Hands-On Azure SQL Database Administration: Managed Databases & Cloud Operations

Topics covered

• Class 1 (free trial class): Your first Azure SQL database
• Class objective: Deploy, secure and connect to your own Azure SQL database, and see what changes for a DBA in the cloud. Instructor-led content: Introductions and course goals. What Azure manages and what the DBA still owns. Subscriptions, resource groups and regions. Budgets, cost alerts and cleanup. Hands-on work: Create a budget with an email alert. Create an Azure SQL Database with sample data. Add a firewall rule, connect from SSMS and run queries. Clean up. Student deliverable: A working database connected from SSMS, and a budget alert. Between-class practice: Record your resource names, region, tier and connection settings.
• Class 2: Choosing the right Azure SQL service
• Class objective: Match workloads to Azure SQL Database, elastic pools, Managed Instance or SQL Server on Azure VMs. Instructor-led content: PaaS vs. IaaS: what each leaves to the DBA. Use cases for each service. vCore and DTU purchasing models, serverless and Hyperscale in brief. Firewall rules, connection strings and client connectivity. Hands-on work: Compare three workload scenarios and choose a service for each. Price two options in the Azure pricing calculator. Connect to your database with a connection string from a second tool. Student deliverable: Service-selection worksheet. Between-class practice: Explain why each workload belongs on SQL Database, Managed Instance or a VM.

Topics covered

• Class 3: Microsoft Entra authentication and database permissions
• Class objective: Implement identity-first access and least privilege. Instructor-led content: The Microsoft Entra administrator. Contained database users for Entra identities. Database roles and object permissions. The risks of falling back to SQL authentication. Hands-on work: Configure Entra-based access. Create least-privilege database roles and test access. Student deliverable: Identity and permissions matrix. Between-class practice: Remove one deliberately excessive permission.
• Class 4: Network security, encryption and auditing
• Class objective: Protect the database endpoint and sensitive data. Instructor-led content: Server and database firewall rules. Private endpoints and service endpoints. TDE and encryption in transit. Auditing, Microsoft Defender for SQL, dynamic data masking and row-level security. Hands-on work: Configure a narrow firewall rule and auditing. Implement one data-protection feature. Student deliverable: Security configuration evidence. Between-class practice: Explain which security responsibilities remain with the customer in PaaS.

Topics covered

• Class 5: Azure monitoring and operational baselines
• Class objective: Use Azure metrics and logs to understand normal behavior. Instructor-led content: Azure Monitor metrics, diagnostic settings and Log Analytics. CPU, DTU or vCore, storage and session metrics. Baselines and alert thresholds. Reading trends over time. Hands-on work: Capture idle and busy baselines. Create an alert rule. Student deliverable: Azure SQL baseline worksheet. Between-class practice: Choose three metrics that should trigger an investigation.
• Class 6: Query Store and performance troubleshooting
• Class objective: Diagnose query performance with Query Store, DMVs and execution plans. Instructor-led content: Query Store in Azure SQL. Regressed queries, waits and plan history. Blocking, index recommendations and automatic tuning. When to scale and when to tune. Hands-on work: Generate a slow workload and inspect Query Store. Take one justified tuning action and compare before and after. Student deliverable: Performance investigation report. Between-class practice: Decide whether the problem was the query, blocking or capacity.

Topics covered

• Class 7: Backups, point-in-time restore and retention
• Class objective: Operate Azure-managed backups and restores. Instructor-led content: Automatic backups and retention. Point-in-time restore and database copies. Long-term retention. Geo-restore. Hands-on work: Perform a point-in-time restore. Compare the restored data and record the recovery time. Student deliverable: Restore validation report. Between-class practice: Design a retention policy for a given business requirement.
• Class 8: Geo-replication, failover groups and HA/DR planning
• Class objective: Design Azure SQL HA/DR from RPO and RTO requirements. Instructor-led content: Built-in local high availability. Active geo-replication and failover groups. RPO, RTO and failover endpoints. Testing and documenting DR. Hands-on work: Configure a failover group in a short, time-boxed lab and delete it at the end, since a second replica doubles the cost. Run a failover validation checklist. Student deliverable: HA/DR design and test plan. Between-class practice: Explain local HA vs. regional DR.

