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Can the Azure SQL database be scaled up (in the DTU model) automatically before running a pipeline and then scaled down afterwards?

Caesar 0 Reputation points
2026-03-12T23:23:07.55+00:00

I have several pipelines in ADF that when executed write data to an azure sql database. I am using the Standard DTU model for the pricing tier.

Using any available ADF activities, can the Azure SQL database be scaled up (in the DTU model) automatically before running a pipeline and then scaled down afterwards? Alternatively, is there another pricing model that will be able to vary compute resources on the fly?

Azure Data Factory
Azure Data Factory

An Azure service for ingesting, preparing, and transforming data at scale.

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  1. TP 152.1K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2026-03-13T00:22:44.9766667+00:00

    Hi,

    One approach you could use would be to have script activity. For example, command similar to below would scale to S1:

    ALTER DATABASE myazuresqldatabase MODIFY (SERVICE_OBJECTIVE = 'S1');

    You need to account for the fact that scaling takes some time to complete. There are different ways to deal with this. For example, you could put in a wait activity for a certain number of minutes, and then your pipeline would continue under the assumption that the scale operation had enough time to complete.

    Scale single database resources in Azure SQL Database

    https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-sql/database/single-database-scale

    Please click Accept Answer and upvote if the above was helpful.

    Thanks.

    -TP

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