sql-azure &laquo; WordPress.com Tag Feed http://en.wordpress.com/tag/sql-azure/ Feed of posts on WordPress.com tagged "sql-azure" Thu, 23 May 2013 01:16:53 +0000 http://en.wordpress.com/tags/ en <![CDATA[SQLSailor is exploring(Part6) – Understanding firewall concepts for SQLDatabase on Windows Azure]]> http://sqlsailor.com/2012/08/03/firewallforsqldatabase/ Fri, 03 Aug 2012 22:21:31 +0000 Anup http://sqlsailor.com/2012/08/03/firewallforsqldatabase/ Security is one of the most discussed topics for any cloud deployment plans and no organisation would like to compromise on security when they make that ‘final’ decision to move their database to the cloud.

In this blog post we will review how protected are our SQLDatabases within Windows Azure using firewalls.

I encountered couple of firewall related issues when I first started working with Windows Azure, and that motivated me to write this blog post.

One of the error message or a warning was

The error message was pretty much saying that the IP address (Hidden in the picture) is not configured to manage the SQLDatabase within the server.

Before we see how we can configure the IP address to grant access, we will need to review what levels of firewall rules can be set on Windows Azure.

We can set firewall rules at Server Level and Database Level

Server level rule simply means that a client within a particular IP or within a range can access all your databases within the same SQLDatabase server.

In case you would like to restrict a client with a specific IP or a range of IPs to access only specific databases within the SQLDatabase server, then the role of Database Level firewall  rules pitch in.

SQLDatabase firewall is considered very important within Windows Azure architecture. Connection attempts from the Internet and Windows Azure must first pass through the SQL Database firewall before they can reach your SQL Database server or database.

Let’s consider a simple example to learn this in a better way -

When computer A tries to connect SQLDatabase Server from web, then the originating IP address is first checked by the SQLDatabase firewall against the server level firewall and grants access if the IP is within server level range. It will check the database level firewall rule in case the IP is not found within server level firewall range and connection is granted for the specific database in case the IP falls in database level rule.

Setting up server level rules

The easiest method to create a Server level firewall is via the Windows Azure portal itself.

We will need to select the server and choose the Config option to set a range of IPs or a single IP.

We have the option to check what all IPs or IP ranges are configured at server level using view sys.firewall_rules after connecting to master database.

Setting up database level rules

The recommended approach to create a database level firewall is to use the stored procedure sp_set_database_firewall_rule

We will need to connect to the exact database for which we need to create the rule and run the stored procedure with the parameters.

[The IP mentioned above is just a test case one]

The database level IPs or range can be checked using another view sys.database_firewall_rules and we will need to connect to the database and run this view to get the accurate details.

A request with IP 10.0.0.5 will be able to access only the database for which the rule was set and not all the databases within the SQLDatabase server.

Conclusion

There is good amount of protection available on Windows Azure platform for protecting your mission critical SQLDatabases and in this post we had a quick overview of firewall level protection.

You can read more about the comprehensive security concepts for a SQLDatabase on Windows Azure here -

Windows Azure SQL Database Connection Security

Keep checking this space for more and there are lots of new and exciting stuff coming up !

This post is in continuation with my earlier posts

SQLSailor is exploring(Part1) – Creating my first SQL Database on Windows Azure

SQLSailor is exploring(Part 2) – Managing SQL Databases on Windows Azure

SQLSailor is exploring(Part3) – Designing SQL Databases on Windows Azure

SQLSailor is exploring(Part4) – Basic DML,DDL operations with SQL Databases on Windows Azure

SQLSailor is exploring(Part5) – SQLDatabase Dashboard on Windows Azure

Thanks for reading.

]]> <![CDATA[Table row count and size in SQL Azure]]> http://blog.clicdata.com/2012/07/31/table-row-count-and-size-in-sql-azure/ Tue, 31 Jul 2012 09:37:31 +0000 Telmo Silva http://blog.clicdata.com/2012/07/31/table-row-count-and-size-in-sql-azure/ Using SQL Server Management Studio with SQL Server 2008/2012 it is quite easy to see how many rows each table contains and what is the overall size each table simply by selecting the database—> Tables and pushing F7.

Not so in SQL Azure, these columns are empty in SSMS 2008/R2 and non existent in SSMS 2012, so T-SQL to the rescue:

SELECT  sys.objects.name, 
        SUM(row_count) AS ‘Row Count’, 
        SUM(reserved_page_count) * 8.0 / 1024 AS ‘Table Size (MB)’
FROM sys.dm_db_partition_stats, sys.objects
WHERE sys.dm_db_partition_stats.object_id = sys.objects.object_id
GROUP BY sys.objects.name

The above will produce a list containing the table name, the # of rows in that table and the size in MB. The size total in MB is roughly close to the reported total using the SQL Azure management portal tool.

]]> <![CDATA[Hosting SQL Reporting Service on Azure Virtual Machine]]> http://aditibkup.wordpress.com/2012/07/25/hosting-sql-reporting-service-on-azure-virtual-machine/ Wed, 25 Jul 2012 09:14:00 +0000 adititechnoblog http://aditibkup.wordpress.com/2012/07/25/hosting-sql-reporting-service-on-azure-virtual-machine/ Author: Naveen Rao Published: 25th July, 2012
Category: Cloud


VM SSRS provides SQL Reporting service under IAAS model which will be consumed by client application or service. This SSRS is hosted on the Azure VM role. The steps to Create VM on an Azure platform and configure SSRS is discussed in detail in this post.


2       PRE-REQUISITES

A Windows Azure subscription with Virtual Machine provisioning.

2       IAAS BASED SSRS VIRTUAL MACHINE SETUP

2.1      CREATION OF VIRTUAL MACHINE

The following are the steps to create a new virtual machine for SSRS setup.
1.       Open Internet Explorer and browse https://manage.windowsazure.com/  to enter the Windows Azure portal. Then, log in with your credentials.
2.       In the menu located at the bottom, select New | Virtual Machine | From Gallery to start creating a new virtual machine.
Figure 1. Creating a new Virtual Machine

3.       In the VM OS Selection page, click Platform Images on the left menu and select the Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Evaluation Edition image from the list. Click the arrow to continue.
Figure 2.  Selecting a VM image

4.       In the VM Configuration page, enter the Virtual Machine Name (i.e. “testssrsvm”) and the administrator user’s Password. Select the Size as per the requirement and click the right arrow to continue.
Figure 3.  Creating a VM – Configuration

5.       In the VM Mode page, select Standalone Virtual Machine, enter the DNS Name (i.e. “testssrsvm”), leave the default value use Automatically Generated Storage Account. Select a Region (for e.g. “East US”). In case of multiple subscriptions select your subscription from the dropdown. Click the right arrow to continue.
Figure 4. Creating a VM – VM Mode

6.       In the VM Options page, leave the default values and click the button to create a new VM.
 Figure 5.Creating a VM – VM Options
7.       In the Virtual Machines section, you will see the VM is created with a provisioning status. Wait until it changes to Running in order to continue with the following step.
Figure 6.Creating a VM for SSRS Service
Note: It will take from 8 to 10 minutes for the Virtual Machine to complete the provisioning process.
8.       Once VM is created successfully and in Running status click on the VM Name (testssrsvm) to go to the Dashboard page and then click Endpoints.
9.       Click Add Endpoint on the bottom pane. Make sure that Add Endpoint option is selected and then click the right arrow button to continue.
Figure 7. Add a new End point
10.   In the Specify endpoint details page, set the Name to “ssrsport”, the Protocol to TCP and the Public Port and Private Port to 80. Click the button to create the endpoint.
Figure 8. New Endpoint details

Note: It will take some minutes to create a new endpoint.

2.2      ATTACHING EMPTY DISK IMAGE

The following are the steps to create empty data disk and attach them to an existing VM using the Windows AzureManagement Portal. It will be used to store the SQL Server Data and Logs files.
1.       In the Virtual Machines section, select the SQL Server VM (i.e. “testssrsvm”) created in the previous section.
2.       In the VM’s Dashboard, click Attach in the menu at the bottom of the page and select Attach Empty Disk.
Figure 9. Attach Empty Disk
3.       In the Attach Empty Disk page, set the Size to 50 GB and create the Disk.
4.       Wait until the process to attach the disk finishes.
5.       You will see 2 disks for the VM: one for the OS and other one for Data.
Note: It might take a few minutes until the data disks appear in the VM’s dashboard within the Azure Portal.
 Figure 10. Attached Data Disk
6.       Finally, you need to format the disk in order to access them from the Virtual Machine.
7.       To do this, click Connect to connect to the VM using Remote Desktop connection.
8.       It will ask you to download the remote desktop client. Click Open and log on using the Admin credentials you defined when creating the VM.
9.       In the Virtual Machine, open Server Manager from Start | All Programs | Administrative Tools.
10.   Expand Storage node and select Disk Management option.
Figure 11.  Disk Management
11.   In the In the Initialize Disk dialog window click OK.
Figure 12.  Disk Initialization
12.  Right-click the disk 2 unallocated space and select New Simple Volume.
Figure 13. Disk Management
13.   Follow the New Simple Volume Wizard. When asked for the Volume Label use SQLData.
14.   Wait until the process for the first disk is completed.
15.   The Disk Management list of available disks should now show the SQLData disk like in the following figure:
Figure 14.  Disk Management
16.   Now open Windows Firewall with Advance Security from Start | All Programs | Administrative Tools.
17.   Select Inbound Rules node, right-click it and select New Rule to open the New Inbound Rule Wizard.
Figure 15.  Creating an Inbound Rule 

18.   In the Rule Type page, select Port and click Next.
Figure 16.        New Inbound Rule Wizard
19.   In Protocols and Ports page, leave TCP selected, select Specific local ports, and set its value to 80. ClickNext to continue.

                                     Figure 17.        New Inbound Rule Wizard
20.   In the Action page, make sure that Allow the connection is selected and click Next.
Figure 18.        New Inbound Rule Wizard
21.   In the Profile page, leave the default values and click Next.
22.   In the Name page, set the Inbound Rule’s Name to SSRSRule and click Finish.

                                     Figure 19.        New Inbound Rule Wizard
23.   Close Windows Firewall with Advanced Security window.
Note: Do not close the Remote Desktop Connection. You will use it in the following task

2.3      CONFIGURE SQL SERVER

The following are the steps to configure SQL Server in the configured VM.
1.       Login to the Virtual Machine via remote desktop and open the SQL Server Management Studio from Start | All Programs | Microsoft SQL Server 2012.
2.       Connect to the SQL Server 2012 default instance using your Windows Account.
3.       Right click on you SQL Server instance and select Properties.
4.       Select Security from the left side pane and select SQL Server and Windows Authentication mode as Server authentication.
 Figure 20.        SQL Authentication Mode
5.       Select Database Settings from the left side pane.
6.       Locate the Database default locations section and update the default values to point to the disks attached in the previous task and click OK.
Figure 21.        Setting Database Default Locations
7.       Now restart the SQL server instance by right clicking on you SQL Server instance and the select Restart. Click OK on the confirmation popup.
8.       Using Windows Explorer create the following folders: F:\Data, F:\Logs and F:\Backups.
9.       In the SQL management studio expand Security folder within the SQL Server instance. Right-click Logins folder and select New Login.
Figure 22.        Creating a New Login
10.   In the General section, set the Login name to ssrssqluser. Select SQL Server authentication option and set the Password.
11.   Unselect Enforce password policy checkbox to avoid having to change the password the first time you log on.
Figure 23.        Creating a New Login
12.   Click Server Roles on the left pane. Select the checkbox against the sysadmin Rerver Roles and click OK.

2.4      CONFIGURE SQL REPORTING SERVICE

The following are the steps to configure SSRS service.
1.       Open the Reporting Services Configuration Manager from Start | All Programs | Microsoft SQL Server 2012 | Configuration Tools.
2.       Click Connect in the Reporting Services Configuration Manager Connection dialog box.
3.       Now Click Web service Url from the left side pane and Click Apply button at bottom right.
Figure 24.        Configure Web Service URL
4.       Click Database from the left side pane and Click Apply button at bottom right.
Figure 25.        Configure SSRS database
5.       In the Change Database dialog window, keep the default selection as “Create a new report server database” and click Next.
6.       Now select the Authentication Type as SQL Server Account and enter SQL user credential (testssrsvm) in the Username and Password field.
Figure 26.        Configure SSRS database
7.       Click Test Connection button for database credential verification. On successful verification click the Nexttwice.
8.       In the credential page select Authentication Type as SQL user credential and enter the SQL user credential (testssrsvm) in the Username and Password field and click Next.
Figure 27.        Configure SSRS credential
9.       Verify the information in the summary and click Next.
10.   Once configuration wizard successfully configures the SSRS click Finish.
11.   Now click Report Manager Url from the left side pane and Click Apply button at bottom right.

12.   Click Exit to finish the SSRS configuration.

13.   Navigate to the folder “C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSRS11.MSSQLSERVER\Reporting Services\ReportServer” and open the configuration file rsreportserver.config in notepad.
14.   Navigate to Render\Extension node for the extension names XML, MHTML and IMAGE and add new attribute Visible=”false” and save the file.
15.   Now close the Remote Desktop Connection.
Verification: Open internet Explorer from any client machine and navigate to the below URL and enter administrator credential created during the VM creating section.
http://testssrsvm.cloudapp.net/Reports/Pages/Folder.aspx

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]]> <![CDATA[SQL Azure’s Journey from Inception in Year 2008 to June 2012!]]> http://parasdoshi.com/2012/07/24/sql-azures-journey-from-inception-in-year-2008-to-june-2012/ Wed, 25 Jul 2012 01:30:33 +0000 Paras Doshi http://parasdoshi.com/2012/07/24/sql-azures-journey-from-inception-in-year-2008-to-june-2012/ <![CDATA[Taking a IIS pre-generated web service and putting into Azure]]> http://blog.vbmagic.net/2012/07/19/taking-a-iis-pre-generated-web-service-and-putting-into-azure/ Thu, 19 Jul 2012 14:11:20 +0000 vbmagic http://blog.vbmagic.net/2012/07/19/taking-a-iis-pre-generated-web-service-and-putting-into-azure/ I had, what I thought, was a simple job to do; but it took over two weeks of discovery to find out it actually was easy, but not quite in the way I was planning to do it.

I had two web services that I needed to host in Azure. For a temporary measure, I create a single Azure instance and this had a simple elevated start up task that installed required run-times and then downloaded 7zip file from Azure storage and then extracted this file.

I then connected to the instance via remote desktop, launched IIS Manager and created the web applications there. I also manually started a back end process.

The next step was to try and automate the deployment of this process using two instances. I moved the required database into SQL Azure which worked fine.

Next I created a new C# Azure project with an ASP.net web role and added the tasks to install the runtime and also looked up the commands required to add the website applications.

I hit a problem that I never really managed to solve where the installation of the C++ 10 runtime would just hang the start-up task. After spending around three days trying to diagnose what had happened I decided to start again from scratch.

I created a new VB Azure project with an ASP.net web role. I added the same task which ran a batch file. This time round the run-times installed with no problem. (I guess I’ll never know what went wrong with that one)

The next part of the script was to download and extract the 7zip archive file. (To download from storage I used the Azure Command Line tools from Rob  Blackwell/Two10 Degrees: https://github.com/RobBlackwell/AzureCommandLineTools)

I then extracted the archive using 7zip command line tools (http://www.7-zip.org/download.html)

It was when I came to run AppCmd.exe to add the extracted web applications, I learned about the order that Tasks etc. are run in Azure. (After a day or so of tracking things down)

The following article helped clarify this a lot. (I’ve borrowed the picture from the article below) http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsazure/hh127476.aspx

Azure Startup flow chart

Azure Startup flow chart

 

So basically, any start-up tasks would not be able to run scripts that try to modify the website (Like adding the web applications). I abandoned that idea.

Now there is an Elevated Simple task which installs the required run-times and downloads and extracts the files required.

Then there is an Elevated Foreground task which starts the back end process.

All that was left to do was get the web applications (Which were extracted by the Simple Task onto the C: drive)

After a lot more web searching I decided to modify the service definition file for the website and added the virtual applications to this file. (As described in this article: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsazure/gg433110.aspx )

I pointed the physical directory to where the application will be extracted to on the C drive of the instance. This caused a build error saying it couldn’t find the directories. I created these directories on the C drive of the machine I was publishing from which allowed the publish to complete.

Unfortunately the deployment got stuck in busy until I deleted it. (Waited a good few hours and tried a couple of times just in case of a “Glitch”).

As a last resort, I extracted the web applications and added the files to the web role’s project folder and then included them into the project. Next I modified the physical directory to a relative directory pointing to the included application directories.

Published and to my great surprise it actually work. Phew!

Took a few weeks but was a great learning process (If a bit frustrating at times ;-) )

Jas

]]> <![CDATA[SharePoint and Windows Azure: Why are they better together?]]> http://altabel.wordpress.com/2012/07/18/sharepoint-and-windows-azure-why-are-they-better-together/ Wed, 18 Jul 2012 14:42:53 +0000 altabel http://altabel.wordpress.com/2012/07/18/sharepoint-and-windows-azure-why-are-they-better-together/ <![CDATA[HOW TO: Achieve CHANGE_TRACKING_CURRENT_VERSION on SQL Azure]]> http://aditibkup.wordpress.com/2012/07/03/how-to-achieve-change_tracking_current_version-on-sql-azure/ Tue, 03 Jul 2012 16:02:00 +0000 adititechnoblog http://aditibkup.wordpress.com/2012/07/03/how-to-achieve-change_tracking_current_version-on-sql-azure/
Author: Prabhakar Krishnakumar Published: July 3rd, 2012
Category: Cloud

Recently, I came across a customer who wanted to migrate their database from an SQL Server to SQL Azure. The interesting part of this migration was when we identified that the customer is using CHANGE_TRACKING_CURRENT_VERSION feature of SQL server to track changes on few of the tables and triggers the respective client to upgrade.

As you all know, this feature is not supported on SQL Azure but the functionality seemed to create roadblocks during the migration.

We came up with two solutions:

1. Add an additional column by name LastModifiedtime or timestamp in the table to identify all newly added/Altered records from a specified time
2. Write a custom tracking based on the trigger on the tables.

These solutions have their respective pros and cons.

Approach 1: Add an additional column by name LastModifiedtime or timestamp in the table.

Changes Required:
1.    Alter all the tables at once and add an additional non-nullable column “LastModifiedtime”.
2.    Identify the default time for the existing record and update it in the “LastModifiedtime” column.
3.    Change all the objects using this table and alter the logic to add value to the new column.

Cons:
1.    The regression effort is going to tested on all the changed objects
2.    Deleted records cannot be tracked

Approach 2: Write a custom tracking based on the trigger on the tables.

Changes Required:
1.    Alter all the tables at once and add additional non-nullable columns “CreateDatetime” and “LastModifiedDatetime”.
2.    Alter all the tables at once and add Insert, Create, and Delete triggers on it.
3.    In the Insert and Update trigger, fill out the values for “CreateDatetime” and “LastModifiedDatetime” columns of the table respectively.
4.    There are no changes required on existing objects using this table

Pros:
1.    The regression effort is less.

Cons:
1.    Coding takes longer.
2.    Due to the triggers, there could be slight degradation of performance.

Below you will find sample code to implement and test the second approach. We tested this Query on SQL server 2008 to validate that we get the required results.

1.    Create a test table

CREATE TABLE TestTable  (ColA INT PRIMARY KEY,   ColB INT NOT NULL,   ColC AS (ColA + ColB) * 2);

2.    Run the Below SQL file which will create trigger on this table:



3.    Insert Few records in the table

INSERT INTO TestTable (Cola,ColB)     VALUES (1,87); 

INSERT INTO TestTable (Cola,ColB)     VALUES (2,87); 

4.    Get the Last run time stamp and from the TestTable and set to the variable @lastrun

5.    Get the current revision of the table using CHANGE_TRACKING_CURRENT_VERSION () and set it to @LastVersion variable.

6.    Insert, Edit few records in the table 

INSERT INTO TestTable (Cola,ColB)     VALUES (3,87); 

INSERT INTO TestTable (Cola,ColB)     VALUES (4,87); 

UPDATE TestTable Set ColB =56 where cola=2

DELETE FROM TestTable  where Cola= 3

7.    Run the below query and Validate if the result are same

Below Query uses SQL Server inbuilt Change traking feature

SELECT colA,* FROM CHANGETABLE(CHANGES TestTable, NULL) CT WHERE SYS_CHANGE_VERSION > @LastVersion AND SYS_CHANGE_VERSION  <= @CurrentVersion



Below Query is based on the custom Change tracking will work on all version of SQL server which has trigger supported

select * from TestTable where CreationDate > @lastrun

select * from TestTable where LastEditDate > @lastrun

select * from TestTable_DeleteRecords where deletionDate > @lastrun

8.    Below is the Sample Script which we used to test on SQL Server 2008

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]]> <![CDATA[WebsiteSpark Members Now Have Access To Windows Azure Benefits]]> http://theflyingmaverick.com/2012/06/28/websitespark-members-have-access-to-windows-azure/ Thu, 28 Jun 2012 15:39:08 +0000 Maverick http://theflyingmaverick.com/2012/06/28/websitespark-members-have-access-to-windows-azure/ Microsoft’s WebsiteSpark program has been updated to now include Windows Azure benefits. If you’re a member of this program then you should have or will be receiving an email to update your account.

You will need to login to your WebsiteSpark account and then click to update your account to include the new Windows Azure benefits.

sshot-239

Here is what is included…

WebsiteSpark members can now get up to $1400 in annual Windows Azure resources to design, develop and deploy their site in the cloud. You will also get to keep at no charge, an Expression Web license upon completion of the 3 year program.

Here is additional information about the WebsiteSpark Azure Offer Details:

sshot-235

In order to take advantage of these additional program benefits, you will need to do this prior to 12/18/2012.

sshot-238

]]> <![CDATA[SQL Azure Reporting. ]]> http://bi-bigdata.com/2012/06/25/sql-azure-reporting/ Mon, 25 Jun 2012 14:18:33 +0000 Suhas Kudekar(MCC) http://bi-bigdata.com/2012/06/25/sql-azure-reporting/ SQL Azure Reporting
SQL Azure Reporting enables developers to enhance their applications by embedding cloud based reports on information stored in a SQL Azure database.  Developers can author reports using familiar SQL Server Reporting Services tools and then use these reports in their applications which may be on-premises or in the cloud.
Image
First we need to understand what is SQL Azure & SQL Azure Database?
Microsoft SQL Azure
Microsoft SQL Azure delivers on Microsoft’s SQL Server Data platform vision of extending the Data platform capabilities to the cloud. SQL Azure provides data services, including a relational database, reporting; and data synchronization with mobile users, remote offices and business partners.
Sign Up for a free account to Access SQL Azure
Two ways you can try SQL Azure FREE of charge:
  • Sign up for this limited-time promotion, and you’ll get TWO 1GB Web Edition databases for one month.
  • Get a 1GB Web Edition database for no charge for 3 months.
Microsoft SQL Azure Database
Microsoft SQL Azure Database is part of Microsoft SQL Azure. It is a cloud-based relational database service built on SQL Server technologies. It provides a highly available, scalable, multi-tenant database service hosted by Microsoft in the cloud. SQL Azure Database enables easy provisioning and deployment of multiple databases.
Image
Benefits of the Azure platform for Azure Reporting Services are:
Advantages-
  • Highly available, the cloud services platform has built-in high availability.
  • Cloud services platform automatically scales up and down.
  • Reports and SQL Azure databases are on a safe place in the cloud.
  • Don’t have to set up servers and you don’t have to invest in managing servers.
  • Use the same tools you use today to develop your solutions. Just develop your reports in BIDS or Report Builder and deploy to Azure.
Disadvantages-
  • No subscriptions or scheduled delivery available.
  • No developer extensibility in the first version, so no custom data sources, assemblies, report  items or authentication
  • SQL Azure databases are the only supported data sources in the first version, more data sources are expected to come.
  • No Windows Authentication, only SQL Azure username/password is supported in the first version, similar to SQL Azure database. When SQL Azure database gets Windows Authentication

Difference between SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) & SQL AZURE Reporting

Developer Tool:
  • SSRS-Business Intelligence Design Studio (BIDS)Report Builder
  • SQL Azure Reporting-Business Intelligence Design Studio (BIDS)

Report Builder (Authoring only – deployment to SQL Azure Reporting through BIDS)

Supported Data Sources:
  • SSRS-Diverse data sources
  • SQL Azure Reporting-SQL Azure databases
Report:
  • SSRS-Embed reports into your apps
  • SQL Azure Reporting-Embed hosted reports into your apps
Management & Delivery:
  • SSRS-Report Manager or SharePoint Portal display reports rendering to multiple formats subscriptions scheduled delivery
  • SQL Azure Reporting-SQL Azure Development Portal display reports rendering to multiple formats
Developer Extensibility:
  • SSRS-Extensible for custom data sources, assemblies, report items, authentication, etc.
  • SQL Azure Reporting-Extensibility is not yet enabled
Security Model:
  • SSRS-Windows Authentication
  • SQL Azure Reporting-SQL Azure Username/password
 Suhas R. Kudekar(MCC)
]]> <![CDATA[SQLSailor is exploring(Part3) – Designing SQL Databases on Windows Azure]]> http://sqlsailor.com/2012/06/20/designingsqldatabases/ Wed, 20 Jun 2012 19:19:50 +0000 Anup http://sqlsailor.com/2012/06/20/designingsqldatabases/ This post is in continuation with my earlier posts

SQLSailor is exploring(Part1) – Creating my first SQL Database on Windows Azure

SQLSailor is exploring(Part 2) – Managing SQL Databases on Windows Azure

In this post we will check out how to design a SQL Database which is on Windows Azure.

Once the database is created we have the Manage button to start working on administration and design of the database (As mentioned in the earlier posts)

Clicking on Manage button will route us to another page where in we will have to enter the credentials(Set during database creation)

Once the credentials are validated we will have a page where in we can choose the design option.

Let’s start building a table for the database MySQLDatabase which we have already created earlier.

We have the option called New table which will help us to start designing the tables and the columns.

We can specify the table name, start building the columns, set Primary key, set Default values, specify Is Identity, Is Required etc.

Once the required details have been filled in we have the option to Save the structure.

We have the option to create and manage the indexes too. The Indexes and Keys section will display the existing indexes and we have the option to create new ones too.

Creating an index is also pretty easy and we have some advanced options like Auto Update Stats and Rebuild Index Online.

Once the database and table is ready, we will need some data to do some DML operation. We can insert some data via the Data section.

The portal is pretty smart as it does validation the same time you are entering the data.

Conclusion


Designing the tables,indexes,relations etc are really easy via the portal and we saw some real time validations too.

I will write about some DML operations during the coming days and there some exciting stuff coming up too.Please stay tuned.

Thanks for reading.

]]> <![CDATA[Cloud computing infrastructure: 2012 and beyond]]> http://gigaom.com/2012/06/19/cloud-computing-infrastructure-2012-and-beyond/ Wed, 20 Jun 2012 06:55:39 +0000 Edit Staff http://gigaom.com/2012/06/19/cloud-computing-infrastructure-2012-and-beyond/ Cloud computing continues to change and shape the technology industry, and these days discussions are about more than simply reorganizing the IT department. New developments in chip and hardware architectures, finding greener data centers, regulatory concerns and simplifying data analytics are all discussions currently circling through the industry. For this report, GigaOM Pro has gathered six of its analysts to discuss these topics and others in current cloud market. Here we present several areas to consider when thinking about your business in the cloud.

]]> <![CDATA[Qu’est que le WAAD ?]]> http://franceazure.wordpress.com/2012/06/19/quest-que-le-waad/ Tue, 19 Jun 2012 04:44:51 +0000 franceazure http://franceazure.wordpress.com/2012/06/19/quest-que-le-waad/ Le WAAD est un système intégré dans le cloud computing ou informatique dans le nuage. Cet outil constitue un service d’annuaire très performant. Microsoft azure a conçu ce système depuis 24 mois. Avec un tel annuaire, vous regroupez toutes les applications de Windows  dans la même application. Autrement dit, vos serveurs, vos bases de données et vos postes de travail peuvent être intégrés dans le WAAD.

Le WAAD permet à une meilleure utilisation d’Internet. Ce programme de Windows azure permet de faciliter la gestion des applications présentes sur votre ordinateur. Vous pouvez utiliser ce logiciel avec un sql azure. Ce dernier est doté d’un ACS compatible avec PHP, Java, Ruby et d’autres applications.net. Dans le forum azure, vous pouvez discuter de ce logiciel en compagnie d’autres développeurs.

]]> <![CDATA[Exploring Windows Azure]]> http://theflyingmaverick.com/2012/06/14/exploring-windows-azure/ Thu, 14 Jun 2012 12:51:00 +0000 Maverick http://theflyingmaverick.com/2012/06/14/exploring-windows-azure/ image

If you don’t already know what Windows Azure is, then it’s Microsoft’s public cloud.

Microsoft’s Windows Azure is flexible, open and rock solid. Windows Azure allows you to quickly build, deploy and manage applications across a global network of Microsoft-managed datacenters. You can build applications using any OS, Language, Database or Tool and it has a 99.95% monthly SLA.

One of the new features I noticed is FREE Web Sites. It allows you to start for free and scale as you go.

