title

Long-Term Backup Retention

description

Learn how to store and restore automated backups on separate Azure Blob storage containers for Azure SQL Managed Instance by using the Azure portal, Azure CLI, and PowerShell.

author

Stralle

ms.author

strrodic

ms.reviewer

mathoma, wiassaf

ms.date

09/15/2025

ms.service

azure-sql-managed-instance

ms.subservice

backup-restore

ms.topic

how-to

ms.custom

devx-track-azurepowershell

devx-track-azurecli

build-2024

sfi-image-nochange

Manage Azure SQL Managed Instance long-term backup retention

[!INCLUDE appliesto-sqlmi]

[!div class="op_single_selector"]

Azure SQL Database

Azure SQL Managed Instance

This article shows you how to configure a long-term backup retention (LTR) policy for Azure SQL Managed Instance by using the Azure portal, PowerShell, and the Azure CLI, as well as how to view and restore backups from Azure storage. An LTR policy allows you to automatically retain database backups within a separate Azure Blob storage containers for up to 10 years. You can then recover a database using these backups.

Prerequisites

Portal

An active Azure subscription.

Azure CLI

Prepare your environment for the Azure CLI.

[!INCLUDE azure-cli-prepare-your-environment-no-header]

PowerShell

Prepare your environment for PowerShell.

[!INCLUDE updated-for-az]

Important

The PowerShell Azure Resource Manager (AzureRM) module was deprecated on February 29, 2024. All future development should use the Az.Sql module. Users are advised to migrate from AzureRM to the Az PowerShell module to ensure continued support and updates. The AzureRM module is no longer maintained or supported. The arguments for the commands in the Az PowerShell module and in the AzureRM modules are substantially identical. For more about their compatibility, see Introducing the new Az PowerShell module.

Permissions

To view and restore LTR backups, you need to be a member of the following roles:

Subscription Owner role or
SQL Managed Instance Contributor role or
Custom role with the following permissions:
- Microsoft.Sql/locations/longTermRetentionManagedInstanceBackups/read
- Microsoft.Sql/locations/longTermRetentionManagedInstances/longTermRetentionManagedInstanceBackups/read
- Microsoft.Sql/locations/longTermRetentionManagedInstances/longTermRetentionDatabases/longTermRetentionManagedInstanceBackups/read

To delete LTR backups, you need to be a member of one of the following roles:

Subscription Owner role or
Custom role with the following permission:
- Microsoft.Sql/locations/longTermRetentionManagedInstances/longTermRetentionDatabases/longTermRetentionManagedInstanceBackups/delete

Note

The SQL Managed Instance Contributor role doesn't have permission to delete LTR backups.

Azure role-based access control (RBAC) permissions could be granted in either subscription or resource group scope. However, to access LTR backups that belong to a dropped instance, the permission must be granted in the subscription scope of that instance.

Microsoft.Sql/locations/longTermRetentionManagedInstances/longTermRetentionDatabases/longTermRetentionManagedInstanceBackups/delete

Create long-term retention policies

You can configure SQL Managed Instance to retain automated backups for a period longer than the retention period for your service tier.

Portal

In the Azure portal, select your SQL managed instance, and then select Backups. On the Retention policies tab, select the databases for which you want to set or modify long-term backup retention policies. Changes won't apply to any databases left unselected.

:::image type="content" source="./media/long-term-backup-retention-configure/ltr-configure-ltr.png" alt-text="A screenshot from the Azure portal showing the Manage backups link.":::
In the Configure policies pane, specify your desired retention period for weekly, monthly, or yearly backups. Choose a retention period of '0' to indicate that no long-term backup retention should be set.

:::image type="content" source="./media/long-term-backup-retention-configure/ltr-configure-policies.png" alt-text="A screenshot from the Azure portal showing how to Configure policies.":::
When complete, select Apply.

Important

When you enable a long-term backup retention policy, it might take up to seven days for the first backup to become visible and available to restore. For details of the LTR backup cadence, see Long-term backup retention.

