Lab: Implementing Azure SQL Database-Based Applications

Student lab manual

Lab scenario

Adatum Corporation has a number two tier applications with .NET Core-based front end and SQL Server-based backend. The Adatum Enterprise Architecture team is exploring the possibility of implementing these applications by leveraging Azure SQL Database as the data tier. Given intermittent, unpredictable usage of the existing SQL Server backend and relatively high tolerance for latency built into the front-end apps, Adatum is considering the serverless tier of Azure SQL Database.

Serverless is a compute tier for individual Azure SQL Databases instances that automatically scales compute based on workload demand and bills for compute used per second. The serverless compute tier is also capable of automatically pausing databases during inactive periods when only storage is billed and automatically resumes databases when activity returns.

The Adatum Enterprise Architecture team is also interested in evaluating network-level security provided by the Azure SQL Databases, in order to ensure that it is possible to restrct inbound connections to specific ranges of IP addresses, in scenarios where the apps must be able to connect from its on-premises locations without relying on hybrid connectivity via Site-to-Site VPN or ExpressRoute.

To accomplish these objectives, the Adatum Architecture team will test Azure SQL Database-based applications, including:

Implementing serverless tier of Azure SQL Database
Implementing .NET Core console apps that use Azure SQL Database as their data store

Objectives

After completing this lab, you will be able to:

Implement serverless tier of Azure SQL Database
Configure .NET Core-based console apps that use Azure SQL Database as their data store

Lab Environment

Windows Server admin credentials

User Name: Student
Password: Pa55w.rd1234

Estimated Time: 60 minutes

Lab Files

None

Exercise 1: Implement Azure SQL Database

The main tasks for this exercise are as follows:

Create Azure SQL Database
Connect to and query Azure SQL Database

Task 1: Create Azure SQL Database

From your lab computer, start a web browser, navigate to the Azure portal, and sign in by providing credentials of a user account with the Owner role in the subscription you will be using in this lab.
In the Azure portal, search for and select SQL database and, on the SQL databases blade, select + Add.

On the Basics tab of the Create SQL Database blade, specify the following settings (leave others with their default values):

Setting	Value
Subscription	the name of the Azure subscription you will be using in this lab
Resource group	the name of a new resource group az30303a-labRG
Database name	az30303a-db1

Directly below the Server drop down list, select the Create new and, on the New server blade, specify the following settings and select OK (leave others with their default values):

Setting	Value
Server name	any valid, globally unique name
Server admin login	sqladmin
Password	Pa55w.rd1234
Location	the name of an Azure region where you can provision SQL databases

Next to the Compute + storage label, select the Configure database link.
On the Configure blade, select Serverless, review the corresponding hardware configuration and auto-pause delay settings, leave the Enable auto-pause checkbox enabled, and select Apply.
Back on the Basics tab of the Create SQL Database blade, select Next: Networking >.

On the Networking tab of the Create SQL Database blade, specify the following settings (leave others with their default values):

Setting	Value
Connectivity method	Public endpoint
Allow Azure services and resources to access this server	No
Add current client IP address	Yes

Select Next: Additional settings >.

On the Additional settings tab of the Create SQL Database blade, specify the following settings (leave others with their default values):

Setting	Value
Use existing data	Sample
Enable Azure Defender for SQL	Not now

Select Review + create and then select Create.

Note: Wait for the SQL database to be created. Provisioning should take about 2 minutes.

Task 2: Connect to and query Azure SQL Database

In the Azure portal, search for and select SQL database and, on the SQL databases blade, select the entry representing the newly created az30303a-db1 Azure SQL database.
On the SQL database blade, select Query editor (preview).
In the SQL Server authentication section, in the Password textbox, type Pa55w.rd1234 and select OK.

In the Query editor (preview) pane, on the Query 1 tab, enter the following query and select Run:

 SELECT TOP 20 pc.Name as CategoryName, p.name as ProductName
 FROM SalesLT.ProductCategory pc
 JOIN SalesLT.Product p
 ON pc.productcategoryid = p.productcategoryid;

Review the Results tab to verify that the query completed successfully.

Exercise 2: Implement a .NET Core console app that uses Azure SQL Database as their data store

The main tasks for this exercise are as follows:

Identify ADO.NET connection information of Azure SQL Database
Create and configure a .NET Core console app
Test the .NET Core console app
Configure Azure SQL database firewall
Verify the functionality of the .NET Core console app
Remove Azure resources deployed in the lab

Task 1: Identify ADO.NET connection information of Azure SQL Database

In the Azure portal, on the blade of the Azure SQL database you deployed in the previous exercise, in the Settings section, select Connection strings.
On the ADO.NET tab, note the ADO.NET connection string for SQL authentication.

