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Azure SQL Database

Azure SQL Database

Overview

What is Azure SQL Database?

Azure SQL Database is Microsoft's relational database as a service (DBaaS).

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Recent Reviews
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Awards

Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards

Popular Features

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  • Database scalability (27)
    10.0
    100%
  • Automated backups (27)
    9.9
    99%
  • Database security provisions (27)
    9.0
    90%
  • Monitoring and metrics (26)
    9.0
    90%
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Pricing

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2 vCORE

$0.5044

Cloud
Per Hour

6 vCORE

$1.5131

Cloud
Per Hour

10 vCORE

$2.52

Cloud
Per Hour

Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services
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Product Demos

How to connect to Azure SQL Database from Azure Data Studio | Data Exposed

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What is Azure SQL Database Hyperscale?

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Features

Database-as-a-Service

Database as a Service (DBaaS) software, sometimes referred to as cloud database software, is the delivery of database services ocer the Internet as a service

9.2
Avg 8.7
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Product Details

What is Azure SQL Database?

Azure SQL Database Integrations

Azure SQL Database Technical Details

Deployment TypesSoftware as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based
Operating SystemsUnspecified
Mobile ApplicationNo

Frequently Asked Questions

Azure SQL Database is Microsoft's relational database as a service (DBaaS).

Reviewers rate Database scalability highest, with a score of 10.

The most common users of Azure SQL Database are from Enterprises (1,001+ employees).
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Comparisons

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Reviews and Ratings

(274)

