Microsoft Azure SQL Database (also described asSQL Server on Azure orAzure SQL; formerly known asSQL Azure,SQL Server Data Services,SQL Services, andWindows Azure SQL Database) is a managedcloud database (PaaS) cloud-based Microsoft SQL Servers, provided as part ofMicrosoft Azure services. The service handles database management functions for cloud basedMicrosoft SQL Servers including upgrading, patching, backups, and monitoring without user involvement.[1]
Data protection[11] withencryption, authentication,[12] limiting user access to the subset of the data, continuous monitoring and auditing to help detect potential threats and provide a record of critical events in case of a breach.
Azure SQL Database is built on the foundation of the SQL server database and therefore, kept in sync with the latest version[2] of it by using the common code base. Since the cloud version of the database technology strives to decouple it from the underlying computing infrastructure, it doesn't support some of the context specific T-SQL features[13] available in the traditional SQL server. However, the rest of the features are the same with incompatibilities spelled out by Microsoft.[14] Azure SQL Database is also similar to Microsoft's SQL Managed instance offering, with some differences.[15]
Azure SQL Database is offered in two deployment models, as a Standalone database or an Elastic database pool (with shared storage and compute resources).
