Merge pull request #220101 from roygara/ultSnap

Ultra snapshot preview

Author: JamesJBarnett

articles/virtual-machines/disks-copy-incremental-snapshot-across-regions.md

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ description: Learn how to copy an incremental snapshot of a managed disk to a di
 author: roygara
 ms.service: storage
 ms.topic: how-to
-ms.date: 05/13/2022
+ms.date: 01/25/2023
 ms.author: rogarana
 ms.subservice: disks
 ms.custom: devx-track-azurepowershell, devx-track-azurecli 
@@ -13,7 +13,9 @@ ms.devlang: azurecli
 
 # Copy an incremental snapshot to a new region
 
-Incremental snapshots can be copied to any region. The process is managed by Azure, removing the maintenance overhead of managing the copy process by staging a storage account in the target region. Azure ensures that only changes since the last snapshot in the target region are copied to the target region to reduce the data footprint, reducing the recovery point objective. You can check the progress of the copy so you know when a target snapshot is ready to restore disks in the target region. You're only charged for the bandwidth cost of the data transfer across the region and the read transactions on the source snapshots. Don't delete your source snapshot while the target snapshot is being copied.
+There are two options for copying an incremental snapshot across regions. The first option, a managed process (recommended), that will perform the copy for you. This process is handled by Azure and removes the maintenance overhead of managing the copy process by staging a storage account in the target region. Azure ensures that only changes since the last snapshot in the target region are copied to the target region to reduce the data footprint, reducing the recovery point objective. You can check the process of a copy so you know when a target snapshot is ready to restore disks. For this managed process, you're only billed for the bandwidth cost of the data transfer across the region, and the read transactions on the source snapshot. Don't delete your source snapshot while the target snapshot is being copied.
+
+The second option is a [manual copy](#manual-copy), where you get the changes between two incremental snapshots, down to the block level, and manually copy it from one region to another. Most users should use the managed process but, if you're interested in improving the copy speed, the second option allows you to use your compute resources to make the copy faster.
 
 This article covers copying an incremental snapshot from one region to another. See [Create an incremental snapshot for managed disks](disks-incremental-snapshots.md) for conceptual details on incremental snapshots.
 
@@ -24,7 +26,7 @@ This article covers copying an incremental snapshot from one region to another.
 - You can copy 100 incremental snapshots in parallel at the same time per subscription per region.
 - If you use the REST API, you must use version 2020-12-01 or newer of the Azure Compute REST API.
 
-## Get started
+## Managed copy
 
 # [Azure CLI](#tab/azure-cli)
 
@@ -48,13 +50,13 @@ az snapshot show -n $sourceSnapshotName -g $resourceGroupName --query [completio
 
 # [Azure PowerShell](#tab/azure-powershell)
 
-You can use the Azure PowerShell module to copy an incremental snapshot. You will need the latest version of the Azure PowerShell module. The following command will either install it or update your existing installation to latest:
+You can use the Azure PowerShell module to copy an incremental snapshot. You'll need the latest version of the Azure PowerShell module. The following command will either install it or update your existing installation to latest:
 
 ```PowerShell
 Install-Module -Name Az -AllowClobber -Scope CurrentUser
 ```
 
-Once that is installed, login to your PowerShell session with `Connect-AzAccount`.
+Once that is installed, sign in to your PowerShell session with `Connect-AzAccount`.
 
 The following script will copy an incremental snapshot from one region to another.
 
@@ -147,6 +149,12 @@ You can also use Azure Resource Manager templates to copy an incremental snapsho
 ```
 ---
 
+## Manual copy
+
+Incremental snapshots offer a differential capability. They enable you to get the changes between two incremental snapshots of the same managed disk, down to the block level. You can use this to reduce your data footprint when copying snapshots across regions.  For example, you can download the first incremental snapshot as a base blob in another region. For the subsequent incremental snapshots, you can copy only the changes since the last snapshot to the base blob. After copying the changes, you can take snapshots on the base blob that represent your point in time backup of the disk in another region. You can restore your disk either from the base blob or from a snapshot on the base blob in another region.
+
+:::image type="content" source="media/disks-copy-incremental-snapshot-across-regions/incremental-snapshot-diagram.png" alt-text="Diagram depicting incremental snapshots copied across regions. Snapshots make various API calls until eventually forming page blobs per each snapshot.":::
+
 ## Next steps
 
 If you'd like to see sample code demonstrating the differential capability of incremental snapshots, using .NET, see [Copy Azure Managed Disks backups to another region with differential capability of incremental snapshots](https://github.com/Azure-Samples/managed-disks-dotnet-backup-with-incremental-snapshots).

articles/virtual-machines/disks-enable-ultra-ssd.md

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ description: Learn about ultra disks for Azure VMs
 author: roygara
 ms.service: storage
 ms.topic: how-to
-ms.date: 01/20/2023
+ms.date: 01/23/2023
 ms.author: rogarana
 ms.subservice: disks
 ms.custom: references_regions, devx-track-azurecli, devx-track-azurepowershell, ignite-2022
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ Now that you know which zone to deploy to, follow the deployment steps in this a
 
 ### VMs with no redundancy options
 
-Ultra disks deployed in select regions must be deployed without any redundancy options, for now. However, not every disk size that supports ultra disks may be in these region. To determine which disk sizes support ultra disks, you can use either of the following code snippets. Make sure to replace the `vmSize` and `subscription` values first:
+Ultra disks deployed in select regions must be deployed without any redundancy options, for now. However, not every disk size that supports ultra disks may be in these regions. To determine which disk sizes support ultra disks, you can use either of the following code snippets. Make sure to replace the `vmSize` and `subscription` values first:
 
