What are the best ways to back up Azure Files offsite?

If you’re using Veeam for backup and replication, you can back up your share and send it offsite to a secure, encrypted repository. However, like you mentioned, Veeam has limitations with Azure Files and mainly acts as a visual interface for Azure’s snapshot backups.

Relying solely on Azure File snapshots isn't sufficient for a solid backup strategy; it's more like having versioning with limited recovery options. To get proper offsite and air-gapped backups, I recommend using Azure Backup for Azure Files with a Recovery Services vault, as it provides features like soft-delete and geo-redundancy. For added security, you might replicate data to another storage account in a different region using tools like AzCopy, and set up immutability. Some folks also suggest exporting to cold storage tiers as a neat way for pseudo-air gaps.

It’s well-known that Veeam's lack of support for Azure Files is a significant gap when it comes to true offsite backup solutions. Many organizations opt for Azure Backup, which seamlessly works with file shares or replicating to a different storage account using AzCopy on a schedule. You might want to check if Azure Backup’s geo-redundant storage meets your air-gapped backup requirements.

You can utilize Azure's native backup options by employing a Recovery Services vault to perform cross-region backups for Azure Files. This feature was introduced about a year ago, allowing for immutable backup solutions. Just keep in mind that if you want to back up the data outside of Azure, there will be egress costs involved.