Configuring Backups for Azure VMs Using the Custom Configuration Wizard

To give the Commvault Cloud software access to the Azure VMs that you want to back up, you need an Azure application. If you want to create an Azure application manually or if you already have an Azure application that you use for Commvault Cloud, use the custom configuration wizard.

If you want the Commvault Cloud software to create an Azure application for you, use the express configuration wizard.

The custom configuration wizard provides Bash and PowerShell commands for creating the Azure application, and a button to open Azure Cloud Shell for running the commands. (You can also create the Azure application in the Azure portal. For instructions, see Quickstart: Register an application with the Microsoft identity platform.)

Start the Configuration Wizard

From the Command Center navigation pane, go to Protect > Virtualization.

The Overview page appears.
In the upper-right area of the page, click Add hypervisor.

The Configure Hypervisor page appears.
Select Microsoft Azure.
Click Next.

The Azure VM deployment model overview page of the configuration wizard appears.
Click Next.
Click Custom configuration.
Click Next.

The Azure Application page of the configuration wizard appears.

Azure Application

The Azure Application page provides Bash and PowerShell commands for creating an Azure application, and a button to open Azure Cloud Shell for running the commands. (For other ways to create an Azure application, see .)

If you already have an Azure application that you use for the Commvault Cloud software, select Use an existing application, and then specify your Azure subscription ID and credentials.

Select Deploy a new application.
In Application name, enter a name for the Azure application.

The commands are updated with the value that you enter.
In Subscription ID, enter your Azure subscription ID.

The commands are updated with the value that you enter.
Under Deploy the application in the selected subscription and get the application details, copy the commands, and then paste them into a text editor.
In the text editor, do the following:
1. To use a custom role, for --role "Contributor", replace Contributor with the name of your custom role.
  
  The Storage Blob Data Contributor role is required. Don't remove this role from the commands unless you are certain that your custom role includes Storage Blob Data Contributor.
  
  For more information about custom roles, see Role and Permission Requirements for Protecting Azure Resources.
2. Copy the commands.
Click Open Azure Cloud Shell.

Azure Cloud Shell appears.
At the Azure Cloud Shell command prompt, paste the commands.

The commands run to create the Azure application, and then the Tenant ID, Application ID, and Application secret for the application are displayed.
In the Commvault Cloud configuration wizard, for Credential, click the add button.

The Add credential dialog box appears.
In Credential name, enter a name for the credentials.
In Tenant ID, Application ID, and Application secret, paste the values from Azure Cloud Shell.
Click Save.
Click Next.

The Hypervisor page of the configuration wizard appears.

Hypervisor

Leave Add a new hypervisor selected.
In Name, enter a descriptive name for the hypervisor.
Click Next.

The Region page of the configuration wizard appears.

Region

Potential for egress charges

If the VM group that you create (on the Add VM Group page of the configuration wizard) includes rules that discover VMs in regions other than the one you select, you might incur egress charges when the Commvault Cloud software backs up the VMs in the other regions.

Select the region that the VMs reside in.
Click Next.

The Cloud Storage page of the configuration wizard appears.

Cloud Storage

To review the supported combinations of primary and secondary storage, see Commvault Cloud Storage Options.

Primary Copy

For the primary copy of the backup data, select existing cloud storage or create new cloud storage.
Steps to create cloud storage for the primary copy
1. Click the add button .
  
  The Add cloud storage dialog box appears.
2. From the Type list, select Air Gap Protect or Microsoft Azure Storage.
3. If you selected Microsoft Azure Storage, do the following:
  1. In Name, enter a descriptive name for the cloud storage.
  2. For Storage class, select the storage class for the type of access that you want to have for the data.
  3. For Service host, leave the default value of blob.core.windows.net.
  4. For Authentication, select the type of authentication to use.
  5. In Account name, enter the name of the storage account to use.
  6. For Credentials, select existing credentials or create new credentials.
  7. In Container, enter a name for the container.
  8. To configure a virtual network rule for your storage account, do the following:
    1. Move the Enable access to the VNet firewall rule toggle key to the right.
    2. Copy either the Azure CLI command or the Azure PowerShell command.
    3. Modify the command to specify your Azure subscription ID. This might be the same subscription ID that you specified when deploying your Commvault Azure application.
      
      For information, see the following pages in the Microsoft Azure documentation:
      
      az account list
      
      Change active subscription
    4. Run the command.
      
      The VNets of the selected region are added to the allowlist.
  9. Click Save.
Click Next.

Secondary Copy

Decide whether to store a secondary copy of the backup data for long-term retention.
Steps to create cloud storage for a secondary copy
1. Move the Secondary copy toggle key to the right.
2. For Storage location, select an existing storage location or create a new storage location.
  
  To create a storage location, do the following:
  1. Click the add button .
    
