Search icon CANCEL
Subscription
0
Cart icon
Your Cart (0 item)
Close icon
You have no products in your basket yet
Arrow left icon
Explore Products
Best Sellers
New Releases
Books
Videos
Audiobooks
Learning Hub
Newsletter Hub
Free Learning
Arrow right icon
timer SALE ENDS IN
0 Days
:
00 Hours
:
00 Minutes
:
00 Seconds
Microsoft SQL Azure Enterprise Application Development
Microsoft SQL Azure Enterprise Application Development

Microsoft SQL Azure Enterprise Application Development: Moving business applications and data to the cloud can be a smooth operation when you use this practical guide. Learn to make the most of SQL Azure and acquire the knowledge to build enterprise-ready applications.

Arrow left icon
Profile Icon Jayaram Krishnaswamy
Arrow right icon
Free Trial
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Empty star icon 4 (2 Ratings)
Paperback Dec 2010 420 pages 1st Edition
eBook
Can$38.99 Can$55.99
Paperback
Can$69.99
Subscription
Free Trial
Arrow left icon
Profile Icon Jayaram Krishnaswamy
Arrow right icon
Free Trial
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Empty star icon 4 (2 Ratings)
Paperback Dec 2010 420 pages 1st Edition
eBook
Can$38.99 Can$55.99
Paperback
Can$69.99
Subscription
Free Trial
eBook
Can$38.99 Can$55.99
Paperback
Can$69.99
Subscription
Free Trial

What do you get with a Packt Subscription?

Free for first 7 days. $19.99 p/m after that. Cancel any time!
Product feature icon Unlimited ad-free access to the largest independent learning library in tech. Access this title and thousands more!
Product feature icon 50+ new titles added per month, including many first-to-market concepts and exclusive early access to books as they are being written.
Product feature icon Innovative learning tools, including AI book assistants, code context explainers, and text-to-speech.
Product feature icon Thousands of reference materials covering every tech concept you need to stay up to date.
Subscribe now
View plans & pricing
Table of content icon View table of contents Preview book icon Preview Book

Microsoft SQL Azure Enterprise Application Development

Chapter 2. SQL Azure Services

In this chapter, you will learn about what SQL Azure Services are, and how different the SQL Azure Server is from a local, on-site SQL Server 2008. This chapter deals with the following:

  • Overview of SQL Azure Services

  • Accessing SQL Azure Services from the portal

  • Creating a user database and setting up a firewall

  • Connecting to SQL Azure from SQL Server Management Studio

  • Working with SQL Azure from SQL Server Management Studio

  • Basic administration of the database objects

  • Basic monitoring of the database

The practical elements of this chapter are presented following a step-by-step approach. The focus is on helping the administration of the server/databases in SQL Azure Services. In order to work with the practical elements, some familiarity with the use of SQL Server Management Studio is assumed. The recommended version of SQL Server Management Studio is the one that gets installed with SQL Server 2008 R2 November CTP (Presently SQL Server 2008 R2).

Overview of SQL Azure Services


SQL Azure is a database service in the cloud on Microsoft's Windows Azure platform well-suited for web facing database applications as well as a relational database in the cloud.

SQL Azure Services was briefly introduced in Chapter 1, Cloud Computing and Microsoft Azure Services Platform. The present version mostly deals with the component analogous to a database engine in a local, on-site SQL Server. Future enhancements will host the other services such as Integration Services, Reporting Services, Service Broker, and any other yet-to-be defined services. Although these services are not hosted in the cloud, they can leverage data on SQL Azure to provide support. SQL Server Integration Services can be used to a great advantage with SQL Azure for data movement, and highly interactive boardroom quality reports can be generated using SQL Azure as a backend server (Chapter 6, SSIS and SSRS Applications Using SQL Azure).

Infrastructure features

SQL Azure is designed...

