I have been working in on-premises SQL Server since 1999 and am now trying to engage with Azure SQL.
I have identified one of our SQL DBs that we want to lift into Azure for reporting. (We will be connecting Tableau Cloud and have already verified that this is best for us using sample data in Azure SQL compared against Tableau Bridge installed on our SQL Server.)
We want to daily take a SQL DB backup and restore it in Azure. (We may increase the frequency later)
From what I am gleaning, an on-premises SQL DB is not restored directly to an Azure SQL Server.
However, such a backup can be moved into Azure Storage using PowerShell. (We may have to turn on an Azure Storage resource with some cost associated with it)
Then, I am trying to learn about restoring that DB. I see in Microsoft documentation about Azure SQL restore, that "You can't overwrite an existing database during restore." This is not what I am used to in my on-premises SQL background. So, maybe some more complicated choreography is necessary such as restoring the DB with a new name and then deleting the old one and renaming the new?
I see we may have another option using Log Replay Service if we instead use a Azure SQL Managed Instance, which means we would have more Azure SQL management responsibilities.
Does anyone have experience to share on either approach that could assist me in firming up a plan?
Thank you
For Azure SQL Database your best bet is Replication to Azure SQL Database from on-prem to Azure. In Managed Instance or SQL Server on Azure VMs you can additionally restore backups from on-prem.