Microsoft's cloud-enabled database platform, codenamed SQL Azure, isn't yet ready for prime time. But that hasn't stopped developers and database administrators from signing on to try it out.
To enable developers and administrators to better experiment with the SQL Azure beta, Embarcadero Technologies has partnered with Microsoft to release a free version of DBArtisan specifically tailored to help with the move to Azure.
SQL Azure is based upon some SQL Server technologies, but it is being specially crafted for the cloud. Scott Walz, senior director of product management at Embarcadero, said that both developers and Microsoft have questions to be worked out about how a cloud-based database should work.
As such, DBArtisan 8.7.2 does not include optimization features, nor does it offer deep monitoring capabilities. But that is because even Microsoft hasn't yet figured out how to give that type of information or power to users, said Walz.
DBArtisan focuses on migration and query tools. Because this is a free version limited to a 90-day trial, it is also only able to migrate Microsoft SQL Azure databases to Windows Azure. Walz said that the eventual commercial version of DBArtisan for SQL Azure will include migration tools for many different types of databases, but because the Azure platform is not complete, the decision was made to include only Microsoft-specific tools this time.
A primary reason for this release, said Walz, is to help both SQL Azure developers and Embarcadero figure out how to deal with SQL Azure. Because Microsoft has not exposed all of the traditional metrics and information available from a hosted database, both SQL Azure and DBArtisan's support for SQL Azure are works in progress.
One of the questions still remaining is how SQL Azure will present its process-monitoring information. Walz said that clouds are inherently multi-tenant systems, so looking up a system process table in SQL Server isn't something to be done lightly. He added that Microsoft is still working on solving this problem.
Optimization is another area where SQL Azure is still coming together, said Walz. When a developer sends a query into a cloud-based database, the developer asks, "How long does one wait before timing out the request?" Because SQL Azure is accessed via the Internet, times of up to five minutes per query could be normal, whereas on an internally hosted database, a five-minute query might be considered slow, Walz said.
Walz said that one of the benefits companies are looking for is the consolidation of databases that may be replicated around the world. The vision is to have a single cloud that can take care of regional host replication automatically, reducing both capital expenditure costs and administration overhead.
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