How to back up all of the resources used in a resource group

Question

Hi guys,

As mentioned at the title, how should I effectively back up all of the resources (db, webapp, keyvault....etc.) in a resource group (ARM template packed download or transfer to git?), and then restore after sign up a new subscription? I would like to keep my settings on resources.

Is there a recommended approach to facilitate this process?

Thanks.

Answer 1

Hi,
You need to check each individual service and see what kind of backup options it offers if there are such. That is of course if you want an actual backup. From your description it seems you are not looking for backup but the ability to export resources and their settings and being able to re-deploy those resources somewhere else. This kind of thing is not backup as you are not backing up actual data and when you re-deploy those new resources will not contain the data of your old resources. Not to mention that certain resources require unique names and you will have to change them. Export Template functionality is one option but I would never recommend using it for anything production. It is more for learning purposes as certain settings or resources might not be in the exported information. On top of that you will probably have to change things like references to other resources as those will not be present in the other environment where you will deploy. If you really want to do things correctly, I would suggest to start learn Azure Bicep and build your own templates for deploying resources from scratch. Of course other automaton options like Az PowerShell, Az CLI, third party options, etc. are also possible. It is up to you to choose your automation platform.

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