Create SQL Server on Windows Azure Virtual Machine

In the last post we saw the two different offering of SQL server on cloud services by Microsoft, Today we will go through the Step by Step Procedure on how to create a SQL 2014 SQL server on Windows Azure, As mentioned in the last post to create any Microsoft Cloud based service you need a Azure Subscription http://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/purchase-options/ . There are various Tiers of Servers offered based on the performance and Scalability. Let’s I assume you have purchased the required subscription which should grant you access to you own customized Azure Portal page when you login to https://manage.windowsazure.com as below,

In the Portal Page select on Virtual Machine and click Create a virtual Machine, 

As you can see in the above screen it will prompt you for configuration details, either you can select the configuration image from gallery(Pre-Define images) or select your own if you have subscribed for the configuration and Select Create Virtual Machine.

I have Chose "From Gallery" for our example,

As you can see in the above image you will be presented with various images of different products of Microsoft, As I want a Windows server Hosting SQL Server 2014 I Choose SQL Server->SQL Server 2014 RTM enterprise Image.

Note:- You can Still just create a Windows Machine and install SQL Server as in On-Premises Machines if you have the Licence for SQL Server Already.

Now It will Prompt you select Virtual Machine Name and Server Configuration/Server Tier Along with a Local Administrator and Password.(Above Image)

Next is if your creating a Azure for the first time it will prompt you create a Cloud Service Account and a Storage Account.(Above Image)

Next is if you want to Install any Anti-Virus or other Agents to your base Windows build, Select Appropriately. (Above Image). Once you click ok Microsoft will start provisioning your server

(Below Image)

Once the server is provisioned and ready to use you should see the Status as Running and at the bottom of the portal you should see the Connect option enabled.(Image Below)

Click Connect, It will download a RDP File, Click the RDP file to Remote Desktop to the new server(Image Below)

As you can see in the above figure, You can now access the server as a usual VM server with SQL Server 2014 Installed and it is no different from your On-Premises server.

Now Lets go back to the portal again and see what option we have from the Azure Portal, First Lets see the home page(Image Below)

As you can see you have Virtual server created for your account, let see what happens when you click the virtual server.

Which we select the virtual server from the home page we will be displayed with a dashboard with Server details and Performance. As you can see in the top Tabs as the name suggests you can also monitor the performance separately, configure endpoints for the server.

The Last page is the Configure Tab in the server setting page, In this page you change the server configuration to different Tier for scalability and also select something called Availability Set with the High availability option for the server which is not in the scope of this post.

In the next post we will see how we can create a SQL Azure from the Portal with Screen Shots.