Microsoft Azure SQL Database Reviews

Scalability is a feature associated with SQL Azure. The primary use cases of the tool are for the retail sector where there are transactions, specifically high peak transactions during Black Friday or month ends, where people go on a spending spree after their salaries get credited to their bank accounts. Different sets of transactions have a few peaks during the month, especially during festivals or marketing events. When it comes to transactions in the retail sector, there can also be low peaks during the middle of the month. To address the high and low peaks in transactions, SQL Azure has a feature that can scale automatically to support a period involving a high level of transactions. Similarly, SQL Azure can automatically scale down to support fewer transactions. Whenever SQL Azure scales up, you need to pay the additional or premium fees associated with the extra use due after the product scales up. When the tool scales down, the cost reduces automatically, and you only pay according to your subscription.

The most valuable part of the solution stems from its scalability and its functionalities, which support high availability and are directly available as an out-of-the-box tool for users, ensuring that it provides you with business continuity features. I like the product's direct out-of-the-box features, which you don't have to go out and configure separately. In the product, you need to place a tick mark so that the solution can automatically take care of the configuration part for you. The intelligence part is pretty much built into the tool. You just have to go and enable specific settings, which automatically make those features available to you.

There are certain shortcomings when it comes to the stability of the product, especially if I consider the fact that there can always be some bug-related issues in the tool. The aforementioned area can be considered for improvement in the product.

I am sure that the tool does all sorts of quality checks before releasing the product in the market, but there are thousands of different environments today where users use the solution for their own purposes and customize it to fit their business requirements. In some cases, there may be some bugs that users need to fix, and many of them might even fix it as well. As SQL Azure is available as a cloud-based tool, it helps to maintain uniformity in the environment, so the number of issues is reduced significantly.

I have been using SQL Azure for 5 years. I use SQL Azure 2022, which is the solution's latest version.

The solution provides clear SLAs on paper, so I am sure that it is a very stable product. It also comes across as a secure product.

Stability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

It is a scalable solution.

My company deals with more than 7,000 customers who use the product.

The solution's technical support is knowledgeable and fast. The product offers clear documentation that explains how to reach out to the technical support team over the phone. Users can also chat with the product support team or Microsoft Teams and get help with any troubleshooting procedures. Users can reach out to the support team via email. The tool's technical team is very supportive.

The product's initial setup phase is very easy.

The product's setup phase can be completed in a couple of clicks.

The solution is deployed using Azure's cloud services.

During the first year of use, SQL Azure's ROI is around 30 to 40 percent. In the subsequent years of its use, the ROI will increase.

The price of the product depends on what you need in the tool. You can use it for smaller instances and pay less. You can also go for the premium product with all the security, scalability, and business continuity features, but you have to pay a premium amount. The tool offers different versions on the cloud. Similarly, SQL Azure also has offerings in the form of a web-based version of SQL database for very small customers who want to do PoC involving the solution in their environment, but it is available only in an on-premises version. The tool offers different pricing structures depending on the requirements of users. SQL Azure also has a freeware software version available for very small-sized customers.

Data warehouse and analytics are completely different concepts when it comes to SQL Azure. SQL Azure is not used for data warehousing. Data warehousing is used specifically in Azure, which consists of multiple tools that will use it. The data warehousing part may be associated with SQL Server Database Engine, but it is not used in SQL.

The product offers built-in high-availability features. I can design the product to support the business-critical requirements depending upon my business requirements. The product has features available or built into the tool, which I can use to achieve what I need.

The product has very strong integration features, especially considering that it can integrate with Azure Key Management or Azure Key Vault. SQL Azure can integrate with the security features within Azure, such as Microsoft Sentinel. SQL Azure can integrate with Azure Monitor. SQL Azure can integrate with Microsoft Defender. SQL Azure has ready-made integrations with all Azure products and all of the enterprise-grade products in the market.

When it comes to the product's security features, I would say that Microsoft releases patches on a monthly basis. Whenever a critical update is available, Microsoft informs our company about it. In some cases, Microsoft goes ahead and deploys the security updates directly, ensuring that users are always in a fully secured environment. The tool also has a clear structure of various regulatory and governance features, like PCI DSS, SOX, or HIPAA. Microsoft also certifies its products to support the aforementioned security regulatory and security compliances.

