Tutorial: Create an Azure SQL Database Server

Open your web browser and navigate to the Azure portal at https://portal.azure.com/. Sign in with your Azure account credentials.

In the Azure portal search bar at the top, type "SQL databases" and select it from the services list.

Alternatively, you can navigate through the menu:

1. Click on the menu icon (three horizontal lines) in the top-left corner.
2. Select "Databases".
3. Under "SQL", select "SQL databases".

On the "SQL databases" page, click the + Create button.

This will take you to the "Create SQL database" page. In the "Basics" tab, you'll configure the core settings.

Under the "Server" section, click the Create new link.

This opens the "Create server" pane. You need to provide the following information:

• Server name: Enter a globally unique name for your SQL server. This name will be part of the fully qualified domain name (e.g., yourservername.database.windows.net).
• Subscription: Select the Azure subscription under which to create the server.
• Resource group: Choose an existing resource group or create a new one. Resource groups help you organize and manage related Azure resources.
• Location: Select the Azure region where you want to deploy your server.
• Admin username: Define a login name for the server administrator. This is different from your Azure account login.
• Password: Create a strong password for the server administrator.
• Confirm password: Re-enter the password.

Once you've filled in the details, click OK.

Back on the "Create SQL database" page, you'll now configure your database.

• Database name: Enter a name for your SQL database.
• Compute + storage: Click "Configure database" to select a service tier (e.g., Basic, Standard, Premium, or General Purpose/Business Critical/Hyperscale for vCore). For this tutorial, you can choose a suitable option or the default.
• Collation: Leave as default or select as needed.

Navigate to the "Networking" tab. Here you can configure how your database server can be accessed.

• Connectivity method: Choose Public endpoint.
• Firewall rules: For testing purposes, you can enable "Allow Azure services and resources to access this server". You may also want to add your current client IP address by clicking "Add current client IP".

For production environments, it's recommended to implement more restrictive firewall rules.

Go to the "Review + create" tab. Azure will validate your configuration.

Review all the settings. If everything looks correct, click the Create button.

Azure will now begin deploying your SQL server and database. This process typically takes a few minutes. You can monitor the deployment progress on the notification panel or by navigating to the resource group.

Once the deployment is complete, you will see a "Deployment succeeded" message.