Keep running when disaster hits, with Azure Site Recovery.
Azure Site Recovery copies your critical servers to a second location and lets you bring them up quickly if your office or region goes down. We design the plan and test it.
What Azure Site Recovery covers
What is Azure Site Recovery?
Azure Site Recovery, or ASR, is a disaster recovery service. It continuously replicates virtual machines and physical servers to Azure, or from one Azure region to another, so a recent copy is always ready to start.
Backup restores data. Site Recovery restores service. When a flood, fire, power failure or ransomware outage takes down your office server room, ASR lets you start the replicated servers in Azure and carry on, often within minutes to hours.
The service is only as good as the plan. Which systems matter most, in what order they start, how users connect, and how long you can be down are business decisions that shape the design.
ASR can protect VMware and Hyper-V virtual machines and physical servers at your office, and Azure VMs between regions. Canada Central and Canada East are paired regions, which supports in country disaster recovery for Azure workloads.
Two terms drive the design. Recovery point objective is how much data you can afford to lose, and recovery time objective is how long you can afford to be down. Tighter targets cost more.
What Azure Site Recovery can do.
Continuous replication
Changes are copied to the target location as they happen, keeping the recovery point close to the present.
Failover and failback
Bring replicas up in Azure and later return to the original site when it is ready.
Recovery plans
Define the order servers start and include scripts, so complex applications come up correctly.
Test failover
Run a drill in an isolated network without affecting production or replication.
Support for many sources
VMware, Hyper-V, physical servers and Azure VMs.
Region to region protection
Replicate Azure VMs between Canada Central and Canada East.
Encryption and secure transfer
Data is encrypted in transit and at rest.
Monitoring
Health, replication lag and alerts so you know protection is working.
How Azure Site Recovery works.
Define
Agree which systems matter, in what order, and your RPO and RTO.
Replicate
Deploy the replication components and start copying servers.
Test
Run test failovers in an isolated network and document results.
Maintain
Monitor health, update plans and repeat tests as systems change.
What happens behind the scenes.
A configuration server and process server at your site, or an agent on the machine, capture changes and send them to a cache and then to Azure storage. In Azure, the replicated disks wait without a running VM, so you pay only for storage until you need them.
During a failover, ASR creates VMs from the replicated disks, using the recovery plan to start them in order. You connect the network, such as by VPN, so users can reach them. After the original site is repaired, reverse replication copies changes back and you fail back.
How it benefits your business.
The impact of ASR is continuity. Instead of days of rebuilding, your critical systems can be running in Azure shortly after an incident, which limits lost revenue and protects customer relationships.
It is also cost effective compared with a second site. You do not maintain duplicate hardware, you pay mainly for storage during normal operations, and compute only when you fail over or test.
Regular test failovers turn disaster recovery from a document on a shelf into a rehearsed capability, which insurers, auditors and clients value.
The benefits at a glance.
Fast recovery
Start replicated servers in Azure in minutes to hours.
Lower cost than a second site
Pay for compute only when needed.
Tested, not theoretical
Non-disruptive test failovers.
Ordered recovery plans
Applications start in the right sequence.
Protects office and cloud workloads
On premises and Azure sources.
Meets continuity requirements
Evidence for insurers and clients.
Pricing: Billed per protected instance per month, plus the Azure storage and compute used by replicas and during a failover. Azure prices and features change, so we confirm current pricing and design to a budget before you commit.
What this looks like day to day.
A medical office’s server room loses power for two days after a building fault. Its practice management server was replicated to Azure with ASR. Infinity fails over to Azure, connects staff by VPN and the clinic keeps booking patients while the building is repaired. When power returns, the server is failed back with no lost data.
This is an illustrative example of how the service is used, not a description of a specific client.
Mistakes we see, and how we avoid them.
Replicating servers but never testing
An untested failover often fails on the day. Run drills.
Forgetting the network
Servers can start in Azure, but users still need a way to reach them.
Ignoring dependencies
Replicating the database but not the identity server leaves applications unusable.
Treating it as a backup
ASR does not keep historical versions. Use it with Azure Backup.
Azure Site Recovery with Infinity.
Disaster recovery planning
Business impact analysis, RPO and RTO and priorities.
Learn moreASR deployment
Replication for office servers and Azure VMs.
Learn moreNetwork and access during failover
VPN, DNS and user access designed for recovery.
Learn moreRecovery plans and runbooks
Ordered, documented, scripted.
Learn moreRegular failover tests
Scheduled drills with reports.
Learn moreCombined with backup
ASR plus Azure Backup for full protection.
Learn moreHow is Site Recovery different from backup?
Backup lets you restore data to a point in time. Site Recovery keeps a running ready copy of the server so you can resume service quickly. Many businesses need both.
How fast can we recover?
It depends on the design and the systems. Many servers can be started in Azure in minutes to a few hours.
Can it protect servers in our office?
Yes. VMware, Hyper-V and physical servers can replicate to Azure.
Will it stop us paying for a second site?
For many businesses, yes. Azure replaces the need for duplicate hardware and a second location.
How often should we test?
At least once or twice a year, and after major changes. We schedule and report on tests.
Talk to us about Azure Site Recovery.
Book a free consultation. We will look at your current setup and show you where it fits.
Tell us about your IT.
We answer almost every inquiry within one business day.