Glossary
Search Azure terms
Open a clear definition, then continue into exam context, architecture, commands, operational examples, common mistakes, and related concepts.
Search all
Commands
Learning guides
Concept graph
Compare
Search-first Azure knowledge base
Term results
Search for a term or click a category. Results render only after you ask for them, so the glossary does not dump every available term on first load. Each result includes Quick peek and Open full term page actions.
Start with a search or a category.
Try managed identity , resource group , az group , private endpoint , or click Databases to load all database-related terms.
Showing 50 of 1,973 matching terms. Narrow the search to reduce the list.
Databases
premium
Active geo-replication
Active geo-replication is an Azure SQL Database business-continuity feature that continuously replicates one primary database to a readable secondary database, often in another Azure region. It supports manual or programmatic geo-failover for individual databases and can also serve read-only workloads from the secondary.
Azure SQL continuity
advanced
5 commands
Aliases: Azure SQL active geo-replication, geo-secondary, geo-replica
Quick peek
Open full term page
Databases
premium
Azure SQL active geo-replication
Azure SQL active geo-replication creates readable secondary databases in other regions for database-level disaster recovery and failover.
Azure SQL Database
intermediate
5 commands
Aliases: Azure SQL active geo-replication, SQL geo-replication, active geo-replication, geo-secondary database
Quick peek
Open full term page
Databases
premium
Azure SQL failover group
Provide a stable listener endpoint for applications that must survive an Azure SQL regional failover.; Coordinate failover for several related user databases instead of managing each geo-replica separately.
Azure SQL Database
intermediate
5 commands
Aliases: Azure SQL failover group, SQL failover group, auto-failover group, failover group, geo-failover group
Quick peek
Open full term page
Databases
premium
Azure SQL zone redundancy
Azure SQL zone redundancy places database replicas or storage across multiple availability zones in a supported region to improve resilience against datacenter-level failures.
Azure SQL Database
intermediate
4 commands
Aliases: No aliases yet
Quick peek
Open full term page
Databases
premium
Azure SQL logical server
An Azure SQL logical server is a logical administrative construct for Azure SQL Database and related SQL resources. Microsoft Learn describes it as the central point for managing a collection of databases, including logins, firewall rules, auditing, threat detection policies, and failover groups.
Azure SQL Database
fundamentals
16 commands
Aliases: No aliases yet
Quick peek
Open full term page
Databases
premium
Azure SQL auditing
Azure SQL auditing tracks database events and writes audit logs to supported destinations such as storage, Log Analytics, or Event Hubs.
Azure SQL Database
fundamentals
5 commands
Aliases: Azure SQL audit logs, Azure SQL auditing, SQL auditing, database auditing
Quick peek
Open full term page
Databases
premium
Azure SQL automated backup
Azure SQL automated backup automatically protects databases and supports point-in-time restore using service-managed backup chains.
Azure SQL Database
fundamentals
5 commands
Aliases: Azure SQL automated backup, Azure SQL automatic backups, SQL automated backups, point-in-time restore backups
Quick peek
Open full term page
Databases
premium
Azure SQL automatic tuning
Azure SQL automatic tuning monitors query performance and can apply tuning actions such as plan correction and index recommendations.
Azure SQL Database
fundamentals
5 commands
Aliases: Azure SQL automatic tuning, Azure SQL tuning recommendations, SQL automatic tuning, automatic tuning
Quick peek
Open full term page
Databases
premium
Azure SQL Business Critical tier
Azure SQL Business Critical tier is a vCore service tier for OLTP workloads that need high transaction rates, low-latency I/O, and high resilience through isolated replicas.
Azure SQL Database
fundamentals
5 commands
Aliases: Azure SQL Business Critical tier, Business Critical tier, BusinessCritical, Premium-like vCore tier, SQL Business Critical
Quick peek
Open full term page
Databases
premium
Azure SQL Database
Azure SQL Database is a fully managed relational database service in Azure that provides SQL Server-compatible engines as single databases, elastic pools, and serverless or provisioned compute choices. Microsoft Learn presents it as platform as a service with built-in availability, backups, patching, scaling, and security integration.
