The public preview of continuous backup and point-in-time restore capabilities for Azure Cosmos DB database accounts with Core (SQL) API or API for MongoDB was announced today at Microsoft Ignite. These powerful new capabilities make it easy to:

• Restore an accidentally deleted account, database, or container.  
• Recover from accidental corruption by restoring data to any second in the last 30 days. 
• Perform restore into any regions (in multi-region accounts). 

You can use Azure portal, PowerShell, CLI commands or Azure resource manager templates to:

• Enable continuous backup during new account creation (pro tip: once enabled, there is no need to configure retention)
• Trigger time-consistent restores
• Exercise the well-defined resource model 

In addition, you can use the portal, PowerShell, and CLI to:

• Define who can restore at the subscription or account level using existing roles

Enabling Continuous Backup   

In Azure portal

Using the Azure portal, enable continuous backup during account creation by navigating to “Backup Policy”, as shown below.

Using Azure CLI (command line interface)

az cosmosdb create \
  --name pitracct2 \
  --resource-group myrg \
  --backup-policy-type Continuous \
  --locations regionName="West US"

Using Azure PowerShell

New-AzCosmosDBAccount `
  -ResourceGroupName "myrg" `
  -Location "West US" `
  -BackupPolicyType Continuous `
  -Name "pitracct2" `
  -ApiKind "Sql"

Restoring data to a point in time

In Azure portal

Restore requires a click on the point in time restore on the portal menu, choosing the date, utc time, location and new account name.  

Using Azure CLI

az cosmosdb restore \
 --target-database-account-name <restored-account-name> \
 --account-name <sourceDatabaseAccountName> \
 --restore-timestamp   <UTC time> \   
 --resource-group  <resourceGroupName> \
 --location <Azure Region Name>

Using Azure PowerShell

Restore-AzCosmosDBAccount `
  -TargetResourceGroupName <resourceGroupName> `
  -TargetDatabaseAccountName <restored-account-name> `
  -SourceDatabaseAccountName <sourceDatabaseAccountName> `
  -RestoreTimestampInUtc <UTC time> `
  -Location <Azure Region Name>

Restoring a deleted account

You can restore a deleted account by using the restore capability on the portal like below 

You can assign the CosmosRestoreOperator built-in role at the subscription or account level to restrict who can restore. The example below shows how to assign that capability at the subscription level:

az role assignment create --role "CosmosRestoreOperator" --assignee <email> –scope /subscriptions/<subscriptionId>

Getting started

• Create a new account in Azure portal and enable continuous backup
• Review technical documentation 
• Find pricing information 

New to Azure Cosmos DB?

• Try Azure Cosmos DB free in production or non-production environments
• Download the free best practices and optimization guide 
• Visit MS Learn to build your Azure Cosmos DB skills