Configure Azure Backup reports
In this, we will learn about configuring Azure backup reports. However, Azure Backup provides a reporting solution that uses Azure Monitor logs and Azure workbooks. These resources help you get rich insights on your backups across your entire backup estate.
Configuring Azure Backup reports
To configure Azure Backup reports, follow these steps:
- Sign in to the Azure portal (https://portal.azure.com).
- In the left-hand menu, click on “Backup Center”.
- In the Backup Center page, select the Azure subscription that you want to configure backup reports for.
- Click on the “Reports” tab on the Backup Center page.
- Click on “Configure Reports”.
- Select the “Email” option to receive backup reports via email.
- Enter the email address(es) of the recipients who will receive the backup reports.
- Choose the frequency of the reports (daily, weekly, or monthly).
- Select the desired time zone.
- Choose the backup retention range for the reports.
- Click on the “Save” button to save the configuration.
Once you have configured the backup reports, you will start receiving them via email according to the schedule you selected. These reports will provide you with important information about your backups, such as the success rate, the status of the backups, and any issues or errors that occurred during the backup process. By reviewing these reports regularly, you can ensure that your backups are running smoothly and that your data is properly protected.
Get started
Follow these steps to start using the reports.
Create a Log Analytics workspace or use an existing one
- Firstly, set up one or more Log Analytics workspaces to store your Backup reporting data. The location and subscription where this Log Analytics workspace can be created is independent of the location and subscription where your vaults exist.
- However, by default, the data in a Log Analytics workspace is retained for 30 days. And, to see data for a longer time horizon, change the retention period of the Log Analytics workspace. To change the retention period, see Manage usage and costs with Azure Monitor logs.
Configure diagnostics settings for your vaults
- Firstly, Azure Resource Manager resources, such as Recovery Services vaults. They record information about scheduled operations and user-triggered operations as diagnostics data.
- Secondly, in the monitoring section of your Recovery Services vault, select Diagnostics settings and specify the target for the Recovery Services vault’s diagnostic data.
- Lastly, Azure Backup also provides a built-in Azure Policy definition, which automates the configuration of diagnostics settings for all vaults in a given scope.
View reports in the Azure portal
- After you’ve configured your vaults to send data to Log Analytics, view your Backup reports by going to any vault’s pane and selecting Backup Reports.
- Then, select this link to open up the Backup report workbook.
Summary
Use this tab to get a high-level overview of your backup estate. You can get a quick glance of the total number of backup items, total cloud storage, the number of protected instances, and the job success rate per workload type.
Backup Items
Use this page to view data and trends on backup-item level cloud storage use. You can view how much cloud storage is being used for each SQL database being backed up, for instance, if you use SQL in an Azure VM backup. Additionally, you have the option to see data for backup objects with a certain protection status.
Usage
View important payment information for your backups using this page. The data displayed on this page pertains to billing entities (protected containers). You can see the progress of protected instances and cloud storage used by the DPM server, for instance, if it is being backed up to Azure. Similar to this, if you use SAP HANA or SQL in Azure Backup, this page provides usage-related statistics at the level of the virtual machine that houses these databases.
Jobs
Use this page to observe ongoing patterns in employment, such as the daily average for unsuccessful jobs and the main reasons why they fail. This data may be seen on an aggregate level as well as a Backup-item level. Additionally, you may choose a specific Backup item from a grid to examine thorough details on each task that was initiated on that Backup item within the chosen time frame.
Policies
To examine details on all of your active policies, including the number of linked things and the overall amount of cloud storage used by objects backed up under a certain policy, use this tab. Select a specific policy after that to get details on all the Backup items it is linked to.
Optimize
Use this tab to gain visibility into potential cost-optimization opportunities for your backups. Following are the scenarios for which the Optimize tab currently provides insights:
Inactive Resources
- Firstly, using this view, you can identify those backup items that haven’t had a successful backup for a significant duration of time.
- Secondly, to view inactive resources, navigate to the Optimize tab, and select the Inactive Resources tile. Select this tile displays a grid that contains details of all the inactive resources that exist in the selected scope. By default, the grid shows items that don’t have a recovery point in the last seven days.
