Sync Azure SQL Database across Tenants

Question

Hi

A customer wants to access some table that we host for them, we don't want then to have access to our database, so we have proposed looking into Sync Azure SQL Database is this available across Tenants (mine and theirs)?

Also i need to cost this for the customer, i assume that this will have some IO impact on the SQL server and database and some data transfer cost , how best to scope this ?

happy to have a teams talk if needed.

Regards,

Answer 1

Hello Richard Clark,

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A,

You can easily set up a sync job between databases in different tenants using SQL Data Sync, but you cannot do so in the Azure portal. To set up a sync across tenant, you will have to use the PowerShell cmdlet New-AzureRmSqlSyncMember, and you need to specify the “MemberServerName” parameter, which is the fully qualified DNS name for the logical server. Azure SQL Data Sync allows one-directional and bi-directional sync between Azure SQL databases. It allows you to set the sync to happen on intervals of seconds, minutes, hours, days, and manually.

Note: SQL Data Sync is being retired on 30 Sept 2027 — plan a migration

Service is still supported today, but has a scheduled retirement date. You should avoid new strategic dependencies.https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-sql/database/sql-data-sync-retirement-migration?view=azuresql

Cost model: you pay for databases + data transfer; the Data Sync service itself is free

1. Data Sync service has no direct charge.
2. You pay for:
   • Azure SQL DB compute & storage.
   • Network egress / inter-region data transfer.
   • Any extra sync metadata storage & perf tier needed.
3. For more info: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-gb/pricing/details/bandwidth/

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-sql/database/sql-data-sync-data-sql-server-sql-database?view=azuresql#faq-about-sql-data-sync

Please upvote and accept the answer if it helps!!

Answer 2

Hi @**Richard Clark
**
Thank you for contacting to Microsoft QA.

It sounds like you're looking to set up sync for Azure SQL Database across different tenants while ensuring that the customer only has access to the necessary tables. Here’s what you need to know:

Cross-Tenant Sync: While Azure SQL Database supports multitenancy features, direct synchronization across different Azure SQL Database tenants isn't natively provided through sync features. However, you can manage this by potentially exporting data to a .bacpac file, then importing it into the customer's tenant. You can refer to the Troubleshoot Cross-Tenant Migration documentation that details the process of moving databases across tenants.

Data Isolation: Since you don’t want to give the customer access to your database, you may consider using Elastic Database tools or Row-Level Security, which help enforce tenant-level isolation and can limit access to specific rows of data based on tenant ID. More information about this is available here.

Cost Estimation: Regarding costs, you are correct that syncing or transferring data will have I/O impacts on your SQL server and may incur data transfer costs. To estimate these accurately:

• Check the Azure pricing calculator to estimate costs related to your database operations.
  • Keep an eye on the database size and the performance tier it’s allocated, as both will influence costs. More on estimating costs can be referenced here: Azure Pricing Calculator.
  Performance Impact: Sync operations may impact performance, including I/O scenarios. It would be wise to consider performing these operations during off-peak hours or using strategies like database Geo-replication for reducing performance impacts.

If you need to explore this further or discuss specific scenarios, a Teams talk sounds like a good plan.

Here are some links to relevant documentation for your reference:

• SQL Database Elastic Pools Overview
• How to Export Azure SQL Database
• How to Import Azure SQL Database
• Row-Level Security Implementation on Azure SQL