Accessing SQL Azure Services from the portal


In Chapter 1, Cloud Computing and Microsoft Azure Services Platform, the procedure to access the Windows Azure Services was described, which allowed you to host applications on the Windows Azure platform. In a similar manner, you can also access the SQL Azure Services that allow you to create databases and firewall rules. Firewall rules provide the security blanket for your cloud-based resources. This allows you and only you, or users designated by you, from IP addresses specified by you, to access your cloud-based SQL Azure database from an external location.

First time access to SQL Azure from the portal

By completing the following steps, you will be able to access SQL Azure Services from the portal:

  1. 1. Browse to the following URL: http://windows.azure.com.

  2. 2. The Windows Live ID sign in page opens up as shown in the following screenshot. It is assumed that you have already created a Live ID. In case you have multiple Live IDs, make sure you use...

Creating a user database and setting up a firewall


Now, you will create a user database in SQL Azure and set up firewall rules so that you can access SQL Azure from your ground-based, on-site location. While creating a user database makes use of the SQL Azure portal, these can be done from your ground-based SSMS, or other utilities that support T-SQL. Database and firewall rules can also be programmatically created from Visual Studio 2008 SP1 or Visual Studio 2010 (Beta 2 as well as RC).

Creating a user database in the portal

As seen, when we accessed SQL Azure Services from the portal, the master database is created during the provisioning process in the portal and user databases can also be created in the portal.

SQL Azure presently provides creating two Types of databases, a web type of 1 GB and a business type of 10 GB. Each provisioned SQL Azure Server can have a total of 150 databases including the master.

Note

The February 17, 2010 update of SQL Azure SU1 (February 2010) now allows upgrading...

Connecting to SQL Azure from SQL Server Management Studio


The SQL Azure Portal can manage servers, databases, and firewall settings as seen earlier. However, if you want to work with the databases and/or create objects you need an external utility. SQL Server Management Studio R2 provides the ability to work with databases by providing T-SQL support. There are other tools to connect to SQL Azure. SQL Azure supports only a limited set of features that SQL Server 2008 is capable of as described earlier in this chapter and all these features can be used in SSMS once you are connected to SQL Azure Server.

Connecting to SQL Azure from SSMS

Connecting to SQL Azure from SSMS is like connecting to any of the local SQL servers. To do this, you will need to perform the following steps:

  1. 1. Open the SSMS (the version used here is the one that came with SQL Server 2008 R2 November CTP installation) from its shortcut in Start in the Windows 7 desktop.

  2. 2. The Connect to Server dialog box will pop up wherein...

Working with SQL Azure from SQL Server Management Studio


When you are connected to the SQL Azure Server from SSMS, you can work with the server objects as you would with local servers except that SQL Azure supports (presently) only a subset of the features supported by SQL Server 2008 R2 (November CTP). We will now review a number of features that are supported fully or partially.

Creating queries

Querying databases is one of the important tasks that you would do on a regular basis and the process of querying SQL Azure is no different from querying other databases except for some changes in the commands, as follows:

  1. 1. Click on Connect | Database Engine... toolbar item in SSMS to open the Connect to Server dialog.

  2. 2. Enter the credentials as before and click the Connect button.

  3. 3. This opens up the Object Explorer displaying the SQL Azure Server objects. As we saw earlier, there are two databases, master and Bluesky.

  4. 4. Click the New Query toolbar item, as shown in the following screenshot...

Basic administration of the database objects


While the administration of SQL Azure is similar to SQL Server 2008 R2, there are some differences as the strategy used for server management has changed. The security folder in the Object Explorer is your starting point for creating logins when you access SQL Server 2008. In SQL Azure, the server node in Object Explorer is mapped to several (one or more) physical computers at the datacenter(s). The object that is available for you in SQL Azure is the master. It is in the master that you create objects, which include databases, logins, and so on.

The securityadmin role in SQL Server 2008 R2 is replaced by the loginmanager (Administrative User) that you created in SQL Azure Portal (also known as the Security Principal) and he/she will be responsible for server level security for creating logins.

The dbmanager role in SQL Azure is akin to dbcreator role in an on-site SQL Server and this role can create a database when connected to the master and...

