Azure Blob Storage Synchronization for Disaster Recovery

Question

We have configured our primary storage with the redundancy option set to RA-GRS (Read-Access Geo-Redundant Storage). This configuration allows us to access the secondary storage, albeit in a read-only mode. For the success of our disaster recovery (DR) strategy test, it is imperative that we not only read from the secondary storage but also perform write operations. To address this, I plan to create a synchronized secondary storage container in a different Azure region. This will enable us to seamlessly switch over to this secondary container during the test, ensuring read and write capabilities.

To achieve this, I plan to copy the entire contents of the primary storage container to the secondary region in preparation for the test. My primary concern is to ensure that both containers remain synchronized to avoid data inconsistencies during the transition. I am seeking guidance on the best approach to accomplish this synchronization. Is there a built-in solution within Azure that allows us to maintain near real-time synchronization between the two containers? Alternatively, should we proceed with copying the entire container from the primary region to the secondary region the day before the test as a one-time measure?

I am open for suggestions. Thank you!

Answer 1

@PS

You can use AZ Copy sync to replicates the source location container to the destination location container.

Download and Install AZ copy tool from here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/common/storage-use-azcopy-v10#download-azcopy

command for syncing the Source container to destination container.

azcopy sync 'https://<source-storage-account-name>.blob.core.windows.net/<container-name>/<SAS-token>' 'https://<destination-storage-account-name>.blob.core.windows.net/<container-name>' --recursive

Source Links:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/common/storage-use-azcopy-blobs-synchronize#update-a-container-with-changes-in-another-container

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/common/storage-ref-azcopy-sync

Hope this helps!
Kindly let us know if the above helps or you need further assistance on this issue.

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Answer 2

I suggest you look at Object Replication in Azure Storage.

Object replication asynchronously copies block blobs between a source storage account and a destination account

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/blobs/object-replication-overview