Backup to URL error: Operating system error 50(The request is not supported.

)
December 2, 2017
Pinal Dave
SQL
2 Comments
It�s always a good idea to be up-to-the-speed with the current market trend. As a
part of my consulting I have been getting calls from clients having issues with
Azure. So, I started learning Azure as well. Let us learn about how to fix the URL
error.

Recently, I was trying to take backup of the database to Azure and was stuck with
an error message.

Msg 3201, Level 16, State 1, Line 4

Cannot open backup device
�https://sqlauthsqlbackups.blob.core.windows.net/backups/master.bak�. Operating
system error 50(The request is not supported.).
Msg 3013, Level 16, State 1, Line 4
BACKUP DATABASE is terminating abnormally.

Before I move ahead, I should share that there are two kinds of backup methods
available. In both methods we need to create credentials. The credential can be
created using either access keys or SAS token. The method which I was using was
with SAS token.

My steps were very simple.

Solarwinds
Create a storage account.
Generated the Shared Access Signature (SAS) from the Portal.
Created Credential using SAS Token.
Perform backup of the database using �Backup to URL� command.
SQL SERVER - Backup to URL error: Operating system error 50(The request is not
supported.) sas-bkp-01

I searched on the internet and realized that I missed one step, which is not very
explicitly called out in Microsoft documentation.

WORKAROUND/SOLUTION
You need to create a Shared Access Policy and a Shared Access Signature for the new
container. There are multiple ways to do it.

Using PowerShell.
Using Storage Explorer.
Using Microsoft Azure Portal.
PowerShell method is explained in this article https://docs.microsoft.com/en-
us/sql/relational-databases/backup-restore/sql-server-backup-to-url You can refer
code section.

The script which is created does create SAS token, access policy and provides you
ready-made T-SQL which you can directly run to create credential.

I have used portal to define the access policy. Here is the screenshot for your
quick reference to understand where to click and reach there.

Home > Storage accounts > Account Name > Browse blobs > Blob Name > Access Policy

SQL SERVER - Backup to URL error: Operating system error 50(The request is not
supported.) sas-bkp-02
Once we click on access policy, we need to add a new policy and set all permissions
along with dates. After doing that I could take backups successfully.