Backing up to the Cloud: Windows Azure Backup Preview – Part 1

Windows Azure Backup helps you protect important server data off-site with automated backup and restore.

What can you back up with Windows Azure Backup?

You can manage cloud backups from familiar backup tools in Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 Essentials, or the Data Protection Manager component of Microsoft System Center 2012 Service Pack 1 (SP1). Authorized users can easily recover backups to any server.

What other options are available?

For making cloud-based backups of enterprise data including application data, Hyper-V VMs and even VMware, you could consider the StorSimple solution, which is an snapshot-based cloud-integrated storage solution.

Incremental Backups

With incremental backups, only changes to files are transferred to the cloud. This helps ensure efficient use of storage, reduced bandwidth consumption, and point-in-time recovery of multiple versions of the data. Configurable data retention policies, data compression, and data transfer throttling offer you added flexibility and help boost efficiency. Backups are stored in Windows Azure and are “off-site”, reducing the need to secure and protect on-site backup media.

Cost

Windows Azure Backup is billed in units based on your average daily amount of compressed data stored over a monthly billing period, at a rate of $0.25 per gigabyte (GB) per month during preview. Once Backup is generally available, it will be billed at $0.50 per GB per month.

For more information on Windows Azure Backup, please visit the webpage. For more information on pricing, please visit the Pricing Details Webpage.

Activating the Preview

1. Open your Windows Azure Management Portal.

2. On the top bar, click Subscriptions and then choose Manage your subscriptions.

3. Choose Preview Features

4.  Activate the Backup feature by clicking try it now.

Getting Started

5. If you go back to your Management Portal, you will now find Recovery on the left pane.

6. Create a new Backup Vault.

7. Once the vault is provisioned, start by clicking Manage Certificate.

To use your own self-signed certificate, follow these steps:

1. Download Certificate Creation Tool (makecert.exe) from http://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/Certificate-Creation-tool-5b7c054d
2. Open Command Prompt (cmd.exe) with Administrator privileges and run the following command, replacing <certName> with the name of your certificate : makecert.exe -r -pe -n CN=<certName> -ss my -sr localmachine -eku 1.3.6.1.5.5.7.3.2  -e 12/12/2015  -len 2048 <CertName>.cer

I will publish another post soon, which details how you can deploy the backup agents on the server and configure the backups.

See also:

• Backup to Cloud Part 3- Using Windows Azure Recovery services with System Center Data Protection Manager
• Backing up to the Cloud- Windows Azure Backup Preview – Part 2

Sharing files on the Cloud

I have been trying out multiple solutions to share and sync data from my computer to the cloud.

One of the tool I like to use is SkyDrive, and they provide up to 7GB of space for free. What makes SkyDrive interesting to me is the integration with Office 2013. You can easily browse, open and save documents from any Office application on to your SkyDrive. What’s more, all your connected devices can be used to access the same content, and they stay synced.

Last weekend I was taking notes from an online class in the Bachelor’s program that I am doing at IOU. I was using OneNote 2013 on my Lenovo x220 Tablet to take notes on a notebook saved to SkyDrive. Within seconds, the I realized that the content was syncing to my Surface RT device and my Nokia Lumia 920 Windows Phone device.

 
OneNote 2013 with content synchronized between computer and phone.

There are many other vendors out there who also provide cloud-based file sharing, especially for the Enterprise and supporting a wide array of devices that you can upload content and sync from.

For example, Citrix ShareFile is a commercial solution for securely sharing, syncing and storing files upto 10 GB in size. All communications between Citrix ShareFile and the user are encrypted using either Secure Socket Layer (SSL) or Transport Layer Security (TLS) encryption protocols and up to AES 256-bit encryption.

[CRITICAL] ClearDB database size is near quota limit

My WordPress site is hosted on Windows Azure and uses a MySQL database that was set up automatically on ClearDB.

For the past couple of days I have been getting warning emails from ClearDB, the provider of MySQL databases for Windows Azure customers that my database quota is almost full.

Database: mydatabasename
Tier/Plan: Mercury
Tier size quota: 20 MB
Current database storage allocated: 98.28% (1.72% remaining)

Please note that the use of temporary tables as well as index sizes are included in our storage size calculations.

