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I know SQL-Azure has automated backups that are retained for 30 days, but for archival purposes I also need to take and retain other backups: daily (last 60 days), weekly (first day of each week for the last 8 weeks), monthly (first day of each month for the last 12 months). At the end of a period, the last backup gets deleted (except for monthly). Any daily backups older than 60 days gets deleted, etc. The monthly backups would get moved to cold storage where they are saved for years.

I should note that my databases are only in the 2-4 GB range, so the cost savings of using Azure's cold storage may be so minimal that it's not even worth bothering moving the monthly backups to cold storage.

I was thinking blob storage is probably the way to go. Are there utilities, scripts, etc that do this? I don't want to reinvent the wheel. I see Azure has a scheduling service which would be nice to use because the free version would more than suffice, but I don't want to overcomplicate things. If I need to run a cheap VM just for backups I will.

Tamra Myers - Microsoft
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WhiskerBiscuit
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    I would use Azure Automation and Powershell to shift your backups around. Running a cheap VM is going to overcomplicate things. (Then you have to have a network, access, operating system, patches, security etc to worry about) – Pete - MSFT Aug 30 '16 at 23:28
  • I think cherrysafe (formerly redgate's backup) or powershell would be the two options closest to what you're looking for. – Shannon Lowder Aug 30 '16 at 23:44

2 Answers2

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There is Cherry Safe https://www.cherrysafe.com/Home/Features#sqlAzureBackup

This tool is flexible and not very expensive.

This article may also help you http://fabriccontroller.net/backup-and-restore-your-sql-azure-database-using-powershell/

fred
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We have a private preview of long term backup retention feature in Azure SQL. If you are interested to join please email to sashan at microsoft.com for details.

halfer
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Alexander Nosov
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