Azure SQL Database

Azure SQL Database is a fully managed, intelligent relational database service built on Microsoft SQL Server in the Azure cloud. It provides high availability, automated backups, and built-in intelligence for performance tuning and security. It supports both traditional SQL workloads and modern cloud applications with features like serverless compute and Hyperscale for massive scalability.

Also known as: Azure SQL DB, Azure SQL, SQL Azure, Azure SQL Managed Database, Azure SQL PaaS

🧊Why learn Azure SQL Database?

Developers should use Azure SQL Database when building cloud-native applications on Azure that require a reliable, scalable, and secure relational database with minimal management overhead. It is ideal for scenarios like e-commerce platforms, SaaS applications, and data-driven web apps where automatic scaling, high availability, and compliance with security standards (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA) are critical. It also suits migration projects from on-premises SQL Server to the cloud.

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Learning Resources

Azure SQL Database Documentation

Microsoft Learn: Azure SQL Fundamentals

Pluralsight: Getting Started with Azure SQL Database

YouTube: Azure SQL Database Tutorial for Beginners

Book: Pro Azure SQL Database for SQL Server Professionals

Related Tools

Sql Server Azure Transact Sql Database Management Cloud Computing

Alternatives to Azure SQL Database

Amazon Rds Google Cloud Sql Postgresql

Other Cloud SQL

Always On Availability Groups

Always On Availability Groups is a high-availability and disaster recovery solution in Microsoft SQL Server that provides database-level failover for groups of databases. It allows multiple copies of a set of databases (availability replicas) to be maintained across different servers, ensuring data redundancy and automatic failover in case of primary server failure. This feature supports both synchronous and asynchronous data replication modes to balance performance and data protection needs.

Amazon Aurora is a fully managed, MySQL and PostgreSQL-compatible relational database service built for the cloud. It combines the performance and availability of high-end commercial databases with the simplicity and cost-effectiveness of open-source databases, offering up to five times the throughput of standard MySQL and three times that of PostgreSQL. Aurora automatically handles tasks like hardware provisioning, database setup, patching, backups, and replication, while providing high durability and availability through distributed, fault-tolerant, self-healing storage.

Amazon Aurora Provisioned

Amazon Aurora Provisioned is a fully managed relational database service from AWS that offers high performance, scalability, and availability with MySQL and PostgreSQL compatibility. It uses a distributed, fault-tolerant storage system that automatically scales up to 128 TB per database instance, providing fast read replicas and continuous backup to Amazon S3. This provisioned model requires users to pre-allocate and pay for database instance capacity, making it suitable for predictable workloads.

Amazon Aurora Serverless

Amazon Aurora Serverless is an on-demand, auto-scaling configuration for Amazon Aurora, a MySQL and PostgreSQL-compatible relational database built for the cloud. It automatically starts up, shuts down, and scales capacity up or down based on application demand, eliminating the need to manage database instances. This serverless model is designed for applications with intermittent, unpredictable, or variable workloads.

Amazon Aurora Serverless

Amazon Aurora Serverless is an on-demand, auto-scaling configuration for Amazon Aurora, a MySQL and PostgreSQL-compatible relational database built for the cloud. It automatically starts up, shuts down, and scales capacity up or down based on application demand, eliminating the need to manage database instances. This serverless model is designed for applications with intermittent, unpredictable, or variable workloads.

Amazon DynamoDB

Amazon DynamoDB is a fully managed NoSQL database service provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS) that offers fast and predictable performance with seamless scalability. It supports key-value and document data models, automatically replicates data across multiple Availability Zones for high availability and durability, and provides built-in security, backup, and in-memory caching capabilities.