So you have one or more SQL Azure databases that have data stored you treat really seriously and want to back them up on a regular basis like what you usually do for on-premises databases. However, the backup/restore story in Azure is different from on-premises. What you can do is to leverage the existing options provided by Azure platform. Following is a list of references you want to check out.

Business Continuity in SQL Azure
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsazure/hh852669.aspx

SQL Azure Backup and Restore Strategy
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/1792.sql-azure-backup-and-restore-strategy.aspx

How to Use Data-Tier Application Import and Export with SQL Azure
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/2639.aspx

Copying Databases in SQL Azure
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsazure/ff951624.aspx

However, if you really want to automate the backup operation and save some manual efforts, you then need to write some codes/scripts to orchestrate all these existing options and maximize the overall goodness that you can get from these options.

Now, here is the good news, a tool (SQL Azure Data Protector) is created for you just to do all these things. What you only need to do is:

• Download and install the little tool on a machine that usually schedules Ops tasks for you
• Create a profile (configurations like server names, credentials, locations, storage account, etc.)
• Schedule a periodic task using, for example, Windows Task Scheduler

If you want to understand more details about how this tool works, you can read the documents. Of course, you can also check out the source codes directly, as well.

Till next time,

-Jack