Databases sql

Azure SQL Database server naming convention

The CAF abbreviation for Azure SQL Database server is sql. Names can be 1 to 63 characters long and allow lowercase alphanumerics and hyphens. The name must be globally unique across all of Azure.

Naming rules

CAF abbreviation	sql
Length	1 to 63 characters
Allowed characters	Lowercase letters and numbers, hyphens
Scope of uniqueness	Global (must be unique across all of Azure)
CAF pattern	sql-{workload}-{environment}-{region}-{instance}

Worth knowing: Globally unique name.

Rules follow Microsoft's resource naming rules and CAF abbreviations. Some resource types have extra start/end character restrictions, so verify against the official docs before locking in a convention.

Example names

Generated by the same engine as the name generator, so length and character rules are already applied.

Scenario	Generated name	Length
Payments API, production	`sql-payments-prod-eus-001`	25/63
Web app, development	`sql-webapp-dev-weu-002`	22/63
Analytics with company prefix	`sql-contoso-analytics-stage-uks-001`	35/63

Naming in Terraform and Bicep

Build the name from variables so one module produces the right name in every environment.

Terraform

locals {
  sql_server_name = lower("sql-${var.workload}-${var.environment}-${var.region}-001")
}

Bicep

var sqlServerName = toLower('sql-${workload}-${environment}-${region}-001')

Generate Azure SQL Database server names for your workload

Free, no login. Validation and Terraform, Bicep, or CSV export included.

Open in the generator →

Related Databases resources

cosmos Azure Cosmos DB account coscas Cosmos DB for Apache Cassandra account cosmon Cosmos DB for MongoDB account cosno Cosmos DB for NoSQL account costab Cosmos DB for Table account cosgrm Cosmos DB for Apache Gremlin account cospos Cosmos DB for PostgreSQL cluster amr Azure Managed Redis

See the full list of Azure resource naming rules or read the complete CAF naming guide.