Back

Azure Site Recovery – When Disaster Begins at Home

It may be because the phrase Disaster Recovery begins with the word disaster that it evokes such a painful feeling But those whove been around d...

3 min read
Published on Feb 23, 2016
Azure Site Recovery – When Disaster Begins at Home

It may be because the phrase “Disaster Recovery” begins with the word “disaster” that it evokes such a painful feeling. But those who’ve been around datacenters since long before the cloud existed remember the real source of this uneasiness:

  • The pain of building an entire second data center to provide complete redundancy.
  • The pain of coming to understand the implications of latency to a disaster recovery plan.
  • The pain of learning the difficult answer to the question, “Sure it will backup, but will it restore?” at the worst possible time.
  • The continued pain of perpetually rotating backup media.

Azure arrives

It should come as no surprise that those experienced professionals greeted Microsoft Azure with open arms.

Now the datacenter comes with its own geo-redundant backup. Whatever you put into virtual machines on Azure is automatically and constantly backed up to one of Microsoft’s worldwide network of datacenters. There’s never a question of whether the backed-up workloads will all restore when necessary.

Add the fact that you no longer need to maintain the hardware and software required to operate a datacenter — and it’s truly an IT dream come true.

The big “however”

There are still some workloads, applications and data that corporations insist remain on-premises. Even if you’ve moved many workloads to the cloud, you may still have mission-critical systems that operate in your own datacenter. They may be a blend of physical servers, virtual servers, Hyper-V here, VMware there and some Linux servers among the Windows Servers. It sure would be great if you didn’t have to build a redundant backup strategy to provide disaster recovery for those and could simply send them to Azure.

Well, you can!

Azure Site Recovery

According to the Microsoft Azure Website, “Site Recovery is an Azure service that contributes to your business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) strategy by orchestrating replication of your on-premises servers and virtual machines to a secondary on-premises datacenter, or to Azure. Site Recovery handles the replication, and you can kick off failover and recovery with a simple click.”

Bet you didn’t see THESE coming

There are many features you may not expect from Azure Site Recovery, such as:

  • Yes, it can back up VMware virtual machines as well as Hyper-V.
  • Yes, it can back up your on-premises servers to another datacenter.
  • Yes, it can back up your on-premises servers, physical and virtual to Azure.
  • Yes, it can back up Linux servers.
  • Yes, you can configure specialized failover processes in PowerShell.
  • Yes, you can design very complex orchestrations for restoring after a disaster.
  • Yes, restoration can be simple.
  • Yes, there is non-disruptive restoration testing available.

There’s even an excellent “No!”

No, there is no running IaaS component, so you pay for Azure resources only when there’s a failover or migration to Azure initiated and virtual machines get provisioned. Application data is replicated to your Azure Storage for isolation.

There’s a great deal more to Azure Site Recovery

Azure Site Recovery removes the pain of manually backing up data and provides confidence when setting out to restore important information. But there are so many more values baked into Azure Site Recovery. To learn how Azure Site Recovery can ease your IT pains, connect with an experienced Agile IT representative today!

This post has matured and its content may no longer be relevant beyond historical reference. To see the most current information on a given topic, click on the associated category or tag.

Related Posts

CMMC Compliance — Understanding the Requirements and Why It's Important

CMMC Compliance — Understanding the Requirements and Why It's Important

CMMC compliance is crucial for protecting Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) in defense contracts. Learn what CMMC is, its certification levels, and why it matters.

Jul 2, 2025
9 min read
CMMC Certification vs. Self-Assessment What You Need to Know

CMMC Certification and Self-Assessment: What Contractors Need to Know

Not all contractors need a third-party CMMC certification. Find out the differences between CMMC certification and self-assessment and which one applies to your organization.

Jul 1, 2025
7 min read
How Much Does It Cost to Achieve CMMC Compliance?

How Much Does It Cost to Achieve CMMC Compliance and Prepare for Certification?

CMMC compliance costs vary by level and organization size. Get a breakdown of certification expenses, hidden costs, and funding options for meeting CMMC requirements.

Jun 30, 2025
7 min read
Azure Migration Planning A Complete Assessment Checklist for a Successful Transition

Azure Migration Planning A Complete Assessment Checklist for a Successful Transition

A successful Azure migration starts with proper planning. Use this step-by-step assessment checklist to evaluate infrastructure, dependencies, and tools before migrating.

Jun 23, 2025
7 min read
Migrate On-Premises VMs to Azure: Tips, Advice & Best Practices

Migrate On-Premises VMs to Azure: Tips, Advice & Best Practices

Learn how to migrate on-premises VMs to Azure with expert tips and best practices. Optimize your cloud migration strategy for security, performance, and cost efficiency.

Jun 20, 2025
9 min read
Azure Migration vs AWS Migration Key Differences

Comparing Azure Migration and AWS Migration Key Differences in Cloud Strategy

Comparing Azure and AWS for cloud migration? Learn the key differences in pricing, security, tools, and performance to choose the right platform for your business.

Jun 18, 2025
8 min read

Ready to Secure and Defend Your Data
So Your Business Can Thrive?

Fill out the form to see how we can protect your data and help your business grow.

Loading...
Secure. Defend. Thrive.

Let's start a conversation

Discover more about Agile IT's range of services by reaching out.

Don't want to wait for us to get back to you?

Schedule a Free Consultation

Location

Agile IT Headquarters
4660 La Jolla Village Drive #100
San Diego, CA 92122

Secure. Defend. Thrive.

Don't want to wait for us to get back to you?

Discover more about Agile IT's range of services by reaching out

Schedule a Free Consultation