There seems to be lot of confusion about how to develop locally on SQL Azure. Basically, if you are an existing .net develper who is just starting to play with Azure; it's very common to look for a download that you can install in your dev environment that coudl simulate SQL Azure. Well.. It doesn't exist !!
Here are few pointers:
1. SQL Azure is a DB hosted by Microsoft in the cloud. You cannot install it.
2. To use SQL Azure, you will need to subscribe to one of the offerings from Microsoft. Typically, 3 months free introductory special is a good place to start while you decide what your exact needs are.
3. There is no special SDK/tool needed to connect to SQL Azure DB. Existing data accessing frameworks like Entity Framework, LINQ to SQL, etc will work with SQL Azure.
4. You will need SQL Server Management Studio 2008 R2 to be able to connect to SQL Azure and run queries. SSMS does not provide advanced GUI to manage SQL Azure yet like on-premise SQL installations. But I have seen Denali preview and it's going to add whole new set of features in terms of what you can do with SQL Azure.
5. SQL Azure is NOT 100% on-premise MS SQL. For example, it supports only a subset of the T-SQL availabe in on-premise version. Many admin features are also not available. One good way to ensure that your code would run in SQL Azure without much issues would be to develop against SQL Express edition.
6. One other good area to understsand would be the DB size limitation in SQL Azure, driven by your Azure subscription level. Currently, the maximum available DB size is 50 GB. Microsoft is about a launch a new offering to be able to create horizontal partitions of SQL Azure DBs as a way to scale up beyond 50 GB.
I hope it helped. See you in cloud!!
Here are few pointers:
1. SQL Azure is a DB hosted by Microsoft in the cloud. You cannot install it.
2. To use SQL Azure, you will need to subscribe to one of the offerings from Microsoft. Typically, 3 months free introductory special is a good place to start while you decide what your exact needs are.
3. There is no special SDK/tool needed to connect to SQL Azure DB. Existing data accessing frameworks like Entity Framework, LINQ to SQL, etc will work with SQL Azure.
4. You will need SQL Server Management Studio 2008 R2 to be able to connect to SQL Azure and run queries. SSMS does not provide advanced GUI to manage SQL Azure yet like on-premise SQL installations. But I have seen Denali preview and it's going to add whole new set of features in terms of what you can do with SQL Azure.
5. SQL Azure is NOT 100% on-premise MS SQL. For example, it supports only a subset of the T-SQL availabe in on-premise version. Many admin features are also not available. One good way to ensure that your code would run in SQL Azure without much issues would be to develop against SQL Express edition.
6. One other good area to understsand would be the DB size limitation in SQL Azure, driven by your Azure subscription level. Currently, the maximum available DB size is 50 GB. Microsoft is about a launch a new offering to be able to create horizontal partitions of SQL Azure DBs as a way to scale up beyond 50 GB.
I hope it helped. See you in cloud!!
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