In a recent project, we encountered an error while trying to configure SQL backups to Azure Blob Storage. The error message we received was “A failure occurred while attempting to execute Backup or Restore with a URL device specified”. In this blog post, we will discuss how to fix this error and successfully perform the backup.

The command we used for the backup was:

BACKUP DATABASE master TO URL = 'https://sqldbprodbackups.blob.core.windows.net/daily/master.bak'
WITH CREDENTIAL = 'BackupCredential'
GO

Upon executing this command, we received the following error:

Msg 3292, Level 16, State 6, Line 1
A failure occurred while attempting to execute Backup or Restore with a URL device specified. Consult the operating system error log for details.
Msg 3013, Level 16, State 1, Line 1
BACKUP DATABASE is terminating abnormally.

We verified that the same command worked from another server, indicating that the issue was not with the storage account. To troubleshoot further, we enabled trace flag 3051 to get more detailed messages:

DBCC TRACEON (3051,3605,-1);
GO

After enabling the trace flag, we ran the backup command again and checked the ERRORLOG file for information. We found the following interesting message:

BackupToUrl: couldn’t load process Error Code: 80070002

Upon investigating, we discovered that someone had renamed the “BackupToUrl.exe” file to “BackupToUrl.exe.dll” in the BINN folder. Once we renamed the file back to its original name, the backup started working fine.

To turn off the trace flag, you can use the following command:

DBCC TRACEOFF (3051,3605,-1);
GO

In conclusion, when encountering SQL Server backup error 3292, it is important to check the operating system error log and enable trace flags for more detailed information. Additionally, ensure that all necessary files are present and correctly named in the designated folders. By following these steps, you can successfully resolve the backup error and perform backups to Azure Blob Storage.

Have you encountered any other trace flags that helped troubleshoot backup/restore issues? Share your experiences in the comments below!