Azure SQL Database is a cloud-based database service that offers scalability and flexibility to handle large workloads. It’s based on Microsoft SQL Server Database Engine and provides a managed environment for easy provisioning, patching, upgrading, and monitoring. In this article, we’ll delve into the essential configurations of Azure SQL Database and provide a comprehensive guide to getting started with this powerful cloud-based database service.

Create Azure Resource Group

• Sign in to the Azure portal (https://portal.azure.com/).
• Click on the “Resource groups” option in the left-hand navigation pane.
• Click the “+ Create” button to create a new resource group.
• In the “Basics” tab, choose your subscription, resource group name, and region. A resource group name must be unique within the subscription and can contain up to 90 characters. The region selection will determine where your resource group will be created.
• Click the “Review + create” button to proceed to the next step.
• In the “Review + create” tab, review the settings you’ve chosen for the resource group. If everything looks good, click the “Create” button to create the resource group.

Create Azure SQL Database 

• In the search box, type “SQL Database” and select “SQL Database” from the list of suggestions.
• Click the “+ Create” button to create an Azure SQL Database.
• Fill out the following information on the Basics Tab.
  • Subscription: Select your subscription
  • Resource Group: Select or create a new resource group.
  • Database name: Enter a unique name for your database.
  • Server: Create a new server or select an existing one.
  • Password: Enter a strong password for the server admin login.
  • Pricing tier: Select a pricing tier (e.g., Basic).
  • Select the Backup Storage Redundancy.
• Once the above steps are completed, click on Next : Networking, and configure the following settings shown below.

• Once the above steps are completed, click on Next : Security, we are not going to change anything.
• Click on the next: Additional Settings, select the sample database by selecting the option “Sample”. Once you select the sample database, it will select the default value collation SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS

• Click on Next: Tags, you can use the tags to categorize resource in Azure.

• Click on Next: Review+Create

• Once the deployment gets completed successfully, you see message – “Your deployment is complete.”

Connect to Azure SQL Databas

1. Open SQL Server Management Studio on your computer.
2. Click on the “Connect” button in the top left corner of the window.
3. In the “Connect to Server” window that appears, select “Database Engine” as the server type.
4. In the “Server name” field, enter the fully qualified server name of your Azure SQL Database instance. You can find this information in the Azure portal under the “Overview” tab of your Azure SQL Database instance.
5. Select “SQL Server Authentication” as the authentication type.
6. Enter your login name and password for the Azure SQL Database instance.
7. Click the “Connect” button to connect to the Azure SQL Database instance.

Note: during the connection process, you may be prompted to sign in to your Azure account if you are not already signed in. This will depend on your specific setup and security settings. If prompted, simply follow the prompts to sign into your Azure account.

8. Click the “Connect” button to connect to the Azure SQL Database instance.

Conclusion

With Azure SQL Database, you can say goodbye to hardware and DR concerns as it’s a cloud-based database. You have the freedom to choose from Basic, Standard, and Premium configurations that are tailored to your DTU and storage requirements. To get started, you can choose a sample database like AdventureWorksLT, but remember to start with the minimum configuration you need so that you can scale up when necessary. Plus, you have the added benefit of enabling security and auditing features with just a few clicks in the Azure portal.