Configuring SQL Azure for Auto-Scale

Auto-scaling is a feature that dynamically adjusts the amount of compute and storage resources allocated to your Azure SQL Database based on current workloads. This capability ensures that your database can handle varying loads efficiently, providing better performance and cost management. Auto-scaling in Azure SQL Database is not a native feature, but it can be implemented using Azure's powerful automation and scaling capabilities. The process involves monitoring your database's performance metrics and setting up rules that trigger scaling actions when certain thresholds are reached. Setting Up Auto-Scaling To set up auto-scaling for your Azure SQL Database, you'll need to follow these general steps: Utilize Azure's monitoring tools to keep an eye on your database's performance. Pay special attention to metrics like CPU usage, memory consumption, and I/O rates. Azure Automation allows you to create runbooks, which are collections of scripts that automate cloud management tasks. For auto-scaling, you'll write a PowerShell script that changes the performance level of your database when specific conditions are met. Decide on the conditions that will trigger a scale-up or scale-down. For example, you might want to scale up when CPU usage exceeds 80% for a sustained period. Azure Logic Apps can be used to schedule and orchestrate the scaling actions based on the rules you've defined. They can call the runbooks you've created in Azure Automation to perform the scaling. Before relying on auto-scaling in a production environment, thoroughly test your setup to ensure it behaves as expected. Monitor the results and refine your scripts and rules as necessary. Considerations and Best Practices Azure SQL Database offers different performance tiers and service levels. Ensure that your auto-scaling setup considers the capabilities and limits of your chosen tier. While auto-scaling can help manage costs by reducing resources during low demand, it's important to monitor your spending to avoid unexpected charges. Consider how auto-scaling interacts with your database's failover and high availability setup. Ensure that scaling actions do not compromise the resilience of your system. For certain scenarios, Azure SQL Database's serverless tier can automatically scale compute resources, providing a simpler alternative to custom auto-scaling solutions. Conclusion Auto-scaling is a powerful technique to optimize the performance and cost of your Azure SQL Database. By leveraging Azure Automation, Logic Apps, and careful monitoring, you can create a responsive and efficient database environment that scales with your needs. For detailed instructions and script examples, refer to the comprehensive tutorial provided by the Microsoft Community Hub, and explore other resources that offer insights into auto-scaling strategies and best practices. Remember, while auto-scaling can greatly enhance your database's efficiency, it requires careful planning and continuous monitoring to ensure optimal results.

Understanding Blob Storage on Azure (Video)

Today, I managed daily operation to backup my database into a bacpac file. Bacpac is another version data structure on SQL Server. it is just like .bak on casual SQL Server but more compatible with the SQL Azure. Bacpac in SQL Azure is stored on Blob Storage. Blob (Binary Large Object) is a storage model that support for high capacity files such as multimedia file, document, or even database backup. This Indonesian video will show you the blob storage concept in Windows Azure

Migrating SQL Server 2012 to SQL Azure

This three minutes video will show you how to migrate your SQL Server 2012 to SQL Azure. After watching this video you should care some detail of the migration such as SQL Azure have no support on View and SQL Assembly so make sure you remove it before migration process SQL Azure migration doesn’t connect your application directly with SQL Azure, Be sure to link the resources on your Azure role  SQL Azure migrate will move schema and the data Cheers, @ridife

Tips to Migrate Your Windows Azure Web

Problem You want to move your Windows Azure solution Web Site from your subscriptions to the others Solution Solution A. Make Sure it has same service administrator If you have a same service administrator email between your source subscription and the target subscription, you just contact the support to move the web for you. For example, my subscription A used my [email protected] and my target subscription use the [email protected] . if the condition exists just contact Azure Support Here Solution  B. Move your Web Manually This solution has several steps but it worth to try if you don’t have same account between services administrator. Configure SQL Server so that you can access it through SQL Server Management Studio, you can do that by following these steps Connecting your SQL Azure using SQL Server Management Studio. This tutorial shows you how to do that Select your database, select the context menu, select tasks, and then copy the database to the azure SQL database. Make sure you are using SQL Server 2012 management studio and both SQL Azure is allowed to connect from your IP Address Open your website configuration and select dashboard, in the right pane, you can see the FTP and the credentials. if you forgot the password of your FTP just select. Reset your deployment Credentials Use an application like FileZilla or others FTP client to connect to the server using the login that you get from the source dashboard. Download the /wwwroot folder to yours local file After finished, open the web.config and configure the new connection string from your target database. Be sure to changes and option that related with the servers Now create a new website site in your target subscriptions and connect to the FTP services using your FTP client Transferring your files, and your web site is migrated That’s it, if you want to learn azure more you can grab several good book like below (and it less than 15$) 

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