Why did my free Azure SQL database disappear?

Christopher Tillman 0

I spent several days creating a free Azure SQL database, and it used up all the resources for two months to do it. Later in the second month, it disappeared. What's up?

NIKHILA NETHIKUNTA 3,925 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2024-12-24T12:48:52.6366667+00:00

@Christopher Tillman
Thank you for the question and for using Microsoft Q&A platform.

The Azure SQL Database free offer allows you to use a database for free indefinitely, but it comes with monthly limits on resources.

If your database disappeared after using resources for two months, it could be due to exceeding the free limits. Once the free limits are reached, the database may become inaccessible until the next month unless you opted to continue using it for additional charges.

If you selected the Auto-pause option, the database would become inaccessible after reaching the free limits, and you would need to wait until the start of the next month to access it again.

To prevent such issues in the future, you can monitor your resource usage and set up alerts for any unusual activity.

You can check the Free amount remaining and Free amount consumed metrics to keep track of your resource usage.

If you find that your vCore seconds are being consumed faster than expected, consider disconnecting any querying tools when not in use, as they can prevent auto-pause and continue consuming resources.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-sql/database/free-offer-faq?view=azuresql#my-vcore-seconds-are-being-used-faster-than-i-expected--how-can-i-see-what-is-using-the-vcore-seconds

For more help, please refer to the below links:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-sql/database/free-offer-faq?view=azuresql#my-vcore-seconds-are-being-used-faster-than-i-expected--how-can-i-see-what-is-using-the-vcore-seconds
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/1726495/i-am-being-charged-for-a-free-azure-sql-database-w
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-sql/database/free-offer?view=azuresql

Hope this helps. Do let us know if you have any further queries.

If this answers your query, do click Accept Answer and Yes for was this answer helpful. And, if you have any further query do let us know.
Christopher Tillman 0 Reputation points

2024-12-25T22:20:49.96+00:00

I figured out how this happened by looking at the server activity logs in the portal. I had two similarly named servers with identical SQL Server authentication admins and same passwords. . SSMS allows me to login with SQL Server authentication targeting the one server, while specifiying the username of the other server (demo vs demo1).

This results in the SSMS "tree" showing the name of the targeted server on top, while the databases listed are actually that of the second server. I deleted the database from what I thought was the target server, but was actually the other one which I did not want to delete.

I went to change the admin login name for the server to avoid confusion, and found this was not supported. https://dba.stackexchange.com/questions/88944/how-to-change-name-for-administrator-login-on-azure-sql-server I had to delete the entire server and start over with a new server and new SQL auth admin user. This really didn't help; even without the same admin login available, SSMS seems to disregard the targeted server name and connect to the username-associated server as above, listing the incorrect server name in the tree. But if I'm careful to use the new admin login and match the login to the server, it works.

Accepted answer

NIKHILA NETHIKUNTA 3,925 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2024-12-26T07:44:15.2033333+00:00

@Christopher Tillman
I'm glad that you were able to resolve your issue and thank you for posting your solution so that others experiencing the same thing can easily reference this! Since the Microsoft Q&A community has a policy that "The question author cannot accept their own answer. They can only accept answers by others ", I'll repost your solution in case you'd like to accept the answer.

Ask: A free trial SQL Database has been disappeared after two months of usage.

Solution: The user encountered an issue with two similarly named Azure SQL servers that had identical SQL authentication admin usernames and passwords. In SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS), logging into one server using the username from the other caused SSMS to display the targeted server's name while showing the databases from the incorrect server. This confusion led to the accidental deletion of a database from the wrong server.

The user tried to change the admin username to avoid this issue but found that Azure SQL does not support changing admin login names. As a workaround, they deleted and recreated the server with unique credentials. By ensuring the login credentials match the intended server, the issue was resolved.

If I missed anything please let me know and I'd be happy to add it to my answer, or feel free to comment below with any additional information.

If you have any other questions, please let me know. Thank you again for your time and patience throughout this issue.

Please don’t forget to Accept Answer and Yes for "was this answer helpful" wherever the information provided helps you, this can be beneficial to other community members.
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