Setting up targets

Targets are locations where backup data is stored. HYCU for Azure allows you to define either a snapshot or a storage account as a location for storing your backup data.

Target Description

Snapshot

Target	Description
Snapshot	Backup data is stored as a snapshot in an Azure resource group that contains the virtual machine that you want to protect. n Note If snapshots created by HYCU for Azure are deleted from Azure, you will not be able to restore backup data from this location. However, you can still restore your data from targets if copies of backup data or data archives exist.
Storage account	Backup data is stored in an Azure storage account that you create yourself or HYCU for Azure creates for you automatically: Manually created storage account: You can create your own storage account in Azure and add it to HYCU for Azure as a target. For instructions, see “Adding a storage account to HYCU for Azure”. Automatically created storage account: HYCU for Azure creates an Azure storage account automatically while backing up data and uses it as a target: The size of the automatically created targets is 50 TiB and you can change it if required. For details on how to do this, see “Editing a target”. For increasing restore speed and minimizing costs, these targets are created in the same region as the virtual machines you are backing up. The same target is used for storing the backup data of multiple virtual machines where possible. i Important Automatically created storage accounts are reserved for storing the backup data. Make sure not to store any other kind of data to them. You can view all storage accounts added to HYCU for Azure as targets in the Targets panel. The ones that are created automatically start with the `hycuazure` prefix. You can use also these targets for storing your backup data.

Backup data is stored as a snapshot in an Azure resource group that contains the virtual machine that you want to protect.

n Note If snapshots created by HYCU for Azure are deleted from Azure, you will not be able to restore backup data from this location. However, you can still restore your data from targets if copies of backup data or data archives exist.

Storage account

Backup data is stored in an Azure storage account that you create yourself or HYCU for Azure creates for you automatically:

Manually created storage account:

You can create your own storage account in Azure and add it to HYCU for Azure as a target. For instructions, see “Adding a storage account to HYCU for Azure”.
Automatically created storage account:

HYCU for Azure creates an Azure storage account automatically while backing up data and uses it as a target:
- The size of the automatically created targets is 50 TiB and you can change it if required. For details on how to do this, see “Editing a target”.
- For increasing restore speed and minimizing costs, these targets are created in the same region as the virtual machines you are backing up. The same target is used for storing the backup data of multiple virtual machines where possible.
i Important Automatically created storage accounts are reserved for storing the backup data. Make sure not to store any other kind of data to them.

You can view all storage accounts added to HYCU for Azure as targets in the Targets panel. The ones that are created automatically start with the hycuazure prefix. You can use also these targets for storing your backup data.

Adding a storage account to HYCU for Azure

Prerequisite

You have the Contributor role assigned at the storage account level. This applies to all Azure storage accounts that you plan to add to HYCU for Azure as targets.

Limitations

HYCU for Azure does not support storing data to premium file share and premium page blob storage accounts.
Adding a storage account for which public access is allowed in Azure is not supported.
Storing data to a storage account that has a hierarchical namespace enabled is not supported.

Considerations

When adding a storage account to HYCU for Azure as a target, you can choose to add the storage account that belongs to the subscription associated with your current HYCU for Azure session or a different Azure subscription to which you have access.
Storing data to a target whose container has an immutable storage policy (WORM) configured is supported.
You can add the same target to multiple protection sets. In this case, keep in mind that the status, health, and utilization of such a target might differ for each protection set (depending on the data protection needs).
If the amount of storage space required for storing backup data exceeds the value that you specify when adding a storage account, HYCU for Azure automatically creates a new storage account and uses it as a target.
Only if the storage account connectivity method is not set to Public endpoint (all networks). The virtual machine that you plan to protect must be in the same Azure Virtual Network (VNet) as the storage account that you want to use as a target.

Procedure

In the Targets panel, click  Add.
In the Size field, specify the amount of storage space that should be used for storing backup data (in MiB, GiB, or TiB).
From the Select target list, select one or more storage accounts that you want to add to HYCU for Azure as targets. You can also search for a storage account by entering its name in the Search targets field.

i Important Storage accounts that belong to a subscription other than the one associated with your current HYCU for Azure session are not listed under Select target. If you want to add a storage account that belongs to a different subscription, in the Search targets field, enter its name.
Click Save.

The target is added to the list of targets in the Targets panel. For details on managing targets, see “Managing targets”.