Use PowerShell to add a database to a failover group

Article
12/15/2023

This PowerShell script example creates a single database in Azure SQL Database, creates a failover group, adds the database to it, and tests failover.

If you don't have an Azure subscription, create an Azure free account before you begin.

Note

This article uses the Azure Az PowerShell module, which is the recommended PowerShell module for interacting with Azure. To get started with the Az PowerShell module, see Install Azure PowerShell. To learn how to migrate to the Az PowerShell module, see Migrate Azure PowerShell from AzureRM to Az.

Use Azure Cloud Shell

Azure hosts Azure Cloud Shell, an interactive shell environment that you can use through your browser. You can use either Bash or PowerShell with Cloud Shell to work with Azure services. You can use the Cloud Shell preinstalled commands to run the code in this article, without having to install anything on your local environment.

To start Azure Cloud Shell:

Option	Example/Link
Select Try It in the upper-right corner of a code block. Selecting Try It doesn't automatically copy the code to Cloud Shell.
Go to https://shell.azure.com, or select the Launch Cloud Shell button to open Cloud Shell in your browser.
Select the Cloud Shell button on the menu bar at the upper right in the Azure portal.

To run the code in this article in Azure Cloud Shell:

Start Cloud Shell.
Select the Copy button on a code block to copy the code.
Paste the code into the Cloud Shell session by selecting Ctrl+Shift+V on Windows and Linux, or by selecting Cmd+Shift+V on macOS.
Select Enter to run the code.

If you choose to install and use PowerShell locally, this tutorial requires Az PowerShell 1.4.0 or later. If you need to upgrade, see Install Azure PowerShell module. If you're running PowerShell locally, you also need to run Connect-AzAccount to create a connection with Azure.

Sample scripts

# Add a single Azure SQL Database to a failover group

# Set variables for your server and database
$subscriptionId = '<SubscriptionID>'
$randomIdentifier = $(Get-Random)
$resourceGroupName = "myResourceGroup-$randomIdentifier"
$location = "West US 2"
$adminLogin = "azureuser"
$password = "PWD27!"+(New-Guid).Guid
$serverName = "mysqlserver-$randomIdentifier"
$databaseName = "mySampleDatabase"
$drLocation = "East US 2"
$drServerName = "mysqlsecondary-$randomIdentifier"
$failoverGroupName = "failovergrouptutorial-$randomIdentifier"


# The ip address range that you want to allow to access your server 
# Leaving at 0.0.0.0 will prevent outside-of-azure connections
$startIp = "0.0.0.0"
$endIp = "0.0.0.0"

# Show randomized variables
Write-host "Resource group name is" $resourceGroupName 
Write-host "Password is" $password  
Write-host "Server name is" $serverName 
Write-host "DR Server name is" $drServerName 
Write-host "Failover group name is" $failoverGroupName



# Set subscription ID
Set-AzContext -SubscriptionId $subscriptionId

# Create a resource group
Write-host "Creating resource group..."
$resourceGroup = New-AzResourceGroup -Name $resourceGroupName -Location $location -Tag @{Owner="SQLDB-Samples"}
$resourceGroup



# Create a server with a system wide unique server name
Write-host "Creating primary logical server..."
$server = New-AzSqlServer -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroupName `
   -ServerName $serverName `
   -Location $location `
   -SqlAdministratorCredentials $(New-Object -TypeName System.Management.Automation.PSCredential `
   -ArgumentList $adminLogin, $(ConvertTo-SecureString -String $password -AsPlainText -Force))
$server

# Create a server firewall rule that allows access from the specified IP range
Write-host "Configuring firewall for primary logical server..."
$serverFirewallRule = New-AzSqlServerFirewallRule -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroupName `
   -ServerName $serverName `
   -FirewallRuleName "AllowedIPs" -StartIpAddress $startIp -EndIpAddress $endIp
$serverFirewallRule

