restore-workflows

name	restore-workflows
description	Restore VM, disk, or file — OLR/ALR/instant/cross-zone/cross-region

Restore Workflows

When to use this skill

• Restore drill
• Real recovery

Key concepts

• Original Location Restore (OLR) overwrites the source — destructive, use carefully.
• Alternate Location Restore (ALR) restores to a new VM/RG — safer for validation.
• File-level restore mounts the recovery point as iSCSI; no full VM restore needed.
• Cross-zone restore lets you recover into a different zone than the source.
• Cross-region restore (CRR) requires GRS vault.

Azure CLI examples

az backup restore restore-disks --resource-group <rg> --vault-name vault-prod \
  --container-name <c> --item-name <i> --rp-name <recoveryPointName> \
  --storage-account <staging-sa> --restore-to-staging-storage-account

Common pitfalls

• Restoring OLR without snapshot of current state — irreversible mistake.
• Not staging restore in a different RG/VNet first.
• Restoring into an AZ the target SKU isn't available in.

References

• Microsoft Learn: search for "Restore Workflows Azure VM" on https://learn.microsoft.com

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