SQL Azure Admin – SQLXpertise

Simple Guide to provision SQL Server 2017 on Linux in Azure Virtual Machine

Hi Everyone, In this article, we will see how to provision SQL Server 2017 on Linux in Azure Virtual Machine

Step 1: Please login to azure portal and go to Virtual Machine blade

Step 2: Please search for SQL Server 2017

Step 3: Please select SQL Server 2017 Developer on Ubuntu Server, I have used Ubuntu linux for this demo but you can use Red Hat or Suse Linux as well

Step 4: Please review the legal terms, select deployment model, I prefer to use Resource Manager, so that management and cleanup is easier, Please also copy the highlighted command which will be helpful for configuring the sa password for SQL Server later

Step 5: Please provide the name of the VM, select Disk type, provide user name and select Authentication Type, in this case I am using Password

Please select the Azure Subscription

For Resource group, I am creating a new one named “SQLLinux” and using Azure data center location as “East US”, please change this according to your region

Step 6: In this step, we need to select the Size of our Linux VM, I am using B2S Standard, which has 2 vCPUs and 4 GB RAM, which is good for our testing, but you can choose the size based on your requirement, after selecting the size, Please click “Select” to proceed

Step 7: In this step, we will review some of the important settings

Virtual Network – For this demo, I am creating a new Virtual Network, but if you already have other VMs running in Azure and you need this SQL Server VM to be accessible for them, Please use the existing Virtual Network

Public IP Address – I have enabled Public IP Address for this demo, but this is optional, Please don’t enable this, if you are planning to use this server only within Azure, so that it will reduce the exposure

Network Security Group (Firewall) – We will see in next step, How to configure firewall to allow external access

Auto Shutdown – This is an useful optional setting for demo or test servers, so that you can configure it to shutdown automatically based on a timing, this will reduce billing of your VM

Time Zone – Please select the time zone based on your region

Step 8: Additional Settings Please enable Monitoring for both Boot diagnostics and Guest OS diagnostics, This will help you see the Boot log for any error or messages, after making required Settings changes, Click “Ok” to proceed

Step 9: To allow external access to SQL Server, we need to change Network Firewall setting by adding Inbound and Outbound security rules for MSSQL Service

Note: You can do this change after creating the Virtual machine

Step 10: Review the selection options and click “Purchase” to buy and create the virtual machine

Step 11: You can review the Virtual Machine deployment progress in the screen

If you closed it, you can see from the Top right corner Notifications area

You can also see the status under Virtual Machines blade as well

Once Virtual machine is provisioned and ready, you should see the status as “Running”, see below screenshot

Step 12: Please click on the Virtual Machine to see the settings and also to monitor the CPU/Network/Disk usage

Step 13: Configuring SQL Server in Azure Linux VM

Please connect to Azure Linux VM using any preferred SSH client, In this demo, I am using Bash Shell on Windows, since its built in Windows 10 now

Command to connect, Please type “Yes” to accept the authenticity of the host

ssh username@serveripaddress

Step 14: After logging in to VM, Please run the below command to check the status of SQL Server

sudo systemctl status mssql-server

Since we haven’t configured SA password, SQL Server is not running, so you seeing the status as “Inactive”

Step 15: Please run below command to configure SA password

sudo /opt/mssql/bin/mssql-conf setup

Please select your preferred edition of SQL Server, in this demo, we will use Developer edition, in next prompt, Please specify the SA password and press enter

Once password is setup, SQL Server 2017 will automatically run, Please run the status command again to review the SQL Server status

sudo systemctl status mssql-server

Step 16: Please run “SELECT @@VERSION” using SQLCMD utility to connect to the server to verify we are able to connect and see SQL Server version

Step 17: Now we can use SQL Server Management Studio to connect using the Public IP Address and SA password provisioned

Once connected, Please create your required databases and database objects and use as needed

SQL Server 2017 Developer Edition is up and running Azure Linux VM now in under 5 minutes

I believe you will find this post useful !!!

Manage SQL Azure server using PowerShell

Windows Azure Platform Powershell Cmdlets has been released and available for download at http://wappowershell.codeplex.com/releases/view/73463

It supports creating SQL Azure server, removing an existing SQL Azure server, managing the firewall and resetting the Administrator password.

For more detailed information, please visit

http://wappowershell.codeplex.com/documentation

How to create Co-Administrator for SQL Azure Server ?

SQL Azure Co-Administrator option has been released in July 2011 Service Release

In this article, we will see How to add a Co-Administrator for your subscription

After logging in to Windows Azure Management Portal, click on “Database” tab

After navigating to Database section, click on “User Management” in Tool bar

In User Management screen, You can see the currently available Service Administrators and Co-Administrator for all available subscriptions

Click on “Add New Co-Admin”

In Add New Co-Administrator screen, specify the new users’ Windows Live ID and then select the subscription he can administer and then click “Ok”

Now we have successfully created a new Co-Administrator, Now he can login and create or drop servers, create or drop databases and new co-administrators as well

To remove a subscription or remove a Co-Administrator, click on Co-Administrator name and then click on “Manage Co-Admin”

If you have multiple subscriptions, you can remove the subscription which the co-admin should not manage, if you remove all subscriptions, the co-admin account will be removed automatically.

Now let us login using Co-Administrator login and see how the users are displayed

Since the Co-Administrator already has a subscription, he is displayed as Service Administrator for one of the account and Co-Administrator for other account.

Hope you all find this information helpful !!!

SQL Azure Management Portal Changes–Drop SQL Azure Server

Today while working on SQL Azure Management Portal, I found this new change

While Dropping a server, currently its prompting for Server to confirm that we are deleting the right server

If you type the correct server name, then “Drop” button is enabled

The Drop button doesn’t get enabled until you type the server name correctly

This looks like a small change, but this will be great preventive method to avoid any disaster of dropping the server by mistake !!!

Programmatically Managing SQL Azure using REST API

In May 2011 SQL Azure Service Update 7, SQL Azure Management REST API was released.

SQL Azure Management REST API can be used for

Create SQL Azure server – http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg715274.aspx
Delete SQL Azure Server – http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg715285.aspx
Reset Administrator Password for SQL Azure Server – http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg715272.aspx
Get List of SQL Azure Servers available in the subscription – http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg715269.aspx
Create Firewall Rules for specified SQL Azure Server – http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg715280.aspx
Delete Firewall Rules for specified SQL Azure Server – http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg715277.aspx
Get List of Available Firewall Rules for specified SQL Azure Server – http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg715278.aspx

Currently it support Synchronous calls, there is no support Asynchronous calls.

All calls should be authenticated using X.509 Certificate and this certificate should be added as Management Certificate in Management Portal

Please read this article on How to create a Certificate http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg432987.aspx

Hope you all find this information useful !!!

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