How do I backup a VM in Azure?

Azure backups can be created through the Azure portal. This method provides a browser-based user interface to create and configure Azure backups and all related resources. You can protect your data by taking backups at regular intervals. Azure Backup creates recovery points that can be stored in geo-redundant recovery vaults.
 

1. In the menu on the left, select Virtual machines.
   
2. From the list, choose a VM to back up. In this case the VM created was called sorobert-TestVM in the OVCI-Technology Solutions-sorobert-TestRG-DEV resource group.
   
3. In the Operations section, choose Backup. The Enable backup window opens.
   

Enable backup on a VM

A Recovery Services vault is a logical container that stores the backup data for each protected resource, such as Azure VMs. When the backup job for a protected resource runs, it creates a recovery point inside the Recovery Services vault. You can then use one of these recovery points to restore data to a given point in time.

1. Select Create new and provide a name for the new vault, such as myRecoveryServicesVault.
2. If not already selected, choose Use existing, then select the resource group(OVCI-Technology Solutions-sorobert-TestRG-DEV) of your VM from the drop-down menu.
   

By default, the vault is set for Geo-Redundant storage. To further protect your data, this storage redundancy level ensures that your backup data is replicated to a secondary Azure region that is hundreds of miles away from the primary region.

You create and use policies to define when a backup job runs and how long the recovery points are stored. The default protection policy runs a backup job each day and retains recovery points for 30 days. You can use these default policy values to quickly protect your VM.

3. To accept the default backup policy values, select Enable Backup.

NOTE:  It takes quite a while to create the Recovery Services vault.

Start a backup job

You can start a backup now rather than wait for the default policy to run the job at the scheduled time. This first backup job creates a full recovery point. Each backup job after this initial backup creates incremental recovery points. Incremental recovery points are storage and time-efficient, as they only transfer changes made since the last backup.

1. On the Backup window for your VM, select Backup now.
   
2. To accept the backup retention policy of 30 days, leave the default Retain Backup Till To start the job, select OK.

Monitor the backup job

In the Backup window for your VM, the status of the backup and number of completed restore points are shown. Once the VM backup job is complete, information on the Last backup time, Latest restore point, and Oldest restore point is shown on the right-hand side of the Overview window.

1. To monitor the current backup, click on view all jobs.
   
   
2. Wait until the initial backup has completed.

NOTE: This takes a VERY long time.

Connect to the virtual machine

Create a remote desktop connection to the virtual machine. These directions tell you how to connect to your VM from a Windows computer. On a Mac, you need an RDP client.

1. Click the Connect button on the virtual machine properties page.
   
2. In the Connect to virtual machine page, keep the default options to connect by DNS name over port 3389 and click Download RDP file.
3. Open the downloaded RDP file and click Connect when prompted. In the Windows Security window, select More choices and then Use a different account. Type the username as localhost\username, enter password you created for the virtual machine, and then click OK. In our example, this would be localhost\azureadminuser and azureadminuserpassword1!
4. You may receive a certificate warning during the sign-in process. Click Yes or Continue to create the connection.
5. If the connection fails make sure you’re using the public IP and try again.
6. Once Connected, delete the file on the desktop called TextFile.txt