Understanding Azure Backup
Azure Backup service is a reliable backup and recovery solution for both your on-premise and Azure resources. It protects your critical data and prevents data loss from accidental deletions, ransomware attacks, corruption, or hardware failures. Azure Backup allows users to store backup copies for both short-term (days or weeks) and long-term retention (months to years). These backups are encrypted both in transit and at rest, ensuring data privacy and security.
Azure Backup supports a wide range of workloads, including:
- Azure Virtual Machines (VMs)
- SQL databases and SAP HANA databases on Azure
- Azure Files and Blob Storage
- On-premises servers and virtual machines using Azure Backup agents
Azure Backup is ideal for businesses seeking to modernize their data protection strategy without the complexity of traditional backup solutions. Its automated backup management, cloud scalability, and integrated security features make it a compelling choice for companies moving toward the cloud or operating in hybrid environments.
Why use Azure Backup?
Azure Backup supports both cloud and on-premises backups, ensuring businesses can safeguard their workloads with minimal effort. Here are the key benefits of using Azure Backup:
- Offload On-Premises Backup: Azure Backup enables seamless backup of on-premises resources to the cloud, eliminating the need for complex infrastructure while supporting both short-term and long-term retention.
- Protect Azure IaaS VMs: Backups of Azure IaaS virtual machines are securely stored in Recovery Services vaults, with streamlined recovery point management to ensure rapid restoration when required.
- Easily Scalable: Azure Backup uses the scalability of Azureโs cloud infrastructure, delivering high availability without requiring maintenance or monitoring overhead.
- Unlimited Data Transfer: Data can be transferred in and out of Azure Backup without any additional charges, except for offline initial backups via the Import/Export service.
- Secure Data: Azure Backup ensures comprehensive data protection by encrypting data both in transit and at rest.
- Centralized Monitoring: Azure Backup provides built-in monitoring and alerting capabilities within Recovery Services vaults, with enhanced reporting available through Azure Monitor.
- Application-Consistent Backups: Azure Backup captures all essential data for complete restoration, reducing downtime by minimizing the need for additional fixes.
- Flexible Retention: Organizations can define both short-term and long-term retention policies to meet business and compliance requirements.
- Automatic Storage Management: Azure Backup automatically allocates and manages Azure storage on a pay-as-you-go basis, ensuring cost-efficiency.
- Multiple Storage Options: Azure Backup offers LRS, GRS, and ZRS replication options to meet specific durability, availability, and data residency needs.
How is Azure backup cost calculated?
Azure Backup pricing is based on several factors, including the size of the backup data, backup frequency, storage redundancy, and retention policies. Below is a detailed breakdown of Azure Backup Pricing:
Backup for Azure VMs
Azure Virtual Machines are a common workload backed up using Azure Backup. Azure backup pricing for protecting VMs consists of two primary components: instance cost and storage cost.
- Instance Cost:
Azure charges based on the size of the VMโs used data, excluding any temporary storage. For larger VMs, costs increase incrementally. This ensures businesses are only billed for the actual amount of data being protected.- VMs up to 50 GB: $5 per month
- VMs between 50 GB and 500 GB: $10 per month
- VMs over 500 GB: $10 per 500 GB increment
- Impact of Backup Policy:
Backup frequency (daily, weekly, monthly) impacts storage usage. Daily backups of highly dynamic VMs consume more space than infrequent backups, resulting in higher costs. - Data Churn:
Data churn refers to the daily changes in the backup data. Higher churn requires more incremental backups, increasing storage needs and overall costs.
For Example: A VM with 300 GB stored on Locally Redundant Storage (LRS) costs $10 for the instance fee plus 300 GB at the LRS rate of $0.0224 per GB, totaling $16.72 per month.
Backup Storage
Azure Backup pricing for storage is billed separately, offering multiple redundancy options. Azure Backup offers Locally Redundant Storage (LRS), Zone-Redundant Storage (ZRS), Geo-Redundant Storage (GRS), and Read-Access Geo-Redundant Storage (RA-GRS).
- LRS: Stores three copies of the data in a single data center to protect against local hardware failures.
- ZRS: Replicates data across availability zones in the same region for better resiliency.
