Tag: Azure Governance

Tips on creating Azure policies for Azure SQL Databases

Azure SQL Databases is quite a big service and it is also one of the oldest. Because of these two there are a few architectural designs that you should be aware. Some of these are:

  • with every SQL logical server there is a master database resource that is created. This resource is not directly managed but for example when you configure diagnostic settings on server level you need to configure those against the master database resource rather the SQL logical server
  • The SKUs of Azure SQL Databases are mostly divided into DTU and vCore based. Among the vCore based we also have Hyperscale and Serverless variants. You can also have elastic pools for some SKUs and than the databases under those elastic pools inherit their SKUs. Not all Azure SQL SKUs support all of the features of the service. Some of the features that may not be available or have some limitations across different SKUs are:
    • Zone redundancy
    • Hybrid benefit
    • Read replicas
    • Failover Group support – for example not supported on Hyperscale SKUs and supported on Serverless SKUs only auto pause delay is disabled
    • Geo replication
    • Short term backup
    • Long term backup

Among these we also have Datawarehouses (now known as Azure Synapse Analytics) which underneath are the same resource as Azure SQL databases but have completely different options.

Continue reading “Tips on creating Azure policies for Azure SQL Databases” →

Controlling Azure SQL Firewall Rules

Recently on Microsoft Q&A there was question on how you can control Azure SQL Firewall rule in a way that only certain IP addresses are allowed to be configured. Naturally I gave general answer that you can do that via Azure Policy. Initially I didn’t give the person an actual policy as I haven’t done such before. Of course creating Azure Policy definition can be challenging so the person asked him if I can provide him with example.

Continue reading “Controlling Azure SQL Firewall Rules” →

Azure Policy Policies not evaluated right away

Azure Policy has a unique feature compared to other competitors when it comes to evaluating Azure Resources. As Azure Policy is built along Azure Resource Manager (ARM) policies are in effect right away. This means if you have policy that blocks location and you try to deploy to that location a resource you will not be able to. The effect is enforced no matter if you use ARM Template Deployments, Portal, PowerShell, CLI, SDK or just plain old REST API. Of course on existing resources the policies are evaluated once 24 hours but you can of course trigger on-demand evaluation scan. The time that the scan will run depends on how many resources the policy will need to evaluate. Obviously policies that evaluate many resources (such as policies for tags or locations) will take longer (also dependable on the number of resources for the applied scope).

Continue reading “Azure Policy Policies not evaluated right away” →

Inside Azure Management Virtual Summit Recordings

In case you couldn’t catch the Inside Azure Management Virtual Summit live we have now uploaded the recordings. You can check them out at Inside Azure Management YouTube channel. Enjoy the free content.

Speaking at Inside Azure Management Virtual Summit

As you know we recently have released the fourth edition of Inside Azure Management book. What is better then free book? – A free book and free virtual summit. Yes that is right we are organizing a free virtual summit titled Inside Azure Management. I must say the actual organization is mainly led by Peter Zerger so once again I would like to thank him for his efforts. The virtual summit will take place on 23rd of July. If you want to register you can check the official web site of the event. You will find some interesting sessions and speakers that you might not see so much on other events. I will be delivering a session titled "Exploring Configuration Management in Azure" which will focus on showing you the different configuration management options within Azure with focus on Azure Policy and Azure Resource Manager Deployments.

It is also important to say that if you like the summit and you want to help people you can check one of the causes we are supporting with this event.

Enjoy the summit!!!