- Thirdly, once you’ve identified an inactive resource, you can investigate the issue further by navigating to the backup item dashboard or the Azure resource pane for that resource (wherever applicable). Depending on your scenario, you can choose to either stop backup for the machine (if it doesn’t exist anymore) and delete unnecessary backups, which saves costs.
Backup Items with a large retention duration
- Firstly, using this view, you can identify those items that have backups retained for a longer duration than required by your organization.
- Secondly, selecting the Policy Optimizations tile followed by the Retention Optimizations tile displays a grid containing all backup items for which the retention of either the daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly retention point (RP) is greater than a specified value. By default, the grid displays all backup items in the selected scope.
- Thirdly, for database workloads like SQL and SAP HANA, the retention periods shown in the grid correspond to the retention periods of the full backup points.
Databases configured for daily full backup
- Firstly, using this view, you can identify database workloads that have been configured for daily full backup. Often, using daily differential backup along with weekly full backup is more cost-effective.
- Selecting the Policy Optimizations tile followed by the Backup Schedule Optimizations tile displays a grid containing all databases with a daily full backup policy. Moreover, you can choose to navigate to a particular backup item and modify the policy to use daily differential backup with weekly full backup.
- Lastly, the Backup Management filter at the top of the tab should have the items SQL in Azure VM and SAP HANA in Azure VM selected. This is for the grid to be able to display database workloads as expected.
AZ-104 Exam Practice Questions
Question: You want to receive daily backup reports via email for a specific Azure subscription. Which of the following steps should you take?
A. In the Azure portal, click on “Backup Reports” and select the subscription you want to configure.
B. In the Azure portal, click on “Backup Center” and select the subscription you want to configure.
C. In the Azure portal, click on “Notifications” and select the subscription you want to configure.
D. In the Azure portal, click on “Backup Policy” and select the subscription you want to configure.
Answer: B. In the Azure portal, click on “Backup Center” and select the subscription you want to configure.
Explanation: To configure Azure Backup reports, you need to go to the Backup Center in the Azure portal. From there, you can select the subscription you want to configure and then click on the “Reports” tab to set up the backup reports.
Question: You want to configure backup reports to be sent to multiple email addresses. What is the correct way to do this?
A. Enter multiple email addresses separated by commas in the “Email” field.
B. Create a distribution group in Azure Active Directory and enter the group email address in the “Email” field.
C. Configure backup reports separately for each email address.
D. Enter multiple email addresses separated by semicolons in the “Email” field.
Answer: A. Enter multiple email addresses separated by commas in the “Email” field.
Explanation: When configuring backup reports, you can enter multiple email addresses in the “Email” field, separated by commas. This will send the backup reports to all of the specified email addresses.
Question: You want to receive backup reports for a specific backup policy only. Which of the following steps should you take?
A. Select the backup policy in the “Reports” tab and configure the backup reports.
B. Select the backup policy in the “Backup Center” and configure the backup reports.
C. Select the backup policy in the “Backup Policy” tab and configure the backup reports.
D. Backup reports cannot be configured for a specific backup policy.
Answer: B. Select the backup policy in the “Backup Center” and configure the backup reports.
Explanation: In the Backup Center, you can select the specific backup policy you want to configure backup reports for. From there, you can click on the “Reports” tab and set up the backup reports. This allows you to receive backup reports for a specific backup policy only.
Question: You want to configure backup reports to be sent at 3:00 PM EST every day. What is the correct way to do this?
A. Enter “3:00 PM EST” in the “Time” field.
B. Enter “3:00 PM” in the “Time” field and select the “EST” time zone.
C. Enter “8:00 PM UTC” in the “Time” field.
D. Backup reports cannot be configured to be sent at a specific time.
Answer: B. Enter “3:00 PM” in the “Time” field and select the “EST” time zone.
Explanation: When configuring backup reports, you can select the desired time zone and enter the time you want the backup reports to be sent. In this scenario, you would enter “3:00 PM” in the “Time” field and select the “EST” time zone, since EST is five hours behind UTC. This will ensure that the backup reports are sent at 3:00 PM EST every day.
Reference: Microsoft Documentation