 ```azurecli
 subscription="<yourSubID>"

articles/virtual-machines/disks-incremental-snapshots.md

@@ -4,10 +4,10 @@ description: Learn about incremental snapshots for managed disks, including how
 author: roygara
 ms.service: storage
 ms.topic: how-to
-ms.date: 10/12/2022
+ms.date: 01/25/2023
 ms.author: rogarana
 ms.subservice: disks
-ms.custom: devx-track-azurepowershell, ignite-fall-2021, devx-track-azurecli, ignite-2022
+ms.custom: devx-track-azurepowershell, ignite-fall-2021, devx-track-azurecli, ignite-2022, references_regions
 ms.devlang: azurecli
 ---
 
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ ms.devlang: azurecli
 
 # [Azure CLI](#tab/azure-cli)
 
-You can use the Azure CLI to create an incremental snapshot. You will need the latest version of the Azure CLI. See the following articles to learn how to either [install](/cli/azure/install-azure-cli) or [update](/cli/azure/update-azure-cli) the Azure CLI.
+You can use the Azure CLI to create an incremental snapshot. You'll need the latest version of the Azure CLI. See the following articles to learn how to either [install](/cli/azure/install-azure-cli) or [update](/cli/azure/update-azure-cli) the Azure CLI.
 
 The following script will create an incremental snapshot of a particular disk:
 
@@ -58,16 +58,15 @@ diskId=$(az disk show -n $diskName -g $resourceGroupName --query [id] -o tsv)
 az snapshot list --query "[?creationData.sourceResourceId=='$diskId' && incremental]" -g $resourceGroupName --output table
 ```
 
-
 # [Azure PowerShell](#tab/azure-powershell)
 
-You can use the Azure PowerShell module to create an incremental snapshot. You will need the latest version of the Azure PowerShell module. The following command will either install it or update your existing installation to latest:
+You can use the Azure PowerShell module to create an incremental snapshot. You'll need the latest version of the Azure PowerShell module. The following command will either install it or update your existing installation to latest:
 
 ```PowerShell
 Install-Module -Name Az -AllowClobber -Scope CurrentUser
 ```
 
-Once that is installed, login to your PowerShell session with `Connect-AzAccount`.
+Once that is installed, sign in to your PowerShell session with `Connect-AzAccount`.
 
 To create an incremental snapshot with Azure PowerShell, set the configuration with [New-AzSnapShotConfig](/powershell/module/az.compute/new-azsnapshotconfig) with the `-Incremental` parameter and then pass that as a variable to [New-AzSnapshot](/powershell/module/az.compute/new-azsnapshot) through the `-Snapshot` parameter.
 
@@ -84,7 +83,7 @@ $snapshotConfig=New-AzSnapshotConfig -SourceUri $yourDisk.Id -Location $yourDisk
 New-AzSnapshot -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroupName -SnapshotName $snapshotName -Snapshot $snapshotConfig 
 ```
 
-You can identify incremental snapshots from the same disk with the `SourceResourceId` and the `SourceUniqueId` properties of snapshots. `SourceResourceId` is the Azure Resource Manager resource ID of the parent disk. `SourceUniqueId` is the value inherited from the `UniqueId` property of the disk. If you were to delete a disk and then create a new disk with the same name, the value of the `UniqueId` property changes.
+You can identify incremental snapshots from the same disk with the `SourceResourceId` and the `SourceUniqueId` properties of snapshots. `SourceResourceId` is the Azure Resource Manager resource ID of the parent disk. `SourceUniqueId` is the value inherited from the `UniqueId` property of the disk. If you delete a disk and then create a new disk with the same name, the value of the `UniqueId` property changes.
 
