title

Create Azure SQL Database Logical Server Configured with User-Assigned Managed Identity and Customer-Managed TDE

titleSuffix

Azure SQL Database

description

Learn how to configure user-assigned managed identity and customer-managed transparent data encryption (TDE) while creating an Azure SQL Database logical server using the Azure portal, PowerShell, or Azure CLI.

author

Pietervanhove

ms.author

pivanho

ms.reviewer

vanto, mathoma

ms.date

03/10/2026

ms.service

azure-sql-database

ms.subservice

security

ms.topic

how-to

ms.custom

devx-track-azurecli

sfi-image-nochange

Create Azure SQL Database logical server configured with user-assigned managed identity and customer-managed TDE

[!INCLUDEappliesto-sqldb]

This how-to guide outlines the steps to create an Azure SQL Database logical server configured with transparent data encryption (TDE) with customer-managed keys (CMK) using a user-assigned managed identity to access Azure Key Vault.

[!INCLUDE entra-id]

Prerequisites

This how-to guide assumes that you've already created an Azure Key Vault and imported a key into it to use as the TDE protector for Azure SQL Database. For more information, see transparent data encryption with BYOK support.
Soft-delete and Purge protection must be enabled on the key vault.
You must have created a user-assigned managed identity and provided it the required TDE permissions (Get, Wrap Key, Unwrap Key) on the above key vault. For creating a user-assigned managed identity, see Create a user-assigned managed identity.
You must have Azure PowerShell installed and running.
[Recommended but optional] Create the key material for the TDE protector in a hardware security module (HSM) or local key store first, and import the key material to Azure Key Vault. Follow the instructions for using a hardware security module (HSM) and Key Vault to learn more.

Create server configured with TDE with customer-managed key (CMK)

The following steps outline the process of creating a new Azure SQL Database logical server and a new database with a user-assigned managed identity assigned. The user-assigned managed identity is required for configuring a customer-managed key for TDE at server creation time.

Portal

Go to Azure SQL hub at aka.ms/azuresqlhub.
In the resource menu, expand Azure SQL Database and select SQL databases.
Select the + Create dropdown button and select SQL database.

:::image type="content" source="media/transparent-data-encryption-byok-create-server/create-sql-database.png" alt-text="Screenshot from the Azure portal showing the SQL databases page, the Create button, and the SQL database option." lightbox="media/transparent-data-encryption-byok-create-server/create-sql-database.png":::
On the Basics tab of the Create SQL Database form, under Project details, select the desired Azure Subscription.
For Resource group, select Create new, enter a name for your resource group, and select OK.
For Database name enter ContosoHR.
For Server, select Create new, and fill out the New server form with the following values:
- Server name: Enter a unique server name. Server names must be globally unique for all servers in Azure, not just unique within a subscription. Enter something like mysqlserver135, and the Azure portal will let you know if it's available or not.
- Server admin login: Enter an admin login name, for example: azureuser.
- Password: Enter a password that meets the password requirements, and enter it again in the Confirm password field.
- Location: Select a location from the dropdown list
[!INCLUDE server-admin-login-security-note]
Select Next: Networking to move to the next step.
On the Networking tab, for Connectivity method, select Public endpoint.
For Firewall rules, set Add current client IP address to Yes. Leave Allow Azure services and resources to access this server set to No.

:::image type="content" source="media/transparent-data-encryption-byok-create-server/networking-settings.png" alt-text="Screenshot of networking settings when creating a SQL server in the Azure portal.":::
Select Next: Security to move to the next step.
On the Security tab, under Server Identity, select Configure Identities.

:::image type="content" source="media/transparent-data-encryption-byok-create-server/configure-identity.png" alt-text="Screenshot of security settings and configuring identities in the Azure portal.":::
On the Identity pane, select Off for System assigned managed identity and then select Add under User assigned managed identity. Select the desired Subscription and then under User assigned managed identities, select the desired user-assigned managed identity from the selected subscription. Then select the Add button.

:::image type="content" source="media/transparent-data-encryption-byok-create-server/identity-configuration-managed-identity.png" alt-text="Screenshot of adding user assigned managed identity when configuring server identity." lightbox="media/transparent-data-encryption-byok-create-server/identity-configuration-managed-identity.png":::

:::image type="content" source="media/transparent-data-encryption-byok-create-server/selecting-user-assigned-managed-identity.png" alt-text="Screenshot of user assigned managed identity when configuring server identity.":::
Under Primary identity, select the same user-assigned managed identity selected in the previous step.

