Microsoft Unveils Cross-Region Disaster Recovery for Windows 365 Enterprise

Key Takeaways:

• Microsoft has introduced cross-region disaster recovery for Windows 365 Enterprise, providing an additional layer of protection against regional outages.
• During a disaster recovery event, users receive temporary devices that retain their complete user context.
• The cross-region disaster recovery feature is easily configurable and integrated into existing reports and workflows.

Microsoft has introduced support for cross-region disaster recovery for Windows 365 Enterprise. This new optional service allows organizations to safeguard their Cloud PCs and data against regional outages.

The cross-region disaster recovery feature creates a copy of the users’ Windows 365 Cloud PCs in an alternate region. This copy utilizes the most recent restore point for each Cloud PC and all installed applications, user settings, and data.

“These snapshots are placed in customer-defined, geographically distant locations, and they can be recovered to Cloud PCs running in the selected location during a disaster recovery event. Windows 365 Cross-region Disaster Recovery is especially relevant for industries and organizations that are highly regulated, or that have users or workflows that require geographic distance between primary and backup locations,” Microsoft explained.

Once the cross-region disaster recovery feature is activated, users signing in to Windows 365 Cloud PCs will receive a temporary device. This device retains the full user context, including configuration settings, locally stored data, and user-installed applications, up to the latest restore point.

When the cross-region disaster recovery feature is deactivated, the temporary device is discarded. Users are then returned to their primary devices, but any data saved to the Local OS disk will not be preserved. However, data stored in cloud storage, cloud applications, and other cloud services will remain unaffected by the disaster recovery event.

Getting started with the Windows 365 cross-region disaster recovery

Windows 365 Enterprise customers can configure cross-region disaster recovery with just a few clicks. Microsoft has integrated this feature into various reports and workflows, providing detailed context on the configuration and status of each Cloud PC in the event of an outage. Once the outage is resolved, administrators receive notifications and can quickly deactivate cross-region disaster recovery.

Microsoft notes that the cross-region disaster recovery service is available only as an add-on license for Windows 365 Enterprise SKUs, priced at $5 per user per month for US-based customers. This feature provides administrators with robust resilience and streamlined management to ensure business continuity even during challenging scenarios. It also reduces the risk of data loss and allows IT admins to quickly respond to unexpected disruptions.