Scott Klein

SQL Data Sync

When I first wrote this chapter for the first edition of this book, SQL Data Sync was part of SQL Azure Labs and called SQL Azure Data Sync Services. Not too much later it was moved out of the SQL Azure Labs and has been in CTP (Community Technology Preview ) and available in the Windows Azure Management Portal. Since that time, SQL Data Sync Services, or DSS, has been gaining tremendous momentum and acceptance and by the time you read this, will be out of CTP and in full general availability.

Programming with SQL Database

The chapters previous to this one have laid the foundation for the rest of the book. You’ve seen an overview of Windows Azure SQL Database, learned about cloud computing design options, and walked through setting up your Azure account. You’ve read about SQL Database security, including security compliance and encryption topics; and you spent the last chapter learning about data migration (how to get your data into the cloud) and backup strategies—the types of things a DBA likes to hear.

Windows Azure Mobile Services

Since the release of the first edition of this book 2010 the SQL Azure OData service has been removed. That’s not a bad thing. OData is still around, and you can still prop up a WCF data service and communicate via the OData protocol. In fact, if you use WCF Data Services, you might very well be using OData. WCF Data Services supports the OData protocol, which allows you to expose your data as a feed with resources that are addressable by URIs. OData allows you to expose data from a variety of sources, ranging from Microsoft Excel to websites, not just relational databases. Creating a data service that exposes an OData feed really boils down to three simple and basic steps: Define the model: WCF Data Services natively supports models that are based on the ADO. NET Entity Framework. Create the data service: Define a data service which exposes a class that inherits from the DataService class. Configure the data service: Configure access to resources (such as tables) and service operations, and define service-wide behavior. WCF Data Services disables access to resources that are exposed by the entity container by default.

Getting Started with SQL Database

Born only a few years ago, cloud computing is capturing the imagination of startups and large corporations alike. In its simplest form, cloud computing is an evolution of traditional hosting models; as such, it isn’t necessarily a new technology. Rather, it’s a new concept that offers new opportunities and challenges not found in existing business models. Much as agile programming provided a new software development paradigm, cloud computing provides a new delivery model for Internet-based solutions. And when it comes to relational data, Microsoft delivers the only cloud database available today: Windows Azure SQL Database.

Windows Azure and ASP.NET

This chapter walks you through the steps of creating a Windows Azure application and deploying it in the cloud. By now, you know you can’t create WinForms applications in Windows Azure. However, you can create an ASP.NET application that runs locally in IIS and connects to SQL Database, or build an ASP.NET application that runs as a cloud project which can then run entirely in the cloud. This chapter will show you how to build a small web application in ASP.NET that can be deployed in the cloud, and implements the Direct Connection pattern discussed in Chapter 2.

Setting Up and Configuring

The first two chapters of this book have provided an introductory look at cloud-based computing and how similar a cloud database is to a regular database. Although there are many similarities, you’ve also seen some of the differences between a cloud database and a local database. Chapter 6 discusses many more of these differences in greater detail.

Programming with SQL Azure

The chapters previous to this one have laid the foundation for the rest of the book. You’ve seen an overview of SQL Azure, learned about cloud computing design options, and walked through setting up your Azure account. You’ve read about SQL Azure security, including security compliance and encryption topics; and you spent the last chapter learning about data migration (how to get your data into the cloud) and backup strategies—the types of things a DBA likes to hear.

OData with SQL Azure

Technical authors typically write books because they’re excited about the technology about which they’re writing and want to share their excitement with the readers. As the authors work through the chapters, they get to illustrate the exciting ways in which to use the technology and apply it in real-world scenarios. Occasionally, they get to work on a chapter where the technology is so cool that they don’t look forward to the chapter ending.

Reporting Services with SQL Azure

Research for this chapter found that other than a few blog and forum posts, not much information is available regarding the use of SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) with SQL Azure. The goal of this chapter is to provide a brief overview and example of how to use SSRS and Report Designer to build reports for SQL Azure, to discuss ways you may be able to improve your SSRS experience with SQL Azure, and to look at ways to improve reporting performance.

SQL Azure Data Sync Services

In November 2009, at the Microsoft PDC in Los Angeles, Microsoft announced Project Huron, a project that allows database synchronization capabilities in the cloud. If you’ve been following the hype and reading keeping up with the blog posts regarding Huron, Microsoft has been billing it and associated database sync functionality as “friction free,” meaning easy to set up and maintain. Microsoft’s goal with Huron was to eliminate many of the emblematic complexities and idiosyncrasies that are associated with data sharing between databases, such as scalability and configuration. Along with these goals, Microsoft also wanted to include user-friendly tools that allow administrators to easily configure and synchronize their data.