Custom roles for SQL Server to Azure SQL Database migrations in Azure Data Studio

This article explains how to set up a custom role in Azure for SQL Server database migrations. The custom role only has the permissions necessary to create and run an instance of Azure Database Migration Service with Azure SQL Database as a target.

Use the AssignableScopes section of the role definition JSON string to control where the permissions appear in the Add role assignment UI in the Azure portal. To avoid cluttering the UI with extra roles, you might want to define the role at the level of the resource group, or even the level of the resource. The resource that the custom role applies to doesn't perform the actual role assignment.

{
    "properties": {
        "roleName": "DmsCustomRoleDemoForSqlDB",
        "description": "",
        "assignableScopes": [
            "/subscriptions/<SQLDatabaseSubscription>/resourceGroups/<SQLDatabaseResourceGroup>",
            "/subscriptions/<DatabaseMigrationServiceSubscription>/resourceGroups/<DatabaseMigrationServiceResourceGroup>"
        ],
        "permissions": [
            {
                "actions": [
                    "Microsoft.Sql/servers/read",
                    "Microsoft.Sql/servers/write",
                    "Microsoft.Sql/servers/databases/read",
                    "Microsoft.Sql/servers/databases/write",
                    "Microsoft.Sql/servers/databases/delete",
                    "Microsoft.DataMigration/locations/operationResults/read",
                    "Microsoft.DataMigration/locations/operationStatuses/read",
                    "Microsoft.DataMigration/locations/sqlMigrationServiceOperationResults/read",
                    "Microsoft.DataMigration/databaseMigrations/write",
                    "Microsoft.DataMigration/databaseMigrations/read",
                    "Microsoft.DataMigration/databaseMigrations/delete",
                    "Microsoft.DataMigration/databaseMigrations/cancel/action",
                    "Microsoft.DataMigration/sqlMigrationServices/write",
                    "Microsoft.DataMigration/sqlMigrationServices/delete",
                    "Microsoft.DataMigration/sqlMigrationServices/read",
                    "Microsoft.DataMigration/sqlMigrationServices/listAuthKeys/action",
                    "Microsoft.DataMigration/sqlMigrationServices/regenerateAuthKeys/action",
                    "Microsoft.DataMigration/sqlMigrationServices/deleteNode/action",
                    "Microsoft.DataMigration/sqlMigrationServices/listMonitoringData/action",
                    "Microsoft.DataMigration/sqlMigrationServices/listMigrations/read",
                    "Microsoft.DataMigration/sqlMigrationServices/MonitoringData/read"
                ],
                "notActions": [],
                "dataActions": [],
                "notDataActions": []
            }
        ]
    }
}

You can use either the Azure portal, Azure PowerShell, Azure CLI, or Azure REST API to create the roles.

For more information, see Create or update Azure custom roles using the Azure portal and Azure custom roles.

Permissions required to migrate to Azure SQL Database

Permission action Description
Microsoft.Sql/servers/read Return the list of SQL database resources or get the properties for the specified SQL database.
Microsoft.Sql/servers/write Create a SQL database with the specified parameters or update the properties or tags for the specified SQL database.
Microsoft.Sql/servers/databases/read Get an existing SQL database.
Microsoft.Sql/servers/databases/write Create a new database or update an existing database.
Microsoft.Sql/servers/databases/delete Delete an existing SQL database.
Microsoft.DataMigration/locations/operationResults/read Get the results of a long-running operation related to a 202 Accepted response.
Microsoft.DataMigration/locations/operationStatuses/read Get the status of a long-running operation related to a 202 Accepted response.
Microsoft.DataMigration/locations/sqlMigrationServiceOperationResults/read Retrieve service operation results.
Microsoft.DataMigration/databaseMigrations/write Create or update a database migration resource.
Microsoft.DataMigration/databaseMigrations/read Retrieve a database migration resource.
Microsoft.DataMigration/databaseMigrations/delete Delete a database migration resource.
Microsoft.DataMigration/databaseMigrations/cancel/action Stop ongoing migration for the database.
Microsoft.DataMigration/sqlMigrationServices/write Create a new service or change the properties of an existing service.
Microsoft.DataMigration/sqlMigrationServices/delete Delete an existing service.
Microsoft.DataMigration/sqlMigrationServices/read Retrieve the details of the migration service.
Microsoft.DataMigration/sqlMigrationServices/listAuthKeys/action Retrieve the list of authentication keys.
Microsoft.DataMigration/sqlMigrationServices/regenerateAuthKeys/action Regenerate authentication keys.
Microsoft.DataMigration/sqlMigrationServices/deleteNode/action Deregister the integration runtime node.
Microsoft.DataMigration/sqlMigrationServices/listMonitoringData/action List the monitoring data for all migrations.
Microsoft.DataMigration/sqlMigrationServices/listMigrations/read Lists the migrations for the user.
Microsoft.DataMigration/sqlMigrationServices/MonitoringData/read Retrieve the monitoring data.

You can get a sample script to create a login and provision it with the necessary permissions, for VMware, Hyper-V, or physical servers, using Windows authentication or SQL Server authentication.

Role assignment

To assign a role to a user or an app ID:

  1. In the Azure portal, go to the resource.

  2. In the left menu, select Access control (IAM), and then scroll to find the custom roles you created.

  3. Select the roles to assign, select the user or app ID, and then save the changes.

    The user or app ID now appears on the Role assignments tab.