I struggled through this exercise and thought I would pass along what I have learned along the way.
Basically, I have a Windows Server in Azure with SQL Server installed on it. I want to take a native SQL backup and restore it to the SQL Server in Azure. Sounds like it shouldn’t be that hard, right? Well, it’s not, you just have to know what you’re doing – once you’ve figured it out it’s not a big deal.
I’m not a big Powershell person (yet, maybe someday), so I wanted to basically do this using Transact-SQL.
First thing I had to do was to push the BAK file up into Azure. OK…seems easy enough. But how do I do that? FTP? (nah….there has to be an easier way). Hmm….hey, in Azure there are Resources called STORAGE, I bet there’s a way I can use those and tie that into my SQL Server in Azure, right?
I found the Microsoft Azure Storage Explorer, which worked great for small files. Problem is – the file I want to upload is 129GB. The program would just blow up and refuse to upload a file that large, at least from my home with personal internet home speeds.
Then I found the Blob Transfer Utility for Windows Azure Blob Storage, which says that it will take larger files and split them up. OK…trying that now.
Mindy Curnutt is a five time Microsoft Data Platform MVP with over 20 years of experience working with Database Solutions. She specializes in Performance Tuning and Architecture. She speaks regularly across North America at Local User Groups, SQL Saturdays and Conferences.