Creating an Azure VM Group

You can create a VM group that specifies a set of Azure VMs to back up or restore using the same settings.

Procedure

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

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

The Select vendor page of the Add VM Group configuration wizard appears.
Select Microsoft Azure.
Click Next.

The Select Hypervisor page of the Add VM Group configuration wizard appears.
From the Hypervisor list, select the hypervisor to create a VM group for.
Click Next.

The Add VM Group page of the Add VM Group configuration wizard appears.
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.
  - 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:
  - Tags: Backs up the VMs that contain the tags you select.
  - 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.
3. Click Save.
To see the VMs that are selected for the VM group, click the Preview button.
Click Next.

The Plan page of the Add VM Group configuration wizard appears.
Select an existing backup plan or create a new backup plan.

A backup plan specifies the storage to back up the data to and other settings such as recovery point objective (RPO) settings. If the backup plan doesn't have a snapshot copy configured, the Commvault Cloud software adds a snapshot copy to the backup plan, with retention of 8 recovery points. You can modify the retention.
To create a backup plan, do the following:
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. From the Storage region list, select the storage region.
  
  Note
  
  The option to select a Storage region is part of the Commvault Early Adopter program. The Commvault Early Adopter program was created to engage customer feedback on specific features. Commvault works with select customers to discuss, plan, and help deploy the feature release, and to proactively assist with any issues. If you are interested in becoming part of the Commvault Early Adopter program, please contact us at earlyadopter@commvault.com.
4. If you have your own storage, move the Bring your own storage toggle key to the right, and then add any of the following storages:
  - Air Gap Protect
    1. Beside Storage, click the add button , and then select Air Gap Protect.
    2. From the Cloud storage provider list, verify that the Azure Blob Storage is selected.
    3. For Storage class, verify that Hot tier is selected.
      
      For Azure VM backups using the Air Gap Protect storage, by default, the storage class tier is Hot for primary backup copy and Cool for secondary backup copy.
    4. From the Region list, select the storage region.
    5. Click Save.
  - Cloud
    1. Beside Storage, click the add button , and then select Cloud.
      
      The Add cloud storage dialog box appears.
    2. In Name, enter a descriptive name for the cloud storage.
    3. For Storage class, select the cloud storage tier based on the license that you use.
      
      For Azure VM backups using the Cloud storage, you can have both primary and secondary backup copies for all VMs in the Hot and Cool tiers.
    4. From the Region list, select the storage region.
    5. For Service host, leave the default value of blob.core.windows.net.
    6. From the MediaAgent list, select the MediaAgent that will write the data to the storage.
    7. For Authentication, select the type of authentication to use.
    8. In Account name, enter the name of the storage account to use.
    9. For Credentials, select existing credentials or create a new credential.
      
      Steps to add a new credential
      
      1. Beside Credential, click the add button .
      
      The Add credential dialog box appears.
      
      2. From the Account type list, verify that Cloud Account is selected.
      
      3. From the Vendor type list, verify that Microsoft Azure is selected.
      
      4. In Credential name, enter a descriptive name for the credentials.
      
      5. In Tenant ID, enter the tenant ID for the Azure account.
      
      6. In Application ID, enter application ID for the tenant.
      
      7. In Application secret, enter the secret key value that is generated for the application.
      
      ///note | Note Copy the values for Tenant ID, Application ID, and Application secret from Azure Cloud Shell. ///
      
      8. From the Environment list, verify that AzureCloud is selected.
      
      9. In Description, enter a description of the credentials.
      
      10. Click Save.
    10. In Container, enter a name for the container.
    11. To use deduplication, move the Use deduplication toggle key to the right, and then from the DDB MediaAgent list, select the MediaAgent that will write the data to the DDB storage location.
    12. Click Save.
5. 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.
  - To create custom settings, select Custom plan, and then specify the following:
    - For Retention, specify the amount of time to retain the backup jobs.
    - For Backups run every, specify how often to run backups.
6. Click Done.
Click Submit.

What to Do Next

The VM group is created with default values for some settings, including security settings, tags, and backup type. To modify those settings, see Modifying Settings for an Azure VM Group.