*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.
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hi
it is slowly too
Good point, paras! I think it’s important for people to know when to use SQL Azure and Windows Azure Table Storage, and we need this kind of posts’ 🙂
Thanks Miguel!
after i saw your articel i decided to have a look at NoSql and after knowing NoSql i guess NoSql is better option then normal SQL. just consider a suituation where u don’t know the exact number of rows like the comments in facebook then in that case and many other we can use Nosql. So .. well as i am a newbie i may be wrong in my interpretation .
i would also like to know,just consider the above scenario of facebook comments ; how to implement it in traditional SQL or you can say in SQL Azure
First things first, we cannot (and should not) generalize that “NoSQL is better than SQL”. They are complimentary to each other and so based on the requirements, you evaluate what’s best for your needs.
Now, Moving onto the next part, One can implement comment threads with SQL. search for something like “SQL/Database How to implement comment threads”. I got this: http://forums.asp.net/t/1562353.aspx/1?how+to+implement+a+comment+box+using+jquery+and+asp+net+such+that – may be you can find articles that go in-depth. But i can visualize that it’s possible.
And in SQL – you do NOT need to know the number of rows that a table could hold. That’s dynamic. What differentiates NoSQL with SQL is that NoSQL allows flexible schema (in simple words – it allows you to have different column / schema structure for your rows) you can search more via search queries like “Azure Table Flexible Schema” or “NoSQL flexible schema”.
BTW, I like this article: http://huanliu.wordpress.com/2010/12/15/use-sql-for-nosql/
Thanks buddy.
you’re welcome!