performance.
Note
Although the selected vault may have the global-redundancy setting, currently, Azure Disk Backup supports snapshot datastore only. All backups are stored in a resource group in your subscription and aren't copied to the Backup vault storage.
To know more details about policy creation, refer to the Azure Disk Backup policy document.
Once the template is downloaded as a JSON file, you can edit it for scheduling and retention as required. Then create a new policy with the resulting JSON. If you want to edit the hourly frequency or the retention period, use the az dataprotection backup-policy trigger set and/or az dataprotection backup-policy retention-rule set commands. Once the policy JSON has all the required values, proceed to create a new policy from the policy object using the az dataprotection backup-policy create command.
az dataprotection backup-policy get-default-policy-template --datasource-type AzureDisk > policy.json
az dataprotection backup-policy create -g testBkpVaultRG --vault-name TestBkpVault -n mypolicy --policy policy.json
{
"id": "/subscriptions/xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx/resourceGroups/testBkpVaultRG/providers/Microsoft.DataProtection/backupVaults/TestBkpVault/backupPolicies/mypolicy",
"name": "mypolicy",
"properties": {
"datasourceTypes": [
"Microsoft.Compute/disks"
],
"objectType": "BackupPolicy",
"policyRules": [
{
"backupParameters": {
"backupType": "Incremental",
"objectType": "AzureBackupParams"
},
"dataStore": {
"dataStoreType": "OperationalStore",
"objectType": "DataStoreInfoBase"
},
"name": "BackupHourly",
"objectType": "AzureBackupRule",
"trigger": {
"objectType": "ScheduleBasedTriggerContext",
"schedule": {
"repeatingTimeIntervals": [
"R/2020-04-05T13:00:00+00:00/PT4H"
]
},
"taggingCriteria": [
{
"criteria": null,
"isDefault": true,
"tagInfo": {
"eTag": null,
"id": "Default_",
"tagName": "Default"
},
"taggingPriority": 99
}
]
}
},
{
"isDefault": true,
"lifecycles": [
{
"deleteAfter": {
"duration": "P7D",
"objectType": "AbsoluteDeleteOption"
},
"sourceDataStore": {
"dataStoreType": "OperationalStore",
"objectType": "DataStoreInfoBase"
},
"targetDataStoreCopySettings": null
}
],
"name": "Default",
"objectType": "AzureRetentionRule"
}
]
},
"resourceGroup": "testBkpVaultRG",
"systemData": null,
"type": "Microsoft.DataProtection/backupVaults/backupPolicies"
}
Configure backup
Once the vault and policy are created, there are three critical points that you need to consider to protect an Azure Disk.
Key entities involved
Disk to be protected
Fetch the ARM ID and the location of the disk to be protected. This will serve as the identifier of the disk. We'll use an example of a disk named CLITestDisk, under a resource group diskrg, under a different subscription.
$DiskId = "/subscriptions/xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx/resourcegroups/diskrg/providers/Microsoft.Compute/disks/CLITestDisk"
Snapshot resource group
The disk snapshots are stored in a resource group within your subscription. As a guideline, we recommend creating a dedicated resource group as a snapshot datastore to be used by the Azure Backup service. Having a dedicated resource group allows restricting access permissions on the resource group, providing safety and ease of management of the backup data. Note the ARM ID for the resource group where you wish to place the disk snapshots
$snapshotrg = "/subscriptions/xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx/resourceGroups/snapshotrg"
Backup vault
The Backup vaults require permissions on the disk and the snapshot resource group to be able to trigger snapshots and manage their lifecycle. The system-assigned managed identity of the vault is used for assigning such permissions. Use the az dataprotection backup-vault update command to enable system-assigned managed identity for the Recovery Services Vault.
az dataprotection backup-vault update -g testBkpVaultRG --vault-name TestBkpVault --type SystemAssigned
Assign permissions
You need to assign a few permissions via RBAC to the vault (represented by vault MSI) and the relevant disk and/or the disk RG. These can be performed via Azure portal or CLI. To assign related permissions, see the prerequisites to configure backup of managed disks.
