MICROSOFT SQL AZURE DATABASE

Hello Friends,

This is my first blog on SQLSERVERGEEKS . And i wanted to start this with something which is fairly new and has got a lot of attention.

I hope my blog will add some value to it…

What is MICROSOFT SQL AZURE DATABASE?

It is a cloud-based version of SQL SERVER which is based of Clustered SQL SERVER.It is a highly available, reliable and scalable cloud based Software As A Service(SaaS). Now, we don,t need to install, setup, configure or patch any sql server software rather we just need to register using  microsoft SQL Azure Portal and get an id and password to connect to our database. Ofcourse we need to pay for the service we avail but it would be based on usage..

The best part of SQL Azure is that now No Physical Administration is required because the service itself includes platform as a service (PAAS). So, just forget about H/W ,S/W, Storage, Security, Reliability and Availability. Everything will be taken care by the Microsoft itself. We just need to pay for the Service.

So, now most of you can imagine this feature could be of great help for small businesses or businesses who don’t want to invest on Physical Administration Cost.

At this point everybody would be excited to know what are its editions and how to use SQL Azure.

So here comes the list of Editions.

Different Edition of SQL AZURE Database.

Microsoft offer this service in 2 different Editions.

1. Web Edition

2. Business Edition.

In Web Edition the maximum database size is 5 GB whereas in Business Edition it could be upto 50 Gb.The billing is based on the database usage. Maximum size can limit the database size.

So, business must consider these parameters before deciding which Edition to choose to meet their business needs.

Management Tools for SQL Azure

How to access SQL Azure database is the most common question now a days. So, i would like to list out the managment tools to connect and Access your SQL Azure Database.

   

1. SSMS 2008 R2

2. SQLCMD

3. Project Houston -It is silverlight based Application.

(To know more about Project Houston click https://www.sqlazurelabs.com/houston.aspx.

I am sure now everybody would be curious to know how to create an Sql Azure Database.

Creating an sql azure database is as simple as create a normal database in Any sql server Version. But we have 2 approaches for this In SQL Azure.

1. Using Create Database command and Creating a database directly to your SQL Azure database Server.

2. Create as a copy of your source database from your local database server.

In the first approach we can connect to SQL Azure Database Server and can create a database directly then and there itself with size limits. Consider the size limit please.

Or

You could do a copy of your database on your local database server and create a similar SQL AZure Database.

Using the below command..

CREATE DATABASE destination_database_name

AS COPY OF [source_server_name.]source_database_name

Easy like a smooth silk…

Now to summarise,  i have tried to write a very short blog on SQL AZURE to give you guys an idea about what this Feature is? In my next blog on SQL Azure i will try to bring some more insight to this topic.

I will also try to cover other related tools used with SQL AZure for Data syncing and migration purpose.

Please do share your feedback …

 

Regards

Sachin Sharma

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5 Comments on “MICROSOFT SQL AZURE DATABASE”

  1. Hi! great introduction!

    Just couple of issues: Project Houston is now integrated in the Azure management portal. When you click on “manage” for a SQL Azure database in the Azure management portal, it fires up a silverlight app which was previously known as Houston.

    Now, As copy of command is not supported by SQL server. You need to migrate to SQL Azure from SQL server using other options like SSIS, BCP, SQL Azure migration wizard, Generate script Wizard, SQL Azure Import/Export (DAC V2.0).

  2. Nice post Sachin ! I always look for such informative articles with simple and to-the-point information with no marketing language…

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