About the MARS agent
Azure Backup uses the MARS agent to back up files, folders, and system state from on-premises machines and Azure VMs. Those backups are stored in a Recovery Services vault in Azure. You can run the agent:
Directly on on-premises Windows machines. These machines can back up directly to a Recovery Services vault in Azure.
On Azure VMs that run Windows side by side with the Azure VM backup extension. The agent backs up specific files and folders on the VM.
On a Microsoft Azure Backup Server (MABS) instance or a System Center Data Protection Manager (DPM) server. In this scenario, machines and workloads back up to MABS or Data Protection Manager. Then MABS or Data Protection Manager uses the MARS agent to back up to a vault in Azure.
The data that's available for backup depends on where the agent is installed.
Create a Recovery Services vault
A Recovery Services vault is a management entity that stores recovery points created over time and provides an interface to perform backup related operations. These include taking on-demand backups, performing restores, and creating backup policies.
To create a Recovery Services vault, follow these steps.
- Sign in to your subscription in the Azure portal.
- On the left menu, select All services.
- In the All services dialog box, enter Recovery Services. The list of resources filters according to your input. In the list of resources, select Recovery Services vaults.
The list of Recovery Services vaults in the subscription appears.
- On the Recovery Services vaults dashboard, select Add.
The Recovery Services vault dialog box opens. Provide values for the Name, Subscription, Resource group, and Location.
Name: Enter a friendly name to identify the vault. The name must be unique to the Azure subscription. Specify a name that has at least 2 but not more than 50 characters. The name must start with a letter and consist only of letters, numbers, and hyphens.
Subscription: Choose the subscription to use. If you're a member of only one subscription, you'll see that name. If you're not sure which subscription to use, use the default (suggested) subscription. There are multiple choices only if your work or school account is associated with more than one Azure subscription.
Resource group: Use an existing resource group or create a new one. To see the list of available resource groups in your subscription, select Use existing, and then select a resource from the drop-down list. To create a new resource group, select Create new and enter the name.
Location: Select the geographic region for the vault. To create a vault to protect any data source, the vault must be in the same region as the data source.
- After providing the values, select Review + create.
- When you're ready to create the Recovery Services vault, select Create.
It can take a while to create the Recovery Services vault. Monitor the status notifications in the Notifications area at the upper-right corner of the portal. After your vault is created, it's visible in the list of Recovery Services vaults. If you don't see your vault, select Refresh.
Modify storage replication
By default, vaults use geo-redundant storage (GRS).
If the vault is your primary backup mechanism, we recommend that you use GRS.
You can use locally redundant storage (LRS) to reduce Azure storage costs.
To modify the storage replication type:
In the new vault, select Properties under the Settings section.
On the Properties page, under Backup Configuration, select Update.
Select the storage replication type, and select Save.
Verify internet access
If your machine has limited internet access, ensure that firewall settings on the machine or proxy allow the following URLs and IP addresses:
URLs
www.msftncsi.com
*.Microsoft.com
*.WindowsAzure.com
*.microsoftonline.com
*.windows.net
www.msftconnecttest.com
IP addresses
20.190.128.0/18
40.126.0.0/18
Use Azure ExpressRoute
You can back up your data over Azure ExpressRoute by using public peering (available for old circuits) and Microsoft peering. Backup over private peering isn't supported.
To use public peering, first ensure access to the following domains and addresses:
http://www.msftncsi.com/ncsi.txt
http://www.msftconnecttest.com/connecttest.txt
microsoft.com
.WindowsAzure.com
.microsoftonline.com
.windows.net
Download the MARS agent
Download the MARS agent so that you can install it on the machines that you want to back up.
If you've already installed the agent on any machines, make sure that you're running the latest version of the agent. Find the latest version in the portal, or go directly to the download.
- In the vault, under Getting Started, select Backup
- Under Where is your workload running?, select On-premises. Select this option even if you want to install the MARS agent on an Azure VM.
- Under What do you want to back up?, select Files and folders. You can also select System State. Many other options are available, but these options are supported only if you're running a secondary backup server. Select Prepare Infrastructure.
- For Prepare infrastructure, under Install Recovery Services agent, download the MARS agent.
- In the download menu, select Save. By default, the MARSagentinstaller.exe file is saved to your Downloads folder.
- Select Already download or using the latest Recovery Services Agent, and then download the vault credentials.
- Select Save. The file is downloaded to your Downloads folder. You can't open the vault credentials file.
Install and register the agent
- Run the MARSagentinstaller.exe file on the machines that you want to back up.
- In the MARS Agent Setup Wizard, select Installation Settings. There, choose where to install the agent, and choose a location for the cache. Then select Next.
Azure Backup uses the cache to store data snapshots before sending them to Azure.
The cache location should have free space equal to at least 5 percent of the size of the data you'll back up.
- For Proxy Configuration, specify how the agent that runs on the Windows machine will connect to the internet. Then select Next.
If you use a custom proxy, specify any necessary proxy settings and credentials.
Remember that the agent needs access to specific URLs.
- For Installation, review the prerequisites, and select Install.
- After the agent is installed, select Proceed to Registration.
- In Register Server Wizard > Vault Identification, browse to and select the credentials file that you downloaded. Then select Next.
- On the Encryption Setting page, specify a passphrase that will be used to encrypt and decrypt backups for the machine. See here for more information on allowed passphrase characters.
Save the passphrase in a secure location. You need it to restore a backup.
If you lose or forget the passphrase, Microsoft can't help you recover the backup data.
- Select Finish. The agent is now installed, and your machine is registered to the vault. You're ready to configure and schedule your backup.
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