Microsoft Azure SQL Database Reviews

I'm using SQL Azure mostly for database purposes, including data modeling, data architecture for business applications, and also for Data Lake.

What I like about SQL Azure is that it's similar to your on-premises SQL databases. It's not much different, so it's easy to start quickly on the solution if you know Microsoft SQL. I find its ease of use most valuable, and I also like that SQL Azure is also easily integrated with the Azure Cloud platform.

What would make SQL Azure better is users having the capability of managing the database solution from the cloud, instead of having to do it from an actual machine because currently, database management via SQL Azure is done on a virtual machine or a PC. The solution should have the data functionality of managing SQL databases inside the cloud.

I've been using SQL Azure for almost six years now.

SQL Azure is a stable solution.

SQL Azure is a scalable solution.

The technical support for SQL Azure is pretty good because it's from Microsoft. Based on the subscription you have, support would be included, and if you have a premium subscription with Microsoft, you can get all the support you need.

SQL Azure is easy to set up because it's already part of your cloud infrastructure. You don't need to do any installation.

Your return on investment from SQL Azure would depend on your business applications. The solution will give you more scalability, and more functionality, and would reduce costs from on-premises to cloud databases, so there are a lot of cost reductions. As SQL Azure is pay-per-use, you can control your cost, so in terms of the return on investment, it's more centrally managed in the cloud, which means you don't need so many data warehouses to be managed separately in the infrastructure. You can reduce your infrastructure costs through SQL Azure as Microsoft has taken care of the infrastructure costs.

In terms of the cost, SQL Azure is a pay-per-use solution, particularly because it's a cloud subscription, so you pay as much as you use it, but I cannot give a number because I don't manage the cost or the price for this solution.

My company is using the cloud version of SQL Azure, so it's always the latest version.

There are thousands of people using the solution for business applications. My client is a big company with at least one thousand users of SQL Azure.

In terms of maintaining the solution, it's already managed as a Microsoft-managed product, so in that sense, you don't need people to maintain SQL Azure, but for the application database, you need one person for maintenance.

My advice to others looking into implementing the product is that if you are building a solution on Microsoft Cloud, you should choose SQL Azure for your data warehouse, database for your application, and your enterprise Data Lake needs.

My rating for SQL Azure is nine out of ten.

My company is a service company, so it's a partner, a customer, and a reseller.

We use this solution to store data MODS that are going to be consumed by Power BI.

The solution is quire more stable than other tools.

I would like to the solutions scalability to be improved.

I have used this solution for the past three years.

This is a stable solution in general.

It is moderately scalable in my opinion. On-premise, you can definitely scale it up better, but it is a bit restricted on the cloud.

We used Oracle Databases and SQL Server databases on-premise.

The initial setup was easy for about five hundred users and it required just a couple of managers.

Our consultants helped with the implementation and the process took maybe ten minutes.

I would recommend this solution for those who are looking to integrate it. I would rate this an eight out of ten.

We have multiple use cases for this solution, and it really depends on the application team requirements. Our analytics team uses it. We also use it for database migration.

What I found most valuable in Azure SQL are the functions related to Active Directory and the database services. You can do everything in Azure SQL.

Integration needs to be improved for this solution.

We've been using Azure SQL since 2013.

Azure SQL is a stable solution.

Azure SQL is scalable.

We had to contact technical support about some of our issues, and it was good. They have good people.

Installation for this solution is very easy, but you'll need to be a certified installer to find the setup easy.

We implemented Azure SQL through an integrator and data partner.

Azure SQL has licenses which you can pay yearly or monthly. You have the option to pay yearly or monthly for the license.

Microsoft Azure is something that we are using. We are using Microsoft Azure from the Cloud. It's the public cloud we are using. We use multiple services on Azure, e.g. mDNS, Traffic Manager, Database, etc., depending upon the attributes and aspects. We're using Azure SQL.

We have a cloud team made up of 10 people who use this solution, then there are various application teams that also use Azure SQL. At the moment, we have no plans of increasing usage for this solution, but we're open to it.

I would recommend this solution to others looking into using it.

I'm rating Azure SQL a 10 out of 10.

We have a web application that we deploy on Azure, and we use SQL Azure as a database to store the data.

Since SQL Azure is a stable solution, you do not need to spend time to maintain it.

The solution’s pricing needs improvement because it is too high.

I have been using SQL Azure for less than three years.

I rate the solution’s stability an eight out of ten.

Less than 100 users use the solution in our organization.