# Create General Purpose Gen5 database with 2 vCore
Write-host "Creating a gen5 2 vCore database..."
$database = New-AzSqlDatabase  -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroupName `
   -ServerName $serverName `
   -DatabaseName $databaseName `
   -Edition GeneralPurpose `
   -VCore 2 `
   -ComputeGeneration Gen5 `
   -MinimumCapacity 2 `
   -SampleName "AdventureWorksLT"
$database



# Create a secondary server in the failover region
Write-host "Creating a secondary logical server in the failover region..."
$drServer = New-AzSqlServer -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroupName `
   -ServerName $drServerName `
   -Location $drLocation `
   -SqlAdministratorCredentials $(New-Object -TypeName System.Management.Automation.PSCredential `
      -ArgumentList $adminlogin, $(ConvertTo-SecureString -String $password -AsPlainText -Force))
$drServer



# Create a failover group between the servers
$failovergroup = Write-host "Creating a failover group between the primary and secondary server..."
New-AzSqlDatabaseFailoverGroup `
   –ResourceGroupName $resourceGroupName `
   -ServerName $serverName `
   -PartnerServerName $drServerName  `
   –FailoverGroupName $failoverGroupName `
   –FailoverPolicy Manual
$failovergroup


# Add the database to the failover group
Write-host "Adding the database to the failover group..." 
Get-AzSqlDatabase `
   -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroupName `
   -ServerName $serverName `
   -DatabaseName $databaseName | `
Add-AzSqlDatabaseToFailoverGroup `
   -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroupName `
   -ServerName $serverName `
   -FailoverGroupName $failoverGroupName
Write-host "Successfully added the database to the failover group..." 



# Check role of secondary replica
Write-host "Confirming the secondary replica is secondary...." 
(Get-AzSqlDatabaseFailoverGroup `
   -FailoverGroupName $failoverGroupName `
   -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroupName `
   -ServerName $drServerName).ReplicationRole




# Failover to secondary server
Write-host "Failing over failover group to the secondary..." 
Switch-AzSqlDatabaseFailoverGroup `
   -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroupName `
   -ServerName $drServerName `
   -FailoverGroupName $failoverGroupName
Write-host "Failed failover group successfully to" $drServerName 

Write-host "Confirming the secondary server is now primary...." 
(Get-AzSqlDatabaseFailoverGroup `
   -FailoverGroupName $failoverGroupName `
   -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroupName `
   -ServerName $drServerName).ReplicationRole



# Revert failover to primary server
Write-host "Failing over failover group to the primary...." 
Switch-AzSqlDatabaseFailoverGroup `
   -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroupName `
   -ServerName $serverName `
   -FailoverGroupName $failoverGroupName
Write-host "Failed failover group successfully back to" $serverName


# Show randomized variables
Write-host "Resource group name is" $resourceGroupName 
Write-host "Password is" $password  
Write-host "Server name is" $serverName 
Write-host "DR Server name is" $drServerName 
Write-host "Failover group name is" $failoverGroupName

# Clean up resources by removing the resource group
# Write-host "Removing resource group..."
# Remove-AzResourceGroup -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroupName
# Write-host "Resource group removed =" $resourceGroupName

Clean up deployment

Use the following command to remove the resource group and all resources associated with it.

Remove-AzResourceGroup -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroupName

Script explanation

This script uses the following commands. Each command in the table links to command specific documentation.

Command	Notes
New-AzResourceGroup	Creates a resource group in which all resources are stored.
New-AzSqlServer	Creates a server.
New-AzSqlServerFirewallRule	Creates a server-level firewall rule for a server.
New-AzSqlDatabase	Creates a new database.
New-AzSqlDatabaseFailoverGroup	Creates a new failover group.
Get-AzSqlDatabase	Gets one or more databases.
Add-AzSqlDatabaseToFailoverGroup	Adds one or more databases to a failover group.
Get-AzSqlDatabaseFailoverGroup	Gets or lists failover groups.
Switch-AzSqlDatabaseFailoverGroup	Executes a failover of a failover group.
Remove-AzResourceGroup	Removes a resource group

Next steps

For more information on Azure PowerShell, see Azure PowerShell documentation.

Additional SQL Database PowerShell script samples can be found in the Azure SQL Database PowerShell scripts.