Learn Azure SQL: Introduction, Deploy, and Configure
In my last post, I described how and why we built content, training, and labs to learn Azure SQL. In this post, I want to describe for you the first few modules of this content and what you can gain from it.
Module 1 - Introduction to Azure SQL
We decided when we built content to learn Azure SQL that many would not know the history of Azure SQL or even what the term Azure SQL means. Therefore, that is where we start. We briefly talk about the history of Azure SQL so you can see how we have evolved our cloud services and have confidence that this is not just a "new" thing. Then we describe how the term Azure SQL has come to define the following cloud services:
SQL Server in Azure Virtual Machine
This is Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). You own everything inside the VM. We own everything outside the VM and give you access to storage and networking. We also give you built-in fault tolerance for the VM and your files and can provide managed services such as automatic backups and security updates.
Azure SQL Managed Instance
This is Platform as a Service (PaaS). You own the SQL Server instance but we provide managed service capabilities including built-in HADR, deployment interfaces, and security services such as Advanced Threat Protection (ATP). We own the entire infrastructure and abstract you from all aspects of the virtual machine. Therefore, we can provide you a versionless SQL Server but also give you instance level capabilities such as SQL Server Agent, Database Mail, SQL CLR, and Service Broker.
Azure SQL Database
This option is also Platform as a Service (PaaS) and our most complete managed service. You own the database but we own the Instance, virtual machine details, and infrastructure. We provide you built-in HADR, deployment interfaces, security services such as ATP, and even performance automation like Automatic Tuning. Because your interface is a database, we can also provide you unique deployment options like Serverless and Hyperscale.
The rest of our introduction module then goes into more details on each of these service options including what challenges we are attempting to solve and customer references. Then we talk about the details of your deployment options within Azure SQL Managed Instance and Database including concepts like purchasing model (DTU vs vCore), service tier (General Purpose, Business Critical, and Hyperscale), compute tier (Provisioned vs Serverless), and Hardware Generation. We also cover your interfaces to use Azure SQL including GUI, CLI, and API.
Module 2 - Deploy and Configure
The first thing you do with SQL Server is install and configure it. So we built the next module to help you deploy and configure Azure SQL. This includes a discussion of how to migrate to Azure SQL, pre-deployment planning decisions, and then the deployment process with all your choices.
After you deploy you likely will want to configure Azure SQL and databases so we cover the common choices you can make comparing it to choices for SQL Server. I always like to "verify" my SQL Server installations so we will show you how to do that for Azure SQL. We will end the module by showing various options to load data.
I've just given you the highlights. There is much more details in these modules you will find useful.
Want to go through these modules with hands-on labs using a provided Azure free sandbox from Microsoft Learn? Go to https://aka.ms/azuresqlfundamentals.
You can use your own Azure resources with GitHub which has labs, is completely open-source, and includes a slide deck. Go to https://aka.ms/sqlworkshops and look for Azure SQL Workshop. GitHub has more labs than what is on Microsoft Learn. Get the latest up to date content here.
Then you can watch a series of videos on-demand for these modules where you will see Anna Hoffman and myself give you the details and demo the labs. Go to https://aka.ms/azuresql4beginners.
We have it all for you no matter how you like to learn. You may feel things start a bit slow here with these first two modules but we are building a foundation so you can deep dive into security, performance, and availability.
Bob Ward
Microsoft Azure Data, Principal Architect