Backups for Azure SQL Databases and SQL Server instances running on Azure Virtual Machines Session on backup to Azure feature (manual and managed) in SQL Server 2014 to provide a cost effective DR and best practices around the same Chandra Mohan Situmalli

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Agenda Cloud backup benefits Pre-requisites Backup to Windows Azure tool SQL Server Backup to URL SQL Server Managed Backup Azure SQL Database backup Copy/Export Geo-replication

Azure blob service backup benefits Flexible, reliable, and limitless off-site storage Better alternative to the often used tape option to archive backups No overhead of hardware management Bypass the 16 disk limit on Windows Azure Virtual Machine Backups become available to on-prem and other Azure VMs Cost Benefits: Pay only for the service that is used Remote Accessibility

Pre-requisites Create a storage account Create a blob container A container provides a grouping of a set of blobs Create a credential A container provides a grouping of a set of blobs

Backup to Windows Azure Tool

Backup to Windows Azure Tool Features: Three step wizard Redirect the backups Can backup from Azure VM and/or on-premises databases Benefits: Support for backups to Windows Azure Storage for older SQL Server versions Encryption support for older SQL Server versions Compression support for older SQL Server versions Supported platforms and pre-reqs: SQL Server 2005 and later on Windows 2008/ Windows 7 or later A Windows Azure Blob Storage Container

Demo: Backup to Windows Azure Tool

Backup to Windows Azure Tool – Remember.. It does not run the backups Does not provide for scheduling, error tracking or logging of the backups No retry logic built into the tool Turn off SQL Backup compression on the databases that you want to compress with the tool New backup will create a new backup file Creates .bak, .enc (if encrypted), .gz files (if compressed and not encrypted), .data files (if no options are selected)

BACKUP TO URL

Backup to URL Available in SQL Server 2012 SP1 CU2 (T-SQL) or later Backup database to Azure Blob Storage service The maximum backup size supported is 1 TB You can issue backup or restore statements by using TSQL, SMO, or PowerShell cmdlets, and SSMS (SQL 2014) Appending to existing backup blobs is not supported Backup to multiple blobs in a single backup is not supported

Backup to URL – Demo

Best Practices Use unique file names Set container access level to private Location of storage account and VMs Housekeeping Enable backup compression especially for large DBs Backup/restore times are proportional to network bandwidth/latency – especially for large DBs

MANAGED BACKUPs

Managed Backups Available in SQL Server 2014 or later SQL Server Manages backups to Windows Azure Can be configured at the database or at instance level Supports SQL Server on-premises or Windows Azure virtual machine

Managed Backups - Benefits No elaborate backup planning required. Just need the storage location and the retention period Setting at instance level will apply to all the databases created thereafter Can be overridden at the database level too Backups can be encrypted Built-in intelligence And the advantages of Azure backups..

How it works? Stores the metadata in the msdb database Uses system jobs to write full, transaction log backups (Agent should be running..) System stored procedures and system function for enabling, configuring, and monitoring retrieving existing configuration settings, parameter values, and backup file information Extended events are used to surface errors and warnings Alert mechanisms are enabled through SQL Agent jobs and SQL Server Policy Based Management Containers are created in machinename-instance name format Workload of the database determines frequency of backups

Limitations.. Supports Full and Log Backups only Operations are currently supported using Transact-SQL System Databases are not supported Windows Azure Blob Storage service is the only supported backup storage option Maximum file size allowed for a Page Blob in is 1 TB Only databases set to Full or Bulk-logged model are supported

Managed Backup – Demo

Azure SQL Database BACKUP

Azure SQL Database Backup Available on Basic, Standard, and Premium service tiers Automatic Backup schedule: 1 full backup / week 1 differential backup / day 1 log backup / 5 minutes Most recent Full and differential backups are copied to blob storage and these blobs are geo redundant

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

Point in Time Restore Recover a database to a specific point in time (to the same server) Make sure you have available quota on the logical server to create another database Deleted databases can be restored to the point in time at which it was deleted

Point in Time Restore Restoring creates a new database To the same service tier that was in use at the chosen restore point To the lowest performance level supported by that tier On 1st Dec 2014 – database was premium with P2 performance On 2nd Dec 2014 – database downgraded to Standard On 3rd Dec 2014 – database restored to 1st Dec 2014 Restored database will be Premium with P1 performance level Time to restore depends on the size of the database and the length of the log chain sys.dm_operation_status - Returns information about operations performed on databases in a Azure SQL Database server

Demo: Point in time restore

COPY And export

Copy and Export Database Copy Export Creates a copy of the database in a asynchronous operation Transactionally consistent with the source Monitor the copy process with the sys.dm_database_copies, sys.databases views, sys.dm_operations_status Copied database created with the same service tier and performance level Performs an individual bulk copy of the data from each table in the database Transactional consistency not guaranteed The .bacpac files in the storage account can be used for importing to create new databases Automated export: First creates a copy of the database and then exports to .bacpac files

Demo: Copy, Export, Automated Export

GEO replication

Geo-Restore Geo-restore is similar to point-in-time restore Automatically available with basic, standard, and premium databases Uses the most recent daily backup of your databases in a different geographical location Useful, if the application can tolerate up to 24 hours downtime and data loss

Standard Geo-replication Available for standard and premium databases For applications with aggressive recovery intervals than Geo-restore Standard geo-replication doesn’t support ability to select the location of the secondary, to have read access to secondaries to have full control of when and where you failover

Active geo-replication Available for premium databases For applications with most aggressive recovery requirements Support online application upgrade or relocation scenarios Supports load balancing for read-only workloads Provides the failover and location control

Demo: Geo-Replication

Questions