Wondering how to create bacpac file from the SQL server? We can help you with it.

Here at Bobcares, we have seen several such SQL related queries as part of our Server Management Services for web hosts and online service providers.

Today we’ll take a look at how to create bacpac file from the SQL server.

How to create a BACPAC file from SQL server using SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)

Now let’s see how our Support Engineers create a BACPAC file.

1. First, we connect to the desired SQL Server instance. Then in the ‘Object Explorer’ pane, we right-click on the name of the desired database.

2. Next, in the context menu, we select ‘Tasks’ and then ‘Export Data-tier Application’.

3. It launches an introduction page. This introduction page defines the summary and high-level steps for this wizard. The high-level steps are as follows:

• Specify export settings
• Review the export summary
•  Check the result of the operation

In case, if we do not require this introduction page then we can check the ‘Do not show this page again’ option as shown below.

We click on the ‘Next’ button and then click on the ‘Export Settings’ on the Introduction page.

4. In the ‘Export Settings’, we insert the desired location to save the bacpac file by clicking on the ‘Browse’ button.
Now we have two options to save the bacpac file either ‘save it to the local disk’ or to an ‘Azure storage account’.
Note: We can manually select the database objects to be exported. The option is given in the ‘Advance’ Tab. By default, all the objects are selected.

5. After we set the location of the bacpac file and providing the name of the bacpac file, we click on the ‘Next’ button. As a result, a Summary page will appear with all the settings. We now verify and confirm all the settings.

6. Finally, we click on the ‘Finish’ button to begin the ‘Export’ process. A success message appears for each step. Once the export process completes, we click on the ‘Close’ button. We can browse to the directory and verify a BACPAC extension file exists.

[Need any assistance with SQL queries? – We’ll help you]

Conclusion

In short, the easiest way to export an existing database into a BACPAC file is through SSMS. Today, we saw how our Support Engineers create bacpac file using SSMS.