Thursday, June 30, 2011

SQL Azure is getting beefed up

SQL Azure Updates have been regularly paced and surely enriching the user experience from the day it entered production not too long ago.

The May 2011 Service Update enriches even further. The following are the recent improvements.
Read full story here,

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/windowsazure/archive/2011/05/16/sql-azure-may-2011-update.aspx

   1. SQL Azure Management REST API – a web API for managing SQL Azure servers.

REST API are great to work with and it makes automating SQL Azure managment a lot easier than through the portal. Now the guys who click will be replaced by guys who code as this is a programmatic approach. REST API is an open protocol, well documented and there is not too much to learn.

   2. Multiple servers per subscription – create multiple SQL Azure servers per subscription.

The servers could be anywhere North America or Singapore (is it?).  Makes distributing servers across the globe for truly golbal enterprises.

   3. JDBC Driver – updated database driver for Java applications to access SQL Server and SQL Azure.

DotNet is great but don't under estimate the power of JAVA. The JDBC driver 3.0, a Type 4 driver can handle both SQL Azure and SQL Server and what is more it is free. Now on premises JAVA Apps can capture the data from the Azure clouds.

   4. DAC Framework 1.1 – making it easier to deploy databases and in-place upgrades on SQL Azure.

Here is completely free article on DAC if you want to sample the experience.
http://hodentek.blogspot.com/2010/02/working-with-data-gotten-lot-easier.html

DAC is a thing I personally love and the DAC Framework 1.1 takes it a little further. DAC makes it so easy to  import/export data it is truly amazing.

By the way, my book on SQL Azure was recently published and you may avail yourself of a free copy by sending an email to me, mysorian@gmail.com with the subject line, SQL AZURE. Your named will be entered into a raffle and the winner gets a copy of my book on SQL Azure(1st Winner hardcopy and 2nd Winner an eBook)

http://hodentek.blogspot.com/2010/12/my-sql-azure-book-is-published.html
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