Azure Backup Update for Microsoft Azure Recovery Services Agent: March 2017

This article describes new features, improvements, and fixes that apply to Azure Backup for Microsoft Azure Recovery Services (MARS) Agent version 2.0.9070.0 that is used by both Microsoft Azure Backup and Microsoft Azure Site Recovery (ASR) to transfer data to Azure.

Instant Restore speed and reliability improvements

We introduced Instant Restore in the January 2017 update for the MARS Agent. In this update, users of Instant Restore experience significantly improved speeds at which files and folders can be recovered by copying to a local computer from the mounted recovery volume.

Several reliability improvements have also been made to provide more robust item-level restore operations of large data sources.

Integrity Check Improvements

In this update, users experience more robust integrity checks because of improvements that are made in checksum comparisons.

For more information about this issue, see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

4020540 FIX: "The Microsoft Recovery Services Agent cannot connect to the OBEngine service" when you add the MARS Agent add-in

• An issue that was causing failures while mounting VHDs for customers who use Azure Backup on Windows Server 2016. We strongly recommend that MARS Agent, SCDPM 2016, and Azure Backup Server customers upgrade to this version of MARS Agent to avoid experiencing this issue.
• An issue that was causing backups to fail and generate errors that point to operational failure on specific files.
• Issues that were causing incremental backups to run in unoptimized mode unexpectedly.
• Several stability and reliability issues that applied to both Backup and Recovery operations.

To apply this update, install the latest version of the Microsoft Azure Recovery Services agent.

The following file is available for download from the Microsoft Download Center:

Download the Azure Recovery Services agent update package now.

For more information about how to download Microsoft support files, see the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article:

119591 How to obtain Microsoft support files from online services

Microsoft scanned this file for viruses. Microsoft used the most current virus-detection software that was available on the date that the file was posted. The file is stored on security-enhanced servers that help prevent any unauthorized changes to the file.

Restart information

If you are using Windows Server 2008 (SP2 and R2 SP1, any edition), you must restart your computer after you apply this update. Users who have installed MARS Agent on other Windows Server versions do not have to restart the computer after you apply this update.

Replacement information

This update replaces the previously released update KB 3216528.

Prerequisites

If you use System Center 2016 Data Protection Manager (SC DPM), you must have Update Rollup 1 for System Center 2016 Data Protection Manager or a later version installed to apply this update.

If you use System Center 2012 R2 Data Protection Manager (SC DPM), you must have Update Rollup 11 for System Center 2012 R2 Data Protection Manager or a later version installed to apply this update.