In the first part of my Azure SQL Database Powershell Automation series I showed how to create the resource group, the logical SQL Server and the corresponding database, I would like to show you how to implement a resize of the performance level of this database.
Why should I want to resize a database? Upwards – so more power can be understood, but why again downsizing? So I start with the respective reasons for an adjustment of the selected performance class.

What power do I need when?

Let’s take an example… A larger company rents the workspace and is only active in Germany, has an application for the management / booking their meeting rooms or workplaces. This application is used by the ladies at the reception only during the “opening hours” intensively and outside these times occasionally by coworkers. Basically, the receptionists need their application and thus the database only between specific times, for example, 7 – 20 o’clock, the rest of the day the database remains almost unused …
So what is close to making this database “faster” during the day? On-prem is unfortunately not possible since you can not assign a single database so easily further resources.

Another example is evaluations or processing, where operational concerns can vary greatly when the end of the month ends with more computing power in the Azure SQL Database so that the data can be processed and deployed as fast as possible.

• Depending on application usage
• Depending on operational requirements
  • nightly processing
  • monthly financial statements
  • Year-end rally

What do we need for a resize of the Azure SQL Database

• A resource group or its name
• A name for the logical SQL Server (which must be unique)
• A database name
• The new performance level (DTU)

The login to Azure and the selection of to-use Subscription I leave here outside forwards and start the actual script.
Again, I start with the definition of the necessary variables (see above):

# Set the resource group name for your server
$resourcegroupname = "RG-AzureSQLDatabase-Demo"
# Set logical server name
$servername = "server-sqldbdemo"
# The sample database name
$databasename = "db-sqldbdemo"
# Set new performance-level
$newdbDTUsize = "S3"

Now we can resize the Azure SQL Database

This is much easier than rebuilding a database because we need fewer variables (see above) and only one command line for execution. But as I’m careful I also ask if the database exist to ensure that the script does not make any “nonsense”.

# Resize Azure SQL Database to new performance-level
Get-AzureRmSqlDatabase -ResourceGroupName $resourcegroupname -ServerName $servername -DatabaseName $databasename -ev notPresent -ea 0
if ($notPresent) {
    Write-Host $databasename "doesn't exist" 
} else {
    Set-AzureRmSqlDatabase -ResourceGroupName $resourcegroupname -ServerName $servername -DatabaseName $databasename -Edition "Standard" -RequestedServiceObjectiveName $newdbDTUsize
}

As the before-and-after comparison shows, a resize is possible without problems and lasts only a few moments.

Björn Peters

Björn works in Hamburg as Senior Consultant – Microsoft Data Platform and Cloud at Kramer & Crew. He regularly participates in the PASS regional group meeting in Hamburg, the events of the PASS such as SQLSaturday and DataGrillen and organises the Azure Meetup in Hamburg. He is interested in topics such as SQL Server, Powershell and Azure for science fiction, snowboarding, baking and cycling.

In addition to the ability to deploy a virtual server on a SQL server in Azure, there is also the “simpler” method to deploy only one database on demand => the Azure SQL Database. This database-as-a-service is also very good and easy to use for a variety of applications, although there are a lot of options you should think about before.

• is a simple database enough
• rather an elastic pool
• In which region to deploy
• or rather geo-redundant
• is the “supplied” backup is enough
• or must have to have a “Long Time Retention” backup
• Who accesses the database from where?
• What level of performance do I need for the database or the Elastic Pool?

An overview of the individual possibilities and their use for the respective solution, as well as a larger number of answers to many questions, can be found in the documentation of Microsoft => https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/sql-database/

Start with a simple Azure SQL Database

An important point in providing an Azure SQL Database is that you not only need a database but also a logical SQL Server (=> listener endpoint), without this “shell” you can not host databases.

In my example, we use Powershell to create a default database, of course, using a script, so that we can create the server and its database, or just the database, the same default way as needed.

