Building applications on SQL Azure

SQL Azure – Database as a Service

• Jeremy Boyd
• Mindscape
• DAT301

SQL Data Services

• Previous incarnation
• Entity-Value style
• Provided REST based access to resources
• Matched similar competitor offerings
• Lacked familiar SQL Server syntax and capabilities
• Use Azure Table+Blob Storage as replacement

SQL Azure Database

• Clear feedback
• I want RDBMS in the cloud

Provisioning Model

• Account = zero or more servers
• Server = each server has one or more databases
• Database = each database has standard SQL objects

Compatibility Goals

• Version 1: Address the needs of 95% or more standard application functionality (web/enterprise)
• Support common application patterns
• Consistent patterns for Azure and SQL
• Multi-tenancy considerations

Building Applications

• Can target SQL Azure either remotely from on-premise or from Windows Azure
• Can promote existing applications or build new applications
• SQL Azure offering currently favours:
• Cacheable data sets
• Blah
• Blah

On Premise over Azure

• Data is typically located outside the firewall from where your application runs
• Be aware of latency (~150ms from NZ to US)
• Try to pre-fetch as much as possible

Impact on System Design

• Expect poor latency
• Avoid chatty calls = code for chunky calls

Windows Azure over SQL Azure

• Application Code runs within the Azure network that your data resides on
• Same connection string as with remote
• Check that your SQL and App instances are on the same location group (e.g. US – Southwest)
• Note: Caching may still be appropriate
• SQL Azure and Windows Azure will generally provide a “better together”: experience

Synchronisation

• Azure offers a great data synchronisation point: high availability, scalable
• Sync Framework “Project Huron” for sync
• Common Scenarios
• Mobile device access to corporate data
• Business to business sharing
• Secure digital data hub

Database Size

• Max single db size is currently 10GB
• Database size calculation
• Includes: primary replica data, objects and indexes
• Does NOT include: logs, master database, system tables, server catalogues or additional replicas
• V does not support auto-partitioning
• Use Scale Out (Sharding) approach to solve if needed and applicable

Sharding with SQL Azure

• Several databases are used to store a portion of the application's data
• Blah

Costs

• Two plans
• US$9.99 per month for 1GB (Web Edition
• US$99.99 per month for 10GB (Business Edition)
• SLA – 99% availability
• Price is per database
• Each database gets a server instance
• No limits on CPU/RAM consumption unlike Azure
• Automatically replicated, no admin cost
• Best to think of price in “per day” terms

Release Plan

• Currently in CTP
• Sign up at http://connect.microsoft.com
• Free to use until launch
• Commercial availability in November 2009
• Launches alongside Windows Azure

Futures

• Database is just one part of the bigger picture
• Analysis Services
• Reporting Services
• Synchronisation (Huron)
• http://www.microsoft.com/azure/sqllabs.mspx