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Microsoft Azure SQL® ™

Database Step by Step

Leonard G. Lobel
Eric D. Boyd

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PUBLISHED BY
Microsoft Press
A Division of Microsoft Corporation
One Microsoft Way
Redmond, Washington 98052-6399
Copyright © 2014 by Leonard G. Lobel and Eric D. Boyd
All rights reserved. No part of the contents of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
means without the written permission of the publisher.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2014940679
ISBN: 978-0-7356-7942-9

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 To my partner of 20 years, Mark, and our children, Adam, Jacqueline, Joshua,
and Sonny. With all my love, I thank you guys, for all of yours.
—Leonard LobeL

For my loving wife, Shelly, and our wonderful boys, Jaxon and Xander.
—eric boyd

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Contents at a glance
Introduction xiii

CHAPTER 1 Getting started with Microsoft Azure SQL Database 1

CHAPTER 2 Coniguration and pricing 31
CHAPTER 3 Differences between SQL Server and Microsoft
Azure SQL Database 57
CHAPTER 4 Migrating databases 63
CHAPTER 5 Security and backup 97
CHAPTER 6 Cloud reporting 123
CHAPTER 7 Microsoft Azure SQL Data Sync 173
CHAPTER 8 Designing and tuning for scalability and high
performance 217
CHAPTER 9 Monitoring and management 261
CHAPTER 10 Building cloud solutions 289

Index 357

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Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii

Chapter 1 Getting started with Microsoft Azure SQL Database 1

Cloud computing: The concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Instant dynamic provisioning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
The Microsoft Azure cloud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Getting signed up for SQL Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Creating a Microsoft account. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Creating a Microsoft Azure subscription . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Creating a server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Creating a SQL Database instance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
Using the SQL Database management portal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15
Designing tables and relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Inserting data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21
Querying the database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Exploring additional portal capabilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27
Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30

Chapter 2 Coniguration and pricing 31

Using the Microsoft Azure platform management portal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Creating a new database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Setting irewall rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Obtaining connection strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38
Deleting a database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40
Using SQL Server Management Studio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40
Connecting to SQL Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Creating a new database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

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vii
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 Changing the database edition and maximum size. . . . . . . . . . . . . .44
Deleting a database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44
Using PowerShell. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44
Installing the Microsoft Azure PowerShell cmdlets . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44
Using the PowerShell Integrated Scripting Environment . . . . . . . . .46
Coniguring PowerShell for your Microsoft account . . . . . . . . . . . . .46
Creating a new server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Creating a new database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48
Deleting a database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50
Budgeting for SQL Database. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50
SQL storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50
Client bandwidth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Backup storage space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Backup storage bandwidth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52
Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53
Optimizing your costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54
Coniguring the database edition and size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56

Chapter 3 Differences between SQL Server and

Microsoft Azure SQL Database 57
Size limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58
Connection limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58
Unsupported features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .62

Chapter 4 Migrating databases 63

Making the case for data migration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63
Migrating data using Transact-SQL scripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64
Setting up a local SQL Server database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64
Creating the T-SQL scripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67
Generating T-SQL scripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .68
SQL Data-Tier Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Creating a Microsoft Azure Storage account . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71
Exporting a BACPAC to Microsoft Azure Storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Importing a BACPAC to Microsoft Azure SQL Database . . . . . . . . . .77

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 SQL Server Bulk Copy (bcp) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80
Migrating Schema . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Exporting data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .83
Importing data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .84
SQL Database Migration Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .86
Downloading the tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .87
Migrating a database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .88
Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .95

Chapter 5 Security and backup 97

Addressing major cloud concerns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .97
Security responsibilities of the public cloud vendor . . . . . . . . . . . . .98
Shared security responsibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .98
Security in Microsoft Azure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .99
Securing SQL Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .100
Creating a SQL Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .100
Coniguring SQL Database Firewall. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .101
Authenticating and authorizing users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .105
Backing up SQL Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .112
Copying a database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .112
Monitoring the progress of a database copy operation . . . . . . . . .113
Exporting a BACPAC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .115
Importing a BACPAC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .117
Scheduling BACPAC exports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .120
Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .122

Chapter 6 Cloud reporting 123

Creating a SQL Server Reporting services virtual machine . . . . . . . . . . . .125
Creating the virtual machine from the image gallery . . . . . . . . . . .126
Coniguring SSRS in the virtual machine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .128
Opening irewall access to the report server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .130
Creating the sample database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .132
Using Report Builder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .135
Installing Report Builder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .135
Creating a report using Report Builder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .137

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 Using Visual Studio Report Server projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .150
Installing AdventureWorks2012 for SQL Database . . . . . . . . . . . . .152
Installing SSDT Business Intelligence for Visual Studio 2012 . . . . .154
Creating a report using Visual Studio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .156
Implementing report security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .170
Shutting down the SSRS virtual machine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .171
Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .171

Chapter 7 Microsoft Azure SQL Data Sync 173

Getting to know SQL Data Sync . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .173
Exporting data from SQL Server to SQL Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . .175
Importing data from SQL Database to SQL Server . . . . . . . . . . . . .175
Sharing data between multiple locations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Scaling out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .178
Creating the SQL Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .180
Working with SQL Data Sync . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .182
Creating a sync group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .182
Creating sync rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .188
Running a manual sync . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .191
Establishing conlict resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .196
Creating an automated sync schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .200
Creating a local SQL Server database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .202
Creating a sync agent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .204
Pitfalls and best practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .215
Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .216

Chapter 8 Designing and tuning for scalability and

high performance 217
Achieving high performance in the cloud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .218
Creating a RESTful web API . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .218
Creating the sample database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .219
Creating a new solution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .221
Creating an ASP.NET Web API project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .222
Adding an Entity Framework Code First Web API
controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .223
Testing the Wine Web API . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .228

x Contents
 Adding an ADO.NET Web API controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .230
Testing the Customer Web API . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .233
Managing SQL Database connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .234
Opening late, closing early . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .234
Pooling connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .234
Recovering from connection faults . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .234
Adding the Transient Fault Handling Application Block . . . . . . . . .235
Using the Transient Fault Handling Application Block
with ADO.NET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .237
Using the Transient Fault Handling Application Block
with Entity Framework. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .239
Reducing network latency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .243
Keeping services close . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .243
Minimizing round trips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .243
Effectively using SQL Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .244
Using the best storage service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .244
Optimizing queries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .245
Scaling up SQL Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .245
Partitioning data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .250
Scaling out with functional partitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .250
Scaling out with shards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .251
Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .260

Chapter 9 Monitoring and management 261

Creating the sample database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .261
Monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .263
Using the management portal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .264
Microsoft Azure Service Dashboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .269
SQL Database management portal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .270
Dynamic management views and functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .275
Programming the Service Management REST API . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .281
Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .288

Contents xi
 Chapter 10 Building cloud solutions 289
Creating the SQL Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .292
Extending the SQL Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .294
Creating a new solution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .294
Creating a SQL Server Database project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .295
Setting the target platform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .296
Importing from SQL Database into the project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .297
Adding a new column to the Wine table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .300
Deploying the project to Microsoft Azure SQL Database . . . . . . .301
Creating the Order table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .305
Creating stored procedures for the Order table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .307
Creating the data access layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .312
Introducing the Entity Data Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .313
Creating the Data Access Layer project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .314
Creating an Entity Data Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .315
Creating the website. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .321
Creating an ASP.NET web application project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .321
Referencing the data access layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .323
Creating the user interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .324
Testing the website locally . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .328
Deploying the website to Microsoft Azure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .331
Creating the ASP.NET Web API services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .336
Adding a Web API controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .337
Testing the Web API . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .339
Deploying the Web API . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .340
Creating the Windows Phone application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .341
Installing the Windows Phone SDK 8.0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .341
Creating the Windows Phone Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .343
Adding Json.NET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .343
Creating the App’s main page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .344
Testing the Windows Phone application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .353

Index 357

What do you think of this book? We want to hear from you!

Microsoft is interested in hearing your feedback so we can continually improve our
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microsoft.com/learning/booksurvey

xii Contents
Introduction

M icrosoft Azure SQL Database is the cloud version of Microsoft SQL Server, which
is Microsoft’s well-established on-premises relational database engine platform.
Despite some noteworthy differences, SQL Database (the short name for Microsoft
Azure SQL Database) is largely compatible with SQL Server, so for the most part, any
experience you have working with SQL Server can be directly and immediately applied
to SQL Database. If you are a software professional looking to consider the cloud as a
platform for the database in your next application, SQL Database can be just the right
tool for you. And if you want to get up to speed quickly with this emerging platform,
with or without SQL Server experience, this is just the right book for you.

Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step provides an organized walkthrough of

the SQL Database platform. Our goal was to produce an end-to-end treatment of SQL
Database that balances coverage and depth. In the irst chapter, you will quickly create
your irst SQL Database on Microsoft Azure. By the last chapter, you will create a full
multitiered solution in the cloud—including a website and a Windows Phone 8 app—
all layered on top of SQL Database. And in every chapter in between, you will explore
other facets of SQL Database and many of its orbiting technologies. SQL Database is
a huge topic, but we carefully crafted each chapter to tackle one piece at a time, with
easy-to-follow procedures that put digestible concepts to immediate applied use. Your
knowledge will build in each chapter, as you learn about coniguration, migration,
security, backup, reporting, and more.

One big difference between on-premises software and cloud services is that the
latter can be updated and enhanced much more frequently than the former, given that
no installation or customer infrastructure is required in the cloud case. Cloud services
are subject to frequent changes in pricing as well. As such, features, limitations, costs,
the tooling user interface, or even the branding of Microsoft Azure SQL Database, as
described in this book, may have evolved by the time you read it. For example, shortly
before going to press, the platform formerly branded as Windows Azure was changed
to Microsoft Azure. (Although the book title and textual references were updated
accordingly, many screen shots still show the older name, Windows Azure.) Regardless
of the potential for such changes, the principles and techniques covered throughout
this book will help you achieve comfort with and mastery of Microsoft Azure SQL
Database.

xiii
 Note As Azure evolves, we evolve with it. Even as this irst edition goes to
press, we are busy planning the next edition with expanded coverage of the
recently announced Basic, Standard, and Premium editions. These new ser-
vice tiers (which have limited preview availability at the time of this writing)
can support larger and more scalable databases than the current Web and
Business editions offer. Our next edition will also be revised for the upcoming
release of a new management portal currently being developed by Microsoft.

Who should read this book

This book exists to help software developers and database professionals understand
the core concepts of Microsoft Azure SQL Database and its related technologies.
Many readers will have little or no prior experience with either SQL Database or SQL
Server, and that’s perfectly ine. This book starts with square one, and gets you off to
a good start even if you have no prior knowledge of SQL Server or relational database
concepts.

The book is also useful for those familiar with on-premises SQL Server and are
interested in creating new applications to work with SQL Database, or those who would
like to migrate existing applications that currently work with on-premises SQL Server to
work with SQL Database as well.

Assumptions
No prior knowledge or experience with Microsoft Azure and cloud computing is
assumed or required. Furthermore, although experience with Microsoft SQL Server is
certainly useful, that too is not required.

Several chapters involve .NET programming. Here, too, prior experience with
Microsoft Visual Studio and C# is helpful but not required. The procedures in these
chapters include complete code listings, and clear explanations of the code are
provided.

xiv Introduction
This book might not be for you if…
This book might not be for you if you already have extensive knowledge and
experience with SQL Database, and are seeking to delve deeper into internals or other
specialized focus areas not covered in this book. Still, this book contains useful infor-
mation even for experienced users. Therefore, we recommend that you take a quick
glance at the chapter descriptions in the next section. Doing so should help you quickly
determine if there are speciic areas of interest we cover that you would like to learn
more about.

Organization of this book

This book is composed of ten chapters, each of which focuses on a different aspect
of Microsoft Azure SQL Database. Most readers will probably beneit by starting with
Chapter 1, but by no means does this book need to be read in any particular order.
Read it from start to inish if you want, or jump right in to just those chapters that
suit your needs or pique your interests. Either way, you’ll ind practical guidance and
walkthroughs to help get your job done with SQL Database.

■ Chapter 1—Getting started with Microsoft Azure SQL Database The

opening chapter gets you acquainted with the SQL Database platform. After a
brief overview of cloud computing with SQL Database, you’ll create a Microsoft
account (if you don’t already have one) and a Microsoft Azure subscription.
Then you will learn how to use the Microsoft Azure management portal to
create servers and databases. You’ll move on to use the SQL Database man-
agement portal, where you’ll design tables, views, and stored procedures, and
then populate and query tables in the database. Absolutely no local tools are
required to follow along with the procedures in this chapter; all you need is a
web browser and Internet access.

■ Chapter 2—Coniguration and pricing With the basics covered, this chapter
explains additional options for coniguring SQL Database, beyond the browser-
based portals introduced in Chapter 1. You will learn how to connect to SQL
Database using familiar local tools, such as SQL Server Management Studio
(SSMS) and SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT) inside Visual Studio. You will also learn
how to conigure and manage SQL Database using PowerShell, by downloading
the Microsoft Azure PowerShell cmdlets. The chapter concludes with an expla-
nation of how SQL Database pricing is structured on Microsoft Azure, and it
provides tips to help you budget for a SQL Database solution.

Introduction xv
 ■ Chapter 3—Differences between SQL Server and Microsoft Azure SQL
Database Readers with prior SQL Server experience will want to know about
the important differences between the on-premises relational engine they are
familiar with and the SQL Database implementation on Microsoft Azure. This
brief chapter enumerates these differences and explains the rationale behind
them. Where possible, we suggest workarounds for SQL Server features that are
not supported in SQL Database.

■ Chapter 4—Migrating databases When building systems on Microsoft

Azure, there is often a need to migrate databases from existing on-premises
SQL Servers to SQL Database. There are numerous techniques and tools you
can use to migrate databases and data to SQL Database. In this chapter, you will
learn about and use Transact-SQL scripts, SQL Data-Tier Applications, bulk copy,
and the SQL Database Migration Wizard to migrate databases to SQL Database.

■ Chapter 5—Security and backup Security, availability, and disaster recovery

top the list of concerns when customers consider new data centers and public
cloud providers. In this chapter, you will learn about security in Microsoft Azure
and how to secure your SQL Database with irewall rules, as well as users and
permissions. In addition to gaining knowledge about security, you will learn how
to handle disaster recovery with SQL Database backup techniques.

■ Chapter 6—Cloud reporting When you have data in a database, it’s only a
matter of time before you also have reporting requirements related to that data.
And when that database is hosted in the cloud on Microsoft Azure, it’s only
natural to consider using the Azure cloud to host a reporting solution as well. In
this chapter, you will learn how to create an Azure virtual machine (VM) to host
SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) in the cloud. (No prior SSRS experience is
needed.) Once the VM is conigured, you will learn how to build SSRS reports
using two report authoring tools: Report Builder and SSDT Business Intelligence
for Visual Studio. After building and previewing reports locally, you will learn
how to deploy them to the VM for a complete reporting solution in the cloud.

■ Chapter 7—Microsoft Azure SQL Data Sync In this chapter, you will learn
how to use the SQL Data Sync service available on Microsoft Azure to replicate
data between multiple databases. You will learn about the hub-and-spoke
architecture upon which the service is based, and see how SQL Data Sync can be
used to implement solutions for a variety of scenarios, including one-way or bi-
directional replication across a set of databases in multiple locations. The proce-
dures in this chapter walk you through the process of coniguring the SQL Data
Sync service and creating sync groups that replicate between multiple databases

xvi Introduction
 hosted both in the cloud (on Microsoft Azure SQL Database) and on-premises
(using SQL Server). You will also learn how to establish a conlict-resolution strat-
egy and set up an automated synchronization schedule.

■ Chapter 8—Designing and tuning for scalability and high perfor-

mance Applications and systems intended for real production use need to
provide responsive experiences and good performance. In this chapter, you will
optimize and tune database performance for SQL Database. Next, you will im-
prove application reliability by managing database connections and connection
errors using both ADO.NET and Entity Framework. Finally, you will explore how
to scale databases in SQL Database using a special partitioning technique known
as sharding.

■ Chapter 9—Monitoring and management Services used by production

applications must provide monitoring and management capabilities. In this
chapter, you will learn how to monitor the health of SQL Database using the
management portal, the Service Dashboard, and dynamic management views
and functions. You will also learn how to automate SQL Database operations
programmatically, using the REST-based Service Management API.

■ Chapter 10—Building cloud solutions In the book’s closing chapter, you will
learn how to build a complete solution in the cloud on top of Microsoft Azure
SQL Database. Speciically, you will create a Visual Studio solution that includes
a SQL Server Database project, an Entity Framework data-access layer, ASP.NET
MVC, and ASP.NET Web API. The solution provides a website, web services, and
a Windows Phone 8 app with functionality for users to retrieve and update data
stored in SQL Database.

Conventions and features in this book

This book presents information using conventions designed to make the information
readable and easy to follow:

■ Each procedure consists of a series of tasks, presented as numbered steps (1, 2,

and so on) listing each action you must take to complete the exercise.

■ Boxed elements with labels such as “Note” provide additional information or

alternative methods for completing a step successfully.

■ Text that you type (apart from code blocks) appears in bold.

Introduction xvii
 ■ A plus sign (+) between two key names means that you must press those keys at
the same time. For example, “Press Alt+Tab” means that you hold down the Alt
key while you press the Tab key.

■ A vertical bar between two or more menu items (for example, File | Close) means
that you should select the irst menu or menu item, then the next, and so on.

System requirements
At a minimum, there are no special system requirements for working with SQL
Database. The Microsoft Azure management portal requires only a web browser and
Internet access. Similarly, the SQL Database management portal requires only a browser
with the Silverlight plug-in.

Some chapters walk you through procedures that use local tools—typically, SQL
Server Management Studio (SSMS) and Visual Studio 2013. To complete these proce-
dures, you will need to have those tools installed as well, which requires the following:

■ One of Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Server 2008 with Service Pack 2,

Windows Server 2008 R2, or Windows Server 2012.

■ Visual Studio 2013, any edition. (Multiple downloads may be required if using
Express Edition products.)

■ SQL Server 2012 Express Edition or higher, with SQL Server Management Studio
2012 Express or higher. (Included with Visual Studio, Express Editions require
separate download.)

Depending on your Windows coniguration, you might require Local Administrator

rights to install or conigure Visual Studio 2013 and SQL Server 2012 products.

Chapter 4, "Migrating databases," and Chapter 7, "Microsoft Azure SQL Data Sync,"
include procedures that require a local SQL Server instance on which you have permis-
sions to create a database. If you don’t have access to a local SQL Server instance, you
can install SQL Server Express Edition (the free version of SQL Server) by following the
instructions shown in the next section.

Finally, several individual chapters work with additional software that gets installed
locally. These chapters include detailed procedures for downloading and installing the
necessary software so that you can follow along with the rest of the chapter.

xviii Introduction
Downloads: SQL Server Express Edition
There are several SQL Server Express Edition downloads available on the Microsoft site,
and they are available in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. You can choose to install just
the SQL Server Express database engine (and nothing else), or you can choose one of
two other (larger) downloads: Express With Tools (which includes SQL Server Manage-
ment Studio [SSMS]) or Express With Advanced Services (which includes SSMS, Full
Text Search, and Reporting Services). There are also separate downloads for SSMS and
LocalDB, but these do not include the SQL Server Express database engine needed to
host local databases.

To install the SQL Server Express Edition database engine, follow these steps:

1. Open Internet Explorer, and navigate to http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/

download/details.aspx?id=29062.

2. Click the large orange Download button.

3. Select the appropriate download for your system, as shown in Figure I-1:

a. For 64-bit systems, choose ENU\x64\SQLEXPR_x64_ENU.exe.

b. For 32-bit or 64-bit WoW systems, choose

ENU\x86\SQLEXPR32_x86_ENU.exe.

c. For 32-bit systems, choose ENU\x86\SQLEXPR_x86_ENU.exe.

Note If you need to download SQL Server Management Studio

(SSMS) as well, choose the Express With Tools ile instead, which is
the one that includes WT in the ilename.

Introduction xix
www.itbookshub.com
 FIGURE I-1 Downloading SQL Server 2012 Express Edition (64-bit version)

4. Click Next.

5. If you receive a pop-up warning, click Allow Once, as shown in Figure I-2.

FIGURE I-2 Temporarily allowing pop-ups to enable the download, if necessary

6. When prompted to run or save the ile, choose Run. This starts and runs the
download.

7. If the User Account Control dialog appears after the download iles are
extracted, click Yes.

8. In the SQL Server Installation Center, click New SQL Server Stand-Alone
Installation, as shown in Figure I-3.

xx Introduction
 FIGURE I-3 Choosing a new SQL Server installation

9. In the SQL Server 2012 Setup wizard, do the following:

a. On the License Terms page, select I Accept The License Terms and click
Next.

b. On the Product Updates page, allow the wizard to scan for updates, and
then click Next.

c. On the Install Setup Files page, wait for the installation to proceed.

d. On the Feature Selection page, Click Next.

e. Continue clicking Next through all the remaining pages until the
Installation Progress page, and wait for the installation to proceed.

f. On the Complete page indicating a successful setup (shown in Figure I-4),

click Close.

Introduction xxi
 FIGURE I-4 SQL Server Express installation in progress

Downloads: Code samples on the book’s companion

website
Many chapters have procedures in which you will write actual code. In most cases, there
is only a small amount of code, but you may still ind it helpful to download the com-
pleted code listings from the book’s companion website. Doing so can help you work
through the procedures, particularly those few procedures that have a bit more code
than others. All the code found in this book can be downloaded at the following page:

http://aka.ms/AzureSQLDB_SBS

Installing and using the code samples

Simply download the zip ile to your local machine and extract it. You will ind one
folder for the code in each chapter, although note that there is no code for Chapters 2
and 3. The code folders contain listing iles that correspond to the listing numbers

xxii Introduction
 found in each of the chapters. Finally, the code folders for Chapters 6, 8, and 10 also
include the completed Visual Studio solutions for the exercises found in those chapters.

Acknowledgments
I was irst asked to write a book on SQL Azure—back when it was still called SQL
Azure—nearly two years ago. It’s been a long road since then, and despite seismic
shifts both in the Azure product platform and in the book publishing ecosystem (not to
mention an unexpected curve ball or two), I am extremely delighted to inally publish!

This is my third technical book, and although each experience has been unique, I’ve
learned the same lesson in each case: I could not have even contemplated the challenge
without the aid of numerous other talented and caring individuals. These are folks who
deserve special recognition—people who lent their generous support out in so many
different ways that it’s impossible to mention names in any prescribed order.

So I’ll start with Andrew Brust. If not for Andrew (who himself is a well-established
leader in the software industry), I would never have started down the book-writing
path in the irst place. I am grateful for our personal friendship, as well as our working
relationship writing books and presenting workshops together. These experiences truly
help me thrive and grow.

I’m also fortunate to have teamed up with my colleague and co-author Eric Boyd,
who produced four excellent chapters on several advanced topics. Eric is an extremely
talented software professional, whose expertise and passion for technology comes
through clearly in his writing.

Russell Jones, my pal at O’Reilly Media, gets special mention of course, because he’s
the one who asked me to write this book in the irst place. I thank Russell, not only for
offering me the opportunity, but for his expert guidance and assistance during the
transition to Microsoft Press. More thanks go out to Roger LeBlanc for his copyediting
review, and to Scott Klein for his technical review. Special thanks as well to Devon
Musgrave and Rosemary Caperton at Microsoft Press, and Steve Sagman of Waypoint
Press. Their guidance has been vital to the successful production of this book, and it has
been an absolute pleasure working with each one of them.

I would like to give special mention to the Microsoft MVP program, which was an
indispensable resource during the writing of this book. So thank you Microsoft, and to
my MVP lead Simon Tien as well, for his constant encouragement.

Introduction xxiii
 This book could not have been written, of course, without the love and support of
my family. I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to my wonderful partner Mark, and our
awesome kids Adam, Jacqueline, Josh, and Sonny, for being so patient and tolerant with
me throughout this project.

And greatest thanks of all go out to my dear Mom, bless her soul, for always
encouraging me to write with “expression.”

—Leonard Lobel

I have been developing software professionally for almost 20 years and I am grateful for
being blessed with deep interest and excitement for this industry, the ability learn and
understand what are sometimes very complex concepts, and the support of my family,
friends, mentors and peers throughout my career. Writing a book like this requires lots
of guidance and help from many people, and I have many people to thank.

First and foremost, I want to thank God for everything: for life, salvation, family,
friends, talents, abilities and everything.

Working on this project over the past year has been a lot of fun, but it has also been
a lot of work. My family has been extremely supportive, even when I had to block off
nights and weekends to write. I owe so much to my wife, Shelly, for everything that she
does for our family. And I’m so thankful for our two wonderful boys who enjoy sitting
next to me in my ofice and cuddling up next to me with my laptop in the living room,
when my evenings and weekends get occupied with writing.

In addition to family, I want to thank friends and co-workers who have also been
very supportive during this project, even when I bring my laptop to their living rooms,
kitchens and dining rooms so that I can write a few more words, paragraphs and pages.

I want to thank Lenni Lobel who invited me to join him on this project. Lenni has
been a fantastic co-author and has done a great job leading this project and driving it
to completion. His guidance, editing and feedback has been extremely valuable for me
personally and for the project. I’m also very appreciative of his patience throughout this
project.

Last, but certainly not least, thank you to everyone at Microsoft and Microsoft Press
who have helped with this project both directly and indirectly, this list includes Scott
Klein, Dora Chan, Mark Brown, Devon Musgrave, Rosemary Caperton, Steve Sagman,
Conor Cunningham, the Azure CAT team, and so many more.

—Eric Boyd

xxiv Introduction
Errata, updates, & book support
We’ve made every effort to ensure the accuracy of this book and its companion
content. You can access updates to this book—in the form of a list of submitted errata
and their related corrections—at:

http://aka.ms/AzureSQLDB_SBS

If you discover an error that is not already listed, please submit it to us at the same
page.

If you need additional support, email Microsoft Press Book Support at

mspinput@microsoft.com.

Please note that product support for Microsoft software and hardware is not
offered through the previous addresses. For help with Microsoft software or hardware,
go to http://support.microsoft.com.

We want to hear from you

At Microsoft Press, your satisfaction is our top priority, and your feedback our most
valuable asset. Please tell us what you think of this book at:

http://aka.ms/tellpress

We know you’re busy, so we’ve kept it short with just a few questions. Your answers
go directly to the editors at Microsoft Press. (No personal information will be request-
ed.) Thanks in advance for your input!

Stay in touch
Let’s keep the conversation going! We’re on Twitter: http://twitter.com/MicrosoftPress

Introduction xxv
This page intentionally left blank
CHAPTER 1

Getting started with Microsoft

Azure SQL Database
— Leonard Lobel

I n this chapter, you will create your irst database on the Microsoft Azure SQL Database platform—
completely from scratch. From scratch means that all you need to follow along is a web browser (the
chapter uses Internet Explorer) and Internet access. You will sign up for a Microsoft account (if you
don’t already have one), and use your Microsoft account to create and access a free trial subscription
to Microsoft Azure. Then we’ll introduce you to the Microsoft Azure management portal, and you’ll
quickly get a server and database up and running in the cloud. Finally, you’ll use the SQL Database
management portal to design, populate, and query the database.

Note We’ll often refer to Microsoft Azure SQL Database simply as SQL Database. The
term SQL Server refers exclusively to on-premises database instances, while the term SQL
Database always means the cloud-based Microsoft Azure SQL Database.

Although this book is focused on Microsoft Azure SQL Database, you’ll ind it helpful to
understand SQL Database in the broader context of the Microsoft Azure platform, and cloud
computing in general. This understanding will greatly enhance your appreciation of SQL Database.
So, before signing up for a Microsoft account, here’s a brief high-level discussion of cloud computing
with Microsoft Azure.

Cloud computing: The concept

Microsoft Azure is Microsoft’s cloud-computing platform. But what exactly is cloud computing? The
fact is, there really is no precise deinition; indeed, cloud computing is an ambiguous term. Many
different types of services exist today that run “in the cloud.” Fundamentally, then, cloud computing
refers to the evolution of Internet hosting in which providers (such as Microsoft, Google, Amazon,
and others) offer services to consumers and businesses that run on redundant hardware, with system
maintenance that’s either partially or fully automated. This is a level of service beyond traditional
Internet hosting that emerged with the dot-com bubble in the 1990s. With cloud computing,
the Internet is not merely used as a medium for sharing information. Indeed, the cloud leverages the

1
 Internet as a way of connecting clients to various infrastructure, platform, and application services
with a far greater degree of lexibility and abstraction than previous hosting schemes could possibly
offer.

One of the earliest cloud-computing platforms was Amazon Web Services (AWS), introduced back
in 2002 by Amazon.com. Still today, AWS is prominently positioned as a serious contender in the
cloud service industry. Since the mid-2000s, cloud computing has been rapidly gaining popularity,
and in 2009, Microsoft unveiled Microsoft Azure (which was called Windows Azure until the name
was changed in April 2014). Even as Azure launched, and steadfastly ever since, Microsoft has been
expanding its cloud platform with newer and more robust capabilities.

Instant dynamic provisioning

To start with, provisioning on-premises servers on your own is dificult. First you need to purchase
and physically install the hardware. Then you need to get the necessary software license or licenses,
install the OS, and deploy and conigure your application. You’ll also need to ensure acceptable per-
formance levels and continuous uptime in the event of unexpected hardware, software, or network
failures. That means coniguring load balancing and redundancy using mirroring and clustering
technologies. You’ll have to devise a backup strategy and attend to it religiously as part of an overall
disaster-recovery plan, which you’ll also need to establish. And once all that is set up, you’ll still need
to maintain everything to keep a healthy system running for the lifetime of your application.

Without exaggeration, moving to the cloud eliminates all these burdens.

In short, the idea of applications and services running in “the cloud” means that you’re dealing
with intangible hardware resources, which in turn, translates to a maintenance-free runtime environ-
ment. You sign up with a cloud-hosting company (Microsoft, in the case of Azure) for access, pay
them for how much power (in terms of resources) your applications require (RAM, CPU, storage,
bandwidth, scale-out load balancing, and so on), and let them worry about all the rest. Compared to
the manual labor and potential for error involved in doing things yourself, it’s both hassle free and
risk free.

The Microsoft Azure cloud

With Azure, your applications, services, and data reside in the cloud. The Azure cloud is backed by
large, geographically dispersed Microsoft data centers equipped with powerful servers, massive
storage capacities, and very high redundancy to ensure continuous uptime.

But the Microsoft Azure environment is much more than a set of conventional web-hosting
facilities on steroids. In fact, your cloud-based applications and services don’t actually run directly on
these server machines. Instead, sophisticated hypervisor virtualization technology runs on top of all
this physical hardware. Your “code in the cloud,” in turn, runs on that virtualization layer. So scaling
out during peak season becomes a simple matter of changing a coniguration setting that increases

2 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

the number of running instances to accommodate the increase in demand. When the busy season
is over, it’s the same simple change to reduce the instance count and scale back down. Microsoft
Azure manages the scaling by dynamically granting more or less hardware processing power to
the virtualized runtime environment. The process, often referred to as elastic scaling, is practically
instantaneous.

Now consider the same scenario with conventional infrastructure. You’d need to purchase and
install servers, bring them online, and add them as members to a load-balanced farm. And then you’d
need to take them ofline to be decommissioned later when the extra capacity is no longer required.
That requires a great deal of work and time—either for you directly or for your hosting company—
compared to tweaking some coniguration with only a few mouse clicks.

Because cloud solutions can be delivered in lots of different ways, many new terms and buzzwords
have iniltrated our vocabulary in recent years. Among them are the various “as-a-service” acro-
nyms, including Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a
Service (SaaS). All these terms obviously refer to services; their differences lie in the level of service.
It’s often helpful to think of these terms as gradations of abstraction, starting with the lowest level
of the underlying hardware infrastructure. When you’re on-premises, you have no abstraction at all,
and you are intimately involved with and responsible for everything from the hardware on up. When
you move to the cloud, you can go IaaS, Paas, or SaaS as your needs dictate, where each of those
approaches provide increasingly greater abstractions.

Infrastructure as a Service
With IaaS, Microsoft Azure effectively gives you virtual machines (VMs) that are entirely under your
control. Just as in an on-premises environment, you’ll be responsible for installing the OS and conig-
uring the machine. It’s easy to build virtual machine images from scratch—or to customize existing
virtual machines from a library of preconigured VMs—and then deploy them to run in the cloud
with full network connectivity (even Virtual Private Network [VPN] connections) and conigurability.
But unlike working on-premises, you’ll never need to handle screwdrivers, hard drives, cables, racks,
power supplies, motherboards, RAM, or anything like that ever again. This is true IaaS—abstraction of
hardware (networking, storage, severs, virtualization), and nothing else.

With this capability, you could certainly create a VM on Microsoft Azure that runs Microsoft
SQL Server; that is, a virtual machine in the cloud that itself is running the full on-premises version
of SQL Server. There might be situations where that is entirely justiied and valid—for example, if you
require full compatibility with on-premises SQL Server, which SQL Database does not provide. (We
discuss the differences between these two platforms in Chapter 3, “Differences between SQL Server
and Microsoft Azure SQL Database.”) A prime example of this scenario is to deliver cloud reporting
with SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) running in a Microsoft Azure VM (which you learn how to
do in Chapter 6, “Cloud reporting”). But understand that running SQL Server in an Azure VM is com-
pletely different than using Microsoft Azure SQL Database. Going with IaaS and SQL Server means
that you are still responsible for maintaining your virtual machine or machines in the cloud. This

CHAPTER 1 Getting started with Microsoft Azure SQL Database 3

www.itbookshub.com
 includes installing the operating system from scratch (unless you choose to upload a preconigured
VM from the gallery), installing SQL Server, coniguring instances, keeping the software up to date,
protecting VMs from faulty software, and backing up data. If your VM crashes, then it’s your crisis.
SQL Database is entirely different, which is what makes it a PaaS solution.

Platform as a Service
With PaaS, the abstraction level gets raised above IaaS so that you are also shielded from the
operating system, middleware, and runtime layers. This means that Microsoft Azure also provides
a platform for your applications and services to run on. You have no control over the platform; you
get to manage only applications and data, while the cloud provider manages the rest of the infra-
structure. You still get to create and test your applications locally and then upload them to run on
Microsoft Azure. (We cover this in Chapter 10, “Building cloud solutions.”). This gives your application
incredible scalability without requiring the investment in expensive hardware that such scalability
would normally require in any on-premises scenario.

SQL Database, too, is a PaaS solution. It’s still SQL Server, but to deliver a relational database
platform (as opposed to infrastructure), certain features that are available on-premises are not
supported. With SQL Database, you can provision servers and databases on the ly, without ever
interacting with the OS or other underlying infrastructure. You will never need to know or care if your
data and log iles are stored on a C drive or a D drive, because SQL Database handles all details of
physical storage for you. As you’ll learn about in Chapter 3, enjoying the beneits of virtually instan-
taneous provisioning and risk-free, care-free maintenance also means incurring some loss of control
that you normally get to exercise when working with SQL Server on-premises.

Software as a Service
SaaS is at the high end of the abstraction spectrum, where everything from the hardware up to and
including the end-user application is handled by the service. There are many cloud SaaS offerings
available today, including Ofice 365, CRM, and Salesforce.com.

You can create your own SaaS solutions with SQL Database by layering a service or website—also
hosted on Azure—over the database. (You’ll do this in Chapter 10.) You could then offer this as a
complete solution to your customers, who interact only with the application through their browser or
mobile device. Your customers are not concerned with any aspects of infrastructure or platform. They
just connect to your application. So, from their perspective, you have delivered true SaaS.

4 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

Getting signed up for SQL Database
To start using SQL Database, you need two things: a Microsoft account and a Microsoft Azure
subscription. It’s quite possible that you already have a Microsoft account, which was formerly known
as a Windows Live ID. This is the same account you might be using today for logging in to various
Microsoft websites and services, such as Outlook.com, Hotmail, Xbox LIVE, Windows Phone, OneDrive
(formerly SkyDrive), and other Microsoft offerings.

Creating a Microsoft account

The very irst step before you can use any Microsoft Azure service is to acquire a Microsoft account
if you don’t already have one. This is essentially an email address and password combination you will
use to create and access your Microsoft Azure subscription. If you already have a Microsoft account,
you can use it now to create a new Azure subscription. There’s no need to create another account,
so you can just skip ahead to the next section, “Creating a Microsoft Azure subscription.” Otherwise,
you’ll need to create one now.

Tip If you already have a Microsoft account but you want to use a different email address
for any reason, you still don’t need to create a new account. You can either rename the
existing account or create an alias. See http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/hotmail/
get-new-outlook-address for more information.

If you do create a new Microsoft account, the user name can be an email address you already own.
Alternatively, you can create a new email address for the account that ends either with @outlook.com
or @hotmail.com. It really makes no difference which you choose, as long as the name you provide
has not already been taken by someone else at either @outlook.com or @hotmail.com. If you do
choose to create a new email address, you will also get a new mailbox account at that address, and
Microsoft will communicate with you via that mailbox any time it needs to notify you about important
information regarding your account.

Whether you use an existing email address or create a new one, you’ll also need to assign a strong
password to protect the Microsoft account. Some additional personal information is also required,
such as your name, gender, one of two forms of identity conirmation, your country, and your
postal/Zip code.

Follow these steps to create your new Microsoft account:

1. Using Internet Explorer, browse to http://signup.live.com. This displays the Create An

Account page, as shown in Figure 1-1.

CHAPTER 1 Getting started with Microsoft Azure SQL Database 5

 FIGURE 1-1 Signing up for a new Microsoft account

2. Provide your irst name and last name.

3. For the Microsoft account user name (which is what you will be logging on to the Microsoft
Azure portal with), provide an existing email address. Or click the Or Get A New Email Address
link to create a new one available on either @outlook.com or @hotmail.com.

4. Supply a password, and then reenter it to conirm. The account requires a strong password
of at least eight characters that must contain a combination of mixed case, numbers, and
symbols.

5. Provide your country and postal/Zip code, birthdate, and gender.

6. Provide a phone number or alternate email address. You must provide at least one of these
identity-conirmation methods.

7. Type the random characters generated to prove that you’re a real person.

8. Click the Create Account button.

If you created a new email address in step 3, a mailbox is created for it and you are directed
immediately to the Account Summary page. If you provided an existing email address, you will receive
an email at that address from the Microsoft account team shortly after clicking Create Account. This

6 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

email is sent to verify that you do, in fact, own the email address you provided. Your new Microsoft
account will not become activated until you click on the veriication link provided in the email.

Creating a Microsoft Azure subscription

Now that you have your Microsoft account, it’s time to create an Azure subscription. The subscription
is essentially your Microsoft Azure billing account, and that opens the gateway to the full range of
services available on Microsoft Azure—including, of course, SQL Database.

In the procedure that follows, you will create a free trial subscription to Microsoft Azure. At the
time of this writing, the free trial gives you $200 of credit for 30 days with access to all services. This
requires providing credit card information that will be used to bill your subscription after your trial
expires.

Important Microsoft Azure pricing and special offers are subject to ongoing change.
We strongly recommend that you visit http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/pricing/
purchase-options/ to review the latest pricing structures available. Furthermore, special
pricing is available for MSDN subscribers. See http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/pricing/
member-offers/msdn-beneits/ for more information.

Follow these steps to create your new Microsoft Azure subscription:

1. Using Internet Explorer, browse to http://www.windowsazure.com.

2. Click the green Try For Free button.

3. On the next page, click the green Try It Now button.

4. If you are not already logged in to your Microsoft account, log in now.

5. You will be taken to the Free Trial Signup page, as shown in Figure 1-2.

CHAPTER 1 Getting started with Microsoft Azure SQL Database 7

 FIGURE 1-2 Signing up for a new free trial Microsoft Azure subscription

6. Choose to either receive a text message or phone call as the method to receive a veriication
code.

7. Enter the code received via the text message or phone call, and click Verify Code.

8. Provide the credit card payment details for billing after the free trial expires.

9. Select the box to indicate that you agree to all the terms.

10. Click the green Sign Up button.

It takes just a few moments to complete setting up your new Azure subscription, and then you’re
ready to get started working with SQL Database and all the other Microsoft Azure services.

Creating a server
It’s easy to create a server, which is akin to an instance of SQL Server in the sense that it can host
multiple databases. All you need to do is create an administrator account user name with a strong
password, and specify the geographical region where the server should be located physically. To
achieve the best performance, you should choose the region closest to your consumers. As we discuss
in Chapter 2, “Coniguration and pricing,” you will also want to be sure that any Microsoft Azure cloud

8 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

Web sites and services (such as the ones you’ll create in Chapter 10) are hosted in the same region as
the SQL Database servers they communicate with. By locating both in the same region, you will avoid
the bandwidth-based fee that gets incurred when your cloud sites, services, and databases commu-
nicate across different Azure regions. You will also reduce latency, which results in signiicantly better
performance.

SQL Database also has special irewall rules you can set to control exactly which computer or
computers can access your database server in the cloud. Minimally, you’ll need to add a rule granting
access to the IP address of your computer so that you can access the server from your local machine.
For production, you might need to add rules granting access to blocks of IP addresses. You will learn
more about irewall rules in Chapters 2 and 5.

Follow these steps to create a new server:

1. Log in to the Microsoft Azure portal at https://manage.windowsazure.com. This brings you

to the main portal page showing ALL ITEMS, as shown in Figure 1-3.

Note The irst time you log into the portal, you are welcomed with a message
that offers to give you a brief tour. You can take the tour if you wish, or close the
message to proceed to the main portal page.

FIGURE 1-3 The Microsoft Azure Management Portal with no services yet conigured

2. As illustrated in Figure 1-4, irst click SQL DATABASES in the vertical navigation pane
on the left, then click SERVERS at the top of the page, and then click CREATE A SQL
DATABASE SERVER.

CHAPTER 1 Getting started with Microsoft Azure SQL Database 9

 2

FIGURE 1-4 The CREATE A SQL DATABASE SERVER link on the SQL DATABASES page

3. Provide a new server login name—for example, saz.

4. Supply a password for the new server, and then reenter it to conirm. Typical strong password
rules apply, which require you to use a combination of mixed case, numbers, and symbols.

5. Choose a region from the drop-down list—for example, East US. For best performance, pick
the region you are located in or nearest to.

6. Be sure to leave the ALLOW WINDOWS AZURE SERVICES TO ACCESS THE SERVER check box
selected. This makes the server accessible to the Microsoft Azure cloud services that you’ll
create or use in other chapters (Microsoft Azure was formerly called Windows Azure). The
page should appear similar to Figure 1-5.

10 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 FIGURE 1-5 The CREATE SERVER dialog

7. Click the checkmark icon on the lower-right side of the dialog to complete the settings. After
just a few moments, the new server is provisioned and ready to use, as shown in Figure 1-6.

FIGURE 1-6 The new SQL Database server

CHAPTER 1 Getting started with Microsoft Azure SQL Database 11

 If you’ve ever prepared a new on-premises server from scratch yourself, you can really appreci-
ate the time and effort you just saved. This server is now available and ready to host databases in the
cloud, and SQL Database has automatically assigned a randomly unique (but relatively short) name by
which it can be accessed. But before access is granted, the server irewall must be conigured. So the
next step is to add a irewall rule so that you can connect to the server from your local machine.

The check box mentioned in step 6 added the special IP address 0.0.0.0, which allows cloud
services running on Microsoft Azure to access the SQL Database server. However, you still need
to add the IP address of your local machine to access the server from the SQL Database manage-
ment portal and other tools (such as SQL Server Management Studio and SQL Server Data Tools in
Microsoft Visual Studio, which you learn more about in later chapters).

To add a irewall rule for the IP address of your local machine, follow these steps:

1. Click the server name, and then click the CONFIGURE link at the top of the page.

2. To the right of your current detected IP address, click ADD TO THE ALLOWED IP ADDRESSES,
as shown in Figure 1-7. A new irewall rule for your IP address is added.

FIGURE 1-7 Adding your local IP address to the list of IP addresses allowed though the irewall

3. Click SAVE at the bottom of the page.

4. Click the back icon (the large back-pointing arrow) to return to the SQL DATABASES page for
the new server.

You might need to wait a few moments for the new irewall rule to take effect, although typically
it happens very quickly (often within ive to ten seconds). If you don’t wait long enough, however, and
the rule has not yet taken effect, you can be quite certain that you will not be able to connect to the
server from your local machine until it does.

12 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

Creating a SQL Database instance
It will be just about as easy to create a database as it was to create the server. You simply need to
choose a name for the new database, an edition, a maximum size, a default collation, and of course,
the server to host the database on.

In Chapter 2, you’ll learn more about the different options for database edition and maximum size.
For right now, the important thing to know is that all these settings (except for the default collation)
can be easily changed later on. As part of the elastic scaling provided by SQL Database, you can
freely switch back and forth between the Web and Business editions. You can also switch up and
down between the sizes (1 GB or 5 GB for the Web edition, or 10 GB through 150 GB for the Business
edition) as your changing needs dictate. And if 150 GB is still too small for you, you can partition your
database using special sharding techniques, as we explain in Chapter 8, “Designing and tuning for
scalability and high performance.”

Follow these steps to create a new SQL Database:

1. If you are continuing from the previous procedure, click the DATABASES link at the top of the
page and then skip to step 4. Otherwise, if you have logged out since then and are starting
fresh, continue with step 2.

2. Log in to the Microsoft Azure portal at https://manage.windowsazure.com. This brings you

to the main portal page showing ALL ITEMS, as shown in Figure 1-3 earlier.

3. Click SQL DATABASES in the vertical navigation pane on the left.

4. Click CREATE A SQL DATABASE, as shown in Figure 1-8. This opens the NEW SQL DATABASE
dialog.

FIGURE 1-8 The CREATE A SQL DATABASE link on the portal’s SQL DATABASES page

CHAPTER 1 Getting started with Microsoft Azure SQL Database 13

www.itbookshub.com
 5. Type the name for the new database, WineCloudDb (yes, you’ll be in the wine business).

6. Leave the default settings to create a Web edition database up to 1 GB in size using the
SQL_Lating1_GeneralCP1_CI_AS collation.

Note Chapter 2 discusses the Web and Business editions, the maximum database
sizes, and the signiicance of SQL Database collations.

7. Choose the server you created in the previous procedure from the drop-down list. The page
should appear similar to Figure 1-9.

FIGURE 1-9 The NEW SQL DATABASE dialog

8. Click the checkmark icon in the lower right of the dialog to complete the settings.

After a few more moments, the new WineCloudDb database is created and ready to use, as shown
in Figure 1-10.

14 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 FIGURE 1-10 The new WineCloudDb SQL Database

Using the SQL Database management portal

Up to this point, you’ve used the Microsoft Azure management portal to create a SQL Database
server and database. The Azure management portal is an HTML-based interface, which—
parenthetically—replaced the earlier Silverlight-based interface back in mid-2012. Actually designing
a database, however, is performed using a different portal, the SQL Database management portal,
which is still Silverlight-based at the time of this writing. In this section, you’ll learn how to access the
SQL Database management portal from the Microsoft Azure management portal.

Follow these steps to access the SQL Database management portal:

1. If you are continuing from the previous procedure, skip to step 4. Otherwise, if you have
logged out, continue with step 2.

2. Log in to the Microsoft Azure portal at https://manage.windowsazure.com. This brings you

to the main portal page showing ALL ITEMS, as shown in Figure 1-3 earlier.

3. Click SQL DATABASES in the vertical navigation pane on the left.

4. Click the WineCloudDb database.

5. Click the DASHBOARD link at the top of the page.

6. Scroll the page down a bit, and ind the MANAGE URL link in the quick glance section at the
right of the page, as shown in Figure 1-11.

CHAPTER 1 Getting started with Microsoft Azure SQL Database 15

 FIGURE 1-11 Finding the link to the SQL Database management portal for database WineCloudDb

7. Click the MANAGE URL link. This opens a new browser tab to the SQL Database portal’s login
page.

Note The SQL Database portal is Silverlight-based. If you don’t have Silverlight
installed, you will irst be prompted to download it before you can use the portal.

8. Type the user name (for example, saz) and password you speciied when you created the
server, as shown in Figure 1-12.

FIGURE 1-12 The SQL Database management portal login page

16 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 9. Click Log On. Once you have authenticated, you are taken to the Summary view of the
Administration tab for the database, as shown in Figure 1-13.

FIGURE 1-13 The Summary view shows properties for the WineCloudDb database

Designing tables and relationships

Now you’re ready to create some tables. You’ll create two tables now, though you will extend this design a
bit more in other chapters. It’s easy to create a new table, as you’ll see in the next procedure. Just click
the Design tab on the left side of the page and then click New Table, as shown in Figure 1-14.

FIGURE 1-14 Creating a new table

CHAPTER 1 Getting started with Microsoft Azure SQL Database 17

 This opens the table designer, which you’ll use now to create a table for storing wine products, as
shown in Figure 1-15.

FIGURE 1-15 Deining the Wine table using the portal’s table designer

Creating the Wine table

First create the Wine table. Every row in this table is another wine product that your company sells
to customers, so you’ll design the Wine table to include the columns WineId (the primary key that
uniquely identiies each individual wine product), Name, Category, and Year.

To create the Wine table, follow these steps:

1. Log in to the SQL Database management portal for the WineCloudDb database, as described
in the previous procedure.

2. Click the Design tab on the left side of the page.

3. Click New Table. The table designer opens with a default name of Table1, an integer ID
column, and two string columns named Column1 and Column2.

4. Change the Table Name to Wine.

5. Change the ID column name to WineId, leaving it as the required primary key.

6. Select the Is Identity? check box for the WineId column. When you insert new wine products
into the table, this setting tells SQL Database to automatically assign incremental integer
values for this column in each new row.

7. Change the Column1 column name to Name, leaving it as a required nvarchar(50) string.

8. Change the Column2 column name to Category, leaving it as a required nvarchar(15) string.

9. Click Add Column. This adds another integer column named Column1 to the table design.

18 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 10. Change the new column name to Year, and leave it as an optional integer (meaning you do
not select the Is Required? check box).

11. Click Save in the toolbar at the top of the designer.

You have now created the Wine table, which should appear similar to the image shown in
Figure 1-15 earlier.

Creating the Customer table

Now follow a similar procedure to create the Customer table, with the columns CustomerId (the
primary key), FirstName, LastName, and FavoriteWineId. The FavoriteWineId column relates to the
WineId primary key column in the Wine table, so FavoriteWineId in the Customer table is a foreign key.
After creating the Customer table, you will establish a relationship between its FavoriteWineId foreign
key column and the primary key column WineId in the Wine table.

To create the Customer table, follow these steps:

1. Click the [WineCloudDb] tab on the top left side of the page.

2. Click the Design tab on the bottom left. This takes you to the same page you used before
when you created the Wine table. (See Figure 1-14.)

3. Click New Table.

4. Change the Table Name to Customer.

5. Change the ID column name to CustomerId, leaving it as the required primary key.

6. Select the Is Identity? check box for the CustomerId column.

7. Change the Column1 column name to FirstName, leaving it as a required nvarchar(50) string.

8. Change the Column2 column name to LastName, leaving it as a required nvarchar(15) string.

9. Click Add Column.

10. Change the new column name to FavoriteWineId, leaving it as an optional integer (meaning
you do not select the Is Required? check box).

11. Click Save.

Now the database has Wine and Customer tables. These tables store (obviously) your wine
products and your customers, though (equally obviously) they are both empty at this point.

Deining the table relationship

Before populating the tables with data, you will establish the foreign-key relationship between
FavoriteWineId in the Customer table and WineId in the Wine table. Note that it isn’t strictly neces-
sary to do this. However, it’s best practice to let SQL Database know about the relationships between
tables so that it can enforce referential integrity in your data. (For example, SQL Database will ensure

CHAPTER 1 Getting started with Microsoft Azure SQL Database 19

 that the integer value in each customer’s FavoriteWineId column refers to an existing row in the Wine
table that can be located by WineId.) It also helps SQL Database devise more eficient query plans
internally when you join on table relationship in your queries.

The SQL Database management portal offers a foreign-key management experience that makes
deining the relationship easy, as shown in Figure 1-16.

FIGURE 1-16 Deining table relationships using the foreign-key designer

To deine the relationship between the two tables, follow these steps:

1. While still in the Customer table design page, click Indexes And Keys at the top of the page.

2. On the right side of the page, click Add A Foreign Key Relationship. The foreign-key designer
appears as shown in Figure 1-16.

3. Select the FavoriteWineId column in the Customer table. This speciies the foreign-key column.

4. Change the foreign-key name (assigned as FK_Customer_0 by default) to FK_Customer_Wine.

5. Click Select A Reference Table, and choose Wine.

6. Click Select A Reference Column, and choose WineId.

7. Click Save.

The relationship is created, and the designer should now appear similar to Figure 1-17.

FIGURE 1-17 A completed table relationship in the foreign-key designer

20 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

Inserting data
Most likely, you’ll be migrating from existing on-premises SQL Server databases (as we cover in
Chapter 4, “Migrating databases”), or perhaps you’ll be building applications that load data into
the database (covered in Chapter 10). But for quick and raw data entry, the SQL Database manage-
ment portal offers a convenient way to interactively insert rows of data into tables (as you can see in
Figure 1-18), without coding Transact-SQL (T-SQL) INSERT statements.

FIGURE 1-18 Populating a table with data

To populate the Wine table with sample products, follow these steps:

1. Log in to the SQL Database management portal for the WineCloudDb database, and navigate
to the Wine table design page, as you did in previous procedures.

2. Click Data at the top of the page.

3. Click Add Row.

4. Enter a row with Name, Category, and Year values of Chateau Penin, Bordeaux, and 2008,
respectively.

Note Because you selected the Is Identity? check box for the WineId column
when you designed the table, the designer displays <auto> to indicate that SQL
Database will automatically assign a value for WineId when you save these rows
to the database.

CHAPTER 1 Getting started with Microsoft Azure SQL Database 21

 5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 to enter three more wines to add to the table as follows:

a. Enter a row for McLaren Valley, Cabernet, 2005.

b. Enter a row for Mendoza, Merlot, 2010.

c. Enter a row for Valle Central, Merlot, 2009.

6. Click Save in the toolbar at the top of the page.

None of the data you entered is actually saved to the database until you click Save in step 6. At
that point, the rows are inserted and the display is refreshed to show the WineId primary-key values
that were automatically assigned by SQL Database. Being the very irst four rows added to the table,
those primary keys were assigned the numbers 1 through 4, as shown in Figure 1-19.

FIGURE 1-19 The Wine table populated with rows of data with automatically assigned primary-key identity values

Now add some data to the Customer table. You’ll use the same procedure you just followed for the
Wine table. The only additional consideration to keep in mind is that each customer has a foreign-key
value that identiies that customer’s favorite wine. Because you informed SQL Database about this
foreign-key relationship in a previous procedure, you can only supply a value of 1 through 4 for each
customer’s FavoriteWineId column (or other integers for rows that are added to the Wine table in the
future). Your only other option is to supply NULL, because FavoriteWineId is optional (meaning that
it’s OK if the customer’s favorite wine is unknown). Otherwise, as we’ll demonstrate, SQL Database will
not permit you to add a customer row with a non-NULL value for FavoriteWineId that does not have a
related row in the Wine table.

To populate the Customer table, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the Customer table design page.

2. Click Data at the top of the page.

22 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

3. Click Add Row

4. Enter a row with FirstName, LastName, and FavoriteWineId values of Jeff, Hay, and 4,
respectively.

5. Click Add Row again to enter another row for Mark, Hanson, 3.

6. Click Save to save the rows to the database. The two rows are automatically assigned primary
key values of 1 and 2 for the CustomerId column.

7. Click Add Row again to enter a third row for Jeff, Phillips, but this time type a 6 for the
FavoriteWineId.

8. Click Save. Now SQL Database complains of an error.

9. Expand the Error Details as shown in Figure 1-20. This displays the error message describing
the foreign-key conlict that occurred because there is no row in the Wine table with a WineId
of 6.

FIGURE 1-20 Error message displayed when attempting to violate a deined foreign-key relationship

10. Correct the problem by changing the 6 to a 2.

11. Click Save. Now Jeff Phillips gets saved to the Customer table. (See Figure 1-21.)

FIGURE 1-21 The Customer table populated with several rows of data

CHAPTER 1 Getting started with Microsoft Azure SQL Database 23

www.itbookshub.com
 Interestingly, the Jeff Phillips row was assigned a primary key value of 4, skipping over the next
available value (which, after Mark Hanson, would have been 3). This is because the number 3 got
“used up” during the failed insert attempt that occurred with the foreign-key conlict,

Querying the database

Now you have a database with two related, populated tables. The next logical step is to query this
data. Because SQL Database is essentially an adapted version of on-premises SQL Server tailored for
running on Microsoft Azure, most typical queries can be expressed using the same T-SQL syntax that
works with on-premises SQL Server. So the Customer and Wine tables can be easily joined together
to display the names of each customer’s favorite wine. Furthermore, they can be iltered to limit the
results by some speciic criteria.

The SQL Database management portal has an ad-hoc query window that lets you run T-SQL
queries and view their results. To query for customers and their favorite wines, follow these steps:

1. Log in to the SQL Database management portal for the WineCloudDb database.

2. Click New Query at the top of the page to open a new query window.

3. Type the following T-SQL code into the query window:

SELECT
c.FirstName,
c.LastName,
w.Category,
w.Name
FROM
Customer AS c
LEFT OUTER JOIN Wine AS w ON c.FavoriteWineId = w.WineId
ORDER BY
c.LastName, c.FirstName;

4. Click Run at the top of the page. SQL Database executes the query and displays the results in
the bottom portion of the query window, as shown in Figure 1-22.

24 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 FIGURE 1-22 Creating and running a query that joins customers with their favorite wine

5. Modify the query by adding a WHERE clause. Just before the ORDER BY clause, type WHERE
w.Category = ‘Merlot’

6. Click Run again. The query executes once more, this time returning only customers whose
favorite wine is a Merlot, as shown in Figure 1-23.

FIGURE 1-23 Applying a query ilter using the WHERE clause

CHAPTER 1 Getting started with Microsoft Azure SQL Database 25

 7. Change the WHERE clause of the query from w.Category = ‘Merlot’ to w.Year < 2010.

8. Click Run once more. This time, the query ilters on the wine year, as shown in Figure 1-24.

FIGURE 1-24 Filtering on the customer’s favorite wine year

In step 3, notice how you joined the Customer and Wine tables in the query’s FROM clause. The
LEFT OUTER JOIN ensures that customer rows are returned even if they contain a NULL in Favorite-
WineId—that is, even if they have no favorite wine. Using an INNER JOIN instead would automatically
exclude customers without a favorite wine.

The initial version of this query had no WHERE clause, and with a LEFT OUTER JOIN, there was no
iltering at all. So, at irst, it returned every customer and displayed their favorite wine. (NULL would
be returned for the wine name and category for customers without a favorite wine.)

By adding the WHERE clause in step 5, you asked SQL Database to ilter the results to include only
customers whose favorite wine is any kind of Merlot. The Wine table was aliased as w in the FROM
clause, so w.Category in the WHERE clause refers to, and ilters by, the Category column in the row
joined in from the Wine table. Running this version of the query returns just the two customers with
Merlot as their favorite wine category.

In step 7, you changed the WHERE clause to ilter by w.Year, which is the year of the wine. Notice
how this column is not actually in the result set returned by the SELECT statement, yet it is perfectly
valid to ilter on it. This version of the query now returns the two customers with favorite wines (in any
category) older than 2010. These are Jeff Hay (with a Velle Central Merlot from 2009) and Jeff Phillips
(with a McLaren Valley Cabernet from 2005). Mark Hanson’s favorite wine is the Mendoza Merlot, but
he is iltered out from these results because that wine is from 2010, and the query is returning only
customer rows with favorite wines that are older than 2010.

26 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

Exploring additional portal capabilities
In just this irst chapter alone, you’ve already accomplished quite a lot with SQL Database. You’ve
created a server and a database, deined tables with relationships, populated data, and executed
queries. And you’ve done all those things with nothing more than a browser, using the Microsoft
Azure management portal and the Microsoft Azure SQL Database management portal. But all that is
still just scratching the surface of what’s possible.

The SQL Database management portal has matured greatly since the early days of Microsoft Azure
(when it was called the SQL Azure management portal). And you can expect it to continue evolving—
quite possibly even by the time this book goes to press. Before concluding the chapter, we recom-
mend you take the time to examine some of these additional capabilities available in the current SQL
Database management portal at the time of this writing.

Creating views
Views are essentially encapsulated queries that are stored in the database. In most respects, your
queries can treat views just as ordinary tables.

For example, you could create three views that encapsulate the three versions of the query from
the previous section “Querying the database.” You might name those three views as follows:

■ CustomersWithFavoriteView

■ CustomersWIthFavoriteMerlotView

■ CustomersWithFavoritePre2010View

With those views in place, it becomes much easier to query the database. For example, you can
just select from the CustomersWithFavoriteMerlotView, instead of writing the lengthier version of the
query that joins the Customer and Wine tables.

Creating stored procedures

Like views, stored procedures can also encapsulate queries, but they can also do much more than
that. In addition to returning data from queries, stored procedures can contain any T-SQL logic. They
can also accept parameters, update data, and call other stored procedures.

Stored procedures are commonplace in professional relational databases. They are often used to
protect underlying tables from inappropriate usage. They can also build on views, implement business
logic, or further abstract details of the underlying database structure—hiding the way that tables,
views, and columns are named; how the table relationships are deined; and so on. Essentially, and
particularly from the perspective of designing multitiered layered architectures, stored procedures
can be effectively leveraged to implement a service layer over your data, at the database level.

Here’s a stored procedure you can create that joins the Customer and Wine tables to return
customers with their favorite wine, just as you did in the previous query. But this stored procedure
will have some added lexibility; it will accept a @FavoriteWineId parameter so that the results can be
limited to returning just those customers whose favorite wine matches the value passed in through

CHAPTER 1 Getting started with Microsoft Azure SQL Database 27

 this parameter. If NULL is speciied for @FavoriteWineId, the stored procedure will return all custom-
ers. As before, you will use an OUTER JOIN, so if no parameter value is passed, even customers with
no favorite wines will be returned (and NULL will be returned for the name of their favorite wine). You
will aptly name this stored procedure GetCustomers.

To create the GetCustomers stored procedure, follow these steps:

1. Log in to the Microsoft Azure SQL Database portal.

2. Click the Design tab on the left side of the page.

3. Click Stored Procedures at the top of the page.

4. Click New Stored Procedure. The stored procedure designer opens with a default name of
Stored Procedure1.

5. Change the Stored Procedure name to GetCustomers.

6. Click Add Parameter to create a new parameter named @Parameter1 with a data type of
nvarchar(50).

7. Change the parameter name to @FavoriteWineId.

8. Click the drop-down list beneath Select Type to change the parameter data type to int.

9. Type the following code into the code window:

SELECT
c.FirstName, c.LastName, w.Category, w.Name
FROM
Customer AS c
LEFT OUTER JOIN Wine AS w ON c.FavoriteWineId = w.WineId
WHERE
(@FavoriteWineId IS NULL) OR (c.FavoriteWineId = @FavoriteWineId)
ORDER BY
c.LastName, c.FirstName;

10. Click Save at the top of the page.

Your screen show appear similar to Figure 1-25.

28 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

FIGURE 1-25 Designing the GetCustomers stored procedure

As we explained, this stored procedure accepts an integer parameter named @FavoriteWineId.

The stored procedure encapsulates the same join logic between Customer and Wine in the FROM
clause you’ve already seen, but it also adds logic in the WHERE clause to determine if a favorite wine
was requested (that is, if the value for the @FavoriteWineId parameter was not passed in as NULL).
It therefore returns either all customers (if NULL was passed in for @FavoriteWineId) or only those
customers with favorite wines that match the value in @FavoriteWineId.

To test the stored procedure, follow these steps:

1. Click New Query at the top of the page to open a new query window.

2. In the new query window, type EXEC GetCustomers @FavoriteWineId = NULL.

3. Click Run at the top of the page to execute the stored procedure, passing in NULL for the
@FavoriteWineId parameter. SQL Database returns all three customers and the names of their
favorite wine.

4. Modify the EXEC statement from step 2 by changing NULL to 3, which is the WineId for the
2010 Mendoza Merlot.

5. Click Run again. This time, only Mark Hanson is returned, because (currently) he’s the only
customer that has selected 2010 Mendoza Merlot as his favorite wine.

CHAPTER 1 Getting started with Microsoft Azure SQL Database 29

 Database administration features
The SQL Database management portal also offers several database administration features you
should be aware of, such as DACPAC and BACPAC support (for migration and backup) and event
tracking.

The portal supports the Data-tier Application Component Package ile format, commonly referred
to as DACPAC iles. A DACPAC ile contains the complete deinition of a database, and it can be lever-
aged for streamlined incremental deployments of the database design. A BACPAC ile is similar, except
that in addition to the deinition of the database, it includes actual data as well. In the management
portal, there is full support for importing and exporting DACPAC and BACPAC iles. Locally, SQL
Server Data Tools (SSDT) in Visual Studio can also be used to deine DACPAC iles and deploy them to
Microsoft Azure SQL Database. You will learn more about DACPAC and BACPAC in later chapters.

You can also track events from the SQL Database management portal. This lets you keep an eye on
things like database connections (whether they succeed or fail), deadlocks, and throttling events.

Summary
This chapter got you acquainted with Microsoft Azure SQL Database. We began with an overview of
Azure and cloud computing, and then demonstrated how easy it is to get signed up for a Microsoft
account and an Azure subscription. You then used the Microsoft Azure management portal to quickly
create a new server, and then create a new database on that server.

You also learned how to use the SQL Database portal (which you launched from the Microsoft
Azure portal using a special management URL) to design the database. You created and populated
two related tables, and then you opened a query window to run a few SELECT queries that joined the
tables. You also learned about creating views, creating stored procedures, and the availability of other
database administration features in the SQL Database management portal.

Now that we’ve introduced you to the SQL Database platform, you’re ready to move on to
Chapter 2, where we will delve more deeply into the details of setup and coniguration.

30 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

CHAPTER 2

Coniguration and pricing

—Leonard Lobel

N ow that you have your irst database up and running, you’re ready to explore additional options
for managing the setup and coniguration of SQL Database. You’ll learn more capabilities of the
Microsoft Azure management portal you started working with in Chapter 1, “Getting started with
Microsoft Azure SQL Database” as well as Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) and
Windows PowerShell, all of which can be used to administer SQL Database.

In this chapter, we show you how to use the aforementioned tools to create and drop (delete)
databases. Many other chapters in this book also use SSMS to perform more detailed actions and
speciic tasks. After acquainting you with these tools, the chapter concludes with a discussion of
pricing and provides helpful tips for reducing the cost of using SQL Database.

Using the Microsoft Azure platform management portal

As you saw in Chapter 1, the Microsoft Azure management portal provides a good basic interface
for creating and provisioning new SQL Database servers and databases. In this section, you’ll learn
more about how the portal can be used to create databases with the Quick Create and Custom Create
options, allow client access with irewall rules, obtain connection strings, and delete databases.

Creating a new database

The management portal offers three options for creating a new database: Quick Create, Custom
Create, and Import.

Quick Create is the fastest and easiest way to create a database. If you are ine with a 1-gigabyte
(GB) Web edition database and the default collation for North American and Western European lan-
guages, use the Quick Create option. (The different editions are explained later in this chapter in the
section “Coniguring the database edition and size.”) If you need to customize the language settings
to support other language types stored in the database, or if you want to preset the database for a
larger size than 1 GB, use the Custom Create option. Finally, if you already have an existing database
(either a Microsoft Azure SQL Database on another server or an on-premises SQL Server database)
that you want to bring into a particular Microsoft Azure SQL Database server, use the Import option.

31
 Warning You can change the database edition and size at a later time, but not the
collation. So if most users of this database are outside of the U.S. and western Europe,
make sure to set the appropriate collation to support the required languages when you
create the database.

Quick Create
With Quick Create, you need to supply only two pieces of information to create a database: The name
of the new database, and the name of the existing server that the new database should be hosted on
(although, indeed, Quick Create will allow you to create a new server for the database on the ly, at
the same time the database is created.

To create a new SQL Database using Quick Create, follow these steps:

1. Log in to the Microsoft Azure portal at https://manage.windowsazure.com. This brings you

to the main portal page showing ALL ITEMS.

2. Click SQL DATABASES in the vertical navigation pane on the left.

3. Click the NEW button at the bottom of the page.

4. Click QUICK CREATE, as shown in Figure 2-1.

FIGURE 2-1 Using Quick Create to create a new database.

32 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 5. For DATABASE NAME, type MyQuickCreateDb.

6. For SERVER, choose any available server from the drop-down list to host the database (or
choose New SQL Database Server from the drop-down list to create a new server on the ly).

7. Click CREATE SQL DATABASE.

After a brief moment, the MyQuickCreateDb database is created and ready for use. This is a 1-GB
Web Edition SQL Database with the default collation.

Custom Create
With Custom Create, you have control over the options for the new database that you don’t get
with Quick Create. These options include the database edition, size, and collation. Indeed, you used
Custom Create in Chapter 1 to create the WineCloudDb database, you just invoked it differently, by
clicking the CREATE A SQL DATABASE link. (Refer back to Figure 1-9.)

Database editions and size are discussed later in this chapter in the section “Coniguring the
database edition and size,” but the important thing to know up front is that you can always change
these settings later on, after the database is created. The collation, however, cannot be changed once
the database is created. Collation is important when you need to use languages other than western
European languages. For example, if your main audience needs its data stored in Mandarin, Cyrillic, or
Arabic, you should set the collation appropriately.

Follow these steps to create a new SQL Database using Custom Create:

1. Log in to the Microsoft Azure portal at https://manage.windowsazure.com. This brings you

to the main portal page showing ALL ITEMS.

2. Click SQL DATABASES in the vertical navigation pane on the left.

3. Click the NEW button at the bottom of the page.

4. Click CUSTOM CREATE. This opens the NEW SQL DATABASE dialog, as shown in Figure 2-2.

CHAPTER 2 Coniguration and pricing 33

www.itbookshub.com
 FIGURE 2-2 Using the NEW SQL DATABASE dialog with Custom Create.

5. For DATABASE NAME, type MyCustomCreateDb.

6. Choose the edition (Web for 1 to 5 GB, or Business for 10 to 150 GB).

7. Select the collation appropriate for your data.

8. For SERVER, choose any available server from the drop-down list to host the database (or
choose New SQL Database Server from the drop-down list to create a new server on the ly).

9. Click the checkmark “inish” button to complete the settings.

After a brief moment, the MyCustomCreateDb database is created and conigured with the edition,
size, and collation you speciied.

Importing a database
A third way of creating a database in the portal is to import an existing database from a BACPAC ile.
A BACPAC ile is, essentially, a backup of an entire database (schema and data), stored as a binary
large object (BLOB).

