Azure Support » Backup

SQL Azure Backup Using Database Copy

azuresupport — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 05:44:32 +0000

Backup is currently a major gap in the SQL Azure product, but with support for Database Copy TSQL command has given at least one option for directly backing up a SQL Azure database by copying a source Azure database to a newly created Azure database.

The TSQL command structure below provides will produce a copy of a database:

CREATE DATABASE  database_destination_name
AS COPY OF [source_server_name.]database_source_name

Note that this TSQL syntax allows for copying to a different Azure server. This is not necessary to protect the data from a disaster recovery point of view since the data is replicated across 3 geographic locations, but it might be required if you wish to copy the database to a different admin account or perhaps a different Azure account that would be billed separately to the source database account. If the database is copied to a new server the exact same login/password pair executing the command must exist on both the source server and destination server.

The copying process will not result in any downtime for the source database, and the copy will be a full copy complete with transactional data (note that this will be the transaction data as at the end time of the copying process not the start time of the copying process).

To monitor the copying process and determine if there were any copying errors you can query the sys.dm_database_copies view. The below command will retrieve all the data regarding the copying process:

Select * from sys.dm_database_copies

A major drawback to using Database Copy for backup is cost – each copy/backup will be charged as a new SQL Azure database.

SQL Azure Continuous Backup

azuresupport — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 04:41:03 +0000

SQL Azure Continuous Backup is one the two main methods for backing up databases which run on SQL Azure. Continuous Backup enables developers to backup a database on a continuous basis – as in the backup will not function as a standalone database but must be restored to the original database (in contrast to the Clone Backup which can be used as a separate standalone database).

Continuous Backup is slated for release in late 2010.

SQL Azure Clone Backup

azuresupport — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 16:09:12 +0000

SQL Azure Clone Backup is one of the two primary methods for backing up SQL Azure databases. Clone Backup is promised coming in H2 2010 – although there have been no announcements to date. The clone will create a single (perhaps scheduled) snapshot of a database at a point in time. The other main method for backing up SQL Azure databases in Continuous Backup.

SQL Azure Backup

azuresupport — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 06:32:18 +0000

As of August 2010 SQL Azure does not contain any inbuilt backup options.

The closest to an inbuilt backup functions is support for the TSQL Database Copy command which produces a transactionally complete copy of a database.

Coming in 2010, Azure will deliver two backup methods – Clone and Continuous Backup. Clone (targeted for release in H1 2010) allows for a transactionally consistent ‘clone’ to be made of a database, once a clone is created it is a totally separate database with no relations to the ‘parent’ database. Continuous Backup (targeted for release in H2 2010) is similar to a mirror and is configured with a retention period and a lag time. Continuous Backup copies will be read-only. These will be be add-ons to the standard SQL Azure service and will incur an additional fee which was has not yet been announced.

Backup and Disaster Recovery Protection on Azure [FAQ]

azuresupport — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 02:55:42 +0000

As at launch in January 2010 data on Azure is replicated three times in the Azure storage system, in addition the data is replicated across at least two geographic datacenters (although Microsoft did not provide any more details on the timing for replication across datacenters).