Do you know how to backup data on SQL Azure?

Last updated by William Liebenberg almost 2 years ago.See history

Microsoft Azure SQL Database has built-in backups to support self-service Point in Time Restore and Geo-Restore for Basic, Standard, and Premium service tiers.

You should use the built-in automatic backup in Azure SQL Database versus using T-SQL.

T-SQL: CREATE DATABASE destination_database_nameAS COPY OF[source_server_name].source_database_name

Figure: Bad example - Using T-SQL to restore your database

Azure restore
Figure: Good example - Using the built-in SQL Azure Database automatic backup system to restore your database

Azure SQL Database automatically creates backups of every active database using the following schedule: Full database backup once a week, differential database backups once a day, and transaction log backups every 5 minutes. The full and differential backups are replicated across regions to ensure the availability of the backups in the event of a disaster.

Backup Storage

Backup storage is the storage associated with your automated database backups that are used for Point in Time Restore and Geo-Restore. Azure SQL Database provides up to 200% of your maximum provisioned database storage of backup storage at no additional cost.

Service Tier Geo-Restore Self-Service Point in Time Restore Backup Retention Period Restore a Deleted Database
Web Not supported Not supported n/a n/a
Business Not supported Not supported n/a n/a
Basic Supported Supported 7 days
Standard Supported Supported 14 days
Premium Supported Supported 35 days

Figure: All the modern SQL Azure Service Tiers support back up. Web and Business tiers are being retired and do not support backup. Check Web and Business Edition Sunset FAQ for up-to-date retention periods

Learn more on Microsoft documentation:

Other ways to back up Azure SQL Database:

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