You can create a BACPAC ile from a local SQL Server (on-premises) database or from a SQL
Database on Azure. Once you have a BACPAC ile, you can import it to SQL Database. This makes it

34 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

easy to back up or migrate databases across multiple SQL Server instances and Microsoft Azure SQL
Database servers, datacenters, and subscriptions.

Importing (and exporting) databases on Azure is facilitated by storing BACPAC iles in Azure Blob
Storage. This, in turn, requires the creation of a Microsoft Azure Storage Account, which is simply an
account that provides access to cloud storage for your BACPAC iles. The entire process is explained in
Chapter 4, in the section “SQL data-tier applications.”

Setting irewall rules

Most of the time, you want your production SQL Databases to be accessed by only your production
cloud services. Thus, the irewall settings for the server are set up by default to limit access only
within the Microsoft Azure datacenters. However, you (and others) will sometimes need to access the
databases directly from tools (such as SSMS and Microsoft Visual Studio) running on your own local
machines. To do so, you need to create a whitelist of the IP address of users attempting to access the
database over the Internet.

It is important to understand that the IP address that needs to be speciied is not your IP address
on your local network, but the IP address that the Microsoft Azure datacenter sees when you attempt
to access something. So if you are accessing the database from your ofice, it is the public static
IP address of the ofice router that needs to be speciied. For example, if you have IP addresses as
shown in Figure 2-3, the address you need for the irewall coniguration is the public static IP address
123.456.789.012.

Office
Azure Datacenter

Office Azure SQL

Computer
Router Database

Local Address: Public Address:

192.168.1.x 123.456.789.012

FIGURE 2-3 Public IP address of Internet Gateway Router requires access to SQL Database in the Microsoft Azure
datacenter.

The method by which you ind the appropriate IP address differs depending on whether you are
behind that same public router or not. The next two sections describe how to enable the irewall rules
in these two scenarios.

Enabling access to the local network

In Chapter 1, you already added the public IP address for your local machine. (Refer back to
Figure 1-7.) This section shows you how to add additional IP addresses; for example, if you were at
home when you worked on Chapter 1, and now you’re working on Chapter 2 from work.

CHAPTER 2 Coniguration and pricing 35

 To update the irewall rules with another IP address, follow these steps:

1. Log in to the Microsoft Azure portal at https://manage.windowsazure.com. This brings you

to the main portal page showing ALL ITEMS.

2. Click SQL DATABASES in the vertical navigation pane on the left. This shows a list of available
databases, which should include the WineCloudDb database you created in Chapter 1.

3. Click on the database name WineCloudDb. This displays a page of quick-start links for the
database.

4. Click the Set Up Windows Azure Firewall Rules For This IP Address link, as shown in Figure 2-4
(Microsoft Azure was formerly called Windows Azure). Again, if you already added the same
IP address as in Chapter 1, you will receive an error message stating that the IP address has
already been added to the irewall rules (which is expected, of course).

FIGURE 2-4 The quick-start link to create a irewall rule for the local network.

5. When prompted to update the irewall rules, as shown in Figure 2-5, click YES.

FIGURE 2-5 Automatically set up a irewall for this address.

36 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

Enabling access to a remote IP address
The previous scenario works if your computer is on the same network with the same public IP address
as your computer or other computers that should be authorized to log in to the database. But what
if you need to authorize some other computer at a different location on the Internet to be able to
access the database? You need to ind the public IP address of those other computers and add those
IP addresses to the irewall rules as well.

To open the irewall for a remote user who needs access to the database, you normally need to
contact a network administrator to learn the IP address or addresses. If you can’t or don’t want to
reach out to the administrator, you can open the irewall for the remote user by working coopera-
tively, with the help of whatismyipaddress.com.

To do so, follow these steps:

1. Ask the remote user to log on to a computer on her network.

2. Have the user open a browser and navigate to the website http://whatismyipaddress.com.

3. Have the user read the IP address that the website reports to them and write it down.

4. Log in to the Microsoft Azure portal at https://manage.windowsazure.com. This brings you

to the main portal page showing ALL ITEMS.

5. Click SQL DATABASES in the vertical navigation pane on the left.

6. Click the server name of the database to which the remote user needs access.

7. Click the CONFIGURE link at the top of the page. You will see a page that shows all the allowed
IP addresses (the whitelist), which should already include the one for your local machine that
was previously added automatically.

8. In the RULE NAME text box, enter a descriptive name (no spaces allowed) for the remote user
or group to which you are granting access to the database—for example, RemoteDevOfice.

9. Enter the IP address you wrote down in step 3 (the one the remote user reported from
whatismyipaddress.com) into both the START IP ADDRESS and END IP ADDRESS text boxes. (In
this scenario, you are creating a rule for a single address, but these text boxes can also be used
to specify a range of IP addresses as desired.) The page should appear similar to Figure 2-6.

CHAPTER 2 Coniguration and pricing 37

 FIGURE 2-6 Adding a new IP address to the irewall rules for a server.

10. Click the SAVE button at the bottom of the page.

The speciied IP address can now reach the database.

Obtaining connection strings

If you are building a client application that connects to this SQL Database, you’ll need the connection
string for the database. You can obtain connection strings in a number of different formats that are
suitable for the most common database clients, including ADO.NET, ODBC, PHP, and JDBC.

To obtain the connection string of the WineCloudDb database for various database clients, follow
these steps:

1. Log in to the Microsoft Azure portal at https://manage.windowsazure.com. This brings you

to the main portal page showing ALL ITEMS.

2. Click SQL DATABASES in the vertical navigation pane on the left. This shows a list of available
databases, which should include the WineCloudDb database you created in Chapter 1.

3. Click on the database name WineCloudDb. This displays a page of quick-start links for the
database.

4. Click the View SQL Database Connection Strings For ADO.Net, ODBC, HPP, And JDBC link,
as shown in Figure 2-7. Also, take note of the server name beneath the link, which is always
sufixed with .database.windows.net. You will need this server name to connect to SQL
Database using SSMS a bit further on in the chapter.

38 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 FIGURE 2-7 The quick-start link to display database connection strings.

5. The page displays the connections strings, as shown in Figure 2-8. Each connection string
appears in a text box (that scrolls, if necessary), from which you can easily copy and paste into
your client application.

FIGURE 2-8 Viewing the database connection strings for ADO.NET, ODBC, PHP, and JDBC.

CHAPTER 2 Coniguration and pricing 39

 Deleting a database
When you no longer need a database (or server), you can use the management portal to delete it.
In this section, you will delete the MyQuickCreateDb and MyCustomCreateDb databases you created
earlier in this chapter.

To delete the unwanted databases, follow these steps:

1. Log in to the Microsoft Azure portal at https://manage.windowsazure.com. This brings you

to the main portal page showing ALL ITEMS.

2. Click SQL DATABASES in the vertical navigation pane on the left. This shows a list of available
databases, which should include the MyQuickCreateDb and MyCustomCreateDb databases
you created earlier in this chapter.

3. Click to select the row for MyQuickCreateDb. (Don’t click in the NAME or SERVER columns.)

4. Click the DELETE button at the bottom of the page.

5. Click YES, DELETE when prompted that the database will be permanently deleted.

6. Repeat steps 3, 4, and 5 to delete the MyCustomCreateDb database.

The management portal is great for working with SQL Database from any computer with a web
browser, without requiring any other special software or tools. Alternatively, there are a number of
local tools available that can also connect to and work with SQL Database. This includes SSMS and
PowerShell, which are covered next in this chapter, as well as SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT), which is
covered in Chapter 10.

Using SQL Server Management Studio

You can also administer SQL Database using SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS), which (as of
SSMS 2008 R2) has partial support for Microsoft Azure SQL Database built in. This section explains
how to use SSMS to connect to your SQL Database server. You will then learn how to create, alter, and
drop SQL Databases from within SSMS.

You must already have SSMS installed to follow the procedures in this section. If you don’t already
have SSMS, you can download it for free (either by itself, or along with SQL Server Express edition).
Instructions for downloading SSMS can be found in the Introduction.

Once you connect with SSMS, you can use Object Explorer to navigate between objects in SQL
Database just as you can with an on-premises SQL Server database. However, most of the other
graphical designers and dialogs are not available. For example, if you try to design a table or create a
new database, SSMS will open a new query window with template Transact-SQL (T-SQL) script for you
to edit, rather than opening the table designer or the New Database dialog, as you might expect. This
is because these features rely on SQL Server Management Objects (SMO), which SQL Database has

40 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

only limited support for. Therefore, almost everything needs to be done via T-SQL script when using
SSMS to conigure SQL Database.

Note SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT), which runs inside Visual Studio, can also connect to
SQL Database, and it works very similar to SSMS. Unlike SSMS, however, SSDT does not rely
on SMO, so the SSDT table designer and other SSDT graphical dialogs are supported for
SQL Database just the same as they are for on-premises SQL Server. You will learn much
more about SSDT in Chapter 10.

Connecting to SQL Database

To connect to SQL Database from SSMS, follow these steps:

1. From the Windows Start screen, launch SSMS. You can either scroll through the app tiles to
ind it (in the Microsoft SQL Server 2012 category) or just type sql server management
studio to run a search, and then click on the tile, as shown in Figure 2-9. After a brief moment,
the Connect To Server dialog appears.

FIGURE 2-9 Launching SQL Server Management Studio from the Windows Start screen.

2. For Server Name, type <servername>.database.windows.net. This is the fully qualiied

name to the SQL Database server, where <servername> should be replaced by the name
assigned to your server.

Tip If you have trouble iguring out the server name, you can easily ind it at
the bottom of the quick-start links page, as shown in Figure 2-7. You can also
discover the server name by viewing the Connection Strings dialog, as shown in
Figure 2-8.

3. For Authentication, select SQL Server Authentication from the drop-down list. (SQL Database
does not support Windows Authentication.)

CHAPTER 2 Coniguration and pricing 41

 4. For Login and Password, type the user name and password you assigned the server when you
created it in Chapter 1. The dialog should appear similar to Figure 2-10.

FIGURE 2-10 Connecting to SQL Database from the Connect To Server dialog in SSMS.

5. Click the Connect button.

After a brief moment, the connection is made, and you can then use SSMS to manage SQL
Database. If SSMS fails to connect, the most likely cause is that your public IP address has not been
added to the irewall rules, as described earlier in this chapter. The error message will make it clear if
this is the problem. If the connection fails with a more generic error message, ensure that port 1433 is
open on your local irewall. (SQL Database, like SQL Server, uses port 1433 to communicate.)

Once connected, you can drill through Object Explorer to the WineCloudDb database, as shown in
Figure 2-11.

FIGURE 2-11 Drilling down to the tables in a database using Object Explorer in SSMS.

42 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

Creating a new database
As we mentioned, the usual New Database dialog in SSMS is not available when you are connected to
SQL Database. Instead, SSMS will simply open a query window with the T-SQL script for the CREATE
DATABASE statement templated in, which is a bit confusing. So the simpler way to create a SQL Data-
base using SSMS is to just go straight to a blank query window and issue a basic CREATE DATABASE
statement.

To create a new database using an SSMS query window, follow these steps:

1. Connect to a SQL Database server, as described in the previous procedure.

2. In Object Explorer, right-click the server and choose New Query.

3. In the new query window, type CREATE DATABASE MyDb. The SSMS window should appear
similar to Figure 2-12.

FIGURE 2-12 Creating a new database by executing T-SQL script in an SSMS query window.

4. Press F5 (or click Execute on the toolbar) to execute the statement. It should take only a few
moments for execution to complete.

CHAPTER 2 Coniguration and pricing 43

www.itbookshub.com
 Changing the database edition and maximum size
The MyDb database created by the previous procedure has the default coniguration, which is Web
edition and a size of 1 GB, just like a database created using Quick Create. If you want to change the
edition and size, you can do so by issuing an ALTER DATABASE statement. For example, to change
from Web edition to Business edition with a maximum database size of 10 GB, execute the following
T-SQL command in the query window:

ALTER DATABASE MyDb MODIFY (EDITION='business', MAXSIZE=10GB)

Deleting a database
Dropping a SQL Database is like dropping any SQL Server database. Either right-click on the database
in Object Explorer and choose Delete, or execute the following T-SQL command in the query window:

DROP DATABASE MyDb

Using PowerShell
PowerShell is Microsoft’s modern scripting language for system administration that supports a wide
variety of tasks by executing commands (known as cmdlets, pronounced command-lets) from the
PowerShell command line. Microsoft has also developed PowerShell cmdlets for managing Microsoft
Azure, including a number of useful SQL Database commands.

Even if you already have PowerShell installed, these special cmdlets for Microsoft Azure need to be
installed separately. The following section describes how to download and install the cmdlets.

Installing the Microsoft Azure PowerShell cmdlets

To install the Microsoft Azure PowerShell cmdlets, follow these steps:

1. Navigate your web browser to https://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/downloads.

2. Scroll down to Command-Line Tools, and click the Install link beneath Windows PowerShell, as
shown in Figure 2-13.

44 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 FIGURE 2-13 Downloading the Microsoft Azure cmdlets for PowerShell.

3. When prompted to run or save, click Run.

4. If the User Account Control dialog appears, click Yes.

5. In the Web Platform Installer dialog (shown in Figure 2-14), click Install.

FIGURE 2-14 Installing the Azure cmdlets for PowerShell.

6. Click I Accept to start the installation.

7. When installation completes, click Finish.

8. Click Exit to close the Web Platform Installer dialog.

CHAPTER 2 Coniguration and pricing 45

 Using the PowerShell Integrated Scripting Environment
Although you can use a simple text editor (even Notepad) to write PowerShell scripts, the PowerShell
Integrated Scripting Environment (ISE) is a much more productive environment. As you’ll see, it offers
some nice features, such as syntax highlighting and IntelliSense-style auto-completion.

There is no app tile for the PowerShell ISE on the Windows Start screen, so it needs to be launched
from the command line. To start the PowerShell ISE and view help information for the Azure SQL
Database cmdlets, follow these steps:

1. Open a command prompt. (An app tile for it can be found on the Start screen in the Windows
System category, or you can just type command prompt to search for it.)

2. At the command prompt, type powershell_ise.

3. At the PowerShell ISE prompt, type get-help get-azuresql, and then pause. In a moment,
a popup window appears showing all the cmdlets that start with get-azuresql, as shown in
Figure 2-15.

FIGURE 2-15 Obtaining help on the Microsoft Azure SQL Database PowerShell cmdlets.

4. Double-click on any of the cmdlets to complete the command, and then press Enter to view
help for the selected cmdlet.

Coniguring PowerShell for your Microsoft account

Before you can start using PowerShell to manage Azure, you need to conigure it for your account.
This is simply a matter of logging in to the portal, and then running a few PowerShell commands to
retrieve your account information from Azure and import it into PowerShell. This section walks you
through the process.

46 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 To conigure PowerShell for your Microsoft account, follow these steps:

1. Log in to the Microsoft Azure portal at https://manage.windowsazure.com. This step

is necessary for PowerShell to identify your account. If you don’t log in irst, you will be
prompted to log in when you try to retrieve your account settings in PowerShell.

2. Start the PowerShell ISE, as explained in the previous procedure.

3. Type Get-AzurePublishSettingsFile to retrieve your account settings. Internet Explorer will

open up automatically and download a .publishsettings ile with your account information.

4. Click Save to save the .publishsettings ile to your default Downloads folder.

Important The .publishsettings ile should be kept safe and private, because it
effectively provides access to the Azure subscriptions on your Microsoft account.

5. Back in the PowerShell ISE, type Import-AzurePublishSettingsFile <.publishsettings ile>,

where <.publishsettings ile> is the complete ile name (with path) of the account settings
ile you just saved to your default Downloads folder. (This is typically C:\Users\<username>\
Downloads\<subscription-name>.publishsettings.)

Note The ile name might be long, but the PowerShell ISE auto-complete feature
helps with an IntelliSense-style drop-down list as you type. Just press the Tab
key to auto-complete your way through the command, and through the folder
names and ile name of the .publishsettings ile.

The PowerShell ISE doesn’t boast with a message when the settings are imported successfully.
You’ll only get an error message if it fails. Otherwise, you’ll know that all went well if you are silently
returned back to the PowerShell command-line prompt.

As you learned in Chapter 1, every SQL Database is hosted on a server. Recall how you used the
Microsoft Azure management portal to irst create a server, and then to create a database on that
server. You also used the portal to set irewall rules to allow access to your SQL Database from des-
ignated IP addresses. You will now perform those very same tasks using just a few simple PowerShell
commands.

Creating a new server

First, create a new server and add a irewall rule for your IP address so that the server will allow you to
connect to it using PowerShell. To do this, follow these steps in the PowerShell ISE:

1. Type New-AzureSqlDatabaseServer –Location “East US” –AdministratorLogin

“<new-login>” –AdministratorLoginPassword “<new-password>”, where <new-login>
and <new-password> are the credentials you want to assign for the new server. The server is
created, and PowerShell responds by displaying the new server name, as shown in Figure 2-16.

CHAPTER 2 Coniguration and pricing 47

 FIGURE 2-16 Creating a new server with PowerShell.

2. Type New-AzureSqlDatabaseServerFirewallRule –ServerName <server-name>

–RuleName <any-name> –StartIpAddress <your-ip-address> –EndIpAddress
<your-ip-address>, where <server-name> is the name of the new server created in step 1,
<any-name> is an arbitrary name for the new rule (no spaces permitted), and <your-ip-
address> is the IP address of your machine. This command creates a new irewall rule to allow
PowerShell access to the server from your IP address, as shown in Figure 2-17.

Note If you don’t know your IP address, you can ind out what it is by using
whatismyipaddress.com, as explained in the section “Enabling access to a remote
IP address” earlier in the chapter.

FIGURE 2-17 Creating a new server irewall rule with PowerShell.

Creating a new database

The New-AzureSqlDatabase cmdlet creates a new database. Before you can use this cmdlet, you must
irst create an object with your credentials, and then you use those credentials to create a context
associated with the server that you want to create the new database on. You store the server context
in a variable, and then you specify the server context variable with the New-AzureSqlDatabase cmdlet
to create the database (as well as all other cmdlets you might run for that particular server).

To create a new database now, follow these steps in the PowerShell ISE:

1. Type $creds = new-object System.Management.Automation.PSCredential

(“<login-name>”, (“<login-password>” | ConvertTo-SecureString –asPlainText –Force)),
where <login-name> and <login-password> are the administrator login and password you as-
signed when you created the server in the previous procedure. This stores those administrator
credentials in a secure string named $creds.

2. Type $context = New-AzureSqlDatabaseServerContext –ServerName <server-name>

–Credential $creds, where <server-name> is the name of the server you created in the
previous procedure. (The server name is displayed when you create the server, as shown
in Figure 2-16.) This creates a context associated with the credentials you created in step 1
and the server you created in the previous procedure, and it stores that context in an object
named $context.

48 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 3. Type New-AzureSqlDatabase –Context $context –DatabaseName MyNewDb. This
creates a new database named MyNewDb. The database is created on the server associated
with $context, using the credentials associated with $creds. When the database is created,
PowerShell displays information about the new database, as shown in Figure 2-18.

FIGURE 2-18 Creating a new database with PowerShell.

4. It’s often useful to view all the databases that exist on the server. To do so, type
Get-AzureSqlDatabase –Context $context. As shown by this cmdlet’s output in Figure 2-19,
the server includes a master database, just as an on-premises SQL Server does.

FIGURE 2-19 Listing all the databases that exist on the server.

The database you just created with New-AzureSqlDatabase is, by default, a Web edition database
with a maximum size of 1 GB and the default collation. This is the same type of database that gets
created when you use Quick Create in the Microsoft Azure management portal. To override these
defaults, specify the –Edition, –MaxSizeGb, and –Collation switches with an edition, maximum size,
and collation of your own choosing. For example, the following statement creates a Business edition
database with a maximum size of 150 GB (the largest possible):

New-AzureSqlDatabase –Context $context –DatabaseName MyBigDb -Edition Business -MaxSizeGB 150

You can also change the edition and maximum size (but not the collation) of an existing database
by using the Set-AzureSqlDatabase cmdlet with the –Edition and –MaxSizeGb switches. For example,
you can use the following command to reconigure the MyNewDb database you just created as a
Business edition database with a maximum size of 20 GB:

Set-AzureSqlDatabase -Context $context -DatabaseName MyNewDb -Edition Business -MaxSizeGB 20

CHAPTER 2 Coniguration and pricing 49

 Deleting a database
The Remove-AzureSqlDatabase cmdlet deletes a SQL Database. To delete the MyNewDb database you
just created in the previous section, follow these steps:

1. Type Remove-AzureSqlDatabase –Context $context –DatabaseName MyNewDb.

2. When prompted to conirm, click Yes.

If you are using Remove-AzureSqlDatabase to write scripts you intend to run with no user
intervention, you can include the –Force switch. This switch causes the database to be deleted
immediately, without being prompted to conirm.

Budgeting for SQL Database

The inal section of this chapter covers various cost-related items you need to consider when using
SQL Database. Speciically, we discuss pricing for the SQL Database storage and bandwidth that you
consume. There are no procedures to follow in this section.

Warning As mentioned in the Introduction, Microsoft Azure pricing is subject to change.

The following information is based on current pricing at the time this book was written. We
strongly recommend that you visit the Microsoft website for the latest igures. Pricing for
SQL Database can be found at http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/pricing/details/
sql-database.

The information in this section will help you igure out the right coniguration and give you tips as
to how to save money on your SQL Database deployments. You should also take a look at the online
pricing calculator, which quickly calculates pricing based on your input. The online pricing calculator is
available at http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/pricing/calculator.

SQL storage
The biggest cost of using SQL Database is for the actual disk space required for storage in Microsoft
Azure. Table 2-1 shows current pricing for SQL Database storage.

TABLE 2-1 SQL Database storage pricing

Database Size Price per Database per Month

Under 100 MB Flat $4.995

100 MB to 1 GB Flat $9.99

1 GB to 10 GB $9.99 for irst GB + $3.996 for each additional GB

10 GB to 50 GB $45.954 for irst 10 GB + $1.996 for each additional GB

50 GB to 150 GB See http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/pricing/details/sql-database/

50 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 If you already have an on-premises SQL Server database and would like to calculate the size of the
database for estimating the migration cost to SQL Database, you can query the reserved_page_count
column in the sys.dm_db_partition_stats dynamic management view. That column value is expressed
in pages, so you can use the following query to sum the total page count: multiply by 8192 (the num-
ber of bytes per page), and then divide by 1024 twice to convert the result into megabytes (the irst
division converts from bytes to kilobytes, the second from kilobytes to megabytes):

SELECT (SUM(reserved_page_count) * 8192) / 1024 / 1024 AS DbSizeInMB

FROM sys.dm_db_partition_stats

Client bandwidth
If you connect to your SQL database from within the same datacenter, you do not incur any
bandwidth charges for the data lowing either in to or out of the database. If you connect to the
database from outside the datacenter, your database incurs only “egress” charges for bandwidth
usage, which means that data lowing out of the database to clients is charged, while “ingress” lows
(data coming into the database) are free.

The charges are also different in different areas of the world. Client bandwidth pricing is based on
the location of the Microsoft Azure datacenter, regardless of where the client accessing the database
is located. Again, noting that pricing details are subject to change, the data-transfer pricing details at
the time of this writing are shown in Table 2-2.

TABLE 2-2 SQL Database client bandwidth pricing

Data Transfer United States and Europe Asia

(Outbound Only) (per month) (per month)

Under 5 GB Free Free

5 GB to 10 TB $0.12 per GB $0.19 per GB

10 TB to 50 TB $0.09 per GB $0.15 per GB

50 TB to 150 TB $0.07 per GB $0.13 per GB

150 TB to 500 TB $0.05 per GB $0.12 per GB

Over 500 TB Contact Microsoft at wapteams@ Contact Microsoft at wapteams@

microsoft.com microsoft.com

Backup storage space

When you use Azure Storage to manage your BACPAC iles for backups, the storage space for the
BACPAC iles incurs usage costs. The prices vary with sizes, but using Azure Storage to hold your
backups is generally much cheaper than using SQL Database storage. (See Table 2-3.)

CHAPTER 2 Coniguration and pricing 51

 For a very small (100-MB) database, the cost of the database is $4.95 per month, while the price
for backup storage is only $0.035 (less than 1/100th the cost). As you go up in size, backup storage
prices get relatively more expensive, but they are still cheaper than database storage. At 100 GB, the
SQL Database cost is $175 per month, while the Azure Storage cost is only $7 per month for a single
backup (1/20th the cost). Be careful though, because charges can accrue quickly if you have a backup
strategy that requires storing a large number of backups. However, if you maintain a simple incre-
mental backup strategy, in which you keep one backup for the latest hour, day, week, month, and
year, then for a 100-MB database you are paying only $0.175 per month for backup, and for a 100-GB
database you’re paying only $35—a relatively small price to pay to ensure the security of your data.

Alternatively, you can enable geo-replication on your storage account. This is an attractive option
for backups because it builds in geographic distribution for disaster recovery, and it does so more
cheaply than paying for storage in a separate datacenter as well as paying bandwidth costs to get to
that datacenter.

TABLE 2-3 Backup storage space pricing

Storage Geographically Redundant Locally Redundant

Under 1 TB $0.095 per GB $0.07 per GB

1 TB to 50 TB $0.09 per GB $0.065 per GB

50 TB to 500 TB $0.07 per GB $0.06 per GB

500 TB to 100 TB $0.065 per GB $0.055 per GB

1000 TB to 5000 TB $0.06 per GB $0.045 per GB

5000 TB to 9000 TB $0.055 per GB $0.037 per GB

Over 9000 TB Contact Microsoft at wapteams@ Contact Microsoft at wapteams@

microsoft.com microsoft.com

Backup storage bandwidth

The main difference between offsite and onsite backup costs is bandwidth usage for sending your
backups to a different datacenter. The bandwidth usage charges are the same as for the database
itself, so you can look at Table 2-2 to understand the charges. Like database access, bandwidth
charges are incurred only one way; you won’t get double-charged for bandwidth out of one
datacenter and into the other. So if you have a 100-MB database and you have backups taken every
day, your bandwidth charges are as follows:

0.1 GB X $0.12/GB X 30 days = $0.36/month

52 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 If you choose to take backups each hour, your bandwidth charges would be as follows:

0.1 GB X $0.12/GB X 24 hours/day X 30 days = $8.64/month

If you choose to run those backups within the same datacenter, the bandwidth is free.

Another option to consider is to use geo-replicated storage, as mentioned in the previous section,
which also provides the protection of storing backups in different datacenters. In this scenario, the
storage account you set up for your database backups has geo-replication turned on, and the data is
automatically replicated out to another datacenter within the same region. For example, if your stor-
age account is in the North Central datacenter, the replica of the data might be in the South Central
datacenter, where both datacenters are in the U.S.; it would not be in some datacenter in Europe
or Asia.

The main reason why geo-replicated storage is attractive is cost. Imagine you have a 100-MB
database and take backups every hour to a remote storage account. If you have hourly, daily, weekly,
monthly, and yearly backups, you pay the following:

0.1 GB X $0.070/GB/month X 5 backup iles = $0.035/month for the storage plus another
$8.64 per month in bandwidth charges, for a total of about $8.69 for backups

If you pay the higher amount for geo-replicated storage, it actually saves you money. The cost for
the geo-replicated storage for the same database would be as follows:

0.1 GB X $0.095/GB/month X 5 backup iles = $0.0475/month for the storage

However, because it is already geo-replicated, you do not have to pay for the bandwidth to do the
replication. Your total amount for backup storage in that case is only $0.0475, instead of $8.69 in the
manually replicated scenario.

Support
When discussing costs, one thing that is frequently overlooked is the cost of a support package.
Microsoft offers several support tiers, which can be viewed at http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/
support/plans, as shown in Figure 2-20.

CHAPTER 2 Coniguration and pricing 53

 FIGURE 2-20 Browsing the available Azure support plans.

When you’re just getting started and need some help, it’s easy to get by on just the forums and
other online resources. But once your applications start becoming more complex and you start sup-
porting lots of users, it is a good idea to have a support plan in place. We have found that in the early
stages of trying to diagnose issues with deployments, it is useful to have Microsoft personnel help
with troubleshooting. We recommend that, after your trial period ends, you start off with at least the
Developer support plan.

Optimizing your costs

To optimize your costs on SQL Database, here are the things you should think about:

■ Don’t store BLOBs in the database. Use Azure Blob Storage for image, video, and text iles that
you might otherwise store as varbinary(max) or image column in the database. The cost of
Blob Storage is much less than SQL Database. A 100-GB SQL Database costs $175 per month,
but Blob Storage costs only $7 per month. To reduce costs and improve performance, put
these large items in your Blob Storage, and just store the Blob Storage record key in your
database to reference it. This strategy will have a huge effect on price if you store iles in
your database.

54 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 ■ Cycle out old records and tables in your database. This saves money, and knowing what you
can or cannot delete is important if you hit your database Max Size and you need to quickly
delete records to make space for new data.

■ Place your SQL Database in the same datacenter as your websites, mobile services, and other
Azure components that will be clients of the database. Co-locating the applications with
the database not only prevents you from incurring data bandwidth charges for data going
between two datacenters, but also makes your application run faster.

■ Use a strategy for removing old backups such that you maintain history but reduce storage
needs. If you maintain backups for the last hour, day, week, month, and year, you have good
backup coverage while not incurring more than 25 percent of your database costs for backup.
If you have a 1-GB database, your costs would be $9.99 per month for the database and only
$0.10 per month for the backup space.

■ Instead of using a remote storage account for your backups, use geo-replicated storage to
keep from incurring bandwidth charges.

■ If you intend to use a substantial amount of Azure resources for your application, you can
choose to use a volume purchase plan. These plans allow you to save 20 to 30 percent of your
datacenter costs for larger applications.

Coniguring the database edition and size

You’ve seen that when you create a SQL Database, you also specify the database edition and size (or
at least, you allow it to default to a 1-GB Web edition database). This section explains the meaning of
the database edition and size settings.

In the past, Microsoft has talked about the possibility of including more features in the Business
edition than the Web edition. However, at this time, the features are the same for both editions. So
then, what (if any) is the purpose of the edition and size settings? It essentially comes down to con-
trolling cost. The database edition dictates your maximum size, and your maximum size is there for
cost containment, as shown in Table 2-4.

TABLE 2-4 SQL Database editions and sizes

Edition Maximum Size Options

Web 1 GB, 5 GB

Business 10 GB, 20 GB, 30 GB, 40 GB, 50 GB, 100 GB, 150 GB

Note At the time this book went to press, Microsoft announced the Preview availability of
SQL Database Premium. This is a more costly option than the standard Web and Business
editions of SQL Database, and it supports a maximum database size of 500 GB. As we ex-
plain in Chapter 8, SQL Database Premium also lets you scale up for performance using
dedicated CPU and memory.

CHAPTER 2 Coniguration and pricing 55

 Monthly charges for SQL Database are based on the data that is actually stored in the database,
not the maximum size. So if you are using 2 GB of space in a database with a maximum size of
150 GB, you are charged only for that 2 GB of space. You should therefore set the maximum size to
an amount that will comfortably contain the data for your application and still give you some room
to grow. The ceiling on the data size prevents some inadvertent programming error from adding too
many records and running up your bills.

When your database reaches the maximum size, it will no longer allow you to insert data, although
you may still update and delete data. You should plan ahead for this scenario. One option is to create
space by deleting unnecessary records. Note that it can take a bit of time after you delete records
for the space to free up, so don’t expect to be able to recover instantaneously after the cleanup. Your
other option is to increase the limit on your database, whether permanently (for example, to accom-
modate expected business growth) or temporarily (for example, to accept new records while you sort
out your longer term strategy for reducing the database size).

As a preventative measure, you should talk to your users about aging policies for certain types
of records so that you can cycle old unused records out of the system. That is a good conversation
to have before you hit your database size limit. Also, watch the size of your database as it grows
over time so that you can anticipate when you’ll hit the limit of your database. Chapter 9 has more
information about how to monitor your system.

As you saw earlier in this chapter, it’s easy to change the edition and size of a SQL Database at any
time using both T-SQL and PowerShell. If you prefer a user interface, you can also use the Microsoft
Azure management portal to conigure the edition and size through the browser.

Summary
In this chapter, you learned how to use the Microsoft Azure management portal, SQL Server
Management Studio, and PowerShell to create and conigure a Microsoft Azure SQL Database.
You saw how to connect each of these tools to Azure, and use them to create and manage servers,
irewall rules, and databases.

The chapter then proceeded to discuss cost, pricing, and budget. We detailed the estimation and
optimization of costs, and we explained all the cost-related elements you need to consider, including
storage and bandwidth, as well as the database edition and maximum size settings.

56 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

CHAPTER 3

Differences between SQL Server

and Microsoft Azure SQL Database
— Leonard Lobel

ne of the most attractive aspects of Microsoft Azure SQL Database is that it shares virtually the
O same codebase and exposes the same tabular data stream (TDS) as on-premises Microsoft SQL
Server. Thus, to a great extent, the same tools and applications that work with SQL Server work just
the same and just as well with SQL Database. Notice that we said to a great extent, because despite
their commonality, there are quite a few SQL Server features that SQL Database does not support.
In this brief chapter, we discuss how and why these two platforms differ from one another, and we
explain the SQL Database constraints you need to be aware of if you have previous experience with
SQL Server.

SQL Server and SQL Database differ in several ways—most notably, in terms of size limitations,
feature support, and T-SQL compatibility. In many cases, these constraints are simply the price you
pay for enjoying a hassle-free, self-managing, self-healing, always-available database in the cloud.
That is, Microsoft cannot responsibly support features that impair its ability to quickly replicate, relo-
cate, and scale a SQL Database instance. This is why SQL Database places limits on database size and
doesn’t support certain specialized features, such as FILESTREAM.

Another common reason why a particular feature or T-SQL syntax might not be supported in
SQL Database is that it’s simply not applicable. With SQL Database, administrative responsibilities
are split between Microsoft and you. Microsoft handles all the physical administration (such as disk
drives and servers), while you manage only the logical administration (such as database design and
security). This is why any and all T-SQL syntax that relates to physical resources (such as path names)
are not supported in SQL Database. For example, you don’t control the location for primary and log
ile groups. This is why you can’t include an ON PRIMARY clause with a CREATE DATABASE statement,
and indeed, why SQL Database does not permit a ile group reference in any T-SQL statement. Plainly
stated, everything pertaining to physical resources (that is, infrastructure) is abstracted away from you
with SQL Database

Yet still, in some cases, a certain SQL Server feature or behavior might be unsupported merely
because Microsoft has just not gotten around to properly testing and porting it to SQL Database.
Azure is constantly evolving, so you need to keep watch for updates and announcements. This small

57
 chapter is a great starting point, but the best way to stay current is by reviewing the “Guidelines and
Limitations” section of the SQL Database documentation on the MSDN website. (See http://msdn.
microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff394102.aspx.)

Size limitations
With the exception of the free, lightweight Express edition of SQL Server, there is no practical upper
limit on database size in any edition of SQL Server. A SQL Server database can grow as large as
524,272 terabytes. (For SQL Server Express edition, the limit is 10 gigabytes.)

In contrast, SQL Database has very particular size limitations. As explained in Chapter 2,
“Coniguration and pricing,” you can set the maximum size by choosing between the Web and
Business editions. With a Web edition database, you can set the maximum database size to either 1
or 5 gigabytes (GB). With a Business edition database, the maximum database size can range from 10
to 150 GB. The absolute largest supported database size is 150 GB, although partitioning strategies
can be leveraged for scenarios that require databases larger than 150 GB (as explained in Chapter 8,
“Designing and tuning for scalability and high performance”).

Note At the time this book went to press, Microsoft announced the Preview availability of
SQL Database Premium. This is a more costly option than the standard Web and Business
editions of SQL Database (which have been rebranded as Basic and Standard), and it
supports a maximum database size of 500 GB. As we explain in Chapter 8, SQL Database
Premium also lets you scale up for performance using dedicated CPU and memory.

Connection limitations
SQL Database is far less lexible than SQL Server when it comes to establishing and maintaining
connections. Keep the following in mind when you connect to SQL Database:

■ SQL Server supports a variety of client protocols, such as TCP/IP, Shared Memory, and Named
Pipes. Conversely, SQL Database allows connections only over TCP/IP.

■ SQL Database does not support Windows authentication. Every connection string sent to SQL
Database must always include a login user name and password.

■ SQL Database often requires that @<server> is appended to the login user name in
connection strings. SQL Server has no such requirement.

■ SQL Database communicates only through port 1433, and it does not support static or
dynamic port allocation like SQL Server does.

■ SQL Database does fully support Multiple Active Result Sets (MARS), which allows multiple
pending requests on a single connection.

58 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 ■ Because of the unpredictable nature of the Internet, SQL Database connections can drop
unexpectedly, and you need to account for this condition in your applications. Fortunately,
several options are available to cope with this:

• The latest version of the Entity Framework (EF6, Microsoft’s recommended data access API
for .NET) has a new Connection Resiliency feature, which automatically handles the retry
logic for dropped connections.

• The Microsoft Enterprise Library Transient Fault Handling Application Block, covered
in Chapter 4, lets you deine and implement retry strategies to deal with dropped
connections.

• The ADO.NET SqlConnection class has an OpenWithRetry extension method that handles
the retry logic based on the default retry policy (which must be deined using the Microsoft
Enterprise Library Transient Fault Handling Application Block).

Unsupported features
This section lists many SQL Server capabilities that are not supported in SQL Database, and here we
suggest workarounds where possible. Again, because this content is subject to change, we recom-
mend you check the MSDN website for the latest information. (See http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/
library/ff394102.aspx.)

■ Agent Service You cannot use the SQL Server Agent service to schedule and run jobs on
SQL Database.

■ Audit The SQL Server auditing feature records server and database events to either the
Windows event log or the ile system, and it is not supported in SQL Database.

■ Backup/Restore Conventional backups with the BACKUP and RESTORE commands are
not supported with SQL Database. However, SQL Database supports an automated backup
schedule that creates transactionally consistent backups in the form of BACPAC iles created
in Azure storage. You can also create BACPAC iles manually; however, this does not provide
transactional consistency for changes made during the export operation. To ensure transac-
tional consistency for a manual backup, you can either set the database as read-only before
exporting it to a BACPAC, use the Database Copy feature to create a copy of the database with
transactional consistency and then export that copy to a BACPAC ile. See Chapter 5, “Security
and backup,” for more information.

■ Browser Service SQL Database listens only on port 1433. Therefore, the SQL Server Browser
Service, which listens on various other ports, is unsupported.

■ Change Data Capture (CDC) This SQL Server feature monitors changes to a database,
and it captures all activity related to change tables. CDC relies on a SQL Server Agent job to
function and is unsupported in SQL Database.

CHAPTER 3 Differences between SQL Server and Microsoft Azure SQL Database 59
 ■ Common Language Runtime (CLR) The SQL Server CLR features (often referred to sim-
ply as SQL CLR) allow you to write stored procedures, triggers, functions, and user-deined
types in any .NET language (such as Microsoft C# or Visual Basic) as an alternative to using
traditional T-SQL. In SQL Database, only T-SQL can be used; SQL CLR is not supported. Note,
however, that this limitation does not apply to SQL Server data types implemented inter-
nally using the CLR (such as xml, geography, and geometry, all of which are supported in SQL
Database).

■ Compression SQL Database does not support the data-compression features found in SQL
Server, which you use to compress tables and indexes.

■ Database object naming convention In SQL Server, multipart names can be used to
reference a database object in another schema (with the two-part name syntax schema.object),
in another database (with the three-part name syntax database.schema.object), and (if you
conigure a linked server) on another server (with the four-part name syntax server.database.
schema.object). In SQL Database, two-part names can also be used to reference objects in
different schemas. However, three-part names are limited to reference only temporary objects
in tempdb (that is, where the database name is tempdb and the object name starts with a #
symbol); you cannot access other databases on the server. And you cannot reference other
servers at all, so four-part names can never be used.

■ Extended events In SQL Server, you can create extended event sessions that help to
troubleshoot a variety of problems, such as excessive CPU usage, memory pressure, and
deadlocks. This feature is not supported in SQL Database.

■ Extended stored procedures You cannot execute your own extended stored procedures
(which are typically custom-coded procedures written in C or C++) with SQL Database. Only
conventional T-SQL stored procedures are supported.

■ File streaming SQL Server native ile-streaming features, including FILESTREAM and
FileTable, are not supported in SQL Database. Instead, you can consider using Azure Blob
Storage containers for unstructured data iles, but it will be your job at the application level to
establish and maintain references between SQL Database and the iles in blob storage, though
note that there will be no transactional integrity between them using this approach.

■ Full-Text Searching (FTS) The FTS service in SQL Server that enables proximity searching
and querying of unstructured documents is not supported in SQL Database. However, there
is a third-party text search engine library available from Lucene that does work with SQL
Database. For more information, visit http://www.lucene.net.

■ Mirroring SQL Database does not support database mirroring, which is generally a non-
issue because Microsoft is ensuring data redundancy with SQL Database, so you don’t need
to worry about disaster recovery. This does also mean that you cannot use SQL Database as a
location for mirroring a principal SQL Server database running on-premises. However, if you
want to consider the cloud for this purpose, you can host SQL Server inside an Azure virtual
machine (VM) against which you can mirror an on-premises principal database. This solu-
tion requires that you also implement a virtual private network (VPN) connection between

60 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 your local network and the Azure VM, although it will work even without the VPN if you use
server certiicates.

■ Partitioning With SQL Server, you can partition tables and indexes horizontally (by groups
of rows) across multiple ile groups within a database, which greatly improves the performance
of very large databases. SQL Database has a maximum database size of 150 GB (or 500 GB, for
the newly announced Premium edition) and gives you no control over ile groups, thus it does
not support table and index partitioning.

■ Replication SQL Server offers robust replication features for distributing and synchronizing
data, including merge replication, snapshot replication, and transactional replication. None
of these features are supported by SQL Database; however, SQL Data Sync can be used to
effectively implement merge replication between a SQL Database and any number of other
SQL Databases on Microsoft Azure and on-premises SQL Server databases. See Chapter 7,
“Microsoft Azure SQL Data Sync,” for more information.

■ Resource Governor The Resource Governor feature in SQL Server lets you manage
workloads and resources by specifying limits on the amount of CPU and memory that can be
used to satisfy client requests. These are hardware concepts that do not apply to SQL Data-
base, so the Resource Governor is unsupported.

■ Service Broker SQL Server Service Broker provides messaging and queuing features, and it
is not supported in SQL Database.

■ System stored procedures SQL Database supports only a few of the system stored
procedures provided by SQL Server. The unsupported ones are typically related to SQL Server
features and behaviors not supported by SQL Database. At the same time, SQL Database
provides a few new system stored procedures not found in SQL Server that are speciic to SQL
Database (for example, sp_set_irewall_rule).

■ Tables without a clustered index Every table in a SQL Database must deine a clustered
index. By default, SQL Database will create a clustered index over the table’s primary key col-
umn, but it won’t do so if you don’t deine a primary key. Interestingly enough, SQL Database
will actually let you create a table with no clustered index, but it will not allow any rows to be
inserted until and unless a clustered index is deined for the table. This limitation does not
exist in SQL Server.

■ Transparent Data Encryption (TDE) You cannot use TDE to encrypt a SQL Database like
you can with SQL Server.

■ USE In SQL Database, the USE statement can refer only to the current database; it cannot be
used to switch between databases as it can with SQL Server. Each SQL Database connection is
tied to a single database, so to change databases, you must connect directly to the database.

■ XSD and XML indexing SQL Database fully supports the xml data type, as well as most
of the rich XML support that SQL Server provides, including XML Query (XQuery), XML Path
(XPath), and the FOR XML clause. However, XML schema deinitions (XSD) and XML indexes
are not supported in SQL Database.

CHAPTER 3 Differences between SQL Server and Microsoft Azure SQL Database 61
Summary
In this brief chapter, you learned about the important differences between on-premises SQL Server
and SQL Database on Microsoft Azure. We explained the SQL Database limitations on size, as com-
pared to a virtually unlimited database size supported by SQL Server. We also discussed connection
limitations, and important considerations to keep in mind with respect to dropped connections, which
occur with relative frequency in SQL Database. The chapter concluded by enumerating the many SQL
Server features that are either unsupported or have limited support in SQL Database, and offered
workarounds where possible.

The information in this chapter will help you decide whether or not SQL Database is suitable for
your particular scenario. Of course, if you determine that it is not, always remember that you can run
on-premises SQL Server in an Azure VM (we show you how in Chapter 6). This IaaS approach provides
you with full SQL Server functionality in the cloud, compared to the PaaS approach of going with
SQL Database.

62 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

CHAPTER 4

Migrating databases
— Eric Boyd

In our experience helping customers develop and migrate applications to Microsoft Azure, there has
always been a need to migrate data along with those applications, even for “all new development”
projects. So you really need to know about the solutions that are available for migrating your data to
SQL Database and to understand their strengths and weaknesses. In this chapter, you will work with
multiple tools and techniques for migrating data to SQL Database, including Transact-SQL (T-SQL)
scripts, SQL Data-Tier Applications (BACPAC), bulk copy (bcp), and the SQL Database Migration
Wizard.

Note As mentioned in Chapter 1, “Getting started with Microsoft Azure SQL Database,”
and practiced throughout this book, the term SQL Database refers speciically to Microsoft
Azure SQL Database in the cloud, whereas the term SQL Server refers speciically to local
(on-premises) SQL Server.

In addition to the tools and techniques discussed in this chapter, there are many other solutions
available from both Microsoft and third-party vendors that might also it your scenario and require-
ments. For example, SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) is a great solution if you need to import
data from data sources beyond SQL Server, like Excel spreadsheets, or other database platforms like
Oracle. If you are starting with an existing database in SQL Database and you want to apply incre-
mental changes and updates to your database, third-party tools like Red-Gate SQL Compare and
Data Compare are also good solutions. You should explore these and all other available solutions to
help you migrate data from your on-premises data stores and database servers to SQL Database. You
need to understand the capabilities and limitations of each option so that you can effectively choose
a solution that best its your scenario.

Making the case for data migration

The percentage of an IT budget that gets spent on maintenance versus new software projects is a
popular metric that technology and business executives like to monitor and measure. It is always the
goal to minimize maintenance and be able to invest more in innovation and new projects. Software
development and technical teams typically prefer to work on new projects (often referred to as
greenield projects) rather than maintaining and extending existing codebases (brownield projects).
63
 However, if you’ve been in the IT industry for any length of time, you know how much time is invested
in maintaining and managing existing codebases and data stores.

The existing code and data we manage (often referred to as legacy, even if it was born in the last
year) drives us to consider migration strategies when evaluating the public cloud and Microsoft Azure.
In this chapter, we demonstrate various ways to move data into SQL Database from existing legacy
systems and on-premises SQL Server servers, and we discuss other things to consider when migrating
data to SQL Database.

Migrating data using Transact-SQL scripts

SQL Database uses virtually the same Transact-SQL (T-SQL) syntax as “regular” SQL Server, which
is a signiicant advantage if you are already familiar with SQL Server. Thus, one simple option for
populating data in SQL Database is to run T-SQL scripts.

In the next section, you will use SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) to write T-SQL scripts that
create and populate a local SQL Server database. Note that you can also use SQL Server Data Tools
(SSDT) inside Microsoft Visual Studio to build and run T-SQL scripts. (You will learn much more about
SSDT in Chapter 10, “Building cloud solutions.”) Also, note that all the scripts in this chapter can be
downloaded from the book’s companion website. (See the Introduction for details.)

Setting up a local SQL Server database

To get started, you will set up the Wine database from previous chapters in your local environment.
Doing this requires a local SQL Server database.

If you have access to a SQL Server instance that you can create a local database on, you can use
that SQL Server instance. Otherwise, you will need to install the SQL Server Express edition to host
the database on your local machine. A step-by-step procedure for doing so can be found in the
Introduction, in the section “Installing the SQL Server Express edition.”

Note This chapter assumes you are using the SQL Server Express edition for your local SQL
Server database, which has a server instance name of .\sqlexpress. If you are using another
edition, you must replace the instance name .\sqlexpress speciied in the instructions with
the name of server instance you are using. For example, if you are running a primary in-
stance of the SQL Server Developer edition on your local machine, you can simply specify
the dot (.) symbol, or localhost. If you are running a named instance on your local machine,
append a backslash followed by the name of the instance (for example, .\myinstance or
localhost\myinstance).

64 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 The T-SQL code to create the local WineDb database is shown in Listing 4-1. This script creates the
WineDb database, and then creates the Customer, Order, and Wine tables. It also establishes all the
foreign-key relationships between the tables. This is a similar design as the WineCloudDb database
found in other chapters throughout this book.

LISTING 4-1 Creating the local WineDb database

CREATE DATABASE WineDb

GO

USE WineDb
GO

CREATE TABLE Wine(

WineId int IDENTITY PRIMARY KEY,
Name nvarchar(50) NOT NULL,
Category nvarchar(15) NOT NULL,
Year int,
Price MONEY DEFAULT 0 NOT NULL,
AddedOn datetime2 DEFAULT SYSDATETIME() NOT NULL,
UpdatedOn datetime2)

CREATE TABLE Customer(

CustomerId int IDENTITY PRIMARY KEY,
FirstName nvarchar(50) NOT NULL,
LastName nvarchar(50) NOT NULL,
FavoriteWineId int,
CONSTRAINT FK_Customer_Wine FOREIGN KEY (FavoriteWineId) REFERENCES Wine(WineId))

CREATE TABLE [Order](

OrderId int IDENTITY PRIMARY KEY,
OrderedOn datetime2 DEFAULT SYSDATETIME() NOT NULL,
CustomerId int NOT NULL,
WineId int NOT NULL,
Quantity int NOT NULL,
Price MONEY NOT NULL,
CONSTRAINT FK_Order_Customer FOREIGN KEY (CustomerId) REFERENCES Customer(CustomerId),
CONSTRAINT FK_Order_Wine FOREIGN KEY (WineId) REFERENCES Wine(WineId))

To create the WineDb database using this T-SQL, follow these steps:

1. Launch SSMS. An easy way to do this is to press the Windows key, type sql server
management studio on the Start screen, and press Enter.

2. In the Connect To Server dialog, connect to your local SQL Server instance using the
appropriate credentials, as shown in Figure 4-1.

CHAPTER 4 Migrating databases 65

 FIGURE 4-1 Connecting to SQL Server from the Connect To Server dialog in SSMS

3. Once you are connected, your SQL Server instance will be listed in the Object Explorer pane.
Right-click on your SQL Server instance, and choose New Query as shown in Figure 4-2. This
opens a new query window.

FIGURE 4-2 The New Query context menu option in SSMS Object Explorer

4. Type the code shown in Listing 4-1 into the query window (or paste it in from the listing ile
downloaded from the book’s companion website).

5. Press F5 (or click the Execute button in the toolbar) to run the script.

6. Expand the Databases node beneath your SQL Server instance in Object Explorer (or, if it’s
already expanded, right-click it and choose Refresh). The WineDb database now appears.

7. Expand the WineDb database node, and then expand the Tables node beneath it to view the
Customer, Order, and Wine tables.

There is now a WineDb database running on your local SQL Server instance. This is the source
database you will migrate to Microsoft Azure using various tools and techniques throughout the rest
of this chapter.

66 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

Creating the T-SQL scripts
You are now ready to populate the local WineDb database tables with data. In this section, you will
create simple T-SQL scripts to populate the Customer and Wine tables with records. One of the great
beneits of SQL Database is that you can use the same T-SQL syntax you use when working with SQL
Server. So the same scripts can be used to insert data into either SQL Server or SQL Database.

Listing 4-2 shows the T-SQL script you will run in the next procedure. This script populates
the Wine table with 15 rows of data and the Customer table with 3 rows of data. Notice how the
IDENTITY_INSERT setting is turned on before inserting rows into a table, and then turned off again
after. Turning this setting on allows the script to provide explicit values for each new record’s primary
key, which would normally be assigned automatically by SQL Server because the primary keys were
designated with IDENTITY. (Refer to Listing 4-1 earlier.)

LISTING 4-2 Populating the local WineDb database

SET IDENTITY_INSERT Wine ON

INSERT Wine (WineId, Name, Category, Year) VALUES (1, 'Chateau Penin', 'Bordeaux', 2008)
INSERT Wine (WineId, Name, Category, Year) VALUES (2, 'McLaren Valley', 'Cabernet', 2005)
INSERT Wine (WineId, Name, Category, Year) VALUES (3, 'Mendoza', 'Merlot', 2010)
INSERT Wine (WineId, Name, Category, Year) VALUES (4, 'Valle Central', 'Merlot', 2009)
INSERT Wine (WineId, Name, Category, Year) VALUES (5, 'Mendoza', 'Malbec', 2010)
INSERT Wine (WineId, Name, Category, Year) VALUES (6, 'Tuscany', 'Brunello', 2007)
INSERT Wine (WineId, Name, Category, Year) VALUES (7, 'Willamette Valley', 'Pinot Noir',
2009)
INSERT Wine (WineId, Name, Category, Year) VALUES (8, 'Bordeaux', 'Cabernet', 2009)
INSERT Wine (WineId, Name, Category, Year) VALUES (9, 'Barossa Valley', 'Shiraz', 2010)
INSERT Wine (WineId, Name, Category, Year) VALUES (10, 'Napa Valley', 'Syrah', 2010)
INSERT Wine (WineId, Name, Category, Year) VALUES (11, 'Barossa Valley', 'Grenache', 2006)
INSERT Wine (WineId, Name, Category, Year) VALUES (12, 'La Mancha', 'Mourvedre', 2009)
INSERT Wine (WineId, Name, Category, Year) VALUES (13, 'Beaujolais', 'Gamay', 2011)
INSERT Wine (WineId, Name, Category, Year) VALUES (14, 'Sonoma', 'Zinfandel', 2011)
INSERT Wine (WineId, Name, Category, Year) VALUES (15, 'Tuscany', 'Sangiovese', 2010)
SET IDENTITY_INSERT Wine OFF

SET IDENTITY_INSERT Customer ON

INSERT Customer (CustomerId, FirstName, LastName, FavoriteWineId) VALUES
(1, 'Jeff', 'Hay', 4)
INSERT Customer (CustomerId, FirstName, LastName, FavoriteWineId) VALUES
(2, 'Mark', 'Hanson', 3)
INSERT Customer (CustomerId, FirstName, LastName, FavoriteWineId) VALUES
(3, 'Jeff', 'Phillips', 2)
SET IDENTITY_INSERT Customer OFF

CHAPTER 4 Migrating databases 67

 To populate the database with this T-SQL script, follow these steps:

1. Open a new query window in SSMS (or delete all the code in the same query window you
used in the previous procedure).

2. Type the code shown in Listing 4-2 into the query window (or paste it in from the listing ile
downloaded from the book’s companion website).

3. Press F5 (or click the Execute button in the toolbar) to run the script.

Generating T-SQL scripts

At this point, you have set up the WineDb database on your local SQL Server instance and populated
it with some data. Of course, you could now execute the same T-SQL script to create the schema for
a SQL Database instance, and execute the T-SQL script to add rows and populate data in that SQL
Database. But creating T-SQL scripts like this for large amounts of data is tedious and time consuming.

You might be thinking there must be a better way, and of course, there is. SSMS can examine the
database and generate a T-SQL script with INSERT statements for all the data in the tables. In this
next procedure, you will use SSMS to automatically generate a T-SQL script from your local WineDb
SQL Server database that you can then use to populate your WineCloudDb SQL Database, effectively
migrating the data from SQL Server to SQL Database.

1. If you’ve closed SSMS since the previous procedure, start it up again and connect to your local
SQL Server instance that contains the WineDb database.

2. In Object Explorer, expand the node for your SQL Server instance name.

3. Beneath your SQL Server instance name, expand the Databases node to display the list of
databases.

4. If the WineDb database does not appear, right-click the Databases node and choose Refresh.

5. Right-click on the WineDb database, and choose Tasks | Generate Scripts. This launches the
Generate And Publish Scripts wizard.

6. On the Introduction page, click Next to display the Choose Objects page.

7. On the Choose Objects page, you have the option of scripting the entire database or selecting
speciic objects you want to script. This is not limited to tables; it can also include other data-
base objects, such as views, stored procedures, triggers, and so on. Leave the default option
selected to script the entire database, and click Next to display the Set Scripting Options page.

8. On the Set Scripting Options page, click the Advanced button to display the Advanced
Scripting Options dialog.

68 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

9. Scroll down to the Script For The Database Engine Type property. (It’s towards the bottom
of the General category.) By default, this option is set to Stand-alone instance. You can also
choose SQL Azure Database to generate scripts compatible with SQL Database. In our current
scenario, we want to use SQL Database, so choose SQL Azure Database.

10. Scroll down to the Types Of Data To Script property. (It’s the last property in the General
category.) By default, this option is set to script only the database schema. You can also
choose to script only data or both schema and data. In our current scenario, we only want to
script the data, so choose Data Only, as shown in Figure 4-3.

FIGURE 4-3 Advanced Scripting Options in the Generate Scripts wizard

11. Click OK to return to the Set Scripting Options page.

12. Choose the Save To New Query Window radio button.

13. Click Next to advance to the Summary page.

14. Click Next to advance to the Save Or Publish Scripts page.

15. Click Finish to generate the script, which is then displayed in a new query window, as shown
in Figure 4-4.

CHAPTER 4 Migrating databases 69

 FIGURE 4-4 Viewing the generated T-SQL in SSMS

At this point, you have created a WineDb database, with both schema and data, in your local
SQL Server instance. You created T-SQL scripts by hand that you executed to create the schema and
insert data into your local SQL Server database. You also learned how to generate these T-SQL scripts
using SQL Server Management Studio. The focus of this section was to set up the source database
that will be migrated to SQL Database throughout the rest of this chapter, but you can execute this
same T-SQL script in SQL Server and SQL Database. To execute this script and populate a SQL Data-
base instance, connect your SSMS query window to the SQL Database instance instead of the local
SQL Server database, and execute the T-SQL script in that window. You can also execute these T-SQL
scripts using the SQL Database management portal as mentioned in the “Creating a SQL Database
instance” section found in Chapter 1.

SQL Data-Tier Applications

Data-Tier Applications (DACs) provide a simple but powerful way to develop, deploy, and manage
database and instance objects. DAC enables developers to package SQL Server and SQL Database
objects into a single DAC package (a .dacpac ile) for convenient deployment across development,
test, and production environments.

When migrating a database from on-premises SQL Server to SQL Database, you often want to
migrate your data along with your database and instance objects, and that is when BACPAC (.bacpac
iles) becomes useful. BACPAC is similar to DACPAC, but in addition to the database objects (schema),
it also includes the actual data from the database in the package.

70 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 To migrate data to SQL Database using BACPAC, you irst need to create a .bacpac ile from your
on-premises SQL Server database and upload it to a blob container in Microsoft Azure Storage.
Then you can import the uploaded .bacpac ile into SQL Database. This section walks you through
these steps.

Creating a Microsoft Azure Storage account

First, you need a place to store your .bacpac in Microsoft Azure, and that place is in a Microsoft Azure
Storage blob container. In this section, you will create a blob container using the Storage service,
which irst requires you to create a Storage account.

Microsoft Azure Storage accounts authenticate access using one of two 512-bit storage access keys
(a primary and a secondary). These keys are automatically generated for you when you create a stor-
age account. You can regenerate these keys at any time in the Microsoft Azure management portal
(and via the Microsoft Azure Service Management API). To help keep your storage account secure, it is
recommended that you regenerate your access keys periodically. Changing authentication credentials
to services that other services and applications depend on without causing downtime can be chal-
lenging. Microsoft Azure simpliies this by providing the two access keys, which allows you to rotate
access keys without causing downtime.

To create a Microsoft Azure Storage account you can use to upload and store your .bacpac ile,
follow these steps:

1. Log in to the Microsoft Azure portal at https://manage.windowsazure.com. This brings you

to the main portal page showing ALL ITEMS.

2. Click STORAGE in the vertical navigation pane on the left.

3. Click the NEW button at the bottom of the page.

4. Click the QUICK CREATE link.

5. In the data entry area to the right of the QUICK CREATE link, do the following:

a. For URL, type mywinestorage. This will be the name of your storage account. (It can be
any name from 3 to 24 lowercase letters and numbers.) This must be a globally unique
name, so you’ll need to choose something other than mywinestorage if the portal informs
you that the speciied storage account name is already in use (which is very probable).

b. For LOCATION/AFFINITY GROUP, select the Microsoft Azure data center where you want
to create your storage account from the drop-down list. This should be the same data
center that hosts your SQL Database server. (See Chapter 2, “Coniguration and pricing,”
to understand the pricing implications of choosing a data center location.)

c. For REPLICATION, leave the default Geo-Redundant setting, which enables geo-
replication. This synchronizes a copy of your data with another Microsoft Azure data
center, to enable recovery in the event of a data center disaster. (Again, we say more on
this in Chapter 2.) The portal should appear similar to Figure 4-5.

CHAPTER 4 Migrating databases 71

 FIGURE 4-5 Creating a new Microsoft Azure Storage account in the management portal

6. Click CREATE STORAGE ACCOUNT to start provisioning the new storage account. In a few
moments, you will see it appear in the portal with an Online status, as shown in Figure 4-6.

FIGURE 4-6 Viewing the new storage account in the management portal

7. Click on the storage account name (mywinestorage, or whatever name you assigned in the
previous procedure).

72 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 8. Click the MANAGE ACCESS KEYS button at the bottom of the page to display the Manage
Access Keys dialog. This displays the Primary Access Key and Secondary Access Key, as shown
in Figure 4-7. These keys are used for authentication to your storage account, and you will
need the primary access key shortly to upload a .bacpac ile.

FIGURE 4-7 Viewing the primary and secondary access keys generated for the new storage account

9. Click the copy button to the right of the PRIMARY ACCESS KEY text box (the icon that looks
like two documents) to copy the primary access key to the clipboard. You will paste this key in
a later step, so be sure not to copy anything else to the clipboard until then.

10. If you are prompted by the browser to permit clipboard access, click Allow Access.

11. Click the checkmark icon in the lower-right side of the dialog to return to the Storage Account
home screen.

Now that you have created a storage account, the next step is to create a blob container for it.
Then you will be able to upload a .bacpac ile to the blob container within the storage account, and
inally import the .bacpac ile to SQL Database. To create the blob container, follow these steps:

1. Click the CONTAINERS link at the top of the page, as shown in Figure 4-8.

CHAPTER 4 Migrating databases 73

 FIGURE 4-8 Creating a new blob container for the storage account

2. Click the ADD button at the bottom of the page to display the New Container dialog.

3. For NAME, type dbimport.

4. For ACCESS, leave the default Private setting, which ensures that only the account owner (you)
can access the new container.

5. Click the checkmark icon in the lower-right side of the dialog to create the container. When
the process is complete, you’ll see a notiication at the bottom of the portal.

6. Click OK to dismiss the notiication that the container was created.

Exporting a BACPAC to Microsoft Azure Storage

You are now ready to create a .bacpac ile from the local WineDb database. In the following steps, you
will export a .bacpac ile and upload it to the blob container in the Microsoft Azure Storage account
you just created:

1. If it’s not still opened from an earlier procedure, launch SSMS and connect to your local SQL
Server instance that contains the WineDb database.

2. In the Object Explorer, expand the node for your SQL Server instance name.

3. Beneath your SQL Server instance name, expand the Database node to display the list of
databases.

4. Right-click on the WineDb database, and choose Tasks | Export Data-Tier Application, as
shown in Figure 4-9. This launches the Export Data-Tier Application wizard.

74 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 FIGURE 4-9 The Export Data-Tier Application menu item in SSMS

5. On the Introduction page, click Next to advance to the Export Settings page.

6. In the Settings tab on the Export Settings page, click the Save To Microsoft Azure radio
button.

Tip If you don’t want to include the entire database in the .bacpac ile, you can
choose just the database objects you want to export in the Advanced tab of the
Export Settings page.

7. Click the Connect button to launch the Connect To Microsoft Azure Storage dialog.

8. For Storage Account, type mywinestorage (or whatever globally unique name you assigned
to the storage account when you created it). Notice that the HTTPS check box at the bottom
of the dialog gets selected automatically when you type the account name. This is expected,
and you should leave it selected.

CHAPTER 4 Migrating databases 75

 9. In the Account Key text box, right-click the mouse and choose Paste (or press CTRL+V) to
insert the primary access key you copied to the clipboard when you created the storage
account. (If the key is no longer available from the clipboard, return to the Manage Access
Keys dialog in the portal to copy it again, as shown in Figure 4-7.) The Connect To Windows
Azure Storage dialog should now appear as shown in Figure 4-10.

FIGURE 4-10 The Connect To Microsoft Azure Storage dialog

10. Click the Connect button. The wizard connects to the storage account and returns to the
Export Settings page, where the Container drop-down list has now become enabled.

11. For Container, select dbimport from the drop-down list. (This is the container you created in
the previous procedure.) The wizard should now appear as shown in Figure 4-11.

FIGURE 4-11 Exporting a .bacpac ile to Microsoft Azure Storage

76 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 12. Click Next to advance to the Summary page.

13. Review the Summary page. If everything looks correct, click Finish to begin the export.

Once the export has inished successfully, the wizard displays the Results page with a list of all the
tasks it completed. The .bacpac ile has now been exported and uploaded to your Microsoft Azure
Storage account. You can now click Close to close the Export Data-Tier Application wizard.

Importing a BACPAC to Microsoft Azure SQL Database

At this point, you have created a storage account with a blob container, into which you have uploaded
a .bacpac ile exported from an existing on-premises SQL Server database. The last thing to do is
import this .bacpac ile into a new SQL Database instance.

To import the .bacpac ile, follow these steps:

1. Log in to the Microsoft Azure portal at https://manage.windowsazure.com. This brings you

to the main portal page showing ALL ITEMS.

2. Click SQL DATABASES in the vertical navigation pane on the left

3. If you have a WineCloudDb database in your list of databases from previous chapters, delete it
now:

a. Click on the any column to the right of the Name column to select the WineCloudDb
database. (Don’t click on the database name itself.)

b. Click the DELETE button at the bottom of the page.

c. Click YES, DELETE when prompted to conirm.

d. If that was the only database on the SQL Database server, you will also be asked if you
also want to delete the server. Because you are going to import your .bacpac ile into a
new database on this server, click NO.

e. Click OK to dismiss the notiication message that the database was deleted.

4. Click the NEW button at the bottom of the page.

5. Click IMPORT, as shown in Figure 4-12. This displays the IMPORT DATABASE dialog box.

CHAPTER 4 Migrating databases 77

 FIGURE 4-12 Creating a new database by using the Import option in the management portal

6. Click the folder icon to the left of the BACPAC URL text box. This opens the BROWSE CLOUD
STORAGE dialog box.

7. An explorer tree that displays your Microsoft Azure Storage accounts and their containers
appears on the left side of the dialog. Expand your storage account to display the dbimport
container inside of it.

8. Click the dbimport container to display its contents on the right. You can see the
WineDb.bacpac ile you recently uploaded to the container, as shown in Figure 4-13.

FIGURE 4-13 The contents of the dbimport container displayed in the BROWSE CLOUD STORAGE dialog

9. Click the WineDb.bacpac ile to select it.

78 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

10. Click the Open button. This returns you to the IMPORT DATABASE dialog with the URL of the
.bacpac ile populated in the BACPAC URL text box.

11. For NAME, change the database name from WineDb (the name of the local SQL Server
database, which was discovered from the .bacpac ile that the database was exported to) to
WineCloudDb, which is the actual name you want to give the new SQL Database instance.

12. For SERVER, choose any available server from the drop-down list to host the database (or
choose New SQL Database Server from the drop-down list to create a new server on the
ly). Once you choose a server, the SERVER LOGIN NAME and SERVER LOGIN PASSWORD
text boxes appear. The SERVER LOGIN NAME text box is automatically populated with your
administrator login name.

Important If you create the storage account and the SQL Database server in
different regions, you will incur additional Microsoft Azure billing charges for
network bandwidth between the two regions. In this event, the Microsoft Azure
management portal will alert you with a warning message. See Chapter 2 for
more information on pricing for Microsoft Azure.

13. For SERVER LOGIN PASSWORD, type the password for your login. The IMPORT DATABASE
dialog should appear similar to Figure 4-14.

FIGURE 4-14 Importing a .bacpac ile from Microsoft Azure Storage into a new SQL Database instance

CHAPTER 4 Migrating databases 79

 Note By default, a database imported from a .bacpac ile will be a 1-GB,
Web edition database. If you need a larger database, select the CONFIGURE
ADVANCED DATABASE SETTINGS check box at the bottom of the Import
Database dialog. This converts the simple IMPORT DATABASE dialog into a two-
page wizard, where the second page provides you with options to set the SQL
Database edition and size. For more information, see the section “Coniguring
the database edition and size” in Chapter 2.

14. Click the checkmark icon in the lower-right side of the dialog to begin the import. Once the
import has completed, a notiication that the import was successful appears at the bottom of
the page, and the new WineCloudDb database appears in the list of SQL databases. (Some-
time, it is necessary to refresh the page by pressing F5 to get the new database to appear.)

Using BACPAC Data-Tier Applications is one of the simplest ways to migrate both the database
schema and data to a SQL Database instance. You can also use DACPAC Data-Tier Applications to
migrate only the schema, if that meets your migration requirements. One of the things that makes
SQL Data-Tier Applications easy to work with is that you can use familiar tooling, including SQL
Server Management Studio (SSMS) and SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT) in Visual Studio. As you just
saw, you can perform a database migration entirely using only the familiar SQL Server tools and the
Microsoft Azure management portal, which makes this technology accessible for almost all Microsoft
developers.

You should be aware of one limitation of using BACPAC: you cannot import a .bacpac ile into an
SSDT database project. (Chapter 10 covers SSDT database projects.) If you need to make any schema
modiications between exporting your database and importing your database into SQL Database,
you cannot achieve this with a .bacpac ile. Instead, you can import .dacpac iles (which contain only
schema information) into SSDT database projects, but you would not have the data in your package
using a DACPAC. Because of feature limitations and syntax differences between SQL Server and SQL
Database, you will often need to make schema changes before deploying your databases to SQL
Database. As a result, you will either need to extract .dacpac iles without data or make any necessary
schema and syntax changes to your local SQL Server database prior to exporting your .bacpac iles.

SQL Server Bulk Copy (bcp)

SQL Server Bulk Copy (bcp) is a command-line utility that is intended to be used for high-
performance, bulk-data migrations to and from SQL Server and SQL Database. Migrating data using
bcp is a two-step process; irst, you export data from the source table into a bcp data ile, and then
you import data into your destination table from the exported data ile.

In this section, you will learn how to use the bcp utility to export data iles from a source SQL
Server database and import them into a destination SQL Database instance.

80 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

Migrating Schema
To use SQL Server Bulk Copy (bcp) to migrate your database to Microsoft Azure, you must irst have
the destination database schema deployed to a SQL Database instance. This is because the bcp utility
moves only data—it will not migrate any database objects (such as table deinitions or other schema).
To create your database objects, you can build and run T-SQL scripts, design and publish a database
project using SSDT (as shown in Chapter 10), or you could even manually design your tables using the
SQL Database management portal (as shown in Chapter 1).

