Microsoft Azure SQL Database: Difference between revisions

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{{short description|Managed cloud database}}

{{third-party|date=July 2013}}

{{Infobox software

'''Microsoft Azure SQL Database''' (formerly '''SQL Azure''', '''SQL Server Data Services''', '''SQL Services''', '''Windows Azure SQL Database''') is a [[cloud computing|cloud-based]] [[software as a service|service]] from [[Microsoft]] offering data-storage capabilities. The aim is for users to just communicate with a T-SQL endpoint rather than managing database storage, files, and high availability. In this regard, it is a similar offering to [[Amazon Relational Database Service]]). Early versions operated as key-value pair tables accessed via a [[RESET]]-based [[API]], and offering only a subset of the data types offered by the [[Microsoft SQL Server]] on-premises product. Using these versions was not similar to using the SQL Server database engine and led to relatively low adoption rates.

| name = Azure SQL Database

| logo = Windows Azure logo.png

| logo size = 220px

| screenshot = SQL Azure Architecture.png

| developer = [[Microsoft]]

| released = {{Start date and age|2010}}

| language = English

| genre = Managed [[cloud database]]

| website = {{URL|https://azure.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]] ([[Platform as a Service|PaaS]]) cloud-based Microsoft SQL Servers, provided as part of [[Microsoft Azure]] services. The service handles database management functions for cloud based [[Microsoft SQL Server|Microsoft SQL Servers]] including upgrading, patching, backups, and monitoring without user involvement.<ref>{{Cite web |last=WilliamDAssafMSFT |title=What is the Azure SQL Database service? - Azure SQL Database |url=https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-sql/database/sql-database-paas-overview |access-date=2023-04-07 |website=learn.microsoft.com |language=en-us}}</ref>

==Overview==

Current versions of Azure SQL Database share a common code base with [[Microsoft SQL Server]]. This database engine allows users to make [[relational database|relational]] queries against stored data, which can either be [[structured data|structured]] or [[semi-structured data|semi-structured]], and [[unstructured data|unstructured document]]s.<ref name="faq">{{cite web | url = http://www.microsoft.com/azure/faq.mspx#sql | title = Microsoft SQL Services FAQ | publisher = [[Microsoft]] | accessdate = 2009-04-16}}</ref> SQL Database features querying data, search, data analysis and data synchronization.<ref name="faq"/>

Azure SQL Database supports multi-modal storage of [[Structured data|structured]], [[Semi-structured data|semi-structured]], and [[Non-relational database|non-relational data]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=WilliamDAssafMSFT |title=What is the Azure SQL Database service? - Azure SQL Database |url=https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-sql/database/sql-database-paas-overview |access-date=2023-04-07 |website=learn.microsoft.com |language=en-us}}</ref>

Azure SQL Database includes built-in intelligence that learns app patterns and adapts them to maximize performance, reliability, and [[Information privacy|data protection]].

[[High availability]] is provided by storing multiple copies of databases, [[business continuity]] and [[disaster recovery]] with backups and geo-replication, elastic scale and rapid provisioning. It has built-in data protection and security features. Like [[Microsoft SQL Server]], SQL Database uses [[T-SQL]] as the query language and [[Tabular Data Stream]] (TDS) as the protocol to access the service over the Internet.<ref name="faq"/><ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.microsoft.com/azure/data.mspx | title = SQL Server Data Services | publisher = [[Microsoft]] | accessdate = 2009-04-16}}</ref> (The product no longer provides a [[REST]]-based [[API]] to access the service over [[HTTP]]<ref name="faq"/> - [[Microsoft]] recommends using [[ADO.NET Data Services]] for this purpose.<ref name="faq"/>)

Key capabilities include:

==Footnotes ==

{{reflist}}

* Learning of the host app's data access patterns, adaptive performance tuning, and automatic improvements to reliability and data protection.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Rabeler |first=Carl |date=March 3, 2023 |title=Azure SQL Database Learns & Adapts |work=[[Microsoft Azure]] |url=https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/articles/sql-database-learn-and-adapt/ |access-date=2016-11-03}}</ref>

* Scaling on demand.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rabeler |first=Carl |date=March 3, 2023 |title=Azure SQL Database Scales on the fly |url=https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/articles/sql-database-scale-on-the-fly/ |website=[[Microsoft Azure]]}}</ref>

* Management and monitoring of multi-tenant apps with isolation benefits of one-customer-per-database.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rabeler |first=Carl |date=October 13, 2016 |title=Builds Multi-tenant Apps with Azure SQL Database With Isolation and Efficiency |url=https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/articles/sql-database-build-multi-tenant-apps/ |website=[[Microsoft]]}}</ref>

* Integration with open-source tools such as cheetah ([[Command-line interface]] utility),<ref>{{Cite web |title=wunderlist/cheetah |url=https://github.com/wunderlist/cheetah |access-date=2016-11-03 |website=[[GitHub]]}}</ref> sql-cli,<ref>{{Cite web |title=sql-cli |url=https://www.npmjs.com/package/sql-cli |access-date=2016-11-03 |website=[[npm (software)|npm]]}}</ref> [[Visual Studio Code]],<ref>{{Cite web |last= |title=Use Visual Studio Code to connect and query - Azure SQL Database & SQL Managed Instance |url=https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-sql/database/connect-query-vscode |access-date=2023-03-29 |website=[[Microsoft]] |language=en-us}}</ref> and Microsoft tools like [[Visual Studio]],<ref>{{Cite web |last= |date=2022-09-27 |title=Add a connection to Azure SQL Database - Visual Studio (Windows) |url=https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/azure/azure-sql-database-add-connected-service |access-date=2023-03-29 |website=[[Microsoft]] |language=en-us}}</ref> [[SQL Server Management Studio]],<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-03-03 |title=Use SQL Server Management Studio |url=https://msdn.microsoft.com/library/ms174173.aspx |access-date=2016-11-03 |website=[[Microsoft]]}}</ref> [[Azure Management Portal]], [[PowerShell]], and [[Representational state transfer|REST]] APIs.

