Backup and Restore Configuration

Preflight (Checklist)

Steps

If you already have an Azure Storage Account, then you can jump directly to the relevant subsection below.

To create a storage account, follow these steps:

  1. Open the main Azure Portal

  2. Click on the Create a resource button located in the panel near the top titled ‘Azure services’

  3. Search for ‘Storage account’

  4. When the search completes, check the ‘Azure services only’ box near the top

  5. Locate ‘Storage account’ and click on the Create button

  6. Select the subscription to install to, leave the plan set to it’s (only) default value and click the Create button to start the wizard

  7. For the ‘Basics’ step

    • Make sure the correct subscription remains selected

    • Select (or create a new) resource group to deploy the Storage Account into

    • Provide a name for the Storage account as well as a location (proximity is not important)

    • Leave other values at their defaults

    • Click on the Next button at the bottom

    Configuring the '`Basics’ tab for a new Azure Storage Account

  8. For the ‘Advanced’ step

    • Uncheck ‘Enable storage account key access’

    • Check ‘Default to Microsoft Entra authorization in the Azure portal’

    • Leave other values at their defaults

    • Click on the Next button at the bottom

  9. Skip all remaining steps by clicking on the Review + create button at the bottom

  10. Click on the Create button at the bottom and wait for the deployment to complete

  11. Once complete navigate to your newly created Azure Storage Account

  12. Navigate from the left menu from Access Control (IAM)  Add  Add role assignment

  13. Under the ‘Role’ tab, select ‘Storage Blob Data Contributor’

  14. Either click on the Next button or navigate to the ‘Members’ tab

  15. Verify that ‘Selected role’ reads ‘Storage Blob Data Contributor’

  16. Set ‘Assign access to’ to ‘User, group, or service principal’

  17. Click on the Select members button

  18. In the panel that appears to the right, find your own user account, click on it to add it to the ‘Selected members’ list at the bottom of the panel and then click the Select button

  19. Click on the Review + assign button and confirm once again by clicking on the Review + assign

  20. Navigate to the menu Data Storage  Containers  Add container, provide a name (for example ‘radnac’) and click on the Create button

For the backup process below, it can be made a lot easier by uploading a dummy placeholder ZIP file which is performed by:

  1. Creating a ZIP file on your workstation

    • Recommended you call it backup.zip

    • It may be empty or contain dummy data, it does not matter as this file will be overwritten almost immediately

  2. Navigate to your Azure Storage Account and go through the menu Storage Browser  Blob containers  (container name) then click on the Upload button at the top of the page

  3. Either drag or browse to your dummy ZIP and then click on the Upload

    Uploading a dummy placeholder ZIP file

Backup

The process depends on if you are using an Azure Storage Account or not:

Using an Azure Storage Account

  1. Navigate to your Azure Storage Account.

  2. Go through the menu Storage Browser  Blob containers  (container name).

  3. Click on your dummy placeholder ZIP and in the panel that appears to the right click on the ‘Generate SAS’ tab.

  4. Set ‘Signing method’ to ‘User delegation key’

  5. Set ‘Permissions’ to only ‘Write’.

  6. Optional, though recommended, is to reduce the ‘Expiry’ time to be no more than an hour into the future.

  7. Verify that ‘Allowed protocols’ is set to ‘HTTPS only’.

  8. Click on the Generate SAS token and URL.

    Generating a SAS URL with write permissions only

  9. From the two text boxes that appear, make a note of the value provided in the ‘Blob SAS URL’ box.

  10. Close the right side panel as it is no longer needed.

Using something else

You will need to provide a URL that accepts a HTTP PUT (or POST) request

Once you have a suitable URL to use:

  1. Navigate to the RADNAC managed application page

  2. Click on the Backup action button at the top

  3. Make sure ‘HTTP Methods’ is set to what the URL expects

    • If you are using an Azure Storage Account URLs, use ‘PUT’ which is the default

  4. Paste in the URL

    • If you are using an Azure Storage Account, this is the ‘Blob SAS URL’ you made a note of above

  5. Click on the Next button and then click on the Submit button to start the backup

    • This should take no longer than ten (10) seconds.

  6. For Azure Storage Account users, if you navigate back to Storage Browser  Blob containers  (container name) you will find the backup.zip has been replaced with a new file which you can download

Restore

The process depends on if you are using an Azure Storage Account or not:

Using an Azure Storage Account

  1. Navigate to your Azure Storage Account.

  2. Go through the menu Storage Browser  Blob containers  (container name).

  3. Click on your dummy placeholder ZIP and in the panel that appears to the right click on the ‘Generate SAS’ tab.

  4. Set ‘Signing method’ to ‘User delegation key’

  5. Set ‘Permissions’ to only ‘Read’.

  6. Optional, though recommended, is to reduce the ‘Expiry’ time to be no more than an hour into the future.

  7. Verify that ‘Allowed protocols’ is set to ‘HTTPS only’.

  8. Click on the Generate SAS token and URL.

  9. From the two text boxes that appear, make a note of the value provided in the ‘Blob SAS URL’ box.

  10. Close the right side panel as it is no longer needed.

Using something else

You will need to provide a URL that accepts a HTTP GET request

Once you have a suitable URL to use:

  1. Navigate to the RADNAC managed application page

  2. Click on the Restore action button at the top

  3. Paste in the URL

    • If you are using an Azure Storage Account, this is the ‘Blob SAS URL’ you made a note of above

  4. Click on the Next button and then click on the Submit button to start the backup

    • This should take no longer than thirty (30) seconds.

If the restore is being made to a new deployment and you are using Microsoft Entra ID, you will need to redo the configuration steps for it to restore access.

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