So whats the difference between Sql Services and Windows Azure Storage?

Question

Doesn't this dichotomy only serve to confuse people even further? After reading the Azure whitepaper, it looks like Windows Azure Storage will allow you to store and query arbitrary data vis REST just like SSDS.

So when do you use which?

Answer 1

SQL Services (aka SSDS) is one of the components of the Azure ecosystem.

Answer 2

Yes, but the Azure white paper seems to imply you use Azure Storage to save state and query storage for apps deployed to an Azure machine instance. And even the storage mechanics are different from SSDS since they have the concept of tables and queues, which don't exist in SSDS as far as I know. So it's not clear to me how SSDS fits into the Azure ecosystem.

Answer 3

Senkwe Chanda said:

Yes, but the Azure white paper seems to imply you use Azure Storage to save state and query storage for apps deployed to an Azure machine instance. And even the storage mechanics are different from SSDS since they have the concept of tables and queues, which don't exist in SSDS as far as I know. So it's not clear to me how SSDS fits into the Azure ecosystem.

SSDS (now SDS) is the data storage layer of Azure. What's not clear?

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Answer 4

Senkwe

Windows Azure Storage is a file system in the cloud. It provides essential storage abstractions like such as blobs, queues, and simple schema, at massive scale and low cost. SQL services can be thought of as a set of database services in the cloud. It provides highly scalable and premium data abstractions & services such as relational tables, joins, data warehousing, and reporting across a broad variety of data types – including structured and unstructured data. If you need rich database functionality, SQL Data Service is the Azure service   you should use.


Please visit http://www.microsoft.com/azure/data.mspx, to review documentation and white papers, with ref to SDS.  This should provide some clarity.


Thanks

Anil

Answer 5

Anilred said:

Senkwe

Windows Azure Storage is a file system in the cloud. It provides essential storage abstractions like such as blobs, queues, and simple schema, at massive scale and low cost. SQL services can be thought of as a set of database services in the cloud. It provides highly scalable and premium data abstractions & services such as relational tables, joins, data warehousing, and reporting across a broad variety of data types – including structured and unstructured data. If you need rich database functionality, SQL Data Service is the Azure service   you should use.


Please visit http://www.microsoft.com/azure/data.mspx, to review documentation and white papers, with ref to SDS.  This should provide some clarity.


Thanks

Anil

Thanks Anil, that clears it up somewhat.

Jamie, see thats what I was talking about...you say SDS is the storage layer for Azure, and Anil says Azure Storage provides essential storage abstractions for Azure. Yet they are two different entities. Thats what was confusing me. Glad to know we can access either mechanism from Azure deployed apps tho.

Answer 6

Anilred said:

Senkwe

Windows Azure Storage is a file system in the cloud. It provides essential storage abstractions like such as blobs, queues, and simple schema, at massive scale and low cost. SQL services can be thought of as a set of database services in the cloud. It provides highly scalable and premium data abstractions & services such as relational tables, joins, data warehousing, and reporting across a broad variety of data types – including structured and unstructured data. If you need rich database functionality, SQL Data Service is the Azure service   you should use.


Please visit http://www.microsoft.com/azure/data.mspx, to review documentation and white papers, with ref to SDS.  This should provide some clarity.


Thanks

Anil

Anil,
According to the documentation I'm reading, SSDS does <not> support relational tables (or other relational objects) in any way(Azure_Services_Platform.docx, P. 16). The description of the tables' internal schema sounds very much like standard XML schema, but still is not "relational."

So, my current impression is that SSDS supports only flat, unstructured data which may be organized and separated into various "containers" like tables.

If relational data enters the picture, I suppose it might be accessible through calls to a remote RDBMS, but so far I don't see it present in SSDS.

My current take is that as opposed to the other 2 Azure data storage options (Blob, Queue), SSDS supports <some> organization and structure but its robust features seem limited mainly to querying and scaling, not computation, optimized schema/structure which would be present in MS SQL Server.

In other words, there are limitations to the "rich database functionality" you describe, SSDS definitely has its strengths but is missing features present in regular RDBMS

Open to correction and clarification...

Answer 7

You are right, we do not have a full "rich database functionailty", it is evolution on its way.  It is going to take time.  We rollout new features on a very regular basis. 

Here is a link to a video, whihc should help you understand where we are and where we are going...

http://channel9.msdn.com/shows/Going+Deep/Dave-Campbell-Inside-SQL-Services/



BTW: Jamie does have a point, SDS is a Storage layer.  Here is how to look at, with reference to the two types of storage :

Windows Azure Storage can be thought of as a file system in the cloud. It provides essential storage abstractions such as blobs, queues, and simple schema. If the functionality provided by Windows Azure Storage meets your needs, this is the Azure service you should use. SQL services can be thought of as a set of database services in the cloud. It provides premium data abstractions & services such as relational tables, joins, data warehousing, and reporting across a broad variety of data types – including structured and unstructured data. If you need rich database functionality, this is the Azure service you should use.

 
-Anil

Answer 8

Here is a little clarity on the two types of storage offered in Azure

Windows Azure Storage can be thought of as a file system in the cloud. It provides essential storage abstractions such as blobs, queues, and simple schema. If the functionality provided by Windows Azure Storage meets your needs, this is the Azure service you should use. SQL services can be thought of as a set of database services in the cloud. It provides premium data abstractions & services such as relational tables, joins, data warehousing, and reporting across a broad variety of data types – including structured and unstructured data. If you need rich database functionality, this is the Azure service you should use.

Anil

Answer 9

Hi Anil,

The difference between the Azure Storage and SDS is clear, But tell me one thing. I have an exising applicaiton with master pages and images on it. I want to deploy it on the cloud. Do I need to create Azure storage for storing the images used in the Master page? In that case we need to change a lot in the code to provide master pages on the cloud application.

Thanks in advance!

Tushar Mistry

Answer 10

tumistry said:

Hi Anil,

The difference between the Azure Storage and SDS is clear, But tell me one thing. I have an exising applicaiton with master pages and images on it. I want to deploy it on the cloud. Do I need to create Azure storage for storing the images used in the Master page? In that case we need to change a lot in the code to provide master pages on the cloud application.

Thanks in advance!

Tushar Mistry

No you don't have to place images in Azure storage. Just create a new cloud service and add all items of your web application (web forms , masterpages and images) in it by "adding them as existing items" and it will work. Files stored in Azure storage is for different scenarios. 

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Jadoon