Azure CLI

Run the az sql midb show command to get the details for the SQL Managed Instance database.

az sql midb show /
--resource-group mygroup /
--managed-instance myinstance /
--name mymanageddb /
--subscription mysubscription

Run the az sql midb ltr-policy set command to create an LTR policy. The following example sets a long-term retention policy for 12 weeks for the weekly backup.
```
az sql midb ltr-policy set /
--resource-group mygroup /
--managed-instance myinstance /
--name mymanageddb /
--weekly-retention "P12W"
```
This example sets a retention policy for 12 weeks for the weekly backup, five years for the yearly backup, and the week of April 15 in which to take the yearly LTR backup.
```
az sql midb ltr-policy set /
--resource-group mygroup /
--managed-instance myinstance /
--name mymanageddb /
--weekly-retention "P12W" /
--yearly-retention "P5Y" /
--week-of-year 16
```

PowerShell

# get the SQL Managed Instance
$subId = "<subscriptionId>"
$instanceName = "<instanceName>"
$resourceGroup = "<resourceGroupName>"
$dbName = "<databaseName>"

Connect-AzAccount

Select-AzSubscription -SubscriptionId $subId

$instance = Get-AzSqlInstance -Name $instanceName -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroup

# create LTR policy with WeeklyRetention = 12 weeks. MonthlyRetention and YearlyRetention = 0 by default.
$LTRPolicy = @{
    InstanceName = $instanceName
    DatabaseName = $dbName
    ResourceGroupName = $resourceGroup
    WeeklyRetention = 'P12W'
}
Set-AzSqlInstanceDatabaseBackupLongTermRetentionPolicy @LTRPolicy

# create LTR policy with WeeklyRetention = 12 weeks, YearlyRetention = 5 years and WeekOfYear = 16 (week of April 15). MonthlyRetention = 0 by default.
$LTRPolicy = @{
    InstanceName = $instanceName
    DatabaseName = $dbName
    ResourceGroupName = $resourceGroup
    WeeklyRetention = 'P12W'
    YearlyRetention = 'P5Y'
    WeekOfYear = '16'
}
Set-AzSqlInstanceDatabaseBackupLongTermRetentionPolicy @LTRPolicy

View backups and restore from a backup

Portal

To view available long-term backups from the Azure portal, follow these steps:

In the Azure portal, select your SQL managed instance, and then select Backups. On the Available backups tab, select the database for which you want to see available backups. Select Manage.

:::image type="content" source="./media/long-term-backup-retention-configure/ltr-available-backups-select-database.png" alt-text="A screenshot from the Azure portal showing the option to select a database." lightbox="./media/long-term-backup-retention-configure/ltr-available-backups-select-database.png":::
In the Manage backups pane, review the available backups.

:::image type="content" source="./media/long-term-backup-retention-configure/ltr-available-backups.png" alt-text="A screenshot from the Azure portal showing the page to view backups.":::

You can also restore from this page by choosing the backup and selecting Restore.

Alternatively, to restore a backup from long-term retention by using the Azure portal, follow these steps:

Sign in to the Azure portal.
Go to the target SQL Managed Instance where you plan to restore your database to.
On the Overview page, choose + New database to open the Create Azure SQL Managed Database page.

:::image type="content" source="media/point-in-time-restore/choose-database-to-restore.png" alt-text="Screenshot that shows the SQL Managed Instance overview pane in the Azure portal, with adding a new database selected. ":::
On the Basics tab of the Create Azure SQL Managed Database page, provide subscription and resource group details under Project details. Then, under Database details provide the new name of the database you plan to restore. Confirm the correct SQL managed instance is listed in the dropdown list. Then select Next: Data source >.

:::image type="content" source="./media/point-in-time-restore/create-database-page.png" alt-text="Screenshot of the Azure portal that shows the Basics tab of the Create Azure SQL Managed Database page.":::
On the Data source tab, choose Point-in-time restore under Use existing data. Provide the subscription, resource group, and SQL managed instance that contains the source database. From the Managed database dropdown list, choose the database you want to restore. Then choose the point in time you want to restore the database from. The source and target instance can be the same or two different instances. Select Next : Additional settings >.

:::image type="content" source="./media/long-term-backup-retention-configure/restore-long-term-backup.png" alt-text="Screenshot of the Azure portal that shows the data source tab of the Create Azure SQL Managed Database page, with long-term retention selected.":::
On the Additional settings tab, you can check the box to inherit the retention policy from the source database. Alternatively, you can select Configure retention to open the Configure policies page, and set your desired retention policies for your restored database. When finished, select Review + create.

:::image type="content" source="./media/point-in-time-restore/additional-settings-page.png" alt-text="Screenshot of the Azure portal that shows the additional settings tab of the Create Azure SQL Managed Database page.":::
On Review + create, when validation is successful, select Create to restore your database.

