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Applies to: 
Azure SQL Database
This article identifies which Azure SQL Database configuration settings you can modify after you create your database, and which settings are immutable and require you to recreate the database.
Legend
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Yes | Fully modifiable after you create your database. |
| No | You can't change it. Requires recreation or a workaround. |
| Partially | Modifiable with caveats or restrictions. |
| N/A | Not a persistent setting. Only relevant when you create the database. |
The Scope column indicates whether a setting is for the logical server and applies to all its databases, or for an individual database, or for both.
Basics
Settings you provide (or accept defaults for) when you create the database, plus basic metadata.
| Configuration | Scope | Values | Can modify after deployment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Subscription or resource group | Logical server (databases move with it) | Any active Azure subscription or resource group | Partially. You can't move a database on its own. You move the parent logical server by using Azure Resource Manager, and all of its databases and elastic pools move with it. To move a single database, copy or geo-replicate it to a server in the target subscription or resource group. |
| Database name | Database | User-defined (unique per server) | Yes. You can rename a database with ALTER DATABASE ... MODIFY NAME. No users can be connected during the rename, and the database can't participate in active geo-replication or be in the process of creating a database copy. |
| Logical server name | Logical server | User-defined (globally unique on Azure) | No. |
| Parent logical server | Database | Existing or new logical server | No. You can't change a database's logical server after you create the database. Copy or geo-replicate to a different server. |
| Server location | Logical server | Any Azure region supported by Azure SQL Database. | No. See Azure SQL Database region availability. |
| SQL authentication method | Logical server | SQL authentication only, Microsoft Entra + SQL authentication (mixed), Microsoft Entra-only | Yes. See Configure Microsoft Entra authentication. |
| SQL authentication server admin login | Logical server | User-defined (set when you create the server) | No. You can't rename the SQL authentication server admin login after the server is provisioned. |
| SQL authentication server admin password | Logical server | User-defined | Yes. |
| Microsoft Entra admin | Logical server | User or group | Yes. See Configure and manage Microsoft Entra authentication. |
| Workload environment | Database (creation-time preset) | Development, Production | N/A. The workload environment is an Azure portal-only preset that influences defaults (compute, backup redundancy) when you create the database. It isn't a stored configuration. |
| Collation | Database | Database collation (for example, SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS). |
No. You can't change the database collation after you create the database. You must recreate the database. See Collation and Unicode support. |
| Tags | Logical server and each database (independent) | Key-value pairs | Yes. |
Compute and storage
| Configuration | Scope | Values | Can modify after deployment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elastic pool membership | Database | Elastic pool, Standalone | Yes. See Elastic pools. |
| Service tier | Database (or elastic pool) | General Purpose, Business Critical, Hyperscale (vCore) Basic, Standard, Premium (DTU) |
Partially. You can switch between service tiers, and you can upgrade to Hyperscale in the vCore purchasing model. Reverse migration from Hyperscale back to General Purpose is possible within 45 days of conversion. Databases originally created as Hyperscale can't revert. To learn more, see Scale resources. |
| Compute tier | Database (or elastic pool) | Provisioned, Serverless. | Yes. You can switch between Provisioned and Serverless. Serverless is available only on General Purpose and Hyperscale. It isn't available on Business Critical. See Serverless compute tier. |
| Compute hardware | Database (or elastic pool) | Standard-series (Gen5), Premium-series, Premium-series memory optimized, DC-series | Yes. Availability depends on the service tier and compute tier. See Hardware configuration. |
| vCores (Provisioned, or min/max for Serverless) | Database (or elastic pool) | From 0.5 vCores (serverless) up to 128+ vCores, depending on service tier, compute tier, and hardware | Yes. You can scale up or down within applicable limits. See single database limits, elastic pool limits, and Hyperscale limits. |
| Auto-pause delay (Serverless) | Database | Configurable delay, Disabled | Yes. Available for General Purpose serverless only. Hyperscale serverless doesn't support auto-pause. See Auto-pause and auto-resume. |
| Reserved storage size | Database (or elastic pool) | Varies by service tier and hardware. | Yes. You can scale reserved storage up or down, but never below the storage space already in use. See Resource limits for single databases, Resource limits for elastic pools, and Hyperscale resource limits. |
Networking
| Configuration | Scope | Values | Can modify after deployment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Connectivity method | Logical server | Public endpoint, Private endpoint, No public access. | Yes. See Azure SQL Database connectivity architecture. |
| Allow Azure services access | Logical server (firewall rule) | Yes, No | Yes. Implemented as the server-level firewall rule AllowAllWindowsAzureIps (0.0.0.0). See Network access controls. |
| Firewall rules | Logical server and database | IP-based rules. | Yes. See Server-level and database-level firewall rules. |
