This is kind of a follow up from my last blog post about a scale down request issue. (https://blobeater.blog/2018/11/07/azure-sql-database-aborting-scale-request/) I was confused, so confused that I ended up logging a support request with Microsoft. The issue was I wanted to scale down a database from S1 to Basic however it would take hours for a 1GB database. Obviously something was up, but what?
Scaling up or down an Azure SQL Database is a very common task. Whilst common it is also very easy to do via the Azure portal or even PowerShell. When you scale a database please be aware that it creates a replica of the original database at the new performance level and then switches connections over to the replica but what do you do if you want to cancel the scale request?
When I was presenting my Azure SQL Database session at DataRelay (used to be SQLRelay) I was asked (over coffee) about auto scaling capabilities. Quite simply there is nothing out of the box to achieve this. The idea of auto scaling would be good where you would need a burst to fulfill higher demand in terms of workload for a time duration, you know, something like “end of the day, Friday night sale” for your database.
Scaling up and down your SQL Database is something that is quite common to do. I want to discuss the impact of moving up and down tiers, in terms of your transactions and connections.
All About Data 