Get up and running faster with the new post-database creation experience on the Azure Portal

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The Azure SQL Database Portal team recently launched a new Getting Started experience, available in select regions, to help get your database up and running faster. Our goal is to help you create, provision, and connect to your projects seamlessly so you can get back to developing.

Check out the new experience for yourself by following these steps:

• Log into the Azure Portal
• Click ‘Create a resource’
• Click ‘Create’ under the SQL Database listing (you can search ‘SQL Database’ in the search bar, or find SQL Database in the Popular Azure Services section)
• Create your SQL Database (learn more about creating a single database in the Azure Portal)
• Once your Database has finished its deployment, click ‘Go to Resource’
• You should be automatically directed to the Getting Started screen, otherwise you can find it as a menu item on the lefthand side of the screen, or in a banner at the top of the Overview section

By clicking ‘Go to resource’ you will be automatically redirected to the Getting Started page

Additional Getting Started entry points – a banner along the top of Overview, and an item in the lefthand menu

Now that you’ve arrived at the Getting Started page, let’s take a closer look at what you can do.

Configure access

Clicking the ‘Configure’ button takes you to the server-level Networking settings, allowing you to configure public network access, private access, and outbound networking rules. To protect your SQL Database, the server-level networking settings restrict public access through firewall rules. Through the ‘Configure’ button you are able to quickly add a firewall rule to allow connections from your IP address. Learn more about configuring networking settings.

Select the ‘Configure’ button to configure various server-level networking settings

Connect to application

Clicking the ‘See connection strings’ button takes you to the pre-populated connection strings. These connection strings can be used to connect the application you are developing to your database. Examples are available in several popular languages, including C#, Python, NodeJS, Go, such that you can integrate your database with your project quickly. . Since Azure SQL Database is preconfigured to best practices for encryption and certificate trust, the connection string will have encryption=true and trustServerCertificate=false set as defaults.

Select ‘See connection strings’ to copy your pre-formatted connection strings to connect your SQL Database to your application

Start developing

Clicking ‘Open Azure Data Studio’ or ‘Open in Visual Studio’ takes you to a landing page where you can download or open either application. Azure Data Studio provides an interface for administration and development with SQL Database and is available for Windows, macOS, and Linux. Visual Studio can be used to query and develop with SQL Database and is available for Windows. you install or open your preferred tool your server and database details should pre-populate into the Connection window. All you need to do is supply your username and password and you’re ready to work with your database!

Select your favorite tool to start developing with your newly created SQL Database

In the coming months, we will continue to improve our post-database create experience to provide you with a lower-friction, friendlier, and more efficient experience.

Let us know what you think about our newest Getting Started experience in the comments – as always, we love to hear from you!