# Daily Full Backups for SQL Server and SAP HANA Databases in Azure VMs Canonical: https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/inefficiencies/daily-full-backups-for-sql-server-and-sap-hana-databases-in-azure-vms Azure Backup protects SQL Server and SAP HANA databases running in Azure VMs with streaming workload backups: full, differential (and for HANA,... By: PointFive Updated: 2026-09-28 [Cloud Efficiency Hub](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub) The short version Azure Backup protects SQL Server and SAP HANA databases running in Azure VMs with streaming workload backups: full, differential (and for HANA, incremental) and log backups written to a Recovery Services vault. PointFive Research Cloud cost research at PointFive Azure service [Azure Backup](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/cloud-services/azure-backup) Category [Storage](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/service-category/storage) Reference CER-0446 Type Inefficient Configuration ## Explanation Why the waste happens and who it affects. When a SQL Server backup policy is created, a daily full backup is the default, and HANA policies can be set up the same way. Each daily full is a complete copy of the database that is kept for the full retention period, so vault storage grows with database size multiplied by the number of retained days. Point-in-time recovery comes from the log backups, not from the frequency of full backups, so a weekly full plus daily differential or incremental backups plus logs usually meets the same recovery point objective. Microsoft's HANA backup FAQ ranks daily full plus logs as the costliest policy and weekly full plus daily incremental as the least expensive, and Azure Advisor flags database workloads that could use differential or incremental backups. The tradeoff is restore time: a restore needs the full plus the differential, or the full plus every incremental since it, before logs are applied. ## Billing model The pricing dimensions that drive this cost. Workload backup for SQL Server and SAP HANA in Azure VMs is billed as a protected instance fee plus the vault storage consumed by retained recovery points. Protected instance fee Monthly charge per protected database instance, tiered by the size of the backed-up data before compression Backup storage Billed per GB per month for all retained recovery points, at the rate of the vault's redundancy (LRS, ZRS or GRS) Full backup A complete copy of the database, retained until its own expiry and until every dependent log backup has expired Differential or incremental Stores only changes since the last full (differential) or last backup (incremental), so each retained copy is much smaller ## How to detect 4 checks to find it in your estate. - Review Azure Advisor for 'Use differential or incremental backup for database workloads' on Recovery Services vaults - List backup policies of workload type SQL Server in Azure VM and SAP HANA in Azure VM whose full backup schedule is Daily (in the policy's subProtectionPolicy list, the entry with policyType Full and a Daily scheduleRunFrequency) - Compare backup storage growth in the vault (Backup Reports or cost analysis for the vault) with the size of the protected databases; storage many times the database size with daily fulls points to this pattern - Check whether SQL Backup Compression is enabled on SQL Server policies; it is off by default ## How to fix 5 ways to remove the waste. - Change SQL Server policies to a weekly full backup with daily differential backups and log backups at the required frequency; differential backups are only available when fulls are weekly - For SAP HANA, move to weekly full plus daily incremental (lowest storage) or daily differential (faster restore) plus logs - Before switching, review the policy change rules: changes apply retroactively, so earlier daily fulls not on the new full-backup day are marked for deletion but kept until the logs that depend on them expire - Validate that the longer restore chain still meets the recovery time objective, since restores need the full plus differential or incremental copies before logs are applied - Enable SQL Backup Compression in SQL Server policies where CPU headroom allows, to reduce the size of each backup sent to the vault ## Documentation Vendor references for pricing and configuration. - [FAQ - Back up SAP HANA databases on Azure VMs learn.microsoft.com](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/backup/sap-hana-faq-backup-azure-vm) - [Back up multiple SQL Server VMs from the vault learn.microsoft.com](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/backup/backup-sql-server-database-azure-vms) - [Cost recommendations - Azure Advisor learn.microsoft.com](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/advisor/advisor-reference-cost-recommendations) - [Azure Backup pricing azure.microsoft.com](https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/backup/) ## Related inefficiencies [Browse the library](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub) - Azure Backup CER-0278 ### [Azure Backup Data Retained Beyond Intended Retention Period](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/inefficiencies/azure-backup-data-retained-beyond-intended-retention-period) Backup data persists longer than intended due to misaligned or outdated retention policies. It often arises when retention requirements change over time, but older recovery points are not evaluated or cleaned up accordingly. In some cases,... Storage - Azure Backup CER-0286 ### [Retained Azure Backup Data After Resource Decommissioning](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/inefficiencies/retained-azure-backup-data-after-resource-decommissioning) A protected resource (such as a virtual machine, database, or file share) is decommissioned without explicitly stopping backup protection. In these cases, Azure Backup keeps applying the retention policy to older recovery points, but the... Storage - Azure Files CER-0173 ### [High Transaction Cost Due to Misaligned Tier in Azure Files](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/inefficiencies/high-transaction-cost-due-to-misaligned-tier-in-azure-files) Azure Files Standard tier is cost-effective for low-traffic scenarios but imposes per-operation charges that grow rapidly with frequent access. In contrast, Premium tier provides consistent IOPS and throughput without additional... Storage --- Source: the public page above. Product screenshots and illustrative interfaces are examples, not live customer data.