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    Home > Manage the Backup Scopes for Virtual Machines > Create a New Backup Scope for Azure VM > Use the SaaS Infrastructure Mode

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    Use the SaaS Infrastructure Mode

    To create a new backup scope, follow the steps below:

    Go to the Backup page on the new UI.

    Click on the Virtual Machine service tile or click the More actions button on the upper-right corner of the Virtual Machine service tile and click Configure backup scope from the drop-down list.

    In the Configure backup scope for virtual machines page, all the existing backup scopes for Azure virtual machines, Amazon EC2 instances, and Google VM instances are listed in the table. You can use the search box to search for the backup scopes by name and manage the columns to adjust the view of the backup scopes.

    > ***Note**: You can click the Refresh button in the upper-right corner of this page to retrieve the latest data list for Azure VMs, Amazon EC2 instances, and Google VM instances. The **Last refreshed time** is displayed next to the Refresh button. Additionally, the data list will be automatically refreshed daily at 00:00 local time.

    Click the Create button and select Azure virtual machines.

    1. In the Choose a mode for Azure virtual machines page, select SaaS infrastructure mode.

    Then, choose a method. You can choose to manually select the VMs that you want to add to the backup scope, or you can configure a dynamic scope to use attribute-based rules to include the VMs that meet your conditions to the backup.

    Manually Select – In the Select virtual machines step, select the VMs that you want to add to the backup scope that you are creating. You can click the link in the Selected disks/total disks column next to the virtual machine name to select disks under the selected virtual machine to protect.

    *Note: The OS disk is mandatory and cannot be deselected.

    You can use the Search box to search for the VMs via the keywords in the name or use the **Filters** to find the VMs with specific properties. The VMs are grouped by tenants. Selecting the checkbox in the column header will select all the VMs and disks on the current page. You can turn to the next page and select more VMs. Your selection will be kept, and the number of your selection will be displayed next to the tenant’s name. ![The Select virtual machines step for Manually select method.](./images/image28.png "The Select virtual machines step for Manually select method.")

    Dynamic rules – In the Select virtual machines step, define the rule conditions for the VMs that you want to include in this backup scope. You can add multiple rules to filter the Tag name, Tag value, Virtual machine name, Region, Resource group, or Subscription name of the VMs. Click Apply when you complete the rule configuration, and then the VMs that meet your rules will be displayed in the table and included for backup. The dynamic scope will automatically add or remove the VMs according to your rules. The new VMs that meet the configured rule conditions will also be automatically added to the backup scope.

    ![Configure the rule conditions for the dynamic backup scope.](./images/image29.png "Configure the rule conditions for the dynamic backup scope.")

    Click Next, and you will go to the Configure storage based on region step to configure a storage profile for each region. You can select a storage type and then select storage profiles. You can use an existing storage profile or create a new storage profile to store the backup data for the VMs in the same region. For details on configuring storage location, refer to Manage Your Storage.

    ![The Configure storage based on region step.](./images/image30.png "The Configure storage based on region step.") > ***Note**: If you have enabled a firewall for your Azure VMs, you need to add the AvePoint IP addresses to your Azure VM account firewall or configure the firewall to allow AvePoint agent servers running on a dedicated ARM Vnet subnet to access your storage location. For details, refer to [Allow AvePoint Agent Servers to Access Your Storage Account](#missing-link).

    After you finish the storage configuration for each region, click Next to configure the scope information, schedule, and data retention settings. Refer to the following:

    Scope information – Enter a name and description for the scope you are creating. The description is optional.

    Snapshots and index – Configure which resource group to keep the snapshots and whether to generate index during backup.

    - **Which resource group do you want to keep the snapshots?** – If the VMs to protect in this backup scope are in the same subscription, you can choose to store the snapshots in another resource group. - **Generate index for file-level data export** – Select this option if you want to perform file-level data export using the backup data. Otherwise, keep this option deselected. The backup job will take longer to finish to generate an index. The retention period to keep the index will follow the retention policy configured for the backup data. Note that generating index for the disks with over 8 TB size is also supported. > ***Note**: Running index generation on the following file systems will result in folders without indexes in restore recovery points.: **UFS – BSD default fs**, **ZFS – BSD alternative fs**, **BitLocker – Windows encrypted fs**, **LUKS – Linux encrypted fs**, **ReFS** **– Windows new fs**. Therefore, the file-level data exportation is unsupported for disks with the file systems.

    Schedule – Select hours, days, weeks, or months from the Interval drop-down list as the unit of time for the backup interval, enter a number in the text box after Every, and then configure the start time for your first backup job. By default, the VM backup job will run once a day. Backing up VMs at the same time may cause traffic jams. You are recommended to configure different backup schedules for the backup scopes and make sure the times do not overlap.

    - **Notification** – Check the notification profiles which will be applied to the backup scope.

    Retention policy – Configure when to prune the snapshots from Azure and the backup data from the storage location. Note that if you are using AvePoint storage, the retention policy for backup data is subject to your agreement and you can configure a retention period up to the retention policy in your subscription.

    - For snapshots in Azure – You can choose the number of the latest snapshots to retain or choose for how long the snapshots will be retained after generation. - > ***Note**: The number of the latest snapshots to retain must be less than 500. - For backup data in storage – Configure the retention period to keep the backup data in the storage. - > ***Note**: For existing backup scopes with the legacy retention policy, you can click **Switch to modern retention policy** to configure the new retention period. - **Daily/Hourly recovery point** – Enter a number in the text box and select **days** or **weeks** from the drop-down list. The retention period must be between 7 and 28 days. - **Weekly recovery point** – Enter a number in the text box and select **weeks** or **months** from the drop-down list. The retention period must be between 2 and 12 weeks. - **Monthly recovery point** – Enter a number in the text box. The retention period must be between 1 and 12 months. - **Yearly recovery point** – If you are using **AvePoint default storage** with unlimited retention period, the **Unlimited** option is selected automatically. If you want to use a custom retention period, select **Custom**.

    Click Next to review your settings.

    Click Save to save this backup scope. The backup for the VMs in this backup scope will roll out as scheduled. You can also click Save and run to save the backup scope and start the backup job immediately. For more details about monitoring the backups, refer to Monitor Your Backup.