Will a Backup Vault for a Deleted PostgreSQL Flexible Server be Retained?

Question

We had problems migrating our PostgreSQL single server to flexible server because of some large database audit tables. It was an offline migration and we didn't want our public facing application down for many hours waiting for the audit tables to migrate. We cloned the single server, then truncated the audit tables from the source single server before successfully migrating to the flexible server.

Our organization's policies require us to retain audit records for 7 years. After the live production database migration was completed, we migrated the clone with the large audit tables to another flexible server which will never be used by our application. I created a backup vault for this unused flexible server.

My question is: will the backup vault be retained if I delete its source flexible server? If we need to access the audit table records, can we create another Postgres Flexible server for the backup vault?

Another question about the backup vault policy: Do I need to delete the backup policy if no source server exists? Do the retention rules of 10 years remain if I delete the backup policy from the backup vault?

Answer 1

Hi Johnson, Eric M (MNIT)

1. When you delete the source PostgreSQL Flexible Server, the backup vault itself will not be deleted automatically. The backups and the vault will remain intact, allowing you to still access the backup data. Even after the source server is deleted, you can restore the backups to a new PostgreSQL Flexible Server whenever needed in the future.

Essentially, the backup vault is separate from the source server and stores the backup data independently, so you won’t lose your backups by deleting the source server.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/backup/backup-azure-database-postgresql-flex-manage#stop-protection

2. When the source server is deleted, the backup policy becomes inactive since it is tied specifically to that server. However, you do not need to manually delete the backup policy unless you want to remove the retention rules associated with it.

If you choose to delete the backup policy, the retention rules tied to that policy will no longer apply. Going forward, your data retention will be governed by any new policies you create.

If you have any further queries, do let us know.

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