Speaking about how the transition from the on-premises version of SQL Azure impacts a company's operational cost, I feel that it will reduce the overall cost for a user over a period of time. There might be a transformation cost to migrate from- the on-premises version to the cloud, but once it is moved to the cloud, you will see that the month-on-month price will automatically reduce or at least stay stable and won't increase for a period of time.

I recommend the product to others, considering the fact that it is a stable and reliable solution with different price points and licensing models. As a customer, you have choices in picking what you want. The product also offers an option to scale up or scale down when you face struggles in your business.

I rate the tool a nine out of ten.

Our company uses the solution for on-premises production and PR. We sync data from the database service to our on-premises SQL server. 

The SQL connector effectively syncs data to our database. 

The default 1433 port for communication should be customizable because most hacks or attacks are attempted when creating any application or database on the default port. The solution should allow use of any custom port. 

I have been using the solution for more than three years. 

I also used the solution and handled its administration at my previous job with a government entity.

The setup is straightforward so is rated an eight out of ten. 

We implement the solution in-house. 

I rate the solution a nine out of ten. 

We use the product to extract data and present it for warehouse reporting.

The platform provides valuable scalability, stability, and robustness benefits.

The product's pricing needs improvement.

We have been using SQL Azure for 3 years.

I rate the platform's stability an 8 out of 10.

I rate the platform's scalability as 10 out of 10.

The initial setup can be straightforward if you properly configure the product and utilize scripts effectively. Once the script is ready for cloud deployment, executing it is next. The solutions architect sets up the basic infrastructure using infrastructure as code principles. It involves carefully selecting resources, such as VMs and app services, and configuring them according to your requirements. Additionally, one needs to manage security aspects like opening and closing firewalls, which can introduce complexities to the setup process.

I recommend considering a pay-as-you-go pricing model initially.

The automated scalability feature of SQL Azure has proven to be highly beneficial, particularly when deployed in the cloud. It can be done remotely, eliminating the need for manual intervention. However, it may become more challenging if the infrastructure reaches its limits, especially in vertical scaling scenarios.

Whether opting for AWS or Azure, the service offers guaranteed uptime, often around 99.9%. Additionally, it supports deployment across multiple zones and regions.

The transition from on-premises to SQL Azure can impact operational costs depending on the setup. It offers options like pay-as-you-use or dedicated services running 24/7. However, it's essential to evaluate your business case thoroughly before deciding.

I rate it an 8 out of 10.

While we have a trader client or warehouse management, we use SQL Azure because the volume of trading activity keeps changing. Maintaining on-premises solutions or infrastructure for this is difficult, as the user demand can fluctuate significantly throughout the month. For example, at the end of the month, there is a high volume of orders and data as traders push their orders to their incoming entries. This can cause the user demand to spike and then drop off again. Hence, we need a flexible infrastructure that can scale up and down to meet the changing demand.

It's easy to use and maintain. If we look at the development of the maintenance team, we are not directly responsible for any infrastructure issues. We have too many positive sides to that. No maintenance, easy to use, and we'll know the limits very well. So, users cannot come and say that these are the problems we are facing.

Mostly, it is the cost. Microsoft services are costly, which is the only problem we face. So, pricing is an area of improvement.

Another downside is that it's very difficult to investigate if something wrong is going on behind the scenes. If we are facing a problem that our application is doing a CPU spike and when we look at the dump of the details, the processes that our application is generating are not consuming more than 40-50% of CPU. But we don’t know where it is going, who's generating it, and who's consuming the CPU. Even Microsoft says they don’t know. They simply said we cannot give you the details. So, a bit of control over such processes or maybe analytics for it is something that needs improvement as well.

In the last four or five years, a couple of clients have been more into Azure databases. So, depending on the client, we use this solution. 

Installation is easy. It has been changed the way it is being done. Once you do that, it's okay.

It is difficult to maintain it on-premises. If you are maintaining everything on your own, you need somebody who knows security. Everything comes into your bucket. So, you need to focus more on the infrastructure side and the maintenance of the application.

I've worked with clients who have multiple multifunction solutions, where some solutions use some technologies, and some use some.

SQL Azure is very well maintained. Most of the services are good. If not the best, but they're good—no such complaints.

Overall, I would rate SQL Azure a nine out of ten.

SQL is basically a relation database, it can be used for any key-value related data models. Anything which is a table and column-based can be used. If you are an already existing SQL customer or a document tester worker, then I think it is common to go for SQL or Oracle. More present, you have Cosmos DB, it can be used as both SQL and NoSQL databases. This is the database that we are exploring today, and what we are using more.