| Virtual network rules | Logical server | Subnet-based service endpoints. | Yes. See Virtual network service endpoints. |
| Private endpoints | Logical server | Private endpoint connections to the logical server. | Yes. See Azure Private Link for Azure SQL Database. |
| Connection policy | Logical server | Default, Proxy, Redirect. | Yes. See Azure SQL Database connection policy. |
| Minimum TLS version | Logical server | TLS 1.2 | Yes. TLS 1.2 is the default. TLS 1.0 and 1.1 are retired. See Minimum TLS version and TLS 1.3 support. |
Security
| Configuration | Scope | Values | Can modify after deployment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Microsoft Defender for SQL | Logical server | Enabled, Disabled. | Yes. See Microsoft Defender for SQL. |
| Ledger | Database | Enabled (Ledger database), Disabled | No. You can't convert a ledger database to a regular database, or the reverse. See Azure SQL Database ledger. |
| Managed identity | Logical server | System-assigned, User-assigned, None. | Yes. See Managed identities for Azure SQL. |
| Transparent data encryption (TDE) | Logical server (TDE protector); enforced per database | Service-managed key, Customer-managed key (CMK). | Yes. You can switch between service-managed and customer-managed keys, and rotate keys manually or automatically. See TDE for Azure SQL Database. |
| TDE encryption key (CMK) | Logical server (TDE protector) | Specific Azure Key Vault key. | Yes. You can rotate the key manually or automatically. See Customer-managed TDE. |
| Auditing | Logical server and database | Enabled, Disabled. | Yes. Server-level auditing applies to all databases on the server. Database-level auditing can be configured independently. See Auditing for Azure SQL Database. |
High availability and disaster recovery
| Configuration | Scope | Values | Can modify after deployment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zone redundancy | Database (or elastic pool) | Enabled, Disabled. | Partially. You can enable or disable zone redundancy for Azure SQL Database General Purpose (vCore) and Business Critical/Premium tiers as an online operation. Azure SQL Database Hyperscale: you can only specify zone redundancy when you create the database, and you can't change it later. To change it, use database copy, point-in-time restore, or a geo-replica. See Zone-redundant availability. |
| High availability replicas | Database | 0-4 (Hyperscale); fixed at 3 (Business Critical and Premium) | Yes (Hyperscale only). In Business Critical and Premium, the three HA replicas are automatic and you can't configure the count. In Hyperscale, you can configure 0-4 HA replicas. See Hyperscale high availability. |
| Read scale-out | Database | Enabled, Disabled | Yes. Read scale-out replicas are available on Premium and Business Critical tiers. Hyperscale provides equivalent read scale-out through HA replicas and up to 30 named replicas with independently configurable compute (see the High availability replicas row). See Read scale-out. |
| Geo-replication | Database (active geo-replication); logical server (failover groups) | Active geo-replication, Failover groups | Yes. You can configure geo-replication after you create the database. See Active geo-replication and Failover groups. |
Backup and restore
| Configuration | Scope | Values | Can modify after deployment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Backup storage redundancy | Database | LRS, ZRS, GRS, GZRS | Partially. General Purpose/Business Critical: backup storage redundancy is modifiable. Changes apply to future backups and might take up to 48 hours to take effect. Hyperscale and Basic: backup storage redundancy is set at creation and can't be changed afterward. To change the redundancy, use active geo-replication, database copy, or point-in-time restore. Hyperscale supports LRS, ZRS, GRS, and GZRS where available. See Backup storage redundancy. |
| Backup retention (PITR) | Database | 1–35 days (default 7) | Yes. Varies by service tier. See Point-in-time restore (PITR). |
| Long-term retention (LTR) | Database | Weekly, Monthly, Yearly, up to 10 years. | Yes. See Long-term retention. |
Additional settings
| Configuration | Scope | Values | Can modify after deployment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maintenance window | Database (or elastic pool) | System default (5 PM–8 AM), Weekday (10 PM–6 AM Mon–Thu), Weekend (10 PM–6 AM Fri–Sun) | Yes. For Azure SQL Database, you can change your desired maintenance window at any time. For supported service tiers and hardware, see Maintenance window. |
| Diagnostic settings | Database | Log Analytics, Event Hubs, Storage Account. | Yes. See Diagnostic telemetry for export. |
Unchangeable settings after deployment
You can't change the following settings after you create your database. Plan them carefully before you provision the database.
| Setting | Why this matters |
|---|---|
| Collation | You can't change the database collation after you create the database. |
| Ledger | After you create a database as a ledger database (or as a regular database), you can't switch between the two. |
| Logical server name and region | You can't change the logical server name or its region after you create the server. |
| Parent logical server | You can't change a database's logical server after you create the database. Copy or geo-replicate to a different server. |
| SQL authentication server admin login | You can't rename the SQL authentication server admin login after you create the server. |
| Hyperscale-only specifics | When you create the database in Hyperscale, you can't change the backup storage redundancy or zone redundancy later. You can convert databases to Hyperscale and reverse-migrate from Hyperscale within 45 days, but databases originally created as Hyperscale can't revert. |