I'm new to Azure SQL and trying to understand how to protect the data in my Azure SQL database. I know Microsoft takes care of automatic backups, but I'm concerned that someone with the right access could delete this data. Are there options for manually backing up my data or saving it to my own Azure Blob storage?
2 Answers
You definitely can back up your Azure SQL database data! You can either do it manually to your Azure Blob or set up automated backups. For detailed instructions, check out the Microsoft documentation for [manual backups](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-sql/virtual-machines/windows/backup-restore?view=azuresql#manual) and [automated backups](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-sql/virtual-machines/windows/backup-restore?view=azuresql#automated). There's also Azure Workload Backup which provides additional options. Just make sure your access permissions are set correctly and explore the [vault immutability](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/backup/backaeg-azure-immutable-vault-concept?tabs=recovery-services-vault) features for enhanced protection.
Just to clarify, doing a manual backup of Azure SQL Database isn’t an option; instead, you can perform an export—which is a different process. An export creates a logical dump of your database, such as create table and insert statements. However, if your database is large, this can really impact performance. Keep in mind that Azure SQL DB backups are more like OS file copies that you can only restore to another Azure SQL DB.
Thanks for the clarification! Just to confirm, an export is essentially a BACPAC file, right? It seems pretty tricky to achieve transaction consistency with that approach.
Thanks for the response! It looks like those links are more for SQL on Azure VMs rather than for native Azure SQL databases. When I try to run 'backup database' in TSQL, it says "command not found."