Azure SQL "select" query not showing all rows - sql

Question

I just used the SQLAzureMW (SQL Azure Migration Wizard Tool) to migrate my SQL Server database to Azure SQL. It went off without a hitch - all my tables are there, the website is running fine off it, etc.
Here's what's odd: if I execute a simple SELECT statement against my tables, I get only a few of the rows. I assumed they were missing, but my website is using some of those records as if they're there. So I queried with a WHERE clause and BAM - they showed up. How the... what the... why isn't my select showing me everything? This applies to many of the tables I've tested.
SQL Azure
On-Premise

Answer 1

I gave up on MS SQL Management Studio and am instead using SQL Server Object Explorer from Visual Studio 2012/2013. It functions properly and allows inline editing of data.

Answer 2

Consider this SELECT statement:
SELECT
SvcTimeID,
LoginName,
MeanSeconds,
MedianSeconds,
RequestCount,
StdDevSeconds,
SvcDate,
CAST (TS AS INT) AS TS
FROM dbo.SvcTime
WHERE SvcDate >= #SvcDate
Where the parameter is set:
cmd.Parameters["#SvcDate"].Value = DateTime.UtcNow - new TimeSpan(31, 0, 0, 0);
Execute that statement in an Azure Web Role - brought back, say 24 rows.
Now, insert two new rows; wait at least one minute; execute the statement again. Do the recently inserted rows appear? In my case, they did not. Note: the default value of SvcDate in the database is getutcdate().
Move the SQL Azure database from the web edition to the standard (S2) edition. Rows magically appear.
Here is my theory. The issue you had was not with MS SQL Management Studio but with SQL Azure itself where, under certain circumstances, the same query will return the original rows from a cache someplace and will miss the new rows in the database.
This has blown any remaining confidence I had with Azure.

Answer 3

I was scared at first, but I think this has an explanation:
If you inserted some rows in connection "A" and can't find them in other sessions, maybe you have a uncommited transaction. By default, in SQL Server on premise, your second connections would hung until transaction is commited or rolled back. (Isolation level read committed)
Somehow, using the same isolation level, Azure acts differently. I seems to work in some cases as a snapshot isolation. Because of that, you can read from the table, but results are not updated. Or maybe the lock are set in a different way.
To solve this, check sysprocesses for sessions with open_tran > 0 or just be careful commmiting trans. In the example, running commit in your session "A" should do it.
Good luck!