Understanding Microsoft Azure SQL - PAAS

Explore Azure SQL databases as a platform as a service, a fully managed relational database. Connect apps to data with monitoring and geo replication for security and availability.

Learn how to secure Azure SQL databases with encryption in transit and at rest, data discovery and classification, firewall access control, authentication options, auditing, and threat detection.

Explore the database platform continuum from on-premise servers to cloud, comparing IaaS and PaaS in Azure SQL, cost, administration, and time-to-market impacts.

Azure SQL Database is a platform as a service with built-in intelligence and easy migrations; SQL Server on a VM offers full control, including patching, with up to 20,000 IOPS.

Azure sql paas delivers automatic threat detection and performance tuning, with query store, index advisor, dynamic data masking, and migration tools that support security, scalability, and compliance for evolving apps.

Understand how Microsoft Azure SQL PaaS ensures database availability via automatic backups, point-in-time restore, and a configurable retention policy (default seven days, up to 35), plus cross-region geographical redundancy.

Create your first Azure SQL database in PaaS by selecting a server, choosing between blank or sample databases, and configuring elastic pools and compute options for scalable performance.

Configure the server firewall to allow inbound connectivity to the Azure SQL database by whitelisting IPs or IP ranges, and enable private connections via virtual networks.

Connect to Azure SQL with SQL Management Studio by supplying the server name and credentials, then explore the university database, view tables, and run sample select queries on Adventure Works.

Connect to Azure SQL from Microsoft Excel to query databases, select tables, and view data while understanding authentication, firewall rules, and network configurations.

Learn how to export a database to blob storage using the export button, selecting the storage account and container, and verify the backup file in the blob container.

Import a database from a BACPAC file in blob storage into an Azure SQL PaaS server. Configure the database name, collation, user credentials, and size, then create the new database.

Verify the import and export status of an Azure SQL DB by reviewing the operation log, noting failures, and confirming a secondary database created on the same server.

Learn how to create consistent copies of your Azure SQL databases, via copy on the same or a different server, with point-in-time snapshots, credentials management, and UI or CLI options.

Verify Azure SQL DB copy operation by checking for the original and copied databases on the same server, and confirm identical table structures and content via the query editor.

Learn to monitor Azure SQL databases with dashboards, add metrics and charts, and analyze performance using aggregations to spot bottlenecks and troubleshoot.

Learn how to scale Azure SQL by configuring vertical scaling, selecting elastic, basic, standard, or premium options, and exploring geographic replication for workloads.

Explore how to enhance availability with geo replication in Azure SQL by creating a read-only secondary database in a different region, such as Central U.S., to survive East Coast outages.

Learn how geo-replication creates a central u.s. secondary and how to fail over to it as primary when the east u.s. primary fails, with disconnections and potential data loss.

Verify failover by showing US central as primary and East Coast as secondary, with blue primary and green secondary; failover completes in four to seven minutes depending on data size.

Learn to connect applications to a SQL database using connection strings, including copy-paste code for ODBC or PAGG and modifying password and attributes, with a view of database connections.

Synchronize Azure SQL DB to other databases using a hub and spoke sync group topology. Designate a hub and connect member databases across Azure, on premise, or VM installations.

Configure a sync group for Azure SQL PaaS by creating a metadata database to manage hub and member roles, and set conflict resolution and automatic, hub-to-member or bi-directional synchronization.

Set up hub and member databases for Azure SQL synchronization in a 1-to-1 link, select the member and target university database, and optionally add an on-premise database for connectivity.

Configure granular data synchronization by selecting specific tables and columns from the hub to member databases, monitor progress, and adjust sync frequency for Azure SQL PaaS.

Enable dynamic data masking to limit exposure of sensitive data by masking fields such as phone numbers and credit card digits for non-privileged users, with rules for verification and compliance.

Discover Azure SQL Security's advanced threat protection (ATP), a unified suite that classifies sensitive data, mitigates vulnerabilities, and detects anomalies through discovery and classification, vulnerability assessment, and threat detection.

Learn how Azure SQL data discovery and classification within Azure Advanced Threat Protection helps discover, label, and protect tables and columns with sensitive data for GDPR and compliance.

Configure vulnerability assessment for Azure SQL, store reports in a storage account and container, schedule scans, and email findings to the security team to meet compliance and data privacy standards.

Threat detection in Azure SQL PaaS flags anomalous and suspicious database activities, raises security alerts, and relies on Azure Security Center to recommend actions and mitigate threats.

Enable auditing for Azure SQL PaaS to log database activities, store audit trails in Azure Storage, and set retention, categories, and reports to detect anomalies and support compliance.

Secure data at rest in Azure SQL with TDE, decrypting a database encryption key at startup and protecting backups and transaction logs with a protector or Azure Key Vault.