    The Add cloud storage dialog box appears.
  2. In Name, enter a descriptive name for the cloud storage.
  3. For Credentials, select existing credentials or create new credentials.
  To create credentials, do the following:
  1. Click the add button .
  The Add credential dialog box appears.
  1. In Credential name, enter a descriptive name for the credentials.
  2. In Account name, enter the name of the storage account to use.
  3. In Access key ID, enter the access key of the storage account.
  4. In Description, enter a description of the credentials.
  5. Click Save.
  6. In Container, enter a name for the container.
  7. To configure a virtual network rule for your storage account, do the following:
    1. Move the Enable access to the VNet firewall rule toggle key to the right.
    2. Copy either the Azure CLI command or the Azure PowerShell command.
    3. Modify the command to specify your Azure subscription ID. This might be the same subscription ID that you specified when deploying your Commvault Azure application.
    For information, see the following pages in the Microsoft Azure documentation:
    
    - az account list
    
    - Change active subscription
    1. Run the command.
      
      The VNets of the selected region are added to the allowlist.
  8. Click Save.
Click Next.

The Plan page of the configuration wizard appears.

Plan

A backup plan specifies the storage to back up the data to and other settings such as recovery point objective (RPO) settings.

Select an existing backup plan or create a new backup plan.
Steps to create a backup plan
1. Click the add button .
  
  The Create backup plan dialog box appears.
2. In the Plan name box, enter a descriptive name for the backup plan.
3. For the backup plan settings, select pre-defined settings or create custom settings:
  - To select pre-defined settings, under Retention rules, select one of the following:
    - Select Standard retention to retain the incremental backups for 1 month.
    - Select Extended retention for optimized storage where the incremental backups of primary and secondary copies are retained for 1 month, and extended retention for monthly and yearly full backups.
      
      Note
      
      The Extended retention option is available only when the secondary copy backup is selected.
  - To create custom settings, select Custom plan, and then specify the following:
    - For Snapshot retention, specify the number of snapshots to retain.
    - For Retention, specify the amount of time to retain the backup jobs.
    - For Retention monthly full (Secondary copy), specify the amount of time to retain the monthly full backup on secondary copy.
    - For Retention yearly full (Secondary copy), specify the amount of time to retain the yearly full backup on secondary copy.
    - For Backups run every, specify how often to run backups.
4. Click Done.
Click Next.

The Cloud Account page of the configuration wizard appears.

Cloud Account

The cloud account is used to access the VMs for discovery, backups, and other operations.

Select an existing cloud account or create a new cloud account.
Steps to create a cloud account
1. Select Add a new cloud account.
2. In Name, enter a descriptive name for the account.
3. In Subscription ID, enter the subscription ID for the account.
4. For Credentials, select existing credentials or create new credentials.
  
  To create credentials, do the following:
  1. Click the add button .
  The Add credential dialog box appears.
  1. In Credential name, enter a descriptive name for the credentials.
  2. In Tenant ID, enter the tenant ID for the Azure account.
  3. In Application ID, enter application ID for the tenant.
  4. In Application secret, enter the secret key value that is generated for the application.
  5. In Description, enter a description of the credentials.
Click Next.

The Add VM Group page of the configuration wizard appears.

Add VM Group

A VM group is a set of VMs that you want to back up with the same settings.

You can add content to the VM group by using rules that auto-discover content, by selecting specific VMs, and by other ways. When you first create the VM group, you can add a VM that is relatively small, and then later you can update the VM group by adding more content.

Potential for egress charges

If you specify rules that discover VMs in regions other than the one you selected (on the Region page of the configuration wizard), you might incur egress charges when the Commvault Cloud software backs up the VMs in the other regions.

In Name, enter a descriptive name for the VM group.
To create rules that auto-discover and select VMs to back up, do the following:
1. Click Add, and then select Rules.
  
  The Add rule dialog box appears.
2. From the list, select the type of rule to create, and then specify the rule:
  - Browse: Select specific VMs. (Selecting this option changes the Add rule dialog box to the Add content dialog box.)
  - Power state: Select VMs based on whether they are powered on or off.
  - Region: Select VMs based on the region that they reside in.
  - Resource group: Select VMs based on the Azure resource group they are in.
  - Storage account: Select VMs based on the Azure storage account they are in.
  - Tag name: Select VMs based on the names of tags that are assigned to them. For example, to select VMs that have a tag name of "Department", enter Tag name | Equals | Department.
  - Tag value: Select VMs based on the values of tags that are assigned to them. For example, to select VMs that have a tag value of "Finance", enter Tag value | Equals | Finance.
  - Virtual machine name or pattern: Select VMs based on their names. For example, to select VMs that have a name that includes "east", enter Virtual machine name or pattern | Contains | east.
3. Click Save.
To select VMs in other ways, do the following:
1. Click Add, and then select Content.
  
  The Add content dialog box appears.
2. From the Browse and select VMs list, select one of the following:
  - VMs: Select specific VMs.
  - Resource groups: Backs up the VMs that are in the resource groups you select.
  - Regions: Backs up the VMs that are in the regions you select.
  - Storage accounts: Backs up the VMs that are in the storage accounts you select.
  - Tags: Backs up the VMs that contain the tags you select.
3. Click Save.
To see the VMs that are selected for the VM group, click the Preview button.
Click Next.

The Summary page of the configuration wizard appears.

Summary

Review the summary.
Click Finish.