GCP VM SQL Server 2016, 2017 and 2019 DB backup to URL using GCP S3 bucket

Question

Is it feasible to transfer SQL Server database backups to a URL, specifically a GCP S3 bucket which is similar to Azure Blob storage? Our organization operates GCP VMs for SQL Server versions 2016, 2017, and 2019, and we need to facilitate the backup process from a Virtual machine (GCP) to a GCP S3 bucket utilizing SQL Server backup with either a URL or a mapped drive. 

The GCP VM SQL server 2022 version can effectively support the DB backup method to the GCP S3 bucket without encountering any problems.

Are there any restrictions on taking backups aside from the 2022 version?

The query executed successfully on SQL version 2022; however, it is not functioning on SQL version 2019.

BACKUP DATABASE [Test] TO  DISK = N's3://storage.googleapis.com/testpoc/Test.bak' 

Error message

Msg 3078, Level 16, State 1, Line 1 The file name "s3://storage.googleapis.com/testpoc/Test.bak" is invalid as a backup device name for the specified device type. Reissue the BACKUP statement with a valid file name and device type. Msg 3013, Level 16, State 1, Line 1 BACKUP DATABASE is terminating abnormally.

The assistance of an expert is highly valued.!!

Answer 1

Hi @Raju,

As said in the official documentation SQL Server backup to URL for S3-compatible object storage, it only applies to SQL Server 2022 (16.x).

It seems that you could not directly back up the earlier version to S3.

Regards，

Zoe Hui

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