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-25 of 27)
Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
Muddassar Inayat | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Currently, we are using it for Microsoft PowerApps Business Applications and we prepared all the data models for Azure SQL Database. Its interface is easy to use and within less time we can create databases, add tables and prepare views, and immediately those databases are available for other applications which are already on the cloud.
  • Available all the time.
  • Robust database.
  • All apps easily connect with it.
  • Easy to create data models.
  • Easy management.
  • Table creation and addition of new columns.
  • Add more datatypes.
It is best used for the Dot Net based and cloud-based applications where the user needs to connect with it immediately to start using with it.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
My organization within the company basically runs an online trading platform and we have several Azure SQL Databases involved in this. If the databases go down or get slow, our organization isn't making money. Availability is a priority and Azure SQL Database handles that very well for us, without the management overhead.
  • Handling the software updates so we don't have to.
  • Handling the availability so we don't have to.
  • There are limits to the size of the database that I'd like to see go away.
  • We don't have access to the server level counters that I miss but understand why we cannot get them.
If you have multiple terabytes of data, the standard Azure SQL Database won't work for you. You can spend more to get this, but I'd rather have it at the lower price point. For pretty much everything else, I'd use it in a heartbeat.
Scott Kennedy | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
The Azure SQL Database solution we use is currently focused on supporting marketing analytics functions. Eventually, the database will support the entire business intelligence ecosystem. We are finding that a lot of new software companies are popping up that are able to deliver data straight into the blob storage container within the Azure ecosystem. This helps our engineer avoid writing custom python code against and API. It's a nice time saver!
  • Azure SQL Database does a really nice job connection to the Power BI business intelligence service without the need for a data gateway for report refreshes.
  • Azure SQL Database has a very easy upgrade path from a database to a data warehouse.
  • Azure SQL Database has a simple billing structure.
  • The Azure platform can be a little confusing sometimes with all the different options. Such is the Microsoft way.
  • If you forget to put rate limits on your jobs, it's possible that your cost could explode.
  • Learning the new Azure data tools to replace SSIS takes a while.
If your company uses the Power BI business intelligence tool, then sticking with a Microsoft database offering is the way to go. The major benefits here are that you don't need a data gateway for report refreshes like you would with a typical on premise SQL server solution. The ASDB solution is not well suited for very low data volumes.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Azure SQL Database service, two of our critical workloads are used for online structure serving our customers. Since we work both physically and online, the cloud infrastructure equivalent of the entire on-premise structure managed for physical retailing is Azure SQL Database service. On the online side, the important thing for us was to have a structure that we can stretch very quickly, and this service provides exactly that.
  • Scalability
  • Simplicity, ability to just focus on SQL, no need to manage anything else.
  • High speed and minimal down time.
  • Keeping data in the country you want.
  • In the traditional on-premise Microsoft SQL Database structure, while everything the database developer does is almost the same in Azure, the database administrator needs to be separated from the interfaces they are used to.
  • Job and Task manager work in different logic.
  • The maintenance structure is different, if only it could stay the way we are used to.
The most important feature of Azure SQL Database is that it is a service. There is no virtual machine to manage, no operating system to run on, no updates or security work for this operating system or virtual machines. Therefore, you can only focus on SQL service. It is almost unclear when the online world will gain speed/acceleration, especially in the covid-19 process, an unpredictable increase in online services may occur due to restrictions. Azure SQL server, which works on the cloud side, can keep the system automatically in accordance with every condition exactly as it should be, and you can do all the work on a single service and simple screens.
Niloofar Keshvari Nia | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
The Azure SQL Database service offers premium performance and durability, powered by AI. It takes advantage of server less computing and hyperscale storage resources that free you from infrastructure management task.‌ It solves the concern of space constraints and records with cloud flexibility. Speed, security along with other useful and practical features have made it one of the best options. Azure SQL Database server-less used by the executive projects development department and many of the company's clients in the financial and civil sector.
  • With managed SQL in the cloud, you can build applications tailored to your business needs.
  • Rapidly adaptable server less cloud computing and hyper-scale storage.
  • Define smart plans to determine the price according to the needs and type of each business so that startups and small companies can benefit from it better.
  • Develop more user-friendly UI wizard for migration SQL server
