Azure SQL

Deploy and manage Azure SQL Database, Elastic Pools, and Cosmos DB. Covers server provisioning, firewall rules, geo-replication, backup strategies, performance tuning, security hardening, and Terraform configurations.

When to Use

You need a fully managed relational database on Azure.
Your application requires geo-replication for disaster recovery.
You need elastic scaling across multiple databases with Elastic Pools.
You are migrating on-premises SQL Server workloads to the cloud.
You need a globally distributed NoSQL database (Cosmos DB).

Prerequisites

# Install Azure CLI
curl -sL https://aka.ms/InstallAzureCLIDeb | sudo bash

# Login and set subscription
az login
az account set --subscription "my-subscription-id"

# Create resource group
az group create --name database-rg --location eastus

SQL Server and Database Creation

Create SQL Server

# Create logical SQL server
az sql server create \
  --resource-group database-rg \
  --name myapp-sqlserver \
  --location eastus \
  --admin-user sqladmin \
  --admin-password 'S3cur3P@ssw0rd!' \
  --enable-public-network false \
  --minimal-tls-version 1.2

# Enable Azure AD authentication
az sql server ad-admin create \
  --resource-group database-rg \
  --server-name myapp-sqlserver \
  --display-name "SQL Admins" \
  --object-id "{aad-group-object-id}"

# Enable Azure AD only authentication (disable SQL auth)
az sql server ad-only-auth enable \
  --resource-group database-rg \
  --name myapp-sqlserver

Create Databases

# Create General Purpose database
az sql db create \
  --resource-group database-rg \
  --server myapp-sqlserver \
  --name myapp-db \
  --edition GeneralPurpose \
  --compute-model Serverless \
  --auto-pause-delay 60 \
  --min-capacity 0.5 \
  --max-size 32GB \
  --backup-storage-redundancy Geo \
  --zone-redundant false

# Create Business Critical database for production
az sql db create \
  --resource-group database-rg \
  --server myapp-sqlserver \
  --name myapp-prod-db \
  --edition BusinessCritical \
  --service-objective BC_Gen5_4 \
  --max-size 256GB \
  --backup-storage-redundancy Geo \
  --zone-redundant true \
  --read-scale Enabled

# Create Hyperscale database for large workloads
az sql db create \
  --resource-group database-rg \
  --server myapp-sqlserver \
  --name myapp-analytics-db \
  --edition Hyperscale \
  --service-objective HS_Gen5_4 \
  --ha-replicas 2

# List databases on server
az sql db list \
  --resource-group database-rg \
  --server myapp-sqlserver \
  --output table

Elastic Pools

# Create elastic pool
az sql elastic-pool create \
  --resource-group database-rg \
  --server myapp-sqlserver \
  --name myapp-pool \
  --edition GeneralPurpose \
  --capacity 4 \
  --db-max-capacity 2 \
  --db-min-capacity 0.25 \
  --max-size 256GB \
  --zone-redundant false

# Move database into elastic pool
az sql db update \
  --resource-group database-rg \
  --server myapp-sqlserver \
  --name myapp-db \
  --elastic-pool myapp-pool

# Monitor elastic pool usage
az sql elastic-pool list-dbs \
  --resource-group database-rg \
  --server myapp-sqlserver \
  --name myapp-pool \
  --output table

Firewall Rules and Network Security

# Allow Azure services
az sql server firewall-rule create \
  --resource-group database-rg \
  --server myapp-sqlserver \
  --name AllowAzureServices \
  --start-ip-address 0.0.0.0 \
  --end-ip-address 0.0.0.0

# Allow specific IP range (office network)
az sql server firewall-rule create \
  --resource-group database-rg \
  --server myapp-sqlserver \
  --name AllowOffice \
  --start-ip-address 203.0.113.0 \
  --end-ip-address 203.0.113.255

# Allow your current client IP
az sql server firewall-rule create \
  --resource-group database-rg \
  --server myapp-sqlserver \
  --name AllowMyIP \
  --start-ip-address "$(curl -s ifconfig.me)" \
  --end-ip-address "$(curl -s ifconfig.me)"

# Create VNet rule for subnet access
az sql server vnet-rule create \
  --resource-group database-rg \
  --server myapp-sqlserver \
  --name AllowAppSubnet \
  --vnet-name spoke-prod-vnet \
  --subnet app-subnet

# List firewall rules
az sql server firewall-rule list \
  --resource-group database-rg \
  --server myapp-sqlserver \
  --output table

# Remove a firewall rule
az sql server firewall-rule delete \
  --resource-group database-rg \
  --server myapp-sqlserver \
  --name AllowMyIP

