Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect ExpertDesign business continuity solutionsEasy
A software development company uses Azure DevOps for its source code management and CI/CD pipelines. They host a self-hosted Azure DevOps agent on an Azure Virtual Machine. The company needs to ensure that the agent VM can be recovered quickly in case of an outage or corruption, with a minimal loss of work. The agent VM stores configuration files and temporary build artifacts. The RPO must be less than 1 hour and RTO less than 4 hours. Which backup solution should be implemented for the Azure DevOps agent VM?
- AAzure Site Recovery to replicate the VM to another region.
- BSnapshot the VM's OS disk hourly and store in Blob Storage.
- CUse Azure DevTest Labs for automatic VM shutdown and recreation.
- DAzure Backup for Azure VMs with a daily backup policy.
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: D. Azure Backup for Azure VMs with a daily backup policy.
Azure Backup for Azure VMs provides automated, scheduled backups with customizable retention policies, allowing for point-in-time recovery of the entire VM. With hourly or more frequent backups, it can easily meet the RPO of less than 1 hour and RTO of less than 4 hours for VM recovery.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. Azure Site Recovery is for disaster recovery (replication) and continuous availability, which might be overkill and more complex for a single agent VM where backup/restore is sufficient.
- B. Manual snapshots are not automated, scalable, or easily manageable for meeting RPO/RTO requirements for an entire VM, especially for recovery.
- C. Azure DevTest Labs is for managing development/test environments and does not provide a robust backup and recovery solution for critical production-like VMs.
Azure Backup for VMs
Azure Backup for Azure VMs provides a managed, scalable, and automated backup solution for Azure Virtual Machines, enabling point-in-time recovery of entire VMs or individual files.
- Automated, policy-driven backups.
- Supports full VM or file-level recovery.
- Integrated with Azure Recovery Services vaults.
- Offers soft delete for protection against accidental deletion.
Memory trick: Azure Backup for VMs is your 'Restore Point' for any VM trouble.