The ability to backup to a URL was introduced in SQL Server 2012 Service Pack 1 cumulative update package 2. Prior to this, if you wanted to backup to a URL in SQL Server 2012, you needed to use Transact-SQL or PowerShell. SQL Server 2014 has integrated this option into Management Studio too.

The reason for allowing backups to a URL is to allow you to integrate your SQL Server backups with cloud-based storage and store your backups in Microsoft Azure. You saw in the first chapter that you can now place your database files on Microsoft Azure cloud-based storage. By being able to create a backup there, you can keep database backups of your on-premise database in Microsoft Azure. This makes your backups safer and protected in the event that your main site is lost to a disaster as your backups are stored offsite. This can avoid the need for an actual disaster recovery site.

In order to create a backup to Microsoft Azure Storage, you need a...