Azure SQL Database is a fully managed relational database
service provided by Microsoft Azure. Its architecture is designed to provide
scalability, high availability, and security for hosting relational databases
in the cloud.
Azure Data Centers: Azure SQL Database runs on Microsoft's
global network of data centers, which are distributed across multiple regions
worldwide. These data centers provide the physical infrastructure for hosting
Azure SQL Database instances and ensure high availability and fault tolerance.
SQL Database Engine: At the core of Azure SQL Database is
the SQL Database Engine, which is based on the same SQL Server database engine
used in on-premises deployments. The engine manages database operations, query
processing, data storage, and security functions.
Managed Service Layer: Azure SQL Database is a fully managed
service, which means that Microsoft handles infrastructure management,
maintenance, and monitoring tasks. The managed service layer includes features
such as automated backups, patching, high availability, and disaster recovery
to ensure optimal performance and reliability.
Elastic Scaling: Azure SQL Database offers elastic scaling
capabilities, allowing databases to scale compute and storage resources
dynamically based on workload demand. Users can adjust the performance tier
(e.g., Basic, Standard, Premium, Serverless) and storage size of their
databases without downtime to accommodate changing requirements.
Security Features: Azure SQL Database includes built-in
security features to protect data from unauthorized access, such as Transparent
Data Encryption (TDE), Always Encrypted, Dynamic Data Masking (DDM), Row-Level
Security (RLS), and Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) authentication. These
features help organizations enforce data privacy and compliance with regulatory
requirements.
High Availability and Disaster Recovery: Azure SQL Database
ensures high availability and disaster recovery through features such as
automatic backups, geo-replication, and automatic failover. Automated backups
allow users to restore databases to any point in time within the retention
period, while geo-replication replicates databases asynchronously to secondary
regions for disaster recovery purposes.
Integration with Azure Services: Azure SQL Database
integrates with other Azure services such as Azure Key Vault, Azure Monitor,
Azure Resource Manager, and Azure Active Directory for enhanced security,
monitoring, management, and automation capabilities.
Compatibility with SQL Server: Azure SQL Database offers
near-complete compatibility with SQL Server, including support for T-SQL,
stored procedures, triggers, views, and data types. This enables seamless
migration of existing SQL Server workloads to Azure SQL Database with minimal
changes.