Redgate Software has announced that the latest version of SQL Backup Pro now includes automatic integration with Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3), making it easier for users to store their SQL Server backups in the cloud.
According to Redgate, SQL Backup Pro simplifies the backup process, covering different and multiple versions of SQL Server, and allowing users to compress, verify and securely encrypt backups at the same time. The process is carried out from a centralized GUI, and the tool includes the option to automate the process of backing up and backup verification, as well as restores and log shipping.
Amazon S3 enables users to upload and download files easily, choose the location of backups, access them from anywhere and only pay for what they use.
With the new capabilities in SQL Backup Pro, Redgate says it is retiring its own Hosted Storage service for SQL Backup Pro, originally launched in 2013, and is supporting customers migrating to Amazon S3.
By making it easier to integrate with Amazon S3, users will be able to benefit from one of the industry standards when it comes to cloud-based backups, said Mark Champion, product marketing manager at Redgate Software. Although Redgate’s Hosted Storage service was “a perfect fit” for SQL Backup Pro when it was launched, Amazon is now superior and, as a result, Redgate will focus its efforts on delivering the best backup tools, and let Amazon handle the cloud, Champion noted.
The development team at Redgate is continuing to streamline the integration with Amazon S3 and has also introduced permission management through Active Directory Groups, and the facility to allow jobs to be enabled or disabled through the GUI.
Compared to backing up using native SQL Server, SQL Backup Pro v9 saves storage space, speeds up network files transfers, and compresses backups by up to 95%, Redgate says. It also encrypts data in and across multiple versions of SQL Server, a factor which is coming increasingly under the spotlight with the upcoming requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
According to Redgate, while encryption was introduced in SQL Server 2014, many companies and organizations still have mixed SQL Server estates, which may cause issues when GDPR becomes effective in May 2018, with Article 32, the security of processing, requiring the encryption of personal data, alongside the ability to restore it in the event of a physical or technical incident.
SQL Backup Pro v9 is available as a standalone tool and as part of the Redgate SQL Toolbelt, which contains the industry-standard products for SQL Server development, deployment, backup, and monitoring processes.
For more information, go to the Redgate website.