New-AzSqlInstanceLink Behaviour

[JodyLester]

I'm considering using the Managed Instance Link feature to create Azure hosted replicas of on-prem databases, but the documentation for New-AzSqlInstanceLink isn't clear.

When executing New-AzSqlInstanceLink does the PowerShell script need to be running the entire time it takes to replicate the database to Azure? My thoughts are if this is a large database over a low bandwidth connection, that could take a significant amount of time (hours/days?) and would require PowerShell to be left running the entire time. Or, does establishing the link initiate the replication of the database to Azure (e.g., by joining the distributed availability group, and using automatic seeding in SQL to populate it) and I don't need to wait in PowerShell for the database to replicate entirely?

Many thanks,