r/SQLServer • u/paultoc • 4d ago

Question Cost of backing sql db running on vm using azure backup.

Hi

I have a few sql servers running on azure vm. There are standalone instances and sql ag.

I want to know what is the cost involved if I want to backup the db on these instances via azure backup.

Would appreciate any tips and suggestions to optimise cost

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u/jdanton14 ‪ ‪Microsoft MVP ‪ ‪ 4d ago

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/backup/ (it's usage based)

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u/paultoc 4d ago

Thanks, i understand that there is a flat fee per instance and then a cost for storage.

Any idea if I need to pay for 2 instances if I want to backup db part of ag

5

u/jdanton14 ‪ ‪Microsoft MVP ‪ ‪ 4d ago

dude, read the pricing doc:

Backup for Azure VMs

Prices listed below are applicable when backing up your IaaS VMs.

The size of the backed-up data determines the pricing for Azure Backup in each protected instance before compression and encryption.

  • For virtual machines (VM), the size calculation is based on actual (used) size of VM. This is the sum of all data in the VM, excluding temporary storage.
  • When backing-up files and folders, the size of the files and folders configured for backup determine the data size.
  • When backing-up SQL Server, the size of the databases configured for backup determine the data size.

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u/B1zmark 1 4d ago

I appreciate he didn't read the document but you also answered 3 questions he didn't ask.

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u/B1zmark 1 4d ago

Azure backup detects availability groups and automatically backs up from the primary and skips the secondary.

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u/paultoc 4d ago

Ok, so will it backup the system db of both primary and secondary.

I read that the there is a somewhat fixed cost per instance/ag group. Plus storage cost when calculating total cost

So during calculating will it be considered as 3 sets primary system db, secondary system db and ag group db's.

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u/CanProfessional766 17h ago

use SQL-aware backup, configure AG backup preference, enable compression and avoid unnecessary retention or duplicate VM backups

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u/paultoc 17h ago

My current environment has multiple 2-node SQL Always On Availability Group (AG) clusters. Node 1 is always the primary, while Node 2 is primarily used as the DR

Some of the servers have multiple AG groups, with only one database in each AG due to the SQL Server Standard Edition limitation.

From my understanding of Azure Backup pricing, there are two main components:

  • Protected instance charges
  • Backup storage charges

The general recommendation I received was to have 3 protected instances per 2-node cluster:

  • 1 protected instance for the AG, covering all user databases
  • 1 protected instance for the system databases on Node 1
  • 1 protected instance for the system databases on Node 2

However, I was considering a different approach to reduce the protected-instance cost. Since Node 1 is always the primary, I was thinking of having one protected instance for Node 1 that covers both the user databases and system databases.

My assumption is that, if Azure Backup considers this as a single protected instance, it could reduce the overall backup cost while still covering all the databases I need to protect.