Defender for Cloud Relational Database Protection

• Defender for Databases offers different types of protection for different types of relational databases.
• The broadest set of features are available when used with SQL Server and Azure SQL, and a more limited set of features for open-source relational databases.
• Azure dependencies will bring additional costs when securing SQL Server, and premium pricing when used outside of Azure may make it cost prohibitive.

Microsoft offers multiple Defender for Cloud services designed to help secure relational databases, both in IaaS and PaaS scenarios. All options help prevent the database server from being exploited, and some also add vulnerability detection and reporting. SQL Server deployments external to Azure can also be secured using the services, but at a considerable premium compared with SQL Server running within Azure. Customers should anticipate some performance impact on their databases in exchange for the enhanced security. Customers should also ensure that security staff are monitoring and acting on alerts, as the service delivers detection of security issues, but limited real-time protection. Additional charges may also accrue in some cases to deliver full vulnerability management for SQL Server running on Windows Server.