Accessing Data from Retired Azure Database for MariaDB

hi Global Admin my dear collegue,

this is a critical situation. when an azure database for mariadb is retired, it means microsoft has permanently decommissioned the underlying servers and storage. this is not a situation where the service is just turned off; the data is likely gone.

i need to be very direct with you. if the database has already been retired and deleted from your subscription, there is almost no chance of recovering the data directly. azure does not keep retired resources available for access.

your only possible hope is to check if you have a backup that exists outside of the retired database service.

first, immediately check your azure storage accounts. did you configure long term backups or export tasks for this mariadb instance? look for any storage containers that might contain a sql dump file from before the retirement.

next, look at your local development environments or other servers. do you have any old sql dump files, application backups, or even staging databases that contain a copy of this data? sometimes data exists in places we forget about.

if you find a backup, you can then restore that dump file into your new azure database for mysql flexible server.

if you do not have any backups, the data is most likely unrecoverable. this is a devastating scenario, and i am truly sorry if this is the case.

for the future, this is the most important lesson in cloud management. always, always have a backup and disaster recovery strategy that is independent of the primary database service. you should regularly export your database to a separate azure storage account or even a different cloud subscription. this is a universal rule that applies to any managed service on any platform, because when a service is retired, it is final.

so your urgent task is to search everywhere for a backup file. check all possible azure storage accounts and your local systems. if you find one, you can use it to migrate to mysql flexible server. if not, the data is unfortunately lost.

i really hope you find a backup. good luck.

rgds,

Alex