Azure SQL Server and Database
The installation creates an Azure SQL server and one database in your Azure subscription. The database holds the portal's own data: users and roles, pages and menus, Global Settings, report schedules, bookmarks, Studio apps and sign-in activity. If you use Writeback, its tables live here too. The data in your reports stays in Power BI.
Don't change the data or the tables in this database. The portal depends on them, and a manual change can break it. Make changes in the portal instead.
Pricing
The installation creates the database in the Basic tier (DTU purchasing model, up to 2 GB), the smallest and cheapest tier. It is billed at a fixed rate, however much it is used, and is enough for most portals. To keep an eye on your Azure costs, set up an Azure budget.
Backup
Azure backs up the database automatically. The installation keeps Azure's default backup settings:
- Point-in-time restore to any moment in the last 7 days, which is also the maximum for the Basic tier.
- Backups are kept in geo-redundant storage, so they survive an outage of the Azure region. In the DTU model their storage is included in the database price.
- Long-term retention (weekly, monthly or yearly backups kept for up to 10 years) is not set up. You can turn it on in the Azure portal under the SQL server's Backups; you pay for the storage it uses.
A restore always creates a new database next to the existing one; the portal keeps using the old one until it is pointed at the new one. Contact us before you restore, and we'll help you switch over.
More in Microsoft's Automated backups in Azure SQL Database.