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A software development company uses Azure DevOps for its source code management and CI/CD pipelines. They require a cost-effective backup solution for their Azure Virtual Machines that host their self-hosted build agents. The solution needs to provide daily backups, a retention policy of 30 days, and the ability to restore entire VMs or individual files. There is no requirement for cross-region disaster recovery, only protection against accidental deletion or corruption within the primary region. Which Azure service should be implemented?
- AAzure Backup for Azure VMs
- BAzure Files with snapshots
- CManaged Disks snapshots
- DAzure Site Recovery (ASR)
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: A. Azure Backup for Azure VMs
Azure Backup for Azure VMs provides a cost-effective solution for daily backups with a customizable retention policy (30 days in this case). It supports restoring entire VMs, which is crucial for build agents, and also allows for granular recovery of individual files/folders within the VM, addressing all specified requirements without the need for complex cross-region DR.
Why the other options are wrong
- B. Azure Files with snapshots is for file shares, not for backing up entire Azure VMs.
- C. Managed Disks snapshots are point-in-time backups of individual disks. While useful, they require manual management for daily backups, don't inherently provide a 30-day retention policy, and require more steps to restore an entire VM or individual files compared to Azure Backup.
- D. ASR is primarily for disaster recovery (replication, failover) between regions, not for daily backups with file-level recovery within a single region.
Azure Backup for Azure VMs
A service that provides cost-effective, automated backup and recovery for Azure Virtual Machines, supporting both full VM and granular file/folder restores.
- Automated, policy-based backups (daily, weekly etc.).
- Supports customizable retention policies.
- Enables full VM restore and granular file/folder recovery.
- Protects against accidental deletion, corruption, or OS issues.
Memory trick: Azure Backup for VMs is like a personal safety net for your virtual machines, catching everything.