 You can use `SourceResourceId` and `SourceUniqueId` to create a list of all snapshots associated with a particular disk. Replace `yourResourceGroupNameHere` with your value and then you can use the following example to list your existing incremental snapshots:
 
@@ -145,6 +144,78 @@ You can also use Azure Resource Manager templates to create an incremental snaps
 ```
 ---
 
+## Check snapshot status
+
+Incremental snapshots of Ultra Disks (preview) can't be used to create new disks until the background process copying the data into the snapshot has completed. Similarly, Ultra Disks created from incremental snapshots can't be attached to a VM until the background process copying the data into the disk has completed.
+
+You can check the status of this copy process with the scripts in the following sections.
+
+### CLI
+
+First, get a list of all snapshots associated with a particular disk. Replace `yourResourceGroupNameHere` with your value and then you can use the following script to list your existing incremental snapshots of Ultra Disks:
+
+
+```azurecli
+# Declare variables and create snapshot list
+subscriptionId="yourSubscriptionId"
+resourceGroupName="yourResourceGroupNameHere"
+diskName="yourDiskNameHere"
+
+az account set --subscription $subscriptionId
+
+diskId=$(az disk show -n $diskName -g $resourceGroupName --query [id] -o tsv)
+
+az snapshot list --query "[?creationData.sourceResourceId=='$diskId' && incremental]" -g $resourceGroupName --output table
+```
+
+Now that you have a list of snapshots, you can check the `CompletionPercent` property of a snapshot to get its status. Replace `$sourceSnapshotName` with the name of your snapshot. The value of the property must be 100 before you can use the snapshot for restoring disk or generate a SAS URI for downloading the underlying data.
+
+```azurecli
+az snapshot show -n $sourceSnapshotName -g $resourceGroupName --query [completionPercent] -o tsv
+```
+
+### PowerShell
+
+The following script creates a list of all incremental snapshots associated with a particular disk that haven't completed their background copy. Replace `yourResourceGroupNameHere` and `yourDiskNameHere`, then run the script.
+
+```azurepowershell
+$resourceGroupName = "yourResourceGroupNameHere"
+$snapshots = Get-AzSnapshot -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroupName
+$diskName = "yourDiskNameHere"
+
+$yourDisk = Get-AzDisk -DiskName $diskName -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroupName
+
+$incrementalSnapshots = New-Object System.Collections.ArrayList
+
+foreach ($snapshot in $snapshots)
+{
+    if($snapshot.Incremental -and $snapshot.CreationData.SourceResourceId -eq $yourDisk.Id -and $snapshot.CreationData.SourceUniqueId -eq $yourDisk.UniqueId)
+    {
+    $targetSnapshot=Get-AzSnapshot -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroupName -SnapshotName $snapshotName
+        {
+        if($targetSnapshot.CompletionPercent -lt 100)
+            {
+            $incrementalSnapshots.Add($targetSnapshot)
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+$incrementalSnapshots
+```
+
+## Check sector size
+
+Snapshots with a 4096 logical sector size can only be used to create Ultra Disks. They can't be used to create other disk types. Snapshots of disks with 4096 logical sector size are stored as VHDX, whereas snapshots of disks with 512 logical sector size are stored as VHD. Snapshots inherit the logical sector size from the parent disk.
+
+To determine whether or your Ultra Disk snapshot is a VHDX or a VHD, get the `LogicalSectorSize` property of the snapshot. 
+
+The following command displays the logical sector size of a snapshot:
+
+```azurecli
+az snapshot show -g resourcegroupname-n snapshotname--query [creationData.logicalSectorSize] -o tsv
+```
+
 ## Next steps
 
 See [Copy an incremental snapshot to a new region](disks-copy-incremental-snapshot-across-regions.md) to learn how to copy an incremental snapshot across regions.

includes/media/virtual-machines-disks-incremental-snapshots-description/incremental-snapshot-diagram.png renamed to articles/virtual-machines/media/disks-copy-incremental-snapshot-across-regions/incremental-snapshot-diagram.png

@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ ms.author: rogarana
 ms.custom: include file
 ---
 
-Ultra disks can't be used as OS disks, they can only be created as empty data disks. Ultra disks also can't be used with some features and functionality, including disk export, disk snapshots, changing disk type, VM images, availability sets, or Azure disk encryption. Azure Backup and Azure Site Recovery do not support ultra disks. In addition, only un-cached reads and un-cached writes are supported.
+Ultra disks can't be used as OS disks, they can only be created as empty data disks. Ultra disks also can't be used with some features and functionality, including disk export, changing disk type, VM images, availability sets, or Azure disk encryption. Azure Backup and Azure Site Recovery do not support ultra disks. In addition, only un-cached reads and un-cached writes are supported. Currently, snapshots for ultra disks are available as a public preview and only in Sweden Central and US West 3, they aren't available in any other region.
 
 Ultra disks support a 4k physical sector size by default. A 512E sector size is available as a generally available offering with no sign-up required. While most applications are compatible with 4k sector sizes, some require 512 byte sector sizes. Oracle Database, for example, requires release 12.2 or later in order to support 4k native disks. For older versions of Oracle DB, 512 byte sector size is required.