Restore to Azure VM Using Management Console

The Management Console offers cloud restore functionality that enables restoring disk image backups to Microsoft Azure. This functionality requires the Restore to EC2/Azure license.

Note that the procedure varies depending on the type of data source (disk image backup or VM snapshot).

This chapter describes the disk image restore to Microsoft Azure VM in the Management Console, including preparation and related technical details.

Create User (Optional)

1. Log in to your Azure Portal.
2. Select Active Directory.
3. Select Custom Domain Names and make sure you know which domain you use for VM restore.

4. Select Users, then click New User.

5. Specify all the required data for a new user, then click Create.

6. Copy the specified (or automatically generated) password. You will need it later. The initial password must be changed on your first logon.
7. Assign the required subscription to this new user.
8. In the main Azure portal menu, select Subscriptions.

9. In the Subscriptions list, select the one to use for Azure VM.
10. Click Access Control (IAM).
11. Add the new user to this subscription.

12. Select a role with sufficient rights for Azure VM creation.

13. Once you have selected the role, select the user that you recently created.
14. Log out, then log in using the new user credentials, then change the initial password.

Prepare Storage Destinations

To prepare your environment for this restore job, read the article.

You will also need to set the temporary storage account, which will be used to store the intermediate .vhdx/.vhd file and perform the import operations. The .vhdx/.vhd file will be placed in the implicitly selected storage. When the restore starts, Backup Agent downloads the disk data of the backup, processes it locally in memory, and then puts the blocks of the *.vhdx disk file to the remote cloud bucket.

Create Restore Plan

To restore a VM image to Azure VM, perform the following:

1. Open the Management Console.
2. In the Backup menu, select Restore to Cloud.

3. Click the MS Azure Restore option.

4. As the restore wizard opens, specify the data source parameters:

   • Plan Name. The plan name will appear on the Management Console.

   • User. Select the user whose storage account contains the data.

   • Destination. Select the storage account that contains the data.

   • Computer. Select the computer whose data is to be restored.

   • Point in Time. Select the disk image backup version to restore. Click Next.

In fact, you can select any disk image backup: Azure as the source storage is not mandatory for this.

5. In the second step, specify the disk partitions to restore. Once you are done, click Next.

6. Next, specify the target instance parameters:

* **Azure Account**. The account under which a new Azure VM instance will be stored.
* **Computer Name**. 
* **Location**. The region that is to store the newly created Azure instance.
* **Resource Group**. Azure Resource Group.
* **VM Size**. Select the required VM size that meets your [requirements in terms of cores and RAM](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/sizes).
* **Network**.
* **Subnet**. Select one of the available subnets.
* **Storage**. Select your Azure storage.
* **Container**. The Azure container is to store the temporary disk for VM import.
* **Boot Diagnostic Storage**. Select the storage where you'd like to place diagnostic files. You can leave this option disabled.

7. To restore properly, Managed Backup uses a temporary Azure instance. In the next step, configure this instance's parameters. Managed Backup automatically copies the values from the previous step: if you modify these values, ensure that the target virtual machine has sufficient configuration and permissions.

8. Specify the encryption password if you have encrypted objects. Note that there is no password validation at this step. If the password is wrong, the restore will fail.

9. On the Preview step, review all the information specified earlier in the wizard, make sure everything is correct, then click Save and Run to start the restore.

If you click Save, the plan will be saved on the Restore To Cloud page, where you can start it manually at any time.

During the plan execution, the progress is displayed in the Management Console.

Manage Azure Instance

You can access and manage the instance from the Azure Management Console.

If you have Backup or Restore Agent on the restored Azure instance, you can also use the Remote Management or Backup > Computers tab in the same way you usually manage your regular computers.