Database
intermediate
5 commands
Aliases: Azure SQL DB, Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL pooled database, Azure SQL single database, SQL Database
Quick peek
Open full term page
Databases
premium
Azure SQL database copy
Azure SQL database copy creates a transactionally consistent copy of an Azure SQL Database using portal, PowerShell, Azure CLI, or Transact-SQL.
Azure SQL Database
fundamentals
5 commands
Aliases: Azure SQL copy, Azure SQL database copy, CREATE DATABASE AS COPY OF, SQL database copy, database copy
Quick peek
Open full term page
Databases
premium
Azure SQL Database DTU model
Azure SQL Database DTU model is a purchasing model that bundles compute, storage, and I/O resources into Database Transaction Units for Basic, Standard, and Premium tiers.
Azure SQL Database
fundamentals
5 commands
Aliases: Azure SQL Database DTU model, DTU model, DTU-based purchasing model, Database Transaction Unit, eDTU
Quick peek
Open full term page
Databases
premium
Azure SQL elastic job
Azure SQL elastic jobs schedule and run Transact-SQL scripts across one or many Azure SQL databases, including target groups across servers, pools, and subscriptions.
Azure SQL Database
fundamentals
5 commands
Aliases: Azure Elastic Jobs, Azure SQL elastic job, SQL elastic job agent, elastic job agent, elastic jobs
Quick peek
Open full term page
Databases
premium
Azure SQL elastic pool
Azure SQL elastic pool lets multiple Azure SQL databases on one logical server share a set of resources at a set price for variable usage patterns.
Azure SQL Database
fundamentals
5 commands
Aliases: Azure SQL elastic pool, SQL elastic pool, eDTU pool, elastic pool, pooled databases
Quick peek
Open full term page
Databases
premium
Azure SQL General Purpose tier
Azure SQL General Purpose tier is a vCore service tier for common workloads that need balanced compute and storage at budget-oriented pricing.
Azure SQL Database
fundamentals
5 commands
Aliases: Azure SQL General Purpose tier, GP tier, General Purpose tier, GeneralPurpose, SQL General Purpose
Quick peek
Open full term page
Databases
premium
Azure SQL geo-restore
Azure SQL geo-restore uses geo-replicated backups to restore a database to any logical server in any Azure region when primary-region access is unavailable.
Azure SQL Database
fundamentals
5 commands
Aliases: Azure SQL geo-restore, SQL geo restore, geo-replicated backup restore, geo-restore, regional backup restore
Quick peek
Open full term page
Databases
premium
Azure SQL hyperscale
Azure SQL Database Hyperscale is a service tier built for very large databases, fast storage scaling, rapid backups and restores, and high throughput. Microsoft Learn describes its distinct architecture, including separated compute and storage, page servers, log service, and optional replicas.
Azure SQL Database
fundamentals
5 commands
Aliases: No aliases yet
Quick peek
Open full term page
Databases
premium
Azure SQL ledger
A database capability or setting in Azure SQL Database that helps teams store, query, scale, secure, and recover application data with clearer ownership, safety, and operational context.
Azure SQL Database
fundamentals
5 commands
Aliases: No aliases yet
Quick peek
Open full term page
Databases
premium
Azure SQL long-term retention
A database capability or setting in Azure SQL Database that helps teams store, query, scale, secure, and recover application data with clearer ownership, safety, and operational context.
Azure SQL Database
fundamentals
5 commands
Aliases: No aliases yet
Quick peek
Open full term page
Databases
premium
Azure SQL maintenance window
A database capability or setting in Azure SQL Database that helps teams store, query, scale, secure, and recover application data with clearer ownership, safety, and operational context.
