SQL Azure via Visual Studio - azure-sql-database

Does anyone know when a tool will be available to manage a SQL Azure database from within Visual Studio or SQL Enterprise Manager?

At present one can only cannect via:
1) SQL Management Studio (SSMS)
(The cancel and connect via new query method)
2) Azure Storage Manager: http://azurestoragemanager.codeplex.com/
3) SQL Azure Migration Wizard: http://sqlazuremw.codeplex.com/
4) Custom Application
I have gone down the custom route, an application that basically runs scripts within different folders to Update Tables and Stored Procesures etc.

Plus:
SQL Azure Explorer on Codeplex - free and with source code (addin for VS2010 Beta1)
Cerebrata Cloud Storage Studio - Winforms app to browse SQL Azure
Cerebrata Omega.MSSQL browser-based admin of SQL Server including SQL Azure (see announcement in blog post here)
Marc

Few corrections below:
Cloud Storage Studio is for managing Windows Azure Storage (Tables, Blobs & Queues) and not SQL Azure.
Omega.MSSQL is for managing SQL Server (2008/2005/2000) via a browser based interface (IE only). We customized Omega.MSSQL to work against SQL Azure. That customized version is available online only. To read more about it and access the application please visit this link: http://cerebrata.com/Blog/post/Browser-based-SQL-Azure-Explorer.aspx

Haven't tried personally, but according to the SQL Azure team the November CTP of SQL Server 2008 R2 has a version of Management Studio that will allow direct connections to SQL Azure without having to do the cancel/connect workaround:
http://blogs.msdn.com/ssds/archive/2009/11/10/9920168.aspx

Related

Developer instance of SSMS with SSRS for Mac

I would like to use MS SQL Management Studio and Reporting Services, but I have a Macbook. Can I run SSMS with SSRS in Azure or AWS?
*Edited to not ask for a recommendation
SSMS(SSRS) only support Windows now.
I think you can think about using Azure Data Studio. Previously released under the preview name SQL Operations Studio, SQL Operations Studio tool can be a good option, it provides enough function like security, linked server and database manager, it is enough to use if you only use it for development.
Hope this helps.

Is it possible to restore a SQL Server database in Azure?

I have a backup of a SQL Server 2008 database. I'd like to restore it as an Azure SQL Server database. Is this possible?
P.S. I've seen a couple of questions to this effect from 2014. Is it possible today?
AFAIK, no it's not possible.
The Unsupported in SQL Azure doco https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/articles/sql-database-transact-sql-information/ directs you to BOL and RESTORE shows it's not available in SQL Azure.
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms186858.aspx
Are you able to restore the backup to an instance of SQL 2008 on-premises/locally first? If so you can then use management studio to Export the data and schema as a BACPAC or DACPAC file (export data tier application), which can then be imported into an Azure database using the Import data tier application. You can also use the Taks -> Generate Scripts option from the database node in the management studio, ensure you check on include schema and data - then the SQL files can be executed against your SQL Azure instance as well.
There are some features which aren't available in SQL Azure that are on the server product, but the import will tell you about those if there are any - things like FILESTREAM aren't supported in Azure. Here is the link to take you through steps to migrate from SQL server to SQL Azure - and here are the differences in supported features between the two.
I have some production databases in Azure and frequently download them as data tier apps, import them into a local instance of SQL Server to do some debugging or testing, its a painless process.