For the purposes of this exercise, you will drop and re-create the WineCloudDb tables populated
by the BACPAC migration you performed in the previous section. To do this, you will use the SQL Da-
tabase management portal to run the T-SQL script shown in Listing 4-3. (Remember, though, you can
also run T-SQL scripts against a SQL Database instance using any of the familiar locally installed tools,
such as SSMS or SSDT.) You’ll notice that this script is almost exactly the same as the one in Listing 4-1
that you used to create a new local SQL Server database at the start of the chapter. The only differ-
ence is that this T-SQL script starts with three DROP TABLE statements that delete the existing tables
(populated by the BACPAC migration you performed in the previous section), which are then re-
created as empty. This has the net effect of migrating just the schema of a database without any data.

LISTING 4-3 T-SQL script to drop and re-create the local WineCloudDb tables

DROP TABLE [Order]

DROP TABLE [Customer]
DROP TABLE [Wine]

CREATE TABLE Wine(

WineId int IDENTITY PRIMARY KEY,
Name nvarchar(50) NOT NULL,
Category nvarchar(15) NOT NULL,
Year int,
Price MONEY DEFAULT 0 NOT NULL,
AddedOn datetime2 DEFAULT SYSDATETIME() NOT NULL,
UpdatedOn datetime2)

CREATE TABLE Customer(

CustomerId int IDENTITY PRIMARY KEY,
FirstName nvarchar(50) NOT NULL,
LastName nvarchar(50) NOT NULL,
FavoriteWineId int,
CONSTRAINT FK_Customer_Wine FOREIGN KEY (FavoriteWineId) REFERENCES Wine(WineId))

CREATE TABLE [Order](

OrderId int IDENTITY PRIMARY KEY,
OrderedOn datetime2 DEFAULT SYSDATETIME() NOT NULL,
CustomerId int NOT NULL,
WineId int NOT NULL,
Quantity int NOT NULL,
Price MONEY NOT NULL,
CONSTRAINT FK_Order_Customer FOREIGN KEY (CustomerId) REFERENCES Customer(CustomerId),
CONSTRAINT FK_Order_Wine FOREIGN KEY (WineId) REFERENCES Wine(WineId))

CHAPTER 4 Migrating databases 81

 To run this T-SQL script, follow these steps:

1. Log in to the Microsoft Azure portal at https://manage.windowsazure.com. This brings you

to the main portal page showing ALL ITEMS.

2. Click SQL DATABASES in the vertical navigation pane on the left.

3. Click the WineCloudDb database. (This is the database you imported from a BACPAC ile in the
previous section.)

4. Click the DASHBOARD link at the top of the page.

5. Scroll the page down a bit, ind the MANAGE URL link in the “Quick Glance” section at the
right of the page, and click the link. This opens a new browser tab to the SQL Database
portal’s login page.

Note The SQL Database portal is Silverlight-based. If you don’t have Silverlight
installed, you will irst be prompted to download it before you can use the portal.

6. For USERNAME and PASSWORD, type the administrator login name and password for the
server, respectively, and click Log On.

7. Click the New Query button in the toolbar at the top of the SQL Database management portal
to open a blank query window.

8. Type the code shown in Listing 4-3 into the query window (or paste it in from the listing ile
downloaded from the book’s companion website).

9. Click the Run button in the toolbar to execute the script.

The WineCloudDb SQL Database instance now has empty Wine, Customer, and Order tables that
are ready for migration with bcp. Before running your irst bcp command, it’s a good idea to become
acquainted with bcp syntax. Table 4-1 shows the common bcp parameters that need to be speciied
for a typical import or export operation.

TABLE 4-1 Common SQL Server Bulk Copy (bcp) parameters

Parameter Description

source | target Database Object For export, it speciies the table, view or T-SQL query to be used as the source
for the export operation. For import, it speciies the table to be used as the target for the import
operation.

in | out | queryout BCP Operation To import data into a table or view, specify in. To export data to a data ile from
a table or view, specify out. To export data to a data ile from a query, specify queryout.

data ile Data File For export, it speciies the name of the data ile to create from the table, view, or
T-SQL query. For import, it speciies the name of the data ile to retrieve data for the table being
imported. This parameter must include the full path to the data ile.

–S server Server Name Speciies the server name of the SQL Server or Microsoft Azure SQL Database that
bcp should connect to.

82 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

Parameter Description

–T Windows Authentication Use a trusted connection that doesn’t require a user name and
password. It cannot be combined with –U and –P. Trusted connections are supported only for SQL
Server. When connecting to SQL Database, you must use –U and –P for SQL Server authentication
instead.

–U login SQL Server Authentication Login Combine with –P to connect using SQL Server
authentication with either SQL Server or SQL Database. Cannot combine with –T.

–P password SQL Server Authentication Password Combine with –U to connect using SQL Server
authentication with either SQL Server or SQL Database. Cannot combine with –T.

–n Use Native Data Types Recommended when migrating between SQL Server, SQL Database, or
both. For non-Microsoft databases, this switch is not supported, and bcp will prompt you for the
data type of each column (or you can deine the data types in a separate format ile).

–q Support Quoted Identiiers Allows you to use a database, owner, table, or view name that
contains a space or single quotation mark (executes the SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIERS ON statement).

Note that bcp is very particular about the irst three parameters. The database object, operation, and
data ile parameters must always be speciied in that order. The remaining switch parameters can
appear in any order on the command line.

Exporting data
As you might have already inferred by its syntax, the bcp utility migrates data into and out of
individual tables and not an entire database. The local WineDb database contains three tables: Wine,
Customer, and Order. The Wine and Customer tables both have data, and the Order table is empty, so
you will export data from the database by running the bcp utility twice: once for the Wine table and a
second time for the Customer table.

To export data from your local WineDb database into bcp data iles, follow these steps:

1. Launch a command-prompt window. An easy way to do this is to press the Windows key, type
cmd on the Start screen, and press Enter.

2. Type bcp WineDb.dbo.Wine out Wine.dat –S .\sqlexpress –T –n –q, and press Enter.

3. Type bcp WineDb.dbo.Customer out Customer.dat –S .\sqlexpress –T –n –q, and press

Enter.

Note These instructions assume you are using the SQL Server Express edition,
which has a server name of .\sqlexpress. If you are using another edition, you
must replace the server name .\sqlexpress speciied in the instructions with
the name of server you are using. Furthermore, if your server doesn’t support
Windows authentication, you cannot specify –T, and must instead use the –U and
–P switches for SQL Server authentication.

CHAPTER 4 Migrating databases 83

 When bcp runs, it displays status information, including the number of rows exported, the packet
size, the duration of the export, and the average throughput, as shown in Figure 4-15.

FIGURE 4-15 Exporting SQL Server tables to data iles with bcp

Importing data
Now you will use bcp once more to import the data iles you just exported into the WineCloudDb SQL
Database instance, only this time you will specify in to perform an import operation.

When importing with bcp, you need to pay attention to the size of the data ile being imported.
If your data set is large, you will likely need to split it up into multiple chunks. You can easily do this
using the –b switch parameter to specify the number of rows to import as one batch. Each batch is
imported and logged as a separate database transaction so that if an error occurs, only inserts from
the current batch are rolled back. By default, bcp imports all rows in a data ile as one batch, but if
you are importing large numbers of rows, you will likely experience connection loss and throttling
from SQL Database if you don’t specify a smaller batch size. You might need to experiment with your
data set to determine the right batch size to avoid throttling and connection loss with bcp.

The bcp syntax provides special switches to support batched import operations and to let you
specify hints that enable other options. These additional switch parameters are shown in Table 4-2.

TABLE 4-2 SQL Server Bulk Copy (bcp) import parameters

Parameter Description

–b batch_size Batch Size Speciies the number of rows to process for a batched import operation.

–F irst_row First Row When batching with –b, speciies the starting row in the data ile to use as the starting
point for the import operation.

–L last_row Last Row When batching with –b, speciies the ending row in the data ile to use as the stopping
point for the import operation.

–h hints Hints Enable other options. For example, you can sort and order the data using the ORDER hint,
force constraints to execute during the import operation using the CHECK_CONSTRAINTS hint, and
lock the table during the import operation using the TABLOCK hint.

84 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

It is also a recommended practice to disable nonclustered indexes, triggers, and constraints on the
destination database during the import process and then re-enable them again after. Doing so can
signiicantly improve the performance and speed of the import. Given the simplicity and size of the
WineDb database, there is nothing to disable, nor is there any need to break up the import operation
into batches (although we will still demonstrate batching with the 15-row Wine table, just so you can
learn how to do it with much larger tables).

To import the data iles exported from the local WineDb SQL Server database into the
WineCloudDb SQL Database instance, follow these steps:

1. If it’s not still opened already from the previous export operation, launch a new command
prompt.

2. Type bcp WineCloudDb.dbo.Customer in Customer.dat

–S tcp:<server>.database.windows.net –U <login-id>@<server> –P <password> –n, and
press Enter. This command imports the entire Customer.dat data ile into the Customer table.
When the command is completed, bcp displays status information as shown in Figure 4-16.

Note Replace <server>, <login-id>, and <password> with the server name,
administrator user name, and administrator password of the SQL Database server
hosting your WineCloudDb database.

FIGURE 4-16 Importing a data ile to a SQL Database table with bcp

3. Type bcp WineCloudDb.dbo.Wine in Wine.dat –S tcp:<server>.database.windows.net

–U <login-id>@<server> –P <password> –n –b 5 –F 1 –L 5 –h “TABLOCK”, and press
Enter. This imports the irst batch of rows (rows 1 through 5) from the Wine.dat ile into the
Wine table. The –h switch speciies the TABLOCK hint, which tells bcp to lock the Wine table
while importing.

CHAPTER 4 Migrating databases 85

 4. Type bcp WineCloudDb.dbo.Wine in Wine.dat –S tcp:<server>.database.windows.net
–U <login-id>@<server> –P <password> –n –b 5 –F 6 –L 10 –h “TABLOCK”, and press
Enter. This imports the second batch of rows (rows 6 through 10) from the Wine.dat ile into
the Wine table, which gets locked during the process.

5. Type bcp WineCloudDb.dbo.Wine in Wine.dat –S tcp:<server>.database.windows.net

–U <login-id>@<server> –P <password> –n –b 5 –F 11 –L 15 –h “TABLOCK”, and press
Enter. This imports the third (and last) batch of rows (rows 11 through 15).

You have now imported both the Wine and Customer tables from the local WineDb SQL Server
database into the WineCloudDb SQL Database instance using the bcp utility. In our example, we
migrated a very small data set to SQL Database, so it wasn’t really necessary to break the Wine
table up into 3 batches of 15 rows each (but now you’ve learned how). In fact, bcp was designed to
eficiently migrate large amounts of data into and out of SQL Server. So if you have large tables of
data to migrate into and out of SQL Database (and/or SQL Server), this exercise has shown you how to
batch the overall import operation with bcp.

SQL Database Migration Wizard

SQL Database has a number of noteworthy differences and limitations when compared to SQL Server.
(These are detailed in Chapter 3, ”Differences between SQL Server and Microsoft Azure SQL Data-
base.”) These differences need to be factored into your database migration projects. Your database
schemas and T-SQL scripts must conform to the supported features and syntax of SQL Database,
but inspecting your SQL Server schemas and scripts for unsupported features and syntax can be a
lengthy, painful, and error-prone process. The great news is that the Microsoft Azure SQL Database
Migration Wizard greatly simpliies and reduces the pain of this otherwise tedious process.

All the database migration tools and solutions we’ve explored to this point are built into the
Microsoft SQL Server tools or Visual Studio. However, there are other nice and useful tools outside of
the commercial Microsoft toolset, and the Microsoft Azure SQL Database Migration Wizard is one of
them. This is a free, open source tool that interactively walks you through the process of migrating
a database to SQL Database. The migration wizard was created by George Huey, a Principal Archi-
tect at Microsoft, back in the early days of Microsoft Azure SQL Database when it was still called SQL
Azure. It has been battle-tested by thousands of users and is often updated with bug ixes and feature
enhancements, often as a result of great community feedback.

Note Even though this tool was created by a Microsoft employee, it is not an oficial
Microsoft product and is not supported by Microsoft.

86 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 If you have an existing SQL Server database, and you’re not sure it satisies the requirements and
limitations of SQL Database, the Microsoft Azure SQL Database Migration Wizard is a great place
to start. It will not only deploy schema and data from SQL Server to SQL Database, but it will also
identify compatibility issues, and it can even resolve certain compatibility issues automatically.

The Microsoft Azure SQL Database Migration Wizard greatly simpliies migrating databases to SQL
Database by doing these three things very well:

■ Analyzes a SQL Server database, SQL Proiler trace, or T-SQL script for SQL Database
compatibility issues

■ Generates T-SQL scripts for creating database schema in SQL Database

■ Migrates data to SQL Database using the bcp utility

You already worked with T-SQL scripts and migrated data to SQL Database using BACPAC and bcp.
But one thing you haven’t done to this point is analyze the database for incompatibilities, and that’s
one of the major beneits of the Microsoft Azure SQL Database Migration Wizard.

Downloading the tool

To get started with the SQL Database Migration Wizard, you need to download it from Codeplex and
install it. The SQL Database Migration Wizard has dependencies on SQL Server assemblies, which
requires that SQL Server already be installed.

At the time of this writing, there are two different versions of the SQL Database Migration Wizard.
Version 3.X supports SQL Server 2008 R2, and version 4.X supports SQL Server 2012. We assume you
are running SQL Server 2012, so you should install version 4.X. It’s reasonable to expect that future
versions of the tool will be released to work with future versions of SQL Server, so you just need to
pay attention to which version of the tool you are downloading.

To download and install the SQL Database Migration Wizard, follow these steps:

1. Navigate your web browser to http://sqlazuremw.codeplex.com. This takes you to the tool’s
dedicated Codeplex page. (Note that the URL has a reference to “SQL Azure” in it, because the
tool was created back when SQL Database was named SQL Azure.)

2. Click the DOWNLOADS button at the top of the page. This takes you to a page that lists all the
available SQL Database Migration Wizard downloads.

3. Scroll down to ind and click the download link for SQLAzureMW v4.0.18 Release Binary for
SQL Server 2012 (or, as mentioned, ind and click the Release Binary link with the version
number that corresponds with the version of SQL Server you are running).

4. When prompted to Open or Save, click Save to begin the download.

5. When prompted, click Open Folder to launch an Explorer window to the location on your
computer where you saved the downloaded .zip ile.

CHAPTER 4 Migrating databases 87

 6. Right-click the .zip ile, and choose Properties.

7. In the Properties dialog, click the Unblock button, as shown in Figure 4-17. If you don’t
unblock the .zip ile, you will still be able to extract it, but you won’t then be able to run the
tool from the extracted location.

FIGURE 4-17 Unblocking the downloaded .zip ile using the Properties dialog

8. Click OK to close the Properties dialog.

9. Right-click the .zip ile, and choose Extract All.

10. Click Extract to extract the contents of the .zip ile to a new folder in the same location
and with the same name as the .zip ile.

After the .zip ile is extracted, the folder with the extracted iles opens up automatically in a new
Explorer window, and you are ready to begin using the tool.

Migrating a database
To use the SQL Database Migration Wizard to migrate the WineDb database, follow these steps:

1. In the Explorer window opened to the extracted iles, double-click the ile SQLAzureMW.exe
to launch the tool. This displays the wizard’s Select Process page, as shown in Figure 4-18.

88 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 FIGURE 4-18 The Select Process page of the SQL Database Migration Wizard

2. In the options on the right, choose the Database radio button beneath Analyze / Migrate,
and click Next. This displays the Connect To Server dialog.

Note The TSQL File radio button is useful if you already previously scripted your
database objects to a T-SQL ile, in which case the tool can also analyze and
migrate using that T-SQL ile.

3. For Server Name, type .\sqlexpress (or the name of your local SQL Server instance that
contains the WineDb database).

4. If your local server requires SQL Server authentication, choose the Use A Speciic User ID
And Password radio button and supply your login name and password.

5. Leave the other options set to their defaults, and click the Connect button at the bottom
of the dialog.

6. The Select Source page now displays a list of the databases installed on the local SQL Server
instance you just connected to. Select the WineDb database, and click Next.

7. The Choose Objects page appears. By default, this page is set to script all the database
objects, but you can select speciic database objects if you want. Leave the default option
selected to script the entire database, and click Next.

CHAPTER 4 Migrating databases 89

 8. The Script Wizard Summary page now appears. Take a moment to expand the information
and review it for correctness, and then click Next.

9. When prompted to generate the SQL script, Click Yes. This creates a script to generate the
database schema and runs bcp to export the individual tables from the local WineDb data-
base.

10. When processing completes, the wizard displays the Results Summary page, as shown
in Figure 4-19. You should encounter no errors with the WineDb database. However, if there
are errors, this is where you will discover them, because the wizard will refuse to migrate the
database until you resolve the errors.

Note The Results Summary page uses color coding to make it easy for you to
spot problems. Green and blue indicate success, but if there are compatibility
issues, they will show up in either red or dark red. Red indicates an error that pre-
vents migration, which you need to resolve, while dark red text indicates that an
incompatibility was found, but the SQL Database Migration Wizard knows that it
can resolve the issue automatically.

FIGURE 4-19 The Results Summary page after successfully generating and running a script

90 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

11. Click the SQL Script tab to view the T-SQL schema creation script that the SQL Database
Migration Wizard has generated, as shown in Figure 4-20.

FIGURE 4-20 The SQL Script tab displays the generated schema creation script

12. If you would like to save the script to a ile for later use or review, click Save and select a
location to save the ile.

13. Click Next to begin coniguring the deployment to SQL Database. This launches the Connect
To Server dialog.

14. In the Connect To Server dialog, do the following:

a. For Server Name, type <server>.database.windows.net (replace <server> with the

name of your SQL Database server).

b. For User Name, type <login-id>@<server> (replace <login-id> with the server’s
administrator user name, and replace <server> with the name of your SQL Database
server).

c. For Password, type the type server’s administrator password. The Connect To Server
dialog should appear similar to Figure 4-21.

CHAPTER 4 Migrating databases 91

 FIGURE 4-21 Connecting to SQL Database to deploy using the SQL Database Migration Wizard

d. Click Connect to connect to your SQL Database server. This closes the Connect To Server
dialog and returns to the wizard.

15. The Setup Target Server Connection page appears, and lists all the databases on the server. If
you have been following along with the previous procedures, you will see the WineCloudDb
database appear in the list. You want to begin with an empty database, so delete the current
one as follows:

a. Click the WineCloudDb database.

b. Click the Delete Database button at the bottom of the dialog.

c. When prompted to conirm, click Yes to return to the wizard.

16. Click the Create Database button at the bottom of the dialog. This launches the Create
Database dialog.

17. For Enter Database Name, type WineCloudDb. The Create Database dialog should appear
similar to Figure 4-22.

92 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 FIGURE 4-22 Creating the target database for deployment with the SQL Database Migration Wizard

18. Click the Create Database button. This creates an empty SQL Database named WineCloudDb,
closes the Create Database dialog, and returns to the wizard.

19. Select the newly created WineCloudDb database in the list, and click Next.

20. When prompted to execute the script, click Yes.

21. As the deployment progresses, you will see status updates written to the Target Server
Response page. When the deployment completes successfully, the Target Server Response
page should appear similar to Figure 4-23.

FIGURE 4-23 The Target Server Response page after a successful deployment

CHAPTER 4 Migrating databases 93

 Note The Target Server Response page also uses color coding to indicate success
(green and blue) and failure (red).

22. Click Exit to close the wizard.

You have now deployed both the schema and data to the WineCloudDb SQL Database instance
using an intuitive step-by-step tool, thanks to the Microsoft Azure SQL Database Migration
Wizard. Beyond deploying both your database schema and data, it also analyzed your schema for
compatibility issues when migrating from SQL Server to SQL Database.

To summarize, the tool performed the following actions:

1. Generated T-SQL scripts for all the database objects (schema) in the local SQL Server database

2. Exported data into data iles using bcp

3. Analyzed the generated T-SQL script with a pattern matching rules engine that uncovers known
incompatibilities and limitations

4. Deployed the database schema to SQL Database by executing the generated (and potentially
autocorrected) T-SQL scripts

5. Imported data into SQL Database from the exported data iles using bcp

All these steps (with the exception of the analysis step) could have been performed independently,
as you did in the previous sections of this chapter. The SQL Database Migration Wizard just packages
everything up in an easy-to-use tool that visually and interactively walks through the process, without
you needing to use multiple tools and command prompts. But the rules engine analysis that the SQL
Database Migration Wizard conducts on your local database schema is not something you can do
with the other tools. This analysis is a unique and extremely compelling capability of the wizard.

The Microsoft Azure SQL Database Migration Wizard is open source, and you can look at the
internals of this tool if you want. If you discover an incompatibility between SQL Server and SQL
Database that the tool doesn’t catch, or you’re just curious about the predeined syntax rules, you can
easily view the rules. They are deined in an XML ile named NotSupportedByAzureFile.Conig, which
can be found in the same directory as the SQLAzureMW.exe. If you are comfortable with regular
expressions, you can even add your own rules to the SQL Server Migration Wizard by modifying this
XML ile with a text editor.

94 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

Summary
It is rare to work on a project that is entirely greenield and all new development. You’re much more
likely to work on a project involving Microsoft Azure SQL Database that will require the migration of
existing databases. There are many ways to migrate your SQL Server databases to SQL Database, and
they each have their own pros and cons to it different scenarios. In this chapter, we walked through
a number of tools and techniques for migrating existing SQL Server databases to SQL Database,
including T-SQL scripts, .bacpac iles, bcp, and the SQL Database Migration Wizard.

For lightweight scenarios, you saw how T-SQL scripts can be generated from a SQL Server
database and executed against a SQL Database instance. SQL Data-Tier Application .bacpac iles make
it easy to package an entire database, including both schema and data, and import that into a SQL
Database instance, but it operates at the database level and doesn’t allow you to migrate individual
database objects. Furthermore, for larger databases, the size of the .bacpac ile can make it dificult
to migrate to SQL Database. Bulk Copy with bcp is an eficient and high-performance way to mi-
grate large amounts of data to SQL Database, but it doesn’t do anything to migrate your database
objects (schema). Finally, the Microsoft Azure SQL Database Migration Wizard is a free, open source
project on Codeplex that is not commercially supported by a software vendor that brings together
the process of migrating the schema and data to SQL Database while generating T-SQL scripts and
automating bcp.

CHAPTER 4 Migrating databases 95

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CHAPTER 5

Security and backup

— Eric Boyd

T he topics of security, availability, and disaster recovery top the list of concerns that customers
raise when considering the public cloud. These are certainly not new concerns introduced with
the cloud; customers have been architecting solutions to deal with these same concerns since long
before the cloud. The cloud is simply unfamiliar territory that causes these foundational concerns to
be revisited. Thus, customers need these top concerns addressed with reasonable solutions before the
public cloud is a viable option. Microsoft does a great job of putting customers’ concerns at ease on
these topics with the security processes and certiications that are in place in Microsoft Azure, along
with the features of the platform that provide customers with the control and visibility they need.

In this chapter, we discuss security and backup concerns in the cloud. We start by explaining
the general security responsibilities of any public cloud vendor, and then talk more speciically
about security in Microsoft Azure and Microsoft Azure SQL Database. You will learn how to secure
SQL Database by coniguring the irewall as you create custom irewall rules and deine users and
permissions.

Security and backup often go hand in hand. Notwithstanding all other security-related concerns,
how “secure” is your business if you have no backup in the event of an unforeseen disaster? So toward
the end of this chapter, you will also learn how to copy and back up SQL Database, and how to
schedule automated backups.

Addressing major cloud concerns

Two of the most common concerns users raise when considering public cloud platforms are security
and business continuity, sometimes referred to as disaster recovery. Security is an overloaded term,
and it can mean a lot of different things depending on the individual and context. So it is easier to
think about security concerns by dividing them into two major categories: security concerns that are
the sole responsibility of the public cloud vendor (Microsoft, in the case of Azure), and security con-
cerns that are either the customer’s responsibility or the combined responsibility of the customer and
public cloud vendor.

97
 Security responsibilities of the public cloud vendor
Some security concerns can be managed and addressed only by public cloud vendors, because
customer access is limited to higher-level abstractions over the raw computing infrastructure, re-
sources, and services. The customer typically cannot gain direct access to things like network routers,
switches, and irewalls, as well as physical servers and the hypervisor, which is the software layer that
virtualizes the hardware for multiple operating systems to run on a single physical server. As a result,
it is very important to have a reputable cloud vendor with a successful history that you can count
on and trust. But you cannot rely only on faith in a vendor, you also need transparency and insight
into the resources and practices of your cloud vendor, and this includes their security practices and
procedures, as described in the following sections.

Physical data center

Access to the physical data center—including entry inside the outermost security fence, entry into the
building, and access to the physical infrastructure and hardware—must be managed with secure poli-
cies that are consistently enforced. You want it to be extremely dificult, and ideally impossible, for an
unauthorized person to gain physical access to your servers.

Privacy from vendor personnel

The personnel who are authorized to gain access to the computing infrastructure and resources
should still not be able to access your data, unless you explicitly grant them permission to do so.
Because you don’t manage the foundational infrastructure, the vendor must ensure that it’s secure
with the appropriate safeguards to prevent their personnel from accessing your data without your
permission.

Isolating tenants
As is the case with vendor personnel, you don’t want other tenants of the cloud vendor to be able to
gain access to your data and applications. (Multitenancy is an architecture in which a single infrastruc-
ture component serves multiple customers, where each customer is called a tenant.) When you are
using multitenant services, this is a concern that must be managed by the vendor.

Preventing cyber attacks

A malicious attack, such as a denial-of-service attack, could occur against your applications and
services, or at a broader level against the cloud vendor’s services. When these kinds of attacks occur,
you want the cloud vendor to detect them and prevent them from causing a service outage.

Shared security responsibilities

Other security concerns are either the customer’s responsibility or are shared between the customer
and the cloud vendor. Whenever a security concern can be affected by the customer’s coniguration,
implementation, or software, it cannot be the responsibility of the cloud vendor alone. The customer
must secure aspects of their application to resolve these security concerns.

98 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

Meeting compliance requirements
A number of industries and organizations must meet regulatory requirements because of the nature
of their businesses and the data they handle. These requirements often span the physical data center,
applications running in the data center, and management processes across both of these areas. As a
result, you need to understand what compliance certiications your cloud vendor has achieved. But
you also need to understand that you also have a responsibility to meet the requirements that are
outside of the cloud vendor’s control that are application-centric and speciic to your implementation.

Auditing activities
Much like compliance, knowing who did what and when they did it is a responsibility that is shared
between the cloud vendor and the customer. Only the cloud vendor can track and provide an audit
log of the activities that occur in the platform services. But it’s the customer’s responsibility to track
the application-level activities. Because accurate and detailed auditing is a common requirement
for most compliance certiications, it’s an important capability both for your cloud vendor and your
applications to provide. A core requirement for effective auditing requires you to provide unique
credentials for every user and ensure that users do not share their credentials. If multiple users share a
single account, you cannot possibly know exactly who performed an activity logged for that account.

Keeping electronic intruders out

Let’s not forget the hackers who try to proit from stealing data and other hackers who just want to
be malicious and aim to create chaos. You need to keep both of those types of hackers out. The cloud
vendor must protect the infrastructure and core services and keep the electronic intruders out at that
level. It’s your responsibility to protect your applications from exploitations, and if you manage the
virtual machines (VMs) in an Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) model, you must patch and secure your
operating system whenever it is exploited.

Security in Microsoft Azure

Microsoft invests a lot of effort and talent into making sure Azure is a secure and reliable public
cloud. Microsoft also does a great job being transparent and providing insight into the security and
privacy practices of Microsoft Azure. One of the ways they do this is via a website called the Microsoft
Azure Trust Center, which can be found at http://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/support/trust-center/. The
Microsoft Azure Trust Center provides detailed information on Microsoft’s practices that enable secu-
rity, privacy, and compliance in Microsoft Azure. It is a great resource to gain a deeper understanding
of security in Microsoft Azure and to ind answers to your Microsoft Azure security questions.

Although Microsoft invests a lot of effort into ensuring SQL Database is a secure and reliable
service, you still need to do a number of things to create a secure experience when using it. In the
following sections, you will walk through step-by-step procedures that help to secure SQL Database.
You will begin by securing access to and communication with SQL Database. Then you will walk
through application-level security concerns such as SQL injection attacks and data encryption.

CHAPTER 5 Security and backup 99

Securing SQL Database
SQL Database provides security features for authentication and authorization that are similar to those
found in SQL Server. In addition to those features, SQL Database provides capabilities to secure access
based on the client’s IP address and ensures that the communication channels are encrypted and
secure. In the following step-by-step procedures, you will walk through securing your SQL Database
service.

Creating a SQL Database

To demonstrate various security and backup practices, the procedures in this chapter work a
WineCloudDb SQL Database similar to the one you’ve created in other chapters. If you don’t already
have this database (or if you deleted it), you can create it now to follow along with this chapter.
Otherwise, if you have a WineCloudDb database already on a SQL Database server from any other
chapter in this book, you can skip ahead to the next procedure, “Coniguring SQL Database Firewall.”

You will use SSMS to create the database. Then you will execute the script in Listing 5-1 to create
some tables and populate them with some data.

LISTING 5-1 Script to create the WineCloudDb database

CREATE TABLE Wine(

WineId int IDENTITY PRIMARY KEY,
Name nvarchar(50) NOT NULL,
Category nvarchar(15) NOT NULL,
Year int);

CREATE TABLE Customer(

CustomerId int IDENTITY PRIMARY KEY,
FirstName nvarchar(50) NOT NULL,
LastName nvarchar(50) NOT NULL,
FavoriteWineId int,
CONSTRAINT FK_Customer_Wine FOREIGN KEY (FavoriteWineId) REFERENCES Wine(WineId));

SET IDENTITY_INSERT Wine ON;

INSERT Wine (WineId, Name, Category, Year) VALUES
(1, 'Chateau Penin', 'Bordeaux', 2008),
(2, 'McLaren Valley', 'Cabernet', 2005),
(3, 'Mendoza', 'Merlot', 2010),
(4, 'Valle Central', 'Merlot', 2009);
SET IDENTITY_INSERT Wine OFF;

SET IDENTITY_INSERT Customer ON;

INSERT Customer (CustomerId, FirstName, LastName, FavoriteWineId) VALUES
(1, 'Jeff', 'Hay', 4),
(2, 'Mark', 'Hanson', 3),
(3, 'Jeff', 'Phillips', 2);
SET IDENTITY_INSERT Customer OFF;

100 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 To create the WineCloudDb database, follow these steps:

1. Launch SSMS. An easy way to do this is to press the Windows key, type sql server
management studio on the Start screen, and press Enter.

2. In the Connect To Server dialog, do the following:

a. For Server Name, type <servername>.database.windows.net. This is the fully qualiied

name to the SQL Database server, where <servername> should be replaced by the name
assigned to your server.

b. For Authentication, select SQL Server Authentication from the drop-down list. (SQL
Database does not support Windows Authentication.)

c. For Login and Password, type the user name (we’ve been using saz) and password you
assigned the server when you created it.

d. Click the Connect button. The server now appears as a node in the Object Explorer.

3. Right-click the server node in the Object Explorer, and choose New Query to open a new
query window connected to the master database.

4. In the new query window, type CREATE DATABASE WineCloudDb and press F5 to execute
the script. This creates a new WineCloudDb database on the server.

5. Expand the Databases node in the Object Explorer. If the new WineCloudDb database is not
visible, right-click the Databases node and choose Refresh.

6. Right-click the WineCloudDb database in the Object Explorer, and choose New Query to open
a new query window connected to the WineCloudDb database.

7. Type the code shown in Listing 5-1 into the query window (or paste it in from the listing ile
downloaded from the book’s companion website).

8. Press F5 to execute the script.

9. Close the query window. (You don’t need to save the changes unless you want to.)

Coniguring SQL Database Firewall

In a typical SQL Server deployment, SQL Server is set up inside the irewall, not in a demilitarized
zone (DMZ), which is a subnetwork that exposes externally-facing services to a larger and untrusted
network. In this manner, an on-premises SQL Server database is not accessible outside of the internal
network. In the cloud, however, services are intended to be accessible and thus they cannot be limited
to the internal network. These networking requirements make it more dificult to reduce the surface
area for attack in the cloud than it is to do the same with SQL Server in your data center. Microsoft
Azure closes this gap with a feature that is unique to SQL Database called SQL Database Firewall.

SQL Database Firewall restricts access to SQL Database based on the origin IP address of the
connection. It is an opt-in model, which means that by default all connections to SQL Database are

CHAPTER 5 Security and backup 101

 blocked unless a rule has been added that explicitly allows an IP address to connect. Rules can be
deined for individual IP addresses as well as IP address ranges. SQL Database Firewall rules allow
connections to be made to a SQL Database server, they do not authorize access to objects within the
SQL Database instance. Once a connection has been permitted and established, SQL Database will
authenticate the user and then authorize access to the requested database objects.

Tip In addition to server-level irewall rules created using the Microsoft Azure
management portal, you can conigure database-level irewall rules using the
sp_set_database_irewall_rule stored procedure found in each database. For more
information on coniguring database-level irewall rules, visit http://msdn.microsoft.com/
en-us/library/jj553530.aspx.

SQL Database server-based irewall rules are deined for an entire SQL Database server, they are
stored in the master database, and they allow clients to connect to any database within that server.
These rules can be edited directly in the master database, and they can also be managed using the
Microsoft Azure management portal. SQL Database irewall rules have a name, a starting IP address,
and an ending IP address. This arrangement allows you to create a single rule for multiple consecutive
IP addresses, for example, and an entire IP subnet. You can also create a rule for a single IP address by
making the starting IP address and ending IP address the same.

Creating custom irewall rules

SQL Database Firewall will prevent all connections to SQL Database unless explicitly allowed via a
irewall rule. This includes your attempts to connect to SQL Database even using the SQL Database
management portal. As a result, the IP address you are trying to connect from needs to be included
in the irewall rules.

Follow these steps to add your IP address to the server-based irewall rules:

1. Log in to the Microsoft Azure management portal at https://manage.windowsazure.com.

This brings you to the main portal page showing ALL ITEMS.

2. Click SQL DATABASES in the vertical navigation pane on the left.

3. Click the SERVERS link at the top of the page. This displays a list of your Microsoft Azure SQL
Database servers, as shown in Figure 5-1.

102 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 FIGURE 5-1 List of SQL Database servers in the Microsoft Azure management portal

4. In the NAME column, click the server that contains the WineCloudDb database. This opens a
page with links for the selected server.

5. Click the CONFIGURE link at the top of the page. This displays the SQL Database server irewall
coniguration, as shown in Figure 5-2.

FIGURE 5-2 SQL Database server irewall coniguration

6. If you followed similar procedures in Chapter 1, “Getting started with Microsoft Azure SQL
Database,” and Chapter 2, “Coniguration and pricing,” you should already see one rule named

CHAPTER 5 Security and backup 103

 ClientIPAddress_yyyy-mm-dd_hh:mm:ss in place for your current IP address, or at least, for the
IP address you were using at the time if you are now in a different location. In this case, click
the X to the right of the rule (the X appears only when you hover the mouse over the rule) to
remove it now.

7. In the Allowed IP Addresses section, your current IP address should appear to the right of
CURRENT CLIENT IP ADDRESS. Click the ADD TO THE ALLOWED IP ADDRESSES link to the
right of your IP address to add it now.

With this change, you will be able to connect to the SQL Database server from your current IP ad-
dress, wherever you happen to be. Of course, if you are connecting from the same IP address you used
in Chapters 1 and 2, the new rule you just added is the same rule as the one you just removed in the
previous step. In this case, the purpose of this exercise was solely to demonstrate how to delete a rule.

New irewall rules don’t take effect until you click the SAVE button at the bottom of the page.
Before you do that, add another rule so that you can also connect from your home ofice. To create
the home ofice rule, follow these steps:

1. In the RULE NAME text box beneath the list of existing rules, type Home Ofice. Note that the
rule name cannot contain either forward slash (/) or backslash (\) characters, nor can it end
with a period (.) character.

2. In the START IP ADDRESS and END IP ADDRESS boxes, type the IP address range of your home
ofice. (Type the same IP address in both text boxes to specify a single IP address rather than a
range.) The page should appear similar to Figure 5-3.

FIGURE 5-3 New irewall rules for the current location and the Home Ofice

104 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 3. Click the SAVE button at the bottom of the page.

You have now updated the irewall rules. Prior to doing so, the home ofice IP address or addresses
you speciied would be blocked from connecting to your SQL Database server using any mechanism,
including SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS), SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT), your own custom ap-
plications using ADO.NET or Entity Framework, and even the SQL Database management portal itself.

Allowing Microsoft Azure services to connect

If you want, Microsoft Azure services can also be blocked from connecting to your SQL Database
server. Finding out the IP addresses of the Microsoft Azure originating requests can be dificult and
complex to manage, so SQL Database provides a feature that enables you to allow or block requests
from other Azure services without having to know the speciic IP addresses for the request. If you
allow Azure services to connect to your SQL Database server using this feature, all Azure services are
allowed to connect through the SQL Database server irewall. They will still need to authenticate and
be authorized in your SQL Database server to do anything with your databases, but they won’t be
blocked from connecting by the irewall.

When you create a server, you’ll see a check box you can select to enable Microsoft Azure services
to access your SQL Database server. (You used this check box in Chapter 1; see Figure 1-5.) This check
box is selected by default, and if you left it selected when you created your SQL Database server (and
as we instructed in Chapter 1), Azure services are allowed to connect to your SQL Database server.
Once the server has been created, you can easily toggle the setting to allow or block Azure services
through the irewall by clicking the YES and NO options for WINDOWS AZURE SERVICES beneath
Allowed Services at the bottom of the irewall rules page. (See the bottom of Figure 5-3.)

When you choose to allow Microsoft Azure services, a irewall rule is added to your SQL Database
server with an IP range of 0.0.0.0 to 0.0.0.0. This is a special range that allows all Microsoft Azure
services to connect to your SQL Database server, and it does not appear with your other rules on the
irewall rules page. (You can determine whether or not the 0.0.0.0 rule is in place based on whether
YES or NO is selected for WINDOWS AZURE SERVICES at the bottom of the page.)

In addition to managing server-based irewall rules in the Microsoft Azure management portal as
you’ve just done, the SQL Database Management REST API can also be used in scenarios where you
want to manage the SQL Database irewall from an application or script. (The REST API is explained in
Chapter 8, “Designing and tuning for scalability and high performance.”)

Authenticating and authorizing users

Once a client connection is permitted through the SQL Database Firewall, SQL Database then needs
to authenticate credentials and log in users. SQL Database manages and authenticates users using
SQL Server Authentication, just like on-premises SQL Server. Unlike SQL Server, however, Windows
Authentication is not supported. (More information about differences between Microsoft Azure SQL
Database and SQL Server can be found in Chapter 3, “Coniguration and pricing.”)

CHAPTER 5 Security and backup 105

 When Microsoft Azure creates a SQL Database server, it also creates a master database on the
server. One of the responsibilities of the master database is managing SQL Database server logins.
The initial login is created from the user name and password you provide when creating a SQL
Database server. (We’ve been using saz in our examples.) That user name and password gets used as
the server-level principal for your SQL Database server, similar to the sa user in SQL Server. You can
use that login to connect to your SQL Database server from your applications, but doing so is not
a good practice because this login has full permissions in the database and does not allow you to
provide ine-grained access. To restrict access and achieve more ine-grained access control, you need
to create new SQL Database logins and users.

Creating SQL Database logins

To create a new login and user in SQL Server, you could use the graphical interface in SQL Server
Management Studio. Unfortunately, those dialogs and forms are not available in SSMS when you are
connected to a SQL Database server. As a result, you will need to execute direct T-SQL commands
inside a query window instead.

Follow these steps to create a new SQL Database server login:

1. Launch SSMS. An easy way to do this is to press the Windows key, type sql server
management studio on the Start screen, and press Enter.

2. In the Connect To Server dialog, enter the appropriate credentials, as shown in Figure 5-4. Be
sure to choose the server that has the WineCloudDb database on it. Also, remember that the
server name must be sufixed with .database.windows.net and you must provide the login you
speciied when you created the server. (We’ve been using saz in our examples.)

FIGURE 5-4 The Connect To Server dialog in SQL Server Management Studio

3. Click the Connect button.

4. Once connected, your SQL Database server will be listed in the Object Explorer pane.
Right-click on the server name, and choose New Query as shown in Figure 5-5. This opens a
new query window connected to the master database.

106 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 FIGURE 5-5 Opening a new query window for the master database in SQL Server Management Studio

5. Type the following T-SQL statement:

CREATE LOGIN WineCloudDbLogin WITH PASSWORD='<Password>'

Note Replace <Password> with a strong password that you select for your new
login. The password must satisfy the requirements of the password policy. For
more information about the strong password policy, see http://msdn.microsoft.
com/en-us/library/ms161962.aspx.

6. Press F5 (or click the Execute button in the toolbar) to run the script.

You have now created a new SQL Database server login; however, this login isn’t authorized to do
anything with the SQL Database server. You now need to create a user for this login and then either
grant the user server-level or database-level permissions.

Granting server-level permissions

SQL Database has two server-level security roles, loginmanager and dbmanager, as shown in Table 5-1.
These roles make it possible for users other than the server-level principal to manage security and
databases. A user must be created for a login in the master database to assign server-level roles.

TABLE 5-1 SQL Database server-level roles

Role Description

loginmanager This role has permissions to create logins in the SQL Database server, similar to the
securityadmin role in SQL Server.

dbmanager This role has permissions to create databases in a SQL Database server, similar to the dbcreator
role in SQL Server.

As when creating and managing logins, you will need to manage users and role assignments using
T-SQL scripts, because the SQL Server Management Studio user interfaces are not available when
you are connected to a SQL Database server. Working in the same query window that’s connected to

CHAPTER 5 Security and backup 107

 your SQL Database server from the previous procedure, follow these steps to create a new user with
server-level permissions:

1. Delete the T-SQL code in the query window left over from the previous procedure.

2. Type the following T-SQL statements into the code window:

CREATE USER WineCloudDbUser FROM LOGIN WineCloudDbLogin
GO
EXEC sp_addrolemember 'loginmanager', 'WineCloudDbUser'
EXEC sp_addrolemember 'dbmanager', 'WineCloudDbUser'

3. Press F5 (or click the Execute button in the toolbar) to run the script. This code creates
a new user named WineCloudDbUser that is associated with the existing login named
WineCloudDbLogin that you created in the previous procedure, and then adds the new user
to the loginmanager and dbmanager roles.

You have now created a new user in the master database named WineCloudDbUser and granted
this user permissions to manage logins and databases within the scope of the SQL Database server.
This will allow you to delegate permissions to others to manage the SQL Database server without
needing to distribute the server-level principal credentials.

Granting database-level permissions

One of the goals when working on security is to minimize the surface area and reduce exposure to
attack. One of the principles that gets applied to this problem is the principle of least privilege, which
basically means, give users just enough access to perform their required job functions, and not any
more or less. This minimizes users’ access, which in turn minimizes the overall surface area for attack.

When using SQL Database, you don’t want to grant all users server-level permissions; instead, you
want to give users just enough permissions to do what they need. For example, if you have an appli-
cation that only needs to read data from a database, you don’t want to give the user the application
is connecting as permissions to write data. In this case, you can create a new user who has read-only
database permissions. This involves creating a new login in the master database and then creating a
new user associated with that login in the WineCloudDb database. Create the new read-only user now
by following these steps:

1. Delete the T-SQL code in the query window left over from the previous procedure.
(Remember that this query window is still connected to the master database.)

2. Type the following T-SQL statement into the code window:

CREATE LOGIN WineCloudDbReadonlyLogin WITH PASSWORD='<Password>'

Note Once again, replace <Password> with a strong password for the new login.

108 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 3. Press F5 (or click the Execute button in the toolbar) to run the script. This code creates a new
login named WineCloudDbReadonlyLogin in the master database.

4. In Object Explorer, expand the Databases node to reveal the list of databases on the server
(which should include the WineCloudDb database).

5. Right-click the WineCloudDb database, and choose New Query, as shown in Figure 5-6. This
opens a new query window connected to the WineCloudDb database.

FIGURE 5-6 Opening a new query window for the WineCloudDb database

6. Type the following T-SQL statements into the code window connected to WineCloudDb:
CREATE USER WineCloudDbReadonlyUser FROM LOGIN WineCloudDbReadonlyLogin
GO
EXEC sp_addrolemember 'db_datareader', 'WineCloudDbReadonlyUser'

You have now created a new login in the master database of your SQL Database server. You
created a user for that login in the WineCloudDb database and granted that user permissions to read
data. Granting database-level permissions enables you to grant least-privilege permissions to users
and minimize the attack surface of your SQL Database server.

Connecting to a SQL Database server with database-level permissions

The previous procedure walked through creating a SQL Database login named
WineCloudDbReadonlyLogin and an associated user named WineCloudDbReadonlyUser that is
granted read-only permission for the WineCloudDb database. This login could be used by a custom
application connecting to the database, or you might want to grant a developer read-only access to a
database in order to diagnose a production issue. In the latter scenario, it is likely that the developer
would want to use SSMS. However, when that developer attempts to connect with SSMS using the
WineCloudDbReadonlyLogin credentials, SSMS will display an error message as shown in Figure 5-7.

CHAPTER 5 Security and backup 109

 FIGURE 5-7 The SSMS Connect To Server error message when the login doesn’t have access to master

This error occurs because, by default, SSMS attempts to access the master database when it
connects, but the login provided has no permissions on the master database—it just has read-only
permissions on WineCloudDb. The resolution is to use the advanced version of the Connect To Server
dialog, which allows you to specify a particular database that you want to access other than master,
which in our case, is WineCloudDb. To use the advanced Connect To Server dialog in SSMS, follow
these steps:

1. If you’ve closed SSMS since the previous procedure, start it up again to display the Connect
To Server dialog. If SSMS is still open, click Connect | Database Engine in the Object Explorer
toolbar menu as shown in Figure 5-8 to display the Connect To Server dialog.

FIGURE 5-8 Connecting to Database Engine in the SSMS Object Explorer

2. For Server name, type the name of your SQL Database server that contains the WineCloudDb
database. (Remember to add the sufix .database.windows.net.)

3. For Authentication, choose SQL Server Authentication.

4. For Login, type WineCloudDbReadonlyLogin.

5. For Password, type the password you assigned to WineCloudDbReadonlyLogin in the previous
procedure.

110 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 6. Click the Options button at the bottom right of the dialog. This changes the Connect To
Server dialog to its advanced version, which includes a Connect To Database text box with
which you can specify a database for the connection other than master.

7. In the Connect To Database text box, type WineCloudDb as shown in Figure 5-9.

FIGURE 5-9 The advanced Connect To Server dialog lets you specify a particular database for the
connection

8. Click the Connect button. Now, instead of displaying the error message shown in Figure 5-8,
SSMS connects successfully.

You have now connected to the WineCloudDb SQL Database using SSMS with a limited access
account that has only db_datareader permissions. As explained, this is useful when you need to give a
team member read-only access to a production database to diagnose issues or conduct some analysis
on the data.

Microsoft Azure SQL Database provides security capabilities that include irewall and server-level
roles. You can also secure SQL objects with database-level roles and permissions in just the same way
as you can with SQL Server. This enables you to follow the principle of least privilege and grant users
only the permissions they need, no more and no less. Doing so reduces the attack surface and helps
maintain security. It is a good practice to follow this principle when developing applications that con-
nect to your SQL Database, and when providing other team members credentials for SQL Database to
use for development, troubleshooting, and analysis.

CHAPTER 5 Security and backup 111

Backing up SQL Database
The inconvenient truth is that disasters do occur, and they come in various shapes and sizes. A disaster
could result from a malicious attack, a service outage, or something as simple as bad code that
deleted or corrupted data. When disaster strikes, you need to be able to recover from it and continue
on with your business. Having a good business continuity and disaster recovery plan is the key to suc-
cessfully working through a catastrophe. One essential component of your disaster recovery plan is
backups. Beyond recovering from disasters, backups are commonly used to set up new environments
and to troubleshoot issues that might be occurring only in a speciic environment.

When developers are initially introduced to Microsoft Azure SQL Database, they often mistakenly
think that backups are not needed because SQL Database provides high-availability features by de-
fault. The need for backups is similar but different than the need for high availability. High-availability
capabilities help ensure that your database is accessible when small-scale infrastructure downtime
occurs—for example, when there is excessive load on a server or when a server needs to be rebooted
during routine maintenance. High availability does not help when something unexpected deletes or
corrupts the database, because those changes will get replicated across all high-availability nodes.
So you need a backup-and-restore strategy even with the built-in, high-availability features of SQL
Database.

The backup-and-restore process in Microsoft Azure SQL Database is different than what you might
be used to in SQL Server, because the traditional T-SQL statements BACKUP and RESTORE are not
supported. Instead of traditional backups in SQL Server, BACPAC iles are used to back up and restore
with SQL Database.

Copying a database
Transactional consistency is important to maintain when backing up a transactional system like SQL
Database or SQL Server. BACPAC iles do not provide transactional consistency, because a BACPAC
is by copying tables individually, and modiications could occur between the time that the irst table
and last table are copied. So the irst thing you need to do when backing up a SQL Database server is
create a copy of the database that isn’t being modiied using the Database Copy feature.

The Database Copy feature creates a new database from an existing SQL Database that is
transactionally consistent when the copy inishes. It does this by replicating any changes that are
made to the source database while the database is copying at the end of the process. Database copies
can be created either on the same SQL Database server or on a different server within the same
region.

Follow these steps to create a copy of the WineCloudDb database:

1. In SSMS, connect to your SQL Database server that contains the WineCloudDb database using
the login you used to create the server. (We’ve been using saz in our examples.) Once con-
nected, the SQL Database server will be listed in the Object Explorer pane on the left.

112 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 2. Right-click on the server name, and choose New Query as shown in Figure 5-5. This opens a
new query window connected to the master database.

3. Type the following T-SQL statement into the code window:

CREATE DATABASE WineCloudDbCopy AS COPY OF WineCloudDb

4. Press F5 (or click the Execute button in the toolbar) to run the script. This starts the process of
copying the WineCloudDb database to a new database named WineCloudDbCopy.

You have now started copying your WineCloudDb database to a new database named
WineCloudDbCopy. In this procedure, you copied a source database to a destination database on the
same SQL Database server, but you could also copy your database to another SQL Database server,
as long as the destination database server is within the same Microsoft Azure region as the source
database server. You can do this by executing the CREATE DATABASE statement in a query window
connected to the master database on the destination server. Then just preix the source database
name in the CREATE DATABASE…AS COPY OF statement with the name of the source server—like so,
for example:

CREATE DATABASE WineCloudDbCopy AS COPY OF muea4g022x.WineCloudDb

Monitoring the progress of a database copy operation

When you execute the CREATE DATABASE…AS COPY OF statement to copy a database, it returns with
success or failure quickly. However, copying a database is an asynchronous process and the result of
the CREATE DATABASE…AS COPY OF statement is not actually the result of copying the database—it
is just the result of beginning the asynchronous copy operation. You can determine the status of the
database copy operation running in the background by querying the sys.databases and
sys.dm_database_copies views.

While the database is copying, the state_desc column of the sys.databases view will return
COPYING. If the copy process fails, the state_desc column returns SUSPECT. And if the copy completes
successfully, the state_desc column returns ONLINE.

The new destination database gets created early in the database copy process. If a failure occurs
at any time during the database copy, the database will be left in an incomplete state and you will
need to delete the new database using the DROP DATABASE statement. You can also cancel the
database copy operation while it is running by executing the DROP DATABASE statement on the new
destination database.

Follow these steps to monitor the copy database progress:

1. In SSMS, connect to your SQL Database server that contains the WineCloudDbCopy database
you created in the previous procedure, using the login you used to create the server. (We’ve
been using saz in our examples.) Once connected, the SQL Database server will be listed in the
Object Explorer pane on the left.

2. Right-click on the server name, and choose New Query as shown earlier in Figure 5-5. This
opens a new query window connected to the master database.

CHAPTER 5 Security and backup 113

 3. Type the following T-SQL statement into the code window:
SELECT name, state_desc
FROM sys.databases
WHERE name = 'WineCloudDbCopy'

4. Press F5 (or click the Execute button in the toolbar) to run the script. This returns the state
of the new destination database from the sys.databases view, as shown in Figure 5-10. Of
course, if you allowed enough time for the copy operation to complete since starting it in the
previous procedure, the state_desc column will report ONLINE, not COPYING.

FIGURE 5-10 The results from the sys.databases query during a database copy operation

You can obtain additional details about the copy operation (start date, completion percentage,
error details, and more) by joining the sys.databases view with the sys.dm_database_copies view on
the database_id column as follows:

SELECT *
FROM sys.dm_database_copies AS c INNER JOIN sys.databases AS d ON c.database_id = d.database_id
WHERE d.name = 'WineCloudDbCopy'

Note The sys.dm_database_copies view will return a result only while the copy is in
progress. Once the copy has completed, this view returns no results.

The database copy operation can also be monitored in the Microsoft Azure management portal,
as shown in Figure 5-11.

114 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

FIGURE 5-11 The Microsoft Azure management portal database list during a database copy operation

Once the operation completes, you have created a transactionally consistent copy of your
database, and you are now ready to export it as a BACPAC.

Exporting a BACPAC
As you learned in Chapter 4, “Creating a Microsoft Azure Storage account,” SQL Database provides
BACPAC import and export capabilities that enable you to easily migrate databases between SQL
Database and SQL Server. These import and export capabilities also provide a simple and reliable way
to back up and restore databases in SQL Database (provided that you irst create a transactionally
consistent copy).

The storage service you use in Microsoft Azure to store BACPAC iles is Microsoft Azure Blob
Storage. Blob Storage is a service designed for storing binary iles that are very large in size. The
service supports two types of blobs: block blobs and page blobs, either of which can be used for
storing BACPAC iles. At the time of this writing, the maximum size of a block blob is 200 gigabytes
(GB) and the maximum size of a page blob is one terabyte (TB).

Blob Storage is an ideal service for storing BACPAC iles. To use the SQL Database export feature,
you need a Microsoft Azure Storage account. If you haven’t already set up a Microsoft Azure Stor-
age Account named mywinestorage, follow the steps found in Chapter 4 in the section “Creating a
Microsoft Azure Storage account.”

Follow these steps to export a BACPAC to the mywinestorage storage account:

1. Log in to the Microsoft Azure portal at https://manage.windowsazure.com. This brings you

to the main portal page showing ALL ITEMS.

2. Click SQL DATABASES in the vertical navigation pane on the left.

3. Click on the WineCloudDbCopy database (the transactionally consistent copy of the

WineCloudDb database you just created).

4. Click the EXPORT button at the bottom of the page to display the Export Database.

CHAPTER 5 Security and backup 115

 5. For FILENAME, you can leave the default name assigned by the portal (WineCloudDbCopy
sufixed with the current date and time), or enter a name of your own choosing for the
BACPAC ile.

6. For BLOB STORAGE ACCOUNT, choose your blob storage account from the drop-down list
(or choose Create A New Storage Account from the drop-down list to create a new storage
account on the ly). Once you choose a storage account, the CONTAINER drop-down list
appears.

Tip Best practice is to create the storage account in the same Microsoft Azure
region as the SQL Database to avoid data-transfer costs between regions. See
Chapter 2 for more information on SQL Database pricing and recommendations.

7. For CONTAINER, you can choose an existing container from the drop-down list (such as the
dbimport container you created in Chapter 4), or you can create a new one. For this exercise,
choose Create A New Container from the drop-down list.

8. For NEW CONTAINER NAME, type dbbackups.

9. For SERVER LOGIN NAME, the text box is automatically populated with your server-principal
user. (We’ve been using saz in our examples.)

10. For SERVER LOGIN PASSWORD, enter the password for your login. The EXPORT DATABASE
dialog should appear similar to Figure 5-12.

FIGURE 5-12 The Export Database Settings dialog in the Microsoft Azure management portal

116 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 11. Click the checkmark icon in the lower-right side of the dialog to begin the export. Once the
export has completed, a notiication that the export was successful appears at the bottom of
the page.

You have now exported your WineCloudDbCopy database to a BACPAC ile in Blob Storage. The
BACPAC ile provides a portable backup of your SQL Database that you can archive or restore to
another SQL Database on Microsoft Azure, or to a local SQL Server database in your own data center.
You can download your exported BACPAC ile from the Microsoft Azure management portal or a
third-party storage client by browsing to the ile in your storage account and container.

Importing a BACPAC
Creating a backup is not very valuable unless you can also restore from it. SQL Database makes
restoring a BACPAC ile simple using the Import Database feature.

Follow these steps to import your BACPAC:

1. If you’ve closed the Microsoft Azure Management Portal since the last procedure, log in to the
Microsoft Azure management portal at https://manage.windowsazure.com. This brings you
to the main portal page showing ALL ITEMS.

2. Click SQL DATABASES in the vertical navigation pane on the left.

3. Click the NEW button at the bottom of the page.

4. Click IMPORT, as shown in Figure 5-13. This displays the IMPORT DATABASE dialog.

FIGURE 5-13 Restoring a database by using the Import option in the management portal

5. Click the folder icon to the left of the BACPAC URL text box. This opens the BROWSE CLOUD
STORAGE dialog.

CHAPTER 5 Security and backup 117

 6. An explorer tree that displays your Microsoft Azure Storage accounts and their containers
appears on the left side of the dialog. Expand the mywinestorage account you used in the
previous Export procedure to display the containers inside of it.

7. Click the dbbackups container you used in the previous Export procedure to display its
contents on the right. You can see the BACPAC ile that got created by the Export operation,
as shown in Figure 5-14.

FIGURE 5-14 The contents of the dbbackups container displayed in the BROWSE CLOUD STORAGE dialog

8. Click the exported BACPAC ile to select it.

9. Click the Open button. This returns you to the IMPORT DATABASE dialog with the URL of the
.bacpac ile populated in the BACPAC URL text box.

10. For NAME, change the database name to WineCloudDbRestored.

11. For SERVER, choose any available server from the drop-down list to host the database. (Always
keeping in mind that this should be a server in the same region as the storage account to
avoid bandwidth costs.) For this exercise, you can just restore the BACPAC ile to the same
server you exported the WineCloudDbCopy database from, but you can also choose another
existing server from the drop-down list. (You can also choose New SQL Database Server from
the drop-down list to create a new server on the ly.) Once you choose a server, the SERVER
LOGIN NAME and SERVER LOGIN PASSWORD text boxes appear, and the SERVER LOGIN
NAME text box is automatically populated with your administrator login name.

118 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 12. For SERVER LOGIN PASSWORD, type the password for your login. The IMPORT DATABASE
dialog should appear similar to Figure 5-15.

FIGURE 5-15 Importing a BACPAC ile from Microsoft Azure Storage into a new SQL Database server.

Note By default, a database imported from a .bacpac ile will be a 1-GB,

Web edition database. If you need a larger database, select the CONFIGURE
ADVANCED DATABASE SETTINGS check box at the bottom of the IMPORT
DATABASE dialog. This converts the simple IMPORT DATABASE dialog into a two-
page wizard, where the second page provides you with options to set the SQL
Database edition and size. For more information, see the section “Coniguring
database edition and size” in Chapter 2.

13. Click the checkmark icon in the lower-right side of the dialog to begin the import. Once the
import has completed, a notiication that the import was successful appears at the bottom of
the page, and the new WineCloudDbRestored database appears in the list of SQL Database
instances.

You have now created a database by importing a previously exported BACPAC ile. Note that you
can also restore your BACPAC to any SQL Database server, including SQL Database servers in other
subscriptions, by uploading it to a storage account in the target subscription.

CHAPTER 5 Security and backup 119

 Scheduling BACPAC exports
It is nice to be able to manually export and import BACPAC iles. This allows you to easily take a
snapshot of a database before making major modiications or capture a database at a point in time to
restore into another environment. Manually executing exports is a very eficient and reliable backup
strategy. But you will also typically need backups to occur on a regular and consistent schedule. You
can do this effectively by scheduling automated backups using the SQL Database Automated Export
feature. Automated Export is currently in Preview and is not considered Generally Available (GA),
which means it doesn’t get the same guarantees and support as features that are GA. It is also free,
and that could also change as it leaves Preview and becomes GA.

As we explained, BACPAC iles that you create manually do not provide transactional consistency
unless you irst use the database copy feature to create a transactionally consistent database copy,
and then create the BACPAC from the copy. Fortunately, when you schedule a BACPAC export sched-
ule to back up a database automatically, the generated BACPAC is transactionally consistent. Thus,
automated BACPAC exports provide an effective and reliable backup strategy for SQL Database.

To set up an automated BACPAC export schedule, follow these steps:

1. If you’ve closed the Microsoft Azure Management Portal since the last procedure, log in to the
Microsoft Azure management portal at https://manage.windowsazure.com. This brings you
to the main portal page showing ALL ITEMS.

2. Click SQL DATABASES in the vertical navigation pane on the left.

3. Click WineCloudDb in the NAME column of the database list.

4. Click the CONFIGURE link at the top of the page.

5. For EXPORT STATUS under Automated Export, click the AUTOMATIC button to display the
automated export coniguration.

6. For STORAGE ACCOUNT, choose mywinestorage.

7. For FREQUENCY, conigure how often you want the database exported by the entering the
export interval in days (with the default being every 7 days) and the start date of the export in
UTC time (with the default being today at midnight).

8. For RETENTION, enter the number of days to keep the exports. (The default is 30 days.) Leave
the Always Keep At Least One Export File check box selected to guarantee that at least one
export will always be retained ever after the retention period expires for all exports.

9. For SERVER LOGIN NAME, type the login you used to create the server. (We’ve been using saz
in our examples.)

120 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 10. For SERVER LOGIN PASSWORD, type the password for your login, and then wait a brief
moment while the password is veriied. The CONFIGURE database screen should appear
similar to Figure 5-16.

FIGURE 5-16 The automated export coniguration of a SQL Database

11. Click the SAVE button at the bottom of the page.

You have now successfully conigured an automated backup schedule for the WineCloudDbCopy
database.

CHAPTER 5 Security and backup 121

Summary
Security, availability, and disaster recovery are top concerns when you are considering using a public
cloud. Microsoft addressed concerns about these issues by providing a secure, reliable, and highly
available public cloud platform with Microsoft Azure. It is very important for data services in the
public cloud to be secure and have good solutions for disaster recovery.

SQL Database provides good security and disaster-recovery features. In this chapter, you learned
how to add security at multiple levels, including IP security policies using SQL Database Firewall and
authentication and authorization using SQL Database logins, user, and roles. You also learned about
the backup and restore capabilities provided by SQL Database, which helps you simplify disaster-
recovery planning by creating transactionally consistent database copies, exporting and import-
ing BACPAC iles, and automating transactionally consistent BACPAC export schedules. Using these
capabilities of SQL Database, you can create a secure, reliable, and highly available solution using
Microsoft Azure and SQL Database.

122 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

CHAPTER 6

Cloud reporting
— Leonard Lobel

I n the database world, getting information into a database is only part of the job. Another major part
is extracting meaningful information, strategically analyzing the data you collected, and making
valuable sense of it. To that end, an exhaustive suite of Business Intelligence (BI) services and com-
ponents have evolved and integrated themselves as part of the on-premises Microsoft SQL Server
product. Of these, SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) is the primary reporting tool. This component
of the SQL Server stack provides a rich reporting dialect known as Report Deinition Language (RDL), a
service to render RDL-based reports, as well as client tools and designers for authoring and deploying
RDL iles.

In this chapter, you will set up a Microsoft Azure virtual machine (VM) with SSRS and build some
simple RDL reports. You will do this using two front-end tools: Report Builder and Microsoft Visual
Studio (speciically, the SSDT Business Intelligence add-in for Visual Studio) to author the reports
locally, and then deploy them to SSRS on the VM in Microsoft Azure.

What about Microsoft Azure SQL Reporting?

Microsoft formerly offered SQL Reporting as a cloud-based version of SSRS on Azure, but it has
recently discontinued the service. At the time of this writing, you cannot create a new Microsoft
Azure SQL Reporting server, and existing servers that are still running will be shut down on
October 31, 2014.

SQL Reporting was, essentially, a Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) version of SSRS that ran on
Microsoft Azure. It can help to compare Microsoft Azure SQL Reporting with on-premises SSRS
in the same way you can compare Microsoft Azure SQL Database with on-premises SQL Server;
the former is a PaaS implementation of the latter that is tailored to run on Microsoft Azure and
does not support every feature available with the on-premises product.

Unfortunately, there were several problems with SQL Reporting that prompted Microsoft
to discontinue the service and to recommend SSRS on a Microsoft Azure VM instead. Argu-
ably, the most signiicant issue was that SQL Reporting supported only SQL Database as a
data source. In contrast, SSRS supports numerous data sources, including multidimensional

123
 data stored in a Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services cube, as well as non-Microsoft data
platforms, including Oracle and DB/2. This meant that the only source of the data you can
render in reports with SQL Reporting is a relational database hosted on SQL Database. Also,
SSRS allows you to embed custom code in your reports and schedule automated report execu-
tion and delivery, whereas SQL Reporting did not support either of those features. Finally, there
were performance and pricing issues with the SQL Reporting service itself. It ran slower than
SSRS, and it could not be shut down when not needed, so charges would accrue steadily even
when no reports were being requested and served.

In the end, Microsoft deemed it best to discontinue SQL Reporting and recommend instead
the SSRS-in-a-VM solution that we cover in this chapter. This means that all on-premises capa-
bilities are available in the cloud as well; for example, you can build reports that run in the cloud
that are based on a variety of data sources, not just SQL Database. You can also embed custom
code (even code that calls into your own .NET assemblies) into your reports, schedule the
execution and delivery of reports, and do everything else that SSRS allows. Because the report
server catalog resides on the VM’s local disk, performance is similar to the performance you
might expect from an on-premises SSRS instance. And when you don’t need to serve reports,
you can simply shut down the VM to stop compute charges from accruing on your Microsoft
Azure subscription.

There are quite a number of procedures in this chapter, and together, they guide you through the
process of setting up a VM with SSRS on Microsoft Azure, designing reports locally using authoring
tools, and then deploying those reports to the VM.

You will irst create a simple report with Report Builder using the WineCloudDb database, and
deploy the report to the VM. Then you’ll move on to creating a report with the SSDT BI tools in Visual
Studio. The simple WineCloudDb database doesn’t have enough schema (tables and columns) and
data (rows) to effectively demonstrate more advanced reports, so you’ll also download and install
AdventureWorks2012 on SQL Database for the Visual Studio report. The AdventureWorks database
(available on Codeplex) has been serving as the standard sample database for SQL Server for many
years, and there is a special version of the database designed speciically for Microsoft Azure SQL
Database.

Note Many of these procedures are one-time-only installations. Once the VM, tools, and
databases are in place, it is actually remarkably fast to put together a report and deploy
it. But because the one-time installations can be quite lengthy, you should be prepared to
take a lot of coffee breaks while you wait (or perhaps, some wine?).

124 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 RDL lies at the heart of SSRS. The RDL format completely describes a report, which essentially
consists of three things: how the report connects to the database (the data source), how it queries for
its data (the dataset), and how it actually looks (the layout). All that information is contained inside a
single RDL ile, which is really just a plain XML text ile you can view easily in Notepad. While doing
so can be very educational and enlightening, Notepad is far from the ideal tool for you to compose
RDL. To be productive, there are two primary RDL authoring tools available for both designing and
deploying reports:

■ Report Builder

■ Visual Studio Report Server projects, with the SSDT Business Intelligence add-in

As you progress through this chapter, you will learn how to use both of these tools for creating and
deploying simple reports. Of course, there are numerous features and far more complex scenarios
that are possible with RDL that fall outside the scope of this chapter. However, you will complete the
chapter with a good foundation from which to grow your reporting skills.

Creating a SQL Server Reporting services virtual machine

You will start by creating a VM to host SSRS, although you technically don’t actually need an SSRS
instance to start building reports. This is because Report Builder and Report Server projects in Visual
Studio both provide a preview feature that lets you run and view reports locally as you design them.
Once you are satisied with a report design, you can then deploy it to SSRS in the VM and make the
report available to users in the cloud.

In this procedure, you will get a VM up and running quickly by selecting a predeined image from
the Microsoft Azure VM gallery. This image already has SQL Server with SSRS installed, which gets you
almost all the way there. However, SSRS is not conigured in the VM, nor does the VM have the neces-
sary irewall rule to allow access to the SSRS over TCP port 80. Furthermore, a VM endpoint must be
conigured to match the irewall rule. So in the next few procedures, you will do the following:

1. Create the VM.

2. Conigure SSRS in the VM.

3. Create a irewall rule in the VM that allows access to the reporting service.

4. Create a corresponding endpoint for the VM in the Microsoft Azure management portal that
allows access to the reporting service.

CHAPTER 6 Cloud reporting 125

 Note Depending on which SQL Server features you require, you might ind it more cost
effective to run a licensed copy of SQL Server that you purchase and install separately
on the VM. If all you need on the VM is SSRS, you can also consider the free version of
Reporting Services that is available with the SQL Server Express With Advanced Services
download. The Introduction provides instructions for downloading the SQL Server Express
database edition, and you can follow a slightly modiied version of those instructions inside
a bare-bones Microsoft Azure VM to get SSRS. Just choose the ENU\x64\SQLEXPRADV_
x64_ENU.exe ile (the Express With Advanced Services download that includes SSRS)
instead of ENU\x64\SQLEXPR_x64_ENU.exe (which includes only the relational database
engine) to install a free version of SSRS on the VM.

Creating the virtual machine from the image gallery

To create the VM, follow these steps:

1. Log in to the Microsoft Azure portal. This takes you to the ALL ITEMS page.

2. Click VIRTUAL MACHINES on the left side of the page.

3. Click the NEW button at the bottom of the page.

4. Click QUICK CREATE.

5. In the data entry area on the right, do the following:

a. For DNS NAME, type a short but meaningful globally unique name to give the VM,
We’ll use WineCloudVM (but you’ll need to choose another name if this one is still
unavailable).

b. For IMAGE, choose the latest version of the SQL Server Standard edition running on the
latest version of Windows Server from the drop-down list. (At the time of this writing, this
is SQL Server 2012 SP1 Standard on Windows Server 2012.)

c. For USER NAME, type a name for the VM administrator account. We’ll use WineAdmin.

d. For NEW PASSWORD and CONFIRM, type and retype a strong password for the VM’s
administrator account. The password must contain at least eight characters and include a
combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, digits, and symbol characters.

e. For REGION/AFFINITY GROUP, choose the region to host the VM from the drop-down
list. To avoid bandwidth charges (as discussed in Chapter 2, “Coniguration and pricing”),
select the same region in which the SQL Database server with the database you’re report-
ing on is hosted. Your screen should appear similar to Figure 6-1.

