In Azure SQL Database, DTU stands for Database Transaction Unit — it’s a performance metric that combines CPU, memory, reads, and writes into a single measure.
Think of it as a “power level” — the higher the DTU, the more workload the database can handle.
How to Check DTU Usage
You can monitor DTU utilization via:
Azure Portal → SQL Database → Monitoring → DTU usage (%)
Query via T-SQL
SELECT * FROM sys.dm_db_resource_stats ORDER BY end_time DESC;
You can estimate your DTU requirement using Microsoft’s DTU Calculator:
https://dtucalculator.azurewebsites.net