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RE: SQL Server Management Studio and SQL Azure

Keith Edwards — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 08:14:03 GMT

I am just curious to get other members thoughts. How do you think this will affect the DBA role going forward? From what I am reading it seems like they are going into the database hosting business and getting away from selling SQL server for deployment in IT shops.

RE: SQL Server Management Studio and SQL Azure

sherif.ahmed — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 08:47:41 GMT

Thanks for the kind words SAM.By the way the regular SSIS route from R2 doesn't seem to work for getting data into Azure.I am working with MS to investigate further

RE: SQL Server Management Studio and SQL Azure

SQL-DBA — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 04:00:21 GMT

Sherif.Ahmed, you rock man. I am surprised that you are a "Forum Newbie." Keep it coming!

RE: SQL Server Management Studio and SQL Azure

Nitya — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 18:55:17 GMT

Its not necessary to install SQL 2008 R2.Just the client tools from Nov CTP of SQL 2008 R2 will do

RE: SQL Server Management Studio and SQL Azure

sherif.ahmed — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 11:27:36 GMT

For synching your local data there are few options..Either use the Microsoft Sync based Azure tool. Learn more about it here http://microsoftpdc.com/Sessions/KEY01and download it here http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=bce4ad61-5b76-4101-8311-e928e7250b9a&displaylang=enThis framework allows you to keep your on-premis database in synch with an Azure instance & vice versaAnother tool that generates Bulk copy scripts and optionally allows to execute them to load on-premis data to the cloud is here as wellhttp://sqlazuremw.codeplex.com/I have used both methods quite successfully.

RE: SQL Server Management Studio and SQL Azure

SQL-DBA — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 11:19:54 GMT

I think the typical rollout to the cloud is going to be a database that you design locally, then script the database. Which of course brings up the much-needed function of scripting the data along with the DDL. MySQL does this and I really like it.

RE: SQL Server Management Studio and SQL Azure

Slick84 — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 07:41:20 GMT

[quote][b]duda (12/15/2009)[/b][hr]I'd like to try the produst as it seems to be cool and Nice to have.[/quote]It is pretty cool & nice.. though you need SQL R2 tools as mentioned by Corbett above. I dont have it so Im unable to see anything in my object explorer. Without it, I'm totally lost. Wonder what a local "cloud" within a company is though... isnt having servers and our DB's on them already a cloud? *confused*

RE: SQL Server Management Studio and SQL Azure

BudaCli — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 01:23:47 GMT

I'd like to try the produst as it seems to be cool and Nice to have.

RE: SQL Server Management Studio and SQL Azure

David Luu — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 12:17:53 GMT

[quote][b]SAM-200046 (12/11/2009)[/b][hr]A couple people have ripped me about the only available on Vista and Windows Server 2008 line. Clearly it will work with Windows 7, but that OS was not even out when I wrote the article. And as far as XP goes, I will need to check the facts because I have a strong suspicion that I was confusing Windows Azure - which definitely does not work with XP - with SQL Azure. There is no reason why it shouldn't. Since I just wiped my XP laptop to install Windows 7, I can't verify, but I'll edit the article accordingly. That's not the kind of rumor I want to propagate.[/quote]SQL Azure will or should work with Windows XP. But the question to the users is really, what tool are you using against SQL Azure? Because the tool defines the system requirements, not SQL Azure.I have tested under Windows XP SP2 using VBScript and QueryExPlus and QueryExpress to connect to SQL Azure and query a database there.Since SQL 2005 and SQL 2008 run on XP as well, you can use SSMS to connect to SQL Azure from XP.Note however, that if you use ODBC and OLEDB for SQL Azure and don't have SQL 2008 installed on machine, you will need to have the SQL Server Native Client 10 (or 2008) database driver installed. I don't know if any OS comes with that preinstalled but XP does not have that. The driver is available as an MSI redistributable that you can find online from MS if you google for it.

RE: SQL Server Management Studio and SQL Azure

Jack Corbett — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 07:06:51 GMT

[quote][b]Slick84 (12/11/2009)[/b][hr][quote][b]Jack Corbett (12/10/2009)[/b][hr]Slick, you need 2008 R2 tools in order to see anything in the object explorer.[/quote]I'm running SQL Server 2008. Shouldn't I be able to see the objects in the object explorer then?[/quote]Nope. You need to be running SQL Server 2008 R2, it's not a service pack but a new release.

