Backup and Restore for App Services

This document provides comprehensive guidance on configuring and managing backup and restore operations for your Azure App Services. Ensuring your application data and configuration are protected against accidental deletion, corruption, or service outages is critical for business continuity.

Automatic Backups

Azure App Services offers automated backup capabilities that can be scheduled at regular intervals. These backups can include your application's file content and its associated database (if configured).

• Scheduling: Configure daily or weekly backups.
• Retention: Set a retention period for your backups.
• Storage: Backups are stored in an Azure Storage account of your choice.

To configure automatic backups:

1. Navigate to your App Service in the Azure portal.
2. In the left-hand menu, under "Backup + Restore," select "Backup."
3. Click "Setup backup."
4. Choose a storage account and container where backups will be stored.
5. Select the frequency (daily or weekly) and the time for backups.
6. Optionally, configure database backup settings if your app uses a supported database service (e.g., SQL Database, MySQL).
7. Click "Save."

Manual Backups

In addition to automatic backups, you can initiate a manual backup at any time. This is useful before making significant changes to your application or its configuration.

To perform a manual backup:

1. Navigate to your App Service in the Azure portal.
2. In the left-hand menu, under "Backup + Restore," select "Backup."
3. Click the "Backup now" button.
4. Choose a storage account and container, and provide a name for the backup.
5. Click "OK."

Restore Options

When restoring your App Service, you have the flexibility to restore to a specific point in time or to overwrite the current application.

• Overwrite Current App: Restores the app to the state it was in at the time of the selected backup. This action is irreversible.
• Restore to New App: Creates a new App Service with the content and configuration from the selected backup. This is a safer option if you want to test the restore or create a staging environment.

To restore your App Service:

1. Navigate to your App Service in the Azure portal.
2. In the left-hand menu, under "Backup + Restore," select "Restore."
3. Select the backup you wish to restore from the list.
4. Choose the restore option: "Overwrite" or "Restore to new app."
5. If restoring to a new app, provide a name and resource group for the new App Service.
6. Click "Restore."

Advanced Restore

For more granular control over the restore process, you can use Azure CLI or PowerShell. These tools allow you to specify specific files or folders to restore, or to restore only the database content.

Using Azure CLI:

az webapp backup create --resource-group <resource-group-name> --name <app-name> --container-url <sas-url> --backup-name <backup-name>

az webapp restore --resource-group <resource-group-name> --name <app-name> --source-backup-id <backup-id> --target-app-name <target-app-name> --overwrite

Using Azure PowerShell:

New-AzWebAppBackup -ResourceGroupName <resource-group-name> -Name <app-name> -StorageAccountUrl <storage-account-url> -ContainerName <container-name> -BackupName <backup-name>

Restore-AzWebAppBackup -ResourceGroupName <resource-group-name> -Name <app-name> -BackupId <backup-id> -TargetAppName <target-app-name> -Overwrite

For further details and specific scenarios, refer to the official Azure documentation on App Service backups.