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MSP360 Backup 6.1 fully supports Azure Stack as a storage destination.

Azure Stack is an extension of Microsoft Azure that provides an on-premises environment for delivering Azure services within customers' own computing facilities. It offers a consistent cloud infrastructure, providing businesses with a wide range of computing solutions and services, without the latency that can impact remotely hosted, cloud-based applications.

To Add Azure Stack as a Storage Destination

1. Open the application menu, then click Add New Account.
2. In Select Cloud Storage dialog box, select Azure.
3. In the Azure Account dialog box, fill in your Azure credentials. Select AzureStack item in the Account type drop-down menu.

4. Specify the Service endpoint.
5. In the Container drop-down menu, select the Azure container for your backups or select Create New Container to create a new one.
6. When you are finished, click OK.

About the Restore Verification Feature

For Image-based backups, MSP360 Backup 6.1 provides the restore verification feature (beta version). When using this feature, MSP360 Backup creates and runs a test restore plan that downloads a part of the backed up data required to start a test Windows VM created with Windows Hyper-V.

The restore verification feature lets you check the backup integrity before restoring the full backup to a real Windows machine.

Hyper-V is built into Windows as an optional component that is available in Windows 8 or higher. For Windows Server versions, Hyper-V is available in Windows Server 2008 or higher.

For instructions on how to enable the Hyper-V role for your version of OS, see Microsoft documentation. For example, appropriate instructions for Windows 10 are available - click the link to learn more.

Before Using This Feature

Before using the restore verification feature, consider the following limitations:

• The Hyper-V role cannot be installed on Windows 10 Home.
• For Windows Server versions, you can use the Restore Verification feature on computers running Windows Server 2012 or higher.
• For the test VM, in the current user temporary folder, Windows creates the Virtual Hard Drive file (.vhdx file). By default, the user temporary folder is located on the C: drive. For the test VM to work properly, ensure that the C: drive has enough space.

Using the Restore Verification Feature

To check an image-based backup integrity, perform the following steps:

1. In the Home menu, navigate to the Backup Storage tab.
2. In the list of backups, select an image-based backup to check.
3. Right-click the backup, then select Restore Verification (BETA):

This creates and runs a test restore plan that will start a Windows VM using a part of the backed up data downloaded from the cloud storage. The virtual machine state is displayed in the preview screenshot:

TIP: Optionally, to log on into VM, click the Hyper-V Console link.

MSP360 Backup has been updated to include support for storing data in Amazon's Asia Pacific (Hong Kong) region. Now, you have the option of creating Amazon S3 Asia Pacific (Hong Kong) region storage buckets from MSP360 Backup. Continue reading