Geo-Replication and Failover

# Create failover group with secondary server
az sql server create \
  --resource-group database-rg \
  --name myapp-sqlserver-secondary \
  --location westus \
  --admin-user sqladmin \
  --admin-password 'S3cur3P@ssw0rd!'

az sql failover-group create \
  --resource-group database-rg \
  --server myapp-sqlserver \
  --name myapp-failover-group \
  --partner-server myapp-sqlserver-secondary \
  --partner-resource-group database-rg \
  --failover-policy Automatic \
  --grace-period 1 \
  --add-db myapp-prod-db

# Check failover group status
az sql failover-group show \
  --resource-group database-rg \
  --server myapp-sqlserver \
  --name myapp-failover-group \
  --output table

# Manual failover (for testing or planned maintenance)
az sql failover-group set-primary \
  --resource-group database-rg \
  --server myapp-sqlserver-secondary \
  --name myapp-failover-group

# Create active geo-replication (without failover group)
az sql db replica create \
  --resource-group database-rg \
  --server myapp-sqlserver \
  --name myapp-db \
  --partner-server myapp-sqlserver-secondary \
  --partner-resource-group database-rg

Backup and Restore

# Configure short-term retention (1-35 days)
az sql db str-policy set \
  --resource-group database-rg \
  --server myapp-sqlserver \
  --name myapp-prod-db \
  --retention-days 14 \
  --diffbackup-hours 12

# Configure long-term retention
az sql db ltr-policy set \
  --resource-group database-rg \
  --server myapp-sqlserver \
  --name myapp-prod-db \
  --weekly-retention P4W \
  --monthly-retention P12M \
  --yearly-retention P5Y \
  --week-of-year 1

# Restore database to a point in time
az sql db restore \
  --resource-group database-rg \
  --server myapp-sqlserver \
  --name myapp-db-restored \
  --dest-name myapp-db-restored \
  --time "2026-03-23T10:00:00Z"

# Restore from long-term backup
az sql db ltr-backup list \
  --resource-group database-rg \
  --server myapp-sqlserver \
  --database myapp-prod-db \
  --output table

# Export database to bacpac
az sql db export \
  --resource-group database-rg \
  --server myapp-sqlserver \
  --name myapp-db \
  --admin-user sqladmin \
  --admin-password 'S3cur3P@ssw0rd!' \
  --storage-key-type StorageAccessKey \
  --storage-key "{storage-account-key}" \
  --storage-uri "https://mystorageacct.blob.core.windows.net/backups/myapp-db.bacpac"

Performance Tuning

# Enable automatic tuning
az sql db update \
  --resource-group database-rg \
  --server myapp-sqlserver \
  --name myapp-prod-db \
  --set tags.autoTuning=enabled

# Check database performance recommendations
az sql db advisor list \
  --resource-group database-rg \
  --server myapp-sqlserver \
  --database myapp-prod-db \
  --output table

# Scale database tier
az sql db update \
  --resource-group database-rg \
  --server myapp-sqlserver \
  --name myapp-prod-db \
  --service-objective BC_Gen5_8

# Enable Query Store (via SQL)
# sqlcmd -S myapp-sqlserver.database.windows.net -d myapp-prod-db -Q "ALTER DATABASE [myapp-prod-db] SET QUERY_STORE = ON"

# View DTU/vCore usage metrics
az monitor metrics list \
  --resource "/subscriptions/{sub}/resourceGroups/database-rg/providers/Microsoft.Sql/servers/myapp-sqlserver/databases/myapp-prod-db" \
  --metric "cpu_percent" "dtu_consumption_percent" "storage_percent" \
  --interval PT1H \
  --output table

Security Hardening

# Enable Advanced Threat Protection
az sql db threat-policy update \
  --resource-group database-rg \
  --server myapp-sqlserver \
  --name myapp-prod-db \
  --state Enabled \
  --email-addresses security@example.com \
  --email-account-admins true

# Enable auditing to storage
az sql server audit-policy update \
  --resource-group database-rg \
  --name myapp-sqlserver \
  --state Enabled \
  --storage-account mystorageacct \
  --retention-days 90

# Enable auditing to Log Analytics
az sql server audit-policy update \
  --resource-group database-rg \
  --name myapp-sqlserver \
  --state Enabled \
  --lats Enabled \
  --lawri "/subscriptions/{sub}/resourceGroups/{rg}/providers/Microsoft.OperationalInsights/workspaces/{workspace}"

# Enable Transparent Data Encryption (enabled by default)
az sql db tde set \
  --resource-group database-rg \
  --server myapp-sqlserver \
  --database myapp-prod-db \
  --status Enabled

