Azure SQL Database Authentication Structure

Azure SQL Database will always have two different administrators if Azure AD authentication is used: the original SQL Server administrator (SQL authentication) and the Azure AD admin. The Azure AD administrator login can be a user or a group. All users in the Azure AD admin group will have administrative access to an Azure SQL server:

Figure 5.28: Azure SQL Database Authentication Structure

Note

An Azure administrator can either be a single user or a group. A user and a group administrator can't coexist.

Azure SQL Database Authentication Considerations

You must consider the following factors for Azure SQL Database authentication:

• Create a dedicated Azure AD group as the Azure SQL Server administrator instead of creating an individual user administrator.
• You can configure either an Azure AD group or a user as an Azure SQL Server admin.
• bcp.exe can't connect to an Azure SQL database using Azure Active Directory authentication...