126 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

FIGURE 6-1 Creating a new Microsoft Azure VM with SQL Server 2012 SP1 from a predeined gallery
image

f. Click CREATE A VIRTUAL MACHINE. It can take a few minutes to create the VM before the
portal indicates that it has been started, as shown in Figure 6-2.

FIGURE 6-2 The Microsoft Azure portal showing that the VM has been started

CHAPTER 6 Cloud reporting 127

 Important Once the VM starts running, it begins accruing compute charges on your
Microsoft Azure subscription. Therefore, you should shut down the VM when you are not
working with the procedures in this chapter by clicking the SHUT DOWN button at the
bottom of the page.

Coniguring SSRS in the virtual machine

The VM you just created from the gallery has SSRS already installed but not yet conigured. It’s pretty
quick and easy to conigure SSRS. You just connect to the VM using Remote Desktop and run the SQL
Server Reporting Services Coniguration Manager to set up the SSRS database and services URL.

Continuing from the previous procedure in the Microsoft Azure management portal, the row for
the VM you just created should still be selected. To conigure SSRS in the VM, follow these steps:

1. Log in to the VM:

a. Click the CONNECT button at the bottom of the page. This generates an .rdp ile for the
remote desktop session and sends it to the browser.

b. When prompted to open or save the .rdp ile, click Open, as shown in Figure 6-3.

FIGURE 6-3 Downloading the .rdp ile to start a Remote Desktop session with the VM

c. When prompted that the publisher of the remote connection can’t be veriied, click
Connect.

d. When prompted by the Windows Security dialog, type the user name (WineAdmin,
for example) and password you assigned to the VM administrator account in the previ-
ous procedure. Note that the user name might already be set, and you might only be
prompted to supply the password.

e. Click OK.

f. When prompted that the identity of the remote computer can’t be veriied, click Yes. This
will start a Remote Desktop session and log you in to the VM.

128 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

2. Launch the SQL Server Reporting Services Coniguration Manager in the VM.

a. From the VM’s Start screen, you can either scroll through the tiles to ind it or just type
reporting services to run an app search, and then click on the Report Services Conigu-
ration Manager tile.

b. In the Reporting Services Coniguration Connection dialog, click Connect. This displays
the coniguration window for SSRS running in the VM, as shown in Figure 6-4.

FIGURE 6-4 Running the Reporting Services Coniguration Manager inside the VM

3. Create the virtual directory for the reporting service. This will be the web service URL that
clients use to deploy and retrieve reports, and perform other SSRS operations. It typically ends
with /reportserver.

a. Click on Web Service URL in the left panel.

b. Click Apply in the lower-right side of the dialog. This creates the virtual directory that
exposes the reporting service over HTTP through port 80.

4. Create the Reporting Services database. This database will be stored on the local SQL Server
instance running on the VM (unlike the SQL Databases that you will be building reports for).
This database is used internally by Reporting Services to store metadata about the reports it is
hosting.

a. Click on Database in the left panel.

b. Click Change Database to open the Report Server Database Coniguration Wizard.

CHAPTER 6 Cloud reporting 129

 c. Click Next all the way through the wizard without changing any default settings, and then
wait for the wizard to create the database.

d. Click Finish.

5. Create the virtual directory for Report Manager. This is a friendly front-end website that lets
you navigate the report folder hierarchy, render reports, and manage the folder structure,
user roles, and permissions. It typically ends with /reports.

a. Click on Report Manager URL in the left panel.

b. Click Apply on the lower-right side of the dialog. This creates the virtual directory that
exposes Report Manager over HTTP through port 80.

6. Click Exit.

You’ve now conigured SSRS in the VM. However, until you open the irewall for port 80, all client
requests will be blocked by the VM.

Opening irewall access to the report server

The next thing to do is create a irewall rule that opens port 80 in the VM so that the VM can accept
SSRS requests from clients over HTTP (TCP).

To open TCP port 80 in the VM, follow these steps:

1. Launch Windows Firewall With Advanced Security in the VM. From the VM’s Start screen, you
can either scroll through the tiles to ind it or just type irewall to run an app search, and then
click on the Windows Firewall With Advanced Security tile.

2. Click Inbound Rules in the tree view on the left.

3. Click New Rule in the panel on the right.

4. In the New Inbound Rule Wizard, do the following:

a. On the Rule Type page, choose Port and click Next.

b. On the Protocols And Ports page, type 80 for Speciied Local Ports and click Next.

c. On the Action page, accept the Allow The Connection default setting and click Next.

d. On the Proile page, accept all the default settings and click Next.

e. On the Name page, type TCP Port 80 and click Finish. The new rule should appear at the
top of the list, as shown in Figure 6-5.

130 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 FIGURE 6-5 Creating a irewall rule to open TCP port 80 in the VM and make SSRS accessible to clients

5. Close the Windows Firewall With Advanced Security window.

From this point forward, it is no longer necessary to work with the VM directly over Remote
Desktop. SSRS is completely conigured in the VM, and it can be accessed by clients directly using the
reporting services URL and the Report Manager URL. To log out of the VM now, follow these steps:

1. From the VM’s Start screen, click the user account name WineAdmin on the upper-right side.

2. Click Sign Out.

This logs you out of the VM, but the VM is still running of course (and it’s also billing, as we
mentioned previously). There is still one last thing you need to do to make this VM function as an
SSRS server in the cloud. You need to create an endpoint for the VM in the Microsoft Azure manage-
ment portal. Without the endpoint, TCP requests over port 80 will get blocked from ever reaching the
VM by Microsoft Azure, and thus the rule you just created in the previous procedure inside the VM
would never even have the chance to allow client requests to SSRS.

Back in the Microsoft Azure management portal, the row for the VM should still be selected. To
create the endpoint, follow these steps:

1. Click on the name of the VM. This navigates to the Quick Start page for the VM.

2. Click the ENDPOINTS link at the top of the page, as shown in Figure 6-6.

FIGURE 6-6 Clicking the ENDPOINTS link to open TCP port 80 for the VM

3. Click the ADD button at the bottom of the page.

CHAPTER 6 Cloud reporting 131

 4. Leave the ADD A STAND-ALONE ENDPOINT option selected, and click Next (the right arrow
icon on the lower-right side).

5. For NAME, choose HTTP from the drop-down list. This sets the rest of the dialog values for
TCP on port 80, as shown in Figure 6-7.

FIGURE 6-7 Creating an HTTP endpoint opens TCP port 80 for the VM

6. Click Finish (the checkmark icon on the lower-right side). It takes a few moments to add the
endpoint. Wait until the UPDATE IN PROGRESS message disappears before proceeding.

With SSRS up and running in the VM, you can start thinking about creating your irst report. This
will be a simple customer list based on a variation of the WineCloudDb database you created in
Chapter 1, “Getting started with Microsoft Azure SQL Database.”

Creating the sample database

For the report in this chapter, you will create a new WineCloudDb database very similar to the one
used demonstrate in other chapters throughout this book. Listing 6-1 shows the script you will
execute to create a few tables and populate them with some data. Once the database is set up, you
will create a report that lists each customer’s name, that customer’s favorite wine, and the total sum of
all the customer’s orders.

132 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

LISTING 6-1 Code to prepare the sample WineCloudDb database for reporting

CREATE TABLE Wine (

WineId int PRIMARY KEY,
Name nvarchar (50),
Category nvarchar (15),
Year int,
Price money)

CREATE TABLE Customer (

CustomerId int PRIMARY KEY,
FirstName nvarchar(50),
LastName nvarchar(15),
FavoriteWineId int,
CONSTRAINT FK_Customer_Wine FOREIGN KEY (FavoriteWineId) REFERENCES Wine (WineId))

CREATE TABLE [Order] (

OrderId int PRIMARY KEY,
OrderedOn datetime2,
CustomerId int,
WineId int,
Quantity int,
Price money,
CONSTRAINT FK_Order_Customer FOREIGN KEY (CustomerId) REFERENCES Customer(CustomerId),
CONSTRAINT FK_Order_Wine FOREIGN KEY (WineId) REFERENCES Wine(WineId))

INSERT INTO Wine VALUES

(1, ‘Chateau Penin’, ‘Bordeaux’, 2008, 34.90),
(2, ‘McLaren Valley’, ‘Cabernet’, 2005, 48.50),
(3, ‘Mendoza’, ‘Merlot’, 2010, 42.00),
(4, ‘Valle Central’, ‘Merlot’, 2009, 52.00)

INSERT INTO Customer VALUES

(1, ‘Jeff’, ‘Hay’, 4),
(2, ‘Mark’, ‘Hanson’, 3),
(3, ‘Jeff’, ‘Phillips’, 2)

INSERT INTO [Order] VALUES

(1, ‘2013-01-01’, 1, 1, 5, 34.90),
(2, ‘2013-01-03’, 2, 3, 1, 42.00),
(3, ‘2013-01-05’, 1, 2, 3, 48.50),
(4, ‘2013-01-06’, 2, 4, 2, 52.00),
(5, ‘2013-01-06’, 3, 3, 2, 42.00),
(6, ‘2013-01-08’, 1, 1, 1, 34.90)

This script creates Wine, Customer, and Order tables and loads some sample data into them. Notice
the rows being inserted into the Order table at the bottom of the script. The customer ID is the irst
number after the order date, so you can see that of six orders, three of them were placed by customer
1, two by customer 2, and one by customer 4. The next number is the wine ID, followed by the quan-
tity and price for the order. With this sample data, you will build a report that groups each customer’s
orders together and calculates the sum of their orders (based on quantity and price).

CHAPTER 6 Cloud reporting 133

 To create and set up the WineCloudDb database, follow these steps:

1. From the Windows Start screen, launch SSMS. You can either scroll through the app tiles to
ind it (in the Microsoft SQL Server 2012 category) or just type sql server management
studio to run a search, and then click on the tile. After a brief moment, the Connect To Server
dialog appears.

2. In the Connect To Server dialog:

a. For Server Name, type <servername>.database.windows.net. This is the fully qualiied

name to the SQL Database server, where <servername> should be replaced by the name
assigned to your server.

b. For Authentication, select SQL Server Authentication from the drop-down list. (SQL
Database does not support Windows Authentication.)

c. For Login and Password, type the user name and password you assigned the server when
you created it.

d. Click the Connect button.

3. In the Object Explorer, expand the Databases node.

4. If the WineCloudDb database exists from a previous chapter, delete it now.

a. Right-click the WineCloudDb database, and choose Delete.

b. In the Delete Object dialog, click OK.

5. Create the database.

a. In the Object Explorer, right-click the server name and choose New Query to open a new
query window connected to the master database.

b. In the query window, type CREATE DATABASE WineCloudDb.

c. Press F5 (or click the Execute button in the toolbar) to create the database.

d. Close the query window without saving the script.

6. In the Object Explorer, right-click the Databases node and choose Refresh. The WineCloudDb
database you just created should now appear.

7. Right-click the WineCloudDb database, and choose New Query to open a new query window
connected to the WineCloudDb database.

8. Type the code shown in Listing 6-1 into the query window (or paste it in from the listing ile
downloaded from the book’s companion website).

9. Press F5 (or click the Execute button in the toolbar) to create the database.

You now have a new WineCloudDb database that will serve as the data source for your irst report.

134 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 Note It was necessary to create the database and populate it in two separate query
windows because SQL Database does not support the USE statement found in SQL Server
for switching the connection from the master database to the WineCloudDb database. See
Chapter 3, “Differences between SQL Server and Microsoft Azure SQL Database,” for more
information.

Now that the VM and database are all set, you’re ready to start focusing on the report. You’ll use
Report Builder to create your irst report, and later in the chapter, you’ll use Visual Studio to create a
more advanced report.

Using Report Builder

Report Builder is a desktop report authoring tool with a Microsoft Ofice (ribbon) environment. With
Report Builder, you can deine a report’s data source (connection information to SQL Database) and
dataset (data for the report produced by a query). You can then use designers and wizards to lay out
the report, customizing fonts and colors, adding tables and matrixes for numeric data, and adding
charts and graphs for visual impact.

Once your data source, dataset, and layout are set, Report Builder lets you preview the report so
that you can iteratively design and then view your report without deploying it. When you’re ready,
Report Builder can deploy your report to SSRS, which is essentially just a matter of copying the RDL
ile from your development environment to the VM where SSRS is running.

Alternatively, you can use Visual Studio to perform the same tasks using similar tools. You will do
just that to create another report later in the chapter. Unfortunately, there is (currently) no web-based
report designer available on the Microsoft Azure portal to run in the browser, so you need to down-
load either Report Builder or the SSDT BI plug-in for Visual Studio to design reports for SSRS.

Installing Report Builder

To install Report Builder (which is a one-time procedure), follow these steps:

1. Open Internet Explorer, and navigate to http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/

details.aspx?id=29072.

2. Click the large Download button.

3. When prompted to run or save the ile, choose Run, as shown in Figure 6-8.

CHAPTER 6 Cloud reporting 135

 FIGURE 6-8 Downloading Report Builder 3.0

4. When the installation wizard’s welcome page appears, click Next, as shown in Figure 6-9.

FIGURE 6-9 The Report Builder setup wizard welcome page

5. Choose to accept the license agreement terms, and click Next.

6. On the Feature Selection page, click Next.

7. On the Default Target Server page, leave the default target server URL text box empty and
click Next.

136 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 8. Click Install.

9. When the User Account Control dialog appears, click Yes to begin the installation.

10. When setup completes, click Finish to close the installation wizard.

Creating a report using Report Builder

When you launch Report Builder, the Getting Started dialog appears. You use this dialog to choose
among several wizards, which are designed to help you get started quickly with a variety of report
types. For your irst report, however, you won’t use any of these wizards. Instead, you will start with a
clean canvas by choosing to create a blank report.

To launch Report Builder, follow these steps:

1. From the Windows 8 Start screen, launch Report Builder. You can either scroll through the
tiles to ind it or just type report builder to run an app search, and then click on the Report
Builder 3.0 tile.

2. On the Getting Started dialog, click Blank Report, as shown in Figure 6-10.

FIGURE 6-10 Choosing to create a blank report from the Getting Started dialog

The Report Builder window should now appear as shown in Figure 6-11.

CHAPTER 6 Cloud reporting 137

 FIGURE 6-11 The Report Builder open and ready to create a new report

Notice the Ofice-style ribbon user interface—with Home, Insert, and View tabs—and the large
round Ofice button in the upper left corner, which displays a menu with options for saving and
deploying reports. The main design surface already has a text box for you to type the report’s title,
and it also uses the built-in ield &ExecutionTime in a text box (at the lower right side of the report) to
display the date and time at which the report was executed on the bottom of each page.

On the left side of the window, the Report Data pane gives you access to the key elements of
your report. The most important of these are your data sources, which deine the connection to the
SQL Database that the report is querying. Next, your dataset deines exactly what data gets fed to
the report. This can be a table or view, the result of calling a stored procedure, or any Transact-SQL
(T-SQL) query that gets sent to SQL Database for processing. Data sources and datasets are typically
embedded in individual reports, but you can also deine shared data sources and shared datasets and
deploy them as reusable objects on the reporting service. This makes it easy to share the same query
and provide consistent data across multiple reports.

Once you have at least one data source, and at least one dataset that consumes data from that
data source, you are ready to design the layout (and behavior) of the report. To present numerical
data, you can use either the table or matrix control. Both of these controls render data in tabular
form; the difference lies in the way columns are handled. With both tables and matrixes, there are
a variable number of rows in the output. However, tables have ixed columns, while matrixes have
variable columns, just like they do on rows.

138 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 When you are deining rows and columns, the ields you choose for these axes appear in the Row
Groups and Column Groups panes displayed at the bottom of the window. And yes, as implied by
those names, both tables and matrixes support grouping both on rows and columns. In fact, the user
can even drill down interactively into the levels of the hierarchy deined by your groupings, as you’ll
see in a report created later in the chapter.

The Report Data pane also lets you deine report parameters, which are values that are typically
used by the dataset query to ilter the report (for example, by date range or by product category).
There is also a place to add images to the report, and the pane provides easy access to built-in ields
(a set of handy values including things like current date and time, page number, total pages, user ID,
and so on) to include in the report.

That’s more than enough information for you to get started. So go ahead and create your data
source.

Creating a data source for the report

To create the data source for the report, follow these steps:

1. Right-click Data Sources in the Report Data pane on the left side of the Report Builder
window, and choose Add Data Source.

2. In the Name text box, replace DataSource1 with WineCloudDataSource.

3. Choose the Use A Connection Embedded In My Report option.

4. Choose Microsoft SQL Azure from the Select Connection Type drop-down list.

5. Click the Build button on the right side of the Connection String text box. This opens the
familiar Connection Properties dialog.

6. Supply the connection information to the WineCloudDb database you created in the previous
section.

a. For Server Name, type <servername>.database.windows.net (replacing <servername>

with the server name that was assigned when you created your server).

b. Choose the Use SQL Server Authentication option, and type the user name and password
you assigned the server when you created it.

b. Select the Save My Password check box.

c. In the drop-down list beneath the Select Or Enter A Database Name option, select the
WineCloudDb database. Or, if the drop-down list appears empty, type WineCloudDb
directly into it.

d. Click OK to close the Connection Properties dialog. The Data Source Properties dialog
should now appear similar to Figure 6-12.

CHAPTER 6 Cloud reporting 139

 FIGURE 6-12 Creating a data source with the Data Source Properties dialog

7. Click OK to close the Data Source Properties dialog.

In the Report Data pane, WineCloudDataSource now appears beneath the Data Sources node. Your
next task is to create a dataset.

Creating a dataset for the report

A dataset feeds data to a report. As such, it is generated by some form of database query. This can
be as simple as dumping all columns and rows from a single table with SELECT * FROM Customer. Or
it can be a more complex query that joins on multiple tables, uses expressions to build its output col-
umns, and aggregates data, such as the one shown in Listing 6-2. This query produces a customer list
that shows each customer’s total order amount. The list also includes each customer’s favorite wine, if
the customer has one.

LISTING 6-2 Query code for the CustomerList report

SELECT
CONCAT(c.LastName, ‘, ‘, c.FirstName) AS [Customer Name],
CONCAT(w.Name, ‘ (‘, w.Category, ‘)’) AS [Favorite Wine],
COUNT(*) AS Orders,
SUM(o.Quantity * o.Price) AS Total
FROM
Customer AS c
LEFT OUTER JOIN Wine AS w ON c.FavoriteWineId = w.WineId
LEFT OUTER JOIN [Order] AS o ON c.CustomerId = o.CustomerId
GROUP BY
c.FirstName, c.LastName, w.Category, w.Name
ORDER BY
c.LastName, c.FirstName

140 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 Notice how the Customer and Wine tables are joined in the query’s FROM clause. The Customer
table is aliased as c and the Wine table is aliased as w, joining on the customer’s favorite wine ID.
These aliases correspond to the c and w preixes used on the names of the irst two columns in the
SELECT list, [Customer Name] and [Favorite Wine]. The CONCAT function combines all the strings
passed to it, which formats the customer’s name as “last, irst” and the customer’s favorite wine as
“name (category).”

Back in the FROM clause, the Customer table is also further joined on the Order table (aliased as o),
which returns each customer’s orders. This normally results in returning one row per order, which in
turn duplicates customer information in each order row belonging to that customer. However, using
a GROUP BY clause and the COUNT and SUM functions for the Total column, this query aggregates
(summarizes) the related order rows into a single row with the number of orders and the order total,
for each customer. Thus, the query still returns exactly one row per customer. Note that the SUM
function is dynamically calculating each order’s total by multiplying the order quantity and price.
This is because our Order table doesn’t have a total column with this information. (A real database
probably would, but our simple WineCloudDb database doesn’t.) Thus, for each individual order row
belonging to a customer, that order’s total is calculated as quantity multiplied by price, and then that
total is aggregated (summed) across all the order rows for the customer.

In the next procedure, you will create a dataset for the report based on this query. Although you
will embed the query from Listing 6-2 directly into the report, you could just as easily create a stored
procedure and put the query there. Using a stored procedure offers an alternative to shared datasets
for reusing queries across multiple reports, because then even different reports that use their own
(nonshared) datasets can still be fed the same data by calling the same stored procedure.

To create the dataset for the report, follow these steps:

1. Right-click Datasets in the Report Data pane on the left side of the Report Builder window,
and choose Add Dataset.

2. In the Name text box, replace DataSet1 with CustomerListDataset.

3. Choose the Use A Dataset Embedded In My Report option.

4. Choose WineCloudDataSource from the Data Source drop-down list.

5. Type the code in Listing 6-2 into the Query text box. The Dataset Properties dialog should
now appear similar to Figure 6-13.

CHAPTER 6 Cloud reporting 141

 FIGURE 6-13 Creating a dataset with the Data Properties dialog

6. Click OK to close the Dataset Properties dialog.

The Report Builder window should now appear similar to Figure 6-14.

FIGURE 6-14 The Report Builder window with a data source and dataset conigured

142 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 In the Report Data pane, CustomerListDataSet now appears beneath the Datasets node. The ields
Customer_Name, Favorite_Wine, Orders, and Total also appear nested beneath CustomerListDataset.
(These ields were created based on Report Builder’s discovery of the columns returned by the query.)
Now that you have a dataset, you’re ready to design the layout of the report.

Designing the report layout

The report designer already has a text box formatted for the report title at the top of the page. In
the next procedure, you’ll ill in the report title and use the Table Wizard to create a table for the
customer list.

To design the layout of the report, follow these steps:

1. Click inside the text box in the upper-left portion of the report’s design surface (where it says
Click To Add Title), and type Wine Customers.

2. Click Insert at the top of the window to display the Insert ribbon.

3. Click Table in the Insert ribbon, and choose Table Wizard, as shown in Figure 6-15. This
displays the New Table Or Matrix wizard.

FIGURE 6-15 Invoking the Table Wizard

4. On the Choose A Dataset page, click CustomerListDataset and click Next.

5. In the Available Fields list box, click the irst ield, Customer_Name.

6. Hold down the SHIFT key and click on the last ield, Total. This selects all the available ields.

7. Drag the selected ields from the Available Fields list box, and drop them in the Values list box,
as shown in Figure 6-16.

CHAPTER 6 Cloud reporting 143

 FIGURE 6-16 Selecting all available ields for the report

8. Click Next to advance to the Choose The Layout page.

9. Click Next to advance to the Choose A Style page. The Ocean style is selected by default.

10. Click Finish to complete the wizard, and add the table to the report design surface.

11. Click in any of the table’s cells to display the gray selection bars on the left and top sides of
the table.

12. Click and drag on the lines between columns in the gray selection bar on the top side of the
table to widen the Customer Name column.

13. Repeat the previous step to widen the Favorite Wine column.

14. Click the [Sum(Total)] cell beneath the Total column header.

15. Click the dollar-sign button in the Number panel of the Home ribbon at the top of the win-
dow. This will cause the order total value to be formatted as currency in the report (rather
than an ordinary decimal number).

16. Click any unused (white) area of the report design surface to hide the gray selection bars
from the table. The completed report design should appear as shown in Figure 6-17.

144 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 FIGURE 6-17 Viewing the completed report design

Saving and running the report locally

With Report Builder, you can preview the report before deploying it. This speeds report development,
because you can iteratively design, save, and preview reports locally, and then deploy them only
when desired.

To save and run the report locally, follow these steps:

1. Click the Save icon in the Quick-Access Toolbar at the top of the Report Builder window
(above the ribbon), as shown in Figure 6-18. Alternatively, press CTRL+S. This displays the Save
As Report dialog which, by default, is set to save the report locally in your Documents folder.

FIGURE 6-18 The Save icon on the Quick-Access Toolbar

2. Type CustomerListLocal in the Name text box, as shown in Figure 6-19.

CHAPTER 6 Cloud reporting 145

 FIGURE 6-19 Saving the report locally

3. Click Save.

4. Click the Run button on the Home ribbon to execute the report, as shown in Figure 6-20.

FIGURE 6-20 Clicking the Run button on the Home ribbon

5. The report should appear similar to Figure 6-21. After viewing the report, click the Design
button on the Run ribbon to return to the report designer.

146 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 FIGURE 6-21 Running the report locally

The preview shows that the query correctly returned the count and sum of each customer’s orders.
The query also correctly formatted the customer and wine names. Satisied with the report, you are
now ready to deploy it so that it’s available to users in the cloud.

Deploying the report to SSRS on the Microsoft Azure VM

To deploy the report, all you need to know is the URL for SSRS running on the VM. This is always a
URL in the form of http://<vmname>.cloudapp.net/reportserver, where <vmname> is the globally
unique name you assigned to the VM when you created it earlier in this chapter. (We’ve been using
winecloudvm.)

To deploy the report, follow these steps:

1. In Report Builder, click the round Ofice button at the top left of the window and click Save As,
as shown in Figure 6-22.

CHAPTER 6 Cloud reporting 147

 FIGURE 6-22 Clicking the Save As item in the Ofice menu

2. In the Name text box, type http://<vmname>.cloudapp.net/reportserver (replacing

<vmname> with the name you assigned to the VM), and press Enter.

3. In the Connect To Report Server dialog (which can take a few moments to appear), type
WineAdmin and the password you assigned to the VM’s administrator account.

4. Select the Remember My Password check box to prevent Report Builder from prompting you
for the credentials when performing future deployments, and then click OK.

5. In the Name text box, type CustomerList, as shown in Figure 6-23.

FIGURE 6-23 Saving the report to the Microsoft Azure VM running SSRS

148 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 6. Click Save.

The report is now running in the VM on Microsoft Azure, and it can be accessed from any browser.
Currently, administrator account WineAdmin is the only user, but you can create other users with
varying permission levels, as we discuss at the end of the chapter.

Running the report from a browser

There are two ways to run reports from the browser. You can either use the reporting service URL (the
one that ends with /reportserver) or the Report Manager URL (the one that ends with /reports). Recall
that you enabled both of these URLs on the VM when you created it at the beginning of this chapter.

If you navigate your browser to the reporting service URL, you will experience a rather bare-bones
interface with simple blue hyperlinks on plain white pages. These hyperlinks let you navigate the
folders and subfolders in the hierarchy of reports, and choose any report to render in full idelity. The
Report Manager URL offers a friendlier interface to navigate the report folder hierarchy and render
reports. It also provides many other features you can use to manage the hierarchy structure, users,
groups, permissions, and roles.

To run the deployed report from your browser using Report Manager, follow these steps:

1. Open a new browser window.

2. Type http://<vmname>.cloudapp.net/reports (replacing <vmname> with the name you

assigned to the VM) into the browser’s address bar, and press Enter.

3. If prompted for credentials by the Windows Security dialog, type WineAdmin and the
password you assigned to the VM’s administrator account. The Report Manager home page is
displayed with links for all the available folders and reports on the server. At this point, there is
only one link for the CustomerList report in the root folder, as shown in Figure 6-24.

FIGURE 6-24 The Report Manager home page with links to available reports on the VM

4. Click the CustomerList report link to run the report, as shown in Figure 6-25.

CHAPTER 6 Cloud reporting 149

 FIGURE 6-25 Running the report in a browser window, served by SSRS in the VM

Before closing the browser, take the time to discover the features exposed by the tool bar at the
top of the page. You can page through the report (although this simple report has only one page),
increase the magniication, search for text within the report, export the report to various formats, and
print the report. These standard capabilities are available for every report rendered by SSRS.

Note Some versions of Internet Explorer require the compatibility view to be set for
Microsoft Azure VMs that serve reports using SSRS. Otherwise, the toolbar does not render
correctly at the top of the page, and it appears as multiple toolbars with individual items
rather than a single toolbar with multiple items, as shown in Figure 6-25. If you experience
this behavior, drop down the Tools menu in Internet Explorer and choose Compatibility
View Settings. Click Add to set the compatibility view for all cloudapp.net websites. Then
click Close to close the Compatibility View Settings dialog. Internet Explorer will refresh the
page automatically, and the toolbar will render correctly.

Using Visual Studio Report Server projects

While Report Builder is a great standalone tool for ad-hoc reporting, Visual Studio offers a much
richer design-time environment with Report Server projects. As with Report Builder, you can use
Visual Studio to create Report Server projects with data sources and datasets, leverage wizards and
designers for layout, and deploy to SSRS running on a VM. But much more than that, Report Server
projects are actual Visual Studio projects, which means that they enjoy many of the same beneits as
any Visual Studio project. This includes source control and the ability to participate in a larger multi-
project solution alongside other related projects of different types (for example, .NET projects written
in Microsoft C# or Visual Basic .NET, or SSDT database projects).

150 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 A tool by any other name
For years, Visual Studio has served as the primary authoring tool for SQL Server Reporting
Services, although some confusion has arisen by branding changes and release cycles. Until
recently, Business Intelligence Developer Studio (BIDS) was the name for this special version of
Visual Studio, which also includes similar tooling for Analysis Services and Integration Services.
But since 2012, that functionality has been rebranded as SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT).

Unfortunately, the BI project support (whether you call it BIDS or SSDT) has not been very
well aligned with the Visual Studio product release cycles. For years after the release of Visual
Studio 2010, BIDS ran only under the Visual Studio 2008 shell, requiring developers building
.NET applications and reports to toggle between the two Visual Studio versions. Then, in 2012,
SSDT replaced BIDS (while introducing new relational database tooling) and inally brought
unity to all project types under the single Visual Studio 2010 shell. However, that pleasure
was short-lived once Visual Studio 2012 was released, where SSDT lost the BI project support
for Reporting Services, Analysis Services, and Integration Services and retained only the new
relational database tools and features. And at the time of this writing, Visual Studio 2013 still
does not have SSDT BI support. Thus, you need to download and install the SSDT BI support to
create Report Server projects in the Visual Studio 2012 shell (a procedure you will see coming
up shortly), even if you are running Visual Studio 2013 otherwise.

Essentially, however, it has always been (and continues to be) the Visual Studio shell that
provides project templates, designers, and deployment tools for Reporting Services. So despite
the sometimes awkward brand names and untimely release cycles, we’ll often refer to it simply
as Visual Studio.

In this section, you will learn how to use Visual Studio to design and deploy Report Server projects
to SSRS. But irst, you’ll do two things in preparation:

■ Install the AdventureWorks database for SQL Database.

• This sample database is much larger than WineCloudDb, and it will serve as a better
source of reporting data for your next report. Furthermore, it will help you explore many
additional reporting capabilities beyond what we cover in this chapter.

■ Install the SSDT Business Intelligence project templates for Visual Studio.

• If you’re running Visual Studio 2012, you’ll need these project templates to create Report
Server projects.

• If you’re running Visual Studio 2013, you’ll still need these project templates, which will run
in the Visual Studio 2012 shell.

• If you’re running Visual Studio 2010, you already have these project templates.

CHAPTER 6 Cloud reporting 151

 Installing AdventureWorks2012 for SQL Database
To install AdventureWorks2012 for SQL Database, follow these steps:

1. Open a new browser window.

2. Navigate to http://msftdbprodsamples.codeplex.com/releases/view/37304.

Note This URL might have changed by the time this book goes to press. In this
case, run an Internet search for “download adventureworks2012 for windows
azure sql database” to ind the updated link.

3. Beneath RECOMMENDED DOWNLOAD, click the

AdventureWorks2012ForWindowsAzureSQLDatabase link.

4. When prompted to open or save, click the drop-down portion of the Save button and choose
Save As, as shown in Figure 6-26.

FIGURE 6-26 Saving the AdventureWorks2012ForSQLAzure.zip ile

5. In the Save As dialog, navigate to any folder of your choice (or accept the default Downloads
folder) and click Save.

6. When the download completes, click the Open Folder button. This opens a new Windows
Explorer window to the folder where the downloaded AdventureWorks2012ForSQLAzure.zip
ile was saved.

7. Right-click the AdventureWorks2012ForSQLAzure.zip ile, and choose Extract All.

8. In the Extract Compressed (Zipped) Folders dialog, click Extract to unzip the ile and open
a new Windows Explorer window to the extracted iles.

9. Navigate into the AdventureWorks folder by double-clicking on it.

152 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

10. Click the File tab on the ribbon, expand the Open Command Prompt item, and then click on
Open Command Prompt As Administrator, as shown in Figure 6-27.

FIGURE 6-27 Opening a command prompt with administrator privileges

11. In the User Account Control dialog, click Yes.

12. In the command-prompt window, type CreateAdventureWorksForSQLAzure

<servername>.database.windows.net <username>@<servername> <password>,
replacing <servername>, <username>, and <password> with the name of the SQL Database
server, administrator account, and administrator password you assigned to the server, as
shown in Figure 6-28.

FIGURE 6-28 Deploying the AdventureWorks2012 database to a Microsoft Azure SQL Database server

Note This step requires the .NET Framework 3.5 (even if .NET Framework 4.5 is installed as
part of Visual Studio 2012 or 2013). If it's not already installed, this command will gener-
ate errors and a Windows Features dialog will appear prompting you to download .NET
Framework 3.5. Click on Download And Install This Feature to install the .NET Framework 3.5.
A reboot is required, after which you should open a new Windows Explorer window to the
AdventureWorks folder and restart this procedure from step 10.
In addition, this step relies on the bcp command-line utility that ships with SQL Server. If you
don’t have already have SQL Server installed on your local machine, you don’t have bcp.
However, you don't need to install SQL Server locally just to obtain the bcp utility needed
to create the AdventureWorks2012 SQL Database on Microsoft Azure. The bcp utility can be
installed without SQL Server by downloading the Microsoft ODBC Driver 11 for SQL Server
from http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=36434, and then download-
ing the Microsoft Command Line Utilities 11 for SQL Server from http://www.microsoft.
com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=36433.

CHAPTER 6 Cloud reporting 153

 13. After the script completes, log in to the Microsoft Azure portal to verify that the
AdventureWorks2012 database is now up and running on your server, as shown in Figure 6-29.

Tip The script creates the database very quickly, but then takes a long time to
populate the tables with data. It’s not necessary to wait for the script to com-
plete before proceeding to install SSDT Business Intelligence for Visual Studio
2012, which is the next step. Because that installation is also somewhat lengthy,
you can save a lot of time by not waiting for the AdventureWorks2012 data-
base to fully populate before starting the next install, and then waiting for both
processes to complete before creating your irst Report Server project.

FIGURE 6-29 Viewing the deployed AdventureWorks2012 database in the Microsoft Azure management
portal

Next, you’ll install the SSDT BI tools for Visual Studio so that you can start creating Report Server
projects.

Installing SSDT Business Intelligence for Visual Studio 2012

Both Visual Studio 2010 and 2012 can be used for building Report Server projects. As we explained, if
you are using Visual Studio 2010 and installed SSDT with it, you already have the BI project template
support for SSRS available to you, and you can skip the next procedure. Otherwise, whether you are
running Visual Studio 2012 or 2013, you need to install the SSDT Business Intelligence tools for Visual
Studio 2012 (even if you have “regular” SSDT already installed).

Note During installation, you might be prompted to restart your computer. In this case, click
OK, and the installation procedure will resume automatically after your computer restarts.

154 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

To install the SSDT Business Intelligence tools for Visual Studio 2012, follow these steps:

1. Open a new browser window.

2. Navigate to http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=36843. This

takes you to the Download Center page for Microsoft SQL Server Data Tools - Business
Intelligence For Visual Studio 2012, as shown in Figure 6-30.

FIGURE 6-30 The Download Center page for Microsoft SQL Server Data Tools - Business Intelligence For
Visual Studio 2012

Note This URL might have changed by the time this book goes to press. In this
case, run an Internet search for “download business intelligence for visual studio”
to ind the updated link.

3. Click the Download link. You will be given the choice to Run or Save.

4. Click Run to start the download.

5. When the User Account Control dialog appears, click Yes to start the SQL Server 2012 Setup
Wizard.

6. On the License Terms page, select the I Accept The License Terms check box and then
click Next.

7. On the Product Updates page, click Next to begin the installation process.

CHAPTER 6 Cloud reporting 155

 8. If you already have an instance of SQL Server 2012 installed on your machine, the setup
wizard will now display an Installation Type page that lets you choose between performing a
new installation of SQL Server 2012 and adding features to an existing instance.

a. Be sure to choose the option for performing a new installation (which is selected by
default), even though SQL Server is already installed. Otherwise, the setup will fail with an
“architecture mismatch” error.

b. Click Next.

9. On the Feature Selection page, click Select All and then click Next.

10. On the Error Reporting page, click Next. When the installation completes, the Complete page
is displayed indicating success, as shown in Figure 6-31. If prompted to restart the computer,
click OK.

FIGURE 6-31 A successful installation of the Microsoft SQL Server Data Tools - Business Intelligence For
Visual Studio 2012

11. Click Close.

Creating a report using Visual Studio

The AdventureWorks database has a lot of data in many tables, and those tables are broken
down into schemas, such as Sales, Person, and HumanResources. These schemas are nothing more
than logical category groupings—rather than storing all the tables in one lat space (the default
dbo schema), sales-oriented information is stored in the Sales schema, person information in the
Person schema, and so on.

156 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 In this report, you will query the SalesOrderHeader and SalesTerritory tables in the Sales schema.
This returns order data, along with related territory information (a hierarchy of country and territory),
although our report will summarize the order data to the territory level. (If you can’t resist, you can
sneak a peek at the inal report in Figure 6-46.) The query for the report is shown in Listing 6-3.

LISTING 6-3 The query for this report returns detailed sales information with related territory information

SELECT
soh.SalesOrderID,
DATEPART(YEAR, soh.OrderDate) AS [Year],
soh.CustomerID,
soh.TerritoryID,
terr.Name as TerritoryName,
terr.CountryRegionCode as Country,
soh.TotalDue as TotalSales
FROM
Sales.SalesOrderHeader AS soh
INNER JOIN Sales.SalesTerritory AS terr ON terr.TerritoryID = soh.TerritoryID
ORDER BY
[Year]

This example differs quite signiicantly from our previous report of wine customers. Recall from
Listing 6-2, that report’s query used a GROUP BY clause with COUNT and SUM aggregate functions to
summarize order information for each customer, so that the SQL Database query engine performed
the aggregation. SSRS merely dumped that information into a table; the number of rows returned by
the query is always the same as the number of rows in the report.

In this query, you’ll notice that there is no aggregation, meaning that the query engine is returning
order-level information that merely includes territory information (duplicated across orders in the
same territory), and it’s the reporting engine that will aggregate those totals to the territory level.
That is, the query itself returns 31,465 rows of order data, and the report you will create summarizes
that set down to 10 rows, one per territory. This means you can summarize at the database level
wherever it makes sense (or is convenient), and then summarize further if needed at the report level.
Also, by joining on the territory table and bringing in the country-territory hierarchy, you can deliver
automatic drill-down capabilities to your users (in this case, expanding and collapsing the territories
within each country). These are some great examples of the lexibility you get with RDL and SSRS.

In another difference from the previous example, this report will use a matrix rather than a table.
Notice that the query uses the DATEPART function with YEAR to extract the year of each order into
its own column. You will use this column to create a matrix so that in addition to rendering a variable
number of rows (one per territory), the report will render a variable number of columns (one per year)
as well.

CHAPTER 6 Cloud reporting 157

 Using the Report Wizard
The quickest way to create a Report Server project is using the Report Server Project Wizard, and
that’s what you’ll do next. Of course, there’s nothing you can do with the wizard that can’t also be
done as an independent manual step. As you’ll see, the wizard walks you through the similar steps of
creating a data source, dataset, and deining a report layout, as you did earlier using Report Builder.

To create a Report Server project in Visual Studio, follow these steps.

1. Launch SQL Server Data Tools For Visual Studio 2012. From the VM’s Start screen, you can
either scroll through the tiles to ind it or just type sql server data tools to run an app search,
and then click on the SQL Server Data Tools For Visual Studio 2012 tile.

2. If this is the irst time you have started SQL Server Data Tools for Visual Studio 2012, you
will be prompted for default environment settings. In this case, choose Business Intelligence
Settings and click the Start Visual Studio button.

3. Click the FILE menu, and then choose New | Project to display the New Project dialog.

4. On the left side of the New Project dialog, expand Templates, Business Intelligence, Reporting
Services, and choose Report Server Project Wizard.

5. Name the solution and project AWReporting, and choose any desired location, as shown in
Figure 6-32.

FIGURE 6-32 Creating a new Report Server project using the Report Server Project Wizard

6. Click OK to start the Report Wizard.

7. On the welcome page, click Next.

8. On the Select The Data Source page, do the following:

a. Name the data source AWDataSource.

b. Choose Microsoft SQL Azure from the Type drop-down list.

158 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 c. To the right of the connection string text box, click Edit to open the familiar Connection
Properties dialog.

d. For Server Name, type <servername>.database.windows.net (replacing <servername>

with the name that was assigned when you created your server).

e. Choose the Use SQL Server Authentication option, and type the user name and password
you assigned the server when you created it.

f. Select the Save My Password check box.

g. In the drop-down list beneath the Select Or Enter A Database Name option, select the
AdventureWorks2012 database.

h. Click OK to close the Connection Properties dialog. Your screen should appear similar to
Figure 6-33.

FIGURE 6-33 Deining the report’s data source as AdventureWorks2012 on Microsoft Azure SQL Database

i. Click Next.

9. On the Design The Query page, type the code shown in Listing 6-3 into the Query String text
box (or paste it in from the listing ile downloaded from the book’s companion web site). Your
screen should appear similar to Figure 6-34.

CHAPTER 6 Cloud reporting 159

 FIGURE 6-34 Deining the report’s query to return sales details with territory information

10. Click Next.

11. On the Select The Report Type page, choose Matrix and click Next.

12. On the Design The Matrix page, do the following:

a. Drag TotalSales from Available Fields, and drop it in the Details list.

b. Drag Year from Available Fields, and drop it in the Columns list.

c. Drag Country from Available Fields, and drop it in the Rows list.

d. Drag TerritoryName from Available Fields, and drop it in the Rows list beneath Country.

e. Select the Enable Drilldown check box. The Report Wizard should appear as shown in
Figure 6-35.

160 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 FIGURE 6-35 Designing the report’s matrix layout

f. Click Next.

13. On the Choose The Matrix Style page, click Next.

14. In the Report Server text box on the Choose The Deployment Location page, type
http://<vmname>.cloudapp.net/reportserver (replacing <vmname> with the name
assigned to your VM), and click Next.

15. In the Report Name text box on the Completing The Wizard page, type Annual Sales By
Territory.

16. Click Finish to complete the wizard.

The wizard generates the report as shown in Figure 6-36. You can see how Visual Studio provides
many of the same features as Report Builder. You get the same report designer surface, lanked on
the left by the Report Data pane (expanded in Figure 6-36 to show the data source and dataset) and
on the bottom by the row and column groups deined for the matrix. (Notice the country-territory
hierarchy in the row groups.) The designer also has a Preview tab to run the report locally, without
deploying it.

CHAPTER 6 Cloud reporting 161

 FIGURE 6-36 The project generated by the Report Server Project Wizard, open in design view

The wizard is great for quickly bringing together all the elements of a report, but you’ll almost
always need to customize or adjust the report that it produces. In our wine customer report, we didn’t
bother formatting the numbers as currency, but business users usually like to see numbers in the
language that counts—money!

Formatting numeric data with the Report Designer

To format the sum of total sales as currency, follow these steps:

1. Right-click the [Sum(TotalSales)] column, and choose Text Box Properties.

2. Click Number in the left navigation pane of the Text Box Properties dialog.

3. Click Currency in the Category list box.

4. Change Decimal Places to 0. (Pennies are often considered an annoyance.)

5. Select the Use 1000 Separator check box. The Text Box Properties dialog should appear as
shown in Figure 6-37.

162 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 FIGURE 6-37 Formatting the currency text box of the matrix

6. Click OK.

You’re all set to preview the report, so click the Preview tab at the top of the window. At irst, the
report displays only six rows, because the country-territory hierarchy is collapsed, and the report
is showing aggregated information at the country level. As it turns out, the AdventureWorks data-
base has only one territory per country except for the U.S., which has territories deined for Central,
Northeast, Northwest, Southeast, and Southwest. Click the plus sign next to US to expand those
territories and view the total sales for the various regions within the U.S., as shown in Figure 6-38.

FIGURE 6-38 Previewing the drill-down capabilities of the report

CHAPTER 6 Cloud reporting 163

 Adding a bar chart to the report
It’s very easy to add charts to your reports. RDL supports many different types of charts, including
column, line, bar, and area charts. You use the report designer in Visual Studio to deine the data
for the chart and customize chart properties, such as 3D options, visibility, ill, border, and shadow
settings.

Let’s add a bar chart to this report that relects the same information as the table. The chart will
show total sales for each country (it won’t drill down into the territory level), across all years. You will
irst enlarge the working space for the report, and then place the chart just beneath the table. To
conigure the chart data, you will set its values to TotalSales, its category groups to Country, and its
series groups to Year.

To create the bar chart, follow these steps:

1. Click the Design tab at the top of the window to leave the report preview and return to design
mode.

2. Click the bottom border of the report, and drag down to lengthen the height of the report’s
design surface. Give it a generous amount of vertical space to accommodate the chart.

3. Click VIEW | Toolbox to display the toolbox (if it’s not already currently visible).

4. Click and drag the Chart item from the toolbox, and drop it on the report, just below the
table, and all the way to the left.

5. In the Select Chart Type dialog, the Column chart is selected by default, as shown in
Figure 6-39. Click OK to choose it.

FIGURE 6-39 Viewing the gallery of available chart types

164 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

6. Click the sizing handle on the right of the chart, and drag it all the way over to the right
to widen the chart across the entire page.

7. Click directly on the chart to open the Chart Data panel.

8. For Values, click the green plus sign and choose TotalSales.

9. For Category Groups, click the green plus sign and choose Country.

10. For Series Groups, click the green plus sign and choose Year. The designer should appear
similar to Figure 6-40.

FIGURE 6-40 Setting the values, category groups, and series groups that deine the chart’s data.

11. Customize the labels:

a. Click once on the Chart Title to select the text box, and then once again to enter edit
mode. Replace Chart Title with By Country, and press Enter.

b. Click once on the vertical Axis Title to select the text box, and then once again to enter
edit mode. (The text box will temporarily shift to horizontal display so that you can type.)
Replace Axis Title with Total Sales, and press Enter.

c. Click once on the horizontal Axis Title to select the text box, and then once again to enter
edit mode. Replace Axis Title with Country, and press Enter.

12. Click the Preview tab.

CHAPTER 6 Cloud reporting 165

 The bar chart now renders beneath the numbers, and it automatically adjusts its location if you
drill down on the numbers. For example, if you expand US to drill down on its territories in the pre-
ceding table, the chart below moves down to accommodate, as shown in Figure 6-41. Total sales for
each country are displayed, with bars for the years rendered in a cluster for each country.

FIGURE 6-41 Previewing the report with a bar chart

Deploying the report to SSRS on the Microsoft Azure VM

Earlier, when you created the report using the wizard, you supplied the VM’s SSRS service URL to the
report wizard. That URL is stored in the project properties, and it can be changed at any time simply
by modifying TargetServerURL property. To view the properties now, right-click the AWReporting
project in Solution Explorer and choose Properties.

As shown in Figure 6-42, the Property Pages dialog shows the TargetServerURL set to the URL
you supplied to the wizard, along with several other interesting properties. For example, notice the
TargetReportFolder, which is set to AWReporting. This means that, when you deploy, the report itself
(which is the ile Annual Sales By Territory.rdl) will be created beneath a folder called AWReporting
(named, by default, after the project, but easily changed here if desired). Now click Cancel to close the
project Property Pages dialog.

166 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

FIGURE 6-42 Viewing the properties of the Report Server project

To deploy the report to SSRS on the VM and then render it, follow these steps:

4. Right-click the AWReporting project in Solution Explorer, and choose Deploy.

5. When prompted, enter the administrator user name WineAdmin and its password that you
assigned when you created the VM, as shown in Figure 6-43.

FIGURE 6-43 Entering login information to deploy the report

6. Click OK to deploy. When completed, Visual Studio shows the results in the Output window, as
shown in Figure 6-44.

CHAPTER 6 Cloud reporting 167

 FIGURE 6-44 Viewing the output of a successful deployment

Running the report from a browser

To run the deployed report from your browser using Report Manager, follow these steps:

1. Open a new browser window.

2. Type http://<vmname>.cloudapp.net/reports (replacing <vmname> with the name you

assigned to the VM) into the browser’s address bar, and press Enter.

3. If prompted for credentials by the Windows Security dialog, type WineAdmin and the
password you assigned to the VM’s administrator account. The Report Manager home page
is displayed with links for all the available folders and reports on the server. This includes the
AWReporting folder that Visual Studio deployed the report to, as shown in Figure 6-45.

FIGURE 6-45 The Report Manager home page with the AWReporting folder link

168 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 4. Click the AWReporting link to drill down into the folder.

5. Click the Annual Sales By Territory link to display the report.

As you can see in Figure 6-46, the report looks and works the same in the browser as it did in the
designer preview inside Visual Studio.

FIGURE 6-46 Viewing the inal report in Internet Explorer

By now, you understand the basic steps involved in working with SSRS. Whether you choose to use
Report Builder or Visual Studio Report Server projects, you deine your data sources or datasets and
lay them out in one or more reports (RDL iles). You can then preview the report locally and deploy to
the cloud whenever desired. After you deploy a report, you need to start thinking about security.

CHAPTER 6 Cloud reporting 169

Implementing report security
Anonymous requests are never accepted by SSRS. All users and applications who request access to
the report server must be authenticated. By default, SSRS uses Windows Integrated authentication,
meaning that standard Windows Active Directory accounts are used to log in to the report server.
Throughout this chapter, you used Windows Integrated authentication with the WineAdmin account
that you created as administrator of the VM. (In this scenario, the Active Directory is stored on the
VM, although quite often it is stored on a separate VM designated as a domain controller, and shared
by all VMs that are joined in to the domain.) You can create more users on the VM, which adds them
to the VM’s Active Directory. This enables different individuals to access reports using their own
credentials.

Windows authentication is convenient and easy, but it is not the best choice in all situations. SSRS
also supports several other types of authentication, including basic authentication, forms-based
authentication, and custom authentication. Basic authentication encodes the user name and pass-
word in clear text as a base-64 encoded string in the HTTP header, so it is only secure if you also
encrypt the channel to make the HTTP header unreadable, typically using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL).
Forms-based authentication is a security extension you use to manage your own user store, which
can be something like a database table or coniguration ile. If you have very particular requirements
that cannot be met by any of these supported authentication types, you can also implement custom
authentication. This is an advanced scenario that requires custom code as well as a good deal of
expertise in ASP.NET security.

Authorization is separate and distinct from authentication. Once a user is authenticated, what that
user can and cannot do is controlled by role assignments you deine using Report Manager. The least
privileged role is Browser, which just allows users to view folders and reports. The most privileged role
is Content Manager, which allows users to publish reports and gives them total permission (including
delete) to folders, reports, and report deinitions. You assign users to roles for speciic reports or
report folders, which determines whether a user can access that particular resource, or if the user can
perform a speciic operation (for example, delete a report or deploy a report). You can also create
groups of users, and then assign groups to a role. This effectively adds every user in the group to the
role, which makes it easy to manage multiple users as a single entity.

More Info Security in SSRS is sophisticated and potentially complex. The MSDN online
documentation provides a thorough and detailed treatment of SSRS security that you
should familiarize yourself with as you contemplate the security model for your particular
requirements. The documentation can be found at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/
library/bb522728.aspx.

170 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

Shutting down the SSRS virtual machine
Before concluding the chapter, we strongly recommend shutting down the VM you created to host
SSRS, or else your subscription will continue getting charged—even if no users are deploying or
viewing reports.

To shut down the VM, follow these steps:

1. Log in to the Microsoft Azure portal. This takes you to the ALL ITEMS page.

2. Click VIRTUAL MACHINES on the left side of the page.

3. Click on the virtual machine to select it. (Click anywhere on the row except in the name
column, or the portal will navigate you away to the VM’s Quick Start page.)

4. Click the SHUT DOWN button at the bottom of the page.

5. Click YES when prompted to conirm.

The VM uses a virtual hard disk that is stored in Microsoft Azure Blob Storage, so it retains its state
while it remains shut down. Whenever you need to start delivering reports again to your users, simply
boot the VM from the Microsoft Azure management portal to bring SSRS back online.

Summary
This chapter introduced you to SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) and showed you how to create a
Microsoft Azure virtual machine (VM) with SSRS to implement cloud reporting. You started by creat-
ing the VM and coniguring it for SSRS with reporting service and Report Manager URLs. You then
used the standalone Report Builder tool to create a simple customer report for the WineCloudDb
database. In the process, you created a data source and dataset for the report, designed the layout
using a table, and deployed the report to SSRS on the Microsoft Azure VM.

You then downloaded the AdventureWorks sample database to use as the data source for an
annual sales report built in Visual Studio with a Report Server project. After downloading the SSDT
Business Intelligence add-in for Visual Studio 2012, you used the Report Server Project Wizard to cre-
ate the data source and dataset, and design the table layout. After applying some custom formatting
and adding a bar chart to the report, you then deployed the report to SSRS on the Microsoft Azure
VM directly from inside Visual Studio. We ended the chapter with a high-level discussion of report
security, user authentication, and authorization.

There is certainly much more for you to discover on your own with SSRS and RDL. Now that you
understand the most important concepts and features, you have the foundation you need to further
explore these technologies and advance your cloud reporting skills.

CHAPTER 6 Cloud reporting 171

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CHAPTER 7

Microsoft Azure SQL Data Sync

—Leonard Lobel

T he Microsoft Azure platform provides a special service called Microsoft Azure SQL Data Sync. You
can use this service to automatically discover data changes made in one database and replicate
those changes to another database (or to any number of other databases). In this chapter, we’ll begin
with an overview of Microsoft Azure SQL Data Sync, and then dive into a series of procedures for you
to follow that put this cloud service to use in a number of common scenarios.

Note In this chapter, we refer to Microsoft Azure SQL Data Sync simply as SQL Data
Sync. Furthermore, as mentioned in Chapter 1, “Getting started with Microsoft Azure SQL
Database,” the term SQL Database refers speciically to Microsoft Azure SQL Database in
the cloud, whereas the term SQL Server refers speciically to local (on-premises) SQL Server.

Getting to know SQL Data Sync

SQL Data Sync is (at the time of this writing) a free Microsoft Azure service that provides automatic
data synchronization across a set of databases. There are many common scenarios in which you can
beneit from such a service, including

■ Exporting data mastered on-premises to cloud applications

■ Importing data in the cloud to on-premises applications

■ Sharing data between applications running on premises and in the cloud

■ Sharing data between multiple locations

■ Scaling out using the cloud

In the sections that follow, we discuss these scenarios and explain how SQL Data Sync can be used
to implement a solution for each one of them.

173
 It is incredibly easy to conigure and use SQL Data Sync. Everything happens through the Microsoft
Azure portal. No local tools are needed. You can use the portal to specify the databases you want
synchronized and the datasets within those databases (which tables and columns) to be synchronized.
You can also schedule an interval of time that controls how often SQL Data Sync will synchronize the
databases automatically, thus controlling how up to date those databases will be. The only time you
need to install something locally is when coniguring an on-premises SQL Server database for syn-
chronization. This requires the installation of a small agent component, a lightweight Windows Service
that registers local databases with SQL Data Sync.

The collection of databases to be synchronized (called reference databases) are deined within a
sync group. The reference databases in a sync group can include any number of local (on-premises)
SQL Server databases, any number of databases in the cloud (SQL Database), or any combination of
on-premises and cloud databases.

Within the sync group, one reference database is designated as the hub and all the other reference
databases act as spokes, in what can be viewed as a hub-and-spoke model. In our discussion, we will
refer to the spokes as clients, because that is the terminology used by the SQL Data Sync service and
documentation. In between the hub and each client, you can monitor and apply changes in one
direction (from hub to client), the other direction (from client to hub), or bi-directionally (two-way).
When two-way synchronization is enabled between a hub and multiple clients, data changes made
to the hub are pushed out to all the clients. A data change in any individual client is irst pushed to
the hub, and then pushed out again to all the other clients. If the same data is changed in two places
within a synchronization pass, you can control who “wins” by setting the conlict-resolution behavior
for the sync group.

The only requirement in this model is that the hub database absolutely must be a SQL Database
(that is, it must be a database in the cloud). An on-premises SQL Server database cannot function as
the hub of a sync group. All the other reference databases in the sync group (the clients) can be either
another SQL Database in the cloud or an on-premises SQL Server database.

Important SQL Data Sync is provided as a “preview” release available to all Microsoft
Azure subscribers, so support from Microsoft is not guaranteed. We normally recommend
against using preview releases like SQL Data Sync for production applications (as Microsoft
does), particularly because it is reasonable to expect that newer and more sophisticated
replication services will emerge on Microsoft Azure in the longer term.
However, SQL Data Sync is currently the only synchronization service for SQL Database
and SQL Server available from Microsoft on Microsoft Azure. It is also extremely easy to
use and reliable, and it has been freely available as a preview release since 2007 (when the
service was formerly called SQL Azure Data Sync). In fact, there are reports of customers
enjoying great success with SQL Data Sync in production environments, and even (under
special circumstances) receiving limited Microsoft support. But to reiterate, with preview
release software, there are no guarantees. You must carefully consider all these facets
before adopting SQL Data Sync and integrating it into your production solution.

174 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

Exporting data from SQL Server to SQL Database
SQL Data Sync gives you the ability to synchronize data between SQL Server on-premises and
Microsoft Azure SQL Database in the cloud. This capability is ideal when you have existing
applications and existing data residing on-premises, and new cloud-based applications are be-
ing developed that need to use some of that data—data that is effectively mastered exclusively
on-premises.

In this scenario, Data Sync can be used to synchronize one-way, from the SQL Server client up to
the SQL Database hub. (See Figure 7-1.) Changes made on-premises in SQL Server will be replicated
automatically to SQL Database in the cloud. However, the cloud applications are not able to affect
the on-premises SQL Server database in any way, because with one-way synchronization set up in this
direction, SQL Data Sync will not monitor the SQL Database hub for changes that might be made in
the cloud; thus, it will never modify the SQL Server client database.

Cloud

Application

On-Premises SQL Database

Application

SQL Server

FIGURE 7-1 One-way publishing of data mastered on-premises with SQL Server to SQL Database in the cloud

Importing data from SQL Database to SQL Server

In other cases, you have the exact opposite scenario. You might have cloud-based applications that
are inserting, updating, and deleting data in a SQL Database, and those changes are required by
applications running on-premises. For example, you can have on-premises Business Intelligence (BI)
solutions that analyze data collected in the cloud and pulled down to a local SQL Server database by
SQL Data Sync.

CHAPTER 7 Microsoft Azure SQL Data Sync 175

 In this scenario, a one-way sync in the other direction (from the SQL Database hub down to the
SQL Server client) is the requirement. (See Figure 7-2.) By changing the direction of the one-way
synchronization, SQL Data Sync will monitor SQL Database only for changes made in the cloud and
then push those changes into the on-premises SQL Server database. The on-premises applications are
not able to affect the cloud database in any way.

Cloud

Application

On-Premises SQL Database

Application

SQL Server

FIGURE 7-2 One-way publishing of data mastered in the cloud with SQL Database to on-premises SQL Server

Sharing data between multiple locations

Yet still, in other scenarios, both on-premises and cloud-based applications operate over a shared
database—in which case, full bi-directional (two-way) synchronization is needed. And to extend the
scenario a bit further, let’s also introduce multiple on-premises locations. These could be restaurants,
hotels, retail stores, branch ofices, and so on. Figure 7-3 shows only two on-premises locations,
although of course, there can be many more.

176 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 On-Premises

Application

Cloud

SQL Server
Application

SQL Database

Application

SQL Server

FIGURE 7-3 Two-way publishing of shared data between multiple locations via a centralized hub in the cloud

When you have multiple locations, each location runs its own set of applications and uses data in
its own SQL Server database. In some cases, the requirement is to share data between the different
SQL Server (on-premises) locations. That is, each location has some data that needs to be kept in sync
so that it’s available in all the other locations (for example, a product catalog). In this case, SQL Data
Sync uses the hub as a conduit through which data is synchronized bi-directionally. Changes are irst
replicated from the on-premises location to the hub, and then pushed back out to all the other on-
premises locations. In this manner, SQL Data Sync can update each location with changes made in any
other location, via the SQL Database hub in the cloud.

Another common scenario is to use SQL Database in the cloud as a location to aggregate
(combine) the data from these multiple locations. Basically, you can use SQL Data Sync to pull the
location-speciic data from each location and aggregate it into a centralized SQL Database. Then you
can create a cloud-based application that consumes the view of that aggregated data across those
multiple locations. This is just one example of how SQL Data Sync can provide great insight by pulling
distributed data together into a single SQL Database. The cloud-based application can even update
data in the SQL Database (either shared data or location-speciic data), causing SQL Data Sync to push
those changes back down appropriately; the service will send shared data changes to all locations,
and location-speciic data changes to just the individual corresponding locations.

CHAPTER 7 Microsoft Azure SQL Data Sync 177

 Scaling out
Finally, you can also synchronize between multiple databases in the cloud, as illustrated in Figure 7-4.
This can work in conjunction with the previously described scenarios by including multiple
on-premises locations, as depicted on the left side of the diagram. However, this is entirely optional—
a local SQL Server database is never required with SQL Data Sync.

Application

On-Premises Cloud

Application
SQL Database

SQL Server
Application Application

SQL Database SQL Database

Application
Application

SQL Database

SQL Server

FIGURE 7-4 Synchronizing multiple cloud databases across multiple Microsoft Azure data centers

By maintaining multiple copies of the same data in the cloud (both within a single data center as
well as across multiple data centers), you can scale out in signiicant ways. For example, you can gen-
erate one or more replicas of your primary transactional database (often termed the OLTP database,
for online transactional processing), keeping both the OLTP and replica databases hosted within the
same data center (as depicted by the two SQL Database instances in the center of the diagram). Then
you can run your analysis and reports against a replica, rather than the “live” OLTP database.

Taking this approach greatly reduces the demand on your primary transactional database, which
needs to remain responsive to data-entry requests at a fast and furious rate. The OLTP database is
primarily focused on (and carefully tuned for) inserting, updating, and deleting small amounts of data
within atomic transactions (that is, brief series of operations that succeed or fail as a whole). Although

178 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

there are also read requests, they are relatively few and typically involve small amounts of data.
Because reporting requests tend to involve intensive, potentially long-running read-only queries,
they typically have a negative (often severely negative) impact when executed directly on the OLTP
database. By comparison, once the OLTP and replica databases are fully synchronized, keeping them
in sync has a relatively small impact on the OLTP database as it is queried for fresh changes that have
occurred in between each synchronization pass. So this problem is easily remedied by replicating the
OLTP database or databases to other databases and then running report and analysis queries against
only the replicas.

One of the great things about the Microsoft Azure platform is that Microsoft maintains data
centers in multiple regions around the world. This infrastructure makes it easy to geographically
locate your own applications around the world as well, if and when the need arises to scale out to that
level. Thus, you can keep applications (and their associated data) physically closer to the users con-
suming those applications. In this case, SQL Data Sync can be used to keep replicated databases (or
designated parts of replicated databases) in sync so that the same data (or the same subset of data) is
available to all instances of the application worldwide, as depicted on the right side of Figure 7-4.

Important Although the SQL Data Sync service itself is free at the time we are writing this,
your Microsoft Azure subscription will most deinitely incur normal charges for data trans-
ferred between data centers by the service. (See Chapter 2, “Coniguration and pricing,”
for more information.) Furthermore, there will be a performance hit as a result of all the
additional network trafic crossing data centers. For these reasons, if possible, you can and
should limit synchronization to include only that portion of your database (the minimum
number of tables and columns) that absolutely needs to be available globally.

About Microsoft Azure Trafic Manager

SQL Data Sync makes it easy to synchronize the same database for applications hosted in
multiple Microsoft Azure data centers, but properly routing users to the application running
in the data center closest to them is a separate matter. Although routing is a topic that falls
beyond the scope of this chapter, you should be aware that Microsoft Azure provides a service
called Trafic Manager that is speciically designed to handle this concern.

Trafic Manager provides load-balancing capabilities for your applications running on

Microsoft Azure in multiple data centers. (Note that this is separate from, and in addition to,
the load balancing you can achieve within an individual data center using virtual machines.)
It essentially takes the entire collection of Microsoft Azure data centers and places it behind a
Domain Name System (DNS) capable of handling the necessary routing. Thus, you can deploy
applications to run in multiple data centers, using SQL Data Sync to replicate a copy of the
database for each application instance in each data center, and then use Trafic Manager to
intelligently direct users to the application instance running in the data center nearest to them,
based on their physical location.

CHAPTER 7 Microsoft Azure SQL Data Sync 179

 Although it’s not required to use Trafic Manager in conjunction with SQL Data Sync, it is a
highly recommended option. There are solutions available from other companies that similarly
use DNS services to route users to the right place based on their location, but such solutions
are often quite expensive and can be very complex to implement correctly. Conversely, Trafic
Manager is relatively easy to use and accessible as part of the Microsoft Azure platform. And, at
the time of this writing, the service is still in preview and available to be used free of charge.

You can learn more about Microsoft Azure Trafic Manager by visiting
http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/services/trafic-manager.

Creating the SQL Database

To get started, you will use SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT) inside Visual Studio to quickly create a
WineCloudDb database similar to the one you’ve been using throughout this book. The procedure
assumes you already created a SQL Database server that you can access through its irewall on which
you can create this database, as explained in Chapter 1. If you do not already have a server, it’s easy
to create one now and open its irewall to your local machine using the Microsoft Azure management
portal. (See “Creating a server” in Chapter 1.)

As shown in Listing 7-1, WineCloudDb is a simple database that has Wine and Customer tables and
a few rows of data.

Note Because this procedure does nothing more than create a database and execute a
script, you can certainly follow similar steps with SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
instead of Visual Studio and SSDT. Likewise, you can choose instead to use the Microsoft
Azure management portal to create the database and the SQL Database management
portal to run the script. It’s largely a matter of preference, so you should use whichever
tool is readily available and most convenient for you.

LISTING 7-1 Script to create the WineCloudDb database

CREATE TABLE Wine(

WineId int IDENTITY PRIMARY KEY,
Name nvarchar(50) NOT NULL,
Category nvarchar(15) NOT NULL,
Year int);

180 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

CREATE TABLE Customer(
CustomerId int IDENTITY PRIMARY KEY,
FirstName nvarchar(50) NOT NULL,
LastName nvarchar(50) NOT NULL,
FavoriteWineId int,
CONSTRAINT FK_Customer_Wine FOREIGN KEY (FavoriteWineId) REFERENCES Wine(WineId));

SET IDENTITY_INSERT Wine ON;

INSERT Wine (WineId, Name, Category, Year) VALUES
(1, ‘Chateau Penin’, ‘Bordeaux’, 2008),
(2, ‘McLaren Valley’, ‘Cabernet’, 2005),
(3, ‘Mendoza’, ‘Merlot’, 2010),
(4, ‘Valle Central’, ‘Merlot’, 2009);
SET IDENTITY_INSERT Wine OFF;

SET IDENTITY_INSERT Customer ON;

INSERT Customer (CustomerId, FirstName, LastName, FavoriteWineId) VALUES
(1, ‘Jeff’, ‘Hay’, 4),
(2, ‘Mark’, ‘Hanson’, 3),
(3, ‘Jeff’, ‘Phillips’, 2);
SET IDENTITY_INSERT Customer OFF;

To create the WineCloudDb database using Visual Studio 2013, follow these steps:

1. Start Visual Studio 2013.

2. If the SQL Server Object Explorer is not visible, click the VIEW menu and choose SQL Server
Object Explorer.

3. In the SQL Server Object Explorer, right-click SQL Server and choose Add SQL Server to display
the familiar Connect To Server dialog.

4. In the Connect To Server dialog, do the following:

a. For Server Name, type <servername>.database.windows.net. This is the fully qualiied

name to the SQL Database server, where <servername> should be replaced by the name
assigned to your server.

b. For Authentication, select SQL Server Authentication from the drop-down list. (SQL
Database does not support Windows Authentication.)

c. For Login and Password, type the user name and password you assigned the server when
you created it.

d. Click the Connect button. The server now appears as a collapsed node in the SQL Server
Object Explorer.

5. Expand the server node in the SQL Server Object Explorer.

6. Expand the server’s Databases node.

CHAPTER 7 Microsoft Azure SQL Data Sync 181

 7. If a previous version of WineCloudDb is present from work you did in an earlier chapter, delete
it now:

a. Right-click the existing WineCloudDb database, and choose Delete.

b. Click OK to conirm.

8. Right-click the Databases node, and choose Add New Database.

9. Type WineCloudDb, and press Enter. The new database now appears in the SQL Server
Object Explorer.

10. Right-click the WineCloudDb database, and choose New Query to open a new query window.

11. Type the code shown in Listing 7-1 into the query window (or paste it in from the listing ile
downloaded from the book’s companion website).

12. Press Ctrl+Shift+E to execute the script (or press the play button icon in the query window’s
toolbar).

13. Close Visual Studio. (It isn’t necessary to save the script.)

Working with SQL Data Sync

The rest of this chapter contains procedures that guide you through the process of setting up a sync
group and coniguring SQL Data Sync for many of the different scenarios identiied in the previous
section. You will start by creating a simple sync group to replicate the WineCloudDb database to an-
other SQL Database on Microsoft Azure. Then you’ll move on to add a local on-premises SQL Server
database to the sync group. In other procedures, you will also learn about conlict resolution and how
to set an automated synchronization schedule.

Creating a sync group

At a minimum, a sync group requires one SQL Database (the hub) and at least one more SQL
Database or on-premises SQL Server database to synchronize with. In the next few procedures, you
will create an empty WineCloudDb database on a new SQL Database server, and then create a sync
group with the populated WineCloudDb database (the hub) and the new empty one. You will conig-
ure for two-way synchronization, so that SQL Data Sync will irst replicate from the hub to the empty
database and then subsequently replicate data changes bi-directionally between both databases.

To avoid incurring charges to your Microsoft Azure subscription as you follow along with these
procedures, you’ll create the new server in the same data center as the one currently hosting
WineCloudDb. You will create the sync group in the same region as well, for the same reason. This
is ideal for scaling out within a data center, but you can just as easily create the server in a different
data center (and incur outgoing data-transfer charges between them) if you wanted to geographically
disperse the databases and better service global users in closest proximity to their nearest available
data center.

182 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 Indeed, for this exercise, you don’t even really need to create a new server at all; you could use the
same server you’ve been using all along for WineCloudDb. SQL Data Sync will happily synchronize two
SQL Databases on the same server. Nevertheless, you will still create another server. (Of course, you’d
be using separate servers in separate data centers if you were actually going to geographically distrib-
ute the databases across regions.) If the two databases ran on the same server, you would be forced
to name the replica differently (for example, WineCloudDb2), whereas you’ll be able to name both of
them WineCloudDb by using separate servers.

