Almost everyone (including me) will agree that it is a good idea to back up your Web App. Azure makes it very easy to do so.

Azure allows you to manually back up your Web App and any linked database or to schedule a regular automated backup. Azure backups are stored to Azure storage.

To begin, you must have an Azure Storage account. If you have not yet created one, see my post on creating a new Azure Storage Account.

Navigate to your Web App by selecting the WEB APPS icon in the left menu; then, selecting your Web App.

Note that these features are only available if your Web App is using the STANDARD Pricing Plan Tier. You can modify your Pricing Plan Tier on the SCALE tab of your Web App.

Click the BACKUPS tab (Figure 1)of your web app to start managing your backups.

Backup01-BackupTab
Figure 1

Manual Backup

To Manually backup your Web App, do the following

1. Select an account from the STORAGE ACCOUNT dropdown list, as shown in Figure 2.

Backup02-StorageAccount
Figure 2

2. If your Web App has one or more linked databases and you would also like to back up those databases, expand the INCLUDED DATABASES dropdown and check all the databases you would like to backup. An example is shown in Figure 3.

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Figure 3

3. Click the BACKUP NOW icon at the bottom of the screen (Figure 4).

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Figure 4

Azure will back up all the files (and optionally any associated databases) of your Web App at the time specified and afterwards at the frequency specified.  The files in your Web App will be zipped and stored into a Blob Storage account of the selected Storage Account.

Automated Backup

Manual backups are great if you want to backup your app right now; but, chances are that you will want to back it up on  a regular basis so you don't have to worry about it. Use the same BACKUPS tab to schedule a backup at regular intervals.  To do this, you will perform the 3 steps above in addition to a few others.

To schedule an automated backup, do the following:

1. At the AUTOMATED BACKUP toggle switch, select "ON", as shown in Figure 5.

Backup05-BackupOn
Figure 5

2. Select an account from the STORAGE ACCOUNT dropdown list, as shown in Figure 6.

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Figure 6

3. At the FREQUENCY field, enter the number of days between each scheduled backup, as shown in Figure 7.

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Figure 7

4. At the START DATE fields, select the date and time to perform the first backup, as shown in Figure 8.

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Figure 8

5. If your Web App has one or more linked databases and you would also like to back up those databases, expand the INCLUDED DATABASES dropdown and check all the databases you would like to backup (Figure 9).

Backup09-IncludeDatabases
Figure 9

6. Click the SAVE icon at the bottom of the screen (Figure 10).

Backup10-BottomMenu
Figure 10

 

Azure will back up all the files (and optionally any associated databases) of your Web App at the time specified and afterwards at the frequency specified.