Basic monitoring of the database


Diagnosing SQL Server database-related performance problems whether they are related to databases, execution, or transaction, is best done using the related Dynamic Management Views (DMV), a subset of those available in an on-site server. A user must have the permission to monitor or review these DMVs. Here, you will grant the permission to the user DmvMonitor who has a login001 to Bluesky.

  1. 1. Connect to SQL Azure with Server-level credentials.

  2. 2. Create a New Query to connect to Bluesky and execute the following statement:

    /* login as Server-Level Principal and execute the
    query while connected to 'Bluesky'*/
    CREATE USER DmvMonitor FROM LOGIN login001
    
  3. 3. This creates the user DmvMonitor in Bluesky.

  4. 4. Grant DmvMontior the permission to view the DMV by executing the following statement:

    /*Grant permission to view DMV*/
    GRANT VIEW DATABASE STATE TO DmvMonitor;
    
  5. 5. Now that you have a user DmvMonitor with login login001 in Bluesky database, you can run queries...

Summary


In this chapter, we covered several aspects of SQL Azure Services beginning with provisioning of SQL Azure Server in the portal and later with related features such as setting up databases and firewalls; creating and administering SQL Azure databases; migration, summarizing synchronization, and monitoring of SQL Azure; troubleshooting and monitoring of databases.

Additionally, we focused on SQL Azure access using SQL Server Management, provisioning a server after accessing the portal for the first time; setting up firewall rules to allow on-site users access; creating user databases; running general to specific queries; creating users, logins and permissions; and monitoring SQL Azure usage, and so on.

In the next chapter, we will describe with examples, methods of accessing SQL Azure to create, modify, and manage database objects using both Client APIs and Server APIs. We will also describe the secure way of connecting to SQL Azure.

Left arrow icon Right arrow icon

Key benefits

  • Develop large scale enterprise applications using Microsoft SQL Azure
  • Understand how to use the various third party programs such as DB Artisan, RedGate, ToadSoft etc developed for SQL Azure
  • Master the exhaustive Data migration and Data Synchronization aspects of SQL Azure.
  • Includes SQL Azure projects in incubation and more recent developments including all 2010 updates

Description

SQL Azure is a database service in the cloud. Based on Microsoft’s Windows Azure platform, SQL Azure is well suited for web facing database applications. Are you interested in moving your business applications and data to the cloud but are not sure how to go about it? Look no further; this book covers all you ever wanted to know about taking your relational enterprise data to the cloud using SQL Azure. This book will show you how to manage SQL Azure using various tools and also guide you in developing enterprise applications and business intelligence solutions. It will take you through migration and synchronization scenarios with a variety of tools, help you in working with Microsoft technology still in incubation, and in leveraging hybrid applications that exist partially in the cloud and partially on the ground.This step-by-step tutorial begins by providing an overview of Cloud Computing, introducing you to the most significant Cloud Computing implementations. You will then learn the mechanics of signing up and obtaining an account on Microsoft Windows Azure and logging into the portal.The book then dives deep into SQL Azure, showing you how to provision a SQL Azure Server, and how to create/delete databases as well as set up Firewall rules so that you can access SQL Azure from tools/Client programs. It is then followed by details of how to access SQL Azure using Client and Server APIs.Other content includes, a comprehensive description of tools required to access SQL Azure and how to use them and how to populate and migrate SQL Azure databases using a variety of tools.Finally, the book will detail with examples, data-centric applications that leverage a mix of on-site data and Cloud based data, how to synchronize data and extend the applicability of SQL Azure data by disconnected applications on mobile media, and synchronize services for globally distributed data. After covering the topics of services which are in production, the book will then cover future developments as well as a complete update to SQL Azure at the time of writing this book.

Who is this book for?

If you are a .Net developer, an architect, or a DBA who wants to develop enterprise applications and projects and extend your on-site skills with SQL Azure, then this book is for you.This book does not assume experience in Windows Azure or SQL Azure, nor is a high level of competency in SQL Server or the .NET Framework and associated technology required. However, a basic understanding of Visual Studio, C#, VB, SQL Servers, XML, web and WCF is required. If you decide to work with SQL Azure, then this book will provide you with the most up to date and practical information.

