Category Archives: Azure Backup

OMS and System Center: What's New in January 2018

The new year has begun with different ads from Microsoft regarding what's new in Operations Management Suite (OMS) and System Center. This article summarizes briefly with the necessary references in order to learn more about.

Operations Management Suite (OMS)

Log Analytics

The release of theIT Service Management Connector (ITSMC) for Azure provides a bi-directional integration between Azure monitoring tools and ITSMC solutions such as: ServiceNow, Provance, Cherwell, and System Center Service Manager. With this integration you can:

  • Create or update work-items (event, alert, incident) in ITSM solutions on the basis of alerts present in Azure (Activity Log Alerts, Near real-time metric alerts and Log Analytics alerts).
  • Consolidate in Azure Log Analytics data related to Incident and Change Request.

To configure this integration you can consult the Microsoft's official documentation.

Figure 1 – ITSM Connector dashboard of the Log Analytics solution

Agent

This month the new version ofOMS agent for Linux systems fixes important bugs also introducing an updated version of the components SCX and OMI. Given the large number of bug fixes included in this release the advice is to consider the adoption of this upgrade. To obtain the updated version of the OMS agent you can access to the official GitHub page OMS Agent for Linux Patch v 1.4.3-174.

Figure 2 – Bug fixes and what's new for the OMS agent for Linux

Azure Backup

During the process of creating virtual machines from Azure portal now there is the ability to enable the protection via Azure Backup:

Figure 3 – Enabling backup while creating a VM

This ability improves in a considerable way the experience of creation of the virtual machine from the Azure Portal.

Azure Site Recovery

Azure Site Recovery allows you to handle different scenarios to implement Disaster Recovery plans, including replication of VMware virtual machines to Azure. In this context the following important changes have been introduced:

  • Release of a template in the format Open Virtualization Format (OVF) to deploy the Configuration Server. This allows you to deploy the template in your virtualization infrastructure and have a system with all the necessary software already preinstalled, with the exception of MySQL Server 5.7.20 and VMware PowerCLI 6.0, to speed up the deployment and the registration to Recovery Service Vault of the Configuration Server.
  • Introduced in Configuration Server a web portal to drive the main configuration actions necessary such as proxy server settings, details and credentials to access the vCenter server and the management of the credentials to install or update the Mobility Service on virtual machines involved in the replication process.
  • Improved the experience for deploying the Mobility Service on virtual machines. Since the 9.13.xxxx.x version of the Configuration Server would be used VMware tools to install and update the Mobility Service on all VMware virtual machines protected. This means that you no longer need to open firewall ports for WMI and for File and Printer Sharing services on Windows systems, previously used to perform the push installation of the Mobility Service.

The monitoring features included natively in Azure Site Recovery have been greatly enriched for having a complete and immediate visibility. The Panel Overview of Recovery Service Vault is now structured, for the section Site Recovery, as follows:

Figure 4 – Azure Site Recovery dashboard

These the various sections, which are updated automatically every 10 minutes:

  1. Switch between Azure Backup and Azure Site Recovery dashboards
  2. Replicated Items
  3. Failover test success
  4. Configuration issues
  5. Error Summary
  6. Infrastructure view
  7. Recovery Plans
  8. Jobs

For more details on the various sections you can see the official documentation or view this short video.

Known Issues

Please note the following possible problem in the execution of backup of Linux VMs on Azure. The error code returned is UserErrorGuestAgentStatusUnavailable and you can follow this workaround to resolve the error condition.

System Center

System Center Configuration Manager

Released the version 1801 for the branch Technical Preview of System Center Configuration Manager: Update 1801 for Configuration Manager Technical Preview Branch.

Among the new features in this release there are:

  • Ability to import and run signed scripts and monitor the execution result.
  • The distribution point can be moved between different primary sites and from a secondary site to a primary site.
  • Improvement in the client settings for the Software Center, with the ability to view a preview before the deployment.
  • New settings for Windows Defender Application Guard (starting with Windows 10 version 1709).
  • Ability to view a dashboard with information about the co-management.
  • Phased Deployments.
  • Support for hardware inventory string longer than 255 characters.
  • Improvements in the scheduling of Automatic Deployment Rule.