Topics covered

• Class 9: Automation with Azure CLI, PowerShell and Bicep
• Class objective: Make deployments repeatable instead of portal-only. Instructor-led content: Infrastructure as code. Azure CLI and PowerShell resource commands. Bicep parameters, resources and outputs. Handling secrets and deployment output. Hands-on work: Deploy a small Azure SQL resource from code. Export the deployment evidence. Student deliverable: Automation script or template. Between-class practice: Parameterize the region and database name.
• Class 10: Operational automation: jobs, alerts and scheduled tasks
• Class objective: Automate recurring Azure SQL administration tasks. Instructor-led content: Elastic jobs and other automation options. Azure Automation and Azure Functions. Alerts and action groups. Runbooks that are safe to run twice. Hands-on work: Create a simple recurring task with the lab tooling. Define an alert-to-action workflow. Student deliverable: Operational automation design. Between-class practice: Add failure handling and evidence collection.

Topics covered

• Class 11: Migration planning from SQL Server to Azure
• Class objective: Choose a migration target and method. Instructor-led content: Discovery and assessment. Target compatibility: SQL Database vs. Managed Instance vs. SQL Server on an Azure VM. Offline vs. online migration. Logins, jobs and server-level dependencies. Hands-on work: Assess a sample on-premises database for each target. Write a migration decision record. Student deliverable: Migration assessment. Between-class practice: List the blockers and how to fix each.
• Class 12: Execute and validate a migration
• Class objective: Move a sample workload and prove the target works. Instructor-led content: Migration tools and workflow, including Azure Database Migration Service. Users and access after migration. Compatibility and performance checks. Cutover and rollback. Hands-on work: Migrate a sample database. Validate row counts, objects, access and performance. Student deliverable: Migration validation pack. Between-class practice: Prepare a cutover and rollback checklist.

Topics covered

• Class 13: Scaling, service tiers and cost-aware operations
• Class objective: Match performance needs to compute and storage choices. Instructor-led content: vCore and DTU models. Provisioned vs. serverless, elastic pools and Hyperscale. Storage growth and scaling. Budgets and avoiding overprovisioning. Hands-on work: Compare two sizing options. Scale the training database and measure the impact. Student deliverable: Cost and performance recommendation. Between-class practice: Explain when serverless or an elastic pool makes sense.
• Class 14: Governance, security posture and operational standards
• Class objective: Create a repeatable cloud DBA operating standard. Instructor-led content: Naming and tagging conventions. Azure RBAC vs. database permissions. Azure Policy and Microsoft Defender for Cloud. A review cadence for backup and DR, monitoring, security and cost. Hands-on work: Audit the training resources against a governance checklist. Tag resources and document the controls. Student deliverable: Azure SQL operations standard. Between-class practice: Prepare the capstone checklist.

Topics covered

• Class 15: Capstone: deploy a secure and observable Azure SQL solution
• Class objective: Bring together provisioning, security, monitoring and automation. Instructor-led content: The capstone business requirements. An independent design and build window. Evidence and cost awareness. Hands-on work: Provision the chosen Azure SQL service. Implement identity and security, monitoring, restore configuration and one automation component. Student deliverable: Capstone environment plus evidence. Between-class practice: Prepare for the incident and DR scenario.
• Class 16: Capstone: incident, restore or failover, and handover
• Class objective: Prove the cloud database can be operated under failure. Instructor-led content: An incident is injected. Restore or failover objective. Validation and post-incident review. Operational handover. Next steps, including the Performance Tuning course. Hands-on work: Respond to the scenario. Restore, fail over or troubleshoot, and validate the service. Present the final runbook. Delete all lab resources. Student deliverable: Final Azure SQL operations report. Between-class practice: Final feedback and a recommendation for the next course.