RE: SQL Server Management Studio and SQL Azure

SQL-DBA — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 06:54:45 GMT

Great tip David - thanks!A couple people have ripped me about the only available on Vista and Windows Server 2008 line. Clearly it will work with Windows 7, but that OS was not even out when I wrote the article. And as far as XP goes, I will need to check the facts because I have a strong suspicion that I was confusing Windows Azure - which definitely does not work with XP - with SQL Azure. There is no reason why it shouldn't. Since I just wiped my XP laptop to install Windows 7, I can't verify, but I'll edit the article accordingly. That's not the kind of rumor I want to propagate.It will be interesting to see what SQL2008 R2 does for cloud computing, but I no longer jump into beta versions since SQL 2005 CTPs...I am sure some of you know what I am talking about.

RE: SQL Server Management Studio and SQL Azure

Slick84 — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 06:48:39 GMT

[quote][b]Jack Corbett (12/10/2009)[/b][hr]Slick, you need 2008 R2 tools in order to see anything in the object explorer.[/quote]I'm running SQL Server 2008. Shouldn't I be able to see the objects in the object explorer then?

RE: SQL Server Management Studio and SQL Azure

David Luu — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 23:38:18 GMT

FYI, just got an answer from MS Azure support forum and you can also use Azure with an OLEDB connection string, unofficially. Here it is:[b]Provider=SQLNCLI10;Server=tcp:yourServer.database.windows.net;Database=yourDb;Uid=yourUser@yourServer;Pwd=yourPassword;[/b]However, there seems to be better features/support with ODBC. Then again, OLEDB is not officially supported right now, only ODBC and ADO.NET. What I noticed with ODBC is that using it with QueryExPlus for Azure, I am able to see a list view of the tables and the table's fields in the left pane "primitive" object explorer of QueryExPlus. With an OLEDB connection for QueryExPlus, I don't get that list view.

RE: SQL Server Management Studio and SQL Azure

Jack Corbett — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 15:32:44 GMT

Slick, you need 2008 R2 tools in order to see anything in the object explorer.

RE: SQL Server Management Studio and SQL Azure

Slick84 — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 13:40:40 GMT

Hey Steve,You're right about not being able to connect through the main logon box and only by clicking on "New Query" and then logging in through the login box that follows.However, the problem with this way is I don't see anything in the object explorer. My question is, should I be seeing something in "Object Explorer" when connected to SQL Azure? Currently I dont and its very annoying as I like to do most of my stuff through the GUI.Thanks,Slick

RE: SQL Server Management Studio and SQL Azure

Slick84 — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 12:53:51 GMT

[quote][b]lcee (12/9/2009)[/b][hr]I'm not sure where the "only works with Vista and Windows Server 2008" statement comes from. SQL Azure connectivity is working fine from my Windows 7 client.[/quote]Yeah..same here... works fine using a Windows XP client!

RE: SQL Server Management Studio and SQL Azure

David Luu — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 12:32:10 GMT

Just tried it with QueryExPlus using the ODBC connection and that works.

RE: SQL Server Management Studio and SQL Azure

David Luu — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 12:14:52 GMT

I guess so, but we'd just have to figure out what the OLEDB and JDBC connection strings would be. MS only provides details for the ODBC connection string.

RE: SQL Server Management Studio and SQL Azure

sherif.ahmed — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 03:06:19 GMT

In theory you should be able to connect via any TDS based client (JDBC, ODBC, OLEdb) I believe.

RE: SQL Server Management Studio and SQL Azure

David Luu — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 00:33:25 GMT

Wish Azure worked with 3rd party tools, like SQL Buddy or Query Express.For QueryExpress v3.9, able to connect to Azure via the SQL login. But not able to select default database for logon. Once logged on, I can at least select query the default views on the master database. Can't switch to other databases though, get error:"Cannot change database: USE statement is not supported to switch between databases. Use a new connection to connect to a different Database."QueryExpress had OLE DB option. But guess Azure has no OLE DB connection string?For SQL buddy, can "test" database connection to Azure for master and custom database. But try to login and get exception.

