SQL Azure

SQL Azure (formerly SQL Server Data Services and later SQL Services) is a cloud-based service from Microsoft offering data storage capabilities similar to Amazon S3 and Amazon Relational Database Service as a part of the Azure Services Platform. Unlike similar cloud-based databases, SQL Azure allows relational queries to be made against stored data, which can either be structured or semi-structured, or even unstructured documents.^[1] SQL Azure features querying data, search, data analysis and data synchronization.^[1]

SQL Azure uses a special version of Microsoft SQL Server as backend. It provides high availability by storing multiple copies of databases, elastic scale and rapid provisioning. 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 Azure uses T-SQL as the query language and Tabular Data Stream (TDS) as the protocol to access the service over internet.^[1][3] It 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]

References

Krishnaswamy, Jayaram (2010). Microsoft SQL Azure Enterprise Application Development. Packt Publishing. pp. 420. ISBN 978-1849680806. http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Azure-Enterprise-Application-Development/dp/1849680809/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_2. 

External links

• SQL Azure: Windows Azure Platform
• SQL Azure: Team blog
• SQL Azure Data Sync
• SQL Azure: Online Training course
• SQL Azure: Step by Step Installation Guide