Task 2: Create and configure a .NET Core console app

In the Azure portal, open the Cloud Shell pane by selecting on the toolbar icon directly to the right of the search textbox.
If prompted to select either Bash or PowerShell, select Bash.

Note: If this is the first time you are starting Cloud Shell and you are presented with the You have no storage mounted message, select the subscription you are using in this lab, and select Create storage.
From the Cloud Shell pane, run the following to create a new folder named az30303a1 and set it as your current directory:
```
mkdir az30303a1
cd az30303a1/
```
From the Cloud Shell pane, run the following to create a new app project file for a .NET Core-based app based on the desktop template:
```
dotnet new console
```
In the Cloud Shell pane, use the built in editor to open and modify the az30303a1.csproj file by adding the following XML element between the <Project> tags:
```
<ItemGroup>
    <PackageReference Include="System.Data.SqlClient" Version="4.6.0" />
</ItemGroup>
```
Save and close the az30303a1.csproj file.

In the Cloud Shell pane, use the built in editor to open and modify the Program.cs file by replacing its content with the following code:

using System;
using System.Data.SqlClient;
using System.Text;

namespace sqltest
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            try 
            { 
                SqlConnectionStringBuilder builder = new SqlConnectionStringBuilder();
                builder.ConnectionString="<your_ado_net_connection_string>";

                using (SqlConnection connection = new SqlConnection(builder.ConnectionString))
                {
                    Console.WriteLine("\nQuery data example:");
                    Console.WriteLine("=========================================\n");
        
                    connection.Open();       
                    StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
                    sb.Append("SELECT TOP 20 pc.Name as CategoryName, p.name as ProductName ");
                    sb.Append("FROM [SalesLT].[ProductCategory] pc ");
                    sb.Append("JOIN [SalesLT].[Product] p ");
                    sb.Append("ON pc.productcategoryid = p.productcategoryid;");
                    String sql = sb.ToString();

                    using (SqlCommand command = new SqlCommand(sql, connection))
                    {
                        using (SqlDataReader reader = command.ExecuteReader())
                        {
                            while (reader.Read())
                            {
                                Console.WriteLine("{0} {1}", reader.GetString(0), reader.GetString(1));
                            }
                        }
                    }                    
                }
            }
            catch (SqlException e)
            {
                Console.WriteLine(e.ToString());
            }
            Console.WriteLine("\nDone. Press enter.");
            Console.ReadLine(); 
        }
    }
}

Leave the editor window open.
In the Azure portal, on the blade displaying the connection strings for the az30303a-db1 database, copy the ADO.NET connection string.
Switch back to the editor window and replace the placeholder <your_ado_net_connection_string> with the value of the connection string you copied in the previous step.
In the connection string you copied into the editor window, replace the placeholder {your_password} with Pa55w.rd1234.
Save and close the Program.cs file.

Task 3: Test the .NET Core console app

From the Cloud Shell pane, run the following to compile the newly created .NET Core-based console app:
```
dotnet restore
```
From the Cloud Shell pane, run the following to execute the newly created .NET Core-based console app:
```
dotnet run
```
Note that the execution of the console app will trigger an error.

Note: This is expected, since the connection from IP address assigned to the virtual machine running the Cloud Shell session must be explicitly allowed.

Task 4: Configure Azure SQL database firewall

From the Cloud Shell pane, run the following to identify the public IP address of the virtual machine running the Cloud Shell session:
```
curl -s checkip.dyndns.org | sed -e 's/.*Current IP Address: //' -e 's/<.*$//'
```
In the Azure portal, on the blade displaying the connection strings for the az30303a-db1 database, select Overview and, in the toolbar, select Set server firewall.

On the Firewall settings blade, set the following entries and select Save:

Setting	Value
Rule name	cloudshell
Start IP	the IP addres you identified earlier in this task
End IP	the IP addres you identified earlier in this task

Note: Obviously this is meant for the lab purposes only, since that IP address will change after you restart the Cloud Shell session.

Task 5: Verify the functionality of the .NET Core console app

From the Cloud Shell pane, run the following to execute the newly created .NET Core-based console app:
```
dotnet run
```
Note that the execution of the console app will this time be successful and that it returns the same results as those displayed in the query editor within the Azure portal SQL database blade.

Task 6: Remove Azure resources deployed in the lab

From the Cloud Shell pane, run the following to list the resource group you created in this exercise:
```
az group list --query "[?starts_with(name,'az30303')]".name --output tsv
```
Note: Verify that the output contains only the resource group you created in this lab. This group will be deleted in this task.

From the Cloud Shell pane, run the following to delete the resource group you created in this lab

az group list --query "[?starts_with(name,'az30303')]".name --output tsv | xargs -L1 bash -c 'az group delete --name $0 --no-wait --yes'

From the Cloud Shell pane, run the following to remove the folder named az30303a1:
```
rm -r ~/az30303a1
```
Close the Cloud Shell pane.