RE: SQL Server Management Studio and SQL Azure

Nitya — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 19:22:43 GMT

The Jan Bill is going to be a informational Statement (Warning)Feb 2010 onwards it will be actually billed

RE: SQL Server Management Studio and SQL Azure

jlgrock — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 09:33:58 GMT

Now that we have folks using it, can we determine why the database runs extremely slowly? I use this and the Amazon EC2 and they are both horrible on IOPs. It's easy to get started, but hard to use in any form of production environment.

RE: SQL Server Management Studio and SQL Azure

sherif.ahmed — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 09:02:28 GMT

It is live for the purposes of development & deployment.Its commercial release is next year.As far as experience. We've been using it for developing concepts and has worked quite well. Yes it does not have all the full blown capabilities like CLR support or GeoSpatial, But given the pace with which Microsoft is moving on this, I won't be surprised to see it soon.

RE: SQL Server Management Studio and SQL Azure

Brnbngls — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 08:56:50 GMT

Apologies. I've been hearing and reading so much about it, thought it was live already.

RE: SQL Server Management Studio and SQL Azure

sherif.ahmed — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 08:27:56 GMT

Yes, AFAIK billing begins in Jan 2010 - but actual financial transactions wont happen till Feb 2010.The one month period I believe is to flush out the billing/monitoring and other infrastructure bits being Azure

RE: SQL Server Management Studio and SQL Azure

Steve Jones - SSC Editor — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 08:20:06 GMT

AFAIK, Azure is beta now. I'm sure there are some people using it, but it should go live, and start to cost $$ in Jan 2010

RE: SQL Server Management Studio and SQL Azure

Brnbngls — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 07:58:10 GMT

I'm curious to know if anyone is using Azure actively in a production environment yet. I don't really have any intention of moving to it right now, just like to keep up on what's out there and available in case the need ever arises.I like the availability anywhere component. Granted I have a laptop and could get to my DB's anywhere as well but of course it requires logon to my VPN.I was reading yesterday about some of the limitations of Azure (for example, no filestream or geospatial capabilities) and I'm also wondering if those are big enough drawbacks for people not to adopt. Just hopefully fostering good discussion.

RE: SQL Server Management Studio and SQL Azure

Steve Jones - SSC Editor — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 06:47:13 GMT

This article was written about a month ago, and my guess is the author did not have Win 7 at the time. Many of the articles written will age quickly as technology changes, so adding those comments is not very helpful and a little snide.If you want to provide information, please feel free to do so, but denigrating someone's work isn't very professional and inappropriate on these forums.

RE: SQL Server Management Studio and SQL Azure

Jack Corbett — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 06:13:47 GMT

This is not meant to be a criticism as I don't know when the article was written, but at least with the latest CTP, you can connect to SQL Azure using Windows XP as well. I have connected using SSMS and the Sync Framework. Azure is definitely more interesting and usable than I had thought it would be. The tools aren't there yet, but they are coming. Here's an interesting [url=http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/jamiet/~3/2tAbbEZFQwg/project-houston.aspx]blog post[/url] by Jamie Thomson

RE: SQL Server Management Studio and SQL Azure

lcee — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 05:54:19 GMT

I'm not sure where the "only works with Vista and Windows Server 2008" statement comes from. SQL Azure connectivity is working fine from my Windows 7 client.

RE: SQL Server Management Studio and SQL Azure

SQL-DBA — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 05:53:13 GMT

This topic is changing fast. I fully expect this article to be out of date in a year from now. Windows 7 will work with SQL Azure SDK too for example.

RE: SQL Server Management Studio and SQL Azure

sherif.ahmed — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 03:49:06 GMT

By the way, you can use SQL Server 2008 R2 (CTP) where the SQL Server Management Studio works with Azure (without having to use workarounds)Download it here http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2008/en/us/R2Downloads.aspx

SQL Server Management Studio and SQL Azure

SQL-DBA — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 00:08:13 GMT

Comments posted to this topic are about the item [B]SQL Server Management Studio and SQL Azure[/B]