Azure

Scott Guthrie posted about the Azure-related changes that have happened over the last few days.

Of particular interest to me was that Data Sync was now in the new HTML portal, and that the Azure store now works in a bunch more countries.

Generally I like the newer HTML portal but I’m still finding that it applies different validation rules to SQL passwords than Windows Azure SQL Database itself does. That’s a pain as I still have to use the older portal.

2012-12-27

I was really excited about Windows Azure SQL Reporting being released. That lasted until I saw the pricing. If I just deployed a server and didn’t use it, the price was 89c per hour for up to 300 reports per hour. What many people didn’t understand is that the price applied whether or not you used the reporting server.

That meant that the minimum price for deploying a server was 89c x 24 hours x 365 days = $7796.40 per year.

2012-12-21

ScottGu announced the Azure Conference today at BUILD. Have to say that I’m looking forward to it. If you want a bunch of Azure content, online and free, you can register for more info.

2012-11-01

Late last night I got to record an interview with Conor Cunningham.

Most people that know Conor have come across him as the product team wizard that knows so much about query processing and optimization in SQL Server. Conor is currently spending quite a lot of time working on Windows Azure SQL Database, which we used to know as SQL Azure.

I’m still trying to think of a good way to say “WASD”. I suppose I’ll pronounce it like “wassid”. Windows Azure SQL Reporting is easier. I think it just needs to be pronounced like “wazza” with a very Australian accent.

2012-08-22

Nice to see the increase in maximum database size on SQL Azure kicked up to 150GB.

In most enterprises I go into, there are a few databases that wouldn’t fit but now the vast majority of databases would fit in SQL Azure.

Also included in the November release are federations and an updated management portal.

More info here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsazure/ff602419.aspx

2011-12-13