This article may rely excessively on sources too closely associated with the subject, potentially preventing the article from being verifiable and neutral. (July 2013) |
Microsoft Azure SQL Database (formerly SQL Azure, SQL Server Data Services, SQL Services, Windows Azure SQL Database) is a cloud-based service from Microsoft offering data-storage capabilities (similar to Amazon Relational Database Service) as a part of the Azure Services Platform. Unlike similar cloud-based databases, SQL Database allows users to make relational queries against stored data, which can either be structured or semi-structured, or even unstructured documents.[1] SQL Database features querying data, search, data analysis and data synchronization.[1]
SQL Database shares a common code base with Microsoft SQL Server. It provides high availability 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. It exposes a subset of the full SQL Server functionality, including only a subset of the data types — including string, numeric, date and boolean.[2] It uses an XML-based format for data transfer.[1] 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.[1][3] (The product does not provide a REST-based API to access the service over HTTP[1] - Microsoft recommends using ADO.NET Data Services for this purpose.[1])
Footnotes
- ^ a b c d e f "Microsoft SQL Services FAQ". Microsoft. Retrieved 2009-04-16.
- ^ Ryan McMinn. "SQL Server Data Services". MSDN Blogs. Archived from the original on March 11, 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-07.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ "SQL Server Data Services". Microsoft. Retrieved 2009-04-16.
References
- Krishnaswamy, Jayaram (2010). Microsoft SQL Azure Enterprise Application Development. Packt Publishing. p. 420. ISBN 978-1-84968-080-6.[self-published source]