In my daily work I see different types of Microsoft SQL Server installations and different types of IT managers that have their own backup and security policies. One of the security aspects that often is so poor is the backup conservation: backup on external discs, on tapes, on usb, on network folder and sometimes (ahimè yes…) on the same discs of the SQL Server machine.
Now we live in the cloud era, so why not using the cloud power for high availability and data recovery?
I see that not so many people knows that on SQL Server 2014 (but also on SQL Server 2012 SP1 CU2) there are built-in features to automatically backup your database to Azure and use its BLOB storage to securely save your data (encrypted and compressed).
This feature is so easy to use and it’s the same as the standard backup on discs, just specify the Azure credentials and the Azure storage account:
In this way you can have an on-premise database that is securely backup on cloud. Storing your backups in Microsoft Azure Blob Storage provides an instant, highly available, and a durable archiving option and no problems on hardware management.
For more informations about this feature (that personally I recommend a lot!) you can check the official MSDN site.
Stefano Demiliani 