Note In Chapter 1, you already created a server, opened the irewall, and created a
database. Although the following instructions are very similar to the ones we provided
then, you might still want to refer to “Creating a server” in Chapter 1 because the
instructions there include screen shots and details that are not repeated here.

To create a new server, follow these steps:

1. Log in to the Microsoft Azure portal at https://manage.windowsazure.com. This brings you

to the main portal page showing ALL ITEMS.

2. Click SQL DATABASES in the vertical navigation pane on the left.

3. Click the SERVERS link at the top of the page.

4. Click the ADD button at the bottom of the page.

5. Provide a new server administrator login name and password, and then reenter the password
to conirm.

Tip To simplify things while you are practicing, we recommend using the same
login name (for example, saz) and password you assigned to the irst server.

6. Choose a region from the drop-down list. As we explained, you should select the same region
you chose for the irst server so that your subscription will not incur data-transfer charges
when you synchronize between the databases on the two servers.

7. Be sure the ALLOW WINDOWS AZURE SERVICES TO ACCESS THE SERVER check box remains
selected. This setting enables Microsoft Azure services like SQL Data Sync to access the server.

8. Click the checkmark icon in the lower right side of the dialog to complete the settings.

9. Wait for the new server status to change from “creating” to “started.”

Next, you’ll open the Microsoft Azure irewall, although this procedure is technically optional. SQL
Data Sync does not require you to open the Microsoft Azure irewall to synchronize across servers.
However, as explained in Chapter 1, you do need to open the irewall for your machine’s IP address if
you want to be able to access the server from the Silverlight-based SQL Database management portal

CHAPTER 7 Microsoft Azure SQL Data Sync 183

 (which you will do in upcoming procedures), and other tools (such as SQL Server Management Studio
and SSDT in Visual Studio).

To open the irewall, follow these steps:

1. Click the server name.

2. Click the CONFIGURE link at the top of the page.

3. To the right of your current detected IP address, click ADD TO THE ALLOWED IP ADDRESSES.

4. Click the SAVE button at the bottom of the page.

5. Click the back icon (the large back-pointing arrow) to return to the SQL DATABASES page.

Now you’ll create an empty database on the new server. To do so, follow these steps:

1. Click the DATABASES link at the top of the page.

2. Click the NEW button at the bottom of the page.

3. Click QUICK CREATE.

4. For DATABASE NAME, type WineCloudDb. (Because this database will run on the new server,
it can be the same name as your existing database running on the irst server.)

Note Conversely, if you were scaling out to separate OLTP activity from
reporting activity, you could use the same server. In that case, you’d be forced
to give the replica database a unique name, which might be something like
WineCloudReportingDb.

5. Choose the server you created in the previous procedure from the SERVER drop-down list.

6. Click CREATE SQL DATABASE.

After a few more moments, the new WineCloudDb database is created. This database is completely
empty, but it will soon contain the same tables with the same data as the existing WineCloudDb on
the irst server, once you create the sync group, conigure the sync rules, and run a manual sync.

When creating the sync group, you will deine the hub database and the irst client database.
(A client database is also often called a reference database.)

To create the sync group, follow these steps:

1. Click the ADD SYNC button at the bottom of the page, and then choose New Sync Group, as
shown in Figure 7-5.

184 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 FIGURE 7-5 Creating a new sync group

2. On the Sync Group Basic Settings page, do the following:

a. For NAME, type WineCloudSyncGroup.

b. In the REGION drop-down list, choose the same region as the two servers. The page
should appear similar to Figure 7-6.

FIGURE 7-6 Naming the sync group and choosing a region to host it in

c. Click the right-arrow Next button.

CHAPTER 7 Microsoft Azure SQL Data Sync 185

 3. On the Deine Sync Hub page, do the following:

a. For HUB DATABASE, choose the WineCloudDb database running on the irst server (the
database that already has some data in it).

b. Enter the server’s administrator user name and password credentials for HUB USER NAME
and HUB PASSWORD.

c. Leave CONFLICT RESOLUTION at its default setting, Hub Wins. (We will discuss conlict
resolution shortly.) The page should look similar to Figure 7-7.

FIGURE 7-7 Coniguring the hub database

Note The conlict-resolution setting cannot be changed once the sync group
is created. You need to delete the sync group and re-create it if you want to
change the setting.

d. Click the right-arrow Next button. Because of the way the portal handles validation on
this page, you need to wait a moment after clicking it once, and then click it again.

4. On the Add A Reference Database page, complete the following steps:

a. For REFERENCE DATABASE, choose the WineCloudDb database running on the new server
(the empty database you just created). You’ll notice that the database selected for the
hub is not even present as a choice in the drop-down list.

186 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 b. Enter the server’s administrator user name and password credentials for USER NAME and
PASSWORD. (If you assigned the same credentials to the new server as the original server,
these are the same values you typed for the hub database on the previous page.)

c. Leave SYNC DIRECTION at its default setting, Bi-Directional. The page should look similar
to Figure 7-8.

FIGURE 7-8 Coniguring a reference database

Note The two other available sync direction settings are one-way from the hub
to the client and one-way from the client to the hub, either of which you could
choose to use rather than bi-directional, if doing so makes sense for the given
scenario. (Different one-way scenarios were discussed at the beginning of this
chapter.) Also note that the sync direction setting cannot be changed once the
sync group is created. You need to remove a client database from the sync group
and then add it again if you want to change the setting.

d. Click the checkmark “inish” button to complete the settings. Once again, you might need
to wait a moment after clicking it once, and then click it again.

As shown in Figure 7-9, the sync group has been created at this point, but it is not ready. And it will
remain in this Not Ready state until you further conigure the sync group with sync rules.

CHAPTER 7 Microsoft Azure SQL Data Sync 187

 FIGURE 7-9 Viewing the newly created sync group

Also notice that the portal has added a third link (SYNC) after the standard DATABASES and
SERVERS links on the SQL Databases page. When at least one sync group has been created, the SYNC
link takes you to this management view of all your sync groups.

Creating sync rules

With the sync group in place, it’s time to set the sync rules. Essentially, the sync rules deine the
dataset, which is to say, exactly which tables and columns you want synchronized across all reference
databases in the sync group. Until at least one dataset is deined, the sync group will remain in a Not
Ready state, so let’s go ahead and deine one now.

To conigure the sync rules and deine the dataset, follow these steps:

1. Click the sync group name WineCloudSyncGroup. This opens to the REFERENCES view that lists
all the databases in the sync group, as shown in Figure 7-10. Notice that the status of each
database is Not Ready, again, because no sync rules have yet been conigured.

188 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 FIGURE 7-10 The REFERENCES page lists all the databases in the sync group

2. Click the SYNC RULES link at the top of the page.

3. Click DEFINE SYNC RULES beneath the message stating that you have no sync rules.

4. On the DEFINE DATASET dialog, select the WineCloudDb database running on the irst server
(the one with pre-existing tables and data, not the new empty one).

5. Click the checkmark icon to close the dialog. The SYNC RULES page now lists all the tables
discovered in the WineCloudDb database, as shown in Figure 7-11.

FIGURE 7-11 The SYNC RULES page listing all the tables in the database that can be synchronized

CHAPTER 7 Microsoft Azure SQL Data Sync 189

 6. Click the SELECT button at the bottom of the page, and click Select All The Columns In All The
Tables, as shown in Figure 7-12.

FIGURE 7-12 Selecting the entire database (all columns in all tables) for synchronization

7. Click the SAVE button at the bottom of the page, as shown in Figure 7-13.

FIGURE 7-13 Saving the sync rules

8. You might need to wait a few moments for processing before the portal becomes responsive
again. When processing completes, click the REFERENCES link at the top of the page. Both
databases are now designated with a status of Good, as shown in Figure 7-14.

FIGURE 7-14 The REFERENCES page now showing all the databases in the sync group with a Good status

9. Click the back icon (the large back-pointing arrow) to return to the SQL DATABASES page for
the new sync group. As shown in Figure 7-15, the sync group has now also transitioned to a
status of Good.

190 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 FIGURE 7-15 The SYNC page now showing the sync group with a Good status

At this point, SQL Data Sync has created tables in the new database exactly as they are deined in
the existing database.

Important SQL Data Sync does more than just replicate the tables you chose to be
synchronized; it also adds special objects to each database in the sync group (including
on-premises SQL Server databases). To track incremental data changes, SQL Data Sync
creates a change-tracking table for each table that is being synchronized, adds triggers
to your base tables, and also creates some stored procedures for gathering and apply-
ing changes. Therefore, it is highly recommended that you irst test SQL Data Sync in a
nonproduction environment to ensure it does not have an adverse effect on your existing
databases or applications.

Running a manual sync

SQL Data Sync has created tables in the new database, but it has not populated the tables with any
rows yet (that is, it has copied only schema, but no data). This is because there has not yet been a
synchronization pass, nor will there be until you either deine an automated synchronization schedule
or run a manual sync.

You’ll create an automated schedule shortly, but right now you’ll start by running a manual sync.
To do so, follow these steps:

1. Click the SYNC button at the bottom of the page, as shown in Figure 7-16. After a few
moments of processing, the sync group returns to its normal Good status. This means the
synchronization was successful.

CHAPTER 7 Microsoft Azure SQL Data Sync 191

 FIGURE 7-16 Running a manual sync

2. Wait a few moments for processing to complete, and click the sync group name
WineCloudSyncGroup.

3. Click the LOGS link at the top of the page. The portal displays a message conirming that the
databases synchronized successfully, as shown in Figure 7-17.

FIGURE 7-17 Viewing the sync group logs

Now you’ll rely on your own two eyes to verify that, indeed, everything is working as it should. The
best way to do that is to monitor both databases side by side as you change them individually, and
then synchronize those changes. You can do this by opening two separate browser tabs to the SQL
Database portal—one for each WineCloudDb database.

Note In Chapter 1, you already saw how to launch a new browser tab to the SQL Database
portal. Although the following instructions are very similar to the ones we provided then,
you might still want to refer to Chapter 1 because the instructions there include screen
shots and details that are not repeated here.

192 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 To open the two SQL Database management portal tabs, follow these steps:

1. Click the back icon (the large back-pointing arrow) to return to the SQL DATABASES page.

2. Click the DATABASES link at the top of the page.

3. Click on the irst WineCloudDb database.

4. Click the DASHBOARD link at the top of the page.

5. Scroll the page down a bit, and click on the MANAGE URL link in the quick glance section at
the right of the page. This opens a new browser tab to the SQL Database portal’s login page
for the irst WineCloudDb database.

6. On the login page, type the administrator user name and password, and click Log On. This
takes you to the Summary page for the database.

7. Click the previous browser tab to return to the Microsoft Azure portal that just launched the
new browser tab.

8. Click the back icon (the large back-pointing arrow) to return to the SQL DATABASES page.

9. Click on the second WineCloudDb database.

10. Click the DASHBOARD link at the top of the page.

11. Scroll down and click on the MANAGE URL link on the right to open another new browser tab
to the SQL Database portal’s login page for the second WineCloudDb database.

12. On the login page, type the administrator user name and password, and click Log On to go to
the Summary page for the database.

Now that your environment is all set up, start by running the same simple query in each database
to view and compare the contents of the Wine table. To run the queries, continue working in the cur-
rent browser tab that’s open to the SQL Database management portal for the second WineCloudDb
database, and follow these steps:

1. Click New Query at the top of the page to open a new query window.

2. Click inside the code window, and type SELECT * FROM Customer.

3. Click Run at the top of the page. SQL Database executes the query and displays the results in
the bottom portion of the query window, as shown in Figure 7-18.

CHAPTER 7 Microsoft Azure SQL Data Sync 193

 FIGURE 7-18 Querying the contents of the Customer table after the irst manual sync

4. Click the browser tab that’s open to the SQL Database management portal for the irst
WineCloudDb database.

5. Click New Query at the top of the page to open a new query window.

6. Click inside the code window, and type SELECT * FROM Customer.

7. Click Run at the top of the page. SQL Database executes the query and displays the results,
which should appear identical to the results of the same query you ran in the other database,
as just seen in Figure 7-18.

Receiving identical query results in both browser tabs is a clear indication that the irst manual
sync worked correctly and both databases are in sync. Now update some data on both sides and
watch the databases sync up once again. To run the updates, continue working in the current browser
tab and follow these steps:

1. On a new line below the SELECT statement you typed in the previous procedure, type
UPDATE Customer SET FavoriteWineId = 2 WHERE CustomerId = 1.

2. Click and drag the mouse to highlight the complete UPDATE statement.

194 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 3. Click Run at the top of the page. SQL Database executes the statement and indicates that one
row was affected. That is, the favorite wine ID for customer ID 1 (Jeff Hay) has changed from 4
to 2.

4. Click the browser tab that’s open to the SQL Database management portal for the other
WineCloudDb database.

5. On a new line below the SELECT statement, type INSERT INTO Customer VALUES(‘Chris’,
‘Mayo’, 3).

6. Click and drag the mouse to highlight the complete INSERT statement.

7. Click Run at the top of the page. SQL Database executes the statement and indicates that one
row was affected. That is, a new customer row for Chris May was created with a favorite wine
ID of 3.

You have now modiied each database separately; one database has an updated customer, and the
other has a new customer. Next, you will perform another manual sync operation and then conirm
visually that each change has been synchronized properly to the other database. To do so, follow
these steps:

1. Click the browser tab that’s open to the Microsoft Azure portal. It should still be on the
DASHBOARD page for one of the WineCloudDb databases from one of the earlier procedures.

2. Click the back icon (the large back-pointing arrow) to return to the SQL DATABASES page.

3. Click the SYNC link at the top of the page.

4. Click the SYNC button at the bottom of the page. After a few moments of processing, the sync
group returns to its normal Good status.

5. Click the browser tab that’s open to the SQL Database management portal for one of the
WineCloudDb databases. (It doesn’t matter which.)

6. Click and drag the mouse to highlight the complete SELECT statement.

7. Click Run at the top of the page. SQL Database executes the query and displays the results,
which relect both the updated and inserted customer changes, as shown in Figure 7-19.

CHAPTER 7 Microsoft Azure SQL Data Sync 195

 FIGURE 7-19 Querying the contents of the Customer table after a bi-directional manual sync

8. Click the browser tab that’s open to the SQL Database management portal for the other
WineCloudDb databases.

9. Click and drag the mouse to highlight the complete SELECT statement.

10. Click Run at the top of the page. SQL Database executes the query and displays the results,
which should once again appear identical to the results of the same query you ran in the other
database, as just seen in Figure 7-19.

Receiving identical query results again in both browser tabs now veriies that bi-directional
synchronization is working. The next thing to learn about is conlict resolution. If the same customer
row is modiied differently in both databases at the same time (meaning, in between synchroniza-
tions, not necessarily simultaneously), what happens on the next synchronization?

Establishing conlict resolution

Whenever the same data is modiied differently in multiple places, SQL Data Sync will always choose
one version of the change to overwrite the other. Which version overwrites which is determined by
the conlict resolution setting established when the sync group is created. The two available settings
are Hub Wins (the default) and Client Wins.

196 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 When you created the sync group, you conigured it to use a conlict resolution of Hub Wins. (You
did this simply by accepting the default, as shown in Figure 7-7.) Thus, if a conlicting change is made
to the same row in both the hub and the client database, the change made to the hub will override
(and overwrite) the change made to the client.

When following this next procedure, you need to pay attention to which browser tab is open to
the SQL Database management portal for the hub database, and which is open to the portal for the
client database. You can distinguish them by the server names that appear in the upper left part of
the portal page in each browser tab.

To demonstrate conlict resolution, follow these steps:

1. Click the browser tab that’s open to the SQL Database management portal for the
WineCloudDb hub database. (Check the server name in the upper left of the page.)

a. In the code window, delete the existing INSERT or UPDATE statement (but leave the
SELECT statement as-is).

b. On a new line below the SELECT statement, type UPDATE Customer SET LastName =
‘Mayo-Hub’ WHERE CustomerId = 4.

c. Click and drag the mouse to highlight the complete UPDATE statement.

d. Click Run at the top of the page. SQL Database executes the statement and indicates that
one row was affected.

2. Click the browser tab that’s open to the SQL Database management portal for the other
WineCloudDb database (the one on the new server).

a. In the code window, delete the existing INSERT or UPDATE statement (but leave the
SELECT statement as-is).

b. On a new line below the SELECT statement, type UPDATE Customer SET LastName =
‘Mayo-Client’ WHERE CustomerId = 4.

c. Click Run at the top of the page. SQL Database executes the statement and indicates that
one row was affected—the same row you just modiied in the hub database (with a dif-
ferent change).

3. Click the browser tab that’s open to the Microsoft Azure portal. It should still be on the SYNC
page from the manual sync you ran in the previous procedure.

4. Click the SYNC button at the bottom of the page. After a few moments of processing, the sync
group returns to its normal Good status.

5. Click the browser tab that’s open to the SQL Database management portal for the
WineCloudDb hub database.

a. Click and drag the mouse to highlight the complete SELECT statement.

CHAPTER 7 Microsoft Azure SQL Data Sync 197

 b. Click Run at the top of the page. SQL Database executes the query and displays the
results. As shown in Figure 7-20, the customer name change to Mayo-Hub has stuck; it
has not been overwritten by the conlicting name change made to the same row in the
client database.

FIGURE 7-20 The hub change remains after a conlict with a client, using Hub Wins conlict resolution

6. Click the browser tab that’s open to the SQL Database management portal for the other
WineCloudDb database (the client database on the new server).

a. Click and drag the mouse to highlight the complete SELECT statement.

b. Click Run at the top of the page. SQL Database executes the query and displays the
results. As shown in Figure 7-21, the customer name change to Mayo-Client has been
overwritten by the conlicting name change (Mayo-Hub) made to the same row in the
hub database.

198 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 FIGURE 7-21 The client change is overwritten after a conlict with a hub, using Hub Wins conlict
resolution

If the conlict resolution had been set to Client Wins, the opposite would have occurred; the
change made to the client database would have remained on the client, and the change made to the
hub would have been overwritten to relect the client change (that is, the customer would have the
name Mayo-Client in both databases).

When a sync group has only one client database in it, the behavior with Hub Wins or Client Wins
is absolutely predictable, and it will always work as we just described. But once two or more client
databases are involved, and there are conlicting changes across multiple clients (but not the hub),
conlict-resolution behavior cannot be predicted, regardless of the setting:

■ In the case of Hub Wins, the irst client change that gets written to the hub is kept. Any
conlicting data changes made in any of the other clients are discarded. Then the change
written to the hub by the irst client is propagated out to all the other clients.

■ In the case of Client Wins, conlicting data changes made in all clients are written to the hub,
each one overwriting the previous one, so that the changes written by the last client are then
propagated out to all the other clients.

CHAPTER 7 Microsoft Azure SQL Data Sync 199

 In either case, the winner cannot be predicted, because the order in which client changes are
written to the hub is nondeterministic and can vary from one synchronization pass to another. The
only predictable resolution case when multiple clients are involved is when a conlicting change
is made in the hub database as well and the conlict resolution is set to Hub Wins. In this case,
conlicting changes in the client databases will always be overwritten by the hub change.

Creating an automated sync schedule

Once you have run several manual syncs and are satisied with your sync group, you won’t want
to sync manually any more. At this point, you will want to let SQL Data Sync schedule automated
synchronization passes automatically.

Fortunately, SQL Data Sync supports a simple scheduling mechanism. Automation is either turned
on or off. If automation is turned on, the schedule frequency can range from (approximately) ive
minutes to one month. This means the closest you can keep the databases in your sync group up to
date by is ive minutes.

Note We say approximately parenthetically, because the service does not guarantee
precise timing. For example, you might request to run every 10 minutes and ind
occasionally that 11 minutes elapse between two passes.

To set an automated sync schedule that runs every 10 minutes, follow these steps:

1. Click the browser tab that’s open to the Microsoft Azure portal. It should still be on the SYNC
page from the manual sync you ran in previous procedures.

2. Click the sync group name WineCloudSyncGroup.

3. Click the CONFIGURE link at the top of the page.

4. For AUTOMATIC SYNC, click ON.

5. For SYNC FREQUENCY, type 10.

6. Click anywhere on the page. This is necessary to shift focus away from the SYNC FREQUENCY
text box, which causes the SAVE button to appear at the bottom of the page, as shown in
Figure 7-22.

200 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 FIGURE 7-22 Coniguring an automated sync schedule to run every 10 minutes

7. Click the SAVE button.

The schedule is now set. To test the schedule, follow these steps:

1. Click the browser tab that’s open to the SQL Database management portal for one of the
WineCloudDb databases. (It doesn’t matter which one.)

2. In the code window, delete the existing INSERT or UPDATE statement (but leave the SELECT
statement as-is).

3. On a new line below the SELECT statement, type UPDATE Customer SET LastName =
‘Mayo-Auto’ WHERE CustomerId = 4.

4. Take a break for 10 minutes (or more). Have a glass of wine (or two). You’ve earned it!

5. Run the SELECT statement in each of the SQL Database management portal browser tabs
open to the hub and the client, and notice how the customer name is now Mayo-Auto in both
databases.

During your 10-minute break, an automatic synchronization pass ran, which copied the change to
the other database. At this point, you can leave things alone and let the service synchronize every 10
minutes automatically, although you can still sync manually any time you want to, of course. You can

CHAPTER 7 Microsoft Azure SQL Data Sync 201

 also change the interval or disable automatic synchronization as desired. Every synchronization pass
(whether manual or automated) is logged and can be seen by clicking on the LOGS link (as you saw in
Figure 7-17).

Creating a local SQL Server database

Now that you’ve got the synchronization working between two SQL Databases in the cloud, you’re
ready to add a local on-premises SQL Server database to the sync group. This requires the local instal-
lation of a special agent service that you can register on-premises databases with. The SQL Data Sync
service in the cloud will gain access to those on-premises databases through the local agent service.
Of course, this requires a local SQL Server database.

If you have access to a SQL Server instance you can create a local database on, you can use that
SQL Server instance. Otherwise, you will need to install the SQL Server Express edition to host a local
database so that you can continue following along. A step-by-step procedure for doing so can be
found in the Introduction, in the section “Installing SQL Server Express Edition.”

Note This chapter assumes you are using the SQL Server Express edition for your local SQL
Server database, which has an instance name of .\sqlexpress. If you are using another edi-
tion, you must replace the instance name .\sqlexpress speciied in the instructions with the
name of the instance you are using. For example, if you are running a primary instance of
the SQL Server Developer edition on your local machine, you can simply specify the dot (.)
symbol or localhost. If you are running a named instance on your local machine, append
a backslash followed by the name of the instance (for example, .\myinstance or localhost\
myinstance).

In the next procedure, you will create a new database on your local SQL Server instance called
WineLocalDb. The local database will start out completely empty, but it will soon become a replica of
the other WineCloudDb databases once you add it to the sync group. (This is the same approach you
took earlier when you created the second WineCloudDb database and added it to the sync group.)

To create the local database, follow these steps:

1. Start Visual Studio 2013.

2. If the SQL Server Object Explorer is not visible, click the VIEW menu and choose SQL Server
Object Explorer.

3. In the SQL Server Object Explorer, right-click SQL Server and choose Add SQL Server to
display the Connect To Server dialog.

4. For Server Name, type .\sqlexpress (or the name of your local SQL Server instance).

5. For Authentication, choose Windows Authentication. Or, if your local SQL Server instance is
conigured not to support Windows Authentication, choose SQL Server Authentication and

202 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 supply valid credentials for Login and Password. The Connect To Server dialog should appear
similar to Figure 7-23.

FIGURE 7-23 Connecting to a local SQL Server Express edition instance

6. Click Connect. The local instance now appears as a collapsed node in the SQL Server Object
Explorer.

7. Expand the new node in the SQL Server Object Explorer.

8. Right-click Databases, and choose Add New Database.

9. Type WineLocalDb and press Enter. The new database now appears in the SQL Server
Object Explorer, as shown in Figure 7-24.

FIGURE 7-24 Creating the WineLocalDb database on a local SQL Server instance

You now have an empty on-premises database named WineLocalDb. Next, you will conigure a
sync agent so that this database can participate in the sync group.

CHAPTER 7 Microsoft Azure SQL Data Sync 203

 Creating a sync agent
SQL Data Sync communicates with on-premises SQL Server databases through the client agent—a
special local service that mediates interaction between the local database and the sync group running
on Microsoft Azure.

With this approach, the SQL Data Sync service does not communicate directly with the local
database; instead, all local-to-cloud communications take place through the agent. This means that
the SQL Data Sync service in the cloud can access your on-premises SQL Server databases, even if
they are located behind a irewall (which is typically the case in production environments). When the
service communicates with the agent, it does so using encrypted connections and a unique token or
agent key. The SQL Server databases authenticate the agent using the connection string and agent
key, which provides a high level of security.

To install the local sync agent, follow these steps:

1. Log in to the Microsoft Azure portal (or return to the browser window where the Microsoft
Azure portal is running, if it’s still open).

2. Click SQL DATABASES in the vertical navigation pane on the left.

3. Click the ADD SYNC button at the bottom of the page, and then choose New Sync Agent,
as shown in Figure 7-25.

FIGURE 7-25 Creating a sync agent

4. Click the Install One Here link, as shown in Figure 7-26. This opens a new browser tab to a
download page for the sync agent.

204 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 FIGURE 7-26 Using the New Sync Agent dialog link to install a new local sync agent

5. Click the large orange Download button.

6. Select SQLDataSyncAgent-Preview-ENU.msi, as shown in Figure 7-27.

FIGURE 7-27 Selecting the SQL Data Sync Agent download

CHAPTER 7 Microsoft Azure SQL Data Sync 205

 7. Click Next.

8. If you receive a pop-up warning, click Allow Once, as shown in Figure 7-28.

FIGURE 7-28 Temporarily allowing pop-ups to enable the download, if necessary

9. When prompted to run or save the ile, choose Run. This downloads and starts the Microsoft
SQL Data Sync Agent Preview Setup Wizard:

a. On the Welcome page, click Next.

b. On the License Agreement And Privacy Information page, click I Agree and then click
Next.

c. Type a local Windows user name and password for the account that the agent service
should run under. The user name should include the local domain or machine name
followed by a backslash, as shown in Figure 7-29.

FIGURE 7-29 Coniguring the Windows account that the local agent will use to access on-premises SQL
Server databases.

d. Click Next.

e. On the Select Installation Folder page, click Next.

f. On the Conirm Installation Page, click Next to begin the installation.

g. If the User Account Control dialog appears, click Yes.

h. When the installation completes, click Close.

206 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 The local agent service is now installed. In a moment, you will register the on-premises
WineLocalDb database with the local agent. But irst you need to complete the agent coniguration
on Microsoft Azure.

To conigure the agent on Microsoft Azure, follow these steps:

1. Return to the browser tab that’s still open to the Microsoft Azure portal on the New Sync
Agent page.

2. For NAME, type WineSyncAgent.

3. In the REGION drop-down list, choose the same region as the time zone your local machine is
set to. The page should appear similar to Figure 7-30.

Important You will not be able to register local databases with a sync agent
located in a different region.

FIGURE 7-30 Coniguring the sync agent on Microsoft Azure

4. Click the checkmark icon in the lower-right side of the dialog to complete the settings.

5. After a few moments, the agent is created and appears ofline, as shown in Figure 7-31.

CHAPTER 7 Microsoft Azure SQL Data Sync 207

 FIGURE 7-31 Viewing the new agent created on Microsoft Azure

6. Click WineSyncAgent. This displays the local databases registered with the agent, which is cur-
rently an empty list.

7. Click the MANAGE KEY button at the bottom of the page.

8. Click the green Generate button.

9. Click the clipboard copy button to the right of the generated key, as shown in Figure 7-32.
(If you are prompted for clipboard access by Internet Explorer, click Allow Access.)

FIGURE 7-32 Generating an access key that can be used to register local SQL Server databases with
the agent

208 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 Now that the agent access key has been copied to the clipboard, the last step is to register the
local database with the sync agent. To do so, follow these steps:

1. From the Windows Start screen, launch Microsoft SQL Data Sync Agent Preview. You can
either scroll through the tiles to ind it or just type data sync agent to run an app search, and
then click on the Microsoft SQL Data Sync Agent Preview tile, as shown in Figure 7-33.

FIGURE 7-33 Launching the SQL Data Sync agent from the Windows 8 Start screen.

2. If the User Account Control dialog appears, click Yes.

3. Click the Submit Agent Key button .

4. Right-click in the Agent Key text box, and choose Paste. This pastes the key generated on the
portal, as shown in Figure 7-34.

FIGURE 7-34 Providing the service-generated access key to the local agent service

5. Click OK.

6. Click the Ping Sync Service button. You should receive a message dialog stating that the agent
successfully pinged SQL Data Sync, which you can close by clicking OK.

7. Click Register to display the SQL Server Coniguration dialog.

a. For Authentication, choose Windows Authentication. Or, if your local SQL Server instance
does not support Windows Authentication, choose SQL Server Authentication and supply
valid credentials for Login and Password.

b. For Server Name, type .\sqlexpress (or the name of your local SQL Server instance).

CHAPTER 7 Microsoft Azure SQL Data Sync 209

 c. For Database, type WineLocalDb. The SQL Server Coniguration dialog should appear
similar to Figure 7-35.

FIGURE 7-35 The SQL Server Coniguration dialog, which is used to register a local SQL Server database
with Microsoft Azure SQL Data Sync

d. Click Save. The database is registered with the local agent service, as shown in
Figure 7-36.

FIGURE 7-36 Registering an on-premises SQL Server database with the local SQL Data Sync agent service

8. Return to the browser tab that’s still open to the Microsoft Azure portal on the Manage
Access Key page.

9. Click the checkmark icon in the lower-right side of the dialog to close the Manage Access Key
page.

210 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 10. On the WineSyncAgent page, the portal now displays the WineLocalDb databases registered
with the agent, as shown in Figure 7-37.

FIGURE 7-37 Viewing on-premises SQL Server databases registered with the agent

Now that the on-premises WineLocalDb database is registered with the agent, it’s easy to add it to
the sync group. To do so, follow these steps:

1. Click the back icon (the large back-pointing arrow) to return to the SYNC page. As shown in
Figure 7-38, the sync agent status has now transitioned from Ofline to Online. (It might be
necessary to refresh the page by pressing F5 to see the transitioned status.)

FIGURE 7-38 The WineSyncAgent now appears online in the Microsoft Azure portal

CHAPTER 7 Microsoft Azure SQL Data Sync 211

 2. Click WineCloudSyncGroup. This displays the reference databases of the sync group, which
still currently includes just the two WineCloudDb databases in the cloud.

3. Click the ADD button at the bottom of the page to display the Add A Reference Database
dialog.

4. On the Add A Reference Database page, do the following:

a. For REFERENCE DATABASE, choose the WineLocalDb database that appears beneath SQL
Server Databases - WineSyncAgent, as shown in Figure 7-39.

FIGURE 7-39 Selecting the on-premises database registered with the agent for inclusion in the sync
group.

b. If the local database was registered using Windows Authentication, no credentials are
required and the USER NAME and PASSWORD text boxes will be disabled. Otherwise,
enter the user name and password you supplied when you registered the local database
in the previous procedure’s step 7.

c. Leave the SYNC DIRECTION at its default setting, Bi-Directional. The page should look
similar to Figure 7-40.

212 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 FIGURE 7-40 Adding the on-premises database to the sync group

d. Click the checkmark “inish” button to complete the settings.

5. Click the SAVE button at the bottom of the page. After a few moments of processing, the
database is added to the sync group, and all three databases (the two WineCloudDb databases
and the one on-premises WineLocalDb database) are designated with a status of Good, as
shown in Figure 7-41.

FIGURE 7-41 The sync group conigured with two Microsoft Azure SQL Databases and one on-premises
SQL Server database

CHAPTER 7 Microsoft Azure SQL Data Sync 213

 6. Now either wait approximately 10 minutes (the automatic sync interval you conigured for the
sync group) or click the SYNC button at the bottom of the page if you’d rather not wait. This
updates the entire sync group, which includes the local SQL Server database you just added to
the sync group.

7. Switch back to Visual Studio, which should still be open from when you created the empty
WineLocalDb database in a previous step.

8. In the SQL Server Object Explorer, expand the WineLocalDb database node, and then
expand the Tables node nested beneath the database node.

9. Right-click the dbo.Customer table, and choose View Data. As shown in Figure 7-42, the table
now contains all the customer data pulled in from the WineCloudDb hub database.

FIGURE 7-42 The on-premises SQL Server database now containing the customer data synchronized from
the WineCloudDb hub database

Congratulations! You just created a fully functional sync group that synchronizes data
bi-directionally between multiple SQL Databases on Microsoft Azure and an on-premises SQL
Server database running locally. The client databases (the second WineCloudDb database and the
on-premises WineLocalDb database) are both conigured for bi-directional synchronization, so
any changes made in any of the databases in the sync group (including the hub) will be replicated
automatically across all the other databases.

Furthermore, because the sync group’s conlict resolution is set to Hub Wins, changes made to
rows in the hub database will overwrite changes made to the same rows in any of the client databases
if those changes are made within the same sync interval. And, as explained in the section “Establish-
ing Conlict Resolution,” if conlicting changes are made across only client databases but not the hub

214 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 database, the irst client change that gets written to the hub is the one that will be used to update
the rest of the sync group; conlicting data changes made in any of the other clients will be discarded.
Take some time now to experiment with the sync group by making changes to the hub and client
databases (including conlicting changes), and then view the effects of synchronization (either by
waiting approximately 10 minutes or forcing a manual sync between changes).

Pitfalls and best practices

We conclude this chapter by discussing a few points to keep in mind when working with SQL Data
Sync. There are several things you can do to ensure you gain the best possible performance, starting
with choosing the location of your cloud databases. The geographic location where your SQL Data-
bases are hosted can impact both the eficiency and cost of the otherwise free SQL Data Sync service.
To minimize latency, locate your SQL Database servers in data centers as physically close as possible
to your on-premises SQL Server database locations.

Next, limit your synchronization to include just the items you need to sync. As you saw, SQL Data
Sync doesn’t require the entire database to participate in a sync group, so you should always select
the fewest tables and columns possible when you conigure your dataset. This practice improves
performance by reducing the overall payload of a synchronization pass.

Another consideration to bear in mind is the frequency with which a synchronization pass occurs.
If a pass attempts to synchronize a sync group that has not yet completed a prior synchronization,
the attempt will fail. When planning a schedule, take care that you set the interval suficiently large
enough to ensure that synchronization completes before the next synchronization pass starts. Also,
remember that the intervals are approximate, and that the inest automation schedule you can
implement is once every ive minutes.

The sync schedule can affect your SQL Database costs as well. Although at the time of this writing
Microsoft offers SQL Data Sync as a free service, SQL Database fees are charged according to the
amount of data moved out of a data center. To minimize costs, you should consider dividing data into
separate sync groups according to the frequency with which the data changes. Volatile data should
be synchronized at a higher frequency than static or lookup data. Partitioning sync groups in this way
allows you to conigure an optimal schedule that helps reduce costs by sending data less frequently.

One pitfall to avoid when setting up multiple sync groups is a condition known as a sync loop. A
sync loop occurs when a change in a record in one sync group is rewritten to the same record by a
second sync group, similar to a circular reference. This highly undesirable condition can potentially
enter an ininite loop and consume enough resources to signiicantly degrade performance. Further-
more, you will pay fees for moving data into and out of SQL Database unnecessarily. You can avoid
sync loops in a few ways:

■ Design your sync groups such that a loop cannot occur; that is, don’t let the same table be
synchronized by two different sync groups.

■ Specify a sync direction such that a loop condition cannot exist.

CHAPTER 7 Microsoft Azure SQL Data Sync 215

 Finally, be aware of the standard security measures taken by the SQL Data Sync service:

■ Data is encrypted whenever it is transmitted.

■ All SQL Database connection points use SQL authentication.

■ SQL Database and SQL Server connections are always encrypted.

■ Encrypted SQL Server connections are further secured using an agent key.

Summary
This chapter taught you all about SQL Data Sync, a Microsoft Azure service that provides automatic
data replication across any number of SQL Databases hosted on Microsoft Azure as well as local SQL
Server databases hosted on-premises.

We began by explaining the hub-and-spoke architecture upon which SQL Data Sync is based, and
then described the variety of scenarios in which the service can be conigured. This includes one-way
replication from data mastered in SQL Server on-premises to SQL Databases on Microsoft Azure, one-
way replication in the reverse direction to pull data populated in Microsoft Azure SQL Database down
to an on-premises SQL Server database, and full bi-directional synchronization across SQL Databases
hosted in multiple Microsoft Azure data centers and local SQL Server databases hosted in multiple
on-premises locations.

With that foundation laid, you then created a sync group to synchronize between two Microsoft
Azure SQL Databases in the cloud, learned about the two different conlict-resolution strategies (Hub
Wins and Client Wins), and set up an automated schedule to keep the databases in sync on a regular
basis. Finally, you installed and conigured a sync agent and registered a local on-premises SQL Server
database with the sync group to achieve complete two-way synchronization between the local SQL
Server database and the SQL Databases in the cloud.

216 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

CHAPTER 8

Designing and tuning for

scalability and high performance
— Eric Boyd

W hen developing applications and systems intended for real use, performance is an important
consideration. Today’s users have short attention spans and need immediate results, which
means their applications must be responsive and deliver results quickly. Data lies at the core of many
systems, and often that data is stored in relational databases like SQL Database. Optimizing data
access can often provide signiicant improvements and beneits to application performance.

In this chapter, you will optimize and tune database performance for Microsoft Azure SQL
Database. This includes optimizing execution speed and performance, as well as reliability. To
demonstrate these concepts throughout this chapter, a reference application is needed. In the second
section, “Creating a RESTful Web API,” you will create an ASP.NET Web API that works with data from
SQL Database using both ADO.NET and Entity Framework (EF). Then you will improve the reliability
and performance of this Web API by managing database connections and connection errors, reduc-
ing latency and considering other optimizations like using the most appropriate storage service for
your data. Later in the chapter, you learn how to scale up SQL Database using SQL Database Premium.
The last sections of the chapter guide you through scaling your SQL Database out with a partitioning
strategy known as sharding.

Entity Framework is a Microsoft data access framework that simpliies mapping database objects to
.NET objects. EF uses ADO.NET internally for data access, but the additional object relational mapping
that EF performs adds performance overhead. When optimizing data access performance, one com-
mon technique is to reduce the number of abstractions between your application code and data-
bases. Using lower-level data access technologies like ADO.NET directly often improves data access
performance. In addition to performance optimization, many existing applications use ADO.NET for
data access. Therefore, both ADO.NET and EF are discussed in this chapter.

Note This chapter uses EF and Web API to demonstrate performance concepts.
Chapter 10, “Building cloud solutions,” delves into much more detail on both of these
important technologies.

217
Achieving high performance in the cloud
Virtually ininite amounts of hardware and computing resources is one of the major value
propositions for moving to the cloud. While the quantity of computing resources owned and
managed by a cloud vendor is ultimately inite, at peak loads, most organizations would demand
only a small fraction of the available resources. However, most applications, especially typical enter-
prise applications, are not designed in a way that can make use of this large pool of hardware. Most
applications are not designed to scale horizontally (often called scaling out)—that is, to chunk up
and distribute the load across many servers and storage nodes. Instead, most applications depend
on having control of the hardware and scaling vertically (often called scaling up)—that is, to increase
the capacity and performance of centralized computing resources by purchasing larger and more
powerful servers and storage devices.

Cloud vendors such as Microsoft provide some ability to scale up. At the time of this writing,
Microsoft Azure compute instances range in size from a shared 1-GHz CPU with 768 MB of RAM to
a 16-by-2.6 GHz CPU instance with 112 GB of RAM. The Microsoft Azure Platform as a Service (PaaS)
services, such as SQL Database, also have some ability to scale up. For example, a single SQL Data-
base can range in size from a 100-MB database to 150 GB, and with the Preview availability of SQL
Database Premium, the computing resources for a single SQL Database server can be scaled. (You will
learn more about SQL Database Premium in the section “Scaling up SQL Database.”)

Microsoft Azure provides some capability to scale computing resources up; unfortunately, there
will always be a physical limit and upper bound to the amount of computing capacity you can get
from a single resource, whether that’s a server, storage device, or service. To scale big, you must
scale out. And to scale out, your applications must be architected in a way that allows them to be
distributed across multiple instances of computing hardware.

In addition to scalability, because you don’t control the hardware coniguration that SQL Database
is running on, you can’t scale the server hardware up with the same control as you could in your
own data center, and because SQL Database is a multitenant service with multiple customers sharing
the same physical compute resources, the performance characteristics will quite likely be different
than that of your own private data center. As a result, you might have to tune database performance
differently than you would in your own data center.

Creating a RESTful web API

To get started, you’ll create the WineCloudDb database with a Wine table and a Customer table. You
will then create a new ASP.NET Web Application project. The ASP.NET Web Application will contain
ASP.NET Web APIs using ADO.NET for the Customer Web API and Entity Framework for the Wine Web
API. Throughout the chapter, you will build upon this project as you learn how to design and optimize
for performance, reliability, and scalability.

218 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

Creating the sample database
For the Web APIs in this chapter, you will use the script shown in Listing 8-1 to create WineCloudDb
and populate it with a few wines and customers. Then you will create ASP.NET Web APIs that return
wines and customers.

Note In other chapters, the WineCloudDb database included Wine, Customer, and Order
tables. This chapter does not make use of the Order table, which is why it is omitted here.

LISTING 8-1 Script to create the sample WineCloudDb database for the Web APIs

CREATE TABLE Wine (

WineId int PRIMARY KEY,
Name nvarchar (50),
Category nvarchar (15),
Year int,
Price money)

CREATE TABLE Customer (

CustomerId int PRIMARY KEY,
FirstName nvarchar(50),
LastName nvarchar(15),
FavoriteWineId int,
CONSTRAINT FK_Customer_Wine FOREIGN KEY (FavoriteWineId) REFERENCES Wine (WineId))

INSERT INTO Wine VALUES

(1, 'Chateau Penin', 'Bordeaux', 2008, 34.90),
(2, 'McLaren Valley', 'Cabernet', 2005, 48.50),
(3, 'Mendoza', 'Merlot', 2010, 42.00),
(4, 'Valle Central', 'Merlot', 2009, 52.00)

INSERT INTO Customer VALUES

(1, 'Jeff', 'Hay', 4),
(2, 'Mark', 'Hanson', 3),
(3, 'Jeff', 'Phillips', 2)

This script creates the WineCloudDb tables and loads some sample data into them. Once you
create this sample data, you will build Web APIs that return the wine and customer data.

To create the WineCloudDb database, follow these steps:

1. From the Windows Start screen, launch SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS). You can
either scroll through the app tiles to ind it (in the Microsoft SQL Server 2012 category) or just
type sql server management studio to run a search, and then click on the tile. After a brief
moment, the Connect To Server dialog appears.

CHAPTER 8 Designing and tuning for scalability and high performance 219
 2. In the Connect To Server dialog, do the following:

a. For Server Name, type <servername>.database.windows.net. This is the fully qualiied

name to the SQL Database server, where <servername> should be replaced by the name
assigned to your server.

b. For Authentication, select SQL Server Authentication from the drop-down list. (SQL
Database does not support Windows Authentication.)

c. For Login and Password, type the user name and password you assigned the server when
you created it.

d. Click the Connect button.

3. In the Object Explorer, expand the Databases node.

4. If the WineCloudDb database exists from a previous chapter, delete it now by doing the
following:

a. Right-click the WineCloudDb database, and choose Delete.

b. In the Delete Object dialog, click OK.

5. Create the database by completing the following steps:

a. In the Object Explorer, right-click the server name and choose New Query to open a new
query window connected to the master database.

b. In the query window, type CREATE DATABASE WineCloudDb.

c. Press F5 (or click the Execute button in the toolbar) to create the database.

d. Close the query window without saving the script.

6. In the Object Explorer, right-click the Databases node and choose Refresh. The WineCloudDb
database you just created should now appear.

7. Right-click the WineCloudDb database, and choose New Query to open a new query window
connected to the WineCloudDb database.

8. Type the code shown in Listing 8-1 into the query window (or paste it in from the listing ile
downloaded from the book’s companion website).

9. Press F5 (or click the Execute button in the toolbar) to create the database schema and
populate some data.

You now have a new WineCloudDb database that will serve as the data source for your Web APIs.

220 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 Note You needed to create the database and populate it in two separate query windows
because SQL Database does not support the USE statement found in SQL Server for
switching the connection from the master database to the WineCloudDb database. See
Chapter 3, “Differences between SQL Server and Microsoft Azure SQL Database,” for more
information on differences between SQL Database and SQL Server.

Creating a new solution

Visual Studio projects are contained inside a Microsoft Visual Studio solution, so you’ll start by
creating an empty solution. Then you’ll add an ASP.NET Web Application project. The ASP.NET Web
Application project will contain your ASP.NET Web APIs. This solution will contain only one project,
but Visual Studio requires the project to be in a solution, and it will implicitly create one if it doesn’t
already exist. So you’ll be proactive and create one from the beginning.

To create the new solution, follow these steps:

1. Start Visual Studio 2013.

2. Click the FILE menu, and then choose New | Project to display the New Project dialog.

3. On the left of the New Project dialog, expand Templates, Other Project Types, and choose
Visual Studio Solutions.

4. Select the Blank Solution template, name the solution WineSolution, and choose any desired
location for the solution, as shown in Figure 8-1.

FIGURE 8-1 The New Project dialog for creating the Blank Solution

5. Click OK to create the solution.

CHAPTER 8 Designing and tuning for scalability and high performance 221
 The Solution Explorer now shows the new WineSolution. (If the Solution Explorer is not visible, click
the VIEW menu and choose Solution Explorer.) Now that you have an empty solution, you’re ready to
create a new ASP.NET Web API project.

Creating an ASP.NET Web API project

When creating new ASP.NET projects using Visual Studio, it is recommended that you use the ASP.NET
Web Application project type. This type of project can contain Model-View-Controller (MVC), Web
Forms, and Web API project items. In the following procedures, you will create ASP.NET Web APIs in
an ASP.NET Web Application project.

To create a new ASP.NET Web API project, follow these steps:

1. Right-click WineSolution in Solution Explorer, and choose Add | New Project to display the Add
New Project dialog.

2. On the left of the New Project dialog, expand Installed, expand Visual C#, and choose Web.

3. Choose the ASP.NET Web Application template, which is typically selected by default.

4. Name the project WineCloudWebApi and click OK, as shown in Figure 8-2, to display the
New ASP.NET Project dialog.

FIGURE 8-2 Creating a new ASP.NET Web Application project

5. Choose the Web API template and click OK, as shown in Figure 8-3.

222 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 FIGURE 8-3 Creating a new ASP.NET Web API project

You have now created an empty ASP.NET Web Application project with references to the ASP.NET
Web API assemblies. The project also references the ASP.NET MVC assemblies, which makes it possible
to run both Web API and MVC applications in the same ASP.NET Web Application project.

Adding an Entity Framework Code First Web API controller

Now that you have created an ASP.NET Web Application project for your WineCloudDb Web APIs, you
are ready to add Web API controllers. Web API controllers are similar to MVC controllers in that they
respond to HTTP requests with HTTP responses. The irst Web API Controller you’ll add will use Entity
Framework Code First for data access to the WineCloudDb database.

In earlier versions of Entity Framework, the entity model and database mappings could be
conigured only in an EDMX ile, typically using the graphical Entity Data Model (EDM) designer in
Visual Studio. With the Code First feature added in EF 4, you can choose instead to create your own
Plain Old CLR Object (POCO) classes and conigure the database conventions and mapping in code.
This approach provides a number of advantages over using EDMX iles. One of the most signiicant
advantages is loose coupling of models from the persistence framework. This makes it easier to test
your entity models in isolation from your database, add additional properties and methods, and use
them across multiple application layers.

Creating a POCO class for use with Entity Framework is quite simple, and there are just a few rules
you must follow. First, the class needs to be public. Second, the properties need to be public. And last,
the data types of the model need to match the columns in your table. Entity Framework Code First is
convention based, which means a number of patterns are built into Entity Framework. If these pat-
terns are followed in your entity model and database design, Entity Framework can automatically map
your entity model to the database without any manual coniguration. The entity model for the Wine
table, as shown in Listing 8-2, contains properties that match the columns in the Wine table, but there

CHAPTER 8 Designing and tuning for scalability and high performance 223
 are no dependencies on Entity Framework. Entity Framework knows the WineId property maps to the
primary key of the Wine table, because the naming follows the convention of class name followed by
“Id” and the data type of the property is numeric or a GUID. Listing 8-3 contains the context class you
will customize to override EF’s default pluralization naming strategy.

More Info You can learn more about the Entity Framework conventions at
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/data/jj679962.aspx.

By default, EF will create a database and tables using the Entity Framework conventions and the
POCO entity model classes. However, this database initialization strategy can be easily disabled so
that you get to enjoy a combination of both database-irst and code-irst experiences with EF.
That is, you don’t need to let EF “reverse-engineer” a database from your code if you want to
use code irst; you can still create the database on your own and use code irst at the same time.
It’s easy to tell Entity Framework not to create the database and tables by calling
Database.SetInitializer<WineDbContext>(null) at the end of the Application_Start method in
the Global.asax.cs.

One of the default Entity Framework Code First conventions is to pluralize table names. This means
that, by default, Entity Framework expects that Wine entities are stored in a table named Wines
(plural). However, the WineCloudDb database has a Wine table (singular), not a Wines table. Again, it’s
easy to override this default behavior by overriding the EF context’s OnModelCreating method and
calling modelBuilder.Conventions.Remove<PluralizingTableNameConvention>(). Removing this default
convention will match the entity class name to a table name, which will map the Wine entity POCO
class to the same-named Wine table in the database.

LISTING 8-2 The Wine.cs model class

using System;

namespace WineCloudWebApi.Models
{
public class Wine
{
public int WineId { get; set; }
public string Name { get; set; }
public string Category { get; set; }
public int? Year { get; set; }
public Decimal? Price { get; set; }
}
}

224 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

LISTING 8-3 The WineDbContext.cs Entity Framework context class

using System.Data.Entity;
using System.Data.Entity.ModelConfiguration.Conventions;

namespace WineCloudWebApi.Models
{
public class WineDbContext : DbContext
{
public WineDbContext() : base(“name=WineDbContext”) {}

public DbSet<Wine> Wines { get; set; }

protected override void OnModelCreating(DbModelBuilder modelBuilder)

{
base.OnModelCreating(modelBuilder);
modelBuilder.Conventions.Remove<PluralizingTableNameConvention>();
}
}
}

To create a Web API using Entity Framework for the Wine table, follow these steps:

1. Right-click the Models folder beneath the WineCloudWebApi project in the Solution Explorer,
and choose Add | Class to display the Add New Item dialog.

2. Name the class Wine.cs and click Add, as shown in Figure 8-4.

FIGURE 8-4 Adding a Wine.cs model class

3. Replace the template code generated automatically by Visual Studio with the code shown in
Listing 8-2.

CHAPTER 8 Designing and tuning for scalability and high performance 225
 4. Build the WineSolution by selecting Build | Build Solution in the menu at the top or pressing
Ctrl+Shift+B.

Note The next step in this procedure is to add a new Web API controller using
the Wine model class you just created. Visual Studio inds the model classes using
the built assemblies within the solution. This requires you to build the solution
now so that Visual Studio can ind the model class in the next step.

5. Right-click the Controllers folder in the WineCloudWebApi project in the Solution Explorer,
and choose Add | Controller to display the Add Scaffold dialog.

6. Choose the Web API 2 Controller With Actions, Using Entity Framework controller, and click
Add, as shown in Figure 8-5. This scaffold automatically creates Web API methods in the new
controller class that retrieve (GET) and update (PUT, POST, DELETE) entities.

FIGURE 8-5 Adding the Entity Framework Web API 2 controller

7. In the Add Controller dialog, supply the information for the new Wine controller by doing the
following:

a. For the Controller name, type WineController.

b. Leave the Use Async Controller Actions check box unselected.

c. For the Model class, select Wine (WineCloudWebApi.Models) from the drop-down list.

d. For the Data context class, click the New Data Context button and type
WineCloudWebApi.Models.WineDbContext in the New Data Context Type text box
and click Add, as shown in Figure 8-6.

226 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 FIGURE 8-6 Creating the Entity Framework data context

e. The Add Controller dialog should now appear as shown in Figure 8-7. Click Add to create
the controller.

FIGURE 8-7 Adding and coniguring the WineController class with Entity Framework

8. Double-click the Web.conig ile beneath the WineCloudWebApi project in the Solution
Explorer, and locate the WineDbContext connection string setting in the connectionStrings
section.

9. Change the WineDbContext connection string to Server=tcp:<servername>.database.

windows.net,1433; Database=WineCloudDb; User ID=<username>@<servername>;
Password=<password>; Trusted_Connection=False; Encrypt=True; Connection
Timeout=30;.

a. Replace <servername> with the name of the SQL Database server that contains the
WineCloudDb database.

b. Replace <username> and <password> with the user name and password you assigned
the server when you created it.

10. Double-click the WineDbContext.cs ile beneath the Models folder in the Solution Explorer
and replace the template code with the code in Listing 8-3. The code adds an override of the
OnModelCreating method that removes the default pluralizing table convention. This tells
EF to look for a table named Wine (singular) and not Wines (plural) for storing rows of Wine
entities in the database.

CHAPTER 8 Designing and tuning for scalability and high performance 227
 11. Double-click the Global.asax.cs ile beneath the WineCloudWebApi project in the Solution
Explorer.

12. Make the following changes to remove the default database initialization strategy, and tell EF
not to attempt to create the database (because the database already exists):

a. Add the following two using statements at the top of the ile:
using System.Data.Entity;
using WineCloudWebApi.Models;

b. Add the following line of code at the end of the Application_Start method:
Database.SetInitializer<WineDbContext>(null);

13. Build the WineSolution by selecting Build | Build Solution in the menu at the top or pressing
Ctrl+Shift+B.

You have now created a RESTful Web API for the Wine table using ASP.NET Web API and Entity
Framework, and you’re ready to test it.

Note You can learn more about Entity Framework and ASP.NET Web API in Chapter 10. In
Chapter 10, you will learn how to build a multitier web and mobile application in Microsoft
Azure using SQL Database.

Testing the Wine Web API

Now that you have created the Wine Web API, you should test it to verify that it returns the correct
data from the Wine table in the WineCloudDb.

To test the Wine Web API, follow these steps:

1. Select the WineSolution in the Solution Explorer, and press F5 or click Debug | Start
Debugging. This opens Internet Explorer (or your default debugging web browser) at the
default page of the WineCloudWebApi project, as shown in Figure 8-8.

228 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 FIGURE 8-8 The default page from the WineCloudWebApi project

2. Append the URL in the browser’s address bar with api/Wine, and press Enter. This executes
the GetWines method on the WineController and responds with the list of wines from the
WineCloudDb database. Internet Explorer’s default behavior asks if you would like to save or
open the results from the Web API call, as shown in Figure 8-9.

FIGURE 8-9 The Wine.json ile returned by the Wine API

CHAPTER 8 Designing and tuning for scalability and high performance 229
 Note ASP.NET Web API implements a feature called content negotiation. The
HTTP speciication (RFC 2616) deines content negotiation as “the process of
selecting the best representation for a given response when there are multiple
representations available.” The most common way to handle content negotia-
tion is with HTTP Accept request headers. Browsers have different default Accept
headers. If you make a GET request to the Wine API in multiple browsers, you are
likely to get a different response. In Internet Explorer, you will often get a JSON-
formatted response; in Chrome, you will often get an XML-formatted response.

3. Click Open to view the list of wines returned in the JSON results. (If prompted for how to open
this type of ile, click More Options and choose Notepad.)

4. Append the URL in the browser’s address bar with /2, and press Enter. This executes the
GetWine method on the WineController and responds with the Wine record for WineId 2.

5. Click Open to view the results.

You have now created a Wine Web API using ASP.NET Web API and Entity Framework Code First.
You have also tested it in the browser and veriied that it returns results from the WineCloudDb data-
base. Next you will add a Web API Controller for the Customer table using raw ADO.NET rather than
Entity Framework. It is common to have enterprise applications that use ADO.NET because they were
developed prior to the introduction of Entity Framework. Raw ADO.NET is also commonly used when
trying to boost data-access performance. As a result, in the following section you will use ADO.NET to
build a Web API controller for the Customer table.

Adding an ADO.NET Web API controller

Thus far, you created a Visual Studio solution and added an ASP.NET Web Application project to that
solution. You then created an ASP.NET Web API controller for the Wine table using Entity Framework
Code First. Now, you’ll create an ASP.NET Web API controller for the Customer table using raw
ADO.NET. Listing 8-4 shows the POCO model class for the Customer entity, and Listing 8-5 shows its
corresponding Web API controller class.

LISTING 8-4 The Customer.cs model class

namespace WineCloudWebApi.Models
{
public class Customer
{
public int CustomerId { get; set; }
public string FirstName { get; set; }
public string LastName { get; set; }
public int? FavoriteWineId { get; set; }
}
}

230 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

LISTING 8-5 The CustomerController.cs Web API controller class

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Configuration;
using System.Data.SqlClient;
using System.Web.Http;
using System.Web.Http.Description;
using WineCloudWebApi.Models;

namespace WineCloudWebApi.Controllers
{
public class CustomerController : ApiController
{
// GET api/Customer
public IList<Customer> GetCustomers()
{
IList<Customer> customers = new List<Customer>();
var connectionString =
ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings[“WineDbContext”].ConnectionString;

using (var connection = new SqlConnection(connectionString))

{
var commandText = “SELECT * FROM Customer”;
using (var command = new SqlCommand(commandText, connection))
{
connection.Open();
using (var reader = command.ExecuteReader())
{
while (reader.Read())
{
var customer = new Customer
{
CustomerId = Convert.ToInt32(reader[“CustomerId”]),
FirstName = reader[“FirstName”].ToString(),
LastName = reader[“LastName”].ToString(),
FavoriteWineId = reader[“FavoriteWineId”] as int?
};
customers.Add(customer);
}
}
}
}
return customers;
}

// GET api/Customer/5
[ResponseType(typeof(Customer))]
public IHttpActionResult GetCustomer(int id)
{
Customer customer = null;
var connectionString =
ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings[“WineDbContext”].ConnectionString;

CHAPTER 8 Designing and tuning for scalability and high performance 231
 using (var connection = new SqlConnection(connectionString))
{
var commandText = “SELECT * FROM Customer WHERE CustomerId = @CustomerId”;
using (var command = new SqlCommand(commandText, connection))
{
command.Parameters.AddWithValue(“@CustomerId”, id);
connection.Open();
using (var reader = command.ExecuteReader())
{
if (reader.Read())
{
customer = new Customer
{
CustomerId = Convert.ToInt32(reader[“CustomerId”]),
FirstName = reader[“FirstName”].ToString(),
LastName = reader[“LastName”].ToString(),
FavoriteWineId = reader[“FavoriteWineId”] as int?
};
}
}
}
}

if (customer == null)
{
return NotFound();
}
return Ok(customer);
}
}
}

To create a Customer Web API using ADO.NET, follow these steps:

1. Right-click the Models folder in the WineCloudWebApi project in the Solution Explorer, and
choose Add | Class to display the Add New Item dialog.

2. Name the class Customer.cs, and click Add.

3. Replace the template code generated automatically by Visual Studio with the code shown in
Listing 8-4 earlier, and build the WineSolution by selecting Build | Build Solution in the menu
at the top or pressing Ctrl+Shift+B.

4. Right-click the Controllers folder in the WineCloudWebApi project in the Solution Explorer,
and choose Add | Controller to display the Add Scaffold dialog.

5. Choose the Web API 2 Controller - Empty controller, and click Add. This displays the Add
Controller dialog.

232 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 6. Type CustomerController for Controller name, and click Add.

7. Replace the template code with the code shown in Listing 8-5 earlier, and build the
WineSolution by selecting Build | Build Solution in the menu at the top or pressing
Ctrl+Shift+B.

You have now added a new ASP.NET Web API controller for the Customer table using ADO.NET
instead of Entity Framework. The Customer Web API provides methods to get customer data, but it
doesn’t provide methods for adding or updating customers. Similar to the Wine entity model, the
Customer entity model, as shown in Listing 8-4, doesn’t have any data-access dependencies and is
a simple POCO class. The Customer controller, as shown in Listing 8-5, queries the Customer table
using the ADO.NET SqlConnection, SqlCommand, and SqlDataReader classes. It creates and populates
instances of the Customer entity model class and returns the Customer objects. ASP.NET Web API
then serializes the Customer objects into the appropriate response formats and sends them back to
the requestor.

Testing the Customer Web API

Now that you have created a Customer Web API, you should test it to verify that it returns the correct
data from the Customer table in the WineCloudDb database:

1. Select the WineSolution in the Solution Explorer, and press F5 or click Debug | Start
Debugging. This opens Internet Explorer or your default debugging web browser at the
default page of the WineCloudWebApi project.

2. Append the URL in the browser’s address bar with api/Customer, and press Enter. This
executes the GetCustomers method on the WineController and responds with the list of
Customers from the WineCloudDb database. Internet Explorer’s default behavior asks if you
would like to save or open the results from the Web API call.

3. Click Open to view the results.

4. Append the URL in the browser’s address bar with /3, and press Enter. This executes the
GetCustomer method on the CustomerController and responds with the Customer record for
CustomerId 3.

5. Click Open to view the results.

You have now set up an ASP.NET Web API project to get data from the Wine and Customer tables
in the WineCloudDb database. Your project has Web APIs that use both Entity Framework Code First
and raw ADO.NET. With this project now in place, we will build upon it in the following sections of this
chapter to demonstrate performance tuning and scalability with SQL Database.

CHAPTER 8 Designing and tuning for scalability and high performance 233
Managing SQL Database connections
Database connections in Microsoft Azure SQL Database can have different characteristics and
behaviors than you’ve likely experienced with SQL Server on-premises. To provide reliability and great
user experiences, these behaviors must be accounted for in your applications that use SQL Database.
In addition to these different connection behaviors, you should also implement general best practices
for interacting with databases, regardless of whether they are on-premises or in the cloud.

Opening late, closing early

There are limits on most compute resources, both in the cloud and on-premises. In SQL Database,
one aspect that is limited is the number of database connections you can have open at any given
time. To be a well-behaved consumer of SQL Database resources and connections, you should open
database connections only when you need to interact with a SQL Database and as late as possible.
When you are inished interacting with the database, you should close and release the connection.
Entity Framework abstracts away the database connections, and you expect Entity Framework to be
a good consumer of database resources. But when you are explicitly opening database connections
using raw ADO.NET, you should open the database connections as close to the database interactions
as possible. In Listing 8-5, you can see the call to connection.Open() occurs immediately before the
SqlCommand is executed. Because the connection is wrapped in a using statement, as soon as the
body of the using statement is exited, the connection will be disposed of, which closes the connection
and releases its resources.

Pooling connections
There is overhead and a performance penalty when establishing new database connections. To help
minimize this performance penalty, ADO.NET can pool connections. Connection pooling works by
keeping a client’s connections open in a pool of managed connections. When the client needs to
open a connection, ADO.NET checks for an existing connection in the pool with a connection string
that matches. If a connection already exists, it returns that connection to the client to interact with the
database. If a connection doesn’t exist, a new connection is established. When the client is inished
with the connection and closes the connection, instead of destroying the connection, it is returned
to the pool. Only connections with the exact same coniguration and connection strings can be
pooled, and the connection pool is scoped to an AppDomain. By default, ADO.NET uses connection
pooling, and it is a generally recommended best practice to dramatically reduce the cost of opening
connections.

Recovering from connection faults

SQL Database connections can be unexpectedly terminated for many reasons. The network
architecture of SQL Database includes irewalls, load balancers, gateways, and database nodes. There
are many components between the client and the database. Errors in these components can cause
connections to terminate unexpectedly. SQL Database might also terminate connections when failing

234 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

over to another node in the three-node clusters. In addition to errors and failover, SQL Database
analyzes the activity of connections and the resource-consumption metrics of the database node. If
SQL Database determines that it needs to throttle a connection to keep the overall service healthy,
and to avoid negatively affecting other tenants of SQL Database, it may throttle and terminate the
connection. These types of connection terminations are referred to as transient faults. Transient faults
are temporary issues or errors that are expected to recover quickly. If your application is aware of
these transient faults, it can try to reconnect over a short period of time and the connection loss
might not even be noticeable to the user. If not, the application will throw an exception and the user
will likely be presented with an error.

Not all terminated connections are caused by transient errors. However, errors raised by SQL
Database return an error number you can use to determine what type of error occurred. Your
application can compare the error number to the known transient error numbers. If there’s a match,
your application can try to reconnect and retry the transaction; if there’s not a match, the error is not
temporary and will need to be handled differently. If that sounds like a lot of work, don’t worry—the
Microsoft Azure Customer Advisory Team, in conjunction with Microsoft Patterns & Practices, has
simpliied this by creating the Transient Fault Handling Application Block. This library is part of the
Enterprise Library family of application blocks, and it can be integrated into your application to sim-
plify the recovery during transient faults. It can be used with SQL Database and other Microsoft Azure
services that might have transient errors, including Service Bus and Storage.

In the following sections, you will integrate the Transient Fault Handling Application Block into the
WineCloudWebApi project. Speciically, you’ll modify the Wine and Customer Web APIs to recover
gracefully from transient fault conditions.

Adding the Transient Fault Handling Application Block

To get started with the Transient Fault Handling Application Block, you must add a reference to it and
integrate it into your project. In the following steps, you will add a reference to the Transient Fault
Handling Application Block using NuGet. If you’ve not used NuGet before, there are a few basic facts
we should tell you. It is a package manager that simpliies adding references to your projects with all
of their associated dependencies. NuGet also makes it easy to update your dependencies and librar-
ies when new versions are released. Documentation about NuGet and a repository of the publicly
available NuGet packages are available at www.nuget.org.

Follow these steps to add a reference to the Transient Fault Handling Application Block:

1. Right-click the WineCloudWebApi project in the Solution Explorer, and choose Manage NuGet
Packages to display the Manage NuGet Packages dialog.

2. Choose Online on the left, type transient fault sql database in the search box in the upper
right corner, and press Enter.

3. Select Enterprise Library - Transient Fault Handling Application Block - Microsoft Azure SQL
Database Integration from the search results, and click Install as shown in Figure 8-10.

CHAPTER 8 Designing and tuning for scalability and high performance 235
 FIGURE 8-10 Installing the Transient Fault Handling Application Block using the Manage NuGet
Packages dialog

4. In the License Acceptance dialog, click I Accept as shown in Figure 8-11. This downloads and
adds a reference to Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.TransientFaultHandling.Data.dll and its
dependencies.

FIGURE 8-11 Accepting the license for the Transient Fault Handling Application Block

5. When installation completes, click Close.

You have now added a reference to the Transient Fault Handling Application Block using NuGet
and are now ready to get started integrating it into the WineCloudWebApi project. In the next two
sections, you will modify the Wine and Customer Web APIs to recover from transient errors.

236 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

Using the Transient Fault Handling Application Block with
ADO.NET
The Transient Fault Handling Application Block provides components and classes you can use to
conigure how transient faults are detected and handled in your application. Table 8-1 shows the
major components of the Transient Fault Handling Application Block.

TABLE 8-1 Major components of the Transient Fault Handling Application Block

Component Description

Detection strategy Determines when an exception is a transient fault condition

Retry strategy Deines how often and how many times to retry when a fault is identiied as a
transient fault

Retry policy Combines a detection strategy and a retry strategy, and is used to call services that
might encounter transient faults

Detection strategies are used by the Transient Fault Handling Application Block to determine if
an error is transient and whether the failed service call should be retried. Detection strategies are
classes that implement the ITransientErrorDetectionStrategy interface, and the Transient Fault Han-
dling Application Block has implementations for SQL Database, Service Bus, Storage, and Caching.
The procedures in this chapter use the SqlDatabaseTransientErrorDetectionStrategy class to detect SQL
Database transient error conditions, but you can implement your own detection strategy using the
ITransientErrorDetectionStrategy interface.

Retry strategies are used to deine the frequency and number of times the Transient Fault Handling
Application Block will retry and attempt to automatically recover from a transient error. Retry strate-
gies are classes that derive from the RetryStrategy class. Table 8-2 shows the retry strategies that are
implemented in the Transient Fault Handling Application Block.

TABLE 8-2 Retry strategies in the Transient Fault Handling Application Block

Class Description

ExponentialBackoff Retries a speciied number of times, exponentially delaying retries based on speciied
back-off parameters

FixedInterval Retries a speciied number of times with a ixed interval between each retry

Incremental Retries a speciied number of times with an incrementing interval between each retry

Using a detection strategy and a retry strategy, you create a retry policy using the RetryPolicy
class. The retry policy will inspect errors that occur using the detection strategy and execute the retry
strategy if an error is identiied as a transient error. The Transient Fault Handling Application Block
provides multiple ways for you to integrate it into your applications. You can use new classes that
encapsulate existing classes to make them transient-fault and retry aware. ReliableSqlConnection is
a class that encapsulates SqlConnection. You can use it in place of SqlConnection to automatically
handle retrying when transient faults occur. There are also extension methods for existing classes,
including the SqlConnection and SqlCommand classes. These extension methods can be used to utilize
retry policies, as shown in the following procedures.

CHAPTER 8 Designing and tuning for scalability and high performance 237
 To handle transient faults in the GetCustomers method, follow these steps:

1. Expand the Controllers folder beneath the WineCloudWebApi project in Solution Explorer.

2. Double-click CustomerController.cs, and add the following using statement to the list of using
statements at the top:
using Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.TransientFaultHandling;

3. Locate the GetCustomers method, and type the following two lines of code just below the
assignment of the connectionString variable:
var retryStrategy =
new Incremental(5, TimeSpan.FromSeconds(1), TimeSpan.FromSeconds(2));
var retryPolicy =
new RetryPolicy<SqlDatabaseTransientErrorDetectionStrategy>(retryStrategy);

4. Replace connection.Open(); with connection.OpenWithRetry(retryPolicy);

5. Replace command.ExecuteReader() with command.ExecuteReaderWithRetry(retryPolicy)

To handle transient faults in the GetCustomer method, follow these steps:

1. Locate the GetCustomer method, and type the following two lines of code just below the
assignment of the connectionString variable:
var retryStrategy =
new Incremental(5, TimeSpan.FromSeconds(1), TimeSpan.FromSeconds(2));
var retryPolicy =
new RetryPolicy<SqlDatabaseTransientErrorDetectionStrategy>(retryStrategy);

2. Replace connection.Open(); with connection.OpenWithRetry(retryPolicy);

3. Replace command.ExecuteReader() with command.ExecuteReaderWithRetry(retryPolicy)

You are now handling transient fault conditions that might occur when using SQL Database using
the Incremental retry strategy in the Customer Web API. The Incremental retry strategy works with
three parameters.