Your upcoming app can be built faster on a fully managed SQL database and can be moved into Azure with a few to no application code changes. Flexible and responsive server less computing and Hyperscale storage can cope with your changing requirements and one of the main benefits is the reduction in costs, which is noticeable.
Score 5 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
For the last year the company I work for is migrating to the cloud. This is a mega operation, and migration to SQL Database is just one of many things we're doing. SQL Database is used mainly for medium sized applications. Large applications use Oracle, while small applications would not benefit at all from SQL Database because it's rather expensive. What SQL Database is particularly good at is security and integration with other tools within Azure.
  • Maintenance is always an issue, so using a cloud solution saves a lot of trouble.
  • On premise solutions always suffer from fragmented implementations here and there, where several "dba's" keep track of security and maintenance. With a cloud database it's much easier to keep a central overview.
  • Security options in SQL database are next level... data masking, hiding sensitive data where always neglected on premise, whereas you'll get this automatically in the cloud.
  • On premise SQL database is much easier to manage with the "SQL server management studio." Especially adding users and roles is a bit of a hassle with Azure SQL Database. You can of course manage within "SQL server management studio," but is slow and does not have all options at your disposal.
  • I find it rather expensive up to a point where I can't "sell" my recommendation to use SQL Database to the management department. The simplest implementation (not for productional use) is already 380 dollar per month. When you have an existing on premise SQL Database environment, it's very hard to convince anyone to use the cloud option.
  • I find the management capabilities in the cloud rather disappointing. I would like a cloud version of SQL Server management studio, instead of using CLI or powershell for everything. The on premise SQL server management studio is too slow and lack functionality when it comes to SQL database integration.
Small application that use their own database are better of on premise, since Azure SQL Database is simply too expensive. Like a factor 10 too expensive. These kinds of applications can grow in number throughout the years, and if they would all implement their own Azure SQL Database, we would simply not be making those applications anymore.
If you have a (large) application that is highly integrated with other azure modules, like events, API's queues, functions and apps, then it makes sense to use SQL Database.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We have an online application that is used by most employees, this online application depends on several SQL Databases for storing and accessing information, we needed a [cloud-based] DBaaS service to host the databases of the solution and provide a cost-effective way of scaling up and down based on our application usage since after hours the utilization is incredibly low, Azure SQL did the job quite nicely with the auto-scale capability and helped reduce the costs and optimize the performance.
  • An excellent option for cloud-based database hosting
  • Great if you already have on-premises SQL Databases that you want to migrate to the cloud
  • Cost-effective solution for cloud DB hosting with great scaling capabilities
  • Although it's a great option for migrating on-premises SQL DBs, it lacks some of the features of the on-premises SQL Server Instances
  • Server Collation is limited to SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS
  • Logs support only [the] Full Recovery Model, which doesn't scale well for databases that contain logs/audit trail, or databases that contain engine jobs such as HangFire DBs
  • Doesn't Support CLR, so certain on-premises databases with CLR are not compatible, so you are most likely left with the AzureSQL Managed Instance for this functionality
Azure SQL is great for migrating already on-premises SQL Databases considering the compatibilities between the two, however, some limitations can interrupt the migrations and require some structure/schema changes to the database which can be [time-consuming].
Overall, if you are building your solution from scratch, and prefer to use [...] familiar technology, Azure SQL is a great option, that is secure, flexible[,] and scalable, however, if you are migrating from on-premises, the decision to use Azure SQL Database depends on how compatible your current database is with it and whether its features are sufficient for your requirements or not.
It is a recommended solution though, and a very [cost-effective] one indeed!
Rishabh Khanna | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Currently, my organization is working on moving to cloud. we are trying to convert our products to SaaS products, so that we can provide them as a service on various clouds. Microsoft Azure SQL Database is one of many services that we are using in our organization. It is a primary tool for storing data up in the cloud. I am working on IoT based ERP system and I am using Azure SQL database to store data in the cloud. It is very easy to setup SQL server on Azure.
  • It is fully managed and secure SQL database.
  • It is highly available and scalable.
  • It provides automatic backup and restore.
  • Documentation of Azure SQL is perfect with all best practices.
  • I would love to see some new sizes of databases for compute and storage.
  • prices related to different size can be improved.
  • performance can be improved to reduce the latency.
It is best suited if your company is making a transition from on-prem to cloud and if your product is based on SQL then it is best service to go for. It is highly available and secure.
