How to Back Up Microsoft 365 to S3-Compatible Storage
Microsoft 365 services are provided based on a shared responsibility model, which presumes that customers are responsible for data backup, retention configuration and protection against external/internal threats for their accounts. Microsoft is responsible for its infrastructure, physical access, uptime and data replication in datacenters. This means that Microsoft 365 services are reliable cloud services but require your attention to back them up. One of the effective approaches is backing up Microsoft 365 data to S3-compatible storage.
Why Use S3-Compatible Storage for Microsoft 365 Backups
There are multiple reasons to use S3-compatible cloud storage for Microsoft 365 backups. First, let’s find out what S3-compatible storage is.
What is S3-compatible storage?
S3-compatible storage is object storage in the cloud that uses AWS S3 API (Application Programming Interface) to make it possible for third-party applications to work with this storage, similar to Amazon S3 via the S3-compatible interface. As a result, organizations can use alternative cloud storage provided by other vendors to store data, including backups.
Standardized API is used for operations like downloading and uploading files as objects to storage containers called buckets. As popular backup solutions usually support backup to Amazon S3, they can easily support backup to S3-compatible storage without major changes in their architecture. This adds more flexibility and integration capabilities for a backup to object storage.
The advantages of S3-compatible storage
Below, you can see the main advantages of S3-compatible object storage in the cloud for organizations when it comes to storing Microsoft 365 backups in the cloud.
Cost savings. S3-compatible storage providers, such as Backblaze B2, Wasabi, LyveCLoud, Vast Cloud, Ceph, MinIO and others offer attractive storage services for lower costs. These providers can focus on attractive pricing models without high fees for transferring data (ingress and egress). This, in turn, focuses the attention of organizations to use S3-compatible storage of alternative vendors to store backups in the cloud for optimal costs. If a backup solution supports both Amazon S3 and S3-compatible storage, it gives more freedom of choice and flexibility for organizations that want to store a Microsoft 365 backup in the cloud.
High scalability. S3-compatible object storage in the cloud is scalable and allows organizations to store virtually unlimited amounts of data. As Microsoft 365 backups continue to grow (similarly to other backups), the high scalability of S3-compatible storage is essential. Organizations using backup to AWS S3 and S3-compatible storage don’t need to expand storage volumes or arrays manually by modifying the storage infrastructure.
Reliable storage. High reliability, availability and durability of AWS S3 and AWS S3-compatible storage is what organizations need for fast operational recovery. If an organization needs to restore particular files or objects, restore a Microsoft 365 account for a particular user and even restore the entire data set, then an available backup stored in the reliable S3-compatible storage can help to recover the needed data.
Protected backups. Ransomware protection and high security level can be ensured with S3-compatible storage. This storage supports data versioning and immutability, features used for ransomware protection. If immutability is enabled, then ransomware and users cannot change and delete the immutable data (for a specified period). Backup applications that work with S3-compatible storage and support these features provide a high level of ransomware protection for backups stored in the cloud. These can be enabled on top of data encryption, protecting Microsoft 365 backups and other data against unauthorized access and breaches.
Requirements for Backing Up Microsoft 365 to S3-Compatible Storage
You need to choose a data protection solution that supports Microsoft 365 backup as a source platform and supports S3-compatible storage as a destination platform. NAKIVO Backup & Replication is an enterprise-level data protection solution that supports Microsoft 365 backup to Amazon S3 and S3-compatible storage, additionally to a wide set of other supported source and destination platforms.
The requirements for Microsoft 365 backup to S3-compatible storage with the NAKIVO solution are the following:
- Adding your Microsoft 365 account to the inventory in NAKIVO Backup & Replication
- Having an account with the vendor whose S3-compatible storage you want to use (for example, Backblaze B2, Wasabi, Vast Cloud, LyveCloud, etc.).
- Exporting the credentials to configure access to S3-compatible storage for the NAKIVO solution.
- Creating a bucket in the S3-compatible storage platform of the selected vendor. Refer to the cloud vendor’s documentation to see how to create a bucket in the user interface provided by the vendor.