The irst parameter deines the number of times to retry. In the preceding procedure, you
conigured the Incremental retry strategy to retry ive times. The second and third parameters
together deine the amount of time between each retry attempt. The second parameter deines the
time to wait before the irst retry, and the third parameter deines the amount of time to add to each
subsequent retry attempt. In the preceding procedure, you set the second parameter to one second
and the third parameter to two seconds. This will retry after one second, three seconds, ive seconds,
seven seconds, and nine seconds.

By deining a retry policy using the Transient Fault Handling Application Block, and by using
extension methods on the SqlConnection and SqlCommand classes provided by the Transient Fault
Handling Application Block, the Customer Web API is now resilient to transient error conditions, and

238 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

minimal code changes were needed. In the next section, you will handle transient error conditions
with Entity Framework.

Using the Transient Fault Handling Application Block with Entity

Framework
In the previous section, you implemented retry logic when transient error conditions occurred
using the Transient Fault Handling Application Block. You did that using extension methods on the
SqlConnection and SqlCommand classes provided by the Transient Fault Handling Application Block.
For the Customer Web API, that solution works really well because the data-access code is raw
ADO.NET that uses these classes. The Wine Web API uses Entity Framework for data access, and
the ADO.NET SqlConnection and SqlCommand classes are not exposed. Therefore, handling transient
error conditions using Entity Framework requires a slightly different solution.

In the following procedure, you will use the same RetryPolicy class you used earlier with the
extension methods on the SqlConnection and SqlCommand classes. The RetryPolicy class has an
ExecuteAction method that is designed to execute code that encapsulates ADO.NET. This is use-
ful when working with object relational mapping (ORM) and data-access platforms such as Entity
Framework. Listing 8-6 shows a modiied WineController class with Entity Framework calls that result
in queries to SQL Database surrounded by the ExecuteAction method. The manual changes you
need to apply to the code generated automatically by the scaffolding is indicated in bold type. Any
exceptions that bubble up to the RetryPolicy will be inspected for transient error conditions and
retried appropriately.

LISTING 8-6 The WineController.cs class using the Transient Fault Handling Application Block to handle transient
error conditions

using Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.TransientFaultHandling;
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Data;
using System.Data.Entity;
using System.Data.Entity.Infrastructure;
using System.Linq;
using System.Net;
using System.Net.Http;
using System.Web.Http;
using System.Web.Http.Description;
using WineCloudWebApi.Models;

namespace WineCloudWebApi.Controllers
{
public class WineController : ApiController
{
private WineDbContext db = new WineDbContext();
private RetryPolicy<SqlDatabaseTransientErrorDetectionStrategy> _retryPolicy;

CHAPTER 8 Designing and tuning for scalability and high performance 239
 public WineController()
{
var retryStrategy =
new Incremental(5, TimeSpan.FromSeconds(1), TimeSpan.FromSeconds(2));
_retryPolicy =
new RetryPolicy<SqlDatabaseTransientErrorDetectionStrategy>(retryStrategy);
}

// GET api/Wine
public IQueryable<Wine> GetWines()
{
IQueryable<Wine> wines = null;
_retryPolicy.ExecuteAction(() =>
{
wines = db.Wines;
});
return wines;
}

// GET api/Wine/5
[ResponseType(typeof(Wine))]
public IHttpActionResult GetWine(int id)
{
Wine wine = null;
_retryPolicy.ExecuteAction(() =>
{
wine = db.Wines.Find(id);
});

if (wine == null)
{
return NotFound();
}
return Ok(wine);
}

// PUT api/Wine/5
public IHttpActionResult PutWine(int id, Wine wine)
{
if (!ModelState.IsValid)
{
return BadRequest(ModelState);
}

if (id != wine.WineId)
{
return BadRequest();
}

db.Entry(wine).State = EntityState.Modified;
try
{
_retryPolicy.ExecuteAction(() =>

240 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 {
db.SaveChanges();
});
}
catch (DbUpdateConcurrencyException)
{
if (!WineExists(id))
{
return NotFound();
}
else
{
throw;
}
}

return StatusCode(HttpStatusCode.NoContent);
}

// POST api/Wine
[ResponseType(typeof(Wine))]
public IHttpActionResult PostWine(Wine wine)
{
if (!ModelState.IsValid)
{
return BadRequest(ModelState);
}

db.Wines.Add(wine);
_retryPolicy.ExecuteAction(() =>
{
db.SaveChanges();
});

return CreatedAtRoute(“DefaultApi”, new { id = wine.WineId }, wine);

}

// DELETE api/Wine/5
[ResponseType(typeof(Wine))]
public IHttpActionResult DeleteWine(int id)
{
Wine wine = null;
_retryPolicy.ExecuteAction(() =>
{
wine = db.Wines.Find(id);
});

if (wine == null)
{
return NotFound();
}

CHAPTER 8 Designing and tuning for scalability and high performance 241
 db.Wines.Remove(wine);
_retryPolicy.ExecuteAction(() =>
{
db.SaveChanges();
});

return Ok(wine);
}

protected override void Dispose(bool disposing)

{
if (disposing)
{
db.Dispose();
}
base.Dispose(disposing);
}

private bool WineExists(int id)

{
bool wineExists = false;
_retryPolicy.ExecuteAction(() =>
{
wineExists = db.Wines.Count(e => e.WineId == id) > 0;
});

return wineExists;
}
}
}

To handle transient faults in the Wine controller class, follow these steps:

1. Expand the Controllers folder beneath the WineCloudWebApi project in Solution Explorer.

2. Double-click the WineController.cs ile.

3. Update the code as indicated by the bolded sections of Listing 8-6. Speciically:

a. Add a using statement for Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.TransientFaultHandling.

b. Add a private ield to store the retry policy.

c. Add a constructor that creates the retry policy.

d. Wrap each line of code that invokes a query or calls SaveChanges inside the retry policy’s
ExecuteAction method.

You have now handled transient error conditions using both ADO.NET and Entity Framework. The
Transient Fault Handling Application Block is a huge help in doing this in a simple, quick, and suc-
cinct way. Without it, you would have to write the code to identify when an error is transient and
temporary by comparing error numbers from SQL exceptions to a list of known transient errors. You

242 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 would then have to write the code to retry a speciied number of times at speciied intervals, before
implementing all of it in your application’s data-access code. Using the Transient Fault Handling
Application Block instead will greatly accelerate your development.

Transient error conditions are not something you should ignore. If your application does not
account for these conditions, your application could experience dropped connections and throttling,
resulting in errors and bad experiences for your users, when it could be avoided by retrying and con-
tinuing on. This is a common area of frustration and source of reliability issues for new users of SQL
Database, and it can be avoided at the outset by integrating the Transient Fault Handling Application
Block into your applications from the start.

Reducing network latency

In addition to differences in connection management, as discussed in the previous section, latency
can also be a big performance and reliability challenge for SQL Database users. Latency can be de-
ined as the time delay between cause and effect. With SQL Database, the time it takes for a query to
get from a client to SQL Database, and to get the computed results from SQL Database back to the
client, is known as latency. In on-premises data centers, a common way to reduce latency between
web servers and database servers is to directly connect these servers using high-speed gigabit
and iber optic network connections. However, in the public cloud, you don’t have control over the
infrastructure and cannot make those hardware and network tweaks. But you can still optimize your
services and applications to minimize latency.

Keeping services close

One way to reduce network latency is to minimize the distance between services that communicate
with each other. In Microsoft Azure, you choose which data center regions you provision and deploy
your services in. To reduce latency, it is best to deploy your SQL Database servers and the applications
that interact with your SQL Database servers in the same data center region. You may not be able to
keep the physical distance short in all cases. If you have applications running in your on-premises data
center that need to interact with SQL Database, you have a physical distance between the services
that you cannot reduce. In these cases, if latency becomes an issue, you might need to consider
techniques like caching and batching to reduce the latency.

Minimizing round trips

Whenever there is a distance between services and the potential for latency, even in your own
on-premises data center, you want to reduce the “chattiness” and network round trips in your
applications.

These are some things you can do to reduce network round trips to SQL Database:

■ Encapsulate complex data access in stored procedures if the data access results in multiple
round trips and queries to SQL Database. For example, if a query depends on results from

CHAPTER 8 Designing and tuning for scalability and high performance 243
 a previous query, instead of making multiple rounds trips to the database from the client,
combining those in a single stored procedure will reduce the network latency.

■ Batch using table-valued parameters by passing in a table-valued parameter to a stored

procedure instead of making multiple calls with single parameters to the same stored
procedure.

■ Use client-side storage and caching to reduce network trafic when retrieving lookup
data and data that changes infrequently. In addition to client-side storage, you can also use
distributed caching services like Microsoft Azure Cache to keep data in memory and share the
cached data across multiple nodes.

■ Avoid retrieving metadata at runtime to reduce roundtrips. This includes using classes like
SqlCommandBuilder that query metadata at runtime.

Effectively using SQL Database

You’ll often ind nonrelational and binary data stored in relational databases like SQL Server. This is
common in enterprise applications, where developers view SQL Server as a managed data-storage
platform for all data. Storing everything in SQL Server simpliies application development because
developers need to understand only a single platform and learn a single set of client libraries. In
addition to development experience, another reason SQL Server is often used for all kinds of data is
because it is commonly architected to be always highly available, and that makes it easy to build a
system with multiple distributed clients or multiple load-balanced web servers connected back to the
single SQL Server platform. However, to achieve this level of availability, signiicant infrastructure and
hardware investments are made, and much time is invested into the architecture and design of the
SQL Server installation.

When you consider performance, scalability, and cost, relational databases are usually not the best
places to store unstructured, nonrelational, and binary data. (The FILESTREAM feature in SQL Server
represents an exception to this rule of thumb, but FILESTREAM, unfortunately, is not supported in SQL
Database.) One of the ways you can increase the performance of SQL Database is to use it to store
and serve relational data and only relational data, and use one of the alternative storage services to
manage unstructured or semistructured nonrelational data.

Using the best storage service

There are multiple data services available in Microsoft Azure that are better suited for managing
nonrelational and binary data than SQL Database. Microsoft Azure Storage has three storage services
for other types of data: Table, Blob, and Queue. These services are all intended for nonrelational data.
This type of data is not the best it for relational databases like SQL Database.

244 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 Table storage works well for large quantities of structured, nonrelational data. Table storage is a
schema-less, entity store where you can store an object with multiple key-value pairs. Logging and
telemetry data is typically nonrelational and not analyzed in same structure as it was stored in initially.
With this in mind, this kind of data is a good it for Table storage.

Blob storage is a massively scalable ile server service in Microsoft Azure. It is intended to store
binary iles, including documents and media. If you are storing binary large objects (BLOBs) in a data-
base using the varbinary(max) data type (again, FILESTREAM is not supported), Blob storage is a good
alternative solution for storing that data. Using Blob storage will reduce the load on SQL Database
and will also reduce the amount of data stored in SQL Database. In addition to having performance
beneits, Blob storage is signiicantly cheaper than SQL Database.

Queue storage is a service designed for queuing messages for asynchronous processing. This is
often done using a database table with status columns. You can reduce load and contention on SQL
Database by using Queue storage for these scenarios.

When data is accessed frequently and changed infrequently, that data is a great candidate for
caching. Microsoft Azure provides a Cache service that can be deployed to your own compute
instances in Microsoft Azure, or you can consume a managed Cache service. In simple cases, storing
and accessing data from the local ile system might meet your needs.

Optimizing queries
Many performance-tuning techniques and principles for SQL Database are the same as SQL Server in
your own data center. In SQL Database, queries must be optimized and tuned just like in SQL Server
on-premises. Query tuning is a very big topic and is outside the scope of this book; however, there is
already a lot of good content written on this topic in other books. The basic principles of analyzing
execution plans, optimizing queries to reduce disk I/O and wait time, and tuning indexes are the same
as in SQL Server. However, identifying slow queries and queries that are good candidates for optimi-
zation is a little different than it is in SQL Server. SQL Database does not contain SQL Server function-
ality that requires elevated permissions or has the potential to impact the performance and reliability
of other tenants; therefore, SQL Proiler cannot be used with SQL Database. Knowing how to iden-
tify queries that are slow and can be improved in SQL Database is very valuable and is discussed in
Chapter 9, “Monitoring and managing SQL Database.”

Scaling up SQL Database

SQL Database is a shared, multitenant, relational database service that can have variable performance
characteristics. At the time of this writing, a new service named SQL Database Premium is in Preview.
You can use it to attain consistent and predictable performance by reserving compute resources
exclusively for your database. SQL Database Premium has the two service levels shown in Table 8-3.

CHAPTER 8 Designing and tuning for scalability and high performance 245
 TABLE 8-3 Service levels of SQL Database Premium

Service Level Description

P1 1 CPU core, 8 GB of memory and 150 disk input/output operations per second (IOPS).

P2 2 CPU cores, 16 GB of memory and 300 IOPS.

Note Microsoft regularly releases new features for Microsoft Azure. These features often
begin as Preview services, which don’t come with service level agreements (SLAs) or
warranties, and they are typically not supported by Microsoft customer support. While in
Preview, services often have reduced pricing (and sometimes are free). When a service pro-
gresses from Preview to General Availability (GA), the service gets service level agreements,
warranties, support, and full pricing. For more information about Microsoft Azure preview
services, visit http://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/preview/.

To sign up for the SQL Database Premium Preview, follow these steps:

1. Log in to the Microsoft Azure Account management portal at https://account.windowsazure.com.

2. Click the Preview Features button as shown in Figure 8-12 to display the Microsoft Azure
preview features.

FIGURE 8-12 The Preview Features link in the Microsoft Azure account portal

3. Click the Try It Now button to the right of Premium For SQL Database, as shown in
Figure 8-13, to activate the SQL Database Premium preview.

246 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 FIGURE 8-13 Activating the SQL Database Premium preview feature in the Microsoft Azure account portal

4. Choose the subscription you want to use with SQL Database Premium in the Add Preview
Feature dialog, as shown in Figure 8-14, and click the check mark in the bottom right corner.

FIGURE 8-14 Selecting the subscription in the Add Preview Feature dialog

You have now requested to be signed up for the SQL Database Premium preview. Requests are
queued and approved based on current capacity and demand. You will receive an email informing
you when your request has been approved and SQL Database Premium preview has been activated
in your subscription. Once the preview has been activated, you can then request a SQL Database
Premium quota for your SQL Database servers.

CHAPTER 8 Designing and tuning for scalability and high performance 247
 To request a SQL Database Premium quota, follow these steps:

1. Log in to the Microsoft Azure portal at https://manage.windowsazure.com. This brings you to

the main portal page showing ALL ITEMS.

2. Click SQL DATABASES in the vertical navigation pane on the left.

3. Click the SERVERS link at the top of the page. This displays a list of your Microsoft Azure SQL
Database servers.

4. In the NAME column, click the server that you want to request a Premium database quota for.

5. Navigate to the server home screen by clicking on the cloud with the lightning bolt icon.

6. Click Request Premium Database Quota in the Premium Database section as shown in
Figure 8-15.

FIGURE 8-15 Requesting a SQL Database Premium quota in the Microsoft Azure management portal

You have now requested to have a SQL Database Premium quota added to your SQL Database
server. Requests are queued and approved based on current capacity and demand. The status of a
Premium Database Quota request is displayed in the Premium Database section of the server home
screen where you initiated the request. After you initiate the request and prior to it being approved,
a Pending Approval message will be displayed, as shown in Figure 8-16. You can cancel the request
by clicking the Cancel Request link. When your request is approved and you have a SQL Database
Premium quota on your server, you will also receive an email notiication. Once you have a SQL
Database Premium quota, you can create a new database or associate an existing database with your
SQL Database Premium quota.

248 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

FIGURE 8-16 Finding the status of a SQL Database Premium quota request in the Microsoft Azure management
portal

To upgrade an existing database to SQL Database Premium, follow these steps:

1. Log in to the Microsoft Azure portal at https://manage.windowsazure.com, and click SQL

Databases in the vertical navigation pane on the left.

2. In the NAME column, click the database you want to upgrade to SQL Database Premium. This
database must be in your SQL Database server with an approved SQL Database Premium
quota.

3. Click the SCALE link at the top of the page, and conigure SQL Database Premium:

a. For Edition, select Premium. This upgrades your database from the Web and Business
editions to the SQL Database Premium edition.

b. For Reservation Size, you can select either P1 or P2. P1 is 1 core, 8 GB of memory and 150
IOPS. P2 is equivalent to two P1s. The page should appear similar to Figure 8-17.

CHAPTER 8 Designing and tuning for scalability and high performance 249
 FIGURE 8-17 Selecting the SQL Database Premium reservation size

4. Click the SAVE button at the bottom of the page.

You have now scaled up your SQL Database using the preview of SQL Database Premium. With
SQL Database Premium, you reserve a portion of the SQL Database server compute resources just
for your database. This resource reservation provides consistent and predictable performance
characteristics for a SQL Database.

Partitioning data
Scaling relational databases is not a trivial task. Stateless application and web servers are typically
simple to scale. By deploying a new server and adding it to a load balancer, you instantly add capac-
ity and scale your application. But the relationship characteristic and the ACID (Atomic, Consistent,
Isolated, and Durable) properties of relational databases make it dificult to distribute a database
across multiple compute nodes. If you need to scale a relational database across multiple compute
nodes, you must partition the data. The following sections will describe approaches and techniques
for partitioning databases.

Scaling out with functional partitions

One of the most common ways databases get partitioned is by function. Partitioning by function
splits up data into multiple databases that each have closely related tables. Using the WineCloudDb
database as an example, if you partitioned that database by function, you might split it into a
Customer database and a Catalog database. The Customer database would contain the Customer

250 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

table and the Catalog database would contain the Wine table. If you also had an eCommerce
application to sell the wine, you might have an Order database with Order and OrderDetail tables.
Functional partitioning is also referred to as vertical partitioning. It is generally easier to implement
and use than horizontal partitioning, which will be described in the next section.

To partition your data functionally, you need to remove database-enforced relationships and
foreign keys between tables that will be in different databases. You can then split your tables into
multiple databases, but without the database-level constraints, your applications will need to enforce
the relationships between the tables that span databases. Any queries that join data across the tables
that have been split into multiple databases need to be split, and the database-connection strings
need to be updated to direct the application to the appropriate database. Splitting databases into
functional partitions can get complex and time consuming if there are lots of relationships between
tables, and lots of queries and applications that need to be updated.

One of the goals when partitioning data is to balance and equally distribute load across multiple
compute nodes. Although partitioning data by function can help split up the load across multiple
compute nodes, it is unlikely that your load will be distributed evenly across functional partitions.
In the next section, you’ll explore another data-partitioning technique call sharding. Sharding is a
technique that makes it easier to achieve an even load distribution.

Scaling out with shards

To equally distribute the load on relational databases across multiple compute nodes, you need to
consider partitioning data within a single table. Partitioning a single table across multiple databases
is referred to as horizontal partitioning or sharding. In the following procedure, you will partition the
WineCloudDb into multiple shards based on customers. The WineCloudDb data set is small, but it will
be suficient to demonstrate sharding. You will split the database into two databases: the irst with
one customer record, and the second one with two customer records. When sharding databases,
you must have an algorithm that determines what records will go in each database shard. You can
partition customers into multiple shards in a number of ways. You can partition customers by the irst
letter of their last name, and that would result in 26 databases shards. But remember that the goal is
to distribute load as evenly as possible, and using the irst letter of last names is unlikely to be an even
distribution, because some letters are more common than others.

In our WineCloudDb example, you will partition by a range of CustomerId values. The customer
with a CustomerId of 1 will go into one database shard, the customers with a CustomerId ranging
from 2 to 3 will go into another database shard. When sharding databases, you also need to have an
index or map of how your data is partitioned so that, irst, you can ind your records and, second, you
have a way to rearrange your records within the database shards if you ind that your distribution is
not equal and needs to be rebalanced. In the following example, the shard map is implemented in
code for simplicity and readability. Typically, though, you implement the shard map in a persistent
data store separate from your code.

Similar to functional partitions, it can be challenging to shard data when you have relationship
constraints and foreign keys. Often, reference and lookup data will get duplicated and stored in each

CHAPTER 8 Designing and tuning for scalability and high performance 251
 shard. (The Microsoft Azure SQL Data Sync service can help you maintain multiple copies of reference
data tables across multiple shards; see Chapter 7, “Microsoft Azure SQL Data Sync,” for more informa-
tion.) In the WineCloudDb example, you will store the Wine table in each shard. If the customer table
has relationships to other customer-related tables, you typically partition those tables and store those
related records in the same database shard as the customer record. In the WineCloudDb example, the
Customer table doesn’t have additional customer-related tables, which makes sharding this database
a lot simpler.

Creating the shard databases

For the Web APIs in this chapter, you will use the script shown in Listing 8-7 to create two
WineCloudDb database shards and populate them each with the same set of wines. Then you will
populate them each with different customers, and create ASP.NET Web APIs that return customers
from the sharded databases.

LISTING 8-7 Script to create sharded databases

CREATE TABLE Wine (

WineId int PRIMARY KEY,
Name nvarchar (50),
Category nvarchar (15),
Year int,
Price money)

CREATE TABLE Customer (

CustomerId int PRIMARY KEY,
FirstName nvarchar(50),
LastName nvarchar(15),
FavoriteWineId int,
CONSTRAINT FK_Customer_Wine FOREIGN KEY (FavoriteWineId) REFERENCES Wine (WineId))

INSERT INTO Wine VALUES

(1, 'Chateau Penin', 'Bordeaux', 2008, 34.90),
(2, 'McLaren Valley', 'Cabernet', 2005, 48.50),
(3, 'Mendoza', 'Merlot', 2010, 42.00),
(4, 'Valle Central', 'Merlot', 2009, 52.00)

To create the WineCloudDb database shards, follow these steps:

1. From the Windows Start screen, launch SSMS. You can either scroll through the app tiles to
ind it (in the Microsoft SQL Server 2012 category) or just type sql server management
studio to run a search, and then click on the tile. After a brief moment, the Connect To Server
dialog appears.

2. In the Connect To Server dialog, do the following:

a. For Server Name, type <servername>.database.windows.net. This is the fully qualiied

name to the SQL Database server, where <servername> should be replaced by the name
assigned to your server.

252 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 b. For Authentication, select SQL Server Authentication from the drop-down list. (SQL
Database does not support Windows Authentication.)

c. For Login and Password, type the user name and password you assigned the server when
you created it.

d. Click the Connect button.

3. Create the databases.

a. In the Object Explorer, right-click the server name and choose New Query to open a new
query window connected to the master database.

b. In the query window, type:

CREATE DATABASE WineCloudDbShard1
GO
CREATE DATABASE WineCloudDbShard2
GO

c. Press F5 (or click the Execute button in the toolbar) to create the two databases.

d. Close the query window without saving the script.

4. In the Object Explorer, right-click the Databases node and choose Refresh. The
WineCloudDbShard1 and WineCloudDbShard2 databases you just created should now appear.

5. Right-click the WineCloudDbShard1 database, and choose New Query to open a new query
window connected to the WineCloudDbShard1 database.

6. Type the code shown in Listing 8-7 into the query window (or paste it in from the listing ile
downloaded from the book’s companion website).

7. Press F5 (or click the Execute button in the toolbar) to create the database objects for the irst
shard, and then close the query window without saving the script.

8. Right-click the WineCloudDbShard1 database, and choose New Query to open a new query
window connected to the WineCloudDbShard1 database.

9. Type the following code into the query window:

INSERT INTO Customer VALUES (1, 'Jeff', 'Hay', 4)

10. Press F5 (or click the Execute button in the toolbar) to add a customer row for Jeff Hay to the
WineCloudDbShard1 database, and then close the query window without saving the script.

11. Right-click the WineCloudDbShard2 database, and choose New Query to open a new query
window connected to the WineCloudDbShard2 database.

12. Type the code shown in Listing 8-7 into the query window (or paste it from the listing ile
downloaded from the book’s companion website).

CHAPTER 8 Designing and tuning for scalability and high performance 253
 13. Press F5 (or click the Execute button in the toolbar) to create the database objects for the
second shard, and then close the query window without saving the script.

14. Right-click the WineCloudDbShard2 database, and choose New Query to open a new query
window connected to the WineCloudDbShard2 database.

15. Type the following code into the query window:

INSERT INTO Customer VALUES

(2, 'Mark', 'Hanson', 3),
(3, 'Jeff', 'Phillips', 2)

16. Press F5 (or click the Execute button in the toolbar) to add two customer rows for Mark
Hanson and Jeff Phillips to the WineCloudDbShard2 database, and then close the query
window without saving the script.

You now have two new databases named WineCloudDbShard1 and WineCloudDbShard2 that will
serve as the data source for your customer Web APIs. Each database has the same reference data in
the Wine table, but the Customer table is partitioned horizontally between them.

Using shards with ADO.NET and ASP.NET Web API

Now that you have two database shards set up for the WineCloudDb database, you are ready to
modify the Customer Web API you created earlier in this chapter to retrieve data from these multiple
databases.

Listing 8-8 shows the classes used for working with the individual shard databases. The Shard
class deines a shard database with the range of IDs that it will contain using the BeginId and the
EndId properties. The Shard class also has a ConnectionString property that has a connection string
for the database shard. The ShardRoot class represents the logical root that tracks the multiple shard
databases that collectively form the single logical database. The CustomerShard class is the logical
root implementation for the WineCloudDb database shards. It uses the Shard and ShardRoot classes
to collect the multiple customer databases into one logical container. The GetShard method on the
CustomerShard class makes it easy to retrieve the database shard for a speciied customer.

LISTING 8-8 Customer data sharding classes

using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;

namespace WineCloudWebApi.Data
{
public class Shard
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public int BeginId { get; set; }
public int EndId { get; set; }
public string ConnectionString { get; set; }
}

254 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

public class ShardRoot
{
public ShardRoot() { Shards = new List<Shard>(); }
public IList<Shard> Shards { get; private set; }
}

public class CustomerShard

{
private static CustomerShard _instance;
private static object _lockObj = new object();

public static CustomerShard Instance

{
get
{
if (_instance == null)
{
lock (_lockObj)
{
if (_instance == null)
{
_instance = new CustomerShard();
}
}
}
return _instance;
}
}

public ShardRoot ShardRoot { get; private set; }

public CustomerShard()
{
ShardRoot = new ShardRoot();
ShardRoot.Shards.Add(new Shard
{
Id = 1,
BeginId = 1,
EndId = 1,
ConnectionString =
“Server=tcp:<ServerName>.database.windows.net,1433;” +
“Database=WineCloudDbShard1;User ID=<UserName>@<ServerName>;” +
“Password=<Password>;Trusted_Connection=False;” +
“Encrypt=True;Connection Timeout=30;”
});
ShardRoot.Shards.Add(new Shard
{
Id = 2,
BeginId = 2,
EndId = 3,
ConnectionString =
“Server=tcp:<ServerName>.database.windows.net,1433;” +
“Database=WineCloudDbShard2;User ID=<UserName>@<ServerName>;” +
“Password=<Password>;Trusted_Connection=False;” +

CHAPTER 8 Designing and tuning for scalability and high performance 255
 “Encrypt=True;Connection Timeout=30;”
});
}

public Shard GetShard(int id)

{
return ShardRoot.Shards
.FirstOrDefault(shard => shard.BeginId <= id && shard.EndId >= id);
}
}
}

The CustomerController shown in Listing 8-9 has been modiied to retrieve customers from the
multiple databases using the CustomerShard class. The changes to the GetCustomer method are
simple. Using the ID passed into the GetCustomer method, the database where that customer exists
is returned by the GetShard method on the CustomerShard class. Then, using the same logic as in the
previous CustomerController examples in this chapter, the customer table is queried and the Customer
is returned. The changes required to get a single record as needed for the GetCustomer method are
minimal.

However, the changes required for the GetCustomers method are a little more complex. Whenever
a database is sharded into multiple databases, querying data that spans the multiple databases can be
challenging. To query across the databases, you must query each database and merge the results. This
approach is commonly referred to as fan-out querying. If you have many databases, you do not want
to execute those queries in a series, waiting for the previous query to return, because that increases
response time and provides a slower experience for users. Instead, you want to execute those queries
simultaneously and aggregate the results as they are returned in parallel. The GetCustomers method
in Listing 8-9 shows a simple fan-out query implementation using the Task Parallel Library. In this
example, each database shard is queried for customers in parallel and the results from each query are
merged and returned as one list of customers.

LISTING 8-9 CustomerController with support for Customer shards

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Data.SqlClient;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using System.Web.Http;
using System.Web.Http.Description;
using Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.TransientFaultHandling;
using WineCloudWebApi.Data;
using WineCloudWebApi.Models;

namespace WineCloudWebApi.Controllers
{
public class CustomerController : ApiController

256 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

{
// GET api/Customer
public IList<Customer> GetCustomers()
{
var customers = new List<Customer>();

Parallel.ForEach(CustomerShard.Instance.ShardRoot.Shards,
new ParallelOptions
{ MaxDegreeOfParallelism = CustomerShard.Instance.ShardRoot.Shards.Count },
shard =>
{
var shardCustomers = new List<Customer>();
var connectionString = shard.ConnectionString;
var retryStrategy =
new Incremental(5, TimeSpan.FromSeconds(1), TimeSpan.FromSeconds(2));
var retryPolicy =
new RetryPolicy<SqlDatabaseTransientErrorDetectionStrategy>(retryStrategy);

using (var connection = new SqlConnection(connectionString))

{
var commandText = “SELECT * FROM Customer”;
using (var command = new SqlCommand(commandText, connection))
{
connection.OpenWithRetry(retryPolicy);
using (var reader = command.ExecuteReaderWithRetry(retryPolicy))
{
while (reader.Read())
{
var customer = new Customer
{
CustomerId = Convert.ToInt32(reader[“CustomerId”]),
FirstName = reader[“FirstName”].ToString(),
LastName = reader[“LastName”].ToString(),
FavoriteWineId = reader[“FavoriteWineId”] as int?
};
shardCustomers.Add(customer);
}
}
}
}
customers.AddRange(shardCustomers);
});

return customers;
}

// GET api/Customer/5
[ResponseType(typeof(Customer))]
public IHttpActionResult GetCustomer(int id)
{
Customer customer = null;

Shard customerShard = CustomerShard.Instance.GetShard(id);

if (customerShard != null)

CHAPTER 8 Designing and tuning for scalability and high performance 257
 {
var connectionString = customerShard.ConnectionString;
var retryStrategy =
new Incremental(5, TimeSpan.FromSeconds(1), TimeSpan.FromSeconds(2));
var retryPolicy =
new RetryPolicy<SqlDatabaseTransientErrorDetectionStrategy>(retryStrategy);

using (var connection = new SqlConnection(connectionString))

{
var commandText = “SELECT * FROM Customer WHERE CustomerId = @CustomerId”;
using (var command = new SqlCommand(commandText, connection))
{
command.Parameters.AddWithValue(“@CustomerId”, id);
connection.OpenWithRetry(retryPolicy);
using (var reader = command.ExecuteReaderWithRetry(retryPolicy))
{
if (reader.Read())
{
customer = new Customer
{
CustomerId = Convert.ToInt32(reader[“CustomerId”]),
FirstName = reader[“FirstName”].ToString(),
LastName = reader[“LastName”].ToString(),
FavoriteWineId = reader[“FavoriteWineId”] as int?
};
}
}
}
}
}

if (customer == null)
{
return NotFound();
}
return Ok(customer);
}
}
}

To use the database shards with the customer Web API, follow these steps:

1. Open the WineSolution in Visual Studio 2013.

2. Right-click the WineCloudWebApi project in Solution Explorer, and choose Add | New Folder.

3. Name the new folder Data, and press Enter.

4. Right-click on the newly created Data folder, and choose Add | Class to display the Add New
Item dialog.

5. Name the new class CustomerShard.cs, and click Add.

258 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 6. Replace the template code with the code shown earlier in Listing 8-8. In the connection strings
contained in the code, do the following:

a. Replace <ServerName> with the name of the SQL Database server that contains the shard
databases.

b. Replace <UserName> and <Password> with the user name and password you assigned
the server when you created it.

7. Expand the Controllers folder beneath the WineCloudWebApi project in Solution Explorer.

8. Double-click the CustomerController.cs, and replace the code with the code shown earlier in
Listing 8-9.

9. Build the WineSolution by selecting Build | Build Solution in the menu at the top or pressing
Ctrl+Shift+B.

You have now split the WineCloudDb database into multiple database shards, splitting on customer
records. You can test the customer API using the same steps from the “Testing the Customer Web
API” section.

Listing 8-8 and Listing 8-9 show a simple implementation of integrating database sharding into
your application. In Listing 8-8, there are classes to manage and group the sharded databases; in
Listing 8-9, the CustomerController has a simple implementation of fan-out querying using the Task
Parallel Library. This implementation works for scenarios that are small and not overly complex, but
in larger and more complex scenarios you will likely need additional capabilities to track database
shards and update data across shards. There are existing libraries you can use to help with these
additional capabilities. The Microsoft Azure Customer Advisory Team creates guidance, frameworks,
and reference applications based on what they have learned from real-world customer engagements.
Microsoft Azure CAT has developed a reference application called Cloud Service Fundamentals in
Windows Azure that includes a library named Microsoft.AzureCat.Patterns.Data.SqlAzureDalSharded
that contains classes that will help you when sharding relational databases. You can reuse this library
in your applications, and it is available at http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/windowsazure/
Cloud-Service-Fundamentals-4ca72649.

Note EF can also be used when sharding databases. Using the same approach shown in
Listing 8-9, you can use the Task Parallel Library to execute queries across multiple data-
bases in parallel. However, instead of using raw ADO.NET objects to access your database,
you use EF objects. You construct an EF DbContext for each database, instead of opening
a new SqlConnection. Using the DbContext object, you then query the appropriate DbSet
property using LINQ To Entities. Sharding with EF is possible, but if you are trying to boost
performance, the performance overhead that comes with using EF may encourage you to
use raw ADO.NET instead.

CHAPTER 8 Designing and tuning for scalability and high performance 259
Summary
This chapter introduced you to optimizing performance and scaling Microsoft Azure SQL Database.
You created an ASP.NET Web API that was used as a reference application throughout the chapter,
and you improved the reliability and performance of this Web API by managing database connections
and connection errors and reducing latency in Microsoft Azure. You then considered other optimiza-
tions, like using the most appropriate storage service for your data and query optimization. Later in
the chapter, you scaled up SQL Database using SQL Database Premium. And in the last section, you
scaled your SQL Database with partitioning and sharding strategies.

Designing highly available, high-performance, scalable systems is a very large topic. This chapter
provided an understanding of the most important concepts, principles, and techniques for achieving
high performance and scale with SQL Database, but there is a lot more for you to learn on your own.

260 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

CHAPTER 9

Monitoring and management

—Eric Boyd

A ny service you intend to use in a production application must provide monitoring and
management capabilities. Monitoring should provide insight into the health of the service and,
ultimately, the health of your application. So, in the irst half of this chapter, you will learn how to
monitor SQL Database using the management portal, the Service Dashboard, and built-in dynamic
management views and functions.

In previous chapters, you managed SQL Database using graphical user interface (GUI) tools such
as the Microsoft Azure management portal, SQL Database management portal, SQL Server Manage-
ment Studio (SSMS), and SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT). These GUI tools are convenient when you are
getting started, but as your applications mature and you move toward production, you identify pro-
cesses that are frequently repeated and GUIs become inconvenient. To save time and reduce human
error, you need to automate these processes. Thus, the second half of this chapter teaches you how
to manage SQL Database using the Microsoft Azure Service Management Application Programming
Interface (API).

Creating the sample database

The procedures throughout this chapter work with a server that already has a database on it, such
as the WineCloudDb database you worked with in other chapters. If you haven’t created this data-
base, or you deleted it, you can create it by following the steps in this section. If you already have a
WineCloudDb database created from work in any other chapter, you can skip the steps in this section
and proceed to the “Monitoring” section.

For the exercises in this chapter, use the script shown in Listing 9-1 to create WineCloudDb and
populate it with a few wines and customers.

261
 LISTING 9-1 Script to create the sample WineCloudDb database

CREATE TABLE Wine (

WineId int PRIMARY KEY,
Name nvarchar (50),
Category nvarchar (15),
Year int,
Price money)

CREATE TABLE Customer (

CustomerId int PRIMARY KEY,
FirstName nvarchar(50),
LastName nvarchar(15),
FavoriteWineId int,
CONSTRAINT FK_Customer_Wine FOREIGN KEY (FavoriteWineId) REFERENCES Wine (WineId))

INSERT INTO Wine VALUES

(1, 'Chateau Penin', 'Bordeaux', 2008, 34.90),
(2, 'McLaren Valley', 'Cabernet', 2005, 48.50),
(3, 'Mendoza', 'Merlot', 2010, 42.00),
(4, 'Valle Central', 'Merlot', 2009, 52.00)

INSERT INTO Customer VALUES

(1, 'Jeff', 'Hay', 4),
(2, 'Mark', 'Hanson', 3),
(3, 'Jeff', 'Phillips', 2)

To create the WineCloudDb database, follow these steps:

1. From the Windows Start screen, launch SSMS. You can either scroll through the app tiles to
ind it (in the Microsoft SQL Server 2012 category) or just type sql server management
studio to run a search, and then click on the tile. After a brief moment, the Connect To Server
dialog appears.

2. In the Connect To Server dialog, do the following:

a. For Server Name, type <servername>.database.windows.net. This is the fully qualiied

name to the SQL Database server, where <servername> should be replaced by the name
assigned to your server.

b. For Authentication, select SQL Server Authentication from the drop-down list. (SQL
Database does not support Windows Authentication.)

c. For Login and Password, type the user name and password you assigned the server when
you created it.

d. Click the Connect button.

3. In the Object Explorer, expand the Databases node.

262 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 4. If the WineCloudDb database exists from a previous chapter, delete it now.

a. Right-click the WineCloudDb database, and choose Delete.

b. In the Delete Object dialog, click OK.

5. Create the database.

a. In the Object Explorer, right-click the server name and choose New Query to open a new
query window connected to the master database.

b. In the query window, type CREATE DATABASE WineCloudDb.

c. Press F5 (or click the Execute button in the toolbar) to create the database.

d. Close the query window without saving the script.

6. In the Object Explorer, right-click the Databases node and choose Refresh. The WineCloudDb
database you just created should now appear.

7. Right-click the WineCloudDb database, and choose New Query to open a new query window
connected to the WineCloudDb database.

8. Type the code shown in Listing 9-1 into the query window (or paste it in from the listing ile
downloaded from the book’s companion website).

9. Press F5 (or click the Execute button in the toolbar) to create the database schema and
populate some data.

You now have a new WineCloudDb database you can use for the exercises in this chapter.

Note It was necessary to create the database and populate it in two separate query
windows because SQL Database does not support the USE statement found in SQL Server
for switching the connection from the master database to the WineCloudDb database. See
Chapter 3, “Differences between SQL Server and Microsoft Azure SQL Database,” for more
information on differences between SQL Database and SQL Server.

Monitoring
SQL Database provides multiple options for monitoring the health and operations of your servers
and databases. In this section, you will learn how to monitor SQL Database using the Microsoft
Azure management portal, Microsoft Azure Service Dashboard, SQL Database management portal,
and dynamic management views and functions. Using a combination of the tools described in this
section, you will be able to get a comprehensive view of the health of your servers and databases in
SQL Database.

CHAPTER 9 Monitoring and management 263

 Using the management portal
The Microsoft Azure management portal is the centralized place to manage all your Microsoft
Azure services, including SQL Database. Using the management portal, you can create and delete
SQL Database servers, create and delete databases, and manage your servers and databases, just as
you’ve seen throughout this book. In addition, the management portal also provides monitoring and
dashboard capabilities that help you understand the usage and health of your servers and databases.
If you are managing multiple databases in SQL Database, you might want to quickly view how many
databases you have deployed and how many databases you have remaining in your SQL Database
quota. Just as with database size limits, SQL Database has limits on the number of databases each
server can contain. At the time of this writing, the quota is 150 databases per server.

Follow these steps to view SQL Database server usage:

1. Log in to the Microsoft Azure management portal at https://manage.windowsazure.com.

This brings you to the main portal page showing ALL ITEMS.

2. Click SQL DATABASES in the vertical navigation pane on the left.

3. Click the SERVERS link at the top of the page. This displays a list of your Microsoft Azure SQL
Database servers.

4. In the NAME column, click the server that contains the WineCloudDb database. This opens a
page with links for the selected server.

5. Click the DASHBOARD link at the top of the page. This displays the SQL Database server usage
overview as shown in Figure 9-1.

FIGURE 9-1 Viewing SQL Database server usage

264 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 The SQL Database server usage overview displays a bar that shows you the number of databases
that are currently in use and the number of databases remaining in your server’s quota. Figure 9-1
is showing the usage overview for a SQL Database server named kdhlvxlmhi. The server has one
database in use out of the 150-database quota.

In addition to showing server usage and quotas, the Microsoft Azure management portal displays
usage and operational metrics for each database. The database dashboard in the management portal
displays the allocated size of a database, the space that is currently used, and the remaining free
space.

To view database usage metrics, follow these steps:

1. If you closed the Microsoft Azure management portal since the last procedure, log in to the
Microsoft Azure management portal at https://manage.windowsazure.com. This brings you
to the main portal page showing ALL ITEMS.

2. Click SQL DATABASES in the vertical navigation pane on the left. This displays a list of your
databases.

3. Click the WineCloudDb database.

4. Click the DASHBOARD link at the top of the page.

5. Scroll the page down a bit, and ind the “Usage Overview” section as shown in Figure 9-2. This
displays the used and available storage for your database.

FIGURE 9-2 Viewing SQL Database size usage

CHAPTER 9 Monitoring and management 265

 A chart of select operational metrics is also displayed at the top of the dashboard page, as shown
in Figure 9-3.

FIGURE 9-3 The metrics chart on the dashboard of a SQL Database

By default, deadlocks, failed connections, and successful connections are displayed for the past
hour. You can change the reporting period from one hour to 24 hours, 7 days, or 14 days. You can
also toggle the chart between showing relative values, which display the actual values relative to each
other, or absolute values, which display the actual values relative to zero as displayed on the Y axis.
Both can be conigured using the drop-down lists above the chart on the right side. By clicking the
check mark to the left of each named metric above the chart, you can also show and hide the metrics
plotted on the chart. When you click the refresh button in the upper-right corner above the chart, the
metrics displayed on the chart are updated.

The monitor page displays the details for each metric and allows you to customize which metrics
are displayed in the details list and on the chart. In addition to the deadlocks, failed connections,
and successful connections (which are displayed by default), you can choose to display metrics for
connections that were blocked by the irewall, current database size, and throttled connections.

More Info For more information on the SQL Database irewall, see Chapter 2,
“Coniguration and pricing,” and Chapter 5, “Security and backup.” For more information
on connection management and throttled connections, see Chapter 8, “Designing and
tuning for scalability and high performance.”

266 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

Follow these steps to display additional metrics:

1. If you closed the Microsoft Azure management portal since the last procedure, log in to the
Microsoft Azure management portal at https://manage.windowsazure.com. This brings you
to the main portal page showing ALL ITEMS.

2. Click SQL DATABASES in the vertical navigation pane on the left. This displays a list of your
databases.

3. Click the WineCloudDb database.

4. Click the MONITOR link at the top of the page. This displays the metrics chart at the top and
the list of metrics with their minimum, maximum, average, and total values in the list below, as
shown in Figure 9-4.

FIGURE 9-4 SQL Database Monitor page, with the chart and details for the conigured metrics

5. Click the ADD METRICS button at the bottom of the page to display the CHOOSE METRICS
dialog.

6. Select the Blocked By Firewall check box at the top of the list as shown in Figure 9-5.

CHAPTER 9 Monitoring and management 267

 FIGURE 9-5 The Choose Metrics dialog of the Monitor page for a SQL Database

7. Click the check mark in the lower-right corner to close the dialog.

You have now added the Blocked By Firewall metric to the list of metrics displayed at the bottom
of the Monitor page. By default, the newly added metrics are not added to the chart at the top. To
display the metric on the chart, click the gray circle to the left of the metric name in the list of metrics.
After you click the gray circle icon, the icon will be changed to a colored circle with a check mark and
the metric will be displayed in the chart, as shown in Figure 9-6.

FIGURE 9-6 A newly added metric in the list of metrics on the Monitor page of a SQL Database

268 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 To delete a metric from the list of displayed metrics and the chart, select the metric in the list. This
displays a DELETE METRIC button at the bottom of the page to the right of the ADD METRICS button.
Click the DELETE METRIC button, and the metric will be removed from the list and the chart.

Microsoft Azure Service Dashboard

The health of your SQL Database servers and databases depend on the health of the overall Microsoft
Azure SQL Database service. Data centers, servers, and cloud services can experience health issues
and service outages for various reasons. Knowing when there’s an issue with the overall service can
save you a lot of time and frustration when troubleshooting your application issues. The Microsoft
Azure Service Dashboard (shown in Figure 9-7), is a website that shows the current and historical
health of all the services in Microsoft Azure. Browse to http://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/support/
service-dashboard/ to display the Microsoft Azure Service Dashboard.

FIGURE 9-7 The Microsoft Azure Service Dashboard

Each Microsoft Azure service is listed on the Service Dashboard page. To the left of each service
name is an icon that represents the current state of each service. If the service has a green check mark
next to it, the service is operating normally. If it has an orange triangle warning icon, the performance
of the service is not normal and is currently running with degraded performance. If a red circle error
icon is displayed, the service is experiencing an outage. Clicking the plus sign to the left of the service
name expands the list of regions where the service is deployed, and you can view the health of the
service in each region. Clicking the RSS icon on the right side of each row displays an RSS feed with
a descriptive status history, as shown in Figure 9-8. You can subscribe to the Service Dashboard RSS

CHAPTER 9 Monitoring and management 269

 feeds with an RSS reader, and you can also create a custom operations dashboard using the RSS feeds
as an API.

FIGURE 9-8 The SQL Database Service Dashboard RSS feed

By default, the Service Dashboard automatically refreshes the service statuses every 10 minutes.
The refresh interval can be set to 1 minute, 2 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, or Off to disable the
automatic refresh. You can also ilter the displayed data center regions to show only the regions that
are relevant to you. When you use Microsoft Azure for managed production workloads, the Service
Dashboard is a website that can be displayed on a monitor in your operations center so that you can
stay informed of any service interruptions in Microsoft Azure.

SQL Database management portal

The SQL Database management portal (which was introduced in Chapter 1, “Getting started with
Microsoft Azure SQL Database”) is another useful tool when monitoring SQL Database usage and per-
formance. Allocated database capacity, current database size, and available free space are displayed
on the database summary page, along with active users and connections, as shown in Figure 9-9.

270 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

FIGURE 9-9 The SQL Database management portal database summary page

Monitoring and troubleshooting query performance can be a dificult task. Tools that help you
identify bottlenecks and pinpoint improvement opportunities can help you be more effective when
optimizing queries. The SQL Database management portal provides tools to help you identity
ineficient queries.

To view performance of recent queries, follow these steps:

1. If you closed the Microsoft Azure management portal since the last procedure, log in to the
Microsoft Azure management portal at https://manage.windowsazure.com. This brings you
to the main portal page showing ALL ITEMS.

2. Click SQL DATABASES in the vertical navigation pane on the left. This displays a list of your
databases.

3. Click the WineCloudDb database.

4. Click the MANAGE button at the bottom of the page to open the SQL Database management
portal.

5. Type the username (for example, saz) and password you assigned when you created the
server, and click Log On. This displays the Summary page for the database, as shown earlier in
Figure 9-9.

CHAPTER 9 Monitoring and management 271

 6. Click the Query Performance link at the top of the page to display the list of high-cost queries,
as shown in Figure 9-10. You can sort the table of queries by clicking on the headers at the
top.

FIGURE 9-10 The Query Performance page in the SQL Database management portal

7. Click on one of the queries in the list to display the Query Plan Details. The portal displays
the query, the resources used by the query, and the details of the query’s execution plan, as
shown in Figure 9-11.

272 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 FIGURE 9-11 The Query Plan Details area in the SQL Database management portal.

Note The query displayed on the Query Plan Details page is read-only. To edit
the query, click the Edit button in the ribbon at the top of the page.

8. Click the Query Plan link below the query to display the execution plan, as shown in
Figure 9-12. Using the buttons on the right, above the graphical query plan, you can toggle
the display of the execution plan display between the graphical, grid, and tree views. The icons
on the left side enable you to highlight the operations of the execution plan based on CPU or
IO cost and the types of operations.

CHAPTER 9 Monitoring and management 273

 FIGURE 9-12 The Graphical Query Plan in the SQL Database management portal

9. Click an operation in the execution plan to view the details and performance cost of the
operation, as shown in Figure 9-13. If you are viewing a large execution plan with many
operations, the graphical execution plan can be zoomed in and out.

274 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 FIGURE 9-13 The Operation details in the SQL Database management portal graphical execution plan

You have now used SQL Database management portal to identify queries in your database with a
high performance cost. Using this portal, you can drill into a query’s execution plan, identify expen-
sive operations, and review the details of a speciic operation. The SQL Database management portal
gets the expensive queries displayed in the Query Performance page from SQL Database dynamic
management views, which are explained in the next section.

Dynamic management views and functions

Dynamic management views (DMV) and dynamic management functions (DMF) give insight into
operations and resource consumption inside Microsoft Azure SQL Database. DMVs were irst
introduced in SQL Server 2005 and are designed to provide an alternative to using system tables
and functions to monitor SQL Server. SQL Database includes a subset of these SQL Server dynamic
management views that help monitor servers and databases, and that help diagnose performance
problems caused by blocked or long-running queries, ineficient execution plans, and resource
bottlenecks. SQL Database includes support for three categories of DMVs: database DMVs, execution
DMVs, and transaction DMVs. All DMVs are deined in the sys schema.

CHAPTER 9 Monitoring and management 275

 Database
Database-related dynamic management views and functions provide database focused insight
and metrics. The database-related DMVs included in SQL Database are displayed in Table 9-1. The
database-related DMFs are displayed in Table 9-2.

TABLE 9-1 Database-related dynamic management views

Name Description

dm_db_index_usage_stats Returns counts of different types of index operations and the time
each type of operation was last performed

dm_db_missing_index_details Returns detailed information about missing indexes

dm_db_missing_index_group_stats Returns summary information about groups of missing indexes

dm_db_missing_index_groups Returns information about what missing indexes are contained in a

speciic missing index group

dm_db_objects_impacted_on_version_ Provides an early warning system to determine objects that will be

change impacted by major release upgrades

dm_db_partition_stats Returns page and row-count information for every partition in the
database

dm_db_wait_stats Returns information about all the waits encountered by threads that
executed during operation

TABLE 9-2 Database-related dynamic management functions

Name Description

dm_db_index_operational_stats Returns current low-level I/O, locking, latching, and access method
activity for each partition of a table or index in the database

dm_db_index_physical_stats Returns size and fragmentation information for the data and indexes
of the speciied table or view

dm_db_missing_index_columns Returns information about database table columns that are missing
and index

One database metric that is particularly important to monitor is database size. If the size of your
database reaches the size quota, your queries will return error code 40544. (See Chapter 2 for more
information about the database size quota.) When you reach your size quota, you cannot insert or
update data or create new database objects until you increase the maximum size of your database or
delete data. Using DMVs, you can monitor the size of your database proactively and take the appro-
priate actions before your applications receive errors resulting from a database that has reached its
size quota.

More Info SQL Database raises errors unique to SQL Database, and each error is identiied
with an error code or error number. These errors include general errors for features,
objects, and syntax not supported by SQL Database, errors that occur when copying
databases, and connection errors. For more information and a list of the SQL Database
error codes, visit http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff394106.aspx.

276 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

To calculate the size of your database using database DMVs, follow these steps:

1. If you closed the Microsoft Azure management portal since the last procedure, log in to the
Microsoft Azure management portal at https://manage.windowsazure.com. This brings you
to the main portal page showing ALL ITEMS.

2. Click SQL DATABASES in the vertical navigation pane on the left. This displays a list of your
databases.

3. Click the WineCloudDb database.

4. Click the MANAGE button at the bottom of the page to open the SQL Database management
portal.

5. Type the user name (for example, saz) and password you assigned when you created the
server, and click Log On. This displays the Summary page for the database.

6. Click New Query in the ribbon at the top.

7. Type SELECT SUM(reserved_page_count) * 8.0 / 1024 AS ‘MBs Used’ FROM sys.dm_db_

partition_stats, and click Run in the ribbon at the top. This executes the query and displays
the current database size, as shown in Figure 9-14.

FIGURE 9-14 Getting database size using DMVs in the SQL Database management portal

CHAPTER 9 Monitoring and management 277

 Obtaining the current database size, as you did in the preceding steps, is an example of using
database DMVs. The other database DMVs can be used to get insight into index usage, indexes that
are needed, and wait time encountered during query execution.

Execution
Execution-related DMVs provide insight into connections, sessions, and the requests that your SQL
Database servers receive. The execution-related DMVs that are included in SQL Database are listed in
Table 9-3. Execution-related DMFs are listed in Table 9-4.

TABLE 9-3 Execution-related dynamic management views

Name Description

dm_exec_cached_plans Returns a row for each query plan that is cached by SQL Database

dm_exec_connections Returns information about the connections established to SQL

Database

dm_exec_procedure_stats Returns aggregate performance statistics for cached stored procedures

dm_exec_query_memory_grants Returns information about the queries that have acquired a memory
grant or that still require a memory grant to execute

dm_exec_query_stats Returns aggregate performance statistics for cached query plans

dm_exec_requests Returns information about each request that executes

dm_exec_sessions Returns information about all active user connections and internal
tasks

dm_exec_trigger_stats Returns aggregate performance statistics for cached triggers

TABLE 9-4 Execution-related dynamic management functions

Name Description

dm_exec_describe_irst_result_set Returns the metadata description of the irst result set for the
statement

dm_exec_describe_irst_result_set_for_ Returns the metadata description of the irst result based on an object
object Id

dm_exec_query_plan Returns the Showplan in XML format for the batch speciied by the
plan handle

dm_exec_sql_text Returns the text of the SQL batch that is identiied by the speciied sql
handle

dm_exec_text_query_plan Returns the Showplan in text format for the batch speciied by the plan
handle or a speciic statement within the batch

Database connections are inite resources that get managed both on-premises and in the cloud.
Using execution DMVs, you can view all the active SQL Database connections and see connection
properties such as the login, how much CPU time the session is consuming, when the last request
occurred, and more.

278 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

To view the active SQL Database connections and sessions using execution DMVs, follow these steps:

1. If you closed the Microsoft Azure management portal since the last procedure, log in to the
Microsoft Azure management portal at https://manage.windowsazure.com. This brings you
to the main portal page showing ALL ITEMS.

2. Click SQL DATABASES in the vertical navigation pane on the left. This displays a list of your
databases.

3. Click the WineCloudDb database.

4. Click the MANAGE button at the bottom of the page to open the SQL Database management
portal.

5. Type the user name (for example, saz) and password you assigned when you created the
server, and click Log On. This displays the Summary page for the database.

6. Click New Query in the ribbon at the top.

7. Type SELECT e.connection_id, s.session_id, s.login_name, s.cpu_time, s.last_request_

end_time FROM sys.dm_exec_sessions s INNER JOIN sys.dm_exec_connections e ON
s.session_id = e.session_id, and click Run in the ribbon at the top. This executes the query
and displays the connection and session results, as shown in Figure 9-15.

FIGURE 9-15 Viewing SQL Database connections and sessions using execution DMVs in the SQL Database
management portal

CHAPTER 9 Monitoring and management 279

 Execution-related DMVs and DMFs provide information about connections, sessions, requests,
and execution performance. These DMVs and DMFs are useful when troubleshooting connection
problems and poor query performance.

Transaction
Transaction-related DMVs provide information about database transactions and locks. The transac-
tion-related DMVs included in SQL Database are listed in Table 9-5. SQL Database does not contain
transaction-related DMFs.

TABLE 9-5 Transaction-related dynamic management views

Name Description

dm_tran_active_transactions Returns information about transactions for your current database

dm_tran_database_transactions Returns information about transactions at the database level

dm_tran_locks Returns information about currently active lock manager resources

dm_tran_session_transactions Returns correlation information for associated transactions and sessions

Database contention, locking and deadlocks can cause application unresponsiveness, hangs, and
errors. You can use transaction-related DMVs to view current locking activity and blocking in your
SQL Database.

Event tables
Dynamic management views are very helpful tools when monitoring and troubleshooting current
activity, but if you are trying to research issues that occurred in the past, dynamic management views
cannot help with that because they provide information about current activity. To help investigate
issues that occurred in the past and are no longer occurring, SQL Database introduced two catalog
views in the master database, named sys.database_connection_stats and sys.event_log. These event
tables, as they are commonly referred to, collect and store database events that can be used to
troubleshoot past behavior.

The sys.database_connection_stats view provides a summary of database connections, both

successful connections and failed connections. The sys.event_log view contains the details of connec-
tivity-related events. Together these views can be used to troubleshoot database activity, including
failed connections, terminated connections, throttled connections, and deadlocks. Both of these
views exist in the master database and can be queried using your tool of choice, including SQL Server
Management Studio, SQL Server Data Tools, or the SQL Database management portal.

280 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

Programming the Service Management REST API
The ability to monitor the health of services like SQL Database is essential when using them for
production workloads. In the previous section, you monitored SQL Database using the Microsoft
Azure management portal, Microsoft Azure Service Dashboard, SQL Database management por-
tal, and the SQL Database dynamic management views. Using these GUIs to manage SQL Database
can be easy to get started, but automating the management of frequently repeated tasks becomes
important as you get more comfortable with SQL Database and your applications mature. In this sec-
tion, you will learn how to automate management of repeated SQL Database tasks using the Service
Management REST API.

Note The Azure PowerShell cmdlets can also be used to effectively automate the
management of SQL Database. See Chapter 2 for detailed information on downloading,
installing, and using the PowerShell cmdlets for Microsoft Azure SQL Database.

The Service Management API lies at the core of all the services in Microsoft Azure. The Service
Management API can be used to create new SQL Database servers and databases, manage the SQL
Database irewall rules, and even reset the administrator password. This API is based on HTTP and
REST, is publicly accessible, and can be used by any device or platform that can issue HTTP requests.
SQL Database APIs can be grouped into three major categories: APIs for managing SQL Database
servers, APIs for managing databases, and APIs for managing server-level irewall rules.

To use the Service Management API, you must authenticate and be authorized to manage the
Microsoft Azure subscription. You can authenticate using an X.509 v3 certiicate (referred to as a
management certiicate) or using OAuth 2.0 with Microsoft Azure Active Directory. To authenticate
with a management certiicate, you must either have a management certiicate that is already added
to your Microsoft Azure subscription or create a new X.509 v3 certiicate to use as a management
certiicate.

Follow these steps to create a new management certiicate:

1. Launch the Developer Command Prompt as an administrator. An easy way to do this is to

press the Windows key, type Developer Command Prompt, right-click on the Developer
Command Prompt result that is displayed, and click Run As Administrator in the toolbar at the
bottom of the screen. This will launch the Developer Command Prompt as an administrator.

2. Type makecert -sky exchange -r -n “CN=Microsoft Azure Service Management

Certiicate” -pe -a sha1 -len 2048 -ss My “<ile-path>\MicrosoftAzureService-
ManagementCertiicate.cer”, and press Enter. This will create a new X.509 v3 certii-
cate, add it to your personal certiicate store, and save your certiicate in a ile named
MicrosoftAzureServiceManagmentCertiicate.cer in the folder you speciied.

CHAPTER 9 Monitoring and management 281

 Note Replace <ile-path> with the path to the folder where you want your new X.509
certiicate saved.

Now that you have created a new X.509 v3 certiicate to use for your Microsoft Azure management
certiicate, you need to upload it to your Microsoft Azure subscription.

To upload your management certiicate to Microsoft Azure, follow these steps:

1. If you closed the Microsoft Azure management portal since the last procedure, log in to the
Microsoft Azure management portal at https://manage.windowsazure.com. This brings you
to the main portal page showing ALL ITEMS.

2. Click SETTINGS at the bottom of the vertical navigation pane on the left.

3. Click the Management Certiicates link at the top of the page to display your management
certiicates.

4. Click the Upload button at the bottom of the page to display the Upload A Management
Certiicate dialog, as shown in Figure 9-16.

FIGURE 9-16 The Upload A Management Certiicate dialog in the Microsoft Azure management portal

5. Click the folder icon, and locate the MicrosoftAzureServiceManagementCertiicate.cer ile you
created in the previous procedure.

282 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 6. Click the check mark in the lower right corner to upload your management certiicate. Once
the upload is inished, your management certiicate will be displayed in the list of manage-
ment certiicates, as shown in Figure 9-17.

FIGURE 9-17 The list of management certiicates in the Microsoft Azure management portal

You have now created an X.509 v3 certiicate and uploaded it to your Microsoft Azure
subscription’s management certiicates. With the certiicate in place, you can authenticate to the
Microsoft Azure Service Management API and use the API to manage SQL Database.

In the following procedure, you will create a console application that makes HTTP requests to the
Service Management API to create a database. The console application code shown in Listing 9-2
retrieves your management certiicate from your local certiicate store by the thumbprint of the
certiicate. It then builds an HttpWebRequest for the Service Management REST API, adds the
management certiicate to the request, and executes the request asynchronously. The results and
response for the request are written to the console once the request has completed.

LISTING 9-2 The console application code using the Microsoft Azure Service Management REST API

using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Net;
using System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates;
using System.Text;

CHAPTER 9 Monitoring and management 283

 namespace AzureServiceManagementApi
{
class Program
{
static void Main()
{
var subscriptionId = "<subscription-id>";
var certThumbprint = "<certificate-thumbprint>";
var serverName = "<server-name>";
var databaseName = "<database-name>";

var certificateStore = new X509Store(StoreName.My, StoreLocation.CurrentUser);
certificateStore.Open(OpenFlags.ReadOnly);
X509Certificate2Collection certs = certificateStore.Certificates.Find
(X509FindType.FindByThumbprint, certThumbprint, false);

if (certs.Count == 0)
{
Console.WriteLine
("Couldn't find the certificate with thumbprint:" + certThumbprint);
return;
}

certificateStore.Close();

var request = (HttpWebRequest)HttpWebRequest.Create(new Uri(
"https://management.core.windows.net:8443/" +
subscriptionId +
"/services/sqlservers/servers/" + serverName + "/databases"));

request.Method = "POST";
request.ClientCertificates.Add(certs[0]);
request.ContentType = "application/xml";
request.Headers.Add("x-ms-version", "2012-03-01");

var sb = new StringBuilder("<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"utf-8\"?>");
sb.Append("<ServiceResource xmlns=\"http://schemas.microsoft.com/windowsazure\">");
sb.AppendFormat("<Name>{0}</Name>", databaseName);
sb.Append("<Edition>Web</Edition>");
sb.Append("<MaxSizeGB>1</MaxSizeGB>");
sb.Append("<CollationName>SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS</CollationName>");
sb.Append("</ServiceResource>");

var formData = UTF8Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(sb.ToString());
request.ContentLength = formData.Length;

using (var postStream = request.GetRequestStream())
{
postStream.Write(formData, 0, formData.Length);
}

Console.WriteLine("Creating Database: " + databaseName);

284 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 try
{
RequestState state = new RequestState();
state.Request = request;
IAsyncResult result = request.BeginGetResponse(RespCallback, state);
}
catch (WebException ex)
{
var error = new StreamReader(ex.Response.GetResponseStream()).ReadToEnd();
Console.WriteLine("Error: " + error);
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
Console.WriteLine("Error: " + ex.Message);
}
Console.ReadKey();
}

public static string EncodeToBase64String(string original)
{
return Convert.ToBase64String(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(original));
}

private static void RespCallback(IAsyncResult result)
{
var state = (RequestState)result.AsyncState;
var request = state.Request;

var response = (HttpWebResponse)request.EndGetResponse(result);

var statusCode = response.StatusCode.ToString();
var reqId = response.GetResponseHeader("x-ms-request-id");

Console.WriteLine("Creation Return Value: " + statusCode);
Console.WriteLine("RequestId: " + reqId);
}
}

public class RequestState
{
const int BufferSize = 4096;
public StringBuilder RequestData;
public byte[] BufferRead;
public WebRequest Request;
public Stream ResponseStream;
public Decoder StreamDecode = Encoding.UTF8.GetDecoder();

public RequestState()
{
BufferRead = new byte[BufferSize];
RequestData = new StringBuilder(String.Empty);
Request = null;
ResponseStream = null;
}
}
}

CHAPTER 9 Monitoring and management 285

 To create a console application that creates a new SQL Database using the Service Management
API, follow these steps:

1. Launch Visual Studio 2013 as an administrator. From the Windows start screen, you can either
scroll through the tiles to ind it or just type visual studio 2013 to run an app search. Right-
click on the Visual Studio 2013 tile or result, and click Run As Administrator in the toolbar at
the bottom of the screen. This will launch Visual Studio 2013 as an administrator.

Note Running Visual Studio 2013 as an administrator is required because the

console application needs to get a certiicate from the local certiicate store to
authenticate with the Microsoft Azure Service Management API. To debug the
console application as an administrator, you need to run Visual Studio as an
administrator.

2. Click the FILE menu, and then choose New | Project to display the New Project dialog.

3. On the left of the New Project dialog, expand Templates, Visual C# and choose Console
Application.

4. Name the solution and project AzureServiceManagementApi, and choose any desired
location, as shown in Figure 9-18.

FIGURE 9-18 Creating a new console application in Visual Studio 2013

286 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 5. Replace the template code in the Program.cs with the code shown earlier in Listing 9-2, and
change the values of the variables at the top as follows:

a. Replace <subscription-id> with your Microsoft Azure subscription Id. This can be found
under Settings | Subscriptions in the Microsoft Azure management portal.

b. Replace <certiicate-thumbprint> with the thumbprint of your management certiicate.

This can found under Settings | Management Certiicates in the Microsoft Azure
management portal.

c. Replace <server-name> with the name of the server that was assigned when you created
your SQL Database server.

d. Replace <database-name> with WineCloudDbMgmtApi. This is the name of the

database that will be created by the console application using the Service Management
API.

6. Press F5 or click Debug | Start Debugging. This opens the console application and creates the
database, as shown in Figure 9-19.

FIGURE 9-19 Creating a database in SQL Database using the Service Management API

You have successfully created a SQL Database using the REST-based Microsoft Azure Service
Management API in a console application. You can verify your database was created using the
Microsoft Azure management portal by inding your new database in the SQL Database server
that you used in the previous procedure. In addition to creating databases, you can create, update,
delete, and view SQL Database resources, including servers, databases, and irewall rules. For more
information on the available Service Management APIs for SQL Database, visit http://msdn.microsoft.
com/en-us/library/gg715283.aspx.

CHAPTER 9 Monitoring and management 287

Summary
This chapter introduced you to monitoring SQL Database using graphical user interfaces and tools
like the Microsoft Azure management portal, Microsoft Azure Service Dashboard, and SQL Database
management portal. You also peeked inside the operations and performance of your SQL Database
using dynamic management views and functions, and SQL Database event tables. Services you intend
to use in production applications must provide monitoring capabilities, and Microsoft Azure SQL
Database provides numerous monitoring options.

You then automated the management of your SQL Database using the Service Management APIs.
The Service Management APIs are a collection of REST web APIs that enable you to programmatically
manage your services in Microsoft Azure. These REST APIs are central to Microsoft Azure man-
agement and provide the foundation for graphical management tools like the Microsoft Azure
management portal, and even command-line interfaces like the Microsoft Azure PowerShell cmdlets.
As your applications mature and you move toward production, you identify frequently repeated op-
erations that are great candidates for automating using the Service Management API (or PowerShell).
It’s important to automate these processes to save time and reduce human error.

This chapter introduced you to SQL Database monitoring and management capabilities, and it
provided a foundation for you to build upon. Now you can dig deeper into monitoring SQL Database
by creating your own monitoring queries using DMVs and DMFs. You can also further explore Service
Management REST APIs (as well as the PowerShell cmdlets covered in Chapter 2) that enable you to
automate management of SQL Database servers, database, irewall rules, and more.

288 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

CHAPTER 10

Building cloud solutions

— Leonard Lobel

A t the very beginning of this book, back in Chapter 1, we introduced you to the concept of cloud
computing. We began by describing the Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service
(PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS) acronyms. We also explained that Microsoft Azure SQL
Database in particular, is delivered as a platform—that is, it is a PaaS offering. With each successive
chapter, you then explored different focus areas of the SQL Database platform. And now that you
have arrived at the last chapter of the book, we present you with an end-to-end treatment for build-
ing a cloud solution on top of SQL Database. By “end-to-end,“ we mean a stack of layered compo-
nents, where each layer is concerned with its own area of responsibility, and collectively, they work
together to furnish a feature-complete application.

In this chapter, we show you how to combine SQL Database with other components to produce
your own complete SaaS solution. In other words, you will learn how to build layers on top of SQL
Database to deliver a ready-to-use application that runs completely in the cloud on Microsoft Azure.
The solution you will create in this chapter builds on the sample WineCloudDb database we’ve been
using to demonstrate throughout this book, and it includes a website that allows users to place orders
through their browser, and a mobile app that allows users to manage the wines in the database from
their Microsoft Windows Phone device.

You will build the application layer by layer, from the bottom up, starting from the database
level and working your way up to the user interface (UI). The complete solution stack is shown in
Figure 10-1.

Here is a high-level overview of the tasks you will perform in this chapter:

■ Start with an existing Microsoft Azure SQL Database.

• Create a WineCloudDb database with Wine and Customer data.

■ Create a new SQL Server Database project.

• Import the database schema from WineCloudDb into a new SQL Server database
project. This will enable you to use SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT) to work in ofline mode,
disconnected from SQL Database.

289
 Windows
Browser
Phone

Website
ASP.NET MVC ASP.NET Web API

Data Access Layer

Microsoft Azure Entity Framework

SQL Database

Stored Procedures
Tables

FIGURE 10-1 The complete solution is composed of these distinct application layers.

■ Extend the database design in the database project.

• Add a new column to the Wine table.

• Create a new Order table.

• Create stored procedures to control how data in the Order table can be inserted, updated,
or deleted.

• Deploy the ofline database project changes back to Microsoft Azure SQL Database.

■ Create a data access layer (DAL).

• Use the Entity Framework (EF) to manage all database connections and commands.

• Design an Entity Data Model (EDM) to conigure how EF interacts with the tables and
stored procedures in the database.

290 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 ■ Create an ASP.NET website:

• Build a Model-View-Controller (MVC) Web application, which users can access with any
browser to place orders.

• Create a Web API to expose create, retrieve, update, and delete (CRUD) operations for
wines in the database.

■ Create a Windows Phone 8 app with the Windows Phone Software Development Kit (SDK).

• Build a mobile app that communicates with the Web API to implement a wine catalog,
which users can use to view, add, modify, and delete wines with their Windows Phone 8
device.

You will build all of these pieces as separate but related projects inside a single Microsoft Visual
Studio solution.

