Merge pull request #251269 from Farha-Bano/Azure_VM_Backup_Updates_Sept13

prmerger-automator[bot] · web-flow · commit 7ad544d41951 · 2023-09-14T04:30:52.000Z
Updates for the GA
diff --git a/articles/backup/backup-azure-vms-enhanced-policy.md b/articles/backup/backup-azure-vms-enhanced-policy.md
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 title: Back up Azure VMs with Enhanced policy
 description: Learn how to configure Enhanced policy to back up VMs.
 ms.topic: how-to
-ms.date: 05/15/2023
+ms.date: 09/14/2023
 ms.reviewer: sharrai
 ms.service: backup
 ms.custom: devx-track-azurecli, devx-track-azurepowershell
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ Follow these steps:
      Note that Hourly backup frequency is in preview.
    
    - **Instant Restore**: You can set the retention of recovery snapshot from _1_ to _30_ days. The default value is set to _7_.
-   - **Retention range**: Options for retention range are auto-selected based on backup frequency you choose. The default retention for daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly backup points are set to 180 days, 12 weeks, 60 months, and 10 years respectively. You can customize these values as required.
+   - **Retention range**: Options for retention range are autoselected based on backup frequency you choose. The default retention for daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly backup points are set to 180 days, 12 weeks, 60 months, and 10 years respectively. You can customize these values as required.
    
    :::image type="content" source="./media/backup-azure-vms-enhanced-policy/enhanced-backup-policy-settings.png" alt-text="Screenshot showing to configure the enhanced backup policy.":::
 
@@ -110,11 +110,11 @@ $SchPol.ScheduleRunTimezone = "PST"
 
 ```
 
-This sample cmdlet, contains the following parameters:
+This sample cmdlet contains the following parameters:
 
 - `$ScheduleInterval`: Defines the difference (in hours) between two successive backups per day. Currently, the acceptable values are *4*, *6*, *8* and *12*.
 
-- `$ScheduleWindowStartTime`: The time at which the first backup job is triggered, in case of *hourly backups*. The current limits (in policy's timezone) are:
+- `$ScheduleWindowStartTime`: The time at which the first backup job is triggered in case of *hourly backups*. The current limits (in policy's timezone) are:
   - `Minimum: 00:00`
   - `Maximum:19:30`
 
@@ -262,9 +262,9 @@ Trusted Launch VMs can only be backed up using Enhanced policies.
 >- Enhanced policy is only available to unprotected VMs that are new to Azure Backup. Note that Azure VMs that are protected with existing policy can't be moved to Enhanced policy.
 >- Back up an Azure VM with disks that has public network access disabled is not supported.
 
-## Enable selective disk backup and restore (preview)
+## Enable selective disk backup and restore
 
-You can exclude non-critical disks from backup by using selective disk backup to save costs. Using this capability, you can selectively back up a subset of the data disks that are attached to your VM, and then restore a subset of the disks that are available in a recovery point, both from instant restore and vault tier. [Learn more](selective-disk-backup-restore.md).
+You can exclude noncritical disks from backup by using selective disk backup to save costs. Using this capability, you can selectively back up a subset of the data disks that are attached to your VM, and then restore a subset of the disks that are available in a recovery point, both from instant restore and vault tier. [Learn more](selective-disk-backup-restore.md).
 
 ## Next steps
 
diff --git a/articles/backup/selective-disk-backup-restore.md b/articles/backup/selective-disk-backup-restore.md
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 title: Selective disk backup and restore for Azure virtual machines
 description: In this article, learn about selective disk backup and restore using the Azure virtual machine backup solution.
 ms.topic: how-to
-ms.date: 04/05/2023
+ms.date: 05/14/2023
 ms.custom: references_regions, devx-track-azurecli, devx-track-azurepowershell
 ms.service: backup
 author: AbhishekMallick-MS
@@ -13,22 +13,22 @@ ms.author: v-abhmallick
 
 Azure Backup supports backing up all the disks (operating system and data) in a VM together using the virtual machine backup solution. Now, using the selective disks backup and restore functionality, you can back up a subset of the data disks in a VM.
