SQL Azure

Microsoft Azure SQL Databases (Microsoft Azure SQL Databases)
Microsoft Azure SQL Databases (Microsoft Azure SQL Databases)
Developer	Microsoft
OS family	Microsoft SQL Server
First edition	March 2009
Web site

Microsoft Azure SQL Databases (originally SQL Server Data Services, later SQL Services, later Windows Azure SQL Databases) is a cloud service from Microsoft Corporation that provides the ability to store and process relational data, as well as generating reports. Provides functionality for various data synchronization scenarios (local infrastructure <=> cloud, cloud <=> cloud). It is part of Microsoft Azure .

Microsoft Azure SQL Databases is based on Microsoft SQL Server , but provides only a subset of data types . The main types are supported: exact and approximate numbers, character strings (including Unicode ), date and time, spatial, binary and other data types. (more details)
An XML-based format is used for data transfer. Like Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Azure SQL Databases uses T-SQL as the query language. (TDS) is used as a protocol for accessing the service over the Internet. Access via HTTP REST is not granted. Microsoft recommends using ADO.NET Data Services to transfer data and create services.

A user can send Transact SQL TDS requests to the Windows Azure SQL Databases service, and this allows applications to use Windows Azure SQL Databases in the same way that they use local SQL Server. However, since Windows Azure SQL Databases is a service, its administration has its own characteristics. Unlike local SQL Server administration, Windows Azure SQL Databases separates the logical and physical aspects of administration. The client continues to administer the database , manage logins, users and roles, but Microsoft takes care of the equipment.

Content

Platform Overview

The Microsoft Azure platform is a cloud-based platform for applications that allows you to store data and run applications in Microsoft data centers. Microsoft Azure provides a "cloud" operating system , on the basis of which all Azure services and developed applications work. The platform offers access to the capabilities of the public cloud. Using a public cloud, the client pays only for the resources and capacities that are involved in the application and only for the actual time of use of these resources. The main features of this model:

payment of only consumed resources;
general, multi-threaded computing structure;
abstraction from infrastructure.

The performance of the Microsoft Azure platform is provided by 8 global Microsoft data centers.

Services

In other aspects, Microsoft Azure SQL Databases greatly extends the capabilities of SQL Server. Microsoft Azure SQL Databases includes:

Microsoft Azure SQL Databases Data Sync is a cloud-based data synchronization service that provides both unidirectional and bi-directional synchronization. The Data Sync service makes it easy to exchange data between Microsoft Azure SQL Databases and local SQL Server databases, as well as between multiple Microsoft Azure SQL Databases. Microsoft Azure SQL Databases Data Sync uses its own SqlAzureSync Provider data provider for the Microsoft Sync Frame synchronization engine, written specifically for Microsoft Azure SQL Databases. This new provider is effective, lowers the barrier to entry and ensures reliability when synchronizing with Microsoft Azure SQL Databases, cleverly handling some of the problems specific to Microsoft Azure SQL Databases for multi-tenant systems. The provider reduces the number of round trips to the server using table-returning parameters (TVPs). In addition, when Microsoft Azure SQL Databases uses its throttling mechanism to minimize the effect of out-of-control operations, SqlAzureSyncProvider starts using a smart “back-off algorithm” that automatically reduces the batch size from the standard (5000 records) during synchronization .
Microsoft Azure SQL Databases Reporting - The Microsoft Azure SQL Databases Reporting service makes it easy to integrate reporting capabilities into a Microsoft Azure application. Reports can be accessed through the Microsoft Azure portal, a web browser, or directly from the application. Thanks to the capabilities of the cloud, there is no need to create and maintain your own reporting infrastructure;
Microsoft Azure SQL Databases Federations - Federation of Microsoft Azure SQL Databases significantly simplifies the scaling of many databases located on hundreds of nodes, which allows customers to pay only for real-life resources;
Web-based interface for administering and developing databases as part of the Microsoft Azure platform.

Security

All connections to Microsoft Azure SQL Databases are required to be SSL encrypted. By default, the Microsoft Azure SQL Databases firewall blocks all connections to the server.

Datacenters

In some data centers, containers of 1800-2500 servers are used. ^[1] ^[2]

Notes

Links (Russian)

Links (English)

[1] Inside Windows Azure's data center, one of the world's largest - Neowin.net

[2] Video: Building Microsoft's ITPAC Container "Data Center Knowledge