So many choices
This chapter presents a complete, multitiered cloud solution, using SQL Database on the back
end. Several Microsoft technologies are readily available to achieve this—it is by no means nec-
essary to implement your cloud solution using the particular technologies we chose to use here.

You will create a data access layer using the Entity Framework, but another .NET data-access
technology (such as traditional ADO.NET) might be a perfectly suitable alternative, depending
on the scenario. Although you will create the website with the ASP.NET Model-View-Controller
(MVC) framework, you can certainly choose to do so using standard ASP.NET web forms with
.aspx pages. And for the web service, you will use the increasingly popular ASP.NET Web API to
implement Representational State Transfer (REST) protocol services, although other service plat-
forms such as Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) with Windows Communication Foundation
(WCF), WCF Data Services (which also offers quick and easy REST services over EF), or WCF RIA
(Rich Internet Application) Services, and others can be used as well.

The reason we chose these particular technologies is to keep a potentially overwhelming

scenario as simple as possible. Our goal with this single chapter is for you to learn the basic
layered architecture of a inished solution, using technologies that can be leveraged as quickly
and easily as possible. The Entity Framework manages all database connections, commands,
and readers for you automatically, and it provides ready-to-use data-access objects instan-
taneously. For the website, ASP.NET MVC can help you build more maintainable and testable
applications than traditional web forms development with .aspx pages. And with Web API,
Visual Studio scaffolding features make it virtually effortless to expose a REST-based web service
over EF with full CRUD support.

CHAPTER 10 Building cloud solutions 291

 That said, we strongly encourage you to explore alternatives for creating your own cloud
solutions over SQL Database. The MVC framework has emerged as an extremely popular plat-
form for building websites, but traditional ASP.NET web forms (using .aspx iles) is by no means
obsolete, and still carries several notable advantages over MVC that should not be overlooked.
Likewise, the Web API has been rapidly gaining popularity for creating lightweight REST-based
web services, but you can also consider building your own Microsoft Azure cloud service to host
full-ledged WCF, WCF Data Services, or WCF RIA Services. To create your own cloud service in
Visual Studio, you need to download and install the Microsoft Azure SDK for .NET from
http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/downloads.

Regardless of which particular technologies you choose, however, the core concepts of
multiple tiers and layered design presented in this chapter are the same.

Creating the SQL Database

To get started, you will use SSDT inside Visual Studio to quickly create a WineCloudDb database
similar to the one you’ve used throughout this book. As shown in Listing 10-1, the database will just
contain a Wine and Customer table and a few rows of data, but you will soon extend this design with
additional columns, tables, and stored procedures to fully support the solution.

LISTING 10-1 Script to create the WineCloudDb database

CREATE TABLE Wine(

WineId int IDENTITY PRIMARY KEY,
Name nvarchar(50) NOT NULL,
Category nvarchar(15) NOT NULL,
Year int);

CREATE TABLE Customer(

CustomerId int IDENTITY PRIMARY KEY,
FirstName nvarchar(50) NOT NULL,
LastName nvarchar(50) NOT NULL,
FavoriteWineId int,
CONSTRAINT FK_Customer_Wine FOREIGN KEY (FavoriteWineId) REFERENCES Wine(WineId));

SET IDENTITY_INSERT Wine ON;

INSERT Wine (WineId, Name, Category, Year) VALUES
(1, ‘Chateau Penin’, ‘Bordeaux’, 2008),
(2, ‘McLaren Valley’, ‘Cabernet’, 2005),
(3, ‘Mendoza’, ‘Merlot’, 2010),
(4, ‘Valle Central’, ‘Merlot’, 2009);
SET IDENTITY_INSERT Wine OFF;

SET IDENTITY_INSERT Customer ON;

INSERT Customer (CustomerId, FirstName, LastName, FavoriteWineId) VALUES
(1, ‘Jeff’, ‘Hay’, 4),
(2, ‘Mark’, ‘Hanson’, 3),
(3, ‘Jeff’, ‘Phillips’, 2);
SET IDENTITY_INSERT Customer OFF;

292 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

To create the WineCloudDb database, follow these steps:

1. Start Visual Studio 2013.

2. If the SQL Server Object Explorer is not visible, click the VIEW menu and choose SQL Server
Object Explorer.

3. In the SQL Server Object Explorer, right-click SQL Server and choose Add SQL Server to display
the familiar Connect To Server dialog.

4. In the Connect To Server dialog, do the following:

a. For Server Name, type <servername>.database.windows.net. This is the fully qualiied

name to the SQL Database server, where <servername> should be replaced by the name
assigned to your server.

b. For Authentication, select SQL Server Authentication from the drop-down list. (SQL
Database does not support Windows Authentication.)

c. For Login and Password, type the user name and password you assigned the server when
you created it.

d. Click the Connect button. The server now appears as a collapsed node in the SQL Server
Object Explorer.

5. Expand the server node in the SQL Server Object Explorer.

6. Expand the server’s Databases node.

7. If a previous version of WineCloudDb is present from work you did in an earlier chapter, delete
it now by doing the following:

a. Right-click the existing WineCloudDb database, and choose Delete.

b. Click OK to conirm.

9. Right-click the Databases node, and choose Add New Database.

10. Type WineCloudDb, and press Enter. The new database now appears in the SQL Server
Object Explorer.

11. Right-click the WineCloudDb database, and choose New Query to open a new query window.

12. Type the code shown in Listing 10-1 into the query window (or paste it in from the listing ile
downloaded from the book’s companion website).

13. Press Ctrl+Shift+E to execute the script (or press the play button icon in the query window’s
toolbar).

14. Close the query window. (It isn’t necessary to save the changes.)

CHAPTER 10 Building cloud solutions 293

Extending the SQL Database
Until now, you’ve used SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT) inside of Visual Studio 2013 to work with SQL
Database in a connected fashion. Using SSDT for connected development is similar to using SQL
Server Management Studio (SSMS), and working connected certainly carries a convenience factor
when all you need to do is query or tweak something quickly on a live server. However, this is not the
preferred way to develop databases using SSDT. The proper way to build databases with SSDT is by
working ofline in a disconnected fashion, using SQL Server Database projects. With this approach,
you can rely on the deinition of the database living inside of a Visual Studio project (rather than the
database itself) where it can be preserved, protected, and versioned using source code control (SCC).

In this chapter, you will start with the pre-existing SQL Database in the cloud that you just created
using connected SSDT, and import its schema deinition into a new SQL Server database project. Then
you will continue developing the database using disconnected SSDT—that is, by working with the
ofline project and deploying changes incrementally to the live SQL Database.

Creating a new solution

Visual Studio projects are contained inside a Visual Studio solution, so you’ll start by creating an
empty solution. Then you’ll import the database design from SQL Database into a new SQL Server
Database project, the irst of several projects that you will create for the solution. Once the project
is created, you will extend the WineCloudDb database design it by adding more columns, tables,
and stored procedures. Then you will deploy the updated design by publishing the project back SQL
Database in the cloud.

To create the new solution, follow these steps:

1. In Visual Studio 2013, click the FILE menu, then choose New | Project to display the New
Project dialog.

2. On the left of the New Project dialog, expand Templates, Other Project Types, and choose
Visual Studio Solutions.

3. Select the Blank Solution template, name the solution WineCloudSolution, and choose any
desired location for the solution as shown in Figure 10-2.

4. Click OK to create the solution.

The Solution Explorer now shows the new WineCloudSolution. (If the Solution Explorer is not
visible, click the VIEW menu and choose Solution Explorer.) Now that you have an empty solution,
you’re ready to create a new SQL Server Database project.

294 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 FIGURE 10-2 Creating a new blank solution

Creating a SQL Server Database project

With a SQL Server Database project, you can develop your database with no connection whatsoever
to SQL Server, SQL Database, or the Internet. A SQL Server Database project is a Visual Studio project
that contains individual declarative Transact SQL (T-SQL) source-code iles that collectively deine
the complete structure of a database. Because the database deinition is maintained this way inside
a Visual Studio project, it can be preserved and protected with a source-code control (SCC) system
(such as Team Foundation Server or Git), just like the artifacts in any other type of Visual Studio
project. Furthermore, SSDT provides the (localdb) SQL Server instance that can be used to test your
database project before deploying it back to a live server.

There are several ways to create a SQL Server Database project. You can start with an empty
project, design a database structure from the ground up inside the project, and then publish the
entire structure to a new SQL Database. Or, if you already have an existing SQL Database (such as
the WineCloudDb database in our scenario), you can import the database into the project. In the
next several procedures, you will create a new project and then import the WineCloudDb database
structure into the project.

To create the SQL Server Database project, follow these steps:

1. Right-click WineCloudSolution in Solution Explorer, and choose Add | New Project to display
the Add New Project dialog.

2. On the left side of the New Project dialog, expand Installed and choose SQL Server.

3. Select the SQL Server Database Project template, and name the project WineCloudDb (it’s
usually a good idea to name the project after the database), as shown in Figure 10-3.

CHAPTER 10 Building cloud solutions 295

 FIGURE 10-3 Creating a new SQL Server Database project

4. Click OK to create the project and add it to the solution.

Your solution now has a single database project, but there are no items deined in the project yet.

Setting the target platform

One of the advantages of SQL Server Database Projects is that you can design databases that work
with different versions of SQL Server (including SQL Server 2005, 2008, 2008 R2, and 2012) and
Microsoft Azure SQL Database. In the project properties, you can set the target platform to specify
the particular version of SQL Server you intend to deploy the project to.

By choosing a target platform, you are directing Visual Studio to validate the project and verify
that the database design is compatible with that particular version. The validation occurs in real
time—as you modify the project, Visual Studio constantly checks your design in the background and
raises errors if you attempt to do something that is not supported by the speciied target platform.
(Chapter 3 discusses important differences between Microsoft Azure SQL Database and on-premises
versions of SQL Server.)

When you create a new SQL Server Database project, the target platform is set to SQL Server 2012
by default. So before making any changes to the database project, it is a good idea to set the target
platform to let Visual Studio know that you intend to deploy the project to Microsoft Azure SQL
Database rather than on-premises SQL Server 2012.

To set the project’s target platform switch to SQL Database, follow these steps:

1. Right-click the WineCloudDb project in Solution Explorer, and choose Properties. At the top of
the Project Settings tab, notice that the Target Platform is set to SQL Server 2012.

296 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 2. Click the Target Platform drop-down list, and choose Windows Azure SQL Database, as shown
in Figure 10-4. (Note that this is the old name for what has since been rebranded as Microsoft
Azure SQL Database.)

FIGURE 10-4 Changing the database project’s target platform

3. Click the FILE menu, and choose Save Selected Items (or press Ctrl+S).

With this setting in place, you can work with the project secure in the knowledge that Visual Studio
will alert you if you attempt to do something that is not compatible with SQL Database speciically.
Now it’s time to import the WineCloudDb database into the project.

Importing from SQL Database into the project

Importing the database populates the project with all the T-SQL source iles that completely deine
the existing WineCloudDb database structure—in this case, the Wine and Customer tables you
created with the code in Listing 10-1. It’s easy to do this with the Import Database dialog.

To import the WineCloudDb database from SQL Database into the project, follow these steps:

1. Right-click the WineCloudDb project in Solution Explorer, and choose Import | Database to
display the Import Database dialog, as shown in Figure 10-5.

CHAPTER 10 Building cloud solutions 297

 FIGURE 10-5 The Import Database dialog

2. Beneath Source Database Connection, click the New Connection button to display the
Connection Properties dialog.

3. For Server Name, type the complete host name for the SQL Database server. As usual, this is
the server name randomly assigned when you created the server, followed by
.database.windows.net.

4. Choose Use SQL Server Authentication, and type the user name and password you previously
assigned to the server.

5. Click the drop-down list beneath the Select Or Enter A Database Name radio button, and
select the WineCloudDb database. The Connection Properties dialog should now appear as
shown in Figure 10-6.

6. Click OK to close the Connection Properties dialog and return to the Import Database dialog.

7. Click Start. It takes just a few moments for Visual Studio to examine the database and discover
all the objects it contains, as shown in Figure 10-7.

298 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 FIGURE 10-6 The Connection Properties dialog

FIGURE 10-7 Importing the WineCloudDb SQL Database into the WineCloudDb SQL Server
Database project

8. Click Finish.

CHAPTER 10 Building cloud solutions 299

 In the Solution Explorer, notice that the project now has a dbo folder, which is the schema under
which the imported objects are contained. If you expand the dbo folder, you will ind a Tables folder,
and beneath that folder, you will ind one .sql ile for each table imported from the database. (You
should see a Customer.sql and Wine.sql iles in the Tables folder.) You can now edit these iles, which
essentially means that you can continue designing the database completely ofline. Then, whenever
you wish, you can deploy the revised design back to SQL Database in the cloud.

Adding a new column to the Wine table

In the next procedure, you will use the SSDT table designer to create an additional column in the
Wine table. The Wine table already has WineId, Name, Category, and Year columns, but to use it as a
catalog for placing orders, it will also need to have a Price column.

To create the new Price column in the Wine table, follow these steps:

1. In Solution Explorer, expand the dbo folder, and then expand the Tables folder beneath dbo.

2. Right-click the Wine.sql ile, and choose View Designer (or just double-click the Wine.sql ile).
This opens the designer in a split-screen view; the top half of the designer displays a grid that
shows all the columns, and the bottom half displays the T-SQL code that creates the table with
those columns.

3. In the grid at the top of the designer, click in the Name cell in the empty row at the bottom of
the grid.

4. Type Price in the Name cell, and then press Tab to advance to the Data Type cell.

5. Type money in the Data Type cell, and then press Tab.

6. Clear the Allow Nulls check box, and then press Tab. This means that SQL Database will not
permit null values when storing rows in the table; each wine will have to have a price.

7. Type 0 in the Default cell. This is necessary because the Wine table already contains rows of
data. Because null values are not permitted in the Price column, this default value will assign
a price of 0 to each existing row in the table when you deploy the new design back to SQL
Database.

8. Click the FILE menu, and choose Save Wine.sql (or press Ctrl+S).

The table designer should now appear as shown in Figure 10-8.

300 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

FIGURE 10-8 Adding new columns to the Wine table using the table designer

Tip In this procedure, you applied a change to the design grid on top, and Visual Studio
automatically updated the T-SQL code on the bottom. However, the table designer sup-
ports bi-directional editing. So you can also apply your changes by editing the T-SQL code
directly on the bottom, and Visual Studio will automatically update the design grid on the
top. You will use this technique shortly when you add the Order table to the database in an
upcoming procedure.

You had to assign default values for the Price column because the Wine table already contains
data, and the table has been designed not to permit null values in this new column. Thus, a default
must be established at this point because some value needs to be assigned to the Price column in the
existing rows. However, once the new table is deployed and the existing rows are updated with the
default values, you might want to remove the default value assignment from the table design so that
new rows added in the future would be required to supply non-NULL values for Price.

Deploying the project to Microsoft Azure SQL Database

The Publish Database dialog lets you deploy a SQL Server Database project to a real database. The
publish process invokes a schema compare operation, which examines the structure of both the
source project and target database and generates a change script—a set of T-SQL statements that
modiies the database to match the project.

CHAPTER 10 Building cloud solutions 301

 In the next procedure, you will use the Publish Database dialog to deploy the change you made to
the project (adding the new Price column in the Wine table) back to SQL Database in the cloud.

To deploy the project, follow these steps:

1. Right-click the WineCloudDb project in Solution Explorer, and choose Publish to display the
Publish Database dialog, as shown in Figure 10-9.

FIGURE 10-9 The Publish Database dialog

2. Click the Edit button to the right of the Target Database Connection to display the familiar
Connection Properties dialog. Supply the connection information to the WineCloudDb
database as you’ve done before:

a. For Server Name, type the complete host name for the SQL Database server (the server
name followed by database.windows.net).

b. Choose Use SQL Server Authentication.

c. Type the user name and password you previously assigned to the server.

d. Click the drop-down list beneath the Select Or Enter A Database Name radio button, and
select the WineCloudDb database (if not already selected by default).

3. Click OK to close the Connection Properties dialog. The Publish Database dialog should now
appear as shown in Figure 10-10.

4. Click the Save Proile As button, type WineCloudDb, and click Save. This saves the connection
information you just entered to a ile named WineCloudDb.publish.xml so that you won’t need
to reenter it every time you deploy again in the future.

302 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 FIGURE 10-10 The Publish Database dialog after supplying target database connection information

5. Click the Publish button to start the deployment process.

Tip You can click the Generate Script button instead of clicking Publish. This will
also invoke the schema compare operation and generate the change script for
the deployment. But rather than executing the change script, Visual Studio will
open it in a new query window. This gives you the opportunity to view the script
so that you can see exactly what actions will be taken. Then you can choose to
execute the script as-is, edit it, or save it to be executed later.

During the deployment process, Visual Studio displays the progress and status in the Data Tools
Operations window. Figure 10-11 shows the Data Tools Operations window once the deployment
completes successfully.

FIGURE 10-11 Deployment status is displayed in the Data Tools Operations pane

CHAPTER 10 Building cloud solutions 303

 The Wine table in the database now includes the new Price column, but all the wine prices are 0
because you established a default value of 0 on the Price column in the project. In the next procedure,
you will use the SQL Server Object Explorer to update the Wine table and assign prices in each row.

To set the wine prices, follow these steps:

1. If the SQL Server Object Explorer is not visible, click the VIEW menu and choose SQL Server
Object Explorer.

2. In the SQL Server Object Explorer, expand the SQL Server node.

3. Beneath the SQL Server node, expand the server node for the SQL Database (the one with
your server name followed by .database.windows.net).

4. Expand the Database node.

5. Expand the WineCloudDb database node.

6. Expand the Tables node.

7. Right-click the dbo.Wine table node, and choose View Data. This opens a new window to four
rows for the wines added in Listing 10-1, all of which have a price of 0 because of the default
value you assigned to the Price column when you added it to the table.

8. Click in the Price cell on the irst row, and change the value from 0 to 34.90 (or just make up
any price).

9. Repeat the previous step for each of the three remaining rows, changing the Price column
in those rows from 0 to 48.50, 42.00, and 52.00 (or, again, assign any ictitious values). Your
screen should appear similar to the one shown in Figure 10-12.

FIGURE 10-12 Using the SQL Server Object Explorer to edit prices in the Wine table

304 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

Creating the Order table
The next thing to do is create an Order table so that users can place orders to purchase wine.
Typically, you would also have an order detail table so that a single order can be placed for multiple
wines. However, you will stop with the Order table to keep the scenario as simple as possible; in this
application, only one type of wine (in any quantity) can be purchased with each order.

In the next procedure, you will return to the database project to create the Order table, and then
deploy the project once again to SQL Database. This demonstrates the iterative development cycle
you follow when designing databases with a SQL Server Database project in Visual Studio:

■ Make the database changes ofline in a SQL Server Database project.

■ Deploy the changes to SQL Database via a publish process. This generates and executes a
change script based on a schema compare operation between the project and the database.

To create the Order table, follow these steps:

1. In Solution Explorer, expand the dbo folder.

2. Beneath the dbo folder, right-click the Tables folder and choose Add | Table.

3. Name the table Order.sql, and click Add to open the table designer. The designer starts with
a single integer column named Id that is already deined as the table’s primary key.

4. Add the OrderId column:

a. Click in the Name cell, and change the Id column to OrderId.

b. In the Properties window, expand Identity Speciication and change the (Is Identity)
property from False to True. (If the Properties window is not visible, click the VIEW menu
and choose Properties Window.) When you insert new orders into the table, this tells SQL
Database to automatically assign incrementing integer values for this column in each new
row.

5. Add the OrderedOn column by doing the following:

a. Type OrderedOn in the Name cell beneath OrderId, and press Tab to advance to the Data
Type cell.

b. Type datetime2(7) in the Data Type cell.

c. Deselect Allow Nulls.

6. Add the remaining columns using the code window instead of the table schema grid by
completing the following steps:

a. Click in the code window beneath the table schema grid to place the text cursor
immediately before the closing parenthesis character.

CHAPTER 10 Building cloud solutions 305

 b. Type the following code for the remaining columns (and notice how the designer updates
the table schema grid as you type):

,CustomerId int NOT NULL

,WineId int NOT NULL
,Quantity int NOT NULL
,UnitPrice money NOT NULL
,Price money NOT NULL
,AddedOn datetime2 NOT NULL DEFAULT SYSDATETIME()
,UpdatedOn datetime2 NULL

The CustomerId and WineId columns are foreign keys to the Customer and Wine tables,
respectively, so the last step in designing the Order table is to establish foreign-key relationships on
these columns. Doing so will ensure that an order cannot be placed for customers or wines that don’t
actually exist.

To create the foreign-key relationship between the Order and Customer tables, follow these steps:

1. In the upper right area of the table designer, right-click Foreign Keys and choose Add New
Foreign Key.

2. Name the new foreign key FK_Order_Customer. (It is best practice to assign foreign-key
names that indicate which tables participate in the relationship.) This generates an incomplete
FOREIGN KEY clause in the T-SQL code window at the bottom of the designer.

3. Edit the FOREIGN KEY clause in the T-SQL code window to read FOREIGN KEY (CustomerId)
REFERENCES Customer(CustomerId).

Next, repeat the same steps to create the foreign-key relationship between the Order and Wine
tables:

1. In the upper right area of the table designer, right-click Foreign Keys and choose Add New
Foreign Key.

2. Name the new foreign key FK_Order_Wine.

3. Edit the second FOREIGN KEY clause added in the T-SQL code window at the bottom of the
designer to read FOREIGN KEY (WineId) REFERENCES Wine(WineId).

4. Click the FILE menu, and choose Save Order.sql (or press Ctrl+S).

The completed design for the Order table should now appear as shown in Figure 10-13.

306 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

FIGURE 10-13 The completed Order table design

Creating stored procedures for the Order table

The Order table design is complete. But you won’t want to allow applications to insert, update, or
delete rows directly in the table. Instead, you will want to create stored procedures to control access
to the table. This approach lets you protect the table against storing data that is invalid according
to custom business rules. For example, there is nothing preventing a row in this table from storing a
negative number in the Quantity column or an invalid amount in the UnitPrice and Price columns. Nor
is there any assurance that new rows added to the table will be assigned the current date and time in
the AddedOn column, or that existing rows updated in the table will be assigned the current date and
time in the UpdatedOn column.

Creating stored procedures to facilitate access to the table protects the database against storing
invalid data and ensures that critical business calculations and validation rules cannot be bypassed. So
rather than allowing direct access to the table, client applications will be given indirect access to the
tables via stored procedures that apply whatever rules you choose to enforce. In a sense, this estab-
lishes a “service layer“ over the tables in the database. In the next several procedures, you will create
three stored procedures for the Order table to ensure that the following rules are in place:

■ The Quantity column in every row is always assigned a positive number greater than zero.

■ The UnitPrice column in every row is always derived from the current price of the wine
speciied by the WineId column.

■ The Price column in every row is always calculated as the result of multiplying Quantity
and Price.

CHAPTER 10 Building cloud solutions 307

 ■ For new rows, the AddedOn column is always assigned the current date and time on the
database server.

■ For updated rows, the UpdatedOn column is always assigned the current date and time on the
database server, and the original AddedOn column is never overwritten.

■ Orders less than one year old cannot be deleted.

The stored procedures that enforce these rules are shown in Listing 10-2 (insert), Listing 10-3
(update), and Listing 10-4 (delete):

LISTING 10-2 The InsertOrder stored procedure

CREATE PROCEDURE InsertOrder

@OrderedOn datetime2,
@CustomerId int,
@WineId int,
@Quantity int
AS

-- Don’t permit zero or negative numbers for Quantity

IF @Quantity < 1
THROW 50000, ‘Quantity must be 1 or more’, 1;

-- Derive unit price from Wine table

DECLARE @UnitPrice money = (SELECT Price FROM Wine WHERE WineId = @WineId);

-- Ensure the specified Wine ID exists

IF @@ROWCOUNT = 0
THROW 50000, ‘The specified wine was not found’, 1;

-- Calculate total price

DECLARE @Price money = @Quantity * @UnitPrice;

-- Use the current date and time for AddedOn

DECLARE @AddedOn datetime2 = SYSDATETIME();

INSERT INTO [Order]

(OrderedOn, CustomerId, WineId, Quantity, UnitPrice, Price, AddedOn)
VALUES
(@OrderedOn, @CustomerId, @WineId, @Quantity, @UnitPrice, @Price, @AddedOn);

-- Return the new OrderId

SELECT OrderId = SCOPE_IDENTITY();

LISTING 10-3 The UpdateOrder stored procedure

CREATE PROCEDURE UpdateOrder

@OrderId int,
@OrderedOn datetime2,
@CustomerId int,

308 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 @WineId int,
@Quantity int
AS

-- Don’t permit zero or negative numbers for Quantity

IF @Quantity < 1
THROW 50000, ‘Quantity must be 1 or more’, 1;

-- Derive unit price from Wine table

DECLARE @UnitPrice money = (SELECT Price FROM Wine WHERE WineId = @WineId);

-- Ensure the specified Wine ID exists

IF @@ROWCOUNT = 0
THROW 50000, ‘The specified wine was not found’, 1;

-- Calculate total price

DECLARE @Price money = @Quantity * @UnitPrice;

-- Use the current date and time for UpdatedOn

DECLARE @UpdatedOn datetime2 = SYSDATETIME();

-- Update the row

UPDATE [Order]
SET
OrderedOn = @OrderedOn,
WineId = @WineId,
Quantity = @Quantity,
UnitPrice = @UnitPrice,
Price = @Price,
UpdatedOn = @UpdatedOn
WHERE
OrderId = @OrderId;

LISTING 10-4 The DeleteOrder stored procedure

CREATE PROCEDURE DeleteOrder

@OrderId int
AS

-- Don’t permit orders less than one year old to be deleted

DECLARE @DaysOld int =
(SELECT DATEDIFF(DAY, OrderedOn, SYSDATETIME()) FROM [Order] WHERE OrderId = @OrderId);

-- Ensure the specified Order ID exists

IF @@ROWCOUNT = 0
THROW 50000, ‘The specified order was not found’, 1;

-- Ensure orders less than one year old are never deleted
IF @DaysOld < 365
THROW 50000, ‘Orders less than one year old cannot be deleted’, 1;

-- Delete the row

DELETE FROM [Order]
WHERE OrderId = @OrderId;

CHAPTER 10 Building cloud solutions 309

 In the InsertOrder stored procedure, the incoming @Quantity parameter is validated to ensure that
a number greater than zero is supplied. The @UnitPrice variable is then assigned the unit price of the
speciied wine by querying the Wine table against the @WineId parameter. After testing
@@ROWCOUNT to ensure that the speciied wine exists, the @Price variable is calculated by
multiplying @Quantity with @UnitPrice. The @AddedOn variable is then declared and assigned the
current date and time by the SYSDATETIME function. An INSERT statement then inserts the new row
with a combination of values supplied by input parameters and established by logic in the stored
procedure. Finally, a SELECT statement returns the new primary key value assigned for the OrderId of
the new row, which is obtained with the SCOPE_IDENTITY function.

The UpdateOrder stored procedure performs the same validation on the incoming @Quantity
parameter to ensure that an existing order’s quantity is not changed to a zero or negative number. It
also repeats the same pricing logic to recalculate @UnitPrice and @Price if an existing order’s quantity
or wine selection is changed. (Certainly, the common pricing code can be maintained in a single user-
deined function that is shared by both the InsertOrder and UpdateOrder stored procedures.) The
@UpdatedOn variable is then declared and assigned the current date and time by the SYSDATETIME
function. An UPDATE statement then updates the row (using the current date and time in
@UpdatedOn for the UpdatedOn column). Notice that the AddedOn column is not affected by the
UPDATE statement, which ensures that the date and time stored in AddedOn at the time the row was
created can never be modiied.

In the DeleteOrder stored procedure, the number of elapsed days since OrderDate is calculated
and stored in the @DaysOld variable. The @@ROWCOUNT function is then tested to verify that the
speciied order actually exists, and then the @DaysOld variable is tested to ensure that the date of
the existing order is at least one year (365 days) ago. Finally, a DELETE statement deletes the speciied
order from the table.

More Info There are other techniques besides stored procedures that can protect tables
from invalid data. For example, you can deine a check constraint on the Quantity column
to ensure that negative numbers are not permitted, instead of testing for that condition in
a stored procedure. You can also create a trigger to check that an order is at least one year
old before permitting its row to be deleted. In general however, triggers are best avoided,
because they introduce nondeterministic behavior. (That is, when multiple triggers are de-
ined, the order in which they ire is not guaranteed, which can lead to subtle bugs that are
dificult to troubleshoot.) Using stored procedures is often the best approach, because they
provide a clean layer over tables in which you can consolidate all your custom logic (such
as calculating prices, and controlling the date and time values assigned to the AddedOn
and UpdatedOn columns, as shown here).

To create the three stored procedures, follow these steps:

1. In Solution Explorer, right-click the dbo folder and choose Add | New Folder.

2. Name the new folder Stored Procedures, and press Enter.

310 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 Note This folder would have been created automatically earlier just like the
Tables folder was, if there had been at least one stored procedure in the database
at the time you imported it into the project.

3. Right-click the Stored Procedures folder, and choose Add | Stored Procedure.

4. Name the new ile for the stored procedure InsertOrder.sql, and click Add.

5. Replace the template code generated automatically by Visual Studio with the code shown
earlier in Listing 10-2. Your screen should appear similar to Figure 10-14.

FIGURE 10-14 Adding a new stored procedure to the SQL Server Database project

6. Right-click the Stored Procedures folder, and choose Add | Stored Procedure.

7. Name the new ile for the stored procedure UpdateOrder.sql, click Add, and replace the
template code with the code shown earlier in Listing 10-3.

8. Right-click the Stored Procedures folder, and choose Add | Stored Procedure.

9. Name the new ile for the stored procedure DeleteOrder.sql, click Add, and replace the
template code with the code shown earlier in Listing 10-4.

10. Click the FILE menu, and choose Save All (or press Ctrl+Shift+S).

CHAPTER 10 Building cloud solutions 311

 Now that you have added a new table and three new stored procedures in the project, you are
ready to deploy those changes back to SQL Database in the cloud. You will do this using the same
publish procedure you followed for the previous deployment. This time, however, you won’t need to
re-enter all the connection information, because you saved that information to a proile when you
deployed the last time.

To redeploy the project, follow these steps:

1. Right-click the WineCloudDb project in Solution Explorer, and choose Publish to display the
Publish Database dialog. (See Figure 10-10 earlier in the chapter.)

2. Click the Load Proile button toward the bottom of the dialog.

3. Double-click the WineCloudDb.publish XML ile to load the connection information that you
saved during the previous deployment.

4. Click the Publish button to start the deployment process.

As when you deployed the irst time, Visual Studio generates and executes the change script that
updates the database in the cloud to match the database design in the project. This time, that means
the WineCloudDb SQL Database is updated with the new Order table and its foreign-key relationships
to the Customer and Wine tables, as well as the three new stored procedures for inserting, updating,
and deleting rows in the Order table. Refresh the WineCloudDb database node in SQL Server Object
Explorer to verify that the database now contains the new objects published from the project.

The database design is complete, and you are now ready to start working on the solution’s data
access layer.

Creating the data access layer

The data access layer (DAL) is the component that serves as the interface between the back-end
database and the rest of an application. You have many options for building a DAL, and in the
upcoming sections, you will build a DAL using the Entity Framework (EF). Today, EF has emerged
as Microsoft’s recommended technology for implementing a data access layer. EF, which was irst
released as part of .NET 3.5 SP1 in 2008, raises the level of abstraction far beyond that which is
offered by ADO.NET. Entity Framework is an object relational mapper (ORM) that can dramatically
boost your developer productivity in many scenarios, but it is by no means the only viable choice for
a DAL.

Of course, the Microsoft .NET Framework includes ADO.NET, which provides a set of classes you
can use to build a data access layer. Since the very irst version of .NET released in 2002, develop-
ers have had two choices for working with ADO.NET. One option is to use the raw ADO.NET objects,
which include connections, commands, and readers. This approach requires a lot of manual effort,
because you need to write explicit code to connect to the database, issue commands to request data,
transfer the requested data from readers into objects, track changes made to those objects, and
then inally issue commands to send the modiied objects back to the database. Although somewhat

312 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

antiquated and primitive, this technique is by no means obsolete. Indeed, despite its power and
popularity, Entity Framework does carry a substantial amount of overhead, which can result in de-
graded performance in large-scale scenarios, compared to the speed of direct database access with
raw ADO.NET.

The second conventional ADO.NET choice is to use the Dataset object in conjunction with data
adapters. Visual Studio provides a graphical Dataset designer that automatically generates a lot of
code for you. The generated code conigures the connection and command objects, and it maps indi-
vidual data elements (tables and columns) between the database and the strongly typed in-memory
Dataset object. Once populated, a Dataset can track its own changes, making it relatively easy for you
to push updated data back to the database. This approach provides a layer of abstraction that relieves
you from a great deal of the manual effort required to achieve the same result using the raw ADO.
NET classes. However, the Dataset is not a true business object or entity. Today, therefore, you won’t
ind many scenarios where it makes sense to use the Dataset rather than EF when building the DAL in
a new .NET application.

The overriding point is that it’s far more important that you have a properly implemented DAL in
place than which approach you actually decide to take. Certainly, every case is different, but in many
common line-of-business (LOB) scenarios, you will ind EF more than well suited for the task. EF dra-
matically simpliies data access by abstracting away the underlying database connection, command,
and reader objects and providing a robust set of object services capable of materializing objects
retrieved from querying the database, tracking them in memory, and pushing their changes back to
the database. EF can also dynamically generate SELECT statements to query the database and INSERT,
UPDATE, and DELETE statements to update the database, or it can provide the same object services
equally well by invoking stored procedures that let you maintain total control over how queries are
executed and updates are processed. There are also many more advanced mapping possibilities in EF
that are far beyond the scope of this chapter, such as the ability to model inheritance, entity-splitting,
table-splitting, and many-to-many relationships.

Introducing the Entity Data Model

At the heart of the Entity Framework lies the Entity Data Model (EDM), and Visual Studio provides a
rich graphical designer that makes it easy to manage and maintain the EDM. In Chapter 8, “Design-
ing and tuning for scalability and high performance,“ you built an application using the “code-irst“
approach. With code-irst EF, the EDM is present, but not visible. Instead, the code-irst approach
infers the EDM from the entity classes that you write yourself in code, but the EDM is still there. In
this section, you will use the database-irst approach to create an .edmx ile in Visual Studio from the
WineCloudDb database. This will introduce you to the EDM designer in Visual Studio, which makes it
easy to customize the model in many ways, particularly for mapping stored procedures.

The EDM consists of three parts. First there is the storage schema, which describes the physical
structure of the database. Then there is the conceptual schema, which describes classes for the busi-
ness entities used in the application. Finally, you have the mapping schema, which deines how the
storage and conceptual schemas relate to one another. These three pieces (collectively called the
model’s metadata) are self-contained in a single .edmx ile inside your project.

CHAPTER 10 Building cloud solutions 313

 Once you create the EDM, your applications and services concern themselves only with the
conceptual schema, while EF handles all the data access for you dynamically at runtime. This means
that when you need to retrieve data into objects, EF igures out and executes the appropriate T-SQL
SELECT queries (or stored procedures) and populates ready-to-use objects from the results automati-
cally. Then, when it comes time to save modiied objects, EF similarly igures out and executes the ap-
propriate T-SQL INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE statements (or stored procedures) needed to persist the
changes back to the database. EF is able to perform this magic because it knows how the conceptual
business entities map to the physical database structure from the metadata in the EDM.

The EDM you will create in the next section deines a simple one-to-one mapping between the
conceptual and storage schemas. However, you should be aware that much more complex mappings
are possible. For example, a single entity in the conceptual schema might be mapped to multiple
tables in the database, in which case EF will join the tables together at query time and split the
updates across them when saving changes. Conversely, multiple entity types might be mapped to a
single table in the database, in which case EF distinguishes each row in the table based on a designat-
ed column that identiies the entity type. This type of mapping can also be used to deine inheritance
in the conceptual schema.

Creating the Data Access Layer project

For quick-and-dirty prototyping, it’s quite common to create the EDM right inside of the application
that consumes it. In production scenarios, however, the proper practice is to contain the EDM ile in its
own class library (DLL) project so that it can be easily shared by multiple applications. All you need to
do is reference the DLL assembly containing the EDM and add the appropriate database connection
string to the application’s coniguration ile (either web.conig or app.conig).

In this section, you will create the EDM in its own class library project for an easily shareable
DAL. Then you will reference the DAL class library from a separate ASP.NET MVC project. As you will
soon see, it is easy to copy the connection string from the class library’s app.conig ile into the MVC
project’s web.conig ile to access the database.

More Info Another commonly recommended practice is to implement the repository

pattern. The repository is another layer you can add to your solution that manages the DAL
directly, while the entire rest of the application interacts only with the repository. In this
manner, only the repository layer knows that you are using EF (or something else) as the
DAL, and consequently, only the repository layer needs to be changed if you ever decided
to switch between using EF, raw ADO.NET, or any other DAL option. Although you will not
also be implementing a repository pattern in this solution, keep in mind that doing so in
your production applications will make it extremely easy to switch between different DAL
options with minimal disruption to the rest of the solution, if the need ever arises.

314 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 To create the DAL class library project, follow these steps:

1. Right-click WineSolution in Solution Explorer, and choose Add | New Project to display the Add
New Project dialog.

2. On the left side of the New Project dialog, expand Installed and choose Visual C#.

3. Select the Class Library template, and name the project WineCloudModel.

4. Click OK to create the project and add it to the solution.

5. The Class1.cs ile created automatically by Visual Studio can be deleted, so right-click it,
choose Delete, and click OK.

You are now ready to create the Entity Data Model in the WineCloudModel project.

Creating an Entity Data Model

To create the Entity Data Model (EDM), follow these steps:

1. Right-click the WineCloudModel project in Solution Explorer, and choose Add | New Item to
display the Add New Item dialog.

2. On the left side of the Add New Item dialog, expand Installed, Visual C#, and choose Data.

3. Click the ADO.NET Entity Data Model item, and name the ile WineModel.edmx, as
shown in Figure 10-15.

FIGURE 10-15 Creating a new Entity Data Model

4. Click Add to start the Entity Data Model Wizard.

5. On the Choose Model Contents page, the Generate From Database option is already
selected by default, so just click Next.

6. On the Choose Your Data Connection page, click the New Connection button.

CHAPTER 10 Building cloud solutions 315

 7. If the Choose Data Source dialog appears, click Microsoft SQL Server, and then click Continue.

8. In the familiar Connection Properties dialog, supply the same connection information to
connect to the WineCloudDb database that you’ve used throughout this chapter:

a. For Server Name, type <servername>.database.windows.net (replacing <servername>

with the server name that was assigned when you created your server).

b. Choose Use SQL Server Authentication, and type the user name and password you
assigned to the server.

c. This time, be sure and select the Save My Password check box. Otherwise, the password
will not be saved for the connection string at runtime in step 9.

d. In the drop-down list beneath the Select Or Enter A Database Name radio button, select
the WineCloudDb database.

e. Click OK to close the Connection Properties dialog.

9. Choose Yes to include sensitive data (namely, the password) in the connection string. The
Entity Data Model Wizard should now appear as shown in Figure 10-16.

Important In production applications, it is not acceptable to include the

password in the connection string (which gets stored in the application’s
coniguration ile). Instead, you should choose No and then assign the password
in C# code at runtime.

FIGURE 10-16 Setting the data connection in the Entity Data Model Wizard

316 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

10. Click Next to display the Choose Your Version page.

11. The desired version, Entity Framework 6.0 should already be selected by default, so just click
Next to display the Choose Your Database Objects And Settings page.

12. Expand Tables, dbo, and then select the check boxes for the Customer, Order, and Wine tables.
(Don’t include the _RefactorLog table in the model; this table was generated automatically and
is used only by the refactoring features of the SQL Server Database Project.)

13. Expand Stored Procedures and Functions, dbo, and then select the dbo check box to select
the InsertOrder, UpdateOrder, and DeleteOrder stored procedures in the database.

14. Deselect the last check box in the dialog, Import Selected Stored Procedures And Functions
Into The Entity Data Model. The Entity Data Model Wizard should now appear as shown in
Figure 10-17.

More Info This step isn’t strictly necessary, but it does prevent needless
overhead in the EDM. Deselecting this check box means that you never intend
to call the InsertOrder, UpdateOrder, and DeleteOrder stored procedures directly
via EF, and it’s therefore not necessary for the wizard to create function imports
and complex types (these are essentially strongly-typed wrappers around stored
procedure calls and the schema results returned by those stored procedure calls).
Instead, you will shortly map these stored procedures to the Order entity so that
EF calls them automatically whenever it needs to save changes to the Order table
in the database.

FIGURE 10-17 Selecting tables and stored procedures to be imported into the Entity Data Model

CHAPTER 10 Building cloud solutions 317

 15. Click Finish.

Note After clicking Finish, you might receive multiple Security Warning messages for
running the template. (This refers to the special template used internally by the EDM
designer to automatically generate code.) If you receive this warning, just click OK. (You
can also select the check box to prevent the template security warning from appearing
again repeatedly.)

Visual Studio adds the necessary EF references to the project, generates the Entity Data Model,
and then displays it in the EDM designer as shown in Figure 10-18.

FIGURE 10-18 The generated Entity Data Model displayed in the EDM designer

The Wine, Customer, and Order entities displayed in the EDM designer represent classes that
correspond to tables of the same name that were discovered in the database. Similarly, each of the
entity classes has properties that are mapped to columns of the same name in each table. Further-
more, notice that each entity has navigation properties and associations that are based on foreign-key
relationships discovered between the tables in the database:

■ The Wine entity has the navigation properties Customers and Orders (both plural).

• In Listing 10-1, you established a foreign relationship between the Customer table’s
FavoriteWineId column and the WineId primary-key column in the Wine table. You deined
this column to allow nulls, meaning that some customers might not have a FavoriteWineId
value. Thus, the association between the entities is displayed graphically in the designer
by a connecting line, with a “0..1“ appearing on the Wine side (which indicates zero or one
favorite wines) and an asterisk (*) symbol (which indicates many) on the Customer side.
The Customers navigation property is on the “many“ side of this relationship, so all the

318 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 customers for a given favorite wine are accessible through that Wine entity’s Customers
navigation property.

• Later, you established a foreign-key relationship between the Order table’s WineId column
and the WineId primary-key column in the Wine table. You deined this column not to
permit nulls, meaning that every Order row must have a WineId value identifying the wine
that was ordered. Thus, the association between the entities is displayed graphically in the
designer by a connecting line, with a “1“ appearing on the Wine side (which indicates one
and only one wine) and an asterisk (*) symbol (indicating many) on the Order side. The
Orders navigation property is on the “many“ side of this relationship, so all the orders for a
given wine are accessible through that Wine entity’s Orders navigation property.

■ The Customer entity has navigation properties Wine (singular) and Orders (plural).

• The Wine property is on the “zero or one“ side of the customer’s favorite wine relationship,
so each customer’s favorite wine (if that customer has one) can be accessed through the
Customer entity’s Wine navigation property.

• You also established a foreign-key relationship between the Customer table’s OrderId
column and the OrderId primary-key column in the Order table. You deined this column
not to permit nulls, meaning that every Order row must have a CustomerId value iden-
tifying the customer that placed the order. Thus, the association between the entities is
displayed graphically in the designer by a connecting line, with a “1“ appearing on the
Customer side and an asterisk (*) symbol (indicating many) on the Order side. The Orders
navigation property is on the “many“ side of this relationship, so all the orders for a given
customer can be accessed through the Customer entity’s Orders navigation property.

■ The Order entity has the navigation properties Customer and Order (both singular).

• The Customer property is on the “one“ side of the order’s customer relationship, so each
order’s customer can be accessed through the Order entity’s Customer navigation property.

• Similarly, the Wine property is on the “one“ side of the order’s wine relationship, so each
order’s wine can be accessed through the Order entity’s Wine navigation property.

The Entity Data Model Wizard imported both tables and stored procedures. But unlike the tables,
which the wizard also maps to same-named entities in the conceptual model, stored procedures do
not get mapped automatically. So it’s still your job to map the three stored procedures (InsertOrder,
UpdateOrder, and DeleteOrder) to the Order entity in the model. By default (that is, if you don’t do
this), EF will simply generate direct T-SQL INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE statements when you save
changes to the Wine table, and you won’t get the added functionality (such as custom validation and
pricing logic) that is programmed into the stored procedures.

Recall that InsertOrder returns a single-row resultset with the new OrderId value assigned to the
new Order row. (See the SELECT statement at the bottom of Listing 10-2.) When you map this stored
procedure to the Order entity, you inform the EDM of the value it returns by deining result bindings.
This instructs EF to refresh new Order entity objects by “shoving“ the return value back into the
OrderId property of the memory-resident instance after performing an insert.

CHAPTER 10 Building cloud solutions 319

 To map the InsertOrder, UpdateOrder, and DeleteOrder stored procedures to the Order table,
follow these steps:

1. Right-click on the Order entity, and choose Stored Procedure Mapping. This displays the
Mapping Details window.

2. In the Mapping Details window, click <Select Insert Function>, expand the drop-down list,
and choose the InsertOrder stored procedure. The designer automatically maps the stored
procedure input parameters to the same-named entity properties, but you need to map the
OrderId value returned by the stored procedure back into the entity manually in the next step.

3. Beneath Result Column Bindings, click <Add Result Binding>, type OrderId, and press
Enter. The designer correctly maps this result column to the OrderId property.

4. Click <Select Update Function>, expand the drop-down list, and choose the UpdateOrder
stored procedure. Again, the stored procedure parameters get mapped automatically to the
same-named entity properties of the Order entity.

5. Click <Select Delete Function>, expand the drop-down list, and choose the DeleteOrder
stored procedure.

6. Click the FILE menu, and choose Save All (or press Ctrl+Shift+S).

Note Once again, click OK on any template Security Warning dialogs that
appear.

After completing this procedure, the Mapping Details window should appear as shown in
Figure 10-19.

FIGURE 10-19 The EDM designer Mapping Details window with stored procedures mapped to the Order entity

320 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 With the EDM design complete, the solution has a functioning EF-based data access layer. EF will
automatically handle database connections, generate queries, materialize and track objects, and call
stored procedures, and you don’t have to write any code to make it work!

Creating the website

With a functioning DAL in place, you’re ready to create the ASP.NET MVC website. This site will let
users place orders over the web using any browser. After building and testing the site locally in an
ASP.NET Web Application Project, you will deploy it to Microsoft Azure to run as a website in the
cloud.

Note This chapter presents a very simple application, which is just enough to demonstrate
how multiple components in a layered solution interact. In real-world scenarios, authenti-
cation and authorization must also be implemented; however, those details lie beyond the
scope of this chapter.

An MVC website works by examining the requested URL and determining which controller, and
which action on that controller, the request should be directed to. A controller is really just a class,
and an action is really just a method of that class. When the action method runs, it returns the view
that gets rendered as Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and JavaScript in the client browser. MVC
binds the view to a model that deines the data that gets supplied to the view.

The rules that govern how a URL maps to speciic controllers and actions are speciied in the MVC
application’s routing table. Default behavior (such as which controller and action is invoked when
none is speciied in the URL) is also conigured in the routing table. The default routing table for a
new MVC application speciies a default controller named Home with a default action named Index,
which means that the Index method of the HomeController class will be invoked for a URL that does
not specify a controller and action.

You will also use the “scaffolding“ template feature in Visual Studio to create the HomeController
class. This code-generation feature automatically creates several actions in the controller class, along
with individual views that correspond to each action. When used with Entity Framework, these scaf-
folded actions and views fully implement standard select, insert, update, and delete functionality for
any entity in the EDM.

Creating an ASP.NET web application project

To create the web application project, follow these steps:

1. Right-click WineSolution in Solution Explorer, and choose Add | New Project to display the Add
New Project dialog.

2. On the left side of the New Project dialog, expand Installed, Visual C#, and choose Web.

CHAPTER 10 Building cloud solutions 321

 3. Choose the ASP.NET Web Application template.

4. Name the project WineCloudWeb (as shown in Figure 10-20), and click OK.

FIGURE 10-20 Creating a new ASP.NET web application project

5. In the New ASP.NET Project dialog, choose the Empty template.

6. Select the MVC and Web API check boxes, as shown in Figure 10-21. This adds project
references to the MVC assemblies to support the website, as well as references to the Web API
assemblies for the REST services you will add later to support the mobile Windows Phone 8
app.

FIGURE 10-21 Selecting core references for MVC and Web API in a new empty ASP.NET web
application project

7. Click OK.

322 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 By choosing a combination of the Empty template with core MVC and Web API references, you
ensure the new project starts out completely fresh (without the extra sample-code baggage injected
by the other templates), but still references all the necessary assemblies to support the building of the
MVC website now and the Web API services (to support the Windows Phone 8 app) a bit later.

Referencing the data access layer

The “M“ in MVC stands for model. In this particular solution, the EDM in the WineCloudModel project
serves as the model for the MVC application. This means that the entity classes deined in the data
access layer are equally suitable as model classes in the user interface (UI) layer, which is a huge con-
venience factor when using MVC together with EF because it basically means you don’t need to worry
about the model at all. Instead, you can focus more on the “VC“ in MVC—that is, on designing views
and writing controller classes around the model.

Before the WineCloudWeb MVC application can use the EDM in the WineCloudModel project as
the model for the UI, two things need to be done:

■ The WineCloudWeb project must establish a reference to the WineCloudModel project.

■ The entity connection string must be copied from the WineCloudModel project to the
WineCloudWeb application.

You will perform both these tasks in the next two procedures. First, to reference the
WineCloudModel project from the WineCloudWeb project, follow these steps:

1. Expand the WineCloudWeb project in Solution Explorer to reveal its References node.

2. Right-click the References node, and choose Add Reference to display the Reference Manager
dialog.

3. Expand the Solution item on the left, and click the Projects tab beneath Solution. This allows
you to select from other projects in the solution to reference.

4. Select the WineCloudModel project check box, as shown in Figure 10-22.

FIGURE 10-22 Adding a reference from the ASP.NET Web application project to the DAL project

5. Click OK.
CHAPTER 10 Building cloud solutions 323
 Even though the EDM and DAL are in the WineCloudDb project, EF always looks in the
coniguration ile of the launching executable application or website at runtime to ind the entity
connection string, which in turn, contains the actual database connection string. When the EDM is
created in a class library project, as is the case here, the connection string is contained in the class
library project’s App.Conig ile. However, the connection string in App.Conig will never be found at
runtime, because a class library is a DLL ile with no entry point (that is, it can never be the launching
executable application).

In this solution, WineCloudWeb is the launching application, so EF will look inside its Web.conig
ile for the entity connection string whenever data access is required. If the connection string is not
present in Web.conig, EF won’t ind it at runtime and will throw an exception as a result. So you need
to perform a simple copy/paste operation to resolve the situation.

To copy the entity connection string and paste it into Web.conig, follow these steps:

1. Copy the connection string from App.Conig in the WineCloudModel project by doing the
following:

a. Expand the WineCloudModel project in Solution Explorer to reveal its App.Conig ile.

b. Double-click the App.Conig ile to open it.

c. Select the entire <connectionStrings> section. This should contain a single connection
named WineCloudDbEntities and include the surrounding <connectionStrings> and
</connectionStrings> tags.

d. Press Ctrl+C to copy the selected code to the clipboard.

2. Paste the connection string to Web.conig in the WineCloudWeb project by doing the
following:

a. Expand the WineCloudWeb project in Solution Explorer to reveal its Web.conig ile.

b. Double-click the Web.conig ile to open it.

c. Click to position the text cursor just after the <coniguration> element and just before the
<appSettings> element at the top of the ile.

d. Press Ctrl+V to paste the <connectionStrings> section copied to the clipboard.

3. Click FILE and choose Save Web.conig (or press Ctrl+S) to save the changes.

The WineCloudWeb project is now all set up to use the EDM deined in the WineCloudModel
project as the model in the MVC application.

Creating the user interface

In an MVC application, a user request gets routed to a particular action of a particular controller. The
action then returns the appropriate view for the request, which is rendered by the browser. When you
are building an MVC application together with Entity Framework, a special feature called scaffolding

324 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

provides a big head start by generating a controller with actions and corresponding views to facilitate
maintenance (select, insert, update, and delete) of any entity in the EDM.

In the next procedure, you will scaffold a new controller with views and actions for the Order
entity. As we mentioned earlier, the Home controller is the default controller if one is not speciied
on the URL. Therefore, you will name the controller HomeController (even though OrderController
is arguably a better name, given the controller’s purpose). By naming it HomeController, you won’t
need to specify anything in the URL to get to the Home controller’s Index action, and the default MVC
routing rules won’t need to be modiied.

To create the scaffolding for a new Home MVC controller with actions and views for the Order
entity, follow these steps:

1. Right-click the WineCloudModel project in Solution Explorer, and choose Build.

Important This project must be built before it can be used by other projects that
reference it. If you don’t irst build this project, you will encounter errors when
attempting to add the scaffolded views in this procedure, because they are based
on the EDM in the WineCloudModel project.

2. Right-click the Controllers folder in the WineCloudWeb project in Solution Explorer, and
choose Add | New Scaffolded Item.

3. In the Add Scaffold dialog, select MVC 5 Controller With Views, Using Entity Framework, as
shown in Figure 10-23.

FIGURE 10-23 The Add Scaffold dialog has several choices for creating a new MVC controller class.

4. Click Add.

CHAPTER 10 Building cloud solutions 325

 5. In the Add Controller dialog, do the following:

a. Change Default1 to Home so that the controller name is HomeController.

b. For Model Class, choose Order (WineCloudModel) from the drop-down list.

c. For Data Context Class, choose WineCloudDbEntities (WineCloudModel) from the

drop-down list.

d. Deselect the Reference Script Libraries and Use A Layout Page check boxes. The Add
Controller dialog should appear similar to Figure 10-24.

FIGURE 10-24 Adding an MVC 5 controller class, with automatically generated views for EF

e. Click Add.

Look at the WineCloudWeb project in the Solution Explorer, and take a moment to review what
Visual Studio just created for you. First open the HomeController.cs class that was added to the
Controllers folder. If you examine the code, you will notice several things:

■ The class inherits from the System.Web.Mvc.Controller base class, which is what makes this an
MVC controller class.

■ Several public methods that return an ActionResult object have been created. These are the
controller’s action methods. Based on a combination of the URL syntax of an incoming request
and the HTTP method used to issue the request (GET or POST), one of these action methods
will be called to handle the request.

■ Each action method is preceded by a comment line that indicates the type of HTTP request
(GET or POST) and URL syntax that the action method will handle:

• A GET request responds by selecting an order or list of orders.

• A POST request responds by creating a new order, modifying an existing order, conirming
the deletion of an existing order, or deleting an existing order.

326 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 ■ The action method signatures (their names and parameters) are expressed in a slash-delimited
format on the URL, following the controller name.

■ Each action method returns a view to satisfy the request. The actual view that gets returned is
based on the action and the model object returned in the action method’s ActionResult.

■ The irst action method is named Index, which matches the default action of Index when no
action is speciied in the URL with a GET request. Because the Home controller is also the
default controller, this Index method is the one that will be called if no controller and action
is speciied in the URL. This method retrieves all the orders in the database, along with each
order’s related customer and wine objects. It then returns a view that matches the action name
and a model object for the list of orders, which is the (same-named) Index view.

You can (and probably will) modify or extend the controller class to accommodate speciic
requirements of your application. For example, you can add and remove actions, or you can change
their behavior. For this project, the scaffolding has generated all the actions needed to support
viewing, adding, modifying, and deleting orders with the website, so the generated code is ready to
be used.

Next have a look at the Views folder in Solution Explorer. Expand the Views folder, and notice that
it now contains a Home subfolder. This is more of the convention-based approach that MVC takes:
things are found by name. Thus, views that serve the actions of a speciic controller are contained in
a subfolder beneath Views that is named after the controller. Expand the Home subfolder and you
will see several .cshtml iles. These are the view iles generated by the scaffolding, and there is one
for each of the Home controller actions. Again, by MVC naming convention, the view iles are named
after the action method of the controller:

■ Create.cshtml

■ Delete.cshtml

■ Details.cshtml

■ Edit.cshtml

■ Index.cshtml

With the model coming from the EDM in the WineCloudModel DAL project, and the views and
controllers generated by scaffolding, there is just a small amount of manual work needed to get this
MVC website up and running. Speciically, the generated Create and Edit views include HTML input
controls for every property of the Order entity, including properties you actually don’t want the user
to provide values for. Recall that logic in the InsertOrder (shown in Listing 10-2) and UpdateOrder
(shown in Listing 10-3) stored procedures are responsible for setting the AddedOn and UpdatedOn
properties to the current date and time, and that they calculate the UnitPrice and Price properties
based on the particular wine and quantity being ordered. The scaffolding logic is smart, but it’s not
smart enough to understand that you don’t want input ields for these four properties present in the
Create and Edit views. So it’s up to you to remove them yourself.

CHAPTER 10 Building cloud solutions 327

 To remove the undesired ields from the Create and Edit views, follow these steps:

1. Expand the Home folder beneath the Views folder of the WineCloudModel project in Solution
Explorer.

2. Double-click the Create.cshtml ile to open it.

3. Among the <div> elements for each Order property, ind and delete the four <div> elements
for the UnitPrice, Price, AddedOn, and UpdatedOn properties.

4. Double-click the Edit.cshtml ile to open it.

5. Repeat the same edit you just performed for Create.cshtml to delete the <div> elements for
UnitPrice, Price, AddedOn, and UpdatedOn.

6. Click the FILE menu, and choose Save All (or press Ctrl+Shift+S).

The MVC website is now ready for testing.

Testing the website locally

Get some satisfaction now, and try out the website. To run the application locally and enter a few test
orders, follow these steps:

1. Right-click the WineCloudWeb project in Solution Explorer, and choose Set As Startup Project.

2. Press F5 (or click the Internet Explorer play button in the toolbar) to launch the website in
Internet Explorer. As already explained, with no controller or action speciied in the URL, this
navigates to the Index view of the Home controller by default. This view displays a list of all
the orders in the system, which is empty at this time. The view also provides a Create New link,
which navigates to the Create view.

3. Click the Create New link to navigate to the Create view of the Home controller. The data
entry screen appears as shown in Figure 10-25.

FIGURE 10-25 Placing an order on the website

328 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 4. Type any date in the OrderedOn text box.

5. Select any customer from the CustomerId drop-down list.

6. Select Mendoza from the WineId drop-down list.

7. In the Quantity text box, type 2.

8. Click the Create button.

9. After the order is saved to the database, the browser redirects to the Index action of the
Home controller. This displays the list of orders, including the order you just placed, as shown
in Figure 10-26.

FIGURE 10-26 The conirmation page after placing the order

10. Just to get the feel for it, click Create New to enter another order or two. Also try out the Edit,
Details, and Delete links.

11. Close the browser when you’re done testing.

To suit your needs in a production scenario, you surely need to take this project much further.
Beyond obvious aesthetics, one of the many things you would still need to do on your own to cus-
tomize this project for a production application is to implement proper exception handling. If an error
occurs in SQL Database when you attempt to save an order, a DbUpdateException gets thrown on
the EF call to the SaveChanges method in the HomeController class. Because you haven’t written any
exception-handling code, Visual Studio will break on the error. When you press F5 to continue, the
browser will display the default (and rather unfriendly) unhandled error page, because you haven’t
designed a friendlier unhandled error page customized for your own application. The default error
page shows the underlying SqlException that was thrown by SQL Database. If the SqlException was
thrown because of a THROW statement in one of the validation checks inside the stored procedures,
the error page also shows the message text of the validation rule.

With no exception handling or client-side validations in place, it’s easy to prove that the validations
in the stored procedures embedded in the EDM are working as expected. You should simply
encounter an unhandled exception if you attempt to enter an invalid order. Again, of course, for a
production application, you need to implement a far more robust exception-handling strategy that
can distinguish between different types of errors, determine whether an error message is safe or
unsafe to display, and might also include additional logging, notiication, and navigation logic. You

CHAPTER 10 Building cloud solutions 329

 would also implement client-side validations so that the error never gets the chance to occur in the
irst place. But right here and now, you can just try and “crash“ the site to test the validations in the
stored procedures.

For example, if you try to create or update an order with a quantity value lower than 1, the
quantity validation in either the InsertOrder or UpdateOrder stored procedure will THROW an error. In
turn, you will receive an error page as shown in Figure 10-27.

FIGURE 10-27 The unhandled exception page for an error thrown by the stored procedure’s quantity validation

You can also test the logic in the DeleteOrder stored procedure that protects orders less than a
year old from being deleted. If you create a new order with an OrderedOn date more than one year
old, you will have no problem deleting it. But if you try to delete an order less than a year old, you will
receive an error page as shown in Figure 10-28.

330 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

FIGURE 10-28 The unhandled exception page for an error thrown by the stored procedure’s delete validation

Up to this point, you have been running the website locally, even though the local website has
been interacting with the live Azure SQL Database in the cloud. In the next section, you will deploy
the website to Microsoft Azure so that both the website and the database are running in the cloud.

Deploying the website to Microsoft Azure

After testing the website locally, you can deploy it to the cloud very easily. All you do is create a
Website on Microsoft Azure using the Microsoft Azure management portal and download the new
website’s publish settings. Then, any time and as often you wish, you can publish the project to the
website from right inside Visual Studio.

To create the website, follow these steps:

1. Log in to the Microsoft Azure portal at https://manage.windowsazure.com. This brings you to

the main portal page showing ALL ITEMS.

2. Click WEB SITES in the vertical navigation pane on the left.

3. Click the NEW button at the bottom of the page.

4. Click QUICK CREATE.

5. In the URL text box, type winecloudweb. This speciies that the website will be accessible
at http://winecloudweb.azurewebsites.net.

CHAPTER 10 Building cloud solutions 331

 Note This must be a globally unique name. Although we released the name
winecloudweb prior to publishing this book, there is still a good chance that
someone else might be using it at the time you are following along with this
procedure. In this case, just append something like your initials or choose some
other name that nobody else has chosen.

6. In the REGION drop-down list, choose the same (or nearest) region you selected for the
SQL Database. Keeping all the application components hosted in the same region maximizes
performance and avoids billing fees. (See Chapter 2, “Coniguration and pricing,” for more
information on pricing.) Your screen should appear similar to Figure 10-29.

FIGURE 10-29 Creating a new website on Microsoft Azure

7. Click CREATE WEB SITE. It takes just a few moments to create the website, and the portal
indicates that the website is running, as shown in Figure 10-30.

332 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 FIGURE 10-30 The Microsoft Azure portal shows that the winecloudweb website is up and running.

8. Click winecloudweb in the NAME column to display the dashboard page for the website.

9. Beneath Publish Your App, click the Download The Publish Proile link.

10. After a brief moment, the publish settings ile is generated and you are prompted to
open or save it, as shown in Figure 10-31.

FIGURE 10-31 Generating a publish proile for deploying a Microsoft Azure website

11. Click the drop-down portion of the Save button, and choose Save As.

CHAPTER 10 Building cloud solutions 333

 12. In the Save As dialog, navigate to the top-level folder of the WineCloudWeb project, and
click Save.

Using the proile you just downloaded, you can now deploy the project to the website from Visual
Studio. To do so, follow these steps:

1. Switch back to Visual Studio.

2. Right-click the WineCloudWeb project in Solution Explorer, and choose Publish to display the
Publish Web dialog, as shown in Figure 10-32.

FIGURE 10-32 The Publish Web dialog

3. Click Import.

4. In the Import Publish Proile dialog, click Browse.

5. Navigate to the top-level folder of the WineCloudOrderWeb project where you saved the
publish proile in the previous procedure.

6. Double-click the winecloudweb.azurewebsites.net.PublishSettings ile.

7. Click OK. This advances to the Connection page, which gets populated automatically with
information loaded from the proile, as shown in Figure 10-33.

334 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 FIGURE 10-33 The Connection page is automatically populated with information from the proile.

8. Click Next to advance to the Settings page.

9. Click Next to advance to the Preview page.

10. Click Publish. Because of all the assemblies used by the project, it can take several minutes to
deploy the irst time. However, subsequent deployments will typically take only a few seconds.

Everything is now running in the cloud—not just the website, but the DAL, and SQL Database as
well. All of that is running on hardware you never need to manage, worry about, touch, or see. Go
and enjoy the beneits of having a complete multitiered solution hosted on Microsoft Azure. You can
reach it from any browser, anywhere, anytime.

Once deployed, Visual Studio automatically launches the browser to the website. By default, it
displays the Index view of the Home controller, which should show the same data you entered while
testing the website locally. This is because the local website used the WineCloudDb SQL Database
deployed on Microsoft Azure, and that’s the same database that the deployed website is now using.

To run the application from any browser on any machine, just navigate to http://winecloudweb.
azurewebsites.net (of course, you need to adjust this URL for the name you supplied when you created
the website, which will be different if the name winecloudweb has already been taken). Take some
time now and use the website to enter a few more orders, as you did earlier when you were testing
the site locally.

CHAPTER 10 Building cloud solutions 335

Creating the ASP.NET Web API services
With ASP.NET Web API, you can create web services that work very similarly to MVC web applications.
Just like MVC, a Web API service has a controller class with actions, and a lexible routing engine that
deines the rules and defaults to derive the speciic controller action that is invoked in response to a
URL request over HTTP.

Web API implements REST services, which are typically easier to create and more lightweight than
other types of services, such as SOAP-based services using WCF. (See the “So many choices“ sidebar
at the beginning of this chapter.) To facilitate data access over HTTP, REST services are mapped to
standard HTTP request verbs such that a GET request retrieves data, a POST request inserts data, a
PUT request updates data, and a DELETE request deletes data. The URL of the request is parsed by the
Web API runtime to determine which controller action to invoke.

For example, a GET request with a URL that ends with /api/Wine responds by returning all the
wines in the database, while the same GET request with a URL that ends with /api/Wine/5 returns
only a single wine with the WineId value of 5. The other HTTP verbs package additional information
for the request in the HTTP request header. This is information that is either impractical or impossible
to encode in the URL. For example, a PUT request with a URL that ends with /api/Wine/3 means that
a single wine with the WineId value of 3 is to be updated, while the actual data for the updated wine
(the updated name, category, year, and price) is embedded into the HTTP request header as a simple
dictionary of key value pairs.

Data is returned by Web API services as a string in JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) format.
Recall that when you create the project, you also chose to include the core assemblies for Web API.
(See Figure 10-21.) One of those assemblies is Newtonsoft.Json, which is a popular library for serial-
izing objects into JSON strings and deserializing JSON strings back into object instances. For a GET
request, the Web API calls into this library to serialize objects into a JSON-formatted string to return
to the client. The client, in turn, can also call into this library to deserialize the JSON-formatted string
received from the GET request into a live object on the client.

Like MVC website applications, Web API services are deined inside an ASP.NET Web Application
project, and you can certainly create another ASP.NET Web Application project to be used only for
Web API services. For simplicity, however, you will add the Web API services to the same ASP.NET
Web Application project you just created for the MVC website. The project already includes the core
assemblies for Web API (as you can see in Figure 10-21), so it is all ready to host Web API services in
addition to the MVC website; all you need to do is add a Web API controller class to the project.

Visual Studio provides a scaffolding feature similar to the one you used earlier to generate the
MVC controller with actions and views. In the case of a new Web API controller, the scaffolding fully
supports CRUD operations against any entity in the EDM. As you will see, the default routing engine
rules maintain separation between MVC and Web API controllers based on the presence or absence
of /api in the URL. Requests without /api in the URL are directed to MVC controllers, and those with
/api in the URL are routed to Web API controllers.

336 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

Adding a Web API controller
In the next procedure, you will scaffold a new controller with CRUD actions for the Wine entity. Then,
in the inal section of the chapter, you will consume this controller’s Web API services from a Windows
Phone 8 app.

Note If you experience déjà vu as you create and test the Web API controller, it might be
because you recently completed Chapter 8. You created and tested the very same Wine
Web API controller in Chapter 8 while learning how to handle transient SQL Database
errors with Entity Framework.

To create the scaffolding for a new Wine Web API controller with CRUD actions for the Wine entity,
follow these steps:

1. Right-click the Controllers folder in the WineCloudWeb project in Solution Explorer, and
choose Add | New Scaffolded Item.

2. In the Add Scaffold dialog, select Web API 2 Controller With Actions, Using Entity Framework,
as shown in Figure 10-34.

FIGURE 10-34 The Add Scaffold dialog has several choices for creating a new Web API controller class.

3. Click Add.

4. In the Add Controller dialog, do the following:

a. Change Default1 to Wine so that the controller name is WineController.

b. For Model Class, choose Wine (WineCloudModel) from the drop-down list.

c. For Data Context Class, choose WineCloudDbEntities (WineCloudModel) from the

drop-down list. The Add Controller dialog should appear similar to Figure 10-35.

CHAPTER 10 Building cloud solutions 337

 FIGURE 10-35 Adding a Web API 2 controller class, with automatically generated actions for EF

d. Click Add.

Now take a look at what has been created for you. Open the WineController.cs class, and examine
the code that was generated. Notice the following:

■ The class inherits from System.Web.Http.ApiController, which is what makes this a Web API
controller class.

■ Several public action methods have been created. Based on the URL of an incoming request,
and the type of the incoming request, one of these action methods will be called.

■ Each action method is preceded by a comment line that indicates the type of HTTP request
and URL syntax that the action method will handle:

• A GET request responds by selecting a wine or list of wines.

• A POST request responds by inserting a new wine.

• A PUT request responds by updating an existing wine.

• A DELETE request responds by deleting an existing wine.

■ The action method signatures (their names and parameters) are expressed in a slash-delimited
format on the URL, following the controller name.

■ As indicated in the comment line above each method, the Web API routing engine prepends
/api to the action name in the URL. As we mentioned, this ensures isolation between HTTP
requests for an MVC controller (without /api in the URL) and HTTP requests for a Web API
control (with /api present in the URL).

There is one small additional step you need to take before you can start using this new Web API
controller. When the JSON result is received from the service, the JSON serializer attempts to serialize
all related entities that it discovers, which can result in circular references that cause errors. To avoid
this problem, the JSON serializer must be told to ignore circular references.

If you followed along with the procedures in Chapter 8, you might be wondering why this extra
measure must be taken, because it wasn’t necessary in that chapter when you created a Wine control-
ler just as you did now. The answer is the Order table, which is present in this chapter’s WineCloudDb

338 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

database but was not present in the database for Chapter 8. With the Order table present and related
to both the Wine and Customer tables, the possibility exists for Wine A to reference Order B, which
references Customer C, which then in turn references Wine A as Customer C’s favorite wine. Follow-
ing the references from that point results in an ininite loop that is short-circuited by telling the JSON
serializer not to attempt serializing the same object instance more than once.