Azure SQL Database
fundamentals
5 commands
Aliases: No aliases yet
Quick peek
Open full term page
Databases
premium
Azure SQL Microsoft Entra authentication
A database capability or setting in Azure SQL Database that helps teams store, query, scale, secure, and recover application data with clearer ownership, safety, and operational context.
Azure SQL Database
fundamentals
5 commands
Aliases: No aliases yet
Quick peek
Open full term page
Databases
premium
Azure SQL point-in-time restore
A database capability or setting in Azure SQL Database that helps teams store, query, scale, secure, and recover application data with clearer ownership, safety, and operational context.
Azure SQL Database
fundamentals
5 commands
Aliases: No aliases yet
Quick peek
Open full term page
Databases
premium
Azure SQL serverless compute
Run development, test, training, or demo databases that need full SQL behavior but sit idle outside work hours.; Support tenant databases with sporadic activity where provisioned compute would waste budget for long idle
Azure SQL Database
fundamentals
5 commands
Aliases: Azure SQL serverless compute
Quick peek
Open full term page
Databases
premium
Azure SQL Query Store
Find the exact query plan regression that appeared after an application deployment or database compatibility-level change.; Compare normal and incident windows before deciding whether a SKU scale-up is justified.
Azure SQL Database
fundamentals
4 commands
Aliases: Azure SQL Query Store
Quick peek
Open full term page
Databases
premium
Azure SQL service objective
An Azure SQL service objective is the named performance level or SKU selected for an Azure SQL Database or elastic pool, defining resource limits, capabilities, and price within the chosen purchasing model.
Azure SQL Database
intermediate
4 commands
Aliases: No aliases yet
Quick peek
Open full term page
Databases
premium
Azure SQL transparent data encryption
Azure SQL Transparent Data Encryption helps protect Azure SQL Database data, log files, and backups at rest by encrypting and decrypting database pages without requiring application changes.
Azure SQL Database
fundamentals
4 commands
Aliases: No aliases yet
Quick peek
Open full term page
Databases
premium
Azure SQL vCore model
The Azure SQL vCore purchasing model lets customers independently choose compute, storage, service tier, and hardware configuration for Azure SQL Database workloads.
Azure SQL Database
intermediate
4 commands
Aliases: No aliases yet
Quick peek
Open full term page
Databases
premium
Azure SQL vulnerability assessment
Azure SQL vulnerability assessment is a Defender for Cloud capability that scans Azure SQL databases for security misconfigurations, risky settings, and findings that can be reviewed and remediated.
Azure SQL Database
intermediate
4 commands
Aliases: No aliases yet
Quick peek
Open full term page
Databases
premium
Azure SQL tempdb
Azure SQL tempdb refers to the SQL engine temporary workspace used for temporary tables, table variables, internal worktables, sorting, version store activity, and other transient database operations.
Azure SQL Database
intermediate
3 commands
Aliases: No aliases yet
Quick peek
Open full term page
Databases
field-manual-complete
Azure SQL firewall rule
An Azure SQL firewall rule is an allow-list entry for public network access to Azure SQL Database. It says which client IP address or range may connect to a logical server or a specific database. It does not replace identity, passwords, Microsoft Entra authentication, or private networking; it only decides whether the network connection is.
Azure SQL Database
intermediate
5 commands
Aliases: Azure SQL firewall rule, IP firewall rule, SQL firewall rule, database-level firewall rule, server-level firewall rule
Quick peek
Open full term page
Databases
field-manual-complete
Azure SQL private endpoint
A database capability or setting in Azure SQL Database that helps teams store, query, scale, secure, and recover application data with clearer ownership, safety, and operational context.
Azure SQL Database
intermediate
5 commands
Aliases: Azure SQL private endpoint, azure-sql-private-endpoint, azure-sql-database, azure-sql-logical-server, private-endpoint, private-dns-zone, vnet-peering, managed-identity, app-service-vnet-integration, azure-sql-firewall-rule, service-endpoint
Quick peek
Open full term page
Analytics
learning-path-anchor
Synapse SQL CETAS
Synapse SQL CETAS means CREATE EXTERNAL TABLE AS SELECT. It creates external table metadata and exports the result of a T-SQL SELECT statement in parallel to files in Azure Storage or Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2 for later SQL or lake consumption.
