Question, can you take a built-in backup ( a backup that Microsoft takes as part of the service) and create a new database from it on a NEW server in a different region?
Let’s find out.
Azure SQL Database and Backups
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Tag Archives: Azure
Azure SQL Database Networking
Have you realised the changes Microsoft have made to the firewall and networking section of Azure SQL Database? I found this quite stealthy and took me by surprise. I did encounter an edge case scenario where it lead to issues once I made some tweaks but that was a rare thing.
Azure Databricks to Azure SQL DB
Recently I got to a stage where I leveraged Databricks to the best of my ability to join couple of CSV files together, play around some aggregations and then output it back to a different mount point ( based on Azure Storage) as a parquet file, I decided that I actually wanted to move this data into Azure SQL DB, which you may want to do one day.
SQL Server 2019 Linux On Azure
It was just a matter of time until I started combining my cloud experience with “different” flavours of SQL Server. I haven’t used Linux since my university days (Oracle – errgh) but recently some Friends of mine ( using LAMP stack ) asked me couple of questions about SQL Server Linux.
Tracking Costs in Microsoft Azure via Tags
Moving to public cloud such as Azure, AWS or even private cloud services you need to be tracking costs and seeing if you are “effective”. What is the best way of doing this with Microsoft Azure?
Azure SQL Database – Error Logs?
Ok, so Azure SQL doesn’t really have its own error log based somewhere on a machine within \\MSSQL\Log directory but the closest thing you will get is a system catalog view called sys.event_log which is very useful. It will get you information about all sort of event types such as:
- Successful connections
- Failed connections
- Throttling issues
- Blocked by firewall attempts
- Connection termination
Azure Advisor – for Azure Data Platform
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could access one main dashboard / report that pulls in information from many tools such as security centre, SQL advisor and cost management tools? Well you can, thus giving you a focal point to implement best practices, called Azure Advisor. This is not specifically for Azure SQL Database, you can leverage this for most resources within Azure. Later in this blog post you see that I will use it as a focal point for my database infrastructure in Azure.
In the Azure portal under services look for “advisor”
Common Things Admins Miss in Azure SQL DB
This is by no means a complete list but more of a personal list of features I have seen not setup or just missed out when looking at Azure SQL DB. After reading, not only will I hope that you agree but it may provoke you to double check your setups.
Azure SQL Database – Automatic Tuning – Have you enabled it?
Do you enable this setting to allow automatic tuning to care of all your performance needs? Well not ALL your needs, more so:
- CREATE INDEX
- DROP INDEX
- FORCE LAST GOOD PLAN
Azure SQL Best Practices?
A way to enforce good practice and standards is by Azure Policy. As stated by Microsoft “Azure Policy is a service in Azure that you use to create, assign, and manage policies. These policies enforce different rules and effects over your resources, so those resources stay compliant with your corporate standards and service level agreements”. Pretty important stuff if you ask me.
