This script provides a scaleable solution to transition the SQL Server resources an Arc or Azure to Azure Pay-as-you-go subscription as a single step.

You can specify a single subscription to scan, or provide a list of subscriptions as a .CSV file. If not specified, all subscriptions your role has access to are scanned.

Prerequisites

PowerShell 5+
You must have at least a Contributor RBAC role in each subscription you modify.
You must have a Tag Contributor Contributor RBAC role in each subscription you modify.
You must be connected to Azure AD and logged in to your Azure account. If your account have access to multiple tenants, make sure to log in with a specific tenant ID.

Launching the script

The script accepts the following command line parameters:

Parameter	Value	Description
`-SubId`	`<subscription_id>` or `<file name>`	Optional: Subscription id or a .csv file with the list of subscriptions¹. If not specified all subscriptions will be transitioned.
`-ResourceGroup`	`<name>`	Optional: Limits the scope of transition to a specified resource
`-RunAt`	`YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS`	Optional: Sets the transition time in UTC time zone. E.g. 2025-05-01 14:00:00 means May 1, 2025 at 2pm UTC time. If not specified, the transition will be executed immediately.
`-UsePcoreLicense`	`Yes`, `No`	Optional. Passed to Arc script to control PCore licensing behavior. Set to `No` if not specified.
`-AutomationAccount`	`<name>`	Required if `-RunAt` is specified. The script will automatically create an automation account with this name unless one with this name alreday exists. It will be used for the “General” runbook import operation.
`-Location`	`<region>`	Required if `-RunAt` is specified. Azure region for the “General” runbook import operation.
`-ExclusionTag`	`<name:value>`	Optional. Specifies the tag name and value to exclude the tagged offline VMs from the forced activation during the transition

¹You can create a .csv file using the following command and then edit to remove the subscriptions you don't want to scan.

Get-AzSubscription | Export-Csv .\mysubscriptions.csv -NoTypeInformation

How It Works

This script internally runs the following scripts

set-azurerunbook.ps1 - imports & publishes the helper runbook that and run if a scheduled execution is selected.

modify-azure-sql-license-type.ps1 - configures the Azure SQL resources to pay-as-you-go

modify-license-type.ps1 configures the existing Arc SQL resources to pay-as-you-go
The dependent scripts are downloaded to .\PaygTransitionDownloads\. It is created automatically if doesn't exist. The downloaded scripts are refreshed automatically on each run to ensure that the up-to-date version is used.
The offline Azure VMs will be reactivated for a brief period to change the configuration. If the VM should not be recativated, use -ExclusionTag option.
The subscriptions in scope of the transition will be automatically tagged with ArcSQLServerExtensionDeployment:PAYG to ensure that the furure SQL Servers onboarded to Azure Arc are configured to use the pay-as-you-go subscription. For details, see Manage automatic connection for SQL Server enabled by Azure Arc.

Example 1

Switch all machines to pay-as-you-go in a single subscription immediately and use unlimited virtualization.

.\manage-payg-transition.ps1 `
    -SubId "00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000" `
    -UsePcoreLicense Yes

Example 2

Switch all machines to pay-as-you-go in subscriptions listed in MySusbcriptions.csv immediately without using unlimited virtualization. Exclude the VMs that tagged with DoNotActivate:True

.\manage-payg-transition.ps1 `
-SubId MySubscription.csv
-ExclusionTag DoNotActivate:True

Example 3

Switch all machines to pay-as-you-go in all subscriptions on May 1, 2025 at 0:00 using an automation account MyAutomation in EatUS region.

.\manage-payg-transition.ps1 `
    -SubId "00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000" `
    -RunAt "2025-05-01 00:00:00"
    -AutomationAccount MyAutomation
    -Location "EastUS"

Running the script using Cloud Shell

This option is recommended because Cloud shell has the Azure PowerShell modules pre-installed and you are automatically authenticated. Use the following steps to run the script in Cloud Shell.

Launch the Cloud Shell. For details, read more about PowerShell in Cloud Shell.
Connect to Azure AD. You must specify <tenant_id> if you have access to more than one AAD tenants.
```
Connect-AzureAD -TenantID <tenant_id>
```

Upload the script to your cloud shell using the following command:

curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/microsoft/sql-server-samples/master/samples/manage/manage-payg-transition/manage-payg-transition.ps1 -o manage-payg-transition.ps1

Run the script.

Note

To paste the commands into the shell, use Ctrl-Shift-V on Windows or Cmd-v on MacOS.

The script will be uploaded directly to the home folder associated with your Cloud Shell session.

Running the script from a PC

Use the following steps to run the script in a PowerShell session on your PC.

Copy the script to your current folder:

 curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/microsoft/sql-server-samples/master/samples/manage/manage-payg-transition/manage-payg-transition.ps1 -o manage-payg-transition.ps1

Make sure the NuGet package provider is installed:

Set-ExecutionPolicy  -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope CurrentUser
Install-packageProvider -Name NuGet -MinimumVersion 2.8.5.201 -Scope CurrentUser -Force

Make sure the the Az module is installed. For more information, see Install the Azure Az PowerShell module:
```
Install-Module Az -Scope CurrentUser -Repository PSGallery -Force
```
Connect to Azure AD and log in to your Azure account. You must specify <tenant_id> if you have access to more than one AAD tenants.
```
Connect-AzureAD -TenantID <tenant_id>
Connect-AzAccount -TenantID (Get-AzureADTenantDetail).ObjectId
```
Run the script.