Playing with SQL Azure; part 3

Well, I think I'm done with SQL Azure. Not because I'm finding any kind of major problems with it, just because—there's not enough that's different between regular SQL Server and SQL Azure!

The last thing I did here was create some additional tables and stored procedures in my SQL Azure database. I inserted to these tables via BCP, that was also fairly straightforward once I figured out a few gotchas (naming for the user and server).

I thought there would be so much to learn, but honestly, for a database developer (as opposed to a DBA) it appears to be 99% the same as SQL Server. Now, if I were doing a full fledged pilot project, with stress tests, investigating privacy issues, size issues etc, it would be different. But for just playing around for my own interest, I'm all done, and it's been fun!

Playing with SQL Azure; part 2

I'm working my way through the SQL Azure tutorial (the one I found most useful was here).

Ran into some surprises - you can't use the "Use DatabaseName" syntax to switch from one database to another (you have to open a connection in another database).

Also, it appears that you can't reference another database on the same server. For instance, when running the following:

select * from TestSylvia..test1

I got this error:

Msg 40515, Level 16, State 1, Line 1  

Reference to database and/or server name in 'TestSylvia..test1' is not supported in this version of SQL Server.

From some searching online, it looks like that is being worked on.

So, there's some thing that are not yet possible. But what really struck me is the fact that overall, working on SQL Azure is so similar to working with an on-premises MS SQL Server database. I look forward to exploring further. And writing up a micro blog post on SQL Azure really motivates me to explore further.