How to monitor Azure SQL DB geo replication latency

Question

We are looking to leverage a geo secondary database for read operation from an application, since geo replication is asynchronous, need a definite way to monitor the latency.

The replication_lag_sec from the sys.dm_geo_replication_link_status dmv looks specific to RPO objective.

Comparing the last commit time on Primary vs Secondary randomly gives a difference more than 5 secs at given point sometimes but the replication_lag_sec value is always 0, is there a different way to monitor the data latency.

Answer 1

According to the SLA (https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/support/legal/sla/azure-sql-database/v1_5/) all geo replication should take place within 5 seconds. This is a financially backed SLA, where you will get a refund of 10% of your total monthly costs for the Secundary.

Please keep in mind that the commit time is the time of the specific server, which might differ a little from server to server. If you observe a regular delay of more than 5 seconds, I would advise you to file a support ticket.

Answer 2

You can use Microsoft System Center Management Pack for Microsoft Azure SQL Database. For more information look at the details section of this URL.

You can also try this PowerShell script and see if the JSON output it creates by each logical server and database makes more sense to you.