Configure a failover group for a group of databases in Azure SQL Database using the Azure CLI

Applies to: Azure SQL Database

If you don't have an Azure subscription, create an Azure free account before you begin.

Prerequisites

• Use the Bash environment in Azure Cloud Shell. For more information, see Quickstart for Bash in Azure Cloud Shell.

  

• If you prefer to run CLI reference commands locally, install the Azure CLI. If you're running on Windows or macOS, consider running Azure CLI in a Docker container. For more information, see How to run the Azure CLI in a Docker container.

  • If you're using a local installation, sign in to the Azure CLI by using the az login command. To finish the authentication process, follow the steps displayed in your terminal. For other sign-in options, see Sign in with the Azure CLI.

  • When you're prompted, install the Azure CLI extension on first use. For more information about extensions, see Use extensions with the Azure CLI.

  • Run az version to find the version and dependent libraries that are installed. To upgrade to the latest version, run az upgrade.

Sample script

Launch Azure Cloud Shell

The Azure Cloud Shell is a free interactive shell that you can use to run the steps in this article. It has common Azure tools preinstalled and configured to use with your account.

To open the Cloud Shell, select Try it from the upper right corner of a code block. You can also launch Cloud Shell in a separate browser tab by going to https://shell.azure.com.

When Cloud Shell opens, verify that Bash is selected for your environment. Subsequent sessions will use Azure CLI in a Bash environment. Select Copy to copy the blocks of code, paste it into the Cloud Shell, and press Enter to run it.

Sign in to Azure

Cloud Shell is automatically authenticated under the initial account signed-in with. Use the following script to sign in using a different subscription, replacing <Subscription ID> with your Azure Subscription ID. If you don't have an Azure subscription, create an Azure free account before you begin.

subscription="<subscriptionId>" # add subscription here

az account set -s $subscription # ...or use 'az login'

For more information, see set active subscription or log in interactively

Run the script

# Configure a failover group for a group of databases in Azure SQL Database

# Variable block
let "randomIdentifier=$RANDOM*$RANDOM"
location="East US"
resourceGroup="msdocs-azuresql-rg-$randomIdentifier"
tag="setup-geodr-and-failover-database-failover-group"
server="msdocs-azuresql-server-$randomIdentifier"
database="msdocsazuresqldb$randomIdentifier"
login="azureuser"
password="Pa$$w0rD-$randomIdentifier"
failoverGroup="msdocs-azuresql-failover-group-$randomIdentifier"
failoverLocation="Central US"
failoverResourceGroup="msdocs-azuresql-failover-rg-$randomIdentifier"
secondaryServer="msdocs-azuresql-secondary-server-$randomIdentifier"

echo "Using resource groups $resourceGroup and $failoverResourceGroup with login: $login, password: $password..."

echo "Creating $resourceGroup in $Location and $failoverResourceGroup in $failoverLocation..."
az group create --name $resourceGroup --location "$location" --tags $tag
az group create --name $failoverResourceGroup --location "$failoverLocation"

echo "Creating $server in $location and $secondaryServer in $failoverLocation..."
az sql server create --name $server --resource-group $resourceGroup --location "$location" --admin-user $login --admin-password $password
az sql server create --name $secondaryServer --resource-group $failoverResourceGroup --location "$failoverLocation"  --admin-user $login --admin-password $password

echo "Creating $database..."
az sql db create --name $database --resource-group $resourceGroup --server $server --service-objective S0

echo "Creating failover group $failoverGroup..."
az sql failover-group create --name $failoverGroup --partner-server $secondaryServer --resource-group $resourceGroup --server $server --partner-resource-group $failoverResourceGroup

echo "Initiating failover..."
az sql failover-group set-primary --name $failoverGroup --resource-group $failoverResourceGroup --server $secondaryServer

echo "Monitoring failover..."
az sql failover-group show --name $failoverGroup --resource-group $resourceGroup --server $server

echo "Removing replication on $database..."
az sql failover-group delete --name $failoverGroup --resource-group $failoverResourceGroup --server $secondaryServer

Clean up resources

Use the following command to remove the resource group and all resources associated with it using the az group delete command - unless you have an ongoing need for these resources. Some of these resources may take a while to create, as well as to delete.

az group delete --name $failoverResourceGroup -y
az group delete --name $resourceGroup

Sample reference

This script uses the following commands. Each command in the table links to command specific documentation.

Command	Description
az sql failover-group create	Creates a failover group.
az sql failover-group set-primary	Set the primary of the failover group by failing over all databases from the current primary server
az sql failover-group show	Gets a failover group
az sql failover-group delete	Deletes a failover group

Next steps

For more information on Azure CLI, see Azure CLI documentation.

Additional SQL Database CLI script samples can be found in the Azure SQL Database documentation.