Azure SQL PaaS database is the big picture
Azure SQL Database
Azure SQL Database is a managed relational database service.
It supports structures such as relational data and unstructured formats such as
spatial and XML data. SQL Database provides online transaction processing
(OLTP) that can scale on demand. You'll also find the comprehensive security
and availability that you appreciate in Azure database services.
When to use SQL Database
Use SQL Database when you need to scale up and scale down
OLTP systems on demand. SQL Database is a good solution when your organization
wants to take advantage of Azure security and availability features. Organizations
that choose SQL Database also avoid the risks of capital expenditures and of
increasing operational spending on complex on-premises systems.
SQL Database can be more flexible than an on-premises SQL
Server solution because you can provision and configure it in minutes. Even
more, SQL Database is backed up by the Azure service-level agreement (SLA).
Key features
SQL Database delivers predictable performance for multiple
resource types, service tiers, and compute sizes. Requiring almost no
administration, it provides dynamic scalability with no downtime, built-in
intelligent optimization, global scalability and availability, and advanced
security options. These capabilities let you focus on rapid app development and
on speeding up your time to market. You no longer have to devote precious time
and resources to managing virtual machines and infrastructure.
Ingesting and processing data
SQL Database can ingest data through application integration
from a wide range of developer SDKs. Supported programming languages, runtime
environments, and developer platforms include, .NET, Node.js, Python, and Java.
Beyond applications, you can also ingest data through Transact-SQL (T-SQL)
techniques and from the movement of data using Azure Data Factory.
Queries
Use T-SQL to query the contents of a SQL Database. This
method benefits from a wide range of standard SQL features to filter, order,
and project the data into the form you need.
Data security
SQL Database provides a range of built-in security and
compliance features. These features help your application meet security and
compliance requirements like these:
- · Advanced Threat Protection
- · SQL Database auditing
- · Data encryption
- · Azure Active Directory authentication
- · Multi-factor authentication
- · Compliance certification
