What is Azure SQL?

Azure SQL is a fully managed relational database service offered by Microsoft Azure. It is built on the same engine as SQL Server, providing compatibility with existing SQL Server applications while delivering cloud benefits such as automatic backups, patching, scaling, and high availability. Azure SQL comes in two main flavors: Azure SQL Database, a Platform‑as‑a‑Service (PaaS) offering that abstracts infrastructure management, and Azure SQL Managed Instance, which provides near‑full SQL Server compatibility for lift‑and‑shift migrations. Key features include elastic pools for cost‑effective scaling across multiple databases, built‑in threat detection, advanced analytics with Azure Synapse, and integration with Azure Active Directory for authentication. It supports both transactional workloads and analytical workloads, making it suitable for a wide range of applications from web services to data warehousing.