Skip to content

manage-afs-powershell.md

Latest commit

 

History

History
218 lines (158 loc) · 11.2 KB

manage-afs-powershell.md

File metadata and controls

218 lines (158 loc) · 11.2 KB
title Manage Azure Files backups with PowerShell
description Learn how to use PowerShell to manage and monitor Azure Files backed up by the Azure Backup service.
ms.topic how-to
ms.date 02/17/2026
ms.custom devx-track-azurepowershell
author AbhishekMallick-MS
ms.author v-mallicka

Manage Azure Files backups with PowerShell

This article describes how to manage and monitor the backed-up Azure Files (snapshot and vaulted backups) using Azure Backup via Azure PowerShell. You can also manage Azure Files backups using Azure portal, Azure CLI, REST API.

Warning

Make sure the PowerShell version is upgraded to the minimum version for Az.RecoveryServices 2.6.0 for Azure Files backups. Learn more about the requirements for the change.

To learn about the supported Azure Files backup and restore scenarios, region availability, and limitations, see the support matrix. For common questions, see the frequently asked questions.

Modify the protection policy

Choose a backup tier:

Snapshot tier

To change the policy used for backing up the Azure Files, use Enable-AzRecoveryServicesBackupProtection. Specify the relevant backup item and the new backup policy.

The following example changes the testAzureFS protection policy from dailyafs to monthlyafs.

$monthlyafsPol =  Get-AzRecoveryServicesBackupProtectionPolicy -Name "monthlyafs"
$afsContainer = Get-AzRecoveryServicesBackupContainer -FriendlyName "testStorageAcct" -ContainerType AzureStorage
$afsBkpItem = Get-AzRecoveryServicesBackupItem -Container $afsContainer -WorkloadType AzureFiles -Name "testAzureFS"
Enable-AzRecoveryServicesBackupProtection -Item $afsBkpItem -Policy $monthlyafsPol

Vault-Standard tier

To modify an existing backup policy, run the following cmdlets:

  1. Fetch the backup policy details.

    $retentionPolicy = Get-AzRecoveryServicesBackupRetentionPolicyObject -WorkloadType AzureFiles -BackupTier VaultStandard 
$retentionpolicy

    Example output:

    PS C:\Users\testuser> $retentionPolicy

SnapshotRetentionInDays  : 5
IsDailyScheduleEnabled   : True
IsWeeklyScheduleEnabled  : False
IsMonthlyScheduleEnabled : False
IsYearlyScheduleEnabled  : False
DailySchedule            : DurationCountInDays: 30, RetentionTimes: {12/18/2024 7:30:00 AM}
WeeklySchedule           : DurationCountInWeeks: 12, DaysOfTheWeek: {Sunday}, RetentionTimes: {12/18/2024 7:30:00 AM}
MonthlySchedule          : DurationCountInMonths:60, RetentionScheduleType:Weekly, RetentionTimes: {12/18/2024 7:30:00 AM},
                        RetentionScheduleDaily:DaysOfTheMonth:{Date:1, IsLast:False},RetentionScheduleWeekly:DaysOfTheWeek:{Sunday},
                        WeeksOfTheMonth:{First}, RetentionTimes: {12/18/2024 7:30:00 AM}
YearlySchedule           : DurationCountInYears:10, RetentionScheduleType:Weekly, RetentionTimes: {12/18/2024 7:30:00 AM},
                        RetentionScheduleDaily:DaysOfTheMonth:{Date:1, IsLast:False},RetentionScheduleWeekly:DaysOfTheWeek:{Sunday},
                        WeeksOfTheMonth:{First}, MonthsOfYear: {January}, RetentionTimes: {12/18/2024 7:30:00 AM}
BackupManagementType     : AzureStorage

  2. Create new retention base object required for modifying a policy.

    Set-AzRecoveryServicesBackupProtectionPolicy ` 
    -VaultId $vault.ID ` 
    -RetentionPolicy $retentionPolicy ` 
    -SchedulePolicy $schedulePolicy ` 
    -Policy $policy -debug

Modify protection for an existing backup instance

To modify protection for an existing backup instance, run the following cmdlets:

  1. Get the containers available in the storage account.

    $saName = "MyStorage" 
$container = Get-AzRecoveryServicesBackupContainer ` 
-VaultId $vault.ID ` 
-ContainerType AzureStorage ` 
-FriendlyName $saName 
$container

    Example output:

    PS C:\Users\testuser> $container

FriendlyName                             ResourceGroupName                        Status               ContainerType
------------                             -----------------                        ------               -------------
dayaafssa                                Daya-BCDR-RG                             Registered           AzureStorage

  2. Get the backup item to modify.

    $item = Get-AzRecoveryServicesBackupItem ` 
-VaultId $vault.ID ` 
-Container $container ` 
-WorkloadType AzureFiles

    Example output:

    PS C:\Users\testuser> $item

Name                                     FriendlyName         ContainerType        ContainerUniqueName                      WorkloadType         Protec
                                                                                                                                                tionSt
                                                                                                                                                atus
----                                     ------------         -------------        -------------------                      ------------         ------
AzureFileShare;C3706F26E2AED1C4082559C3… dpafs-2              AzureStorage         StorageContainer;Storage;Daya-BCDR-RG;d… AzureFiles           Healt…
AzureFileShare;216165261F88994EC0E80277… dpafs-1              AzureStorage         StorageContainer;Storage;Daya-BCDR-RG;d… AzureFiles           Healt…

  3. Modify the protection.

    $enableJob =  Enable-AzRecoveryServicesBackupProtection ` 
-VaultId $vault.ID ` 
-Policy $policy ` 
-Item $item[01]

Track backup and restore jobs

On-demand backup and restore operations return a job along with an ID, as shown when you run an on-demand backup. Use the Get-AzRecoveryServicesBackupJobDetails cmdlet to track the job progress and details.

$job = Get-AzRecoveryServicesBackupJob -JobId 00000000-6c46-496e-980a-3740ccb2ad75 -VaultId $vaultID

 $job | fl


IsCancellable        : False
IsRetriable          : False
ErrorDetails         : {Microsoft.Azure.Commands.RecoveryServices.Backup.Cmdlets.Models.AzureFileShareJobErrorInfo}
ActivityId           : 00000000-5b71-4d73-9465-8a4a91f13a36
JobId                : 00000000-6c46-496e-980a-3740ccb2ad75
Operation            : Restore
Status               : Failed
WorkloadName         : testAFS
StartTime            : 12/10/2018 9:56:38 AM
EndTime              : 12/10/2018 11:03:03 AM
Duration             : 01:06:24.4660027
BackupManagementType : AzureStorage

$job.ErrorDetails

 ErrorCode ErrorMessage                                          Recommendations
 --------- ------------                                          ---------------
1073871825 Microsoft Azure Backup encountered an internal error. Wait for a few minutes and then try the operation again. If the issue persists, please contact Microsoft support.

Stop protection on a File Share

You can stop protection for Azure Files by using one of the following ways:

  • Stop all future backup jobs and delete all recovery points
  • Stop all future backup jobs but leave the recovery points

There might be a cost associated with leaving the recovery points in storage, as the underlying snapshots created by Azure Backup is retained. However, the benefit of leaving the recovery points is you can restore the File Share later, if desired. For information about the cost of leaving the recovery points, see the pricing details. If you choose to delete all recovery points, you can't restore the File Share.

Stop protection and retain recovery points

To stop protection while retaining data, use the Disable-AzRecoveryServicesBackupProtection cmdlet.

The following example stops protection for the afsfileshare File Share but retains all recovery points:

$vaultID = Get-AzRecoveryServicesVault -ResourceGroupName "afstesting" -Name "afstest" | select -ExpandProperty ID
$bkpItem = Get-AzRecoveryServicesBackupItem -BackupManagementType AzureStorage -WorkloadType AzureFiles -Name "afsfileshare" -VaultId $vaultID
Disable-AzRecoveryServicesBackupProtection -Item $bkpItem -VaultId $vaultID
WorkloadName     Operation         Status         StartTime                 EndTime                   JobID
------------     ---------         ------         ---------                 -------                   -----
afsfileshare     DisableBackup     Completed      1/26/2020 2:43:59 PM      1/26/2020 2:44:21 PM      98d9f8a1-54f2-4d85-8433-c32eafbd793f

The Job ID attribute in the output corresponds to the Job ID of the job that's created by the backup service for your stop protection operation. To track the status of the job, use the Get-AzRecoveryServicesBackupJob cmdlet.

Stop protection without retaining recovery points

To stop protection without retaining recovery points, use the Disable-AzRecoveryServicesBackupProtection cmdlet and add the -RemoveRecoveryPoints parameter.

The following example stops protection for the afsfileshare File Share without retaining recovery points:

$vaultID = Get-AzRecoveryServicesVault -ResourceGroupName "afstesting" -Name "afstest" | select -ExpandProperty ID
$bkpItem = Get-AzRecoveryServicesBackupItem -BackupManagementType AzureStorage -WorkloadType AzureFiles -Name "afsfileshare" -VaultId $vaultID
Disable-AzRecoveryServicesBackupProtection -Item $bkpItem -VaultId $vaultID -RemoveRecoveryPoints
WorkloadName     Operation            Status         StartTime                 EndTime                   JobID
------------     ---------            ------         ---------                 -------                   -----
afsfileshare     DeleteBackupData     Completed      1/26/2020 2:50:57 PM      1/26/2020 2:51:39 PM      b1a61c0b-548a-4687-9d15-9db1cc5bcc85

Next steps

Learn about managing Azure Files backups in the Azure portal.