SQL Azure Database Sharding

Question

I have a SQL Azure Server (DBn), I need to copy some of the tables from (DBn) to number of other SQL Azure Servers (DBn1,DBn2,....). I should be able to execute the copy operation through a worker role. Is this possible via Linked server feature in SQL Azure?

Answer 1

Hi BandRa,

Yes, it is possible.

We can add a Windows Azure SQL Database as a Linked Server and then use it with Distributed Queries that span the on-premises and cloud databases. This is a new component for database hybrid solutions spanning on-premises corporate networks and the Windows Azure cloud. 

Please refer to these blogs:

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/windowsazure/archive/2012/09/19/announcing-updates-to-windows-azure-sql-database.aspx

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sqlcat/archive/2011/03/08/linked-servers-to-sql-azure.aspx

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Iric Wen

TechNet Community Support

Answer 2

afaik, you can add Azure SQL Database as a linked server in SQL Server but you cannot add a linked server to another Azure SQL Database from within Azure SQL Database itself. there is no feature for adding a linked server from within Azure SQL Database itself.