There might be some performance issues when using it as an external database with kubernetes cluster. There might be some latency while performing database operations from a containerized app.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Azure SQL Database throughout our whole organization. It helps to keep everything backed up properly along with improvement with team cohesion.
  • Price point
  • Reliability
  • Ease of use
  • User Interface improvements
  • More features
  • Better support
It is well suited for environments with large data sets, along with teams that all access and use the same data sets.
Ä°hsan Akkarpuz | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
The product itself used across the company as each department needs some space to share and manage the data extracted out of manufacturing, suppliers, dealers and so on. Azure SQL Database fundamentally enables all employees to have an array of administrative features for acquiring and inventing big data. As part of Ford Motor company, it was inevitable for us to install such software with very high confidence thanks to its secure background.
  • Easy implementation thanks to the team working on the product launch.
  • Set up features available are flawless.
  • Very well suited to our needs. We are a company with more than 3k+ white collar employees.
  • Data management and transfer is so secure, we feel there is no possibility for information theft from external sources.
  • There might be room for improvement in visual interface. Some of my colleagues complain about basic operations could be carried out more easily, like administering other users.
  • Set-up speed could be faster - currently it took around 10 min.
Azure SQL Database covers features of most of the other products in the market. SQL agent was an exemption, but it must be on Azure's roadmap to be included in the next edition of the product. I would recommend other competitive companies in the field to install Azure SQL as it is supported by Microsoft so you can have confidence in its secure data management.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
As a startup in company in the data science space, Azure SQL Database was initially selected for development and proof of concept as a cost effective option for our organization. So it immediately addressed a massive need working under budget constraints. We now use it as our primary tool for data warehousing and data analysis.
  • It's extremely agile in that you can add/reduce resources as necessary for your organizations needs with minimal down time or cost.
  • Zero need for on site software or servers to manage.
  • ETL processing is vastly improved running through the cloud.
  • Could perform better in accessing large data volumes.
  • Due to varying price structures, evaluation for your specific needs can be cumbersome.
  • Better system for notification/logging of DB errors.
The most important positive for our organization is the ability to scale up or down at will. As a startup, we needed to quickly adapt to changing space and performance needs. It's also integral as we grow different branches of the business. Thus far, we haven't encountered much of anything with the tool that hasn't been a good fit for our business.
Arthur Zubarev | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Azure SQL Database was used internally solely for any new development or when extra capacity on an ad-hoc basis was necessary. Azure SQL Database was used across several departments.
SQL Server, as a mature and well known product that is around for so long makes Azure SQL Database a natural successor to it, which delivers on the same promises.
Users will find their familiar tools working seamlessly, any existing application would sustain likely a minor tweak or a mere configuration change to begin its Cloud journey. A migration off an on-premises SQL Server of almost effortless even from outdated versions.
Of course, with the Cloud the scalability becomes second nature and the server layer becomes transparent.
There are many options available how a client can securely access the data and the integration with Active Directory is supported.
The CAPEX to OPEX brings with it predictable spending, flexibility.
On the technology side, even though there are a couple of inconsistencies with the traditional SQL Server a business would find numerous benefits in Azure SQL Database as the ability to leverage the vast Microsoft Azure ecosystem and tools, reduced patching and version upgrades.
Overall, in my view, the Azure SQL Database is poised to constantly receive significant enhancements as Microsoft remains committed to growing its feature set.
  • Scalability is #1: if it used to be an almost no-win endeavour to try to modernize your server or migrate to other hardware, with Azure SQL Database it becomes a press of a button.
  • All the tools simply work after you are on Azure SQL Database.
  • The applications do not need changes in order to start using Azure SQL Database.
  • Hybrid Cloud scenarios will work.
  • Clustering and failover - already there.
  • You can start monitoring the use and extract performance insights in a new way in Azure.
  • One needs to be aware that some T-SQL features are simply not available.
  • The programmatic access to server, trace flags, hardware from within Azure SQL Database is taken away (for a good reason).
  • No SQL Agent so your jobs need to be orchestrated differently.
  • The maximum concurrent logins maybe an unexpected problem.
  • Sudden disconnects.
  • The developers and admin must study the capacity and tier usage limits https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-subscription-service-limits otherwise some errors or even transaction aborts never seen before can occur.
  • Only one Latin Collation choice.
  • There is no way to debug T-SQL ( a big drawback in my point of view).