# Enable vulnerability assessment
az sql vm update \
  --resource-group database-rg \
  --name myapp-sqlserver

Cosmos DB

# Create Cosmos DB account with SQL API
az cosmosdb create \
  --resource-group database-rg \
  --name myapp-cosmos \
  --default-consistency-level Session \
  --locations regionName=eastus failoverPriority=0 isZoneRedundant=true \
  --locations regionName=westus failoverPriority=1 isZoneRedundant=false \
  --enable-automatic-failover true \
  --enable-multiple-write-locations false

# Create database
az cosmosdb sql database create \
  --resource-group database-rg \
  --account-name myapp-cosmos \
  --name myappdb \
  --throughput 400

# Create container with partition key
az cosmosdb sql container create \
  --resource-group database-rg \
  --account-name myapp-cosmos \
  --database-name myappdb \
  --name orders \
  --partition-key-path "/customerId" \
  --throughput 400 \
  --idx @indexing-policy.json

# Enable autoscale throughput
az cosmosdb sql container throughput update \
  --resource-group database-rg \
  --account-name myapp-cosmos \
  --database-name myappdb \
  --name orders \
  --max-throughput 4000

Terraform Configuration

resource "azurerm_mssql_server" "main" {
  name                         = "myapp-sqlserver"
  resource_group_name          = azurerm_resource_group.main.name
  location                     = azurerm_resource_group.main.location
  version                      = "12.0"
  administrator_login          = "sqladmin"
  administrator_login_password = var.sql_admin_password
  minimum_tls_version          = "1.2"
  public_network_access_enabled = false

  azuread_administrator {
    login_username = "SQL Admins"
    object_id      = var.sql_admin_aad_group_id
  }

  tags = var.tags
}

resource "azurerm_mssql_database" "main" {
  name         = "myapp-prod-db"
  server_id    = azurerm_mssql_server.main.id
  collation    = "SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS"
  license_type = "LicenseIncluded"
  sku_name     = "BC_Gen5_4"
  max_size_gb  = 256
  zone_redundant = true
  read_scale     = true

  short_term_retention_policy {
    retention_days           = 14
    backup_interval_in_hours = 12
  }

  long_term_retention_policy {
    weekly_retention  = "P4W"
    monthly_retention = "P12M"
    yearly_retention  = "P5Y"
    week_of_year      = 1
  }

  threat_detection_policy {
    state                      = "Enabled"
    email_addresses            = ["security@example.com"]
    email_account_admins       = "Enabled"
    retention_days             = 90
    storage_endpoint           = azurerm_storage_account.audit.primary_blob_endpoint
    storage_account_access_key = azurerm_storage_account.audit.primary_access_key
  }

  tags = var.tags
}

resource "azurerm_mssql_failover_group" "main" {
  name      = "myapp-failover-group"
  server_id = azurerm_mssql_server.main.id
  databases = [azurerm_mssql_database.main.id]

  partner_server {
    id = azurerm_mssql_server.secondary.id
  }

  read_write_endpoint_failover_policy {
    mode          = "Automatic"
    grace_minutes = 60
  }

  tags = var.tags
}

resource "azurerm_private_endpoint" "sql" {
  name                = "sql-private-endpoint"
  location            = azurerm_resource_group.main.location
  resource_group_name = azurerm_resource_group.main.name
  subnet_id           = azurerm_subnet.data.id

  private_service_connection {
    name                           = "sql-connection"
    private_connection_resource_id = azurerm_mssql_server.main.id
    subresource_names              = ["sqlServer"]
    is_manual_connection           = false
  }
}

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Cause	Fix
Cannot connect to SQL server	Firewall rule missing or public access disabled	Add client IP with `az sql server firewall-rule create` or use private endpoint
Login failed for user	Incorrect credentials or Azure AD not configured	Verify admin credentials; enable Azure AD auth on the server
Database DTU at 100%	Under-provisioned tier or inefficient queries	Scale up service objective; review Query Store for expensive queries
Geo-replication lag is high	Large transaction volumes or network latency	Monitor with `sys.dm_geo_replication_link_status`; consider Hyperscale
Point-in-time restore fails	Requested time is outside retention window	Check retention policy; use long-term backups for older data
Elastic pool running out of eDTUs	Too many active databases in pool	Increase pool capacity or move heavy databases to dedicated tier
TDE key rotation failure	Key Vault access policy missing	Grant SQL server managed identity GET, WRAP, UNWRAP permissions
Connection timeout from app	Network path blocked or DNS issue	Use `az network watcher test-connectivity`; verify private DNS resolution

Related Skills

azure-networking -- Private endpoints and VNet rules for SQL access.
azure-functions -- SQL bindings for serverless data access.
terraform-azure -- Terraform-based SQL infrastructure provisioning.
arm-templates -- Bicep templates for SQL deployments.

azure-sql