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Back up Azure Blobs in a storage account using Azure CLI

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This article describes how to back up Azure Blobs using Azure CLI. You can now perform operational and vaulted backups to protect block blobs in your storage accounts using Azure Backup.

For information on the Azure Blobs regions availability, supported scenarios, and limitations, see the support matrix.

Before you start

See the prerequisites and support matrix before you get started.

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, and 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 creating 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"
}

Important

Though you'll see the Backup storage redundancy of the vault, the redundancy doesn't apply to the operational backup of blobs. This is because the backup is local in nature and no data is stored in the Backup vault. Here, the Backup vault is the management entity to help you manage the protection of block blobs in your storage accounts.

After creating a vault, let's create a Backup policy to protect Azure Blobs in a storage account.

Create a backup policy

You can create a backup policy for operational backup and vaulted backup for Azure Blobs using Azure CLI.

Choose a backup tier:

Before creating the policy and configuring backups for Azure Blobs, see the prerequisites.

To understand the inner components of a Backup policy for Azure Blobs 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 AzureBlob

{
  "datasourceTypes": [
    "Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts/blobServices"
  ],
  "name": "BlobPolicy1",
  "objectType": "BackupPolicy",
  "policyRules": [
    {
      "isDefault": true,
      "lifecycles": [
        {
          "deleteAfter": {
            "duration": "P30D",
            "objectType": "AbsoluteDeleteOption"
          },
          "sourceDataStore": {
            "dataStoreType": "OperationalStore",
            "objectType": "DataStoreInfoBase"
          }
        }
      ],
      "name": "Default",
      "objectType": "AzureRetentionRule"
    }
  ]
}

The policy template consists of a lifecycle only (which decides when to delete/copy/move the backup). As operational backup for blobs is continuous in nature, you don't need a schedule to perform backups.

"policyRules": [
    {
      "isDefault": true,
      "lifecycles": [
        {
          "deleteAfter": {
            "duration": "P30D",
            "objectType": "AbsoluteDeleteOption"
          },
          "sourceDataStore": {
            "dataStoreType": "OperationalStore",
            "objectType": "DataStoreInfoBase"
          }
        }
      ],
      "name": "Default",
      "objectType": "AzureRetentionRule"
    }
  ]

Note

Restoring over long durations may lead to restore operations taking longer to complete. Also, the time taken to restore a set of data is based on the number of write and delete operations made during the restore period. For example, an account with one million objects with 3,000 objects added per day and 1,000 objects deleted per day will require approximately two hours to restore to a point 30 days in the past.

We don't recommend a retention period and restoration more than 90 days in the past for an account with this rate of change.

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 AzureBlob > policy.json
az dataprotection backup-policy create -g testBkpVaultRG --vault-name TestBkpVault -n BlobBackup-Policy --policy policy.json

{
    "id": "/subscriptions/xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx/resourceGroups/testBkpVaultRG/providers/Microsoft.DataProtection/backupVaults/TestBkpVault/backupPolicies/BlobBackup-Policy",
    "name": "BlobBackup-Policy",
    "properties": {
      "datasourceTypes": [
        "Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts/blobServices"
      ],
      "objectType": "BackupPolicy",
      "policyRules": [
        {
          "isDefault": true,
          "lifecycles": [
            {
              "deleteAfter": {
                "duration": "P2D",
                "objectType": "AbsoluteDeleteOption"
              },
              "sourceDataStore": {
                "dataStoreType": "OperationalStore",
                "objectType": "DataStoreInfoBase"
              },
              "targetDataStoreCopySettings": []
            }
          ],
          "name": "Default",
          "objectType": "AzureRetentionRule"
        }
      ]
    },
    "resourceGroup": "testBkpVaultRG",
    "systemData": null,
    "type": "Microsoft.DataProtection/backupVaults/backupPolicies"
  }

Configure backup

Once the vault and policy are created, there are two critical points that you need to consider to protect all the Azure Blobs within a storage account.

