Recover an Azure Lighthouse VM using Azure Backup Center

This article reviews the process to configure Azure backup center, take a backup of an Azure Lighthouse (LH) instance, and recover it.

Creating a vault

From the Azure home page find the Backup center service (this can also be searched for in the search bar)
From Backup center, select +Vault
Go through the Vault creation wizard using the following settings (these may differ based on your access)
- Vault type: Recovery Services vault > Continue
  - Backup vault was not a viable selection due to the the current subscription
- Subscription: Pay-As-You-Go
- Resource group: support-rg (this should match the resource group of the LH VM you would like to backup)
- Vault name: lh-recovery-vault (something useful)
- Region: West 2 (this should match the region of the LH VM you would like to backup) > Review + create > Create

At this point, the Vault is complete/created

Creating a Backup

From Backup center select +Backup
Start: Configure Backup (use the following as a guide)
- Datasource type: Azure Virtual machines
- Vault type: Recovery Services vault
- Vault: Select the vault you created in the pervious section > Continue
Configure backup
- Policy sub type: Standard
- Backup policy: DefaultPolicy
- Virtual machines: select Add
  - You should be able to select your LH VM you would like to backup > OK
- Enable backup
Navigate back to Backup center, select Backup instances, select the instance name you created the backup for
Select Backup now

At this point, you will need to wait for the backup job to complete

Restore Instance

From Backup center select Restore
Start: Restore
- Datasource type: Azure Virtual machines
- Vault type: Recovery Services vault
- Backup instance: Select the LH VM you created the backup for > Select
- Continue
Restore Virtual Machine
- Restore point: Select the restore point from the desired date > OK
- Restore configuration: Create new
  - Replace existing
- Restore Type: Create new virtual machine
- Virtual machine name: lh-name-recovered-date
- Subscription: Pay-As-You-Go
- Resource group: Choose the resource group of the original VM
- Virtual network: Select the network of the original VM
- Subnet: Select the network of the original VM
- Staging Location: Choose an appropriate storage account
- Restore

At this point you will have a recovered VM in your Virtual machines list. This will not be associated with the original NIC however, which will be addressed next.

Create an arbitrary NIC

From the Azure home page select the Network interfaces service
Select +Create
Create network interface
- Subscription: Pay-As-You-Go
- Resource group: Select the resource group matching the original LH VM
- Name: swap (some arbitrary name)
- Region: Select the region of the original LH VM
- Virtual network: Select the network of the original LH VM
- Subnet: Select the subnet of the original LH VM
- IP Version: IPv4 (as this is what I’m using for this instance)
- Private IP address assignment: Dynamic
- Review + create > Create

Exchange NICs, Start the recovered VM, and enable serial console

From the Azure home page select the Virtual Machines service
Select the original and recovered LH VMs, then stop them
Select the original LH VM
Select Network under Settings
Attach network interface
- Attach existing network interface: swap > OK
Detach network interface
- Detach network interface: select the original NIC > OK
Select the restored instance
Attach network interface
- Attach existing network interface: select the NIC from the original VM > OK
Detach network interface
- Detach network interface: select the NIC this VM was created with > OK
Select Overview and Start to start the VM
Enable serial console
- This is done in the VM menu under Help > Serial Console.
- On the Boot diagnostics screen select Enable with managed storage account (recommended) > Save