:::image type="content" source="media/transparent-data-encryption-byok-create-server/selecting-primary-identity-for-server.png" alt-text="Screenshot of selecting primary identity for server." lightbox="media/transparent-data-encryption-byok-create-server/selecting-primary-identity-for-server.png":::
Select Apply.
On the Security tab, under Transparent Data Encryption Key Management, you have the option to configure transparent data encryption for the server or database.
- For Server level key: Select Configure transparent data encryption. Select Customer-Managed Key, and an option to select Select a key will appear. Select Change key. Select the desired Subscription, Key vault, Key, and Version for the customer-managed key to be used for TDE. Select the Select button.
  [!TIP] Using versioned and versionless Azure Key Vault keys for TDE
  
  When you set the TDE protector, you can reference an Azure Key Vault key using either a specific key version or a versionless key identifier.
  
  In both cases, Azure SQL Database always resolves and uses the latest enabled version of the key in Azure Key Vault or Azure Key Vault Managed HSM. Use versionless key identifiers to avoid embedding a specific key version in the TDE protector configuration.
  
  Versionless key identifiers are currently supported only for Azure SQL Database.
  
  Examples:
  - Key identifier that includes a specific version
    
    https://<key-vault-name>.vault.azure.net/keys/<key-name>/<key-version>
  - Versionless key identifier
    
    https://<key-vault-name>.vault.azure.net/keys/<key-name>
:::image type="content" source="media/transparent-data-encryption-byok-create-server/configure-tde-for-server.png" alt-text="Screenshot of configuring TDE for the server in Azure SQL.":::

:::image type="content" source="media/transparent-data-encryption-byok-create-server/select-key-for-tde.png" alt-text="Screenshot selecting key for use with TDE.":::
- For Database level key: Select Configure transparent data encryption. Select Database level Customer-Managed Key, and an option to configure the Database Identity and Customer-Managed Key will appear. Select Configure to configure a User-Assigned Managed Identity for the database, similar to step 13. Select Change key to configure a Customer-Managed Key. Select the desired Subscription, Key vault, Key, and Version for the customer-managed key to be used for TDE. You also have the option to enable Auto-rotate key in the Transparent Data Encryption menu. Select the Select button.
:::image type="content" source="media/transparent-data-encryption-byok-create-server/configure-tde-for-database.png" alt-text="Screenshot configuring TDE for a database in Azure SQL.":::
Select Apply.
Select Next: Additional settings.
Select Next: Tags.
Consider using Azure tags. For example, the "Owner" or "CreatedBy" tag to identify who created the resource, and the Environment tag to identify whether this resource is in Production, Development, etc. For more information, see Develop your naming and tagging strategy for Azure resources.
Select Review + create.
On the Review + create page, after reviewing, select Create.

Azure CLI

For information on installing the current release of Azure CLI, see Install the Azure CLI article.

[!INCLUDE server-admin-login-security-note]

Create a server configured with user-assigned managed identity and customer-managed TDE using the az sql server create command.

az sql server create \
    --name $serverName \
    --resource-group $resourceGroupName \
    --location $location  \
    --admin-user $adminlogin \
    --admin-password $password \
    --assign-identity \
    --identity-type $identitytype \
    --user-assigned-identity-id $identityid \
    --primary-user-assigned-identity-id $primaryidentityid \
    --key-id $keyid

Create a database with the az sql db create command.

az sql db create \
    --resource-group $resourceGroupName \
    --server $serverName \
    --name mySampleDatabase \
    --sample-name AdventureWorksLT \
    --edition GeneralPurpose \
    --compute-model Serverless \
    --family Gen5 \
    --capacity 2

PowerShell

Create a server configured with user-assigned managed identity and customer-managed TDE using PowerShell.

For Az PowerShell module installation instructions, see Install Azure PowerShell.

Use the New-AzSqlServer cmdlet.

