Azure Backup offline-backup with Azure Data Box
Published date: February 19, 2020
Now Azure Backup customers can take advantage of Azure Data Box to move large backups of critical enterprise data through offline mechanisms. With this preview, customers will be able to use Azure Data Box (100 TB appliance) and Azure Data Box disks (up to 8 TB each) with the Microsoft Azure Recovery Services Agent to seed large initial backups (up to 80 TB per server) offline to an Azure Recovery Services Vault. Subsequent backups will take place over the network.
This enhancement delivers the core benefits of Azure Data Box while offering the following key advantages over the existing Azure import/export-based offline backup.
- Freedom from procuring your own Azure-compatible disks and connectors. Azure Data Box service delivers Azure-compatible appliances that use standard network and USB interfaces, so you can easily plug them in and copy data to them.
- Freedom from provisioning temporary storage and using specialized tools for copying data. The Microsoft Azure Recovery Services Agent can 'directly' write backup data onto Azure Data Box devices, eliminating the need for both a staging location for backups as well as specialized copy tools to copy the data onto disks.