Get started with the Azure SQL Database integration

Azure SQL is a family of relational database management systems that run in the Azure cloud. The database systems are Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) products that enable database administrators to implement highly scalable and available databases without maintaining complex infrastructures themselves. The Aspire Azure SQL Server Hosting integration provides methods to create a new Azure Database server and databases from code in your Aspire AppHost project.

In this introduction, you'll see how to install and use the Aspire Azure SQL Database integrations in a simple configuration. If you already have this knowledge, see Azure SQL Database Hosting integration for full reference details.

Set up hosting integration

To begin, install the Aspire Azure SQL Database Hosting integration in your Aspire AppHost project. This integration allows you to create and manage Azure SQL Database resources from your Aspire hosting projects:

dotnet add package Aspire.Hosting.Azure.Sql

Next, in the AppHost project, create an Azure SQL Database resource and pass it to the consuming client projects:

var builder = DistributedApplication.CreateBuilder(args);
  
var azureSql = builder.AddAzureSqlServer("azuresql")
    .AddDatabase("database");
  
var myService = builder.AddProject<Projects.MyService>()
    .WithReference(azureSql);
  
// After adding all resources, run the app...
  
builder.Build().Run();

The preceding code adds an Azure SQL server resource named azuresql to the AppHost project, adds a database to it, and passes the database connection information to the consuming project.

Set up client integration

To use Azure SQL Database from your client applications, install the Aspire SQL Server client integration in your client project:

dotnet add package Aspire.Microsoft.Data.SqlClient

In the Program.cs file of your client-consuming project, call the AddSqlServerClient extension method to register a SqlConnection for use via the dependency injection container:

builder.AddSqlServerClient(connectionName: "database");

Use injected Azure SQL Database properties

In the AppHost, when you used the WithReference method to pass an Azure SQL Database resource to a consuming client project, Aspire injects several configuration properties that you can use in the consuming project.

Aspire exposes each property as an environment variable named [RESOURCE]_[PROPERTY]. For instance, the Host property of a resource called database becomes DATABASE_HOST.

Use the GetValue() method to obtain these environment variables in consuming projects:

string sqlHost = builder.Configuration.GetValue<string>("DATABASE_HOST");
string sqlPort = builder.Configuration.GetValue<string>("DATABASE_PORT");
string databaseName = builder.Configuration.GetValue<string>("DATABASE_DATABASENAME");

Add Azure SQL Database resources in client code

After adding the SqlConnection, you can retrieve the connection instance using dependency injection:

public class ExampleService(SqlConnection connection)
{
    // Use connection...
}

For full details on using the client integration, see Azure SQL Database Client integration.

Next steps