What do we need to create an Azure SQL Database

• a resource group or its name
• a location/region for the resource group
• admin-username and password
• a name for the logical SQL Server (which must be unique)
• a database name
• typically also the IP addresses/ranges, which can access it (the own IP suffices for the first access)

The login to Azure and the selection of to-use Subscription I leave here outside forwards and start the actual script. My first script starts with the definition of various variables (see above):

# Set the resource group name and location for your server
$resourcegroupname = "RG-AzureSQLDatabase-Demo"
$location = "west europe"
# Set an admin login and password for your server
$adminlogin = "dbadmin"
$password = "DemoPwd@2017"
# Set server name - the logical server name has to be unique in the system
$servername = "server-sqldbdemo"
# The sample database name
$databasename = "db-sqldbdemo"
# The ip address range that you want to allow to access your server
$clientIP = (Invoke-WebRequest ifconfig.me/ip).Content
$startip = $clientIP
$endip = $clientIP

Create the logical server and the Azure SQL Database using sample data

Now – as in almost all my scripts – first the query whether the resource group is already exisitiert, if not it is created. After the resource group of logical servers coming next in which we can integrate in the end our Azure SQL Database. We assign the credentials from adminlogin and password to the logical server so that the server and the databases are protected. Speaking protected, the firewall of the server we need to open external access, this I ermittel an additional function and an external service my own public IP address. With this IP address, we are now configuring the logical SQL server, and finally, we check if the desired database already exists, if not, with the desired parameters.

# Create a resource group
Get-AzureRmResourceGroup -Name $resourcegroupname -ev notPresent -ea 0
if ($notPresent) {
  $resourcegroup = New-AzureRmResourceGroup -Name $resourcegroupname -Location $location
} else {
  Write-Host $resourcegroupname "already exists"
}

# Create a server with a system wide unique server name
Get-AzureRmSqlServer -ResourceGroupName $resourcegroupname -ServerName $servername -ev notPresent -ea 0
if ($notPresent) {
  $server = New-AzureRmSqlServer -ResourceGroupName $resourcegroupname `
  -ServerName $servername `
  -Location $location `
  -SqlAdministratorCredentials $(New-Object -TypeName System.Management.Automation.PSCredential -ArgumentList $adminlogin, $(ConvertTo-SecureString -String $password -AsPlainText -Force))
} else {
  Write-Host $servername "already exists"
}

# Create a server firewall rule that allows access from the specified IP range
Get-AzureRmSqlServerFirewallRule -ResourceGroupName $resourcegroupname -ServerName $servername -FirewallRuleName "AllowedIPs" -ev notPresent -ea 0
if ($notPresent) {
  $serverfirewallrule = New-AzureRmSqlServerFirewallRule -ResourceGroupName $resourcegroupname `
  -ServerName $servername `
  -FirewallRuleName "AllowedIPs" -StartIpAddress $startip -EndIpAddress $endip
} else {
  Write-Host "FirewallRule already exists"
}

# Create a blank database with an S0 performance level
Get-AzureRmSqlDatabase -ResourceGroupName $resourcegroupname -ServerName $servername -DatabaseName $databasename -ev notPresent -ea 0
if ($notPresent) {
  $database = New-AzureRmSqlDatabase -ResourceGroupName $resourcegroupname `
  -ServerName $servername `
  -DatabaseName $databasename `
  -RequestedServiceObjectiveName "S0"
} else {
  Write-Host "Database" $databasename "already exists"
}

Now we can work from our workstation to use SQL Server Tools – e.g. SQL Server Management Studio – connecting to this database and try to link the application and run some tests.

Björn Peters

Björn works in Hamburg as Senior Consultant – Microsoft Data Platform and Cloud at Kramer & Crew. He regularly participates in the PASS regional group meeting in Hamburg, the events of the PASS such as SQLSaturday and DataGrillen and organises the Azure Meetup in Hamburg. He is interested in topics such as SQL Server, Powershell and Azure for science fiction, snowboarding, baking and cycling.