What you will learn

  • An easy to understand briefing on Microsoft Windows Azure Platform Services
  • Connect to SQL Azure using Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio
  • Create and manipulate objects on SQL Azure using different tools
  • Master the different types of Cloud offerings
  • Access SQL Azure through best practices using Client and Server API‚Äôs in VB and C# and using hosted services with user authentication Windows Azure
  • Learn how to populate the SQL Azure database using various techniques
  • Create Business Intelligence Applications using SSIS and SSRS
  • Synchronize databases on SQL Azure with on-site enterprise and compact SQL Servers
  • Learn how to write an application to access on-site data from a cloud hosted service
  • Get a comprehensive briefing on various updates that have been made to SQL Azure and the projects still in incubation
  • Understand the future and evolving programs such as the Houston Project, OData Services, Sync Services, and more built to support SQL Azure and transform it into a global enterprise data platform

Product Details

Country selected
Publication date, Length, Edition, Language, ISBN-13
Publication date : Dec 09, 2010
Length: 420 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781849680806
Vendor :
Microsoft
Category :
Languages :

What do you get with a Packt Subscription?

Free for first 7 days. $19.99 p/m after that. Cancel any time!
Product feature icon Unlimited ad-free access to the largest independent learning library in tech. Access this title and thousands more!
Product feature icon 50+ new titles added per month, including many first-to-market concepts and exclusive early access to books as they are being written.
Product feature icon Innovative learning tools, including AI book assistants, code context explainers, and text-to-speech.
Product feature icon Thousands of reference materials covering every tech concept you need to stay up to date.
Subscribe now
View plans & pricing

Product Details

Publication date : Dec 09, 2010
Length: 420 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781849680806
Vendor :
Microsoft
Category :
Languages :

Packt Subscriptions

See our plans and pricing
Modal Close icon
$19.99 billed monthly
Feature tick icon Unlimited access to Packt's library of 7,000+ practical books and videos
Feature tick icon Constantly refreshed with 50+ new titles a month
Feature tick icon Exclusive Early access to books as they're written
Feature tick icon Solve problems while you work with advanced search and reference features
Feature tick icon Offline reading on the mobile app
Feature tick icon Simple pricing, no contract
$199.99 billed annually
Feature tick icon Unlimited access to Packt's library of 7,000+ practical books and videos
Feature tick icon Constantly refreshed with 50+ new titles a month
Feature tick icon Exclusive Early access to books as they're written
Feature tick icon Solve problems while you work with advanced search and reference features
Feature tick icon Offline reading on the mobile app
Feature tick icon Choose a DRM-free eBook or Video every month to keep
Feature tick icon PLUS own as many other DRM-free eBooks or Videos as you like for just Can$6 each
Feature tick icon Exclusive print discounts
$279.99 billed in 18 months
Feature tick icon Unlimited access to Packt's library of 7,000+ practical books and videos
Feature tick icon Constantly refreshed with 50+ new titles a month
Feature tick icon Exclusive Early access to books as they're written
Feature tick icon Solve problems while you work with advanced search and reference features
Feature tick icon Offline reading on the mobile app
Feature tick icon Choose a DRM-free eBook or Video every month to keep
Feature tick icon PLUS own as many other DRM-free eBooks or Videos as you like for just Can$6 each
Feature tick icon Exclusive print discounts

Frequently bought together


Stars icon
Total Can$ 201.97
Microsoft Azure: Enterprise Application Development
Can$61.99
Microsoft Windows Azure Development Cookbook
Can$69.99
Microsoft SQL Azure Enterprise Application Development
Can$69.99
Total Can$ 201.97 Stars icon