To instruct the JSON serializer that circular references should be ignored, follow these steps:

1. Expand the App_Start folder of the WineCloudWeb project in Solution Explorer to reveal the
WebApiConig.cs ile.

2. Double-click the WebApiConig.cs ile to open it.

3. Add the following line of code to the bottom of the Register method:

config.Formatters.JsonFormatter.SerializerSettings.ReferenceLoopHandling =
Newtonsoft.Json.ReferenceLoopHandling.Ignore;

4. Click the FILE menu, and choose Save App_Start\WebApiConig.cs (or press Ctrl+S).

The Web API controller is now ready for testing.

Testing the Web API

To test out a few Web API service calls, follow these steps:

1. Press F5 (or click the Internet Explorer play button in the toolbar) to launch the website in
Internet Explorer. As usual, this displays the Index view of the Home controller.

2. Append the URL in the browser’s address bar with api/Wine, and press Enter. This executes
the GetWines action method in the WineController class and responds with the list of wines
from the WineCloudDb database. Internet Explorer’s default behavior asks if you would like to
save or open the results from the Web API call, as shown in Figure 10-36.

FIGURE 10-36 The browser prompts to open or save the Wine.json ile returned by the Wine API

3. Click Open to view the list of wines returned in the JSON results, as shown in Figure 10-37.
(If prompted for how to open this type of ile, click More Options and choose Notepad.)

CHAPTER 10 Building cloud solutions 339

 FIGURE 10-37 Viewing the Wine.json ile returned by the Wine API in Notepad

4. Back in the browser, append the URL in the browser’s address bar with api/Wine/2, and press
Enter. This executes the GetWine method on the WineController and responds with the record
for WineId 2.

5. Click Open to view the JSON response in Notepad. This time, the response includes just
the single requested wine.

At this point, you are running the Web API services locally, even though the local services are
interacting with the live Azure SQL Database in the cloud. In the next section, you will deploy
WineCloudWeb again so that the MVC website, Web API services, and the database are all running in
the cloud.

Deploying the Web API

With the new Web API controller class added to the project and tested, you are ready to deploy the
project to Microsoft Azure once again. Doing so will make the Web API accessible to the Windows
Phone 8 app that you will be building next. This is the same procedure you already performed earlier
in this chapter when you initially deployed the MVC website. But because the project has already
been previously deployed, this deployment is relatively much quicker than it was the irst time.

To deploy the updated project with the new Web API controller to Microsoft Azure, follow these
steps:

1. Right-click the WineCloudWeb project in Solution Explorer, and choose Publish to display
the Publish Web dialog. Because you already deployed this project earlier, the dialog opens
directly to the Preview page, ready to publish using the previous settings, as shown in
Figure 10-38.

340 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 FIGURE 10-38 The Publish Web dialog

2. Click Publish. Within just a few moments, the project is deployed, and Visual Studio opens
a new browser window to the site on Microsoft Azure.

3. Verify that the deployed Web API services work properly by testing them just as you did
locally. Simply tweak the URL in the browser’s address bar with different /api/Wine requests,
and ensure the correct JSON results are returned in response.

Everything is now in place to support the Windows Phone 8 app, which will call into the Web API
services you just created.

Creating the Windows Phone application

The next and last piece of this solution is to build a native Windows Phone 8 app. This app will
consume the Web API services you created in the previous section to provide a wine catalog that
allows the user to view, create, edit, and delete wines in the database.

Installing the Windows Phone SDK 8.0

The irst step before building any Windows Phone 8 app is to install the Windows Phone SDK, if you
haven’t done so already.

The Windows Phone SDK contains everything you need to build Windows Phone 8 apps, including
a number of Visual Studio project templates designed speciically for a Windows Phone device. The
programming model is essentially Silverlight, meaning that if you have any Silverlight (or Windows
Presentation Foundation [WPF]) experience, you already possess the essential skills needed to quickly

CHAPTER 10 Building cloud solutions 341

 build useful Windows Phone apps. (If not, worry not; we’ll explain all the important parts of the
code.) The SDK also provides a phone emulator that integrates with Visual Studio to provide you with
the standard debugging experience, allowing you to set breakpoints, watch values, and single-step
through code running on the phone.

With the release of Visual Studio 2013, Microsoft made an important change in the way it ships this
SDK. Previously, the SDK was not included with Visual Studio, and a separate download was always
required. This remains true with earlier Visual Studio versions, but now Visual Studio 2013 includes
the SDK. However, as shown in Figure 10-39, the option to install the SDK is deselected by default. So
unless you have overridden this default at setup time by selecting the Windows Phone 8.0 SDK check
box, you will need to re-run setup now and select that check box. This means you will need access
to the original Visual Studio 2013 distribution media. You will also need to close Visual Studio before
installing the SDK. When you re-run setup, you will be prompted with the choices Modify, Repair, and
Uninstall. Choose Modify, select the Windows Phone 8.0 SDK check box, click UPDATE, and then click
Yes when the User Account Control dialog appears. Be prepared to wait for a while; the SDK has a
lengthy installation process.

Important If you are running Visual Studio 2013, it will not be suficient to ind and
download the SDK from Microsoft’s website. Doing so will install the SDK, but only for
Visual Studio 2012. If you don’t have Visual Studio 2012, the SDK will include the Visual
Studio 2012 shell with project templates for Windows Phone, but you still won’t have
Windows Phone templates in Visual Studio 2013. The only way to add the SDK to Visual
Studio 2013 is to re-run setup and select the check box.

FIGURE 10-39 By default, the Visual Studio 2013 Setup dialog does not select the Windows Phone 8.0 SDK

342 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

Creating the Windows Phone Project
With the SDK installed, you’re ready to create the Windows Phone project. As we mentioned already,
this is essentially a Silverlight application designed to run on the phone.

To create the Windows Phone project, follow these steps:

1. If you closed Visual Studio 2013 to install the Windows Phone 8.0 SDK, restart it now and
reopen WineCloudSolution.

2. Right-click WineCloudSolution in Solution Explorer, and choose Add | New Project to display
the Add New Project dialog.

3. On the left of the New Project dialog, expand Installed, Visual C#, and choose Windows
Phone.

4. Choose the Windows Phone App template, which is typically selected by default.

5. Name the project WineCloudPhone, and click OK, as shown in Figure 10-40.

FIGURE 10-40 Creating a new Windows Phone application project

6. Click OK.

Visual Studio creates the project, and you’re ready to start building the phone app.

Adding Json.NET
As we began explaining, this phone app will call the Web API services you recently created in
the WineCloudWeb ASP.NET Web Application project. Those services will return Wine entities on
the server as JSON-formatted strings to the client, so you will want to be able to access Json.NET
(the Newtonsoft.Json library) on the Windows Phone. This will let you easily deserialize the JSON
responses received from the service into Wine object instances on the phone.

CHAPTER 10 Building cloud solutions 343

 There is a special version of Json.NET available speciically for the Windows Phone. It can be
downloaded and referenced by the phone app very easily by using the NuGet Package Manager in
Visual Studio. To download and reference Json.NET, follow these steps:

1. Right-click the WineCloudPhone project in Solution Explorer, and choose Manage NuGet
Packages.

2. On the left, expand the Online tab and select nuget.org.

3. In the Search Online text box in the upper-right, type json.net (as shown in Figure 10-41)
and press Enter.

FIGURE 10-41 Downloading and adding a reference to Json.NET using the NuGet Package Manager

4. Click the Install button for Json.NET.

5. After Json.NET is installed, click Close to close the Manage NuGet Packages dialog.

With the Json.NET reference in place, it will be easy to deserialize JSON responses from the Web
API service in the phone app.

Creating the App’s main page

The Windows Phone SDK provides multiple templates for creating Windows Phone apps. Among
them is the Windows Phone Databound App template, which starts your new project off with all the
elements in place to support the Model-View-ViewModel (MVVM) pattern. MVVM has similarities
with MVC, where one of its differences is that it is stateful (MVVM retains state between requests)
rather than stateless (MVC does not retain state). MVVM certainly has its beneits, but this project will
use the basic Windows Phone App template. This is a minimal template that contains nothing more
than a basic main page that you will customize for the wine catalog.

344 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 The main page will have two panels, only one of which shall be made visible at any time,
programmatically. The app will present the complete list of wines in the irst panel and enable data
entry in controls laid out in the second panel.

Windows Phone apps have two iles per page: Extensible Application Markup Language (XAML),
and .NET (C# or Visual Basic) code-behind. As you will see, XAML has powerful binding capabilities.
XAML binding features greatly reduce the amount of code-behind you need to write. This is particu-
larly signiicant, because there are no scaffolding features in Visual Studio to build out the XAML as
there is to build out the HTML views in an MVC application. Listing 10-5 shows the Wine model class,
Listing 10-6 shows the XAML markup for the main page of the wine phone app, and Listing 10-7
shows the code-behind for the main page.

LISTING 10-5 The Wine.cs Windows Phone app model class

namespace WineCloudPhone
{
public class Wine
{
public int WineId { get; set; }
public string Name { get; set; }
public string Category { get; set; }
public int? Year { get; set; }
public decimal Price { get; set; }
}
}

LISTING 10-6 The MainPage.xaml Windows Phone app markup

<phone:PhoneApplicationPage
x:Class="WineCloudPhone.MainPage"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:phone="clr-namespace:Microsoft.Phone.Controls;assembly=Microsoft.Phone"
xmlns:shell="clr-namespace:Microsoft.Phone.Shell;assembly=Microsoft.Phone"
xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
mc:Ignorable="d"
FontFamily="{StaticResource PhoneFontFamilyNormal}"
FontSize="{StaticResource PhoneFontSizeNormal}"
Foreground="{StaticResource PhoneForegroundBrush}"
SupportedOrientations="Portrait" Orientation="Portrait"
shell:SystemTray.IsVisible="True"
Loaded=”PhoneApplicationPage_Loaded”>
<Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot" Background="Transparent">
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition Height="Auto"/>
<RowDefinition Height="*"/>
</Grid.RowDefinitions>

CHAPTER 10 Building cloud solutions 345

 <StackPanel x:Name="TitlePanel" Grid.Row="0">
<TextBlock Text="WINE CLOUD CATALOG" Style="{StaticResource PhoneTextNormalStyle}" />
<TextBlock Text="wines" Style="{StaticResource PhoneTextTitle1Style}" />
</StackPanel>
<Grid x:Name="ContentPanel" Grid.Row="1">
<StackPanel x:Name=”WineListPanel”>
<ListBox Height="500" x:Name="WineListBox" ItemsSource="{Binding}"
SelectionChanged="WineListBox_SelectionChanged">
<ListBox.ItemTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<StackPanel>
<TextBlock Text="{Binding Path=Name}" TextWrapping="NoWrap"
Style="{StaticResource PhoneTextExtraLargeStyle}"/>
<TextBlock Text="{Binding Path=Year}" TextWrapping="NoWrap"
Style="{StaticResource PhoneTextSubtleStyle}"/>
<TextBlock Text="{Binding Path=Category}" TextWrapping="NoWrap"
Style="{StaticResource PhoneTextSubtleStyle}"/>
</StackPanel>
</DataTemplate>
</ListBox.ItemTemplate>
</ListBox>
<Button x:Name="NewWineButton" Content="New" Width="120"
Click="NewWineButton_Click" />
</StackPanel>
<StackPanel x:Name=”WineDetailPanel” Visibility=”Collapsed”>
<TextBlock Text="NAME" />
<TextBox Text="{Binding Path=Name, Mode=TwoWay}" />
<TextBlock Text="YEAR" />
<TextBox Text="{Binding Path=Year, Mode=TwoWay}" />
<TextBlock Text="CATEGORY" />
<TextBox Text="{Binding Path=Category, Mode=TwoWay}" />
<TextBlock Text="PRICE" />
<TextBox Text="{Binding Path=Price, Mode=TwoWay}" />
<StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal" HorizontalAlignment="Center">
<Button x:Name="DeleteButton" Content="Delete" Width="120"
Click="DeleteButton_Click" />
<Button x:Name="SaveButton" Content="Save" Width="120"
Click="SaveButton_Click" />
<Button x:Name="CancelButton" Content="Cancel" Width="120"
Click="CancelButton_Click" />
</StackPanel>
</StackPanel>
</Grid>
</Grid>
</phone:PhoneApplicationPage>

LISTING 10-7 The MainPage.xaml.cs Windows Phone app code-behind

using Microsoft.Phone.Controls;
using Newtonsoft.Json;
using System;
using System.Net;

346 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

using System.Windows;
using System.Windows.Controls;

namespace WineCloudPhone
{
public partial class MainPage : PhoneApplicationPage
{
private const string WebApiUrl = @”http://winecloudweb.azurewebsites.net/api/Wine”;

private Wine _wine;

public MainPage()
{
InitializeComponent();
}

private void PhoneApplicationPage_Loaded(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)

{
LoadWines();
}

private void LoadWines()

{
var wc = new WebClient();
wc.Headers[“Accept”] = “application/json”;
wc.DownloadStringCompleted += new DownloadStringCompletedEventHandler(WinesLoaded);

// GET api/Wine
wc.DownloadStringAsync(new Uri(WebApiUrl));
}

private void WinesLoaded(object sender, DownloadStringCompletedEventArgs e)

{
if (e.Error != null)
{
MessageBox.Show("Error: " + e.Error.Message);
return;
}

var wines = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Wine[]>(e.Result);

WineListPanel.Visibility = Visibility.Visible;
WineDetailPanel.Visibility = Visibility.Collapsed;
LayoutRoot.DataContext = wines;
}

private void NewWineButton_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)

{
_wine = new Wine()
{
Name = "New Wine",
Year = 2004,
Category = "New Category",
Price = 19.99M
};

CHAPTER 10 Building cloud solutions 347

 DeleteButton.Visibility = Visibility.Collapsed;
WineListPanel.Visibility = Visibility.Collapsed;
WineDetailPanel.Visibility = Visibility.Visible;
LayoutRoot.DataContext = _wine;
}

private void WineListBox_SelectionChanged(object sender, SelectionChangedEventArgs e)

{
var addedItems = e.AddedItems as object[];
if ((addedItems == null) || (addedItems.Length != 1))
{
return;
}

_wine = (Wine)e.AddedItems[0];

DeleteButton.Visibility = Visibility.Visible;
WineListPanel.Visibility = Visibility.Collapsed;
WineDetailPanel.Visibility = Visibility.Visible;
LayoutRoot.DataContext = _wine;
}

private void SaveButton_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)

{
var wc = new WebClient();
wc.Headers[HttpRequestHeader.ContentType] = “application/x-www-form-urlencoded”;
wc.UploadStringCompleted += WinesUpdated;

var wineInfo = string.Format(“Name={0}&Category={1}&Year={2}&Price={3}”,

HttpUtility.UrlEncode(_wine.Name),
HttpUtility.UrlEncode(_wine.Category),
_wine.Year,
_wine.Price);

if (_wine.WineId == 0)
{
// POST api/Wine
wc.UploadStringAsync(new Uri(WebApiUrl), “POST”, wineInfo);
}
else
{
// PUT api/Wine/5
var webApiUrl = string.Format(“{0}/{1}”, WebApiUrl, _wine.WineId);
wineInfo = string.Format(“WineId={0}&{1}”, _wine.WineId, wineInfo);
wc.UploadStringAsync(new Uri(webApiUrl), “PUT”, wineInfo);
}
}

private void DeleteButton_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)

{
var confirm =

348 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 MessageBox.Show("Delete this wine?", "Confirm", MessageBoxButton.OKCancel);

if (confirm != MessageBoxResult.OK)
{
return;
}

// DELETE api/Wine/5
var wc = new WebClient();
wc.Headers[HttpRequestHeader.ContentType] = “application/x-www-form-urlencoded”;
wc.UploadStringCompleted += WinesUpdated;

var webApiUrl = string.Format(“{0}/{1}”, WebApiUrl, _wine.WineId);

wc.UploadStringAsync(new Uri(webApiUrl), “DELETE”, _wine.WineId.ToString());
}

private void WinesUpdated(object sender, UploadStringCompletedEventArgs e)

{
if (e.Error != null)
{
MessageBox.Show("Error: " + e.Error.Message);
return;
}

LoadWines();
}

private void CancelButton_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)

{
this.LoadWines();
}

}
}

We’ll explain all of this code in just a moment, right after you implement it in the project. To do so,
follow these steps:

1. Right-click the WineCloudPhone project in Solution Explorer, and choose Add | Class.

2. Name the new class Wine.cs, and click Add.

3. Replace the template code with the code shown earlier in Listing 10-5 (or paste it in from the
listing ile downloaded from the book’s companion website).

4. Right-click the MainPage.xaml ile in Solution Explorer (already created in the

WineCloudPhone project), and choose View Designer. This opens a split view of the main page,
with a design view on the left and a XAML code editor on the right.

5. In the XAML code editor, replace the template code generated automatically by Visual Studio
with the code shown earlier in Listing 10-6 (or paste it in from the listing ile downloaded from
the book’s companion website).

CHAPTER 10 Building cloud solutions 349

 6. Right-click the MainPage.xaml ile in Solution Explorer, and choose View Code.

7. Replace the template code with the code shown earlier in Listing 10-7 (or paste it in from the
listing ile downloaded from the book’s companion website).

8. Edit the URL in the WebApiUrl string constant at the top of Listing 10-7 with the name you
used for the Microsoft Azure website, assuming the name winecloudweb was not available to
you.

9. Click the FILE menu, and choose Save All, or press Ctrl+Shift+S.

First we’ll explain the Wine model class (Listing 10-5). This class relects the Wine entity in the EDM
in the DAL. Web API services are very lightweight, and consequently, they do not advertise their sche-
mas with metadata as WCF services can. Thus, there is no way to automatically generate client-side
proxy classes that relect the service-side entities, which means you manually need to re-create the
desired entity classes (the Wine class, in this case) to represent a model in the phone app.

Now shift focus to the main page itself. The key points to note about the XAML markup in Listing
10-6 are the two StackPanel objects, named WineListPanel and WineDetailPanel. As mentioned, only
one of these panels at a time will be made visible by the code-behind. In the markup, WineListPanel
has a ListBox that displays all the wines, and embedded within the ListBox is a DataTemplate that
deines how each wine in the list should be rendered. The template has three TextBlock elements,
which render three parts of each wine. The Text property in each TextBlock is set to a Binding with
a Path that points to a speciic property of the Wine class: Name, Year, and Category. Also note
that the Style of the irst TextBlock is set to PhoneTextExtraLargeStyle, while the other two are set to
PhoneTextSubtleStyle. This means that the wine name will appear nice and large in the list, with the
year and category beneath in a smaller font size.

The list box also has a SelectionChanged event handler that ires in the C# code-behind whenever
the user selects a wine from the list (that is, when the user taps one). When the code-behind
responds, WineListPanel gets hidden and WineDetailsPanel gets made visible so that the user can edit
the selected wine. There is also an Add button beneath the text box that the user can tap to add a
new wine. This also toggles the panel, but it binds the UI to a new Wine object, rather than an existing
Wine object from the list.

The second panel, WineDetailsPanel, contains four TextBox controls for editing the information of
a new or existing wine. Again, the controls have a binding path to a speciic Wine property, but this
time, Mode=TwoWay is also speciied. This small but critical detail is all that’s needed to implement
bi-directional binding—properties of the bound object appear in the text boxes, and changes made
by the user in those text boxes are pushed back into the bound object. Beneath the text boxes is a
Save button to push the changes through the Web API service, through the DAL, and back to the SQL
Database. There is also a Cancel button, which returns to the wine list panel, discarding any changes
made on the details panel. Finally, there is a Delete button, which is hidden when entering a new
wine.

Now turn your attention to the code-behind shown in Listing 10-7. First, notice the using statement
for Newtonsoft.Json. This imports the namespace for the Json.NET library so that it can be easily called

350 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

to deserialize JSON responses from the Web API services. Next, notice the WebApiUrl string constant
deined at the top of the class, which points to the Wine Web API controller at URL
http://winecloudweb.azurewebsites.net/api/Wine. Remember to change this constant accordingly if
you named the website differently because winecloudweb was not available.

Right beneath the constant, you see the _wine variable deined as a private (page-level) variable of
type Wine. This variable will hold an instance of the new or existing Wine object being created or up-
dated in WineDetailsPanel. The page has a DataContext property that represents the object currently
bound to the XAML. When the list panel is being displayed, the DataContext is set to the array of
wines returned by the Web API service (which displays all the wines in the list box), and when the de-
tails panel is displayed, the DataContext is set to the _wine variable (which bi-directionally data-binds
one speciic wine to the text boxes).

In the PhoneApplicationPage_Loaded event, you can see that LoadWines is called. The LoadWines
method prepares a WebClient object to issue an HTTP request, and it sets the HTTP Accept header
to application/json. This lets the server know that the client is able to receive a response in JSON
format. Next, the code registers a handler for the DownloadStringCompleted event. This speciies
WinesLoaded as the callback function to the asynchronous service call. What this means is that your
code doesn’t wait for a response after it calls the service. That would be a synchronous service call,
which is never permitted in Silverlight, because synchronous calls block the UI while waiting for the
service response. To keep the device responsive while interacting with services, only asynchronous
service calls are allowed. So rather than waiting for a response, the WinesLoaded method is called
automatically when the DownloadStringCompleted event ires, which means that the service is ready
to return its response.

After registering on the DownloadStringCompleted event, the DownloadStringAsync method is

called. This method takes a URL as a parameter, which is the URL to the Wine Web API services, and it
issues an asynchronous GET request over HTTP. After issuing the asynchronous request, the method
completes. As explained, the UI now remains responsive while the service processes the request, and
the WinesLoaded method is called automatically when the service returns with its response.

The WinesLoaded method irst examines the Error property of the

DownloadStringCompletedEventArgs parameter passed into the callback. This checks to make
sure that the service call succeeded without an error. An array of Wine objects is then created
in the wines variable from the JSON response. This is accomplished by calling the JsonConvert.
DeserializeObject method of the Json.NET library, passing in the Result property of the
DownloadStringCompletedEventArgs parameter that contains the JSON-formatted string returned by
the service.

At this point, wines is populated with the complete list of wine objects, deserialized from the JSON
response returned by the service. The visibility properties are now set to show the list panel and hide
the detail panel, and the LayoutRoot.DataContext property is set to wines, which binds the array to
the list box.

When the user clicks the New button, the NewWineButton_Click event handler ires. The event
handler code simply assigns _wine to a new Wine object instance, setting a few default properties to

CHAPTER 10 Building cloud solutions 351

 start the user off entering a new wine. After toggling the panels to display the data entry text box
controls and hiding the Delete button, LayoutRoot.DataContext is set to _wine, which binds new wine
object to the text box controls.

Next, the WineListBox_SelectionChanged event handler ires when the user taps on a wine in the
list. This event actually ires several times, as selected items are either added or removed. The code is
interested only in the event that ires when there is exactly one object in the AddedItems property of
the SelectionChangedEventArgs variable passed in as e. It then extracts the tapped wine object into
_wine, Finally, it toggles the panel and sets LayoutRoot.DataContext to _wine, just as it does for a new
wine (though this time the Delete button is made visible).

When the user clicks the Save button, the SaveButton_Click event handler ires and it’s time to
push the changes back to the Web API service, which either creates or updates a wine in the database.
The irst part of the save logic works the same in either case. The code creates a new WebClient object
and sets the HTTP ContentType header to application/x-www-form-urlencoded, which lets the service
know that the client is sending URL-encoded strings in the HTTP header. Then it registers a handler
for the UploadStringCompleted event. This speciies WinesUpdated as the callback function to the
asynchronous service call. After registering on the UploadStringCompleted event, a URL-encoded key-
value-pair string containing the wine’s Name, Category, Year, and Price properties is built and stored
in wineInfo. At this point, the save logic is handled differently for creating a new wine or updating an
existing wine.

If the WineId property is zero, this is a new wine. In this case, the UploadStringAsync method is
called. This method takes a URL as a parameter, which is the URL to the Wine Web API services. It
also accepts an HTTP method parameter, which is set to POST. Thus, the code issues an asynchronous
POST request over HTTP, which inserts the new wine. If WineId is not zero, this is an existing wine. In
this case, UploadStringAsync is still called, but with a few differences. First, the URL for the Web API
call is appended with /id (where id is the value of WineId). Second, the WineId property is prepended
in the URL-encoded key-value-pair string because it is part of an existing wine entity. And third, the
HTTP method parameter is set to PUT. Thus, the code issues an asynchronous PUT request over HTTP,
which updates the existing wine.

When the user clicks the Delete button, the DeleteButton_Click event handler ires, and the user is
irst prompted to conirm before deleting the wine. Then the code creates a new WebClient object,
sets the HTTP ContentType header to application/x-www-form-urlencoded, registers a handler for the
UploadStringCompleted event, and appends /id to the URL for the Web API call—just the same as
when updating an existing wine. This time, however, only the wine ID is passed in the HTTP header;
there is no need to pass all the properties of an entity that is about to be deleted. The code then
issues the asynchronous DELETE request over HTTP, which deletes the existing wine.

The WinesUpdated method is the callback function for all three asynchronous service calls:
POST, PUT, and DELETE. As with WinesLoaded, this method irst examines the Error property of the
UploadStringCompletedEventArgs parameter passed into the callback to ensure that the service call
succeeded without an error. If an error occurred, a message is displayed. Otherwise, LoadWines is
called. This queries the service again to retrieve an updated wine list, and then toggles the display
panels to view the list.

352 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

Testing the Windows Phone application
You can test the app now, using the phone emulator provided by the SDK. The phone emulator can
only run on a physical machine; it will not run inside a virtual machine. Furthermore, your physical
machine’s BIOS must support the necessary hardware virtualization required by the emulator, and
that support must be enabled in the BIOS. If Visual Studio is unable to run the emulator for any rea-
son, it displays the message “Deployment failed because no Windows Phone 8 phone was detected.
Make sure a phone is connected and powered on“ when you attempt to run the Windows Phone
project.

To test the Windows Phone application, follow these steps:

1. Right-click the WineCloudPhone project in Solution Explorer, and choose Set As Startup
Project.

2. Press F5 to build and run the app in the phone emulator (which can take a long time to load).
The wine list should appear as shown in Figure 10-42.

Tip When you want to stop the app during a debugging session, don’t close the
emulator. Instead, just stop your code execution inside Visual Studio and keep
the emulator running so that it can host your app the next time you press F5.

FIGURE 10-42 The wine list displayed in the Windows Phone emulator

3. Click on the third wine. The details page for Mendoza is displayed for editing.

CHAPTER 10 Building cloud solutions 353

 4. Try editing the price. Click on the Price text box and change the value, as shown in
Figure 10-43. (You need to click on the emulator’s on-screen keyboard; the emulator will not
respond to your machine’s physical keyboard.)

FIGURE 10-43 Editing a wine’s price in the Windows Phone emulator

Spend some time now to experiment a bit more with the app. Go ahead and create some new
wines, update a few of them, and delete one or two. Then congratulate yourself—you’ve built a
complete layered cloud solution on Microsoft Azure SQL Database, end-to-end, cloud-to-phone!

Summary
This chapter covered a lot of ground. There are myriad ways to create cloud solutions, and many
different tools and technologies are available for you to create them with. To be successful with any
of them, you need to design a properly layered stack of components to deliver a reliable, maintain-
able, and scalable solution. In this chapter, you learned how to do just that using Microsoft Azure SQL
Database and readily available Microsoft .NET technologies.

354 Microsoft Azure SQL Database Step by Step

 After importing a SQL Database into a Visual Studio SQL Server Database project, you extended
the design by adding new columns, tables, and stored procedures. Then you published the new
design back to SQL Database and shifted focus to the data access layer. You created an Entity Data
Model (EDM) to use Entity Framework as the data access layer, and then built an ASP.NET MVC
website over the EDM to support order entry. After testing the website locally, you deployed it to
the cloud to run on Microsoft Azure. Then you added Web API REST services to the website, which
supports CRUD operations against the Wine table. Finally, you built a Windows Phone 8 wine catalog
app that consumes the Web API services, allowing users to view, create, update, and delete wines in
the database.

When creating your own solutions, you have many more alternatives than those presented in this
chapter. For example, you don’t need to use Entity Framework; you can instead create your own data
access layer using conventional ADO.NET. Instead of creating the website using ASP.NET MVC, you
can choose to create it using ASP.NET web forms. And rather than using Web API, you can build the
service layer using raw WCF, WCF Data Services, or WCF RIA Services. Regardless of which particular
technologies you choose, however, applying the principles presented in this chapter will guide you in
implementing a proper layered design across the various tiers of your cloud solution.

CHAPTER 10 Building cloud solutions 355

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Index

physical distance from databases, 55, 179, 243

A regulatory requirements, complying with, 99
abstraction, 3–4, 217, 313 repository pattern, 314
access control, 12, 35–38, 106–111, 170 scaling, designing for, 218
least privilege principle, 108–109, 111 tables, indirect access to, 307–312
with stored procedures, 307–312 volume purchase plan, 55
action methods, 321, 326–327, 338 ASP.NET MVC websites, 321–335
Active Directory, adding users, 170 ASP.NET Web APIs See Web API controllers; Web API
ADO.NET, 217 services; Web APIs
connection pooling, 234 attack surface, reducing, 108. See also security
data access layer, building, 312–313 auditing, 59, 99
database connections, managing, 234 authentication
Dataset objects and data adapters, 313 with management certiicates, 281, 283
encapsulating, 239 selecting type, 41
raw objects, 312–313 SQL Database support for, 58
sharding with, 254–259 of users, 105–111
SqlConnection class OpenWithRetry extension method, Windows Integrated authentication, 170
59 authorization of users, 105–111, 170
transient fault handling, 237–238 automated BACPAC export schedule, 120–121
Web API controllers, building, 230–233 automated data synchronization schedules, 200–202
AdventureWorks database, installing, 151–154 Automated Export feature, 120–121
agent keys, 204 Azure See Microsoft Azure
Agent service, 59
agents, 174
aging policies, 56 B
allowed IP addresses, 12
See also irewall rules; SQL Database Firewall backup storage, 51–53
ALTER DATABASE statement, 44 backup-and-restore process, 59, 112–121
applications backups, 112–121
auditing, 99 automated, 59
building, 289–354 geo-replicated storage for, 55
in the cloud, 2 removal strategy, 55
connection faults, recovering from, 235–243 transactional consistency, 59
data synchronization, 179 BACPAC iles, 30
geographic locations, 179, 243 for backups and restores, 112, 115–121
hackers, protecting from, 99 creating, 34–35, 59
health, monitoring, 261 data migration with, 70–80
load balancing, 179–180 database objects for export, 75
exporting, 34–35, 74–77, 115–117, 120–121

357
BACPAC iles

BACPAC iles (continued) layered architecture, 289–292

importing to SQL Database instance, 77–80 sample database, building, 292–293
transactional consistency of, 120–121 sample solution stack, 289–291
bandwidth-based fees, 9, 79 scaling, 2–3
basic authentication, 170 SQL Server Database project, creating, 295–296
bcp (SQL Server Bulk Copy), 80–86, 153 stored procedures, creating, 307–312
bi-directional binding, 350 table columns, adding, 300–301
bi-directional synchronization, 195–196 tables, creating, 305–307
blob containers, 73–74 target platform, setting, 296–297
blob storage, 54, 60, 115, 244–245 website, creating, 321–335
block blobs, 115 Windows Phone application, creating, 341–354
Browser role, 170 cloud storage
Browser Service, 59 browsing, 78
browsers Microsoft Azure Storage Account for, 35
content negotiation, 230 cloud-based Microsoft Azure SQL Database. See SQL
MVC websites, running from, 335 Database
reports, running from, 149–150, 168–169 CLR (Common Language Runtime), 60
Web APIs, testing, 228–230 clustered indexes, 61
Business Intelligence Developer Studio (BIDS), 151 code in the cloud, 2
Business Intelligence project templates, installing, 151, codebases, 57, 63–64
154–156 collations, 31–34
Business (Standard) edition of SQL Database, 55, 58 columns, table
adding, 300–301
check constraints on, 310
C null values, 300–301
command prompt, opening, 46, 83
Cache service, 244–245
Common Language Runtime (CLR), 60
caching, client-side, 244
compatibility issues, 88–94
catalog views, 280
compliance, 98–99
Change Data Capture (CDC), 59
compression, 60
change scripts, 301, 303
compute resources, 218, 234
check constraints, 310
load distribution across, 251–259
circular references, 338–339
partitioning, 250–259
class library projects, 314–315, 323, 324
reserving, 245
client agent service, 204
conlict resolution in data synchronization procedures,
client bandwidth pricing, 51
196–200, 214–215
client connections, allowing through irewall, 101–105
Connect To Server dialog, 41–42
client protocols, SQL Database support for, 58
advanced version, 110–111
clients, pushing data changes to, 174
Connect to Server errors, 109–110
client-side storage and caching, 244
connected development, 294
cloud computing, 1–4, 218
connection pooling, 234
cloud databases. See also databases; SQL Database
connection strings
location of, 215
@server requirement, 58
synchronizing, 182–202
entity, locating, 324
cloud reporting, 3, 123–171
passwords in, 316
Cloud Service Fundamentals in Windows Azure, 259
quick-start link to, 38–39
cloud solutions, 289–354
viewing, 38–39
ASP.NET Web API services, creating, 336–341
connections
data access layer, creating, 312–321
dropped, 59
delivery of, 3
faults, recovering from, 234–236
deploying to SQL Database, 301–304, 312
limitations on, 58–59, 234
importing into SQL Database, 297–300
managing, 234–243
iterative development cycle, 305

358
 databases

connections (continued) data access, 106–111, 170

monitoring with DMVs and DMFs, 277–280 encapsulating in stored procedures, 243–244,
multiple pending, 58 307–312
opening late, closing early, 234 with Entity Framework, 313
pooling, 234 over HTTP, 336
prevention of, 102 See also irewall rules performance, 217
specifying database, 110–111 securing, 98
throttling, 235 data access layer (DAL)
Transient Fault Handling Application Block, 235–243 ADO.NET, building with, 312–313
transient faults, 234–243 viewing, 278, 280 class library projects, creating, 314–315
console applications, creating, 283–287 creating, 290–291, 312–321
constraints, disabling during import operations, 85 referencing, 323–324
Content Manager role, 170 repository pattern, 314
content negotiation, 230 data aggregation with SQL Data Sync, 177
controllers, MVC, 321 data compression, 60
action methods, 326–327 data entry, 21–24
extending, 327 data importing See importing
Home controller, 321, 325–326 data migration, 63–86, 88–94
scaffolding, 325–326 data partitioning, 13, 58, 61, 250–259, 276
URLs, mapping to, 321 data redundancy, 60–61
controllers, Web API, 223–228, 230–233, 336–339 data sources, report, 125, 135, 138
copy database operation, 112–115 creating, 139–140, 158–159
COUNT function, 141 data stores, maintaining, 63–64
CREATE DATABASE statement, 43, 57 data synchronization See SQL Data Sync; sync groups;
CREATE DATABASE...AS COPY OF statement, 113–114 synchronizing data
credentials, user, 99 data validation, 307–312
CRUD actions, 336–337 database access, 12, 35–38, 106–111, 170, 307–312
custom authentication, 170 database administration, 30
custom code in reports, 124 See also SQL Database management portal
Custom Create database creation option, 31, 33–34 database collations, 31–34
customers of cloud vendors, security responsibilities, database connections See connections
98–99 Database Copy feature, 59, 112–113
CustomerShard class, 254, 256 database dynamic management views (DMVs), 275–278
cyber attacks, preventing, 98 database objects
developing, deploying, and managing, 70
mapping to .NET objects, 217
D naming conventions, 60
scripting, 68
DACPAC (Data-tier Application Component Package)
T-SQL scripts, generating for, 91–92, 94
iles, 30, 70, 80
database queries See queries
DAL. See data access layer (DAL)
database-level permissions, 108–109
data
databases. See also on-premises SQL Server databases;
check constraints, 310
SQL Database
in cloud, 2
changes, discovering and replicating, 173
formatting in reports, 162–163
changing between, 61
geo-replication, 71
coniguring, 44
incremental changes and updates, 63
connection strings See connection strings
referential integrity, 19
copying, 112–113
regulatory compliance, 99
creating, 13–15, 184
scripting, 69
creating in Microsoft Azure portal, 31–35
service layer over, 27
creating in PowerShell, 48–49
summarizing at database and report levels, 157
creating in SSMS, 43
validation rules, 307–312

359
databases

databases (continued) irewall rules, 104

creating with Service Management API, 283–287 tables, 81
current number, 265 Developer Command Prompt, 281
deleting, 40, 44, 50, 77 disaster recovery, 60–61, 97, 112–121
edition, 33–34, 44, 55–56 DMFs See dynamic management functions (DMFs)
exporting, 115–117 DMVs See dynamic management views (DMVs)
irewall rules See irewall rules DROP DATABASE statement, 44, 113
fragmentation information, 276 DROP TABLE statement, 81
free space, 56, 270 dropped connections, 59
importing, 31, 34–35, 297–300 dynamic management functions (DMFs), 275–280
incremental changes and updates, 63, 191 dynamic management views (DMVs), 275–280
index statistics, 276
I/O, locking, latching, and access method activity,
276 E
load distribution across, 251–259
EDM See Entity Data Model (EDM)
local, 64–66 See also on-premises SQL Server
EDMX iles, 223, 313
databases
EF See Entity Framework (EF)
migrating to SQL Database, 63–94
endpoints, VM, 131–132
mirroring, 60–61
entities, 318–320, 325
monitoring, 263–280
entity connection string, 324
new query window, 43, 65, 106–107, 109
Entity Data Model (EDM), 313–314
ofline management, 300
class library projects, creating, 314–315
operational metrics, 265–269
conceptual schema, 313
page and row-count information, 276
creating, 315–321
partitioning, 13, 250–259
data connection, 315
physical distance from applications, 243
data source, 316
populating, 21–24
.edmx iles, 313
querying, 24–26 See also queries
entity classes, 318
reporting See reporting; reports
mapping, 313, 320
saving data to, 22
metadata, 313
scripting, 68 See also Transact-SQL (T-SQL)
model contents, 315
service layer over, 307
as model in MVC applications, 323–324
sharding, 13, 252–254
navigation properties of entities, 318–319
size, 31, 33, 44, 55–58, 270, 276–278
result bindings, 319
synchronizing, 173–174 See also SQL Data Sync;
storage schema, 313
synchronizing data
stored procedures, 317, 319–320
transactional consistency, 112
tables, selecting, 317
updating, 194–195
version setting, 317
upgrading to SQL Database Premium, 249–250
Entity Data Model (EDM) designer, 223
usage metrics, 265–269
Entity Framework (EF), 217
varbinary(max) or image ile storage, 54
Code First feature, 223–228, 313
waits statistics, 276
Connection Resiliency feature, 59
Dataset objects and data adapters, 313
conventions, 224
datasets, data synchronization, 188–191, 215
data access layer, building, 312–321
datasets, report, 135, 138, 140–143
data context, 226–227
Data-tier Application Component Package (DACPAC)
database irst approach, 313
iles, 30, 70, 80
database initialization strategy, 224, 228
Data-Tier Applications (DACs), 70, 74–77, 80
database resource consumption, 234
data-transfer pricing, 51
Entity Data Model, 313–314
dbmanager security role, 107
performance overhead, 217
deleting
pluralization naming strategy, 224–225, 227
data in Windows Phone 8 apps, 352
POCO (Plain Old CLR Object) classes, 223
databases, 40, 44, 50, 77, 113

360
 IP addresses

Entity Framework (continued) of applications, 179, 243

RESTful Web APIs, building, 218–228 of cloud databases, 215
schemas, mapping between, 314 of Microsoft Azure Storage account, 71
sharding, 259 pricing and, 51
Transient Fault Handling Application Block and, synchronization and, 176–179
239–243 geo-replication, 52–53, 55, 71
Visual Studio scaffolding feature and, 321 GET requests, 326
Web API controllers, adding, 226–227 GROUP BY clause, 140–141
Web APIs, creating, 225–228 GUI management tools, 261. See also Microsoft Azure
entity models, 223–224, 230 management portal; SQL Database management
error code 40544, 276 portal; SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT); SQL Server
errors, 109–110, 235, 276, 329–330 Management Studio (SSMS)
event tables, 280
exception handling, 329–331
ExecuteAction method, 239–243 H
execution dynamic management views (DMVs), 278–280
hackers, protecting against, 99
execution performance, monitoring, 277–280
hardware, hypervisor virtualization technology on, 2–3
execution speed, optimizing, 217
high availability, 112
Export Database feature, 115–117
horizontal partitioning, 251–259
Export Data-Tier Application wizard, 74–77
HTTP data access over, 336
exporting, 35, 83–84
HTTP requests and responses, 223, 230, 283–287, 326,
Automated Export feature, 120–121
351–352
BACPAC iles, 115–117
hub databases, 174, 186
export iles, 120–121
Huey, George, 86
extended events, 60
hypervisor virtualization technology, 2–3
extended stored procedures, 60
Extensible Application Markup Language (XAML)
binding features, 345
I
IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service), 3–4
F image ile storage, 54
Import Database feature, 31, 77–80, 117–119
F5 key, 43
importing
fan-out queries, 256, 259
BACPAC iles, 117–119
ile streaming, 60
databases, 34–35, 77–80
irewall rules, 9, 12, 35–38, 48, 102–105
nonclustered indexes, triggers, constraints, 85
See also SQL Database Firewall
into SQL Database instance, 84–86
for local network access, 35–36
with SQL Server Integration Services, 63
quick-start link, 36
incremental changes and updates, 63
for remote IP address access, 35–36
index partitioning, 61
report server access, 130–132
index statistics, 276
foreign-key table relationships, 65, 306, 318–319
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), 3–4
forms-based authentication, 170
instance names of local SQL Server database, 64
FROM clause, 140–141
instance objects, 70
Full-Text Searching (FTS), 60
Internet Explorer, 150
fully qualiied names, 134
See also browsers
functional partitions, 250–251
Internet hosting, cloud computing service level, 1
IP addresses
allowed, 12, 35
G current client IP address, 104
Generate And Publish Scripts wizard, 68–69 irewall rules for, 101–104
geographic region, 8–9 learning remote addresses, 37

361
JavaScript Object Notation (JSON)

Queue storage, 244–245

J scaling, 3 See also scalability
JavaScript Object Notation (JSON), 336, 338–339 security, 99
Json.NET, 343–344 SQL Reporting, 123–124
staying current with, 57–58
storage services for nonrelational data, 244–245
L subscribing to, 7–8
Table storage, 244–245
language settings, customizing, 31
volume purchase plan, 55
latency, 9, 215, 243–244
Microsoft Azure Blob Storage, 35, 54, 60, 115, 244–245
least privilege principle, 108–109, 111
Microsoft Azure Cache, 244–245
legacy systems, data migration from, 63–94
Microsoft Azure cloud, 2–4
local machines, 2, 12
See also cloud computing; cloud solutions
See also servers
Microsoft Azure Customer Advisory Team, 235, 259
local networks, enabling database access, 35–36
Microsoft Azure datacenters, 2, 51, 55
local SQL Server databases, 64–68, 83–84
Microsoft Azure Management Application Programming
local sync agent, 204–211
Interface (API), 261
locks, monitoring, 280
Microsoft Azure management portal, 9, 31–40
logical administration, 57
BROWSE CLOUD STORAGE dialog box, 78
login user names @server requirement, 58
CONFIGURE link, 37
loginmanager security role, 107
connection strings, obtaining, 38–39
lookup data, client-side storage of, 244
copy database operation, monitoring, 114–115
Lucene text search engine library, 60
CREATE A SQL DATABASE SERVER link, 9–10
CREATE SERVER dialog, 10–11
Custom Create database option, 33–34
M database usage metrics, 265–266
maintenance, 4, 63–64 databases, creating, 31–35
malicious attack prevention, 98 databases, deleting, 40, 77
management, 99, 261, 275–287 databases, importing, 77–80
GUI tools for, 261 See also Microsoft Azure Export Database Settings dialog, 115–117
management portal; SQL Database management irewall rules, managing, 35–38, 102
portal; SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT); SQL Server IMPORT DATABASE dialog, 77–79
Management Studio (SSMS) local agent service, coniguring, 207–208
management certiicates, 281–283 logging in, 9
manual syncs, 191–196 main portal page, 9
mapping MANAGE URL link, 15–16
objects, 217 management certiicates, 281–283
between schemas, 314 Microsoft Azure Storage account, creating, 71–74
stored procedures to entities, 319–320 monitoring with, 264–269
URLs to controllers and actions, 321 publish proile for websites, 333–334
master database, 102, 106–110, 134–135, 280 Quick Create database option, 31–33
matrixes, report, 157, 160–161 quick-start links for databases, 36
metadata, 244, 278 server usage overview, 264–265
Microsoft account, 5–7, 46–47 servers, creating, 9–11
Microsoft Azure, 1–4 SQL Data Sync coniguration, 174
ASP.NET Web Application projects, deploying to, SQL Database management portal, accessing, 15,
331–335 192–193
authentication for, 281, 283 SQL Database Monitor page, 267–269
compute resources, scaling up, 218 SQL Database Premium, signing up for, 246–247
free trial subscription, 7–8 SQL Database Premium quota, requesting, 248
management certiicates, 281–283 SQL Database Premium quota request status,
preview services, 120–121, 174, 246 248–249
pricing, 7, 9, 50–54, 79

362
 ORM (object relational mapping)

Microsoft Azure management portal (continued)

SQL Database servers, list of, 102–103
N
SSRS, coniguring in VM, 128–130 naming conventions for database objects, 60
storage access keys, generating, 71 navigation properties of entities, 318–319
SYNC link, 188 .NET Framework 3.5, 153
VM endpoints, creating, 131–132 network bandwidth fees, 9, 51–53, 79
VMs, creating, 126–128 network latency, reducing, 243–244
websites, creating, 331–334 network round trips, minimizing, 243–244
Microsoft Azure PowerShell cmdlets, installing, 44–45 network trafic, reducing, 244
Microsoft Azure Service Dashboard, 269–270 new query window, 43, 65, 106–107, 109
Microsoft Azure Service Management API, 71, 281–288 Newtonsoft.Json assembly, 336, 343–344
Microsoft Azure services See services importing namespace for, 350–351
Microsoft Azure SQL Data Sync, 173–216 nonclustered indexes, 85
Microsoft Azure SQL Database See SQL Database nondeterministic behavior, 310
Microsoft Azure Storage, 35, 71–80 nonrelational data, 244–245
browsing, 78, 117–118 NuGet Package Manager, 235–236
geo-replication, 52 Json.NET, downloading and adding, 344
pricing, 51–52 numeric data, formatting in reports, 162–163
Microsoft Azure Trafic Manager, 179–180
Microsoft Azure Trust Center, 99
Microsoft Silverlight, 15–16, 82, 183, 341, 343, 351 O
Microsoft Visual Studio See Visual Studio
Object Explorer, 40, 42
Microsoft.AzureCat.Patterns.Data.SqlAzureDalSharded
object relational mapping (ORM), 217, 312
library, 259
See also Entity Framework (EF)
migrating data, 63–94
objects
migration wizard, 86–94
developing, deploying, and managing, 70
mirroring, 60–61
mapping to .NET objects, 217
models, entity, 223–224, 230
naming conventions, 60
Model-View-Controller (MVC) applications, 222–223,
packaging as DACPAC iles, 70
323–331
scripting, 68
Model-View-Controller (MVC) framework, 291–292
T-SQL scripts, generating for, 91–92, 94
Model-View-Controller (MVC) websites, 321–335
ofline projects, 294
Model-View-ViewModel (MVVM) pattern, 344
online transactional processing (OLTP), 178–179
monitoring, 261, 263–280
on-premises SQL Server databases, 64–66. See also
database operations, 265–266
databases
database size, 276–278
abstraction levels, 3
database usage, 265
BACPAC iles, creating, 34–35
dynamic management views and functions, 275–280
instances, 1
metrics, displaying, 267–269
latency, 243
with Microsoft Azure management portal, 264–269
migrating to SQL Database, 63–94
Microsoft Azure Service Dashboard, 269–270
mirroring, 60–61
query performance, 271–275
nonrelational and binary data in, 244
sample database, creating, 261–263
size, calculating, 51
server usage, 264–265
sync agent, registering with, 209–211
services health, 269–270
sync group, adding to, 211–214
with SQL Database management portal, 270–275
synchronizing, 174–176, 202–215 See also
MSDN subscribers, Azure pricing for, 7
synchronizing data
multipart names for database objects, 60
on-premises SQL Server servers, 2
Multiple Active Result Sets (MARS), 58
See also servers
multitenant services, 98
ORM (object relational mapping), 217, 312
MVC. See Model-View-Controller (MVC) applications;
Model-View-Controller (MVC) websites

363
PaaS (Platform as a Service)

data transfer, 51
P ile storage, 54
PaaS (Platform as a Service), 4, 218 geographic location and bandwidth pricing, 51
partitioning data, 58, 61, 250–259 online pricing calculator, 50
page and row-count information, 276 pricing structures, 7
sharding, 13, 251–259 storage, 50–51
password policy, 107 storage space, 51–52
passwords in connection strings, 316 support plans, 53–54
performance primary keys, 67
in the cloud, 218 primary transactional database, replicating, 178–179
of cloud reporting, 124 privacy, 98–99
of data access, 217 public cloud platforms See Microsoft Azure
database connections overhead, 234 public cloud vendors
latency, reducing, 243–244 auditing services, 99
optimizing and tuning, 217, 244–245 compliance certiications, 99
of queries, 245, 271–275 hackers, protecting against, 99
permissions, 108–111, 170 malicious attack prevention, 98
physical administration, 57 multitenancy management, 98
physical data centers, 98, 99 security responsibilities, 98–99
physical storage with PaaS, 4 publish process, 301–303, 312
Plain Old CLR Object (POCO) classes, 223–224, 230 .publishsettings ile, 47
Platform as a Service (PaaS), 4, 218 PUT requests, 352
port 80, 130–132
port 1433, 58
port allocation, 58 Q
POST requests, 326, 352
PowerShell, 44–50 queries, 24–26
administrator credentials, 48 editing, 273
-Collation switch, 49 encapsulating, 27, 243–244
coniguring for Microsoft account, 46–47 error code 40544, 276
context associated with server and credentials, 48 execution plans, 273–275
database collation, changing, 49 fan-out, 256, 259
database edition, changing, 49 memory grants, 278
database size, changing, 49 optimizing, 245
databases, creating, 48–49 performance, 271–275
databases, deleting, 50 query plan details, 272–273
databases, viewing, 49 query plans, cached, 278
-Edition switch, 49 query plans, showing, 278
irewall rules, creating, 48 running, 193–194
-Force switch, 50 in stored procedures, 141, 243–244
management, automating, 281 query code, 140–141, 157
master databases, 49 query ilters, 25–26
-MaxSizeGb switch, 49 Queue storage, 244–245
server access, 47–48 Quick Create database creation option, 31–33
servers, creating, 47–48 quick-start links, 36, 38–39
PowerShell Integrated Scripting Environment (ISE), 46
PowerShell Microsoft Azure cmdlets, 44–45, 48, 49
Premium edition of SQL Database, 58, 245–250 R
preview release software, 120–121, 174, 246 RDL authoring tools, 125
pricing for Microsoft Azure .rdl iles, 169
bandwidth, 9, 51–53, 79 .rdp iles, 128
Blob Storage, 54 read-only permissions, 108–111

364
 schemas

records, aging policies, 56 Reporting Services See SQL Server Reporting Services
Red-Gate Data Compare, 63 (SSRS)
Red-Gate SQL Compare, 63 reports
redundancy, data, 60–61 bar charts, 164–166
reference databases, 174, 184, 186–187 creating with Report Builder, 137–150
referential integrity of data, 19 creating with Visual Studio, 156–162
regulatory requirements, complying with, 99 data source, 125, 135, 138–140, 158–159
relational data, storage in SQL Database, 244–245 dataset, 125, 135, 138, 140–143
relational databases, 250 date and time of execution, 138
See also databases; SQL Database deploying to SSRS, 135, 147–149, 166–168
reliability, 217, 234–244 drill-down capabilities, 163
Remote Desktop sessions, 128 executing, 146
remote IP addresses, enabling database access, 37–38 formatting, 162–163
replication, 61 layout, 125, 135, 143–145
Report Builder, 123, 125 matrixes in, 157, 160
browser, running report from, 149–150, 168–169 previewing, 145–147, 163
data sources for reports, 138–140 queries, deining, 159–160
datasets for reports, 138, 140–143 RDL format, 125
date and time of report execution, 138 running from browser, 149–150, 168–169
Getting Started dialog, 137 running locally, 145–146
images, adding to reports, 139 saving, 145
installing, 135–137 security, 170
launching, 137 summarizing data in, 157
layout of report, 143–145 title, 143
matrix control, 138–139 user role assignment, 170
previewing reports, 135, 145–147 repository pattern, 314
Report Data pane, 138–139 requests. See HTTP requests and responses
report parameters, deining, 139 monitoring with DMVs and DMFs, 277–280
reports, creating, 137–150 Resource Governor, 61
reports, saving and running locally, 145–147 REST services, 336
Row Groups and Column Groups panes, 139 RESTful Web APIs, 218–228
SSRS, deploying reports to, 147–149 restore database operations, 117–119
table control, 138–139 RetryPolicy class ExecuteAction method, 239–243
user interface, 138 round trips, minimizing, 243–244
Report Deinition Language (RDL), 123 routing, 179
Report Designer, formatting data, 162–163 in MVC applications, 321
Report Manager, 130, 149, 170
report server, 124, 130–132
Report Server Database Coniguration Wizard, 129–130 S
Report Server Project Wizard, 158–162
SaaS (Software as a Service), 4, 289
Report Server projects, 150–169
scalability, 2–4, 218, 245–250
reporting, 123–171
functional partitions, 250–251
Report Builder, 135–150
OLTP activity, separating from reporting activity, 184
requests, performance impact of, 179
partitioning for, 58
sample database, creating, 132–135
sharding, 251–259
security of reports, 170
synchronizing between multiple locations, 178–179
service URL, 149
SCC (source code control), 294–295
virtual directory, creating, 129
schemas, 156, 313
Visual Studio Report Server projects, 150–169
changing before migration, 80
VM, creating, 125–132
compare operations, 301–303
VM, shutting down, 171
deploying to SQL Database, 91, 94
mapping, 313–314

365
schemas

schemas (continued) sessions, monitoring with DMVs and DMFs, 277–280

migrating, 77–83 Shard class, 254–256
referencing objects in, 60 sharding, 13, 251–259
scripting, 69 ShardRoot class, 254
storage, 313 Software as a Service (SaaS), 4, 289
searching, 60 source code control (SCC), 294–295
security, 97–121, 170, 216 spoke databases, 174
irewall, 101–105 See also SQL Database Firewall SQL Data Sync, 61, 173–216
users, authenticating and authorizing, 99, 105–111 automated sync schedules, 200–202
server certiicates, 61 best practices, 215–216
server logins, 105–107 clients, 174
server-level permissions, 107–108 conlict resolution, 196–200
server-level principals, 106–107 direction settings, 187
server-level security roles, 107–108 exporting data from SQL Server to SQL Database,
servers, 2, 8–12, 47–49, 183 175
accessibility to cloud services, 10 importing data from SQL Database to SQL Server,
authentication method, 41 175–176
irewall settings, 12, 35–38, 102, 103 See also irewall incremental change tracking, 191
rules; SQL Database Firewall manual syncs, 191–196
fully qualiied names, 41 multiple cloud databases, synchronizing, 178–180
geographic region, 8–9 multiple locations, sharing data between, 176–177
health, monitoring, 263–280 one-way and two-way synchronization, 174
instance names, 64 performance, 215
physical access, securing, 98 reference databases, 174
PowerShell access, 47–48 sample database, creating, 180–182
usage, viewing, 264–265 security measures, 216
Service Broker, 61 SQL Server on-premises database, creating, 202–203
service levels, 3 sync agents, 204–215
Service Management API, 281–288 sync groups, 174, 182–188
service outages, 269 sync rules, 188–191
services, 2–4 Trafic Manager and, 179–180
Agent service, 59 SQL Database, 1
Allowed Services list, 105 applications, co-locating with, 55
asynchronous service calls, 351 Automated Export feature, 120–121
auditing, 99 backing up, 112–121
Browser Service, 59 Business edition, 55, 58
Cache service, 244–245 communication port, 58
client agent service, 204 comparison to SQL Server, 57–62
data center regions, 243 connecting from SSMS, 41–42
geographic region, 8–9 connection limitations, 58–59
health, monitoring, 261, 269–270 constraints of, 57
local agent service, 207–208 cost-related items, 50–56
Microsoft Azure services, 105, 120–121, 174, database connections, managing, 234–243
244–246 editions, switching between, 13
multitenant, 98 exporting data See exporting
outages, 269 irewall rules See irewall rules
reporting See SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) Generally Available features, 120
REST services, 336 high-availability features, 112
Service Broker, 61 importing, 297–300 See also importing
Service Management API, 281–288 Microsoft account, 5–7
SQL Server Integration Services, 63 Microsoft Azure subscription, 7–8
Web API services, 336–341 migrating databases to, 63–94

366
 SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS)

SQL Database (continued) SQL Database Management REST API, 105

monitoring health and usage, 263–280 SQL Database Migration Wizard, 87–94
monthly charges, 56 See also migrating data
networking requirements, 101 SQL Database servers
online pricing calculator, 50 See also servers
as PaaS solution, 4 AdventureWorks database, deploying to, 153
performance, 244–245 See also performance Allow Windows Azure Services To Access The Server
port number, 42 option, 11, 105
Premium edition, 55, 58, 249–250 connecting to using SQL Database Migration
Preview features, 120–121 Wizard, 91–92
pricing, 50–56, 215 databases, deleting from, 77
SaaS solutions, 4 master database, 106
scaling up, 245–250 permissions, 107–109
scripts compatible with, 69 SQL Database Premium quota, adding, 248
securing, 100–111 See also security SQL Database Service Dashboard, 270
signing up for, 5–8 SQL Data-Tier Applications, 70, 74–77, 80
size limitations, 57–58 SQL Server, 1
sizes, switching between, 13 See also on-premises SQL Server databases
SQL Service Database projects, deploying to, exporting data, 175
301–304, 312 Express edition, 58, 64
synchronization See SQL Data Sync; synchronizing Express With Advanced Services edition, 126
data hosting in Azure virtual machines, 3, 60–61
unsupported features, 59–61 importing data, 175–176
upgrading to SQL Database Premium, 249–250 vs. SQL Database, 3–4, 57–62
Web edition, 31, 55, 58 synchronization service, 174 See also SQL Data Sync
SQL Database APIs, 281 SQL Server Authentication, 41, 105
SQL Database Firewall, 101–105, 184 SQL Server Bulk Copy (bcp), 80–86, 153
See also irewall rules SQL Server Data Tools For Visual Studio 2012, 158
SQL Database instances, 13–30, 100–101 SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT), 41, 151
BACPAC iles, importing, 77–80 BACPAC ile import restrictions, 80
importing data into, 84–86 bi-directional editing, 300–301
naming, 79 Business Intelligence add-in for Visual Studio, 123
server for hosting, 79 Business Intelligence project templates, installing,
SQL Database management portal, 15–17 151, 154–156
accessing from Microsoft Azure portal, 192–193 connected development, 294
ad-hoc query window, 24–25 DACPAC iles, deining and deploying, 30
connections and sessions, monitoring, 279–280 DACPAC iles, importing into, 80
data entry, 21–24 database projects, testing, 295
database administration features, 30 databases, creating, 180–182, 292–293
database size, checking, 277–278 disconnected development, 294
database summary page, 270–271 table designer, 300–301
dropping and re-creating databases, 82 T-SQL scripts, building and running, 64
foreign-key designer, 20 SQL Server Database projects
logging in, 16, 82 creating, 295–296
monitoring performance and usage with, 270–275 database deinition, 295
Query Performance page, 271–272 dbo folder, 300
Query Plan Details area, 272–273 deploying, 301–305, 312
stored procedures, creating, 27–29 importing from SQL Database, 297–300
Summary view, 17 ofline changes, 305
table designer, 18–20 target platform, setting, 296–297
T-SQL scripts, executing, 70 SQL Server instances, 65–66, 202–203
views, creating, 27 SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS), 63

367
SQL Server Management Objects (SMO)

SQL Server Management Objects (SMO), 40–41 sync agents, 204–215

SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS), 40–44 sync groups, 174, 182–189, 192
advanced Connect to Server dialog, 110–111 conlict resolution behavior, 174, 196–200, 214–215
Connect To Server dialog, 41–42, 64–65 on-premises SQL Server databases, adding, 211–214
Database Engine, connecting to, 110 ready status, 187, 191
databases, coniguring, 44 scheduling syncs, 200–202, 215
databases, creating, 43 sync loops, 215
databases, deleting, 44 sync rules, 188–191
downloading, 40 sync loops, 215
exporting Data-Tier Applications, 74–77 sync rules, 188–191
fully qualiied server names, 38, 41 synchronizing data, 215
Generate And Publish Scripts wizard, 68 automated schedules, 200–202
graphical designers and dialogs support, 40–41 conlict resolution, 196–200
launching, 41, 65, 134 costs, 179
new query window, 43, 65 dataset, deining, 188–191
Object Explorer, 40 direction settings, 187
server logins, creating, 106–107 exporting data from SQL Server to SQL Database,
sharded databases, creating, 252–254 175
SQL Database, connecting to, 41–42 importing data from SQL Database to SQL Server,
T-SQL scripts, generating automatically, 68–70 175–176
T-SQL scripts, running, 65 manual, 191–196
T-SQL scripts, viewing, 69–70 multiple locations, sharing data between, 176–177
SQL Server Object Explorer, 304 one-way and two-way, 174–177
SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS), 3, 123–124 with SQL Data Sync, 61, 173 See also SQL Data Sync
authentication of users and applications, 170 sync agents, creating, 204–215
Coniguration Manager, 128–129 sync groups, creating, 182–188
coniguring in virtual machine, 128–130 sync rules, creating, 188–191
database, creating, 129–130 testing, 195–196
deploying reports to, 147–149 sys.database_connection_stats view, 80
formatting capabilities, 150 sys.dm_database_copies view, 114
free version, 126 sys.event_log view, 280
Report Manager, running reports from, 149–150 system stored procedures, 61
Report Manager virtual directory, 129–130
security in, 170
Visual Studio as authoring tool, 151 T
VM SSRS service URL, 166–167
table partitioning See partitioning data
VM to host, creating, 125–132
Table storage, 244–245
.sqlexpress instance name, 64
tables, 17–19, 30, 305–307
SSDT See SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT)
access control, 307–312
SSMS See SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
aggregating rows, 141
SSRS See SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS)
aliasing, 140–141
SSRS-in-a-VM solutions, 124
change tracking, 191
statements result set metadata, 278
check constraints on, 310
storage, 50–51, 244
clustered indexes, 61
See also Microsoft Azure Storage
columns, adding, 18, 300–301
stored procedures, 27–29, 60, 243–244, 307–312
data, inserting, 21–24, 67–68
mapping to entities, 319–320
deleting, 81–82
performance statistics, 278
foreign keys, 19, 22–23, 306
queries in, 141
ID primary key column, 18
system, 61
Is Identity? option, 18, 21
testing, 29–30
joining, 24–26, 140–141
strong password policy, 107
migrating data into and out of, 83–86

368
 Visual Studio

tables (continued) Transient Fault Handling Application Block, 59, 235–243

NULL values, 22 Transparent Data Encryption (TDE), 61
partitioning, 251–259 triggers, 85, 278, 310
populating using T-SQL script, 67–68 tuning queries, 245
primary keys, 21–22 two-part names for database objects, 60
relationships between, deining, 19–20 two-way synchronization, 176–177
scripting, 68
service layer over, 307
updating, 304 U
validation rules, 307–312
unstructured data, 60, 244–245
table-valued parameters, batching, 244
UPDATE statement, 194–195
tabular data stream (TDS), 57
URLs
Task Parallel Library, 256, 259
managing, 15–16
TCP port 80, 130–132
mapping to controllers and actions, 321
TCP port 1433, 58
usage, monitoring, 263–280
tenants of cloud vendors, privacy from, 98
USE statement, 61, 135
text search engine library, 60
users
throttling, 235
authenticating and authorizing, 105–111
Trafic Manager, 179–180
Browser role, 170
transaction dynamic management views (DMVs), 280
Content Manager role, 170
transactional consistency, 59, 112, 120–121
creating, 108
Transact-SQL (T-SQL)
routing to closest data center, 179–180
change scripts, 301, 303
security credentials, 99
FROM clause, 24, 26
CREATE DATABASE statement, 43
data migration with, 64–70
database engine type property, 69 V
for database queries, 24 validation, data, 307–312
databases, creating, 180–181, 219–221, 292 varbinary(max) ile storage, 54
DROP TABLE statement, 81 vendors, security responsibilities, 98–99
editing, 300–301 views, database, 27
EXEC statements, 29 views, dynamic management (DMVs), 275–280
executing, 43 views (in MVC applications), 321, 327–328
foreign-key table relationships, 65 virtual machines (VMs), 60–61, 126–132
generating automatically, 68–70 globally unique name, 147
IDENTITY_INSERT setting, 67 with IaaS, 3
left outer joins, 24, 26, 28 saving reports to, 148
local SQL Server database, creating, 65 shutting down, 128, 171
populating local databases, 67–68 SSRS service URL, 166–167
query ilters, 25–26 virtual private networks (VPNs), 60–61
Remove-AzureSqlDatabase cmdlet, 50 virtualization layer, 2–3
reporting, preparing databases for, 133 Visual Studio
role assignment management, 107–108 Add Scaffold dialog, 325
server logins, creating, 107 ASP.NET Web Application project type, 222–223
sharded databases, 252 bi-directional editing, 300–301
SQL Database support, 57 Business Intelligence Developer Studio version, 151
SQL Database use of, 60 console applications, creating, 286–287
types of data property, 69 Data Tools Operations window, 303
user management, 107–108 database deinitions, maintaining in, 295
WHERE clause, 25–26 databases, creating, 180–182
transient connection faults, 234–235, 237–243 Dataset designer, 313
transient error conditions, 239–243 EDM designer, 223, 313, 318

369
Visual Studio

Visual Studio (continued)

Entity Data Model, creating, 315–321
W
importing databases into database projects, waits statistics, 276
297–300 Web API controllers, 223–230, 336–339
Mapping Details window, 320 Web API services, 336–341
NuGet package manager, 235–236 Web APIs
publishing databases, 301–303 connection strings, setting, 227
references, adding, 323 content negotiation, 230
scaffolding feature, 321, 325, 336–337 controllers, adding, 226–227, 230–233
Solution Explorer, viewing, 222 creating, 222–223, 225–228, 321–323
solutions, building, 226, 228 data access layer, referencing, 323–324
solutions, creating, 221–222, 294–295 deploying from Visual Studio, 334–335
source code control, 294–295 deploying to Microsoft Azure, 331–335
SQL Server Database projects, creating, 295–296 entity connection string, 324
SQL Server Object Explorer, 304 exception handling, 329–331
SSDT Business Intelligence add-in, 123 model class, adding, 225
SSDT Business Intelligence project templates, referencing data access layer project, 323
installing, 151, 154–156 referencing MVC and Web API assemblies, 322–323
stored procedures, creating, 310–312 RESTful Web APIs, building, 218–228
tables, creating, 30 sample database, creating, 219–221
target platform for database projects, setting, scaffolds, 226
296–297 services, deining in, 336
Views folder, 327 sharding with, 254–259
Web API projects, creating, 222–223 testing, 228–230, 233, 328–331
Web API projects, deploying, 334–335, 340–341 Transient Fault Handling Application Block, adding,
Windows Phone apps, creating, 343 235–236
Windows Phone apps, testing, 353–354 user interface, creating, 324–328
Windows Phone SDK, 341–342 Web (Basic) edition of SQL Database, 31, 55, 58
Visual Studio Report Server projects, 150–169 web services, creating, 336–341
See also reporting; reports Web.conig ile, copying into entity connection string,
AdventureWorks database, installing, 151–154 324
bar charts, adding to reports, 164–166 websites, 4, 321–335
creating reports, 156–162 whatismyipaddress.com, 37
data sources, creating, 158–159 Windows authentication, 58, 105
deploying, 150–169 Windows Azure, 2
designing, 150–169 Windows Firewall With Advanced Security, 130
formatting reports, 162–163 Windows Integrated authentication, 170
previewing reports, 163 Windows Live ID, 5
project properties, 166–167 Windows Phone 8 apps, 341–354
queries, deining, 159–160 Windows Phone Databound App template, 344
Report Manager home page, 168 Windows Phone SDK, installing, 341–342
Report Server Project Wizard, 158–162 Windows PowerShell See PowerShell
running reports from browser, 168–169
with SSDT Business Intelligence add-in, 125
SSDT Business Intelligence project templates, X
installing, 151, 154–156
X.509 v3 certiicates, creating, 281
VM SSRS service URL, 166–167
XAML binding features, 345
XML, SQL Database support, 61
xml data type, 61

370
About the authors

Leonard G. Lobel is a Microsoft MVP in SQL Server and a

Principal Consultant at Tallan, Inc., a Microsoft National
Systems Integrator and Gold Competency Partner. With over
30 years of experience, Lenni is one of the industry’s leading
.NET and SQL Server experts, having consulted for Tallan’s
clients in a variety of domains, including publishing, inancial
services, retail, healthcare, and e-commerce. Lenni has served
as chief architect and lead developer on large-scale projects,
as well as advisor to many high-proile clients.

About Tallan
Tallan (http://www.tallan.com) is a national technology consulting irm that
provides web development, business intelligence, customer relationship manage-
ment, custom development, and integration services to customers in the inancial
services, healthcare, government, retail, education, and manufacturing industries.

Tallan is one of 40 Microsoft National Systems Integrators (NSI) in the United

States, and a member of Microsoft’s Business Intelligence Partner Advisory
Council. For more than 25 years, Tallan’s hands-on, collaborative approach has
enabled its clients to obtain real cost and time savings, increase revenues, and
generate competitive advantages.

Lenni is also chief technology oficer (CTO) and cofounder of Sleek Technologies,
Inc., a New York-based development shop with an early-adopter philosophy toward
new technologies. He is a sought-after and highly rated speaker at industry conferences
such as Visual Studio Live!, SQL PASS, SQL Bits, and local technology user group
meetings. He is also lead author of Programming Microsoft SQL Server 2012
(Microsoft Press, 2012). Lenni can be reached at lenni.lobel@tallan.com or
lenni.lobel@sleektech.com.
 Eric D. Boyd is the Founder and CEO of responsiveX
(www.responsiveX.com), a Microsoft Azure MVP, and a regular
speaker at national conferences, regional code camps and
local user groups. He is so passionate about apps and cloud
services that he founded responsiveX, a management and
technology consultancy that helps customers create great
web, mobile and client experiences, and these apps are often
powered by cloud services. Eric launched his technology
career almost two decades ago with a web-development startup and has served in
multiple roles since, including developer, consultant, technology executive and business
owner. You can ind Eric blogging at http://www.EricDBoyd.com and on Twitter at
http://twitter.com/EricDBoyd.
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