Visual Studio database project won't deploy to SQL Azure

I've ran into problem very similar to this. I have a .dbproj Visual Studio database project. It deploys just fine in SQL Server Express. Now I want to deploy it to SQL Azure - I change the connection parameters but deployment fails with the following text:
C:\Program Files\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v10.0\TeamData\Microsoft.Data.Schema.TSqlTasks.targets(120,5): Error Deploy01234: The target database schema provider could not be determined. Deployment cannot continue.
Done executing task "SqlDeployTask" -- FAILED.
Is deploying .dbproj projects to SQL Azure supported? How do I make Visual Studio deploy the database into SQL Azure? What are other ways to achieve more or less the same results except recreating the database manually using Azure portal?
If you are using Visual Studio 2012, you can now create a Database project and go to Properties - set its Target Platform to SQL Azure in Project Settings tab. Also you can configure the setting for dacpac output. Use this file to import directly as a new SQL Azure database.
As far as I know, Database projects are still not supported by Windows Azure. You can deploy the project to a local SQL server and then use the "Generate Scripts" feature to port the database to SQL Azure. See this link.
An easy solution is to create the database locally and use the SQL Azure Migration Wizard to do the migration up to SQL Azure. It works very well in just a few clicks (and will fix common errors).
Database projects don't work with SQL Azure. What I do is before deploying, create a brand new database on local server (to ensure it is up to date with no dev scripts), and then sync that database to Azure with RedGate SQL Compare. I do a backup first with RedGate SQL Azure Backup.
When we first built DB projects, SQLAzure was still going through its identity crisis and didn't know what it wanted to be. ;)
DBProjects support a significant superset of capabilities vs. SQLAzure. Therefore, it's quite possible that it'll create scripts that won't run against SQLAzure.
I know that the team who took-over the DBProject tooling were looking at restricting the database project generators to output SQLAzure-compatible scripts, but I don't know how far they got or whether they decided to proceed.
I echo dunnry's suggestion above and use the SQL Azure Migration Wizard or Jeremy's and use SQL 2008 R2 and generate Azure-compatible scripts.

SQL Azure database using SQL Server Management Studio

I've been trying to work out whether it's possible to manage (i.e. add tables, modify them, create stored procedures) a SQL Azure database using some kind of GUI like SSMS and I keep coming up against different answers.
I found a post from the end of 2009 saying that it would be supported in SSMS but I'm not sure if that includes the Express version? Does anybody know what the most recent update of the express version is and whether it supports it?
I think I'm right in saying that it can't be done in Visual Web Developer 2010 (and I can't afford the full fat VS2010).
I'm prepared to consider alternatives though if anybody knows any full features GUI tools that work with SQL azure and I don't mind paying for a commercial license if it's not too expensive.
Thanks.
Yes, SQL Server 2008 R2's Management Studio does support working with SQL Azure databases.
See:
Getting Started with SQL Azure Development
There are a couple of options
1) You can use SSMS (get the free version by downloading SQL Express v2008 or greater) with advanced services. This will give you SSMS. You can then connect to SQL Azure using SSMS. However - there is a limited set of functionality available via this tool.
2) You can use SSDT (stand-alone for free) or from within VS2010 SP1 or greater. Again, you can connect to SQL Azure, but there are some restrictions on what you can do.
I am using the SQL Express on AWS RDS (free usage tier) myself lately (and connecting via SSMS or SSDT). I prefer their implementation of SQL Server in the cloud to Microsoft's implementation of SQL Azure.

Restore a SQL Server database from single instance to cluster

I need to transfer a database from a SQL Server instance test server to a production environment that is clustered. But SQL Server doesn't allow you to use backup/restore to do it from single instance to cluster. I'm talking about a Microsoft CRM complex database here.
Your help is greatly appreciated.
Have a look at the Microsoft SQL Server Database Publishing Wizard:
SQL Server Database Publishing Wizard
enables the deployment of SQL Server
databases into a hosted environment on
either a SQL Server 2000 or 2005
server. It generates a single SQL
script file which can be used to
recreate a database (both schema and
data) in a shared hosting environment
where the only connectivity to a
server is through a web-based control
panel with a script execution window.
If supported by the hosting service
provider, the Database Publishing
Wizard can also directly upload
databases to servers located at the
shared hosting provider.
Optionally, SQL Server Database
Publishing Wizard can integrate
directly into Visual Studio 2005
and/or Visual Web Developer 2005
allowing easy publishing of databases
from within the development
environment.
You don't have to use the server-side piece; the client-side 'create a script' piece is generally enough.