3. Hero capabilities of SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines
While platform as a service (PaaS) databases such as Azure SQL Database have many upsides, the most common SQL Server deployment method on Azure is in an IaaS virtual machine (VM). The typical reasons for this are that partner software may not support PaaS options, or that you may need to work on older versions of the SQL Server engine. Another common scenario is when an organization chooses to run another SQL Server component, such as SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS), alongside the database engine. Some of the other included features that may be used include PolyBase, which allows data virtualization to other data sources such as MongoDB, Oracle, or Teradata. Also, Machine Learning services allows users to execute R, Python, or Java scripts side by side with SQL Server. While this architecture may not offer the best performance, it does maximize the value of licensing. In this chapter, you will learn about...