How do i recover Full VMs in Azure Stack HCI 23H2 consistently?

Question

It seems that Azure Backup Server or other third-party applications struggle to consistently recover Azure Stack HCI VMs. I've tested full VM recovery and file-level restore with Veeam Backup & Replication, and both were successful. However, I've encountered a specific scenario where no suitable solution seems to exist.

If a VM is deleted in the Azure Portal for any reason, or if I need to redeploy the entire cluster, I can recover the VM on my Azure Stack HCI node, and it works fine. However, the VM no longer appears under the Azure Stack HCI Cluster object in the Azure Portal. I understand that the VM is being restored as a Hyper-V workload. When I onboard the VM using an Azure Arc script, it loses its Azure Stack HCI-specific features (like free Azure Update Management).

This appears to be an API limitation preventing the VM from automatically onboarding to Azure Arc or re-registering with the Azure Stack HCI Cluster in the Azure Portal.

In my view, this is not a viable backup solution, making Azure Stack HCI unsuitable for production environments. When will Microsoft provide a proper solution?

Answer 1

Hi ChristianBlten-6032,
Welcome to the Microsoft Q&A Platform! Thank you for asking your question here.

I understand your concern that when a virtual machine (VM) is deleted from the Azure Portal or if an entire Azure Stack HCI cluster needs to be redeployed, it is possible to recover the VM on the Azure Stack HCI node. However, a common issue arises where the recovered VM does not reappear under the Azure Stack HCI Cluster object in the Azure Portal because it is being restored as a Hyper-V workload. This is due to an API limitation that prevents the VM from automatically onboarding to Azure Arc or re-registering with the Azure Stack HCI Cluster in the Azure Portal.

If VM is created directly as an Azure Arc VM, unfortunately, there is not a process currently to get this VM added back into the portal. The only method to get any VM to show within the portal is to deploy the VM using the steps described in this article series. This is also noted in this article (first Note).
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure-stack/hci/manage/azure-arc-vms-faq#if-i-delete-arc-resource-bridge--are-the-vms-also-deleted-

Microsoft is also actively working on improving the Azure Stack HCI experience, with closer integrations into relevant Microsoft services in Azure. But for new features or enhancements, their timelines are not frequently disclosed to the public until they appear at some official conferences like MS Ignite or Azure's official communication. Check the Azure Stack HCI release notes and its updates on experimenting new capabilities that might overcome these restrictions.

If you have any further queries, do let us know.

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Answer 2

Hello @ChristianBlten-6032

I have reviewed your query with Mounika and with internal teams. Let me first answer your follow up question:

Yes, you can deploy a new Azure Stack HCI virtual machine in your newly redeployed cluster and then overwrite the existing virtual disk with your backup data. However, there are some considerations you should be aware of. When you overwrite the existing virtual disk with your backup data, you need to ensure that the disk is in the same format as the original, you should also consider the impact of overwriting the existing virtual disk on any data that may have been created or modified since the backup was taken. If there is any data that has been created or modified since the backup was taken, you may need to consider other recovery options, such as restoring individual files or folders in such cases.

I understand your concern regarding the recovery of Azure Stack HCI VMs. While Microsoft Azure Backup Server (MABS) and other third-party applications can be used to back up and recover Azure Stack HCI VMs, there are limitations to the recovery process, this is expected behavior with the current design, as you just restore the VM on host level with a snapshot based backup and this is also documented publicly. Back up Azure Stack HCI virtual machines with MABS - Azure Backup | Microsoft Learn

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