  • Key entities
  • Permissions

Key entities

  • Storage account containing the blobs to be protected: Fetch the Azure Resource Manager ID of the storage account that contains the blobs to be protected. This will serve as the identifier of the storage account. We'll use an example of a storage account named CLITestSA, under the resource group blobrg, in a different subscription present in the Southeast Asia region.

    "/subscriptions/xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx/resourcegroups/blobrg/providers/Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts/CLITestSA"

  • Backup vault: The Backup vault requires permissions on the storage account to enable backups on blobs present within the storage account. The system-assigned managed identity of the vault is used for assigning such permissions.

Assign permissions

You need to assign a few permissions via Azure RBAC to the created vault (represented by vault MSI) and the relevant storage account. These can be performed via Portal or PowerShell. Learn more about all the related permissions.

Prepare the request to configure blob backup

Once all the relevant permissions are set, configure the backup by running the following commands:

  1. Prepare the relevant request by using the relevant vault, policy, storage account using the az dataprotection backup-instance initialize command.

    az dataprotection backup-instance initialize --datasource-type AzureBlob  -l southeastasia --policy-id "/subscriptions/xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx/resourceGroups/testBkpVaultRG/providers/Microsoft.DataProtection/backupVaults/TestBkpVault/backupPolicies/BlobBackup-Policy" --datasource-id "/subscriptions/xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx/resourcegroups/blobrg/providers/Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts/CLITestSA" > backup_instance.json

  2. Submit the request using the az dataprotection backup-instance create command.

    az dataprotection backup-instance create -g testBkpVaultRG --vault-name TestBkpVault --backup-instance backup_instance.json

{
    "id": "/subscriptions/xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxx/resourceGroups/testBkpVaultRG/providers/Microsoft.DataProtection/backupVaults/TestBkpVault/backupInstances/CLITestSA-CLITestSA-c3a2a98c-def8-44db-bd1d-ff6bc86ed036",
    "name": "CLITestSA-CLITestSA-c3a2a98c-def8-44db-bd1d-ff6bc86ed036",
    "properties": {
      "currentProtectionState": "ProtectionConfigured",
      "dataSourceInfo": {
        "datasourceType": "Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts/blobServices",
        "objectType": "Datasource",
        "resourceId": "/subscriptions/xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx/resourcegroups/blobrg/providers/Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts/CLITestSA",
        "resourceLocation": "southeastasia",
        "resourceName": "CLITestSA",
        "resourceType": "Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts",
        "resourceUri": "/subscriptions/xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx/resourcegroups/blobrg/providers/Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts/CLITestSA"
      },
      "dataSourceSetInfo": null,
      "friendlyName": "CLITestSA",
      "objectType": "BackupInstance",
      "policyInfo": {
        "policyId": "/subscriptions/xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx/resourceGroups/testBkpVaultRG/providers/Microsoft.DataProtection/backupVaults/TestBkpVault/backupPolicies/BlobBackup-Policy",
        "policyParameters": {
          "dataStoreParametersList": [
            {
              "dataStoreType": "OperationalStore",
              "objectType": "AzureOperationalStoreParameters",
              "resourceGroupId": ""
            }
          ]
        },
        "policyVersion": ""
      },
      "protectionErrorDetails": null,
      "protectionStatus": {
        "errorDetails": null,
        "status": "ProtectionConfigured"
      },
      "provisioningState": "Succeeded"
    },
    "resourceGroup": "testBkpVaultRG",
    "systemData": null,
    "type": "Microsoft.DataProtection/backupVaults/backupInstances"
  }

Important

Once a storage account is configured for blobs backup, a few capabilities such as change feed and delete lock are affected. Learn more.

Update a backup instance

After you have configured the backup, you can change the associated policy with a backup instance. For vaulted backups, you can also change the containers selected for backup.

To update the backup instance, run the following command:

  1. Validate if the backup instance is ready for configuring backup by using the az dataprotection backup-instance validate-for-backup command . The command fails if the backup instance isn't ready.
  2. Change the Backup policy used for backing up the Azure Blobs by using the az dataprotection backup-instance update. Specify the relevant backup item and the new backup policy.

Next steps

Restore Azure Blobs using Azure CLI