Database guides

Azure SQL Database

Updated 2026-08-11 · 2 min read

Microsoft’s managed SQL Server, one logical database per connection. AddisDB connects with its SQL Server driver over TDS.

Azure SQL Database is a managed, single-database SQL Server service. It speaks TDS, so AddisDB connects with its SQL Server driver on port 1433 and the SQL Server toolset applies.

Who it is for

Azure SQL Database suits applications that want SQL Server without a server — patching, backups and high availability are handled, and you size a single database rather than an instance.

The constraint that shapes everything is that a connection targets one logical database. USE is rejected, sys.databases shows only master and the database you are in, and cross-database queries do not work. If you need several databases on one instance and the freedom to move between them, Managed Instance is the product for that and has its own entry in the picker.

Set up the database

  1. In the Azure portal open your SQL database and copy the server name — it looks like myserver.database.windows.net.
  2. The port is 1433.
  3. Open the server’s Networking blade and add your client IP to the firewall rules. This is the most common reason a first connection fails.
  4. Note the database name and the server admin login, or the contained user you were given.

Connect from AddisDB

  1. New Connection → Azure SQL Database. Port prefills to 1433.
  2. Enter the server name as the host and the exact database name — not master, unless that is genuinely what you want.
  3. Enter the admin login and password. If the login is a contained user, it exists only in that one database.
  4. Set SSL mode to require.
  5. Test, then Save.

What AddisDB gives you

The SQL Server toolset: schema tree, the structured create and alter table builders, database-user management and mock data all work.

The Live Monitor is real — Azure SQL Database exposes the database-scoped dynamic management views the monitor reads, so you get live requests, sessions and table sizes.

Two things are switched off by the platform rather than by choice. Adding every database on the host is hidden, because the service only ever shows you one. Query plans are not wired up for the SQL Server family yet — the plan arrives on a separate result set that needs a pinned session — so the plan viewer says so rather than showing a partial answer.