Skip to content

sql-connection-summary.md

Latest commit

 

History

History
115 lines (70 loc) · 6.79 KB

sql-connection-summary.md

File metadata and controls

115 lines (70 loc) · 6.79 KB
title SQL Server Connection Summary
description Learn how you can view client connections to an instance of SQL Server enabled by Azure Arc.
author ajithkr-ms
ms.author ajithkr
ms.reviewer nhebbar, randolphwest
ms.date 11/26/2025
ms.topic how-to

Client connection summary for SQL Server enabled by Azure Arc

[!INCLUDE sqlserver]

This article teaches you how to view client connections to [!INCLUDE ssazurearc] in Azure portal.

Prerequisites

To collect client connection data for [!INCLUDE ssazurearc] and view the summary in Azure, you must meet the following conditions:

  • The version of Azure Extension for SQL Server (WindowsAgent.SqlServer) is v1.1.2986.256 or greater.

  • [!INCLUDE ssazurearc] is running on the Windows operating system.

  • The SQL Server version is [!INCLUDE sssql16-md] with Service Pack 1 or greater.

  • The server has connectivity to *.<region>.arcdataservices.com. For more information, see the network requirements.

  • The license type on [!INCLUDE ssazurearc] is Software Assurance or pay-as-you-go.

  • You have an Azure role with the action Microsoft.AzureArcData/sqlServerInstances/getTelemetry/. You can use the following built-in role, which includes this action: Azure Hybrid Database Administrator - Read Only Service Role. For more information, see Azure built-in roles.

View SQL Server connections

To view a summary of all client connections to the SQL Server instance, follow these steps:

  1. Select an instance of [!INCLUDE ssazurearc] in the Azure portal.
  2. Under Monitoring, select SQL Server Connections.
  3. (Optionally) Use the time range to view connections during a preferred window within the last 30 days.

:::image type="content" source="media/sql-connection-summary/sql-connection-summary.png" alt-text="Screenshot of the SQL Client Connections view for SQL Server enabled by Azure Arc." lightbox="media/sql-connection-summary/sql-connection-summary.png":::

Review the summarized data in the view

Column name Description and version-specific information
Program Name Name of client program that initiated the session.
Client Interface Name Name of library/driver being used by the client to communicate with the server.
Database Name Name of the current database for the session in the hourly snapshots.
Request End Time Last request end time from the hourly snapshots. Indicator of how recently the client program connected used the database.
Total Writes Aggregated number of writes from the client program to the database as seen in the hourly snapshots.
Total Reads Aggregated number of reads from the client program to the database as seen in the hourly snapshots.
Elapsed Time Aggregated connection duration (in milliseconds) from the client program as seen in the hourly snapshots.
Count Count of unique sessions as seen in the hourly snapshots. The distinct sessions are identified using the login time.

How is the data collected?

By default, the SQL Server Connections view is available to all SQL Server instances enabled by Azure Arc. Data collection starts as soon as the instance is connected to Azure. Azure Connected Machine agent automatically polls sys.dm_exec_sessions hourly. The portal displays the data collection time. The service maintains the data for 30 days.

The connection data within the time range chosen on the portal dictates the client connection data summarized and presented as a table in the view.

Disable the connections view

Since the SQL Server connections view is enabled by default, you can choose to disable it and stop data collection. You can disable the SQL Server connections view by using the Azure portal, or the Azure CLI.

Azure portal

To disable the SQL Server Connections view, follow these steps:

  1. On the Overview page for [!INCLUDE ssazurearc] in the Azure portal, select SQL Server Connections to open the SQL Server Connections pane.

  2. On the SQL Server Connections pane, select Disable from the command bar. Select Yes on the Disable SQL client connections information box:

    :::image type="content" source="media/sql-connection-summary/sql-connection-disable.png" alt-text="Screenshot of disable option in SQL Client Connections view for SQL Server enabled by Azure Arc." lightbox="media/sql-connection-summary/sql-connection-disable.png":::

Azure CLI

To disable the SQL Server Connections view, replace placeholder values and then run the following Azure CLI command:

az sql server-arc extension feature-flag set --name ClientConnections --enable false --resource-group <resource_group>" --machine-name <server_name>

Enable the connections view

If SQL Server Connections view and data collection is disabled, you can enable it again by using the Azure portal, or the Azure CLI.

Azure portal

To disable the SQL Server Connections view, follow these steps:

  1. On the Overview pane for [!INCLUDE ssazurearc], select SQL Server Connections to open the SQL Server Connections page.

  2. On the SQL Server Connections pane, either select Enable from the command bar, or the Enable Sql Connections button to enable the SQL Server connections feature.

    :::image type="content" source="media/sql-connection-summary/sql-connection-enable.png" alt-text="Screenshot of enable option in SQL Client Connections view for SQL Server enabled by Azure Arc." lightbox="media/sql-connection-summary/sql-connection-enable.png":::

Azure CLI

To enable the SQL Server Connections view, replace placeholder values and then run the following Azure CLI command:

az sql server-arc extension feature-flag set  --name ClientConnections --enable true --resource-group <resource_group>" --machine-name <server_name>

Related content