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

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.

To run this sample, install the latest version of the Azure CLI. To start, run az login to create a connection with Azure.

Samples for the Azure CLI are written for the bash shell. To run this sample in Windows PowerShell or Command Prompt, you may need to change elements of the script.

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

Sample 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: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/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>

Script explanation

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.

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.