- Versioning and Object Lock should be enabled for the bucket if you want to apply immutability to your backups. Check the vendor’s documentation on how to enable this feature in the provided interface for managing cloud storage.
You can also read the blog post about Microsoft 365 backup to AWS S3 with a detailed explanation of adding a Microsoft 365 account to the NAKIVO inventory.
Step-by-Step Guide to Configuring Microsoft 365 Backups to S3-Compatible Storage with NAKIVO
Let’s go over how to configure NAKIVO Backup & Replication to do Microsoft 365 backup to S3-compatible storage. The configuration steps include adding an account provided by your storage vendor, creating a backup repository in a bucket in the cloud storage and creating a backup job.
Adding a storage vendor account
In the web interface of NAKIVO Backup & Replication, go to Settings > Inventory and click + to add a new item to the inventory.
- Select Cloud storage as a platform and click Next to continue.
- Select Generic S3-compatible Storage to add the S3-compatible storage account of your cloud vendor. If you’re using any of the specified vendors, select the corresponding option. Check the complete list of supported S3-compatible storage vendors.
- Enter a display name, service endpoint, region code, access key ID (username) and secret access key (password). You can find this information in the cloud storage web interface provided by your cloud storage provider. Click Connect to check whether the added information is correct. Click Finish to save settings and add a storage account to the NAKIVO inventory.
Creating a backup repository
After adding a storage account to the inventory, you need to create a backup repository in S3-compatible storage before you can configure a Microsoft 365 backup to this cloud storage platform.
- Go to Settings > Repositories, click + and hit Create new backup repository.
- Select Cloud & S3-Compatible Storage at the backup repository type. Hit Next at each step to continue.
- Select Generic S3-compatible storage at the Vendor screen. Either select one of the provided vendors or if you can’t find your vendor, select Generic S3-compatible storage.
- At the Name & Location step, specify a displayed name, the assigned Transporter and cloud storage account (that you added to the NAKIVO inventory before), and select a bucket to use for a backup repository. It is recommended that you don’t store other files in the selected bucket and this bucket should be used only for a backup repository.
- Configure new backup repository options, such as compression, data verification and others. Hit Finish to save settings and create a backup repository in the selected bucket of your S3-compatible cloud storage provider.
Creating a backup job
When all requirements are met and all needed points are configured, we can create a Microsoft 365 backup job and use S3-compatible storage in the cloud as the destination.
- Go to Data Protection, click + and hit Backup for Microsoft 365.
- At the Sources step of the new backup job wizard, select Microsoft 365 objects to back up. You can select multiple items from different services, such as email accounts, OneDrive instances, SharePoint resources and Microsoft Teams.
Note that only the Microsoft 365 services that have been previously added to the inventory are available for selection at this step.
Hit Next to continue.
- At the Destination step, select a backup repository created in a bucket of your S3-compatible storage provider in the cloud.
- Configure scheduling and retention settings for Microsoft 365 backup to S3-compatible storage. You can configure multiple schedules and set a comprehensive retention policy. Enable backup immutability to protect your Microsoft 365 backup against ransomware. Note that Versioning and Object Lock must be enabled in the bucket settings of your S3-compatible storage provider to use immutability for backups stored in this bucket.
- Configure Microsoft 365 backup job options. Enter a job name, enable network encryption to encrypt backups during the transfer and/or enable backup encryption to encrypt backups prior to transfer. This ensures that Microsoft 365 backups are transferred in an encrypted state and remain encrypted in the backup repository. Set full backup settings and define other options if needed. Click Finish & Run to save settings and run the job.
Conclusion
Microsoft 365 data backup to AWS S3-compatible storage can improve the backup strategy of an organization. The large number of vendors providing S3-compatible object storage in the cloud allows organizations to choose the most cost-effective solution to meet their requirements. Using NAKIVO Backup & Replication for Microsoft 365 data backup to the cloud and on-premises with support of backup immutability is the optimal choice to implement a robust backup strategy with ransomware protection.
