Use PowerShell to restore a database to an earlier point in time

Applies to: Azure SQL Database

This PowerShell script example restores a database in SQL Database to a specific point in time.

If you don't have an Azure trail subscription, create a trial subscription before you begin.

This tutorial requires Az PowerShell 1.4.0 or later. If you need to upgrade, see Install Azure PowerShell module. You also need to run Connect-AzAccount -EnvironmentName AzureChinaCloud to create a connection with Azure.

Sample script

# Connect-AzAccount -Environment AzureChinaCloud
$SubscriptionId = ''
# Set the resource group name and location for your server
$resourceGroupName = "myResourceGroup-$(Get-Random)"
$location = "chinaeast"
# Set an admin login and password for your server
$adminSqlLogin = "SqlAdmin"
$password = "ChangeYourAdminPassword1"
# Set server name - the logical server name has to be unique in the system
$serverName = "server-$(Get-Random)"
# The sample database name
$databaseName = "mySampleDatabase"
# The restored database names
$pointInTimeRestoreDatabaseName = "MySampleDatabase_10MinutesAgo"
# The ip address range that you want to allow to access your server
$startIp = "0.0.0.0"
$endIp = "0.0.0.0"

# Set subscription 
Set-AzContext -SubscriptionId $subscriptionId 

# Create a resource group
$resourceGroup = New-AzResourceGroup -Name $resourceGroupName -Location $location

# Create a server with a system wide unique server name
$server = New-AzSqlServer -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroupName `
    -ServerName $serverName `
    -Location $location `
    -SqlAdministratorCredentials $(New-Object -TypeName System.Management.Automation.PSCredential -ArgumentList $adminSqlLogin, $(ConvertTo-SecureString -String $password -AsPlainText -Force))

# Create a server firewall rule that allows access from the specified IP range
$firewallRule = New-AzSqlServerFirewallRule -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroupName `
    -ServerName $serverName `
    -FirewallRuleName "AllowedIPs" -StartIpAddress $startIp -EndIpAddress $endIp

# Create a blank database with an S0 performance level
$database = New-AzSqlDatabase  -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroupName `
    -ServerName $serverName `
    -DatabaseName $databaseName `
    -RequestedServiceObjectiveName "S0" 

Start-Sleep -second 600

# Restore database to its state 7 minutes ago
# Note: Point-in-time restore requires database to be at least 5 minutes old
Restore-AzSqlDatabase `
      -FromPointInTimeBackup `
      -PointInTime (Get-Date).AddMinutes(-2) `
      -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroupName `
      -ServerName $serverName `
      -TargetDatabaseName $pointInTimeRestoreDatabaseName `
      -ResourceId $database.ResourceID `
      -Edition "Standard" `
      -ServiceObjectiveName "S0"

# Note: For performing geo-restore for a managed instance database, use -FromGeoBackup parameter with restore. 
# Sample script: Restore-AzSqlDatabase -FromGeoBackup -ResourceGroupName "TargetResourceGroup" -ServerName "TargetServer" -TargetDatabaseName "RestoredDatabase" -ResourceId $GeoBackup.ResourceID -Edition "Standard" -RequestedServiceObjectiveName "S2"


# Clean up deployment 
# Remove-AzResourceGroup -ResourceGroupName $resourcegroupname

Clean up deployment

Use the following command to remove the resource group and all resources associated with it.

Remove-AzResourceGroup -ResourceGroupName $resourcegroupname

Script explanation

This script uses the following commands. Each command in the table links to command-specific documentation.

Next steps

For more information on Azure PowerShell, see Azure PowerShell documentation.

Additional SQL Database PowerShell script samples can be found in the Azure SQL Database PowerShell scripts.