I rate the solution a seven or eight out of ten for scalability.

Microsoft provides good and quick technical support.

The solution's initial setup is easy and takes less than one hour.

SQL Azure is an expensive solution.

We use the solution to store not really big data, and the database is less than one gigabyte. The solution's integration with other Azure services is easy because it just needs a connection string to connect. SQL Azure is deployed on the cloud.

Users who can afford its price should use SQL Azure because it reduces setup time. Since it is a stable solution, you do not need to spend time to maintain it.

Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

We are using this solution for analytics and business intelligence.

The solution is deployed on-prem and on cloud. The cloud provider is Microsoft.

There are tens of thousands of users. In my market in Poland, there are maybe 1,000 using the application based on the solution.

It's user-friendly. Compared to other solutions, it's based more on clicks, not on scripts. It's easy to manage.

There could be more collaboration with other tools like Data Factory and Databricks.

I have been using this solution for 20 years.

It's stable.

It's scalable, but it could be better.

I don't use support because the documentation is very good, and the solution is easy to manage.

In Azure, deployment takes minutes. It's easy.

The cost is around $2,000 per month.

I would rate this solution 8 out of 10.

My advice is to read the documentation and blogs.

 We use it for supporting an application from another platform to Azure.

Operational cost needs improvement. 

I have been using SQL Azure for 6-8 months. 

It is a stable solution.  

It is a scalable solution. 

The initial setup is straightforward. The designing process is involved in the deployment. 

Overall, I would rate the solution an eight out of ten. 

Our customers in the bank sectors use the solution for their websites. Our private customers use the solution to customize their applications on the cloud because they do not want to buy separate hardware. Some of our customers also have their on-premise SAP hosted on Azure.

The most valuable feature of the solution is that our customers do not have to manage the solution. Partners manage and optimize the solutions for the customers. 

The solution is also better cost-wise because if we host on hardware, we will have to change the hardware after four or five years. Also, if there is an issue with the hardware, the responsibility falls on the IT department. Customers do not like these responsibilities. With SQL Azure, everything is safe and secure. The clients pay a subscription fee and have fewer responsibilities.

Azure does not provide features like RDS for Oracle that AWS offers. The solution has to scale up its expertise for hosting Oracle.

My organization has been a partner with Microsoft since 2008.

The solution is stable.

The solution is scalable. Almost ten to twelve of our customers are using the solution.

The support is good. We go to Microsoft for every escalation.

The initial setup is pretty easy. Our team is interested in working for Azure and other Microsoft products. We don't require much support from Microsoft for setup.

The deployment doesn't take much time. We only have to check for our client’s requirements. We can provide the services to the client within 15 to 20 days.

Our technical team manages the deployment. The team checks all Microsoft policies before discussing them with the customer. We draw up a proposal and then present it to our customers. We explain to our customers how their data will be added to Azure.

We may need two or three people to deploy the solution. Depending on the environment, the deployment takes one or two months or even 15 days. Once the deployment is done, the solution can be managed through a partner portal. We might also need two or three people from the customer’s organization to refresh or optimize the solution.

The price could be slightly cheaper. Our customers pay for licenses annually.

AWS secured much business in Pakistan because of RDS for Oracle. There is not much difference between AWS and Azure’s prices. AWS and Azure differ in price by a few dollars. Technically both solutions have different capabilities. AWS has a far better capability. People prefer AD authentication by AWS over Azure. We have Microsoft-certified trainers in Pakistan.

We have been asking our customers to choose Azure because they will get a lot of benefits by adopting a cloud solution. Since hardware is not easily available within Pakistan due to dollar disparity, a lot of people are choosing Azure. 

We have been pushing Azure very aggressively for the past four to five years. People continue to implement the solution despite policy challenges. One of our customers wants to host nine to ten applications on Azure. There is a lot of demand for AWS and Azure. Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

We use SQL Azure to integrate the on-prem resources with the cloud. It creates a replica of our database in the cloud. We have more than 50 users.

SQL Azure is good with transactional systems.

If it's a transitional system, there is a lot of reporting, so the solution becomes a bit slow when it's churning out tons of data, but it's good for a mid-sized application

We've been using SQL Azure for around five years.

We are using SQL Azure extensively. It is still being utilized in the gigabyte and petabyte range for older applications, as well.

We are a gold partner, so we have the option to use gold-tier support.

Deploying SQL Azure is easy. It takes only one engineer to deploy.

We have an enterprise license. 

I rate SQL Azure nine out of 10. I would recommend it to others.