A look into App Service: Backup and Restore over Azure Virtual Network

There is a new preview feature that provides a secure way backups are handled for web applications. This feature “App Service: Backup and Restore over Azure Virtual Network”, provides an additional layer of security by allowing backups to be stored in a firewall-protected storage account.

The primary advantage I see of this feature is the enhanced security it offers. By storing backups in a firewall-protected storage account, it ensures that your data is safe from unauthorized access. Additionally, this feature allows for custom backups giving more control over what data is backed up and when.

There are a few prerequisites needed:

1. The app must be integrated with a virtual network or be in a v3 App Service environment.
2. The storage account must have granted access from the virtual network that the app is integrated with.

I am sharing couple of scenarios where this feature could be beneficial:

1. A healthcare company web app that handles sensitive patient data. If there is a requirement to  ensure that data is securely backed up and protected from unauthorized access they can back up their web app’s files and configuration data to a firewall-protected storage account, ensuring that their data is secure.
2. In software development projects following DTAP deployment strategy, they have multiple environments such as Development, Testing, Staging, and Production. Each environment is isolated and has its own set of resources. With this feature, the pipelines can back up the web app’s files and configuration data to a firewall-protected storage account in the same virtual network. This aligns with their backup policy and adds an extra layer of security as the backups are not exposed to the public internet.

This new preview feature offers enhanced security and flexibility for backing up web app data. It should be part of backup and disaster recovery strategy. It’s worth checking out if you’re looking for a secure and customizable backup solution for your web apps.