Please note that the Technical Preview Branch releases help you to evaluate new features of SCCM and it is recommended to apply these updates only in test environments.

In addition to System Center Configuration Manager current branch, version 1710 was issued an update rollup that contains a large number of bug fixes.

Evaluation of OMS and System Center

Please remember that in order to test and evaluate for free Operations Management Suite (OMS) you can access this page and select the mode that is most appropriate for your needs.

To test the various components of System Center 2016 you can access to the’Evaluation Center and after the registration you can start the trial period.

OMS and System Center: What's New in December 2017

Compared to what we were used to seeing in recent months, during the month of December, also because of the holiday period, have been announced by Microsoft a few news about Operations Management Suite (OMS) and System Center. This article will be made a summary accompanied by references required for further study.

Operations Management Suite (OMS)

Log Analytics

In Azure Monitor was including the ability to view and define alert of Log Analytics. This is a feature in preview that allows you to use Azure Monitor as a centralized point of management and visualization of alerts.

Figure 1- Defining a Log Analytics alert in Azure Monitor (preview)

This month the new version of the’OMS agent for Linux systems fixes in particular a major bug concerning the DSC package (omsconfig) that due to a possible hang prevents sending data to the OMS workspace. In this release, there are not new features. To obtain the updated version you can access to the official GitHub page OMS Agent for Linux Patch v 1.4.2-125.

Figure 2 – Bug Fix list for the new OMS agent for Linux

Azure Automation

In Azure Monitor, within Action Groups was introduced the possibility to define a Azure Automation Runbook as action type. It is a further integration that enables you to have an effective alerting platform to take action not only for workloads running on Azure, but independently from their location.

Figure 3 – Defining an action based on Automation Runbook

Protection and Disaster Recovery

Azure Backup introduced support for the protection of Azure virtual machines with discs, managed or unmanaged, encrypted using Bitlocker Encryption Key (BEK). This feature extends the possibilities of protection of encrypted virtual machines, already supported previously in the Bitlocker Encryption Key scenario (BEK) and Key Encryption Key (KEK), allowing to obtain with ease a high level of security in these protection scenarios. For further information you can consult theofficial announcement.

Figure 4 – Protection of VM encrypted using Bitlocker Encryption Key (BEK)

Microsoft has released Azure Site Recovery Deployment Planner a very useful tool that can be used when you plan to implement a disaster recovery plan through to Azure Azure Site Recovery (ASR). ASR Deployment Planner is able to make a detailed assessment of the on-premises environment, targeted use of ASR, and provides the necessary elements to be taken into consideration in order to contemplate effectively the various operations required by the DR plan (replica, virtual machine failover and DR-Drill). The tool works in VMware and Hyper-V also includes a cost estimate for the use of ASR and resources necessary for the protection of Azure virtual machines on-premises. This tool currently can also be useful to make the necessary assessments when you have the need to address real migration scenarios from Hyper-V to Azure. This is because the instrument Azure Migrate, designed specifically to assess migration scenarios, allows you to present to the assessment only of VMware environments. The support for Hyper-V in Azure Migrate will be introduced in the coming months. ASR Deployment Planner can be downloaded at this link and includes the following features:

  • Estimates of the network bandwidth required for the initial replication process (initial replication) and for delta replication.
  • Indicates the type of Storage (standard or premium) required for each VM.
  • Indicates the total number of storage accounts (standard and premium) required.
  • For VMware environments, indicates the number of Configuration Server and Process Server you need to implement on-premises.
  • For Hyper-V environments, provides guidance on additional storage needed on-premises.
  • For Hyper-V environments, indicates the number of VMs that can be protected in parallel (through batch) and the order to be followed in order to successfully activate the initial replication.
  • For VMware environments, specifies the number of VMs that can be protected in parallel to complete the initial replication at any given time.
  • Estimate the throughput attainable by ASR (on-premises to Azure).
  • Perform an assessment, of the supported virtual machines, providing details about the disks (number, its size and IOPS) and the type of the OS.
  • Estimate the costs of DR, for use it in a specific region of Azure.

