Export/Copy a snapshot to a storage account in different region with CLI

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This script exports a managed snapshot to a storage account in different region. It first generates the SAS URI of the snapshot and then uses it to copy it to a storage account in different region. Use this script to maintain backup of your managed disks in different region for disaster recovery.

If you don't have an Azure subscription, create a trial account before you begin.

Prerequisites

  • If you prefer to run CLI reference commands locally, install the Azure CLI. If you're running on Windows or macOS, consider running Azure CLI in a Docker container. For more information, see How to run the Azure CLI in a Docker container.

    • If you're using a local installation, sign in to the Azure CLI by using the az login command. To finish the authentication process, follow the steps displayed in your terminal. For other sign-in options, see Sign in with the Azure CLI.

    • When you're prompted, install the Azure CLI extension on first use. For more information about extensions, see Use extensions with the Azure CLI.

    • Run az version to find the version and dependent libraries that are installed. To upgrade to the latest version, run az upgrade.

Sample script

Sign in to Azure

Use the following script to sign in using a different subscription, replacing <Subscription ID> with your Azure Subscription ID. If you don't have an Azure trial subscription, create an Azure trial subscription before you begin. 

az cloud set -n AzureChinaCloud
az login

subscription="<subscriptionId>" # add subscription here

az account set -s $subscription # ...or use 'az login'

For more information, see set active subscription or log in.

Run the script

# Verified per Raman Kumar as of 2/23/2022

# <FullScript>
#Provide the subscription Id where snapshot is created
subscriptionId="<subscriptionId>"

#Provide the name of your resource group where snapshot is created
resourceGroupName=myResourceGroupName

#Provide the snapshot name 
snapshotName=mySnapshotName

#Provide Shared Access Signature (SAS) expiry duration in seconds e.g. 3600.
#Know more about SAS here: /storage/storage-dotnet-shared-access-signature-part-1
sasExpiryDuration=3600

#Provide storage account name where you want to copy the snapshot. 
storageAccountName=mystorageaccountname

#Name of the storage container where the downloaded snapshot will be stored
storageContainerName=mystoragecontainername

#Provide the key of the storage account where you want to copy snapshot. 
storageAccountKey=mystorageaccountkey

#Provide the name of the VHD file to which snapshot will be copied.
destinationVHDFileName=myvhdfilename

az account set --subscription $subscriptionId

sas=$(az snapshot grant-access --resource-group $resourceGroupName --name $snapshotName --duration-in-seconds $sasExpiryDuration --query [accessSas] -o tsv)

az storage blob copy start --destination-blob $destinationVHDFileName --destination-container $storageContainerName --account-name $storageAccountName --account-key $storageAccountKey --source-uri $sas
# </FullScript>

Clean up resources

Run the following command to remove the resource group, VM, and all related resources.

az group delete --name myResourceGroupName

Sample reference

This script uses following commands to generate SAS URI for a managed snapshot and copies the snapshot to a storage account using SAS URI. Each command in the table links to command specific documentation.

Command Notes
az snapshot grant-access Generates read-only SAS that is used to copy underlying VHD file to a storage account or download it to on-premises
az storage blob copy start Copies a blob asynchronously from one storage account to another

Next steps

Create a managed disk from a VHD

Create a virtual machine from a managed disk

For more information on the Azure CLI, see Azure CLI documentation.

Additional virtual machine and managed disks CLI script samples can be found in the Azure Linux VM documentation.