Minimizing Latency for Azure SQL Database Access with Forced Tunneling | Solution Recommendation

Minimizing Latency for Azure SQL Database Access with Forced Tunneling

Question

You use Azure virtual machines to run a custom application that uses an Azure SQL Database instance on the back end.

The IT department at your company recently enabled forced tunneling.

Since the configuration change, developers have noticed degraded performance when they access the database.

You need to recommend a solution to minimize latency when accessing the database. The solution must minimize costs.

What should you include in the recommendation?

Answers

Explanations

Click on the arrows to vote for the correct answer

A. B. C. D.

B

The scenario in this question is that there is a custom application running on Azure Virtual Machines (VMs) that uses an Azure SQL Database instance. After enabling forced tunneling, the application's performance has degraded, and we need to recommend a solution that minimizes latency and costs.

Forced tunneling is a configuration in which all traffic from a virtual network is sent to a customer-defined on-premises location. This can result in increased latency and degraded performance for cloud-based services like Azure SQL Database.

To minimize latency when accessing the Azure SQL Database instance, we need to recommend a solution that avoids sending traffic over the forced tunnel. Virtual Network Service Endpoints (option B) can help with this.

Virtual Network Service Endpoints extend the virtual network private address space and the identity of the VNet to Azure services. With Service Endpoints, traffic between the VMs and the Azure SQL Database instance will not leave the Azure network and will not be subject to forced tunneling. This can improve performance and reduce latency.

Option A, Azure SQL Database Managed Instance, is a managed version of the Azure SQL Database that provides features such as automatic patching and automatic backups. While it may help with the management of the database, it does not directly address the issue of latency caused by forced tunneling. Additionally, it may be more expensive than the current Azure SQL Database instance being used.

Option C, Always On availability groups, is a high availability and disaster recovery feature for SQL Server that enables multiple database replicas to be available for read and write operations. While it may improve the reliability of the database, it does not directly address the issue of latency caused by forced tunneling. Additionally, it may be more complex to set up and maintain, potentially increasing costs.

Option D, Azure VMs running Microsoft SQL Server servers, may provide more control over the configuration of the SQL Server instances, but it does not directly address the issue of latency caused by forced tunneling. Additionally, managing SQL Server on VMs may require more effort and increase costs compared to using Azure SQL Database.

Therefore, the recommended solution to minimize latency when accessing the Azure SQL Database instance while minimizing costs is to use Virtual Network Service Endpoints (option B).