Synapse Analytics
fundamentals
6 commands
Aliases: CREATE EXTERNAL TABLE AS SELECT, CETAS, Synapse CETAS, serverless SQL CETAS
Quick peek
Open full term page
Analytics
learning-path-anchor
Synapse SQL external table
A Synapse SQL external table is database metadata that lets Synapse SQL query files stored outside the database, usually in Azure Storage or ADLS Gen2. It references an external data source, file format, and file location for governed SQL analytics.
Synapse Analytics
fundamentals
6 commands
Aliases: external table in Synapse, Synapse external table, SQL external table, external table over lake files
Quick peek
Open full term page
Analytics
learning-path-anchor
Synapse SQL on-demand
Synapse SQL on-demand is the serverless SQL pool model in Azure Synapse Analytics. It lets teams run T-SQL queries over data in the lake without provisioning dedicated warehouse capacity, storing only metadata objects while using external data sources, views, functions, and security objects.
Synapse Analytics
fundamentals
6 commands
Aliases: SQL on-demand, Synapse serverless SQL, serverless SQL in Synapse, built-in serverless SQL pool
Quick peek
Open full term page
Analytics
learning-path-anchor
Synapse SQL script
A Synapse SQL script is a saved T-SQL authoring artifact in Synapse Studio. Users create or import scripts in the Develop hub, connect them to a dedicated or serverless SQL pool, run queries, review tabular results, export output, and organize scripts into folders.
Synapse Analytics
fundamentals
5 commands
Aliases: SQL script in Synapse, Synapse Studio SQL script, T-SQL script artifact, Synapse query script
Quick peek
Open full term page
Analytics
learning-path-anchor
Databricks SQL warehouse
A Databricks SQL compute resource for interactive queries, dashboards, BI tools, and governed analytics workloads.
Databricks
intermediate
4 commands
Aliases: SQL warehouse, Databricks SQL compute, serverless SQL warehouse
Quick peek
Open full term page
Databases
complete
SQL active geo-replication
Microsoft Learn describes active geo-replication as a business continuity feature for Azure SQL Database that creates readable geo-secondary databases. If a regional disaster or large outage occurs, you can initiate geo-failover to a secondary database in another Azure region. promptly. quickly.
Azure SQL
intermediate
5 commands
Aliases: SQL active geo-replication, sql active geo replication, sql-active-geo-replication
Quick peek
Open full term page
Analytics
premium
Synapse SQL
Synapse SQL is the T-SQL analytics capability in Azure Synapse Analytics. It includes dedicated SQL pools for provisioned warehousing and serverless SQL pools for on-demand lake queries, letting teams analyze structured and semi-structured data through familiar SQL endpoints inside a Synapse workspace.
Synapse Analytics
intermediate
7 commands
Aliases: Synapse SQL engine, Azure Synapse SQL, Synapse serverless and dedicated SQL, SQL analytics in Synapse
Quick peek
Open full term page
Databases
premium
Azure Managed Redis
Azure Managed Redis is a Microsoft-managed in-memory data store based on Redis Enterprise, used for low-latency caching, session storage, messaging, and semantic cache scenarios.
Managed cache
intermediate
6 commands
Aliases: Managed Redis, Redis Enterprise on Azure, Azure Redis Enterprise
Quick peek
Open full term page
Analytics
premium
Azure Synapse Analytics
Azure Synapse Analytics is Microsoft’s integrated analytics service for enterprise data warehousing, big data, data integration, and exploratory analytics.
