Minimize Licensing Costs for SQL Server Deployment on Azure VMs

B

Azure Hybrid Benefit is a licensing benefit that helps you to significantly reduce the costs of running your workloads in the cloud. It works by letting you use your on-premises Software Assurance-enabled Windows Server and SQL Server licenses on Azure.

The correct answer is B. Use Azure Hybrid Benefit.

Explanation:

When you have a Software Assurance agreement that includes Microsoft SQL Server licenses, you can take advantage of Azure Hybrid Benefit to reduce licensing costs for SQL Server deployments on Azure virtual machines.

Azure Hybrid Benefit allows you to use your existing SQL Server licenses in Azure, effectively lowering the cost of running SQL Server on virtual machines in Azure. This benefit is available for both SQL Server Standard and SQL Server Enterprise editions.

To use Azure Hybrid Benefit, you need to follow these steps:

1. Verify that your SQL Server licenses have active Software Assurance coverage.
2. Deploy SQL Server on Azure virtual machines.
3. Specify that you want to use Azure Hybrid Benefit when you create the virtual machine.
4. Provide the SQL Server product key and edition to Azure when you create the virtual machine.

By using Azure Hybrid Benefit, you can reduce your SQL Server licensing costs by up to 30% compared to pay-as-you-go pricing. This benefit is available for both Windows and Linux virtual machines.

The other answer choices are not directly related to minimizing licensing costs for SQL Server deployments on Azure virtual machines.

A. Deallocating virtual machines during off hours can reduce compute costs, but it does not affect licensing costs.

C. Configuring Azure Cost Management budgets helps you track and control your Azure spending, but it does not directly reduce licensing costs.

D. Using Azure reservations allows you to save money on compute resources by committing to a one-year or three-year term for a specific virtual machine instance size, but it does not directly reduce licensing costs.

The correct answer for this question is A. Network Security Groups (NSGs).

Explanation:

When deploying resources to Azure, it is important to secure the network traffic between resources to prevent unauthorized access to sensitive data or resources. Network Security Groups (NSGs) are a type of Azure resource that provide inbound and outbound security filtering for virtual network (VNet) resources.

NSGs enable you to create security rules that allow or deny network traffic based on source and destination IP address, port, and protocol. You can use NSGs to restrict the types of connections between web servers and database servers to improve security.

In this scenario, you can create NSGs that allow incoming traffic from the web servers to the database servers only on the required ports and protocols, such as port 1433 for SQL Server. You can also deny all other incoming traffic from the web servers to the database servers to prevent unauthorized access.

Azure Service Bus is a messaging service that enables reliable and secure communication between distributed applications. It is not relevant for limiting the types of connections between web servers and database servers.

A local network gateway is a type of Azure resource that enables communication between an Azure virtual network and an on-premises network. It is not relevant for this scenario as there is no on-premises network involved.

A route filter is a type of Azure resource that enables you to control the routing of traffic between virtual networks. It is not relevant for this scenario as the question is about limiting the types of connections between web servers and database servers, not about routing traffic between virtual networks.