For detailed information about using the tool you can consult the official documentation relating to the specific scenario:

Figure 5 – Sample reports generated by ASR Deployment Planner

System Center

System Center Configuration Manager

Released the version 1712 for the branch Technical Preview of System Center Configuration Manager. The new features in this update are:

  • Improvements on the Surface Device dashboard, that allows you to view the firmware version of Surface devices, as well as the version of the operating system.
  • Dashboard improvements in Office 365 client management.
  • Multiple installation of applications by accessing the Software Center.
  • Client can be configured to respond to PXE requests without adding a distribution point role (Client-based PXE).

Please note that the Technical Preview Branch releases help you to evaluate new features of SCCM and it is recommended to apply these updates only in test environments.

Microsoft allows you to test and evaluate for free Operations Management Suite (OMS) by accessing this page and selecting the mode you find most suitable for your needs.

OMS and System Center: What's New in November 2017

In November there have been several announcements from Microsoft concerning Operations Management Suite (OMS) and System Center. This article will summarize briefly with the necessary references to be able to conduct further studies.

Operations Management Suite (OMS)

Log Analytics

As already announced since 30 October 2017 Microsoft has launched the upgrade process of the OMS workspaces not yet updated manually. In this regard has been released this useful document that shows the differences between a legacy OMS workspace and a updated OMS workspace, with references for further details.

Solutions

Those that use circuit ExpressRoute will be glad to know that Microsoft announced the ability to monitor it through Network Performance Monitor (NPM). This is a feature currently in preview that allows you to monitor connectivity and performance between the on-premises environment and vNet in Azure in the presence of ExpressRoute circuit. For more details about the features announced you can consult theofficial article.

Figure 1 – Network map showing details of ExpressRoute connectivity

Agent

As usual it was released a new version of the OMS Agent for Linux systems that now takes place on a monthly basis. This release fixes bugs related diagnostics during agents onboarding. Are not being introduced new features. To obtain the updated version please visit the official GitHub page OMS Agent for Linux Patch v 1.4.2-124.

Protection and Disaster Recovery

Azure Backup always protected backups from on-premises world toward Azure using encryption that takes place using the passphrase defined during the configuration of the solution. To protect VMs in Azure the recommendation for greater security in the backup was to use VMs with disk-encrypted. Now Azure Backup uses Storage Service Encryption (SSE) to do the encryption of backups of virtual machines on Azure, allowing to obtain in an integrated manner in the solution a mechanism for the implementation of the backup security. This also will happen to existing backup automatically and through a background task.

Microsoft, in order to bring more clarity with regard to pricing and licensing of Azure Site Recovery, updated the FAQ which you can see in the official page of pricing of the solution.

System Center

As is already the case for the operating system and System Center Configuration Manager, the other System Center products, in particular, Operations Manager, Virtual Machine Manager, and Data Protection Manager will follow a release of updated versions every 6 months (semi-annual channel). The goal is to rapidly deliver new capabilities and to ensure a speedy integration with the cloud world, which is essential given the speed with which it evolves. In November was announced the System Center preview version 1711 which you can download at this link.

Figure 2 – Summary of what's new in System Center preview version 1711

To know the details of the new features in this release, please consult theofficial announcement.

System Center Configuration Manager

For System Center Configuration Manager current branch version 1706 was issued an important update rollup you should apply as it solves a lot of problems.

Released the version 1710 for the Current Branch (CB) of System Center Configuration Manager that introduces new features and major improvements in the product. Among the main innovations of this update definitely emerge the possibilities offered by the Co-management that expand the possibilities for device management using either System Center Configuration Manager and Microsoft Intune.

Figure 3 – Features and benefits of Co-management

For a complete list of new features introduced in this version of Configuration Manager, you can consult theofficial announcement.

Released the version 1711 for the Technical Preview branch of System Center Configuration Manager. The new features in this update are:

  • Improvements in the new Run Task Sequence step.
  • User interaction when installing applications in the System context even when running a task sequence.
  • New options, in the scenario of using Configuration Manager associated with Microsoft Intune, to manage compliance policy for devices Windows 10 related to Firewall, User Account Control, Windows Defender Antivirus, and OS build versioning.

