If you’re responsible for cloud infrastructure, you know that backing up disks isn’t just a best practice; it’s basically your insurance policy against “oops” moments, ransomware attacks, and catastrophic failures. But as backup strategies get more advanced and cloud platforms like Azure keep evolving, it’s easy to get caught in the weeds.
Fret not, fellow cloud wrangler! In this post, we’re covering Azure Disk backups, including: local snapshots, cross-region disaster recovery (DR) copies, and long-term storage account archives. So pull up a chair and let’s make sure your data can survive anything short of a zombie apocalypse.
How to Backup Azure Disks:
From your N2W dashboard, start by clicking “Policies”. Then click the New button to create a new Azure backup policy.
Give it a memorable name, like “Disk Demo Backup (Local + CR + Storage Archive)” means you’ll always know what you’re looking at.
Next, link your local Azure account and subscription, and decide how often you want backups to run. Cynthia keeps things simple with a daily schedule, but the beauty of N2W is that you can fine-tune this to whatever schedule fits your needs.
Now comes the fun part—selecting your disks! Browse by location, resource group, or just search by name. Select the disk (or disks), and add them to your policy.
Once you’ve made your picks and closed the popup, you’ll be greeted with additional options: disaster recovery (DR) settings and lifecycle management. These aren’t just bonus features—they’re your ticket to airtight protection.
Disaster Recovery for Azure Disks
Backing up locally is great—until your region has an outage. Enter cross-region DR backup. In Cynthia’s demo, her disk lives in the US East region, but for DR, she opts for the US West region as her secondary copy destination.
This isn’t just a “what if” scenario—it’s a must-have. When disaster strikes, you want your DR backups far, far away from the chaos, ready to leap into action. All it takes is a few clicks, and N2W will automatically snapshot your selected disks to the DR region of your choice. Sleep a bit easier tonight, knowing you’ve got a Plan B (and C).
Lifecycle Management & Archival
Short-term protection is fab, but what about compliance, audits, or Sherlock-level forensics six months down the line? Enter storage account archival.
N2W lets you send monthly or periodic backups straight into long-term storage—think of it as your data’s deep freeze. Cynthia’s strategy? Archive monthly backups for six months in a storage account. This is your failsafe for “just in case” scenarios, providing an unbroken chain of backup custody. With proper repository and worker configuration (set up beforehand), you’ll have peace of mind that your data is safe but readily accessible.
Monitoring Your Backups
Now for the moment of truth: did your backups actually run? Head to the backup monitor and track your policy’s progress in real-time. Local backups go first, then DR, then lifecycle/archive copies. All neat. All organized.
Wrap-Up
And there you have it—a foolproof plan to safeguard your Azure disks with local, cross-region, and storage account backups. With a multi-layered Azure backup strategy, you’re ready for anything. Go forth and backup, confident that your precious data is guarded by the best cloud defenses available.
