Use PowerShell to create elastic pools and move a database between them

Applies to: Azure SQL Database

This PowerShell script example creates two elastic pools, moves a pooled database in SQL Database from one SQL elastic pool into another SQL elastic pool, and then moves the pooled database out of the SQL elastic pool to be a single database in Azure SQL Database.

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. Screenshot that shows an example of Try It for Azure Cloud Shell.
Go to https://shell.azure.com, or select the Launch Cloud Shell button to open Cloud Shell in your browser. Screenshot that shows how to launch Cloud Shell in a new window.
Select the Cloud Shell button on the menu bar at the upper right in the Azure portal. Screenshot that shows the Cloud Shell button in the Azure portal

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

  1. Start Cloud Shell.

  2. Select the Copy button on a code block to copy the code.

  3. 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.

  4. 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 are running PowerShell locally, you also need to run Connect-AzAccount to create a connection with Azure.

Sample script

# Connect-AzAccount
$SubscriptionId = '<replace with your subscription id>'
# Set the resource group name and location for your server
$resourceGroupName = "myResourceGroup-$(Get-Random)"
$location = "westus2"
# Set elastic pool names
$firstPoolName = "MyFirstPool"
$secondPoolName = "MySecondPool"
# Set an admin login and password for your server
$adminSqlLogin = "SqlAdmin"
$password = "<EnterYourComplexPasswordHere>"
# The logical server name has to be unique in the system
$serverName = "server-$(Get-Random)"
# The sample database names
$firstDatabaseName = "myFirstSampleDatabase"
$secondDatabaseName = "mySecondSampleDatabase"
# The ip address range that you want to allow to access your server
$startIp = "0.0.0.0"
$endIp = "0.0.0.0"

# Set subscription 
Set-AzContext -SubscriptionId $subscriptionId 

# Create a new resource group
$resourceGroup = New-AzResourceGroup -Name $resourceGroupName -Location $location

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

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

# Create two elastic database pools
$firstPool = New-AzSqlElasticPool -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroupName `
    -ServerName $servername `
    -ElasticPoolName $firstPoolName `
    -Edition "Standard" `
    -Dtu 50 `
    -DatabaseDtuMin 10 `
    -DatabaseDtuMax 20
$secondPool = New-AzSqlElasticPool -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroupName `
    -ServerName $serverName `
    -ElasticPoolName $secondPoolName `
    -Edition "Standard" `
    -Dtu 50 `
    -DatabaseDtuMin 10 `
    -DatabaseDtuMax 50

# Create two blank databases in the first pool
$firstDatabase = New-AzSqlDatabase  -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroupName `
    -ServerName $serverName `
    -DatabaseName $firstDatabaseName `
    -ElasticPoolName $firstPoolName
$secondDatabase = New-AzSqlDatabase  -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroupName `
    -ServerName $serverName `
    -DatabaseName $secondDatabaseName `
    -ElasticPoolName $secondPoolName

# Move the database to the second pool
$firstDatabase = Set-AzSqlDatabase -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroupName `
    -ServerName $serverName `
    -DatabaseName $firstDatabaseName `
    -ElasticPoolName $secondPoolName

# Move the database into a standalone performance level
$firstDatabase = Set-AzSqlDatabase -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroupName `
    -ServerName $serverName `
    -DatabaseName $firstDatabaseName `
    -RequestedServiceObjectiveName "S0"

# Clean up deployment 
# Remove-AzResourceGroup -ResourceGroupName $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 that hosts databases and elastic pools.
New-AzSqlElasticPool Creates an elastic pool.
New-AzSqlDatabase Creates a database in a server.
Set-AzSqlDatabase Updates database properties or moves a database into, out of, or between elastic pools.
Remove-AzResourceGroup Deletes a resource group including all nested resources.

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.