Setting Up Microsoft 365 Backup for your Microsoft 365 Subscription & its Azure Tenant

Introduction

Microsoft 365 is a cloud-based productivity suite that has become essential for businesses of all sizes. Despite the reliability and security provided by Microsoft, the risk of data loss remains due to accidental deletions, malware attacks, or other unexpected events. This is where Microsoft 365 backup becomes crucial.

Microsoft 365 backup involves creating copies of your data saved in Microsoft 365 applications like OneDrive, SharePoint, Exchange Online, and Teams. These backups act as a safety net, enabling you to recover data in the event of accidental deletion, corruption, or other data loss situations.

Microsoft recently announced the general availability of its Microsoft 365 backup solution for all Microsoft 365 customers. This blog will guide you through the necessary prerequisites and essential steps to set up Microsoft 365 backup within your Microsoft 365 admin center.

Prerequisites for Setting Up Microsoft 365 Backup

• A Microsoft 365 subscription with administrator access
• An Azure tenant connected with the Microsoft 365 subscription
• A valid pay-as-you-go billing subscription in the same Azure tenant
• Optionally, a dedicated storage account in the same Azure tenant for holding the backup data

By fulfilling these prerequisites, you’ll be well prepared to proceed with the setup process for Microsoft 365 backup.

Essential Steps Involving Setting Up Microsoft 365 Backup

1. Configuring a pay-as-you-go subscription in the Azure tenant
2. Enabling Microsoft 365 backup on your Microsoft 365 admin center
3. Create and configure backup policies for your Microsoft 365 data

Configuring Pay-As-You-Go Subscription In The Azure Tenant

In this step, you’ll add a subscription to your Azure tenant. Your Microsoft 365 account must be linked to an Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) tenant. If it isn’t, you’ll need to create one and link it.
1. Login to your Azure tenant by using the admin role user credentials.

2. Choose the Subscription service and click Add subscription. You will be shown three offers and choose the ‘Select Offer‘ under Pay-as-you-go.

3. Sign up for a new pay-as-you-go offer and provide all the requested details. After a short time, a new subscription will be created.

4. The newly created subscription will be available under the Subscription service and should have an active status as shown in the below screenshot

Enabling Microsoft 365 Backup On Your Microsoft 365 admin center

To enable Microsoft 365 Backup, access the Microsoft 365 admin center and follow the below steps

1. In the admin center console, on the left pane, click on ‘Setup‘ menu
2. Under Files and content, choose ‘Automate content processes with Syntex‘

3. On the Automate content processes with Syntex page, select ‘Go to Syntex settings‘

4. In the Microsoft Syntax page, on the left side bar, under the section ‘syntex services for’, click on ‘Storage‘. From the list of storage services, choose Backup. The feature is off by default
5. Now, a new wizard will open to setup the pay-as-you-go billing and to turn on the backup service. Click on ‘Set up billing‘

6. Provide the details, such as the Name of the Azure pay-as-you-go Subscription, a Resource group associated with the backup process, and the region where you want to store the backup. (Optionally, you may have a storage account in the same region)
7. Enable the checkbox and accept the terms of service

8. Click ‘Save‘ to save the configurations
9. On the Backup panel, click ‘Turn on‘ to activate Microsoft 365 Backup for your organization

10. Review the relevant terms of service for Microsoft 365 and click Confirm. After a while, you will get a message “Microsoft 365 backup is turned ON for your organization”

Now you can verify the Microsoft 365 Backup is added under Settings in Microsoft 365 admin center. Also, you can setup the Backup policies separately for SharePoint, Exchange, and OneDrive. The below screenshot shows these options.

In our next blog, we will discuss in detail how to create backup policies for SharePoint, Exchange, and OneDrive.

Conclusion

Securing your Microsoft 365 data is crucial for maintaining business continuity and protecting sensitive information. By following the outlined steps to enable Microsoft 365 backup via the Microsoft 365 admin center and integrating a pay-as-you-go billing solution under your Azure tenant, you can ensure that your data is consistently backed up and easily recoverable. This proactive approach not only safeguards your valuable assets but also strengthens your overall data management strategy. Implementing these measures today will fortify your Microsoft 365 environment against potential data loss and ensure a seamless experience for your entire organization.

BDRSuite for Microsoft 365 Backup and Recovery

Looking for a comprehensive and affordable Microsoft 365 backup solution? Look no further than BDRSuite. It protects data on Exchange Online, SharePoint, OneDrive, and Teams. Offers flexible storage options (local/remote storage or your own cloud), multiple recovery options (same or different user mailbox), and data export in various formats.
Download BDRSuite and Start your 30-day free trial for Microsoft 365 Backup today.

Follow our Twitter and Facebook feeds for new releases, updates, insightful posts and more.