I remind you that the releases in the Technical Preview Branch allows you to evaluate in preview new SCCM functionality and is recommended to apply these updates only in test environments.

Released an updated version of the Configuration Manager Client Messaging SDK.

System Center Operations Manager

Released the new wave of the SQL Server Management Packs (version 7.0.0.0):

The Management Packs for SQL Server 2017 can be used for the monitor of SQL Server 2017 and subsequent releases (version agnostic), this allows you to avoid having to manage different MPs for each version of SQL Server. The controls for versions of SQL Server earlier than 2014 are included in the generic MP "Microsoft System Center Management Pack for SQL Server".

System Center Service Manager

Microsoft has published a series of tips and best practices to be followed during Authoring Management Pack of System Center Service Manager (SCSM).

Please remember that in order to test and evaluate for free Operations Management Suite (OMS) you can access this page and select the mode that is most appropriate for your needs.

Azure Backup: the System State protection in the Cloud

The ability to protect the System State of Windows Server machines directly in Azure using the Azure Backup Agent was recently included. This feature was in preview for a few months and now it is available to be used in production environments. In this article I'll show you how you can protect with Azure Backup the System State of the machines, analyzing the characteristics and the benefits brought by this new feature.

The Azure Backup Agent allows you to save files, folders and thanks to the incorporation of the System State are covered by the protection of Windows Server machines the following components:

  • Boot files, including system files, and all files protected by Windows File Protection (WFP).
  • Active Directory and Sysvol (on domain controllers).
  • The registry.
  • IIS metabase (on Web Server IIS machines): includes IIS configurations and web sites hosted by the web server.
  • Database cluster (on cluster nodes).
  • Certificate Services (on the certification authority).
  • Information about the Performance counters.
  • Component Services Class registration database.

Thanks to the incorporation of the System State, Azure Backup becomes ideal for protection strategies of Active Directory, File Server and IIS Web Server.

Figure 1 – Protection of System State in Azure

This solution is supported starting with Windows Server 2008 R2 to Windows Server 2016.

To enable this type of protection is necessary to create within the subscription Azure a Recovery Service Vault, install the Azure Backup Agent on Windows Server machine and complete its registration by following the steps shown in the following diagram:

Figure 2 - Activation steps for the protection with Azure Backup

By accessing the Azure portal and selecting the Recovery Service Vault, within which you want to include the protection, in the Backup section appears the possibility of protecting the System State for workloads running On-Premises:

Figure 3 – Selection of System State as a component to be protected

By selecting the button "Prepare Infrastructure" it lists the necessary steps to protect the System State of the machines:

Figure 4 – Steps for preparing the infrastructure

From the panel above you need to download the Recovery Service Agent installation setup and the Vault credentials.

The installation of the agent (MARSAgentInstaller.exe) is very fast and consists of the following steps:

Figure 5 - Selecting the installation folder and the cache location

In the cache location it is advisable to have as free space at least 5% of protected data.

Figure 6 – Configuration of proxy system for Internet access

Figure 7 – Check the requirements and installation

Figure 8 – Initiation of the process of registration with the Recovery Service Vault

Figure 9 – Selection of login credentials to the vault

Figure 10 - Generate and save the passphrase

The Passphrase is used to encrypt and decrypt the backups, it is never sent to Azure, it is not recoverable in any way by Microsoft support personnel and it is essential to be able to perform restore operations, so you must keep it very carefully.

Figure 11 – Registration successfully

From Microsoft Azure Backup console, you can schedule a backup and for servers, in the selection of items to protect, there is the System State:

Figure 12 - Selection of the System State Protection

Figure 13 - Settings on the frequency of the backup

Figure 14 - Definition of the retention rules

Figure 15 - Final Step, activation of the System State backup

System State protection can also be automated with PowerShell. You also have the possibility to consult easily the backup jobs directly from the Azure portal, and you can configure notifications to be notified in case of failure of protection jobs.

