Secure AI Model Backups Using Azure Recovery Services

Question

Pulumi · Accepted Answer

To create secure backups for AI models using Azure Recovery Services in Pulumi, we will follow these steps:

1. Set up a Recovery Services vault: This vault will hold the backups and recovery points for our data and workloads.
2. Create a backup policy: This policy will define when the backups should take place and how long the recovery points should be retained.
3. Assign the backup policy to an Azure resource like a VM or Blob storage depending on where your AI models are stored.
4. Manage replication, if necessary, to ensure that your AI models are resilient to regional outages.

Below is a Pulumi program in Python that demonstrates setting up a Recovery Services vault and creating a backup policy. Since you mentioned AI model backups, I'll assume the models are saved as files and show how to back up an Azure VM which could be running the AI workload, but the exact details would depend on how and where you store the AI models.

```python
import pulumi
import pulumi_azure_native as azure_native

# Create a Recovery Services vault where backups will be stored.
recovery_services_vault = azure_native.recoveryservices.Vault("myRecoveryServicesVault",
    # Must replace with the appropriate Azure location for your resource.
    location="West US",
    resource_group_name="myResourceGroup",  # Replace with your resource group name
    properties=azure_native.recoveryservices.VaultPropertiesArgs(
        # Set any specific properties required for the vault, or leave as default.
    ),
    sku=azure_native.recoveryservices.SkuArgs(name="Standard"),  # Choose between Standard and Premium.
    # Optional: Add tags if necessary.
    tags={
        "environment": "production",
        "purpose": "AI Model Backup"
    }
)

# Create a backup policy for virtual machines.
# Adjust the schedule and retention settings as needed for your AI models.
backup_policy_vm = azure_native.recoveryservices.ProtectionPolicy("myVmBackupPolicy",
    resource_group_name="myResourceGroup",
    vault_name=recovery_services_vault.name,
    properties=azure_native.recoveryservices.ProtectionPolicyPropertiesArgs(
        backup=azure_native.recoveryservices.BackupPropertiesArgs(
            backup_type="Full",
            daily_retention=azure_native.recoveryservices.TimeOfDayArgs(hour=2, minute=30),
            weekly_retention=azure_native.recoveryservices.WeeklyRetentionFormatArgs(
                count=4,  # Retain the weekly backup for 4 weeks.
                days_of_the_week=[
                    azure_native.recoveryservices.DaysOfWeek.Sunday,
                ],
            ),
            monthly_retention=azure_native.recoveryservices.MonthlyRetentionFormatArgs(
                count=12,   # Retain the monthly backup for 12 months.
                days_of_the_month=[
                    azure_native.recoveryservices.Day.no_20,
                ],
            ),
            yearly_retention=azure_native.recoveryservices.YearlyRetentionFormatArgs(
                count=5,    # Retain the yearly backup for 5 years.
                days_of_the_year=[
                    azure_native.recoveryservices.Day.no_20,
                ],
                months_of_the_year=[
                    azure_native.recoveryservices.Month.November,
                ],
            ),
        ),
        policy_type="ProtectionPolicy"
    )
)

# Export the Recovery Services vault's name and ID for reference.
pulumi.export("vault_name", recovery_services_vault.name)
pulumi.export("vault_id", recovery_services_vault.id)

# Export the backup policy name and ID for reference.
pulumi.export("backup_policy_name", backup_policy_vm.name)
pulumi.export("backup_policy_id", backup_policy_vm.id)
```

This example program does the following:

- Initializes a Recovery Services vault named "myRecoveryServicesVault" in a resource group called "myResourceGroup" and a location that you should replace with a suitable Azure location. The vault uses a standard SKU, meaning it will use geo-redundant storage to back up your data.
- Sets up a backup policy with full backups and retention schedules tailored to daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly retention.
- Exports the vault and backup policy identifiers so you can easily reference them outside of Pulumi.

This program is intended to run with no modifications, assuming you replace the placeholders with actual values for your Azure subscription and resources. Once you've set up your Pulumi and Azure CLI with the appropriate configuration, you could run this Pulumi program to provision the resources.

The next steps would involve assigning this backup policy to particular Azure resources where your AI models are stored and managing the backups. This part of the code can become quite specific depending on where your AI model data is located and how it is structured.

Please note that the exact configuration for the backup policy will depend on your precise requirements for backup frequency, the retention period, and other backup settings. You'll want to tailor these to ensure they comply with your data governance policies and meet the needs of your AI workloads.