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You don't have to use Data Protection Manager but system center is helpful to centralize everything. You can use Windows backup or Azure backup or system center but you don't have to use MS Data Protection Manager to get a backup. This link may help--shows several ways yo get backups using <a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/b/windowsazure/archive/2013/07/31/how-to-backup-and-restore-windows-system-disk-in-a-windows-azure-iaas.aspx" rel="ugc">azure</a>
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You don't have to use Data Protection Manager but system center is helpful to centralize everything. You can use Windows backup or Azure backup or system center but you don't have to use MS Data Protection Manager to get a backup. This link may help--shows several ways yo get backups using azure [http://blogs.msdn.com/b/windowsazure/archive/2013/07/31/how-to-backup-and-restore-windows-system-disk-in-a-windows-azure-iaas.aspx]

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the feature I'm looking for is still not present in the Azure offer.
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the feature I'm looking for is still not present in the Azure offer.

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Hi,<br />
I'm an happy user of Rackspace and it gives me all the necessary things to perform Virtual Machine &nbsp;backups.<br />
On each virtual machine I created a dailysnapshoot and folder backup with the agent .<br />
Works Fantastic.<br />
<br />
I've been asked to evaluate Azure and it's service .<br />
All is fine ( Rackspace is easier to use ) but I don't find any backup options as the one Rackspace has on the portal. <br />
Apparently if I want to perform backups/ create images of the VM and have TB of data I need to use MS Data Protection Manager.<br />
<br />
Can you please confirm and let me know if there are alternatives ...
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Hi,
I'm an happy user of Rackspace and it gives me all the necessary things to perform Virtual Machine  backups.
On each virtual machine I created a dailysnapshoot and folder backup with the agent .
Works Fantastic.

I've been asked to evaluate Azure and it's service .
All is fine ( Rackspace is easier to use ) but I don't find any backup options as the one Rackspace has on the portal. 
Apparently if I want to perform backups/ create images of the VM and have TB of data I need to use MS Data Protection Manager.

Can you please confirm and let me know if there are alternatives ...

Backup of Virtual MAchine in Azure

The term "Backup" means the methods and processes involved to copy computer data (system data as well as application data) to media other than the ones where the data originally live (disk, tape, optical, cloud). "Restore" in turn means the methods and processes involved in data recovery, i. e., bringing back copied computer data to their original location. Backup/Restore primarily serves as a means of protection against data loss, be it due to disaster, corruption or sabotage. It can also be used for recovering data from an earlier point in time and even for cloning machines or applications. There is a wide variety of backup/restore software available, from expensive commercial products to free or open source tools.

Storage Software

Virtualization is the act of creating a virtual (rather than actual) version of something, including (but not limited to) a virtual computer hardware platform, operating system (OS), storage device, or computer network resources. Virtualization is usually the creation of a system that executes separate from the underlying hardware resources, or the creation of an entire desktop for systems located elsewhere, similar to thin clients.

Virtualization

Microsoft Azure is a cloud computing platform and infrastructure for building, deploying and managing applications and services through datacenters. It provides both platform-as-a-service (PaaS) and infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) services and supports many different programming languages, tools and frameworks, including both Microsoft-specific and third-party software and systems. Cloud Services is a PaaS environment and can be used to create scalable applications and services; there are specific software development kits (SDKs) provided by Microsoft for Python, Java, Node.js and .NET. Azure also has file and storage services, data management, analytics and DNS services.