The offsite backups is ensured with this solution without investing in infrastructure costs and saving time in operational activities. It is also good to keep in mind that the cost of this solution are really beneficial, in fact, typically the size of the System State for a single machine is significantly less than 50 GB then the System State protection pricing level falls within the lower cost band specified for the instances protected with Azure Backup. For more details on the cost of the solution you can consult the Azure Backup pricing page. No cost for any restore operations is also required.

Conclusions

The System State for Windows Server machines is a critical component that should be saved for a proper and effective strategy to protect its infrastructure. Azure Backup due to its defined approach cloud-first extend their potential enabling you to protect the System State of the machines easily, securely and with low costs. To try Azure Backup and other Azure services you can create a Azure free Account.

Azure Backup Server v2 in Windows Server 2016

Azure Backup Server is a solution available on the market since October 2015 and in the spring of this year has been released the second version of the product, named Azure Backup Server v2 (MABS v2), that supports installation on Windows Server 2016. Actually Azure Backup Server has inherited the same capabilities of System Center Data Protection Manager, with the substantial difference that does not support backup to tape. Using Azure Backup Server v2 implemented on Windows Server 2016 allows the use of Modern Backup Storage that guarantees, thanks to the new technologies introduced in Windows Server 2016, to improve the performance of backups, to reduce the occupation of storage and to increase the resilience and safety with regard to the protection of virtual machines. This article describes how to implement Azure Backup Server v2 and contains the instructions to follow to take advantage of the benefits through native integration with Windows Server 2016.

Installation requirements

Deploy Azure Backup Server v2 (MABS v2) can be performed on a standalone physical server , on a virtual machine in VMWare or Hyper-V or on a virtual machine hosted on Azure.

The operating system can be Windows Server 2012 R2, but it is recommended Windows Server 2016 in order to benefit from the advantages of Modern Backup Storage. The machine must be joined to an Active Directory domain and should have the ability to access in Internet to Microsoft Azure even if you decide not to send the protected data to the cloud.

Regarding hardware specs Microsoft recommends the following.

Processor
Minimum: 1 GHz, dual-core CPU.
Recommended: 2.33 GHz, Quad-core CPU.

RAM
Minimum: 4 GB.
Recommended: 8 GB.

Disk space
Software installation: recommended about 8-10 GB.
Storage Pools: 1.5 times the data you wish to protect.
Scratch Location: at least the 5% of the total space of the protected data in the cloud.

With regard to the software requirements you must install Microsoft .Net 3.5 SP1, Microsoft .Net 4.6 and Hyper-V Powershell modules.

Finally you need to create on its own subscription Azure a Recovery Service Vault, which will be associated with the Azure Backup Server. The setup of Azure Backup Server will require the Vault credentials which can be downloaded by accessing the properties from the Azure Portal:

Figure 1 – Backup Download Credentials

 

Installation procedure

The download of the installation setup of Azure Backup Server v2 can be started directly by accessing this Microsoft page. After the download of different files you need to run the executable MicrosoftAzureBackupServerInstaller.exe to extract installer binaries in a single folder. Inside the chosen folder, you can run the Setup.exe file to start the installation process later documented.

Figure 2 – Select Install Microsoft Azure Backup Server

Figure 3 – Welcome page

Figure 4 – Check the prerequisites

azure backup server requires the presence of a microsoft sql server instance to host the related database. If you do not have an existing instance to use (required at least SQL Server 2014 SP1) the setup installs SQL Server 2016 Service Pack 1 (recommended by Microsoft). In this scenario you do not require the acquisition of a license for SQL Server as long as the instance is for the exclusive use of MABS v2.

Figure 5 - Choice relative to the SQL Server that hosts the DBs of MABS v2 anf check of the requirements

If you have not installed the Hyper-V Powershell module the setup will install it, but you will need to stop the installation setup to restart the system.

Figure 6 – Requirements not met and restart required for Hyper-V Powershell module installation

Figure 7 – Requirements met

Figure 8 – Choice of installation path

The setup of MABS v2 creates the account MICROSOFT$DPM$Acct local to the machine that will run SQL Server and SQL Server Agent services and the account DPMR$Servername used for the generation of reports.

