Azure SQL Database
Does ZopNight manage Azure SQL Database?
Azure SQL Database bills continuously for reserved DTU or vCore compute on provisioned tiers; only the Serverless tier can pause. ZopNight discovers each database with tier and SKU detail via Resource Graph, tracks 60 days of utilization, pauses Serverless databases on schedule, and flags oversized provisioned tiers for rightsizing.
Rules that fire on Azure SQL Database
At a glance
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Scheduling notes | paused and resumed, but only for databases on the Serverless compute tier; provisioned-tier databases cannot be paused. |
Azure SQL Database is Microsoft’s fully managed PaaS relational database built on the SQL Server engine. Provisioned databases bill continuously for reserved compute, so non-production databases are prime candidates for pausing.
DTU and vCore meters run around the clock
A provisioned-tier database reserves compute, measured in DTUs on the older purchasing model, vCores on the newer one, and bills for that reservation every hour whether a single query arrives or none do. The Serverless tier is the exception: compute bills per second of actual use and the database can pause entirely, dropping the compute meter to zero while storage continues. Storage is always a separate line, billed on provisioned size for the database and its backups regardless of tier or activity.
Signals ZopNight collects on every SQL database
Discovered via Azure Resource Graph with tier and SKU detail. Azure Monitor metrics with a 60-day lookback track DTU and vCore utilization, Cost Management billing attributes actual spend to each database, and recommendations flag oversized tiers and idle databases. ML auto-tagging predicts zop-env and zop-noStop tags for this type, so environment classification does not depend on teams having tagged their databases by hand.
Pause exists only on the Serverless tier
ZopNight pauses and resumes databases on schedule, but Azure permits this solely for the Serverless compute tier. That is a platform constraint, not a ZopNight limitation. A provisioned database has no pause operation at any price point. That does not strand provisioned databases: rightsizing recommendations still apply, and moving a quiet non-production database to Serverless converts it from unstoppable to schedulable.
Where SQL Database spend goes wrong
The recurring offenders: development databases on provisioned tiers reserving compute all 168 hours of the week; databases sized for a migration burst and never stepped back down; and idle databases whose last query predates the 60-day metrics window, billing on purely because deleting them requires an owner nobody can find.
Locating databases in the Azure portal
Azure portal → SQL databases lists every database across the subscription with its server, tier, and pricing model. Each database’s Overview blade shows its compute tier. A Serverless database also shows whether it is currently paused, the state a schedule aims to maximise.