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. 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.
Current versions of Azure SQL Database share a common code base with Microsoft SQL Server. This database engine allows users to make relational queries against stored data, which can either be structured or semi-structured, and unstructured documents.[1] SQL Database features querying data, search, data analysis and data synchronization.[1]
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.[1][2] (The product no longer provides 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 "Microsoft SQL Services FAQ". Microsoft. Retrieved 2009-04-16.
- ^ "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]