Ways to Access Database backup file for Restore on Azure Managed Instance

In our use case , we do not require Azure Managed Instance database all the time . We do require it to test and verify issues raised by Client . If we keep TB size database running , we would incur lot of cost .

So as demand arises we need to create a new database and restore TB size database backup file for reproducing and testing issues .

What could be ways to access database bak file which is TB’s ?

1. Store database backup file on file storage in Azure
2. Store it on a shared location
3. Store it on a disk on Azure

1.Store database backup file on file storage in Azure

We can create a container to upload database backup file . Container can be created by using following path

Storage Account → Containers → <Container Name> → upload backup file

This backup file can be downloaded on a drive on JumpHost of Azure Managed instance for restoring backup .

One disadvantage of this approach is that it takes lot of time to upload and download database file of size which is in TB’s.

2.Store it on a Shared location

We can store the database backup on a shared location and access it from the Jumpbox . From Jumpbox we can restore it on the Azure Managed Instance .

Again this approach takes lot of time to copy from shared location to a drive on Jumpbox .

3.Store it on a disk on Azure .

I found this the best way to restore database backup on managed instance from a disk as compared to other options .

Data Disk Created for storing database backup

I created above disk to store the database backup . This disk can be attached to the Jumpbox .

following link gives Detail explanation for attaching a disk to a VM .

Attach or detach a data disk to a virtual machine in Azure DevTest Labs - Azure DevTest Labs