 
-This is supported both for Enhanced Policy (preview) as well as Standard Policy.          This provides an efficient and cost-effective solution for your backup and restore needs. Each recovery point contains only the disks that are included in the backup operation. This further allows you to have a subset of disks restored from the given recovery point during the restore operation. This applies to both restore from snapshots and the vault.
+This is supported both for Enhanced Policy as well as Standard Policy.          This provides an efficient and cost-effective solution for your backup and restore needs. Each recovery point contains only the disks that are included in the backup operation. This further allows you to have a subset of disks restored from the given recovery point during the restore operation. This applies to both restore from snapshots and the vault.
 
 >[!Important]
 > [Enhanced policy](backup-azure-vms-enhanced-policy.md) now supports protecting Ultra SSD (preview). To enroll your subscription for this feature, [fill this form](https://forms.office.com/r/1GLRnNCntU).
 
 >[!Note]
 >- This is supported for both backup policies - [Enhanced policy](backup-azure-vms-enhanced-policy.md) and [Standard policy](backup-during-vm-creation.md#create-a-vm-with-backup-configured).
->- The *Selective disk backup and restore in Enhanced policy (preview)* is available in public Azure regions only.
+>- The *Selective disk backup and restore in Enhanced policy* is available in all Azure regions including Public, Government, and Air-Gapped regions.
+>- If you use selective disk backup with *Enhanced policy* on a Linux VM, ensure that *lsblk* and *lssci* are available in your distribution so that the disks are [excluded](selective-disk-backup-restore.md#enhanced-policy). 
 
 ## Scenarios
 
 This solution is useful particularly in the following scenarios:
 
 1. If you have critical data to be backed up in only one disk, or a subset of the disks and don’t want to back up the rest of the disks attached to a VM to minimize the backup storage costs.
 2. If you've other backup solutions for part of your VM or data. For example, if you back up your databases or data using a different workload backup solution and you want to use Azure VM level backup for the rest of the data or disks to build an efficient and  robust system using the best capabilities available.
-
 3. If you're using [Enhanced policy](backup-azure-vms-enhanced-policy.md), you can use this solution to exclude unsupported disks (Shared Disks) and configure a VM for backup. 
 
 Using PowerShell, Azure CLI, or Azure portal, you can configure selective disk backup of the Azure VM. Using a script, you can include or exclude data disks using their *LUN numbers*. The ability to configure selective disks backup via the Azure portal is limited to the *Backup OS Disk* only for the Standard policy, but can be configured for all data disks for Enhanced policy.
@@ -315,10 +315,12 @@ When you enable backup using Azure portal, you can choose the **Backup OS Disk o
 
 ![Configure backup for the OS disk only](./media/selective-disk-backup-restore/configure-backup-operating-system-disk.png)
 
-## Configure Selective Disk Backup in the Azure Portal (Enhanced Policy)
+## Configure Selective Disk Backup in the Azure portal (Enhanced Policy)
 
 When you enable the backup operation using the Azure portal, you can choose the data disks that you want to include in the backup (the OS disk is always included). You can also choose to include disks that are added in the future for backup automatically by enabling the “Include future disks” option.
 
+>[!NOTE]
+>Currently, you can only configure a set of disks in a portal when the VM is protected for the first time. You need to use the [CLI](selective-disk-backup-restore.md#modify-protection-for-already-backed-up-vms-with-azure-cli) or [PowerShell](selective-disk-backup-restore.md#modify-protection-for-already-backed-up-vms-with-powershell) commands to edit the set of disks backed up after protection or during a *resume protection* operation.