Figure 9 – Choice of password for the MICROSOFT$DPM$Acct and DPMR$Servername

Figure 10 – Choice of deploying updates to MABS v2 via Windows Update

Figure 11 - Summary concerning the installation choices

At this point starts the setup of Microsoft Azure Recovery Services (MARS) Agent required to connect to the Recovery Service Vault in Microsoft Azure.

Figure 12 - Configuration of the proxy server if required for access to public services in Microsoft Azure

Figure 13 – Verification of the presence of the necessary requirements and installation of MARS

After installing the MARS, starts the registration process of the Azure Backup Server to the Azure Recovery Service Vault that requires the Backup Vault credentials (recoverable following the step documented in Figure 1) and the passphrase required to perform the encryption of stored data. You should save this key in a safe place as it is necessary during recovery operations and can not be recovered in any way by Microsoft staff.

Figure 14 -Choose Backup Vault Credentials

Figure 15 – Passphrase for encryption of backups

After completing these steps, you must wait the end of the installation process.

Figure 16 - MABS v2 installation completed successfully

Before proceeding with the configuration of MABS v2 it is recommended to apply the latest update available for Microsoft Azure Backup Server v2 which you can be downloaded from the Microsoft support site.

At this point, it is necessary to configure the SQL Server instance just installed according to their own needs, and it is recommended to apply thelatest Cumulative Update available for SQL Server 2016 Service Pack 1.

 

Features provided by the integration between MABS v2 and Windows Server 2016

Azure Backup Server v2 is natively integrates with the new technologies available in Windows Server 2016 so you can enjoy the following benefits:

  • Efficiency major in backups operations: using the technologies Refs Block Cloning, VHDX and Deduplication you can get a reduction of storage needed to protect data and improve performance in the execution of backup. The configuration of the Modern Backup Storage can be done by following the steps documented in official documentation, which although relating to DPM 2016 is identical for Azure Backup Server v2. Very interesting also the functionality Workload-Aware Storage that allows you to select which volumes use depending on the type of workloads are protected, having thus the opportunity to choose more efficient storage and dedicate it to more frequent backup tasks for which it is good to have high performance.
  • Reliability elevated in Hyper-V virtual machine protection, thanks to the integration with technology Resilient Change Tracking (RCT) can natively track changes made to VMs compared to backups, without the need to add filter drivers. This reduces the time-consuming tasks to perform consistency checks.
  • Security: ability to backup and restore Shielded VMs.

 

Costs of the solution

As regards the cost of the solution is good to specify that it is obviously necessary to contemplate the license of the machine's operating system on which you are installing MABS v2. An interesting aspect is that in order to implement Azure Backup Server is not require any licence concerning System Center, but you must have an Azure subscription . In the cost of the solution you should consider a fee for each protected instance and any storage occupied in Microsoft Azure. For more details on the cost of the solution, please consult the Official Microsoft page on the Pricing.

 

Conclusions

Azure Backup Server v2, with its approach cloud-first and through the integration with certain features in Windows Server 2016 , is a complete and functional solution for the protection of different workloads. For those using the first release of Azure Backup Server you can upgrade to MABS v2 keeping all the settings. The advice is still to implement MABS v2 on Windows Server 2016 so that you have a solution that allows you to perform backups with speeds up to 3 times and to reduce up to 50% storage utilization.

OMS and System Center: What's New in July 2017

We inaugurate a new series of articles that will be published on a monthly basis and that will reflect the main changes, updates and information released within the last month about System Center and Operations Management Suite (OMS). It will be a summary accompanied by references for any insights.

Operations Management Suite (OMS)

Agent

  • Released the updated version of the OMS agent for Linux systems that solved some bugs and introduced some new features useful to extend the capabilities of OMS: OMS Agent for Linux GA v 1.4.0-12.

Figure 1 – Bug fixes and what's new for the OMS agent for Linux

 

Protection and Disaster Recovery

  • In Azure Backup introduced the ability to instant recovery of files and folders using the VM backup Azure. This feature is available for both Windows and Linux virtual machines and allows you to act quickly without having to restore the entire VM to retrieve only certain items: Instant File Recovery from Azure VM backups is now generally available.

