There are occasions when, instead of working on a particular data or configuration, you may need to work on the entire database. Such scenarios could come up while creating a new environment and seeding it with the data from the golden environment, or while requesting Microsoft to use the database of the golden environment and populate production for the first time.
One must acknowledge the differences in the database platform when using Azure SQL and SQL on the premises. The process involves the following information flow when moving the database from Azure SQL to Microsoft SQL Server (on-premise):
As shown in the preceding image, there are some common steps in the database export and import process, and it leverages BACPAC (SQL backup files) files.
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/unified-operations/dev-itpro/database/copy-database-from-sql-server-to-azure-sql
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/unified-operations/dev-itpro/database/copy-database-from-azure-sql-to-sql-server
LCS has tools for initiating database operations, such as backup, restore, and so on, using the support request that we explained in Chapter 2, Implementation Methodology and Tools. We have seen on the Microsoft Dynamics roadmap a self-service capability that Microsoft intends to provide to customers and partners to empower them to leverage this step on their own instead of contacting the Microsoft operations team every time. These database operations include promoting a golden configuration to production, refreshing the sandbox from production data, and a database point-in-time restore for your environment.