Prepare the request
Once all the relevant permissions are set, the configuration of backup is performed in two steps. First, we prepare the relevant request by using the relevant vault, policy, disk, and snapshot resource group using the az dataprotection backup-instance initialize command. The initialize command will return a JSON file, and then you have to update the snapshot resource group value. Then, we submit the request to protect the disk using the az dataprotection backup-instance create command.
az dataprotection backup-instance initialize --datasource-type AzureDisk -l southeastasia --policy-id "/subscriptions/xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx/resourceGroups/testBkpVaultRG/providers/Microsoft.DataProtection/backupVaults/TestBkpVault/backupPolicies/mypolicy" --datasource-id "/subscriptions/xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx/resourcegroups/diskrg/providers/Microsoft.Compute/disks/CLITestDisk" > backup_instance.json
Open the JSON file and edit the snapshot resource group ID in the resource_group_id under the data_store_parameters_list section.
{
"backup_instance_name": "diskrg-CLITestDisk-3df6ac08-9496-4839-8fb5-8b78e594f166",
"properties": {
"data_source_info": {
"datasource_type": "Microsoft.Compute/disks",
"object_type": "Datasource",
"resource_id": "/subscriptions/xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx/resourcegroups/diskrg/providers/Microsoft.Compute/disks/CLITestDisk",
"resource_location": "southeastasia",
"resource_name": "CLITestDisk",
"resource_type": "Microsoft.Compute/disks",
"resource_uri": ""
},
"data_source_set_info": null,
"object_type": "BackupInstance",
"policy_info": {
"policy_id": "/subscriptions/xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx/resourcegroups/testBkpVaultRG/providers/Microsoft.DataProtection/BackupVaults/TestBkpVault/backupPolicies/DiskPolicy",
"policy_parameters": {
"data_store_parameters_list": [
{
"data_store_type": "OperationalStore",
"object_type": "AzureOperationalStoreParameters",
"resource_group_id": "/subscriptions/xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx/resourceGroups/snapshotrg"
}
]
}
}
}
}
Note
The backup instance name is generated by clients so that this will be a unique value. It's based on datasource name and a unique GUID. Once you list the backup instances, you should be able to check the name of backup instance and the relevant datasource name.
Use the edited JSON file to create a backup instance of the Azure Managed Disk.
az dataprotection backup-instance create -g testBkpVaultRG --vault-name TestBkpVault --backup-instance backup_instance.json
{
"id": "/subscriptions/xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx/resourcegroups/testBkpVaultRG/providers/Microsoft.DataProtection/BackupVaults/TestBkpVault/backupInstances/diskrg-CLITestDisk-3df6ac08-9496-4839-8fb5-8b78e594f166",
"name": "diskrg-CLITestDisk-3df6ac08-9496-4839-8fb5-8b78e594f166",
"properties": {
"currentProtectionState": "ProtectionConfigured",
"dataSourceInfo": {
"datasourceType": "Microsoft.Compute/disks",
"objectType": "Datasource",
"resourceId": "/subscriptions/xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx/resourcegroups/diskrg/providers/Microsoft.Compute/disks/CLITestDisk",
"resourceLocation": "southeastasia",
"resourceName": "CLITestDisk",
"resourceType": "Microsoft.Compute/disks",
"resourceUri": "/subscriptions/xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx/resourcegroups/diskrg/providers/Microsoft.Compute/disks/CLITestDisk"
},
"dataSourceSetInfo": null,
"friendlyName": "CLITestDisk",
"objectType": "BackupInstance",
"policyInfo": {
"policyId": "/subscriptions/xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx/resourcegroups/testBkpVaultRG/providers/Microsoft.DataProtection/BackupVaults/TestBkpVault/backupPolicies/DiskPolicy",
"policyParameters": {
"dataStoreParametersList": [
{
"dataStoreType": "OperationalStore",
"objectType": "AzureOperationalStoreParameters",
"resourceGroupId": "/subscriptions/xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx/resourcegroups/sarath-rg"
}
]
},
"policyVersion": null
},
"protectionErrorDetails": null,
"protectionStatus": {
"errorDetails": null,
"status": "ProtectionConfigured"
},
"provisioningState": "Succeeded"
},
"resourceGroup": "testBkpVaultRG",
"systemData": null,
"type": "Microsoft.DataProtection/backupVaults/backupInstances"
}
Once the backup instance is created, you can proceed to trigger an on-demand backup if you don't want to wait for the policy's scheduled.