We suggest that you consider upgrading your database to the next service plan to ensure that it does not exceed our storage quota policy. Databases that exceed our service plan storage quotas are automatically locked to ensure the highest quality of service for all of our valued customers, and we don’t want you to experience an interruption of service.

If you’re getting these messages and you’re using the database to run a WordPress site, make sure you compact your database before going to pay for the next higher tier/plan on ClearDB. Chances are that you might not have to upgrade after all!

I simply used an Optimize Database wordpress plugin and it reduced the database size by 50% by removing revisions, trashed items, spammed items etc. Now I can continue using the free ClearDB database without incurring any additional costs.

State of Cloud Storage in 2013: The Nasuni Report

Nasuni announced the 2013 State of Cloud Storage Report, available for download on their website. Functionality, Price and Performance are key metrics when they evaluate Cloud Storage Providers.

Windows Azure emerged as a leader in all metrics evaluated. Here are some highlights:

Poster: Scaling Applications for Windows Azure

A poster on “Scaling Apps for Windows Azure” is available for download based on Best Practices for the Design of Large-Scale Services on Windows Azure Cloud Services.

Download the poster here.

Accessing Windows Azure storage using FTP

You can access the Windows Azure blob storage using FTP. For this you will need to create a Windows Azure VM running Windows (or Linux for that matter) that will host the FTP service. Each VM gets its own public IP and DNS name on the internet which you can use to access your FTP service.

In this example, I will show you how you can create a Windows Server VM on Windows Azure and configure it as an FTP server.

Besides the method described above, there are also other options such as using open source software like FTP2Azure http://ftp2azure.codeplex.com/

1. First create a Windows Server VM on Windows Azure. I used Windows Server 2012.

2. Connect via RDP to the newly provisioned VM and install the Web Server (IIS) role. Make sure you enable the FTP Server role services for the IIS role. I am assuming you already know how to add roles to your Windows Server and use the Remote Desktop client on your computer.

3. Create FTP site on IIS: Open the IIS Manager console, right click on Sites, and choose Add FTP Site. Specify the FTP Site Name and Local Path for the FTP site. Click Next. Specify binding and SSL information. Hit Next. Specify authentication options, click Finish.

This is just a test environment, so I’m just going to use the local administrator account for FTP login. Of course, in production you wouldn’t want to do that for security purposes.

4. Open a Command Prompt, use the ftp command to see if you can connect locally on port 21. (You could also use telnet)

ftp 127.0.0.1

You should get something like this:

Connected to 127.0.0.1
220 Microsoft FTP Service

5. Set External IP address on your IIS FTP server. This should be the public IP of your Azure VM service. You will find this IP listed on the right side of the VM service page on the Windows Azure Management Portal.

6. Enabling ports for FTP access on Windows Azure:

For Active FTP, you only need ports 21 and 20 to be opened. However for Passive FTP you will need to define a range of ports on the IIS FTP server and open them in Windows Azure, by defining them as “endpoints”.

a) First, define the port range on IIS using an elevated Command line using APPCMD utility, located at the System32\inetsrv in the Windows folder.

cd %windir%\system32\inetsrv

appcmd set config /section:system.ftpServer/firewallSupport /lowDataChannelPort:7000 /highDataChannelPort:7014

Then restart the IIS service.

In this example, we are defining the port range as 7000-7014.

b) Now you need to define these port numbers as endpoints on Windows Azure. You could do it manually in the Windows Azure management portal, one by one. You do this by going to Virtual Machines > [Your VM] > Endpoints. However, defining 15 points manually is rather tedious, so you can leverage PowerShell commands.

To use PowerShell, you need to make sure you download and install Windows Azure PowerShell on your computer. Before you can use PowerShell cmdlets on Azure, you need to publish the settings file for your Azure account. You can use the Get-AzurePublishSettingsFile cmdlet, which will help you download the actual settings file that corresponds to your Windows Live ID associated with your Azure account.