Table of Contents

10 Chapters
Cloud Computing and Microsoft Azure Services Platform Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
SQL Azure Services Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Working with SQL Azure Databases from Visual Studio 2008 Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
SQL Azure Tools Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Populating SQL Azure Databases Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
SSIS and SSRS Applications Using SQL Azure Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Working with Windows Azure Hosting Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Database Applications on Windows Azure Platform Accessing SQL Server Databases Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Synchronizing SQL Azure Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Recent Developments Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Customer reviews

Rating distribution
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Empty star icon 4
(2 Ratings)
5 star 0%
4 star 100%
3 star 0%
2 star 0%
1 star 0%
Dr.GUI, MSDN, retired Feb 07, 2011
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Empty star icon 4
First, I'm likely a tough reviewer having been a professional technical writer for Microsoft since the mid 1990's and still doing that occasionally. Second, I'm a pedagogue (ex-teacher for those that are vocabulary challenged) and tend to read stuff at several levels - including suitability for teaching or mentoring.The first question is what type of book is this? This book will be a useful book on my bookshelf because it touches enough area in sufficient depth to serve as a cookbook for first recipes. The problem is that it try to span too many target audiences and as a result does not make it in any area well.IS IT A COOKBOOK?The number of items covered and the crispness of the coverage suggests that it is. The problem is that if I compare it to the classic Cookbooks from O'Reilly, it is both too shallow and too sparse. It's more a collection of recipes clipped from `Women's Journal' (or should I say, Microsoft articles and blog posts?). There is a place for that, because it has a linear structure that wandering across microsoft.com lacks.IS IT AN ENTERPRISE BOOK?Definitely not - there was zero coverage of issues that would be of interest to a SQL Azure serious enterprise application. One key example: there is nothing about tuning indexes - and for SQL Azure that can be critical. I will give a simple example, this morning I tuned a single heavy used query that was looked like it should be run well, 4-6 indices on all of the tables involved etc. The Database Engine Tune Advisor did it magic and did a 94% improvement on it. For SQL Azure (because of billing) could mean the difference between a $1000/month billing and a $60/month billing. Wait a minute... would it be in Microsoft's Interest to provide easy tools to do this... it would lose $940 of monthly revenue (just loose change)....The simplest way to see the deficiency is to look at a book like APress'sPro SQL Server 2005 and see what is not touched upon. Looking at APress's offering Pro SQL Azure, I see chapters such as:Designing for High PerformanceSQL Azure Design ConsiderationsPerformance TuningThose essential enterprise topics are missing. QEDIS IT A "LEARNING SQL AZURE" BOOK?It likely comes closest to this but for the fact that there is very sparse guidance to the learner. The collection of recipes without guidance leaves may leave too many learners frustrated instead of assured by the last page.IS IT A VBNET, C# OR IS A PHP BOOK?It tries to do all three resulting in a thick tome that will only be partially read by most developers. Creating a tome for each language would likely be a better approach so the book would have greater depth - however, the real issue is how much time a book title starting with "Microsoft SQL Azure" should spend in any specific language? IMHO less than 20% of the book/chapters, ideally 10-15%.IS IT WORTH BUYING?If you are neither a beginner nor responsible for enterprise implementation on SQL Azure, I would say that it's definitely worth considering. You will likely do a lot of skimming of content and then read carefully the sections that are relevant to your existing style. It may serve well as a stepping stone tome but it's useful life is likely to be short but it would likely pay for itself by the time savings it provides.Next week, I will do a review of another one of PACKT's books - stay tune!See for [...] more details
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Saikumar V Pollachi Mar 29, 2011
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Empty star icon 4
The following chapters are covered in the book.Chapter 1: Cloud Computing and Microsoft Azure Services PlatformChapter 2: SQL Azure ServicesChapter 3: Working with SQL Azure Databases from Visual Studio 2008Chapter 4: SQL Azure ToolsChapter 5: Populating SQL Azure DatabasesChapter 6: SSIS and SSRS Applications Using SQL Azure 221 Merging sharded dataChapter 7: Working with Windows Azure HostingChapter 8: Database Applications on Windows Azure Platform Accessing SQL Server DatabasesChapter 9: Synchronizing SQL AzureChapter 10: Recent DevelopmentsAs you see the contents summary of the book, it covers many facets of the Azure domain - cloud computing with Azure platform, other cloud service provides, tools for SQL Azure, interacting with SQL Azure from Managment studio... I would recommend anyone beginning to learn Azure Platform and want to know more about SQL Azure can certainly read this book. Every chapter has good number of examples to learn and test.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Get free access to Packt library with over 7500+ books and video courses for 7 days!
Start Free Trial

