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Business Central Saas Backup: 12-Month Retention & Recovery Option

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Posted on by Ashwin Nimbulkar

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What are the best third-party solutions for Business Central SaaS backup beyond Microsoft's default 28-day retention?

Looking for recommendations on solutions for below:

Retention Period: 12 months
Data Scope: Production database only
Backup Frequency: Daily (nightly backups)
Data Size: 80GB (with expected growth)
Automated daily backups with long-term retention
Easy restore options for data loss or corruption
Incremental backups to optimize storage
Scalability for large database growth
Cost-effective storage and disaster recovery planning

If a custom backup approach is considered instead of a third-party tool, what would be the best way to implement it? Which technologies or methodologies should be used to ensure reliability, automation, and compliance with long-term retention needs? also, are there any third-party available for this?

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Dynamics 365 Business Central

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Jainam M. Kothari 15,803 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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Hello,

For extending the backup retention period of your Business Central SaaS beyond Microsoft's default 28-day retention, here are some third-party solutions and custom approaches that can meet your requirements:
Third-Party Solutions

Azure Backup

Retention Period: Supports long-term retention policies.

Backup Frequency: Daily backups.

Data Scope: Production database.

Features: Automated backups, incremental backups, easy restore options, and scalability.

Cost-Effective: Pay-as-you-go pricing model.

Custom Backup Approach
If you prefer a custom backup approach, consider the following technologies and methodologies:

Azure Blob Storage

Retention Period: Configure retention policies for up to 12 months or more.

Backup Frequency: Use Azure Automation or Azure Functions to schedule daily backups.

Data Scope: Production database.

Features: Incremental backups, automated processes, and easy restore options.

Scalability: Highly scalable storage solution.

Cost-Effective: Pay-as-you-go pricing model.

Azure SQL Database

Retention Period: Configure long-term retention policies.

Backup Frequency: Automated daily backups.

Data Scope: Production database.

Features: Built-in high availability, incremental backups, and easy restore options.

Scalability: Supports large database growth.

Cost-Effective: Integrated with Azure services.

May this can Help : Restoring an environment in the admin center - Business Central | Microsoft Learn

Longer Term Backup retention and restore for Business Central Dynamics 365 – Welcome to Pariswells.com

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Steven Renders 5,686 Moderator on at

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Backups are taken by Microsoft automatically. Noone has access to the SQL Azure database, so taking backups yourself ir via another tool is not possible at all.

You can export a recent backup to a sql bacpac file and download that. You might be able to automate that using the APIs:Business Central Admin Center API - Environment Database Export - Business Central | Microsoft Learn

I'm not aware if there are already solutions out there, but you can have a look in the BC appsource.

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Ramesh Kumar 7,547 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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Hi Ashwin,

I don't think you can extend or modify the Azure SQL database backup as it's taken automatically. I'm not sure if we have any other solution besides what Steven suggested, which is using the BACPAC file.

Thanks

Ramesh

If this was helpful, please check the "Does this answer your question?" box and mark it as verified.

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YUN ZHU 99,086 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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Hi, hope the following helps.

Dynamics 365 Business Central SaaS: How to Export Database and Restore it on Local SQL Server

https://yzhums.com/5010/

Dynamics 365 Business Central: Manage environments via Admin Center API

https://yzhums.com/15755/

PS: Each Business Central environment is also protected by automatic geo-redundant backups. If a region experiences a full outage, Azure restores your data from the backup in another Azure region within the same Azure geography.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/business-central/dev-itpro/service-overview?wt.mc_id=DX-MVP-5004336#high-availability-through-geographical-redundancy

Thanks.

ZHU

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Khushbu Rajvi. 22,130 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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Hope this helps as well:https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/business-central/dev-itpro/administration/tenant-admin-center-backup-restore

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Vahid Ghafarpour 12,228 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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