This action starts the restore process, which creates a new database and populates it with data from the original database at the specified point in time. For more information about the recovery process, see Recovery time.

Note

From here, you can connect to the restored database using SQL Server Management Studio to perform needed tasks, such as to extract a bit of data from the restored database to copy into the existing database or to delete the existing database and rename the restored database to the existing database name.

Azure CLI

View LTR policies

Run the az sql midb ltr-policy show command to view the LTR policy for a single database within an instance.

az sql midb ltr-policy show \
    --resource-group mygroup \
    --managed-instance myinstance \
    --name mymanageddb

View LTR backups

Use the az sql midb ltr-backup list command to view the LTR backups within an instance.

az sql midb ltr-backup list \
    --resource-group mygroup \
    --location eastus2 \
    --managed-instance myinstance

Restore from LTR backups

Run the az sql midb ltr-backup restore command to restore your database from an LTR backup. You can run az sql midb ltr-backup show to get the backup-id.

Create a variable for the backup-id with the command az sql db ltr-backup show for future use.

 get_backup_id=$(az sql midb ltr-backup show
    --location eastus2 \
    --managed-instance myinstance \
    --database mydb \
    --name "3214b3fb-fba9-43e7-96a3-09e35ffcb336;132292152080000000" \
    --query 'id' \
    --output tsv)

Restore your database from an LTR backup

az sql midb ltr-backup restore \
    --dest-database targetmidb \
    --dest-mi myinstance \
    --dest-resource-group mygroup \
    --backup-id $get_backup_id

Important

To restore from an LTR backup after the instance has been deleted, you must have permissions scoped to the subscription of the instance and that subscription must be active.

Note

PowerShell

View LTR policies

This example shows how to list the LTR policies within an instance for a single database.

# gets the current version of LTR policy for a database
$LTRPolicy = @{
    InstanceName = $instanceName
    DatabaseName = $dbName
    ResourceGroupName = $resourceGroup
}
Get-AzSqlInstanceDatabaseBackupLongTermRetentionPolicy @LTRPolicy

This example shows how to list the LTR policies for all of the databases on an instance.

# gets the current version of LTR policy for all of the databases on an instance

$Databases = Get-AzSqlInstanceDatabase -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroup -InstanceName $instanceName

$LTRParams = @{
    InstanceName = $instanceName
    ResourceGroupName = $resourceGroup
}

foreach($database in $Databases.Name){
    Get-AzSqlInstanceDatabaseBackupLongTermRetentionPolicy @LTRParams  -DatabaseName $database
 }

Clear an LTR policy

This example shows how to clear an LTR policy from a database.

# remove the LTR policy from a database
$LTRPolicy = @{
    InstanceName = $instanceName
    DatabaseName = $dbName
    ResourceGroupName = $resourceGroup
    RemovePolicy = $true
}
Set-AzSqlInstanceDatabaseBackupLongTermRetentionPolicy @LTRPolicy

View LTR backups

This example shows how to list the LTR backups within an instance.

$instance = Get-AzSqlInstance -Name $instanceName -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroup

# get the list of all LTR backups in a specific Azure region
# backups are grouped by the logical database id, within each group they are ordered by the timestamp, the earliest backup first
Get-AzSqlInstanceDatabaseLongTermRetentionBackup -Location $instance.Location

# get the list of LTR backups from the Azure region under the given SQL managed instance
$LTRBackupParam = @{
    Location = $instance.Location
    InstanceName = $instanceName
}
Get-AzSqlInstanceDatabaseLongTermRetentionBackup @LTRBackupParam

# get the LTR backups for a specific database from the Azure region under the given SQL managed instance
$LTRBackupParam = @{
    Location = $instance.Location
    InstanceName = $instanceName
    DatabaseName = $dbName
}
Get-AzSqlInstanceDatabaseLongTermRetentionBackup @LTRBackupParam

# list LTR backups only from live databases (you have option to choose All/Live/Deleted)
$LTRBackupParam = @{
    Location = $instance.Location
    DatabaseState = 'Live'
}
Get-AzSqlInstanceDatabaseLongTermRetentionBackup @LTRBackupParam

# only list the latest LTR backup for each database
$LTRBackupParam = @{
    Location = $instance.Location
    InstanceName = $instanceName
    OnlyLatestPerDatabase = $true
}
Get-AzSqlInstanceDatabaseLongTermRetentionBackup @LTRBackupParam

Restore from LTR backups

This example shows how to restore from an LTR backup. Note, this interface didn't change, but the resource ID parameter now requires the LTR backup resource ID.

