AOMEI Cyber Backup
Staging Environment Best Practice: Instant Recovery Tool
What can the instant recovery do in a staging environment? It allows you to perform a number of tests with greater confidence, ensuring that data is instantaneously restored to its original state in the event of an error.
By Amelia / Updated on November 8, 2024
Azure Instant Restore Times
We are planning to do some testing in our staging environment this week. We want to use azure backup to take a backup before we do any change and then use the instant restore snapshot that sticks around for 2 days to restore back to before the changes are made. I'm fairly new to azure, is this the same idea as taking a snapshot in VMware and restoring back to it? How long timewise does this take? I think the server is a couple of TBs in disk size. Will we be waiting hours or is it quick like restoring to a snapshot?
- Question from Reddit
Having a good staging environment is critical to deploying a stable application or software. However, for good record keeping and data security, in testing, backups can be used before any changes are made, and then instant restore can be used to restore the state before the changes were made. In this article, we will mention how to use Azure for backups and instant recovery, and also recommend another method to help you recover better to the state before the change.
How to Enable Azure Backup Instant Restore
Step 1. Set Up a Recovery Service Vault
Go to Backup Center, navigate to + Vault > Recovery Service vault > Continue to open the Recovery Service vault pane.
Then configure the necessary information, including Subscription, Resource group, Vault name, and Region. After finishing, click Review + create, and then Create to finalize.
Step 2. Configure the Backup
Once the vault is created, open it and select Backup under the Getting Started section. Then choose Azure Virtual Machine as the Datasource type, and select a Backup instance. Click Continue.
Step 3. Create a Bucket Policy
In the Backup Policies section, you can select Enhanced Policies for more options, such as multiple daily snapshots required for instant restores.
Define the Instant Restore duration of up to five days. This setting retains snapshots locally for instant recovery without waiting for data to be transferred from the vault.
Step 4. Assign the Policy to VMs
Under the Items to Backup, select Add and choose the VMs you want to protect with this policy. Then click Enable backup to apply the policy and initiate the backup process for the selected VMs.
Ideal Choice for Effective Backup and Instant Restore
Here you can use another method to backup your data in a staging environment and then perform some tests. At the end of the test, it is possible to instantly revert to the state before the changes are made. AOMEI Cyber Backup can help you with this process.
With AOMEI Cyber Backup, you can enjoy the following features:
😊User-friendly Backup: The intuitive web console simplifies backup and restoration of virtual machines, allowing backup administrators to manage data protection with ease.
🔰Instant Disaster Recovery: In the event of a VMware crash, quickly restore VMware to a normal state, reducing business-critical downtime.
✨Agentless Backup: Create image-based backups of VMware virtual machines to eliminate the need for agent installation and improve backup efficiency.
*Follow these steps to configure instant recovery:
Step 1. Navigate to Task > + Create New Instant Restore, and you can choose Restore from task or Restore from local path. The following is choosing Restore from task as an example.
Step 2. In Source, click Select to choose VM and version.
Step 3. In Select Virtual Machine, click Select to choose the virtual machine and backup version.
Step 4. To choose target device in Restore to.
Step 5. Then you can set the hardware settings for the new virtual machine, such as CPU quantity, CPU Cores, and memory size.
Step 6. Click Start Restore to begin the instant restore.
Step 7. Then you can choose Start Migration to restore the VM to the production environment when the production environment resumes to normal.
🎈Note: If you need to choose Restore from local path, when you choose source, the local image file can only be the ESXi VM's .json file.
FAQs about Instant Restore
Q: How long does it take for an Azure VM to restore?
A: The restoration will take 10 to 30 minutes, depending on its size.
Q: What is the maximum retention of Azure instant recovery snapshot?
A: You can retain snapshots for instant restore for between 1 and 5 days.
Q: What is the speed of Azure restore?
A: It allows a faster transfer speed up to 40 MBPS.
Conclusion
In the final stages of development, when a series of tests are performed on software, etc., the combination of an effective staging environment and a backup instant recovery software can significantly reduce risk and simplify the path to production. Choosing a tool that meets your requirements ensures that everything runs as it should and keeps your important data safer.
