I have a VM running with Enhanced backup policy. How can I move to standard backup policy in this case? WHat I understood is there is no stright forward approach to downgrade it. Whats the best approach here?

Question

I have a VM running with Enhanced backup policy. How can I move to standard backup policy in this case? What I understood is there is no Stright forward approach to downgrade it. What's the best approach here?

If this cannot be achieved directly, can we get this done with the help of Microsoft backend team?

Answer 1

Hello,

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A,

There is no direct way/the Microsoft team can do this. You need to unprotect the VM from the vault and then re-protect it. This is because enhanced backup policies provide additional features and functionality not available in standard backup policies.

Steps to follow: First, you must disable the Soft Delete

In your Backup Item, proceed to stop the backup

You must choose Delete backup data

Once this is done, you will be able to enable a standard backup policy for your VM.

Please Upvote and Accept the answer if it helps!!

Answer 2

Hi Deepaklal-FT

You cannot directly downgrade a VM from an Enhanced backup policy to a Standard backup policy in Azure. Once you enable a VM backup with Enhanced policy, Azure Backup does not allow changing the policy type to Standard. However, you can migrate to an Enhanced policy from a Standard policy, but the reverse is not supported.

If you need to switch to a Standard policy, you will have to create a new Standard backup policy and then assign it to the VM, effectively replacing the Enhanced policy. this process does not involve direct support from the Microsoft backend team for downgrading, as it's a limitation of the Azure Backup service.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/backup/backup-azure-vms-enhanced-policy?tabs=azure-portal
let us know if any help, we will always help as you needed.!

---

Please do not forget to "Accept the answer” and upvote it wherever the information provided helps you, this can be beneficial to other community members.it would be greatly appreciated and helpful to others.