Amazon Aurora vs Azure SQL Database

Amazon Aurora

When already using a relational database, either MySQL or PostgreSQL, the change to Amazon Aurora should be very straightforward. The main benefits you get are cost efficiency and ease with regards to the storage, as it scales with you, and managing clusters including failovers are made very straightforward for you.If you are looking for a database which can scale up and down quickly with demand, Aurora may not be the best fit. However, there is now an Amazon Aurora Serverless service which attempts to address this requirement. I do not have any experience with it, so cannot comment further - but it is possible it will fit your use-case.

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Andrew Raines

Backend Software Engineer

10 Digital Media LimitedSports, 1-10 employees

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Azure SQL Database

Complex queries are a big plus. For a heavy front end users like me, I like a database that can handle all my complex syntax. Migration was a problem since we had a lot of processes on Microsoft software as old as 2005. Since they are both Microsoft products, I would have hoped for an easier transition.

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Duncan Hernandez

BI Engineer II

Answer Financial Inc.Insurance, 201-500 employees

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Feature Rating Comparison

Amazon Aurora

—

Azure SQL Database

9.2

Automatic software patching

—

9.5

Database scalability

—

9.4

Automated backups

—

9.0

Database security provisions

—

9.4

Monitoring and metrics

—

8.6

Automatic host deployment

—

9.0

Pros

The MySQL compatibility meant we didn't have to change anything in our system which used to run on a MySQL database. It was a very simple configuration change to point at the new instance once set up
Much better performance than our previous MySQL database (hosted on AWS RDS) for lower costs due to the way storage is managed
Storage management is much more simple as it grows and shrinks with you without having to allocate and deallocate storage to the database

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Andrew Raines

Backend Software Engineer

10 Digital Media LimitedSports, 1-10 employees

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The fact that it is available for the Azure cloud platform.
The fact that it is easy to license as a monthly subscription and software access is simple.
The fact that it functions exactly as its local server based counter part.

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Rick Hahn

Consultant \ Law Office Practice Management & Accounting Software

Rick Hahn Tech ServicesLegal Services, 1-10 employees

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Cons

Without direct access to the instances it isn't possible to do a few things you'd be able to do if you were running your own database server, but this is rarely an issue

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Andrew Raines

Backend Software Engineer

10 Digital Media LimitedSports, 1-10 employees

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It would nice to have Azure SQL Database provide closer to full support of T-SQL
Cross database queries
More performance reports would be nice

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Verified User

Engineer in Information Technology

Gambling & Casinos Company, 10,001+ employees

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Likelihood to Renew

No score

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Azure SQL Database8.0

Based on 1 answer

This is best solution as a DBA one could expect from a service provider and as a cloud service, it removes all your hassles.

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Zimran Azim

Software Project Manager

Forman Christian CollegeInformation Technology and Services, 1001-5000 employees

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Support

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Azure SQL Database9.0

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It has been a drastic change but the shift was so smooth.

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Zimran Azim

Software Project Manager

Forman Christian CollegeInformation Technology and Services, 1001-5000 employees

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Alternatives Considered

Unlike proprietary solutions like Microsoft SQL Server, Amazon Aurora does not need proprietary licensing, so we can use this budget to get cloud solutions with high availability and performance, at a similar rate. When compared to MySQL or Postgres SQL, it allows us to have a database system always updated with the most current features and security best practices without having to worry about it. In normal database systems like MySQL to keep the database system up to date we need to have someone always looking for new upgrades.As it relies on MySQL there is no extra formation for a team that is already used to a MySQL solution.

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Vasco Mendes

Senior Consultant

SoftINSATelecommunications, 1001-5000 employees

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It's more easy to shift and get all the services up in no time, provide best up time and monitoring easily so you can get the best services which take care of themselves. It's a better fitting for a large company size.

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Zimran Azim

Software Project Manager

Forman Christian CollegeInformation Technology and Services, 1001-5000 employees

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Return on Investment

The customers where we implemented Amazon Aurora database don't need to have an employee specialized in features and security upgrades.
The database replication and schedule for backup tasks are much easier, so less prone to errors.
We have never had a database downtime on our applications, which is essential for our customer business.

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Vasco Mendes

Senior Consultant

SoftINSATelecommunications, 1001-5000 employees

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As compared to On Site SQL server AZURE is less hectic and less responsibility to worry for.
It pretty much easy to follow devOps or Agile for Backlogs as AZURE allows to take care of its own things.
Database scalability, Patching and Upgrading is the best thing it gives in return

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Zimran Azim

Software Project Manager

Forman Christian CollegeInformation Technology and Services, 1001-5000 employees

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