In general, if a given business is a Microsoft products based enterprise then it would be very receptive to Azure SQL Database. There are almost no barriers to its adoption. One only needs to be aware of the limitations and constraints as a platform or service https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-subscription-service-limits
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Azure SQL DB throughout our entire business since we migrated to the cloud 4 years ago. It is the backbone of our CRM, Call Center and BI platforms, and feeds out Data Management initiative. On our CRM we use three instances, two for primary/failover and one for disaster recover and external queries running 10 seconds behind. Call Center links to that and BI runs 2 instances, one for sales/marketing data the other for manufacturing data. We have been quite satisfied with the control over the access and security of the data and the subscriptions themselves.
  • Control of access and security is easy to manage and share within our team. Response is quick and quite a bit of things are preloaded to help.
  • Having the SQL component reside directly within our subscription makes connecting and managing very easy and highly transparent. Added spots for notes on things like why an IP is whitelisted is very helpful when working with a large team that includes off-shore components.
  • Scalability is another bonus, easy to scale up or down during peak times, and even automate that function makes it almost competitive with something like Snowflake.
  • A little slow on processing complex or large Views. We use a lot of Views to feed our BI system, and the processing time could see some improvement, IMHO.
  • Additional monitoring components would be nice too, automating some built in performance measurement tools would be a nice feature.
  • Price can always be improved as well. It’s not bad, but room for improvement.
If you have any apps in the cloud, this is the way to go. The interface and management is much better than AWS, and no one else is getting closer. If you are running just BI, you could go with a Snowflake or Cloudera approach, but Cloudera is complex and Snowflake simply sits on top of Azure Data Storage anyway, and I hear will soon be an offering by Microsoft as well.
Jacob Biguvu | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
CarMax is a car largest used-car retailer and a fortune company. I am Cloud Engineer/DBA in a team of DBA group. The company is largely using the SQL Server database as a back-end for most applications. The company decided to migrate their on-premises databases unto the cloud. They chose the Azure SQL database for all SQL databases. The main reason for the migration are the factors such as cost saving, scalability and performance, security, business continuity, and disaster recovery. On top of this, migration is very quick and simple from on-premises unto Azure, because Azure provided migration tools natively.
  • Azure SQL database is low-cost option for development and production workloads.
  • Azure is a fully-managed SQL database. This falls into the industry category of PaaS (Platform-as-a-Service) and DBaaS (Database-as-a-Service) where the software and hardware that is hosted, maintenance is owned by Microsoft. This allows users to concentrate fully on database management and administration.
  • Azure SQL database offers a variety of deployment options such as you can have a single database with its own set of resources managed via a SQL database server. A single database is similar to a contained database in SQL Server. Other options to leverage are an elastic pool and managed instances.
  • Azure provided a deployment option with a feature "elastic pool" - where you can have a collection of databases with a shared set of resources managed via SQL database server. Easily the resources from the pool can be managed among the databases. This brings more performance and cost effective when the user want to manage the multi-tenant applications.
  • Azure provided another deployment option that is "SQL database managed instances" with absence of certain features comparing to the single SQL database.
  • In AWS, we have RDS concept - where servers are invisible and have only database access. The same concept can be seen in Azure but we don't need to see the servers. When Azure SQL Database is DBaaS and PaaS, no need to have access to the SQL Server of the database.
  • It would be great to provide administration related procedures or functions to analyze the performance and maintenance tasks.
SQL database can be used for any OLTP databases. Azure provided another feature, SQL Datawarehouse for OLAP applications.
Michael Jipping | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Azure SQL Database was being utilized at first for development as a low-cost option for development and then was later explored as an option for running production workloads. SQL Database Servers have a relatively high fixed cost and this allowed for a great option at a reduced impact to the budget.
  • Extremely Flexible- You have the ability to increase and decrease the performance resources as needed without taking a downtime or other burden.
  • Connectivity- Connection to your SQL Database is easily accomplished with SSMS or PowerShell.
  • Speed- Azure SQL Databases are quickly set up. You can have access and begin using your database within minutes.
  • It would be appreciated for better integration between SSMS and Azure Database service. Example, you need to a provision user account with the Azure portal. It would be great to be able to do this within SSMS.
  • Being able to run a back from SSMS versus from within the Azure Portal would be great. (Ability to create a standard .bak database backup).
Azure SQL Database will be great to use for an organization that needs an extremely flexible database solution or a low-cost solution. Some scenarios such as healthcare or banking may require for the solution to remain hosted onsite due to security/regulations. For most scenarios, Azure SQL Database is a great solution.
December 21, 2018

