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A Recovery Services vault is a storage entity in Azure that houses data such as backups, recovery points, and backup policies. Think of it as a “safe deposit box” for your data which is secure and has several features to manage the backup and replication of your data.
To create a Recovery Services vault, follow these steps:
Below is an example of creating a Recovery Services vault using Azure PowerShell:
# Login to Azure account
Connect-AzAccount
# Select subscription
Set-AzContext -Subscription “YourSubscriptionName”
# Create a new Resource Group if necessary
New-AzResourceGroup -Name “MyResourceGroup” -Location “East US”
# Create the Recovery Services vault
New-AzRecoveryServicesVault -Name “MyVaultName” -ResourceGroupName “MyResourceGroup” -Location “East US”
Once you have executed these commands, a new Recovery Services vault will be created in the specified subscription and region.
When creating a Recovery Services vault, deciding on the replication type is crucial. Here’s a comparison between Locally-Redundant Storage (LRS) and Geo-Redundant Storage (GRS):
Feature | LRS | GRS |
---|---|---|
Data Replication | Within a single data center | Across multiple data centers |
Durability | Offers at least 99.999999999% (11 9’s) durability of objects over a given year | Offers at least 99.99999999999999% (16 9’s) durability of objects over a given year |
Availability | Less compared to GRS | More compared to LRS |
Recommended Use | Non-critical data requiring lower cost | Critical data requiring higher resiliency |
Cost | Generally less expensive than GRS | Generally more expensive than LRS |
Choose your replication type based on your business continuity, budget, and compliance requirements.
After the Recovery Services vault is set up, you can proceed to configure your backup infrastructure using Azure Backup, which includes specifying what to back up (such as Azure VMs, SQL databases, Azure File shares, etc.), setting up backup policies, and performing restore operations as needed. Proper configuration and management of the Recovery Services vault are integral to maintaining the safety and accessibility of your backed-up data.
Answer: B) False
Explanation: Azure Backup Vaults are not limited to one per Azure subscription; you can have multiple backup vaults as needed for different workloads and grouping of resources across geographic regions.
Answer: C) Geo-redundant storage (GRS)
Explanation: Geo-redundant storage (GRS) is the Azure storage redundancy option that provides geographic replication to maintain data durability and availability even if a region is unavailable.
Answer: A) True
Explanation: The Azure Backup service supports a variety of workloads including Azure virtual machines (VMs), SQL Server running on Azure VMs, and Azure Files, in addition to other supported scenarios.
Answer: B) Recovery Services vault
Explanation: A Recovery Services vault is a storage entity in Azure that houses data. The data is typically copies of data, or configuration information for virtual machines (VMs), workloads, servers, or workstations.
Answer: B) False
Explanation: Azure Backup Vaults provide encryption of backup data by default using platform-managed keys. It cannot be disabled; however, customers can choose to use their own keys for encryption (customer-managed keys).
Answer: C) Azure File Shares
Explanation: Azure Backup currently supports the protection of Azure File Shares. It does not directly back up Azure Blob Storage, Azure Managed Disks, or Azure Cosmos DB.
Answer: A) True
Explanation: It is a recommended practice to create the Backup Vault in the same region as the resources it is protecting for optimal performance and compliance with data residency requirements.
Answer: A) Size of data being backed up, B) Frequency of backups, C) Retention period of backups, D) Type of storage redundancy chosen
Explanation: All listed factors affect the cost of Azure Backup. Costs increase with more data, more frequent backups, longer retention periods, and higher levels of storage redundancy.
Answer: A) True
Explanation: You can create an Azure Backup Vault using different methods, including Azure Portal, Azure PowerShell, and Azure CLI.
Answer: D) An Azure resource group
Explanation: An Azure Backup Vault is a resource and like other resources in Azure, it must be associated with an Azure resource group within a subscription.
Azure Backup vault is a unified, centralized backup management system that can protect your data across different services and locations in Azure.
To create an Azure Backup vault, you must have an Azure subscription, a storage account, and a virtual network.
You can create an Azure Backup vault by following these steps 1. Sign in to the Azure portal. 2. Navigate to the Backup + Site Recovery vaults page. 3. Click Add. 4. Enter a name for the vault. 5. Select the subscription, resource group, and location for the vault. 6. Click Create.
A Backup vault is used to manage backups and recovery points of your workloads, while a Site Recovery vault is used for disaster recovery scenarios.
Azure Backup supports the following workloads Azure Virtual Machines, SQL Server, SharePoint, Exchange, SAP HANA, and Oracle.
Azure Backup uses the Azure VM backup extension to take backups of Azure Virtual Machines.
You can configure backup policies for Azure Backup by following these steps Open the Azure portal. > Navigate to the Backup vault. > Click on Backup policies. > Click Add. > Enter a name for the policy. > Select the items to be backed up and the retention period. > Click OK.
You can restore data from an Azure Backup vault by following these steps Open the Azure portal. > Navigate to the Backup vault. > Click on Backup items. > Select the item you want to restore. > Click on Restore. > Select the restore point and the target location. > Click OK.
A recovery services vault is an Azure resource used to store data and backup policies for services like Azure Backup and Azure Site Recovery.
You can manage Azure Backup using PowerShell by installing the Azure PowerShell module, connecting to your Azure subscription, and using the available cmdlets for Azure Backup.
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