Use Azure role-based access control to manage Azure Backup recovery points

Azure role-based access control (Azure RBAC) enables fine-grained access management for Azure. Using Azure RBAC, you can segregate duties within your team and grant only the amount of access to users that they need to perform their jobs.

Important

Roles provided by Azure Backup are limited to actions that can be performed in Azure portal or via REST API or Recovery Services vault PowerShell or CLI cmdlets. Actions performed in the Azure Backup agent client UI or System center Data Protection Manager UI or Azure Backup Server UI are out of control of these roles.

Azure Backup provides three built-in roles to control backup management operations. Learn more on Azure built-in roles

  • Backup Contributor - This role has all permissions to create and manage backup except deleting Recovery Services vault and giving access to others. Imagine this role as admin of backup management who can do every backup management operation.
  • Backup Operator - This role has permissions to everything a contributor does except removing backup and managing backup policies. This role is equivalent to contributor except it can't perform destructive operations such as stop backup with delete data or remove registration of on-premises resources.
  • Backup Reader - This role has permissions to view all backup management operations. Imagine this role to be a monitoring person.

If you're looking to define your own roles for even more control, see how to build Custom roles in Azure RBAC.

Mapping Backup built-in roles to backup management actions

Minimum role requirements for Azure VM backup

The following table captures the Backup management actions and corresponding minimum Azure role required to perform that operation.

Management Operation Minimum Azure role required Scope Required Alternative
Create Recovery Services vault Backup Contributor Resource group containing the vault
Enable backup of Azure VMs Backup Operator Resource group containing the vault
Virtual Machine Contributor VM resource Alternatively, instead of a built-in-role, you can consider a custom role which has the following permissions: Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/write Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/read
Enable backup of Azure VMs (from VM blade) Backup Operator Resource group containing the vault
Backup Operator Resource group containing the virtual machine
Virtual Machine Contributor VM resource Alternatively, instead of a built-in-role, you can consider a custom role which has the following permissions: Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/write Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/read Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/instanceView/read
On-demand backup of VM Backup Operator Recovery Services vault
Restore VM Backup Operator Recovery Services vault
Contributor Resource group in which VM will be deployed Alternatively, instead of a built-in-role, you can consider a custom role which has the following permissions: Microsoft.Resources/subscriptions/resourceGroups/write Microsoft.DomainRegistration/domains/write (required only for classic VM restore and not required for managed VMs), Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/write Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/read Microsoft.Network/virtualNetworks/read Microsoft.Network/virtualNetworks/subnets/read Microsoft.Network/virtualNetworks/subnets/join/action
Virtual Machine Contributor Source VM that got backed up Alternatively, instead of a built-in-role, you can consider a custom role which has the following permissions: Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/write Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/read
Restore unmanaged disks VM backup Backup Operator Recovery Services vault
Virtual Machine Contributor Source VM that got backed up Alternatively, instead of a built-in-role, you can consider a custom role which has the following permissions: Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/write Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/read
Storage Account Contributor Storage account resource where disks are going to be restored Alternatively, instead of a built-in-role, you can consider a custom role which has the following permissions: Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts/write
Restore managed disks from VM backup Backup Operator Recovery Services vault
Virtual Machine Contributor Source VM that got backed up Alternatively, instead of a built-in-role, you can consider a custom role which has the following permissions: Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/write Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/read
Storage Account Contributor Temporary Storage account selected as part of restore to hold data from vault before converting them to managed disks Alternatively, instead of a built-in-role, you can consider a custom role which has the following permissions: Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts/write
Contributor Resource group to which managed disk(s) will be restored Alternatively, instead of a built-in-role, you can consider a custom role which has the following permissions: Microsoft.Resources/subscriptions/resourceGroups/write
Restore individual files from VM backup Backup Operator Recovery Services vault
Virtual Machine Contributor Source VM that got backed up Alternatively, instead of a built-in-role, you can consider a custom role which has the following permissions: Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/write Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/read
Cross region restore Backup Operator Subscription of the recovery Services vault This is in addition of the restore permissions mentioned above. Specifically for CRR, instead of a built-in-role, you can consider a custom role which has the following permissions: "Microsoft.RecoveryServices/locations/backupAadProperties/read" "Microsoft.RecoveryServices/locations/backupCrrJobs/action" "Microsoft.RecoveryServices/locations/backupCrrJob/action" "Microsoft.RecoveryServices/locations/backupCrossRegionRestore/action" "Microsoft.RecoveryServices/locations/backupCrrOperationResults/read" "Microsoft.RecoveryServices/locations/backupCrrOperationsStatus/read"
Create backup policy for Azure VM backup Backup Contributor Recovery Services vault
Modify backup policy of Azure VM backup Backup Contributor Recovery Services vault
Delete backup policy of Azure VM backup Backup Contributor Recovery Services vault
Stop backup (with retain data or delete data) on VM backup Backup Contributor Recovery Services vault
Register on-premises Windows Server/client/SCDPM or Azure Backup Server Backup Operator Recovery Services vault
Delete registered on-premises Windows Server/client/SCDPM or Azure Backup Server Backup Contributor Recovery Services vault

Important

If you specify VM Contributor at a VM resource scope and select Backup as part of VM settings, it will open the Enable Backup screen, even though the VM is already backed up. This is because the call to verify backup status works only at the subscription level. To avoid this, either go to the vault and open the backup item view of the VM or specify the VM Contributor role at a subscription level.

Minimum role requirements for Azure workload backups (SQL and HANA DB backups)

The following table captures the Backup management actions and corresponding minimum Azure role required to perform that operation.

