Microsoft Azure Online Backup is Microsoft’s cloud-based subscription backup service. Microsoft Azure Online Backup can be integrated with DPM, providing a secure off-site data storage and recovery location. Microsoft Azure can store data from DPM for 120 days if you synchronize data every 24 hours, and 60 days if you synchronize data every 12 hours. Your Azure subscription will be charged based on the amount of data stored in the backup vault, but you will not be charged for the bandwidth consumed transferring the data.
To configure DPM to work with Microsoft Azure Online Backup, you need to have performed the following steps:
- Have created a Microsoft Azure account.
- Have created a backup vault within the Microsoft Azure account. Backup vaults allow you to store backup data. Figure 1 shows the creation of a backup vault named ExampleVault.
FIGURE 1 Create backup vault
- Upload a specially-created certificate that will identify the server to the backup vault, and secure the backup process. You can create this certificate with the makecert.exe utility, generate it using an internal certificate authority, or obtain it from a trusted third party CA.
- Download and install the Microsoft Azure Backup agent to the DPM server. This agent works for both Microsoft Azure Backup, a stand-alone server-based backup solution, and when installed on a System Center 2012 R2 DPM server, integrates with DPM, allowing protected data to be stored in the cloud.
To create a self-signed certificate, download the makecert.exe utility from Microsoft’s website and run the following command.
.\makecert.exe -r -pe -n CN=SYD-DPM -ss my -sr localmachine -eku 1.3.6.1.5.5.7.3.2 -len
2048 -e 01/01/2018 SYD-DPM.cer
You replace SYD-DPM with the name of the computer for which you are creating the certificate, and where 01/01/2018 is an appropriate certificate expiry date. Once you’ve created the certificate, upload it to Microsoft Azure, as shown in Figure 2
FIGURE 2 Manage Certificate
Once the certificate is uploaded, you download the agent and install it on the DPM server, as shown in Figure 3.
FIGURE 3 Windows Azure Backup Agent Setup
Once the agent is installed, you’ll need to register the DPM server with Microsoft Azure. To register the DPM server with Microsoft Azure, perform the following steps:
1. In the Management node of the DPM console, click Online. In the ribbon, click Register. This will launch the Register Server Wizard.
2. On the Backup Vault page of the Register Server Wizard, select the management certificate that you uploaded to Microsoft Azure, and then select the name of the backup vault, as shown in Figure 4.
FIGURE 4 Backup vault
3. On the Proxy Configuration page, configure any proxy server settings that are required for the DPM server to make a connection to Microsoft Azure.
4. On the Throttling Setting page, shown in Figure 5, specify any bandwidth throttling settings that should apply when protected data is being transferred to Microsoft Azure. You can configure throttling settings for work hours and non-work hours.
FIGURE 5 Throttling Setting
5. On the Recovery Folder Settings page, specify a location that the DPM server can use as temporary storage space before being transferred to the final recovery location. This location needs to have enough storage space to store this temporary data.
6. On the Encryption Settings page, provide a 16 character long passphrase. This passphrase will be used to encrypt backed up data. You need this passphrase to recover data from Microsoft Azure when recovering using a difference instance of DPM. The Encryption Setting page of the wizard is shown in Figure 6.
FIGURE 6 Encryption Setting
Once you have registered the DPM server with Microsoft Azure, you will be able to select the online protection option when creating or modifying a protection group, as shown in Figure 7.
FIGURE 7 Select data protection method
Once you select the online protection option, you’ll be able to configure which protection group data you want to protect. You can protect only a subset of the data protected by the protection group, rather than having to replicate all of the protected data to Microsoft Azure. Figure 8 shows the Online Protection Goals page of the wizard.
FIGURE 8 Online protection goals
You can force the creation of an online protection recovery point from the Protection workspace, as shown in Figure 9.
FIGURE 9 Create Recovery Point
To recover from Microsoft Azure backup, specify an online recovery point, as shown in Figure 10, and perform recovery normally.
FIGURE 10 Online recovery
