Microsoft Azure Documents

Your company has chosen Azure Cosmos DB to meet the demands of their expanding customer and product base. You have been tasked with creating the database.

_{What is an Azure Cosmos DB account?}

An Azure Cosmos DB account is an Azure resource that acts as an organizational entity for your databases. It connects your usage to your Azure subscription for billing purposes.

Each Azure Cosmos DB account is associated with one of the several data models Azure Cosmos DB supports, and you can create as many accounts as you need.

SQL API is the preferred data model if you are creating a new application. If you’re working with graphs or tables, or migrating your MongoDB or Cassandra data to Azure, create additional accounts and select relevant data models.

When creating an account, choose an ID that is meaningful to you; it is how you identify your account. Further, create the account in the Azure region that’s closest to your users to minimize latency between the datacenter and your users.

You can optionally set up virtual networks and geo-redundancy during account creation, but this can also be done later. In this module we will not enable those settings.

^{_{Make sure you have activated the sandbox before proceeding with these instructions..}}

Creating an Azure Cosmos DB account in the portal

1. Sign into the Azure portal for sandbox  using the same account you activated the sandbox with. ImportantLogin to the Azure portal using the link above to ensure you are connected to the sandbox, which provides access to a Concierge Subscription.
2. Click Create a resource > Databases > Azure Cosmos DB.
3. On the Create Azure Cosmos DB Account page, enter the settings for the new Azure Cosmos DB account, including the location.The free sandbox allows you to create resources in a subset of Azure’s global regions. Select a region from the following list when creating any resources:
   • West US 2
   • South Central US
   • Central US
   • East US
   • West Europe
   • Southeast Asia
   • Japan East
   • Brazil South
   • Australia Southeast
   • Central IndiaSettingValueDescriptionSubscriptionConcierge SubscriptionSelect the Concierge Subscription. If you do not see the Concierge Subscription listed, you have multiple tenants enabled on your subscription, and you need to change tenants. To do so, login again using the following portal link: Azure portal for sandbox .Resource GroupUse existing
     
     [sandbox resource group name]Here you would either create a new resource group, or select an existing one in your subscription.Account NameEnter a unique nameEnter a unique name to identify this Azure Cosmos DB account. Because documents.azure.comis appended to the ID that you provide to create your URI, use a unique but identifiable ID.
     
     The ID can contain only lowercase letters, numbers, and the hyphen (-) character, and it must contain 3 to 31 characters.APISQLThe API determines the type of account to create. Azure Cosmos DB provides five APIs to suit the needs of your application: SQL (document database), Gremlin (graph database), MongoDB (document database), Azure Table, and Cassandra, each of which currently requires a separate account. 
     
     Select Core (SQL)because in this module you are creating a document database that is queryable using SQL syntax and accessible with the SQL API.LocationSelect the region closest to you from the list aboveSelect the location where the database should be located.Geo-RedundancyDisableThis setting creates a replicated version of your database in a second (paired) region. Leave this set to disabled for now, as the database can be replicated later.Multi-region WritesEnableThis setting enables you to write to multiple regions at the same time.
4. Click Review + Create.
5. After the settings are validated, click Create to create the account.
6. The account creation takes a few minutes. Wait for the portal to display the notification that the deployment succeeded and click the notification.
7. In the notification window, click Go to resource.The portal displays the Congratulations! Your Azure Cosmos DB account was created page.

Summary

You have created an Azure Cosmos DB account, which is the first step in creating an Azure Cosmos DB database. You selected appropriate settings for your data types and set the account location to minimize latency for your users.