SQL Azure vs. SQL Server Comparison Available

With the Windows Azure platform commercially available since the start of 2010, Microsoft customers have a new offering for their database-related needs from the company, in addition to the now-traditional SQL Server, namely SQL Azure. Of course, as many companies explore scenarios in which they embrace the Cloud, moving past their on-premise deployments, the obvious question would be just how well hosted services compare to running their own servers locally. Microsoft provides a little help in this regard, having put together an SQL Azure vs. SQL Server comparison that customers planning to leverage Windows Azure need to take a look at.

“SQL Azure Database is a cloud-based relational database service from Microsoft. SQL Azure provides relational database functionality as a utility service. Cloud-based database solutions such as SQL Azure can provide many benefits, including rapid provisioning, cost-effective scalability, high availability, and reduced management overhead. This paper compares SQL Azure Database with SQL Server in terms of logical administration vs. physical administration, provisioning, Transact-SQL support, data storage, SSIS, along with other features and capabilities,” an excerpt from the documentation authored by Microsoft’s Dinakar Nethi and Niraj Nagrani reads.

The topics mentioned by the authors of the SQL Azure vs. SQL Server comparison are detailed in the whitepaper, allowing customers to get an insight into the two data base platforms from the software giant. But in addition to discussing the similarities and differences between the two SQL offerings, the whitepaper also highlights the benefits that come inherently with SQL Azure.

“The benefits of using SQL Azure are manifold. These include manageability, high availability, scalability, a familiar development model, and a relational data model,” it is added in the whitepaper. Microsoft also provides a feature-by-feature comparison between SQL Azure and SQL Server in a chart that is included below, but also available in the documentation provided by the Redmond company.