# restore a specific LTR backup as an P1 database on the instance $instanceName of the resource group $resourceGroup
$LTRBackupParam = @{
    Location = $instance.Location
    InstanceName = $instanceName
    DatabaseName = $dbname
    OnlyLatestPerDatabase = $true
}
$ltrBackup = Get-AzSqlInstanceDatabaseLongTermRetentionBackup @LTRBackupParam

$RestoreLTRParam = @{
    TargetInstanceName          = $instanceName
    TargetResourceGroupName     = $resourceGroup
    TargetInstanceDatabaseName  = $dbName
    FromLongTermRetentionBackup = $true
    ResourceId                  = $ltrBackup.ResourceId
}
Restore-AzSqlInstanceDatabase @RestoreLTRParam

Important

To restore from an LTR backup after the instance has been deleted, you must have permissions scoped to the subscription of the instance and that subscription must be active. You must also omit the optional -ResourceGroupName parameter.

Note

Delete LTR backups

Delete backups that are retained for a specific database with an LTR policy.

Important

Deleting LTR backup is non-reversible. To delete an LTR backup after the instance has been deleted, you must have Subscription scope permission. You can set up notifications about each delete in Azure Monitor by filtering for operation 'Deletes a long term retention backup'. The activity log contains information on who made the request and when. See Create activity log alerts for detailed instructions.

Portal

In the Azure portal, navigate to the SQL managed instance.
Select Backups. To view the available LTR backups for a specific database, select Manage under the Available LTR backups column. A pane appears with a list of the available LTR backups for the selected database.
In the Available LTR backups pane that appears, review the available backups. Select a backup to delete. Select Delete.

Azure CLI

Run az sql midb ltr-backup list to get the backup name.

Run the az sql midb ltr-backup delete command to remove an LTR backup.

az sql midb ltr-backup delete \
    --location eastus2 \
    --managed-instance myinstance \
    --database mymanageddb \
    --name "3214b3fb-fba9-43e7-96a3-09e35ffcb336;132292152080000000"

PowerShell

This example shows how to delete the earliest LTR backup from the list of backups. This sample gets the list of LTR backups for a specific database from the Azure region under the given SQL managed instance.

# remove the earliest backup
# get the LTR backups for a specific database from the Azure region under the given SQL managed instance
$LTRBackupParam = @{
    Location = $instance.Location
    InstanceName = $instanceName
    DatabaseName = $dbName
}
$ltrBackups = Get-AzSqlInstanceDatabaseLongTermRetentionBackup @LTRBackupParam
$ltrBackup = $ltrBackups[0]
Remove-AzSqlInstanceDatabaseLongTermRetentionBackup -ResourceId $ltrBackup.ResourceId

Limitations

Consider the following limitations:

Database backups taken from instances configured with the SQL Server 2022 update policy can be restored to instances configured with either the SQL Server 2022, SQL Server 2025, or Always-up-to-date update policy.
Database backups taken from instances configured with the SQL Server 2025 update policy can be restored to instances configured with either the SQL Server 2025 or Always-up-to-date update policy, but not to instances configured with the SQL Server 2022 update policy.
Database backups taken from instances configured with the Always-up-to-date update policy can only be restored to instances also configured with the Always-up-to-date update policy.
LTR backups from instances can be restored to any existing server or managed instance under the same subscription as the original database. For a complete list of restore capabilities, limitations and features, see Restore capabilities and features in Azure SQL Managed Instance.

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Manage Azure SQL Managed Instance long-term backup retention

Prerequisites

Portal

Azure CLI

PowerShell

Permissions

Create long-term retention policies

Portal

Azure CLI

PowerShell

View backups and restore from a backup

Portal

Azure CLI

View LTR policies

View LTR backups

Restore from LTR backups

PowerShell

View LTR policies

Clear an LTR policy

View LTR backups

Restore from LTR backups

Delete LTR backups

Portal

Azure CLI

PowerShell

Limitations

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Manage Azure SQL Managed Instance long-term backup retention

Prerequisites

Permissions

Create long-term retention policies

View backups and restore from a backup

View LTR policies

View LTR backups

Restore from LTR backups

View LTR policies

Clear an LTR policy

View LTR backups

Restore from LTR backups

Delete LTR backups

Limitations

Related content