Management Operation Minimum Azure role required Scope Required Alternative
Create Recovery Services vault Backup Contributor Resource group containing the vault
Enable backup of SQL and/or HANA databases Backup Operator Resource group containing the vault
Virtual Machine Contributor VM resource where DB is installed Alternatively, instead of a built-in-role, you can consider a custom role which has the following permissions: Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/write Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/read
On-demand backup of DB Backup Operator Recovery Services vault
Restore database or Restore as files Backup Operator Recovery Services vault
Virtual Machine Contributor Source VM that got backed up Alternatively, instead of a built-in-role, you can consider a custom role which has the following permissions: Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/write Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/read
Virtual Machine Contributor Target VM in which DB will be restored or files are created Alternatively, instead of a built-in-role, you can consider a custom role which has the following permissions: Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/write Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/read
Create backup policy for Azure VM backup Backup Contributor Recovery Services vault
Modify backup policy of Azure VM backup Backup Contributor Recovery Services vault
Delete backup policy of Azure VM backup Backup Contributor Recovery Services vault
Stop backup (with retain data or delete data) on VM backup Backup Contributor Recovery Services vault
Virtual Machine Contributor Source VM that got backed-up Alternatively, instead of a built-in-role, you can consider a custom role which has the following permissions: Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/write
Cross region restore Backup Operator Subscription of the Recovery Services vault This is in addition to the restore permissions mentioned above. In case of cross region restore, instead of a built-in role, you can use a custom role that has the following permissions:

- Microsoft.RecoveryServices/locations/backupAadProperties/read

- Microsoft.RecoveryServices/locations/backupCrrJobs/action

- Microsoft.RecoveryServices/locations/backupCrrJob/action

- Microsoft.RecoveryServices/locations/backupCrossRegionRestore/action

- Microsoft.RecoveryServices/locations/backupCrrOperationResults/read

- Microsoft.RecoveryServices/locations/backupCrrOperationsStatus/read

Minimum role requirements for the Azure File share backup

The following table captures the Backup management actions and corresponding Azure role required to perform that operation.

Management Operation Role Required Resources
Enable backup from Recovery Services vault Backup Contributor Recovery Services vault
Storage account Contributor Storage account resource
Enable backup from file share blade Backup Contributor Recovery Services vault
Storage account Contributor Storage account Resource
Contributor Subscription
On-demand backup of file share Backup Operator Recovery Services vault
Restore File share Backup Operator Recovery Services vault
Storage Account Backup Contributor Storage account resources where restore source and Target file shares are present
Restore Individual Files Backup Operator Recovery Services vault
Storage Account Contributor Storage account resources where restore source and Target file shares are present
Stop protection Backup Contributor Recovery Services vault
Unregister storage account from vault Backup Contributor Recovery Services vault
Storage Account Contributor Storage account resource

Note

If you've contributor access at the resource group level and want to configure backup from file share blade, ensure to get microsoft.recoveryservices/Locations/backupStatus/action permission at the subscription level. To do so, create a custom role and assign this permission.

Minimum role requirements for Azure disk backup

Management Operation Minimum Azure role required Scope Required Alternative
Validate before configuring backup Backup Operator Backup vault
Disk Backup Reader Disk to be backed up
Enable backup from backup vault Backup Operator Backup vault
Disk Backup Reader Disk to be backed up In addition, the backup vault MSI should be given these permissions
On demand backup of disk Backup Operator Backup vault
Validate before restoring a disk Backup Operator Backup vault
Disk Restore Operator Resource group where disks will be restored to
Restoring a disk Backup Operator Backup vault
Disk Restore Operator Resource group where disks will be restored to In addition, the backup vault MSI should be given these permissions

Minimum role requirements for Azure blob backup

Management Operation Minimum Azure role required Scope Required Alternative
Validate before configuring backup Backup Operator Backup vault
Storage account backup contributor Storage account containing the blob
Enable backup from backup vault Backup Operator Backup vault
Storage account backup contributor Storage account containing the blob In addition, the backup vault MSI should be given these permissions
On demand backup of blob Backup Operator Backup vault
Validate before restoring a blob Backup Operator Backup vault
Storage account backup contributor Storage account containing the blob
Restoring a blob Backup Operator Backup vault
Storage account backup contributor Storage account containing the blob In addition, the backup vault MSI should be given these permissions

Minimum role requirements for Azure database for PostGreSQL server backup

Management Operation Minimum Azure role required Scope Required Alternative
Validate before configuring backup Backup Operator Backup vault
Reader Azure PostGreSQL server
Enable backup from backup vault Backup Operator Backup vault
Contributor Azure PostGreSQL server Alternatively, instead of a built-in-role, you can consider a custom role which has the following permissions: Microsoft.DBforPostgreSQL/servers/write Microsoft.DBforPostgreSQL/servers/read In addition, the backup vault MSI should be given these permissions
On demand backup of PostGreSQL server Backup Operator Backup vault
Validate before restoring a server Backup Operator Backup vault
Contributor Target Azure PostGreSQL server Alternatively, instead of a built-in-role, you can consider a custom role which has the following permissions: Microsoft.DBforPostgreSQL/servers/write Microsoft.DBforPostgreSQL/servers/read
Restoring a server Backup Operator Backup vault
Contributor Target Azure PostGreSQL server Alternatively, instead of a built-in-role, you can consider a custom role which has the following permissions: Microsoft.DBforPostgreSQL/servers/write Microsoft.DBforPostgreSQL/servers/read In addition, the backup vault MSI should be given these permissions

Next steps