Azure Sql rocks

Atul Gupta | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use it globally across all member firms for Enterprise solutions. It's the back-end for corporate applications and going forward analytics.
  • Agility of the platform
  • No infrastructure maintenance and worry about upgrading, it's managed.
  • Always on and universal availabilities
  • No worry about backup recovery
  • PowerBI connectors need improvement across 365 platform
  • Data bricks can be inherent feature
  • More robust integration to flow
It's well suited for enterprise applications, as development to implementation cycles are shortened and less risky. The Azure platform and ARMs are our favorite now for budget and time.
Duncan Hernandez | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Azure SQL is a cloud database, which our company has been lacking for a very long time. It has resolved our problem of being able to scale upwards, without having to request new servers or more memory in our current hardware. Currently, Azure is only being used by our developers and business intelligence team.
  • No more internal servers is a big plus.
  • Transition was relatively easy since we came from another Microsoft database before.
  • Query running time has significantly improved
  • Some of our older SSIS packages and SQL server jobs needed to be upgraded before a transition to Azure.
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.
Erik Ralston | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Azure SQL Database provides an easily managed PaaS-based persistence layer for all our web apps, including internal business systems and the products we sell to our customers. It provides a scalable, globally distributed database engine for our development team without a large admin overhead.
  • Providing a SQL Server instance at low entry-level cost and global high-availability
  • Elastic offerings so SaaS applications can cheaply have one-database-per-customer approach for high data segregation
  • Intelligence performance recommendations from both Azure and the SQL Server engine itself
  • Intelligent recommendations are not a silver bullet, since they often fail to detect opportunities that are obvious to a human database admin with any experience.
  • Certain advanced database features - most recently I found: column store indices - are locked behind pricing tiers that one would naively assume are just about performance.
Azure SQL Database, like most PaaS platforms, is best when you want to save money on human resources by paying a little more for computing resources. Especially cases where the developer is already deep into the Microsoft stack, such as situations where you're already using an Azure Web App for hosting your application. In these case, SQL Database is a no-brainer decision. Obviously, Azure SQL Database is less appropriate for Big Data applications (where a NoSQL technology or at least Azure SQL Data Warehouse would make more sense) and it's delivering SQL Server, so lots of open source stacks would be averse to it (e.g. Wordpress and most PHP technologies where they want MySQL).
August 10, 2018