Run an on-demand backup
List all backup instances within a vault using az dataprotection backup-instance list command, and then fetch the relevant instance using the az dataprotection backup-instance show command. Alternatively, for at-scale scenarios, you can list backup instances across vaults and subscriptions using the az dataprotection backup-instance list-from-resourcegraph command.
az dataprotection backup-instance list-from-resourcegraph --datasource-type AzureDisk --datasource-id /subscriptions/xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx/resourcegroups/diskrg/providers/Microsoft.Compute/disks/CLITestDisk
[
{
"datasourceId": "/subscriptions/xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx/resourcegroups/diskrg/providers/Microsoft.Compute/disks/CLITestDisk",
"extendedLocation": null,
"id": "//subscriptions/xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx/resourcegroups/testBkpVaultRG/providers/Microsoft.DataProtection/BackupVaults/TestBkpVault/backupInstances/diskrg-CLITestDisk-3df6ac08-9496-4839-8fb5-8b78e594f166",
"identity": null,
"kind": "",
"location": "",
"managedBy": "",
"name": "diskrg-CLITestDisk-3df6ac08-9496-4839-8fb5-8b78e594f166",
"plan": null,
"properties": {
"currentProtectionState": "ProtectionConfigured",
"dataSourceInfo": {
"baseUri": null,
"datasourceType": "Microsoft.Compute/disks",
"objectType": "Datasource",
"resourceID": "/subscriptions/xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx/resourcegroups/diskrg/providers/Microsoft.Compute/disks/CLITestDisk",
"resourceLocation": "westus",
"resourceName": "CLITestDisk",
"resourceType": "Microsoft.Compute/disks",
"resourceUri": "/subscriptions/xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx/resourcegroups/diskrg/providers/Microsoft.Compute/disks/CLITestDisk"
},
"dataSourceProperties": null,
"dataSourceSetInfo": null,
"datasourceAuthCredentials": null,
"friendlyName": "CLITestDisk",
"objectType": "BackupInstance",
"policyInfo": {
"policyId": "/subscriptions/xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx/resourcegroups/testBkpVaultRG/providers/Microsoft.DataProtection/BackupVaults/TestBkpVault/backupPolicies/DiskPolicy",
"policyParameters": {
"dataStoreParametersList": [
{
"dataStoreType": "OperationalStore",
"objectType": "AzureOperationalStoreParameters",
"resourceGroupId": "/subscriptions/xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx/resourceGroups/snapshotrg"
}
]
},
"policyVersion": null
},
"protectionErrorDetails": null,
"protectionStatus": {
"errorDetails": null,
"status": "ProtectionConfigured"
},
"provisioningState": "Succeeded"
},
"protectionState": "ProtectionConfigured",
"resourceGroup": "testBkpVaultRG",
"sku": null,
"subscriptionId": "xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx",
"tags": null,
"tenantId": "xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx",
"type": "microsoft.dataprotection/backupvaults/backupinstances",
"vaultName": "TestBkpVault",
"zones": null
}
]
You can specify a rule and tagname while triggering backup. To view the rules in policy, look through the policy JSON. In the following example, the rule with the name "BackupDaily", and tag name "default" is displayed, and we'll use that rule for the on-demand backup.
"name": "BackupDaily",
"objectType": "AzureBackupRule",
"trigger": {
"objectType": "ScheduleBasedTriggerContext",
"schedule": {
"repeatingTimeIntervals": [
"R/2022-09-27T23:30:00+00:00/P1D"
],
"timeZone": "UTC"
},
"taggingCriteria": [
{
"criteria": null,
"isDefault": true,
"tagInfo": {
"eTag": null,
"id": "Default_",
"tagName": "Default"
},
"taggingPriority": 99
}
Trigger an on-demand backup using the az dataprotection backup-instance adhoc-backup command.
az dataprotection backup-instance adhoc-backup --name "diskrg-CLITestDisk-3df6ac08-9496-4839-8fb5-8b78e594f166" --rule-name "BackupDaily" --resource-group "000pikumar" --vault-name "PratikPrivatePreviewVault1" --retention-tag-override "default"
Track jobs
Track all the jobs using the az dataprotection job list command. You can list all jobs and fetch a particular job detail.
You can also use Az.ResourceGraph to track all jobs across all Backup vaults. Use the az dataprotection job list-from-resourcegraph command to get the relevant job that can be across any Backup vault.
az dataprotection job list-from-resourcegraph --datasource-type AzureDisk --status Completed