How to set up and give a user access to Azure SQL Database

Question

I am the admin for our Office 365 tenant, but I'm not very well versed in Azure. One of my users (Joe) needs to use Azure SQL Database. I do not understand how to give him access.

Several weeks ago, Joe created a free Azure account, which just expired and is asking him to upgrade to a pay-as-you-go subscription. My gut tells me this is not the ideal solution, because if Joe ever leaves the company, we want the Azure SQL Database to remain intact. In addition, I need to use the same payment method as our other Office 365 services.

So, I was thinking to create a new pay-as-you-go subscription in the Azure Portal, add a resource group, add a SQL database as a resource, and give Joe access to the database.

1. Is this approach correct?
2. Can I give Joe permission to create the SQL database himself, or must I create it for him?
3. How do I give Joe access to the database? He wants to use Azure Data Studio.

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

Hi,

1. Yes, I think it is better for you to create new Pay-As-You-Go subscription that is associated with your company's account.
2. Yes, you can give Joe permission to create the database if you want. One way to do this would be to create resource group and assign him Contributor via the Access Control (IAM) blade of the resource group.
3. If he creates the database he can configure and give himself access as needed via the Azure portal.

If he will not need to create resources on an ongoing basis you may want to create the database for him and assign him a lower role to the resource group. This will prevent him from creating resources and reduce the chance of a surprise high Azure bill.

Regardless of how you configure things you should set up alerts in Cost Management and check current and forecasted subscription costs frequently so that you know if costs are getting out of control for some reason.

If the above was helpful please click Accept Answer.

Thanks.

-TP