Merge pull request #308973 from AbhishekMallick-MS/Dec-3-2025-UUF

Addressed UUF #334494

Author: prmerger-automator[bot]

articles/backup/manage-monitor-sql-database-backup.md

@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 title: Manage and monitor SQL Server DBs on an Azure VM
 description: This article describes how to manage and monitor SQL Server databases that are running on an Azure VM.
 ms.topic: how-to
-ms.date: 08/05/2025
+ms.date: 12/03/2025
 ms.service: azure-backup
 author: AbhishekMallick-MS
 ms.author: v-mallicka
@@ -54,16 +54,11 @@ To monitor database backup alerts, follow these steps:
 
 ## Stop protection for a SQL Server database
 
-You can stop backing up a SQL Server database in a couple of ways:
+Azure Backup provides the following options to stop protection of a SQL Server database:
 
-- Stop all future backup jobs, and delete all recovery points.
-- Stop all future backup jobs, and leave the recovery points intact.
-
-If you choose to leave recovery points, keep these details in mind:
-
-- All recovery points will remain intact forever, and all pruning will stop at stop protection with retain data.
-- You'll be charged for the protected instance and the consumed storage. For more information, see [Azure Backup pricing](https://azure.microsoft.com/pricing/details/backup/).
-- If you delete a data source without stopping backups, new backups will fail. Old recovery points will expire according to the policy, but the most recent recovery point will always be kept until you stop the backups and delete the data.
+- **Stop protection and retain backup data (Retain forever)**: Stops all future backup jobs from protecting a SQL Server database and retains the existing backup data in the Recovery Services vault forever. This retention incurs a storage fee as per [Azure Backup pricing](https://azure.microsoft.com/pricing/details/backup/). If needed, you can use the backup data to restore the SQL Server database and use the **Resume backup** option to resume protection.
+- **Stop protection and retain backup data (Retain as per policy)**: Stops all future backup jobs from protecting a SQL Server database and retains the existing backup data in the Recovery Services vault as per policy. However, the latest recovery point is retained forever. This retention incurs a storage fee as per [Azure Backup pricing](https://azure.microsoft.com/pricing/details/backup/). If needed, you can use the backup data to restore the SQL Server database and use the **Resume backup** option to resume protection.
+- **Stop protection and delete backup data**: Stops future backup jobs for a SQL Server database and deletes all backup data. You can't restore the SQL Server database or use the **Resume backup** option.
 
 To stop protection for a database: