Tech Tips, Tricks & Trivia

Compiled from numerous resources: Topic Azure SQL Database (PaaS) SQL Server on Azure VM (IaaS) Features Less features than box, optimized to reduce costs Features that are available only in Azure SQL Database include: • Built-in backup • Auditing and threat detection • Index advisor • Query performance insight • Elastic database pools • Manage many features through Azure portal dashboard Full box product features, optimized for the best compatibility with existing applications and for hybrid applications Performances Max 4000 DTUs in Premium Tier  (P15) Depends on VM SKU/Storage DB Size Max 4TB in Premium Tier (P11) 64TB on G-SERIES Workload Sizing by average usage Sizing based on peaks High-Availability Built-in by platform. 99.99% high-availability SLA Manual configuration by AlwaysOn AG. 99.95% HA SLA that covers just the Virtual Machines in an availability set Fault-Handling Necessary fault-handling ...

Azure SQL Database Service tiers and database options  (as of 3/Jan/2015): Service tier Target workloads Transactional Perf. Objective SLA Basic Best suited for a small size database, supporting typically one single active operation at a given time . Examples include databases used for development or testing, or small scale infrequently used applications. Reliability per hour 99.99% Standard The go-to option for most cloud applications, supporting multiple concurrent queries . Examples include workgroup or web applications. Reliability per minute 99.99% Premium Designed for high transactional volume , supporting a large number of concurrent users and requiring the highest level of business continuity capabilities . Examples are databases supporting mission critical applications. Reliability per second 99.99% The following table shows the differences of the business continuity features across the service tiers : BCDR option Basic tier ...

Dave Voyles and Stacey Mulcahy have delivered a 7-part roughly 5-hour video course on Single Page Applications with jQuery or AngularJS . Key points from that course: - A single page application or SPA is a web application that fits on one page - A SPA can redraw any part of the UI without refreshing the page - They provide native-application like experience in the browser - Data is seperated from the presentation - Often includes templating, AJAX, routing - Loads data & views on demand - Examples - Twitter, email clients in the browser, Azure portal - Challenges:   ^ SEO considerations   ^ Browser history   ^ Requires JavaScript to be enabled   ^ Potential memory leaks - must deal carefully with JavaScript - Library vs Framework - A library has specific operations and it is usually organized into a class with specific functions (like image manipulation) while a framework defines the structural s...

I normally use SQL Management Studio to query tables on Azure SQL Database. You have to explicitly white-list the IP address from which you want to connect by a specifying a firewall rule in the Azure Management Portal. You know you're missing this step when you see a message of this sort - Cannot connect to your_sql_database_name.database.windows.net. Additional information: Cannot open server 'your_sql_database_name' requested by the login. Client with IP address ’xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx' is not allowed to access the server. To enable access, use the Windows Azure Management Portal or run sp_set_firewall_rule on the master database to create a firewall rule for this IP address or address range. It may take up to five minutes for this change to take effect. Login failed for user 'SQLAdmin'. This session has been assigned a tracing ID of '5534b48e0110'. Provide this tracing ID to customer support when you need assistance. (Microsoft SQL Server, Error: 4...

The MSDN article  Windows Azure Table Storage and Windows Azure SQL Database - Compared and Contrasted not only provides comprehensive information but it has also been updated and unlike for most MSDN articles, there is even a date of update . I wish more MSDN articles were like this. The article is pretty long but it has multiple tables which summarize key points. Tables and infographics make information easier to digest. I consolidated the info in multiple tables into a single giant table. Comparison Criteria Windows Azure Table Storage SQL Database Data relationships No Windows Azure Table Storage does not provide a way to represent relationships between data. You can obtain simple relationships by using schema-less properties of tables and structuring the data in the required format. Yes Similar to SQL Server, SQL Database allows you to define relationships between data stored in different tables by using foreign keys. Server-side processing No Su...