Poor man's replication Currently we have two SQL Server Standard Edition mirrored, one serving as 'hot-backup'. We are planning to migrate to a new cloud hosted solution, where we will use SQL Server Web Edition. So mirroring (or replication) is no longer an option.

We are looking into different types of poor man's replication, as we want to maintain the 'hot-backup' situation. We focus on replication through Transact SQL scripting and Transaction log distribution.

I'm a developer, not a database administrator and I'm struggling with figuring out the impact both methods will have on performance.

I hope anyone here can point me in the right direction.

Given that we have:


around 20 database
each around 1GB in size
the closer we can get to realtime replication, the better


What would be the pro's and con's of the two methods (mainly looking at performance)? Or is there another (better option) to achieve our hot backup?

I know "upgrade to SQL Server Standard or Enterprise" is the best option. I also know it's encouraged to ask questions in stead of starting a discussion in this community. Still I hope someone can help out!

Kind regards
You can still use SQL Log Shipping in Web Edition, this will provide the functionality you need. 
It will basically make log backups on schedule and restore to your secondary location.