How do I copy my SQL Azure database to a local SQL Server instance?

Question

I have an OLTP database hosted on a SQL Azure instance. I want to pull a copy of the database down from the cloud so I can run some heavy extracts and OLAP-style queries against it without impacting the source database.

How do I pull a copy of the database down to a local SQL Server instance?

Answer 1

Use the SQL Azure Migration Wizard:

The SQL Azure Migration Wizard (SQLAzureMW) gives you the options to analyzes, generates scripts, and migrate data (via BCP) from:

1. SQL Server to SQL Azure
2. SQL Azure to SQL Server
3. SQL Azure to SQL Azure

Answer 2

Compose a bcp script that exports the contents of all your tables to local files.

Start by writing a query that will output a bcp command to export each table in your target database to a path on your destination machine:

SELECT 
      'bcp '
    + SCHEMA_NAME(schema_id) + '.' + name
    + ' out '
    + ' D:\local_backup_directory\' + SCHEMA_NAME(schema_id) + '.' + name + '.txt'
    + ' -c '
    + ' -S servername.database.windows.net '
    + ' -d database_name '
    + ' -U username '
    + ' -P password'
FROM sys.tables;

Execute this query using bcp against your SQL Azure database from the machine you want to copy to and save the results to a cmd file. Execute that cmd file to export each table to a text file.

C:\> REM ask bcp to save the results of the above query to a file
C:\> bcp "SELECT      'bcp '    + SCHEMA_NAME(schema_id) + '.' + name   + ' out '   + ' D:\backup_directory\' + SCHEMA_NAME(schema_id) + '.' + name + '.txt'    + ' -c '    + ' -S servername.database.windows.net '    + ' -d database_name '  + ' -U username '   + ' -P password' FROM sys.tables;" queryout output_path\bcp_script.cmd -c -S servername.database.windows.net -d database_name -U username -P password

C:\> REM execute the bcp commands saved to file
C:\> output_path\bcp_script.cmd

This is a quick and dirty approach, and is not suitable for large databases or complex schemata.

Answer 3

Red Gate has an aptly named SQL Azure Backup Tool. It's free, but Red Gate has discontinued support for it.

Answer 4

I noticed there's a new tool in this list, it's Idera's Azure SQL Database Backup. It's free and they usually make good tools, so it's worth a try.

Another way of exporting databases (but this time only schema, no data) to Azure is by using DAC packages (.dacpac files extracted from Management Studio or Visual Studio 2010). This works only from SQL 2008 R2 SP1+.

You can read details about the Data-tier Applications here:

• What You Need To Know About Data-tier Applications (DAC Fx)
• Simplified Import and Export of Data.

Answer 5

you can use the SSMS Data import wizard. Here is a good blog post about it, with pictures. The key point is to select .NET data provider for the source database. I had a lot of problems trying to make it work with other (and default - native) providers.