What are MSPs using to back up AWS EC2 workloads with Microsoft SQL Server?

EBS snapshots are useful, but by themselves they are block-level crash-consistent copies and don’t understand what SQL Server is doing. For MSSQL, coordinate the snapshot with the database—either quiesce it briefly or use a tool with SQL-aware integration. Otherwise, you may restore the disks successfully but still need to deal with application or transaction consistency.

If the databases can be moved to Amazon RDS for SQL Server, it’s worth evaluating. RDS handles much of the backup, patching, and maintenance work, although the cost and feature limitations may not fit every client. For ordinary EC2 workloads, treat the server as replaceable, automate rebuilding it, and keep persistent data on managed storage such as EFS or properly protected EBS volumes.

I wouldn’t rely on only one AWS account or only snapshots for recovery. Keep an additional copy outside the primary account, and consider storing it in another region or outside AWS depending on the client’s requirements. Commercial platforms such as Veeam, Commvault, Rubrik, or Cohesity can provide centralized policy management and database-aware protection if you want a more MSP-friendly experience than assembling scripts yourself.

AWS Backup is probably the simplest starting point. You can define backup plans, schedules, retention, and vault policies without maintaining much custom scripting, and restores can be handled from the console or CLI. I’d still make sure the backup vault is protected with immutability and ideally placed in a separate account or organizational boundary.