Any strategy for business continuity must include backups. They aid in preventing data loss or inadvertent corruption.
Your server's backups are routinely automated using Azure Database for PostgreSQL - Flexible Server. After that, you can perform a point-in-time recovery (PITR) during the retention period you choose. The size of the data and the amount of recovery required often affect the total time required for restoration and recovery.
Azure Flexible Server Backup is turning into a crucial tool for businesses of all kinds as they depend more and more on cloud services for data storage, backup, and disaster recovery. This post will explain Azure Flexible Server Backup, why it's crucial, and how you can use it to safeguard the data at your company.
In this article, we'll show you what is Azure Flexible Backups and how to maximize your backups with Ottomatik.
Azure Flexible Server Backup: What is it?
Users can create and manage backups of their Azure Flexible Server databases using the Azure Flexible Server Backup service offered by Microsoft Azure. Users may schedule regular backups of their databases using Azure Flexible Server Backup and store them in Azure's cloud storage for quick and safe access to backups whenever they are required. Depending on the location, Flexible Server creates secure snapshot backups of data files and stores them in zone-redundant storage or locally redundant storage. Whenever a write-ahead log (WAL) file is prepared for archiving, the server also creates a backup of the transaction logs. Within the confines of the set backup retention period, you can use these backups to restore a server at any point in time.
Although you can increase it to a maximum of 35 days, the default backup retention period is 7 days. For data that is held at rest, all backups are encrypted using AES 256-bit encryption.
It is not possible to export or utilize these backup files to build servers that are not part of Azure Database for PostgreSQL - Flexible Server. The PostgreSQL tools pg_dump and pg_restore/psql can be used for that.
Backup Schedule
On adaptable servers, backups are based on snapshots. As soon as a server is built, the first snapshot backup is planned. At the moment, snapshot backups are made once per day. The following snapshots are differential backups, and the initial snapshot is a full backup.
Depending on the workload and when the WAL file is full and ready to be archived, several frequency levels for transaction log backups are used. The delay (also known as the recovery point objective, or RPO) can often last up to 15 minutes.
How significant is Azure Flexible Server Backup?
There are various reasons why Azure Flexible Server Backup is crucial:
Protection against data loss: Having backups of your data is essential to ensuring that you can swiftly recover your systems and resume operations in the case of a disaster or unintentional deletion.
Management of backups is made easier thanks to Azure Flexible Server Backup, which allows customers to plan routine backups and manage them from a single interface.
Cost savings: By adopting Azure's cloud storage to store backups, users can cut their overall IT expenditures and avoid paying for pricey traditional backup solutions.
How can Azure Flexible Server Backup be used?
You'll need an Azure membership and an Azure Flexible Server instance in order to use Azure Flexible Server Backup. Once those are established, you can proceed as follows:
Step 1: Create a storage account
Setting up a storage account to house your backups is the first step in using Azure Flexible Server Backup. You can carry out this action using Azure CLI or the Azure portal. The storage account key, which is required to validate your backup procedure, must be obtained once you've setup your storage account.
Step 2: Establish a backup strategy
The next action is to develop a backup strategy. This will specify your backups' retention period, backup schedule, and other settings. A backup policy can be made using the Azure portal or Azure CLI.
Step 3: Make your databases' backups available
You must activate backups for your Azure Flexible Server databases once your backup policy is in place. You can carry out this action using Azure CLI or the Azure portal. You can decide whether to back up all databases or just a few.
Step 4: Keep an eye on backups
Once backups have been enabled, you can check on their status and progress using the Azure portal or Azure CLI. Additionally, you can configure notifications to notify you when problems occur.
Step 5: Restore backups
Through the Azure portal or Azure CLI, you can restore a backup if necessary. Both the original database and a new database can be restored from backups.
Backups Through Ottomatik
Azure Postgres has its own manual backup system and it's amazing on its own, but utilizing a 3rd-party software program can and will save you a lot of time and resources in the long run. In comes Ottomatik with its easy-to-use and navigate UI for your backups and you can try it for free for 14 days without using your credit card no strings attached! Ottomatik has a streamlined UI for you to navigate and easily manage your backups without any hitch. Here's a quick video on how you can use Ottomatik's backups for your Azure Postgres projects:
In the video, you can easily back up your Azure Postgres with Ottomatik with just a few steps. And you can choose between hourly, daily, weekly and monthly backups for your projects.
Conclusion
Azure Flexible Server Backup is a crucial tool for safeguarding the data of your company. You can quickly set up and manage backups of your Azure Flexible Server databases by following these instructions, ensuring that your data is safe and available when you need it. You can cut costs, simplify backup management, and safeguard your company's data loss using Azure Flexible Server Backup. And with Ottomatik's backup system, you can take advantage of our automatic system and have peace of mind for all of your database projects in just a few simple clicks!
