I have written a blog post on my beyondrelational.com blog about Introduction to SQL Azure reporting. Please click here: SQL Azure reporting 101 << Paras Doshi
Can you please take a moment and post your comments/feedback? Thanks!
Month: July 2011
[Link] Amazing list of SQL Azure Articles on gainingaccess.net managed by Patrick wood >> Check it out
StandardURL: http://gainingaccess.net/SQLAzure/AccessAndSQLAzureInfo.aspx
Check it out!
SQL Azure VS Azure Table storage
Standard
*SQL Azure Federations is coming soon!
SQL Azure VS Azure Tables is discussed best if the scenario is known! Though both of them “sound” similar – they are different in lot of aspects. The above info graphic is meant to delineate the difference between SQL Azure and Azure Table.
SQL Azure is a RDBMS solution whereas Azure Table is more of a NoSQL solution
SQL Azure has current limitation on Size i.e. 50 GB. Azure Table’s current limitation is secondary index is not supported.
SQL Azure supports SQL Azure reporting, SQL Azure Data sync, SQL Azure Federations (coming soon) out of the box. Also since it is a RDBMS – anyone familiar with SQL server will find the skills are very easily transferred. Also SQL Azure is at better at moving data to and fro from SQL server.
Apparently, Azure table is better at cost and scalability. But one concern is that data tends to get locked into Azure platform. By this I mean, if you use Azure Tables as your backend data store for your app and then someday you decide to move to different cloud platform then get ready for some work. So for more flexibility – opt for SQL Azure.
That’s it. It was just an introduction to “SQL Azure VS Azure Table storage”.
can you please take a moment and drop your comments/feedback – Thanks!
Update [2 jan 2012]
read http://blogs.msdn.com/b/windowsazure/archive/2011/12/29/windows-azure-isv-blog-series-digital-folio.aspx for a case study
SQL Azure Federations is released and Max Size of a SQL Azure DB is now 150 GB.
Related articles:
SQL Azure Interview Questions and Answers << Guest blog on Pinal Sir’s blog
StandardMy guest post on “SQL Azure interview questions and answers” got published on Pinal Sir’s blog. URL: http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2011/07/25/sql-server-azure-interview-questions-and-answers-guest-post-by-paras-doshi-day-25-of-31/
List of Interview questions:
1. What is SQL Azure?
2. What is cloud computing?
3. How is SQL Azure different than SQL server?
4. How many replicas are maintained for each SQL Azure database?
5. How can we migrate from SQL server to SQL Azure?
6. Which tools are available to manage SQL Azure databases and servers?
7. Tell me something about security and SQL Azure.
8. What is SQL Azure Firewall?
9. What is the difference between web edition and business edition?
10. How do we synchronize On Premise SQL server with SQL Azure?
11. How do we Backup SQL Azure Data?
12. What is the current pricing model of SQL Azure?
13. What is the current limitation of the size of SQL Azure DB?
14. How do you handle datasets larger than 50 GB?
15. What happens when the SQL Azure database reaches Max Size?
16. How many databases can we create in a single server?
17. How many servers can we create in a single subscription?
18. How do you improve the performance of a SQL Azure Database?
19. What is code near application topology?
20. What were the latest updates to SQL Azure service?
21. When does a workload on SQL Azure get throttled?
For answers, please refer: http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2011/07/25/sql-server-azure-interview-questions-and-answers-guest-post-by-paras-doshi-day-25-of-31/
Thanks Dhananjay Kumar for introducing me to Word 2010 Smart Art!
StandardIt was Dhananjay Kumar (DebugMode) who introduced me to the world of Word 2010 smart art! Thank you sir!
It all began when I saw interesting info graphics on his blog and asked him – how he did that? So he promptly replied back: Word 2010 smart art!
Below proverb sums up, his approach to teach me how to do it too!
So from that day onwards, I have been using smart art to create some info graphics for my blog.
It’s interesting, try it out some day!
Few snapshots << Yuva Unstoppable and Microsoft student partner’s Digital Literacy campaign, Ahmedabad, India [September 2010–May 2011]
StandardAbout Yuva Microsoft Student Partner program:
YUVA is a NGO based in India and one of their campaign is to spread computer literacy among slum children’s. For this campaign they partnered with Microsoft and the name of the initiative was Yuva + Microsot student partners Digital literacy campaign. I was a part of this wonderful initiative and the few snapshots that you see were taken when we volunteers used to go and teach this wonderful bunch of intelligent students basic computer stuff.
Here are the photos from some of our sessions in Ahmedabad, India:
why I liked reading “One Minute Manager”?
StandardI read anything – literally anything and so you should know that there was no sane reason to pick up this book. Anyways here is what I promised – a monologue on why I liked reading “One Minute manager”:
I have a perception that “management” books are either exhaustive or boring. In some case, both! Also, I find no point in reading passage after passage of theories – It would have made sense if I had decade of managerial practice but sigh – I do not have any such experience; so what if I just wished to learn few things before I began the managerial journey? After reading “one minute manager”, I think, I now know few fundamental management practices. I like the feeling! So +1 here!
The book is a story of a young man in a quest to know effective management practices. yes, no boring paragraphs on management mumbo jumbo but a book having a story format. I like it! so +1 here.
Next, there are only three “secrets” that sums up the knowledge imparted in the book. Only three! I like it! so +1 here too.
The first half of the book is about knowing these three secrets. and the second half about knowing why they work. Some fundamental pointers on human behavior – I like it! so +1 here too.
And biggest +1 on the fact that it is an one hour read. That’s it – only an hour! I like it! so +1 here too.
weekly channel 9’s “cloud cover show” to stay updated on windows Azure!
StandardI just watched the amazing episode number 52 of cloud cover show. it was on the newly released “windows azure toolkit for social games” and it was fun!
Anywho! I am a big fan of this show – it keeps me updated on the new and shiny things happening in the domain of the Microsoft’s cloud platform i.e. windows Azure. It’s fun and it’s one of the best way to stay updated –> check it out http://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/Cloud+Cover
Diagrammatic representation of “SQL Azure VS SQL server”
Standard“A picture is worth a thousand words” –> so here are those thousand words:
That’s it!
But remember that the list is based on the features and limitations (because nothing is perfect, Eh!?) of SQL Azure as on July 2011. And thanks to the ever evolving nature of SQL Azure, some of the missing features will be provided in near future. But basically, SQL Azure VS SQL server is an open ended question – it means different things in different context and it’s better discussed when the context is known.
please do drop your feedback/comments/advice/(random text of string) in comments section. if you really do that – Thanks!
After the SU8. Read What’s new in SQL Azure
Related posts:
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/compare-sql-server-with-sql-azure.aspx
Hosting a Static Website in Windows Azure Blobs << Cost effective and scalable solution to host static websites!
StandardPart 1:
Hosting a static website in Windows Azure blobs
Part 2:
How to edit the content type / Mime type of a windows azure blob content?
Part 3:
Blogged a Follow up post on the series ‘Hosting a static website in windows Azure blobs’
Alternatively, Azure blobs can be used to store contents too. For eg. a video can be stored in blobs and since a URI is provided for a blob content, a website hosted somewhere else (say a website hosted in web role) can access the video through the URI.
Also, I found this blog post by John Viele where he shows he hosted “static” aspx web pages in Azure Blog Storage: http://jvshangout.wordpress.com/2012/02/17/virtualpathprovider-for-windows-azure-hosting-aspx-web-pages-in-blob-storage/