Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS) for SQL Server now supports differential and transaction log restores for instances configured with Multi-AZ and instances with read replicas in the same region. The native SQL Server backup and restore component provides an essential safeguard for protecting critical data stored in your SQL Server databases, and it allows you to migrate your databases between different environments, such as from on-premises to Amazon RDS for SQL Server. Differential backups are cumulative backups of all data changes that have occurred since the most recent full backup, while transaction log backups record every single transaction in the database. Combining these with full backups you can create a disaster recovery strategy to minimize data loss.
Previously, customers who needs to use native SQL Server differential and transaction log restores were required to remove Multi-AZ and Read Replica so that the instance is in Single-AZ mode, restore the databases, and then reconfigure the instance back to Multi-AZ and Read Replica. Now customers can reduce the restore time by using differential and transaction log restores directly on these instances without having to convert them to Single-AZ first, while keeping Multi-AZ working for high availability, and read replica working to serve read workloads in the same region.
For more information about using differential and transaction log restores, see the Amazon RDS for SQL Server User Guide. This feature is available in all AWS Regions where Amazon RDS for SQL Server is available.
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Source: Amazon Web Services
