Monitor and Manage a SQL Database

You manage your SQL databases in a similar manner to your websites. You can access the Startboard for a database by selecting it from the Browse option (top option back in Figure 12.34). Figure 12.57 shows a standard Startboard for a small SQL database in Azure. You can see resource metrics and set alerts in the same way you would for an Azure web app (see prior section).

FIGURE 12.57 The Startboard for an Azure SQL database.

Azure provides a number of pricing tiers dependent on your specific needs such as auditing, storage, geo-replication (available for standard and premium accounts only), and more. Figure 12.58 shows an example of the available tiers at the time of writing. One big concern here is DTU, which stands for Database Throughput Unit. This is a combination of CPU, memory, reads, and writes. As the number increases, your database throughput performance increases.

FIGURE 12.58 The pricing tiers for Azure SQL database hosting.

You can work directly with the database by opening it in Visual Studio. You access this option from either the toolbar at the top of the database Startboard shown in Figure 12.57. Clicking this option provides the Open in Visual Studio pane, as shown in Figure 12.59. Notice here that before you open the database in Visual Studio, you need to open your IP address with Azure Firewall rules.

FIGURE 12.59 Open the Azure SQL Database in Visual Studio by adding your IP address in the firewall rules.

You click the Open in Visual Studio button once your firewall rules are set up. This will launch Visual Studio 2015 and provide access to the SQL Server tools login screen. Once connected, you can execute queries and create new tables, views, and stored procedures as you would with any database. Figure 12.60 shows the database open in SQL Server Object Explorer to a sample, VS Unleashed Feedback database. See Chapter 13, “Working with Databases,” to learn more about these Visual Studio tools.

FIGURE 12.60 The Azure SQL database open in Visual Studio.