SQL Azure

Microsoft Azure SQL Database (formerly SQL Azure, SQL Server Data Services, SQL Services, Windows Azure SQL Database) is a cloud-based service from Microsoft offering data-storage capabilities. The aim is for users to just communicate with a T-SQL endpoint rather than managing database storage, files, and high availability. In this regard, it is a similar offering to Amazon Relational Database Service. Early versions operated as key-value pair tables accessed via a REST-based API, and offering only a subset of the data types offered by the Microsoft SQL Server on-premises product. Using these versions was not similar to using the SQL Server database engine and led to relatively low adoption rates.

Current versions of Azure SQL Database share a common code base with Microsoft SQL Server. This database engine allows users to make relational queries against stored data, which can either be structured or semi-structured, and unstructured documents.[1] SQL Database features querying data, search, data analysis and data synchronization.[1]

High availability is provided by storing multiple copies of databases, business continuity and disaster recovery with backups and geo-replication, elastic scale and rapid provisioning. It has built-in data protection and security features. Like Microsoft SQL Server, SQL Database uses T-SQL as the query language and Tabular Data Stream (TDS) as the protocol to access the service over the Internet.[1][2] (The product no longer provides a REST-based API to access the service over HTTP[1] - Microsoft recommends using ADO.NET Data Services for this purpose.[1])

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b c d e "Microsoft SQL Services FAQ". Microsoft. Retrieved 2009-04-16. 
  2. ^ "SQL Server Data Services". Microsoft. Retrieved 2009-04-16. 

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