Azure Backup Server (MABS / DPM): item level recovery from online recovery point

Question

Hi all.

I've deployed Microsoft Azure backup Server as per this

The installation is working great, including only a few weeks of backup retention stored on the MABS server on site (to keep storage costs low), and long term retention kept in the Azure Recovery Services vault.

However, I understood too late that "Item level Recovery" from an online recovery point (ie; our of the ARS Vault) is not supported, as explained here.

This is a real issue for us, since it means to restore say, a single 1MB file from long term retention, we need to download the ENTIRE BACKUP from Azure to local storage, which could be many hundreds of gigabytes (or terabytes), BEFORE the 1MB file could be extracted.

While this might not be an issue at Redmond where bandwidth and storage is a plenty, most of our customers have limited resources to work with - so efficient use of these systems is vital.

Can anyone share their experience with using MABS / DPM with online retention to Azure and restoring from online recovery points?

I'm starting to wonder if I should have deployed MABS to manage local retention only (to facilitate local DR), and installed the MARS agent to each protected server on premises to achieve offsite long term retention that supported "Item level Recovery", or something... Which seams a bit messy.

Thank you in advance for any feed back or suggestions.

Answer 1

@Jason G From the information provided, you seem to have good understanding of Azure Backup service. For File \ Folder backup you can perform item level restore (ILR) from Online RPs. For VM the ILR from cloud RP is not supported yet. One workaround to retrieve specific file is to configure disk recovery points at local. These recovery points can be used for offline restore and ILR is possible.

I do understand that it seem little confusing but each of the features in Azure Backup has its own advantages and limitations . Based on your requirement, you need to choose the features.

On other hand, you can also provide your feedback on the product here and respective Azure feature team takes into consideration of the feedback and prioritize it.