Azure VM SQL Server Automated Backup Solution | Exam AZ-303

Automated Backup Solution for SQL Server on Azure VM

Question

You have SQL Server on an Azure virtual machine named SQL1.

You need to automate the backup of the databases on SQL1 by using Automated Backup v2 for the virtual machines. The backups must meet the following requirements:

-> Meet a recovery point objective (RPO) of 15 minutes.

-> Retain the backups for 30 days.

-> Encrypt the backups at rest.

What should you provision as part of the backup solution?

Answers

Explanations

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A. B. C. D.

C

An Azure storage account is used for storing Automated Backup files in blob storage. A container is created at this location to store all backup files. The backup file naming convention includes the date, time, and database GUID.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-sql/virtual-machines/windows/automated-backup

To automate the backup of databases on SQL1 and meet the specified requirements, we need to use Automated Backup v2 for virtual machines in Azure.

Automated Backup v2 offers the following benefits:

  • Automated backups of virtual machines are performed at a scheduled time, without requiring manual intervention.
  • Backups can be stored in the Azure Recovery Services vault or an Azure Storage account.
  • Backups can be encrypted at rest to ensure data security.

Based on the given requirements, we can conclude that we need to provision the following components as part of the backup solution:

  1. Recovery Services vault or an Azure Storage account: We need to store the backups for 30 days, which implies that we need a storage solution that can retain the backups for that period. Both the Recovery Services vault and Azure Storage account can meet this requirement.

  2. Encryption of backups at rest: To ensure data security, we need to encrypt the backups at rest. This can be achieved by using Azure Storage Service Encryption (SSE) or Azure Disk Encryption (ADE). However, to use ADE, we need to use managed disks, which are not mentioned in the question. Therefore, SSE is a more suitable option for this scenario.

Based on the above analysis, we can eliminate option A (Elastic Database jobs), as it is not related to backup and recovery. Option B (Azure Key Vault) can be used for managing encryption keys, but it is not a storage solution. Therefore, the correct answer is option D (a Recovery Services vault), which can be used to store and manage backups, and can be configured to encrypt backups at rest using SSE. Option C (an Azure Storage account) is also a valid choice, as it can also meet the backup retention and encryption requirements.