Azure Hybrid Benefit Not Enabled on SQL Databases

CER:

Azure-Databases-8397

Service Category

Databases

Cloud Provider

Azure

Service Name

Azure SQL

Inefficiency Type

Licensing Configuration Gap

Explanation

Azure Hybrid Benefit allows organizations to apply existing SQL Server licenses with Software Assurance or qualifying subscriptions to Azure SQL Databases. When this configuration is missed or not enforced, workloads continue to incur license-inclusive costs despite license ownership. This oversight often occurs in environments where licensing governance is decentralized or when databases are provisioned manually without applying existing entitlements. Across multiple databases or elastic pools, these duplicated license costs can accumulate substantially over time.

Relevant Billing Model

Azure SQL Database charges for compute and storage. Compute pricing can be either license-inclusive (pay-as-you-go) or license-excluded (when Azure Hybrid Benefit is applied). If AHB is not enabled, eligible databases are billed at higher license-inclusive rates even though valid SQL Server licenses already exist, resulting in double payment.

Detection

Review all SQL Databases and Elastic Pools to determine if Azure Hybrid Benefit is enabled in their configuration
Cross-reference SQL workloads with licensing records to confirm Software Assurance or subscription eligibility
Identify databases still billed under license-inclusive (pay-as-you-go) rates despite license ownership
Evaluate whether automated deployment templates or policies enforce AHB consistently across environments **Remediation:**
Enable Azure Hybrid Benefit for all eligible SQL Databases and Elastic Pools to leverage owned licenses
Apply Azure Policy to automatically enforce AHB configuration for new database deployments
Centralize license management to ensure entitlements are applied consistently across subscriptions
Periodically audit SQL Database configurations to confirm continued alignment with active Software Assurance coverage **Relevant Documentation:Contributor:** Aaran Bhambra **Definition ID:** N/A

Remediation

Enable Azure Hybrid Benefit for all eligible SQL Databases and Elastic Pools to leverage owned licenses
Apply Azure Policy to automatically enforce AHB configuration for new database deployments
Centralize license management to ensure entitlements are applied consistently across subscriptions
Periodically audit SQL Database configurations to confirm continued alignment with active Software Assurance coverage **Relevant Documentation:Contributor:** Aaran Bhambra **Definition ID:** N/A

Relevant Documentation

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