Public preview: Instant file recovery from the cloud by using Azure Backup

Azure Backup has introduced "restore as a service" so you can instantly restore files and folders from cloud-based recovery points.

Instant restore provides a writeable snapshot of a cloud-based recovery point, which can be quickly mounted as iSCSI-based recovery volumes. You can simply browse through the files by using your regular file explorer and copy the files to the destination of your choice. With this feature, Azure Backup provides:

• One restore mechanism for all backup sources: Whether you are backing up on-premises data to the cloud by using an Azure Backup agent or protecting Azure VMs by using Azure VM backup, a consistent approach is provided for file restore.
• Instant recovery of files: Whether it’s a case of accidental file deletion or simply validating the backup, instant restore drastically reduces the time taken to recover your first file.
• Ability to open and review files in the recovery volumes before restoring them: You can open application files such as SQL and Oracle directly from cloud recovery-point snapshots as if they are present locally, without having to restore them, and attach them to live application instances.
• Recovery of any combination of files to any target: You can restore multiple files from multiple folders to a local server or even to a network share of your choice.

Azure Backup instant recovery of files is available in preview for customers of Azure Backup agents and Azure VM backup (Windows VMs).

For more information, please visit the Azure blog and Azure Backup documentation for file recovery from Azure VM backup and file recovery from Azure Backup agent.