- GRS: Copies data to a secondary region to ensure durability during a regional outage.
- RA-GRS: Enables read-access to replicated data in secondary regions, ensuring business continuity even during disasters.
Below is a breakdown of the storage cost per GB per month for both Standard Tier and Archive Tier:
| Storage Option | Standard Tier (per GB) | Archive Tier (per GB) |
|---|---|---|
| LRS | $0.0224 | $0.0027 |
| ZRS | $0.028 | N/A |
| GRS | $0.0448 | $0.0054 |
| RA-GRS | $0.0569 | $0.0054 |
Azure Backup Storage Reserved Capacity
Businesses can reduce Azure Backup Pricing by committing to Reserved Capacity for one or three years. This offers predictable expenses and discounts. Reserved capacity is available in increments of 100 TB and 1 PB.
| Capacity | LRS (1 year) | GRS (1 year) | LRS (3 years) | GRS (3 years) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100 TB/month | $24,222 | $48,444 | $66,060 | $132,121 |
| 1 PB/month | $236,760 | $473,520 | $642,634 | $1,285,269 |
By committing to reserved storage, businesses benefit from predictable expenses and discounts, reducing their long-term backup costs.
Early Deletion Charges
When data is moved to the Archive Tier, it must remain there for at least 180 days. If a backup is deleted before this period, an early deletion fee applies. The fee is calculated proportionately based on the number of days left in the 180-day window.
Example: If data is deleted after 45 days in the Archive Tier, the business will be charged for the remaining 135 days.
Rehydration Costs
Rehydration refers to restoring data from the Archive Tier. While restoring data from the Standard Tier is free and does not incur egress or transaction fees, retrieving data from the Archive Tier comes with a one-time data retrieval fee. This fee aligns with Azure Blob Storage retrieval costs.
Businesses using the Archive Tier must plan their restores carefully to avoid unexpected costs during emergencies.
Best Practices for Using Azure Backup
Implementing best practices with Azure Backup helps organizations optimize costs, ensure data integrity, and streamline recovery processes. Below are some essential guidelines to follow when using Azure Backup effectively.
1. Plan Backup Policies Based on Workload Needs
Design backup schedules tailored to the nature of your workloads. For example:
- Critical workloads: Use daily or hourly backups to minimize data loss in case of failures.
- Less dynamic workloads: Weekly or monthly backups may suffice.
Define retention periods for short-term (days to weeks) and long-term (months to years) needs to balance storage usage and compliance.
2. Monitor Data Churn and Optimize Backup Frequency
Backup frequency directly impacts storage costs. Monitor the data churn rate (daily changes) to determine the appropriate backup frequency.
- High-churn databases (like SQL or SAP HANA): Use incremental backups to capture only data changes.
- Moderate-churn workloads: Schedule backups less frequently to minimize costs.
Choosing the right frequency ensures better performance without excessive storage use.
3. Choose the Right Storage Redundancy Options
Select the appropriate storage redundancy level based on business needs:
- LRS (Locally Redundant Storage): Use for development or non-critical workloads that donโt require high availability.
- GRS (Geo-Redundant Storage): Ideal for critical workloads where disaster recovery is necessary.
- ZRS (Zone-Redundant Storage): Use for regional compliance or low-latency requirements.
Higher redundancy options like RA-GRS offer maximum availability but come with added costs.
4. Enable Application-Consistent Backups
For databases and application workloads, enable application-consistent backups to ensure that all relevant files and processes are captured. This minimizes recovery issues and avoids the need for manual fixes, reducing downtime during restoration.
5. Use Selective Disk Backup for Cost Optimization
If only specific disks in a VM contain critical data, exclude non-essential disks from backups to save on storage costs. For example, exclude temporary disks that store non-persistent data. This selective approach ensures backups remain efficient and affordable.
Conclusion
Azure Backup pricing is structured to give businesses flexibility in protecting their data while optimizing costs. The total cost depends on several factors, such as the size of the protected instance, backup frequency, storage redundancy, and data retention policies. Azureโs reserved capacity and archive tier offer opportunities to lower long-term costs. Careful planning around data churn, retention policies, and storage options ensures businesses get the most value from Azure Backup.
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