Configuring an Azure SQL Instance

You can add an Azure SQL instance so that you can back up its databases.

Before You Begin

The password for the Azure SQL Server administrator must not contain special characters, such as double quotes (") and back slashes (\).

Procedure

1. From the navigation pane, go to Protect > Databases.

   The Overview page appears.

2. Click Add instance, and then select Cloud database service.

   The Vendor page appears.

3. Select Microsoft Azure, and then click NEXT.

   The Select a Database Service page appears.

4. Select Azure SQL and Managed SQL, and then click NEXT.

   The Select A Plan page appears.

5. If you already have a backup plan, select it. Otherwise, create a new backup plan.

6. Click NEXT.

   The Cloud Account page appears.

7. If you already have an existing cloud account, from the Cloud account list, select the account. Otherwise, add a new cloud account.

8. Click NEXT.

   The Backup Content page appears. On this page you can either configure rule criteria for automatically discovering instances to back up, or you can manually select an instance to back up.

9. To configure the rule criteria for automatically discovering instances to back up, move the Rule based discovery toggle key to the right.

   • To create a rule group to auto-discover and select instances to back up, click Add > Rule group.

     The Add rule group dialog box appears.

     1. To specify the type of Match rule, select all or any. The rules for the match are as follows:

        all: All rules that you configure for the rule group must be satisfied for a database instance to be discovered.

        any: Any rule that you define that is satisfied will result in the matching database being discovered.

     2. From the list of rule types, select the type of rule to create, and then specify the rule:

        • Instance name: Select instances based on their names. For example, to select instances that have a name that includes "east", enter Instance name | Contains | east.

        • Tag name: Select instances based on the names of tags that are assigned to them. Enter the tag name in the region\tag_name format. For example, to select instances in the eastern US Region that are for a department, enter Tag name | Equals | us-east-1\department.

        • Tag value: Select instances based on the values of tags that are assigned to them. Enter the tag value in the region\tag_name\tag_value format. For example, to select instances in the eastern US Region for the human resources department, enter Tag value | Equals | us-east-1\department\HR.

     3. Click SAVE.

10. To see the instances that you selected for the group, click Preview.

11. From the SQL server authentication list, select the credentials for the Azure server admin account.

    By default, this account is the instance server admin account that has access to the instance and database to perform all operations, including backup, restore, and browse operations.

    Note

    • To use an Active Directory (AD) account for the backup, install the Microsoft Active Directory Authentication Library for Microsoft SQL Server on the access node and configure an Active Directory admin for that instance on the Azure portal. The AD account must be the Azure AD administrator or a member of the AD group assigned to the Azure SQL instance. To provide the AD account credentials, edit the SQL cloud configuration setting in the Configuration tab for the SQL instance and provide the AD account credentials in the SQL server authentication box.

    • Active Directory multi-factor authentication is not supported.

    Steps to add a credential

    1. Click +. The Add credential dialog box appears.

    2. In the Credential name box, enter a name for the credential.

    3. In User account, enter the user name of the Azure server admin account.

    4. In the Password box, enter the password for the Azure server admin account.

    5. In the Description box, enter a brief description.

    6. Click Save.

12. To specify the Storage account name, type the name in the box.

13. To manually select an instance to back up, move the Rule based discovery toggle key to the left.

14. From the Instance name list, select the Azure SQL instance.

15. From the SQL server authentication list, select the credentials for the Azure server admin account.

    By default, this account is the instance server admin account that has access to the instance and database to perform all operations, including backup, restore, and browse operations.

    Note

    • To use an Active Directory (AD) account for the backup, install the Microsoft Active Directory Authentication Library for Microsoft SQL Server on the access node and configure an Active Directory admin for that instance on the Azure portal. The AD account must be the Azure AD administrator or a member of the AD group assigned to the Azure SQL instance. To provide the AD account credentials, edit the SQL cloud configuration setting in the Configuration tab for the SQL instance and provide the AD account credentials in the SQL server authentication box.

    • Active Directory multi-factor authentication is not supported.

    Steps to add a credential

    1. Click +. The Add credential dialog box appears.

    2. In the Credential name box, enter a name for the credential.

    3. In User account, enter the user name of the Azure server admin account.

    4. In the Password box, enter the password for the Azure server admin account.

    5. In the Description box, enter a brief description.

    6. Click Save.

16. Click NEXT.

    The Summary page appears.

17. Click Finish.