After you download this settings file, you can import it to PowerShell by using the Import-AzurePublishSettingsFile cmdlet and you’re good to go.

To create the endpoints, use the command:

Get-AzureVM -ServiceName ‘ServiceName’ -Name ‘FTPPortalName’ | Add-AzureEndpoint -Name ‘FTP00′ -Protocol ‘TCP’ -LocalPort 7000 -PublicPort 7000 | Update-AzureVM

Get-AzureVM -ServiceName ‘ServiceName’ -Name ‘FTPPortalName’ | Add-AzureEndpoint -Name ‘FTP01′ -Protocol ‘TCP’ -LocalPort 7001 -PublicPort 7001 | Update-AzureVM

…and so on till you’re done with the 15 endpoints…

Get-AzureVM -ServiceName ‘ServiceName’ -Name ‘FTPPortalName’ | Add-AzureEndpoint -Name ‘FTP14′ -Protocol ‘TCP’ -LocalPort 7014 -PublicPort 7014 | Update-AzureVM

Once the commands are done executing, here is what you will have in the portal now that all endpoints have been defined:

7. Configure Windows Firewall to allow FTP traffic

Open an elevated command prompt on your server and issue the following command:

netsh AdvFirewall set global StatefulFTP enable

Then, restart the FTP service.

net stop FTPsvc
net start FTPsvc

8. Test externally

From your PC, open a command prompt and attempt to connect via FTP on the your VM’s public DNS name or public IP address (details will be on the Azure portal VM service details on the right side)

For example:

ftp aspiretest.cloudapp.net

If you are successfully able to connect, you are all set! Fire up your favorite FTP client and you can now use FTP to upload and download files from new VM hosted on Windows Azure.

Microsoft has the “most ambitious cloud strategy”: Forbes

I read with interest an article on Forbes.com by Louis Columbus, titled Demystifying Cloud Vendors.

Louis shares his observations from a recent Gartner webinar titled How Cloud Computing changes the Vendor Landscape by David Mitchell, VP and Gartner Fellow.

Microsoft has the most ambitious cloud strategy of the nine companies profiled, and their cloud-first design initiative shows they have faith in Azure performing in the enterprise.  Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 will first be released on Azure, then on-premise is a case in point. Microsoft is impatient  to move into a subscription model with its evolving cloud platform.

Gartner’s analysis of Microsoft’s cloud strategy is shown in the following graphic.

Here is a summary chart showing Microsoft as having perfect balance between enabling technology and packaged cloud. Other major vendors on the list are Amazon, Google, Salesforce.com, IBM, VMware, HP, and Oracle among others.

For more information on how you can benefit from our cloud solutions, reach out to me or speak to your Microsoft account manager.

195% ROI with Windows Server 2012: Forrester Report

Forrester has released a report on Windows Server 2012: The first of many reports to come on Windows Server 2012 and specifically on its economic impact showing an ROI of 195% in a period of 6 months.

Windows Server 2012 brings you cutting-edge virtualization capabilities – if you do not already have Hyper-V now is a good time to consider moving some of your workloads to Hyper-V to take advantage of significant cost savings and improvements. Together with System Center, you have all that you need to build your own private cloud.

Know more:

• IT Decision makers: Attend the Celebrate Windows event, March 4 at the St. Regis Hotel in Doha
• IT Pros – Attend our boot camp on Windows Server 2012, Feb 27-28 at the Ritz Carlton Hotel, Doha
• Please reach out to me our your Microsoft account manager anytime.

Celebrate Windows 8 in Qatar

And yes, we will be talking about Windows Server 2012, too!

Veeam unveils cloud backup with Windows Azure

Veeam Software, a provider of backup, replication and virtualization management solutions for Windows Server Hyper-V and VMware, announced the upcoming availability of Veeam Backup Cloud Edition.

The VM backup solution is now cloud-ready and supports backing up to Windows Azure. Backups are de-duplicated, compressed and encrypted (up to 256-bit AES) as they are stored in the cloud.

For more information, refer the Veeam press release. Qatar Datamation Systems (QDS) is Veeam’s Microsoft partner in Qatar that can bring you VM backup to Windows Azure.