* Data protection<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rabeler |first=Carl |date=March 3, 2023 |title=Azure SQL Database Secures and Protects |url=https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/articles/sql-database-helps-secures-and-protects/ |website=[[Microsoft]]}}</ref> with [[encryption]], authentication,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Slater |first=Phil |title=Maximizing Security and Flexibility: Azure SQL Server Authentication Methods |url=https://www.heliumit.uk/post/azure-sql-server-authentication-methods |access-date=2023-09-05 |website=heliumit.uk |language=en-us}}</ref> 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.

==Popular use cases==

* 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|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

* Reduce database administration overhead through increased automation

==Design==

Azure SQL Database is built on the foundation of the SQL server database and therefore, kept in sync with the latest version<ref name=":0" /> of it 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<ref>{{Cite web |last=croblesm |title=Resolving T-SQL differences-migration - Azure SQL Database |url=https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-sql/database/transact-sql-tsql-differences-sql-server |access-date=2023-04-07 |website=learn.microsoft.com |language=en-us}}</ref> available in the traditional SQL server. However, the rest of the features are the same with incompatibilities spelled out by Microsoft.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Byham |first=Rick |date=2022-12-16 |title=Azure SQL Database Transact-SQL differences |url=https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/articles/sql-database-transact-sql-information/ |website=[[Microsoft Azure]]}}</ref> Azure SQL Database is also similar to Microsoft's SQL Managed instance offering, with some differences.<ref>{{Cite web |last=danimir |title=Compare the database engine features of SQL Database and SQL Managed Instance - Azure SQL Database & SQL Managed Instance |url=https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-sql/database/features-comparison |access-date=2023-04-07 |website=learn.microsoft.com |language=en-us}}</ref>

==Timeline==

* 2009 – Service announced<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 10, 2009 |title=SQL Data Services announces plans to accelerate core relational database features |url=https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/sql-data-services-announces-plans-to-accelerate-core-relational-database-features/ |access-date=2016-11-03 |website=[[Microsoft Azure]]}}</ref>

* 2010 – Service went live<ref>{{Cite web |date=January 4, 2011 |title=SQL Azure - The Year in Review |url=https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/sql-azure-the-year-in-review/ |access-date=2016-11-03 |website=[[Microsoft Azure]]}}</ref>

* 2014 – New version announced and rebranded from Windows Azure to Microsoft Azure<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kelly |first=Eron |date=November 5, 2014 |title=Preview for greater SQL Server compatibility coming soon to Azure SQL Database |url=https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/preview-for-greater-sql-server-compatibility-coming-soon-to-azure-sql-database/ |access-date=2016-11-03 |website=[[Microsoft Azure]]}}</ref>

* 2015 – Major Architectural Revision

* 2016 – Elastic Pools Introduced<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wissner |first=Tiffany |date=May 11, 2016 |title=Azure continues to be the best place for Software as a Service |url=https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/with-newly-available-services-azure-continues-to-be-the-best-place-for-software-as-a-service-developers/ |access-date=2016-11-03 |website=[[Microsoft Azure]]}}</ref>

* 2017 - Azure SQL Database Managed Instance launched

* 2019 - Introduced Azure SQL Database Hyperscale, Serverless, and Instance Pools<ref>{{Cite web |last=markdefalco |title=History of Azure SQL (2 of 61) |url=https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/shows/azure-sql-for-beginners/history-of-azure-sql-2-of-61 |access-date=2023-04-07 |website=learn.microsoft.com |language=en-us}}</ref>

==Deployment Models==

Azure SQL Database is offered in two deployment models, as a Standalone database or an Elastic database pool (with shared storage and compute resources).

==See also==

*[[Microsoft Azure]]

*[[Oracle Cloud#Platform as a Service .28PaaS.29|Oracle Cloud Platform]]

*[[Microsoft SQL Server|SQL Server]]

*[[Amazon Relational Database Service]]

*[[Relational database|Relational Database]]

*[[Cloud computing]]

*[[Software as a service]]

==References==

{{Reflist}}

* {{cite book|last=Krishnaswamy|first=Jayaram

|title=Microsoft SQL Azure Enterprise Application Development|year=2010

|publisher=Packt Publishing|isbn=978-1-84968-080-6|pages=420 |url=

http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Azure-Enterprise-Application-Development/dp/1849680809/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_2

}}{{Self-published source|date=July 2013}}

==External links==

*[{{Official website|https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/servicesproducts/azure-sql-/database/ Azure SQL Database: Windows Azure Platform]}}

*[httphttps://blogswww.msdndumpscompany.com/ssds/default.aspxAZ-500-exam-dumps SQLMicrosoft Azure: Team blog (defunct)Security Technologies]

*[httphttps://wwwdocs.microsoft.com/en-us/SQLAzureazure/datasync.aspxsql-database/sql-database-paas-index SQLWhat is Azure DataSQL SyncDatabase?]

*[http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/Windows-Azure-Storage-SQL-Database-Tutorials Windows Azure Storage & SQL Database online course]

*[http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/azure/dn741336.aspx Azure SQL Database Service Tiers and Performance Levels]

*[https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/articles/sql-database-security/ Securing your SQL Database]

{{Microsoft Azure Services Platform}}

{{Cloud computing}}

{{Microsoft Azure Services Platform}}

{{Microsoft sql azure overview}}

{{Microsoft development tools}}

[[Category:Microsoft cloud services|Azure SQL Database]]

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