Azure Import
Backing up Data to Microsoft Azure
The first step is to back up the data to an external storage device that you later plan to ship to Microsoft. In short, Microsoft does not offer any data transport solution like AWS Snowball Edge or B2 Fireball and instead forces you to rely on you own storage media.
A single Azure import job can have a maximum of 10 HDD/SSD of any size.
An Azure Import job involves the following steps:
- Determine the data to be imported and the number of drives required for it.
- Use Microsoft's WAImportExport tool to facilitate data backup.
- Upload the journal files generated by the said tool to the Azure portal.
- Encrypt the hard drives using Windows BitLocker.
- Create an import job in the Azure portal.
- Ship the drives to Microsoft and wait for them to be processed.
Refer to Microsoft's documentation to get a step-by-step instructions on how to get started with Azure Import. Once you've configured Microsoft's tools, go ahead and select your HDDs/SSDs as the local file system backup destination when configuring a backup plan in MSP360 (CloudBerry) Backup. Conclude configuring the plan and execute it afterward.
When the data is on the storage device, ship it to Microsoft and ensure that it will be transferred to the required Azure container (Azure import job settings). When the data is already in Azure, proceed to modify data structure.
Modifying Data Structure in the Storage
The file structure of your data in the cloud storage currently does not conform to MSP360 (CloudBerry) Backup's standard and therefore needs to be updated. Otherwise you wouldn't be able to continue backing up data to the same storage. You also need to sync the slow PC with the cloud so that CloudBerry Backup can determine which files are already in the cloud and don't need to be backed up again.
Both of these tasks can be accomplished by using our special terminal command.
C:\Program Files\MSP360\MSP360 (CloudBerry) Backup\cbb account -seedingRename accountName
where:
| Parameter | Description | Value |
|---|---|---|
| seedingRename | Indicates which cloud storage account should have its data updated | Account name. Can be requested by executing cbb account -l |
This command will restructure the data in the cloud as well as perform repository sync.
The last step is to change the backup destination in your backup plan from the storage device (SSD / HDD) to the cloud storage that contains all the transferred data. When done, the seeding process can be considered successfully executed.
By now you have:
- Backed up data to an external storage device.
- Transferred data from the external storage device to the required cloud storage with a fast PC.
- Restructured the data in the cloud to conform with MSP360 (CloudBerry) Backup's standards.
When new files are added to the folder, MSP360 (CloudBerry) Backup will back them up as expected without reuploading the files you have seeded. Likewise, whenever you modify any files within that folder, just execute the backup plan and all of the modifications will be uploaded to the cloud.