FAQs

What is included in a Packt subscription? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

A subscription provides you with full access to view all Packt and licnesed content online, this includes exclusive access to Early Access titles. Depending on the tier chosen you can also earn credits and discounts to use for owning content

How can I cancel my subscription? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

To cancel your subscription with us simply go to the account page - found in the top right of the page or at https://subscription.packtpub.com/my-account/subscription - From here you will see the ‘cancel subscription’ button in the grey box with your subscription information in.

What are credits? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Credits can be earned from reading 40 section of any title within the payment cycle - a month starting from the day of subscription payment. You also earn a Credit every month if you subscribe to our annual or 18 month plans. Credits can be used to buy books DRM free, the same way that you would pay for a book. Your credits can be found in the subscription homepage - subscription.packtpub.com - clicking on ‘the my’ library dropdown and selecting ‘credits’.

What happens if an Early Access Course is cancelled? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Projects are rarely cancelled, but sometimes it's unavoidable. If an Early Access course is cancelled or excessively delayed, you can exchange your purchase for another course. For further details, please contact us here.

Where can I send feedback about an Early Access title? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

If you have any feedback about the product you're reading, or Early Access in general, then please fill out a contact form here and we'll make sure the feedback gets to the right team. 

Can I download the code files for Early Access titles? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

We try to ensure that all books in Early Access have code available to use, download, and fork on GitHub. This helps us be more agile in the development of the book, and helps keep the often changing code base of new versions and new technologies as up to date as possible. Unfortunately, however, there will be rare cases when it is not possible for us to have downloadable code samples available until publication.

When we publish the book, the code files will also be available to download from the Packt website.

How accurate is the publication date? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

The publication date is as accurate as we can be at any point in the project. Unfortunately, delays can happen. Often those delays are out of our control, such as changes to the technology code base or delays in the tech release. We do our best to give you an accurate estimate of the publication date at any given time, and as more chapters are delivered, the more accurate the delivery date will become.

How will I know when new chapters are ready? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

We'll let you know every time there has been an update to a course that you've bought in Early Access. You'll get an email to let you know there has been a new chapter, or a change to a previous chapter. The new chapters are automatically added to your account, so you can also check back there any time you're ready and download or read them online.

I am a Packt subscriber, do I get Early Access? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Yes, all Early Access content is fully available through your subscription. You will need to have a paid for or active trial subscription in order to access all titles.

How is Early Access delivered? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Early Access is currently only available as a PDF or through our online reader. As we make changes or add new chapters, the files in your Packt account will be updated so you can download them again or view them online immediately.

How do I buy Early Access content? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Early Access is a way of us getting our content to you quicker, but the method of buying the Early Access course is still the same. Just find the course you want to buy, go through the check-out steps, and you’ll get a confirmation email from us with information and a link to the relevant Early Access courses.

What is Early Access? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Keeping up to date with the latest technology is difficult; new versions, new frameworks, new techniques. This feature gives you a head-start to our content, as it's being created. With Early Access you'll receive each chapter as it's written, and get regular updates throughout the product's development, as well as the final course as soon as it's ready.We created Early Access as a means of giving you the information you need, as soon as it's available. As we go through the process of developing a course, 99% of it can be ready but we can't publish until that last 1% falls in to place. Early Access helps to unlock the potential of our content early, to help you start your learning when you need it most. You not only get access to every chapter as it's delivered, edited, and updated, but you'll also get the finalized, DRM-free product to download in any format you want when it's published. As a member of Packt, you'll also be eligible for our exclusive offers, including a free course every day, and discounts on new and popular titles.