 
 ## Using Azure REST API
 
@@ -363,7 +365,7 @@ If you're using Enhanced policy, **Protected Instance (PI)** cost, snapshot cost
 | OS type | Limitation |
 | --- | --- |
 | Windows | - **Spanned volumes**:  For spanned volumes (volumes spread across more than one physical disk), ensure that all disks are included in the backup. If not, Azure Backup might not be able to reliably restore the data and exclude it in billing. <br><br> - **Storage pool**: If you're using disks carved out of a storage pool and if a *LUN number* included for backup is common across virtual disks and data disks, the size of the virtual disk is also included in the backup size in addition to the data disks. |
-|	Linux | - **Logical volumes**: For logical volumes spread across more than one disk, ensure that all disks are included in the backup. If not, Azure Backup might not be able to reliably restore the data and exclude it in billing. <br><br> - **Distro support**: Azure Backup uses *lsscsi* and *lsblk* to determine the disks being excluded for backup. If your distro (Debian 8.11, 10.13, and so on) doesn't support *lsscsi*, install it using `sudo apt install lsscsi` to ensure Selective disk backup works. |
+|	Linux | - **Logical volumes**: For logical volumes spread across more than one disk, ensure that all disks are included in the backup. If not, Azure Backup might not be able to reliably restore the data and exclude it in billing. <br><br> - **Distro support**: Azure Backup uses *lsscsi* and *lsblk* to determine the disks being excluded for backup and to estimate the size of the data backed up for the [Protected Instance fee](selective-disk-backup-restore.md#how-is-protected-instance-pi-cost-calculated-for-only-os-disk-backup-in-windows-and-linux) calculation. If your distro (Debian 8.11, 10.13, and so on) doesn't support *lsscsi*, install it using `sudo apt install lsscsi` to ensure Selective disk backup works. If not, the Protected Instance fee will be calculated based on the backup data transferred instead of using *lsscsi* and *lsblk*. |
 
 If you've chosen the Cross Region Restore (CRR) feature, then the [CRR pricing](https://azure.microsoft.com/pricing/details/backup/) applies on the backup storage cost after excluding the disk.
 
diff --git a/articles/backup/whats-new.md b/articles/backup/whats-new.md
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 title: What's new in Azure Backup
 description: Learn about new features in Azure Backup.
 ms.topic: conceptual
-ms.date: 08/30/2023
+ms.date: 09/14/2023
 ms.service: backup
 author: AbhishekMallick-MS
 ms.author: v-abhmallick
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@ You can learn more about the new releases by bookmarking this page or by [subscr
 
 ## Updates summary
 
+- September 2023
+  - [Support for selective disk backup with enhanced policy for Azure VM is now generally available](whats-new.md#support-for-selective-disk-backup-with-enhanced-policy-for-azure-vm-is-now-generally-available)
 - August 2023
   - [Save your MARS backup passphrase securely to Azure Key Vault (preview)](#save-your-mars-backup-passphrase-securely-to-azure-key-vault-preview)
   - [Cross Region Restore for MARS Agent (preview)](#cross-region-restore-for-mars-agent-preview)
@@ -27,7 +29,7 @@ You can learn more about the new releases by bookmarking this page or by [subscr
 - March 2023
   - [Multiple backups per day for Azure VMs is now generally available](#multiple-backups-per-day-for-azure-vms-is-now-generally-available)
   - [Immutable vault for Azure Backup is now generally available](#immutable-vault-for-azure-backup-is-now-generally-available)
-  - [Support for selective disk backup with enhanced policy for Azure VM (preview)](#support-for-selective-disk-backup-with-enhanced-policy-for-azure-vm-preview)
+  - [Support for selective disk backup with enhanced policy for Azure VM (preview)](whats-new.md#support-for-selective-disk-backup-with-enhanced-policy-for-azure-vm-is-now-generally-available)
   - [Azure Kubernetes Service backup (preview)](#azure-kubernetes-service-backup-preview)
   - [Azure Blob vaulted backups (preview)](#azure-blob-vaulted-backups-preview)
 - October 2022
@@ -113,7 +115,7 @@ Azure Backup now supports immutable vaults that help you ensure that recovery po
 
 For more information, see the [concept of Immutable vault for Azure Backup](backup-azure-immutable-vault-concept.md).
 
-## Support for selective disk backup with enhanced policy for Azure VM (preview)
+## Support for selective disk backup with enhanced policy for Azure VM is now generally available
 
 Azure Backup now provides *Selective Disk backup and restore* capability to Enhanced policy. Using this capability, you can selectively back up a subset of the data disks that are attached to your VM, and then restore a subset of the disks that are available in a recovery point, both from instant restore and vault tier.
 
