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Microsoft Azure SQL Database

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Azure SQL Database
Developer(s)Microsoft
Initial release2010; 15 years ago (2010)
Available inEnglish
TypeManaged cloud database
Websiteazure.microsoft.com/en-us/products/azure-sql/database/

Microsoft Azure SQL Database (formerly known as SQL Azure, SQL Server Data Services, SQL Services, and Windows Azure SQL Database) is a managed cloud database (PaaS) provided as part of Microsoft Azure services.

A cloud database is a database that runs on a cloud computing platform, and access to it is provided as a service. Moreover, for a managed database, the service provider takes care of operational needs such as scalability, backup, and high availability. It is to be noted that Azure SQL Database is Microsoft's own database technology and differs from the popular alternative of AWS RDS, which is an add-on container service available for multiple database solutions running on AWS cloud.

Overview

Microsoft Azure SQL Database includes built-in intelligence that learns app patterns and adapts them to maximize performance, reliability, and data protection. It was originally announced in 2009 and released in 2010.

Key capabilities include:

  • Continuous learning of your unique app patterns, adaptive performance tuning, and automatic improvements to reliability and data protection.[1]
  • Scaling as needed, with virtually no app downtime.[2]
  • Management and monitoring of multi-tenant apps with isolation benefits of one-customer-per-database.[3]
  • Leverage open source tools like a cheetah,[4] sql-cli,[5] Visual Studio Code,[6] and Microsoft tools like Visual Studio,[7] SQL Server Management Studio,[8] Azure Management Portal, PowerShell, and REST APIs.
  • Data protection[9] with encryption, authentication, limiting user access to the subset of the data, continuous monitoring and auditing to help detect potential threats and provide a record of critical events in case of a breach.
  • Relational data storage for cloud-based applications and websites
  • Business and consumer web and mobile apps
  • Manage databases for multi-tenant apps (software-as-a-service)
  • Quickly create dev and test databases to speed up development cycles
  • Scale production business services quickly and at a known cost
  • Containerize data in the cloud for isolation and security
  • Outsource database management in order to focus on value-added services[citation needed]

Design

Azure SQL Database is built on the foundation of the SQL server database and therefore, kept in sync with the latest version by using the common code base. Since the cloud version of the database technology strives to decouple it from the underlying computing infrastructure, it doesn't support some of the context specific T-SQL features supported in the traditional SQL server. However, rest of the features are the same with incompatibilities spelled out by Microsoft[10]. Azure SQL Database is also similar to Microsoft's SQL Managed instance offering, with some differences.

Timeline

  • 2009 – Service announced[11]
  • 2010 – Service went live[12]
  • 2014 – New version announced[13]
  • 2015 – Elastic Pools announced[14]

Pricing

Azure SQL Database is offered either as a Standalone database or Elastic database pool, and is priced in three tiers: Basic, Standard and Premium. Each tier offers different performance levels to accommodate a variety of workloads.[citation needed]

The resources available for Standalone databases are expressed in terms of Database Transaction Units (DTUs) and for elastic pools in terms of elastic DTUs or eDTUs. A DTU is defined as a blended measure of CPU, memory, and data I/O and transaction log I/O in a ratio determined by an OLTP benchmark workload designed to be typical of real-world OLTP workloads.

Databases are available as Standalone databases or in database pools which allow multiple databases to share storage and compute resources.

Service tier Target workloads
Basic Best suited for a small database, supporting typically one single active operation at a given time. Examples include databases used for development or testing, or small-scale infrequently used applications.
Standard The go-to option for most cloud applications, supporting multiple concurrent queries. Examples include workgroup or web applications.
Premium Designed for high transactional volume, supporting many concurrent users and requiring the highest level of business continuity capabilities. Examples are databases supporting mission critical applications.

It is also available as a limited service offering with a trial Web site or Mobile service and eligible for use with an Azure trial subscription.

See also

References

  1. ^ Rabeler, Carl (March 3, 2023). "Azure SQL Database Learns & Adapts". Microsoft Azure. Retrieved 2016-11-03.
  2. ^ Rabeler, Carl (March 3, 2023). "Azure SQL Database Scales on the fly". Microsoft Azure.
  3. ^ Rabeler, Carl (October 13, 2016). "Builds Multi-tenant Apps with Azure SQL Database With Isolation and Efficiency". Microsoft.
  4. ^ "wunderlist/cheetah". GitHub. Retrieved 2016-11-03.
  5. ^ "sql-cli". npm. Retrieved 2016-11-03.
  6. ^ "Use Visual Studio Code to connect and query - Azure SQL Database & SQL Managed Instance". Microsoft. Retrieved 2023-03-29.
  7. ^ "Add a connection to Azure SQL Database - Visual Studio (Windows)". Microsoft. 2022-09-27. Retrieved 2023-03-29.
  8. ^ "Use SQL Server Management Studio". Microsoft. 2023-03-03. Retrieved 2016-11-03.
  9. ^ Rabeler, Carl (March 3, 2023). "Azure SQL Database Secures and Protects". Microsoft.
  10. ^ Byham, Rick (2022-12-16). "Azure SQL Database Transact-SQL differences". Microsoft Azure.
  11. ^ "SQL Data Services announces plans to accelerate core relational database features". Microsoft Azure. March 10, 2009. Retrieved 2016-11-03.
  12. ^ "SQL Azure - The Year in Review". Microsoft Azure. January 4, 2011. Retrieved 2016-11-03.
  13. ^ Kelly, Eron (November 5, 2014). "Preview for greater SQL Server compatibility coming soon to Azure SQL Database". Microsoft Azure. Retrieved 2016-11-03.
  14. ^ Wissner, Tiffany (May 11, 2016). "Azure continues to be the best place for Software as a Service". Microsoft Azure. Retrieved 2016-11-03.
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