Create and manage servers and single databases in Azure SQL Database

You can create and manage servers and single databases in Azure SQL Database using the Azure portal, PowerShell, the Azure CLI, REST API, and Transact-SQL.

Note

Try Azure SQL Database free of charge and get 100,000 vCore seconds of serverless compute and 32 GB of storage every month.

Prerequisites

Permissions

To create databases via Transact-SQL: CREATE DATABASE permissions are necessary. To create a database a login must be either the server admin login (created when the Azure SQL Database logical server was provisioned), the Microsoft Entra admin of the server, a member of the dbmanager database role in master. For more information, see CREATE DATABASE.

To create databases via the Azure portal, PowerShell, Azure CLI, or REST API: Azure RBAC permissions are needed, specifically the Contributor, SQL DB Contributor, or SQL Server Contributor Azure RBAC role. For more information, see Azure RBAC built-in roles.

The Azure portal

You can create the resource group for Azure SQL Database ahead of time or while creating the server itself.

Tip

For an Azure portal quickstart, see Quickstart: Create a single database.

Create a server

To create a server using the Azure portal, create a new server resource from Azure Marketplace. Alternatively, you can create the server when you deploy an Azure SQL Database.

Screenshot of the Azure portal resource search for sql server showing SQL server logical server as the result.

Create a blank or sample database

To create a single Azure SQL Database using the Azure portal, choose the Azure SQL Database resource in Azure Marketplace. You can create the resource group and server ahead of time or while creating the single database itself. You can create a blank database or create a sample database based on Adventure Works LT.

Screenshot of the Azure portal that shows how to locate the option to create a new SQL Database.

Important

For information on selecting the pricing tier for your database, see DTU-based purchasing model and vCore-based purchasing model.

Manage an existing server

To manage an existing server, navigate to the server using several methods - such as from a specific database page, the SQL servers page, or the All resources page.

To manage an existing database, navigate to the SQL databases page and select the database you wish to manage. The following screenshot shows how to begin setting a server-level firewall for a database from the Overview page for a database.

Screenshot of the Azure portal Set Server firewall rule page for an Azure SQL Database.

Important

To configure performance properties for a database, see DTU-based purchasing model and vCore-based purchasing model.

PowerShell

Note

This article uses the Azure Az PowerShell module, which is the recommended PowerShell module for interacting with Azure. To get started with the Az PowerShell module, see Install Azure PowerShell. To learn how to migrate to the Az PowerShell module, see Migrate Azure PowerShell from AzureRM to Az.

Important

The PowerShell Azure Resource Manager module is still supported by Azure SQL Database, but all future development is for the Az.Sql module. For these cmdlets, see AzureRM.Sql. The arguments for the commands in the Az module and in the AzureRm modules are substantially identical.

To create and manage servers, single and pooled databases, and server-level firewalls with Azure PowerShell, use the following PowerShell cmdlets. If you need to install or upgrade PowerShell, see Install Azure PowerShell module.

Cmdlet Description
New-AzSqlDatabase Creates a database
Get-AzSqlDatabase Gets one or more databases
Set-AzSqlDatabase Sets properties for a database, or moves an existing database into an elastic pool
Remove-AzSqlDatabase Removes a database
New-AzResourceGroup Creates a resource group
New-AzSqlServer Creates a server
Get-AzSqlServer Returns information about servers
Set-AzSqlServer Modifies properties of a server
Remove-AzSqlServer Removes a server
New-AzSqlServerFirewallRule Creates a server-level firewall rule
Get-AzSqlServerFirewallRule Gets firewall rules for a server
Set-AzSqlServerFirewallRule Modifies a firewall rule in a server
Remove-AzSqlServerFirewallRule Deletes a firewall rule from a server.
New-AzSqlServerVirtualNetworkRule Creates a virtual network rule, based on a subnet that is a Virtual Network service endpoint.

Azure CLI

To create and manage the servers, databases, and firewalls with Azure CLI, use the following Azure CLI commands. Use the Cloud Shell to run Azure CLI in your browser, or install it on macOS, Linux, or Windows. For creating and managing elastic pools, see Elastic pools.

