During an Azure database backup operation, the system makes a copy of the Azure SQL database and then exports the database copy. The database copy is an exact replica of the source database, which includes its Azure purchasing model. The purchasing model is determined either by the configured pricing tier or the number of configured vCores. The cost and performance of the database copy is related to the configured Azure purchasing model.
You can configure, at the subclient level, the Azure purchasing model used when copying and exporting an Azure SQL database during the backup operation. You can configure the subtier for a database transaction unit (DTU) -based purchasing model or the number of vCores for a vCore-based purchasing model. This allows you to determine the purchasing model and related performance used to run the backup's copy and export steps.
Azure SQL backup operations create a temporary application-consistent copy of the Azure SQL database for exporting the data. By default, the copy database is created with the same pricing tier as the source database. You can choose the pricing tier to be used for the copy database by configuring the Azure SQL purchasing model in the subclient properties window. By default, for databases residing inside an elastic pool, the copy is created inside the pool. However, when you configure a pricing tier, the copy is created with the chosen pricing tier, which may be outside the elastic pool. This allows you to control the resources assigned to the database copy, which in turn can help you reduce Azure costs. This feature is available in maintenance release 11.36.30 and later releases.
Important
Some purchasing model subtiers have a maximum database size, so when you configure a lower subtier, the maximum database size for the selected subtier needs to be within the range of the database sizes you are protecting.
For example, a database with the Standard purchasing model and a subtier of S7 has a maximum size of 1,024 GB, so if your database has a size of 500 GB, the lowest subtier that can be configured is S3 because subtiers S0-S2 only support a maximum database size of 250 GB. For more information, go to the MAXSIZE parameter information on the CREATE DATABASE page on the Microsoft documentation website.
You can change the following items:
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Azure premium pricing tier - pricing subtier to use while copying an Azure database that uses a DTU premium pricing tier model
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Azure standard pricing tier - pricing subtier to use while copying an Azure database that uses a DTU standard pricing tier model
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Number of Azure vCores - number of vCores to use while copying an Azure database that uses a vCore pricing model
Procedure
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From the navigation pane, go to Protect > Databases.
The Overview page appears.
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On the Instances tab, click the instance.
The overview page for the instance appears.
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On the Subclients tab, click the subclient whose purchasing model you want to change.
The overview page for the subclient appears.
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To change an Azure pricing tier or the number of Azure vCores, in the Settings area, click the Edit button
for the item. -
From the selection list, select the DTU capacity or the number of vCores.
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To save the change, click SUBMIT.