Replace the following values in the example:

<ResourceGroupName>: Name of the resource group for your Azure SQL logical server
<Location>: Location of the server, such as West US, or Central US
<ServerName>: Use a unique Azure SQL logical server name
<ServerAdminName>: The SQL Administrator login
<ServerAdminPassword>: The SQL Administrator password
<IdentityType>: Type of identity to be assigned to the server. Possible values are SystemAssigned, UserAssigned, SystemAssigned,UserAssigned and None
<UserAssignedIdentityId>: The list of user-assigned managed identities to be assigned to the server (can be one or multiple)
<PrimaryUserAssignedIdentityId>: The user-assigned managed identity that should be used as the primary or default on this server
<CustomerManagedKeyId>: Key Identifier and can be retrieved from the key in Azure Key Vault

[!INCLUDE server-admin-login-security-note]

To get your user-assigned managed identity Resource ID, search for Managed Identities in the Azure portal. Find your managed identity, and go to Properties. An example of your UMI Resource ID looks like /subscriptions/<subscriptionId>/resourceGroups/<ResourceGroupName>/providers/Microsoft.ManagedIdentity/userAssignedIdentities/<managedIdentity>

# create a server with user-assigned managed identity and customer-managed TDE
$params = @{
    ResourceGroupName = "<ResourceGroupName>"
    Location = "<Location>"
    ServerName = "<ServerName>"
    ServerVersion = "12.0"
    SqlAdministratorCredentials = (Get-Credential)
    SqlAdministratorLogin = "<ServerAdminName>"
    SqlAdministratorPassword = "<ServerAdminPassword>"
    AssignIdentity = $true
    IdentityType = "<IdentityType>"
    UserAssignedIdentityId = "<UserAssignedIdentityId>"
    PrimaryUserAssignedIdentityId = "<PrimaryUserAssignedIdentityId>"
    KeyId = "<CustomerManagedKeyId>"
}

New-AzSqlServer @params

ARM Template

Here's an example of an ARM template that creates a logical server in Azure with a user-assigned managed identity and customer-managed TDE. The template also adds a Microsoft Entra admin set for the server and enables Microsoft Entra-only authentication with Azure SQL, but this can be removed from the template example.

For more information and ARM templates, see Azure Resource Manager templates for Azure SQL Database.

Use a Custom deployment in the Azure portal, and Build your own template in the editor. Next, Save the configuration once you pasted in the example.

[!INCLUDE server-admin-login-security-note]

{
    "$schema": "https://schema.management.azure.com/schemas/2019-04-01/deploymentTemplate.json#",
    "contentVersion": "1.0.0.1",
    "parameters": {
        "server": {
            "type": "String"
        },
        "location": {
            "type": "String"
        },
        "aad_admin_name": {
            "type": "String",
            "metadata": {
                "description": "The name of the Azure AD admin for the SQL server."
            }
        },
        "aad_admin_objectid": {
            "type": "String",
            "metadata": {
                "description": "The Object ID of the Azure AD admin."
            }
        },
        "aad_admin_tenantid": {
            "type": "String",
            "defaultValue": "[subscription().tenantId]",
            "metadata": {
                "description": "The Tenant ID of the Azure Active Directory"
            }
        },
        "aad_admin_type": {
            "defaultValue": "User",
            "allowedValues": [
                "User",
                "Group",
                "Application"
            ],
            "type": "String"
        },
        "aad_only_auth": {
            "defaultValue": true,
            "type": "Bool"
        },
        "user_identity_resource_id": {
            "defaultValue": "",
            "type": "String",
            "metadata": {
                "description": "The Resource ID of the user-assigned managed identity."
            }
        },
        "keyvault_url": {
            "defaultValue": "",
            "type": "String",
            "metadata": {
                "description": "The Azure Key Vault URI."
            }
        },
        "AdminLogin": {
            "minLength": 1,
            "type": "String"
        },
        "AdminLoginPassword": {
            "type": "SecureString"
        }
    },
    "resources": [
        {
            "type": "Microsoft.Sql/servers",
            "apiVersion": "2020-11-01-preview",
            "name": "[parameters('server')]",
            "location": "[parameters('location')]",
            "identity": {
                "type": "UserAssigned",
                "UserAssignedIdentities": {
                    "[parameters('user_identity_resource_id')]": {}
                }
            },
            "properties": {
                "administratorLogin": "[parameters('AdminLogin')]",
                "administratorLoginPassword": "[parameters('AdminLoginPassword')]",
                "PrimaryUserAssignedIdentityId": "[parameters('user_identity_resource_id')]",
                "KeyId": "[parameters('keyvault_url')]",
                "administrators": {
                    "login": "[parameters('aad_admin_name')]",
                    "sid": "[parameters('aad_admin_objectid')]",
                    "tenantId": "[parameters('aad_admin_tenantid')]",
                    "principalType": "[parameters('aad_admin_type')]",
                    "azureADOnlyAuthentication": "[parameters('aad_only_auth')]"
                }
            }
        }
    ]
}

Next step

[!div class="nextstepaction"] PowerShell and Azure CLI: Enable Transparent Data Encryption with customer-managed key from Azure Key Vault

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