The most valuable aspects of this solution are the integration with the darknet stack especially Microsoft, table groups, supports major capability requirements, and SQL always-on feature.

The solution could improve by supporting more operating systems.

In a future release, I would like to see more development on SQL servers on containers where you can manage a skill across multi-clouds.

I have been using this solution for four years.

We have more than 10,000 users using the solution in my organization. 

We use Oracle products running in parallel with this solution but for different parts of our business. There are at times different requirements needed but most of the Windows systems work with this solution.

The installation was easy. They have a tool to assist with the migration of your old database to SQL.

We have a database team which is approximately 200 people. They do the engineering, optics, development, and operations. 

There is a license required to use the solution and it cost $30 to do the installation.

I would recommend this solution and we plan to use it in the future.

I rate SQL Azure a nine out of ten.

My main use case for SQL Azure is for a self-reading application related to portfolio management. In this application, users can have portfolios designed and managed based on recommendations from their brokers. These recommendations are sent to users, and if consumed, they get executed and added to their portfolios, which can be easily maintained through mobile applications. This involves using Kafka for messaging and execution.

Some of SQL Azure's most advantageous features are its query performance and the ability to leverage its benefits within the cloud environment. 

If there are areas for improvement, one aspect could be the user interface. It could be made more user-friendly and similar to Google BigQuery's interface. 

I have been using the product since March 2024. 

The solution is scalable. I haven't encountered any issues with it, even with more than 12 gigabytes of data. Backups are easy to manage, and the server performance is super. Its cloud has unlimited storage capability. 

The solution's support is satisfactory but not as fast as Google's. It typically takes about one or two days to resolve issues. 

Positive

Installing SQL Azure is straightforward. If you have the setup ready, it usually takes about 30-40 minutes, with a maximum of an hour. The only additional step is configuring different servers that send requests to your data, which involves setting up IP configurations.

Regular database management practices are required, such as taking daily backups and restoring them when needed. This can be automated with scripts to ensure backups are consistently taken and stored in the cloud or as physical files.

The solution is more cost-effective than Google BigQuery. Compared to Google BigQuery, downloading data can be more expensive.

I rate the overall solution a ten out of ten. 

About 25 people in my office use SQL Azure. Including customers, there are about 400-500 people.

We have multiple applications running for our customers that we can integrate into Azure SQL.

Scalability is an issue because we can't upgrade to new versions due to hardware limitations. 

I've been using SQL Azure for a couple of years.

I rate SQL Azure nine out of 10 for stability because we haven't faced any major issues.

I rate SQL Azure six out of 10 for scalability.

We haven't used technical support because we haven't faced any major challenges, but I would rate their documentation and knowledge base eight out of 10. 

Positive

I rate SQL Azure eight out of 10 for ease of setup. In the worst-case scenario, deployment takes a few days. A couple of employees could do it easily. Usually, it's an admin and a developer. 

I rate SQL Azure six out of 10 for ROI. We've seen a 40-50% ROI

I rate SQL Azure eight out of 10 for affordability. I live in a developing country where cost is always an issue. The price should be negotiable, and there should be more discounts.

I rate SQL Azure eight out of 10. I recommend it because we haven't faced any major issues. 

Our primary use case is creating management-related items for SQL for the development of a variety of items we are working with.

I would like to see the cloud connectivity environment improved.

I have been using SQL Azure for the past year or more.

The stability is excellent because it is easier for us to connect to the cloud rather than connecting to MSSP.

When it comes to scalability because it is a cloud, you can always get additional resources, or you can scale up. At the point of integration, we have over three hundred. We created three instances, housing, roughly about one hundred of them, and then whenever we have additional disabilities, and we have maxed out on the number of instances, we just create another instance and start there, waiting for disabilities in that management. This is easy to notice on the cloud. Your resources are things that you can easily scale up without having to wait for hardware.

We have contacted technical support. The organization has a very good partnership with Microsoft and any area of the solution that can use even the on-prem risk premium platform. If I have issues on the network or with Nigel, I contact the account manager and I am directed to the appropriate team at Microsoft. If other users on the databases are syncing, I just reconnect to how I log a ticket on a Microsoft phone call and engineers are able to work with me to resolve the problem.

The initial setup was a bit difficult.  There was a faulty management style that we created, but we were able to replicate it subsequently because you can do a number on each of the management styles.

I believe the licensing is more on a global scale.

I would rate SQL Azure an eight out of ten.