Synapse Analytics
intermediate
6 commands
Aliases: No aliases yet
Quick peek
Open full term page
Analytics
premium
Synapse SQL administrator
A Synapse SQL administrator is the Synapse RBAC role focused on serverless SQL access and SQL artifacts. It grants broad serverless SQL pool permissions plus create, read, update, and delete access to published SQL scripts, credentials, and linked services within a workspace.
Synapse Analytics
intermediate
6 commands
Aliases: Synapse SQL Administrator, Synapse SQL admin, SQL administrator in Synapse, Synapse SQL admin role
Quick peek
Open full term page
AI and Machine Learning
premium
Azure AI Search indexer
An Azure AI Search indexer is the automated worker that fills a search index from another data source. Instead of your application pushing every document into Azure AI Search, the indexer pulls from places such as Blob Storage, Azure SQL, Cosmos DB, or Data Lake Storage. It can map fields, detect changes, crack documents, and run enrichment skills before writing searchable documents. It is useful when source data changes regularly.
AI platform and search
intermediate
5 commands
Aliases: Azure AI Search indexer, search indexer, indexer, azure-ai-search-indexer
Quick peek
Open full term page
Databases
premium
Azure Database for MySQL Flexible Server
A fully managed Azure database service for MySQL workloads with configurable compute, storage, backups, networking, maintenance, and high availability options.
Managed MySQL
intermediate
5 commands
Aliases: MySQL Flexible Server
Quick peek
Open full term page
Databases
premium
Azure Database for PostgreSQL Flexible Server
A fully managed Azure PostgreSQL service with configurable compute, storage, backups, networking, maintenance, extensions, and high availability options.
Managed PostgreSQL
intermediate
5 commands
Aliases: PostgreSQL Flexible Server
Quick peek
Open full term page
Analytics
premium
Azure Databricks
A unified, open analytics platform on Azure for building, deploying, sharing, and maintaining enterprise data, analytics, and AI solutions at scale.
Data engineering and AI
intermediate
5 commands
Aliases: Databricks on Azure
Quick peek
Open full term page
Migration
premium
Azure Site Recovery
Azure Site Recovery helps provide disaster recovery by managing replication, failover, and failback for supported workloads.
Disaster recovery
fundamentals
5 commands
Aliases: ASR, Azure Site Recovery, Azure disaster recovery, Site Recovery
Quick peek
Open full term page
Analytics
premium
Azure-SSIS integration runtime
Azure-SSIS integration runtime is Azure Data Factory or Azure Synapse compute that lets organizations deploy, run, and manage SQL Server Integration Services packages in Azure.
Data Factory
intermediate
5 commands
Aliases: Azure SSIS integration runtime, Azure-SSIS IR
Quick peek
Open full term page
Analytics
premium
Azure-SSIS IR
Azure-SSIS IR is the Azure integration runtime option that supports deploying, managing, and running SQL Server Integration Services packages in Azure Data Factory or Synapse pipelines.
Data engineering and analytics
intermediate
5 commands
Aliases: Azure SSIS IR, Azure-SSIS integration runtime abbreviation
Quick peek
Open full term page
Databases
premium
Serverless SQL database
A serverless SQL database is an Azure SQL Database single database configured with the serverless compute model. It automatically scales compute within configured limits, can auto-pause in supported tiers, resumes on activity, and keeps the managed SQL Database platform features such as backups, patching, monitoring, and security.
Azure SQL Database
fundamentals
5 commands
Aliases: No aliases yet
Quick peek
Open full term page
Analytics
premium
Serverless SQL external table
A serverless SQL external table in Azure Synapse SQL is a metadata object that references files in Azure Storage or Azure Data Lake Storage. Serverless SQL pools use native external tables to read external data, map columns, apply supported file formats, and support CETAS export patterns.
Azure Synapse Analytics
intermediate
5 commands
Aliases: No aliases yet
Quick peek
Open full term page
No glossary terms matched that search.
Try a service name, acronym, command group, or category such as RBAC , az group , App Service , Application Insights , Databases , or Azure AI Search .
Clear filters and show matches
Reset search