When they say open, they have greatly expanded the development languages, framework and tools available, all of which are open source and available on github. Cool!

There are also changes in what servers you can use. Apart from Windows, you can now also install Linux as well in virtual machines.

Azure is really transforming into a cloud that isn’t just limited to the Microsoft technology stack, not that there is nothing wrong with that. I love Microsoft technologies, but I think Microsoft make a smart decision to open up and allows Linux, mySql and other languages to be used.

Speaking of languages, there is now support for 5 major languages and then some.

Languages

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Developer Features

Data Storage

  • Blob Service
  • Table Service
  • SQL Database
  • SQL Reporting
  • Hadoop

Messaging and Integration

  • Service Bus Queues
  • Service Bus Topics
  • Queue Service
  • Service Bus Relay

Additional Features

  • Caching (AppFabric)
  • Access Control
  • Diagnostics
  • Autoscaling
  • Media Services
  • SendGrid Email Service
  • Twilio

Free Trial

With the free trial you can…

  • Quickly deploy websites to a highly scalable cloud environment
  • Easily deploy and manage virtual machines running Windows Server and Linux
  • Create highly scalable applications in a rich PaaS environment
  • Create, manage and distribute media in the cloud

The free trial contains:

compute 750 small compute hours per month
web sites 10 shared web sites
relational database 1 GB SQL database instance
storage 20 GB with 1,000,000 storage transactions
bandwidth unlimited inbound and 20 GB outbound

There is a lot that can be done with Windows Azure and the only way to know if it’s right for you and your organization is to give it a try and see what you think.

Get started now:

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]]> <![CDATA[Configuring Team Foundation Service (TFS) for Windows Azure Website or Cloud Services – #Meet Azure Edition]]> http://karthikeyananbarasan.wordpress.com/2012/06/14/configuring-team-foundation-service-tfs-for-windows-azure-website-or-cloud-services-meet-azure-edition/ Thu, 14 Jun 2012 11:18:57 +0000 Karthikeyan Anbarasan http://karthikeyananbarasan.wordpress.com/2012/06/14/configuring-team-foundation-service-tfs-for-windows-azure-website-or-cloud-services-meet-azure-edition/ <![CDATA[Azure Synchronisation]]> http://sladescross.wordpress.com/2012/06/14/azure-synchronisation/ Thu, 14 Jun 2012 08:46:17 +0000 sladescross http://sladescross.wordpress.com/2012/06/14/azure-synchronisation/ http://blogs.msdn.com/b/steve_fox/archive/2012/06/13/sharepoint-and-windows-azure-data-sync-media-services-amp-virtual-machines.aspx

Windows Azure Data Synchronization to enable you to filter data from on-premises to the cloud;

Synchronizing Data from On-premises to the Cloud

This is an interesting area that provides us to leverage a data sync from data that we are storing in SQL Server on-premises (which I was using in an external list via BCS in SharePoint) to a SQL Database instance sitting in Windows Azure. It’s interesting because one of the key concerns today is data protection and sovereignty. For example, the screen-shot below provides a snapshot of my Data Sync Group that takes data from my on-premises SQL Server and syncs it with SQL Database. You can see on the right the “Edit Dataset” button that enables you to edit the columns you want to expose to your SQL Database.

 

]]> <![CDATA[Create a WordPress Website in minutes with Azure Portal – #Meet Azure Edition]]> http://karthikeyananbarasan.wordpress.com/2012/06/13/create-a-wordpress-website-in-minutes-with-azure-portal-meet-azure-edition/ Wed, 13 Jun 2012 07:15:54 +0000 Karthikeyan Anbarasan http://karthikeyananbarasan.wordpress.com/2012/06/13/create-a-wordpress-website-in-minutes-with-azure-portal-meet-azure-edition/ <![CDATA[SQL Reporting on Azure goes GA, PowerView not available in cloud]]> http://businessintelligist.com/2012/06/12/sql-reporting-on-azure-goes-ga/ Wed, 13 Jun 2012 02:38:04 +0000 Business Intelligist http://businessintelligist.com/2012/06/12/sql-reporting-on-azure-goes-ga/ Microsoft has just announced that Windows Azure SQL Reporting is Generally Available. 

A quick glance on the Guidelines and Limitations reveals that the released functionality is mainly based on the SQL Server 2008 R2 stack, which means that PowerView is not available in the cloud yet.

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