Intro to Azure SQL DB

Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Azure SQL Database as the data store for our public website. It allows us to meet our uptime goals and provides a point of contact with our customers regardless of the state of our internal network.
  • High availability
  • Security features
  • Ease of upgrade from on premise SQL
  • Lacks full feature parity with SQL server
  • More limited access to metrics for performance troubleshooting
  • Hard to understand metrics used for sizing
Works great for simple applications where you don't need functionality like cross-database queries. Also good for elastic use cases since it can be scaled up and down easily.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Azure SQL DB is a great service. It optimizes licensing cost and lets you pay per usage. You can grow as needed and it supports from small to large databases. Be aware it can require some networking/security steps to have it in large or more controlled environments.
  • It optimizes cost - pay per usage. It can scale up and down as needed.
  • It can be migrated to from Oracle, MySQL and other on premises databases.
  • It is always updated with management and administrative functionalities being added weekly.
  • Migration from on premises databases can be painful at first - but after couple of migrations it becomes easy.
  • Network capabilities and restrictions should be carefully evaluated.
  • It can be costly if you don't implement scale up/down automations.
For large databases cost should be carefully evaluated as it can be very expensive. But for medium and small databases (usually 80% of the organization) it has perfect fit. Data replication (for disaster recovery), backup, security and performance recommendation are great tools and work very well. When planning to migrate from Oracle, start first with smaller databases - but be aware Microsoft is always improving its migration tools.
Rick Hahn | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
It is used in firm-wide operations via RDP to enter data into a proprietary vertical market legal database. It resolves the problem of a law firm that is in several cities across the US.
  • 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.
  • It appears to have a slight delay in revealing data in the client software, then data will appear almost instantly. It is an odd feel when using it until you get used to it.
  • It seems a bit slower than its local server based counter part.
  • The tool bars icons are a little different and took some getting used to.
If you are a small operation and your focus is on dollar for dollar comparison to a local server based product, it will seem more expensive, until you look at the big picture of total cost of ownership. In the alternative if you consider the cost of IT with this product compared to a local server based product it shakes out in your favor. Specifically when you consider that IT help can be had remotely from around the world at huge savings and by being cloud based you can get some very brilliant but value based talent by shopping globally. Azure products help accomplish this because IT can add and remove features and resources without any need for local boots on the ground. Where local servers and databases are subject to power outages, tampering by local employees, local access security issues.... It is just built for high availability on a more reliable backbone with secure access from anywhere.
Simranjeet Singh | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We used it store customer data on servers and it provides many feature like dynamic queries. We create stored procedure in it to parse different types of format. We also save customer credentials in it.
  • It is best to store large scale data. We can connect with it in any language.
  • Interface is very easy and the debugging feature is really effective at discovering real errors.
  • Speed of processing large files and store into database is very fast. Data export and import is very safe and simple.
  • Login security features protect against unauthorized users.
  • Overall it is the best tool to mange large and complex data, but it needs enhancements in the speed of accessing large data volumes.
  • Sometimes it get hung if we forcefully stop the select query.
  • It should show consistent performance through SQL profiler tool.
It is used to secure store customer client information. It also provides a multi-task feature. For example we can open different inatances of the same server or a different server, and can perform any number of operations. I always prefer to use this product, but there are some areas in which it struggles a little bit. For example, it should decrease CPU cost and require less system resources . I hope the next version overcomes these issues,
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Mainly used for customer/product management. Azure has been a huge help in the process improvement realm. I've used this to enhance and speed up numerous processes. My experience with databases spans a decade and I've used a few different types of services available on the market. Azure was typically a 'go to' tool in most aspects. I advise companies to use this tool the majority of the time.
  • Marketing automation and tracking
  • SharePoint servers
  • General Business Intelligence
  • For what I use it for I haven't come across much
  • User interface could be improved
  • Navigation could be simplified
It's appropriate with anything relating to product/customer/marketing efficiency. I work in consulting for numerous small and medium size businesses. Most of the time I consult on business development, marketing, online reputation, process improvement, and database work. When appropriate, I recommend Azure as a solution to whatever problem exists. The platform typically works out and helps me with clients.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We had acquired a new casino and the move for them to be on our domain was TBD. We did, however, need data from some of their systems. Since they did not go through a full security evaluation yet, we were not willing to allow access to their end. As a solution, we implemented Azure SQL Database so we could push the data to the cloud, to then access it on our end. We would have the data without having to directly access their end from our domain.
  • Scales easily
  • Performance is solid
  • It just works
  • Elastic pools are great
  • 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
It would perform great in a SaaS scenario. You could use elastic pools to manage multiple databases.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Azure database is currently used by a specific department at my organization and we mainly focus on auditing and monitoring so it pretty much serves our purpose and most importantly it is easily secured with firewall and DNS resolutions. Migrating databases is no more a hectic task from shifting a large scale database to a more managed engine.
  • The great thing about is even you are a pro or a newbie with Azure, you will not be tired of setting up SQL Server, the befitting pipelining of AZURE to cloud service where you don't need it onsite.
  • You always don't need to update services, patches and deployment of supporting services. Cloud does make it someone else's job to do this.
  • Generally obviates the need for building high availability architectures; Azure databases built within it are automatically highly available.
  • Highly scalable and has vast support for non Microsoft technologies.
  • One of the ways SQL Azure manifests being part of the whole stack is by offering multiple levels of implementation. If you simply need a website and a database, you can hitch an SQL Azure instance to an Azure website and be done with it.
  • No schedulers available in case you require cron jobs.
  • Certain username are not allowed (root, admin, administrator).
Sync and migration tools: If you already have a clutch of SQL Server-stored data somewhere and want to either sync it with SQL Azure or passively migrate it via sync, Microsoft has published a service -- the appropriately named SQL Data Sync to accomplish this. Use of the service itself is free, and all inbound data to Azure costs nothing, so you won't have to worry about racking up costs by syncing gigabyte-sized tables.
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