Cmdlet Description
az sql db create Creates a database
az sql db list Lists all databases and data warehouses in a server, or all databases in an elastic pool
az sql db list-editions Lists available service objectives and storage limits
az sql db list-usages Returns database usages
az sql db show Gets a database or data warehouse
az sql db update Updates a database
az sql db delete Removes a database
az group create Creates a resource group
az sql server create Creates a server
az sql server list Lists servers
az sql server list-usages Returns server usages
az sql server show Gets a server
az sql server update Updates a server
az sql server delete Deletes a server
az sql server firewall-rule create Creates a server firewall rule
az sql server firewall-rule list Lists the firewall rules on a server
az sql server firewall-rule show Shows the detail of a firewall rule
az sql server firewall-rule update Updates a firewall rule
az sql server firewall-rule delete Deletes a firewall rule

Transact-SQL (T-SQL)

To create and manage the servers, databases, and firewalls with Transact-SQL, use the following T-SQL commands. You can issue these commands using the Azure portal, SQL Server Management Studio, Visual Studio Code, or any other program that can connect to a server in SQL Database and pass Transact-SQL commands. For managing elastic pools, see Elastic pools help you manage and scale multiple databases in Azure SQL Database.

Tip

For a quickstart using SQL Server Management Studio on Microsoft Windows, see Quickstart: Use SSMS to connect to and query Azure SQL Database or Azure SQL Managed Instance. For a quickstart using Visual Studio Code on the macOS, Linux, or Windows, see Quickstart: Use Visual Studio Code to connect and query Azure SQL Database or Azure SQL Managed Instance.

Important

You can't create or delete a server using Transact-SQL.

Command Description
CREATE DATABASE Creates a new single database. You must be connected to the master database to create a new database.
ALTER DATABASE Modifies a database or elastic pool.
DROP DATABASE Deletes a database.
sys.database_service_objectives Returns the edition (service tier), service objective (pricing tier), and elastic pool name, if any, for Azure SQL Database or a dedicated SQL pool in Azure Synapse Analytics. If logged on to the master database in a server in SQL Database, returns information on all databases. For Azure Synapse Analytics, you must be connected to the master database.
sys.dm_db_resource_stats Returns CPU, IO, and memory consumption for a database in Azure SQL Database. One row exists for every 15 seconds, even if there's no activity in the database.
sys.resource_stats Returns CPU usage and storage data for a database in Azure SQL Database. The data is collected and aggregated within five-minute intervals.
sys.database_connection_stats Contains statistics for SQL Database connectivity events, providing an overview of database connection successes and failures.
sys.event_log Returns successful Azure SQL Database connections and connection failures. You can use this information to track or troubleshoot your database activity with SQL Database.
sp_set_firewall_rule Creates or updates the server-level firewall settings for your server. This stored procedure is only available in the master database to the server-level principal login. A server-level firewall rule can only be created using Transact-SQL after the first server-level firewall rule has been created by a user with Azure-level permissions
sys.firewall_rules Returns information about the server-level firewall settings associated with your database in Azure SQL Database.
sp_delete_firewall_rule Removes server-level firewall settings from your server. This stored procedure is only available in the master database to the server-level principal login.
sp_set_database_firewall_rule Creates or updates the database-level firewall rules for your database in Azure SQL Database. Database firewall rules can be configured for the master database, and for user databases on SQL Database. Database firewall rules are useful when using contained database users.
sys.database_firewall_rules Returns information about the database-level firewall settings associated with your database in Azure SQL Database.
sp_delete_database_firewall_rule Removes database-level firewall setting from a database.

REST API

To create and manage the servers, databases, and firewalls, use these REST API requests.

Command Description
Servers - Create or update Creates or updates a new server.
Servers - Delete Deletes a SQL server.
Servers - Get Gets a server.
Servers - List Returns a list of servers in a subscription.
Servers - List by resource group Returns a list of servers in a resource group.
Servers - Update Updates an existing server.
Databases - Create or update Creates a new database or updates an existing database.
Databases - Delete Deletes a database.
Databases - Get Gets a database.
Databases - List by elastic pool Returns a list of databases in an elastic pool.
Databases - List by server Returns a list of databases in a server.
Databases - Update Updates an existing database.
Firewall rules - Create or update Creates or updates a firewall rule.
Firewall rules - Delete Deletes a firewall rule.
Firewall rules - Get Gets a firewall rule.
Firewall rules - List by server Returns a list of firewall rules.