Figure 2 – Instant File Recovery

 

System Center

System Center Configuration Manager

  • Released the version 1706 for the Current Branch (CB) of System Center Configuration Manager that introduces new features and major improvements in the product.

Among the various new products made by this update mainly these issues emerge:

  • Ability to manage driver updates for Microsoft Surface.
  • Improving the user experience for Office updates 365.
  • Added the ability in hardware inventory to collect information about how to enable the SecureBoot and ownership of the TPM.
  • Important new capabilities in mobile device management in SCCM architectures associated with Microsoft Intune.

For more details about it you can see the article: Now Available: Update 1706 for System Center Configuration Manager.

The update will be available starting from the coming weeks and it will appear a notification on node "Updates and Servicing" the SCCM console when it was performed on automatic download. To force the update you can use this PowerShell script.

  • If you try to install a new Cloud Management Gateway (CMG) in Configuration Manager current branch version 1702 You may not be able to complete provisioning. In this regard has been released the hotfix described in KB 403015 (Provisioning not completed when creating a Cloud Management Gateway in System Center Configuration Manager version 1702).

 

System Center Operations Manager

Several SCOM Management Pack 2016 We released a new updated version:

OMS Azure Backup: new reporting functionality via Power BI

Recently introduced the ability to Backup to generate the reports necessary to Azure easily check the status of resource protection, details on the different backup jobs configured, the actual storage utilization and status of its alert. Particularly interesting is the ability to generate reports also cross subscription and cross Azure vault. All this is made possible by using Power BI allowing you to have a high degree of flexibility in the generation and customization of reports. To see the benefits of this feature and evaluate how to analyze data through Power BI I invite you to consult the post "Gain business insights using Power BI reports for Azure Backup". In this article we will analyze the necessary steps to configure reporting Azure Backup.

By logging in from Azure portal to Recovery Service Vault that contains the resources protected the message of the availability of this new feature:

Figure 1 – Notice of availability of the new reporting capabilities in Recovery Services vault

To enable the functionality you need to position yourself in the settings of Recovery Services vault and under "Monitoring and Reports" select "Backup Reports":

Figure 2 – Configuring reports

By selecting the "Configure" button starts the configuration process that requires two distinct steps. In the first step you must select the Storage Account on which will store the information needed for the generation of reports. There is also the possibility to send this information to a Log Analytics workspace. For each type of log, you can select the retention period, which applies only to information that is located on the Storage Account and not to those invited to the workspace OMS. By setting to 0 days retention period the data is never removed from the Storage Account.

Figure 3 – Step 1: Diagnostics configuration

All ’ in the storage account is created an appropriate container to save logs from Azure Backup named insights-logs-azurebackupreport:

Figure 4 – Azure Backup container for jobs of Azure Backup

The second step of Setup requires access to the portal Power BI and the addition of’Azure Backup Content Pack performing the following steps:

Figure 5 – Adding Azure Backup Content Pack from the portal Power BI

At this point you must enter the name of the Account on which Storage, during the step 1 the configuration, you have chosen to save backup information.

Figure 6 – Storage Account name

In the next step, we require authentication using the account access key storage:

Figure 7 – Insert key to authenticate the Storage Account

After you complete these steps by the portal Power BI using the dashboard, you can consult all information relating to Azure Backup and if necessary customize reports to suit your needs.

Figure 8 – Azure Backup Dashboards present in the portal Power BI

Having chosen to send diagnostic information to Log Analytics you can, by accessing the portal OMS, query the repository by using the following query, and retrieve information about Azure Backup:

Figure 9 – Search for events of Azure Backup in Log Analytics

Using the View Designer, you can also build a custom view of OMS using data from Azure Backup collected in Log Analytics.

 

Conclusions

This new feature enables you to have complete control of your infrastructure and backup status to easily keep tabs on SLAs in compliance with the corporate compliance. All in easy way and using a fully managed cloud solution. All you need is a subscription account Azure storage and Power BI. Analyzing data collected through Power BI is also extremely flexible thanks to the extensive customization capabilities provided by the tool.